Loose Lips Sink Ships, Loose Hips Win Marathons

As promised, this is all about my speed lecture. Last Sunday, I drove to the West Hartford Fleet Feet Sports Store, for a clinic by Coach Al with the promising title of "LEARN THE SECRETS TO RUNNING EASIER AND FASTER! " Al has run a 2:39 Boston without ever running more than 40 miles in a week, because his body would break down. Quoting from his web site, "His approach to coaching revolves around a more holistic, balanced approach that includes Yoga, flexibility and mobility training, and smart functional strength training. Most importantly, he advocates a balanced approach that blends training and racing goals within the context of the “triangle of life,” which is family, work, and sport. "

Since his body would not support more than 40 miles per week, he analyzed running form and the body and adopted a workout program to address what the body is doing during a run. For instance, he told us about the difference between concentric (contracting) muscle motion, and eccentric (elongating) muscle motion. When you are running, your quads are generally in an eccentric motion, so a runner wants to be building strength in your quads while they are enlongating. That machine in the gym you sit in with your knees starting at perpendicular, and pushing your ankles up to parallel, is a concentric motion, and thus not helping you with running. Of course, he has lots of exercises, some using balls and the bosu, that build up your strength for running, especially your inner core strength. Of course my wife Jane has been telling me for quite some time that I need to be working with the ball and the bosu, and she was so happy that someone else told me about it that she didn't even gloat when I told her she was right.

The first thing we did was go into the parking lot of Fleet Feet and run in the cold while he videotaped us. He will use software to analyze our running and send us the video. We then watched video of the men's Olympic marathon leaders running and we were able to see several things of importance. What makes up speed is stride length and pace of leg turnover. What helps both those items is strength and flexibility in the hips, thus the title of this post. We could see in the video how fluid their hip motion was, and with their strength, how their stride length and pace did not lessen after mile 20, like mine always has done. While we got a DVD of some of the exercises that Al prescribes, I bought the full DVD for Runners. I also hope to go to some lectures he is giving at the Mystic Y on Tuesday nights in January.

Al had a lot of other interesting ideas, including doing some of the exercises immediately before running, to train you body to use what it has just had strengthened in your running. It was interesting that he had not heard of my 3 day a week Furman university marathon training program, and was a little sceptical that you could train for a marathon on only 3 days of running, but I really didn't get to explain how the thoughts behind that program and his are very similar, that cross training can take the place of more running.

I also want to give a shout out to Stephanie, the owner of Fleet Feet in West Hartford for hosting this and many other useful programs for runners. Since we had about a dozen of us in the front of the store, there were a lot of potential customers who wondered if the store was even open. If you look at her interesting biography, you will see she took her diagnosis of Lupus and fought back by running marathons.

And I do want to reiterate about how friendly and supportive Al is as a coach. One of the things that I love about running and triathlons is that the vast majority of elite athletes are welcoming and supportive of us everyday competitors who aren't ever going to be at their level. I have met many of the elites, including Boston Marathoner winners Johnny Kelley, Jack Fultz, , Joan Benoit, Bill Rogers, and Utta Pippig, as well as Grete Waitz and Dick Beardsely, and they all just are happy that we are out there doing the sport they love to the best of our abilities. I will never forget a 5k in Providence where the Ethiopian contingent was relaxing at the post race party and talking to anyone who approached them with huge smiles on their faces. While I have met one or two very good runners who are a little condescending, they are such a small minority that I wonder why I ever thought Al would be anything but down to earth. The only thing that I can say in my defense is that his accomplishments are amazing. Again from his website, Al "is a 25-time marathon finisher with a Personal Best of 2:39 at the Boston Marathon, as well as being a 9-time Ironman Triathlon finisher, including having qualified for and finished 3-times at the Ironman World Championships in Kona, Hawaii. His other Personal Best’s range from 16:30 for 5K, to 7 hours 19 minutes for a 50 mile run, and 4 hours 29 minutes for the Half Ironman/70.3 distance. " So who would have thought he would be so helpful to someone like me.

