Sometimes fear can be a good thing!

So here I am, it is at the beginning of March in 2008. I have held true to this idea that I'm going to just workout and train throughout the year, no periodization, no "A" races, etc. My idea was to just drop in a race when I felt like it.

That brings me to next weekend. Next weekend I am going to run my first ultra run! It is a 60k run in the Land between the Lakes area of Western Kentucky. I am pretty excited about this race, but I am getting an enormous dose of fear.

The longest run that I've had since the Ironman last September has been the Rock-N-Roll Marathon in Arizona. It was a good day to experience what it would be like on my feet for a very long time, as I coached all the athletes from Kentucky to the finish line. But to be honest, I didn't feel like I was in great shape at that race and I am not in better shape now.

The truth is that I have less long runs than a person normally puts in getting ready for a marathon. I ran 15.5 miles last weekend and then this weekend I ran 13.5 yesterday and 19.4 today. Last night a friend of Nikki's asked her "Is that his taper"?

The thing with this style of training and racing is that it doesn't have a taper period. And I'm getting nervous enough about knowing if I can finish this distance that I wanted to put in a double long weekend to see what would happen. It didn't go super well. I am hurting pretty bad right now. I can move (and actually jogged a half mile with a client after) but by the end of today's run, I was hurting enough that I started having some second thoughts.

Fear. Sometimes we have fear about what is about to happen. I am thinking that at times it might be wise to have a little dose of fear before we get ourselves into a situation like this.

I'll let you know how it goes. I went and bought a digital voice recorder and a lapel mic, I plan on doing some updates during the run. I'll share them with you if there is anything interesting, funny or ridiculous.

Marathon Training : Lessons Learned and Mistakes Made at Derby Festival Marathon

[note] This is a reflection I had after the 2006 Derby Festival Marathon. I am adding it to my blog making sure I have it archived somewhere. As the 2008 Derby Marathon is approaching, maybe there are some ideas worth looking at? [end note]


Marathon Training : lessons learned and mistakes made

“It seems that many endurance athletes view overperformances / underperformances in relation to the acute circumstances. For instance, hot and humid weather, too cold or didn't eat properly. I do it with most races too. (re: just ask me about my Buffalo Lake Springs Triathlon experience. I've got lots of reasons for my poor performance. Including the hitchhiker I picked up in Oklahoma... it has to be his fault!) So, it is good to hear about how training programs could have changed for the better from other endurance athletes.”

Predicting Running Performances - Feb 24th, 2006.

After making a statement like that, it only seems honest that I would try and figure out what occurred during the training period leading to the Derby Marathon that resulted in a performance 9 minutes slower than my expectations.

Here are the lessons that I feel I can continue to learn, as I move forward towards my next adventure. Some of the lessons are positive, others are mistakes that I will try and correct the next time I decide to perform during a marathon. When it is possible, I provided a link to an entry in my blog that I felt supported (in real-time) the conclusions I came to.

Lesson # 1:
Consistency is everything.

• Two major problems I saw as people trained for the spring marathons were lost periods of training due to injury or illness. The injuries and illnesses were likely resulting from too much intensity or too much volume in their training programs. (see: Training through injuries)


• I built a base fitness in October, November and December, with the plan to build upon that base starting in February. The nine weeks of exercise after the December 3rd marathon, inconsistent in nature, didn’t allow the base to be realized with a 12 week marathon training program.


• Consistently doing races allows for better development of “racing consciousness,” thus allowing you to perform with a less hectic mind. It also creates a deeper understanding and experiential knowledge of pain. - Derby Festival Marathon Report (re: The Pain)

Lesson # 2:
Inserting “test races” or “fitness evaluation races” are valuable when you create a race strategy, but they also provide confidence in your training and provide intensity into a program based around aerobic development.

• Changing a perspective of training and physiology - 2/17/06


• Predicting Running Performance - 2/24/06


• Week and Rodes City Review - 3/27/06


• Recovery week review – taper importance - 3/30/06


• Papa John’s 10 mile review - 4/17/06

Lesson # 3:
Nutrition, flexibility and core strength are as important as training paces. Ironically, I said this several time throughout the training period, but I never gave it 100% attention, especially nutrition. (And the reason I’m dedicated to it right now.)

• Magee’s bakery and my lactate threshold - 2/14/06


• I’m tired. My legs, my mind and my mood. - 2/17/06


• period one review - 3/6/06

Lesson # 4:
There needs to be a solid development of aerobic base or fitness before a person begins inserting cruise intervals, thresholds or any higher intensity workouts. In this 12 week training cycle, I used Tuesday’s as my “higher intensity” runs, but began those workouts before I had realized the fitness level I needed to reach my goals.

• Marathon training in T minus - 2/3/06


• Initial testing and focuses - 2/9/06

Conclusion:

Reviewing the lessons that I learned, it is humbling to realize that I didn’t follow my own basic philosophy of training, “Health, Fitness, Performance.” I was caught in a mind-set that focused on performance and the variables that create performance. What I have learned again is that without a deep level of fitness, there will be no break through performance, and without health, it is very difficult to develop that fitness.

I don’t want people to think that I am completely unsatisfied with the race. The fun for me is the journey of improving over time. And I have more improvements to make in my fitness and the resulting performance. I have a lot more fun ahead of me. Plus, I take some pride in the fact that I have transformed from a 3:54 – 4:00 marathoner into a 3:04 – 3:08 marathoner. I just know that there is more time to take back!

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

garyd - 5/23/06

Tues / Thursday Workouts for Half Marathon Program.

I posted a program for the Derby Festival Half Marathon a couple posts ago. You can find that post here:

Derby Festival Half Marathon Program

If you viewed the program (the google spreadsheet) you see that the program is divided up into four three-week phases. The phases allow for different focuses in the training and what we are trying to accomplish with the running that we are doing.

