Alameda Runners – Get After It!

Pace and nutrition go hand in hand because you have change what you eat when you change your pace.  I find out things like this the hard way, usually by getting sick.  When you get sick from eating the wrong thing, the rest of the activity can be miserable and you can hit the wall.

Pace – Do not increase distance and speed at the same time.  It is an easy trap to fall into.  We all know how fast we went and want to improve on that time.
Speed – If you run 3 miles a day and try to go a little faster every day, your time will probably increase week after week until you hit a plateau.  Once you hit that plateau, you will have a very difficult time increasing your speed and you may even start to slow down.  You need to cycle your workouts.  Do speed work for 2 or 3 weeks then take a rest week where you cruise through your runs.

Good things for speed:

• cycle your workouts throughout the week.
• Add sprints into one run per week
• Do pace pickups during a run
• Do a pace increase run where you start slowly and pick up the pace until you are going flat out at the end of the run
• Try a tempo run that is just below race pace
• Sign up for a race and find out what your race pace really is
• Attempt to run at race pace while not racing.  It is not easy.
• Use your imagination

Distance – There is a 10% rule for increasing your distance no more than 10% per week.  That is a general rule.  If you have been running 3 miles a day for 5 days a week, you should be able to increase your distance to 18 or 19 miles per week with no problems.  It is not a good idea to increase your mileage by 20% per week for 3 weeks in a row.  A sample increase for our 3 mile per day runner should look something like this:

• 3,3,3,3,3,0,0
• 3,4,3,4,3,0,0
• 3,3,3,3,3,3,0
• 3,4,3,4,3,3,0
• 3,4,3,4,3,5,0
• 3,4,3,4,3,3,0
• 3,4,3,4,3,5,0

Do you see a pattern? Exercising in cycles is good It is a good practice to increase your distance for a few months then work on your speed for a few months.  It is your body, pay attention.  When you start getting into the longer distances, it is easier to get injured.  You do not always get injured the day you over do it.  It can take up to 3 weeks to pay the price for overdoing it.  Be careful.

There are training plans like this all over the internet.  There are also plenty of books on the subject.  I highly recommend books by professionals.  Here is one of my favorite places to buy books.  Alibris.com

Long distance training is hard.  You have to build your way up to long distances.  While you are building up to the marathon or other long distance, you need to practice with your equipment, pace and nutrition.  Today, I will cover equipment.

Equipment:  You can read about equipment all day long and spend another day trying different things on.  Reviews are great.  Trying things on is even better.  You won’t know if the equipment will really work until you try it out for a long run.  It is amazing how much stuff works for 13 miles but causes problems at 20 miles.  I will start at the bottom.

Shoes generally work well for 20 miles if they work for 13 miles.  Minimalist shoes can cause a problem because they have little padding and alter your stride.

Socks can work well for 13 miles then fall apart at longer distances.  They can cause blisters, bunch up and be plain old uncomfortable.  A blister at mile 18 can be quite painful for the next 8 miles.

Running shorts can ride up, bunch up, chafe and cause rashes.  Spandex shorts pretty much eliminate all problems from shorts but can be uncomfortable for men and they have a weird feel when you sweat a lot. There is also a lack of pockets to put stuff.  If running shorts become a problem, a little Body Glide or Vaseline can go a long way.  There are alternative creams but I don’t know their names.

Belts are a great thing.  I love to hang a bib from mine on race day.  I use different belts for different occasions.  Belts are personal too.  My running style dictates a bottle that is held on a slant across my back.  My son uses a belt with a bottle held straight up.  He also uses a fuel belt.  Other people like to strap things onto their hands.

Shirts can be great for up to 15 miles but cause chafing under the arms and bloody nipples on men.  It is also a good idea to pull your shirt up a little bit above your belt.  The belt will pull the shirt tight causing problems.

