The Training Crucible

It has taken me a year, but I have learned a new (and valuable) way to use my Garmin 205.
Plan my workouts for the week.


When I first got the watch I simply wanted to know my distance and time, which would give me my pace.  At the time any pace was good because I hadn't been running in about 10 years.  Now, as I try to improve my running I am looking for ways to get the most out the tools I am using.

Earlier this year I started creating some custom workouts that I could download to my watch, but I didn't realize that I could plan into the future with it.
Here's what you do:
1. Take one of the pre-programed or custom workouts from your workout tab in Garmin Training Center.
2. After you left-click on it, drag it to the date when you want to do the workout.
3. Sync your watch with the Garmin Training Center (Go to "File" and click "Send to device").
4. Now when your watch is on hit the mode button and go to "Training," next go to "Workouts" then "Advanced."  On the Advanced screen you can choose "Today's" or select from the list by going to "View All."

Knowing about this feature would have really helped last week when I selected the wrong workout on Thursday.  I was 10 minutes into the run before I realized that something was wrong. If had simply set up the training for each day all I would have needed to do would be to select "Today" and I would be set.
This is a really great feature to have, especially for those of us who are still half asleep when we head out for that early morning run!

This week I faced the fact that there was something seriously wrong with my foot.  For two weeks now I have dealt with a injury to my right heel.  At first I thought it was simply my Achilles tendon tightening up on me after a hard 8 mile run.  I pushed it out of mind, thinking that an old football injury from senior year of high school was coming back to haunt me.
My intentional thoughts in regard to training were to simply press on. It would continue to run, but not try to push the pace until my foot felt better. I had fallen into the trap that many runners succumb to:
You see, my plan said to run, so ran. This mentality has been with me forever.  For example from the time of pre-K until graduation of high school I missed exactly one day of school (3rd grade- food poisoning, I still can't eat roast beef sandwiches from on fast-food chain). I even took 3 exams in isolation because I had chicken pox my junior year!
But after 2 weeks of running, and no improvement I figured it was time to give it a rest and hope that it heals quickly. (I should add that it took some prompting from my fabulous wife to actually get me to stop running for a few days).
Then I had to promptly diagnose my condition in order to know how to treat it. Fortunately I have couple of close friends that are PAs and they talked with me about...PLANTAR FISCIITIS.  NOOOOOOOOOOO!
This has been described by Christopher McDougall as the "vampire bite" for runners.
So what is plantar fisciitis?
Basically it is pain in the heel of your foot.  It can be caused by adding too many miles, too quickly, wearing the wrong shoes or running too fast.
I believe mine was caused by the combination of factors:
1. Wearing the wrong shoes.  Earlier this spring I was at a running expo for the Little Rock Marathon and I found a great deal on some New Balance shoes.  I thought I was buying the 769 which has been great for me (a stability shoe, for those with normal arches) instead I bought the 1063 (a neutral cushion shoe, for those with high arches).
2. The speed work plan where I was trying to push myself everyday.  I have learned that there is a reason to have recovery days. Planning to get faster as fast as possible led me to the (wrong) conclusion that I had to faster at every workout.  Taking a day to do a recovery run so that I can back the next with greater intensity would have been a better approach (it also might have kept me injury free).

As far is treatment goes, I would follow the plan from Runner's World. I have been using it the past 2 days and I feel a ton better.
Hopefully I'll be ready to run again this weekend.  Today I got on the elliptical for 30 minutes and didn't have any issues, although it doesn't create the same pounding sensation you get from running.

Good luck to all the runners out there. I hope you stay injury free, but if you do get injured, remember to take some time off! Trust me, you'll be okay!

Side Note: You get some strange photos when you search for images of foot injuries!

Week 4 of Hal Higdon's Spring Training is now done, so here are the numbers:

After 3 weeks of using Hal Higdon's Spring Training speedwork plan I have to admit that while I am running faster, I have yet to do any two weeks the same or according to plan.  Such is the life of husband and father of 3 who has other things besides running in his life.  So far I have only missed one workout, but I have learned to make some modifications in order to get everything done.  This week Meg started running again in order to get ready for the Soaring Wings Half Marathon.  We also went with our girls to Hot Springs in order to spend the weekend at the lake with some of our best friends in the world, the Smiths.

