Gary’s Fitness Blog

It is now a week after the Flying Pig Marathon and two weeks after the Country Music Marathon (podcast here) and I thought I would sit down and write some lessons I learned by taking on this challenge and how they could be used in future marathon running programs.

The Back Story:

To keep it as short as possible; Nikki didn’t get signed up for the Derby Festival Half Marathon before it closed. She decided to go to do the Country Music Half Marathon, I chose to go with her and also decided that trying to do the full marathon was a good idea. It seemed like a fun idea because we had a friend running the full marathon and I thought it would be enjoyable to run it with her.

Even before I started the Country Music Marathon, I thought about the idea of possibly doing the Flying Pig Marathon the following week. Why? I am not completely sure, but I have known local runners that have done it before and it intrigued me.

So here’s the reality: I was under-trained for a single marathon (i.e. no traditional marathon training, just regular, daily run or bike), let alone being prepared to run two.

My mindset leading into the runs:

The one thing that I was absolutely confident I had to do to survive this experiment was have a solid and healthy strategy even before I ran the marathons. These strategies included some of the following ideas -

a. Run with Nikki and Jill at Country Music and have fun - But, make sure that effort remained as low as possible and if I started to develop too many aches / pains (i.e. notice my hip and hamstring problem come back) back off completely and finish run by myself.

b. Walk! Walk every aid station at both marathons.

c. Be aware of heart rates. The normal average heart rate I see for a marathon is around 178bpm to 180bpm. Because I had done zero speed work or even tempo runs, I knew that if I ever saw heart rates that high, I might be entering a dangerous zone. You can read the Flying Pig Stats to see the specifics, but I had planned on keeping it around 160bpm during the first half and allow the natural cardiac drift to occur during the second half of that run.

d. Recovery. Making the turnaround to run another race in 8 days I knew that I would have to do all I could to help myself recover. This meant as perfect nutrition as possible, extra sleep, stretching and massage if I could get it scheduled.

What happened after the Country Music Marathon:

You can read the race report to see what happened during the marathon, but what happened after the marathon was where I see some of those important lessons occurring.

1. Nutrition sucked! All week long after the marathon I felt myself craving sugar. One of the big hurdles that I have been trying to clear this year has been getting away from my soda habit. It has actually been going really well, which I have attributed to training less hours a week and not putting the pressure on myself to always be at a fitness peak. By taking some stress away from my physical training, it has allowed me to emotionally and energetically clear that soda habit of late (I even dropped 5 pounds in a couple weeks prior to the marathon).

That all went downhill after the CMM. I felt tired quite a bit, which lead to me seeking caffeine and sugar.. i.e. Mountain Dew. The ice cream cravings were pretty big too.

2. Yoga helped. Nikki and I went to our regular yoga class the day after the marathon, which helped my hips. Ironically, I felt more soreness after the yoga than the marathon. But I didn’t develop the normal post marathon shuffles that happen the few days post marathon.

What happened after the Flying Pig Marathon:

1. You can take the nutrition lesson that I learned after the Country Music Marathon and multiply it by 10. Yikes. I seemed to be in a fatigue pit that no amount of Mountain Dew, coffee or ice cream could solve. The scary part for me is that I gained 4 of the 5 pounds back, which shows the really poor cycle that can be created when a runner or triathlete gets into an overtraining - to - crash cycle. (Yes, this experiment put me into an overtrained state).

2. I couldn’t get enough sleep or rest. Lisa wrote a post about sleep that came at the right moment. The issue for me is that my 6am appointments are not so much concerned about me sleeping in (although if they can, they will change at times). And I have to admit, this week was very difficult. I tried to take a nap during the week, but that is difficult because my body normally doesn’t like to nap. I did crash for 1.5 hours on Monday!

3. My workouts after the Country Music Marathon were terrible! In fact, I had a zero quality workouts during the week. I was able to ride my bike a few times, but mainly I was out there spinning the pedals.

How does all of this apply to a typical marathon program:

Lesson #1: Don’t overreach with the long run. I realize at first thought the long run doesn’t equal the marathon, but for some - a 20 mile run in the training program could take a long time. I personally believe that being aware of the time on your feet is more important than the distance you run during the long run. (My marathon times were 3:47 and 3:20. Durations that I have seen people used to accomplish their 20 mile workouts.)

Why? Because if a person overreaches for the long run, it can often leave the runner in an overtrained state that they have to recover from all week long. Leaving the weekly workouts nearly ineffective - especially if you want to include regular tempo or interval runs, that would normally be associated with an experienced or advanced program.

I talk a lot about marathon programs addressing this issue in my podcast: Double Long Strategy

Lesson #2: When you are training, pay attention to your emotional responses to your nutrition and food choices. If you find yourself craving foods that you don’t normally crave, it could be one of the first signs that you are becoming over-trained. Some of the foods that might be included here are: sodas, bagels, breads, snack foods, ice cream, etc. - basically, foods that are high in sugars or low quality carbohydrates.

I rarely found myself wanting vegetables and even some fruits didn’t meet the needs I was feeling. The emotional response to these foods was surprising also. Not only did I find myself craving them, but after I would eat them I would feel a little more happy and energetic. That lasted an hour max and I would be fatigued and moody again. (Likely an glucose and insulin cycle of peaking and crashing?)

