Like this site:
[ ?] Subscribe To This Site



|
Back
to Back Issues Page |
|
Best Running Tips Newsletter, Issue #041
-- Happy Trails
February 6, 2013
G'day!
Hope you are doing well.
A few weeks back I did a 28km trail run.
To be honest, I was really quite afraid before the race.
The elevation chart looked like this:
Elevation
chart of the trail
The reason I was a bit scared was probably twofold:
I did a hilly trail run
beginning of last year. 5-7k shorter. Hurt like hell. Toughest
run I had ever done. My expectation was that adding 5k of more pain was
not going to be helpful... :)
And I wasn't sure if I
had done
quite enough prep. After moving house last year I had let
my running slip a little. I had only just started getting back into
things again. During the Xmas and New Year's period I had done a
bit of running, but not an incredible lot. I was just really unsure
about how this run was going to unfold.
With some races I am really confident, I have done all the prep, hit
all my goals in test runs and the race is merely going to be an
execution of the plan. With this one... not so much... :)
Turned out that it was
an absolutely delightful
run! The run took us through beautiful
bushland. I started off quite slowly, really conserving myself as I was
expecting to be in pain towards the end. Probably because of that
strategy the pain never really came.
After the halfway mark I don't recall getting passed by anyone anymore.
All together it was a really
satisfactory experience.
As
you can see from the elevation chart the toughest part was at the
start. Following the
advice from "senior-trail runners" I did not run
this part, but powerwalked upwards.
The general consensus
amongst the more experienced trail runners is that by powerwalking up
steep hills instead of running you conserve energy, whilst not losing
that much time.
And that was quite clear. I had somebody in
front of me for a while who was running and giving it his all on this steep
ascent, with me powerwalking behind him. And he went only slightly,
slightly faster than I did!
I was even going to try to overtake him just to make a point, but
decided not to be too
cheeky so early on!
Another
interesting element of the run was the downhill parts. I
don't know how
many people I passed on the downhill sections. Many of us get a bit
scared going downhill it seems. You sometimes get that
feeling they are going uncomfortably fast, giving
you that feeling of losing control.
However, when you practice hill running quite regularly like I do, you
can reap immense benefits, both uphill and downhill.
By the way, when you have got troubles with hill running, please take
some time to
have a read of my hill running article:
Five
Best Hill Running Tips and Secret Hill Running Workouts
After
the big hill at the start the other uphill sections seemed quite easy.
It was only
towards the end, when the legs started
getting quite tired that we suddenly needed to climb some steep stairs
where I think everybody groaned and moaned at least a little bit!
All in all it was a great run. Next year I may be back for another turn!
Last time we spoke a bit about 2013 goals. I suggested that if you are
interested, you should sign up for some of my free e-courses and
ebooks. Just in case you missed that, let me quickly repeat the ones
currently available (all without charge):
Marathon
Training Secrets + Ace Your Marathon mini-series
This provides you with an ebook with useful marathon training info as
well as an ongoing e-mail series called Ace Your Marathon which gives
you the little bits of extra info that you need to really nail that
marathon.
Fat Loss Jumpstart + Lose 10
Pound mini-series
Fat Loss Jumpstart is an ebook about weight loss. In addition to the
ebook you'll get the Lose 10 Pounds e-mail series which will provide
tips and advice when you want to lose weight.
Beginner
Running Programs (Walk/Run Programs)
The Beginner Running Programs of the Best Running Tips website are
really popular. You can just use the schedule on the site as-is, but
you can also subscribe to the programs and get them delivered into your
inbox, along with some useful beginner running info.
I have had some people sign up for the Ace Your Marathon mini-series when they are actually preparing for half marathons. This triggered a thought
that I should maybe provide some more e-courses like this.
If you had a say, what type of e-course would benefit you most? Doesn't need to be about a race distance necessarily. Could be about keeping motivated, beginner running mistakes, etc.
Let me know via my contact form.
Alright,
that's it for now. Keep up your running, whether you are in the
Northern hemisphere dealing with cold winters, in the Southern
hemisphere dealing with hot summers or somewhere in between. Whatever
you do, run!
Talk
to you soon.
In the meantime, come visit my site often and happy running!
Dominique
Best Running Tips
Back
to Back Issues Page
Like this page:
|
|
|
|
New! Comments
Have your say about what you just read! Leave me a comment in the box below.