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Newsletter Archives: Volume19, July 2000
Speed It Up, part II - (see
Speed It Up, part I) The most popular form of marathon speed play is that of "interval training," used by world-class athletes for most of the 20th century. In this format, measured segments (repetitions) are run at a pace that is slightly faster than marathon goal pace, followed by a rest interval. This process is repeated many times. Shorter distance goal races, such as the 5K and 10K, use shorter repetitions of 400 to 800 meters. The longer repetitions, such as mile repeats, have been overwhelmingly the most successful distance in the Galloway program. Thousands have used mile repeats to improve their marathon times. While 800-meter repetitions can give a significant training effect for the marathon, the mile distance helps to mold together the components of marathon form and exertion at one time. Longer Repetitions, Such as the Mile force your legs and feet to find more efficient ways of running, by eliminating or significantly reducing extraneous motions and getting the most efficient "lift-off" from each step develop better pace judgement, teaching you not to start races (and speed play) too fast help the internal systems to work together and become more efficient: muscles, pacing, intuitive connections, and instinctive efficiency adjustments fine-tune the components of performance, such as energy sources to the muscle, waste removal, hidden resources to keep going, etc. develop the mental strength to continue running at a good pace even after fatigue sets in teach you when to keep going and when to stop to avoid damage Pace of Repeat Miles Each mile should be run about 20 seconds faster than you want to run in the race itself, followed by a walk of at least 400 meters. If you feel much more comfortable with shorter distance repetitions, go ahead with 800-meter or 1200-meter reps. Your pace on the shorter reps can be increased to an average of 25 to 30 seconds per mile faster than marathon goal pace. It's still better to do repeat miles or to alternate between miles and reps of shorter distance. Adjust for Heat, Humidity, Etc. Even during the extreme heat of summer, you can continue doing speed sessions, but be careful. If you notice yourself or anyone in your group having symptoms of heat disease, stop the session and get medical attention immediately. The best time of the day to do speed sessions on warm days is very early in the morning, before the sun rises. Be advised, however, that when the temperature is above 65 degrees, you must run slower (and may also cut the distance of the reps to 800 or 1200 meters). Instead of 20 seconds faster than goal pace, make adjustments as follows: When the temperature is 65 degrees, run mile repeats 18 seconds
per mile faster. * Note: When you feel that there is any possibility of heat disease or a cardiovascular problem, abandon the exercise, cool off and get help. Walk Between Each Mile Repeat It is better to walk between the repetitions to minimize fatigue and recovery. Most runners should walk 400 to 600 meters between each of the repeat miles. Walk more if you feel the need. The extra walking will not reduce the training effect of the speed session. You receive the same conditioning from speed play of 8 x 1 mile with an 800-meter walk as you do from 8 x 1 mile with a 400-meter walk. If you have a heart rate monitor, keep walking until the heart rate goes below 70 percent of your maximum heart rate. How Many Mile Repeats? If you haven't done any speed play before, start with only one or two mile repeats. Veterans can begin with four to five repeats, and others can pick a starting number somewhere in between. On each session, increase the number of repetitions by one or two until you reach the upper limit for your respective goal: Time Goal * # of Mile Repeats 4:01 and slower * 6 x 1 mile Pace Judgement One of the very best lessons to be learned in mile repeats is how to intuitively sense your pace. This will help you conserve resources in the marathon, as well as in other distance races and workouts. Even with the shifting of form modes, you'll learn pace judgement as you increase the number of mile repeats. Time-tested, realistic goal prediction: 1. Run at least three 5K races on non-long-run weekends. 2. Take two or three of your fastest ones and average them. 3. Chart your equivalent performance on the Predicting Race Performance chart in the back of (the new Marathon! by Jeff Galloway, pp. 202-204) from the new Marathon! by Jeff Galloway (Phidippides Publication: 2000), pp. 140-142 You'll teach yourself to run faster by taking a very light and quick touch with each foot. This helps you increase the turnover of feet and legs, often with a slightly shorter stride length. (Jeff Galloway's Training Journal, (Phidippides Publication: 1998), p. 98)  The Athlete's Kitchen "I swim twice per day--once before school and once after school. I generally drag through the second workout. When and what should I eat to recover better?" "I have a soccer tournament next weekend, with games two hours apart. I know I won't feel hungry after the first game. Should I force myself to eat?" "Our rugby team likes to refuel with burgers. How bad is that?" If you are an athlete who needs to quickly recover from one bout of exercise before you perform again within the next 6 hours, you'll be able to perform better if you plan your recovery diet. The overall goal of this recovery diet is to reverse the process that caused fatigue. This means 1) knowing what to eat and drink to best replace depleted muscle glycogen stores and sweat losses, and 2) knowing how to organize your food supply so the proper foods and fluids are readily available. Obviously, to compete at your best, you need to train at your best. To train at your best, you need to thoroughly refuel on a daily basis. Less obviously, refueling is easier said than done! If you are doing double workouts or are involved in a weekend tournament, you are likely busy cramming this sports commitment into an already full school or work schedule. You may fail to even think about food or plan time for food shopping. However, "no time" is no excuse. You can make time to train and compete; you can also make time to fuel yourself optimally--even if this means keeping a supply of non-perishable food in your car, desk drawer, and gym bag. You simply need to prioritize proper refueling. Otherwise, your own laziness can keep you from reaching the winner's circle. Casual exercisers who work out less than an hour a day need not obsess about prompt recovery. They have not depleted their bodies' fuel supplies, plus they have plenty of time to replace what was used. Not the case for athletes who repeatedly stress their bodies with more than an hour of hard exercise, more than once a day. If that describes you, this article can help you get the most from your workouts. This article, Part I, focuses on glycogen replacement. Part II (next month) covers fluid replacement. Optimizing Glycogen Replacement Glycogen is a form of carbohydrate stored in your muscles and used for fuel during exercise. When you deplete your glycogen stores, you experience extreme fatigue. Australian sports nutritionist Louise Burke, a speaker at the annual meeting of The American College of Sports Medicine (June, 2000), explained that muscles have an initial rapid recovery phase within the first hour post-exercise during which they quickly replace depleted glycogen stores, and then a slower phase thereafter. If you are competing in, let's say, a soccer tournament when you have to play a second game within 3 hours of the first, you want to take advantage of the rapid recovery phase by quickly consuming carbs post-exercise. The shorter the recovery period, the quicker you need to refuel. But if time is on your side, and you won't be exercising within the next 8 hours, you can be a bit more relaxed with your refueling schedule and wait until you feel like eating. Within 24 hours, the muscles given a delayed feeding will catch-up to muscles that were rapidly refed. How much carbohydrate is enough to replenish depleted glycogen stores? Your muscles get well fueled when you eat about 0.5 grams of carbohydrate per pound of body weight per hour for 5 hours after an exhaustive workout. For a 150 pound athlete, this means 75 grams of carbohydrates--equal to 300 calories and the amount in 16 ounces of grape juice, 2 cans of soda pop, or a big bagel every hour, preferably divided into half-hour feedings. When you are exercising twice a day, you easily have the appetite to eat this much. Casual exercisers, needless to say, have smaller needs and smaller appetites. Athletes who are too busy to plan their sports diet commonly fall short on carbs--particularly if they grab donuts for breakfast, burgers for lunch, chips for snacks, pepperoni pizza with double cheese for dinner, and ice cream for dessert. They are fat-loading, not carbo-loading, and fat does not replace depleted glycogen stores. If these same athletes had given thought to their recovery diet, they could just as easily have grabbed bagels, submarine sandwiches (thick with bread, not meat), pretzels, thick-crust pizza topped with extra veggies, and frozen yogurt. Carbs are available, even when you are eating on the run and at fast-food restaurants. Whether you consume carbs throughout the day by nibbling on cereal, bagels, bananas, yogurt, raisins, pretzels, dried fruits, juices, breads, crackers, and granola bars or whether you sit down and have one huge pasta meal, you'll eventually end up with similar amounts of glycogen. The main concern is getting enough carbs within each 24 hour time period; worry less about small meals vs large meals, and focus more on adequate quantity. If you have seen the new protein-enhanced recovery bars and gels that are invading the marketplace, you may be wondering about the role of protein in the recovery process. The verdict is unclear if post-exercise protein enhances glycogen replacement. Some research suggests protein may stimulate insulin, which in turn stimulates greater glycogen storage. Other research suggests adequate carbohydrates facilitates an adequate recovery; you just have to eat enough