Training Peaks

The days and runs seem to blend together. You get to the end of a productive week feeling satisfied and then realise the reward is doing it all again. Harder, faster, further. Welcome to peak marathon training.

I've been reluctant to put my thoughts down lately for two reasons. One training at the moment is all consuming, a blur of sessions, miles and dirty running clothes. The tough sessions have whirled by thick and fast. The other reason is the uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 scare which has seen several marathons cancelled. There is a realistic and relatively strong chance that mass participation events will be curtailed and cancelled over the coming weeks and months. It has been hard to put my all into training for something that may evaporate before my eyes. I've swung from a feeling of whats the point to exhaustive searching for small, low key events that are less likely to cancelled to finally adopting the age old fool proof method of putting my head in the sand.... keep calm and train.

Coincidentally I had a great week of training. I emerged at the end of week of wind, rain, snow and weather alerts (yet again) with a feeling of progress in terms of fitness and adaptation.

With five weeks left to race day I'm now in a period of peak training where the next few weeks will make or break my race. In the past I've trained for races without focus and drifted along not taking every opportunity to make the peak training count. The whole point of searching for the X percent was to seek out all the gains that could help on race day. Peak training is the best opportunity to seek out those gains and make the biggest possible adaptations. In the past I've drifted along in a bit of a daydream and only woke up when I'm too close to race day to effect real adaptations. With that in mind my focus has been on all the areas I can think of: Diet, hydration, sleep, recovery, strength & conditioning, physiotherapy as well as the actual training miles. I've managed to satisfactorily tick all those boxes and will continue to until race day. Below is a log of last weeks training-

Training week 24th February to 1st March 

Monday 24th Feb: 8 miles easy @ 8:19 min/mi, HR 144 BPM.

Just miles in the cold and wind again. I'm at that stage in the plan when runs that aren't sessions seem to blur together. Legs felt relatively rested after a weekend of easy running.



Tuesday 25rd Feb: Strength workout: 3 x 2 miles of 800's.

Splits:
1. 6:26 min/mi avg, HR 169-177 BPM.
2. 6:33 min/mi avg, HR 175-178 BPM.
3. 6:30 min/mi avg, HR 171-177 BPM.  

This was always going to be a challenging session. Did it on the way home from a meeting and sat in the car yet again as rain, sleet and snow swirled around with strong winds shaking the car...... It really has been a tough period for marathon training. I've tried my best to use it as a way to mentally toughen up but Tuesday had me actually laughing out load at how horrendous the weather outside the car was. Psyched myself up and got to it, I was already soaked by the time I'd locked the car.

The adrenaline was up a bit and the warm up was done under 7:30 pace. Pressed the lap button and got stuck in. Had to leave the rain jacket on and with the conditions. It was had to monitor the pace on the watch so just tried to dial into where I thought I should be. Looked at the watch after the first rep and was slightly worried it was too fast at 6:26ish pace with 6:40 the target. Eased back on the second rep at the sleet eased too....6:33 pace seemed better. Was feeling strong as I took off into the third set. I'd done the recovery towards a huge black curtain of cloud that was approaching to unleash another round of misery. massive €2 coin sized flakes just started to pelt down as the watch beeped, I turned to do the rep in the other direction, running back out of a full on blizzard and then trying to stay ahead of it. 6:30 pace for the final two miles. Felt strong at the end and delighted the session was in the bag. The feeling didn't last long as I turned to jog back to the car through the wintery mix that had caught up with me. 10.6 miles total 
Epsom salt bath and compression boots later in the evening. 

Wednesday 26th Feb: 5 miles recovery @ 8:43 min/mi, HR 141 BPM.

Had a physio session at lunchtime. Legs felt good after that. Only one slight niggle that needed looking at, a slight tightness in my right hamstring. A bit of painful elbowing and fingering seems to have nipped it in the bud. Have some exercises to do to keep it in check.

Ran a few enjoyable windfree miles during club training questioning why it always seem to be better weather on non session days?


Thursday 27th Feb: 9 miles tempo @ 6:52 min/mi, HR 175 BPM.

