Back to Work (Base Training)

"The hard practice yesterday is just a warm-up tomorrow." -Anonymous

Season Objectives

The objectives of this Season are more abstract than a single race: one of the goals is to keep on progressing with my running speeds at all intensities, and to be able to run more while avoid getting injured. It's important to enjoy the running: to go on adventures, explore new routes and places on foot, to get joy out of the daily routine, and observe the progress. Still I need competition to spice it up. I want to make my new personal records to see where I have come with my training and to see where I'm going with it. The year will be divided into two parts: Training for 10K road race and training for standard 42K Marathon. The dates when I aim to be at my peak performance this season are April 20th for 10K racing at week 16 and October 13th for Marathon at week 41. I kicked off the Season 2014 on 4th of November and so far I've gone through 8 weeks of Base Training. Here's some of my thoughts about it.

Running

After having an off-season (3 weeks) running very little I started out with a conservative 70 km week. In Base Training the intensity is to be kept relatively low, but not to succumb to monotony. Every day is to be different from the day before. I varied between three running intensities during the week: Recovery, Easy, and Medium Long Run. The idea behind the Base Training is to build up the endurance and fitness in the body so that it will be ready to take the pounding of more intense 10K training. A good base is the foundation of intensive training and satisfying results. Without a proper Base, injuries will surely haunt when the intensity and distance are both there. In Base Training one can relatively safely add up weekly distance. From last season I learned that it is not wise to try to beat your previous week distance every week. This time I came out with a plan to add it up two weeks in a row, then dropping 20% of the training distance (a recovery week), then bounce back to where I was, and then the next week go for more distance. I built it up slowly and on the 7th week of Base Training I ran 96 km. That's my current record of distance ran in one week. I broke my previous record three times during this period of Base Training. My training log during my record distance week is presented in Figure 1 below.

Figure 1: Training log from week 51/2013.

This 8-week Base Training went exactly as was planned. I didn't suffer from injuries or even nuisances. I ran every practice that was planned, every day, for 8 weeks straight. That's 56 days of running streak (and counting) with minimum of 6 km running per day.

Figure 2: Daily Running distance (brown bar)
 and Running index (black line),
4th of November to 29th of December in 2013

Figure 3: Weekly Running distance (brown bar),
Average pace (green line), and Average heart rate (red line),
4th of November to 29th of December in 2013.

My daily running distance and running index during the Base Training are presented in Figure 2. The running index uses a formula that basically tells you how economic your running is. The weather, route, temperature among vast amount of other variables affect the running index but a general tendency can be seen from the line that the running has been more economical lately.

My weekly running distance, weekly average pace and average heart rate during the week is presented in the Figure 3. My weekly running distance has been going up with recovery weeks in between and at the same time my average running pace has gone up while my average heart rate has dropped. This describes very well the progress I have been making during the last 8 weeks. What these Figures don't tell for example is that lately the temperatures have been higher than in the beginning, so I believe there has been even more progress than what is visible in these figures.

Strength Training and Injury Prevention

My newest difference maker and useful trick for staying healthy has been the strength training. Not much at a time, but constantly. I want to run and I am not settling for some fixed amount per week. I want to run more and even more. Recently I have discovered that I really need to do constant strength training to be able to run more and without injury. I have now been doing a strength training program called IronStrength. I do it at home in my kitchen every Monday and Friday. Yes, that's right: it seems that my kitchen actually inspires me more than any gym. You don't need much to be able to do suitable strength training for distance runners. It's all about making it easy to start and be constant.

Figure 4: A "glass roller" from
the era before the foam rollers.

Other aspects of my injury prevention include cold baths, stretching and foam rolling. I take a 15 minute cold bath in my bathtub every time I run more than 10 km. I do couple times a week stretching by going through the biggest muscle groups in the legs. Unlike before, the trend now is to stretch in short bursts. I stretch 5 seconds, ease up for 2 seconds and then 5 seconds again. As many repetitions (about 6 reps) as it needs to get the muscles elongated. Foam rolling is something new that I'm implementing in my routine and so far I am not sure about it's efficiency. The foam roller does massage and stretching at the same time. I bought a standard foam roller, but I remember my grandfather (elite veteran marathon runner) always had the same old glass bottle (see Figure 4) that had a rough surface for the same task.

Running in Heat

I didn't have much of experience training at high temperatures before I started running in Argentina. The summers in Finland are great for training and they could be compared to the spring of Buenos Aires. Maximum temperatures at about 25 C (77 F). But when the summer starts in Buenos Aires, the daily maximum can reach up to 40 C (104 F). That is extreme case but the daily maximum hovers for weeks above 30 C (86 F). The Sun climbs up almost straight above your head and shines intense. And when it rains, it rains very hard for couple hours, then the Sun comes back. I have experimented and learned some things that I have found useful for training in the heat:

One should either go out running early in the morning or in the afternoon/evening when the Sun has started to set. They say your shadow should be longer than you are, that's when it's good to go out for a run. The heat will be out there but the Sun affects you less. I prefer running in the morning, so I get out at 7 to 7:30 am.

If you have to run during the day, then remember to use sunscreen. Go ahead use the most protective screen available. Apply the sunscreen 30 minutes before you go out to let it be absorbed, so that sweat won't take it away from skin. Be on the look out for shadows whenever available, they make a big difference.

The body adapts to the training at high temperatures in about 10 to 15 days. It's not that big of a deal after that. Your heart rate monitor is your friend when first running at high temperature. Take a step back with your pace: you are not suddenly in worse shape, it's just the heat.

I wear technical shorts and shirt, a cap or a visor and sunglasses. I don't eat before running. I want to feel light and in fact you want to have all the blood in the body available for circulation near your skin for cooling. I just drink fresh orange juice and a cup of coffee in the morning and then I'm off running.

Hydration is very important before, during and after training in the heat. When I run 18 km or more I carry a bottle belt with me. You need more water and less carbohydrate in your drink when running in the heat.

On-going Games

To keep running interesting I have some side projects going on. First of all the run streaking project: currently (today is 29.12.) my record and on-going streak is 56 consecutive days of running. The second project is to beat my previous weekly running distance record as often as I can. Not exceed it too much, just enough to make a new personal record. Much like Sergey Bubka did his world records in pole vaulting: by one centimeter at a time. One of the projects is keep on writing this blog, to analyze my running and share the experiences with people that are interested in what I do. The newest project is making running videos. I recently got me a Sony Action Camera and we shot the very first video to test the camera and editing software. Here it is:

What next? Tomorrow I will start my training and preparation for 10K road racing. It's a 16-week project and I look forward to running strong at the end of it. I don't have a time goal except I want to run the 10K as fast as I can. Stay tuned.

About Motivation

Worrying about what others think about you is for politicians, not for free men and women. Trying to imitate or copy someone else's path of life will always fail. Everyone has to find and walk their own path.

I recently received a message from a Friend concerning my motivation. Her question was basically this: 

"How did you get back to the World of sports? They always say that it depends on yourself, but to make an actual change in life there has to be some kind of impulse from the environment as well, am I right? I'm very curious!" -Frances Hilli

Figure 1: Monthly Running
kilometers

These days the World has plenty of more or less reliable statistics and numbers. If you start to compare yourself to others, in my opinion, there are only two possible outcomes: you become arrogant (when you are ahead) or you become discouraged (when you are behind). These two outcomes will every time take you away from the optimal. I love numbers and statistics, and they are one of my biggest motivators in my sport. But the key is to gather data of your own practice and performance. It is important mentally to focus and concentrate on things that are actually in your control. Not many things in life are completely in your own control. Running is great because it is simple. You will never have to battle inside your head that what if I just get someone else to do the running for me today. No you can't, and there is no doubt about it, you have to take every running step yourself. Do yourself a favor and don't compare yourself to others. I guarantee you that your life will be much more enjoyable. Share your experiences, but don't compare results. The only comparison that will benefit you is to compare yourself now and yourself in the past. Try to beat that person and you are on the right track. See Figure 1.

