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[tags] Foto [/tags]
Foto Friday
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[tags] Foto [/tags]
Author Archives: crossn81
[tags] Foto [/tags]
What is your Strategy?
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Do you have a running strategy? Something like run fast and then run faster or go out hard and finish faster? Mine is run fast and don’t die at the end. Those are more racing strategies than running strategies. When I sit down and think about long-term races and plans – then I “strategize” by picking a training plan, setting a goal, finding a race.
Is that a good strategy? It is definitely a good starting point. But what about a real plan to achieve real success? It takes weeks of training to create a successful race and like any good dessert – there are many ingredients.
Runner’s World offers these 5 parts of strategy:
1. Minimal Training for Optimal Results – I like the sound of that! If you could run a 4-hour marathon by just running 5 miles a day – would you ever do a 20-miler? I’d hope not! While that’s not really possible, we need to make sure we aren’t over-training ourselves. Running more miles doesn’t necessarily make you a better runner capable of producing faster race times.
2. Be Consistent – This is the key to success in almost anything. It is a vital component of any training plan. While running 5 miles a day won’t make you a sub-4 hour marathoner it is better than running 5 miles a week or running a 25 mile week and taking a week off and running 3 miles the next week. Regular and consistent running lets your body adapt to the stresses and pressure of running which will greatly improve your outcomes. Even if it is a couple of days a week you should maintain some type of consistent schedule. On a side note it is easier to be motivated to run if you do it at the same time each day (consistently!).
3. Balance hard efforts with rest – Even as your body is adapting to a consistent running schedule, it needs time to rest and recover. Your body needs a little down time to repair all the muscle and bone tears that the stress of running causes. Think about this as letting the no-bake cookies set into hard cookies. I personally take one day off completely of exercise and cross-train one other day a week. This is helping keep me healthy and strong. A few weeks ago I had a “down” week and I felt a lot more rested and energized afterwards. This also helps prevent over-training and burnout.
4. Expect peaks and plateaus – My entire life ebbs and flows – I have exhilarating days and days where I’d rather just stay at home. You make a good batch of cookies and then next week using the same recipe they taste horrible. A consistent work load creates change in the body and you’ll see improvements – yet your body can only improve so much unless something else changes. If you feel like you’ve reached a plateau or stale point in your training, try something new. Find some new trails, mix in some speed work, find a running group, race a different distance. Each of these and many more ideas can help you reach new goals and overcome a stale stage in training. If you follow a training schedule it should include a time of peaking – allowing your body to be at top performance during the race. You may have mini-peaks throughout where you run a route a little faster than usual. If this happens you get excited, until next week when you run it again and its slower than before. This happens to me sometimes and then I’ll look back and realize that during the second week I had done more speed work or something and my body was tired and needed a little extra time!
5. Practice Patience – This may be the hardest for me. I want my times to start dropping immediately. Just like we want our fast food fast – we want performance improvements fast or we want to be at 35 miles a week during the first week back from an injury. To continue with the cooking analogies if you are supposed to bake cookies at 350 for 20 minutes – you can’t bake them at 450 for 10 minutes and get the same result. You can’t speed up the baking process. In the same situation you can’t pull the cookies out after 10 minutes of baking and expect them to taste right. You must be patient and follow directions to get the perfect cookie! In running you should follow the 10% rule – increase your overall mileage by 10% and any long run by 10%. You should also be careful not too add speed work too quickly. You need to have a good base/foundation before you start building up intensity.
For the perfect cookie you follow the recipe, so for the perfect race follow the strategy. Well that’s not always accurate either! Sometimes you can do everything right with the cookies and they still get messed up somehow – the same is true in running. You can follow every piece of advice, read all the blogs and article, and still have a bad race or get injured. But thinking strategically and being careful should ensure a good season.
[tags] Training, Running, Strategy, Cookies [/tags]
Smog’s Impact on Running
We’ve heard lots about the impact of smog on the environment and that there really is no upside to having smog around. Here in the USA we’ve done a decently good job at beginning to reduce smog – especially in metro areas. We aren’t smog-free by any means but some places are doing better than others.
