The Knee Knackering North Shore Trail Run and North Shore Ultra Trail Running Society (N.U.T.S.) are pleased to offer advice and training tips for new and seasoned trails runners.  This is a forum to provide some basic and advanced information as well as some things you may not have considered before about training and nutrition for ultra-distance athletes.  

The responses will be provided by "Cliff Danger".  He will be our man on the trail with a personality made up of two KKNSTR qualified people. This is no doubt incestuous but incredibly effective as Cliff 1 is a certified personal trainer (Curb Ivanic) and Cliff 2 is certified nutrition trainer for athletes and non-athletes alike (Craig Moore).  Both Cliffs have run several Knee Knacker races and have also gained insights through their full time businesses in health and fitness.

We're sure that everyone will gain something from this project created for all Knee Knacker veterans and wannabees. So be sure to send along your questions and comments, whether they are simple, hard, or just plain weird, and Cliff will do his best to answer them.

If you haven’t started yet then start TODAY!  Even though the race is in July, it is a tough course that requires you to do the proper homework months in advance.  Unlike your college exams you won’t get away with last minute cramming so you need to start putting in the training hours early to help you achieve success.

The first thing you should do is to decide your race goals as they help shape your training schedule.  What is your main motivation for running this race?  Is it to complete your first ultra?  To set a PR?  To kick your buddy’s butt?  Make sure you take into consideration your family, work, school and other commitments in determining your goals.  Training for this race will take up a lot of your “spare” time (something we all have, right?) but keep a balanced perspective.

You’ll want to reach your peak weekly training “mileage” 3 or 4 weeks before the race.  Recent research has shown that 75 miles per week will reap the greatest physiological benefits for most long distance runners.  For those exceptionally strong runners with more time on their hands, they can train more (i.e. 100+miles/week) but research shows the physiological benefits are only marginally increased, if at all.  This doesn’t mean that you absolutely need to peak at 75 miles per week; use your experience and body knowledge as a gauge.  But I believe 50 miles per week is about the minimum peak “mileage” you’ll want to run.

I use the term “mileage” in quotes because I think its better to track your training in terms of time rather than miles for a trail race.  You’ll want to do as much training on trails as possible and your pace per mile will seem pathetically slow compared to your road miles; its time on the feet that counts in training for trail ultras.  If we use time as a yardstick, most runners will want to peak at about 10-12 hours of running per week.  Again, some people may not be able to run this much without really risking an injury but aim for a minimum peak of 7 hours per week.  Regardless of how you track your training (time or miles) you’ll want to increase it gradually.

The ITB is needed to control adduction of your leg as you run (adduction is the movement of a limb towards the midline of your body).   It does this every step you take running so you can see why in a long race such as the Knee Knacker your ITB will take a pounding.  How can you prevent ITBS?  By stretching and strengthening the muscles around your hips and upper leg.  Most, if not all of you, will know the common stretches for your quads (front of the thighs), glutes (butt) and hamstrings (back of the thighs).  Stretch each of those muscle groups daily or at least after every run.  You can also do specific ITB stretches as detailed below.

Stand sideways an arm’s length away from a wall.  Cross the leg you are going to stretch behind the opposite leg with feet almost side by side.  Place your hand against the wall to brace yourself and push your hip into the wall.  Hold for 30 seconds then repeat on opposite side.  Do this 2-3 times per side.  Another method of stretching the ITB is to lay on your side on the edge of your bed (or other elevated surface) facing inward (away from the edge).  Stabilizing yourself so you don’t roll off the edge, lower your top leg behind you so it drops towards the floor.  Let gravity do its job and it will stretch the leg for you.

An effective strengthening exercise is the heel drop, which will work your hip abductors and especially the gluteus medius.  They are performed as follows:

• Stand on one side/edge of an aerobic step platform with one leg off the platform (any 4-6” high stable platform will do)
• Slowly lower the heel to ground, lightly touching the ground then squeezing glutes and standing back up straight

• Watch the hips don’t drop out; keep them stabilized and level; make sure to drop your butt backwards and not let your knee pass the tips of your toes or roll inward
• You should feel this exercise on the outside of your hip or the outside and near the top of your glutes
• You may need to balance yourself against a wall or railing when first doing this exercise but eventually you’ll want to be able to do it without such aid
• Doing it in front of a full length mirror will help you maintain proper form
• Start with 2 sets of 10-12 reps per side and gradually increase it until you can do 3 sets of 15-20 reps per side

Stretching the ITB (Iliotibial Band)

Probably the most specific stretch for the ITB is often referred to as the pretzel - it’s what you look like while doing it.

