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

ShareThis

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

ShareThis