Balance it up: Making high-volume training sustainable

Prologue

In the closing months of 2015, it came to an end.

The fair lady bided farewell and hoped we could always remain friends, as we have all along. The chase was over and I had never won her heart.

I would have run a 100 miles for her – it actually happened; namely Ultra-Trail Mount Fuji (UTMF) in September 2015, whose namesake refers to that majestic peak which she once lived near at her old home.

But, the worse thing is I did not complete the race.

UTMF in that year was considerably brutal with only 41.5% making to the finish line, and not without overcoming human jams on the route and tight cut-off times at checkpoints.

With this DNF, I took a hiatus from ultra training and races for more than a year-plus, just so I can get on to doing my degree and maybe, flirting with the female course-mates at night classes.

The Singapore contingent for Ultra-Trail Mt. Fuji (UTMF) 2015. Only less than half of us here would complete the race. Image: Jacky Lee

But, as I dug deep into academics, my peers were slugging in the trails and basking in their moment of glory.

While I felt happy for most of them, I was also irritated.

And perhaps, angry too.

To see my peers bypassing their milestones was encouraging. However, that showed how ahead they were in their running, and how underwhelming my previous achievements were.

So, the unsettled business in mind, I began to engineer a crack training regimen post-graduation.

Rethinking training

Getting on the road is easy.

But ascertaining the appropriate training programmes and volume will take time – years for this late-bloomer – to figure out.

For starters, not all can subject themselves to the 100k-and-beyond weekly mileages that elites could endure. And most people would never bank on a less-than-adequate training volume to weasel their way through the mountains.

As with any specific training programmes you read in running mags or online, they are not one-size-fits-all solutions. At best, they only provide ideas and hints to how your own regimen would work out.

Eventually, everyone’s training is affected by a slew of factors within and outside running: pronation, physical condition and psychological state, as well as diet, sleep hours, work and lifestyle choices.

The combination of those elements will determine the kind of runner that will develop over time. Importantly, training impacts your entire being and is in connection with just about anything in your personal realm of existence.

Hence, however important training is, it should not be done at the degeneration of other non-running aspects (leisure, professional pursuits, romance, etc).

As much mental as it is physical, the key to proper training is sustainability: Sweating it out without piling with cumulative misery and injuries; moderating goals to meet them consistently and still reap enough benefits for a race and; finding fulfilment and enjoyment in both running and non-running activities.

Training, therefore, has to be a manageable, holistic and positive experience.     

The key to proper training is sustainability: Sweating it out without piling with cumulative misery and injuries, and finding fulfillment and enjoyment in both running and non-running activities. Image: Terry Tan 

80s for three weeks

Until recent times, I straddled both ends of the spectrum: Overdoing it that it becomes unsustainable and underdoing (most of the time) that I pay the price on race day.

I had once tried to achieve a 100k per week, only to suffer insomnia the following nights. Even then, simply trying to meet close to that hard-core three digits is a stretch; life’s busyness and all means training becomes more of a draining chore instead of a feel-good series of workouts.

On the other hand, I also ended up training too little. I cut an excess amount of time, mileage and effort whenever I was hamstrung by fatigue early in a run or in the middle of it. I thought I was reaching a limit and needed more rest.

If I was not mentally into a tough session, I would opt for a flat route over a hilly course. I would rest more days than needed when I assumed I was already too spent from previous days to maintain the streak.

Better to conserve than to be wasted by race day, I opined.

Consequentially, the result shows: My Garmin Connect data reveals the pre-UTMF 2015 weeks which are marked by a staggering pattern of inconsistencies. 

 

Spot the bald patches: The worst possible to train.

 

For three weeks, a 40km+ session was recorded in each week, but the weekly mileage from the first to the last is uneven – 66km, 70km and 43km, respectively. There are too many vacant days per week, about four on average, and this trend is reflected across other weeks. Long runs (21km and above) occurred as abruptly as the inactive days that preceded, with little gradualness in build-up and tapering.

And those happened within the 10 weeks before UTMF.

