Training Tips

[L.F.F.]

Hi,

It's easy to get stuck in a routine with the running you're doing so I was wondering what people did, or what people have heard others do, to get better results, since there's so much ability and knowledge on here.

Is it about cranking up the mileage? Or running shorter distances faster? Or mixing it up with road work for extra speed? Or about getting on a bike?

Run 4 times a week? 5 times? 6 times? Twice a day?!

Obviously it depends a lot what you're training for, but the kind of distance I had in mind was something like Langdale. Or just any AL category race.

But it'd be good to have tips shared for any distance race if people are willing to.

Thanks.

[ba-ba]

I'm in the same boat regards L races - fine over the shorter stuff but Long 'races' end up being a slightly quicker training run with a fast finish (if downhill...) - yesterday at Sedbergh was quite mentally challenging, so maybe that's the answer?

[IainR]

Generally work on a 3000 mile per year plan.

Run twice a day 1-2 times week, try and mix it up, long road runs, hill runs, track sessions, hill reps.

Normally try to sit at 60-70 miles a week but drop to 40 when races/work/life dictates but try to never drop below 6 days a week and 40 miles. normally train 10-20 days in a row before a rest day.

normal/good week.

m: longish road/trail run 9-11 miles
t: quick hill run or hill reps, ~7-9 miles.
w: longish road/trail/fell run 9-11 miles
t: lunch: track ~ 6 miles (8*800m/5*1200m stuff). pm: 5-8 mile steady fell run
f: short fell run. 4-6 miles
s: long road/trail run 13-18 miles
s: longish fell run. 10-13 miles

[L.F.F.]

That's interesting. Not knowing much about these things, looking at that I'd have feared that you were giving your body no time to recover so risking damage rather than strengthening yourself, but that's clearly wrong.

There's a good mix of pretty much everything there as well so I suppose you're ready for all categories of race pretty much.

Interesting to see that anyway. Thanks for sharing.

[Stolly]

At a more ‘normal’ level, aside from IainR’s ubertastic training levels, I tend to run anything between 20 and 35 miles at the weekend, usually split over Saturday and Sunday and then run most Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings, between 3.5 to 6 miles depending what I feel like. I probably average 40 miles a week in the round and look to do all of it in the hills and/or woods come hell or high water. It will be something like 4,500 to 6,000 feet of climb each week at a guess.

I rarely enter races, although I’ve done an ‘incredible’ 5 events this year (which is 3 more than last), but I do feel race fit and would certainly feel confident entering the Langdale Horseshoe and doing better, considerably better probably relative to the last time I did the race in 2007. Certainly mixing long weekend runs of up to 25 miles with shorter faster mid week runs seems to work for me.

At the same time I don’t think I think of my running as ‘training’ to be honest and would definitely not want to do track stuff, fartleck and frigging hill reps if I could help it. And having turned my ankles upwards of 4 million times and really fooked up a knee ligament once, I’m no longer the maniac descender that I once (deluded myself that I) was

[Hes]

Its interesting to read people's different attitudes to their running. I'm not running at the moment due to my sprained ankle but have replaced my runs with hilly bike rides which have been brilliant. Normally I'd run 4 or 5 times a week. In the week I'd do one club speed session plus circuit training, one or two shortish runs of 6ish miles and a medium one of 8-9 and then either a race or a long run at the weekend (anything from 10 - 25m) all off road but mixed terrain...river, woods, fells etc. I was racing almost every other week. I like the social aspect and the fact that it pushed me and kept my speed up (I get distracted if I run on my own and I don't have the discipline to 'train' properly...too many animals and birds to look at). I also do yoga and when I'm not so busy with work, I do that twice a week.

Since I've hurt my ankle, I've really realised how much I just miss being able to run and I don't view my runs as 'training'. I expect my pattern will change a bit when I'm back running. I hope to do more long distance off-road runs and will look for lots of new routes round where I live. I'd love to know the area as well as some of you know yours.

[DazTheSlug]

I subscribe rigorously to a MIUAYGA schedule - basically, I think "what sort of run haven't I done recently" then I do that

I'm also a great believer in progressive overload - although I don't do anything like as much as IainR, I'm sure I could do that much (albeit slower!) given time (both time per week to actually get out, and time to gradually build up)

consistency of training is key though - week-on-week-on-month-on-month-on-year-on-year-on-year

all of my significant improvements so far have come off increases in raw bulk mileage (of any sort)
but I've now topped out the amount of time I can spend running without ruining my family life, so any further improvements will have to be as a result of a combination of better quality of training, specialisation in one type/distance of race and "fine tuning" due to previous experience

[Cliveybaby]

I am not where I would like to be with my training but that is in part due to the lack of a decent hill within a short distance from home.

Monday: Flatish, road, canal and trail - 4 miles
Tuesday: Crosstrain
Wednesday: 40 -50 minutes cross country on undulating terrain
Thursday: 40 minutes incorporating Hill reps - need to borrow one of Iains hills.
Friday: Speedwork
Saturday: 12-25 miles of fell running wherever I can get to - Wales, Lakes or Peaks
Sunday: 4-60 minutes run over the roaches

My hill reps are where I am suffering at the moment as there is nothing big enough nearby to train on without a 45 minute round trip.

[L.F.F.]

Interesting stuff.

I find it especially interesting reading something like IainR's plan as it puts your own efforts in perspective. You can be there thinking you're really pushing yourself and then you read something like that!

Interesting there was no cross-training in there, core exercises or whatever, unless that's just an extra.

[robpark]

Generally work on a 3000 mile per year plan.

Run twice a day 1-2 times week, try and mix it up, long road runs, hill runs, track sessions, hill reps.

Normally try to sit at 60-70 miles a week but drop to 40 when races/work/life dictates but try to never drop below 6 days a week and 40 miles. normally train 10-20 days in a row before a rest day.

normal/good week.

m: longish road/trail run 9-11 miles
t: quick hill run or hill reps, ~7-9 miles.
w: longish road/trail/fell run 9-11 miles
t: lunch: track ~ 6 miles (8*800m/5*1200m stuff). pm: 5-8 mile steady fell run
f: short fell run. 4-6 miles
s: long road/trail run 13-18 miles
s: longish fell run. 10-13 miles

I think that this is something that I can aim for, but at the moment it is a bit too advanced for me!!! Thanks for the post though!