The one artist that I put off seeing as a kid that I regret … as he passed away 23 years ago today.
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Pikes (apparently) is not Skyrunning. Well, when your standard is this, I guess that statement is fair.
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A bit of controversy on who gets finisher’s medals at Pikes. I know there will come a day where the only thing I can worry about earning is a finisher’s medal, versus PRs or an age group placing. It is just a hunk of medal I realize but I imagine there will be a day that is what I am calling on to get my tail to the finish. The folks who grab a medal and shirt that don’t really finish are about equivalent to those that hitch the ride in the RnR races and claim they finish. It’s your mirror man.
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Pikes prints your name on your race bib. Pretty cool as when you are passing other runners (as they head in the other direction) you can eyeball their name and give them some encouragement.
Except it is not so cool when you are a bit pissed about how you are laying an egg out there. Then everyone yelling, “nice job George, you are killing it” for the umpteenth time is annoying. And realizing that you are annoyed by it when they are only trying to pass you goodwill gets you more annoyed about what a grumpy old man you have become.
I wanted to fold the name part of my bib under so no one could see it.
In a similar fashion, I feel some part of my gut turn whenever someone asks me “hey, you did Pikes? How’d that go?” I grin and say, “aw, not my best day on the mountain, but it is done.” Sometimes that is enough, but there are those folks who press and really want to know. Of course, they try to console you - “hey we all have bad days man, it is okay, you will get it next time.” Exactly the stuff I would say to them if it was turned around. But it stings.
But I want it to sting. I don’t want to simply wash it away as a bad day. I want it to be a bit humiliating so that I learn from it. When the sting goes away, the desire to address it and correct that also fades some too. Ask me in public and I won’t dwell on it. I will smile when my buddies raise a beer and say I choked. Because it is true. And it is part of the fun of this game. But part of that goes in a box that I am keeping somewhere … for now.
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Fairly certain that my focus is not going to include a 100 mile stunt this fall.
Maybe it is just because it is fall. Well, almost.
My fabric in this sport was woven with the anticipation that came at the end of August. The days grew cooler, the days shorter, and the burn of going fast over grass in cross country was there. Chatting with Lucho the other morning we were getting fired up over USATF XC coming to Boulder. Sure, it is not until February, but I want to get my wheels back, take a crack at a sub five mile, get on the track and rip my legs off with repeats, be in a crew of guys pushing the intervals over the grass. Watching my daughter’s XC team the other morning also added to it. Guys fighting to be in the top seven, wondering if the other school is holding out a top runner or two, figuring out how to pace a race and then gun a guy down in the last kilo. Sweet.
Focus now is kicking Brownie and Nick P’s butt in a 5k.
Side note, I owe a six pack to John G in the Springs and Sir Nick in Fort Fun.
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A few minimum things to do to get ready for Boulder cross (other than just run)
1.) establish team members of local grumpy old men – at least five and up to nine. Having a few spares is important as old guys get hurt.
2.) get regular workouts going (too early now to kill it but do regular training together to establish good habits)
3.) get USATF memberships sorted out for team members
4.) get USATF team thing figured out
5.) determine uniforms (and if possible, team sponsor)
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Skurka sez … ppbbfft to Leadville next year.
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I listened to a recent Endurance Planet with Dr. Phil M.
MAF, or maximum aerobic function training, has been a topic long kicked about on this blog’s black background. Generally, it is hard to disagree with the concept of base building, building a strong aerobic foundation, and keeping recovery as recovery.
I have had some issue with the details of some of the calculations. Ask any runner is 220 minus your age is an appropriate way to determine your maximum heart rate and you will hear how that is not wholly applicable to them. It is a large grained general approach to massive populations and averages, but rarely to any one individual. I feel the same way about the MAF calculations. The 180 minus your age gets you in a ball park but chances are you may fall outside that. But it is your trip – define what works for you.