The wind was back, this time with extra chill! I changed location form the usual tempo route to a looped park (home of Shanganagh Parkrun). It made a change from the long drags into the wind making the windy sections shorter to give some relief and stop the heart rate drifting. It also meant that the pace on my watch was all over the place, not helped by the tree cover. I was starting to get anxious looking at the watch and seeing 7 min/mi + on the screen even though I was working hard. In the end switched to heart rate screen and ran off effort. Good bit of weaving for extendable dog leads and buggies. Happy with the effort, would love to be running 5 seconds faster per mile for the same effort but think with rested legs and better conditions I'd feel better.

Did an hour S&C in the PM followed by 20 mins in the hot tub and 30 mins in compression boots


Friday 28th Feb: 7 miles easy @ 8:33 min/mi, HR 144 BPM.

Went out at lunchtime and it became obvious within a couple of miles I was wearing way too much. From zero degrees the day before the temp was up to 12 degrees.....still windy though. Just easy unremarkable miles.

Saturday 29th Feb: 9 miles easy @ 8:05 min/mi, HR 148 BPM.

Dropped my daughter to her horse riding lesson and got in some easy miles before storm Jorge hit. Weather was ok, getting used to the wind. Have a Stryd footpod since I was in the US, have started using it lately. Very interesting to see the wind effect graph and the difference it makes to power output. Just wearing it to allow it to get to know my stats before drilling down into the numbers and perhaps using it during runs to ensure I'm running in easy, recovery etc.

Sunday 1st March: 17 miles LR @ 7:13 min/mi, HR 162 BPM.

Down in the in-laws after driving through the worst of the storm on Saturday, pretty hairy on the M8 in spots, my shoulders were pretty tense after fighting the stirring wheel for 2 hours on the way down. Late night and bad sleep had me up early. Ate breakfast and availed of a lift so I could run back to town to avoid having to run smaller laps around town. Drove through snow showers and eventually jumped out (after planting a drink at the half way point). Hard to start into LR pace from cold but lashed into it as I tried to warm up. Miles passed by nicely, views of the snow capped Galtee mountains was spectacular. Felt strong and was happy that the heart rate seemed low enough although it did pick up as the wind returned from nowhere. Got to 16 miles under 2 hours and decided to add 1 for luck to bring me over the 2 hours and making the weekend total 26.2ish miles #OCD

Epsom salt bath and compression boots for 30 mins after driving home had me feeling like I hadn't run a long run at all.

As sure as sunrise follows sunset a new week has dawned and more training miles await but more importantly so does the opportunities to progress and improve, both in training and in finding the X percent but now with extra hand washing!

Roses are red, violets are blue, sugar is sweet and helps avoid glycogen depletion.

Ah.... that time of year when love is in the air and gift companies see their profits soar. Matters of the heart are on everybody's mind. Mine especially after my heart rate drifted far too high on an 8 mile tempo run yesterday. 

Since starting to log every run and pay attention to the effort levels through heart rate I've become concerned that I'm overreaching at marathon pace effort.

As the above chart illustrates Zone 4 is were tempo or race pace effort should be. During yesterdays run I spent almost 40% of the time about tempo which seems like writing cheques the body can't cash. 

There are two possible answers for this:

1. I'm training at paces according to where I want to be rather than where I am.

2. The stress placed during the rest of the training week is building to a level which has me close to the red line.

3. Everything else.

I'm hoping its a combination of 2 & 3. This week the Hanson plan saw the Tuesday reps change from speed to strength which had the effect of dropping pace but doubling distance. The effect is a ramp in accumulative fatigue which of course is the MO of the Hanson method. I've done myself no favours either by opting to do a recovery 5 mile run instead of the prescribed rest day between Tuesday reps and tempo Thursday as well as bulking up milage on some other runs to match the weekly volume of previous plans I've followed. In truth that isn't really trusting the process of the plan, that needs to change.

I'm now on a run streak of 57 days and I probably shouldn't be. I need to take some of those rest days to allow the body to absorb the stresses of training and yet when I resolved myself to resting fully last Wednesday, pride or ego raised it's head and wouldn't allow me to break the streak: that is not running smart and has the potential to push me over the edge or towards injury/over-training. Breaking that streak by not running next Wednesday is one of my targets for week ahead.

The 'everything else' part covers recovery, nutrition and sleep as well as environmental factors such as weather. On the tempo run yesterday I was running into an 18mph headwind for the first 4 miles. This coupled with a net up hill profile had me overworking for the pace. A smarter runner would have dropped the effort to suit the conditions but again I let pride and ego make me push the pace. The reason was more to do with having the correct numbers on garmin and strava for my followers and friends to see. Again not smart training.

