Personal Best - October 2011
Race Weekend Tips for Friends and Family
Every athlete must marshal the vast majority of effort needed to accomplish a big goal race. However, many runners and walkers who embark on an ambitious training season must rely also on the help and support of family and friends. Whether providing rides, fluid support, space in the family calendar, or just emotional support, oftentimes these individual can be difference makers, especially since they are often the motivation for the individual to keep trucking when things get tough on race day.
While athletes get a great deal of advice and tips on how to manage their training and race, friends and family can be left empty handed when wondering how best to support their runner or walker.
Here’s a road map for every support person or team to take into consideration (since we wrote it – you don’t have to feel selfish about handing it out)!
Designate a czar of logistics
One common situation is that the decision for a large group of friends and family to come to the race creates additional stress for the athlete. Everyone definitely means well, but numerous calls to ask about where to stay, when they can visit with the athlete, where they should watch on the course, and so forth, can increase the perceived pressure when nervousness may already exist. Designate a family member who will serve as the traffic cop for this type of planning, someone who will coordinate flights and airport trips, hotel stays, dinner reservations, and various rendezvous with all those who wish to be included. This person should be well versed in the details available on the race website for the course, the expo, and the post-race reunion area. If a new person pops up who wants to support the athlete, the athlete can then confidently connect them with the logistics czar, who can walk them through the plans already in place.
Consider the Athlete
It is not uncommon for friends and family contingents to begin to build a life of their own as race day approaches. Interest in various sight seeing expeditions, brunch or dinner locations, matching t-shirts, expo shopping trips, and more ideas may continue to grow and expand. There is absolutely nothing wrong with making plans that don’t include the athlete, respecting the runner’s need for rest and calm before (and rest and recovery after) the race. However, keep in mind the race that your runner has trained for and the needs they have in final preparation. For example, if everyone wants to eat dinner at 9pm at an exotic restaurant, but the athlete expresses a desire to eat simple pasta at 5pm and go to bed early, consider compromises and alternatives (such as having one person from the group have dinner early with the athlete). Race weekend isn’t a democracy; it is a narrowly focused time period with one specific and very demanding aim.. Be proactive, and ensure the physical and psychological needs of the competitor are paramount.
Determine a simple post-race plan, including a fall back plan if things haven’t gone well
At smaller races, athletes are easy to connect with after they finish. However, at many large races, the post-finish process can be very crowded, and may take some time. Cell phones have been left at home, at the hotel, or in the race baggage, so old-fashioned methods of communication must be relied upon. Races often offer reunion areas, but it may make sense to pick an alternate landmark or process to find each other as the reunion areas may be clogged. Friends and family need to be patient with post-race logistics. Oftentimes races require a lengthy cool down area, and the competitor may not feel especially perky after running a 10, 13 or 26-mile race. If more than one person is racing, they may also want to greet each other within the finish area before heading out. Determine a plan for reunion if things go as planned, and an option if things do not. The runner should have a plan if forced to withdraw mid-race (read the race materials), and the czar of logistics should be well versed in this process as well. The same goes for brunch, lunch, dinner or whatever is the first item of business after the race. Consider that the athlete may not be in a position to eat a large meal, walk a long distance, or sit in the car for an hour. Try to plan accordingly and be prepared to be flexible.
Marshal the energy of the support group into loud and visible demonstrations of support
Make a plan to provide an inspirational boost to the competitor or competitors in the race. Large signs, strategic course placement, and clear visibility can be a huge boost, but require an organized plan to account for pacing and transportation variability. Don’t miss out! Think through how the group will get from point to point and how the problems that might occur can be addressed. HOWEVER, again also consider the athlete’s needs. Should they prefer a lower-key approach, respect their wishes and support as requested. It is their day!
Race weekend can be an intense, but significant and memorable weekend on many levels. Everyone involved wants to provide support, but the greatest energy must be saved for the actual task itself. Keep that focus in mind at all times, and hopefully your athlete can look forward to a happy and unified reunion when the finisher’s medal has been finally placed around their neck.
When we choose a goal race, we are often preoccupied with the deliberation leading up to the final clicks on the screen. When the rush of the final commitment wears off, we are left with the training to be done – which of course is where we come in!
