How to train - a summary of current best practice, with a schedule.

Personal safety - from Dave Saunders, top cop.

Don't overstride. This is the most important tip, and besides being the difference between the best runners and you and I, it may also be a key to a life-long running career. Don't overstride.
    When your foot is ahead of your center of gravity, you are decellerating - and every time you decellerate, you have to re-accellerate just to maintain a steady speed. Which do you think takes less energy and puts less stress on your joints, running steadily or slowing down and speeding back up with every footstrike?
    Here are three mental tricks to help eliminate overstriding:
* Simply focus on keeping your feet underneath you, not ahead of you - feel where your center of gravity is
* Imagine yourself running barefoot, and feel within yourself for the easiest way to greet the ground
* Imagine a sheet of clear glass extending downward from your hips, and prevent yourself from kicking it with your toes

Use the mental tricks above if they help - you're better off coming up with something uniquely your own, though. If you find your leg turnover increases as a result of relaxing your stride underneath you, that's all the better (since rapidity of stride cadence is what distinguishes the world-class runners far more than stride length - who do you think has a longer stride, tiny Gabriella Szabo or me?)
     So - don't overstride. You'll go faster, more easily, be injured less frequently, and enjoy running more. (7/30)

Hard/easy. If you are training to race, this is the basic rule. After a hard day, have an easy day - or two, or three, according to age, sleep, and need. You gain fitness by assimilating your work. If you don't have easy days, you don't assimilate; so, you don't improve. The general rule is to run 60 to 90 seconds per mile slower than current marathon pace on easy runs. This means, for example, that if you run easy days at 8:00 minute/mile pace, you're fit enough to run a marathon in 2:50.
    Clearly, a lot of people run faster than they should on their easy days. As a result, they can't and don't run hard enough on their hard days. (Your hard days should be hard.) It's ironic and unfortunate to have easy days stand in the way of reaching peak fitness. (12/1)
    Add from Mary Campilongo: "... [many runners] don't warm up (or cool down) adequately. They think that if they're going out for an 'easy' day, they don't need to warm up, since, after all, they're going easy. A friend handles elite athletes for the San Diego Marathon (and there are Kenyans in this group) and this involves not only getting these athletes to the starting line on race morning but also getting them out for their training runs before and after the event. Well, much to my surprise, in accompanying them once, I discovered that the Kenyans start out at a pace most people would term "not even running." (A 9-10 minute per mile pace for the first mile. Really.) They begin to pick it up after that but my point is, these are guys whose race pace is so much faster than the average runner but they essentially 'jog' for the first mile or two. If you were to 'translate' this into a pace for the 'common runner' (even the fast guys and women), it means you should do your first mile or two (even on easy days) at about 50-60% intensity."

Hard/easy, take 2. Admittedly this was last month's tip, but if you're like most runners, you didn't get it. It seems difficult to really accept that the easy days are not defined by being "not-hard" - they're truly easy. This month we look at the second part of the hard/easy approach - extending it to weeks and years. By weeks, a three-week hard and one-week easy regimen not only maintains mental freshness but allows much better assimilation of training effects. Try it! If you feel like your legs are made of wet concrete during your easy week, you can be certain that (a) you needed it, and (b) you are reaping major benefits. Then, by years, consider two things. One, that in your annual cycle a month or two of down time will work wonders for both your physical resiliance and your mental enjoyment of running - hard season/easy season. Two, that even taking an easy year may be what you need to come back stronger and more enthusiastic. Think about what you want from running - and how may more years or decades you want to run - and what habits and practices you want to develop now to help you enjoy running and racing in ten or twenty or forty years. The extended hard/easy approach seems harder for most people to practice than it might seem. The rewards, though, are that you race better and enjoy running more. (1/1/03)

Soft surfaces. Foot impact when running ranges from two times to five times body weight. A 120 lb. woman hits with 240 lbs. of force when running slowly. If a 120 lb. woman runs six miles, then (assuming a 4' stride length) she sustains 475 tons of impact per foot. (Based on weight times impact force times number of strides per foot.) A 160 lb. man running 10 miles (average 5' stride) sustains 845 tons of impact. Now - imagine laying on your back having someone with a cement sledgehammer hit your feet like that. Concrete is your enemy and asphalt is not your friend. (5/20)

How to buy shoes. Four easy steps (so to speak). (a) Go to Outfooter's in La Cumbre Plaza. Owner Frank DeJohn has been our steadiest and strongest supporter for the past fifteen years. (b) "A/B" you candidate shoes. This means put the Nike on one foot and the New Balance on the other. It's an easier and more reliable way to compare how they feel. (c) Go outside and run a little. How they feel running is different than how they feel walking around the store. (d) Most important by far (and an SBAA exclusive) - when you run in the candidates, imagine yourself running barefoot. Try to feel which shoe interferes least with your barefoot gait. Find the least-interfering shoe and buy it. (6/3)

Bonus tip! (And for the same low price!) Vary the shoes you run in. Have at least two different kinds or models, and alternate them on different days. Since every shoe has a slightly different heel lift, foot motion, degree of flexibility, etc., alternating shoes reduces repetitive stress. For distance runners, that's good.

Run a personal worst! This is the third-best tip in running. The Basic Principle of Training is hard/easy, or hard/easy/easy - as many easy's as necessary to assimilate the hard running. The common mistake runners make is to run their easy days too hard. The benefits of training happen not while you're running, but when your body is recovering and rebuilding. Unless you allow rebuilding, you don't fully benefit from training; not only that, you increase your chances of injury. Your goal is not to run not-hard - it's to run easy. So - on your easy days, run a personal worst. If a sub-13:00 Kenyan can shuffle an easy day at 8:00 minute pace, how slow can you go? (7/1)

Elliptical training and water running. Recently (July 2002) I posted a question to the message board about the relative merits of elliptical training and water running. Some thoughtful responses were posted. A more detailed explanation than would normally be posted was provided by certified fitness and athletic trainer/certified USATF coach Mary Campilongo of BODY DYNAMICS. Mary writes:

First I have to ask, by "better" what did your friend Curly mean? Better how? Aerobically? An terms of how one compares for training purposes for a runner?

As with any form of exercise, some people have a preference for one over another. In terms of an aerobic workout, both the elliptical trainer and water running are great. Water exercises are the least efficient (in terms of time) form of aerobic exercise. If you want the science behind this, I'll be glad to share it with you. Running of course is the most efficient form of aerobic exercise. The elliptical trainers were really designed for people who can't run. Because of the concussive nature of running it was designed to 'mimic' the running movement without the impact.

