Training

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

Here we are, only 17 days to the Seattle Marathon! It’s hard to believe all the work that has been done, all the miles run by the thousands of runners who will be lining up just 17 days from now to take on the streets of Seattle. If you’re one of those runners, though, this is a tricky time. So what should you be doing?

Some of you might have already run your longest run and are just resting up now. Some of you might have one more good effort planned for this weekend. There is no one size fits all right way to do this. Some people need extra rest and others need to keep the training going.

I do think there are some guidelines, though. If you’ve been working very hard for a very long time, you’re likely to be more fatigued so a longer taper makes sense. If you’ve been working very hard for only a short period of time, you aren’t carrying as much fatigue so you don’t need as much time to recover. Likewise, if you had a solid base before you started training, the load may not have been as significant and you might be able to race well off a shorter taper.

So, whether you have already begun your taper or will be shortly is a very independent thing. Some of the runners I coach have already begun their tapers, others will be starting soon. All, though, will be working at some reduced level of training within the week.

Outside of your training, what do you do? Take care of the little things. Make your plans. If you’re traveling from out of town, hopefully you have the big picture items taken care of. You have your travel and lodging plans in place and reservations made. Do you have a plan for meals? Do you know when and how you plan to get to the race expo to pick up your race packet?

If you have anyone going to watch, this is the time to get the plans in place or, better yet, delegate the plan making to someone else so you can focus on taking care of yourself. Anything you can do to alleviate your stress and responsibility will help you run better on race day.

From this point out, remember, less is more. It’s not often I say that but it’s true in the final few weeks. There are circumstances where one more long run or one more something else makes sense but, if you’re unsure, play it safe. Little you do at this point will help you on race day but a lot you do from here on out could make race day harder. If you haven’t already, it will soon be time to shift your focus from training hard to resting and restoring.

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

Over the coming weeks, I’m going to focus my Thursday posts on the Seattle Marathoners I’m coaching and who simply want to follow along to get some helpful tips as they go through the final preparations for their big day. The marathon and half marathon are on November 30th, the 5K is on November 29th. Here, I’ll primarily be discussing the marathon but my suggestions for the half marathoners would be nearly identical and I think even the 5K runners can gain from it. In addition, I think these posts will have useful tips for anyone to reference back to as they go through the final weeks before their goal races.

So we’re 24 days out. Some of you are just about to start your taper. Some of you may extend the training another week and be just over a week from starting your taper. Either way, you’re working through the final, most intensive stages of your training. You’re probably tired right now. And you likely have your longest run (or are again running your longest distance) this weekend or next. This is going to be tough, isn’t it? The correct answer is an emphatic YES. And that’s just how it should be. You’re preparing to run a marathon. That’s a tough thing to do. Consider this coming long run your dry run.

What do I mean by your dry run? I mean treat it like your marathon. If the conditions allow, wear what you plan to wear on race day. At least go with the shoes and socks you plan to wear on race day. Practice your fueling plan, both pre-race meals and in-race fueling. If you have the training background to handle it, consider running at least a little at goal pace late in the run. If possible, even consider running a route with a similar elevation profile. For Seattle, this means moderately hilly early and late with some flat miles in the middle.

What else should you be thinking about this week? Take care of yourself right now. You have a big long run coming up and you’re starting it tired. This is good training but it’s also stressful on your body. If you have a foam roller, The Stick or other similar tool, use it. Do the best you can to make sure you’re getting good sleep. Make sure you’re eating well and drinking plenty of fluids. These things will help you get through this physically demanding period and set you up for a successful taper and race day.

You’re working hard right now and feeling tired. Keep in mind that the taper is near. Push through this phase, take care of the details to make sure you’re ready to execute the plan on race day, then you’ll get a break.

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

Another recovery post? The last one…unless I get more questions.

I’ve noticed a few questions creeping up over the last two weeks that generally revolve around the general question of how much fitness will be lost in this month-long recovery phase and how long will it take to get that fitness back.

