Thursday, March 06, 2008

What’s in a Title anyway?

Alright… I’m starting to extend my weekly long runs. I’ve been doing a pretty standard 10K on Sunday mornings, but it is time to expand my efforts. Two weekends ago I ran 8 miles. Last Sunday, I ran 9.5 miles. I am planning on running 11 miles this Sunday.

Now lets you and I have a down home practical talk. Lets not talk of training programs but instead of the practicality of muscle memory and the need to establish endurance.

I’ve read of the hows and whys of training & preparation for long runs.

Suppose a fictitious person wanted to run a marathon? Suppose this fictitious individual is running between 25 to 30 miles a week? Suppose this alleged person would like to know how do you establish your long runs? How do you increase the mileage?

I’d like to hear from you (for this fictitious person) on the following training parameters:
· How often do you increase your mileage?
· How much do you increase?
· When do you fall back?
· How often is a rest needed when you are in the process of extending your weekly log runs?

Susan
Susan has found another friend! This guy is a jailer in Clark County, Washington. She feels empathy for him as they have something in common. Do you want to hear about this new friend of hers?

Just go here - www.2g1b.com - and listen to podcast #280.

Susan writes the extremely popular running blog -
http://www.irunformylife.blogspot.com/

I think that Susan has a sweet voice also…


At The Office –
It was a quiet afternoon yesterday. Then the police show up at the hotel across the street from the office. Then more police show up, then the fire department shows up, then the hazmat guys show up! What the heck is going on?
Well, it ended up being an investigation about a meth (amphetamine) lab being set up in one of the rooms!

Read about it here where I wrote a more in depth article with video and a picture –
http://www.2guys1brain.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=972

Additional Running Information?
I ran 30 miles even last week!

I have run 29.72 miles this week! So far…

Only 23 days until I head to Moab! I will soon be running trails in Moab again!

8 Comments:

Blogger Road Warrior said...

Well, I'll answer but I was (and am) the least disciplined distance runner there possibly can be. All I knew was that I needed to do a 14, 16, 18 and 20 mile run in consecutive weeks prior to the marathon.

I ran my normal mileage, which was really whatever I felt like running. If I felt guilty, I ran more. If I had time and motivation, I ran more. If not, I ran less. I made Saturdays my long run days.

My motivation for the long runs? Usually football, beer and bad food on Sunday would be swept away with the calories I burned on Saturday.

As for when to rest, I knew I needed to rest when I got really bored. After changing distances/speed up for a couple of days, I was ready to get back out there.

Some of the other RBFs will be much better and more scientific at how they approach it, but it worked for me.

You know, there's a real marathon in Chicago in October, and Maddy, IrishBlue and Petra will be there. If I sign up, will you?

4:01 PM  
Blogger Jamie said...

I think I might actually know this ficticious person you speak of. Go F.P. Go!

5:12 PM  
Blogger Susan said...

Oh Charlie -- you are far too kind!

30 miles -- yowsa!

I am going to ponder my advice for F.P.

6:16 PM  
Blogger Petraruns said...

Hi Charlie - I'm afraid I've always been a training program kind of girl even though I did not stick to them 100 percent. I've tried a few but I think Hal Higdon has a pretty well-tested set of programs. The thinking behind any good marathon program is to increase your endurance runs gradually and to allow for rest or fall back weeks - Hal gives you a step back week every 3 weeks where your mileage drops and I find I always need that week to get my head back on straight and get some rest.

I think the way to deal with long runs is to increase them gradually and to find some way of doing them that will be fun - either going somewhere new, finding someone to run with, taking your podcasts with you - something to do. You might find they are really your thing - I sometimes find that!

And yes, do tell this virtual person that there is a real marathon going on in Chicago in October which I am rehabilitating my buns off to make..

11:14 PM  
Blogger akshaye said...

Good luck on the run! I try and increase by at most 2 miles every week. And also the weekly mileage by no more than 10%. Most of the time its 2 weeks of increase and then a slightly shorter third week and repeat the pattern.

11:24 PM  
Blogger ShirleyPerly said...

The first time I trained for a marathon, I did as some of theh others, followed a training program that had me increasing mileage of long runs by 2 miles every week and stepping back every 3rd week. However, I actually changed the way I ran (shortened my stride to reduce vertical movement and pounding) when I got to around 16-17 miles because I felt it was hindering my ability to increase my long runs further without injury. So I had to start all over again on the muscle memory while already having a large endurance base. It was probably one of the smartest things I did during my training. Some people will trudge on ignoring the way they run and possibly end up with some injuries, esp. if they run heel-toe, which is now known to create extra stress on the body, particularly knees. Of course, when I was growing up, heel-toe is what I had heard we were supposed to do, as well as NOT drink water when running to avoid cramps. Times and advice have changed!

10:44 AM  
Blogger Sunshine said...

You have quite an exciting life there at the office.
Continuing good luck on the training.
The only thing I have to say about long runs before marathons is ... 18 miles is probably too short.
You Go!!

5:27 PM  
Blogger Maddy said...

I think this fictitious person should register for the Chicago Marathon.

8:13 PM  

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