Trail Maraton Training Plan 01 - The BASE

This will be your training and racing plan for races between 30 and 50km with 1500 to 3000m of elevation gain. I mean, that this will give you some ideas on how to think about this distance.

Let me propose a couple of rules, that are very crucial to think about. There is a 20/20/20/20 marathon rule. You train for 20weeks, where you do 20 consecutive 20milers as a long run and you start tapering 20 days out, what is 3 weeks minus your race day.
Then, there is the long run percentage rule. It depends on which school your coming from it is either max 20 or max 30% percent of total mileage and either part of the mileage or plus your mileage. So Basically if your week is 100km total, your long run should be around 30km. Or the more professional you go: if you ran 100km this week, you are allowed to have a 30km long run.

Then there is the elevation gain idea, that coming out from your base training, you should be very very comfortably do your total race elevation gain and loss during the weeks of training.

Why are these rules that are actually smart guidelines ? The marathon rule suggest that you should be not running more than 2 races a year, that your long run is ultra important, the distance of that long run is also important. Staying consecutive is crucial and recovering after such a long and efficient build is necessary.

Then there is the percentage rule of long run. It is in place simply, because if you did not build up enough leg resistance, aerobic capacity, tendon elasticity, nutritional plan, hydration strategy to sustain 20 weeks of long running, well, you should not be long running. 20 to 40km a week of running will give you health, but not resistance and reliability to run long on either trails or road. You don’t have enough mitochondria, your glycogen store is low, probably your foot stride is not correct and also you are probably not interested in running itself. That is not a problem ! This is an inclusive sport, but it is not for everybody. Either you do it properly or you’ll suffer the consequences sooner or later. These consequences can be even lethal in some cases or can result in lifelong debilitating pain and suffering. No, not a joke. I know so many runners that ruined their life, simply because only cared about running and racing. No planning, no technique, no strength and conditioning, over racing, over cooking, no warming up or cool-down, no preparation, loads of low energy or dehydrated runs. Champions come and go !

Then there is the elevation rule. Simply, how do you imagine running up and down 3000m, if you cannot do it in 300 to 500m proportions throughout the week. It is not going to happen.

Then there is one more important factor. Interest. You gotto be curious about the race. It should motivate you for some reason or other. It can be a deep motivation to beat fellow competitors. It can be a curiosity of pushing your inner limits. It can be being afraid of getting out alone, but want to discover a special area. It can be speed, brutality of terrain that can call you. Either ways, you need more motivation, than simply choosing something from a calendar.

As an example, my motivation for racing has been totally down for almost 3 to 4 years now. It is still. I still race, simply to meet friends, to have some challenges and to do some specialized training time to time and to not to sink into the routine. On the other hand, this gives me enough fitness to do what ever I want in the mountains. Last year was a dream. I had a couple of outings, I think around 4 of them, that makes me dream. I ran an out and back route to the St Barth from Villeneuve. It is around 32km with 2200 of elevation gain. The interesting thing about was, how easy I felt all the way, running light and fast. Jogging all the time, with low heart rate. No muscle tension even on the steepest slopes. On the downhills I was flying, absolutely enjoying myself.

The PLAN

BASE

No matter where you start, you should still have a base. Around 4 weeks. During these weeks, you build up mileage. Don’t forget about our rules. Your long run is crucial ! If you were a low mileage runner, that is okay, turn miles into time. You can do some longer more technical hikes with a heavier backpack, building up from 3 to 5-6 hours. Maybe covering only 15 to 20km, but the time spent on feet will be paying off. It is not ideal, if you were looking for speed, but to complete the race, it is good start and a great compromise.

During these 4 weeks, you’ll be building mileage, long run and start including speed into your training. Shorts bursts of speed. These training sessions will be carrying on for life. Crucial for marathon runners, 10k runners, ultra and trail runners.

Uphill accelerations

These are very short post run drills, with quality power output and super nice form. From 7 seconds to 30 seconds. The idea behind these is to train your tendons and muscles, posture and breathing and also most importantly to stimulate your nervous system. These are not sprint, but very fast running repeats, with definitely adequate recovery. I might even include them into the post run jog home. I have 5 hills and on each hill I would do a 20 second uphill striding, having the track form of Mo Farah in my mind ! Knees driving, arms pumping uphill, heels are popping up, alexander pose.

I do for sure two shorter ones every week, like 7 x 7 seconds and 10 x 13 sec. Also one longer one, probably after my regular 20min tempo. That can be 6 x 25sec.

My peak power output can be at around a vertically adjusted pace of sub 3:00/km. I know, cause when doing flat speeding, I reach at around 2:30 to 2:40/km top pace. Most athletes think it is fast and actually it is, but not as top speed. Running 6 x 200 @ 28-29 was a very hard workout back in the day with at least 6min rest inbetween. Right now I am talking about 25sec of acceleration where you reach that sort of speed for 1 or 2 seconds and not that you would hold that for the integrity of the repeat itself. When doing the shorter accelerations I do not look at the pace ever, as GPS cannot pick up the signal that fast anyways, but even for the longer accelerations, the watch is not my guide and I don’t have a pace goal in mind ever. Simply, I gave you an idea about the power output to make these beneficial.

Neuro muscularly they are fantastic, especially for speeding up recovery and gaining back speed. They do not compromise training and racing. If you felt sore, slowed down, tense or fatigued, you either did them too fast, with not enough recovery or too long. Literally I do these sometimes even 5 to 6 times a week. Finish off a run. 5 x 10 sec, off you go. Working in the garden, chopping wood in the afternoon, hopp, I am already warmed up with my whole body. I just get out on a 2 km jog and do 10 by 8 sec steep uphill !

Do not over do it ! I remind you, these are muscular reminders. The benefit comes from doing them regularly. More is never better. More often is better ! Volume means nothing. Technique and regularity is everything. 4 shorter sessions a week lifelong is ruling longer sets with setbacks and injuries ! These are to prevent injuries, so injuring yourself during injury prevention is sort of silly !

