Fitness, on the other hand, is not about general health.  Fitness is about the level of fit that your body has in relationship to a specific task or set of tasks.  The measures of fitness for a baseball pitcher are quite different than the measures of fitness for an offensive lineman in football.  There will most certainly be overlap, but there is a big difference between extremely fit players in these contexts.  If you try to place a baseball pitcher on the offensive line, you are likely to end up with an injured pitcher.  He is fit for one task and not fit for the other.

Everyone should have the goal of being healthy.  As a runner, however, you want to make sure that you are fit for the task of meeting your running goals.  This requires all of the aspects of general health, but also includes running-specific measures of fitness:

• How fast can you run a mile?
• Are your core  and hip muscles strong enough to stabilize you during a run?
• If you plan to run a marathon, have you practiced processing your calorie intake quickly and efficiently?
• Can you maintain a certain pace for a certain distance?

The specifics of your goals will help you determine the measures of fitness that you should be tracking.  Your training should keep you healthy, but it should also move you towards measuring up to the specific fitness to the tasks set forth in your goals.  Accordingly, you can’t just exercise and expect to move towards your fitness goals.  Swimming is good cross-training, but will never replace specific training runs in moving towards your specific running goals.

Stay healthy.
Set goals.
Determine your level of fitness.
Train to improve your health and your fitness.

_____________

Train smart, eat well, & enjoy the run!

_____________

The Gift of Running,by P. Mark Taylor, is available in both paperback & e-book

- Paperback Version – Amazon.com $9.00

- Ebook Version – Kindle Store $2.99

- Ebook Version for Nook $2.99

• improved running economy [efficient use of oxygen]
• improved lactate clearance and/or tolerance
• improved endurance at faster paces
• improved oxygen delivery [stronger heart]
• muscle growth & training
• improved anaerobic threshold [pace at which your body switches from aerobic to anaerobic metabolism]
• capillary development
• glycogen storage
• fat utilization
• mitochondrial growth
• bone development
• tendon development

When developing a training plan for a runner, I try to aim for two or three key workouts each week.  I place my key running workouts into 4 categories as outlined in the Getting Faster post:

• speedwork [raw speed]
• interval training [holding a faster pace for longer]
• tempo runs [holding a specific pace longer]
• long runs [endurance]

It is important to note that the adaptations that you get from a key workout do not happen during the key workout.  They happen in the days that follow.   A key workout requires at least one easy or rest day before another key workout should be attempted.  This is because you have pressed the limits of your body.  If you are in GREAT shape and you are below the age of 28, you might be able to handle 3 key workouts each week.  If you are in great shape and below the age of 55, you might be able to handle 5 key workouts in 2 weeks by alternating 2 and 3 key workouts each week.  [these ages vary by individual]

Remember This!

A key workout will not net the results you want if you do not plan for rest
and/or easy miles in the day(s) that follow the workout.

Remember that easy runs net benefits as well.  There are no junk miles.  The key workouts simply offer quicker adaptations.  A combination of key workouts, rest, and easy miles will provide the greatest benefit and quickest progress.

Desire.  Goal-setting.  Dream big.  It all sounds good until you want too much.  When you go after too many things at once, most of the time you end up with little or nothing.  If you do this with your running goals you will end up disappointed and/or injured.

I have been wanting too much.  My biggest goals have been in the 1 mile and the marathon.  It may not surprise my friends when I divulge my dirty little secret.  I have set huge goals in both distances and failed miserably.  Yes, I have made big gains in my marathon, just not as big as I had planned.  Yes, my mile is faster, but nowhere near the pace I set out to conquer.  I am tired of being disappointed.

You see, there is an inherent conflict in training for both goals.  There is a certain point in marathon training when the experts warn that you must stop doing true speedwork.  Marathon training requires fast miles, but not for the purpose of running a mile faster.  The primary focus of marathon training is to cause your body to be able to run fairly fast and maintain that pace.  The fast marathon training miles are much slower than the fast mile training pace.

The beginning of my last training schedule had me doing repeats at a 5:30 pace per mile.  I did quarter miles, half miles, and mile repeats.  In the middle, the focus changed to intervals at a 6:30 pace.  Did these help me run a faster mile?  Yes, but only by a little bit.  My goal is to get my mile time down to about 4:45.  How can I ever expect to reach that when my fastest training is done at 5:30?  I can’t.  Expecting that would be just plain crazy.  No, to train for a 4:45 mile, I need to be doing quarter-mile & half-mile repeats at a 4:30 pace or better.

