Marathon Training Update Apr 29

Bike ride today- I finally decided to do some hills. Boy do I need to work on that! I am convinced that a few of these workouts will help me run hills. 1 hour bike- 12 miles.

Marathon Training Update-Apr 27-28

Mon- 2 mile jog, then 4 x 1 mile with 2 minutes recovery. This was a tough workout- 6:07 then the rest 5:55-5:57. 1 mile cool-down for a total of 7 miles

Tues- A leg weary 17 mile run in 2 hours plus.

New Coach, New Workouts for Shalane Flanagan

I have a new coach and I'm starting to integrate some of his new training, so new stimulus for me, meaning the volume at which he's requiring me to run, it's just larger than I've ever taken on. One example of a workout is seven by a mile repeats, and I've never done anything like that. I can count on one hand how many times I've done 10K worth of work on a track or anything like that. Just the volume and the pace at which I ran, and just a string of where I had in seven days where I had four really quality workouts -Olympic 10,000 meter bronze medalist Shalane Flanagan, who is now coached by former U. of Wisconsin coach Jerry Schumacher (now a coach with Nike based out of Portland). runnersworld.com

MY COMMENT: 7 X 1 mile? I'm wondering how fast and what was the rest interval? Shalane Flanagan has an Olympic medal plus American records for 3K, 5K, and 10K. Clearly she has been doing something right. I find it interesting that a runner of Flangan's caliber puts so much trust in a new coach and different training regiment. Hopefully she made the right decision. Remember Schumacher coaches Chris Solinsky and Matt Tegenkamp, both who clearly underperformed in 2008, an Olympic year.

The Elger Archives- Cudahy 10 Mile 1976

53:26 FOR 10 MILES- not bad but I was in better shape in May.

London Marathon Results

MEN
1 WANJIRU, SAMUEL KEN 2:05:10
2 KEBEDE, TSEGAYE ETH 2:05:20
3 GHARIB, JAOUAD MAR 2:05:27
4 MUTAI, EMMANUEL KEN 2:06:53
5 RAMAALA, HENDRICK RSA 2:07:44
6 GOUMRI, ABDERRAHIM MAR 2:08:25
7 KIFLE, YONAS ERI 2:08:28
8 SATO, ATSUSHI JPN 2:09:16
9 KEFLEZIGHI, MEB USA 2:09:21
10 LIMO, FELIX KEN 2:09:47
11 RITZENHEIN, DATHAN USA 2:10:00
12 ABSHIRO, TESSEMA ETH 2:11:18
13 JONES, ANDI GBR 2:15:20
14 DENT, MARTY AUS 2:15:24
15 WOJCIK, RAFAL POL 2:16:41

WOMEN

1 MIKITENKO, IRINA GER 2:22:11
2 YAMAUCHI, MARA GBR 2:23:12
3 SHOBUKOVA, LILIYA RUS 2:24:24
4 ZAKHAROVA, SVETLANA RUS 2:25:06
5 ADERE, BERHANE ETH 2:25:30
6 ABITOVA, INGA RUS 2:25:55
7 NDEREBA, CATHERINE KEN 2:26:22
8 MORIMOTO, TOMO JPN 2:26:29
9 WAMI, GETE ETH 2:26:54
10 PETROVA, LYUDMILA RUS 2:27:42
11 KANO, YURI JPN 2:28:44
12 CHUNXIU, ZHOU CHN 2:29:02
13 O'NEILL, KATE USA 2:34:48
14 OKUNAGA, MIKA JPN 2:35:36
15 CENTENO, YESENIA ESP 2:40:13

Advice from Marathon Legend Ron Hill

" ...the trick is to make life easy on yourself. Buy the best gear you can afford, that is your investment in the sport. Always dress appropriately for the bad weather. Running vests, rainproof Goretex tops, gloves when it's cold, a cap if you fancy it. Don't suffer. Why suffer? Enjoy"


"There is no real secret to successful training and being competitive in the marathon. Let me give you my recipe: steady distance work and lots of it, short spells of speed work within that distance work, and regular racing. Don't hide away, race regularly."

-Ron Hill, British marathoner who broke 2 hr 20 min 29 times and has run every day since Dec 20, 1964
Telegraph.co.uk

Marathon Training Update-Week of Apr 19-25

Sun- 1 mile jog and 1 hour bike following long Sat run

Mon- 2 x 3 mile tempo runs with 5 minutes recovery (actually 2.9 miles- both under 18) felt very strong 3 mile warm-up so 9 miles total

Tues- 19 mile run in 2 hr 39

Wed- 17 mile bike

Thurs- 1 mile jog, then 6 miles

Fri- 3 mile jog, then 6 x 800 in 2:54, 60 sec rest. Total = 6 miles

Sat- 1 mile jog, then 14 miles in 1 hr 52.

