In one of my million per day text messages with Jojo, the idea of scared vs. smart came up.  I was telling her about my runs this weekend, how I am feeling great, and that I have an ART appointment tomorrow. 

As I continue to increase my running and feelings of confidence, I still occasionally get that scared feeling in the back of my mind.  I am scared that at any moment my IT band will act up and scream at me, bringing my running to a halt, even though it’s been months since that happened.  Because of that, I have been taking precautions day in and day out to try and keep those fears from becoming reality.

Assume long run recovery position…

Icing… After every run, at least once, I ice my whole knee area and IT band.  I don’t know if this does anything at all, but I am convinced it has to be helping in some way.

Rolling… Every night I roll with the foam roller and stick (I use both because I can get into different spots with each).  Every morning before I leave to run I do some sort of rolling.  It’s just become a habit in my daily routine, and the stick and foam roller are just part of our living room decor now.

Stretching & Yoga… I was going to yoga once a week and after a couple weeks off (partially because the teacher was on vacation), I am going back!  I am awful at stretching on my own and just need someone to make me do it.  I try to do some in addition to my rolling so it’s not just one day a week, but it doesn’t always happen.  Must be better.  Yoga also helps with strength and balance, both of which are very good things when it comes to running.

ART… I have been going to maintenance chiropractor appointments once a month for ART and general adjustments/check ups.  I want to make sure I stay on top of anything that might make my body mad and I personally feel this works best for me. 

Taking a step back and looking at my routine, I guess being scared has lead to some smart habits this time around.  I have always tried to be good about these things, but not as good as I am now.  That little nagging fear in the back of my mind has really changed how I go about taking care of myself.  Especially these days, when I would much rather sit on the couch or go to bed after a long day of running, working, cooking, taking care of the pets and doing chores, I also don’t want to take any risks with knowing that I should have been doing anything more so I make them happen. 

I guess being scared will continue to be a good thing, as long as it’s making me stay smart in my recovery and running.   

Does (or has) being scared also make you smart with recovery and running?

For now, let’s just say things are going well.

A quick timeline:

• Two months ago I ran 50 miles. 
• After a week off of running, I started running again keeping things short and easy.  
• A week after that things were not looking good.  My IT Band was very mad.
• I started going to ART on a weekly basis. 
• A week later, at my 2nd ART appointment, I was told not to run for a couple weeks.
• Two weeks after that, I was granted minimal test runs.
• A week later that I was told I could start running again with some precautions.
• Two and a half weeks of running later, here I am, continuing to build up, but happily running (*knock on wood*) pain free.

So what have I been doing (and continuing to do) over the last 2 months to make my pissed off IT band not so pissy and return to pain free running?  

**I obviously am in no way a medical professional or anything on that order, so if you are injured or feeling pain, please go see someone.  This is just what worked for me!

Resting

I think the most important (and most difficult!) part of recovery was completely resting.  I left the running to Emma!  When I was told not to run for a couple weeks, I took that very seriously.  Although some people recommended cycling or other activities to help maintain my fitness (and sanity), I was hesitant to do anything.  I personally would rather lose a couple weeks of fitness, but be ready to run sooner on a fully healed IT band, rather than continue to irritate it through other means.  But that’s just me.

So besides a couple walks, I pretty much did nothing until I was told otherwise.

ART –Active Release Technique

Painful magic.  I have been a longtime believer in ART (this link explains what it’s all about), so when I felt the pain in my knee and IT band area, I knew right where to go. 

My Dr. did a bunch of assessments to check to see what was wrong and also listened to exactly what I said hurt and when it hurt.  At first he was hopeful that I wouldn’t have to take any time off of running, but after my second visit he told me it was time to rest. 

I continued to go to weekly appointments and he worked through all the spots in my leg.  Each week I was cleared to do a little bit more, starting with a walk/run and eventually a full on return to running.  I haven’t had to continue my visits, but will go back in a couple weeks for a check up and maintenance.   

Foam Rolling

Back in 2008 when I was training for my second marathon, I had my first small battle with my IT band.  That was when I first discovered the foam roller and really, the two seem to go hand in hand.  When you hear IT band pain, immediately a recommendation to foam roll follows.  I love The Grid foam roller and highly recommend it over the standard foam roller.

