Video — Mental Preparation for the Marathon

JoeEnglish - 3:53 pm | Comments

running advice bug Video Mental Preparation for the MarathonIt’s episode 19 in our weekly video series and this week we take on a topic near and dear to Coach Dean’s heart. As a Certified Mental Games Coach, Dean knows a thing or two about preparing athletes mentally to race.

This week we look at issues have to do with the mental aspects of running:
— How much of running is mental?
— What is mental toughness?
— How do first time marathoners differ from everyone else?
— Strategies for focusing in the last miles of a long run or race
— Dealing with mental barriers
— Pre-race anxiety

This video is part of our Desert Series, in which Coaches Joe English and Dean Hebert get their lips smackin’ about all things marathon running. There are over 30 episodes in the series and they come out every week on www.running-advice.com.

To watch the video, just click the play button in the video window below.

http://www.vimeo.com/5419145

There’s much more coming. We’ve filmed over 30 episodes in this series and we’ll be rolling them out each week. To visit our video page with links to all of the episodes in the series, click here.

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Racing — Abdirahman to defend USA Men’s 10KM title at Peachtree

JoeEnglish - 10:06 pm | Comments

running advice bug Racing Abdirahman to defend USA Mens 10KM title at PeachtreeThree-time Olympian Abdi Abdirahman (Tucson, Ariz.), will face two-time Olympian Anthony Famiglietti (Knoxville, Tenn.), as he seeks his third straight USA Men’s 10 km title Saturday at the 40th running of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Peachtree Road Race in Atlanta, Georgia.

While the race also features a strong international field, Abdirahman, who finished second in winning the U.S. title here in 2007, will face top U.S. athletes including Famiglietti, the 2009 USA 15 km champion.

Also expected to challenge for the U.S. crown will be 2008 USA Half Marathon champion James Carney (Boulder, Colo.), who was fourth in the 10,000 meters at last week’s USA Outdoor Track & Field Championships; and Ed Moran (Williamsburg, Va.), who finished fifth behind Carney in Eugene last week.

The field will also feature 2008 Olympic marathoner Brian Sell (Rochester Hills, Mich.) and 2009 World Championships Marathon team member Justin Young (Superior, Colo.).

Source: USATF
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Youth Runnning — Should runners train everyday?

DeanHebert - 4:20 pm | Comments

Coach Dean Hebert

Coach Dean Hebert

Here’s a question from a reader named Lauri:

“My 15 year old son’s cross country coach is telling the kids they should run everyday of the year….something called consecutive day training. My training suggests at least one day of rest or change in exercise to avoid injuries. Is there some research about this especially with young runners?”

Before we jump in to the answer, let’s start with some training fundamentals. Improvement comes by stressing the body then allowing it to recover. Or to put another way, We break down the body and then allow it to rebuild. It is during this rebuilding phase that compensation for our weaknesses takes place and the body rebuilds itself stronger than the previous state. That is what we call the “training effect”.

Thinking about the training effect then, the body needs to be put under stress AND allowed to rest in order to improve. If we were always resting, we would lose conditioning. If we are continuously breaking down the body (stressing it) then we’ll end up, over-trained, burnt out, unable to improve and likely on the path to injuries.
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Commentary: You’re runners. Get out there and run.

JoeEnglish - 9:31 pm | Comments

Coach Joe English

Coach Joe English

You are a runner. You define yourself as a runner. It’s your sport, your thing. Everyone at the office notes that you scramble out the front door in a pair of shorts and running shoes at lunch, even when its raining. They talk about the fact that you’re one of those “fit” people, perhaps with a bit of jealously in their tone.

You think about your races and are probably asked often, “so what’s your next one” and you’re only too eager to answer the question. In fact, if you get you started, you’ll talk about running all day. Your avatar on Second Life is probably wearing running shoes and your Facebook page might be tattooed with a “I do 26.2″ on it. While you’re not addicted to running, it certainly defines you in some way.

Yet, let’s put this in perspective. For all the talking, thinking, planning and day-dreaming you do about running, how much of your day is actually spent running? For the vast majority of you, you probably devote about one hour per day or less to actually running. Sure, you do long runs on the weekends that take longer than an hour and you have rest days or cross-training days too where you won’t run at all. So on-balance it probably comes out to about an hour a day.

An hour a day.
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Track and Field — Wrap-up from Eugene 2009 Outdoor Nationals

JoeEnglish - 5:51 pm | Comments

running advice bug Track and Field Wrap up from Eugene 2009 Outdoor NationalsEUGENE — With the 2009 Outdoor Track and Field Nationals in the books, here is a wrap-up of some of the top running performances at the event as reported by USATF.

Symmonds wins Nike Men’s 800m, named Visa Athlete of the Meet
Eugene area resident Nick Symmonds won the most dramatic race of last year’s Olympic Trials at Hayward Field, and he continued his success here this afternoon in being named the Visa Athlete of the Meet following his dramatic win in the Nike Men’s 800 meters.

Symmonds began the race in his customary place near the back of the pack before building a sizeable lead coming off the final turn. 2004 Olympian Khadevis Robinson, who finished fourth at last year’s Olympic Trials, began closing on Symmonds down the stretch but didn’t quite have enough to catch him. Symmonds edged Robinson at the finish, crossing the line first in 1:45.86. Robinson finished as the runner-up in 1:45.97, with former University of Washington standout and 2006 NCAA Outdoor champion Ryan Brown third in 1:46.67. Christian Smith, who finished third at last year’s Trials, finished fourth at 1:46.92.

Clark wins women’s two-lapper
Three-time Olympian Hazel Clark won her fifth career USA Outdoor 800m title and the fourth in the last five years by crossing the finish line first in this afternoon’s final in 2:00.79.
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Races — Rock N Roll Seattle Marathon debuts as city’s largest run

JoeEnglish - 5:33 pm | Comments

SEATTLE — On a day that dawned with clear blue skies, the inaugural Rock ‘n’ Roll Seattle Marathon & Half- Marathon lived up to the hype, kicking off the Seafair season and debuting as Seattle’s largest running event. On Saturday, 25,000 runners from all 50 states and 14 countries participated in the races, which ran from Tukwila to downtown Seattle.

Some of the days top performances came from Kenya’s Elija Nyabuti, who set a new Washington state record for the half-marathon with a time of 1 hour, 5 minutes, 14 seconds, and from American Michelle Suszek who won the women’s marathon in 2:38:37, a full four minutes faster than her previous best.

“I wanted to run my own race today and wanted to break the 2:40 mark,” said Suszek, who entered the race just a week ago and recently started working with new coach Lyle Knudson after a disappointing finish in April’s Country Music Marathon.

The top five finishers in the women’s marathon were Americans. Two-time Chicago Marathon champion Berhane Adere of Ethiopia won the women’s half-marathon in 1:11:19.
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Track and Field — Bagley, Rupp and Gay burn up track at Outdoor Nationals

JoeEnglish - 4:18 pm | Comments

running advice bug Track and Field Bagley, Rupp and Gay burn up track at Outdoor NationalsEUGENE, Ore – Amy Yoder Bagley, Galen Rupp thrilled their hometown crowd and Tyson Gay burned up the track during the opening day of the 2009 USA Outdoor Track & Field Championships at the University of Oregon’s Hayward Field.

The final event of the 2009 USATF Outdoor Visa Championship Series, the USA Outdoor Championships runs from June 25-28.

Yoder Begley thrills Hayward crowd again
Oregon Track Club member Any Yoder Begley thrilled the Hayward Field crowd in finishing third at the Olympic Trials last year, bettering the Olympic Games women’s “A” qualifying standard in the process, and she brought an even bigger roar tonight as she won her first national championship and set a Hayward Field record.