To perform this on your right ITB, lie down on your left side.  Put your left arm behind your back, and grasp the right ankle with your left hand (your right knee will be bent almost like you are doing a right quads stretch).  Contract your abdominal muscles (to keep your lower back from arching), and then pull your ankle and knee back so that the right hip moves into extension.  Don’t let go of the abs.  Then bend the left knee, and reach your left ankle over the right knee, placing the outside of the left ankle on the outside of the right knee.  Use the left ankle to pull the right knee towards the floor - be gentle.  Your right leg is now in the position that is used to clinically assess tightness or irritation in the right ITB.

Play with the stretch to see which combination of pulling back with the left hand and pulling down with the left ankle gives you the best stretch.  Don’t let go of the abs, and remember to breathe.

If your ITB is irritated, expect more pain when you let go of the stretch.  This is usually felt at the outside of the knee - there a fewer sensory receptors in the portion of the ITB crossing the hip, so you don’t always feel the stretch there.  If you are out on the Baden Powell, this is usually not the stretch of choice, and it might get others thinking that you owe them a beer.

Strengthening the ITB (Iliotibial Band)  

There are two areas you want to strengthen if you want to prevent or recover from ITB problems - gluteus medius and core strength. 

If your ITB has been painful, then there will likely be weakness in the gluteus medius.  You can check quickly by lying on your side and abducting/raising the upper leg to the side as many times as you can before fatigue (keep your foot parallel to the floor).  Now try the other side, and see if there is a difference.  This test procedure can be used as an exercise, to start strengthening the gluteus medius.  It requires you to control only your leg weight, so it is a good place to start.  Do three sets to fatigue every other day (not before you run).  The heel drop exercise is more advanced, and it has the advantage of simulating running more closely since your weight is through your leg.

Resistance/strength training will definitely help you prepare for this race.  Why? 

• It not only makes you muscles stronger it helps you nervous system, ligaments, tendons and bones as well. 
• It will help your body deal with fatigue in the later stages of the race.
• Stronger core muscles and stabilizers will help maintain good running form.
• Adding functional training will improve your balance and stabilization thereby decreasing your risk of injury on the more technical sections of the trail. 
• Balance strength between muscle groups

There are numerous exercises you can do to.  It is beyond the scope of this column to detail them but I will go over some basic elements of program design.  If you are unsure of how to perform certain exercises I highly recommend getting some qualified instruction.  Some basic principles to keep in mind when designing your weight training program:

• Resistance train 2-3 times a week.
• When training for muscular endurance, do 2-3 sets of 15-20 repetitions; training for strength do 2-3 sets of 8-12 repetitions (reps).  Use a weight that will allow you to perform the required number of repetitions and sets – you should reach momentary muscle fatigue on the last rep of each set.  Take a shorter rest between sets for endurance training (0-30 seconds between sets) and a slightly longer rest for strength training (60 seconds).  When you can do a weight for the required number of reps for each set (i.e. 15-20 or 8-12), its time to increase the weight.
• Choose 8-12 total exercises that will target each of your major muscle groups for both upper and lower body.  Do more exercises for the bigger muscles (i.e. legs) than for smaller muscles (i.e. arms).  Machine exercises are good for isolating the individual muscles but as the race gets nearer add more functional/sport specific type exercises into your program.  Functional exercises are ones that require you to use different muscle groups in a coordinated fashion; they mimic body movements you perform in real life.  This will require you to use your own stabilizing muscles to perform the exercise.  Training just on machines won’t develop these stabilizer muscles. 
• Change your program every 4-6 weeks.
• If you’re new to resistance training spend the first 6 months following the endurance training format (lighter weight, more reps).  Those more experienced with resistance training should add some strength training to their yearly program (heavier weight, fewer reps).  I also believe it is beneficial to add some power and plyometric training into your program if you have been weight training consistently for at least a year.  You don’t need to do too much but you should spend a few weeks of your yearly training cycle doing this.