Total miles - 55 running and 30 biking

Who Won the Marathon Bronze Medal in Bejing?

"I would buy bread and some tea and would have only one meal a day," Kebede reflected as he gratefully savoured the generous London Marathon hospitality in the Tower Hotel. "After that, I had nothing left in my pocket. I had to wake up the following morning to go back to work in order to survive. If I didn't, there would be no food. The Independent

-22 year old Ethiopian Olympic bronze medalist Tsegay Kebede who has run 2:06:10. He's running London- how can you not root for the guy?

Why Don't More Sports Drinks Include Protein?

Adding protein to carbohydrate drinks during exercise has been shown to decrease muscle tissue damage in runners, improve performance, and enhance water retention (see a list of references here).

Accelerade is one of the few sports drinks on the market that includes protein- 4 grams per 8 oz serving (4:1 ratio carbohydrate to protein).

The most obvious problem with protein during a race would be a slower absorption rate, but apparently that isn't the case with Accelerade. Based on the evidence, it's certainly worth a try.

London Marathon Preview- Men

Thirteen men who have run under 2 hr 10 min are running London tomorrow, including Olympic Champion Sammy Wanjiru. Letsrun.com .

Americans Dathan Ritzhenhein and Meb Keflezighi are in the field, as well as Kate O'Neill.

The London Marathon Media Guide

Low Mileage Blamed for Poor Performance in England

He was shocked to discover the low weekly mileage count of several of Britain's top male runners. "Some of the boys have been running only 20-30 miles a week," he says. "Now we've got people like Mo [Farah] jacking up mileage of 100-120 miles a week.

"It's a big lifestyle change. In the last 10-15 years there was a groundswell of opinion that said 'less is more'. We had runners doing more work in the gym.But they're not doing that in Kenya or Ethiopia, they're getting miles undertheir belt." guardian.co.uk

-Ian Stewart (the guy that outkicked Pre for the bronze medal in Munich)

MY COMMENT: Nothing more needs to be said. Same thing happened here in America until people started waking up.

Can't Sleep? Watch the London Marathon Live!

Access universalsports.com to watch a live feed of the London Marathon. Sunday 4 AM Eastern

Marathon Training Update Apr 22

17 mile bike ride and no run.

Goucher Also Made Mistakes at Boston

Kara realizes that she made a tactical mistake and wasn’t supposed to lead any earlier than a mile to go,” he said. “We felt she could out kick anybody if she played her cards right. It boiled down to 10K racing. When a 10K runner takes a lead from the beginning on the track, 95 percent of the time they don’t win. And the wind started to pick up and she started to do all the work. If she had waited and made it into an 800-meter race like the other girls did, she would have finished better. It’s a matter of gaining experience with every race.” -Alberto Salazar, comments on Kara Goucher following Monday's Boston Marathon. universal sports

Ryan Hall Could Have Won Boston

“After leading for half an hour I was getting sick of the wind and decided to sit,” he wrote. “Whenever I got out of the lead the pace slowed. I knew when I decided to sit the time would pretty much go out the window." -Ryan Hall, universalsports.com

Hall's comments remind me of Lance Armstrong at age 20. Winning a marathon requires energy conservation in the early stages. Period. Unless you are head and shoulders above the rest of the field, you will not beat your competitors if they are the ones drafting the first 10K. What would you rather have- 3rd in 2 hr 09 min or a win in 2 hr 11? Had Ryan hung back, sure the pace would have been slower, but SO WHAT IF HE WINS!

Here is another tip for Ryan- you cannot be at your best racing 2 or 3 times a year. No way, no how. Olympics, half hearted Gasparilla, then Boston. I don't care who you are or who you train with, Hall will not win a major marathon without racing more frequently than he does at shorter distances.

I think Ryan Hall has as much talent as anybody in the world. He claims to be learning so much in these marathons, but his mistakes at Boston were big ones. I have one suggestion- give Frank Shorter a call and see what he thinks.

Marathon Training Update Apr 21

19 mile run in 2 hr 39. Felt some discomfort pain in my left (good) hamstring. I have not been stretching that one so I think it's from yesterday's tempo run. I took it very easy on this run and felt ok all the way.

Salt and Sweat

"The more salt you eat, the more salt you lose in sweat." -Nancy Clark's Food Guide for Marathoners
MY COMMENT: According to most sources, Americans take in an average of 3,000-4,000 mg of sodium per day, or up to 2 pounds a year! I am not too concerned about replacing sodium on long runs.

