How Fast Should I be running at Track?

Track workout tends to be one of the least well attended team workouts that KAIN PERFORMANCE offers. I think there are two main reasons for this; One is that it can feel a little intimidating, athletes tend to think they are going to be pushed beyond their limits. The second is that people doing Ironman distance races think there is little to gain from “Speed-work”. I hope to address these two concerns in this article.

The first concern could be addressed if people understood that as coaches, we understand that it is detrimental to push athletes beyond their limits – that leads to injury, over-training and the breakdown of the athlete – that is never the goal of the track workout. However I think the vast majority of athletes do not have a sense of how fast they should be running during their efforts, because of this they tend to think that everything is going to be very anaerobic – and that is not the case.

As regards the second concern, it is well documented that doing a little speed-work on the track can have significant impact on the ability of all runners at all distances to improve their times. I won’t get into the details of how that happens (if you would like more info please contact one of the coaches). But understand that “Speed-work” looks very different for someone doing an Olympic distance race compared to some one going Iron distance - combine this with some personal knowledge of how fast you should be doing your runs then I think you would be better prepared to meet your stated competition goals.

So …. lets say I had a goal of running a 4 hour marathon in my ironman – obviously I know I have to build up my endurance so that I had the capability to run the actual distance – but HOW FAST should I do my training runs if that is my overall goal?

That’s where a running or pace calculator can be a useful tool. On the next page you can see what my predicted pace times would be for all distances up to the marathon. Some of them are just for fun - and they tend to be more inaccurate over the shorter distances – 400M and lower - the 100M sprint time for example has a lot more to do with someone’s genetic legacy of fast twitch muscle fibers than it does training for a 4 hour marathon. However this tool can be useful in a couple of areas:

a. If you know your last 10K time you can punch it in and it will predict what you should be capable of at a half Iron man or an ironman distance run – that helps you figure out if your race goals are realistic or not.

b. Secondly it allows you to predict your own track workout pace – (therefore less intimidating) as well as the pace you should be doing your long slow runs and your tempo runs. If the goal is to run a sub 40 minute 10K – then you know you need to be able to run in the area of a 5.33 mile and that your tempo runs should be at 6.31 – 6.48 per mile.

The link to the McMillan Running Calulator here.

I recommend you check out the site, play around with the calculator a little if you have never used one before, and then put in some of your documented race paces and see if those pace times seem familiar.

HOMEWORK. Put in your time goals for the run on your “A” race this year and printout the document. If you then bring that to track, when Pete gives you the workout for the night, you will have an idea of what pace you should be running ultimately in order to meet this goal.

Always remember that these numbers are estimates and that how you are feeling, your fatigue level, your place in the training cycle etc all has to be considered and used to modify these paces. Talk to the coaches so that the workout is individualized for you. But at least you will have a good starting point.

Finally another little tip I learned this week listening to another seminar from Bobby McGee was the “12 minute rule”. If you are not feeling good for your run workout, try to quantify it on a scale of 1-10 with 1 being “Dead” and 10 being “Very strong and fresh” – then go run for 12 minutes - just a steady warm up run – if at the end of that 12 minutes you would give yourself a higher score – then you are ready to workout – if the score is lower, then you might want to call it a night and get a little extra rest.

Hope you found this helpful – hope you do your “homework” and at least play around with the calendar and printout a pace schedule for yourself and hope to see you at track

Coach John Magee

If you would like more information about triathlon training & run coaching, visit the Kain Performance website.

Base Building Myth: Long & Slow vs. High Intensity Workouts

One of the presentations at the Colorado conference was on “Myths”. The myth that caught our attention was the idea that there was another way of building base on the bike other than “hours and hours of long, slow” bike rides. There seems to be more and more evidence coming out that the judicious use of HIGH INTENSITY workouts would give the same overall physiological, muscle adaptation and VO2 Max improvements as the tried and true long slow aerobic base ride.

While we are luckier than most in regards to weather here in NorCal, our outdoor time is somewhat limited at this time of the year, and it seems that if anything could give us the same conditioning in significantly less time would e of interest. However, you should not interpret this to mean that you just need to ride shorter distances at a faster pace. The high intensity efforts that are called for in this theory are very HIGH - all out efforts – usually 5 minutes or less and should be approached with a certain amount of caution. Also, if you try to attempt a Half Ironman or Ironman distance event with just a few weeks of Wingate sprints as your base, you will be asking for a certain amount of trouble including injury.

