A look at some endurance lover's events.

Last week, I posted a little preview of events that I thought were worth watching, if you love endurance events. So I thought that it would be good to link to a few stories about how the events turned out:

Western States 100

Scott Dunlap @ A Trail Runner's Blog has his review - Here

Here's the finish line report - read Scott's review for the story. It was the first I had heard it.

I would like to again say congrats to the two Kentucky runner's who made the attempt. I have not seen any local stories in the papers (or other) that has mentioned this, so I want to make sure all of us KY Endurance Lovers support our own!

Ironman Coeur d'Alene

It looks like the weather was really hot for the race, which caused quite a few people to DNF. (Stories of hot weather also came from WS100 and Primal Quest.)

Go to the IronmanCDA - Results page for the results. Or to read a race report from Albert Boyce (a gordoworld forum follower) who finished 4th overall - go here.

Primal Quest

The race is still going on. Check out the progress at checkpointzero.com

Buffalo Springs Lake Triathlon

This race had a deep field of quality pro's this year! I'm not too sure what drew so many, but I think the prize money was more than usual? The results from this race are - here

One last look at an endurance lover's event: The Tour de France

Just look at any of the stories that have been coming out today. I was pretty excited about watching the Tour this year (I just got OLN the other night) but I'm not so sure anymore. Cycling has some major issues as a sport. Issues that make Major League Baseball's problems with steriod use look minor and silly.

The idea that you have to "do whatever it takes" is one theme that I was thinking about when I wrote my last post: Balancing performance, health and having fun.

As people that do these events to test our endurance, as a form of recreation, I think it is important to find balance. I'm still searching. And in the meantime, I'll continue to test the ends of my endurance.

Here's to a happy 4th of July. Find your limits.

Balancing performance, health and having fun?

Yesterday Nikki and I were talking about the balance between training to do events and do well (whatever "well" means to each individual) and doing events just to be happy. It's a hard line to understand because for many of us* competing with ourselves and doing better than we have done before is a lot of what makes endurance events fun. It helps make us happy.

The issue that I was struggling with was how to stay close to the line of improving and doing what it takes to improve, yet understanding that this is a hobby and should help improve my quality of life not decrease it.

I sometimes wonder if we* are becoming programmed to always believe that there is more out there that we must get. Two recent sports examples: Dwayne Wade in his Sunday Conversation on ESPN discussed why he was holding up two fingers during their celebration of winning the NBA title. One was a "taste". The other example came from the book "Lance Armstrong's War" that discussed how in a photo after Lance won his 6th Tour, in the team photo, his team was holding up six fingers, Lance was holding up seven.

These two guys are professionals. They make their money through sport. Even though I am trying to create a professional life as a trainer / coach, my competing is still very "hobbyish", so the question to myself is "Can I justify the same bigger and better philosophy and still remain balanced and healthy?"

What are some things that I think might make competing in endurance events decrease my quality of life? Keep in mind that these are all issues I struggle with, and force me to continually reassess the role of competing in my life.

1. Training when hurt or injured, neglecting health, our pursuits are a good way to enhance our health, but it can be easy to let them inhibit our long-term health too.

2. Becoming too focused on results and not taking the time to step back and enjoy the accomplishments that have occurred. It's so easy to want to do better next time, that we forget to enjoy the journey we just had. At the Derby Marathon, I remember thinking, within minutes of finishing, about what race I'd do next and how I could do better.

3. Becoming too competitive and developing a "winning only" mentality. Perspective can be a really hard thing to keep at times and over the course of my journey I've found that I dis-like running road races the most, because the competitive aggression is pretty thick even at small "neighborhood" races.

I've always been embarrassed by the language (many, many f-bombs) I used during the Kentucky Adventure Races in '03. It seemed silly after the fact. But the greatest thing to come from the weekend came when one of the other teams used their "mic time" after the race to let other racers know that Josh and I stopped on the mountain bike course and came back to them to offer help and tools. Ironically, that day we did better than my f-bomb episode day.

