Paris Marathon : Update 01

Hi Folks,

special welcome to all of you involved in spring marathons in 2011. How is your perspective ? Does it still seem a good idea ? Are you managing to train through one of the more severe winters western Europe has seen for some time ? Here's my stats to 31st Jan.

Training started with base volume on 15th November. Since then we have the following training "in the bank" :

 That's over 600k of running distance and 52 running hours. Last year the total distance run in preparation for the Barcelona marathon was 1000k so this looks right on course.

This year I'm feeling much more fatigue than last year - in part due to a very hectic start of the year at work and also due to keeping going with the swim and run elements. I actually feel I'm progressing better on my bike than on my running. Today was the inevitable Sunday long run and I notice that the training plan is scheduling a tempo run each Saturday - so yesterday was 24m at threshold pace. I don't seem to be able to recover from that workout to be fresh for the long run. The 26k in 2h10m today was in the right pace zone but it seemed tough going. Actually I have to tell you about a podcast that's new to me : Phedippidations by "Steve Runner". The episode on the link was very special and I commend all of you to download or subscribe (for free) on iTunes. If you have long runs for marathons or half-marathons then please check this podcast out.

I have entered the Stirling Duathlon on 27th March (10k-40k-5k) and am looking forward to that. I don't feel I can treat it as an "A" race as an injury would be unthinkable with 2 weeks to Paris - but I am keen to hit the road on the bike rather than the trainer workouts. The guys from the local tri club will be there in force so that will be fun. Need to get accommodation booked.

A few "late-homes" this week gobbled-up Weds, Thurs and Friday runs - I was somewhat selfish and swam on Thursday morning - arriving late for work. But I'm glad I did & I don't think my boss will begrudge me ! This is the worst week I've had for dropping workouts - but you gotta eat : right ?

From late Feb to 1st May there are endless possibilities for the marathoner :

• Tokyo
• Barcelona
• Rome
• Tel Aviv
• Paris
• Milan
• Antwerp
• Vienna
• Zurich
• Madrid
• Boston
• London

If some of these capture your imagination you can make this happen for you in 2012 : Olympic year. Which reminds me if you are thinking of visiting any of the Olympic venues in 2012 tickets are on sale from 15th March (& briefly). Follow this link (Olympic Tickets).

So where are we in my very public quest for 3h in Paris ? Not quite in the right place I think. Training this year seems much more of a hassle and my recovery from workouts seems slower. The races I selected as "tests" for my pace were both cancelled (snow) and I'm just not sure how this is going. The thought of the race in 9 weeks and spending the time with my sister is really exciting (I sent my medical form this week - Paris asks you to get a GP to sign you off as "fit" enough to enter the race).

Perhaps it's just a spell of "mid-training blues". Or perhaps not enough sleep ? I'm not sure. Days here in the northern hemisphere are gathering pace so that will help and I'm sure 5 weeks from now the whole thing will seem much more "possible". We have the travel tickets booked and will travel on Eurostar - a high speed train from London to Paris but that's assuming the increasingly dreadful British Airways can get me from Glasgow to London. My sister is planning the stuff we do when we get there so loads of new experiences and much to look forward to. Given that I'm not injured, that Tesco paid most the fares (via Airmiles - thanks very much) & I've avoided flu this winter so far I am really really lucky. I think the problem is the 3H. So perhaps I need to think of ...finishing 1st, PB's 2nd and 3H's if all goes extra-ordinarily well (and the course is downhill).

There's a few folk on Athlinks training for Paris so I've left messages and let's see where they are in all this. And what about you ? Boston and London are so close in time to this race - are you feeling "on top" and "where you want to be" - leave a comment and let us know. Have a great week.

A life-changing meeting

On Friday I first met my grandson. It is a few precious moments I will remember for the rest of my life. Some 45+ years after my own birth in the last century there exists a person who has every chance to glimpse life in the next century. A new life - a blank canvas of potential and possibility. It was an arresting and deeply moving experience with all manner of chaos in my mind - a whirling infinity of practicalities and emotions. Yet there he was - oblivious to any of my concerns and fears, utterly helpless, yet somehow commanding our universe  - giving my own son a smile that would instantly melt any heart. A 100% pure, complete and honest-to-God miracle. This poem by poetrywriter191 gets close to the mark ...

Welcome to the world and to our family,
May your life be filled with love

In everything you see.

You have a precious mother

Who will give you love and tender care.

Your father looked so proud of you

As you peacefully slept there.

He too was our first child,

Not so many years ago.

And we're not ashamed to tell you

How we loved him so.

May your life be filled with laughter,

And always wear a smile,

For we're only on this earth

For just a little while.

So as you grow from baby to toddler,

From boyhood to man,

We'll always remember the first time

We saw you...love from your

Grandad and your nan.

