Yep - the MvM has been the focus of training for months, and suddenly it is over. And immediately the OMM comes looming over the horizon.
I was about to say that I allowed myself a few days off training, but that would be fibbing. I couldn't have run in the days after the race anyway! It left me surprisingly tired. Or rather I was surprised, but other people weren't. "Of course you are tired. You just ran up a mountain!" I've spent all week feeling knackered.
I was, however, remarkably injury or strain free. Slight strainy aches in my calves, and a definite feel that I had used my thigh muscles, but apart from that just a general weariness.
By Thursday I was up for a short run, and managed a comfortable 5k. And today my OMM training started properly. I dragged my climbing rope and my tarp out of the cupboard and loaded then into my Talon 33 (which is my rucksack of choice for the OMM). A check on the scales confirmed that this combination weighed 14lb (6.3kg), a bit lighter than I will run with on the day (which will probably be nearer 8-9kg) but a good start! Tighten the compression straps to stop it bouncing around, and I was out into the grey but warm September morning.
6.9 miles of fields and woodland tracks and an hour later I was home. It was hard work, though how much of that was post MvM fatigue and how much was the extra 14lb on my back, I don't know. Legs feel ok - no aches and pains.
It's just under six weeks to the OMM. That means five weeks of training and a week of rest. Experience from the MvM has shown me that my hill climbing still needs work, and I need to be used to endurance running with a pack. So these five weeks will focus on those things.
- We haven't got any good big hills round here, so the hill work will have to be done either elsewhere (St Catherine's Hill in Winchester offers lots of scope) or using hill starts on the hills we do have.
- I'll try again to run at least 20 miles each weekend, with a pack, to get used to reasonable sized runs on consecutive days.
This leads to an outline weekly plan of:
- One hill training run during the week
- Another longish run during the week
- 8-10 miles on Saturday
- 10-12 miles on Sunday
God knows if I'll manage to find time to do that, but at least it's a plan!
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