THE TRAIL RUNNER’S COMPANION

If your house caught on fire, what would you grab to save?

For me, the answer is tucked in an office filing cabinet: more than two decades’ worth of spiral-bound running logs. Dating to 1995 and organized chronologically, each log contains daily handwritten notes about how far I ran (or if I rested), where I ran, how I felt, and annotations that reference life’s milestones—births, deaths, family problems, joyous times, etc. Each two-page spread reveals one week of training, so I can thumb through and see how training waxed and waned week after week, building up to and then recovering from races (or, occasionally, injury).

These notebooks collectively log just under 33,000 miles (32,930, to be exact, but that’s not counting miles from 1994, when I started running but didn’t log the runs). They fill me with pride and nostalgia, and they help me better understand who I am, not just as a runner but as a middle-aged adult who’s evolved through road and trail running.

Even though I now track my training with a sophisticated online app, I still maintain a handwritten training log that doubles as a diary because it’s a tangible reminder—and motivator—of my weekly training plans, as well as a private place to jot down feelings.

This chapter focuses on how to plan and modify training to achieve this kind of consistency—week by week, year by year—and make progress, not only to prepare for a trail race, but more generally to unleash your potential as a trail runner.

Following the advice of the last chapter, you may have registered for an A-level trail race several months away, and perhaps one or two practice races leading up to it. Maybe you circled the race date in red, or wrote it in capital letters on your calendar, signifying your excitement about this big event on the horizon. If it’s a destination race involving travel, then you might become financially as well as emotionally invested in the event as you plan a trip around it.

Now, you need to shift your focus away from the race day itself and become invested in the process of training well for it, week by week. Now, your goal is to get to the starting line healthy, fit, and well prepared.

Trail-running friends or clients I coach often say, “I really want to PR at this race,” or, “I really want to do that 50K.” To set themselves up for a successful race, however, they should be thinking instead, “I really want to train well every week leading up to my race.” In sports psychology terms, this focus on training instead of on race-day results is called being “process oriented,” instead of “outcome oriented.” Ironically, changing the focus to process generally leads to better outcomes; that is, better race results. “It’s about the journey, not the destination.” The process of training for a race matters as much or more than the race itself.

On the one hand, you should get totally psyched up for your race. On the other hand—here’s a bit of a paradox—to race well, it helps to care a little less about this single race and keep it in the perspective of a lifetime of other races and goals outside running. Your happiness should not hinge on one day’s performance.

Championship ultrarunner Geoff Roes once summed up this point: “Don’t put too much emphasis on one race, especially your first race,” he said. “You are almost certain to run several more in the future … Avoid being too devastated when things don’t go quite as well as you were hoping on race day. Run because you enjoy running, not exclusively to prepare for one particular race.”¹

If you’ve run races in the past, then take time at the outset of a new training cycle to reflect on what went well—and what didn’t—when you trained for a big race before. What were the most effective and satisfying parts of training that you hope to replicate this time around? Conversely, what do you hope to avoid this time, such as injury or stress? If, in the past, your training strained relationships or compromised other priorities, then consider how you can better make your commitment to running fit with your real life (a topic we’ll cover more in Chapter 14).

If you haven’t already started recording your training, then now’s the time to start—either with a printed calendar (I like The Complete Runner’s Day-by-Day Log by Marty Jerome, updated annually), or an online training log such as those by TrainingPeaks.com or Strava.com, or both. In addition to recording your daily runs, endeavor to get into a routine of using the calendar to plan ahead and pencil in your planned workouts.

Once I’ve registered for an A-level race, for example, I look at the four- to six-month training horizon and pencil key long runs and any B or C races into my training calendar. I take note of blocks of travel or special events that might interrupt regular training, and plan around those interruptions. Then, I take fifteen minutes or so every weekend to reflect on the past week’s training and plan the coming week’s runs and conditioning workouts.

Training for an A-level trail race should fall into four general phases, regardless of the distance. This chapter focuses on Steps 2 and 3 below; the next chapter covers Step 4 and race-day execution.

