The Qwer Old Fella's Marathon Method

8:00 a.m. - 8 miles easy.

This morning, while doing my 8 miles in around an hour, I was thinking about why 2 recovery/maintenance runs a day of an hour is perfect. Most of the top Kenyans run twice a day for an hour on their recovery/maintenance days. But that doesn’t mean that I should. Many elite ‘Western’ runners run twice a day, but tend to do something like a 12/13 and a 6/8/10. Then I remembered an article I read by Frank Horwill outlining one of the most important reasons for doing 2x1hr and not 1.5hrs followed by something else. Cytochrome c.

So what’s this stuff? Cytochrome c  is a key compound found inside mitochondria and is imperative in aerobic energy production. Cytochorme c contains one atom of iron per mol and is a power-house of amino acids.  Here 's what Frank had to say:

In 1982, Gary Dudley, at the State University of New York at Syracuse, investigated the effect of intensity on mitochondrial production. His work was painstaking – rats were made to run five times a week for periods ranging from five minutes to ninety minutes per day, for eight weeks at training intensities which ranged from 40 per cent through 100 per cent V02 max. Dudley examined how different speeds and durations influenced different muscle fibres (fast twitch, aerobic fast twitch or intermediate and slow twitch), which no one had done before. His findings were as follows:

Training beyond about 60 minutes per workout was without benefit in terms in increasing cytochrome c. Moving from 30 minutes to 60 minutes per session did increase cytochrome c, but not increasing the workout from 60 to 90 minutes. This was true of all intensities studied by Dudley – and also with all three muscle fibre types. Mitochondrial development ceased after an hour.

Training for 10 minutes a day at 100 per cent of the V02 max (about 3K pace(ish)) tripled cytochorme c concentration.

Running for 27 minutes at 85 per cent V02 max (about 10 seconds per mile slower than 10k speed(ish)), only pushed up cytochrome c by 80 per cent.

Training at 60 to 90 minutes at 70 to 75 per cent V02 max (marathon speed(ish)), edged up cytochrome c by just 74 per centt.

In intermediate muscle cells (those which are roughly half way between fast twitch and slow twitch), a similar potency of intensity was recorded. Ten minutes of fast running per day boosted cytochrome c as much as 27 minutes daily at 85 per cent V02 max or 60 to 90 minutes at 70 to 75 per cent V02 max.

The best strategy for slow-twitch, cytochrome c enhancement was running for 60 minutes per outing at 70 to 75 per cent V02 max (around 80 to 84 per cent of maximal heart rate), which boosted cytochrome c by 40 per cent.

Cruising along for 27 minutes at 85 per cent V02 max produced a 28 per cent upturn as described above.

Fast running at 100 per cent V02 max (3K speed), lifted slow twitch cytochrome c by around 10 per cent, not a surprising low gain because slow twitch muscles are less heavily used than fast twitch cells during fast running. However, running at this speed represents, for 10 minutes work, 1 per cent improvement per minute of running compared to running at 85 per cent V02 max, which lifted cytochrome c in slow-twitch fibres by the same 1 per cent per minute rate for nearly three times the duration of work. And, further, 90 minutes of 70 to 75 per cent V02 max work improved the mitochondria by just two-thirds of a per cent per minute.

Yes, there are benefits to running for longer than an hour but the law of diminishing returns kicks in, especially on recovery/maintenance days.

5:30 p.m. 6 miles, including 8x8 sec's hill blasts. Felt sluggish before the sprints but during and then after the reps I felt much better.

7:30 a.m. 6 miles easy. 10 miler planned for tonight with 4 miles at Lactate threshold pace. I need to work on my full range of threshold runs (Lactate threshold; tempo, aerobic threshold). But these areas are addressed in the first phase of 'The Bam Method'.

I've pretty much sorted the philosophy and structure of my system, I just need to find the appropriate language to describe the various phases. I suspect the first two phases will not be of much interest to most people,but I think the third and fourth phases might spark some interest and debate. The third and fourth phases are pretty much where most people would jump in after completing their 'base phase'. Although I doubt many, if any, would adopt my system as it's pretty radical - perhaps the odd session.

Todays tip - eat a brazil nut everyday. Here's why:

Selenium is a trace element mineral. It has been associated with heart disease, cancer and a number of other complaints when the body becomes deficient of the mineral.

