"We go to the mattresses". Time to break out the weaponry as next up is the main event, the big enchilada, the monstrous 300km multi-stage ultramarathon.
One problem. I'm still carrying injury. Fuck.
Right now and three weeks after the Jurassic Coast 100km success, I still have a bit of the injury to my Achilles and heel leading up to, and following, that challenge. While not great, it's forced me to look at training a bit differently going into my training cycle for this main event.
I had two weeks of pretty much total rest and recovery, other than a load of country walking while on my week's holiday in Devon. This gave me the headspace to rethink how I'm approaching this next 14 week training cycle. Given my training cycle going into the 50km and 100km ultras this year was a shambles because of injuries, carrying this heel problem is making me nervous. I just about held it together with Graham's help on the 100km. 300km with day after day hammering, will take no prisoners.
This challenge means i really need to have as strong a training block as i can, and to deal with these injuries in the right way. I'm pleased to say that I'm working on an ankle/achilles/heel rehab programme daily and after 7 days it's working! I've even managed to get a couple of 45 min runs in (treadmill) already. The plan going forward is going to focus on the following areas over the next 12-14 weeks:
Phase 1 (4 weeks - 3 Hard, 1 recovery)
Rebuild the Aerobic & Lactic Engine - VO2 Max levels especially. This is about getting the high fitness levels up as quickly as possible. I'm lucky enough to also have a spin bike at home, so even with the foot recovery, I can hammer the bike for VO2 Max Intervals without worsening the injury while I'm still rehabbing it.
I've already started this phase which looks like this:
Week 1 - Spin Bike Bike - 10 mins warm up | 5x 2-4 mins sprints (adding time at intensity each week for 3 weeks) | matched time with recovery between each sprint (ratio 1:1 for work-to-rest ratio). 3 sessions a week
The level of work is at a RPE (relative perceived effort) of 9/10. My Max HR is 172 bpm (based on 220 minus age) so I need to get my HR up to around 160-165 bpm for 5x sprint/rest cycles). Having done this for 3 sessions in week 1, I can tell you know this was fucking hard. I was blowing out of my ass (which is already getting sore from the saddle) by the third sprint.
Week two of this block will have 4 sprint sessions. Two of which will be back to back days.
Week three will be two sets of back-to-back VO2 Max sessions
Between sprint sessions I will be doing a zone 2 recovery run (132 bpm) and then taking one full rest day per week.
Week four in the block will be simply a recovery week. That means 5 easy 45min-1hour recovery runs. With a Zone 2 long run as one of these.
The idea was based on a top ultra running coach - Jason Koop - who suggested that the best and fastest way to build VO2 Max is to train near VO2 Max as intensely as possible for 3 weeks (after which you get diminishing returns) and it then becomes easier to hold onto it in the next two phases of training, rather than slow increments over time as mileage builds.
In short... get fitter quickly , early in the block, and it'll mean your later stages in the training block will yield better results. I'm choosing the bike, simply because it's easier on my injury, and the time I have is running out.
Once I have this month's block out of the way then I can focus more on rebuilding mileage. I've got a few long runs to come in the plan for Phase 1, but it's difficult to gauge the distnace and increments until I know more about the rehab outcome.
Phase 2 (4 weeks - 3 Hard / 1 Recovery)
Speed and Fitness.
With a much improved VO2 Max (hopefully), the second phase I aim to build better running speed and running strength. In the same vein as phase 1, concentrated efforts will hopefully yield better results while also beginning to build mileage, training volume, and time on feet training. The aim here (though I'm still mapping the schedule out for July) is to put in 3x Tempo runs per week (with the time of each tempo session building each week).. The third week possibly with 4x tempo runs split with two back-to backs. This continues to build the engine further while helping lift my pace a couple of notches at my Zone 2 steady state endurance run rate.
Phase 4 (5-6 weeks)
Endurance - This is where I'll be building to peak volume. This works out well for me as I'm on holiday for the first 10 days of this and have plenty of time to put in back-to-backs of 10K+ where I'll be shaping towards the specific 6 days in a row I'll need to be running for. The plan in my head right now is simple here. First two weeks is 10K a day for 6 days in a row (but may raise that based on how I'm feeling) all at my steady state endurance Zone 2. Going into weeks 2-4 something similar but with bigger distances per day (12-15km) and a tempo run or two thrown in to keep the body adaptions going. and the final run being a much bigger long run each of the weeks (somewhere around 20-25km at that point) Weeks 4-6 will be about peak volume for distance. As much steady state running as i can can fit in with something close to my original plan of 50km/30km/20km/15km/10km/10km at the very end (where i will likely be utterly trashed).
After this it's into a 2 week taper to heal and recover from accumulated fatigue and hopefully be fresh for the main event.
Plans need to be flexible so this one is still forming, but I need to play smart and sensible to avoid car crashes like I had leading into the 50 & 100 this year. I like the plan. The science behind it makes sense. Recovery will be VERY important and now it's time to break out the big guns.
Thanks for reading...
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