There is still research to be done in this field to understand all of the implications, but there seems to be enough evidence in favor of adding these workouts in to your routine especially if time, weather and other factors are conspiring against you in terms of finding time to put in the traditional base work. For more information, check out the links below. For more information about training with our team, Kain Performance -- visit our website www.kainperformance.com.

~ Coach John Magee

Active.com regarding cycling

Pez Cycling News regarding intensity training

Active.com blog by Gale Bernhardt

Coach Recap: Art and Science of Triathlon Coaches Conference

John Magee and I spent the last 4 days at the Art and Science of Triathlon Coaches Conference in Colorado Springs. I wanted to give you all a brief recap of the conference and of a few of the Keynote Speeches we heard. In a word, the conference was GREAT!

USA Triathlon put on the Art and Science Conference in Colorado Springs and I must say they did a fabulous job. The conference was held at the Broadmoor Hotel, which happens to be the biggest 5 star hotel in the country! We were lucky enough to stay there as well, as they gave the USAT Coaches a great rate! The conference started on Friday with some great lectures, but highlighted by the Keynote of the day, put on by Johan Bruyneel, Director Sportif of all of Lance Armstrong's Tour de France victories. He was a very good speaker and gave a great presentation. He was funny and inspiring and also gave his thoughts on this years Tour showdown between Lance and Contador. Johan's talk was the highlight of Friday.

On Saturday we had another full day of lectures, but the Keynote speaker was the highlight of the day. We heard Erik Weihenmayer, the first blind man to climb to the top of Mt.Everest, as well as all of the Seven Summits! He gave the most inspirational talk I have ever heard --a blind man climbing mountains, paragliding, then using his fame to help others achieve impossible goals! He was funny, inspirational and down to earth. He gave everyone at the conference a signed copy of his book, which I am looking forward to reading.

We heard some great speakers on Saturday after the keynote as well. I went to Mark Allen's talk on the Essentials of a Great Ironman TrainingProgram, while John went to Vern Gambetta's talk on Core Training for the Triathlete. Both were great talks.

I spoke with Mark quite a bit over the weekend and we will be lining him up as a guest speaker at a KP Meeting in the next couple of months. Later that day I went to a lecture by Joe Friel, author of The Triathletes Training Bible, as well as some other books. Joe gave a talk on Stress Based Periodization.

On Saturday night we went to the USA Triathlon Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony. USAT honored Paula Newby Fraser, Barb Lindquist, Valerie Silk, Carl Thomas and Jim Curl. We were guests at the Southwest Region table and had a great evening.

On Sunday we started the day with renowned running coach, Bobby Magee, spending about a 1/2 hour watching me run on a treadmill and giving me some valuable information about how my gait has changed a bit since my foot injury and how to correct it. I got to know Bobby a few years ago and I give him credit for teaching me the essentials of how to run, as well as how to teach others how to run. John videoed the whole session, so we have some great footage from one of the best in the business.

We finished the weekend with a few more lectures, one on a few "Cycling Myths", another on training for Power in the Swim and finishing with a talk on Youth Triathlon Programs.

The weekend was very informative and I look forward to sharing some good stories and information with all of you. We are already making plans for next year, as it was well worth the trip.

Hope to see many of you at the "Brick" workout on Tuesday night!!

Coach Kain

For more information about training with Kain Performance, visit our website at www.kainperformance.com or call Pete 408-781-0517.

Triathlon Map Site

This is a pretty cool link showing location and times of all triathlons in the world. You can zoom in on the map to check out particular countries and locations plus sort by month

http://www.trimapper.com

From John Magee

“How Fast Should I be running at Track?”

Track workout tends to be one of the least well attended team workouts that KAIN offers. I think there are two main reasons for this; One is that it can feel a little intimidating, athletes tend to think they are going to be pushed beyond their limits.  The second is that people doing Ironman distance races think there is little to gain from “Speed-work”. I hope to address these two concerns in this article. 

The first concern could be addressed if people understood that as coaches, we understand that it is detrimental to push athletes beyond their limits – that leads to injury, overtraining and the breakdown of the athlete – that is never the goal of the track workout. However I think the vast majority of athletes do not have a sense of how fast they should be running during their efforts, because of this they tend to think that everything is going to be very anaerobic – and that is not the case. 

As regards the second concern, it is well documented that doing a little speed-work on the track can have significant impact on the ability of all runners at all distances to improve their times. I won’t get into the details of how that happens (if you would like more info please contact one of the coaches). But understand that “Speed-work” looks very different for someone doing an Olympic distance race compared to some one going Iron distance  - combine this with some personal knowledge of how fast you should be doing your runs then I think you would be better prepared to meet your stated competition goals. 

