If you can't stay motivated, stay consistent. Consistency will bring back your motivation.

When the legendary trail runner, Killian Jornet won the UTMB in 2022 he dropped a copy of his training plan online and I am sure it has been viewed and scrutinised millions of times. He did make note of something that resounded with me and it applies to what I have written below about my approach, Killian said:

“Each of us is very different, so to copy / paste or to adapt this plan to you without first analyzing what your different capacities are, would probably be a big mistake. 

To make conclusions of a training plan of 4 weeks or 4 months without the context of the previous years of training where adaptations were made and the individual capacities of each athlete have no sense. In my opinion there’s no such a think as the magical session that will make you better or a training program that will work for everyone, but the adaptations, and therefore improvement of performance comes from the repetition of training stimulus (consistency) and the individualization of those stimulus (to see what are those stimuli and their intensity that work for each of us at each time of our program and our career, and what is the recovery needed)”…

So, basically do your own thing and find what suits you. We are all different and need to approach training accordingly, just because this approach works for me doesn’t mean it will for you but I hope it leads you on a path to discover what does.

It all began with…

Run, run, run as fast as you can….. No, don’t do this at all.

For many years I believed that if I wanted to improve I always had to run harder and faster than the session before. The old mantra of ‘no pain no gain’ rang true and for a while I did get quicker and lost weight. However, I also became sore, tired and battled regular injuries. I would run 1 day on & 1 day off just so I could recover from the previous session. On the weekends I would attempt a long run which I went into feeling tired and run down. I pushed hard anyway because I believed it would make me stronger and then I started the following week tired again. Looking back it was a viscous cycle but I didn’t know any better.

Then the injuries started, sore knee’s, tight calves and hips, planta fasciitis and eventually 3 months off with sesamatoiditis.

This last injury made me realise that the only way to improve my performance was to increase my knowledge. I’m my search for factual data and information from people who had studied human performance I came across “The Science Of Ultra’ podcast, this discovery was a complete game changer. Some podcast are filled with opinions and theory, I wanted facts from leading experts who had conducted studies that were published and respected, Shawn Bearman’s approach to delivering information from people who are top of their field in studies and research was exactly what I had been looking for.

Sometimes it gets a bit ‘Sciency’ but Sean always breaks it down and if you consume the entirety of his shows you will end up understanding most of what they are talking about. There is so much valuable information that you should become very knowledgeable and your performance should improve.

The biggest change in mindset and training for me came down to the 80/20 rule - 80% OF YOUR RUNNING SHOULD BE DONE AT AN EASY TEMPO, the other 20% should be at threshold tempo tailored to the type of event/run/race/improvement you are training for. Wait….what? Run slow to run fast? If this was true, I’d be doing it all wrong.

The more I researched, and loads of research I did, I found that people who ran the majority of their training at an easy pace called ‘Zone 2’ outperformed those who ran hard. I wont go further into this, it’s up to you to research, listen and go on your own path of discovery but if you google Zone 2 training you’ll be onto it. Like everything else I learned, there is no guarantees and different people have different approaches with great success. There is no 100% proven formula that will work for everyone. This is just what works for me (and a lot of other people).

I started running slow and it was bloody hard, yes running slow was hard, actually challenging might be a better description. My VO2 dropped, my splits went through the roof and it took me so much longer to run the same amount of distance per week. BUT, I felt good, I felt strong and I felt energised. I would finish my run feeling like I could do it again so with this extra strength and energy I eventually built up to running 6 days per week and started incorporating doubles (2 runs in a day).

My weekly totals went from a tiring 50k per week to an energetic 80k per week and I felt good. Injuries, niggles and aches weren’t anywhere near the same, I finished my runs feeling refreshed rather than exhausted and I didn’t have the massage gun out every night. Crazy I know, but it’s true.

Next came heart rate training. I needed to learn more about ‘Zones’, how do I find my Zone 2 pace, how do some people run at a fast pace and look effortless while I was a stream train with smoke coming out of my ears and puffing harder than a draft horse. The answer = their engine was bigger and stronger than mine. Your heart is your engine, so now I needed to know how to train my heart.

