Quietly i've been plugging away at my 'faster' schedule, mostly locally and so no big reason to blog. there's only so many blogs you could take about a lakeside tempo session.
So with a good number of weeks of the new regime done it was back to the 'lab' yesterday to see what improvements, if any, it was having. Would I get a 'See me'?, a 'Poor work'?. It felt like the time when your parents saw your school report before you did and the look on their faces said it all :0.
But this time things were slightly better and my anxiety that not much had changed was soon relieved. in fact i was rather chuffed to see the difference it had made with all the values (techy science stuff that marc has to explain really slowly to me) jumping significantly in the right direction. importantly for ultras it appears that i've retrained my body to use much more fat as fuel than previously.*
So today i should receive my next 16 week 'mission' and the theme will be very much the same..lots of high intensity but this time with some slightly longer runs thrown in too.
I really love this approach to training. you run a lot (as opposed to walking a lot) . its time efficient (so i have lots of time to do the other things in life). and the rebel in me loves the fact that training this way for longer stuff flies in the face of the must-do mega mileage traditional camp. doing big miles i simply got slower but doing less im getting quicker with no detriment to endurance. that's not to say this is some miracle solution to ultras as there's so many other things to factor in.
(Charlie, you'd better watch out. well maybe that's pushing it a bit.)
All this though is giving my wee pea brain a bit of a dilemma. do i aim to do the lakeland 100 in 2013, my ultimate ultra goal and dream, or do i change direction to shorter fell/trail races? decisions decisions. i know where my heart lies.
And on that note next up is the lakeland 50 recce this sunday :) from pooley bridge to ambleside, with a few obstacles in the way!
*the small print. it wasn't all A*'s. my ongoing love for salty snacks, sausages and lakeland ales meant little movement in weight despite all that running :0. must try harder :-/
11 comments:
I like this and find it very interesting. I am following a "less is more" approach at the moment and so far it is working well. That 100 sounds very inviting...
hi johann the principle is spot on..run faster in training then when you're jogging at an easy pace in the ultra you go faster for any level of effort because your body has become accustomed to running much harder. also it does wonders for fat burning for fuel..mine has doubled in 16 weeks :). think you should treat you and mrs johann to a trip to the uk next year :;
Have a good reccy. Seriously thinking about the big one in 2013 as well. Ah, I think it was about Ambleside when my crap joke syndrome kicked in!
It was explained to me once as being like a Porsche doing 70mph and a Lada doing 70mph - it will feel smoother and easier in one of them because it is used to going faster.
It certainly sounds like it's working for you, and having more time to do other things has got to be good.
Can I ask how you're monitoring your progress, particularly your fat burning levels?
4w- best get that rag mag out for this years race ;)
Ali - I'm the lada stuck in 2nd gear
Tim-I've been hooked up to a machine to have it all monitored when on the dreadmill. Quite illuminating. Totally unlike me to bother with stuff like that but it has helped enormously.. Even if just to understand what I should be doing!
Would this be an expensive machine, or at least someone else's expensive machine? I would quite like to go for one of these assessments but they've all been a bit pricey!
Sounds good UC, though I do quite a lot of mileage I don't do mega-loads as like to get the odd faster session in. And like your finding, they are tough, but worth it!
It's a tricky call really as to which directtion to go in, both off-road and highly rewarding. Maybe you let available time decide? I prefer the longer ones so I can scoff more before, during, after :)
tim..i go to a guy called marc laithwaite aka the endurance coach. its £95 for the assessment and a 16 wk plan. may sound a lot but it doesnt tell the full picture..he's totally changed my training :). worth every penny i feel
de..your training is well balanced..mine wasnt in the last 2 years. re the food..you've made a key point there ;-)
Any diet that excludes salty snacks and beer is un-followable
Interesting stuff David. I look forward to your next report
Sounds brilliant! But how is Charlie taking to this short stuff? Bet he feels a bit short changed!!
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