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Posts tagged ‘marathon training’

Jun 6

track
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Workout Fears

Sometimes I’m afraid of workouts. Strange, perhaps. But when I see some of the track workouts my coach has planned out for me, I can’t help but to experience a little anxiety. It’s not the distance that has ever bothered me. It’s the speed.

 

 

Yesterday I decided there are two main reasons I’m “afraid” of my speed workouts…

Reason #1: Pain

Track workouts can be intense. Right now, because we are so early into my training, we are doing shorter, faster intervals. (Not my thing.)  Tuesday, I was reminded why I like long distances.  Short and fast equals painful. The workout was 4-5 sets of “split 1000s,” which means a 200, 300, and 500 at around 5:30-5:40 pace with a one minute break between intervals. The 200 interval – not too bad. The 300 – a little more painful. The 500?? Oh my gosh, I have to do how many of these!?!?  By the 4th set, I was done. Not even 3 miles and my legs has a nice little burn going on.  The 85 degree weather and hot track didn’t help make the workout any less painful. I asked coach how do you get over the pain? His response, embrace it and know it’s making your stronger. Okay, I’ll do my best coach.

Reasons #2: Failure

When I saw my Tuesday workouts for the next month, I started to tell myself, I can’t do this. This is too fast for me. Well if that’s not setting myself up for failure , I don’t know what is. I’m not use to doing a lot of speed work on the track and I’m afraid of not meeting my goals. What if I can’t run the splits that I’m aiming for? What if my last interval is significantly slower than my first? What if I fail? Before we started on Tuesday coach said to me, I think you’re faster than you give yourself credit for. And that got me thinking… Who cares if I don’t meet my time goals as long as I try my best? I am fast and I know I can be faster. Pushing myself to the point of failure is the only way I’m going to know how fast I really am.

Happy Trails & Happy Running,

Tracie

Running Update: Tuesday’s track workout is here followed by yesterday’s 8 miles. I was amazed at how easy and fast 8 miles felt after Tuesday. Today is an easy 6 mile run. It’s been a great running week. :)

May 25

Runner
5 Comments

Calf Tightness

Hello blogosphere! After one week of no blogging whatsoever, I can now say that I miss it and am ready to contribute my two cents once again.

Running has been going okay. Not the amazing, pain free running I woud like but I’m still doing my workouts. Tuesday was my first track workout since January and thankfully, I was able to hit my goal times (actually a little faster), with no problem. However, my coach was there and he was quick to point out some things going on with my form that need a little work. For example, too much twisting in the hips and a left arm that barely moves and is held up significantly higher than my right. I’m working on it.

Thursday was an easy 5 miler out at the greenway and I couldn’t believe how tight my calves were. They hurt some kind of bad and thoughts of being sidelined for a month due to injury started to enter my mind. What the heck am I doing wrong? When I got back to my car, I decided to put on my Minimus shoes for a short jog just to see if they felt any better. Immediately the pain went away and my form corrected itself. I ran another mile pain free.

So my question is, why are my calves so darn tight?

I carry around a lot of tension in my body when I run. Because I’m always thinking about form, I don’t just let things happen. Foot strike and arm movement are the two main things always on my mind.

When running, the calf muscles are used to stabilize the ankle and absorb the impact during push off and landing. For some reason, when I get more miles on my legs, I start shifting my foot strike to my toes. I can feel it now and I could feel it back in January. I imagine that running on your toes requires a lot of extra effort from the calf muscles because the ankle and foot really have to be stabilized.

I read this from TheHungryRunner and thought this sounded about right for me:

Interestingly, calf tightness can also be symptomatic of weakness elsewhere in the leg.  If your glutes and/or hamstrings are weak, your calves will often try to make up for that weakness, which means the muscle gets overused, which in turn exacerbates calf tightness.  In that same vein, calf tension is rarely experienced in isolation; rather, if there is tightness in the calf muscles, there is also a good chance you are tight in your hamstrings as well, due to the synergistic nature of the hamstrings and calves for much of our daily movements.

Tomorrow I’ll spend time really focusing on my glutes, quads, and hamstrings. I’ve also been using the Rumble Roller (ouch!!!) to work on releasing some of these knots. And the final thing that I am going to do to work on my calf tightness is…. meditation. Perhaps that sounds a little odd but I have got to release this tension that I carry around. I think meditation is a great way to do this.

