Congratulations on signing up for the 2011 Run for the Toad 50km. You will be joining 1350 other hearty souls on a magnificent trail running experience!
If this is your first introduction to trail running this is a perfect course for you. The trail is very well groomed and offers some great scenic vistas of the surrounding forest and countryside. Where possible I would certainly recommend getting some of your training done on a trail if you are coming from a road running background. While not all training is necessary to do on trail it will certainly make things go smoother race day by doing some.
If you have a chance to get to the Run for the Toad training run, Saturday, July 23 it would be of benefit and you will notice on the training program provided the runs are oriented around 2 loops of the course which will help you familiarize yourself with the course and give you a good mental image of what you will be tackling race day. If geography or time prevents you from getting there here’s a little bit of info to help prepare you.
The course offers very few flat sections, and at the same time very few extended climbs. The course is very rolling and the longest climb shouldn’t take you much longer than 90 seconds. The exciting part of the course is what didn’t seem like a hill on loop one or two becomes a mountain on loop 3 and 4! About 60% of the course is shaded and there are some exposed sections in the grassy meadows. Weather has come in all forms at the Run for the Toad from snow and hail to gorgeous 70F sun. Aid stations are ample on the course as well. If you use a run/walk program based on time I recommend scrapping that and doing what the course allows.
I hope you enjoy not only the event itself but the training to prep yourself for the event! It certainly will be a memorable experience.
Happy trails!
Ryne (Montrail Team Member, 2008 – 50k Winner)
| RUN FOR THE TOAD 50K TRAINING PROGRAM | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WEEK | MON | TUES | WED | THU | FRI | SAT | SUN | WEEK |
| May 30 - Jun 5 | OFF | 6K | 10K | 6K | OFF | 10K | 10K | 42K |
| Jun 6 - Jun 12 | OFF | 6K | 10K | 6K | OFF | 15K | 10K | 47K |
| Jun 13 - Jun 19 | OFF | 6K | 12K | 6K | OFF | 15K | 15K | 54K |
| Jun 20 - Jun 26 | OFF | 8K | 12K | 8K | OFF | 20K | 10K | 58K |
| Jun 27 - Jul 3 | OFF | 8K | 12K | 8K | OFF | 20K | 15K | 61K |
| Jul 4 - Jul 10 | OFF | 6K | 4 X HILLS (D) | 6K | OFF | 15K | 15K | 52K |
| Jul 11 - Jul 17 | OFF | 6K | 5 X HILLS | 6K | OFF | 22K | 20K | 67K |
| Jul 18 - Jul 24 | OFF | 6K | 6 X HILLS | 6K | OFF | 25K (A) | 20K | 71K |
| Jul 25-31 | OFF | 8K | 7 X HILLS | 6K | OFF | 25K | 20K | 72K |
| Aug 1 - Aug 7 | OFF | 6K | 8 X HILLS | 6K | OFF | 30k | 20K | 78K |
| Aug 8 - Aug 14 | OFF | 8K | 9 X HILLS | 5K | OFF | 30K | 25K | 85K |
| Aug 15 - Aug 21 | OFF | 8K | 5 x 1 Mile (E) | 8K | OFF | ITT 32K (B) | 15K | 76K |
| Aug 22 - Aug 28 | OFF | 10K | 8 SETS OF 5:1 | 8K | OFF | 25K | 20K | 77K |
| Aug 29 - Sep 4 | OFF | 10K | 10 X 800M (E) | 8K | OFF | 35K | 25K | 92K |
| Sep 5 - Sep 11 | OFF | 10K | 15 SETS OF 2:1 | 8K | OFF | 40K | 20K | 89K |
| Sep 12 - Sep 18 | OFF | 10K | 16KM | 8K | OFF | 25K | 10K | 69K |
| Sep 19 - Sep 25 | OFF | 16K | 10K TEMPO | 10K | OFF | 20K | 10K | 66K |
| Sep 26 - Oct 2 | OFF | 8K | 10KM | 8K | 3K RUN | 50K RACE! | 3K WALK | 82K |
| A = Run for the Toad Training Run Saturday (July 23) | ||||||||
| B = Iroquoia Trail Test 32K | ||||||||
| D = Hill workouts have a 3k warm up and cool down jog. Recovery between hills should be 60-90 seconds. Length of hill should be between 500-800 meters and run at 10k race pace | ||||||||
| E = Repeats of 1 mile should have 90 seconds rest between intervals, 1/2 mile intervals 60 seconds rest. | ||||||||
Download Training Program in MS Excel format
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