Forget everything I said about lactate threshold pace and10k pace in the e-mail about this week's workout. But remember the terms progression run and mararthon pace.
The rules for tonight's workout are simple:
1. It will be one of the hardest workouts we do all season, so come to the run tonight with your time card, ready to punch in and go to work.
That being said, even when you are done with the workout, you should still fell like you had some juice left in the tank. We're not training for a 5k, where you are expected to leave everything you have on the track when you are done with the workout. as Marty says, in marathon training, you don't run yourself to complete exhaustion in the Tuesday night runs. So run hard. But run disciplined.
2. We will warm-up for one mile.
3. We will run four miles at marathon pace (miles 1-4).
4. You will pick up the speed and effort for the next two miles (miles 5-6). I reccommend going on feel. Go hard, but stay in control and in your comfort zone. You still enough in your tank to handle miles 7-8.
5. We will run miles 7 and 8 even harder. You won't be all out sprinting. This is not all out running. You shouldn't be in severe oxygen debt. But you should be running outside of your comfort zone.
6. Cool down for a mile or two and your done.
7. For all you number hounds, miles 1-4 should be easy for you to figure out if you're going the right speed. Either you are going your goal marathon pace or you are not. The next two stages will be a bit more challenging for you since we'll go on feel. That being said, as a rule of thumb you wouldn't want to increase your pace much more than 10 or 15 seconds per mile.
8. Mentally this workout will teach you discipline. Stay at marathon pace at the start. Do not speed up more than 10 or 15 seconds per mile for miles 4 and 5. You have to stay in control all the way through.
9. If you can do this, you will learn a lot about your marathon pace. If you are dead by mile 6, and you controlled your surges through miles 5 and 6, maybe your marathon pace is a bit too fast.
10. Have fun!
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Sunday, August 26, 2007
No Pain, No Gain... No Bees, No Honey
Celebrity blogger and Boston marathon qualifier Shelly Tuma is at it again!
Those of you who took the 2007 Spring Marathon Training Program loved Shelly's work on this blog, so she's back by popular demand!
Click here to the buzz Shelly created on this blog previously, and keep reading to find out what she's been up to lately.
Actually, what happened is Shelly e-mailed me this story (below) since she it reminded her of my tale from last year's TC10 when I was fishing a safety pin out of my sock less than two miles into the race.
The big difference between our two stories is there is point where Shelly must have looked like a complete idiot through no fault of her own, throwing her gear all over the road.
However, in my story, I was a complete idiot through every fault of my own, dumping a safety pin out of my sock and onto the road.
This story is about Shelly's 20 miler last weekend. It's pretty motivational.
We went to the cabin, so I had to go it alone. First when I got up it was 45 degrees! I could see my breath outside. The cool air felt so good. A mere 3 miles into it, I am running along jamming to the tumes on my mp3.
Getting all the kinks out and warming up, when out of no where a bee flies up into my sunglasses. I freaked out! I could not get it out and my sunglasses flew off my head and my hat came off with my headphones. The bee stung me righ under my left eye.
So then what do I do? I am only three miles into it. There is no way I am not going to run on this perfect weather day. So I kept on.
I found a gas station at mile 6 and went to check it out. A little swollen, but I could still see and the stinger came out.
The lady at the station (of course I had to get a key since in the middle of nowhere someone might destroy the bathroom and they need to keep it locked!) thought I was nuts. She was trying to give me hydrocortisone and ice.
"Can I call someone for you?" she said.
I said, "the clock is ticking sister I gotta run! 14 miles to go!"
Anyway, it was pretty funny. Later I kept thinking of what a sight that must have been throwing my stuff all over the road because I am terrified of bees. People must have thought I was having some sort of fit....It made me laugh. After a couple beers that night I felt even better!
So now I know I am really ready to do those last two 20 milers. Nothing can stop me.
Those of you who took the 2007 Spring Marathon Training Program loved Shelly's work on this blog, so she's back by popular demand!
Click here to the buzz Shelly created on this blog previously, and keep reading to find out what she's been up to lately.
Actually, what happened is Shelly e-mailed me this story (below) since she it reminded her of my tale from last year's TC10 when I was fishing a safety pin out of my sock less than two miles into the race.
The big difference between our two stories is there is point where Shelly must have looked like a complete idiot through no fault of her own, throwing her gear all over the road.
However, in my story, I was a complete idiot through every fault of my own, dumping a safety pin out of my sock and onto the road.
This story is about Shelly's 20 miler last weekend. It's pretty motivational.
We went to the cabin, so I had to go it alone. First when I got up it was 45 degrees! I could see my breath outside. The cool air felt so good. A mere 3 miles into it, I am running along jamming to the tumes on my mp3.
