Running to Think

As some of you know, I set my next race to May 17, Trail de la Lesse. A 50 km trail run nearby Liege in Belgium. One more time to "feel the hill", pumping lactate around the blood stream. One more time to feel alive.

Believe it or not, Christmas is over. And with Christmas also candies, chocolate (a bit less for those who already abuse sugar on a daily basis), cakes, sugar, fat, pasta, fish, meat, panettone, bread, cakes and cakes and cakes.
Every year I prepare myself for the toughest period of the year, that they refer to as Xmas. I even strategically try to lose weight around November to get below my regular threshold by December and be "normal" by January. It never works.
How can it work with a mother like mine, Italian from the South, who already thinks that I am sick just because I am fit.
Holidays are nice, cakes are awesome. But we are runners, aren't we? We need to crash our legs on the road and how could that be with a belly always full and hours and hours spent to digest?
The best way to stay fit in such conditions is of course to control yourself at the table, which, I know, can be extremely hard to accomplish. In the common case of failing in such an attempt, I found that some more cardio is always the best solution to save what can be saved. Slow-pace long-distance running allows one to burn fat slowly and steadily and should be done every day for the whole period of our dangerously unhealthy holidays. That is the price to pay for some slices of that cake we really cannot say no to.
I survived my holiday with 1 kg more on my weight. Not bad, considering how much fun I had at the table. My trick was in one word, cardio.
Do not draw any conclusion right after your holiday. Everybody is different and metabolism varies as well, as side effects of eating and the number of days after which you actually realise of your, well, new condition.  In order to assess the damage that you inflicted to your own body after so much food, you should wait one full week and keep your fingers crossed. Easy gainers are usually those who fall into depression when they end up on the scale. Caroline is one of them. Do not panic though. Easy gaining usually means easy losing. Moreover that extra weight that really annoys you could be water kept by your body due to salts and sugars, not just fat. Again: cardio is the answer.

What does cardio mean?

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Monday: 1h slow pace run + stretching
Tuesday: 45' slow pace run + stretching + 5 times sprints at 90% max on 100 mt + stretching
Wednesday: rest
Thursday:  1h slow pace run + 5 series of 20 crunches for abs. + stretching
Friday: 45' slow pace run + 15' faster
Saturday: 45' slow pace run + stretching + 5 times sprints at 90% max on 100 mt + stretching
Sunday: 1h slow pace run

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After this week of recovery, you not only should get back to your usual weight but also get ready to start your regular running schedule (with interval trainings and the like) or to your daily physical activity.

Happy 2015!

This summary will be short, for the reasons that will be clear in a minute.

21/04/2014
rest


22/04/2014

14/04/2014
rest

15/04/2014
I decided to spend some time into the forest. When I am in Leuven I miss Sart Tilman, and the other way around. Long story short, 13 km in the forest. But at a moderate pace of 4':30" per km.

16/04/2014
rest

17/04/2014
14 km again in Leuven. Decided to add some spicy hills of 300 mt at about 12% elevation. I couldn't do more than 6. Bad idea?

18/04/2014
Woke up with a sense of dissatisfaction. I was thinking of those hills of yesterday and to the reason for which I collapsed at the 6th. Went out for some more drills and went back home after climbing that 300 mt hill of yesterday 11 times, for a total daily milage of 18 km.

19/04/2014
Planned for an easy run of 15 km. Caroline decided to join. Caroline's father couldn't resist. Wanna know how this ended? 15 km with the guys and 13 with myself.
28 km was really not in the plan.

20/04/2014
7 km and stretching and rest. Damn week.



Total milage: 80 km 

Total milage 85km