Hours Before the Race

I’m sitting here knowing that in less than a day I will be on a single track trail pushing my body to its limits. I try to picture what it will be like – what it will feel like. At other races I usually concentrate on the little details. Take another drink. Keep a steady pace. Try not to heel strike. Have another gel. How is my energy level.

At some point it becomes me and my beliefs. I believe I should slow down a little. I believe I can finish at this pace. Eventually those fade away and I end up with only one question.

Why am I doing this?

If I don’t have a good answer on hand, my race will crumble. I go into this race knowing that I do these races to learn about myself and my limits. When I learn new things about myself my perspective changes – not only about myself but about the world I live in from day to day. My beliefs about what I can do and what you can do mutate from cynical to hopeful.

Yes, running 100 miles gives me hope.

Sunrise on Mt. Ranier

The Perfect Taper

Tapering for a race (reducing the intensity of training) can be different for many athletes. It depends on the person, the race, their training up to the taper, and preference to what gives them confidence going into a race. With such large parameters in taper style, the only perfect taper is individually based on experience. What works for one may not work for another. And what works for one race may not work for another race.

How long should I taper?

How long?

Most tapers for endurance events such as marathons, ultramarathons and full triathlons are 2 to 3 weeks. I know of a few ultramarathoners that taper less or not at all. I think it depends largely on the training plan leading into the taper. I typically train 5 to 6 months for an endurance event using periodization. Periodization is where I push my physical limits for 2 weeks and then have a fall back week where I allow my body to recover. Without adequate recovery, my training continues to break down my muscle without the opportunity to rebuild. This will send me into overtraining. NOT GOOD! Overtraining leads to injury and burnout, both of which are difficult to come back from. The longer I train, the longer I need to taper.

 How should I taper?

Easing back on intensity and distance is key. I also add in an extra rest day per week. At the beginning of a 3 week taper, I make sure that each training session is such that, I can fully recover from it by 1 week before the race. This is a gradual taper and I generally don’t feel much different the 3rd week out. Fatigue will follow for about 5 to 7 days. The 2nd week out I will begin to notice increased energy and I continue to reduce the training load. The final week is where I cut way back. It takes 2 weeks for any physiological changes to occur from training so intense training during this final week will have no effect on your race day performance except to tire you out. The final week I just “keep the engine running.” If you have a running race, swimming and biking are good forms of cross training and recovery if done at low intensity.

Does my food intake change?

Carbo-load

I usually take in the same amount of calories until the final week of taper. My metabolism stays high enough to keep my weight the same. I cut back on protein near the end of the taper but keep the carbs going. This allows my body to load up on carbs and restore the glycogen stores in my muscles and liver. It is important to continue refueling after every training session, even if you only train for an hour. Proper hydration is also very important. It allows your body to continue flushing out toxins while you are getting fully recovered for the big race.

 What else should I be doing?

Time for a nap!

Sleep! I try to take naps and sleep in if possible. If I still feel fatigued 10 days or so into my taper, I take extra rest days. However, I try not to take more then 2 days off in a row. A deep tissue massage 1 week before the race is terrific! It boosts recovery and my energy levels. I also keep my general training schedule. In other words, I keep my long runs on the same day, recovery swims on the same day, etc. The last few weeks I visualize myself during the race and crossing the finish line. I imagine the race being difficult and then overcoming that and finishing strong. I also make sure any final preparations with gear, nutrition or logistics are worked out. Feeling prepared goes a long way towards feeling confident in a race. If it’s a triathlon I shave my legs and that’s a sign that I am race ready. Anything you can do to feel race ready is a plus.

Am I fully recovered?

A full recovery takes longer than just our muscles repairing themselves. On a cellular level our body has damage to repair as well as glycogen to restore. While we may feel recovered, endurance events can take up to 5 weeks to fully recover from. If I have a race 3 or 4 weeks before another race, that may not be enough time to fully recover depending on how long and how much effort the first race took. I can adjust my effort in the first race and I can also adjust my taper. I also try to monitor my recovery throughout my training so that each training session doesn’t get compromised by a previous session. My training schedules are somewhat flexible and being conscious of my body’s state is important to successfully getting to the start line without injury and burnout.

Tapering is an art and a science. It requires me to listen to my body, try new things, learn other people’s techniques and follow my instincts. What is your perfect taper?

 

Photo credits:

renjith krishnan / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Suat Eman / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Fox Valley 2010 Race Report

September 19, 2010

The weather was mid to upper 50’s in the morning with a chance of rain. I wore a long sleeve tech with running shorts and only brought my gel flask. Only drinking water on the course has been working this year so I stayed with that. I was shooting for 3:15 to qualify for Boston. I was confident I could do 3:20 but not sure how much faster I could go. Most of my training has been focused on triathlons this year so I was a bit nervous about my performance, especially since I blew off a couple of my taper runs the preceding 2 weeks. I hadn’t run any of the course beforehand but heard that it was flat. That was true for the most part, except miles 16 – 20. We’ll get back to that later.

 

My initial plan was to run a 7:30 minute mile for the first half and then turn it up if I could on the second half. I borrowed my dad’s heart rate watch since mine has been broken since June. My high end heart rate for long training runs is around 157 to 159 bpm’s. Since my threshold is 171, I didn’t want to go above 165 for any reason unless it was the last 2 or 3 miles. Here’s what happened:

 

Feeling good early on!