While they are certainly great machines, I have reservations about them. My main concern is the spacing of the foot platforms. Most elliptical trainers, even when you have your feet snug along the inside of each platform, place your 'foot strike' approximately 4"-6" apart. There aren't many people whose natural footstrike is this wide. What this does essentially is splay the hip and knee joints in unnatural and potentially injurious angles. You don't have the pounding as you would running, but you're also not moving naturally. It just stands to reason that torquing a joint out at a repeatedly unnatural angle is sure to result in some discomfort (at the very least).

The other 'issue' with ellipticals is the backward movement. I caution my clients and athletes not to do this for any more than a couple of 'strides' as this too is an unnatural movement. As well, it is often difficult not to lock out your knee on the backward, downward 'stride' and it's bad, bad, bad to repeatedly lock out a joint like that. Full extension is fine, locking out a joint repeatedly is not good. As well, the backward movement is again unnatural in the respect that no one, save the one or two folks that 'run' marathons backwards, moves backwards for more than a few seconds ever.

I train (myself and my clients) from a standpoint of keeping folks healthy, so when I come across something that I have found to be potentially problematic, I like to share it with others. While I'm not a Physical Therapist, I do study and consider the musculoskeletal aspects of exercises and the movements involved. It's essential. Especially in my clients that have particular physical issues/injuries to deal with. As well, in the 'healthy' population, it's good to be cognizant of things that could become and/or cause potential problems.

[Since Curly's return from a stress fracture triggered the discussion, Mary addressed that specifically. Curly had mentioned that he felt like he would overstride during water running.]

The elliptical machine was designed to 'mimic' running and created for those who cannot tolerate the pounded of running due to particular joint or injury issues. So, in that sense, it is most closely aligned to running. I'm not clear on what Curly means by "overstriding" in the water. I'm guessing that possibly on land his stride length seems shorter than the movement in water. That's pretty typical. As well, unless it's causing him some sort of muscle strain(s), it's actually beneficial in a sense because he's increasing his range of motion in that joint and in that striding movement.

[For those who'd like to talk with Mary, you can reach her at Campmarysb@aol.com, or 698-1916.]

Mary wasn't the only one to offer observations. Gregg Horner: "I currently use an eliptical trainer. It's easy to get the heart rate up and get an aerobic workout. But If I still had access to a pool I would prefer water running. It provides more range of motion {the eliptical trainer locks you into one postion} and more approximates actual running. It also works the hip flexors,as the legs must lift against the water pressure.
But it does require more mental focus. I used to wear a radio headset to help with the bordom factor. Ideally, if I couldn't run I would alternate between pool running and eliptical."

Wally Marantette: "Depends on purpose. It's easier to acheive a good cardio workout on an ellipitical machine as you have direct control of resistance, ramp, and can see the turnover rate. You are in a more controlled environment. With aqua jogging it takes much more discipline to get a good cardio workout. It's very easy to get distracted and unless you have a waterproof heart rate monitor, your heart rate is very difficult to determine. What aqua jogging is excellent for is a cool down after a good run or a very low key workout the day after a race. The water is very soothing and loosens up the muscles. So, my experience is ellipical machine for good workout and aqua jog for therapy."

Relax. This sounds obvious, but the more fatigued you become, the more difficult it is to do. When you watch the elites, they always look marvelously relaxed, even in a finishing kick. My most stunning visual experience as a runner was watching Kip Keino in a 1967 indoor meet, a year before Keino's mind-numbing performance at the Mexico City Olympics. Besides running more fluidly than I'd ever seen a human move, Keino looked so extraordinarily relaxed even at maximum exertion that the image is still vivid 35 years later. The fundamental truth of tension is that you are working against yourself. Here are three keys to help you relax:
* Relax your hands. This doesn't mean to let them flop. Just don't let them be a focal point for tension. When you relax your hands, you can feel your arms and shoulders relax as well.
* Relax your jaw. This has an amazing "let-down" effect on the whole body, and it's the easiest of these three to do.
* Relax your pelvis. This is the most important and the most subtle. The pelvis is the source from which balance and grace flows. If it's tight, you restrict your range of motion and force your muscles, ligaments, and tendons to work harder, like spurring a horse while pulling back on the reins. If there is an aspect of physical movement that isn't easier with a relaxed pelvis, I don't know what it is. (9/1/02)

Achilles care. The SBAA's Ludvig Edman is, unfortunately, an expert at Achilles pain, and the best exercise he's found was suggested by running author Owen Anderson. It has worked well for me.
    Stand on a stair or other stable edge that allows you to comfortably brace yourself but also allows free range of motion for your heel. With both feet, raise yourself to your toes. Now, on just one foot, very slowly lower your heel to the approximate bottom of it's natural range. Slowness is key (I use a very slow six-count). Do NOT try for the extreme possible bottom, and do NOT raise back up on that foot - put your other, free foot back on the stair and shift your weight to it. Using that, bring both feet together and raise again (unhurredly) to your toes. Repeat the slow lowering motion with the opposite foot. Repeat six to ten times for a set.
    You are doing this correctly when you do not raise yourself by your Achilles at all, only lower yourself, and when you do so slowly and very much under control.
     There's a long reason why this works, mostly theoretical, but it does work. Try it for a few weeks, build up the number of sets you can comfortably do (and don't injure yourself building up too fast!), and see how it works for you. (10/1/02)

Tapering. John and Dennis did an interesting taper for Paramount, where each ran excellent races. For the 10K distance, they each did a week-long "cut-down": on Monday, each ran 5 x 800 at target race pace (not faster). On Tuesday, 4 x 800, then 3 x 800 on Wednesday, finishing with one 800 on Friday (for the Saturday race). This was with no other running other than warm-up and cool-down. Dennis reported he was so ready to run on Saturday he felt great. John is convinced this structured taper was a key to his extraordinary run. (1/12/03)

Vary your stresses. Though hard for many runners to accept, it's not the running that makes you fitter, it's the recovery and assimilation. Running actually makes you less fit, by breaking you down. Post-run recovery and supercompensation are what build fitness. That's why recovery is so important.
    A way to allow yourself to recover - and to make running more interesting - is to vary your stresses. When you run hard, run hard, and when it's easy make it easy. Here are a few specific suggestions:
*   Don't run the same thing every day. If you average 5 miles a day, run 2 miles some days and 8 miles others. You'll feel fresher, and you'll gain more fitness as well.
*   Go short/easy and long/hard. Most people, most of the time, do the opposite, and certainly you have to keep things appropriate. On the other hand, from 6 to 13 miles at marathon pace is a great workout. The fitness benefits of a 12-miler at marathon pace and a 4-miler 2 min/mile slower are far greater than back-to-back 8-milers.
*    Walk. Once a week, walk the amount of time you'd usually run. It feels good. Overcome (if you can) the idea that walking "doesn't count."
Besides the fitness benefit, which is very strong, a nice effect of taking this to heart is finding your mental freshness, both for running and for life in general, renewed. (2/8)

