Learning about some of the mental aspects of running

I like the saying 'every days a school day' and the idea that it's always time to learn something new and running is no different.  

Last Wednesday was certainly one of these days as I attended the third part of 'legs, head, heart' @RunningWorks, a seminar looking at some of the mental aspects of long distance running.

I really enjoyed the evening and took away a lot of learning points. The talks from Dr Dan Gordon and Andrew Cohen-Wray also posed me several questions I could apply to my training and racing as I seek to improve. 

Here are some points I learnt from the evening which I hope you will find useful: 

First up Dr Dan spoke about pacing, an understanding of what pacing actually is and means as well as insights into research findings from Anglia Ruskin University's studies into marathon pacing. 

An understanding of pacing, Dr Dan explained that everyone paces, even small kids playing in the play ground. 

Judging your pace successfully is about optimising your physical performance. This is the basic idea of being able to run any given distance in your fastest possible time. We tend to think of pacing more in terms of long distance running but it's good to remember that even Usain Bolt has to pace himself over his sprint distances. 

Pacing is physiological and emotional

The brain regulates your pace based on comparisons to your previous runs.

The idea of global experience or being able to relax ahead of a marathon because you have ran several before and completed many long runs so you can think, 'I have been there and I have done that' and you are not fazed by the challenge that lies ahead of you. This experience of having done things before is important as experience matters when it come to pacing you need to have a frame of reference based on previous race experiences. 

Pacing well in training does not equate to pacing well in a marathon. Pacing is a learnt response and cannot be learnt through training. 

If you are interested in trying to calculate what pace you should be running your next marathon at a useful tool might be the flying runner pace calculator. 

The second part of the talk was from Andrew Cohen-Wray, Athlete in mind sharing his thoughts on marathon mental preparation. 

Goals

He posed some interesting questions to think over that are quite hard to get your head around. When training for a specific goal, whether it being completing a distance or finishing in a certain time 'what will happen if you don't get it?' Or 'what won't happen if you don't get it?'. I found these ideas really interesting and gave me a lot to think over.

Fears 

Then to help you deal with any fears you might have about a race naming your fears can help, knowing what you are afraid of can help you to overcome them and to worry less. Also thinking about what's the worse that could happen? Being aware of the worse case scenario can help you to prepare for all eventualities. 

Chunks

It's a common concept that a lot of us do, break your event down into chunks to help you cope with the overall task. Whether this is by mile, kilometre, 10K section, next jelly baby or energy gel or next lap. 

A marathon is after all only 8 and a bit parkruns if you look at it that way! 

The two most important things I took away for the evening though are as follows: 

'Learning the difference that makes the difference'

What little thing can you change to your training or race preparation that will make a big difference? Whether it's mental or physical there will be little things that can make a change. 

'Be the best that you can be'

Be aware of your own limitations and know what your capable of achieving in both training and a race. E.g. Can you realistically commit to a long run every weekend during marathon training if you work full time and have family commitments? This leads to the idea that 'you can only do what you can do with what you have'. I know I do not have the body and physical capabilities to run a 2.30 marathon neither do I have the finances to have a weekly massage or personal training sessions three times a week. I know however that with the right training I can run a sub 4 hour marathon and that needs to be my focus. 

So that's my closing thought, be the best you can be, learn what you can and work hard to achieve your goals, simples! 

Post marathon and onto the next challenge

Post marathon blues can be a common side affect of running a marathon. All the effort that goes into training, all the planning for race day, all the expectation on goals to be achieved and then all of a sudden it's over and there is suddenly a void where marathon training once consumed your life. 

No such trouble for me on this occasion. Post marathon I decided to employ a reverse taper strategy, which is exactly what it sounds like, increasing my mileage after the marathon in the same we I decreased it in the build up to the race. 

I didn't quite achieve a mirror image but here is what my training schedule looked like pre and post marathon: 

10th 10K 
11th 
12th 5.7K 
13th
14th 4K fartlek
15th
16th
17th 2.5K
18th Chhelmsford Marathon
19th
20th
21st 1.8K 
22nd
23rd 4K fartlek
24th
25th 10K 

And so onto the next challenge...

After the marathon I have ended up going to the complete other end of the running spectrum and am now focusing on 5Ks and in particular training for a sub 20 minute 5K by the end of the year.

This challenge is in competition with running buddies Chris and Tony and we plan to check on our 5K capabilities shortly before having a crack at the sub 20 just before Christmas.

After the long time consuming runs of marathon training it's kind of nice to now be looking at shorter training runs in preparation for 5K. It's nice not to have to commit so much free time to training although I realise if done properly more speed training will in fact be more tiring! 

Although the training will be very different between training for a marathon and a 5K one thing will remain the same the quest for for sub4. For my marathon I was aiming for a sub 4 hour finish and now for a sub 20 minute 5K I will have to achieve sub 4 minute kilometres, so the goal really remains the same!

So for the next little while the blog is likely to be full of speed work, circuit training, hill sprints and intervals and it's a change I am looking forward to. I am really excited to see how far I can improve my current 5K PB of 21.00 over this dedicated period of time. 

Earlier in the year I worked hard on my speed work for a while as I realised I was so out of shape! I managed to improve my time from 23.?? To my current PB of 21.00 in just ? weeks. You can read about that here. 

So stay tuned for how this challenge pans out, you can follow my blog on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ or bloglovin. It would be great to get some suggestions on some good speed work sessions and different exercises you have used to get stronger, let me know what has worked for you! 

