Run4PRs

www.run4prs.com It can be so tempting to want to power through and continue to run base mileage a few days or even the day after a marathon. There is such a big build up to the marathon that the drastic change from training 7+ hours per week to basically doing nothing can feel weird. We want to be productive. We want to feel like we are working toward something. However, the time after the marathon is a time to be working on our recovery. We cannot peak forever. On social media or even people in our social circles it might seem like we know people who never take time off. Just because someone else is doing it doesn’t mean it’s the best thing for you to be doing How much time completely off do you need? What is a reverse taper? How much mileage should you be running 1-3 months out from your marathon? What if you feel fine? What if you feel like you are losing fitness?Why you

www.run4prs.com Worrying is suffering twice :) We have all been there. We all get nervous on race day to an extent. Some suffer from more race day anxiety than others. We care about your performances. We put a lot of time and energy into our training, and we hope that it all pays off on race day. It is good to care about your running, but we don’t want to be so nervous for a race that it makes us miserable! Today we are going to be chatting about ways to find zen and peace in the days and weeks leading up to race day!The first step is admitting you have a problem! I like to find what my triggers are and things that really make the race day anxiety worse. What are some things that make race day anxiety worse for you? What are the ultimate fears associated with anxiety. Sometimes it’s the same 1-3 ‘what ifs’ that we continue to circle back to in our mind. If we are able to isolate what exactly we are worried may happen, we can then ask ourselves ‘realistically, if this did happen, would you be okay?” Taking the scary monster out of the dark and exposing it Don’t put pressure on yourself by talking up big goals or oversharing. Some people love pressure: others do not! Journaling Talking with someone Meditation Trusting your process: you did the work. This is what you do every day Putting your running in perspective: it is a hobby Remembering other people are nervous too!

www.run4prs.com We always hear about time goals. I want to break 4 hours in the marathon. I think I can run X pace for this race… but what about non-time based goals? Are there other ways to set goals for your races? Is there a benefit to setting non-time based goals?  Time goals are great for figuring out about what pace you want to run for the race, but what if you have a rocky day. You don’t want to feel like a failure if you don’t hit an arbitrary time goal. YOU PUT IN SO MUCH WORK & already are a big winner! The training is the hardest part of things. You committed to something and worked hard to get there. Race day is a hard day but it is a cherry on top of the training cycle. What did NOT go well! How you want to feel the second half of the race Executing your mental game Finishing is an accomplishment Setting A, B, C, D goals Looking at race history: Happiest race? Slowest race? Funnest race? Most carefree? Most dogs counted?

Do you have a marathon coming up? Here is a recast of the 'how you should feel every mile of the marathon'

www.run4prs.com Fall races are approaching quickly and people often want to begin talking about goal times for their races. There are websites like findmymarathon.com that have mile by mile breakdown of exactly what pace you should be running for each and every mile of a race based on course elevation. This is great to think about the variations of paces you might hit in a race, but it is important to remember that we are not robots. Unfortunately there isn’t a special formula that will work to know exactly what pace you will or should hit per mile because each mile might feel different to you personally. The weather, wind, mentally, water stops, etc can all impact how you are pacing. Instead of focusing on mile by mile what pace you should be hitting we have a different approach we want our athletes to use. We are talking about speed limits at certain points during the race. We also want to spend these final weeks really visualizing and mentally preparing for how we want to feel at each mile of the race. What is the best way to decide on a race day goal? What paces have you been hitting in training What paces do you think you can hit but also challenge you a bit What is your history in the sport How should you pace it? Ideally we want to aim for negative or even splits.  Hills will slow you down, but we want to still account for this in the pacing plan. If the first half is very hilly and the second half is downhill, the EFFORT we want to give is a negative split Should you run with a pacer or wear a pace band?

