In a few weeks I’ll be back at the bottom of Goldmine hill at 4am facing another forty seven kilometres of pristine trail and taking on the 6 inch trail ultra for the 16th time. I’ve attached the last three posts on the event so you can get a feel for what’s to come.  As you’ll see from the posts it’s all about traditions for this event and this year Bartsy, Jeffrey, Rob, Adam, Scotty, Andy C, Veronika and I will be adding to the many stories that already exist thanks to this iconic trail ultra. It’s a last chance for us runners to get together before the chaos that is Christmas and also a nice end to the year before we start again in 2026.

The last couple of years have been very good to me at this event. In 2023 I was recovering from a hamstring tear but ran a blinder and last year I was better trained but unsure of how I’d go but ran probably one of the races of my life to finish in the top ten, something I’d hadn’t done since 2018.  Again I go into the event not sure how it will go but will start conservatively  to aid station one, twenty three kilometres in, and if I feel good hit the gas to the finish. This has worked for the last two years, third time lucky? If you want to join me there are still spots available.  https://www.6inchtrailmarathon.com/

I first ran the 6 inch trail ultramarathon as a ‘fat ass’ (no entry fee and totally self supported albeit I think there was one aid station?) in 2009. Bar one year, 2019, when it was cancelled due to extreme temperatures’ and fire risk, I have ran it every year since.  It has morphed from a family weekend away with young kids to a boys weekend due to all the kids growing up and totally not interested in spending time with parents in small Australia towns.  Undeterred we’ve embraced the new format and all the boys look forward to the weekend when we all become eighteen year old versions of ourselves without the alcohol.

If you read all the posts on this event you know it’s all about the traditions and we make a big effort to continue them. First is the photo leaving Perth and then a photo outside the Truckers Lounge at the Baldivis service station. The last two years we also ventured into the truckers lounge for another photo.  Luckily the lounge has always been empty.

Next is the top of Goldmine Hill photo, tick.

We then scurry to the Forrest Centre in Dwellingup where we book one of the family rooms before a excursion and then dinner. The excursion does change on a yearly basis albeit this year we all went to the Scarpe Pool and had a great time so that may be added to the tradition list for future years. The water was actually quite warm and laying on the hot rocks afterwards was invigorating. Its not often I post images of elderly men topless on my blog so I will apologise in advance if anybody is offended.  (Apparently you need to do  that these days ? )

The night before there is a talk at the Forrest Centre and a last chance for a bib pickup before the morning of the event.  I’ve been on the panel a few times over the years but this year I was going along as a member of the audience until Michael Carroll decided to message Dave he was running late. Always happy to talk about all things running Dave added me to the panel as a stop gap.  In the end Michael turned up so the four of us talked about all things running. In the end it was a pretty good panel with Michael  grabbing second, Milan fourth, Petra eighth and ninth for me, four of the top nine.

Right after very little sleep , another tradition when you share a room with three other people, we set off to the start line at Goldmine Hill for the 4:30am start.  As this event is a Perth summer you need to start as soon as the sun peaks it’s head over the horizon, or in this years case a few minutes prior. (Hence the darker than usual start line photo.)  Luckily this year we were blessed with perfect conditions , the days prior to the event we’d seen very hot temperatures but , similar to last year, we got lucky with a dip in temperatures for the Sunday of the race.  Not sure how Dave, the Race Director, does it? Another bonus was the local Council had graded the biggest hill of the event, the infamous Escalator,  (You know the hill is bad when it gets its own nickname!) It is normally heavily rutted due to four wheel drive damage and unrunable, sometimes only just walkable.  This year it retained its steepness but the surface was a lot more forgiving and most runners ran the downhill section, albeit gingerly.

Right, to the race itself. I had set myself a goal of finishing around the four hours twenty minutes,  after a four hour thirty five minute finish the previous year. I was in better form with a lot more racing under my belt in 2024.  The only worry was a four hour thirty five minute Sandman 50k four weeks prior after a 100 miler two weeks before that. Had my legs recovered ? In the weeks prior I had ran 10k a day but no more and rather than do a double day went to my local gym and did a Pilates Reformer session and some weights. Would this help or hinder my endurance running ? There really was only one way to find out of  course.

As with all races within our local Yelo group there was banter, I assume this is the norm for any group of people doing any sport together, be that running, tennis or non contact tiddly-winks?  This year Adam, Andy and I were all thinking around the four hours twenty minutes while Mark was aiming for his first sub four finish ,  after a good Sydney marathon , and training block, confidence was high. Scotty was just wanting to enjoy it without blowing out too much and Bartsy just wanted to finish, and anything sub six hours would be a bonus. We all had our goals but there was also the added bonus of a ‘ bum tap; if you went past anybody. Rob was doing the half so did not partake in the ‘full marathon’ banter, this also resulted in his exclusion from a number of photos.

Goldmine Hill  starts the 6 inch ultra and it is a seriously nasty piece of work. Long and steep when you are not even warmed up is not a good combination for a hill.  I’ve said it many times this hill has ruined many a good runners race even before it’s started. You need to start slow and build into it, do not go out too fast and blow up in the first three kilometres.  After fourteen previous events I know this hill very well now and have raced it, walked it and jogged it over the years. This year I was going for the jog option but went out quicker than planned trying to keep Mark in view.  I also had Andy for company initially but never saw Adam after the start.  Scotty and Bartsy took it very easy and dominated the back of the pack, mainly walking, I wouldn’t see either of these two again on the course.

Once I got halfway up Goldmine Hill I decided to try and keep Mark and the sub four bus in view, so picked up the pace ignoring all the alarm bells in my head. My Hoka Mach 2x road shoes felt good and the nylon plate was giving me a little bounce , even though they were well past their sell by date carrying over 500 kilometres in them. I didn’t consider the 6 inch worthy of a new pair as it wasn’t really an A race as such. I was more worried about the shoes letting me down but bar one stumble they performed very well.

I lost sight of Mark and Andrew after Goldmine but kept up the pace and was running 19th at the first aid station and feeling pretty good. The first half is harder than the second in this event so as I quickly refilled my water bottle at aid station one I made up my mind to roll the dice for the second half. I break the race (something I recommend everyone does for all races, smaller achievable goals rather than the complete start and then finish race goal ) down into start to aid station one, about 23km , and then a 15k section to the top of the Escalator Hill before a 9k run to the finish.  I was confident in my ability to hold a reasonable pace even if I blew after aid station one so moved through the gears and started to push the heart rate up.

I bumped into my old friend Stephen Stockwell just before aid station one after first recognising his running style before recognising him. Stephen and I go back decades but I’ve not seem him race since the Perth half in  2020, I hardly recognised him with a full beard.  He mentioned his daughter was a good way ahead so I set off to catch her, at the time Kathryn probably had ten minutes on me. The half runners start at the bottom of the Conveyor Belt hill and they had started about five minutes before I arrived so I was faced with the back markers initially and then, as I moved through the field, faster runners.  This made seeing, catching and passing full marathon runners difficult as all the bibs were different colours (Dave was reusing bibs from previous years?)

Between the first aid station and the escalator was probably my quickest splits. There’s about two kilometres from aid station one to the bottom of the Conveyor Belt hill which is a good climb taking you to the highest part of the course. It’s very runnable if you have something left in the legs and I did. The best bit is after you summit there is a glorious few kilometres of quality downhill to recover.   I was now passing the half runners and this kept you on  your toes and also gave you a lift as my pace was so much quicker than theirs. I continued to pass runners right up to the top of the escalator, really feeling good. I even managed to pass a few full marathon runners and I was closing in on a top 10 finish (I was 19th at halfway) . The good thing about the escalator is it’s an out and back loop so you get to see your competition on the way in , and on the way out. Of course this works both ways but I was feeling good enough not to worry about runners behind me.

As I scaled the Escalator I bumped into Mark near the top , just after Rob sped past on his way to the bottom at a good pace, Mark didn’t look great and was well behind his sub four hour finish pace.  This was noted as I continued to the top where I found Andy playing with his Shokz headphones, again I had not seen either of these guys since the start and now I had two bunnies to chase, which is what I do.  I rushed through the aid station , just filling up my water bottle and downing a Bix Gu, I had runners to catch ! I was pumped chasing Mark and Andy, I would have expected both to beat me quite easily when I started, now it was a different story and a couple of good ass-tapping’s  ( if you run past a Yelo runner you are obliged to tap their ass, just to let them know you are the better runner, it’s all fair in love and war.) were there for the taking and I would move heaven and earth now, this is why you race!

The final stage of the 6 inch is a about nine kilometres with one nasty hill about the forty kilometre mark, this one is a kicker and if you’re not prepared, coming so close after the Escalator, can derail you and leave you stumbling to the finish. With experience I know this bad boy is coming and caught Andy walking halfway up the hill (it really should have a name ?) , a quick ‘ass-tap’  and a few words of encouragement and I was on my way, I now had Mark well and truly in my sights. I caught him just before the 42km mark which is a nice right hand turn with a lovely downhill section, this is one of the final markers where I can really start to think about the finish.  There is a final aid station around the 43km mark but I never stop here , just cruise past, this then leads to some really good single track where with about 500 metres to go I passed Rob, another ass-tapping, my cup was full !

After passing Rob , with the finish line in sight , I sprinted to cross the line with the biggest smile on my face, just over four hours and five minutes, a time I thought beyond me and my fastest finish time since 2018. This one was special, managing to sneaking past Andy, Mark and even Rob was just out of my  wildest dreams and finishing with such a good negative split and a top ten finish, I was ninth, was like a dream. Incredible, just incredible, typing this post I’m still smiling like a Cheshire Cat who just won the best smiler competition.  All there was to do now was wait for the other runners and get a good finish photo, it is a tradition.  The Yelo crew did very well. Andy grabbed 14th overall in 4:13, a massive PB by about forty minutes plus, Adam snagged 19th in 4:21 and Mark finished off the top 20 in 4:28.  Four runners in the top twenty, not too shabby.

All that was left to do was get the ‘head in the esky’ photo, a long standing tradition and the boys at the finish line before the final shot of the boys in the finishers shirts. All long standing traditions.

So that’s a wrap for the 6 inch trail ultra 2024 and the racing year. It has been a beauty with nine ultra marathons and two marathons. There have been many highlights but most importantly I’m as excited about 2025 as I have even been about any running year ahead of me. My times and distances are still slowing or decreasing , of course they are, I’ll be 58 in February  but the first thing I think of when I wake up is my daily run and what it will entail and normally the last thing at night I’ll start to contemplate tomorrows run. The fire is still burning and I still love what I do and,  as I always say,  that’s the point.

I can’t wait for 6 inch 2025 and I hope to write a post detailing the event with all the photos and traditions that that will entail, after all, as I ask many times, what else is there ?

Runners love traditions and the biggest one is 6 inches.

09 December bigkevmatthews@gmail.com 0 Comment

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Big shout out to fisiocrem , this product is just incredible for tired and aching legs. I use it daily and have noticed a vast improvement in recovery.

Bix hydration is just ace, a product brought to life by Vlad Ixel a professional ultra runner who knows a thing or two about hydration. ( https://www.bixvitamins.com/ )  The best thing about Bix is it tastes good with many different flavours and you never get sick of drinking it, this is a big plus as Maurten and Tailwind (both great products)  can be difficult to digest later in the event.  From the website :-

As an Australian elite multiple trail running champion, with wins in over 40 ultra-marathon races across Asia, recovery from training and races has always been my top priority. 

In searching for a solid recovery and hydration supplement, I recognized that critical vitamins and minerals – both in diversity and quantity – were missing from almost all supplements on the market. I had the feeling that in an effort to maximize their bottom-lines, companies in the hydration space, failed to deliver a product that could meaningfully assist athlete performance. 

In order to address this, I began the development of a hydration product. After two and a half years of development alongside a leading German sports scientist, BIX Recovery, an advanced, high-quality recovery drink was born. 

BIX boosts 12 active ingredients scientifically balanced to replace lost electrolytes and assist in immune function. It’s designed with quality vitamins and minerals, in quantities that work! 

BIX is a recovery solution for everyone, that will get you to the top of your game!

What can I say about HumanTecar,  ( https://athleticus.com.au/ ) it looks great, smells great and is awesome for recovery or even pre-run/workout. Read about the science behind it first and then try the products. The compression bandages are just magical after a long event. Put these on and the next day you are recovered, I have used them on a number of occasions and they never fail to astound me albeit the family poke fun at me as I look like a ‘mummy and smell funny’ !

Fractel ( https://fractel.com.au/ ) have your performance headgear covered. I love the colours and the functionality of these hats, I guarantee there is one model you’ll fall in love with.

Shokz headphones, let you keep in touch with the world around while losing yourself in quality tunes or podcasts. ( https://shokz.com.au/ )

T8 running apparel is the best you can get, second to none. Designed for the ultra humid Hong Kong conditions the owners live in.  It is light and does away with any chaffing worries. T8 is the name given to the highest typhoon warning in Honk Kong,  storms and typhoons with gusts exceeding 180kph, which explains the branding. ( https://t8.run/)

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Trawling through my past posts I came across this little beauty on Nutrition, worth another visit I reckon.  Albeit as I’ve moved into ultra running it’s a license to eat what you want truth be told.  Running the Delirious West 200 miler the last six years I’ve realised that ultra running is just an eating competition with running between aid stations.  ( https://www.deliriouswest200miler.com.au/ )  Of course how you fuel in training will affect your race day experience so it’s worth looking at the options, and there are many.

After yesterdays post on Noakes and his High Fat, Low Carbs (HFLC) diet I had quite a varied response. Some people replied positively supporting Noakes but most were of the opinion the high carb diet is still the one for runners, especially those who need the fuel as they are logging big kilometres. I’ve attached a YouTube link below supporting the HFLC diet for information.

This being my blog I have decided on the proper diet for runners  and as this is a runners blog this is what is important. First if the diet is working you’ll see a performance increase, you’ll sleep well and won’t be too stressed. If the diet to achieve this includes a lot of carbohydrates and you keep your weight under control then so be it. Conversely if you can see a performance increase on the HFLC diet so again so be it. Each of us is different and no one diet will suit all needs.

That being said I think a common enemy is sugar, not the natural kind found in fruit but the processed kind so loved by big business. Now as all avid readers of my posts will know I do like the odd pancake and muffin now and again and that is fine, but not everyday ! I also avoid all ‘fizzy’ drinks and OJ etc. (unless I’m carboloading of course when OJ is my goto drink of choice) I’m a water and tea man now , with one cappuccino early morning.

Diet wise I eat a lot of fish, chicken, salad and rice with garlic bread normally. For sweet its yoghurt and the odd digestive. Breakfast is three weetbix.  Lunch is normally rice and meat. I’ll also eat my fair share of fruit at work as its free and why wouldn’t you. Is this a perfect diet ? No , not really. I don’t eat enough vegetables and never will, sorry Mum,  just not my thing.  Can I improve my diet, yes, will I, maybe. I feel it does give me an opportunity  for a running improvement if I was able to find a better diet. Food is fuel, better fuel better performance.

Have I solved the nutrition puzzle, not really. Everybody needs to find the best fuel to help them perform to the best of their ability and be the best you can be. Diet is only one piece of the jigsaw but it one overlooked by so many. Improving your diet will improve your running, that is a given. With all things in life moderation is the key. A healthy diet can also be an enjoyable diet, you just need to find the right recipes.

I suppose diet is more important to those Ultra runners, they love to eat. In fact I think some ultra runners are food junkies first and runners second. The end justifies the means so to speak. I’ve seen some unusual running diets in my time. My friend Dan once took 2 McDonald’s burger on a 46k recon run. His logic,  they were full of preservatives, sugar, salt and all things that runners need. Call me old fashioned but I prefer the odd Gu.

These days I don’t use anything on any run, even my long runs that are more than 2 hours. I believe your body burns it owns fat if you don’t give it external sources of energy.

Right as I’m a runner and not a expert of diet I have attached an article by someone who has a Ph.D and probably spent years researching this post. Deborah may help or muddy the waters, either way it may generate enough interest to push you to investigate more and that can only be a good thing…..

Fuel On Fat For The Long Run

By Deborah Schulman, Ph.D

It Is More Efficient To Tap Into Your Unlimited Fat Supply

MIGRATORY BIRDS and whales rely on stored fat to fuel their long, strenuous journeys. Developing your fat engine will increase the amount of energy you can generate, reduce the amount of carbohydrates you use, and stretch out the glycogen supply during long runs. Added together, you have a more stable and enduring energy supply, better endurance, and faster finish times.

To illustrate, let’s consider Shane. Shane is a computer engineer in his late 30s who has stayed active over the years with yard work, occasional football games with his kids, and sporadic attempts to weight train. In short, he was not aerobically fit. Inspired by the fortitude and tenacity of his wife, who just ran her first marathon, he decided to train for a marathon.

He was determined to be informed and methodical about the process. Many of the books he read recommended training with a heart rate monitor. The books said that most people run marathons at 75 to 80 percent of maximum heart rate, so he decided to do a test. He consulted a chart to find his heart rate at a more manageable effort of 65 percent and set off running. After only 90 minutes on the road, he felt nauseated and fatigued. His legs felt like bricks, and finally he was forced to stop. In other words, he bonked well short of the distance he would need to cover to finish the marathon.

Due to his low level of fitness, most of Shane’s energy was coming from the limited carbohydrate stores in his liver and muscles. He simply ran to the end of his carbohydrate supply. Carbohydrates are necessary to maintain exercise at any intensity. An excessively high rate of usage combined with low carbohydrate stores reduced his endurance, even at relatively easy running speeds. Had he eaten GU or drunk Gatorade, he still would not have been able to continue for much longer. A training program that focused on switching to fat for fuel would change that.

PUMP UP THE VOLUME

Arthur Lydiard contended that the most important aspect of conditioning is volume. In the 1960s his training concepts were revolutionary. Even the track athletes whom he coached followed a marathon-based aerobic conditioning program in the initial phases of their training cycles. Considering the phenomenal success of athletes who trained under Lydiard’s tutelage, such as Peter Snell, John Davies, and Lorraine Moller, and other athletes who have followed his program principles, his theories were insightful. Subsequent research has shown that they also possess a sound physiological basis.

While many of America’s marathoners switched focus to quality (and reduced mileage) rather than quantity, coaches from Japan, Italy, Mexico, Germany, and China were incorporating Lydiard’s principles into highly successful training programs. Naoko Takahashi reportedly ran up to 80K (50 miles) per day in preparation to become the first woman marathoner in the world to dip under 2:20. Catherine Ndereba ran comparatively modest 100-mile weeks in the buildup to her world record of 2:18:47 at Chicago in 2001. Jerry Lawson, imitating the high-mileage successes of Bill Rodgers, Alberto Salazar, and Frank Shorter, ran up to 250 miles per week en route to his then American record of 2:09.

Metabolically, high-volume training makes sense. There are two main sources of fuel for exercise: carbohydrates and fats. The energy supply from carbohydrate and fat is inversely related. High rates of carbohydrate use reduce combustion of fat. Carbohydrates are used preferentially at very high efforts, such as a 5K race, or at low fitness levels when fat metabolism is underdeveloped.

Conversely, when you teach your body to rely on fat for fuel, your combustion of carbohydrates goes down, thus “sparing” carbohydrates. This benefits performance in endurance events. You become very fatigued when you run too low on carbohydrates. We store only a very limited amount of carbohydrate (glycogen) in our bodies. Compare this with a relatively unlimited supply of fat. Even an athlete with only 6 percent body fat will have enough fat to fuel exercise lasting for many hours. When you use more fat, you generate more energy and your carbohydrate supply lasts longer.

Follow the principle of specificity. If you want to teach your body to use more fat for fuel, then create training conditions that generate high fat metabolism. Your body will eventually learn to prefer fat.

Research conducted at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden during the 1980s showed that, within the leg muscles of highly trained endurance men, the activity of enzymes that break down fats was 100 percent higher than in the untrained subjects. As a result, during exercise they had a much higher ability to regenerate the ATP that fuels muscular contraction than those who had a greater reliance on carbohydrates.

These researchers found that the maximal oxygen consumption (or V.O2max) was 50 percent greater in the trained men. Maximal oxygen consumption measures aerobic capacity: the efficiency of the lungs to transfer oxygen to the blood, the capacity of the blood to carry oxygen, the power of the heart and blood vessels to deliver large quantities of blood to the muscles, and the ability of the muscles to use the oxygen. Fats cannot be burned without oxygen. Not only did these men have more enzymes to combust the fat, but they also had more oxygen to feed the fire.

Researchers have since demonstrated that, after a 12-week six-day-per-week program of 45 minutes of running and cycling at a high intensity, fat combustion increased by 41 percent. This was accompanied by reduced reliance on carbohydrates.

MILES MAKE MITOCHONDRIA

The enzymes of fat metabolism are located in structures within the muscle cells called mitochondria. Fats are transported into the mitochondria where, in the presence of oxygen, they are broken down to generate energy. More mitochondria means more fat metabolism, more ATP, and more energy.

High-volume training increases the amount and size of mitochondria. Longer exercise bouts produce the greatest gains in mitochondrial content. A 90-minute run provides a better stimulus than a 60-minute run. It is common for runners to do “two-a-day” workouts to get in the necessary mileage. However, this research indicates that a runner will receive much more benefit from running one 90-minute workout than two 45-minute workouts. There is, however, a point of diminishing returns. A three-hour run is better at nudging the mitochondria content upward than a 90-minute run, but the gains are offset by the necessity of a longer recovery time between workouts.

During the base phase of building miles, it is the daily consistency of training over a period of weeks and months that will boost fat metabolism.

After the base phase and basic fat metabolism have been established, training time should be shifted into very prolonged runs of three or more hours, depending on your event. Very long runs are important in preparation for the marathon and longer events. After two to three hours of running, the leg muscles run low on glycogen. Hormonal adjustments to the low glycogen levels shift fat metabolism into an even higher gear.

Miles may make champions, but those miles should be carefully developed, monitored, and arranged to get the maximum effect. In his buildup program, Lydiard recommends alternating longer 90-minute to two-hour runs with 60-minute runs on other days, aiming for a total of 10 to 11 hours of weekly running.

Give yourself plenty of time to build up to these levels. Jon Sinclair, former world-class runner turned coach, cautions that it is not practical or even possible for most people with full-time jobs and families to build up to running 10 hours per week in a mere three months. The amount of mileage you will be able to run depends on your lifestyle, physical capabilities, and prior training history. He advises his less-experienced athletes to build up mileage over a period of many months or even years. His associate, Kent Oglesby, took four years to prepare a 3:15 marathoner for the rigors of running 100 miles per week. The result was a 2:46 marathon, which earned her a spot at the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials.

TRAIN AT THE TOP OF YOUR FAT-BURNING ZONE

My speed in long races had been declining since I had become a masters runner. For a number of years I had been running LSD (long, slow distance) type training. In the process of researching and writing about fat metabolism, I read Lydiard’s book Running the Lydiard Way. Lydiard’s formula advocates not just high-volume training but high volume at speeds near the “maximum steady state.”

In other words, most training should be conducted close to the highest speed that you can run without going anaerobic. This is the speed where fat metabolism is at its highest. For experienced runners, the maximum steady state equals an intensity of 70 to 75 percent of maximum heart rate. For those just launching their running careers, it will be closer to 60 to 65 percent of maximum heart rate. Studies have confirmed his theories. Volume and intensity interact to produce even greater gains in mitochondria development. Daily runs of 90 minutes at 70 percent max will boost mitochondria 30 percent higher than equivalent time spent at an easier 50 percent effort.

After purchasing a heart rate monitor and calculating my target heart rates, I was surprised to find that my LSD training intensity had been substantially below my target training intensity of 70 percent. Initially I had a hard time running more than 60 minutes at that effort. However, after only six weeks of faster training, I was easily able to maintain that pace for a full two hours. Although LSD training will increase fat metabolism and endurance, it will limit your endurance at marathon paces. Long, slow running will only teach you to run slowly for long periods.

On the other hand, you can run too fast on your daily runs. At faster paces, oxygen demand exceeds supply. You are now anaerobic. Fuel reliance switches predominantly to carbohydrates, and the result is the accumulation of lactic acid. Lactic acid inhibits the enzymes that break down fat and therefore reduces fat metabolism. If you go out for a 45-minute run at 10K race pace, you will be burning less fat and generating more waste products than if you ran those 45 minutes at only a 60 percent effort. Daily hard efforts will result in accumulation of waste products and decreased recovery, and lead to declining performances. It’s better to run a little too slow than a little too fast.

RAISE THE LACTATE THRESHOLD

Let’s return to Shane after 24 weeks on his Lydiard-based training program. His fat metabolism is augmented, there is a substantially reduced reliance on glycogen, and his glycogen stores are larger. He again decides to test his ability to run at 65 percent of his maximum. Before the test he makes sure to get plenty of carbohydrates in his diet so that his leg muscles and liver are loaded with glycogen. This time he was able to continue for three hours.

