Chapter 2 - Finding Nemo

Another good article from McMillian. I do enjoy the simplicity of his articles.

CERTAIN TRUTHS FOR RUNNERS OF ALL ABILITIES

I’m a lucky coach. I get to work with beginning runners just coming off the couch as well as competitive runners aiming for age-group victories or trying to qualify for Boston. And through the work I’ve done with pro runners in Flagstaff, I’ve been able to help Olympians and world championship-level athletes.

What’s most interesting is not the differences between the various groups of athletes but rather the similarities. Over my 20 years of coaching, I’ve noticed five key traits of successful distance runners. These traits apply to everyone — beginners just joining the sport; competitive folks who balance work, family and other commitments with their running goals; and Olympic-level athletes.

1) Don’t Dwell

Every long-time runner has experienced this phenomenon: week after week of great runs suddenly interrupted by one of the worst workouts in years, for no logical reason. I’ve found that the most successful athletes don’t dwell on the bad days; instead, they’re eager to move on to the next day’s training or upcoming race. Successful runners know that bad days don’t last and aren’t a true indication of their fitness. Bad days are just a freak occurrence that must be tolerated on the path to your goals. Running is hard but fun, and that short statement should tell us that there will be good days and there will be bad days. Live through both. Neither lasts forever.

A personal example: I work with two outstanding athletes who took their fitness to new levels in a few years ago. One went on to win a national championship. The other never raced to his potential. The difference was in their outlook. The national champion endured a few bad workouts and races but let them slide. The underperformer also endured a few bad workouts and races but couldn’t get past them. He was training with other athletes who were having great success. He was accomplishing workouts that he never dreamed he could do. He was recovering quickly and was not overtrained. But when we talked, his attitude was, “Yeah, but …†We’d talk about the hundred great workouts he’d done but he’d follow that with, “Yeah, but that tempo run last month really went poorly. I don’t know if I’m in great shape.†Clearly, this “dweller†will never achieve what the national champion did, and it has nothing to do with training. It has to do with mindset.

2) Find Your Sweet Spot in Training

Successful training is about finding the balance in your stress/rest cycle. Training (and much of life) is stressful. It depletes your body’s energy stores. It stresses your muscles, ligaments, tendons, and bones. In short, training tears down your body. With rest, however, your body builds back stronger than before. The trick is to find the training rhythm where your stress/rest cycle is in balance — where you’re having positive workout followed by positive workout, successful week followed by successful week. In fact, if we’re smart (and this is what I do as a coach), we set up the training from the outset to be positive.

This can be tricky due to the unpredictability of our other life stresses (work, family, etc.), but if you find a training routine where nearly every one of your workouts and races is positive then you’re in balance. If you find that you frequently have poor/unpredictable workouts or races, or are often injured, then your training (or life) stress is too great. You are under-recovering and should add a bit more recovery to your plan. Progress things as your body adapts but think constantly about balance so that you can have successful training. Successful workouts lead to greater and greater motivation, which leads to better and better racing.

3) Focus on Consistency

Once you find your sweet spot, you can train consistently week after week, month after month and year after year. This “stacking†of successful training week on top of successful training week will lead you to your full potential. Injuries and illness from overtraining cut short your improvement so structure your training with the long-term in mind.

We had a saying in our Olympic training team that you must train consistently for two straight years — no unscheduled interruptions due to injury or illness — to even begin to see how good you can be. This reality applies to all of us. A year of consistent running is more beneficial than a few stellar weeks of training.

4) Be Tenacious

Successful runners are tenacious (some of our loved ones would even say stubborn). Success is about keeping on keeping on. Put one foot in front of the other for long enough and the finish line will come. You have the ability to go to greater heights than you ever dreamed of — just by sticking with it. A little stubbornness can be a great attribute when you’re in the middle miles of a marathon. Foster tenaciousness in small ways every day. I always think of Desiree Linden when I think of tenaciousness. There were many women runners who were faster then she was in college but look at what she has achieved just by keeping on keeping on. She’s a multi-time Olympian and always seems to get the most from herself.

5) Build Your Confidence Constantly

The most important key to success is confidence. You know the workouts and training rhythm that give you confidence. It’s a good idea to include these types of training throughout your year to keep you motivated. It’s also a good idea to put confidence-building workouts close to your key races. The last six weeks before a key race like a marathon should include all your favorite, confidence-building workouts. Don’t just follow a training plan because that’s what’s “accepted wisdom.†Instead, tinker with your training and add as well as omit workouts that just don’t work for you

El CabaIIo wrote:

Or you could stop dwelling on it and be tenacious in editing out the symbols

Haha believe it or not I did and it didn't work so I have up. I'm semi tenacious.

El CabaIIo wrote:

Well done at the weekend btw, solid run to open up the year

Cheers lad. I've parked it and ready to move on. Munster 4 miler on Sunday so hopefully these races will tune me back up a little. Haven't raced in months.

