While training for my first marathon in 2004 I learned that
you never run a marathon while training for a marathon. This is due to the increased risk of injury
and diminishing returns from greater distance training. Back then I never contemplated running a
100km ultra marathon. The same training
logic holds for an ultra, and you actually cap your longest run at a relatively
short distance compared with the race.
My longest single run training for the 100km Black Canyon ultra will be 50km
six weeks before the race.
I wondered how runners prepare their body and mind for the second
50km having never run this in training.
Then I discovered back-to-back long runs and their importance to ultra
training. The principle is simple, run
really far one day then run far again the next day. Instead of killing yourself with a single
70km run, split it up over 2 days with 40km then 30km.
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| Sunrise in the Third Debris Chute |
It took most of 2015 but I now fully understand the value
from these back-to-back runs.
1.
Great way to get in the distance, I’ve been logging
100+ km weeks for over a month.
2.
Fantastic mental training. I love running, but lacing up for a 4 hour
run the day after a 5 hour run is psychologically tormenting – good practice
for the mental torture I’ll experience on race day.
3.
The worst km is the first one on the second
day. Running on stiff tired legs hurts
like hell, and getting used to this is making me stronger for my ultra.
I just finished week 14 of training for Black Canyon 100km,
which included back-to-back 30km runs. I
used to dread these weekly runs and the accompanying physical and mental
anguish. Now I love them, and they are
the highlights of my running week. It
doesn’t hurt that run 1 this week was in the Marin Headlands north of San
Francisco and run 2 was through Stanford University in Palo Alto.
After 14 weeks of back-to-back runs they no longer hurt and
I’ve appeared to transcend from fear and loathing to pure delight. Let’s hope this continues for the rest of my
training and carries me through the second half of Black Canyon 100km.
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| San Francisco, the windy city? |
