Frequently Asked Questions Part 2
- Race day Advice
- Shin Splints
- Motivation
- Heart rate
- Speed work for old people
Frequently asked question
I have a half-marathon race (my FIRST!!) coming up in September. I have been working through a training plan over the last month and have worked myself up to 8 miles so far. A little over 6 weeks left to go! 💪🏻
I was wondering if anybody has any advice/wisdom they could share for half-marathon race day. Maybe what to expect, best fuel for the body leading up to the race (day before/morning of). Anything that was helpful for you on race day or something you wished you knew ahead of time proceeding the big day or during training?
Thanks so much! 😃
Answer:
Don’t do anything different than what you have been doing in training. Nothing new on race day! Relax, have fun, talk to people and go out slow, slower than you think you should. You want to avoid that end-of-race crash.
Frequently asked question
Looking for some advice!😊 Please don’t judge my craziness, but I decided to sign up for a full marathon and have 9 1/2 weeks to train (this is actually more than the time I ran the Disney marathon without any training😅). I have been consistently running for a few months and currently run about 45 miles a week with my longest run being 9 miles (average 8:20/mi). Problem is- I don’t really have a training plan! Where would be the best place to get this? I get so overwhelmed when looking online!😏 Thank you!
Answer:
So – you have 9 weeks? So 8 with a taper? Sounds like you have a good base at 45. 8 weeks would give you 4 x 2-week cycles. Just use the last 8 weeks of one of the standard plans. You can find online. They’re all about the same.
Frequently asked question
What do you do when you have no energy or motivation to run. Asking because for the past few weeks it’s been hard for me to run or go to the gym to work out
Answer:
It’s a constant struggle. Try to use the power of habit. (see the Charles Duhigg book) 1. Gather all your stuff ahead of time so there is no friction in the preparing to leave. 2. Set it as a goal in the morning. write it down, schedule the time slot, and start the day with the expectation that you are going, reinforce that expectation every time you think about it – don’t let the doubt creep in, 3. Have a reward tied to it. For example if you are going to the gym, maybe there is a favorite show or podcast or audiobook you only enjoy at the gym – you look forward to finding out what happens next. 4. Commit to at least getting out the door – if you can get out the door the rest will take care of itself.
Frequently asked question
I’m a new runner and got shin splints almost immediately. Tips on getting rid of them? I want to run my first marathon in 5 months
Answer
Thats a too-much-too-fast injury. Get some new shoes. Check your form and back off a bit.
Frequently asked question
Whats the best half marathon training plan?
Answer
This is a great example of an unanswerable question! The best plan is the one that works for you and your goals. Are you trying to ‘complete the distance’? Do you have a goal time? Are you trying to improve over previous effort? Are you beginner-intermediate-advanced? What are your time and mileage constraints? Injury issue? But – to answer your question – having a plan is better than not having a plan. As long as it fits your requirements, most plans have the same elements to them. If you have not used structured training in the past, having a plan (and executing it) will be a giant leap forward for you. There are several training plans available on line, and like I said, most have the same elements and can be tuned to your specific requirements/goals. Probably the best investment is to hire a coach for one training cycle to learn how it’s done. Another is to ask your local running club for advice – you can find them online as well or through RRCA (Road Running Clubs of America). The specific plan isn’t going to make or break you at the amateur level. But having a plan and following it will be a great boon to your running.
Frequently asked question
Today just didn’t go well. Maybe it was the heat, even though I started at 7 PM. Maybe it was my legs, still sore from Monday’s track session. Or maybe it’s my Achilles tendon that’s bothering me. I don’t know, but today just wasn’t my day. I’m even thinking of giving up sprinting after 30 years. At 57, I’m scared of getting injured, and the truth is, I don’t feel like I can push as hard anymore. I’m considering focusing on distance running instead!!! Help me choose: 60/100 meters or distance???
Answer
Yeah – better to back off when you get close to 60. You can still do the workouts, just do them at 80-85% and focus more on form.
