by Luke Watson
LACTIC CAPACITY TRAINING, OVERSPEED TRAINING, AND SHARPENING/TAPERING
LACTIC CAPACITY TRAINING
The key to a great 800m race is building on the previously outlined aerobic and anaerobic components, then increasing the athlete's lactic capacity (technically, lactic capacity is a laboratory term; in practice, it is also known as anaerobic capacity or anaerobic power, but I will generally use the terms interchangeably here) to its maximum. The best way to do this is with the burning-calves, failing legs, booty-lock repeats at about 800m race pace. These workouts will train the athlete to produce a maximal effort resulting in extremely high blood lactate levels. Training to run fast even with high blood lactate will enable the mid-distance runner to finish races without "tying up", "dying", "rigging", "hitting the peanut butter", "doing the skeleton dance", or having "the wheels fall off". These are all terms for muscular failure exhibited when the body's cells produce so much lactic acid that it causes the muscles to essentially shut down. To be clear, if one runs hard enough, this will always happen. By training for lactic capacity, though, one can both delay the onset of that muscular failure and make it less extreme.
Some great lactic capacity workouts (all except the TT done at about 800m race pace):
600m Time Trial: the classic test of anaerobic power, a practical test of one's lactic capacity. Under Stillwater HS Coach Scott Christensen, we would do this weekly or biweekly during the track season. This is when he'd sometimes yell, "BALLS TO THE WALL" and you knew you had better get after it! After a 6 to 8 minute recovery, I like to finish this up with 4 fast 150m strides.
6-8x300m (2-3 minutes rest)
4-6x400m (5 minutes rest)
2x500m (10 minutes rest)
2x600m (15-20 minutes rest)
2x4x200m (30s rest, 5 minutes between sets)
200, 300, 400, 400, 300, 200 (rest = 3, 4, 5, 5, 4 minutes)
500, 400, 300, 200, 100 (rest = 5, 4, 3, 2 minutes)
Maximum total volume in this workout group is 1800 to 2000 meters and as a very general rule the rest will equal 1 minute per 100m run.
OVERSPEED/SHARPENING TRAINING
Overspeed training for the mid-distance runner is just what it sounds like. Training at a faster pace than one's race pace enables the athlete to feel more comfortable at race pace. For the miler, lactic capacity training will provide a fair amount of overspeed training, so further supplementation, while recommended, can be fairly limited. For the 800m runner, the lactic capacity workouts will only address race pace, so some specific overspeed training is a must.
I generally allow the "light speed" sessions described in Part I of this series (such as 150's and 200's with plenty of rest) to serve as overspeed training for the majority of the year. However, there will be some more substantial overspeed training in February/March during indoors and during May and June outdoors (April for the athlete whose peak is at conference, but also realize that some of this athlete's overspeed will be done at a similar pace to the superior athletes' lactic capacity paces, so a little bit of customization will be all that's needed).
Overspeed workouts are done between 400m race pace and 800m race pace. They include:
6-8x150m (3-4 minutes rest)
4-8x200m (3-5 minutes rest)
2-3x400m (8-15 minutes rest)
2x400, 2x200m (8 minutes rest)
2x {300, 200} (3-5 minutes rest)
Note that the MAXIMUM total volume will be 1200 meters, even for strong veteran athletes. Exceeding this will risk injury.
SHARPENING AND TAPERING
Tapering is a touchy subject. Do too much, and you won't achieve the freshness desired at the end of the season. Do too little, and you will lose fitness. I advocate taking recovery days at an easier pace and slightly reducing volume. While during the regular season the athletes might run 50 to 60 minutes on a recovery run, in the final 2-3 weeks of the season they might only run 40 to 50 minutes. Anecdotally, I find that beyond 47 to 50 minutes, tiredness starts to set in at a more rapid rate, so I try to cap the athletes' late-season recovery runs at 47 to 50 minutes. To maintain aerobic fitness during this period, we will use Jack Daniels-style cruise intervals. This means that we may do a workout such as 2-4x 1 mile with 45s-1:00 rest at just slightly faster (10s/mile) than lactate threshold pace in lieu of a tempo run. Alternatively, during the post season we often begin speed workouts with 2-3x 1000m or 1200m with 45s rest at just slightly faster than lactate threshold pace.
The workouts during this phase are lower volume so that the athlete feels he hasn't "left it all on the practice track." We try to avoid doing anything that reaches extremely high blood lactate levels within 5 to 7 days of a race.
The workouts look very much like the lactic capacity and overspeed workouts above. For the lactic capacity workouts, cut the volume by 20% to 40% from what you did in the heaviest workouts.
One of my favorite late-season workouts is:
2x {300, 200, 100} (2-3 minutes rest). The 300 is at 800m race pace, the 200 and 100 are a bit faster.
We will also do some gear-changing workouts during this time where the athlete has to change gears around race pace every 100m or 200m.
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SUMMARY
By intelligently and progressively training for speed throughout the entire training cycle, you can become faster and more efficient. For the mid-distance athlete, it is critical to address a range of speed training effects, some of which are more neuromuscular and some of which are more energy-system based/physiological: basic speed, hills, accelerations, flys, lactate tolerance, lactic capacity, and longer overspeed training. Properly including all these stimuli into one's training routine will never leave the athlete too far away from racing well, and will have the athlete primed for his or her best performance when it counts most.
Once you've done all this, you'll be in that race, and there will come a moment... a moment that will ask you if you'll bend, which will be easy, or if you'll commit, which will appear to require something superhuman. A competitor will pull up alongside you, and go like hell trying to beat you. This is your moment. The moment when you reach into the bottom of your soul and pull out something special. The moment when you throw it down, go by your opponent, and take a little piece of his or her soul with you. You will break their souls, and you will own that race.
Until next time,
BREAK THEIR SOULS!
- Luke
Sunday, June 1, 2008
Thursday, May 29, 2008
A Year-Round Speed Program for Mid-Distance Runners, Part II
I apologize for my absence from posting and finishing this series. In contrast to the indoor season where we have 5 home meets, once outdoor track begins we are traveling almost every weekend. If I'm not traveling with the team, I'm traveling to one of my own races. Weekends usually mean Wednesday or Thursday through Sunday, and the office work doesn't cease so I have to get a week's worth of work done on Monday and Tuesday most of the time. Fortunately as school is out and the only athletes left are our Regional qualifiers, things have calmed down a lot.
When I last left you, we had discussed top-end speed development. Hopefully we all have a faster top gear now. That will be helpful, but the heart and soul of mid-distance running is in the athlete's ability to run fast for an extended period of time while dealing with lactic acid production. In this post I will cover the transition to lactic workouts and lactate tolerance work. We begin with some lactate tolerance workouts, also known as speed endurance. By the end of the weekend, I'll cover the race-specific training and taper that take us through the heart of the season.
TRANSITION TO LACTATE TOLERANCE WORKOUTS
After a fall of fast top end work and slower lactate threshold work, the move to lactate tolerance workouts is a challenge. That once-familiar burn has been absent for three or four months. The strange weakness in your legs, the cramping in your shoulder, and that monkey on your back all welcome you to the world of oxygen indebtedness. For reasons unknown, your mouth tastes like you're chewing on a couple fresh copper pennies; your calves protest with a dull ache before you delve into the next repeat and the dullness rapidly sharpens; you recover quickly between reps but start swimming quickly within each rep despite the fact that the only pools on this track are the ones formerly known as your legs, now filling with lactic acid.
HILLS
That's right, you get to do more hills in this phase. What's more, they're about to get a lot harder.
Hills can be a great special speed endurance workout for the fact that they force your legs to work harder than they would on flat ground, resulting in greater lactic acid production. The short hills I described in PART I are too brief to generate large amounts of lactic acid, so to achieve this training effect I use longer, more gradual hills. A 250m to 300m hill at a 4-6% grade will do the job. Walk/jog down recovery. The effort should be hard, between 800m and 1500m effort. Often, this effort seems easy until the last 100m and that is where the training effect is. The monkey jumps on your back and you have to push through it. Start with 6 of these hills and build to a maximum of 10 or 12.
SHORT REPS, SHORT REST
As you return to the track for more specific workouts, you should use workouts that involve short repeats with short recoveries to ease your return. 1500m or mile race pace is a good pace to use in these workouts as it stimulates a lot of lactic acid production but still allows you to recover enough to do a moderately high volume.
When I trained under Dennis Barker with Team USA Minnesota, we would often do 20 to 24x 200m with 45 seconds rest at mile pace. The reps are long enough that you achieve some lactate tolerance training, but there are frequent bouts of short rest so that you can find a nice rhythm that almost feels like a tempo run. Start with 12-16 of these 200's and build to 20 or 24.
PROGRESSION to LONGER REPS, MORE REST
From there, I would move to the following:
3-4 sets of 4x300m; 45s between reps, 3-4 minutes between sets.
2 sets of 6-10x400m; 1:00 between reps, 3-5 minutes between sets.
12-16x400m; 1:30 between reps.
5-8x600m; 3:00 between reps.
As you can see, these workouts get more dense as they progress. It will quickly move away from the rhythmic, tempo-run feeling of the 200's. The workouts become more race specific to the 1500m/ mile in this manner.
"BROKEN" REPEAT WORKOUTS
Once you have done some dense workouts like the ones above, you can test yourself with some very race-specific workouts that I call "broken" repeats. These workouts make your body think you are running one long repeat, but your mind breaks it down and it becomes a little easier. Don't worry, it'll still be really hard.
Broken 600's: 5-6x {400, 200} (30s rest between reps, 3:00 between sets) Run 1500m pace for the 400's and 800m pace for the 200's.
Broken 1000's: 3-5x {300, 500, 200} (30-45s between reps, 3-4 mins between sets) Run 1500m pace on the 500, slightly faster for the 300 and the 200.
GEAR CHANGERS
If you're going to be racing a 1500 or mile, it's good to practice changing gears and finishing. A couple workouts that address this are as follows:
800, 600, 400, 4x200 (2-3 mins rest) Begin at Mile race pace and squeeze it down just 1-2 seconds per 400m on each repeat.
4x {500, 400, 300} (1:00 between reps, 3:00 between sets): Run the 500 at slightly faster than 3000m goal pace, the 400m at 1500m goal pace, and the 300m between 800m and 1500m goal paces.
4x {600, 400, 200} (1:00 between reps, 3:00 between sets): Run the 600 at 3000m goal pace, the 400 at 1500m goal pace, and the 200 at 800m goal pace. Very similar to workout above.
If you have addressed all of the above workout groups, you will be quite well-prepared to run a fast 1500 or mile because they are all fairly specific to that race. 800m runners have another step to go in their race-specific preparation: lactic capacity work, which is also very important for milers. I'll address it in PART III.
SECONDARY WORKOUTS and PHASING
The aforementioned workouts are done 1-2 times per week beginning in November or December for collegiate athletes. In November, December, and January, (and then again at the start of outdoors in March/April) we will also do VO2 Max workouts and/or some cruise intervals and/or tempo runs about once or twice per week. We will also continue the top-end speed work as outlined in PART I. Once the racing season hits full stride in February, we tend to use VO2 Max work sparingly as it is pretty tiring. We would shift to cruise intervals or tempo runs once per week to maintain aerobic ability. If there is a week without a race, we may put a VO2 Max session in there. Bear in mind that most of these lactate tolerance workouts involve a significant VO2 Max element as well-- every workout is a combination of several training effects, but I just categorize them by the primary training effect.
MAIN TRAINING ELEMENTS BY MONTH
This is geared for the type of runner who would qualify for Indoor NCAA's and Outdoor NCAA Regionals/Nationals and maybe USATF Championships or Olympic Trials in the 800m or 1500m. The 800m runners do slightly more Lactic Capacity work and slightly less Lactate Tolerance work; the 1500m specialists do vice-versa.
AUGUST
Return to Training, Progression, Aerobic + strides
SEPTEMBER
Lactate Threshold, Hills, Downhills
OCTOBER
Lactate Threshold, VO2 Max, Hills, Accelerations, Downhills, Light Speed
NOVEMBER
Lactate Threshold, VO2 Max, Hills, Accelerations, Downhills, Light Speed
DECEMBER
Lactate Threshold, VO2 Max, Lactate Tolerance, Accelerations, Light Speed
JANUARY
Lactate Threshold, Lactate Tolerance, Accelerations, Flys, Light Speed
FEBRUARY
Lactate Threshold, Lactate Tolerance, Lactic Capacity, Flys
early MARCH
Lactate Threshold, Lactic Capacity, Light Speed (until NCAAs, then March becomes like April)
MARCH/APRIL Lactate Threshold, VO2 Max, Lactate Tolerance, maybe Lactic Capacity (depending on how long the athlete's season will go), Hills, Flys
MAY
Lactate Threshold, Lactate Tolerance, Lactic Capacity, Light Speed
JUNE
Lactate Threshold, Lactic Capacity, Light Speed
JULY
Finish season similar to June, then Rest/Recover
The only workouts here which I have not yet specifically addressed are Lactic Capacity workouts, and they are the subject of PART III, the final installment in this series.
When I last left you, we had discussed top-end speed development. Hopefully we all have a faster top gear now. That will be helpful, but the heart and soul of mid-distance running is in the athlete's ability to run fast for an extended period of time while dealing with lactic acid production. In this post I will cover the transition to lactic workouts and lactate tolerance work. We begin with some lactate tolerance workouts, also known as speed endurance. By the end of the weekend, I'll cover the race-specific training and taper that take us through the heart of the season.
TRANSITION TO LACTATE TOLERANCE WORKOUTS
After a fall of fast top end work and slower lactate threshold work, the move to lactate tolerance workouts is a challenge. That once-familiar burn has been absent for three or four months. The strange weakness in your legs, the cramping in your shoulder, and that monkey on your back all welcome you to the world of oxygen indebtedness. For reasons unknown, your mouth tastes like you're chewing on a couple fresh copper pennies; your calves protest with a dull ache before you delve into the next repeat and the dullness rapidly sharpens; you recover quickly between reps but start swimming quickly within each rep despite the fact that the only pools on this track are the ones formerly known as your legs, now filling with lactic acid.
HILLS
That's right, you get to do more hills in this phase. What's more, they're about to get a lot harder.
