I used this race as a training race for the up and coming 3 Cranes Trail run, with that being said I had to get the legs tired and Saturdays long run did just that!! I believe that to a certain extent you should train like you race, no I don’t mean go run around like a crazy person all the time but for me adding a few Obstacle simulation sessions, training on tired legs and doing brick sessions helps to simulate your racing environment.

This race was one of those, the day before the race I did a 30k long run (strava) to simulate the first day of a stage race, this was done at an easier effort but still tried to maintain a good pace. Managed to maintain a 4:34min/km pace with an avg hr of 150bpm (A little higher than planned but still fine). Then it was time to recover the body for tomorrow race, something thats also very important during racing!!

————The Race————

The plan was to go out hard from the start and see how long I could hold it, risky I know but this was a training race and its in your mistakes where you learn. Managed to pull a bit of a lead on the first big climb and then held that through the technical downhill trails, after about 5km there was a very steep climb were I really started to feel the fatigue in my quads but once pushing through that I slowly got back into my rhythm and from about 8,5km the legs loosened up and I got back into a good rhythm. The trails were awesome and the first 15km were some nice technical trails! From there it was time to get the speed on… The last 6km were along the District road and with not too much climbing it was time to see what was left in the tank, usually I wouldn’t like this but think in this case it was really good training for the faster stuff. Managed to keep the pace under 4min/km for the last 6km so was really happy with that and the run in general! Awesome to be able to win one of KeyHealth’s sponsored events!

My Strava for the race