Twin Cities 2005
Josh Gustafson

Thank You Rusty
The credit for my fitness and personal success at the Twin Cities marathon goes to my coach, Rusty Snow. Over my consistently inconsistent running career, of sixteen years, I have had the privilege of running under probably the best high school distance coach in the nation, Pat Tyson (Mead High School in Spokane, WA), and one of the best NAIA coaches, Russell Smelley (Westmont College), and Rusty is every bit as good as they are. It is one thing to be a great runner, which Rusty is, but it is quite another to bring out the best in those you coach. That is what separates fast runners who tell other runners what to do and a coach. Rusty is a great coach and I now consider him a friend.

My First Marathon
The Twin Cities Marathon (Minneapolis/St. Paul) was my first marathon and definitely a life punctuating event. I ended up running a chip time of 3:09:08 (Boston qualifying) in warm, humid, and windy conditions on a semi-hilly, but fair course. My splits were 43min at 10k, 1:30:47 at the 1/2 and 2:18:56 at 20 miles. It was unseasonably warm at the start, with temperatures near 70 degrees and 80% humidity. My previously separated right shoulder, had gone out on every training run over two hours, so I wasn't surprised when it went out around mile twenty. Needless to say, running the last 6.2 miles with only one functional arm was extremely challenging. I was on pace for the first 20 miles but then I ran out of energy. I hit the wall physically (last 10k in 50min) but I didn't break mentally, even though I was at the limits of my pain threshold. I can honestly say that I gave it everything I had and I finished the race completely spent. I have no regrets.

Race Organization
The army of 5000 volunteers did a fantastic job of supporting the almost 10,000 runners, of which around 1/3 are from out of town. From the moment we landed in the cities to our departure we were treated like welcome guests. The race was well organized and the officials and volunteers did a fantastic job attending to every detail. The course was lined with what seemed to be over a 100,000 cheering spectators accompanied by loud music, brass bands, drum lines, signs, banners, and little kids wanting high fives. One notable nicety of the event was that we were often cheered along by our race number or by a description of our running uniform. This very simple but personalized encouragement helped me mentally. The crowds were so wonderful that I gave my expensive running sunglasses to a total stranger at around mile 16 and they were in my bag at race end.

The Course
The course itself winds through the suburbs of Minneapolis and then through the heard of St. Paul's old money neighborhood along Summit Avenue to a grand finish next the state capital. We must have passed a ½ dozen lakes that are within the city limits as we wound through beautiful tree lined neighborhoods of Minneapolis. One thing that caught my attention was abundance of bike paths and city parks. The leaves had yet to change so our running was under a deciduous canopy that rose from very well-kept yards.

The Idea
I conceived the idea of running my first marathon in March after three months of accidental running. As someone who considers being a runner as part of their identity, I was unable to conceive of not running the pinnacle of all running events. I knew that if I was going to run a marathon I wanted to do it right, which meant I needed help. After hearing from others of Rusty Snow's expertise, I elicited his help during my first appointment with him for a deep tissue massage (highly recommended). He agreed to take me on in an official capacity starting 12 weeks before the fall marathon of my choice. In the mean time he advised me to begin the process of getting in shape, to get in shape. Thus began my process of building a base of fitness.

Building a Base
In March I started out running 15 miles a week and very slowly increased my mileage to 40 by the end of June with an average weekly mileage of 28. The total mileage for this period was 455. For almost all of these runs my heart rate was between 60% and 70% of heart rate reserve. My only goal for this period was to log some miles and race occasionally for fun, and to see how my fitness was progressing.

My 10k time at the beginning of this base building period was 44:51 / 7:13 pace (Roses to La Playa). A month or so into the program I ran a 10 miler in 1:11:25 / 7:09 pace (SB Running 10 Miler). By the end of the base period I ran a 15k in 1:00:09 / 6:28 pace (Semana Nautica 15k).

After the Semana Nautica 15k Rusty began to provide me with weekly workouts and substantial amounts of hands on coaching. Because he was preparing for the same marathon on Oct 2nd we ended up running many of the same workouts but at much different paces. Although I only missed one workout during the twelve weeks, I didn't do a great job at getting enough sleep (our second son was only 4 weeks old when I started the tough training), doing strides, and doing the workouts on the appropriate days. Even with these lapses in discipline, my fitness increased exponentially. Most of this is because I took the easy days very easy, put in the miles, and hit the hard days at 110% effort. During the final 12 weeks of preparation I covered 600 miles, which is remarkable considering that my average mileage in high school and college was in the mid 30s and I had only eclipsed fifty miles a week once when I was seventeen. All this being said here are the twelve weeks of workouts:

(Skip workouts)
Week #1 (43 miles)
Sun 7/10: easy 4
M 7/11: easy 20min
T 7/12: 3mi w/up, 6x550m hills (between parking lots) on Shoreline Park (1:54 to 2:00 BPM at top = 179-186), 3mi c/dwn
W 7/13: easy 8
Th 7/14: off
Fr 7/15: easy 3
Sat 7/16: 3mi w/up, 3mi tempo run (19:40) 8mi c/dwn

Week #2 (51 miles)
Sun 7/17: easy 30min
M 7/18: easy 3, 6xStrides
T 7/19: 3mi w/up, 8x400m hill (short deep hill) on Shoreline Park (76-80 BPM at top = 181-188), 3200m time trial on track (6:08, 6:07 = 12:15), 3mi c/dwn
W 7/20: easy 10
Th 7/21: easy 5
Fr 7/22: off
Sat 7/23: 4mile w/up, 4miles "PMP" (Predicted Marathon Pace) 6:45, 10mi c/dwn (32nd B-Day)

Week #3 (51 miles)
Sun 7/24: easy 4 (Lance wins 7th Tour de France)
M 7/25: easy 4
T 7/26: 3mi w/up, 8x400m hill (short deep hill) on Shoreline Park (80-81, BPM at top = 178-181), 6x550m hills (between parking lots) on Shoreline Park (2:00 to 2:10, BPM at top = 180-184), 3mi c/dwn
W 7/27: easy 10
Th 7/28: easy 3, 6xStrides
F 7/29: off
Sat 7/30: 9mi w/up, 5miles PMP (34min, 6:48 pace), 2 mi c/dwn,

Week #4 (57 miles)
Sun 7/31: off
M 8/1: easy 6
T 8/2: 3mi w/up, 2x(1200,1200,1600) 1200s = 4:24 & 1600s = 5:52, 3mi c/dwn
W 8/3: off
Th 8/4: easy 12
F 8/5: easy 5, 6xStrides
Sat 8/6: 10 easy, 6mile @ PMP (6:51,6:47,6:45,6:47,6:41,6:35), 4mi c/dwn

Week #5 (60 miles)
Sun 8/7: easy 3
M 8/8: easy 7
T 8/9: 3mi w/up, 6x1600 (3@5:52, 3@5:47), 3mi c/dwn
W 8/10: easy 12
Th 8/11: easy 6
F 8/12: off
Sat 8/13: 3mi w/up, 4 miles @Tempo (6:18,6:30,6:12,6:10), 5 easy, 3 miles @PMP (6:48), 3mi c/dwn

Week #6 (43 miles)
Sun 8/14: easy 6
M 8/15: off
T 8/16: easy 4
W 8/17: 3mi w/up, 5k time trial (18:05), 3mi c/dwn
Th 8/18: easy 3
F 8/19: off (this was supposed to be an easy 12 but I wimped out)
Sat 8/20: 11mi w/up, 8miles @PMP (6:55,6:55,6:45,6:35,7:05,6:45,6:45), 3mi c/dwn

Week #7 (72 miles)
Sun 8/21: easy 6
M 8/22: easy 7
T 8/23: easy 6 (this was a stride day but I didn't do it)
W 8/24: 3mi w/up, 5x2000 (7:27-7:29 w/ 4min recovery), 3mi c/dwn
Th 8/25: easy 13
F 8/26: easy 6
Sat 8/27: 8mi w/up, 9 miles @PMP (6:41,6:44,6:52,6:40,6:49,6:55,6:32,6:45,6:52), 4mi c/dwn

Week #8 (72 miles)
Sun 8/28: easy 10
M 8/29: off
T 8/30: easy 12 (out of town for business)
W 8/31: easy 12 (out of town for business)
Th 9/1: easy 12 (out of town for business)
F 9/2: easy 4
Sat 9/3: 10mi w/up, 10 miles @ PMP (1:07:13 / 6:43pace), 2mi c/dwn

Week #9 (59)
Sun 9/4: easy 4
M 9/5: easy 10
T 9/6: 3mi w/up, 2x3200 (11:50,11:47 w 5:30 recovery), 2x800 (2:46,2:41 w/ 2:30 recovery, 3mi c/dwn
W 9/7: easy 5
Th 9/8: off (the easy 10 of Saturday was supposed to happen today)
Fri 9/9: easy 14
Sat 9/10: easy 10

Week #10 (43 miles)
Sun 9/11: 5 mi w/up, 5 miles @ Tempo (6:18,6:28,6:26,6:20,6:13), 5 easy, 5 miles @ PMP (6:50,6:44,6:48,6:33,6:37), 2 easy, 1 mile at 6:30 (six year wedding anniversary)
M 9/12: off (supposed to be easy)
T 9/13: easy 6, 6xStrides
W 9/14: off (supposed to be easy)
Th 9/15: easy 7 (supposed to be 11 easy)
Fri 9/16: off (supposed to be easy)
Sat 9/17: easy 7

Week #11 (30 miles)
Sun 9/18: 6 miles at PMP (7min pace)
M 9/19: easy 3
T 9/20: off
W 9/21: 3mi w/up, 1x3200 (5:47,5:31=11:18), 3mi c/dwn
Th 9/22: easy 3
F 9/23: 2 mi w/up, 8 miles @ PMP (6:52,6:50,6:48,6:36,6:40,6:34,6:34,6:38 = 53:44), 1mi c/dwn
Sat 9/24: off

Week #12 (18 miles)
Sun 9/25: 5 miles at 7:15, 1 mile at 6:00min (begin carbo depletion)
Mon 9/26: off (was supposed to do 5 easy)
T 9/27: easy 3
W 9/28: 3 mi hard w/up (7:15pace), 2x1600 (6:15,6:30 w/ 90 sec recovery) begin carbo load
Th 9/29: easy 3
F 9/30: off/ travel day to Minneapolis/St. Paul
Sat 10/1: off
Sun 10/2: Marathon Race 3:09:08 (10k = 43:00, 13.1miles =1:30:47, 20 miles = 2:18:56)

Physiology
One very interesting by-product of the 28 weeks I devoted to marathon training was the change in my body. My body composition changed from 190 pounds with 15% body fat to 173 pounds with 7% body fat. My resting heart rate also dropped from 48-52 to 40-44.

Summary
My mind is still swimming with ideas and lessons learned during the preparation and racing of the marathon, but what I am most amazed by is the vibrancy of my emotions after completing such a momentous project. If I tried to summarize my most poignant feelings, it would be that we are capable of so much more than we realize. I undertook this journey, not for the race or the training, but because I wanted to go somewhere I had never been, and what a wonderful adventure it has been. Now it is time to have set some personal records in being a husband and a father.