168 and 17.2

168 is my current weight and 17.2 is my current body fat, as measured by my trainer Stacy. That measurement was necessary for me to see where I am, because we have been changing my body by making me stronger, including the use of free weights, thereby increasing my weight, but with muscle, not fat. Before this change, I would have said my ideal running weight would be in the low 150's, I think I was around 156 when I did my PR of 3:54 in Chicago in October 2006. Stacy and I agree that I will be in great shape for Boston if I can take off about 10 pounds before April 20, so 158 would be fine. In case you don't know me, I am just 5'8"although some day I am sure that a government agency is going to indict me for claiming to be that tall when I might be closer to 5'7 and 3/4ths. And yes, I am a big (as opposed to tall) Dustin Pedroia fan since he won the MVP award while being by all accounts shorter than me, even though he is officially listed as 5'9.


From my heaviest I lost 28 pounds, and at some point I will tell you how I did it since its good for me to remember, having given some of those pounds back. My pre weight loss Marathon PR was in Tampa in 2004 when I ran a 4:16. And it certainly makes sense that you can run faster carrying less weight.

After my run of 12.5 on Saturday, I was pretty sore on Sunday, so I skipped my weight class and went to yoga. From there I went to this seminar on running faster, which will be the sole focus of my next post, the title of which I have already posted to Facebook, increasing the pressure on me to post this and finish and post that.

This week has gone pretty well. Monday was the official start of my 18 week program, and I was supposed to do my speedwork with a 10- 20 minute warm-up, then do 12x 400 with a 90 second rest in between at 7:15 pace, then a 10 min cooldown. On the treadmill I did 8 x 400 with a 90 second rest in between at a 7:18 pace, (8.2 mph) and a total of 4 miles. To estimate 400 meters on the treadmill I just ran for 2 minutes, which was probably more than 400 meters at that pace.

On Tuesday, no cardio, just an hour training with Stacy at the gym, which does get my heart rate up.

Wednesday I was scheduled to do a 6 mile run, 2 miles easy, 3 miles at 8:15 pace, 1 mile easy. And I did a 5.5 mile run, with 2 miles at a 10 minute pace, 3 miles at 8:18 pace (7.2 mph), and then a half mile cool down. I did the miles with no elevation on the treadmill, maybe that's cheating but I wasn't sure I would be able to do that pace otherwise.

Today, Thursday, I was going to do an easy treadmill run, but Jane guilted me into going outside since it wasn't so cold, and I did a very slow 2.5 miles. I am scheduled for 13 miles on Saturday, but I can't do it in the morning, as I am doing my very first foreclosure as the committee of sale. It happens no matter how cold or how much snow is on the ground, (barring the owners' declaring bankruptcy) and I guess I have to treat my run with the same attitude. I don't want to do it on the treadmill, so hopefully the streets will be clear.

The owners have moved out of the house which will make it a lot easier to do the foreclosure sale. I know its my job but it would be really much more emotionally difficult to do the sale if the people still lived there.

18 weeks and a day

I keep having these great ideas for posts to the blog, but have had trouble making it to the computer to post. So here I am at the computer, but without the great ideas. As the Supremes once sang, "One Day, We'll Be Together".

On Wednesday I met my friend and blog follower Helen for coffee. With only five followers so far, I can take all of you out for coffee, pretty much on demand. Maybe I will try and improve the blog before I start begging you to tell your friends.

Inspired by Helen, I went home and did a speed workout on the treadmill, with a warmup for 10 minutes, then between minutes 10-14, 16-18, and 20-24 I ran at 8.0 mph, or a 7:30 pace, with a two minute rest in between. Its not an killer speed workout, but its a start, and I do find it difficult to work myself really hard after work. Then Thursday I did a steady treadmill run, and Friday my trainer Stacy worked me fairly hard with weights at lunch, all the while telling me she was trying to leave me with something for my long run on Saturday. Of course I didn't want to wimp out, so I kept telling her it was ok and to keep pushing. Stacy is also preparing me for the hearbreaking day when she moves to Minnesota, so we spent some of the workout going over how to do workouts on my own.

