Thanks for that
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Thanks for that
Thanks bobster, I know your right, I,m wanting my cake and eating it and I know the answer really.
Do you have any experience of long events or days out, I'm thinking 10 hour+ days, even very slow pace?
It's not just fitness you need, it's also how to cope with the little blips that come after 12 hours. Mental lows, best food, how and what to eat when you can't eat. Would be worth a couple of very long days out, anywhere, simply to get the feel of it and your head around the small problems. Some people are naturally stubborn enough to cope, others need to know how.
Moley makes a great point. "Faster" runners who run on the fells at the pace mortals do on the road often aren't used to long (12 hour +) days. It's not just about 10,000 ft weeks. I wasn't even moving when I had one of my most memorial and significant running experiences; I was sat on a radiator drinking tea being told I could and would finish a 50 mile event
I've often thought that the LDWA stalwarts would have a better success ratio on the BG. 12 - 18hr days are pretty typical for them. Before anyone asks: I've no idea just how many have tried.
People often quote 10,000 ft a week as a good training plan for a BG attempt. How many 10,000 ft weeks would a mid-pack fell racer need to get round? Or to put it another way, if said mid-pack fell racer could sustain 10,000 ft a week for six months, would they be likely to get round?
I'm not asking for myself, a friend asked me ;)
I think it depends what (and how much) training the mid-packer was doing prior to the 6 months of 10,000ft. Most folk would advocate at least 5,000ft and possibly more of the climb in one long walk / run, which might not help for short to medium races assuming the mid-packer was fit to start with. For a portly, middle-aged back of packer the sheer volume did, err, might probably help, erm, according to "a friend"
Having gone from Mid-pack to back end of front-pack by increasing training, then gone higher up the front pack and performing well at Langdale/OMMs off weeks with at least 3000m climb/11-12h on feet (often close to 4k, even up to 5k), I can fairly confidently confirm that training on specific terrain makes you fitter and better at racing ;)
A week post OMM I set a 30s pb over a fast, firm 5km XC so there is some carry-over to short fast stuff as well.
I know two different people who came from pure road-running backgrounds
trained on flat for London Marathon mid-April (clocked about 2:50)
did a few hilly long-days-out, then completed BG 3rd week June.
(doubt they did a single 10,000-ft week)