Training Log Archive: kPa

Penyagolosa Trail World Champs
Going in to this I was hoping to improve on my 8th place in 2016. Initially I was a little disappointed to finish 11th, but after a couple of days reflecting on it I’ve changed my tune a bit. It is probably more competitive than 2 years ago, and there was very little separating me from girls I thought were leagues quicker than me.
There isn’t a lot I would change about how I raced and I basically stuck to my plan. I ran the first 40k comfortably hard. I think I was in ?13th at this point. I started to build a little going into the second half of the race and gradually picked off a few places. At Vistabella (25km to go, 9th position) I was feeling pretty good so pushed on a bit more. I wonder whether I attacked a little early and should have saved a bit more for the final 10km or so. I maintained 9th position until about 5km to go. I wouldn’t say I had slowed down, in fact I was sort of confident I might still overtake some someone (I was still overtaking some men). But there was nothing I could do when the first American flew past me. Again, about 2km from the finish another American came past. I chased her hard for 1km but just could keep contact.
I was quite surprised at how sore my quads were by the end given the lack of downhill on the course. All other muscle groups held out well.
I was really happy with my nutrition and had fairly constant energy levels throughout. I averaged 3 spring energy gels/ hr for the first half (plus some carb in my drink and a few cups of coke at aid stations) and a little less in the second half. Salt and vintager crisps went down very well after Vistabella! No GI issues or anything.
We were quite lucky with the weather and it was intermittently overcast for the latter part of the day. I imagine temp was in low 20s for most of the day. I felt hot throughout and was drinking 600-700ml/hr. I didn’t feel I was slowed but the heat but I know a lot of people did.
Kit/shoes etc all good. I used poles from the start which not many people did. I’m happy with my decision to do this.

Easy run along the seafront with a couple of the other girls. Legs feel fine. A slept really badly (got back late after opening ceremony then couldn’t switch off) but managed to have a small nap this afternoon. Feeling more nervous than usual!

Travel day. Didn’t get a chance to run.

Heat chamber #3
Similar to session #2. Wore a long sleeve and race vest again, plus the chamber started at 36.7 which was hotter than previously. I did 45mins @5’00”/km 3% then dropped to 5’42”/km for 5mins. Core temp peaked at 39.2. It’s difficult to say whether my heat tolerance is improving as conditions are slightly different for each session. My ‘perceived thermal stress scores’ did improve slightly but hey are hardly a good objective measure.

Easy run around the woods. Warm again. Legs felt pretty fresh today. 30min hot bath after the session.

Run in the Peaks with friends. 26degrees! Mainly easy trails with one steep hiking section. Legs felt sluggish after a couple of days off but kind of fresh at the same time.

Long work day