Scott Fauble Training Log

Congratulations to Scott Fauble for a fantastic sub 2:10 Boston marathon! Scott runs for Northern Arizona Elite coached by Ben Rosario. Scott is one of the few elites that post their workouts online for everyone to see. I love the transparency at NAZ Elite!. Scott and Ben also collaborated to document their preparation that led to a 7th place finish at the New York City Marathon last fall. Inside A Marathon.

Marathon Prediction Calculator

Here is the article that asks for recent times for 2 different distances plus training miles to predict your marathon time. It's in a publication called FiveThirtyEight. Tell Us Two Things And We’ll Tell You How Fast You’d Run A Marathon

Dathan Ritzenhein's is Sharing His Build-up for Boston at Competitor Running!

It's rare that professional runners share their training, but 3-time Olympian Dathan Ritzenhein is doing just that at Competitor Running.

Interesting to note that 2 of his workouts last week included 5 x 1.5 miles and 4 x 2 miles @ marathon goal pace.

Workout Summary Feb 18-24

Total Miles = 53.7
Quality Miles = 19
Long Run = 13.1

Highlights:

Mon: easy day after a 10K race
Tues: 13-mile long run
Wed: 10-mile long run
Thurs: 4 x 1 mile 7:21 on the indoor track critical velocity training
Fri: 2 sets of 16 x 100m with 20-sec rest on turf. 6:12 per mile ave pace
Sat: Easy 30 min jog
Sun: Half marathon @ 7:03 pace

Gyeonggi Half Marathon

I had what I would call "an OK race" considering this was my first half marathon in at least 2 years. I'll admit the last 3 miles were a struggle, in part due to some hills in addition to my perceived lack of leg strength. I'll make an effort to add more hills/resistive training, in addition to some longer runs and look for another hopefully flat half marathon before it gets too hot and try to break 90 minutes.

Splits: 7:00, 6:50, 7:02, 6:51, 6:58, 7:14, 6:52, 6:51, 7:05, 7:10, 7:15, 7:08, 7:29 (49' elevation change in mile 13 was enough to slow me down).

The Frutarian Diet May Improve Your Running!

I ran my first marathon when I was 18 years old. I ran it in 2:52 and qualified for the Boston Marathon, where I ran a 2:47. For literally the next 10 years I could never run faster than a 2:45 marathon. No matter what my training, I had completely plateaued in my performance. I adopted the Frutarian diet in early January 2008. In late February, I ran the Napa Valley Marathon in 2:34.07, finishing second overall. I have subsequently run 8 marathons under 2:40 in the last 28 months (since 1/08), with my current best time of 2:30.59 (5:45 per mile) in the 2009 Palm Beach Marathon, placing 2nd overall. I’ve lowered my half marathon to 1:10 and my 10k to 32 minutes. Before adopting Fruitarian diet, my best half marathon time was 1:17. -The Frutarian.com MY COMMENT: I am going to eat more fruit, but not giving up beer and the occasional steak.

What's the Best Workout Pace?

Having trouble figuring out what pace to do your workouts? Check out runworks.com, a race/ training calculator site that can provide you with optimal pace information for easy runs, marathon pace runs, tempo runs, and intervals. Created by renowned distance coach Jack Daniels, author of Daniels Running Formula, you can download the phone application from iTunes!

Ryan Hall Will Finish Top Ten in London!

We believe it is important to run fast on the track while preparing for a fast marathon - Greg MacMillan MY COMMENT: Good interview with Greg McMillan- unlike Ritzenhein, not afraid or revealing his runners "secrets." His comment agrees with what I've been saying all along about Ryan Hall's lack of racing at shorter distances. It remains to be seen if Hall can pop another good marathon without showing any improvement in his track times.

I posted this in Feb, 2010- and after 2 horrible races leading up to London, I believe Ryan Hall is finally beginning to figure it out.  In this interview with letsrun.com, Hall says "What I've learned recently is the importance of speedwork for me. I've been doing a lot more interval work than I've done for recent marathons. I've realized how important speed is for me. I have had to change my training to prioritize my training to emphasize that."

I've been saying this for a few years now about Hall's approach to marathon training, yet he has continued to hammer out one decent marathon after another.  But if he's looking for something new to boost his fitness besides more rest, he's probably found it.   Let's hope it's not too little too late for Ryan.  From the sound of this, he may be ready for a top 10 finish.

Marathon Crasher- First American Woman to Finish a Marathon!

