Ernesto's group - CLOSED (Page 53)

Ernesto,

I was reminded again yesterday of how lucky we are to have you for a mentor.  I was being evaluated by the chiropractor and he was asking me about my training.  I made the comment that my mentor had a philosophy that we should be training injury free.  He said "That is wonderful that you are here getting this taken care of early and that your mentor stresses that.  We can probably fix this in two weeks.  Too many times I have athletes come in that can hardly walk and they are doing an Ironman in a month.  It's hard to help them because they have let it go too far."  So THANK YOU AGAIN, Ernesto, for all that you do for us and your holistic approach to the sport.  Your support means so much to me and I know I'm not alone when I say that.

I have been diagnosed with Piriformis Syndrome.  It is pain radiating down the back of my right leg caused by the piriformis muscle irritating the sciatic nerve.  It feels lilke someone is sticking a knife in it.  It is only a problem when I sit for longer than 90 minutes, usually when driving or sitting all day in a meeting.  I wanted to have it checked out before I went to any longer distances.  I'm doing 4 sessions of deep tissue massage, strengthening exercises and foam rolling over two weeks.  I'm optimistic that I will see very positive results.

The moral of the story is, get your injuries and pains to the doc sooner rather than later!

 Thanks for the kind words, I appreciate it. Not exercising through injury is just plain common sense though, you don't keep running your car when the "check engine" light comes on, same should apply to your body giving you warnings about overuse or stress.

Nobody is 100% biomechanically efficient, so the lack of work of a muscle is often overcompensated with bad posture and/or other muscles taking on the load, resulting in additional stress. The solutions that are within everybody's reach are:

- Spend the money and get a bike fit by a proffessional. The difference between a pro and "uncle Bob" is that the first uses body metrics to dial your bike to your body. The latter uses the naked eye. The other difference is price, the pro will charge you above $100 (money very well spent if you ask me).

- Don't fall into the traps of expensive running shoes or the latest trend, get an assesment and try many shoes before you buy. Some stores (like Luke's) will let you try the shoes for up to a month and exchange them if you don't think they're the right fit.

- In the cold months, start the workout slow (bike or run) and DON'T STRETCH. The (cold) muscles need time to adapt to the work.

- Rest and recovery, contrary to what most people thinks, speed workouts will very unlikely give you injuries. Instead, tired muscles are more likely to suffer damage. If you have been working hard, let it rest before you stress it again. Remember that you don't get fit while running, swimming or biking, it happens while you sleep or you're sitting on your couch AFTER you do the workout.

- Eat proteins, particularly at night. It keeps inflammation down and cortisol levels are lower. During the day a higher amount of (good) carbs is best for fuel. Ditch anything white (rice, potatoes, pasta and anything else made out of white flour) since it promotes inflammation. Also, a good fat intake is necessary for this.

- Last, when something hurts, IMMEDIATELY STOP. It doesn't matter if you're in the middle of your long run and you're gonna have to walk 5 miles back to the car. Do it like this and you will improve your chances for a fast healing process.

I recognize you didn't ask me...but I looked at your logs, you ran a half with an average HR of 159 earlier this year.   Assuming you are in better condition now than then I'm betting that 156 will be doable.  I think the better question is from an effort perspective how did it feel.  Could you have done that run a second time at the same level of effort?  Your projected pace is almost right on what MacMillan (for its worth) projects based on your last half marathon. 

Chris,

The issue is not wether your HR is too high or not (it actually isn't). What you should look for is decoupling, this means that over the last few miles the HR starts to climb steadily while the pace remains the same or worse, declines.

This is obviously not the case in this run. That being said I think the 7:50 pace is VERY sustainable for your current level of fitness and for the duration of the marathon. I would really like to talk race strategy with you though as race day approaches, particularly pacing and nutrition.

What is your current plan for those two things?

Ernesto - thanks for introducing a new concept to me...had never read about decoupling so did a quick google search and found the following article from Friel:

http://home.trainingpeaks.com/articles/cycling/aerobic-endurance-and-decoupling,-by-joe-friel.aspx

Looks like an interesting and useful method to analyze HR vs. power or speed to see how one's aerobic endurance is developing.

What's everyone doing this weekend?

Sat: Run 5 miles at HM pace; Soccer game in late afternoon and Michigan Football

Sun: Run 1 hr 45 min run at easy pace

Lawn has to be mowed at some point too.

You?

Ernesto:

I'm wondering if you'd be willing to help me put a race strategy in place for my mid-October half marathon (Detroit). 

