In part 1 of this West Highland Way ultra training journey blog, I opened with a Chinese proverb written by the ancient philosopher Lau Tzu: ‘the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step’. I took that single step last Monday. Then over the week I took 149,454 more (screenshot below taken before midnight)!
The importance of time on feet (running!)
Garmin tells me my total distance covered on foot for the week was 83 miles/134km, of which 44.4 (53.5%) were running miles (71.5km).
This means over half the steps I took were in running mode 🏃🏽➡️. Why does this matter? When you train for ultra distance events, you spend a lot of time doing two things.
- Running with the specific goal of ‘time on feet’
- Letting the body rest, recover and get ready for the next effort
By tracking my running time on feet metric as a percentage of my total time on feet I can ensure I am hitting an appropriate balance between time on feet in running mode and time spent moving around in other modes. Tracking this metric also lets me make sure I am not ONLY running when I am moving around! I spent 46.5% of my distance travelled moving around for other reasons. This included walking, gym work, fitness classes and general going about my days. For me, these percentages are sensible for week 1 of my West Highland Way ultra training.
As I get further into my training journey I expect to have a higher percentage of time on feet spent running and less spent using my physical energy elsewhere. I’ll know I’m getting it wrong if the weekly training run mileage increases without any significant shift to the percentage values. That’s a sure-fire indication of overtraining/overloading! This method of managing training load comes with caveats though! I’ll go deeper into this topic in a future running blog post.
Runs for week 1
In my last West Highland Way ultra training blog post, I said I expected to complete around 35 miles/56km of running. I either typo’d or calculated this incorrectly at the time of writing 😬. The true upper value was 45 miles/72km, of which I did 44.4 miles/ 71.5km). Every week my target running mileage is based on a range with a lower and upper mileage value. The actual total I accrue in any given week is based on several variables. These include how I feel, what time I have available, and the ‘assault on my ultra runner senses’ speed work which is more time focused.
In week 1 there were a couple of easy (slooow 🥰) runs, a couple of steady/tempo runs, a speed session (ow), and a double header on Saturday (Parkrun 3.1 miles/5km followed by an 8 mile/13km plod home). The 8 miles was the longest single run of the week. Double figure runs, we will meet next week 🤝. Thursday was run rest day!
Gaining elevation
Where I live it can be challenging to find a flat surface so I did my speed session in a car park. Running around a car park for an hour on a dark Tuesday morning while bleary eyed commuters file in…not weird at all 👀. The flipside of living in a hilly place is that elevation is easy to gain on the other runs if I want it. This week, my routes totaled an ascent of 846 metres.
Running ascent is one of my favourite metrics to explore, and also necessary given the ultra itself is 14,760ft (approx. 4500m) which will need its due training diligence! I’ll be tracking and discussing running ascent throughout my West Highland Way ultra training journey. You can see in the images below that greater distance does not always equate to greater elevation! I plan many of my routes based on the goal for that run – the flat Tuesday speed session being a prime example of decent mileage for (intentionally) not much elevation.
Garmin stats
According to Garmin, at the start of week 1 training my Endurance Score was 6,193 which is considered ‘well-trained’. By the end of the week this score has increased to 6,362 which apparently makes me an ‘expert’ 😆. I’m unsure how my body can be an expert in endurance when the longest run last week was 8 miles! I’m also unsure why there are 2 stages above expert. What’s better than an expert 🤔. I am intentionally avoiding looking this up as I am excited to see what Garmin thinks on this front! In any case it is nice to see Garmin acknowledging my endurance efforts this week.
Endurance Score (start of week 1 v end of week 1) 👇
The Garmin Connect app has had a recent update! The Hill Score now shows the same slick gauge graphic as on my watch! My Hill Score at the start of week 1 was 67, making me ‘trained’. My score by the end of week 1 of training for the West Highland Way ultra is 73 and I’m now ‘skilled’ 😎.
Hill Score (start of week 1 v end of week 1) 👇
Although I do expect to see a general upward trajectory of my Endurance Score and my Hill Score over the full duration of my training for the West Highland Way ultra, I don’t expect the continual meteoric rise shown in week 1. I think my Garmin is currently in a state of shock after a few months of telling me I suck 😆. I suspect it is just scrambling around pulling numbers from the air in an attempt to recalibrate.
Week 2 West Highland Way ultra training
I am currently enjoying week 2 of training. My target distance range this week is 41-50 miles/66-80km. I have two running rest days scheduled – Monday and Thursday. The other days will be made up of a one easy run, one steady run, two long runs (which are as easy or hard as they need to be), and a reverse ladder session to tax the speed endurance training component.
As with last week (and most training weeks) I will run the longer efforts back-to-back at the weekend. The max distance I will cover is 14 miles on Saturday. Unlike last Saturday this long run won’t be split over two runs, it will be a single effort. My aim is to get onto the hilly trails for at least a third of that run. Factor in all the final Christmas preparations (food shopping, etc.) and a full day away for a panto trip on Sunday, and it’s all go this weekend! Let’s see how things go!
Follow along with my West Highland Way ultra training!
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Shari 💚