Getting all the kinks out and warming up, when out of no where a bee flies up into my sunglasses. I freaked out! I could not get it out and my sunglasses flew off my head and my hat came off with my headphones. The bee stung me righ under my left eye.
So then what do I do? I am only three miles into it. There is no way I am not going to run on this perfect weather day. So I kept on.
I found a gas station at mile 6 and went to check it out. A little swollen, but I could still see and the stinger came out.
The lady at the station (of course I had to get a key since in the middle of nowhere someone might destroy the bathroom and they need to keep it locked!) thought I was nuts. She was trying to give me hydrocortisone and ice.
"Can I call someone for you?" she said.
I said, "the clock is ticking sister I gotta run! 14 miles to go!"
Anyway, it was pretty funny. Later I kept thinking of what a sight that must have been throwing my stuff all over the road because I am terrified of bees. People must have thought I was having some sort of fit....It made me laugh. After a couple beers that night I felt even better!
So now I know I am really ready to do those last two 20 milers. Nothing can stop me.
Coexist
Cats and dogs. Rap and country. Ford and Chevy. Snowmobiles and cross country skis. And now runners vs. bikers.
Can we coexist?
Finn Team Leader Nathan e-mailed me a story from a Strib about a lady who crashed her bike due to some pedestrians on the bike path.
Click here for the story and comments.
I found the comments from the readers more telling than the story itself. In my many years of running the Minneapolis lakes, Minnehaha Parkway, and East and West River Road I have been witness to or in the middle of some pretty tense moments between people using the paths.
In general I have seen four major points of conflict:
1. Rollerblades vs. shoes. This has subsided over the years. But every now and then (especially between Lynnhurst and Lake Harriet), I have had to dodge or confront rollerbladers zipping around pedestrians at dangerous speeds.
2. The battle of the combined path. The cities do not plow the pedestrian path in the winter, and both East and West River Road and Minnehaha Parkway have portions that are shared yearround. Cyclists often tend to bike way too fast under these conditions. And last winter there was this same cyclist who, at least once a week, I believed was trying to run me off the trail, but I can't know for sure. Even so, maybe we runners could do a better job sharing the road, especially when we're running in a group.
3. Runners on the Bike Path. This is one we can prevent. I think bikers can be more polite about directing us back to the footpath, but time and time again I see runners on the wrong path. This is especially perplexing when the pedestrian path is parallel to the bike path, just five feet over. I think this is usually due to lack of awareness more than anything else.
There are places where you may decide you want to be on the bike path for convenience (the bike path is shorter than the foot path) or safety (W River Road's foot path is below street level and secluded, between 44th and around 36th street). In these cases, I say do your best to stay on the grass and string your group out.
Bottom line is: be aware. Be aware which path you are on. And be aware that if you choose to go the bike path route you are a guest on their path. To repeat: Do your best to stay on the grass. If you are with a large group of runners, string yourselves out so you are not taking up the whole path.
4. A pack of runners vs. one or two runners. This happens when our training group is out for a Saturday run, and half of the metro area decides to go for a walk around Lake Harriet, as they are entitled to. Just this last Saturday, on two separate occasions a runner coming from the other direction got pretty ticked at me and my fellow Finns for being in the way. Justified or not, solo runners can get pretty surly towards a pack of runners coming at them.
And on these occasions, I think we should be cut a little slack, as long as we are on the pedestrian path. The lakes are for everyone, groups or individuals. It may be idealistic of me to say this, but I hope that other people can remember they are using a popular city park in an urban area. Navigating through packs of runners comes with part of living in a big city with a great park system. It's just something they will need to deal with.
That being said, awareness on our part can help. I'm sure a huge group of us can be intimidating to an individual going the other direction on an already crowded path.
Remember when the paths are crowded to do your best as a group to take no more than half the path. Try to keep your group strung out as much as possible. Make like ants marching in two lines. Be patient if there is a log jam. Slowly and calmly pass other people.
Bottom line is this: everyone in this city needs to take a deep breath and relax before he or she heads to the trails. Very few, if any other, cities have a trail system as extensive as ours. And, equally rare, we have trails desginated for those moving with heels and those using wheels.
If everyone on the paths can remember that, and be grateful for that, a lot of this tension could melt away. I think our class does a good job with trail etiquette. Let's keep it up. We're giving not just MDRA, but all runners, a good name.
Thoughts? Ideas? Suggestions? I'd be interested to hear from those of you who both bike and run on the trails to get your perspective.
Can we coexist?
Finn Team Leader Nathan e-mailed me a story from a Strib about a lady who crashed her bike due to some pedestrians on the bike path.
Click here for the story and comments.
I found the comments from the readers more telling than the story itself. In my many years of running the Minneapolis lakes, Minnehaha Parkway, and East and West River Road I have been witness to or in the middle of some pretty tense moments between people using the paths.
