UKC

Just finished my first mountain marathon (Misurina Sky Marathon - 44km, 3300m vertical) last weekend. Was absolutely brutal, and made me realise I really need to improve my stamina, but was pleased to finish it.

My training wasn't exactly optimal, mainly because;

a. I didn't do that much, and 

b. I live in the Netherlands, so the closest I got to running any hills during training was crossing the front step when stepping into the house

My legs actually feel fine this week. Bit tired, but nothing to worry about, so I'm wondering what I should be doing now regarding training??? Am I supposed to be taking a rest, or should I just carry on as normal (albeit at a lower level)??

I am thinking of doing something similar in terms of distance and vertical, somewhere around Nov/Dec, but want to improve my stamina over longer distances. When should I start training, and what should I be doing???

Also, any tips for training for hills when there are none???

Cheers

Hi,

I'm a useless idiot so please feel free to ignore. 

hill training - find a multi storey car park and go nuts. Watch your knees on the way back down. 

listen to your body now. Take that recovery seriously. 

also, well done!

re: listen to your body now. Take that recovery seriously. 

definitely this – you often feel really great a week after a big race, but it is easy to get injured soon after by being a bit enthusiastic - from personal experience!

I suspect strength and conditioning as well as hill training are the essentials going forward as well as the 'obligatory' increased weekly mileage

Advice as above, I often felt fine the week after a big event and then the following week I would crash. Then try to run through it and injury followed.

Err very much on the side of caution and don't let your enthusiasm run away with you, your body will have taken a hammering (with your lack of experience/training) and be delicate for a while.

Depends if you want to run further or actually get faster. More miles does not equal more speed!

Vertical training really helps, I'm not sure how you trained for that in Holland! I did my first mountain marathon a couple of weeks ago and my finishing time was disproportionally fast for my flat speed as I've trained a fair bit of vertical. The guys who do well and can keep up a solid pace all through do a lot of vertical training. Maybe cycling in to the wind could help? Maybe with the seat a bit low?

Weekend trips to Limburg or Belgium? Otherwise do like me and move to Norway... I'm currently Norwegian veteran champion ski mountaineering, and it's funny telling the locals I lived in Holland till I was 18.

The dunes of Noordwijk? We had a work event there one January and running along that coast with a North Sea headwind added 5% virtual gradient!

I've been lucky to live in the mountains for the last 8 years and its made a massive difference to my trail running. I was always strong on climbs, but find that getting used to the battering on descents is a huge benefit and there's not much you can do to replicate that without hills.

Find a gym with a stair machine. Stair master gauntlet being the best, revolving steps that fall away, not the machines with foot plates on pistons that you just rock side to side on. 

I am looking to finish stronger towards the end of the race. There were some slightly uphill sections which I should have been able to run, but ended up having to walk some of them as I was so bloody knackered. 

Which is why I need to work on stamina.

I have been doing some strength and core training, which I think helped a lot. So I think it's maybe just a case of doing more of the same, but in a bit more of a structured manner. 

I live pretty close to some dunes, so this is probably the best bet for now. 

Fortunately, I will be moving to Austria at Xmas, so this should only be a temporary problem

Stairs are great training normally, but in NL they can be super steep / narrow steps so choose your staircase carefully and walk down.

Gym equipment will be gentler on the knees...

Yes, stamina is one aspect, but nutrition and fluid/electrolyte intake before and especially during the race (particularly something so long) is a significant part of how you feel towards the end. Note: this is only my opinion based on having run the same marathon multiple times with varying levels of training. I probably had good quality training on a few occasions, but only once did the stars align and I could just about keep the pace up all the way to the end. The only thing I could point to was I think I got the nutrition/fluid intake right that time.

The stupid thing is I have ignored what I learnt more than I care to admit. For example, yesterday, I didn't take on board any fluid or nutrition for the first 8 miles of a 24 mile run because I felt fine. But when I did eventually think I need something, it was a little too late and catching up is difficult as your body can only digest so much per hour, meaning the end of the run became tougher than it should - bit of cramping, dehydration and low energy. I sweat more than most (it seems!), so taking enough fluid on board is particularly important.

This was what killed me. There was a long section in the middle of the marathon without any drinks stations and a long uphill section. I basically ran out of water and ended up being dehydrated by the time I reached the next drinks station, and then never really recovered properly.