[david2]

Hi,

I’m 41 years old and have been running on and off for the last 2 years. I can run 25k in 2 hours in a hilly environment in the Auvergne in France. I’m not very strong at the moment (able to just do 3x 10 good pull-ups, not sure if that says anything). I’m usually running about 30k a week, but can put in more of course. It’s just a little hard to prioritise running without having a clear goal.
I also enjoy climbing since 6 months ago and go to a boulder/climbing gym about 2 times a week (bouldering grade 5.10 now).
I live in The Netherlands, so not too many hills here, but I can do box steps and find some small hills in the dunes (or if I have no other option I can go to a gym for incline indoor running, but rather not).

I’m thinking of joining the following tour at the end of June next year (it’s in Dutch, event details below):
https://360explore.com/trail-fell-running/hardlopen-om-de-mont-blanc-bijna-vol/

These are the running details:
Day 1: 26km, 1580m ascent / 1420m descent
Day 2: 20km, 1580m ascent / 880m descent
Day 3: 27km, 1240m ascent en 1820m descent
Day 4: 20km, 1198m ascent / 401m descent
Day 5: 28km, 895m ascent / 1492m descent
Day 6: 29km, 1810m ascent / 1860m descent
Day 7: 20km, 1300m ascent / 1700m descent

I’ve been to a meetup of the organizers and past participants. They are all pretty fit, but the “experience” is not really a race, it’s more about a positive experience of enjoying nature, but they do like to push each other a little bit of course. I think it might be a nice way to ease into doing races the year after. Eventually I would like to move into doing ultra trail runs and a few climbing trips a year.

It is realistic to say I can join a trip like this next year?
And if yes, would you recommend one or more of your training plans or would I be too much of a beginner for your plans?
I was thinking of starting with your marathon plan for basic running fitness and then follow up with one of the mountain training plans. Would that make sense? Or could I start with one of the mountain running plans?

Thanks in advance for your advice!

Topic

[Anonymous]

Anonymous on April 28, 2019 at 9:11 am #21078

David;

Thanks for writing to us. This sounds like a fun but very demanding run. You are wise to push this out a year to give you a chance to build up the kind of running strength needed to complete it without injury. Starting with our marathon plan would be a good place to begin. It will teach you how your body responds. But, for the specific demands of this mountain run you should consider either the Via Valas or Mike Foote plans as the next step. Since you have a full year I think doing these plans back to back (with a 2-3 week break between them) will give you the best results.

Scott