Sports bras are important for women.  I don’t know personally but wife sure lets me know about it.  A poorly fitting sports bra could cause serious chaffing.  My wife had a strap burn that lasted more than a month and the mark remained for a year.  A loose fitting sports bra can cause painful bouncing problems.

Sun glasses reduce glare in the eyes and help keep your face relaxed while you run on a bright, sunny day.  A squinted up face cause tenseness in the whole body.

A running hat keeps the glare out of your eyes, keeps the sun off your face and helps steer the sweat away from your eyes.

No matter what you wear, stay comfortable.

I say in one line to run at your own pace, then I say find a training partner.  What is Ted thinking?  Ted is thinking about how great training partners are.  When I do my long runs, I pick places where there are a lot of people out and about.  People help me pass the time for my long runs.  I often pick up running partners along the trails.  When I am out for a long run of longer than 2 hours, my heart rate has a range from 120-130.  It is easy to adjust to someone else’s pace if they are close.  Most people enjoy company on a long run.  30 minutes of company is a great way to break up the monotony of the long slow run.

If you are out for a long fast walk, partners are especially good.  Long walks create pain in unexpected places.  If you are alone, the pain can get overwhelming and the temptation for Starbucks and bagels can win the day.  When you have company, the time seems to fly by.

When you do speed work, partners can help you find the next level in your training.  Our brains are amazing things.  We can go to a track alone and find that our max heart rate is 171 bpm.  We can go to that same track, with someone who is a little bit faster, and find that our max heart rate is 175 bpm.  When you find that extra little something, it stays with you for a while.  Find yourself a training partner or running group and be social about running.  Exercise is not about punishing yourself.  It is about being fit and having fun.  Just be careful that you do not try to keep up with the speedy group who has been at it a lot longer than you have.

Be social and have fun.

Not feeling well means different things to different people.  Some people look for an excuse to get out of work while others try to run with a fractured foot saying “it’s not too bad”.  I am not a doctor, so I won’t give out medical advice.  Personally, I don’t get sick very often.  If I get the sniffles or a cold, I continue to run but I cut back on the intensity.  If I have flu like symptoms or my head feels foggy, I will rest.

When I say not feeling well, I am talking about how your body feels.  Most people train for a goal.  That goal comes with a plan.  There is something about having a goal that people want to exceed.  People of all levels tend to overdo it.  Fortunately, we get warning signs from our bodies that we need more rest.  Unfortunately, we rarely listen to them.
A few big warning signs are:

• Dead legs when you wake up
• Running out of energy in the middle of a run
• Not wanting to run
• Feeling dizzy
• Appetite changes – An increased appetite is good.  Not wanting to eat or drink after a run is bad
• Sharp or stabbing pain on your muscles
• Joint pain

The above are all things that happened to me one or more times.  I usually get these symptoms from over training.  If you get these symptoms, it is probably time to rest.

It sounds like such a simple thing to train at your own pace.  It is not as easy as it sounds.  There is something about watching someone else perform that makes us want to do it too.  We tell ourselves “I can do that”, we may be able to do that with proper training but it is very difficult to jump right into anything and equal someone who has been doing it for years.  Social media has made it worse.  We all see the times that people post online with no warnings about how long they have been running.  When we go out and run with a run club, we can see the physical differences between the high end runners and the normal runners.  It is easier to accept “them” as being faster.  A picture may say 1,000 words but it still does not match reality.

Pay attention to your body.  Take it easy and build up slowly.  When you build up your mileage and speed, look at other peoples training plans.  Do not emulate the elite people.  Most of us will never run a 5 minute mile and we should not strive to accomplish that goal unless we train for it.  The harder you train, the higher your probability for injury.

