Earlier this week, I hopped on an airplane and flew to Europe. It’s my second journey throughout the pond this 12 months. The primary was for a gathering with The North Face and a race in Andorra. This time it’s to run the UTMB, a 100-mile foot race that begins and finishes in Chamonix, France.
Though it’s my sixth time right here, it has been three years since I final set foot in Chamonix. The primary time I got here right here I used to be stuffed with giddy pleasure. Now I come and it feels a bit commonplace.
That sounds harsh, for the place is something however widespread. The truth is, it’s considered one of a sort. The valley through which Chamonix sits can’t be way more than half a mile throughout, if that. On both aspect of this slim valley are mountains that stretch upward about as aggressively as massive metropolis skyscrapers. It’s an unimaginable place, and although it might be void of its new automobile odor for me, I’m grateful to be right here.
But it surely’s not simply this place that I’m grateful for. My time as an ultrarunner has taken me to all kinds of superior locations. France, Italy, Brazil, Portugal … the listing goes on. Some locations I am going to solely to race, others to coach as nicely. Even when I’m at dwelling in america, I usually discover myself bouncing round from place to position to coach.
This 12 months I kicked my coaching off with a bunch of snowboarding and splitboarding, some operating, and a little bit of biking in Oregon. From there I took issues south to California and Nevada, after which east to New Mexico, Colorado, and Pennsylvania. Subsequent, I spent a couple of month coaching in France and Andorra, adopted by extra time in Oregon, a quick interval in Pennsylvania/Virginia, and two weeks again in Colorado. My thought was to coach in Colorado for a further two weeks, after which fly to UTMB, however as a substitute, I discovered myself again in Pennsylvania with my household.
Coaching on a woodland path in Pennsylvania. All pictures courtesy of Zach Miller.
Though I like my dwelling state of Pennsylvania, I used to be a bit not sure about utilizing it as a coaching base for my ultimate massive weeks of preparation for UTMB. Don’t get me flawed, Pennsylvania is a good place, however I’m a sucker for the large mountains and skinny air of the American West, particularly when making ready for a giant mountain ultramarathon. Nonetheless, I packed my baggage and gave it a go.
My first day again, I ran for 2 hours within the sizzling, thick, sticky air that’s so widespread to Pennsylvania this time of 12 months. Sixteen miles later I returned, drenched in sweat, and simply in meal time. Two-ish hours, 16 miles, tons of sweat — I concluded that it was environment friendly coaching.
Cooling down in river throughout a steamy Pennsylvania run.
The following morning, I awakened and logged one other 16 as I ran hill repeats with some native high-school youngsters. That night, after dinner, I hit the close by rail path for an interval exercise and logged yet one more 16, this time refueling with a gasoline station slushie. Each run left me drenched in sweat, and most each day introduced one other spherical of warmth and humidity.
By the third day, I used to be on the hunt for vert, so I headed throughout the river to the Mason Dixon Path the place I spent a little bit greater than three hours operating up and down the Excessive Level climb. 4 laps later, I had logged simply over 4,000 toes of climbing, an quantity of vertical that I might have gotten in a single climb in Colorado.
The pattern continued as the times handed: discover one thing steep, run up and down it a bunch of instances. The Dugan Climb within the Hellam Hills, the Pinnacle Climb on the Conestoga Path, the Thousand Steps on the Standing Stone Path, and the Knauber Climb simply off of the Appalachian Path grew to become my playgrounds.
None of those climbs are so long as what you’ll discover out west. The longest one might be Knauber, which ascends 1,077 toes in 1.12 miles. The steepest is probably going the Thousand Steps, which climbs 807 toes in 0.43 miles. Certain, they’re good climbs, however you’ll be able to simply discover extra spectacular ones.
Zach Miller uphill coaching in Pennsylvania.
Nonetheless, I liked coaching on them. With every repetition, my vert and miles climbed, and on the finish of every week, I used to be happy to seek out that I used to be in a position to amass just about the identical quantity of vertical toes climbed as I had in Colorado. Certain, I didn’t do it at altitude, however I did get to do it in a sauna!
Paradoxically, as I spend time in Chamonix this week and suppose again upon my coaching, it’s these lengthy hours logged in sizzling, sticky air on quick, steep climbs that I really feel most pleased with. Had been these classes kind of efficient than classes I did in Colorado, Andorra, or Oregon? That I can’t let you know, however what I can let you know is that perhaps generally the most effective coaching atmosphere is an imperfect one. Permit me to clarify.
As runners, we’ve got a behavior of eager for the right coaching grounds. Trails out the again door, countless mountains to discover, and easy accessibility to a mixture of terrains all sound like a dream, and they’re, however generally they may simply be a bit too good.
How can a superb factor be too good? Nicely, this occurs when the too good turns into too distracting. Place your self in too enjoyable of an atmosphere and also you would possibly discover that you just go on loads of adventures, however don’t do sufficient exercises. Or you could end up doing loads of massive days, however not sufficient simple days. When the coaching playground is that good, there are many methods you’ll be able to stray from good coaching habits. However, put your self in a much less preferrred situation and I feel coaching can turn out to be very centered and, in flip, excellent.
Miller consuming up a dusty path in Oregon.
As I informed some buddies the opposite night time, I feel generally the most effective coaching atmosphere is a boring one. Years in the past, once I was simply entering into ultrarunning, I used to work and practice on board a cruise ship. I’d estimate that again in these days, 50 to 70% of my coaching was carried out on the ship. I simply ran up and down stairwells and hammered away on the treadmill.
On an pleasure degree from one to 10, it was a destructive two. However what it lacked in pleasure, it made up for in effectiveness. By the point I jumped off that ship for good, I used to be arguably in a few of the finest form of my life.
Quick ahead to this 12 months’s UTMB coaching, and I really feel equally. Coaching in Pennsylvania for the ultimate two weeks was a superb change of tempo. It inspired me to be intentional about how I educated and to hunt out the particular varieties of trails and terrains that I felt would assist me put together for the duty forward. Certain, these are issues that I do somewhere else as nicely, however one thing concerning the have to be so intentional about it made issues really feel much more centered.
I say all this to level out that you just don’t must have an ideal coaching atmosphere to coach nicely. In case you occur to have such a luxurious, that’s nice! Take pleasure in it and benefit from what it has to supply. However, don’t depend your self out in case your atmosphere is lower than dreamy.
As a substitute, embrace what you’ve gotten at your disposal, and take advantage of it. Be centered and intentional. Relaxation when it’s best to. Practice exhausting when vital. Be artistic. And final however not least, work with what you’ve bought. In any case, nothing beats home made, am I proper?
Name for Feedback
- What do you suppose? Do you discover exploring stunning locations lets you practice?
- Or do you suppose you’ll be able to focus higher on coaching someplace acquainted and bland?
