race recovery planning

Recovery From Racing - YMCA LTR class 2010

You are an experiment of one, but here are some tested tips to avoid injury after a big race or run.

Run, refuel, stretch, shower, and stretch again, and rest. You are what you eat at this point in training so treat yourself to a great meal that fulfills the nutrient and energy expenditures from your effort.

Stairs can me managed by walking them backwards to help sore quadriceps (be careful, and hold that rail!)

Expect that delayed onset swelling and pain can occur after your event. While the typical swelling curve follows a 12-24 hour timeframe from insult, you may see soreness 1-2 days post event that you did not experience previously. RICE

Pain relievers and NSAID anti-inflammatory drugs may provide some initial relief but loose their effectiveness after several days. Pain is a good guide for when you are able to resume activity and how much activity.

Massage a few days after a race, when point tenderness is going away, is a great rehabilitation tool.

If you can stand it after a big run an ice bath will reduce inflammation in the legs, and is proven to help speed recovery. The secret is that the water need not be iced but can be anything below 50 degrees. Remember to wear a sweater and hat, only soak your lower half, and bring a book to keep your mind off the discomfort. Fifteen minutes in the bath is helpful and is better at fighting inflammation than the NSAIDs, and does not stress the kidneys.

For every mile you race you’ll need a day off – initially. You may choose to change this after you develop a significant mileage base.

While it may feel difficult to hold back on your training you should incorporate rest post-event and use cross training that is a pain free activity to fulfill any need you have to exercise. Recall that exercise is what raises metabolism and transports “groceries in, garbage out” so without this metabolic action of housecleaning, you recover more slowly. Get up and get out, regardless of how tired you might feel the week following.

Walking is called active recovery and should be included in your recovery plan to get you feeling better sooner. I like to walk as much as I can after a hard race effort.

In the first weeks after a big race seek to keep your efforts below PE 7 or 75% or your maximum heart rate to allow your body needed rest and to speed recovery. Stay away from hill work or any speed work as well. Re-starting an aggressive program post event can lead to injury.

Prepare for a let down, the post race blues – use this time to plan another project and to resume running soon - but allow for plenty of time to get ready and train. You cannot judge your success as a runner by this race or this program – this is a beginning for your running – with more challenges ahead.

Look at your process goals and the A, B, C goals you planned to see how you did, and while your mind is fresh from the event; note in your training log your race time and what went well and what you want to do better with the next race. You already have you date to begin running again marked on your calendar so why not plan your next race day too?

If you ran a 6.2 mile race, then 6 days after racing go ahead and check your resting heart rate and blood pressure to see if it matches the values measured the week before your race. If the values match and you are not experiencing muscle soreness it is a safe time to gently return to running, keeping in mind the above ideas.

Another chapter in nutrition

Groceries in, garbage out, blood goes round and round…
"Endurance events are eating and drinking contests with some exercise thrown in too" Sunny Blende

We have already had a primer on running nutrition and via handouts you had recently, we looked at race day and race week meals to try in preparation. So now let’s talk about the food pyramid (now known as "my plate", new resource ideas for meals to help your running, salt, iron and regulation of “in’s and out’s” a bit. Your everyday training depends on knowing a bit more about fueling - especially as long runs get longer.

Let’s look at the macro nutrients in greater detail and see what you’ll be fueling yourself with in the coming months as you seek to keep yourself well fueled and injury free in training and attain ideal body type for your event. Running hard and all this training is not a diet program – I have said this many times. Yet you will find that over time your metabolic capacity increases and you are burning a lot of fat on your long runs, when they are done at aerobic pace. Therefore, body composition may actually subtly change even while you are eating a balanced and nutritious diet that feeds your energy level. Pretty cool stuff.

Three primary fuel types and all food from the new food pyramid fits into these neat slots as far as the body is concerned, yet not all foods are created equal. Carbohydrates, Lipids (or fats), and protein are the three types.

Fat: Sometimes a dirty word and thought of as something to avoid and yet, this is the most efficient fuel the body can have at 9Kal/gram, and it does not require the storage of water to be used in the body. We store most foods as glycogen and use it all over the body. Fat during aerobic exercise is converted to fuel and used for any endurance activity because it works but also because you cannot store all of the fuel you need to burn without using this fat. Unsaturated fat from plant products is ideal and not refined or hydrogenated fat is most healthy and burns in the body with fewer bi-products like free radicals.

Protein: Nearly everything of value in the body is built from proteins and this makes them simply too valuable to use a fuel. Skeletal muscle is built from a number of key proteins but even elements for your cell membranes and body hormones are made of protein. Daily intake is required and can be attained from animal and or vegetable sources. These proteins are made of amino acids and your body disassembles proteins it consumes and rebuilds good stuff from these amino acid chains. Several key amino acids are important to attain if we are on any kind of vegetarian or alternative diet. The most important of these amino acid chains is Omega 3.

