Category Archives: training

getting ready. all the time.

May 12 2013

Summer Running: The Uncarved Block

The uncarved block

I often find a theme, motif, or meditation topic that will carry me through a particular period in my running program. A few years ago, it was Jiddu Krishnamurti’s statement that “Truth is a pathless land.” This past year, it was about sorting through my experience of being an Aspie. Looking at – and experiencing – my running through such lenses is a good way of gaining new insights and learnings, and almost always informs the rest of my life as well.

Lately, I’ve been thinking about the running I’ll do this summer, both “free” running and as training for the Vulture Bait 50K Ultra I’ll do in October. I’ve also been reading the Guidebook to Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, which has introduced me to the Taoist concept of the uncarved block.

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P'u

The Chinese character p’u, often translated as “the uncarved block,” refers to a state of pure potential which is the mind’s primordial condition before the arising of experience. The Taoist concept of p’u points to perception without prejudice, i.e., beyond dualistic distinctions such as right/wrong, good/bad, black/white, beautiful/ugly. It’s said to be a state of mental unity which places the Taoist practitioner into alignment with the Tao.

Seen through this lens, our potential is what we might be, and reality is the shape we actually carve out for ourselves. The metaphor suggests that each of us is born with a personality like an uncarved block of wood. Ideally, we want to leave our shape untouched and unformed, so that we can experience life fully. But everything we experience and all that we’re taught carves away pieces of that original simplicity. Taoists try to regain the early sense of unlimited possibility by trying to “unlearn” things until everything becomes a new experience.

That’s what I want to do this summer.

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With the Mississauga Half Marathon done, I can now go back to more free running, at least until it’s time to start training seriously for the Vulture Bait. Or perhaps – just perhaps – I can use the concept of the uncarved block to blend training and free-form running into a harmonious unity. That might, in fact, be a very appropriate way to train for a 50K ultra.

Summer’s a big deal for me. It’s when my weekly distance goes up, I get to wear as little as possible while running, and training needs recede and free-form running takes over. All that lends itself very nicely to incorporating the concept of the uncarved block into my runs.

During the coming months, I’ll run – both barefoot and my Soft Star Moc3s – on the roads, on some trails, and on an indoor track. That’ll be a nice mix, and will keep things from getting stale. Better still, it’ll provide me with a lot of different contexts from which to explore this uncarved block thing. It’ll help immensely that it’ll be my kind of weather – warm to hot, mostly sunny, and a little bit humid. That will relax my muscles and free up my head, so that I can run freely and in peace. I will happily get into total lizard mode.

Maori Lizard Tattoo

I’m looking forward to this part of the journey!

Feb 21 2013

How You Land Matters

As regular readers of this blog know, I train and race barefoot. When I race, I’m always surprised at how noisy the runners around me are. Not because they talk a lot (some of them do), or because they yell (some of them do that too), but because they thump. Yes, shod runners, you sound like a great thundering herd. It would be really annoying if it weren’t so comical – and sad.

Why do shod runners run noisily? Because the vast majority of them heel strike, that’s why. Barefoot runners don’t. It’s almost impossible to heel strike when you run barefoot, for the simple reason that it hurts too much. Barefoot runners have either a mid-foot or a fore-foot landing. It’s a stronger, more efficient, and more natural way to run. Sadly, running in shoes is almost certain to keep you from running naturally and quietly.

Before I go any further, I’d like to urge you to change the way you talk about running style. Instead of saying “foot strike,” say “foot landing.” In doing so, I follow barefoot legend Ken Bob Saxton’s dictum that one should never strike the ground, but always land gently on it. I also recognize that language has power beyond its mere sound. If you say “strike,” you will strike. If you say “land,” you’re well on your way to changing the way you run to something better.

Here’s an excellent graphic that shows some of the good and bad about “land” versus “strike,” and about “heel strike” versus “”mid-foot and fore-foot landing.” (When you read it, don’t forget to substitute “land” for strike.” You’ll be a better person for it.) The graphic comes to us courtesy of the good foks at Altra Zero Drop shoes. More about them later in the post.

