Keys to an Effective Marathon Training Program

If you do not know me personally, please read the disclaimer at the bottom before taking any advice from this post.

This post is for the average runner who is currently in relatively good 5k to 10k shape, has likely completed a marathon or a few (with a time between 3 and 5 hours), knows the basics of putting together a general training regimen to add volume of miles, and is looking to get faster. I often hear the anecdotal, "No matter how much I train, I just can't get faster!"

The two most common symptoms I've heard in my experiences, and my common runner rebuttal to why they are not effectively training, have been:

1. I keep getting my long runs better and farther, but it doesn't make any difference on race day.
The Initial Issue: Long slow runs make long slow runners (I believe this is commonly attributed to Seb Coe)

The Solution: Need to also get in speedwork.

Then this leads to:

2. I put in a ton of speed workouts every week and I just don't get faster.
The Initial Issue: You can't effectively increase your speed unless you get adequate rest. Average runners (ie those that are not conditioned well enough to train on a 10+ runs weeks or 2-a-days most days with a couple of rest blocks) cannot get more than 2 good workouts in per week (and if you are building volume through having at least one long run, like you probably should, then you are left with only one for a good speedwork day).

The Solution: Generally speaking, one workout should be speedwork and one should be a long run. The remainder of the week needs to be cross-training or easy runs.

Why?????

People think that they push themselves 100% on every speedwork day and long run day. However, in any training day, there are really two forces at play:

1. Your perceived intensity
2. Your body/brain's 'Capacity to Exert' energy

You can push your perceived intensity to 100% every workout; however, it won't do you any good because your overall workout won't be at 100% unless you have a Capacity to Exert of 100% as well.

My hypothesis is that, give or take, an average runner on an anecdotal basis has 100% of their possible Capacity to Exert energy on Day 1. If they burn through all of it, they are down to 0% and each day that goes by they add about 20% (so that five days later, they are likely about fully rested again). An easy run day or cross training day can add anywhere from 20-40% back into the tank as well on top of the normal 20% that is added, so long as the intensity is so low that it is simply getting the blood flow, etc going (ie, usually 2-4 min/mile slower than top 1-mile speed). So a typical effective schedule may look like:

Day Activity Capacity to Exert Intensity Actual Total Exertion What Is Left In the Tank For Next Workout 1 Long Run 100% 100% 100% 20% 2 Easy Run 20% 60% 12% 80% 3 Off 80% 0% 0% 100% 4 Speedwork 100% 100% 100% 0% 5 Easy Run 20% 100% 20% 60% 6 Off 60% 0% 0% 80% 7 Off 60% 0% 0% 100% 8 Long Run 100% 100% 100% 20% 9 Easy Run 20% 60% 12% 80% 10 Off 80% 0% 0% 100% 11 Speedwork 100% 100% 100% 0% 12 Easy Run 20% 100% 20% 60% 13 Off 60% 0% 0% 80% 14 Off 60% 0% 0% 100% 15 Long Run 100% 100% 100% 20%

*Notes:
"Capacity to Exert  X  Intensity  =  Actual Exertion"
"Day 1 Left in Tank for Next Workout  =  Day 2 Capacity to Exert"
"Capacity to Exert  -  Long Run  = -80% Left in Tank"
"Capacity to Exert  - Speedwork  = -100% Left in Tank"
"Capacity to Exert  +  Off  = +20% Left in Tank"
"Capacity to Exert  +  Easy Run  = +60% Left in Tank"
"Speedwork and Long Run MUST Be Preceded by Off"


For some people, a hard long run will bring them down to 0%. For others, it is the speed day that brings them down to 0%. My personal experience given my body type is that a long run day only brings me down to about 20%, but a speed day for me brings me down to 0% (ie, it is very difficult to even walk on the day after a speed day, but a couple miles into an easy run it starts to feel better). Nutrition, sleep and stress also obviously play a major role and every attempt should be made to manage these effectively in such ways as to maximize Capacity to Exert on Long Run days and Speedwork days.

