Another week went by and another 3 training sessions under the belt. Very satisfied. Last weekend we went to Collobriéres to run a race. I actually did not feel good as overall peps goes. I did not feel bad either though, nor flat or unmotivated, but I was there to train and had no intention to get myself into trouble. It doesn’t mean that I was not racing or that I could have gone faster. It means no risk taking and an overall general high effort, for this 5th place and 1st master. I actually still felt very much in control with no lows, no hypoglycemia despite no breakfast and absolute no recovery issues despite eating very little the entire day after the race. I however took of course amino acids right after the race. I did not do recovery jog or walk, as it was raining. I dressed up and did some moving around, stretching and cooldown drills. Then I took again a whey derived amino complex. Arriving home I ate a little rice and fish, slept and in the afternoon I took my dose of EAAs and mix of amino acids with orange juice. The evening however I had a small amount of organic pasta, salad and veggies, 4 eggs and 2 steaks.
Between Sunday morning and Tuesday evening I had 3 recovery runs, 2 light recuperation style strength sessions and 3 mobility routines. Tuesday evening we organised a mixed surface fartlek of 10k. I did not check each pace section of the fartlek , but I guess we ran the 1:30s around 3:15 the 3min around 3:25 and the 6min around 3:30 to 3:40 per kilometer.
2 x (4 x (1:30 very fast / r1:15) + (3min fast / r1:30 )+ (6min @ LT)) / R5:00
Then Wednesday afternoon with a friend we went for a 19km recovery trail jog, easy swingin, very low heart rate. 116bpm on average with a couple of peaks of 130, 135max.
I did not want to run Thursday’s track session, but got carried away. Instead of doing the prescribed session of max aerobic speed reps, I decided to run some of them slower and some of them faster. A Crescendo actually.
2 x (6 x 500 @ 1:38 /r1:45) /R5:00
S1: 1:48 + 1:45 + 1:43 + 1:41 + 1:33 + 1:31
S2: 1:42 + 1:39 + 1:38 + 1:33 + 1:37 + 1:33
I was holy smoked after this easy workout. The cumulative effect of the back to back racing and training gave me this profound gift of fatigue. Merry Xmas. Time for a full recovery. Outside of AM/PM mobility, I did not run Friday. Actually I did hurt my back though. Instead of thinking and using a trolly or a pallet truck, I was trying to carry a 25kg bag of soda powder. The last step before putting it down, I felt the familiar nerve pinch. Fortunately I did not blow my back like I did in April. I am actually a kind of expert on back injuries. I have been studying, practicing and coaching rehabilitation techniques, muscle firing timing procedures associated with breathing, proper lifting and core activation procedures and so on for well over 15 years. Now I feel like a silly obese nutritionist or a barefoot advocate shoe store owner. First of all my shoes were not properly tied so lower body provided torque was out the window. I was also carrying the bag out in front of me, holding with my arms and no real grip on the bag itself as I was wearing thick work gloves. I should have put the gloves in my pocket, grab the bag, squeezing it as hard as I can and put it on my left or right shoulder, so I would have been centered under the weight. Or use the wheelbarrow or anything to carry it over. Anyways, I had 4 reactivation sessions straight on Friday. After the second one I felt like really bad. Then slept for 2hours on an acupressure sheet. I again did two re-education courses and slept the entire night on the accupressure sheet. Saturday morning I had one single movement that was to be avoided. The other multidirectional actions of my spine were doable with of course, over exaggerated core concentrations. I risked a trail run with a friend Saturday morning and it went quite well. I tried really keeping my spine neutral and leaning from the ankle when climbing. We completed a 12km loop with 500m of gain.
Then Sunday, today, I was racing a 20km competition with 550m of elevation gain. It was not a steep event, but difficulty was extreme. I mean, that the amount of stones and rocks and roots, switchbacks and turns and twists were simply uncountable. I had a bad crash with a tree, so now have a swollen right biceps. I also later on enjoyed a fantastic fall, fortunately uphill, what awarded me with a friendly hamstring cramp trophy. Nice one.
I actually could not get into the groove of climbing from the beginning. I was talking to myself, just hold on, even if it is a shitshow for nothing, it shall pass. It did not pass of course, I was gasping for air till the end, as the moment I felt better, I started pushing pedal to the metal. From 3rd place I felt back to 6th right after the first and only climb. I was watching the 3 lads pulling away to the extent, that I’ve never seen them afterwards. No signs of them, not even the voices of cheering when arriving to checkpoints. I kept on hammering anyways, hoping that my efforts will be paying off. 5km before the f-line, I started smelling them, then the visuals came too. 2 of them were battling it out. I fortunately have a good descent and an okay flat speed, so passed them with confidence 3km before the arrival. The confidence was there for about 8 seconds, as we arrived to the first real section, my legs got shot and my energy levels got blown to pieces. I did succeed in squinching on to that 4th place, but physically, mentally and emotionally was destroyed. The amount of concentration I used, to have my back-bone protected during the whirly movements was really tremendous. 4th place it is, feeling good about it. 1st M1 of course. https://www.strava.com/activities/7970935774/overview
I used the AM mix of 3.5g of Creatine, 1g of Taurine, 3.5g of Beta-Alanine, 500mg of l-Carnitine, 2.5g of Citruline Malate, early morning pre-race. Then I drank around 1/2 a can of RedBull with 1g of L-Carnitine 30min before the race and cracked 2 Sportenines (French sport product of glucose and stuff)
I am getting more and more confident in these amino acids and their positive effects on mind and body. Harmony and peace, to become the beast of the east !
Boundless Runner 
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