This lead me to the MAF method, I looked into heart rate training and there is plethora of advice, opinions and information. I wont go into MAF because while I have taken much from his advice I get dubious when people try to sell me programs and promote sales as a fat burning method. Plus, his studies are dubious, if you look deeper he wasn’t the first to develop this but he has done a good job of marketing and generating an income from it. However, it is a great place to gain an understanding of HR training .

As soon I started to learn more about HR training the next step was to understand what zones were. There are different ways of looking at zones but generally you will find 5. Garmin & Strava have them as metrics and use a percentage of your maximum HR as a way of gauging each zone. For eg:

I started tracking my runs, heart rate, performance and using a heart monitor. I stuck to Z2 HR levels when I trained and it took 3 months until I saw positive results but my body felt stronger and I was capable of a lot more running. For example, when I started my heart rate was a high 150/160bpm at 5:30split, after 3 months of diligent training I could run with 138bpm at 5:30 split and the more I train the better it gets. There are variables like temperature, hills, time of the day, mood and caffeine but if you practice you will find your rhythm. After a while you will notice yourself running faster with a lower HR and breathing comes easier, it’s so much more enjoyable and my results have never been better.

By following this 80/20 method I recover quicker which allows me to run more often. But it takes patience, for most people it may take months to see an improvement and you need to stick at it. Running slow gives you more time to focus on your technique, I also use the time to listed to Science of Ultra which means I learn more about running and myself while I train. I also use the time to meditate and focus on my breathing, it’s the perfect time to work on your mental health.

Next you will ask what the 20% of ‘Hard’ looks like. I suggest trying a few different things till you find what works for you, I like to focus on the areas of improvement I need for a race or run that is coming up. This includes, intervals, strides, threshold or tempo runs, hill sprints, surges or whatever increases intensity but have a plan and track the results so you can see the benefits. MAKE SURE to change it up, if you keep doing the same thing at high intensity the risk of injury's increases.

High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) - Here is a great show on intervals, I have listened to it a number of times and used the recommendations from Martin Gibala, PhD in my training program. His theory of 20 sec intervals is extremely interesting and I believe that if it is used in conjunction with longer distance intervals the effect can be very powerful. We all want to do the least amount of work for the greatest result so have a listen and try it out.

Fast forward to using this type of training for over a year and I am learning more and more about how my body responds. Zone 2 is fabulous in the off season and builds an amazing aerobic base you need to run ultra distances. What I am finding is that when it comes to race season there is a need to kick things up a gear and prepare the body for the stresses of all out efforts. If I run easy all the time it feels like my engine isn’t ready for the pressures of race day, to overcome this I start building in high Z3 efforts to the week. I don’t do extra miles but I push myself a bit harder to try and prepare for what is to come. I don’t quite understand why it happens and it may not be the same for others but my body likes to be prepared and light bouts of race dace day type efforts works for me.

An example of this was 4 x min at race pace (what you hope to run on race day) with a 2 min recovery repeated 10x. Rather than trying to run faster, try to reduce the amount of rest in between each sprint. Try to get that 2min down a bit each session until you’re able to hold race pace for the whole session.

Tapering - ‘You cant fatten the pig on market day’

I can refer you to studies and numerous podcast episodes on tapering but from what I have learnt, even the best in the business do not have a 100% proven strategy that fits all people. You can’t test what sort of taper works for you until you have an important race which allows you to test, track and learn. It might be a 3, 2 or 1 week taper that suits you best, only you can find out.

My performance always comes down to the work I did leading up to the taper. If I haven’t put in the hard work it doesn’t matter how well I rest. In my short experience, and from the thoughts of elite coaches and scientists, I believe the best thing you can do is rest and eat well. Rest will mean different things to different people, I like to rest by reducing volume and increasing intensity. For me, this means running less kilometers but going a little faster than usual to get the system ready for what it is about to go through. I don’t like to be all rested and then try to explode on race day, my body says WTF is this, so a bit of pre race huff and puff works for me. Basically, I build in a few Zone 3 runs instead of Zone 2.