1. Develop your base: Follow the advice in Chapters 3 to 5 to achieve consistent training and to develop your aerobic capacity for roughly six to eight weeks, including a minimal but regular amount of conditioning. You need a foundation of consistent, frequent, and injury-free running before you take your training to the next level. When you feel your base has plateaued because your training feels comfortably manageable and routine, then proceed to Step 2.

2. Enhance your fitness and increase your volume: This phase marks the start of focused training for your race. Your weekly training should aim to increase your cardiovascular fitness, build your strength, and carefully lengthen the duration of your runs, while also scheduling adequate recovery during the week. The number of weeks devoted to this phase depends largely on the number of weeks available to train for your race; if you have a short training horizon of, say, only twelve weeks, then you may need to transition from Phase 1’s base-building straight to Phase 3’s specificity. Ideally, however, you will have a cushion of time—at least four to six weeks—to train in this phase. Phase 2 is a good time to schedule a “B”-level practice race.

3. Prepare specifically for the conditions of your race: About six to eight weeks prior to your race, your training should shift to specific practice in the types of terrain, climate, and other conditions you’ll face on race day. You’ll also reach your maximum training volume during this phase, and do your “homework” of mental and logistical preparation.

4. Taper: This short period of time—usually two weeks, but it may be a little longer or shorter, depending on the race—should be designed to emphasize high-quality but reduced training, increased rest, and race-day planning. The goal of the taper is to get you to the starting line in the best physical and psychological shape for race-day success. The next chapter details how to taper.

BEWARE OF OTHERS’ TRAINING PLANS

Many online resources and books provide twelve- to twenty-four-week training plans to prepare for races of varying distances. You won’t find that type of weekly training grid in this book, however, because i don’t recommend cookie-cutter, one-size-fits-none training plans. While they might be useful insofar as they illustrate one possible way to structure your training weeks, they can cause problems if you follow a rigid schedule that does not take into account your personal fitness level, your life’s circumstances (such as work and travel schedules), and other life stressors. On any given week, a generic training plan may not challenge you enough, or it may be too challenging and set you up for injury or discouragement. This chapter’s principles will give you the tools to design and modify your individualized weekly training plan. Designing and modifying your individualized weekly training plan is a better approach.

Once you’ve established a base of consistent running and conditioning over one to two months, it’s time to turn up the intensity and volume of your training. Remember the saying from Chapter 3: “Make your easy days easy, and your hard days hard.” Now’s the time to make those hard days a little more challenging.

During this phase and the next, aim for three “hard,” high-quality runs per week:

3. A weekend long run that develops endurance and includes lower-intensity hill practice

The remaining two or three runs during the week should be relaxed, lasting approximately 30 minutes to a little over an hour, depending on your schedule and how you’re feeling. Continue to layer in short but consistent sessions of conditioning during the week, as covered in Chapter 5.

Easy-day runs shouldn’t be complicated or feel hard. Enjoy running whatever route inspires you or feels convenient, and keep your heart rate low enough that you could carry on a conversation. The easy runs, plus at least one complete rest day, should fall between the hard days.

If something interrupts your ability to run during the week—such as a work deadline or a family emergency—then sacrifice an easy run and chalk it up as a rest day. Do your best to accomplish all three high-quality hard runs during the week, and your training will progress even when life throws you curveballs and you have to take extra days off.

Review Chapter 3 for an introduction to speedwork, and use strides and short, timed intervals to increase the amount of oxygen your body can take in and utilize (in runner’s jargon, measured as “VO2max”). As discussed, you should push yourself to run these intervals at what feels like the maximum effort you can sustain for the length of the interval. For example, if the interval lasts 5 minutes, then try to run as hard as you can sustain for 5 minutes. On a 1 to 10 scale of perceived effort, you should feel like you’re running at a 9 and trying to push to 10; your heart rate and breathing should be high enough that your ability to talk is limited to single words. The trick—which you’ll figure out the more you practice speedwork and refine your sense of pace and effort—is to avoid running so hard at the start of an interval that you can’t sustain your effort for the full length of it.

Track workouts are fine, and certainly will whip you into shape, but if you’re training to be a competitive trail runner, then I recommend interval workouts on a relatively smooth and flat trail, or a dirt fire road, so you get the added practice of navigating subtle changes in elevation and surface terrain.

