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Marathons

The fastest marathon runner slows down the least.

09 April bigkevmatthews@gmail.com 1 Comment

I have mentioned numerous times on this blog that in a marathon the winner is the runner who slows the least. At 32k the race begins proper, all the training then comes into play. Basically the last 10k is what all those late nights and early mornings were about. All that family time you gave up, all the social nights you avoided and all that lovely food you discarded ; it all was for this last 10k. You need to keep this in mind when the time comes and the piper demands paying, because I guarantee he will. Trust in your training and you’ll smash through that mental wall that all runners encounter at 32k, it is where the body can no longer supply the energy needed to continue at the pre-32k pace, this is where the mind starts to play games and introduces the runners mortal enemy ‘fatigue‘ into the mix.

When fatigue comes calling you need to realise this is your mind protecting your body the only way it knows how but this central governor , as Tim Noakes calls it, can be bypassed but it takes experience.  Personally when I get to 32k now I switch over the ‘finish mode‘ but I’ve ran 43 marathons and 18 ultra-marathons so experience has given me the confidence to do this.

That’s not to say the 42k distance is now a walk in the park. Somewhere within the marathon you have to dig deep, ask yourself some serious questions and face your demons; this is what makes marathon racing so addictive. For me now it’s between 21k and 32k, at 21k I dig myself a big hole and then spend 10k trying to get out of it !! Will the full 42k ever be easy, no, not if you race it. For elite runners, park runners or even weekend warriors somewhere in the marathon they have to ‘hurt’, it’s just a case of how much ‘hurt’ you are prepared to put up with. Slow down enough the hurt goes away but thats not racing , that completing and it’s a whole different animal. We don’t complete marathons we race them. 

Of course for some ‘completing’ marathons is a goal in itself and thus they hurt as much as the runners racing. That is fine and a marathon is a different challenge for each of us, the most important thing is you need to be able to look yourself in the eye afterwards (with a mirror I assume?) knowing you gave it your all.

Right back to the point of this post. A good marathon runner will have a small time margin between the first half of the race and the second, a small positive split is a sign of a proper paced race; I believe anything less than 5 minutes between the first 21k time and the second shows a good pacing strategy. If you negative split I maintain you probably went out too slow and could have run quicker but keep in mind that doesn’t mean setting a half PB in the first 21k of the race, this normally (actually always) ends in tears. I think in my 43 marathons I may have ran a negative split once or trice but no more. I have ran a + 1-5 minute positive split on a number of occasions and this is now the norm, remember what I said about experience.  In fact the last time I really blew up in a marathon was 4 years ago, since then all have been in the 1-5 minute range. This is not to say racing marathons gets any easier, hell no, I’d even say they get harder but with experience I’m mentally better prepared and can deal with the pain. I’m not selling marathon racing am I ? All this talk of pain, hurt , fatigue, the mind protecting them body.

Unfortunately racing marathons hurts , there is no sugar coating it but it does have its positives. Finishing strongly and achieving your goal is life changing and you will be a better person for it. This translates into everything you do, it takes a special person to race a marathon and push themselves, once you have achieved this you take the experience into your family life, work life and social life. You feel stronger and more empowered and as everybody knows the best part about finishing a marathon is letting everybody know about it. (?)

Over the weekend two of the boys ran great times but may have been a tad over zealous in the early parts of their respective  events. Jon ran 3 hours 2 minutes at Bunbury for the marathon and won his age group but for the first 10k he looked like he may have been confused about the distance he was running as he was cruising along at sub 2 hour 46minutes marathon pace. This was all good for 10k but then the mind realised what was going on and put the handbrake on. Jon then struggled for the next 32k but still managed to pull an age group win out of the bag and a respectable time. Funnily enough I did the same thing at Bunbury in 2014 and still find it difficult to contemplate a return, the mental scars run deep.

Jon certainly earned this age group medal.

At the same running carnival the T-train blew a gasket with 10k to go in the 50k ultra-marathon. He was chasing another great runner who had blown his head gasket moments earlier, but in a more spectacular  fashion it seems. Tone still managed a great time of 3 hours 35 minutes but was on for a sub 3:30, his initial goal, until the wheels fell off the cart and he had to work very hard to keep moving forward. This proves it can happen to the best runners. Between the two of them Jon and Tony would probably have well over 100 marathons and ultras to draw on but both got their initial pace wrong and paid the price. Luckily they are mentally strong and kept moving forward, enough that both finished well up the field. The T-train even won his event. !

A running God , the T-train, doing what he does best, winning events but he had to work very hard for the win.

Pacing can also go bad in shorter distances. In my previous post I described the Bridges 10k I had run last year, blowing a gasket at 5k and hanging on for dear life. Well it seems there’s no fool like an old fool as I replicated the same race a year later, albeit 13 seconds quicker. Yet again I set off at 5k pace and suddenly realised at 5k why they call it 5k pace. ! Made the next 5k more of a challenge I suppose, no point making it too easy. On the bright side I ran under 35 minutes for the Bridges 10k for the fist time at the 6th attempt so it wasn’t a complete disaster but there has to be a better way, surely ? Before the race I had predicted (hoped for?) a top 10 finish, an age group win and a sub 35 minute time, ended up 9th , first in 50-60 age group (how did I get so old, I much prefer the 5 year age group groupings  , 50-55 sounds so much better ?) and 34:59:49 so all goals achieved but not the most pleasant 10k race I’ve ever ran.  Luckily in a 10k race the worse that can happen is you explode at 5k and hang on, not so in a marathon or ultra. Jon and Tone worked very hard in their respective races to dig themselves out of the holes they had dug for themselves, this comes with experience and mental toughness can be acquired over time, maybe you can teach old dogs new tricks, maybe…….

 

All smiles at the end, I wasn’t smiling a few minutes earlier trust me ! photo credit to Michael Ellis ( a random spectator I persuaded to take this photo). Thanks buddy.

 

So to sum up this post,  because as always I have digressed , for any distance draw upon your previous experience and training to dial in a ‘race pace‘ and stick to it. You will always feel like going quicker at the start but this will come back and bite you at the finish , and then some.  Remember for a marathon it’s a 10k race with a 32k warm up, the race really does start at 32k and it is in the last 10k you will make or break the race. Pace it right and you’ll continue to the finish at your race pace feeling like a million dollars as you pass the rest of the field, and you will run past so many runners if you just maintain your pace, no need to speed up they’ll just come back to you. Get the pace wrong and the final part of the race will become a mental battle between you and your demons, which in itself is a learning experience and can be beneficial long term but the proper pacing option is so much easier , so lets aim for the first option.

Racing

Another weekend, another race, what else is there ?

06 April bigkevmatthews@gmail.com 2 Comments

I have mentioned a few times about the need to keep testing yourself and the best way to do that is by entering a race. Here you are judged on time or distance and your own goals and dreams. There’s no hiding with a number on your chest and you will be judged according to the result married with expectation and prediction. If either of these variables is out there will be consequences on the day (expectation) and afterwards around the water-cooler at work. (prediction)  (Do people still congregate around the water cooler at work and really did they ever ? These days it’d be a ‘Red Bull cooler’ as this seems to be the liquid refreshment of choice <sigh> )

Get your expectation wrong and you’ll be setting yourself up for failure at the ‘pointy’ end of the race , where you will be empty of all fuel and hemorrhaging  time.  It is so easy to start a race too quick as you’re ‘full of beans’  and energy but you must remember you’re racing the whole distance, not just the first 1500m, which is the pace everybody normally starts at.  In a 10k race you’ll find your 5k pace early but at 5k you’ll realize why they call it ‘your 5k pace’ . Suddenly the brain starts to ask for payment for all the chips cashed by your legs earlier in the race,  when it all felt ‘so easy’. When this happens the last 5k seems to go on forever. Trust me I’m talking from experience here and funnily enough will be racing the Bridges 10k this weekend where I found myself in that situation last year.

I remember how easy the first 4k felt and even started to dream about a PB, this of course was an illusion built on a foundation that could not possibly sustain the PB dream. At 6k the walls came tumbling down and I had to endure 2k deep within the pain box, and I mean deep! Luckily I found a second wind for the last 2k of the race, from where I have no idea, but enough to help me to a respectable 12th place overall and 11th male. Yep, I was ‘chicked’.

Lesson learnt , I hope, but probably not truth be told. I’m getting famous for my ‘scolded cat’ start and hanging on for dear life at the end. Is this the way to run races, hell no. Will I learn, hell no ! We each face our demons when we race and this is another reason why we do it. You ain’t going to push yourself to exhaustion in a training run, or at least not on a regular basis.  Put a bib on my chest and it’s on for young and old, all bets are off and my goal is to run faster , over that distance, than I have ever run before. This is why I train for hours and hours in all conditions. (I say in ‘all conditions’, in Perth it’s only really sunny and hot, sunny and really hot or just sunny. It’s a curse.) Training is enjoyable but only a part of being a runner. You also need to test yourself against who you were yesterday , ‘today is all about being better than yesterday.’  Only by constantly testing yourself can you become the best you can be.

Of course this constant testing does not have to be time, throw in distance and try to run further than you have ever run, be this on a weekly basis, monthly basis or even a ultra-type event; 24 or 48 hour race anyone ?  Running the Australia Day Ultra ( http://australiadayultra.com/ ) 100k race the last two years has taught me the benefit of proper pacing and the challenge of long distance racing including the hydration and nutrition needed to complete an event of this length. The activity has been testing but also rewarding in so many ways. Running a distance most people find difficult driving is satisfying and worth a few kudos points around the water cooler, though neither is the real reason you run such a distance. You run ultras to really see what you are made of, to test yourself and confront your fears. Add a bib to the equation and you need to measure yourself against your peers, even more pressure. I’m probably not selling this that well am I but the truth is by putting yourself in these situations you find out about yourself, who you really are. For the most part the reward is liberating and this is why we do what we do. People who don’t run just see a lot of people running around randomly, normally with a look of anguish or pain on their faces, and wonder why they do it? They don’t understand the joy of what we do, they don’t experience the runners high (and trust me people this is real!) we experience when we finish a race and can look within ourselves and think ‘ we could have done no more’, today I am a better person for the experience and have moved another step closer to being the best I can be.

This is the look of finishing a 10k race but starting at 5k pace and finding out at 5k why it’s called ‘5k pace’…!