The key to an effective marathon training program is having 100% Capacity to Exert on every (or nearly every) long run day and speedwork day. If you don't, then it is a wasted day and is not going to lower your time whatsoever.




Disclaimer: This hasn't been scientifically studied, although I would love if someone with that capability did try out something to test or further expand on these thoughts. I am not a professional runner, nor a trainer, medical professional, dietitian, scientist (I've never even taken a high school physics class) or in any way suited to provide training advice. I am simply a runner who has trained and completed many endurance events (including several marathons with a 2:57 PR, 50 mile 'Voyageur Trail Ultra' in 9:59 and an Ironman in 11:32) and who has helped many friends and acquaintances meet their goals and heard many anecdotal pieces through the process  from which I've formed this hypothesis. Consult with a real medical professional before trying anything. 

Chisago Triathlon (My 2nd Half Iron - Mile by Mile)

Areas for improvement are italicized. 

I had my first 'good' triathlon at Chisago that occurred with no major issues (didn't swim head-on into another wave of racers, no wrong turns, etc). This is comparing my performance there to my performance at Liberty Tri 7 weeks earlier.

Start
It was just over 50 degrees at the start with pretty strong north winds. The only piece of equipment I forgot was my race belt to hold my number, but luckily my friend had string in his truck so I was able to tie it to me for the run portion. The water was very choppy but warm. My last tri I had immense trouble with swimming straight given the lack of big blue lines on the bottom of the lake but I had practiced twice/week to correct that. As the horn blew and we took off, my goal was to not waste energy swimming in zig-zags.


Swim
I swam right to the first buoy, no problem. Lots of getting kicked, hit with hands, etc. Also, with my increased sighting I was able to see all of the people making the mistake I made last time and swimming sideways, diagonally and every other direction.

Breathing every third stroke, and sighting every third breath was working well. The first few buoys were close to each other because they were also for the "sprint distance" course and I stayed right along the inside of the course straight from one to the next, not going more than a couple feet left or right. After we were past the close buoys, the distance between them probably tripled and they became harder to spot because they would each be so far away from the last. I started sighting every other breath (always on my right side, which I am better currently and I know this isn't symmetrical, but it made the most sense). This worked great and I continued with my goal of going straight. I don't kick much or at all during the swim, partially in an effort to save my legs moreso for the bike/run.

Old Time: 47 min
New Time: 41 min (1:57/100 Yards, or 4 lengths of many lap pools)
Savings: 6 minutes, or 12.7%


Bike

From MapMyRun

Coming out of the water and stripping the wetsuit so I was down to tri shorts and a tri top (tank-top) was incredibly cold today for the first few miles. The biting wind (10mph NNW, over long farms) made the course difficult despite the general flatness and rolling hills.

Personally, I planned pretty well and had one bottle of water and one bottle of water and HEED (similar to Gatorade) plus two Gu's in my tri-top. There was also bottle exchanges at miles 20 and 32. I may have wanted to keep an empty water bottle holder on my bike as I grabbed a Gatorade at mile 20 and then had to hold it in my hands for 12 miles to avoid littering.

My average speed on each mile varied from 28.5mph to 14.4mph. Mainly, I was trying to keep my RPMs for my pedal speed at around 95. My left hip, in the IT Band area, was sore which I believe was caused by doing two days of bike speedwork immediately before the race. In the future, I would potentially limit biking the two days before the event. It was causing pain from mile 10-56, but did not seem to affect my speed. Not making a wrong turn certainly saved me time and made up for the slower performance from heavy legs and strong winds. I had to pee from about 10 miles in, but prayed I could hold it. Drank both water bottles, Gatorade, one Gu and one Hammer Gel to make sure if anything I was overhydrating and eating to keep me sharp for the run. That, I believe, paid dividends.

