Just over eight years ago I was forced to run less, and ended up running faster, achieving a marathon PR in the process. Three years ago I began working with a coach and knocked a further 20 minutes off my best marathon time. The common thread was having someone else rebalance my priorities.
It’s easy to get into a groove that suits us. Endurance sports training is a plate spinning exercise, it’s hard, and even with a training plan we’re drawn to those things we like, or that are convenient for us. In my case a physical therapist and a coach, to help you realize I had been neglecting some of my plates.
Over the years I made a list of these plates, and I’ve contrived a way to make them all begin with S, which is nice. The list below doesn’t tell you which you need to focus on – that is a very individual assessment – but I do include a few thoughts that might help you adjust your priorities. I hope they help.
Stamina ~ My greatest challenge has been running longer miles slower than I need to (and doing speed workouts faster than I want to). I run because I enjoy the feeling of finding a steady groove, in good surroundings, and letting my body drop into autopilot mode. I feel like I can run forever, but still I run too fast. This began to change when I was tracking a friend who decided he wanted to run a marathon. He ran his long runs slower than 10 minute mile pace, and managed to finish his first race in 3 hrs 25 mins. When training you need to get in your miles, and when training to build your distance gradually. Below I share the profile of my training miles for a marathon in early November.
Speed ~ Most of my mileage is slow, as it should be, but I wasn’t running my speed workouts fast enough. One reason was spending too much time trying to run too fast. If you try to run too fast and too long, you drain your body whilst simultaneously developing poor form. I don’t like speed workouts – I can sometimes feel sick as a result – so I mix things up, ladders, fartlek, repeats over varying distances. I try to have fun, and if I find myself losing form then that is my barometer, then I’m doing something wrong.
Strength ~ This was the epiphany I received from the physical therapist. She had me lie on my side with my legs stacked, raise my upper leg, and asked me to resist the downward pressure of her little finger. I couldn’t even lift my leg to meet her little finger. I was suffering from total neglect of the gluteus medius. The extra time I subsequently spent on my stabilizing muscles – planks, clam shells, squat jumps, ice skaters, burpees – meant less time for the slow runs. I had no choice but to spend less time running because there are only so many hours in the day, and even fewer when we have a day job. Fortunately I have no sponsors to offend. The sacrifice was worth it. I like the slow runs, but they weren’t helping me run faster. Spending more time spinning the ‘core work’ plate helped me do that.
Skill ~ The importance of spending time on technique is now more pervasive in the running community than it used to be. Land on your mid foot, lean a little and use gravity to assist you. I rotate my area of focus through my workouts to develop these skills. On a long run I may spend about 60 seconds even 10 minutes or so working on the lean. During a speed work out I might focus on lifting my knees, or landing on the mid foot. I don’t presume I have these nailed on, I keep coming back to them because, well, what else am I going to do for a few hours on a run.
Sustenance ~ Ironman events made my marathon running easier. A full Ironman triathlon is essentially an eating contest. Every calorie counts, and I was counting all of them. If I was to make it to the finish line I had to get serious about calories counting. I knew how much was in a pack of gels, how much was in my bottle, how much my body could consume in an hour, what type of calories it could consume, and when. Nutrition is so often neglected but I can only recommend you get scientific. Weigh yourself before and after a workout to make sure your hydration is sufficient. A higher than desirable heart rate could mean you’re not drinking enough. I’m a sipper. I started taking two sips when I would normally take one, and my workouts became easier. I also needed the toilet more, but that process of doing something different, of exploring what my body needed, was important. Now I double sip every third drink – I found what my body needed, but that changes again with the conditions. It never gets boring. We’re all different. Experiment. Have fun.
Stretching ~ When we finish a run and then have to get to work, pick up the kids, or simply eat, it’s tempting to neglect the stretching. I always stretch before and after now, with active stretching before. Age has made this a necessity if I want to avoid injury. Everyone has their own a kryptonite area and mine is my calves so I always make sure to stretch them. I perform calf stretches through the day. If I’m standing on an escalator then this is an opportunity to do some heel drops. It had taken me several years just to get to the start line of a marathon – I had never even heard of iliotibial bands – but as soon as I found out what they were and how to look after them the start line of the 2010 Chicago marathon welcomed me with open arms.
Sleep ~ We can dream, can’t we. It’s not easy being an over-achiever, but we only have ourselves to blame. It’s usually sleep that gets sacrificed when we’re tossing out the sand bags in an effort to cram everything into our schedule. At some point you just need to rest. This is how our bodies work: we stretch our capacity and then we recover, we stretch our capacity and then we recover, we stretch our capacity… if we’re always straining and never recovering we’re only doing half the job, our progress slows, and the likelihood of injury increases. The trick is knowing how often to spin this plate, the challenge is sacrificing something else to do so.
Sychology ~ (Spelling was never my wrong suit.) During a marathon you have a lot of time in your own head, and your mind can take you to some dark places. Mantras, words of affirmation, thoughts of loved ones, interacting with spectators,… each of us will have a tactic that works better for us. Some listen to music, but in my 2016 Ironman headphones weren’t permitted so I made my own music, effectively singing my way around the bike ride. One of my favourite memories remains a fellow cyclist slowly pulling ahead of me on an incline and without even giving me a glance joining me in my private karaoke, “… he’s just a poor boy from a poor family, sparing his life for his pork sausages…” (Once you hear a lyric incorrectly!)
However you’re spinning your plates, it’s hard to give advice that will work for everyone because events as crazy as this are a journey of self-discovery, and we’re all built differently. Maybe that’s why they appeal to me: no one is the same, inspiration comes from unexpected places, people you don’t expect can’t totally take down your ego if you get too big for your boots. It’s a thrilling, inspiring, humbling, beautiful thing these crazy people do. Keep smiling. Keep your plates spinning, but maybe spin them a bit differently.