As always I seemed to have digressed from whatever the subject was at the start of this post, I’ve actually forgotten myself so you, the reader, will probably be as confused as I am. Looking back I seem to have started to talk about setting achievable expectations and predictions to avoid failure. Of course I may have written a long winded version of that last sentence and added a photo, as is my way.  To sum up you need to race more (or run longer distances)  and set yourself goals you can achieve and, by doing this,  you will constantly be a better version of yourself, daily, and that can’t be a bad thing.

 

Racing

Sometimes the best thing to do is down grade and run faster.

03 April bigkevmatthews@gmail.com 3 Comments
The bridges calls… a Paul Harrison beauty, one of Perth’s best photographers.

After many posts on running the Bunbury Marathon this weekend I have pulled the pin and decided to down grade to the Perth Asics Bridges 10k. This was the right decision for a number of reasons. Firstly, I have been struggling to mentally prepare myself for Bunbury, it is a race that has been one of my most successful as well as one of my worst. The course itself is testing and if the conditions turn against you , mainly due to humidity,  it can really test you. Thus you need to be mentally prepared for the worst case scenario and I realised today I just wasn’t. I have three goal marathons a year and two Ultra’s as well as a smatterings of WAMC races ranging from 4k to a half marathon. Adding in Bunbury just didn’t make sense. Finally add in the Australian Masters competition at the end of April , 4 days of competition, and Bunbury had to go. It’s the right decision but still the fear of missing out (FOMO) niggles at you.

So what does the competition landscape look like now. This Sunday I have the Asics 10k  where last year I was well and truely ‘chicked’ by Linda Spencer and this resulted in a 5cm calf tear that basically finished my marathon season before it even began. I had to miss the Perth Marathon for the first time in 11 years and my City to Surf Marathon preparation was disturbed enough to make it a sub 3 attempt at best, luckily I found some form at Rottnest to end the year on a high and start 2018 on a positive note. This year will be different, no getting ‘chicked’ and I’ll have a new pair of Vaporflys 4% to caress me around the course. A top 10 finish would be nice but I’ll settle for an age group win and a sub 35 minute finish. (first beard would be another target but these days there’s a lot of fast hipsters , luckily most will behind coffee machines serving customers…..)

After the Bridges I’ll concentrate on some speed work to prepare for four days of competition at the Australian Masters starting April 26th. ( http://www.mastersathleticswa.org/perth2018/  ) I’ve entered the 10,000m, 3,000m steeplechase, 5,000m and the 8k cross country. The Masters competition is great fun and I’m excited to run for Western Australia, as excited as when I ran for Australia in the World Masters in 2016.  Most countries run Masters competitions normally open to anybody over 30 (far too young in my eyes, should be 40 minimum in my opinion.) , trust me it really is great fun watching and competing in these events.  It could be worth turning up on Friday the 27th to watch me attempt the steeplechase as I have never ever attempted this race before and I have no idea how I will overcome the water jump. There may be a big crowd to see if I fall flat on my face, or worse, and end up starring in  a Youtube sensation. Is there such a thing as bad publicity , I’m sure I read somewhere there isn’t ? Either way I’ll need to pop down the track and see if I can even get over the hurdle and clear the water, maybe I’ll wear a wetsuit ?

There is also the 10,000m to look forward to , 25 laps of a 400m circuit. I’ve ran this race a few times and always lose track of laps but I believe for the Masters we have electronic timing and lap counting, I’ll still lose track guaranteed. I have no idea how people run these 24 and 48 hour ultra’s on 400m tracks, maybe I’m missing out on something but it doesn’t seem to ‘ring my bell‘, call me old fashioned.

The goal for the Masters is to try and win four gold medals like another runner we all know, albeit he runs shorter distances and a lot quicker. If Usain Bolt can do it then maybe I can too. Not sure I’ll get the same press coverage as breaking world (or even Masters) records is highly unlikely unless I can persuade my electronic lap counter to malfunction and knock off a few laps or more, you never know what could happen in the heat of battle, maybe I need to contact the Russians ?

After the Masters it’ll be back to marathon training culminating in the Perth Marathon in June (my 13th I think?) before my 10th City to Surf Marathon in August and finally my 12th Rottnest Marathon ion October. As I have mentioned before I don’t travel much but with the amount of quality races available on my door step why would I? Racing is life , the rest is details; or was the Strava, either way you get the message. To be your best you need to constantly challenge yourself and set new lofty goals and racing gives you the opportunity to do this. What would we be without racing, we’d morph into ‘joggers’ running on the spot at traffic lights and before you know it we’d be cocooned in leg warmers and day-glow head bands looking like an extra from Xanadu. Be careful people it can happen so get online and sign up for a race, it really can be life changing.

 

This is the closest I got to second place runner Alex Dyer. (on my left) after the bridges in 2017. (My calf was fine at this point funnily enough?)
Racing

The secret to faster marathons.

29 March bigkevmatthews@gmail.com 1 Comment

This week I have only ran three times and it’s Thursday. Yep, even treated myself to a day off Monday, albeit I was so physically tired from my previous weeks running adventures I even took a day off work as well.  After a 160km week and 14 runs I was well and truly ready for the next two weeks of tapering before the Bunbury Marathon on Sunday April 8th.

Over the years I have had a love hate relationship with Bunbury. I ran my first ultra there while training for Comrades in 2008 and managed a second place but thought I had won as I lost track of the leader in all the chaos. I convinced myself it was a debut win but as I crossed the line was slightly confused by the apathy shown by spectators and officials alike. It seemed the winner had come in 25 minutes before me !

Three years later I ran the marathon and achieved a good pb at the time but missed out on my goal time pre-race by two minutes, which was disappointing.  No reason to be disappointed really but you set yourself goals and when you fail to meet them, no matter how unrealistic, it still hurts. This was around the time I’d run with Jon and at around 17k he’d drop me and motor off while I stumbled in behind him. There was amusing story in 2011 when I persuaded Jon to carry my Gu’s as he was wearing his now famous triathlete top with pockets. The plan came apart when Jon, and my Gu’s , left me about 17k into the race, as usual. Luckily Jon had the presence of mind to hand my Gu’s to a spectator who then handed them to me.  I assume he described me as a ‘young looking Brad Pitt like runner , balding with a full beard’ ? Whatever he said worked because I was accosted by a stranger and haded a handful of Gu’s.

The following year I was recovering from a small calf strain and was unprepared for the marathon. I had also brought a new pair of Nike Lunaracers (mark one’s) which are notoriously ‘snug’. On the morning of the race I tried them on and convinced myself they were too tight. This left me with the pair of old Asics I was wearing, which were well past their sell by date. Thus I crawled  to the start line mentally broken and this was the theme for the rest of the race. I can clearly remember running through half way in 1 hour 28 minutes and change thinking that couldn’t be right , I was knackered and the thought of having to repeat the process in a similar time filled me with dread. Needless to say every second counted on that second half marathon but I managed to sneak in with a few seconds to spare in under three hours.

In 2013 I returned in probably the best form of my life and won the event. Everything went to plan and I finished a few minutes ahead of my good friend Steve ‘Twinkle’ McKean for my first , and so far only , marathon victory.  It made up for the disappointment of 2008, 2011 and 2012 and the feeling on that day will go to me to my grave, very special.

Of course Bunbury being Bunbury the following year, 2014 , as defending champion, I totally psyched myself out and ran an awful race to finish fourth in a time of 2 hours 54 minutes when I was probably in the form of my life. I was more worried about the runners around me than my race and this turned into a disaster which put me on a downward running spiral for well over 12 months. It was only with Raf’s help from the Running Centre http://www.therunningcentre.com.au ) that I was able to get myself out of this ‘slump’.  If nothing else Bunbury proved, in 2014, that marathon running is a large proportion mental and a larger proportion than most people realise. (reference David Goggins link below)

In 2017 I set a new low by being a DNS. I had entered late and ran a 10k the week before inuring my calf. I rested for a few days and then ran and it felt good so it was back to tapering and two more planned runs. Unfortunately on the last run on Thursday evening before the Sunday I tore my calf. This was compounded by treating it as a calf knot and dry needling and massaging the ‘crap’ out of it. Add in stretching and I probably turned a 1-2cm calf tear into a 10cm calf tear.

So in a few weeks I take on Bunbury for the 6th time, with the current history of the event it could go either way, a victory , podium or a world of pain. Truth be told that is marathon racing , you can rarely predict what will happen and there are so many variables on the day all you can do is put in the training, watch your diet, weight and be mentally prepared for the pain box time that is coming your way; easy really ?

Right, back to the title of this post, running faster marathons. If you survived this long you are about to be rewarded with some great rules and tips that will guarantee a faster marathon time next time you run, guaranteed. I will give you your money back if I am proved wrong, of course for this to happen you’ll need to give me money in the first place.

 

 

Boat Shed Sunrise by Paul Harrison. If you lay in bed you miss these views… why wouldn’t you get up early ?

After my last post about the marathon being two separate distances , encompassing a 32k warm-up before a 10k ‘sprint’ to the line,  I thought I’d share one of the sure fire ways to improve your marathon finishing time.  As readers of my ‘ramblings’ will know I have some golden rules to improving your running , summarized below.

  1. Run Further. Add distance, not speed.
  2. Run Faster. This is about adding pace after you have got your foundation after rule 1.
  3. Don’t get injured. This is the hardest rule to obey as you always want to do more of rule 1 and 2 which can result in an injury. (I even hate typing the word!)
  4. Nutrition, nutrition and nutrition… Did I mention nutrition. It’s all about the proper fuel.
  5. Weight. So important, use to believe because I ran 100k+ a week I could eat what I wanted. Not true.
  6. Baseline, document and evaluate everything. If it isn’t on www.strava.com it didn’t happen. Once you set a goal you have to be able to know how far you have come to achieving this, small steps but constant feedback. So buy a Garmin and start recording , everything !!!
  7. Sleep. So underestimated but the bodies way of refuelling and preparing for the next day of running. Common sense but so often ignored.
  8. Consistency. No point running 100k one week and then nothing. Marathon fitness is built up over time and this works hand in hand with rule number 1.
  9. It’s all in the mind. After 32k a marathon is down to mental strength and the ability to persuade your body you can still perform at your desired pace without falling to fatigue, which is the minds way of protecting itself. Never underestimate the power of the mind in long distance racing

Without doubt the most important rule, in my opinion, is number 1, ‘Run Further. Add Distance, Not Speed’ This is the foundation on which you build success. Whatever distance you are currently running, do more,  with the caveat of avoiding injury of course (Golden rule number 3)  I have said many, many times ‘running is an honest sport’ , there are no short cuts, to really improve you need to run more distance and more often. For a runner there are no Zip wheels, Death Star helmets or mega-buck carbon-fibre bikes to gain an advantage , it’s just down to physical and mental strength and who wants its the most. ( This may now not be as true as the new Nike Vaporflys 4%  do seem to give the wearer an advantage over your Asics Kayano’s type marathon runners, albeit only a 4% efficiency improvement if you believe the hype; which I do.)

