Fours PRs, a BQ and a 62 Minute Marathon Improvement

Fours PRs, a BQ and a 62 Minute Marathon Improvement

by | Jun 29, 2021 | Coaching, Personal, Reflection

By Coach Adolfo Salgueiro

As a coach, you put the same emphasis and hard work on every athlete that passes through your programs. You make sure to provide every single one of them with all the tools at your disposal to get the best out of their individual capabilities during their quest to achieve their goals. Yet, every so often, a special runner shows up at your door, just by chance, and blows your mind. For me, this runner is Yolmer Garcia, 45. A Venezuelan native currently residing in Pompano Beach, Florida.

Improvement

A committed athlete with a personalized training program. Results speak for themselves.

I met Yolmer just by chance. We both ran at the Pompano Beach Airpark trail and from crossing paths on a regular basis, just started giving each other the “runner’s hi”. Then, when we coincided at the parking lot, we exchanged pleasantries and talked running. Two and a half years later, not only we have become good friends, but he has also exceeded all my expectations. As the title of this post reveals, he has improved leaps and bounds, and he is just getting started.

When I met him, sometime in late 2018, he was just a guy who loved running. With a ton of natural talent but no plan beyond running whatever he felt his body allowed him on any particular day. He had a few half marathons around 1:42. Not only he wanted to run a marathon, but he had already registered for Miami 2019 and was going to do it, rain-or-shine.

His first marathon was quite an adventure, given we only had 10 weeks prior to race day. We focused exclusively on distance. No time for speed. He had to go with whatever he had already built. He completed the race in a competent 4:16:31. Not bad at all, but not close to his potential as a runner. Plenty of space for improvement.

As he finished the “Light at the End of the Tunnel Marathon” in North Bend, WA., on June 13, 2021, he has improved his half marathon time to 1:31:15 and lowered his marathon time 62:15, since his maiden journey into the 26.2 monster.

Yolmer was lucky enough to get into the New York City Marathon for November 2019. We set up a 20-week training program with all the necessary elements. A PR was a given, it was a matter of by how much. Unfortunately, he had severe leg cramping as he crossed from Bronx to Manhattan and his finishing time suffered considerably. Still, he finishes in 3:54:36, a 21:55-minute PR. An amazing performance regardless, and gutsy given the circumstances.

Improvement

Hal Marathon PR has come down from 1:42 to 1:31

The redeeming race was Miami 2020. A plan was set to build on endurance so he could set a comfortable PR. We wanted to focus on having a more enjoyable experience through which he could build the confidence that he is able to finish strong and without cramping. Despite a bumpy last month, when life and work got in the way of training, Yolmer was able to set a 10:30 PR, finishing in 3:43:36 without cramping. Awesome, but still not within his potential.

As races resumed after the Covid pandemic, we worked on speed to tune him up for the best half marathon time we could get. He ran 1:32 in Space Coast, 1:33 in the Miami virtual and his current PR of 1:31 in A1A Ft. Lauderdale. Then it was time for the Tunnel Marathon in Washington State.

Training was not without its challenges. South Florida is flat, at sea level and with little trails to recreate race conditions. Yet, we did the best we could with what we had available. Because Yolmer is registered for Berlin in September, our main focus was on making sure he had the distance so he could finish strong and then set up a solid speed program to fine tune a BQ. Training was solid and a PR was expected. As a coach I would have been happy with a 3:30. We must have done something right, because he PR’d and BQ’d with 3:14:01, a 29:35 improvement from his previous. Now, this is within his running potential!

From Miami 2019 to Tunnel 2021, Yolmer has improved his marathon PR by over 62 minutes (2:25 per mile), with PRs in each one of his races. And he hasn’t run his fastest marathon yet. Now that he has BQ’d, the next step in his progression is a sub-3 marathon, which I have no doubt he has the conditions to achieve. It is just around the corner. Maybe even closer that he or I think. In Berlin 2021? We will give it our best shot.

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What Motivates Runners

What Motivates Runners

by | Jun 22, 2021 | Reflection, Science

By Coach Adolfo Salgueiro

 I was recently having a conversation with a group of friends regarding the reasons we lace up our shoes three, four, or five times a week. It became obvious that even though most of us may have the same basic reasons, if we dig deeper and list the top five things that motivate us to engage in this sport, the lists will be as unique as the uniqueness of each runner.

What Motivates RunnersWhen it comes to running, we all have a main reason why we do it. The answers can fit into a wide spectrum ranging from “because I like it” through “I just can’t stop”, with infinite shades in between.