www.run4prs.com As we get closer to fall races, more athletes are getting ready to run their fall races. As we get closer to these races, it is good to talk about one of the most important parts of your training plan: the taper! What exactly is the taper? It’s not exactly a time to kick back and relax/do nothing. The taper is going to give you a chance to peak for your race at the right time. If you do too short of a taper, you run the risk of feeling heavy legs on race day. If you do too long or extreme of a taper, you might feel out of the swing of things when the gun goes off on race day. We will be tapering by reducing the volume but keeping in some intensity so that your legs still have the bounce in them. During the taper, you may feel worse because your body is in recovery mode. This might cause athletes to freak out mentally, but don’t worry! This is all apart of the process. How long should the taper be for a marathon or half marathon? Marathon 2 weeks vs 3-4 weeks Half Marathon 2 weeks Should you taper for all races or just A races? What % of weekly mileage should you be running during the taper First week 70-80% of peak miles Second week 70-80% of previous week Third Week 70-80% of that prior week but it’s race week so it might be more What should you eat? What should your sleep look like? Is it okay to go faster on your easy days? What if you feel like crap? Phantom pains What if you feel really good and want to test your fitness? How can you make the time go by faster?

www.run4prs.com Whenever we get into marathon training season we start to see a lot of questions roll in about long runs. Often people focus a lot on that long run because when we do the actual marathon event, it is a LONG RUN! However, we often see people overemphasis this long run and it can cause athletes to compromise the rest of their training. The question we want to be asking ourselves as we gear up for the marathon is always: am I training… or am I testing? It can be tempting to hammer out 20 miles at marathon pace, but what is the purpose of that run? Is it what is best for our overall fitness? Or are we simply hoping to see where our fitness is at or boost confidence for race day? What pace should most of your long runs be? What distance should most of your long runs be? Why is there a 3 hour long run rule? The rationale is that after 2.5-3 hours, metabolic adaptations reach a point of diminishing returns. Every training decision is a balance of risk vs reward- -Individual factors also affect recovery from long runs: Is the athlete eating enough during the long run? Is the athlete eating enough in general or are they struggling with low energy availability (intentional or unintentional)? What was the intensity of the run? Did the athlete run on a hard or soft surface? Was footwear cushioned enough? How well are they sleeping? How often are they doing these long runs? Are they exceeding three hours weekly or was it an uncommon occasion in peak training? How were these long runs periodized? Accumulation of miles Back to back longer runs Adequate preparation -but not excessive – is key in the marathon. Periodize your training to prioritize race readiness

www.run4prs.com Many times we find training plans online or we do workouts that feel good/that we are good at, but is that the most productive way to be training? We are all about taking a deeper dive into the purpose behind workouts and uncovering the best way to actually reach your goals. Too often athletes get stuck feeling burnt out or frustrated thinking that they ‘peaked’ with their running/fitness but they are just not training in a way that allows them to progress. We need two very important things to progress: Stress and rest. When we have an imbalance or inadequacy of either of these, we will not see the progress we are hoping for.  What are running workouts? What is an easy run? Why do we do easy runs most of the time? What are the best time of running workouts to do? Training for a 5k 10% anaerobic Training for a 10k Training for a half 99% aerobic  Training for a full Training for an ultra What are the most common mistakes we see athletes make Running in the gray zone Not doing the correct workouts Only doing workouts they are comfortable with Not progressing stress Doing too much too soon

www.run4prs.com No one wants to get burnt out 10-4 weeks before their goal race, but you would be amazed at how often this happens. People often start training for their goal races 20-16 weeks out. The first 6-8 weeks of training should feel pretty sustainable and easy. However, most people do not start off at a sustainable easy pace, they often pick something that gives them a sense of challenge right away. The challenge feels fun at first, but likely 5-10 weeks into this ‘fun’, the novelty wears off and the athletes realize they are not able to sustain the training plan. This can often lead to mental and physical burn out. Many people report that they peaked too soon because they felt great the first few weeks training but then it fizzed out. Don’t let this happen to you! How much mileage should you be running Start with the mileage you have been doing Progressive overload Should you increase mileage every single week? Have cut back weeks every 2-3 weeks Cut back BEFORE you feel like you need it Is fueling really that important Ensure proper fueling You need to fuel properly to sustain your training Your whole day revolves around running- Coach Meghan How are you managing your life stress? Consider overall stress: Do you need to cut down on lifting, drinking, other commitments? When you are increasing the stress load with long runs, mileage & workouts, we often need to ask ourselves if we need to lower stress in other areas of our lives How do you feel during the start of training? Is it boring? You shouldn’t feel sick of training until the peak weeks

