September 11, 2010

Training for 100km road race

How do you prepare for a 100km run on the road? There are plenty of programs and ideas on the web, such as this link with a ton of other suggestions. I have decided to stick to one key point of advice from the coach who guided my running for five years, until April this year.

One of his key points of advice was that any runs longer than three hours do more damage, increasing the risk of injury, than provide benefit. With two months to go until my 100km road race, the Haney to Harrison, and after a recent break from training to recovery from the 50-mile STORM trail run I did exactly a month ago, I am keen to follow that advice.

However, to increase my mileage I will aim to run twice a day and/or do back to back long-ish runs on the weekend. After having discovered so many great trails to run on in Squamish, preparing for the STORMY, I now need to return to road so that my body gets used to pounding on the pavement for the Haney to Harrison.

Last night, at 6pm, I went for an easy training run with Tim and our dog, so we stuck mostly to a gravel road without traffic where the dog can run off leash. We ran for about 90 minutes. Then this morning I went for my long run, which I did mostly on the road.

As a bonus, the GranFondo between Vancouver and Whistler was held today so not only did I run for about 2 hours and 20 minutes, I also managed to cheer on some of the 4000 cyclists in this ride as I followed as much of that course as was safely possible.

I got so much great energy from all these cyclists that I didn't realize how tired, thirsty and hungry I was until the last 10 minutes when I ran the final steep uphill along the popular rock-climbing area of the Smoke Bluffs. As soon as I came home I put my legs up against the wall, while lying on my back, for a few minutes to help my recovery.

Tomorrow I'll run for another hour to 90 minutes, before doing a short speed session on Monday.

No comments: