What I've been up to and what is next

I'm on Christmas Break this week so I will try to post a few blogs.  If you want the pure training blog that will be next.  I'll give my training of the last few months but for this one I'll just talk about what I have been up to since my dnf at Boston in April.

  After Boston my recovery was pretty quick.  Both physically and mentally.  I think that the mental side was key.  Keeping control of the leg that long was a huge emotional boost and so I got back to some moderate running after a couple of weeks.  However there were some troubles looming for my running.

  Melissa and I had decided to sell our town home.  We bought it as a short sale at the bottom of the market and the condo market where we were was flattening out a bit while the single family home market was showing no signs of slowing.  Our realtor showed us a bunch of comps that told us if we could update our kitchen, very out of date, we could get a much higher price.  To max profit we did a lot of the work ourself.  This dominated our life.  I even had to take a week off from running to get the job done which I NEVER do.  Also during this time frame I was more and more feeling run down and exhausted.  Even after we finished the reno I just couldn't seem to get the ball rolling.  As summer arrived I just was flat as ever.  I only worked part time all summer but I wasn't really able to train at all.  I was running but only 60 to 80 miles a week most of the time with almost no workouts and almost no races.  I ran a 15:17 5k at the York Days 5k on July 26.  That is a flat fast course and I had great competition the whole way and actually lost.  What was worse is that I was surprised I could run that fast based on what I had been doing.  I just kept chalking it up to the stress of selling the house and trying to buy a new one.

  At the end of the summer I got a horrible stomach virus.  Already living at the low end of my race weight, 162.  I dropped 13 pounds in a week.  Obviously some of that was water weight but the point is I was wrecked.  During this time I went to the doctor. I see a doctor in Melissa's office. The two of them had been arguing all summer about my vegetarian diet so he ran some extra blood work when I was there.  It turned out he was right.  I had stripped my body of pretty much all its creatine and was deficient of proteins as well.

  So around labor day I began supplementing with creatine and eating meat again.  Steadily I felt better. Still easy to exhaust but with a little bounce in my legs. I had a couple good weeks of training and then ran a 31:39 for 12th at the cow harbor 10k but given the conditions, hot, and how I had been doing just a couple weeks before this was a big step in the right direction.

  Also by October we had sold our town home and made enough money to pay off Melissa's rather excessive student loans and still be able to buy a single family home complete with fenced in yard for Uta and have less monthly expenses then we had in the town home.  A pretty big win all around.  Over late September and early October we moved twice, out of our place, stayed in Melissa's parents house and then finally into our new place.  Despite this I was doing some decent workouts, though my mileage was low. I raced a few races over this stretch culminating in a solid 14:40 5k, 13 straight years with at least one sub 15, and a 31:12 effort at the USATF-NE cross country championships.

  At this point I was actually happier with my training finally coming around and how I felt in workouts, not totally dead, then I was with the racing which though better than it had been was obviously sub par.  I had originally planned a late fall half marathon but I decided instead to begin looking for a winter one as I needed to actually train for a little bit.

  I found the Jacksonville bank half marathon scheduled for January 3rd.  Richard Fannin was putting together a field for this usually sleepy race so I asked to be added in.

  I didn't have a ton of time but I was already fairly fit.  Most importantly I had been able at this point to do a 25 or 30k fundamental tempo run which was really helping my fitness.  I would soon stretch that out to a very strong 36k, about 22.5 miles, at under 5:30 mile pace.  In that weeks that followed I did a few decent workouts, a monaghetti fartlek where I covered over 4 miles, a 24:33 8k tempo and a 30:43 10k tempo.  Then I got sick and and though I was able to keep running I didn't do any workouts for the last three weeks.  Finally Sunday, now a week out from the half marathon, I did a 13 mile run with the last two miles at half marathon pace.  I was able to run 9:41 without it feeling too bad so hopefully I'll be alright next weekend.  Though in the long run I don't really care if I am or not.  I'm healthy.  I have found a training cycle that I can maintain around my job and with yoga I am healthy.  Also in the last few weeks I have got some exercises that are helping continue the improvement in my posture while running which should continue my progress forward on the coordination front.

  Looking to Jacksonville I am aiming to run with the main pace group which is going at 4:55 a mile. The course is flat and with 60 men entered looking for a sub 1:05 there should be just a huge group to hang in with.  A sub 1:05 from the front on even a 'fast' New England course is a really tough effort but on a super flat course in a large pack running together it is not nearly as high a bar so I am optimistic that despite my poorly timed cold I have a decent shot at qualifying.

  I'm also equally excited that Melissa has had the breakthrough of a career over the last couple of months and I have paced her through some sessions that tell me she is ready for an absolutely huge PB so I figure even if I am not able to slip under 1:05 it should be a good day.

  After Jacksonville if I qualify I will do a few marathon workouts.  I have done enough fundamental tempo's that I should be able to do some good workouts without any problems.  Actually if I qualify I will be quite optimistic about running well in LA.  Being a natural marathoner combined with my training if I can hold coordination for the full race, which seems increasingly likely, I should only slow about 5 to 6 seconds per kilometer over the marathon distance.  For example I averaged 3:08 per k in my tune up half for the Olympic Trials and averaged just under 3:12 per k in the trials on two courses of similar difficulty. So a 1:04:59 would mean targeting a 2:13:30 to 2:14:12 marathon.  I know that sounds crazy but keep in mind the '08 trials was a hilly course.  Had it been flat I would have targeted a 2:10.  Also even with the loss of coordination I think I would have run 2:11 high or 2:12 low on that day had the course been faster.

  Point is I'm not saying I am fitter than I was in the fall of '07.  I am saying the LA course looks faster than the NYC course and it is possible I could run a faster time than I did on that tougher course if I hold coordination the whole way, which I did not in NYC.

  The last part is key.  Based on workouts leading up to the 2008 NYC marathon I thought I could run 10 seconds per mile faster then I had at the trials the fall before.  The NYC course and the trials course were of similar difficulty and I used the same courses and same workouts to get ready as I had the year before only I was running 10 to 12 seconds per mile faster.  Thing is the coordination was getting worse and worse and by shortly after 10k I was peg legging and my day was all done except the crying.

  There are three keys to running a fast marathon. 1. the general fitness to do so. 2. marathon specific fitness-this is the achilles heel of most americans.  You really, even if you are not a natural marathoner, shouldn't slow down more than 5% from your half marathon pace to your marathon pace, if you are properly prepared and the courses are similar. This means a 1:02:14 is equal to a mid 2:10. Think of how many americans run in that range for the half and just how few are sub 2:11.  Before people go crazy on me for this look at the top kenyans and Ethiopians of the last decade since switching to the Italian system in the lat 2000's the 5% slow down is pretty standard.  Also a guy like Meb has a bigger slowdown but on different courses.  He would run 1:01 on a flat fast course then 2:09 at NYC a tough course.  Certainly in an apple to apple comparison he would only slow 4 or 5% and he is quite explosive, 27:13 10k. Of course if you are still judging Meb by his marathon PB and not recognizing that he ran his best efforts on tough courses and in tough conditions your a lost cause.  Obviously if he had focused his career on rotterdam and berlin instead of Boston, NYC and the Olympics he would have run in the 2:05 range at some point along the way and been sub 2:08 many times.
3. you need to be physically healthy enough to mechanically run up to your fitness for 26.2 miles.  This has been my achilles heel. Though over the last 13 months I have begun to see the light at the end of this long long dark tunnel and whether I'll take my first step out of the other side on February 13th or if it will wait a bit longer I feel confident I'll be back in the long race, in a real and effective way, this year.

