Marathon Training Update-Apr 15

2 mile jog with Sumo, 6 mile run. Felt ok but kept it easy. 8 miles total

Recovery from Workouts and Races

"An untrained individual in an overnight fasted state who has a sample of blood collected in the morning from an arm vein before any exercise has a lactate level ranging from about 4-15 mg/dl. We find that our trained elite distance runners typically have a lactate level near the low end of this range (around 3-5 mg/dl) if they are not overtrained. (However, one residual effect of either a very hard single training session or a period of overtraining is a morning postabsorptive lactate level that is either very high normal or clinically elevated.)" -taken from Better Training for Distance Runners by David E. Martin, Ph D, and Peter N. Coe.

My comment: Wouldn't it be nice to have this little test at your disposal, telling you exactly when you are ready for your next hard workout? Is there anything that you can do to reduce blood lactate and speed recovery? Ice baths, compression socks, elevating feet for a short time, cool-down, massage, proper nutrition, and rest immediately following a workout all come to mind.

Marathon Training Update- April 13, 14

In a perfect world, runners could focus on upcoming races without work or family obligations. For most of us, that isn't likely anytime soon.

I have a new work schedule - off every Tuesday and Saturday, so must take advantage by targeting those days for key, longer, time-consuming workouts. After a painful 20 mile day on Saturday I took Sunday off and jogged an easy 5 miles yesterday with Sumo.

Today I did the 1 mile warm up with Sumo, followed by the same course I used prior to Napa Valley- call it 17 miles (although about 1/4 of that is the jog down and back to my start point). I hit the turnaround in 61 min and turned in 62 on the return trip. Recall me best time prior to Napa was 1 hr 55, but I am far from discouraged. A good telltale sign that you are not recovered is difficulty going uphill, which I noticed right away on the sharp incline at 6 miles.

It will be interesting to see how quickly I can get over this one. I intend to run another easy one tomorrow (Wed) followed by an interval session Thurs, easy Friday, and another long on Sat. This is hopefully a pattern that I can maintain and see some progression. I seem to be in a rut since I upped the weekly long run to 20.

Explosive Leg Strength Drops With Training

"...Lou Castognola, a 2:17 marathoner in 1967, was found to have a vertical jump of only 12 inches. Following the 1968 Oly Trials, he stopped training and led a rather sedentary life. Three years later we re-examined him and found that while his VO2 max had declined from 78 ml/kg to 48 ml/kg, his vertical jump had increased to 20 inches. Thus despite a lack of regular physical activity, his explosive leg strength had increased 77%." quote from The Athlete Within, Dr. David Costill

My Comment: Today I might not be able to hit 12", but the question is if Lou did drills and other exercises to improve his vertical jump when he was fit, would he have run a faster marathon? Most experts think so.

Bill Rodgers Plans to Run Boston

“My plan now is to run it,” Rodgers said by phone from Boston, where he still operates his running store. “The last I heard we’re expecting some cool weather. But if it’s hot, I might have to wait until next year. After all, it’s been around for 113 years. I think it will be around next year.” -Bill Rodgers universalsports.com

MY COMMENT: At 61, Bill claims he is no longer interested in racing, so what is he doing running up to 23 mile workouts and 70 miles in a week?

Marathon Training Update Apr 5-11

Apr 5 Sun: 21 mile bike

Apr 6 Mon: - 1 mile jog with Sumo, then 8 miles at 7 min pace most of the way. 9 miles

Apr 7 Tues: - 1 mile jog with Sumo, then 12 mile run easy to moderate. 13 miles

Apr 9 Wed: - 4 mile jog with Sumo, then 10 x 400 with 60 sec rest. 800 cool down. 7 miles

Apr 10 Thur- 2 mile jog with Sumo, then 6 miles- 3 out and back, both legs in the 20:30s. 8 miles

Apr 10 Fri: - 21 mile bike - legs fatigued on the hills

Apr 11 Sat: - 1 mile jog with Sumo, then 19 miles out and back- same as last weekend. 20 miles. Today was much tougher.

Weekly totals: 57 miles running in 5 days, 42 miles biking in 2 days

I was running tired most of the week, probably not enough rest. I need some good quality tempo/speed workouts.

Marathon Legends- Clarence DeMar 1888-1958

“Run like hell and get the agony over with.” -Clarence DeMar

DeMar had an incredible string of Boston Marathon finishes. Diagnosed with a heart murmur and following advice by doctors who examined him, DeMar took several years away from marathoning. Eventually, he must have ignored their advise and resumed racing, and you can see the results.