El CabaIIo wrote:

Newmarket should be a good race, you'll have plenty of people to battle it out with anyway as those Munster 4 miles are pretty deep. You doing County 4 as well?

I think the Munster is Dundrum. Looking forward to it. Back to back weeks should be a nice stimulus.

Yeah County is on the plan. Again no major expectations.

Munster 4M Road Championship

Finally getting around to writing my report as my hands have finally defrosted. That was some of the worst conditions I've raced in.

I had a bit of a reflective weekend in the run up to this one. I remember when I first joined the club my thoughts were towards running more competitive races and sharpening up a bit. Things hadn't really worked out that way especially with the XC which was a humbling experience albeit at a bit of a ****e time in my life. I guess the point im trying to make is these club races had been a bit of a reality check for me. So going into today I would say I was probably a little low on confidence. I had really enjoyed being back racing last weekend though and last year I had also done back to back race weeks around the same time which I found really beneficial. So there was never a doubt in my mind that it was the right decision to run the race. Was a little leggy from Thursday on but nothing major. Usually a good sign. Haha.

There were only four of us from the club running today. Three very fast lads, and me. Not enough for a masters team and didn't qualify as a novice team so seniors all the way!

Landed in Dundrum in what can only be called atrocious conditions. Lashing rain which soon became sleet and then snow. Baltic. Parked up and met the lads in the hall. Nice catching up with them. Atmosphere building around the place. Even ran into diegob from these parts. Always a pleasure to meet himself.. Headed off for a "warmup" with the lads just after the ladies race had started. Got a decent two miles in and came back colder and wetter than I went out.

We got the call around 1.40pm for our race and headed down to the start line. Very decent turnout. Lined up with two of the lads from the club. Other lad well up at the front. Quickly realized that maybe we were a tad bit too far back but nothing to be done about it now. Off we went. Oh by the way I had the watch today but it was well hidden. Didn't check it once.
We took off at what felt like lightening pace. It settled about 300m in but by God was it crowded. What made matters worse was we were directed down a narrowish road with pools of water on both sides so literally no choice but to run through these. Great support around the place even in those conditions which was appreciated... Once I got going I must say I really felt great. Great as in I was enjoying what was going on around me. For some reason my attitude was just spot on today. I made every aggressive choice I could have. Never settled in a group for too long and kept pushing on to the next group.
Mile 1 clocked at 5.51.
Felt a lot quicker!

Settled into mile 2 and I'm feeling OK. I'm cutting through the field which is a huge boost. In all honesty I was delighted at the time but on reflection I would say it wasn't until mile 3 started that I found my true place in the field. I was cutting through people I probably should have started ahead of. But great for the confidence.
I think it was towards the end of mile 2 we took a turn off the main road and looped back around towards dundrum. Into a bit of a headwind here. Really great fun pushing up on people ahead of me. Them responding and me digging in and pushing on again. Mile 2 clocked at 5.56.

By mile 3 we were getting blasted in the face with some heavy rain or sleet or whatever. Tough conditions but to be honest the battles were distracting me. I had picked a lad up ahead in a Youghal (not sure) singlet as a target to catch by the end of mile 3. Ahead of him was blue singlet. My goal was not to let him finish ahead of me. So I pushed on. Looking back on my pace chart I can see the little bursts I made a various stages to close the gap on groups ahead. I made sure I didn't get isolated once. Not the kind of conditions you would want to be running alone. By now I had pushed up on Youghal and he clearly wasn't happy and responded. Haha. Again I dug in and left him behind. In the middle of this push I also passed blue singlet. Mile 3 clocked at 6.00. Felt quicker!

Time for some new targets. Mooreabbey Milers fella was next and I didn't hang around. We turned right off the road into the last 1km and I drove past him. Last target up ahead was Ennis track lad. That was my favourite battle of the day. We went head to head very far from the finish. The last 1km was basically toe to toe with him. I was pleasantly surprised with the strength I felt. Lungs were screaming at me but the grit was there today. There was fight in me which was a great feeling. We got a few cheers from the crowd for the entertainment we were providing. Haha. About 500m to go I made a "decisive" move and opened up a gap. I knew he was saving something for one last push as we approached the left turn with 300m to go. As soon as that turn came I emptied the tank. I didn't look back. I just went with what I had and it was enough. Reached the end and caught my breath. He wasnt far behind. We tried to talk to each other but honestly our faces were so numb we couldn't speak. Checked my watch and was shocked to see 23.47. Last mile was 5.47. Last few hundred metres were 5.20ish. I genuinely thought I had gone wayyyyy quicker but I honestly didn't care. That race was so much fun. So competitive. Racing all the way throughout. A good honest effort and happy to see a lot of fight in me. Also happy that I didn't sacrafice speed for form. Felt solid throughout.

