ouch

The axiom “if it doesn’t hurt preparing, it isn’t worth achieving” is kind of smacking me right in the face this evening.
In preparation for the Northern Nipmuck in a few weeks and with the absence of ability to hit the road for my LSDs (due to rain, extreme wind, cold, hockey games etc), I’ve ramped up the 10% rule a bit while training on the bike weekends.
Today marked a time-based mock race of 2:40 minutes at moderate / high intensity with a mock stop and restart at 1:20 just like the NN16.
That should be enough for adrenaline to carry me the last bit across the finish line at NN16.
And my legs are not liking me right now.
Well, let me rephrase that ~ they’d let me know how the *really* feel if they would just bend a bit.
I also understand why cyclists prefer not to sit down much after their workouts.
And why they typically don’t eat chili for a few days after a long ride.
Certainly, running for a set time and cycling for a set time create two very different and distinct demands on the body. The pounding on the joints is just not there with cycling. Going longer is *much* easier.
But not easy.
But is *is* nice having quick access to water, GU, nuun, NHL games of the week, AMC movies etc.
But the road calls soon enough.
I am hoping that 2 road LSDs plus the weekday interval training provides enough to get me through NN16 at sub 3 hours.
Plus, with daylight savings time, after work runs are now a distinct possibility.
This has been such a minimalist training spring with such good preliminary results, that I am very encouraged. The amount of time spent actually running is under 2:30 each week right now, but that doesn’t include the 2:40 bike. Still, around 5 hours each week seems to be building my endurance and speed and still allowing me to have some semblance of a life.
But this is just the pre-season.
Somewhere out there is a short ultra just calling my name.
Which will mean much more preparation pain for something really worth achieving.