Mike versus Luke plan

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December 21, 2020 at 12:55 pm #48440

hikerobby
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So I am in my 14th week of the 24-week Mountaineering program, I had an intention of prepping for Bugaboos and North Cascades and other big areas I have been spanked in. The surprise result of this program is that I love trail running! My goals have changed a little. I will climb Orizaba (18k) in March, and Hood and Rainier in May. I don’t think any of those will be difficult, espec after some of the ME workouts.

The big change is, I accidentally signed up for the Smith Rock 50k in five months on May 15, and I also want to run around St Helens (50k) in August. My question is, do I even need an Ultra plan? Seems like my Mountaineering plan is good except that it seems to slow down towards the end and does slower hikes w heavier packs (and perhaps I don’t need to be ready for Everest). I like having the long Mountaineering plan to cut apart and play with in the future. Wondering which Ultra running plan would be better to use for goals like I have? I am intrigued by the magic gym workout in Mike Foote’s plan, and the way it is adjustable, but I likely will never do more than 50k so that’s not crucial. I’ve been averaging 25 miles a week for >6 weeks, with >4k vert per week.
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Posted In: Mountain Running

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Anonymous on December 22, 2020 at 5:21 am #48456

Either plan would work. Luke’s plan is designed for 50km races, so that’s probably the best fit. For Mike’s plan, you could scale it as required for your goal race.

As far as strength work goes, Luke’s plan has some functional runner strength sessions while Mike’s includes one of our gym-based ME progressions. Both plans then progress into higher intensity speed work.

With the mountaineering plans, the heavy carries wouldn’t be good training for an ultra. That type of ME work is too slow for run training.

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hikerobby on December 22, 2020 at 12:52 pm #48476

Would I be right to assume that Luke’s plan is easier (similar to the Mountaineering plan) where it just tells you what to do every day, whereas Mike’s plan takes some computing every day to figure out how to apply the plan to your event? Also, I don’t have a pool for Luke’s swim workouts…… Do both plans only use dumbells/vests or do either use barbell work?

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Anonymous on December 23, 2020 at 8:29 am #48501

Sorta. A training plan should never be taken as gospel. The chance of any training plan perfectly suiting its adherent is close to zero. They should all be adjusted as required according to athlete response.

Luke’s intro plan doesn’t include event-specific adjustments, so you could just follow along and not think about it. Again though, blindly following a plan is never a good strategy.

Mike’s Big Vert plan could work either way. You could do it as prescribed or adjust it according to the instructions.

With respect to workouts, think about the intent of the workout rather than the specifics. What is the intent of a swim workout for a runner? Very low-stress recovery. So what other activities might fulfill that same purpose? A super easy bike ride or walk in the park could accomplish the same thing.

The same goes for strength. There’s no magic from a specific piece of gear. The intent is to increase strength in a sport-specific way. So use whatever gear you have available. Canning a workout because you don’t have the exact equipment doesn’t make sense.

I hope that helps.

Participant

Rachel on December 23, 2020 at 1:50 pm #48516

I’m on week 5 of the Intro to Ultras plan. I’m liking it so far. I like swim recovery (despite being a crappy swimmer) but I don’t think it’s that bad if you skip it or substitute something else.

I chose Intro to Ultras over Big Vert because of the suggested weekly mileage pre-req. I was easily doing 25 mile weeks, but nowhere close to the 40 mile weeks that Big Vert says you should be able to manage. I may do that plan in the spring though after finishing Intro to Ultras.

I haven’t done the Functional Runner workout, I watched the video but I already have my own routine that covers all the bases and works on my weaknesses.

Participant

hikerobby on December 24, 2020 at 4:06 pm #48541

You’ll have to let me know how they compare, once you purchase the Big Vert plan @rachelp !

Participant

frnkr on May 16, 2021 at 3:52 am #54048

Hi, I was also pondering between these two plans and bought Intro plan yesterday. However, as my targets have more vert I’m thinking I would have been better of with Big Vert. Is it possible to change the plan already bought? Thanks for the help!

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Anonymous on June 30, 2021 at 5:32 pm #55321

@frank: Sorry for the delay. It’s best to email coach@uphillathlete.com for refund/exchange-type questions.

Anyway, did you get this sorted out? Luke’s plan is a good one, especially if you’re new to structured endurance training.

Participant

frnkr on July 5, 2021 at 11:03 am #55454

@sws no prob, I’ll mix n match from both of these. Luke’s program is ok but it’s just a bit too much of running for me and as my goal is to do mountain races I think I’m better off by adding ME workouts and doing longer uphill sessions on stair machine etc. I have enough general strength so I’m working to get more resilient legs. However, as stated in other discussion ME workouts are killing my legs and this is an issue which I’m trying to solve in coming weeks 🙂 The problem seems to be that even though my legs are stronger the recovery from ME workouts prevents me from training my aerobic base. Difficult equation one might say :/

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