02/02/2024
Obligatory podium shot š¤·
Via who I owe an encounter with a big horn sheep in exchange for covering this oneš
1st in the half marathon/Beast, 5th in the 10K/Super, 1st in the 5K/Sprint. Bailed on the Hercules Hoist after the first one since the penalty was slight, Iām also slight, and itās not a relevant skill for the rest of my year as planned. But outside that, nothing was beyond me on the day. Turns out I already donāt suck. Slow and gentle to stay safe, but didnāt fail anything.
Iāve spent the last 8 weeks building the base. Just like easy runs and strides prepare us for harder running to peak later on, while preventing injuries, I believe the right approach is to avoid hard obstacles in the base phase of ultra OCR training. Iāve been cat crawling, doing pull-ups, and piling easy miles -all compromised by killing myself in the sauna every morning beforehand.
And I held my own racing off that training. Thatās like running a 5K PR before you even touch the track for the season. From here, itās no more sled work, no more passive saunas until I canāt stand before runs, no more long cat crawls, and way fewer pull-ups. Iām place of all that, itās obstacle play, more frequent and longer RedMill sessions -which also means more frequent BFR with since Iām addicted to the realness of that first mile at 80% LOPā¦ itās not only obstacle proficiency and grip strength (the weakest part of my game) Iām after the next 3 weeks, but amplifying my most freakish attributes, ensuring Iām prepared to handle my own self imposed style of racing: when the muse wants to dance, Iāll be ready to follow or lead.