Lesson #3: When you decide to take on high(er) amounts of training, make sure you also build in the necessary recovery aids also:

3a - Massage. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to get a massage during the week between the CMM and the Flying Pig. But I was able to get in the week after the Flying Pig. It works miracles sometimes on my hips. This is a practice that I used all of 2007. A regular massage as a way to assist my training and recovery. I have become a huge believer in the benefits because when I stop going (as in the beginning of 2008), something creeps up on me.

3b - Yoga. I can say the same thing for yoga that I just said for massage. Combining the two practices makes all the difference in my continued injury prevention when the training ramps up.

3c - Rest and Sleep. As I mentioned, Lisa wrote a post about this recently. I think that as endurance athletes, we are typically self-motivated people. Often this comes with a side of compulsiveness. These personality traits are also the type of individuals that can often see rest as laziness. Sleep is wasted time that we can be productive.

Recently I was reading the Runner’s World article that highlighted the women running the Olympic Trials. They seemed to do it all: work, be a mom, household management and run everyday to train for the Olympic Trials. It was impressive and I wondered how they did it. When did they sleep.

I also read those articles asking myself if I could do it? Interestingly enough, if you read the article interviewing Deena Kastor, she says this:

“RW: Besides doing the mileage, what’s most important to your preparation?

DK: Recovery, definitely. Sleep is huge for me: I take a one-to two-hour nap daily and get eight to 10 hours nightly. When I’m awake and training, I expect so much from my body, so I really need to let it rest as deeply as it works.”

This isn’t the only example I have found discussing how high level athletes are also high level sleepers. It deserves an entire article itself.

Lesson #4: Race Strategy means everything on Race Day. This is the one lesson that I really wanted to point out. Up to race day, your training plan, recovery, rest, nutrition is what you should be primarily concerned about - But come race day none-of-that-matters if you are not willing to follow a sensible race strategy.

I’ve seen it done many times, athletes train hard and appropriately, but get to the start line on race day and throw out all the common sense lessons they learned during their training. I have done it numerous times in my own racing career. But after 9 years of training for endurance events, I feel like I’m finally getting a handle on how to manage the physical side of racing along with the emotional, mental and spiritual side of racing.

In marathons it can be incredibly hard. You’ve trained for 20 weeks (or what the program dictated) and get to race day in hopefully the best shape of your life. Combine this scenario: Best shape of life, nerves about the race, motivation to do your best and 1000’s of others around you facing the same adrenal unleashing. Without a thought out race strategy to manage those variables, race day can become a much longer day than necessary.

If I was honest with myself, I think that testing race strategies for a marathon was one reason that I wanted to do this 2 marathons in 2 weekend challenge. Because I knew I was coming into races under-trained, there would be no room for error on race day.

Here are a couple posts discussing race day strategy implementation: Flying Pig Marathon Race Report (pay attention to walk/run topic), Ironman Wisconsin Race Report (pay attention to my bike analysis), and Einstein, Relativity and Triathlon Training - which discusses basing your race strategy on reality and not hopes or dreams.

Final Thoughts:

I hope that this challenge that I put myself through and by being my own lab rat will help you in your own marathon journey. These lessons were a great learning tool for myself and as I mentioned at the end of the Flying Pig Report, I learned a lot about why I love to take on this journey of endurance again.

The Flying Pig was my second marathon in 8 days, as I ran the Country Music Marathon the Saturday before. I have been asked a lot of questions about why I would want to do this, especially because of the training I was doing prior to these runs (i.e. lack of specific marathon training).
I want to answer some of those questions, but I would like to address those in a separate post. I’ll title it; Things I learned by running two marathons in 8 days: And how these lessons can help you. (I’ll write that post soon and come back here and link to it.)

Right now, I want to focus on the Flying Pig Marathon itself. The course, the race organization, how I ran and how much I enjoyed it.

The basic statistics for my run are here: Flying Pig Marathon Stats

The Flying Pig Marathon Course:

There is no doubt that the marathon course is not the easiest course that I’ve run. I ran the marathon back in 2003 and remember it being challenging. This past weekend it did not disappoint. The one change since the last time I ran it was that the Kentucky loop was at the very beginning of the race, opposed to being at the end. This is a welcomed change because running over the bridges at the beginning on fresh legs was much easier than I remember running them on tired and weary legs towards the finish. Even though they weren’t demanding on my legs, they posed a challenge for me to keep my heart rate down where I wanted it - so I had to incorporate a lot of self-restraint during that section.

As you run back into Ohio, the course doesn’t get forgiving. The hills keep coming in a continuous pattern, and once you get to mile six, you have a pretty steady uphill run for approximately 2 miles. This early into the run, it is essential to not get too excited (or discouraged) by the hill. It’s way too early to spend all your extra energy.

Looking at the elevation chart they have of the course, you would think that after the half way point, you would be gradually running downhill the rest of the race. While there are not as many climbs as the first half, the second half still has it’s challenges and is by no means a flat or fast finish.

The two things that I really love about this course is the scenery. Having just run the Country Music Marathon, I can make a pretty decent comparison to it (and similarly to the Rock N Roll in Arizona), and personally I think the Flying Pig is the most scenic and appealing course of the group. The other great thing about the course was the crowd support. If you listen to the podcast, I will mention a couple spots during the course where it just feels like miles that people are stretched out on both sides of the run. I don’t remember getting too lonely at any particular time during the run (opposed to the Derby Festival Marathon), even though a few periods were more sparse than others.

