FFA Trail Running Group

If you are a runner that experiences back pain there is a studying being done by a Sports Medicine student that you can be part of.

Hi everyone! I am currently doing a research project as part of my Sports Medicine masters at the University of Nottingham. This project is an exercise intervention programme looking to improve lower back pain in runners. I am therefore looking to recruit runners with lower back pain that are willing to participate in the study. The study is online. You may find more information about the study by using the QR code available on the poster or by contacting us using the email address 🙂 Thank you for your time!

Links to information sheet: https://acrobat.adobe.com/id/urn:aaid:sc:EU:5df0375e-26c6-494a-93b1-bdb7fa028706

And screening questionnaire: https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=7qe9Z4D970GskTWEGCkKHkEtqGKf485Nnl8FmK6HUfdUNkhVUks3SVE4R1cySko1SVZBNFhVOUZWQi4u

Prestige Trails Run Series

There are a number of distance options including the following:

21km
15km
10km
5km

Get out and onto the trails! Sunday 28 August at 07:30. See you there!

https://www.entryninja.com/events/77700-prestige-trail-run-series-4?fbclid=IwAR1sA2GdmRc0hhvzueHvWY4SgLM20icd2iDoHDfWXN5a6q5ibSMkdDeugCg

Prestige Trail Run Series #4 (Prime View Edition) Join us for the Winter Prestige Trail Run Series 2022, the top of the crop hand-built trails

Do you do anything to develop your downhill running abilities on technical trails?

If the answer to this question is no, you are leaving some substantial time improvements on the table. Running downhill quickly with roots and rocks splayed everywhere can be intimidating, but with some deliberate practice, you would be surprised with just how quickly you can improve.

While it may be important and possibly even helpful to develop the musculature used in downhill running through weight training and downhill running itself, practising the skill of downhill running is essential.

You need to spend time just outside of your comfort zone. Running at a pace that's not so fast that you could potentially injure yourself badly, but not so slow that you are comfortable and not forced to adapt. This is the zone of proximal learning where you will develop these skills safely and efficiently.

Focus on staying relaxed and flowing with the trail. Stay light and try and make as little noise as possible on each step. Avoid braking heavily and killing your momentum. This will cause muscle damage and impact your ability to run fast later on in races. Let gravity do the work and don't fight it. Gravity will win every time. Take short fast steps and keep your eyes on the trail. Make sure to constantly switch between looking slightly farther along the trail and what's directly underneath you.

For more detail, listen to this brilliant podcast episode from the incredible Dr. Shawn Bearden.

https://www.scienceofultra.com/podcasts/103

Happy running!

www.scienceofultra.c

Looking for another adventure? Check out he Soutpansberg Mountain Marathon.

This is part of a series of rugged, but well organised mountain races designed to get you running in some of the most unseen and untouched parts of our beautiful country.

Check it out!

Mountain Marathon Series – Mountain Marathon Series Thanks for joining us at another incredible event at Mnweni Mountain Marathon. Results are out! For queries, email [email protected]

Get your tickets to a beautiful and challenging trail race taking place this Sunday.

The Magalies Rock trail race will give you beautiful vistas from the top of the Magaliesberg ridgeline.

Check it out!

Magalies Rock Trail Run #3 Magalies Rock Trail Run from Thore Trail Park

Wolwespruit Fresh Trails Winter Series.

Test yourself on some tough but beautiful trails right on your doorstep. Wolvespruit trails are just outside of Joburg.

Options include 17km, 12km, and 5km. There are no excuses.

Let's get out there and have some fun.

Events on the following dates:
08 May, 19 June, 14 August

https://www.entryninja.com/events/77796-fresh-at-wolwe-winter-series

Get your tickets Now!

Fresh @ Wolwe Winter Series Fresh Trails presents the Fresh Wolwe & Waterkloof Spruit Trail Run right in the heart of Pretoria east.

Do You Even Hike?

If you want to achieve the best times you possibly can for ultra-trail events, especially for mountainous ultras, learning how to hike fast is important.

A lot of people think of walking during a race as failure, but this is absolutely not true. It all depends on how you frame it. It’s an essential tool in the ultra-trail runner’s arsenal and this skill must be worked on and carefully cultivated. Framing how we think about walking or ‘power hiking’ can also influence how well we perform in ultras. Power hiking should be a tactical decision used in your overall strategy when competing. If you have planned to hike and you are good at it, instead of cursing yourself and criticising how slowly you are moving, you can stay calm and know that you’re saving your legs for running on more runnable gradients.

