Taking the opportunity when Yan Longfei was waiting for his transit flight back to Shijiazhuang 石家莊, Hebei Province, reporter from Shanghai-based running and triathlon portal iRanShao 愛燃燒 made an in-depth interview with the reigning champion and new course record setter. For the benefit of followers who cant read Chinese, the social media team decided to take the pain to translate as much of the content as possible and put them in bullet points below. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ (a) Biography (a1) Born in 1988 at Boading 保定, Hebei Province (a2) Currently a student at Hebei Institute of Physical Education 河北體育學院 in Shijiazhuang (a3) Solid background in running: a track and field talent at junior high school, admitted to a high school specialized in physical education and training of elite athletes (a4) Road marathoner career: a training partner for the Hebei provincial female marathoner squad back in 2006. A road marathon specialist in his own right between 2009 and 2013 with the career best of 2:15:45 (Beijing Marathon 2011). Stepping down from pro-level marathon racing scene due to age and injury in 2013 (a5) Podium finish shortly after switching from road to trail: male champion of Stage 1 of the Tour of Leigong Mountain International 100 km Ultra Trail Challenge 2013 in Guizhou 貴州環雷公山超100公里跑 (note from the social media team: Leigong Mountain race is a fully-supported three-day, three-stage 105 km trail race which participants have to run two full marathon back-to-back, and a then half-marathon sprint to the finish) (a6) Subsequent podium finishes and international exposure in 2014: champion Dalian 100 大連100, 1st-runner-up at Yishan 100 沂山100, attended Salomon Skyrunning training camp, 16th overall at Skyrunning World Championship despite a sprained ankle (b) HK100 Race Day Re-cap and his UTWT 2015 Plan (b1) Longfei did yearn for a podium finish before the race, but becoming a champion, let alone breaking the course record, was not on his agenda (b2) The hardest segment along the race: between CP5 and CP6 (note: Kei Leng Ha-Gilwell Camp; km 52-km 65) due to the heat and exhaustion in the afternoon. (b3) Tactic: follow the leading pack for the first half and take the lead when the time had come. It was me against Sondre Amdahlsince CP5 and I began to build my lead since CP6 (b4) What did Longfei reckon after passing the finish line and post-race rituals? Simply incredible to be the champion given the depth of the field but not overly emotional. Just want to stay warm and drinking hot soup while waiting for Dong Li. Slept at 10am at night and had a Sunday morning run at 6am (!) (b5) Next race on UTWT calendar? To be arranged, but certainly a race or two in Europe (c) Training Regime (c1) Training without a coach (c2) Train alone, as it is difficult to have a partner with similar recovery time, and a habit back in the day as the only male training partner for the Hebei provincial ladies marathoner squad (c3) Training locations and focus: trails and staircases at Nanchang in Jiangxi province 江西南昌, and Hangzhou 杭州. Regulate his regime based on duration and total elevation gain, also on balancing his body over the unevenness of trail surface (c4) Longest training run leading up to a 50 km and 100 km A-goal race, expressed in mileage: 30-40 km for a 50 km race, and 60 km for a 100 km race (c5) Gear suggestion, and pit stop strategy: Salomon race spec gears to achieve maximum load reduction for feather-weight athletes. Will make pit stops very brief: only fill water bladder and bottle, ate a slice of orange on the spot, and then pick up banana and dried nuts to consume it on the go (c6) A rough training routine: one to two-hour run everyday. Will hit the trail for 3-6 hours if there is a trail running race coming up. The longest run will last for 7 hours. Will supplement long runs with strength training: push-ups, squats, lunges, half lunges etc (c7) Injury prevention and recovery: adequate warm-up before exercising, and post-workout stretch (c8) Diet: Longfei doesnt prepare his meals, but still able to maintain a light diet (c9) Air pollution in Shijiazhuang and outdoor training regime: certainly has an impact and switching to indoor regime is sometimes the best idea (c10) Physiology metrics: never ever measured his VO2 max and tends to train by feel. Only a rough idea on resting pulse (high-40 bpm range) (d) Tips for Trail Running Newbies (d1) Build up core strength. Hit the trail as often as possible, focus on elevation gain. Staircase reps the next best if trails are out of reach
Posted on: Fri, 23 Jan 2015 08:00:35 +0000
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