Boston Marathon Champion 1911, 1922, 1923, 1924, 1927, 1928, 1930
Other Boston Finishes
1910-2nd
1917-3rd
1925-2nd
1926-3rd

Olympic Games, 1912, 1924 (3rd),1928

According to The Athlete Within by Dr. David Costill, autopsy results on DeMar revealed "a significantly enlarged heart with relatively clean coronary arteries." Left ventricular wall thickness- 18 mm (10-12 mm is normal)
Right ventricular wall thickness- 8 mm (3-4 mm is normal)
Diameter of coronary arteries (2-3 x normal size)

Here is a clip of DeMar winning his 7th Boston Marathon.

5 Hour Energy Labeled a "Gimmick"

A 2-ounce gulp of the popular liquid supplement 5-Hour Energy contains an astounding 8,333% of the recommended dietary allowance of vitamin B-12 and 2,000% of the RDA for vitamin B-6.


"for typical consumers of energy supplements or drinks, B vitamins are nothing more than a "gimmick -Victoria Drake, a researcher with the Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University in Corvallis latimes.com

Ryan Hall is Ready For Boston

Oh yeah, I feel night and day different. Just to give you an idea. I am doing eight-mile tempo runs on the same course as before Beijing but running 3:00 faster...three times three is nine, nine minus 2:12 is...well you get the picture...all I am saying is that my fitness is in a totally different place. I remember doing runs before Beijing and feeling like I was trying so hard but my body was just plateaued. Looking back on it, I think I never let my body totally recover from London so I never made the physical gains that I needed to. I am just excited to race again, which is even more important than the workouts. Before Beijing I was concerned but trying to stay optimistic and hoping for a miracle (what else could I do). I am proud of what happened in Beijing because I did the best with what I had even though I wasn't my usual Ryan. In Boston, I will be fully Ryan -letsrun.com

MY COMMENT: Ryn Hall is obviously very fit for Boston- 3 minute improvement over 8 miles is astronomical for a guy at that level. It's shaping up to be a very interesting Boston- hope the weather cooperates and DO NOT GET SICK!

Carbohydrate Mouthwash Improves Endurance Performance

Supplementary carbohydrate does not have to be swallowed or infused in order to exert an ergogenic effect. A remarkable new UK study has found that a carbohydrate mouthwash, rinsed around the mouth at regular intervals during a one-hour cycling time trial, led to a significant improvement in power output and performance time. Peak Performance Online

MY COMMENT: Interesting! Since becoming aware of this small study, I make it a point to carry a few mints or other pieces of candy to suck on during marathons. I have no idea if it works. If you are getting plenty of carbohydrate along the way and come across another rest stop, you can always swish around one of the sports drinks around inside your mouth and spit it out.

Marathon Training Update- Thurs Apr 9

2 mile jog with Sumo, then 6 miles- 3 out and back, both legs in the 20:30s. I definitely felt yesterdays workout in my quads and had to work pretty hard to maintain pace. I needed another day of rest here, however that I am saving that for Friday, the day before another long run. Total = 8 miles.

Prolytes

Another electolyte product, Prolytes "is a perfectly balanced, all natural, pure electrolyte concentrate that contains the most powerful blend of potassium, sodium, magnesium, chloride and sulfate. Prolytes can be added to whatever you want, whenever you need it."

Read the research cited by this company. Everybody knows the body needs electolytes to function normally, but I still do not see anything that supports it's use to enhance endurance performance. note: The key endorser on their site, Dane Rauchenbenberg, is a lawyer who happens to run. You be the judge.

Marathon Training Update-Apr 8

Wed- 4 mile jog with Sumo, then 10 x 400 (approx) on the trail with a 60 second recovery. .5 mile cool-down. This was a good workout for me- faster leg turnover, faster running speed, and deeper oxygen debt than the 800s. The theory is that a few of these workouts will improve my 800s, and eventually my ability to maintain a slightly faster marathon pace. 7 miles

Enlyten Sports Strips

Enlyten is a product that delivers electrolytes through strips placed on the tongue. Does is work? I guess somebody needs to produce some research to convince me that electrolyte replacement during exercise enhances performance. I have my doubts.

Marathon Training Update April 5-7

Apr 7 Tues: - 1 mile jog with Sumo, then 12 mile run easy to moderate. 13 miles

Apr 6 Mon: - 1 mile jog with Sumo, then 8 miles at 7 min pace most of the way. 9 miles

Apr 5 Sun: 20 mile bike

Marathon Training Update- Mar 29-Ap 4

Sun- post long run recovery so no run, 21 mile bike ride
Mon- 8 x 800 in 3 min, 8 miles total
Tues- 11 miles slow
Wed- 9 miles, 7 at a good pace but tired
Thurs- 3 miles easy, tired
Fri- 1 mile in 7 min, 2 x 800 in 3:05, 1 mile in 7 min. No time to run today so I was able to put together a short quality workout and felt pretty good. 3 miles
Sat- 1 mile jog with Sumo, the 20 miles in 2:40. Felt ok- could have gone 26 today.

