Welcome back!
I, like many, have found 2020 to be a most unusual year. Blighted by the pandemic, 2020’s races have one by one disappeared from the spring calendar.
I spent the first few weeks of lockdown running to enjoy my state-sanctioned daily outings. Then I turned to Zwift for structured training on the bike indoors and got a *bit* obsessive. Then I started running outdoors again, summoning the collective enthusiasm of my running friends to egg each other on. That saw me step up my weekly mileage from 5 to 70 miles, which is just not advisable!
After picking up the inevitably injuries associated with a sudden return to high mileage running, I decided to lick my wounds and support my local gym/fitness studi that had just reopened (plus I hadn’t cancelled my direct debit since lockdown!)
The F45 studio I’ve been attending over the last 7 weeks has been great for rebuilding my core strength, and I’ve rebuilt a few kilos of muscle that I’d lost whilst obsessively running (I’d dropped several kilos to my lightest adult weight, about 75 kilos). However, between the cycling, the running and the fitness classes, I’ve missed RACING! So much so, like a relapsing addict I found myself awake in the middle of the night, scouring dark corners of the web for a race… And I found one!
My criteria for a race was this:
- UK based to avoid air travel and quarantine
- Long distance, ideally an ultra
- Trail
- Hills
- Reputable race organiser with Covid risk assessment evident
- Race within the next couple of months!
“most runners would normally want more than 11 days to prepare for an ultra”
GeekintheHills
And there it was, the Maverick Ultra Peak District race later this September. Sure, most runners would normally want more than 11 days to prepare for an ultra, but this year has been anything but normal, so I’m psyched about toeing the line in two Saturday’s, with my 2020 training mashup as my race prep.
Will I be fast? No idea. Will it hurt? Probably? Will I try to savour every moment of this socially distanced race around the Peak District? You bet!
I’ll keep you posted on how I get on. In the meantime, this week I’m going to focus on short runs and continued high intensity workouts, and next week shall be my abrupt taper before the race.
Keep racing!
GeekintheHills
Geek in the Hills 