Introduction
How do you train for a 4+ hour race?
The World Trail and Mountain Running Championships in Innsbruck would be longer and hillier than any race I had ever done. I had a few ideas on how I could train for it, but I wasn’t sure what would work and what wouldn’t.
I wrote this post mostly before the race, as I did for my Seville marathon post earlier in the year. It is a reflection on my training thoughts unbiased by the end result. A second post will follow with reflections from after the race.
Goals
I try to plan training based on a set of goals.
These goals mostly don’t relate to the end result. They relate more to the qualities I want to develop and what I want to explore in training. I still think about the result - it would be hard not to - but I find that having other things to focus on, as well as a target result, can take a bit of the pressure off.
I have focused too much on the result in the past. To the point where it feels like the only thing that matters.
It is really hard when it doesn’t go to plan.
I am trying to focus more on the process of training. Figuring out the aspects that have the biggest effect. Adding and removing details to change the focus.
For this race, I wanted to focus on improving my uphill running and fueling during long efforts. I thought I would be in a good place if I could nail those two aspects of my preparation.
Plan
I took two weeks for recovery after the marathon, then split the remaining time into two blocks, with a slightly different focus:
5 weeks - building volume and time in the hills
8 weeks - Long preparation runs and uphill running
I wanted to base my training on solid principles while exploring a few new ideas. The idea was to play around with the training, while keeping a core of things that I know work for me: threshold, strides and long runs.
A mix of higher and lower volume weeks, sometimes planned, but often adapted due to other commitments and how I feel during the weeks. I wanted to push the training hours up a little - which I think is safer when more runs are off road and hilly.
The basic framework of my training week was:
Monday: 40-50 Easy
Tuesday: 30–40 Easy including strides / Track Session (Threshold)
Wednesday: 30-40 Easy / 60-80 Easy
Thursday: 30–40 Easy including strides / Uphill treadmill
Friday: 30-40 Easy / 60-80 Easy
Saturday: Fartlek
Sunday: Long run - 2-3 hours on hills
I made some modification most weeks.
I shifted things around, skipped or shortened runs as required, and generally tried to ensure that I was training at an appropriate level - based primarily on how I felt. If I felt fatigued, I would take more recovery than planned.
This structure was a change to how I have trained in recent years. I moved from two harder sessions (Tuesday + Friday) to three (Tuesday + Thursday + Friday). Thursday’s session was very controlled most weeks - not hard, not easy.
The idea behind this change was to add a bit more intensity during the week. Similar to what you might do via double threshold training, but not as extreme. It also let me add a session which was uphill focused each week.
The session on Thursday was mostly uphill treadmill (or Stairmaster on two weeks). This seemed to be the best way to get more climb in during the week. The focus wasn’t necessarily on the aerobic gains from this session, but on conditioning my legs to run uphill. The idea was to run at the steepest gradient I could manage, which tended to tax my legs a lot more than my breathing or heart rate.
I did a mix of long easy runs (more towards the start of the block) and long steady runs (steady effort being around 3:30-3:40 min/km on the flat). I also combined the fartlek and long run at times, so that I ran the efforts in the long run (normally towards the end). The steady long runs were intended to be specific to the intensity I expected in the race (but not as long or as hilly).
My longest run was just under 4 hours. Not as long in time or distance as I expected the race to be.
I fueled during all of my long runs (easy or hard) - up to 100 g of carbohydrate per hour using a mix of drinks and gels. I didn’t manage this much on every long run, but I generally tried to up my tolerance to taking on fuel during the long run.
I was looking for the right mix to get me to Innsbruck feeling fit (in a general sense of running fitness) and prepared for the challenge (as much as I could be considering this was longer and hillier than anything I had done before).
Training Diary
In the 12 weeks prior to the final taper week I averaged 11 hours 44 minutes of running per week — 143.4 km (89.2 miles). I didn’t have any major sickness or injuries in the training block, but I had a couple of short stretches where I felt quite fatigued and had to cut back - from overdoing it in training or having busy periods at work.
Work impacted training during two weeks in particular. Both weeks required travel and came in the last four weeks of the block. Working out how to organize training around this is still something I haven’t figured out.
I averaged slightly less mileage (89.2 mi vs 94.3 mi), but slightly more hours (11h 44m vs 11h 30m) compared to my marathon training for Seville. This was because I was running less on road, and running more uphill (2760 m climb per week on average).
I did two hour long sessions running uphill on a Stairmaster in the Gym. I have included these in the running hours, but I haven’t logged any distance or climb for them (because I’m not sure how much distance I would have covered!).
Daily training duration (blue = running, green = strength):
Below is a week to week summary of overall volume and key sessions. My full training diary is here — I don’t tend to write much each day, so it isn’t the most interesting read!