In general I have seen four major points of conflict:
1. Rollerblades vs. shoes. This has subsided over the years. But every now and then (especially between Lynnhurst and Lake Harriet), I have had to dodge or confront rollerbladers zipping around pedestrians at dangerous speeds.
2. The battle of the combined path. The cities do not plow the pedestrian path in the winter, and both East and West River Road and Minnehaha Parkway have portions that are shared yearround. Cyclists often tend to bike way too fast under these conditions. And last winter there was this same cyclist who, at least once a week, I believed was trying to run me off the trail, but I can't know for sure. Even so, maybe we runners could do a better job sharing the road, especially when we're running in a group.
3. Runners on the Bike Path. This is one we can prevent. I think bikers can be more polite about directing us back to the footpath, but time and time again I see runners on the wrong path. This is especially perplexing when the pedestrian path is parallel to the bike path, just five feet over. I think this is usually due to lack of awareness more than anything else.
There are places where you may decide you want to be on the bike path for convenience (the bike path is shorter than the foot path) or safety (W River Road's foot path is below street level and secluded, between 44th and around 36th street). In these cases, I say do your best to stay on the grass and string your group out.
Bottom line is: be aware. Be aware which path you are on. And be aware that if you choose to go the bike path route you are a guest on their path. To repeat: Do your best to stay on the grass. If you are with a large group of runners, string yourselves out so you are not taking up the whole path.
4. A pack of runners vs. one or two runners. This happens when our training group is out for a Saturday run, and half of the metro area decides to go for a walk around Lake Harriet, as they are entitled to. Just this last Saturday, on two separate occasions a runner coming from the other direction got pretty ticked at me and my fellow Finns for being in the way. Justified or not, solo runners can get pretty surly towards a pack of runners coming at them.
And on these occasions, I think we should be cut a little slack, as long as we are on the pedestrian path. The lakes are for everyone, groups or individuals. It may be idealistic of me to say this, but I hope that other people can remember they are using a popular city park in an urban area. Navigating through packs of runners comes with part of living in a big city with a great park system. It's just something they will need to deal with.
That being said, awareness on our part can help. I'm sure a huge group of us can be intimidating to an individual going the other direction on an already crowded path.
Remember when the paths are crowded to do your best as a group to take no more than half the path. Try to keep your group strung out as much as possible. Make like ants marching in two lines. Be patient if there is a log jam. Slowly and calmly pass other people.
Bottom line is this: everyone in this city needs to take a deep breath and relax before he or she heads to the trails. Very few, if any other, cities have a trail system as extensive as ours. And, equally rare, we have trails desginated for those moving with heels and those using wheels.
If everyone on the paths can remember that, and be grateful for that, a lot of this tension could melt away. I think our class does a good job with trail etiquette. Let's keep it up. We're giving not just MDRA, but all runners, a good name.
Thoughts? Ideas? Suggestions? I'd be interested to hear from those of you who both bike and run on the trails to get your perspective.
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Week Eight: What A Difference A Week (and 25 Degrees Makes
Great job to everyone who completed Saturday's long run. If you completed your first 20 miler, congratulations. But the best is yet to come (knock on wood).
From a marathoner's standpoint, the weather we had for last Saturday's run was the best we've had yet. Contrast the cloudy, cool conditions to the humid, hot run we had at Minnehaha Falls the week before (when we ran around Pike Island).
How much harder do you think your 20 mile run would have been that day? Or a 26.2 miler?
I would recommend having a firm grasp in your mind of just how different it was to run on August 18, compared to August 11. You can really see how the weather can affect your performance. When it comes time for your marathon, you will hopefully now be more adept at using the weather to help guide your goals.
Going into Grandma's this year, I had three goals, based on how I felt and the weather. My first two goals were time goals, and my third goal is always the same: to finish.
As I waited in line at the Port-A-Potty at 6 a.m. and the sun beat down on my neck like it was from south Texas, I knew my high goal had to be scrapped. So my approach was to keep my middle goal out there for the first 13 miles and at that point decide if I should scrap that too, and just finish and enjoy the ride. For that too is an admirable goal.
I met up with Marty and a few other folks about 30 minutes prior to the start and Marty said he was actually going to make a determination at mile two about how hard to push himself.
I can't speak for Marty, but I ended up being happy with my marathon. If I didn't have a policy in place about how I would approach the marathon, I would have surely gone out too fast, as I am wont to do. Mental discipline always trumps mental toughness in a marathon.
So consider the weather over our remaining long runs. If you can feel it on a 12 to 20 mile run, you need to factor that into how you approach a 26.2 mile run. It's not the heat. It's not even the humidity. It's how long you are in the heat and humidity that matters. I mean looked at what happened to these little guys on an MDRA long run too long ago.
