Monday, 5 March 2012

Training for an Ultra - Part 1.

Mainly because of a bio mechanics problem - now sorted - with my left foot and an unexpected collapsed vein problem in my right leg - again now sorted - I have not been able to run any meaningful distances since the summer of 2006. The meaningful distance back then was a 100K footrace called the Mongolia Sunrise to Sunset and for which I trained by doing other ultra races such as the now defunct Thames Meander, a 54 mile footrace that followed the Thames Path from Reading to the outskirts of London. This year, the year of 2012, I have decided is the year to try and run an ultra again and to that end I have entered a new ultra event called 'The Wall Run' - a 69 mile race/run that follows Hadrian's Wall from Carlisle to Newcastle. My enthusiasm for this race must have been infectious at the time, as a friend of mine who has never run in an ultra event before, has also entered this race on the proviso that we 'do it together'. Given that she is a top level Physiotherapist who not only lectures on the subject at University level but also practices her craft at World and Olympic events, I'm happy to oblige!

The training then...

Back in 2006 and before that even, I did my own thing training wise, relying on specific books and information gleaned from Internet sources, such as the Dead Runners Society to work out what it was I should be doing. Today I still I am still doing that but I also have a personal running coach who provides me with weekly running/training schedules that, I hope, will help me reach my goal - he thinks I'm mad by the way and that runs over the marathon distance are mad too. I ignore his opinions about ultra running, mainly because he was a top notch fell runner in his younger days, which in my view makes him madder than me. This regular weekly training consists of a mix of run types - i.e short recovery runs to long 'n slow plus thresholds and Kenyan hills. In between these runs I am expected to do cardiovascular and strength training at the gym. Oh, and I get a rest day too. Back to back running is slowly being introduced into my training, as it is essential that me and my body, especially my legs and feet, get used to the idea of relentless forward progress. On my home running grounds I have got up to doing a 3 hour run one day followed by an 1 hour run the next. Soon I'll be pushing this up to 5 hours and 2 hours and I'll be doing this over the Cleveland Hills in North East England with my buddy and some of her local friends. I think that's going to be a lot harder! I'll tell you more later.