 Hope your well and I'll try to put together a blog of my training tonight or tomorrow.
nate

Training Blog March 16 to 22 to continue or to regroup that is the question.

Monday 

PM Dale 5 with Uta, 32:10, All I had time for after getting stuck at work late and having to get to dog training after the run total 5 miles

XT whartons, rubberbands, thoracic bridge

Tuesday

PM road 11 solo, 1:06:55, super windy 30mph plus, very cold very miserable total 11 miles

XT Bikram yoga right after run, 90mins, rubber bands and thoracic bridge

Wednesday

PM regular 20k, 1:15:02, single digit wind chill winds 20 to 30mph, struggled with coordination. very hard not to lean forward at all in winds like this very unpleasant run total 12.4 miles

XT whartons, rubberbands, thoracic bridge

Thursday

PM bear hill 4.2 with Uta for warm up, 25:56, very windy and cold again bit better than last night but only a bit. winds 15 to 20mph, dropped off Uta, light drills and strides, Moneghetti fartlek, covered a total of 4.101 miles, that is 4:52.6 per mile, 3:01.8 per k.  This is the fastest Mona I have ever done.  I was fairly shocked given the wind.  I was only into the wind for 500m per 1500m loop but it was rough! 16min cool down.  total 10 plus miles

XT whartons, rubberbands, thoracic bridge

Friday

PM went to acupuncture right after school and she really went after it so I was zonked coming out of there and considered not running but given how little I had done I manned up and got my ass out the door.

dale 4 with Melissa and Uta, 30mins, once again coldish and very windy, then 7 miles in 42mins total 11+ miles in 1:12 pretty quick considering wind. total 11 plus miles

Saturday

AM 4.5 miles on woodway curve trying to work on holding shoulders back,31:40- decent effort on curve- then ran home from gym on back roads, about 8 miles in 48:33, was warmer 40 and the wind was much calmer, of course it had snowed an inch or two overnight so it wasn't a great day but still better. total around 12 and a half miles 

XT 4pm bikram yoga, rubberbands, whartons, thoracic bridge

Sunday

Noon 19minute warm up, cold and super windy 30mph or more. skipping warm up, light drills, strides. goal was 4x4k with 1k recovery around merrimack college 5k loop.  The first k was tailwind. the 2nd and 3rd k were pretty much into the wind, the 4th k was side wind, the 5th k was about half side wind and half tail wind but it is a very tough slow k.   

  This is where I screwed up.  I felt great the first k, in 3:00, with a roaring tail wind and I didn't properly respect the wind for the rest of the loop.  The idea of this type of workout is to run around 102% of mp and try to average mp for 20k with rest built in.  Given the wind I should have aimed for mp on the reps and averaging 98% mp overall.  Instead I just pushed on like It was no thing.

 12:32 for the first 4k, and after a 3:25 recovery k I was at 15:58 flat.  I kept it under control on the first k of the second loop in 3:04 but could tell I was struggling to keep fighting the wind particularly while working very hard to hold my shoulders back.  The 2nd k wasn't bad but after that I was fighting pretty good, 12:45 for 4k- for comparison last weekend I was 12:33 than 12:27 and felt easy, of course last week I was losing coordination so at least I was better off there.  I ran the recovery k in 3:26 which was faster  than either recovery last week which gives you an idea how much the wind was impacting as the 5th k was half tail wind. So I'm through 10k in 32:10 but feeling ragged.  The first k of the 3rd lap was fine at 3:05 with the wind at my back but I was in a bad way going into the wind after that and I struggled to a 12:52 for the full 4k and after a 3:35 recovery k I knew I was done.  48:33 for 15k. which is 5:12 per mile.  

  I was done.  Frankly I just went out too fast for the conditions.  On the plus side the coordination held for the 15k and though I can't be 100% sure as I could feel it threatening a bit I think it would have held for 20k which would be really good given the wind.  Still not what I was hoping for.  Light drills and then 18 min cool down total around 15 or 16 miles.

Summary

 So to run or not.  Honestly this run wasn't long enough to really be specific so that leaves a few weeks to try and cram in some specific work.  It is a shit situation.  The foot feels like 99% and I was able to hold the coordination. Honestly if I had run 20k today I would be in for sure.  If I had lost coordination I would be out instead I ran like a rube and I'm left in a confusing spot.

  Looking at my options my plan is to go ahead with Boston but ratchet back my expectations a bit.  I will see how the next few weeks go but if I can keep improving and stop screwing up I'll run.  I'm also hoping that the worst winter in Massachusetts history will finally quit and I can just fight my own physical demons and not have to battle conditions as well.  

Fix You. Part III. Guest Blog by Melissa

This is the final installment and exciting conclusion of the Fix You blog. If you missed part II, click here: http://nateruns.blogspot.com/2015/03/fix-you-part-ii-guest-blog-by-melissa.html

“The brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want it badly enough. They’re there to stop the other people.”

- Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture

I drove home with Nate in the passenger seat. I was fuming mad but also worried sick. This was a major spine surgery and Nate convinced the surgeon to let him go home, with next to no post-op recovery time, no post-op monitoring, just because he doesn’t like hospitals. Yes, I’m a nurse practitioner, but I’m in primary care. I’m not scrubbing in on surgeries, I’m not rounding in the hospital, I’m not seeing patients post-op. I’m doing annual physicals and treating sore throats. This is out of my specialty. If something went wrong, not only would I be out of practice on what to do, but I wouldn’t have any of the appropriate equipment to manage a problem at home.  It was completely unfair for him to put this on my shoulders. Not to mention I had to go to work in the morning.

I might have been fuming, but Nate was in his glory. Anyone who knows Nate knows he is a bit like Rain Man when it comes to running statistics. I frequently pick a random year and say, “Nate, Boston, 1982, Go!” and he will recite the top ten at the Boston marathon for that given year and give me their finishing times and personal best times. In his doped up state (it takes a while before the good drugs they use in anesthesia to wear off) he was even more like this, and certain that he would be running 2:10 in the marathon by the fall.

Nate flew up the three flights of stairs to our apartment. Part of me really hoped that he was having some sort of miracle recovery and that this would be a breeze. But a few hours later, Nate was in pain. He was laying in bed grimacing and told me his pain was suddenly eight out of ten. I had never seen Nate that uncomfortable, but he still had ninety minutes before he was due for Vicodin.

I explained, “Nate, I know you’re in pain, and that’s expected after surgery. But you’re not supposed to have any pain meds for another ninety minutes. Now, in a hospital setting things are different. They can hook you up to an IV and give you some Dilaudid, or maybe they’d even give you the Vicodin sooner, but we’re not in the hospital, are we. Someone wanted to go home, and so I need to follow the guidelines set out by the surgeon. So you’ll have to wait another ninety minutes. But I’d be happy to give you some ice.”