I believe there is no such thing as ‘junk miles’, every run you finish has helped and thus if you run more, and more often, it stands to reason you will improve quicker. Another way to turbo-charge your improvement is to run twice a day. Most runners struggle with this concept but all the professionals run minimum twice a day. Of course, I hear you say, they have time on their hands and it’s what they are paid to do but even us mortals can find time for a second run with a bit of time management. Personally I am lucky enough to be able to run every lunchtime in near perfect conditions , the curse of living in the colonies. I then normally run mornings, pre-work,  as for most of the year this is the best time to run anyway. In summer especially it can be the only time to run as my home town , Perth, is situated in a desert and for three months of the year can be unpleasant after the early morning sunrise.

Some runners find is hard to find time in the mornings with family commitments etc. so will need to step-up in the evenings and this may involve running in the dark. I personally find no enjoyment from this but understand you have to put in the hard yards to continue to improve so take one of my David Goggins ‘suck it up’ pills and off into the night I go. ( http://www.davidgoggins.com ) What I found was, in the evening, if you’re sitting at home watching rubbish on TV you should be running. This is where you can get your second run, substitute sitting down at the end of the day wasting time to doing something constructive towards your next goal race, it really is that simple, go for a run. The second run of the day is all about time on feet anyway , there are no objectives bar the actual time spent running. No pressures, no time constraints, the second run of the day can be liberating because it is running for running’s sake, nothing more , nothing less.

The second run is where the magic happens, this is the reason the professionals run minimum twice a day. It allows then to add the distance needed to see the improvements required without the risk of injury, if they are careful and the run really is a time on feet exercise. Recreational runners will also see the same benefit and probably more because they will starting from a lower level with greater opportunity for improvement.

Of course it is to be noted that this is only one of the jigsaw puzzle that is running improvement but it is one I feel every runner needs to embrace as much as possible. I understand most runners will not be able to hit the 14 times a week goal,  that is a double run a day, but any additional run to your weekly schedule will be beneficial. Small steps for big gains, maybe try one double day a week initially and then build up. Of course if this puts too much strain on you then move back to the single run but maybe try and add weekly distance before trying a double day later. Remember adding distance is all about adding to the foundation of your running and this foundation needs to be stable and strong before you start to add pace.  There are several coaches who support the distance theory of running including the late, great Arthur Lydiard ( http://lydiardfoundation.org/ ) Phil Maffetone  ( https://philmaffetone.com/ ) and Matt Fitzgerald. ( https://mattfitzgerald.org/ )

So next time your sitting at home watch that mind-numbing soap or a reality show making overweight people exercise to the brink of death maybe think ‘I could be doing something more constructive’. Go and do what you love and ‘smell the roses’ (or whatever wild flower is available in your area?) with a relaxing second run. Payback will be so sweet when you rock up for your next race and find you’ve fitted a turbo-charger and leave the pack behind as you explode towards the finish line.

 

Christine Junkermann sums up the Lydiard method below from a Runners World post in 2000. ( https://www.runnersworld.com/ )

 

Forty years ago at the Rome Olympics, athletes guided by legendary New Zealand coach Arthur Lydiard made history. Among Lydiard’s protégés were a total of 17 Olympic medalists, including Peter Snell (800 and 1,500 meters), Murray Halberg (5,000 meters) and Barry Magee (marathon). Lydiard, now 82, toured the U.S. last fall, speaking to runners on the Lydiard method of training. He was as passionate as ever about sharing the methods he developed 50 years ago.Lydiard hasn’t changed his training advice over the decades, and why should he? His ideas work. Moreover, if you look carefully at the most popular and successful programs today, most have a Lydiard emphasis. For Lydiard, running to your potential is about having a substantial mileage base and not overdoing your anaerobic training. There are no shortcuts.
A Revolutionary MethodLydiard discovered running for sport when he struggled to run five miles with a friend. Forced to confront his own unfitness, he self-experimented with training, including running more than 250 miles in one week. He developed a plan that he felt confident in using with other runners. Central to his method was the importance of training in phases and peaking for major events.According to Lydiard, any successful training program must culminate in a goal race or racing period. This means planning several months. The ideal training schedule is at least 28 weeks: 12 weeks for base conditioning, eight weeks for hill training and speed development, six weeks for sharpening and 10 days for tapering/rest.Phase 1: Base Conditioning/Aerobic TrainingThis three-month period is the most important in the Lydiard system. If you want to give yourself every opportunity to reach your goal, you must commit to developing your aerobic capacity, says Lydiard. Why? Because although every runner has a limited anaerobic (speed-building) capacity, that limit is largely set by one’s aerobic potential—the body’s ability to use oxygen. Thus, the aerobic capacity that you develop determines the success of your entire training program.The foundation of Lydiard-style base conditioning is three long runs per week. These are steady runs done at more than recovery effort. To determine your pace, choose a relatively flat course and run out at a strong pace for 15 minutes, then run back. The goal is to return in the same time or slightly faster. If it takes you longer for the return trip, you paced yourself too fast. The objective of these runs is to be “pleasantly tired,” says Lydiard. Running slower will produce positive effects, but the results will take longer. Do not run to the point of lactic-acid buildup.

An ideal training week during this period includes a two-hour run and two one and one half-hour runs. On the other days do short, easy runs; one run with some light picking up of the pace; and one 5K to 10K tempo run (below lactate-threshold pace). Decrease the times and distances if you don’t have the mileage base to start at such high volume, then build gradually.

Phase 2: Hill Training/Speed Development

Lydiard-style hill training, the focus of the first four weeks of this period, involves a circuit that includes bounding uphill, running quickly downhill and sprinting. These workouts develop power, flexibility and good form, all of which produce a more economical running style. Ideally, you should find a hill with three parts: a flat 200- to 400-meter area at the base for sprints, a 200- to 300-meter rise for bounding and a recovery area or moderate downhill segment at the top. Alternatively you can work out on a treadmill with an adjustable incline.

After a warm-up, bound uphill with hips forward and knees high. Lydiard describes the stride as “springing with a bouncing action and slow forward progression.” If you can’t make it all the way up, jog, then continue bounding. At the top jog easily for about three minutes or run down a slight incline with a fast, relaxed stride. Then return to the base of the hill for the next bounding segment. Every 15 minutes (after about every third or fourth hill), intersperse several 50- to 400-meter sprints on flat ground. These sprints mark the end of one complete circuit. Lydiard recommends a total workout time of one hour (plus warm-up and cool-down). Do this hill circuit three days per week.

On three of the four remaining days, focus on developing leg speed. Lydiard suggests 10 repetitions of 120 to 150 meters over a flat or very slight downhill surface. Warm up and cool down thoroughly.) The seventh day is a one and one-half to two-hour steady-state run.

During the second four weeks, shift from hills to traditional track workouts. The objective here, says Lydiard, is to “finish knowing that you could not do much more nor any better.” This sensation of fatigue matters less than how many intervals you do at what speeds, though the workout should total about three miles of fast running. Perform these track sessions three times per week. Use the remaining four days for a long run, leg-speed work and sprint-training drills traditionally done by sprinters to develop strength, form and speed.

Phase 3: Sharpening

How many times have you died in the last half of your race? Or alternatively, finished with too much left? Sharpening allows you to test for your strengths and weaknesses as you prepare for your goal race. Three workouts do not vary. The first is the long run, done at a relaxed pace. The second is an anaerobic training session done at a greater intensity and lower volume. Lydiard suggests five laps of a 400-meter track (about seven to eight minutes of running) alternating 50 meters of sprinting and 50 meters of easy, but strong, running.

The third consistent workout is a weekly time trial at or below the distance for which you are training. A 10K runner would do a 5K to 10K trial; a 1,500 meter runner would do 1,200 to meters. Ideally, do this workout on a track and record every lap to determine your weaknesses, and work on them throughout the rest of that week and the following week. For example, if the second half of your trial is slower than the first half, run a longer tune-up race that week and a longer time trial the next week. If the pace felt difficult but you were able to maintain it pretty evenly, work on your leg speed.

Round out your training week with a sprint-training session, a pace judgment day (4 x 400 meters at goal race pace), a leg-speed workout and a tune-up race. All these workouts should be geared to your goal distance and pace.

Phase 4: Tapering and Rest

Lydiard calls the final 10 days before goal race “freshening up.” This involves lightening your training to build up your physical and mental reserves for the target competition. Train every day but keep the faster running low in volume and the longer runs light in effort.

Unquestionably, Lydiard’s program tests your commitment and desire, and it requires a solid understanding of your individual needs. If you are serious, start counting out those 28 weeks.

A rose between two thorns, or in this case Jon and twinkle, pre-2013 marathon start.
General day to day ramblings

Improve by resting, how good is running ?

26 March bigkevmatthews@gmail.com 0 Comment

What other sport makes you better by not doing it ? Running is probably unique by allowing you to actually improve over time by scheduling in rest days, giving your body time to recuperate.  Personally I love running and regularly try and hit a ‘perfect week’ which in my eyes is 14 runs a week. My logic is the professionals run twice a day (or more) so if I can replicate that then I can maybe improve ‘like the pro’s’ . Note, I do realise it will be ‘like the pro’s’ i.e. a slightly slower version.

Last week I ran 14 times and just a few hundred metres short of 160km. How did it make me feel, well and truely knackered truth be told. Yesterday I found it very hard to eat dinner and even stay awake, I had moved into over training so it was time for drastic actions, a day off. Rest days to me are alien to my twice a day normal running routine but sometimes even I have to bow to the obvious traits of over training and put away the trainers. As I have said many times on this blog I run because I love running and running twice a day is not a chore to me but a blessing that I can do what I love twice a day,  rather than just once. Non-runners will never understand this and most runners are single or intermittent daily runners. Looking back over my training program over the years I have increased my weekly, monthly and annual mileage and the best way to do this is to run twice a day with the second run  normally a ‘smell the roses‘ type run, not interested in pace just time on legs. Remember people there is no such thing as junk miles, they all count.