Those are great questions and the concern of losing fitness and needing a lot of time to get it back is the biggest stumbling block I see people struggling with when considering or trying to convince themselves to give themselves this time off. It’s surely my biggest stumbling block when I finish a racing season still feeling good and feeling fired up to go after next year’s goals.

So how much will you lose? It’s hard to quantify what you will lose but it’s obvious you will lose something. In my opinion, though, this is the wrong question so I’m not going to go into all kinds of technical details when they won’t answer what really matters.

Instead, we should be asking ourselves how long it will take to get that fitness back and what the alternative is. If you take a month completely off or do minimal running, whatever that means for you, with no thought of training, how long until you can return to a normal workload at similar paces? What happens if you don’t take that month off?

It’s been my experience that, after a month of minimal running, a runner can expect to be carrying a normal workload within 1-2 months.

So does this mean you’re setting yourself back by 2-3 months by taking a month down? Well, keep in mind some of the repercussions of not taking that down time. Stagnation, injury, burnout, lack of motivation. You may be ahead 2-3 months from now if you don’t take that down time. However, when are the races that really matter? 6 months from now? 12 months from now? With renewed motivation and a rejuvenated body, you’ll be far ahead by that time after taking some time down now.

Yes, you will definitely lose some fitness if you take some down time now. However, you will end up with some down time sooner or later. If you take it now, you will be back to your normal self within 2-3 months and ready to push toward new levels. If you don’t, you will almost surely be forced by illness, injury or lack of motivation to take it at a time when you have less time to recover your fitness and push forward.

It’s your choice: now or later.

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

Last week, I wrote about how to recover after your final race of the year. However, I kind of glossed over why. I mentioned the physical and psychological demands taking a toll on anyone but I didn’t delve into these issues. I was privately called out on that so here it is. Why spend a month recovering, even if your race was shorter than a marathon? I’ll use myself as an example, seeing as I just finished my racing for the year with a 5K.

Most runners accept that, if you’ve run a marathon, you’ve placed a lot of stress on your body and you need a fairly significant amount of time to recover from it. But I just ran a 5K and I’m planning at least 4 weeks of recovery time. While running a 5K all out places a lot of stress on our bodies, recovering from the 5K itself surely isn’t going to take a month. So what am I doing?

I’m not planning to recover from just the race itself. I spent the past 11 months training extremely hard for the 2014 racing season. I don’t race as frequently as some people but I toed the line 8 times this year. The cumulative stress of 11 months of hard training and 8 races takes its toll on even the most resilient and motivated runner. Physically and mentally, I’m ready for a break.

Physically, it should be pretty clear. You’ve been training for months. Maybe 4 or 6 months. Maybe, as it is in my case, 11 months. Either way, you’ve been pushing yourself hard. You’re a dedicated runner as proven by the fact that you are questioning the need for a down period. While you’ve built yourself up to a high level of fitness, you’ve also built up your share of fatigue. You need to give yourself some down time to let your body get rested and refreshed.

It’s pretty common knowledge that runners after a marathon or at the end of a racing season are more susceptible to catching a cold. This isn’t because you were hanging around a lot of people on race day. It’s because your immune system is suppressed. Why do you think your immune system is suppressed? It’s because your body is fatigued and dealing with a lot of stress. This should tell you how much your body needs some rest at this point. Don’t ignore these signs.

As much as the physical aspect, if not more, we all need a mental break at times. Again, you’ve been pushing yourself hard for months. You’ve probably neglected some things you like to do because you didn’t have the time and/or energy to do them. You’ve spent a lot of mental energy focusing on your goals and on doing what you needed to get them. Be honest with yourself. How is your motivation right now? Not very good? Dont’ fight it. Give yourself the mental break you need. Go do something different. Take some time to think about what next year might bring but don’t worry about how to get there yet.

