12 Miles - Fast Finish Long Run

Today I ran 12 miles on a gorgeous day in late September.  Early on, there was a good bit of cloud cover, almost as if it was preparing to rain.  But it turned out to be just morning fog slowly dissipating, and by the end of my run the sun was shining brightly in a deep blue sky, the air cool and dry.  It was good to see Sam before, his broken toe mostly healed, and some other runners I had not run with in some time.

I ran the first 10 miles at my easy long-run pace, about 11-minute miles, and then tried a training workout I have been reading about recently:  running the last two miles at tempo pace (also known as a Fast Finish Long Run).  I have done this as part of some of my earlier marathon training plans; it is based on the theory that it will teach tired legs to still run hard.  But I was younger then and I usually hammered out a single final mile at much faster than tempo pace - as fast as I could, really.  This time I tried to hit that magic 9:30.  I failed miserably on the first mile, and there was no excuse because it was on the part of the loop where there are splits marked on the pavement every 200 meters.  I squinted at my Garmin's small print, lost track of almost every split, and ended up running 9:08, way too fast - impressive, but not my goal.  My second mile came in at 9:35, with no splits marked at all, just me trying to feel that comfortable pace, that overdrive gear that does not strain the engine at all.  The pace that will get me to the finish line if it is a good day.

"Overdrive:  a gear in a motor vehicle (or a runner) providing a gear ratio higher than that of the drive gear or top gear, so that engine speed and fuel consumption are reduced in highway travel."

Exactly what I want to achieve.

Wallking the Tightrope

I remember watching white-knuckled last year as Nik Wallenda walked on a tightrope across the Grand Canyon on live TV.  That's a little like how I feel toward the end of a marathon training program, especially for an old guy like me:  always trying to walk the tightrope between pushing another mile, completing another hard workout, and losing balance and teetering into injury.

 
I ran some fast miles on Tuesday, faster than my tempo miles, and the program called for more fast miles today:  10 miles including 8 tempo miles.  After 7 miles I knew that I was pushing it too hard, and I decided to call it a day 8 miles including 6 tempo miles.  (That hamstring high up, tightening up again!)  One of my objectives this year was to run only one hard workout each week, and to complete the long runs on schedule, so I'm not sure how my calendar ended up with hard workouts only two days apart.  That makes, after all, 9 fast miles this week, and a long run only two days from now.   I also discovered that many marathon training plan for guys in their 60s includes no speed work at all, merely the long runs.  Perhaps I should be a little easier on myself?

"Listen to your body!"  Good advice, but so difficult to do, even for an experienced distance runner.  Today I listened.  And I crossed over to the other side, one day closer to my marathon.

New Season and New Workout

Today was the first full day of Fall in Highlands, and as I began my warmup by running a mile or so up Chestnut Street and around the loop to Harris Lake, I could hear the acorns falling all around me.  We have noticed that there are many more acorns this year and they are falling rapidly, but nobody is quite sure if this abundance of mast will actually foretell a hard winter or not.  But it was definitely Fall - the first time it has dipped into the upper 40s at our house (49 by my thermometer this morning) as I did my Tai Chi on the deck.

As befits a new season, I was trying my new alternative to the discredited Yasso 800s - multiples of miles at 15 seconds or so faster than tempo pace.  I figured that this pace, for me, would be 9:15 per mile, exactly midway between mile repeats and tempo miles.  The workout, which is supposed to have been developed by Kevin and Keith Hanson over 20 years, calls for 2 X 6 mile with a 10-minute rest, and then another 2 X 6 mile (plus warmup and cool-down), a total of about 13 miles.   As the Coach on the runner's website Runner Connect explained the workout:

"My favorite workout is the 2 x 6 mile, which was made famous by runners at the Hansons Olympic Development Project:  1 mile w/u, 2 x 6 miles @ 10-20 seconds faster than marathon pace w/10 min rest, 1 mile c/d.  The purpose of this workout is to run at your threshold pace for a total of 12 miles, which will help you: (1) increase your ability to burn fat as fuel source when running at marathon pace; (2) practice running on tired legs; and (3) simulate the “dead leg” feeling many marathoners experience after 18 miles. Likewise, the goal of the 10 minute rest is to get your legs stiff, stagnant and uncomfortable to simulate how your legs will feel during the latter stag of the marathon.

This all sounded pretty reasonable (although I question the Hanson's insistence on a long run of no more than 16 miles).  And also a good workout for a runner in his 20s, not in his 60s - a hell of a lot more ambitious than I could handle!  So I decided to modify it to 2 x 2 miles, especially considering that I have 10 miles to run Thursday (including 8 at tempo pace).

The first two went well - I was 9:12 and then 9:03 - and I still felt strong and fluid after two hard miles.  But midway through the second set, I began to feel that tightening in my upper right hamstring that I have felt from time to time this year.  So what did this older and wiser marathon runner do?  He decided to be uncharacteristically smart and deliberately stop at one mile (9:09) on the second set, cool down, and call it a day.  Surely learning to train deliberately is the hardest thing for a runner to do - not to be sucked into a faster pace than you planned to do, or more miles.  It's difficult sometimes to know the different between cutting a hard run off soon enough that you don't topple over the brink into injury, and simply "wimping out."  I finished out with a long cool-down for a total of 7 miles.  And I felt good about this new workout.  It seemed to be slow enough that it did not enter the V02MAX zone that the Yassos were, I concluded, unnecessarily getting me into, but it still was a good hard threshold pace effort.  Next time I will try both of the 2 x 2 miles and see how that feels.  Or maybe even a  2 X 3 mile.  The important change this year is that I am running more tempo miles (or slightly faster than tempo miles) and cutting down on overall mileage and VO2MAX workouts.  And so far so good.

Every runner is an experiment of one.  And as I told Karen on Saturday, I have never run a marathon before at the age of 65.  I have nothing to compare it with.  So we'll just see how it goes.

18 Miles

The long runs keep getting longer, by about two miles per week, as I approach the 20-mile mark - the longest run in this marathon-training program.  I was fine for the first few miles, but then the damage of those hard tempo miles on Thursday began to take their toll.  It always seems to be a struggle to run two miles more than the last long run, as if there is a solid brick wall that needs to be pushed through or vaulted over, and that wall was 16 miles today as I struggled through the last two, step by step, finally bounding up the hill to the parking lot, and being sort of amazed to see 18.00 smiling at me from my Garmin.  Marathon runners don't like walls much, which is why some of them (foolishly, I think) want to complete the entire 26.2 miles in a training run, hoping to push that wall out ahead of them or topple it down before the big race.

What made this morning's run a little easier was the unexpected companions that I encountered.  I ran the first two miles by myself, then saw Paul coming down Fifth Street (I had not run with him in weeks), so I ran with him for two or three miles at a nice easy pace.  At 9:00 a.m., a small group showed up and I ran with them, and then with Karen for three miles when Jim and Carol peeled off at a faster pace.  And finally - she had delayed her run because she knows I enjoy her help late in a long run! - Martha, looking for me out on the course, and meeting back at Town Hall to run nearly six miles with me toward the end.

Companions make the journey so much easier in all things, don't they?

Tempo Miles

Today I ran tempo miles, a workout that many coaches say is the best type of marathon training aside from the long run.  It improves aerobic endurance and fuel efficiency, and it teaches your body exactly what it will feel like to run at Marathon Pace (MP) of 9:30 per mile.  The first set in the training program always seems more difficult to me than any workout so far, and today's run was no exception; sandwiched between a mile warm-up and a mile cool-down are seven uninterrupted miles at what seems at first a relatively comfortable pace and then becomes increasingly difficult.

After the first or second mile I begin to wonder, "How can I ever keep this up for 26.2 miles?  It will be all I can manage today to run 7 miles at this pace!"  (Of course, the difference is that I ran mile repeats two days ago, and I still have only a month of increasingly difficult workouts to go.  And I am not tapered and ready to go.)  Surely it is a confidence builder to be able to complete this workout, and in addition to its physiological benefits it also teaches the new runner, and reminds the returning runner, how to focus for such a long distance.  Of course, those long, long Saturday runs do that, too, but they are at a much tamer pace, and often include chatting with friends, walking hills, returning for Gatorade and water, and exploring new routes.  Other than passing Martha twice on the route as she ran her workout, I was alone, as indeed I will be on Marathon Day despite being surrounded by so many other runners.  One mile after another.  And suddenly I am halfway there, and then only two miles, then only one to go!

