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Training&Ultramarathon - Ultramarathon beim Steppenhahn (12.2004)

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Jesper Olsens Trainings-Advents-Kalender

Der World-Runner setzt zur Zeit (Dezember 2004) adventstechnisch (also vom 1. bis zum 24.) jeden Tag einen Trainingstip in seinen Bericht unter http://www.worldrun.org. Für die Übersichtlichkeit fass ich die hier nochmal zusammen:

  • 1.st. of December tip:
    - to prevent injury and facilitate an efficient running style on ultra distance I find that exercise and coordination-training of the feet is the highest priority after the distance training itself.
    - what you do is, a few min. morning/evening, train the foot muscles by "making a fist" with the foot (hold 5 sec.) and stretch the foot (5 sec.). Try if you can coordinate each toe individually. Plus rotate the ankle/foot clock & anti clock wise.
    It should take no more than 5min. and could save you quite a few injuries down the road :-)
    - Happy 1. of December!

  • And then to the 2. of December running tip:
    Stretch. It is one of the classics of injury prevention, but none the less often neglected.
    A few minutes slow and careful stretching of the main leg muscles before training will make the tendons more flexible and help prevent injury.
    The same stretch regimen after the training session will help the muscles recover more quickly and will in long term be able to counter "stiff/inflexible leg" symptoms and thus enable you to keep your speed potential long through your running years :-)

  • 3. December tip:
    - When speaking of food and energy intake: the most efficient time to refill the energy stored in the muscular cells are the first 15 min. after training / competition.
    Scientific studies show that you both get the best refill of energy and the fastest recovery. - Bon appetite!

  • 4. December running tip:
    Speed training.
    Even at the longest ultra distances you can benefit from occasionally adding fast pace to your training.
    - be it 5, 10km or longer units of stabile high pace; 1, 2 or 3km high speed intervals w. jog breaks in-between or group-dynamic driven bursts of pace :-)
    The fast pace will make the usual speed feel easier and the variation can add to your joy of running.
    Use fantasy in creating your own sets of intensive training blocks - fantasy being the best tool to success besides persistence :-)

  • 5. December tip:
    Hands.
    If you concentrate on relaxing the shoulders, arms and especially the hands you can often achieve a more economical and relaxed running style, making both fast pace and long endurance running more enjoyable !

  • 6. December tip:
    To help relaxing hands & shoulders (see 5.Dec.) you might want to do light training of the shoulder & neck muscles. 5 min. of contracting - relaxing the shoulder blades will help :-)

  • 7. December tip:
    - Never forget to learn from others no matter how much experience you have!
    As you can see, I have quite a few things left to learn about "safe running"..

  • 8. December running tip:
    - Back stretching.
    During heavy training / running you may benefit from releasing the pressure on the spine.
    An easy way is to hang loosely in the arms, lifting the feet from the ground for half a minute.
    - The method I learned from Pavel Rostem, former Russian/Soviet record holder on 6day (far more than I did in Colac :-) A very positive person which I have been fortunate to run with on two visits in Tatarstan !

  • 9. December running advice:
    - When a distance seems too overwhelming to overcome, try to break it down to smaller manageable stages and focus only on them. Then the totality will come by itself :-)

  • 10. December tip:
    Race planning.
    When competing in long distance or ultra distance runs, it is usually a good idea to make a race plan.
    How many drink/food stops you need, what average pace you expect to run, whether you expect to keep steady pace or increase/decrease through the run etc. This will usually amongst others help you determine a realistic aim and have an enjoyable race!

  • 11. December running tip:
    - Always remember to shift your running shoes before they are fully worn out; because that will be where you are most likely to get injuries from minimized shock absorption in the shoe.
    A way to prolong the "life" of your running shoe is to shift between 2 pairs!
    That way each pair will have a chance to regain their full shock absorption quality before the next session.

  • 12. of December running tip:
    Perhaps the most important in any running program will in my opinion be to preserve the JOY of running.
    No matter the level of your personal goal, remembering to never let the training schedule get in the way of the basic enjoyment of your running will most likely also help you get to the achievements of your running dreams :-)
    The actual tools to keep that will often be to emphasize variation in your training. Never let it become a static regime of day after day or week after week of the "same as usual?! Another thing can be to use a couple of minutes on the next training run to sum up what you appreciate most in your best running experiences - and try to incorporate that in the structure of your training.