Tempo

These should also be included into your base training. Maybe in the beginning you might want to do tempo intervals. If you don’t know, what are these you might want to do it like flat, to dial it in. If you can ran a 2:48 marathon what is 4:00/km, your tempo run can be around 3:40 to 3:50/km pace.

If you were a seasoned 40yo an your max HR is 180, we talk about 155 to 160heart rate.

4weeks of BASE

W1 60km total * 6 days a week * D+1000m

• 3 acceleration sessions – 6 reps max and 10 sec max

• 1 tempo run of 3 x 4minutes

• Long run of 15km

W2 65 km total * 6 days a week * D+2000m

• 3 acceleration sessions – 6 reps max and 12 sec max

• 1 tempo run of 4 x 4minutes

• Long run of 18km

W3 70km total * 5 days a week * D+1500m

• 2 acceleration sessions – 8 reps max and 15 sec max

• 1 tempo run of 2 * 7 minutes

• Double day Long run of AM16km + PM4km

  • Make the two days off consecutive, like a long weekend

W4 80km total * 7days of running * D+2000m

• 3 acceleration sessions – 6 reps max and 20 sec max

• 1 tempo run of 1* 10minutes

• Long run of 22km

Normally, coming out from a short, intensity controlled, base like that, you should be itching to be training more, better, faster. You should be fresh with zero fatigue. If this was not the case, you might need more experience and more years of training before a 40km race. A longer base. More time off between races. You know, even if the bump in training is way too high and way too sudden, proper knowledge of recovery methods, nutrition and hydration can totally offset that. Massage, flexibility, stretching and more. Right now we don’t talk about strenght training, but I will keep these training plans ans slowly will build up an entire system, with included strength routines too.

The next chapter will be about fitness and trending towards the most important, race specificity phase. 

[CONTINUE to PART 2]

Race Fuelling

First of all, let me clarify here. All of my content is written by me. I don't even run AI to correct it. I don't care if it was formulated badly, as I am not a native English speaker. I don't care abut typos. I am a human. At this moment I don't have time, I still use some AI images, but as soon as I have the time, I will replace them, with my own images. I will freshen them up in GIMP or something. So no AI for me, just quality, real, human content. 

Let's get down to race fuelling and get a good grip on what is going on right now and since the beginning of the need for fuel. And the need for speed of course. 

A quicky here: in the 80s we thought to have a max capacity of sugar absorption topped at around 30g an hour, as when athletes took more, they got bloat, vomit and more. Then we realized that mixing in fructose, we can enhance this by using 50/50 or 60/40 glucose to fructose solutions. Maple syrup is around 50/50. Then some athletes started experimenting with 90g in the early two 2000s and that became somewhat of a norm, using a mixture of gels and drinks. Some swearing about super starch, vitargo, waxy maze while others just doing gels. The thing is that we still could not point our hand really on why some athletes get extraordinary performances and others puke their guts out. The high carb craze started to get formed. Triathlon and Cycling was always leading the way. 

Well, it is simple. Gut training as a first line of defence. However, 20 years ago, products were so shitty that you could train your gut as much as you wanted, battery acid stays battery acid. You either puke or you don't. I tried at least 40 brands and 100s of mixture combinations. Why ? I am a big guy. Right now 90kgs. Racing balls to the walls for 6hours needs fuel. Loads of it ! Back in the day, what I have found was the High5 ISO. That was a much bigger gel than all, simply by adding more water to it. Sort of hydrogel. It was smoother on the stomach. I had my first race of 63km in very hot conditions on very technical terrain, beating pro runners, using that gel, 4 of them each hour. I think it was either 2009 or 2010. Due to my extensive cycling work, riding 30+ hours a week as a guide on yearly average, I had a lot of endurance and very low heart rate. I was running this race, really huffing and puffing all the way, but over did the fuelling and did not eat anything during the last 90min. Just did some coke and sparkling water. 

GUT TRAINING

What is the limit if sugar intake ? What is the limit of absorption ? Weight and  energy consumption ? 

Actually and unfortunately, the digestive system of natural, bigger athletes, is not proportionally bigger, than of smaller ones. That is true to their heart and lungs too. I am not sure about blood volume, but I believe that bigger athletes have more blood, more blood vessels, more liquid and more lymphatic fluids, need more water. It looks like a normal setup as science states that the limiting factor of human endurance is neither heart nor lungs, but blood. 

This simply means that bigger runners, might not be able to take in more carbs than smaller ones, despite that their energy needs are much higher. So, the bigger you are, the higher end you must push, in case you want to go fast and long. 

I will give you some rules, so you can dial in your race fuelling and test out some ideas. 
1g of carbs / kg / hour when running at your zone 2.  So as a 40yo athlete if I ran a race at like 180-40 heart rate, what is 140, I would take in around 80g of carbs an hour, if I was running an even race and would be 80kg of weight. 

I would take in the same calories for sub 4hour races of varying efforts, like high performance trail running. Except I would definitely have breakfasts, and would distribute calories dialled in to the effort and terrain, temperatures and conditions. 

45 to 60g for the first hour if no big climbs, then 90 - 135 depending on pace and climbing. Right now what I practice is before 45min climbs I take in 90 at once and keep on fuelling normally onwards. I don't have an issue anymore with that. I just squish 2 * 45 , get even an apple sauce pouch with also 20g of carbs in it and go. Climb. If I had only descending and some flat running for the last hour I would take zero gel, but 3 to 4dl of coke in an aid station. If it was 10km dead flat or climbing involved, I would still definitely take in a gel. I often have a smooth hydrogel that is lighter on the stomach and lower in calories for this final section. 

