Long Run - Numero Uno

The weekly long run is an indispensable aspect of a distance runner's training. Weekly mileage of 40-50 miles just won't cut it unless it also includes one long run. In other words, 8 miles per day, 6 days per week, is not going to cut it when the distance from the starting line to the finish line is 26.2 miles. There's too much uncharted territory, both physically and mentally. You need to know in advance how your mind and body are going to manage the 15 mile mark, the 20 mile mark and, more importantly, the final 3-4 miles.

There are various rules you can abide by when integrating the "long run" into your weekly routine. First, just as you don't want to begin with too many miles in your base, referring to the early weeks of a long term program, you also don't want to begin immediately with a 10 mile long run in those early weeks. Many programs will encourage a weekly base mileage of at least 15 miles as your starting point. From there you can bit by bit ramp up not only the overall weekly miles, but also the weekly long run. For example, from a base of 15 miles you might make your long run 6 miles. The arithmetic is simple from there. 15 minus 6 will leave you with 9 additional miles for the week, maybe 3 three milers, or some other combination. Sounds simple, even too easy, doesn't it? However, once you begin to add more miles, extending both the weekly base AND the weekly long run, you will begin to demand more from your body than it is accustomed to delivering. Don't worry. It will learn to do it as you become more fit.

A good rule to apply once you get going is the 10% formula. Simply put, it is generally safe to add 10% more mileage each week. From that base of 15 which was suggested earlier, you add another 1.5 miles (10% of 15) the following week for a total distance of 16.5. Apply that same systematic increment to your weekly long run and you will put yourself on a safe and sage path to becoming an accomplished distance runner. Giving yourself an adequately long training period, plus holding fast to consistency, insures a great experience with your 1st, 2nd, 5th or 25th marathon. This carefully incremented program will also go a long way toward keeping you injury-free.

One more suggestion about the long run and you will likely reap even better long range benefits. Don't pound extra mileage into every week's long run. Many will recommend surging, then pulling back, surging, pulling back, etc. What this means is that if your long run this week is 10 miles, don't go immediately to 11 the next week, despite that being the logical application of the 10% rule. Instead, drop back to a 9 mile long run the next week and follow that with 11. In other words: 10 - 9 - 11 - 10 - 12 - 11 - 13.5, etc. The math doesn't have to be accurate to the fraction, just don't force yourself into longer mileage too quickly. As important as the long run is, it still must be ramped up in a consistent and gradual manner. It works!

I recently saw an online poll asking runners what their favorite run is. I can't recall the exact options, but long run, tempo run and speed work were all included. The landslide results came down for long run. Why? I can only speculate, but I imagine it is that all distance runners, regardless of how seasoned or veteran they might be, are still amazed at hitting that 10, 12, 15 or 20 mile mark. It is, as we used to say back in the 60s, a "gas". It could be too that runners will often make the long run somewhat of a social event. Here in San Antonio you can join any number of groups for the weekly long run, traditionally a Sunday morning ritual. My own routine is still mostly solitary, largely because my work schedule is non-standard. However, I do enjoy a bit of company on my long run when I can get it.

OH! One more thing. If you run with music, make sure your iPod or whatever your player of choice is, has a good charge on it before embarking on your 15 miles. It will be cranking a lot of tunes, doing its part to keep your feet moving. Here's the playlist from my 14 miler this past week. It is way long......

Emperor Waltz, Op. 437
Second Chance
Misery
50 Ways To Leave Your Lover
Committed To Parkview
The Gypsy Rover
Reicha Trio #2
This Old Town
Have A Good Time
Beloved
Spaceman
Reicha Trio #6
Leave Me Alone (I'm Lonely)
Track 05
Stravinsky: Le Chant Du Rossignol - 4. The Mechanical Nightingale
Easy To Love
Under My Wheels
Lonely Days
Bright White Jackets (Bonus Track)
Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg: Prelude to Act I
Look At That
Play The Game
Why They Call It Falling
Tippett Quartet
If I Can't Have You
Do Re Mi
Amarillo By Morning
How Can You Mend A Broken Heart
Sonata for Four Horns II. Lebhaft
Shadow Of A Doubt
De l'aube à midi sur la mer
Living It Up
The Wing And The Wheel
Poison Pen
Absinthe
A Place Aside
Dialogue du vent et de la mer
First Of May

New PR! YES!

The saying around the 3M Half Marathon is that if you don't run a new personal record (PR) on this overall downhill course, you are not trying. I'm not sure that's always true, though I will acknowledge that my half marathon PRs have progressed over the years at this race. I guess it's one reason it is a favorite and will remain so, even if the goody bags were a little short on swag this year.