It’s hard at times but I always try to remind myself to TRUST THE TAPER. I feel sluggish in taper weeks and I get worried my gains are being lost but as soon as race day comes I feel much better for the reduction in activity. Depending on the race I need different lengths of tapering, marathons are 2 weeks, ultra’s are 3, anything less is a very easy week leading up to the race.

I am still trying new things all the time but here is where I usually start out with Ultra’s, you can adjust based on distance or preference.

3 week taper for Ultra’s

1. 4 WEEKS OUT from an ultra distanced race I try to replicate the environment of my race and put in a solid ‘long’ day. This doesn’t mean running the same distance as the race, but try to replicate the conditions such as vert, trails, road. Stick to nice easy runs throughout the week, even pull back a bit so on the long day you can tackle 3ish hrs with energy, but don’t draw on your reserves. Give it a burst to show yourself what you are capable of, get your confidence and stoke on! Start the training at the same time so you can eat the same breakfast, test your gear, hydration and nutrition, now’s the time to prepare.

2. 3 WEEKS OUT - drop totals by 20% - start to bring in a few Zone 3 aerobic runs and average your runs out nice and even so there’s nothing overly long. What I like to do on this week is a few strides at the end of the run, get the heart, legs and lungs ready for what’s to come.

3. 2 WEEKS OUT - 40% drop and a similar method to last week. Nice easy runs with a huge emphasis on your flow, work on your mind and focus on building the fire of your stoke, get pumped but do it at a pace that keeps the batteries charged. Kinda like adding wood to the fire so when race day comes you can blow life into the coals and watch it roar.

4. RACE week - It depends on how I feel but I do not burn any matches - east, rest, sleep repeat…with a few controlled runs and a little spurt here or there to keep up the engine revving. Nothing long or hard, get the heard pumping a few times so it knows what’s coming and get good rest.

5. RACE DAY Get some… I never sleep well the night before but if I am well prepared and everything has lined up I rest ok. For 30k and below I just go for it, 40k I like to set a pace and maintain, above 40 is another ball game so I usually have a strategy. This is all up to you and how you perform under pressure, figure it out for yourself and remember to enjoy yourself.

The morning of race day I have a routine/tradition I follow with eating.

• Beetroot juice the week before - get that nitrate up but reduce the day before as it will make you fart real bad.

• Big bowl of brown rice and tuna for lunch the day before - If I can’t get this I go for sushi - get the carbs and fats in.

• Pumpkin Soup with crusty white loaf bread for dinner the night before, preferably home made - keep it light on the tummy but add the carbs.

• 3 hours out from the start - Breakfast of peanut butter & honey on toast or a bowl of porridge, banana and honey.

• 2 hours out from the start - 80g CHO via SPORTS FUEL 1o1.

Recovery - Listen to your body and maximise those gains

So much effort is put into training, but nowhere near enough goes into recovery. All of the time thinking, planning, researching and doing when my gains come during rest, so why isn’t as much emphasis given to taking a break and letting myself recover?

I know how hard it is to take a day off. It feels like all your hard work will be lost if you miss a run, but I think the reality is completely the opposite. A concerted effort to rest can actually result in more gains if you do it properly. Sleep is a huge factor and if I get to bed a bit earlier I always feel better off. I also find that it can be very hard to sleep the week after a big effort, I use these signs as a way of assessing how well my recovery is going because once my sleep has returned to normal my body always feels properly recovered. My resting heart rate is also a big factor in knowing when I am recovered.

Make sure to build in rest days, recover properly after big efforts and if you’re tired then make sure to listen to your body. If you don’t your body will make you, it has a special way of getting injured or sick and making you listen. It’s best to be fully recovered and rested before your next training session rather than hitting it tired and depleting yourself even more.

Recovery happens as soon as we stop exercising and studies show there is a window of opportunity to replace the carbs we used straight after exercise. I try to replace these carbs with a scoop of Sports Fuel 1o1 after a run. If it’s a big run or a 20% day that might include intervals or hills I try to fuel up half an hour before as well. The benefit of this is being able to go into the run as strong as possible, my goal is to enter each run rested and energetic so I get the most out of the time spent.

Remember - going in tired or lacking in energy is a waste of time.