Week 1: 10 h 31 m — 132.5 km (82.3 mi) — 2585 m
Th — 40 min Uphill progression
S — 20 min Fartlek
S — 2 h 50 m Easy hilly runWeek 2: 13 h 18 m — 160.5 km (99.8 mi) — 3850 m
T — 6 x 2 km (60 s)
T — 50 min Uphill progression
S — 4 x 7 min hills
S — 2 h 50 m Easy hill runWeek 3: 11 h 22 m — 146.6 km (91.1 mi) — 2270 m
Th — 2 x 16 Uphill treadmill tempo
S — 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 km (60 s)
S — 2 h 40 m Easy hill runWeek 4: 12 h 50 m — 154.1 km (95.8 mi) — 4270 m
T — 9 x 1 km (200)
T — 35 Uphill tempo
S — 3 h Steady hill run
S — 1 h 55 m Easy hill runWeek 5: 14 h 12 m — 146.8 km (91.2 mi) — 4250 m
T — 6 x 1 mile (60 s)
T — 20 min Fartlek
S — 2 h 50 m Easy hill run
S — 2 h 20 m Easy hill runWeek 6: 9 h 21 m — 126.6 km (78.7 mi) — 1040 m
Tired - no sessions
S — Race: 12 Stage Road Relays
S — 2 h Easy long runWeek 7: 12 h 19 m — 156.8 km (97.5 mi) — 1110 m
T — 3 x 2000, 1 x 1200 (60 s)
T — 60 Steady Stairmaster
Sa — 2 h 10 m Steady long runWeek 8: 12 h 28 m — 157.4 km (97.8 mi) — 2500 m
T — 10 x 1 km (200)
S — 2 h 50 m Steady hill run
S — 2 h Easy long runWeek 9: 12 h 14 m — 153.1 km (95.1 mi) — 1465 m
T — 3 x [1600 (60), 400 (45)]
T — 60 Steady Stairmaster
Sa — 2 h 20 m Steady long run with 10 x 1 min (2 min)Week 10: 8 h 49 m — 111.3 km (69.2 mi) — 2730 m
Work - No sessions
Sa — Race: Ultra Trail Snowdonia 25 kWeek 11: 13 h 20 m — 165.1 km (102.6 mi) — 3540 m
W — 3 x 14 min Uphill tempo (outdoors)
F — 1 h 35 m Steady with 8 x 1 min (2 min)
Su — 3 h 50 m Easy hill runWeek 12: 8 h 51 m — 111.2 km (69.1 mi) — 1940 m
T — 6 x 800 (800 float)
Work - no other sessions
Su — 2 h 10 m Steady hill runWeek 13: 11 h 51 m — 131.9 km (81.9 mi) — 4210 m
T — 8 x 800 (800 float), 4 x 200 (200 walk)
F — 2 h 50 m hilly with 34 + 14 min Uphill tempo
Sa — 2 h 30 m Easy hill run
How did it go?
Sat in my hotel room before the race, I am happy with my preparation.
It was a solid block with a lot of good sessions and training volume. It wasn’t perfect. It never is. I arrived at the race feeling fit, healthy and excited for the challenge - which is good!
It will be a challenge.
I tried to adapt my training to the demands of this race, but there is only so much I could do in a short space of time. Shifting my whole training onto the mountains could be difficult and risky. I have tried to find a balance with what has worked for me in the past.
Some of the trails I would be racing on:
I always look at my training and think I could or should do more - more sessions, longer long runs, more volume in the week. There isn’t much point in doing that without also being able to also recover from the training.
That challenge is something I will continue trying to figure out.
I think I am understanding more and more about the challenges of training for a longer distance. Fitting in enough specific work (long sessions at race effort) without overdoing it is a significant challenge. I think I could have done better and I have some ideas on how I might do this in the future.
As always, if you have any questions/comments/thoughts, please let me know. The purpose of me writing and sharing is to get better and I'm happy to have some of my opinions challenged - I definitely don't have all the answers!
Really interesting read, noticed that most weeks you kept one flat+fast track workout, I've been debating whether or not to do the same training for fellrunning. Why not also do this uphill like other key sessions?
Hey Kris, always love reading these blogs and congratulations on the race.
I wanted to ask about orienteers competing in these World Mountain Running races - a quick look over the last couple years I see yourself, Sasha, Cat, Judith Wyder, Tove, Fabian Aebersold, Joey Hadorn, Frederic Tranchand, Marten Bostrom - and I'm sure I'm missing a load more. Has it always been the case that so many orienteers have competed in these races and I just haven't paid any notice until now, or is there something causing a more recent shift for orienteers to compete (and in many cases do very well) in these events?