Foot Landing

The whole story about foot landing needs some science if it’s to be understood properly. Some of the best work available comes from Prof. Daniel Lieberman, who heads the Harvard Skeletal Biology Lab. I invite you to check out this video for some good images of barefoot running foot landing, as well as how Lieberman’s research shows that barefoot runners, who tend to land on their fore-foot, generate less impact shock than runners in sports shoes who land heel first.

There’s more good stuff – the hard science data kind of good stuff – here, on an excellent page from the Skeletal Biology Lab site. On it, you’ll find some great videos and comparison data on the difference between heel striking and forefoot striking. (Remember what I said about substituting “land” for “strike”!) Long story short, the page illustrates how and why a large collision is generated when heel striking and why such a small collision is generated when forefoot striking. The page is really “feature rich,” as they say in the software world, but it’s well worth spending some time on. If you do, your understanding of running will benefit immensely.

Back to the folks at Altra Zero Drop. I’ve mentioned them because they seem to be one of the few shoe manufacturers who base their product design and development on the kind of information Prof. Lieberman offers, rather than paring down a traditional shoe model in order to sell to the growing minimalist market. They’re not the only one, of course – Vibram Five Fingers, Luna Sandals, and Xero Shoes minimalist sandals do the same. But the Altra Adam looks like a running-specific, zero drop, midfoot landing shoe that’s been designed from the ground up, rather than by a marketing team. Might be worth a look, if you’re thinking of a shoe that will allow the good form that comes with a midfoot or forefoot landing.

Full disclosure: I have an affiliate relationship with Xero Shoes, which means I get a small commission from them if you buy one of their sandals via a link on this blog. I own a pair Xero Connects and a pair Xero Contacts, which I previously reviewed here and here. I also own two pairs of VFF KSOs, but I haven’t worn either of them for about four years. And I’m working at getting a pair of Altra Adams for review. Stay tuned!

Feb 18 2013

Update: Heart Rate-Based Training

Heart rate

Yesterday’s 90 minute barefoot treadmill run marked the end of week 12 of my 16 week training program for the Sarasota Half Marathon, which takes place on March 17.. The training’s gone well, so I’d like to offer an update. First, though, a little backstory of why I’m following a heart rate-based program.

The logic, as outlined in Benson and Connolly’s book Heart Rate Training, which I’ve mentioned previously, is, once you think about it, blindingly simple. HR training is the most user-specific training available to the ordinary (and elite, for that matter) athlete. It relies on your cardio-vascular system, which means that it reflects your overall state of stress 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. More to the point for training purposes, it offers immediate and consistent feedback about your stress level, intensity level, and your rate of adaptation to the training process. That means that, rather than relying on a pre-determined set of data for my training, it’s all been done on the basis on ongoing, daily, and very personal data. It’s all about me, and nobody else.

Before I started the program, I did a treadmill-based test to determine my maximum heart rate, which turned out to be 163 bpm. Every morning of the program I’ve determined my resting heart rate, which is between 43 and 46 bpm, depending on the day. (To do the latter, I use a nifty little program on my Android smartphone called Instant Heart Rate.) I track all of my workout, and the associated data re resting heart rate, weight, blood pressure, and length and quality of sleep with SportTracks. That gives me a comprehensive and easily-accessed reference library of how the training’s going. Of course, my trusty Garmin 210 is the backbone of the whole system, as it’s what shows me what my heart rate is.

Buikding endurance – and speed – following a heart rate-based program takes time. Not just weeks, but sometimes months. I’m fortunate in that I’ve built a strong aerobic base over the past year. I’ve also worked on speed in my previous training programs for various races and distances. But this HR-based program has made an enormous difference. It’s different from the others.

Here’s one graphic example of how that difference manifests itself. It’s not my data, but an image I downloaded via a Google search, and include here because illustrates very nicely a couple of points I want to make.