Stained Glass? A mosaic? Pompeii? Or melted Gummi Bears?
This is what the heat does to marathoners who go out too fast. Well, at least marathoners who are bears made out of sugar. Either way, don't let this happen to you! I don't know if even MDRA team veterinarian Carolyn Fletcher could have saved these poor guys.
At the end of June, you guys did a long run from Hidden Falls. I had a work conference I had to go to. So I set up a water/PowerAid station along E. River Road for the class, first thing that morning, and then went to my meeting. I got out of the meeting just before lunch, grabbed something to eat, and drove back to E. River Road to break down the aid station. It was 2 p.m. by this time. I had put some Gumm... Walgreen's Bears out as part of the aid station. You get what you pay for. Generic "candy bears" clearly don't do well in the heat.
From a marathoner's standpoint, the weather we had for last Saturday's run was the best we've had yet. Contrast the cloudy, cool conditions to the humid, hot run we had at Minnehaha Falls the week before (when we ran around Pike Island).
How much harder do you think your 20 mile run would have been that day? Or a 26.2 miler?
I would recommend having a firm grasp in your mind of just how different it was to run on August 18, compared to August 11. You can really see how the weather can affect your performance. When it comes time for your marathon, you will hopefully now be more adept at using the weather to help guide your goals.
Going into Grandma's this year, I had three goals, based on how I felt and the weather. My first two goals were time goals, and my third goal is always the same: to finish.
As I waited in line at the Port-A-Potty at 6 a.m. and the sun beat down on my neck like it was from south Texas, I knew my high goal had to be scrapped. So my approach was to keep my middle goal out there for the first 13 miles and at that point decide if I should scrap that too, and just finish and enjoy the ride. For that too is an admirable goal.
I met up with Marty and a few other folks about 30 minutes prior to the start and Marty said he was actually going to make a determination at mile two about how hard to push himself.
I can't speak for Marty, but I ended up being happy with my marathon. If I didn't have a policy in place about how I would approach the marathon, I would have surely gone out too fast, as I am wont to do. Mental discipline always trumps mental toughness in a marathon.
So consider the weather over our remaining long runs. If you can feel it on a 12 to 20 mile run, you need to factor that into how you approach a 26.2 mile run. It's not the heat. It's not even the humidity. It's how long you are in the heat and humidity that matters. I mean looked at what happened to these little guys on an MDRA long run too long ago.
Stained Glass? A mosaic? Pompeii? Or melted Gummi Bears?
This is what the heat does to marathoners who go out too fast. Well, at least marathoners who are bears made out of sugar. Either way, don't let this happen to you! I don't know if even MDRA team veterinarian Carolyn Fletcher could have saved these poor guys.
At the end of June, you guys did a long run from Hidden Falls. I had a work conference I had to go to. So I set up a water/PowerAid station along E. River Road for the class, first thing that morning, and then went to my meeting. I got out of the meeting just before lunch, grabbed something to eat, and drove back to E. River Road to break down the aid station. It was 2 p.m. by this time. I had put some Gumm... Walgreen's Bears out as part of the aid station. You get what you pay for. Generic "candy bears" clearly don't do well in the heat.
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Twenty Freaking Miles
Here are twenty pointers for this Saturday's run.
1. We have three twenty mile runs scheduled over the next six weeks. This is not a prescription that everyone must follow. Some of you may not be ready for a 20 miler yet, either because you are new to marathoning or because of injury. IF YOU HAVE ANY DOUBTS ABOUT WHETHER OR NOT YOU SHOULD RUN 20 THIS SATURDAY, PLEASE CONSULT ONE OF YOUR COACHES. It was subtle, I know, but I used all caps and bold for EMPHASIS.
2. Feeding off the previous point, you can run a mighty fine marathon off of one or two 20 milers. Three is not some magic number. Please check with me, Carly, Deb, or Marty about your own personal training regarding this.
3. No one is training to peak for Saturday's run. We are all training for a fall marathon. Slow and easy gets the job done on Saturday. Your legs need to get used to working for a set amount of time, not running a certain speed. For example, if I wanted to run a three and half hour marathon, I would be better off on Saturday taking 3:15 to run 20 miles than if I went out and ran the dang workout at an 8:00 mile pace.
4. Twenty mile runs are dress rehearsals. You are getting your body to work for a set amount of time (not speed). You are also getting used to and finding the best clothes to wear on marathon day. You are training your mind to let go of things it can't control, like the weather.
5. Twenty mile runs are also labs for your body. Where do you need to put extra body glide? Which gel/gu/peanut butter nutrition plan works for you? Experiment, with discretion, during these final three long runs. What breakfast works best for you?