As I was recently re-reading “The Science of Running” (a book by Steve Magness, which I highly recommend to anyone wanting to delve very deep into the subject of the title), I was surprised to see a section with an array of scientific studies that classify runners according to their motivations.

Three of them caught my attention, and thus, I share them with you here, so you can find where you fit based on each one of them.

According to a paper titled “Motives for Participation in Recreational Running”, published in The Journal of Leisure Research by Peter Clough, John Shepherd and Ronald Maughan, back in 1989, runners’ motivations could be divided into six groups:

a.    Well-Being
b.    Social
c.    Challenge
d.    Status
e.    Fitness/Health
f.     Addiction

According to this study, while most leisure activities include one or many aspects of the first four aforementioned reasons, the last two separate running from other activities. Interesting to me is the last one. I am sure we all know someone we consider “addicted to running”, but to realize there are scholarly studies that actually classify addiction as a real motivation for the sport, puts such compulsion in a new light. At least for me.

In his latest book, “A Runner’s High”, Dean Karnazes states: “If running is a drug that threatens my life, let me have it”.

Magness also cites a study titled “Motivations for running and eating attitudes in obligatory versus nonobligatory runners”  by Heather Slay, Jumi Hayaki, Melissa A. Napolitano and Kelly D. Brownell, published in 1998 in the International Journal of Eating Disorders.

As the title suggests, runners were separated in two groups based on the reasons they participate in our sport. This study separated those who run because they want from the ones who run because they must. The “Obligator” group is motivated by negative or external factors. These are the runners that if they take a week off will start thinking they are letting themselves down or the pounds will start creeping in by tomorrow. On the opposite side are the ones who just run because they want to. That is where I fit in, and I just prefer it this way.

The third study that caught my attention is a paper titled “A typology of marathon runners based on cluster analysis of motivations”, published in 2003 in the Journal of Sports Behavior by B.M. Ogles and K.S. Masters. In this one, marathoners are separated into five categories based on their motivation:

a.    Running Enthusiasts
b.    Lifestyle Managers
c.    Personal Goal Achievers
d.    Personal Accomplishers
e.    Competitive Achievers

What Motivates Runners

Runners train in Ngong, Kenya, in 2012. The country has produced the world’s best distance runners for decades, and most belong to the Kalenjin people.

Of course, there are many more motivations for running. According to a study by Professor Vincent Onywera in 2006, the main motivator for Kenyan Elite Runners is financial gain. Lower in their list are talent and national tradition.

If you read the recently published book “Out of Thin Air”, by anthropologist Michael Crawley, you will realize that Ethiopian runners have the same financial motivation, even those who are still far of the “elite” label but working towards it.

Financial is not a motivation for 99.9% of the readers of this blogpost. If anyone fits into the 0.1% remaining, please identify yourself.

This blogpost ended up a bit denser on science than I what I originally intended, but I found this subject fascinating. Somehow, I am sure we can all find ourselves in each one of these studies and understand a bit more why we do this. Because if you are a runner, it doesn’t matter what motivates you, as long as it keeps you moving forward.

Any thoughts? Leave me a comment, below.

 
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The Art and the Science of Coaching Runners

The Art and the Science of Coaching Runners

by | Jun 15, 2021 | Article, Coaching, Opinion

By Coach Adolfo Salgueiro

A few weeks ago I went for a run with one of my trainees. He brought a friend to join in. He knew how beneficial it had been for my trainee to follow a structured, individualized, and supervised training plan. He was very aware of my trainee’s progress during the months we worked together. So, as we ran, he picked my brain with a few poignant questions.

Coaching RunnersThere was one that caught my attention and kept me thinking for a few days. He was training for a 50-mile race, and he wanted to know: As a coach, what is the weekly mileage I recommend for someone wanting to complete his distance?

As you may imagine by now, there is one and only one answer for such a question: “It depends”.

It was then when I started enumerating the different variables that need to be considered before I answered such a question. There is a whole set of variables that needs to be pondered and expressed in a training plan before a goal may have a chance to be realized. These variables, among others and in no particular order, are:

* Goal – What is it that you are trying to achieve?
* Balance – There must be a reason why miles are prescribed. No junk miles.
* Rest – It is a much part of a training plan as a long run.
* Nutrition – Without being a dietitian, a coach must understand the basics of healthy eating.
* Speed work – has to be balanced between long runs and recovery days.
* Intensity – It is not about how fast but how hard you are pushing.
* Aerobic capacity – For runs over 800 mts, it is the basic measurement of endurance.
* Strength training – core and weight work are key to the success of a runner.
* Cross Training – It can’t be all running. Supplementary activities need to be performed.
* Hydration – Not only about avoiding dehydration but when and how much fluids to consume.
* Fueling – caloric intake that needs to be consumed for the body to complete the task efficiently.
* Race strategy – What will you do on race day with what you have worked so hard to obtain.
* Recovery – What to do once you are done with your training cycle, so you don’t burn out.

