Her Trails 50km

WEEK 5

OBJECTIVE

“Strength doesn’t come from what you can do. It comes from overcoming the things you once thought you couldn’t.” This week's objective - Embrace your strength training and build power! There is no question that dedicating yourself to a running program is a big time commitment, but we can make it happen because we love to run and have running based goals. Strength training is important for runners, especially trail and ultra runners. However, if it is not something you are familiar with, it can be overwhelming and tricky to carve the time out for it. BUT we need to! We want you to be in the best shape and position possible to achieve your goal and have movement part of your life for the long run. Our big ask - please make strength training a priority. Read your weekly email to find out why! The Her Trails strength and mobility sessions in this program have been carefully designed to compliment your ultra training and help protect your body from the thousands of high impact steps you take, day after day. In the early stages of adapting to these sessions, you may notice some delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS), this is totally normal. If you keep hydrated, fuel correctly, and maintain consistency, you will: (a) make strength gains in a short amount of time and (b) be completing your strength work DOMS free!

TRAINING LEVEL CHART

Reference this training level chart to help you understand your efforts for each training session.

LEVEL 1- 3

EASY RUNS/RECOVERY

LEVEL 4-5

MODERATE

LEVEL 6

GOAL RACE EFFORT
[aka HALF MARATHON PACE]

LEVEL 7-8

THRESHOLD
[aka 5KM/10KM PACE]

LEVEL 9-10

STRONG SPEED
[AKA 1 MILE – 400M PACE]

DAY ONE

BASE MILE

30 minutes @ Level 1-3

Intention: Relax your shoulders and arms

When we are starting out in running or when we are running fatigued, we will often begin to shrug up our shoulders and arms and hold tension in our neck as we run. For this run, simply focus on keeping your upper body relaxed. If you notice yourself tensing up, on your next exhalation drop your shoulders, shake your arms out a little and reset.

DAY TWO

DAY 2 - WEEK 1 STENGTH PHOTO (LANDSCAPE)

STRENGTH

This is 40 minute full body strength session will help strengthen your muscles and connective tissues, boost neuromuscular coordination and aims to improve your running economy on trail.

DAY THREE

BASE MILES

30 minutes @ Level 1-3

Intention: lightness

As you start to get tired on a run it’s common to start pounding the pavement with heavy footsteps, or perhaps you notice that you are scuffing your feet? This can add additional load through our joint, disrupt our form and lead to injury. For this run, try to grow tall and use lighter footsteps. See if you can notice the sound your feet make as you run, can you make them any quieter?

DAY FOUR

SPEED PLAY AND FLOW

(1) AM SESSION: TIME TRIAL

10 minutes @ level 2

5km time trial

10 minutes @ level 3

Note: Please record this session on Strava! Remember a time trial is not a race. It’s an opportunity for you to measure your current level of performance against the clock. If you need to walk, jog, crawl… no problems, just keep moving forward until you hit 5km. Write or screen shot your time (and course) down, we will be doing this again!

(2) PM SESSION: YOGA – legs

DAY FIVE

ACTIVE RECOVERY

40 minutes @ Level 1-3

You can substitute this run for cycling, swimming, rowing or elliptical machines. We just want your body moving at a low intensity for an active recovery session.

DAY SIX

LONG RUN

90 min @ Level 1-3 (undulating trail)

Note: We do long runs to develop the strength to complete the goal race distance in the aerobic zone. The ultimate goal of long distance training is to improve aerobic power, increase slow-twitch muscle fibers (these are important because they’re full of capillaries, mitochondria and myoglobin) and it teaches your body to be more efficient with your different forms of energy.

DAY SEVEN

REST DAY