Training

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

Recently, I encountered two separate discussions elsewhere that raised an interesting idea. The idea is of covering the marathon distance or more in a single weekend while training for a marathon.

As anyone who knows me well knows, I’m a big fan of back to back "long" runs on the weekend. However, I believe you need to have a sufficient base for this kind of training. It’s not for everyone. Most importantly, it’s not for those who aren’t already sustaining a high base of training volume. If you’re running 50 miles per week, I’d much rather see you do a light run of 3-5 miles the day after your long run, which may not be more than 18 miles. It’s "only" a 21-23 mile weekend but you still get the feel of running on tired legs. In addition, you have 27-29 miles to spread out over the remaining 5 days. With that much training capacity for those days available, your overall training will be much better and more well balanced.

But the most critical part of the marathon is the ability to run long, right? What better way to prepare to run long than to log some serious miles on the weekend? It makes logical sense, doesn’t it? Well, take a step back to look at it. If you do this, you’ll probably just log 2-3 easy runs over the course of the week because your legs will be so shot from the weekend. If you do 21-23 miles on the weekend, you’re still getting some serious distance. You’re only giving up around 5 miles. In the meantime, you will have the extra energy to get in a good tempo run on Tuesday or Wednesday and you’ll maybe even be able to get a mid-week run of 10-12 miles in. The net gain by doing a little less on the weekend but getting in much more during the course of the rest of the week will be significant.

Some might say that the suggestion is to only do this once. However, you have to build up to doing this, right? Probably at the same time as you’re building your weekly mileage. So how many weeks do you spend with roughly half of your weekly volume occurring on the weekend? How much are you getting out of the other 5 days a week during those weeks?

Obviously, for some runners, the story is a little different. If you’re running 80 miles a week, a 30 mile weekend makes perfect sense. After all, 80 miles is an average of 10 miles a day for 6 days with a 20 mile run on day 7. However, for a 40-50 mile a week runner, you can’t do 30 or even 26 miles on the weekend and get that same kind of balance. A maximum weekend of 21-23 miles makes much more sense.

In the end, you need to find your best balance. Will a single 26-30 mile weekend for a 40-50 mile per week runner be harmful? Probably not. However, ask yourself what it will do for you. Then ask yourself what it will force you to give up. Is it really going to be beneficial?

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

Recently, I wrote that you should do what you can now. Don’t wait until the time is perfect. This is the flip side.

We all get caught at times wanting to do more. Life has gotten in the way and we feel like we’re behind or we’ve rolled through a strong phase of training and we want to do more to take advantage of our unexpected boost in fitness. Often, though, when we get in these situations we end up doing too much.

Your body can only handle so much stress, whether physical or otherwise. When life gets tough and you’re facing more stress than usual, you need to cut back on your training. If you don’t, you’re going to push your body beyond its breaking point. That’s when injuries happen. While it’s the most difficult thing to do, the best thing to do when life’s stresses add up is to reduce our training. I realize this is a hard sell for a committed runner but you can increase your training again when life settles down.

On the other end of the spectrum, when things are going really good, you have to remember what got you there. It was most likely a gradual, well planned and executed progression. This is what’s going to keep you moving forward. A big step up might be more than your body is ready for. Again, your body can only handle so much stress. If you’re training hard and making big gains, chances are you found a good balance. Don’t lose that balance, no matter how tempting it may be to try to do more.

Don’t let your training get ahead of your circumstances. Do what you can do now but don’t do more. If you’re unsure, it’s better to do a little less. You’d rather be at 95% of potential fitness when lining up for your next race than injured and watching from the sideline, right?

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

Recently, I was out on a recovery run the day after a pretty hard-run long run. I was originally hoping for 10 miles in order to complete a 70 mile week. However, while my legs didn’t feel horrible, they were flat and my pace was definitely off. Deep down, I knew I should stick with 8 miles, get in my hour’s worth of running and not push the distance given how I felt. However, that 10 mile run and 70 mile week was definitely in the back of my mind and I was looking for any reason possible to go for it.

I’m a competitive runner. Always have been, can only imagine that I always will be. While daily and weekly mileage numbers may be the most important things to some people and training paces may be the most important numbers to other people, for me, it’s all about race times and places. What will produce the best results on race day? From my observations, most runners would prioritize race day results even if they don’t think of themselves as competitive runners. You want to break 3 or 4 hours in the marathon. You want to qualify for Boston. You want to break 20 minutes in the 5K or 60 minutes in the 10K or you want to beat your neighbor in your upcoming race.

If these are your goals, then keep those things in mind when you’re out on a run like my recent one. Will that extra mile or two make you faster on race day or will it detract from an upcoming workout and make you slower on race day? That’s not always an easy question to answer but it’s one we should always be thinking about.

In the end, I’m happy to say I got to the 4 mile mark, recognized I wasn’t going to accomplish anything meaningful by going an extra 2 miles and asked myself what I would tell the runners I coach. It only took a split second for me at that point to turn around and stick with 8 miles.

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

I hear a lot of people say "if only I had more time" or "when my life eases up, I’ll worry about my running goals". That’s all good and well…if your life is ever going to ease up. However, what are you doing in the meantime?

Most of us have very busy lives. We have jobs, families, social commitments and many other things that make getting in the "perfect" training impossible. To paraphrase Voltaire, the perfect is the enemy of the good. Don’t think about what would be perfect and how you can’t attain that, think about what you can do right now and how good you can do on that.

You can’t run X miles per week? Don’t worry about it. Can you run X – 10 miles per week? Maybe X – 20? You have so much stress in your life that you can only manage one workout per week without breaking down? Then do that one workout. You may not get the same results but you will come close. You’ll definitely come much closer than if you just give up.

So get out there. Run 5 days a week if you can’t run 6. Run 40 miles a week if you can’t run 50. Run 13 mile long runs if you can’t run 15. Maybe you’ll have to adjust your goals but what happens to your goals if you simply give up?

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

Two miles from the end of my long run Saturday, I saw a hawk on a fence post about 20 feet away from me with a roughly 3/4 eaten carcass of what I believe was a rabbit. For the next 1/4 mile, I found myself wondering, did I look more like the hawk or the rabbit?

Then, I thought to myself I don’t care which I look like. I’m out here to become the hawk. I want to be the powerful predator, not the helpless prey. Whether or not I look like the rabbit right now, these final two miles are part of my becoming the hawk. The rest of the run, I finished strong, repeating the mantra "be the hawk" to myself.

Next time you’re out on a tough long run or workout or, especially if you’re going through a tough spot in a race, remember, be the hawk. Stay strong. Be the predator. Don’t let yourself become the prey.