Ultramarathon training

After finishing my first ultra at the Glasshouse Mountains I had a couple of down weeks of reduced training and then got back into it (with a vengence). Not being very experienced in the ultra running genre I am taking my training cues from books, articles, blogs or websites. I am not running to a set schedule or program as such because I feel that they do not allow enough flexibility especially when working shift work. I have decided to run mainly by feel and take into account such variables as: work, sleep, nutrition, energy levels and other committments.

In the past I have been too much a slave to my own programes so that I am training when tired and not motivated. This can have a negative impact on my overall training and leads to a loss of performance and increases the stress and pressure I tend to place on myself. Previously when I have forced myself to run in these situations I have invariably had a poor session which has affected my mood and motivation and has led to weeks without training.

So I decided to do some experimenting. After a couple of weeks of rest and low volume I had three big weeks to test out my fitness and work out my optimal training volume or routine.

Week 1:
Monday am - 9.27km (to work) - 46mins 24secs - 5:00min/km avge
Monday pm - 9.31km (to home) - 48mins 11secs - 5:11min/km avge
Tuesday - 23.31km - 2hrs 00mins 32secs - 5:10min/km avge
Wednesday - 10.13km - 54mins 36secs - 5:23min/km avge
Thursday - 25.37km - 2hrs 25mins 55secs - 5:45min/km
Friday - 10.12km - 54mins 48secs - 5:25min/km
Saturday - 32.65km - 3hrs 00mins 10secs - 5:31min/km
Sunday - 15.50km - 1hr 19min 13ses - 5:07min/km

Total - 135.66km - 12hs 09mins 53secs

Week 2:
Monday am - 9.30km (to work) - 50mins 43secs - 5:27min/km avge
Monday pm - 9.34km (to home) - 49mins 44secs - 5:20min/km avge
Tuesday am - 9.26km (to work) - 52mins 09secs - 5:38min/km avge
Tuesday pm - 19.05km (to home + extra) 1hr 40mins 27secs - 5:16min/km avge
Wednesday - 12.05km - 1hr 04mins 40secs - 5:22min/km avge
Thursday - 22.10km - 2hrs 06mins 08secs - 5:42min/km avge
Friday - 12.35km - 1hr 03mins 58secs - 5:11min/km avge
Saturday - 38.05km - 3hrs 17mins 31secs - 5:11min/km avge
Sunday - 20.10km - 1hr 46mins 43secs - 5:19min/km avge

Total - 151.59km - 13hrs 21mins 50secs

Week 3:
Monday am - 12.25km - 1hr 05mins 37secs - 5:21min/km avge
Monday pm - 10.10km - 47mins 05secs - 4:40min/km avge
Tuesday - 28.10km 2hrs 24mins 25secs - 5:08min/km avge
Wednesday am - 11.20km - 58mins 47secs - 5:15min/km avge
Wednesday pm - 9.33km - 52mins 01sec - 5:35min/km avge
Thursday am - 21.50km - 1hr 47mins 54secs - 5:01min/km avge
Thursday pm - 9.31km - 47mins 41secs - 5:07min/km avge
Friday am - 9.27km - 49mins 22secs - 5:20min/km avge
Friday pm - 9.32km - 49mins 42secs - 5:20min/km avge
Saturday am - 9.28km - 50mins 45secs - 5:28min/km avge
Saturday pm - 13.05km - 1hr 07mins 57secs - 5:12min/km avge
Sunday am - 9.29km - 51min 36secs - 5:33min/km avge
Sunday pm - 30.25km - 2hrs 38mins 55secs - 5:15min/km avge

Total - 182.24km - 15hrs 51mins 52secs

The third week was officially my biggest week EVER in terms of time and distance run in a continuous seven day period. I was very proud of myself especially as I had shift work throughout this period and didn't take any time off work to get my runs in. That's not to say that I didn't have any challenges.