Marathon Crasher! Merry Lepper sits in a booth inside the restaurant. Her straight brown hair is tied into two pony-tails that encircle her ruddy face like parentheses. She sips hot tea. She pulls out a newspaper article and a cache of photographs from a large envelope and spreads them on the table in front of her. The clipping is almost 50 years old, and the well-creased paper is burnt orange and brittle to the touch. The headline reads "Merry Runner." In the photograph that accompanies the story, Merry is 20 years old. She is jogging in a park in Southern California accompanied by Lyn Carman, her training partner at that time. Merry's blond hair is worn up in a neat bun, and she strides confidently next to Lyn, dark-haired and shorter by a couple of inches. Two of Lyn's children watch from beneath a tree. According to the newsprint, it's December of 1963, and Merry Lepper has just become the first American woman to complete a marathon race. Perhaps, from the perspective of 2012, that doesn't sound like a big deal. Everyone knows someone who has run, or is training for, a marathon. But the current popularity of the marathon hides its ignoble past. From the moment the marathon was created, back in 1896, women were prohibited from entering them. The sexist, all-male officialdom that ruled sports' governing bodies decreed that women's bodies were not built to withstand the rigors of running 26.2 miles – never mind that women's bodies had once birthed those same sanctimonious officials. Put another way: Women could legally vote in presidential elections long before they could officially enter a marathon. Merry Lepper sips her tea and begins to speak softly, conjuring a moment in time when running was both a revolutionary blow against the powers-that-were and a lark to be shared with her pal Lyn: two women in their athletic prime, out for a weekend run on a sun-blanched afternoon almost a half-century ago. Blink, and history will miss you. -exerp MY COMMENT: What a facinating piece of history- only 8 years before I ran my first marathon! First woman to run a U.S. marathon: Culver City, '63

Will Crossfit Help You Run Faster?

CrossFit Coach Dave Werner of CrossFit Seattle, asked what he would do with aspiring half-marathon runners who want to run faster, says he'd have them run three days a week: (1) run intervals at your intended race pace; (2) run shorter intervals at a significantly faster pace; (3) run "long slow distance," a significantly longer distance at a slower pace than you intend for the race. Dave also recommends strength training. For people interested in coming to CrossFit Seattle while training for a long run, he says, "we would lay a foundation of basic strength movements--deadlift, squat, military press, pull-up, push-up or dips. And we would spend some time doing high-power-output intervals, like wallball or kettlebell swings: basic hard work. For most working adults, a three-day-per week running program is pretty effective. If you add to that two or three days of complementary strength and work, that's a great program." -CrossFit Seattle

Ryan Hall Can't Break 30 Min for 10K

Last weekend Ryan Hall finished 15th in the Healthy Kidney 10K, running a dismal 30:15 seconds. According to Hall, he "just hasn't done the 10K work. My training is very specific to the marathon." From this, my guess is Hall does lots of tempo work at 4:50 pace (2:04:50 for the marathon, under 30 min for 10k), and maybe even Yasso type long intervals. Since he only runs 6 days a week, his weekly mileage is not excessive.

Is he in trouble? Based on past performance, probably not. While a medal in London is doubtful, he shouldn't be embarrassed. Hall has been very consistent for several years now, grinding out one good marathon finish after another, more often than not preceded by sub par races. Would he be a better marathoner if somehow he could run some fast times at shorter races? That is the question many are asking.

Hall has said he talked to lots of people when he decided to go it alone and self-coach, but I wonder if Frank Shorter was one of them. If I were in Hall's shoes, Shorter is the first I would have approached, a guy who before injuries finally took hold, seemed to always be at the top of his game, NO MATTER WHAT THE DISTANCE!   While Shorter is best remembered as a marathoner, he was also ranked in the top 5 in the world four times at 10,000 meters, and once was even ranked 10th in the 5000. 

Here Shorter describes his favorite 2 high intensity interval workouts, four x 3/4 mile, or 10 x 400s run very hard. Here he describes his intervals at "5K pace".

Interesting that Shorter describes 75-90% of his training as "conversational pace"- not anywhere near marathon speed. It wasn't all Long Slow Distance (LSD) training, however. In his book, Olympic Gold, Shorter wrote that when he's fit he'll run the second half of his weekly 20 miler at marathon pace.

I find an interesting contrast between Hall, who says he hasn't run any workouts at 10K pace, and Shorter, who believed his 5K pace interval sessions "were the critical ingredient in my training recipe".   And when Shorter ripped off 10 x 400 in just over 60 seconds at sea level, I don't exactly consider that 5K pace training. He ran hard! 

