[Quentin]

Hello, French guy here (sorry by the way for butchering English).

A former competitive alpine skier, I started training trail running and ski mountaineering more than 1.5 years ago. I am definitively a Category 1 athlete, as defined in TFTUA, given that my annual training volume in 2022 was only 255 hours in endurance sports (running, non-competitive skimo and infrequent hiking) and maybe about 275 hours if I add bodyweight exercises. I expect to train between 400 and 500 hours in 2023 following the guidelines established in TFTUA, which I read with great interest a few months ago.

In 2023, my goals are to run in the French Alps a mountain marathon (42km / 2300m D+) as the A objective in early August and then 11 weeks later, in mid-October, a longer trail race (75km / 3300m D+ mixing flat road and technical mountainous sections) as the B objective. I reckon that it is unusual to define an A objective way shorter than a B objective for non-elite athletes, but the mountain marathon race is the one that motivates me the most. I just want to be fit enough to finish with confidence the 75km race, that would serve as a test race and a stepping stone for my planned A objective (88K / 5000m D+) next year in May.

I DNF last year the aforementioned mountain marathon 2 km before the finish line because of freak injuries caused by a fall. Despite low training volume at the beginning of last year, I managed to get through a 12-week training plan for this mountain marathon (weekly average of 6.5 hours, 46km and 1410m D+ with a peak week of 10h30, 64km and 2800m D+) and, later on, a 9-week training plan for a road half-marathon (ran in 1h27).

Firstly, as a Category 1 athlete, do you think it is wise to prepare this year for the 75km race after finishing the mountain marathon?

If so, how should I adapt the Cat 2 Single A Priority 100K Run Idealized Plan (page 291 of TFTUA) for my goals?

I considered using the Cat 1 First Time 50K Running Race Idealized Plan to prepare for the mountain marathon (20 weeks). Just after the race, I would take a week of recovery (5-days rest followed by a light week-end of easy jogs). Then, I would start a base training cycle of 3 weeks aimed at gradually increasing my mileage up to the peak weak of the previous training plan for the mountain marathon, followed by a recovery week. Lastly, I would train according to the last seven weeks of the Cat 2 Single A Priority 100K Run Idealized Plan, while scaling down the distance and vertical.

I would appreciate any feedback or recommendation regarding my plans.

Thank you for any help you can offer.

Quentin.

[Scott Johnston]

Quentin:

I’m sorry to be slow in answering this. I did reply a week ago, but for some reason, my reply didn’t stick.  Your English is great.  I butcher our language more.

Your race results indicate that you have a good work capacity even though your training volume is not high.  I guess you can thank your parents for good genes.

I think using this plan of using training for the 42 km race as A priority is a good way to go.  Prepping for the 42 km race will give you a good base for the longer race in October.

I can’t explain the most effective modifications to the Category 1 100km plan.  The reason is that I don’t know enough about you and your training and fitness. If your goals are 42 and 75km, why are us using the 100km plan?  Could it be that you feel you can handle the volume in that plan?  Given the results you have gotten from quite a low volume of training, I’m not sure you need to jump to the 100km plan.  A jump in volume like you are contemplating, from 275 hours to 500 hours, is much larger than I would normally think prudent.  There is an injury risk when making a bog increase in running volume like you are planning.

Scott

[Quentin]

Thank you very much Scott for your useful reply!

It’s my turn to apologize for the late reply. Too much work and poor time management!

I will definitely follow your advices and strive to be careful regarding volume progression. I think setting up an upper limit of 350-400 training hours in 2023 is indeed more reasonable.

As suggested, I will use TFTUA’s Cat 1 First Time 50K Running Race Idealized Plan to prepare for the mountain marathon (20 weeks).

I mentioned in my initial post the Cat 2 Single A Priority 100K Run Idealized Plan not really because I planned to match the recommended mileage but because I though that it can served as a model for the distribution of the types of weeks (base, intensity, specificity) between the two events.

You said that “prepping for the 42 km race will give you a good base for the longer race in October”.

Lets say that I manage to run 70K-75K with 3,000m – 4,500m of vertical in my “culminating” week before tapering for the 42K/2,300m A-goal race, what is the better option out of these two for prepping for the October 75K/3,300m B-goal race:

– keep doing intensity and then specificity weeks, while very slightly increasing the distance and/or vertical?

– doing mostly base weeks and focus on increasing the distance and/or vertical more dramatically, though still cautiously?

Be that as it may, I will pay close attention to how well I will handle the workload near the end of the 50K plan before considering to which extent I need to add volume and/or intensity for prepping for the 75K race.

Quentin.

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