• When performing exercises do them in a controlled manner with a steady rhythm, think 2 seconds down, 2 seconds up.  Make sure you breathe properly, exhaling on the exertion phase of the movement and inhaling on the “easy” part.
• Work large muscle groups first then move to the smaller ones i.e. work legs, back and chest before arms and shoulders. 
• For trail runners balance and proprioception are very important.  Do your balance work at the beginning of your workout while you are fresh.  Balance work includes using rocker boards, wobble boards, standing on one leg on unstable surfaces, etc.
• At first start with basic exercises such as squats, rows, presses and lunges.  When you’re comfortable with the basic movements make them more challenging by using stability balls, doing the exercises in a standing position, performing them while balancing on one leg, etc. 
• Take a 48 hour break between workouts i.e. every other day.
• If possible do your resistance training after your running if you do both on the same day.  Don’t do both resistance training and running on your long run or really intense speedwork days.
• Don’t weight train the last 7-10 days before any major races.
• Always do a 5 to 10 minute aerobic warm up before your weight workout.
• Stretch after each workout.  Flexibility is one of the most neglected areas of fitness for many runners.  Maintaining a good range of movement about your joints and keeping your muscles flexible will aid in avoiding injury and help with your recovery from training sessions.

These guidelines cover the basics.  The main program variables you’ll want to adjust include: the exercises you do; the amount of weight/resistance you use; sets and reps; speed of execution; and length of the rest period between sets.  Remember you need to vary your program otherwise you’ll begin to plateau.

Speedwork sessions can be added to your program after following your hill work phase.   These can be done as intervals (not necessarily on track), fartlek (short bouts of faster running during a run) or tempo runs.  You can do these to sharpen for a race; do speedwork for the last 4-6 weeks before your race.  The purpose of all these various forms of speedwork is to raise your anaerobic threshold (AT) or lactate threshold (LT).  Generally for most people this limit corresponds to a heart rate greater than 85% of your maximum heart rate.  What you’re basically trying to do with this high intensity work is to train your body to be able to clear lactic acid from your muscles.  They will help on the long hill climbs and in the later stages of the race when you’re body is really starting to fatigue.  Actually hill repeats are another form of speedwork, you just happen to be working more at ascending vertically than going faster.

A basic periodized training program for a runner starting out running 4 days per week would look something like this:

•  Base building phase – 6- 8 weeks; focus on increasing mileage gradually; one long run plus 3 other running days per week of easy-moderate intensity
•  Hill training phase – 6 weeks; one long run, one hill repeat day plus 3 other running days per week of easy-moderate intensity
• Speedwork phase – 4-6 weeks; one long run, one speed session day plus 3 other running days per week of easy-moderate intensity

For strong runners you may want to do one hill day and one speedwork day per week in your program with a couple of days in between.  Just make sure your other runs during the week are of “easy” intensity.

You also plan on doing tempo workouts in May and June and speedwork in June.  For this race I'd recommend you do your speedwork in May and concentrate on tempo work for your speed workouts in June.  Pure speed isn't as essential as is the ability to maintain a "hard" pace for a long time.  Keep in mind that hard means going as fast as you can while still maintaining yourself below your anaerobic threshold limit.  Also for your speedwork, which I assume you'll do on a track, do longer intervals - 1 mile repeats.

Your plan to power walk the uphill and run the downhill sections is smart.  Just be sure not to go all out on the downs, especially on the Hollyburn Chute section.  Many Knee Knacker racers have gone too hard in the first half (which is basically just up and down) only to run into trouble in the second half of the race.  Pace yourself!

As for shoes, I think a trail shoe is probably a better choice.  If your road shoe has good traction then use it but I find that most road shoes have really smooth soles which can be really sketchy on mud, wet roots or snow.  

• Glutamine is active in recovery and healing and fights infection during hard and prolonged training; it boosts your immune system big time. 

• Glutamine is a common additive to better quality protein drinks and can be purchased on its own as a powder.  It is relatively unstable so be sure to drink it immediately after you have mixed it with liquid and store it in a cool, dry place.
• Take 5 to 20 grams per day, spaced evenly throughout the day in 5 gram doses.  As well, time your dose before and after your workout for a more specific benefit.
• Over supplementation can contribute to your body's ammonia load so, if possible, use glutamine alphaketoglutarate as an alternative to plain L-Glutamine.

