It has been kind of a weird fall for me. With no big hairy audacious goal, my running has been steady, but I'm not sure if I'm making any gains. I would guess not, as a faster tempo run this past weekend had me still feeling sore 3 days later. I've consistently been climbing at the gym twice a week and there are some weeks where I feel like I'm progressing, other sessions are just blah and I'm failing on routes. Listening to Alex Honnold talk on the Some Work All Play podcast this week made me think, is it better to focus on one thing or have fun and work on multiple activities? He made the obvious point that running is terrible for climbing. Climbing in my experience is great for running, especially in races that require poles, because it makes the upper body strong. But running is definitely not great for climbing. I've noticed that on days where I run long in the morning, my climbing in the afternoon is mediocre to terrible. That said, it's a hard choice for me. I feel like if someone made me choose running or climbing, I'd choose climbing. I love running, of course, but climbing movement feels more natural and enjoyable to me. Running can sometimes feel exhilarating, but the moments are fleeting and often for me, it takes a very long warm up to get to the point where running feels good. I also feel like I could make a lot more progress with my climbing if I could add a third session per week, but there's just no time. Without the constant, consistent stimulus of climbing, it's very easy to regress. Just this week, I had a session where I could not complete a hard route that I completed weeks ago. I go back and forth about trying to climb harder and harder grades. There are some days where I don't worry about the grades and just climb fun, easy routes. I guess that gives me a good workout, builds stamina and it's just fun. But then with climbing, there is the challenge of trying harder routes, which is part of why I love climbing. Sometimes, it's just a puzzle to solve. It doesn't require more strength, necessarily, just studying the route, trying new body positions or other climbing technique to be successful.
I guess all of this rambling is to say, it's difficult for me to know how to structure my fitness goals at the moment. I did sign up a for a 6 hour race, but that's not until mid-May and the big race of next year, Lavaredo, isn't until June. I definitely want to also get in a day of climbing in the Dolomites, so I will have to maintain some level of climbing fitness for that. Running mileage for me has been low, about 20 miles per week. This week, it'll be even lower since I think I'm finally getting the cold that's been going through the house. One good thing about this time of year is that since it's so cold, shifting my hours later at the farm isn't a big deal. That means I don't necessarily have to wake up super early and I can get a run in after I drop the kids off at school. Maybe that should really be the goal for the next month or so, getting enough sleep, eating better and just maintaining a good aerobic base for running. It's always difficult for me to control my pace. If I feel good, I want to push the pace, but that's not great for aerobic development. I need to make an effort to keep my runs very easy, throwing in a few strides here or there and some hill workouts once in awhile. Last week, I did find some climbing specific strength exercises so I will incorporate those into the strength-training and mobility session that I do every week for running. Finally, it's always good to be attuned with what's happening with my body and be willing to adjust accordingly. This is the season of getting sick and I need to be willing to back off if my body isn't 100%, I might also take some advice from David and Megan Roche and try to run more days per week, but lower mileage per run. Let's see how this all goes. I don't really need to start my next official training block until the end of January, so it'll be a long base-building period. Hoping to do just enough to maintain the running fitness that I have.
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