What are you at such a moment of meeting ? What prepares you for this new relationship and what will unfold ? The Emailed pictures are as nothing compared to the reality. The love and stability in this new young family is simply inspiring. The maturity and care my son shows is moving. Instant bonds are made - deep ties created that you know, no matter what, will never break. There has been a sudden immediate time-flip, former roles broken and new identities and responsibilities beckon. A new future is unfolding. But in the days and years ahead we will always be there for you Dylan and after today I have a renewed and profound sense of what is truly important.   

 

Athlinks - Stuff You Should Use 01

Athlinks

Say What ? OK in 25 words or less...

Athlinks keeps all your race results in one place, allows you to post planned races on-line and enables you to keep intouch with other athletes. It's easy and free. It links with FaceBook and Twitter.

Your racing history can be tracked with the click of a mouse ...

So what do you do ?

1. Go to Athlinks.Com & Sign Up (very easy and very free)
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   2. Give yourself a profile (upload a photo)  ....
   
   
   
   
   
   3. Check out what results are already registered in the Athlinks.Com database. You can be very lucky and find that your races have already been registered by someone else. In that case it really easy. Lets say your name is "David Warden"... so type David Warden in here (the box at the top of the home page) ....
   
   
   
   
   
   Athlinks then provides all the data it has on David Warden as follows ...
   
   
   
   
   
   Unless you are the only David Warden on the planet then it's possible that not all these results refer to you. But if you do see a result you recognize then "claim" it using the blue link on the right (see above). This enables you to build up your result history. 
   Suppose then that you have taken part in a race not registered in Athlinks so far ? If you are outside the US that's quite possible and the smaller the event the more likely you are to be the 1st to register it. Anyway it's easy to do. So lets do that ... lets add the 2005 MacQueen Bros Mid Argyll Sprint Triathlon....
   
   
                                                                      On the top right of the home page is an invitation to "add a race" . The blue arrow is pointing this out. Click on that.... 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   ...then up comes this screen shot offering you the ability to search the Athlinks database to find your race.
   
   
   
   
   
   Type in the date and location of your race, then click "search" - the dialogue box tells us that Athlinks does not have a match for this event. So click on "Add Race". This brings up the 2nd step where you get the chance to tell Athlinks the race name, location and website address. So fill in the empty boxes below ...
   
   
   
   
   
   You'll notice it's picked up information from earlier so this is pretty fast. You also don't need the race director's name, the time or special instructions most of the time. The critical bit is the website address and the formal event name. Next we're asked what type of event this is : select this from the drop down box : In our case that's Triathlon/Multisport.
   
   
   Now Athlinks is going to ask you some details about the event and where they can find the race results. So it's a good idea to have the race website windows open in the background to cut & paste. Here's what it looks like ...
   
   
   
   
   
   With triathlon you can take the option to build the course (swim, bike, run) distances. Add the url link for the web location where your results can be found. Tick the box to denote that your results are at that location and finally confirm that the race organizers spelled your name correctly. If they didn't you can use this box to spell your name as it appears on the results list. Click "Save Course". This logs your request and this box appears...
   
   
   
   
   
   Give the guys and gals at Athlinks a few days & simply type your name into the "Type your name here to find your results box" on the home page. Simples.  So having done all that what then ? Well you can 
   
   add your planned races in exactly the same way as above (via the "Add a Race" route) and these future events get logged on your profile page ... but more than that. You get to add some information on your goal times, what you hope to get from the race etc etc. Athlinks also searches for other members who might be also registered for the event and allows you contact them - "send them some love". And more ... all your registered friends get notified that you're competing - so they get a prompt about what you're up to. Then you can set up "Friends" and "Rivals" and track them - and this is very powerful as you are able to call up their splits from each of their races.
   
   
   The Athlinks "Rivals" section is particulary interesting. You are able to search through all the database to find people (whom you may not know) that you have raced against maybe twice or more. If they are member you can contact them easily through Athlinks. Of course there are far more options to upload video, join groups eg. Cervelo, Garmin, Nike, Planet X, IMTalk etc etc. But the most compelling reason will be to have all that race data in the one place - broken down by splits and positions. Check it out for yourself and see what rivals & friends are already out there. Let Athlinks be your athletic legacy.
   
   
   
   
   

You and Your Spleen 02 – The Body Adapts

Now we've got the mitochondria talking (see You and Your Spleen 01) what happens next ? Well from here it’s down to stress. At least controlled stress – which is stress applied in a good way. When your body undertakes an activity this happens …

• Heart rate increases
• The volume of blood pumped by the heart increases
• You take more breaths, deeper and faster
• Blood pressure increases
• Your muscles complain and feel “fatigued”

If this is a “one off” activity then when it’s over – it’s over.  But if you repeat the “stress” on a regular enough basis then special stuff happens. Magic stuff – the kind of stuff that leads most of us to be able to run a 5k, 10k or a marathon. Consider a stress that you can handle today eg: run a lamppost, walk a lamppost and keep that pattern going for 20mins. Then repeat this workout 3 times a week and continue that weekly pattern for 4 weeks. And what happens ? Your brain adapts to strengthen your muscles, muscles adapt to produce more energy, you get better at processing the waste products from your active muscles and your heart actually gets physically stronger – meaning your resting heart rate gradually falls and you (amazing creature that you are) are fitter !