So Saturday comes and its time for my last long run before the Boston Marathon training schedule kicks in. My friend Tim was sick all week and couldn't run. Helen's sister Hannah wasn't answering either phone or my Facebook inquiry, and I would have called Helen but her Facebook entry said how glad she was that she had already done her run. Since I had been in Florida the week before, for an indoor 7 miler on the treadmill, it took me a while to remember how I wanted to dress for a cold blustery day in New England. The good news is that I made 12.5 miles. And I don't care that it took me 2 hours and 26 minutes to do it, yes its an 11:37 pace, but it was my first run over 8 miles since last June.

It is getting late and hopefully tomorrow I will tell you about this running clinic I went to today. I know this blog will be better with pictures, so I am going to include a couple. I tried carrying a disposable camera at the Manchester Road Race on Thanksgiving, it wasn't the easiest thing to carry during the race, so I have ordered a used small digital that should arrive this week. And since I was planning on writing a little about runners in costumes, here is a picture of Wonder Woman. I almost tripped over my own feet taking this picture. And because its cold, here is a picture of me in the Sarasota marathon last March.

time to get going

On Monday, December 15, I will start my marathon training program, as Boston will be "only"18 weeks away. On the one hand, it doesn't seem like enough time for me to be in the shape I want to be in. On the other hand, since this is Marathon number 11, I know that somewhere in March I will be begging the marathon to just come already. I will try not to whine about that, keeping in mind that my friend Kristina had to deal with getting pneumonia the week of her November 23rd marathon, which she correctly bagged, and is continuing her training for January 18th's Phoenix marathon, which she correctly terms the" longest marathon training season evah ." ( We love that dirty water, and the accent).

First, a little about me, and I acknowledge that one of my shortcomings is that I can talk about myself far beyond the tolerance of any normal human being's interest, so maybe it won't be just a little, but I will try. I just don't think I am going to be able to cure myself as long as I am a runner, for telling long stories actually makes me a desireable companion on 20 mile training runs.

I have always loved sports, both watching and participating, and while I was a decent skier, my accomplishments in other sports were limited by a lack of natural talent and a lack of conditioning. I have known both sides of that running t-shirt I sometimes see that says "My sport is your sport's punishment." I did enjoy running a few miles now and then, but I did not know any family members who exercised consistently, and I continued the same pattern of frustration, starting up again for a few months, then off again for an even greater period of time.

I did, however, know family members who had heart attacks. When I was just not yet 23, my dad had one, when he was age 51, and a triple bypass a year later. My uncle had his at age 55, and their dad had died of one at age 55. Since my body type tends towards my father's, I had and have plenty of reasons not to gamble that I inherited my mother's genes.

Still, the year's went by without change on my part, and at the age of 42, in December of 2000, I finally was ready, and with my wife buying me a gift certificate, I started going to a personal trainer twice a week. Having an appointment made all the difference in fixing the inconsistency issue.

Southeastern Connecticut, where I have mostly lived from nursery school through the present, is blessed with a lot of great runners, starting with Boston Marathon winner Johnny Kelley who then coached Boston Marathon winner and Runner's World Editor Amby Burfoot. There are too many others to mention, but my new trainer had won the Hartford Marathon in the 1990's and gone to the Olympic trials. And I had always thought that one day I would be a runner, like every time I was at a friend's house and saw a picture of them racing hung proudly on their refridgerator. So in June 2001, at the age of 42, I ran my first 5k, at the Mystic Aquarium, where I had worked one summer as a kid. I also ran the course the week before since I wasn't even sure I could finish with the hilly terrain, but I did, in over 32 minutes as I recall, and I loved it immediately. I found our running community very supportive of beginners and all ability levels.

So I started training and did my first half marathon in Hartford in October of 2001, and now here I am with 10 full marathons and 10 half marathons on my resume.