The results were as expected:  the first two were each 10 seconds too fast, then I lost focus and ran a surprising 9:49, finally deciding to take charge of things again and gradually inch it up to 9:36, 9:34, and 9:32.  "This is not the day to fail!" I kept saying.  "This is the day to say Yes!  Yes always triumphs over No!"  (It is amazing how profound such thoughts seem late in a hard workout.)  My last mile as I sailed across the final split was 9:19, and my average was just a fraction over 9:30.  And very satisfying to achieve.  I remind myself again that this is the hardest part of a marathon:  all the training that leads up to it, all the toughness that it builds, honing that sharp, sharp edge on the hard stone of discipline . . .

Mile Repeats

Unlike those Yassos (basically, half-mile repeats) that I so thoroughly trashed in my previous post, mile repeats are a time-honored workout for marathon training.  They are slower, but they are still tough enough to be a challenge - just the right balance.

Runners World says:  "When it comes to effective workouts, mile repeats are a classic and versatile training tool. Popularized back in the late 1970s by athletes such as Alberto Salazar, who ran them before winning his first New York City Marathon, the workout is enticing, in part, because of the distance itself."  I agree.  There is something very satisfying about running a single mile, then resting for two or three minutes, then running another, and another.  Moreover, I ran them at a pace which made more sense for me:  half-marathon pace rather than 10-K pace.  Under ideal conditions, on a good day, with perfect training, and with the wind at my back, I think I might be able to run a half-marathon these days in just under 2 hours, which equates to a 9:06 pace.  My goal was a little faster - 9:00 - mostly because it was easier to do the math.  On the roads where I ran them this morning I had the advantage of 200-meter splits marked on the pavement, so each split was 1:07.5.  My average for the three was 8:57, which was very encouraging, and I rounded them out with a long warm-up and even longer cool-down for a total of 8 miles.

Most important of all, I felt strong when I had finished the third repeat, as if I could have run another.  I had not trashed my legs as I would have at a faster pace intended to improve VO2 Max.  Instead, I ran them at a good, hard aerobic pace intended to improve the two most important things that marathon training should aim for:  aerobic endurance and fuel efficiency.  Is there any point, after all, in sending that tachometer into the red zone?

That's a prescription for a blown engine.  What I want instead is good mileage, all the way to the end.  I want to be driving an economy car.  One that gets sensible fuel economy . . . for that completely insane distance I have decided to attempt one more time.

Changes in the Plan

After writing in these pages before about the importance of developing and then adhering to a training plan, I find myself making some changes as I enter Week 9.  I have been reading many, many on-line articles about marathon training, and while there is a wide variety of opinion about the specific details of training plan, there seems to be consensus about some things. 

First of all, as I have read in many places, the long run should be run one to two minutes slower than MP, or goal marathon pace (as I have written before).  I'm already doing that, and many coaches say that you cannot run your long run too slowly.  The purpose of the long run is build up the little capillaries in your muscles and teach you to deal with being on your feet for a very long time.  It might also be a good idea, on the "shorter" long runs, to try to run the last two miles at MP, which is something I have done in the past to good effect.

Second - and this came as a surprise to me - there seems to be consensus that "Yasso 800s," the basis of many of my training plans in the past, have fallen into disrepute.  According to Coach Jeff on Runners Connect:

"I have to take issue with this workout for two reasons. First. we have no actual evidence to support there is an actual connection between the fitness this workout demonstrates and marathon finishing time – it’s merely a coincidence. Second, the specific demands of this workout do not accurately target marathon fitness – you can run workouts that will provide a greater benefit to your marathon training."

Many experts agree with him.  The Yasso 800 workout builds VO2 Max, and could actually be destructive in the final eight weeks of training.  It is, in the words of many, a wasted workout.  It is far better to run race specific workouts at all distances, and most of the hard workouts in a marathon training program should be run at 95% to 105% of goal pace.  A suggested alternative to Yassos is a warm-up mile, then five (or six) miles at 15-seconds faster than MP, then a 10-minute rest, then five (or six) more miles at the same pace, then a cool-down.  This workout was made famous by runners at the Hansons Olympic Development Project, and it is one that I have decided to try in place of that staple of my old buddy Bart Yassos.