I had been thinking that I can use the time in the marathon off-season (April/May/June) to do my mile training.  This does make some sense, but it simply not enough time to meet my goal.  I have to choose between my two biggest goals.  I proven to myself that I can’t accomplish both at the same time.

I firmly believe that a narrower focus will lead to greater success.

I also believe that while focusing on one goal, I will still make gains in the other.  With this as my new philosophy, I will now focus my efforts for the next year on running the fastest mile that I can run.  I can’t tell you how fast that will be a year from now, but I believe it will be under 5 minutes.  The question will be “How far below 5?”

Does this mean that I will not run a marathon?  No.  It does not.  I will still maintain my schedule of one marathon each spring and one each fall.  It means that my training will not be focused on those marathons.  I will maintain a year-round focus on increasing my speed in the mile, but I will not neglect distance running.  I will still schedule long runs of 13 to 18 miles periodically.  I will still gradually increase mileage as the marathons get close.  What I will not do, however, is give up my mile training.  I will maintain that all the way through the marathon schedule, stopping only for the taper and recovery periods.

This change in focus is a big one.  I have heeded the traditional marathon training advice and my goal in the mile has suffered.  I have made the mile wait for marathon training to end.  I have denied it the attention it deserves.  The mile shall wait no longer.

I love running long, but I love running fast too.  It is time to focus.
It is time to specialize.
It is time to run like the wind, with no more speed limits imposed by marathon training.
It is time to rock the mile.

Train hard, eat well, & enjoy the run!

_____________

The Gift of Running,by P. Mark Taylor, is available in both paperback & e-book.

- Paperback Version – Amazon.com $9.00

- Ebook Version – Kindle Store $2.99

- Ebook Version for Nook $2.99

I first began to understand this mantra better when I my Garmin 205 GPS watch broke.  When I started back into running in 2009, I was wearing a simple $15 stopwatch.  As I got more serious about competing, however, I wanted to watch my pace more carefully.  At that point, I bumped up to a Nike Plus wristband with a footpod sensor.  This was not as accurate as I need, so I bought the Garmin 205.  It could display 3 screens which could display 4 pieces of information each.  The numbers that I would watch closely during training and/or a race included current pace, pace of the current mile, and the average pace for the run.  Data is good, but I gradually became more and more obsessive about maintaining exact paces.  Perhaps this might be okay on a perfectly flat course, with a perfectly consistent life, and perfectly consistent nutrition.  My life, however, is not that perfect.  I live in East Tennessee (ridges!), eat imperfectly, and have a normal imperfect and unpredictable life.  Hence, exact, precise, predictable paces are a not going to happen.

Worse yet is the worry about the past and future miles.  In mile 20 of a marathon, I would be calculating what my average pace would have to be to reach certain goals.  This is not relaxing!  More stress and less focus add up to a slower pace.  Another scenario is the long run.  If you are struggling with a long run, thinking about the miles ahead is not going to help you relax and enjoy the run.

Thankfully, my Garmin 205 suffered a horrible accident and shattered.  I replaced it with a Garmin 110.  The Garmin 110 is just as accurate, but it does not display the current pace and overall pace.  I can only see the total distance run, the time elapsed for the whole run so far, and the pace of the current mile.  My stress level during runs has reduced significantly.  I am much better at enjoying the run when my only info and focus is on the current mile.  I am not trying to be exact, but I am aiming for a pace zone based on my goal for the day and the lay of the land I am running.  If I am in a hilly mile, I will give myself extra time for that mile.  If it is mostly downhill, I will speed it up.

Beyond the pace, I have also learned that this focus on the mile you are in does wonders for my mindset on a long run.  I do not waste time figuring out how much I have left.  That is a drag.  I do not worry about how tired I am and how far there is to go, I only worry about the mile that I am currently running.  This short-term outlook allows me to relax and to not focus on the pain of the coming miles.  I simply finish the mile I am in and then start a new one.