Certainly, the start of your program is the most important thing. However, it also makes sense to begin planning travel as soon as possible, to ensure your race weekend experience is all that you hoped for. Here are a few tips to optimize your goal race travel.
Read the race participant info early...and often
Most big races require number pick-up at a participant expo the day or two before the event. Some races may also have a fairly complicated process set up for start area arrival and finish line departure. Race directors know thousands of people need to get in and out and have thought through how best to get everyone where they need to be.
Before you set up any travel plans, make sure that you have a good sense of the logistical tasks required of you by the race. The flight that arrives at 5pm may be the least expensive, but you may be out of luck if the expo closes at 6 and your flight is delayed. Even if you are local, securing a ride or a forming a carpool to the start and away from the finish can make the difference between a successful day and one that turns south when you are rushed and hurried, or forced to stay outside in the cold while waiting for a ride.
Even if you review race day details upon initial registration, it makes sense to return periodically to ensure you have not missed any updates. If the race’s plans have been forced to change by unanticipated construction, a different level of participation than originally expected, or any other reason, you will want to make sure you have plenty of time to make your own adjustments.
Check out the race-sponsored travel options, but don’t limit yourself to those.
Many races partner with local hotels and even some airlines to provide options for participants. These may very well offer the best prices for places to stay within walking distance to the start or finish. As such, they should be checked first as they often sell out early. Before you act on a pre-pay option, however, consider hotel reservations with a closer cancellation date in case of injury or change of plans. Also consider other ways to stay in favorable locations relative to the race. If you are early enough, travel websites that offer flight / hotel options in combination may provide value as those negotiated prices might have been made before the race blocks were established. Vacation rental sites like vrbo.com or airbnb.com may offer houses or condos for rent at reasonable rates, particularly if you bring the family along for the big day. Finally, never underestimate the power of a call directly to an onsite reservations agent or even the front desk of a small hotel.
Consider your regular pre-race routine and sketch a travel scenario that will allow for as much familiarity as possible.
Do you prefer to eat dinner at a certain time? Do you try and head to bed at a certain time? Do you prefer a certain type of food in the evening or morning before the race? Take these preferences into account when you make your initial travel plans. How long might it take to get to and from the expo? Where will you likely eat and how close is it from your hotel? If you want coffee in the morning, where will you get it and are they open at that hour?
For these reasons and others, it often makes sense to arrive two days before your race so you have a day to take care of whatever you need to do without being rushed for time. Similarly, if time and finances allow, you may be well served to depart the day after your race instead of that same afternoon. You never know quite how you will feel or how long it might take to exit the finish area, and no one should be rushed after a terrific race effort.
If you need to make a choice between staying near the start or the finish of a marathon, by all means, stay by the finish.
Unless the start of your race is extremely early or in an obscure location, definitely err on the side of staying by the finish. You can always get up 10 or 15 minutes earlier to get to the start with all your energy intact, but anyone who finishes a marathon will be glad that a hotel room is close by. Very glad.
If planning a general vacation in concert with a goal race, plan to race at the start of the trip whenever possible.
Many people combine travel to a new destination with an opportunity to complete an exciting goal race. If you do so, consider how much more you will be able to enjoy your surroundings without the concerns of a race over your head during the “fun” part of the trip. You’ll want the freedom to walk without worry of fatigue in your legs, the freedom to eat adventurously and the flexibility to have a schedule that doesn’t demand eight hours of sleep. Yes, distant travel may require a couple days to adjust to a new time zone before the race. However, it is always best to celebrate the completion of your goal with the bulk of your vacation after the race.
Typically in this column, we look at a simple component of the running experience and attempt to help you be aware of how to maximize or at least benefit from the proper implementation of that component. This month, we are talking about a muscle with a fancy name, but the concept is just as simple and important as topics like arm swing and hydration.
The transverse abdominis (TVA) is one of the innermost layers of flat abdomen muscle. The name refers to the horizontal direction of its fibers, but the muscle stretches from the bottom six ribs down to the iliac crest, or pelvic region, helping to stabilize both regions. The TVA also connects to the diaphragm, assisting with inhalation. If anyone has ever encouraged you to “tighten your core” they most likely were encouraging you to regain posture that the TVA helps to provide.