If you can become a strong hiker, you will find that you could even be looking forward to the uphill sections. Powering past people up steep gradients can re-energise you and give you a mental edge over those who haven’t intentionally practised their hiking skills. While others become more and more dejected after yet another steep uphill is reached late in the race, you could be moving through the field and gaining energy and confidence.

There are a few questions that you may be asking. How do I become a better hiker? How much hiking should I do in my training? And, when should I start hiking during a race?

Becoming a better hiker is really quite simple, you just need to be willing to give it the appropriate time and attention. Find some hills or mountains and hike. The only caveat is that you actually need to put in some effort, you can’t drag your feet the whole way. It really only takes one or two sessions a week to get most of the potential benefits. Make sure that you get onto trails with relatively steep gradients and hike. There’s really not too much more to it. If you don’t have big mountains at your disposal, find some steep hills and do some repeats. It could be beneficial to do this with a pack containing a few kilograms of water or if you have one, use a weighted hiking vest. This will help gain the muscular strength needed to move well on steep gradients. Muscle strength is one aspect of becoming a good hiker and just by doing some squats, lunges, and step-ups in the gym, it’s likely you can gain some of the benefits, but it’s not only about the strength needed. You also need to develop hiking efficiency just like you can gain running efficiency. The more you practise it, the more natural it becomes and the less energy you will use while doing it. This is called motor programming; there are diminishing returns of course. If you have access to a commercial gym, you can also use a treadmill or even better, you can use the stair stepper machine. While it doesn’t prepare you for the variable terrain you may encounter, it certainly will get you most of the gains you can achieve from hiking in the mountains.

It’s quite easy to take several minutes off of your hiking pace while taking minutes off of your running pace is impossible. Think about it. To go from running at an easy pace of 5 minutes per kilometre to 4:30 per kilometre could take years, but you can take minutes off of your hiking pace within months. If you hike just 20% of a race that takes 12 hours to complete, think about all the time you could gain. Often people hike over 50% of really big ultras. You can do the maths, but the point is that you can improve by several hours in 100 km and 100-mile races. With this in mind, it would be silly not to try and get better at hiking.

The next question I posed is how much hiking should I do in training? A good rule of thumb is to calculate the percentage of altitude gain in your race and make sure that you are hiking the same percentage of your total weekly volume. For example, if you are racing a 100 km race with 4000 m of vertical gain, that means that you will likely be hiking at least 4% (4km) of the total 100km. So if you run 100 km in a week, you should probably aim for at least 4 km of hiking per week on relatively steep gradients. You would likely benefit from more than that though. Remember that hiking a steep gradient for 4 km would take a lot longer than running 4 km on a flat road. This could result in 2 or 3 hours of hiking

The final question posed was, when should I start hiking? No one really has the answer to that but once you have practised enough, it will become intuitive. Often when I’m power hiking up a steep hill, the athlete next to me will be trying to run and we will be moving at the same pace. It really just comes down to feel. Future studies may illuminate the magic gradient, but for now, stick with your gut. Rather hike a bit more than you think is necessary and save yourself for running harder on the flats and downhills.

Next week we will be talking about becoming a better downhill runner.

Have you got your ticket yet?

Join me at the Mnweni Mountain Marathon on the 7th of May for some seriously spectacular mountain running. With around 2000 m of vertical gain, it's not for the faint of heart

Tickets are almost sold out so don't miss your chance to see some of the most beautiful mountains South Africa has to offer.

If you are feeling brave, give the 40 km route a go. If you're a little unsure, there are also 20 km, 10 km, and 5 km routes on offer.

https://mountainmarathonseries.com/marathons/mnweni-mountain-marathon/

Strength Training for Runners

Strength work is absolutely vital for runners. There are no ifs, buts, or maybes about it. If you truly want to become the best runner you can and develop your ability to your ultimate potential, you must do strength work.

I have spent a lot of time in the gym working on developing and maintaining strength specifically for running. It just seemed logical to me that if you are stronger, you will be a better runner, especially when it comes to moving in the mountains. There is a lot of good empirical evidence to second this and most of the best coaches in the world would agree. There is a lot of nuance involved and the specific strength work you do depends on where you are in a season, your running, injury, and strength training background, as well as numerous other factors.