I’ve seen the result of not giving yourself enough time to rest and recover between seasons. You start off strong. You continue for a few months, then the drag starts. General fatigue may get you, injuries may creep up or you simply may lose that drive to keep going. Inevitably, something happens because you simply pushed too hard for too long.

Don’t let this happen to you. If you take a month off from the training, you’re giving up less than 10% of the year. You’ll come back at the end of that month rested, recharged and ready to attack that other 90% of the year. Your fitness will come back quickly and you’ll be far more ready to sustain high level training throughout the whole coming season.

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

Mid-October is here. Most of us have probably recently wrapped up our 2014 racing season or are close to doing so. So what do we do now? Most of us know we need some recovery but how much? The answer is probably more than you think.

It’s time to give yourself a real break. Not just a down week or two but a month’s worth of down time.

I know what some of you are thinking. A month? Are you kidding me? I didn’t run a marathon. Why do I need to take a month? That’s very true but you’re not just recovering from the race. You were training hard leading into the goal race you just ran, right? For how long? 6 months? 10 or 11 months? During that time, not only did you push your body hard but you taxed yourself mentally and you probably sacrificed something outside of running that you enjoy. Maybe you gave up cycling because you couldn’t fit it in on Saturday mornings due to your long runs. Maybe you gave up a fitness class you like or hikes with the family or something else because you just didn’t have the energy. This is the time to go do those things. It’s also the time to give your body and mind a real break.

So what do you do during this month? I’d like to suggest no running for at least a week at some point but I also know that, if you’re like me, that’s not realistic. I suggest it but I don’t do it myself because running is how I keep my sanity. At the very least, reduce your volume and intensity dramatically. If you must run, try to keep it to no more than 30-40 minutes per run or no more than about 50% of your usual volume. No fast running of any kind for at least 1-2 weeks. No hard workouts for the whole month.

More specifically, here’s what I would suggest by week:

Week 1: If you can bring yourself to do it, don’t run at all. If you must, try to limit yourself. Keep the pace very relaxed and try to stay with no more than 30-40 minutes. Ideally, I’d like to see this at or below 30 minutes and fewer runs than your normal weekly routine. Of course, I’m one who breaks these ideals so I know how it goes. Do as little as possible and keep it as relaxed as possible. You’re not training. Just run for fun. You remember how to do that, right? You do remember that the simple act of running is fun, right?

Week 2: If you don’t want to run yet, don’t. If you can’t resist, add some running back in. Keep it relaxed and short. If you’ve been running, follow the same guidelines as week 1. This is also a good time to add in some auxiliary training. If you don’t do much stretching/mobility work, this is a good time to try some different options out. See if something works well for you and you enjoy it. Some people prefer static stretching, some prefer active isolated, some prefer more dynamic mobility exercises, some prefer things like yoga. In my opinion, the key is to find what feels good to you and you enjoy doing.

Week 3: If you’re not running yet and you don’t feel the itch, continue not running. If you’re ready to start, follow the guidelines above. If you are running, don’t build yet. Keep running for run. You can run more days if you wish but not more distance yet. This is a good week to work in some strength training. I suggest body weight exercises but, as with stretching/mobility, the key is to find something that feels good to you and that you like.

Week 4: Again, If you’re not running yet and you don’t feel ready to start yet, don’t. If you are running, you can work back toward your regular frequency but don’t increase the duration yet. Again, you should ideally be going the shorter of 30 minutes per run or 50% of your typical run distance and keeping it very easy. If you must, do more but keep it to as little as you can and keep it truly easy. Again, run for fun. You’re not training yet.

Week 5: Back to training. Start slowly, though. Strides are a good way to start faster running. Increase volume gradually at first. You’ll be able to increase more quickly soon enough.

If you take one month off training right now, that’s less than 10% of the year but it can lead to much better quality training for the other 90% of the year. Go enjoy some things you’ve been skipping. It will pay off later when you’re mentally and physically refreshed and ready to train harder than if you skimped on this recovery period.