My original idea was to post multiple blog updates about my training for the Iditarod Invitational. Lots of the other racers do this, but few of them have both a full-time job and a full-time family. My angle was to be: how to prepare for a week-long race on only ten hours a week. It’s kind of the masochist’s version of 3 Minute Abs
Well, it turns out that there is a reason no one else has my angle. Its not very successful.
When I signed up for the Iditarod Invitational in early December, I was optimistic. My training had been on track for about two months, and I had already seen significant improvement in my fitness. I had almost three months left before the race, plenty of time to ramp up the training even further.
So much for that. Now, with only a month left until the race, I’ll be lucky just to get back to the shape I was in when I signed up. This is not how I envisioned my training.
Its been a series of unfortunate events over the past six weeks. First, we got stuck enroute from Alaska to New Hampshire for the holidays. A one-day flight turned into a week-long debacle, including five days holed up in a Portland, OR airport hotel. Ugh. Then we had two great weeks with family in NH and Vermont, but the training was less than ideal. Then I got sick soon after we returned to Anchorage and only started feeling better this week.
I managed to squeeze in a few decent workouts during that time, but for the most part I have been unable to log the long workouts (6 hours +) necessary for a 350 mile race. So I’ma little scared. My assumption has been that I have a decent base of fitness, so even without training I should be able to survive. But I’d rather not test that theory.
So now I’ve got one month to go, which basically means two big weeks of training then starting to rest up. Not a lot of time. Better make the most of it.
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