[michazeidan]

Hi,

My first hilly Ultra (Ultra Trail Snowdonia 100Km) is 11 weeks ago and to date I’ve been following a plan which has been a combination of the ‘Big Vert’ plan I purchased several years ago (for the general workout types conveniently positioned on Trainingpeaks) and the 100K Cat 2 plan from the TFTUA book (for the general distance and vert progression and workout tweaks). I’ve got a couple more weeks for ME work before moving a more Z3 focused period. I’ve been doing the 10 second hill sprints and progressing slowly (currently up to 10  x ‘quality’  10 second sprints + 1-2 x sprints with dead legs not quite reaching my target sprint distance).

I’ve noticed that the Big-Vert and Book plans diverge at this point wrt hill sprints: The ‘Big Vert is now moving towards longer and longer hill ‘sprints’ (15, 30, 60 and even 120 second ‘sprints’ with 2-3 minute long rests in between) with increasing ‘sprint’ duratio as the race nears. However, I can find no mention of these type of intervals in the book. Furthermore the recent article on this site on muscle fibers seems to suggest that fatigue cost that such efforts induce typically outweigh the benefits that these sessions might yield, especially if the A race is an ultra and not a short high intensitiy race.

Is my understanding correct?

Would you reccomend to progress to longer type hill sprint’s as above, contibue with 10’s hill sprints, drop them alltogether or something else for the next 8 or so weeks before the start ot the taper?

Thanks a lot again for all the great content and advice!

Cheers,

Mike.

[Scott Johnston]

Mike:

Regarding the race’s final weeks, there are several different directions the training can take, and their relative value is open for debate.  In this case, there is no “right” answer.

The purpose of the longer sprints is to keep the ME stimulus going a bit longer in a more running-specific modality than the gym.  As you probably noticed, that plan was written by Mike Foote.  He felt this was a useful training stimulus to put the finishing touches on power and muscular endurance.  I have used it with runners myself, although it is not my preferred method.

I recommend rolling from the ME block to longer, more aerobic uphill Z3 running.  This also helps keep the ME stimulus going in a more running-specific modality but at an intensity that is more similar to the demands of these races.

If you choose that second method, I would keep the 10-second sprints but move them to 1x/10 days, giving you more time to add Z3 runs.

As with many training questions, there is no right or wrong, and you need to experiment with what works for you.

Scott

[michazeidan]

Hi Scott,

Thank you very much for the advice above. It is very much appreciated! I shall opt for the second option with z3 uphill running plus the hill sprints every 10 days or so. Looking forward to finally  transitioning over to z3 uphill running!

Cheers,

Mike

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