When they first contact me, they complete a questionnaire where I ask them all sorts of questions.  I call this “getting to know them more as a runner”.  It’s so important that I gather as much information as possible so that I can properly develop a plan for their goal race.

When I begin to lay out a training plan and begin to work with my clients I always keep the following in mind…

Plan, plan, plan
I always tentatively plan the long runs first.  I say tentatively since my training plans are highly adaptive and, in general, I only plan 3 weeks of training at a time.  I would be weary of a coach that hands you a 16-week training plan at once (unless you asked for it).

Long runs are the bread and butter of any endurance training plan.  I take into account tune-up races, drop back weeks, vacations, and any other things I may need to work around.  It’s easier to manipulate the long runs later on if you pencil them in for the entire training plan.

Keep your eye on the prize
Speaking of tune-up races, I ask my marathon clients to keep racing to a minimum during marathon training.  I generally allow 1 HM and they either race it or use it as a marathon-paced training run.  Either way, it’s a great confidence booster for race day.

For chronic racers, marathon training can get a bit boring.  Long runs are the priority and racing has to take a backseat temporarily.

The more you run, the better you get at it
I have my clients run as much as they can.  What constitutes high mileage is unique to each runner.  Thirty miles can be enough for some while 70 is enough for others.  I like to have enough time during marathon training to do adequate base building…slow and gradual increases in overall mileage and long run distance.  This increase in aerobic capacity will not only make you faster but will lay a solid foundation for marathon or HM-specific speed work.

There’s a time and place for speed work
Many clients want to jump right into speed work thinking it is the only thing that will make them faster.  Speed work will make you faster…to an extent.  Over time, without proper increases in aerobic capacity, your speed will plateau.  As I said above, the right time for speed work is after we have a solid foundation of base mileage.  Your body is stronger and can handle the increased stress of speed work.

When clients begin training for a HM or marathon after a period of low mileage, I begin with so-called “pre-training” to base build.  After an adequate base is established, then we can layer on the speed work.  I sometimes use strides and hill repeats during the base building phase just to break up the monotony of all those slow miles and to help with leg turnover.

That’s just a few of my basic principles I follow when coaching.  To find out more, hire me as your coach!

My answer to the first question is generally no, unless there is an injury that cannot be explained by too much, too fast, too soon, improper running shoes (thus an unsupported foot/ankle), weak hips/glutes, or some other imbalance.

My answer to the second question is there is no best “way” to run.  Sure there are things you can do to make yourself a more economical runner but the best “way” to run is what your body already figured out on its own.  I love this article written by my RRCA Coaching instructor – I could not agree more.

Thirdly, if you are running injury-free why do you want to mess with your gait?  Seems counterintuitive.  If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!

Looking at my own gait, it’s not ideal.  I heel strike – always have and probably always will.  Look at my back foot.  See how it turns inward?  I’m sure when my foot makes initial contact with the ground, I’m underutilizing my big toe for support and stability.

I assume I’ve always run this way.  I’ve never been injured so it works for me.  This is the “way” I run.

The only issue I have, as I mentioned before, is overstriding when my pace dips to HM pace or faster.  Overstriding is not good.  Landing too far in front of your center of mass is not economical.

To illustrate my point, stand with your toes touching the bottom of a set of stairs.  Keep one foot on the ground and place the other foot on the step in front of you.  Without leaning forward, step up.  Now try this again but stand about one foot away from the bottom step and try stepping up without leaning forward.  Impossible, right? (Taken from Dicharry’s Anatomy for Runners.)

For general tips on running form, check out the March 2013 issue of Runner’s World, page 66.

For an in depth look at gait read Chapter 8 of Anatomy for Runners (did I mention I love this book?!).

Anger.  Rage.  Disgust.  Sadness.  Heartbroken.

My heart breaks for the 3 people that were killed, especially the 8-year-old boy cheering for his Dad.  Reports are saying that his sister (6 years old) lost her leg.  I pray that the death toll doesn’t rise as 17 are still listed as critically injured.

I can’t wrap my head around the scene at the finish line.

(source)

My heart breaks for the runners that didn’t get a chance to cross the finish line…stopped around Mile 25.

(source)

Running Boston last year was a dream come true – something that can still bring tears of joy to my eyes.  I know a handful of runners that ran their first Boston yesterday and it disgusts me that their experience is lessened due to yesterday’s events.  As my sister-in-law said…an incredibly joyous event is now marred.

Each vendor was provided with a 6’ table and was told to “make it look nice”.  When you’re a running coach, what are you supposed to put on said table?  It’s not like I’m selling merchandise or demonstrating anything.  Instead, I made a nice alternating arrangement of business cards and trifold brochures I created.  It took me a whole 5 minutes to set up my table.

Let’s talk about the last minute homemade sign.  On Monday night Matt asked me if I had a banner or anything to hang on the table, identifying myself.  Um, no.  Didn’t even think of that.  Ensue frantic shopping trip to Michael’s to stock up on crafty items.  The result is a homemade sign that screams newbie.