  • 13. December running tip:
    Long Term Planning.
    When you plan your running progress or revise your running hopes, I find that its very useful to keep a very long perspective. While detailed short and medium term training schedules/plans are definitely valuable tools towards progress - its important not to miss what the overall goal is!
    Even as a young athlete it can be of benefit to set dreams or goals 10 or even 15 years in the future!! What happens is that it actually can make you relax a bit more in your daily hunt for progress. If you allow years for a steady and gradual progress you will give the body a good chance to adapt to what you require of it - and you will have the thrill of having a clear "red line" through your years of running :-)
    What I through more than 21 years of competitive running has often seen is that an athlete makes strong progress and through hard training and within a few years reach almost her/his potential - but by going forward faster than the body can safely adapt also in the long term injures themselves so that they never reach the absolute height of their capacity.
    Fully adaptation of bone structure to the hardship of long distance running takes for example in average 5 years of structured training... So carefull progress pays!

  • 14. December tip:
    Respect the body.
    Never loose sight of that the training should be good for you.
    Even in extreme distance competitions I believe strongly in enjoying the strength & endurance of the body - yet not to go beyond what it invites you to do (often its more than the mind expects!).
    - That way you will benefit from less injuries and more running pleasure :-)

  • 15. December tip:
    Nutrition.
    While nutrition & food supplements probably can do you good, I personally find that following your cravings/appetite and eating what the body seems to want can be enough for a high performance :-)

  • 16. December tip:
    Timing.
    It is a good idea to build your training progress around the main goals of the season; but equally important that you allow the body & mind to rest a bit in the off-season !

  • 17. December running tip:
    Hot running.
    When running in very high Celsius, besides lots of fluid you can eat egg and biscuits to make sure to absorb the water instead of it "running through" too fast.

  • 18. December tip:
    Recovering.
    A way to help the legs recovering after hard training/competition is to do light running motion in a pool 10-15 min. Blood circulation will help remove lactate acid etc.

  • 19. December tip:
    Variation.
    Ways to make your daily training more inspiring can be:
    Find new routes; vary the time (morning/eve/night!) and pace, time instead of km or vs., find companions,
    - Or try at summer running barefoot on grass as part of the training experience!

  • 20. December tip:
    Frequent food.. or freak food ;-)
    Eating many small meals can give you a better energy base by keeping the blood sugar stabile through the day.
    I eat 8 meals + 2 during night!

  • 21. December tip:
    Running clothes.
    Wear many thin layers in winter instead of few thick.
    Even in desert heat 2 layers can isolate and cool better than one!

  • 22. December tip:
    Vitamins.
    Although I myself rarely eat vitamin supplement - usually at most one multivitamin pr. month - I have often heard the advice that supplements of vitamin C (antioxidant to remove free radicals after hard exercise), B12 (can increase endurance) and calcium (for the "ca. muscular process) can be of help.

  • 23. December running tip:
    As ultra running are as much a sport of testing your willpower as your physical fitness, you may find it quite useful also to train mentally.
    Personally I use about equal effort training mentally and physically before important races.
    And obviously the mental- and willpower training was the main element in preparing for the world run (along with 2 years of detail planning.. ;-)

  • 24. December running advice:
    Knowledge.
    - Probably the most important of my own principles are always to continue to gather knowledge of how the body (and mind :-) responds to training.
    By knowing in detail how you respond to for ex. overtraining or your pre-injury signals you can become able to detect a beginning injury long before it develops. And have knowledge of how you best steer clear of it in time.
    - actually a big part of the "everyday of world run" is to pick up the many signals of the body responses and take preventive measures (example: reduce km, change running speed, run on other surface, emphasise stretches, get new shoes, alter running style, sleep patterns, change of food, ... )
    - up to 5-10 days before an injury would appear.

Well, that was the advices I could think of this month. Hope you enjoyed :-)
Jesper Olsen, Dec. 2004