HR versus speed

The top graph shows the runner’s heart rate for a certain distance, in which she kept to a pre-determined heart rate. The lower graph shows the same distance and time, but with the runner following a pre-determined pace. Going for pace resulted in peaks and valleys of heart rate, which resulted, as one would expect, in feelings of fatigue. That inevitably affected her endurance, and would, in the longer run, mean less endurance and a lower running economy. Running to heart rate, on the other hand, mean that she adjusted her pace to keep at the pre-determined heart rate, and so conserved her energy levels, her power, and her strength.

Endurance isn’t everything, of course. That’s why, as part of my training program, I’ve included interval and tempo runs as well as the endurance-focused sessions. Such an ongoing heart rate-based program increases the size of the body’s capillaries and develops mitochondria, so that strength, endurance, and speed are all enhanced.

It’s all been good.

What’s the bottom line? Following this heart rate-based training program has 1/ built up my endurance, 2/ lessened my fatigue levels, and 3/ made me quicker. As an instance of the latter, consider the following: my current PB for the 16K distance (1:35:18, a pace of 5:57) was set in June 2008, at the Toronto 10 Miler. Yesterday, I ran 15.8K in 1:30, for a pace of 5:41. Yesterday, I was cruising, not racing. I wasn’t pushing hard, and I had plenty in the tank at the end of the run. Is it any wonder I’ve become a fan of heart rate-based training?

Feb 8 2013

Using SportTracks 3.1

SportTracks

For the past couple of months I’ve been using SportTracks 3.1 to record my runs. It’s a superb tool, and I recommend it highly. This one does it all! It offers GPS import or manual entry, GPS routes with street, topographic and satellite maps, chart workout trends, detail pace, elevation, and heart rate graphs, dynamic split time, distance and pace analysis, user-defined workout categories and custom data, equipment and use tracking, etc. That’s a lot of content, but it means I can configure the data from my runs in the way that’s most useful to me.

SportTracks exports data from almost all Garmin devices (including my Garmin Forerunner 210). And it supports the use of a whole library of third party plugins. (A plugin is a small package you download and install to extend the features of SportTracks. They can add support for new devices and file types, perform advanced charting and analysis, allow you to share with online websites, and much more. Most are free, while some of the more complex ones require payment.) A list of the plugins most suitable for runners can be found here. The only plugin I’m using right now is the Dailymile Plugin, developed by fellow dailymile member Jonathan Savage. An example of a more complex plugin is one called Training Analysis, which allows the SportTracks user to see how the outcomes of his or her training match the goals of the training plan, and if and how it might be changed.

If you want to dip your feet into the SportTracks experience, you can get it on a 90-day free trial. If you want to get all the features, pay US$38, and SportTracks is yours. (A full list of SportTrack’s features can be found here.)

OK, that’s all very nice, you say, but why do you want to keep track of all that stuff?

Because it’s data. And data is fun. Not only that, data is (or “data are,” if you want to be pedantic) useful. With SportTracks, I can use data in two ways. First, I can input the data about my run, as well as information about my equipment, weight, resting and maximum heart rates, and sleep cycles, into the program, so that I have an ongoing record of what I’ve done. That’s not dissimilar from the paper-based journal I used to keep when I started running, many years ago. Second, I can get feedback from the data I’ve recorded with SportTracks. Some of that feedback comes in the form of charts.

I didn’t get charts from that paper-based journal. With SportTracks, I can get a whole whack of them. Here’s an example:

SportTracks Chart

(Note: This isn’t one of my own charts. I haven’t used SportTracks long enough for my charts to be good illustrations. The one above is a sample chart that I chose from a Google search, because it shows some of the complexity that’s available. Click on the image to see it at a higher resolution.)

Charts, which can be thought of as infographics, are a powerful tool. Not only do they afford a one-time snapshot of data, they can, by combining various sets of data, be made to point to new information and new learnings. While the primary feedback for me is – and always will be – my feet, my body, and my brain, the kind of numbers – hard data – supplied by SportTracks informs and enhances that primary data. Knowing all that I know, I can then put the data to one side, get back into the flow of the run, and, over time, improve both my performance and my enjoyment of the run.

