Running frequency

I attended a seminar by Justin Trolle back in September. As a side topic he mentioned that he had been training a young female that was prone to stress fractures. He prescribed a high frequency of running. Something in the order of 25 – 30 runs per week. Of course these runs would have to be short in duration. He proclaimed that this would increase her durability. In fact, in as little as 3 weeks Justin claimed that the athlete was able to perform at a high duration and intensity and has not experienced any additional stress fractures.

Recently, I have adopted a similar training program. Thankfully, I am not plagued by injuries or stress fractures but when I have increased my mileage in the past I have had some soreness. To combat this I have started running twice a day – morning and at noon. I started out with a limit of 6 miles per run – mainly just as a time constraint. I am trying to run this pattern 4 days a week and keeping the longer / faster run for the weekend. For example, leading up to the Baton Rouge Beach Half marathon, I ran a total of 44 miles during the week and then tapered for two days and ran the race. This gave me around city miles for the week – I ran a couple of miles after the race as a cool down. Granted, there is no intensity in these weekday runs – I keep these runs at my comfortable, conversational pace which is just under 8 minutes per mile.

I have noticed that as the number of runs accumulate, the first mile of each run I feel tired. However, after this first mile the fatigue subsides. Although I have mentioned that it is difficult for me to schedule cycling while trying to achieve my best marathon I am being hard headed and keeping two regimented trainer sessions during the week – these are scheduled on Tuesday and Thursday mornings.

I believe that this progression will allow for me to build my mileage into the high 60’s / low 70’s with very little chance of injury. Once I have the mileage established I will be able to add some sharpening – quarters, Yasso 800’s and mile repeats. The bread and butter of this training plan will be volume and weekend long runs / tempos. Sounds like fun to me!

My next race is the Ole Man River Half in New Orleans on 12/19/2010. This should be flat, fast and cold – I had a PR at this race last year and I look to repeat! Last years race report.

Adult swim and FIRST training

So Sunday afternoon we met at the race site to set up the racks. We had enough people that including travel and pounding the posts into the ground for the fencing it still only took about 3 hours.


Morning came quick for Adult Swim. I was very tired – I tossed and turned – probably too much sleep from the night before. The working set was demanding. It consisted of 200’s, 100’s and 50’s times 2. I have noticed, as well as Coach Steve, that there is very little difference between my speeds at different distances. It takes so much more energy to go just a little bit faster. I was trying to slow down for the 200’s and finish them on 3:15 but the first few sets I was coming in at 3:00. And then on the 100’s I was coming in at about 1:28-29 and the 50’s it was like 42 seconds.

My endurance trumps my speed. This happens in cycling and running as well. I guess I am built for distance but I sure am working on the improving the fast stuff.

I have actually put pen to paper (pixel is screen) and I wrote a training plan that should help me achieve my running goals without allowing my swim and cycling to deteriorate. The main difference is replacing quantity with quality. The running and cycling will follow more of a FIRST (Furman Institute) training plan – just three demanding breakthrough workouts a week – intervals, tempos, and long distance.

On a side note I received my USAT Level I Coaching Certificate!
 

USAT Coaching Clinic - list of presentations - powermultisport.com

I will blog more about the clinic in the next couple of weeks but I will give you brief run down. The clinic was a full two and half days. The information was valuable. It reinforced a lot of my beliefs and may have taught me a few things. One of the most valuable parts of the clinic was being in a room with 30 like minded people. Just sharing stories and experiences was worth the trip.

There were presentations on following:

• Exercise Physiology
• Traditional Nutritional Strategies
• Triathlon Specific Strength Training
• Running Skills and Economy Training
• Sports Psychology and Mental Skills
• Swimming Skills and Economy Training
• Dynamics of Coaching Youth and juniors
• Cycling Skills
• Triathlon Specific Training and Key Workouts
• Periodization and Planning

As a first step to being a certified triathlon coach it was invaluable. In addition it provides coaching network and affordable insurance.



I have been putting together a coaching website – www.powermultisport.com/ – please let me know what you think.

Make sure you check out that ‘fat James’ picture – www.powermultisport.com/coach-james  .

The Big Easy

I survived the Big Easy without incident. The USAT coaching clinic was actually quite good. It reinforced a lot of things and also taught me a few things. I will be going into some of this in greater detail in the next couple of weeks.


So I hitched a ride with a guy named Bill from Atlanta. I am glad that I did – it was a lot more fun roaming around the French Quarter with someone. The day that we arrived was NFL kickoff. The city closed down Decatur for a parade. Not only were there floats and beads and all the regular parade stuff but Dave Mathews was there (as well as Taylor Swift). It was very crowded so I did not get much of an actual view but I was pretty close to one of the jumbo-trons.

I also got a bit of a run in a couple of nights after class. Nothing structured but just trying to keep up a little fitness. On Saturday night Bill, another classmate Mark and I went to eat in the French Quarter. I had a wonderfully delicious Muffalatta. Wow – talk about good. As we were heading back to the room for some homework we passed by Café Du monde. Bill said that he had not had a beignet before. So we had to stop. We only order 1 serving (3 beignets) and Mark got a coffee.