This has helped my overall mindset and does especially well for me in the marathon.  In the final miles, I try not to set goals based on my expectations for the day.  I have learned instead to set my goals on the run.  As I finish mile 21, I am setting my goal for my 22 based on how I feel.  I ask myself, “What is the best mile that I can run without cramping and getting injured?”  I can then check my Garmin periodically to see how I am doing versus how I am feeling.  This is so much more relaxing than the constant ongoing multiple forms of analysis that I used to go through.

Remember this!

Relaxing and enjoying the run leads to better performance.
Focus on running the mile you are in.
Not the miles before. Not the miles after.

Train hard, eat well, & enjoy the run!

_____________

The Gift of Running,by P. Mark Taylor, is available in both paperback & e-book.

- Paperback Version – Amazon.com $9.00

- Ebook Version – Kindle Store $2.99

- Ebook Version for Nook $2.99

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Carrying my calories on a Fuel Belt. 

Amy left this note for me on Facebook:

“I was just curious if you had any tips or blogs or any help on nutrition for running a marathon! I ran my first Marathon about a week and a half ago. It did not go to well, I got really dehydrated and hit the wall fast, after that ! 17-23 turned into the death zone! Anyway I did train but my stomach is just not that good and cramps a lot! So it is hard for me to drink a lot and eat much of anything while I run! Also I lost weight training which is okay but I do not want to lose weight again! I am going to start my training up again in June for the Chicago Marathon. I would just like to feel good while I run and I know the key to this is nutrition! Distance wise I felt I was prepared! I am pretty sure I did not eat enough food before, looking back now! So if you have any pointers, info, book whatever I would love to hear it!! If it matters I do not run to fast but would love to pick it up for next Marathon! However not feeling like death would be great !!”

Amy, you are not alone!  When I first started running marathons, I didn’t even like to drink on the run.  The idea of drinking 4-6 ounces of every 2 miles seemed crazy.  That is one of the reasons that I had trouble starting at about mile 17 on my first marathon as well.

Marathon Nutrition is a tricky thing.  For most of us, our bodies will begin to run out of resources somewhere between mile 15 and mile 17 if we are not careful before and during a marathon.  I will split the nutrition advice into three stages: training, tapering, & race day.

Nutrition During Training

Before I get specific about foods and supplements, let me make one comment about weight loss.  Marathon training means an increase in weekly mileage and a gradual increase in the distance of your weekly long run.  As your mileage increases, your need for nutrition increases.  As a result, marathon training is not very compatible with weight loss.  You need more carbs during marathon training, not fewer.

As for the specific foods to eat to maximize the benefits of your training, the answer is simple: eat healthy.  Instead of cutting back on food to get healthy, you should be changing the kind of food that you eat.  As with any time, you need a balanced diet.  You also need to eat less and less processed foods while increasing the amount of simple natural foods.  Dietician Cassie is always talking about striking a balance at each meal with PFC: protein, fat, and carbohydrates.  In marathon training, it is still ideal to balance these three, with an increased emphasis on carbs.  While carbs are the focus in the last days of the taper, you must keep eating healthy fat and a good amount of protein at each meal.  Here is my blog post about protein for runners.

Some folks, including me, need a little extra help from supplements during marathon training.  I need extra the electrolytes offered through capsules, tablets, drinks, & powders.  I mostly stick with Endurolytes Capsules from Hammer Nutrition.  Each electrolyte supplement has different directions to follow.  Personally, I need more than the average person.  I know that I need more electrolytes when my leg muscles are twitching a little bit while I am relaxing after my workout.  Finding your electrolyte balance during  training & especially on your long runs can save a great deal of pain and cramping during the marathon!

Nutrition During the Taper

The taper is usually about two weeks of gradually lowering your mileage and effort as you approach the marathon.  Nutrition for most of the taper period is no different from during the rest of training.  It is normal and healthy to gain a few pounds, especially during the last week before the marathon.  Your body knows what is coming and is storing energy, electrolytes, and water.  This weight gain is good.  You will use it all during the marathon, I promise!

In the last 48 hours before the marathon, you will no longer stick to the protein/carb/fat balance that you normally consume.  You will gradually reduce your intake of protein and fat while increasing your healthy carbohydrates.  You also want to shift towards carbohydrate sources that have less fiber.