Old Time: 3:18
New Time: 2:58 (19.1mph)
Savings: 20 minutes or 10.1%


Run

From MapMyRun

As anyone who knows me knows, the run is definitely the part I look forward to. At Liberty, I did not have my GPS ready to go, so the first few miles it was trying to find the satellite and I couldn't tell how fast I was running. I was running a little too fast (6:30ish), and paid for it a little bit in later miles finishing with a 7:05 average pace. This time, I wanted close to even splits, although I feared I would probably not be able to do quite 7:05 as I have been adding a lot of volume and distance without as much speedwork in recent weeks.

As mentioned earlier, I had to tie my race number around my waist with string due to forgetting the race belt. The sun was finally out and the weather warmed up to the upper 60s.  From there, I took off at about a 7:05 pace which felt comfortable. Then I just ran as I felt comfortable, making every effort to encourage every person that I passed or came across on the road and thanking every volunteer to took time out of their weekend to make the race happen. I drank water or Gatorade as I felt comfortable every 3 miles or so and also took two Hammer Gels during the run. Overall, felt wonderful and as though I could have ran this pace forever. Below are the splits. Note, that the bathroom break that started bothering me 2.5 hours earlier when I was 10 miles into the run finally became too much to bear during mile 5 and I wasted literally 70 seconds relieving myself. Otherwise, I felt that the splits were even or slightly negative when wind and hills were factored in.

Mile	Split Pace
1 mi	07:13 min/mi
2 mi	06:55 min/mi
3 mi	06:49 min/mi
4 mi	06:49 min/mi
5 mi	08:20 min/mi
6 mi	07:11 min/mi
7 mi	07:11 min/mi
8 mi	06:45 min/mi
9 mi	06:48 min/mi
10 mi	06:44 min/mi
11 mi	06:47 min/mi
12 mi	06:59 min/mi
13.1 mi	07:03 min/mi

Old Time: 1:35 (7:05/mi)
New Time: 1:30 (6:53/mi)
Savings: 5 minutes or 5.3%


Overall:
Old Time: 5:45
New Time: 5:16
Savings: 29 minutes or 8.41% 

Thanks for reading and shoot me a message on Twitter @rosshedlund with any comments or a link to your experiences!

Triathlon Tips For A Runner

Like most runners, I am clueless about 2/3 of a triathlon and really just can't wait for that final event. That being said, here are a few tips from some experience triathletes to help out runners:

Some tips from my old roommate Chris Leiferman (follow him on Twitter @chris1tri), and when I say tips, I mean answering questions like:

- "Can you pee in your wetsuit?" (answer is yes, even if you're not in the water)



- "How many RPMs should you be pedaling at?" (answer is 90-100, because "Triathletes have aerobic capacity, but are weak in leg strength")
- "Do you really need two water bottles for a 56 mile ride?" (answer is yes, overhydrate on the bike and drink every 15 minutes, eat every hour to help prep for the run)
- "How do you know if you're swimming straight given that nobody paints a blue line on the bottom of a lake?" (answer is that you need to 'sight' by looking up every few strokes)


Had another friend from the Army that wishes to remain anonymous that gave me some other tips:

"You can't win the race in the swim, but you can certainly lose it" (ie, from swimming too hard and tiring yourself out for the bike and run)

"You can get as fancy of a bike as you want, but you still have to pedal it, and trust me, I passed a lot people with some really fancy tri bikes"

"Bike for show, run for dough"

The Runner's First Triathlon

I chose the Liberty Long Course in Rockford, MN (ie, 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike and 13.1 mile run...so the same distances as an Ironman Half) for my first triathlon. A lot of people presumed that this was a lofty goal, but I will be the first to tell you that from my experiences as a distance runner that I much prefer long, slower events such as this as compared to a Sprint or Olympic distance triathlon. I have incredible respect for people that choose to go all out on those distances, because that type of pain is brutal.

Training to prepare began in earnest after the Boston Marathon in April (see previous post), which had previously consumed too much of my training time. Additionally, it took forever for Minnesota to warm up enough to swim or bike outside this year.

