Endurance Planet

In this episode of Ask the Coaches with coach Brock and Lucho, we dive into the following audience questions:

– Shout out to Marko who placed in his age group at the Vancouver Triathlon and said hi to Brock at the finish.

Hi, I am the coach of a small high school track in the spring as well as cross country in the fall and am just wondering how you would structure a 100/200 and if I sell it well a 400-meter sprinters training plan with only say 12 weeks to do it in? Some come in right off of a soccer season and have some good fitness and some did nothing all winter. Also what would be some examples of key workouts in the beginning, mid, and towards the end of the season that you think would be beneficial to the athletes? Basically how to get them faster in such a short amount of time without injuring them. Some have great talent it is just they only show up during the season to run. Not much if at all offseason training.

The second part of the question is, I have a fast girl 100-meter runner that also does cross country in the fall and soccer in winter that has an overall goal to beat the school record in the 100m. As of her sophomore year, she is .19 of a second off. She basically is trying to get just under 13 seconds. She is not too concerned about her cross country times although is great at it, but is just doing it to keep in shape for soccer and track. How do you think I can alter her cross country plan to benefit her for her spring track season without sabotaging too badly her cross country races?

And if there is time how would you structure a high school XC plan with only 12 weeks? I am currently using a Daniels method but with a lot more Base stuff at the beginning and in the summer if they can, then jumping in to a lower mileage version of a 5k plan but starting at Phase 3 out of base and really monitor their recovery. What do you think? They are such short seasons to build if they do not do much work on the offseason. Anyway thanks for all the great advice I am loving the sprint talk.

The coaches say:

I was very active growing up and played basketball, football, baseball and ran track (sprinter) in high school. I’m currently 5’9″ and right around 185-190 lbs (this is what I weighed in HS, and I was super lean, for reference). In January of 2017, I was 235 lbs and disgusted with myself. After discovering keto and IF, I quickly lost nearly 50 lbs within about 6 months (by June 2017). During the weight loss period, I was feeling so much better and decided to train and run a half marathon in May of 2017. I started running just 2 months before in March, and was able to run it in 2 hours plus a few seconds, but it left me wanting more. So I trained during that summer for a half in September, and ran a 1:47 on a rolling hilly course and was pretty pleased. But I think this time might have been a bit misleading, as during the summer I was hammering as hard as I could during every run (I had not yet found the show) and I think I might have been over-trained?

Fast forward to the beginning of this year and I decided to train for a marathon towards the end of May, and started training at the end of January. I was only running 4 days a week, at about 25-30 mpw with about 35 mpw at the peak. I felt pretty good on race day, but about 8 of the last 10 miles were straight into a 35 mph headwind and I kind of fell apart and finished in 4:04.

After listening to more of the shows, I decided if I wanted to improve my times I needed to bump up my training volume. Since the marathon, I’ve increased my mileage up to between 40-50 mpw, and am usually running 5-7 days per week. I had been following a training plan to run the same hilly half marathon in September but I found myself being constantly exhausted with 2-3 fairly difficult efforts during a typical week (repeats, tempo runs, etc). So I decided to scrap that plan, strap on the HR monitor and follow MAF for the rest of the year. It’s been good so far but wow so slow (of course).

This is getting long, but ultimately somewhere along this journey, I decided to set a goal of running a BQ time (3:10, don’t care about actually getting picked to go TO Boston) before I hit 40. I don’t know how realistic it is, but it gives me something to shoot for and look long term. I think the standard answer is probably to just keep at MAF until that pace gets down to about 7:30 pace. Coincidentally that’s the pace I just raced a 5k at a few weeks ago, so I know I’ve got a long way to go! I think the poor lifestyle habits of gaining to much weight and drinking too much between the ages of 18-35 have set a large hurdle in front of me to climb. While I think it’s possible, and I know it will be a lot of work to get there, I’m curious your thoughts?

The coaches say:

I am a 22-year-old guy, resting heart rate = ~50, 5’10”, 150 lbs. I’ve been competing in sprint and Olympic triathlons for the last two and a half years and have recently experimented with intermittent fasting (on an 18/6 split) with good results. From my pre-triathlon days, I also developed an affinity for the weight room that I simply can’t bring myself to shake. The question, then, is am I undereating by doing IMF/overtraining with weights? Importantly, I compete mostly for the general fitness aspect- winning or even placing well isn’t especially concerning although certain metrics of purist endurance athletes are valuable to me (e.g. low heart rate, relatively high VO2, etc.)

