Q&A: The Second QuestionThe Importance of Base Training

The second question I’m choosing for my Q&A comes from a reader who just trained for and ran a spring half-marathon. She asks, “Now that I’ve completed my half and am so ready to tackle the full marathon distance, what should I focus on for the next month before my 16 week marathon training program kicks off in the middle of June? On the one hand I feel as if I should recover a bit before starting marathon training, but on the other hand I don’t want to drop down my mileage and lose the fitness that I have now. What strategy would you recommend?”

Let me start by acknowledging that since no two runners are built the same or have the same training history, there are going to be varying opinions on this subject. Although I will share my personal perspectives on the matter (since the reader wanted a response from me), I don’t claim my approach to be the only or even the best way. I encourage the reader to pursue more authoritative resources than what I can provide to find a more definitive answer to her question.

The way I see it, a successful marathon training program consists of four phases: base training, endurance training, speedwork, and the taper. The work done in each of the four training categories complement each other to build a stronger and faster distance runner. In my mind, the phase that is most neglected is the base building stage. At least some, if not most, of us do not readily take the time to build a strong running foundation of ~30 miles per week before we embark on full marathon training. As runners, we would much rather skip the mundane warm-up or recovery miles than deal with aimless and spontaneous running that seemingly has no purpose. However, I’d argue that the slow maintenance base mileage not only serves as an effective starting point for full marathon training but offers the mind a slight psychological reprieve between training cycles as well. Remember that “wherever the mind goes, the body will follow” and that the mental training is just as important as the physical one.

The key to remember is that during base training, miles are meant to be run very slowly. Speed workouts are optional, if not strongly discouraged during this phase. In fact, in the strictest sense, there should be no racing whatsoever in this invisible first month of marathon training. The physiologic reason is that maintenance miles facilitates and builds slow-twitch muscle fibers which offers the athletes stamina and endurance while racing encourages the recruitment of fast-twitch muscle fibers which allows one to run much faster but also burnout much quicker too. Since base training is meant to provide a general framework upon which subsequent and more specific distance targeted training is built, having muscles that can sustain longer workouts is much preferred.

So more specifically, I would recommend that my reader take about a month to transition from half-marathon to full marathon training. During this base training month, there should be about 4-5 runs a week (3 short runs during week with a longer run on weekend) with a total mileage goal of about half of what you expect peak mileage to be during training. Again, time and pace isn’t so important, so feel free to leave the watch at home. The goal is to set up a schedule of consistent runs during the week and allow the body a period of adjustment. The smoother this transition, the less chance of injury later on when the miles get longer, the pace gets quicker and the training in general gets tougher.

Hope this answers the question to some degree. The only caveat I’d throw out there is that I’m such a fan of the short distance race that I find myself not adhering to the “no racing during base training” rule, even though I know it somewhat defeats the purpose. Oh well, what can I say? Do as I say, not as I do? I’m just answering the question from the perspective of a newer runner who isn’t so comfortable with the marathon distance or the training. The rest of us who are more experienced will always have our own personal biases on how we like to train. Now, I know there are many other opinions on the importance of base mileage training, so feel free to chime in.

Q&A: The First QuestionRacing Back-To-Back Marathons

Now that I’m officially DONE reporting on my running of the 113th Boston Marathon and DONE writing about my races (half-marathon PR, and 4-Miler not so PR), I’m going to take a break from talking about MY running by instead talking about YOUR running. In other words, I’m going to spent the next couple of posts addressing some reader questions I’ve received over the past month. I’ll start with ones that the most people have asked about and move on to ones that I find most interesting. Hopefully, you’ll find them somewhat insightful or entertaining, even if they are not useful…

The first one I’m going to tackle involves a scenario that is common to all of us marathoners. The basic premise: You set your sights on a hard but realistic goal for a particular marathon (For me: Sub-3; for reader: BQ). You develop a training plan and train your heart out for said goal. You feel ready for race day. However, during the marathon, something happens (an unexpected injury, GI issues, bad weather, bad running karma, etc) and you feel short of your goal. You cross the finish line a bit disappointed, feeling as if you could’ve or should’ve run much better. Question: Can I recover well enough in the next 2, 3, or 4 weeks to try again in a backup marathon within the next month, or should I restart on a new training cycle to try again in a marathon next season? My body isn’t so sore and I don’t want to lose my fitness/training.

I’m sure everyone has had similar thoughts right after a marathon that didn’t quite meet expectations. I had them, this reader had them. Heck, even Kara Goucher had them. In fact, the day I got home after Boston, I was already scrounging through the marathon calendar trying to see if there’s another one I could run within a month. I knew intuitively that this was a bad idea, but I didn’t know why. Maybe Coach Salazar was just off…Kara could’ve run London 2 weeks after Boston, can’t she? I thought to myself at the time. I didn’t know. So I spent the next few couple of weeks thinking about it some more and here’s my take.

