Heard about the Phil Maffetone book, The Big Book of Training and Endurance, on the huaraches group. Didn't know much about it, but was buying some gifts for Erin on Amazon, and ended up buying some gifts for myself, too. I bought it, and two Matt Fitzgerald books, one about getting down to race weight, one about running by feel.
The books came the other day, and I had a forced day of rest due to a typhoon, and grabbed the Maffetone book, beastly as it was, to try out on the train. I got sucked into it right away, and have so far managed to plow my way through almost a quarter of its 500+ pages.
The gist of what I've gotten so far, other than that his approach is very holistic and all aspects of health need to be considered in training, is building an aerobic base. This involves using an HRM while running, and not going beyond your max heart rate, in other words, no speed work. Goes against what I've been doing recently, and while I have gained speed, I have not been happy with what's happening with my body in terms of injury, blisters, fatigue, and overall inconsistency.
So I'm giving it a go. I'm going to follow his recommendations for the next four months or so in anticipation of getting in some good races this fall. I want to run a 10k in September, a HM in October, and hopefully a sub 3:00 FM in November, probably Tsukuba.
I've still got a lot to get out of the book, nutrition, stress, injury etc. But I've got the gist of the aerobic base building for now, and I've already started. Will start to log the results today.
Monday, May 30, 2011
2000 km of Training Week 27: 362.7 to go
Sun: 21k/Zoom XC Started with a pretty good pace because I was chasing a guy for about 5k. Kept it steady for most of the run, but did get a bit tired at the end. No issues with the hamstring.
Mon: Bike 16k
Tue: Bike 16k
Wed: 15.4/1:08:10/4:25/XC Zoom Good hard run at a good pace. First time in a while.
Thu: 13.7/1:05:09/4:44/Neo Legs a bit tight/tired from yesterday, especially since only about 12 hrs between runs; recovery run.
Fri: Rest. Went to osteopath with back probs.
Sat: 21k/Neo Free run in terms of time, picked it up to relatively fast pace for second five k, and wanted to again for last five, but right foot a bit sore. Good pace overall.
Total mileage: 71.1km First decent week in a while. Who knows what's coming next...
Mon: Bike 16k
Tue: Bike 16k
Wed: 15.4/1:08:10/4:25/XC Zoom Good hard run at a good pace. First time in a while.
Thu: 13.7/1:05:09/4:44/Neo Legs a bit tight/tired from yesterday, especially since only about 12 hrs between runs; recovery run.
Fri: Rest. Went to osteopath with back probs.
Sat: 21k/Neo Free run in terms of time, picked it up to relatively fast pace for second five k, and wanted to again for last five, but right foot a bit sore. Good pace overall.
Total mileage: 71.1km First decent week in a while. Who knows what's coming next...
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
2000 km of Training Week 26: 433.8 to go INJURED
Sun: Bike 33k
Mon: Walk 12k. Dealing with a pull in the outside of my right hamstring. I think it must be from the interval session on Saturday. Had the day off with everyone away, so I decided to take a long walk up the river to the hardware store. I bought a 17kg bag of potting soil and lugged that back on my back. A good workout, BF on the way, and KSOs on the way back.
Tue: Walk 8k. Tried the run home, but the leg was still bothering me, so I ended up walking most of it, then took the train from Asakusa.
Wed: Bike 33k.
Thu: Bike 33k.
Fri: 15/Zoom XC A nice early morning run. Didn't really pay attention to time. Had some stiffness in my right knee at the beginning, but that went away after getting warmed up. Kept an easy pace the whole time so didn't hurt the hamstring. Ran primarily in the grass along the river.
Sat: 18/BF Another free run in terms of time. Pretty slow at the beginning, but picked it up at the halfway point for a while because it felt good. Nice long BF run without any blister issues, mainly because I did most of it in the grass.
Total Mileage: 33K. Another weak week, but will try to start a build from next week.
Mon: Walk 12k. Dealing with a pull in the outside of my right hamstring. I think it must be from the interval session on Saturday. Had the day off with everyone away, so I decided to take a long walk up the river to the hardware store. I bought a 17kg bag of potting soil and lugged that back on my back. A good workout, BF on the way, and KSOs on the way back.
Tue: Walk 8k. Tried the run home, but the leg was still bothering me, so I ended up walking most of it, then took the train from Asakusa.
Wed: Bike 33k.
Thu: Bike 33k.
Fri: 15/Zoom XC A nice early morning run. Didn't really pay attention to time. Had some stiffness in my right knee at the beginning, but that went away after getting warmed up. Kept an easy pace the whole time so didn't hurt the hamstring. Ran primarily in the grass along the river.
