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A Little Bit of Hiatus & Rest

Sorry for being off grid for a bit!

Took sometime to thoroughly rest up and recuperating before getting ready to tackle the fall season races! I am still basking in that finish line glow from that very first ultramarathon but like all things - it's not what you've done in the past but rather what's the plan now to conquer the next upcoming race and actually executing the plan. As do with my typical running rituals, I ended up buying the entire set of the ultramarathon photos taken by the photographers throughout the race to commemorate the firsts in the races. The other being the very first marathon race last year in May. 

The first two days after the race, I managed to get some decent slow jogs for recovery only to find out that my immune system was at its weakest state yet. Third day after, the sick bug struck with the sore throat and all amidst the hot summery weather. It was that moment when I realized that rest is just as important within the running year. I just simply can't be pounding the body and keep running at full capacity week after week. And that's exactly what I did.

It's rest times of such that allows me to sit back and go back to the drawing board for better planning. By doing so, I need more resources and metrics. That's where the extra data sourced from the recent Garmin Fenix purchase and the Garmin Connect app comes in handy. I also managed to convince myself into the Strava Premium (to chase more online virtual achievements ?) and extracting extra data to determine the scale of actual efforts placed in my training runs. Those buzz words such as cadence, spm, stride length, suffer score, and etc. are finally relevant unlike back in half year's time!

In anticipation of the upcoming Niagara Falls marathon in October, I decided to really make an even more dedicated effort to follow through with a training plan (as provided by Strava Premium and the McMillan Running) That means no more half-assing on the fartlek runs just because I didn't quite know what it meant. And easy runs actually means easing the legs while still being conscious of form and stride lengths to maximize running movement. The only thing I will keep flexible for myself is the duration span within one week's time especially when life happens and not everything (and weather) will co-operate at all times.

So the key races for this fall will be the following:
- Niagara Falls International Marathon
- Hamilton Marathon Road2Hope

With side races along the way as interim simulation and progress benchmarks.

Oh, and here's some jams for the month of August to get me moving! Have a great week and hopefully I'll be back with another post on time!

​Cheers, - M.W.