Carbohydrates: Nearly everything else that is not made of protein or fat or a man made substance is a carbohydrate. Even sugar is a carbohydrate. While many people have profited from special diets that eschew “carbs” they are the body’s essential and most easily used fuel. The average American eats far more of the wrong kinds of carbs than they should, however the body will metabolize carbs the best and with fewer byproducts than any other energy synthesis. The trouble is that we cannot store all of the energy we need this way and so we start the running machine on carbs and efficiently transition mid run to fat metabolism as a fuel source.

What is bonk? You’ll see unprepared runners face bonk or “the wall” during a big event. It can be physically excruciating and mentally dehabilitating. Preparation can prevent this and you just need some understanding of physiology and prior practice to fend it off. Two experts define what this is pretty simply.
Sunny Blende, sports nutritionists writes, “The brain also does not store any glucose – as glycogen, as the muscles do – and is totally dependent on blood glucose for its energy supply. In order to function normally, the brain requires a relatively normal blood glucose level. So what happens to an ultrarunner when he or she is running hours and hours with an increasing demand for glucose? If our ultrarunner does not ingest adequate amounts of carbohydrate (glucose) along the way, hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) sets in. And with prolonged hypoglycemia comes central nervous system fatigue – the progressive shutdown of the part of the brain that drives the muscles. Bad news for attitude and bad news for performance.”

In one of Tim Noakes’s studies from The Lore of Running, he found that two percent of marathoners, six percent of those who ran 50 kms and 11 percent of those who ran 100 kms were hypoglycemic. He cites the symptoms as a “reduced ability to concentrate, a sudden feeling of weakness, and the intense desire to stop running. Typically, the athlete senses the impossibility of completing the race”. Sound familiar? Obviously foods containing glucose would have helped these athletes perform better, but an explanation of the mechanism of action might make this concept easier to understand. Again, Tim Noakes’s studies from The Lore of Running, “The main supplier of glucose into the blood is the liver. This happens directly from its own store of glycogen or indirectly by a process known as gluconeogenesis (the production of glucose by the liver from substances other than carbohydrates, for example, proteins). Training also helps the liver’s ability to produce glucose from circulating blood lactate. However, because the liver is so small compared to the body’s muscle mass and only stores about 250 - 500 calories of glucose, it could never keep up with the muscles’ demand for glucose when exercising hard or long. In a trained athlete, this amounts to three or four hours of running at a moderate pace. And the muscles are prevented from using too much circulating blood glucose in order to protect the brain. Fortunately our body has provided the muscles with other ways of obtaining glucose; namely a good supply stored in its own tissues and the ability to use fat as a source of energy. And remember, the supply stored in the muscles can be doubled if post-exercise carbs were consumed within thirty minutes or so. But even this generous supply will only last about five to six hours. The rate that the liver releases glucose and the muscles take it up during exercise is increased six-fold from a resting state. When tissues increase their rate of usage faster than the liver can produce it, blood levels fall and body function is impaired. In order to prevent brain drain and preserve our mind’s ability to think and strategize effectively in an ultra event, it becomes crucial to ingest carbohydrates during the race. If the muscles become fatigued, the brain will reduce the number of muscle fibers activated and in order to continue running, the ultrarunner will have to slow down. This is the body’s way of surviving. It may limit the runner’s physiological capabilities, but preserve the neurological function of the brain. Exhaustion, in this case, may be defined as a decrease in signals from the brain to the muscles, not a direct change in glycogen levels in the muscles - in other words, central fatigue.”

So the central governor steps in again to save the day and we learn that this phenomenon is preventable if we keep energy reserves up to meet the exertion demands. That requires you to test what kind of carbohydrates will digest easily for you while running. Gatorade, gel packets, bananas, chia seed, PB&J, fruit roll-ups and others have all been tried and many work well as long as they contain some water of their own and you keep your stomach lining wet w. a bit of fluids. Sunny Blende and others suggest that you might be able to train your body to utilize as much as 240 calories per hour while running (you’ll use more than this often, but that’s the breaks). The average gel packet is 100-150 calories each and 12oz of Gatorade is about 90 calories. So you can calculate what you’ll need and try to eat is small amounts spaced along the duration of your run.

Here is a link for some breakfasts with protein (a good time to get it as you metabolism is firing up and you’ll run on this later in the day) I love protein at breakfast because I am less hungry before lunch.


Here is a video with ideas about eating a snack an hour before a run and 3 ideas that each includes a healthy protein.

Here is an article by Mark Bittman and I like the guy for his simple style, ideas that involve less meat, and yet he is still eating right. He includes about 8 recipes in his article and beans given some attention as the powerhouse food they really are.
There are also links to some Mark Bittner food ideas on our face book site and as someone pointed out - he has started blogging for Runners World. Thanks Lori!

This link allows you to build menus by type and fulfill all the key nutrients in the process – it is free, but you have to register

This link lists what is in the meat and beans group and why you need it – along with a list of foods that will hold off anemia, or the low red cell count that gives rise to lethargy, low oxygenation and poor running performance.

