Some R & R Time

My last week of classes after I got back from Nationals was spent trying to meet assignment deadlines. Everything was due on Friday and I had a few late nights as punishment for not staying on top of things throughout the semester. The team travelled to meets every other weekend so it was a challenge finding that missed time elsewhere in the week. I got it done though and had a sense of extreme relief and satisfaction when I handed everything in. One semester done.

I am almost finished my break from intense running. I spent the first week after my last xc race running at an easy pace for 45’ daily with a day off and one long run on the weekend. Last week I ran for 60’ at a steady pace daily. It was this week that my body finally clued in that I was indeed taking some down-time! I did a lot of resting and lying about that week since that’s all I wanted to do. I still got out for my runs though and started adding my plyometric and strength circuit back into the schedule with some added drills and active isolated stretching that my coach Jon suggested. I’ve also been using this time to focus on my form.

Jon had us running a low-intensity workout last Saturday. I wasn’t sure how peppy I’d feel after slothing about all week but it ended up feeling pretty good. Still, I felt I needed a bit more time to refuel and Jon agreed that now would be the perfect time to make sure I am rested and ready to face another intense training and racing period. I had a big year of training and another week of active rest won’t hurt. So, this week has been much like last week. I have been running at a steady pace for 60’ every day. On Sunday (which thankfully was a scheduled day off!) Victoria got 10cm of snow. This isn’t even worth mentioning in most parts of Canada but this city doesn’t plough the streets or sidewalks so snow-removal is in the hands of the sun and milder temperatures. Doing fast workouts this week would have been a challenge so my timing was good!

My training starts up again on Saturday and hopefully we will have decent conditions to run a grass workout. The UVic Vikes have already started training for the indoor track season although they must be struggling for running venues to replace the track workouts they had scheduled. It is covered in snow at the moment.

This will be my first time running an indoor track season and look forward (admittedly with some fear!) to this new experience. My main event will be the 3000m. The training and racing for this distance along with weekly xc workouts should prepare me well for the xc race(s) in March. I will start writing some regular posts once training is in full swing again after Christmas.