This is the second part of our Trail marathon periodization series. First section was a sort of obligatory base building, checkup, verfication if our muscles were in order and so. 4 weeks. Also as you can see, there were kilometer markers for each week. I am not a fan of volume oriented training. However, I am very much a subscriber for volume necessary for physiological adaptations in order to keep our body healthy. I don’t want sudden shocks during race execution, like arriving to the 20km mark and your body starts shutting down, while still there is 22km to go with 1200m of elevation gain and loss on unforgiving terrain, in rain, hail and snow at over 2000m of altitude, with a 5kg backpack. If you cannot run comfortably 60km weeks with over 1000m of elevation gain and jump up to 80+ kilometers weekly on a regular basis, you have nothing to do with the marathon or the plus 60minute distance. Also, there is absolutely nothing wrong with this. Stay at the 5 to 10km at the 30 to 50minute race range and not only succeed, but enjoy life before and after.
Then now we are getting into a couple of months of very special but only semi specific training. We should already start training race specific speeds with race simulation workouts. However there should be periods of physiological touches, that we need yearly, multiple times, in order to improve our physical capacities.
Training in zones, pushes other zones. Training in a zone itself pushes the zone and the zone above the most. This simply means that if you trained at zone 1, you still touch and improve your VO2max. However depending on time and frequency, you might need to do an awful lot of training. For somebody with enormous time liberty on hand, that sort of training is the most beneficial, because you can become a volume monster and also push your heart rate very low, keeping your body fat levels low and increasing your speed and much more. But most of us cannot speedhike 6hours a day, nor can we run 2h30 in low to mid zone 2 either. I am also for instance 198cm tall and doing a seated job, so in addition to running I have been spending a very significant amount of time every day on back mobility and back strengthening. That is yoga, pilates, special hip and low back, mid back and upper back strengthening routines, breathing and neuro-muscular timing exercises. So no, I don’t and cannot run especially right now that long, that often. This is where for instance threshold, VO2max, sweetspot, sprint training comes into the picture.
A word on sprinting. Why is it important. It is a mental thing and it is extremely beneficial. It needs of course a lot of learning, till you can really sprint on a way, that you are fully contracted and fully relaxed in the meantime. It is hard to get for someone not in athletics. Generating enormous amount of power with your major movers like powerlifters, without being crispy and having fluid movements.
What you can get out from sprinting is : Not being afraid of anything ! Most people hold back. Always. Till the end of their life. Hold back ! Actually you don’t need to do real sprinting, if you were capable of that doing full distance like 400s. Instead of regularity, you push each rep like it was the last one. You cut the rep, when your form breaks down. You can do it two ways. Start with longer distance and slowly degrade the distance, when you cannot hold it anymore. Or you do shorter distances and you increase the recovery till it is ridiculous.
What you should try is running 200m on a way, of course after plenty of warming up, that you are in an acid bath, then you keep on pushing an other 400m at an endurance pace. This is what mentally helped me back in the day a lot. I did not plan on racing smartly or use paces and race execution plans. Just be brave and not to be afraid. Hold on to the leaders ! That was my only goal. Till I became the leader. I took me around 2 full seasons to catch up, hold on and then pass. But it happened. We talk of course about shorter events of up to 25km. You go out, you burn in 5km. 1 month later it will be 6km. Then you try to lead as confidence got built up, burn in 3km. Then you hold on to third, burn at 10km. Now you can lead 5km, before you burn. Then go ahead stay in the lead group for 15km. Now you might be able to lead till 10km and do some extraordinary 5 to 8km short and fast trail races and win them.
What most people don’t understand, that in case of physiology 35min and 2hour endurance is the same. On the top end of track and road running, no it is not. But in trail running it is the same. The trail is somewhat limiting the max speed and it often happens that more elite runners run a shorter race slower, than non elites complete the longer one. Because of profile and technicality.
Phase 2.0 - VO2Max
Let’s get into the second section of our training plan. It should be about fitness gains, that will help us for the next seasons, but of course in this season’s specific period too. Then also certain other type of fitness sessions where a base should be established, in order to make it happen longer during specific phase.
Let’s start with 4 weeks of VO2MAX training. I also have learnt it from a great coach, that the benefits of VO2MAX training can be obtained not only by running those high volume, low recovery 4 x 4 or 5 x 5minute workouts, but by lot lass taxing short sessions of 30/30 or 60/60 like workouts. Actually, prefer way less recoveries and also shorter recoveries than the work intervals. Speed volume at speed is crucial. Running a well designed plan is very beneficial.