Hills can be a great special speed endurance workout for the fact that they force your legs to work harder than they would on flat ground, resulting in greater lactic acid production. The short hills I described in PART I are too brief to generate large amounts of lactic acid, so to achieve this training effect I use longer, more gradual hills. A 250m to 300m hill at a 4-6% grade will do the job. Walk/jog down recovery. The effort should be hard, between 800m and 1500m effort. Often, this effort seems easy until the last 100m and that is where the training effect is. The monkey jumps on your back and you have to push through it. Start with 6 of these hills and build to a maximum of 10 or 12.
SHORT REPS, SHORT REST
As you return to the track for more specific workouts, you should use workouts that involve short repeats with short recoveries to ease your return. 1500m or mile race pace is a good pace to use in these workouts as it stimulates a lot of lactic acid production but still allows you to recover enough to do a moderately high volume.
When I trained under Dennis Barker with Team USA Minnesota, we would often do 20 to 24x 200m with 45 seconds rest at mile pace. The reps are long enough that you achieve some lactate tolerance training, but there are frequent bouts of short rest so that you can find a nice rhythm that almost feels like a tempo run. Start with 12-16 of these 200's and build to 20 or 24.
PROGRESSION to LONGER REPS, MORE REST
From there, I would move to the following:
3-4 sets of 4x300m; 45s between reps, 3-4 minutes between sets.
2 sets of 6-10x400m; 1:00 between reps, 3-5 minutes between sets.
12-16x400m; 1:30 between reps.
5-8x600m; 3:00 between reps.
As you can see, these workouts get more dense as they progress. It will quickly move away from the rhythmic, tempo-run feeling of the 200's. The workouts become more race specific to the 1500m/ mile in this manner.
"BROKEN" REPEAT WORKOUTS
Once you have done some dense workouts like the ones above, you can test yourself with some very race-specific workouts that I call "broken" repeats. These workouts make your body think you are running one long repeat, but your mind breaks it down and it becomes a little easier. Don't worry, it'll still be really hard.
Broken 600's: 5-6x {400, 200} (30s rest between reps, 3:00 between sets) Run 1500m pace for the 400's and 800m pace for the 200's.
Broken 1000's: 3-5x {300, 500, 200} (30-45s between reps, 3-4 mins between sets) Run 1500m pace on the 500, slightly faster for the 300 and the 200.
GEAR CHANGERS
If you're going to be racing a 1500 or mile, it's good to practice changing gears and finishing. A couple workouts that address this are as follows:
800, 600, 400, 4x200 (2-3 mins rest) Begin at Mile race pace and squeeze it down just 1-2 seconds per 400m on each repeat.
4x {500, 400, 300} (1:00 between reps, 3:00 between sets): Run the 500 at slightly faster than 3000m goal pace, the 400m at 1500m goal pace, and the 300m between 800m and 1500m goal paces.
4x {600, 400, 200} (1:00 between reps, 3:00 between sets): Run the 600 at 3000m goal pace, the 400 at 1500m goal pace, and the 200 at 800m goal pace. Very similar to workout above.
If you have addressed all of the above workout groups, you will be quite well-prepared to run a fast 1500 or mile because they are all fairly specific to that race. 800m runners have another step to go in their race-specific preparation: lactic capacity work, which is also very important for milers. I'll address it in PART III.
SECONDARY WORKOUTS and PHASING
The aforementioned workouts are done 1-2 times per week beginning in November or December for collegiate athletes. In November, December, and January, (and then again at the start of outdoors in March/April) we will also do VO2 Max workouts and/or some cruise intervals and/or tempo runs about once or twice per week. We will also continue the top-end speed work as outlined in PART I. Once the racing season hits full stride in February, we tend to use VO2 Max work sparingly as it is pretty tiring. We would shift to cruise intervals or tempo runs once per week to maintain aerobic ability. If there is a week without a race, we may put a VO2 Max session in there. Bear in mind that most of these lactate tolerance workouts involve a significant VO2 Max element as well-- every workout is a combination of several training effects, but I just categorize them by the primary training effect.
MAIN TRAINING ELEMENTS BY MONTH
This is geared for the type of runner who would qualify for Indoor NCAA's and Outdoor NCAA Regionals/Nationals and maybe USATF Championships or Olympic Trials in the 800m or 1500m. The 800m runners do slightly more Lactic Capacity work and slightly less Lactate Tolerance work; the 1500m specialists do vice-versa.
AUGUST
Return to Training, Progression, Aerobic + strides
SEPTEMBER
Lactate Threshold, Hills, Downhills
OCTOBER
Lactate Threshold, VO2 Max, Hills, Accelerations, Downhills, Light Speed
NOVEMBER
Lactate Threshold, VO2 Max, Hills, Accelerations, Downhills, Light Speed
DECEMBER
Lactate Threshold, VO2 Max, Lactate Tolerance, Accelerations, Light Speed
JANUARY
Lactate Threshold, Lactate Tolerance, Accelerations, Flys, Light Speed
FEBRUARY
Lactate Threshold, Lactate Tolerance, Lactic Capacity, Flys
early MARCH
Lactate Threshold, Lactic Capacity, Light Speed (until NCAAs, then March becomes like April)
MARCH/APRIL Lactate Threshold, VO2 Max, Lactate Tolerance, maybe Lactic Capacity (depending on how long the athlete's season will go), Hills, Flys
MAY
Lactate Threshold, Lactate Tolerance, Lactic Capacity, Light Speed
JUNE
Lactate Threshold, Lactic Capacity, Light Speed
JULY
Finish season similar to June, then Rest/Recover
The only workouts here which I have not yet specifically addressed are Lactic Capacity workouts, and they are the subject of PART III, the final installment in this series.
Monday, April 28, 2008
Return to Posting
Well Hello all,
Its been a while, Sorry for the neglect. I have been busy trying to shuffle work, class, and running. Since class is almost done my free time will hopefully open up a lot more which should help my training out a lot more. Well I have felt my training has been going rather well. Even though I have not raced much and my race results have not been particular great. I ran a 1500 fresh for the first time a week and half ago at Rose Hulman. I ran 4:00.03 which I was very happy with (because I usually do not have much speed. Then this past weekend I ran my first 10k of the season at Hillsdale, which turned out to be a total disaster. I ran 31:27. I felt pretty good for about the first 4k. I was running with the group at about 3:00k pace and somewhere between 4.5k and 5k I just pretty much gave up. Started a nice tempo run it seemed like, I was just not feeling the race, I usually race pretty good in big races, but I sure did not this weekend. But everybody has a bad race every now and then, and you just have to put those races behind you and look ahead to the future. I am actually in St. Louis right now to watch Jordan Fife run mile on the track. The race is the same I referred to a previous post. Big River is Hosting the race at St. Louis University High School. It should be pretty fun. This weekend I will be traveling to Indy to run my first half-marathon and hopefully things will go very good. Well I will fill you in on how things go at Indy.
Its been a while, Sorry for the neglect. I have been busy trying to shuffle work, class, and running. Since class is almost done my free time will hopefully open up a lot more which should help my training out a lot more. Well I have felt my training has been going rather well. Even though I have not raced much and my race results have not been particular great. I ran a 1500 fresh for the first time a week and half ago at Rose Hulman. I ran 4:00.03 which I was very happy with (because I usually do not have much speed. Then this past weekend I ran my first 10k of the season at Hillsdale, which turned out to be a total disaster. I ran 31:27. I felt pretty good for about the first 4k. I was running with the group at about 3:00k pace and somewhere between 4.5k and 5k I just pretty much gave up. Started a nice tempo run it seemed like, I was just not feeling the race, I usually race pretty good in big races, but I sure did not this weekend. But everybody has a bad race every now and then, and you just have to put those races behind you and look ahead to the future. I am actually in St. Louis right now to watch Jordan Fife run mile on the track. The race is the same I referred to a previous post. Big River is Hosting the race at St. Louis University High School. It should be pretty fun. This weekend I will be traveling to Indy to run my first half-marathon and hopefully things will go very good. Well I will fill you in on how things go at Indy.
Monday, March 31, 2008
In The Lead Pack with Fred Kieser
Kieser at the 2005 USA 8k Championships (Photo courtesy of Mensracing.com)Fred Kieser, current head coach of the cross country and track & field programs at Saint Joseph Academy High School in Cleveland, OH, competed at the 2000 and 2004 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials placing 14th and 13th, respectively. A 1993 graduate of Miami University in Ohio, Kieser competes for Team Good River, an Elite Development Club in Ohio.
Interview by: Derick Lawrence (3/8/2008)
Interview by: Derick Lawrence (3/8/2008)
What initially caught your attention to compete in the marathon?
I went to Miami University, a program known for its mileage back in those days. We always joked that our training had us ready for a marathon if we just added a touch or two, so after I graduated I tried it. In my first marathon a few months after track ended I ran a 2:19:03 at Columbus (1993). That result was pretty good, but became a double-edged sword because I got pigeon-holed as a marathoner. From there I tried to qualify (unsuccessfully) for the 1996 Olympic Marathon Trials repeatedly.
Tell us about your collegiate running career at Miami University (OH) (’93). What were your personal records, most memorable moments, and accomplishments?
Running at Miami under Coach Chuck Zody was an eye-opening experience. I had no idea how many fast people there were in the world or how hard they trained. I went to a small high school, so the world of Division running in college was a shock to the system. It was rough at first, but looking back on it I wouldn’t trade it for anything. The mileage ethic will beat you down at first, but if you can make it then good things will happen. With regards to times I probably underachieved. On the track I usually only got one crack at chasing a time each season with good competition and not doubling in the 1500/5K or steeple/5K. I never was good at getting a fast time, but typically I placed well at the conference meet, which was clearly our focus. The big let down would be placing only 5th in the conference senior year, however the big enjoyment would be scoring 22 points at the outdoor MAC meet my senior year and helping our team breaking Eastern Michigan’s long string of team victories.
At the 2004 U.S. Olympic Team Trials- Men’s Marathon in Birmingham, Ala. you placed 13th with a time of 2:17:21. Could you describe this race for us and what the experience was like?
Kieser at the 2004 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials. (Photo courtesy of Mensracing.com)
Regardless of what anyone says, I honestly believe a marathon well-run is a painful marathon. The trick is to train well ahead of time then use up all your energy during the race so that you finish on empty. Well, I finished beyond empty having croaked severely around mile 23 or 24. There’s nothing like the feeling of swinging iron gates for legs and cement blocks for arms…The race itself was exciting because other than Brian Sell, everybody stayed together for a long time. I remember thinking during the race to stay near the front of the big pack and not look back because seeing how many people were actually still together would’ve depressed me. After the race I saw pictures and indeed it was freakish how large (40+) our pack was. At mile 9 Alan Culpepper dropped a 4:40 mile and the whole pack disintegrated. I remember running a 4:50 mile and getting dropped. For a 5 mile stretch I ran 25:00 – way too fast, but everybody was doing. Probably the reason I died a too early death.
One of my memories of the race was see my friend, David Hunter, running around in clothes that looked like he came straight out of Goodwill. His flight the previous day was re-directed and his luggage didn’t arrive in time, so he was out there cheering hard and looking like a casualty of bum…too funny.
At the 2000 U.S. Marathon Olympic Trials in Pittsburgh, PA you placed 14th. How did you use that experience for the 2004 marathon trials? Did you alter your training after the 2000 marathon trials in preparation for the 2004 marathon trials?
The two Olympic Trials were complete opposites from each other. In 2004 we were wearing hat and gloves at the start because it was 30 degrees and windy in Alabama. Pittsburgh in 2000 was hot and humid. Both conditions probably favored someone like me because in either case I was never picked to finish high. I’m not an elite runner and I was never a threat to make the Olympic team. Knowing that going into the race allows an athlete to relax a little and soak up the role of spoiler. I knew that just by running smart/solid in both races I could place well. For me being top 15-20 was great, but so many guys going into those races were so hell-bent on being top 3 or top 10 (or trying to chase times) that they had a fatalistic approach to their races. I heard too many guys saying, “Well, I might as well go for it because I trained harder than ever for this.”
Pittsburgh was a hilly course in addition to the heat. I’ve had many friends tell me that they ran much further that day than I did because it was such an inconvenient spectator course. Undoubtedly that helped lead to 2004 having a criterium format. I remember before PIttsburgh there was much debate about changing the starting time, opening fire hydrants to spray us down, or possibly even putting the race off a day. I just remember some of the elites being a little punchy, but it was understandable because their whole careers were coming down to one race. You have to remember our country somehow got stuck needing guys to break 2:14 for the Olympic Standard. With hills and heat it was pretty apparent only the winner of the race was going to be sent to the Olympics. Again, it helped to be a long shot.
I wore shades in a race for the first time ever as well as a painters cap to help keep the feeling of being cool. I intentionally went to the back of the pack and hit the mile mark tied for last place. The first 10 miles the roads were wet and I remember having a hard time with footing. I also remember seeing Jerry Lawson, one of the race favorites at the time, pull out of the race. That actually inspired me because I knew if a sub 2:12 guy was hurting then I wasn’t the only one. Eventually I worked my way up to tenth place at mile 22, but then Clint Verran and two other fellas past me. There was nothing I could do at that point, but 14th was great. I had a lot of family, friends, and athletes from my team down to watch.
Could you outline your last two weeks of training leading up to the 2004 marathon trials?
For all my marathons the last two weeks are pretty similar. I’ll run around 70-75 miles two weeks out with a medium long run and a medium tempo run mixed in. The last 6 days are typically 5-7 miles easy. I’ll do one “simulation” run in which I try to run 4 miles in the way I hope to run the first 4 miles of a marathon. My opinion is you can only hurt yourself in the last two weeks, not help.
You are currently the head coach of the cross country and track & field programs at Saint Joseph Academy High School in Cleveland, OH. How have you applied your own training and experiences into the coaching of your athletes?
The one type of training I’ve really tried to apply to the team is threshold running. Some people might call this tempo running, but I’m just looking to boost their VO2 by training at threshold. I’m a mileage runner, but I don’t ask the team to run far. If there are athletes who are into it and can stay healthy, then I’ll let them get after it a little to see how it goes. For the most part I just want them to be well-rounded in their running so they can keep doing it and improving after high school. I think what helps the most is applying what I tell them to my own racing. I’d feel like a hypocrite if I preached to them to be tough or use good form if I don’t do those things myself.
What key concept(s) do you believe are necessary for success of a marathon runner?
Great question. Even though I have moved out of this style of training, I think a runner should train to be a 5k/10k guy then throw in some long runs to prepare for a marathon. That’s a bit simplified, but my point is too many runners go over board with long runs, mileage, and a slowed down pace (which is exactly what I’ve done the past 4 years). Marathon runners have to be careful because too many factors go into having a great RACE. You can have great fitness and a fast course, but if the weather is foul (like Chicago last year) then major adjustments, if not bailing all together) should be made. I’ve come to hate the “all the eggs in one basket” aura of the marathon. So my recommendation is to keep the speed and add mileage as necessary.