I think the title is enough of an introduction, so here we go:

• Anne Jackson has become one of my favorite authors.  This year she is following in the footsteps of another favorite author of mine, Donald Miller and riding across the USA with RideWell. The goal, like my goal with Team World Vision is to help raise money/awareness of the poor water conditions in Africa and help communities there drill wells so they can have clean water.
• This just makes me sick.  I can't imagine eating this much food, especially after watching Supersize Me and Food Inc.
• Good news for Triathletes looking to track their swimming leg.
• Seth Godin does not write about running, but he's a genius! His Fear of Shipping and Cheating the Clock have so great implications for endurance athletes. If you haven't read his latest book Linchpin yet, you really need to buy it this weekend.
• Want to make sure you are drinking enough water during your workouts, here's a helpful post from @cyberpenguin.
• A review of Racing Weight by Matt Fitzgerald. I've been working for awhile to lose the last 10 pounds in my weight loss goal.  Week to week my weight ebbs between 5 lbs. I really need to cut the amount of sugar I take in, mainly through my sweet tea addiction! Needless to say, I'll be looking for this book soon.
• Continuing with the weight-loss theme, here's a post from a friend, The Nashville Nutrition Expert on healthy eating for the summer. If you like what you heard in the video then look for her page on Facebook. Sarah is also trying to gain a spot on Oprah's new network, but she needs your vote.

I am continuing to use various types of supplements and sports drink to aid in my training, especially at this point when I am focused on building speed.  Right now I am training 6 days a week so I am really for the supplements that will help me with recovery so that I can get out there tomorrow and achieve the goals of each workout.

The latest sports drink that I have added to the mix is Cytomax.  I was introduced to Cytomax at the Country Music Marathon in Nashville earlier this year.  Having never had it before (and knowing that it would be used during the race) I had sure to find their exhibit at the expo and try the stuff out.  At the expo they featured both the citrus and tangy orange flavors.  There was also a sample that came with the race packet of the citrus flavor that I could take home for later use.  Immediately I liked the taste! It doesn't have the chalky taste that is associated with many powdered sports drinks.  In fact, as far as taste goes, Cytomax is by far my favorite!  It is also easy to mix and doesn't stain my containers.

One down side to Cytomax Performance Drink is that it lacks protein to help aid in recovery (however CytoSport does make drink mixes that are targeted to recovery). In the Performance Drink formula, there is also crystalline fructose, which is essentially a powder form of fructose corn syrup (maybe that's why I really enjoyed the taste).

I have enjoyed using Cytomax Performance and it will probably remain my drink of choice to take out on runs with me.  However, when it comes to looking for a recovery drink to have once the run is over, I think I'll be looking for something else.  Not sure what yet, any suggestions?


Also, here are a couple of other reviews of Cytomax that might be helpful:
1. Coach Levi
2. Kmax Trax: this review also features Acclerade, which I am also using, which I my start using as my recovery drink after workouts.

This week was a little hectic, but I found time to get the all of my runs in except one.
Here we go:

Monday: Easy 3 miles. Went 3.12 @ 25:33.
Tuesday: 3 X Hills. 3.67 @ 40:06.  I started of with a 1.5 mile warm up at a 9:30 pace. Then I went out to the big hill behind the house I did repeats.  This is major hill.  I still need to check the grade on it (anyone know how to determine that?) so I can compare it with other hills, but needless to say its a beast. Sprinting up this thing 3 times really took it out of me, so on the return trip to house I was "running" at a 10-11:00 pace.
Wednesday: Rest. I moved my rest day because Meg and the girls returned home from Florida today. It had been a week and a half since I had seen my girls so I wanted to spend some time with them without anything else to distract me.

Thursday: Another Easy 3. Went 3.12 @ 27:50, returned home and did P90X Core Synergistics.
Friday: 30 Minute Fartlek. 3.64 @ 31:00.  This was a fun run of varying speeds. I loved using the workout feature on my Garmin, which would beep when it was time to change speeds.  I just need to create a more individualized plan for future workouts.
Saturday: 7.01 @ 1:02:00. Missed the heat of the day this time and had water waiting for me at the halfway mark, still it was hot.  We left mid-morning to go camping for the weekend at the lake.  While we were there we took in a mile hike with the girls.
Sunday: I missed my 3 miles + strength training session for this week.

