RunRunLive

On Audio (Read by the author)

The Mid-Packer’s Guide to the Galaxy

Standard Links:

http://www.runrunlive.com/messing-around-with-a-kickstarter-project

Contact:

Cyktrussell At gmail and twitter and facebook and youtube

Dial in number for RunRunLive is – 206-339-7804 (to leave an audio message for the show)

Bio

Chris Russell lives and trains in suburban Massachusetts with his family and Border collie Buddy. Chris is the author of “The Mid-Packer’s Lament”, and “The Mid-Packer’s Guide to the Galaxy”, short stories on running, racing, and the human comedy of the mid-pack. Chris writes the Runnerati Blog at www.runnerati.com. Chris’ Podcast, RunRunLive is available on iTunes and at www.runrunlive.com. Chris also writes for CoolRunning.com (Active.com) and is a member of the Squannacook River Runners and the Goon Squad.

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Moving the Curve

cyktrussell — Tue, 14 May 2013 16:38:30 +0000

Moving the Curve

The premeditated act of race fitness.

I don’t know what your fitness goals are. Maybe you want to lose weight or feel better or be able to chase down your grandkids.

I do know my goal and it is none of those things. It is actually much less nuanced and much more simple. I want, I need, to run a certified marathon course in less than 3 hours and 30 minutes before September.

Because of the exactitude of this goal directing my efforts becomes much easier. I know exactly how fast I have to go for how long. This turns training and fitness into a mathematical equation of sorts. If I can train at X then I can race at Y.

For example, people will tell me that being able to do 10 Yasso 800’s at less than 3 minutes and 30 seconds would prove that I’m fit enough to race my goal. While I’ll admit that this, among other indicators, is a good, positive and hopeful sign, it is not a guarantee.

We humans like to think linearly like this. We area masters at assuming and trying to impose quantitative order on the chaos of existence. Whether we like it or not existence usually ignores us.

Training and fitness, like all things human, are non-linear. There is no straight line between X and Y.

Certainly there is directional certainty. X does indeed directly influence Y. If you don’t do that training your probability of achieving that finishing goal drops significantly.

Probability, my friends is the key word and key concept here that we have to understand if we want to come to grips with how our training relates to our race goals.

If I look across the dozens of marathons I have run I can compare my times. I can also compare how my times lined up with my training quality and my expectations. I have not done this explicitly but I can tell you how it would look. It would be a curve.

Most people when they are putting together their goals for a marathon they will set 3 time goals. One is their ‘A’ goal. This is the time they hope to run if everything goes well. The ‘A’ goal is typically a bit of a stretch goal.

The ‘B’ goal is the time they think is the most probable based on their experience and training. The ‘C’ goal is what they will settle for if they have a bad day.

How does this relate to probability of me meeting my goals and why do you care?

If you look at these goals you can already see that it is a probability curve. It is what is referred to as the ‘Normal Distribution’ curve or ‘bell’ curve. If you were to plot all the potential finishing times and their probabilities it would be a bell curve, just like the one they use for grading kids in school.

I’m going to stop talking about math now and try to extract back to the point I was trying to make.

The point I was trying to make is that your projected finishing time is non-linear, and the influence of your training on your finishing time is also non-linear. It is stochastic. That simply means that there is a level of uncertainty in this whole process.

That’s it. I dragged you through all that simply to support the fact that your finishing times are uncertain and even though your training influences them, that influence is uncertain as well.

This is all very confusing and maybe de-motivating for you folks who like certainty, but there is a silver lining. The silver lining is that the amount of uncertainty can be removed through training.

There are influences to our finishing times that are outside of our control and there are influences within our control. The trick of training is to ‘move the curve’ by directing energy to those things that you can control and not worrying about those things that you cannot control.

When I train for a specific finishing time what I am doing is moving my fitness so that the probability of meeting that time goal increases. I am trying to remove uncertainty from the equation and narrow the bell curve.

Running is a very specific sport. Racing is a very specific goal set. My ability to run a 3:30 marathon is a function of Pace over Time. Therefore, in my training I focus on creating the ability to maintain a specific pace over time.

I know that no volume or intensity of training will guarantee a finishing time. I also know that I can move the curve. I can move the whole curve. I can shift the entire finishing time probability to the right.

In this way you make your probability of meeting not only your goal time, you increase the probability of achieving all faster times.

What is the takeaway?

First, understand what influencers you control and what you don’t. You can’t control the weather on race day, but you can control your diet and whether or not you get out of bed to get your training done.

Second, understand specifically what in your training has the greatest influence on moving the curve. We all only have so much time and energy. The more you can isolate, understand and focus on the things that make a difference and have the most influence, the more you can influence the curve.

Third, never think in terms of discrete finishing times. Think of your training as giving you the best chance, the best odds, the highest probability along your curve.

