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Mont Blanc Cross training

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Maxs Mum Nov 2014 3:23pm, 17 Nov 2014 59 posts	0 Maxs Mum Hi, I am very excited as I have got a place in the Mont Blanc Cross next year, but am a little unsure what training to do . well i know yes HILLS! there will have to be a lot of hill training, but given that the finish times are generally between 2 hours and 5 hours I am thinking perhaps i need to train as if for a hilly marathon rather than a hilly half marathon? I train best when following a plan. could anyone advise?
Maxs Mum Nov 2014 3:34pm, 17 Nov 2014 60 posts	0 Maxs Mum so you dont have to look it up, the distance is 23km and the elevation gain is 1665m starting at just over 1000m altitude at chamonix up to 2016m
becca7 Nov 2014 4:01pm, 17 Nov 2014 5,808 posts	0 becca7 I think that the times suggest that a lot of participants will adopt a run-walk strategy. You would need to get used to "time on feet" more than for a flat half marathon so it might be an idea to do some longer runs. You might try doing the first few weeks of a Comrades plan - they are designed to get runners ready for a very hilly race but you won't need anything like all of it because you are only running 23km.
Maxs Mum Nov 2014 5:04pm, 17 Nov 2014 61 posts	0 Maxs Mum Hi Becca, thanks for that. I have done a few hilly marathons before (Purbeck, Giants Head) and for those i followed a normal marathon schedule but did most of the runs offroad and threw in several hills for good luck! I did think i would do something similar for this, but I was not sure whether to concentrate my efforts by doing a half marathon schedule over hilly terrain, or gven the difficulty of the course whether to follow a full marathon one even though the cross is 'only' 23km ? my feeling is to err on the side of doing more!
Maxs Mum Nov 2014 5:04pm, 17 Nov 2014 62 posts	0 Maxs Mum definitely going to be run/walk/hike!
Southern Softy Nov 2014 5:13pm, 17 Nov 2014 First-time poster!!	0 Southern Softy Hi Maxs Mum, I did the Mont Blanc Marathon last year and it was great fun but very tough. My advice would be to use poles so you should practice with them and practice carrying them on your backpack. There's a bit of a stigma attached to running with poles (some people think it's cheating) but on the marathon around 60-70% of people seemed to be using them. I wish I'd had some.
Maxs Mum Nov 2014 5:24pm, 17 Nov 2014 63 posts	0 Maxs Mum Hi Softy, thanks, but poles are not allowed in the cross (bizarrely its in the rules) I imagine it will be tough. I was lucky enough to be able to walk the course when we were over there this year, and that was tough enough. I think i will need to up my hill training!

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Hi, I am very excited as I have got a place in the Mont Blanc Cross next year, but am a little unsur...

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