The problem here is the lack of a well-defined goal.

When your training schedule can be arbitrarily tweaked based on your mood of the day and how much f***** you give, it pretty much ends up as it is: the most f****up training ever conjured by a lazy runner.

So, I need to set a figure for at the least the week and a frequency I would commit to.

Now, 100km is definitely gonna take a chunk out of time and 90km would be too close to that mark.

80km would be 20 short of that “POWER OF GREYSKULL!” finish. But, it would still make me satisfyingly drained by the weekend and reward myself with an Erdinger Dunkel (priced S$5.90 at the Fairprice mart).

That number I could will myself to. For the beer, especially.

An evening's beer motivates me to finish a long run. I don't recommend drinking while running though. Image: Terry Tan

Of course, it can’t be a perpetual cycle into an 80k-every-week oblivion. Be kind to oneself and accept three consecutive weeks of high mileage is an intense but sufficient prime-up - then cut it from there to a taper the following week in which it is 20km shorter at 60.

This is how it should go for a complete cycle:

Week 1: 80km

Week 2: 80km

Week 3: 80km

Week 4 (taper): 60km

Repeat.

Now, let’s get down with the nitty-gritty.

             

Calibrating training by the points

The science behind this training plan - or for any other plans – is to factor that, at any point of the first three weeks, your attention might be demanded for more pressing matters outside running… and that is just life.

A firm sense of discipline will see you through the weeks. However, once in a while, when personal responsibilities are priority, you would find yourself robbed of time to cultivate the pain.

Fret not. The 80km week does not have to be so if it permits itself some flexibility – for even multiple weeks if required.

To do this, I implemented a points system in my training à la UTMB scoring qualification system.

Basically, when a total of 80km cumulative mileage is done for a week, it is 3 points. So will it be for the two weeks when you hit 80k each. After the end of the third week, you should have amassed an overall 9 points.

And those points will reward you - you guessed it - the Taper Week. No, you tall hopies; that trip to Chamonix will have to be earned through a more quad-breaking process.

On the surface, it may appear straightforward and even easy to stick it through with three 80k weeklies.

Until, somehow, you are needed for almost the whole week to ensure your 10^th cousin’s wedding at Sentosa Cove goes smoothly and impresses his hot Korean fiancée’s family. And it is a pity – that you never have a hot Korean girlfriend like your cousin.

More importantly, that momentous development puts a severe strain on your training time. Well, there’s an alternative; just tune it down.

So, 80k per week is 3 points. But, there are also 70k/week (2 points) and 60k/week (1 point). In a time-tight scenario, the third week would have been interrupted by your cousin’s royal-style wedding after your two successive 80k weeks:

Week 1: 80km

Week 2: 80km

Week 3: Damn cousin’s wedding to hot Korean fiancée

In this situation, if you cannot afford more, do less. Even then, set your minimum limit strictly at 60k. For the five days of busyness, try at least to do 5ks for four and reserve a 10k for one day. You can perhaps shoehorn a 30k on a free day during the weekend. All these should add up to 60k or one point:

Week 1: 80km (3 points)

Week 2: 80km (3 points)

Week 3: 5k+5k+5k+5k+10k+30k= 60km (1 point)

Accumulated points: 7 points

Yet, you would still fall short of making the next week a taper until you obtain 2 points to make it 9. It is obvious what Week 4's mileage will be:

Week 1: 80km (3 points)

Week 2: 80km (3 points)

Week 3: 60km (1 point)

Week 4: 70km (2 points)

Accumulated points: 9 points > TAPER ON WEEK 5

The point of flexibility is to ensure, even when you are hard-pressed to find the time for training, you would still able to keep the body in consistent activeness, albeit the reduced volume and intensity. The toil debt is real; a week of inactivity or very low mileage could hamper the start of the 3-week high volume phase.

