A bone to pick with Hanson's Marathon Method

My thoughts on Hanson:

I've been hearing murmurings of this "training plan" that doesn't go above 16 miles for a long run. And hearing things like "Hanson doesn't believe in 20 milers" and "20 milers are excessive". Finally, one of my old high school assistant coaches started preaching the praises of the Hanson method, and I could no longer ignore all the hoopla. I went out last week and bought the Hanson Marathon Method book. .

I don't subscribe to any particular type of marathon training, but I will confess that 20 plus milers are my least favorite part of marathon training. Mostly because of the time requirement. When I have the opportunity to run with someone like AM, I find the actual run fun. But most of the time I'm relegated to running on my own, and being completely honest, I find it boring after 15-16 miles. The promise of only running 16 miles is appealing.

What's my problem with Hanson? First of all, Hanson believes that the 20 miler is an arbitrary distance chosen by many training plans with no evidence to support choosing that distance. The book points out that there is evidence to suggest that running longer than three hours doesn't provide additional physiological benefit to the long run (and it take many people longer than three hours to run 20 miles). The book also points out that when training for any other distances the general rule of thumb for a long run is 25-30% of a runner's total weekly mileage. So say you're running 40 miles a week, then a 20 miler is 50% of your weekly mileage...All of that sounds reasonable to me. And notice none of that focuses on only running a 16 mile long run. Except all I keep hearing about from other runners is how it's not necessary to run more than 16 miles for a long run! Of course, that could be because there are only two training plans in the book (beginner and advanced), and both only have three 16 mile long runs. The peak mileage for these plans is between 57 and 63 miles a week. It seems to me that there are enough runners out there that peak at 70-80 to miles a week that there could be another training plan in there, and THAT training plan would probably have 20 mile long runs, you know, because of that whole 25-30% of weekly mileage rule.

It could just be an issue of runners reading what they want out the book too. Hanson admits in the book that the elite runners in the Hanson project do run 20-22 milers, but they also run 100-130 miles a week, so it fits. I guess I'm more irritated that others have taken the program to mean that Hanson doesn't support runs longer than 16 miles, because it simply isn't true.

All that 16 miler business aside, I did like the book. The program focuses on cumulative fatigue. Basically when you run long the program is trying to simulate the last 16 miles of the marathon. As a result, you generally run your long runs harder than traditional plans and on tired legs. I like the idea. Though, I might like it because a lot of my training has been focused on the same idea. He outlines a number of different, but simple workouts, and has a chart for each workout to let you figure out what your pace should be based on what your goal marathon time should be. It's done well enough that you can create your own plan, which is what I like to do.

The biggest downside to the book (for me), is that it's focused on runners who run 3-4 days a week, and trying to get those runners to run 6 days a week. Essentially getting people who are running 35-40 miles a week to run 55-60 miles a week. Now I completely agree that getting runners to run 6 days a week and upping their 35-40 miles a week to 55+ will greatly improve their marathon times, but I've already done that. Since my body seems to be handling the slightly higher mileage of 70-80 miles, I don't think that I would decrease my mileage to follow his lower mileage plan (especially when he's not suggesting that one's overall weekly mileage should decrease, but increase).

Moving beyond Hanson, and jumping down the rabbit hole:

Deviating from the Hanson topic, I did notice something interesting when reading the book. I've run a number of workouts mentioned in the book (like the 6x1 mile repeats), and my paces are faster than suggested for my marathon goal time. This got me to thinking about how I have to train harder than suggested in many training plans to meet my goals...I really don't think I'm doing anything wrong. My workout paces simply have to be faster than suggested, or I won't be able to run my goal time for my race. I've noted this in the past, and have changed my training accordingly.

A few weeks ago, my co-worker's husband ran a 3:11 marathon. It was a significant PR for him. He's a recreational runner, and he's been running for at least 10 years. His training peaked at maybe 50 miles. He ran his long runs at MP, but didn't really run any structured schedule. He didn't do tempo runs or interval runs. When I ran 3:11, I peaked at 76 miles, ran tempo, interval, and MP runs. I know, I know, guys run faster than girls, BUT now I'm wondering about all these training plans out there. If you have a guy and a girl who have the same time goal, would you give them the same training plan down to the same paces for the workouts? Are most of these training plans actually designed for men? Should it not matter? Obviously in this case it mattered. There's no way I would have run 3:11 on his plan, and if he had run my schedule he would have certainly run faster. Maybe it's not necessarily a difference between men and women, but a difference in running potential? In either case, it brings up some interesting questions about training. It seems to me that cookie cutter training plans are probably only good for your first few marathons when you're trying to figure out what works for you. After that, you probably need to create your own plan or get a coach...

Any thoughts? Am I completely crazy?

On the homestead:

We went sledding this weekend in our backyard. It's funny we have two sledding tubes. Kaylee sleds the whole time, and Emily fills her tube with snow. She's quite happy just filling it with snow. And there she is doing just that...two year olds...they're so weird. ;)

Preparing a Ride to Boston

With 39 days until Boston, which is practically right around the corner, it's time to start figuring out how I'm getting to and from the race. I live relatively close by, but I don't want to drive myself, and I don't really want Nick to have to drop me off either. He would, but he'll be watching the kids, we don't know that specific area (that we'd be driving to) super well, and I know I'll be nervous. That combo will probably just lead to more stress for everyone involved. I'd rather take a team bus, where I can drive to a close by location and have them take care of the rest. It's much more care free (for me). Of course, that means I have to be a club member. In theory, picking a club/team should be easy. There's a running club in Lowell (GLRR), which is closest to me. I don't know anyone in the club though, so I have no particular allegiance to the group, but they're convenient. (And I'm sure once I meet them I'll feel some comradely.)

But there were two other possibilities as well. There's the Gate City Striders, which isn't much further than Lowell. I not only have a running friend from college in that club, but I met a number of club members at Derry, and of course everyone was great. Then there's the Whirlaway team. One of my best friends from college runs for Whirlaway, which makes it the most appealing option (because I hardly ever get to see her anymore). Also, if I was serious about getting faster, these ladies would push me there. I'd probably be the 6th runner on the team. That means when we raced, say a half marathon, I would probably be the 6th member of the team to finish (5 other ladies on my team and in my age group would be ahead of me). In my mind, the biggest downside to that is my stress level. I'm sure it would make me faster, but I'm comfortable right now doing my own thing, and not worrying about where I finish on a team, or if I'm letting people down because I didn't run fast enough. I think if I didn't have some specific marathon goals right now, then I would find the Whirlaway team too good to pass up, which probably sounds odd.

Let me explain. Right now I'm very focused on the marathon distance. I see that changing after October, but my racing right now is centered around my marathon training. And the marathon is such a mental suck, that I'm concerned a serious team will play games with my mind. When I let go of the marathon stress, I think team running will become more appealing, fun, and interesting. And it would be so much fun to run with my college friend again!

So I promised my friend that I wouldn't join any team without talking to her first, but I had already joined the GLRR club. Here's the deal though, you can join a club, but not necessarily the team. To score for the team you have to be registered with that team under the USATF. I'm not registered with the GLRR team, just the club, but I have this funny feeling that might change...I just received an email from the club asking which of us are running Boston. They want to select who will be registered to score for the team, but they also need to keep track for the whole bus thing. Given that I'm not a member of any team (at this point), it's probably going to be difficult not to join (since I'm in the club) if they ask. I'd be okay with that though. I'd love to run with my college friend, but I feel a lot less stressed about the seriousness of the GLRR team (hopefully no one gets offended by that statement). And it might be fun to be on a team that doesn't stress me out. Of course, I haven't mentioned my times to anyone and no one knows me, so there's also a good chance that I'll slip through without notice.

Thinking about running with and being a part of a running group is exciting! I don't see myself being able to commit to very many group runs right now, but after Boston I could see myself running long runs with the group. They often run on the BayState course. Of course, if AM decides to run BayState and wants to do some on course runs, I could be easily convinced to stray from the group. ;)

And just for fun here are a couple of phone pics:

 My little kindergartner. She'll be testing for her yellow belt in Kenpo in a couple weeks, which is sort of new and interesting for us. 