It was about 10 PM and the café was not crowded at all. However, up came an older bald guy with a tall Latin woman on his arm. She had huge fake boobs just popping out of her dress. She approached our table and with a perky thick accent (I’m from Mex-He-Co) and said that she had never had a beignet. She took the one from Mark’s hand. She took a big bite. Then she said she needed a little drink and picked up Marks coffee and took a sip. They talked and flirted with us for a few minutes. Boy, you could smell the alcohol.

As they walked away one of the workers at the Café asked if we should tell the guy that he was with a man. Wow – you have to love NOLA!
 

Wednesday night ride and New Orleans bound

I forgot to look for my sleep shorts on my ride home, oh well. I rode home after work and dropped my bag off at the house. I then rode back to Jackson Station for the Wednesday night ride. There were not many takers tonight. It was Butch, Ed, Mark, Chad and me. The ride started off rather sedate. Even though the pace was not that high I looked down at my legs. They were already getting splotchy from the heat. They were starting to itch. Man, I am tired of this ‘prickly heat’; however it really is getting better. Once we got off the trace Ed lead us out and pulled most of the time. The pace was just fast enough that no one was willing to attack. After about 15 miles Butch took the lead and poured it on uphill. I think that is his favorite form of attack. Long gradual hills at a good clip and he just watches the riders fall off. Once we started to regroup I took off. I really tried to keep my exertion under control. I wanted to ride out hard – but not too hard and just blow up. I got a good jump and it felt like I was creating a gap. The sun was getting low in the sky behind me and I was looking for shadows. But my heart rate started to creep up and I was getting spent. I kept the pace high for as long as possible. I started to fade and sat up – the guys were on my wheel. I had no idea. I moved to the right and tried to jump on the train. I was dying but I did not want to get dropped. Fortunately the road came to an end just ahead and I was able to get back on. It was a good solid effort. No guts no glory – maybe one of these days I will be able to get away (not likely).

I am out of town this weekend. I am going to New Orleans for a USA Triathlon coaching clinic. I am pretty excited. I was lucky enough to book a room back in June for like $50 a night. So I contacted some of the other clinic attendees to see if they wanted to split the cost of the hotel. However, being downtown the parking is $30 a night. I also wanted to find a ride. Everything fell into place. I found someone to split the room and give me a lift to New Orleans.

So I am having someone pick me up on campus in Hattiesburg and sharing a room for the weekend in New Orleans. A couple of people have told me this is risky. I guess I am a trusting person. I did not see the risk. However, I have written a post to be published at 5PM on Friday giving all of the details on my whereabouts just in case something happens. So, if I do not cancel the post please come looking for me.

All joking aside, I did think about the person picking me up. They are also taking a risk. I wonder how they would react if when they pulled up to pick me up if I was dressed as a mid-evil warrior in full regalia. I think it would be hilarious.

Why I (YOU) need a triathlon coach. (overview)

Yesterday I was perusing the blog-o-sphere and came across a question that I have asked myself many times. Matty O over at Staying strong and positive was questioning a training plan that he has been following (for a couple of days anyway). He wrote, “I feel that the training sessions I was doing before I started this program were MUCH more well rounded and intense than this program recommends. … Do you typically add more mileage or time on your workouts across the board? I feel that I am slacking pretty hardcore now and yet I say, this is what the plan says I need to do???”

I have written a number of training plans for myself and for others. But when it comes down to following the training plans I always want to add more – more intensity, more volume, more speed, more reps – you get the picture.

Time to get a pair of coaches shorts

This is so short sighted. As self-trained athletes we only see the workouts in front of us. When I have used generic training plans I have rarely even looked past the current day much less the current week. I certainly have not looked at the entire training plan. I do not take into account all of the thought that has gone into the plan. Even in the simplest of plans there should be a base, build and a peak to prepare you for your A priority races.

Now when I follow my plans I always forget (disregard) why I have put these steps in place. I have a group of cyclist that I love to go out and hammer it. I have a group of runners that I love to go out and smash it. It is hard for me to have the discipline to not DO IT ALL – everyday. It is hard for me to take recovery into consideration. I have a bias when it comes to my training. I believe that I know best on a day to day basis but I am not looking at the big picture.

The times that I have followed a training plan, and I mean really followed a plan has been few and far between. But this is where I have seen the most progress. This is where I have done the best. It takes discipline and trust to follow a structured plan but the rewards are great.

To be fair, Matty O has only been following this plan for a couple of days and it may indeed need a lot of tweaking. It would appear that his current fitness is greater than the new plan recognizes.

It would be much easier to rely on a coach to make these training decisions for you. A coach can put an end to all of the second guessing. They can tailor the training plan to your lifestyle – your strengths, weaknesses, likes and dislikes. You just have to get up and just do the workout.  The training and the workouts are the easy part.

A good coach should provide the following (I did a quick brain storming session and put these in alpha order - I will elaborate on these in coming posts):

Accountability
Belief
Confidence
Goal Setting
Information
Knowledge
Mentoring
Motivation
Objectivity
Organization
Personalization
Purpose
Race strategies
Race weight management
Responsibility
Restraint
Sounding board
Structure