Happy Trails & Happy Running,

Tracie

Running Update: Today I did 12 miles in my Minimus. It was a little tough because I was up too late last night and only ate a small salad for dinner. On the plus side, however, my calves didn’t bother me one bit and my form felt a lot better in the Minimus. Maybe it is also important for me to alternate shoes more consistently. Stats are here.

May 8

hills
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Dear Hills

As I said yesterday, I’m taking my runs off the sidewalks and to the greenways. The one positive thing (or negative, depending on how you look at it), is I’m always running some type of hill. Sure, they aren’t as bad as the hills in Seattle or San Francisco, but sometimes they really do suck. During my 8 mile hilly run today, I mentally wrote a letter telling the hills just what I thought of them. I’d like to share it…

Dear Hills,

Hills, I love you. I hate you. And I respect you. I love you because when I’m effortlessly bounding down you, you make me feel like I’m a Kenyan. Incredibly fast and incredibly efficient. I hate you because when you present me with an arduous climb, you remind me that I’m not the Kenyan I previously thought. Instead I’m slow and not nearly as strong as I once thought. And I respect you because even though from afar, you make me think holy sh**, when we met face to face, I realize you aren’t that bad. In fact, hills, you really do remind me of life. Amazing when it’s easy, crappy when it’s hard, and a constant reminder that even though it may look insurmountable, it is totally doable. I’m a stronger person because of you.

Love,

A soon to be much faster runner ;)

Happy Trails and Happy Running!

Tracie

Running Update: 8 hilly miles today and now off to restaurant club with my girlfriends. Stats are here.

Apr 12

London Marathon, 2012
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Want

Yesterday I ran like I haven’t run in almost two months. I ran one of the hilliest courses I know and I ran it at a pace that was kind of fast for the hills and easy pace I had originally planned. As I ran up one of the steepest hills, as I wanted to stop and walk, as I questioned why I wanted to hurt when I was suppose to be going easy, I told myself no 3 hour marathoner got there without a little hurt, no Ironman crossed the finish line without a little suffering, and my running hero, Ariana Hilborn, didn’t go from a 4:30 marathoner to Olympic Trials qualifier by walking the hills. Pain is just a part of it. Embrace it.

Love Yourself

Happy Trails & Happy Running,

Tracie

Running Update: No running today. Tomorrow will be my longest run since February. I can’t wait!

Apr 9

Ankle_en.svg
5 Comments

Ankle Flexibility

In keeping with the foot theme from yesterday, I have another question… how flexible are your ankles?

Back when I ran myself to the injured list for 5 1/2 weeks, I went to a sports massage therapist who told me my ankles were very inflexible. I took this quite offensively because I’ve always been proud of my flexibility. But truth be told, I think he was right :) .

Ankle flexibility is important, especially for runners. And tight ankles can lead to quite a few aches and pains, including calf injuries. Yup, I’ve had that injury…

Paula Quinene, Livestrong:

Tight joints, including your ankles, make it difficult to maintain correct form while you run. Ankles with a limited range of motion also predispose you to tight calf muscles as they are the major muscles acting on your ankles. This condition can hurt your running performance by causing further injury, rendering you out of commission from your training. Stretches for the muscles acting on your ankles stretch your ankles.

But no need to worry. While you’re working on spreading those toes, you can also improve your ankle flexibility. You can read about wall-and-toes, runner’s calf stretch, tibialis stretch, and lateral stretch here. Or if you’re more interested in a few yoga poses to help your ankles, check out this article. This article also has a few basic ankle stretches.

I love how a sport that can seem so simple, can be so much more complex. When I first started running many years ago, I never though my toes, ankles, back muscles, or hips would play such an important role. I’m glad I’m finally starting to figure it all out (or at least some of it).

Happy Trails and Happy Running,

Tracie

Running Update: Yea, I said I wasn’t going to run today but I did anyway. The thought of being inside on such a beautiful day did not seem appealing. I was feeling fine so I went for an easy 5 1/2 miles. It was around 85 degrees here in NC and I must say, running in the heat isn’t as much fun as running in the cold. Garmin stats are here and I love that I’m making new friends on Garmin Connect! Tomorrow is a functional fitness and strength training day.

