What's the plan Stan?
My totally flawless, guaranteed to work, vague outline for training for the ultra.
My self imposed week-long running ban has given me a lot of time to reminisce. I've been thinking back on those good-old days when I could run pain free, like a puppy loping along a beach with a stick in its mouth.
Okay, my training last year was definitely not like that all the time. I ran shit tonne last year, usually like 6 days a week. By the end, it was a massive drag. I was running the same routes over and over at the same pace and only occasionally doing faster workouts.
Despite the boredom, I guess it worked. I was as fit as a fiddle come October (too bad the race was postponed to December) and looked the part of an ultra-runner with some of that trade-mark gaunt.
I thought the gauntness was a great sign of fitness but opinions varied and mum in particular frequently commented on how ‘corpse like’ I looked.
Appearances and likeness to dead-bodies aside, I could run for hours no sweat - but god that training was BORING.
Running a shit tonne unfortunately just comes with the territory of an ultra. To paraphrase Shawn Bearden, (PHD exercise physiologist and ultrarunner who has a fantastic podcast called Science of Ultra) [1]: the most important part of training is consistency (not getting injured and having forced time off) the second most important factor is probably total mileage. I took the total mileage thing too far last year and didn’t pay attention to some important caveats. The mileage needs to be appropriate to your fitness and that actually enjoy. I was pushing beyond what I should have been doing and wasn’t enjoying a significant chunk of it.
This year, variety is the name of the game. *BAM* hill running *BAM* interval training *BAM* long run *BAM* weight training. This will not only make the running more enjoyable but could be better physiologically as well - exposing the body to different types of stress will have it adapt in different ways rather than get used to the same old pavement pounding.
The change is simple but hopefully effective. Reduce my runs to ~5 per week and do some cross training. The closer to the event I get, the closer training will reflect the actual race and become more specific. I'll do less speed work, elevation will increase and I'll get out on more trails.
Phase 1 - preparation and speed
Starting tomorrow - he says praying to which-ever minor deity abides over connective tissue (Atlanta - greek god of running perhaps?) [2] the official training programme begins!
The first four weeks will be about slowly increasing volume, gaining confidence and keeping a very close eye on that right ITB of mine. Things will be relatively flat, but I’ll work at speed and try to increase my VO2 max (VO2 max is essentially how much oxygen your body can use during exercise - it is a good general marker of fitness - more on this another day).
The theory is that a higher VO2 max raises the ‘roof’ so to speak, and by being able to run fast easier, then I’ll be able to maintain a slower pace with less effort - which is important for endurance. I think I should be hitting 60-70km per week by the end of this four weeks
Phase 2 - Specificity
The next 7 weeks will be about specificity. That is, running that mimics the actual event. The weeks will include at least one long run on the weekend (sometimes back to back long runs - think 40km/40km Sat/Sun), usually on the trails with some good elevation gain. During the week I’ll try to get in 1-2 session(s) of hard work in the form of hill sprints/flat intervals/tempo run. Then there will be 1-2 sessions of slow recovery stuff. To allow the body to adapt, I'll build up for a couple weeks then back off for a week. I'll build up from ~70km to 110km or so per week.
Phase 3 - Taper
The last three weeks are for dropping down the load, and allowing the body to recover before the race. The weeks will be something like 60%, 40%, 20% of the max volume achieved by week 11.
Extras
Cross training and Sauna will be peppered throughout the programme.
Cross-training: SQUATS. Strength training is good for injury prevention and running economy plus it may prevent a corpse-like exterior.
Sauna: Nothing pleases me more than sitting for fifteen minutes in an 85 degree sauna with a bunch of 60 year old geezers rambling on about house prices, their spinal surgery and local government. I consider this an important cultural experience. Aside from the terrible chat, saunas are touted to increase cardiovascular fitness, aide recovery and muscle growth. Their advocates also praise their ability to treat depression and anxiety, and improve general cognition.
I’m slowly working on a little review of the literature on saunas for running. From my initial reading - there definitely is some science backing up these claims. Anyway - it feels great, so in the meantime, I’ll keep up my three times a week or so sauna schedule with the old blokes.
This is a tight time schedule to get ready for an ultra. But my injury niggles give me no other choice.
The best laid plans
All this sounds great in writing but as I have already found out, very rarely does training go completely according to plan. The very best thing for your fitness is consistency, the type of training doesn’t mean diddly squat if you’re sidelined from injury. That means the real #1 goal is AVOID INJURY. Let me write that again just to remind myself… AVOID INJURY.
Experience has told me I am a terrible judge of whether a niggle is something I can just push through - so my default will be to sit it out. If I get injured because I kept running when I should have, you have my full permission to internet slap me.
With that, thanks for getting this far! Stay ultra average out there.
References to make you think I know what I’m talking about
[1] SCIENCE OF ULTRA. 2022. The Long Run — SCIENCE OF ULTRA. [online] Available at: <https://www.scienceofultra.com/blog//the-long-run> [Accessed 6 July 2022].
[2] Google search “Greek god of running”
A lot of the theory behind this post comes from the podcast ‘Science of Ultra’. Shawn Bearden has great conversations with coaches, athletes and researchers. I highly recommend checking it out if you want more of a deep dive into the theory.