As it is such a deep muscle within the body, the TVA can many times go unaddressed, even when we are making a concerted effort to do “abs” or core exercises. However as a long, strong, and deep muscle connected to many of the parts of the body that drive running performance, we want to provide some tips for how to activate and strengthen this part of the body. As this month’s Pro’s Perspective featured athlete David Torrence attests – it really can help!
The Chek Institute of Vista, California provides a simple exercise with 4 steps for making yourself aware of the TVA and beginning the process of activating it.
1. Kneel on the floor on hands and knees and let the contents of your midsection rest against the abdominal wall.
2. Keeping your spine flat and straight, take a deep breath from your diaphragm.
3. Exhale, drawing your belly button toward your spine by actively trying to use the bands of muscle connecting your ribs and your pelvis. Do not flex the spine or rotate your pelvis area.
4. Hold your belly button to your spine for ten seconds. Relax for ten seconds and repeat the process several times.
Once you are aware of and comfortable activating your TVA, one simple exercise to begin with is the plank.
Plank exercises can be done in many different variations and difficulties, but to get started, lets begin with the simplest version. Get yourself into a lifted push-up position. Your back should be flat – one long line from your shoulders to your heels. Your feet should be shoulder width apart, and your arms can be either straight with your palms on the ground, or bent, resting on your elbows/ forearms. Your head should be neutral – just extending from your neck, not tilted specifically up or down.
Concentrate on engaging your TVA muscles much as you did in the previous exercise (pull your belly button toward your spine), while you simply hold this position for 20, 30, or even 60 seconds. When you feel comfortable with this exercise, able to do 2 or 3 times at 30-60 seconds, you could try going from resting on your forearms to your palms with arms fully extended or lifting one foot off the ground at a time slowly, making sure to maintain the same weight distribution as much as possible.
When you have built confidence with these or similar exercises, you will find that activating this muscle is an important component of our Whole Body Strengthening routine. It is particularly important in these exercises: Left & Right side planks, partner punishment, and pointers.
As David Torrence suggests, don’t let your core “crumple” at the end of your next race. Get to know your transverse abdominis and prepare to finish strong!
Not much frustrates a runner more than putting in a ton of work in training only to find oneself unable to produce the desired result. Many of us fear this scenario in connection to a potential injury, but another crucial area in which we may fail to give ourselves the best shot is with our diet and nutritional habits.
There are many factors involved in formulating a solid diet and nutrition plan that will power you to your next running goal. In previous columns, we have touched on the importance of hydration and race weekend fueling. This month, we wanted to touch on the topic of the role an iron-rich diet can play in helping you succeed in training and on the big day.
Simply put, iron helps carry oxygen to our muscles via the bloodstream. It is the binding agent that allows the oxygen molecules to go for a ride from our lungs to our arms and legs, our brain, and our immune system. All that belly breathing we talked about in last month’s column would go for naught if we didn’t have iron to help make the connection between those deep breaths and the cells that need the air to keep you on pace.
A normal day for anyone will include iron loss through bodily fluids (with more for women during menstruation), and the demands avid endurance athletes put on their bodies can hasten these losses. If you have ever felt repeatedly tired over a length of time, without other explanation and on runs that previously were no problem, or if your hands and eyelids have been noticeably more pale than usual, you might want to consider consulting your physician about the possibility of checking your iron levels with a quick blood test.
However, to give yourself a good chance of avoiding that iron deficient state, or Anemia, in the first place, we encourage you to incorporate foods into your diet that will help you add iron on a regular basis. Lean red meat, salmon, tuna, leafy green vegetables such as spinach and kale, along with lentils, beans, and nuts, are great sources of iron. Iron is absorbed very effectively when consumed concurrently with foods rich in vitamin C, so bring on the berries and orange juice. Calcium makes it tougher for you to absorb iron, so save that glass of milk or slice of cheese for a different time of day if you are actively trying to consume a food for its iron content. Likewise for coffee and tea, both of which also hinder the absorption process. We encourage you to consult your physician on any drastic individual dietary choice you make, but the Food and Drug Administration’s Daily Value recommended for dietary iron consumption is 18mg.
Some runners enjoy the calorie-burning benefit running provides, allowing them the dietary flexibility of a higher metabolism. Others incorporate running into an overall weight loss effort that includes a systematic effort to eat less. Either way, if you are in it for the “long run” or maybe even several “long runs” it is important to include iron rich foods to make sure you are able to take advantage of all your hard work.