Runners and athletes would want as many red blood cells (RBCs) as possible for best oxygen transport to your muscles. Recall that from a previous lesson that Coach Joe Vigil feels that many athletes, especially female athletes, need to monitor their bodies for signs of low iron or possible anemia. A normal range score of 37-43% RBC for hemocrit scores should be what you are expecting and a runner would be interested in being on the high end of this score for better oxygen carrying capacity. You can have your doctor test this blood value and including lean meat and beans in your diet helps fend off iron deficiency.

The Average American consumes approximately 3.6 grams of salt daily and current federal guidelines for sodium intake is 2.3 grams per day. The American Heart Association recommends 2 grams. What many folks miss at the cellular level is that both sodium and potassium are the two ions that your body uses every second of the day. While it is relatively simple to get your daily supply of sodium some folks do not get enough Potassium and you need 4.7 grams daily in order to function optimally. Having the optimum ratio of these elements lowers the incidence of cardiovascular disease and allows optimal membrane potential at the cellular level. Bananas, peaches, prunes, apricots, honeydew melon or cantaloupe, and OJ all contain good sources of potassium as well as whole grains, beans and many fresh meats.

Blood sodium must be maintained at a level of 135mmol/L and this value is typically easy to maintain without any dietary changes. For runners, the complication comes when someone would be running or walking slowly for a long time, while consuming a lot of water. This can create a condition called hyponatremia. While the article Responsible Drinking on the Trail (Dr. M Hoffman, Ultrarunning, March 2010) states that this condition has been responsible for five fatalities in the US and UK they also write that 30% of the runners at 2009 Western States 100 mile run, who participated in the author’s research, were positive for signs of hyponatremia.

For runners, hyponatremia means low salt. We lose salt in sweating and we can (with great effort) dilute the amount of salt that we have in our bodies by consuming large amounts of water. When you have a lot of water and not enough salt in the body, fluids begin to shift in your system and the results can be catastrophic and life threatening. You need not have a complete class in physiology to get a handle on how this works though. If you are sweating a lot, out for a long time, and throwing in the water as you go – then you need to keep your eye open for crucial signs of what is sometimes call ‘water intoxication”.

Dr. Hoffman list a number of Danger signs: [additions mine] “Your body would not lose the 2% of its weight you would expect on your longest run but would stay the same weight or gain weight during the run. Your body’s water is changing location and you’ll see swelling, [all over], but especially hands, feet, face – [rings and shoes may be tight.] You would see mental status changes as fluid causes brain cells to swell too. [This would look like stumble; mumble, fumble and you would have to look at their other symptoms to ensure you did not think - dehydration. Recall that people call this condition water intoxication because of the mental status changes you see in people.] This person may also feel sick, [feel nausea and be sloshing from all the water they are hauling in their stomach. Urine output would be beyond the “clear, constant and copious” realm that we expect in hydrated folks as the kidney are now doing all they can to solve a fluid overload condition.] This is an emergency medical condition that requires immediate attention and complications can include kidney failure.” [They need medical intervention and you take them off of water while you get them help.]

On a slight tangent but related to your groceries in garbage out theme, comes a question from a runner to the sports nutritionist at Runners World – you can view this online but I included the copy here as it relates to nutrition and is such a good question.

“Over the past couple of months, I've been having to go "number 2" during most of my morning runs. I used to be able to go before my runs without much of an issue. Now I try to go but nothing happens. I eat a healthy diet, for the most part, with fruits and veggies, and get about 30 grams of fiber each day; drink 60 to 70 ounces of water; and seem to get the right amounts of calories (2,500), carbs (60 to 70%) and proteins (100 grams per day). I run about 35 miles a week and I am 5'10" and 155 pounds. Am I just eating too much? Any suggestions? – Joseph”

Joseph, a few observations:
“You say you eat lots of fruits and vegetables and 30 grams of fiber per day. Certain fibers are more helpful with laxation, such as bran-type cereals. In addition, consider swapping one of your fresh fruit choices for four or five dried plums, especially at night before bed.
The recommended fluid intake for adult men is 125 ounces per day, at rest, and more for exercise, so if you are consuming 30 grams of fiber and not enough fluid, that may also be part of the problem; consider increasing your liquids intake.
And based on your diet breakdown (60 to 70% carbs, or 375 to 437 grams per day, and protein at 100 grams per day) your diet may be too low in fat. Fat is important as a lubricant. So you may want to cut the carbs slightly and increase the fat, through nuts and nut butter, or olive oil on those vegetables, or guacamole.
Last but not least: Before bedtime, try a small bowl of All-Bran, Bran Buds, or Fiber One with a few dried plums and 2 tablespoons of nuts. Make sure you have a large glass of water (about 16 ounces) with this.
Hopefully this will get you back to running your route, and not to the bathroom!”
Leslie

Have a question for Leslie? E-mail her. (Please write "Ask the Sports Dietitian" in the subject line.) NOTE: Due to the volume of mail, we regret that Leslie cannot answer every e-mail.
And check out Leslie's newest book, Sports Nutrition for Coaches, on sale now.