As some of you readers may have noticed (and due to response I know you have) I am a big believer in developing your fitness at a "steady state" level. This has mainly developed out of my experiences as a runner/triathlete and the philosophies of people I respect such as Arthur Lydiard and Gordo Byrn.

When you coach people though, you have to recognize your biases and make sure you are not allowing them to influence what is best for your athletes. Just because you hold a strong belief shouldn't influence the best interest of your athletes.

With that reasoning in mind, I realize that for a half marathon there are runners that will need to run faster, harder or more intense than I normally "allow" my athletes to run. That is the reason that I have structured the half marathon program to include some specific "quality" runs on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Below is a description of how those workouts are planned. For reference, it may be beneficial to review the complete program shown on the google spreadsheet again.

Tuesday Workouts:

(phase one)
Week 12: easy run
Week 11: easy run
Week 10: fitness test

(phase two)
Week 9: 6 x 30sec strides
Week 8: 6 x 30sec strides
Week 7: fitness test

strides are just 30 seconds of running fast, focus on using perfect form as you do these, think quick feet

(phase three)
Week 6: 10min warm up, Main Set: 4min at 5k pace, 2min walk, 2min jog, repeat main set three times, 6min cool down

Week 5: same as week six
Week 4: fitness test

(phase four)
Week 3: run at 1/2 marathon goal pace
Week 2: fitness test
Week 1: rest (race week)

Thursday Workouts:

(phase one)
Week 12: easy run
Week 11: easy run
Week 10: easy run

(phase two)
Week 9: Tempo Run - 5min warm up, 3 x 12min at 10k pace, 2min walk between sets, 5min cool down

Week 8: same as week 9

Week 7: Tempo Run - warm up, 4 x 10min at 10k pace, 2min walk between sets, cool down

(phase three)
Week 6: same as week 7
Week 5: same as week 7

Week 4: Tempo Run - warm up, 4 x 12min at 10k pace, 2mn walk between sets, cool down

(phase four)
Week 3: run at half marathon goal pace
Week 2: run at half marathon goal pace
Week 1: rest (race week)

I hope you find the workouts fun and challenging. They should be enough to pick your speed up to run the half marathon well.

Walking my way to faster races?

In December of 2006, I made a commitment to use a run/walk method for my races in 2007. There is always a lot of discussion and opinions around this idea amongst runners. Here are the two biggest things that I see:

1. Those runners that believe that a "true" runner wouldn't walk during a race
2. Those runners/sports scientists that believe there is no validity to the method.

I originally came to the idea after listening to Bobby McGee speak during the training clinic at the Olympic Training Center. While I wasn't sure if I was convinced, I thought that I'd give it a try.

Here's the link again to my previous post: Does Slow Down mean Walk for me?

My Experience:

The commitment I had was to run/walk every run I did. And looking back, I don't remember doing a single run in '07 that I didn't walk some. There were quite a few benefits that I derived from this experience. I'll skip the physiology of it for now (maybe I'll get to it at another time), but the two things I noticed were:

1. It allowed me to recover easier, which allowed me to run more often (I actually ran every single day in Feb. of '07)

2. Emotionally, it allowed me to relax and have peace with the idea of walking, which allowed me to use those lessons during races.

I used the method in 3 key races during the '07 year:

1. Derby Half Marathon
2. Mountainer Half Ironman
3. Ironman Wisconsin

To be honest, I believe it helped in all three races. I had some doubts about the idea of walking during the half marathon, but here is what it did: It slowed me down at a time during the race when I was getting caught up in the race and running way too fast. Therefore, it forced discipline into my race when it would have likely been lacking. While 1:25 is not really fast for a half marathon, it was as much as I could have expected considering the training I had leading up to that race.

The biggest benefit that I had during the year using this method was during the Ironman. It was hugely beneficial going into that race knowing I would have to walk, because when I started walking that first mile, I was able to say to myself "this is part of the plan." That was more empowering than getting to 15 or 16 and saying, "I have to walk because I don't know if I can run anymore."

The difference between those two psychological states are worth many minutes during a race. I had hoped that I could go under 3:30 for my marathon split, I didn't make it as I went 3:35. But I'm convinced that I would have been closer to 4:00 had I not started walking from mile 1.

Who benefits the most?

The athletes that benefit the most from using this strategy, in my opinion, are those that are still challenged by their endurance. I tell athletes that you'd benefit if you are planning on going over 3:30 for the marathon. (There's no science to that number.)

That being said, I will use this method the next time I try to go under 3 hours. And as Bobby McGee said, he has had a 2:30 marathoner use this method.

The key is determining where your pacing begins to drop. Maintaining a consistent pace is likely the largest performance boost that many runners will see by using a walk/run strategy.

I would be interested to hear others experience using a run/walk stategy and how they felt it helped or did not help them.

Derby 1/2 Marathon Running Program

Derby Festival Half Marathon Schedule - use link to view program.

The above program is designed to get people ready for the Derby Festival Half Marathon (locals call it "the mini") in Loisville, Kentucky on April 26, 2008. The information posted here is just the number of minutes that an athlete could run on each day. The style and placement of runs is similar to how I design marathon programs (double long weekends), but since this is a half there will be added focus on "speedier" runs on Tuesday and Thursday.

Each phase has specific goals. There are goals related to the distance of the race, but there are also goals based upon the athletes' experience, ability and durability. (Those of you who just went to AZ with me know that durability is my newest buzz.) I'll try and blog about the general period goals when I have a chance, but I need to complete my athletes' workouts for the first phase.

Also, start thinking about what you might use as your "fitness test". My last post (at sweat365.com) discussed the idea of fitness tests. For more info you can search my blog or look through the tags at delicious.

Hopefully this is of some help to those deciding where to start.

Note: This is an updated post with a better link to the program as the iframe wasn't working correctly.

Spirit of the Marathon Review.

Last night Nikki and I, along with Nikki's running pals and several other Todd's Road Stumblers went and saw "The Spirit of the Marathon."

Here's the trailer from youtube if you haven't seen it yet.



There are some really good parts of the documentary, but there were also parts that I felt a little bored. I personally liked the triathlon documentary that I just got called, "What it Takes" better. The running documentary put out by the same group called "Showdown" is also more interesting. But there are some key differences that could influence someone's enjoyment.

Here are some thoughts:

1. SofM doesn't focus upon the professional or elite athlete, which is kind of nice. They include people like Deena Kastor (who is a top pro) to a grandfather that is running the marathon with his daughter, doing it for, as he says "for the t-shirt".

2. They follow the runners for a long period before the actual marathon. I liked this part because you were able to follow their training. Although, it appears that all the age group runners were part of the same Chicago training group. It would have been nice to see different stategies.

For instance, you see the Hanson Project guys at the start of the marathon leading out the professionals. I was thinking that it would be nice to see one of the age group runners that train with them. Maybe I'm biased, but this movie reinforces the idea that someone training for a marathon needs to build up to a 20 mile run. And most people know how I feel about that! (Maybe that's why I favorite the Hanson Project theories.)

3. I know I am jaded about some things in life, but the whole Boston Marathon thing just digs at my soul. The movie again has hints of, "to be a really good runner you have to qualify and run in Boston" attitude. I have to be a little subdued about my distaste for this right now because I believe Nikki would like to run in Boston. And I need to support her in that.

I wonder if Matt Carpenter or Scott Jurek have run Boston yet? Maybe they have.

4. I guess the biggest disappointment that I had with the movie was that I've heard the same stories a hundred times or more by now. The people in the movie appeared to be great people, they have very similar hobbies and interests that I do, but they are no different than the 25 people that I was with in Arizona to run the Rock N Roll Marathon.

In fact, there are a couple runners there that day that would have more interesting stories to tell. I'm positive about that.

My suggestion would be save the $10 (which is another thing, we had to pay a premium to see this movie) and rent it, maybe even buy it on dvd. If you head to the movies, go see Juno or No Country for Old Men. Two movies I've been wanting to see but will have wait now that I had my movie going experience this week.

The movie scores a 13 on the Borg Scale of Perceived Exertion.

Antartica Marathon Finished!

Our friend Amie running the marathon in Antartica!

Those of you that read my blog have probably seen a few posts where I talk about my desire to run a marathon in every state and DC. Then last year there was the an opportunity to earn a spot in the North Pole Marathon, which I applied for, but didn't get.

Well, as I got more and more excited about the idea of running a marathon at the North Pole, I found several people that had accomplished the challenge of running a marathon on every continent. Amazing!

Today I got an email from a good friend of mine (Cory) that is worth sharing. Cory's wife just ran the marathon in Antartica this past weekend. Amie is now a hero to me! Here's Cory's recap:

*** email start ***

Gang,

This email is all about Amie,as it should be!

When we left Antarctica, the last time, Amie mentioned that she regretted not running the marathon while down here. She said that if we ever came back (NO, that isn't why we came back!), she would run the Antarctica Marathon. Well, Sunday was gameday. I volunteered to help support the marathon and Amie of course was going to run it. We drove out there at 0830 to get things started by 0930. Amie and her friend were ready to run so they decided to get to it. The weather was calm and sunny. Not a breeze in the area. Mt. Erebus was smoking and the sun was at high noon (like it usually is during the summer). There were about 30 other participants starting later. Along the route, there were aid stations set up, snow mobiles, and two Piston Bullies (what I was in). They also had participants running the 1/2 marathon and skiing the full and 1/2 marathon. Amie finished in a great time as her goal was to just finish the marathon. No sense hurting yourself down here when you have a month left.

Afterwords, there was a reception where the t-shirts were passed out and cookies were eaten. We treated ourselves to burger bar and mimosas......well, treated Amie as I didn't work too hard supporting the race.

It was a perfect day for Amie to complete her mission. Now she only has five more marathons on five different continents! Next up.......who knows, maybe the Great Wall Marathon!

Hope all is well.

Next week will be about my new adventure/adventures......

*** email finish ***

Amie, you deserve a huge congratulations!

Hip Strength in Females and Patellofemoral Pain

If you have read some of my blog posts lately than you have seen that I have been digesting some research articles related to patellofemoral pain and strength training.

One question that could be asked is; Why patellofemoral pain? Here are two answers:

1. If you read my review of the article that discussed the benefits of physical therapy then you would know that patellofemoral pain is also known by many other names, such as, chondromalacia patellae, anterior knee pain, patellar malalignment, and patellofemoral arthralgia. Therefore it may seem that the name is a very narrow issue, but it is not.

2. These issues seem to be very common set backs that runners deal with from my experience. While I used to believe that these knee issues (runner's knee even) were more prevalent with new runners, I am not sure that I can make that general observation anymore. I feel like I get these questions all the time lately, from all sizes, shapes, gender and experience of runners.

The previous two articles have been a review of: a - suggestions to sports physicians on how to address and manage pfp and b - the role that physical therapy interventions have, especially strength exercises.

The article that I reviewed today discussed the question from another angle, Is there a difference in hip strength in females that have patellofemoral pain versus those that don't?

Here's the article source:

Ireland ML, Wilson JD, Ballantyne BT and Davis IM. (2003). Hip strength in females with and without patellofemoral pain. Journal of Orthopaedic and Sports Physical Therapy. Vol. 33, No. 11, Pgs. 671 - 676.

The basics of the study is that they matched 15 females subjects with patellofemoral pain to 15 female subjects without patellofemoral pain. They then tested both hip abduction (moving your leg away from your body) and external rotation (rotating your foot in).

They had some interesting findings:

1. isometric hip abduction was 26% weaker in the females with patellofemoral pain
2. external rotation was 36% weaker in females with patellofemoral pain

They do point out in their discussion that b/c of the study design it is not possible to determine a cause/effect relationship, but they do make some observations that I felt were worth mentioning:

1. the results of this study, along with previous studies show that proximal stabilization programs (this means proximal to the knee... thus the stabilization at the hip) may be beneficial for those with patellofemoral pain.

2. strengthening of the hip abduction and external rotators may benefit those with patellofemoral pain (they mention other studies that have focused on strengthening the gluteus medius)

My thoughts:

This observation is essential to my understanding of the patellofemoral pain issue and helping runners. Why? Because most of the articles that I've read and found deal with the issue of patellofemoral pain treatment. Which is not what I would ultimately like to do. The desire is to find characteristics of the problem and correct them before they become an injury that needs treatment.

Again, this article does not show a cause / effect relationship. I could not promise someone that if they increased their strength for hip abduction and external rotation, they would not ever develop knee pain. The injury is multifactoral, therefore that idea is too simplistic in my point-of-view.

But it does point to a possible factor that we can control by including some appropriate strength training exercises.

One of the biggest revelations that I've had lately is just how oblivious I have been to this issue in the past. I have always had personal training clients strengthen their hips in the different planes, but I have seen the hip abduction weakness and hip stability (glut med) weakness a lot recently. Even in my own hips, which has created other problems (tight psoas muscle and back pain).

Does this mean that doing a hip strengthening routine is appropriate for everyone? I am not sure I can answer that, but I will say that my belief now is that it can't hurt (while knee pain can), especially for those who are beginning a running/cycling program or are in a period where they are increasing their activity levels by a large percentage.

Hopefully I can find an article that discusses these weakness issues and interventions related to prevention. If I can, that will be the next patellofemoral pain article I review.

Until then... happy abductions.

2005 Tecumseh Trail Marathon - Race Report

*note* This is an old race report that I'm adding. It currently sits on my website and I wanted it included in my blog archive. If you haven't read it, then go ahead. This was Nikki's first marathon! *end note*

Tecumseh Trail Marathon

Pre-Race: - The start time for this race is 10:00am, which is one of the nice things about this race. Even though you have to board the bus at 8:45am, the later start time allowed us to wake up a little bit later and not worry about getting our breakfast in. So Nikki and I woke up around 6:30am and started to drink our Ensure. We got ready and headed to the finish line to board the bus at 7:30am (which is later than many races start times!).

We boarded the bus at 8:45am and took the hour long bus ride to the start line. This is the first point-to-point race I’ve done. I liked it because the bus trip allowed me to meet a few runners, which is always nice. One thing I didn’t know what to think about were the stories that past runners of the race were telling us. One of the guys told us to add an hour to our slowest marathon time to estimate our finish time for the race. Since this was Nikki’s first marathon, we didn’t know what to do? We had hoped that we could do 6 hours, but with that knowledge, I thought maybe 6:30 would be expected?

At the start we had to wait a little because three of the buses hadn’t shown up, but the race only started several minutes late.

The Start: - The start was exciting as they always are, so I kept in mind that this was Nikki’s first marathon. I also kept in mind our walk/run race strategy that I had used to develop Nikki’s training plan. This was difficult at the start for both of us. At 10minutes I looked at Nikki and said “It’s time to walk.” She kind of looked funny and said, “already.” “Yep,” I said. So we started walking.

The discipline to walk at that point was tough because the trail was just starting and it was still flat terrain. I kept saying to myself that running the last 8 miles is more important today than running the first 8. Nikki looked at me and said “18 more to go,” which is a saying we developed in training that meant no matter how far we have run, always approach it like you have 18 more miles to run. I smiled and said, “not quite yet.”

The race was advertised as a tough race. The hills were said to be something you wouldn’t think of when you think of Indiana. There were reports we read about lots of stream crossings and log crossings; the runners we talked to on the bus ride to the start confirmed those reports. It is also December and the weather report called for rain or snow. Even with the mental preparation for these conditions, I will admit that this race was A LOT more difficult than I anticipated, even if the weather never turned awful. (Nikki said that she mentally prepared for the worst and that it wasn’t as bad as what she thought it was going to be. I guess mental preparation and perception can change everything.)

Mile 13 “The Hill”: - As we went through the aid station around mile 12, I began looking for the “gigantic hill” at the half-way point. Coming from Kentucky, I couldn’t imagine that it would be worse than what Nikki and I trained on when we looked for hilly runs at home. I WAS WRONG! As we came around the bend, we caught a glance at a long line of runners snaking their way up this incline. The lady that we had been running with said, “I’d like to see you run up that.” The challenge was very tempting, especially because not a single person was jogging. Everyone was walking. But wisdom prevailed and we walked too. We took a look back from the top and the line of runners continued to stop and walk. It was pretty awesome to see what we had just accomplished and then realize we had 13 miles to go!

Mile 18: - There was an aid station around mile 18. Nikki and I stopped to get some Gatorade and food, plus I looked at my watch. It read approximately 3:40! “Nikki,” I said, “we can make it in 5 hours!” She responded, “We would have to run 10 minutes miles, I don’t want to think about it.” “You’re right. That’s pretty quick, especially on the trails here. Let’s see where we are at when we get to mile 24.”

