1 Week - 7 Days - 175k - 20h+

Sorry guys i have been so busy with training last week. Here is a "Resume" of past week of training:

• Monday: 1H Hot Yoga
• Tuesday: 15k Tempo Run - 5k warm up + 5x(1k @ 320min/km with 500m rest) 2k cool down + 1H Full Body Weight Workout
• Wednesday: 30k Run in 2h30min @ 505min/km average pace
• Thursday: 15k Hill Run - 2k warm up + 12 x  (500m Hill) + 2k cool down + 1H Full Body Weight Workout
• Friday: 1H15 Hot Yoga
• Saturday: 65k Trail Run in 7H. Mostly ran in muddy, snowy, icy trails.
• Sunday: 50k Run in 4h15min @ 505min/km average pace

Overall last week i ran 175k half on hills and really demanding spring trails. In 7 days i ran the equivalent of 4 Full Marathon, I did 2H of Strength Training and a bit more then 2H of Hot Yoga. In TIME i was actively training for more then 20H.

Woke up this morning with almost no soreness in my legs and my energy level is still pretty high. This week its my biggest week of training before my 100 mile race coming up in less then 4 weeks. CAN'T WAIT!!!

Huge 2 Weeks. AND WHY?

Here we go! I'm currently in my last two HUUUUGE week of training. In the next 14 days I will:

1- Work full time @ The Gym, 40-45hours
2- Run 350km, on roads and mostly on muddy trails
3- Do4h of Strength Training
4- Attend 4 Yoga Class
5- Sleep 7-8h every night
6- Eat more than 6000 calories a day
7- Stretch & Foam Roll every evening
8- Drink more than 3L of water per day
9- Have only 2 drinks on Friday's and Saturday's with friends
10- LIVE THE LIFE OF AN ULTRAMARATHON RUNNER

"I wasn't born with any innate talent. I've never been naturally gifted at anything. I always had to work at it. The only way I knew how to succeed was to try harder than anyone else. Dogged persistence is what got me through life. But here was something I was half-decent at. Being able to run great distances was the one thing I could offer the world. Others might be faster, but I could go longer. My strongest quality is that I never give up" - Dean Karnazes

This seems ridiculous for lots of peoples. A lot of people ask me, WHY are you doing this? WHY are you running a100 mile race? WHY are you training so much? WHY are you running 10 hours in a weekend for training? WHY have you decided to do this?

WHY? In everyday life you will be tested. You will always have a path to choose. Some will decide not to react at all, some will take the easiest one and some will take the hard way. A lot of people are afraid to be tested. Majority of people in our days love the state of comfort. Those people are afraid or unwilling to demand the BEST of themselves. The struggling, the sufferings are the essence of a life worth living. If you’re not willing to overcome your fears, push beyond your comfort zone, demanding more from yourself, expanding and learning each and every day, your depriving your existence. You’re denying yourself from an extraordinary trip.

Taking the hard path means reaching the feeling of ACCOMPLISHMENT in any way. Whatever the outcome is, you know you did your absolute best!!! For the time you did succeed, you did cross that finish line, you became a different person. You've been forever changed by the experience. You motivated other and inspired many. You didn't do it for fame or recognition. You did it by passion and determination.

Now have YOU ever felt that in your life so far? If YES, just take a moment to remember how good did it felt? If NO, remember that life is a long adventure and that everyone has the power to succeed in their own way. So next time your tested really think about the path you want to choose. But remember just keep moving forward and never ever give up!!!

Recovery Week

So this week is my RECOVERY WEEK. After 3 intense week of training i always take a full week to recover. In the last 3 weeks i ran over 360km + 6x 1H Strength Weight Training + 3 Yoga Classes. During my recovery week i still workout 5x a week but less intense and less miles.This week ill be doing in total 50-70k, 2 Yoga Classes and 2 Strength Training. Let me explain to you the importance of recovery week:

To optimise your running, you need to find the ideal balance between running and recovery.

Hans Selye, a Canadian physiologist, stated that if you stress a body and let it recover, its performance will be enhanced. Miss out on the recovery, and it will become exhausted. An athlete may withstand a relatively great load of a particular exercise for which he or she has been trained, but more easily succumbs to other stressing agents such as colds and bacterial infections than the normal healthy person. A number of hard training weeks require a recovery week to allow supercompensation and improvement. Even if you have a hard day/easy day schedule, although energy levels will recover, muscle tissue repair will not. The ideal pattern is generally 3 hard weeks followed by an easy week. In summary, to ensure that you are optimizing your training from the point of adaptation, go for 3 weeks hard/1 week easy and also have a couple of recovery periods throughout the year, say of 3 weeks duration each. The effort you put into your running is too important to devalue by not giving yourself sufficient recovery.