The item that I would say Leslie neglected to mention is something called the gastrocolic reflex. We all have this, but many choose to not tune into it. Once our runner, Joseph tries Leslie’s suggestions he will not be able to ignore it! Each day your gastrointestinal system sort of “wakes up” and contracts in a mechanical wave that we call peristalsis and this reflex occurs when food or fluid (often warm coffee or tea) first comes into the stomach. When you listen to your body, you’ll feel this occur and you can sit down to have a bowel movement right away, because your body has this preparatory reflex for a purpose. Following this hint from your gut will train your bowel to go before your run (or your race) and save you a great deal of anxiety along with improving your quality of life. Laugh, because it is good to do so – but then try it because it works.

I’ll have a few handout ideas for you regarding micro meal scheduling and training meals. Additionally, I will be reading a new book this year on nutrition and I encourage you to as well – it sounds great. Matt Fitzgerald’s Racing Weight – How to Get Lean for Peak Performance. There is very little on this subject currently and this work has already seen high acclaim from coaches in our sport, check it out.

Runner Question Answered

I received a question the other day that was a really good one and thus I wanted to take the opportunity to answer this one as an additional post. Perhaps others have this same question and may be able to gain insight about training. The question was something like this; “If I can run 27 minutes now, but it still takes me a few minutes to run a big hill – where should I put by emphasis in training? Should I be running hills or focused on my progress toward thirty minutes and worry about the hill later? I feel like, when I am on the flat I can run non-stop and do well, yet I still need to slow down and even walk a hill sometimes. Is this OK and what should I be doing about it?

Here is the big picture answer: for now, you need to be OK with walking the hill and continuing to slowly enhance your endurance. Now here is the why to that answer, because I would not be teaching a running class if I did not think that the runner needs to know and understand why we train the way we do.

Training on hills is it’s own class content. They are tough and require a few new form techniques and a lot of patience. The whole idea with hills is to adapt to them slowly, just like you do running long distances. We started walking before we ran and we’ll start hills by walking them or by proceeding up them with equal effort NOT equal speed. That is to say that if your run is a (perceived effort rating) of 4-5, so that you can talk and sing while running, the run is about half of your total output. Remember that these runs are 70-80% of your total running volume or training. Your heart rate (easy to measure if you have a watch or a heart monitor) would be at about 60% of your output with these workouts. If you use the Maffetone method to calculate this heart rate number, I want to run at 180, minus my age (42) = 138 beats/minute.

So when I run along I want to stay at around 138 bpm, and that should be about a perceived effort of 4-5. When the hill comes, I want to head up the hill at that same effort, which means that for now, speed will change. I will slow down to keep a 138 heart rate and a PE of 4-5. Over time I will adapt – just like I adapted to being able to run farther – so that I can run the hill, or head uphill faster using the same amount of effort.

For great coaches like Arthur Lydiard, hills were considered to be the athlete’s weight room. Alberto Salazar and Jeff Galloway will tell you that running hills is equal in effort to doing speed work. Which means, don’t overdo it. All these coaches will agree that hills will make you faster, for several reasons. You develop new muscle definition in your legs for hill work, your body adapts to higher workloads, and you gain confidence that you can crush any terrain you train to conquer.

There are a ton of great reasons to train on hills but we have to be smart about it as well. To run up the hill early on is no different that seeking to run too fast initially in your program. You risk too high a heart rate, not having the where-with-all to continue running once your reach the top, being injured from the effort or being a bore from “overtraining syndrome”. Will all of this happen to you the first time you run up a hill? No. But you do need to consider that if it feels like a huge effort, than it probably is, and that our program is based around gradual attainment of limitless endurance in a near tireless state. While that seems a lofty goal, recall how far you have come so far, by proceeding gradually. If you are not injured or discouraged, then you’ll continue to develop and push yourself and we have time for that a bit later.

Know that I have participants who run to church – 7 miles each way, and some of it up hill. My personal distance record is 42 miles from Elkins to Buckhannon and back, but I still walked once in awhile. Yes, I enjoyed nearly every minute of it. Everyone who has ever run an ultramarathon (any distance over 26.2 miles) will tell you that no matter how much you train, walking remains part of your event sometimes – especially to eat, drink, or when the terrain becomes too steep, as to steal your energy for the rest of your event.

Running well is about pacing yourself and knowing when to push and when to hold the pace. After many weeks of running hills, and after you can run 30 minutes continuously, you’ll know when you can push up the hill a bit without overdoing it, and your body will tell you also; in respiration rate and heart rate. Listen to what it tells you and ease into hill just as you do your running. So start some hills now – sooner rather than later – and walk what you need to. Even at a walk you are building adaptations for this type of terrain, but remain a smart and thinking runner when you tackle these challenges and we’ll talk more about hill (up and down) in an upcoming class.

Keep at it, Carl

Nutrition supplement (hah!)