In addition to the strides and ladder workout described in Chapter 3, try a simple weekly speed workout nicknamed “on-offs,” during which you run hard and fast (“on”) for a 3- to 5-minute interval, then easy (“off”) to recover for the same amount of time. For example, I like 6 x 4-minute on-offs, which means running fast for 4 minutes, then slow and easy for 4 minutes, 6 times in a row.

You can slice and dice speed workouts innumerable ways, and try different patterns of short intervals each week. You can decrease the amount of recovery time between each interval—for example, only 2 minutes of recovery between each 4-minute interval in the workout described above—if you are short on time and/or if you want to make your workout even harder. Generally speaking, however, give yourself ample easy-running recovery time—ideally, the same amount of time it takes to run the fast interval—so that you feel fully recovered and eager to run your highest effort level in the next fast interval.

During the four- to six-week phase that follows the development of your base, try to gradually build up the total time of fast intervals during each week’s speed workout. For example, if you’re able to do 4 x 4-minute on-offs one week, for a total of 16 minutes of fast running (plus a couple minutes’ worth of strides during your warm-up), then the next week you might vary and expand your workout with 3 x 5-minute, plus 1 x 3-minute, on-offs for a total of 18 minutes of fast running. If you can build up to a speed workout that has a total of 20 to 24 minutes of short, fast intervals, that’s excellent.

In the next phase, when you practice race-specific conditions and achieve peak volume (discussed below), your weekly speed session should shift to longer intervals at a less-intense, more-sustainable effort level. During base development and this phase of enhancing fitness, however, short intervals—five minutes or less, at or near maximum effort—are highly effective for boosting your cardiovascular fitness and improving your running economy.

Many runners who work full-time jobs fall into a pattern of running approximately forty to sixty minutes on three, or maybe four, weekdays, usually on the road. They shoehorn these weekday, plain-vanilla road runs into busy mornings or lunchtimes.

Then bam!—like a jolt to the system, Saturday rolls around and they hit the trail for an epic run that lasts several hours. I call this the “weekend warrior” pattern of trail running.

If you’re a weekend warrior who backloads your weekly training, I urge you to do whatever you can to carve out one day when you break your weekday pattern of short-distance runs on pavement, and add a medium-length run—ideally on trail—during which you do some high-intensity uphill running. Your training will benefit immensely from this high-quality, medium-distance weekday run with hills, and your weekend long run will feel more manageable and will be less likely to cause injury.

By “medium length,” I mean longer than your typical weekday run, but roughly half the distance of your weekend long run. For most runners past the base phase of training, this means 75 minutes to 2 hours. If your longest trail run is up to 14 miles, or about 2.5 hours, for example, then this midweek medium-length run should last approximately 1 hour, 15 minutes, or at least 7 miles. If your long trail runs are in the 20-mile, or 4-hour range, then plan a midweek run of around 2 hours, or 10 miles.

There’s one other ingredient needed to make this midweek run a hard, high-quality workout: Hills.

Review Chapter 3’s section on uphill intervals (aka hill repeats), and Chapter 4’s guidance on hill-running technique. Then, during your medium-length run, choose a route with a variety of slopes (some short and steep, some longer and more gradual). Run the flatter segments at a pace that feels focused, steady, and more determined than your typical easy-run effort, aiming for about a 7 on a perceived effort scale of 1 to 10. Then, when you reach the base of a hill, charge up it hard to elevate your heart rate and fatigue your legs. Run slow and easy on the downhill to recover. To challenge yourself further, find a hill toward the end of your run and do three to four uphill intervals on it.

If you’re a flatlander living in a region devoid of hills, my condolences! Try to find a parking ramp structure, or a set of stairs, that you can use for uphill intervals at the end of your medium-length run. You also can use a treadmill set at a high incline to simulate hill running.

The third hard, high-quality run of your week should be the long trail run, which will develop your endurance to handle a long-distance trail race. Your weekend long run should include some hills and technical terrain to practice trail-running techniques; however, you should run the uphills at an easier pace than the hillwork described above for the medium-length midweek run, and downshift to power hiking if running uphill makes you breathe so hard you can’t talk in full sentences.