Overall, I have to rank the marathon as difficult to run, but worth the work. (Hard to believe that my marathon PR is still on this course?).

Oh yeah - I forgot to mention - They have the best swag of any marathon by far. They gave out towels, medals, posters, t-shirts (all typical) but they also gave out a very nice Flying Pig duffle bag. This is something they’ve given out both years I’ve run it.

How I ran the race:

I was very happy with how the race turned out, especially considering how I went into the race. The hard thing for me to accept at times is not being on top-of-my-game. What I mean by this is that I am not so competitive with myself that I can’t run a race to have fun and just enjoy the event; but when I have a day like Sunday, I have a lot of - “if I only did x” - thoughts.

There will be a lot of discussion about strategy, training and all the other performance variables in a marathon program in the “lessons I learned” post. But there is one thing that I’d like to highlight here, which will be worthy of repeating many times:

A walk - run strategy is a very effective methodology and race strategy for most runners doing a marathon, and essential (in my opinion) for first time marathoners.

I realize that this is a concept that I have talked a lot about in the past (like.. here, here, here), but it is so useful that it is worth discussing on a regular basis.  Because it is useful doesn’t mean it is an easy methodology to implement; in fact I have found it is the most difficult teaching lesson for 85% of the runners that ask me for help.  They often feel defeated when they resort to a run/walk pattern, they are sometimes told they are not “true runners” (kid you not!).

That is the great thing about this journey of endurance.  We get to learn about our bodies and what they can do physically, our minds and what it can handle, our egos and what it controls and our spirits and where they will take us.

My run walk strategy for the Flying Pig was pretty simple - walk 20 seconds at every aid station.  This was changed early into the marathon because I was having a difficult time managing my heart rate (ego) and pushed that 20 second walk to 30 seconds.  There were times early on that I felt like the aid stations were very close together and was walking too often, but I stuck to the program I decided on prior to the race.

Towards the end of the race, I moved back to a 20 second walk and skipped the final aid station around mile 25 (was shooting for 3:20 at this point).

It was a very satisfying experience.  To put myself in a race that I’ve done before, in a condition that wouldn’t allow me to have a personal best, and then be able to mediate all the negative thinking, push my ego to the back seat while I tried to develop a better understanding of how my mind interacts with my body, to take the time and enjoy the crowd, to view the scenery - and then for a few miles - allow my body to experience pain.

It was a great experience.  I have often wondered what I will do when I get to an age that it becomes unlikely that I will be able to set new personal records or race longer races - Will I continue to race?

After this weekend, I think I can say yes.  And while that answer will come one day, I have found the better (and more self-rewarding) competitions are between my ego, body, mind and spirit.  Not with a training partner or a clock.

Taking that lesson into all of my races will be a challenge, I am sure.

So I made it to the Flying Pig Marathon this weekend and did another podcast from the course. I’ll write a race report regarding why, how and all the other lessons soon. And I’ll try and get the audio edited and the podcast up later this week. For now here are the stats:

One note - they had a fire on the course and had to change the route around mile 20. I don’t really know how that changed the splits.. but it is a part of the info I guess. (If nothing else it gives us all a “I had to run a marathon that was ‘x’ longer once” story).

lap 1 - 1.02 miles / 7:48 / 7:39 pace / 170 bpm
lap 2 - 0.94 miles / 7:02 / 7:32 pace / 164 bpm
lap 3 - 1.09 miles / 8:12 / 7:32 pace / 164 bpm
lap 4 - 1.01 miles / 7:12 / 7:08 pace / 163 bpm
lap 5 - 1.01 miles / 7:39 / 7:34 pace / 166 bpm
lap 6 - 1.03 miles / 7:49 / 7:36 pace / 161 bpm
lap 7 - 1.01 miles / 8:31 / 8:28 pace / 165 bpm
lap 8 - 1.01 miles / 7:57 / 7:52 pace / 166 bpm
lap 9 - 1.01 miles / 7:41 / 7:38 pace / 164 bpm
lap 10 - 1.02 miles / 7:16 / 7:10 pace / 164 bpm
lap 11 - 1.00 miles / 7:09 / 7:09 pace / 163 bpm
lap 12 - 1.04 miles / 7:45 / 7:30 pace / 164 bpm
lap 13 - 1.02 miles / 7:24 / 7:16 pace / 169 bpm
lap 14 - 1.01 miles / 7:13 / 7:09 pace / 170 bpm
lap 15 - 1.01 miles / 7:10 / 7:06 pace / 171 bpm
lap 16 - 2.02 miles / 15:04 / 7:29 pace / 171 bpm * missed lap
lap 17 - 0.98 miles / 7:16 / 7:25 pace / 174 bpm
lap 18 - 1.05 miles / 7:50 / 7:28 pace / 170 bpm
lap 19 - 0.98 miles / 7:33 / 7:43 pace / 175 bpm
lap 20 - 1.01 miles / 7:51 / 7:46 pace / 175 bpm
lap 21 - 1.01 miles / 7:37 / 7:31 pace / 174 bpm
lap 22 - 1.04 miles / 7:50 / 7:33 pace / 178 bpm
lap 23 - 1.03 miles / 7:34 / 7:24 pace / 180 bpm
lap 24 - 1.02 miles / 7:46 / 7:39 pace / 181 bpm
lap 25 - 1.22 miles / 8:50 / 7:15 pace / 183 bpm
lap 26 - 0.23 miles / 1:33 / 6:47 pace / 191 bpm

Race Result Splits:
6.8 - 53:16
12 - 1:32:52
13.1 - 1:40:16
19.7 - 2:28:36
25.2 - 3:13:35
26.2 - 3:20:40

Other Notes:
1. I walked every aid station but the very last one (wanted to go for 3:20). I used a mixture of 20 second and 30 second walk breaks. To learn more about this, you’ll have to check out the podcast. It is something that I mentioned several times.