 Coming into the race, I was:

- A very poor amateur swimmer
- An average amateur biker
- A pretty good amateur runner

Therefore, as the race went on, I kept feeling better about myself :)

THE SWIM

Swimming is frightening to many people, especially runners whose low body fat % make their legs sink and discourage them (including myself) from spending enough time focusing on this activity. Luckily I had made it out for a few open-water swims before this race, otherwise I don't doubt that I would have panicked and likely not made it.

So you and a big group of other people start on a beach, and then all run into the water at the same time and start swimming across a giant lake. There is sand, weeds, murky water that has been turned up from the waves before you, and dozens of other people's limbs flailing around hitting you in the feet, legs, torso, arms and face throughout the event, but especially for the first 15 minutes.

I had not practiced "sighting" enough, which means looking forward in order to make sure you are going in the right direction, and had a terrible time keeping straight. As I zig-zagged my way along, I found myself running sideways into people, crossing into the center area between the large buoys (the course was a long oval), and even going into head-on traffic while we were on our way back from going across the lake because I had veered 30 yards to the right. This is something I need to practice before my next one, as surprisingly there are no long blue lines across lakes like there are in pools.

At first, the excitement and fear made my breathing labored, so after about 10 minutes I rolled to my back, did some elementary back stroke for a few breaths to calm down, then went back to freestyle which worked terrific from there on out.

The swim took 47:10 for a pace of 1.5 mph, which was definitely closer to the back of the pack then the front, but I had an incredible time and was glad that I had done it.

THE BIKE
Biking began smoothly. There are rules against drafting, how to pass, etc, but they're all pretty simple. A big difference from running was that I counted four people on the side of the road with mechanical issues before I turned a corner in a construction area, hit a big hill and shifted gears, and my chain fell off. Getting it back on was a little tricky because it fell off my front sprocket, which hadn't happened to me before, and trying to start biking while you are 10% up a steep hill is in itself a masterful art. However, it worked and I was on my way.

My second issue was taking a wrong turn around mile 32, which put me towards the final 7 miles to the finish line instead of a shorter second loop. It took me 3.75 miles to realize this, so by the time I got back to the intersection to make the correct turn, I had incurred an extra 7.5 miles of biking.

Overall, I averaged about 19.2 mph on the bike through my 63.5 miles (including the time stopped to fix the chain and also some time to help out a guy with a flat), so I finished near the back on this event too given that the course was supposed to be 56 miles and hence my time of 3:18:19 made my average speed appear to be 16.9 mph. Still felt great and had a great experience overall.

THE RUN
This event, which I expected to be my strong event, was made even stronger by the fact that I began it by being among other racers who had been mostly about my speed on the swim and significantly slower bikers than me.

The course was very hilly, moreso than most running races I've done. I held pretty good paces between about 6:45 and 7:15 per mile, and finished in 1:33 (average pace 7:05) which I was very happy with for 13.1 miles. The interesting part to me was that I passed 84 people and was passed by 0. It is probably fair to say that I should practice the other two events a bit more and lay off the running a little before my next tri.

OVERALL
Loved it! As every runner knows, the journey of the hard training schedule, time commitments, sacrificing happy hours, golf, sleeping in, and weekends out with friends are the hardest and most rewarding parts of the experience. The after-effect was a little different than after running races. The muscles were less sore (because you use so many different ones I presume instead of the same ones the entire time) but the mental exhaustion was equally as difficult. Total time of 5:45:42, some of which was due to the bike mishap. Would recommend trying one to anybody who is considering it!

Running and Yoga

I'm primarily a runner. Like everyone else, I am many other things as well and one of those things is a yogi.

Why yoga?

Flexibility, balance, strength, breathing, mental strength and stress relief.

Yoga improves the range of motion for your legs as well as everything else. When I began, I couldn't even sit cross-legged. The improved flexibility has allowed my strides to lengthen and my speed to quicken. Shoulders and chest flexibility assist with efficient strides and allow the chest cavity to expand for breath.