As a followup to nutrition I thought that I would post a link to an article discussing Chris Carmichael's coaching of Lance Armstrong. While many have their own opinions about this cyclist it is difficult to argue that he has received world class coaching over the years and his buddy Chris makes a great living doling out sound advice.
That said he is promoting a new book on nutrition and this author reviews some key concepts from this new work. Note the periodization is employed, just as we use this technique for training load and to build a runner toward a peak of training. Also note that the article sites several mini meals that are nutrient dense. Many of these suggestions will even stay down during a run (although I doubt I could eat a bowl of cereal while running, I have enjoyed a bagel and banana on the fly). Take this article as a good supplement and insight toward new nutrition/training tools.

http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-242-301--6686-0,00.html?cm_mmc=nutrition-_-2010_06_10-_-nutrition-_-DIET%3a%20Performance%20Fuel

Pace and Running Form

Pace and running form is a big conversation that we'll approach in parts - so sit down with tea and a biscuit and take this in - but realize that there will not be a test after wards. We'll revisit this as we go and emphasize various parts along the way. If you can take two of thee concepts out of each run and seek to instill them into your running - you will run longer and more easily.

Train your self, not by yourself. You deserve company and the shared effort makes the time pass, as well as enriching your run. But your training has no competitors, it’s your training. Besides, you’ll quickly discover that we all respond differently to this type of training and each person needs their own pace/space to do that. While we are striving to run a race at the end of this training cycle, you should remember that it is a training cycle. What do I mean by that? I mean that you should set up your training so that you love training for training’s sake or running for running sake (I know you do not love racing yet, and maybe you will or will not love racing). We are going to make running a practice for you and to define this I quote Danny Dryer, “If you see running as only as sport, you’re limiting yourself to getting only the physical benefits. Making an activity a practice is a process of self mastery. You are no longer simply practicing that activity; you use it to learn about, understand, and master yourself as well as the activity.” That idea will make you better at nearly anything and it is the way people benefit from meditation, learn a new vocation, or tackle the largest of personal goals. While learning to run will be far from the largest accomplishment you ever achieve – I’d argue along with Mr. Dryer that you stand to lean more than how to keep yourself fit and get ready for a race - if you make your running a practice.

So if we are going to tackle some understanding of pacing and running technique we need to begin with what adapts first in our bodies to running.

Cardio system – in charge of keeping you going it is very versatile and will keep rising to the challenge if you apply changes at an appropriate pace so that it can keep up.

What next? Muscle systems: all of those supporting and accessory muscles will be adapting and with your strengthening and stretching program this happens even faster - just lift two days a week and stretch at least as many days as you run.

What next? Tendons, ligaments and connective tissue adapt the slowest. Keep in mind that this tissue does not get the same blood supply as other parts of your body and while tendons and ligaments are very strong, some of us have firsthand knowledge of how long they take to heal. These tissues need the longest to adapt to any sport, including running, so take your time.

Pace is relative from one runner to the next but pace can tell us a lot about your individual achievements and adaptations as time goes by. It can also tell us a lot about over training, fatigue, or where and when that injury began. Hey, sometimes we learn via hindsight but I hope that you and I can use your training notes to put together a picture of how you are progressing rather than looking back to identify your injury. We want to be proactive.
For all the work you are doing you deserve good notes.
· Writing down a few things about what went well and what didn’t allows you to learn over time what works best for you.
· This same record is a confidence building tool that verifies you are in fact improving and putting in the work.
· Keeping your times and distances as you progress in your training allows you to evaluate progress quantitatively and keeps you from going too fast or over training.
· If you can justify the cost (they are now in the range of $70-$200) a heart monitor is also a great gift/tool for self evaluation that will keep you from running yourself too hard.

If you vary your routes from a list of good ones you can avoid boredom and see new places. Varying routes makes you a stronger runner by varying terrain also. Over time this will make you faster too. You may always ask runners for new routes and good ones to add to your list. Some of our class has already started using a map program online to chart and share routes; allowing you to find new places to run. I am adding additional routes to a website called walkjogrun which is listed on the site as a smartphone compatible product but it also works on your desktop or other device and you can make routes without using your car (the old school method is to drive or bike the route, just to get the distance.) New routes can be motivating and will help you vary your training and pace over time.

Warm up – even if it is only a minute you need to allow the joints and muscles to get moving slowly. Walk 3-5 minutes before your workout or if you cannot do this at least run very slowly for the first 3-5 minutes of you workout and get the groove going. I like my route to start a few blocks from the house and this makes me walk a few minutes before I start running. You also can begin thinking about the pace, goal, technique you’ll use to get it all accomplished.

Your pace should be at a rate which allows you to relax. If you are not relaxed it will be difficult to run with clean, efficient form. Exercise is tough enough, right? So make sure that you travel slowly enough that you can think about technique and begin to relax into that technique. People often think that they need to travel at a particular speed in order to call it running and you will see that we are more concerned about your heart rate and level of perceived effort than your actual ground speed. Of course, heart rate and level of perceived effort are very personalized and that is where you come into the training plan process to really make it work. I can help you plan workouts but you are the speedometer for them and the final say (refer to – “you are an experiment of one”.)
Here are a few things to think about that save energy for each run.

