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There are many ways to mix walking into your long runs and ultra distance races. This has numerous benefits: more even pacing, faster recovery after, gives time for fluid and food intake, gives the running muscles a break, and lets you look more at the scenery !
Some of the schemes by which one can do this are:
If you work on your power walking in training, you will get faster with less effort, and figure out the scheme that works best for you. Some people prefer long walking breaks, others short ones, some like timed schedules, others go by the terrain.
Good luck with your training and racing !
There are several different types of hill workouts that one can put into your ultra training schedule. Here I'll try to briefly describe each, their purpose, and how to in general design a hill workout. A word of caution: be sure to start out with just a few reps at a moderate effort for the first couple of sessions, and then build up from there. Running uphill does work your musculature and connective tissues differently than flat running. Try for progress over a number of weeks.
The basic types of hill workouts are:
To design a hill workout, you must decide on the number of repeats (hard ups or downs) to do, the effort level of the repeats, the grade of the hill you want to run, the recovery time between hills (somewhat dictated by the terrain for a fartlek), and the total length of the workout. I suggest starting with 3-5 repeats of short or moderate length at 85% of max effort (about what you would do during a 10k race), with recovery time at least as long as each repeat takes (until your heart rate gets back down below a normal long run number - say 65% of max), on a moderate grade (3-5%), with a total workout time of an hour or so.
Do the workouts for 6-8 weeks, one hill session per week. Add one or two repeats per week, and look for hills slightly steeper as you go along. You should notice a difference after this period of several weeks. The purpose of running the hills is to:
For more info on hill training, check out the April issue of Runners World. Be careful of lower leg connective tissue and musculature (such as achilles tendons and calf muscles), as this area takes a lot of force on the uphills. Have fun on the hills, and enjoy the view at the top ! You will have earned it.
Shawn (a.k.a. Spunky)
I thought I would send you all some tips regarding running in hot weather as summer is almost here. There is a good article by Jeff Galloway in the June issue of Runner's World that is worth looking at. Training long distances does require a few adjustments, which I will discuss. The best general advice (as always) is to allow your body to adjust slowly, and monitor for warning signs of a problem developing (in this case dehydration or heat exhaustion). Keep your hydration up by drinking regularly (cold water and electrolyte drinks) in amounts adding up to 20-30 oz. per hour.
Here are the tips, in no particular order of importance. Try them in shorter training runs, and then in longer training runs, to see if they might work for you in races.
The bottom line is to use common sense, stay in tune with your body, and make adjustments depending on the weather. Summer is a great time to be running and many ultrarunners do most of their training and racing then. Good luck to you all this summer; see you out on the trails !
Happy running !
Shawn
O.K., so you entered an ultra coming up in a few weeks or months and wonder, what now ? Well, other than getting out for training runs, one of the key factors to success (however you personally want to define that) is a good race plan. Knowing how to set realist goals is a part of that plan. I make the following suggestions to help you get started in developing the plan and goals:
Some of the details in your plan will depend on what goals you set. I use a system of three goals in one, which is developed in detail in "The competitive runners handbook" by Bob Glover. These goals are termed "acceptable", "challenging", and "ultimate". Goals can be whatever you want, depending on your individual tastes and background. They can involve time, distance, finishing the event, giving your best effort, or learning a few things. To give an example, when I ran my first 100 miler (Vermont '92), I had the following goals:
With a solid, detailed race plan and patience, I was able to meet the challenging goals and one of the three ultimate goals, with a 15% slowdown the second half. Also helpful was to have intermediate goals such as splits to aid stations and feeling ok at 50 miles; hitting these goals enroute helps the confidence and is more managable mentally.
After the race, be sure to review your race to see where you might improve, including what you can do differently in training, planning, and goal setting. Ultrarunning is a sport of trial-and-error, so have fun learning and with consistent planning you can and will improve.
Happy trails,
Shawn
One way that I like to sketch out a training program for a key upcoming race is to think in terms of training phases. These are periods of time where you have particular goals and emphasize one or more types of training. Some of the reasons that one might use training phases (or periodization) are:
There are in general 5 training phases. Each has a different focus, sets of goals, and particular types of workouts that are stressed. These phases are, in order as you proceed through them:
During the endurance phase, you build a base of fitness by doing plenty of aerobic exercise (running and cross training) in your training effort range (generally 60-75% of max. heart rate). There is a gradual build up in the amount of training per week and month, and in the length/duration of your long runs. The strengthening phase involves adding hill runs and some weight training so you improve your leg strength. Sharpening is a period of somewhat reduced mileage, where you combine the endurance, strengthening, and some faster speed workouts to reach a higher level of fitness. Thus, the quality is there and increased, while the training load is somewhat (20% by time) reduced. Next, you taper for a short period of time to rest for a key race. For a period of a few to several weeks after the race, you run and do other activities at a reduced, easier level, to rebuild your body and energy stores and recover after the race. Part of this last period is a time each year where you take a break in your training schedule and do less running and no hard training. Training phases provide a framework as you plan towards a key race. Consider your goals for each period and what particular types of workouts can help you reach those goals, as well as the specific features you will face in your key race.
In the coming months I'll have more to say about each particular training phase and the types of workouts that are the focus in each period. These components help you to have a plan for a long term training program (of several months) for an upcoming race while maintaining flexibility in shorter time frames.
Happy trails,
Shawn
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