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Interval workouts that are a consistent time or distance (e.g. 4*2 miles, 5*1 mile, 8*800 meters, 10*1 min, etc) and are at a consistent pace, should have a progressive exertion component to them. For example, 6:30/mile pace for the first 1-2 reps should feel challenging but manageable, and by the end it requires your full attention. It is an easy concept to understand but can take several attempts to perfect. 



Here are a couple tips to get the most out of these essential workouts: 1. Allow plenty of time to warm up. You want to start that first interval ready to roll, all systems go, as that first rep needs to feel pretty easy. This might mean a 2-3 mile easy or progressive run, 5-10 minutes of stretching/foam rolling, 5-10 minutes of running drills and strides. If you use the first interval as a warmup you are reducing the specific stimulus that the workout is designed to give. 2. Do not trust your ‘feel’ during that first interval. If you are properly warmed up, and just completed a few fast strides, dropping down into the intended pace of an interval workout should feel easy to do for that first 200 yards. This feeling though is short-lived, and if you end up going too fast at the start you might jeopardize the rest of the workout. When possible, try doing the workout on a track, and calculate what time you should see at the 200-meter mark. If you are more than 2 seconds too fast, stop, take a 1 2 min rest, and restart the workout! By going through this process, as opposed to watching your pace on your device at random moments, you are learning how to internalize pace and feel, which is a key racing skill to master. 3. Note exactly where or when your exertion increases. Most repeated distance/time interval workouts for marathoners are intended to be in the 4-6 range of exertion (0 = very easy, 10 = extremely difficult/challenging/uncomfortable). If the intended pace is correct, however, this exertion level should gradually increase slightly earlier and earlier in each successive interval. Pay attention to when this happens, i.e. when and where you move into 7-8 to hold pace. For example, with 5*1 mile, you might feel 4-6 throughout for rep 1, but in rep 2 you move into 7-8 for the last 100 meters, rep 3 with 150 meters left, rep 4 at 200 meters, rep 5 300 meters. If the increase happens too early the consistent pace might not be possible for the full workout as you are now working more anaerobically than intended.

Intervals – Consistent AND Progressive

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Running a hard workout on recovered legs and then recovering quick enough after the workout to allow for multiple hard workouts during the week are two critical components to reaching one’s full potential. How do you know if you are fully recovered? What can you do to optimize your recovery? Here a few quick tips to consider…



How to know if you are recovered:



<ol class="wp-block-list">
<li>Pliability – If your muscles are tight or sore and you are jumping off the foamroll, time to keep things easy.</li>



<li>Resting Heart Rate – Take your average resting heart rate during a non-intensive period of training (take a count first thing in the morning for 3 days and take the average), now take your resting heart rate the days after a hard workout. If it is more than 4 beats per minutes faster, time to keep things easy.</li>



<li>Heart Rate Variability (HRV) – Use your health/fitness watch or ring to get a 3 day average of your HRV, similar to above. Now take a reading the morning of a hard workout, if it is notably lower than normal, time to keep things easy.</li>
</ol>



How to optimize recovery



<ol class="wp-block-list">
<li>Regular, light to moderate pliability and flexibility work.</li>



<li>Ice cold water soak of the legs for 8-10 minutes (best to do if still not recovered 48 hrs after the hard workout).</li>



<li>Eat plenty of carbs directly after a hard workout (after hard AEROBIC efforts your muscles are starving for carbs, more than protein, to rebuild).</li>



<li>And of course the basics – light running/walking/biking/etc, plenty of sleep, hydrate.</li>
</ol>



Just run a marathon? Though likely uncomfortable, if there is not acute or asymmetrical pain, a few short runs afterwards can greatly expedite recovery:



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>day 1 (after a marathon) &#8211; light foamroll/stretch</li>



<li>day 2 &#8211; 10-20 minutes walking</li>



<li>day 3 &#8211; 4 minutes easy (running), stretch, 6 minutes easy</li>



<li>day 4 &#8211; 20-30 minutes walking</li>



<li>day 5 – 6 minutes easy, stretch, 14 minutes easy</li>



<li>day 6 – 20-40 minutes walking</li>



<li>day 7 – 10-15 minutes easy, stretch, 10-15 minutes easy</li>
</ul>

Recovery – The Critical Piece to Training

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My legs are feeling more beat-up than normal, maybe because I’m getting older? I think I’ll have to reduce my runs to 2-3 days per week from now on.



‘I just don’t have the energy I used to, so I’ll just keep my runs slow and steady.’



‘I don’t try to run fast anymore because I don’t want to get hurt.’