Apr 6

Tracie
1 Comment

My Own Worst Enemy

I am my own worst enemy. When it comes to running, I lack patience, discipline (in certain areas), control, restraint, and perspective. So many times, I see my run in that very moment and not how it is going to help me to reach my goal 6 months from now. I recognize this and I’m working on. I promise. Today, I have proof….

This morning Mario and I went out for a 6 mile run. I think sometimes I scare Mario because I’m not as careful as I should be when crossing the street. If a car starts to slow down, I cross the street. Well I think I gave Mario a slight heart attack this morning as we were running back home. Don’t pedestrians always have the right of way? He was planning to go a little faster on the 3 miles back home anyway and instead of suffering through more scares, he went on ahead. Normally, I would have been right there with him. But I didn’t go. I thought about my small steps to getting healthy. I thought about all of the advice I have received from my running friends. Patience. Perspective. Discipline. For a brief moment, I thought about how everyone else on the street must be thinking she can’t keep up with him. I let it go. I did what was best for me and I was proud of that.

I don’t want to be my own worst enemy. I want to be my biggest ally.

Happy Trails and Happy Running,

Tracie

My 2nd Saturday Run 

Apr 4

3 Comments

Pain

I have come to the sound conclusion that athletes have an incredible ability to tolerate pain. Yes, most of us already know that athletes have to deal with a little more pain than your average person, but they really do deal with some intense pain. I couldn’t even begin to list all of the accidents Chrissie Wellington had during her Ironman training (according to her book). Broken bones, severe road rash, hamstring injuries, etc.  And yesterday I read an article about how Paula Radcliffe suffered a dislocated jaw, a jammed hip, and whiplash one week before her world record performance. Um, ouch?

There are many studies out there detailing how athletes handle pain. According to this study, endurance athletes can handle a moderate amount of pain, while other game sport athletes can handle more intense pain. Perhaps because endurance athletes deal with it for longer periods of time versus short bouts of pain? Two of the common coping mechanisms are association (thinking about the pain) and dissociation (thinking about something else). For me personally, I prefer association, especially if I’m doing an intense effort.

Although I do not have the stories of Wellington or Radcliffe, I do have my own broken bone story. On my wedding night, I broke my collar bone. (Apparently having a bunch of people of varying heights lift you in a chair is a bad idea. Gravity will win.) Anyway, three days later I was biking again and one week later I was running. The key to running with a broken collar bone…. do NOT swing that arm, :) Sure, it hurt a bit but I’m an athlete. I deal with pain. Most people said I was crazy. For me personally, I never understood how a broken collar bone affected my legs anyway. I also went hang gliding over the Swiss Alps but that’s another story.

Happy Trails and Happy Running,

Tracie

One of the last photos taken at my wedding. But how many people can say they fell 7 feet and left their wedding in an ambulance?

One of the last photos taken at my wedding. But how many people can say they fell 7 feet and left their wedding in an ambulance?

A flight to Switzerland like this wasn't much fun

A flight to Switzerland like this wasn’t much fun.

But I couldn't let a broken bone stop me from this - amazing!

But I couldn’t let a broken bone stop me from this – amazing!

Running/Recovery Update: Perhaps I shouldn’t have run two days in a row but I couldn’t stand the thought of working out on the elliptical in that stuffy gym. I ran 4 miles through Microsoft’s campus, followed by strength training and stretching. I’m continuing to run in my Minimus shoes and my calves can tell. On another note, I had a crazy idea this morning. On May 2nd, I am turning 30 years old. Wouldn’t it be cool to run 30 miles? Maybe not the best idea for a recovering runner but I think this would be amazing!

Mar 14

musclememory
2 Comments

Muscle Memory

For the next seven months, I’ve vowed to treat myself like the runner I know I can be. It’s fun to think about and as I mentioned earlier this week, the next few months are all about massive base building and strength training.

In the meantime, since I’m still not running, I’ve been able to get quite in tune with my body. Due to the fact I don’t have the beautiful outdoor scenery to distract me, only the same people I see every day at the gym, I’m focusing a lot more on exactly what I’m doing with my body when I move. The most important thing I’ve learned? My muscle memory is whack!