Right now cyclists can take over 200g an hour in some special cases and some runners push 145g for 10 hours+ 

You need to understand, that it is not only gut training, but aerobic training. You need output, the suck in the sugar. You cannot run 110 beats a minute and absorb the solutions. Not going to happen. So you need to be pushing it. In training, that is the same. I take gels in 3 or 4 situations. 

• I am exhausted or under fuelled during the day. 
• I am doing intervals.
• I am doing long run 

So if I did an intermittent fasting day and want to run twice, like midday and evening. I would take a gel before each run. I would also take two or 4 gels during a 90min interval session. Depending on the goal of the session. If gut training was an objective, I would get in 4 x 45g. If simply executing the intervals properly, practising race pace and reaching speed goals, I would just fuel the session. Like take a couple of 25g hydrogels and that is it. 

I order my gels in bulk. 90 to 100gels at once. I also use maple syrup too, especially summer time. I make sure I take in and force fluids too. With salt ! How much ? 500 to a liter an hour, or more. That is one of the best training methods I found. You finish a training. Arrive home. Jug down 1L or 1.5L of water with tons of electrolytes and 50g of vitargo. Get back out for 15min tempo right away and finish off with 10min jog. That works like a charm. What it does it actually, trains your stomach and gut, to not throw up, nor to s..t yourself. It is also not too long and not too fast to hurt you. I helps you recognize burps. Which burp is a burp and which burp is a slow down for a sec here.

I am not going to tell you which gels I am using, as it is cheap, simple, without chemicals, anti doping clean sports certified most importantly and it works. It costs 1/5 of the price of 1 SIS beta. For 9.99 I can get 16 x 45g gels. That is an awsome deal for something that is origin Europe and non GMO. I am telling you. Test, look, research, find out. Of course that SIS Beta and Maurten are great ! Of course the PF¨90 gels are dope, especially if you want to microdose it on a hard climb, like each 5 to 10 min a sip. However, when you consume a lot, it can be a burden. 

Can you be as healthy and as performance without sugar ? The answer is no. How do Africans do it ? They do not think and do anything else outside of running. They might do some light gardening and time to time chop some woods. They do not chop woods all day long, weekends included for 5 decades on the go ! They might have a phone, but they don't sit front of the screen 8hours a day. They might have sit on a bus, but don't drive cars every day for hours. They might get exposed to some 3G or 4G here and there, but won't have 5G and 10 wifi signals bombarding them. Their stress levels are low and do very little in their life. Imagine sending your kids to school. That is it. Send them. No, in Europe, you need to think about books and paper and rulers, 10 types of pens and so. Your kid has a hole on his trousers, the teacher will phone you up, that it is inappropriate. If you don't give food for your kids and they are not signed for the cantine, they send you the social care services. In Africa, that is normal. A kid arrives to school, with no food and water, the others just share what ever they have. Normal. Sharing is caring. 

So yes, to light up your nervous system, your brain, to get out the max from you, a jolt of sugar is needed. Also to keep your thyroid from burning to the ground and also to keep that heart health fully pounding, sugar is the best energy. It is pure, burning clean and also releasing a lot of juicy ATP. 
When living, that is another energy system. When living that is something else. Endurance, fat burning and slow metabolism. I can fast and be active anytime for 48 or even 72 hours. I can also run quite fast for 3 hours without food. This has nothing to do with taking gels. Your training is to be as efficient, as fast as powerful as possible. 

Your life is about something else.  

Self Care, strethcing and rolling

 

I have been a coach for almost 2 decades and also have been trail running for that time. Depending on my line of duty, I sometimes actively stretch and mobilize, sometimes strength training is enough. 

I also know that running around 50 to 70km a week is where I need not self care and above that, well as I said, depending on the line of duty, I would either need or not. So when I used to be doing mountain bike guiding 30+ hours a week, I would not need any stretching or mobility. I was flex as. Moving all day long, hydrating and eating. When I used to be doing also bike delivery, I was not needing either any stretching or rolling. I also was doing for almost 10 years lifeguarding. I used to swim, sauna, hot tub, steamroom every single day, besides running. Also used to run an high performance treadmills. No stretching was needed.

However, when doing seated, driving, non active duties, well I stiffen up. I do not loose flexibility like others that is for sure. I can do an ass to grass squat, touch easily my toes or hook my fingers behind my back. But, I might get some nasty hip flexor tightness, some lower back pain and most importantly achilles tendon issues. It gets a less tender nowadays, that I run 99% of training on trails, but I still can get kneepain, from overworked stabilizers, hammered hams from kettlebells and fast technical descents and so on. 

So yes. 80km of running and over and seated jobs. That is my criteria of limit to stretching and foam rolling. Okay, I have been a coach. I am not going to lie here. I do it at least twice a week and have been doing for a decade. I do my faire share of pilates and yoga, mace swinging, and also van damme style static stretching. Hold it baby ! But I don't target anything as nothing hurts. I dont have a goal outside of longevity in the sports, relaxation and feel good hormones. 

Now, that I am doing my 4th week over 80k with nearly 4000m s of elevation gain at the weight of 90kgs, well, my tendons and knees, get a little more banged up. I am on a weight loss journey right now. But it is hard. I am I believe around 8 to 10% bodyfat. Drying out more will be challenging. It is going to take some time. I think I can get down to 5 to 6 quiet easily , but then the work towards muscle density must take place, without sacrificing power and speed. Or speed endurance. I think I will be down to 85 in a couple of months and down to 80 for next February. 

So right now, I am doing my twice a weekly stretching, but foam rolling on the other hand every single day. I have an over 10 year old orange trigger point roller. It is unbeatable. I won also a massage gun. For targeting areas where blood needs to be drawn, that is superb. I also am doing my regular pre and post run dynamic stretching. That is important. I believe that mobility is great, but keeping mobile is even better. An hour of stretching is fantastic. Doing 3 x 20min through out the day, every day is better. In this case, in any situation you are basically ready, prepared and have the itch to move. 

