OMG friends, there are only 7 weeks now to my redemption ultra at the Waskally Wrabbit 55 KM Ultra!
Training as a vegan has gone incredibly smooth. If I feel I need extra protein I drink an extra plant protein smoothie, but that is pretty much the only struggle. I have learned how to de-pit a date, that they are pretty good during a run, and I can actually do both crossfit and ultra training together, and NOT burn out. Thank god my work has a fantastic gym, I have finally been putting it to use each lunch hour to get my crossfit in.
Now with only 7 weeks to go it is truly buckle down time. Time to cut as much weight as possible without impacting my training, time to nail those long runs that have become longer than 3.5 hours at a stretch, and time to stretch - like actually stretch and spend time doing it lol.
My partner in this crazy adventure is supposed to be my brother but for the past month, since we ran the hilly Moose 25km Run, he has been complaining about a calf strain injury that seems to be taking forever to heal. I have a feeling I may be doing this ultra solo.
Two weeks ago I was getting worried about my own chances when my patellar tendon on both knees started to flare up. Thankfully I figured out that it was due to some over confident crossfit clean and jerk lifting and I needed to back off the weight by 5 lbs or so. With that in mind I stopped doing anything that put strain on the front of my knees for a week then gradually added weight and exercises back into the rotation again last week. I am still not lunging or jerking with weight this week but everything else is feeling fine.
This week I am picking up my training where I left off pre-flu last week. I still ran my long run and my medium-long run so I feel like I have not lost anything by taking a couple of sick days. This week I crest the 30km mark by running a 32km long run. I am a mix of both excitement and fear. 4 hours is a loong run and lately I have been running my long runs on my treadmill so I have easy access to the bathroom, water, food, family support (;-)). I know it is not ideal preparation so I have been increasing the incline on those runs so I run at least 5km uphill. Will it be enough, only time and the hand and feet nature of the Wentworth valley hills will tell.