A non-runner friend asked me a few days ago when I really began to sink my teeth into running. I gave only an estimate: 5 or 6 years ago. However, the 3M is my landmark and upon reviewing my history with this race I found I first ran it in 2004. This means that today's race (1-24-2010) marks my 6th anniversary of getting more serious not only about running, but also about my health and fitness. That race back in 2004 was my first try at the 13.1 mile distance. Previously I had run a few 10Ks and had even endured a 10 mile race in Mexico (I finished dead last). But running 13.1 was a breakthrough for me. I remember in those days I was logging almost all my miles going round and round Woodlawn Lake. On my final long run before my first 3M a couple of young men stopped me and asked how long I was running. They had gotten dizzy watching my loops and were amazed when I told them I was that night running 12 miles. It felt good to get that reaction as it was pretty much the first time anyone except myself paid any attention to what I was doing.

I ran that first 3M Half in 2 hours 18 minutes 7 seconds and I felt pretty darned good about it. It took only a couple of days before I commited to train for the San Antonio Marathon the following November. Now it has been 6 years, including 6 marathons, 5 half marathons, a couple of ultra-marthons and numerous 10Ks and a few odd 10 milers. I enumerate these accomplishments primarily so I can keep track of them for myself. My race history is not a competition with anyone except myself. However, I do offer it as an example of what I believe almost anyone can achieve. Yes, I know some suffer with bad knees, or other debilities which prevent running as their principal means of exercise and I also acknowledge that some of you just don't like running. Nevertheless I'll continue to nag you to ride a bike, swim laps, get involved in Yoga. If we are promoting an hour of play per day for our nation's children, we adults ought to at least get active for 45 minutes per day, or maybe an hour every other day. Let's not continue our sedentary ways, nor should we be anything but the best role models for the young. Let's wake up and exercise!

Holy smokes! All that and I still haven't told you my finish time for the 2010 3M Half Marathon. It was all in all a good day for running. A little breezy such that everyone's time was both impeded and aided by the wind. I cursed it when it cut through my racing shirt at the starting line and I groaned when they delayed the start of the race by almost an hour in order to allow the course maintenance people to re-erect some blown down traffic barriers. We all lowered our heads into the occasional head wind and we all quickened our step when the wind blew at our backs. In the end, I attribute my success to running a steady pace, not getting ahead of myself at the start. This took a late race fade out of the picture and I kicked across the finish line in 2:08:51. It feels oh so good!

3M Half Marathon

It's countdown time towards everyone's favorite half marathon - the 3M Half Marathon in Austin. For good reason this race holds a special place in my heart. It was the first long race I ran and the experience buoyed me for running my first full marathon 10 months later. Any time the 3M comes up on conversation with other runners, the reaction is almost always - yep, one of my favorite races. Why? Besides their deserved reputation as having one of the best "goody bags" of any race, anywhere, the 3M is in Austin, where the running culture is high. The course is overall downhill, making it a good race for setting a personal record (PR). In fact, my PR for a half marathon was set in 2008. Don't laugh, it's 2:16:22. I will ever be the first to admit that I am not an especially competitive runner. However, that doesn't keep me from plotting a new PR in 2010, maybe a 10 minute per mile pace which will put me across the finish line at 2:11:05.

Last year I ran the 3M as a relay with Zenna James and we turned in a respectable 2:02:58. The order in which we ran our legs is misreported in the "official" results from 2009. Zenna ran the first leg at a 9:48 pace and then I brought it home as the anchor, turning in a 9:00 pace. At some point Zenna asked her mother if she thought I was competitive.

"Don't know," she replied, "Why do you ask?"

"Because he ran his leg faster than I ran mine."

Apparently Zenna also thought I seemed a bit competitive when we would train together. I only remember once when we sprinted the final 60 yards or so at the end of a 4 mile run. Of course, she beat me, as you might expect. She was 21 at the time; I was 60. I bring this up for only a couple of reasons. One, as I mentioned, the 3M is regarded as an opportunity to run fast, or at least faster. What Zenna never knew is that with the exception of a hill or two the second leg is probably the faster part of the course. I simply took advantage of it. Second, we all have our reasons for running. I've been at it for a while and I think I can credit the sport with helping me over several hurdles mostly related to aging. I feel great when I run. My doctor tells me it's the best thing I can do for myself in combating the health issues which begin to come into focus when you round the 60 year mark.

In the case of Zenna and other young runners, life is more complicated and I imagine the time investment in running or whatever fitness regimen is preferred is easily deferred. "We'll get caught up later," is what I fear the younger people are saying. That's what I said when I was their age. Today, my doctor tells me that most of the health issues he is concerned about when he looks at recent blood work I had done reflect damage done many, many years ago, when I didn't exercise or watch my nutrition. The bottom line here is that if there is anything competitive about me, besides the fact that I love to challenge my own PRs, it is my desire to set some sort of example for any who might be watching me. If I can slog out 20-25 miles per week, you can too. This is SO important to anyone, at any age, but if you are one of those younger runners still wondering if it's something you really have time to do, consider this an investment in good health now and a lot fewer health issues as you grow older.

See you on the street, jogging, or at the next race. For the record, there is a 5500 runner cap for this year's 3M. As of today, January 7th, they are at 4,126. Don't miss the boat.

