Run to Win

The 2^nd annual Maine Coach and Athlete Cross Country Clinic was on August 18th, 2008 at the University of Southern Maine. This is the third part of my reporting on the clinic; the first part was about injury prevention and treatment, the second part was about nutrition basics and fueling, and the third part was about selecting proper footwear.

The fourth part of this series introduced you to the 3 athletes on the panel, and this final part will summarize their thoughts on training, teamwork, and racing as they answer the questions posed to them by the people in attendance.

What do you wish you knew in high school that you know now?

Lauren Fleshman only had 2 paces in high school, workout and racee. In college, she had 3 paces, workout, maintenance, and racing. She had a much better idea going into each workout what the goal was, and sometimes that was just to prepare for the next workout. She also would like to have known in high school how much better she could recover from two-a-days than doing 1 longer run throughout the day. In college she would run double 3 or 4 times per week.

Matt Lane would like to have known how important consistency in training was, especially having grown up in Maine where consistent running can be more difficult than elsewhere.

Matt did not run on the indoor track team, and instead competed for the ski team. Unless you are Ben True, skiing is not a complete substitute for running. It gives you great cardiovascular fitness, but it just doesn’t translate onto the track.

Matt would basically not run a single step between November and March, and his high school track times suffered as a result. He considers himself by far the slowest guy in the top 10 at Foot Lockers for his track times.

Matt wishes that he knew that running even once or twice a week would have been good enough to allow him to maintain his running fitness between the cross country and track seasons. Going for 5 or 6 weeks at a time without a run just didn’t allow him to do that no matter how well he was cross training. In the Summer, he did not have that same problem, which is why he did so much better in cross country.

Louie Luchini wishes that he had known what a difference a high volume workload can make, and wishes that he had done some harder workouts in high school.

His biggest problem with the extra volume, though, is that he sleeps too much and morning runs are out of the question for him. (Much to the chagrin of his coaching staff.)
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• This week last year, I wrote a bit about nutrition. First, I reviewed a few nutrition books, and I also discussed a study that found that our brains ignore calories from beverages. That makes it easier for us to eat more than we should when we drink juice or soda.
• Another study found that children who do not get enough sleep tend to be overweight. The study did not determine why that is so, but it did seem to point out a direct correlation. I think that sleep is very important, being one of the best times to allow your body to rest and recover from a workout.
• This week last year, I explained why there is always a headwind when you are running.
• Charlie Engle, Ray Zahab, and Kevin Lin ran 4000 miles across the Sahara Desert to raise money for H2O Africa. That is quite a feat.
• This week two years ago, I described how to do chinups, suggested that you always eat breakfast, and reported on a story about a deer that bandited the Austin Freescale Marathon. The guy that got tackled by the deer didn’t run again last year.

This week last year was pretty busy, with the Clam Festival and some site news. I spent a lot of time talking about health, both from the taking care of yourself and the treating injuries perspective.

• I continued my series on icing with a description of how to ice w/an ice bag. On the topic of injuring yourself, I also shared my thoughts on why you should not use weightlifting gloves or belts when you work out.
• I ran the road race at the Yarmouth Clam Festival this week last year. The race was a little slower than it was in 2005.
• I reviewed the VirtuRace.com website, but they no longer exist in that form and I have not gotten around to reviewing their new website. In fact, it has been quite a while since I even checked out the new site.
• On a health note, I shared why it was important to determine how much you should be sleeping every night.
• I explained the differences between running on a track versus running on a treadmill. Personally, I have trouble going more than a mile or so on a treadmill because I quickly grow bored out of my mind.
• Last year, there was some trouble in the UK with cyclists getting pushed off of their bikes by passing motorists. Two years ago was even worse, when an 88 year old hit some cyclists after ignoring the police who were controlling traffic at the Clam Festival. (Along with a 5 mile run, there is a bike race.) In Germany, a 16 year old killed one of Australia’s top cyclists when she drove into the whole team while they were training.

This week last year was very light.

• I suggested that a regular sleep schedule is important. I think that this is a very important habit to cultivate.
• I updated a few stories that I had written about the week before. The alligator was caught that had killed the jogger down in Florida, and it was announced that Justin Gatlin didn’t break the world record because there was a timing error. He only matched the record.
• I completed my weekend discussions on the New Rules of Lifting with New Rule #20 (Have Fun).

In a collaborative effort with Scott over at Straight to the Bar, we will be writing all about rest for the month of October. You can expect a new article on the matter every week. Next week will conclude our collaboration on rest.

This week’s article was written by Scott and is called Fuel and Rest.

Scott examines why we need to rest in the first place, how to rest, and how to properly fuel your rest. All three work together to make sure that we can sleep properly and perform throughout our day.

The leg that I pulled on Tuesday felt fine this morning, but my right leg was feeling a little funny. By the end of the run it had been stretched out though and was okay. I felt tired during the run, though; not tired as in exhausted physically, but tired as in sleepy. As though I could close my eyes and take a nap (while I was jogging). That seemed a little odd. I did try running with my eyes shut for a bit, but I figured that that was (a) not too smart no matter how good I am at getting around blind and (b) far too likely to allow me to actually fall asleep. Very strange.

I ran fairly slow, and I think once June rolls around I need to start bumping my mileage up a bit. I do not want to stop lifting for at least 6 more weeks, which will bring me up to July, so I will have to find some other way to fit it in. I may have to start doubling my workouts to make it work, as I do not want to stop swimming either.