 

Muscles, weight and strenght and conditionning

 

That is something to very carefully consider. Most people do not get it. Do not understand and do not see, how, what, when for who in what circumstances. 

I hate when people start saying: but Killian doesn't lift weights. No he is doing ice climbing, alpinism and ski mountaineering. He has not been sitting in an office for 15 or even 30 years. Or some other smart asses, Look at Joss Naylor, he never lifted a weight in his entire life, he lived long, performed well and died at an old age. The guy was a freckin' shepper his entire life ! He might not have been able to do one single pullup or deadlift, but you could have sent him hail bailing or stone wall building all day long for decades in the pouring english weather and he could have been fine. 

So, the question about weight training and strength and conditioning for runners is about simply understanding yourself. Viewing yourself first as a human and how you move. I know a lot of runners, actually most of them, that cannot move. I mean it is atrocious. Disaster. Cannot dance, no rhythm, doesn't know how to squat, bend over. Cannot work with a spade, an axe. Doesn't know how to hold a box in the air or farmer carry anything. Has absolute no clue about knee and hip position, joint angles, core utilisation and so. It is a natural disaster. 

The only thing that they can do is run. Run well, run fast. However, their general health might not be great and also their functional life might not be good either. Also their running is very limited to certain type of running and a certain type of distance ! They might improve on that, but cannot really get faster or extend the distance. Cannot swap, change or play with terrain.
In this case, the answer is, 100% they need to learn how to move, first, they need to learn how to squat and deadlift and overhead press. Learning these 3 moves properly is a freckin' key to everything. Don't get me wrong. It is not about squatting and deadlifting and military pressing ! Those are not the movements that you will be doing. However when you learn that 3 properly, you will understand how to organise your lower body, like side pressure with ankles, knee lock and hip thrust. With the deadlifting, you'll learn the importance of mid section organisation and low  back protection. With the military press you'll learn upper body organization and cervical and thoracic spine protection and alignment.

I never do these movements, but I learned them at school, than during my coaching education. I learned it multiple times as an autodidact, then from people who teach it. I learned it other ways too, like during Kettlebell coaching course and during boxing coaching course too, but we practised those even during the pilates teacher course. Once you understand these three moves, you can more easily go ahead and play with maces, kettlebells, warm up for judo or running, throw, push and pull stuff and more. Even things like parcour or free running needs understanding of these movements, for landing and exploding, hip hinge and hip thrust. Stretching needs knowing, in which position you can elongate a muscle and what sort of breathing you need to perform to push, pull, expand, extend, relax. 

I would not say I coach, more likely I guide a couple of runners. They run, do jiu jitsu, some play badminton and do other activities. How ever, when introduced running drills at a certain rhytm, it is horrible to see. Like during a simple high knee or high heel drill, they don't know what to do with their hands. They don't know how to do sirtaki or side to side hoping. A B or C skips, forget. Classic leg swings ? 

Why would you want to learn if you were already doing well ? 

Simple. Either you can do better or you can do the same well, but longer into your 80s. We know that muscle is part of longevity. Not having muscle going into your 50s is a problem, as building them up, while you have no genetic memory of having them is extremely hard. 
This is the age when some gets a performance age group boost, but most of them stop ! They cannot carry anymore on. Actually with muscles, you can replace some of the cardio. Increase leg strength and endurance by having trained quad and have muscle volume and drop 5 to 10 beats at the same speed ! In same cases, you need a so drastic weight gain, that actually you need to for sure fuel more during the first 4 to 6 years of your training to be able to sustain your speeds at higher weights. I find that to not to be an issue, but evidently, you need to learn even more and test out more stuff. Anyways, running on empty, un-fuelled, thin with no muscles, eventually will just lead to thyroid burn out and metabolic issues.

 

Trail Running Periodization 01

 

This is one of the most complex scientific approaches to sports. To really understand it, you should read the book from Tudor Bompa. Theory and Methodology of training. No coach should be coaching without knowing this book out and back. 

To understand how you must plan a race and a season or multiple seasons leading up to it, you must include a lot of factors into the equation. You should not just put out a plan like that, to arrive comfortably into the start line. It should be challenging that is questioning your capacity, your fitness, your abilities. It should include your experience of the previous couple of seasons. Your current feelings, timetable, mental and physical preparedness. Your planning should be a reflection of all these and much more factors. 

Besides the science, your individual, personal features should be pointed out. Periodization should be, especially if you wanted to be pro or better or winning, done year after year after year. I like the idea of the multiple types of periodization models, like he one from Canova, but in case of yearly periodization, I actually just would go, till a certain volume, with a step type or stair type of periodization. 

Doing each year more is crucial for development. If you do not log your training, this is going to be difficult. If you do not mark your training as they are, it is not going to be possible.  

I am not going to right now share my last 20 years of experience, but more likely current race planning. It is important, it is lovely to do so and it is a great experience. 

1 st Trail of the season 

Trail de Quillan = 44km D+3000m : https://www.trail-quillan.com/

It was a very, very easy plan to make. I took last year off from training and planning and thinking. I just worked my ass off, I ran 3 to 4 times a week, with no watch, no recording, no nothing in my head. I did my interval training with the group, I did not do long runs in the weekend, I ran up to the local summits, without thinking about anything. I had a year of just putting all matters aside. My weight sneaked up. I am still like 8 to 9% body fat, but picked up like 10kg. Of course, I am still taking like 7 to 10g of creatine a day, so some of that weight is water retention weight, especially that I am hydration dialled, driking 3.5+L of water besides other liquids. I also do, still do a lot of weight training. Calculated weight training, so I can do it every day. 

This simplifies things for the preparation. I don't have race specific goals for this first event. Simply be in the best shape I can. Since January, I gradually increase my training. Started out with adding 3 to 4 km weekly , some elevation gain, adding in more volume to the intervals and doing extra kms for warming up before. Started doing a long run here and there. 

