RunWithPower » Distance Training

A successful First Hood to Coast!

scott — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 15:58:44 +0000

Despite some last minute changes to the team, we were still able to finish 80th Overall with a time of 24:14:29! We were pleased overall but now the challenge begins to improve. We are praying our team is allowed back in again this year as we have already set our sights on a top 40 finish in 2011. The race itself was incredible. It was a very unique experience for us as at one point we were the very last place team on the course. The race goes in waves so teams begin in the morning and are released in 15 minute intervals all the way until 6:45 pm. Our first van had the pleasure of being passed by all of the elite teams that took off after us but we also started to quickly catch some of the teams that left ahead of us.

During the end of the second van’s first shift there was an accident of some sort just a minute or so after our runner and two teams behind us had passed. This stopped all teams behind us and those teams were moved ahead further into the race and picked it up from there. Needless to say the two teams left behind us caught and passed us so we had the unique experience of being the very last team on the course. We eventually caught hundreds of teams and we had the unique opportunity to get double road kills on the same runners as we had to repass everyone we did in the first 8-9 legs.

Here are some pictures form the great event. Thanks to all who volunteered to make Hood to Coast such a unique and spectacular event.

The Starting Line at Timberline Lodge. Our Team left in one of the last waves starting at 6:15pm Friday Night

Getting ready for one of the last van exchanges

FINISHED!!

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Josh’s Boston Marathon Experience Part 1

scott — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 22:13:12 +0000

It’s amazing what one week with a really bad cold can do to three months worth of rigorous training. I was a month and a half away from leaving for Boston when one of the most challenging moments in my young running career seemed to all but destroy my chances. I woke up one Monday morning not feeling too great, and as the day wore on I only felt worse! I figured one day of rest isn’t going to ruin all I had worked for up t that point, so I took the day off instead of risking getting more sick. The next day was arguably worse than before. The day after that, same story. A full week of absolutely zero training of any kind was gone, just like that.

That Saturday I decided it was time to run, regardless of whether or not I was a hundred percent. Sadly enough, it wasn’t the pounding headache that had me limping only 9 miles into a 12 mile run. The run started out great, I was back where I belonged, feet seemingly floating along the pavement. This feeling of elation turned to frustration as I felt the pressure build on the outside of my right knee. If you have ever experienced the devastating feeling of not being able to do what you love no matter how hard you try to push through, then you will be able to relate to how i was feeling at that moment. The IT band muscle that runs down the lateral portion of the left leg to the knee was the source of my problem. During the week I was sick my body reacted very negatively to the lack of training and stimulus to my muscular system.

My body was so used to training using the 4 Laws that when I didn’t do any training for a week I tightened up, causing my muscular system to shift my skeletal system, ever so slightly, out of alignment. Every time I would try to run this misalignment would cause my IT band muscle to rub against mu knee, giving me the pleasant sensation of feeling like my knee had exploded into flame! Using the 4 Laws of training, my coach and I were able to realign my body. The problem was that I had not developed any muscular endurance in this newly aligned position, as a result, ever time I would try to run my new stride would fatigue after a few miles, causing the all too familiar fire to return to my knee. I became very disheartened and frustrated as the days turned to weeks and I still couldn’t run. If it was not for the incredible prayers and support of family and friends I wouldn’t have had the motivation to keep with it.

The silver lining of the story, from a training standpoint was integration. The one thing I was able to do to stay in shape was integrate. So, for the next month and a half I integrated as aggressively as i could. Integration gave my muscular system enough of the right kind of stimulus to help get my body back to where it was before the tightness settled in. I gradually started running very short distances, with tons of integration between laps. Before I knew it, it was time to board the flight to Boston. I was nervous, having not run over five miles in the last 45 days leading up to race day, but there was no way I was going to miss out on this opportunity

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Boston Marathon Update: Training – A few new components

scott — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 03:51:36 +0000

I know it’s been forever since my last post (thanks to all my hw!!) but I am happy to say my training has stayed consistent and allowed me to run strong, fast, and efficient! The Boston Marathon will only be my second marathon in what I hope to be a long and successful running career. I know that every time I train for one I will be able to come away with more experience and a better understanding of how to improve on my goals for next time.

