Mid Week, RnR course

Got to make this a short one today got a ton on my plate for the day. The mid week workouts are posted and many of you are heading back to the track in preparation for the Mercer Island 1/2. Like I did with those training for last fall marathons I'm planning to give you the same workout for the next few weeks. I think the thing about doing that is that it allows you to prepare each week knowing what it is that you'll be doing and hopefully see improvment from week to week.

With the release of the marathon course for Rock n Roll of course I've gotten a lot inquiries about my thoughts on the course. Well it's a race that is 26.2 miles long on the road, some asphalt,some cement, some up some down. It's in June so it could be warm or it could be ideal, could rain, could be hot.

The deal is that it's just another marathon and if you prepare properly it shouldn't be a big deal. We live in a area with many hills a lot of them in the city of Seattle so trying to put together a course that is void of any is pretty much impossible. So you need to plan for this, if it's something that you're afraid of then pick another race, I mean there is one almost one every week somewhere.

Anyway so I think the course is fine, could be a little flatter but heck like I said if you prepare properly and plan your race accordingly all should be fine.

Rock ‘n’ Roll Seattle Announces Race Course, National Sponsors

Seattle, WA – February 20, 2009 – The Rock 'n' Roll Seattle officially unveiled its race courses today for both the marathon and half marathon events, which are set to run from Tukwila to Seattle on Saturday, June 27, 2009. The courses were formally approved by the City of Seattle Special Events committee last week, and will take in some of the region's best-known landmarks, charming neighborhoods and urban attractions.


"The Pacific Northwest has an incredibly dynamic running community and we are thrilled that Rock 'n' Roll Seattle will soon be one of the region's premiere outdoor events," said Megan Young, Event Manager. "This is a brand new, world class event that will attract participants from across the country. We wanted a route that highlights the many extraordinary Northwest vistas, which will make this race memorable for all participants." I posted the rest on a new web site I'm putting together.  READ MORE...
 

Mid Week, RnR, Long runs and racing

The mid week workouts are posted. Those training for Mercer island, I gave you another week of hills since the course is on the hilly side, I know, yeaaa!! You'll hit the track next week. So most are on hills with a few on the track.

For those of you training for a spring Marathon and running Mercer Island I use your Marathon training plan with Mercer Island as a race built in and a bench mark race to help determine what your marathon goal should be come race time, so we use the marathon training plan through that race.

For those running Rock n Roll in June, they will be having a press conference this Friday  to announce  the new course that you'll be running.  I'll send out info when I find out about it.

Now that we are coming into spring there will be a lot of races coming up. I would use those in preparation for you upcoming larger events. One of the benefits of running more races other than getting used to the competition is that running shorter faster races will really help out your marathon or half. Running these shorter races regularly will help your speed but also make your marathon pace seem really slow and I think make you more efficient. For some this creates a dilemma, you have your long run planned and a race. I think you can accomplish both, here's how.

1. If the race is an important one and is on Sunday then skip your long run that week and run the race hard or run long on Friday or Monday. If the race is on Saturday then run your race and run long on Sunday.Running your long run a little tired hardens you come marathon time.
   
2. If you're running the race as a workout then don't worry about it, just do your long run on the day that weekend that the race isn't on.
3. (My Favorite)Incorporate the race into your long run. Run a few miles before the race and a few after, a good way to work a workout into your long run.

The nice thing about racing and running a long run close together is that as I mentioned last week your long run is slow. Either because your running the race the next day so you run slow or maybe you ran the race the day before so you run slow because you're a bit tired from the effort the day before.  Remember slower is better for these runs.

If you have questions or concerns about this please let me know.

Mid week, Slower is better for long runs

The mid week workouts are posted. Nice job to those that ran the TT/Pace run last week with the weather leaving us alone for once and having a dry track there were many great runs with many PR's. Nice job to those that ran, shows that you have been working hard and as I've mentioned, running in bad conditions we've had this winter will pay dividends. Remember to post your times on the 2 mile time trial page.


Now that we are into the meat of your training for upcoming spring and early summer events and with your long runs reaching the upper limits I want to cover a couple of things about them.


First these are long runs meaning you are running a long distance. The best way to achieve this is to run at a slower pace for an extended period of time. If you run faster it's hard to run further. What you are trying to accomplish is to build up your aerobic conditioning and actually running on the slower side you will have better results. You'll also get better results if you spend your time running with few breaks. The more you stop the less time you are spending running aerobically so you are not getting the maximum benefit of your long run.


Another benefit of running slower is your body will burn fat so you won't need to take as much GU or what ever your enegery cocktail might be which means fewer stops to take these and more time running aerobically. If you need to take regular breaks then you’re probably doing your long runs too fast. Honestly they should be run very casually. If the group you run with seem like they are running faster then you should then they probably are, slow it down you’re not running a race.


Making sure that you run your long runs at the proper pace will allow you to recover more quickly from these which will allow you to maximize the workouts that are supposed to be run faster so that you can get the most out of them.


A good way to approach pacing for your long runs is to try and run them a minute or more slower per mile than your marathon race pace. So if your goal pace for your marathon is 10:00 per mile then try and run your long runs at 11:00 per mile. For your heart rate monitor lovers I always like to maintain my runs at 135-140 BPM, give it a try you should find that is pretty easy. Although anything above 120 BPM is achieving what you want from your long run. I just found that running that slow was harder then running a bit faster. Although I do think it works your legs more so maybe ultimately making them stronger.


So remember when out on your long runs to make sure that you spend more time running and less taking supplements and break. If you need these then you you’re probably running them too fast so slow it down and enjoy yourself.

Time Trial VS. Pace Run

I'm not posting the workouts today as we have the 2mi TT (pace run) planned. Again you can run this as a hard workout or you can run this as a run to work on your pacing.

A time trial is a hard to to help gauge your fitness. Meaning you would run this with 100% effort. As we get a little later in your training for an event I would hope you would run this work like that. Here’s what I like about it. It gives me a good indication of your fitness and if you are improving through your training. I can use your time and help you determine how fast you might run other races which help us determine what pace to run those races. Speaking of pace, these runs are a good way to learn pace. As you do them monthly you will learn what a reasonable pace for you to run is and what is not, hopefully. So plan your pace based on the previous month, you’ll find that if you pick a pace that you can handle that it is not that hard of a workout.

A pace run would be more like a tempo run with the goal of trying to run a certain pace, keeping each lap run at the pace that you planned for beforehand. I think these are best run at the beginning of a training cycle as you are just beginning to gain fitness but they are also good if you're feeling an bit beat up and tired from your current training. Let's you get out running a little faster stretching out your legs.

Either way you choose to run them you'll benefit after all it's just another workout and the beauty of it is that it's over quickly and more than many of our other workouts you know where you stand fitness wise.

For those that are running the Valentine run this weekend, I think this is a great workout for that especially the time trial, we haven't worked much on speed yet so having this under your belt before hand will help you prepare for a short 5K.

Those with the more advanced Training plans will run 6x 200 afterwards.