Now, just because this training plan grants you the prerogative to exercise flexibility, please don't do something like this:

Week 1: 60km (1 point)

Week 2: 60km (1 point)

Week 3: 60km (1 point)

Week 4: 60km (1 point)

Week 5: 60km (1 point)

Week 6: 60km (1 point)

Week 7: 60km (1 point)

Week 8: 60km (1 point)

Week 9: 60km (1 point)

Accumulated points: 9 points (YOU WONDERFUL HUMAN BEING.)

Flexibility is supposed to help you maintain training progress, not shortcut the whole darn thing by ironically protracting it.

Stay the course for the '80/week' - pull back only when extremely necessary.

Don't you just wish this is how you will get your event medal at the finish line? Image: ONE Championship

What's in an '80' week

What you put into an '80' week is about as delicate as customising a carbo-load at The Daily Cut.

You can't simply jam in a single 80K session in one day or do 10Ks for six days, followed by a 21K, then missed a much longer LSD in the process. Be realistic about your strengths and, at the same time, aware of pushing yourself further.

While there is no training mixture which would suit everybody, there will always be a plan sui generis to a particular kind of runner. Look for one such programme or, better still, craft your own. 

I find it vital that, in order to maximise the positive effects of training, the ‘80/week’ should contain at least a 10K, 21K and 40K, topped up by another run to prop up the figure.

Well, at least, that was the plan; the cumulative impact of high volumes week after week resulted in too much lethargy to get a mid-week half-marathon done (which I cut to 10K) at one point. And then the busyness of work (sort of) and a possible overloading on my right leg in another session.

I will admit - the training week’s composition is still a work-in-progress. Regardless, the one session I prioritise that MUST be done is the long run - 40K and beyond - in all weeks except the taper. The 40K should, as weekly as possible, be the ‘flux capacitor’ to pump up for an incoming ultra (50K and beyond).

And if you are up for it, try to do a 50K session per yearly quarter.

And, in case you are wondering, the flux capacitor is that shiny gadget powering the time traveling DeLorean in the "Back to the Future" series.

Now, training is not simply a series of sessions on the flat unless you are preparing for a road marathon - which the ‘80/week’ can be adjusted for.

Heading to the mountains to pay your due? Fashion your 40K to, in my case, include six climbs up Bukit Timah Hill (with the rest of mileage on trail and/or concrete), and for the 21K, at least three stair climbs at The Pinnacle@Duxton, where it smells of piss at the first floor.

In Singapore, you have to make do with what our mountainless, tiny island has. There are indeed a few good locales for steep incline running like Vigilante Drive at Kent Ridge Park. Mount Faber would do as well, though, the name’s a scam – it is never a mountain.

Disadvantages and advantages of the ‘80/week’

Capping your training mileage at a certain number ostensibly limits your potential. Why not do more if you could, one would argue, and rightly so: there is a chance the ‘80/week’ might inhibit further progress by reducing your motivation for additional volumes.

However, extra amounts are either going to work or not work for a runner, and there are different runners for whom the outcome varies. The most essential goal here is consistency, not escalating the load.

Nevertheless, you are not prohibited to do some more if you can. Just avoid the contrived piling up of ‘junk’ mileages; instead, let your increments be natural.

For example, in addition to your mandatory sessions – 10K, 21K and 40K on Monday, Wednesday and Sunday, respectively – you would always run a 7K back to home from work, no matter what. With those happening on Tuesday and Thursday, they would easily bring the week’s mileage to 85K – an additional 5 which wouldn’t kill.

Basically, natural increments like those are efforts happening on an ‘on-the-way’ basis, like a short race, and not doing more runs to deliberately push the number, even beyond what is sustainable. And the increments should not be too significant.

Furthermore, one should not only be focusing on the mileage ran within the Monday-Sunday time frame – there are also your last 7 days which would have preceded that period.

From Monday to Wednesday, you would have done 30K of running. But, taking into the account the days before that – Thursday to Sunday last week which amounted to 70K – you have already run 100K for the past seven days.

And, that is the beauty of consistent weekly training: you end up doing more than you think you have. The perspective based on the last seven days is a good way to gauge whether you could train more or (especially) risk overtraining.