A typical week for me looks like this:

Dietwise: everything I eat is between noon and 6pm. First meal is 3 soft-boiled eggs, sauteed greens, an avocado, and big, sexy green shake. Dinner is usually some combination of meat, vegetables, and light carbs (e.g. Shepherd’s pie with mashed cauliflower as the top layer).

The coaches say:

In this episode of Ask the Coaches, coaches Brock and Lucho answer Endurance Planet listener’s questions about Mentally Preparing to Race, How Much is Too Much DOMs, Inconsistent Pacing, 50 Days of Ironman, and more.

But first, Brock and Lucho had some interesting experiences and thoughts to share…

– Brock cured his plantar problems by using a massage stick on his shin and calf every day, plus a morning mobility routine including calf raises, ankle circles, hip circles, hip hikes (basically working the whole kinetic chain, à la Katy Bowman protocol). Lucho’s warmup is a variation of 7 way hips.

Hi, guys, I’m Dennis, 31y from Germany. I train for the 200m/400m and I’m a pretty calm guy.

Which is a problem during workouts; getting in the proper mental state is pretty important after all. I’ve been actively working on this issue for the past few weeks, usually trying self-talk.

When I lift heavy I don’t have that issue, because the weight itself gets the juices flowing. But on the track, it is much harder.

I guess exploring the option of mixing some kind of physical activity like jumping with some sort of visualization or something is what I’m gonna try next. Do you guys have any advice/thoughts for me?

The coaches say:

Up until last year, I had severe anemia that I managed to cure through iron supplements. At my worst I could barely run 400m at a 10-minute mile pace. Since my recovery, my running improved enormously, allowing me to run 10k in 48 minutes 2 months after I could barely run at all. However, my physical strength hasn’t changed much and my legs are still weak from 2 years of incredibly slow and sluggish running. Since my one year of faster, iron-fuelled running, I have had 5 bad injuries that stopped me from running at all for 2 weeks or more. I know this is due to my muscular weakness.

Now, I know that everyone says that strength training is the panacea but literally every time I try to do a strength workout (squats, lunges, wall sits, single leg stuff) I am so incredibly sore for 4-5 days after and feel like I’ve torn myself apart! This is despite not pushing myself too hard doing the strength exercises (I do mostly bodyweight, sometimes with very light dumbbells).

However, I successfully adapted to using the stairmill in a few weeks and naively hope that it can give me strength for injury prevention and faster running without the absolute agony of squat DOMs. How can I get my leg strength up to speed with my cardiovascular system with minimal pain and injury risk?

The coaches say:

I have a question about how to train widely disparate pace ranges to make them converge.

I am a 38-year old that started running 7 years ago. I didn’t hear about MAF until about 3.5 years ago so my first several years were training at higher heart rates. During training runs at this time I ran

I then trained exclusive MAF for nearly 1.5 years and ran two 26.2s bringing 26.2 pace down to 10:00 then 9:05/mile (didn’t run hard so no update to previous shorter distance times.) My longest runs were 18 miles and one 20 mile run while averaging 25-30 miles per week in the buildups to these. Unfortunately, my right hamstring cramped very hard during all of the 26.2s and I had to resort to significant walking.

Listening to the Podcast, most issues with cramping are caused by muscles not ready to go the pace and distance so during my last training cycle I added 1 harder run a week and added some faster segments to my weekly Long Run. In that cycle, there was a 20-mile run where I ran 13.1 at near race effort in the middle and during that 13.1 I was able to average 7:40 per mile. I averaged about 45 miles during the cycle and had two 20 mile runs and several at 18-19 miles. Unfortunately, come race week I had caught the GI bug that was hitting the area hard lasting the full week and had to drop out of the race so I don’t know what could have been (found out later about an E. coli recall on foods that we were eating at the time; unknown if it was the cause but certainly suspicious.)

I plan on increasing my strength training but with my widely disparate paces across distances and knowledge that I have a history of right hamstring cramps, would it be better to train exclusively at MAF again or to keep the one harder run plus quality in the Long Run?

The coaches say:

Hey guys, love the podcast. I learn so much. My question is what do you think of Ashley Horner and the 50 Ironmans in 50 days? She’s doing it to raise money for a Haitian orphanage. Is this really doable? Just wondering your opinion.

The coaches say:

Coach Lucho and Coach Brock began this episode of “Ask The Coaches” by discussing:

– “Enclothed cognition“: how what you’re wearing has a significant impact on psychological processes (like, if Lucho is wearing cowboy boots, he won’t be tempted to over-exercise)

Then they answered the following questions:

My question is – I’ve noticed it a lot over the years – that during my short/superhard runs & races, my heart rate climbs normally along with the effect and then drops quite rapidly, then after a minute it slowly climbs back up. This effect has been repeated a few times with 2 different watches and 3 different heart rates. I always seem to be breathing hard while racing and always feel my legs will last longer than the lungs.