Coaching RunnersCombining all these and many more variables in a reasonable, achievable, and well-balanced plan, requires knowledge, preparation, and experience, both as a runner and as a coach. But even with all these elements, coaching runners is still not an exact science.

Each body reacts different to the same stimuli, and because life affect every runner in an individual way, it is imperative for a running coach to be openminded, flexible and willing to adjust as weeks go by. This can’t be achieved by cookie-cutter, generic plan downloaded from the internet.

Running a 10K, a half marathon or a marathon is not unachievable. Hundreds of thousands of people do it year in and year out. But as you look to achieve certain distance or time goals, if you want to get the best out of what you have and/or if you want to improve and test your limits, the guidance of a knowledgeable coach, one who can balance art and science, becomes more important, if not indispensable.

 
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Heat Exhaustion Vs. Heatstroke

Heat Exhaustion Vs. Heatstroke

by | Jun 8, 2021 | Article, Reflection, Science

By Coach Adolfo Salgueiro

Once again, the usual disclaimer: I am not a doctor, so please do not take medical advice from me. If you have any questions on what you are about to read, please consult a professional, which, yet once again, it is not the author of this blogpost. Now, let’s proceed.

Heat Exhaustion vs. Heatstroke

Running in the summer heat requires a certain level of preparation to avoid heat related issues, including death (Jonas Ferlin, pexels.com)

As we enter the Summer months in the Northern Hemisphere and the coolness of the spring weather turns into a combination of heat and humidity that can make even the most motivated runner miserable, the time has come to refresh our knowledge on two important concepts. It is extremely important to understand and differentiate the signs and symptoms of heat related illnesses, such as heat exhaustion and heatstroke. They are both serious conditions, but one can lead to death.

According to the Mayo Clinic’s website, there are three heat-related syndromes that may affect your body depending on your exposure to extreme heat conditions. In order of severity, they are: heat cramps, heat exhaustion and heatstroke.

Heat Exhaustion is caused by exposure to high temperatures, particularly when combined with high humidity and strenuous physical activity. Without prompt treatment, it can turn into a heatstroke, a life-threatening condition that can be prevented by avoiding entering in the heat exhaustion zone in the first place.

Heatstroke is a condition caused by your body overheating, usually as result of prolonged exposure to physical exertion in high temperatures. This most serious form of heat injury, it can occur if your body temperature rises to 104 F (40 C) or higher.

Certain conditions and medicines can enhance your risk of a heat-related illness. Ask your doctor if any of your medical history or current prescriptions can make you more susceptible to these diseases considering your level of physical activity during the warmer months.

I can’t state enough how important to know and understand the symptoms of each one of these syndromes. Not only it could help you prevent them, but it can avert a tragedy.


Heat Exhaustion

The evaporation of your sweat regulates your body temperature. However, when you exercise strenuously or otherwise overexert yourself in hot, humid weather, your core temperature (body\’s heat combined with environmental heat) fails to regulate, preventing your body to cool itself. A normal core temperature is around 98.6 F (37 C).

 If you don’t deal with this situation immediately, it may develop into a dreaded heatstroke.

The symptoms of Heat Exhaustion are:

  • Cool, moist skin with goose bumps

  • Heavy sweating

  • Faintness

  • Dizziness

  • Fatigue

  • Weak, rapid pulse

  • Low blood pressure upon standing

  • Muscle cramps

  • Nausea

  • Headache

Should you feel these symptoms, stop your activity immediately, move to a cooler place, drink cool water and/or sports drinks and rest. If these symptoms don’t get better within in an hour, contact your doctor. Remember you are avoiding at all costs to have this escalate into a heatstroke.

Heatstroke

Heatstroke not only requires immediate treatment, but it can quickly injure the brain, heart, kidneys, and muscles. Damage can get worse the longer treatment is delayed and lead to serious complications and, once again, even death.

The symptoms of Heatstroke are:

  • High body temperature (over 104 F or 40 C),

  • Altered mental state or behavior (Confusion, agitation, slurred speech, irritability, delirium, seizures),

  • Alteration in sweating (skin feels hot and dry to the touch),

  • Nausea and vomiting,

  • Flushed skin. (Skin may turn red as the body temperature increases),

  • Rapid breathing (rapid and shallow),

  • Racing heart rate (Pulse may significantly increase),

  • Headache (Throbbing).

     

Prevention

  • It is imperative to be proactive, both for ourselves and on behalf of our running mates, in the avoidance of situations that may trigger heat exhaustion during the hot summer months. The Mayo Clinic recommends the following:

  • Wear loose-fitting, lightweight clothing,

  • Protect against sunburn,

  • Drink plenty of fluids,

  • Take extra precautions with certain medications (ask your doctor),

  • Take it easy during the hottest parts of the day,

  • Get acclimated to the new weather conditions.

Last year we wrote a blog post on Training Adjustments for the Summer Months, which may be worth revisiting as we prepare for the upcoming weather conditions.

Let’s take a little bit of time and learn about heat exhaustion and heatstroke so we can prevent a tragedy.

 
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2 Breathing Techniques to Improve Your Running

2 Breathing Techniques to Improve Your Running

by | Jun 1, 2021 | Article, Coaching, Reflection, Science

By Coach Adolfo Salgueiro

A few months ago I bumped into a challenge with one of my coached runners. As soon as she reached mile 3 or 4, she got a side stitch. It didn’t matter what we tried with the timing on her nutrition or her fluid intake. Come that point, boom! Stitch! We needed to attack this problem and fast. Before it became a psychological issue.

I consulted with a few coaches I know, and they gave me their suggestions and home remedies. While we found a couple of things to temporarily remedy the nagging stitch, they were not the permanent solution we were looking for.

While researching the issue I came across a book from 2013 called “Running on Air: The revolutionary Way to Run Better by Breathing Smarter”, by Bud Coats and Claire Kowalchik. This was a publication of Runner’s World Magazine, published by Rodale.

The book goes into details about many things that are not necessarily related to breathing. So, since this is not a book review, I am skipping them. But it does go into detail on the science and mechanics of breathing and breathing while running in layman terms. To my trainee, there were two specific aspects that not only made the difference, but solved the problem:

 

Breathing Techniques

Breathing from the belly and doing in in an add-number pattern may help you improve you running. Worth giving it a try (image from pexels.com)

1-   DIAPHRAGMATIC BREATHING

Known colloquially as “belly breathing”, involves engaging the stomach, abdominal muscles, and diaphragm, which means actively pulling the diaphragm down with each inward breath. Compared with coastal breathing, it helps the lungs fill more efficiently.

I cannot teach you diaphragmatic breathing in a few paragraphs, but I can tell you that I’ve been doing it for over 20 years, and it has worked for me beautifully. It also helps you strengthen the diaphragm, located beneath your lungs, which is the major muscle of the respiration process. It contracts and flattens when you inhale, creating a a vacuum effect that pulls air into the lungs. A stronger diaphragm means more air, more air means more oxygen for your body to burn, and less side stitches.

Regardless of your preferred type of breathing, a strong diaphragm will help you breath better, relax, meditate, improve digestion, and provide you the obvious running benefits that more oxygen in your system can offer.

If you want to learn more about diaphragmatic breathing, its benefits and strengthening exercises, click here for a YouTube video from the UCLA Integrative Digestive and Health Wellness Program, which can help you get started.

2 – RHYTHMIC BREATHING

I have been breathing on a 3/2 count (inhale for 3 steps and exhale for 2) for about 5 years, and the benefits have been tangible. I don’t even think about it anymore, it just happens. In my personal experience, it works better than the 2/2 I did for years. Once I got my hands on this book, I understood why, and it made sense.

It is because “the greatest impact stress of running occurs when the foot strikes the ground at the beginning of exhalation and also that core stability is at its lowest during exhalation”.

Based on this, it is easy to understand that by breathing on an odd count, you will be alternating sides each time you are at your weakest while hitting the ground. Think of it this way: In one mile, you will be hitting about 750 times on each side instead of 1500 on the same one. Multiply this by the number of miles you run in a week, a month, or a year, and if you are not breathing on an odd number count, my suggestion is you better start thinking about it, today.

How do you do it? Just do it. Three in, two out. It will be weird at first, but with time, it will feel more natural and within a couple of weeks you won’t even notice it anymore.

As for rhythmic breathing, there is plenty more to learn than what four paragraphs can tell you. So, if you are interested, this is a good book where to get started.

As for my trainee, she read the book, she started strengthening her diaphragm, breathing in a 3/2 pattern, and finished not one but two half marathons with a time beyond our wildest expectations. Oh! And no more side stitches.

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