Over the past several years, I have met so many runners who don’t do any strength work. In fact, almost none of the runners that I have spoken with include a consistent strength component in their training plan. At the most, the majority of these runners haphazardly include a bit of core work and maybe a bit of mobility here and there.

Why is this the case? Why are runners so notoriously bad at hitting the weights?

It seems to me that one of the main reasons is that runners generally don’t actually understand the importance of including a consistent strength training component in their regiment. Many of us believe that spending an extra hour on the road or trails will be far more beneficial than time in the gym, but this simply is not true. If you are interested in performance, there is no getting around it.

So what are the benefits of strength training?

Probably the most important benefit of strength training is injury prevention. Doing strength work allows us to develop a more resilient body which in turn allows us to train more consistently and put in more volume by virtue of the fact that we are getting injured less frequently. Core work on a regular basis is an essential and easy way to remain injury-free and five to ten minutes every few days is sufficient. These core exercises are not the only strength work that should be included for injury prevention but it's a good start!

Strength training also improves running economy. There is a lot of debate around how we actually quantify running economy but one of the easiest ways to think about it is that efficiency means you spend less energy to run at the same speed compared to if you had a worse running economy or you spend the same amount of energy to run faster. Heavy weight lifting including movements such as squats, deadlifts, lunges, calf raises, and hip extensions has been shown to improve running performance. Something like one to two sets (including four to eight repetitions) of two or three of these exercises twice or even once a week can be enough to get the large majority of potential improvement. Again, the specifics depend on a variety of factors, but if you start off with a relatively light weight and work up to around 80% of one-rep max (80% of the heaviest weight you can lift for one repetition) for four to eight reps, you will significantly increase your running economy and reduce your risk of injury. In addition, you will gain strength without gaining muscle mass.

Anecdotal evidence also shows that the best trail runners are more muscular than their road running counterparts. However, it is not the goal to gain kilograms of muscle. In fact, we want to gain as much strength as possible without gaining weight. Road runners also gain a lot of benefits from a similar strength routine. The routine I outlined above will ensure that you gain strength without the unwanted hypertrophy (increased muscle mass).

Another possible addition to your strength programme is plyometrics. This includes fast powerful movements that increase your ability to produce power over a short period of time. The most running specific form of plyometrics is short all-out sprints or strides which we will discuss in detail at a later stage. Strides improve your mechanical efficiency as well as your neuromuscular programming which are both aspects of overall running economy.

Finally, practicing lots of hiking and gaining strength through getting on the trails and climbing on steep inclines can improve your performance massively.

Next week we will be discussing hiking and how to incorporate specific work to get better at climbing on mountain trails.

If you would like to have someone help you take your training to the next level, contact the FFA team and we will get you on the trail to success!

New FFA trail coach - Geoffrey Powell showed us his skills this past weekend coming first🥇 in the Magoebaskloof 50km ultra trail!
We are excited to have him on board with us! Well done Geoffrey and everyone else who ran this hectic trail run! 💪🏼🏃🏼‍♀️🏃🏼‍♂️

Join us for an epic day out on the beautiful Magaliesberg mountain trails on the 5th of March. I will be leading a group up onto the ridgeline.

If you plan on doing the full 10km route, please ensure that you have a minimum of a litre of water and some food to snack on along the way. The actual route may turn out to be closer to 13km as we will start closer to the entrance. There is 600m of elevation gain with some rocky technical terrain so be prepared. There are also shorter and less technical options being offered.

We will be meeting at Vergenoeg Hiking Trails and Nature Reserve at 6:15 to start at 6:30. Please note that the entrance fee is R50 and it is CASH ONLY.

See you there!

https://www.vergenoegreserve.com/our-trails

Welcome to Geoff Powell to our FFA coaching staff! ⛰️🏔️🏃🏻🏃⛰️🏔️
Geoff is an established trail runner and have featured on podiums galore! This includes a top ten at the UTD 100km last year and winning the Uitsoek Mountain Marathon outright!
Geoff will be restarting our monthly trail “time trials” at selected venues, and is available for trail coaching and to set up trail specific programs from this month! His passion is ultra trail events, and the harder the better!
Feel free to WhatsApp Geoff directly (+27 72 602 2251) or complete the coaching information link to get started with a personalised training program - https://forms.gle/ACuW61SQxpGwq3fn7