Mile 22: - We came to another aid station and Nikki kept saying she was feeling good, so we were not walking as much. I looked at my watch again and it read 4:20. I was hesitant to say anything to her again about time, but we had a continuous dialog at this point about how we felt running. The truth is that I think she was stronger at this point then I was…. But I was not about to tell her that!

Mile 25: - To be honest, I had given up on the time by this point because I thought the aid station was supposed to be at mile 24. And if we hadn’t reach mile 24 by that point in time we were not even close to making 5 hours any more. As we ran down the hill towards the last aid station, the volunteer said “Mile 25, one more mile to go!” I looked at my watch, 3:49. “Nikki, we have 11 minutes.” She looked at me and said, “Let’s do it!” Then she took off running like she had just started a track meet. I grunted and begged, “This is way too fast!” She smiled, “You’re right, we could slow down.”

The Finish: - At 4:55 we started to run up the last hill, which hurt quite a bit with the effort we were putting in. But it also felt good because we were passing people pretty quickly and one of the other runners yelled out, “You are going for 5 hours.” “We are trying” I responded, trying to smile. I lost almost all hope by the time we got to the top of the hill though. We had less than 3 minutes to finish and the turn to the finish line was still quite a-ways-ahead. Running down the last stretch, I saw we had 30seconds to 5 hours. I wasn’t into the sprint finish, knowing we were too far away, but as we got closer it seemed more and more possible. I grabbed Nikki’s hand and said, “We can do it!” We sprinted down the gravel road into the finisher’s lane and crossed at approximately 5:00:04! I haven’t seen the official times yet, but Nikki did remind me later that because we started in the back of the starting pack, that by the time she started her watch at the start line we would have been under 5 hours. (Too bad they didn’t have chip timing. Smile.)

It really doesn’t matter to me, because we expected 6 to 6:30 anyway. Plus it was a great experience to complete this very challenging race, side-by-side with my wife. What a good experience for any newly married couple! I am also inspired by the dedication that Nikki had to the training program I developed. She admitted later that she was nervous that the longest she had run was 15 miles. It meant a lot to me that she trusted me as a husband and “coach” and didn’t listen to all the nay-sayers that thought she should be running more.

She also asked me later that night, “so does that mean I could have run 4 hours at a normal marathon.” I smiled.

2008 - Rock N Roll Marathon Experience.

I have been spending the past few days in Arizona at the Rock N Roll Marathon. I came as the Team in Training coach for the Kentucky and Southern Indiana Chapter. For those of you who have not done the marathon, I believe that this may be one of the better courses to PR on than any course I've been on. Here are a couple reasons why:

1. The course is beyond flat. The elevation change is minimal and even when it does change, it is welcomed after all the flat running that you've done.

2. The number of runners isn't too many to be able to actually run. Chicago is flat too, but anyone who has done that race knows that there are way too many people to get going from the start.

3. The time of year is perfect, if you live in an area where winter training is possible (and in KY, I believe winter running is the ideal.)

My experience here was different than any marathon I have done before, other than possibly the Tecumseh Trail Marathon when Nikki and I ran the race together. There were 16 runners from the chapter out on the full marathon course, so my only goal was to get each one across the finish line. And they were all successful! As a coach it was a little challenging at times over the weekend, primarily due to the fact that I had only met the walking group from Lexington a couple times and had never met the group of runners from Louisville at all. That makes it difficult to provide guidance leading up to the race, especially when they have trained differetly in many ways.

It might be hard to give a honest assessment of the Rock N Roll Marathon because of the Team in Training involvement, because at times it is hard to remember that all the participants are not receiving all the support, guidance and celebrations that the TNT group does. The one thing I have to compare the TNT experience to would be Ironman athlete support and celebration. They have:

1. Pre-race pasta parties and celebration
2. Race Morning support
3. Lots of support during race day on the course
4. Post-race victory party

In addition to that, TNT takes care of travel arrangements, hotel arrangements and transportation while at the site. As an athlete you really don't have to do anything other than show up and do the race.

Plus, you get to use your involvement to support an organization that is making a huge difference in blood cancers by raising money for research and patient support. It was inspiring to see all the ribbons and pictures pinned on the racers jerseys. But then again, as one runner reminded me, it also is not a good thing because it means there are lots of people out there still battling blood cancers and lymphomas.

Some day that may not be true!

So my run was a great experience. I'm not sure how much I ended up running? I estimate >30 miles but <34 miles. Too bad I didn't have my new Garmin ready to go. I was a little bummed to see that this won't count towards my 50 marathons in 50 states goal. The one thing as a coach that was a bummer was that I didn't end up as an official participant, i.e. no number, no chip therefore no result. So after reading the 50 states rules again, I'm left still needing Arizona. I did find out thought that Ironman races do count, along with ironman-distance races. So I guess I have Wisconsin done!

If you are thinking about trying a marathon for the first time, I would suggest thinking about going the Team in Training route. It is a great experience.

Patellofemoral Pain and the benefits of physical therapy (and strength training).

In my last post I discussed the topic of Patellofemoral Pain and Tendionopathy. Specifically, I mentioned the special communication that was put out in the November, 2007 issue of Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise.

Over the past year, I have been collecting articles, reading and researching this topic of injury prevention for runners and strength training. The special communication has once again peaked my interest and I thought I'd share a brief synopsis of a few articles that I have reviewed lately.

The next few posts will all be short reviews of articles discussing Patellofemoral Pain. Here's the first article:

Source:

Crossley, K, Bennell, K, Green, S, et. al. (2002). Physical therapy for patellofemoral pain. A randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial. The American Journal of Sports Medicine, Vol. 30, No. 6. Pgs 857-865.

1. One of the first things I found interesting was that in the introduction they say that patellofemoral pain is the most common diagnosis cited by many authors. And that while it is a common issue to be seen and treated, the "pathologic origin of this disorder is not clearly understood."