There is something about running that brings out the competitive spirit in us.  We want to run a little bit faster than we did the day before.  It is hard for us to accept the fact that taking it easy is good.  Our bodies need to rest to recover.   Cycling gives our body’s time to rest.  Our bodies use different muscles for different exercises; we cycle our workout routines to use more of the muscle groups that we will rely on for the long distance event.
Cycling a workout plan consists of a set of goals.  Our goals are all different and we have to plan our own.  I will give you my goals and my plan to achieve them.
Goal number 1 – Live a long, healthy and happy life.  I lived pretty long.  I am healthy and I am very happy.  All of the rest of my goals are to help me achieve goal number 1.
Pick 2 events per year to keep me focused.  1 event will work but I like two.
This year, I picked the Vineman half ironman triathlon in July and the Sacramento marathon in December.
Set a plan to achieve these goals.  The Vineman triathlon was on July 17.  On January 1, I was in shape to accomplish each event individually.  My goal was to put them all together.  My big cycle to complete the Vineman looked something like this:
January and February – build strength while maintaining event distance endurance.

• Week 1 – (10 hours) Swim 4 miles, run 20 miles, bike when I felt like it; lift weights for 3 hours and cross train for an hour.
• Week 2 – (12 hours) Swim 4 miles, run 20 miles, bike when I felt like it, lift weights for 3 hours and cross train for 2-3 hours.
• Week 3 – (13 hours) Swim 4 miles, run 20 miles, bike Saturday; lift weights for 3 hours and cross train for an hour.
• Week 4 – (10 hours) Swim 4 miles, run 20 miles, bike when I felt like it; lift weights for 3 hours and cross train for an hour.
• Week 5 – (13 hours) Swim 4 miles, run 26 miles, bike when I felt like it; lift weights for 3 hours and cross train for an hour.
• Week 6 – (12 hours) Swim 4 miles, run 20 miles, bike when I felt like it; lift weights for 3 hours and cross train for 2-3 hours.
• Week 7 – (14 hours) Swim 4 miles, run 20 miles, bike Saturday; lift weights for 3 hours and cross train for an hour.
• Week 8 – (10 hours) Swim 4 miles, run 20 miles, bike when I felt like it; lift weights for 3 hours and cross train for an hour.

This is the time of year when I make my choices.  If I want to be strong for the triathlon, I will follow the above pattern to give me a strong core and body.  I can easily take 5 hours per week of the training plan and still finish the triathlon.  It is all matter of how strong I want to be at the finish.

Read more… »

Today 10/1/11, I went out for a long slow training run.  To show that I practice what I preach I will talk about my run and the things from my list of 13 plus 1.

Rule 1 – I did it.

Rule 2 – I went nice and slow today with all of my emphasis on cruise.  I followed my heart rate monitor and slowed down every time my heart rate hit 130.

Rule 3 – I ran 13 miles last week in a race.  This week, I ran 16.6 miles at a long slow pace.  I planned on running 16 miles but my loop worked out a little long.  I could have shortened the run to exactly 16 miles but that would have caused me to run around the block a few times and I don’t like doing that.

Rule 4 – I started out my day with a dose of Ted’s terrific pancakes.

Rule 5 – I ran by heart rate, not time

Rules 7&9 – I was running at the upper middle of my planned zone when I passed someone in the lower end of my planned zone.  We ran together for a couple of miles then parted ways.  The section of the run with company went by a lot faster than the sections alone.

Rule 10 – When I was within 2 miles of finishing my run, I kept eating and drinking to practice when the runs get longer.

Today was a terrific day for a long run.  I ran by a couple of local runners who enter half marathons with the intention of winning.  It is neat to watch them train.  They don’t really do long slow runs.  They do 15-20 miles of speed work on Saturdays.  I found a running partner for a little while.  I live in Alameda where the weather and views are awesome.  On my way back home, I stopped to do some aerobic exercises with someone on the water front.

While I was running, I could feel my inner quads getting tired.  As soon as I stopped, my calves started to hurt.  It is amazing how many little muscles we have in our legs that can cause pain.