Electric Fence. Heart rate monitors are the most useful advance in running gear since the digital watch - because they allow true effort-based training. The identical pace on different days can mean very different levels of effort. But for most of us our subjective ability to estimate effort is pretty hit or miss. The heart rate monitor gives a dispassionate account of how hard you're working - so your training can actually be based on measured effort. Here's the Very Short and Somewhat Simplified Guide to Heart Rate Monitors.
    You have to know two things, and then you figure out two more things. First, you have to know your maximum heart rate (HR). You can guess it by subtracting half your age from 205. In real life, max HR varies all over the place, though, so you're better off testing. Snap on your new monitor and check your pulse at the end of a race or hard interval session; that'll be it. Second, you have to know your resting pulse. Check it when you wake up in the morning. With those two numbers, you'll get two more numbers and you're done. Take your max HR and subtract your resting HR. That's your "heart rate reserve." Multiply it by 0.7 and add whatever that comes out to to your resting HR. That's your 70% heart rate reserve level. Do it again, but this time multiply by 0.85. That's your 85% heart rate reserve level. (You don't have to remember "heart rate reserve," just the 70% number and the 85% number.)
     An example: Maximum HR = 180, resting HR = 60, so heart rate reserve = 180 - 60 = 120. Then, 0.7 x 120 = 84, so 70% = (84 + 60) = 144. (Multiplying something by 0.7 is the same as taking 70%.) Same deal with 0.85 ( 85%): 0.85 x 120 = 102, and 102 + 60 = 162. That's 85%. (These are made up numbers. Unless your max really is 180 and your resting is 60, you'll have to do your own. Plug in your real figures to get what's right for you.)
     Now, Effort-Based Training in a nutshell: Never run more than 70% on your easy days, and always run 85% or more the hard part of your hard days. That's it.

Why "electric fence"? Because when you first do this, you'll be amazed by how easy your easy days are. If you're like most people, you'll have to keep slowing down when the monitor starts its over-the-limit beep. Just like a puppy learning how close to the electric fence it can get.
    There's more complexity if you're interested - coaches have specified lots of ranges, with complex methods of calculating maximum benefit. There are three books on the Reviews page that cover heart rate training extensively. (3/1/03)

Why relaxation makes you faster, longer. Ever wonder where all that lactic acid goes? Lactic acid is a byproduct of muscle cell metabolism, and in order to run fast over long distances you have to process and neutralize it. (There are some who believe high levels of lactic acid can be uncomfortable.) Since it is a cell matabolism by-product, it is produced "locally," by whichever groups of muscles are carrying the load - generally, the legs and butt for runners. Since it is excreted into the bloodstream, though, lactic acid circulates through the entire body.
    That's where relaxation comes in. The muscles that are not producing lactic acid do the processing and clean up. The more relaxed and unstressed those muscles are, the less lactic acid of their own they are producing, and the faster they can clean the lactic acid from the working muscles. (This is why a sign of a high level of fitness is generalized fatigue when running, in contrast to specific muscle fatigue.) The basic equation is, relaxation of non-working muscles = lower overall lactic acid levels = faster, longer. (4/1/03)

Imagination can help you simplify your running form, both to be more efficient and to reduce the likelihood of injury. The point of running form is to find the easiest possible way for you to move forward at a given speed. Achieving this requires you to be acutely sensitized to how your body feels as you move. "The easiest way" is also more subtle than might first appear - what is truly easy isn't always obvious.
    While running, you can use your imagination and your sensitivity to explore your own movement. Here are a few thought-experiments to try:
•   Imagine a hook in the top of your head attached to a moving cable lifting you up and slightly forward, so that your feet have to reach down to brush the ground.
•   Two dead-even rails running through your hips along which you glide forward.
•   Each footstrike is on a bathroom scale, and your goal is to register as little weight as possible at impact (this is especially interesting on downhills)
At the same time you're imagining, feel how your body feels as you run in one of these modes, and notice any changes you make that reduce effort or stress. This is a subtle, dynamic exploration.
    Your own imaginings will be better than anything anyone else can suggest for finding what for you is the most effortless style. Perhaps your body is a knife slicing through the air, or you're Haile Gebreselassie or Catherine Ndereba, or your feet are paws grabbing the ground and throwing you forward, or as one local runner apparently imagines, that you're a duck with an injured leg.
     Your easiest running form is also your most beautiful. It's worth imagining. (5/1/03)

Speed. Here's a workout to hone your speed.
    You need two things to run well in the middle distances: sustained speed and concentration. This is a workout for both. You'll need a timer on your watch and a gentle, grassy or dirt hill (Shoreline Park is ideal). Warm up thoroughly, and set your timer for a continuous loop of 30 seconds. You're going to alternate running 30 seconds at your 800m race pace and an interval 30 seconds running about two minutes per mile slower than marathon race pace. Pick a time you can achieve doing this - 12 to 24 minutes - then reduce it by two. Be realistic; this is a difficult workout.
    Now run your loop both up and down your chosen hill. Concentrate the entire time. When you're running fast, concentrate fully on form - high knees, open soft belly, elbows in and back. That goes for both uphill and downhill - raising your knees on downhills is critical to running fast. Especially on the downhills, focus on the quickest leg-turnover you can manage - then practice relaxation. On the in-between sections, keep running - and concentrate on blowing out from the very bottom of your lungs, where the oxygen transfer takes place.
    If you find you're losing form, bring your concentration back. If you can't sustain good form, stop.
    You're doing this correctly if you feel it was the worst idea you ever had to actually do this, and you vow to never visit this site again. (5/13/03)

Be skeptical of research on running (and diet). This isn't to dismiss research on either subject, more to make readers aware of some of the problems with gathering data. Just like in life, occasionally you get the right answer from the wrong data, but not very often. In order to do good running research you need to do long-term studies. Unfortunately, there's not a lot of money for that, nor a lot of volunteers among first (or even second) rank athletes. As a consequence, the overwhelming majority of studies are short-term (three weeks to three months) and at best work with college runners, but more often with college PE students. Not surprisingly, most studies find that speedwork, intervals, or tempo work is the "best" training method. This is analogous to watching frat boys for two days before finals and concluding that cramming overnight is the best studying technique.
    Because the timescales for running are so long - the general rule is that you'll reach your peak as a runner about ten years after you start, regardless of your age when you begin - the best running research borrows its techniques from anthropology, not chemistry: go out with an open mind and meticulously study the "natives." There are a few books on the Review page that take this approach, most obviously Toby Tanser's on the Kenyans. But in any field where the feedback is as empirical and directly measurable as running, when all the natives, whether Kenyan, British, Morrocan, American, Ethiopian, Russian, or Japanese, say the same thing - believe them. (6/3)