By now most people have heard about the Olympic Games in China – and maybe even the fact that China has a lot of pollution due to the high number of cars in areas like Beijing. That’s part of why oil prices keep rising. Good old supply and demand economics (for a simple explanation!) There are a lot of concerns about the Olympic Games being held in China – probably too numerous to mention here.
Today’s post focuses on the issue of how smog will impact the games. The Washington Post is reporting that:
Fearful of the effects of air pollution on their performance, Olympic athletes are taking extreme measures to prepare for this summer’s Games in Beijing.
The article goes on to say that at least 35 countries are planning to house their athletes outside of China or outside of Beijing. Additionally, most athletes will remain outside of the country as long as possible to reduce the impact of the environment on their bodies. The article talks about food concerns and I actually saw somewhere else that the US is shipping its own food for its athletes. Generally, the Olympics are seen as a great boost to the host country’s economy, even with all the expenditures related to construction and hosting the games. If other countries follow suit this may not be as good as China had hoped for their reputation.
Recent measurements show that on some days the amount of smoke and dust particles in the air exceeds by three to 12 times the maximum deemed safe by the World Health Organization. So while some teams say they are encouraged by the progress, they are preparing for the worst. Jacques Rogge, the head of the International Olympic Committee, has said events could be rescheduled if the air quality does not meet safety standards on a given day.
It is mentioned at the very end of this article that Halie Gebreselassie, was considering changing his running plans, it is actually a fact. According to the BBC article, he is going to try to qualify for the 10K and then do whatever is best for his country. It could be an interesting few weeks while we watch and see how China handles the intense outside pressure and all of the major concerns.
[tags] Olympics, China [/tags]
USATF – Ongoing Stretch Study
USA Track and Field is in the middle of a very large study on the impact of stretching before you run and running-related injuries.
From their background information:
Many studies have been conducted to understand the impact of stretching or warm-ups on the risk of injury, but with conflicting results. A broad review of “stretching” has not conclusively determined whether a pre-run static stretch protects runners from injury during their routine training.
After reading through the research aka protocol I decided to join the study. The study is focused on three major muscle groups – calves/Achilles, hamstrings, and quadriceps. Volunteers who meet their criteria – any person over 13 who runs 10 miles a week, hasn’t had an injury which prevented running for more than 3 days, is planning on running for the next 3 months, and who is willing to commit to either stretching before running or not stretching before running. The last part may sound kinda logical but there are some who
believe that [pre-run] stretching is important for you to prevent injuries, [if that is you] then you should not volunteer for the Study. If you do not stretch before you run and you believe that stretching before running will increase the possibility of injuring yourself, then you should not volunteer for the Study.
The sign-up process is pretty painless, I think it was 13 simple questions about major health-related issues, your weekly mileage, and a few questions about chronic injuries.
The study process is fairly simple. If you are assigned to stretch, then you stretch. If you are assigned not to stretch, then you don’t stretch the 3 muscle groups. Either way you are allowed to continue with other normal stretching routines before, during or after running. To ensure everyone stretches in a similar manner they have created a how to stretch page to make sure your stretch properly. After the three months you file a report which contains 2 questions – I did or did not get injured during this study and I stretched x% of the time before running. If at any point during the study you get injured which is defined as not being able to run for 3 consecutive days – you file an injury report 3 weeks after the injury occurred.
The study began in April of 2007 and will continue until the maximum size of 10,000 is reached or they produce a statistically significant result.
Be sure to click on over and do your part to help the running community better understand injury prevention!
[tags] USATF, Research, Stretch Study, Stretching [/tags]
Half Training: Week Six
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Halfway through the training plan – that means only 6 more weeks until race day. It really is coming quite quickly. I am definitely tired of the cold and having to check the weather each morning to find out how many layers I actually need to wear. The MDRA blog says it well: “The only good thing I’ve found about running in below zero temps is this; I know exactly how to dress. When the temp is in the mid 20s I’m always too hot or too cold by the end of a run. But I can totally nail it at minus 5. Weird.”
If you followed along with my mileage and workout stats on the sidebar for this week, you may have thought I slacked off. Well I did, just not the way you thought! I slacked off on inputting running data into the computer. I wanted to enter it accurately – it is all on the Garmin – so I just kept waiting around to do it.