Today’s total

16.62 miles

2:50:09 time

10:14 pace

126 average heart rate

1983 calories burned

I hope I am doing everything right.  My training plan is for a 4 hour marathon.  I know my knees will give out somewhere around mile 20.  My goal is to prolong the crash until around mile 24.

When you go out for a long run, it is so easy to get caught up with looking at the clock.  It is in a distance runner’s nature to want to go faster.  I don’t know if that is a fact or not but it seems that way with everyone that I know.  We look at our watch and see that we are running at an 8:05 pace and just have to speed up to a 7:58 pace.  It just looks better to have that lower number next to our run time in our training logs that only we look at.  When you are sprinting, that is a different matter.  Go for max speed on your sprints.

When I do my long runs, I run for the first mile or so at a warm-up pace, then I start paying attention to my heart rate.  I don’t look at my watch for the first mile.  I use this as my gauge to see how I will feel for the run.  As I discussed earlier, a heart rate of 119 is mathematically ideal for my long slow run pace.  Since humans are not mathematical formulas, I use this as a gauge, not a rule.  I try to keep my heart rate between 119 and 127 for my long slow runs and let the minutes per mile fall where they may.  The first 3-4 miles are where I fall into my groove for the run.  After the first few miles, I have the pace set and I don’t have to worry about much until the last few miles.  Since I know all of the routes to my house, I suffer from the “old horse syndrome” where I want to charge back to the barn as quickly as possible.  I keep a close eye on my HRM as I know I do this on long runs.  The bad thing about charging back to barn on a long run is that you are usually a longer distance than you usually run and are prone injuries at this point.

The key rule for long runs – Take it easy

I write about nutrition a lot.  Type “nutrition” into the search bar and you will find a few pages of blogs related to nutrition.  Nutrition is a big deal that is important to our everyday lives.  When you are out training for a long time, you can crash hard if you do not consume enough of the proper food.  I can’t tell you how many different ways I have found to mess up my nutritional intake.  Sadly, I continue to find new ways to mess up.

Proper nutrition starts early

When you are planning to do a long workout of longer than 2 hours, you should limit your intake of food that digests slowly the day before your workout.  I am not talking about whole grain foods here.  I am talking about the calorie bombs from Carl’s Junior like a ½ pound burger with bacon and guacamole.  Things like that stay in your system for days and don’t really help the digestive tract very much.  Eat healthy foods that are high in fiber and are light in nature.  Things like jello, tuna sandwiches and lots of fruit and vegetables.  I grow my own tomatoes and eat them for most of the summer and fall.  It is also good to drink lots of fluids the day before a long run.  I tend to drink 2-6 quarts of water per day.

 Before the big workout

I like to eat an hour or two before I go for a long run.  My favorite is Ted’s terrific pancakes with real maple syrup.  When it is warm out, I add more salt according to the temperature.  The warmer it is, the more salt I add.  I also like old fashioned oat meal made with milk and real maple syrup added as a sweetener.  Again, the salt level goes up depending on the temperature.  Sometimes, I will eat a breakfast food 2 or 3 hours before the run and something like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich right before I leave for the run.  I did a lot of research on pre-workout nutrition to come out with the same answer from all of them.  That is to try different things to find what works for you.  If you search my articles and reviews, you will find stuff that works for me.

During the run

Long runs can tear you up.  Make sure you carry some type of nutrition and some type of electrolyte.  The experts say all kinds of conflicting things about hydration and nutrition.  I do know that we are all different and we have to find what works for us.  To make things confusing, different things work on different days.  I like both Clif and Gu.  They are both local companies that are very nice to the local runners.  I tend to lean toward Clif because they are so cool.  One day, I can run and the Gu gels work great for me.  I can switch between flavors and types (rocatane and regular) and love the way they go down.  The next day, I can run and choke on the Gu gel while the Clif goes right down with no problems.  Other days, neither will work and I will eat peanuts and candy.
On a course with a lot of water stops, I will carry an electrolyte drink.  I like the Gu and Clif electrolyte drinks but I am currently using Gatorade because I got a huge can on sale.  It does not taste as good or go down as well but living in the San Francisco bay area is expensive and I have to watch my expenses when I can.  If you are ever out on a run and start getting a strong dislike for the thought of water, you should stop and consume any type of electrolyte or salt you can get your hands on.  Do not press on until you get some salt in your body.  Bad things can happen.