What key workout(s) or training element(s) did you incorporate into your marathon training?
I don’t think I did anything special for my training. I did long tempo runs once a week (10 miles or more), long runs of up to 22-23 miles every other week, repeat miles/3200’s every other week, and filled in the rest with recovery. I liked to use races to build confidence for training as well. Four weeks out from the goal marathon I tried to find a half-marathon to get a bead on what my fitness level was.
How important is recovery in your training regimen and how did you apply this to your training?
I’ve become a recovery junkie anymore. All I do is recover, and that has been my downfall. I think all the mileage and workouts over the years, not to mention having a job has slowed me down. I do know guys that don’t recover enough from their daily hammering and that holds them back come race day, but you can’t fault their desire to improve. My recovery pace varied depending strictly on how I felt. I was conscious of my pace, but if I needed 7:30’s then that’s what I did. I knew that I was fit when my recovery pace was in the mid 6’s.
What kept you motivated to train at a high level?
I had some goals that I wanted to accomplish in terms of times and places at different events – mostly in the shorter distances. However time and a lack of a suitable training system for those shorter races led me to train more effectively for the longer distances. For some reason I still believe I can run fast even in the 800 and mile, but at this point I think its safe to say my PR days are behind. Later in my career I found that I enjoyed traveling to the major races around the country like Houston, Jacksonville, etc…
What is the running environment like in Cleveland, OH? How important was it for you to find a training group post-collegiately?
There was a time when I was getting ready to leave Miami that I considered going to Fayetteville, Arkansas or even Boulder just to see if I could make the jump to the next level. I just didn’t think I was fast enough to make a life of running full time – I couldn’t justify it. Running in Cleveland is overall very good. There is a great system of parks to train in and a huge group of runners that have an enthusiasm for the sport. The only thing I missed out on was having training partners around that could hammer the workouts needed for great mile/5K training. The winters can be a little brutal for getting mileage in, but slowly I’m getting accustomed to running on treadmills. As I write this we’ve had nearly 2 feet of snow fall in the last 24 hours. All the roads are impassible and the gyms are closed, so great creativity for running is needed.
Tim Budic was a great uniting force in the area for a few years because he started a couple of running teams, first with Run-Insight.com, and now with TeamGoodRiver – an USATF elite development club that I race with.
What words of wisdom would you give to collegiate runners looking to take the step up to the marathon after graduation?
I would recommend choosing your first marathon wisely. Make sure you’re ready for it physically and you should probably have a coach for the first few to check your training and help set you up at the right pace. Don’t become an addict of the marathon though – keep working on your 5K/10K times.
Thanks to Fred for a great interview.
One of my memories of the race was see my friend, David Hunter, running around in clothes that looked like he came straight out of Goodwill. His flight the previous day was re-directed and his luggage didn’t arrive in time, so he was out there cheering hard and looking like a casualty of bum…too funny.
At the 2000 U.S. Marathon Olympic Trials in Pittsburgh, PA you placed 14th. How did you use that experience for the 2004 marathon trials? Did you alter your training after the 2000 marathon trials in preparation for the 2004 marathon trials?
The two Olympic Trials were complete opposites from each other. In 2004 we were wearing hat and gloves at the start because it was 30 degrees and windy in Alabama. Pittsburgh in 2000 was hot and humid. Both conditions probably favored someone like me because in either case I was never picked to finish high. I’m not an elite runner and I was never a threat to make the Olympic team. Knowing that going into the race allows an athlete to relax a little and soak up the role of spoiler. I knew that just by running smart/solid in both races I could place well. For me being top 15-20 was great, but so many guys going into those races were so hell-bent on being top 3 or top 10 (or trying to chase times) that they had a fatalistic approach to their races. I heard too many guys saying, “Well, I might as well go for it because I trained harder than ever for this.”
Pittsburgh was a hilly course in addition to the heat. I’ve had many friends tell me that they ran much further that day than I did because it was such an inconvenient spectator course. Undoubtedly that helped lead to 2004 having a criterium format. I remember before PIttsburgh there was much debate about changing the starting time, opening fire hydrants to spray us down, or possibly even putting the race off a day. I just remember some of the elites being a little punchy, but it was understandable because their whole careers were coming down to one race. You have to remember our country somehow got stuck needing guys to break 2:14 for the Olympic Standard. With hills and heat it was pretty apparent only the winner of the race was going to be sent to the Olympics. Again, it helped to be a long shot.
I wore shades in a race for the first time ever as well as a painters cap to help keep the feeling of being cool. I intentionally went to the back of the pack and hit the mile mark tied for last place. The first 10 miles the roads were wet and I remember having a hard time with footing. I also remember seeing Jerry Lawson, one of the race favorites at the time, pull out of the race. That actually inspired me because I knew if a sub 2:12 guy was hurting then I wasn’t the only one. Eventually I worked my way up to tenth place at mile 22, but then Clint Verran and two other fellas past me. There was nothing I could do at that point, but 14th was great. I had a lot of family, friends, and athletes from my team down to watch.
Could you outline your last two weeks of training leading up to the 2004 marathon trials?
For all my marathons the last two weeks are pretty similar. I’ll run around 70-75 miles two weeks out with a medium long run and a medium tempo run mixed in. The last 6 days are typically 5-7 miles easy. I’ll do one “simulation” run in which I try to run 4 miles in the way I hope to run the first 4 miles of a marathon. My opinion is you can only hurt yourself in the last two weeks, not help.
You are currently the head coach of the cross country and track & field programs at Saint Joseph Academy High School in Cleveland, OH. How have you applied your own training and experiences into the coaching of your athletes?
The one type of training I’ve really tried to apply to the team is threshold running. Some people might call this tempo running, but I’m just looking to boost their VO2 by training at threshold. I’m a mileage runner, but I don’t ask the team to run far. If there are athletes who are into it and can stay healthy, then I’ll let them get after it a little to see how it goes. For the most part I just want them to be well-rounded in their running so they can keep doing it and improving after high school. I think what helps the most is applying what I tell them to my own racing. I’d feel like a hypocrite if I preached to them to be tough or use good form if I don’t do those things myself.
What key concept(s) do you believe are necessary for success of a marathon runner?
Great question. Even though I have moved out of this style of training, I think a runner should train to be a 5k/10k guy then throw in some long runs to prepare for a marathon. That’s a bit simplified, but my point is too many runners go over board with long runs, mileage, and a slowed down pace (which is exactly what I’ve done the past 4 years). Marathon runners have to be careful because too many factors go into having a great RACE. You can have great fitness and a fast course, but if the weather is foul (like Chicago last year) then major adjustments, if not bailing all together) should be made. I’ve come to hate the “all the eggs in one basket” aura of the marathon. So my recommendation is to keep the speed and add mileage as necessary.
What key workout(s) or training element(s) did you incorporate into your marathon training?
I don’t think I did anything special for my training. I did long tempo runs once a week (10 miles or more), long runs of up to 22-23 miles every other week, repeat miles/3200’s every other week, and filled in the rest with recovery. I liked to use races to build confidence for training as well. Four weeks out from the goal marathon I tried to find a half-marathon to get a bead on what my fitness level was.
How important is recovery in your training regimen and how did you apply this to your training?
I’ve become a recovery junkie anymore. All I do is recover, and that has been my downfall. I think all the mileage and workouts over the years, not to mention having a job has slowed me down. I do know guys that don’t recover enough from their daily hammering and that holds them back come race day, but you can’t fault their desire to improve. My recovery pace varied depending strictly on how I felt. I was conscious of my pace, but if I needed 7:30’s then that’s what I did. I knew that I was fit when my recovery pace was in the mid 6’s.
What kept you motivated to train at a high level?
I had some goals that I wanted to accomplish in terms of times and places at different events – mostly in the shorter distances. However time and a lack of a suitable training system for those shorter races led me to train more effectively for the longer distances. For some reason I still believe I can run fast even in the 800 and mile, but at this point I think its safe to say my PR days are behind. Later in my career I found that I enjoyed traveling to the major races around the country like Houston, Jacksonville, etc…
What is the running environment like in Cleveland, OH? How important was it for you to find a training group post-collegiately?
There was a time when I was getting ready to leave Miami that I considered going to Fayetteville, Arkansas or even Boulder just to see if I could make the jump to the next level. I just didn’t think I was fast enough to make a life of running full time – I couldn’t justify it. Running in Cleveland is overall very good. There is a great system of parks to train in and a huge group of runners that have an enthusiasm for the sport. The only thing I missed out on was having training partners around that could hammer the workouts needed for great mile/5K training. The winters can be a little brutal for getting mileage in, but slowly I’m getting accustomed to running on treadmills. As I write this we’ve had nearly 2 feet of snow fall in the last 24 hours. All the roads are impassible and the gyms are closed, so great creativity for running is needed.
Tim Budic was a great uniting force in the area for a few years because he started a couple of running teams, first with Run-Insight.com, and now with TeamGoodRiver – an USATF elite development club that I race with.
What words of wisdom would you give to collegiate runners looking to take the step up to the marathon after graduation?
I would recommend choosing your first marathon wisely. Make sure you’re ready for it physically and you should probably have a coach for the first few to check your training and help set you up at the right pace. Don’t become an addict of the marathon though – keep working on your 5K/10K times.
Thanks to Fred for a great interview.
Sunday, March 30, 2008
First meet of my last season
(in case your wondering that tattoo on my back is Indiana State's athletic symbol...sycamore for life baby...haha)
Well, this weekend I had my first outdoor meet of my last outdoor season as a sycamore and I must say it is by far the most positive opener I've ever had. I ran the 5k at eastern Illinois at a very low key meet. My teammate and I ( Michael Disher...a freshman who is going to be a beast!..ha ha) decided we would switch the lead every 400 since it was kind of windy. I led the first lap coming through in 70 and it felt surprisingly easy especially since I've been doing 10k training and most of my workouts have been at 10k pace or slower. Anyways, Disher and I switched back and forth running between 71's and 73's and we finished up running 14:57 (Disher) and 15:00(me). The only thing that sucked is some unattached guy passed us with like 700 to go and ended up beating us...oh well. I am really pleased with this race I felt like if I would of tried to push the pace a little earlier I could of ran 14:50 or so. I felt really strong the whole race in till about 3 laps to go when I needed to start dropping it partly because of not doing anything fast yet and partly because my stomach felt terrible ( use your imagination...ha ha). This opener really has me excited for the rest of the year I really feel like this 10k training is working out well for me. My last two openers have been in the 15:30's and by the end of the year I ended up running 15:00's, so I'm hoping this year I can run around 14:40. This coming week we are headed back to EIU and I believe I am running the steeple my p.r. is 9:30 so anything under that would be great....or just a win would do.
Training wise I hit 75 miles this week and this coming week I am probably going to run around that or lower. I've been at 80 for about 3 weeks, so Derick wants me to take a couple down weeks and then go back up. This is by far the most I've ran during this part of the season, so I think backing it down for a sec is the smart thing to do. Now that I think about it backing down to 70-75 is still more then I'm usually at right now...usually I'm coming back from some sort of injury right now and trying to hit 50ish or 60 miles a week...ha ha.
Friday, March 28, 2008
Runner's High
Haven't been on here in a while, but thought I would share a recent story in the New York Times about the scientific study of the runner's high.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Spring break at Zap fitness
( Zap Fitness Center)Last week was our spring break and this year me and a few of my teammates decided we wanted to go somewhere running related. At first thought Eugene and Flagstaff came to mind, but money wise that was out of the question. So, after almost deciding to just stay in Indiana I came up with the idea of us going to Zap Fitness in Blowing Rock,NC. Zap fitness is a non-profit organization that helps fund elite post collegiate runners in their quest to make the Olympic team or to just be national/world class runners. They have regional and elite standards for athletes who apply. The elite athletes receive room and board, $500 monthly stipend ( plus I'm pretty sure there are bonuses depending on how you perform), travel expenses, physiological testing, training and racing gear, and after 6 months you receive health insurance. Zap also does a lot of different running camps in the summer and has numerous amounts of collegiate teams who stay at their facility. The coach at Zap Fitness is Pete Rea who was a pretty good runner at the university of Connecticut ( i believe 29:29 in the 10k).
Anyways, heading to Zap Fitness I really didn't know what to expect I mean most kids are heading to Daytona beach and we were on our way to Blowing Rock, NC. I heard good things about the trails there but I really wasn't expecting the most amazing place I've ever run! After a 7hr drive we dropped our stuff off at Zap and headed out for a run at Moses Cone state park. Moses Cone is a park that has about 25-30 miles of carriage trails ( wide trails with really thin crushed gravel or limestone) through the mountains of Blowing Rock. This park has everything you could ever want, a flat 1500 meter loop for intervals, winding trails up mountains for hill work, and beautiful scenery to get lost in while knocking out a long run. Once we got back from the run we got settled into our rooms and got ready for dinner. The zap fitness center is comprised of two buildings the building on the left ( in the picture) is where guest stay and the one on the right is where the athlete's stay. The guest residence I believe has 12 rooms in all (some doubles and some singles) we rented two double rooms which was pretty much like a dorm room, so we felt right at home...haha. The guest residence also has a living room on the first floor the consist of a fire place, few couches, and a TV/DVD player. Since we were the only ones staying there we had the whole place to our self ( well Jeff Gaudette did stay the first night....that guy is hilarious).
Anyways, heading to Zap Fitness I really didn't know what to expect I mean most kids are heading to Daytona beach and we were on our way to Blowing Rock, NC. I heard good things about the trails there but I really wasn't expecting the most amazing place I've ever run! After a 7hr drive we dropped our stuff off at Zap and headed out for a run at Moses Cone state park. Moses Cone is a park that has about 25-30 miles of carriage trails ( wide trails with really thin crushed gravel or limestone) through the mountains of Blowing Rock. This park has everything you could ever want, a flat 1500 meter loop for intervals, winding trails up mountains for hill work, and beautiful scenery to get lost in while knocking out a long run. Once we got back from the run we got settled into our rooms and got ready for dinner. The zap fitness center is comprised of two buildings the building on the left ( in the picture) is where guest stay and the one on the right is where the athlete's stay. The guest residence I believe has 12 rooms in all (some doubles and some singles) we rented two double rooms which was pretty much like a dorm room, so we felt right at home...haha. The guest residence also has a living room on the first floor the consist of a fire place, few couches, and a TV/DVD player. Since we were the only ones staying there we had the whole place to our self ( well Jeff Gaudette did stay the first night....that guy is hilarious).