I was in the first wave which consisted of runners going 7:30 pace and faster. For me to finish with a 3:15 I would need an average speed of 7:27 or 7:28 minutes per mile. The race starts and I’m with the 7:15 runners. It seemed like they started slow because it felt like we were going around 7:25. I ran a mile before the start so I was fully warmed up and ready to run at pace. I stayed with them for about a mile and a half and then they pulled away. I didn’t see the first two mile markers but knew I was between the 7:15 and 7:30 pacers (pacers are designated runners who hold up a sign stating what pace they are running to help participants pace themselves correctly). At mile 3 I checked my time and it averaged to over 8 minute miles! Something was wrong. I was either going really slow or the marker was off. At mile 4 I checked again and it showed a 7:18 pace. I was relieved – the 3 mile marker was in the wrong spot. I was holding a 7:18 pace and my heart rate was around 158 – 159. I felt really good and kept that pace for a couple of miles. Then I changed the plan….

 

 

Mile 6: I felt like I could go faster without compromising my race so at mile 6 I bumped up my heart rate to 161 to 163 and was keeping a pace of 7:15. I was moving really good from mile 6 to mile 13. I was also well aware that at some point, usually between mile 21 and mile 23, I would struggle to keep pace. I figured if I could keep this effort until mile 24, I could muscle through the last 2 miles knowing that I only had 15 minutes of pain to deal with.

 

Mile 13: At mile 13 I checked the time and it was 1 hour 35 minutes. Awesome! At that pace I could finish with 3:11. The fatigue started to set at this point which I expected and didn’t slow me down. I stayed at a 7:18 average pace until mile 16 and my heart rate was around 164 and steady.

At the 16 mile marker, we head south along the river to a final turn around point at mile 18 before heading north to the finish. This was not flat! Although the hills were short, they were steep enough to slow me down and wear down the legs. I was still moving fast but knew I had slowed to maybe a 7:40 pace.

 

Crossing the Fox River

Mile 18: At mile 18 the trail went in a little loop and I hadn’t realized that I was heading north. I kept thinking to myself, “where is this turn around?” When you push yourself hard, at some point it starts to affect your mind. I thought I was still heading south and began seeing the 7:30 pace group going the other way (I thought they were heading north and somehow had gotten in front of me). Did I miss the turn around?! A wrong turn? Then I saw a guy that I dropped at mile 6. I knew for sure there was no way he had gotten in front of me. It wasn’t until mile 20 that I realized that I had gone through the turn around and that the runners going the opposite direction were the ones heading south, after me. Not before me. Only 6.2 miles to go.

 

Mile 20: Miles 20 to 22 were quite hard to keep pace. I didn’t have the high turn over like earlier in the race. As I kept checking the clock, it still looked like I would finish around 3:12 if I kept this pace. With little energy to think and the math getting harder to figure out I wasn’t sure, but felt confident I was going to get to the finish line a minute or two to spare. Miles 22 to 25 were another story. The Fox River runs from north to south and there is slight incline as you go north. That little incline at that point in the race was physically challenging. My running form started to deteriorate as well as my mental attitude. All I could do for those 3 miles was to push my legs to keep turning over as fast as possible, which was slower than at any point so far in this race. I was probably running at an 8 minute pace.

 

Sprint finish!

Mile 25: At mile 25 I checked the watch and knew it would be close. As I came to a bridge, I was hoping that was the bridge I would need to cross and go west to the finish line. It wasn’t. The next bridge was, but it was a quarter mile away. My watch said I needed to get to the bridge within 2 minutes. Keep pushing. Just before the bridge, I’m told to get going by Karie, who has pulled up along side of me in her car and knows I have less than a minute to get to the finish line. I kick it into high gear and sprint the last 500 yards to the finish. Judy, Robin and Tricia are in the crowd but I am sprinting so hard I don’t see or hear anybody. I crossed the line and as I come to a stop my legs get wobbly. I go to my knees and in a minute or two, the volunteers help me up and help me find Judy. My watch says 3:15:12. Fortunately Boston gives you 59 seconds for your qualifying time so getting there before 3:16 is good!

 

For the next hour, my legs never hurt so much. It felt like they were in a meat grinder. Looking back, I think I was really lucky that I ran the race faster in the beginning. I don’t think I could’ve made up any time with those hills later on, even if I was more conservative early on. Usually it’s better to save a little early on and run a little faster on the second half. But in this case I’m not so sure. My average heart rate was 164 and my average pace was 7:27. That put me at 24th overall and 3rd in my age group. 2nd in my age group came in 52 seconds before me and 4th came in 23 seconds after me. That little sprint at the end put me on the podium! It’s hard to adequately thank all the people that are there to support you, especially when your eyes are glazed over in the medical tent. But I would like to thank everyone who was there and cheered me on. A special thanks to Tricia who gave me the worst tasting recovery stuff I have ever tasted (interesting packaging though). Also, Robin and Judy who made it to 4 different areas to cheer me on. No small feat for Judy with a broken foot. Thanks to Karie for telling me to get my ass moving at the right time. And Juan – what can I say about Juan? Whatever happens, let’s not take ourselves too seriously.

 

 

Tricia, Gail, Suzanne, Jill, Moses, Juan "The Machine" Juarez, and me