Jeff Galloway makes the following suggestions:

• Rules:
  1. Don’t try anything new.
  2. Go through the same schedule and foods that worked for you in training.
  3. If you hear sloshing in your stomach, you don’t have to drink for the next 30 minutes.
• 24 hours and before: Plenty of liquids all day long, especially electrolyte fluids. Before marathons you can eat extra carbohydrates.
• 18 hours before race: Start eating small meals, every 2-3 hours. Keep drinking fluids. After lunch, cut out red meat, fried foods, dairy products, fats, nuts, and roughage.
• 12 hours before race: Don’t overeat. Only light, digestible foods like energy bars, bread, small sandwiches, which you’ve tried before long runs and races. Keep drinking water and electrolyte fluids. Avoid salty foods.

Nutrition on Race Day

Before a marathon, you need to have a substantial number of calories in the morning.  One expert suggests consuming enough easy-to-digest carbs to provide 200 calories for each hour you are awake before the race.  Keep it simple.  Avoid fat of any kind on race morning.  Whatever you eat that morning, get it in your body about 3 hours before the start.  As the start approaches, shift to your race fuel.  (gels, sports drink, …)

Water mostly, with some electrolyte fluid, in small, regular amounts.  Cold water is absorbed quicker. I recommend 6 oz. every hour, 8 oz. on hot days.  If you want Vitamin C, take it two hours or more before the race.

DURING the marathon is even more complicated.  For a half marathon, most just need one or two gel packets to make it through.  There are mathematical formulas involved in the calculations for marathons and other races longer than the half marathon.  At 160 pounds, I know I personally have to consume around 1,100 calories through gels and sports drinks along the marathon route in order to avoid running out of energy.

Here is what Lucia Mahoney from FitBodyNutrition says about fueling during the marathon:

• under “normal” conditions, the average runner needs 16-32 fluid ounces per hour of exercise. For best absorption, drink 1/2-1 cup of fluid every 15-20 minutes. You will require more on very hot or humid days.
• for every pound you lose on a run, 2 cups of water are required to replace.
• 1 pound of sweat = loss of 500 mg sodium (the equivalent of 1/4 tsp of salt)
• dehydration will increase body temperature, reduce blood volume and thereby weaken muscular endurance and strength. Result —-> you slow down
• your gel or sports drink should include electrolytes; studies show that ingesting electrolytes (remember: sodium, magnesium, calcium, potassium) during the run will improve performance and help delay fatigue. Electrolytes are important for muscular contraction and for optimal absorption & retention of fluids
• **how much do you need?** Carb intake during prolonged exercise should be approximately .5-1.0 grams per kilogram of body weight per hour. A 165 lb (or 75 kg) athlete would therefore need 37.5-75 grams per hour. That is equivalent to 2-3 gels or 1-2 gels plus 8-20 ounces of sports drink per hour (most gels contain 20-25 grams of carbs and sports drinks contain 12-14 grams/8 oz)
• important: each gel must be taken with 8-10 ounces of water (not sports drink) to promote absorption and avoid gastrointestinal distress

Remember This:

Start your eating and drinking within the first mile or two.
If you start your fuel and water intake after 2 miles,
you may have already ruined your marathon.

Be careful to consume enough of everything your body needs to succeed at the task that you are asking it to accomplish.

Train hard, eat well, & enjoy the run!

_____________

The Gift of Running,by P. Mark Taylor, is now available in both paperback & e-book

- Paperback Version – Amazon.com $9.00

- Ebook Version – Kindle Store $2.99

- Ebook Version for Nook $2.99

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I am adding a new category to my training plans.  So far, I have tried to stay true to the 80-10-10 rule.   About 10% of your weekly miles should be  run at a pace somewhere close to your 5K personal record pace (Tempo/Intervals).  About 10% of your weekly miles should be faster than that pace (Speedwork).  About 80% of your weekly miles should be relatively easy, at a pace that is 1.5-2 minutes slower than your 5K personal record pace (Easy Miles).  Research shows that runners that stick with this as a guiding principle tend to improve faster than runners that do not.

The 80-10-10 rule has worked very well for me, but this makes for a lonely life.  You see, in planning my next training schedule for maximum improvement my easy pace will be 7:15 minutes per mile.  At the social runs in which I have participated, there have been very few runners that expect to run at a 7:15 pace.  There are much faster runners in this town, but the elite runners do not usually join the social runs.  Most of the participants in the social runs average between 8:30 and 10:30 minutes per mile.  That means that If I stick to my training program pace, the only time I get to talk to people at a social run is before and after.  That is nice, but it seems to be missing half of the point.  There is joy in running together.  Running in isolation all the time can be rewarding, but a more balanced approach is healthier both mentally and emotionally.