Remember: the more training volume is over a short period, the more stress your body is subjected under. Train with what your body could effectively adapt to.

It's helpful to look back at your last seven days of running mileage, not just the Mon-Sun time frame of the week, to see if you might have overdone on cumulative distances. Image: Terry Tan  

Over time, I have also come to dismiss one advice which was given during my early days of running and that is, the practice of not compensating for lost mileage. When you start running, maybe; on the other hand, the advice - in my opinion and based on personal experiences - only curtail your training progress the longer you are in the game.

It’s not that life’s busyness is not a credible concern. However, if you are seriously committed to the process and its goals, you should always find a way to meet at least the targeted weekly mileage, even if you can’t commit to a 40K in that week.

Additionally, the flexibility of the ‘80/week’ regimen provides multiple ways to meet your objectives whilst overcoming external difficulties. Setting a weekly number would help you plan sessions in advance, and even during mid-week or on a short notice when you are bumped by last-minute matters to tend to.

When all else fail, you can still scale back to a ‘70’ or ‘60’ week - but nothing below those unless it is absolutely inevitable.

No matter what, you should train in a manner that is focused, consistent and sustainable, in spite of the challenges.

This is not for everyone

   

I’m not a certified coach or bona fide sports expert. What I have rambled about in the last one hour is obtained from my own experiences in running. To add to your concerns, I’m not an elite athlete even if I sometimes think I am one.     

What I say may or will not work for you. But, so are the opinions of the true pros who comment on websites or magazines, sometimes with little to no disclaimer. There is a reason why professional coaching is very much an individual-focused endeavour, and why career athletes would drop their coach when things did not pan out well.

Everything you hear from anyone is just another piece of wisdom – or cautionary tale – for your approach to training. As a whole, a specific programme may never answer your needs substantially.     

Moreover, the right training will take some experimenting and time to figure out. But it will yield results once you discover the stuff that clicks with you - hopefully, with fewer injuries as you go about it.

The ‘80/week’ plan has, to a certain degree, worked for me. Still, the verdict will rest on race day and it remains to be seen what the full extent of the training outcome is.

So far, the past 10-13 weeks have been the most consistent I ever trained for a long race.

Thus, reflecting on past events, I think the next race could turn out better.

Not that you should ignore my advice; but it will probably lead you to dirty places. Image: Terry Tan

Drinking: Tribute To A Post-Running Activity

Post-40K indulgences: Cold can of Heineken and Rolling Good Times on TV.

This evening, as I indulged in the silky delight of Baileys with a hint of coffee, I pondered superficially about the odd relationship between drinking (not of water, kiddo) and running long distance.

That the current alcoholic influence isn't potent enough to sway my better judgement should indeed qualify me to question if there has ever been a valid reason to connect both activities together.

But it's may well be absurdity at its best or worst, where grounds for the argument simply do not exist.

Like asking a middle-class German if he would skip a free-for-all chance of racing a Porsche 918 down a country road even though he will never have that exorbitant capital to actually own it.

What? Verpiss dich!

German curse words aside, please allow me to distract with a little history concerning the intermingling of war life and alcohol in distant pasts. Seemingly numerous are the occasionally comic accounts of soldiers in the American Civil War, lustfully sourcing for precious drops of beer. Even at an earlier time, ale was made a daily ration's beverage for Yanks at the front line.

More famously were the fearsome warriors of ancient Scandinavia, the Vikings, and their religious veneration for beer-drinking. It is a practice so deeply sacred that kingdoms could risk imminent revolutions for, literally speaking, stopping the flow.

Now, it seems in our near-pacifist states of modern life, in a moderately peaceful world saved for some troubled spots in Africa and the Mid East as well as the gay rights debate in the US, there wasn't a form of warrior culture showered in the pungent aromas of lagers.

However, as I slowly discovered in my running life, athletic friends, especially those in the hardcore ultramarathoning community, have a more specific craving for beers. Like recently, a Facebook photo purportedly showing a few guilty acquaintances socialising over Heineken and Carlsberg after a trail running session. A church friend, who happened to be an avid cyclist, confided to me that he kept a water bottle of beer attached to his road bike.