January    29h33    234km    D+8189m
February    35h17    240km    D+7864m
Mars    46h16    277km    D+11470    

Just slow, gradual increases in training. Some extra strength and conditioning. Core training. Nordic Walking. Some extra hiking. I need to do it as smart as possible, as I am in a big house renovation too. It cannot take a backseat. I love learning about electricity, about how to work with wood, how to install a door or a window, how to operate heavy hand machinery, how to reinforce structures and so.

I arrived to the last 3 to 5 weeks of preparation. Right now, I am still doing and pushing hard the interval workouts and speed, but my body is well adapted. I also abuse post workout protein and creatine, so my recovery is superbly balanced. I use 2 scoops of whey, 2 scoops of hemp, 1 scoop of pea protein, 7g creatine, 2g of taurine. I also have still around 30 packs of preworkout sachets. They have beta alanine, citruline malate, l-carnitine and a complete EAA mix with l-histidine and no caffein. I also use that, before hard workouts.

Anyway, the section we are at right now is race prep. I have done my first so called race like training. Not really effort, but still, sort of simulation. On heavy legs and tired body. Did not go bad, but did not feel free. I took my poles, you know there is 3000m of gain. I have been using poles in training for nearly 20 years, so that is not the issue. But in training, it sorts of make me feel slow. Not the walking or the handling, but the actual feeling and running, jogging uphill with it and so. Anyways, I will for this weekend plan out another run, with no poles, same nutrition and will see how it will go. Around 32km with 1800m of gain. With poles I finished a 4h30min run, very very comfortably on disgusting terrain. Loads of trees across and also ton of mud. Some heat, I was sweating in certain sections hard.  

  

Physical Improvements -> Obligatory !!!

 

It is easy, very easy to fall into a routine. Year in, year out, doing the same thing that worked previously. If you were a seasoned runner, training on the track, starting in September, doing some road races, getting in a cross country season and maybe a spring marathon, than running the trails till august. Doing dome intervals, 6 x 1000, 12 x 400, some uphill threshold and more. 

I can tell you that I did some very hard workouts in the last year, but actually, I never really felt that tired in case of muscles. I never had like real fatigue fever. Even after all out races, that dull DOMS went away after a couple of runs and mobility drills. I just could not put myself into a bad spot in any ways. Could not or would not ? Was not thinking about it. I got dropped into a routine ! Got sucked in ! 

I watch a lot of short vides, mostly on youtube. You know, doom scrolling. Except that I learn a lot from it and do research after on stuff and some 15sec videos, result in searching for solution during my home renovation. I also get motivation, training ideas and reminders. It helps me finding new podcasts, books, motivation, discipline and so. 

I just saw a video of Smaev and main his training principle is very simple.  Surprise the system. He is doing always a variety of stuff. Like power lifting style workouts, acceleration routines, plymetrics, bodybuilding. What he does is reinventing himself and doing a smart mix of training shocks and rest. 

This last weekend, I wanted something special too. I am not that strong as Smaev. Talking about a lanky trail runner.  However, I already have implemented some of his routines during my life. These are actually not his routines. Cross country skiers use it, track athletes use it, hockey teams use it. In the books of Tudor Bompa, one of the greatest training minds ever in the history of all sports, it has been already described. 

Cross country skiers are a different breed ! Simply because they have a so giant off season time, that they never get derailed from base training. Oh, I just jump into a race. Oh, I am going to do this right now and that later on. Oh, this year I am going to choose an ultra more likely in the beginning and focus on the shorter events after words ! No, they cannot ! There is no snow. So they focus on their base. 
Their lunge workouts are insane. Not only because it is high volume in one go, but because it is part of a workout and not a workout on it's own. 

Imagine a Nordic Walking workout. You start out easy @ 10:00/km pace and finish off with sub 6:00/km pace. Walking with that speed is I can tell you, freckin fast !
Than they do long hill skipping, hill bounding sessions with different type of poling skills and mixing in up to like 5 x 200 uphill, downhill, forward and reverse lunges. Imagine doing reverse uphill lunges. They do short ones with joints @ 90° angle and long ones where the hip goes down, really stretching the back leg hip flexors, inner thighs  and front leg glutes.  
I once injured myself greatly, because of stupidity. I felt two giant snaps during the final rep of a 4 x 100lunge routine. Left and right hip flexor. Clack Clack ! Was in pain for 2 or 3 days and had season compromised. It was too cold, I was not covered and was totally underfuelled that morning. So when doing these sorts of routines, make sure that your daily nutrition and hydration is to of the chart and your intra workout nutrition is also charged ! Preworkout sugar, salt and amino acids mix and intra workout sugar !

Anyways, this is just to give you ideas about what an important thing is to shock and suprise the system. This weekend I wanted to get in one or two long runs, finishing my week off with 80km at least. I am around 12 to 13hours of training at this moment, that is not so bad, knowing that I work full time and doing my house renovation. 
I had 30 minutes Saturday morning. I chose 5 exercises to do, full range of motion, then when was very fatigued, reduced range of motion, just pump it. 

Pushups with a handle, bridges, some lunges and 2 types squats mixed, floor 16kg kb rows with short range of motion and a special forearm floor curl with the 16kg KB.
I did not count really reps. I did not go to total failure, but till hard burn, then went to the next exercise. I did 10g of creatine with 50g of protein mix afterwards. Then we went for a family hike of 3h, where I wore an around 6 to 8kg backpack and very minimalist shoes. Sunday morning my motivation was up, but skepticisme was also present. My legs were shot. Anyways went out for the run, pushed hydration and nutrition and did my 4,5hours long run. Ate well, 6 x 45g gels and 2 x 25g gels. Not enough, but I was not going that fast either. Next weekend I will try doing the same workout, like 30km with 1700m of elevation gain on a lot less technical terrain. I should be able to do an hour less. 