The other area where I'm falling down and potentially not optimising and absorbing training is sleep or lack of. I'm not the best sleeper at the best of times and have been struggling for a while now with badly broken sleep which rings some alarms as it is one of the major indicators of over training. Trying to deal with this is less straight forward. Things I do intend putting in place over the coming weeks are reducing screen time before bed and not eating after 8pm. On numerous occasions over the last week I've found myself mindlessly scrolling through the phone at 11pm. This is not conducive to quality, restorative sleep. The same can be said for putting your digestive system to work at a time when you're going to require your whole body to enter sleep mode.

If I am overreaching and my marathon pace is notional rather that achievable I think the next few weeks of peak training miles will tell a tale.

 

Having a broken Heart is bad. Giving the heart a break is good

Week T-7:

Monday 10th Feb: 8 miles easy @ 8:07 min/mi, HR 151bpm.

Tuesday 11th Feb: Hanson Strength session 6 x 1 mile @ 6:39 min/mi avg, HR 161bpm.

Wednesday 12th Feb: 5 miles recovery @ 8:53 min/mi, HR 141bpm.

Thursday 13th Feb: 8 miles Tempo w/wu & cd. Tempo pace: 6:50 min/mi, HR 176 bpm. Total miles 11.5 miles.

Weekend of 7 and 8 miles easy and then 16 mile LR on Sunday

Just as well I   running!

Follow the journey @TheXPercent

Shoe Wars and #Vaporgate: A hobby jogger's view.

Running is often lauded as the simplest sport....left, right, left repeat.

Those of us who are passionate about it know it's far from that simple, and making improvements over years takes increasing levels of commitment and dedication.

Lately the sport has become a battle ground. Footwear War is raging with no sign of a truce.
Last week World Athletics announced its new guidelines to shoe design, limiting stack height and carbon plate application. It seemed like an amnesty for the Vaporfly Next% and people assumed Nike's new shoe, the Alphafly would be banned as a result of the new guidelines.
A line was being drawn in the sand.

Some were satisfied, many were cynical and critical of the fact the shoes that have taken over road races of late were in effect being green lit by World Athletics. The anti-vaporfly camp claimed the shoes had broken running. This is a big claim considering we live in an era where athletes often get awarded medals years after an event because those ahead of them on race day were later found to be drug cheats. One of my first memories of being uninspired by running was watching Sonia O'Sullivan losing out on medals to a team of State sponsored drug cheats. I remember thinking at the time, if I had kids with athletic talent would I encourage them to dedicate themselves to a sport that seems devoid of honesty and fairness? Athletics being broken is a far more complex issue than the availability of a certain shoe.

Fast forward to this week and Nike releases the first images of the soon to be released legal Alphafly, cue further outrage and claims of the sport being destroyed. So what should have happened and where do we go from here?

Firstly, the shoes have been around since 2016; the technological applications they were using, like carbon plates and special foam are nothing new. Shoe companies have been using them and making claims about their advantages to runners for years; the difference with Nike and Vaporflys is they used the technology and it worked.

The tumbling of world records and ubiquity of attention grabbing, garish coloured shoes as lead packs jostle for position at the business end of races from 5ks to marathons the world over has been a publicity dream for Nike. If World Athletics had raised a flag at any of the components of the Vaporflys, Nike would simply have pointed to previous uses of the technology by other shoe manufacturers. Carbon plates have been used by Hoka and New Balance before, Adidas Boost foam was being advertised strongly to runners in the past, and thick stack heights have been the signature for Hoka shoes since their inception. Even the air capsules in the new Alphaflys has been used before; I had a pair of Nike Air in my younger days that I believed would get me closer to Michael Jordan in terms of my basketball ability......they didn't.

Considering all this, how could a shoe that's been around for four years - a shoe that included widely utilised technology - have been banned? We are also in an Olympic year, qualifying times have been met and celebrated, banning the shoes would have meant striking out most of the times over the last few years.

To me the horse has bolted.

The custodians of the sports, the governing bodies, didn't put guidelines and controls in place at a time when effective parameters could have meant a level playing field for both athlete and manufactures. The sport has gone down the road of fixating on numbers on the finishing clock.
The Nike and INEOS breaking 2 projects with Eliud Kipchoge got people talking, both runners and non-runners. I know people with zero interest in running and athletics who sat up and took notice of those two elaborate time trials. But now our sport has to navigate a way out of the situation it finds itself in, but how?