( map of moses cone 25 miles of trails...however there is another lake not shown that has a trail up a mountain and probably adds another 10 miles or so of trail)The athlete building consisted of two kitchens ( one down stairs in the cafeteria and one up stairs were some of the athletes live), a weight room, physiological testing lab, rooms for the athletes, and a office/ living area where we spent most of our time playing guitar hero..haha. They also have three other houses, one for Pete and Zika Rea, one for the two girls on the team, and another house for two other athletes...all of which are located within a mile of zap. All of the athletes seemed pretty cool we ran with most of the guys one day on a dirt road that ran along a river and passed a water fall. Jonathan Pierce formerly of Standford had a ping pong duel with one of my teammates Scott Keeney...this was probably one of the best ping pong matches in history...haha. Keeney won the first match and Pierce took the second we were going to have a grudge match but Pierce had to fly to NY for the 8k championships ( Pierce also found out that he made the world xc team while we where there...so that was pretty exciting). Brendan O'Keefe ( 1500 meter runner) was a really cool guy he had us cracking up about a bunch of stuff ( Pete decided when Brendan had a kid he had to name it Okidokie O'Keefe..haha) . Lastly, overall the trip cost 195 dollars for a 4 night stay, 3 lunches, and 3 dinners. I felt this was a great deal especially since the meals we had were 5star and buffet style! One of the athletes Michael Bunker happened to be a chef and he made us the most amazing dishes ever I've never eaten so much food...haha.
Training wise I ended up getting in 80 miles in last week I only did one workout which was a 35 min tempo mostly up hill. I also got in a 16 mile long run which is my longest run in the last month or so. That run went by so fast on Moses cone I felt like running more but knew that wouldn't be the smartest thing to do. This week I started my first week of 10k workouts and I'm excited to continue the training that Derick has planned for us. Also, Derick decided that I should be put on a 1hr limit on my runs (excluding long runs) and add more morning runs to make up mileage. This is an attempt to keep me healthy but at the same time run higher mileage and I'm all for that!
This spring break was by far the best spring break I've ever had. I've done the whole Daytona beach thing and don't get me wrong I had a great time, but this was fun yet inspiring at the same time. Being in such a great atmosphere really got me pumped on training for my last season as a sycamore and my future plans in running. Everyone at Zap Fitness made us feel right at home and I would definitely recommend them to other athletes.
Training wise I ended up getting in 80 miles in last week I only did one workout which was a 35 min tempo mostly up hill. I also got in a 16 mile long run which is my longest run in the last month or so. That run went by so fast on Moses cone I felt like running more but knew that wouldn't be the smartest thing to do. This week I started my first week of 10k workouts and I'm excited to continue the training that Derick has planned for us. Also, Derick decided that I should be put on a 1hr limit on my runs (excluding long runs) and add more morning runs to make up mileage. This is an attempt to keep me healthy but at the same time run higher mileage and I'm all for that!
This spring break was by far the best spring break I've ever had. I've done the whole Daytona beach thing and don't get me wrong I had a great time, but this was fun yet inspiring at the same time. Being in such a great atmosphere really got me pumped on training for my last season as a sycamore and my future plans in running. Everyone at Zap Fitness made us feel right at home and I would definitely recommend them to other athletes.
(Sycamores and Zap)
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Running - Not as Simple as it Seems
Simple. Pure. Natural. And I'm not talking about bottled water. Running is so elementary - you just put one foot in front of the other - that those not indoctrinated into the cult of forward motion occasionally belittle its difficulty. Its simplicity is part its glory. Since our first steps, that mile run in gym class or just trying to catch the bus, running is universal amongst bipeds. Most anyone can do it, and you don't have to learn any rules first, you just step out the door and go.
Nonetheless, the more I run the more I am amazed at the sport's true complexity and its intricacies. This past month I have dealt with some hip and thigh pain. I saw numerous physical therapists, an orthopedic surgeon, an athletic trainer and talked with anyone who would listen about my discomfort. In the end, the only diagnosis I got was that I've been running incorrectly and have some severe muscle imbalances, likely leftovers from improper strength training.
If running is so easy, so straightforward, how the heck have I been doing it incorrectly? Well, there are hundreds of muscles and tendons and ligaments and other junk in the way that must all work together, fire at the right time and generally appease the running gods who dictate injury and health. I'm no doctor and it when people start talking about anatomy I sometimes get lost; nonetheless, with so many body parts it's easy to see how something might go wrong.
On Sunday I went to a talk sponsored by the Indiana Running Company that explored the topic of injuries and correct running form. A local chiropractor and physical therapist discussed why they have great "job security" thanks to all the runners with horrible form plugging in mile after pounding mile, step after incorrect step.
Their main message was that over the course of thousands (or millions after a few months of marathon training) of incorrect steps, the body can break down due to even the most minor of imperfections. Here are a few of their points of emphasis that I've been trying to incorporate into my running. In only a few days I have already noticed a positive change.
*Use your hip flexors and lower abs for power. The muscles of the lower leg (calves, feet, etc.) are meant to absorb force, not to propel you forward. This means that you should focus on pushing your thigh upward, almost a marching motion, instead of pulling back on the ground with your lower leg, ankle and foot. Engaging your lower abs is difficult if you are not used to it and requires practice. Think about drawing your belly button in towards your spine, bringing your hips forward and not letting your butt stick out.
*How you spend the other 20+ non-running hours of your day will affect your running. If you train your body to be in a slouched position, you'll be slouched when running. That means you can't get as much air in your lungs as possible. Poor posture also means you are not moving as efficiently as possible, both contributing to injury and slowing you down.
*Better to do less distance correctly than more incorrectly. Do four miles with your lower abs contracted and getting good knee lift instead of six miles shuffling along and your body will thank you later. If the lack of mileage drives you nuts, cross train until your core is stronger and your form good enough to run correctly as far as you desire. Runners tend to be obsessive compulsive and want to hit their mileage no matter what. If you fall into that category, think about how ugly a big fat goose egg in the running log looks when you are injured and can't run at all.
*Think about your form while running. Pick one aspect of your form and focus on it for at least 5 or 10 minutes every run, be it keeping your shoulders back and arms swinging straight, striking the ground with your midfoot (instead of your heel or forefoot), or drawing the lower abs in and lifting up those knees.
While it is always nice to loose yourself in run and not think about anything, this weekend's talk was a good reminder to me that sometimes you have to work that brain muscle too. Running is actually an extremely complicated process, anatomically, mentally, strategically. The more details you can learn, the more about proper mechanics you can integrate into your exercise, the better off you will be. If Tiger Woods can change his form and still be the best golfer in the world, each of us can take a chance and break out of our comfort zone to try something better. It is not easy, muscle memory takes time and effort. Your muscles have to study to do well on runs just like you have to study to do well on a test. Consciously think about it for each step for at least a small part of each run, especially at the end when form is most likely to break down. Running may be natural, but injury-free running requires a some supernatural effort!
Stride on friends.
Nonetheless, the more I run the more I am amazed at the sport's true complexity and its intricacies. This past month I have dealt with some hip and thigh pain. I saw numerous physical therapists, an orthopedic surgeon, an athletic trainer and talked with anyone who would listen about my discomfort. In the end, the only diagnosis I got was that I've been running incorrectly and have some severe muscle imbalances, likely leftovers from improper strength training.
If running is so easy, so straightforward, how the heck have I been doing it incorrectly? Well, there are hundreds of muscles and tendons and ligaments and other junk in the way that must all work together, fire at the right time and generally appease the running gods who dictate injury and health. I'm no doctor and it when people start talking about anatomy I sometimes get lost; nonetheless, with so many body parts it's easy to see how something might go wrong.
On Sunday I went to a talk sponsored by the Indiana Running Company that explored the topic of injuries and correct running form. A local chiropractor and physical therapist discussed why they have great "job security" thanks to all the runners with horrible form plugging in mile after pounding mile, step after incorrect step.
Their main message was that over the course of thousands (or millions after a few months of marathon training) of incorrect steps, the body can break down due to even the most minor of imperfections. Here are a few of their points of emphasis that I've been trying to incorporate into my running. In only a few days I have already noticed a positive change.
*Use your hip flexors and lower abs for power. The muscles of the lower leg (calves, feet, etc.) are meant to absorb force, not to propel you forward. This means that you should focus on pushing your thigh upward, almost a marching motion, instead of pulling back on the ground with your lower leg, ankle and foot. Engaging your lower abs is difficult if you are not used to it and requires practice. Think about drawing your belly button in towards your spine, bringing your hips forward and not letting your butt stick out.
*How you spend the other 20+ non-running hours of your day will affect your running. If you train your body to be in a slouched position, you'll be slouched when running. That means you can't get as much air in your lungs as possible. Poor posture also means you are not moving as efficiently as possible, both contributing to injury and slowing you down.
*Better to do less distance correctly than more incorrectly. Do four miles with your lower abs contracted and getting good knee lift instead of six miles shuffling along and your body will thank you later. If the lack of mileage drives you nuts, cross train until your core is stronger and your form good enough to run correctly as far as you desire. Runners tend to be obsessive compulsive and want to hit their mileage no matter what. If you fall into that category, think about how ugly a big fat goose egg in the running log looks when you are injured and can't run at all.
*Think about your form while running. Pick one aspect of your form and focus on it for at least 5 or 10 minutes every run, be it keeping your shoulders back and arms swinging straight, striking the ground with your midfoot (instead of your heel or forefoot), or drawing the lower abs in and lifting up those knees.
While it is always nice to loose yourself in run and not think about anything, this weekend's talk was a good reminder to me that sometimes you have to work that brain muscle too. Running is actually an extremely complicated process, anatomically, mentally, strategically. The more details you can learn, the more about proper mechanics you can integrate into your exercise, the better off you will be. If Tiger Woods can change his form and still be the best golfer in the world, each of us can take a chance and break out of our comfort zone to try something better. It is not easy, muscle memory takes time and effort. Your muscles have to study to do well on runs just like you have to study to do well on a test. Consciously think about it for each step for at least a small part of each run, especially at the end when form is most likely to break down. Running may be natural, but injury-free running requires a some supernatural effort!
Stride on friends.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
In The Lead Pack with Cecil Franke
(Photo courtesy of EliteRunning.com)Cecil Franke, a former Indiana High School State Champion in the 3200m and former Ball State University ('90) standout, was the oldest finisher (39 years old) at the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials- Men's Marathon placing 67th overall. His marathon trials qualifier came at the 2006 Columbus Marathon in which he won with a time of 2:18:13. Franke is currently a schoolteacher and cross country and track coach at Centerville High School in Dublin, Ind.
Interview By: Derick Lawrence (3/03/2008)
You were the Indiana High School State Champion in the 3200m and competed collegiately at Ball State University (’90), setting school records in the 5,000m (14:20) and 10,000m (29:15). Tell us about your high school and collegiate running career and what led you to marathoning?
After college, I moved to Kansas to take a job at a small junior college and kept training for the 5K-10K range. With a busy schedule of teaching, coaching, and recruiting, there wasn’t much time to dedicate to my career and I accepted it as a new phase of life. After returning to Indiana and the teaching profession after a few years away, I started working out with the high school team at Centerville. I realized that I could still move well and things escalated. When I turned 37, I realized that I was running out of time to make a serious attempt at the marathon. With the urging of several friends, I shifted my training to ten weeks of intense training and ran Columbus in 2005 in 2:23:46. I was hooked.
You are currently a schoolteacher (U.S. and World History) and cross country and track coach at Centerville High School in Dublin, IN. How have you applied your own training and experiences into your teaching/coaching?
The students at Centerville have really responded to what I have accomplished in the last few years. It helps me as a teacher because they are more interested in what I am doing. As a coach, it has been both a blessing and a curse. Most athletes take comfort that I practice what I preach, but I think my work ethic scares the “would be” distance runners away that are afraid of the workload. I have to convince them that I will not make them do what I do.
How do you balance marathon training and teaching/coaching?
Most of my hard training takes place before the sun comes up. During the week, I have to get in the primary workout before school and run the second workout of the day with my athletes. It is very tough in the winter to do speed work at 5:30 in the morning, but it has to be done. The ten weeks leading to the marathon go by fast because I’m so busy. You have to be realistic and get things done so you can get to bed by 9:00.
Your U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials qualifier came at the 2006 Columbus Marathon in which you won with a time of 2:18:13. At the November 3rd trials you placed 67th. What were these experiences like for you?
At Columbus, I knew it was going to be a great race. The summer before the marathon training period was very fast and the workouts leading up to the race were simply fast. Things were flowing and it felt great to run fast. I really think I could have gone faster, but the race directors pulled the prize money and nobody showed up. I ran the last 18 miles by myself. There should have been $5000 to win, but there wasn’t. It was hard to be upset about it having hit the A standard and felt so good doing it.
At the trials, it was a bit different. I pushed the training a little too hard and felt things slipping with about three weeks to go. I lined up hoping that the taper would put my legs back under me, but by mile 15, I knew it was going to be a little slow. The margin for error at the trials is very unforgiving. Mile 4 was 5:00 and it wasn’t fast enough to stay with the group I had gone to race. I felt I paid the price for being older and too insistent on working harder than ever before. I was the oldest person to finish the race, but I certainly was not happy with 67th. Regardless of the performance, it was all I could hope for the make it to the trials at this point in my career. American marathoning is better now than it has ever been. Look at the times posted from the trials and look at the course. Central Park was relentlessly rolling.
What key concept(s) do you believe are necessary for success of a marathon runner?
I think the ability to focus for long periods of time is one key. You can’t forget why you’re doing it at mile 20. The discipline to train at you’re threshold while avoiding injury is extremely important and as much an art as a science. I learned by preparing for the Flying Pig Marathon in 2006 that letting the training come to you is a better approach. Forced training has a way of bringing fatigue and injury.
What key workout(s) or training element(s) do you incorporate into your marathon training?
I do ten weeks of the following:
I hit 100-110 miles per week for right around ten weeks to get ready. I keep a basic pattern of fartlek on Tuesday, speed on Thursday, and intense strength on Sunday.