His skeletal, connective, and muscle tissues; his metabolism; and his cardiovascular, nervous, and endocrine systems are now prepared for some faster training. His next step is to focus on increasing his endurance running speed and reducing his lactate production.

Endurance races are aerobic races. Marathons tend to be run at just below the level where you start to accumulate lactic acid, which is known as the anaerobic threshold (AT). How many times have you started a race too fast and gone anaerobic, only to suffer later and run slower than you planned or even had to drop out?

With a higher AT, you will be able to sustain faster marathon and ultramarathon paces. Elite world-class marathoners often have such a highly developed fat-burning engine that they can run marathons at 85 percent or higher of their maximum. For the rest of us, 75 to 80 percent is a realistic goal.

Anaerobic threshold training augments the basic fat metabolism you have spent so much time developing. The result is faster running speeds over the long haul. A measured dose of faster, anaerobic training will teach your muscles and blood to metabolize and buffer lactic acid. The goal is to generate a manageable quantity of lactic acid that your muscles can dispose of easily and permit a sufficiently long training session and quick recovery. Venturing too far into the anaerobic zone will generate too much lactic acid, reduce the amount of work you can do within your training session, and risk lasting fatigue and overreaching. Marathoners don’t derive much benefit from 400-meter repeats.

Faster, sustained running at 80 to 85 percent and mile repeats are good methods to increase lactate tolerance. Oglesby recommends tempo runs of 10 to 12 miles at 15 to 30 seconds per mile faster than goal marathon race pace. An added benefit of these tempo runs is that the marathon pace feels easier and more manageable.

A recent study examined the effect of high-intensity interval sessions on fat and carbohydrate metabolism and lactate concentrations in cyclists who had been training two to three hours per day for years. They replaced some of their endurance miles with two weekly sessions of 6-9 x 5-minute intervals with 1 minute of recovery between. After six weeks, the percentage of energy coming from fat during a one-hour trial had increased from 6 percent to 13 percent. How well this applies to a race lasting more than two hours is unclear.

Because of the results from studies on interval training such as these, many runners have opted out of the extended base-building phase citing “quality over quantity” as the rationale. I would like to emphasize that high-intensity training builds on the increased strength, resilience, and fat metabolism developed during those long, high-quality aerobic miles. Jumping into AT training before your body is sufficiently prepared will not produce the desired results: fast marathons.

SHOULD YOU EAT AND RUN?

It is best to start an exercise session with stable, fasting blood glucose levels and higher blood fat levels. Glucose is a powerful regulator of fat metabolism. The higher the glucose content of the blood, the lower the fat metabolism. High blood glucose levels are generated from dietary carbohydrates.

This effect is associated with insulin. High blood glucose stimulates the hormone insulin to be released from the pancreas. Insulin is a storage and growth hormone. Its main job is to reduce blood glucose but it also acts to store fat and protein. In the process, insulin directly blocks removal of fat from fat deposits. These deposits are an important source of fat for exercising muscle. Insulin also reduces fat burning within the muscle. Therefore, increased insulin is considered to be antagonistic to fat combustion during exercise.

In an interesting piece of research, investigators at the University of Limburg in the Netherlands and at the University of Texas collaborated to determine whether high blood glucose and high insulin levels reduce the amount of fat burned during moderate-level exercise. A group of endurance-trained men cycled for 40 minutes at an aerobic 50 percent of maximum after an overnight fast. On another day, they ingested a drink containing 100 grams of glucose at 60 minutes before and then again at 10 minutes prior to the exercise test. This is a carbohydrate equivalent of drinking one and one-half liters of Gatorade an hour before a race and again 10 minutes before the start. While this may not mimic real-life situations, what the researchers found was telling. Fat metabolism was substantially reduced for the full 40 minutes of the exercise after the carbohydrate load.

While most people would not eat that much carbohydrate before a run, it is common for people to eat a sports bar, bagel, or banana in the hour prior to training. Try to avoid eating for at least two hours before a run.

It takes as little as 20 grams of ingested carbohydrate to raise insulin and reduce fat as fuel. If you have nutrition awareness or read the nutrition labels on foods, you will know that a couple of slices of bread, a banana, a sports bar, or a soda each delivers more than 20 grams of carbohydrate.

Fasting increases blood fat levels. Running after your overnight fast will increase fat burning. A cup of coffee beforehand may boost it even higher. Once exercise has started, eating carbohydrates does not generate a substantive insulin response. If you are starting a long run lasting two hours or more on an empty stomach, you may want to eat a sports gel or bar after 20 to 30 minutes throughout the run. Otherwise you will be faced with the nausea and fatigue of low blood sugar and have a poor training session. If you tend toward hypoglycemia when you get up in the morning, you may want to eat something in the minutes immediately before you head out the door. It takes 30 minutes for insulin levels to peak.

However, before a long race or run you will have more endurance and perform better if you eat a meal containing carbohydrate two to three hours before. Early in the morning, your liver glycogen stores, which supply blood glucose, have been depleted by the overnight fast. The brain and nervous system rely on blood glucose for energy. If you start a marathon without replenishing these stores, you will bonk. The two-hour time interval is sufficient to reduce blood glucose levels back to normal and restore fat metabolism.

WHICH DIET IS BETTER: HIGH FAT OR HIGH CARBOHYDRATE?

There has been considerable research in the past decade on the effect of diet composition on endurance. Prior to now, endurance athletes usually followed a high-carbohydrate diet with the rationale that enhanced glycogen stores are known to fuel superior training and marathon race performances.

Most sports nutritionists recommend a diet that supplies 6 to 8 grams of carbohydrates per kilogram of body weight. These levels of dietary carbohydrate can easily reach 400 to 600 grams per day. This adds up to 1,600 to 2,400 calories of carbohydrate per day. This type of diet doesn’t leave room for adequate amounts of fat or protein.

The downside of a high-carbohydrate diet, especially a diet loaded with sugar, is reduced fat metabolism and fatigue. This is largely due to chronically stimulated insulin levels. The effects of insulin can last up to eight hours, especially after a big dose of carbohydrates, such as you might get from a big plate of spaghetti and rolls followed by a bowl of sorbet.

Initially, studies found that high-fat diets, where fats supply 60 percent or more of the calories, showed promise as a means to better endurance. Fat burning is increased on high-fat diets, even at rest. Exercise tests showed higher endurance in subjects who had been eating high-fat diets in comparison with high-carbohydrate diets.

At issue, however, was the intensity of exercise used for the tests. High-fat diets improved endurance at relatively low-intensity levels. When the intensity was increased to mirror race situations, the advantage disappeared. The higher- intensity exercise required more carbohydrate, and the subjects simply lacked adequate glycogen to continue for extended periods. The lesson is that you can reduce your reliance on carbohydrate, but you can’t eliminate it.

We now know that both high-carbohydrate and high-fat diets cause fatigue and poor performances. The best diet is probably somewhere in between: one that supplies enough fat to stimulate fat metabolism and maintain production of testosterone and estrogen and also supplies enough carbohydrate to keep the brain and nervous system happy and the glycogen stores filled. Many sports scientists are recommending a basic diet that supplies 50 percent carbohydrate, 30 percent fat, and 20 percent protein, with additional carbohydrates after hard or long-duration training.

MORE QUESTIONS

There are still many unanswered questions regarding nutrition and endurance sports performance. Before a marathon or longer race, will fat loading in combination with glycogen loading boost performance? After hard or long training, should you also concentrate on replenishment of fat stores in the muscles? What type of fat, saturated or unsaturated, is burned for fuel? Will eating fat during races that last four hours or more benefit performance outcomes?

What profile of fats in the basic diet is best for an athlete? The skeletal muscle membrane is made of fat. The composition of this membrane directly reflects the profile of fats in the diet. A diet high in saturated fats will generate a more solid, less fluid membrane. A membrane that incorporates more unsaturated fats is more fluid, allowing a more efficient flux of oxygen, water, fat, and glucose. New theories hold that these membranes are more leaky and require more energy to maintain. Conceivably then, a diet too high in either saturated or unsaturated fats could be detrimental to endurance performance.

While there are new training methods being developed to enhance marathon performance, you will find substantial success with theories that are now 40 years old. In contrast, the field of sports nutrition research is currently experiencing great strides. In the early 1990s, the accepted dogma of a high-carbohydrate diet came under fire and was dismantled. Until we have more definitive information, it is wise to follow a moderate, low-sugar, common-sense diet with high nutritional quality.

