Four Down, Just One More...

By Frank

The end of of the fourth month and with 30 days to go till the Comrades Marathon 2014, I am almost there, I hope so. Am just glad at where I am now and and that April is now behind me. Unlike the first 3 months, it wasn't smooth sailing this time round.

Although I surpassed my running target for the month again with 280KM ran, April did not start well as I recovered a little slower than expected from Twilight Ultra Challenge where I ran 93KM in almost 16 hours. Although the running was fine, the travelling wasn't and I guess that may have been the cause for my recovery rate. Anyhow, when I finally managed to shake it off, I was back on track again doing what was necessary for the month, speed and interval training, something which left me breathless. That continued smoothly till I was hit by another bummer in the third week.

The third week of training was hampered by my "mobility". I can hardly move due to major discomfort at my "bottom". Am not disclosing it as it's a little embarrassing but I guess it's not difficult to guess what I went through since I did mentioned "bottom". Took a while to recover and while it didn't really affect my fitness, I did hope that I managed to recover well in terms of cardio and muscle recovery. I was a little behind schedule but I didn't ponder much about it. And when I recovered at the fourth week of the month, I went full swing again continuing at where I left off. And once again thanks to Jamie and the rest of the GC running group, a solid 32KM on the last Sunday of the month to mark the last of my "long" runs to close the month off.

Now with the fourth month of training done and dusted, and hitting a more than satisfactory level,  it's finally into the final fifth month and this is where I finally get to taper. Taper may sound easy and comfy but trust me that this month is going to be a mental one. Got to control the urge to run and train and let the body recuperate for the big day. Running distance will be reduced, intensity minimised and resistance training kept at bay, all done in sequence And nutrition will be as equally important to prepare my body. I am slowly gaining some weight back, in terms of fat and a little muscle mass and I hope that I will be able to get back to my "normal" body composition" in the next 3 weeks. It's going to be critical. Oh and before I forget, there is a slight change of my race gear which I will reveal in my next entry. I've been testing it for the last 2 weeks and hopefully, this change will proof to be a game changer.

So with perfect four months of training in the bag, bring on the food for the fifth and final training month! I mean running!