In short my philosophy on the marathon is that you better have tempo run base of 20 miles per week. Its easy to do if you do a tempo run and a couple of workouts where you "warm up" for three or four miles at a pretty good clip.
Those hills will be heartbreaks if you don't hold something back. I ran that ski to sea race once, and after a really steep down on the concrete followed by a flat section was excruciating. The surge of lactic acid in my system almost caused me to throw up.
Two or three miles of down hill at a time ought to be plenty. You will want to get at least 10 miles a week of downhill running in. 1800 feet drop in 20 miles is about 100 feet per mile. Find a places where the drop is about 100 feet per mile for three miles. Obviously, there are lots of places like that on your trail runs. Still once every 7-10 days you should be putting in a good down hill run on the roads. On the roads it will be harder on your quads. I've run run races ill prepared for downhill running and always paid the price with poor performances.
Be careful of camber/slant on the road when running on downhills, the extra stress on your tendons is dangerous to your health.
In short my philosophy on the marathon is that you better have tempo run base of 20 miles per week. Its easy to do if you do a tempo run and a couple of workouts where you "warm up" for three or four miles at a pretty good clip.
Those hills will be heartbreaks if you don't hold something back. I ran that ski to sea race once, and after a really steep down on the concrete followed by a flat section was excruciating. The surge of lactic acid in my system almost caused me to throw up.
Two or three miles of down hill at a time ought to be plenty. You will want to get at least 10 miles a week of downhill running in. 1800 feet drop in 20 miles is about 100 feet per mile. Find a places where the drop is about 100 feet per mile for three miles. Obviously, there are lots of places like that on your trail runs. Still once every 7-10 days you should be putting in a good down hill run on the roads. On the roads it will be harder on your quads. I've run run races ill prepared for downhill running and always paid the price with poor performances.
Be careful of camber/slant on the road when running on downhills, the extra stress on your tendons is dangerous to your health.