His vital signs were fine and the incision looked good so I knew his pain was due to the anesthesia wearing off. The tough love continued a few hours later when Nate tried to use the bathroom and found he couldn’t urinate.

“Honey?” He called, “Can you come help me?”

I went into the bathroom to find Nate standing over the toilet. I was confused. “What’s wrong?”

“I can’t pee. It won’t come out” he said.

This was not on my list of anticipated problems. Actually, if I had sat down for days and brainstormed possible post-op issues, this would not be on that list. But I didn’t even consider acute post-op problems because I was expecting Nate to be in a nice, safe hospital for his recovery. Not here. And now that the pain meds had worn off, there was almost no way I could get him back down the stairs to bring him to the hospital.

“Nate, you listen to me right now. I’ve got an old catheter kit we used for practice at Boston College in the back closet. If you don’t pee in the next five minutes, I will use it on you. I will. You wanted to go home? Now, you gotta pee.”

He peed. I was completely relieved that he didn’t call my bluff on that catheter kit.

After that first hellish night, Nate’s recovery went quite smoothly. He couldn’t bend at the waist for weeks, which meant I was dressing him every morning. I came home at lunch every day and checked on him, occasionally finding him “stuck” on the couch or a chair, unable to get up without assistance, but after the first two weeks or so he was strong enough to walk stiffly around the block.

By six weeks, Nate was running again. The next few months involved lots of physical therapy and a slow build up of miles. The goal was to be on the starting line at the 2012 Olympic Marathon Trials.

Nate started training in earnest. However, the coordination issue wasn’t magically solved. Prior to surgery Nate could only make it two miles into a tempo run before losing coordination. After the surgery he could go ten kilometers before he lost coordination. Nerves are funny things and their recovery does not always follow a smooth trajectory. We knew we needed to give the nerves time to heal before they “came back”, but the dramatic improvement immediately post-op was very promising.

However, by mid-summer, the nerves weren’t coming around quick enough. Nate ran a hot and hilly half marathon in 1:06, but struggled with coordination problems during the race. He wasn’t able to train appropriately for a marathon, and he knew he wouldn’t last very long before losing coordination if he tried. We hoped the nerves would heal if we just gave them more time, but as the months went by the improvement he saw stagnated, and some days were actually worse.

A year out from his surgery, his shoe company dropped him. He missed the Olympic Trials. We were standing on the dock as the ship faded into the horizon. It was so ambitious to think that he could recover within a year of major back surgery. Nate was an inch shorter than before his surgery, that’s how much bone and disc material was removed. How could we have possibly expected that he would be back so quick? I reassured him that, despite it all, the nerves would eventually come around and he would make it back. We just didn’t have enough time.

But things didn’t improve and by the fall Nate started teaching math at a local middle school. He continued to run over one hundred miles a week, but it was just running. He was not capable of running any of his favorite workouts without losing coordination. He could cobble together a half marathon, which was a great improvement compared to before the surgery, but the later stages of the race would be ugly.

Nate settled into life as a teacher with a running problem. We bought a house. The nerves never improved more than they had initially after surgery. I started to wonder if something else could be done. I encouraged Nate to follow up with the surgeon and ask.

Unfortunately, the surgeon felt like he fixed the source of the problem and there was nothing else for him to do. This was entirely true from the surgeon’s perspective, but heartbreaking for Nate to hear. Dejected, he went back to his new life, stopped posting his blog, and started to accept that this was his fate.

I felt stupid for sending him back to the surgeon. Of course the surgeon wouldn’t have any further answers because there was nothing left to cut. It was foolish of me to think the surgeon would have an answer. But I already knew that Nate’s problem was a nerve problem, so there had to be some doctor who could help us. I found that there was a neurologist that worked in my hospital network who had certification as a sports neurologist. A sports neurologist! How perfect! Someone who knows nerves within the context of sports. A match made in Heaven.

I was so excited to tell Nate about it. This doctor was in Winchester; Nate could just leave school early one day and see him. But when I told him, his face hardened. He did not share my excitement.

“I am not going to another doctor to be told that there’s nothing else that can be done. Frankly I don’t think I could handle being told that again. I’m not going.”

This was a blow. I pleaded with him. I apologized for sending him back to the surgeon, it was a really dumb idea, but this sports neurologist is not a surgeon. He’s a doctor and he can at least point us in the right direction.

Nate finally agreed and a month later he saw the sports neurologist. This doctor was a mad scientist type; extremely interested, extremely thorough, a doctor whose whole life is his work. I wouldn’t be surprised if he actually slept in his office. It was a breath of fresh air. Just in the office, the sports neurologist determined that Nate had less strength in his right leg; in fact his right leg was smaller in circumference than his left leg.

The sports neurologist needed some hard numbers. He needed to determine how much of a success Nate’s surgery truly was, and if there was any persistent impingement. This meant another EMG. I felt like I was torturing Nate. If you read blog II, (find it here:  http://nateruns.blogspot.com/2015/03/fix-you-part-ii-guest-blog-by-melissa.html ), you’ll remember that undergoing an EMG is significantly worse than undergoing a root canal. For Nate, it was yet another blow he accepted with quiet resignation.

The second EMG showed function in both legs within the normal ranges, with the right leg function less than the left, but still normal. The sports neurologist concluded that the surgery was successful, but Nate’s piriformis might be pinching the nerve a bit and causing some increased dysfunction on the right side.

Nate started physical therapy again to address the tight piriformis, and he also started Bikram yoga. Bikram is a form of hot yoga that Nate and I had both previously tried. It was created by a yogi who healed a bad knee injury without surgery just by doing yoga. Nate liked it because, with his back surgery, there are certain yoga “postures” he shouldn’t perform, and in Bikram yoga the postures are always the same. Unlike a traditional yoga class, where the instructor might choose to focus on a series of postures that Nate shouldn’t perform, Nate always knows what to expect in a Bikram class.

Nate found that the combination of Bikram and physical therapy improved the overall function of his right leg. He was doing much better, still not as well as he hoped, still not enough for a marathon, but much better than he was the first year after his surgery.

Full disclosure, this is where I gave up. I thought we had all the answers to Nate’s injury. I thought the nerves had come back as much as they were going to, and that getting the piriformis to loosen up was the final piece of the puzzle. I thought the improvement we saw was the most we would see. I thought if Nate had his surgery sooner, if it was shortly after the problem first started, we might have seen greater improvement, but sometimes once nerves are damaged, especially for any length of time, they don’t come back fully. Nate’s nerve function was at least in the normal range now. It all made perfect sense to me, and I could think of nothing else that could possibly affect the function of his right leg. I sent Nate to multiple top doctors, sports doctors, doctors who know a lot more than I do, and they felt this was the answer to Nate’s injury. I didn’t question it any further than this. I regret giving up, though admittedly I don’t think I would have ever guessed the final piece of the puzzle on my own.