Yoder Begley and 2008 Olympic 10,000m bronze medalist Shalane Flanagan traded the lead twice in the final lap, with Yoder Begley emerging as the victor in 31 minutes, 22.69 seconds, which is the #9 U.S. women’s 10,000m time in history. Flanagan was the runner-up in 31:23.43. Both times shattered Flanagan’s previous Hayward Field record time of 31:34.81, set in winning the 2008 Olympic Trials. 2008 Olympic Trials fourth-place finisher Katie McGregor punched her ticket for her third U.S. World Championships team with her third-place finish in 32:08.04.
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Races — Paul Tergat withdraws from Rock N Roll Seattle

JoeEnglish - 10:15 pm | Comments

running advice bug Races Paul Tergat withdraws from Rock N Roll SeattleSEATTLE — Five-time world champion Paul Tergat was forced to pull out of this weekend’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Seattle Half Marathon according to a press statement today from race organizers. Kenya’s former marathon world record holder suffered a recurrence of the injury which forced him to pull out of last month’s 25km race in Berlin.

“Paul was out jogging the morning before his flight and felt some pain in his lower back. With the length of the flight from Nairobi to Seattle, and the race itself, he decided it was best to pull out,” said Matthew Turnbull, the Elite Athlete Coordinator for the Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon Series. “It’s a blow to lose any athlete so close to a race. Everyone associated with Rock ‘n’ Roll Seattle was looking forward to welcoming Paul to the inaugural event in what is going to be an exciting and long standing relationship here in the Pacific Northwest.”

Tergat, 40, has been racing well in recent competitions. He set the world record in the marathon in 2003, when we ran 2:04:55 in Berlin. Earlier this year, he won the Lake Biwa Marathon in Japan in a time of 2:10:22.

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Video — The Beer Mile

JoeEnglish - 5:19 pm | Comments

running advice bug Video The Beer MileEpisode 18 is here and this week, we take a break from the more serious topics we consider and get somewhat . . . silly. Runners love beer. How about an event that brings runners and beer together? And yes, we mean drinking WHILE running.

This week Coach Dean tells us about the little known, but highly competitive, track event called the Beer Mile. It sounds like something that might make me sick, but I’d be willing to give it a try.

Keep in mind that you should drink responsibly, don’t drink in public places where alcohol is prohibited, don’t run on the road after drinking, and never drink and drive.

This video is part of our Desert Series, in which Coaches Joe English and Dean Hebert get their lips smackin’ about all things marathon running. There are over 30 episodes in the series and they come out every week on www.running-advice.com.

To watch the video, just click the play button in the video window below.

http://www.vimeo.com/5323259

There’s much more coming. We’ve filmed over 30 episodes in this series and we’ll be rolling them out each week. To visit our video page with links to all of the episodes in the series, click here.

Running Advice and News
www.running-advice.com

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Workouts: Interval Pyramids

JoeEnglish - 6:27 pm | Comments

Coach Joe English

Coach Joe English

This is week five in our continuing series of favorite speed workouts. If you’re looking for the earlier posts, they are all filed in the category called “workouts”.

Workout: Interval Pyramids or Pyramid Workdouts

Workout Summary: The pyramid is really a whole class of workouts in which you will run progressively longer intervals followed by progressively shorter ones. If you were to chart out the distances of the intervals, they look like a pyramid with the distances getting longer on one side (200M, 400M, 800M, 1,200M) and then getting shorter on the other (1,200M, 800M, 400M, 200M). What’s nice about this type of workout is that the progressively longer nature of the up side of the pyramid means will mean that each interval generates more running while fatigued (a good thing) and the down side allows you to mentally get relief as the intervals get shorter.

Pyramids are also nice, because they can be configured in many different ways to keep them fresh and fun. For example, on days when you are looking to extenuate distance, you might start the intervals longer (1,200, 1,600, 2,000) and on days when looking for more speed start them shorter (50M, 100M, 200M, 400M). They aren’t as boring a running countless reps of the same interval over and over again either.
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