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Making a few changes…

Making a few changes…

Published by Patrick Durante on June 30, 2015

Every year I make adjustments to my training.  I do this to see if I can make improvements, or make running even more enjoyable.  This is a list of the recent things I’ve changed to help my training, and overall health.  I’ve listed them here with the reasons for the change.

 

 

  • Standing desk
    • Strengthens the hips and makes you more likely to walk around more.  I work at a desk all day near a data center.  When my fitness tracker, the Garmin Fenix 3, tell me I’ve been standing still for too long I take a quick stroll around the data center.
  • Weekly Yoga
    • Running tends to make your body tight and decrease range of motion.  Yoga helps correct some of the muscle imbalances and improve range of motion.  I just feel better when yoga is in my schedule. Works great for balance, which you need for running, since that’s what running is.  The act of balancing over and over again on one foot.
  • Zero Drop
    • This one is tough, twice I’ve had pain in my calf during a race by from zero drop shoes.  I’ve now decided to never race without heal support.  I need more time to adjust to the lack of support, since I’ve had heal support my entire life.  I do believe that you should vary your shoe selection and stimulate the muscles in your foot in different ways.  I’ve also changed my daily sneakers to a very flat, zero drop shoe.  This helped correct a foot pain I’ve had for years.
  • Less grain carbs and more healthy fats and fruits
    •  I’m trying to increase fat burning enzymes and lower inflammation in my body.  Running at a lower HR decrease stress, which also decreases inflammation.  By changing your diet you also teach your body to better use fat as fuel.  The less you eat grain carbs, the more fat burning enzymes you will create.  The body is meant to burn fat as fuel.  If you do this you will run faster, farther, and with less effort than before.
  • 85-90% of your training at the 180 Formula
    • This one is HUGE.  I can go on and on about how much I love this type of training.  I have less stress, recover faster, feel better, and just enjoy training more.  See Phil Maffetone’s 180 Formula to calculate the HR you should run at.  This will take 3 months for your aerobic system to adapt.
  • Slow weights
    • I really hate weight training, but I know it’s important.  I use a kettle bell to do a few quick exercises throughout the day instead of dedicated weight training.  See Phil Maffetone’s slow weights article.
  • Back to back runs
    • Long run on Saturday, and a second effort on Sunday normally in the afternoon for heat acclimation.  This gets you used to running on tired legs, and running when you are uncomfortable.  You need to be VERY careful with this cause it is easy to get injured if you increase mileage too quick.
  • Striders
    • 100 meters at 95% effort.  1 Minute recover x5 or as many as I fit in.  This is to get my body ready for speed, and to increases leg turn over.  This is helpful for being able to run faster on race day.
  • Hill training
    • Works again on leg turn over.  Forces you to run at a faster cadence.
  • Fuel
    • GenuCan or Vitargo for my new pre-race meal.  I may still take sugars on the run, but this leaves the gut faster and gets to muscles quicker.  Still need to take an electrolyte and water during the run.  This is such a good fuel source cause it doesn’t spike your insulin and provides a nice steady burn of fuel.  Your diet needs to be similar to this as well, so don’t make this change until you are less carb dependent.
  • Take a full body inventory when you wake up
    • I forget what podcast I heard this on, but when you wake up in the morning take an immediate inventory of your body.  Are you very stiff or sore?  Do things ache really bad?  Guess what.  You might be over training.  That’s not how your body is supposed to feel when you wake up.  You might need to take a few more easy days, or slow down the pace.  Maybe your not getting enough sleep or have too much other stress in your life.  If you don’t feel near 100% when you wake up you need to take the day off or run very easy.  Trust me, you will not decondition.  If anything you will make yourself stronger/faster.  The benefit from a workout comes in the recovery, not the workout itself.
Lesson of the day: Pacing

Lesson of the day: Pacing

Published by Patrick Durante on November 2, 2014

As my season comes to an end I’m excited for next year.  I’ve had a poor performance at the Blues Cruise 50K, but other than that it went well.  I did learn a very painful lesson, but it helped me realize some of my shortcomings.  I need to be patient and put my ego aside.  That means setting the correct pace when the race starts, not getting swept up with the front runners, and not heading out too fast.  Let people pass you!!  Odds are if they fly out at the start you will catch them,  if you can run a consistent pace.  I did the exact opposite with that race and I deserved the outcome.  I also noticed I was about 1000 feet short in training for the elevation.  There should be no surprise come race day.  You should have run the distance, pace, and elevation profile before the race.

A few months back when I started with the Maffetone method, things were going very well.  My MAF tests were improving, and my weight was dropping from the new diet.  I stopped weight and anaerobic training workouts because of the unwanted stress.  I would say that both of those things combined ended up hurting me during the race.  It’s not that the fault of the Maffetone method, it’s just that it should not be implemented in the middle of your season.  If you are looking to convert to his style of training, it really should be started in the off season.  This gives you plenty of time to build a cardio base.  Once that’s complete, you can add in the other components, like strength and anaerobic workouts.  Don’t get me wrong, it definitely works.  At the end of my season I have been running very consistent times, and have had a few PRs at different distances.  I hope to take 10 minutes off of my marathon time with my final race of 2014.  I’ve been seeing the results in my training, so it won’t be any surprise come race day.  The hardest part is implementing the plan come race day.  If you set the pace too high you could put yourself in an anaerobic state.  Once that happens it is hard to get back to where you are running aerobically.  Keep a constant eye on your heart rate monitor and set alerts if it gets too high.  This is what happen to me at Blues Cruise, and that’s why I had such a difficult time in the race.

This was a learning process for next year.  I know the things I should change next season.  Perfect pacing!!  It’s the most important lesson you can learn as a runner.  Almost every long distance running record has been set while running even or negative splits. The men’s world records in the 10,000 meter run, two were run with nearly identical splits for the first 5k and second 5k, and the other three were run with the second 5k being as much as 13 seconds faster than the first 5k.  That’s proof that you need a plan and pace set before EVERY race.  During your training, you should have been running at a pace you can sustain.  Running with a HR monitor is just a form of pacing.  It forces you to be consistent with your effort and that’s the most critical part of the Maffetone method.  There are some exceptions, if it’s a hilly course you need to be conservative on hills, and for hot days you may need to slow your pace.  The wind can also play a factor as well, so set your pace accordingly.  When the race starts it should be easy.  The perceived effort is always low in the beginning.  You should not be passing people, and that’s where most people get in trouble.  It’s hard to put your ego aside, or not get swept up with the crowd.

I’ve realized that running is 3 things: diet, strength, and a good cardio base according to the Maffetone method.  Master those things with a set pace for race day and you’ll get the time/PR your trying to achieve.