Do NOT be fooled. This one is crazy. Lately, she's been running around screaming, "Rawwr, I'm a headless horse! I have no head!" Really, I couldn't make this up if I tried. The other thing she does is chase Kaylee around screaming, "WOOOOoooo, I'm the ghost of the forest!!!" Which, for whatever reason, really freaks Kaylee out...

No Race Report!

On Racing

I was suppose to race this past Sunday, but didn't. It totally wasn't my fault though. Totally. I'm pointing the finger at Mother Nature. Early during the week they started predicting snow. La la la la la, I can't hear you weather people. Yeah, I ignored all that, and continued my marvelous taper. By Thursday, it was getting harder to ignore. SNOW SNOW SNOW! By Friday they cancelled the race. Yes, the race was scheduled for Sunday, and cancelled on Friday. Anyway, at the time I was sort of happy they called it because I was able to run again on Friday, run 21 miles on Saturday, and then 10 miles on Sunday to at least get me to 60 miles for the week. The race probably could have happened though. Where I was it was snowing all day, but only three inches of accumulation, and when we went out for the dinner the roads were just wet. Oh well. I've registered for the New Bedford half, which takes place on March 17. My parents are running it with their running club and lured me into it with promises of fun times with other runner friends and corn beef and cabbage. My parents know me so well. How could I decline a St. Paddy's day race or corn beef and cabbage? 

Training

Training has been going well. I think. This training cycle has been a little crazy. I've been running 60-70 miles a week, which isn't outlandish for me, but I've been doing some crazy workouts. Instead of running a ton of 20 milers this time, I've been more focused on running harder but a little shorter. I've run a number of hard 16 milers. They always have purpose though. What I mean is, I don't just go and run as fast as I can. I'll do things like start at MP and then do 3x5K with 2 minute "rest" jogs at MP. The end result is fast (for me), but not just run as fast as you can for as long as you can. In fact, I've been doing a lot of runs like that. One of my runs last week was a planned "easy" run, but I also wanted to run some surges just to get my legs turning over. It was a 9 miler, and most of the run was done at 8:00 pace, but I did a hard 600 meter every 8 minutes, which brought the average pace down to 7:15. If I've being honest with myself, that's probably not a super easy run. Part of me has been interested in how far I can push myself before I completely unhinge. The trick, I think, is to sense the unhinging coming and then back off. That's what I'm telling myself anyway. And I did just that on Monday. I had a 10 miler planned. Mostly easy with 2x15 minutes at 10K pace. As soon as I started the hard part I knew I should back off. My sinuses hurt, my glands were swollen, and my legs were trashed from my long run. I did slow down. But then I started throwing in random surges at 5K pace. In the end, I was really irritated with myself. Sometimes it's hard to deviate from the plan even when it's in your own best interest. I want to run 70 miles this week, and since I'm clearly feeling under the weather, I am going to try to take it easy for the rest of the week.

BayState Pictures

Ah yeah, BayState was last October. I never did post any pictures. They're all pretty bad, which in a way is a sign that I gave it my all. Also, I look like a beast....

 If you look really really close at my eyes, it looks like I'm turning into a zombie...don't worry though, I didn't.

 Thank goodness I don't look like this all the time. I'm terrifying!

This is probably the best picture...

Completely Unrelated

Nick built me a new computer. The RAM he used is called Vengeance. He's so sweet. Now I have my very own speed machine.

My computer is a beast too.  ;)

Relating my race to how training is going...

Some additional thoughts on Derry:
It's funny, I found running Derry sort of befuddling. I really wanted to somehow correlate my pace to either my marathon pace or half marathon pace, but just couldn't do it. Then it dawned on my that I wasn't attacking the issue from the correct angle. Runners are just different. Some are really strong on a hilly course or in the bitter cold, and some aren't. As a result, it's very difficult to find the correlation I was looking for.

What I was truly looking for though, was how my training is going. I do most of my runs on the treadmill. It's a combination of being a busy mom and trying to stay injury free. But TM running simply isn't the same as running outside, so how can I tell if my TM runs are on track with what I think my MP and HMP should be? Well, I did run a workout on the treadmill two weeks prior to Derry that was meant to "simulate" Derry as much as possible. I ran 16 miles. The first 8 miles were at a 1% incline. Mile 9 was at at 4% incline, Mile 10 was at a 5% incline, and the first 2 minutes of mile 11 were at a 6% incline. Then I thought my heart was going to explode, so I paused the TM, took a 2 minute breather, jumped back on and finished the rest with no incline. My average pace for this run was 6:50 (excluding the 2 minute break). If I factor in the 2 minute break (because race clocks don't pause), then my pace was 6:57. I climbed around 800 feet during this "simulation." Derry has total climb of about 600 feet. My pace at Derry was 6:53. So my pace at Derry was a little faster than my TM run, but the climb was less too. I know it's not an exact science or an exact correlation, but it's as close I'm going to get. I actually felt a lot better running Derry than I felt running the "simulation" on the TM. (Probably because the week I ran Derry was a cut back week, while the "simulation" was during a 70 mile week.) Now, at least, I feel like I know where I stand with my TM running.


More on the tread mill:
Now the TM is interesting because I don't believe that all distances correlate the same. For example, I've broken 18 minutes in the 5K on the TM, but have only run 18:34 recently on the roads. (I don't count TM runs for my PR's.) I was running with no incline at the time, so there's that, but I also know from my own experience that as the distance gets shorter (or the faster the pace) there seems to be more "advantage" time wise on the mill (at least for me). As the distance gets longer, the times start to correlate better (for me). Last year prior to running the Hampton Half, I ran an 8 mile workout on the TM at 6:40 pace (with no incline). At Hampton I wound up running 6:49 pace, which probably seems like the TM was off by more than you'd like to see, but when you consider that the TM run was 8 miles (versus 13), and that I was incredibly sick at Hampton, I think it's probably not all that bad. This last summer and fall while training for the BayState Marathon, I did all my marathon paced runs at 7:19 pace (no incline), and did wind up running 7:19 pace at BayState.

Unfortunately, I don't feel like the TM builds confidence for me. I feel like it's "fake" running. When I input my runs into DailyMile, I feel like reporting those paces is cheating. I will admit, that once or twice I've added a couple minutes to a TM run when I reported it on DM. I know some of you are looking at my DM stuff, so 99% of the time, I am totally honest, but there have been maybe a half dozen runs over the last 2 years, where I ran a huge PR on the mill and just felt weird about it, so I added some time to the total. Part of the issue might be that I often keep one hand on the TM when I run, and I feel like that's cheating too. But running hard is sort of scary on the TM, and I've promised Nick that I'll be with him forever. Keeping that one hand on makes me feel less like I'm going to get thrown across the room if I stumble a bit. I do try to make sure that I'm not "hanging" on the machine in anyway.

I'm trying to get over my TM hangups. The truth is, that it's not exactly like running outside, but it almost doesn't even matter. It's a training tool, and there are things you can do with the TM that you can't do outside. If you have an elevation map of a course, you can sort of "simulate" that course like I did with Derry. You can train your body to know what a certain pace feels like. My workouts heavily rely on using the specific pace (or slightly faster) than what I'm training for. You can put the TM on that pace and just rely on it to maintain it for you. That's huge for me. When I'm outside by myself, it's so easy to just give in. For me, it's a lot easier to slow down outside, than it is for me to touch that minus button...It's almost like having a training partner or having someone pace you. I also found this interesting article on TM running. Basically it says running on the TM feels harder, but is actually easier due to lack of wind resistance. It was interesting to read, because most of my paces do feel harder on the TM (well all except 5K pace, 5K pace feels easier on the mill to me).

Derry Pics:
Remember how I mentioned the the Greater Derry Track Club (GDTC) did a great job organizing the race? Well, they had Nuvision Action Image do the photography. And guess what!? You can download the full resolution image for free! No strings attached! Apparently the cost of the photography is covered with the race registration fee. That's pretty cool. Derry's registration fee was $50, and I have to say it was worth every dollar. Okay, so here are a few pics of me at Derry. Note that I looked pained AND I'm slightly heel striking (so I was probably tired too). To be fair, there were a number of pictures where I wasn't heel striking, but I didn't like them as much as these...

 My Stride is a lot longer than I thought...oh, and yes, I am wearing arm warmers over my jacket.

 Those are the CW-X tights I mentioned last time...so ugly...yet so awesome.

 So my arm swing always crosses my body, which is bad, but I can't seem to fix it...