Let me emphasize that the point of this whole data business is to make my runs – long and short, slow and fast – more enjoyable. I’m a recreational athlete, after all. I’m not into winning contests.

SportTracks is certainly helping me learn. About things like CTL (Chronic Training Load, a fitness indicator), ATL (Acute Training Load, a fatigue indicator), and TSB (Training Stress Balance, a freshness indicator). It’s helped me understand what TRIMP is. I’ve read about TRIMP in various exercise science books, but seeing it applied to my own runs makes it real. Seeing my figures for Training Monotony has made me look at what my training schedule is and why keeping variety in that schedule is necessary.

Will using SportTracks make me a faster runner? Probably. Will it make me a more informed runner? Definitely. Will it make me a happier runner? It already has. As I say, highly recommended for those who like data and can make good use of it. Why not give it a try?

Feb 7 2013

Training for Sarasota

John Ringling Bridge, Sarasota

Above is a photo of the John Ringling Bridge, in Sarasota, Florida. In exactly 38 days, I’ll run across that bridge. It’s part of the course of the Sarasota Half Marathon, my first spring race of 2013. It’ll be the second time I’ve run Sarasota, having done it last year in the company of my barefoot amigos Chris G. and Marcus C.

I’m now nearing the end of week 11 of my 16-week training program for this race. It’s been an easy week. With a couple of weeks of interval and tempo runs behind me, and a week of interval sets coming up, I’m OK with that. The speedwork is balanced by longer runs on Sundays. I’m looking at a 75 minute run this Sunday, with 90 and 105 minute runs on the following two Sundays. (All on my trusty treadmill, unless there’s a remarkable break in the current wintry weather.)

The time structure (rather than the distance regime I’ve followed in the past), is part of this particular training program. It’s one I’ve selected from Roy Benson and Declan Connolly’s book Heart Rate Training, which I’ve mentioned previously. The authors’ thesis, based on their experience as coaches and exercise scientists, is that heart rate training’s reliance on an individual’s cardio-vascular system provides immediate and ongoing feedback about stress levels, intensity levels, and rates of adaptation as they relate tooverall fitness. Therefore, they argue, it’s the best way for an athlete, whether recreational or elite, to increase endurance, raise lactate threshold, and boost power. The book first looks at the science behind the theory, then offers training plans based on the science.

It’s working well. Rather than simply increasing distance week by week, I’ve run easy, moderate, interval, and tempo runs at one of my heart rate zone levels. (Before beginning the program, I had determined my maximum heart rate with a treadmill test suggested in the book.) As I’ve progressed through the weeks, I’ve been able to see my pace (and therefore distance) increasing for the heart rate zone I’m in. It’s pushed me beyond what I’ve been able to do before, while giving me the confidence to keep going and to feel stronger with each passing week. In fact, one of the unexpected outcomes of this training program has been what I can only describe as an increase in my mental toughness – I can follow through on runs in a way I’ve not been able to do before.

So I’m looking for a good results at Sarasota on March 17. Not necessarily a PB, because I’ll be dealing with the consequences of travel, unfamiliar high temperatures, and some particularly gnarly asphalt on part of the route. But I do anticipate being quick, strong, and happy in the race.

And that’s not all. I’ll get to run again with Chris and Marcus. There’ll be palm trees. There’ll be sunshine. And, if I can squeeze it in, there’ll be some time spent on beautiful Siesta Key Beach.

Siesta Key Beach

Jan 4 2013

Whirl and Steam

Now that winter’s really here (it’s -10C right now, with a 42 km/h wind), I’m well into my usual winter regime of twice-weekly whirlpool soaks and steamroom sessions. At the end of each of those, I do a short breathwatching exercise. I’ve been tagging those as “cross training workouts” on dailymile, which may seem a bit of stretch. It’s not really, though. Let me explain.