Monday – Run 4 x 1200 meter repeats at 5K pace. Recover between the repeats with 800 meters at an easy pace. Cool down with 800 meters at an easy pace. It was a chilly 8 above with a -8 wind chill so it was quite windy for this interval workout. I did it along the Greenway for an overal run of 6.53 miles in 51:19. I think you will be able to tell by my splits which way the wind was blowing during this out and back run. My goal pace for each interval was 4:19 – 4:40. An additional note there is still many icy patches on the trail. I ran 5:01, 5:13, 4:55, 4:52 so none of them were in the target range – but pretty close considering the clothing and environmental challenges!
Tuesday – Run 6 miles easy. Run 5 acceleration strides. I ran 5.2 miles in 8:32. I don’t remember the weather, but I’m guessing it was cold and windy! I ran from home to downtown and then back down the bike trail to the Midtown Greenway.
Wednesday – Run 5 miles on a hill that is gradually and consistently uphill. Run at a pace that feels like 10K pace. Your actual pace will be slower due to the incline. It was about 24 this morning with at least an inch of snow on the roads and sidewalks when I left and it snowed the entire run. The warmer temps felt good and the snow provided a nice cushion. The workout sheet offered an indoor alternative – treadmill at 3-5%. I hate treadmills and figured out a way to incorporate some hills into my run without having to drive any where. The trade-off was having to run on sidewalks instead of the Greenway. I almost got hit by the rear end of a sliding bus and came upon a taxi-van sitting in the middle of the sidewalk – he crashed into an electric type box after sliding across the road and up onto the sidewalk. He said he was fine so I maneuvered carefully around him. I didn’t have the route perfectly memorized in my head so I missed the route I had planned but still had an excellent workout along the East River Parkway. I’m not sure why but the East side wasn’t plowed as well as the West – and it was still Minneapolis so it wasn’t just because I was in St Paul or anything. My overall run was 7.86 miles in 1:06:32. I ran 2.09 miles before I got to the beginning of the hills with a split of 18:30. The next 5 miles I ran in 41:29 which is a sad 8:11 pace – I wasn’t running anywhere near 10K effort for most of the run but it was a snowy mess! The last .7 miles I ran in 6:31. So not the best workout but there was hills and maybe next time I’ll actually remember where I’m going!
Thursday – Run 6 miles easy. Run 5 acceleration strides. I hit the bike this morning. My legs have felt pretty good, but it was something like -20 wind chill so I thought it would be a perfect day for cross-training. I wasn’t too ambitious on the bike and only did 7 miles in 29:30 – about half the normal time and way off the normal pace. Afterwards I lifted – I don’t think I’ve said anything about that before, but I’ve been lifting lower body for a few weeks. I’ve been doing it on whichever day I cross train, but today I also added triceps and biceps. I need to find my lifting sheet and get back into it.
Friday – Run 4 miles easy. Run 5 acceleration strides. I ran 4.16 miles in the afternoon on some random streets. I finished the run in 33:32. The sidewalks weren’t too bad today – there are still spots that are horrible (like where the sun never hits) but the majority have been nicely cleaned since Tuesday’s snow. I almost didn’t run again today, but honestly the though of having to write on here about not running for no good reason motivated me to do it. It was -5 actual temps this morning and I knew I’d be able to run later in the day when it was 10 above (1 above windchill). But when that time came I just didn’t feel like it. As always I’m glad I ran, even if it was just to explore new neighborhoods.
Saturday – Run 2 x 20 minute repeats at 10K pace. Jog for 5 minutes between repeats. I thought it was supposed to be warming up! It was 2 above with a -10 wind chill this morning. So I bundled up and took off. 10K pace is around 6:30 per mile. I was hoping to be able to run about 3 miles or even a full 5K in this time – 2.87 miles out (6:59 pace) and 2.76 (7:15) on the way back. A little disappointing but there were times I was at 6:30 pace, it was stinking cold! The overall run was 7.72 miles in 1:00:06.
Sunday – Rest! Gladly!
Totals for the week: Running – 31.4 miles and 4:15:20 hours Biking – 7 miles in 29:30 minutes.
This week should be a fun week of running with some good workouts. The weather also looks pretty good!
[tags] Half-Marathon, Training [/tags]