I have been foam rolling and using The Stick in the morning before I run, as well as in the evening.  It’s a time consuming annoying process, but at this point it is very much worth pain free runs.  I will be continuing this for a while.

Icing/Heating

When I was first told to go on some test runs, it was recommended that I heat my IT band up and stretch/roll it before I run (heat makes it easier to stretch!), then ice after.  I have been following this routine on almost every run since then.  I do have to get up a little bit earlier before I go on morning runs, but so far it has been worth it.  I even used an unused dog poop bag (above) for my post-run bag of ice last week.  Sometimes you just have to get creative!

I have been icing pretty much every night too, just to be extra cautious during this healing process.

Returning to Running

When I was finally given the green light to return to running, I took things slow, both in mileage and pace.  I was so nervous of doing too much too soon and pissing off my leg again. 

The first week back I did 2 2 mile runs and a 3 mile run.  The next week I did 4 4 mile runs.  Last week I upped it and did a couple 5 milers and an 8 miler for 25 miles total.  This week I am increasing a little bit more.  So far so good!

After those first couple runs back, I have noticed that my fitness and endurance are returning faster than I anticipated, even with my cautious return.  My legs and body feel stronger with each run and my mind isn’t as scared anymore. 

Going Forward

I am hoping that with continued patience and commitment to all the things above, that I will continue to run pain free while increasing my mileage back up.  I am also working on adding in at least one day of yoga/stretching to help keep me strong and injury free going forward. 

Although at the time it felt like the end of the world and like I was going to be off of running forever, my time off did go by fast.  Once I got over the sad part, I was able to appreciate and take advantage of all my free time. 

Above all, this injury and time off made me appreciate running in a new way with a new set of eyes.  It also gave me a whole new perspective on injured runners and those who have injuries that last a really long time.  I knew that this would teach me a lot, even though I would rather not have to learn, but in the end, I know it will all only make me a stronger runner.

I immediately left my ART appointment, laced up my Brooks, and hit the trails for 20 miles.

Kidding!!

Yes I was given the green light to start running again, but that doesn’t mean that I am turning around and jumping back into training where I was.  I am being very cautious and conservative with returning to running after this injury because I really want to make sure that it doesn’t come back!

Tuesday morning I nervously headed out for a 4 mile run.  This would be my longest run in a while and I was definitely nervous.  It is pretty nerve wrecking returning to running after being sidelined for any amount of time from an injury.  Every single step I take I am wondering if it is going to be the step that starts to hurt again. 

Am I going too far?  Am I going too fast?  Is it going to hurt again?

So in order to be safe, rather than sorry, I am keeping things short and easy and taking my time to build the miles back up.  This is exactly why I pulled out of the She Rocks the Trails race when I found out I was indeed injured.  I didn’t want to have a race pressuring me into coming back faster than I should, and now I don’t have that.  I can take my time to make sure that I am really truly healed before doing anything crazy.

I am very happy to report that last week I had 4 pain free 4 mile runs.  Each one got a little faster and each one I felt a little stronger.

I am planning on increasing the miles a little more this week and am really just enjoying this time as I come back to running.  I am so happy to just be running that nothing else matters once I lace up my shoes.   

I am also enjoying fun things in life right now without having to worry how I will fit in a 20 miler while spending the long weekend in the mountains.  Running is always such a big part and driver of my life at any given moment, that it’s been refreshing, and actually fun, to focus on other things too.

I guess I have found some bright sides to recovering from injury.

I dusted off my trail running shoes and saw they still had the D-tag on them from AR50, which was 6 weeks ago that day.  They had been sitting in my car sadly waiting to go for a run this whole time. 

I untied my shoes removing the D-tag and thought back to that day that feels like a lifetime ago now.  I remembered being at mile 26 changing into my trail shoes and having all my friends helping me switch the tag to these shoes.  It’s crazy to me that 6 weeks has passed, but also crazier that it was only 6 weeks ago.

I nervously laced up my shoes and walked over to the trail.  I only wanted to run about 3 miles, which would be my longest run in a few weeks, but that wasn’t what made me nervous.  The trails have a lot of ups and downs, and down hills definitely bring out IT band pain.  I didn’t care though, I needed to be out there and I was hopeful. 

