Run4PRs

We focus a lot on setting time based goals. Round numbers always sound and look cool, but what else is there when it comes to setting goals? Did you know there are other ways to measure progress?

Non-time based goals can be great for all athletes because they allow us to measure progress against

We always hear about time goals. I want to break 4 hours in the marathon. I think I can run X pace for this race… but what about non-time based goals? Are there other ways to set goals for your races? Is there a benefit to setting non-time based goals? 

Time goals are great for figuring out about what pace you want to run for the race, but what if you have a rocky day. You don’t want to feel like a failure if you don’t hit an arbitrary time goal.

YOU PUT IN SO MUCH WORK & already are a big winner! The training is the hardest part of things. You committed to something and worked hard to get there. Race day is a hard day but it is a cherry on top of the training cycle.

Setting Time Based Goals

Setting Non-Time Based Goals

Most athletes are on a quest to improve. People like to see progress and no one wants to see that their hard work is actually moving them in the opposite direction of where they want to go. However, when there is not enough recovery in your training program, your body is not able to recover from the stressload of training. If you cannot recover from the stress of training, you will not be able to make adaptations that will make you a better athlete. Instead of improving, you will end up frustrated and sometimes injured as the stress continues to pile up. OR there is also the athlete who isn’t pushing hard enough. They may be stuck in their comfort zone doing the same workouts or training for the same. There are warning signs that this process has begun and that you may want to consider backing off. Today we will chat about the signs that you may be flatlining and how to stop it from happening

MORE ISN'T ALWAYS BETTER TRAP

What are signs someone is not working hard enough

What are signs YOU ARE IN A SWEET SPOT

Many athletes want to know when they should start training for their goal races. You may have trained for a race in the past and felt that you either were not prepared enough OR you felt the training cycle was a little long and you felt a bit burnt out. Today we are going to chat about different ways you can break up training so that you will have more longevity in the sport over the long term AND peak for your races at the right time. 

I have heard a lot of people on IG say the phrase ‘I peaked too soon’ for a race. This is likely referring to the feeling that about 1-2 months BEFORE the goal race they were feeling amazing then slowly you started to not feel so great and potentially got slower and were not mentally in it. This ‘peaking too soon’ is something we would like to avoid as athletes and we are going to discuss how

Example mileage if you peak at 50 miles/week for marathon training

OFFEASONS

BASE BUILDING

When you start ‘marathon training”

The marathon is a very popular distance. Last week we chatted all about the importance of building a proper marathon training plan. This week we want to dive into the details of what type of workouts really matter when it comes to success in the marathon. We often see runners doing speed workouts during marathon training. This is not often the most effective way to become faster at the marathon. The marathon is 99% aerobic in nature, so it is very important to work on building that aerobic system. We are going to chat about the 5 workouts that are the best for marathon training. Here is a brief overview of what they are: the long run, easy runs, steady state runs, threshold runs, & medium long runs. 

WEEKLY MILEAGE: We want to look at the history of an athlete

Mileage is key and becomes very important in the marathon training basket

You can BS a 5k

“I am not a high mileage runner”

EASY RUNNING should comprise 80% of your training plan

80% of weekly miles should be 2-3 min slower than 5k pace

LONG RUNS should typically be done at an easy pace unless there is a workout portion in the long run in which only part of this weekly long runs will be fast.

If you run 45 miles per week and your long run is 15 miles, we cannot run the full 15 miles at marathon pace because this would be 33% of your weekly mileage as a hard effort. Within a 15 mile run you may do 5 miles at marathon pace and this would be 50% of your weekly workout mileage.

A long run is a stress day already- when you add pace work it makes it even more stressful!

MEDIUM LONG RUNS There is a lot of talk about long runs when you are marathon training, but what about the medium long run or the med week long run? This is a run that is shorter than your longest run but a little longer than your weekday run. Let’s say you are running 45 miles per week with a 15 mile long run. You have 30 miles to split between the remaining 5 days of running. Sure, you could run 6 miles every day, but where we find people have more success is doing 1 medium long run mid-week. This might look something like rest, 5, 10, 4, 7, 4, 15. The 10 mile run in the middle of the week is a medium long run. This run helps to build endurance and your aerobic base. 

Tempos & Steady State Runs

This is where the fun comes in. The 20% hard efforts. Some of these workouts might be mixed within a medium long run or long run. 

