Marathon Training Plan

I finally have my Chicago Marathon training plan put together.  (I think...)  We'll see how it goes!  Check it out on my training blog: http://trainrunwin.blogspot.com/2011/06/marathon-training-plan.html

Nutrition: Keep Your Bananas Longer

All runners know that bananas are an important staple in your running diet. If you didn’t know, here’s your news flash; bananas are an awesome running food. Bananas have a natural anti-acid affect on the body and help calm the stomach, making it easy to eat bananas right before or during exercise. Research has shown that 2 bananas serve up enough energy for 90 min of strenuous exercise and bananas are a natural source of potassium - an indispensable mineral which aids oxygen transportation to our organs, helps to regularize heartbeat as well as fluid levels in the body and can help combat the muscle cramps runners sometimes get after strenuous workouts when electrolyte levels are low.

So the question is not if bananas should be in your diet, but rather how do we keep bananas around longer so they’re there when we need them…

Running & Race Tip #6 – Dealing With the Heat

**I started this entry last week, but after last Saturday’s events in Chicago I think some of these points become even more important.

I just read an article by Joe English, professional marathon and triathlon coach, where he mentions the “4 H’s of Hurt” – Heat, Humidity, Head wind, and Hills. Welcome to South Florida; you may only have to deal with 3 of them, but you have to deal with them constantly (no hills in South Florida). As summer bears down on the US “normal” people in South Florida (and the rest of the country) begin cowering indoors to the comfort of their AC units, but runners are still hitting the streets, braving temperatures in the 90’s and high humidity.

Heat can make even easy runs feel hard, and if you’re not ready for it, can be devastating to your race results. Heat forces your circulatory system to work harder to regulate muscle and core temperatures (more blood flowing to outer extremities for cooling reduces volume of blood available to be pumped per heart stroke), reducing it’s ability to efficiently supply nutrients to key muscles, it induces dehydration, and reduces your ability to push yourself (survival theory – your brain limits your body from pushing to injury) In worst case scenarios, if you’re not careful, heat and humidity can even be deadly. However, this doesn’t mean you can’t excel with the mercury starts rising, it just means you have to do more to be ready to combat they heat.

Chicago 13.1 - 1 runner dead, 10 more hospitalized

An unfortunate and stark reminder than heat can indeed be deadly to distance athletes.  During the Chicago 13.1 on Saturday (part of the 13.1 race series), 11 runners were hospitalized with one dying as race temperatures reached a humid 86 degrees.  Temperatures were already hitting 75 as early as 4:30 in the morning and the race started under a yellow flag at 7:13 meaning temperatures were not ideal.  The condition was downgraded to red and then black during the race, effectively ending the race at 9:15 as no more times were recorded and runners were encouraged to stop and take the shuttles back to the finish line.

Race organizers were prepared for the heat this year with 10 aid stations, 2 spray stations and a wet towel station along the 13.1 mile route, unlike the Chicago Marathon in 2007 when aid stations ran out of water and nearly 300 runners were hospitalized under similar conditions.  Unfortunately, even with the precautions taken, the race time temperature were just too extreme to provide for a safe race.

Chicago Tribune Article

The Long Run: Eating On the Run - Scott Jurek

A short article by Scott Jurek on Competitor.com.  Scott talks about fueling during long runs and presents a couple of formulas to figure the upper and lower ranges of your needed carbs per hour of running.

http://running.competitor.com/2011/06/inside-the-magazine/the-long-run/the-long-run-eating-on-the-run_28754

Marathon Training Resources

18 weeks until Chicago and I'm fully thinking about the marathon.  I was just asked about marathon resources - you can see how my training is taking shape on my training blog, but here's a list of resources I've used, and some that others might find helpful.

My Favorites:

http://www.halhigdon.com/ - Hal Higdon, a renown coach who as of 2006 had run 111 marathons and longest termed writer for Runner's World, has training schedules for every level of runner.  Lots of free information, I used his advanced schedule as the basis for my marathon training, though I thought some of his speed work was a little weak and I wanted a little longer than 20 mile long run in my schedule.  Great site.

http://mcmillanrunning.com/ - Greg McMillan, an "exercise scientist" and coach who has been involved with olympic athletes since 1996, coaching runners in the 2008 games, started McMillan Running company to provide online resources to runners.  Lots of great information including a running calculator to help figure your training speeds, there is also personalized coaching / plans available for a fee.  I used this site heavily to figure training times and what types of training I need to incorporate to round out my training.  Terrific site.

Run Faster from the 5K to the Marathon: How to Be Your Own Best Coach - A book by Brad Hudson, a great former runner who now coaches some big name US runners (Ritzenhein, James Carney, Jason Hartmann, Casey Burchill, Stephanie Rothstein, Megan Lewis, Tera Moody, and Lucinda Hull and previously Shayne Culpepper, Steve Slattery, and Jorge and Ed Torres, among others.)  A good book that covers training programs from the 5k to the marathon with lots of great tips and training programs.

Running Formula - Book by Jack Daniels, a running scientist and coach.  This book is basically the early running bible.  Any decent coach will have read it.  While I (and several other runners & coaches I've talked to) don't agree with everything set for in the book (it's a little dated) there is tons of great scientific information. There are also a few basic training programs and training times & zones are referenced by many other sites and books.

Some others:

http://www.jeffgalloway.com/ - Jeff Galloway, a former US Olympian, and a master's runner who ran a 2:16 at the age of 35, shares his thoughts on training.  His "run to finish" program is free, but other programs require a subscription   He seems to target beginners / non-serious runners with his run/walk method of marathoning.  Me?  Not that impressed.

http://marathon-training-guides.com/ - I just found this site so I haven't had time to really look through it.  It looks like it has some good info though the advanced sections are incomplete.  Might be worth looking through.

http://www.coolrunning.com/index.shtml - Not just for marathoning, but there are some plans as well as other good information for runners on diet, cross training and motivation.

http://www.runnersworld.com/ - The online companion of the Runner's World magazine.  I tend to think of this as more a jogging resource, I did find some interesting marathon information that I utilized in my marathon planning.


This is not even close to an exhaustive list of online & book resources (obviously) and I have read and used a number of other resources for my training, but this list should offer a solid foundation to your running knowledge and marathon training.