How to Taper for a Marathon

The answer is … I don’t know. There seem to be as many different schools of thought on how to taper as there are flavors of frozen yogurt (yes I’m craving some right now, who isn’t in the last week before their marathon!).

So Many Flavors, Such Few Days to Try Them All

It’s too late to really change my tapering plans, but as with any taper the mind does get a little warped so I decided to go back and look at my previous tapers and also do some reading. There’s calls for 3 week tapers, 10 day tapers, 2 weeks tapers, very little up tempo work, quite a bet of up tempo work. The only thing that seems consistent is reduce your overall effort … when to do it, how much to do it by, what type of workouts to do result in different opinions. And no one opinion is right or wrong when you look at the results from these groups and athletes.

So what has worked for me. I went back and looked at my running log for the last few years. Since the first season with Team Rogue my taper has been around two weeks and hasn’t been a huge drop in mileage. Below are my last two taper weeks from two different races (both at CIM), the first from 2008 (sub 3:00 race) and the second form 2010 (sub 2:50 race).

CIM 2008

Mon	Tue	Wed	Thur	Fri	Sat	Sun	Total Miles	Miles of Base
Rest	9 M (5 Steady)	10 M	7 M (4 Tempo)	Rest	13 M	7 M	46	84%
Rest	7 M (6 @ MGP)	7 M	7 M	Rest	7 M	Race	54.2	99%

CIM 2010

Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun	Total Miles	Miles of Base
4 M	10 M	12 M	13 M (5 Tempo)	Rest	13 M	11 M	63	90%
Rest	8M (4 Tempo)	11 M	7 M (4 Steady)	Rest	5 M	Race	57.2	82%

So it’s really about a 10 to 15% drop. If you exclude the actual marathon the week leading up to the race is around 50% of the base so the day of the marathon I tended to feel relatively fresh. I’ve found the shorter tempo or steady work 5 to 12 days before the race is really valuable too, keeps the legs primed. I remember going into a race once without much MGP or Tempo work in the two weeks before the race and my legs felt really loose, almost too loose and unresponsive. This approach has worked for me in the past so I’m sticking to something similar for CIM this year.

CIM 2012 Taper Plan

Mon	Tue	Wed	Thur	Fri	Sat	Sun	Total Miles	Miles of Base
Rest	8 M (10k Ladder)	8 M	9 M (4 Tempo)	4 M	14 M	9 M	52	90%
Rest	8 M (5 MGP)	8 M	8 M	Rest	5 M	Race	55.2	95%

The 2012 plan is somewhere between 2008 and 2010 so should be good for me. My training from a volume and pace standpoint also happens to be between the 2008 and 2010 seasons. All there is left to do is just run the race … and keep the taper mental daemons and phantom leg pains at bay.

California International Marathon (CIM) take 3

Well it’s just over two weeks till the CIM marathon. This will be my third time running this marathon, both the previous two times were PRs. In 2008 I ran under 3 hours for the first time and in 2010 under 2:50 for the first time. When you hear about CIM you can be decived into believing the course is downhill, it is net downhill for sure and a fast course but it is rolling. Keeping under control early in the race seems like a good way to approach this race, after mile 18 the course is flat to downhill and if you have anything left in your legs you really can open it up.

What does 2012 hold at CIM for me? Well you never know until the day of the race. I’m positive this isn’t a PR year for me, but I do hope to run somewhere between 2:50 and 3:00, ideally sub 2:55. When this year started I was coming off an inconsitent year of running and I told myself being back in the shape I was in for CIM 2008 would be the goal for this year. My training indicates I’m there so goal accomplished. Now I just have to go run the race with the rest of the Team Rogue crew training with El Jefe.

This has been the first season with Jeff as the Team Rogue coach and I’ve enjoyed working with him. It’s been interesting having him get “comfortable” and “get to know” all of us in the group, I can see him tuning things to us individually now as he’s gotten to know us, what we need and what we respond to.  After CIM we’ll roll into Boston marathon training. It’ll be the second season with Jeff and I’m excited about how he adjusts our training now that we’ve had a full training season together. If you’re looking for a group of committed people to train and run with come join us.