The trails have definitely changed a lot over 6 weeks.  Most of the bright green is now gone from the East Bay hills, leaving the brown grass to hang around until winter.  I started running, assessed everything and everything felt good.  I kept the pace really easy and didn’t feel winded on the hills.  I made sure to take it extra easy on the down hills and even walked a few of the steeper ones just to be cautious.  I did a quick mile out and although I wanted to keep running and running off into the hills, I turned around to be safe (and to follow doctor’s orders of not getting too far away from home base).  Once I got back to where I started and still felt good, I added another half mile out and back to get to 3. 

I finished the run feeling good and once again cautiously optimistic.  Another pain free run, especially with the hills, is most definitely a success.

I walked around for a while waiting for Chris to finish his run and thought about everything that has happened.  If you would have asked me 6 weeks ago what I would be doing this past weekend I would have probably said I would be back to running 20 miles or back to back double digits, or something along those lines, getting ready for my next 50k.  6 weeks ago I never would go out for runs less than 4-5 miles, and here I am celebrating a week of 2 and 3 milers.   It’s pretty crazy how much things can change over such a short amount of time and how much perspectives can shift. 

All I know and care about right now is that I am happy with any run.  It doesn’t matter the distance, the pace, the temperature or the location… any run (without pain!) is a good one.  6 weeks ago, I might not have said that so confidently, and that is a perspective I am happy to have gained.  Bring on those short, hard, hot runs that I may have said I hated in the past, because I don’t hate any run anymore.     

I tried my best to be patient with recovery after AR50.  This race was a whole new level of running and endurance and training, so I have to expect for my body to need extra time to recover.  Even though I know that, it still is hard to really make sink in. 

After the race, I took a week off of running.  My muscles felt great, I was eager to run, but I made myself wait a full 7 days before lacing up my Brooks again.  I thought that would be enough.

That first run back I could tell my right leg/IT band/knee was not quite normal.  I assumed this was just some wear and tear from running 50 miles, so I took Monday off like I usually do, and then continued to run.  I ran my normal days Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and looking back now, I probably should have cut back on the number of days.

Every day I thought my leg was getting a little better, that it was just soreness left over from the race, but by Friday it definitely felt worse.  I was sad, annoyed, and frustrated, but I wanted to be smart, so I took the entire weekend off.  Luckily I was very distracted so it wasn’t that hard.  As the weekend went on, my leg felt completely normal, so I was very hopeful that by Tuesday it would be back to new.

Monday I got a very painful, deep massage to work through any tightness in my leg.  My massage therapist said I had lots of stubbornness in there, but that all my muscles eventually gave in and released.  I felt like new after.

Three days of full rest, a massage, and I was ready (and excited!) to run come Tuesday.  I met up with my normal Tuesday group and we hit the road.  The first few miles I didn’t feel anything at all and I thought I might be back to normal, but around mile 3 I started to notice some weirdness.  I left the group, turned around early and headed back to work to be safe.  As the miles clicked off, running got more and more painful, and eventually turned into a sad walk.

After the run, I used the injured status on DailyMile for the first time. 

So now here I am trying to figure out what to do.  This is completely new territory for me since I don’t think I have ever taken more than a day off because something hurt.  Sure I have had pains, but nothing that has really stopped me from running quite like this has.  I am scared and nervous about how long this might take to heal and just sad because I want to run.

I am trying to practice patience as best as I know how right now.  I am hoping that with a few more days, even a week or two, some ART and massage, that this will all go away.  I am hoping that my body just needs some extra rest after AR50 and that will be that.  I am hoping I can look back on this in a few weeks and it seem like a tiny blip in my fun summer of running. 

I know it hasn’t been that long.  I know that I am lucky that this is the first time I have had to deal with something like this.  I know that I am lucky it’s not worse.  I know that I am being dramatic.  But I sure do miss running, especially running long.  I miss it a lot, a lot. 

Patience, please pay off and let me back out there soon.

Last week included a whole lot of nothing. 

I am a big believer in taking time off after an A race.  This time it wasn’t as easy as after a hard marathon, because I wasn’t that sore, but I knew that my body and mind needed a break after a long training cycle and a long race. 