This week will be crazy again as we leave on Friday to go to another lake and spend the weekend with great friends from Louisiana. I think I am going to skip the day of rest on Thursday and move everything up, but we'll see how the week goes.  Today's run was pretty easy in prep for the speed workout that will come tomorrow on the hills.

Good luck to everyone in your training! 
What resources do you use to analyze your training?

I'm two weeks into my Hal Higdon-based speed work training program and I just came across The McMillan Running Calculator, which I think will greatly help me measure my workouts more effectively.
Like most pace calculators, McMillan asks that you enter the time from a previous race and it will predict your time for other racing distances. However, unlike other running calculators, you are also provided with a wealth of information about how you should be training.  He covers everything from your pace on long runs to your speed workouts (there are even variations for long distance and middle distance runners).  This information is quite helpful for novice runners like myself who aren't quite sure what to do with Hal Higdon's more general advice on pacing during runs.
An added advantage of McMillan's Calculator is that now I can plug in my desired time for a future race (ie. the 3:10 I need to qualify for the Boston Marathon and see what I should be running in other races).  The Hal Higdon plan calls for me to run 3 races: 5K, 8K and 10K over the course of the next 12 weeks.  I also plan to run The Soaring Wings Half Marathon in October.  According to McMillan a Boston Qualifier should be able to run the following times for those races:
5K: 19:29
8K: 32:07
10K: 1:07:50
1/2 Marathon: 1:30:05


Looking at those times right now, I feel a little crazy for thinking I can do this. At the same time, I have a plan in place that is helping me increase my speed.  Ultimately, the goal is to simply become a better runner.  If I miss my goal in December I will still have plenty of time to qualify for the 2012 Boston Marathon.
After reading this you may be wondering why I'm not switching over to McMillan's training program.  Honestly I think it is superficial reasons for sticking with Higdon:

1. I have read his books and used his plan for my first marathon.
2. A good friend in town used Higdon's plan and qualified for Boston last year.

While those may not be the greatest reasons ever, they are mine.

I'd love to hear your input:


1.What training plans have you used in the past/ or are using now?
2. Have there been any plans that you have been unhappy with or any that have really stood out as excellent?

This week I wrapped up my first week of speed work training.  Overall it has been a great week.  The daily regime of P90X has gotten me ready for running everyday (with one day of rest each week).  So here are the details from this past week of training:

Monday: 3 Mile Run: 8:44 pace. This is suppose to be an easy run, the purpose is just to build up miles.
Tuesday: 3 X Hill: I picked out a quarter mile section of a hill near my house.  Running up the hill my average pace was 7:00/mile.  I jogged back down the hill and then repeated. I did a total of 3 miles on this day becasue there was about a 1 mile warm up and then another mile for cool down.
Wednesday: 3 Miles: 8:12 pace. One hour of strentgh training.  For my Wednesday strength training sessions throughout the period of training I'll be using the P90X Core Synergistics DVD.  This gives me a near full body workout that focuses on my upper thighs to my lower chest. I have talked about the impotance of a strong core and now I'm applying it.
Thursday: Rest. I think we all understand this one.
Friday: 30 Minute Tempo. The first time I have prepared a tempo run before. After a 10 minute warm up at an easy pace I did a steady build up to a 7:45/mile pace over 10 minutes.  The wrapped up with a 10 minute cooldown, dropping my pace back to 8:45/mile.
Saturday: 6 Mile Run. The plan was to make this an easy run.  The first 4 miles were easy, and then I realized it was like 95 out and I had no water. Not a great combo, so rather than risk injury I slowed down. The pace over the total 6 was 9:49, but the first 4 was at 8:45.
Sunday: 3 Miles, 8:57 pace. One hour of strength training. I did another full body workout, this time with weights. Moves included incline press, leg press,donkey calf raises, hammer curls and standing row. I wish I had kept a more detailed log on the excerises and weights that I used, but I missed it this time.
I'll repeat the same schedule agian this week, except the Saturday run will be 7 miles, and I'll be sure to have water this time (as well as running earlier in the day).

