Week 2 and two hill sprint sessions done!

That's the same number of sessions I did in the whole first run-through of the Big Vert plan. 

I've found a great place to do them, too (pictured below).

Average gradient probably over 30%

From the top looking down

I was doing the hill sprints on the road. But the steepest section I could find was just below 20% average gradient.

I hadn't thought about doing them on the trails. But there are actually many non-asphalt steep slopes around here. The problem is the closest ones to me don't have much traction.

But the one I found is doable. There's only one step I need to be careful taking, and the average gradient must be over 30%.

And now that I've found I good place to do these, I'm finding these workouts fun. I go slower on this steeper, dirt slope, but I can go all out without worrying about something snapping as I felt it might on the road.

The riddle of strecthing for runners

This article confirms my suspicion that as runners we need to:

• stretch the hips and front of the leg, especially from the knee up
• avoid stretching the back of the leg (i.e. hamstring and calves but excluding the glutes), or at least not go hard on these area

Why not stretch the calves?

A little bit of stretching might be OK, but I have found it's easy to go overboard and cause injury by stretching the calves too much. Rolling seems OK. But again, gently.

The massage gun also feels good on the calves, at least the sides of them in the thinly-muscled areas.

Stretching the calves in the deep squat position (either by doing deep squats or just squatting down on purpose to stretch) is a good way to keep it within a safe range.

Holding a front squat is also a great isometric exercise for the tibialis anterior. 

I've actually found isometrics to be a far better way to deal with calf niggles and pains: it gets rid of the pain and coupled with isotonic lifts (calf raises) it seems to help make the calves more injury resistant.

Because there is a riddle of stretching for runners.

You know you don't want to too tight in places, but you can't just become a yoga fiend. And it's not just about doing the right stretches; it's about avoiding the harmful ones.

Weight control

I'm going to start watching my weight.

I've always kept an eye on it, but now I want to track it in detail, for a while at least. Mainly to work out what I should be aiming for. Because right now it's just aimlessly going up.

I tell myself I'm putting on muscle. I have become a pullup and kettlebell maniac, after all. But isn't that always what we say when we put on weight?

I'm definitely stronger than a few years ago. But I'm sure I've added a bit of unnecessary fat as well. Or maybe it's not unnecessary? That's what I want to find out.

When I left school, a weighed around 70kg.

When I started running more competitively (I mean entering races and training more as I never really stopped running after high school), in my late 20s, I weighed over 80kg.

I actually ran pretty good times then, even though I'd just started training more. I was fatter, but I had a lot more speed and power. Youth was on my side too, though.

Then at around 33 or 34, I did a lot of yoga and fasting, and my weight dropped below 70kg. This was when I ran my fastest times, but I don't know if it was the weight loss or the training --- I had some good patches of training at this time.

From then my weight hovered between 70 and 73kg mark. I then dropped a lot of weight around 2014, to 67kg, I think.

Then it hung around 72/73kg until 2019.

From 2019 to now, I've steadily climbed up to 75/76kg.

My weight now might be ideal for what I'm doing --- maybe I could be a bit lighter and faster, but I feel strong and robust.

Anyway, I'm going to follow my weight more closely, along with some other metrics like body fat, to see if I can work out if I'm healthiest (i.e. running fast but feeling strong) around my current weight or in the 72/73 range.

This will mean taking some measures and trying to drop a bit of weight while maintaining strength and robustness.

I don't know if the 70kg mark is feasible or even desirable. I'd probably have to give up too much strength.

Strength progression from February to now

After having an Achilles niggles at the end of January, I started strengthening my calves.

Progressively.

I started with static holds and moved on to single-leg calf raises, seated and standing.

I started with 4x8 at 14kg for single-leg standing calf raises on 11 February and now (start of May) can do 32kg for the same sets and reps.

I'm making similar progress with the seated single-leg raise (now up to 28kg), although I started a bit later with this one and haven't gone as far (apparently it should be stronger than standing).

I've also seen a big improvement in the Bulgarian or split squat over the same period.

I started doing 16kg 4x8 times and now can do 26kg 4x6 times.

But the weight is not the whole story with the Bulgarian squat. I had a real weakness on my left side. It felt like my adductor had rolled up my leg after each set the first couple of times.

I persevered, though, doing the exercise very slowly, and now I can do it no problem. Although my left side is still shakier than my right.

I've also been progressing my squats and hex deadlift, but this is more covering old ground. I've trained these exercises with intent before.

The real new ground has come with progressing calf and single-leg exercise strength exercises. I've made good gains, and hopefully am a more resilient running because of it.

And now I've reached the last stage of calf rehab and strengthening, having just added in skipping as a warm-up. I'll soon plateau off with the raises. I think my calves are now close to strong enough for running and injury prevention.

In the coming weeks, I'll also turn down the pure-strength exercises a notch as I get back into muscular endurance training and more running.

Getting good at getting over niggles

They come up, and I get over them in a few days with no fuss.

Last week, I got heel pain after a longer flat run in Z2. Probably from doing this workout too soon after a trail race.

How did I get over it?

• reduced but did not stop running
• did isometrics (ground squeezes with the feet and static calf raises)
• kept doing strength work as usual (heavy leg work at the moment)
• applied KT taping
  
• massaged lower calf and anterior tibialis

Barely a bump in the road.

I think it's not only the approach but the fact that I'm always doing strength training that helps me get over these things so quickly.

Next Big Vert Plan cycle: same again with more flat running

This time though (starting next week) Mike Foote's Big Vert Plan in preparation for the Ultra Pirineu in October, I aim to:

• do more work than on the first run-through and add in more of the bits I couldn't do much of, i.e. do more than:
  
• 1772m+ climbing/week
• 55.8km running and hiking/week
• 7hr 31 min running and hiking/week
• five full ME workouts
• three sprint workouts
• four Z3 (running) workouts
• add in some flat Z2 and Z3 running, probably by replacing uphill Z2 and Z3 run once every three weeks, excluding the recovery week. So it will be:
• W1: 1 x uphill Z3 and 1 uphill Z2
• W2: 1 x flat Z3 and 1 flat Z2
• W3: 1 x uphill Z3 and 1 uphill Z2
• W4 (recovery): 1 x uphill or flat Z3 or 1 x flat Z2 test
  

Alella Xtrail Xtrem 2021

The race

Organisation

10/10!

• perfect course markings
  
• friendly volunteers
• everything like clockwork and as expected

The course

A jagged profile with some nice views of the sea and Barcelona and some steep and technical sections on the other side of the mountain.

The last part of the race was fast (downhill and less technical).

Overall, the course was tough but fast for a half-marathon trail race with around a kilometer of climbing.

19.33km with 1065m+ by my watch.

My race

Slow but steady

I felt slow at the beginning on the runnable uphill slopes but strong on all the steep sections and especially towards the end of the race.

This slowness and strength are surely due to the type of training I've been doing of late: lots of hiking and strength work and hardly any flat running at more than recovery pace.

Fun going down

I felt surprisingly good descending on both technical and non-technical terrain. Surprising because I haven't focused on this at all recently, although I have done a lot of ginger descending. Who'd've thought that would help?

Even effort

I pushed pretty much right to the end, with an average heart rate of around 164/5 throughout.

My time: 2:11:31 in 70th place overall (28th in my category)