www.run4prs.com HOW LONG SHOULD YOUR LONG RUNS BE:THE 20 MILE LONG RUN RULE   Everyone who has trained for a marathon has probably googled ‘marathon training plan’ at some point. Most of the plans you find on google are going to encompass a ‘20 mile long run’. But do you need to do a 20 mile long run to finish a marathon? Or a better question might be: could doing a 20 mile long run actually have less benefit than doing a 16 miler? We are going to do a deep dive into what the research of Jack Daniel’s an exercise physiologist says about long runs. There are many guidelines he has for long runs and we will touch on the main 3: Most long runs should be done at an easy pace Long runs are stressful on the body No need to add in pace work until the body is used to the distance Your long runs should be no more than 30% of your weekly volume There can be exceptions to this rule Guideline to think about Considering the benefits of medium long runs and back to back long runs Your long runs should be limited to 2.5-3 hours Running over 3 hours has an increased risk of injury Running over 3 hours you start to lose benefits Later in the podcast we will do a deep dive on what you might do if you are only covering 14 miles in 3 hours. We share the concept of back to back long runs that might be the missing link in getting your fitness up to run 26.2 miles without physically breaking you. Back to back long runs are used by endurance athletes who train for ultra marathons. No 100 miler runs 80 miles during a ‘training run’, so why do people training for 26.2 mile run 20 miles in a training run? Let’s take a deep dive into what this might mean for your long runs Long runs are a BIG stress on the body! Because of that, we need to follow some rules to keep the risks for injury and prolonged recovery to a MINIMUM! • ✅ 33% RULE: The long run should not be more than 33% (⅓) of your total weekly mileage! Sticking to this rule or close to this rule will decrease your risk for injury. Athletes who are doing more like 50% of their weekly mileage in one run will likely need to take extra time off the following week only to repeat the cycle again the following week. If you do a lot of aerobic cross training or have a strong background in the sport, you may be able to get away with a higher percentage. • ✅ 10% RULE: Don’t increase your long run mileage by more than 10% each week. This can also decrease the risk for injury! • ✅  3 HOUR RULE: We like to cap long runs at 3 hours max! Research has shown that your body gets the most physiological aerobic benefits from runs between 60-90 min in duration AND that runs over 3 hours start to have diminishing returns. The risk for injury becomes much higher! This means that many athletes should incorporate back to back long runs instead of one 20 mile long run. The risks just don’t outweigh the benefits when it comes to running longer than 3 hours (for marathon training) BACK TO BACK LONG RUNS  We have discussed the long run guidelines on previous podcasts. Some of the guidelines include: capping long run at 3 hours & capping long run at 33% of weekly mileage. Some athletes do the math on this then come to calculate that they may not ever running 20 miles. This is part of the issue. The idea that athletes think they need to run 20 miles to successfully run a marathon and not hit the wall. Hanson’s Method was one of the first pioneers that showed if we cap that long run at 16 miles, we can get people who have never BQed to run that BQ breakthrough race. I have seen a lot of people get a breakthrough race with this method. The hanson’s method really looks at the entire week instead of just that one long run. There is also a medium long run during the week. The idea is that you are the compilation of the entire week, not just the weekend long run.

HOW TO PRACTICE WATER STOPS Most athletes who follow us or listen to the podcast at some point or another hope to do a distance run or distance race. When we are training for events longer than 45-60 min, it’s important that we begin thinking about not only our fueling strategy but also how we plan to stay hydrated. During the summer months this is especially important to chat about. Many people during this time of year are gearing up for their fall marathons. When we run long runs of 2-3 hours, it’s imperative that we stay hydrated. When we add in the factor of heat/humidity into training, hydration becomes even more critical. Some athletes carry hydration back packs, other people run with a hand held bottle and some people simply stop to drink water. These are all great approaches to ensure that we stay hydrated, but one thing we often forget about is that we might want to practice our hydration strategy how we plan to do this on race day. When does it become important to really monitor how much time the water stops are taking? It’s not a huge deal if you are newer to the sport and just trying to finish the race We would want to nail down your hydration strategy before we try to make it as efficient as possible How do you stay hydrated during a race? Research the course offerings How many water stops & at what miles are they offered. Smaller races there may not be a ton of water stops Are people handing out the cups or will you have to stop and grab? You can get away with not fueling on easy long runs every 30-45 min or without fluids but on race day it’s a lot faster and it’s an all out race so you will feel the impacts How do you practice running through a water stop? Get small dixie cups and practice bending the cup to create a slight v shape and drink Hold cup for a few steps until you have finished the liquids Opt to take water at most stops to stay hydrated How do you know how much water to take? We want to practice during training and measure how much water we go through Should you wear a hydration pack or a hand held during the race? How did you practice? Does the race allow for these back packs? Will you toss the hand held? www.run4prs.com