That's the short list. I'm interested in hearing what everyone else thinks. How do you balance the equation of "fun" and "competing"? What about endurance events make you happy? (Hopefully you can post some comments, hopefully I can figure out how to moderate them!)

*By saying "us" and "we", I am referring to the endurance minded athlete. I have generally associated the Type A, goal-oriented, success driven characteristics to "us", but that maybe a very poor generalization?

Endurance Lover's Weekend.

This weekend (June 24th, 25th) is an endurance sports and outdoor lover's chance to take in a whole lot of calories burned, miles covered, streams cross and trails used. Here's a look at why this weekend seems so good to me:

Western States 100:
http://www.ws100.com
June 24th - 25th:

The Western States has to by my ultimate running aspiration (Leadville 100 may be close?). It takes place this weekend. To add a little fuel to the fire for us Kentucky folk, I saw two KY runners on the list.

David Jackson, Lexington and Steve Durbin, Paducah. Good Luck guys.

Ironman Coeur d'Alene
http://www.ironmannorthamerica.com
June, 25th:

The Ironman is the next major adventure on my list as many of you know. So getting excited about any North American race is a must. Nikki is heading to Coeur d'Alene next week so maybe I'll post some pictures of the scenery around the course.

Primal Quest
http://www.ecoprimalquest.com
June, 24th - July, 4th:

The true test of survival combined with endurance and athletic ability. The Primal Quest is taking place in Utah this year. I make no claims to have any idea about what it feels like to take on this expedition style race. But I do know that the adventure races that I have been able to do (Thanks Chuck at New Balance) I have enjoyed more than most tests of endurance I have completed. I guess it helps to have friends as teammates.

Buffalo Springs Lake Triathlon
http://buffalospringslaketriathlon.com/bslt.php
June, 25th:

This race humbled me more than any other race that I've completed (a close second has to be the Chicago Marathon in 1999). The excuses are many, but I have promised myself that someday I'll go back to Lubbock to take this one down.

Seriously, could it be more exciting? Get out and test your endurance!

500 Mile Club - Photo

Here's a photo of the last few steps. Thanks, Wes.

energy spent and the potential pay-out in performance

I have been moving pretty quickly through some books lately, it has been nice to catch my stride again in the "educating myself" department. But, I haven't done a good job of sharing and/or applying all of the things that I've been reading. So I figured I would start to share some of my notes that I take and thoughts that come from them.

My current read is, Lance Armstrong's War, by Daniel Coyle. I have several notes taken from this book, but this morning something caught my eye:

"Thanks to the cruel magic of physics, that relatively small increase in speed meant a huge increase in effort.* Going 8 percent faster meant pushing 25 percent more air, thus doing 25 percent more work, burning 25 percent more energy. The cold and rain increased the workload. All of which added up to perhaps the most-expensive first week in Tour history." pg. 223-224

As a triathlete, the balance of energy expenditure can be the difference between running off the bike and shuffling off the bike. I don't want to get into the science of the energy expenditure (you'll have to read the book to see what the footnote * said on the mathematics of it), but from a race strategy perspective, every triathlete should consider where they would benefit the most from using the extra energy in terms of improved time.

For example, as a below average swimmer, I come out of the water several minutes behind the leaders in my age-group. One might think that it would be good to spend the extra energy in the water to close that gap. I believe this could be the worst place to spend the energy. Even if I come out of the water 5-8 minutes down (in a half IM), that is insignificant in terms of the overall race. If I use that extra energy to stay closer, then I get on the bike still down, but I've also created an energy deficit that the leaders didn't have to. So then I would be down a couple minutes and riding from a deeper hole.

What this does mean is that during training, I need to work on becoming a highly efficient swimmer. (In my case, by swimming more often.)

Gordo had an interview with Endurance Radio in July of 2005. He talked about "medium of movement" towards the end of the interview.

