Double Weekend Long Runs

2 months of training are now complete.  I am at the halfway point and feeling pretty good about where I am in my training.  The temperatures are getting a little cooler in the mornings.  I know it is still in the low 80's but that is an improvement.  Cooler temperatures will be nice as my mileage is going to steadily increase over the next 9 weeks.  I am using the Brooks Hanson training program to prepare for New York.  It has served me well in the past.  I am convinced I would have run well in Boston in 2012 if not for the heat using this program.  Boston 2014 I am not sure about because I had an injury during the race.  Regardless, I trust this program to get me ready to race.

Most marathon training programs will have at least one 20 mile run.  My program doesn't have any run longer than 16 miles.  But it requires you to run two long runs back to back on Saturday and Sunday.  It starts off easy with a 6 on Saturday and an 8 on Sunday.  Eventually it builds up to where you run 8 on Saturday and 16 on Sunday.  The benefit of this training according to the Hanson's is that you are running on tired legs.  It prepares you for the marathon by building cumulative fatigue.  For me this prepares me both physically and mentally for the fatigue I will feel as the miles pile up during the race.

But more importantly, running two "shorter" long runs back to back actually has allowed me to be much more consistent in my training.  In the past, it would take me several days to recover from a 20+ mile run on Sunday.  I couldn't handle hard training runs during the week following one of those mega-long runs.  Surprisingly,  I actually feel really fresh on Saturday morning when I head out for my first weekend long run.  I will not say that it is easy.  Instead I will say that it gives me a lot of confidence in my ability to dig deep during the race and know I can keep going.

On Saturday, I typically go out for this run with a goal to run as relaxed as I can.  I want to lock into a comfortable pace.  While I do look at my watch periodically, I try to focus more on how I feel than how fast or slow I am going.  When I get to the end of the run, my goal is to feel strong and that I could go another mile or two without a problem.  After my run, I try to spend the rest of the day off of my feet to allow my legs to recover as much as possible.  I want to feel fresh for my second long run on Sunday.

My Sunday run is where I try and see how comfortable I feel at 10-20 seconds over my target marathon pace.  I want the intensity to be higher but not a race pace.   I make sure that I stay at that pace for the first half of the run.  After that, I will pick up the pace slightly to one that is comfortable but challenging.
This means that the second half my Sunday run is very close in intensity to my Thursday tempo runs. What I find strange is that despite the fact that my legs feel fatigued, I can keep going.  It allows me to push myself in such a way as to simulate the last few miles of the marathon.

I still have friends who insist that it is dangerous to show up at a marathon having never run at least 20 miles.  I think that using double long runs is the better way to go.  As I said above, it allows recovery time and reduces the chance of injury.  Having run 8 previous marathons, I know that I can complete the distance.  Perhaps if this were my first time, I could see where a 20 miler would give me more confidence in my ability to run the 26.2 mile distance.  The double long run gives me the chance to feel what it is like to run on achy legs and still being able to complete my workout.

When I set my P.R. in the 2009 Boston Marathon, I can remember passing the 5, 10, and 15 mile signs and feeling great.  In fact, when I got to the top of Heartbreak Hill, I was a little startled at how easy the hills had seemed to me.  The pain I felt in my previous marathons was almost non-existent.  I found myself passing people during the last 5 miles with relative ease.  The only time I stopped to walk as at a water stop or to take pictures.  As I turned on to Boylston and saw the cumulative time still started with a 3, I picked up the pace even more and crossed the finish line with a huge smile on my face.

If you are a distance runner, you know that the long run is a critical piece of any marathon training program.  I believe in the double long run and the benefits it provides.  It allows me to focus on cumulative fatigue thus preparing me for the latter miles of the race.  So when I am out there on Sunday, the program I am following is simply simulating the last 16 miles of the marathon. This means that my long runs are actually harder than the traditional plans that require at least one 20 miler.  I am hopeful that if I can stick to this plan and arrive at the starting line in Staten Island injury free that I can set a new marathon P.R.

Aug. 22 – 6.20 miles (1:07:57, 10:58 pace) - Hill Repeats
Aug. 23 – 6.20 miles (57:36, 9:17 pace) - Speed Work
Aug. 25 – 7.20 miles (59:58, 8:20 pace) - Tempo Run
Aug. 26 – 6.20 miles (56:00, 9:02 pace)
Aug. 27 – 13.50 miles (2:08:31, 9:31 pace)
Aug. 28 – 10.20 miles (1:31:10, 8:56 pace)

Total Miles:  49.5 miles
2016 Total Miles:  1,314.2 miles

Time Flies...