2. I actually negative split a marathon! This is a first time… well…. I ran 1:40:16 the first half and 3:20:40 for the marathon. I guess this is the “if only” story I get to tell about this marathon. If the marathon was only 26.2 miles and not 26.x miles, it would have been a negative split - right?

Logbook Activity

• Type: Run
• Date: 05/04/2008
• Total Time: 3:20:40.00
• Average Heart rate: 170
• Max Heart rate: 193
• Calories: 3120
• Distance: 26.8 miles
• Average Pace: 7:29.44/mile

This race was a little bit different for me, so the race report will be a little different. In this report, I will not include race strategy or performance details. I posted the race data from my Garmin yesterday, that should be enough to explain that side of the race.

I ended up getting into the Country Music Marathon on a last minute whim. Here’s how that happened: Nikki was planning on running the Derby Half Marathon and had trained for that race. A little over a week ago, she got an email saying that the Derby Half Marathon and Marathon was full. Her comment to me was,

“I guess you are not doing the race”

Which was fine with me because I wasn’t really excited about doing the Half Marathon anyway. Then I asked,

“I don’t think you signed up either. I don’t remember getting the receipt for your registration?”

It turned out that she hadn’t signed up. She ended up calling a friend (Jill) that was doing Country Music and decided to go to Nashville. Long story short, Nikki ended up not being able to travel with Jill… Nikki was going to go alone… I said I would go with her… I decided to sign up to do the full marathon.

The Marathon Course - the scenery

The half and full marathon runners are together until the 11 mile mark. While the first half of the marathon has some scenic areas (actually a couple different scenic neighborhoods), the full marathon offers an even better enviornment to run through.

There are two stretches after the courses seperate that were very refreshing. The first section was an approximately 1.5 mile stretch that was along a bike path that was along the river. While there were no spectators during that section, it was nice to get out of the streets and run with Jill in a peaceful and more relaxing setting.

The second section was between miles 23 and 25. That section was a loop through a park, evoking similar peaceful thoughts. A welcomed thought when you are at those portions of the marathon.

The Marathon Course - the terrain

I ran the 2004 Country Music Marathon and since that time I’ve been telling people that the course was a flat race. I apologize to anyone that I’ve given this advice. The course is not flat. It is not a particularly fast course either.

There are many sections during the course that have some type of hilly terrain - it never has a long stretch (multiple miles) of running that is forgiving or that would allow you to pull back large amounts of time lost on previous hill climbs.

Nashville as a host city

I just completed the Rock N Roll Marathon in Arizona this past January; given that the race was put on by the same race organization, I think it is fair to compare the two events. I personally enjoyed the venue, course and atmosphere of the Country Music Marathon more than the Rock N Roll in Arizona.

The one thing that made my experience in Arizona so rewarding was the Team in Training involvement, but overall, Nashville is more my style. Not only do I enjoy country music, but the downtown in Nashville and the entertainment options in Nashville are more appealing.

Lodging

We signed up late for the race and were left seeking hotel space at the last minute. We ended up staying at a Quality Inn off of Interstate 24, which was about 3 miles fromt he finish (Titan’s Stadium). A perfect location because it is easy to get to the stadium and they have buses running to the start line.

As we checked into the room I thought we had got lucky, as the lobby was clean and modern. Our room turned out to be “the worse room we’ve ever stayed in,” (a quote from my never-likes-to-complain wife). Besides the damp and mold / moist smell, it felt like it was two feet from the interstate traffic. In fact, after a couple hours of trying to sleep, Nikki got up and went and tried to sleep on the bathroom floor to get away from the noise.

That’s all I say about that. The hotel that Jill stayed in was a nice place that was on West End. I don’t remember the hotel’s name, but it was across from the Blackstone Restaurant and Brewery. A great place to get something to eat. I had the porter, which I can recommend, along with the Buffalo Burger; great post race recovery food!

Final Thoughts

I have now done the Country Music Marathon twice. It is on the top of my favorite marathon list to this point. For those of you doing a 50 States and DC challenge, I suggested making the CMM your Tennesse stop.

This race was personally satisfying. Running with my wife and a good friend and just enjoying the day is a great way to spend a Saturday - add in another 30,000(ish) runners and it becomes a party.

So I decided to head to Nashville with Nikki and thought that I’d jump into the race and run the half marathon with her and then run the full with her running partner (and our friend) - Jill. It was a lot of fun. I’ll write up a race report later, I also used my podcasting recorder during the race, so hopefully I can get that edited this week.

