What I Am Drinking

This post is written for my running friends that have asked me what I've done lately showing a great deal of improvement. Everything I write here is based on my own personal experience. I don’t tell anybody how to run, or what to do, because we are all different. Also we have different schedules, motivations, and abilities; so things that perfectly work for me, may not work for others.  But because many of you have asked, here is my very honest advice, which I am more than happy to share, and my advice goes beyond what my speed work looks like, or how many miles I log every week.

I am an over analytical person. As an Engineer I pull data, analyze it, conclude what data tells me, and make a decision. This is my daily life at work, and because is very hard to separate Lizzie the Engineer from Lizzie the person, that is my daily running life as well. I am going to provide various examples for you to understand the way I think because my running is not only a result of my training but also a result of my thinking.

1)      Key for me is to run by heart rate. I don’t chase pace. Though I have tried running by heart rate several times during the last four years, it was not until a year ago when it finally clicked. Since then I have been very successful running by effort. Most of my races in regular and “decent” courses are run with negative splits. If the terrain is hilly, as those that abound in Seattle and its surrounding, the splits are all over the place, but the effort is maintained. But how did I learn this? I ran Geoduck Half Marathon in Olympia on Feb 05ht and I went by HR. “Nonetheless, before mile 4 we had a very steep downhill to continue with a furious uphill. The HR needed to be accommodated to the course as I needed to climb that hill with some strength, and I did at my max 183. It was very hard… Mile 9 was a repeat of mile 4 and we got the same steep downhill to continue with the same brutal super hill. This time was another story. I barely could get 165 in this climb, and my 4th phase of the race didn’t go as planned. After the hill, it took me a while to recover. At mile 11 I tried to push the pace as much as I could and dropped the pace by 20 seconds, and by a lot more for the last mile.”

Going 183 HR (100% effort) at mile 4 (!!!) to sustain the pace was very stupid, that needed underscored above was wrong for me. I spent all my fuel in that uphill. From that day on I maintain the effort, period. The splits can go all over the place because I slow down uphill and press downhill, but the race doesn’t become a burden (see below today's splits, and it was a fantastic uber hilly race).

2)      I don’t believe in good or bad running days. If I would believe on those, then I would sweep under the rug the experience without knowing what the run/race is telling me. So with the same Geoduck example, I could’ve said this was a bad day, but the best that can happen during a scientific study is when something doesn’t work. Why? Because you eliminate that variable from your equation and it won’t happen again. So, it was not a bad day, it was a fantastic day because I learned something crucial. Do not take the effort too high in an uphill especially during the beginning of the race. What did I get with that learning? Today for example: Kirkland, one of the hilliest courses in W. WA was an excellent run, with splits that would not make sense to anybody, but to my heart and aerobic system made a lot of sense.

3)      I don’t chase time. If a sub-2 hr Half Marathon was something I wanted to get I didn’t work specifically for it. I worked indeed to get faster in general, but not to break a particular time. I believe that if I cannot break a time is because I am not prepared for it. So, the best thing for me is to work the little pieces and then the big puzzle will be eventually built. I knew that I always started the races very conservative as I have been always afraid of bunking. For me a DNF is something that I don’t want to experience. My daughter, a free spirit, who fears nothing, always advises me to dare, but again, the mathematical mind preferred to be on the safe side. During the HoneyWagon Half Marathon, my niece Angie caught up with me ½ mile after the race started. She is faster than me, but I kept running with her because I wanted to chat with her. I knew that I was running at a higher effort than I usually run at the start and told her I may crash, but I chose to stay with her. At mile 6 I was still fine, and I could keep going. The day was very, very windy, and I still PRd by 1 minute. I learned I could go now faster from the start and I applied that very learning the week after in a non-windy day and PRd by 3 min for a 2:02. When I commented to someone that I was really impressed, he told me, you just had a good day. (Back to bullet 2). There are not good days but results of something you’ve done that works. The following day (yes, a back to back race), I applied it again, and I PRd by 3 more minutes. At the turnaround I thought it was possible to break 2, and I did chase it. From that day on I have run 7 Half Marathons, and I have done sub-2 in all of them with the exception of the Half I ran the week before Big Sur where I purposely went with lower effort because my immediate Marathon. I clocked 2:00:19 in that one. Today I ran the most difficult of them, Kirkland, an uber hilly one, and clocked 1:54:59. My PR is 1:53:07 in Tacoma last week. My body now is more than ready for a sub-2. People ask me “What is next: 1:50? ” I answer: Whatever my body can do with my methodology. I will not chase it. I will continue training hard, and applying my heart rate strategy, and if I get to 1:50, fantastic.

4)     In regards to training I think this previous post has in a nutshell the key of my improvement. I strongly believe that the additional 20 miles per week were the “culprit”. I run them slower than my racing pace and that has become the greatest benefit of all. People tell me “How can you run so slow? It hurts.” I would ask: Does it hurt you when you walk? I am puzzled when people justify their weekly runs as “I ran slow today. Bad”. Even the Kenyans run slow on their recovery runs, about 2 min/mile slower than their sub-5 marathon pace (slow for them is my vomiting pace, for sure). But it’s common to believe that you have to be Speedy Gonzalez every day, which could lead to injuries because there is no recovery. And I am not 20, but 55, so I need to be very smart on recovery. A nice article I read says that most people are afraid of being seen running slow, or of what others may think of them when they are asked: what was your time on your 5 miles on Wednesday morning? I think the answer is Who cares? I ran 7 times a week in 5 days, so these recovery runs allowed me to work a key work out on the same day.

5)     Speed training: I divided my marathon training in 4 phases, 16 weeks (it could be 15 or 13), but let’s use 16 to simplify. Each phase has one key speed workout. I adapted David Holt system to my own plan. A little bit of experience on planning marathon training may be needed to be able to adapt this to your own. It’s not clearcut.

·        Phase 1 - Hills

·        Phase 2 - Anaerobic Threshold (AT)

·        Phase 3 - VO2 Max

·        Phase 4 - Peak and rest.

I did the key workout every 4-5 days. So, if I did hills on Monday I’d do them again on Friday or Saturday. This requires tracking as is hard to memorize what you did or what you have to do and when (I have of course my spreadsheet to do that, geek anyhow, and is attached to this post). What about if I have a race on Sat? Then I had to juggle with my schedule to make it fit. When I move from a phase to another, it doesn’t mean that I won’t do more the key workout that belonged to the previous phase, but I’d do it now every 10 days or so.

6)     Hills: This is a combined workout: Hills and speed. I learned it from Chuck Bartlett. I pick a steep 0.1-mile hill or a little bit longer. I do 3 sets of 3 reps, and don’t stop between reps. My recovery will be going downhill so as soon as I reach downhill I go up right away.

·        First rep: I go uphill with high knees, as high as I can. No cheating. This is normally slow, sometimes it seems I am not even moving, but the idea is not the speed but the effort on going uphill with high knees. I go downhill, jogging or walking. I don’t think it matters.

·        Second rep: I go uphill running at moderate pace. Downhill, jogging or walking.

·        Third rep: I go uphill ALL OUT. Downhill, jogging or walking.

I start again with first rep, until I’ve done 3 sets. I pick a different hill for next workout to vary the terrain, and not get used to the same hill.

For downhill training: I pick a hill of 0.5 miles or so. I run it at a fast pace uphill AND downhill. I do it 6 times. I lean forward as much as I can both, going up and down. The first time I ran hilly Kirkland 3 years ago my quads were destroyed, now I can have the luxury of running very fast downhill because I learned how to run them properly. I practiced, and practiced; downhills are hard.I ran today a whole mile downhill at 6:55 min/mile.

7)      Anaerobic Threshold (AT): I pick ANY of these workouts; it gives me a lot of variety:

·        Six miles of tempo running. I do this in a 10K or as part of a Half Marathon.     

·        2 mile reps, use the 10K for this.       

·        2,000 meters – 2 reps, use 5K for this.                           

·        Mile repeats - 3                           

·        Yasso’s – Start with 6 up to 10 Yasso’s 2 weeks before Marathon.

8)      VO2 Max, ANY of these:

·                400s – 8  reps

·                300s – 12 reps

·                200s – 16 reps

·                Fartlek, short efforts all out within a run.

