I've had a "Eureka" moment - a light bulb turned on, grey clouds replaced by clear skies, a flash of inspiration - not a SyFy box set weekend but a sudden and hopefully transforming understanding of my long run, the cornerstone of marathon training, and to help my preparation for my London marathon debut on 13th April.
I haven't been running on my own all that often recently. This has plenty of upsides - good company and encouraging conversation from running buddies are a big part of why I actually enjoy running. But there are benefits to running alone too - thinking time, day time escapes from my computer and also time to catch up with Marathon Talk - an enjoyable and informative running themed podcast with advice, humour, interviews and challenges.
Marathon Talk works best on a long run, although you have to be prepared for a few funny looks if you happening to be listening to Tony's Trials or Boy on the Run as they share a particularly humorous or emotional anecdote. If you really want to experience the highs and lows of a really tough race, Tony's Trials report from the Bullock Smithy race has it all (including a very catchy jingle) - about 33 minutes into show 192 if you missed it. I had tears streaming down my face listening to Tom and Martin discuss the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013, listening as I ran solo along the Trent and Mersey Canal on my last long run before the Greater Manchester Marathon last year.
As I set out last Sunday, when the sun finally shone, the rain stopped and the wind eased for at least a few hours, I was determined to catch up on my show listening and loaded up Episode 212 on my ipod... which included an interview by Tom Williams with Ben Livesey, who will be toeing the start line in London too, albeit a lot nearer the front than me as he's part of the elite field. It was Ben's interview that brought about my light bulb moment, as he made a simple statement about is approach to his long training runs:
"You're putting your body into a state to simulate running the final 16 miles, as opposed to the first 16 miles..."
What? Hang on a minute! Say that again! How does that work?
"You need to get to that long run... in that final 16 mile state as opposed to the first 16 mile state, which means that the previous day has to be run at a fair old lick!".
Maybe everyone else already knew this, but it's not a view I've heard articulated so clearly and simply before (or maybe I'd never understand it properly). I was about 6 miles into an 18 mile run at this point, and whilst I wasn't tiring yet, I was working hard nonetheless. I'm a very long way from an elite runner in terms of speed or mileage, so I hadn't run a full effort / hardcore session "at a fair old lick" on the day before the long run (as Ben explained things) but in the rest of the week, I'd already run 18 miles, with a speed session and some hill work too, which is a lot for me (this was actually one of my highest mileage weeks ever).
So I had some time / effort in my legs, I wasn't fresh when I started out at 8.30am on Sunday morning. Adapting Ben's statement to my own training and ability levels, in effect, I'd already run the first 8.2 miles of my marathon (with my 18 miles of effort in the rest of the week), and now I was another 6 miles into the distance, with 12.2 more to go to the finish.
Everyone talks about long runs as being the backbone of marathon training, but it has always confused me a bit, especially as to why your longest run (whether it is 16, 18, 20 or 22 miles) is always so much shorter than marathon distance. What about those last few crucial miles... how do you know you'll be able to run them on marathon day if you've never done it in training?
But now, thanks to Ben and Marathon Talk, the great reveal... all the hard sessions in the previous few days (as long as you ensure they are hard miles and not lots of easy or junk miles), are the first part of the marathon and the long run each week is the end. I think it's a combination of psychology and physiology... but it definitely changed my understanding: don't think about your long run as the first x miles of the marathon, but as the last x miles, the miles that will get you to the finish! You've already done the first 26.2 - x in the tough sessions of the previous few days (a bit of algebra thrown in there)!
Often when I get to the end of a long run, my mind focuses on the gap between how far I've run and how much further I'll need to run on marathon day... I have a tendency to see the gap as a negative, especially if I've found the run particularly tough and struggled to complete the distance: if I feel like this now, will I actually be able to run any further when the big day comes around?
But on Sunday, I tried to apply my new-found understanding... as I approached 18 miles, I thought about finishing the marathon, transferring myself to 26 miles into the race. Yes, I was tired, but I'll be tired on race day. But did I need to stop? No, definitely not. Instead, I pushed hard for the last mile, as that's what I want to be able to do on marathon day, and finished with a very positive "I've done it".
This week is another busy week of running, including speed work and a tempo run at marathon pace, building up to another long run, which I will try to schedule after another hard effort run to create the required "cumulative fatigue"*. I'll try out my new found understanding and positive mindset again to make sure I get the best out of that run too. Thanks Marathon Talk.