I don't have a definitive answer. Perhaps the introduction of untimed races would help. It seems strange I know, but getting rid of the time element brings it back to its roots- get the best in the world to a start line and let them race.
Yes, questions will still be asked about who is wearing what shoe, but over the coming months other sports brands will have comparable footwear available. In time people will forget the controversy; ultimately the inability to turn back the clock on this and introduce retrospective limitations on how sports companies can effectively have such a big say in how our sport developed, leaves no alternative but to do exactly what they did; draw a line of limitation and give things time to settle down.
Or perhaps there is nothing for it but pressing a hard reset, bring in stringent new laws on stack height to limit the space in which companies have to fit 'stuff' to give energy return. This is a hard road and would need very strong leadership from the top. And I'm not sure that exists in a world of corporate sponsorship and funding.

The 4 year evolution of an overnight scandal.

From my own perspective, that of a recreational runner who has committed to training hard and adjusting lifestyle to compliment that training - to do everything possible to allow myself to find the extra percent I need to achieve my goal of running a sub three hour marathon - it means something different.
I'm not trying to qualify for Olympics or finish on any podium. My goals are my own. It does beg the question of why? Why are arbitrary numbers so important?

Nike Breaking 2....Me Breaking 3?

The question has been running through my head over the last while, and I still don't have an answer. To recreational runners, personal bests are our Olympic qualifiers. Many of us don't race anybody but ourselves.
The next question is whether using footwear technology as a means of improvement is acceptable?
I don't hang on a pair of runners my hopes on achieving my goals. I train hard, give up on nights out, focus on diet, hydration and rest and along with everything else I can to give me my best chance of hitting my goal.
I have owned each version of the Vaporflys from my first pair in 2017 up to the Next% last year, I've never PB'ed in them but I like racing in them because they are light and I feel my legs are less battered after racing in them. Will I buy the next Alphafly version? Probably, but in terms of finding the X percent I need to go sub 3 I believe there are more gains to be made from proper training, recovery and getting the right mentality than there are from a pair of shoes.

Mentality, when it comes to Vaporflys is something that is completely overlooked. Racing is hard; being mentally stronger than an opponent is difficult.

I do wonder if the hype surrounding Vaporflys feeds positively into the mentality of competitors who pull on a pair. Lacing up a pair of brightly coloured racing shoes is akin to slipping on a superhero costume for a child. It makes you feel different. In a sport where having an edge psychologically can be the difference between winning and losing, Supershoes create positivity.

I won't go as far as to call it a placebo effect but there is some element there, especially for non elites who I feel are more likely to gain a mental edge through believing they have an advantage. Then there is the negative psychology for the non-Vaporfly wearing competitor when they race. Is it possible they feel the competitors they are racing against have an advantage before the gun goes off as they look around at the starting line? That psychology could be quite destructive during a race when the competition heats up.

It's a shame our sport has found itself in this position. Lets hope it finds a way out.
In the meantime I'm off to log some miles.

Training trumps complaining.

Follow the journey @TheXPercent

Runners who eat or eaters who run?

Running and weight issues can be a bit of a minefield. Getting a heathy view and the balance right is hugely important.

Many people first come to running with weight loss in mind. The results of increased activity and a kick start to the metabolism often lead to weight loss. 10 years ago as a non-runner I was 30 pounds heavier, running has been good for me in many ways, but now when I think of losing more weight it's usually with race times in mind.

At the sharper end of competitive running weight can be a bigger deal. In a resent high profile case, American middle distance runner Mary Cain spoke out about her treatment by once famous now infamous coach Alberto Salazar. She detailed how her weight became the focus of her coaches as a means to improve her times and performance. Cain was an exceptional junior who became known as the fastest of her generation before joining up with Salazar and the Nike Oregon Project. Instead of thriving she was surrounded by male coaches who crunched times and numbers and pushed her to lose weight as a means to improve without a second thought for her overall wellbeing. Her career faltered and she ended up with eating disorders and other mental health issues.