Tuesday is fartlek: 8X4 minutes hard with 2 minutes moderate/easy
Thursday is on the track with 6-8X1200 meters with 400 meters recovery. I usually take the 6 option in the first 3-4 weeks of training and switch to 8X1200 in the last 6-7 weeks.
Sunday is 20-24 miles very hard
Everything else is moderate to recovery. I do some intervals with my high school team as well, but I’m usually tired from the morning sessions.
Could you outline your last two weeks of training leading up to the marathon trials?
I really do not taper much. My last week is the only difference. Two weeks out, I do my last 20 miler and keep the speedwork. One week out I run 15 miles very hard and do the fartlek with about 5-6 days to go. The two days before I cut to 5/6 miles per day.
How important is recovery in your training regimen and how do you apply this to your training?
It has been increasingly important in the last year or so as age is catching up. I do not bounce back as well as I once did. Sometimes it takes just as much discipline to run easy on the recovery days as it does to run hard on the intense days.
What has kept you motivated to train at a high level?
I have been amazed at the results so far. When I started a come back about 8 years ago, my goals did not include the trials. Winning at Cincinnati and Columbus were beyond my expectations. Being competitive on a national level at this age is just plain fun. If it ends tomorrow, I will have no regrets.
What are your racing plans this year?
I am currently preparing for Boston and plan on using the summer to get the leg speed back in order. Speed is definitely going away.
What words of wisdom would you give to collegiate runners looking to take the step up to the marathon after graduation?
Do not be afraid. You lose more leg speed to age after 32-25 than you do by training for the marathon. If you are not afraid to be uncomfortable for long periods of time, the race is great. If your favorite event on the track is the 10,000, you already have the right mindset. Have fun.
Thanks to Cecil for a great interview.
Monday, March 10, 2008
Update
Well I have neglected this for a while. My training has been going very good. I feel like I am getting more fit each week. The week of Feb 25- Mar 2 I had started to pick up the intensity again and start preparing for the outdoor season. I ran 76 miles that week with a workout on Tuesday (listed in previous post) and on TH I did a 10k tempo in 34 minutes which felt extremely easy.
Last week I did a workout on the indoor track due to the weather outside. We started of with 6 x 1k, the first 2 were at 3:07-09 rest was 1:20 and 2:00; 2nd 2- 3:06, 3:04 rest 1:55; 3rd 2 2:58,2:55 rest 2:00, After the 2k's we ran 2x800 in 2:16, 2:15 (3min rest after set) 2x400 in 64,66 (2:30 rest) then and 400 with the first half controled(35) and second half all out (27). On the Thursday we did a 7.1 mile tempo at Highland Lawn Cemetery. It was the best tempo I have ever ran. I felt like I was moving very slow, but I felt relaxed and controled. I went through 6 miles in 31:40 and finished 7.1 in 38:38. I finished out the week with a long run of 14 on sunday and a total of 82 miles on the week.
This upcoming week I am on spring break and will be doing workouts by myself, but I will be in St.Louis on Sat. For the St. Pats 5mile race. There is some good competetion at the race every year.
Last week I did a workout on the indoor track due to the weather outside. We started of with 6 x 1k, the first 2 were at 3:07-09 rest was 1:20 and 2:00; 2nd 2- 3:06, 3:04 rest 1:55; 3rd 2 2:58,2:55 rest 2:00, After the 2k's we ran 2x800 in 2:16, 2:15 (3min rest after set) 2x400 in 64,66 (2:30 rest) then and 400 with the first half controled(35) and second half all out (27). On the Thursday we did a 7.1 mile tempo at Highland Lawn Cemetery. It was the best tempo I have ever ran. I felt like I was moving very slow, but I felt relaxed and controled. I went through 6 miles in 31:40 and finished 7.1 in 38:38. I finished out the week with a long run of 14 on sunday and a total of 82 miles on the week.
This upcoming week I am on spring break and will be doing workouts by myself, but I will be in St.Louis on Sat. For the St. Pats 5mile race. There is some good competetion at the race every year.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
In The Lead Pack with Joe Rubio
Joe Rubio, a former two-time U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials Qualifier (’92 and ’96) , has been a team coach for the Asics Aggies Running Club since 1999. He is currently the owner of a running specialty store, Running Warehouse, in San Luis Obispo, CA. He wrote a chapter in Run Strong, Devising an Efficient Training Plan, describing how to incorporate six key training elements into a program.
Interview by: Derick Lawrence (2/22/2008)
You have been the team coach for the Asics Aggies Running Club since 1999. Tell us about the recent successes of the team and how you initially became a coach for the Aggies.
I was awarded the position because of the loose nature of the organization, meaning there really isn’t a coach for the entire club, the club really needed a name to list down as “coach” and since I didn’t mind athletes emailing me for club info, they listed me. There are a LOT of accomplished coaches in our club so to say I’m the coach is not correct at all. I coach a handful of club members but by no means everyone in the club. For those I do not actively coach, I’m available to answer training questions if asked, still others I have very little to do with. The benefit of the Asics Aggies as a club and the reason I feel its been around at such a high level for so long is the loose structure. I realize this goes against the grain of most clubs and what many feel is the best way to run a club – but it’s probably why we’ve been successful taking athletes from being a decent college athlete to national class consistently since the ‘70’s. We’re like the old Oakland Raiders when John Madden was coach, all the individual characters that don’t really do their best in a rigid type of organizational structure, tend to have success in our type of environment. Most of our top athletes work full time and many have families, so they fit in their training around the reality of their careers and home life. The club is set up to assist as much as the athletes need. Some need gear or help getting into meets, others coaching, whatever the athlete feels works best for them, works for us.
The recent success is attributable to the dedication these post collegiate athletes have in performing well on the big day and they take blue collar pride in the fact that they all work or go to grad school full time and still kick butt. No excuses. Just train hard and get the job done because at the end of the day, so few actually make a living racing cross country or track, it’s not worth worrying about. Running is generally not going to make the mortgage payment, but there is a huge sense of satisfaction in competing well when each has circumstances that could give them a reasonable excuse for not running well if they chose to use it. Thankfully, they don’t make excuses. They just work hard in life and in running, race well when it counts and never complain about it. I’m there to offer help as needed for the most part.
You competed collegiately at Cal Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (’87) and garnered Division II All-American honors in the 5,000m. Post-collegiately you were a two-time U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials Qualifier (’92 and ’96), placing 26th at the 1996 trials. What were the essential elements of your marathon training?
Train like a competitive road racer for the most part with the addition of a longer long run on the weekend and a consistent long tempo run every other week. The rest of the schedule was pretty simple, basic components such as doubles most days, a consistent easy recovery day each week.
Generally I’d do 2 harder efforts each week 1 of which was either 8-10 x 1k (maybe 800’s) or 5-6 x 1600 at 10k-tempo pace and the other primary workout for the week was either 400’s or a long tempo run. If I had a race on the weekend, I did 400’s early in the week and the race on the weekend was the other hard effort for that week. If it was a hard workout day or low key race I would tend to do a long warmup and long cooldown unless it was a big race and then it would be a more traditional shorter warmup and cooldown. So on a workout of 6 x 1600, I would do a 25-30 min warmup and cooldown in the afternoon after an AM run of 5-7 miles before work.
For early season races such as the Wharf to Wharf or Morro Bay to Cayucos in July, I’d park at the finish, jog the 6 miles to the start for a warmup arriving about at the time the race was starting, then turnaround and race back, then do a 4-6 mile cooldown. The longer tempo runs usually were in the 14-16 range with the last 8-9 miles run with 4 at marathon pace, a small break, then the final 4 miles about as hard as I could muster which usually came out to tempo pace or so. This was in the afternoon after an AM run of 5-7. If you could get that done and feel good within the context of a normal training week, you knew you were pretty fit.
Could you outline your last two weeks of training prior to your 26th place finish at the 1996 trials?
Well I’ll list 3 weeks since I did a 3 week taper.
1/27-2/3/96
1/27: Hilly 8: Ass draggin tired
1/28: 2:12 moderate – felt alright whole way
1/29: AM: 8 easy. PM 5 easy felt great
1/30: AM: 6 easy. PM: 8 x 800 w/ Boaz on rolling road course w/ 2 min rec. (2:32-2:29). 4 mi up, 2 down. Felt great on warmup thought I was gonna blast it, got tired instead.
1/31: 10 easy. Alright
2/1: AM: 6 easy. PM: 5 easy
2/2: AM: 6 easy. PM: 14 with last 4 at tempo effort (4:50, 9:33, 14:31, 19:34) Didn’t feel like I was running fast, but times were good. Strong whole workout.
2/3: 9 easy. On verge of feeling good.
2/4: 1:49 hilly road course. Late night out. Pretty beat first half, OK last.
2/5: AM: 9 easy. PM: 5 easy
2/6: AM: 5 easy. PM: 400/800/1200/1600/1200/800/400 w/ 400 jog w/ Conover, Griffiths, Huff. (70, 2:19, 3:34, 4:48, 3:35, 2:21, 65) 2 mi up and down. Felt strong whole workout, recovered well on all reps.
2/7: 9 easy – so-so.
2/8: AM: 5 easy. PM: 6 easy.
2/9: AM: 5 easy. PM: 11 progressive run finished at JRHS track straight into a timed mile striding the straight/jogging the turns (5:21). 5 min home. Crappy run, strong on the track though.
2/10: 6 easy.
2/11: 10 moderate. OK run, nothing heroic.
2/12: AM: 5 easy. PM: 68/88/68/88 for 12 laps total….2 mi up and down. Pretty smooth and recovered well.
2/13: 6 easy. So-so.
2/14: AM: 5 easy. PM: 6 easy to JRHS, 4 x 300 w/ 100 jog (56-57 av). Felt good.
2/15: AM: 5 easy then travel to Charlotte.
2/16: AM: 30 min easy + strides. Felt good. PM: 10 min easy felt great.
2/17: Oly Trials. 26th 2:20:30. 10 min first thing out of bed + 15 min warmup. Race went alright, out fast. 10:08, 16:08, 1:09:08, 1:38:30. Raced well through 20, got tired at 22. Pretty good competitive effort on a tough, hilly course.
How did you apply your own experiences and/or marathon training into the coaching of your athletes?
I was decent, I didn’t have a contract so I had to work full time and fit my training around that reality. Same for all the guys I knew, the 2:12-14 marathon guys in town who worked full time when I was at Cal Poly. One guy was running in the LA Olympic steeple semi one day and washing dishes the next back here in town when he didn’t advance. The 8:16 steeplechaser in town cleaned apartments and shampooed rugs. Conover was working for the county. All ran the roads to supplement their income. The point is we all ran well, we all worked full time. No big deal, you just trained hard and went to work most days. I tend to do best with athletes who come out of college hungry, but maybe not as good as they should have been or at the very least, how good they think they should have been and they want to try giving it a go for a bit longer to see if they can get where they think they should be. I worked full time, learned what it took to make it after college without a traditional support structure like you have in high school or college and I did decent. I expect the same for them. It’s about learning to balance everything there is to do – work, sleep, training, social life - within the available 24 hours.
It starts with a sincere desire to train, compete and improve. Then it takes the will to get it done no matter the circumstances. That’s why I like people to struggle a bit after college. To understand firsthand that it is not easy to try to work 40 hours a week and fit in 2 hard workouts, double days, long runs, weights or drills, fit in a weekly massage if you can afford it, cook a decent meal when you are beat to hell and everything else there is to be done if you want to be good and still find a way to pay the bills. If they can figure that out and maintain their drive and focus, then if they have an opportunity to join a full time training group or if they get a contract that eases the number of hours they need to work, they will make the most of that opportunity because they understand how fortunate they really are and they won’t take it for granted.
What resources (research journals, books, magazines, etc.) do you commonly refer to throughout a season in your coaching?
The books that I reference consistently are Dr. Vigil’s book “Road to the Top” and Jeff Johnson’s manual “Nike Farm Team Training Plans 1999-2000”. Jeff’s book is nothing but the training logs for Jason Lunn, Matt Giusto and Kim Fitchen that year. Great stuff to just look over for ideas and training patterns. I have the Freeman/Simmons book in the pile as well as the Martin/Coe encyclopedia, Dr. Daniels' Formula, plus the book put out by Marty Liquori and John L. Parker in the 70’s “Playboy’s Guide to Running” I think is what it’s called, Harry Wilson’s stuff, plus things like Track Coach. I also check Canova’s IAAF Marathon Book annually to refresh, plus look at Dellinger’s Guide to Competitive Running occasionally. There’s also the collection of Runner's World from the ‘70’s, Track and Field News from the ‘60’s and things like Nor Cal Running Reviews that occasionally have gems like samples of James Robinson’s training in the garage, but Dr. Vigil and Jeff’s are the one’s I check the most.
How has your knowledge of training concepts and methodologies evolved?
I place a much greater emphasis on short intervals than I used to. Not speed work per se, rather short, controlled intervals. I understand their purpose now much more so than I did even as early as a few seasons ago on every athlete I have given them to consistently in recent seasons has run very well and stayed healthy, which has greatly increased my confidence in their effectiveness, so that would be the biggest aspect. Weekly short intervals if they are focusing on track or XC, I have them do these once every other week if they are a marathoner.
Also, the importance of consistent long, moderate tempo runs in addition to the shorter, faster versions. An example is the last 6-8 miles of a 10-12 miler done at a strong, but moderate pace really builds incredible aerobic strength over time. I’ve incorporated the longer, moderate tempo element of training within the context of our weekly mid week long run, which is essentially the last 40-50 minutes of a 75-90 min run being done at a steady effort. For a 4 minute miler/14 flat 5k kind of guy this would mean a weekly 70-90 min run with the last 40-50 min at 5:30-45 pace. Not heroic, but definitely solid.
Finally, I try to be conservative on the workout pace and offer more recovery than they may think they need. Early on, I was in the “if a workout is faster and has less recovery, it’s better” club. Not so any longer. I get a pretty good idea of how fit and athlete is or how well the program is working by race results. Racing is where you test your limits, not in a workout. I get so many emails from say a 14:45 5k kid looking to do 12 x 400 at 68-70 pace and they want to take a 30-40 second recovery or the same kid is looking to do 4 x 1600 at 5 min pace with a 2 min recovery. They kill themselves over the course of trying to do these workouts and they end up so beat they actually wish they were done with the season instead of facing another sub par race due entirely to being thrashed from overreaching in their workouts. I’ve actually gone to slightly longer rest intervals and have been basing their VO2 stuff on their 5k fitness vs 3k just to make sure we are conservative on the workout paces. A variation on this theme is that I now have them do in/out miles versus 1600’s with a 400 jog. So instead of 4 x 1600 at 5 min pace w/ a 400 jog which can get out of hand, we’ll do a 7 mile run at 5:00/6:00/5:00/6:00/5:00/6:00/5:00. That way the 5’s stay at 5’s, they get some volume in there, they get enough recovery, but the recovery is fast enough that it forces the fast ones to be held at the requested pace. You have to be aerobically sound to do it in this manner. I get what I’m after and the athletes benefit.