I may have given up, but, to his great credit, Nate never did. The improvement he saw in his coordination from physical therapy and Bikram inspired him, and made him feel that he could fix his leg the rest of the way. Enough to run a marathon. He’d occasionally ask me if I had any other ideas. I didn’t. I truly felt like the case was closed. I was disappointed, because my original goal was to restore Nate to glory, but I felt like I had found the problem and got it fixed, and sure there was some residual damage, but I couldn’t have anticipated that. I had done my best.  As Robin Williams said in What Dreams May Come, “Sometimes when you win, you lose.”

Everything changed for Nate in November, 2014 when Josh McDougal beat him in the Manchester Half Marathon. This day flipped Nate’s injury on its head and opened a whole new world of possibilities. I am forever grateful that Nate chose to run that half marathon, that he was capable of running a half marathon, and that Josh McDougal met him at the finish line.

For those who don’t know, Josh McDougal is probably most famous for winning the 2007 NCAA cross country championships, defeating golden boy Galen Rupp in the process. He was struck down by injury shortly after that, and Nate was aware through various internet postings that Josh had an injury very similar to his own.

Josh beat Nate at the half marathon and waited for him to finish. Once Nate crossed the finish line, Josh asked him how he was doing with his recovery from the injury, had the surgery fixed him?

Nate told Josh that honestly he felt that the surgery helped to improve the leg function by about 50%, enough for him to run half marathons again but not what he had hoped for. Bikram yoga helped as did physical therapy to loosen the piriformis. Nate asked Josh how his recovery was going.

Josh responded that he felt his loss of coordination had been fixed for about six months. The significance of this news really cannot be understated. This wasn’t an anonymous Joe online who said he’d fixed his injury, this wasn’t a healthcare professional who was confident he could fix the injury, this was a man who knew the hell that Nate knew. A man who had felt his leg flop like a rag doll and who was able to fix it. He had literally been to hell and back. It was like magic.

Josh explained to Nate that his injury had two parts. The first part was tightness and dysfunction in the lower leg and ankle. Josh was doing physical therapy for this and Nate’s surgery had fixed this part. The second part, the part that Nate and I were totally in the dark about, was dysfunction in the thoracic spine.

The thoracic spine. A place I would have never dreamed of considering for a problem in the hip and leg. I immediately remembered looking at Nate’s MRI several years prior in my friend’s kitchen. He had herniated discs in his thoracic spine, too.

Nate’s reputation is that of a grinder, and he has the form to match. He looks like a man who is running incredible paces through sheer force of guts and will, and his shoulders are always rolled forward as he leans into the pace and grinds. Over time, this form likely caused the herniated discs to develop in his thoracic spine.

As he leans forward, those herniated discs impede nerve signals traveling up and down the spinal cord. Shortly after learning how Josh fixed his injury, our physical therapist ran into Nate at the gym and told him he had just attended a conference and heard about how herniated discs in the thoracic spine can sometimes be the cause of persistent leg injuries.

Josh was addressing his thoracic spine dysfunction with physical therapy and saw his symptoms resolve. Nate came home from that race and asked me if I knew of any exercises for the thoracic spine to help keep his shoulders back.

I knew several great exercises for the thoracic spine. Since high school, I enjoyed attending running camps where much focus was put on proper form and form exercises. I shared some very simple exercises with Nate, and he was so weak he could hardly even perform the exercises. In fact, with one of the exercises, called YTIs, Nate was so weak he could hardly hold his arms up against gravity. In contrast, when I do the exercises, I generally use three pound weights, and I am a weakling!

Nate’s weakness was striking and surprising. Imagine, someone who competed in the World Championships could be so weak in his shoulders that he couldn’t hold his arms up and out to the side while laying prone on the ground. I didn’t know how we could miss such a major weakness.

Nate and I ran together so I could help him with his form. He would strain to hold his shoulders back and ask me if the form was right. Despite the strain he felt, his shoulders were still forward. It took about a week of constant work before he was able to hold his shoulders back for even brief periods.

Nate heard that Alberto Salazar had his athlete, women’s phenom Mary Cain, run in an equestrian harness to keep her shoulders back and fight her own tendency to run with her shoulders rolled forward. We purchased the Equifit “shoulders back” harness on Amazon, and we affectionately refer to it as Nate’s “back bra”, because that is exactly what it looks like. Nate found that wearing the back bra was difficult, as his shoulders strained against it not only when running but also when wearing it around the house. His underarms chafed against the straps, but each day became easier. Each day he was able to hold his shoulders back a bit more.

Nate started to attempt workouts that challenged his injury. Workouts he was physically unable to do over the past seven years. He found that each time his right leg threatened to lose coordination, if he consciously forced his shoulders back, his symptoms would resolve. As time passed he was able to keep his shoulders back for the vast majority of runs and workouts. After his workouts, despite how challenging the workouts themselves were, Nate complained not about sore legs, but his sore shoulders.

With this final piece of the puzzle, Nate has returned to the workouts he loves best. The impossibly long workouts that take up most of the day. The workouts that Nate says “make a man out of you.” He has longed to complete these workouts and for the first time in seven years, he is. He is fully capable of completing a marathon without loss of coordination being an issue. It truly took a village, but he, like Josh, has crawled his way back.

The final piece of the puzzle was only solved in November; Nate has worked hard to improve the strength of his shoulders since then. He started his Boston preparation before he could keep his shoulders back for a full run. That, along with working full time (he is in the middle of the school year) makes Boston a rather ambitious goal. If we were only considering Nate’s injury then I think an early summer or a fall marathon would have been a better choice. A fall marathon would have allowed him to train in the summer, when he is not teaching.

But there are many factors that go into choosing a marathon. Nate chose to do Boston because he would have a training partner with him, Ruben Sanca. The difference between training with someone versus training alone is huge, and Nate has really enjoyed training with Ruben. There aren’t too many people who can keep up with Nate. I feel it has been beneficial for Nate both physically and emotionally to have Ruben there. The training he is putting his body through is so daunting and so taxing, and it has been so long since he’s done it,  it’s helpful  and reassuring to have someone out there with him.

I think there was also an element of striking while the iron is hot; Nate chose to run Boston before he woke up from the wonderful dream that his leg is fixed. Thankfully, I have seen the workouts, I have watched Nate run, and I know it is not a dream.

It will be amazing to see Nate compete in Boston, but more than that, it is amazing to know that Nate has marathons ahead of him. I am more excited to see what’s in store for Nate over the next couple of years. Because, for the first time in seven years, there will be marathons.

Acupuncture and why I use it.

  It is no secret I have had a lot of injuries over the years.  My current injury prevention and treatment plan is my most successful and I have been running basically injury free for the last 16 months or so. (full discloser I jinxed myself and after writing this my right plantar facia tightened up and I had to take a day off for it) My system has three basic arms.  I do yoga to prevent injuries and keep my body limber, balanced and strong.  I do specific exercise to target my problem areas, specifically my thoracic spine to fix my posture and eliminate my coordination problems and finally when something hurts and it shouldn't and to help with opening up the thoracic spine I get acupuncture done.  I'll eventually write about all of these but today I'll focus on the acupuncture first because generally if someone is reading a blog about injuries it means they are injured and are looking for treatment and not prevention.