Your pace on the long run should be slow and steady, like the proverbial tortoise; but if you are training for a shorter-distance trail race—a 5K to half-marathon—then a “fast-finish” long run once every two to three weeks is a great way to further boost the speed that shorter races reward. If your long run lasts approximately two hours for half-marathon training, for example, then for a fast-finish long run, go slowly and steadily for the first ninety minutes, then push your pace in the final half hour to practice finishing a race at a harder and faster effort.

Most runners are familiar with the concept of the weekend long run. The big question remains, how long should “long” be? Let’s address that below in the context of overall weekly volume.

Trail runners’ weekly mileage varies wildly, and whether you should run, say, 30 or 50 miles a week depends on the race you’re training for and where you are in your training cycle. It also depends greatly on the length of your weekend long run. My total weekly mileage, for example, goes from a low of about 25 during periods of recovery, or an “off season,” to around 80 on peak-training weeks leading up to an ultra.

And when we talk about mileage, keep in mind it’s an approximation. Don’t get too hung up on precisely measuring mileage. Trail running’s variable terrain and elevation means your pace—and consequently, your distance—will vary substantially during a long trail run. Plus, trail mileage can be difficult to estimate, and GPS tracking tends to be less accurate on hilly routes with lots of switchbacks.

When planning a long run, focus on time rather than precise mileage as a goal target. For example, tell yourself, “I’m gonna be on the trail for at least three hours.” Whether your three-hour trail outing ends up being 15 miles (a 12-minute average pace) or 18 miles (a 10-minute average pace) matters less than accomplishing three hours of steady trail running, which includes hiking on the uphills as needed.

The duration of your long and medium-length runs should build gradually over the course of several weeks, so that your total weekly mileage increases by no more than roughly 10 percent week to week; for example, 30 miles total one week, 33 the next. In other words, avoid big jumps up in mileage, which can spark overuse injury.

If you dramatically exceed the 10 percent rule of thumb one week—say, you join a group long run that goes extra long, so suddenly your weekly mileage jumps from the mid-30s to 50—that’s OK, but step it back down the following week, rather than making 50 your new baseline. Work backward from your peak long run, and plan long runs incrementally building up to it.

How long should your peak-distance long run be? For short races (5K to 10 miles), a truly long run is less essential; a peak long run of two hours is sufficient as long as you also are getting in the other two key “hard” workouts during the week. Longer long runs will benefit short-distance race training as well, by building endurance. If you can stretch your long runs past two hours, go for it (following the guidelines in the next paragraphs for increasing longrun duration safely and gradually).

When training for a trail half-marathon or 30K, I recommend a peak long run three weeks before your race date that is equal to the time you estimate your race will take you. For example, if you think a tough trail half-marathon may take 2 hours and 45 minutes to finish, then you should build up to a long training run, three weeks before the race date, during which you’re on your feet, moving steadily, for 2:45.

For a trail marathon, I recommend working up to a peak long run four weeks before the race date that’s at least 75 percent of the time you estimate the trail marathon will take to finish. If, for example, a trail marathon might take you 5 hours and 15 minutes, then plan to complete a long trail run in training, four weeks prior to the race date, of at least 75 percent of 5:15, or approximately four hours.

Then, three weeks before race day, try to complete a final long run of the same duration. If you are feeling extra tired or prone to injury, though, shorten the final long run to a distance that still feels “long” but manageable.

You may be wondering, “How do I estimate how much time a trail half- or full marathon will take?” There are a couple of ways to do that.

You can look at the event’s results from prior years, see if you recognize people who run at approximately your pace or level, and use their finishing times to predict your time. Or, see how long it takes you to run half the distance of your goal race on similar terrain, then double that time and add 10 percent.

Be conservative when you estimate your trail race finishing time, and remember, trail races generally take significantly longer than road races! For example, when I was in good shape for road racing, my half-marathon times tended to fall between 1:28 and 1:32. When I started racing trails, however, I found it challenging to break 2:00 at many trail half-marathons.

During this training phase of enhancing fitness and increasing volume, and in the next phase of training for specific race conditions, you should gradually build up your total weekly mileage, mainly by lengthening your medium-length and long runs. Your mileage also will grow by increasing the duration of intervals during weekly speedwork, and by adding a little more mileage to easy-run days.