The significance of a first mortgage payment

Not a running post, been a while. Driving back from the San Antonio half marathon today I was reminded by many mentions on the radio that it’s veterans day today. It reminded me of a really moving experience that was recounted to me, and also of a recent disappointment. First the good.

The story is short and sweet and about a veteran. The story ends with a first mortgage payment. One of the realizations of the American dream many would say. The road to that first mortgage payment wasn’t easy though. This veteran used to be one of the many homeless veterans (17% of the homeless are veterans) in Austin. The veteran got off the streets, was part of a transitional housing program that Green Doors provides. The veteran then moved into an affordable housing program (again with Green Doors), managed to find employment, moved into his own apartment and eventually his own home … and made his first mortgage payment. When I heard this story I really was lost for words, the good that comes from enabling somebody to transform their own lives is immeasurable.

So now the bad. The affordable housing I mentioned would not have been possible without the 2006 housing bounds approved by the citizens of Austin. Proposition 15 which failed to pass last week was going to enable organizations in Austin like Green Doors to expand their affordable housing programs, something that is desperately needed. What’s done is done.

Anyway, I also wanted to thank all of you that supported Prop 15 and continue to support organizations like Green Doors with your time and money.

 

How is marathon training going … really?

That question has to be one most people training for marathons wonder about all the time. You have a good workout, then you have an ok workout, once in a while you just have an all out shitty workout. And then there’s the season where every run, every workout is amazing and the race just sucks. It’s never about one run, or even one season really. You just have to keep going. The most important thing has to be believing in your training, the ups and downs are just what they are.

If you haven’t been able to tell from my previous few blogs my mental angst has more to do with comparing myself to 2010, undoubtedly my best training and racing season so far. My overall fitness at a poorer level but comparing my log from 2010 to this year things look to be in a decent place. A few people have been sharing a couple of articles lately, one on Lydiard and the other on Canova. In both cases there is an acknowledgement that the base in important, there is some difference in what do once you have the base. Maybe less than the articles would indicate. I noted one thing in the article on Canova:

Once a long run of similar duration to your marathon feels comfortable, then you’ll know it’s time to enter the specific period. At that point, Canova says, “What you need for stimulating is to increase the intensity of the duration.”

Point taken. I have to say that 2008 to 2010 was more of a traditional Lydiard approach for me. But I do remember that in 2010 running 20 miles on a Saturday was just normal to do, it wasn’t hard, it was just something you could do. I feel like this season that’s where I am again. I can run 20 or 22 miles without worrying about it, it’s comfortable so faster work is good. I really needed that year and half in ’09 ’10 to get my base to where it is (something the article also talks about). This season Jeff has had us working in faster paced workouts earlier in the season than I did from 2008 to 2010. I like it, it’s good. The 7 to 8 mile Steady runs, the workouts more at lactate threshold and tempo pace, some faster 10k work on the track.  The paces for each of the workout ranges is slower than 2010 (the price I’m paying for being lazy in 2011) but for where my fitness is I’m managing the workouts so things are lining up for CIM 2012 and beyond.

Another good mileston on the road back

I’d be lying if I said I’m where I “would like” to be with my fitness. But then where I “would like” to be and “where I should realistically” be are two different stories. 2011 was just a crappy year for training, laziness, lack of motivation, lots of reasons and excuses can be made but it was all on me.

The year and half that ended with CIM in 2010 was my most consistent injury free period of training and the results showed it. Looking at my log since my re-start before Boston this year I noticed that from the beginning of May I’ve managed to run just over 1000 miles! It hasn’t been easy, new job, more travel, difficulty to motivate myself knowing I’m not going to be in PR shape this year (ok time to be realistic, next year this would be nice to be back in the 2010 shape I was in) … in any case I was surprised that I’ve managed to get my average training volume back to the same run rate as 2010. Just need to keep it going for a another year!