With a training and nutrition regimen that coerces you to tap into your fat supplies, you can teach your body to use more fat during your migration through the marathon, and beyond.

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Big shout out to fisiocrem , this product is just incredible for tired and aching legs. I use it daily and have noticed a vast improvement in recovery.

Bix hydration is just ace, a product brought to life by Vlad Ixel a professional ultra runner who knows a thing or two about hydration. ( https://www.bixvitamins.com/ )  The best thing about Bix is it tastes good with many different flavours and you never get sick of drinking it, this is a big plus as Maurten and Tailwind (both great products)  can be difficult to digest later in the event.  From the website :-

As an Australian elite multiple trail running champion, with wins in over 40 ultra-marathon races across Asia, recovery from training and races has always been my top priority. 

In searching for a solid recovery and hydration supplement, I recognized that critical vitamins and minerals – both in diversity and quantity – were missing from almost all supplements on the market. I had the feeling that in an effort to maximize their bottom-lines, companies in the hydration space, failed to deliver a product that could meaningfully assist athlete performance. 

In order to address this, I began the development of a hydration product. After two and a half years of development alongside a leading German sports scientist, BIX Recovery, an advanced, high-quality recovery drink was born. 

BIX boosts 12 active ingredients scientifically balanced to replace lost electrolytes and assist in immune function. It’s designed with quality vitamins and minerals, in quantities that work! 

BIX is a recovery solution for everyone, that will get you to the top of your game!

What can I say about HumanTecar,  ( https://athleticus.com.au/ ) it looks great, smells great and is awesome for recovery or even pre-run/workout. Read about the science behind it first and then try the products. The compression bandages are just magical after a long event. Put these on and the next day you are recovered, I have used them on a number of occasions and they never fail to astound me albeit the family poke fun at me as I look like a ‘mummy and smell funny’ !

Fractel ( https://fractel.com.au/ ) have your performance headgear covered. I love the colours and the functionality of these hats, I guarantee there is one model you’ll fall in love with.

Shokz headphones, let you keep in touch with the world around while losing yourself in quality tunes or podcasts. ( https://shokz.com.au/ )

T8 running apparel is the best you can get, second to none. Designed for the ultra humid Hong Kong conditions the owners live in.  It is light and does away with any chaffing worries. T8 is the name given to the highest typhoon warning in Honk Kong,  storms and typhoons with gusts exceeding 180kph, which explains the branding. ( https://t8.run/)

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Looking at my training spreadsheet , yes I log every run on an Excel spreadsheet as backup just in case Strava ever just disappears, my average weekly distance for the last eleven weeks is fourteen kilometres, not ideal with a marathon less than three weeks away ( https://perthrunningfestival.com.au/ ) and a 100 miler four weeks after that.  ( https://feralpigultra.com.au/ )  I’ve not really trained since completing the Cape to Caper 100 miler in June this year, and now it’s the middle of September.  ( https://www.cape2capeultra.com.au/ )  In my defense I’m pretty sure I caught COVID post Cape to Cape which knocked me about it with weeks of general fatigue. I have been hitting the gym daily spending at last an hour a day on a Pilates reformer,   thirty minutes on a stepper before some weights. Not enough for a marathon but maybe enough for the Feral Pig if I can get in four weeks trail running pre-race.

I did manage to finish the Transcend Ultra in August but since then nothing bar a five kilometre run ,that should have been ten.  ( https://transcendtrails.com/ )  This event took me about four hours longer than I would have hoped but a sprained ankle at two kilometres in wasn’t ideal but the lack of trail running and general fitness told, big time. I did manage to work my way through the back of the field after aid station two but this was a first for me, being so far towards the back of the field.

The last few years I’ve been very busy , racing long and often. 2023 is the outlier when my year was ruined after picking up COVID on Run Brittania  ( https://www.ratrace.com/run-britannia ) This was, is, a similar situation to what I find myself in now. I had six weeks of no running before racing the 6 Inch trail ultra in December and performing reasonably well.  ( https://www.6inchtrailmarathon.com/ ) I’m actually getting fatigue looking at my racing history from the last few years.

I’m putting this general lack of running to fatigue post Cape to Cape and/or COVID ( or bad cold) recovery. Either way I now need to pull my finger out as I cannot miss the Feral Pig miler, it is so good. Perth Running Festival is probably an event too far but I’m ok with that, I’ve ran forty eight marathons and all I would be doing now is adding to the total, nothing else.  Post Feral we have the 6 inch ultra in December, 24 parks runs in 24 hours in January and then Hardy’s BYU in March before Delirious West 200 miler in April, not time to slack off. These are some of my favourite events but will bite you in the ass if you’re not prepared.

From a post I wrote in 2022 explaining the benefits of downtime,  it seems I have been here before . 

After the No Time to Die ultra I have been struggling with injuries and motivation. Running the Melbourne marathon in October was probably a mistake and I paid with tight hamstrings,  which made any sort of running at pace impossible. The only thing that kept me going was dry needling and strong anti-inflammatories; both dangerous long term ! Coupled with a knee niggle I have only really ran long twice in the last few months and both times were ultra races. Apart from a couple of back to back milers I have run very little and am struggling with motivation.

I have put this down to an aggressive racing calendar and I need time to recoup before more of the same next year. My only race for the rest of the year is the 6 inch ultra in late December. ( https://www.6inchtrailmarathon.com/   ) I’m hoping after the 6 Inch I’ll get my mojo back and head to the hills for my pre-Delirious West training block around Xmas and into the New Year. ( https://deliriouswest200miler.com.au/ ) This block of 4-6 weeks is paramount to success for the 200 miler, hours of trail running in the heat of a Perth summer.  Extreme heat is as good as altitude training apparently and I love trail running in summer so its a double bonus. Delirious is also my favourite race of the season so I don’t need much motivation to get up for it. The last few years it has been a very sociable affair due to COVID making it impossible for anyone but WA runners able to get to the start line in Northcliffe.  Albeit last year a forest fire almost put paid to the event coming a few days before the start. In the end it was turned from a point to point race to an out and back , which was still awesome as we got to start and finish at the Northcliffe pub , which is a great country pub and does the best food.

So this post is a couple of really cool posts by David Roche of  http://www.trailrunnermag.com website . One about does downtime lead to breakthroughs ?  and a second post on Kilian Jornet’s 2022 Training Data. This is epic and worth digesting. Kilian’s 8 tips may be a bit polarising for some but his thinking on double days , in my point of view, is spot on. As I have always maintained double days unlock your running dreams. Although I’m never sure why you would lock them up in the first place, anyhow locked up or not running twice a day will help you achieve your running goals. Run slow but run often. Another take away from Kilian’s tips is he runs slow nearly 60% of the time , active recovery he calls it. Again I must concur, when I saw the biggest improvement in my running times I was running between 12 to 14 times a week mostly at aerobic pace. (easy) This is what Maffetone ( https://philmaffetone.com/ ) and Athur Lydiard preach ( https://www.lydiardfoundation.org/ )

Why Downtime May Lead To Breakthroughs Sometimes it feels like the best/fastest/happiest runners never take breaks. But critical fitness adaptations happen when you rest. From an article by David Roche, March 2021 ( http://www.trailrunnermag.com )

Breaks make breakthroughs.

You know that statement is true because you could imagine it on a motivational poster of a puppy in a paw cast. To double-check the puppy-poster proof, I went through a list of the athletes that I coach. Every single one had some sort of layoff preceding their biggest accomplishments.

Injuries? This is running, so … yeah, it can seem like a cereal commercial with the number of snaps and crackles and pops. Some athletes had to stop running for months or years. Some were told they might never run again, only to come back and exceed anything they achieved before.

Here’s an objective, scientific fact: downtime is not a failure. It’s about more than that, though. The theory of this article is that if you play your cards right, breaks can lead to exponential growth processes that reset what you could have ever thought possible before the layoff.

Mental-health breaks? This is sentience, so … yeah, there were plenty of those too. Breaks come in many forms, good and bad, planned and unplanned, pregnancies and pandemics. Whatever caused the breaks, the act of taking downtime was often hard on those athletes. We all have those questions sometimes.

Champions don’t take downtime, right?

Maybe I’m not cut out for this?

Am I losing everything?

Here’s an objective, scientific fact: downtime is not a failure. It’s about more than that, though. The theory of this article is that if you play your cards right, breaks can lead to exponential growth processes that reset what you could have ever thought possible before the layoff.

