Ep 19 Training and racing tips for 2021: René Borg answers your questions
· Trail Running Ireland Podcast
Eoin Flynn opens 2021 with a listener questions special. René Borg answers questions on mixing road and trail, how long your longest run should be before an ultra, coping with sleepiness in night races, training with a physical job, strength and mobility, running into your 60s, and very high-mileage training.
René starts by sharing his own plans for 2021: building towards the World Masters Mountain Running Championships, which were moved to 2022, with EcoTrail Paris in July a possible target, and repeating his 3,000 km year with better quality.
On road versus trail, René explains that the body acts like a spring that adjusts to surface, speed and footwear, so variety spreads the load and reduces repetitive strain. Soft ground is not automatically better, and road runners still need road running. Asked by Gavin Byrne how long the longest run should be for a 50-mile race, René says you don't need to run the race distance. For most people a run between a marathon and 50k is enough, placed eight to twelve weeks before the race, and back-to-back long runs over a weekend are another option. Eoin recalls Pablo Villa telling the show he never went near 120k in training before winning TDS.