My range of marathon times range from a worst 5:09 in Boston 2007, with wind, a torn calf and torn quad and two visits to the medical tent, to a pr of 3:54:03 in Chicago in October, 2006. At my current age of 50 I need a 3:35 to qualify for Boston. It will be tough, but not impossible, but it won't happen in April in Boston. However, if I can do a 4:00 Boston, on a hilly course which is not my friend, then I think I might give it a try and go for the 3:35 later in the year on a favorable flat or downhill course. If I have a terrible Boston, I am going to type some word that appears here, and you will immediately forget that you ever read these goals. God I hope this Hypnosis for Dummies book is on the level.

When I first started with marathoning, I used Hal Higdon's training programs. I loved his conversational style of explaing what you were doing each day and why. However, I did my pr in Chicago using the Furman University 3 day a week running program. It requires you to make your own pace for the different runs based on your best 10k time. I think it will be easier to tell you what I am doing each week, but here are my thoughts about the program. The old school of running said, that in order to get faster you needed to put in more mileage. I am sure that works, if your body can handle it, and the older you are the less likely that is. But the old school also says, quietly, that there really are just 3 important runs a week, a speed workout, a tempo run and a long distance run, the other mileage is not to be run as hard. Furman just has you do cross training instead of those nonhard runs, whether it is spin class, yoga, swimming etc, which are things I like to do anyway, and keep me from getting a little sick of running during the training period. So I don't think the Furman program is that radical, although some old schoolers would beg to differ.

This program also gives me five 20 mile runs, which I find works for me, rather than the three of some other programs. And there is no easing into it. Here is my schedule ahead. My first run, on December 15th, is a speed workout, with a 10- 20 minute warm-up, and running a total of twelve 400 meters runs ( that is a quarter mile, once around the track), at a 7:15 per mile pace, with a 90 second rest in between the twelve sets, then a 10 minute cooldown. Now, there is no way I am going to be able to do all twelve at that pace, but that's ok with 18 weeks to go. The goal is to get to as many as possible as well as I can. Then, on Wednesday the 17th I am supposed to do a 6 mile run, with the first 2 miles easy, then 3 miles at 8:15 pace, then 1 mile easy. Again, I will have to get somewhat close to that 8:15 pace, but don't expect to be there this early. Then on Saturday, the 20th, I am supposed to run 13 miles at 9:25 pace. Well, I expect to be at 10 minute pace for the first 6 or 7, then slower than that, and may not even make it to 13, but again, I am ok with just pushing myself to get there, even though I am not there yet. I reserve the right to change or modify this program if I find I am not catching up.

Even though I have not been running a lot, mostly 6 to 8 miles for my long run of the week, I am still optimistic about my chances of a good run, because I have been working hard at getting stronger, and feel like I have corrected some of the weak points in my body that prevented me from doing better.

Well, that is one long post to make up for my absence. I will try to start posting more regularly, and give you a little more in the way of yucks. Until next time, feel free to comment away.

The first mile is always the hardest

Non runners may find it hard to believe, but even experienced marathoners have days when they don't feel like going for a run. There is a bargain to be made, which is similarly applicable to other life events. Run for 5 minutes, and if you still feel like its not a day to run, that is all you had to do for your end of the bargain, no guilty feelings allowed. On the majority of those days, however, one settles into a rhythm and the run gets easier. So that is the attitude I start with as I start this blog. It is time to put something, anything, to the page, and it will be easier from here.

This is not my first blog. As you can hopefully see somewhere on this page, http://nealandjane.blogspot.com/ was a travel blog of our trip around the world. You will see one post where I was expressing my frustration that this blogspot page was showing up in Vietnamese in Vietnam. Now of course, in starting my second blog, I see that there is a button to push in set up where the page will be translated into English. So there is another of life's little lessons that I can prove in the disobeying; Read the Instructions First!

My next post will be about my fundraising for Dana-Farber by running in this year's Boston Marathon, but here is the link to my Dana-Farber Web page. http://www.rundfmc.org/nealb2009 Until then, thanks for reading.