Motivated to Succeed

Benn, thanks for all your comments. 6 miles is a great run. The calf sorness is a beast. I hope your able to keep increasing your milage. I was dissapointed with my marathon, it was nice to get your comment. Thanks, for always motivating me.

You have no need to be disappointed, Mike! Just having finished another marathon, you are that much better of a runner! You are filled with passion, and you have a gift. I know we are both going through "bummer times", but we will bounce back. Just think how sweet your next race will be :) Keep on truckin'. I'll try and do the same. That's what we do. We motivate... then we DOMINATE!

Negative splitting most of the way through - impressive!

Yeah, thanks Nevels. This was the first time I've tried anything serious towards the end of the run. I just felt really great and all. I hurt my right achilles on a treadmill in January of this year, and I'm very slowly making a comeback. I did a ton of biking and all, but I am just trying to recoup and recover. I just really want to be able to run in races again. I love distance runs, but my body right now doesn't love me for loving them :(

It sounds like you're taking the intelligent approach toward getting back into serious training by taking things slowly and making good use of cross-training. I know that whenever I get sidelined, I tend to jump back in with too much intensity too quickly, and it occasionally comes back to bite me. The most effective method I know to get up to the fitness needed to run the really long distances is to slowly build up the miles (i.e. 10% increase per week MAX), and if there's ever a week when you just feel particularly sore, fatigued, or like you might just be pushing it a little, cut that week's mileage in half, recover, and come back the next week. That kind of training will slowly strengthen your cardio, leg muscles, and the connective tissues in your knees, ankles, hips, etc, and that will allow you go farther and farther as the weeks and months progress. As the base fitness and mileage is being laid down, your long runs can get longer and longer up to the point of insanity, if your into that sort of thing...

Sorry about the long post, but at least that's my two cents' worth on the matter.

Benn, what a coincidence. I was writing my St. George Marathon report and my mother-in-law asked about the blog and I showed her your blog and picture, and then I looked at my race report to do a little editing and noted you had already done a comment. Hey, send me your home address via e-mail and I will send you DVDs of the Pikes Peak race and trip and the St. George DVD when it is done. I don't know how to post Flip Video to the blog.

Paul - I know. Sometimes I almost feel like a FRBlog Stalker haha! I would love to get a copy of the SGM and Pikes Peak DVDs. I'll send you an email with the info.

Nevels - Ideally I would rather be able to run long, than run fast. I had some really great PRs last year, but I think my problem maybe lay in trying to do too many races, too soon, and extending the season without adequate recovery. I want to get back to being able to run without the injury hanging over my head. Do you know by chance about how long it takes to build up a big enough base for a 50 miler? I did a lot of biking this summer (nearly 1400 miles I believe). Is it just a matter of building up one long run every 10-14 days? and then doing small 30 minute runs or something? I have looked at the Galloway approach to running and saw that he advocates long runs only every 2 weeks with 2 x 30 min jogs a week and the every other weekend day being either 3-5 miles easy or a longer, pace run. Any suggestions?

As with most goals in running, the length of time and amount of training required will vary with each runner, but building a base for a 50-miler won't take too terribly long. The summer biking will definitely help with overall leg strength and cardiovascular fitness and efficiency, so now you just need to get time on your feet. Long runs are key in preparing for ultras; how long and frequent these runs are depend on how much your body can handle and how much time you have. This is where the base buildup comes into play. I didn't to any long runs, per se, until after a couple of months of base building this summer to strengthen all of my connective tissues and stabilization muscles that so often are what get affected by overuse injuries. After that, I did a good long run every other weekend until finally capping out training for an ultra (Nov 8-9), so I'm now doing a long run 2 or 3 weeks in a row, taking a week off, and repeating. In preparing for a 50-miler, a month or so of base would probably be a good idea before hitting any really long runs (20+). After that, just getting in a few 20-25 mile training runs with enough time in between for recovery should provide ample preparation for the ultra. As far as what you do in between long runs, it is up to you. If you can physically handle runs longer than 30 minutes, go for it. Far be it from me to contradict Jeff Galloway, but if I'm going to go to all the trouble of getting out to run, take a shower, and change clothes twice, then I want the most bang for my buck, so I generally do about 10 miles 3-5 days during a week with a long run. Again, if I feel like anything is wrong or I am on the verge of overuse, I downshift and take it easy for a while. Galloway's approach is designed to always allow enough recovery to prevent injury, is definitely safer, and is probably founded on more sound logic; mine emphasizes paying attention to your body and tending to it as necessary.

