Racing Archives - Page 6 of 9

Planning Your Running Off-Season

by Coach Adolfo Salgueiro | Mar 7, 2023 | Article, Reflection

By Coach Adolfo Salgueiro

As the 2022-23 racing season move towards its end, with just a handful of goal competitions left in the calendar, the time to start planning for the 2023-24 season rapidly approaches. The running season usually goes from November-March, with adjustments depending on your latitude and location. This is time to reflect on what happened, what did not happen and why did or did not happen.

The first question that comes to mind after this intro is: Do runners really need time off?

Rediscover the pleasures of sleeping in on a weekend morning instead of going for a long run (Photo Pexels)

It has been discussed for decades, but based on my years of experience, my answer on the matter is a blunt and unequivocal YES!!!. In all caps and with three exclamation points.

Regardless of your age, level of fitness and commitment to the sport, your body cannot keep its peak level of fitness forever. There is such a thing as an upper limit which cannot be surpassed regardless of how much you run, lift or cross train. So, it is imperative that you provide your body with enough time to rest and relax. This will inevitably decrease your fitness, sure, but you must see it as an investment, a process to go through to continue your path of long-term progress.

The key concept is that once you have recovered and you are ready to restart, given that you haven’t overdone the junk food, alcohol and time off, you will be doing so at a higher level of fitness than where you started last season. This may allow you to achieve an even higher level for the upcoming season.

I will define the off-season as the period between your last race of one season and the first race of the following one. Within that period, I have identified four phases to devote individual attention so you can prepare properly for success.

1 – Rest and recovery – This doesn’t mean you stop all sports activities until next race. Some runners may need a week to a month off just to reset the body and have fun catching up on the pleasures of life that they’ve deprived themselves of during hard training, such as pizza, beer, binging on TV until late or sleeping in. Other runners will want to drastically cut their mileage, or their running days so their bodies can recover and prepare for what is coming up. You must enjoy the process and running’s gotta be fun. Otherwise, a burn out may be on its way and you will no longer run.

2 – Planning – This phase may overlap the previous one, or even with the previous racing season. The time has come to figure out what are your goals for next season. I am a firm believer that having multiple races in your schedule is what will allow you to remain focused so you don’t slack off until you realize the race you were shooting for is around the corner, or it is sold out. You don’t want to plan every workout for the next 6-8 months, but you just need to know when you need to be ready and for what goal.

This is the time to enjoy the pizza and the beer, but obviously, don’t overdo it (Photo Pexels)

3 – Build up – After your recovery time is taken care of, it is time to rebuild your endurance and your speed. This takes time, method and requires patience. Accept you will not start at the same point where you left off. The silver lining is that you will be able to get back there sooner and safer the longer you have been running. Getting back to 50-mile weeks is a quicker process for someone who has been doing it for 10 years than for a runner who just did it last year for the very first time. Put you plan on paper. Block and label the weeks and/months you will need to go through this process. Then, execute.

4 – Training – Everything you did between your last race of the season and the start of this phase is what will determine the success of your next season. A 16-week training plan, especially for a marathon, doesn’t mean you’ll start running again 16 weeks prior to race day. It means that 16 weeks before race day you must be ready to hit the ground running. By then, your aerobic capacity, your core, your strength program and your speed training should be a work in progress. So, in these 16 weeks you just dial in the variables to achieve your goal at the set date.

Other components such as nutrition, sleep, hydration and recovery are year around elements than need to be addressed continuously and are part of all four phases.

If you take the time to plan ahead, even small injuries, periods of sickness, vacation or any other unexpected surprises life will inevitably throw at you, may be fit into the off-season. Prepare yourself with plenty of time and enjoy reaping the benefits of a well-executed plan.

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A Big Fish in a Small Sea

by Coach Adolfo Salgueiro | Dec 27, 2022 | Article, Guest Perspective, Opinion, Reflection

By John Mounteer *

We all run for different reasons, including losing weight, improving our health, making new friends, or competition. I run for all these reasons. As a senior runner (68 years old), one of my motivators is a hope to delay the onset of dementia which is common in my father’s side of my family. I also enjoy the excitement and competition of races.

As we get older, we inevitably slow down. When I do training runs with my old high school buddies up north, we mostly jog. They’ve had more health issues than I have, and although they are still mobile, they don’t have much speed left. For most “serious runners”, getting faster means running and competing with faster people. One of the reasons I enjoy running with younger people when I’m in Florida is that they motivate me to run faster.