One of the joys of running is being a part of running community.  This past weekend our family was running at a 10K in Conway, AR for Toad Suck Daze. Even in the pouring rain, runners stood out on the track to cheer others on as the came in for the finish.

The community of runners is also why I joined DailyMile.  It's like Facebook for runners and cyclist, allowing you to share your workouts. There is also a challenge function that allows you to challenge your friends to some crazy races, like the first person to run 1,000 miles!
So today I went on the hunt for some running blogs.  Having just started my own running blog I am trying to find others who are sharing their run experience with the world.  Here are a few that I found today:

1. Autism Runs. This blog is written by Chris Fales, the Director of Health and Training for Train 4 Autism.  I found his blog through Operation Jack which was featured on the blog yesterday.
2. Chris also has a personal blog for training, Trainer Chris.
3. See Jess Run. I found Jess through another blog. She seems to have a lot of great recipes. While I'll probably not find where reviews of Lucy Activewear very helpful, I think overall this good be a great blog to read.
4. Marathoning Matters. You know you are getting serious when your URL is marathonman. I actually found this blog when I was looking for a template for my blog.  Good thing. There is lots of valuable wisdom here, with a good deal of humor as well.
5. 5ks and Cabernets. For many first time runners, the first race they will do is 5k. While Kevin is certainly well beyond a first time runner, think he has some good posts for those getting into running.

There are few people who run simply to run.  Most runners are seeking to improve their performance and the only way to do that is to track your workouts.  Countless tools are available to help you track your performances, but today I am going to highlight 5 that I have used:

1. The Clipboard. This is the low tech option available to everyone.  All you need is a pen, paper and a hard surface to right down your workout.  Currently I use this work my strength training.  I am going through P90X right now and they have kindly made the workout sheets available online. The benefit here is that you can quickly  enter your data. The workout sheets also let me quickly compare this week's performance with last weeks performance, however because it is on paper I manual have to calculate my improvements over time. I take this into the digital age there is also an Excel spreadsheet available to help you track all of P90X data.

2. Nike+. Nike+ connects your running shoe with your iPod, giving you feedback as you run (mainly your distance). Certain Nike shoes have a space in the heel where you place a small sensor (which cost an extra $20) that will track your footsteps. Along with the sensor there is a piece that plugs into the bottom of your iPod nano (yes, it must be a nano, it doesn't work on the larger iPods). There are plenty of companies out that have made gadgets that allow you to attach the sensor to shoes other than your Nikes, freeing you to wear whatever shoes you want.  The only down side I have found with Nike+ is that the distance is not always accurate.  For more info on the Nike+ system check out their website.

3. Running Ahead. This is a fairly simple workout tracker. While the name implies that it only applies to running there are some built in features for cyclists, popular gym workouts like Body Pump and Body Sculpt, and yoga.  It is easy to use and syncs with many Garmin devices, making even easier to upload your runs.  I don't use this program anymore, I think any other one is better, however, for the beginner, this is a great place to start.

4. DailyMile. DailyMile is like Facebook for runners.  It allows you to upload your workout using Garmin or Nike+ devices and connect with other runners.  It tracks your weekly and total stats and provides you with fun information, such as how many donuts you have burned off or the number of TVs you have powered.  There are also some great widgets that you can attach to your website (I have two on mine). While it may not be the greatest tool in measuring your workouts, it does provide a great community and allows you to see what others are doing with their training.

5. TrainingPeaks. Training Peaks has replaced Running Ahead as my primary workout tracker. First, it tracks everything.  Not only will it track your workouts, it also tracks meals. It has an extensive library of foods so that you can get accurate counts on everything that you are eating. For the workouts, Training Peaks syncs with the vast majority of workout watches including Garmin, Polar, Suunto and Timex. It doesn't hurt that Runner's World uses it as it's tracking system. In some ways there is almost too much available.  If you new to running you may only want to use the workout function, however, as you try to improve your performance the other features become highly valuable. The great part is, you only have to use what you want. Also, the internet version is FREE!

So what have you used to track your workouts?