An Imperfect Science
Running in the name of charity, how long should a long run run if a long run could run long? 74 days to Kosci!
“It is never too late to be what you might have been.”
George Eliot
Team Work Makes The Dream Work
I’m surrounded by some incredible people. In recent years I’ve been an Assistant Coach of the Eastlake Demons Women’s Program, through this I’ve met some great players and made some good friends. Some of the women in the team are also keen runners and this year started a run club, which I would highly recommend to anyone looking to dip their toes into running (or come to Running For Resilience)
The group has decided to join the Black Dog Institute’s One Foot Forward to show people living with mental illness that they are not alone.
I’ll be running 350 kilometres (or more) this month to raise funds for the Black Dog Institute to support crucial mental health research and support services to help Australians impacted by mental illness and suicide.
If you would like to donate you can here
Beyond Blue
Talk to a trained mental health professional any time of the day or night. Calls are confidential. They will listen, provide information and advice and point you in the right direction to seek further support.
1300 22 4636
Open 24/7Beyond Blue chat online
Open 1pm to midnight, 7 days a week
Lifeline
24-hour crisis support telephone service. Lifeline provides 24/7 crisis support and suicide prevention services.
131 114
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How To Structure A Training Week?
Perhaps the toughest part of training for a 100 kilometre race is not actually the race itself, but the long slog to get there. So many people have different formulas to get there.
One particular formula that caught my eye was actually through a question answered recently from The Body Mechanic in How Long Should Your ‘Long Run’ Be?
The Long Run for those that don’t know is a staple for endurance athletes. It’s an opportunity to test gear, to test your nutrition strategy and even more importantly a chance to build on the base of your other sessions throughout the week. Often the Long Run is the last session of the week, but people depending on their circumstances can also run it long during the middle of the week.
So how long should it be?
It’s a question that every endurance athlete wants the answer to. One school of thought is that longer is better, a longer run gives you the opportunity to test a variety of different things like nutrition and gear, it can also be a confidence builder running a distance that’s closer to your race goal especially if you can do so without injury, but as TBM explains “imagine the sore legs and fatigue an 80 kilometre run would cause, and how much recovery time you would need before you could train properly again.”
He actually writes that he raced the UTA100 in 2013 (then called the TNF100), and it included 2 runs of 60 kilometres in the build up. Then raced it again in 2015 and his longest training run was 45 kilometres. His time in 2015 was 50 minutes faster!
What could be the reason?
Well outside of the long run, I’ve learnt that a greater focus on what is being done through the week, could add as much benefit to your training program than just hammering away with the long run, at a cost of a much lower risk of getting injured as well.
Of course on race day there are a variety of things that can impact your performance, but a good training base is paramount if you want to finish a long race in particular.
I think it’s what allowed me to run 10 kilometres or more for 100 days in a row, simply not doing an over exertion through a torturous long run and keeping them to manageable levels, means I’ve been able to stay injury free or without niggles.
I trialled an approach this week that had two double runs in a day (not overly long either of them), with two rest days and then a long run of 30 kilometres with a 1,000 metres of elevation. One thing I’ve learned if you want to do these events is to focus on your core work and do some decent work on the hills.
My longest ‘Long Run’ is in a fortnight where I will go out for 7 hours, I think that itself is the sweet spot for a 100 kilometre race, but I’m interested to hear from people who may have seen success running longer than that during a prep.
Am I anxious that my long run is likely to be less than half what I’m going to be required to run at Kosciuszko in December? Absolutely, but I think with ultras and knowing that there is still a pretty generous cut-off, unless something catastrophic happens I’m confident in my mental strength that I’ll be able to get myself through the kilometres.
Training For The Week
Monday: Rest day with a bit of a stretch. Been trying to work on releasing a bit of tightness in my hips and quads.
Tuesday: Easy hour climbing on the trails in the morning, about 8 kilometres with 230 metres of elevation.
In the evening my standard loop on the trails in Mulligans Flat. It was incredibly wet, so a little bit slower at 72 minutes with 173 metres of elevation.
Wednesday: Didn’t exactly know what I wanted to do due to the hail storm that hit moments before I was going to walk out the door. Settled on a trail tempo session. 10 minutes warm-up with 4 sets of 9 minutes at tempo pace with 3 minutes rest in between, easy 10 minute cool-down.
Thursday: Easy hour with my Elevate Crew to finish the term. Just shy of 8 kilometres with about 62 minutes and 364 metres of elevation.
Friday: Easy Running For Resilience with Benny Alexander, 6 kilometres at 36 minutes. Enjoyable to spend some time on the flat after more elevation across the week. Then a bit of elevation on Red Hill, closer to 6 kilometres and 280 elevation gain.
Saturday: Another rest day, body
Sunday: The long run this week was about 4 and a half hours with a 30km loop and just over a 1,000 metres of elevation. Think this might become a staple for the long run going forward. So good to be a part of Lizzy’s 60 kilometre run.
Totals: 78.2 Kilometres, 10 Hours and 39 Minutes, 2,210 Metres of Elevation
Monday Motivation Hero
Don’t let anyone ever tell you that you can’t do something, especially if you are Australia’s greatest basketballer of all-time. As a kid it was a treat to watch Lauren Jackson play basketball for my beloved Capitals, and hearing that she would return at 41 it felt like all my Christmas’ had come at once!
Just having Jackson return saw ticket sales for the recent World Cup spike by 125 per cent. Uncertainty around her injury situation meant she was not given an international swansong on her retirement in 2016 and the seven-time WNBA All-Star will now bow out her way after an incredible performance in the bronze medal game saw the Opals claim bronze.
It just goes to show that age is just a number!
I'm no long run expert, but a solid training base is vital to performing at a high level in anything, and I've found that focusing on the things that give me the energy to build that solid training base (sleep, nutrition etc) helps me the most, instead of just focusing on building a solid training base.
Easier said than done though as focusing on that stuff isn't as exciting as doing big training sessions. But the best players I played with where all dialled in on their sleep and nutrition, which allowed them to train and recover well, which then lead them to becoming great players.