Third - and finally - I find from many sources that it is still a good idea to run mile repeats, which do not enter the VO2 Max state and are hard marathon-specific workouts with proven  benefits.  However, the recommended pace for these repeats (my first set is scheduled for tomorrow) is not the 10-K pace I have used in the past, but the half-marathon pace, which would be 20 to 25 seconds slower.  This, too, sounds sensible to me.  Now is no time to beat up my legs.  Now is the time to make them strong.

So in the final analysis, it is always a good idea to change your plan if you are open to new ideas about running and willing to try new workouts.

14 Miles

Today I ran my long run two days early because we will not be able to run Saturday morning.  "Only" 14 miles, fewer than the 16 miles I ran Saturday, yet my legs feel absolutely shredded.  This came as something or a surprise because I survived my 8 miles of hills Tuesday relatively unscathed and had a "rest" day yesterday (i.e., going to the gym, scrubbing patios and sidewalks on my hands and knees with Clorox, mowing the lawn, etc. all day).

Then I got my calculator out and did the math.  Including last Saturday, during a period of five days, I had run a total of 42 miles.  That's a lot of miles, for me, at this point in the training plan.

So I am reminded of a lesson that I learned the hard way years ago - it's not so much miles in a calendar week as it is cumulative miles over a period of days that has an impact on the body.  The adding machine does not lie.

Farewell to Big Bearpen

I am in Week 8 of the marathon training plan that I mentioned in my previous post, and today I ran Hill Repeats, right on schedule.  The plan I am using is perfect for me, I think, based on the Bart Yasso plan I used to qualify for Boston in 2009, but amended somewhat for my aging 65-year-old body.  At the time, I had experimented with many different training plans, including the so-called "Less is More" or "F.I.R.S.T." plan devised by the Furman Institute of Running and Scientific Training, which prescribes only three days of training.  That plan was certainly unusual for me, and my marathon (Knoxville, I think) did not go very well - I felt that I would have benefited from more long runs.  The Bart Yasso plan prescribes long runs in the final couple of months of 18, 20, 20, 15, and 22 miles in consecutive weeks.  It worked in 2009, but I have realized since then that my body simply cannot withstand that kind of training, so my long runs this time will be 18, 12, 20, 12, and 20.  There is pretty good evidence that running more than 20 miles is not accomplishing much other than increased risk of injury.

A Google search for marathon training plans will result in a wide variety of often conflicting advise.  I watched a podcast the other night by a young Olympic qualifier, whose marathon time was 2:37 (just under 6-minute miles), who ran her long runs in 9-minute miles.  That same night, I watched a podcast from a coach with very good credentials who disputed the necessity of long runs and high mileage at all; he said maximum mileage even for elite runners should be no more than 35, and long runs no longer than 12 or 15, with most of those miles run faster than goal pace.  So a runner doing research has to take a careful, reasoned approach and find a plan suited to his or her own time limitations, fitness level, age, and experience.  After 19 marathons I still have a lot to learn, but I know what my body is not capable of doing!

The interesting thing about this plan is that it transitions half-way through from long runs and hills to more high-intensity training during the week, while still maintaining the long run (amended in my case) on weekends.  So from now on I will be running Tempo runs, Yassos (those 800-meter intervals named after Bart), and Mile Repeats.  Gone are the hills until the end of the program.

So today I decided to do my Hill Repeats on my favorite mountain, Big Bearpen (see earlier posts).  I ran to the summit, back down most of the way, up again, back down, and then up a third time (my own variation on traditional "hill repeats"), the words of Henry V ringing in my ears each time I turned to climb:  "Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more!"  I was rewarded by one of those glorious mornings we have in Highlands when, at a certain altitude, we find ourselves rising above a luminous sea of clouds with the tall mountains pushing through - Whiteside gleaming in sunshine, its summit just protruding from this gleaming bright fog!  On the summit, vertical shafts of sunlight slanted down through the morning mist, and the trees facing east along the summit road seemed to be breathing huge clouds of vapor as the sunlight burned off last-night's rain.  What a glorious farewell to Big Bearpen!  It looked a little like this photo I lifted off the internet (because I do not carry phone or camera when I run):

All of this climbing must be doing some good after all, as my legs seemed to simply sail uphill each time.  Six weeks ago "BearpenX3" would have been an unthinkable entry in my running log at this morning's speed and intensity. 