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This month in Personal Best, we’d like to examine the one time of year most difficult to plan for: Recovery.
Most of us fall into one of two categories. Either we can’t wait to get right back out there on the roads and are tempted to rush our recovery period, or we let a month turn into two, into three, before pretty soon we are starting again from scratch in our next build-up. Regardless of which tendency most closely resembles your default habits, we’d like to encourage you to take your next recovery period seriously. We believe it is one of the most under appreciated, yet important parts of the training year.
After you cross the finish line…
When you cross the line of the big race, resist the urge to sit immediately, and keep moving for 10-20 minutes after you cross the line. Most large races force this process to a certain extent, requiring you to move through lengthy feed, medal, race photo, and other stations as you head toward your baggage claim area. Begin to hydrate with carbohydrate and electrolyte replacement fluids, sipping and drinking as much as your stomach can accommodate. In the immediate hours to come, try to avoid caffeine, alcohol, aggressive massage, and hot tubs / baths in favor of cold tubs, and ice, easily digestible foods, and nutritious beverages. In the day or two following, gentle massage, light stretching, and continued icing / cold tubs may assist in recovery.
Sometimes, athletes have certain foods they know will work well with their post-race digestive state. If this is you, plan ahead and pack them in your gear bag so you know you’ll be able to start your nutrition replenishment with confidence.
Recovery is a mental, emotional, AND, a physical process.
Oftentimes, we have put a great deal into our goal races – other leisure habits on hold, dietary choices made and adhered to with great will power, families patiently waiting for you to come home from yet another long run. Perhaps you have run your goal race in honor of a loved one or an important cause, and most likely you have given more of yourself physically than you have ever given before or typically do on a regular basis. Your body may feel recovered, but you may not be ready to embark on the emotional journey yet again. Or, you may feel as though your race left you with unfinished business that you want to re-try at the earliest opportunity, even as your body isn’t quite ready to cooperate.
We encourage most athletes to take approximately a month to recover from one of your bulwark goal races. 1-2 weeks of complete rest, followed by at least a couple weeks of recreational exercise, including cross training, and more rest than usual as needed throughout the week.
One great approach is to choose another goal race of a shorter distance at least 10-12 weeks from the date of the current goal race for which you are preparing. You might even want to do this before you compete in the big race. It is not uncommon to feel emotionally listless after a big effort, and having a new goal can help keep you connected to your over-arching health and fitness goals even as you take some time off. Choosing a race shorter than the one you just finished will ensure you don’t pressure yourself to find the same level of motivation and commitment right off the bat, can provide a fun fitness test to keep your pace chart moving, and can serve as a good midway point if you do choose to do a longer race in 4-6 months.
If you come back from recovery too early, you may feel fine initially, but when the real training sets in, the aches and pains will then begin to crop up – take the time NOW!
As we read in this month’s Pro’s Perspective, Brooke Wells says she has traditionally been too aggressive in coming back from her recovery periods. By jumping immediately back into a heavy training load, she often found herself requiring another mini-break a few weeks in. This is a common occurrence for many runners, both novices and elite athletes. Now that she has run her best time and is creeping in to the rarified air of internationally competitive performances, she knows she can’t afford to take the same type of liberty this time around. That second bunch of training weeks after the initial restart is when we as coaches see many problems occur, but we recognize, sometimes it is tough to take that time if you have plenty of motivation left in reserve. However…..
Resist the urge to lace up your shoes the first day you aren’t sore climbing stairs, and after you take that first run, resist the urge to jump in the Sunday 12 miler a few days later with your friends at the park. The time you spend ramping up slowly back to a normal level of training activity is recovery time as well. If that is excruciating to you – you can’t stand staying in one more day, encourage yourself that many of the world’s top athletes take 3-6 weeks completely away from running after a goal marathon – you’re trying to work harder than the pros!
Make sure you use your recovery time to “exhale”, enjoy something you might not have been able to during your build up.
For you, it might be a different sport –Brooke mentioned trying rock climbing, something she’d never do in the midst of heavy training. Maybe it is enjoying a later bedtime, a favorite dessert, an activity with family, a night out, or a weekend away. Or, just force yourself to sit on the couch and do nothing for once. While we are here to help you with the plan you need to train for your goals, we also want to make sure that when you are within the crucial weeks before your goal race, you are motivated and not burned out. Recharge yourself with moderate doses of life’s simple pleasures when a racing deadline is not bearing down and you’ll be able to focus when the time requires that single-mindedness.
