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Concluding Remarks
 running-bio-1974-2010-race-summary
Looking back over 37 years of training and 195 races (including 60 ultras and 42 marathons) listed in the PDF above, I want to close out this series by sharing some key observations and lessons learned:
•· Keep a log of your training and races.
One of my most valued possessions is my training logs from 1974 to the present. One of my regrets is that I didn't keep a log of my first three years in California (1977-1980). All I have of those years is a fuzzy recollection of a few memorable training runs and results from about half the races I ran. Logs are useful in planning training for the coming year. Records of your training and racing will become more precious the older you get.
•· Why did I focus on running ultras?
After a couple years simply finishing a marathon lost its challenge and my performance plateaued in the low 2:50s. I realized that, while I might have been able to take another couple minutes off, I was never get down into the 2:20s run by the best runners in the region. With the insight that I did better the longer the race in both running and cycling, I decided to move up from the marathon.
While marathons had lost their challenge, ultras presented a vast array of challenges... at different stages in my career I focused on the 50 mile road race, the 100K road race, the 24 Hour, the 12 Hour and most recently the 6 Hour and 50K road race. I also sampled a variety of trail races in the mountains of California and the hills of Central & Western New York. Ultras have never lost their challenge... in events beyond your longest training run there is always a real risk not just of having a bad race but of having to drop out. In the world of ultrarunning, every finisher is honored.
I also got hooked by instantly becoming a contender. In 60 ultras, I had 22 finishes in the top five overall. I have had the great luck to win races in three different decades. I have been able run in eight national championships, sharing the road or track with the best runners in the country.
And, last but not least, there is the wonderful ultrarunning community. It's a small world but with a wonderfully supportive camaraderie, not unlike the distance running scene of the early 1970s when I ran my first races.
•· Multiple Comebacks
My running career is characterized by multiple comebacks. I switched to running after 4 years of bike racing and quickly reached a personal high level of performance. After three years of training too hard and racing too frequently in the late 70s, I was cooked. Three years later, the hunger had returned; I got fit and was competitive for another 3-4 years before my motivation again lagged. Since then I've had several more comebacks to competitive running, each lasting 2-3 years before being terminated by some combination of loss of motivation, nagging injuries or life changes (job changes, moves, children, becoming a race director). Over the years I have been personally frustrated that I haven't been able to stick with the grind and stay race fit for more than a few years at a time. In hindsight, there may have been a disguised blessing in that the off years gave my body a chance to recover so I could train and race hard during each comeback.
•· Goals and expectations make a big difference.
How did so many marathoners in the 70s manage to break three hours? I believe it had more to do with our goals and expectations than with our talent as runners. If, like me, you were a young man running marathons in the 70s, your goal after the first one was to break three hours. It was considered an achievable challenge and would qualify you for Boston. Your running friends had probably already done it or were trying to do it. You expected to be able to break three hours and were willing to train to make it happen.
•· Want to get the most of the training hours you have?
Get a coach to plan and supervise your training and racing... all too often we are blind to our own mistaken ideas and errors. A coach's knowledge and objective analysis can save the ambitious runner from these common mistakes:
•o Too many races... the gap between major races needs to be long enough to fully recover, train appropriately and then taper for the next race.
•o No off season after a series of major races... the natural tendency is to return to hard training and try to get another good race.
•o No planed days off to ensure adequate recovery from especially hard workouts or to give lingering injuries a chance to heal.
•o No planned easy weeks to allow recovery from hard weeks.
•o Long, hard runs done too close to a major race, e.g., a fast 20-mile training run a week before a marathon... a three week gap would ensure adequate recovery and fresher legs at the race.
•o No plan or structure to speed work. I sometimes ran too hard close to a major race and more often missed opportunities for improvement.
•· If you don't have a coach, a training plan will help.
In the beginning about all I knew about training for a marathon was one simple fact: the top guys ran well over 100 miles per week. So I ran 14+ miles each day and tried to run every mile in less than eight minutes (anything slower was considered jogging). Over the years I learned that I could race faster on less training by following a sensible training plan... one where every workout has a defined purpose with an appropriate duration (minutes or miles) and level of effort (pace, heart rate or perceived effort).
•· Training needs to be specific for the target race.
This is one of those lessons I was slow to learn. When the ultra scene in Southern California shifted from flat and fast road races to trail races in the mountains, I kept training on the roads convenient to my home instead of driving to the mountains to train. Then on race day I would be disappointed when I finished way down in the field and well behind running buddies whom I used to "beat like a drum" in the road ultras. In time I understood that to be fast on trails you have to train on trails. The general rule is you need to train extensively on the same kind of surface and terrain as your target race.
•· When you fall off, get right back on the horse.
Many things can lead to a runner falling off his or her training plan weeks or months before the target race... an injury or illness, changes at work, family issues, etc. The main thing is to quickly get back into the training routine, doing some form of each scheduled workout while taking care to avoid doing too much, too hard or too soon.
•· How much mileage is enough?