Well week 7 is in the books.  As Jack Fultz (winner of the 1976 Boston Marathon and training consultant to the Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge team) would tell us when we were waiting for the Boston Marathon to start, "the hay is in the barn".   “The hay is in the barn” meant that we were ready for the race; practice runs and our taper were complete and it was time to run our best.  My barn is not quite full yet.  But I am definitely shoveling the hay into it each week.  The time seems to be moving faster as the marathon race date approaches.

It is hard to believe that 7 weeks have already passed since I started training for the NYC Marathon.
It is amazing to me as I get older how time seems to pass so much faster than when I was a kid.  I am not sure that I can explain why this seems to be the case.  When I was a kid I couldn't wait to grow up and be an adult.  I figured that once I could make my own rules, eat what I want, stay up late etc. that life would be grand.  Now I am sure you know that that was just a child's fantasy.  But it made me realize that time seemed to be going slowly then because of my anticipation of the future.  For example, waiting to be old enough to drive seemed excruciatingly far into the future when I was 10.  Now  I look back on that event and can't believe it was actually 40 years ago.

I guess the reason that time seems to be passing so much faster today than in my childhood is because of the reflection backwards in time.  I feel so blessed to have so many happy events to look back on. They  feel like they happened yesterday because the memories I have are still so vivid.  It isn't until I think about when they happened that I start to see how fast  the calendar continues to rapidly proceed ahead.  I will be turning 55 in 12 days.  Despite knowing my chronological age, I don't feel old.  In my mind, I still am in my 20s.   It's only when I look in the mirror that I see that I am not the young buck I once was.

In my running life I always have something on the horizon that I am training for whether it is a 5K, 10K, Half or Full Marathon or even an Adventure Relay.  As you can imagine, these are important to me and I await their arrival with much anticipation.  They seem to come sooner than I feel I am ready for them.  But more importantly when they are over, it seems like they happened in a blink of an eye.  I believe that this is due to the fact that I am so focused daily on each training run that I don't notice the passage of time.  It isn't until I look back at the schedule that I realize how far time has moved forward.

I am a firm believer that time flies when you are having fun.  I am always having fun when I am running.  It is because I am happily engaged in the activity I love that I am focused only on the fun I am experiencing out there on the road.  Therefore, I really don’t have time to think about the passage of time.  Instead, I am focused more on just enjoying the moment while it lasts.  Then I as I reflect back on races and many other life experiences, I smile at having had the experience no matter whether it was good or bad.

As Haruki Murakami (author of What I Talk About When I Talk About Running) wrote in Kafka on the Stone, “No matter how much time passes, no matter what takes place in the interim, there are some things we can never assign to oblivion, memories we can never rub away.”  I love that my memories can never be rubbed away.

Aug. 15 – 6.20 miles (1:07:08, 10:50 pace) - Hill Repeats
Aug. 16 – 6.20 miles (57:43, 9:19 pace) - Speed Work
Aug. 18 – 7.20 miles (1:01:07, 8:29 pace) - Tempo Run
Aug. 19 – 6.20 miles (55:56, 9:01 pace)
Aug. 20 – 12.20 miles (1:57:31, 9:38 pace)
Aug. 21 – 14.20 miles (2:22:22, 10:01 pace)

Total Miles:  52.2 miles
2016 Total Miles:  1,264.7 miles

Worried about Injury

Week 6 is complete and I am actually feeling pretty good.  Despite this fact, I am constantly worrying about the potential for an injury that would ruin my race plans for New York.  Stressing about an injury  isn't really that strange for most distance runners especially amateurs.  When I talk with other runner friends of mine, they too are always on the lookout for any little ache or pain that could lead to an injury that would prohibit them from participating in the sport they love.  During the first 6 weeks of training I haven't felt any abnormal ache or pain during any of my runs.  God, I hope I didn't just jinx myself.

Over the years I have learned that I can thwart injury by simply training smarter.  I never increase my mileage by more than 10 per cent in any given week.  I also separate my speed workouts, tempo runs and weekend long runs by 48 hours.  This separation allows my body to recover better between hard efforts.  The key advice I can give any runner is to remember that more doesn't always translate into better performance.  In fact, if you push yourself too hard during training you could potentially cause the injury to yourself.  As Bill Dellinger (Olympian) said, "Good things come slow - especially in distance running".  Be patient and build a solid base before starting a hard training schedule.

I have always felt that if you give into your fears they tend to come true.  In the case of running, I know that if I am constantly stressing about getting injured, I am tense.  This tension spreads throughout my body which ultimately could cause the injury to occur.  To avoid this I make sure that when I set out on a training run, I take the first half mile slower than normal.  I remind myself that I have the ability to complete the training without injury.  I have learned to listen to my body and will back off the pace if I am not feeling right.  I also know that it is okay to take some extra rest if that is what I need.  Taking a day off is not going to affect my ability to race but not resting when it is needed is worse.