Here are the stats from my Garmin: I tried to use the mile markers on the race course, not the mile labs on the Garmin. They were about .2 miles different. I also missed the split at mile 11, so there are only 25 laps.

lap 1 - 1.08 miles / 8:50.17 / 8:10 pace / 152 bpm
lap 2 - 0.94 miles / 8:04.43 / 8:38 pace / 152 bpm
lap 3 - 1.00 miles / 8:26.60 / 8:24 pace / 154 bpm
lap 4 - 1.03 miles / 8:10.25 / 7:57 pace / 154 bpm
lap 5 - 1.00 miles / 7:45.44 / 7:47 pace / 154 bpm
lap 6 - 1.01 miles / 8:08.40 / 8:01 pace / 153 bpm
lap 7 - 1.00 miles / 8:17.58 / 8:16 pace / 157 bpm
lap 8 - 1.02 miles / 8:09.17 / 8:00 pace / 153 bpm
lap 9 - 0.99 miles / 7:31.55 / 7:35 pace / 155 bpm
lap 10 - 1.01 miles / 7:29.53 / 7:23 pace / 154 bpm
lap 11 - 2.01 miles / 16:37.95 / 8:18 pace / 155 bpm
lap 12 - 1.02 miles / 8:24.17 / 8:16 pace / 147 bpm
lap 13 - 1.02 miles / 8:31.90 / 8:22 pace / 153 bpm
lap 14 - 1.01 miles / 8:14.04 / 8:08 pace / 152 bpm
lap 15 - 1.02 miles / 8:59.58 / 8:48 pace / 151 bpm
lap 16 - 1.01 miles / 8:46.80 / 8:42 pace / 153 bpm
lap 17 - 1.00 miles / 8:56.10 / 8:55 pace / 148 bpm
lap 18 - 1.01 miles /8:52.33 / 8:45 pace / 154 bpm
lap 19 - 1.02 miles / 9:03.60 / 8:53 pace / 151 bpm
lap 20 - 1.01 miles / 9:07.47 /9:04 pace / 152 bpm
lap 21 - 1.01 miles / 9:26.08 / 9:21 pace / 153 bpm
lap 22 - 1.02 miles / 9:28.12 / 9:16 pace / 150 bpm
lap 23 - 1.03 miles / 9:54.95 / 9:40 pace / 149 bpm
lap 24 - 1.01 miles / 10:24.25 / 10:21 pace / 147 bpm
lap 25 - 1.24 miles / 11:09.85 / 9:01 pace / 156 bpm

Finished!

This makes me feel pretty good about my fitness. I jumped in and did the race. Feel pretty good today, a little sore but Nikki and I went for a walk this morning. My heart rates were all in the mid to low 150’s… normally during a marathon that I try and race that average heart rate would be around the upper 170’s. Now, I couldn’t handle that type of intensity now….

But this “trial” does let me feel good about this idea of being committed to the basic week and regular exercise. As Jim said in Jodi’s last podcast (www.confessionsofarunner.com), it is a commitment to a lifestyle. The ability to keep this mentality has allowed me to clear up some nutrition issues and still allows me to be fit.

More in the race report and podcast.

Logbook Activity

• Type: Run
• Date: 04/26/2008
• Total Time: 3:46:49.00
• Average Heart rate: 152
• Calories: 3071
• Distance: 26.2 miles
• Average Pace: 8:39.48/mile

I have now watched the NOVA - Marathon Challenge program twice.  My personal opinion is that the documentary is way better than the Spirit of the Marathon Documentary that was done about the Chicago Marathon trainees.

That may be due to the face that I’m a little bit of a science freak when it comes to the training involved in  marathon training.  The NOVA special doesn’t go into a lot of detail, but they do address certain training issues:  injuries, VO2 Max, Body Composition and a little about nutrition during long runs.

Here are some key take home messages that I’d like to point out and my view:

1.  Long Runs

I’ve discussed this many times in the past.  I recently wrote an article that I called, “A look at the long run and marathon training.”  And my first podcast, “The long run in a marathon program.  The double long strategy,” addresses my thoughts on how to approach a long run.

One of the interesting discussions was when the exercise physiologist and nutritionist from Tufts said that by the time you get to the “long” runs you have already developed the physiological changes and the soft tissue changes, the long runs are primarily beneficial for the psychological outcomes.

That is a point that I like to make and my point-of-view is that the downside of injury (for most runners) is greater than the psychological uplift a person may generate.

Just a reminder that there is no magic to a 20 mile run.

2.  Weight Loss / Body Composition

They analyzed the body composition of the runners before and after their marathon training programs.  What they found was that only one of the runners changed their body weight or body composition during the program.

This is hard to believe for many people, especially when you consider the amount of exercise they added to their lifestyles.  The take home message (which they made) is that we often over-estimate the caloric expenditure of the activity we participate in.

Thus, if we want to get into a weight management situation or lose some weight, nutrition is a very important (if not the most important) variable in that program.  This can be hard for an exercise physiologist and personal trainer to admit because I want to believe that exercise is the most important key to any lifestyle… but there are limitations.

A better message is that there needs to be a combination of exercise and non-disordered-eating.  One thing that I see often (and see in myself), is a belief that with all the exercise that comes with running a marathon or training for an Ironman, a person can eat whatever they want.  That mentality leads to disordered eating.

Exercise Session –> Eat what mind wants –> Non-Optimal Food Choices

This is one thing that I am currently working on.  I know that when I’m in full capacity training I have little mental energy and strength to combat poor nutritional habits.  Last summer it got a little crazy as I trained for Ironman Wisconsin.  Now that I’m not in full capacity training, I see myself being able to change some of those habits.  Still more changes that need be made.