When it comes to recreational runners like myself there is a cautionary tale to be learned:

To find time improvements our racing weight is an obvious area of focus in order to gain an edge.
In fact to put actual figures on it further highlights why some, including Salazar became fixated on the numbers. If you take the human element out and just look at the figures alone they are quite stark. In a recent article by Runners World magazine they discuss a study by the American College of Sports Medicine that shows:

A 5 percent reduction in weight improved 3K times by 3.1 percent, while a 10 percent reduction improved times by 5.2 percent, and experts say that this difference becomes greater as your distance increases. 

That's a lot of potential percentage gains without requiring certain magic (expensive) running shoes.

So while becoming obsessed with weight loss it is clearly not something to be taken lightly as the Mary Cain case illustrates, there is merit to paying attention to diet in order to allow ourselves to find our own ideal racing weight. 

I've tracked my weight in the past and tried to hit a certain weight targets before race day. Sometimes I feel that it has helped, other times the use of a restrictive diet to loose weight while making big demands on my body in terms of training has left me drained and therefore not well placed to hit my targets. The thing to remember is we are all different and hold weight different, the number on a scales is not a the full picture of body composition. 

I have larger calf muscles and a very different body composition and shape to the east African's who dominate the sport, there is zero merit in me trying to change that. Instead I've found eating cleanly and not being afraid to fuel up with good sources of carbs before sessions and long runs and then get quality protein in quickly afterwards has allowed me to train and recover better. Of course intense training leads to heightened appetite but instead of restricting to loose weight I just try to make better choices. Making big demands of the body and not putting in the required fuel is simply not sustainable.

Below is a chart which outlines approximate calorific needs for athletes. The Hanson training plan I'm following has my needs at 3500 calories per day to fuel the training load as well as day to day needs.

Some things occur to me looking at the above guidelines. The first is that I'm probably not eating enough as I'm fighting my own appetite much of the time which is my bodies way of telling me what is needed. The second thing is: just because I need more calories doesn't give cart blanche to eat crap calorific food, quality counts too. Lastly is timing of calories- by resisting hunger during the day it can lead to a build up at night when most of us succumb to the urges. Eating more earlier should help against eating too much too late which can effect sleep and energy absorption.



Finally the graph below shows my weight track over the past few years. The green line is my desired year round weight. The yellow line is were I've found my ideal racing weight to be:

Weight does matter but balance is key. At the end of the day are we runners who eat or eaters who run?

                                      Follow the journey @TheXPercent

Hanson Marathon Method.........Half way there.

Eighteen weeks, four and a half months, just over one third of a year. It's not that long when you look back in time, but can seem long when your looking forward to it.

For me it represents the training block for an attempt at running a sub three marathon, I'm half way through and it's gone in the blink of an eye. It's a little scary that in the same amount of time again I'll be toeing the line. Following a new plan for the first time has been interesting. Of course I'm well aware that a generic plan which is not tailored precisely to my strengths and needs is not perfect but it's a good base.

The reason I was drawn to the Hanson marathon method was the focus on marathon paced miles every week. It's an area where I've neglected to focus on in the past. Those sessions have been a challenge but I also feel they are a great way to layer fitness, especially when done on the back of accumulated training miles.

The plan got off to a less than ideal start. I was carrying a bit of a head cold, two days into the plan I was wiped out with a chest infection, sick for the first time in two years! Not happy. I missed the first week of the eighteen week plan but didn't feel too bad as I'd been doing preplan tempos and reps to get myself used to the paces and effort, in effect I'd started the plan early in case such a scenario would arise.

My return to training coincided with long haul travel which also wasn't ideal, but I eased myself back into things with easy runs around one of my favourite running locations in the world, Central Park, NYC, which was a joy as usual. I then decamped to the heat and humidity of Florida for the Christmas period. I got stuck back into the plan as the first scheduled tempo kicked in....all good, no damage done to the integrity of the plan.

I've managed to hit every session since at the required pace, I'd love to say it was easy but I guess it's not supposed to be or else my target is soft. My heart hate on tempo runs is testament to the fact that the target is far from soft. In fact I've been left fighting the daemons of doubt telling me that the target is too lofty, that it's outside my ability. That my well turn out to be true but there was a reason for me starting this blog- I believed there are many different small gains that I can be made along the way that will get me close enough to give it a good bash on race day, I'm determined to continue to leave no stone unturned, to eek out every last percentage of improvement over the second half of the plan, both through the training and a complimentary lifestyle, trying to adopt the mindset of a professional athlete even though I'm a hobby jogger! Every decision in relation to food, drink, sleep will be made with my goal in mind. When I look in the mirror in the morning I'll ask myself what I can do today to get me closer to my goals. That might be deciding not to have a few beers on a Friday night or putting the phone down and getting an early night instead of scrolling through garbage that adds nothing to my life.