So, I self mandated 7 days off of running.  The first few days weren’t that hard because I was just really tired, but come Friday, I really wanted to run!  I almost went, but I knew that I should just stick with my 7 days off, so I did.

Not only does the body need rest after a long training cycle and tough race, but the mind needs it, possibly more!  I think one of the best ways I have found to avoid burnout is to take a break before you need one.  Taking time off after a big race, when you are all amped and really want to run, is a great way to rest your mind and get refreshed.  I have learned this lesson the hard way.

So last week I was very lazy.  I ate a lot of candy.  I drank some wine.  It was wonderful.

Then Sunday, fresh off of crewing inspiration, I went on a trail run and was rewarded with an incredibly beautiful day.

It was warm, it was green, there were flowing creeks to cross.  It was perfect. 

My IT band has been a little cranky since AR50, so I stopped the run at 6 miles.  I am sure I had a smile on my face as big as I did 8 days prior.  It was good to be back on the trails.

After my run, I grabbed my camera and walked around for a while, taking pictures of my happy place, while enjoying the sunshine.

All in all, recovery has gone very well.  If my IT band wasn’t whispering to me, I would say I feel perfect.  But since it is, I am going to make sure to take it easy, listen to my body’s signals and try to be patient.  It’s not the easiest thing to do when I just want to go out and do a long run on the trails, but I know I will be soon enough.

The question: How do I not get injured with all the miles I run? 

I honestly wish I had a magic answer to this question.  Chris always answers that he takes all the injuries for the family and that’s why I (knock on wood) stay relatively injury free.  While that is not necessarily true, his statement does address one very important thing: every runner is different. 

What I can do is not the same as what Chris can do, which is not the same as anyone else can do.  Our bodies are different and handle running very differently.  I seem to be a lucky one that can handle more miles, but this didn’t happen overnight.  I do take a lot precautions to help keep my legs and body happy.

Run Slow

As I have significantly built up my mileage the last couple months, I have also slowed wayyy down (which is also part of the nature of this ultra-training). 

I don’t run any of my runs “all out” and haven’t done any speed work this training cycle.  I am focusing on endurance and I didn’t want to risk injury with adding in speed work at the same time as I was significantly building miles. 

For example, last February while marathon training, I ran 197.8 miles at 8:59 average pace.  This February, I ran 315.8 miles at 10:32 average pace.  Some of this slow down is naturally from running trails, but a lot of it is just me generally slowing down on purpose. 

Some people can handle both increasing mileage while increasing speed, but for me, I wanted to make sure that I went into this training cycle safely and get to the start line healthy.  I am kind of approaching my first ultra-training cycle how I approached marathon training for the past 4 years as you can see from the progression below.

Progression

I started running 4 years ago training for my first marathon, and trained for 10 more after that.  Each marathon training cycle a lot of progression in them as my body got more used to running:

My progression went something like this…

• 4 days of running, no speed work, peaking at 40 miles per week
• 5 days of running, 1 day of speed work, peaking at 50 miles per week
• 6 days of running, 1 day of speed work, peaking at 60 miles per week
• 6 days of running, 2 days of speed work, peaking at 65 miles per week
• 6 days of running, 2 days of speed work, peaking at 70 miles per week

As you can see, it’s been gradual and did not happen overnight.  I took this same philosophy into account when I set out to make my training plan for AR50.  The last 3 years I have consistently hit 2,000+ miles per year, so my body is used to running.  I knew my body could handle 70 miles per week while training for a marathon, including speedwork and all pavement running, so naturally I wanted to bump that up when training for a race twice as long.  I decided to start with what I had as a base, 6 days of running, no speed work, with a higher peak mileage that we will soon find out!

Other Preventatives

I used to be a really good at icing after every single run, but I haven’t been so much lately.  But when I do feel something that feels weird or off, I ice it immediately. 

I try to stick and roll whenever I feel a twinge.  I should be better at this and have been trying to more lately, but it’s one of those things that gets pushed off too often.

I used to spend a lot of time at the chiropractor getting ART and sports massages.  I typically did this when I had problems areas, which I haven’t had as much of lately, but they did help me a lot. 