I got out of sports during my year in the military (2002-2003). Before that I had developed some kind of variation of celiac disease or atopic skin type of rash that would get even worse in the dark winters. That rash made sweating feel disgusting. Couple of skin specialist doctors tried to do allergy tests etc. but no one could find a solution. By the way, the problem with western medicine is that it concentrates on treating the symptoms, not to get rid of the cause. Or was I suggested that I should move on to live in a warm and sunny country? Of course not. Actually, it could be a scandal in the newspapers. Anyhow, I got out of sports and thought that it was time to move on with life and concentrate on studying. As I look back maybe that was meant to be. My studies eventually took me to Buenos Aires for half a year in Summer in Buenos Aires (during Finnish winter). My skin and my mind started to heal. The sunlight has enormous effect on physical and mental health! No pill, cream nor expensive artificial treatment up today can compete with the effect of sunlight.

I measure all kind of stuff that I find relevant to view my progress and tendencies, because I love it. One can go to library and take a book about human anatomy, study it well and then think: "now I know much about the human body". Yes, you will know the vocabulary and current medical theories to describe the matters and you will be able to discuss these matters with a real doctor at their terms. You learned their language, that's good... for communication. But, here is the thing: to understand your own body and mind, you have to experiment yourself. One has to go out and get going to understand how and where that book applies in his case. We are all different, there are such vast amount of combination of human characteristics that there will never be two of the exact same. That book can't tell you exactly how fast you can run at the moment or at your best, neither can it tell when you will hurt yourself. Life would be pretty boring if it could. We can only throw estimates according to statistics. These are things that everyone has to experiment on their own and with their own bodies. My motivation comes from doing constant work, then analyzing the data and seeing the progress in the making.


The Answer

I will now try to give an answer to the initial question above. There are tons of smaller and bigger things that I have changed since the last two years. The best memories of my teenage years are the trips and vacations around sports. They started with trips to Sweden to play basketball every Spring. The Spring is always ahead in Stockholm, so it was a pleasant to go there every time. In the high school the school's athletics team made a trip to Albufeira, Portugal in the Spring and when I was maybe 18 or 19 years we went on to train in Pisa, Italy with Johan Liitiäinen. He was a decent 800 m runner from my athletics team. Running in different climate, environment and architecture felt unreal. The trips were short, about 2 weeks, but I got a taste of what it is like to live like an athlete in other countries and climates. Those were the best trips and I still think about them with warmth. The sunlight had immediate impact, but it was also sad that I could not bottle it and take it with me to Finland.

Then in 2010 I moved for the first time from Finland to live abroad for extended period, for 5 months. And I got to experience it how the climate change affected my body and mind. 8 years had passed without having the motivation to do the thing that I really love to do and for which I have talent. I was out of shape and I played goalkeeper in the football games that we played. I was probably the worst player on the court, but I did not mind. I was participating in sports. That was a huge leap already. I bought a gym membership and went there as well. But all that was just temporary, and they were not my passion. More about my background can be read in my first blog entry: http://finnforrestgump.blogspot.com.ar/2013/09/background.html

On April 16th 2012 I tried running after a long time. I was out of shape, but I decided not to give up that easily. Inside me I knew that this is the sport that I can be very good at. This is the thing in my life that I have talent for. Besides that it's nice to go outside for a run and enjoy the day and sun. I decided to make running a marathon my first goal. A popular and a result oriented choice. What I really had wanted (which I did not realize at the moment) was to make running a big part of my life again. I quickly realized that running filled much what I had been missing in my life. And it took away things that were keeping me down like alcohol and cigarettes. I felt that running could solve everything in my life. I just need to run and life will organize itself. And I have to tell this: now 20 months later I haven't been this healthy mentally or physically before since when I was 12 years old (and back then life was great). I can appreciate the sports in my life now more than ever.


My key points to staying motivated

First of all, to be truly motivated the activity should be one's passion. One can not be passionate about something just because a website, television or a magazine tells you that this is the new trend and that all the cool kids are doing it. Also, the result oriented thinking fails so many people. For instance, let's think about all these people who are fighting to lose weight. Their goal is to lose weight. Losing weight can not be the passion of anyone, or if it is there won't be much weight to lose after a while (or probably there never was). My tip to people that battle issues with overweight is to think about what is a thing that they would like to do that is physical exercise as well? If something is boring, you have to make a game out of it. Chopping wood for example. Commit yourself to chop one hour of wood per day until it feels too easy then make a new goal to chop 2 hours per day. Put your results in Excel and draw graphs. Think about ways you can chop more in the same time without cheating. Buy better equipment. Chop some more. You will end up with a huge pile of firewood to sell as you get more skilled and better shape, but don't mind that. In fact, if my running would produce some kind of side product I would be glad to cover my running gear expenditures by selling some firewood on the side. My running just produces carbon dioxide and so far no one has showed interest in buying it. The point being sometimes you have to tackle the goal indirectly. I do running to improve my performance, I want to be the best I can in running. It's not about actually winning it although I always try to win. But what I am really gaining from this is all the positive health benefits: the physical and the mental. The quality of my life has gone up significantly.

Figure 2: I agree on this one

Secondly, don't deny yourself things that you want. The diets. I don't believe in them. At my current level, I can run about 100 km per week. The only thing that matters is constancy of exercise. Plan sufficiently hard workouts but not too hard and then commit yourself to stick to the plan. The reward is that you can eat what ever you feel like as long as you are ready to hit it hard again tomorrow. That takes pretty much alcohol out of the question right away. Sorry, you can not nail your exercise in hangover. By doing more and more exercise with less time to rest in between, the body will tell you what it wants you to eat. Running has made me crave for more carbohydrates, vegetables, and fruits. I rarely eat meat anymore. I feel like it is too heavy to digest. Hamburgers, pizza? No thanks. But I will have a chicken salad with ten potatoes, please. I have not felt this healthy for a long time. Maybe once a week I crave for chocolate, so I get chocolate tablet and eat the whole thing.

Figure 3: The cheapest, the closest and the most
time-conserving gym that I have found in my area.

Thirdly. Don't make up excuses. Many people complain that the gym is too far or too expensive, they don't have time or whatever other inconvenience and they are ready to give up right away. One should see this as an opportunity to be creative. Think about ways how you can get in your exercise even though it seems that inconvenient and difficult. At the end of the day all those inconveniences can be solved if you just get a bit creative. One of the most popular excuses is the time. You can always have time if you just prioritize your life again. Rearrange yourself. It really is your decision. Don't blame anyone else from stealing all your time, take what is yours. Make the exercise part of your daily routine, a necessity. Run to your work, if it is too far away get off the bus or car before you arrive and run the last kilometers to get the work. "There's no shower at my work." Then ask some local gym if you can use their shower in the mornings. There is always a way get in the exercise if you really want it.

Last but not least. Avoid monotony. Vary the intensity, routes and music if you listen to it while doing exercise. These are just a few tips that work for me and some other people. Everyone has to think this in their own case separately and do their own choices so to get back on the right track to be healthy and happy.


There is more to it

To get physically in good shape is the first step, but it does not end there, oh no. I have realized I haven't been yet very deep in the game after reading a couple of books of ultrarunners. But what I have experienced already is that I get to a whole new level spiritually when I'm spewing my guts out on the side of the road. In running, that is indeed a reward. You don't get there every time even when you try. It is a sign of accomplished hard work and the feeling is tremendous when your heart is pumping at maximum rate at the same time. If you haven't felt it (yet), then you are missing out. That is a door to the Other Side. Even the most cynic can become a free spirit floating in the universe, for a short moment at least. One couldn't care less about economy crisis or debt at that moment.

Take responsibility of your actions and choose to do what you love to do!