  I have tried everything over the years and each modality of treatment has its advantages but I have consistently been shocked by how quickly and completely acupuncture can fix a problem.  In the year or so after my back surgery I would fairly regularly 'throw my back out.'  Basically I would get spasms in the muscle and for days I could do very little and even breathing was painful.  Other treatments would help but it was slow.  Melissa suggested acupuncture.  I was skeptical to say the least but I'm always open to trying anything.  I make my judgements based on results.

  I struggled into the office and dealt with the awkwardness of having someone stick you full of needles.  After a bit more than an hour I was told I was done and I got up.  I was 95% better!  I couldn't believe it.  I said this to Tricia, the acupuncturist, she was disappointed and put me back on the table and applied more needles.  Ten minutes later I was 100% better.  No pain, no tightness, no weakness.  I was floored.

  This same experience has been repeated now many many times.  I now also go to acupuncture to help improve my posture and thoracic spine control and strength to continue to get past my coordination problems.  This process is slower but still very helpful.

  I still see Tricia Beretz, www.glacierblueacupuncture.com She was the first person I went to because at the time she was the only certified sports acupuncturist in Massachusetts.  I'm not sure if she is still the only one but there certainly aren't many and she has always done such a good job I haven't felt any need or desire to branch out.  Obviously this info is of no use to you if you are living outside eastern Massachusetts as I know many of you are but for those who are closer maybe I can shorten your search.

  For those who don't live near me start with a google search for certified and licensed practitioners.  I would avoid physical therapists doing dry needling.  They receive far less training and my personal experience with it was not only disappointing in terms of results but actually quite painful.  Also they have a rather high rate of injury in comparison to traditional acupuncture.  I am aware some people have had great success with dry needling, Josh McDougal has used it as a corner stone to his comeback to running, so I'm sure some of them are doing a very good job.  I just had a bad experience myself, have read a few horror stories and am concerned about the lack of training in comparison to what acupuncturists get.

Fartlek Friday: Recovery Fartlek

  This weeks fartlek friday is a little something different.  Instead of focusing on a hard session we will look at a session for recovery.  Most of us just go out and slog around at a slow pace on our easy days.  At best we may do some strides after an easy or moderate jog.  However if you look at the programs of some of the most successful runners in the world you will see things like easy fartlek and 20 kilometers with short variations for speed.  These sessions fall in places where a workout wouldn't be possible or advisable, the day before or after very hard sessions or races.  So what do they know that you are missing?

  Running well is a game of speed.  It has long been known that in running speed kills all those who don't have it. Yet still so many of us, particularly those who fall into the weekend warrior or regionally competitive groups do very little fast running.  In a normal week we do maybe two workouts, a race and a few strides and that is a great week.  Many times we may go days or even weeks with all or nearly all our running at paces ranging from 1 to 3 minutes per mile slower than our race pace.

  Then we watch with awe the best in the world and wonder what they have we don't.  The answer is strength with speed.  Most who chase the best possess one or the other or only some of each.  Now some of the difference between you and the lads and lasses in the Golden league has to do with Momma and Poppa.  Lets be honest not every guy has the genetics to run 13:00 and not every gal can be a 15:00 monster.  Still much less of the gap between you and them is genetic, or illicit chemical use, than you think. The two biggest differences I see are one the huge efforts expended to build aerobic power through fast steady running, IE various types of tempo and progression runs, and two huge amounts of relaxed FAST running, SPEED.

  So often we use fast and hard as interchangeable terms.  The thing is they are not at all interchangeable.  The biggest lesson I learned in my years is fast is not hard and hard is not fast.  Sometimes they happen together but they should largely be trained separately.  If you want to be a speed demon you need to be able to run very fast while you are relaxed.  If you want that you need to PRACTICE running fast while you are RELAXED.

  One of the ways of doing this is to run fast on your recovery days.  Note fast not hard.  A great way of doing this is to slow your recovery run pace down a little bit and mix in some short quick burst of speed.  Not at a max sprint, not killer drives but pleasantly fast accelerations run only long enough to feel quick and not long enough to get tired.  Between these flashes of speed you should have long breaks.  More than recovery you should be really stretching it out.  This is a run with some quick spurts not a workout with long rests.
 
  This session should be as long as your normal recovery run and done on as pleasant a route as you can find.  I imagine it in a cool forest on soft pine needle trails or running around rolling fields in the english country side.  I actually run it in 15 degree weather on a heavily trafficked loop dodging cars and fearing for my life around every 12 foot snow bank covered corner.  But not everything is ideal and in my mind I drift to that pine forest and I'm just killing it!

  After a few times of doing this you will discover you can often recover better with a session like this than with a regular run and over the long haul this extra relaxed speed will go a long way to improving your muscular endurance and efficiency making you one who kills with speed rather than one who is killed by it.  Ok full discloser this workout alone is not going to change your world but it can be one piece to the larger puzzle of finding the path to unlocking your full running potential.

Tempo Tuesday: Making improvements and breakthroughs in all tempo training

  Generally I talk about specific workouts in this space but today I'll talk about some more general tactics that you can use across all your tempo runs to make improvements in those workouts and by extension your general fitness and racing.  For me I put all steady running faster than regular training and longer than a  mile or two into the category of tempo training.  This could be something as short and fast as 2 miles at 5k pace or as long and slow as 27 miles at 80% of your goal marathon pace.  All are designed to improve your aerobic fitness, though in many different ways, and all can be improved using some of the same tactics.

  To me the most important thing about a tempo run in training, really any workout in training, is not how you run it the first time but how you run it better each successive time.  Good running is after all in its simplest state all about getting better.

  I have done a ton of work over the years and one thing I have seen in my running and others again and again is if you take your tempo run and just try and run it faster each time out at first you are able to do so but in general you are not running it better you are just running it harder and soon enough you are running as hard as you can and your not going much faster.  In short you stagnate.

  The key is to instead increase distance at the SAME PACE.  So you go out and do a 3 mile tempo run at 5:30 per mile.  The next time out you should aim for 4 miles on the same course at the same pace.  You will find that you are able to fairly quickly find yourself running twice the distance at the same pace and your effort when going by the original distance is much lower than when you started.

  After you have increased the distance a good bit say 50% to 100% longer than the original distance than you go back to the original distance and run it faster.  You will find the effort is not increased.  In fact often it is less.  Through cycles like this you can make very big gains and make them very consistently.

  However sometimes you will still stagnate.  In these cases there is one more trick to try.  In this case you run a fast finish.  So at one point I was trying to build up to an 8k to 10k tempo run on the track at 3:00 per K.  Thing was I was stuck at 5k to 6k.  I built up to that well. I was doing some other work but I was stuck.  So what to do?  I ran an 8k tempo run where I ran slower than I had been for the first 5k, in my case 16:00 so 3:12 per k. That is about 5 to 10% slower than goal pace and then I finished at or faster than my goal tempo pace, in this case I ran the last 3k in around 8:50.  So 2% or 3% faster than pace.  Even if it is dead on pace that is ok.

  The results?  Next time out I ran 8k in 23:56.  It isn't a sure fire thing but sometimes the reason you are stuck is you really lack the endurance to run the later part of the run at that past and this can specifically target that weakness.