John in one of his 27 podium finishes (Photo courtesy of John Mounteer)

Winter in South Florida is a runner paradise, especially compared to the cold, snow and ice in upstate NY where we live in the summers. The humidity is a factor to deal with, but it beats frostbite. The number of fall and winter races here, is extraordinary. Every weekend we have a choice of multiple races at all distances within an hour’s drive. We can choose from very competitive, fast, large races with thousands of participants and thousands of dollars in prize money for the top finishers, to a local Fun Run and Walk. There are benefits to both types of events.

Large competitive races have the benefit of letting you know how you measure up against other serious runners your age. This can have two effects: motivation to train harder or despair that you’ll never get a spot on the podium. You may have to face the fact that you are a small fish in a big sea. I am a small fish. I was never fast. Even in my high school. cross country team, where the first 5 runners count, I was lucky to place 4th or 5th, way behind the fast guys. My “age percentage” (my finish time compared to other runners of my age and sex) is around 60-66%. That means that at least a third of runners my age, are faster than me, and some are much faster.

In comparison, smaller races allow you to be a big fish in a small sea. Some small races still give medals in each five-year age group, although ten-year groups have become more common. The competition does thin out as you move up the age groups. I’ve run in races where almost everyone who showed up and ran was a winner! It feels good to get a place medal even knowing that you’re not the fastest runner in the area, but you were the fastest in that race that day.

You must do some searching to find the local, smaller races. Since we moved to Florida, I’ve run in dozens of small races, so I’m a lot of email lists and get notices for many of them. So can you by searching your local listings online.

John and Coach Adolfo after the 2022 Tamarac Turkey Trot, in Tamarac, Florida

I’ve been running mostly 5k and some 10k races in Florida for about 10 years, and in that time, by cherry picking small races I’ve gotten 27 age group awards – ten 1st place, nine 2nd place, and eight 3rd places. And, in really small races I have a 2nd and a 3rd overall. That’s crazy fun!

I’ve had great luck by searching for a couple of key phrases, “1st Annual” and “fun run”. Another thing to consider is what other competitive races are occurring on the same weekend. It’s likely that the fast runners will be there and won’t rain on your parade.

Some might think that “cherry picking” races is a form of cheating, and maybe it is, but winning medals helps motivate me to keep training. My method also works better in the younger and older age groups where there is less competition to begin with. I don’t recommend that anyone does just easy races. I find that it still important to do the competitive races so that I don’t become complacent, but the feeling of standing on the podium is addicting.

Final words: Pay attention to your body and don’t overdo it while you’re young. I’ve had some injuries, but not as many or as bad as some of my contemporaries who ignored pain and did permanent damage. The secret to being competitive in older age group running is just to make it to next age group. Thanks to all my South Florida running family for keeping me going!

*John Mounteer is a runner who splits time between Upper State New York and Broward County, South Florida. While in Florida, he runs with Hollywood Run Club, Runner’s Depot Run Club and No-Club Runners. He is also a good friend.

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Running With a Pacer

by Coach Adolfo Salgueiro | Dec 13, 2022 | Article, List, Personal, Reflection

By Coach Adolfo Salgueiro

A few weeks ago, I participated in a local half marathon. I didn’t feel in the shape I would have wanted, so I decided to join one of the pacers. I found the sign with my desired time (2:15) and introduced myself to a lovely lady named Veronica. And off we went running.

Around mile 5 or so, one of the runners in the group asked something that blew my mind: “When are you taking the walk breaks? Or are you running straight?” I couldn’t believe it! The time to figure that out is not on mile 5 of a race. And thus, this blogpost was born.

Most halves and marathons have pacing teams. Take advantage of their presence and let them help you achieve your goal.

Pacers have become a ubiquitous part of races. Eliud Kipchoge and his fellow elites use them to set them up for world record pushes. Elite women pushing their limits use male pacers that lead them while doing part of the groundwork. Even Roger Bannister used pacers in 1954 when he became the first human to go sub-4 in the mile.

Regardless of your point of view on pacers, they are here to stay. So, take advantage of them if you can. But running with a pacer requires certain understanding and ground rules. Here are some that I’ve come with:

1 – Let the pacer do the work for you: The pacer is there to set the pace, hence the name. If you are planning to run a sub-2 half, don’t run ahead and spend energy worrying if the pacer is catching up to you. It takes more energy to lead than to follow, so take advantage of the pacer and follow. Run with the pacing group and when you are ready, leave them behind and accomplish and your goal

2 – Know your pacer’s plan, ahead of time: Pacers are easy to spot with their signs and/or balloons. In major city races they usually have a booth at the expo so you can meet them and discuss if their strategy suits yours. Some marathons have multiple pacers with different strategies for the same time. At smaller races, they can easily be identified by their signs. Don’t wait until the National Anthem or the starting gun to figure out if the plan fits yours or not. Or mile 5.