I’m 44, been running for 9 years, resting HR around 55-65 and max 207

https://www.strava.com/activities/1696142939/overview

Is this anything to worry about? It’s never an issue on the longer ultra paced events.

The coaches say…

I am interested in finding information on using rate of perceived of effort (RPE) along with the MAF method rather than a heart rate monitor. Can you point me in the right direction?

The coaches say…

Yesterday at 48 years old, I won a mountainous 1/2 marathon with about 170 participants. I use many of the primal blueprint principles such as aerobic base periods (late winter and spring), heat and cold exposure, fasting, and weight training. I started with a 50 mile ultra with 13,000 of vert in June. During my race season (late June-September) I am much busier. During this time I do quite of a bit of weight training (I’ve been doing weights for 30 years), more sprinting, full body circuit training and MSP workouts. Midsummer my run volume is lower with more intensity, and every 7-10 days I do a long run. Essentially I reserve my intense training for my early race season. I will now add more overall volume (I will have more time) but reduce intensity focusing on my September races.

I am training for 3 mountainous races. A 16.5 miler, a 65 miler, and a 20 miler all separated by only a week. The 16.5 and 20 are for a series win, with the 65 miler (not a priority) in between. I’m very fat adapted, muscular and lean. I use hrv and take rest when needed and have an average hrv in the 130’s (very high). I’m wondering how to approach the time between now and my 3 September races.

Should I just rebuild aerobic base? Keep sprinting and weight training? I could skip the 65 miler and go for the win in the series, or just go for all 3 races. I could try to push hard at the 16.5, cruise the 65, and do what I can at the closing 20. It has been the best and healthiest I’ve ever felt and I’m afraid to change too much.

Ps. I feel the best when I wt train year-round, backing off on heavy legs near race and high volume weeks.

The coaches say…

I am a 21-year-old female and my question is in regards to the transition from running to triathlon. I am relatively new to running. I started aged 18, in 2014, when I started University in Scotland. I came from playing competitive soccer my whole life. I played for our national team up until under 19 age group. I changed to running after being inspired by Chrissie Wellington’s book, ‘Without Limits’ and upon watching the Common Wealth Games, which were hosted by Scotland.

After running for a year and a half, mostly doing road and XC, I transferred to a school on track and XC scholarship, that is top in the This school is top in the nation for its distance programme. I am now in Colorado completing my masters. I have 2 or 3 years left of eligibility to run track and XC.

Since starting running, I have been very injury prone. I have done more cross training than running in my time as a XC and track athlete. I have fallen in love with cycling.

I am very interested in making my transition into olympic distance triathlon. I am wondering how the structure of a running training programme differs from a triathlon specific training programme?

I have to run for the next couple of years in college to fund my education, however, I am interested in incorporating a triathlon based training programme, so that I make the transition once I am done in college. I figured that incorporating a triathlon based approach may help in reducing the number of running injuries I have.

I would have to incorporate it around my team’s practice. Our major workouts are…

Within this structure, how can I start including triathlon training and begin my transition? What is the basis for triathlon training? Do you still have a long run? How do you split it up into the three components? How many high intensity “workouts” do you do in a week?

The coaches say…

– Be careful while you are in school to not mess up your scholarship.

Finally, in their concluding banter, Lucho mentioned this study on the correlation between physical exercise and mental health (duh, we know, but it’s nice to see the science).

In this 266th episode of “Ask The Coaches,” Coach Lucho and Coach Brock answer the following questions:

Hi, I went to a new gym recently and they had these new treadmills. They were curved and had no motors! I did a little googling and didn’t find anything concrete on the effectiveness of these treadmills for endurance training. What are your thoughts?

Here is a link of the ones at my gym – woodway.com/products/curve

The coaches say…

I looking for some advice regarding bilateral breathing. I’ve been toying with the idea of trying a tri; I’m usually a runner but the diversity of exercise from a tri is really appealing. I’ve gotten my swim together ok, nothing fast, but I feel I got the technical aspect down… except for bilateral breathing. I’m really comfortable breathing out of one side, but I can’t seem to even turn enough to the other side to get a breath in. I’m ready to quit on the concept but I keep hearing/reading that it’s such an essential part of swimming. Do you guys have any tips, drills, ideas to help that I can do on my own… I know masters or a coach would also help me a lot. Thanks!

The coaches say:

I have a complicated shoe question for you all that no shoe company, friend or my chiropractor can answer. I am throwing it to you all.