3.  The other side of body composition.
The other side to their body composition discovery was that the one person that did have changes also included a bootcamp training program in addition to their marathon program.

This is a good lesson because it helps us realize that even within an exercise program, there needs to be a balance between strength training, flexibility training, and cardiovascular training.  Many endurance athletes can become addicted to the “runner’s high” and neglect other aspects that would benefit their health (again, I am as guilty as anyone).

4.  The injury issues:

There seemed to be a lot of injury issues that the runners were dealing with.  One of the most important lessons that I’m continually learning is the value of specific strength training and flexibility training as a hedge against injury in a beginner / novice marathon program.

You can go back and read the posts I’ve had on strength training and patellofemoral pain.  Many lessons learned there.

The long run is usually viewed as the center piece of a marathon training program. In the current pop running culture, this means that most marathon training programs work towards the “20 miler”.

This is a topic that I have discussed many times in the past, with many different people, and I thought now was the time to get all my ideas out there to share with fellow runners.

Why I don’t like the “20 mile” Destination for marathon training:

1. I don’t like the concept of placing so much importance on a single 20 mile run. Why? In many running programs that I see, runners end up putting so much value on the long run that it ends up taking away from the value and training stimulus they could get by having a solid week of running. (Which means running regularly throughout the week too.)

This doesn’t mean that every runner using these programs puts too much emphasis on the long run, but psychologically it can become a trap. If you decide that the weekend long run is the most important workout of the week, it can be tempting when “life happens” to justify missing a couple runs during the week, as long as you “accomplished” the long run.

This is a trap that often leads to, in the worst case - injury, in the best case - less developed fitness due to less overall training stimulus.

This idea becomes even more magnified if a training program leads towards the 20 miler and a runner develops the belief that they are ready to run the marathon, using the 20 miler accomplishment as their only indicator.

I’m not the only one who takes this approach. Jack Daniels, in his book, Daniels’ Running Formula suggests that the longest run you do be under 2.5 hours. The risk-to-reward ratio (injury risk/physiological reward) beyond that point is often not worth it. I remember Bobby McGee taking a similar stance.

Solution: as a runner begins a marathon training program, set the initial goal to accomplish “x” number of weeks running 3 days and building to 5 days a week before taking on any run over 2 hours. “x” depends on your timeframe, but a typical 18 or 20 week program should give you at least 6 weeks to build up to 4 runs at 40mins+ or 5 runs at 30mins+.

2. Does it pass the common sense test to do more than 50% of your running in one day? It doesn’t, but many marathon runners that I see or read about do just that.

When a runner is doing less than 40 miles per week, that is what they are doing when they build to a 20 mile long run.

Again in Daniel’s book he suggests that the long run be no more than 25% of your total weekly mileage. Therefore to have a long run of 20 miles, a runner must be doing a minimum of 80 miles a week. That kind of mileage is not all that common for the average age-grouper hoping to finish a marathon.

An approach that I have reviewed several times that I like a lot (probably because it is how I like to train people too) is the way the the Hansons train their runners (their age-groupers, not their elite… that would destroy all of us).

In their approach, the longest run that a beginner or advanced runner does is 16 miles. (I know your are screaming in revolt as you just read that.) The advanced runner will see more training stimulus throughout the program, but the longest run distances are the same.

What a refreshing display of understanding an average runners needs and ability. Someday I would love to get some closer looks and discussions with the Hanson-Brooks guys, but from the outside looking in, I like what I see.

Solution:

So you are freaking out about not running longer than 16 miles prior to your marathon day - that’s normal. But it is normal due to the fact that the 20 miler has become ingrained into every running groups mindset around this country, not because there is a physiological or training stimulus significance to that distance.

I personally don’t have a 16 mile limit in many of the programs I help with, I schedule the longest run at 2.5 hours and allow a little more if the runner is running well, consistent and injury free.

So how do we address the psychology behind “being ready”?

The Double Long Run Weekends.

I have to admit this is not my idea originally. It was a style of training that a professor I had at UNL (Nebraska-Lincoln) put me through (in late 2000) when I went to her for a solution to my 2 previous failed attempts at running a quality marathon.

The basic Idea: is to alternate weekends, doing a longer run on week one, then two medium long runs on Saturday / Sunday of week two. Then repeat that pattern throughout your training program. An example might look like this:

week 1 - Saturday: 12 miles / rest
week 2 - Saturday: 8 miles / Sunday: 8 miles
week 3 - Saturday: 14 miles / rest
week 4 - Saturday: 10 miles / Sunday: 10 miles

That is a basic example, it would be changed based upon athlete, scheduling, along with other variables that could impact the schedule, such as races. I personally prefer to use time goals than mileage goals, but the same pattern would apply with either method.

What I found was that this pattern allowed me to be incredibly more consistent in my running. I would spend less time recovering from the mega long runs. I also found I could easily handle more total running stimulus in a week compared to situations when I was trying to stay fresh for the weekend long run.

Those two things improved my running greatly - consistency and greater overall training stimulus.

How to approach the Double Long Weekend?

These weekends can be tough sometimes, but they can also provide a great deal of training stimulus and self-confidence. Here are some tips that I like to share about those weekends:

1. Saturday’s run should be relaxed and comfortable. I rarely get excited about how fast or slow the runs are, because the main goal is to feel strong. Many times the Saturday run will be finished with the runner feeling a little anxious about not having done enough. Especially when they have reached a point where 10 mile runs could be done each day they run.