3 – Pacers are humans: If you join a pacer, you must understand that regardless of their qualifications to be there, they are human beings. If you join in the 3:30 pacer in a marathon, you can’t expect to be his/her sole responsibility to get you to 3:30 on the dot. They may get dehydrated, need to go to the bathroom, had a bad night or whatever issues that may affect them just as it could happen to you. So, understand they are an aid, not a guarantee.

4 – Be prepared to drop your pacer if needed: Pacers are runners that compete way faster than what they are pacing. This ensures that in normal circumstances they won’t burn out. If you are running with a 4:30 pacer on a marathon, that runner should easily go sub-4. Therefore, it is your responsibility to make sure you are on your pace and be ready to drop the pacer off if they are going too fast or too slow. Do not let them burn you out, and I learned that one the hard way.

Find the sign that works for you and let its carrier do work for you.

5 – Don’t tell the pacer what to do: Pacers have a race plan that you should have discussed before you joined the group. If you feel they are going too fast, bring it up. If you feel they are going too slow, ask why, so you can decide what to do. This is different from demanding they pick up their pace or telling them how to perform their duty. They are there providing a frees service, which you are free not to use.

6 – Make new running friends: There’s usually a nice crowd around the pacers. Runners from all over the place that have similar goals as you. Take the opportunity to meet new friends and make the run more pleasant. If you prefer to keep to yourself, it is your prerogative, just know what to expect and accept you will be part of a social group during the race. It may be the price to pay for being paced.

7 – Thank your pacer: Even if you finish ahead or behind the pacer, if he/she provided a service, you benefited from it and it was free, a thank you is always the right thing to do. You can do so once you decide to go ahead of them or if you see them after the race.

Any other tips on racing with a pacer? Let me know in the comment box, below.

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American Runners are Slower than Ever

by Coach Adolfo Salgueiro | Nov 15, 2022 | Reflection, Science

By Coach Adolfo Salgueiro

A couple of weeks ago I came across a statistical mega study that confirmed what the title of this blog post states. Using over 34.6 million results from over 28 thousand races, researchers Jakob Andersen and Vania Andreeva Nikolova, sliced and analyzed the data in multiple ways to reach their conclusion.

The statistical analysis concludes slowing down in males and females in all distances (Photo: Pexels)

As I glanced through the research, I realized I started reading with preconceived notions on what they would find. More runners, unhealthier athletes, aging, gender gaps. The usual. Back in my youth, when I ran marathons in the 3:30s in the mid-1980s, I finished around the 50 percentile of finishers. A stat I just read from the Chicago Marathon stated that 18% of runners finished sub-3:30 this year. An obvious shift. I must say all my biases were addressed in the study and the conclusion still holds.

If after reading my take on this study you want to delve into the minutiae and the data, you can find the research paper in its entirety by clicking here.

This thorough study includes racing in the four most popular distances (5K, 10K, half and marathon), and races with more than 2000 finishers between 1996 and 2016. The reasons why this data was selected, the terminology and methodology of its handling, is detailed in the study, if you are interested. One more thing, researchers state this study took place because the deteriorating health of the American population is an important topic to be studied, and they wanted to find if this reality is reflected in the finishing times of races.

The study could have been a great episode of Discovery Channel’s Mythbusters TV show, as it takes time to disprove many of our preconceived notions about these numbers. These are:

1 – The proportion of women participants is increasing, and women are slower in general: Men speed is decreasing at a faster rate than the women increment in participation. If this trend continues, by 2045 both sexes will be at an equal average pace.

2 – People with inappropriate fitness level just walk the races: The study found the proportion of participants finishing races on every distance, at a slower than the average brisk walking pace is rather consistent throughout the years, so there is no statistical difference.

3 – Just the slow are getting slower: An easy idea to assume but the study measured the average final time for the 100th, 1000th, 2000th and 5000th finisher on each race throughout the years of the study, on both sexes, and concluded the fastest females have slowed down 9.87% while males have done so at a 9.94% clip.

4 – The average age of the participants is increasing and older equals slower: The average participant age has increased from 37 to 41, so the study analyzed not just the finishing times for these 4-year gap, but for every 4-year gap on all ages as well as every single age and concluded this could not be the sole reason of the slow down.

