Particular coaching for the occasion you’re tackling is clearly a smart factor to do. And but it’s one thing that always journeys folks up.
Within the build-up to this 12 months’s Tor des Geants within the Aosta valley, Italy, Kirsty Reade and Natalie White will share their coaching and preparations in a sequence of article centered on the race and mountain ultra-running.
The media reported, with incredulity, that Barkley Marathons finisher Jasmin Paris had accomplished 9 hours of hill reps within the snow within the early hours one morning. Add to the that she additionally tackled a simulated Barkley course that her household had created for her as a part of her coaching for the occasion, the general public noticed it as odd. Extremely runners had been most likely not that shocked.
Just a few years in the past I did a multi-day mountain extremely and met any individual who had executed all their coaching on the street. They proclaimed they’d be okay although, as a result of they’d run a sub 3 hour marathon. That’s quick, however nonetheless, they didn’t final lengthy within the race…
It ought to be that stunning that flat, quick coaching doesn’t all the time translate to health for lengthy days within the hills. In the identical manner that you simply wouldn’t count on to run a 5k PB when coaching for a mountain extremely. You would possibly, however provided that you haven’t up to date your PB shortly.
The speculation could appear apparent at this level within the article it’s one thing that may be troublesome to place into follow.
Attempting to be particular
I’m coaching for Tor des Geants in September, a 330k race with 24,000m of ascent, and specificity could be very a lot on my thoughts.
For the second that is going to narrate to my coaching week, what terrain I run on and my energy work, however as we get nearer to the occasion it’s additionally going to narrate extra intently to diet (what I’m going to eat at completely different occasions of the day within the race), sleep (doing a little evening runs and runs that mimic how I’d nap after which run within the race) and, probably most vital of all, spending a while on the precise race route.
One of many first issues I did with my coach (FR editor Robbie Britton) was work out what races I used to be going to do within the run-up to the Tor (or TDG). Or extra precisely not do.
I used to be already entered into the British lengthy distance races Northern Traverse and Lakeland 100 once I acquired the place in TDG. While Northern Traverse didn’t go to plan and the climate, partly, put paid to a ending the race for the second time, Robbie and I got here to the choice that Lakeland 100 can be a DNS.
While being pretty unhappy about not beginning certainly one of British greatest 100 mile races it’s not as particular as you would possibly assume to TDG (it goes over passes fairly than summits and many of the terrain is sort of runnable as compared). Add to that it’s somewhat shut by way of restoration (7 weeks), however, extra importantly, it could imply I miss some vital weeks of coaching when tapering, working and recovering the 100 miler.
Discovering my very own Italian Alps
By way of coaching I’m very lucky to reside on the sting of the English Lake District. Hills received’t be an issue! Even so I’m additionally heading as much as Scotland to get some even longer climbs in.
I’ve earmarked some hills as ‘the proper type’, eg Skiddaw with its lengthy, gradual, rocky path, and others as ‘the fallacious type’, eg Yewbarrow, a straight up grassy monster. Longer runs will soak up as lots of the ‘proper type’ of hills as doable, however hill classes will proceed to be executed on previous favourites with an elevation I can really run.
My coaching plan will embody some weekend adventures the place I do an extended, hilly run on a Saturday, refuel and sleep someplace for just a few hours after which keep on with one other lengthy, hilly run on the Sunday. This can be getting me prepared for the run, eat, brief relaxation, repeat nature of continuous multidays and getting used to working on drained legs.
More often than not it helps to be carrying all of the equipment I’ll have with me throughout the race as a result of I’ve made that mistake earlier than – beginning a race pondering ‘this bag feels actually heavy’, then discovering out it chafes your shoulders after just a few miles.
Paul Tierney within the 2021 Tor des Geants gathering some expertise to assist Kirsty sooner or later. Picture: Roberto Roux/TorX
Overlaying all bases
For my energy work I went to Paul Tierney, who assessed me and set me a TDG particular plan. He broke the race down into its key parts for me – “it’s mainly strolling uphill for a extremely very long time, then jogging some lengthy downhills and flat” – and labored out what I wanted to load with a purpose to put together for it.
Paul is a a number of finisher of TDG and the longer 450k Tor des Glaciers and one of the skilled and well-read energy and conditioning consultants on the market, and I belief his course of implicitly. We’ll be going into his method in additional element in a future article.
I’m actually wanting ahead to the following few months of coaching and preparation for TDG, principally as a result of a whole lot of it’s the stuff I take pleasure in doing anyway. When folks wrestle to coach with specificity for a race my first query is whether or not they have entered a race they’ll take pleasure in.
All too usually we will get swept up in coming into races as a result of different folks do them or they’re labelled as ‘bucket listing’ occasions, however we’ve all acquired completely different strengths, motivations and causes for doing races. And even when we actually need to do them, it won’t be the proper time by way of expertise or different issues happening in our lives that make particular coaching troublesome.
If you wish to give your self the most effective likelihood of succeeding in an extremely, whether or not it’s a flat 50k, a hilly hundred miler, or a multi-day mountain race, specificity is essential.
In case you’re inquisitive about racing in Italy then examine our the TorX web site with a number of of their races and extra data on find out how to observe the occasions this 12 months.