What key concepts do you believe are necessary for marathon success?
Volume’s pretty important, so is tempo work, VO2max work, recovery, long runs, consistency, the same stuff that’s important to the success of all competitive distance runners applies here as well, there’s just a greater emphasis on the tempo aspect or what we call LATR (long ass tempo run). If I have one thing I prescribe to not matter what distance the athlete is focusing on, but in particular for a marathoner, is to make your hard days hard and your easy days easy. I just stumbled upon it when I was training in the 80’s and 90’s and had success with it. My athletes have benefited using this through the years as well. In the case of an athlete looking at 100 MPW, I’ll have them do weeks made up of either 20 mile days or 10 mile days versus 15 miles daily. Then within the 20 mile day, it will have a higher degree of intensity, so if it’s mile reps for the day as the workout, there will be a longer warmup, a longer cooldown, plus the second run for the day will be longer. If the athlete is only doing say 2 double days per week, these will happen on their hard workout days. We offset the great volume/greater intensity days by making the easy days easier, so recovery takes place.
An example are the women I worked with in the fall of ‘06 in prep for CIM. None were national class, it was just my wife and her 2 buddies. All work full time, all have kids. So I had them run 5-6 days a week, but on their hard days, they ran quite a bit, on their off days not so much. Here’s an example of one of the weeks:
10/30-11/5/06
Mon: DNR
Tues: 40-60 min easy
Wed: AM. 4 miles easy, 3 at MP%, 1 mile easy, 3 at tempo, 1-2 easy. PM: 30-40 min easy.
Thurs: 60-70 min moderate in hills
Fri: DNR
Sat: AM: 4 x 1600 at 10k w/ 400 jog. 20-25 min up, 15-20 min down. PM: 30-40 min easy.
Sun: 14-16
They all ran pretty solid. PR’s across the board. 2:54, 3:04, 3:12 I think were their times. My wife was passing people the entire last 10k and said she felt great. You can see their hard days are about on par with what a Trials type athlete would do. Maybe not the pace per se, but the actual workouts are in the ballpark. The other days we had to adjust for work, family and the reality that the workouts themselves were pretty hard on them. So while the weekly mileage wasn’t heroic, some of the days were and allowed them to get fit for a 26 mile race.
Your chapter in Run Strong, Devising an Efficient Training Plan, talked about incorporating six elements into a training program. How do you initially assess an athlete’s fitness and how do you determine the route you will take to enhance an athlete’s strengths and minimize their weaknesses?
It’s pretty easy to determine an athlete’s fitness really, just have them run a few races and see how they do That’ll tell you just about everything you need to know. But to get an idea of what they’ve done to get to that point I’ll look over the logs of the runners that have them to get a rough idea of their background. Most tell the same basic story, they are usually missing some aspect of training that isn’t seen as important from the athlete’s perspective, either that or they really overdo a particular aspect of training. It could be missing double days or a long run or tempo work or short intervals or consistency, maybe they are missing recovery or they lack some self control and hammer workouts much too hard, whatever it may be, the point is there’s something missing or overdone and the thing is, one part of fitness is built upon another so if you’re missing a single element or overdoing one it’s going to impact the rest of the system. I start with putting them on our basic training schedule which tends to work pretty well for competitive distance runners regardless of event focus. We cover all the essential elements consistently, teach them to run a certain training pace on particular runs or workouts so they learn what each feels like since most don’t have a clue about equating effort and pace and usually doing this over time results in improvements for the athlete. I’m sure this is what most top programs do, the same basic elements of training over and over.
Odds are if you cover the essential training elements consistently over time and you stay healthy, you’ll improve. We come up with a schedule that if the athlete is consistent following within the context of working a 40 hour work week, they will run fast. Really, it’s that simple. I expect them to have to work full time and train at a high level. To do that they have to learn to be consistent, to live like a clock and that’s really the turning point. Once they realize that this is something they sincerely want to do, and that it’s really their choice whether or not they are willing to do the work needed to race as fast as their talent will allow, then they are on their way.
After I have a few seasons where I can keep tabs on what works and what doesn’t for that athlete, then we adjust as needed, but to start we generally go with a sound program that has a history of working for most everyone.
You currently own a running specialty store, Running Warehouse, in San Luis Obispo, CA. What does a typical day of work consist of?
Depends on the day, there’s the day to day operation stuff, the daily business items needed to fill orders, manage the warehouse and effectively deal with customers. Then there’s the stuff that helps the business grow and prosper, so the things we need to change or add to the business and/or website to make it work more effective and efficient. Vendor relations and advertising fall under this area which is another area I tend to handle.
Operationally, we are a specialty shop that happens to have a thriving online presence (RunningWarehouse.com). So as needed I’ll deal with customers in retail, on the phone and over the internet. We have a sales staff, so I don’t do it that often, but I do sales if I’m working the weekend or if we are short handed. Many of the basic merchandising functions of retail, we have to do on the website. New products have to be placed in the right location on the website so it shows where people are looking for it, these new products need to have images taken and descriptions written. We have people who do this as well, but I check it over to make sure it’s right. Most brands have pricing policies, so I need to make sure that the items on the site are displayed properly in terms of price. New stuff that’s returned by customers to us has to be made so the customer can see it again on the website and order it, items that are sold out have to have their images and descriptions removed. When new products arrive, the older models they replace need to be put on the sale page and marked down.
I occasionally create online orders, I’ll process credit card payments, make pick lists for the staff so they can get the products picked from the racks in the warehouse, I run invoices so we can match the product with the order and get it shipped properly to the customer. I make sure we match at the end of the day. I’ll look over our orders on hold to make sure there are no issues, same with backordered product. Our staff is excellent so there rarely are any problems, but it still helps to have a couple eyes looking over things.
As far as the other stuff, today I met with our graphics department and went over updates to our banner, our shoe pages, our apparel and accessory pages. How do we make the pages easier to navigate, how do we display the needed information in maybe a different manner to aid customers when they place their orders. Tomorrow I’ll sit with our apparel and footwear buyers as we look over products from a few brands to see what we want to get 6 months down the road. Where do we advertise, what direction are we headed in the near and not so near future. I’m currently working on email sales flyers that are sent periodically to people on our mailing list. I work with other websites on affiliate ads. I tend to be the main person who meets with the key people at the various brands we represent so they have a familiar face and someone specific to work with. I just set up a meeting for the end of the month in Portland to talk about marketing opportunities. I meet with the guys in our video department to script and produce our informational videos. I oversee the message board, I acquire the articles for the learning center. Let’s see, I also have to meet with the fire department in the AM for their semi annual inspection of the facility. Lots of other stuff as well. Not real easy to say what I do actually, but it does fill the day.
What advice would you give to recent college graduates looking to stay competitive in running?
First off, just about every one of my buddies who ran well after college, ran their best times about 10 years or so after they started the sport. Most started running at 15-16 in high school, these same guys ran their PR’s when they were 26 or so. In some cases, it took a bit longer, few ran faster earlier – the point is if you stop in college and you seriously have a desire to see how good you can be, your best years are ahead of you so don’t quit. I think a good thing to think about in terms of keeping things in the proper perspective is to look at a post collegiate career in a similar timeline to a high school or college career. They give you 4 years in high school to figure that out. They give you 4-5 years of college to figure that out. It’ll take about the same amount of time to figure out post collegiate running as well. The first 1-2 years out, you’ll make goofy freshman mistakes, but you’ll learn. By the time you’re a junior or senior in post collegiate running you should be well on your way to running your fastest times ever. Just stay patient and keep progressing in all that you do. If you improve, no matter what it is running, relationships, business, you’ll stay interested in it. If you fail to improve, if you take steps backwards, you loose the fire and your sights turn elsewhere, so do the little and no so little things to ensure you keep improving. What’s that they say you eat the elephant 1 bite at a time.
I think if you can set a personal goal to improve a second a lap at each race distance each year, that’s solid improvement and also reasonable improvement. So for the 1500 that’s 3-4 seconds per year. For the 5k, 12 or so second each year. For the 10k, 25 seconds. For the marathon 2 minutes. Think about it, if you ran 14:30 in college, that would be sub 13:50 in 4 years. Most people would be happy with that I would think. A gal who works here ran 17 flat or so 3 years ago, 16:34 2 years ago, ran 16:18 last year. Low 16 or better this year would be the idea. She was 10:12 in the steeple a few seasons back, ran 9:57 last year. For the 1500 she was 4:34 a few seasons back, 4:20 last season. You think she’s fired up and focused on Eugene? For sure. She’s improving. That’s the most important aspect to sticking with it, just keep getting better.
Thanks to Joe for a great interview.
Interview by: Derick Lawrence (2/22/2008)
You have been the team coach for the Asics Aggies Running Club since 1999. Tell us about the recent successes of the team and how you initially became a coach for the Aggies.
(Photo courtesy of the Asics Aggies Running Club website)
I was awarded the position because of the loose nature of the organization, meaning there really isn’t a coach for the entire club, the club really needed a name to list down as “coach” and since I didn’t mind athletes emailing me for club info, they listed me. There are a LOT of accomplished coaches in our club so to say I’m the coach is not correct at all. I coach a handful of club members but by no means everyone in the club. For those I do not actively coach, I’m available to answer training questions if asked, still others I have very little to do with. The benefit of the Asics Aggies as a club and the reason I feel its been around at such a high level for so long is the loose structure. I realize this goes against the grain of most clubs and what many feel is the best way to run a club – but it’s probably why we’ve been successful taking athletes from being a decent college athlete to national class consistently since the ‘70’s. We’re like the old Oakland Raiders when John Madden was coach, all the individual characters that don’t really do their best in a rigid type of organizational structure, tend to have success in our type of environment. Most of our top athletes work full time and many have families, so they fit in their training around the reality of their careers and home life. The club is set up to assist as much as the athletes need. Some need gear or help getting into meets, others coaching, whatever the athlete feels works best for them, works for us.
The recent success is attributable to the dedication these post collegiate athletes have in performing well on the big day and they take blue collar pride in the fact that they all work or go to grad school full time and still kick butt. No excuses. Just train hard and get the job done because at the end of the day, so few actually make a living racing cross country or track, it’s not worth worrying about. Running is generally not going to make the mortgage payment, but there is a huge sense of satisfaction in competing well when each has circumstances that could give them a reasonable excuse for not running well if they chose to use it. Thankfully, they don’t make excuses. They just work hard in life and in running, race well when it counts and never complain about it. I’m there to offer help as needed for the most part.
You competed collegiately at Cal Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (’87) and garnered Division II All-American honors in the 5,000m. Post-collegiately you were a two-time U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials Qualifier (’92 and ’96), placing 26th at the 1996 trials. What were the essential elements of your marathon training?
Train like a competitive road racer for the most part with the addition of a longer long run on the weekend and a consistent long tempo run every other week. The rest of the schedule was pretty simple, basic components such as doubles most days, a consistent easy recovery day each week.
Generally I’d do 2 harder efforts each week 1 of which was either 8-10 x 1k (maybe 800’s) or 5-6 x 1600 at 10k-tempo pace and the other primary workout for the week was either 400’s or a long tempo run. If I had a race on the weekend, I did 400’s early in the week and the race on the weekend was the other hard effort for that week. If it was a hard workout day or low key race I would tend to do a long warmup and long cooldown unless it was a big race and then it would be a more traditional shorter warmup and cooldown. So on a workout of 6 x 1600, I would do a 25-30 min warmup and cooldown in the afternoon after an AM run of 5-7 miles before work.
For early season races such as the Wharf to Wharf or Morro Bay to Cayucos in July, I’d park at the finish, jog the 6 miles to the start for a warmup arriving about at the time the race was starting, then turnaround and race back, then do a 4-6 mile cooldown. The longer tempo runs usually were in the 14-16 range with the last 8-9 miles run with 4 at marathon pace, a small break, then the final 4 miles about as hard as I could muster which usually came out to tempo pace or so. This was in the afternoon after an AM run of 5-7. If you could get that done and feel good within the context of a normal training week, you knew you were pretty fit.
Could you outline your last two weeks of training prior to your 26th place finish at the 1996 trials?
Well I’ll list 3 weeks since I did a 3 week taper.
1/27-2/3/96
1/27: Hilly 8: Ass draggin tired
1/28: 2:12 moderate – felt alright whole way
1/29: AM: 8 easy. PM 5 easy felt great
1/30: AM: 6 easy. PM: 8 x 800 w/ Boaz on rolling road course w/ 2 min rec. (2:32-2:29). 4 mi up, 2 down. Felt great on warmup thought I was gonna blast it, got tired instead.
1/31: 10 easy. Alright
2/1: AM: 6 easy. PM: 5 easy
2/2: AM: 6 easy. PM: 14 with last 4 at tempo effort (4:50, 9:33, 14:31, 19:34) Didn’t feel like I was running fast, but times were good. Strong whole workout.
2/3: 9 easy. On verge of feeling good.
2/4: 1:49 hilly road course. Late night out. Pretty beat first half, OK last.
2/5: AM: 9 easy. PM: 5 easy
2/6: AM: 5 easy. PM: 400/800/1200/1600/1200/800/400 w/ 400 jog w/ Conover, Griffiths, Huff. (70, 2:19, 3:34, 4:48, 3:35, 2:21, 65) 2 mi up and down. Felt strong whole workout, recovered well on all reps.
2/7: 9 easy – so-so.
2/8: AM: 5 easy. PM: 6 easy.
2/9: AM: 5 easy. PM: 11 progressive run finished at JRHS track straight into a timed mile striding the straight/jogging the turns (5:21). 5 min home. Crappy run, strong on the track though.
2/10: 6 easy.
2/11: 10 moderate. OK run, nothing heroic.
2/12: AM: 5 easy. PM: 68/88/68/88 for 12 laps total….2 mi up and down. Pretty smooth and recovered well.
2/13: 6 easy. So-so.
2/14: AM: 5 easy. PM: 6 easy to JRHS, 4 x 300 w/ 100 jog (56-57 av). Felt good.