This time Scott and proposed a few minor adjustments to help maximize my ability to perform as race day gets closer. One area I have been focusing on a great deal more are the elevation changes of my runs. Last time I did a lot of more or less flat running without much hill work. This time around I have incorporated it quite a bit more, utilizing Beaverton’s famous Weir Road which is a mile from top to bottom and includes some serious up hill running. I am confident it will be the longer runs with more challenging inclines that will help me overcome “Heart-break Hill” in Boston. I have heard a lot about that hill and the physical as well as the mental strain it puts on even the most experienced runners.

The other main two components I feel are going to be key to my success at Boston are the speed workouts I have been doing, as well as the specifically designed supplement routines. Every Thursday has been designated my speed work day, and I can honestly say that sometimes my speed days feel more challenging than my long runs. This may be hard to believe, but any true distance runner can tell you that sprinting isn’t exactly our forte. For the last few weeks I have been on a progression where I run 12x400m at about 90sec per lap with about two-three minutes recovery in between, including neutralizers. The next week I moved up and did 12x600m at the same pace proportional to the distance.

Each week I will add 200m to the distance, and I will also be going back through each workout and drop the time I have to do them in to push my body even faster. The whole idea behind these workouts is to be able to run at a pace that’s faster than my goal pace for Boston, so that I can have that extra gear I know I am capable of. Since I want to be able to run a 6:30 mile pace I have been doing my speed workouts at a 6:00 mile pace. Eventually I will work my way up to doing 12x1200m at a 6:00 mile pace or faster. It sounds hard now but I know I’ll be ready.

Today I went back down to the 12x400m workout and had to run them all in 75sec or faster. It was a pretty big step up from the last time I did it but, surprisingly I was able to run them all in about 73sec. It was encouraging to be able to run at that pace and it has really helped me pick up the pace for my longer runs. The last and probably most important new component, which I referenced earlier, is the specific supplement routines that Scott has built for me. Each of them was built to illicit the necessary responses from my muscular system so that I can maintain good skeletal posture and muscular efficiency. These supplements have played an essential part in keeping me healthy as I push my body to meet its potential. Without them my speed, strength, power, endurance, flexibility, durability and overall efficiency of movement would be very limited.

The key to finishing strong in the end won’t have to do as much with the amount of endurance I have, but rather how efficiently my muscular system can work together, allowing it to maximize its ability to support the skeletal system, holding it in the correct alignment, which will minimize the negative side affects of the long hard pounding, and give me the best chance of meeting my goals.

Only 81 days until the Boston Marathon!!

- Josh

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The 4 Laws of Training Part #1

scott — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 04:02:20 +0000

I have been in the business of training people to become better runners for close to 20 years now. I have had the chance to meet hundreds of trainers who were all specialists in one aspect or another regarding the different running styles. Many of them had great techniques that they used and I learned more drills than I can possibly keep track of. I recognized early on that many trainers relied heavily on these drills and regardless of the athlete they were working with, they used the exact same drills over session after session. There was a belief that it was the drills that were making the athletes better and in many cases this was true. I also noticed however that athletes were quickly dismissed as weak or slow or simply not gifted if the drills did not work.

This is when I started to realize that maybe it was not the athletes fault but rather that they had a muscular system that responded differently to the stimulus or training that the trainer was using. Perhaps it was not all about the drills but rather the specific needs of the body you were working with that should determine the drills and techniques you used. From there I met a trainer who used a great tool called body typing that enabled him to understand how different muscular systems might respond to various types of demands such as strength training and speed training. He categorized people based on various styles of muscular systems and this allowed him to give each individual the right type of training for their muscular systems to respond with maximum results.

I adopted a similar style of my own for understanding how people’s muscular systems would respond to the type of training we were doing. The other component that I felt many trainers struggled with was that they lacked a reliable system for training. There are some tremendous training systems out there. Velocity Sports uses some advanced training techniques that are able to provide some good results just to name one. However I feel all training systems miss the mark on what is the most important aspect of all. Your choices for exercises must be based solely on the body you are working with, not the exercises you feel are the “best” exercise for speed, or strength, or whatever else you are training for.

Through years of research and trial and error with an emphasis on error, I came up with 4 consistent laws regarding the human body that I feel are the cornerstone for our training system. I will cover each of these laws with you in upcoming posts in this category so you have an understanding of how we approach our training and how we feel it is the key to maximizing your results.

Scott Olson

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