www.run4prs.com Ask The Coaches: Should I make up a missed workout? 1.Do I need to make up for missed workouts? If you just had a bad workout: axe it 2. What should I do if my calf is tight and hurts when I run and put hot or cold 3. Stretching: is there an ideal window of time after we should stretch? 4. What should my stride look like on an easy day- I feel like I am shuffling along with terrible form but I think about lifting my knees

www.run4prs.com Running is an endurance sport. All endurance sports will require fueling in order to reach your performance potential. Don’t leave your fastest times sitting on the table because you neglect fueling! Can you run long distances without fuel, yes, but physically will you perform better when you are fueled properly? YES! When you put in hundreds of hours into training, shouldn’t we also make an investment into our nutrition/fueling to ensure that we are able to allow our fitness to shine though on race day? One of the biggest limiting factors in races over 90 mins is fueling! It tends to be one of the number one reasons why people DNF 100 mile races. However, we live in an area of ‘diet culture’ and ‘biohacking’ where we might see counterproductive advice on the internet like ‘fasted workouts’. We want to remember that these so-called ‘experts’ are not advising endurance athletes to do these things fast. Endurance athletes are generally focused on performance, so we want to make sure we use that as our primary goal when discussing this. Why is it important to use fuel vs use nothing? The science of how carbs help boost performance in endurance events Carbs help delay fatigue by raising blood sugar levels and protecting your muscle glycogen stores allowing exercise to continue for longer at higher intensities. 30-80g per hour of carbs in events > 1 hour Especially important when going more than 2 hours By ingesting carbs during endurance events it helps reduce the stress placed on your immune system. When blood sugar drops, your brain increases Cortisol and epinephrine - two key hormones Can you run without fuel? Antecdolte advice: “I ran without fuel and I was fine” Why do some people claim ‘fasted’ workouts are good Why is it not beneficial for performance outcomes The ingestion of carbohydrates can have a significant effect on exercise performance During prolonged or intense exercise, the body breaks down and depletes muscle glycogen stores. Eventually this reaches a point of reduced carbohydrate availability. And may negatively affect fat metabolism, increase rates of fatigue, and increase muscle protein breakdown. By ingestion carbohydrates, we can maintain blood sugar levels, preserve muscle and liver glycogen stores, reduce muscle breakdown, lower cortisol levels, maintain immune function and enhance exercise performance History of running without fuel/history of gels What if your stomach hurts when you use gels? How often should you be using gels? Every 30-45 min a gel water/electrolytes every 15-30 min (4-8 oz) How much sodium do you need? 300-700mg Practice how you want to do this on race day! Also practice carb loading How do you carry your gels? How to experiment if something doesn't sit right?

Www.Run4prs.com for a free week or personalized workouts! Many people show off their monthly mileage totals on social media. It is a great way to track your progress in some respects, but in other respects, it is easy to get ‘caught up in the numbers game’ of running. Two runners of the same abilities might run vastly different peak mileages in marathon training yet run the same finishing time. It is less about what your weekly mileage is and more about finding the sweet spot of mileage for you during this season of your training. 1. Progressive overload: more usually is better until it’s not 1. Aerobic base: science Legendary coach Arthur Lydiard’s philosophy was that it all starts with mileage. That's because endurance training stimulates many physiological, biochemical and molecular adaptations. All his training programs would consist of an 8-10 week base building phase. 1. stimulates more fuel (glycogen) to be stored in your muscles 2. increases the use of intramuscular fat at the same speed to spare glycogen  3. improves your blood vessels' oxygen-carrying capability by increasing the number of red blood cells and hemoglobin  4. creates a greater capillary network for a more rapid diffusion of oxygen into the muscles  5. increases mitochondrial density and the number of aerobic enzymes through the complex activation of gene expression. This increases your aerobic metabolic capacity. 2. Time of feet: science Time on Feet follows the principles of Lydiard training to reach peak performance. This is achieved by using a systematic approach to training. The emphasis is on conditioning in the early stages of a programme, in order to give the individual a feeling of a 'tireless state.' This is looked at as a crucial phase if achievements are to be made later. 2. There becomes a point where running more is not productive 1. Overtraining signs Constant niggles Feeling run down Mentally feeling down in the dumps Train smarter not harder:  How much running can you physically and psychologically handle? For example, the mitochondrial enzyme content of rats has been shown to reach its maximum adaptation with running 60 minutes per day, five days per week.  A study published in European Journal of Physiology in 1998 on horses training for 34 weeks found that increases in muscle fiber, # of capillaries number of capillaries per fiber plateaued after 16 weeks of training. After the first 16 weeks, the horses were divided into two groups: a control group and an overload training group, which trained with higher mileage. Both groups increased mitochondrial volume and VO2 max with the increased mileage over the next 18 weeks, but there was no difference in those variables or in muscle fiber area and capillarization after 34 weeks despite the two-fold difference in training volume between groups over the final 18 weeks. Clearly, there is a limit to muscles' adaptive response to training. If you look at the training data of elite athletes, you find that the optimum training volume for the world's best athletes lies somewhere between 75 and 110 miles per week What is REDS syndrome? Relative Energy Deficiency in Sports (RED-S) syndrome, or what’s more commonly known as the Female Athlete Triad. Not eating appropriately for the amount of energy an athlete expends

1 .What pace should I am to race at for a 5k or half marathon? Threshold? Intervals? Slightly slower? Slightly faster? Answer: if you download our guide at www.run4prs.com it will go over this in great detail written out. We will summarize here. First, it’s important to do a fitness test. This fitness test usually looks like a time trial of running 1-3 miles ‘all out effort’ to see where your current fitness is at. If you have absolutely no idea where your fitness is at, start at a pace 30-45 seconds faster than you run on a good ‘moderate/harder’ effort run. We can’t establish paces without first understanding where you are at currently. If you totally bomb the time trial, that is okay, we can always test again. The result will still be a good guide within reason. Your 5k pace is usually the same (slightly slower) than your time trial pace. Intervals are going to be done anywhere from slightly faster than 5k pace to threshold pace.. It depends on the purpose of the workout Your threshold pace is about 20-30 seconds per mile slower than time trial pace Your half marathon pace is 5-20 seconds per mile slower than threshold pace Whenever we do an event for the first time or even if it’s the 5th time, but you feel newer to racing, we might not go out at that exact pace I said above. We might want to ease into things and start slower. We build confidence by having positive racing experiences. 2. What are the worst things to eat before a long run? Depends on the person. The worst thing you can probably do is not eat. Next, anything with insanely high fiber content. Like multiple fiber one bars. Spicy foods, etc. Some people have very strong stomachs and could literally tolerate anything. I have a friend who can’t eat veggie straws the day before a run. Knowing your body is key! Usually they say to avoid fiber and greasy foods. Also if you have food intolerances, avoid that! 3. What are the effects of birth control on female runner performance I would look into the book roar by Tracy Sims. Anytime you take synthetic hormones, you are changing systems in the body. There can be some benefits to taking birth control, but are there some drawbacks? I think it’s important for people to do their research and have this discussion with their doctors. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32666247/ Oct 2020: The Effects of Oral Contraceptives on Exercise Performance in Women: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis Conclusions: OCP use might result in slightly inferior exercise performance on average when compared to naturally menstruating women, although any group-level effect is most likely to be trivial. Practically, as effects tended to be trivial and variable across studies, the current evidence does not warrant general guidance on OCP use compared with non-use. Therefore, when exercise performance is a priority, an individualised approach might be more appropriate. The analysis also indicated that exercise performance was consistent across the OCP cycle. What exercises/workouts/circuits can I incorporate in the gym to help my running? Running is going to be the best thing you can do that directly makes you a better runner. Other workouts the strengthen the endurance of the muscles that are used for running can help but nothing helps as much as running. Biking, stairs, etc. Why do runners lift then? Strength training can help you stay injury free. The longer you are able to stay injury free, the better you will be able to run consistently. Runners need: Postural alignment, stabilization, strength and power Train for strength 8-12 reps