Crash training

I'm feeling pretty invincible right now. I just finished the equivalent of a 70 km day to round off a 212 km week! Every run just keeps feeling easier. With absolutely no effort at all, I kick out 4:45/km and can run at that pace forever (or at least 30km as I did in my long run today).

Doing 7 hours of exercise in one day probably sounds a bit crazy (2.5 hrs running, 90 minutes rollerblading, 100 minutes on the bike, 100 minutes on the cross trainer), but I was feeling so damn good and I recovered so quickly after my long run that I decided to make this week a 'crash week'. It's basically when you jump your training up ten notches, but only for one week and only if you're prepared to set aside a rest week afterwards. The idea is, you can make massive fitness improvements by pushing right up to your limits and going a bit beyond them.

I certainly experienced that today, bonking pretty hard on the ride back home after the rollerblading workout. But after consuming (I say consuming because I don't think I tasted a thing:P) a large pizza, 2 bowls of cereal, a few tacos, some fruit and three pieces of toast; I was feeling good again and hopped on the cross trainer to finish off the day. I'm not even tired now. The only soreness I'm experiencing is in my arms - my legs are absolutely fine, much better than last week.

I guess another thing that spurred me on to doing so much, besides the fact that I was feeling awesome, was that I was watching a few cross country skiing videos on youtube last night and was so inspired, that I decided to make it my goal to finish in the top 10 at this year's Kangaroo Hoppet XC ski half marathon. It's a tough ask, but the times I skiied in Germany earlier in the year put me pretty close. Plus I'm in the shape of my life. I've never done long runs this long or this fast before and more importantly, I've never experienced two weeks in a row, where _every single run felt amazing_! I'm really looking forward to Sandown on Saturday. If I don't break 40:00, then I'll eat my running shoes. And that's a pretty good indication of how confident I am, because
A: Running shoes taste gross - all that high density foam and medial posts are far too chewy and have a very strong peppery taste
B: I love my running shoes, there's no way I'd ever willingly mutilate them!

A word of warning on crash weeks. They are used mainly by triathletes and I think there's a good reason why. If you jump up your running mileage substantially, then I can almost guarantee you will get hurt. But there are almost no side effects from whacking on an extra 100km of cycling or rollerblading or cross country skiing, or anything low impact. You might end up with sore muscles, but it will be the good kind of sore, not the kind that sees you handing over half your pay cheque to a physio.

I've decided to cap my running mileage at 120kpw. I can't remember who said it, possibly Noakes or Pfitzinger, but apparently there's a point of diminishing returns, after which mileage gains are more likely to lead to injury than to performance improvements and based on statistical data, 120kpw is that point. The rest of my training load will be cross training. I reckon doing that has a two pronged advantage:
1. I do quite a bit of my training in low impact sports, which still stress my aerobic system substantially
2. I strengthen muscle groups that running neglects.

That's it for this week. Expect a progress report about Sandown next time I write.