 

Going out on a limb here … but disagreeing with James and John

I’m not a coach, I’m not a scientist … so I just get to disagree and explain it from my perspective from personal experience, some reading (not as much as James or John), and conversations. What made we want to write about this, these two recent posts:

• Biff Bam Bonk from John
• I Want You to Bonk from James

So why do I disagree. Well I’ve only “bonked once” and that was on a Sunday recovery run after listening to Steve Sisson (who has since changed his mind about not taking any nutrition) and not taking a single Gu for 2 weeks but with not bonking I’ve consistently gotten fitter and faster, going from a 3:57 first marathon to a pr of 2:48 … so YOU CAN GET FASTER WITHOUT BONKING!

I read all this teach your body to burn fat stuff but any reading I’ve done on this brings up a couple of points consistently:

• fat is a plentiful store and we have lots of it compared to carbs
• fat per gram is around twice as much energy as carbs
• fat based energy processing occurs at lower intensities (50ish % of max heart rate) and takes more time
• your body can only become so efficient at fat burning, and it is good for lower intensities

So it’s those last bullets. Marathon goal pace is more in the 75-80% of max heart rate. So what the hell is fat burning going to do for me there. I can easily keep my body topped off with easy to process carbs with GUs in a marathon. But Kamran you’ll be better off making use of some fat stores too … ok whatever but if I can keep my glycogen stores up I will perform better than not doing it so why only take one GU in a marathon? And since your body can only really become so efficient at processing fat, and it’s really for lower intensities why should I train my body in that state? I don’t really want to enter a deficit and train for a deficit of energy for my marathon. I’m going to hydrate, take electrolytes and enough energy to be able to go as hard as I can for the entire 26.2 miles … carbs are the way to go for me.

Now I don’t want to discount everything John and James said but wanted to make the point strongly so people get a different perspective. I’ve been coached by Steve, who James cited, for a many years and that man (apart from being crazy) is an awesome coach. James used a quote from Steve: “The body can adapt to any stress if you give it enough time.” I completely agree with this, but I don’t think this means I should bonk by not taking any energy in during a workout. Running longer than you did the last time is stressing it, making sure you rest to give it enough time to take effect is adapting to the stress. To reach that breaking point both physically and mentally I like what Steve called Race Preps (well that was the p.c. name they used to be called Soul Busters), here’s my recap of one of those and below is an interview with Steve himself after one of them.

That type of workout is the toughest physical and mental challenge I’ve ever done. I took a GU like I was racing, one every 30 to 40 minutes but it didn’t matter, the workout stressed my body to the point where I just couldn’t handle it, being able to keep running was victory! You remember those workouts when you’re racing, you remember you were running half marathon pace on a 28 f$%king mile run … you can handle 4 more miles … suck it up. I don’t really want to remember “bonking”, I want to remember a damn tough workout where I mentally held it together.

So yeah during training you don’t have to Gu every 20 minutes but if you do, well you’re probably taking in more calories than you really need but let’s say you wait an hour and then every 45 minutes or so … that seems like a good idea to me. On a race day take GUs (plural), take electrolytes, drink water, drink Gatorade.

Did you see the Olympic marathoners this year? Did you see them picking up their specially made drinks with the right balance of electrolytes and energy? Well they seem to think it’s a good idea, and they make their living off of this, and I think they’re way way more efficient than me so why the hell would I not take multiple GUs in my race?

Lining up for their bottles at the Olympic Marathon

Consistency is back

Looks like training is back to something I can sustain regularly. Looking back post Boston Marathon the weekly average mileage has been 60 miles/week. Three and half months till CIM so still a long way to go. It’s been good get back into a regular running habit again, helps with Asia being there to make sure I don’t sleep in the mornings or slack off with the gym work 🙂

Another first for my running

This weekend was a blast. I ran my first official trail race. It was a 30k race at Walnut Creek Park in Austin, part of the Rogue Trail Series. It’s such a different way of running, a lot more up and down, cutting back and forth, uneven terrain, a little water to run thru and a grilled burger at the finish line. For this coming season of training the crew has been discussing trying to get in some trail runs. After the run this Sunday it’s obvious I do need more strengthening of my lower legs so we’ll hopefully manage a trail run every other weekend for a little variety.

Going into the run this Sunday I wanted to try and stay relatively easy for the first two 10k loops and then pick it up for the last 10k. Things went according to plan and the first two loops were around 55 minutes and the third loop in 50. I’m not sure if the first two laps were easy, it seemed to take 10k just to warm up but my breathing was under control It was a nice feeling to be able to open the legs up in the last lap and a good sign of where my fitness is.

