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Newsletter Archives: Volume 26, April 2001
Setting Up Your Marathon Program Almost anyone can complete a marathon in six months! Even if you only have 60 minutes to exercise during the work week, you can train for the marathon. The minimum is actually better for reducing injuries. During the week, you only need to accumulate an hour of running/walking. The long run starts at three miles and gradually increases by one mile each week until it reaches 10 miles. Then, you'll do the long one every other week, with a run/walk of half the distance on the "off" weekend. After you've completed the 18-miler, you'll receive two weekends off for good behavior, shifting to a long one every third week. Long run endurance + 60 minutes of maintenance + rest: Your body is designed to continuously improve its endurance if you gently stress it in a pattern of increases, rest enough for rebuilding, and do regular maintenance so that it won't forget the process. Think of your training program as a sound system. Each exercise session serves as a component designed to produce a specific effect.The long run provides the gentle challenge through mileage extension, which will develop the exact endurance necessary for getting to the finish line of the marathon. The slow and minimal 60 minutes of maintenance run-walks during the week simply maintain the conditioning gained on the weekend. Resting the running muscles on other days is crucial for letting the muscles rebuild, during which they make marvelous adaptations for easier and longer running. The long run builds endurance. As you extend a mile or three farther on each long one, you push back your endurance limit. It is important to go slowly on each of these (at least two minutes per mile slower than you could run that distance on that day) to make it easy for your muscles to extend their current endurance limit and recover afterward. As you lengthen the long one to 26 miles, you build the exact endurance necessary to complete the marathon. Walk breaks, taken from the beginning, will also speed your recovery and make the extra distance on each run a gentle challenge. On the non-long-run weekends, there are several options. Most runners will do a slow run of about half the distance of the current long run (up to 10 miles). On two to four of these "easy" weekends, it is wise to do a 5K road race to predict what you might be able to do in the marathon. Veterans will do speed sessions on some of the non-long weekends. If you're feeling good during these shorter runs, you can run them continuously, but there's no advantage in doing this. In other words, walk breaks are at your discretion on the shorter runs, including the ones during the week. In other words . . .
Monday: walk 30-60 minutes 
Research has shown that caffeine improves endurance, gets the fat-burning process started earlier, and allows runners to burn more fat during exercise. The fact that caffeine is a central nervous system stimulant explains why runners report that a cup of coffee before a run improves focus, and gets all of the physiological systems up to speed for a run that just feels better. As an aside, I feel more psychological rewards from runs when I've had my cafe an hour or so before. I admit that this could be explained away as being......psychological. - Jeff Galloway
The Athlete's Kitchen "I used to have a drinking problem. Now I'm addicted to running.
I think I've traded one addiction for another..." In our society, athletics and alcohol goes hand in hand. Observe rugby players, tailgaters at football games, champions getting showered with champagne. Athletics and alcohol also mesh together in another way--many recovering alcoholics turn to exercise to relieve stress, invest in their health, and (sometimes) even trade drinking for an exercise addiction. The purpose of this article is to look at some of the problems associated with alcohol and athletes, and offer some solutions. The first question is: How much alcohol is too much? The answer varies. What's too much alcohol for one person may be OK for another. In general, large, muscular athletes can handle more alcohol without untoward consequences than can smaller people. Women are more susceptible than men to the effects of alcohol. People who drink regularly can handle more alcohol than can non-drinkers. Experts say it's not only how much you drink, but the extent to which it interferes with your life that determines whether you have a problem with alcohol. So in addition to counting drinks, try answering these questions honestly:
There's unlikely one cause for all alcohol problems. But we do know drinking problems tend to run in families. In a survey of 222 people who overcame alcohol problems, 80% reported heavy drinking in their immediate and extended families. Does this mean alcoholism is genetic? Or do kids learn to cope with life the way their parents did--by drinking? An estimated 14 million Americans (more than 7% of adults) have serious problems with alcohol, but only about 10% of these seek help for their drinking problems. If you are a heavy drinker--or know one, you may not even have a clue where to go for advice. Thanks to Anne Fletcher's new book Sober for Good: New Solutions
for Drinking Problems-Advice from Those Who Have Succeeded (Houghton
Mifflin, 2001), problem drinkers and their families now have a resource
with words of wisdom from 222 people who have resolved their drinking
problems. The people are from all walks of lives, ages, and levels
of alcohol intakes. Sober for Good examines their recovery stories
and offers possible solutions for people (including athletes) who
Sober for Good highlights many approaches to recovery and notes that AA is not the only way for an alcoholic to achieve sobriety. Although a survey found that more than 90% of 450 representative treatment programs are based on AA's 12-step approach, only 44% of the "masters" in Sober for Good stopped drinking with AA's support. The other 56% resolved their drinking problems non-conventionally. To turn the tide, they weighed the pleasures of alcohol against the pain and problems it caused and concluded drinking just wasn't worth the price--often a loving relationship and a successful career. One third of the masters tried at least three times to give up alcohol before they were finally successful. Their words of wisdom: "Don't give up." Keys to success included building a life with no room for alcohol. For many, this involved exercise. Not only does exercise help manage stress and elevate endorphins for a "natural high," but it is also healthful and can be a new source of gratification. Along with exercise comes eating healthfully. And as you can imagine, when you feel good about yourself and life, alcohol has less power. Nancy Clark, MS, RD, personal nutrition counselor at SportsMedicine Associates in Brookline MA, teaches casual and competitive athletes how to eat to win. Her best-seller Nancy Clark's Sports Nutrition Guidebook, Second Edition is reputed to be among the best books on this topic. It is available by sending $22 to Sports Nutrition Services, 830 Boylston St. #205, Brookline MA 02467 or via http://www.nancyclarkrd.com.
Training Talk from Runner's World Extra enewsletter, March 23, 2001 "Food fat means body fat. Studies have shown that incoming food
fat is handled preferentially by your body, ending up as body fat
more readily than carbs and protein. In essence, one fat calorie
is worth more than a carbohydrate or protein calorie." -From Liz
Applegate, Power Foods, page 145. You can buy this book at:
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