Total miles for the week = 54 miles running, 21 miles biking.

The Winning Mind

From an early age, my coach used very much faster tempo training over shorter distances, building up resistance to the type of fatigue generated in race conditions. Nevertheless, because of the times I was achieving, the general expectation among other parents and coaches was that I must be running 60-100 miles per week. I remember standing by the side of the athletics track on one occasion when one of the other fathers came up and said: "You're killing him." My dad just looked at the guy coldly and said: "Yes, yes, I'm killing him – right the way to the top."
Telegraph.co.uk

- exerpt from a new book by Sebastian Coe, winner of 4 Olympic medals and multiple world record holder. Coe's book, called The Winning Mind, is dedicated to his coach who recently passed away, and also happened to be his father.

Exercises To Alleviate IT Ban Syndrome

In a study published in the Clinical Journal of Sports Medicine (July 2000), Dr. Michael Fredericson, a physical medicine MD at Stanford University, compared 24 runners with ITB syndrome with 30 healthy runners and found the injured runners to have statistically significantly weaker hip abductors (mainly gluteus medius and minimus) than the non-injured runner -runningtimes.com

Check out the links here for a demo on how to strengthen your gluteus medius muscle. A weak one places additional stress on your IT Band.

Exercise to Strengthen a Weak Gluteus Medius

Part II

Marathon Training Update- April 2

3 mile jog with Sumo and I called it quits. Feeling very lethargic and in need of rest. Tomorrow (Fri) I won't have time to do much either so I am planning a big run on Sat. Sometimes you have to adjust your training on the fly. I should have biked today but I didn't feel like dealing with the strong winds.

A Must Read -Especially If You Are Running Boston

Boston is a downhill course!

...that a series of eccentric strength exercises done two weeks before a downhill run reduced both DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) and the amount of strength loss. The researchers believe that the prior training does two things to help your muscles adapt to the stress of downhill running. It builds more sarcomeres which build a longer, stronger muscle. The prior training also teaches your neuromuscular system to dole out the force more equally among your muscle fibers reducing the chances of damage to one motor unit. -runningtheplanet.com

It's not too late to make a huge difference- if your legs are not prepared for the downhills I guarantee you will be very sore after this one. According to this article just one or two hard eccentric workouts will help.

The Elger Archives- Al's Run 1993

Al's Run in Milwaukee used to be a quality race- 20,000 or so with many of the states top runners. In 1993, I got 3rd in the 40-44 age group with a 26:08. 30th overall.

Marthon Training Update- Apr 1

1 mile jog with Sumo, then 8 miles in 57 min. Legs were flat, however I wanted to get this one in- running tired at close to anaerobic threshold. Total=9 miles

Caffeine and Performance

Nice article here from the NY Times.

Exercise physiologists have studied caffeine’s effects in nearly every iteration: Does it help sprinters? Marathon runners? Cyclists? Rowers? Swimmers? Athletes whose sports involve stopping and starting like tennis players? The answers are yes and yes and yes and yes. -nytimes

Marathon Legends- Derek Clayton

"Through miles and miles of training, I honed my leg action to such a degree that I barely lifted my leg off the ground." - Derek Clayton

Derek Clayton of Australia became the first marathoner to break the 2 h 10 min barrier when he ran 2:09:36 in 1967. He was also first to break 2 hr 09 min clocking 2:08:33 in Antwerp, a world record that went unchallenged for 12 years. Known for high intensity, high mileage training, the oft injured Clayton underwent 7 different surgeries during his 12 year running career.

Here is a second hand look at his training program:

This is what Noakes has as a typical Clayton training week. From memory it's fairly similar to what Clayton listed in his book.

Day Morning Afternoon
Monday 8-11km easy 27km fast
Tuesday 8-11km easy 19km medium
Wednesday 8-11km easy 22km fast hills
Thursday 8-11km easy 22km fast hills
Friday 8-11km easy 16km easy
Saturday 7km easy 40km in 2.20
Sunday 27-32km hills 16km medium

:) Total around 240-250km/week. (that's 150-156 miles)

At 6'2", Derek Clayton was hardly a prototype marathoner- he just trained very very hard.


coolrunning.com

time-to-run

wikipedia

Marathon Training Update-Mar 31

1 mile jog with Sumo, then 10 miles - very slow the first 5, then I picked it up. Still overall legs got tired. It would be nice to fit in more of these runs in the 90 minute range, but do I sacrifice a quality 8 mile in 60 minutes to do so?