Get your body ready for the City2Surf

I'm taking part in the City2Surf for the first time this year. How often should I train if I want to finish with a good time?

The City2Surf is a 14km event with one of the hardest courses around. Training should be broken into three phases.

Phase 1. Endurance and general conditioning. Develop what we call the base fitness and general strengthening. Conditioning should be progressive, building up the distance two to three times a week over a few weeks (not specifically the race distance; professional athletes rarely train up to or over the race distance during a session).

Phase 2. Once you have laid a good fitness base it is time to work on specific strength, eg: hill running, specific weight training and resistance work.

Phase 3. The final stage is speed. This will always come at the end because your endurance work will naturally drop in preparation for the race. Speed work has the highest risk of injury so you need to consider the appropriate level of recovery between sessions, allowing the body full adaptation.