Whirlpool I do the sessions (at my local YMCA) on the days I don’t run. My logic is that they serve to refresh, renew, and regenerate. Not that I’m working so hard in my training runs that I need healing, but it makes sense that my body needs some sort of recovery modality to keep me on course and uninjured. As far as I’m concerned, heat and moisture do the trick. I use the whirlpool as a massage tool. I use the steamroom to relax my nervous system. And the breathwatching is a kind of psychological “cleansing” which finishes the whole session nicely.

My experience (and enjoyment) of steamrooms goes a long way back. When I was in Istanbul in 1970 and 1971 (both times on my way to India), I visited the 400 year old Cagaloglu Hamami Cagaloglu Hamami, Istanbul, one of the city’s most famous bathhouses. The 2 1/2 hour experience had me washed, steamed, massaged, and served locally-made beer, all for the grand cost of $1.75. I was one clean hippie! Both the Turkish hamam and my YMCA steamroom are part of a worldwide bathhouse culture that’s existed for thousands of years.

Breathwatching also has a long tradition, in many culture’s mediatative practices. A traditional approach is described here. (Note: I don’t follow Osho, aka Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. He was, I think, a charming but very manipulative charlatan. His explanation of breathwatching, though, is simple and easy to follow.) Another explanation of breathwatching, from the excellent book Running Within, by Jerry Lynch and Warren Scott, can be found here.

The whirlpool and steamroom will get me through the cold winter weather and to my spring races. After that, it’ll be ice baths after my long runs in the summer heat. Breathwatching? That’ll just be a regular thing.

Dec 1 2012

Resources for Runners

On an ongoing basis, I’m informed, educated, and inspired by a number of people I follow on the Net. I’ve become a better runner because of them. As a way of saying thanks, I’d like to share those resources with you.

First, Dr. Steve Gangemi, the Sock Doc. Dr. Gangemi’s site is all about “natural injury treatment and prevention for the athlete within,” and is probably the one source I’ve come to trust and follow more than any other. He’s clear and definite about his opinions and advice, and bases it all on solid scientific evidence. His cred is impeccable – Gangemi has competed in 20 Ironman races, numerous other triathlons, as well as bicycle races and running race, on both trail and road. He’s a six-time qualifier and finisher of the Ironman Hawaii World Championship Triathlon, and is currently a MovNat Certified Trainer. I can’t recommend this guy’s advice and wisdom highly enough!

Jonathan Savage at Fellrnr is a newer discovery for me. His site is a Wikipedia-based effort that’s “dedicated to making you a better runner, whether you’re a beginner or a competitive athlete.” It’s full of very good tips on training, racing, nutrition, hydration, and equipment. Jonathan runs ultramarathons, and his current main goals are to qualify for the US 24 hour team and to break 150 miles in 24 hours. (His current PBs are 146 miles in 24 hours, 100 miles in 15:58, 100K in 9:31, 50 miles in 7:08, 50K in 3:38, 26.2 in 2:53.) The depth of information on his site – in terms of both volume and quality – is simply outstanding. I’ve only begun to explore the site and Jonathan’s approach to running, but have been mightily impressed so far.

Steve Magness is the Head Cross Country coach at the University of Houston for both the men and women’s teams. From 2011 through to the 2012 Olympic games he was assistant coach for the Nike Oregon Project, where he assisted in training such runners as Mo Farah, double Olympic champion in the 5k and 10k. Magness’ Science of Running blog offers in depth looks at training, coaching, sport science, and anything else that relates to enhancing endurance performance. It can sometimes be pretty techy, but is always worth reading.

Last, I want to point you towards the videos of Dr. Mark Cucuzella. Watch this one, for example, to see what really good running form is like. Cucuzella is a family physician at Harpers Ferry Family Medicine and an Associate Professor at West Virginia University School of Medicine. He’s a Lieutenant Colonel in the Air Force Reserves, and he is coach and captain of its marathon team. He’s also the chief medical consultant for the Air Force Marathon. He’s completed more than 60 marathons and ultramarathons, and continues to compete as a National level Masters (age 40+) runner. His marathon best is 2:24.

