Training for a big relay race: help me stay injury free!
July 18, 2013 1:07 PM   Subscribe

A friend signed me up for her company's Hood to Coast team. I have about 30 days to ramp up from running 3 miles a day, 4 days a week, to running about 14 miles in a 24 hour period. How can I train for this and not injure myself?

Hood to Coast is a ~200-mile relay in which a runner does 3 legs of 3-to-8 miles each, the legs being separated by 6-8 hours of rest. (And here "rest" means riding in a 15-passenger van.)

I've been running off and on for about 5 years, but this is my first organized race of any kind. So this is all very new to me. Currently I've been running between 2-5 miles at a time, 3-5 times a week, on paved surfaces outdoors. I think I could probably complete all 3 legs if the race were tomorrow, but it wouldn't be pretty and I'd likely be crippled for weeks afterwards.

So I've got some training to do! 30 days sounds like just enough time for me to develop an overuse injury and ruin everything. (I had some bouts of achilles tendonitis years ago when I was heavier and trying to build up to running longer distances. I haven't experienced anything like that recently, but I haven't been pushing myself.)

I'm mostly looking for bodyweight exercises or specific cross-training routines that will keep me from burning out specific parts of my running machinery. Bonus considerations for keeping cramp- and spasm-free while riding in the team van between runs.

(I looked at previous running/training threads, but nothing seemed to fit very well, as it seems Hood to Coast is kind of an oddity of an event to train for.)

So how can I best prepare for this increased distance while keeping injuries at bay?
posted by sportbucket to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (5 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
I recently did the Ragnar Cape Cod race, and if you go to their website, http://www.ragnarrelay.com/training, they have a suggested training routine. It gives a longer time frame than you have to work with, but since you have already been running you can probably start at the later weeks.
During the race, I didn't have a problem with cramping/spasming during the actual race day, since I drank a lot of water/gatorade and ate bananas. You also will be climbing in and out of the van a lot at the exchanges, and to cheer/support each runner. The next day was stiff though, so it made driving back home uncomfortable. The time frame for the race was also so that you can always drop down to a walk if you start hurting.
The race was incredibly fun, and I am making a team to do another one in the fall.
posted by florencetnoa at 1:59 PM on July 18, 2013 [1 favorite]


Best answer: I agree with your self-assessment-- you could finish the relay legs tomorrow, it just wouldn't be pretty.

If I were you, I would build mileage for 3 weeks and then take a cutback week. The rule of thumb is 10% a week, so I wouldn't go too much over that. Right now you're doing roughly 12 miles per week (mpw); your build could be 14/16/18 for the first 3 weeks. It's not a huge increase but it will make a difference. I wouldn't do too much more than that.

I am not that familiar with Hood to Coast specifically, but you'll want to match the conditions of the race as closely as possible. As the race gets closer, work in some short doubles (2 runs in the same day, one morning, one night) just to get used to running on legs that are a little tired. Even if it's 2 miles in the AM, 2 miles in the PM, that gets your legs used to running twice a day. I also like to do one run at night (even better if you can do it outside, with a headlamp) and then one the next morning. If any part of the race is on trails, try to fit in a couple runs on trails (again, you want to match the race conditions as closely as possible).

Your peak week could be something like:

Monday: 3 miles
Wednesday: 4 miles
Friday evening: 3 miles
Saturday morning: 6 miles
Sunday: 2 miles

(assuming your longest leg's not much more than 6 miles)

As far as cross-training, I would check out the Running Times site. They have a bunch of good core workouts. If your hips and core is strong it translates all the way down your 'kinetic chain', and you're much less likely to injure yourself. Here is one good core routine.With videos! Not adding too much mileage will also help keep injury at bay. I also like yoga, particularly poses that target openness in the hips.

Don't do too much speed stuff and don't do too many hills, which can be hard on your achilles, since you've had problems with it in the past. Obviously if your relay legs are hilly you'll have to balance preparedness with trying to keep uninjured, but just don't go crazy and start doing a bunch of hill sprints.

Here is an article from Runner's World on relay training-- the advice is geared to someone with a little more experience and a little more time to prepare, but I bet a bunch of the stuff is helpful.

Good luck and have fun-- I am not unfortunately speaking from personal relay experience, though being on a relay team is definitely something I want to do some day. I hear it's an absolute blast!
posted by matcha action at 2:04 PM on July 18, 2013 [3 favorites]


I did this a couple years ago, with the exact same amount of time to prepare. I think the only special training we did was slowly increasing our distance on some run days, while keeping our usual distance on others. Some days we put in two runs a day in an attempt to replicate relay conditions; I recommend that.

A couple weeks into training, I developed a grody cold which might have been brought on by overtraining, but I didn't get injured. I ended up doing better than expected on all four of my runs, and on one I had a personal best and ended up beating the team van. I was zonked at the end of the race, but most of that was from hanging out in a van for a day and a half and not getting enough sleep, not the actual running.

The best thing I brought to the race was my yoga towel. I used it as a blanket, a pillow, protection against the sun (when I wasn't running), and it was indispensable for sucking the sweat out of shared running accessories. If you guys have to share something like headlamps for night running, they will get really wet and gross with sweat, and toweling them for a few minutes made them tolerable.

Always invest time in stretching thoroughly after a run, and keep in mind that rest days are as important as run days. And if you're really concerned, ask your team leader if you can have shorter/flatter relay legs, though the success of this will depend on what your other teammates can do or have requested.

You can totally do this! Good luck (though I doubt you'll need it) and have fun!
posted by Metroid Baby at 2:14 PM on July 18, 2013


Response by poster: Thanks for the great advice, everyone! I'm gonna focus on ramping up the distance over the next few weeks and then take it easy the week before the race.
Metroid Baby: The best thing I brought to the race was my yoga towel. I used it as a blanket, a pillow, protection against the sun (when I wasn't running), and it was indispensable for sucking the sweat out of shared running accessories.
Yes! I have a linen towel I already use like this: towel, bed sheet, beach/picnic blanket, sun protection, sleeping bag liner, table cloth, etc, etc. As a towel, linen is fantastic. It's more absorbent than cotton, dries faster, and it doesn't get stinky or static-clingy (or melted) like polyester. It's actually stronger when wet, and gets softer every time you wash it.

You can pay way too much money for one from Deck Towel (Seriously expensive; I somehow got mine when they were a quarter of that price) or you can simply buy a couple of yards of medium/heavy weight linen from a fabric store and get the rough edges hemmed yourself. Or just find a big 100% linen "table cloth" on eBay or at a thrift store.

Anyway, I highly recommend linen towels.

Thanks again everyone!
posted by sportbucket at 11:07 AM on July 19, 2013


I've done three of these 200 mile relays now since 2010 (Reach the Beach NH twice, Ragnar Cape Cod once). I picked legs that added up to 18-20 miles, but I didn't have a strict training routine. A good check for me before the first relay was to sign up for two 5k races in the same day, so see if I could run, rest, run.

When I got to about three weeks before the relay, I cut down to running about every two days, to reduce the risk of hurting myself.
posted by jason6 at 10:51 AM on August 6, 2013


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