Oh no! It turns out that math they made you learn in high school was good for something…

7 ideas to stimulate creativity – Hammock thoughts

cyktrussell — Wed, 08 May 2013 17:32:06 +0000

7 ideas to stimulate creativity – Hammock thoughts

What do you do when it’s time to write and there is nothing to write about?

It’s not often that I need to ask my brain for a thought or a topic. It is close to never that my brain has nothing to say in response to this request.

I’m picturing my brain now as a chagrined little boy shrugging his shoulders with hand palms up and empty pockets turned out and an expression of “Sorry, I got nuthin…”

My whole life my brain has pushed on me unbidden a stream of good topics. I’ve always, had queued up a line of things, whether to talk about, think about or write about. The fact is that one of the reasons I began writing was that the thoughts crammed up in my brain threatened to overwhelm me if I didn’t find a safety valve.

I don’t get writer’s block, because I know the tricks to tease my creative engine to sputtering, smoky life. I will share these with you.

What I have found is that the creative act is like weaving a tapestry of ideas and sometimes the most important thread is the first one. Constructing the tapestry can be a mechanical action or a flight of fancy, but if you don’t lay down that first thread, you can’t start.

Number one: Start without direction. Get the creative engine jump started.

Many of us won’t start creating until we have a fully formed vision of what it is we want to build. If we can’t visualize the entire piece or at least a cohesive outline, we won’t start working.

If you have an idea or the spark of an idea you can start by writing a list or an outline and then mechanically craft a cohesive piece from this. Even if you have only a couple bullet points, I’ve found that as you begin to expand and describe those bullet points related and co-located ideas will begin to flow to fill out the structure of the piece.

Many times as you flesh out the outline fragments the reason you were stuck will become obvious. You will realize that you were missing something or coming at it with bad assumptions, form the wrong angle and a new, better approach will emerge.

In order for any of this creative act to happen you have to start. Even if you don’t know where you are going it’s always better to start and find your way.

Another unstructured approach that I use is to just start writing words and prose fragments that really have no meaning, but they have some sort of music. Instead of trying to direct the flow of words towards a theme or structure I’ll just let them flow out as a freeform poetry of sorts.

No one will ever read this poetry but my creative safety valve has been opened and the creative act has begun. A few hundred pretty words and phrases of nonsense can get your process jump started.

Again, the point here is to start. Once you start the momentum of creativity takes over and you relax into the process. Remember folks, it’s not necessary that everything you create is prize-winning material. Your job is to get it out and form it into a reasonable shape. Let your readers figure out if it is worthwhile.

I am continuously surprised at my inability to determine what people will find value in. Stuff I think is throw-away crap will resonate and stuff that I love will fall flat. You learn to be the pilot and the guide, not the judge.

Number two – Get some stimulus.

Different people have different brain chemistry. I can tell you what effects my brain chemistry and impacts the balance of creativity. I’m not talking about drugs and alcohol although these obviously work for many creative types. I’m not recommending paying that price even if it means a ‘Naked Lunch’ or ‘Tropic of Cancer’ for you.

That being said I do find a strong cup of good coffee to be a wonderful stimulus for my own creativity. I also love to put some good music on my ear buds, partly to block out the annoyances of the public but also to draw energy from the music’s tone and cadence. For me, some good Ska and Punk Rock causes me to type like a dervish-Kerouac.

Many, if not most, writers get inspiration from reading. I get many ideas from listening to podcasts these days. If I have a flash I’ll try to capture it in a holding area so I can use it later when I’m in need of a topic.

Don’t be dependent on stimulus. Don’t use stimulus as a excuse to procrastinate. But, do find out what stimuli work for you and help you to get into the ‘zone’ of creativity.

Number three – Find a grain of sand.

Like an Oyster creating a pearl, you may need to find that grain of sand to wrap your creativity around. You can look for these anywhere. Just look around. The art on the walls, the magazine in front of you, the people around you, pop-culture artifacts…any small thing in the flotsam and jetsam of modern life that floats around us could provide that kernel of an idea for you to wrap 800 words around.

Marketing and advertising are always fertile ground for absurdities to comment on. Look for conflicts and take a side. Look for the ridiculous and scatological – we are surrounded by it. Just start describing how it makes you feel and what it reminds you of and you are off and running on your next masterpiece.

Number Four – Think descriptive.

Once you find some grain of sand that interests you, describe it in detail. Like your 5^th grade English teacher taught you, use your senses and describe it in such a way that your audience feels the way you feel, sees what you see, hears what you hear and smells what you smell. That’s 500 words right h there!

Number Five – Think conversation.

Look around you and watch the people. Who are they? What are they thinking and what kind of conversation would they have with you? With each other? Begin to describe and construct that conversation.

People are interesting. Wrap a narrative around it.

Number six – Think small.

There is a story from “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance” where Phaedrus is trying to teach a writing course to college students. He gives them an assignment to write a thousand words on the college town.

One young woman just can’t do it. She can’t get started and she can’t do it.

He then tells her to just write about the main street of the town.

She still can’t do it.

He tells her to write about one building.

She still can’t do it.

Finally he tells her to just describe one brick in that building.

She begins to describe the brick and her writing blooms from there. She can’t stop at a thousand words because she has too much to say.

If you are having trouble wrapping your head around a topic, write about, describe the brick.

Number seven – Break your rules.

Don’t fall into the trap of making up self-rules that keep you from creating.

“I’m only creative in the morning.”

“I can’t write unless I have a warm cup of peppermint tea and Beethoven.”

Apologies to Ludvig Van, but you’re creating excuses and being lazy. The only thing stopping you from being creative is your inability to get started. How do I know? Because an hour ago I was staring at a blank piece of paper and now I have provided you with 1300 cohesive words that will help you change your life for the better.

There’s life and then there’s meta-life!

Episode 3-260 – Running across NH with David Salvas

cyktrussell — Sat, 04 May 2013 14:10:05 +0000

The RunRunLive 3.0 Podcast

The RunRunLive 3.0 Podcast Episode 3-260 – Running across NH with David Salvas

(Audio: link) http://www.RunRunLive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi3260.mp3“>Download audio file (a>)

Link epi3-260.mp3

Introductory Comments:

Hello and welcome to the RunRunLive Podcast Episode 3-260.

Thanks for letting me get the poison out of my system with the last episode. I appreciate everyone who reached out to me. Writing that out and reading through it a number of times really helped me move through the healing process.

It’s been a busy couple weeks. I’m humbled, grateful and appreciative that my team really stepped up and delivered an awesome Groton Road Race in the face of a challenging climate. It was amazing how well it came off and how well the community rallied around us.

Amazing times. Amazing times.

Today we have a great chat with Dave Salvas who is getting ready to run across NH and is a veteran runner from New England. We go through the natural evolution, the ebb and flow of a running life. I think it will give you something to think about.

I’m going to talk up my thoughts on how to practice leadership in a crisis in section one – having had time to think about and practice these skills at different points in my life. Remember this is just my opinion and thought – I’m not a professional so make your own choices folks.

In section two I’m going to talk about my love affair with the 1600 meter track workout. Sexy stuff that.

I have been training! I’ve bumped my running up to four days a week from three and I’m adding in some speed-work and some over-distance to leverage my base fitness from the spring. (Over-distance is just longer long runs. For me it’s in the 24 mile range –to build my base)

I’m sure you folks already guessed that I’m not going to let my Boston marathon career end like this and I’m not looking to take another charity bib. Therefore the only way out is through!

If you had asked me 2 years ago before my heel freaked out on me if I could run a 3:30 marathon to qualify I would have laughed out loud at the absurdity. The previous two Bostons I turned in low 3:20’s without even training for the race specifically. Isn’t it interesting how our sport can humble?

I need to change my attitude. I need to reset. I need to acquire the mind of the novice – the mind of the beginner. What I have done really has no bearing on what I can do. What I could do 2 years ago is a nice artifact, but really nothing more than a friendly ghost.

I have stepped through another door and need to acclimate to the new environment.

I was not ready to race at Boston. I did not have the fitness or the confidence. I was neither physically or mentally prepared. But the training I did this spring is not wasted. The marathon is a long race and you benefit from years of building the blocks of fitness.

I proved that I CAN run and train without pushing the PF over the edge. I moved my recovery that much further along. I built a base that I can work from to fix the things I need to fix to get to my goals.

A couple things that I need to work on became apparent. One thing that I noticed was that my mechanics and pacing were awful. Somewhere in all the compensating for injury my pacing skills left the building.

I just don’t have that burned-in, comfortable, metronome pace that I can relax into and just click off the miles. I think the foot problems have thrown my mechanics off and pushed me out of balance.

Another thing that I noticed is that I haven’t been able to recover during the race. Let me explain. In any long race there are going to be spots where you go into the red zone and have to recover. But, this is in-race recovery, so you have to stay on or close to your race pace strategy.

For example you get that big hill that fatigues your quads and pushes your heart rate through the roof. At the top of the hill you can’t just start walking if you expect to meet your race goals. You have to relax and recover and shake those quads out and let your HR come down while you keep racing.

In my training this spring I would be forced to walk or stop and stretch out a muscle in the middle of an interval. That’s not what you want to train your body to do.

And a final challenge I have is my pace gap. I have been racing marathons for 16 years now and I’ve burned in the form and mechanics of the race pace, but that race pace I burned in for a 3:10 marathon is counterproductive when I’m trying to run a 3:30 marathon. The mechanics may be comfortable but the effort level causes that catastrophic failure that I can’t recover from gracefully mid-race.

So… I need to work on my pacing, I need to work on my in-race discomfort tolerance and recovery and I need to adjust my comfort zone up to a sustainable pace closer to what my goal times are now.

And I know only one way to burn in pace and mechanics. That is by going down to the track and running 1600’s.

So, the worm turns and what’s old is new…

On with the show.

Section one:

Leadership in times of challenge – http://www.runrunlive.com/leadership-in-times-of-challenge

Featured Interview:

David Salvas – Running across NH

http://runacrossnh.com/

About the Run

I plan to Run Across NH from Vermont to the Atlantic Ocean; a total of 116 miles, and I need your help! The dates of the Run Across NH will be June 20 to June 23rd. Any support you can provide will be greatly appreciated.

Section two:

Finding myself with 1600’s – http://www.runrunlive.com/falling-back-in-love-with-the-1600s

Outro:

Thanks folks, another successful RunRunLive completed on time and on schedule with no government assistance – Episode 3-260 in the can.

I’ve signed up for the Vt. Shires marathon on May 19^th. They offered free entry to anyone who didn’t finish Boston. It’s only a 2.5 hour drive for me and I don’t have a Vermont marathon yet. Yes I’m going to keep training and keep running marathons until I get my qualifying time. You already knew that I’m guessing.

The Plantar Fasciitis is ok. It continues to hover at a 1-2 level. I do my best not to make it mad. I do the self massage and tape it when I have to. I called my orthopedic surgeon to ask him a question about steroidal cream and he was surprised to hear I was back to marathoning based on the extent of scar tissue the last time I talked to him 8 months ago.

Let that be a lesson to you. Don’t ever give up. Keep chipping away at it and you’ll make progress. He told me the creams only penetrate 5 Mil and the injury is 20 Mil deep so he’d write me a prescription but I’d do just as well with hand cream and it smells better.

I bought a pair of Hokas! No Kidding! And I paid retail! This must be the bizarro universe!

Hokas are a show for ultra-runners that you might call ‘Maximal footwear’. They have a huge pillow of EVA and your foot sits down inside the midsole. I raced the Groton 10K in them and I like them. They feel awesome to run in, like running on clouds!

I particularly like the downhills because the big midfoot pad was like a spring absorbing and rebounding my 190 pounds. Even with all that cushion they only weigh 10 oz and didn’t hinder me at all as I turned in a 47:29 on a hilly 10k course. The toe box is a bit tight and I’ll have to remember to tape my big toes, but I’m going to wear them on my long runs to see if I can curb the abuse on my body a bit.

I’ve discovered a couple new tracks to run on. There is a track in Burlington where I work that is just about 2+ miles from my office door, which is perfect for speedwork, because I can warm up on the run over to the track.

They have also completed the renovation of the old track in Littleton where I’ve spent so many long nights struggling in circles, or ovals, as the case may be, and it is gorgeous! It’s surreal to be running on a brand new track where my old potholed friend used to be. The only problem is that now that it is usable again they actually use it, and I have to plan around the track team.

I’ve gotten Fuji-san dusted off and am doing at least a bike ride a week on the rail trail as part of my training. I also got the 29er out and it was wonderful. I was amazed at how quickly my balance and flow came back in the woods. I didn’t crash at all. It was, well, like riding a bike.

Well my friends, I’m busy and I’m happy. My quixotic life rambles on.

And I hope to see you all out there.

Outro Bumper

Thanks for listening folks I appreciate your support. RunRunLive is a free service for you because I like writing and telling stories.

Other than that, thank you for your attention, do epic stuff and let me know if I can help.

Ciao

Happy Song – Super Hero

(Sorry about the audio quality – I’m having to rebuild a bunch of presets.)

Links for this show

Other products from Chris Russell you may be interested in

The Mid-Packer’s Lament

On Audio (Read by the author)

The Mid-Packer’s Guide to the Galaxy

Standard Links:

http://www.runrunlive.com/messing-around-with-a-kickstarter-project

Contact:

Cyktrussell At gmail and twitter and facebook and youtube

Dial in number for RunRunLive is – 206-339-7804 (to leave an audio message for the show)

Bio

(Audio: link) Download audio file (epi3-258.mp3)
Link epi3258.mp3

Introductory Comments:

Hello and welcome to the RunRunLive Podcast Episode 3-260.

Amazing times. Amazing times.

In section two I’m going to talk about my love affair with the 1600 meter track workout. Sexy stuff that.

I’m sure you folks already guessed that I’m not going to let my Boston marathon career end like this and I’m not looking to take another charity bib. Therefore the only way out is through!

I have stepped through another door and need to acclimate to the new environment.

In my training this spring I would be forced to walk or stop and stretch out a muscle in the middle of an interval. That’s not what you want to train your body to do.

So… I need to work on my pacing, I need to work on my in-race discomfort tolerance and recovery and I need to adjust my comfort zone up to a sustainable pace closer to what my goal times are now.

And I know only one way to burn in pace and mechanics. That is by going down to the track and running 1600’s.

So, the worm turns and what’s old is new…

On with the show.

Section one:

Leadership in times of challenge – http://www.runrunlive.com/leadership-in-times-of-challenge

Featured Interview:

David Salvas – Running across NH

http://runacrossnh.com/

About the Run

Section two:

Finding myself with 1600’s – http://www.runrunlive.com/falling-back-in-love-with-the-1600s

Outro:

Thanks folks, another successful RunRunLive completed on time and on schedule with no government assistance – Episode 3-260 in the can.

I bought a pair of Hokas! No Kidding! And I paid retail! This must be the bizarro universe!

Well my friends, I’m busy and I’m happy. My quixotic life rambles on.

And I hope to see you all out there.

Outro Bumper

Thanks for listening folks I appreciate your support. RunRunLive is a free service for you because I like writing and telling stories.

Other than that, thank you for your attention, do epic stuff and let me know if I can help.

Ciao

Happy Song – Super Hero

(Sorry about the audio quality – I’m having to rebuild a bunch of presets.)

Links for this show

Other products from Chris Russell you may be interested in

The Mid-Packer’s Lament

On Audio (Read by the author)

The Mid-Packer’s Guide to the Galaxy

Standard Links:

http://www.runrunlive.com/messing-around-with-a-kickstarter-project

Contact:

Cyktrussell At gmail and twitter and facebook and youtube

Dial in number for RunRunLive is – 206-339-7804 (to leave an audio message for the show)

Bio

Falling back in love with the 1600’s

cyktrussell — Thu, 02 May 2013 15:59:20 +0000

Falling back in love with the 1600’s

When I ran my first qualifying marathon I was 34 years old. I trained for 16 weeks in the summer of 1997. I dropped my finishing time from in the 3:50 range to 3:09 in 16 weeks that summer. The following spring I ran a 3:06:42 Boston marathon that still stands as my personal best at the distance.

What did I do in those 16 weeks to drop 45 minutes off my time? I did 1600’s. Lots and lots of 1600’s. I also ran 7 days a week and took my Sunday long runs up to two 26 milers, but what got me the speed was the speedwork – the 1600’s.

I was down at that track, actually many different tracks, twice a week for 16 weeks, without fail, putting in the work to burn in the pace I needed to meet my goal.

I liked the specificity of the work. I loved and hated the sameness of it, the simplicity of it and the effectiveness for my purpose.

This process was different than what you might read in a training plan or a how-to running book. I did not run 1600’s to find my pace and set my goals. I did it in reverse. I set my goals and then executed the 1600’s at the pace I needed to get there.

I’m coming back to this now because I find myself once again in need of burning in the pace I need to qualify. I also got asked a question about the effectiveness of 800’s today to which I responded that I thought 1600’s were much more appropriate when training for the marathon.

Let me explain my madness to you. You can take from it what you want.

First, the basics: A 1600 meter interval is the equivalent of a metric mile on your standard out of doors running track. It is 4 laps of that 400 meter oval. Each corner and each straight-away are 100 meters. 2 laps is an 800 meter interval. All of this is in the center-most lane starting and ending at the same spot on the track.

If you plan to act out my 1600 love affair you should be warned that it can be quite hard on your body. You need to warm up and stretch well. I usually jog at least a mile to warm up, then stretch, then do my intervals, then warm down with at least a mile jog.

In between the intervals I jog a lap, no matter what. I don’t want to train my body/mind to expect a collapse or a walk after a hard effort. No matter how spent I am I jog and recover a 400, then stop and stretch and take a drink to let my Hr come down.

It takes a few weeks for your body to catch up to this speedwork and you may want to ease into it with 200’s, 400’s, 800’s and 1200’s – working up to the distance until you can complete the 1600 with disciplined mechanics.

You might jump to the conclusion that I am doing speedwork primarily for conditioning, strength and fitness. I am not. These are happy outcomes of the speedwork but they are not the purpose.

I primarily use speedwork to “burn in” pace, mechanics and form discipline.

What I’m trying to accomplish when I do speedwork is:

Pace discipline – I want to be able to maintain that exact pace for the entire interval. This teaches and burns in that pace so that I know in a race what my pace is without looking at my watch. I do this by memorizing or marking the 200′s and getting as close to each required split as possible throughout the 1600. This teaches pace, pace confidence and pace discipline.
Mechanics and form – To run at that exact pace I need to find and burn in a very efficient form and mechanics for that exact pace. The mechanics should not break at all during the interval.

When you feel your pace flagging focus on reeling in your form and mechanics elements to get back on pace. Don’t just increase effort, focus on relaxing into the effort with pace and form. This teaches form, form confidence and form discipline.

Managing discomfort and relaxing into it. What you will find with a 1600 is that the 3rd lap is the hardest. This is where it starts to hurt and you really have to transcend to get through. This is exactly what you need for a long race. This teaches the ability to recover mid-race at high effort and keep racing.

Like I said, my speedwork is not focused on getting faster or stronger (although those things will happen) it is about being able to maintain the race pace you need across the distance.

Why not run 800 meter repeats? It’s the same thing right? And Bart Yasso does them, right?

In my experience an 800M interval is not long enough to force the pace and form and discomfort discipline you need for a longer race. If you are in shape to run a marathon you should be able to gut out an 800 without much effort. What I’m saying is that you can ‘fake it’ for an 800, but you can’t fake it for a 1600.

That 3^rd lap can be an uncomfortable and harrowing ordeal. You are still far away from the finish and your lungs and legs are protesting. In order to get through it you are going to be forced to relax into the effort and focus on your form and pace.

The 800 doesn’t have that harrowing 3^rd lap and is short enough to ‘gut it out’ without the focus on pace and form.

Let’s talk about how to build a 1600 program that will get you to your goal marathon time.

There are two paces I like to burn in. I call them speed and tempo. I set speed at approximately 1 minute per mile faster than goal marathon pace. I set tempo at approximately 30 seconds per mile faster than goal marathon pace.

First you need to know what pace. What pace should you run your speedwork and what pace should you run your tempo?

Your speedwork is going to be somewhere around 1 minute per mile faster than your goal pace. I’ve always rounded down to an even number to make the math easier. For example: when I was targeting a sub 3:10 finishing time, which is a marathon pace in the low 7’s, I would set my speed 1600’s at 6:00 minutes per 1600.

I know you math majors will tell me that there is a difference between 1 mile and 1600M. I know that. At this pace I’d need another 4-5 seconds to actually complete a whole mile. I’m just converting and not worrying about it because it is close enough and I’m in the right ball park.

The exact pace I’m training at in this example is around a 6:05 minute per mile, which is 6:00 minutes per 1600 which is still very close to 1 minute per mile faster than the pace required for a sub 3:10 marathon.

I use the same math for the tempo pace. In this example with a goal of a sub-3:10 marathon I subtract 30 seconds and round down to get a 6:30 tempo pace for the 1600.

Got it?

For an overall training plan or campaign I would do speed intervals on Tuesdays, tempo intervals on Thursday and the long run on the weekend.

In my case I would have a 14-16 week campaign. It would be based on 3 week waves. Week 1 is a low week. Week 2 is a medium week and week 3 is a hard week. Then week 4 becomes another ‘easy’ or recovery week, but each wave builds, so week 4 is about the same difficulty as week 2 and each week 3 is a new peak of volume.

The week 1 starting point for me would be 2 speed intervals on Tuesday, 5 tempo intervals on Thursday and a 13 mile long run. The final peak week would be 5 speed intervals on Tuesday and 8, yes I said ‘8’, tempo intervals on Thursday with a 24+ mile long run.

This kind of volume will get you up into 50 – 60+ miles on the peak weeks.

As you work through a 12-16 week program of 1600′s you’ll notice your form and mechanics getting very good and the intervals will start to hurt less. By the end of the campaign you’ll be able to knock them off with ease.

Again, you end up being in great race shape with the volume and quality of this training, but that is not the main goal. The main goal is to burn in race pace and mechanics. If you have never raced before you may learn a whole new way of using your body by doing this. If you are stuck and can’t get any faster, this will break that logjam.

I’m returning to this methodology now because I find I am in no-man’s land with regards to my current race pace and mechanics. The difference now is that I don’t need or want to train for a sub-3:10 marathon. I need a sub-3:30 marathon.

Let’s do the math. A 3:30 marathon is 8:00 minutes per mile. Subtracting a minute and rounding down I end up with a 1600 interval pace of 6:50 per mile. Subtracting 30 seconds and rounding down I end up with a 7:20 tempo interval.

Now I have to teach these paces to my body. My body doesn’t know these paces. I need to force my pace to be steady at each of the 16 100 meter marks throughout the interval. How do I do this?

I find 100M is a bit short for pace control. Instead I use 200 meter pace control increments. I need to calculate the 200M target times and either memorize them or write them on the track in chalk or create a crib sheet or program them into a device of some sort.

Let’s use the tempo pace. 7:20 for 1600. First you convert the minutes to seconds. 7 times 60 is 420. Add the 20 seconds and you get 440. 440 divided by 8 is 55 seconds per 200M.

Now make a spreadsheet with a column for target 200M splits, 8 of them. You’ll have to monkey with the math to convert seconds back to minutes and seconds because excel thinks in terms of decimal time.

