marathon training mistakes from peak performance and Percy Cerutty

In the last day or so I got one of my weekly emails from Peak Performance, and this weeks one was about common marathon training mistakes.
Seems to me the main things they were talking about were;
-doing too much tempo runs and long runs.
-doing too many long runs at too fast a pace.
-not periodizing enough (hard week/easy week or hard/harder/hardest/easy)
-doing too much long runs and fast tempo runs in the last 4 weeks before the actual marathon so that body is not recovered enough for optimal performance on the day.
(Note; Of course if your training for the marathon begins 4 weeks before, --like it has for me on several occasions *LOL* :-) hahaha-- then getting some distance in the legs so you will last all the way is more important and the recovery time needed before race day is shorter...very different setup compared to someone who has been training for 10-20 weeks...)
-not enough shorter intense speedwork at much faster than goal marathon pace.
-not enough short intense races
-not enough variety in training to keep it interesting (crosstraining perhaps)
-overuse of gels in the actual race or with not enough water intake when ingesting them...(or too much H20)
-too much strength training (or body core) not very relevant to running, better off doing hill running instead...

some interesting points which seem to ring true, and I suspect are common mistakes of many of the runners I know, and probably where I have gone wrong too in at least 1 or 2 aspects...

Also from speed reading a paragraph aimed specifically at marathoners from Percy Ceruttys 1960 How to become a champion book;
some key points stand out;
-avoid running on bitumen on concrete as much as possible.
-long walks in the mountains (the higher the better) are very helpful.
-running fast i.e. 4.15 per k->2.30 per k is important.
-learning to surge at will during races.
-developing a good kick (the ability to finish the last 400m-1k fast i.e. 55-80secs/2.30-4.15) is useful for winning races...
-hill running useful
-rest day per week (Monday is ideal)
-"hibernation times" 3 days of almost nothing several times in the year...

Good to think about as I am hoping to start week 1 of a 20 week plan for Perth Marathon 2008 race (which will be in July) this week....

47.45 Matilda Bay 10k Keeps foot in door of opportunity!

Sunday 17th February 2008; Ran Matilda Bay 10km in 47min 45. (4.46 per km)
Heart Rate-195 at end. 5km Splits; 23.32/24.13.
1km splits; 3.57,4.40,5.01,5.01,4.53
and....... 4.43,4.50,5.05,5.17,4.18...

Had a great run today! My best 10km for almost 3 years! So very happy to finally have a good race where I hit my main target which was to go sub 48 minutes.

Woke up this morning after the obligatory 5 hours sleep (better than 3 or 4), and resting heart rate was 47 which is my 2nd best this year, and maybe a bit of an omen for my target of getting into the 47minute zone today, although I don't place much credence on, or pay much attention to such things.

Yesterday I was tossing up whether to go today given my nil running training in the last 2 weeks, and the fact that money is very tight. I had $28 in my wallet, and my next payday is not until 28th February! So should I spend money on entry fee??? Also
had some good reasons to run though, and they were in no particular order (a)I had almost a full tank of petrol, (b) I was hoping to catch up with Craig, Steve or any other runners I know, (c)the ill-fated beach to bluff trip..(d) I wanted to see if my 10k rep session of 46.41 a few weeks back combined with my long runs with the fantastic hills group would be enough to get me under 48 minutes...despite my lack of training in the last 2 weeks.
Was banking on my last two weeks of 41hours+ meter reading work in some difficult terrain and weather to help me hold onto the fitness I had picked up earlier this year in my 2 good weeks...So after chatting with my wife decided to make sure I was there.

My 4.30am alarm did the trick for once, and soon I was heading down the freeway with almost no traffic, cranking out my mindbender CD, and feeling really psyched up for a good run today...

Got there well before 7am so early for once another good thing, had time to warm up properly while dodging the mosquitoes, and chat with other runners a bit...
Weather conditions were absolutely perfect! No wind, and light rain, quite cool temperatures, but not cold. Sculled down about 500ml of water beforehand, so I wouldn't have to drink too much while I was running.