Looking for X percent improvement....not these type of X's!

Back on track for January

Finding the X percent I need isn't only about running and training, it's about the lifestyle that compliments that training and enables the body to absorb it and move on to higher training peaks.

The four pillars of optimum training which I hope will help me improve:

1. Quality of Running:

The quality comes from knowing your strengths and weaknesses and where you need to improve. For me this means Tempos. The Hanson plan has a very good spread of speed and endurance build fitness evenly. I've also learned some lessons for the future, chiefly that I need to place training cycles for shorter races into my longer term training as simply training for marathons doesn't optimise speed and Vo2 max. Having a year to year plan that gives focus to shorter distance races will ultimately help improve all distances.

2. Nutrition and Hydration:

In the past I've only been a runner when I've been out running. In other words my diet choices were not complementary to the training, I'd be hungry after long runs but would eat a bag of Doritos or chocolate. This is a mindset I've tried to change. Try to fuel for hard sessions like you would for a race and remembering to drink plenty of fluids will allow the body to handle the training load. In the past I've gone into sessions dehydrated or under fuelled and then wondered why the session went badly. Treat every day during a training cycle like your in the final weeks of taper for a goal race.

3. Strength and Conditioning

Just like the nutrition and hydration I've neglected this in the past: only a runner when running. This time I've tried to incorporate core workouts and leg strengthening workouts as well as regular sports massages and foam rolling. I tend to do these on the days of the hard sessions so that easy days can be just that.....easy. I had considered doing a class but being stuck to somebody else's timetable wasn't appealing. I got several workouts from google and have build a routine around this. This has made a big difference when the going gets tough in a session, I feel I can rely on increased leg strength to get me through.

4. Rest and Recovery

The only reason this is placed last is because it comes after the actual training. It's importance can not be overlooked. The strength and conditioning can aid recovery by keeping the blood flowing through the muscles especially if done in the hours after a session. Other aids I use are- recovery boots, foam rolling, regular sports massage, protein drink immediately after sessions and trying to get a good nights sleep every night to allow the body to recover and absorb the training load.

Trying to keep these four pillars strong can hold everything together, if one is neglected it can have a knock on effect on everything else.

So the journey continues. Hopefully all the little details come together to give me the X percent I need to get from a 3:07 PB down to 2:5X PB. The news is filled with talk of Vaporflys and rival shoe companies iterations of them. They promise % gains which I feel I'd be foolish not to avail of. I couldn't contemplate running under the finish line clock with 3:00:05 on in is pair of lesser shoes because of some sort of moral high ground or ethical reasons, I would be kicking myself.

When I said I was looking for every % gain I meant every single one........bouncy shoes included!

No pain, no gain.

People who know me know I run. I bump into people on the school run: 'Hey I saw you out running last night'. I go to a family event: 'How's the running going', or a favourite of my father-in-law: 'How's the knees? They ever give you trouble?'

Which of course is code for 'you'd want to mind yourself with all that running'. 

I've noticed a lot of the people that mention running to me are not runners themselves. Runners of course have a reputation of always wanting to talk about running, especially with other runners, so it surprises me when non-runners broach the subject as I always assume they think they'll be bored to death if they get me started.

The tone of my runner-non-runner conversations often feels to me to be one of questioning the why. Why do you run so much? Why pay money to run X distances as fast as you can? Why put your body through the pain?

These questions are not direct although I have been asked similar in the past, I always wonder how those people would feel if they knew just how painful running and racing in particular can be.

Of course I'm not speaking of physical pain and soreness from the act of running, I'm taking of entering the pain cave type of feeling from pushing hard in training and races. Personally I've always struggled with this. I came to running relatively late in life at 36, I was entering middle age and wasn't exactly looking to step outside my comfort zone, that happened slowly by my own ego and it's desire to improve- the gain that can't be made without the pain. 

As I started training for races and learning about the distances and paces I should be striving for to reach my evolving goals I started to face the discomfort of training and racing more. Because I had not practiced this all my life through pushing myself physically it was a shock to the system. My brain and inner voice often overpowered me in hard situations. 