So …. lets say I had a goal of running a 4 hour marathon in my ironman – obviously I know I have to build up my endurance so that I had the capability to run the actual distance – but HOW FAST should I do my training runs if that is my overall goal?

That’s where a running or pace calculator can be a useful tool. On the next page you can see what my predicted pace times would be for all distances up to the marathon. Some of them are just for fun  - and they tend to be more inaccurate over the shorter distances – 400M and lower - the 100M sprint time for example has a lot more to do with someone’s genetic legacy of fast twitch muscle fibers than it does training for a 4 hour marathon. However this tool can be useful in a couple of areas;

If you know your last 10K time you can punch it in and it will predict what you should be capable of at a half Iron man or an ironman distance run – that helps you figure out if your race goals are realistic or not. 

Secondly it allows you to predict your own track workout pace – (therefore less intimidating) as well as the pace you should be doing your long slow runs and your tempo runs. If the goal is to run a sub 40 minute 10K – then you know you need to be able to run in the area of a 5.33 mile and that your tempo runs should be at 6.31 – 6.48 per mile.

The link to the calculator is  http://www.mcmillanrunning.com/mcmillanrunningcalculator.htm

I recommend you check out the site, play around with the calculator a little if you have never used one before, and then put in some of your documented race paces and see if those pace times seem familiar. 

HOMEWORK.  Put in your time goals for the run on your “A” race this year and printout the document. If you then bring that to track, when Pete gives you the workout for the night, you will have an idea of what pace you should be running ultimately in order to meet this goal. 

Always remember that these numbers are estimates and that how you are feeling, your fatigue level, your place in the training cycle etc all has to be considered and used to modify these paces. Talk to the coaches so that the workout is individualized for you. But at least you will have a good starting point. 

Finally another little tip I learned this week listening to another seminar from Bobby McGee was the “12 minute rule”. If you are not feeling good for your run workout, try to quantify it on a scale of 1-10 with 1 being “Dead” and 10 being “Very strong and fresh” – then go run for 12 minutes  - just a steady warm up run – if at the end of that 12 minutes you would give yourself a higher score – then you are ready to workout – if the score is lower, then you might want to call it a night and get a little extra rest.

Hope you found this helpful – hope you do your “homework” and at least play around with the calendar and printout a pace schedule for yourself and hope to see you at track

Coach John Magee

Kain Performance

Lessons from Wild Flower Training Weekend

Based on some of the experiences of our athletes this weekend, it seems to me that there is a need for a little more information on which to fine tune the nutritional plan – especially in regard to our sodium intake. 

The weekend was obviously a tough training weekend – especially for those who did two loops at wildflower but it was also the first time this year we have had to deal with heat and few of us, if any are particularly well heat acclimated yet.  However while the current weather forecast for wild flower seems to indicate temperatures in the mid 70’s it is always a possibility that it is going to be hot again this year so those who are racing need to be prepared. 

Without trying to scare you – or overwhelm you with numbers, the difference between “normal” blood concentrations of sodium and what might be considered an “emergency” situation of low sodium can be as little as 500 mg of sodium. So it definitely pays, from a medical perspective, to try and get this done right and obviously from a performance perspective you would not want your training to be compromised due to a nutritional breakdown.

Athletes who are acclimatized to heat typically have lower sweat sodium concentrations in warmer conditions. So if the race you are training for has a history of high temperatures (Wildflower and Auburn are two that spring to mind) then it is important to address the variable you can control – sodium intake – rather than the variable you cannot – the weather. Adult athletes can lose between 1.0-2.5 liters of sweat per hour. In severe heat conditions, this can increase to 3.5 liters per hour. Sweat is mostly water but contains many other compounds including sodium, chloride, potassium, calcium, and a host of other compounds. If you are very disciplined you could bring a scale with you to workouts and weigh yourself before and after, or pay for a sweat test to be done but since most of us are not going to do that, you will need to estimate where you might fit in that category and at least be aware of making sure you are at least replacing the minimum sodium losses. 

Research has shown that sweat sodium concentrations can range from 115-2,300 milligrams of sodium lost per liter of sweat. However, the AVERAGE athlete usually falls within the 700mg to 1200mg per liter of sweat. Thus at the minimum sweat rate, the average athlete is losing 700mg per hour.