I think it is time to add a new category.  I am going to aim for a 70-10-10-10 program.  I will aim for about 10% of my weekly miles to be at a new pace.  I shall call this Social Pace.  Social Pace will be defined as: “Whatever pace the main group of runners is maintaining during a social run.”  Will it slow my progress?  Probably, but just a little.   I like my runner friends.  The time with them is far more valuable than that price of slightly slower progress.

___________

Train hard. Race easy. Enjoy the run!

_____________

The Gift of Running,by P. Mark Taylor, is available in both paperback & e-book

- Paperback Version – Amazon.com $9.00

- Ebook Version – Kindle Store $2.99

When I was young, I stretched because my coaches told me to stretch. I have never been that  flexible, but I never really understood the benefits. Here are the things that we are typically told about stretching:

• Stretching prior to any type of exercise gets the muscles ready for the more intense exercise that follows.
• A well-stretched muscle moves through a full range of motion with less effort. Therefore, stretching prior to physical activity will help you conserve energy and thereby improve performance.
• Because our muscles get cold and tight from hours of sitting or standing at our jobs, periodic stretching will keep the blood flowing and allow the muscles to move through a full range of motion.
• A muscle is more flexible when it is warm and stretched, and it is less likely to tear or overstretch from an abrupt movement.
• Stretching increases the blood supply to the muscles and joints.  This keeps the muscles supple and healthy.
• After a workout, stretching your muscles will keep them from immediately shortening and tightening as they cool down.

In high school, I ran both cross country and track. My cross country coach had us stretch before running and encouraged stretching after the workout. Our head track coach, however, made us run a mile first and then stretch. Both seem like pretty good ideas, but which is right? I have great respect for both of those coaches, so I am going to say that I agree with both coaches MOST of the time.

Right now, however, I am suffering a round of tight muscles in my calves. Over the past few weeks, when I stretched BEFORE the run it felt very artificial.  My muscles would not stretch unless I forced them. Bad idea! They just would not budge until I pushed to the point of pain… and the led to more pain and more tightness. In short, stretching a muscle that will not cooperate is a bad idea.

Does that mean that I should run without stretching? I tried. Bad idea. It just forced the muscle to stretch under duress, just like stretching before the run. That led to worse pain and increased tightness.

How do you stretch a muscle that is firmly against the idea? Stretching first is bad and stretching after a mile is bad… where do you go from there?

The Technical Truth about Stretching

An extensive meta-analysis of the research on stretching reaches two unavoidable truths:

1. Static stretching, the old method of stretching and holding a stretch before your run, can reduce your power by as much as 5.5%.
2. Dynamic stretching through gentle movement and gradually attaining your full range of motion is much safer and more productive.

You can find a lot of dynamic stretching ideas out on the web, but here is what is working for me:

• Warm up the sore & tight muscles by slowly and carefully moving through their comfortable range first.  Not by running, but just gently going through your comfortable range of motion.
• After the muscles begin to warm up, the comfortable range of motion will begin to gradually increase.
• Take that warm-up/stretch combination as far as your muscles will comfortably allow in a few minutes.
• Begin to run at an easy pace and gradually increase your speed.
• Stop to do a little more dynamic stretching if you feel the need.

This may not be new to you, but I was never told to warm up the muscle and stretch simultaneously. I suppose you could say that I am employing a combination of the advice of both of my high school head coaches. It just goes to show that the lesson that you teach to youth may be lost on them in the moment, but they can keep learning from that advice years later.

I continue to have some tension in those muscles, but it gets better every day. When my muscles rebel, I placate them with my new process of warm-up & stretching.

If you have been struggling with a tight muscle and just can’t find the right process to loosen it up, you might give it a try.

Be careful. Don’t overstretch.

_____________________

The other item to add is about devices for stretching.   Here are the two products that I use to aid in the stretching process, not before a run but hours before or after.  They are both designed to work out knots in your muscles by rolling – like rolling out dough with a rolling pin.  You lay on the foam roller and use your body weight to apply pressure.  A lot of runners have found relief.  I most recently rescued my knees by using the foam roller.

