Ouch. Tight calves and tired legs this morning. I have been using a colour coded system for keeping track of my training and progress etc, and today’s was an orange kind of run. (It is: yellow for a good, easy run, legs feeling great etc, orange for tired or achey or not quite feeling up to it, and blue – in place of red, as that was all the shops had – for, painful, bad, needed to stop kind of run.)
I think, probably the culprit for my achey legs this morning was my run last night. Instead of the 9.66km easy pace run I had on the schedule, I decided to start training for the trail race that is coming up, and switched my flat, easy, outside run, to that of an indoor stair climbing run. Namely up and down our seven stories for thirty reps. It took 48 minutes in total, and was very intense. It can’t have helped that I haven’t done any stairs for ages, as I wanted to focus on speed and follow the half marathon advanced training plan as much to the letter as possible, but now that my event has changed, my training will be adapted to suit the new course. Or I will attempt to train right for it anyway.
I was doing some research on how to train properly for a 50km trail race yesterday and it came as news to me that this is, yes, an ‘ULTRA’ event! I must have been having a completely blond moment when I was registering and booking it, as I was very excited about the race being on a trail, and up and down beautiful mountains and streams etc, but I think I neglected to really look at the distance. Yes, 50km is a f*&ken long way! I know, it’s not in the same league as a 100 miler event or even 100km, but it is still a very long way, and yes, is classed as an ultra. One of those races I swore to never take part in, haha…
So, the jury is still out on what is the best way to train for it. Some talk about just logging lots and lots of miles. Others suggest focusing on tempo runs and short hard runs, along with regular moderate distance runs, to build up strong leg muscles. Most talk about the importance of running on similar terrain to the event. I will do a mixture of the training plan I was currently doing, and will keep most of the speedwork sessions that I have left, plus the long runs. But I will also mix in some stair workouts in our apartment building and some runs that take me up and down the mountain at the Southern edge of our city, as this is the only place I can think of where the terrain might be similar to that of the beautiful, mountainous national park I’ll be running through on 7th June.
On my schedule for today is a second run of the day (later after work), but only a 4km easy paced run. I think I will still do this one, despite the achey legs, and will use it to stretch out and try to loosen up my tight calf muscles . Will also use it as transport to the supermarket and back. Win.
Ok, any ultra runners reading this with some advice for an Ultra-Virgin?? This will be my first ultra race, a 50km trail race, and any training tips or advice would be very welcome!
I think, probably the culprit for my achey legs this morning was my run last night. Instead of the 9.66km easy pace run I had on the schedule, I decided to start training for the trail race that is coming up, and switched my flat, easy, outside run, to that of an indoor stair climbing run. Namely up and down our seven stories for thirty reps. It took 48 minutes in total, and was very intense. It can’t have helped that I haven’t done any stairs for ages, as I wanted to focus on speed and follow the half marathon advanced training plan as much to the letter as possible, but now that my event has changed, my training will be adapted to suit the new course. Or I will attempt to train right for it anyway.
I was doing some research on how to train properly for a 50km trail race yesterday and it came as news to me that this is, yes, an ‘ULTRA’ event! I must have been having a completely blond moment when I was registering and booking it, as I was very excited about the race being on a trail, and up and down beautiful mountains and streams etc, but I think I neglected to really look at the distance. Yes, 50km is a f*&ken long way! I know, it’s not in the same league as a 100 miler event or even 100km, but it is still a very long way, and yes, is classed as an ultra. One of those races I swore to never take part in, haha…
So, the jury is still out on what is the best way to train for it. Some talk about just logging lots and lots of miles. Others suggest focusing on tempo runs and short hard runs, along with regular moderate distance runs, to build up strong leg muscles. Most talk about the importance of running on similar terrain to the event. I will do a mixture of the training plan I was currently doing, and will keep most of the speedwork sessions that I have left, plus the long runs. But I will also mix in some stair workouts in our apartment building and some runs that take me up and down the mountain at the Southern edge of our city, as this is the only place I can think of where the terrain might be similar to that of the beautiful, mountainous national park I’ll be running through on 7th June.
On my schedule for today is a second run of the day (later after work), but only a 4km easy paced run. I think I will still do this one, despite the achey legs, and will use it to stretch out and try to loosen up my tight calf muscles . Will also use it as transport to the supermarket and back. Win.
Ok, any ultra runners reading this with some advice for an Ultra-Virgin?? This will be my first ultra race, a 50km trail race, and any training tips or advice would be very welcome!
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