  Finally sometimes the answer lies outside the specific workout.  If these two tricks don't work and you are still stuck it is time to work on other types of workouts to build up your abilities around your tempo run.  Most often either intervals at your tempo pace or 5% faster for the volume you wish to run for your tempo or as much as 50% more volume this can improve the muscular endurance and efficiency.  Second is to run a longer tempo at a slower pace to build the aerobic endurance and efficiency.

  Hopefully you can use this to get the most out of your tempo runs and reap the improvements you deserve for your hard work!

Weekly Training Blog February 16 to 22, 2015 Vacation!

I was on vacation this week which meant I had a lot more time which basically meant I slept a lot more which was wonderful!  This week off also saved my first specific workout as we had a blizzard last Sunday when the workout was scheduled and I was able to move it to Monday because I didn't have to work.  Now I also did some vacationy things like eating out and a few trips up to Maine.  Melissa, my wife, has to schedule her time off from work about a year in advance and we have been going to Hawaii each winter during February vacation but I put a kibosh on that this year because the two long flights in a 9 day period tend to undo any recovery you could get during that time and I wanted to be able to get as many hard workouts in as possible during my time off.  Given the winter we are having Melissa giving up a trip to Hawaii to escape from the 2nd coldest and soon to be snowiest winter in Massachusetts history is a pretty huge sacrifice, all because I basically was being very picky and specific about my training plans.  She is super supportive so the least I could do was go along for a few day trips.  The eating out is about my favorite thing so no sacrifice on my part there.

Monday

PM COLD! 16 degrees but windchill well under 0.  With Ruben. 3 mile warm up to Merrimack College 5k loop.  Loop was in real bad shape in terms of footing.  Only the 4th K was pavement.  The rest was a mix of packed ice, loose snow, ice and a bit of slush.  There are 12 turns on each loop and they were all very challenging.   The plan was 30k specific workout.  10k at 80 to 85% of mp, 5k of 1min fast 1 min moderate, 5k back at 80 to 85%mp, 5k at mp and 5k max effort.  In the end we only did 25k as footing really beat up on the legs and it meant that though we were on pace in the first 10k our effort was greatly in excess of the proper effort which you can see by how fast the 4th K was on each loop.  The full run was continuous but I'll break it down below by section

10k at  80 to 85% of mp- 35:56.5 (4th k was 3:20 and the 4th k on the second loop was 3:20 again) This means that we were probably running 33:20 effort or faster as really the 4th k felt easier than the other k's)  

5k of 1min fast/1min moderate- 16:39.19 (4th k was a 3:05) 

5k back at 80 to 85% mp- 18:09.51( 4th k was 3:23)

5k at mp- we just went about as hard as we could we knew with the footing there was no way we were going to get down around 16:00 we ran 16:45.34 (3:10 for the 4th K)

Total this was 1:27:30 for 25k, 5:37 per mile pace, though I have no trouble believing the footing alone cost us 60 to 80 seconds per 5k loop.  So 5 to 7 minutes overall.  Never mind the cold and all the extra cloths we were wearing.  No cool down on this one as Melissa and Uta were nice enough to pick Ruben and I up at the finish. Total 18.5 miles 

XT whartons, rubberbands

Tuesday

AM road 7, shitty footing, cold 10 degrees real feel 2. 47:26 total 7

PM road 7, same loop, same conditions except temp all the way up to 20 and real feel up to 8, balmy! total 7

XT whartons, rubberbands

Wednesday

AM 3 mile warm up, 19:45, skipping warm up, light drills, 4 strides, 20k of 1k/1k alternations on Merrimack College 5k loop. In bit better shape than Monday, 1st and 4th k were clear footing, 2nd and 5th were about the same and the 3rd was a bit better but the turns were still real bad.  Temps were about the same as Monday. Which means wearing a LOT of cloths which adds to the effort.  In an ideal world my goal would be the fast k's between 3:00 and 3:05 and the recovery K's around 3:20.  This was not ideal.

1k-2:59.8

2k-3:33.8(6:33.6)

3k-3:07.5(9:41.2)

4k-3:21.0 (13:02.2)

5k-3:15.5- yes that was an 'on' k (16:17.7)

6k-3:26.7(19:44.5)

7k- 3:05.9(22:50.5)

8k-3:33.3(26:23.8)

9k-3:01.2(29:25.1)

10k-3:37.7(33:02)

11k-3:04.4(36:07.2)

12k-3:32.2(39:39.4)

13k-3:08.3(42:47.7)

14k-3:24.5(46:12.3)

15k-3:17.0(49:29.5)

16k-3:26.7(52:56.2)

17k-3:08.1(56:04.3)

18k-3:34.1(59:38.4)

19k-3:04.1(1:02:42)

20k-3:41.2(1:06:23)

 Those splits look all over the place but really if you compare the same K's on each loop to each other they are much closer than you think.  IE the 4th k hard reps were 3:01 and 3:04 and the recoveries on that K were 3:21 and 3:24.  On the 5th k, the slowest you see the same relationship 3:15.5 and 3:17.0 for the fasts and 3:37.7 and 3:41.2 for the recoveries.

 3 mile cool down total of 19+ miles

XT skipping warm up, light drills, whartons, rubber bands

Thursday

AM road 10k, first 4.2 with Uta, then 2 miles solo, objectively speaking this was one of the most beautiful runs I have ever been on. We were running just at Sunrise and the orange glow of that through the freshly coated snow on the trees and reflecting off the fresh few inches on the ground.  However I'm pretty much finished with winter and it was very cold and I was slipping all over the place.  On the plus side Uta was able to enjoy it for its beauty and seemed to have a great time. total 6.2 miles

PM road 7, 46:15, not as snowy but still a couple of icy snowy miles road out front of the house was clear enough for me to do some strides which was very nice total 7.5 miles

XT whartons, shoveling, rubber bands, YTI

Friday

AM Super cold wind chill 15 to 20 below zero, wind was very heavy and very steady. 2 mile warm up and strides then did a 10 mile moderate progression run on my regular 10 loop(rolling)

 Footing in 5th and 7th and 8th miles was very bad.  The last 2 and 1/4 miles were pretty much into the wind the whole way and it made them VERY hard.  I had hoped to run them at 5:20 pace for 8 and 9 and about 5:00 for the last mile.  I'm sure the effort was there but the pace was not!  

1-5:49(into wind)

2-5:46(into wind)

3-5:32

4-5:29

5-5:35(footing and uphill)

6-5:34 (uphill)

7-5:27(Footing!)

8- 5:43(footing, hill, wind!)