Just to give a few examples:

My right shoulder creeps up to my ear, I squeeze my left toes, and my right foot leads everything I do. I’ve also realized I do not engage my quads and hip flexors like I should. I learned this Tuesday when I did an exercise on the cable machine that required me to push back with my foot. Other than the fact that my left foot was beyond tense, (I could hardly get it to flex like I needed it to), my quads and hip flexors didn’t want to do much of anything. Then I noticed my shoulders and toes today while on the stair climber. Slowly but surely my right shoulder got closer and closer to my ear as my left toes squeezed harder and harder. It got to the point where I told myself to forget the planned intervals and just get that stupid shoulder to go down. I’m pretty sure I have some bad muscle memory going on…

WiseGeek:

Muscle memory can best be described as a type of movement with which the muscles become familiar over time. Muscle memory thus becomes an unconscious process. The muscles grow accustomed to certain types of movement. This is extremely important in different types of training for sports. The more often you do a certain activity, the more likely you are to do it as needed, when needed… This is one of the reasons that with many activities that involve the body’s muscles, like playing an instrument, learning appropriate technique is always stressed. You want your muscle memory to reflect the correct way to do things, not the incorrect way. Your muscle memory can actually play against you if you’ve constantly been practicing something the wrong way.

I really like this quote from LifeHacker:

The key to building good muscle memories is to focus on the quality of the quantity. 

Quality over quantity. Why am I too stubborn to realize this? As a runner, I’ve always been about the numbers. Pace, mileage, PRs, etc. Obviously that’s not the best habit to have. Therefore, in addition to focusing on the strength and base building over the next two months, I want to improve my muscle memory. I need to stop practicing the bad technique and perfect the good technique. My running will be thankful :)

Happy Trails and Happy Running,

Tracie

Recovery Update: My legs are still quite sore from the hip flexor strengthening exercises I did on Tuesday. However, I can tell the strength training exercises I’ve been doing are helping me to sit up straighter, engage my hip flexors, and open up my back. The overhead lunges are my new favorite exercise. I’m also starting to keep a record of all the exercises, stretches, workouts, foods, etc. that work well for me. I need to remember how these exercises make me feel and why they are beneficial for my running. If not, I’ll soon be back to where I am now. Injured.

Mar 10

canova

Renota Canova – Ryan Hall’s New Running Coach

Yesterday I watched this video of Ryan Hall discussing his new running coach – Renota Canova. I had never heard of Canova so I did a little research on him tonight. It turns out he’s coached quite a few very successful marathoners and has a very specific approach to training.

Canova has coached Moses Mosep, a 2:03:06 marathoner, Floerence Kiplagat, and a long list of other runners. You can check them out here. His approach to training is very detailed and you can read a great explanation of it here. But for a quick summary, here are a few of the details:

  • All out hill workouts
  • Circuits (jumps, high knees, back kicks, etc.) between moderately paced intervals
  • Shorter intervals
  • Fast long runs (long runs should be done at roughly 95% of marathon pace)
  • marathon pace intervals with moderate rest
  • High volume intervals (ex: 10x1600m @ 15k pace)

In other words extensive hill work, circuits, increasing the intensity of amount of hard running, with great differences in intensity between hard sessions and recovery days.

Sometimes I wish I had enough time and money to travel to Kenya and learn from the best. I wish Ryan Hall all the best with his new coach. His best race performance is yet to come, kind of like mine. ;)

Happy Trails and Happy Running,

Tracie

Feb 24

Run to You

Happy Sunday! I am so glad this is the last week of the month. February has been a horrible, no good, very bad month for me. But if we don’t have bad months, then we can’t have good ones? Even though I’m not running right now, I’m starting to see my running shoes at the end of this very dark tunnel and I found this really cute video that brought me happy running thoughts. I thought I’d share…

Happy Trails and Happy Running,

Tracie

Recovery Update: I no longer have a fever but breathing and sneezing are another story. I did Bikram hot yoga today and it felt great to sweat like that. I really do miss doing Bikram. I absolutely loved it when I did it every week. Tomorrow, I go see about my psoas. :)

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