Every third or fourth week, however, it’s wise to plan a lower-volume week by cutting back your long-run distance and/or converting an easy-run day into a complete rest day, to give yourself more time for rest and adaptation to the stress of training. Many of us have challenging weeks at least once a month, when travel, work, or family commitments make it difficult to push our running intensity or volume. This is a good time to plan a mellower, lower-volume training week.

Finally, don’t be afraid to alter your weekly training plan based on how you’re feeling. On any given day, give yourself wiggle room to push yourself a little harder or longer—or, to cut your run short or take it easy—depending on how you feel. But keep following the general principle of alternating easy and hard days for adequate recovery between the high-quality hard days, and be sure to go easy in terms of pace and effort on the scheduled easy days.

Approximately two months before your big race date, you should shift the training described above to focus on practicing for the specific conditions you’ll face on race day, and to peak in training volume.

Now’s the time to really study the race—in particular, its terrain, climate, and elevation profile—and to design your medium-length and long runs to simulate those race-day conditions as much as possible.

For example, will your race be in a hot, dry region? Then shift the time of your run from morning to midday or afternoon, when temperatures are hottest, and/or wear an extra layer of clothing for warmth, so you can adapt your body’s thermoregulation and practice hydration. Will the race route feature segments with tricky tree roots and loose, slippery rocks? Then endeavor to find a stretch of trail that mimics those tough spots, and practice running it repeatedly. Will your race feature calf-deep stream crossings, where getting your feet wet is unavoidable? Then deliberately soak your shoes and socks with a garden hose at the start of your training run to get used to running with wet feet, and to test the performance of your socks when they’re wet.

To practice race-specific conditions, you have to know what they are, which means you need to learn everything you can about your race. Thanks to GPS, Google, websites, and social media, that’s relatively easy to do, even if the race takes place in a region where you’ve never run.

Start with the event’s website, and study the race course description and elevation profile. Then, search online for race reports from the event’s prior years, and read up on how other runners describe the course. Watch videos from the event or, if available, a Google flyover that takes you on a simulated tour of the course. Home in on details such as tough hills, tricky singletrack terrain, and smooth-running segments. Have a question about the course or the event logistics? Then join the race organization’s Facebook page and pose the question there for past participants to answer, or email the race director directly.

The goal is to increase your understanding of the route’s challenges so you’re better prepared to face them, as well as understand its easier portions so you can use those segments to recover and, ideally, run faster.

Also, be sure to study the race course’s final segment, so you can mentally visualize and physically practice a similar trail segment to boost your chances for a strong finish on race day.

A couple of months before race day, you also should nail down your travel plans and the logistics of transportation to the start line. If you are traveling to a race in a climate extremely different from where you live, try to arrive several days in advance so you can acclimate (see the section at this chapter’s end on high-altitude acclimation). Book lodging as early as possible, and find a stress-free, foolproof way to get to and from the starting line so you don’t have to sweat the details close to race day.

In addition to practicing race-specific conditions during this peak training phase, you should modify your workouts in the following ways:

Make your once-a-week speed session a tempo run or a negative split, to work on endurance and a sustained faster effort.

The short (5-minute or less), intense bursts of speed you’ve been practicing during the prior weeks’ speed workouts should shift to longer, less intense, and more sustainable segments of fast running known to many as a “tempo run,” with a pace often described by the oxymoron “comfortably hard.” The trail version of a tempo run means you pick a runnable stretch of trail (not so hilly or technical that you have to hike); then, after warming up for about 10 minutes and doing a set of strides, you accelerate to a focused, challenging but manageable pace that you can sustain for 20 to 25 minutes, followed by easy running for another 10 to 20 minutes. On a scale of 1 to 10 for perceived effort, you should feel you’re running at about an 8 during this faster portion, and your ability to talk should be limited to short phrases.

Alternatively, you can make your weekly speed session a “negative split,” so called because the second half, or “split,” is faster than the first. Pick an out-and-back route (for most runners training for a half- to full marathon, a route totaling 6 to 8 miles is appropriate in this phase of training). Run easily for about 10 minutes on the outbound portion; do a few 20- to 30-second strides to warm up for speed and to work on turnover; then run at a steady, focused pace to the route’s halfway turnaround point. After you reach halfway and begin running back toward the start, gradually accelerate your pace to reach and sustain the tempo-pace effort describe above. Push yourself in the final mile to practice the “kick,” or final surge of speed you want to emulate as you approach the race-day finish line. Then, give yourself about a half-mile toward the end to run easily for a cool down.