Shorter ran in the 70s and 80s, and unlike Hall, he never broke 2:10. But Shorter has 2 Olympic medals, not to mention a 5th place in the Olympic 10,000 meters. He could run both distances well, and even turned in many good 3 mile times, something that Hall the marathoner has yet to master, or apparently chooses not to.

Hall has proven time and time again he has the strength to run a good marathon but if he wants to take the next step and seriously go after a medal in London, I believe he has to show some speed at shorter distances.    Shorter's PR in the 10,000 was 27:45, run in 1975, the year before winning the silver in Montreal.  Hall ran an impressive 13:22 for 5K while still in college and 28:07 for 10,000 in 2007. 

I'd seriously consider Hall a threat to win a medal in London if he ever figures out a way to get back to running those times while maintaining his current long distance strength, just as Frank Shorter was able to do.  For now, it doesn't appear that is going to happen. 

Will Knee Extension Strength Improve Your Marathon Time?

In conclusion, we observed that, between kilometres 8 and 40,runners generally demonstrate increased stride length, contact time, peak hip flexion during swing, and peak knee flexion during swing, and decreased running speed, stride frequency, peak knee flexion during support and hip extension during swing. We believe that these changes were due to fatigue. In contradiction to our second hypothesis, the observed kinematics generally changed the same (between kilometres 8 and 40) for the fast and slow runners; however, the fast runners did exhibit a more consistent peak knee flexion during support throughout the race, relative to the slow runners. This may have been related more to the runners’ condition on race day. Runners should focus on resistance training which would be directed toward increases in both muscular strength and endurance of knee extensors. By so doing, peak knee flexion during support should be increased and be able to be maintained longer throughout the marathon

Kinematic changes during a marathon for fast and slow runnersed and be able to be maintained longer throughout the marathon

Kinetic Variables.................8K vs 40K difference
Stride length ..................... 1.3% increase
Contact time.......................13.1% increase
Peak knee flexion during support .. 3.2% decrease
Peak hip extension during swing ...27.9% decrease
Peak knee flexion during swing..... 4.3% increase
Peak hip flexion during swing ..... 7.4% increase

MY COMMENT: Knee extension? Haven't heard of that being recommended for runners in years. Interesting study. Who knew?

11:26 for Two Miles and Age Graded Running Calculators

Yesterday I jogged to the Camp Humphreys track intending to run something very hard but not knowing just what that would be.  When I got there, I decided to get it over with by running a hard 2 mile time trial. 

Unless you are already racing frequently at the 5K distance, I highly recommend something like this at least once a month.  I was a bit surprised how tired my legs felt several hours later, a sure sign that the workout did it's job. 

I ended up running 11:26- basically two back to back 5:43s.   Now what?  This was a 5 lap track and I sense a little slowdown on the curves, so I figure I am in 11:20 shape right now.  If I set a goal to run 11:00, that means I have to develop the speed to be able to run a sub 5:30 mile, sub 2:45 for 800 meters, and 82 sec for 400 meters.  Then I must have the endurance to hold that pace for 11 minutes. 

Looking at the Runners World Age Graded Calculator, a 11:26 predicts me to run a 9:21 if I were 25 yrs old competing in the open division.  It also gives me an 84.5 age graded score (the ratio of the approximate world-record time for your age and gender divided by your actual time).  

I think the table is wrong!  I've reached the 84 age graded score before, but that was running my very best times in great shape, not a last minute solo 2-mile run on a short track by myself.  And I am left to wonder why the chart says I need to run 9:39 to reach 100%?  Something isn't adding up.

This calculator at runbayou.com based on World Masters Association data predicts a 9:30 and 85.3% as a percentage of the top standard for my age.  That makes more sense. 

I also took a peek at the McMillan Running Calculator that predicts times at other distances- and based on my 2-mile I am in 3 hour 57 second marathon shape.  Maybe with a few more long runs I could do that since my last 2 marathons have been 2:59 and 3:01. 

Getting back to training, I'll make it a point to begin working on 400s and try to get those down to 82, along with some 800 meter workouts 2:45 or faster.  I'll have to cut the volume (remember last week I did 16 x 400) to focus on speed, and I certainly need to be well rested before these intense workouts.  To avoid injury, I'll run these on the artificial turf.  And with no races on the calendar, I'll plan some sort of short race simulation time trial  frequently on the weekends. 

In a way, this is a refreshing change from my long-distance racing focus, and I look forward to seeing how fast I can run at 5K and under.