Bare feet and bad asphalt. Every movement you make as a runner goes through your feet. They're the source of your balance and your connection to the Earth. Yet most runners don't think about their feet until they hurt.
    Strong feet change the way we move. To keep your feet strong, get them out of the casings (shoes) they normally occupy and let them connect directly with the ground. There are 26 bones and twenty muscles in each foot, and all those small muscles need a chance to work freely to be as strong as they should be. Walk around barefoot whenever you can. It feels good, it improves balance, and it reduces overall stress by making our feet - which evolved to mediate and correctly distribute the stresses of movement - much better able to do what they want to do.
    Going barefoot is especially important as we age.As the inner ear loses suppleness, our balance declines and our chance of accidental injury increases. The more 'live' our connection to the ground, the more slowly these effects occur.
    Bad asphalt? In general, running on dirt or grass is much easier on the body, but there are times when asphalt or even concrete are the only available surfaces. Since feet and ankles are stengthened by variation, while chronic injury arrives by monotony, if you have to run on pavement pick the uneven, irregular sections as much as you can. The variation and real-time adaptation both reduce repetitive stress and increase foot and ankle strength.
    One caution. Just like any other muscles or connective tissue, feet need time to adapt. Going from no barefoot walking to a forty-five minute barefoot run in Shoreline is a good recipe for injury. Barefoot running is great, but let yourself adapt gradually. (7/1)

Motivation. Motivation is something that's there or it's not. It's like love. It's not something you "work on," it's a way you feel. If you feel it, it's great. If not, then it's time to think about moving on.
    Like a good marriage.
    Well, a melodramatic entry, but hopefully makes the point. Here are three seemingly simple steps to healthy, strong motivation:
   Think about what you like most about your running, both in the short term and the long
   Think about what is for you the right amount of the various ingredients that make your list
   Consciously put effort into assuring all those things, in the right amounts, show up regularly in your running.
    Pleasure is a skill you can practice. (8/1)

Skin cancer. San Luis Obispo runner and good guy Brian Waterbury recently died of skin cancer, at age 54. Now look at the start of the McConnell's, or lower on the page, Vicki's. Just as the key to good runnng is the cumulative effect of training, a key to avoiding skin cancer is avoiding the cumulative effect of UV. Like a lot of things in life, there's a big long-term payoff in consistently taking the small, easy steps.
    Add: Recent evidence suggests the form of "active" vitamin D produced naturally as a result of the skin's stimulation by UV acts as a cancer preventive. Babies kept completely out of the sun are more likely to develop rickets ("weak bone disease"). If you're a normal runner, you're doing fine.(9/3)

Trail running secrets revealed! Mike Swan covered some of the differences between extended trail running and common road running:
   Trail shoes. Real trail shoes aren't just different cosmetics on the uppers. Besides a grippier sole, hard-core trail shoes typically have a much lower heel than road shoes. This improves balance and feel. Some trail shoes also have a plate in the midsole to prevent stone bruises. It's not a requirement, though: many ultrarunners - the 100-mile kind - wear plain old road trainers, Pegasus and 2060's, and do just fine.
   Fluids. Mike pointed out that for most of us, our maximum absorption rate is around 30 oz. per hour. After that, we just slosh (and in fact lose some absorption efficiency). He also said that even intake is easier and more effective than gulping at aid stations. Mike prefers to hold a pair of water bottles, one in each hand, which (for him) means he drinks more frequently. Others like fanny packs or camelbacks. Experiment to find out what the easiest thing is for you.
   Chow. From both ultras and Ironman's (Mike has done a lot of both), experience has shown roughly 200-300 calories an hour is maximum uptake for most people. As with drinking, small, regular consumption is much easier on your body than scarfing at aid stations. Some people find that sports dirnks provide all the calories they need, others like to eat. Remember, whichever you prefer, replace your electrolytes - chiefly sodium (salt), but also calcium, potassium, magnesium, and zinc. (The amounts of magnesium and zinc are so tiny that they're rarely included in sports drinks and are exceedingly unlikely to cause you any problems.) It's incredible to believe, but there are times in ultras when that bowl of rock salt looks like the most delicious thing in the world. Mainly: experiment!
   Walking. Mike is elite and he walks. Walk early and often (or, walk late and painfully).
   Try it in practice. If you're going to try some new shoes, or socks, or foods, or anything else, do it in training first to see if it works. (Sounds obvious, but sometimes people get a little nervous and are more susceptible to last-minute decisions.)
   Poison oak. Patsy related her experience using Dawn dishwashing soap, viz., that even after exposures that Technu wouldn't have helped, showering with Dawn prevented her from getting poison oak.
   Finally, Mike revealed The Secret of Trail Ultras, which is hidden in plain sight - you can do it. You, the regular runner, who gets tired in a half-marathon, who doesn't have time to run 19 hours on weekends, who counts a twelve-miler as a long run - you. All it takes is some common sense ("some" of course being carefully qualified in this context) and the willingness to try.
   Add from Jim: Mike didn't mention the First Rule (too obvious to say?) Here it is: on the trails, you always take it as it is. (9/13)