History:  My best time for this race was the first time I ran it in 2008 with a time of 1:48:12 or 8:16/mile.  I walked just a bit near the end and overall ran faster than I thought I would.  In 2009 I believe I was better prepared but had a bronchial infection and likely went out too hard.  2010 I did better but again went out too hard and floundered the last 5 miles.  I ran a 10-K the month afetr last years half and was happy with my results but also walked a couple times in the last half (7:39 avg pace).  All this tells me (and I admit) that I lack discipline in the beginning of my races. This spring's HM was a perfect example of zero discipline. 

Course:  The Detroit Half Marathon is relatively flat with the exception of two hills (The Ambassador Bridge to Canada and a downhill / uphill combo that is the Tunnel back from Canada to the US.  Elevation profile (for the full marathon) at the following:

http://www.freepmarathon.com/Assets/DetroitFreePress+Digital+Assets/pdf/2011+Elevation+Chart.pdf

The Ambassador bridge hill gets congested making pace difficult to maintain without a lot of weaving and dodging.  The tunnel uphill always leaves me gassed and dreading the 5 miles remaining. 

Nutrition: I train with GU gels and my stomach is happy with them.  I rely on hydration on the course.  I do think last year I took in too much GU early in the race and impacted my run.

Goal:  The last couple years I have wanted to break 8:00/mile avg. pace.  I think this year I need to be more realistic and try to meet or surpass my results in 2008 with stretch goal of low 8:00 per mile pace.

As ugly as it is, the following link (I hope it works) is to my speed and HR graphs for last octobers Half on same course.  I have other runs available and hope to get some good data from tomorrow's pace run and Sunday's long easy run.

https://www.polarpersonaltrainer.com/shared/exercise.ftl?shareTag=60f7b7e95e961ca66c24f1e3fad4ee9c

Thank you in advance for any thoughts input you might have.  The group is welcome to chime in as well! 

Jackie, glad to see you are enjoying your new bike and beginning to get some good bike rides on it!

Chris, I'm very impressed with the training base that you have developed for your upcoming marathon, and based on some of your recent trainings, I do believe you will be able to achieve your goal to BQ on this one!  Your racing strategy looks pretty well thought-out along with Ernesto's comments which make sense.  

Ernesto, regarding your dead Garmin 305, I remember I was able to bring mine back from the dead a couple of times by pressing the combination of either the "Start/Stop" and "Enter" buttons or the "Lap" and "Mode" simultaneously for about 10 seconds (I think this is a sort of a soft reset function) and then you press the power button.  

On my side, this weekend I have to get another long-run in, but only 2.5 hours, so nothing as bad as the past two weekends.  I also have to work on my race strategy as I'm 3 weeks away from mine, but nothing as aggressive as Chris's BQ plan as my goal is just to finish in under 4 hours!

How is everyone else doing and what are the plans for the weekend?

Chris:

I have a Polar running watch so I have the footpod thingy that gives me continuous pace.  I have found it to be very accurate.  I agree 100% with your advice...my issue has always been wanting to run with the big dogs but still really only being a pup...silly analogy but it fits.

In the races you have run with sizable hills how have you handled your pace on the up and down hill portions?

-Mitch

I glance at my watch peridocially for pace and HR but have it set to auto lap (and beep) every mile at which point I glance at it again.  I like to be able to look down and check myself from going too fast or too slow. 

I've given some thought to your suggestion on pacing out every mile and trying to take into account the hills.  Both of the big hills are between a half and a full mile long with corresponding down hills.  Theoretically I should be able to cancel out the effect with a faster and slower pace?  I really appreciate your thoughts.

Jackie, I'm doing the 100 miler tomorrow (Wild West Century ride) in Waco. The pace is furious from the moment the gun goes off (24mph or more) so I'm very excited. Sunday long easy run...

Pace: If you do what you did on your last run, blow up is guaranteed. You started WAY too fast, the elevation profile shows a climb somewhat steep after the mile two marker. I suggest you don't start racing until after you're over the hill. So, that said, warm up before the race, easy the first three miles and THEN start picking up the pace to eight minute miles. The last three or four should NATURALLY pick up to sub 8.

Nutrition: You felt bloated last year because your GUs went in while your HR was through the roof, nutrition has to be taken when you can digest it. If you're distracting ALL your heartbeats in going too fast, the food just sits in your stomach undigested, put some more in and GI issues will follow. Put even more in and puking will be your body's response (I got tired of seeing people throw up in Ironman and marathons).

And btw, Chris' comments are perfect too.