6. There is no delicate way to put this, but use these 20 milers to learn your, er, bathroom routine. In an ideal world, all toilet needs would be taken care of an hour before the race. Try to find that ideal.
6. The night before is also important. Lay your clothes out ahead of time. Get the logistics of preparing the night before down pat (otherwise, you'll be like me at last year's TC10 and, two miles into the race, you will end up discovering there is safety pin in your sock). And more importantly what foods work the night before.
7. The week leading up to the 20 miler is important too. Get used to thinking about your diet, sleep pattern, and hydration plan four, five, and even six days out.
8. During the run, do what works for you. Do you need to visualize actually running the marathon? Or are you better served pushing that aside? Personally, I do better when I don't try to visualize the race. I like that we practice on the actual TCM course, because that will give me knowledge of what to expect. But it is a dangerous game for me to begin to visualize what the actual race will be like. This may sounds odd, but when I am confident, I actually try to STOP visualizing a fast race. Otherwise, my imagination runs wild, I feel invincible, and come race day, I am prone to starting out waaaay too fast.
9. For those of you doing your first 20 miler ever, almost every person I know has said, after finishing, "Oh my gosh. There is no way I can run six more miles." It can be discouraging. But take a blind leap of faith. Replace those doubts with this FACT: every person that has said that to me has gone on to finish his or her marathon two months later. So will you. And most them (I'd say over 90%) had a great experience.
10. And speaking of great experiences, to quote Anne Walztoni, "enjoy the experience." Our training program is built around one date: October 7. But really, marathons aren't about just the 26.2 miles. They are also about the steps you took to get there. This is just one more chapter to enjoy in that story.
11. That being said, from a physiological standpoint, this training program is all about October 7. Not about August 18. It doesn't matter if you are a savvy veteran or a marathon rookie, people will feel a wide range of emotions after the run. Some will be discouraged. Others will be pumped up and raring to go. I suggest keeping all of this in check. Good or bad run, pat yourself on the back for a job well done, shake off the emotions, and remind yourself your body is preparing for October 7, not August 18. We still have a lot of work to do.
12. We will have some hills along the Minnehaha Parkway on our course. They are not substantial. But I suggest trying to focus on form on these hills. I learned this trick from Gene Niemi: do not change your percieved effort as you run up a hill. People tend to charge up hills. They will pull away from you, but once things flatten out, you quickly catch up to them and find that you are not breathing as hard. I tried this out at a hilly race on Sunday. It works!
13. Have a policy about aid stations: are you one to get in and get out as fast as you can? Or do you see them as a well deserved break and like to walk through them. I can make an argument as to why both approaches are good ideas. But that is irrelevant. Figure out what you think.
14. Regarding nutrition: Janelle, our star nutritionist recommends a gel/gu every 45 minutes with water. This works great for me. Find out if it works for you and if not, figure out what you need to do to adapt. And there are tons of gels and gu out there. Figure out, through trial and error, what works for you.
15. Run YOUR pace on Saturday. You will have to run your pace on October 7. Start practicing now. If the pack you are with is running a bit too salty for you, back off. Let them go. It's not easy for some of us (translation: me) to do this. Mental toughness is hanging on for dear life over the last five miles of the run, just so you can finish with the group you started with.
Mental toughness kills marathons.
Mental discipline makes a marathon. Mental discipline allows you to decide your mates are running too fast and saying, "I need to train at my own pace." Embrace mental discipline. Save mental toughness for the last mile of your marathon.
16. Get simple sugars into your body ASAP once you are done running.
17. Walk later in the day if you are sore. Go for at least a 15 minute jog ton Sunday no matter how sore you are. However, I say that with one qualifier, if you don't start to loosen up at all after five minutes of jogging, then you should stop and walk for the last 10 minutes.
18. If you did 18 miles two weeks ago, remember, 18 + 2 =20. Your only going two more miles than what you did two weeks ago. You can do this!
19. We live in the wealthiest, greatest nation on earth. And on top of that, we are a select few people who have the freedom (health-wise, financially, and time-wise) to train for this. There is so much for us to be grateful for.
I like to remind myself of this when I am struggling through the last few miles of a long run. Chin up! It's good to be alive.
Like my coach in high school said to start each practice and race, no matter the weather or the workout he was about to put us through: "It's a great day for a run."
20. Have fun!!!!!
1. We have three twenty mile runs scheduled over the next six weeks. This is not a prescription that everyone must follow. Some of you may not be ready for a 20 miler yet, either because you are new to marathoning or because of injury. IF YOU HAVE ANY DOUBTS ABOUT WHETHER OR NOT YOU SHOULD RUN 20 THIS SATURDAY, PLEASE CONSULT ONE OF YOUR COACHES. It was subtle, I know, but I used all caps and bold for EMPHASIS.