Make your hillwork simulate the elevation profile of the race, and practice downhill running more deliberately.

On both your weekday hillwork and weekend long run, try to find hills with slopes that mimic the hills on your race route—or, if you live near the race route, schedule a few practice runs on hilly portions of it. If your hill workouts have mostly been short, steep repeats, but your race route features long, sustained climbs and descents, then be sure to practice similar long, steady “ramps” in your training runs. Conversely, if you’ve mainly been running long, gentle hills but your race features some sharp, technical vert, then start practicing some “spiky” hills. Demystify the race’s hills—and build confidence—as you gain strength and agility by practicing them. Then, on race day, they won’t seem like such a big deal!

Additionally, you should deliberately practice downhill running during this phase of peak training. Earlier, I advised running downhill segments slowly and easily, to recover from a challenging uphill portion and to save your legs from the toll of high-impact downhill running. As you get ready for a hilly trail race, however, you need to condition your legs for smooth, efficient downhill running. Review the downhill running techniques in Chapter 4, and practice a quick-turnover, light-footed, flowing downhill stride.

Finally, practice smoothly transitioning between each part of a hill, from uphill running or power hiking, to summiting, to flat and downhill portions. The more you practice these transitions, the more efficiently you will run them, and the better you can use flats and downhills to recover from a spike in your heart rate and rapid breathing on the uphill.

Transitioning from an extended descent to a long, flat portion is deceptively difficult—your legs may feel filled with cement when you try to run on a flat stretch after bombing down a hill—but it feels more doable with practice. Since many races finish with a downhill-to-flat segment, it’s worth practicing!

Use your long training runs (and any C or B practice races) to test refueling, hydration, and gear.

For virtually all trail races 10 miles or longer, you’ll need to rehydrate and take in calories mid-race. Review Chapter 7’s advice on nutrition and hydration, and use your long runs to figure out what combination of food, gel, and/or sports drink works best for your stomach and energy level. Also, practice how to suck down gels or refill water bottles efficiently, so you’re not fumbling and frustrated on race day.

Also, follow the runner’s adage: “Nothing new on race day.” Test out any gear and clothing you might want to use for your big event. Don’t wait until midway through your race to discover that your new hydration vest chafes your back, or that your new visor feels too tight around your head. Try out everything first!

Use your long training runs (and any C or B practice races) to practice positive mental strategies.

When you encounter segments of your training runs with features similar to the race, then pretend you’re in your race and coach yourself with positive self-talk (for example, “That’s it—you’ve got this! You’re getting stronger, faster, better …”) as you picture yourself running well and feeling great on race day.

What if you feel lousy and unmotivated during a training run? Take heart—occasional negativity is normal, and good practice for troubleshooting. Working through “a rough patch” during a long, depleting training run is an essential part of training, and if you never experience low points, then you probably aren’t training long or hard enough.

Tell yourself to grin and bear it. Smile to relax and act outwardly positive, even if inwardly your mood is dark and you’re struggling, because a positive countenance will help improve how you really feel. Gallows humor comes in handy during these low points, too! Instead of complaining, try cracking a joke. (Chapter 13’s section on mental strategies for ultrarunning can be helpful for shorter trail races also.)

If you’ve been supplementing your trail-race training with a cross-training activity such as cycling, high-intensity swimming, or a dance class like Zumba, you should put that activity on hold during this peak phase. (Remember, I make a distinction between “cross-training” and “conditioning”; you should maintain a minimal amount of conditioning, as discussed in Chapter 5 and below.) Your time is better spent on race-specific training and resting, which you need to adapt to the stress of higher-volume running and harder hillwork.

The exception to this “no cross-training” advice during peak training is cross-training that feels so mellow and therapeutic that it could be classified as “active recovery”; that is, an activity that enhances the recovery process by working through soreness and stiffness, rather than further taxing your body. Examples include swimming some easy laps, which can restore range of motion in a stiff lower body while soothing inflamed muscles with the pool’s cool water, or taking a walk or a gentle yoga class.

