The Offseason

The Offseason

Following the ultra-marathon on May 23^rd I entered my 1-month offseason.  This was not a difficult decision as my every muscle from the neck down tortured me for 10 days with screaming pain.  I literally could not stand up normally from a chair for a week following the race.  In hindsight I should have spent more time stretching, foam rolling and on recovery spins, but instead I employed the advil and IPAs methodology which was enjoyable but didn’t speed recovery.

I planned to remain vegetarian for the rest of 2015.  This diet helped get me to the start line of the ultra in peak shape and racing weight and I felt no desire to resume eating meat.  This feeling lasted 10 days.  By the beginning of June I was back enjoying sausages, chicken wings, and poutine.  It didn’t help that Christina started eating meat again, and being the only veggie in the house was too much pressure!  So much for an ethical or nutritional commitment to a vegetarian lifestyle. 

The maniacal and borderline crazy focus during the lead up to the ultra-marathon had past, and just like post-Ironman in 2014 I had an opportunity to reinvest in family, friends and work commitments.  The first 2 involved lots of time on patios drinking beer and eating cheeseburgers, and the last meant not going trail running every day at lunch.  I thought I would have so much more time in the day, but that wasn’t the case.  With Jon Stewart retiring in August there was a lot of required catching up on The Daily Show!

At the end of my offseason I became infatuated with Western States, arguably the most famous 100-mile ultra-marathon in the world.  Running Western States was quickly added to my bucket list of races, with Ironman Hawaii and the Boston marathon already on the list.  To qualify for the Western States lottery you need to do a 100km or 100 mile race in a specific amount of time.  I hastily research 100km qualifiers across North America then picked 3 possible races for 2016 – 2 in California and 1 in Alberta.  The plan is to run one of them in 2016 then qualify for the Western States 2017 lottery.

In August we are moving from Toronto to North Vancouver, and our house backs onto Grouse Mountain so I plan to run mountain single-track vertical daily.  However, before leaving Ontario I wanted to do one more great trail race.  I picked the 28km Limberlost Challenge in Muskoka on July 11^th (see next blog posting for race report).  A 1-month offseason post-ultra brought me to June 23^rd, with not a lot of time to train or condition for Limberlost.  My hope was that my ultra-marathon aerobic and strength base would swiftly carry me to the Limberlost finish line.  Spoiler alert on the best laid plans….

As a student of periodization a well-planned offseason is an essential part of the annual training plan. I enjoyed the mental and physical break from training.  Without another “A race” on the calendar for 2015 I don’t have a specific training plan for the rest of 2015, which is a stark contrast to the past couple years.  I’d like to do a couple shorter trail races in BC this fall, perhaps 5-peaks Whistler. 

My love affair with trail running continues, especially with the pending move into the mountains.  I haven’t stepped on a scale, done core or strength work, or used my GPS watch since May 23^rd and am very happy.  There will be plenty of time for micro-cycles, negative splits and calorie counting, but until then I’m really enjoying my offseason!