But you don’t want to stop there. That 50min 10k goal is at the back of your mind and while this lamppost stuff is a great start point we have a desire to progress. Well, you've already achieved a key part of that – you are clear on your goals. If 10k is your “thing” then you should be following a 10k plan that leads to the physical adaptions that enable you to run 10k. That will be different from pole-vaulting or marathon running or space-hopper racing. Your training will therefore need to be somewhat specific and focus on the bits of you that are needed to run 10k.

Pole Vaulting- No Hoppers in sight

You need leg muscles with the strength to be ready for that distance, the respiration system to cope with the stress of almost an hour’s run, energy systems to cope with keeping you going and the “waste processing” ability not to fatigue within the time. You also need to know yourself and cope with the mental challenge of your goal. 

Space Hoppers - Don't train with one of these if Pole Vaults is your thing

The good news is that “running one lamppost - walking one lamppost” is not your destiny. Your training plan will cunningly have you running two lampposts and walking one before you know it. And this is amazing. By week 4 of your plan you will probably have adapted your body to be no longer a person for whom a single lamppost run is “unusual” in fact you are by now a seasoned single lamppost runner. So able are you at this distance that it’s not much of a stress anymore and it almost feels “easy”. That’s the time to apply more stress. So the plan changes : now you run for 2 lampposts while the single lampost “recovery” walk stays as part of your plan. That 1st week of the new stress of double the running might be tough – but you’ve been here before. Remember back to the first the week you started this ? That very first time ? But you did it, you got to week 4 or week 5 and while this new stress seems tough right now you have the confidence of previous achievement. You know your body is different now than before and you know you want more of that adaptation. Actually you can be justifiably proud of the changes you’ve made. You are on your way to that 10k.

And this is the whole idea of training. Gradually accumulating (and banking) changes in the loading (or stress) you give your body. It’s so important to start with care and the web holds many resources eg. Runner World. Another really safe way to re-discover running is via an organization like JogScotland. When it becomes more advanced individual coaches can use their skill and experience to know when and how much of what type of stress is best for your own goals. But all the same it’s just adding extra "lampposts" – admittedly for some people they are very very far apart (and often uphill) !

So bottomline. The brain fixes up the physiology and bio-chemistry for you in response to what you want to do. You “run” the talk and the brain delivers. But be careful, your body can’t adapt overnight. You need this to be a controlled stress – especially if you’re new to training. So don’t risk over-training and if you feel your plan is pushing you too hard then listen to your body. Some sort of “rule of thumb” for moderate runners might be to look to increase training after 5 or 6 weeks. Many training plans are weekly in their cycle but they don’t need to be. Famous triathlon coach Brett Sutton is deeply sceptical when considering plans fixated on 7 days. Like the advice for hermaphrodites to “know thyself” adapt any plan to suit your own home and work circumstances. If you can stay healthy, uninjured, motivated and improving by adapting to a 10 day cycle then do it – this is your journey after all.

While this has been all “good news” so far there are some penalties to being human. You will have some genetic limiters that may mean that while you’re adapted to achieving Olympic standards for space-hopping you are only ever going to be “middle of the pack” in terms of a half-marathon race. Sadly your aspiration is all about those 13.1 miles. Also for a while at the beginning of your running career the more you train the more you improve in roughly equal measure.

Getting faster gets harder - and risks over-training 

 But the better you become the harder fought the improvement. Thus in our 50m 10k quest we might find that in 6 months we have gone from couch to a 1h 10m 10k time. It could take another 6 months to break the hour barrier and maybe another year to achieve the goal. Olympians dedicate their lives to the pursuit of mere seconds. However this is no discouragement – a hard won goal is all the sweeter – and the day of breaking that hour is a fantastic achievement in its own right.





So what are your next steps :

1. Define the goal that grabs your imagination.
2. Look into your motivation about why that goal is so important to you.
3. Consider if you need to break down that goals into sub-goals. It needs to be achievable from where you are now – but also you should be a little unsure if you can actually do it.
4. Research how you might go about this. If needs be consider discussing your goal with your GP. Talk to your family and get their support. Telling them will make it more likely you’ll stick with it and it can be inspiring for them too.
5. Once you’re sure and your mind’s made up then get a training plan or join a group.
6. Get a training log and write your goal down.
7. Enjoy the process. Experiment with the plan and know exactly why you’re doing each workout.
8. Adapt and grow.