Training is progressing well for my first tilt at the 100km distance.
As I am a virgin for the 100km, I am feeling my way around a training programme. This is all pretty much unknown territory for me, and I am wary of over-training and of picking-up a race-threatening injury.
My usual approach to an event is to aim for 75% of the total distance on my longest training run. Well, I don’t think that I could pull-off 75km without seriously sore legs for the following week, so a different approach is required.
I have adapted a couple of ultra programmes that I found on the internet into something that looks as though it will work for me. The programme is based on the following key points:
- My normal “once a week” long run has been changed into back-to-back long runs over the weekend. Rather than one long run on a Saturday, I now have two long runs, one on Saturday and one on Sunday. This allows me to cover the necessary distance without thrashing myself physically. It also allows me to structure my weekend time so that I can actually see my family
- Two rest days per week.My normal training programmes give me one day off a week. The second day is introduced to allow extra recovery following the back-to-back long runs.
- Focus on time on my feet rather than distance.My programmes are normally based on the required distance to run each day. For the long weekend runs, I’ve switched to running for a set time duration rather than a number of kilometres. This is partly an attempt to make me slow down on the long runs – I am worried that I will go too fast on the 100km and run out of steam before the finish line. Running for a set time means that I do not feel the urge to “race” the training run – I’m forever checking my watch when I run, and can’t resist trying to beat my previous time on a set distance course.
You can download my training programme (in Microsoft Excel format) here: Naseby Training Programme. Please note that you will need to rename the file to a .xls file after you have downloaded it – WordPress won’t let me upload Excel files, so I had to rename the file to a .doc in order to get it onto the site.
