[Scott Johnston]

Nick:

Welcome back to training. Let’s see if we can keep you from getting injured.  Add back hill sprints and strides 1x/week each. Include the gym ME program 1x/week for at last 10 weeks and longer if you have time.  Read the ME section of TftUA or the ME article on our site for more info.  That will increase the strength of your connective tissue as well as making your legs more fatigue resistant.  Both will help you with injury proofing.   would then integrate.  After the ME I would move to long sustained Z3 uphills.  This can be done on a treadmill (better on an incline trainer) or stair machine.  A marathon with 8k of vert will include a bunch of hiking.  Doing extensive Z4 on pavement unless you have a strong running background is asking for trouble.  You can do a much higher volume of Z3 work with less global fatigue and injury prevention.  And, it is more event specific for you.  If you do som e Z$ it should be uphill as well.  But I would do 10:1 Z3:Z4 volume for these races.

Scott