Started strongly with a comfortable 3min 57 first 1km, felt like I had another 10 seconds in me at least...Saw Colin Francis, Craig, and Ian go past...Then settled down to deal with the concrete path sections, which as usual I avoided by running on the grass next to the path at every opportunity. Went through 2k in 8.37 so a 4.40 km, then my mediocre but slightly improved cardio-respiratory fitness became a factor and I backed off a bit as I saw Don P. from hills group cruise past. Figured if I could keep him in sight I should hit a reasonable pace, so tried to do that. A couple of 5.01 k's and then as we made our way along the parklands by the beautiful Swan River, with UWA on the other side, I picked up the pace a bit for a 4.53 K which got me to halfway, with a 5K split of 23.32 which I was pretty happy with. I knew I was a good chance to break the 48minutes by then. As we headed off the concrete path and down the slight downhill of Hackett Drive alongside UWA, I knew that it was time to crank things up a bit, plus Don P. was getting almost out of sight. Threw in 4.43 and 4.50 1Km splits between 5k to 7k, which meant I hit 7k in 33.05 and I knew I was looking good.

Also knew though that the concrete section was still there to be negotiated and that from 7k onwards was roughly about where I struggled in the 10k reps session a few weeks back so expected to struggle a bit in the last 3k. This proved to be the case with 1K splits of 5.05 and my worst of the entire race a 5.17! (terrible). At that point I looked at my watch which said 43.27 (about 7-27 seconds slower than I wanted, saw Christine P. coming up alongside me, and I knew I had to put the "pedal to the metal" NOW, if I was to nail a 4.32 last K to finish with at least my 2nd fastest 1K split of the race. Got a bit of encouragement from a few spectators who knew me, ignored my lack of oxygen, as I went hard for the finish line with a few hundred metres to go...When I saw the raceclock at the finishline counting up from 47.37 I knew I was home and hosed, mission accomplished, target achieved for today. Was an awesome feeling, felt like I had done a PB, which I hadn't but, emotionally I feel like I achieved something worthwhile today. My last 1km split was 4.18 which was quite good I thought.

After the race chatting with other runners, saw dolphins frolicking in the Swan river, jumping high into the air!
Also sampled some rockmelon, Nutragrain, and Sustain! that the WAMC put on for breakfast. Excellent value for an $8 non-member race entry! Continued a good chat with Craig afterwards about our respective times, and goals for the future, and then headed for home very happy and satisfied.

So once again I feel I have kept my foot in the door of the window of opportunity to chase some PB's this year with a good run. If I can build on this one in the coming weeks maybe I can get my Bridges 10k time under 45 minutes this year for the first time since 2005, and prove there is life still in my 33 going on 34 year old legs... My best 4 Bridges in the last 11 years so far have been 44.40 (2005), 43.43 (1997), 42.40 (2003), and 41.01 (1998, still my PB)....I have about 7 weeks to shave 3 minutes off my 10k time from today...A very achievable goal I think (the sub 45minute 10k), if I can consistently get my core 5 main sessions (long run,reps/race/time trial x2,ride,abs, and swim) done in the majority of those 7 weeks...

Looks like Meelup triathlon I can't afford to do, although the Karri Valley and Hillarys Triathlons, plus Freeway Bikehike still look real possibilities at this stage. If I can then translate this 10k speed into a Half marathon PB (currently 1hr 41min), the next step up would be to hopefully smash that elusive marathon PB of 3hr 55 that has hung around like a bad smell since 2004, in July and/or September/October. If the Melbourne Marathon (12th October) starts and finishes on the MCG I think I will try and do that one, and leave Sydney for another year.
Then there is hopefully 6 inch and 6 foot 2009, Canberra and Gold Coast in 2009 or 2010, and the 2009 Sydney World Masters Games.... So good to remind myself of where I am trying to head with all this racing and training by listing what are the main goal races on the radar.
The 40 miler is also on the list of things to do, as is Beach to Bluff, and a 6 hour race in Bunbury whether that is this year or more likely another year I don't know...Busselton Half IM looking less and less likely this year but not out of the question just yet...

Thanks God for a great run today!

PM; Went to Triggs beach today with Steve, Shannon,Bruce,Julie,Jade,Brandon, my wife Kathryn, and our little Jacob. It was young Jacobs first ever trip to the beach! Spent 45 minutes trying to bodysurf, swimming out of rip, getting dumped (did a few forced somersaults underwater and swallowed a bit of saltwater in the process.), finally got a good ride at one point and generally using a lot of energy for about 45minutes in the surf...Was really great to finally get to the beach even in fairly rough conditions...Felt rather refreshed after some time in the ocean, in a week that saw me only get 38 hours sleep for the week (less than 5.5 hours per night).
Perfect way to recover from 10k race this morning.

