Canadian distance runner Anne-Marie Madden has been shining on each highway and trails for years, most lately successful the masters division on the 2023 California Worldwide Marathon (CIM). Madden was third at Arizona’s Black Canyon 100K in 2022, incomes her entry into the 2022 version of the legendary Western States 100, the place she took eleventh place.
Madden, who works as a health care provider in Vancouver, shared the secrets and techniques to her success in seamlessly transitioning between highway and path working with Canadian Operating.
Early morning path coaching
Balancing a thriving medical profession with elite coaching calls for a strategic coaching schedule. Madden’s weekdays are sometimes dictated by lengthy work hours, so she makes use of non-technical trails for pre-dawn runs along with her canine, Tucker. Her days off grow to be a possibility for lengthy, trail-focused runs.
“Throughout this most up-to-date marathon construct, I made a concerted effort to do some lengthy runs on the highway,” says Madden. “My coach gave me just a few exercises inside a long term. This was helpful on weeks once I had restricted day off to do different exercises and it additionally constructed up my confidence working sooner highway paces once more.”
Canada’s Anne-Marie Madden takes third at Black Canyon Extremely
Fuelling for each types
Madden’s fuelling technique adapts to the calls for of every terrain. For shorter, extra intense highway exercises, she opts for liquid diet and gels, discovering bars difficult to eat when working at a better depth. She makes use of totally different strategies of staying hydrated throughout coaching: on trails, she makes use of a filter flask to refill water from pure sources, contrasting the comfort of refilling at water fountains on city highway runs.
Ideas for runners hoping to shift between terrain
“One of many greatest psychological shifts for highway runners shifting into the path house is to let go of tempo targets,” says Madden. “The terrain usually dictates the tempo. Operating on trails is an ideal alternative to hone in on perceived effort and to tune into our physique’s cues.” Madden says this ability carries over to highway racing.
“For readers with a highway working background trying to do extra path racing, I like to recommend they introduce path runs into their program on their straightforward days or for a portion of their long term,” says Madden. “They will ultimately work in path exercises equivalent to hill repeats or pace work on gravel paths.”
Vert and alpine views
Madden’s social media posts spotlight the gorgeous B.C. trails the place she runs along with her exuberant canine. “The alpine views listed here are spectacular and the excessive numbers of park guests means the paths are properly maintained and nice for working,” she says. She does the majority of her lengthy runs on the mountain bike trails in Pemberton and Squamish.
Madden says that whereas there are many nice runs in B.C. with tons of vert., the snow pack could make it arduous to seek out lengthy sustained climbs to coach on will be difficult in early spring: “one thing to remember in the event you’re signing up for a giant race with plenty of vertical early within the race season.”
With that in thoughts, Madden will subsequent be lining up at Black Canyon 100K on Feb. tenth, “a comparatively low vert path race which is less complicated to coach for through the Canadian winter when a whole lot of the upper elevation trails are snow coated,” she says.
Followers can comply with Madden at Black Canyon 100K, the second race within the new World Main Path Collection lineup, on the Aravaipa working dwell stream (Feb.tenth and eleventh) right here.
