Run4PRs

What to do instead of your fall race: how to stay motivated with no races this fall

Many athletes have had their spring and fall marathons or goal races cancelled! It can be a hard year for endurance athletes as events have shifted from fun community events to now solo virtual races. Running 26.2 miles outside your house by yourself just isn’t the same as running the Boston Marathon. We have seen a lot of athletes decide to take this year off from running or give up on training altogether because of the race cancellations. We know it can be a hard time, but we are chatting about ways you can actually make this year and next be your fastest years yet. You can reach your highest potential without racing.

What is really the number one thing that makes a great runner? CONSISTENCY

Do races sometimes handicap people from reaching their full potential? RACE BURN OUT FOMO

What should someone’s training look like who wants to get faster for the long term but no fall races?

How should you stay motivated to train with no races on the schedule?

What is the point of training?

How can you discover your intrinsic motivation and use that to reach your potential?

When will races be back to normal & how can you prep for that?

The 4th of July is coming up! This is a very popular time to run a 5k or 10k race in the USA. However, this is also typically a very hot time of year for a race. This year there may not be any official races, but we are putting on another virtual race for this traditional race day! We will be discussing the details of how to run your best race on the 4th!

How should you approach a race in the middle of the summer?

Do some people struggle more in the heat? Do you struggle?

What is the difference between running a race & racing a race?

Do you think that the 4th of July races are worth going all in and racing?

Do you see a lot of PRs set over the 4th of july?

What is the mindset athletes should have going into these races?

How should you adjust your goals for the temps?

What is a good pacing plan to have?

Other things to consider like long runs later this weekend & travel plans?

Don’t want to overdo it

Bottom line: have fun! Enjoy it out there. It is all about the holiday

Why you may not need to run 20 miles?

The most common questions that we hear when athletes start a marathon training cycle: “How many 20 mile runs will I do before the race?” There is nothing magical about a 20 mile run. Lets dig deeper…..The most important thing to consider when training for anything would be individual differences. Every single person is different. Everyone has different natural ability, training experience and goals. You should train specific to your background! Not for someone else. There is such a thing as diminishing returns. That is the point where the training is no longer productive and is actually counter-productive.

Are long runs important to marathon training?

Improved VO2 max

Adaptation to utilize fat

Increased muscle strength

Increased energy stores

What is the 10% rule?

A widely accepted rule for mileage is to never increase by more than 10%. You never want to start a program that jumps your mileage drastically. Your risk for injuries like stress fractures jumps up with the volume increases. Your health and safety in a program is your number 1 priority. Slow and steady progressive overload wins. If you are not currently running more than 25-35 miles per week at the start of marathon training, we will have usually increase both mileage AND long runs immediately. The more variables to work on, the more stress we will be putting on your body. The more stress, the more careful we need to be with training!Increasing mileage is all about stress management. Give feedback to your coach and be honest with yourself. There is not a magic mileage number that will get you to XX marathon time.We have coached athletes to 3:30 marathons who peaked at 38 miles per week and athlete who peaked at 65 miles per week. There is no right or wrong way. The right way is the way your body responds best to!

Potential Signs of ‘too much mileage’?

Stopping your watch on long runs

Stopping your watch on the long runs! We have all been there on a group run. A great water stop is set up, we pause our watch and gulp down all the water and start chatting away only to realize it’s been 3 min and we have to go back out and continue running! There may be other times we stop our watch as well. Maybe we just feel we need a quick second to recoup or catch our breath. We want to chat about this topic and go into details on how this may impact your training.

We have chatted on this topic before, and we are by no means pointing fingers or saying you can’t stop during your run, but we want to educate people on what happens physiologically when you do stop

For people who have aggressive time goals and want to reach their potential in the spot, the prolonged stopping of the watch my be giving you a false reading of your current fitness

What is the purpose of the long run?

What happens to your HR when you stop running?

How can you practice running through water stops?

Is it okay to have a few long runs where you stop a lot and just don't care?

Should you let your watch run instead of pausing it when you stop?

Can you still be in shape to run a marathon even if you take breaks?

What if it is super hot?

Is it okay to split up your long run into two runs?

Racing your best 5k

There are many 5k races this time of year!!This can be a great opportunity for a time trial to see what type of fitness you are in. We want to make sure we train at the correct paces, so assessing your current fitness level is very important! We also want to chat about pacing and goal setting for shorter distance races so that you are able to get the most out of your fitness on race day.

What is a time trial?

Why is racing important?

What is the best way to approach racing a 5k?

How does the 5k differ from a marathon when pacing?

How do you know what pace to go out in?

Do you find most people run the first 800-1 mile way too fast?

Should you put a speed limit on the first mile?

Where should you place yourself on the starting line pack?

Should you weave in and out of people?

What should you feel like at 800 meters, 1 mile, 1.5 mi, 2 mile, 2.5 mi

How will the weather impact your race?

Qualifying & Registering For Boston Facts

Qualifying for the Boston Marathon is an amazing accomplishment. This is the time of year when many runners become interested in nailing down their plan to get to Boston. All the hype surrounding the Boston Marathon is a great time to chat about the facts of getting to Boston and how the standards have changed over the years

What are the Boston qualification standards for Boston 2021?

How can someone find their BQ time online?

How does one qualify for Boston 2021? What is the ‘window for qualifying’?

How does age play a role?

What does ‘aging up’ mean?

Let’s say you turn 35 in March 2021, but you ran a BQ time in October 2019 at the age of 33, what is your actual qualifying standard time?

Have the standards always been the same?

Just because you qualify, does that automatically grant you a spot at Boston?

2015→ 1:02 under qualifying time

2016→ 2:28

2017→ 2:09

2018 → 3:23

2019 → 4:52  & changed the standards

2020 → 1:39

You must register and ‘ask’ Boston to accept your time, but you can only do that during the registration window once per year in September

Rolling registration (20 min, 10 min, 5 min, less than 5 min)

Can take weeks to hear back from the final groups

Runners are often blindsided by it

What are some ways that you can ensure you get your spot at Boston?

Is anyone ever really safe?

What do you think they will do in the future?

Do you think the use of 4% shoes & downhill courses is making it so that more people can qualify?

58. How & Why Virtual Races are the answer

This has been a CRAZY time of year with races being cancelled. We were scheduled to do a podcast today on the Grandma’s Marathon course preview but it along with thousands of other races this spring and summer have been cancelled! We are faced with the decision to either not race at all or participate in ‘virtual races’. Prior to COVID-19 social distancing I do not think many runners participated in virtual races, but now they are all the rage :)

What is a virtual race & when was the first time you heard of them?

Time trials

Are virtual races hard or easier? Why?

Is there a benefit to doing virtual races or should we just continue to train and race when things open up again?

Fear of not running to your potential… rusty.. etc

Do courses make a difference? Downhill? Perfect weather? etc?

Is it okay to pause your watch?

Do PRs count as real PRs?

Do you expect to see a lot of runners PR in virtual races?

How long do you think until regular running comes back?

What are ways you can stay excited about virtual races when there isn't a race day atmosphere?

What is even the point?

Should you do them even if you are not excited about them?

How many virtual races is too many?

Practicing marathon fueling now!

We all know fueling is an important part of running. Many people find this topic confusing, and we are going to shed some light for beginners. Everyone's body is different. I know I struggled with this a lot. It can almost feel like you are fighting your body at times. I promise you practice makes perfect for this! Your body is trainable! You can really transform how your body processes fuel and water and how you run.

What have you been doing during training for nutrition & water before & during?

Our body stores about 2 hours of glycogen that is easy to convert and use in endurance events. Each athlete responds differently in a glycogen depleted state. Some people can still run just fine. Others see a dramatic shift in their performance. It all depends on how you train.

The biggest issue is with waiting until mile 11 to fuel is that your body may not be able to absorb the nutrition at that point. Our body is really smart. Towards the middle of the race, our body realizes what we are doing. The blood circulation priorities become your legs/ muscles working hard on running.

As a result, sometimes our body/brain temporarily signals to 'slow down' or shut down temporary digestion processes. This is sometimes why running AND fueling is such a tricky spot for athletes!

We will definitely want to get you comfortable to drink liquids while running at the least. Especially running a marathon in June! Dehydration can be a huge issue if we don't train the body how to take in liquids during training.

Step 1- Start drinking 4-8oz of water 10-20 min before EVERY run you do (all easy runs, workouts, etc). I want to get your body used to having liquids

Step 2- During a longer workout or run, stop in the middle for a 30 second water break drinking 2-4oz

Step 3- Start to eat 60 min before your run something light that sits well with your stomach (half a banana)

Build on these 3 points. The other fueling with gels is not a 'huge deal' but it is still important. One step at a time :) I know many athletes who have ran well off just liquid fueling.

What your training should look like 5-6 months out from a marathon or half marathon & how to begin

We are now less than 5 months out from fall marathons like Twin Cities and Chicago. We want to encourage runners to begin their training soon if they have not already done so. The key to success in any long distance running event is the aerobic base and time/consistency with your training. A good training program will not burn you out or ‘peak you too soon’. We will use the progressive overload principle to get you feeling your fittest self on race day

Do you find a lot of athletes burn out during a training cycle?

How can you avoid the burn out?

What is the progressive overload approach and how does it help athletes?

Can the first few months of training feel ‘boring’? If they don’t feel easy are you in trouble?

What should your long run be about 5 months out?

What is the most important training factors right now?

Do you recommend starting with a time trial?

Should you train for the paces you want to run in the fall or the fitness you are at currently?

What if your easy runs get slower?

What if it becomes harder to hit workout paces in the heat?

How will you ever know what type of shape you are in with all these changes?

61. Immune Suppression & Training

We are in the middle of a world-wide health pandemic. We all know that exercise has positive health effects. Exercise can boost the immune system, but have you ever heard of immune suppression? Have you ever gotten sick from overtraining? We wanted to do a deep dive about how to avoid over training but still work to gain fitness and work towards your goals. Overtraining has A LOT of negative side effects and immune suppression is one of them.

-What is overtraining and have you ever worked with someone who had fallen into the trap?

- How can you tell if someone is overtraining?

Depressive Mood, Loss of motivation, Hard workouts, not feeling recovered

- drastic Mileage increase, 90+ min long runs weekly, lack of rest days, running too fast

What are other signs you may be overtraining?

How should someone approach their training to ensure they do not over train?

Consistency with where you are at, add in a “few” workouts

Monitor resting HR

Use the heat acclimation adjustment (Adjust running pace in heat)

Is it better to toe the line and see how much fitness you can gain & risk getting sick or stay healthy and be slightly under your potential?

Is there any type of workouts you would avoid doing if you are worried about immune suppression

Hard speed workouts over 60-90 min in duration

Long runs over 2 hours

Long runs over 90 min with a lot of marathon pace or faster work

Racing with lack of recovery between

Doing anything with lack of recovery

Exposing immune system to potential viruses within 3-5 days of doing these tough workouts

What will be your longest long run?

What mileage will you build?

Is the training plan set in stone?

What if races end up being cancelled?