2. Make sure you allow your legs to recover after Saturday’s run. Proper post run nutrition, stretching, cold baths are all good ideas.

3. Sunday’s run should be done at an intensity slightly higher than Saturday’s run (but much less than the Tuesday,Thursday runs during the week.) Ideally, the runs would be completed at a pace that is 45 seconds to 1:15 per mile slower than the goal marathon pace.

This depends upon the runner’s current fitness though! Don’t run those times if they are picked out of the air, know that your fitness is prepared for them.*

4. Make the back half of the Sunday run the most intense of all the weekends efforts. Often this will happen naturally as the legs fatigue, but a very fit runner may need to push that portion of the run in order get the training effort up. (Still should be around 45 seconds off marathon pace.)

Using these double long runs in this manner, especially approaching the Sunday run this way should give the runner confidence in their ability to run the marathon’s 26.2 mile distance. It can also be a huge learning experience to feel the legs achy and tired prior to Sunday’s run and still being able to finish the distance or duration.

As mentioned, this structure also allows recovery to occur faster and decreases the risk of injury when compared to the single long run days.

Expanding this concept (even to triathlon).

This idea can be taken one step further for the more advanced runner. An example that I can share is my approach to our (Nikki and my) run programs leading up to Ironman Wisconsin last September.

Knowing that putting in a long run didn’t fit the schedule or our ability to maintain regular workouts in the other sports, we built up to a “broken marathon”. This was different for the two of us as we were different in our running needs.

My program built to this series: 12.6 am run / 6.8 pm run (included some tempo) / 6.4 am run. That got me to 25.8 miles with a little tempo built into it within a 30 hour period.

Nikki’s program built to this series: day 1: 10miles, day 2: 10miles, day 3: 6miles. That got her to 26 miles within a 48ish hour time period as the day one run was an evening run and the day 3 run was a morning run.

Keep in mind that this isn’t a prescription to copy, just an example as to how the idea of stacking runs in a 24/36/48 hour time period could be done. This method was easy enough on my body that I was able to get in an hour recovery swim during the evening of the second day.

(As a sidenote, the longest run I did in the Ironman build was 15 miles.)

Final Thoughts on Approaching your Long Run.

The long run is an important piece to any marathon program, but don’t be fooled into the dogma that the long run has to follow the staircase to 20 miles. It might just be the worst thing you could do for your training, because training and racing become difficult if not impossible when you are nursing an injury.

Try a double long weekend… you just might see your running improve like I did.

* This deserves another post that I hope to get to soon, but for now you can read Daniels’ Running Formula or search google for “VDot running”.

So here I am, it is at the beginning of March in 2008. I have held true to this idea that I’m going to just workout and train throughout the year, no periodization, no “A” races, etc. My idea was to just drop in a race when I felt like it.

That brings me to next weekend. Next weekend I am going to run my first ultra run! It is a 60k run in the Land between the Lakes area of Western Kentucky. I am pretty excited about this race, but I am getting an enormous dose of fear.

The longest run that I’ve had since the Ironman last September has been the Rock-N-Roll Marathon in Arizona. It was a good day to experience what it would be like on my feet for a very long time, as I coached all the athletes from Kentucky to the finish line. But to be honest, I didn’t feel like I was in great shape at that race and I am not in better shape now.

The truth is that I have less long runs than a person normally puts in getting ready for a marathon. I ran 15.5 miles last weekend and then this weekend I ran 13.5 yesterday and 19.4 today. Last night a friend of Nikki’s asked her “Is that his taper”?

The thing with this style of training and racing is that it doesn’t have a taper period. And I’m getting nervous enough about knowing if I can finish this distance that I wanted to put in a double long weekend to see what would happen. It didn’t go super well. I am hurting pretty bad right now. I can move (and actually jogged a half mile with a client after) but by the end of today’s run, I was hurting enough that I started having some second thoughts.

Fear. Sometimes we have fear about what is about to happen. I am thinking that at times it might be wise to have a little dose of fear before we get ourselves into a situation like this.

I’ll let you know how it goes. I went and bought a digital voice recorder and a lapel mic, I plan on doing some updates during the run. I’ll share them with you if there is anything interesting, funny or ridiculous.

[note] This is a reflection I had after the 2006 Derby Festival Marathon. I am adding it to my blog making sure I have it archived somewhere. As the 2008 Derby Marathon is approaching, maybe there are some ideas worth looking at? [end note]

Marathon Training : lessons learned and mistakes made

“It seems that many endurance athletes view overperformances / underperformances in relation to the acute circumstances. For instance, hot and humid weather, too cold or didn’t eat properly. I do it with most races too. (re: just ask me about my Buffalo Lake Springs Triathlon experience. I’ve got lots of reasons for my poor performance. Including the hitchhiker I picked up in Oklahoma… it has to be his fault!) So, it is good to hear about how training programs could have changed for the better from other endurance athletes.”

Predicting Running Performances - Feb 24th, 2006.

After making a statement like that, it only seems honest that I would try and figure out what occurred during the training period leading to the Derby Marathon that resulted in a performance 9 minutes slower than my expectations.