Post workout

The first thing I do after a long workout is to spend 2-5 minutes stretching.  I do not try to reach or stretch my muscles.  I lean in different directions with no pushing at all.  I do the standard legs shoulder width apart lean over and relax with knees straight and bent and a couple of other easy stretches.  Then I drink some water and an electrolyte based recovery drink.  If my stomach is up for the challenge, I will drink a protein shake before I take a shower.  I will drink something like Muscle milk or a Clif recovery shot mixed in chocolate milk.  I have been known to just drink an electrolyte drink, shower and sleep then eat after my nap.  I know it is not right but that is what my body will tolerate.  Eating something that is good for then getting sick is not very good.  I seem to eat a lot of sandwiches with a bowl of chicken noodle soup after long runs because that is what my sub conscious wants.  Try different things to find what works for you.  Electrolytes are good to replace the minerals you lost through sweat.  Protein shakes are good to help build up the muscles you just broke down.

I forgot to add – track your miles – to my list of things.  I count my miles ran per week.  How can you tell if you are increasing your mileage slowly, if you don’t know how far you ran?  I will add Step 2a here.  Record your runs.

10% rule

Now that you know how far you ran last week, it is time to start increasing the mileage for the big event.  The standard rule for increasing your weekly mileage is to increase by 10% per week.  That is a pretty good rule for a standard response but it leaves a lot of questions to be answered.  The first question a beginner will ask is; “I ran a mile yesterday, should I wait and run 1.1 miles next week?”  The rule here is, if you are not in agony from your mile run, you can probably do another mile run today.   You have to listen to your body.

Listen to your body

If you are new to running, you have to let your body tell you if you should run or rest.  Listen to your body, not your brain.  Some of us will skip a run because we don’t feel like running.  Some of us will be limping and say it is not so bad and run anyway.  Once you can run 15-20 miles a week for a few weeks, you should move toward the 10% rule for increasing your mileage.  More experienced runners should switch to the 10% rule when their body tells them it is time to slow down with the weekly increases.  I took 6 weeks off after doing a half ironman distance triathlon to let my injuries heal.  When I got back into running, I was over 30 miles per week in about a month.  My body let me know when it was time scale my weekly increases back to 10% per week.  I over did it last week by running a hilly trail half marathon when I was supposed to run a 15 mile long slow run.  That was 9/24/11.  I am training for a marathon on 12/4/11.  I won’t know if I over did it until the really long runs in late October.

To boldly go; where your body has never gone before

Most of us rarely run more than 40 miles per week.  When we get into the rarified air of these long runs, we have to be careful.  Injuries occur when we push our bodies into unfamiliar places.  When we train for a goal, we keep pushing until we can push no more.  Unfortunately, most of us can push no more because we are hurt.  We have to be consistent.  My lifestyle does not give me time to run 40 miles per week all year long until I want to train for a marathon then back down to 40 miles per week.  Therefore, we cycle our training.  For example, I will run the following mileages per week 33, 36, 40, 35, 42, 44, 46, 38, 46, 46….  I will build up for 3 weeks, scale back for a week, build up, scale back and repeat the cycle.  The higher the weekly mileage, the smaller my increases.

Injury prevention

Use your whole arsenal of injury prevention materials when you start running high mileages.  I take ice baths; get massages, use rollers and my electro stim machine.  I have ice packs for every part of my body and I don’t hesitate to use them.  Increasing your mileage is tricky.  Be careful and avoid injuries.