A key point to remember as a triathlete is that the race is one long race.... not three individual races. Know where to use those different events to your advantage.

500 Mile Club @ Todd's Road

I accomplished one of the most significant mile stone's in my running career this weekend. I made it into the Todd's Road 500 mile club. The 500 mile club is fairly self-explanatory, but the important thing is that all the miles have been completed during a Saturday morning run with the club.

Where do I rank this in the list of running accomplishments? I feel that it goes right along with completing my first marathon (Lincoln - 1999) and when I first qualified for the Boston Marathon (Flying Pig - 2003).

This accomplishment has a lot of qualities to it that are important to me such as, longevity and consistency. Those 500 miles also represent a lot of stories told and running strategies discuss. I have made some pretty good friends by running with the group.

My first Todd's Road Run

Soon after moving to Lexington, Kentucky, I was thrust into a different world of endurance training. I was used to doing all of my training sessions by myself. Occasionally, I would have someone to swim with at UNL, but not regularly. Upon moving to Kentucky, I meet Beth and Eric Atnip, who were in the process of gearing up for Ironman Wisconsin, along with Tyson Carroll.

To get me acclimated to a new town, they invited me to go run with "this group." Knowing I was out-of-shape, due to a summer of slothfulness and mowing lawns, I was a little nervous about saying "yes". The other part that seemed a little difficult was that we had to meet around 6:30am, so that we could be to "the clubhouse" by 7:00am.

At the clubhouse, everyone decided to run to "Judy Ray's" and come back. They told me it was a 12 mile run. I decided to try. It didn't take me too long to realized that running in Kentucky and running in Nebraska wouldn't be the same kind of experience. After what seemed like an endless line of hills, I shuffled up to the little country store that has been a point of rest many, many times. Making it back to the clubhouse, over the last six miles, was pretty challenging, but I made it. Then there were donuts to eat, some coffee to drink and others having fun. And Marty was there wondering what size of t-shirt I wanted (one I still have and actually wore on my 500 mile run).

I never thought about it until now, but it is pretty fitting that my first run at Todd's road was to Judy Ray's and my 500 mile run was to Judy Ray's (or the new coffee and sandwitch shop).

At the end of my 500 mile run, they had the "500 Miler" tape out for me to run through and champagne for a toast. Here's to 500 more!

Developing an endurance philosophy.

There are two people that I look at as shaping my philosophy of endurance.

Jan

The first is Jan Callahan from my days at the University of Nebraska - Lincoln.

The interesting thing about my relationship with Jan was that as my professor/instructor for the Health and Human Performance 488 course, she was also coaching me towards my 3rd marathon. I remember being intimidated by her as a student and feeling tested as an athlete. Those first 4 to 8 weeks were very difficult to understand, as I ran workouts that consisted of many 9:00 to 11:00 minute miles.

As a senior in the exercise science program, I couldn't wrap my mind around the scientific principles that were being used to develop my program. The truth is that no time in the exercise phys lab would have allowed me to learn the lesson she taught me. I don't know if she meant to teach me a lesson or if she just wanted me to get faster.... but I have always thought the greatest teachers get their message across without the student realizing that class is in session.

Performance has always been a great method for getting an athlete to believe. As I casually and comfortably took 25 mins off my marathon time in Texas that year, I was convienced.

Gordo

The second person that I credit is Gordo Byrn. His methods of writing and sharing his experience with everyone has been very helpful. Since 2001, I have read and sorted through just about every post he has made on his forum, article on his tips page or idea presented in his book "Going Long".

A valuable part of these exercises has been to witness how he sorts through the scientific aspect to endurance training and the practicallity of implemented principles that help people improve. (One principle is that I would be better off spending less time reading his forum!)

I have long awaited, in hope of a second book that would talk about his ideas of being dedicated to "the process". And then some detail into what that process includes. Today he posted over on his blog (gBlog) the opening to that book. Read the post "Book Two opener" to see the details.

