Relentless Forward Progress_ A Guide to Running Ultramarathons - Bryon Powell [16]
Other benefits of speed training include increasing training intensity without risking burnout or overtraining, improving range of motion, and developing adeptness at traveling over rugged, technical trails. Howard Nippert, coach and USA Track and Field 100-kilometer national champion, adds, “Running slow distance all the time or hills for strength never allows you to open your stride and develop strength through a full range of motion. You have to do some fast running in order to open your stride. Should you encounter uneven or technical footing, the ability to pick your feet up and put them down quickly is beneficial to moving through that style of terrain.”
Psychological benefits of speed work include the development of mental resilience and an improved awareness of your ability to maintain varying paces at different distances. Dave Mackey, who set course records at California’s 2010 Dick Collins Firetrails 50 Mile and the 2011 USA Track and Field 100 Kilometer Trail Championships in Texas, thinks that speed work may provide you the confidence you need to break out of a racing rut. “If your body already has an immense base of miles and can finish an ultra without too much trouble, then the next step is to incorporate some speed to help finish that ultra even faster.”
Like Mackey, Bernie Boettcher agrees that toughening bouts of fast training can come in handy while trying to break through on race day. “In a long, hard trail race, this speed work helps steel my resolve when faced with the agonies of screaming muscles. In my mind, I can tell myself, This ain’t nuthin’ yet, and keep pushing.”
Many ultrarunners escape to the trails because they do not enjoy the speed training associated with road and track running. Speed work can be disguised in many ways and doesn’t have to be done on a track or a treadmill. Try speed play on your next trail run; attack both the uphills and downhills or chase a friend who’s just a bit faster than you are. Take Mackey’s suggestion when thinking about incorporating speed work into your training: “At the very least, it sure won’t hurt you and you may have a good time doing it if you design it right, like on flat dirt versus a boring track.”
Ian Torrence has completed 155 ultras, including 24 100-mile races and the Grand Slam of Ultrarunning. He works in Flagstaff, Arizona, as an ultramarathon online coach at McMillanRunning.com. He has written for Running Times, Ultra-running, Marathon & Beyond, and currently contributes to Running Times Trails Online.
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Recovery
If overall training volume is so valuable to an ultrarunner, then it follows that those things that keep you training consistently throughout the lead-up to your focus race are equally valuable. Enter recovery as a key element of your training program. It’s an element upon which ultrarunners focus on a daily, monthly, and yearly basis.
The occasional B2B notwithstanding, the standard approach of alternating hard and easy days stands true in ultra training. After nearly every hard effort, be it speed work, a focused hill session, or a long run, follow it with an easy day.
For most runners, easy days include low-volume, low-intensity runs as well as one or two run-free days each week. Easy runs should be easy. If you can’t converse for the entire run, slow down! On your easy days, aim to run between 50 to 75 percent of the volume you run during other weekday runs.
If, through your running history, you’ve found that your body cannot handle running more than four days per week, you can still run an ultra. Timing permitting, consider incorporating one or two moderate cross-training