Another lesson learned?  In addition to ordering a banner, get a T-shirt made.  When in doubt, throw on the Boston jacket!

All in all, I got to talk about running for 3 hours, which is always a good night.  Hopefully I got some new clients too!

St. Patty’s Day
One of the best times of the year!  Another reason to drink beer and (college) basketball!

I wasn’t sure how long I was going to run yesterday but in the spirit of SPD, I decided to make it a 17-miler.  Turns out, yesterday morning was the best time to be out and about…drinking green beer.

Because the afternoon was miserable.

But not too cold for beer.

It seems the Luck of the Irish was plentiful this weekend at the races!  I’ve seen numerous mentions of PRs on Twitter.  I can’t wait to read the race recaps.

If you raced this weekend, brag about it!  If you didn’t, brag about how much beer you drank or something else. 

I had a strange urge to run a 5K this morning – that never happens – but decided on 9 recovery miles instead. 

It’s me!

I am so absolutely thrilled to finally see this in print! I answered this question back in June 2012 and have been in contact regularly with the editor about when it would appear. It was definitely worth the wait.

Appearing in Runner’s World – in any capacity – was definitely something on my bucket list.

It almost happened last April during the Boston Marathon. Prior to Boston, RW was looking for so-called “Boston squeakers”, or people who barely got into Boston. I am the very definition of a squeaker – my BQ time was 3:43:46 and the cut-off for my age and gender was 3:43:46. Yep, you don’t squeak by any less than that. I received an email from Tish Hamilton (yes, Tish Hamilton!) asking if I would be available for a photo shoot at the Boston Marathon finish line the day before the race. RW was gathering “Boston squeakers” and was planning on doing a story about them. Umm, YES! Sidenote: if you know me in real life, you know that the prospect of a photo shoot makes me way more happy than it should.

I was literally on the edge of my seat with excitement. Not only was I running my first Boston, I was going to appear in Runner’s World. Does it get any better than that?!

Then the weather forecast got worse and worse (or hotter and hotter) and Tish sent an email saying the angle of the story had changed and instead RW was going to focus on the heat, not the squeakers. Photo shoot cancelled. Total bummer. I missed my shot as a RW model. BUT, I was still running Boston!

Then came an email from a RW editor in June asking if I would answer a question for their “Ask The Experts” section. Holy crap – this was even better than a photo shoot. I was appearing in RW because of coaching. I never expected this!

Thank you RW. I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity and would love (love, love!) to work with you again in the future.

To those of you reading Run The Long Road for the first time – welcome! I hope you like what you see and stick around for awhile.

To those of you interested in coaching, my services are listed here. You can contact me at runthelongroad (at) gmail.com with any questions. Go ahead and check out my PR page to see how “fast” I am – I don’t mind. What I lack in speed I make up for in knowledge

Quasi-training is going really well though.  For right now, it’s just what I need.  I have no interest in racing a marathon this Spring.  Running a 50K or a trail marathon?  Maybe.  But I enjoy being noncommittal at the moment.

I’ve fallen into a pattern with training.  3 weeks of 40-50 miles and then a big drop back week.  That’s good enough to maintain my base until I decide to be committal again.

Wk of 2/4:  40 miles with 13 miles long
Wk of 2/11: 43 miles with 17 miles long
Wk of 2/18: 46 miles with 20 miles long (first 20 of 2013!)
Wk of 2/25: 30 miles with 10 miles long

Besides running, we celebrated a very important birthday.

clearly…

And I laughed till I cried, drank too much, and chatted until 3AM with these ladies.

5 of 8 Mains

All is good.

I despise pink but they were only $78!

I’m a Brooks girl.  I wore Adrenalines for a long, long time before they started to tweak the design (for the worse, in my opinion).  So I transitioned to the (slightly) less supportive Ravennas and all was good.

I’m a big believer in “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” when it comes to running shoes.  So then why try the PureCadence?

I just finished reading Jay Dicharry’s book, Anatomy for Runners (review coming soon).  While he did stress “if it ain’t broke…” when it comes to running shoes, he also pointed out that going as minimal as possible could be better.  If Adrenalines are as minimal as you can go, then stick with them.

Going more minimal improves muscle activity in your foot, improves balance and proprioception (something I am trying to work on), and improves foot strength.  Our foot responds differently in more minimalist shoes.  The cushioning of traditional running shoes have made our feet dependent on that support.

None of this is ground breaking news.  And I’m not advocating that everyone switch to a more minimalist shoe.  For me, I have an issue with overstriding whenever my pace dips down to HM pace.  I can feel my right hamstring tighten after a few miles.  This hasn’t manifested as an injury but it’s something I should try to fix.