2. The jargon is wide ranging describing this issue. Patellofemoral Pain, Chondromalacia Patellae, Anterior Knee Pain, Patellar Malalignment, and Patellofemoral Arthralgia have all been used synonymously.

3. "The rationale behind the use of physical therapy for alleviation of patellofemoral pain includes restoration of patellar alignment through active or passive interventions, including quadriceps muscle-strengthening exercises, stretching, patellar taping or bracing, biofeedback, and use of corrective foot orthoses."

4. The purpose of the trial was to find out if physical therapy was effective in managing and treating patellofemoral pain in comparison to a placebo group.

5. The physcial therapy used consisted of: patellar taping, biofeedback of vastus medialis oblique (VMO, which is the quad muscle on the inside of your leg), gluteal muscle strengthening exercises and stretching.

The exercises that they uses were the following:

• isometric VMO contraction at 90 degrees -- basically a leg extension done isometrically at 90 degrees
• squats to 40 degrees with isometric gluteal muscle contraction (4 sets of 10 reps)
  
• isometic hip abduction standing against a wall (4 sets of 15 seconds)

added exercise after 2 weeks:

• step downs -- stand on step and slowly lower leg in front (3 sets of 5 or 10)
• increase the hip abduction to 30 seconds.

6. They were instructed to do these exercises 2x a day while in the program.

7. They concluded that there was a significant difference between the two groups in three measurements: worst pain, usual pain and anterior knee pain scale. But there was no difference between groups in the functional index questionnaire.

My thoughts:

As many of the articles that I find, this article discusses the rehabilitation of knee pain not the prevention of knee pain. But there are some interesting insights that I feel I can pull from this article:

The exercises that they chose strengthened the gluts and hip abduction. This is a common theme that I have seen in runners that end up developing the worst knee issues - they have weak glut and hip abduction.

One easy way to see how stong and stable your hips are (those two mucles groups involved) is to stand on one leg and try to do a 2 or 3 inch squat. Make sure you are not holding onto any table, chair or wall for balance. Can you do it? Does your knee try to cave in towards your other leg or push out away from you midline?

If it appears that you can't balance or do the squat, it might be that you are a little weak.

Now relate this to running. Each gait cycle you have to do a very small version of the single leg squat. You flex and extend at the hip, your knee flexes and extends, your foot dorsiflexes and then you plantar flex to toe off. What happens if each time you go through this cycle your leg isn't strong enough to carry through the movement and your hip or knee has to adapt?

Let's do a quick calculation: Let's say each leg goes through this cycle 90 times a minute (the 90 rpm cycle many coaches suggest today), you run for 1 hour (60 minutes). That equals 5,400 times each leg will make that movement. Now go run a marathon!

My thoughts are obviously an attempt to make a somewhat educated discussion based upon my experience and the knowledge gained from this article. As I continue to be aware of the issue of injury in runners, I continue to be more convinced that some runners will benefit by including strength training in there regular programs. For no other reason then they will be able to handle more miles without injury.

One of the biggest questions becomes, What exercises should I do? One place to start would be with a post I wrote some time ago called, Improve Muscle Imbalances with Strength Training - Hip Stabilizers. I plan to update that post soon, but I still believe it is a good starting place.

Next Post:

I plan on looking at an article called "Hip Strength in Females With and Without Patellofemoral Pain."

Risk Factors and Injury Prevention Interventions for Patellofemoral Pain and Tendinopathy.

** Below is a copy of an email I sent to a few runners I'm currently coaching**

I was reading through the latest issue of the Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise yesterday and found a special communications from the organization (American College of Sports Medicine) to team physicians. In that communication they gave suggestions to physicians about "selected issues in injury and illness prevention".

The one injury area that I thought was relevant to us runners was their thoughts around Patellofemoral Pain and Tendinopathy.

Risk Factors they associated with this are:

1. muscle weakness and imbalance and inflexibility including quadriceps shortening
2. trauma, overuse, training errors or previous injury
3. patellar hypermobility
4. hip muscle weakness

Prevention Interventions Include:

1. implement sport / activity conditioning program with periodization emphasizing the proven interventions of quadriceps strengthening and increasing hamstring flexibility

2. other interventions may include core / lower extremity strengthening, hip abductor and external rotator strengthening, improving motor control.

My thoughts:

I come across a lot of issues in runners and general population with weak hip stabilizors and pelvic mobility/control. Incorporating some adductor exercises / abductor exercises have seem beneficial (I've especially seen this in a cyclist that I've worked 2 years with). The other thing that they talk about is "motor control" ... I've recently seen a need to incorporate some balance training (single leg balance exercises) to help develop the hips / lower leg stability so that it can properly move through the gait cycle.

Some beginning exercises that can help in these two areas can be found at this link: http://familydoctor.org/online/famdocen/home/healthy/physical/injuries/479.html

One thing to remember is that when running your body can't rely on a machine for stability or movement patterns, so when incorporating a strength, stability and balance program... don't use machines.

Last thought:

Everytime you run, your body has to work to strengthen itself and adapt to the workout. If the first law of training is "specificity" (which it is one of the first four by the way) then we should appreciate that regular running is likely the best way to strengthen our body to run. In other words...

... if you are not running regularly, it doesn't matter how many single leg squats you do on a balance pad, your long run is going to likely cause injury.....

.... But if you have been running regularly, these exercises are a great addition to help boost your body's ability to handle your runs...

.... In other words - these exercises are In Addition To, not In Place Of your running ...

.... unless you are already dealing with an injury, which changes the entire ball game ...

**** End of Email ****

Those are some thoughts that I felt were worth sharing with everyone. Since that email, I've come across a couple situations that have driven home the importance of these injury prevention interventions even more.