This Monday morning my legs, low back, shoulders, triceps, fore arm, neck, all shot. Haven't been feeling like that for a year. I missed this feeling. That real muscle fatigue ! That feeling of yes, now I improved ! It is not muscle damage or overuse. This is fatigue ! Often after a race, that has for instance hard downhills, you have the same exact feeling, but closer to the joints. Right now what I feel is in the fullness of the muscle, closer to the muscle belly. This sort of training will trigger great great improvements. 

So, this week I will repeat some routines with very high reps, some till multiple failures and also like this midday, I will do high rep high speed sprint routines. 1 hour of uphill sprinting and acceleration of 10seconds intervals. I won't go till burn, I will focus simply on technique. Technique and natural speed. Knee raise, knee lift. Easy !!!

  

Race Specific Training

 

This is crucial for your success. Specificity. The thing about trail running, that while training itself doesn't change compared to road running or even track and field, where you train does and how you adapt your training does ! What you don't have in road running is recovery, downtime, lowering your heart rate. If you did so, you lost your race. In trail running, there are descents and aid stations, where you can take some time off, take some pressure off. 

Look at marathon training. What a great way to prepare for 3 to 6 hour races. 

• Base Training
• Fitness Training
• Specificity

Already in the base actually you train on the desired, race specific terrain. But you are more relaxed, easy, nutrition is not forced, but comfortable. You run what you can, you walk what you want. You interval workouts are still necessary, but they are just to keep you fit. Your VO2max workouts are there, but only once every two weeks. Running a 5 x 10 x 30/45 or a 4 x 4min +R3:00. Your long runs resemble maybe long hikes sometimes.

VO2MAX 

Then you get into the fitness section. Your base volume and time on feet will permit you to crank up the intensity. Your VO2MAX workouts will take most of your first 3 weeks here. For beginners this would be the all out balls to the walls, huff and puff, very hard, lung destroying workout, 4 of them in three weeks time.  For more advanced runners, this would be 10 workouts in a 4 week period, doing 2 or more of those on the bike ! 

The shorter the race is, these workouts should be very very specific ! The longer the race is, the importance of the VO2MAX section is simply keeping your yearly fitness in check. Ne need to risk injuries running all out pace on ankle twisting terrain. However if you did Golden trail, Sky Running or other type of short and brutal events, make sure that you add at least some downhills to your VO2MAX intervals. For instance running a 4 x 4. You run 2minutes on rolling uphill of 2 to 3%, followed by a very technical downhill and finishing off with 1min very steep uphill.
For ultra running or 3hour+ races, you can do VO2MAX on 2 to 4% road uphills. This is the best for really turning those glutes on, not tearing off the calves but working them, reducing impact and increasing power output. 

LT or Lactate Threshold with speed

This is where periodization gets a bit tricky. This is still part of your fitness section, but greatly overflow to your race specific part. When you do races like CCC or PICAPICA, maybe Trail Ubaye Salomon, or one of the 42 events during UT4M, you run multiple more or less long climbs. Even if some climbs are 1hour, there will be a point at each that you gotto push hard. You need to have a the ability to create lactate, to push it high, resist it, eliminate it and also to recycle it. 

You can have some destroying workouts, where your legs are shaking, but that is not the point and not the best way to train your race specific resistance. One of the tricks I find works well, is long runs with injected lactate efforts to it. Why ? Because race is like that. You need to pull out a magic rabbit from your cap at any moment. 

Threshold is a range. When you train for a 1500, you do it on the top edge more often, when you train for an ultra, you do it longer, but on the bottom edge more often.  

Yesterday I had 1h, warming up included. I did 8+8+12minutes @ a 160 to 170 heart rate.
If I had to to this during my weekend long run, I would be smoked. It is more likely a notch under, like heart rate of 150 to 155 and for the last 20minutes of each climb. That is the way I will do it during the next race. I want to start each climb gradually and accelerate into it. The thing is that you have to find your strong points. If your downhill running is exceptional and quad resistance is also top of the line, you might want to decelerate during climbs, like start out harder for the first 75% and slow down for the last 25% in order to clear out lactate and to focus on the decent. This way you least likely will trash your legs. 

Try out a workout once to understand. Accumulate lactate in your legs from steep uphills at a high heart rate for about 10minutes, then run down to the spot. Do it 5 times. Focus on not huffing and puffing, but burning those legs. 
Your quads, hams, calves will be trashed. 
Next time you do the same exact workout, but now when you are on the top, you do a 5 min flat jog. Your body will be just fine afterwards. 
This is simply because for those downhills, you are there with clean muscles and eliminated recycled lactate. 

I also am 45 years old. I have been running for half of my life. Going out, especially winter time, for a long run, is a pain in the butt. Summer time, adventures, long run with friends, all good. But alone in the dark, with rain, cold wind, doing 4 to 6 hours alone, it is hard man. So I shorten my long runs to 2 to 3 hours, and add in these 20min efforts often enough to not to loose focus, turn back around and go home. It works like a charm. 

For specificity, always  chose terrain and equipment proper for the actual trail. Chose your efforts well. Run it on race specific terrain ! 

More to come 

Uphill improvements

 

The only way to be better at uphill running is running uphill. True to walking, hiking, climbing, nordic walking or speed hiking. Practice makes perfect ! 

However, to accelerate the process of learning and improvements, interval training is the way. Constant nearly daily intervals. Most importantly instead of climbing long single or multiple climbs, breaking them down to multiple intervals helps in recovery. A lot !!! This way you can bring up double or triple your weekly total elevation gain, without undue fatigue. 

I am giving you here a couple of interesting sessions and some basic periodization ideas. 