So the signs of over training, there’s a few. Personally my average heart rate is higher (I wear a Garmin 235 which syncs with Garmin Connect and Strava,  so allows me to keep an eye on my average HR) sleep patterns are interrupted, you feel grumpy, lose weight, your urine is darker than normal (indicating dehydration) and your workouts just don’t seem to hit those highs they did previously. Experience any of these , or all of them, and over training is the probable reason. It’s time to relax and do other stuff that non-runners do, whatever that is ? Me I just chill with Netflix and normally end up watching documentaries on running or sports related stories, just because you can’t run doesn’t mean you can’t watch people running ?

 

Anikka Brauns of McMillan Running wrote a great article describing the importance of rest days.

THE IMPORTANCE OF REST DAYS

As a runner and with most things in life when I do something I go all in, 100%, and I don’t like to break my routine. I think that most runners feel the same way and would agree that taking a day off from running can sometimes feel like a punishment. I didn’t do a lot right as a collegiate runner and I found out along the way that my body needs rest, sometimes more rest than my running buddy, and that is okay. I’ve learned that a key to successful long-term training is learning how to read your body, understanding what your body needs to train at its highest potential, and then trusting that process and sticking with it. Here are a few tips on how to handle adding rest days as part of your training program.

THE VALUE OF REST DAYS

In college I got into the habit of taking Fridays off because that was our NCAA day off (the day we were not allowed to meet as a team and my coach would allow us to cross train if needed). It just became a routine for me to aqua jog on Fridays. Sometimes I would run instead because I wanted to run with my roommates or I was short on time and going to and from the pool took longer than running out of my front door. I always felt a little beat up come Sunday if I did not take a rest day that week. Over the years as I developed as a runner and matured as a person and athlete, I have learned the value in taking a rest day. It allows my body a full day of rest from pounding, something I really needed in college when I was battling injuries and struggling to stay healthy.

Taking a rest day also allows your body to absorb the training you have been doing and you may actually see a fitness boost following a day of rest. This is the same logic that applies with lifting weights. You make your gains when you take a rest day and allow the body to absorb the work you have been doing. Running follows the progressive overload principle (the gradual increase of stress placed upon the body during exercise training) and as we adapt to that stress on our body we get strong enough to handle back-to-back runs. We don’t do back-to-back speed workouts though because it’s the easy run between them that is designed to be active recovery. Active recovery is a day or two where you are specifically recovering from the stress you placed on your body during the speed session.

Some runners can handle not taking a day off during a training segment but there are other runners, like myself, that need a rest day here and there. Think about rest days as an important part of your training and one that will only help you to improve your training quality and racing times.

SCHEDULING REST DAYS AS PART OF YOUR PROGRAM

These days I am strong enough to handle a rest day every 2-4 weeks, however, I still find it challenging to take that day. As routine people and lovers of the sport we crave our run every day. So how do we replace that feeling? I find that if I do some sort of exercise I feel okay about taking a rest day. As a busy wife and mom of two children, it is a bit harder for me to get to the gym so my go-to on rest days now includes 30 minutes of strength work with some sort of cardio mixed in: jumping jacks or spin bike for 1-2 minutes between sets. This routine seems to be enough for me to mentally feel like I did something physical but also to know that I’m taking an important day off running that my body needs to keep training at the volume and demand that I am asking of it.

Try scheduling rest days into your program whether it is once a week, twice a month or once a month or somewhere in between. Tell your coach if you need to take a rest day on a specific day that you prefer and how often you need it. If it is on your schedule you are more likely to take it and as runners, we tend to follow our schedules! I know that many of the McMillan athletes I coach ask for a rest day at least once per week. They use this day to cross train or get other things done around the house, run errands etc. Embrace the day off as an integral part of your development and improvement as a runner. Welcome your rest days and learn to enjoy that time too.

LEARN TO LISTEN TO YOUR BODY

Maybe you are the type of athlete that doesn’t ever take a rest day during your segment. I suggest planning at least one day off during your block of training: do something fun or plan it as part of a trip and take the stress away from having to cram in a run before you catch your flight. Runners tend to get so caught up in a routine that we will do anything to get our run in, even if it means stressing ourselves out to do it. If you know your body and you truly don’t need or want a day off during a training segment just keep these tips in mind and be flexible if you find that you are feeling a little bit run down or stressed about getting your run in. One rest day can give you a few more days running, especially if you are feeling run down or injury prone.

What about days off for injuries? So many times I felt like I should have taken another day off after an injury or dealing with a small annoyance, but I just kept running and it only made it worse. Greg often talks about the importance of taking one extra day off coming back from an injury. This means that even if you feel you are ready to resume training, give yourself one extra day. This strategy won’t hurt you and by taking another day of rest you can ensure you’ll stay healthy in the long run. This same principle applies with any nagging ache or pain you may be feeling or something random that pops up after a run. If you have to question the run, just take a rest day to give yourself time off running and then try tomorrow. It will probably be a hard decision if you are anything like me but you will never regret one day off if it means that you can keep running healthy and injury-free. Remember the golden tip to train smarter, not harder.

Sometimes you got to smell the roses…
Nutrition

Can eating omelettes and bacon make you run faster ?

23 March bigkevmatthews@gmail.com 2 Comments

After four weeks of solid training and a race every weekend I am well and truely knackered. (its a running term mean very tired!)  Today I ran a recovery 10k at just under 5min/k pace and finished like I’d just ran a marathon. As I sat outside my house in a pool of sweat I realised that yet again I’d pushed myself too far and was certainly suffering from fatigue. Truth be told it is becoming the norm these days and I’m finding my daily runs are slowing but the effort seems to be increasing. All signs of over training. Will I take time to recover ? Probably not, I enjoy running too much to ‘back off’ but have made an effort to try and change by reading  Mark Sisson’s book ‘Primal  Endurance’.  Mark is all about HFLC (high fat, low carb) paleo type diet with cross fit type fitness routines, short explosive workouts. This goes against the normal runners ‘run till you fall over training regime, gorging on carbs and sugar. ‘ Mark has some interesting ideas but it is certainly a challenge taking them onboard. His website is worth a visit. ( https://www.marksdailyapple.com) I’ll keep you abreast of my findings and I must admit I’m looking forward to eating more omelettes, bacon, salmon and yoghurt on a daily basis, not so sure about the cross fit training. ?

The new holy bible of running?

 

I’ve written so many posts on fatigue which are available on my website and can be easily accessed using the search dialog box, wonderful things these ‘computer thingy’s’….  Rather than reinvent the wheel I’ve attached a post I wrote in 2016 on the subject. Greg McMillan wrote a great article on recovering and its certainly worth a second visit, plus it lets me sneak off for a cup of tea early without spending the obligatory hour or two typing away. Remember people work smarter not harder, it even works for blogging.

 

I was sent this article by my friend Mike and it really does hit home. Will I take time off because of it, probably not but what I consider ‘down time’ is just running a lot less. My recovery still involves running albeit a lot less and I’ll be on this reduced training for at least a month. Is it better to have a complete break as advocated by this article by Greg McMillan in 2016 on his website.?  ( https://run.mcmillanrunning.com/ )

Looking at my training log for the last 8 years I have has no real down time as such. Maybe a week off after the Rottnest Marathon as I vacation with the family counts ? Not as long as recommend by Greg in his article. I do have a ‘reduced workload’ period for 2-3  months over the summer months in Perth where most of the major races dry up due to the heat. Maybe this has been enough to keep me focused while still maintain the intensity and running goal times in the ‘running season’.  Truth be told it isn’t reduced that much though when it gets really hot I jump on the bike and commute to work and reduce my running to once a day.

Maybe I’m actually following Greg’s advice without actually realising it ? Like all things running it is not a ‘one shoe fits all’ sport. What works for one person will not have the same affect with another. What Greg preaches is common sense and well worth considering and I will take it onboard. (maybe this will justify a trip to the local deli and another muffin ?)  Spending more time with my family, that always put a strain on the marriage ? I’ll consult with my Wife before I embark down this road. I’m not so sure the family will appreciate more BK time…

THE LOST ART OF RECOVERING BETWEEN TRAINING CYCLES

I see a bad habit forming in many runners: the lack of a recovery cycle after their big races or racing seasons.Today, far too many are simply finishing one race (often a marathon) and immediately starting to train for the next one. You can get away with this a few times, but usually runners get burned out and leave the sport for new activities after doing this too often. The grind of always “training” weighs you down. Runners may also reach a performance plateau after a few races and fall well short of their true running potential, simply because they don’t allow a proper recovery phase.

In fairness, I understand this drive to move from one race to the next. I love running, too, and there is nothing better than being fully engaged in training for a big race. But never taking a break ignores one of the most important principles that we learned from great coaches and athletes over the last century: Top runners require a regular, full recovery cycle.

Great athletes build annual breaks into their training year. Not a reduced week or two of training every now and then, but weeks of complete rest. They don’t only rest, but they gain weight, too. Some add 5 to 15 pounds to their normally light frames while they enjoy time with their families, take vacations and generally do things they normally can’t because of their training.

If you follow many of today’s great runners, you’ll see that they, too, take the time to get away from the sport. Nick Symmonds goes fishing after the track season. Bernard Lagat talks about getting “fat” during his downtime, and the Hansons require their marathoners to take two weeks completely off after a marathon.

How can they do this? How can great athletes allow themselves to get out of shape? How can they tolerate the downtime without worrying about the competition?

While we worry about losing our fitness level, or that the competition is training and we’re not, these athletes know that planned annual breaks rejuvenate the body and mind in ways that outweigh losses in fitness. The worriers who plow through often take similar breaks, but rather than planned vacations, they are mandated by injuries, overtraining and burnout. Planned breaks take the pressure off — you don’t feel that your training is never-ending, jumping from one goal to the next. Science is discovering that the chemistry of the brain, the hormonal system and the immune system are compromised during hard training. Breaks rejuvenate these systems, allowing us to train better, more consistently and with more zeal across the next training plan.

Will you lose fitness? Yes. How much is hard to calculate and will depend on how long a break you take. But it’s not about how out of shape you get, but about how recovered you are and how ready to attack the next training cycle.

Remember that the recovery phase isn’t just the downtime, but also the time needed to rebuild mileage and pace. Many runners fail even when they do take time off, because upon their return, they jump right back into full training — again feeling the need to “get in shape.” You’ll need to plan on three to five weeks of rebuilding to your full training load. I usually start at 50 percent of full mileage, then increase 10 to 20 percent each week (with a recovery week of lower mileage every two to four weeks) until I’m back to 100 percent. Use common sense and build back slowly.

