R+R Training: not all play, play, play
All long-distance athletes train. There are no short cuts, just lots and lots of km’s. There is pain and there is suffering. And through this endeavour they become battle hardened, capable of pushing beyond conventional limits, tapping into superhuman reserves of physical and mental, strength.
Then there’s Ride+Run.
Partial to a 15-20km trail run over the mountains at the weekend, especially when accompanied by a blast out to the countryside on the scooters.
And whilst not always pain-free, we do like to go a little lighter on the suffering, if at all possible.
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Which means we must do at least some training to prepare for those longer runs and ensure we enjoy them fully. Supplementing with more regular, short runs help us maintain a degree of stamina. Nobody wants to be head down, sucking in air and cursing their way up the mountain. And you certainly don’t want to “call in the chopper”. Not unless you’re Arnie.
But training runs are boring right? Running the same local streets over and over. Crossing roads, waiting at lights and dodging traffic. Always with the same old scenery. And don’t even talk about the treadmill.
Well, not any longer!
We’ve been busy plotting some R+R training routes to compliment our longer, weekend routes, to help keep in shape whilst squeezing in a mid-week trail fix.
No guarantee there aren’t sections of these routes that will cause a slight rise in temperature but our broad intention is to create runnable training routes, moderate in length (5-10km) and over less technical terrain. That said, we’re trailrunners at heart so each route comes with a twist. And by twist, we obviously mean hills!
Naturally, all routes run in a loop allowing you to run them as a single sprint or as part of multiple laps of a longer training run.
The shorter distance allows an opportunity to dump the water packs and run light. Its also a chance to run against the clock, mixing up the pace depending on the number of laps, in a form of interval training.
I often find myself doubled over, shattered after a 5km training run against the clock whereas a more steady-paced 20km weekend trail run ends in a state of zen.
So its refreshing – and stamina enhancing – to mix it up. A weekend plod over the trails is a great way to take in nature and savour the adventure. But these shorter running sessions can get the competitive juices going. And help provide extra motivation to get stronger and improve.
Our next blog will cover a review of our Top 5 HK Island Training Routes, together with some FKT’s. The summer months are fast upon us so we need to get out now to set some respectable times!