Its function in ‘man’ is as a component of an enzyme which protects cells against oxidative damage. Oxygen, although vital to our existence, can produce toxic substances, such as peroxide, superoxide, hydroxyl radicals, and "excited state oxygen." Selenium is therefore described as an anti-oxidant and an anti-ageing mineral. It promotes normal growth and development. Alcoholism = Deficiency.

7:30 a.m. 8 miles recovery run. Everything felt tickety-boo.

As part of 'The Bam Method' ('a' holistic and long term approach to optimizing 'my' marathon performance) I investigated and studied many areas. One of the things I found fascinating was the whole area of nutrition and blood. Here's the first part of an article that I discovered about blood - I've edited the article:

Blood bathes our cells in nutrients 24/7. Blood not only brings nutrients to our cells, it flushes out metabolic waste. It's the superhighway of nutrition and detoxification that reaches into (virtually) every organ and cell in our bodies. A typical human red blood cell survives about 4-5 months. We are constantly producing new blood and releasing it into the bloodstream to do important work: the work of carrying nutrients, hormones, water, chemical messages and information to all the nooks and crannies.

Blood is primarily made of three things: red blood cells (oxygen carriers), white blood cells (immune function) and blood plasma (a liquid solution that carries everything else). When more red blood cells are needed, we automatically generate new ones. Naturally, we must create those red blood cells using the materials that are available: materials that are circulating in our blood at the time. So the blood cells we make TODAY, which circulate throughout our bodies for the next four months, are made out of the materials being carried in our blood right now. So what's in our blood right now?

Our blood largely comprises the things we ate, drank and absorbed over the last several months. So if we ate a McDonald's cheeseburger today and chased it with a large Coke, the blood cells our body generates today are going to be made, in part, of materials from that cheeseburger and Coke - lovely stuff. If we think about where cheeseburgers really come from - hormone-injected animals, the ammonia-injected beef parts, the refined white flour in the bun, the processed cheese "food" substances, and so on, it's not exactly the kind of thing we want coursing through our veins for the next few months, especially if we're trying to break our marathon PR. Caveat – if my memory serves me correctly, McDonald's 'stuff' tastes darn good!

If, on the other hand, we spent the last several days consuming fresh living juices, superfoods and clean, energized water, then guess what our new blood is going to be made of? It will be super blood, energized with the elements and vibes of all the good stuff we've consumed.

Bad blood leads to bad health. It leads to angry, moody mental function and chronic disease. But good blood results in happy, healthy outcomes. Good blood improves your sleep, your sex, your moods and cognitive function. Good blood keeps your body free from cancer, youthful, energized and actively healing itself at multiple levels. Good blood is essential to good running. Once you understand all this, it only seems natural to work consciously towards creating good blood every single day. Tomorrow, I might tell you how to improve your blood...

6:00 p.m. 6 miles easy. Felt tired at the start of the run, but soon got going and feeling better. I think with the mixture of workouts and miles, 2x8 miles on my recovery days might be a tad too taxing at the moment. I think an 8 followed by a 6 will work better until I get used to the wokouts.

06:30 a.m. 8 miles relaxed. The two recovery days between workouts appear to be working well; they freshen the mind as well as the legs.

Carrying on with the 'blood stuff' from yesterday:

Amazing facts about our red blood cells - 

• A whopping one-quarter of the human cells in our bodies are red blood cells. But most cells in our bodies are actually non-human cells (bacteria).

• A red blood cell circulates around our bodies in about 20 seconds. The same red cell makes tens of thousands of trips around the body, transporting oxygen to cells, before it is recycled by our immune systems.

• Red blood cells in humans are molecularly quite similar to chlorophyll cells in plants.

• Our red blood cells are made partially of cholesterol. Although the drug industry has tried to label cholesterol a villain, in truth we couldn't survive without it!