In the end, what’s the rush? A few weeks of downtime never ruined anyone’s running career — quite the opposite.

COACH’S NOTES

I took nearly a month off after my last marathon. I gained a few pounds. I enjoyed some new hobbies and time with family. But most of all, I rediscovered the desire, motivation and passion that drive me as a runner, and I couldn’t wait to challenge myself to do better. The next training cycle went even better than expected because I carried all the fitness from the previous cycle, plus my recharged motivation. I was able to run 2 minutes faster in the 15K than I had the year before. I’m convinced the recovery phase played a large role in this breakthrough.

 

If only everything was black and white...
If only everything was black and white…

 

Racing

The secret to going faster is a piece of cloth and a timing chip.

22 March bigkevmatthews@gmail.com 0 Comment

This weekend I put on a race bib and timing chip for the fourth week in a row and managed to snare a rare victory at the West Australian Marathon Club ( http://www.wamc.org.au ) Peninsula 10k.  As the photo below shows it was perfect conditions with a cool starting temperature and no wind, which for Perth is a big bonus this time of year. After my warm up with Mike K. I got to the start line with less than a minute to spare and a quick look around revealed none of the usual suspects lining up against me. The last few races I had managed to snare a 4th place finish which is always frustrating as it’s the first person to win nothing. (assuming the top 3 get medals of course) Looking back at race results over the years this seems to be my favourite (?) position to finish, the joys of racing.

The Peninsula 10k is a favourite  race of mine as I have made the podium on two previous occasions and ran my 10k PB there in 2016 (34:18) . On Sunday there was a lack of depth in the field and I felt if I could run well there’d be a chance of another podium place. My race plan was simple , as all good race plans are, run as fast as I could for the first kilometre and try and break the field , go like the ‘clappers‘ to the half way and then try and hang on for dear life and stumble over the line, see simple. I executed the first part perfectly and ran a 3:11 first kilometre, probably my 1500m pace.  It had the desired effect and I have some distance between me and the pack who were probably thinking I’d started the 5k race early ! After that I couldn’t see the chasing runners (as you all know a cardinal sin of running is looking behind you, a big no-no.) until the half way turn around when they were probably a good few hundred metres behind me but closer than I’d like. I had thought of cruising home to a comfortable victory and was already reciting my winners speech. Not to be unfortunately, if I was to win this race I was going to have to work for it.

I put in another big effort for the next couple of kilometres before relaxing a tad for the finish as the job was done and I ran in for my 9th career race victory. As these overall victories are rare it makes the feeling so much better and I’m still smiling like a Cheshire cat with a new set of teeth, even while I type this post. Best bit was I even managed to sneak in under 35 minutes , finishing in 34:55. Overall a perfect day, makes all those training runs in the dark, the heat or early mornings well worth it and also hungry for more success. We’ll see, as I moved into my fifties I have certainly noticed the training is becoming harder and although the last four weeks of racing have produced good times they are not PB’s.  No worries the bar has been set over the last four weeks and I know I have to work harder to raise it even higher and maybe nudge the odd PB this year. I have a few ideas involving diet and my Elliptigo ( http://www.elliptigo.com.au ) that may help me gain a few more seconds and there’s always a new pair of Nike Vaporfly 4% ‘s(in red of course because they will be faster!)  if I can find another pair anywhere ? (If anybody knows any for sale please let me know.)

 

‘The scolded cat’ start, as always.

So what is the point of this post ? What I’m trying to convey is you’ll never run as fast as you do when you’re racing, be that at the front of the pack, in the middle or at the back. The point is you’re either being chased, at the front, chasing the leaders, in the middle or just running to make sure you’re not dead last. Either way there is pressure on you to perform and this is what makes you a better runner. Race enough and you’ll see the benefits in your training and racing with the pain threshold rising and the pace increasing. I understand racing isn’t for everyone but for a guaranteed way to improve it is up there with losing weight and training more, the two pillars on which the runner builds his career.

The last month I’ve raced four times, a 16k, 5k, 21k and last weekend a 10k. All have their own challenges and truth be told I ran off too quick on all of them and held on. Is this the way to run a race ? Probably not but my ‘scolded cat’ start has done me well over the years and I have the experience and training history to hang on and stumble back over the line, normally. These four races were all difficult but in the case of racing familiarity does not breed contempt it breeds acceptance and confidence. Acceptance of what is to come and confidence that you will overcome and excel, or least complete in a reasonable time. I missed out on PB’s but was close enough to give me hope that , given good conditions, I could have a sniff at maybe one more PB or more. This is enough to keep me honest but really I love running as much now as I did when I started  10 years or so ago so even though my PB chasing days may be behind me I can still justify putting myself in the pain box because, well truth be told, it’s a place I enjoy being. Sounds masochistic but you only really feel alive when you are either close to death or putting yourself in testing situations where you ask yourself some serious questions and need to be able to answer them honestly. Racing gives me that runners high when you achieve a set goal, set a time or just finish. (in the case of ultra marathons etc..) It does make you feel alive and its nice to once in a while really see how fast you can run albeit over a set distance. Basically running fast is fun and even more fun when you’re racing, trust me on this.

 

I’d be faster in trainers, and thanks to the best ‘medal presenter’ in many a race.

As is my way I’ve posted on the benefits of racing before. Let’s face it people after nearly two years of blogging I’ve covered most things running, I mean really running  it isn’t that hard. (but don’t tell anybody.) Anyhow if you want to read more on this subject feel free…

 

 

 

Nutrition

Nutrition and weight are the key to success.

16 March bigkevmatthews@gmail.com 2 Comments

One of the best ways to improve performance is to drop weight. This , of course, has diminishing returns as you come close to dropping too much weight,  resulting in constant fatigue as you derive your body of the fuel needed to complete your exercise. Weight loss is 80% diet and 20% exercise so the ‘if the furnace is hot enough everything burns’ type approach to eating whatever you want as long, as you exercise enough, is flawed.  I still find it amusing that runners constantly seek out trainers that save them 10-20g of weight but ignore their 2-3kilos of extra weight they are carrying around their waist. It has the double-whammy effect because the extra weight being carried by the runner is then transferred through a racing shoe with little or no support, resulting in the higher risk of injury.

Surprisingly enough so many coaches offer their clients all sorts of different combinations of aerobic and anaerobic exercises but completely ignore diet and thus weight. Have a look at the winner of every marathon , globally, they all look similar. In my view Robert ‘Deeks’ Costello was the last marathon world record holder who looked what the public would consider ‘normal’ , i.e. not like they had just escaped from a concentration camp after a long stay in the section which considered eating an option.

One of the greatest Australian marathon runners of all time. ‘Deeks’ in full flow… I’m assuming it was just before the finish…

I have met ‘Deeks’ on a number of occasions over the years and he is still a gentleman of the sport, a true legend and all round Mr. Nice Guy. He does a lot of work with the Aboriginal communities in Australia and has send many of them to run the New York marathon, a life changing experience for all. Check out the Indigenous Marathon Foundation website ( http://www.imf.org.au/ )

Right, I digress  back to the post…… although we cannot hope to get down to the 45-50kg’s that is the average weight of todays  marathon winner we can all make an effort to drop a few kilos. Over the last couple of years I have written numerous posts on nutrition and weight and have attached one below I wrote in 2016, at the time my blog was just starting so I suspect that no one, apart from my Mum, would have read this. (Thanks Mum.)

Well this post is another cup of tea and digestive biscuit or two type post. What is the best diet for runners or the population as a whole ? With most things in running there is no reinventing the wheel. You’re normally faced with the ‘norm’ and one alternative. e.g. run less, run faster as opposed to run slower,  but more,  to run faster. I personally suspect either method works if you follow them religiously. The problem occurs when you half heartily follow one but add in some of the other.  Anyhow this post is about what is the best nutrition for achieving the best performance.

In the good old days it was always high carbs, low fat and sugar, normally natural, as fuel. Even today if you google best running diets it’s mostly pasta, rice, bread, honey, orange juice, low fat yoghurt, skinless chicken, semi-skimmed milk etc. We’ve all seen it a thousand times. I’ve been following this for many years and it has certainly helped me. Or has it ?

Recently Tim Noakes, a highly respected write and MD changed his view on nutrition virtually 180 degrees. Noakes is the author of one of, if not the defining book on all things running, ‘The Lore of Runing’, a 944-page tome known as the distance runner’s bible. He has come out and said forget everything he wrote in that book about carbohydrates. Back then, he questioned whether they were as necessary to a runner’s diet as many experts believed but still recommended them, particularly as fuel for workouts and races.

Now, Noakes won’t touch most carbs and tells others to avoid them, too. His book about this new lifestyle, The Real Meal Revolution, has sold more than 200,000 copies in his native South Africa the last two years, making it one of the country’s all-time nonfiction bestsellers, and it has helped launch a change in dietary thought much the same way the Atkins diet did across America years ago.

Noakes originally started his low carb, high fat diet in 2010 after research led him to believe the carbohydrates he’d eaten all his life contributed to his Type II diabetes, which runs in his family. His new eating habits resembled those of ancient foragers, most similar to a late 1800s European fad known as Banting. Noakes’s diet consists of about 5–10 percent carbohydrates, 60 percent fat and 30 percent protein. Sugars and processed carbs are forbidden. The mainstays are eggs, fish, meat, leafy but not starchy vegetables and nuts. His advice opposes dietary guidelines laid out by the Nutrition Society of South Africa, which recommend making “starchy foods” part of most meals and using fats sparingly.

Compare this to the ‘norm’ e.g. this article on Runners Connect advocating all the things Noakes is dead against. (  https://runnersconnect.net/running-nutrition-articles/best-carbohydrates-for-runners/ ) or this article from Runners World.

CARBOHYDRATES AND RUNNING
Carbohydrates (sugar, starch, and fiber) play an important role in maintaining a healthy diet and fueling your runs. Carbohydrates are stored in your muscles as glycogen, which your body taps into during a workout.

But not all carbohydrates are created equal. The more processed a carbohydrate is (like packaged foods and sweets) the more it becomes stripped of its nutrients, making its calories “empty.”

To fuel your body and your run, reach for complex carbohydrates like whole fruits and vegetables, dairy, whole grains, potatoes, and legumes. These foods provide a host of nutrients, including fiber, vitamin C, and calcium, that will help runners feel full and perform their best.