Its been a tough week again but I think we achieved some special things this week with Gods help so that is very satisfying. Just got to make it to next payday somehow....Next week is week 1 of my 20 week program for Perth Marathon in July. Not too sure when my next race will be, probably Freeway Bikehike on March 16th maybe...

Best laid plans etc etc etc

Sunday 10th February 2008 2200hrs;Cycled 30minutes on exercise bike Heart rate 141 at end.
Highish gear, maintained fast! cadence all the way!. Struggling with a heat rash this weekend, could be my sweat ducts have been getting blocked and inflammation caused by sweat not getting out...Whatever it is it is extremely annoying...hope it goes away soon...My wife Kathryn also did 32minutes on the Ex Bike today, and we went for a 28min walk to the lake yesterday...Young Jacob is really coming along well and in leaps and bounds in the last few days too...Some key points in his development occurring now...

Had big plans for some hard sessions this week/weekend...but between a flat out work schedule (more than 42 hours this week in actual reading time plus travelling time and so on means I was busy with work related stuff for at least 50 hours this week, plus drove a lot of km,), mad weather (37 degrees one day, 32 mm of rain the next), and routes in Nedlands,Brigadoon drivebookish stuff(something like that),Perth/Mt Lawley (walked from Perth CBD to Walcott St and a lot of other stuff, so a lot of km walked that day), my machine dying on me in Maylands, and training a bloke in Midland...its been a topsyturvy hard but certainly not mundane week. Needless to say come the weekend I just wanted to crash and get some sleep on the board after a few nights of midnight-4am sleeps...So rested up and made the most of some much needed family time, and failed to do any of the sessions I had planned for the weekend, until I squeezed in a ride tonight...But hey I registered a resting heart rate of 45! yesterday morning and 49 today, and the 45 is my best in 2008 by a long way, so that suggests the training I did in the last 2 weeks plus the hard days at work are paying off for me, despite the complete mess of a training schedule even worse than usual...Only a week to Matilda Bay now, so hopefully I can absorb the financial and other pressures on me, and come up with a good sub 48 minute effort at matilda bay 10k, and get my 2008 campaign going somewhere...Only a few weeks until the 40 miler race too, so will have to get back to the Hills group too soon...Disappointed I had to pull out of Beach to Bluff, but hopefully some other time...See what happens from here??? Looks like another heatwave week heading our way...

Struggle through first 10k reps session in 4 months

Sunday 3rd February
AM; Ran a total of 10km using my secret "10k reps session" format in 46minutes 41.88 seconds. Average speed 4.40.19 per km. Heart rates ranged from 162 to 192 but mostly around the low 180s.

Got there around 8am and finished about 10am so avoiding the heatwave time of the day for the first half of the session again just like yesterdays run. See
here, which shows it sat around 24-27 degrees for the first hour or so, but from 0930 to 1000 the temperature climbed to 28-30 degrees as I finished just before 10am.

First half of the session was excellent, considering where I am at now. Was consistently hitting around 4.25 per km on the reps for the first 5-6km which meant I was on track for a sub 45min effort which would have beaten the 45.17 I did on October 1st last year a few days before the Melbourne Marathon...
See here...


Given my lack of good speedwork in recent months I knew it was rather ambitious attempting to complete this session now, but wanted to establish a baseline of short distance (5k,10k etc) fitness to work from in future weeks, as well as kickstart some more intense reps type training, and this was the best way I could think of with the Matilda Bay 10k in 2 weeks, and the Bridges 10k 6th April the main current ***short*** races in mind. (other races include th Freeway bikehike 16th March, maybe some short triathlons and the 40 miler on 24th March to name some of them) I am hoping to nail a sub 48 at Matilda Bay, and hopefully work towards some sub 45 (or better) stuff by the time Bridges comes around. Would be nice as I havent run sub 45 for a few years now so have almost forgotten what it feels like to run sub 4.30's for an entire 10k...