I live in compression socks.  Before runs, after runs, sometimes during runs.  I don’t know how much they really do help, but they seem to do something!  I have noticed my calves aren’t as tight and my feet and ankles are generally happier.  My favorite socks are my CEP running progressive socks.

I am crazy about my shoes.  I keep track of every single mile I run on every single pair of my shoes and as soon as they start getting close to 250/300 miles I start rotating in a new pair.  I don’t like to do long runs on shoes with more than 250 miles because I can just tell and notice afterwards.  I save my older shoes for shorter runs and leave the fresh pairs for the long runs.

I rest!  I am not kidding when I say I go to sleep at 7:30 on a lot of nights.  Even if I am not asleep, I am in bed resting.  I always schedule rest and recovery time into my days, making sure that (especially this training cycle), I have time to recover.  I believe this has been crucial in my recovery and injury prevention. 

So while I definitely don’t have a magic answer, it’s also not magic.  I take precautions, I have built up over time and I listen to my body’s cues. 

Do you battle injuries when running?  Are you a high mileage runner?  What are some of your injury prevention tips?  Spread the knowledge!

Other popular questions that I will be addressing soon are regarding eating, fueling and hunger, time management and scheduling, and my mentality around slowing down a lot.  Anything else you have been dying to know?

I also have a bunch of past posts in the injury prevention/recovery category, so check them out too!

When you first began running did you go through aches and pains as your mileage increased?  What advice can you give a new runner?

I have done a post on high mileage before which has some helpful tips on how I handle, and why I run, the mileage I run (high being a relative term).  Increasing mileage without getting injured is a pretty common inquiry from runners, especially new ones, so hopefully this post is helpful.  

Although I don’t have a definite answer because every runner is different, I do have what has worked best for me.   

Build It Up

Be smart about your mileage increase and build it up slowly.  If you have been running 30 miles per week for the last 6 months, don’t turn around and start running 50 mile weeks without building up your mileage in between.  I like to have a strong solid base at X miles before I start to increase to a higher number of miles.  The 10% rule is a safe rule that runners like to use to measure their mileage increase (increasing no more than 10% your total weekly mileage week to week). 

I don’t really follow the 10% rule much these days,  but I know what my body can handle pretty safely and know what signs to look for that I am pushing the limits.  If I was building my mileage higher to something that is a standard base mileage for me (in marathon training), I would definitely be more conscious of my increases and measure them more closely.

A recap of my marathon training cycles to show mileage/speed build over time:

#1: Peaked at 40mpw with occasional speedwork and 4 days of running.
#2: Peaked at 50mpw with one day of speedwork a week and 4-5 days of running.
#3: Peaked at 55mpw with one day of speedwork a week and 4-5 days of running.
#4: "Marathon May" short cycle, piggy backing off of #3.
#5: Peaked at 61mpw with one day of speedwork a week and 5-6 days of running.
#6: Peaked at 66mpw with one day of speedwork a week and 6 days of running.
#7: Peaked at 62mpw with two days of speedwork and 6 days of running.
#8: Peaked at 70mpw with two days of speedwork and 6 days of running
#9: Peaked at 67mpw with two days of speedwork and 6 days of running
#10: 13 days after #9, not much running at all, recovery was key
#11: Peaked at 57mpw, winging it with speedwork, 6 days of running

Run Easy

A big no-no for me and many runners is building mileage while also increasing speed.  When you are increasing your mileage, you have to understand that you are going to be tired and your legs will need their recovery time.  Make sure to run your recovery runs easy and not push the pace too much on other runs, especially when entering into unchartered mileage territory for the first time.

I still remember my first 50 mile week ever.  I was exhausted and I finished the week in tears.  I was so upset with how “slow” my long run was, and it wasn’t even slow!  I had been so used to seeing certain paces on my long runs, but as I was building to a new weekly mileage high, I had to slow it down to compensate.  Make sure to take a step back and look at the big picture of your overall week. 

You can also see with my recap above, that I worked speedwork into my training plans as I went.  I started with occasional speed work, worked in one day a week and eventually had a tempo run and track workout in the same week.  Building my overall weekly mileage took time, as well as building in speed work and increasing days of running.  Patience is key!  