View Foam Rollers

View “The Stick”

The Stick, on the other hand, has handles and you press down to apply pressure.   I found this tool especially wonderful for my calves.  Oh, yes!

I hope these work for you as well as they have worked for me. 

___________

Train hard. Race easy. Enjoy the run!

_____________

The Gift of Running,by P. Mark Taylor, is available in both paperback & e-book

- Paperback Version – Amazon.com $9.00

- Ebook Version – Kindle Store $2.99

- Ebook Version for Nook $2.99

For the second spring in a row, I started a marathon expecting to finish in a time of somewhere around 3:05 and ended up disappointed.  Both years I trained very hard.  Both years I adjusted my expectations a little for the weather conditions.  Eerily similar were these two starts.  That is where the similarity stops.

Spring of 2012

Last April, I knew from the beginning of the Knoxville Marathon that something was terribly wrong.  I could not figure out what it was, but running just seemed much more difficult than it should have been.  I ended up with my first DNF (did not finish) and I was devastated.  What is worse, I continued to get more and more weak for months.  It wasn’t until September that I figured out what was wrong.  I had suddenly developed gluten intolerance.

Fall of 2012

I had managed to put in some training before being diagnosed in mid-September, but that training was limited in terms of distance and intensity.  I ran the 7 Bridges Marathon just about 4 weeks after going on a gluten-free diet.  I went into that race with little to no expectations other than giving it a good try and hope to finish strong.  The gluten-free diet made a big difference.  Even though my longest training runs included only one 15 miler and one 20 miler, I was able to finish the 7 Bridges Marathon.  I set a personal record with a time of 3:22:44, beating my previous PR by 4 minutes and 42 seconds.  At 45 years old, that was good enough to qualify me for the Boston Marathon.  Even with this triumph I knew that I had a long way to go before I was fully recovered from my illness.  I ran the first half of the race at a 7 minute pace per mile and cramped throughout the second half.  I would struggle, stop to stretch, jog for a while and start the cycle again.  I ended up averaging around a 7:44 pace.  This is not the ideal marathon strategy.

Spring 2013

My training for the 2013 Shamrock Marathon was much more consistent, intense, and thorough.  I used the Hansons Marathon Method, training as if I were planning to run at a 6:40 pace per mile.  I carefully followed all of their guidelines and I could tell that I was faster than ever.  If all elements were perfect, I should have been able to run a marathon in less than 3 hours.  The variables that could go wrong included the weather and my gut.  As for the weather, it ended up being a little cold, very humid, and very windy.  For this I adjusted my expectations from a 6:40 pace to a 7:00 pace.  As for my gut, however, this had been left untested.  Without actually running a marathon, there was no way to know whether I could digest enough calories to provide the energy necessary to maintain a 7 minute pace for the full 26 miles.  At the 7 Bridges Marathon 6 months before, I started having issues at around mile 16.  The question was how much farther I would go before it hit me during the Shamrock Marathon.

Now at the Shamrock Marathon, I managed to maintain close to a 7 minute pace until I hit the really strong headwinds on the boardwalk.  That slowed me down and followed us over to Atlantic Avenue.  Six miles of headwind gradually wore me down, but I was still thinking positive.  I believed that if my gut was healed enough, I would be able speed up later after the headwind died down.  At mile marker 18, I had averaged 7:10 per mile.  I had trained to run a 6:40 pace, so I thought I still had a shot at finishing in 3 hours and 5 minutes.  By mile marker 22, I moving even slower and I was even more worn out.  The headwinds had started up again and my legs were beginning to threaten to cramp.  Each time I began to speed up just a bit, my legs would begin to twitch.  I knew this feeling all too well.  If I pushed it, I would cramp up.  If I pushed hard, the muscles would cramp hard enough to injure me.  It was time to reset my expectations.

By the time the headwinds faded around mile 22.5, I knew it was time to cut my losses and just manage.  My gut had not been able to process all of the energy gels that I had managed to swallow throughout the race.  I need to manage my effort to get the most speed out of my legs without cramping up.  For the final 3.8 miles it was no longer about the pace that my Garmin told me.  It was about the listening to my legs.  I rode the line between just enough and too much all the way to the finish line.  My calf gave the first full cramp with only about 100 yards to the finish line.  I grimaced, calmed myself, relaxed the calf, and jogged the last 100 yards.  I finished with a time of 3:13:22, about 10 minutes slower than ideal.