Going into this three week block I knew that I would have a couple of weeks of very little training afterwards. Mel was heading to NZ by herself for a bit of a holiday to catch up with family and friends and have a break from the kids. So knowing that I would have forced rest made it a bit easier. I could only run twice a week when Ethan was at kindy. I wasn't too worried about this enforced rest because The North Face 100, which was my big goal, was still 6 months away.

I used running to commute between home and work to get a lot of my running in. I had ordered and received my new Innov8 running backpack which was very light and great to run with and meant that I could put my gear for work in it. The pack is awesome and has a 2L bladder that sits around the waist area making it more comfortable. I needed to start running with the backpack to get used to running with weight on my back as the list of mandatory equipment for TNF100 is quite extensive.

I found the early morning runs to work quite difficult, my muscles were not warmed up, I was still sleepy and the weight in my backpack slowed me down quite a bit. Running twice a day was not a new feature for me, I had run double-ups many times before when training for marathons but never this many in a row, which by the end of the third week was starting to take a toll. A further challenge was that the temperature and extremely high humidity was having a major impact. Even running at 4am in the morning on my way to work I was sweating profusely and was finding it hard to keep hydrated. When running during the day to avoid the humidity I had to contend with warmer temperatures in the mid 20's to early 30's. Even then the humidity was still quite high and I was starting to feel drained.

It was in the third week that I had a scary experience that made me look at how much I was running, when I was running and how much sleep, food and fluid I was getting. I had run home on the Thursday night after work at about 9:45pm. I got home around 10:30pm had a shower and jumped into bed. I got up quite early the next morning and started my run to work. I left home at about 6:20am and was running with my headphones to help pass the time. It was quite warm and very humid. I had not had anything to eat or drink after the run home the night before and didn't have anything to eat in the morning. These factors combined with a lack of sleep and the music rapidly alternating in my ear-phones made me start to feel faint and light-headed. I slowed down and tried to concentrate on the road. I had only run about 4km but it was not looking good. I started to break into a cold sweat. I began weaving across the footpath. My vision was swimming. Every time I blinked I saw blackness. I approached an intersection. I saw a car coming from my left. I looked to my right. I woke up. I opened my eyes and I was in the middle of the road with the car stationary in front of me. Luckily the car had stopped at a red light as I was going across the crossing. I had no knowledge of how I had gotten from the footpath into the middle of the road. I was struck with a cold fever, sweat pouring from me, my head was spinning and my eyes were rapidly going from side to side as if I was watching a tennis match on fast forward. I felt as if I was going to vomit so I stoppped my watch, took out my ear-phones and walked to the other side of the road and safely onto the footpath. I was concerned because everything was spinning and this had never happened to me before. I spent a couple of minutes there pretending to stretch on the pretense that I was fine and nothing was out of the ordinary. I was embarrased and was concerned that someone would be looking at the crazy runner who looked as if he was drunk or had lost his mind. I know it was illogical but self-preservation must have been at the forefront of my mind at the time. I managed to get myself together and slowly jogged on. I slowed down quite significantly and not having the music in my ears seemed to help. I ran onto about 7km where I knew a tap was located and I had a big drink and had an energy gel. I started to feel better and ran on towards work.

I learned a lot from those three weeks of training. Among other things I learnt how much volume I could handle, what the effect of reduced sleep, and poor nutrition and hydration had on my running and general state of health but most of all I learnt that I could challenge myself and extend my boundaries and perceptions, remove my self-imposed limitations and know that I can achieve anything that I really set my mind to.

Training for ultramarathons I have changed my approach to training. I have slowed my pace quite significantly so that it is more about time on my feet than running a set course in a fast time. I still run quick every once in a while to work different systems but on the whole I try and stick to a comfortable pace which I like to think of as my ADP (All Day Pace). My ADP changes depending on the course and other variables. I am now running much more with my backpack which is getting heavier all the time as I purchase more of the mandatory equipement.

Experimentation is all part of the process and I will continue to try new concepts to see what works and what doesn't. I am looking at my training sessions and trying to be more specific so that each run has a purpose and that I'm not just putting junk miles on the clock for the sake of achievin a certain number for the day or week.