It's been two months since I got a starting place at the Eiger Ultramarathon.
Two months in which I could already prepare myself intensively and deal with the topic of ultrarunning.
Two months in which I tried to find a way to reconcile my training, my job, my relationship and my everyday life, to stay positive and above all not to lose the fun of running.
During this time I have already learned a lot about myself, I have shed sweat and also a few tears, but I notice: I am on the right track.
3 - 4 trainings per week
At the moment I train 3-4 times a week. I mix longer (up to 18 km) and shorter running sessions (5-10 km) with strength training (dumbbell, TRX, free exercises), as well as yoga, cycling, skiing and hiking to a colorful training plan. I created this plan myself, and below I already share the first two training months with you.
Eight weeks for optimizing your running style
In the past weeks I have paid particular attention to optimizing my running style. I switched from the classic backfoot run to the forefoot run, which is much easier on the joints.
Why?
When running backfoot, energy is wasted with every step, especially when running downhill. Every heel impact slows you down and gives your joints and back a blow. The forefoot run feels a bit unnatural at first and the first trainings I had a lot of aching muscles in my lower calves, but looking back I would say that the pain and effort were worth it. Already after the first training I was about 10% faster on many sections of my 17 km training lap and was conditionally less strained. After round about eight weeks I learned to cover a long distance with little energy and no pain at all in this style.
If you are also interested in changing your running style, then I highly recommend the videos of Salomon Running, especially the videos with Greg Vollet, who was recommended to me as "Master of the Downhill Technique" by a friend of mine, who is also an experienced Ultrarunner.
Create your own training plan and optimize it continuously
Creating your own training plan is not easy, especially if you are not a sports physician, personal coach or fitness trainer. By the way, my training plan is not a fixed plan that is unchangeable. Usually I plan about 1 - 2 weeks in advance and then see if the plan really fits into my week. If it doesn't fit, then it adapts. Because it is simply very important to me not to lose the fun of my sport. If sometimes a workout is postponed, changed or even cancelled, then that's fine with me.
Recovery makes you fast
Another tip that I followed as well as I could was to give me enough rest days, because: You win a race with the rest days! (Which doesn't mean that I'm trying to win my ultramarathon :D )
I try not to do any sports at all on my restdays, only my daily 6 km cycling to the office, as well as some evenings a really relaxing (!) yoga practice. For my yoga practice I use different videos of my favourite yoga trainer Mady Morrison. Her videos are all in German, but if you have a little yoga experience, you'll get along fine. By the way, this book by Nicole Tsong (Affiliate-Link) is a great one, which is also amazing for beginners.
Download my training plan for the first 8 weeks
Below you will find my training plan for the past few weeks as a PDF download. Please note again: I am not a medical doctor and not a personal coach. You use this plan at your own risk!
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