Longevity. A couple of months ago on a run John Brennand mentioned a remark made at Dipsea, about his longevity as a highly competitive runner, how uncommon that is. We started talking about the characteristics shared by people with long running careers (John ran the Olympic Trails marathon in 1968l I ran my first race in 1966.). I wrote down the gist of our conversation and aked Diane Palmason to comment. Diane's international career began with the Commonwealth Games in 1954; this year she set Canadian or World age-group records from 100 meters to the mile, and last weekend completed the Toronto Marathon.
jk & jb: Motivation - long-termers don't waste it on unimportant races
DP: Learning not to be too concerned about the outcome of local and/or unimportant races was not easy. But I've come up with a number of reasons for participating in races for which I'm not optimally prepared or motivated:
    - to pace and help someone with less experience with the distance, whatever it is;
    - to support the cause or the group organizing the event;
    - to join with running family and friends - in the event and the activities that follow;
    - to make myself run at a harder pace than I would have if running the same distance by myself as a tempo workout.
I save my motivation for a few key events - and then my motivation comes from setting goals relative to myself.  I continue to be motivated to be the best runner I can be in a given event, at a given age. Whether that leads to "wins" or records is not the point.
jk & jb: Forward-looking - past races mean little and are uninteresting (except for lessons for future races) - the view is always on what's coming
DP: It is fun to look back, from time to time, and feel satisfaction when that's appropriate. But if I looked back on specific times and speeds, I would have given up long ago. After all, I once ran a marathon at the pace I can now barely manage for one mile!! Instead, there's always something to look forward to - new places to run (whether racing or not), new standards to aspire to as we move up in the age groups. I haven't raced indoors for years, so I'm looking forward to giving that a try again next winter.
jk & jb: Reality-focused - they don't spend any time chewing on how a race might have come out - they accept their performances completely, whether it went as planned or not
DP: This is another one that took some learning. However, I've been coaching long enough to know that there is always something to be learned from a race - regardless of how it went. And this applies to the ones that went well, too. "What did I do - so that I can do it again!"
jk & jb: Cyclic - long-termers have seasons and intentionally build R&R into their schedules (even when they're not injured!); they don't try to race year-round
DP: This is key! I build recovery days into my week; recovery weeks into my month; recovery months into my year and recovery YEARS into a 5-year age group. As you know, I did very little training or racing in 2002 due to a combination of things. There was an injury early on, then some family challenges. Beyond that, I was 63/64 years old, and I didn't feel ready to tackle improving my 60+ performances. I ran, but I did not have a "plan" - no program. I ran some races (including Hood to Coast) but without any outcome expectations. By last October, I was both physically and mentally ready to "get going". And, in fact, at 65 I did improve my 60+ 400 meter time. That was fun!
jk & jb: Dirt - long-termers avoid asphalt and concrete
DP: Partly true for me. I do avoid concrete, but I know my legs have to be ready for asphalt some of the time, so I mix it up - running roads, trails, tracks etc., including our rough, uneven gravel road. Great for ankle strength!
jk & jb: Variety - long-termers, even those who are "pure" runners, do lots of different kinds of running events
DP: This is huge for me.  There is something to be gained from all the different kinds of training you have to do to meet your goals at the different distances and in different venues.
jk & jb: Friends - long-termers like running partners and run with friends frequently
DP: I'd make that friends and family, since my running husband is one of my best supporters.And I greatly enjoy running with my children and nieces.I do spend a lot of time running on my own, though. As coach, I'm on the sidelines with the stopwatch while many of my running friends complete their track workout. I enjoy group runs, but I also enjoy heading down the road, or up the trail, by myself - running at my pace, stopping when I have to (that includes "pit stops"), and going where whim may take me (though I always leave word of approximately where I'll be).
jk & jb: Have lives - even for those at the highest levels, running isn't the only thing in life
DP: Since coaching running is my vocation, various aspects of being a runner do take up a considerable part of my life (lucky me!). However, there are many other things in my life - mostly to do with family. And then there's my love of classical music, old movies, biography - even my cat! Again - lucky me.
     I would add that, at 65+, I have some pretty clear ideas of how much my involvement in running has given me - not the least of which is health, energy, a strong body - and the ability to enjoy so many aspects of life (including a "lively" relationship with my husband - having good runners bodies is beneficial for both of us, I think!) (10/1)

Long trail running notes. For Nine Trails runners, a few last-minute tips.
    Walk before you need to. The question isn't whether you'll walk, it's whether you'll walk well or poorly. My experience has been if I put it off until I can't avoid it, I end up spending more time walking but cover less distance (and enjoy it a lot less). Ask any nurse about pain control - easier to stay ahead than to try to catch up. This is the same. Walk 20% more than you think you need to in the first half.
    Drink and eat before you need to. Same deal.
    Take it as it is. In short races, one can defer feeling all the various aspects of how it really feels until after the finish line - in a 5K you can (to some degree) fake it. Not here.
    Move forward. Relentless forward motion is the ultrarunner's mantra. This doesn't mean don't stop at aid stations, or to soak in the views, just that it doesn't matter how slow you are if it's forward motion. If you're moving forward, you're doing it right.
    It can get better. This may be the most important one to know. Bad road races only get worse. In ultras you can be in pretty bad shape and later on feel good.
  Have a great time. Remember to look up and enjoy it. It's an amazing opportunity. At the end you'll be in love with everybody and everybody will be in love with you. Ultras are great. (11/28)

Finding the center and aligning with the field. Uh-oh - has SBrunning gone airy-fairy? Maybe, but in this case "the center" is the center of the Earth, and "the field" is gravity. The goal of running form is to find the minimum energy needed to move at a given speed. (How little can you move, to move?) What we run through is the Earth's gravitational field. Next time you run, try to feel the precise location of the center of the Earth, and then within yourself find the perfect balance point, where your pelvis, spine, and head are all aligned exactly perpendicular to the center of the Earth.
    It takes concentration. For most runners, especially so when going uphill, when heads go forward and shoulders hunch in a apparent bid to fool gravity into relenting. Engage the constant, dynamic process of aligning with the center of the planet. You'll not only run, walk, stand, sit, and feel better, you'll be a more beautiful animal.(10/31)

Run the tangents. For runners, the tangent is the shortest way around a turn. Course are measured on the tangents, so it isn't cheating to run them. Here are two examples: on a coned-turnaround running a semi-circle 5' out from the cone adds almost 16' to the course; on a "square" course with four city-street 90-degree turns, 5' out adds 31'. Not a big deal - but picture a starting line where your age-group rivals all start 31' ahead of you. (12/1)

Three weeks off. Take three weeks a year with no running whatsoever. The best time to do this is when you're in peak shape. A three-week break may be the most disciplined training you'll do all year.
    Physically, the runner's mantra "trust your body" only goes so far. Stresses can accumulate below the surface, rising to awareness after passing the breakdown threshold. Taking a full break is preventive recovery, a chance for your body to knit the year's microtears back together.
    Mentally, we need recovery as well. The most common mistake in racing is going out too fast. This is the same thing, extended across seasons and years. If you frame your running career as extending to your 80's or 90's - George Harrower ran his first marathon last year at 77 - then pacing is crucial. You don't need to rush to the next race. Three weeks a year can help you to an extra thirty years of running.
    Why at peak shape, though? Because that's the time of both greatest risk and greatest temptation. You've just run a terrific race, the culmination of a series of races where you've run better and better - the reward for training hard and building to a peak. But intrinsic to a 'peak' is that the stresses on your body are at their highest. That's risk. Temptation comes when you've told yourself you'll take a break, but you're racing so well and then next race is only three weeks away - so you'll run just one more.
    Eagerness and enthusiasm and determination are good. But in running just like in love, hurrying and forcing things and failing to see today's urgent goals and desires from a longer perspective - that's trading the body's urge for short-term exhilaration for almost-certain long-term loss. (1/3)

Fear. Some people are afraid to race badly. They can't be afraid of a bad run; that's too normal. They must be afraid of losing something in the eyes of others. The respect of your peers is of fundamental importance, and true disrespect from those who count can break your heart. But respect only deepens when you're brave enough to reveal your whole person. Perhaps the fear is, "if you really knew me, you wouldn't respect me. You wouldn't like me."
   "Go beyond your limits" is common runner ideology. If you agree with the idea then going beyond your limits means showing up even when you know you'll run badly. Because if you only show up when you're sure you'll run well - that's your limit.
   This isn't some slogan about "going beyond your fear." If you fear it, fear it.
   People think happiness and sorrow are opposite poles, or pride and shame, or love and fear. The true poles are feeling and not feeling. Our lives pass by like the melting snow. The difference between excellence and mediocrity is unimportant when placed beside the actual feeling of being alive. (2/1)