You can see where I’m coming from with my interest in these resources. If you check them out, you can also see how I hope to develop as a runner.

Let me know what you think of all of the above, and how you might incorporate the learnings you find into your own running.

Nov 20 2012

Heart Rate Training

I’ve begun to explore the art and science of heart rate- based training. I like what I’ve seen so far- so much so, in fact, that I’m going to use it to prepare for both of my spring races (the Sarasota Half Marathon on March 17, 2013 and the Mississauga Half on May 5, 2013).

Why the new training model, when the one I used to prepare for the Scotiabank Toronto Marathon worked so well?

First, there’s always the discovery of a new tool, and the desire to make it part of the ongoing “experiment of one. ” That’s something that’s always excited me, and something that’ll always be part of my journey.

Garmin 210 Second, there’s the Garmin Forerunner 210 I acquired a while ago. It’s a great little peice of technology, and I’m already seeing how analysis of the data it provides about my runs – particularly over an extended period of time – will inform and enhance my training.

And last, well, I’ve become hooked into wondering how much I can push the performance parameters of my half marathon races. As I’ve said before, the half is my favourite race distance, so it’ll be interesting to use heart training training to explore the distance’s potential. If I can improve my PBs to any significant degree, then I’ve learned something important about my body, how it works, and what it’s capable of doing.

OK, enough of the backstory. Now, more about heart rate training…

“The beauty of heart rate training is that it relies on a system (your cardio-vascular system) that reflects your overall state of stress 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. It reflects when you’re tired, overtrained, sick, cold, or hot, and therefore can guide you in making changes to your plan. More important from an exercise point of view, it provides immediate and consistent feedback about your stress level, intensity level, and rate of adaptation in terms of overall fitness. “

Heart Rate Training So say Roy Benson and Declan Connolly, authors of Heart Rate Training. In the book, Benson and Connolly show how to determine deficiencies in training and performance, create targeted programs to increase endurance, raise lactate threshold, increase speed and power, and monitor recovery between workouts. The book’s sample programs allow the manipulation of heart rate training components to design an individualized long-term training plan.

Now I’ve got two excellent tools – my own heart and a nifty gadget that allows me to see what my heart is up to!

And the timing for all this is working well. With the Scotiabank Toronto Marathon all done, I’m in a transtion/base-building period until I start training for those two spring half marathons. At the end of a season, I usually dither for a while before settling into a new routine. I “play run” for a while, get in a few treadmill runs as the weather gets cooler, and get my head squared away for a winter of training. That means a lot of treadmill runs, some outdoor runs (once or twice a week, until the snow comes, anyway), and regular sessions in the gravel bucket. This time, I’m doing my runs – most of them outdoors, because the weather’s been good – at a slow and easy MAF (Most Aerobic Functioning) pace. That means I’m running at under 20% of my maximum heart rate, for whatever distances I happen to run. The point of the exercise is to build aerobic fitness, not to build speed or strength. Those will come later.

Here’s where the Garmin comes in. On each of those runs, I wear the Garmin and an HR monitor chest belt, and set the Garmin to show my heart rate. I always run at my target HR (which happens to be ~120 bpm), and I can already see, after only three weeks of following this regime, that my aerobic fitness has improved.

How do I know that? Because when I started, running at a steady 120 bpm HR meant I was running at a 7:30 min/km or so pace. This morning, I ran 8K at an average HR of 120 bpm, at a 7:03 pace. I’m getting faster while my heart’s working at the same calm, easy rate. That’s building an aerobic base, and is the foundation upon which I’ll later lay on speed and strength workouts, all of them targeted at specific heart rate zones.

This is fun! It’s got data (which I love), slow running (which I excel at), and the promise of steady improvement, all based on solid and demonstrable science. That’s going to make following the winter training program, which I’ll start in early December, both doable and enjoyable. Have to like it when things works out that way!

Do you follow a heart rate-based training plan? If you do, tell me about it. If you don’t, would you like to? Tell me why!