Here is the truth about running injuries. When I look back at the few injuries I have sustained they can always be attributed to a few things.  They were more often than not caused by simply doing too much in my training than previous weeks.  It could have been adding too many miles too fast or trying a new workout without proper preparation.  They were also caused by pushing myself too hard even though I wasn't really feeling up to the effort that day.  This simply meant that my injuries (including my hamstring) were caused by simply doing too much, too fast, and not taking time to properly recover between hard efforts.

While I have found that it is absolutely normal to feel some effects from my training (especially building up to a marathon).  What every runner should do is be on the lookout for any ache or pain that  is getting progressively worse.  You will need to try and isolate where they problem stems from and take corrective action.  In most cases, simply reducing your mileage or taking some time off will let your body heal itself.  Most of us cannot fathom taking the time off as we feel we will lose fitness.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  Remember we are doing this for fun and because it is what we love.  I am not going to push myself to the point where the injuries are more frequent and potentially end my running career.

Aug. 8 – 6.20 miles (01:07:52, 10:57 pace) - Hill Repeats
Aug. 9 – 6.30 miles (57:37, 9:09 pace) - Speed Work
Aug. 11 – 9.20 miles (1:22:53, 9:01 pace) - Tempo Run
Aug. 12 – 6.20 miles (55:33, 8:57 pace)
Aug. 13 – 14.20 miles (2:14:09, 9:27 pace)
Aug. 14 – 8.20 miles (1:13:03, 8:55 pace)

Total Miles:  50.3 miles
2016 Total Miles:  1,212.5 miles

My 200th Post and Half Way Around the Planet

Today I have reached a milestone in my blogging.  This is my 200th post.  When I started this blog, I never imagined that I would be able to come up with new ideas or content.  I also never thought I would have anyone read my musings.  As of today, I have written 200 posts and had 37,959 page views.  I know that is not a lot compared to what other bloggers get on their pages.  But I am thrilled that people read it and hopefully gain some insight into running that maybe they hadn't thought of before.  Or maybe some of my other musings made them think about those issues differently. Whatever the case, I am hopeful that I can keep coming up with ideas to write about over the next several weeks as I prepare for the NYC Marathon.

When I realized that I had reached this milestone, I went back to look at how many miles I have run since starting this blog on October 3, 2008.  It has almost been 8 years since I started.  So I totaled up all the miles from the beginning of this blog through today's run.  Drum roll!!! I have logged 12,571 total miles.  To put that total in perspective, it is the equivalent of 480 marathons.  The circumference of the Earth is 24,901 miles.  This means that I have run enough miles to be half way around the planet today.  Finally, the distance across the United States, from Florida to Washington, is 2,802 miles. This represents the longest straight line distance across the United States.  I have run a lot of miles in the last 8 years.  I cannot imagine how many miles I have run since my first run in 1985.

My marathon training thus far has gone pretty much as expected.  It is really warm here and most days I am running in 85 degree or higher temperatures.  Arizona is also in the midst of its monsoon season.   Here in Arizona monsoon season begins around June 15 and ends around September 30. Since moving here, I have noticed that the rain storms peak between mid-July and mid-August.  The monsoon season is when we receive about half of our annual rainfall.  For me it means that not only is it hot when I am training but it is much more humid than normal as well.  Regardless, I am getting out there 6 days a week and training hard.

I am going to keep this post short.  But wanted to share a piece from Jeff Galloway's Runner's World column that I believe explains why runners like me get out there every day.  He was asked, "How often can I expect a great run?"  Jeff answered by saying, "Not every run will be great (or even good), but the longer you follow a consistent running schedule, the more often you can expect to enjoy yourself.  Each year I have about a dozen great runs. Effort, terrain, weather, and my state of mind all have come together just right to produce this sense of joy."  Amen to that!

I can tell you that I have at least that many great runs every year too.  Sometimes it happens during a simple training run and sometimes it happens during a race.  When it does happen it is magical.  I know that I will experience these great runs when I am focused solely on my breathing and  taking in the world I am running through.  That dreamlike state is when it all comes together and the peacefulness of the world allows me to feel the good vibes created by the effort.  Then I am truly experiencing the "runner's high" we all are seeking.  I know that you too can experience it so long as you let it come to you.

See you out there on the roads and on to Week 6 of marathon training!

Aug. 1 – 6.20 miles (1:08:05, 10:59 pace) - Hill Repeats
Aug. 2 – 6.50 miles (59:42, 9:11 pace) - Speed Work
Aug. 4 – 8.20 miles (1:14:25, 9:05 pace) - Tempo Run
Aug. 5 – 7.20 miles (1:09:00, 9:35 pace)
Aug. 6 – 10.20 miles (1:38:40, 9:40 pace)
Aug. 7 – 12.20 miles (2:01:26, 9:57 pace)

Total Miles:  50.5 miles
2016 Total Miles:  1,162.2 miles