Talkers and Doers

I've been around runners long enough now to know there are some who talk and some who do. Few runners will remain silent about their latest race or their latest long run. It's understandable. We're proud of our accomplishments and, who knows, our talking about it just might prompt a listener into action. We all hope that our talk (some might hear it as bragging) will get a non-runner to become interested in running, or at least some aerobic level of walking. More often, our talk is heard by other runners. I guess that's another of our intentions: to find someone with whom to talk shop. But sometimes we talk not of what we have done, but what we plan to do. The question this raises is how often does future tense become past tense? In other words, how often does our talk become action?

Last weekend I was listening to Car Talk on NPR, more specifically on Texas Public Radio, and a caller to the program prefaced her "car talk" with: "I just got in from a 14 mile run." This information had absolutely nothing to do with her car issue for which she was seeking advice. It was just something she blurted out. I'm certainly not the only runner who heard her mention her 14 miles. We all speculated on what race she's training for, how fast did she do it and finally, on when we could get out and run a 14 mile loop as she had described. It sounded like a great idea to me and it's been on my mind ever since.

That same weekend I ran into my nephew-in-law who had run his first marathon recently at the Rock'n'Roll San Antonio. Bill is a good runner for as big a guy as he is. He ran 25 minutes faster than I did; of course, he's 25 years younger than me, too. Bill and I met at our family Christmas gathering and I could see those around us look for other conversations when Bill and I began runner talk. What's your next race? How much have you run since the marathon? These sorts of things. I encouraged Bill to sign up for the 3M Half Marathon next month (January) in Austin. It's a great race, overall downhill, an opportunity to test your speed at a more reasonable distance than a marathon yet still a challenging distance.

"I'm thinking about it," Bill said.

"I just signed up," was my reply.

"I'm thinking about a 10 mile training run this week," he said, "to see if I'm ready."

"Me too," came my reply as I remembered still the suggestion earlier in the day of a 14 mile loop.

As I said, many runners are filled with best of intentions but aren't always good at paying it out. That's what was on my mind when I started a run this late, chilly afternoon. My thought was to run 4 or 5 miles. But it felt pretty good, I dressed right for the chill, and within a couple or three miles I decided it time to put up or shut up about a 10 miler. It wasn't fast, it wasn't pretty, but it's the longest I've run since the marathon 5 weeks ago and puts me on a good trajectory for next month's half marathon.

How about you, Bill? Are you a talker or a doer? How was your 10 miler?

The Next Race

I wanted to title this post Planning Your Race Card but worried about the erroneous assumptions which would be suggested. But the fact is, I do mean planning your race card, and it has nothing to do with ethnicity, but about .....well.....races. I guess I could find motivation to train without a next race on the horizon. After all, we do this for our well being, for our health, and as an excuse for eating ice cream. When I used to be a drinker I would reward myself with a beer for every mile. You pretty much break even on calories burned and calories consumed. I haven't calculated yet the ratio of miles to dips of ice cream, but I have switched to a lower fat, fewer calories ice cream.

But back to the original topic, planning your race card. I train better if there's a race on the horizon and I brainstormed through today's 6 mile run where and when I want to run the next several races. On the near horizon looms the 3M Half Marathon in Austin. I love that race. It's the first distance race I ever did and it gives me a good measure of what I am gaining or losing with each passing year. Right now I feel pretty good about running a new personal record (PR) in January. This will keep my training honest and it might even prompt me to do some speed work on the track. After the 3M, the next race on my schedule is the Texas Independence Relay (TIR), as much a logistical challenge as a physical challenge. I look forward to it.But that leaves open the month of February and here I am toying seriously with attempting the 50 mile Rocky Raccoon over at Huntsville, Texas. I would never have thought about my race history as being a resume, but that's how Carroll Voss refers to it. I like the idea. Thus far my resume includes too many 10Ks to recall the number, 3 or 4 half marathons, 6 full marathons and 2 50K ultra marathons. The Beach to Bay Relay Marathons have been fun, ditto the 2 TIRs. Still lacking on my resume is a multi-day race run in stages (Marathon des Sables is an exotic example - 145 miles total, run over 6 stages in 7 days, across the Sahara) and the more extended ultra-marathon distances of 50 and 100 miles. This, of course, is where Rocky Raccoon comes into play, maybe. I still haven't decided for sure, but it's definitely playing with my mind. Hmmm...

Then there is something completely different but which might trump one or two running events. The idea of scaling the Pico de Orizaba, an 18,490 foot mountain in Mexico, seems to be moving up my short list of potential adventures. While I lived in Coatepec, Mexico, a small coffee producing town in the State of Veracruz, I was ever in the shadow of the Pico. The first thing I would do every clear morning was climb a ladder to the roof of my house and stare in awe at Orizaba, a classic snow and glacier clad former volcano. It's beautiful. But I have always wondered what the view would be from the top. Is anyone else curious? Want to hire a guide and climb it? It's the 3rd highest peak in North America. The climbing season for the Pico de Orizaba is late December through February, so this is an adventure which may have to wait another year. As we used to say in Mexico, "vamos a ver," "we will see."

So, my race card is still incomplete, but it will fill ever the weeks and months ahead. This is what keeps me an honest runner.