9-5:42(wind)

10-5:23(wind)

 After this run Melissa asked if I was alright.  I basically threw a fit in response.  This is not normal for me. In my defense it was REALLY cold and REALLY windy.  Still Melissa had a pretty good laugh about my little fit later. total 12.5 miles

PM on curve treadmill- I had had enough of the outdoors for one day. 15 minute warm up, 10x20 seconds hard with 1minute jog breaks. Sort of simulating short hill reps giving how the curve works. total 4.5 miles

XT whartons, rubberband, 

Saturday

AM regular 10, cold 12 degrees, -6 degrees windchill, footing a bit better than yesterday and sadly this was a good bit warmer than yesterday too. 66:47, did strides after total 10.5 miles

XT rubberbands, whartons

Sunday

AM 3 miles warm up on treadmill, with 4 strides at 12mph mixed in.  I also jacked up the mill to 2% instead of 1% because it seemed a bit easy like perhaps the grade was off a bit or the floor not flat. 7 miles at 11.8mph- 35:35, losing coordination so I hoped off and did whartons, got back on 45 seconds later and did a half mile in 3:30 felt ok so I did 3 miles at 12mph, 15:00.  I had the shoulders back on and Melissa was on the Mill next to me and said my shoulders looked good.  I really have been struggling to hold coordination on the mill.  I think it may have something to do with how I don't really use my glutes and hamstrings much on it.  But I'm not 100% sure. total of about 14 miles

XT rubberbands, whartons, shoveling

Summary

 107 miles for the week but the real story is that with the strides and workouts more than 100 kilometers of that was at a workout effort.  Just a huge amount of quality work.  Really a great week of work.

  I was scheduled to race the USATF-NE 10 mile champs but really didn't want to deal with the snowy roads getting out there, though I have since heard they weren't that bad.  Anyway I played it safe. If I had raced this next week would be much lighter but with just the moderate workout today I'll keep it rolling through next week.

  Hope you are doing well and for those of you who are as sick of winter as me I hope the weather treats us a bit better in the coming weeks.

Sponsorship!! Team Skechers!

  I am super excited to announce that I will be a Go Elite Ambassador for Skechers Performance Division.  I have been training in Skechers since last April and I'm really happy to have their support in my return to the marathon this April.

  Currently I'm training and racing primarily in the GoMeb Speed.  These are actually my favorite shoe of all time.  Light flexible and with a great fitting upper.  They are not for everyone as they certainly are a light weight flexible shoe but for me they are perfect! http://www.skechersperformance.com/running/mens#/content/gorun-speed-mens

  The other shoes I mix into my routine are the GoRun Ride 3 and the GoRun Ultra.  I use the Ride 3 for most of my easy runs and as my second favorite behind the speeds and the Ultra work great for when the footing isn't very good which means over the last 6 weeks they have been getting a lot of work.  So in the snow lately they have been getting a lot of miles.  They are one of the most durable shoes I have ever run in.
http://www.skechersperformance.com/running/mens
http://www.skechersperformance.com/running/mens#/content/gorun-ultra-mens

  If you are interested in more information about Skechers performance on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/SkechersPerformance
  or instagram = @SkechersPerformance or twitter @SkechersGO

Throwback Thursday 8 years and 2 months

  On December 22, 2006 I completed a 20k marathon targeted alternation session.  It was, at the time, the best workout I had ever done.  A few weeks later I would do a similar session, though slower because of a very tough wind, and in the final effort I would lose the coordination in my right leg.  It was the beginning of the longest hardest injury battle of my life.  Yesterday, February 18, 2015 I completed a 20k marathon targeted alternation session without losing coordination in my right leg.  It was the first time I had successfully done so since this workout more than 8 years ago.

  I thought as a celebration of sorts I would write a blog about that last workout, so to speak.

  In December of 2006 I was training with a new fury after meeting Renato Canova and having him explain what I was doing wrong and how some simply changes to my base would lead to big breakthroughs in my marathon performance.  So far it was going pretty well.  On the 22 the weather was extremely nice for the time of year, temps in the 30's basically no wind and the track at Umass Lowell was clear so I decided to take my second attempt at a 20k alternation session.  My first attempt had been a fail in my build up to my first marathon where I lasted only 7k and collapsed exhausted.

  After a 3 mile warm up and some strides I set out to try and do 20k on the track alternating between 3:00 fast K's and 3:20 recovery K's.

  Splits
1k- 3:00.5
2k- 3:19.8
3k- 3:00.0
4k- 3:21.8
5k- 3:01.3 (15:43.2)
6k- 3:20.9
7k- 3:00.4
8k- 3:20.7 (25:25.0)
9k- 2:58.6
10k- 3:20.3 (31:43.8)
11k- 2:59.6
12k- 3:21.2
13k- 3:00.1
14k- 3:21.0
15k- 2:58.2 (47:23.9)(15:40.1 last 5k)
16k- 3:21.4 (50:45.2)
17k- 2:58.8
18k- 3:20.7
19k- 2:58.2
20k- 3:20.2 (1:03:22)

  That is 5:05.9 pace for 12.4 miles, 2:13:40 marathon pace.  I was so pumped!  I was scared to death of this session because it had killed me just two weeks before I had run a 2:15 marathon.  In other words in the best shape of my life this workout had chopped me down like it was nothing.  Now I had crushed this workout and I knew I was reaching a new plain of fitness.  Looking at the training I was doing leading up to this I was obviously ready.  I had done a very windy 6k tempo run at 3:00 per k, 16x400 in 65 seconds and a few 23 mile runs at 5:40 pace in the two weeks before this session.  Still alternations are a different beast and to be able to jump into 5:20 recoveries was really quite something.

 Two weeks later on January 5th I would do 20k on the track of 2k fast and 1k slow.  The effort was the same and with the two weeks improvement I'm guessing without the wind I would have been able to average the same paces which would have made it a crazy fast 20k around 1:02:00 but with the wind I ran 1:04:42.  In the final 2k effort I lost control of my right leg.  I had no idea what it was.  Frankly I was running as hard as I could and I didn't think that much of it.  More of a just 'wow I'm going so hard I'm losing control of my legs.'  I had no idea the trouble to come!

  Yesterday I was on the road, we are not having a nice light winter, like back in late '06 early '07, this year so the track is buried under untold feet of snow. I also haven't done the speed work needed to be ready to really get the speed out of the fast k's.  As such my overall time was much slower 1:06:23.  I was thrilled.  From the beginning I have had far and away the most trouble holding coordination in alternations.  This is why they were not included as part of my build up to the Olympic Trials in late 2007.

  In fact over the last few years I basically haven't been able to do more than 10k of alternations and really more than 8k has been very unusual.  In my notes I wrote in planning back in the fall I put completely 20k of alternations without losing coordination as equal difficulty to completing a full marathon race without losing coordination.

  So though the college students standing at the bus stop at the Merrimack college gym had no idea why  the crazy guy who just came hammering around the corner was pumping his fist while gasping for air it was a well earned fist pump.

Tempo Tuesdays: The Hard Progression Run

 I basically do two types of general fitness progression runs moderate and hard.  Lately I have been doing a lot more moderate progressions but over the course of my running career my single favorite workout is the hard progression run. Like the names suggest the difference is in the effort level.  To be honest the effort throughout most of the run is the same it is just that at the end of the hard progression run you keep accelerating until it gets very hard and you can't keep increasing the pace anymore.

  The length of this workout is entirely at your discretion.  I would suggest that for 5k runners you want a run of at least 20 to 30 minutes for the 10k you want 30mins to 1 hour.  For the half marathon 45 to 90mins.  For the marathon, if you are using these as a general fitness workout you should stick to the 1 hour to 90 minute range but if you do want to make it more specific you can extend them out over 2 hours.

  The idea is simply enough start out running a bit faster then regular training pace and steadily increase the pace a little bit at a time until you are running just about as fast and as hard as you can.  If you do these workouts enough you will find that your body reacts to getting tired by picking up the pace.  You will find yourself coming apart in a tempo run and hitting faster and faster splits, which only quicken your demise but it is neat all the same.