Frank Shorter Speaks About Running With Bad Feet

Interesting that Frank mentions that he learned to "run light on his feet" because they hurt so much. I recall reading somewhere that former marathon world record holder Derek Clayton said basically the same thing- he was big for a marathoner but taught himself to run "light on his feet."

I also remember racing against Shorter in 1976, amazed at the shoes he was wearing with paper thin soles. I am wondering if he learned the efficient barefoot running style back then by training in something similar.

Marathon Olympic Trials are Here!

Good luck to all who are participating in the Olympic Trials marathon tomorrow in Houston! The race will be broadcast on tape delay by NBC on Sat from 3-5 pm EST but you can listen to a live audio feed and twitter updates on flotrack.

Good luck to fellow Wisconsin native Rachel Booth that I had the pleasure of training with for a stint in Okinawa about 5 years ago. Last words I heard from Rachel on facebook were "I'm looking for BIG PR" (2hr 43:36).

Kara Goucher Interview

We're going to go in really tired. We have a really hard long run today (Monday, two days ago), and we're asked to keep our mileage up at an all-time high through the week this week. So we're going in with really tired legs. We don't have great flights. We get in pretty late, like 11:30 at night Friday. So for us, it's really just a dress rehearsal of what it feels like to run the second half of a marathon tired. Certainly, none of us are going to run PRs, but it's more just practicing being tired, what that feels like. We're going to have our fluids set up. It's very different than I've ever approached a half-marathon before, because I've always gained a lot of confidence from running a good fast half, whereas that's really not the goal this time. The goal is to run a decent one extremely tired and know that when I'm rested, I can go twice the distance. runnersworld.com

MY COMMENT: Goucher will be running a half in Miami this weekend along with Shalane Flanagan.

I'm not sure it's a good idea to go into a half marathon less than 100% just a few weeks away from the Olympic Trials- If she runs great, no problem, but a poor showing will do nothing for her confidence level, not to mention what it will do to her recovery. A hard 13 mile run while tired is easy to implement in training- for me a race is the place to evaluate whether or not your training is working- so you should be rested.

I'm a bit surprised with what she had to say about the difference in training programs between Salazar and Schumacher. Hopefully it works out.

Adjust Your Intervals!

Coming off a marathon 4 weeks ago, I am starting to get back into my normal training routine that includes 800 meter intervals on artificial turf. Prior to the marathon I could rip off 10 and keep them all under 3 min.

Yesterday, after 4 in 3:06, I realized that I am simply not ready to pick up where I left off. Rather than quitting, I took a long 4 min break, then ran another in a more comfortable 3:16, finishing off with 2 x 1 mile in 6:37 and 6:27.

In retrospect, if I'd started out with 3:15 I would have been fine, but as it is I salvaged a pretty decent workout. Friday I'll see if I can fit in some 400s at 90.

Sidenote: I am still focused on accumulating and tracking sub 7 min miles per week.

Buddy Edelen- One of America's Best Distance Runners You Never Heard Of

OK so maybe you have heard of Buddy Edelen, and if so, then you can appreciate what a special talent this guy was.

How can it be that an American who set the world best time in the marathon (In 1963 he ran 2:14:38) does not get mentioned among the greats? Edelen was also the first American under 30 minutes in the 10K and 2hr 20min in the marathon- two very significant distance running milestones.

Edelen won the 1960 US Olympic Marthon Trials in 90 plus degree heat by THREE MILES! Perhaps as a result of that race or not allowing a proper recovery, a bad case of sciatica prevented him from competing for a medal in Tokyo, yet he still managed to capture 6th.

Check out his training diary prior to his marathon world best- amazing! (from South Dakota Runner)

June 1: 3 sets of 10 x 110-120 yard sprints (30 in all), followed by a swim
June 2: 10-11 miles steady, followed by a swim
June 3: 22-23 miles in 2:03-2:04, followed by a swim
June 4: 3.5 miles; 7 x sprint series of 55-110-150-220; 3.5 miles
June 5: 10.5-11 miles in 54-55 minutes.
June 6: A.M.-6 miles hard; P.M.-4 sets of 5 x 440 in 64.8, with 220 to 440 jog recovery between: "Tremendous workout."
June 7: 20 x 440 in 70-71, with a 45-second jog recovery between
June 8: Club track meet: mile in 4:23; 880 in 2:07; 110 leg on sprint relay
June 9: 22-23 miles in 2:01, followed by swim: "I am less stiff after today's run than I have been in ages."
June 10: 4.5 miles from school, then swim
June 11: A.M.-4.5 miles to school fast; P.M.-25 x 440 in 67.4, with 60-second jog recovery
June 12: A.M.-4.5 miles to school fast; P.M.-11 miles in 55-56 minutes, then swim
June 13: No running
June 14: No running
June 15: Marathon

Note: June 6,7,8 is an incredible string of workouts. No hard easy program for Buddy.