2/15: AM: 5 easy then travel to Charlotte.
2/16: AM: 30 min easy + strides. Felt good. PM: 10 min easy felt great.
2/17: Oly Trials. 26th 2:20:30. 10 min first thing out of bed + 15 min warmup. Race went alright, out fast. 10:08, 16:08, 1:09:08, 1:38:30. Raced well through 20, got tired at 22. Pretty good competitive effort on a tough, hilly course.
How did you apply your own experiences and/or marathon training into the coaching of your athletes?
I was decent, I didn’t have a contract so I had to work full time and fit my training around that reality. Same for all the guys I knew, the 2:12-14 marathon guys in town who worked full time when I was at Cal Poly. One guy was running in the LA Olympic steeple semi one day and washing dishes the next back here in town when he didn’t advance. The 8:16 steeplechaser in town cleaned apartments and shampooed rugs. Conover was working for the county. All ran the roads to supplement their income. The point is we all ran well, we all worked full time. No big deal, you just trained hard and went to work most days. I tend to do best with athletes who come out of college hungry, but maybe not as good as they should have been or at the very least, how good they think they should have been and they want to try giving it a go for a bit longer to see if they can get where they think they should be. I worked full time, learned what it took to make it after college without a traditional support structure like you have in high school or college and I did decent. I expect the same for them. It’s about learning to balance everything there is to do – work, sleep, training, social life - within the available 24 hours.
It starts with a sincere desire to train, compete and improve. Then it takes the will to get it done no matter the circumstances. That’s why I like people to struggle a bit after college. To understand firsthand that it is not easy to try to work 40 hours a week and fit in 2 hard workouts, double days, long runs, weights or drills, fit in a weekly massage if you can afford it, cook a decent meal when you are beat to hell and everything else there is to be done if you want to be good and still find a way to pay the bills. If they can figure that out and maintain their drive and focus, then if they have an opportunity to join a full time training group or if they get a contract that eases the number of hours they need to work, they will make the most of that opportunity because they understand how fortunate they really are and they won’t take it for granted.
What resources (research journals, books, magazines, etc.) do you commonly refer to throughout a season in your coaching?
The books that I reference consistently are Dr. Vigil’s book “Road to the Top” and Jeff Johnson’s manual “Nike Farm Team Training Plans 1999-2000”. Jeff’s book is nothing but the training logs for Jason Lunn, Matt Giusto and Kim Fitchen that year. Great stuff to just look over for ideas and training patterns. I have the Freeman/Simmons book in the pile as well as the Martin/Coe encyclopedia, Dr. Daniels' Formula, plus the book put out by Marty Liquori and John L. Parker in the 70’s “Playboy’s Guide to Running” I think is what it’s called, Harry Wilson’s stuff, plus things like Track Coach. I also check Canova’s IAAF Marathon Book annually to refresh, plus look at Dellinger’s Guide to Competitive Running occasionally. There’s also the collection of Runner's World from the ‘70’s, Track and Field News from the ‘60’s and things like Nor Cal Running Reviews that occasionally have gems like samples of James Robinson’s training in the garage, but Dr. Vigil and Jeff’s are the one’s I check the most.
How has your knowledge of training concepts and methodologies evolved?
I place a much greater emphasis on short intervals than I used to. Not speed work per se, rather short, controlled intervals. I understand their purpose now much more so than I did even as early as a few seasons ago on every athlete I have given them to consistently in recent seasons has run very well and stayed healthy, which has greatly increased my confidence in their effectiveness, so that would be the biggest aspect. Weekly short intervals if they are focusing on track or XC, I have them do these once every other week if they are a marathoner.
Also, the importance of consistent long, moderate tempo runs in addition to the shorter, faster versions. An example is the last 6-8 miles of a 10-12 miler done at a strong, but moderate pace really builds incredible aerobic strength over time. I’ve incorporated the longer, moderate tempo element of training within the context of our weekly mid week long run, which is essentially the last 40-50 minutes of a 75-90 min run being done at a steady effort. For a 4 minute miler/14 flat 5k kind of guy this would mean a weekly 70-90 min run with the last 40-50 min at 5:30-45 pace. Not heroic, but definitely solid.
Finally, I try to be conservative on the workout pace and offer more recovery than they may think they need. Early on, I was in the “if a workout is faster and has less recovery, it’s better” club. Not so any longer. I get a pretty good idea of how fit and athlete is or how well the program is working by race results. Racing is where you test your limits, not in a workout. I get so many emails from say a 14:45 5k kid looking to do 12 x 400 at 68-70 pace and they want to take a 30-40 second recovery or the same kid is looking to do 4 x 1600 at 5 min pace with a 2 min recovery. They kill themselves over the course of trying to do these workouts and they end up so beat they actually wish they were done with the season instead of facing another sub par race due entirely to being thrashed from overreaching in their workouts. I’ve actually gone to slightly longer rest intervals and have been basing their VO2 stuff on their 5k fitness vs 3k just to make sure we are conservative on the workout paces. A variation on this theme is that I now have them do in/out miles versus 1600’s with a 400 jog. So instead of 4 x 1600 at 5 min pace w/ a 400 jog which can get out of hand, we’ll do a 7 mile run at 5:00/6:00/5:00/6:00/5:00/6:00/5:00. That way the 5’s stay at 5’s, they get some volume in there, they get enough recovery, but the recovery is fast enough that it forces the fast ones to be held at the requested pace. You have to be aerobically sound to do it in this manner. I get what I’m after and the athletes benefit.
What key concepts do you believe are necessary for marathon success?
Volume’s pretty important, so is tempo work, VO2max work, recovery, long runs, consistency, the same stuff that’s important to the success of all competitive distance runners applies here as well, there’s just a greater emphasis on the tempo aspect or what we call LATR (long ass tempo run). If I have one thing I prescribe to not matter what distance the athlete is focusing on, but in particular for a marathoner, is to make your hard days hard and your easy days easy. I just stumbled upon it when I was training in the 80’s and 90’s and had success with it. My athletes have benefited using this through the years as well. In the case of an athlete looking at 100 MPW, I’ll have them do weeks made up of either 20 mile days or 10 mile days versus 15 miles daily. Then within the 20 mile day, it will have a higher degree of intensity, so if it’s mile reps for the day as the workout, there will be a longer warmup, a longer cooldown, plus the second run for the day will be longer. If the athlete is only doing say 2 double days per week, these will happen on their hard workout days. We offset the great volume/greater intensity days by making the easy days easier, so recovery takes place.
An example are the women I worked with in the fall of ‘06 in prep for CIM. None were national class, it was just my wife and her 2 buddies. All work full time, all have kids. So I had them run 5-6 days a week, but on their hard days, they ran quite a bit, on their off days not so much. Here’s an example of one of the weeks:
10/30-11/5/06
Mon: DNR
Tues: 40-60 min easy
Wed: AM. 4 miles easy, 3 at MP%, 1 mile easy, 3 at tempo, 1-2 easy. PM: 30-40 min easy.
Thurs: 60-70 min moderate in hills
Fri: DNR
Sat: AM: 4 x 1600 at 10k w/ 400 jog. 20-25 min up, 15-20 min down. PM: 30-40 min easy.
Sun: 14-16
They all ran pretty solid. PR’s across the board. 2:54, 3:04, 3:12 I think were their times. My wife was passing people the entire last 10k and said she felt great. You can see their hard days are about on par with what a Trials type athlete would do. Maybe not the pace per se, but the actual workouts are in the ballpark. The other days we had to adjust for work, family and the reality that the workouts themselves were pretty hard on them. So while the weekly mileage wasn’t heroic, some of the days were and allowed them to get fit for a 26 mile race.
On the Asics Aggies Running Club website, you have outlined previous training plans for your athletes. What will training look like for your post-collegiate middle distance athletes (800-5k) in the spring leading up to the Olympic Trials.
It won’t be much different than what you’d see there. Of course there will be subtle differences based on the development of the athlete, what needs attention, the strengths of the athlete and event focus, but 90% is the same you’d see there.
It won’t be much different than what you’d see there. Of course there will be subtle differences based on the development of the athlete, what needs attention, the strengths of the athlete and event focus, but 90% is the same you’d see there.
Your chapter in Run Strong, Devising an Efficient Training Plan, talked about incorporating six elements into a training program. How do you initially assess an athlete’s fitness and how do you determine the route you will take to enhance an athlete’s strengths and minimize their weaknesses?
(Photo courtesy of the Running Warehouse website)
It’s pretty easy to determine an athlete’s fitness really, just have them run a few races and see how they do That’ll tell you just about everything you need to know. But to get an idea of what they’ve done to get to that point I’ll look over the logs of the runners that have them to get a rough idea of their background. Most tell the same basic story, they are usually missing some aspect of training that isn’t seen as important from the athlete’s perspective, either that or they really overdo a particular aspect of training. It could be missing double days or a long run or tempo work or short intervals or consistency, maybe they are missing recovery or they lack some self control and hammer workouts much too hard, whatever it may be, the point is there’s something missing or overdone and the thing is, one part of fitness is built upon another so if you’re missing a single element or overdoing one it’s going to impact the rest of the system. I start with putting them on our basic training schedule which tends to work pretty well for competitive distance runners regardless of event focus. We cover all the essential elements consistently, teach them to run a certain training pace on particular runs or workouts so they learn what each feels like since most don’t have a clue about equating effort and pace and usually doing this over time results in improvements for the athlete. I’m sure this is what most top programs do, the same basic elements of training over and over.
Odds are if you cover the essential training elements consistently over time and you stay healthy, you’ll improve. We come up with a schedule that if the athlete is consistent following within the context of working a 40 hour work week, they will run fast. Really, it’s that simple. I expect them to have to work full time and train at a high level. To do that they have to learn to be consistent, to live like a clock and that’s really the turning point. Once they realize that this is something they sincerely want to do, and that it’s really their choice whether or not they are willing to do the work needed to race as fast as their talent will allow, then they are on their way.
After I have a few seasons where I can keep tabs on what works and what doesn’t for that athlete, then we adjust as needed, but to start we generally go with a sound program that has a history of working for most everyone.
You currently own a running specialty store, Running Warehouse, in San Luis Obispo, CA. What does a typical day of work consist of?
Depends on the day, there’s the day to day operation stuff, the daily business items needed to fill orders, manage the warehouse and effectively deal with customers. Then there’s the stuff that helps the business grow and prosper, so the things we need to change or add to the business and/or website to make it work more effective and efficient. Vendor relations and advertising fall under this area which is another area I tend to handle.
Operationally, we are a specialty shop that happens to have a thriving online presence (RunningWarehouse.com). So as needed I’ll deal with customers in retail, on the phone and over the internet. We have a sales staff, so I don’t do it that often, but I do sales if I’m working the weekend or if we are short handed. Many of the basic merchandising functions of retail, we have to do on the website. New products have to be placed in the right location on the website so it shows where people are looking for it, these new products need to have images taken and descriptions written. We have people who do this as well, but I check it over to make sure it’s right. Most brands have pricing policies, so I need to make sure that the items on the site are displayed properly in terms of price. New stuff that’s returned by customers to us has to be made so the customer can see it again on the website and order it, items that are sold out have to have their images and descriptions removed. When new products arrive, the older models they replace need to be put on the sale page and marked down.
I occasionally create online orders, I’ll process credit card payments, make pick lists for the staff so they can get the products picked from the racks in the warehouse, I run invoices so we can match the product with the order and get it shipped properly to the customer. I make sure we match at the end of the day. I’ll look over our orders on hold to make sure there are no issues, same with backordered product. Our staff is excellent so there rarely are any problems, but it still helps to have a couple eyes looking over things.
As far as the other stuff, today I met with our graphics department and went over updates to our banner, our shoe pages, our apparel and accessory pages. How do we make the pages easier to navigate, how do we display the needed information in maybe a different manner to aid customers when they place their orders. Tomorrow I’ll sit with our apparel and footwear buyers as we look over products from a few brands to see what we want to get 6 months down the road. Where do we advertise, what direction are we headed in the near and not so near future. I’m currently working on email sales flyers that are sent periodically to people on our mailing list. I work with other websites on affiliate ads. I tend to be the main person who meets with the key people at the various brands we represent so they have a familiar face and someone specific to work with. I just set up a meeting for the end of the month in Portland to talk about marketing opportunities. I meet with the guys in our video department to script and produce our informational videos. I oversee the message board, I acquire the articles for the learning center. Let’s see, I also have to meet with the fire department in the AM for their semi annual inspection of the facility. Lots of other stuff as well. Not real easy to say what I do actually, but it does fill the day.
What advice would you give to recent college graduates looking to stay competitive in running?
First off, just about every one of my buddies who ran well after college, ran their best times about 10 years or so after they started the sport. Most started running at 15-16 in high school, these same guys ran their PR’s when they were 26 or so. In some cases, it took a bit longer, few ran faster earlier – the point is if you stop in college and you seriously have a desire to see how good you can be, your best years are ahead of you so don’t quit. I think a good thing to think about in terms of keeping things in the proper perspective is to look at a post collegiate career in a similar timeline to a high school or college career. They give you 4 years in high school to figure that out. They give you 4-5 years of college to figure that out. It’ll take about the same amount of time to figure out post collegiate running as well. The first 1-2 years out, you’ll make goofy freshman mistakes, but you’ll learn. By the time you’re a junior or senior in post collegiate running you should be well on your way to running your fastest times ever. Just stay patient and keep progressing in all that you do. If you improve, no matter what it is running, relationships, business, you’ll stay interested in it. If you fail to improve, if you take steps backwards, you loose the fire and your sights turn elsewhere, so do the little and no so little things to ensure you keep improving. What’s that they say you eat the elephant 1 bite at a time.
I think if you can set a personal goal to improve a second a lap at each race distance each year, that’s solid improvement and also reasonable improvement. So for the 1500 that’s 3-4 seconds per year. For the 5k, 12 or so second each year. For the 10k, 25 seconds. For the marathon 2 minutes. Think about it, if you ran 14:30 in college, that would be sub 13:50 in 4 years. Most people would be happy with that I would think. A gal who works here ran 17 flat or so 3 years ago, 16:34 2 years ago, ran 16:18 last year. Low 16 or better this year would be the idea. She was 10:12 in the steeple a few seasons back, ran 9:57 last year. For the 1500 she was 4:34 a few seasons back, 4:20 last season. You think she’s fired up and focused on Eugene? For sure. She’s improving. That’s the most important aspect to sticking with it, just keep getting better.