2. Feeding off the previous point, you can run a mighty fine marathon off of one or two 20 milers. Three is not some magic number. Please check with me, Carly, Deb, or Marty about your own personal training regarding this.
3. No one is training to peak for Saturday's run. We are all training for a fall marathon. Slow and easy gets the job done on Saturday. Your legs need to get used to working for a set amount of time, not running a certain speed. For example, if I wanted to run a three and half hour marathon, I would be better off on Saturday taking 3:15 to run 20 miles than if I went out and ran the dang workout at an 8:00 mile pace.
4. Twenty mile runs are dress rehearsals. You are getting your body to work for a set amount of time (not speed). You are also getting used to and finding the best clothes to wear on marathon day. You are training your mind to let go of things it can't control, like the weather.
5. Twenty mile runs are also labs for your body. Where do you need to put extra body glide? Which gel/gu/peanut butter nutrition plan works for you? Experiment, with discretion, during these final three long runs. What breakfast works best for you?
6. There is no delicate way to put this, but use these 20 milers to learn your, er, bathroom routine. In an ideal world, all toilet needs would be taken care of an hour before the race. Try to find that ideal.
6. The night before is also important. Lay your clothes out ahead of time. Get the logistics of preparing the night before down pat (otherwise, you'll be like me at last year's TC10 and, two miles into the race, you will end up discovering there is safety pin in your sock). And more importantly what foods work the night before.
7. The week leading up to the 20 miler is important too. Get used to thinking about your diet, sleep pattern, and hydration plan four, five, and even six days out.
8. During the run, do what works for you. Do you need to visualize actually running the marathon? Or are you better served pushing that aside? Personally, I do better when I don't try to visualize the race. I like that we practice on the actual TCM course, because that will give me knowledge of what to expect. But it is a dangerous game for me to begin to visualize what the actual race will be like. This may sounds odd, but when I am confident, I actually try to STOP visualizing a fast race. Otherwise, my imagination runs wild, I feel invincible, and come race day, I am prone to starting out waaaay too fast.
9. For those of you doing your first 20 miler ever, almost every person I know has said, after finishing, "Oh my gosh. There is no way I can run six more miles." It can be discouraging. But take a blind leap of faith. Replace those doubts with this FACT: every person that has said that to me has gone on to finish his or her marathon two months later. So will you. And most them (I'd say over 90%) had a great experience.
10. And speaking of great experiences, to quote Anne Walztoni, "enjoy the experience." Our training program is built around one date: October 7. But really, marathons aren't about just the 26.2 miles. They are also about the steps you took to get there. This is just one more chapter to enjoy in that story.
11. That being said, from a physiological standpoint, this training program is all about October 7. Not about August 18. It doesn't matter if you are a savvy veteran or a marathon rookie, people will feel a wide range of emotions after the run. Some will be discouraged. Others will be pumped up and raring to go. I suggest keeping all of this in check. Good or bad run, pat yourself on the back for a job well done, shake off the emotions, and remind yourself your body is preparing for October 7, not August 18. We still have a lot of work to do.
12. We will have some hills along the Minnehaha Parkway on our course. They are not substantial. But I suggest trying to focus on form on these hills. I learned this trick from Gene Niemi: do not change your percieved effort as you run up a hill. People tend to charge up hills. They will pull away from you, but once things flatten out, you quickly catch up to them and find that you are not breathing as hard. I tried this out at a hilly race on Sunday. It works!
13. Have a policy about aid stations: are you one to get in and get out as fast as you can? Or do you see them as a well deserved break and like to walk through them. I can make an argument as to why both approaches are good ideas. But that is irrelevant. Figure out what you think.
14. Regarding nutrition: Janelle, our star nutritionist recommends a gel/gu every 45 minutes with water. This works great for me. Find out if it works for you and if not, figure out what you need to do to adapt. And there are tons of gels and gu out there. Figure out, through trial and error, what works for you.
15. Run YOUR pace on Saturday. You will have to run your pace on October 7. Start practicing now. If the pack you are with is running a bit too salty for you, back off. Let them go. It's not easy for some of us (translation: me) to do this. Mental toughness is hanging on for dear life over the last five miles of the run, just so you can finish with the group you started with.
Mental toughness kills marathons.
Mental discipline makes a marathon. Mental discipline allows you to decide your mates are running too fast and saying, "I need to train at my own pace." Embrace mental discipline. Save mental toughness for the last mile of your marathon.
16. Get simple sugars into your body ASAP once you are done running.
17. Walk later in the day if you are sore. Go for at least a 15 minute jog ton Sunday no matter how sore you are. However, I say that with one qualifier, if you don't start to loosen up at all after five minutes of jogging, then you should stop and walk for the last 10 minutes.