You can benefit from simple carbohydrates (like table sugar, maple syrup, or dextrose), which provide quick bursts of energy. This type of sugar (found in energy gels and chews) is good for on-the-run fuel because it is quickly absorbed and can help replenish the glycogen stores you’re depleting on a long run. You’ll want to refuel regularly on the run before your muscles become fully depleted. Try to consume 30 to 60 grams every hour, depending on your intensity and also body size.

Carb-loading may be a runner’s favorite part about marathon day. But to do it properly, it’s important not to eat heaps of pasta for days on end—you’ll feel sluggish and it could lead to GI distress on race day. Instead, slowly increase your carbohydrate intake about three to seven days leading up to your race. For example, have oatmeal and fruit for breakfast, add a dinner roll to your salad, have a handful of pretzels as a snack, and add rice or other whole grains to your dinner.

Activity Level Recommended Intake
Light activity (less than 1 hour per day) 1.3 to 2.3 g/lb. body weight
Moderate activity (1 hour per day) 2.3 to 3.2 g/lb. body weight
Extreme exercise program (4.5 to 6 hours per day) 4.5 to 5.5+ g/lb. body weight

Are all the running experts wrong and is Noakes a visionary preaching a complete change on how we fuel efficiently ? More importantly has he found the cure for diabetes and obesity.? Finally if he has will big business let him? I read that if Noakes is telling the truth it would be the end for four large pharmaceutical companies  who survive on providing the drugs necessary to combat the 20th century diseases associated with over eating and bad diets. Then all the industries built up on providing all these carbohydrates and sugar we rely on currently. Big business does not like change as it normally affects the bottom line, they are not at all interested in finding cures for most diseases they supply drugs to combat, why would they?

Personally I feel Noakes has some good points. We all eat to much sugar and can certainly do without it, there are natural alternatives. Can we go low carb, high fat. ? I’m happy to eat bacon and eggs for breakfast , as encouraged by Noakes, but giving up probably my main food group will be a big ask.

Finally what about pancakes, protein surely ? Not even Noakes would try and take my pancakes away, would he? I regret eating that digestive biscuit now, well maybe regret is a tad overboard….

 

I have attached an interview Noakes gave to Marika Sboros ( http://www.biznews.com/health/2015/01/19/complete-idiots-guide-tim-noakes-diet-banting-lchf/ )

 

Strictly speaking, it’s not correct to call Cape Town sports scientist Prof Tim Noakes’ low-carb, high-fat (LCHF) diet ‘Banting’, but he doesn’t mind if you do. The eponymous William Banting was fat – a heavily overweight, ailing British undertaker, and he ate low carbs on the advice of Dr William Harvey in 1862. Banting lost weight and felt great. Harvey wrote about it, but under pressure from medical colleagues, modified the diet into high-protein, low-fat. German physician Dr Wilhelm Ebstein took it to Europe, and changed to high-fat, low-carb after realising the key was replacing carbs with fat, not protein, as fat reduced hunger more effectively. So it’s more correct to call Noakes’ diet ‘Ebstein’, or ‘ketogenic’. Banting may stick in SA, where it is a culinary ‘revolution’, with Banting restaurants, meals and products popping up all over the place.

That has had some doctors and dietitians frothing at the mouth, and looking on Noakes as SA’s next ‘Dr Death’. President of the Association for Dietetics in SA Claire Julsing Strydom has reported Noakes to the Health Professions Council of SA for telling a mother on Twitter that good foods for baby weaning are LCHF – in other words meat and veg. The hearing is looking like the nutrition equivalent of the Spanish inquisition, as orthodoxy seeks to silence Noakes and his heretical views once and for all. Whether they will succeed is anyone’s guess. What’s more certain is that Banting is going global , as evidence piles up in favour of its safety and efficacy to treat insulin resistance and for weightloss. Here, Noakes gives clarifying fundamentals, followed by an Idiot’s Guide to his LCHF diet.

Cape Town sports scientist Prof Tim Noakes is in great shape. At 65, after four years on his low-carb, high-fat (LCHF) diet, his energy levels are stratospheric; his running has improved spectacularly.

“I don’t run as fast as I ran in my 20s, but I’m running faster and further in training, and with more enjoyment than I did 20 years ago,” he says.

He hasn’t gained a gram of the 20kg he lost in the first two years on the diet, and his health has improved. Noakes has type 2 diabetes (it’s in his family history) and developed it despite religiously eating the recommended high-carb, low-fat diet for 33 years that experts told him would prevent diabetes. He could probably do without medication to control it, but prefers to have “perfect blood glucose control’’.

He sleeps like a baby and no longer snores – for which wife Marilyn is deeply grateful – and no longer falls asleep in front of the TV. All other ailments – recurring bronchitis, rhinitis, migraine, irritable bowel syndrome, and gastric reflux for which he was considering surgery – have disappeared.

Controversy still peppers his diet, with some saying it’s unscientific and dangerous – and so is Noakes. The science for and against LCHF and Noakes was scrutinised by an international gathering of top LCHF scientists and researchers at the low-carb, high-fat summit in Cape Town from February 19 to 22. Noakes hosted the event with Karen Thomson, granddaughter of the late pioneering cardiac surgeon Prof Chris Barnard, and the cream of international LCHF medical and scientific experts on the speakers’ panel.

Here he clarifies terminology of his LCHF diet, and gives an Idiot’s Guide to getting started:

Is your diet Atkins?

No, Atkins is higher protein than ours. Ours is high-fat, moderate-protein.

Is it Paleo?

No. Paleo is low in carbs, but not as low as we go. It excludes cereals and dairy, but includes fruit, which we don’t, except for some berries that are high in nutrition and low in carbs.

Is it Banting?

It’s probably more correct to call it Ebstein – after German physician Dr Wilhelm Ebstein who first made it high-fat. That was the diet Sir William Osler promoted in his monumental textbook: The Principles and Practices of Medicine, published in the US in 1892. Anyone who claims Banting or Ebstein diets are fads simply knows nothing about medical nutrition history. Nutrition did not begin in 1977 as our students seem to be taught.

Any weighing of food on your diet?

No. That’s a joke. You can’t predict accurately the absolute calorie content of foods when eaten by humans. You don’t know how many calories each person needs. The only way to work that out is by weighing yourself. If your weight stays stable, you’re eating the same number of calories you are expending. If you are lean, that’ll probably be the correct number of calories for your body and activity level. There’s no other way remotely accurate enough to measure your calorie needs.

Is your diet extreme?

Only in that it’s extremely low in carbohydrate – the one nutrient for which humans have absolutely no essential requirement. In 1977, when we were told to eat diets extremely high in carbohydrates, human health started to fail on a global scale. Moderation is a smug, puritanical word. No mammal eats in moderation. In nature all diets are extreme – lions eat only meat, polar bears mainly fat, panda bears only bamboo shoots, giraffes only acacia leaves. Balance is what has worked for each of these species for millions of years.

Is it right for everyone?

No diet is right for everyone. LCHF is best for people who are insulin resistant.

Critics say the Tim Noakes diet is dangerous because of high saturated fat. Is saturated fat ever a health threat?

It can be, in the presence of a high carbohydrate/sugar diet that causes elevated insulin concentrations due to the excessive carb intake. Insulin directs an altered metabolism, with the formation of the damaging oxidised (LDL) cholesterol that is probably a key component in heart disease.

So what’s the key?

To eat a diet that keeps blood insulin and glucose concentrations low, because elevated insulin concentrations especially are linked to long-term health problems. We say: eat what your appetite directs you to. Once you cut the carbs we think your brain will tell you if you need more fat or protein. It’s about finding the balance that works for you.

On to the fundamentals when starting on your diet – what to cut out?

Bread, potatoes, rice, pasta, pizza, sugar, all grains and cereals, processed, packaged, boxed, adulterated foods, cakes, sweets, biscuits, fizzy drinks, all the addictive things. Anything sweet and starchy has to go – and low-fat foods.

What to keep in?

Fat and protein. You can eat fat in relatively unlimited amounts, but only moderate protein. A healthy high-protein diet for humans doesn’t exist. If your diet was 100% protein, you’d quickly get sick and die. You can’t really overdose on fat; it reduces appetite, and it’s the best way to get over sugar addiction.

What are good protein sources?

Start with eggs, full-fat dairy, cheese, yoghurt – good fallback foods. Fish and chicken – with the skin, not battery fed – and some meat, preferably organic, or at least pasture-raised, not from animals raised in feed lots and fed grains, because that destroys the meat’s quality. Meat’s not a main focus, but we like lamb because it’s fatty and pasture fed. Boerwors is fine, but without cereal in it, and bacon, preferably not very smoked.

And good fat sources?

Butter, cream – ladle meat and veg with butter; put cream in tea or coffee. Coconut oil, very healthy, everyone should have two tablespoons of it daily. Avocados. Nuts – almonds, walnuts, pecan nuts, especially macadamia nuts, they are like drops of fat – all tree nuts. Not peanuts or cashews. They’re legumes, not nuts.

Dairy can be problematic?

Only for people with diarrhoea, lactose intolerance, or who battle to lose weight – that happens mostly to women. It may well be that fat increases their hunger rather than satisfies it. We don’t know if it’s just an effect of saturated fat in some people. The easiest way to cut fat in that case is to cut dairy, and eat other sources of fat, such as oily fish, and avocado.

What about vegetables?

All vegetables have carbohydrates, but we recommend those with lowest carb, highest Tim Noakes Real Meal Revolutionnutrient content: leafy greens such as kale, it’s one of the most nutritious vegetables; also cauliflower, broccoli, they’re on our green list – (in The Real Meal Revolution, co-authored by Jonno Proudfoot, Sally-Ann Creed and David Grier).

Can you be a vegetarian on your diet?

Yes, if you eat dairy products, but we advise adding eggs and fish. Vegetarians who cheat can be incredibly healthy.

You can’t be a vegan on your diet?

Well, I know a vegan athlete, a former professional cyclist who eats 80% fat in his diet – lots of coconut oil and avos. It’s an extreme diet, but it works for him. Clearly his gut flora can handle it. I met someonewho eats only raw meat. We don’t know what the bacteria in their guts are doing, and how those bacteria might compensate for what we might perceive as intake “deficiencies”.

What carb-fat-protein ratio is best?