Helping others learn these lessons.

The interesting point is that I learned very similar principles in two very different ways. Jan forced me to learn a more appropriate way to handle may endurance training. Gordo has shared his info (with the world) and left it out there for us to manage the information.

As I take on more athletes and clients, I hope that I can get these ideas out there for them to benefit from. The hard part for me to understand is that sometimes the things I have to share, is not what people want to hear.

No one yet has responded positively to my "slow down to get faster" message.

Breakthrough Triathlon Training - book review

I just finished reading "Breakthrough Triathlon Training" by Brad Kearns. My initial impression was that the book discussed a lot more about the lifestyle of triathlon training than it does about the x's and o's of a training schedule. I guess one way to explain it is that this book is the yang to the ying that is created by the Triathlete's Training Bible.

To be honest, I was a little dissappointed at first, because I was anticipating a lot more guidelines and rules for training. But as I continued to read, I found myself asking one of the most important (relavant) questions that relates to my training. Why do I train for and compete in triathlons in the first place? I have discussed the answer here a couple times in the past week, but I am continuing to solve that riddle as I focus on my training ideas and methods.

There are some practical guidelines about developing a base, using a heart-rate monitor and swimming focuses, but the take-home message for an athlete's schedule is to focus on a few key sessions a week or month. Then do whatever it takes to complete those sessions the best you can. After those sessions, rest, use recovery or aerobic workouts and prepare for your next key session. (note: a key session was defined as "workouts that are difficult enought to stimulate a fitness improvement." - page 123. They can be any type of session, it just depends on who and when it is done.)

In many ways, Kearn's message is what I tried to portray in my article "Focused Training Plan" but he spends more time discussing the implications of motivation and intuition in training. Simplicity is sometimes a golden philosophy.

I will say that in terms of promoting the "Health. Fitness. Performance" philosophy Kearns gets an A+. The book doesn't make my must read list, but it will remain on my bookshelf.

Happy to be having fun - while training.

I wrote a post last week sharing three quotes that helped me put into words some of the ideas I've been having about: training, racing, endurance, happiness, living simple, humility. A whole lot of issues that I have from time to time about this endurance lifestyle.

Today I decided to just get out and ride. Sounds simple, but it isn't always that way. Usually I'm thinking about what route to take to meet my workout goals, what heart rates to ride within, how many miles, etc... And to be completely honest, I made this decision once I was already on my bike, because I spent about 30 minutes trying to get my computer to work again.

I always have to ask myself, what is my motivation for doing this? To steal an idea from Brad Kearns book (previously mentioned) do I have a "pure motivation"? And really, what would a pure motivation be - for me?

From another previous post on this subject, I know that it isn't justifying myself as a runner by finishing the Boston Marathon. And after spending some time talking it through with Nikki, I know that qualifying or doing the Hawaiian Ironman wouldn't satisfy or justify me doing this day-after-day, year-after-year.

I'm going to be completely honest in saying, I don't know exactly why I have adopted an endurance lifestyle. But today, I felt like I had another glimpse of it. As I rode north on highway 388 (?) I was nervous about not knowing exactly where I was heading or how much traffic I would have to face, and I realized - I do this - for moments like this.

I do not know how to put "this" into words, but if you've ever been at that point - then you know. One of the greatest times I've had playing in this lifestyle was during my ride across Iowa that I did in 2004, by myself. I had a lot of those moments in those three days.

Yesterday during the Sugar N Spice Ultramarathon, I also saw some women having those moments too. No one does that race expecting front page photos on Trail Runner magazine or large cash pay-outs. There are not any "slots" available to the ultimate trail run in the world. But it was nice to see Annette Bednosky sitting at the finish line, reading over something on her own.

The very brief words we had were me asking her name (just to be sure) and her asking mine. She said a few things about getting back into it after her hurt hamstring and how she enjoyed all the downhill running. The perception that I had was that she was just truly happy that she was out there.

