My approach this time was a little different in that I also incorporated a fairly considerable strength training component. Conventional wisdom has said for some time that weights for endurance athletes should be low weight, high reps. More recently, some people such as Mark Twight and Alex Viada point out that that structure of reps and weight best trains muscular endurance, which is probably best trained with sport-specific training (running, in my case). The idea that it's rarely harmful to be stronger is gaining some popularity - although there are obvious caveats, which I'll discuss later.
Anyway, my training plan was based around two nights per week in the gym and four runs per week. The run length for each session was based on the length of the long run to be done on Saturday, on the long run length was calculated based on building up slowly to a 40 km long run four weeks before the race. During the week, Saturday was the long run, Tuesday was a hilly or fast run (sometimes Fartlek, sometimes intervals) with a distance approximately one third of the long run, Thursday was a run half the length of the long run and Sunday was a recovery run (not always done), one quarter of the length of the long run that week. Despite the inclusion of weight training in this plan, running was always the priority - so where I had to miss a session for whatever reason, I always made sure I got my run in. The long run, and building a good distance base, was always the most important part of the plan.
The weight training portion used a bastardised 5/3/1 progression (you can find some information here and here), based around squats and overhead press on Monday and deadlifts and bench press on Wednesday. In the scheme of things, my lifting is never going to set the world on fire, but I did get my deadlift up to 125 kg for a triple, my squat to 95 kg for a double, my bench to 65 kg and my press to 47.5 kg. As I say, not hugely impressive, but if my aim was to get huge and just strong, I would have been both training and eating a lot more. Rather, my aim was to get stronger without necessarily putting on a whole bunch of weight. I'm not sure exactly what I weighed when I did my previous ultra, but I think I usually hovered somewhere around about 65 kg or so. Now I hover around about 70 kg. My buddy Brendon, who recently did a 3:08 marathon, weighs about 63 kg at about the same height. Anyone who knows him will know that it's certainly not my arms where I have the extra weight on him, it's mostly on my legs. I feel that it's a huge advantage having stronger legs for trail ultras, especially in one as hilly as the North Face. I can stomp up stairs like the Terminator, and where the stair sections are so long that I have to stop and walk (almost everyone walks in trail ultra), I can keep on trucking pretty fast. The other thing that I've gained is much, much better core strength. As a climber, I liked to think that my core was pretty strong, but it probably never really was - at least not compared to now. Deadlifts and squats help build serious strength in both the abs and lower back, and this helps me maintain form longer when I'm tired.
One of the potential downsides of strength training is that you get heavier. Mark Twight says "You have to carry the engine", and simply being huge is not what you're after. As I've already discussed, I'm probably a little bit heavier than what's ideal, but I think there are payoffs. Not least of which is that I just feel like I'm less likely to get injured. One unforescene downside of bigger pecs was increased nipple chaffage. The only remedy for that that I found is bandaids, and that's not compatible with a very hairy chest. Too much information?
The other potential drawback is that training with weights takes away time that you could be running. In his Reddit AMA, Alex Viada talks about the importance of cutting out "junk miles", that is just going out and running relatively short distances at sub-tempo pace. Again, I think the advantage of being less prone to injury that lifting can give you makes up for any loss of overall weekly milage - nothing affects your ability to train more than being broken.
I think the plan worked quite well. I do feel a little bit underdone, because I developed a bit of an Achilles issue after my 33 km run (theorettically two weeks before my longest training run), six weeks before the race. This necessitated taking a week off, and meant that I did 26 km instead of 40 in what was meant to be my peak week. I followed that with a solid 25 km of trails around Manly Dam the weekend before last though, and felt strong and fast. If I were to change anything, it would be how I programmed my deads and squats as my milage increased. When I got to a point where I felt that lifting too much might compromise my running, I dropped the weight by about 20 % and just switched to a 3x3 rep scheme. I think that this wasn't perfect, but I didn't find that muscle soreness affected my ability to do quality running training. I'm not as strong as I'd be if I was just lifting, but I don't fell I'm going to be much slower than if I was just running.
My A goal for the race is sub-6 hours, which equates to an average pace of a little over 7min/km, which sounds slow as shit until you see the course profile.
There are some serious fucking hills in that badboy, and sub-6 hours is probably going to be about the top 10-15 % of the field. My basic aim is to try and get to about the 36km mark at an average pace of 6.30min/km, which will then mean that I can average about 9min/km for the final 14 km. My B goal is to go sub 6:30, which according to the organisers is likely to put me in the top 25 % of the field. My C goal is just to finish the thing inside the cutoff time.
I'm planning to carry 12 gels (Gu is my preference), a bag of jelly snakes and sour squirms, and a bag of biltong for protein and fat. I will also have a litre of Gatorade and two litres of water. People on Cool Running suggested topping up on liquid at the 28 km aid station, but I'll see how I'm going.
In terms of how I feel, I'm a lot more confident about this one than I was coming into the Six Foot Track Marathon. I feel like I'm better trained and much better prepared. For those who are interested, I'll try and put up some thoughts on how the race actually goes.
1 comment:
Are sour squirms paleo?
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