Anyway, the latest EP interview while challenging, is interesting. It seems to me that Tawnee is even struggling with some of his responses. Certainly, some of the stuff that Phil brings up in this podcast has me scrunching my forehead. Listening to music while running is bad for you? Your brain is unhappy and confused when running on a treadmill? No need to do intervals other than some downhill stuff because you know how to race because you were chased by a saber tooth tiger back in the Paleolithic? Cardiac drift is arbitrary? Perceived effort is not relevant?
Eh, I guess we all have our mix of good ideas and … less than good ideas.
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I guess there is a bit of controversy in the WPBA … about the Triple Crown. Hal won Fairplay outright but was second at Leadville and Buena Vista – but first male. Karen Thorpe was third at Fairplay but was first across the line for all comers at the later two races. There is a bit of a question if the TC winner is gender based or not. Adding to the confusion is actually what races count as there are short races at all the events now. And supposedly you can only win if you are a member of the WPBA. Always drama in the donkey world. Thing is the donkeys don’t seem to care.
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This is the best taper plan that I have ever seen.
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This is geared towards high school runners, but the (general) statement - “Everyone wants to PR every year, right? If you are not training harder or living better than the previous year, why would you think you would you would run faster?” - is excellent.
PM – 8.4 miles. Easy but grew to slightly steady in the heat.
Evening – 10 minutes of myrtle, planks, etc. Right hammy a bit tender – probably from the squats yesterday? Hmmm. Then 3.6 miles from the soccer field JZ was practicing at.
Good stuff as always. I've been using MAF as my "foundation" method for ~17 years now, but after having coached close to 400 athletes I've evolved away from the 180 minus age. I think it's an OK starting point for people just beginning with HR training, but over time you can extrapolate (or test) and get better numbers based on the individual's unique "aerobic" profile. One of my initial questions for a new athlete is to provide HR data from races or from hard workouts. I can generally dial in an athlete's appropriate "MAF" range off that. I prefer 20 beats below LT rather than MAF. Dr Maffetone would argue though that lactate threshold is inaccurate because of RQ, fatigue, etc... and he is correct there. It does vary day to day, but if it varies then so does the ideal base effort (if one threshold drifts then you have a cascade effect and the others will also drift). I also like to add 5 beats to MAF ranges (up and down) so you can work within a 20 beat range which allows for less watch staring. There is a quite wide margin of error when you talk about building "aerobic endurance". I'll run at 140-160 beats. And if you were to look at fat burning vs. CHO % you would see that the 50/50 point lies more in the MAF +10 beat range. Or closer to marathon intensity (AeT or aerobic threshold or "tempo"), which I believe (and so did Lydiard and Lance Armstrong, so does Canova) is the true "sweet spot" in terms of building economy and also race specific strength. The goal should be to build one's ability to complete a higher percentage of training in that effort/ metabolic range.
ReplyDeleteOne of my biggest beefs with Dr Maffetone, and don't get me wrong... I'm a champion of his method, is that he tends to ignore the physical structure. Yes, your fat burning economy is critical... but so is tendon/ muscle strength and durability. And possibly even more important is the mental aspect. MAF doesn't build mental strength. At mile 20 of a marathon you will be suffering and dealing with that is a skill that you learn through experience. We can learn to lessen the effects of our "Central Governor", but in order to do that we have to trigger it. You only do that by placing your body in harms way through either (or both) environmental (extreme heat, high altitude) or physical exertion extremes.
It should also be noted that Dr Maffetone's approach is nearly 100% health based. The MAF method is incredibly safe and moderate and healthful, both physically and mentally. It's very Zen. But it does go against the science of being as FAST as you can be. If you want to push yourself to your physical limits in terms of performance just running MAF will be a tricky method to make work.
Maffetone has some great ideas but I think we need to adjust the HR ranges based on thresholds and not ignore thresholds. In a hard race like a marathon the guy with the fastest MAF probably won't win... it will be the guy who is fastest 10-15 beats above MAF.
I could go on and on. Sorry for the ramble.
WOW - no apologies necessary there man. Great stuff.
DeleteYou say a lot there but there things that really pop off the page for me are the mental focus, the broader range of aerobic function (I prefer the term-approach fixed HR training more than aerobic function) and that Dr. Phil is more health based.