Every shoe I wear (Altra lone peaks and Kings, Saucony Peregrines and Xodus, Montrails, Brooks) all blow out on either the medial or lateral sides of my shoes at the bony prominence behind the large knuckle of the big toe or around the base of the little toe. I have sized up (10.5-11) and have run the same at 10.5. I thought 11 would work because in one of my everyday shoes, I wear a size 44 or size 10.5 or 11 depending on the manufacturer. I have been doing a lot of squats this season, and have noticed some weaknesses in my abductors and adductors, it’s have been especially bad, but this does not account for the last several seasons of blowouts. I know how to fix the leg issues, I don’t think this is the source of the shoe blowouts.

Do you guys have any ideas? One idea that was floated was that the terrain here in the East is especially brutal and rotational forces on the ball of the foot cause the fabric to blow out. I am a forefoot striker, with what is considered a chi running style. Anyway, I tend to float on the balls of my feet for my footfalls and takeoffs.

The coaches say:

I am a 36-year-old runner (37 on 17th July) of 4-5 years who is on a journey to break 2:45 for the marathon. I ran 3:29 in my first marathon in Spring 2016, 3:10 in Spring 2017 and 3:01 this year so I am relatively inexperienced in marathoning but I’ve learned a lot from the first 3 marathons and most of all I am making progress so I am confident that I can at least give this target a good go. I am 5ft 8 tall and weighed over 200lbs when I started running and have dropped down to around 155lbs through exercise and healthier eating.

I have no real problems knowing what to do in terms of training to get where I need to be and my goal is intentionally scary and questionable in order to motivate and inspire me. I’ve also made it public to some of my running friends in order to put it out there!

I am running 6-7 times a week and including 1 speed session, 1 medium run and 1 long run every week with easy runs in between. However, I feel like I could make big leaps forward if I could just nail my diet. My current weight of about 155lbs has been the same, give or take a few lbs, since my first marathon in 2016 but I am still carrying a bit of timber around the middle in my hips and belly. I feel like I could easily drop another 7-10lbs safely and healthily but I am struggling to avoid bad food and drink.

I generally eat healthy in between but my office has a constant supply of sweets, cakes, biscuits, coke cola all out on display for visitors and I have a very sweet tooth. I tell myself that today is the day I abstain and despite a healthy smoothie for breakfast, I walk by and I’ll think “1 little choc cake won’t derail my day” and then the slippery slope begins. I hate the thought of Coke too, in that there is nothing beneficial in it whatsoever, its like smoking! But I find it quite refreshing so I’ll take a can or two a day and it will really affect my stomach during running, especially if I’m racing. But I just don’t get how I can be so mentally strong with my attitude towards running, by going out and getting it done, rain or shine, sticking to my plan etc and then fall apart when it comes to simply not eating something that is terribly bad for me!

It’s worth noting that I’m a vegetarian and I limit my dairy to a degree but I’m not totally vegan. I also want to reduce carbs and increase fats and I do this to a degree in the main meals that I eat but I completely ruin it by snacking on high sugar sweets and chocolate.

I have the willpower and I have the motivation and I’ve proved this in other aspects of my running and when I initially started running and dieting I was able to cut processed foods with reasonable success but I feel like maybe there is maybe an addiction here that perhaps I need to recognise and tackle in a different way? In fact, I honestly feel that the problem is mainly because in my current job where I have been for 3 years, these foods and drinks are on display and available for me to just snack on and if there were no sweets and fizzy drinks I would be much more successful in avoiding the bad stuff during the day and it then I’d be in a good position to tackle my evening meal in a positive mood.

The coaches say:

In this episode of Ask the Coaches with Brock Armstrong and Lucho, we answer these audience questions:

Hello, I’m from the midwest and have been an endurance athlete for 10 years. I’ve been racing Xterra (off-road triathlons) for the last three years.

For 2018, I qualified for the Xterra World Championships in Maui. After reviewing the course online, there are some unique terrain challenges that will be difficult to simulate in the midwest.

The race is at the end of October. I will prepare for about 14-weeks. I usually spend around 15-hours per week training, including weight training days.

So a couple questions:

Ocean swim…

Bike…

Run…

Power-to-Weight…

The coaches say:

I’m a soon to be a 38-year-old male, with competitive triathlon aspirations. My goal is to snag a Kona spot as I move up into the 40-44 age group. I recently raced Ironman Boulder and had a reality check when I hit the run. My projected 8:45 pace turned into a 10:00 something pace. My swim was was slightly faster than projected and I was about 15 minutes slower on the bike, which I attribute to some heavy wind. But I just blew up on the run, it was a hot day 95° and I also left my nutrition behind so I had to improvise on the course. 18th in AG finishing at 11:12:50. (10:13:00 was my goal)

I’ve been working a lot on my run, and have even been PRing on some early season 5k and 10k races. I also and an incredible run at 70.3 St. George running my fastest half ever even with the hills! However, I feel that I’m lacking the structure to gain the speed and endurance I need. I would love to hear your thought on what I can do to improve.

