Misogi Prep – Digging In
It’s been a while since I’ve blogged. I’m digging in to the training and preparation for my New York Marathon misogi, 33 weeks from today. It was a slightly dispiriting January, as winter flu dragged on for a month.
The diagram on the left illustrates my Chronic Training Load on TrainingPeaks – a proxy for fitness. It has only just crept ahead of where I was 90 days ago. The dip in fitness due to my flu-related downtime stung me. But the good news is my fitness is where it was a year ago, and I was in fine form then, as I got ready for my cycling trip in Girona.
Spring is here, and my form is returning, which is motivating. This year, I’m running, rather than cycling, and it brings a new set of challenges.
Risk Management
When my first marathon comes around, I will be 68. I realise that digging in and getting this done differs from when I was younger. The challenges are threefold. Ageing naturally results in the loss of muscle mass, which creates the potential for injury; therefore, regular strength training is key. Recovery takes longer, and my training plan must allow for enough rest. Indeed, for the first time, I’m starting to plan a deload week once every four weeks. I have osteoarthritis and missing pieces in both knees, which need to be accounted for; there’s no evidence that I will make this worse by running, but it needs some thought.
The most significant addition to my preparation is to start seeing an osteopath. Anything I can do to improve my mobility and posture must be a benefit. I’m fortunate to have an award-winning practitioner, Guy Gold, close to where I live and have an hour of treatment weekly. It’s delivering benefits already. I won’t try to BS my way through his expert opinion of my raddled body. But I do hear him talking about very tight quads and hips, and my pelvis being tilted. Given my propensity to fall off bikes this last couple of years, it’s no surprise that he highlights left hip and right knee problems almost undoubtedly related to hard contact with the tarmac. At the time, my medical help dealt with the more acute injuries, and these two problems have surfaced later. At least they are being addressed.
Pumping Iron, Shifting Timber
I’m hitting a hard session in the gym once a week, focusing on quads, hamstrings, and calves. A second session is less intense but has the same focus. I also do some top-half work and am pleased to be benching more than I have in at least ten years. Overall, this strength work helps, but I know it can add to my training load, and I must be sure not to overtrain. Digging in when in the gym is helping my running, there is no doubt. And it’s fun to get the ego lifts on the bench too. Minor improvements all help in the big picture.
While putting on some muscle mass—according to the mirror and the more fact-based opinion of my Garmin scale—I’m also conscious that losing some weight must help me. At 110 kgs, a force between 275 and 330 kgs goes through my raddled hips and knees while running. Therefore, losing some weight has to help ease the strain. My doctor told me to lose 5 kgs last August, and I was 105 kgs at the time, so you can see that advice wasn’t fully embraced. But I’ve been conscious of diet for a few months and am back down to 105 kgs. Who knows, maybe I swagger sylph-like into my medical this year?
Schedule Planning
I’ve worked with my coach at Coach Parry to cut the work back somewhat. I am currently hitting the road twice a week, and I have substituted the third run (already cut down from four) with a WattBike session. This gives me some good cardiovascular base while saving the pounding of running. Two runs, one Wattbike, one heavy gym session, and one lighter gym session. As important as all of those, two full rest days.
The plan has three weeks of increasing load, and then one deload week. I’m monitoring total TSS for the week, and can see my load progressing. But it’s also a safety valve. For example, two of my sessions this week have delivered higher than planned total TSS, and my total for the week is very high for me. Therefore, I’m looking at tomorrow’s strength session and wondering if I skip it. It must me a sign of my developing maturity that I can miss a session and think it the right thing to do. Not only listening to my body, but using real metrics. Digging in when I know I can go.
I’m Only 29!
I continue to measure my heart rate variability to give myself a more accurate measure of my fitness and recovery. Elite coaches regard it as the best measure of conditioning and recovery. I use the KubiosHRV app and my Garmin Pro chest strap; the whole routine takes only three minutes.
The screenshot on the right is my measurement from yesterday, and you can see my readiness was very high. With a big run planned for today, I restrained myself and took my rest day. Then today I ran 14 km at a steady marathon pace. My HRV said I was good to go, which proved itself, as today’s run was the longest I have done for around 25 years. Yes, 25 years. Using data to let me know when digging in is the right thing to do.
As a meaningless brag, check out my physiological age on the left of the diagram. 29! I guess I stack up well against the sample set of men my age. I will stack any motivational win, trust me.
My setup is working well. My electrolytes are loaded in two flexi bottles in my Salomon vest. For today’s extended run, I slammed a Science in Sport Beta Fuel gel halfway, providing enough carbs to get the job done. The ASICS Kayano shoes are giving me great support. And I was sporting some hugely overpriced but achingly of the moment running shorts and vest.
Getting nutrition across the spectrum is crucial, so my first job when getting home was a full-on serving of SiS Vanilla Whey Protein and 6 mg of creatine powder in the mix. The sooner my recovery starts, the better. My protein consumption is high throughout the day, as I’m trying to consume between 150 and 200 grams daily. With lean muscle mass being crucial, and ageing affecting protein synthesis, I ensure I consume more than an average citizen. I find it challenging to get that amount from food, so one or sometimes two protein shakes enable me to hit the target.
Don’t Forget To Enjoy It
33 weeks to misogi time, and I’m digging in. This is unfinished business for me. And I know it’s a big challenge, one that I may not succeed in. The average time for a 65+ male marathon novice to finish in is 5 hours 44 minutes. So that’s my target. I am most certainly a novice, and I’m definitely not built like Eliud Kipchoge. In this case, average will be more than welcome. To be honest, if I have to walk the course, I will walk it. 5:44 equates to 8 minutes per kilometre, and I can do that. I will do the training, my mental strength will make that happen. My biggest risk is injury. And I’m doing everything I can to offset that risk.
Today was a beautiful spring morning. 2C when I left home, but blue sky and sunshine. I headed south from home, around Regent’s Park, down to Marble Arch, through Hyde Park and then along King’s Road to Putney. It being early, the pavements were clear, and I felt I had large parts of the city to myself. I’ve noticed the city looks very different when running. New perspectives; things I didn’t spot while cycling or when bustling along day to day on transport. I feel a sense of mindfulness and start to take in the sky, and the magnificent architecture, and notice small details that pass me on other days. A real connection with the city. I am not one of those people who claims to get a ‘runner’s high’, but I have found this new immersion in my surroundings a good place for me. For my spirit.
There will be a lot of bad days out on the road in the next months. A lot of pain, and I imagine some frustration to come. But days like today bring home how fortunate I am to have my health and to be able to enjoy my chosen sport.