When motivation is high, which often is the case in an individual taking on a marathon for the first time, there can often be a disconnect between what is "optimal" and what is "practical".

I put "optimal" in quotes because there are a lot of people out there willing to give advice about the proper way to train for a marathon. But the question we always have to ask ourselves is this: Is it the proper way to train for me? The truth is that there are many ways to get to the finish line of a marathon (or triathlon), choosing the best path for you is the key.

Someone who has run 10 (or 50) marathons may have a program that works well for them, but may not necessarily be proper for you. Do they have the same biomechanics as you? What was their history with running before they began?

There are so many variables. The interventions listed above are a good starting place if you are starting to see some patellofemoral pain during or post running workouts. They are also a good hedge against injury development if you have poor biomechanics or running form.

If you feel like you need more individual guidance, look me up and I'll try to help if I can. My email is garyditsch at gmail dot com.

Derby Festival Half Marathon Report.

Time is short..... but soon things will be back to normal. The last few weeks (specifically since March 22nd - when we closed on our townhouse) have been pretty pathetic in relation to working out. Not only has the house taken some time from my life, but I also quit my job at the university around the same time. So I have been a lot busier personal training....

Going into the weekend I was completely unsure about how fit I was, but decided to stick with the plan. Run / Walk the minimarathon (I had contemplated trying the full back in March) and use the data to compare July's half ironman race to.

Strategy: run to 2nd aid station (about 3.5 miles), walk 45 seconds, then walk 30 seconds every 11 mins.

Results: Jeff and I started a little quick, but slowed down and fell into a good pace after the first mile. By the time I got to the first walk (aid station 2) I was completely ready for the opportunity. It took some discipline and ability to overcome my ego watching all the people run by me, but I stayed true.

I ended up running a 1:25:05, which was a pretty decent result. The great thing about the results was that my pace didn't decrease at all throughout the race. My 10k split was 40:19, 15k split was 1:00:31. Both those splits work out to 6:29 mile.

It definately felt good to be that strong at the end of the race.....

Now I hope that I can get back to normal training. May 4th is last day working two places.... that should be good for the training log - if nothing else.

Running and the celebration of life.

If you've been here lately you know that I put in an application for a chance to run the North Pole Marathon. (You can read my entire application here). Here is one statement I made in my application,

The one thing that I have found in those moments that I have questioned myself and who I was is that there was one constant - running.

There was one specific moment in my life that I felt that running really allowed me to appreciate who I was and celebrate life:

Flying Pig Marathon 2003

In May of 2003 I participated in my 4th marathon - The Flying Pig Marathon. There were many reasons to be positive about the race because my training had never been more consistent. I was regularly running with the Todd's Road Stumblers which helped me get in a lot of miles incorporating hill training. The other areas of my life were also operating smoothly, specifically my spiritual life. I had been spending as much time on my spiritual life as I had on my running. The great thing that I found is that when my mind, emotions and spirit were calmed down - my running was even more beneficial. Runs were not only about putting in miles.

Skip ahead to mile 25.....

After running the first 18 miles with three other runners I met on the course I had to move on, so I started running by myself. Not long after that, I started running with a couple friends (Beth and Eric Atnip). I ran with them until mile 25, which by that time I was in a lot of pain. My hips really hurt, my quads were cramping - the typical marathon feelings. As I was running the last 1.2 miles I was struggling, trying to find anything that would help me pick my pace up to push through the finish (and make sure I didn't collapse and not make the 3:10 Boston cut-off).

Then I had a really deep inspirational feeling come upon me. I began to have a flow of images and thoughts related to my grandfather, Raymond. There were pictures of him that my grandmother showed me that keep repeating themselves. One of those pictures was my grandfather on a horse with the horse raising up Lone Ranger style. The only difference is that the horse wasn't on two hind legs, but one (according to my mother who said you had to pull the photo out of the frame to see it). The second picture was of him and his brothers working in the fields at a young age (my grandmother thought maybe 20). The amazing thing about the work they were doing was that they were doing the harvest by hand. They had a horse lead trailer to put the wheat on, but the cutting and binding was manual.

With those photos replaying in my mind, I continued to have this overwhelming sense that even though he hadn't been around since 1993, he was with me in that moment. In fact I started to get so emotional that began to cry and almost began to worry that I was going to hyperventilate.

I know that many people that have pushed the endurance performance envelope know that things can get a little funny towards the end of the race. Low blood sugar, dehydration, whatever reason, the end of a race can cause all kinds of things to happen.

In response to the last 1.2 miles at the Flying Pig, I choose to believe that grandpa was there to help me. To make me understand what it means to push through, to take in the family tradition of hard workers.... because he wanted to see me succeed.

Today I learned that grandma has passed on and will be able to see grandpa once again. While I learned lessons of hard work and the cowboy spirit from my grandfather, I will not forget the lessons of faith that I've learned by watching my grandmother over the past 14 years.

I'll see you both on my next run.

North Pole Marathon Application. Vote for the Underdog!

A little while back I mentioned that Brad Feld and Yourrunning.com is giving away an entry to the North Pole Marathon. Actually Brad is sponsoring the entry and Yourrunning.com is taking care of the travel (if I read all the information correctly).

Well, Today I completed my application. According to the website there are 25 other runners that have put in their application to have a chance at running around the North Pole. Does this mean I have a 1 in 26 chance? If it was a "lottery" then I probably would have a 1 in 26 chance, but it is not. The application is just that - an application. The most qualified, based upon their qualifications gets the opportunity.

So what are my chances? Well, I looked at some of the other applicants and they are pretty strong applicants. That being said, I don't know to many athletes that toe the line that don't have a desire, belief or even a dream that they could win. (I admit that many of the races I race in I understand that coming in first isn't a strong reality, but who lets reality influence them.)