Edelen's autobiography, A Cold Clear Day by Frank Murphy, is a captivating account of this great American runner.

Sadly, Edelen succumed to cancer in 1997 at age 59.

3:01:20 at JoongAng Marathon in Seoul

I honestly had no idea going in how this marathon was going to turn out- I've had the worst hacking cough ever for 2 months now, making just about every training run an ordeal. It's only the last couple of weeks have I been able to ramp up any kind of intensity on 800 meter repeats, and as usual I don't have much in the training log over 13 miles.

On the positive side, I've done some solid work- the Pyeongtaek half marathon under 1:30 coughing all the way, a 1:30 half by myself in a workout, a sub 70 ten mile run, multiple sub 7 pace shorter runs of 5 miles or so, including one week with 40 total sub-7 min miles, and recently a 6 x 800 meter workout starting at 2:55 ending at 2:49 on turf.

JoongAng is a big race- 13,500 plus in the marathon, and according to my race number, I was assigned to section "D"- 4:40 or slower. I was told by American friends that they were starting each section seperately, and if I moved up I would be disqualified. There goes any shot at a sub-3, or so I thought. As soon as I saw the guys with the ropes clear out and the masses converging to the front, I realized that would not the case today.

I was able to move up as far as the 4:20 pacer when I heard the gun, and fortunately by the time I crossed the start I was free to run unimpeded. That's where the controversy begins.

International races, as everybody knows, use kilometers, and I prefer miles on my Garmin. I had a feeling that things weren't quite right with the kilometer splits, but I kept my focus primarily on ave pace with the GPS. Early on, I felt very, very comfortable and gained confidence as the miles clicked away. Why did those kilo splits seem so slow? I recall my 10K split at 43 min (that's 6:55), yet I definitely remember seeing 68 min at 10 miles on my GPS (6:48).

Back in my prime, the third 5 mile split was always the fastest in my best marathons, and that was what I had in mind today. I missed the 15 mile split, but do recall seeing 1:25 or 6 at 20K and even 2:08 at 30K, so at least I was not slowing down (now I realize that is only 6:53 pace).

My GPS told me I was still running a stong 6:47 mile pace at 20 miles, prompting me to believe that I was in good shape for a sub 3, despite mile after mile straight into an annnoying wind. As I pushed though those last few miles, I felt confused because on one hand my GPS was telling me I was on pace yet the kilometer splits were not adding up.

Sure enough, as I reached the stadium I had a hard time believing that the Garmin registered 26.2 miles and I was just approaching the Olympic Stadium entrance.

As good as I felt today, I'm pretty sure that I broke 3 hours, that my GPS was accurate, and this course is long. I stopped the GPS at 26.21 miles outside the stadium, while another American friend of mine stopped hers at the finish on 26.37 miles. Even THAT seemed short to me since my 3:01:20 would only translate to 6:54 pace.

The bottom line is that I am very happy to have run as well as I did, I can't run any better in the shape I am in now, but I am even more happy that I've already run a sub-3 this decade. The lesson here is while the GPS is a valuable tool and in fact may be more precise than the actual marathon kilometer marks, it does not determine your final pace or distance- unfortunately.

Sidenote: James Kwambai of Kenya won the race in 2:08:50. His personal best is 2:04:27. David Kemboi Kiyeng of Kenya finished second in 2:09:21. He won this race last year in 2:08:15 and has a PR of 2:06:30.

Marathon Training- The Final 4 Weeks

It's also clear that the basic foundation of the last month should be intensity, not volume. Running lots of miles and fitting in last-second long runs would further stress already wounded muscles. It's better to let muscle fibres recover by gradually reducing their weekly dose of impact forces. Although at first glance the principle of running intensely during a recovery period seems peculiar (why wouldn't rapid running also stress the muscles?), it works well for several reasons. First, research has demonstrated that intensity is a much more potent producer of fitness than mileage. Since you are trying to boost your fitness dramatically in the last month, intensity is the more attractive option
-Marathon training: planning a 30-day running programme

MY COMMENT: Interesting!