All reasonable decisions that many life-long runners land on at some point in their lives. Are they, however, based on sound logic, solid proof, and undeniable facts?



Often, unfortunately, this is not the case, and these ‘scaling back’ decisions are instead a result of a thought process that lacks full perspective. Emotional reactions to poor performance, lack of awareness of other possibilities, and perhaps a slight touch of subconscious reluctance to critically think further, lands the runner at a cross-roads where they think only two paths exist:



PATH 1 &#8211; Accept the ‘perceived’ new reality and find a way to at least keep running in your life by reducing frequency, volume and/or speed.



PATH 2 &#8211; Accept the ‘perceived’ new reality and switch to a different form of exercise, instead of running.



In the ‘Court of Full Potential’, however, a third path is often the most fitting, most logical, and most physiologically correct.



PATH 3 &#8211; Do not accept the ‘perceived’ new reality and commit yourself to building your body back to its full potential.



Yes, path #3 may take longer than when you were younger, but your muscles are still responsive, your soft tissue system is still constantly re-modeling to your environment (since you are still alive!), and your body is always looking for a way to make your regular habits more comfortable. So, let’s try changing and sustaining new habits to build a new reality that is based on your determination, research, and physical efforts, as opposed to an unforced early retirement.



This all may mean that to re-gain previous form, or sustain your fitness throughout the years, you need to do ‘radical’ things like:



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>spend six months to achieve a new level of flexibility or pliability</li>



<li>spend ten minutes every day for three weeks to master stability in your weaker leg</li>



<li>take 4-6 months to very carefully introduce and progress with a new stimulus, like short hill sprints, bounding, or plyometrics</li>



<li>seek out professional advice for a sports nutritionist to adapt your intake to your current markers and your current metabolism</li>
</ul>



Patience, consistency, and a dynamic mind-set are the keys to being able to not just run for decades, but to run for decades at a pace you are proud of.

The Ageless Runner

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Carbon-fiber plated shoes are helping nearly all runners at all levels run faster. The longer strides with less effort, the typical benefit from these shoes, have propelled elites to quickly break long-lasting world records and amateurs to set PRs they had not thought possible. There is another advantage to these shoes, though, that some are starting to catch onto.



Surrounding the stiff carbon-fiber plate is a high-tech foam (e.g. PEBAX, TPEE, etc). This thick layer serves partly to protect your body from the increased force which you are now landing with. The net effect being that you often feel just less ‘beat-up’ after running in carbon-plated shoes. A quicker recovery is what has driven many elites, and some amateurs, to simply run in these shoes all the time, even for easy runs. This contrasts with others, who save their supershoes only for race day, mainly to avoid wear and tear and thus delay the need, and expense, to get a new pair.



Though finances are certainly an important factor in deciding when to wear your over-priced moon boots, perhaps consider keeping your old pair for easy runs, when your legs need a break. This may just allow you to put in one more quality workouts per week, or handle a combination of quality AND volume that takes you to the next level.

Supershoes – for Recovery

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‘You never know what will happen on race day’, says nearly every seasoned marathoner. Though there is a lot of truth to this, doing everything you can to mimic race day conditions during several of your key workouts can go a long way to knowing more – and thus reducing anxiety and building confidence. Some key components that should be in place for your race day simulator workouts.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Same time of day as the race</h3>



This is to learn what nutrition plan the day before and the morning of works for you, and to get used to perhaps running with a bit less, or more sleep (Boston marathoners…).



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Same weather as expected on race day</h3>



This may have to be a separate day than the ‘same time of day’ workout. For example, if you are training in a location that is warmer than where you are training, push one or two marathon-specific workouts to later in the day when it is a bit warmer. Or if the weather is cool leading into the marathon, but there is a chance race day can be a bit warmer, try again moving some of your runs to the warmer part of the day.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Get excited and get nervous</h3>



Treat your upcoming marathon specific workout as if it is indeed your race. Psych yourself up for, envision the day, the workout, the challenge, and try to put a bit of pressure on yourself leading into it. If you can start the race feeling both excited and nervous, this workout can be a great practice session in managing your emotions come race day.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Racecourse simulation</h3>



Certainly try to run on a course profile similar to the race, but also visualize yourself on various parts of the course (the streets, bridges, through the scenery, etc.) WHILE you are running. If you have never been on the course. watch a racecourse video or google earth of the streets before going out for your workout. If you are lucky enough to run your workout on the course itself, visualize the spectators, other runners around you, the noise, tents, and excitement. The more you can trick your brain into ‘This Is The Day’, the more comfortable and in control you can be on race day.

coach joe advice

Joe McConkey