Spoke to a lot of people and seemed like everyone was slower than they usually are which made me feel even better. Haha.

Headed back and met the lads. Lovely cup of tea and some fine sandwiches. Had some nice chats with some other runners in the hall after. No idea what the results were but I don't think we won anything.

So there you have it. I must say that's probably the most I've enjoyed a race (in as much as that pain can be enjoyable). Pancake flat route. Lots of people to work off. Brilliant stuff. I think I have a new favorite distance. Goodbye 10k hello 4M. Haha.

The back to back race weeks definitely helped. Not something I'd recommend regularly but every now and then it's definitely worth considering in particular shorter stuff like 4M and 5k.

Also cutting through the field is a completely different experience than competing with people at your pace from the start..

Next up is County 4M on the 24th. Can't wait but looking forward to getting some regular weeks training in over the next couple of weeks.

Building all the time.

diego_b wrote: »

Nicely done P and a fine report. Best of luck with the county race. Hopefully you get nicer weather conditions! I remember during the 3rd mile there was a nice bit of sleet and a few small bits of hail and I was thinking ah now don’t do that (hailstones) to us!! I was talking to one of the Order of Malta guys as I left and he was telling me they had a few patrons on the day that were not in good nick at all...took a bit of work to sort them out. I was thinking this is mad, sure it was only 4 miles but I had spotted a lady I know from another Kerry club after her race that was being tended too. When I spoke to her an hour later she was still shivering. The cold just got into her. Like you say I enjoyed it too, despite the great course that weather meant you could forget the time! That 10K course (2x large laps) looks a quick one!

I had actually forgotten to include that in my report. At one stage coming back into town, in the depths of the battle, I saw a lad being tended to on the left hand side of the road in a bad way being held up by two people. Got back to the hall after the race and another lad in a pretty bad state shaking. Tough conditions. Do they run a 10k every year there? Would definitely be somewhere to target - flat as can be.

Monday - Easy 7M @8.27
Tuesday - 6x2min @ 5.55 pace (Off 80s) + 4x20s Hard (Off 60s)
Wednesday - Easy 7M @8.13
Thursday - Easy 7M @8.05
Friday - 30 min tempo (6.30 pace with last 5min at 6.20), 3 min jog, 5x15s strides
Saturday - Easy 13M @8.05
Sunday - Rest

Legs on Monday felt as you'd expect them to after a race. Kept Mondays easy run easy. I don't look at the watch on the easy runs anymore. All purely on feel.

I was off work for the rest of the week so wasn't as time crunched as usual. Which meant I tacked on some extra warmup and cooldown miIes to my sessions. Tuesdays session went very very well. Absolutely shocking conditions. I got drenched but strangely I loved the whole thing. Feels like I'm repeating myself every week but this was controlled and solid throughout. Nothing over taxing. Well executed.
Splits were:
5.55/5.55/5.47/5.53/5.57
The hard were hard but not so hard that my form collapsed.

Not really sure what happened on the 47. One thing I noted on this session was the lack of needing the watch. Glanced at it from time to time but again, learning to feel these sessions a lot better which is encouraging.
Total mileage roughly 9.1 miles.

Wednesday and Thursday were the typical easy runs. Nothing major to report. Legs were very tired on Wednesday but good again by Friday.

Fridays tempo session was one I had really been looking forward to. Loved it. I think most people seem to like tempo runs. Just getting into a groove and staying focused. Again, the focus is on staying controlled and maintaining good form. Was very pleasantly surprised when I saw the mile splits after. Bang on. Another chunky warmup and cooldown brought this to roughly 9.5miles. Strides woke the legs up a bit.
I was tired after this and knew I was gonna have some fun on the long run Saturday.

Saturday I was tired. Crap nights sleep too. But again I loved it. Last few miles were autopilot. Long run on tired legs. Very happy.

Very positive about this week. If I can keep stringing these weeks together I'll have no complaints. Always a good sign when I'm daydreaming about racing. Solid 14 days of racing and training behind me there.

Couple of other points of note.

The zoom streaks start to chaff the outside of my left foot after a while so I think they're demoted to 5k racers.

The injury is a distant memory (touch wood). One thing I look back on is how easy it is to panic a bit when you feel that fitness has slipped away. It's very easy to start over thinking everything, do I need to do more stretching, maybe yoga, maybe I have an imbalance here or there, maybe I need specific S&C. The funny thing is it has simply been a matter of just getting back to the bread and butter of sensible running. Thank God for coach. So for anyone injured or coming back from injury don't panic! You'd be surprised how quickly it comes back.

Well done to all those racing today. Horrific weather for it.

skyblue46 wrote:

Pilates man...it's all about Pilates haha. You missed out on doing that.

Never too late S!