Sat: 18/BF Another free run in terms of time. Pretty slow at the beginning, but picked it up at the halfway point for a while because it felt good. Nice long BF run without any blister issues, mainly because I did most of it in the grass.
Total Mileage: 33K. Another weak week, but will try to start a build from next week.
Saturday, May 14, 2011
2000 km of Training Week 25: 466.8 to go
Sun: 21.1 Kanuma Satsuki HM
Mon: bike 33k
Tue: Rest
Wed: Rest (planned to run, but came unprepared for cold rain, so bagged it)
Thu: 12.4/58:47/4:43/Evo This was harder than expected. Some pain in the right knee which was a surprise, but went away after was warmed up. Running in steady rain the whole time.
Sat: 15/BF 5k warm up followed by intervals: 1000 X 2, 500 X 6, 5k cool down. Intervals were good, but tough. Was barely running under 4:00 min pace for the 1000, about 3:40 for the 500. Feel out of shape. Feet were in rough shape for the cool down, so my form was crap.
Total Mileage: 48.5 That HM was harder on me than expected. Hopefully this coming week will be better.
Mon: bike 33k
Tue: Rest
Wed: Rest (planned to run, but came unprepared for cold rain, so bagged it)
Thu: 12.4/58:47/4:43/Evo This was harder than expected. Some pain in the right knee which was a surprise, but went away after was warmed up. Running in steady rain the whole time.
Sat: 15/BF 5k warm up followed by intervals: 1000 X 2, 500 X 6, 5k cool down. Intervals were good, but tough. Was barely running under 4:00 min pace for the 1000, about 3:40 for the 500. Feel out of shape. Feet were in rough shape for the cool down, so my form was crap.
Total Mileage: 48.5 That HM was harder on me than expected. Hopefully this coming week will be better.
Kanuma Satsuki HM
This was a race I found out a few months ago by chance on Runnet. For some reason I decided to invite Hiroshi, and he signed right up as well. It's a race I didn't know anything about, but it seemed like a good distance (HM) and not too much of a hassle to get to.
For about two weeks before race, I was trying to decide if I was going to go out hard, or just run with Hiroshi and go barefoot. This was partially due to the fact that I started to get ITBS in my right knee after doing a 100k week, and partly because I know that racing hard makes me anxious and screws up my stomach, which is a hassle.
I still couldn't decide the day before the race, so I brought shoes and figured I would decide when I arrived. I ended up going with Taiyo because Chikako said she would watch him with their girls while we were running. They missed their train in the morning, so Taiyo and I ended up going ahead. It was a really long ride with a crowded train, and it was a bit of a haul from the train station as well. When we got to the site, I decided to leave my fate in Taiyo's hands. I asked him if I should run with shoes or no shoes, and he responded immediately, 'no shoes'. In any case, Hiroshi and family were too late for us to get a good place at the start, and I had no time to warm up.
When they did arrive, there was only about 20 minutes left to the gun, so we when to the starting line, and there were a ton of people there. I was obviously the only barefooter, and was hoping that the roads would be smooth. the first 3k or so were so packed with people it was hard to move. Then it started to open up, and I got caught up in the excitement and took off. I ended up running the first 10k in about 48 min, and my feet were already feeling a bit sore, especially the outside of my right foot. By the halfway, I was pretty worried about being able to finish, so I found a medic and got some tape for my right foot. It helped, but the roads were a bit rough, and it was getting painful. Hiroshi caught up with me, and I looped around to run with him, but eventually he lost me as the roads were making it hard for me to keep a decent pace. I tried to catch him at one point, but I was worried about damaging my feet and couldn't do it.
I hit the 16k mark and felt confident that I could finish, if slowly. And slow it was, I finished in 1:51, the slowest I've ever run that distance, even in training. My feet were in better shape than I thought, and within two days they were fine.
The lesson learned is that it was not a great idea to do this since I had not been doing any BF running lately. I also hated being passed by so many people that I know were slower runners than me, and I hated missing the opportunity to be out front with the fast guys. I thought going easy and BF would be fun, but it was a bit too painful to be fun, and the competitive side of me was definitely not satisfied.
For about two weeks before race, I was trying to decide if I was going to go out hard, or just run with Hiroshi and go barefoot. This was partially due to the fact that I started to get ITBS in my right knee after doing a 100k week, and partly because I know that racing hard makes me anxious and screws up my stomach, which is a hassle.
I still couldn't decide the day before the race, so I brought shoes and figured I would decide when I arrived. I ended up going with Taiyo because Chikako said she would watch him with their girls while we were running. They missed their train in the morning, so Taiyo and I ended up going ahead. It was a really long ride with a crowded train, and it was a bit of a haul from the train station as well. When we got to the site, I decided to leave my fate in Taiyo's hands. I asked him if I should run with shoes or no shoes, and he responded immediately, 'no shoes'. In any case, Hiroshi and family were too late for us to get a good place at the start, and I had no time to warm up.
When they did arrive, there was only about 20 minutes left to the gun, so we when to the starting line, and there were a ton of people there. I was obviously the only barefooter, and was hoping that the roads would be smooth. the first 3k or so were so packed with people it was hard to move. Then it started to open up, and I got caught up in the excitement and took off. I ended up running the first 10k in about 48 min, and my feet were already feeling a bit sore, especially the outside of my right foot. By the halfway, I was pretty worried about being able to finish, so I found a medic and got some tape for my right foot. It helped, but the roads were a bit rough, and it was getting painful. Hiroshi caught up with me, and I looped around to run with him, but eventually he lost me as the roads were making it hard for me to keep a decent pace. I tried to catch him at one point, but I was worried about damaging my feet and couldn't do it.
I hit the 16k mark and felt confident that I could finish, if slowly. And slow it was, I finished in 1:51, the slowest I've ever run that distance, even in training. My feet were in better shape than I thought, and within two days they were fine.
The lesson learned is that it was not a great idea to do this since I had not been doing any BF running lately. I also hated being passed by so many people that I know were slower runners than me, and I hated missing the opportunity to be out front with the fast guys. I thought going easy and BF would be fun, but it was a bit too painful to be fun, and the competitive side of me was definitely not satisfied.
Sunday, May 8, 2011
2000 km of Training Week 24: 515.3 to go
Sun: 12/Neos Beautiful run in the woods again. Stopped at one point to drink from the river and do some meditation. That is the memory I conjure up these days if I have trouble sleeping.
Mon: 10/Neo Good last run in Kagoshima. I'll really miss running there.
Tue: 12.5/54:03/4:20/Zoom XC Wanted to get in one hard run before the HM. Happy with the time, and no issues with the knee.
Wed: Bike 33k
Thu: Rest
Fri: 10/KSO Estimate on the distance, didn't really pay attention to the time, but legs didn't feel that encouraging two days away from a HM.
Sat: 3k easy run to keep my legs loose.
Total Mileage: 47.5
Mon: 10/Neo Good last run in Kagoshima. I'll really miss running there.
Tue: 12.5/54:03/4:20/Zoom XC Wanted to get in one hard run before the HM. Happy with the time, and no issues with the knee.
Wed: Bike 33k
Thu: Rest
Fri: 10/KSO Estimate on the distance, didn't really pay attention to the time, but legs didn't feel that encouraging two days away from a HM.
Sat: 3k easy run to keep my legs loose.
Total Mileage: 47.5
2000 km of Training Week 23: 562.8 to go INJURED!
Sun: Bike 33k
Mon: 7.7/35/4:33/Evo. Good run, but felt the knee so decided to play it safe and take the train part way home.
Tue: Bike 33k.
Wed: Namban workout. Call it 15k total. 5K time trial. Wanted to run at race pace for my upcoming HM, so went all out. Unfortunately, no one else was running hard, but was still happy with a time of 18:48. Was definitely sucking wind so don't know if I could keep it up for four times that distance. Also happy that my knee didn't bother me.
Thu: KAGOSHIMA!! 12k/KSOs Boon and Kayo live really near some nice woods and trails. so ran in the woods every day. All estimates on the the distance.
Fri: Rest
Sat: 15k/KSOs
Total mileage: 54.7 Definitely think my knee is less of an issue than it was the first time with my left knee.
Mon: 7.7/35/4:33/Evo. Good run, but felt the knee so decided to play it safe and take the train part way home.
Tue: Bike 33k.
Wed: Namban workout. Call it 15k total. 5K time trial. Wanted to run at race pace for my upcoming HM, so went all out. Unfortunately, no one else was running hard, but was still happy with a time of 18:48. Was definitely sucking wind so don't know if I could keep it up for four times that distance. Also happy that my knee didn't bother me.
Thu: KAGOSHIMA!! 12k/KSOs Boon and Kayo live really near some nice woods and trails. so ran in the woods every day. All estimates on the the distance.
Fri: Rest
Sat: 15k/KSOs
Total mileage: 54.7 Definitely think my knee is less of an issue than it was the first time with my left knee.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)