At the start of the season things looked promising. I check off race after race on my schedule like clockwork. I almost began to think I might actually accomplish everything I planned back in January for the first time ever. But just like that everything came to a screeching halt.
Suffice to say my race schedule from mid-June to December has had a makeover. The original schedule was built around a summer of paddle boarding culminating with the Tahoe Fall Classic (a 22 mile SUP race across Lake Tahoe), a fall of Spartan racing and a second shot at the 50k distance in December to end the 2016 race season just before Christmas.
Ambitious? Yes. But it all seemed doable until it didn’t. My “long” workouts have just now reached 45 minutes after 8 weeks of 3 times a week at 30 minutes max. Far cry from 50k training I was doing and the time needed to knock out all the events I had planned. But on the bright side I have had plenty of time to dedicate to other fun endeavors: tennis, mountain biking, strength training…
So what is the new plan? If everything continues to progress accordingly I plan on getting in some early cross country races (3-4 mile events) while building enough mileage to hit some late fall Spartan events (up to 13 miles with obstacles). My hope is with the combination of extra rest, more recovery and less training volume I will be able to get a few more races under my belt this year and be healthy enough to tackle my postponed goals come 2017.
A full list of my “tentative” races is available here.