All these things are frames with discipline, constancy, and dedication. You are all experienced runners, and I am honored that you've asked. If any of these advices help you with your goals, I'll be more than happy. Though this was a long and some how complex story, this is what is is, this is What I Am Drinking.

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This Mothers' Day weekend I ran two races:  A 10K on Saturday where I PRd with 50:56 - 8:12 min/mile and Kirkland Half Marathon on Sunday where I had an excellent run, maintained effort throughout the race and increased it for the final push - 1:54:59 - 8:36 min/mile.

Pace - HR%

1- 9:57 - 83%

2- 8:43 - 82%

3- 7:25 - 82%

4- 10:10 - 87%

5-  8:23 - 85%

6- 9:21 - 86%

7- 9:33 - 86%

8- 6:55 - 85%

9- 9:28 - 87%

10- 8:56 - 86%

11- 9:32 - 89%

12- 7:45 - 90%

13.1- 8:46 - 95%

With World Class Runner, Judy Fisher

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Here a copy of the worksheet so you can understand better what I did and how. I indeed juggled the runs to get it done as planned. Sometimes I used portion of my Half Marathons to complete an AT. Sometimes I had to move the plan around to accommodate a long day at work or any of those things that prevent us of working out as planned.

Phase	Week	Mon		Tue		Wed		Thu		Fri		Sat		Sun
I	13	HILLS	2	EASY	5	AT	0	EASY	5	HILLS	4	REST	0	LONG Geoduck Half	13.1
	12	REST	0	EASY	5	HILLS	2	EASY	5	AT	0	LONG  Million Inch Run - Tukwila	15.78	REST
	11	REST	0	EASY	5	HILLS	0	EASY	5	REST	0	AT 5K Magnuson	4.1	LONG Birch Bay Half Marathon	13.1
	10	President's Day Half Marathon	13.1	REST		EASY	5.5	EASY	5	AT	0	LONG Ft Steilacoom Resolution Run  15 Mile	15	EASY	5.45
II	9	HILLS	3.1	EASY	5.6	EASY LONG	5	EASY REST	0	REST	10.5	LONG Run for the Honeywagon	13.1	AT 4 Yasso's	4.35
	8	REST	0	am EASY 5 pm VO2MAX 4.3	9.3	EASY	5	AT 5 Yasso's EASY	5.1	REST	0	LONG Rally Until a Cure Double Day - Yelm	14.1	LONG Rally Until a Cure Double Day Orting, WA	14.3
	7	REST	0	AT 6 Yasso's EASY 5 (am/pm)	10	EASY HILLS	6.2	am EASY 5 pm HILLS 5.6	10.6	REST	0	ATSt St Paddy Runs Tacoma	6.7	LONG	15
III	6	AT 7 Yasso's	0	EASY 5 AT 8 Yasso's	13.5	EASY VO2MAX	5	EASY 5 VO2MAX 12m Blasters (4)	9	REST	0	LONG Ft Steilacoom Resolution Run  20 Mile @ 9:30	20	EASY AT Mercer Island 5K or 10K	6
	5	REST	0	EASY	5	EASY AT 9'Yasso's	5	EASY	0	EASY	3	LONG Birch Bay 30K @ 9:10	18.6	EASY REST	0
	4	REST	0	EASY 5 AT 2 miles	11	EASY	5.25	EASY	5.25	REST	0	LONG Easter Half Marathon - Lacey + 7 miles 9:15	17.25	HILLS (not intervals)	7.5
IV	3	AT 10 Yasso's	0	EASY 5 AT 10 Yasso's	13.4	REST LAST DAY for 10 Yasso's	0	EASY	5	REST	0	REST EASY	5.4	SPRING FLING DAY Half Marathon - Elma @ 9:00 (8:56)	13.1
	2	REST	0	AT 6x800 EASY	5	REST	0	VO2MAX EASY	5	REST	0	AT HM Magnuson	13.1	REST	0
	1	REST	0	6 x 400 ONE second at 5k		REST	0	3 miles easy		REST	0	REST	0	BIG SUR	26.2