Thoughts on the 2009 Boston Marathon

Yesterday was the 113th running of the Boston Marathon, a race I've completed 5 times. I got to watch it sporadically on universalsports.com.

MY COMMENTS: Deciding to "run his own race", I was shocked to see Ryan Hall take the lead so early- clearly a major tactical error that just might have cost him a victory. I also noticed that Ryan, despite his extremely fluid running form, carries his arms slightly lower than optimal.

On the women's side, 4 Americans found themselves leading the pack through mile 10, including 45 year old Colleen De Reuck, who ran a fabulous race finishing 8th in 2 hr 35 min 37 sec.

The women's finish was amazing. Kara Goucher made a courageous move to break up the pack of 7-8 women with 5-6 miles to go, dropping all but 2. Finishing 3rd, she will be rehashing that decision, thinking perhaps it would have been wiser to draft a few more miles, especially into a headwind. My bet is the overwhelming crowd support had something to do with that. All in all, a good day for the top Americans.

The Hansen-Brooks team, led by Olympian Brian Sell's 14th place finish in 2hr 16:31, placed 5 of their runners in the top 20. I am sure they are disappointed in their times, and Sell (4th in 2006) definitely hoped to finish higher ("I shouldn't even get free shoes.")

I searched the results for 4-time winner Bill Rodgers, and discovered he finished in 4hr 06 min 49 sec, or 9 min 25 sec per mile. Ouch!

Go to flotrack.org for all the interviews!

Top 10 Men
1. Deriba Merga ETH 2:08:42
2. Daniel Rono KEN 2:09:32
3. Ryan Hall USA 2:09:40
4. Tekeste Kebede ETH 2:09:49
5. Robert Cheruiyot KEN 2:10:06
6. Gashaw Asfaw ETH 2:10:44
7. Solomon Molia ETH 2:12:02
8. Evans Cheruiyot KEN 2:12:45
9. Stephen Kiogora KEN 2:13:00
10. Timothy Cherigat KEN 2:13:04

Top 10 Women

1. Salina Kosgei KEN 2:32:16
2. Dire Tune ETH 2:32:17
3. Kara Goucher USA 2:32:25
4. Bezunesh Bekele ETH 2:33:08
5. Helena Kirop KEN 2:33:24
6. Lidiya Grigoryeva RUS 2:34:20
7. Atsede Habtamu ETH 2:35:34
8. Colleen S. De Reuck USA 2:35:37
9. Alice Timbilili KEN 2:36:25
10. Alina Ivanova RUS 2:36:50

In my age group (55-59) 3rd place was 2 hr 56 min 08 sec, and 10th was 3hr 05 min 26 sec. (I ran 2hr 55 min 10 sec at Napa Valley). No doubt the wind was a factor, but a top 10 finish would not have been impossible. Maybe next year!

Marathon Training Update- Apr 20

Good Workout! On April 9 I did an out and back tempo run(slightly short of 3 miles), running each leg in 20:30s. Using the same course today I ran a strong 17:38 and came back in 17:15, the last 800 (the section where I run intervals) under 3 min. Goes to show that I was well rested today relative to the Apr 9 workout.

You can't run tired all the time and expect to race well.

3 mile warm-up, short cool-down total = 9 miles.

Apr 19 I did just 1 mile with Sumo and an hour easy on the bike.

Marthon Training Update- Week of Apr 12-18

Mon- easy 5 coming off a difficult 20 on Sat.

Tues- 1 mile jog, then 17 miles

Wed- 2 mile jog, then 6 miles

Thurs- warm-up, then 6 x 800 fast with 2 min recovery, 5 miles total

Fri- easy 5

Sat- 1 mile jog, then 14 miles- a few miles in the middle at a good pace.

Total miles for the week = 57 miles

Marathon Training Update:Intervals- April 16

For the past few years I've used 800 meter repeats as a staple workout. I've always used a 1 minute recovery, and when I am fit, I can maintain 10 repetitions under 3 minutes.

While 8-10 x 800s has served me well the past few years, it's time for a change. I want to improve my speed, so last week I did 10 x 400s with a minute rest. Tonight, I went back to the 800s, but added another minute to the recovery (hoping to run the pace I did last week on the 400s).

2:54, 2:53. 2:52, 2:51, 2:50 and 2:50 (this workout is on a trail, so the distance is not precise. By comparison, my average on this trail using the 60 second recovery has been 2:54-2:55).

Not a bad workout-hopefully something I can build on and improve by June. For now I'll stick with the 2 minute recovery and try to building up to 10. Ambitious goal, because I'll admit- tonight was very hard! Total 5 miles

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.