As for conditioning, try to maintain a routine of pre-run dynamic stretching, post-run static stretching, and core conditioning. You can continue to strength-train your arms, but it’s not essential; if you are tight on time because your weekly schedule has you running more, then don’t hesitate to cut out strength work for your arms.

For lower-body work during peak training, deemphasize exercises that fatigue your major leg muscles, and emphasize lower-body conditioning that addresses any weak spots or imbalances. Your legs are getting enough of a workout in this phase through increased duration and hillwork, so lower-body work should be aimed at ameliorating trouble spots, and should feel more restorative than stressful. (The exception to this advice is for runners who live in a flat region and can’t practice hills; for them, I recommend a rigorous routine of lower-body exercises.)

Finally, take care of your ankles and feet to keep them injury-free! Follow the physical therapy exercises recommended in Chapter 5.

This phase of training specifically for the conditions of your race, and reaching your highest weekly mileage, can feel exhausting. It’s essential to bolster your training with good nutrition (covered in Chapter 7) and plentiful sleep. Listen to your body, and if you sense a niggle—a sore spot that keeps “talking to you” and could signal the onset of an injury—then schedule an easier week and see a physical therapist.

The next chapter will wrap up the training cycle by explaining tapering and race-day execution.

Live low, race high? (That’s a reference to altitude, not lifestyle!) It’s a common problem: Trail runners who live and train near sea level sign up for a race in regions above 7,000 feet, such as in the Sierra Nevada or Rocky Mountains. They arrive at the starting line poorly adapted to the climate’s thin air because they don’t have an opportunity to practice running and hiking in high altitude during training.

As someone who regularly travels from a California home at 400 feet to a Colorado home at 9,000 feet, and runs on routes that climb above 13,000, I’m no stranger to this problem.

If you want to train for a high-altitude trail race but live at an oxygen-rich low elevation, you could sleep in a high-tech hypoxic tent that simulates an oxygen-depleted environment, so your body chemistry—in particular, your blood volume—adapts over time to a high-altitude condition. I personally have never done this and consequently can’t recommend it; others report it’s effective, but also cumbersome, expensive, and noisy.

Thankfully, a couple of workarounds exist to help you prepare for high altitude.

First—and most fundamental—involves enhancing your cardiovascular fitness as much as possible. When you arrive at high altitude, you’ll be asking your body to perform with less oxygen, so the more efficient you are at taking in and processing oxygen, the better off you’ll be when less oxygen is available. For this reason, don’t skimp on your critically important high-intensity workouts, because they boost your body’s ability to process oxygen and metabolize energy.

Second, if possible, train in heat. When you run in hot conditions, your blood—and the oxygen it carries—flows toward your skin, to cool your body through perspiration. This diverts blood from working muscles, making your cardiovascular system work harder to meet the challenge of powering your muscles while regulating your temperature in hot conditions. Heat training, therefore, challenges your body to adapt to work with less available oxygen, while enhancing your cardiovascular fitness—a great way to get ready for high altitude.²

No matter whether you do extra high-intensity running or heat training, however, you’re still likely to feel the effects of altitude when you arrive at your destination. The symptoms include fatigue, headache, lightheadedness, and rapid breathing from an elevated heart rate. You’ll probably feel sluggish and “off” for a few days. Be sure to drink plenty of water throughout the day. Dry mountain air contributes to dehydration, and your body needs to be well hydrated to maintain its plasma volume and deliver oxygen to your muscles.

If possible, plan to arrive at your high-altitude destination at least a week—ideally two—before the race to acclimate and log some training miles in those conditions. Your body will respond to the challenge of performing in thin air by producing more red blood cells to deliver oxygen.

For many, however, arriving a week or more early is not possible due to work commitments or financial constraints. Take heart that other trail runners hailing from low elevations share your disadvantage. Make the best of the challenging situation by eating nutritiously, sleeping plenty, and staying adequately hydrated.

And most of all, revel in the opportunity to run in high-altitude, breathtaking terrain, even if you’re slower and more out of breath than usual!

CHAPTER 10

TRAIN SPECIFICALLY FOR YOUR RACE