Justifying such shenanigans should call into acceptance of long distance running as a spartan resistance against sedentary lifestyles. Out there, foot soldiers of a sporty breed are striving against thought demons of complacency and pointless excuses, sometimes under the devilish heat of the noonday sun or in the drowsy hours of the late night.

Done with these physically and mentally exhausting exploits, we are dreadfully spent. We have tussled vigourously against the Great Cardio Beast and prevailed. With that feel-good outcome, we are in need of cold beer like a post-coitus man reaching out for a stick of Marlboro.

So one Sunday evening, after a warm afternoon spend in a 40K run, I settled myself on a comfy armchair, clamped my palm around an ice-cold mug of Heineken and tuned to the recently revived Rolling Good Times on Channel 5. Yes, some headaches abounded with the occasional half-ass renditions of classic song hits, but as the intake progressed, inhibitions dipped. When the mind eases with ample drinking and silly entertainment, even hours-long viewing of Adam Sandler flicks can be made bearable.

By drinking for that induced light-headed relaxation, we are offered a pleasure that aids us in relinquishing our right to worry about next day's affairs. These few pints we deserve for valiantly honoring our commitment to burn off excess calories in the previous hours.

Many would attest to the smoothing ecstasy of ethanol therapy, particularly in the wake of hard periods which cause strained calves, restless hearts and scorched skins.

Long-distance warriors don’t have it easy in life, after all.

Training sessions are interspersed throughout a week of activities devoted to work, family and other mandatory affairs. To get ourselves going, whether it would be straight from the office or after house chores are completed for the night, calls for stubborn initiative and profound convictions, especially in the tightest of times.

The hectic weekdays would soon be followed by Saturdays and Sundays, a scarcity of our Sabbaths further sacrificed for healthy purgatories on the road and rocky grounds. We choose to suffer deliberately for our dreams and goals (in fact, the longer it is, the better), but more importantly, for the upkeep of our temples.

Then it winds back to Monday again and the cycle repeats.

Hence, be kind to oneself and celebrate like Vikings. For performing your penance at its most excruciating, give yourself a toast.

Drink profusely for thanksgiving to Heaven, for its benediction of the oh-so-ecstatic, the elixir of life.

It will anyway be hours before you hit the desk in the morning. 
 

Stuffs To Say To My 13-year Old Self (Or A Runner’s Perspective On Life, pardon!)

This Saturday, I will turn 33 and it qualifies to state it’s been 20 long years from when I was 13. At that point in my young life, I was a scrawny, wimpy kid, easily pushed around and highly dazed by the near-monotonous routine of high school life.

Oh yeah, I sucked at running too. Finished at the bottom two in a class of about 40 back in ’95 (or ’96? I can’t quite remember), but who could blame me for not cultivating the love of self-afflicted exhaustion? The notion is virtually unthinkable two decades ago, especially in an all-boys school when the main interests were computer games, the nearby arcade centre and porno.

So imagine the current era when time travel is possible and I could zap myself back to the past, ala Kyle Reese, and hopefully, with my clothes still on. What will I say to my teenage me? I’m pretty sure the boy who could not hack a 2.4km would be quite astounded to learn that his much older doppelganger was able trudge through 100km of foot mileage, sometimes over foreign mountain trails.

So here’s a few things I would like to say to my 13-year old self (or at least, some life lessons I learned from running):

1.       You have yet to discover how far you can really go.

Life, at certain stages, possesses its unique circumstances and limitations. But the walls that keep us from discovering our true capabilities crumbles over time if we dare dream and are crazy enough to act against the impossible. For many people, it will take years of living to realise your true passions, which is quite all right.

In my adolescence, running the complete perimeter of Hougang would, in my naïve opinion, qualified as a tremendous feat in its own rights (turned out it’s only about 7km of ‘epic’ distance).

