I have just completed my first official year of coaching athletes. Here are some of my key takeaways from the past year.
1 – Time to absorb a workout (mostly 2 key workouts a week)
- It takes a month to absorb the benefits of a hard workout. Progress is slow. You should have entire training blocks with periodization. The purpose is to elicit a different response specific to your race. Workouts becoming more specific to the demands of race day as it approaches. There’s a lag in absorbing the benefits of that workout. The same with after a race. They are extremely hard workouts, a chance to push and test your fitness, but you need time to recover from them.
- That’s what you gain from using a structured training program. Key workouts with scheduled recovery weeks to absorb the benefits.
- Workouts are a trauma to the body. That’s why recovery, rest, and proper nutrition are needed. Supercompensation is the process in which you rebuild your body after the damage stronger and faster.
- That’s also why you don’t need to do high volume or in the 2-3 weeks leading up to your event. You can LOSE fitness so you still need frequency and intensity but can cut the volume.
- 2 key workouts a week with supporting workouts.
- Slow building fitness, so are the changes in the muscles and tendons that support performance. They adapt slowly, and over time. It can take years of consistency.
2 – Racing too much
- Racing too much
- The number of races on the calendar matters. Don’t expect breakthrough performances if you’re racing every other weekend. You should have a proper taper for your events, followed by proper recovery. Racing frequently can go against your training schedule. It may result in suboptimal performance in races. Pick 1 or 2 events but make sure they are spread far enough apart to refocus your training. Your season only has MAYBE 2 big A races, you can use shorter supplemental races.
3 – 24 / 7 athlete
- Eating late hurts recovery.
- HGH production is affected by the presence of insulin in the body, so muscle rebuilding can’t happen if you snack frequently.
- Bad sleep promotes injury.
- Creating sleep pressure as soon as you wake up, stop sitting
- You can’t sit all day, strive for 15,000 to 18,000 steps a day if your have poor sleep. Maybe your are not tired enough?
- Sitting all day tightens muscles. What will you be doing more in a race? Walking or sitting? Ultra runners do lots of walking. They call it “power hiking.” You walk a lot, but you can walk FAST.
4 – Monitor fuel and hydration in training and racing
- Dr Peter Attia says you should always monitor 2 sometimes 3. In an ultra and your season you should constantly monitor this.
- What you eat, when you eat, and how much you eat. The same goes for racing in an ultra this year. I don’t think most realize how much food you need. The baseline is 50-60G carbs and you keep adding until you hit your limit.
- You need fuel after 20 minutes into your workout to produce the numbers you’re after. Fuel your workouts and train your gut. Eat for shorter runs and get used to consuming calories on the go. Practice eating what you will consume come race day.
- Yes, you can do fasted runs. They help promote fat burning. However, that should NOT be done near your race when you will be eating and hydrating.
- I learned the effects of dehydration on performance. Even being slightly dehydrated can have huge effects.
- Constant calories to fuel performance. Most athletes were not consuming enough.
- Higher intensity = increases demands.
Patrick is an ultrarunner and coach from Philadelphia who loves documenting his running career. His mission is to provide useful tips and tricks to assist others along their ultra journey. You can find his coaching services at https://ultraruncoach.com.