You are headed in a particular direction and we want as many of your body parts as possible headed in that same direction you are traveling. Sounds simple but many of us have varying alignments. So from the top:
Your head should be upright and you can easily see out to the horizon. Think about a long spine and the back of your neck being long as well so that when you take a breath, it goes straight into your lungs. Relax your neck and shoulders by breathing rhymic-ly & deeply.
Please take not of this rhythm and tune into it because over time you will notice that it changes and this breathing rhythm will alter as soon as your pace does. Every engine needs air. Keep your eyes on the horizon and imagine the back of your neck being long and straight. This relaxes shoulders and opens the airway giving all the air a straight route to where it is needed.

Arms should swing naturally and swing straight ahead and back. Do not cross your body with your arms. Smile occasionally to relax neck and shoulders (folks will wonder what you’re up to.) Hands are loose and relaxed, form “O’s” if you need to.
When we get to your hips, think about your pelvis being level and parallel with the ground. What I mean by this is that your standing posture may show a tendency to tilt your hips either forward or back but if you stand up straight and tall you can align the pelvis so that the top of its “bowl” is not tipped fore or aft. In order for this to happen your knees will be very slightly bent and your ankles will be very slightly flexed. You want to ease any strain on your back and allow for easy breathing, again – relax.
Stand up for a minute and while standing straight and tall, close your eyes, now jump up in the air with a little hop and as you land on the ground – freeze. This frozen posture that you land in, is a balanced position (if you fell over just now, you were not balanced and will need to repeat the experiment, sorry) this is a very good basic stance for running.
Another thought on posture. If you are standing still in a balance way as we have discussed above, can you see the tops of your feet? If not you may have your hips too far forward, or ankles flexed too much. Try to have that body all centered over your feet and yet a little flexed. We will demonstrate some of this posture in seminar.
Seek to not land on a straightened leg when you travel down to road, have this flexed knee that you experienced a minute ago. Flex the ankles as well so that you are flowing a bit.

Are you using all of your energy to move forward? Look at the horizon and see if it bounces – it should not. Keep feet low and smoothly moving forward to stop upward travel or change it to forward travel. Arms, feet, knees and other body parts should all be moving forward as best as you are able, so practice this and have a friend look at your running form. Moving economically is all about technique, moving slowly enough to practice and to stay relaxed and it gets easier the more you try it.

We use our lower legs to catch us from falling forward. DO NOT push off the ground with calves and toes while running as this will cause injuries to shins, calves, Achilles tendons and possibly elsewhere. No running on your tip-toes – even when going uphill keep feet are landing smoothly and flat. Think about picking up your heels, peeling them up from off the road starting at the back and finishing towards the toe.

Most of us land on our heels and knees should be bent. Do not take a large or unnaturally big step but think about your feet landing right underneath you or just slightly in front of you. Stand up straight or with a very slight forward lean. Your feet should land on the ground quietly and as you listen for your breathing see if you can hear you feet as well. The elite runners run faster because their “turn-over” is 2-3x what ours is. They do not have a longer stride necessarily but their feet strike the ground 3x more often in a minute than ours. When you hear them go by at that pace it sounds like typing, pitter pat, pitter pat, very quiet.

Now for the effort part – we want to get you a workout and start the cardio system on adapting but we balance that with moving slowly enough to practice technique and to stay relaxed.

Heart rate: You can take your pulse in the morning before getting out of bed to determine your resting heart rate in beats per minute. Use the artery in your wrist or neck (just beside your windpipe) and quietly count for 30 seconds and multiply by 2.

The traditional formula from your book: Your maximum heart rate (MHR) will be 220 minus your age = MHR seeks to never exceed this number.
Your MHR X .60 gives you your training level for 60% effort.
Your MHR x .95 gives you the 95% effort number; the highest heart rate you would reach in race conditions.
Most of our training builds endurance to get us to race distance and so we train at 65-85% of our MHR. This is aerobic training and is the type that offers infinite improvement physiologically.
Your text refers to another way to calculate your heart rate that is slightly different than the old standard which will give you a little higher overall allowable rate see page 112 for the Karvonen formula – there are many ways to calculate but what if you do not have a monitor to track your heart rate? Believe it or not – most pro athletes start the season with a monitor and once the tune into where they are at for the season they leave it at home because they are so good at sensing “perceived effort”.
Perceived effort (PE) is the feeling of “how much of my total energy is being spent running right now?” or how close is this to the fastest I can go (100% effort)

Easy pace= 65-70% PE you can have a complete conversation, feels like a 3-4 on a 10 scale of effort, you may run 3 strides per inhale, 3 strides per exhale

Aerobic pace=75-85% PE you can still speak in sentences, feels like a 5-6 effort on a 10 scale, 2 inhale or 2 inhale-1 exhale per 3 strides. Some call this tempo pace.

Threshold pace= 88-92% PE you - speak a –few-words-at a- time, feels like a 7-8 hard effort, breathing in & out on every stride. Some call this interval pace – you cannot hold this one for very long.