Snakes. Trail runners, if you aren't already aware, the rattlers are out. A few tips:
  Big is bad. Despite folklore to the contrary, baby rattler's venom is not that much more intense, and their fangs are much smaller. The big snakes have much more venom with larger fangs. They can also strike much further. Large snakes should be feared more! (Thanks to Marty for this correction.)
  They don't hear very well so screaming isn't effecitve. (It is a popular response for certain members of the local trail running population, though.) They're - the snakes, that is - sensitive to vibration. Stamping your foot works better.
  Once they coil, it's a pain in the butt because they're defensive and don't want to move. Wait for them to relax before encouraging them to move off the trail.
  They don't like moving shadows overhead. (Reminds 'em of hawks.) Usually you can't get close enough to do much about this, but it's good to know.
  Sticks and stones work. Small stones, rolled - you're trying to annoy them enough to leave, but not enough to become defensive.
  Once they start slithering off the trail you're fine. They'll go far enough generally.
  Alternately, carry a large California king snake with you. They eat rattlers. (You'll need one of the larger hydration packs if you choose this approach.) (4/6)

Plyometrics in the pool. In a surprising result, Steven Devor at OSU found that doing plyometrics in a pool resulted in just as much strength gain as gym-based plyos, with much less apparent tissue damage. Plyometrics - jumping, skipping, and bounding exercises - are excellent mid- and peak-season strength-builders for runners. Devor's experimental protocol: thirty-two college-age, already-fit women, randomly split into two groups. They all refrained from exercise other than the test protocol for the duration of the study. The plyos involved several sets of bounding and hopping, and jumping on and off a box. Half did them in a gym, the other half in about four feet of water.
    Tests were performed at the beginning, half-way, and at the end of the six-week term of the experiment. The pool group reported less soreness, and were less touch-sensitive in the relevant muscles, which isn't surprising. The surprise was in the strength gains. "The participants who did the exercises in water had the same gains in muscle strength as the group that did the workout in a gym," Devor said. "Until now, no one had looked at the possibility of doing plyometrics in water."
    A future monthly tip will describe plyometrics. For now, if you're already familiar with them, please recall that if you have problems with achillles tendonitis, plantar faciitis, or knee problems of any kind - or back problems - avoid plyometrics unless they're in a pool. (5/23)

Speed. This is a guest tip from Renato Canova, coach of people who run half-marathons faster than the Tuesday night A's run 400's. (Quoted with permission from LetsRun's message board.)
    "The first training that every long distance runner can use, good for every period of preparation, is to sprint from 60 to 100m climbing. Speed is a quality depending of nervous capacity and muscle strength. Nervous capacity is the capacity of high explosive concentration, that you need for recruiting the higher number of fibres of a muscle. Strength of a muscle is the capacity of producing tension, and speed of contraction.
   "Our muscles don't work like the engine of a car. If you have an engine able to do 5000 revolutions reaching 180 km of speed, when you go at 100 km of speed you use only 3000 revolutions, but the engine works in the same way. Instead, if we have a muscle made with 100 fibres, we use the most part of the fibres during max. speed, and only a part of these reducing the speed. For example, jogging you can use 20% of your fibres, ALWAYS THE SAME. So, when you have to use speed, you are not able to use the percentage of fibres normally resting. These fibres are less strong, but also unable to receive in short time the order of the brain. Running always at slow speed, you de-fuse your nervous system regarding the fibres that you don't use normally.
   "So, the best way for training not the speed, but the CAPACITY OF NERVOUS SYSTEM, basic for the speed, is to do short efforts at max. intensity, like short sprints uphill. You must interpret this work in explosive way, like a sprinter, not using progressive speed, because the first aim is to develop the capacity of the brain.
   "Running for a time of 10/15 sec, you cannot do too much lactate. You can use 1min / 1:30 of recovery, so lactic acid can be eliminated almost totally. But what you have to remember is that THIS IS A TRAINING FOR THE NERVOUS SYSTEM, needing max intensity, so recovery times are not very important.
   "So, is not true that long run can reduce speed, and that speed can reduce endurance. Training is what you do, not what you don't do, and you don't improve your speed IF YOU DON'T USE SPEED, at the same way you don't improve your endurance IF YOU DON'T USE ENDURANCE." (7/1)

Minimalist shoes. Past tips have praised barefoot running. There's an increasing interest in the hardcore training community in training barefoot or in minimalist shoes - daily training in racing flats, or less. The driving observation is that the foot is a sensitive, highly adaptive organ and encasing it in a "boot" prevents it from fulfilling its function.
   The most interesting claim of the minimalists is that not only do minimalist shoes result in superior foot, ankle, and lower leg strength, they also reduce the likelihood of injury. There is evidence that running barefoot is the best. And, it's known that despite Nike's advertising budget, injury rates per mile run have stayed constant for the past 20 years. (You read that correctly - the past twenty years of new models and Improved Technologies You Must Have have not changed your likelihood of injury at all.) There is no evidence cushioning helps, and some that it harms. There is evidence, though, that barefoot runnng reduces stresses on the feet, ankles, knees, and hips. (For a thorough review, check Track Coach #168, Summer 2004, from Track & Field News.)
   Running only barefoot isn't practical for most of us. Minimalist shoes are. Racing flats, cross-country racers, and some kinds of minimally-engineered adventure shoes all qualify. The key elements of a minimalist shoe: as little heel as possible, maximum flexibility, and most important, sensitivity. The sensitivity is critical: the more your foot can feel the ground, the better.
   If you want to try the experiment, here are some guidelines:
  Don't change everything at once - go to twice a week for your shorter runs and build gradually over six weeks
  Expect six to ten weeks of continuing adaptation, or even more, after you've completed the transition
  Schedule 10-to-30 minute barefoot sessions on grass three times a week, going longer as your feet adapt
  Walk barefoot as much as you can
  Write down your experience, as it happens. The more people do it and say how it went, the more quickly we can together discover the best guidelines.
   As your feet gain strength and enjoy their freedom, conventional and dress shoes are going to feel less and less comfortable. In recompense, you'll be closer to the perfect animal you were born to be. (7/27)

