Best Running Tips Newsletter, Issue #041 -- Happy Trails

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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

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