In my example the 200M split of 55 seconds actually makes the math really easy because each split is just 5 seconds less than a minute more. M y target 200M splits are 55, 1:50, 2:45, 3:40, 4:35, 5:30, 6:25 and 7:20.

My speed target of 6:50 is a bit more confusing to remember because 410 seconds divided into 8 is 51.25 seconds. When I’m confronted by fractions of seconds like this I just round because it’s not that precise of a process. You won’t even be able to notice a fraction of a second over 200M.

You need the targets to control and adjust your pace during the interval to make sure you are learning the consistency of pace and form. Each 200M you look at your time, compare it to your target and adjust your pace, form and mechanics to get back on target pace. When you first do this it you will be over correcting, like driving a car with loose steering. Eventually you’ll find the pace.

For 6:50 speed I’ll need approximately the following splits: 51, 1:42, 2:34, 3:25, 4:16, 5:08, 5:59 and 6:50.

These are obviously harder to memorize. I’ll write these down somehow so I don’t have to remember them all until I learn the pace. Once I learn the pace I’ll be able to feel if I’m on it or off it during the interval and will only check the 400M splits – which are much easier to remember.

Interestingly enough when I have had to do these workouts and for some reason could not get the splits during the interval, like it was dark out and the light wasn’t working on my watch, I typically come in about 5 seconds fast, but close enough. Once you have that pace burned in you can run it in your sleep with your eyes closed.

Remember the goal here is not to beat the time. The goal is to run that exact pace and mechanics for the entire interval so you burn it in. I give myself a plus or minus 5 second tolerance for the 1600 but usually am able to hit plus or minus 2 seconds. If you find yourself unable to get within this tolerance you may need to back off to shorter distances until your body figures it out.

Over the course of this campaign you will gain fitness, strength and endurance, but that is a byproduct of the discipline of pace.

There are a lot of moving pieces in training for a marathon, but when you are training for a qualifying marathon time the BAA doesn’t care about anything except finishing time. Finishing time is a product of pacing discipline over the distance. You can programmatically burn in that pacing by systematically running 1600’s down at your local track.

It’s not sexy, but it works.

Leadership in times of challenge

cyktrussell — Wed, 01 May 2013 17:48:59 +0000

Leadership in times of challenge

Over the past few weeks we have seen some challenging events in our community. And into everyone’s life, as they say, “some rain must fall”.

These events can be macro events like stock market crashes or economic failures. These events can be personal like a job loss, or the end of a relationship, or a sickness or death in the family.

What I want to talk to you about today is how you respond to these types of sudden, big, violent and tremendously difficult challenges. The type of challenges I’m talking about are things like unexpected accidents or deaths or rapid, unexpected changes and events that impact you, your family, your organization and your community suddenly, right now, and permanently change your frame of reference.

The first thing you need to understand and wrap your big brain around is that these out-sized events, whether good or bad, are outliers. These types of events won’t hit you every week, but you will get a handful of them in your life. And the magnitude of these outliers makes them significant enough for you to think about how to react to them and how to lead in the face of them.

These situations will ‘come out of the blue’ and you will not have time to plan your response. These are not situations where you will choose to lead. Most of these events will be forced upon you and you will be forced to lead. You will be shoved into a position of leadership due to the great chaos and leadership void these events create and the great fear they produce in your community.

You’re community will be in fear and without direction. They will need you to lead and you have a responsibility to do so.

The second thing you need to realize it that leadership need not require that you are the one in charge. You can lead from within the pack. The way you react, the things you say and do will influence those around you – even if you are not the person in charge. You ARE in charge of how you act and react. What you do very much influences a community in shock that is looking around for a trace of direction.

You cannot plan for these outliers but your ability to lead in a crisis is dependent on how you have trained your brain every day up to that point. Your ability to do the right thing will be greatly enhanced if you know yourself and what your core values are. Your comfort in your self will allow you to lead others in a crisis. That is something you work on every day of your life.

What are the specifics of crisis leadership? What is the script that you can follow when your chance comes?

Don’t over react. When crisis happens your dinosaur brain will want to take over with panic, emotion and a cesspool of unhelpful chemicals being pumped into your limbic system. Take a step back. Use your big brain. Assess the situation and determine what your narrative is going to be.
Be there. No crisis is ever helped by hiding or running away. As awful as something is you have to face it to come to grips with it. You can’t lead and you can’t help your community if you retreat inside yourself.
Set the tone. Once you understand what your narrative needs to be to help your community start walking the walk and talking the talk. Lead by acting and talking along the lines of that narrative whether it is helping, grieving or healing. People are watching you and you need to act out your leadership.
Get it out of your system. Don’t bury the shock or the trauma of the crisis. Do what you need to do get the poison out of your system. Talk it out. Write it out. Run it out. Love it out. Accept it and work through it.
Decide on your narrative. The true response in a crisis is going to depend on your messaging. What is the story you are going to tell? When you look back on this crisis in 10 years what is the story you are going to wish got told? How did it play out? With chaos and vitriol or with the community pulling together to help and over come? What is the narrative you are going to throw your weight behind? Create your narrative.
Live your narrative. Once you know the story of how this is going to play out make it happen. Every time you interact with someone in your community tell the narrative, shape the narrative and live the narrative. Embody the story you want to be told.

What does the narrative include?

Acceptance and understanding. Don’t dwell in the crisis but you do need to accept it. “Yes this was a crisis. Yes this was an event and yes we were all traumatized by the impact of this event.”
Assurance of ‘OK’. “Yes this is a crisis but we’re ok. We are still breathing and the sun is going to come up tomorrow.”
Painting the picture of positive response. “Yes this was a crisis but we are all blown away by the way our community has pulled together…”
Painting the picture, narrative, vision of the future. “Yes this was a crisis but we are going to work together and tomorrow we are going to be stronger and the day after that stronger still…”

Finally there are going to be those who want to leverage the crisis to promulgate their own negative narratives and sensationalism. You cannot let them influence your narrative. When they ask you “Isn’t this crisis horrible and aren’t you devastated?” Simply repeat YOUR narrative. Your leadership narrative.

There will be a lot of noise. The news and the politicians will look for ways to fan the flames. Ignore the noise. It has no bearing on you and your narrative. Responding to the noise is like feeding a bad dog – it will just get stronger in a feedback loop of the negative. Don’t feed the bad dogs. Keep telling YOUR narrative, your story, your version and soon the noise will fade and your version will be the one that leads your community out of the dark times of crisis into the light of the future.

Think about how you will respond in a unexpected crisis. What is the story you will tell? What is the narrative you will throw your weight behind? How will you lead your community in thought and action to a better future?

Postscript

Thinking about this last night I feel it’s important to note that times of crisis and challenge are not just opportunities for positive leadership. They are also opportunities for negative leadership.

When a crisis happens and there is a leadership void people are scared and unsure of the narrative and look for direction. That is fertile ground for sociopaths to step in with their own warped narratives.

Throughout history we have seen sociopaths, evil-doers and the merely criminally misdirected seize power during times of crisis because if the opportunity to create and shape a new narrative.

I won’t dwell on this risk, but I will say that this makes your responsibility to your community even more acute in times of crisis. It makes your responsibility to stick to your core principles and act positively to shape the narrative that much more important.

So, I ask you again, in the face of all this, how will you lead your community in thought and action to a better future?

Episode 3-259 – Dave McGillivray and the 2013 Boston Marathon

cyktrussell — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 20:25:34 +0000

The RunRunLive 3.0 Podcast Episode 3-259 – Dave McGillivray and the 2013 Boston Marathon

(Audio: link) Download audio file (epi3-259.mp3)
Link epi3259.mp3

Introductory Comments:

Hello my friends and welcome to the RunRunLive Podcast Episode 3-259.

I think you’ll understand that today’s show is going to be a bit different. I had already interviewed Dave McGillivray about the Boston Marathon last week, before the race, and I think it’s appropriate to air that today.

I also have written and recorded my race story for you. It was hard for me but I thought I owed it to you.

It’s my story. It is petty and incomparable to the horrors that others saw and experienced and are still experiencing as I record this. But it is all I have for you so you’ll have to bear with me as I struggle through it and take it for what it is.

I need to thank everyone who reached out to me on Monday to make sure I was ok. Some of you who I have never heard from before…what’s up with that? I won’t bite ya, you know.

I got some messages like “I’ve been listening to your for 3 years and I hope you’re ok!” You know 3 years qualifies as a common law marriage in Massachusetts, so I’m entitled to half your stuff and my lawyers from the RunRunLive corporate legal team will be in contact.

Seriously folks – you’re going to get a lot of this type of stuff coming at you from people like me so try to keep your eyes on the prize and remember that I’m going to be ok. You’re going to be ok. And, together we are going to run towards a brighter future.

Section one:

Featured Interview:

Dave McGillivray – Race Director 2013 Boston Marathon.

Section two:

My 2013 Boston Marathon Race Report. – http://www.runrunlive.com/2013-boston-marathon

Outro:

Audio: The 4-17-2013 National Anthem from the Boston Bruins.

Outro Bumper

Thanks for listening folks I appreciate your support. RunRunLive is a free service for you because I like writing and telling stories.

Other than that, thank you for your attention, do epic stuff and let me know if I can help.

Ciao

Happy Song – Super Hero

(Sorry about the audio quality – I’m having to rebuild a bunch of presets.)

Links for this show

Other products from Chris Russell you may be interested in

The Mid-Packer’s Lament

On Audio (Read by the author)

The Mid-Packer’s Guide to the Galaxy

Standard Links: