The following is from Kevin McNab, the winner of the 31st George Washington Parkway Classic 10 Mile (April 26, 2015) which ran along the Parkway from Mount Vernon Estates into Old Town Alexandria (Va,). The time was 50:28.
“I raced at Texas A&M back in the day where I ran 1500 meters and up and was All-American in the steeplechase. Balancing training with life is much of the battle nowadays–I work full time as a consultant and also work part time in fitness coaching, so my runs are often improvised at odd hours. I suspect that many of the young professionals on the road racing trail have similar lives, so I’m not unique in that regard”
The take away from McNab is that we are doing a balancing act in trying to keep up with a sport which we love. We are not all at the front but throughout the race doing the best which we can do.
How many of us feel that we are in the same place. This feeling can be a deterrent because it is easy to use it as an excuse. Do not give into the temptation. The way to overcome the situation is to modify your run or walk and do not go as far. If you had three miles on the program then do one or two. In doing this you will feel better that you did something. Keep up the motivation and do not give in.
This is the time to start working on building up your base miles which consist of conversational running with no intensity. You run to enjoy and to condition your body for lies ahead. You can also look over the local races and select a few target races which you want to participant in. The key in selecting the event will be to keep you focused and you will have goal. The goal provides the direction and purpose. This phase works better when you have a running partner.
To be honest I am right with you and needing to build the base miles so that within a month the miles can increase and my body will cooperate. Have you had the days when you make it one mile and you find yourself calling it quits. There will be days when things just don’t click and for that bag it and go home and come back another day.
The other element is getting the rest which we seem to never get enough. You can feel the difference in the quality of your workouts. There will be nights when you turn of the TV and sign off Face Book. You will thank yourself.
Run Happy!
The following is from Dr. Mark Cucuzzella:
Allow me to kick off things with a link to a recent Dr. Mark’s Desk post, “Why We Run.” It’s about my young, brave, and remarkable cousin Meaghan Cusack, a cancer survivor with an-above-the-knee amputation. She is now addicted to running and is pursuing an advanced degree in psychology to help others. Her story is truly inspirational.
http://naturalrunningcenter.com/2015/05/27/run/
There are some great seminars coming up in our Healthy Running Series.
June 27-28 Chester CT (close to Boston and New York City at the TrueForm Running Headquarters. TrueForm Runner motorless treadmills just made a huge impact at the recent CrossFit Games.
July 17-19 Athens GA. Great town and great people here at Athens Orthopedics.
Aug 1-2 Minneapolis MN. Perfect time to be in Minnesota.
Aug 14-15 Beverly MA (30 minutes north of Boston on beautiful North Shore)
Aug 22-23 Falls Church VA (close to DC)
Go to www.HealthyRunning.org for more information. All courses are AMA Cat1, APTA, ACSM, USAT, NSCA approved
The following information is being shared by way of Coach Jeff Gaudette and you find additional information at http://www.runnersconnect.net
Runners Connect
91 Sherman Street
Cambridge, Massachusetts 02140
jeff@runnersconnect.net
http://www.runnersconnect.net
Focusing on the pace of your easy runs
Want to know the most common question I receive from RunnersConnect members, both veteran and beginner?
“If I feel good, can I start running my easy runs faster?”
Before writing this article, I decided to count how many times I received this question in one week. I counted 8 times. If you emailed me this week, sorry
The problem isn’t 8 people asking the same question. The issue is that these runners are unnecessarily focused on the speed of their easy runs and think that by running faster on their easy days they will improve more rapidly.
Unfortunately, focusing on improving the pace or your easy runs is a vanity metric that does not correlate with your progress and contributes little to your fitness.
Aerobic development is roughly the same whether you’re running at 30 seconds or 2 minutes slower than marathon pace.
For a 3:30 marathoner, this means that 8:30 pace provides basically the same aerobic benefits as miles at 9:30 or 10:00 pace. However, running faster than 8:30 pace only increases the time it takes for you to recover while providing little additional benefit aerobically. So, running faster is actually detrimental.
Probably the best example of how little your easy run pace matters is the training of Kenyan runners.
Catherine Ndereba, who has a 2:18:47 marathon PR, often runs her easy run days at 7:00 – 7:30 pace, which is about 2 minutes slower than her marathon pace.
By keeping the easy days slow, Kenyan runners like Ndereba are able to perform notoriously difficult workouts and take their performances to another level on race day. The Kenyans understand that increasing the pace on their easy days is not the most beneficial way to improve.
Your takeaway – Running faster on your easy days is not important and it is not necessarily a sign of increasing fitness.
Focus instead on the purpose of easy runs – recovering from hard workouts and preparing the body for upcoming sessions.
When you stop thinking about pace and start concentrating on recovering, you’ll be able to relax more and enjoy your easy runs for what they are – recovery.
Workouts are not designed to be a measurement of fitness.
It’s easy to get frustrated and feel like you’re going backwards after a tough workout. I’ve had more than a few training sessions in my career that lead me to wonder if I had somehow completely lost it.
After one rough workout three weeks before an important 10k, my coach said something to me that I’ll never forget:
“Workouts are for improving specific physiological systems, not for proving how fit you are. You prove your fitness on race day.”
For some reason, that statement hit home and it’s something I’ve never forgotten.
When analyzing workouts it’s tempting to compare splits and workout times to potential race performances.
However, the two rarely correlate.
Perhaps you’re working on speed, which is a weakness for your predominantly slow twitch muscles, or you’re heading into the workout with tired legs to help simulate marathon fatigue.
Regardless, you may find yourself running slower than expected or struggling to maintain race pace. This can be frustrating and demoralizing if you’re always looking to measure your workout performance with race potential.
However, if you focus instead on executing the purpose of the workout and completing it to the best of your ability, you’re making progress physiologically, which will ultimately lead to a personal best on race day.
You’re takeaway – You should only use your workouts to measure progress when compared to similar workouts under similar conditions, not as a measurement of race times or potential.
Remember, workouts are for improving specific physiological systems, not for proving how fit you are. You prove your fitness on race day.
The next time you’re analyzing your training or looking for areas to improve, make sure you’re evaluating the right metrics or you could find yourself working hard with nothing to show for it.