Ended up increasing my rest times a lot in the second half of the session, partly because I was telling a lady who was taking her little aths kids for some "training" about the marathon club runs, and had to get a bandaid out of my car for one of my nipples... So not sure if my rests were too long, I didn't do my active recovery well enough, my 33km yesterday was affecting me, my lack of fast sessions over 5km in recent months, the sharp increase in temperature (it hit 29-30 degrees celsius after sitting around 24-27 degrees for the first half of my session), or just generally poor fitness...but my last 4k of reps was very slow sliding out to about 5minutes per km, and thats when I got my lowest Heart rates of 162 and 177....
So I wasn't that stressed cardio-respiratory wise (breathing), it was just really heavy legs that wouldn't go anymore. Methinks that has to be lactic acid accumulation or general fatigue, but hopefully I will be better for having done this session, and can improve significantly next week.

Anyhow that meant my time blew out to just under 47minutes, which going on past experience predicts a sub 48 10k race time for me maybe as a starting point for 2008. Apart from very tired legs, I actually felt a bit too good at the end of this session, and that combined with the very low heart rates near the end of the session suggests to me that if I avoid doing a long run close to my next attempt at this session and get out there before 7am, I might nail a sub 45minute effort next weekend, if I can get through the usual weekly logistical obstacles. Hope to skip saturday morning group next weekend, in favour of another 10k reps session, and do part of Nathan and Daves Beach to Bluff epic 86km run (which finishes on the summit of Bluff Knoll the second highest mountain in WA at over 1000m) as my long run on the Sunday instead....
***update; too hard logistically this week so perhaps a Mt Cooke run or the Hills group again instead***

Guess we shall see on February 17th whether we can deliver the goods in the Matilda Bay 10k.

So extremely happy to nail this session, which brings my running km for the week to 48km, plus cycling, walk with my wife, and the usual meter reading exploits for many hours all week. At 440minutes for the week, and having ticked four of the boxes of my 5point training strategy (long run,ride, 2x race/timetrial/reps,abs and swim) this has already been a successful week. If I can just jam in a swim tonight somehow (would help if I could find my goggles...might have made splash n dash on Friday if I had), I would have nailed all 5 sessions I want to try and get done on a weekly basis this year...
***update*; failed to get a swim done...but hey "Rome wasn't built in a day" "God is still working on me" of course...

relaxed 33km Darlington to Mt Helena and back

Saturday 2nd February; Ran 33km from Darlington to Mt Helena and back in 3hours 57minutes 34 seconds. Heart Rate at end was 138. Splits 1hr 54/2hr 03. (Mundaring 9.5K split 59min 23.)

For once I arrived early hip hip hurray! It was ominously dark with a lot of clouds and a pretty good sunrise trying to sneak over the eastern horizon, as easterly winds gusted. I started at the front, trailblazing with one or two others, grabbing big sticks off the path that had blown onto the trail, so that the others didnt have to run around them in the still very dark light. Headlamps would have been handy for the first 10-20 minutes.

There was no way I was going to do a hard 38Km (through the long hill of Jacoby park near Mundaring Weir) with the A or B teams, so it was the C team and a few 19k-25k people that I was running with for sure. In the end only John C., GC,Jane, old John, and maybe one or two others ended up doing the 33km. Its a fairly shallow uphill most of the way to Mt Helena, and then the downhill on the way back, so a pretty easy course which I have run several times in the last year or two now, so not a really challenging course but perfect to consolidate on last weeks tough Brooking Rd hill 27km.

Had trouble finding people running at my pace, and as was the pattern for the entire run as usual the C-team was taking lots of long breaks along the way at every opportunity, i.e. about every 3k or so...I was finding that pattern way to slow, and not conducive to my rhythm or pace, so I ran with John C., and Alli for awhile after Glen Forrest. Some of the 19k runners came through including one woman with a distinctive Sydney Striders top I have not seen before. Eventually though I found that pace a little quick and they got away from me slowly. However it pulled me through to MUndaring in 59minutes which is a bit quicker split than some of my recent runs on this course, so a pleasing split.

Then it took awhile for Jane and old John, GC, and Tim B. to turn up and they took a long break. Saw Kep track signs. Then again at Sawyers and Mt Helena. Some excellent chats though and I wasnt game to it alone at my current level of fitness in my longest run for a few months until we got to Mundaring with just over 9k to go.

With about 4k to go Don and Christine from the B team cruised past so I latched onto their fast pace for a few Km keeping them in sight, and then as the temps started to climb and i started to feel it a bit I dropped back to Jane, old John and GC for the last 1km, but threw in some spurts here and there. Overall a good run, 10 minutes slower than what I did 15th September 2007, but a pleasing run to bank...A good platform now from the last 2 weeks for the coming weeks...