post-exercise carbohydrate-calories. If protein is needed to build muscles post-exercise, physiologist Robert Wolfe, a speaker at ACSM's annual meeting, questions if a good time to eat protein to enhance muscular development is pre-exercise. That way, the protein (actually, the amino acids that are the building blocks of protein) will be readily available to be taken up by the muscles during and after exercise. Stay tuned! Given your body needs adequate protein on a daily basis, consuming some pre- or post-exercise protein along with the carbs is a wise idea and a helps to balance the overall diet. Just be sure carbs are always the foundation of your diet, and protein is the accompaniment, such as milk on cereal, some turkey in a submarine roll, or yogurt with fruit. Protein should not displace carbs; that is, don't take Dr. Atkins High Protein diet advice to eat lots of chicken but avoid the pasta, rice and potatoes! You'll crash very fast...and recover very slowly. Nancy Clark, MS, RD, nutrition counselor at Boston-area's SportsMedicine Brookline, is author of the best-selling Nancy Clark's Sports Nutrition Guidebook, Second Edition. It is available by sending $20 to Sports Nutrition Services, 830 Boylston St. #205, Brookline MA 02467 or via http://www.nancyclarkrd.com Sex and the Long Distance Runner A long held sacred truth among competitive athletes is that sex and winning don't mix. Prizefighters are notorious abstainers before a big event. What about marathoners? Sex and running are just fine, thank you. In fact, a recent survey suggests that performance (running, that is) is improved by sex the night before. Even better news, the reverse also holds true - running may improve sexual performance. Marathon runners were surveyed before the London Marathon on their personal habits. The results were very interesting to say the least. Although half of those surveyed reported being against sex the night before a big race (they need their sleep after all), those who said yes to sex had faster finishing times. Assuming the survey was controlled for age, abstinence isn't necessary for a successful marathon. This gives "personal best" a whole new meaning. (Reuters News Service, Social Issues Research Centre of Oxford) taken from American Running Association's Running & Fit News, July 2000, p. 1, www.americanrunning.org Injury of the Month: Keeping the Pace Go Slowly in the Beginning: Almost everyone who performs a personal record in the marathon runs the second half faster than the first. Slow down by 10 to 20 seconds per mile (from your projected marathon pace) during the first three to five miles, and then follow the guidelines in the "Pacing Tips" section which follows. Many marathoners report that by starting out 15 seconds per mile slower, they have the resiliency to run 20 to 30 seconds per mile faster at the end of the marathon. (from the new Marathon! by Jeff Galloway (Phidippides Publication: 2000), p, 113) Remember, for every second per mile you go too fast in the first half of the race, you'll run 5-10 seconds slower at the end. (from Galloway's Book on Running by Jeff Galloway (Shelter Publications: 1984), p. 102) Beat the Heat: Another reason to start slowly and to run your own steady-pace race during the first half is to keep cool. Getting too hot severely slows you down, so watch it when it's 60 degrees or more. The faster your body temperature rises, the more blood flows to the skin to reduce heat, and the more you sweat. Both reduce the amount of blood available to the muscles, which in turn determines oxygen supply and waste removal. When capillaries near the skin dilate to cool you off, they use a substantial amount of blood. Sweat loss ultimately depletes the blood supply. If you maintain an even (and reasonable) pace in the first half you'll actually speed up slightly during the second half: your body mechanics become more efficient as you run. (from Galloway's Book on Running by Jeff Galloway (Shelter Publications: 1984), p. 102)
From the new Marathon! by Jeff Galloway (Phidippides Publication: 2000), p, 117 The 40-Minute Goal: When you begin to run you burn primarily carbohydrates and very little fat. After 5-10 minutes the percentage of fats burned rises while the percentage of carbohydrates drops. At about 30 minutes, you're burning fats as primary fuel. (See the chart on p. 45.) By that time there are abundant supplies of fatty acids in the blood stream. Hence the value of extending your exercise periods to 40 minutes or more. If running 40 continuous minutes tires you, take regular and frequent walks. To mobilize the fat, it's better to run 40-60 minutes, three times a week, than 20-30 minutes six times a week. (from Galloway's Book on Running by Jeff Galloway (Shelter Publications: 1984), p. 243) Two things from "Health & Fitness" by Alisa Bauman in the August issue of Runner's World, p. 30 and p. 28 (www.runnersworld.com):
Two things from "Take a Lunch Break Away from Stress," in Volume VII, Number 2 of Total Wellness, p. 5 (Rutherford Publishing, Inc., 800/815-2323, rpublish@rpublish.com):
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