One more thought: All that long, slow mileage can get boring and eventually lead to burnout, so if I'm ever feeling bored with a run, I turn it into a fartlek or tempo run to shake things up, and every couple of weeks, a little road race is fun to do. This helps keep your legs strong, too.

Wow, another long post; I need to work on that...

Do you think that perhaps one of the reasons my calf is tightening up is because I'm only doing 1 longer run a week and that's it? Generally during the week I do bike rides, but have only been running once or twice a week for the last few weeks. Should I start doing the 30 minute jogs to get my tissues and muscles used to the jarring motion again? And see if that helps?

That might be a good idea. Running works the calves more than biking, so suddenly running long once a week might be overstressing them, causing slight pulls, strains, or cramps. Running a little shorter several times a week can ease your calves back into running without putting too much wear and tear on them too soon. A thorough stretching routine might also be of some benefit to help loosen up your calves as well as the rest of your legs from the jarring motion of running rather than the smooth motion of biking.

Alright. We are on the same page because I was just thinking about that "shock" factor as I was picking up my brother from his xc practice this afternoon. I have been trying to stretch nicely and on the long runs usually do .5 mile or 1 mile warm up. I also use the "stick" to rub out my calves 3-4 times a day. Any other stretches you'd suggest?

I am a huge fan of the "stick" and have a longstanding love/hate relationship with it.

As far as stretching goes, I would recommend targeting your calves (obviously), quads, hip flexors, hamstrings, glutes, and lower back, because they all interact and can indirectly cause tightness in each other. On a side note, it is probably more beneficial to stretch during or after a run than before, because the muscles already have the blood flowing to them and are more supple (not a word I get to use in everyday conversation), so you are less likely to pull or tear something. As far as the warmup is concerned, if you are running long, the pace of the main part of the run should be about the same pace as the warmup, with the warmup's main function being to loosen up the legs for stretching. To get the full benefit of warming up your legs, I would go between 1 and 2 miles before stopping to stretch, but the distance it takes to really get the blood flowing varies from person to person.

Okay. I really like just being able to run longer. I think part of the problem why I got my injury in the first place was inadequate stretching routines as I had let them slide as I just started going out for 1 or 2 hour runs. As far as the pace wise, do you think that it would be "reasonable" to stay in the 8:45 - 10:00 range? I mean I know it doesn't reflect my PRs at the distances, but if I'm considering a long race in the next year or so, I'm going to have to learn to regulate my body and run slower, right? Because after all I can't head out there thinking it's a half marathon after all! Again, sorry for all of the questions, but I want to make sure I cover my bases so that I start building up a "base" the right way.

Oh, and is there any particular "strategy" for building the base? Or is it just a slow and steady buildup in mileage/time?

What kind pace have you been running for your longer runs recently and just before your injury, and how long are the runs?

Well I was injured on Jan 21st.. so before that I had logged 40-50 mile weeks with long runs from 10-15 miles a week. (FYI 15-16 miles was my longest run before my two marathons as well). Recently I have done a 7, 8, and 6.5 mile run for my long runs within the last month . I didn't want to start back too fast.

40-50 mile weeks is a good way to maintain fitness, and you could actually run a 50-mile race easily off of 50 per week. Working up to long runs of 20 miles would be optimal, which would allow for either several days of rest per week or shorter days during the week (or both).

When I go out to do long runs, I typically slow my pace down to about 1:00 to 2:00 per mile on roads or 2-4 minutes per mile on trail, depending on terrain and elevation changes. I also carry a water bottle with me during long runs and during the ultras themselves.

As far as a strategy for building base, you nailed it with just a slow and (hopefully) steady buildup of mileage over time.

Sorry for all the questions, nevels but just want to make sure i'm doing things right on the way to recovery. Right now I'm doing 5 or 6 days planned of exercise with every other day riding on the wind trainer. I do about 65 mins (or 20 miles). I figure this way I can help build up a cardio base and slowly the endurance for running will come. Am I right in assuming that the biking will help build a foundation just as much as long runs? Is it more about total minutes of cardio work rather than mileage specific? I just dont know if my body can handle 40 or 50 mile weeks for a while. My short term goal is to reach 20 miles of jogging in a week.