Training

This article was originally posted by Ryan at the original HillRunner.com Blogs.

It’s seemed like a bit of a quiet week. Maybe I am just getting behind this week with things going on. Whatever the case, only one topic today but it’s one that I’m really fascinated in.

I’ve blogged before about the idea of training your brain to handle fatigue more effectively and how that might make you a better runner.

Well, here’s another one. This time, the participants were doing mentally demanding activities during their exercise.

The results were pretty amazing. Untrained participants who didn’t do the mental tasks while exercising improved in a time to exhaustion test by an impressive 42 percent. The participants who did do the mental tasks, though, blew that result out of the water. They improved by 126 percent. That’s an improvement exactly 3 times greater than the control group!

What does this tell us? Well, it appears the mental tasks being performed while training increase the stress our bodies are facing during these training sessions. Removing the stress on test day made the physical stress feel much easier.

Just be sure to note:

Marcora agrees, suggesting there are “certain situations where brain training in combination with physical training makes sense and certain situations where it does not.” More specifically, if you are going to do all-out intervals, it is probably best to focus solely on the intervals, perhaps with some music blasting in the background. But, if you are doing an easier or more moderate workout—anything up to 80 to 85 percent of maximum effort—that’s prime time to work your brain. “Applying a cognitive strain can produce an enhanced training effect without adding any additional physiological stress,” Marcora says.

So just save the mentally challenging tasks for your easy days. But now I won’t feel so bad when I’m out on an easy run and my mind shifts to doing math with numbers I see along the way.

This article was originally posted by Ryan at the original HillRunner.com Blogs.

I’ve seen some notes from several runners in the past couple of weeks, expressing frustration as they push through this winter’s training. I know the feeling, I’ve been experiencing the challenges myself.

Winter training is tough. You’re probably facing both weather challenges and, at times, traction challenges with snow and ice. If you’re like me, you’re not racing as much if at all during the winter months so the motivation of an upcoming race isn’t driving you. Depending on your “running personality” you might feel that the base training you’re likely doing is dull and boring. Combined with the fact that you’re base training, not peaking for a race, you’re also running slower than you recall running this past fall when you were nearing your peak.

Understand that this is a tough period. Accept the challenges, then push through. Because the work you are doing now is the foundation for the faster running and race day successes that will come later. The strength and stamina you build now will determine the baseline for how much faster work you can do later and how much you can get out of it without your body breaking down.

Keep at it. You can do it!

What do you do to get yourself through the tough winter months? I’d love to hear some ideas in the comments. I’ll share some things I do in the comments later.

This article was originally posted by Ryan at the original HillRunner.com Blogs.

As the runners I coach should know by now, I don’t have many hard rules but one of those I do have is family comes first. No matter how important running is to you, there is nothing more important than family. For many families spread far and wide, the holiday season is the one time a year when they still get together. No matter how important your running is to you, during this time, don’t put your running ahead of your family.

This doesn’t mean you don’t run during the holidays. For many of us, running is more than just the sport we choose to compete in. It’s a coping mechanism, a stress relief and simply a great way to center ourselves. Especially when spending a lot of time in close proximity to people who you may have grown away from in some ways, it’s important to have those exact things. In order to avoid family feuds, it may be necessary to slip out for a run to destress and get yourself recentered.

Maybe you can even keep your training largely intact. If so, great. If not, don’t fight it. Do what you can and you’ll have January to get your training rhythm back. Just be sure to keep your priorities in mind. Don’t let a handful of training runs get in the way of quality family time.

On a related note, I’ll be attempting to make my usual Monday posts for the next two weeks but don’t count on the usual Thursday posts. I will very likely be too busy enjoying the holidays and time with family.

Have a wonderful holiday season!

This article was originally posted by Ryan at the original HillRunner.com Blogs.

The time is here! Only four days to race day! The work is done, you’ve been resting up and you’re probably bursting with energy right now. Don’t you wish the race was tomorrow?

Well, it’s Sunday. So what do you do between now and then to best be ready to go?

First and foremost, you don’t over think the race or spend too much time stressing out about it. Believe me, the weather forecast isn’t going to change every 5 minutes so there is no need to check it every 5 minutes. (For the record, I just checked for you and it looks chilly but dry!) Take care of the details but, after you’ve checked that you packed your shoes the first 10 times, you don’t need to check the next 20 times. Lay out a sound race strategy (think even splits/effort) and have faith in it. Don’t second guess it every 15 minutes. All of these things and all the other nervous habits you do will not help you and will in fact waste mental energy you could be using in the race.

Beyond not stressing over the details you’ve already worked out, what else do you need to do?

Hydrate. Now. Hydration is not something that’s accomplished in the 2 hours before the race or even in the day before the race. Hopefully you’ve already been taking care of hydration. If not, start right now by taking a break from reading and going to get a big drink of water. It can be hard with family Thanksgiving meals and other events going on but try hard to take care of your hydration.

