Miles to go …

For a Monday morning, 12 miles might seem long but I had an irresistible urge since I missed my weekend long run yesterday due to a family gathering over the weekend. I ran with a 9 minute pace but this is the longest run during this training session and the runs are going to get longer only. Hopefully I can maintain my pace.

Technorati: Running Marathon Fitness Training

Read a good article explaining the different elements of training. In this article on interval training, I liked the way a hierarchy is created between interval (distance/ time for which you run), repetition (several intervals together along with a specified recovery distance/time) and set (group of intervals). These terms can be combined to create your own schedule of tempo runs. BTW, here is a great article explaining tempo runs. After 3 weeks of  training so far, I’ll now be incorporating tempo runs in my training calendar, probably on Wednesday and adjust my rest of the schedule accordingly.

I’ve explored 3.5 mile main route, alternate 3.5 mile route and 4.5 miles so far. I plan to explore 5.1 miles, 10.1 miles and 4.0 miles in the days to come. Here is my training calendar so far:

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Technorati: Tempo Run Interval Training Running Marathon Training

Mercury News published 100 tips for healthful eating for different lifestyles in Food+Wine section on Wednesday. Here are the tips for serious athletes:

1. Never try a new food right before a competition.
2. Drink low-fat chocolate milk after you lift weights; the combination of protein and carbohydrates helps speed amino acids to muscles.
3. Drink something like Boost or Ensure for a quick, easy-to-digest meal if you have a very early morning workout.
4. Never try a weight-loss plan during your sport season.
5. During long bouts of exercise, drink 5 to 10 ounces of water or sports drink every 20 to 30 minutes.
6. Eat a bagel, snack crackers, energy bar, fruit yogurt or fig bars in the hour after exercise to help speed the resynthesis of muscle glycogen.
7. If you cramp, drink more fluids and eat more salty foods.
8. Keep a small bag of pretzels or an energy bar in your gym bag for those times when you need a pre- or post-workout snack.

I agree with most of them except #5 as the recommended guideline is to be "guided by your thirst" instead of "stay ahead of your thirst". See this blog entry for more details. Also for #3, most of my workouts are in morning and I’ve always done better empty stomach. All the other points indeed make sense to me.

Technorati: Running Marathon Fitness Healthy Eating

Over lunch (I’ve started feeling hungry earlier these days due to my recently started marathon training , I read an article on Eight Benefits of Cross-Training. Although injury prevention is the most obvious reason for this variety in training programs, this article very nicely explains some other other side benefits as well. Here is a quote from the article:

To make an absolute statement might be going too far, but I think it's safe to say that almost every runner can run faster by cross-training appropriately than by running only.

I think that’s so true. I’ve been thinking of adding some variety to my schedule and this will motivate me to do that now.

Technorati: Running Marathon Fitness Training

As I mentioned earlier, here is my running schedule for the upcoming Silicon Valley Marathon. I prepared this using a StarOffice spreadsheet, so let me know if anybody interested in using the same model or doing a run together. Most (read all) of my runs are early morning but I’m willing to change my weekend runs if I get a company

Few points …

• A detailed explanation of the model will follow in a subsequent blog.
• This is only the first draft of the schedule and will be changed after week 2 runs.
• I’ll post a weekly update to the schedule, hopefully Sunday nights.

Technorati: Running Marathon Silicon Valley South Bay