Let’s start with the principles of fitness maintenance.

We’ll start here as an excuse to discuss how it’s easy to have misconceptions about how fitness changes and grows over time. A 2021 article in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research found that endurance performance can be maintained for 15 weeks on as little as two sessions per week, or when volume is reduced by up to 66% (as short as 13 to 26 minutes per session). The review article findings were based on a few studies that had untrained individuals do 10 weeks of six times weekly training sessions, followed by a detraining period of 15 weeks where participants were randomly assigned to reduced frequency, reduced intensity, and mixed groups. As long as there was some maintenance of intensity, participants did not significantly detrain.

Similar findings applied to strength training, with as little as one session a week being effective for maintenance in younger populations, and two sessions for older populations. The general conclusion of the review is that both frequency and volume can be reduced while maintaining fitness, with volume in particular being acceptable to drop by substantial margins over 50%.

The general conclusion of the review is that both frequency and volume can be reduced while maintaining fitness, with volume in particular being acceptable to drop by substantial margins over 50%.

I could walk 500 miles, and I could walk 500 more while reciting disclaimers. The studies apply in a narrow context for the general population, not for runners trying to optimize performance. And over longer time horizons, it’s likely that maintenance becomes short-term fitness loss as past adaptations start to fade. But the general principles overlap with the experiences of coaches and athletes about why it’s OK to take downtime.

All tie back to a general principle: once training levels reach a certain point, there might be variance around that point based on training status, but it’s always relatively quick to get back to those levels. Even if you feel out of shape, the past work you have completed is right there at the surface, ready to shine after a quick polish. That’s due to how the body retains training adaptations with time. 

Decreases in VO₂ max take time and levels rebound quickly.

A 1989 article in Sports Medicine found that VO₂ max decreases start to begin after two to four weeks fully off, tied to reduction in cardiac output and blood volume. Follow-up studies generally find around a 5% reduction after two weeks, and up to 20% at eight to 10 weeks.

RELATED: What You Need To Know About VO2 Max

While VO₂ max may drop with time off, it doesn’t take much to maintain it. For example, a 1985 study in the Journal Of Applied Physiology had athletes reduce training from six to 10 hours per week to one 35-minute session, and those athletes had no reduction in VO₂ max (but their performance decreased, likely due to changes in muscular output and efficiency). And even after total detraining, VO₂ max bounces back with some focused intensity.

However, that initial VO₂ max reduction may make running feel hard at first, especially when trying to go harder. After a few weeks off, even slight hills make my breathing sound like a broken harmonica. Don’t worry, you’ll be ready to rock within a few weeks.

However, that initial VO₂ max reduction may make running feel hard at first, especially when trying to go harder. After a few weeks off, even slight hills make my breathing sound like a broken harmonica. Don’t worry, you’ll be ready to rock within a few weeks.

Blood volume changes happen fast in both directions.

Similarly, blood volume and cardiac output are highly sensitive to both time off and reintroduction of training. Another 1985 study in the Journal of Applied Physiology found a 9% reduction in blood volume and a 12% reduction in stroke volume after two to four weeks of inactivity in trained men. On the flip side, a 1991 review in the Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise journal found that blood volume increases quickly as training is reintroduced. And a 2015 study in the European Journal of Applied Physiology found a 17.8% increase in plasma volume in highly trained cyclists after just four exposures to post-exercise sauna.

Blood volume and stroke volume feed back into VO₂ max, so the initial feeling of being underwater and gasping for air upon returning to exercise is likely going to be short-lived. Plus, as demonstrated by the 2021 study on detraining, it takes very little relative training to maintain baseline levels.

Detraining is gradual for the metabolic and aerobic systems.

A 2000 review in Sports Medicine found that after around a week, the body may start to rely more on carbohydrate metabolism, with reduced capillary density too. Those adaptations make the body work harder to get energy to working muscles and limit endurance—part of the reason why you might struggle immensely on runs over 60 to 90 minutes after a longer break. Again, the changes are reversed relatively quickly with reintroduction of training, and can be maintained at lower training levels.

Neuromuscular and biomechanical lag.

Running economy decreases short-term as the nervous and biomechanical systems get slightly less efficient. That could explain why those first few runs after a layoff feel so foreign, even if you have been cross training. In coaching, I often see athletes start to feel less awkward after a week, and downright natural after intensity is reintroduced (usually via hill strides to start). And muscles may lose some strength, particularly after very long breaks (like severe injuries). But as reviewed in 2019 in Frontiers of Physiology, nuclei may not be lost from muscles during that process, possibly contributing to quick bounce-back cycles.

RELATED: Run Less to Run More

So studies and training theory are generally in agreement: detraining starts after a week or two, progresses for a month or two, and begins to level off, with some ongoing muscular changes. It can feel like you’re so far away from where you were!

But here’s why I’m never worried about that downtime, whether it includes maintenance or not. Athletes usually have a rapid return to previous fitness levels with a small dose of consistency, with it being much easier to achieve again than it was the first time. Restarting training is awakening a sleeping giant.

But here’s why I’m never worried about that downtime, whether it includes maintenance or not. Athletes usually have a rapid return to previous fitness levels with a small dose of consistency, with it being much easier to achieve again than it was the first time. Restarting training is awakening a sleeping giant.

It’s not just that, though. The sleeping giant may wake up with superpowers.

While the science is unsettled, there are so many stories of massive breakthroughs coming off downtime ranging from a few weeks to a few years that there must be physiological resets that raise the ceiling on long-term potential for some athletes. Let’s look at a few possible explanations. 

Long-term recovery.

Every training session introduces some acute stress—muscular fatigue/damage, increased cortisol, hormonal disturbance. That acute stress is the whole point of training, allowing an athlete to build back stronger after adaptation. But some of those acute stresses have long tails. Take muscle damage as an example. If we did a blood test after a hard training session, there might be elevated creatine kinase, indicating some muscle breakdown. An athlete may report some subjective fatigue mirroring those results, subsiding in a day or two. Then they’ll do another workout. Heck, yes, adaptation!

Downtime can wipe the stress slate clean. Sometimes, athletes find that they were carrying a chronic stress weight vest around without realizing it.

But wait. While subjective fatigue may be approaching baseline, if we did a follow-up blood test, there would be a good chance that the athlete wasn’t fully at baseline, especially in heavy training. That’s how acute stresses can add up to become chronic stress—the long tails get stacked up over time. While chronic stress can be optimized with plenty of recovery and fuel, it’s always a risk of hard training.

Downtime can wipe the stress slate clean. Sometimes, athletes find that they were carrying a chronic stress weight vest around without realizing it.

Nervous/endocrine system hypotheses. 

The interplay of the brain and hormones in long-term growth is weakly understood due to how hard the neuromuscular and endocrine systems are to measure and isolate. For the nervous system, overtraining syndrome is a prime example. A 2020 study reviewed what we know about OTS—a series of dysfunctional adaptations to excessive training and inadequate fueling, with major nervous system impacts.

While approaches vary, the general rule is that a full shut-down of training is needed in severe OTS cases. Athletes often can’t jog their way through OTS, they need to eat and sleep and chill their way through it. Even if downtime is not in response to overtraining specifically, the same rules may be relevant: the nervous system works on longer time scales when responding to chronic stress.

For the endocrine system, sex hormones estrogen and testosterone can be reduced in hard training for endurance athletes, with evidence that the hormones may increase during downtime. As with the nervous system, there may be longer-term endocrine system processes at play when it comes to how hormonal changes affect health.

Gene expression and epigenetics.

Our genetics are not just a set of instructions that we can’t influence. External stimuli change how our genetic code expresses itself via epigenetics, and there is even some evidence that epigenetic changes can be heritable. With endurance sports, relatively small stimuli may start turning some of those epigenetic switches toward endurance. While it’s debated, that could be one explanation for how bodies can undergo such fundamental and positive changes over time even if exercise routines are a few minutes a day.

If I had to venture a guess about why breaks precede breakthroughs, it would be that major reductions in training may have a priming effect on adaptations to future stimuli.

So what happens with downtime? We’re not sure. But if I had to venture a guess about why breaks precede breakthroughs, it would be that major reductions in training may have a priming effect on adaptations to future stimuli. That could involve some mix of all of these physiological processes, plus other cellular-level processes like protein expression or mitochondria changes. Or maybe it has to do with the brain and neuromuscular system.