Then, five years ago, I thought that the marathon would be the pinnacle of all that I could devote to running. After finding out such a thing as a 100km race in Singapore, I was emboldened on venturing beyond the 42.195km mark. This is the emergence of a kind of maturity, in that you grow to accept your strengths, potential and responsibility to your dreams, both new and old.

Of course, this could only come with deliberation and at a considerable cost of time and effort, some trial and error, and, occasionally, a black toe nail or two.

2.       You will leave your old life behind.

Well, if not entirely, a significant aspect of your life will eventually be pared down to make way for (gasp!) more training hours.

Being a film buff, I used to watch movies at Orchard Road, like about 2-3 times a month or buy toys to expand my humble collection.

Now?

Visiting the cinema only occurs about once every 2-3 months on average, if I’m lucky. Most of my toys, including MacFarlane figurines, Nerf projectile launchers and a remote-control tank, had since been donated as I gathered new toys, namely Garmin watches, New Balance minimalist shoes, hydration systems and running apparels.

Some folks I know had to reduce their social networking hours or cut down the partying and drinking. What’s unanimous is that our weekend activities will likely involve something vigorous, in contrast to a previous existence of late sleep-ins, binge TV watching or simply, lazing the rest of the day away.

3.       Running will improve your self-image.

After I succeeded in a 35km+ attempt to run from my home in Hougang to my church in Jurong West, news of this reached my church friends and the feat soon swelled into an over-glorified rumour that I did it on a weekly basis.

The point is, by running long distances, especially ultra-distances, people will look at you differently, yourself as well. If you are in need of an effective confidence booster that’s simple and, hopefully, affordable, do a 50K. Or an 80. Or a 100.

The experience of overcoming a tough race could teach you a thing or two about fortitude and patience in face of mounting difficulties. Also, the lessons are conveniently applicable to ordinary non-running scenarios. Like balloting for a HDB flat or stuck in a three-hour MRT breakdown.

And, yes, you will feel bad-ass.

Imagine the faces of your former bullies when they realise you could execute killer mileages and leave them dying at 5km.      

4.       You will do more stuffs other than what you love.    

I don’t think I ever quite get the essence of running that motivates you to pursue other endeavours and interests, never mind they sometimes had absolutely nothing to do with running.

In the years following the completion of my first marathon, I was stirred to do different things which resulted in a renewed love for photography, taking a kayaking one-star course, solo backpacking in Japan for 16 days and attempting my first triathlon (which I finished earlier this year).

I definitely felt a zest to pursue many more interests in life, particularly travelling in the US in addition to learning Krav Maga and mastering the basics of the Japanese language.

Perhaps it’s the primal ambition for personal development being awakened by a sport that demands more and more of you?

Which brings to point 4…

5.       Running is NOT everything.

However enjoyable and inspiring running can be, remember that, at the end of each session, you are not going to wear your sweat-soaked attires to the office the next day. Unless you work in a gym.

Just as with anything, too much of a good stuff can get pretty bad. Suffice to say, running will eventually become a major component of your life when given the consistent investment of efforts. But it’s not the Alpha and Omega of your entire existence, the CPU core that, should it cracks, will result in a total collapse of your humanity.

Love running whatever you want, finding the next overseas race to tackle or delighting in the lively camaraderie of like-mined folks on the trail. Keep in mind that most runners will not advance towards becoming professional athletes and in virtually all cases, likely to hold onto their day jobs.

Your major decisions, such as finances, career and marriage, will not or rarely hinged on how hard you pound in the weekly kilometres.

Remember there will always be more meaningful things to pursue like studying for a degree, meeting up with old friends more often or serving in a voluntary organisation.

Nevertheless, you could still discover a little piece of heaven and purpose in an evening after-work run.

  

6.       There are many good reasons why you should run.

In fact, too many, I deduce. It would be implausible to state all valid reasons under just one blog post, and a treasure trove of those waiting to be opened only in later years.

Surely, others should have different, even better, reasons to go running. Regardless, find one that helps and keeps you moving.

Find one that makes you feel alive.