Dicharry’s advice for runners wanting to switch from a traditional shoe to a more minimalist one is to drop your current heel height by ~half.  The Ravennas have a 10mm drop and PureCadence has a 5mm drop.

So far I’ve put 17 miles on my PureCadences (2 short runs and a 9-miler this morning).  So far, so good.  I can definitely “feel more” when I’m running and I notice the difference in weight.  I’m hoping that these shoes, coupled with a few tweaks to my form, will nix my overstriding issues.  I haven’t been able to do so in my Ravennas.

Did you transition to a more minimalist shoe recently?  Which one?  I know the PureFlows are very popular.  They might be my next pair. 

I knew exactly how I wanted to start my birthday – with a long run.  Abby must have read my mind and emailed me mid-week asking if I was up for a birthday run.  Of course.

It always snows on my birthday.  Always.  But luckily Nemo didn’t destroy our plans and we managed 13 snowy miles.  It was a literal winter wonderland (much like my 16-miler a few weeks ago).

Next up was spending the rest of the day with Matt and Hawk.  We strolled around Chestnut Hill (a cute neighborhood in Philly) briefly, until it became too cold.

I have been fighting a cold all week long.  By 6PM I was a snotty mess and felt awful.  I tried to rally to go out to dinner but we ending up ordering pizza and watching a movie.  I was in bed by 10:30.  Party hardy.

But, it being my birthday weekend, we are doing dinner tonight instead.  Followed by The Walking Dead.  Oh, how times have changed.

What’s your ideal way to celebrate your birthday?  For one of my birthdays, I really want to “run my age”.  Too bad I wasn’t running marathons back when I turned 26.   

This post won’t be about the obvious stuff (down go out too fast, train for up hills and down hills) because, unless you live under a rock, you should know that.

the tank top – an essential layer
The expo is crowded and there are hardly any dressing rooms.  You will get a chance to try on your race shirt so it helps if you wear something light and form fitting underneath.  I also tried on a ton of other gear.  You are literally stripping down, trying something on, putting your clothes back on, moving to another vendor, repeat.  See where the tank top helps out?

if you want to celebrate, make reservations
Marathon Monday is huge in Boston.  If you have a lot of people with you and want to meet up for dinner after the race, you need reservations.  I had to call a number of places and practically begged them to take my reservation.

there seems to be a lot of Miller Lites near me

make time for R&R
We drove up to Boston on Saturday morning and spent an inordinate amount of time at the expo on Saturday afternoon.  On Sunday morning we “visited” the finish line for pictures and then I spent the rest of the day off my feet…even though I was missing out on sightseeing (err, bar hopping) with my family and friends.  It was so worth it.  It’s easy to get caught up in the excitement and spend way too much time on your feet.  Make sure you schedule in some downtime.

the athletes’ village is huge
When you enter you see 1 large field.  There is actually another field on the other side.  The porta potty lines were pretty ridiculous where I was (the first field) and I think a lot of people stay in the first field because they don’t know another field exists?  So if you really gotta go, check out the next field.

run boston for fun
Here’s where you may disagree.  Hear me out.  Initially I was not running Boston for “fun”.  I was going to race my heart out.  Then it was 90 degrees and I was forced to slow down and enjoy myself.  Not that I wouldn’t enjoy myself if I raced it (it is Boston!) but you know what I mean.  When you run a marathon for fun you take in more and experience more.

I’m not sure if I will ever race Boston.  It might always be a fun run for me.  I can’t imagine finishing on Boylston Street with an ounce of disappointment because I didn’t reach my A goal.  It would just take away from the experience too much.

show off that jacket
I wear mine all the time

Any Boston veterans have other tips to share?

As much as I whine about running in the winter (and whine even more about running in the snow), Saturday’s long run changed my perspective a bit.

This week was abnormally cold.  Bitter, biting, down-to-your-bones cold.  Thankfully this isn’t the norm in Philly or I would have to relocate to San Francisco.

On Monday I took advantage of the “warm” weather and day off and knocked out 10 miles with Abby.

Tuesday through Thursday, I stayed indoors.  I took 2 barre classes, did a quick run on the treadmill, and took a rest day.  All strategically planned around the weather.

On Friday I braved the cold for 9 miles.  It wasn’t so bad.

We got a few inches of snow on Friday night and I thought I may have to treadmill my way through 16 miles on Saturday.  I can’t even fathom being on the treadmill that long (I don’t know how some of you do it…it’s impressive).

I hit the trails, Yaktrax in tow, and figured if the cold/snow/ice was really bad I could always finish the run on the treadmill (or call it day).

I was pleasantly surprised!!  It was wonderful…definitely one of my top 10 long runs ever.  I didn’t want it to end.

My version of playing in the snow.

It may not be the Marin Headlands, but I’ll take it.

Did you brave the cold this week and run outside?  How did you stay warm?  I wore my ski gloves with a pair of those cheap stretchy gloves underneath.  As long as my hands are warm, I stay warm.