Happy running
Liz T
* Ben referenced the Hanson training plan in relation to this approach to long runs. This is a quote from Hanson's Coaching: "the idea of cumulative fatigue means that the runner is going into the long run slightly fatigued from the training during the previous days". Apologies if I completely missed the point, but hopefully I've interpreted what was discussed correctly - it makes sense to me now anyway and I think it will help get the most of the next few long runs to come.
If you want to listen to Ben's interview, it starts at about 60 minutes into the show.
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| Putting in the Hard Miles! |
Marathon Talk works best on a long run, although you have to be prepared for a few funny looks if you happening to be listening to Tony's Trials or Boy on the Run as they share a particularly humorous or emotional anecdote. If you really want to experience the highs and lows of a really tough race, Tony's Trials report from the Bullock Smithy race has it all (including a very catchy jingle) - about 33 minutes into show 192 if you missed it. I had tears streaming down my face listening to Tom and Martin discuss the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013, listening as I ran solo along the Trent and Mersey Canal on my last long run before the Greater Manchester Marathon last year.
As I set out last Sunday, when the sun finally shone, the rain stopped and the wind eased for at least a few hours, I was determined to catch up on my show listening and loaded up Episode 212 on my ipod... which included an interview by Tom Williams with Ben Livesey, who will be toeing the start line in London too, albeit a lot nearer the front than me as he's part of the elite field. It was Ben's interview that brought about my light bulb moment, as he made a simple statement about is approach to his long training runs:
"You're putting your body into a state to simulate running the final 16 miles, as opposed to the first 16 miles..."
What? Hang on a minute! Say that again! How does that work?
"You need to get to that long run... in that final 16 mile state as opposed to the first 16 mile state, which means that the previous day has to be run at a fair old lick!".
Maybe everyone else already knew this, but it's not a view I've heard articulated so clearly and simply before (or maybe I'd never understand it properly). I was about 6 miles into an 18 mile run at this point, and whilst I wasn't tiring yet, I was working hard nonetheless. I'm a very long way from an elite runner in terms of speed or mileage, so I hadn't run a full effort / hardcore session "at a fair old lick" on the day before the long run (as Ben explained things) but in the rest of the week, I'd already run 18 miles, with a speed session and some hill work too, which is a lot for me (this was actually one of my highest mileage weeks ever).
So I had some time / effort in my legs, I wasn't fresh when I started out at 8.30am on Sunday morning. Adapting Ben's statement to my own training and ability levels, in effect, I'd already run the first 8.2 miles of my marathon (with my 18 miles of effort in the rest of the week), and now I was another 6 miles into the distance, with 12.2 more to go to the finish.
Everyone talks about long runs as being the backbone of marathon training, but it has always confused me a bit, especially as to why your longest run (whether it is 16, 18, 20 or 22 miles) is always so much shorter than marathon distance. What about those last few crucial miles... how do you know you'll be able to run them on marathon day if you've never done it in training?
But now, thanks to Ben and Marathon Talk, the great reveal... all the hard sessions in the previous few days (as long as you ensure they are hard miles and not lots of easy or junk miles), are the first part of the marathon and the long run each week is the end. I think it's a combination of psychology and physiology... but it definitely changed my understanding: don't think about your long run as the first x miles of the marathon, but as the last x miles, the miles that will get you to the finish! You've already done the first 26.2 - x in the tough sessions of the previous few days (a bit of algebra thrown in there)!
Often when I get to the end of a long run, my mind focuses on the gap between how far I've run and how much further I'll need to run on marathon day... I have a tendency to see the gap as a negative, especially if I've found the run particularly tough and struggled to complete the distance: if I feel like this now, will I actually be able to run any further when the big day comes around?
But on Sunday, I tried to apply my new-found understanding... as I approached 18 miles, I thought about finishing the marathon, transferring myself to 26 miles into the race. Yes, I was tired, but I'll be tired on race day. But did I need to stop? No, definitely not. Instead, I pushed hard for the last mile, as that's what I want to be able to do on marathon day, and finished with a very positive "I've done it".
This week is another busy week of running, including speed work and a tempo run at marathon pace, building up to another long run, which I will try to schedule after another hard effort run to create the required "cumulative fatigue"*. I'll try out my new found understanding and positive mindset again to make sure I get the best out of that run too. Thanks Marathon Talk.
Happy running
Liz T
* Ben referenced the Hanson training plan in relation to this approach to long runs. This is a quote from Hanson's Coaching: "the idea of cumulative fatigue means that the runner is going into the long run slightly fatigued from the training during the previous days". Apologies if I completely missed the point, but hopefully I've interpreted what was discussed correctly - it makes sense to me now anyway and I think it will help get the most of the next few long runs to come.
If you want to listen to Ben's interview, it starts at about 60 minutes into the show.
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