Don't let the title of this blog fool you, this will not be some mushy post. Lord knows there are enough of those on Facebook and other social mediums to last us all a lifetime. Let it be known, as a rule I don't do mush. No, staying true to the reason for this blog......to capture my random thoughts on running.....today is all about the human engine, the heart. Is it an organ? A muscle? Both. It is medically termed a "muscular organ". As an organ, its function is necessary for us to survive. The fact that it is "muscular" suggests that it can be conditioned. Or perhaps better stated, its performance can be improved through training. So off we go....
A few months ago I was toying with the idea of running a fall marathon. I had a great experience running the Marine Corp Marathon in Oct 2013 and thought that perhaps I had left some time out on the course. It was only my second marathon yet I had trained for a finish under 4 hours. To level set what that meant to me at the time, I had run the Disney Marathon 10 months prior and ran 4:31:13. Suffice to say, knocking a half hour off my time was not going to happen just by training a little more and getting my diet right. I was really going to have to get after it to have a chance. So get after it I did, adding mileage as well as the number of long runs to my plan. I toed the line in DC as ready as I could be with the good fortune of perfect weather at the start. Temps in mid 40's and no rain in site. Long story short, I paced with the Clif Bar 4 hour team and at mile 16, somewhere around the National Mall, I kicked it up and put a few minutes in the bank. Crossing the line surrounded by Marines shouting "dig down, sir. Finish strong", I looked down at my watch to see 3:59:03.
So back to thinking about a fall marathon. I didn't want to do a marathon just to do it. Way too much time and effort go into training. Not to mention the effect it has on the household schedule. Delayed dinners, messed up Sunday mornings when I sneak out at 7am for a 3 hour run. It can be disruptive. No, if I was going to run in the fall, I needed a goal. Leave it to your fellow runners to provide that goal, indirectly as it may be. In April, seeing the stories of so many runners crossing the finish line in Boston, I decided I would make a run at a Boston qualifier. As most of you know, there are 3 ways into the Boston Marathon. 1) Invitation - think Kenyans and really fast skinny people. Not happening. 2) charity - you can have a bib #, just raise $5,000 or more for Charity ABC. And BTW, you guarantee the proceeds. Your credit card on file and it will be charged the difference between what you raise and your commitment. Very ambitious, very worthwhile. But I hate asking people for money. 3) Qualify - Boston has a system whereas runners can qualify to run Boston by running what is called a Boston qualifying race. There are lots of them. That's the easy part. The tough part is you then have to finish the race under a specific time for your age group. For me, now in the male 50-59 group, I would have to shave 30 minutes off my MCM time and run under 3:30. Put another way, I ran the MCM averaging approximately 9:09 per mile. Thats 9 minutes and 9 seconds....per mile....on average. To qualify for Boston, I will have to average 8 minute miles. All 26 of them.....I can run maybe 8-10 miles @ 8 min/ mile......but 26? Consecutively?
So, given the likely impossibility of a BQ what do I do? Of course I search for a race and a training plan that will make it happen. Race - flat, fast, cool weather......those are the only requirements. First up, the NYC Marathon. Lottery, denied. Next up, Chicago in October. Perfect, except we will be at Parents weekend at daughters college. That's more important, right? So I settle on Philly on Nov 23rd, the city of brotherly love. Always wondered about that title.....hell, this is the city that booed Santa Claus and pelted him with snow balls at an Eagles game in December many years ago. But I choose to think that perhaps I will be provided with motivation to keep up my pace given that the race is run entirely in the city.
So if you have got this far, you have to be asking yourself.....what the Hell does this have to do with the heart? Patience, reader, patience. So, impossible goal has been established. Race chosen and registration complete. All that is left to do is to get this 50 year old bucket of bones and worn out cartilage ready to do something it has never done before, run an improbable race at an impossible pace. Thinking back to the original motivation, reading all of those awesome Boston stories, I couldn't help but keep coming back to the story of one particular runner who happens to run locally in the same running club as me. He will remain nameless since I haven't had the opportunity to ask him if I could refer to him in this blog. Long story short, he's a bit younger than me but he ran a sub 3 hour time in Boston. Well, he must be one of those freakishly gifted runners, right? Well, yeah, he makes it look easy. But then I heard his history. First marathon, somewhere well north of 4 hours. Followed by breaking 4 hours. Sound familiar? How did he do it? I asked. Heart rate training.
Prior to this training cycle, I always ran based upon mileage. The more miles the better. Pace? during the week, I ran comfortably. Long runs on Sundays? A bit conservative, shooting for a minute slower per mile than race pace. But the heart rate theory intrigued me. The more I read, the more I liked what I was reading. I could write an entire blog just on heart rate training, and maybe I will. But for now, the basics. Heart rate training is based upon a calculation with inputs that include your maximum and your resting heart rates. Through a formula, you then determine 5 HR zones. Think of zone 1 as a brisk walk and zone 5 as a sprint that makes it feel like your heart is about to explode. While we never train in those 2 zones, it's important to know them. Zone 2 is the money zone, your basic endurance training and approx 60-70% of your maximum heart rate. At this pace, conversation is easy and you feel like you could run all day. Zone 4 is your threshold pace. You are really working and when you speak it is in short, choppy sentences. You probably cant run at this pace for an extended period. You might run this fast for a 5k or 10k. This is the pace where lactic acid begins to build up. Bottom line, it's uncomfortable. And that leaves zone 3. This is marathon race pace. Slightly above the easy zone 2, but still not so uncomfortable that you cant maintain it for an extended period. It will challenge you, but it shouldn't be uncomfortable.
So once I knew my zones, i turned to the good folks at Garmin and they provided me with a 16 week training plan based entirely upon zone training and time. 5 training sessions per week. Through the entire plan there is no mention of mileage. Long run? Tomorrow I will run for 2:30 in Zone 2. (HR approx 135 bpm). Depending upon conditions or my fatigue, it may be 15 miles, it may be 17 miles. During the week there are various runs from 30 minutes easy Zone 2 to interval workouts. Interval workouts are done in Zone 4. The intent here is to develop speed by pushing the heart as well as training the body to more efficiently remove lactic acid from the muscles. As an example, this morning I did a 10 minute warmup at easy pace followed by 4x10:00 in zone 4. Thats 4 periods of running at zone 4 for 10 minutes with a 90 second rest break between. It's a bitch of a workout. However, it works. This particular workout 7 weeks ago had me running those intervals at around a 7:50 pace. Today, I ran them at 7:15. Further proof? My long, zone 2 runs were averaging around 9:45 per mile. Last Sunday I ran 16.5 miles with an average pace of 9:10.
So there is my pitch for heart rate training. It works and it works because its based entirely upon what the body can do at any given time. Your heart rate will tell you if you are weary from overtraining. It will save you from injury due to overtraining. For me it works because it put me on a clear training regimen. And thanks to my nifty Garmin Forerunner 620, I can see every bit of data from every run. More on this in a later blog......