Celebrate and appreciate your accomplishment before heading off to the next mountaintop.
It is also important that you celebrate your accomplishment. Acknowledge to yourself a job well done. And if things didn’t go as planned, acknowledge an effort earnestly made, a willingness to go for it. Even if you hope to yet run faster or have bigger fish to fry down the road, consider everything that went right, including the accomplishment of a season of training you might not have considered possible before you began. Consider all that you hope to recreate in your next build-up as well as those things you hope to change for the better. After all, while recovery is the final stage of your last race, it is also the first stage of your next!
Personal Best: Mental Strategies for Hard Workouts
It has been sitting on the schedule since you first looked a week or two ago. Your first 10 or 20 miler, or the first time you are doing a tough track session more challenging than anything you have attempted to this point. Or, maybe it is a workout or a run you have done before, but it didn’t go so well. If one of the primary reasons we run is to enjoy ourselves, how do we find enjoyment in these seemingly daunting tasks? Below are a few strategies for taking these challenges head on, not so you merely make it, but so you conquer and thrive.
US 5k champion Lauren Fleshman talks about some of these and others in our September Pro’s Perspective as well. Read it here.
1. Remember that although this may be a first time for you, others have gone before you and have been successful.
Whether you are beginning your first training cycle with Focus-N-Fly or have been with us for 10 years, you can rest assured that every workout you’re given is based on what has worked for other runners. It is exactly through these successful experiences of novice and experienced runners that we have built the system that is helping you now. Know that your path has been trod before, that it is possible, and that it can be done.
2. Take one step at a time
One almost universally shared tip is to take a tough workout and break it down into manageable pieces. Notice how both our beginning runner, Terri Wojtalewicz, and our experienced professional athlete, Lauren Fleshman, both talk specifically in their profiles about taking a long race one mile at a time or a hard workout one interval at a time. You may not know if you can run 20 miles, but if it is on your schedule, you can be confident you can run a large percentage of it because it wouldn’t have been on your schedule otherwise. So, say you know you can run 15 miles. Beyond that, promise yourself you will run at least one more mile. Focus on a task that will take several minutes vs. one that might take hours. Conquer the one mile and celebrate it to yourself as you finish it. Consider if you can focus again for one mile. Buoyed by the sense of accomplishment from the 16th mile, you might just be able to. Before you know it, you’ll be at your goal distance and you will have built up a reservoir of confidence and positive self-talk that will be helpful for the next challenge.
3. Take as many variables out of the equation as possible.
No, you can’t control everything. However, if you can set yourself up for a tough workout with food you know will work for you, and your “go to” shorts/ shirt/ socks, it may take one element of worry from your minds. Find a routine by experimenting with fueling and clothing approaches on easy days, you so are confident in your choices on hard days, leaving your mental energy for the task itself.
4. Prepare in advance with the positive self-talk you are going to give yourself when you are in the thick of a tough day.
There will come a time when the run or the workout will require bigger than average effort. What are the keys you will remind yourself of when that time comes? Do your shoulders hunch and get tight when you are tired? Plan in advance that you will try to relax your shoulders for 30 seconds at a time when that occurs. Does your breathing get too shallow? Tell yourself in advance that when it starts to go that direction, you will commit to several long and deep inhales to help get you back on track. What are the types of encouragement from others that really have helped you succeed in running or in life generally? Tough barking orders, or soothing positive words? Prepare with these phrases already on tap to remind your body that you and your mind are in control and not the other way around.
5. Decide if knowing the workout well in advance is helpful to you or not.
If you find that you get too stressed out thinking about a big one in the week leading up, but know that every week on a certain day that type of workout will occur, resist the urge to look ahead or forgo the weekly email for a time and instead look at it a day or two ahead just for logistical planning purposes. You will know what type of effort is required (tempo run, track workout, long run), but you won’t have the time to build additional pressure on yourself.
6. Create accountability and a reward. Enlist others.
For many of you, just knowing you will return to the computer to log your workout is motivation enough to complete each day. For some, you are able to train with others who can keep you buoyed even when the running isn’t coming as easily as you had hoped that day. Others are training for a big goal with an emotional motivation, such as to honor a friend or family member, or to note one of life’s milestones. If so, one strategy would be to create a visual reminder around the house to keep track of the steps or miles you are logging on the way to that goal, and use it as a positive motivation to keep you going as well as a reminder to those in your household to help keep you on track with encouragement, even if they know nothing about running. Think of your training as a tower. You want a tower that is a tall and as strong as possible, but one sub par day doesn’t mean the whole thing falls over, it just means you need to put that next block on there the next time out.
On a lighter note, it is ok to concede to the occasional treat as motivator, whether it is the espresso and pastry Lauren writes about, a meal at your favorite restaurant, or perhaps a pedicure for your marathon worn toes. It need not cost anything, but if it is something you enjoy doing every once and a while, it might serve as a fun carrot for you as you travel toward the conclusion of your miles that day.
Remember, doing every single difficult workout to perfection doesn’t guarantee a perfect race, nor does missing one/ falling short a time or two necessarily mean you will not succeed. What we are looking for is a field of data points, from which you can reasonably conclude you are prepared for the race. Every challenging day you complete allows you to strengthen the argument you are going to make for yourself on race day when the going gets tough, and oftentimes, those days although difficult, can also end up being the most memorable.
Two weeks ago one of our runners wrote me about taking the "Albert Haynesworth Fitness Test".
For reference, Haynesworth is a star defensive lineman for the Washington Redskins. He made headlines at the start of training camp when the 'skins now coach, Mike Shanahan, refused to let him practice until he passed a "standard fitness" test. According to Shanahan this test was basic and had been completed by every other player. The fact that one of his most important players couldn't complete the test irked the new coach and gave cannon fodder to the media around the beltway for two weeks.
Here's the test:
Upon first glance this looks like a run of 300 yards (~275 metres) in 1 minutes and 10 seconds, a big recovery, and then the same thing in 1 minute and 13 seconds.
Oh, it isn't. 
The exercise is an accute assessment of explosiveness, quickness and balance. There are no less than twelve separate accelerations required along with ten 180 degree directional changes.
Our runner who ran the test told me "I felt like I was doing a strength test" and to an endurance runner this makes sense as we have developed our slow twitch, arobically funded systems in preparation for 3, 6, 13 and 26 Mile races. Even though Haynesworth (listed at 6' 6" & 350 lbs) could never hang with any of us in a 5K, his ability and fitness is undeniable for his trade. In fact my guess is that if we took a random sampling of Focus-N-Fly runners and had them race Albert Haynesworth this is the percentage of people who would beat him by distance:
In other words none of us big, slow distance runners would have any chance against a professional football palyer like Haynesworth in a short burst effort that falls right in his wheel house.
Hopefully this is thought provoking but I still haven't given you any practical advice so here it is.
We use running drills to help develop fast twitch muscles, anaerobic metabolism, and neurological response. These drills makeup less than 1% of total weekly mileage and less than 5% of total time spent training. We also use fast interval training (<1500m pace) as an extension of this development for 5-10% of weekly mileage. Both these exercises have specific objectives and can be beneficial. In fact if you weren't doing these then you would have no chance against Albert Haynesworth in any race of 100m or less. The bottom line is that we weigh this part of the regimen according to perceived value (it is valuable but not as valuable as all the aerobic work we do).
So you will continue to see the majority of your assignments focused on maintenance/easy and threshold/comfortably hard paces. We know for certain the benefits of extended aerobic stress and they are well documented for endurance races but could they help a high-performance, short burst athlete in the NFL, NBA, MLB or NHL?
My guess is they probably could and I often wonder why more professional ball players don't utilize distance running in the off season. It has been documented that the aerobic contribution is dominant in all races from 400m up so there is a contribution at shorter distances as well.
As distance runners we need to focus on the aerobic stresses that will help us improve the most. Just don't forget about those drills and faster intervals when they're assigned.
Oh and the next time you're watching football on the weekend and you see those big guys gasping for air - just think of the Albert Haynesworth fitness test and the fact that all those guys have passed the test.
Pretty incredible!
**BTW I am posting my Albert Haynesworth fitness test results on the forum in hopes that we might get a few others to take the test and post accordingly.
