Misogi Minus 23

23 Weeks To Go

Not really. I reckon I will need to run about one and a half million steps between now and New York. Will my ageing chassis take it? I am 68 years old this week and I have a lot of wear and tear on me. Being sensible will be the key. I am not going to force myself to run if I am really feeling beaten up. That’s not me writing my own welsher’s charter; rather it’s me recognising that recovery will be key in the build-up. Pushing it too hard could result in breaking down with injury, and I don’t have the time or inclination for that. There has to be discomfort in a misogi challenge.

My key focus will be the long, slow weekend run. It should be on Saturday, but if my body needs the day, I will softly push it to Sunday. I need a good two hour plus run each week. It doesn’t matter about speed, time on the feet is the key. As well as getting used to the pavement pounding, I also build that crucial aerobic base.

Misogi Minus 23 – Pumping Iron

I need to run. Tick. As importantly, I need to recover. The third critical element is strength training. It’s not just that my 68 year old body needs resistance training to help maintain muscle mass. It’s to protect my existing weaknesses.

Both my knees have osteoarthiritis, and therefore maintaining quadricep muscle – especially the vastus medialis oblique which prevents kneecap misalignment – is crucial. I do a range of exercises, ranging from leg extension machine to single leg leg press, and adding in Ben Patrick’s body weight single leg squats.

The whole lower back, glute, hamstring and calf chain needs focus too. Deadlifts (although not full-on now mileage is going up), Romanian deadlifts, hamstring curls, and calf raises are all in the mix. I am starting to introduce some banded crab walks to help hip adductors and abdutctors two.

Two sessions a week – one heavy, and one light – sees me with 43 sessions between here and New York. These I will get done, indeed my personal weakness is going to hard with the iron and needing three days to recover. I don’t learn on some things and love to push a set of deadlifts hard, but that puts my body in the DOMS Ward for three days. I need to show a little maturity and leave the odd set on the ground.

Mindset

This Misogi Minus 23 needs keeping in its box a little. It’s been on my dance card since November 2023, but life has got in the way. The danger for me is I become a little preoccupied with it and start seeing it as a do or die deal. I will do the work diligently – every kilometre and kilogram will be pursued. But I can’t account for illness. I will do all I can to stay off the injured list.

But you just never know. My body simply may not take the hammering. I know that I am mentally tough enough; the last couple of years have shown that. I have a long track record of setting goals and, much more often than not, getting the job done.

Building Block Nailed – TSS & HRV

It’s Sunday and I closed off my first week of training. Week 24, and 23 to go. Three runs and two gym sessions. It was tough to squeeze them in, as post-Miami jet lag had its say on Monday and Tuesday. But I found a way, by training twice on Wednesday – a gym session back to back with a treadmill run. I wanted to set the misogi tone on my first week back.

I track Training Stress Score, given I log all my training in TrainingPeaks. This week’s load was 346 versus a plan of 325, so the work was done. The target is 415 next week, and then 490 the following week. Then a deload to 270.

A veteran like me should look to build a good base in the 400 TSS range and graduate into the 500 range. I may see north of 600 TSS as I start to do the final build for New York, before I drop right down in the last three weeks. At present, my HRV is bang on. I need to be careful not to overload, and a certain indicator of that will be my HRV coming under pressure.

The Grey Zone Trap

Here is a great article that shows broad targets by category and also stresses periodisation. You will see that my current training load is in the sweet spot for Masters athletes.

I think my other potential trap is too much time in the grey zone. I fell into it a few weeks ago, when my base aerobic training – Zone 2 – was in Zone 3 for too long in a given week. It’s easy to be pushing too hard to build the aerobic platform, but it not being hard enough to drive my ceiling up. Grey zone can be a fast track to overtraining. My long runs are slow, by design.

Consistent, Realistic

I need to focus on consistency. Follow the process and allow good habits to form. I have a solid plan, formulated by experts. Sleep, recovery, and nutrition must be proactively addressed.

I am a realist. I may not make it to the startline. Not a built-in excuse, rather a realistic take on life. How many 68 year olds do you know who are preparing for their first marathon? I will give it my all. But if I don’t succeed, I will be able to eyeball myself and know that the work was done.

And after all, the essence of a misogi is that it isn’t a gimme. It should be a challenge where there is a fifty-fifty chance, or by definition it’s not challenging enough. It has to have the power to transform, but it’s senseless to make the challenge impossible.

Misogi minus 23. I have got this.