Speaking of Thanksgiving meals, fuel healthfully. Stick with food you know and are comfortable with but focus on healthy food. And try not to overeat in a single meal tomorrow. Enjoy your Thanksgiving dinner but try to do so in moderation. In the past, aggressive carb loading or even depletion/loading for marathoners made a lot of sense. These days, with the amount of carbs most marathoners consume on the course, it’s not as critical and there are risks associated with changing your diet too significantly. The better approach is to eat a normal, healthy diet and maybe add on a few high quality carbs along the way.

As for race weekend, I also have a few thoughts:

I’m not sure what the Seattle Marathon people will think of me saying this but, when you go to the expo, try not to spend too much time there walking or standing around. Get your race packet. If you want to listen to a speaker get there early and get a seat. If you want to visit a few vendors plan it out ahead of time and do so quickly. Then get out and get off your feet.

Have a plan for dinner. Whether you’re doing the race’s pasta feed, eating at home if you’re a local or working out your own restaurant plans, have this plan in place ahead of time so you can eat what you want when you want.

In the evening, do something to take your mind off the race for a while so you’re not wasting energy stressing over it. Watch a movie, read a book, whatever you want. Just distract yourself.

On race day, it all comes down to execution:

You should have your pre-race plan down. You’ve practiced with long runs and you know what you need to do. When you need to get up, when and what you need to eat before the race. Execute this plan. Then get to the start line early enough that you don’t have to stress over whether you will be there in time.

You also should have your race plan down. How you’re going to handle the hills early and late, what kind of pace you want to carry, how you should feel at different points in the race, what to do when you hit a rough patch, what to do when you hit a good patch at different points in the race. Execute the plan. Enjoy the run and the accomplishment.

Then, after the race, be sure to celebrate!

For the runners I’m coaching, you’ll get a more detailed, personalized version of this post tomorrow. For the rest of you, I wish you well.

This article was originally posted by Ryan at the original HillRunner.com Blogs.

It’s getting close! Are you getting nervous yet? Checking the weather forecast every hour?

I often say this time the hardest time of marathon training for many runners. You’re used to working hard. There is a certain level of comfort that comes in doing the hard work. Now, that’s being taken away from you. You’re not working hard anymore and, after months of consistently working hard, you’re being asked to rest. Rest? What? That’s like a foreign language to runners. We know work!

It’s very important to get the rest in now, though. We’re 10 days out right now. The most optimistic estimates are that a workout begins to benefit you 10-14 days out from when you do it. That means, under the most optimistic assumption, today is the last day that you can do a workout and it will result in you being more fit when you line up on race day. In other words, nothing you do from here on out is going to make you more fit on race day. Your focus needs to shift from building fitness to resting and refreshing your body, while doing just enough to remain sharp and ready to run hard when race day comes.

So how do you do this? Well, the first thing I always say and the thing I’ve told several people already this week is that it’s time to think differently. Remember that you are far more likely to do harm by doing too much than by doing too little. If you are at all unsure about how much you should do now, err on the side of doing too little.

In a more broad sense, the general consensus, if there is such a thing when dealing with a taper, is that cutting volume while maintaining intensity is the most effective way to taper. This means cut your weekly mileage but not your workouts. You can do a lower volume in your workouts but keep doing them. How much to cut your volume depends on many variables and is different for everyone but I find that a range of reducing by 25% to 50% two weeks out and 50% to 75% on the week before the race works for most people. That’s a pretty broad range so here are a few things to consider when deciding how much to cut:

1) What was your training volume going in? If you were running 40 miles per week before, it’s harder to cut 50% and 75% than if you were running 80 miles per week.

2) How are you feeling? If you’re feeling good, you may not need to cut back as much. If you’re feeling beat up, physically or mentally, a more significant cut may help you recover and feel better by the time race day comes around.

As for workouts, keep doing them but cut the volume similarly. So what would have been a 4 mile tempo run might turn into 2-3 miles this week and 1-2 miles next week.

It can be tough to cut back on your training and keep up your confidence, especially if you identify as a hard working runner. If you’re struggling, review your training log. Look over all the miles and workouts you’ve been logging, all the hard work you’ve been putting in. You’ve done the work. Now is the time to rest up and absorb all that hard work so it will pay off on race day.

As for the pre-race nerves, they are normal. Reviewing your training log may help soothe those nerves. Checking the weather hourly probably won’t. For that, you may want to find some distractions.

Next week, I’ll post on Wednesday so we all can enjoy our Thanksgivings. In the meantime, rest up, make sure you’re still drinking plenty of fluids and eating healthy. And try to check the weather sites only once or twice a day.