• Monday = Recovery Rolling Hills+ 10 x 10 sec moderate uphill
• Tuesday = 4 x 8min Threshold+ intervals moderate uphill
• Wednesday = Recovery Rolling Hills + 4 x 30 sec uphill
• Thursday = 4 x 8min Threshold-  steep to very steep uphill walking
• Friday = Rolling Hills + 7 x 7 sec uphill
• Saturday = Long run practising pole use, climb oriented, mix of steep and moderate
• Sunday = Long run ->dynamique = 2 x 20min moderate threshold efforts on runnable uphills

When starting out, and your general runs don't contain that much elevation gain and you just start discovering how your body will react to more training, more vertical, you can put your focus on those short uphill intervals. You gotto rip them, focusing on speed, acceleration, power developement, knee drive and so. 
Then when you get into the phase of self understanding and can dial in your workouts without looking at your watch, you can dial back a notch and use the short uphill sessions as neuro muscular activators. Using form and leg extension, glut push, really to feel the muscles. 

At the beginning of your trail running journey, normally 4 to 6 race simulation sessions will be enough yearly. However as you get into your routine after many race experiences, you can and must do one race simulation training a month. For the first 5 to 10 years, you might want to do 50 to 75% of your race distance max, during these sessions. Then you can approach more the 100% race distance and race efforts. The longer the race is, the more you got to think of race training and race training periodization. Fast 100milers often need only one race specific training and due to the distance, infrastructure and security, runners do more likely a tune up, a pre season or a lead up race. For somebody doing only ultras, that can be 2 x 100milers a year and maybe a couple of interesting races. For beginners that might be a 120km race 2 months out. Focusing on management. Effort, nutrition, hydration, gear, aid stations, sleep, walk/run mix etc etc...

When you can see pro runners, especially recently having a speed oriented approach, that is also something to think about. Doing 100milers on low mileage. However, most runners do not understand the actual training paces. They just don't get it ! As to make short events, short training sessions comparable to long ones, you got to run so much faster, so so much faster than your 100mile pace. Loads of runners think, okay I am running 10ks @ 4:00/km and some intervals @ 3:30 to 3:45.km pace, that is great and applicable. No !!! It is not !!! We talk about guys running 12 x 200s at sub 30. 1500s easy sub 5:00. We talk about lads running definitely sub 31 but more likely sub 30k ! 

I can somewhat relate. Somewhat. I never used to be that elite in case of 10k, half marathon or 5k perf. Look at Jim, recently running the Paris half at 4th place general, finishing 1:04. I used to be more likely 1:16 runner. However, I used to train also with 800m master runners. I am telling you, that my ultra running perf was up season after season after season. Prepping for 5 to 10k August to October. Training for cross November to April. Stepping up to shorter urban trail and trail races. My ultras in July August were quiet doable. I was running 1:15s on 20 x 400. 4 x 200 @ 27-29. 6 x 1000 @ sub 3:20/km. Best workout ever with a friend was 10 x 500 @ 1:27 to 1:28. 

Despite that my long runs were 18 to 20km max, that ultra high impact coming from cornering, from running hard on track with spikes, road with 120g shoes, was conditioning my legs. Of course my heart and lungs too. That initial 4:15 pace to start out the ultras was easy to me. Always easy !!!

I mention this for the naysayers, who would start out right away, you don't need to run long 50mile long runs. David Roach is running max 2hours at one go and winning 100milers. Well, he has been running for 20 some years, over 80km a week, trails and roads and track. He is like 55kg. He is not working ! He is living a chill life ! If you lived more likely in Europe, had 3 kids, mortgage, having harsh winter and hot summer, worked more than full time and so, don't even think about comparing. But do not compare to anybody. No need. 

On the other hand test. You need to run a 40km race. A month out try running a race simulation of 30km. If can't, or feels bad, or your recovery takes forever after, well you are not ready to tackle that 40km with success yet ! 

It is even more true for 50 or 80km races. If you were smoked after 25km and doesn't even want to wake up next day, well, not yet ready ! Cause race specific 25km should be ran 3 times back to back, without any issues. 

We will talk about strength training in the next article. There are a lot of things to think about. Especially how anabolic you are ? Is the muscle weight you gain going to offset it's own benefits ? Will you create hot spots  ? Will you risk injury ? What sort of strength training could be better than squats and deadlifts ? 

 

Anabolic Runner - Controversial DNA

 

I have recently started on a weight loss journey as I started to realize that I am absolutely not only slow, but struggling with the uphill, especially steep uphills. I am monstrous and stable on the descent, can push the flats, short uphill road intervals are great, but long, steep over 5min uphill sections, I am in a bad spot. 

Hi I am Levi: a seasoned trail runner, ex-running coach, from Hungary, living in the Pyrenese in the south of France. I used to have a lot of content online from blogs to videos and engaged in a lot of discussions in forums and on coaching related sites, but as I am getting older, I started not seeing value in it, so did not follow up, for nearly half a decade. I chose Blogger, this nearly dead google platform, to just write. Write out my thoughts and experiences, my journey back to high performance ageing running and so. 
If you asked why did I stop coaching ? Simple, I am in love with running science, education, running itself. I could listen to running podcasts, read running and strenght and conditioning books, all day long if I could. I would go back to schools and learn exercise physiology, kinesio therapy, osteopathy or get to a quality pilates school herited from Joseph Pilates if I could. 
I simply stopped coaching, because people do not listen, for one. Second, because of the internet. I absolutely hate online coaching from distance, mass coaching and automated coaching. Not going to do it ! If I had 10 local clients face to face and get a simple minimal wage for coaching them, I absolutely love that, but it is not going to happen. People cannot allow, especially runners, cannot allow 100 or 150€ a month for a coaching service. This is an artifice. Pay for something non graspable, that supports a simple passion and available in books and videos. Even if they do not read the books and do not watch the videos as 2026 attention span is 5 to 10seconds, knowing that it is available freely is enough to not to pay. So, simply I am not really passionate about the reality of coaching in this era and as professional life goes, I went towards IT, what is one of my passions and work on those skills instead. That is it about me and running, so let's continue this weight loss journey.