I've got a lot to learn. Too bad I had to rush around so that I could pay the park fee ($5.30 - I never carry cash, it always causes problems!), because I could have talked her ear off. I've got a lot to learn.

What type of strength training should a runner do?

There are different types of strength training programs that a runner could start, such as circuit training, power training, muscle building, etc. I thought that it might be beneficial to look at two things.

1. What amount of repetitions / sets achieve what goal?
2. What amount of repetitions / sets are valuable for the runner?

What amount of repetitions / sets achieve what goal?

A common belief that goes along with strength training is that to develop strength, you need to build larger, almost overly, developed muscles. This isn't the case. Even more important to know is that the amount of reps and sets you do will determine what goal you are working towards.

Here are some basic guidelines to follow when you want to develop:

Strength - 6 or less reps, 2 to 6 sets
Hypertrophy (building muscle size) - 6 to 12 reps, 3 to 6 sets
Muscular Endurance - 12 or more reps, 2 to 3 sets

What amount of repetitions / sets are valuable for the runner?

If you read my post, "Improve your running performance by including strength training" then you'll already know that the article I reviewed highlighted the benefits of heavy resistance training and explosive training. Another review that I found, "The Impact of Resistance Training on Distance Running Performance" also came to similar conclusions. Here's the highlights:

1. Circuit training (higher reps, lower rest) showed some benefit for untrained subjects, but no benefit for trained runners. The shown improvements in the untrained runners is likely due to changes in VO2max and lactate threshold, these changes won't occur in runners that are already training because the circuit training isn't enough of a stimulus.

2. "Traditional" resistance training (squats, etc.) has proved beneficial for trained and untrained subjects' performance, while trained subjects have had improved running economy too. The improved running economy is likely the reason for improved performance in the trained runners.

3. Heavy resistance training improved both long-term and short-term endurance for trained and untrained subjects.

4. Explosive resistance training (plyometrics) improved running economy and running performance (5k) when added to a distance running program.

What does this mean? For the experienced runner.

It is another suggestion that experienced and "trained" runners could benefit by adding in a period of strength training that includes heavy resistance sets and explosive exercises.

How long of a period? My suggestion would be to include 4 to 12 weeks, depending on your schedule of events and experience with strength training.

If you are an experienced runner, but new to strength training, I would also suggest going through a period of circuit training and / or muscle endurance (see above) training, before you take on a heavy resistance program. Even if you won't see any running performance increases from the circuit training, you'll be less likely to injure yourself by jumping straight into a highly intense session.

What does this mean? For the novice runner.

It means you would be better off running more - often, minutes, miles and/or hours. As a new runner there are a lot of gains waiting for you by just by running. So if you're still improving by running, run a little more and rest.

Sources

Jung, A.P. The Impact of Resistance Training on Distance Running Performance. Sports Med 2003;33(7):539-552.

Baechle, T.R., Earle, R.W. & Wathen, D. Resistance Training. In T.R. Baechle & R.W. Earle (Eds.), Essentials of strength training and conditioning (pp. 393-425). Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.

The other side of triathlon training.

I have been sorting through a lot of ideas lately about what it means to be: committed, honest to yourself, focused and simple. I've been writing some about these ideas and maybe I'll share them at some point, but I wanted to share three different quotes from two guys who I think "get it."

(They at least get in terms of applying behavior and focused state-of-mind to triathlon.)

"The biggest difference in ultra endurance performance is learning the humility and patience required to play your best hand. The best athletes race from where their fitness is, rather than where they'd like it to be."

Gordo Byrn - last part of his Ironman Brazil, 2006 report at xtri.com

I appreciate those ideas on applying "fitness" to performance. As I've stated several times post Derby Marathon, I made a mistake by becoming performance oriented.

