B-races - general recommendations

When it comes to  B-races, here are a number of general tips and recommendations:

1. 1. First of all a B-race is not absolutely necessary.  What is most important is that you train for the specifics of your A-race - terrain, elevation (in height meters per km), climate, etc.   For instance, as preparation for Barkley Marathons Karel did not do any B-race but he did an insane number of hill repeats at home and then he did a trainingcamp week in Gran Canaria with daily long runs in order to get used to accumulated mileage and importantly long descents.  He ran exactly the # height meters per 10km as what he would face in the Barkley Marathons.
2. B-races are however a great method to test all aspects in race-specific circumstances.
3. And B-races may sometimes allow athletes to build the confidence in their overall physical and mental preparation for their A-race.
4. I generally recommend to schedule a competitve B-race app 10 weeks ahead of an A-race, thereby leaving sufficient time for recovery from B-race and further build-up and tapering for A-race.
5. Every athlete is unique - and every athlete will have a different experience in terms of how much recovery they need after a race.
6. B-races with distance of app 60% of A-race are long enough and best then indeed again with similar characteristics as A-race, including type of terrain (underground, technicallity) and elevation (eg height meters per 10km)
7. Non-competitive B-races can be done in training mode closer to the date also