When I started running in the mid-70's, we heard that the top runners were doing over 100 miles per week and we obsessively counted miles, sure that it would make us faster. And, if you could survive the experience, you did get faster until slowed by injury, chronic fatigue or mental burn-out. So, how much mileage is enough? Or better, how much mileage is optimal? A wonderfully obvious finding in the available research is that, the less mileage your run today, the more likely it is that more mileage will result in improved performance. This is true up to a plateau of about 70 miles per week for most runners. Beyond 70 miles per week, the gains get much smaller and the risk of injury increases sharply.
•· Use 8-week average mileage to predict marathon readiness.
One of my favorite predictors of readiness for marathons and ultras is 8-Week Average Mileage.
That is, the average weekly mileage for the eight weeks before tapering for a race. My lifetime marathon PR came in 1976 after an average of 86 miles. My last sub-3 hour was in 1988 on an average of 74 miles. My best marathon in Rochester was the 2001 Ontario Shore, a 3:19 at age 56 on an average of 55 miles. Want to run a strong marathon? Seventy miles per week average should be close to optimal. Fifty miles per week would be a good goal for older and more injury-prone runners. Want to just finish a marathon? A Galloway training plan and about 30 miles a week will get you there.
•· No Recovery, No Gain
"No Pain, No Gain?" I think there's a more appropriate slogan for our t-shirts. Ever wonder why every training plan from a competent coach has a mix of hard and easy days? We get stronger and faster by gradual adaptation to the physical stress of running. A hard day stresses the body. The easy day (also known as a recovery day) is when the body rebuilds and gets stronger. Too many hard days in a row and you will actually get slower if you don't get injured first. Older runners may need two days of active recovery after each hard workout. The harder the workout, the more critical it is to keep the easy days really easy.
•· Is it a good idea to run a race as part of your training?
The answer is obvious if your target race is a highly competitive 10K like the Lilac. You will want to race several 5Ks to get race sharp for the event. In training for a half or full marathon, an occasional 5K or 5 mile provides a good speed workout, gives you a chance to assess the progress of your training, gives your competitive juices an outlet without screwing up your training plan and gives you a chance to reconnect with your racing friends. Moderation is advised: Anything more than one short race every 3 to 4 weeks will probably interfere with the rest of your target race training and, especially for aging runners, increase your risk of injury.
One of my few regrets is that for many years I ran only marathons and ultramarathons. I missed out on a lot of great times and camaraderie.
•· How about running a marathon as a training run?
Here the answer is not so simple. Run under control at an easy effort and you can get the benefits of a long training run. But, if you get swept up in the emotion of the event and run even a little harder than planned, you'll blow your training plan and could need up to a month to fully recover. I always got too competitive in "training races" and screwed up my training plan.
•· Training errors cause most running injuries.
Over the last 35 years I've sampled most of the injuries associated with running and enjoyed repeat courses of some of them. The most significant single factor in the onset of these injuries has been my training, specifically doing too much, too soon or for too long without adequate recovery.
•· You can train through most running injuries.
Looking over my training log data from 1974 through 2005, I found the last time I took off more than a week without running or cycling was two weeks in 1986. In most cases reducing mileage and/or avoiding hills was enough to allow the injury to heal while maintaining some fitness. More recently I have learned that low impact cross training can be a huge aid in maintaining basic fitness and mental health while waiting out a stubborn injury.
•· Be patient coming back from any surgery; start with low impact cross training.
Returning to running after surgery requires a different approach. After foot surgery for a Morton's neuroma, I started running as soon as the surgeon said I could and did too much too soon. The swelling and inflammation around the incision in my foot would have gone away quicker without the impact of running. Also, I would have had far fewer episodes of blood in my urine after the prostate surgery if I started with cycling or some other low impact cross training.
•· Patience is essential to any comeback.
Trying to do too much too soon in a comeback is a quick way to a setback. Put your excess energy into cross training that doesn't stress the injured muscles or joints.
•· Cross training works.
This is another thing I wish I had learned sooner in my career. Base fitness can be maintained or increased with a high volume of cross training. I have completed races as long as the marathon or 50K on as little as four months at 20 miles per week of running when I've also done two or three days of cycling each week.
•· Coping with age-related slow down
A common issue for aging, long-time runners is coping with the knowledge that they are getting slower every year. This was really brought home to me the past couple of years when I realized that my best racing times are just about the equal of the pace I ran on easy runs 30 years ago. Some friends have shared with me that they have stopped racing and either just run for health or do other sports because they're discouraged about how slowly they run now. There are a few things that help a little:
•o Focus on how you are running compared to the other folks in your age group. Get to know the regulars in your category and enjoy a friendly competition with them.
•o Each year strive to get faster over the course of the racing season. You may not be able to match the results of five years ago or even last year but you can improve and run faster in October than you did in May.
•o Plug your current times into an Age-Graded Calculator. You may be surprised how fast the equivalent times are for open runners.
•o Limit the number of days you run each week and include more low-impact cross training on the days off.
•o Ultimately, it comes down to accepting the things you can't change (age-related slowdown) and doing the things you can... keep running and train smarter to avoid injuries and make the most of what you can still do.
•· "I'm not dead yet!"
It's getting harder to train adequately and the injuries are coming more frequently, but I hope I've still got a few more marathons and ultras in me. I've entered the Rochester Marathon and will be doing my best on September 18th to run even splits and finish the race with a strong finish.
Note: If you don't remember the quote in the title above, google "Monty Python I'm not dead yet".
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