Training Pain vs. Injury Pain

I think one of the hardest things to learn as a runner is what is normal training pain and what is injury.  When you are training for a big race, you hurt.  I don’t think I have ever gone into a marathon without some nagging ailment, but they were training pains, not injury pains.  You have to know the line for your own body and make sure you listen and don’t cross over to the bad side.

The first time I did the Pfitz 12/55 training plan, my shins ached nonstop.  I constantly wore compression socks, used my ice bucket and babied my shins.  After my marathon I made sure to take extra recovery time, and the next time I trained on the same plan it wasn’t so bad.  I still usually think of my shins as a tender area during training, but it isn’t nearly as bad as it used to be.

Injury Prevention

When increasing your mileage, it’s really important to make sure you are taking steps to prevent injury.  While those steps are different for different people the ones that have worked best in the past for me are icing, stretching, ART, foam rolling, trigger point, compression socks, rest days and sleeping!

Some past posts on injury prevention:

• Injury Prevention
• Steps to an Ice Bath
• How to Slow Down (for recovery runs)
• Rest Days 

Listen To Your Body

I think this was one of the most important things I learned when I first started running.  Your body will talk to you and tell you when you need a rest day, when you need to slow down, or when you can keep pushing it.  It’s ok to take an extra rest day if you need one.  It’s ok to deviate from a training plan if you need to.  Know your body, listen, be nice to it and hopefully you can increase your mileage and stay injury free.

It’s been a long process for me and luckily my body has handled whatever I throw at it pretty well.  This did come with many different aches and pains, but luckily nothing ever turning into serious injury.  Running hurts sometimes, but taking care of your body and making sure you are taking the right injury prevention steps is a big key to success.  Also knowing your body to be able to figure out the difference between training pains vs. injury pains.

Any other tips to increasing mileage?  What has worked for you?

Did you miss Part 1 and Part 2?  Check them out… here we go on Part 3!

As always, these are just my thoughts and opinions based on my experiences and observations.  Everyone is different and things apply differently to each person.

Tabitha asked:
I ran my third half marathon on Saturday and now I want to work on increasing my mileage so that I have a good base.  I think I peaked at 25 or so miles/week during training for the half and I’d like to get to 35-40 miles/week soon but safely.  One thing I was struggling with is how much I can run after my break from the race (I’m taking 4 days off from running) and I noticed that after your full week off from running after your marathons you went right back to 30 and then 42 miles the 2nd week!  I know about the 10% rule but that seems unreasonable.  I also wondered if you plan to/usually cut back on mileage every 3rd or 4th week during training as some recommend?

Excellent question!  I think this one can be a little hard to give a general answer on because really it just depends on a lot of things.  The distance you raced, how well you recover, how may miles you peaked at during training, etc.  There is a lot to take into consideration!

If I am getting back into training pretty quick (like I am right now) I typically try to do kind of a reverse taper.  In other words, I take what I did tapering for the race and go backwards.  My long runs don’t really work like this exactly since I take a little longer to get back up to 20, but my runs during the week and overall mileage can generally follow this to at least get back to where I was at a base.  Since my peak mileage was in the 60s and I was there for a number of weeks, the 30 to 42 increase didn’t affect me too much since my body is used to running more miles.  Once I get to closer to my base mileage, then the increases will be smaller, like this past week was 42 to 48.

I also don’t typically add back in speed work for a couple weeks.  Those first few weeks of running after a big race are a lot of easy miles and just getting back into it without anything super hard like tempos and intervals.

Once you are back to your base and increasing your weekly mileage to an unchartered area (higher than you have ran before), I believe the 10% rule is a great one to use to be conservative and safe.  When I took my RRCA course, they recommended 5% to be extra safe.  No need to get injured!

In response to the cutback weeks, I think those are definitely a good idea and can help mentally and physically during training plans.  I know some runners who swear by them and I think they have good reason.  It gives your body and mind a break from the big weeks of training, plus lets your body absorb and recover from some of the training you have been putting in.

This is what I have found works well for me over time, so it’s definitely something that is different for each person.  Like I always say listen to your body and make sure you aren’t doing too much too soon.

