I’m too excited about this to wait until January and I want you to get started too. There is a saying, "People often say that this or that person has not yet found himself. But the self is not something one finds. It is something one creates." (Thomas Szasz)
People run for many reasons. Some say it’s for stress release. Others use it for weight control. For others it’s a social activity whereas for others it’s a primal challenge of discovering one’s self. One way to express them through running is to race. Sure, you can simply say, “I’m going to do Boston!” You will probably go and run Boston and come back and say that the “downhill’s” got to you. Maybe it was the crowded roads and weaving through the herds at the aid stations. Maybe it was the early cool temperatures during the long wait before the start. I see the illusions people create for themselves every year and I have to ask, “How are you going to prepare for these things?” It doesn’t necessarily have to be Boston. It could be Vancouver. If you’ve done Vancouver before, where were your areas of concern? What was it that held you back from doing better? And again, “What are you going to do to prepare for it this year?”
You can start by making a list of the various components of the course and other problems or take a look at the checklist below and see if any of these apply to you.
COMMON RUNNING OR RACE ISSUES
| Downhill running | Going out too fast | Pre-race food |
| Uphill running | Too much left | Pre-race accommodations |
| Road camber | Last 4-miles | Pre-race toilet issues |
| Running in crowds | Feet hurt | Nausea |
| Cold weather | Knees hurt | Headache |
| Hot weather | Back issues | Sleep pattern |
| Upset stomach (before) | Blisters | Daily Hydration |
| Upset stomach (during) | Shin pain | Mental Issues |
This is simply a partial list of some of the things that can either go wrong during a run or a race. How you handle them is really up to you. But why wait? If it’s an issue that flared up last season, the question becomes, “What can you do to prevent this in the future? For example, some people complain about hills. Is this an aspect that is sufficiently covered in your training? We offer 2 programs a year. One is for Vancouver, and the other is for Victoria. If you are doing another event, have you viewed the route? Some of the major marathons are recorded online and you can see where you will be running. If weather is going to be a factor, are you prepared for heat or cold? These should be added into your training now, not a month before. If you have muscular aches or backaches, what are you going to do about it in your next training session? Do you have a plan for this? If you had some training issues during your last event such as fading in the last 4 miles, how are you going to solve this? Do you know why this even happened? People will have issues with aid stations, the running surface, nutrition, or even lack of sleep. If you don’t have a plan for this and are not working on solving any of these issues now, what are you waiting for?
All these issues have solutions. Some of them, such as accommodations and pre-race sleep can wait a few months. Bbut medical issues must be resolved or worked on starting now. In the case of running marathons or half-marathons on hilly courses, we know most of you do hill work, but do you also work this into your long run plan. We work on a 3-week cycle and week 2 of each cycle would be perfect for additional attention to details in these matters. As for road camber, you may have to forgo the tangent running and stay more in the middle of the road except when running into a corner. You can use even a slight downhill to your advantage but again… this takes practice.
If you had nutritional issues, have you seen your doctor regarding allergies or deficiencies or talked to a nutritionist? You want to know now so if you have to try something different, you are not trying to do it at the very last minute. And let’s not get started on people who try new stuff the night before or the day of an event they’ve been training 6 months for. Just remember, a salesman is interested only in making a sale. Should you have any issues or problems, please feel free to call or email. If we don’t know the immediate answer we work with many facets of the medical community and can either answer your question of refer you to a medical specialist.
RUNNING REMINDER:
"My friend, the philosophy I always follow has been to give my athletes a plan for progress. Sometimes you see, people ask me about what my great athletes do for training. This question is not bad. But a better question in my opinion is 'how did your athletes make progress to what they train now?' 'How many steps did they take to achieve this result where they can handle my training plan'. You see, great training programs, they always have progress plan. Many people wish to have advice that makes them better in just few weeks. You want some magic workouts that will make you run faster results in just few weeks. No my friend, training does not work like that."World famous distance coach Renato Canova answering a LetsRun.com reader on the Message Boards.
The above quote from Running.com was a link to the complete discussion. It really is worth a read for anybody who ever had doubts about our program(s); or needs some reassurance that you are on the right track with us; or thinking about doing another program. What it really does is reinforce for you that we are doing everything right and more. (Personally, I find that scary.) This is why I’d like everyone by January to be on one of our programs. It’s also why we are offering your money back if you don’t progress or if our program doesn’t work for you. We’ve already proven many times over that the program works. Here’s a guy (Renato Canova) with a stable of sub 2:10 marathoners and it‘s by pure coincidence that we do all the same stuff. Our program is not some modified carbon copy like everything you’ve done in the past. If we are doing all the right stuff and you are doing things either out of a periodical you are certainly not going to get as good results. Whether you are here to do your best, just running for fun, training for a triathlon or have another coach, this program is certainly your best chance for success. And while on the subject of other personal trainers, it would be very much appreciated that you ask them to give Lorne a call so we can ensure your athletic success. It disheartens me that some of our clinic members have got injured from doing too much too soon when simple modifications could have been made in their combined programs. If you have trouble finding the link to it, I will send you a copy of everything I was able to copy before it disappeared.
RUNNING ARTICLES AND VIDEOS OF THE WEEK:
Here are some interesting running related items for this week:
o Training Theories: The Simple Math Behind Running Faster - Latif Thomas (info@athletesacceleration.com)
If you want to improve athletic performance you have to make your athletes faster. That's pretty straightforward.
So let's break the process down in very clear terms. For the sake of argument, let us assume that an athletes' one rep max for deadlift directly relates to how fast they can run. (It doesn't, but for the sake of this argument, it will make things clear.) So, The Athlete has a max deadlift of 500 pounds. Therefore, if everything is done perfectly, The Athlete can apply 500 pounds of force to the ground with every step. In a perfect world, if the athlete runs a race taking 50 steps, they will run their absolute 'best case scenario' time if they apply 500 pounds of force for all 50 steps. But we know from working with young (or developing) athletes that things don't go perfectly with every stride… or anything close to it.
So let's look at the first 5 steps of the race and see where things break down (keeping in mind that 500 pounds of force is a 'perfect' step/stride.
STEP 1: Athlete doesn't push into the ground/blocks
hard enough, so only applies 400 pounds of force.
Result: Only 80% efficient (20% of potential force
wasted)
STEP 2: Athlete's foot lands heel first, so only applies
350 pounds of force.
Result: Only 70% efficient (30% of potential force wasted)
STEP 3: Knee angle opens up too much and foot strike
takes place in front of Center of Mass, applying 350
pounds of force.
Result: Only 70% efficient (30% of potential force wasted)
STEP 4: Too much backside mechanics, so Athlete can't
recover swing leg quickly enough to drive foot down into the ground, applying 300 pounds of force.
Result: Only 60% efficient (40% of potential force wasted)
STEP 5: Athlete recovers from bad start, gets foot down
under hips, pushes the ground back and away, applying 450
pounds of force.
Result: 90% efficient (10% of potential force wasted)
Now… plot this out over the course of the entire race/distance (let’s say… oh… a half-marathon or marathon) being run and think about how much potential 'speed' is wasted simply due to lack of efficiency or running skill. In just 5 steps, The Athlete applies an average of 370 pounds of force per step, out of a possible 500. This means The Athlete has an efficiency rating of 74%.
Bottom Line: If the athlete had better running form, better understanding of *how* it should feel when running, better coaching feedback, etc., they would be more efficient with each step and, based on simple physics, would run faster.
So, you can make athletes (in any sport) faster just by making them more efficient. How?
1. Regularly practice speed drills (with perfect technique) so athletes understand what good running form FEELS like.
2. Give technical feedback. If you, the coach, know what the athlete should be doing, you can help them clean up their form. But if you don't tell them what to do (and give them correct information) they're not going to figure it out on their own. If you don't give them good technical feedback, they're just going to keep practicing bad running and it will keep getting worse.
3. Improve general and absolute strength, hip and ankle mobility and coordination. Core work, weight training and body weight training will improve the inter and intramuscular coordination required to maximize force application/speed.
Now, let's say you improve average efficiency of The Athlete (by using the above methods) from 74% to 84%. Average force applied per stride goes from 370 pounds to 420 pounds. Again, simple physics tells us the Athlete MUST get faster. So, if you want athletes to improve, you must make them more efficient.
Here's the next thing you need to focus on:
Let's say you improve The Athlete's absolute strength from 500 pounds to 600 pounds. But you *don't* make The Athlete any more efficient. So they stay at 74% Efficiency, but based off of a greater ability to apply force to the ground. So the athlete now can apply 444 pounds of force per stride (74% of 600).
Think about it: By improving maximum strength, but not touching Efficiency, The Athlete goes from 370 pounds of force per stride to 444. That's a HUGE improvement in terms of athletic performance.
So two identical athletes with identical Efficiency Rates step on the starting line. But one can apply 600 lbs. of force and the other 500 lbs. The physically stronger (yet otherwise identical)
Athlete wins the race Every Single Time! The moral of the story? Get your athletes in the weight room if you want them to perform better! Now, let's say you improve absolute strength from 500 to 600 pounds AND you improve average efficiency from 74% to 84%. The Athlete now has an average force application of 504 pounds per stride (84% of 600). Again, think about it. The stronger, more efficient athlete applies more force to the ground (runs faster) at only 84% efficiency than an otherwise identical athlete with 100% efficiency but significantly lower strength levels. The numbers don't lie!!!
What's my point?
You can get ridiculous results with your athletes when you focus on improving strength*and* efficiency.This is where the argument that speed can't be coached breaks down. Sure you can't turn kids into Usain Bolt. But they're generally so weak and inefficient (even the 'good' ones) that they can make 'night and day' improvements by becoming more well-rounded athletes.
All you have to do is look at the numbers and put a (long term) plan into place.
COACHES’ FEEDBACK: Excellent article written for sprinters but apply to us as well. At this point in your running career, unless you have a sport specific weight-training program, you are probably only building general muscle and may even be hindering your progress with exercises like bench presses and two-leg squats. This is another example of why we’d like to speak to your personal trainer. Are they just providing you with the same generic program they give all their clients or is it running specific and do they really know the difference? And… what’s their long range plan for you?
Lorne