  I think most often people pick a normal training run route and pick up the pace each mile or kilometer.  This is fine but I suggest a different plan.  I would strongly advice you pick a loop, the length of which is not important it can range from 1/10th to 1/3rd the length of the progression you plan on doing.  Personally I like to pick a loop that will have me taking about 5 to 8 loops for my whole workout.  This loop does not need to be measured.  The terrain should reflect your goal race terrain.  Next make sure the loop is one that you will not have to stop.  IE no intersection crossings- at least not ones with traffic- no train tracks etc… Ideally a trail loop with good footing is available but right now there is ninety something inches of snow on the ground here so if you experience similar situations then you to will have to find a road area.

  The reasoning for this is simple. The idea of a progression run is to be constantly increasing the pace.  It is hard to know if you are really doing this if the terrain is different.  On a 10 mile loop comparing mile 1 to mile 5 is often apples to oranges.  However if you do 7 loops of 1.35 miles or whatever each loop is they are each exactly the same so you know if you run each loop faster than the one before it you are correctly increasing the effort.

  So you have your loop.  You run the first loop at about or just a little quicker than your normal training pace.  (I would do a warm up before this but I can't run much under 8 or 9 minute mile pace without a warm up but I have been running over a 100miles a week with some pretty darn good consistency since Bill Clinton was President and that doesn't come without a price).  On each loop you increase the pace from the lap before.  How much?  As long as it is faster than the loop before you have done your job.  Don't over complicate.  Just don't increase too much or your workout will end up being a lot shorter than you planned.

  Each lap you get faster until you reach the final lap where you should steadily accelerate over the whole lap trying to finish at a full kick sprint and around a maximum effort.  If you find yourself at a point where you know you can't run the next lap faster then the lap you are currently running then the workout is over.  You need to just hammer to the end of the loop you are running.  DON'T slow down and try to salvage. The lesson of constant increase of pace is more important.  So your planned 90minute progression run ends up only being 45mins.  That is ok.  It is still a good workout.  It still taught your body what it needs and it has steadily increased the pressure on your heart and the amount of acid your body had to process out of the blood.  Also you did your fastest running when your legs were at their most tired.  Next time you will pace yourself better and do the volume you want for the workout and that too will be the successful learning of an important lesson on understanding and controlling your own body.

  A few words of caution and guidance.  Don't pick a loop that is too short.  If you want to do a 1 hour profession run and you run around a loop that takes about 3 minutes to run you are setting yourself up for failure. It takes some crazy pace sense to only go 1 or 2 seconds a lap faster each lap. So what invariable happens is you drop 10 seconds or more on one lap and after you do that a couple times you are running crazy fast and you are done.  Frankly if you are running the first loop at 3 minutes at a nice steady pace it is unlikely you are capable of running that loop all out under 2 minutes.  Better to do a loop that is a little longer and give yourself a bit more time and distance to play with.  I also pick a couple spots on the loop to use as pace checks, not too many though as you mostly want to be focused on feeling smooth and covering the ground quickly.

  Next make sure the footing is good.  This is not the time and place for technical trails or tight turns.  You want a nice steady effort and fancy footing and breaking hard and re-acclerating are not conducive to that.

  When to do this workout?  This is a great base phase workout for all distances.  It is a great anytime workout for half marathoner and marathoners.  This is also a great workout for maintaining aerobic fitness in the specific phases for 5k and 10k runners.  Also it can be used as an aerobic focused specific workout for the 10k and cross country.  Anything 5k or shorter and something this aerobic is not going to be very specific.  You would be better in that case doing a portuguese surge, http://nateruns.blogspot.com/2015/01/tempo-tuesday-portuguese-surge.html

  This session will build the physical and mental ability to run relaxed at a quick pace and to make a long hard killing drive to the finish of a hard race.  Doing it once is nice but done regularly this workout will reinvent you as a runner.

Weekly Training Log February 9 to 15, 2015 Recovery

Monday

Mid Day- 48:16, around 10k on roads in snow storm, first 4.2 with Melissa total 10k

PM Bikram yoga (90minutes hot yoga)

XT whartons, rubber band exercises, shoveling and yoga

Tuesday

AM Bear Hill 4.2 with Uta, snowy. total 4.2

PM Regular 10 on snowy roads, 68:58, roads very bad this was actually a pretty good effort, I think perhaps a bit too good. total 10+

XT whartons, rubber band 

Wednesday

PM on treadmill with Ruben. 3.5 warm up, with 4 "strides" of 15 seconds at 12.5mph, 13mph, 13.5mph, 14mph respectively. switch shirts do whartons. goal was 6x2 miles at marathon pace.  Very tired so didn't figure that would happen.  1/2 mile get up to speed then 2 miles in 10:15, 1/2mile in 2:50, 1 mile in 5:06. Stopped just tired as shit.  Ruben manned up for 5 reps.  I did 3 miles cool down total 10.5 miles

XT whartons, rubber band

Thursday

PM 50mins in snow storm with Uta, the dog, at least she was having a good time.  total around 8 miles we were moving pretty good.

XT whartons, rubber band

Friday

PM On curve treadmill (manual) 3.3 miles warm up with 4 strides, 25mins, Moneghetti fartlek on curve (2x90, 4x60, 4x30, 4x15 with matching rest) 20 total minutes covered 3.55 miles, my best on the curve before this was 3.46 two weeks ago.  This was only 5:38 pace but a very good effort.  The curve is much slower than regular running.  At the end of December I did this session on the curve and only covered 3.25 miles.  To put this in perspective I ran around 4:57 pace on the roads a week or two after that.  I have dropped my time on the curve by 32seconds per mile since then.  I doubt it transfers directly but the improvement is still very very good.  20 minutes cool down ended up with 65minutes on the curve and just under 10 miles 

XT whartons, rubber band

Saturday

Spent the morning shoveling and breaking up ice jams on roof. This sucked.

1pm road 7.8 solo, very poor road conditions for most of run, 52mins total 8-

4pm road 10k, 46:19, first 4.2 with Melissa and Uta, roads very rough shape tot. 6+

XT whartons, rubber band

Sunday

had first specific workout scheduled but pushed it to monday because of Blizzard

AM 50mins steady on Curve and then 5 strides with 1min breaks between them total 8 miles

PM road 10k solo very very cold total 6,2 miles 

XT whartons, rubber band, pull ups on assisted machine

Summary

  Not an impressive week at all. Basically a recovery week after the bit special block last weekend.  It was supposed to end with our first specific session but we'll be suffering through that in sub zero wind chills on some poor footing this afternoon because it is better conditions then during a blizzard yesterday.  The weather in New England is never helpful but it has sort of been becoming a bigger pain every few days for the last month or so.  I'm hoping it starts to move in the other direction over the next two weeks or so.  The biggest difference between training now, with a full time job, and the good old days is that it is very hard to deal with curveballs like the weather.  Luckily I have February vacation this week so I could bump the run to today but now as we get into the specific phase I really don't want to be doing modified 'effort' workouts and that is what snow storms generally force.   Hope things are going well for you!