My request: I need some way to show the people at yourrunning.com that I am a good candidate to run this race, besides my application pleas. So can help me out by letting them know that you think I would be a good candidate? How? Well, one way would be to use their Feedback page and leave them a message saying that I (Gary Ditsch) would be a good candidate. Another possibility would be to wait until my application gets posted (it will be posted here) and then vote through their voting system or leave a comment in the comments section.

The biggest effort may come from you telling at least 1 or 2 other people (that I may or may not know) to help me out too. Any little step or help to set my application apart would be appreciated.

Here are two questions I answered in the application:

Why should we pick you to go to the North Pole?

I believe that there are times in most people’s lives that they look back and say, "What in the world is my life about?" There are people who come to this realization when they wake up one day and find out they haven't paid attention to their bodies in decades, so they decide to exercise or lose weight. There are people that look at their child walk across a stage to grab a college diploma only to wonder just who that child is, so they vow to spend more time with their family and less time at a job. I am no different than those people, yet I am only twenty-eight years old.

The one thing that I have found in those moments that I have questioned myself and who I was is that there was one constant - running. As a child growing up in Nebraska, I found myself running the gravel roads or by the bean fields to find peace. In college, I began running again in order to have an excuse to drink less on the "party" nights. I also found a major of study in college that allowed me to learn about exercise and still get a degree. It also propelled me to a place where I could get a graduate degree. After college I found myself stuck in an emotionally bankrupt job, contacts that I made with fellow runners and triathletes lead me to a more fulfilling job. The combination of all these choices and situations have lead me to a place where I hope to make running and helping others run (and swim, bike and exercise) a full-time, life-long mission.

Running is essentially who I am and the best way that I have to express myself. (Picture Robby Benson at the end of "Running Brave".) Why should you pick me? By choosing me you would be assisting me in this continuous search I have in finding out who I am, but yourrunning.com would also be able to use the passion I have to reach out to new runners that want to share their journey too. Yourrunning.com might just discover things about itself that it has not noticed before.

Offer some evidence that you can complete a marathon in harsh, sub-zero conditions at the North Pole.

Every runner has a story about how they completed a race in terrible conditions. These stories are often the only type of story a runner has to tell. I like to equate them to the fisherman's tale. "You should have seen the one I threw back!"

The best tale that I have happened in September of 2006. Prepared to complete my first Ironman distance triathlon, my wife and I headed to Lake Barkley, Kentucky. The weather was predicting a rainy day, but I was more worried about the race than the weather. The night before the race was to take place there was an athletes meeting where the discussion of weather came up, primarily because it was getting bad enough that flooding was becoming a possibility.

That night was full of thunder, lightening and heavy rains. Still I loaded my bike up in the morning and headed to the start line. The race was cancelled due to the many floods and constantly heavy rains. The race director held a meeting to decide what would happen. Many of the people went home and called it a weekend. But there were 6 of us full distance athletes that chose to stay and see what it would take to finish an iron-distance triathlon. The water was filled with debris, the bouys were washed out of place, the volunteers didn't come to give support along the course and once again I found myself in a place where I was all alone trying to find out what I was made of.

I finished! The lessons from that race keep revealing themselves to me still today. The biggest one that I have taken home to date is that I don't need to race others in order to feel accomplishment. Racing yourself is more of a challenge to win anyway.

Challenge? On the north pole!

Today I checked my bloglines headlines and saw a post by Brad Feld titled - "Update on my North Pole attempt". I read awhile back that he was going to run a marathon at the North Pole. At the time I was thinking, "wow, that's amazing. but a little crazy!"

If you went and read his post today you saw that he has decided to not run the marathon himself but to sponsor an athlete (along with yourrunning.com) to go and run the race.

I talked to Nikki about it this afternoon and of course she is completely supportive if it is something I would want to do. So I'll be putting together my application soon. Here's to a little luck.

If anyone has any great ideas for things to include in my application, I'd be willing to accept ideas. I also know that there are some other "crazy" people out there that see this idea as completely exciting and not foolish. Send in your applications too!

Christmas Run today.

I have talked about the Todd's Road Stumblers on a few occasions in the past. [Check out the posts here, here and my 500 mile club finish.]

Of all the "things" that have helped improve my running over the years, moving to Lexington, Kentucky and joining the Stumblers has been one of the top two "things". Why has the Stumblers helped my running so much? They helped me acheive the consistency of putting in the miles that a runner needs to help improve over time. There is one constant about this running group - and that constant is that there is always a fellow Stumbler that is willing to go 13, 15, 18 and even 20 miles with you.

There were many times through the winter of '02/'03 that a fellow runner would talk me into running 2 to 6 miles further than I really wanted to run. But in the end, I ran more miles than ever before and I ran a marathon personal best. (Thanks Phil, Jim, George and others....)

Today was the annual Christmas Run. It was also my first opportunity to join the group for the run, the carolling downtown and the McDonald's breakfast afterwards. It was great to see so many runners there to join in on the fun. And it was neat to see all the runners that I come in contact with at different times there to run together for a single run.

I have been grateful for the Stumblers over the past 4 years, but there is also one person that the Stumblers are very thankful for too - Mr. Alex Campbell. Mr. Campbell was the founder of the Stumblers a long time ago. This morning I was told that he started the group in 1968, but the website says 1975. In either case, Mr. Campbell has been the supporting thread and constant presense in the group. After running with the Stumblers for 4 years, I got to finally meet Mr. Campbell and tell him thanks.

Thank you again!

Sidenote: I saw another interview today with Mark Nenow. In it he talks about the Stumblers and some other interesting things.