There is a lot of research on the health based stuff that generally the endurance community is only marginally accepting, or even choosing to ignore (umm, guilty). I really wonder if the way many of us are going at IM, 100s, etc is healthy ...
You put it so well about the cheers on the hill, regardless of whether or not they know your name or not. When tanking it, every cheer I hear make me bristle. I want to stop and explain that it is a horrible day, I am xx:xx behind goal/PR pace and I have pretty much given up. Then I am more pissed for being pissed, as I am SUPPOSED to be having a good time, should be thankful that I can do this and I know that those giving the good cheer only have good intentions. I do it when I spectate, or for other competitors.
ReplyDeleteExcellent discussion on MAF. I really enjoy listening to his theories, but somewhat disagree with him on some of the points you mentioned. I go back and forth on headphones for many reasons, but I think he was a bit off base for that, it is really an individual call. Some of my very best local PRs have been with headphones, just listening to a podcast which keeps my mind distracted a bit from the pain. So many individual variables.
Would love to listen to a Lucho/Phil/Tawnee podcast at some point (Lucho? Lucho?).
XC Nats, aside from needing to hold a USATF license, what other qualifications does one need? I assume that not just any old wannabe could sign up and get in everyone else's way. Are singlets mandatory? ;)
You just need a USATF membership actually. No qualifications.
DeleteThat said, when you do that and you jump in the OPEN race, you risk the wonderful opportunity of getting lapped by Alan Culpepper as he goes on to win ... and Goucher and Ritz too.
Less of an issue in the masters race as you'd be out there with the 80 year old guys too.
You can wear what you want ... I am not sure if teams need to be color coordinated, but it is probably assumed so and good form.
My most embarrassing race moment, during a total meltdown at a (hot as hell) summertime 50K: The aid station worker told me that I was "doing great", and I snapped that I had run this same course 2 hours faster a few months ago, that walking in the middle of the pack was not "great". I spent the next 5 minutes icing and apologizing, until he told me to stop blubbering and get moving. Felt shitty about it, and still do.
ReplyDeleteAs for MAF, it's a useful framework to build on, and it properly emphasizes the importance of aerobic development. But fitness ain't religion (as much as people treat it that way), and gurus aren't gods. You can (and should) adapt methods from all sorts of smart and successful coaches and athletes - from any physical pursuit, not just the endurance crowd.
Anyway, good thoughts.
Great story there Alex.
DeleteAnd you said it better about MAF in a short comment than I did in nearly a whole post. Thanks.
It's been awhile, but your racing/training thoughts as of late have been mirroring some of mine. Hope to get together for some shorter distance stuff sometime, racing or training.
ReplyDeleteYou just missed the USATF Rocky Mountain Masters Outdoor Championships...huh? I only learned about it while jogging by the track on Sunday. One of the guys told me about it -- "everyone gets a medal!" (he was smiling a bit ironically) but also noted that 35(!) and up is the Master's/non-open group. Looks like a fun one for next year.
Glad to see Lucho's MAF comments above. It seems so many people have confused the basics of MAF as part of a training/base-building regimen with an entire training regimen. I enjoyed Lucho's EP commentary in the past, but frankly stopped listening awhile ago because so many of the same yet very person-specific MAF questions were being asked. And I think people embrace MAF at times for the wrong reasons of it "feeling easy" -- as Lucho said, strength/speed, discomfort, running economy, mental strength, etc. need to be developed for optimal running and especially racing (hence the large body of existing literature).
USATF makes a pretty good buck off membership and those sort of local championships. It is actually part of the complaint that MUT folks often have ... what is in it for me? FWIW, it seems to mean a lot more out east ... might be the population density there or something.
DeleteThat could spawn a whole series of posts on the USATF, but I will hold on that for a bit.
I guess if your your ENTIRE training goal is to FINISH an ultra with optimal health than MAF exclusively would be ENTIRELY appropriate.
Hope to cross paths with you again soon.