The study found a direct correlation between the slowing down and Americans getting heavier and unhealthier (Photo Andres Ayrton, Pexels)

So, if these are myths, what are is slowing down American runners?

The study considered the parameters of adult obesity, teenage obesity, diabetes and hypertension, and average annual medical expenditure. It found an across-the-board direct correlation with the slowdown. The authors make sure to emphasize that these are just correlations and by no means they can infer the condition of each runner, yet the numbers are very clear on what is happening as the population is getting heavier and unhealthier.

The study concludes the following:

1 – The average American runner has never been slower (across gender and distance).

2 – This effect is not due to the increase in female participants or people who run slowly or walk the race.

3 – Signs of poor health are highly correlated to the decrease in speed, though they cannot with certainty say that these are the causes for the slowdown. And if they have causal nature that they show the full picture.

The study was led by Jens Jakob Andersen and assisted by Vania Andreeva Nikolova. Andersen is a former competitive runner and statistician from Copenhagen Business School. Nikolova holds a Ph.D. in Mathematical Analysis.

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Rebounding From a Bad Race

by Coach Adolfo Salgueiro | Nov 1, 2022 | Article, Reflection

By Coach Adolfo Salgueiro

Wouldn’t be impressive if we could PR in every race, of every distance, in every season? Sure, it would be remarkable. But it is not possible, so let’s accept it cannot be done and move on, focus on what we can actually achieve and go for it next time, hopefully when conditions are optimal.

A bad race is part of our running life. An inferior performance is inevitable even if in the best of circumstances. There will always be parameters we can’t control, such as weather, wardrobe malfunctions or health setbacks, among many others. So, what to do when we don’t have an ideal performance despite the arduous work, effort, sweat, money and emotion we have invested into a race? We evaluate and we move on.

Frustration after a bad race is normal and healthy (Photo Gideon Tanki, Pexels)

Imagine if Eliud Kipchoge had given up after finishing 26 seconds late on the Breaking2 Project back in May 2017? After all the hoopla and the money invested by Nike, he failed in completing the task. He would have missed out on the success of the INEOS 1:59 Challenge, where he ran 1:59:40 in Vienna in October 2019. Had he not moved on, he wouldn’t have set up marathon world records in Berlin in 2018 and 2022, cementing his position as the greatest marathon runner of all time.

As the fall racing season gets into gear, be prepared. So, when it is our turn to fail, either miserably or just by running short of our time goal, you’ll know what to do. Invest in finding the courage, the drive and the motivation to continue pursuing your physical limits. You do so by:

Accepting it is normal to be frustrated: You worked hard for a goal, and you did not get it. That is infuriating. So, be frustrated, sure, but don’t bottle up your emotions. Not setting up a PR, having to walk part of the course or not getting onto the podium are all valid reasons to be upset, but not to feel like a miserable loser. Most likely this race was not the payday you needed to keep your family afloat. So, keep the perspective. Let the misery through your system and move on.

Debrief the race: Just after finishing a bad race, when you are hanging out with your friends at the finish line, may not be the best time to recreate the race and figure out what went wrong. Give it some time for all the memories to settle in and your body to recover. Then, do some introspection, talking it over with you coach or running buddies to see if you can pinpoint the issues that lead to the failure.

This is not your last race: There are 5K races every weekend, half marathons throughout the year and there are not many towns and cities these days that don’t have a marathon. So, fortified with what you learned in your debacle, set your sight on a race to redeem yourself, train hard and apply the lessons learned. Sounds promising already.

No need to think this is the end of your running career. You can redeem yourself on the next race (Photo: Cottonbro, Pexels)

Ask yourself the tough questions: Figure out what the main reason why you did not perform as expected. Asking the right questions should lead you to the answer you need. Did you bonk because you did not consume enough calories? Did you get dehydrated? Did you start too fast? Did you start too slow? Did you start too far back and had to weave around slower runners? Were you overdressed or underdressed for the weather? Did your experience stomach issues? Did you party last night? Did you eat and/or sleep properly the night before?

Learn a lesson: What you get when you did not obtain what you were looking for originally, is experience. Success doesn’t come just from achieving your goal every single time. It come from showing up, working hard, doing your best and failing. Sometimes, learning from a failure may be more beneficial to your future running self than completing one goal, one race.

Register for your redemption race, ASAP: Identify the race where you are planning to redeem yourself. Register for it and start working on it right away. The sooner you register, the faster you’ll apply everything you just learned.

Bad races are inevitable. Rebounding from them is mandatory.

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