If you feel the need to run faster during a workout save it for the second half of your run. Running the second 50% slightly faster is know as a negative split or a progression run and trains the body for race day by building endurance. If you start out faster in the first half of your run and then tire…you teach the body to slow down instead. Better still, for 90% of your workouts (we’ll talk about speed workouts in a few months) start at the pace you plan to finish at, which means keep a slow steady rhythm that reflects that PE 3-4 or 65-70% or your target heart rate. You’ll not only enjoy the run more but you’ll feel more like you could run the next day.

Most programs wait 8 weeks before adding any hill repeats or speed work on the track – it is better and OK to seek to run negative splits during runs as an easy endurance builder. First you develop a running form that feels natural to you – speed work will later cause your body to subtly improve upon that form.

Aerobic training – the athlete can infinitely develop their potential in this area – it is not yet known what a human’s maximum oxygen handling capacity is… and a number of coaching experts agree that this is the zone where you should spend the majority of your time. The only trouble is that is can be easy to creep out of this zone and into the anaerobic zone without knowing it. Pay attention to your pace, your breathing rhythm and what it “feels like” in terms of perceived effort so that you do not wear yourself down prematurely.

Anaerobic training – the ability to perform work under oxygen deficit - this ability is finite and can only be developed to a point. Training at your near maximum heart rate, at or above threshold pace is anaerobic training. “running—so fast—that—you can—hardly—speak—might—vomit…” is an anaerobic pace and will leave you feeling wasted for your next run.

Here is another great tool that you should consider as a conservative means to keep yourself in the aerobic zone & you’ll need to be A) serious enough to really want to improve – as it requires restraint B) you’ll need a heart monitor and the ability to use grade school math.
from philmaffetone.com
The 180 Formula

To find your maximum aerobic heart rate:

1. Subtract your age from 180 (180 - age).
2. Modify this number by selecting one of the following categories:
1. If you have or are recovering from a major illness (heart disease, any operation, any hospital stay) or on any regular medication, subtract 10.
2. If you have not exercised before, you have exercised but have been injured or are regressing in your running, subtract 5.
3. If you have been exercising for up to two years with no real problems and have not had colds or flu more than once or twice a year, subtract 0.
4. If you have been exercising for more than two years without any problems, making progress in competition without injury, add 5.

For example, if you are 30 years old and reasonably fit you would fall into category 2c: 180 - 30 = 150.This is your maximum aerobic heart rate for base training. For efficient base building, you should train at or below this level throughout your base period. [In this example 150 would be the runners 3-4 pace and the bulk of all their running.]

Why does Dr. Maffetone say this, and why is his number so low - even lower than the traditional method? Less is more. You need to feel motivated to run on the day that you do and over training by going too far, too fast, running somebody else’s pace, running too many days can really leave you unprepared for a good effort on your training day. Dr. Maffetone argues that many of us inadvertently train some in the anaerobic zone, feel stronger or faster than we really are and then fade due to aerobic deficiency syndrome. Dr. Maffetone gives a great analogy for steady progress in your cardio development in his book The Maffetone Method. [If you are] “jogging one mile at a heart rate of 140 bpm, initially in 12 minutes…a month later the same one mile jog at the same rate takes 11.5 minutes; two months later, 10.5 minutes; and three months later, 10 minutes. This would indicate good progress and also implies increased fat burning.” This allows development of your aerobic system and avoids the tendency to go out and try to overdevelop the anaerobic system. Many great coaches have suggested similar strategies but Dr. Maffetone has a great formula to keep you honest and measure the results. I like that for a lot of reasons, our culture thinks that if you’re not out dusting the competition you’re not running fast enough. This is slow, steady, phenomenal progress in cardiac capability and efficiency and will make your daily running seem effortless in the long run.

From another great coach – sometime called the father of jogging, and guide to more Olympic athletes than any other in history, “A distance runner employing a moderate work rate, can get enough oxygen to economically burn fat & glycogen. This enables ATP (adenosine triphosphate) to be rebuilt as fast as it is being used and the trained runner, working aerobically, can continue for several hours – in the case of the elite ultra runner, for day after day of steady aerobic output.
What happens when the runner sprints or shifts his work-rate into the anaerobic phase is that oxygen is no longer absorbed fast enough for the fat & glycogen breakdown. The body will then cheat & break down glycogen without oxygen.” Arthur Lydiard

By using a reasonable pace to develop aerobic capacity and refine good running form you will see gains faster. It is not a fast process, but it is faster in the sense that you will remain uninjured and have the capacity to maintain steady progress. Your running economy is as important as good fitness toward making you a faster more effortless runner. That said, we try to go farther before faster and the father of running states “why” best.