I used to be body building and doing all sorts of crazy feats of strength and conditioning. I also used to weigh 100kg, what is not that heavy for a 196cm tall guy. Than in 2006, I had a back injury, well after a decade long degradation due to alcohol, smoking, sitting, volleyball and very heavy weights. So I stopped body building. I was jiggly and subconsciously wanted a sport that is not dependent on equipment. Running came after missing a bus, when living in Ireland. I always used to be running but just as fun. During my kickboxing years, or in the university as athletisme was a class. Maybe 10 to 20 times a year. 
Anyways, because of this background of 10+ years of weightlifting, my body is trained to be very anabolic I guess. From 1997 to 2007 I gained like 35kg of muscle ! I was abusing protein as much as I can. In Malta I lived between a butcher and a fishmonger. I was hammering swordfish and chicken, countless sea urchins, fishes, razors, beef and porc. I had 50% off in the only BodyBuilding shop on the island that time with tons of free nutritional goodies. I was dedicated. I never cared about aesthetics. I was just enjoying that time in gym and the execution of routines with proper lifting technique. 

One year ago, in 2025, I bough a couple of weights, a barebell and a started doing specific training for arm-wrestling. Not that I want to do a competition, but that specific strength is very appealing to me. There is a goal about it that is not subjective. 
To know, from 2007 since 2024, I used to be running a lot. Doing all sorts of competitions from 5km to the Tor des Geants. Done many 100milers, 100k mountain races, sky running, road and track races. I have done over a decade  over 125km per week on yearly average. I was even clocking once for over 6months over 200km weekly average. I was doing weeks of over 10000m of elevation gain regularly. I also used to be tour guiding on a bike, rolling 30+ hours a week for two years on end. So when I was really on top of my class, living on the Cote d'Azur, when started getting on the podium against professional runners, I weighed around 74kgs. I was skinny, but due to the mountain cycling, I was very very leg strong. Could not do a pushup, but was strong ! Then I started doing some stuff for upper body core and more, and 78-80kg became my sweetspot. I stayed at that for all the time without effort. Last year as I said, I bough some barebells, dusted off my 16kg KB, got some elastic bands, started doing also heavy demolition, wood chopping, gardenning, chainsaw work. I gained 12kgs in not even a year. I am not fat. I am not 5% for sure, but not 15% either ! I still show abs and have definition. But for a runner 92kgs is way too much. I tested out some 6 x 1000 the other time flat, I am still good. At 3:45 I am feeling very comfortable. Breathing, but I am comfortable. On the uphills on the other hand I am not only slow, but struggling. Knowing that I am climbing nearly daily. Doing uphill drills. Tuesday Thursday we do big climbs like 4k 650m like yesterday. Weekends I am out doing 1000ms and long runs, but the weight remains. 

I started a weight loss routine. The goal is to loose 500 to 1000g a week. To get down to 80 at least for towards august. On a way that I am not loosing power and strength. Well, not much. What I need to keep up is acceleration capacity, agility and trail technicality. 

How to loose that weight without struggle ? 

Well it is easy. People often go on diets of some sort or cut calories. That is a good thing to mess up your head, to mess up your metabolism and also to develop mental eating disorders. To f-up your thyroid and pancreas. Like going on a low fat, high fat, only vegetable based diets or only liquid diets. Doing shakes.

Humans, animals, mammals, never restrict calories. It is rare that there is just a little food or a little bit of this and a little bit of that. No ! There is either food or there is no food ! When you have availability, serving yourself only half a plate, or stopping before you are satisfied messes with the head ! 

I have been eating clean for over 2 and a half decades. I eat my fare share of raw fruits and vegetables, I eat little gluten, I avoid milk products. I never drink alcohol. I drink 0 to 2 coffees a day. I drink a ton of hand picked infusions of lavander, nettle, thyme  and so. 

The only way I believe to health-fully loose weight is fasting and intermittent fasting. I think and believe that this is the only way. I just mentioned everything before. Instead of messing up your mind and body, it reinforces it. Clarifies and purefies it. You don't need to buy or invest into anything. It is free immediately. The only thing to focus on is extra salt and hydration. 
When you sit down to eat, on the other hand, you eat like normal. Not less not more. 

Keep up the perf and volume

 So, that is another subject. You don't want to mess up your training, that is for sure. You want to keep improving. I have naturally all my hard workouts in the afternoon and I always take gels. Always ! You need sugar for your body to execute ! Always !!!

So it is simple. I do an overnight 24h fast Sunday last meal to Monday first meal. It is not strict. It can  be 21h to 19h you know, 22h or so. Most importantly I don't eat, just drink after Sunday dinner and Monday I eat only dinner. Easy. Monday is recovery, so maybe two easy runs. 4k in the morning with pilates, 4k in the evening with yoga. 

Then all other weekdays, I intermittent fast so I have only two meals every day, starting at noon or 14o'clock. 
I have 2 interval sessions in the week that is Tuesday and Thursday.  Nothing changes, except, that I have snack 45min before those runs. I also take my gels seriously on these runs. I have often 3 45g carb gels with me for the 90m session. I warm up before everybody for some extra miles, then take one gel for the group warm up, then dose the rest during. 

Saturday and Sunday I do not do cheatmeals or sh*t like that. I just eat normally, breakfast, lunch and dinner and also again, take my gels seriously as I either do tempo runs, like 4 back to back tempo, if the weather was crap. Or two long runs.

Week 1 is done around 500g down. So it is not radical and my body of course if holding on to the weight as I am not fat or overweight. It is going to be slow and easy. No struggling. Just keep on drying out the muscles. 

So you know, first Thursday I already had 24 + 4 intermittent days. That climbing workout went already so well !!! Going to write down the updates here.