I'd find myself in the middle of a speed work session and my brain would be shouting in protest: 'WTF, you don't need this shit!'  'Slow down, take it easy.'

I'd be in a race struggling to hold pace and the same voices would be there, 'what difference does it make if you finish 3 minutes faster, slow down enjoy it.' 

This was my first introduction to type A and B enjoyment.

Type A is something we do that's simply enjoyable: sitting in the garden on a warm summers evening with your favourite drink, eating your favourite food. It's something you really enjoy while your doing it. Type B enjoyment is a different beast altogether, this is something that is achievement orientated- a race is a perfect example, when your doing it it's hard....unenjoyable even, but when it's over and you have achieved what you set out to or know you gave everything you had, there is an after glow, an enjoyment that is retrospective. 

Type B enjoyment feeds the ego, gives us pride and lasts much longer than type A which is usually gone when it's finished. But it has to be earned, whether it's a race goal or a college degree, the work has to be put in. When it comes to races and PBs that means hard yards.

I've felt that glow of achievement in putting together a 3 - 4 month training block and executing a good race plan to hit a time goal, it's the addictive feeling the fuels a runner's ability and desire to embrace the pain and discomfort of running at or near the red line, because we know to improve is to push harder.

I now find myself on another quest to sip from the fountain of success. Pain is just part of the process to get there that has to be accepted. Not accepting the pain of training and racing is not an option. If we don't accept it and let the inner voices shout and complain, pain quickly turns to suffering. When the inner dialogue is dictated by the emotional side of our brain we dwell on pain and discomfort. It becomes a bigger deal and can inflate like a ballon. It can eventually eat away and corrode confidence and desire to breaking point. I've been there too, racing with demons weighing me down until those three letters that no marathon runner wants to face.......DNF. Did Not Finish.

Of course there are is a time and place when it's no shame to drop out of a race- injuries and health issues need to be respected. But as somebody who has dropped out because they couldn't embrace the pain and therefore spiralled into a world of suffering I can honestly say this: If the glow and enjoyment of striving and succeeding are long lasting, so is the shadow and disappointment that comes from quitting on yourself and not being mentally tough. 

I've read many training books and looked at many more online, they are often full of numbers and stats. There is often a small section on race strategy that covers mental attitude toward the end of the book. In my opinion it should be in the first chapter because it's a key to success. You need to practise  an open attitude to pain in training. To know when it hurts you can still push harder. To know it doesn't last. To learn not to ignore but rather acknowledge and know that pain is part of the process, a necessary side effect of the journey to success. 

Being aware of pain and discomfort also allows us to develop coping skills. For years I tried to take my mind off it by thinking of something more appealing but that didn't work for me. Instead I learned to accept and acknowledge. When the pain came I told myself that this was part of the plan, I didn't wish it away but took it as a sign I was working as hard as planned having already mentally given myself permission to hurt pre race/session knowing and accepting that it would only be temporary. For times when I'm starting to feel overwhelmed and approaching the red line I've developed distraction tools. These are tasks I give my brain so it can't dwell on the emotion of the high effort levels. One of these methods is counting. If the brain is busy on a task like counting it offers rest bite from dwelling on discomfort. I also sometimes use thumb tapping for times of extreme discomfort. By simply tapping the thumb and index finger together and counting in a liner fashion or in sets of 6, 8 or 10 etc it acts as a cognitive distraction until the effort levels have receded. 

We often make the mistake of thinking pain and suffering are unique to ourselves, that everybody around us in a race has it easier. That simply isn't the case, in fact I'd go as far as to say that one of the big things, besides talent, that separates champions and medal winners is the ability to hurt themselves. It isn't a case that the day somebody wins everything is easy for them, it's the case that on the day they dealt with the pain and pushed themselves on to achieve and win.

When it comes to making breakthroughs and improvements from the utilisation of the hidden potential improvement gains, we don't always need new products like faster shoes or supplements. Sometimes the biggest potential for finding X percent improvement is far closer than we think......between our ears.

@TheXPercent

Resolution dissolution

In my part of the northern hemisphere the third Monday of January each year has been dubbed 'Blue Monday'. It's officially the unofficial 'most depressing day of the year.' Why? because the fun and festivities of the holiday period is over, winter is usually only getting started and money is tight after the Christmas period. People have taken up new years resolutions that are becoming hard to keep, easy to break making people feel unhappy.

