Training for trail or ultra running should include walking and lots of it
- Walking is an easy way to increase your volume without needing to commit a great deal more time to your training programme
- Walking is good base training, as 80 per cent of runners’ training programmes should be considered ‘easy’
If you are training to run a trail race or ultramarathon the obvious thing to do is run. But, perhaps counter-intuitively, you should include walking in your training programme and a lot of it.
There are a number of reasons for this to do with training intensities, injury prevention and fitting volume into your busy schedule.
Base training
The days of “no pain, no gain” are over. Sport science has moved on and now even the top athletes dedicate about 80 per cent of their training to “easy sessions”, often called “base training”. A range of studies have shown that those who follow the 80/20 split for intensity see the most gains in their fitness (and then ultimately an improvement in their race times). Walking can achieve some of the 80 per cent, and the rest can be done through a variety of speeds or inclines depending on your fitness and goals.
And it is not just for elite athletes, who have the time to do low intensity sessions. Amateur runners have the most to gain because they are more likely to get their balance wrong and go too fast, too often. An easy session often feels too easy when you have limited time, but will pay dividends if you have the discipline to go slow.
Walking is a great way to get hours of easy training in. It is especially good for trail running because undulating terrain means you will be walking up hills at times during your race. It is perfect for ultra running, as the race is so long, runners will be operating at a very low intensity during the race itself.