How to create good blood -

We are our own blood banks. We manufacture and distribute all our own blood. Given that our lives depend on the blood we produce, doesn't it make sense to manufacture the healthiest, most life-giving blood possible? In fact, we can! We have conscious control over the qualities of the blood we manufacture. Because our blood is made of what we eat, drink, breathe and absorb, we can alter the composition of our blood by consciously choosing healthier things to eat, drink, breathe and absorb. Here are some of the most powerful pointers for making healthy blood:

Healthy blood needs healthy fats. We must consume healthy fats in order to create healthy red blood cells. This means consuming healthful omega-3 fatty acids. From the world of plants, healthful fats come from coconuts, avocados, flaxseed, Chia seeds and other similar sources. From the animal world, one of the best sources for omega-3 fatty acids is the green-lipped mussels oils in Moxxor - google it and discover myriad amazing facts. Also, we can get omega-3 fatty acids from oily fish - salmon and sardines etc. There are other quality sources, too, including fish oil supplements. Some people take krill oil to get their omega-3s. Do your research and use what works best for you.

The more healthful omega-3 fatty acids we take, the healthier our blood will be (to a point, of course).

Consuming damaging fats will harm the health of our blood. Damaging fats include trans-fatty acids and fried fats (such as those used in fried foods). Making healthy blood also requires the right minerals. Red blood cells themselves need iron, but it's handy to have all the trace minerals, too, so they can be delivered by our blood to our cells. When we lack sufficient quantities of minerals like calcium, magnesium, zinc and selenium, biological functions start to go awry.

Healthy blood also needs plenty of water, of course. Water is the primary fluid of our blood plasma - it's a solvent that can dissolve and transport all sorts of crucial building blocks for health, including water-soluble vitamins like Vitamin C. Without adequate water, our blood turns to sludge blood - sticky, gooey blood that our hearts struggle to pump through our circulatory systems. The forceful pumping required to push this sludge through our systems is frequently diagnosed as high blood pressure. Human blood also needs many other elements, but if I ploughed on with this you'd fall asleep.

I think the message is clear: look after your blood and your blood will look after you. I'm off to McDonalds... Not really:)

6:30 p.m. 6 miles easy. I feel ready for tomorrow's workout, which is my favourite from my late teens/early twenties, when I ran the 1500m - 8x400m off 90 sec's. Back then I'd bang them out in 63's. Tomorrow, I'm hoping to manage 73's.

I've used Horwill's 4 sec rule to predict the times, which is bang-on most of the time. The idea is that the 1500m speed should make the 3k speed (5x800m off 90 sec's) easier, which, in turn, makes the 5k speed (4x1 miles off 90 secs) easier. I know the sessions gonna be a killer. But we'll see...

10:30 a.m. 7 miles. 3 w/u incl. 6x100m strides; 8x400m off 90 sec's jog rec; 2miles w/d.

I've decided to cut down the miles on my w/ups and w/downs so that there's no padding/ junk in my weekly mileage totals.

Well, I'd conservatively predicted that I'd do today's session in 73's. I suspected that I might do the 400's in 72's with a couple of 71's. Here what transpired:

1. 70 secs,  2. 70 secs,  3. 69 secs 4. 69 secs, 5. 70 secs, 6. 69 secs, 7. 68 secs, 8. 68 secs. AP - 69 secs.  Got a text off Mo saying he's going to skip the marathon altogether and go straight into the ultras - he fears my speed; so do I: based on today's workout, I now have to do my longer sessions much quicker, which means more pain than Humpty Dumpty felt when he fell off the wall - I wonder, did he fall off the wall, or did he hit the wall because of poor preparation?

Very pleased and surprised. This basically means that I should be doing my 5x800m off 90 secs in 2:26/2:28 and my 4x1 mile off 90 secs in 5:08-5:12, which seems tough based on my current fitness levels, but it's something to aim for over the next few weeks. The recent introduction of 'lactate threshold' runs should help...

6:30 p.m. 6 miles relaxed - probably a touch too quick. My legs knew that they'd been put through the mill earlier. Had the aches and pains associated with a good workout. Got a feeling that when I head out for my 8 miles tomorrow morning, because I'll be moving so slowly people might think I'm trying to escape from an old people's home.

7:30 a.m. 8 miles recovery run. First 4 miles were a grind but then the old body got moving and things began to tick.

Another easy 8 planned for tonight.

6:00 p.m. 8 miles easy. Felt strong and ran relaxed.

7:30 a.m. 8 miles easy. Felt tired this morning, hopefully this evening's 8x8 hill blasts will shake things up.

6:30 p.m. 6 miles including 8x8 sec's. Felt as though I were scampering up the hill rather than powering. Ho hum.