Whatever the exact cause, breaks are not something to fear and certainly not a reason to beat yourself up. Call it the Dell PC Theorem—sometimes turning it off and turning it back on can solve problems that slow everything down.

What does it all mean in practice?

I don’t know. I don’t think anyone knows. And that concludes my TED Talk.

Wait, not quite done. Here’s what I do know: the “breaks make breakthroughs” principle is seen over and over again, in every sport. It might just be availability bias, but I don’t think so. What I think is happening is that the principles of maintenance of training interact with detraining and longer-term recovery in a way that compounds interest on underlying athletic potential.

When an athlete first starts training, the body takes some time to build up. You know the feeling—immediate gains followed by slow progress. From that new normal, our bodies can detrain and rebuild relatively rapidly, getting back on the slow progress trend.

But maybe every athlete isn’t designed for slow progress indefinitely. Maybe they even face stagnation or regression no matter how hard they work. Whether it’s due to chronic stress or just our baseline genetics interacting with training over many years, some athletes may find themselves on a trajectory that undersells their ultimate potential.

Break. Injury. Burn-out. Pandemic.

What builds back from that break? There’s no certain answer, but I have my theories. And if you have had to take downtime, just know that all of those theories point to four words when it comes to your future.

DREAM REALLY, REALLY BIG.

David Roche partners with runners of all abilities through his coaching service, Some Work, All Play. With Megan Roche, M.D., he hosts the Some Work, All Play podcast on running (and other things), and they wrote a book called The Happy Runner.

Eight Takeaways From Kilian Jornet’s 2022 Training Data

Kilian Jornet, aka the Greatest Of All Time, just published a summary of his training data and practices for all of 2022. His post is destined to be a legendary guide to thinking about training theory and what it takes to have the best season ever. Let’s break it down. Another article from David Roche, this time Spetember 2022. This is gold. 

Last week, I wrote a primer on Kilian Jornet’s training data between his course records at the Hardrock 100 and UTMB (data published by watch-maker Coros). After the article came out, Kilian messaged me a new link. In case you were wondering: finding out I was going to be a dad, my marriage, Kilian sliding into my DMs, in reverse order of importance.

I clicked the link and angels sang. Kilian wrote a post that is going to be a fundamental pillar of training theory, opening up the vault to his data, theory, and mindset. It’s almost unprecedented in the history of endurance sports–an athlete at the peak of their powers being fully transparent about the how and why behind their successes.

The most recent analogue I can think of is Nils van der Poel’s speed skating training. But I think Nils wrote his training manifesto with an understanding that it was unlikely that anyone was going to be able to repeat the wild block-periodization model with workout days that almost seemed impossible.

Kilian’s training, on the other hand, is far more mainstream, the type of approach that almost any athlete could use with modifications for their backgrounds. The GOAT just wants to add to the body of knowledge of endurance training, where he is both a student and a teacher.

The GOAT wants us all to be the GOAT version of ourselves.

Read his full post–it’s brilliant and important. In this article, I am going to provide context for his training, distilling eight takeaways that are relevant for everyone. My wife/co-coach Megan and I interviewed him on our podcast this week (listen here) for more details, one of the ultimate honors of our lives. Is it creepy if we name our kid Kilian? Before you answer, keep in mind that we already printed the sign to hang above the crib.

RELATED: Kilian Jornet Isn’t The G.O.A.T. of Trail Running Just Because He Wins Big Races

Kilian’s 2022 was absolutely astounding. 

Even as the ultimate fanboy, it’s mind-blowing to me that one athlete is the best short-distance mountain racer (course record at Zegama) and the best long-distance mountain racer (course record at UTMB) in the same year. The easy response to his dominance is to say he is a genetic outlier. But at the elite level of sports, it’s always a competition among outliers, and the genetic differences alone are not enough to explain dominance like Kilian’s 2022. Reading his post, it’s clear that he earned 2022 with a methodical, process-focused vision of long-term growth across decades of hard training.

On the podcast, he talked about how his training philosophy fundamentally shifted in 2018 and 2019, coinciding with the birth of his first child. Instead of long days in the mountains at zone 2, he shifted toward a different intensity distribution, emphasizing lots of easy volume and focused workouts. He made the changes without a coach (though he does work with exercise physiologist Jesús Álvarez-Herms). Instead, he made himself into an exercise physiology and training theory expert, applying what he learned and making changes based on what worked for him.

The GOAT wants us all to be the GOAT version of ourselves.

So his article is not a genetic outlier talking about the nuances of being an outlier. It’s a brilliant scientist talking about the process of maximizing potential based on universal principles of human physiology, adapted for specific variation in genetics and goals.

Time to get to it! Let’s dive into 8 takeaways from a training summary that will shape the sport for years to come.

One: Training is a long-term process of consistency and aerobic development.

A stunning figure shows Kilian’s weekly training volume since April 2009. While there is variance, most weeks average around 20 hours, split between running, skiing, biking, and other sports. There are big up-swings of skimo in the winter and running starting in spring, with his training following a seasonal cycle.

At the far right of the chart is a microscopic red circle encompassing 2022. It’s a striking visualization of how our brains can think short-term, but our bodies are playing on much longer time scales.

“There’s no such a thing as the magical session that will make you better or a training program that will work for everyone,” he says. “But the adaptations come from the repetition of training stimulus (consistency) and the individualization of those stimuli.”

Kilian has consistently averaged 1000+ hours of training per year, mostly easy, across multiple sports. His aerobic roots run deep. For all of us, the first principle of endurance training is to stack up easy volume over time. The foundation for all performance from the 800 meters up to 200+ milers is how the aerobic system processes energy and associated fatigue. That ability comes from the daily grind of easy training.

So, first? Put your own roots down. It’s a year-long thing, across decades.

Two: Most of his training is very easy, with a Pyramidal intensity distribution.

Now is the moment for every athlete to pay attention to specific guidance from the GOAT. You hear that most training should be easy, but what does that actually mean? Here’s Kilian’s breakdown of training intensity using the 5-zone model:

• 58% zone 1 (active recovery, nose breathing)
• 19% zone 2 (aerobic endurance, can keep for hours)
• 16% zone 3 (tempo, sustained fast and can say several sentences)
• 4% zone 4 (race pace, can say a sentence)
• 3% zone 5 (max)

58% in zone 1! That is an astonishing number, echoing the evolution of training theory more generally across endurance sports. Easy volume does not just allow recovery for harder sessions, but it provides the fuel that makes the hard sessions possible.

His intensity distribution is strongly Pyramidal with hints of Threshold, with 77% of his training in Zone 1 and Zone 2. The 16% in Zone 3 and 4% in Zone 4 is a high amount of threshold work, similar to some approaches used by Norwegian runners and triathletes. The smaller amount of Zone 5 work shows that he still develops his top-end speed, but with a much lesser focus.

It’s tempting to get on the trails and assume that faster is better. But stacking up faster work causes everything to decline after an initial period of growth, as the musculoskeletal system wears down, the endocrine system gets overstressed, and the aerobic system erodes via less efficient lipid metabolism and mitochondrial function.

Admittedly, 58% of training in Zone 1 may be Kilian-specific, requiring wonderful aerobic efficiency and very high volume. On our podcast, he talked about moving quickly through the mountains at 110 to 120 beats per minute heart rate, which is my heart rate when getting food from the top shelf of the pantry. But every athlete should probably have a more even split between Zone 1 and Zone 2 than might be our natural baselines, with those percentages adding up to around 80%. All easy is not created equal, and it’s valuable to slow down some of those days for workout quality, longevity, and growth along the entire aerobic spectrum.

Pyramidal training intensity is the predominant approach used by elite athletes whose training has been the subject of studies, meaning the next biggest proportion of training is tempo/threshold, with a much smaller portion faster than Critical Velocity and VO2 max. Lots easy, some moderate, just a bit hard (and make sure that hard work has a focused rationale for improving mechanical output).

Kilian leaves room for disagreement. “I know, for example, that I can absorb a great amount of volume and Z2 and Z3 training, but if I do more speed work for several continuous weeks (Z4 and Z5) I will get injured or metabolically not as efficient,” he says. “For other athletes, it is the opposite.”

What’s fascinating in the research is that an approach with a higher proportion of top-end Zone 4 and Zone 5 work (known as Polarized training) is very rarely used long-term due to its tendency to cause quick adaptations, followed by stagnation (or injury).

Three: Kilian periodizes his training across the year, with a base period preceding specific training blocks.

