[brianlcox]

Firstly I would like to thank you for the excellent work you do. I found TftUA almost exactly a year ago (After a 5 year having kids related exercise break). The clear and thorough framework immediately resonated with me and I started following you beginner mountain running plan that same week. Results were hard to deny! I have been training 8-10 hours per week for a year and have lost over 50 lbs (now 79kg or 175 lbs) and am running in average of 75km per week. My AeT has moved from 135 to 160-165 (LT around 173), and my AeT pace has moved from 7:30 /km to 4:30/km. Thanks for your major contribution to my success!

I’m now about 10 weeks into my second training block, which will last until some bigger (50-70 km) mountain projects in the summer. I started with an 8 week block of max strength work following chapter 5 of the book. My first question is how to carry enough load for the leg work. I currently need to add around 45 kg (100 lbs). For this I’ve been wearing a 25 lb weighted vest with a 55lb backpack over that and some small dumbbells in each hand. This is quite a pain, but can’t really find anything better. I tried a barbell, but have a hard time getting it onto my back (and off!) when tired as I don’t have a rack at home. Next I will get some heavier kettlebells to hold in my hands instead of the small dumbbells. This will reduce the weight in the pack and make it easier to put on and take off.

What does everyone else do to add weight for max strength?

My second question is about when to switch from max strength to uphill sprints. My plan has me doing a 4 week period of one of each per week (after 8 weeks of 2x max strength per week). After this I will do another 4 weeks of 2x per week hill sprints before reducing to once per week and starting an ME block. Should I have switched from max strength to hill sprints earlier?

 

Thanks again,

Brian

[Nick M]

Hey Brian,

I’ve had success holding a big kettle bell in each hand for my strength work. Up to 40-50 lbs each seems to be about the limit of my grip strength at the moment, but that has been enough for my work. Then you can always adjust the weight of your vest or backpack to increase or fine-tune.

As far as when to incorporate hill sprints, I’ve actually found it helpful to do them in the same week as my max strength, so each workout is done once per week, with an easy day separating each. This keeps my legs firing and feels like I’m always translating that strength into my sprinting mechanics. Mixing in a few strides into my easy runs when I feel fresh seems to help as well. Then once I feel like I’ve built up enough strength, those max strength workouts get replaced by ME workouts, while the hill sprints stay. Curious how others approach this though.

Good luck,

N

[brianlcox]

Hi Nick,

Thanks for the reply. I agree that holding kettlebells are probably the way to go once the backpack gets too heavy. I will get a 12kg and a 16kg from my brother-in-law to try out.

My thought is that I might not really need to go heavier though. I’m already at 55-60% of body weight, which seems to be around the point where adding more strength stops helping improve running as much.  Maybe I should just move to 2x per week hill sprints now.

I also do speed work (such as 16x 200m or 8x 400m) onceper week to help with running economy.

Best,

Brian

[Scott Johnston]

Brian:

Thanks so much for writing in with your nice story and your questions about strength.  At the point you have reached in terms of max strength, 60% of BW, I think you’d find good gains by moving to more power type training like hill sprints.  The transfer over to your running performance will be better with hill sprints because the mechanics and rate of contraction are the same as running.  Make the transition more gradual and go 2-3 weeks with 1 max and 1 hill sprint each week if you see gains that way then you might shift to 2x HS/week.  My normal prescription is to keep 1x/wk HS when I move to the ME block.

I hope this helps.

Scott

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