My run volume leading up to Ironman was 30-40 miles a week (hitting 50 one week) but I tend to default to a MAF style run especially for the long runs. I did a reverse periodization type plan this year with strides with most of the “speed work” in the winter.

I also have Ironman Arizona scheduled for November this year but am considering deferring till next year so I can focus more of next season on that race. But wanted feedback to see if maybe another race this year might be beneficial.

Would love to hear what you guys think.

Other info if it’s helpful

The coaches say:

Hi! I’m a 59-year-old female athlete. I’ve been doing triathlons for about 35 years now, although these days I concentrate mostly on running except for during the summer when I do more biking and swimming so I can compete in Olympic triathlons.

Several times now I’ve had an experience during a race that when I get off the bike I can’t bend over to put on my shoes. I get severe cramps in both my quads and abdomen. I found that if I force it then it takes some time for the cramps to go away. Once I get my shoes on and get moving for the run, I’m fine. At the race on June 16th, I wasted almost an extra minute in transition, since once I finally got the shoes on (it was very difficult bending over), I had to stand there another 30 seconds till the cramps let go.

This happened recently in the first race of a series I’m doing this summer. I’m a decent swimmer and biker and average runner. The bike was 25 miles on rolling terrain. I averaged 20.6 mph which was pushing fairly hard for me, but not anything I’m not used to doing. I probably passed about 50 people on the bike, and only had about 5 or 6 people pass me. (I was first of my age group on the swim, second on the bike. I finished 2nd overall in my age group.)

The day of the triathlon it was pretty hot (upper 80’s – this was in Jacksonville, FL), but I was most definitely well hydrated (I had to pee three times before the race started). I had my usual peanut butter and jelly on whole wheat with coffee to drink for breakfast with 3 hours to digest it. About 30 minutes prior to the race I ate a small homemade energy ball (nuts, oats, fruit, salt, etc). During the bike I drink watered down Gatorade.

I try to do a brick at least once a week, running about 1 to 2 miles after a 25-mile bike ride. I should probably do longer rides, but I don’t have the time. I compensate by making the rides fairly hard, throwing in sprints here and there. I never have the cramping during training though – it’s only happened when I race hard. Any ideas?

The coaches say:

In this 264th episode of “Ask The Coaches,” Lucho and Brock answer the following questions:

Hi there, I’m experimenting with nose breathing. I generally try to nose breathe for as long as possible into a workout. What’s your take on that? Do professionals nose breathe during competition? Thanks a lot.

(goal 2018: sub 2:50 Marathon in Frankfurt at the end of October)

The coaches say:

(1) sleeping before a night race (2) training between 2 races 4 weeks apart

I have a 45km trail race (2820 metres / 9252 feet of elevation gain) coming up on October 1st. The race starts at midnight. I cannot figure out how to change my sleeping patterns in the few days before the race: should I try to go to bed earlier and wake up earlier? Or the opposite, try to sleep at a later time? Or maybe I should just keep my current schedule (12am to 7:00am) and take a nap in the afternoon before the race?

On October 27 I have another trail race of 70km (+3400 / 11,155 feet elevation gain, some long runnable sections towards the end); what is the best strategy in the 4 weeks before: a couple of weeks recovery, and maybe a few easy runs just before the second race, or should I bring back some more structured training, like long runs, hills, and race pace runs?

I am an older runner (52), not particularly gifted or competitive. I don’t have an A and B race, my goal for both is to finish by the cutoff times, but of course, the 70k one is more demanding and has stricter cutoff times. I was even thinking of going into the 45k race after a shorter taper (not completely rested), treat it as the last long run before the 70k, and then do a long taper until October 27.

The coaches say:

Stiffness chasing my kids.

I am a 39 y/o male with several 26.2s and was averaging 40-50 miles per week running before my recent downtime postrace. My kids like to run around and play and have me chase them all over the place in games similar to “tag.” It usually starts spontaneously and so there is no mobility or dynamic warmup. For the first couple minutes, I am awkward, stiff and so slow I have trouble even catching my 2 y/o.

Sounds silly but how is it I can run over 50 miles some weeks and 26.2 at one go but have trouble at the beginning chasing after the kids? Is it normal? Any thoughts on how I can avoid or at least minimize that beginning stiffness? (Sorry, my time machine is broken so no making me chronologically younger.)

The coaches say: