I’ve been gradually building up my weekly mileage for the last 6 months peaking at around 100-120km per week for the last month. I’ve heard people saying that success in ultras is all about Time On Your Feet and I’ve come to agree during this last training cycle.
It feels like a flywheel. Each week of consistent, high mileage has added outsized benefits to my overall fitness and pace.
For many years, I’ve been limiting easy run pace to around 6:30 min/km in order to keep my HR at 140 bpm or less, which is technically Zone 3 for me, but it felt about as slow as I could practically run without sacrificing form. I’ve done several 6+ month blocks of strict Zone 2 training with little or no measurable benefit. I even did a lactate test to accurately find my Zone 2 heart rate.
But after a month of 100-120km weeks my easy run pace has improved to around 5:45 min/km with my heart rate at 125-135bpm. I can’t understate how different this feels. I’m not awkwardly trying to run slowly to keep my heart rate low - it is just low. I use perceived effort, not pace or HR, to inform my easy pace.
I feel like the advice around Zone 2 training is inverted. For me, being able to run long miles comfortably in Zone 2 came as a byproduct of running significant mileage, not the other way around. I wasn’t able to do the mileage because I stayed in Zone 2; I built up my mileage and as a result most of my runs are now in Zone 2. In fact, most of my runs earlier in this training block were actually in the upper part of Zone 3 as I gradually increased my volume. As my volume increased, my pace improved and my heart rate dropped - I just focused on perceived effort.
For reference, my weekly schedule looks roughly like this:
- Sat: 40km
- Sun: 20km easy
- Mon: Weight training
- Tue: 20km hills
- Wed: Weight training
- Thu: 20km easy
- Fri: rest & eat a lot
Sometimes I throw in a 5 or 10km run on my weight training days to get some extra miles in but only if I felt up for it. My weight training has been upper body only to make sure my legs have sufficient recovery time - I’ll resume full body weight training over the winter.