Let’s assume you have done nothing more than scare yourself.  This probably means that you need to work on balance/proprioception for your ankle and your leg.  Usually after anyone sprains the ankle, there will be poorer balance reactions.  This is because pain alters the motor control patterns of the muscles around the painful joint, and without specific training the normal motor control may not return.  Balance is a learned skill, which is somewhat ‘unlearned’ when you have pain, and lost even more from lack of practice while you wait from the sprain to heal.

Most people know enough to regain flexibility and strength around the ankle after spraining it.  In their haste to get back on the trails, they forget to retrain the extremely important skill of balance.  Ideas such as these can be used:

• practice hopping on flat ground; small one foot hops to the front back and sides.  Be sure to stop before your ankle is too fatigued.
• Stand on a balance board or wobble board or SitFit and work your lower leg muscles.  For variety, try moving your other leg slowly, or lift dumbbells while balancing.
• On grass, run circles, figure eights, side steps,…
• Start running on the trails, slowly at first.  This will start to retrain the muscles and the nervous system to respond more rapidly.  Remember that running slowly puts your ankle in a more stable position as your foot comes down to the ground.  The faster you run, the more your ankle and foot are flexed towards the ground as you take the weight through that foot, i.e., less of a heel strike and more of a mid-foot strike.  This is the easiest position to sprain the ankle.

Practice looking ahead of your feet 3-4 strides.  If you are always looking down at your feet, you won’t have as much time to react to changes in the terrain.

(Thanks to physiotherapist Neil Pearson for his answer on this question.)

The reasons that we are told to use ice are to decrease bleeding, swelling, inflammation and pain.  So you can understand that if you need to control swelling or pain longer than 72 hours after the injury, it would still be a good idea to continue using ice.  Just remember that there a risks in numbing the tissues with ice and then exercising them.

Heat, on the other hand, is best to use after the acute healing phase (72 hours or so) has passed.  Heat will promote healing by increasing the blood flow.  It will assist in warming up the tissues prior to beginning gentle stretching.  Heat will also help for pain control.  It really depends on you, whether you get better pain relief from ice or heat.

When you apply heat, the only risk is burning yourself.  This may seem unlikely, but if there is considerable pain from the healing injury, people have been known to not feel the pain from the heat.  So take some care.

Those are the general rules, however the more important one to follow is this – before you apply ice or heat, decide on the goal of doing it (such as pain or swelling), and then assess for yourself whether it worked.  Don’t keep treating yourself if the treatment is making the problem worse.

(Thanks to physiotherapist Neil Pearson for his answer on this question.)

Basic mechanical principles apply to both up-hills and down-hills.  Efficient form includes landing with a flat heel (i.e. on your mid-foot) to avoid locking out your knee and over striding; chest up, with head, neck and trunk lined up in good posture; arms should be bent at the elbow and not cross the midline of your body as you swing them (i.e. avoid excessive upper body rotation) with the hands in a relaxed, cupped position; relaxed shoulders, don't tense them up. Each person has their own unique body structure so no two people will run alike but these principles apply to everyone.  Running efficiently uses less energy and therefore improves your endurance.

Running uphill uses more of your gluteal and hamstring muscles, as well as stressing your Achilles tendon more than flatland running.  Shorten your stride and lean slightly into the hill but not too much; you don't want to be running bent over.  Most importantly, practice walking the really steep sections in your training as you will be walking them on race day!

Down-hills are my favourite aspect of trail running. Downhill running puts a lot of stress on your quads.  These muscles are contracting eccentrically (meaning they lengthen while they are contracting) in downhill running and this causes a lot of damage to the muscle fibres.  Try to stay as relaxed as possible and go with the flow, let gravity help and avoid braking too hard.  Your stride may increase a bit but again, avoid over striding and landing on your heels.  The jarring forces from downhill running are tremendous; they can equal 3 times your body weight!  A word of caution: don't get carried away on the Hollyburn Chute and come flying down the trail from Cypress.  You'll end up frying your quads and paying for it in the second half of the course.

Practice both uphill and downhill running in your training; stair climbing is also good.  Strength training will also help with such exercises as lunges, squats, calf raises and hops being the most useful.  In addition to, or instead of, doing these on a flat surface practice them on slight inclines and declines to make them sport specific.  Walking lunges done this way are a great exercise.  An ideal setting would be to do them on a grassy rise as opposed to concrete sidewalks or roads.