Sep 2 2012

Training for Toronto: Psychology

This is the last article in the series “Training for Toronto,” an account of my preparation for the 2012 Toronto Waterfront Marathon. Previous articles included Foundations, Fueling, and The Program. Here’s an overall picture of the article series and its contents:

Training for Toronto

“The marathon is less a physical event than a spiritual encounter. In infinite wisdom, God built into us a 32K racing limit, a limit imposed by inadequate sources of the marathoner’s prime racing fuel – carbohydrates. But we, in our human wisdom, decreed that the standard marathon be raced over 42K. So it is in that physical no-man’s-land, which begins after the 32K mark, that the irresistible appeal of the marathon lies.” Dr. Timothy Noakes, The Lore of Running.

Change “spiritual” to “mental,” change “God” to “nature,” and you’ve got the subject of this article: how am I going to get my head around running the Toronto Marathon in my goal time of 4 hours and 30 minutes?

To do so, I’ve learned about something called the Central Governor Theory, changed my thinking about the much-feared “wall,” and have integrated both into my training.

First, the Central Governor Theory… This is a hypothesis, first proposed in 1924 by Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine winner Archibald Hill, and later developed by Noakes, that posits a process in the brain that regulates exercise regarding a calculated safe exertion by the body. In a nutshell, it suggests that the CGT controls the body’s level of physical activity so that its intensity can’t threaten the body’s homeostasis by causing anoxia damage to the heart. Basically, the proposed “central governor” limits exercise by reducing the neural recruitment of muscle fibres, which is then experienced as fatigue. This is a complex idea which doesn’t lend itself to brief explanations, though, so you might want to look at the Wikipedia article on the subject.

OK, that’s a start. But the CGT is deep-set in the brain, and doesn’t lend itself easily to change. It’s going to prevent me from going so quickly I expire – but how can I modify what goes on in my brain to allow me to go more quickly, or at least more comfortably?

Brain Training for RunnersI’ve found the beginning of an answer in Brain Training for Runners, by Matt Fitzgerald. In it, Fitzgerald offers an eight-step “mind training” program that works by “tweaking,” if you like, the way the mind and the body interact when training for races. This isn’t positivist psychology – there’s no talk of attitudinal adjustments, “believe and it will happen,” or mantras. Instead, Fitzgerald suggests training programs that build coordinated mental and physical strengths to approach and surpass previous limits. In fact, his programs aren’t dissimilar to Pete Pfitzinger’s Advanced Marathoning, which I’ve been using to train for Toronto. And both Fitzgerald and Pfitzinger acknowledge a debt to coaching legend and author Jack Daniels, whom they see as a mentor and coaching model. (I highly recommend Fitzgerald’s book, by the way. It’s easy to read, chock-full of ideas, and helpful.)

Which brings me to the idea of thinking about “the wall” differently.

Threshold: “Hitting the wall” (or “the bonk,” as it’s affectionately known) describes a condition caused by the depletion of glycogen stores in the liver and muscles, which manifests itself by sudden fatigue and loss of energy. That’s the time-honoured theory, anyway – there are a number of new approaches to endurance running that suggest it may not be wholly valid. One I’ve cooked up on my own (credit where credit is due, right?) is to turn the whole thing around, and see the 32K limit as a desirable rather than something to be feared. That’s a big job for me. The 32K mark has been my nemesis on every marathon I’ve done so far (in 1980, 1981, 2009, and 2010) and was also the place where I decided to abandon the barefoot 50K ultra I attempted in 2009. In a very real way, I’m scared of it – and I don’t want that to be the case at Toronto. So I’ve tried, on my long and very long training runs, to see 32K as the entry point to a place I want to be, a place where I can discover myself anew, a place Hunter S. Thompson once called “the place where the definitions are.” From the start to the 32K mark will be familiar territory. I want to approach the territory between 32K and the finish as somewhere good, because I’ll discover good things there. The image I have in my head looks something like this:

Looking for the threshold...

