Need some ST crowdsource advice. My wife is a regular runner of the Mt. Washington Hillclimb running race here in NH. She wants to train properly this year and we are talking about getting a coach for her but I have some concerns.
The race is highly specialized, its 7.6 miles up 4300ish feet, climbing at a 12% average grade (ranging 10-18% for all of the run with no flat spots at all).
She has done it numerous times, has typically finished in the top 10-20% in her age group (age 51), and she has a super big engine (was a former D1 and Junior National Nordic skier). She is 5'3", 115 lbs.
With that said, she has never really run trained formally, her typical schedule is yoga / strength / stretching 5-6 days a week, and runs easy about 3 times a week mostly on trails for 45mins to an hour. She does do some efforts where she sets the treadmill at 15% grade and red lines for 30-40 minutes. She also does 2-3 hour mountain bike rides in the summer 1-2 times a week, and XC skiis in the winter 2-3 times a week for 1-2 hours.
Her goal is to improve her performance in the hillclimb but she could care less about other forms of running competition. Our concern is she has had some knee injuries, currently has a non-symptomatic torn meniscus in one knee. I fear that if she were to ramp up traditional run training it may result in an injury.
The question for the ST intelligentsia is how would you prepare for that kind of running race without getting injured? My fear in hiring a run coach is that track workouts and big increase in mileage would not necessarily work for a hillclimb race. The race is mid June.
The race is highly specialized, its 7.6 miles up 4300ish feet, climbing at a 12% average grade (ranging 10-18% for all of the run with no flat spots at all).
She has done it numerous times, has typically finished in the top 10-20% in her age group (age 51), and she has a super big engine (was a former D1 and Junior National Nordic skier). She is 5'3", 115 lbs.
With that said, she has never really run trained formally, her typical schedule is yoga / strength / stretching 5-6 days a week, and runs easy about 3 times a week mostly on trails for 45mins to an hour. She does do some efforts where she sets the treadmill at 15% grade and red lines for 30-40 minutes. She also does 2-3 hour mountain bike rides in the summer 1-2 times a week, and XC skiis in the winter 2-3 times a week for 1-2 hours.
Her goal is to improve her performance in the hillclimb but she could care less about other forms of running competition. Our concern is she has had some knee injuries, currently has a non-symptomatic torn meniscus in one knee. I fear that if she were to ramp up traditional run training it may result in an injury.
The question for the ST intelligentsia is how would you prepare for that kind of running race without getting injured? My fear in hiring a run coach is that track workouts and big increase in mileage would not necessarily work for a hillclimb race. The race is mid June.