Thanks to Joe for a great interview.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
I will fill you guys in on my training.
I will fill you guys in on my training.
Last week I only had 52 miles I took the week pretty easy, taking Monday off, and not doing a run over ten miles the whole week. The snow and ice for the last half of the week was a great motivator not to run but I did anyway. I attempted a progression run on Sunday after the snow was cleared off the roads. I picked up the pace every 2 miles for just 8 miles. I am going to start getting back to doing some quality workouts this week. I am not going to race again probably until the the Saint Patricks Day 5 miler in St. Louis. It is usually a really fast race. 24:00 won last year. I had a good workout today, I did 4 x 1.6 miles (Campus Loop) It was a little windy and just plain cold. I ran the first in 8:21, 2nd 8:18, 3rd 8:17, and 4th 8:16. each with 4 minutes rest. I felt really good as the workout progressed. Hopefully I can stay healthy and have a great outdoor season.
Last week I only had 52 miles I took the week pretty easy, taking Monday off, and not doing a run over ten miles the whole week. The snow and ice for the last half of the week was a great motivator not to run but I did anyway. I attempted a progression run on Sunday after the snow was cleared off the roads. I picked up the pace every 2 miles for just 8 miles. I am going to start getting back to doing some quality workouts this week. I am not going to race again probably until the the Saint Patricks Day 5 miler in St. Louis. It is usually a really fast race. 24:00 won last year. I had a good workout today, I did 4 x 1.6 miles (Campus Loop) It was a little windy and just plain cold. I ran the first in 8:21, 2nd 8:18, 3rd 8:17, and 4th 8:16. each with 4 minutes rest. I felt really good as the workout progressed. Hopefully I can stay healthy and have a great outdoor season.
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Fast Mile in St.Louis
Big River is setting up a fast mile race in St. Louis the Monday following the Drake Relays. Ben wants to set up a race in hopes to have someone go sub-four. So far he has $2000 dollars in prize money, but is not sure how he is dividing it up. THe winner will get a least $1000 and a bonus if under 4:00. So if you know anyone interested in running contact me and I will give you more info as I get it. No one has ever ran a sub-four mile in the state of Missouri and they want this to be the first time. The mile will take place in the evening after a high school meet, so there will be plenty of fans to cheer the runners along.
I will update this as I more info.
I will update this as I more info.
USATF Cross Championships Weekend
Well I am sitting in the San Diego Airport waiting to head back to Terre Haute. Of course today is the nicest day that I have been out here and I have to leave. It is about 75 degrees today out here and 50 in Terre Haute with high winds that have apparently damaged my apartment and I may have to stay in a hotel tonight. Anyway this weekend has been a great experience for me. I got out here Thursday night and Friday Morning I ran over the course with Ben Rosario and Brian Lyons. Friday the course was a little wet from the rain the previous day. We hung out that night and had a good dinner. I happen to see Steve Scott that night at an Asics conference which I did not stay for. Ryan Hall seemed to be the high profile athlete of the weekend. It seemed everywhere he went people where stopping him to stay hi or shake his hand and wish him good luck. We stayed at the host hotel which was flooded with most of the athletes in the race. The time change took a huge affect on everything that we did. It was a three hour difference which made me tired at 8:00 p.m. and made me want to get up at 5:00 a.m. I never did seem to adjust to that, but it was alright.
Race Day I got a great night of sleep because I was so exhausted from the flying and the whole airport thing. We got Breakfast at Denny’s and I ran a little shakeout for about 15 minutes. We headed to the course to just catch the finish of the girl’s junior race. The boy’s junior race was very close race with a local Cali high school boy and Iona’s Ryan Sheridan who ended up second, but they both had very respectable times 24:12 and 24:teens. I warmed up during the women’s 8k which Shalane Flanagan dominated the field by over a minute. My fellow Big River Running Company Teammate Margaret Lyons finished the race in 45th place, she was very happy with her race. I talked to Tom Dever of Terre Haute about the course before my race to see what he thought of the course. (Tom ran the Masters race and was the National Champ for his age group 50-54) He said the course was not as fast as he thought it would be. He felt that the course did not have any spring because it was still a little damp. The course was a 2k loop that you run 6 times. The first K was rather flat a little damp in some spots. The 2k was rolling hills and some tight turns, but the hills were not that bad. The 2k is where most of the 5000 fans were congregated around which helped a lot.
Race- I started the race in a box with Nathan Wadsworth who runs for Kansas City SMOKE. The race went out very fast. I am not sure what my splits exactly were at certain locations but I did happen to catch a few of them. I was probably in about 60th place at 2k which I went through in 5:50. The course did seem to be running quite fast, but Tom was right that there was not much spring to the course. The grass was however cut like a golf course. The next two loops I stayed about in the same position making up a little ground on people who went out clearly way to hard. I went through the 5k in about 15:20 so I did slow down a little bit. The next 3k I just felt a little sluggish and was not very focused on moving up. I then realized that I went through the 8k at 25:12 and realized the Flanagan ran about 25:20 and thought to myself I should get my head out of my ass and start working on moving up. My last 4k felt absolutely great I don’t know if I picked my K’s much faster but people ahead of me started falling back and that really helped me knowing I was passing people late in the race. With 2k to go I was in about the 50’s and my time I believe was about 31:50 I felt like I ran my 11th K ok because the first K of each loop was rather flat but away from most of the fan’s. My last K I got into the fans and they were rather encouraging for everyone finishing. It was a really cool atmosphere. I ended up finishing in 44th place with a time of 38:12 averaging exactly 3:12 pace. Looking back on the race there where I few things I think I could have done differently during the race, but over all it was a good experience that I am happy with. I think there were only 4 people ahead of me that were the same age or younger than me which was really encouraging for the future. I went on a long cool down with Nathan Wadsworth. We talked about his experiences running in the MVC and I shared some stories with him. It was a great conversation and he gave some good advice about my future with post-colligate running. I really wish we could have run in the MVC at the same time. We could have had some really fun conference races together.
Anyway I am still sitting here at the airport wondering what my apartment looks likes. I might just stay here.
Race Day I got a great night of sleep because I was so exhausted from the flying and the whole airport thing. We got Breakfast at Denny’s and I ran a little shakeout for about 15 minutes. We headed to the course to just catch the finish of the girl’s junior race. The boy’s junior race was very close race with a local Cali high school boy and Iona’s Ryan Sheridan who ended up second, but they both had very respectable times 24:12 and 24:teens. I warmed up during the women’s 8k which Shalane Flanagan dominated the field by over a minute. My fellow Big River Running Company Teammate Margaret Lyons finished the race in 45th place, she was very happy with her race. I talked to Tom Dever of Terre Haute about the course before my race to see what he thought of the course. (Tom ran the Masters race and was the National Champ for his age group 50-54) He said the course was not as fast as he thought it would be. He felt that the course did not have any spring because it was still a little damp. The course was a 2k loop that you run 6 times. The first K was rather flat a little damp in some spots. The 2k was rolling hills and some tight turns, but the hills were not that bad. The 2k is where most of the 5000 fans were congregated around which helped a lot.
Race- I started the race in a box with Nathan Wadsworth who runs for Kansas City SMOKE. The race went out very fast. I am not sure what my splits exactly were at certain locations but I did happen to catch a few of them. I was probably in about 60th place at 2k which I went through in 5:50. The course did seem to be running quite fast, but Tom was right that there was not much spring to the course. The grass was however cut like a golf course. The next two loops I stayed about in the same position making up a little ground on people who went out clearly way to hard. I went through the 5k in about 15:20 so I did slow down a little bit. The next 3k I just felt a little sluggish and was not very focused on moving up. I then realized that I went through the 8k at 25:12 and realized the Flanagan ran about 25:20 and thought to myself I should get my head out of my ass and start working on moving up. My last 4k felt absolutely great I don’t know if I picked my K’s much faster but people ahead of me started falling back and that really helped me knowing I was passing people late in the race. With 2k to go I was in about the 50’s and my time I believe was about 31:50 I felt like I ran my 11th K ok because the first K of each loop was rather flat but away from most of the fan’s. My last K I got into the fans and they were rather encouraging for everyone finishing. It was a really cool atmosphere. I ended up finishing in 44th place with a time of 38:12 averaging exactly 3:12 pace. Looking back on the race there where I few things I think I could have done differently during the race, but over all it was a good experience that I am happy with. I think there were only 4 people ahead of me that were the same age or younger than me which was really encouraging for the future. I went on a long cool down with Nathan Wadsworth. We talked about his experiences running in the MVC and I shared some stories with him. It was a great conversation and he gave some good advice about my future with post-colligate running. I really wish we could have run in the MVC at the same time. We could have had some really fun conference races together.
Anyway I am still sitting here at the airport wondering what my apartment looks likes. I might just stay here.
Monday, February 11, 2008
Meyo invite
This past weekend our team went to the Notre Dame Meyo invite. This is meet is always one of the better meets in the nation. Notre Dame's indoor track is simply amazing, it's 320 meters which makes it amazing for long sprinters as well as distance runners. I was a little worried going in to this meet since i've been banged up the past 2 weeks. I've been dealing with some tendonitis for the last month and these past 2 weeks my training has been sup par. My miles went from 75, to 60, and then 44. However I managed to get some decent cross training in and it kind of gave me an opportunity to take a weekend off (I didn't run at our last meet). Anyways, I ended up running the 5k at meyo and my goal (as usual) was to finally run under 15mins. Since it had been about a week since I ran a workout I really wasn't sure how I was going to feel, so I really didn't get to hung up on breaking 15 ( usually I think about splits the whole week..haha).
The race went out around 70 second pace because some of the big east kids needed to qualify for conference, so this set up perfect for me I decided I would just hang on as long as possible. I stayed on the pack till about 2miles when they made a move and I didn't react soon enough. With about a lap to go I knew as long as I didn't start walking I would be under 15..haha...my final time ended up being 14:55. This is the first race in two years (and the first track race) that I haven't been dissapointed in afterwards. Although I know I can run much faster this is one goal that i've had for a few years and im really glad to put a check mark next to it. So, this means since my senior year of high school my 5k pr has went from 16:56 to 14:55 not to shabby..haha. This coming week I will be running the 3k and hopefully I will come up with another PR.
Well the 5k was great and all, but the real high light of this weekend was brought to you by none other then Jordan Fife..haha. Fife was in the meyo mile going for the elusive sub 4 mile that he missed by .14 last weekend. This was by far the best mile field he had ever been in the list included, Grant Robinson, Sam bair, Jeff See, Jack bolas, Dorian ulrey, and few more great milers. At the start of the race Fife got squeezed to the very back of the pack while the favorites tuck in a few meters behind the rabbit (Scott " I'll lead you to glory" Overall). Now usually this isn't a big deal because Fife has one of the best kicks I have ever seen but he usually isn't kicking against these high caliber guys. So, needless to say all us sycamores started to get worried as he stayed in the back for 1lap,2laps,3laps..etc. The pack came through 800 around 2:00 while Fife came striding through at about 2:02high. Coming into the bell lap he had moved up slightly to the back of the main pack....coming into the last turn the kid had maybe passed one person on the lead pack. By this time we are going crazy and although these guys are good we know that it is a matter of time till those knees start lifting like crazy...and sure enough coming off the turn Fife is well.....straight rollin! Coming down the straight away he's pasting people left and right while the announcer is yelling "and here comes fife!"(it reminds you of billy mills when the announcer went crazy for him). Fife past everone except Jack Bolas from wisconsin who was just to far ahead....when fife crossed the line we heard 3:59 but we wanted to wait for the offical time. When his time came up 3:59.75 all of us Sycamore distance guys sprinted down there and gave him a hug...haha. As of right now this is probably going down as one as my greatest running related memories. Its always cool to see someone go sub 4, but when its one of your best friends and you were around when he couldn't break 4mins in the 1500 its pretty special.
On a side note I should have an interview with Fife after he runs the USA indoor championships. We were almost done with it but once we thought there was a chance he would go sub 4 and run at USA indoors we figured we might as well wait..haha.
The race went out around 70 second pace because some of the big east kids needed to qualify for conference, so this set up perfect for me I decided I would just hang on as long as possible. I stayed on the pack till about 2miles when they made a move and I didn't react soon enough. With about a lap to go I knew as long as I didn't start walking I would be under 15..haha...my final time ended up being 14:55. This is the first race in two years (and the first track race) that I haven't been dissapointed in afterwards. Although I know I can run much faster this is one goal that i've had for a few years and im really glad to put a check mark next to it. So, this means since my senior year of high school my 5k pr has went from 16:56 to 14:55 not to shabby..haha. This coming week I will be running the 3k and hopefully I will come up with another PR.
Well the 5k was great and all, but the real high light of this weekend was brought to you by none other then Jordan Fife..haha. Fife was in the meyo mile going for the elusive sub 4 mile that he missed by .14 last weekend. This was by far the best mile field he had ever been in the list included, Grant Robinson, Sam bair, Jeff See, Jack bolas, Dorian ulrey, and few more great milers. At the start of the race Fife got squeezed to the very back of the pack while the favorites tuck in a few meters behind the rabbit (Scott " I'll lead you to glory" Overall). Now usually this isn't a big deal because Fife has one of the best kicks I have ever seen but he usually isn't kicking against these high caliber guys. So, needless to say all us sycamores started to get worried as he stayed in the back for 1lap,2laps,3laps..etc. The pack came through 800 around 2:00 while Fife came striding through at about 2:02high. Coming into the bell lap he had moved up slightly to the back of the main pack....coming into the last turn the kid had maybe passed one person on the lead pack. By this time we are going crazy and although these guys are good we know that it is a matter of time till those knees start lifting like crazy...and sure enough coming off the turn Fife is well.....straight rollin! Coming down the straight away he's pasting people left and right while the announcer is yelling "and here comes fife!"(it reminds you of billy mills when the announcer went crazy for him). Fife past everone except Jack Bolas from wisconsin who was just to far ahead....when fife crossed the line we heard 3:59 but we wanted to wait for the offical time. When his time came up 3:59.75 all of us Sycamore distance guys sprinted down there and gave him a hug...haha. As of right now this is probably going down as one as my greatest running related memories. Its always cool to see someone go sub 4, but when its one of your best friends and you were around when he couldn't break 4mins in the 1500 its pretty special.
On a side note I should have an interview with Fife after he runs the USA indoor championships. We were almost done with it but once we thought there was a chance he would go sub 4 and run at USA indoors we figured we might as well wait..haha.
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