Training: My training for Toronto has gone well. I’ve had the usual bumps along the way (including a puncture wound that took longer to heal than I thought it would), and the usual crises of confidence about 1/ running a marathon at all and 2/ doing it barefoot. But I’ve had some very positive training experiences as well, including a growing feeling of physical strength and a good half marathon race. I’m just a few days away from the beginning of my taper, during which I’ll continue to add strength/speed runs and, perhaps more importantly, look within myself for the mental depth that will, I think, make all the difference towards the end of the 42K distance.

Will I be ready? Well, yes and no. Yes, because I have trained well. I’ve been consistent, I’ve been adaptive, and I now know my strengths and limits better than before. No, because there’ll always be that little corner of my mind that is in awe of the challenge of running 42K. But that’s part of the appeal and the magic of the marathon, isn’t it? It’s all about ordinary people (like me) doing something quite extraordinary – and not only living to tell the tale, but celebrating the experience and the result.

Here’s to the marathon, whatever it may bring!

Aug 31 2012

Training for Toronto: The Program

The “days left” widget on my smartphone’s home page says there are 44 days left until the Toronto Marathon. I’ve got seven weeks left to go in my training program for the race. It’s getting down to serious fun time, folks. My weekly distances are high, I’m doing lots of speedwork, and I’ve begun to think constantly about avoiding injury and sickness. I’d almost forgotten about this side of marathoning. (No surprise, I guess, that I’m often reminded of Hunter S. Thompson’s classic phrase “When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.”)

In a lot of ways, my life is now centering around that training program. I’m always aware of what my runs are going to be for the coming week. I’ve made sure I’ve got an adequate supply of fueling supplements on hand. I’m careful to keep to my scheduled rest days. I’m often tired at the end of a day. And, though my feet are holding up well, these high weekly distances do occasionally take their toll on my soles.

But there’s a lot of good happening, too. For one thing, I can do the weekly distances. 88K a week barefoot is a lot, but it’s very definitely doable. My weight is down to 147 lbs. (66.7 kgs.), which is only a couple of pounds more than I weighed when I graduated from high school forty-six years ago. I’m lean, tanned, and I feel strong. Even better than that, I feel confident about being the runner I’ve become. Still very much a beginner, still always learning, but, in some deep sense, I feel I’ve reached a number of goals.

Ah, but there’s that training program! As I’ve noted in previous posts, I’m using a different program than the one I used for my last two marathons (in 2009 and 2010). In both of those those, I followed a rather general, cookie-cutter-approach plan outlined in John Stanton’s Running Room’s Book on Running.

Advanced Marathoning The program I’m following for Toronto is one of those in Advanced Marathoning, by Pete Pfitzinger and Scott Douglas.

This book, and the training programs in it, are aimed at runners who have completed their first few marathons and want to improve. Consequently, the bar is set a little higher from the get-go. The program I chose involves running up to 88K a week. There are more long runs in it than in my previous program, they start earlier in the schedule, and speed work is built into medium and long runs (rather than comprising speed sets and short warmups and cooldowns).

As I said, it’s doable. But at this point, with only 44 days to go before the marathon, the wear is beginning to show. A couple of days ago, I did an aerobic 18K. I was over tired at the start, therefore my form was rubbish, and – inevitably – something went amiss. I sustained a small puncture wound on the ball of my left foot, which has, in turn, meant no running for two days. Not really a big deal. But it made me grumpy – with hindsight, I think I should have recognized the tiredness and bailed on the run – and it’s put a bit of dent in my confidence that I can keep to the training schedule and remain injury free.

Not to worry. I plan to be back on the road tomorrow. Slowly, gently, and ever so carefully, but on the road.

That’s training for you. Some bumps, some adventures, some wrinkles. But successes too, and lots of good growth. And that’s what the program is for. It’ll get you over the bumps and through the adventures, so you reach your goals.

44 days. It seems like a long stretch, but it also seems terrifyingly close.

Next (and last) in this series will be “Training for Toronto: Psychology.” You may also want to read previous posts in this series: Foundations and Fueling.