The Year of Running Dangerously

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Pacing Strategies and Finishing Times

When it comes to figuring out your pace for race day the first thing to decide is what your goal is. Is it to finish? Is it to finish top ten? Is it a personal best? The advice here centers on people just wanting to finish successfully because that is what I aim for. I have heard advice similar to this:

"To calculate a reasonable finishing time for a 50-mile road ultra, double your marathon time and add two hours; for a trail 50-mile ultra, multiply your marathon time by three. For most people, that equals nine or 10 hours spent running"

Located at http://howto.wired.com/wiki/Run_an_Ultramarathon#Aim_for_slowness_and_specificity

　

But I would add that the race you enter has to be looked at very specifically, where is the climbing? where are the toughest parts? How will your body respond to these late in the race? Some key things I keep in mind about pacing:

The first thing I always focus on is not coming out to fast, having a reasonable comfortable pace and sticking to it even when the adrenaline is going and people are passing me, stay calm and stick to the plan

I usually walk any long or steep hills, it saves energy and I don’t run very fast up these things anyways

I walk when I am eating, and I try to eat every hour

Aid stations for me are minimum of 5-10 minutes

Run for an hour walk for 10 does not work for me later in races it slowly keeps shrinking until its walk for 10 run for 10

I have taken 25 minutes for a mile up a steep mountain late in a long run, prepare accordingly

I have never been able to "pick up" time later in a race your just too beat down and too tired so I never tell myself well that section is flat so I will pick it up there

I do know that my training times will be faster on race day in the early stages as my body will be healed from tapering

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Over the Halfway mark of Training

Just over the halfway mark of training and my current stats are:

Current Weight 180.1

Body Fat – 17.9%

Average Pace – 5:42 per km

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When is it time to get rid of a pair of running shoes?

As I blew out another pair of running shoes I thought I would share some thoughts on when it is time to change your shoes.  The standard answers are 300-400 miles or approximately 700-1,000 kilometers.  Others say6-12 months, but I would say you need to keep an eye on how they make your feet feel.  When I first get a pair of shoes its takes two to four weeks to break them into the point where they are super comfortable and feel like they fit like a glove.  Then something weird usually happens, I really feel confident with that pair of shoes as I know if I run long distances they will not give me problems.  I usually hold onto these shoes too long, and to the point of them starting to hurt my feet.  So when small annoyances pop up i.e. bottom of the foot hurts, shins have new aches, new areas for a small blister shows up, then you know the shoe has broken down and it’s time to change them.  Go to the local running store and try a pair on you will notice the major difference in feel.  It will have support and comfort vs. a shoe that had been beaten down.  I also try to have three pairs of shoes going at all times to avoid the “favorite pair” syndrome.

1)    My favorite shoes that are broken in and super comfortable

2)    A “same brand” pair of that shoe usually ½ size bigger for when feet swell and used as a backup pair, try to wear them twice a week so they get broken in, as you may need them sooner than you think

3)    The next set of shoes – trying out a new pair or something different to see if I like it.  Companies change shoes all the time so if you like one specific type be prepared because it will morph into something different very soon. 

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The Need for Poise in Training

I am a huge fan of the great wisdom of legendary coach John Wooden. For those not familiar with who many people consider the greatest athletic coach of all time check out this link http://www.coachwooden.com/

One of Coach Wooden’s keys to success is poise.  As Wooden defined it in his book on Leadership

“… poise – being true to oneself, not getting rattled, thrown off, or unbalanced regardless of the circumstances or situation.”

I had to remind myself of this lesson last week when I had what I felt was a horrible training run.  I bonked out around 16 miles on my 18 mile run.  Walking for the last few miles, wobbling along, I became quite emotional about how bad I was and how my training was proving useless.  I was thinking all kind of thoughts like stopping training all together, never running again, not participating in the events I signed up for.  I managed to talk myself back from the edge and two days later in another training ran I finished one of my fastest 6 miles yet.  Of course now I was at the opposite end of the spectrum.  Maybe I could get a personal best, maybe I should think about finishing in the top 25%, etc.  It was amazing how quickly my mental state had swung to both extremes. 

As Coach Wooden would illustrate we must avoid this type of emotion and instead have poise because poise will get us through the obstacles  

“Good judgment, common sense, and reason all fly out the window when emotions kick down your door. Unfortunately, this usually happens in times of turmoil or crisis when you and your organization can least afford it. Thus, I explained to our players, managers, trainers, and assistant coaches that there was to be no excessive exuberance when we scored against an opponent at an important juncture nor excessive dejection when an opponent scored against UCLA.”