It can be difficult to gain this "humility" while racing, but I beleive that it is just as challenging to remain humble while training. In other words, training only for performance while forgetting about fitness. Here's a quote from Gordo in an article on elite base,

“Everybody wants to get fast, hardly anyone wants to get fit.”

Those are responses and quotes from someone who understands a healthy mental approach to our culture of endurance.

The other quote that I wanted to share is from Brad Kearns, in his new book, "Breakthrough Triathlon Training." From the first chapter, "The Power of Pure Motivation"

"When you prusue fitness at the expense of your health or against the laws of nature and balance, you will break down in the form of mediocre performances, injury, illness, burnout, or lack of full enjoyment and appreciation of your athletics. When you force your body to do something it is not naturally meant to do, you will always suffer negative consequences. This is an inexorable law of nature, like gravity or the passing of time. We all know this to be true, so we attempt to avoid this trouble by following a carefully planned training schedule. It's a good start-well-intentioned-but it's not enough."

I have been preaching the motto, "health , fitness , performance" ever since I started this site in 2003. These two guys seem to understand this concept in theory and practice better than I do.

Improve muscle imbalances with strength training - hip stabilizers.

injury free = more consistent training, more consistent training = increased fitness, increased fitness = improved performance.

staying injury free with strength training

There are some basic observations that many runners make, one of them is that runners will develop a leg injury at some point during their running career. Another observation that runners sometimes make is that strength training can decrease the risk of developing an injury.

The question that creates the most confusion is, what kind of strength training should a runner do to help prevent injury? Or simply, how should I incorporate strength training?

One of the ways that strength training helps to prevent injury is by addressing muscle imbalances.

Improve muscle imbalances

Running is a repetitive exercise which can lead to muscle imbalances. The hip abductors are a muscle group that appear susceptible to weakness in runners. The hip abductors are important to the runner because they help stabilize the hip during the running movement.

Following are some basic exercises that help strengthen the abductors and teach them to stabilize the hip.

Exercises: (hip abductors - isolated) - good for beginners

1. side laying leg lifts - lay on side, legs extended, upper body still, abs tight. lift the top leg towards ceiling, keeping foot flat and parallel to the floor. to increase resistance use bands and/or ankle weights.

2. side stepping - attach bands around ankle with feet together, bend legs slightly, take side step, keeping hands on hips and toes pointed forward, slowly allow other foot to take step, bringing legs together.

3. standing leg side pulls - attach band to one ankle and to an anchor (such as bed or table), side step away from anchor until band is tight, stand on foot that does not have band tied to it, pick other ankle off the floor and pull foot in so that legs are together, allow leg to extend out away from body. To make more challenging, continue to move away from anchor to increase tension in band.

*note* Pulling the leg in towards the other leg will challenge the hip adductors, the abductors are challenged by standing on the single leg. A good exercise for both hip adductors and abductors.

Exercise: (isometric stability) - beginner / intermediate exercise

1. side plank - lay on your side, push yourself up onto one arm, pick hips up so that you have created a straight line between your feet and your head, hold the position for 10 to 20 seconds, then repeat on other side.

*note* This is a good exercise for both abdominal stability and hip stability.

Exercise: (movements with stability) - more advanced exercise

1. single leg squats - stand on one foot, do not hold on to anything for stability, we are trying to train muscles to do the stabilizing, slowly squat down into a half squat position, raise back up into a single leg standing position.

With this exercise I never have people add weight by holding barbells, etc. The exercise is generally intense enough without the added resistance.

This is one of my favorite exercises because it helps strengthen the muscles of the hip and thigh, creates stability in the hip and forces you to complete the exercise one leg at a time, just the way you apply force when running - one leg at a time.

final thoughts

These exercises are great additions to other strengthening exercises. Remember that these exercises are done to help prevent injury by maintaining muscle balance, therefore it is not necessary to use lots of weights or resistance when completing them. I have found that small ankle weights and resistance tubing is plenty challenging and adequate to achieve the desired results.