The balance and strength keep things like IT band, ankles, core, feet, knees and everything else aligned; it helps prevent injury from weak supporting muscles.

With all physical activities, breathing is key. We take it for granted in so many things we do, and in yoga you are allowed and encouraged to focus on the breath. The improved awareness of breath and deepness of breathing acquired through yoga aid in running, sports, and life.

Yoga provides a very different challenge from running and the practice of holding poses prepares your mind for the steely mental toughness required to hold onto your pace through the end of a race.

Lastly, which may not help running but is valuable all the same, yoga provides an amazing form of stress relief from the rigors of the rest of the day.

Yoga and running, you can definitely swing both ways.

Boston Marathon 2013

Like many others, from long before my first marathon the goal was being able to run Boston someday.

Finally, on October 2nd 2011, at the Twin Cities Marathon, the stars aligned and I qualified.

Here is a quick run-down of my experience at the most prestigious marathon in the world:

Goal: Sub 3hours. For watch-time, I need a 6:47 pace. I generally expect to have 1% error from watch (Ie, instead of 26.2 miles, I expect watch to show 26.46 miles at the end. It ended up showing 26.42 miles)

Drop-off: My wife dropped me off at the park near Hopkinton at about 6am. From there, took a bus over to the athlete's village at the Hopkinton High School. Weather was around 50 degrees, pretty comfortable for me in t-shirt and shorts.Grabbed a cup of coffee and received a free massage. Met a ton of incredibly nice people.

Start: Was in Wave 1, Corral 4 (there were I believe 3 waves, starting 20 minutes apart, with 10 corrals in each). Crossed the five-foot wide piece of art (http://www.26-2.org/marathon-art/start-line/) at 10:02:12. Shoulder to shoulder, trying to find the right pace during the 160' descent during the first mile. 300' total descent by mile 4.

First 4 miles were all about trying to keep the pace slow.
Mile 1: 6:55. Felt kind of fast though, was worried I wouldn't be able to hit goal.
Mile 2: 6:39. Felt good. Trying to hold it slow. Didn't want to be off by more than 10 seconds per mile from goal.
Mile 3: 6:36. Worrisome that I was too fast.
Mile 4: 6:36. Too fast again. Said it out loud to myself to make sure I understood.
Arrive in the town of Ashland! Good signs, good to see people out cheering more. The first few miles were fewer spectators.

My calves were feeling heavy and tired already. We had a 1,600 mile drive to Boston from Minnesota that I was worried was affecting my muscles. Around mile 3, we passed one of the Elite runners, (single-digit bib number) who looked like he was having calf issues already. Felt terrible for him.

Course flattens out for miles 4-11.Only 29' ascent over these 7 miles.
Mile 5: 6:45 - Perfect! Feeling good. Grabbing water at each mile, taking a sip and dumping rest on head/back.
Mile 6: 6:37 - Still good. Feel very comfortable. Eat a chocolate GU (with caffeine)
Mile 7: 6:29 - Through Framingham, which had more spectators and got you excited. Comfortable, scared about how fast this was. Try to slow it up.
Mile 8: 6:36 - Back in the noodle pace.
Mile 9: 6:33 - Perfect.
Mile 10: 6:39 - Perfect. Through the City of Natick. College kids outside drinking a lot of beer.
Mile 11: 6:39 - Perfect.

Mile 11 through the half is a bit uphill, then downhill, with Wellesley "Scream Tunnel" and "Kiss Me" posters at the half. Incredibly funny posters.

Mile 12: 6:28 - Little fast again. Eat a chocolate GU (with caffeine)
Mile 13: 6:38 -Perfect
Half Marathon: 1:27:36. Looking good, maybe a little too quick, but hope I can hold on.