Finishing the First 10k Lap

The next race in the series is at Emma Long Park on May 13th. That course is quite a bit more technical and I’ve only ever run the 10k version before so running 3 laps to get 30k will be challenging. Now it’s back to an easy week of running and then a base building phase of two to three months with the trail races in between.

Oh, my better half finished first overall woman and has the coolest hand made trophy to show for it.

 

Boston Marathon 2012 under the belt

This Monday was a not so great day to PR at the Boston Marathon. Although I do know of two Team Roguers that did! That completely amazes me. For me the marathon was a, finish it run. The plan was to run easy and run between 3:15 and 3:30, it ended up being not easy but slow at 3:40. The weather as you’ve probably heard was warm, I guess hot, the start was 85 degrees and stayed around there throughout the day. This week has been a good recovery week, the first run was painful in the quads but I feel good about being able to finish the 30k in the Rogue Trail Series this weekend.

So what did Boston hold for me this year. Well first and foremost I got a chance to eat at Penang, a Malaysian restaurant. And I got to eat a whole crab, which was fabulous.

I didn’t know if I’d manage to eat the whole thing when I started but did. It was truly a marathon event, must have taken 45 minutes to work my way through it but worth every minute. So some crab was had, then some Sushi for dinner, after which we find out about some salmonella outbreak. Luckily no issues.

The next day we woke up and went running with Larry, Jim and Edward on the Charles and then the regular breakfast, sit around more eating, drinking and just pretty much not doing anything until the race on Monday. I take that back, we did do something. For dinner on Sunday we ate at a place we all vowed never to go to again (Vapiano). You can read my yelp review on why you should not go there on Marathon weekend.

Ok after that it Monday. Yay!! Well yes, all plans of any time based run were thrown out the window and it was just a long, slow slog through the course one mile at a time. This has to be the first time starting mile 4 I just walked through every water stop, gatorade first, then some water and then some water over the head to cool down. That was the routine for 22 miles and it kind of worked. It was hot day, there was no pressure and it was a matter of finishing without needing medical attention … goal accomplished.

Now onto this weekend. It’s exciting and scary. I just realized I’ve never run a 30k trail race. Luckily the course at Walnut Creek park is pretty tame compared to what real trail runners would call a trail so this should be ok for me. I’m sure my more experienced trail running friends are laughing right now as I talk about Walnut Creek as a “trail race”, gotta start somewhere. This year may be the first for me to complete the entire trail series, barring any conflicting work travel. I’m looking forward to the variety the series will add to this summer of running.

Well that’s it, thanks for reading my rambling.

Zero to Sixty in 2.5 Months … Boston Marathon in 3 Days

Looks like I’ve finally managed to get back into somewhat of a training routine over the last couple of months. It’s been a ramp from an 8 mile long run to a couple of 20 mile long runs and now the Boston Marathon in 3 days. I’m pretty pleased with where my fitness is. Starting back up in February I wasn’t sure if I’d manage to run regularly with a new job, moving into a new house, and quite a few other life events. Being confident I can cover the distance is a great stepping stone to get my fitness back to try and run another fast marathon at CIM in December.

So what does Boston 2012 hold for me? I sincerely hope a somewhat comfortable 26.2 miles. This won’t be an all out effort but also not a slow jaunt. If things go as I would like to I’ll come in around 3:15, which is not a sure thing these days. The most important thing is to keep my eye on the prize which is to keep healthy, and recover quickly so I can come out of Monday, keep running regularly to continue to build my base and get a nice 7 month training season for CIM.

The great thing about Boston is … well it’s the Boston Marathon. The course has great support on the route and a unique atmosphere. It’ll be nice to be able to enjoy the event and not get wrapped up with all the nerves of trying to PR. I’m also looking forward to seeing the sea of Rogue singlets and outfits out and about in Boston and during the race. Tracy, Larry, Jim, Asia and everybody else from Rogue heading to Boston … have a great run, you’ve all put in the work and will kick ass.