A New PR and a New Kind of PR

To tell you the truth, I REALLY wanted to finish in less than 3:05:00.  This is the young man’s standard to qualify for Boston.  That is just a pride issue, however.  I can get that some other time.  Yes, finishing the Shamrock Marathon in 3:13:22 meant that I had beaten my personal record by 9 minutes and 22 seconds.  That is great, but that is not the victory that I am celebrating.  First, I am celebrating that my gluten issue seems to be less of an issue as my gut heals.  I am hoping that it will not be a factor in my next marathon later this year.  Beyond this, I am celebrating something even bigger.  I am celebrating an emotional victory.

Even though several things did not go my way, I never let them get to me emotionally.

• I did not lose hope when I knew the humidity went up.  I adjusted my expectations.
• I did not lose hope when the wind pushed into my face more miles on end.  I adjusted my expectations and pressed on.
• I did not lose hope when my legs threatened to cramp.  I adjusted my expectations, listened to my legs, and coasted in as best as I could.

If I had pushed too hard against any one of these issues, I most certainly would have ended up sidelined by severe cramping.  I would have either walked it in or DNFed.  But I didn’t.  Not this time.  The thing I am most proud of is focusing on what I could control and letting go of what I could not control.  Because of this, I know for a fact that I did the very best that I could.  For me, those adjustments are a new kind of PR.  They represent a personal record in staying positive and enjoying the run.  Now THAT is worth the trip to Virginia Beach and all of the training that came before it.

___________

Train hard. Race easy. Enjoy the run!

_____________

The Gift of Running,by P. Mark Taylor, is available in both paperback & e-book

- Paperback Version – Amazon.com $9.00

- Ebook Version – Kindle Store $2.99

- Ebook Version for Nook $2.99

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I recently wrote about the question of whether to eat or not before a run, but a friend recently asked me a more specific and detailed question:

What should I eat during the days before a race and on the day of the race?

The very clear answer: it depends on the race you are running.

If you are racing a distance of 8 miles or less, what you eat on the days before is not quite as critical.

• Feeling Good:  It is always better to stick with healthy foods, especially as you approach race day.  This will help you feel your best.
• Avoiding GI Issues:  There is no avoiding this topic.  It is hard to run your best when you feel bloated or suddenly feel the need to poop. You know your body best.  Eat foods that agree with your body and encourage regularity.  Eat early enough on race day to allow any extra pressure in that area to work itself out well before you head to the starting line.  Specifically, eat at least 2 hours before start time.  Three hours would be better, but do not lose sleep over it.
• Energy:  Assuming you are eating enough calories to maintain your current weight, you are naturally storing enough calories to run a race of this length.
• On Race Day:  You really do not need to eat much on race morning.  Stick with easy to digest carbohydrates.  Avoid fat, which can slow digestion and slow you just a bit.

If you are racing 10 or more miles, what you eat in the days before a race makes a much bigger difference.

• Feeling Good:  It is still true at any distance; It is always better to stick with healthy foods, especially as you approach race day.  This will help you feel your best.
• Avoiding GI Issues:  This is especially relevant for racing longer distances; it is hard to run your best when you feel bloated or suddenly feel the need to poop. You know your body best.  Eat foods that agree with your body and encourage regularity.  Eat early enough on race day to allow any extra pressure in that area to work itself out well before you head to the starting line.  The difference on the longer distance races is that you should limit your intake of fiber starting the day before the race.
• Energy:  You must consider carb-loading.  At 10-13 miles, you might naturally store enough calories to run a race of this length., but you should keep your tank topped off to make sure.  For marathons (or anything beyond 13) it is absolutely critical!  Gradually increase the percent of your calories that you get from carbohydrates.  By the day before the race, as much as 80% of your calories should come from carbs.
• Hydration:  An important part of carb-loading is hydration.  In order to store those carbs as glycogen in your legs, your body must store some water with it.  Most experts suggest sipping on sports drinks for a day or two before a marathon.  It delivers the carbs and water together.
• On Race Day:  For a marathon, you need to have a substantial number of calories in the morning.  One expert suggests consuming enough easy-to-digest carbs to provide 200 calories for each hour you are awake before the race.  Keep it simple.  Avoid fat of any kind on race morning.  Whatever you eat that morning, get it in your body about 3 hours before the start.  As the start approaches, shift to your race fuel.  (gels, sports drink, …)
• Calories DURING the race:  This one is complicated.  For a half marathon, most just need one or two gel packets to make it through.  There are mathematical formulas involved in the calculations for marathons and other races longer than the half marathon.  At 160 pounds, I know I personally have to consume around 1,100 calories through gels and sports drinks along the marathon route in order to avoid running out of energy.  I will save that technical info for another post.