Kilian’s winter is spent on skis, where he’s a world-class skimo athlete. From December to March, he would do 2-4 hours on skis (mostly in Zone 2) in the AM, followed by a 40-60 minute easy treadmill run in the PM. His training graphs show no hard workouts that entire time. Interestingly, he did a 100-mile race in February to test fueling. As much as I think Kilian’s approach has lessons for all of us, doing a 100-mile race off a ski-focus may just be a Kilian thing. It’s like wearing white spandex at Western States–don’t try this at home.

That base period reinforced an already-monstrous aerobic system. The fact that he didn’t only ski shows a lesson that might be important for athletes that get lots of cross training time. It can be helpful to reinforce mechanical adaptations for running year-round, even if it’s not the primary focus.

Starting in March, he trained for Zegama at the end of May, emphasizing big volume (150-190km / 93-118 miles per week) with 2 quality workouts. In June and July leading up to the Hardrock 100, he increased training volume up to 200km (124 miles) per week, but did no longer sessions, and kept doing 2 speed workouts a week. From Hardrock to UTMB, he primarily focused on recovery and maintenance (read about that period here).

Reinforcing an aerobic base year-round is key for all endurance athletes, and it may help to have a more focused block of aerobic development in the off-season. This winter in coaching, motivated by Kilian and Nils, I am going to focus more on dedicated base periods, particularly for elite athletes. For athletes that don’t have Kilian’s background and VO2 max, it may include a small amount of intensity like in a classic Lydiard model, emphasizing the mechanical adaptations to handle faster work (like hill strides).

Kilian kept that aerobic focus going even when training for short races like Zegama. The benefits accumulate over time, so keep stacking those bricks.

Four: Most of his training sessions were relatively short, but with tons of doubles.

A big change in Kilian’s life was when he became a dad a few years ago. His wife Emelie Forsberg is one of the GOATs herself, and they balance the demands of family life, business, and training as a team. In practice, that means that one gets the early block, one gets the afternoon block, and then their nights are free after the kids go to sleep.

And that seismic shift in life’s demands may have also unlocked a training secret: Kilian rarely does “long” training sessions. Almost all of his runs didn’t exceed 4 hours in 2022 (with most far shorter), a major change from what I had heard in whispers about his training in the early 2010s. However, he still accumulated massive volume week after week. How does that math add up?

The answer is by using doubles–two sessions in one day. On our podcast, he said that he completed doubles almost every day. For all athletes, doubles may improve hormonal response to training, and avoiding excessively long sessions could reduce some of the chronic stress of high-volume training. These sessions can likely be as short as 10-15 minutes, running or cross training, and may have outsized influence on fitness growth. There’s a reason that almost every elite athlete training log includes doubles, even if we aren’t 100% sure on the mechanism of action that makes them nearly universal.

The outstanding question is whether other ultra athletes could excel from so few extra-long efforts in training. Kilian has completed so many ultras and long sessions that he has no doubts about his aerobic abilities, or how his body will respond late in events. Most of us step into the unknown, but nothing is unknown to Kilian. Interestingly, this approach focused on training frequency to accumulate volume rather than supersized single days overlaps with some of the training of ultra champion Camille Herron (and others), so it’s possible that very long efforts are an overrated part of ultra training.

Five: Kilian does workouts that focus on the specific demands of his events.

Now it’s time for some workout porn. I know that Kilian doesn’t want us to read too deeply into any specific session, but these are too good to pass up. He groups his sessions into 3 groups: speed, threshold, and tempo.

For pure flat speed training, he only did 4 workouts all year long. WOW! That includes track staples like 10 x 400 meters, which he says he limited due to risk of injury, a problem he faced in the past when focusing on road training. This may be a place where his genetic ability matters–he is very fast naturally, so it might not be an element that he needs to reinforce much, at least on flat ground. Most trail runners can probably limit their flat ground work, with just enough reinforcement to help hill strength translate into flat speed.

His staple session was an uphill/flat combination workout (like what I wrote about here). He starts with 1 or 2 intervals up a steep climb, with the downhill for recovery. After, he does a flat workout, such as a 10km tempo, 2 x 5km tempo, or 10 x 1k. On the podcast, he said that it improves his ability to run uphill fast and then on flats fast, like in a race. All athletes can likely use combination workouts, but scaled down to current levels.

His third big type of session was a longer steady run. He starts at high Zone 2 before increasing the effort, usually over 20 km to 30 km (12 – 18 miles). These long, steady runs are likely underutilized by many athletes in training, and they are a great opportunity to build specific endurance and musculoskeletal resilience. Just be careful not to turn them into races, since the intensity control is key to avoid an excessive amount of time in the upper intensity zones, undercutting aerobic growth.

The magic simplicity of Kilian’s training is that it’s usually 2 of those workouts a week plus easy running across daily doubles. Rinse and repeat, with specificity before races indicating higher volume preceding long ultras and a greater workout focus preceding shorter events. Finish up with a taper that is very easy and includes rest days for ultras, and a bit less easy with fewer rest days for shorter races.

Six: Most of his aerobic training is on steep and technical trails.

While Kilian consistently does moderate/hard workouts on flat ground or non-technical trails, many of his easy runs are on the trails where he lives in Norway. Just looking at a photo of those trails gives me a stress ulcer–they are steep and technical in ways that are rarely seen in the US outside of climbing routes.

He likes workouts to be on smoother and/or flatter surfaces to “privilege the metabolic and muscular capacities”–optimizing raw output. He likes slower days “on terrain that challenges other aspects (cognitive, mental, technique, visualization…and they’re much more fun!).”

Make sure that you aren’t sacrificing output in your harder sessions. On a steep and technical climb, an athlete’s grade-adjusted pace may be 1-2 minutes per mile slower than on a less technical climb. While the efforts feel equally hard, that translates to lower output, and likely to fewer adaptations. However, on purely easy days, you can have fun with it! Plus, working on technical abilities requires constant reinforcement, like all cognitively and neuromuscularly demanding physical movements.

Seven: Strength work is not a part of his training.

Readers, I know that you know that I am not a big fan of a heavy emphasis on strength training. But my views are far outdone by Kilian’s views. “I don’t do any strength sessions,” he says. “Having limited time for training, I believe that the stress to the body from strength training would be too much to be able to give the best at the running or skiing sessions, where I want to put the focus because they are more specific.”

However, it’s important to note that skiing is a bit like one long strength session, and the way Kilian runs up hills is similar to plyometrics. So he may be playing by a different set of rules than most athletes. I like a minimal-dose program, focused on the least amount possible to get the necessary adaptations, often as little as a few minutes 2-3 times per week.

Eight: It’s all about the process.

Near the end of our podcast, we asked Kilian about the one piece of advice he’d give an aspiring young pro. We had been diving deep into training theory, so I was trying to ask a leading question for him to give away his ultimate methodological secret. Instead, he swerved the conversation.

“Focus on the process, not on the results.”

He described the importance of developing a deep love of daily training, through ups and downs, wins and losses. It’s going to take many years to see where the limits are, and it’s way better when it’s fun.

RELATED: Five Elite Coaches On The Biggest Change They’ve Made to Improve Their Training

Kilian talking about training is Kilian talking about anything. He’s a founder of the shoe company NNormal, which is set to be a major player in the future of the sport. Yet even as he’s probably being roped into conversations on growth models and projections, he’s still focused on the process of making a fulfilling workplace for himself and his employees. The same goes for parenting, with his eyes lighting up at the mention of fatherhood and all the new stressors that come with it.

Over the last few weeks, I have learned that Kilian is not the GOAT because of genetics. He is the GOAT because he loves it. We asked him how he reconciled a love of the mountains with all of the data he collects on his training. He had a genius reply: to him, science is a manifestation of his love, of his respect for the sport and the mountains and what they require.

I have never been so motivated to get out there tomorrow and run. I’ll be doing it for the love of the process, and all the messy narratives that entails. I hope you are as inspired by Kilian as I am, helping you get out tomorrow and embrace a love of that messy process.

And I hope that we all can do that year-round for a few decades in a row to find our true limits…with a substantial portion of those days in Zone 1.

Finally as always I give a shout out to three of my favourite products…  fisiocrem ( https://www.fisiocrem.com.au/ ) is just bloody brilliant and does exactly what it says it does , it just gets the major muscle groups moving again. I use this extensively towards the end of the race when my quads are hammered.  It really makes a difference and allows me to move back through the gears towards the end of an event when most runners are stumbling home.