W1 = 80km
• [(30+20)*6 + (30+20)*10 + (30+20)*10 + (30+20)*6] @ VO2Max
• 3 x 3 min @ VO2MAX+ 2 x 5 @ LT low
• 1 x 10min Tempo
• Long Run
W2 = 90km
• [(40+25)*6 + (50+25)*8 + (50+25)*8 + (40+25)*6] @ VO2Max
• 3 x 3 min @ VO2MAX+ 2 x 5 @ LT low
• 1 x 10min Tempo
• Long Run
W3 = 90km
• [(40+25)*6 + (50+25)*8 + (50+25)*8 + (40+25)*6] @ VO2Max
• 4 x 4 min @ VO2MAX+ 2 x 3 @ LT
• 2 x 10min Tempo
• Long Run
W4 = 80km
• [(30+20)*6 + (30+20)*10 + (30+20)*10 + (30+20)*6] @ VO2Max
• 3 x 3 min @ VO2MAX+ 2 x 5 @ LT
• 1 x 10min Tempo
• Long Run
W5 = Recup 70km
• Mardi 4 x 8 x 60/60 @ VO2Max
• Jeudi 5 x 10 x 30/30 @ VO2Max
• Vendredi 1 x 20min Tempo
• Dimanche Long run
[Don’t forget to keep on adding and including those short 7 - 30 sec uphill sprints. 2 to 4 times a week. Also make sure that you keep your volumes up. This means simply, that you need to very much control the intensity in all of the other runs, not only to recover, but to avoid injury too.]
VO2MAX for somebody who has never done track training is hard to grasp. It is a feeling that you can keep on going , but not faster and most importantly you are really huffing and puffing for air.
Lactate threshold is also term that is wildly use and mostly misunderstood or badly put in context. Some scientist says it is 4mmol/L of blood lactate. This is the point where apparently we produce more than what we can eliminate, so at that point blood lactate will keep on rising.
So actually this is trainable and this is why we are training it. For untrained it can be 1.8mmol and the moment they go up on the stairs they get acidic, heart rate goes up, start huffing and puffing. For well trained it can be 5.5 to 6 even. When we train @ LT, we train the production, the elimination, the resistance and also the recycling of lactic acid.
I prefer the Marius Bakken version. In his understanding, it is more likely 2.2 to 3mmol, however the training volumes are higher. In these lactate levels, speed is just a little slower, but really just a little. However, the feeling you have and how your body react, is so much easier on it, that you can run a brutal amounts of volume. The most simple understanding of running improvements is this: the most time you can spend at the highest speeds, the more you can improve. If somebody runs 160km weeks on a yearly average, @ 4:55/km on average, all runs included comparing to somebody who runs only 140km @ 5:30, well the difference will be very visible.
In our case, the previous VO2Max like period was a just a one off. That is a bi-yearly repeat. It doesn’t mean that we don’t need VO2Max training anymore. It means that other stuff can take it’s place. Like attacking a summit, doing a Vertical K race, running shorter trail running races. We touch more often VO2max due to terrain and angle, than flat road runners.
Phase 2.1 - LT Threshold period
Mostly we should do here tempo runs and do our first Race simulation workout.
W1 = 100km
• Tempo intervals 3 x 10min
• Tempo intervals 3 x 6min
• Tempo intervals 2 x 10min
• Long Run
W2 = 105km
• Tempo intervals 5 x 8min
• Tempo intervals 6 x 6min
• Tempo intervals 8 x 5min
• Long Run
W3 = 105km
• Tempo intervals 2 x 10min
• Tempo intervals 3 x 15min
• Tempo intervals 1 x 20min
• Long Run
W4 = 80km
• Tempo intervals 6 x 8min
• Tempo intervals 2 x 6min
• Tempo intervals 3 x 8min
• [Race Simulation]
◦ [28 to 30km]
◦ Race nutrition, including breakfast
◦ Race specific warming up
◦ Race Specific Terrain with similar start, similar elevation gain
◦ Race equipment and use strategy
◦ Race aid station strategy
▪ You might not run a balls to the walls leave it all on the table training session. However you would still measure yourself against the times and ideas you have for race day.
▪ Personally, if we talked about ultras with loads of food and hiking poles, backpack, anti chaffing cream, the more difficult it is to simulate a race.
▪ When I had only a 500mil softflask 10 gels in my short, that is just easy. I set up 3 fountain stops and off you go.
[TEMPO RUNs]
I have to describe this to you. So basically these are also lactate threshold efforts, but very much dialled back to race intensities. It is not about fitness and physiology, but racing. So when we talk about Lactate Threshold, it is about so many things. You might not run at a certain speed and even your heart rate might be quite low, comparing to a track session. However, you are still working hard, lifting your knees to get over rocks, each 2 minutes climbing over tree logs, stabilizing your joints on deep mud terrain and so.
I prefer describe these as tempo runs, as these speeds should be hard but manageable, without leaving a trace on you.
For instance when planning an ultra of 100km, where you need to do 6000m of elevation gain, with 3 big climbs and 3 long flat rolling sections and tons of smaller rolling hills. This is that tempo for that 6 major point. It might be something that is increasing, so you enter into a 45min section of hard running, and you gradually harden into it. That might mean increasing and easing into it, or simply as the length of the effort increases it naturally becomes harder.
I tried really write this around for you to understand. It is a training effort that should not leave you destroyed. At all ! Faster than overall race speed, but feels like you could still include it in a race.
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