The half through Mile 21 are all the four rolling hills through the City of Newton. Very similar running to Minneapolis. I was expecting a Heartbreak Hill sign of some sort or something, but it didn't come up. It is simply the last rolling hill of a few. After we were over it, I thought I heard someone mention that that was it, so I asked a guy in a Boston shirt near me and he said, "Yeah, it's all downhill from here." I was saving some energy for a big hill, so I was elated and took off at a sub-6 pace for a bit. Little mistake as we still had about a 10k to go, but sometimes you forget that when you are over two hours into a race.

Mile 14: 6:35. 50' hill over 0.1 mile at 14.5. Happy with this pace. Take Gatorade for first time.
Mile 15: 6:39. 60' hill over 0.1 mile at 15.7. Happy with this pace. Now it is getting a little tiresome to hold.
Mile 16: 6:27. 150' descent over 0.25 miles. Very refreshing for me as my legs were handling the downhills well. Trying to hold it slow and save energy for uphills.
Mile 17: 6:52. 80' hill over 0.1 mile at 17.0. from there, continue up another 50' over the rest of the mile. Happy with this pace, it will still get me my goal. Starting to get hot and feeling the eastern winds.
Mile 18: 6:55. 90' descent over 0.1 mile at 18.0. Then back up 90' over the rest of the mile including a steep 60' climb. Eat a chocolate GU (with caffeine).
Mile 19: 6:37. 75' hill over first 0.25 miles, then 140' descent over rest of the mile.
Mile 20: 6:52 .Gradual 60' climb.
Mile 21: 7:13. HEARTBREAK HILL. 88' hill.Nothing different than any of the others.It did take me a little bit longer on this one, but my uphill pace was relatively similar to the others, there just wasn't any corresponding downhill during this mile. As the guy who gave me a massage before the race said, "Don't be afraid of Heartbreak Hill; it just has that name because John Kelley was passed there. It's just a frickin' hill."


Now time for going into Boston. There are fewer people around now to draft from (and being 6'1", it is a little tricky to draft anyways) and I am feeling the 10-15mph east wind pretty hard, especially with a lot of the turns that leave you out to the left and right of the packs quickly. Keep thinking that this will probably be my only chance this year to break 3 hours as I am doing tri events through the rest of the season. Promise myself a jacket if I get under 3. Anything to hold on.

Mile 22: 6:20. Largely due to running 5:45 for a bit from the excitement of getting through Heartbreak Hill and still having energy. Then noticed that I still have a long ways to go and am beginning to seriously overheat.

Mile 23: 6:50. Downhill for the first half. Would have been able to run it faster if it weren't for running too fast in mile 22 and the east wind. Keep thinking that friends/coworkers/family at home may be following the race online and cheering me on from far away to finish. I can't let them down.

Mile 24: 6:54. Pretty flat. I am not almost certain that I can beat 3 hours and my goal pace of 6:47 (watch-time). Just trying to hold on. Can no longer swallow gatorade or water. Tried a drink of Gatorade and ended up just throwing it into my eyes. Need to mostly close my eyes for a few hundred yards from the burning. Am otherwise getting water into my mouth, trying to swallow, failing, and spitting it out.

Mile 25: 6:49. Deep into the city streets. Curves, downhills, slight up-hills. Battling to not walk. Trained so long for this, what I wouldn't give normally to be at mile 25 in the Boston Marathon! Need to finish!!!!!!!! Can barely hold it together. Cringing in pain. Trying to keep a straight face and run fast in case someone I know sees me. Think of all the times I ran a 2-miler for the Army and how that is all I have left to do.

Mile 26: 7:06. Running through the City, feels like we are so close and so far away. Can't see the finish and just keep hoping it will come up soon!

Last 0.2 miles: Turn onto Boylson Street. See my beautiful wife Katie cheering across from where the explosions later take place. She is with some people that appear to take pictures as well. Do my best to smile, wave and look like I am not about to collapse.

Finish: Official time of 2:57:21. Watch pace of 6:43, real pace of 6:46. Ran under the finish line with the gun-time on the big clock of 2:59:33, so I knew for sure I had it!