Frequently asked question
What is the go to device for checking the zone numbers?
Answer
There is some unfortunate commentary about zones being useless here. HR zones are used as a proxy for effort level and efficiency of your running. They are especially useful for older athletes. I transitioned to HR training in my 50s because pace was no longer a good proxy for effort.
The secret sauce is that most people do their base (easy) runs in z3 without knowing any better. But if you can do your base training in z2 you will build more aerobic fitness.
The other thing is everyone’s zones are different and the online calculators are not particularly useful (based on averages).
And most wrist-based measuring devices aren’t accurate enough if you are zone training.
So summary- 1. zone training is very effective 2. You need to work with a coach and do a HR test to find your zones & 3. You need a chest strap.
What are Zones -> Here’s a quick primer team… Lydiard discovered in the ’70’s while training the New Zealand athletes that if they spent the majority (80%) of their training in a low heartrate level they build more aerobic capacity. Aerobic capacity is the essentially how long you can sustain your effort without blowing up. This low-HR training forces your cells to adapt by adding aerobic capacity. Good? So how do they know what HR is the right training HR? Well, this is where the concept of Zones comes from. They divided the effort level up into 5 zones. Where 0 is standing still (base) 1 is walking, 2 is aerobic training, 3 starts getting into breathing hard, 4 is racing, 5 is max. So, how do you know what your zones are, that’s the tricky bit because like everything else in our world there is a bunch of unhelpful information out there. a) everyone’s zones are different, both in the heart rates they start and end with and how wide they are. b) They are getting better, but the popular, wrist-based HR measurement are not accurate enough to set you zones, c) the on-line calculators for Zones are based on averages, and, I’m sure you’ll agree, runners are anything but average 🙂 So what is a poor runner to do? You can get a chest strap that will synch with you watch to get an accurate HR or take your HR manually with your finger (no kidding). One bit of data you need is your resting HR. So take that every morning for a week or so. To get your zones, you put on your accurate HR device and go to the track to perform a Max HR test. This consists of warming up and then running a series of 800’s as hard as you can. This will give you 2 bits of HR information, 1) your MAX HR and 2) how fast you get to and recover from MAX. From these bits of data any HR coach can easily determine your zones. Which, again, are going to be different than mine or someone else’s.. Attached are my zones (don’t use them, yours will be different. )
Why do Zone training? For more serious athletes with structured training plans the use of zones allow you to dial in your efforts very exactly to the plan and thus be more efficient in your training (i.e. more bang for the buck) For those of us less serious, understanding our HR allows us to see where we are working too hard or even getting sick so we can adapt our training appropriately. For older athletes, (and you know who you are), HR is a better proxy for effort than pace. Meaning, as you age your pace drops and the same effort gives you less pace, but HR is a consistent measurement under any age/fitness situation. Finally, the BIG ONE, By using HR training you can get faster and go longer. And the way this works is that most people do their training in zone 3 by default. This small difference in effort level actually make a big difference in how your body adapts and builds fitness. If you can learn to shift these runs to a Zone 2 you will get much higher quality results of fitness for the time invested.
How do I figure out running in Zone 2 and how long does it take? Well, I’m glad you asked, this is where we see a lot of frustration from runners new to HR training. First you need to set your zones and have a device that accurately measures HR (see above). When you start trying to run in Z2 you will probably be super frustrated. You have been training in Z3 your whole life and Z2 will feel unnatural. It’s not rocket science. You just need to slow down, whatever that means to you. For me it was a painfully short stride length and a full minute or more a mile slower. You may even need to take walk breaks to let it reset. But, with consistent focus over 2-4 weeks, you’ll start seeing your old pace coming back at the lowered heart rate. It takes practice, consistency and training. The other thing is these Z2 training sessions may be a little bit longer than you are used to. My recommendation would be to invest in 3 months of a HR training coach just to learn how it works. Then you can decide if it is right for you. (I am not a coach – just a practitioner)