It might help to see an example;

“Scott knows that he loses about 1 liter of sweat per hour in conditions predicted for his upcoming Ironman. He also knows that his sweat is usually quite concentrated, leaving a lot of salt stains on his clothing. He guesses his sweat contains sodium at the higher end of the normal range, about 1200 mg/liter.  So with a sweat rate of 1 liter per hour, under ideal conditions he should replace 1200 mg of sodium per hour. Scott's favorite sports drink contains only 300 mg of sodium per liter. Each gel he is consuming contains 50 mg of sodium, and each bar he consumes contains 100 mg of sodium. The following table summarizes Scott's water and sodium intake per hour:

Per hour	Water (liters)	Sodium (mg)
Sports Drink	1	300
3 Gels	Negligible	50 x 3 = 150
1 Bar	None	100
Total	1 liter	550
Deficit	0	650

Based on this basic Ironman diet, Scott ingests enough water every hour, but his sodium intake is far below what he actually needs, about 650 mg per hour short, considering he needs 1200 mg/hour. Multiply this by 12 hours, and you have 7.8 grams of sodium, or 19.5 grams of salt (the human body contains around 40g of total sodium). Most likely, Scott is headed for severe hyponatremia.”

Also bear in mind that in athletes who have high sweat rates can lose sodium amounts approaching 5,000 milligrams per hour. 

In addition to what may be lost during competition, a “clean” daily diet can also contribute to the problem. “Clean” eating is characterized by eating more whole foods such as fruits, vegetables, grains and protein and less processed and refined foods. This often leads to a lower overall daily salt intake and while beneficial from a health perspective, it can have a significant impact on sodium levels in the body before a race. Since this method of eating is gaining momentum, it is often recommended to implement a “sodium loading” regimen before a race and follow through with a higher sodium intake during a race. After competition, the athlete returns to the normal “clean” eating daily diet again.

Sodium Loading;

There has been research on sodium loading and the basic premise behind the mechanism is in the expansion of plasma volume, which is important to cardiovascular function and endurance exercise performance. Expanding plasma volume, termed hypervolemia, may reduce cardiovascular and heat strain seen with exercise, thus improving an athlete’s ability to perform. While there are a few ways to increase plasma volume, sodium loading is easy to implement and has shown good results, including in warmer conditions.

Also drinking fluids that provide a higher sodium concentration before exercise can improve exercise tolerance in warmer conditions. 

For more details on how to go about Sodium Loading and to read the full text of this article, which I have significantly edited you can join the team first endurance network for free at http://team.firstendurance.com/

http://team.firstendurance.com/page/sodium-loading-2

Sodium Consumption During a Race

The American College of Sports Medicine recommends consuming 500-700 milligrams of sodium per liter of fluid per hour of exercise while other researchers have recommended a higher range of around 1700-2900 milligrams of sodium per liter of fluid per hour. Seebohar recommends a minimum of 800mg per hour. This is a large discrepancy, mostly due to the requirements of individual athletes and varying environmental conditions. However, the general observation has been that most athletes underconsume sodium during training or a race which typically has negative consequences. Sodium loading has been shown to work in a laboratory setting and has been yielding good results for athletes during actual competitions. It is recommended to try this approach during more intense training that mimics similar conditions of which your race will be.

Endurolytes or Salt Stick?

Endurolytes contain 40mg per capsule while salt stick capsules contain 215 mg of sodium. If we use the example of Bob from the previous page he has an hourly deficit of 650mg of salt – in this scenario he would need to take 15 endurolyte capsules an hour in addition to the electrolyte drink, 3 gels and a bar he is currently eating  - that seems a lot to manage! Alternatively he could take 3 salt stick capsules an hour and meet his sodium needs. 

*** Just as I was about to send this out – another article shows up on the USAT coaching website on this topic! Link below***

http://usatriathlon.org/content/index/6036

Cramping

Here are two links to articles about cramping for those who are prone to this. I was actually a little surprised to realize that electrolyte imbalance was not considered a major contributor to cramping  - but rather they pointed to duration and intensity of exercise over which we do have some control. It serves as another reminder about the importance of building an appropriate endurance base and of making sure you don’t go to hard or to fast during your training as the ability to ride at a higher threshold for 80 miles does not automatically translate into the ability to ride at a lower threshold for 112.

http://www.scysa.net/filecabinet/muscle_cramps_info.pdf

http://ezinearticles.com/?Muscle-Cramps-in-Runners&id=1265152

Finally – here is a link to 10 common mistakes for Ironman – I know we have read them before but it does not hurt to do it again – especially with Wildflower having that festival feel, its easy to go “hang out” at the expo in the hot sun for hours at a time the day before your race. Relax, rest, hydrate, get your feet up and stay out of the sun.

http://searchwarp.com/swa58560.htm

Good Luck at Wildflower

Coach John Magee

Kain Performance