What you eat in the days before the race can make or break your attempt at running a personal best.   Think about the consequences before you reach for something to eat.  Get enough of the right things at the right times and you will be happier with the results.

Eat well & enjoy the run!

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The Gift of Running,by P. Mark Taylor, is now available in both paperback & e-book

- Paperback Version – Amazon.com $9.00

- Ebook Version – Kindle Store $2.99

- Ebook Version for Nook $2.99

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Today’s question comes from a half marathon maniac who has been trying to find the right fuel for every day running and recovery.

Question:   How much protein do runners need?

P. Mark’s Answer:  With all the conflicting dietary info out there, deciding what to eat can feel like a minefield.  As an athlete, however, we should always be concerned about giving our bodies what they need to recover.  We do specific workouts to cue our bodies to make specific adaptations to enable us to run farther faster.  One of the major components of of “recovery nutrition” is protein.  Hence, this is a question that I have been asking, too:

How much protein should I be consuming daily?

The answer is not obvious.  It is also not simple.  I started with one of the most trusted sources for runners around the world, Runner’s World magazine.  According to an article in that journal, runner’s should consume between .45 & .72 grams of protein for each pound of body weight.  By that standard, a 200 pound runner should consume between 90 & 144 grams of protein each day.  A 150 pound runner would consume between 67 & 108 grams of protein each day.

Is this the final answer?  No.  I read a review of research literature on the topic and found that there is not universal agreement.  Based on a meta-analysis of the research, the author recommended an intake of .63 to .81 grams of protein per day for long distance runners of any age less than 62 years old.  Beyond age 62 the recovery process slows, so less protein would be required.

If we combine these, then you, my distance runner friend, will need somewhere between .45 and .81 grams of protein per pound of body weight each day to maximize your health and get the most out of your training.  Below is a table to help you examine the possibilities.

With this scientific evidence, it is still not easy to know how much protein to consume daily!  If you weight 170 pounds, your protein needs could be anywhere between 76.5 grams all the way up to 136 grams.  That is a huge range.

How then shall we make the decision of how much to eat on a daily basis?

First, make sure you are falling within the range of grams for your weight.  If you are consuming less than the amount in the .45 grams column, then you know that you are not getting enough protein.  Within that range, your gender matters.  Men break down a bit more during a workout than do women.  Hence, men will be in the higher half of that range, and  women will be towards the lower half.

For me personally, I have decided that I would rather have a bit too much than to not have enough when it comes to protein.  As a 160 pounds male, I am going to aim for about 110 grams of protein per day.  That represents a 10 gram increase over what I had been aiming for in my daily intake of protein.

What Are My Protein Sources?

Determining which sources of protein are best is another tough issue.  It depends on who you ask.  Rather than go through all of the choices, I will just tell you what I have been doing for my most consistent protein sources:  eggs, chicken, beans, quinoa, peanut butter, peanuts, plain nonfat yogurt, and my protein powder supplement (plant-based protein from peas, hemp, & rice).  You may differ in your opinion of what is best.  I have tested foods out one by one to see how my body responds and this is the list of the best for P. Mark Taylor & his running performance.  I recommend that you do a similar experiment and see what your body likes the best.

Unfortunately, I can’t tell you exactly what you should eat and how much.  My hope in posting this information is that you would seriously consider changing your diet to make sure you are getting the right amount of protein as a part of a balanced healthy dietary lifestyle.

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Train hard. Race easy. Enjoy the run!

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The Gift of Running,by P. Mark Taylor, is available in both paperback & e-book

- Paperback Version – Amazon.com $9.00

- Ebook Version – Kindle Store $2.99

- Ebook Version for Nook $2.99