Depends on how sick you are. If you’re diabetic, we say 20% to 30% protein, 60% to 70% fat, 5% carbs. The sicker you are, the more fat you need, because fat is insulin neutral. The more insulin resistant you are, the more fat you can eat, because even when the pancreas fails, fat is the only fuel you can metabolise safely without requiring insulin. It’s perfect for blood sugar control. We don’t tell people how many grams to eat, except for carbs – around 25g if you are really sick.

What about alcohol?

It’s a toxin, and slows weight loss on our diet significantly. We say: first lose the weight, and reintroduce alcohol in small amounts if you must. The diet is a fine line. If you don’t fall on the right side of the fat, protein, carb ratio, just one apple, a beer or two glasses of wine will put you on the wrong side, and you will not enjoy the benefits you should from cutting carbs.

No sweet ‘cheat’ treats at all?

A small piece of dark chocolate is fine, but many people can’t eat just one small piece – like smokers who can’t have one cigarette. The key is to get sugar out the diet. People don’t understand how addictive sugar is, or what it actually is – not just sucrose, the white stuff, also high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) in processed foods. That’s what I classify as sugar, the really addictive one. If you can get people down to 25g of carbs a day for a few months with no added sugar, the brain no longer searches for sugar. That’s what makes our diet so successful.

And best snacks?

Nuts, biltong, cheese, coconut – I love coconut chips best of all. And fullcream yoghurt.

How often should you eat?

Depends on how sick or obese you are. I’m diabetic, so in my opinion the less frequently I eat the better. I eat a big breakfast, snack a little at two in the afternoon and eat dinner at seven.

Friend or Foe.
Friend or Foe
Racing

The brutality of competition.

14 March bigkevmatthews@gmail.com 0 Comment
Darlington half start ( albeit 2011.)

Last weekend I ran the Darlington half which I had written about in post earlier in the week. (see below) As expected it was as brutal as I had remembered on the six previous occasions I had ran ‘the hill’. This year though seemed harder than the previous years and this is a trait that seems to be becoming the norm in my racing career of late. Is this the start of my progression back to the pack or just poor training catching up with me ?

First of all some stats, because runners love numbers right ? My previous six finishing times for the Darlington Half have been 1:24, 1:21:12, 1:19:45, 1:17:22, 1:21:46, 1:19:16 with a 1:19:02 this year. This year was my second fastest of the 7 previous races so I should be happy enough right ? In this case not so, the race itself was brutal enough that at 5k I was so close to pulling the pin and just stopping, truth be told sometimes this blog is enough to keep me soldering on as it wouldn’t be good for the runbkrun brand having me DNF’ing would it ? I remember a quote from Tim Noakes (Author of the ‘Lore of Running’) where he said that in just about every race he ever ran he , at some point during the race, had the urge to pull out and stop the ‘suffering’.

I would assume all runners who push themselves into the ‘pain box’ would logically want to end the time in said box and this is the mental part of racing that we gain from the whole racing exercise. This mental toughness is acquired, in my opinion, by experience and also , for the lucky few, genetics. Some people are just better at handling pain, because this is what is basically is, than others. I’ve said many times in this blog that Steve Monaghetti maintained the elites in the sport are just better equipped to handle the pain of racing compared to the club runner and this , together with a better training program, is what separates the two. It also helps to be 45kg and Kenyan,  with no distractions and a diet so primitive all ‘bad’ food is avoided.

So back to Darlington. I raced off like a ‘scolded cat’ which is my normal starting strategy, I use the word ‘strategy’ in the broadest sense of the word. I have tried holding myself back at the start but it’s just not me and I always seem to revert back to the ‘first to 100 metres’ wins mentality. Luckily in this race Dean Menzies was running and he was out of sight by the first kiloemtre and won by nearly 8 minutes, Oh to be young and talented. (Actually I’ll take just young truth be told !)  Surprisingly enough I was in second place for the first four kilometres which I wasn’t expecting and really had no idea who was also racing as my warm up was late, as usual, and I had no time to check out the other runners pre-start. I did notice Justin Scarvaci at the start, a runner who takes great pleasure in passing me towards the end of the race, so knew that if I was to podium (and that is a big ‘IF’) it would be a third place finish at best. My best finish at Darlington had been a 5th in 2014 when I ran one of the runs of my life (these do exist, just happen on a very irregular basis unfortunately; otherwise they wouldn’t be ‘runs of your life’ I suppose?)  Anyhow , as always, I digress.

Back to the race report and I’m sitting in 2nd at 4k dreaming of a Darlington podium. This is short lived of course when three runners catch me and I go from 2nd to 5th in a few hundred metres, go to love racing ! The other three runners all look very strong and I have to work very hard to slot in behind them (which with a headwind and a hill is the pace to be luckily.) For the next 7k we climb the hill together and I’m pleased that I can hang on, and trust me it was hanging on. At the turn around point the leader has well gone and there is a big gap to the next pack of chasing runners, big enough that I know another 5th place is in the bag, which takes some pressure of the return journey.

The Darlington half really is a race of two halves. The second half, which starts at around 13k really, is a downhill sprint to the finish and if you have saved something in the legs is just about the best finish to a half in Western Australia, bar none. We dropped one runner (sorry Max) on the downward journey and the three of us left in the chasing pack ( I use the word ‘chasing‘ very loosely as Dean was well out of sight !) motored away enjoying the tail wind and the gradient. Surprisingly enough I was actually comfortable for the first 3k of the downhill section and slotted in behind the two other runners. I even started to think maybe, just maybe, a podium was a possibility; just needed one of these two runners ahead of me to ‘bonk’. Truth be told I knew this was a long shot as both were probably 20 years plus younger that me and looked to be cruising, more worried about the other runner rather than the old guy behind then.

This turned out to be the case at 18k when we encounted the only small rise in the downward journey and I was dropped like a bad habit. I then suffered the double whammy of finding out that Nike Vaporfly 4%’s are amazing shoes on every terrain bar ‘pea gravel’ trail at speed. My last 2-3 kilometres was like ice skating and I consider myself lucky to be alive ! No worries, finish in 4th place (my favourite go-to position these days?)  with a good time of 1:19:02. Another rookie error with not looking at my watch near the finish as I could have probably found 3 seconds to break 1:19, when will I learn?

There was the obligatory , ‘I will never run that again’ conversation with the finishing shute volunteers, which again seems to the  norm these days and then a warm down with the Jon and the T-train where I recorded possibly my slowest kilometre ever on Strava, over 7 minutes !

The point of this post , for those lucky readers who have stuck it out to the bitter end , is that it doesn’t matter how experienced you are or how many races you have ran , a race will always test you mentally and physically. I believe it is more of a mental test personally and the end result depends on how much pain you are able to take onboard in your pursuit of the end goal. As you would probably have gathered in my last few race reports I seem to be paying a higher price, mentally, ever time I race and as I have said before I would put this down to father time catching up with me and asking for payment , of sorts.  You need to keep this in mind next time you race and start to question your ability, and you will. Trust in your training and always remember ‘pain is temporary but quitting last forever.’  

Does this mean I’ll be slowing down anytime soon and returning to the chasing pack ? Not on your life, I shall take the opposite approach and train smarter (or harder?) and try and prepare myself physically better for the challenge. This may be enough to make up for the mental demons I battle every time I put on a race bib. Luckily I haven’t got long to ponder Darlington as I have another race this weekend, the Peninsula 10k, a race I set my 10k PB a few years ago when I actually won it.  Race strategy (?) will be similar to Darlington , and all my races truth be told, go off like a scolded cat and hang on for dear life towards the end while questioning the whole reason you do what you do, deep inside the pain box. It’d be silly to change a winning formula wouldn’t it ?

 

Racing

What goes up must come down quicker.

09 March bigkevmatthews@gmail.com 2 Comments

This weekend I will be running the Darlington half marathon for the 7th time. This is probably the only half marathon where a good negative split is guaranteed, of course a runners friend (and enemy) gravity plays a large part in this. The first half of the Darlington half is predominately uphill which of course translates to the second half being predominately downhill, funny that. (being an out and back course.) This race, more than most, involves the runner taking account of the terrain and holding something back for the return leg when time can be made up very quickly on fresh legs. To waste too much energy on the outbound journey would negate the benefit offered on the return.

I’ve attached my race splits from last year when I scrambled home for a 6th place finish after sitting in 4th for most of the race, which would have been my best finishing position. No worries, it’s not like I blew up but a couple of ‘younger’ runners got me with less than 3k to the finish. Anyhow as you can see from the graphic below it really is a case of up 10 or so kilometres, a couple of kilometres to grab your breath before a 10k race to the finish with gravity as your co-pilot.

Of course I’m not saying the last 10k is a breeze by any stretch of the imagination. You have a bib on your chest (and a chip on your shoe) so you will be pushing yourself deep into the pain box and although it helps you are running down hill you are still racing.

 

Darlington half gradient with splits from last years race.

So what other variables need to be taken into account when you’re racing ? Heat is the obvious first choice. A Runners Choice article on training in the heat and its affect is worth a read:-

As year-round runners facing myriad conditions, we all recognize that it’s harder to run well when it’s hot. Perceived effort is greater and race times typically suffer accordingly. Why does this happen? What happens to the body at a physiological level? And most important, how should we adjust workouts and race expectations to best weather the weather?It’s generally recognized that for every 10-degree increase in air temperature above 55 degrees, there’s a 1.5 percent to 3 percent increase in average finishing time for a marathon. (Translation: An extra 3 to 6 minutes for a 3:30 marathon with every 10-degree increase.) This slow-down occurs because heat impacts runners at a physiological level through various means, including dehydration, increased heart rate and reduced blood flow (and subsequently oxygen) to the muscles used for running.
SWEAT: THE DETAILS
Thermoregulation is how your body maintains a consistent internal temperature. When exposed to external heat, your body cools itself and maintains equilibrium via perspiration. Perspiration has a cooling effect on the body because it removes excess heat through evaporation. The rate of evaporation—and subsequently how well the body is cooled—changes depending upon humidity. When humidity is low, evaporation increases; when humidity is high, the rate of evaporation decreases and less cooling occurs.Sweating, while critical to cooling the body, leads to fluid loss. Dehydration from fluid loss has a profound effect on running performance—a loss of even 2 percent of body weight leads to about a 4-to 6-percent drop in performance. Furthermore, both temperature and humidity increase heart rate and amplify these effects. At 60 to 75 degrees, heart rate increases by two to four beats per minute. From 75 to 90 degrees, heart rate increases up to 10 beats per minute, and humidity increases it even more. Perceived effort is accordingly much greater as both the temperature and the humidity rise.Compounding things, when you sweat your blood volume decreases, less blood returns to your heart, less oxygen-rich blood reaches your working muscles, you produce less energy aerobically and you run slower for a given effort level. As it gets hotter this effect is exaggerated because the greater the amount of heat that needs to be dissipated, the greater the proportion of blood diverted to the skin. While the red blood cells contained in plasma don’t play a role in the cooling process, your body can’t separate the red blood cells (which carry oxygen) from the plasma—all are brought to the skin to induce a cooling effect. When oxygen is redirected via blood flow to your skin instead of your muscles, you have less energy to use for running, and your heart and lungs must work harder to compensate for the loss in oxygen. As you’ve experienced, this results in a higher heart rate at a set pace and the inability to maintain the same pace as on a cool day.WHAT TO DO?
How can you minimize the negative impact of heat on performance? Because of blood plasma’s important role in the cooling process, training alone provides a bit of adaptation, because a side effect of running is an increase in total plasma volume. This helps to explain why the fittest athletes (and likely those with the highest plasma volume) typically adapt more easily to heat.