First of all, I think the minutes, hours and days right after a marathon is NOT the time to plan out next one, whether your experience during the race was good or bad. Your mind and body has just undergone the shock of running a really long and hard race and is not yet ready to make sound rational decisions. Secondly, I think running a marathon (if you ran at close to race pace) destroys the body in ways that we cannot fully appreciate. If you ever run a hard 10K or half-marathon a week or two out from your marathon, you’d know what I mean. Even though by then you’re walking around normally and feel somewhat “recovered” ,you find out 2 to 3 miles into your race that you are still fatigued and sore. That’s because different muscle fibers regenerate at different rates. So even though your larger muscle groups that carry out your normal daily activities have almost fully recovered, your smaller ones, which are recruited later on in the race, haven’t recovered at all since the marathon. Again, that’s why there’s a rule to take 26 days of rest for a 26 mile race. But what if you just walked a quarter or even half the marathon because of an issue, either injury, fatigue or GI upset, can that marathon count as just a training run so I can run another in a couple weeks or so? My response would still be no because it will likely cause more harm than good and you won’t know or realize until you’re caught in the mid-later miles of your second marathon.

Another thing to realize is that despite the significance of personal goals, the time standard is still an arbitrary number. That number is as important as we ourselves assign them to be. And since time is a continuum, there will be new time goals to shoot for once we are done with the current one. Whether it’s sub-3 or a BQ, the important thing is to enjoy the process of achieving those goals, and not be so caught up in the goal itself. Easier said than done, right? Yeah I know, but I’m working on it too.

My last point on this question is that we should never think our marathon training as wasted if we don’t achieve a particular time in the race. These training cycles are built on the success of a previous cycle. So even though the race result wasn’t up to par with the training, the training you have undergone will equip you well for your next cycle. That’s what I’m telling myself to motivate me for NYCM training in the next couple of months.

I hope I did some justice to that question. How do you guys feel about racing back-to-back marathons without a break? Let me hear you in the comments.

Bagging the PR for Beer and SangriaRace Report for the R Baby Mother’s Day 4 Mile Race

If you had a choice between beer and sangria on a balcony versus a possible PR at a not-so-important 4M race the next day, which would you choose? Yeah, it was a no-brainer for me as well. So, it should come as no surprise to anyone that today’s Mother’s Day race wouldn’t be so stellar for me. Yet, despite breaking my pre-race abstinence rule the day before, forgetting to hydrate or eat afterwards, getting home past midnight, and rushing to the start with just an orange for breakfast, I STILL thought a PR could be possible. What can I say? I’m stubborn that way.

The astute among you should have realized by now that I’ve been racing somewhat frequently this past month. Given that I have not yet fully recovered from my crash and burn at the Boston Marathon three weeks ago, ran a half-marathon PR at Long Branch last week, and is now running this four-miler on Mother’s Day, that’s a whole lot of racing going on. I know practically, I should be resting this week in preparation for the bigger race, the Healthy Kidney 10K, happening next weekend, but realistically I just had to enter and run this race because the sponsor is R Baby and all proceeds go toward improving the quality of care of babies in emergency rooms all over the city. I have both worked and consulted on cases of babies being mishandled and misdiagnosed in emergency rooms because of lack of appropriate staffing and supervision and so the cause was near and dear to my heart. Because of that, I had to run this race no matter how inconvenient it might have be to the rest of my running schedule.

With that background, I arrived at the start with some angst and trepidation. The weather was perfect for running this morning-58 degrees with sunny skies and a cool westerly breeze. I met many of my friends (some who’ve never run a race before) at the entrance to the start, congratulated everyone for running, and situated myself in the front of the corrals.

By the time the squealing horn signaled the start of the race, I found myself somewhat boxed in on the side of the road. I waited for an opening to pass but never got a chance until we reached Cat Hill. I managed to find my pace somewhere during the climb, but my effort was somewhat harder than I expected. After cresting the hill, I eased my breathing through the net downhill second mile. Although my pace was somewhat better in this stretch, I still struggled to synchronous my breathing to my turnover. This was somewhat frustrating since I’m usually at my peak by the start of the second mile. Instead, here, with the tough hilly Mile 3 up ahead, I knew I was in trouble. I made the turn at the 102nd street Transverse knowing I was on PR pace but fading fast. I made it through the third mile as best I could, but never found the right breathing rhythm or the power to drive the hills that I’m accustomed to. As a result, I ran a very slow 3rd mile and by the end, knew a PR would not be in the works for me that day. I ran mile 4 in a semi-daze, feeling as if I had no energy to push. My legs were sore, perhaps as the aftermath of the 20+ miles I had ran Thursday and Friday, and just not responding to my commands to speed up. I could also still feel some mild tightness in my right hamstring which affected my stride. In the end, I sort of stumbled through the finish line rather than race through like I always imagined I would. The final time was 24:45, about 7 seconds slower than my PR. I’m slightly peeved, but knew I made many mistakes in the past 24 hours that affected my performance.

Oh well. Sometimes you have to allow yourself to live a little and not be a P.R. hog in EVERY race. I’ll do things right this week and prepare for a better performance in a more important race next Saturday.

Happy Mother’s Day to all the mom’s out there. Soak in this beautiful day for all it’s worth.

Mile-by-Mile Splits:
Mile 1: 6:10
Mile 2: 6:05
Mile 3: 6:22
Mile 4: 6:08

Final Statistics:
Finishing Time - 24:45
Average Pace - 6:11
Overall Place - 33/4635
Age Group Place - 9
Age-Graded % - 68.8%