Here are the lessons that I feel I can continue to learn, as I move forward towards my next adventure. Some of the lessons are positive, others are mistakes that I will try and correct the next time I decide to perform during a marathon. When it is possible, I provided a link to an entry in my blog that I felt supported (in real-time) the conclusions I came to.

Lesson # 1:
Consistency is everything.

• Two major problems I saw as people trained for the spring marathons were lost periods of training due to injury or illness. The injuries and illnesses were likely resulting from too much intensity or too much volume in their training programs. (see: Training through injuries)
• I built a base fitness in October, November and December, with the plan to build upon that base starting in February. The nine weeks of exercise after the December 3rd marathon, inconsistent in nature, didn’t allow the base to be realized with a 12 week marathon training program.
• Consistently doing races allows for better development of “racing consciousness,” thus allowing you to perform with a less hectic mind. It also creates a deeper understanding and experiential knowledge of pain. - Derby Festival Marathon Report (re: The Pain)

Lesson # 2:
Inserting “test races” or “fitness evaluation races” are valuable when you create a race strategy, but they also provide confidence in your training and provide intensity into a program based around aerobic development.

• Changing a perspective of training and physiology - 2/17/06
• Predicting Running Performance - 2/24/06
• Week and Rodes City Review - 3/27/06
• Recovery week review – taper importance - 3/30/06
• Papa John’s 10 mile review - 4/17/06

Lesson # 3:
Nutrition, flexibility and core strength are as important as training paces. Ironically, I said this several time throughout the training period, but I never gave it 100% attention, especially nutrition. (And the reason I’m dedicated to it right now.)

• Magee’s bakery and my lactate threshold - 2/14/06
• I’m tired. My legs, my mind and my mood. - 2/17/06
• period one review - 3/6/06

Lesson # 4:
There needs to be a solid development of aerobic base or fitness before a person begins inserting cruise intervals, thresholds or any higher intensity workouts. In this 12 week training cycle, I used Tuesday’s as my “higher intensity” runs, but began those workouts before I had realized the fitness level I needed to reach my goals.

• Marathon training in T minus - 2/3/06
• Initial testing and focuses - 2/9/06

Conclusion:

Reviewing the lessons that I learned, it is humbling to realize that I didn’t follow my own basic philosophy of training, “Health, Fitness, Performance.” I was caught in a mind-set that focused on performance and the variables that create performance. What I have learned again is that without a deep level of fitness, there will be no break through performance, and without health, it is very difficult to develop that fitness.

I don’t want people to think that I am completely unsatisfied with the race. The fun for me is the journey of improving over time. And I have more improvements to make in my fitness and the resulting performance. I have a lot more fun ahead of me. Plus, I take some pride in the fact that I have transformed from a 3:54 – 4:00 marathoner into a 3:04 – 3:08 marathoner. I just know that there is more time to take back!

“Everybody wants to get fast, hardly anyone wants to get fit.” - Gordo Byrn

garyd - 5/23/06

I posted a program for the Derby Festival Half Marathon a couple posts ago. You can find that post here:

Derby Festival Half Marathon Program

If you viewed the program (the google spreadsheet) you see that the program is divided up into four three-week phases. The phases allow for different focuses in the training and what we are trying to accomplish with the running that we are doing.

As some of you readers may have noticed (and due to response I know you have) I am a big believer in developing your fitness at a “steady state” level. This has mainly developed out of my experiences as a runner/triathlete and the philosophies of people I respect such as Arthur Lydiard and Gordo Byrn.

When you coach people though, you have to recognize your biases and make sure you are not allowing them to influence what is best for your athletes. Just because you hold a strong belief shouldn’t influence the best interest of your athletes.

With that reasoning in mind, I realize that for a half marathon there are runners that will need to run faster, harder or more intense than I normally “allow” my athletes to run. That is the reason that I have structured the half marathon program to include some specific “quality” runs on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Below is a description of how those workouts are planned. For reference, it may be beneficial to review the complete program shown on the google spreadsheet again.

Tuesday Workouts:

(phase one)
Week 12: easy run
Week 11: easy run
Week 10: fitness test

(phase two)
Week 9: 6 x 30sec strides
Week 8: 6 x 30sec strides
Week 7: fitness test

strides are just 30 seconds of running fast, focus on using perfect form as you do these, think quick feet

(phase three)
Week 6: 10min warm up, Main Set: 4min at 5k pace, 2min walk, 2min jog, repeat main set three times, 6min cool down

Week 5: same as week six
Week 4: fitness test

(phase four)
Week 3: run at 1/2 marathon goal pace
Week 2: fitness test
Week 1: rest (race week)

Thursday Workouts:

(phase one)
Week 12: easy run
Week 11: easy run
Week 10: easy run

(phase two)
Week 9: Tempo Run - 5min warm up, 3 x 12min at 10k pace, 2min walk between sets, 5min cool down

Week 8: same as week 9

Week 7: Tempo Run - warm up, 4 x 10min at 10k pace, 2min walk between sets, cool down

(phase three)
Week 6: same as week 7
Week 5: same as week 7

Week 4: Tempo Run - warm up, 4 x 12min at 10k pace, 2mn walk between sets, cool down

(phase four)
Week 3: run at half marathon goal pace
Week 2: run at half marathon goal pace
Week 1: rest (race week)

I hope you find the workouts fun and challenging. They should be enough to pick your speed up to run the half marathon well.