@scott and @mark-7582 I really appreciate both of you for taking the time to share your advice. As this is only my second more ‘serious’ training plan I will definitely keep in the back of my head ‘Do not be a slave to the plan’ @scott Usually i run a pretty dynamic plan based on personal and rock climbing goals and i try to adjust on how i feel but yes i will try to reflect daily on my own progress. @mark-7582 I guess seeing it as time will make it easier and then as long as i stay on the same terrain then the vert will take care of itself- seems very logical and reasonable. Keep it simple!
@scott do you mean 15% grade? I feel my math skills have been deteriorating but to make sure we are on the same page you calculated (5.6km/37.5km)100= 14.93%
To try to tie in both of your replies with some more specifics, for ex. I do have a perfect hill in my backyard that is 14% on technical terrain, 2.5km up and 351m vert and this has been incorporated into a large portion of my weekly training. I wont lie i find myself repeating 30-40% grades because i think it is more interesting and i would say this steeper terrain is definitely a strength for me especially with the climbing background on steep approaches/descents and often wearing a pack. But to reiterate obviously i am not planning to do 75km a week on this steeper grade for an event that is on average much less steep. Looking back currently at what i have done my long runs are at an 8% grade so that was very helpful to revisit with your tips and i will focus future long runs and actually sit down and look more detailed into keeping the actual event’s grade.
Is it recommended to keep recovery runs at around the same grade as well? Is it ok to throw in some ‘lazy’ flat 10km in the week (especially when the weather sucks or just not feeling the desire for vertical)? or is this not going to be very productive? obviously this falls into the trap of ‘dont be a slave to the plan’
Kind of a side note: On the races i have been on (4 total) the events can be divided up in specific sections. The uphill, the downhill and the inbetween. This inbetween rolling terrain with its slight ups and slight downs linking mountains can be a mixture of technical (hoping/high leg lifting over and in between rocks/ avoiding mud) and roads/gravel/easy trail. I would say this is a major weakness for me in terms of keeping a good speed and feels more energy demanding. I would not consider myself a fast runner on flats and where i am spending the majority of my time running it is not a groomed trail by any means. I am usually on trails that resemble a highly eroded ephemeral stream bed peppered with loose rocks, mud, roots or a slab. As i am kind of not really focusing my time to gentle terrain, any experience on being better here? should i throw in some speed training on flats?