“Most people never realize what their potential is or understand the simple truth that it is based upon their ability to assimilate, transport and use oxygen. If we can appreciate that and then improve that ability, we lay a better foundation on which to build the technical skills and reach a tireless physical & mental state in which we can employ those skills & techniques much better and much longer” Arthur Lydiard

"Try to run each day in such a way that you would want to run again the next day…"

Stretching and Strength training part one

A few thoughts about stretching and strength training

All of our bodies have imbalances – this is normal. Most of the time you never notice what is commonly a very slight asymmetry in the body or your posture. Starting a new sport, any new sport, will often bring the asymmetry to your attention. Stretching and strengthening is an opportunity to isolate and modify our natural imbalances that could bring about a long term strain or injury. Many of us run on one side of the road for miles and miles and never notice an imbalance that might result from the slope of the road crown or shoulder.

I have a different story that is a more extreme example. As a raft guide I sat in the back right corner of the boat and spent days paddling six guests down the river. One side of my lower back is much stronger as a result and that was very clear to me when I started running further. My buddy has a lesser example, his chiropractor told him he needed to take his wallet out of his back pocket, because the 4” of credit cards and dinner receipts and whatever else was in there was giving him an asymmetry. Sometimes we know what causes these slight changes and sometimes we do not. They can be subtle or extreme but I’ll bet we all have one, and I’ll bet again that a few of us will have our running bring it to our attention. You’ll hear me say it often that you need to listen carefully to your body and this type of issue need not alarm you if you are a careful monitor. My back had a talk with me slowly and in a “tap, tap” you on the shoulder kind of way. That is when I went to strength training and gently corrected the problem. Before you go out to take the chainsaw safety course they sharpen the chainsaw for you, they know you’ll have a much better experience with a sharp saw.

Stretching and strength training are a quick way to get under your own hood and make sure everything is shored up and aligned a bit before starting this big journey. And when I go on a long drive for summer vacation I do not take the whole car apart to make sure it works! I just check a bit, kick the tires and noodle with the simple stuff and that is what we are doing here too.

Here are a number of the key stretches that you will want to perform after a run, while muscles are still warm. Your text has a number of stretches and you can experiment with a number of them and others to get better results. We will practice one of these after every group run so that you can see them in action. Which stretches should I choose or which ones should you do? I think that keeping a short list, that works for your level of flexibility, and that you’ll actually complete are the best ones to do. We’ll show you a short list of favorites that are a good gentle start and work both flexion and extension related to key areas of your running movements. I realize that all of us are busy but I need you to make time to stretch. If it came down to you needing to shorten your run by 8 minutes in order to find time to stretch – then do that. But often you can read, watch TV or see you kid play while you use ten minutes to mitigate injury in your training day and longer looser muscles recover more quickly. You’ll feel better and recover faster with just these and can always expand your routine as you progress.

Some tips: Try to visualize a good race and what went well mid-run while you stretch Get a slight stretch and increase it over weeks if you can

Tension should subside as you hold a stretch, feel the muscle relax

Breathe deeply and naturally while stretching, from your diaphragm (belly) DO NOT bounce

Many stretches can be enhanced by trying them in an expanded range or movement, try it gently and think about taking the calf stretch and then moving your knee to the right or left slightly to stretch a different part of the muscle gently

Think about the area being stretched, this is a nourishing activity

Stretch warm muscles, and only after activity – if you are already warm form a walk or another type of workout you can even stretch on days that you do not run

Stretching enhances recovery, oxygen and glycogen uptake and leaves you ready to run again

try to visualize a good race and what went well mid-run while you stretch – this bears repeating…

Additionally, I will recommend a few key drills to strengthen your key muscles used in running. Again, I realize that you are busy and some will say that they cannot find the time, while others will say they do not want to be a body builder. We will not add any mass to your frame with these drills, only muscle definition. The most important thing is that we support your running by giving you structural support and exercising tissue that does not see activity any other way. This type of weight lifting is quick and intended to be injury prevention for what we ask your body to do. By including a non-impact form of exercise in your conditioning we also stimulate a recovery response for your body and continue to build your metabolic rate without increased mileage or wear on your legs.

So that I do not make any assumptions; a set is a group of repetitions with weights and a repetition (rep) is a single lift of the weight. You will be doing just a single set and we’ll start with a small number of reps and slowly build to a number of 15 or less. The key to making this work is that you will use a weight that is heavy enough that the last few reps will be difficult to complete. But the weight should not be so heavy that you cannot correctly perform the exercise, because form is most important. Use the pictures in your book and a mirror at the fitness center to help you learn clean form for each exercise. You will notice that most of these do not require a weight room either so you can do them at home and save time for other things (like stretching). Several great drills for strength in your core include drills such as plank and superman which are isometric exercises and so you’ll hold them until failure, record your time and then add 5 seconds to that time each week as a goal. I would tell you that for best results strength training would be done 3 times weekly, however those three day a week folks only saw 5-10% improvement over those who strength train 2 days a week. Since you are already busy with running and stretching, I feel two days is sufficient and achieve our goal of a balanced body that is buffered from injury.

Remember: use enough weight that last few reps are challenging but you maintain form
every strength session makes your run miles more fluidly and easily
lean muscle mass deflects impact from joint structures which are less regenerative
an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure