2014 Marathon Training

Introduction

I have considered the Marathon (42K) my main event ever since I came back to running two and a half years ago. In reality I think I am built to run the middle distances, like 1500 meters. In the past, when I was in the juniors, I had enough speed to run sub 50 seconds the 400 meters. But at that time I never ended up taking a chance at training for longer distance. I considered the occasional 10 km Sunday runs as stupid waste of time and energy. I only wanted to get faster. I was sprinting, but I

wasn't a sprinter, I admit it.

Figure 1: Grinding it at
Arnet 21K Buenos Aires.

The quarter-milers and marathoners have quite similar somatotype or body structure (read here my writing on body composition and somatotype). The 5K and 10K runners tend to be more lanky and slender than marathoners. While the elite quarter-milers' tend to have a major portion of fast twitch muscle fiber, the elite marathoners have a lot of slow twitch muscle fiber in their muscles. A 400 meter race is mainly anaerobic event and the marathon race is almost exclusively aerobic event. In fact 800 meters race (or 2 minutes of maximal running) is a 50/50 anaerobic/aerobic event. The modern elite marathoners run the 42K distance in almost 2 hours (2:02:57 is the new current World Record). They have more fast twitch muscle fibers than the past marathon champions who ran times like 2:12.

We are all born with a certain ratio of fast and slow twitch muscle fiber and we can't change it. But the fast twitch muscle fibers can be taught running economy and other tendencies of the slow twitch muscle fibers by practice (and vice versa). I don't think I will ever again be as fast at sprinting as I was when I was 20 years old, but I have already more endurance than I have ever had after training continuously for two and a half years. I still have years in me to try to run my best times in the Marathon. Aging certainly makes us slower. But in my opinion and experience so far before we hit about the age of 40 years, aging makes us more prone to endurance. I am now 32 years old so I can't yet say when my marathon times started to deteorirate.

Training Plan

My initial plan was to train specifically for the marathon for 20 weeks. My plan had three training periods: Introductionary, Fundamental, and Sharpening. The Introductionary period was planned to last for the first 6 weeks. Followed by Fundamental training period of 10 weeks training. And finally 4 weeks long Sharpening training period. The Introductionary period prepares the body for the tough practices in the Fundamental period. While Base Training is almost exclusively running at low intensities, the Introductionary period includes moderate pace running and Fartlek. The body is not ready yet to take on the tough Tempo Runs of the Fundamental period, but the Moderate Runs and Fartlek Runs make good work of preparing for them. Progression of the training is important during all the training cycle. In marathon training this usually means that every practice just becomes longer, but the pace stays the same.

During the marathon training cycle all of my key workout practices eventually started to look a like, and simulated more and more the demands of a marathon race. Besides the key workouts I run Recovery Runs and Easy Runs. When I started the training cycle I was in a shape of running 9-10 times per week and planned to run close to 150 km per week. But all that had to be adjusted when I injured my right thigh. That is when I had to change drastically my plans and first try to get me back on the road from rehabilitation. It turned out that I lost 4 weeks of Fundamental training due to injury. The injury bothered for 7 weeks in total, but I tried to run through it at the cost of losing quality in my training. In the end I found out that my body could deal with running 7 times per week and still had the energy to fight through the key workouts.

Table 1: Tempo Intervals on Tuesdays.

Key Workouts

Table 2: Tempo Runs on Thurdays.

The three weekly key workouts are shown in Tables 1-3. The progression is visible in each workout from week to week. All the key workouts progress towards imitating the demands of marathon race. The injury stagnated my development and I think I was actually in better shape when I ran the Helsinki Half Marathon than the Arnet 21K Buenos Aires (see Table 3). My race execution was just better in Buenos Aires and the course was faster.

Table 3: Long Runs on Sundays.

The tables lack the last two weeks of Sharpening because I am writing this blog entry 13 days before the Marathon Race. But my marathon training is now done and the priority is now to heal up blisters and aches, and get rested before taking on the Marathon. That does not mean I will quit running for two weeks. No, I will just ease up the intensity and length of the practices. Only the last few days I will run very little.

Injuries

The main injury that I suffered and that kept me from running was the Nerve Compression Syndrome I had on my right leg and lower back. I think I developed the injury by not giving myself enough rest after Helsinki Half Marathon as I proceeded with the training right on. I was also doing very high mileage per week for me: up to 146 km. I have described this injury here on one of my previous blog entries. Other nuisance that I had were a sore right leg Achilles Tendon. I think both of these injuries were caused by suddenly starting to run downhill as my training environment was changed. After returning to flat Buenos Aires I didn't suffer from injuries, except I strained mildly my right calf and had to quit the current practice and take a rest the next day.

Figure 2: Cycling as a form of cross training.

Cross Training

While I was unable to run I could not just stay in bed and wait to heal up. I looked for replacement exercise forms that would not put the injured part of my body under strain. It is important, but demoralizing to find substitute exercise activities when you are injured. The aerobic condition that you have worked will vanish if you stop exercising. The cross training activities don't necessarily take your conditioning forward, but they have done their job when they don't let the aerobic condition to collapse. I did cycling, swimming and aqua running while I was sidelined from running. The cycling raises the heart rate and it is fun while you can do cycling trips to quite far away. The longest trip I took was 100 km. But the cycling also started to put strain on my right leg so I decided to switch to water sports: swimming and aqua running. Aqua running in particular I found to be pretty boring even though I listened to music. I did it not only in a swimming pool but also in a lake!

Arnet 21K Buenos Aires Race Report

Introduction

My preparation for this race was nowhere close to what I had initially planned. You can read the full story from my previous blog entry: My Route to Arnet 21k Buenos Aires. But at the moment I could be doing some important discovery about how to train myself. I am very interested to see where my current training will take me and if there are things to learn about it to make better plans and decisions in my future training. I entered this event with just 6 weeks of running after being bother by a thigh injury for the previous 7 weeks. In my key-workouts I could feel that I was stronger every time than the last time. My specific-endurance, the event specific ability to run a certain distance at certain pace, was getting better rapidly. I don't think I have peaked yet, but this kind of shorter Fundamental period of training might suit me better than longer training plans. At least running feels good and strong now, but if you'd ask me 5 weeks ago, I would've told you it feels like shit.

Figure 1: The Course tracked by my Polar GPS.

The Course

This was the second time I ran this race. Last year this race was my best race of the year. My time then was 1:23:17 and my position 197th. This year the Route was close to the same with just a couple of minor changes. There are only three uphills on the course, which are not steep at all. It is a very good course to run a fast time. 

There was a major problem in the organizing the runners in the start area. I tried to enter the start area 10 minutes before the race starts and there was no way of getting in close to the front of the pack. The runners had been asked their goal times and been given a wristband accordingly. But when you arrived at the start area, there were no entrances at your time groups and if you arrived "late" you should basically go all the way to the back of the 20,000 runner bunch. Well, we all started climbing over the fences even though the organizers were trying to prevent it. I got over the fence about 3 minutes before the race start. Not in the front but maybe 20 seconds back in the bunch. After all this episode didn't ruin my race before it even started, but I'm not so sure that every one agrees on that. This has happened pretty often in the races over here. You have to be elite or get there in the start area 30 minutes before the bang to get a good spot at the start. The rest of the course and organization was great and the weather could not been any better. We enjoyed the rising morning sun, the temperature at about 16 C at the start, and only a slight wind during the race.

Plan and Execution

My plan was to start running at a controlled 3:45 min/km (1:19:xx result) pace for the first 10 km. Once I'd get to 10 km I would start running by feel. Go slightly faster if I felt so, or just maintain the current pace. The last 5 km I would have a green light to go as hard as I still could and hopefully end the race running strong. I planned to take just small sips of water and Gatorade at the early aid stations and later just fly by them.

Table 1: My Split Times and
average Heart Rates.

I got trapped somewhat in the bunch at the start and had to pass a lot of runners in the first kilometers in the heavy traffic. But I kept calm and managed not to ruin my race in the first kilometer. My first kilometer split was 3:54, and that was the slowest kilometer of the whole race. I lost some energy there running like I was in an action movie. After that I was passing runners at a constant flow but I could already dial my own pace and didn't have to make those insane moves and tricks anymore. I found my rhythm and ran the second kilometer 3:37. Faster than what I had planned. The running felt good, my legs were light and the 3:45 pace felt something I could do for a long time. At about kilometer 5 we were running as a big continuous bunch but now everyone around me was running pretty much the same pace. I could start drafting behind their backs and slowly but surely picked up positions. Up to 10 km I was running easy and felt strong. I was working with couple of runners together and seems we got excited as there was crowd cheering as we arrived in the center of Buenos Aires (Obelisco and Casa Rosada). My fastest kilometer of the race was the 10th kilometer, 3:26. I got some personal cheers at 10 km from my old workmate, Vero. I felt like I was flying. 

Figure 2: Running at the 18,5 km.

The important psychological turn point was just before 11 km. That's where the course physically turns to go back. At about 12,5 km I started to feel some aches in my stomach and I didn't drink anything after that. My legs were also starting to pay the price of running past the halfway. I eased up just a little bit and tried to draft as much as possible, still clocking constant 3:43 kilometers. At 16,5 km I started my attack for the finish leaving behind the runners that I've been running with. I ran couple of strong kilometers at 3:40 pace and found myself alone for the remaining 3 kilometers. My wife was cheering for me right there where I started to feel the pain and the strong running turned into survival to the finish line. I picked up a couple of exhausted runners and got passed by one runner in the last 2 kilometers. The last 500 meters were great. The crowd was very close on the street and cheered as I tried to put my final sprint. It was like in the Tour de France mountain stages. I wanted to give them their "money's worth" and pushed myself to a long sprint. Lots of pain, but still it feels so great. I finished the race pumping my fist to celebrate my new PR and the great execution of the race. My chip time was 1:19:01 (3:44 min/km) and the official time 1:19:21. My position was 75th. A total of 15354 runners finished the race. After the race I enjoyed some complementary massage to initiate the recovery.