18. If you did 18 miles two weeks ago, remember, 18 + 2 =20. Your only going two more miles than what you did two weeks ago. You can do this!
19. We live in the wealthiest, greatest nation on earth. And on top of that, we are a select few people who have the freedom (health-wise, financially, and time-wise) to train for this. There is so much for us to be grateful for.
I like to remind myself of this when I am struggling through the last few miles of a long run. Chin up! It's good to be alive.
Like my coach in high school said to start each practice and race, no matter the weather or the workout he was about to put us through: "It's a great day for a run."
20. Have fun!!!!!
Paparazzi: Part II
If'n you didn't see the Star Tribune on Wednesday, I will bring a copy to Saturday's run for you to peruse. In the meantime, all this added publicity continues to fan the fire on MDRA's rumor mill.
Are these just rumors, or is their a truth to them? Time will tell.
But my sources tell me that a major studio is already beginning to produce to next installment of the Die Hard series. It will be called Die Hard 26.2: The Crawl to St. Paul
From what I understand they are looking for a new, up and coming actor to play the role of hero cop John McLane.
So are we to believe that Brian Tefft is really the studio's choice to be the next John McClane?
And what about this business about Robert Redford trying to find someone to play his Roy Hobbs charachter in a sequel to The Natural?
Sources close to Redford say golden boy Steve English will take on the role of Hobbs in this movie.
And lastly, Marty and I are in the final negotions with some Hollywood business type for a sequal to Dumb and Dumber.
As you have probably figured out by now, the movie will be called Dumber and Dumbest: Marathons Cause Brain Damage.
Are these just rumors, or is their a truth to them? Time will tell.
But my sources tell me that a major studio is already beginning to produce to next installment of the Die Hard series. It will be called Die Hard 26.2: The Crawl to St. Paul
From what I understand they are looking for a new, up and coming actor to play the role of hero cop John McLane.
So are we to believe that Brian Tefft is really the studio's choice to be the next John McClane?
And what about this business about Robert Redford trying to find someone to play his Roy Hobbs charachter in a sequel to The Natural?
Sources close to Redford say golden boy Steve English will take on the role of Hobbs in this movie.
And lastly, Marty and I are in the final negotions with some Hollywood business type for a sequal to Dumb and Dumber.
As you have probably figured out by now, the movie will be called Dumber and Dumbest: Marathons Cause Brain Damage.
Sunday, August 12, 2007
The Paparazzi
Extra! Extra! Read all about it! Over 100 people decide to train for a marathon! Some of them are crazy enough to run up and down the same hill over and over!
So the Star-Tribune is going to run a story about first-time marathoners, and the story will highlight people in the MDRA training program. The story is scheduled for this Wednesday.
Source... Isn't that the section that has movie reviews and Hollywood gossip? I can already see where this story is headed.
MDRA's own Andrew and Jim
in a re-make of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid?
Or here's something more frightening and shocking than Reservior Dogs
It's Reservoir Kiwis!!!
And this last rumor is just too good to be true. Are they really bringing back the show CHiPs?
Rumor has it they'll change the name and premise just slightly. This time around they'll call the show Finns and these cops don't need motorcycles. They'll just run everywhere and chase down crime in their Asics. Ponch and John don't have a thing on our own Steve and Nate!
You know this last would have worked a lot better, if Nathan were on the left, and Steve on the right.
So the Star-Tribune is going to run a story about first-time marathoners, and the story will highlight people in the MDRA training program. The story is scheduled for this Wednesday.
Source... Isn't that the section that has movie reviews and Hollywood gossip? I can already see where this story is headed.
MDRA's own Andrew and Jim
in a re-make of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid?
Or here's something more frightening and shocking than Reservior Dogs
It's Reservoir Kiwis!!!
And this last rumor is just too good to be true. Are they really bringing back the show CHiPs?
Rumor has it they'll change the name and premise just slightly. This time around they'll call the show Finns and these cops don't need motorcycles. They'll just run everywhere and chase down crime in their Asics. Ponch and John don't have a thing on our own Steve and Nate!
You know this last would have worked a lot better, if Nathan were on the left, and Steve on the right.
Week Seven: Pace Race
We are smack dab in the middle of marathon training season. This week, we cross over from hills and strength work to pace work. If you need help arriving at a marathon pace, I would suggest you consult ALL THREE of the following:
1. One of your coaches.
2. Your team leader.
3. The person/people whom you are doing your long runs with.
Each person will have unique insight either about you as an individual or have marathon experience that can help.
Or for all you do-it-yourselfers, the interwebs has some pace calculators and conversion charts. Click here for the most dangerous tool on the interwebs: the Race Results Predictor. I hesitate to pass this website onto you. So I pass it on to you with one major disclaimer.
DISCLAIMER: The race predictor calculator uses mathematical formulas. It cannot take into account where your individual strengths and weaknesses are. I will use myself as an example. I am a much better at running the 1500m or the 5k, than I am at a martathon. So if you punch my 5k time from last spring into the race predictor calculator, it predicts a marathon time that was 16 minutes faster than what I actually ran at Grandma's. I put in my Half-Marathon time in from April, and it predicited a time that was still ten minutes too fast, compared to how I did at Grandma's.
Also, the predictor cannot take into account what the weather will be like on race day.
So if you play around with the race calculator, please take the results with a grain of salt. Consider your strengths and weaknesses. If you are like me, and really skewed toward one distance, it can mislead you into thinking you can should a faster or slower pace than necesarry.
But the nice thing about using race predictor calculator is it can give you a start at finding the marathon pace that is right for you. It is one more tool for you to use, but by no means is it an exact science.
And that is after all why we run the race right? If everything was guaranteed, we could all just go run a 5k, punch our time into a the calculator, and stop training since the calculator already told us what was going to happen. We could just say that was our marathon. I personally like challenge of facing the unkown. And that's why I keep coming back to this distance again and again. No other distance I've raced compares to it, in terms of the stakes and the unpredictability.
1. One of your coaches.
2. Your team leader.
3. The person/people whom you are doing your long runs with.
Each person will have unique insight either about you as an individual or have marathon experience that can help.
Or for all you do-it-yourselfers, the interwebs has some pace calculators and conversion charts. Click here for the most dangerous tool on the interwebs: the Race Results Predictor. I hesitate to pass this website onto you. So I pass it on to you with one major disclaimer.
DISCLAIMER: The race predictor calculator uses mathematical formulas. It cannot take into account where your individual strengths and weaknesses are. I will use myself as an example. I am a much better at running the 1500m or the 5k, than I am at a martathon. So if you punch my 5k time from last spring into the race predictor calculator, it predicts a marathon time that was 16 minutes faster than what I actually ran at Grandma's. I put in my Half-Marathon time in from April, and it predicited a time that was still ten minutes too fast, compared to how I did at Grandma's.
Also, the predictor cannot take into account what the weather will be like on race day.
So if you play around with the race calculator, please take the results with a grain of salt. Consider your strengths and weaknesses. If you are like me, and really skewed toward one distance, it can mislead you into thinking you can should a faster or slower pace than necesarry.
But the nice thing about using race predictor calculator is it can give you a start at finding the marathon pace that is right for you. It is one more tool for you to use, but by no means is it an exact science.
And that is after all why we run the race right? If everything was guaranteed, we could all just go run a 5k, punch our time into a the calculator, and stop training since the calculator already told us what was going to happen. We could just say that was our marathon. I personally like challenge of facing the unkown. And that's why I keep coming back to this distance again and again. No other distance I've raced compares to it, in terms of the stakes and the unpredictability.
Sunday, August 5, 2007
Weeks Five and Six: I-35W
It is hard to talk to talk about what happened on Wednesday when the bridge collapsed. I am still processing it all. It may not even feel 100% real until I actually see for myself what happended.
My plans that evening were to go for a run, eat dinner with my wife, and blog about socks and the week that was. And then the bridge collapsed, and suddenly the pros and cons of Nike running socks really wasn't on my mind anymore.
I was gathering my dog and his leash, so we could go for our run when my wife called me upstairs to tell me that some bridge collapsed. Like many of you, we could not imagine exactly what this meant until we saw the images.
Each of us will respond to what has happened in his or her own personal way.
This is how I will respond: I will race. No matter what happens, I will finish happy and aware of the blessings I have. It will do nothing to ease the pain and suffering our city is feeling. But if I can savor my blessings, like being able to run every day, it is one small way I can honor those who lost loved ones or their own life on I-35.
So I will be running the TC10 with a heavy heart. But even so, matter what happens with my race, it will be a great day.
My plans that evening were to go for a run, eat dinner with my wife, and blog about socks and the week that was. And then the bridge collapsed, and suddenly the pros and cons of Nike running socks really wasn't on my mind anymore.
I was gathering my dog and his leash, so we could go for our run when my wife called me upstairs to tell me that some bridge collapsed. Like many of you, we could not imagine exactly what this meant until we saw the images.
Each of us will respond to what has happened in his or her own personal way.
This is how I will respond: I will race. No matter what happens, I will finish happy and aware of the blessings I have. It will do nothing to ease the pain and suffering our city is feeling. But if I can savor my blessings, like being able to run every day, it is one small way I can honor those who lost loved ones or their own life on I-35.
So I will be running the TC10 with a heavy heart. But even so, matter what happens with my race, it will be a great day.
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