Personally I don't buy into the notion of this time of year being depressing. Although my birthday is in the middle of January, when you've had a certain amount of those it can become a reason to feel a little bit blue!

Late last year I decided that 2020 would be the year I'd go all in for an attempt at my long desired marathon personal best of sub three hours. I honestly think having that target in mind over the Christmas period kept me focused and therefore less likely to get caught up in the boom and bust cycle that December/January can bring. More balance in decisions of diet and training means I feel less of the effects of withdrawal that I've felt in the past from allowing myself to go nuts on food and drink because the christmas decorations were up.

It's not that I lived like a monk, or more appropriately an Olympian. I still enjoyed myself although admittedly the fact I spent two weeks over Christmas in the tropical climate of southern Florida probably excludes me from being qualified to have an opinion on weather this time of year is in fact blue. Being able to top up the vitamin D and run in warm weather was certainly a real tonic for the phycological effects of winter on a northern atlantic island!

So now the dust has settled and I've been able to try 2020 on for size, I'm chomping on the bit to take on the challenge that lies ahead. I find myself reviewing my old years resolution when I started this blog. The aim then was to keep me honest. To help me log and document the many ways I could train better and harder to achieve the goal. To explore all the other marginal gains that I may be able harness through better diet, recovery and running aids.

Now six weeks into an eighteen week plan for my sub 3 attempt I've had the hiccup of illness to deal with and have managed to get back on track after that. So what you might ask have I been doing to gain the X Percent improvement I need?

The biggest thing has been recovery. Every time I finished a hard session in the past I'd allow myself to celebrate it, that could mean eating or drinking something in front of the tv that evening which doesn't sound too unreasonable. The small change I've made is to not dwell on the session just completed but rather focus on the next one-

Recovery steps after hard sessions:

• Immediate intake of quality protein to kick start muscle repair.
• Use of compassion boots to aid blood flow.
• Stretching and foam rolling to keep muscles in good condition.
• Hydrating properly.
• Taking epsom salt baths to sooth tied legs.
• Getting quality sleep.

The result has been been noticeable. I feel my legs are fresher from session to session compared to previous training cycles.

Other ways I've been seeking gains has been through trying to improve my strength and conditioning. I have a regular core routine I try to do a couple of times a week as well as some glute and hamstring work, which are both areas that I've had problems with in the past. Like the new recovery protocols the extra focus on strength and conditioning is starting to feel noticeable.

I've also been diligent with supplements to try and stay healthy. One of the supplements I now take is Turmeric which is widely regarded as a natural anti-inflammatory. Of course it's hard to say what if any effect this has but I suppose thats the nature of trying lots of different things- it's hard to say what works and what doesn't! I'll continue to take them anyway along with my daily apple cider vinegar. What ever about improved performance or recovery I'll definitely have a strong stomach after this!

As for the actual running part of training, that has gone quite well. Choosing a target time and training paces can be tricky given we're basing that decision on where we want to be rather than were we are fitness wise. The Hanson marathon method I'm following is refreshingly simple to follow. It's basically speed/strength reps on Tuesday, Tempo runs (marathon race pace) from 6 miles working up to 10 on Thursdays and long run up to 16 miles @ MP + 30 seconds on Sundays with easy running in-between. The harder runs come pretty thick and fast so hopefully I can hit the target paces as the milage increases meaning a sub 3 attempt is a realistic goal come April.

One of the things I've been thinking about since placing all my eggs in the sub 3 spring marathon basket is the danger of doing just that. Deciding you want to run a certain time is all well and good, as is putting the structure in place to try and do so. But we can't control everything. I've run enough marathons to know things don't always go as planned- weather, injuries, illness etc can trip you up at the final hurdle. With this in mind I'm starting to turn my attention to what lies beyond the goal race. Having somewhere to go afterwards is vital for long term success. In the past I've had disappointing results in a race for reasons outside my control and I've wallowed a bit with no plan for where I should go next. As part of my plan to find the X-Percent I need I intend to work out a plan for post marathon recovery, a gradual transition to speed work over the summer before an Autumn marathon block for  second assault on a sub 3. Of course if I succeed in April and cross the line with 2:59:xx on the clock I may just celebrate for the rest of the year!!