Figure 3: After the massage. Trying not to step on any living things.

Summary

My average Heart Rate during the race was 162 (88%). That was pretty good intensity for me for 21K. I think I ran close to optimum. I made my new PR: 1:19:01. That's over 4 minutes faster than last year! I think I have found my style of running the 21K: to avoid the pain until 16 km and then embrace the pain for the last 5 km. This time I will give my legs more time to recover from the race to avoid getting injured again. I take couple of easy days and then rock on again. I have 5 weeks time to get ready to run the 42K of Buenos Aires.

My Route to Arnet 21K Buenos Aires

Introduction

I considered running the Helsinki Half Marathon as just one tough practice, but nothing more. Maybe I should have respected it a bit more and not run my new weekly record of 146 km the following week. I did not recover properly. To further go over the top with the training load on me was the change of training environment from pancake flat Buenos Aires streets to up and down Helsinki gravel routes. My right thigh got over exhausted and tight up for not giving up on running quantity and going even harder as I ran the half marathon race. As I scroll back my training log the first time I mention pain in my right thigh area is on 20th of June. That is 13 days after the half marathon race. I developed an upper thigh pain that hurt every fast or slow running step I took. I think running the downhills was the main cause of the injury as they were too violent for my current flatlander legs to handle.

Figure 1: Finnish Summer in bloom.

It SUCKS being injured. Often you feel you could overcome the pain and just push through it, but sadly that does not solve the problem. On the contrary it might prolong the injury and make it even worse. But an athlete can't stop every time she feels pain. Therefore it is an important skill to be able to judge when it is time to push through, slow down, take a rest day or stop running for some time. Having a good coach would be very useful in this matter.

Figure 2: Sartorius muscle.

The Nerve Compression Syndrome

I ran two weeks through the pain waiting for it to get better. On the second week I got a diagnose and sports massage on my thigh. My right leg sartorius muscle was very tight. It was almost in a chronic cramp. I gave up on running for couple days to see if I could heal the injury by self massage and rest. I continued running but the thigh was like before. I gave up on running and started cycling to keep up my aerobic fitness while being unable to run. The thigh was "ok" while riding bike except when I pedaled standing. After doing exclusively cycling for one week (314 km) I had to give up on that activity as well. I then took a complete rest for one week. I tried to return to running, but the thigh was still hurting. Then I started aqua running, 45 minutes every day. I did it in swimming halls and lakes. Finally at the end of July I went back to my masseur and he figured out that my lower back, buttocks and thighs had been so tight that they were compressing the nerves. It's called nerve compression syndrome and that was what caused the pain in my thigh. The massage helped to ease some of the pain and my masseur gave me advice to stretch my leg muscles once every hour or two to release the tension of the muscles and the nerves. The next day I was already running again, eager to get on with my training. I could still feel some minor pain in my thigh but it got better in a few days after intensive stretching. The pinned nerve(s) had been released. This injury bothered me for total of 7 weeks.

Running Again

My training plan was adjusted dramatically while being injured and I had lost time battling with the thigh injury. I made a new plan to run the 21K Buenos Aires (7th of September) and 42K Buenos Aires (12th of October). I was able to squeeze in 6 weeks of Fundamental training (instead of 10) and the 4 week Sharpening period for the Marathon. My running fitness had taken a hit and I had to get going again. I decided that my 21K would be the main event although I was doing modified marathon training. That was because my gut would tell me that I would not have the time to get enough long running under my belt for the marathon. But for the 21K the Long Runs would be sufficient and I just had to get me in shape for running 21K. That can be achieved in less time. And of course I had already built up a nice base condition during a couple years of running.

Table 1: Tuesday Tempo Intervals/Intervals pace @5K.

Table 2: Thursday Tempo Run pace @10K-mara.

Table 3: Sunday Long Run.

In the three tables on the right are presented my key-workout progression after returning to running. I did three key-workouts at different paces per week: Tuesdays at 5K pace and faster, Thursdays at 10K to marathon pace, and Sundays the Long Run. Let's see where this kind of shorter training period takes me. I feel that this might work out pretty well for me. I feel I develop the specific-endurance pretty fast. This might turn out to be a really useful experiment how to train myself. Last year I had already peaked before my marathon and had to abandon the race at 26 km. The speedsters usually peak faster than the endurance monsters and indeed that might be my case as well.

Arnet 21K Buenos Aires

The Route to the start line is seldom straight, but after all there I will be tomorrow and even healthy. The race starts tomorrow morning at 7:30 AM right after the sunrise. It has been raining pretty hard last couple mornings, but for tomorrow morning the forecast is of clear sky and the temperature at about 10 C with a wind of 12 km/h. Those are some good conditions to run a fast time on the flat streets of Buenos Aires. Oh and I have a secret weapon: Racing shoes that my old friend Atte (Thanks mate!) donated me. The shoes will premier tomorrow.

Figure 3: The Runner's Kit