Week 3: October 25 – November 1

Why is it when you're not looking for something you find the most interesting things? I recently read an article on marathon training and thought, "WOW! We are doing the right stuff!" I've included the link below. I especially love the lines about the marathon… "It's an event where a background of speed is critical to success — if you want to be successful at the marathon, it's our opinion that the key is to stay on the track for as long possible, and develop speed that you can carry into the marathon… All of this has great practical implications, even for the runner aiming to crack 3:00, maybe even the four hour runner." And they were talking about training for the 3 km racing distance and up! Is that cool or what? Check this out… read article.

As I sit here in my big comfy chair gingerly sipping my delicious hot chocolate (with loads of those teeny-weenie marshmallows in it) watching the roaring fire engulf my house from the front yard (shock humour), I'm thinking… "Does life get any better than this?" This does actually pertain metaphysically and philosophically to all the stuff that's happening in my life right now… it's all manageable… and quite interesting. Add to that the anticipated explosive enthusiasm generated by the up-coming ATHLETIC PROGRAM starting on November 1. Then with the January 3 VETERAN PROGRAM rapidly approaching, it's exhilarating! More information will be provided on these two clinics a little later in this issue.

It's hard not to mix anything without politics or philosophy. We are trying to present a method each week for you to personally figure out what it is you'd like from this new running clinic session. The previous clinics were using basic methods to develop everyone into well rounded but not obese runners. As we said in the last newsletter: We have over a period of time worked on certain elements each clinic for the benefit of everyone (endurance, strength, speed, and now pacing). These concepts were introduced for the 95% of the people who are continually returning to the clinic. Hopefully so you could decide what it is you'd like out of your running and how much effort you'd like to put into it or are able to put into it. The more you can put into it, the more you will progress. As we move into the future clinics, we are going to present information where you can begin fine-tuning your workouts through understanding the type of runner you are whether it is recreational or competitive.

Some people may want to take some time off. This past year and a half has been a "shock" to the system and has drained some people both physically and mentally. A lot of runners came out and thought if they just run, they would get better. That's what we teach in our learn-to-run programs. Sooner or later you learn that there are individual limits to endurance and in order to progress, you have to add in other elements. The trouble is each element must have a foundation. Therefore in order to be faster, you have to first be stronger. Once you have a basic amount of strength then we maintain it and add in the speed element. It's sort of like building a house. First you lay the foundation, or your endurance. Then you build a frame, or strength. Next you put a roof on it (speed). Lastly you add all the other stuff (pacing, nutrition, rest, etc.). You then balance it all and appropriately increase the other elements and learn how to pace yourself. But first… we had to build the basics and I believe we have. Now it's time for some to move into the next gear.

Stage 4 of the program will see 2 groups, but the same focus will be applied to both programs. There will be a little less strength work and a little more race pace tempo work. Now that we've introduced and completed the first stage of the speed work, it's time now to learn how to control it. Heart Rate Monitors have target zone controls that tell you when you are out of your range. Speed and distance monitors have alarms – but you have to listen to them. That's why I've always liked treadmills. They control pace and depending how sophisticated your treadmill is, you can program it for different terrains and even races. Since we don't have the luxury of this and some people dislike treadmills, we have to do it the hard way… tempo runs. Lots and lots of tempo runs. This next clinic has more tempo runs and variations of tempo runs than you can shake a runner at.

We have completed 2 programs that you may review at any time at the store to see which one better suits your needs, goals, and commitment. The VETERAN PROGRAM is designed for people who are happy with their current fitness level and accomplishments. It has workouts designed to maintain and challenge your current state of fitness and bring you back to where you were before your last race and maybe even show some improvement if you stick to the numbers. Some people have the idea that once they have completed an event that they will always be able to do it just as well without putting in the same previous effort; thinking they don't have to work as hard. It took a lot of work to get you to where you are now. It takes just as much work to maintain it and even more to exceed it.

I learned that lesson the hard way and paid for it with a positive 38 minute split in the back half of my last marathon. Again… "Figures don't lie, liars figure" although… it really is kind of funny taking over a half hour longer to get through the second half of the race. Remember… your figures have to be your most current race; not a lofty "goal". You can't do what I did. In a short period of time I went from training 7 days a week down to 2–3 days. Fitness does not carry over unless there is an equal or greater amount of work involved.

Some people learned another little "figure" in the last clinic that if they exceed the paces, they get injured. This includes the long runs and the interval workouts. The paces are designed to safely build you up throughout the program. As was stated continuously last time, there is no need to exceed them. In fact, it can be argued that some of you may have had even better results if you backed off your training numbers a bit. Marathoning is a funny game. Sometimes you have to slow down to speed up. It is impossible to legibly provide all the individual athletic interval pace times based on each person's individual performance; therefore a little bit of accountability is expected from all 3 of us… myself, your group-leader and you. We have requested that the group leaders in the next session have a chat with people in each group who may either be not challenged enough or have slightly over-anticipated their ability. As you can tell from the numbers provided from last season's races, the people who did the best were those who were more evenly paced.

The ATHLETIC PROGRAM will contain and continue building the various strength components (advanced Brazil, G.I.'s, bounding drills, etc.). This program will continue to generate even better results over a wider variety of distances than any other program that removes these sport specific elements. We saw the results from the Jan–May/2008 clinic that the groups who continued with the strength component had generally better times in the fall and were able to train harder all year. This being said, some people might want to consider focusing on the half-marathon distance for May. This will allow them to concentrate on getting stronger and faster over that and shorter distances. Then, as you move into the fall, build up to the Marathon distance. Hopefully you read the earlier article regarding the current evolution of the marathon. It's always your choice, but the rewards are greater if you think in the long term.

Consider also the variation in the way we changed our hill-running workouts. Originally the concept was to work up to 10 repeats of the hill. As you got fitter a variation of a strength component was added by getting everyone to "bound" up the hill. Once that component was removed (due to the lengthening the distance of the run up the hill and allowing for physical adaptation to safely build up to 10 repeats) people's posture and form began to dissolve. By the end of the clinic, you had the leg strength, but lost some of your core strength. For the ATHLETIC PROGRAM a variation of the bounding drills will return. And there will be a greater focus on drills to increase core strength. Don't worry, you will not be bounding up the entire hill… this year… or ever.

Contact the store should you have any questions we will answer them individually and add them (questions) to next week's COACH'S COUCH!

— Lorne