20% of weekly mileage can be workouts

Best workouts are tempos

45 miles per week → 9 miles can be workout 

2 workouts per week could be: 2 x 2 mile tempo + 5 x 1 mile

40 miles per week—> 8 miles can be workout

2 workouts per week could be: 2 x 2 mile tempo + 4 x 1 mile

Threshold workout vs tempo workout

Marathon pace vs steady state

Fall Races are just around the corner and many athletes are gearing up for events that are over 90 min in duration. Did you know that fueling becomes more important as your race gets longer? Many ultramarathoners attribute ‘fueling’ as their biggest barrier to finishing. When it comes to the marathon distance, fueling allows you to reach your potential on race day running faster paces for a longer distance as shown by research. We often hear about bro science of the benefits of fasting or we have heard people talk about fasted cardio… If your goals are to run to your potential going faster & further, fueling is a critical part. You will not run as fast in a fasted state over a long distance. Now we are approaching the season of long runs getting longer, it is important to start to train for how we will approach the race. You don’t want to wait until race day or a few weeks before your race to practice fueling. You need to start NOW. 

Races are great because they provide water cups you can grab on the course without the need for you to carry water (unless you want to) or plan out how you will stay hydrated. It seems like this would make things easier for you on race day but how do we expect to be able to ace the water stops in a race running at race pace if we have not practiced this skill in training. Today we are going to be talking about practicing our water stops/fueling. 

Research the course offerings

1- What will the race be serving?

2- How frequent are the water stops?

3- Am I allowed to run with water during the race?

4- Are they self served or manned by people handing them out?

Practice fueling on the run

1- Training the gut to take in fuel while running

2- Training the gut to run with water

3- Start NOW so body has time to adapt

4- Do you stop for a long run?

5- Can you run and drink?

Neurotic you don’t always need to run through the water stops

Putting it together

1- Mile by mile fueling plan

2- Gu every 30-45 min

3- water sips at every stop

4- walking or running through the stops?

A lot of our content is catered around the marathon distance. We know that the marathon is super popular and many people when they first start training for marathons will start to follow more specific training as the distance is super daunting THUS we have a lot of content to reach those people. However, did you know that most elite marathoners actually focused on the 5k distance first? That is right! Focusing on the shorter distance races can actually make you a better marathoner. Today we are going to shift focuses on shorter distance races for a bit because it IS an important topic. Training for shorter distances races might be all the rage this time of year if you are not gearing up for a fall marathon. Many athletes set their sites on local 5k races during the summer months. Is training for a 5k significantly different than training for a marathon? There are a lot more similarities than differences, but today we are going to go over exactly what these differences are and how YOU can capitalize on your potential in the shorter distance races while still having a great base to ramp up for marathon training.

Training Differences

If you haven’t reached your potential in the 5k or raced the distance often, one might be in good 5k shape after or during a marathon training cycle. Aerobic development is transferable. 

Give up on the old mentality and go into something new

So many fun distances

Stomach felt weird running that fast

I was not used to the pain

“That is it?”

Race Day Approach

Set Realistic Expectations & Have a Proper Pacing Plan

It is HOT outside! It is that time of year again where the heat, humidity & dew point  is really starting to drag us down. We wanted to do a podcast chatting about this weather and what it all means for us. We should all be adjusting our paces in this heat anytime we run in over 60 degrees. There are temp conversion calculators out there created specifically for this. Have you ever heard the phrase, it’s not the heat, it’s the humidity? We will chat specifically about the humidity and dew point factors.

www.run4prs.com

Training for a marathon is a big deal! We want to make sure your training cycle is framed up with the best shot of success at performance. At the time of this release we are about 17 weeks away from the Chicago marathon. Lots of questions pop up over the course of training. How long should my longest long run be? What if I have to miss a week because I’m sick? Should I increase my long run every weekend? Should I race a half marathon 3 weeks out from my marathon?  We will be going over the entire cycle of the marathon including the key long runs and workouts. We also want to chat about the timing of your races

We did a podcast about postpartum and pregnant running back in spring of 2021, and we decided to do another episode about this topic to answer questions we have gotten from our listeners. In this podcast Coach Mary will be joining me in chatting about her 2 pregnancy and postpartum running experiences. I am a mom of 3 kids 6 and under myself. Together we have had our share of struggles and triumphs during this stage of life. We hope sharing our experiences can help you navigate this season without feeling so alone. We will be talking about lots of pregnancy and postpartum related things in this episode, so if that isn’t your jam, probably best to skip this weeks episode :) We also are not medical professionals and just sharing our our experiences. Please consult with your doctor before starting any exercise program or advice on your specific situation.

Pregnancy Experiences:

Birth Experiences:

Recovery timeline

What is postpartum like?

Breastfeeding

Training