Why 18 miles is five times more than 10. If you've read much training material, you'll have noticed that many coaches preach specificity: train how you're going to race. Yet milers and 5K runners do long training runs. Why?
     There are two types of muscle fibers, fast twitch and slow twitch. Slow twitch can't work like fast twitch, but with training, fast twitch will work like slow twitch.
     "With training" is the key. Slow twitch are far better at distance running, so our fast twitch just sit back on our daily runs and let the slow twitch do the work. To recruit the fast twitch - to tell their genes to start expressing their hidden, mitochondria-dense slow twitch personalities - you need to run until the slow twitch are too tired to do the job.
    The long run works because it takes you past your normal fatigue threshold, and it's only then the recruitment of your fast twitch begins. If your fatigue threshold is eight miles, then a 10-miler gives you two miles of 'recruitment' running - an 18-miler gives you ten.
    (Aside: small puzzle solved. We've all noticed that some people get into distance shape much faster than others [and by "others," of course, we mean "me."] The most likely explanation is their mix of fast twitch and slow twitch, which varies greatly from person to person, tends strongly to the slow-twitch side. They need less training to recruit their fast twitch because most of their skeletal muscle is already slow-twitch.) (9/1)

Two HR monitor tips. Think of your heart as a free-reving engine - the responsive heart quickly adjusts to changes in current workload, both up and down, just like an engine revs higher or lower. Two common-sense implications:
  If you head out for a planned hard run and your heart rate doesn't want to go up - cancel the run. Your body is telling you it doesn't want to do the work. Listen to it.
  If you're doing sections, and your HR doesn't drop between, don't do any more sections. You're not recovering - which means you're unlikely to be able to assimilate the training. (9/16)

Walk. The great Irish miler Eamonn Coghlin once remarked that the keys to a running career are consistency and variety. If you train hard, there will inevitably be days where your enthusiasm feels dry. It is legal - even morally defensible - to walk on days like that. Walking counts - as gentle stimulation of blood flow, as gentle work for ligaments and tendons, as a gentle massage for the spirit. Not power walk, not must-achieve-my-heart-rate-goal-walk - just walking around, looking around, letting it suffuse you as though you had all the time in the world. (10/4)

Downhill in the half-marathon. Coming off the Mesa thoughtlessly is what makes your legs dead at the 10- or 11-mile mark. Here are two downhill-running tips:
  Run downhill like the road is hot. Pick your feet up as quickly as you can.
  Check your leg turnover when you get past the bottom of the hill. Easy to let turnover rate creep up a bit on the downhill. Once you're down, make sure you revert to a pace you can sustain. (11/3).

Running form. Forget "running form." Running magazines offer advice and people try to fix thier running form by changing this, that, or the other, and most of the advice and most of the changes are worse than a waste of time. You can't usefully change form from the outside with decisions and adjustments. Form comes from the inside, from what you can feel. (Not vague fuzzy feelings; alert, subtle, and specific proprioception.) The purpose of form is to let you run as easily as possible at a given speed. When you run, try to feel what's easiest. Line up with a partner who's runing a steady pace, and from inside, see how little energy can you use. In particular, be aware of the relation between your hips and your knees. Feel that when you run. Try it and see if it works for you. (12/2/04)

The Lydiard system
Summary by Kevin Young
What the heck is the Lydiard system? Arthur Lydiard invented a new way of training in the early 1960's in New Zealand which is still followed by world class runners and us aging recreational runners even today. Lydiard took a bunch of neighborhood kids and made them into Olympic champions (you'll have to get his book Lydiard: Master Coach to read how he did it). Lydiard divided the year into blocks depending on when he wanted his athletes to be in top form for racing (peaking). It's not a quick nor easy program, it's a lot of work, and you have to understand the principles and apply them to yourself. You can use it to gain fitness in all sports. The key statement is you have to develop sufficient stamina to maintain the necessary speed over the racing distance (whether you race 800m or the marathon).
     The first part of your season should be aerobic marathon conditioning. Start with even paced running increasing in distance and pace, following a hard/easy schedule until you can run 2 hours (or 1 hour or whatever depending on your age and seriousness). The aerobic base-building training that follows will increase your capacity as a runner more than any type of training because while your speed is more or less fixed, your endurance and aerobic capacity can be improved. Lydiard recommends at least 3 months of the following training (100 mile weeks for the world class):

MON 1 hour at 80% (hilly course – fast pace)
Tuesday 1.5 hours at 60% (easier course, undulating, not dead flat)
WEDS 1 hour fartlek
TH 1.5 to 1.75 hours 60% (easier course)
FRI 1 hour at 90% effort (flat course, hard)
SAT 1 to 1.5 hours 60% easy course
SUN 2-3 hours 60% (the long run) easy course

During this base building part of your season, you want to "'train not strain', don't run mileage to get a quota, listen to your inner coach, forget miles per week and minutes per mile". Notice you don't have rest days and most runs are fast (if your race pace is 6 minutes/mile for 10 miles then your fast runs are at 6:15 to 6:45, and the easy pace is 7 minutes per mile.
     Part 2 of the training program is 4-6 weeks of Hill Resistance which helps power and flexibility and introduces anaerobic training. Hill training is like plyometrics which top US runners do today: bounding and jumping. The hill training days should start with 15 minute sessions (with a warmup and warmdown) and build up to an hour. Hills are either done as Steep Hill Running (works quads and knee lift), Hill Bounding or Hill Springing. The Lydiard Hill program:

MON fast relaxed striding
Tuesday Hills
WEDS 1.5 hours easy
TH Hills
FRI easy strides/leg speed exercises
SAT Hills
SUN 2+ hours aerobic run

Lydiard then recommends 4-6 weeks of anaerobic development, intervals or reps in his 3rd stage of reaching your running potential. "If you are not recovered (legs sore or tight) don't do the rep, take another recovery day".

MON fast relaxed striding
Tuesday reps
WEDS 1.5 hours easy
TH reps
FRI sprint work
SAT reps
SUN 2+ hours run

The 4th stage is 4 weeks of Coordination Training, which are time trials, sharpeners and sprint drills to develop maximum speed. Some people peak quickly while others need lots of time trials and races. You simulate race conditions to determine what training is needed. When you run the time trials run strongly and evenly, check your splits, do you need more speed or distance work? Sharpeners are sprint drills, high knee, striding, bounding, run tall.

MON 2-4K of sharpeners
Tuesday easy 1-1.5 hours
WEDS time trial
TH fartlek/sprint drills
FRI easy 1 hour
SAT time trial or race
SUN long jog 2 hours

The 5th and final stage is Freshening Up, to hold your peak as long as possible. This period is when you will be supremely fit for top racing performances.

FRI 200m full effort
SAT time trial or race 1500m fast
SUN easy 1-1.5 hour jog
MON sharpeners 2
Tuesday easy 1-1.5 hour jog
WEDS fast striding, 3X200m
TH easy 45 minutes
FRI easy 30 minutes
SAT RACE

After the season, take a few weeks of jogging before resuming the cycle. Analyze your year and and make adjustments for next year.