Plan the Run, Run the Plan

I have relied on plans for a long time, both in my running goals and in my career as Town Administrator before I retired.  There would simply have been no way to get the annual budget completed and ready for approval each year without giving our Department Heads a deadline for submitting budget requests, scheduling all the meetings leading up to the budget hearing, and giving myself large chunks of time alone behind a closed door and in front of my computer.

As I have said before in these pages, the gradually increasing intensity of marathon training over a period of time puts a tremendous strain on both the novice and the experienced runner, and it requires a careful plan, just like the ascent of a mountain.  Many runners have failed to make it to the starting line because of those four simple words:  Too Much Too Soon.  I devised my plan some time ago (see post of July 20) and, while I continue to read and watch podcasts on all sorts of marathon training programs, now is not the time to experiment with something new.  That's my plan and I'm sticking to it!  In fact, if I feel especially tired or on the verge of injury in my daily workout, I intend to use my status as an aging 65-year-old runner as an excuse to simply give it a miss that day.  Gifted runners may be able to achieve amazing things on little or no training (I have read about runners who were persuaded at the last minute to run the full- rather than the half-marathon, and who have done remarkably well).  But I am not a gifted runner, only an average runner, a "mere mortal," who is slowing down year by year.  I live and I train these days remembering the words of Samuel Johnson:  "Great works are performed not by strength but by perseverance."  And I live and train by persevering in my plan.

Today I created a plan for Martha to complete her half marathon on the same day as mine, and I think it is a good one, based on a Hal Higdon plan and amended to take into consideration her recent level of training and her risk of injury.  It relies, like mine, on the foundation of long runs, but also includes some speed work, strength training (and in her case yoga), and lots of rest.  I specifically included this note at the bottom of the spreadsheet:  "If you don't feel well after one mile for any of these workouts, then you should skip it and take a rest day."

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My own plan was set down in excruciating detail weeks ago in my Outlook calendar, which I synch periodically with my iPhone.  Each Sunday I look ahead as another week begins and I know what I need to do if I want to achieve my goal.  This is Week 8 - the halfway point - and I have 4 easy miles, 8 miles of hill repeats, another 6 easy miles, and a 14-mile long run - 32 miles in all, and exactly where I need to be as I climb this mountain of fitness, looking back down behind me from time to time, and looking ahead from time to time to that unimaginably attainable summit.

16 Miles

Today I ran my longest run since my last marathon on December 14, 2013.  On top of 21 miles Monday through Thursday, this gave me a total weekly mileage of 37 - again, my most mileage since that day in December when I last faced a truly intimidating distance.  Of course, 16 miles does not seem that long when you are running around and around on familiar roads, stopping to drink water and use the restroom, rather than running in a straight line.  I could have run from the Town Hall to the Ingles store in Cashiers and it would only have been a little over 13 miles.

But this was my most difficult long run to date, partly because I did not rest and hydrate on Friday as I should have.  Instead, I worked on my little stone-masonry project under the front porch, mixing mortar and hefting pieces of granite into place well into the afternoon.  It was also a little warm and it was quite humid.  From the very first mile, I knew I was dehydrated, so I stopped at so many drinking fountains along the way that I may have been in danger of hyponatremia.  That's the condition that threatens so many middle-of-the-pack marathoners who mistakenly over-hydrate during the event, drinking so much water that sodium levels drop to a dangerous low in the body.

But, really, I was in no danger.  There were plenty of other runners out, and walkers too, and for some reason I kept passing the EMTs as they drove around Town - did I look that bad?  I was veritably drenched in sweat by the end of my run, wringing it from my shirt into a big puddle.  But what a happy discovery to see Martha in the parking lot, just finishing up her four-mile run, and beaming with pride because it had gone so well - no stiffness, no sign of injury.  She had powered up all the hills and felt just great!  She is going to have a good race.

In those latter miles I settled into that slow, workman-like pace that simply gets the distance covered, one step after another, not even pausing to walk up hills in my relentless desire to get to the finish line - in this case that sweet 16.00 on my Garmin.  And somewhere in those miles I remembered how difficult this was going go be, like encountering again an old familiar adversary.  "Ah; so we meet again!"  This is what it is like - what it has been like, what it will be like - covering that distance.  The long miles, the little games we play to keep us going, the prayers we say, the beautiful holy morning passing by, the long road unwinding behind us.  The finish line around the corner.  Still out of sight.