Remember in your runs they are never as good or as bad as we think, avoid the emotional rollercoaster and focus on the strength poise can deliver to us

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If you need some inspiration to run find a new trail

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Overtraining

It may seem that when your training for an ultramarathon there is no such thing as too much running but there is and it can be very dangerous.  When I was training for the Lost Souls Ultra about 8 weeks in I realized that I was doing something horribly wrong.  I had not found a real training program for 100kms yet so made up one by adding miles to a 50 mile training program.  Eight weeks in I had the following symptoms:

Constantly thirsty – could not ever feel rehydrated,

Dead Legs – I don’t mean tired legs I mean dead legs that just would not respond no matter what.  You could not get them moving; they had no bounce or spring to them.  Take your worst sore legs and times them by 5

Workouts became extremely hard to complete, in fact I stopped being able to finish many without long walking breaks

Was not eating much although my mileage was increasing

What I did was revaluate my training program.  I researched some additional training routines.  I adjusted my mileage based on some findings, built in better recovery weeks and took an extra day off for one of my shorter weekday runs for some extra rest.  I also adjusted my nutrition to increase fruits and carbs and within a week felt the bounce back happen.  Here are some resources on overtraining

http://www.runnersworld.com/running-tips/are-you-overtraining?page=single

http://www.runningplanet.com/training/signs-of-overtraining.html

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Active Rest

After really long training runs of over 30 miles or more I have been using what is called active rest.  I stumbled across newer research that discussed using low-intensity exercise during “rest” is better for maintaining fitness levels. This low intensity is supposed to flush out lactic acid and deliver healing oxygen to the muscles. Any activity that keeps the target heart rate in the 60 – 65% range is low-intensity exercise. I have found it allows me a true recovery and keeps the aches and pains away.  My Active rest activities are included below.

Active Rest

20 min bike

10 min rowing

10 min swimming

5 min meditation

Find out more at this link:

http://sportsmedicine.about.com/od/tipsandtricks/a/activerecovery.htm

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Early morning runs means the chance to see amazing sunrises

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Mental techniques to get out and run

Here are a couple strategies I use to get myself off the couch on those hard days when the motivation seems pretty low.

1)      Mental anchoring exercise where you just plant the thought “all the reasons why I will get my run done today.”  You don’t actually need to have any just plant it in your mind and keep coming back to it a few times that day.  You will see it will start giving you energy about how you will ensure you get that run in

2)      Okay only run for 15 mins – Sometimes I feel so worn down that is it is hard to comprehend finishing a very long run.  I tell myself all you need to do is run 15 mins then you can quit.  I find that 15 mins is usually the amount of time I need to find my running groove at 15 mins I have never quit in fact I start feeling pretty confidant in finishing the whole run

3)      Save a favorite playlist or podcast that is only to be used on these days.  I find a very interesting podcast and stop listening to it immediately and put it in the only can be listened to on low motivation days.  It’s like getting a gift on that run

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Running on the road. Early morning in Vancouver

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Finding Time to Run

When I tell people I am training for an Ultra the first question I usually get asked is how you find the time for all the training.  The answer is that I make the time.  As a husband and father as well as a carrying a full time job and other obligations I find I need to schedule runs in just like any other appointment, but this is how I ensure those runs get done.

1)      I create a full training schedule and calendar from the start of training to actual race day

2)      Every Sunday night I review the week of running and decide exactly when I am going to run on each day i.e. Wednesday will be morning because I have a late meeting, Thursday will be late night because my son has sports

3)      I try to run as much as possible when my family is sleeping.  This means early mornings especially on the weekends and late nights after people have gone to sleep.  Sometimes I run as early as 4:30 am and as late as 11:00 pm

4)      I run on the road or whenever travelling, in fact this has become one of my favorite things as new exciting paths and runs are good for variety

5)      If time opens up grab it.  I have a bag of running gear ready to go so if magically a few hours open up I use them to get my training in right away

6)      I run five days a week T,W,TH, Sat, Sun but move those days around as needed, its important I run 5 days a week not necessarily just those days. 

7)      I don’t let myself off the hook if I said I was running this morning I run.  I don’t say oh I am tired let’s run tonight instead.  The time I said I was going to train is the time for that day period. 

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Endure for Endurance

I am in the last few days of base training now and a reminder that the purpose of base training is to get 20-25 miles a week in to prepare your body for the next phase of training. Base training was 8 weeks for me. The next phase of training is endurance training. Over the next 8 weeks I will be increasing my mileage to a total of 54 miles a week with long runs increasing to 20 miles on Saturdays.

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Running inspiration from a great sunset

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Some inspiration to keep running those trails.

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Running into a great sunrise. Fish creek, Calgary