How to lace and tie your shoes. Prosaic, but useful. The image below shows Arthur Lydiard's method of lacing shoes. There's no empirical research this approach reduces stress on the metatarsals (that SBrunning is aware of), but it's comfortable enough. (Image courtesy here.)

Step two is useful for trail runners and anyone who runs prolonged downhill sections. There is an eyelet 'past' the top of the tongue. Instead of running the shoelace through the common 'top,' run it through the eyelet further toward the back of the shoe, then immediately loop it, on the same side of the shoe, through the 'top' eyelet. Do this on both sides, then take the free shoelace and loop it across and under the small 'loops' you'll now have. This will hold your foot in the center of your shoe (instead of sliding forward) on downhills without excessive pressure on the top of the foot.
    Step 3 is a trick of tying. Most people tie a single bow, and sometimes a double for racing. There's a half-way variation that works as well as a double but is much easier to untie. When you loop across one side of the bow, do two loops instead of one.
    Step 4 was learned from Elaine Campo. For racing or trail running, tuck the loose shoelace ends and the bow under the laces on the forefoot. No flopping, no tripping, fewer accidental unties. (Epiphany 2005)

Keys. After reading an article on what to do with your keys when running ("put them under a flower pot, be sure to carry the pot for extra safety"), Martin Pattison suggests, "If your running attire has no suitable pockets, attach two safety pins [as you get at races] to the waistband of your shorts. When you go out running, you can then attach your house/office/car key to your shorts without fear of losing it." Mary C. adds, "diaper pins are better - they don't pop open unexpectedly." Cheap at any drug store. (1/8/05)

What to do with your arms. The route to increasing your pleasure in running is by becoming more sensitive to how it feels, and to the influence of the way you run to the feeling of it.
    Here's a simple exercise in feeling your body. Without trying to change what you're doing, feel the relationship between your elbows and your hips when you run. Just feel: where are they, how do they move in relation to one another? Does it change when you're tired, or going up or down hill? What is the easiest, most relaxed relationship between them? (2/1)

Listening to your body in detail. Runners repeat "listen to your body" ad nauseum, but rarely do the same runners describe this as a subtle and difficult process needing consistent practice. Here's a listening exercise. When you run on measured routes, start estimating pace - then check the accuracy of your estimates. Check your watch, run a couple of miles, make your estimate, and check again. The Goleta bike path, Mountain Drive, and parts of East Beach have measured miles (Goleta has kilometers, too). See how accurate you can become. It will serve your racing as a side-effect, but the core of the exercise - correlating your perception with external reality - moves you from "listening" to actually hearing what your body is saying. (3/2)

Cougar sighting. Local hiker Jim Powell saw a cougar [Feb 2005] on Hot Springs trail. California Dept of Fish and Game has a few recommendations if you encounter one:
  Stand tall and face the animal. Don't run, don't crouch (with one exception, below). Make yourself as large as possible by raising your arms, holding up a jacket if you have one, etc. Upright posture makes you not look like prey to the cat.
  Throw rocks. Most people take it for granted that some other animal besides ourselves is bigger, stronger, faster, and so on - but humans are far and away the best throwers. No other animal even comes close. (This is the crouching exception - to pick up rocks - but make it quick.)
  Talk in a loud voice.
  If you're attacked fight back and don't stop fighting. Remember, even small women still outweight the cat.
    For more info, check the Fish and Game site. (2/28)

Strengh, agility, sustained turnover. This is a workout from Peter Park. (Peter is our fastest trail runner, and a professional trainer.) The idea is to practice both uphill and downhill running, with brief but vivid recovery intervals. Find a LONG hill - you'll have to go to the trails, or perhaps sections of Gibraltar, Old San Marcos, or Camino Cielo. The workout, depending on your prior fitness, is "four and four": 4 x 5 min up, with two-minute recovery jogs down, followed by 4 x 5 min down, with two-minute recovery jogs up. (Add or remove sections as appropriate to fitness, life stress, expected ability to recover, and preferred pace.)
    There are two nice things about this workout. First, you use different muscles and different skills running uphill and down. (Downhill skill is often underestimated and underpracticed.) Second, it's innovative to reverse direction on the recovery intervals. This changes the stress pattern on your body while recovering, leaving you much better able to attack the tempo sections. This workout has more internal variety than some runners give themselves in a week. And variety, with consistency, is the foundation of pleasure in long-distance running. (4/8)

Water intoxication. Medically, called hyponatremia, a state of being overhydrated to the point of collapse and even death. A recent publication in the New England J. of Medicine found that a much higher percentage than expected of 2002 Boston runners were at least to some extent hyponatremic. If there is too much water in the body, the salt (and other electrolyte) level is diluted and the body loses the ability to excrete fluids as it should to maintain its internal balance. Extremities can swell (edema) but much more worrisome, so can the brain. Unlike the skin of the hands and feet, the skull doesn't stretch, so the swollen brain presses on the brain stem (which controls respiration); disorientation is experienced, and death can follow.
    How much should you worry about this? Up to marathon distance, if you're fast, not at all - and "fast" here means under four hours. (Ultrarunners, fast or slow, need to understand it; but ultras often have bowls of rock salt at aid stations for exactly this purpose.) Check your weight before and after a run: if you gain weight, then you're likely taking in more fluid than necessary. Be aware of your sweat: different people excrete salt in their sweat at different rates. The goal: drink enough to maintain body weight, and take in some salt, whether in a GU, or an energy bar before the event, or in whatever form works for you.
    Thanks to Greg Janee, Steve Rider, Kathryn Costello, and Annie Toth for pointing to the publication. Original research (abstract) here (4/15)

Developing your capacity through practice. Your running life will never be richer than your capacity to appreciate it.
    The pleasure, pain, satisfaction, frustration, and acceptance you feel can't exceed your ability to feel. That ability is not fixed. Just as you can develop your ability to run or do mathematics or play music with practice, the same is true for sensation. You may not have the capacity to see color like Chagall or hear with the subtlety of Ellington, any more than you can run like El Guerrouj or Radcliffe. Within whatever gifts we've each been given for feeling and sensing, though, thoughtful practice can develop our awareness and depth of absorption.
    For running, this is not a vague exhortation to "really feel it." Running is a specific and whole-body engagement. Feeling running means feeling the relations of parts of your skeleton, elbows, pelvic cavity, knees, neck; of your muscles, feet, arms, chest, as well as legs; of your dynamic relation to gravity and the space you're moving through. The moments of our lives are irrecoverable. Running like this takes ceaseless practice, but the practice is ceaselessly rewarding. (5/1)