Karla asked
So now that you have your RCAA certificate (I think that was it) what are you going to do with it?

I want to coach runners!  I am working out some of the logistics of this right now, but I really want to be able to help coach other runners who need help, support, or just don’t want think about their own training plan so much.  I love training plans, I love answering questions and I love helping people to see their potential.  Hopefully this will all come together very soon!

Shannon asked:
I am looking at getting a foam roller or stick.. Is one better than the other? I don’t really want to get both right now so I am trying to figure out which would be more effective.

Personally if I had to pick ONE I would pick The Grid foam roller.  I do use the stick and it’s easier to transport, but I think the foam roller works better for what I use it the most for.  I took a quick poll on twitter the day I got this question and most people agreed with me too!

Simi asked:
How did you get so fast? What was your pace when you started running and what did you do for however long to get at this speed?

I definitely don’t consider myself a "fast" runner, but when I first started running I was running in the 9:00+ pace most of the time, with occasional runs sub 9’s.  When I got more into marathon training most of my long runs averaged sub 9’s.  My first 5k was an 8:20 avg pace, but a couple months later, my first half marathon was a 8:30 pace.

My normal training runs haven’t changed that much over time, but I have changed the way I train with slowing myself down sometimes, adding in tempo runs and intervals and just running more miles.  I really can notice differences in my track and tempo runs over time which I think is just hard work and actually doing them. 

My biggest improvement in the marathon came between my first and second one when I took 20 minutes off, but the course wasn’t as difficult and I trained a lot different for the second (more miles, specific paces) rather than just running like I did for my first one.

Jennifer asked:
I agree that running and training is a very individual thing, but I have no idea how to tackle the nutrition component on a long run? My long runs at the moment are not very long, but any tips for future runs?

Practice!  Some people’s bodies don’t respond well to certain types of fuel so it’s really important to practice.

I break my fueling up into 3 areas: hydration, electrolytes and carbs/calories.

For hydration I have found that plain water works best for me to keep my stomach happy during runs, but I used to use watered down Gatorade for the extra calories and electrolytes.  When I took away the Gatorade, I knew I needed to add some more electrolytes into my fueling plan, so I added salt capsules.  I typically don’t use them on every long run, but once it gets warm and more electrolytes are more necessary I definitely use them.  One habit I get into is to drink some water at every mile.  When I hear my garmin beep, I take a sip of water and just try to stay hydrated from the get go.  Once you get thirsty it’s too late!

For carbs/calories I use GU gels (which also has some electrolytes but not as many as shot blocks or chomps).  On long runs I typically take them every 4-5 miles depending on the day.  I also believe in putting the fuel in before you really need it, so fuel early and often and you will feel better later on down the road.

This is what I have found works best for me over lots of time and practice and it’s still changing!  This is a big area where people differ, so making sure to figure out what your body can handle is a big task when in training.

Do you have anything to add? 

As always chime in with your thoughts and experiences!  The more info and experiences, the better.  Stick vs. foam roller, how do you fuel, do you use cutback weeks in training? Inquiring minds want to know!

Any other questions?

But instead this one…

One of my “problem” areas over the 6+ months has been this spot in my quad.  It’s a knot I get between my quad muscle and IT band and it just gets tight.  It doesn’t really hurt that bad, but I just know it’s there and I don’t want to know it’s there!

It’s why I was going to ART for a while last fall and had my racing stripe.

It hadn’t bothered me much at all during Boston training and I didn’t have to go to ART, but after Boston it was a little tight and after Big Sur it was definitely tight. 

Hence my dates for the evening…

They aren’t very nice dates either.

BUT I know my foam roller and trigger point kit will help my “problem” area not turn into an “injured” area!  Injury prevention my friends!  It feels better already.

I also have an ART appointment for next week to get this knot worked out, because the chiropractor can inflict much more pain on me than I can on myself.

Do you use a foam roller and/or trigger point kit?

The trigger point therapy kit is a new addition to our house in the last month and I love it so far!  I have had the grid foam roller for a while and it is so much better than the regular foam roller – I highly recommend it!

Do you have a problem area?

My quad, my shoulders (knots from sitting at a desk all day) and my foot are areas I pay more attention to than others.