The three most important tips for a successful TNF50/100 training campaign:
- Don’t get injured
- Don’t get injured
- Don’t get injured
Your number one priority in training for an endurance event like The North Face is to make it to the start line in one piece. Otherwise why bother training at all?
Your options are: to have completed all of your key training sessions despite the sore foot and niggly achilles that have been there for the past two months…
OR: Arriving at the start line ‘slightly undercooked’, but rearing to go with no injuries or niggle concerns.
Which preparation do you think is likely to have the most success on the day?
It doesn’t take too much imagination to realise that running 50km or 100km in an unforgiving environment like the Blue Mountains with a sore foot isn’t a good idea. If it is painful at the start line, it is going to be very hard to finish.
It might also be hard to finish if you are undertrained, but mental toughness and determination count for an awful lot in endurance racing. You will stand a much better chance of making the finish line undercooked than with an injury.
If you do have an injury or a niggle then get it checked out. Try and see a health professional who is a runner. Non-runners won’t understand the emotional effects of saying “have 6 weeks off” after all it is “just running”. They won’t understand that you’ve already had a couple of months of 5am starts, and missed some social engagements due to training commitments.
Health professionals who run will be more capable of helping you successfully manage the injury whilst still training, or perhaps adding some cross training sessions into your diary while the niggle settles, or maybe suggesting that you run for 20minutes, then carry on for another 2 hours fast walking – that way you will still be improving your endurance.
The age-old saying of “Listen To Your Body” is especially true in endurance running. If something doesn’t feel as good as it should, then don’t try and train through it. It doesn’t work!
Written by Mark Green of The Body Mechanic