Day 4 Starting to feel the strain

Today's run: Evening - Long(er), slow(er) and steady - pavement - 8.12km - 42.33mins

First off I must say I am loving this runstreak at the moment! Although I am only just starting off I am really enjoying the continued focus of running everyday and it is having a great affect on my running and I am probably enjoying my running as much if not moret han ever!

Today's run I was expecting to be tough after yesterdays morning run and evening boot camp session but in actual fact it wasn't too bad at all. 

Although I felt a bit stiff this morning I felt I had recovered well from yesterdays exertions. The double session yesterday definitely made me feel the strain, the early morning run was a drain having to run so early in the morning and my energy for the evening boot camp session was pretty drained. 

Boot camp last night consisted of a lot of skipping, I am not a great fan nor actually a great skipper. Although it is a great cardio exercise I unfortunately do not possess the right levels of coordination for it to be a particularly effective exercise and I tend to usually both look and feel like a hyperactive spider in a constant state of half running, half falling in a perpetual cycle of almost tripping over all of his legs. 

The main circuits of last nights training was a split circuit of two sections, firstly using an exercise step, 30 seconds of tappers, bomb jumps and side lunges (all leg intensive exercises designed to build dynamic power) followed by alternate skipping sets repeated 4 times. The second circuit was then again using the exercise step this time a combination of 30 seconds of incline pressups, tricep dips and decline pressups again intersected with skipping and again repeated 4 times. 

So all in all 8 sections of skipping! I was sick of holding the damn skipping rope come the end!

My energy levels particularly in my legs were clearly diminished on my usual performance and I could feel my legs at times just not having anything left to give. I know its all good as pushing tired legs to keep going when they have had enough will only make them stronger. 

I started off aiming to progress slow and steadily but soon warmed up nicely and felt stronger as the run went on. 

My route was planned to take me around 7 or 8km and in the end I completed 8.12km with a decent pace of just over 5 minutes per km with a strong and fast finish.

As well as the obvious physical challenges running for so many consecutive days posses there are also the more practical implications such as needing a high amount of kit.

Earlier this week I was forced into doing an emergency batch of washing made up almost entirely of running socks! Almost 50 socks all washed and ready to wear most of which to be fair have seen better days!

So thats day 4 done and I am already feeling the benefits of my more intense training as I feel stronger, faster and fitter.

What goes through my mind trying to run a fast 10K

Last night I headed out to run 10K, I wanted to push myself to run as fast as I could and to try and see if I could get close to my PB. I figured this was a good indicator of where my fitness was and a good way to work on my speed and strength so this was my speed session for the week.

I had planned out a route that was fairly flat, on concrete pavements and paths that would allow me to run fast as opposed to trails and tracks that would require me to run slower. The route was also designed without the need for many road crossings so I wouldn't be held up or delayed.

I have ran a few 10K distances over the last few weeks in around 50 minutes without trying to hard so knew I could get a few minutes under 50 if I pushed a little bit. My 10K PB is 44.30 and I wanted to see if I was in any kind of condition to run close to this bearing in mind I hadn't trained for it and my training emphasis has been on long and slow with the exception of a couple of 5K parkruns.

As part of trying to learn from every run and reflect on what parts of my training are going well or not well I thought it might be useful to try and record my thought processes during my run so here they are listed against each Km ran:  

1st - 4.23 split - I need to run fast, is this fast enough? Am I going too fast? How long can I sustain this pace? Do I feel strong enough to run a good time?

2nd - 4.39 split - Good first K, should I have pushed harder though? Is this pace fast enough or should I push harder? I am nicely settling into a rhythm this is going to be a good run I am feeling good.

3rd - 4.16 split - I am sure I have pushed to hard, I can sustain this for 5K maybe 6 or 7 but not 10 I should have started more conservatively. 

4th - 4.26 split - How is my 5K time going to stack up? I have 3 quick Ks in the bank should I take it easy a bit?

5th - 4.26 split - 22.06 5Km - On course for a great 5K time, I rally need to push a bit harder at Parkrun! Running on concrete though makes a big difference. When will I start to tire? How badly and quickly will I tire? 

6th - 4.40 split - 2nd half its going to get harder! I need to keep breathing, I need to keep concentrating on my technique. Have I fueled well enough to keep going? Should I have eaten more/differently during the day? 

Around this point I started to realise the course I had planned out thinking it was going to be around 10K was now in fact going to be a bit short. I tried to focus on not letting this bother me and distract me but at the same time try to think ahead and plan out where I could run to extend my route on paths or roads that would allow me to keep running fast.

7th - 4.40 split - This is it, this is where the game is won or lost, this is where I dig deep! This is the time to hurt, push now and you get a good time to be proud of, start to relax and you will regret letting yourself down. I want to hurt, I want some pain, I want to push myself hard to the point I will feel ill when I finish, this is it time to go time to give it what you have got!

8th - 4.45 split - Stay strong, keep running the hardest part is behind you but don't let your hard work go to waste you need to finish the job you started.

9th - 4.41 split- On course for a good time now just need to keep at it the last little bit.... I have pushed to early I thought I could increase my pace and sustain it to the end but I have pushed and now there's not much left in the tank, just need to keep working till the end now.

10th - 3.29 split - What have I got left? I am pretty much spent, my technique has gone, my breathing is heavy and so are my legs, when is my final push, what do I have left for a sprint finish?

Overall I was really satisfied with my time of 45.53 as this is probably my second or third fastest ever time and goes to show my training is progressing well and I am getting fitter, stronger and faster, a very satisfying run and result.