Road to 700 – Month 2

Training of the first month went well and I was able to continue the buildup in the second month as well.

For the Month 2, my focus was to improve strength, increase elevation gain and mileage. I also increased the training load and intensity gradually.

The New Thing

Starting this month, I started recording my strength training sessions as well — not so much to measure training load, but to track how much time I’m dedicating to training. I do believe,  we can not capture the actual training load of a strengthening session using a wrist watch. 

Strength training load has always been grey area for me. I’ve asked many runners how they quantify their strength sessions — how much is “enough,” and where to draw the line. The best answer I’ve received so far came from Gautam (Pondi) during an Instagram live session. He said that incorporating strength training into your routine is more of an art than science. 

So, I’m gradually increasing reps and weights while keeping the muscle soreness in check ensuring it never derails my speed sessions.
Since I am gaining more than 2000m elevation every week, with at least 1500m from hiking, I am not as aggressive in my strength training as I was previous year when all my runs were on roads with almost zero hiking.

Training in Month 2

1. I gradually increased my mileage and training load in Month 2.
2. Included longer speed sessions. A typical speed session was 60″ on / 60″ off intervals.
3. From the third week, I included 1Km reps in Z3 with 90″ rest. This is going to be continued in Month 3 as well, with increased reps and increased distance.
4. Increased the duration of hiking sessions. Most of my hiking was in Z3, when it should’ve been in Z2. In my defence, I had to find a sweet spot where I could finish my hike as soon as possible while ensuring that I do not push too hard as I had a limited time in hand. I needed to reach home quickly. In coming month this should change, as I’ll have more time to train. I’ll also shift my sessions to adapt to the heat, especially during hikes.
5. Started including plyometrics and single leg exercises. This is going to be more event specific in Month 3.

Graphs

Below are the graphs of few metrices – 

Base fitness increased with the load and came down a bit during the recovery week.

Next month’s focus would be to build strength while increasing the load. Load can be increased by increasing the intensity and mileage. My focus would be more on the mileage. Since my weekend long workouts are mostly hikes, so distance will not be the correct measure of my mileage, it would be the time on feet.

Challenge and Support

The biggest challenge I faced this month was lack of sleep. Thanks to my kids. I’m crossing my fingers for more shut-eye next month. 

But the real MVP behind my training was my wife. All my long weekend hikes were possible only because she took the effort to take care of both the kids when I was out jumping on the trails.