In addition to regular training, running in hot conditions results in changes that make it easier to maintain a faster pace and cause perceived exertion to drop, including a higher blood plasma volume, increased sweat rate, decrease in salt in sweat, reduced heart rate at a given pace and temperature, and a quicker onset of sweating. These changes make it easier to perform in the heat and are noticeable after only a week or two of heat exposure.

Still, heat acclimatization can take you only so far during weeks-long stretches of sultry weather. Steve Sisson, assistant coach of women’s cross country and track at the University of Texas, knows well the impact that prolonged, inescapable heat has on distance runners. On particularly hot days, he encourages his athletes to adjust expectations and change their attitudes. He explains, “Heat really affects intensity. It is really hard to get up and excited in high heat environments. One of the things that I try to get my athletes to do is to approach any workout in the heat as a progression. Adjusting the level of effort or intensity based on what the body is signaling is a key lesson for any athlete to learn.”

While Sisson doesn’t change the number or length of repetitions in a workout, he does modify the workout by shifting the focus away from a certain time goal to running an equivalent effort. “If we are trying to hit mile repeats in 5:20 for a 10K workout, I will give my runners a time range of 5:20 to 5:30 and let them adjust based on how they feel,” Sisson says.

“Living in a hot part of the country means that we are never going to get away from the heat. If we adjust volume we won’t be competitive.”

Sisson encourages his runners to look for internal cues instead of fixating on split times. To make the adjustment easier if you’re particularly split-focused, on horrific heat days move your interval sessions off the track. Working out on an uncalibrated course is a sure way to ensure a shift to effort over time and this makes it easier to pay attention to internal feedback and perceived exertion and avoid being distracted or discouraged by slower-than-hoped-for splits.

RACING IN THE HEAT
Racing is uniquely taxing in any weather. Adding heat into the equation creates a competing interest and struggle within the body between powering such a strenuous effort and the need to cool the body. This means that you have to work even harder to cool yourself and is why a race will feel much worse than a workout in similar conditions.

Alan Culpepper, a two-time Olympian, is familiar with this tug of war. He faced gruesome conditions in the 2004 Olympic Marathon in Athens, with a starting temperature of 80 degrees. Thanks to smart preparation for and patience during the race, Culpepper placed 12th in a field full of faster runners. Here’s what helped him succeed.

1) ADJUST YOUR PREPARATION.
If you’re fortunate enough to anticipate less-than-favorable conditions for an event, preparation is key. Culpepper says, “Get your body used to losing heat more efficiently.” The summer before the Olympics, Culpepper wore a baseball cap and long-sleeved shirt on runs to help acclimatize. He also advises taking in more electrolytes two to three days before a goal race, staying as cool as possible before the race (cold sponges can be helpful) and running a shorter warm-up before a hot event to prevent loss of electrolytes, particularly if you’re running a longer event.

2) ADJUST YOUR EXPECTATIONS.
Says Culpepper, “You have to pay attention to perceived effort. It is important to recognize you will be slower than you hoped but effort is the determining factor.” He advises that you pay less attention to traditional feedback like splits and instead, “Listen to the feedback your body is giving you: Is your breathing heavier? How uncomfortable are you?”

3) ADJUST YOUR MINDSET.
Attitude is critical. Culpepper recommends, “Instead of getting discouraged, recognize that everyone is dealing with the same conditions and have faith in your preparations.”

It’s Not the Heat, Nor the Humidity

It’s the dew point. That’s the meteorological measure that best predicts how tough your summer running is going to be.

Simply put, the dew point is the temperature at which water condenses. The closer the dew point is to the air temperature, the more saturated the air is and the less perspiration can evaporate and help the body cool itself, resulting in extra stress on the heart and lungs as the body attempts unsuccessfully to cool itself. Accordingly, the dew point provides a strong indicator of how you’ll feel running and a useful tool in predicting how much performance will be impacted.

DEW POINT (°F) RUNNER’S PERCEPTION HOW TO HANDLE
50–54 Very comfortable PR conditions
55–59 Comfortable Hard efforts likely not affected
60–64 Uncomfortable for some people Expect race times to be slower than in optimal conditions
65–69 Uncomfortable for most people Easy training runs might feel OK but difficult to race well or do hard efforts
70–74 Very humid and uncomfortable Expect pace to suffer greatly
75 or greater Extremely oppressive Skip it or dramatically alter goal

Next of course is wind, a Runner Connect article describes the affect of gradients best friend…

Research on Running in Wind

The first study we’ll look to was published way back in 1971 by L.G. Pugh, a researcher in London.1 In his experiment, he had his subject (there was only one, an international-caliber middle distance runner) run along a treadmill cleverly mounted inside a wind tunnel.

Pugh measured the oxygen consumption of his runner over a variety of running speeds and wind velocities.He found that oxygen consumption, and therefore energy cost, increases with the square of the airflow over the body. So, the performance hit of a 10mph wind is four times greater than that of a 5mph wind, and the additional resistance running into a steady wind at 5:40 mile pace is twice that encountered when running into the same wind at 8:00 mile pace. In an additional experiment, Pugh measured the oxygen consumption of his runner first while running alone into a headwind, then while running one meter behind another runner. Pugh’s study found an 80% decrease in wind resistance when drafting off another runner! This corresponded to about a 6% drop in oxygen consumption for the given pace. Pugh confirmed these findings by taking airflow measurements in the wake of a single runner, then computing the effective air resistance for a runner-shaped object one meter back. From his measurements, it appears that there is still some benefit from drafting even two or three meters behind another runner. In a later study published in 1980, C.T.M. Davies investigated the effect of headwinds and tailwinds on three subjects using a similar treadmill-in-wind-tunnel setup.2Like Pugh, he found that oxygen consumption increases (and therefore, performance decreases) proportional to the square of the wind speed.While a tailwind does aid performance significantly, you only “get back” about half of what you put into a headwind when you turn around and run with it at your back. But Davies rightly points out that this relationship is diminished slightly during outdoor running—on a treadmill, any tailwind that exceeds your running speed is wasted, as you must remain in place on the treadmill.

However, results from real-world track races make it clear that, even in over ground running, the benefits of a tailwind do not entirely offset the drawbacks of a headwind. Davies also demonstrates that a tailwind that effectively eliminates air resistance. What does that mean?

For example: If you are running 6:00 mile pace with a 10mph tailwind, a tailwind equivalent would increase your performance by about 6 seconds per mile. However: The equivalent headwind (6-minute miles into a 10mph wind) would slow you by about 12 seconds per mile. While this rule is rather rough and based on treadmill studies, it’s reasonably applicable to racing speeds for most road runners. Davies also conducted some crude measurements of “drafting” behind other runners and found his data in agreement with Pugh: Trailing another runner by a meter or so can remove up to 80% of the energy cost of air resistance, making it a very attractive decision on a windy day. According to Davies, a mile (on a day with no wind) tucked behind another runner is four seconds easier than running it alone!

Does running in the wind cool you down quicker?

One final consideration when it comes to wind is its effect on heat removal from the body.

As pointed out in a 2012 review of climatic effects on marathon running by Greg Spellman, air resistance affects not only the forces you have to overcome, but your body’s rate of cooling. While running with a tailwind certainly helps you move faster, the effect of running in “still air” on heat removal cannot be ignored. As far as I know, there has been little to no published research on this effect: to what extent does the increased heat retention in running with a tailwind detract from your running performance on a hot day? And conversely, how much does increased cooling from a headwind offset the increased wind resistance? Boston Marathon participants and organizers were ecstatic about the 15mph tailwind on a 63-degree day in 2011, which propelled hundreds of runners to personal records. But would participants in the 2007 Chicago Marathon, marred not only by 88-degree weather but a paltry 6 mph wind speed, have run better with a brisk wind to cool them?

We’ll have to wait on future research to answer that question.

How Will Windy Conditions Affect My Running?

We’ve seen how the basics of the effects of air resistance have been known to exercise physiologists for some time.

The performance hit from air resistance increases exponentially with faster running speeds and wind velocities, but fortunately, up to 80% of the performance decrement can be eliminated by drafting about a meter behind another runner. Additionally, using a very rough rule of thumb you can anticipate the effect of wind resistance in a road race: A “substantial” wind (i.e. one approximately equal to the pace you are running at) will set you back 12 seconds per mile with a headwind, and aid you by 6 seconds per mile with a tailwind.

Headwinds aren’t always your enemy, however, since a brisk wind can aid cooling on a hot day. When it comes to choosing where you want to race, keep these factors in mind. Check out the weather history for the area and see which way the wind tends to blow. Also try to enter races where you know there will be plenty of competitors running the same pace as you, so you can save some energy by “tucking into the pack” like a middle-distance runner in a track race.

Finally, make sure you take advantage of a tailwind when you’ve got one! These tips are known to many elite runners and meet directors, who take heat, wind, and the competitiveness of the race into account when planning when to attempt a new record. Some of the best races in the world are held on cool spring and summer nights, after the winds die down as the sun sets and a world-class field toes the line.

So that sums up some factors to take into account when racing, gradient, heat and wind. Of course there are many more including how you feel on the day, previous weeks sleep patterns, previous weeks/months training distances, race importance (is this a goal race?), rain, conditions of the course (I.e trail or concrete). The list is long and just about endless, of course I’ll cover each eventually but for the moment I’ve got a race to prepare for.

 

Darlington half start, the only downhill for the next 10 kilometres so enjoy it !