Prep week

I studied up on Mark Vestegen’s Core Performance Endurance last week and this week I have been going through the exercises in a dry run before starting training proper next week. The foundation of the program broken down into three elements; Power, Strength and Regeneration. Power days comprise three exercise; Movement Prep (think stretching) Prehab (think core workout) and Elasticity (think pylometrics) units along with Energy System Development (ESD, basically intervals dictated by heart rate zones). Strength days consist of Movement Prep which focuses on developing mobility and stability and ESD which builds cardio strength. The last element is Regeneration which is about active recovery and involves stretching and foam rollering and also has part specific areas; knees, hips, back etc.

I will be the first to admit the program is pretty confusing to start with and to be honest this is probably why I picked it up the book last year and put it back down again. This time I persevered and this week I have gone through the “floor exercises” and avoided the ESD, just to get a feel for them and figure out what is what. The nice thing is that they while they are prescribed you can push them to own limits, and already there are some things that I can do better than others; I can hold a Pillar Bridge Front for 2 x 1 minute, but struggle to hold a Lateral Pillar Bridge for 2 x 30 seconds. Some of the stretches I am familiar with and some of them are new along with the self massaging techniques both of which take a little time and effort to get correct. The nice thing is that there is a website where you can register and get a weeks free trial and have access to a library of videos showing you how to execute the move. I am still in the process of pulling together the training plan in terms of mileages etc and will have that complete in the next day or so. I need to incorporate 30 minutes of this Core Program into my total workout time per day, this already gives me 3 plus hours worth of training before I even put on my running shoes or get on my bike. The idea here is that I will work through the first 8 weeks and see how I feel before deciding on which race; Mt Disappointment or the Sierra Nevada Endurance Run.

On the shoe front, I might have made a breakthrough and have been walking about this week in a pair of Salomon XT Wings, (in sexy sorbet sherbet orange, that's my marketing genius at work!) and while they initially felt a little loose and the Kevlar lacing took some time to get used to, they seem to bedding in quite nicely. I’ll be taking them for a trail spin this weekend, failing that I did manage to score a pair of Montrail Continental Divides off the 'net for $40.00, that's a 65% discount, so fingers crossed that one of these will work; I really would like to get this shoe thing sorted out.