Intensives

[Wahine]

I wasn't really sure if I should put this in the tri section or running section. I spend most of my time here so hey...

First off I want to say... DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME. For those of you that don't know me well from the site, I have many years of training behind me and a ton of base. For a newbie to venture out on this kind of journey could be disasterous.

Now on to the main idea...

I wanted to share a little philosophy that my tri coach has given me and to share with you a little journey. My coach has started me on an intensive. That means of month of taking a limiting belief about yourself and proving it wrong. Turning it inside out, in such a way that at the other end you are a new person.

My negative/limiting belief is that I am not a great runner. It goes back to the days when I was younger and injured myself when I tried to put in the kind of mileage that other elite runners were doing. Since then I have minimized my mileage and still done reasonably well racing triathlon. But I'm not in the leagues to go to Kona. And I'd like to be.

So here's my intensive. I am to run as often as possible over the next month. That includes doing 2 runs in a day to get the mileage in. I am supposed to try to approximate a 53 miles week. That's 2 marathons. It does not matter how slowly I have to run to do it or how many separate workouts I use to make it happen. I just have to trust that my body can run a lot more than I think it can.

Maybe I'll prove that I can run a lot. Maybe I'll get a minor injury in the process. Either way I'll have answered a question or two about myself and I'll be a smarter competetor in the end.

Last week I logged 26 miles and 5 out of 7 days running outside, one day pool running. So far this week I have run 13 miles in two days but this is my 4th day in a row running outside. So far so good. My lower legs are sore but not enough to stop me from trying again tomorrow. I already feel some barriers crumbling.

This is the thread of my journey.

I'm so excited to see what's going to happen.

[jesvetmed]

Good luck to you, no matter how it comes out. Learning what we can about ourselves is always worth spending time to do. I bet you'll learn that you do just fine. Keep us all posted on how it goes.

[KnottedYet]

"...done reasonably well racing triathlon..."

Our Yoda, so modest!

[Flybye]

Wow, that sounds like a great way to learn the limits aren't what the psychological part of you sets them to be. My only caution would be that you need to also listen to fatigue and be certain not to overdo things so that you come out of this with an injury that takes you back to square one.

That being said, and with your caution in mind, how would a newbie attempt to apply this same concept? My longest run so far has been about 4 miles and I am averaging about 5 measly miles per week. I don't want to hijack the thread, but I do think you have hit on something with many women who don't "run well", and I count myself among them.

I have yet to hit that runners high - I can easily find the high with cycling.

I am eager to read your journey through this process.

Thanks for sharing.

[Wahine]

Flybye - I wouldn't recommend doing something like this unless you're working with a coach. For many of the reasons that you mentioned, cumulative fatigue, risk of injury etc.

Now you could certainly make a tough goal and stick with it. Just not something so extreme. For running, consistency is key, so maybe you decide that you will run a minimum of 3 times a week and do one light run/form workout for 4 weeks in a row.

[Kimmyt]

I did that about a month ago, I decided maybe I could run more than every other day, so I decided to run as much as possible for a week. I ended up doing 28 miles that week, up from my usual of under 15, and I felt great.

Unfortunately, now I'm suffering some very obnoxious hip pains that popped up at the end of that week. I took the last few weeks off with an ankle injury, and figured my weeks off would rest my hip as well. I did NOTHING. (it drove me slightly batty). I took a 3 mile run the other day and the ankle felt great, but the hip started hurting. After only 3 miles. Then it continued to hurt during swim class. It never hurt while swimming before, and usually only started to hurt 5-6 miles into a run.

So I just hope it works better for you than it did for me! And obviously, I didn't have a coach to keep an eye out for me. Le sigh.

[Starfish]

Wahine, thanks for posting. I will be fascinated to follow what you learn. I am trying to stretch through a new amount of training myself...although at a much different level, and not so concentrated a time frame (and also with a coach). So, this is great timing for me to be reading. Thanks!

[Wahine]

Kimmy - There is no way I would have done this 10 years ago (when I was 26), it would have killed my hips. I didn't have enough base, general muscle strength, experience to know how to run slowly/easily, or tensile strength in the supporting soft tissues like ligaments etc. In fact I had a terrible hip injury when I was 25. That was actually how I got started in triathlon. I learned how to swim because it was the only exercise I could do.

So here are the adjustments we've (my coach and I) made to try to make this work. I'm only supposed to swim once per week. I only bike when I want to and then only at a strict recovery level, absolutely no intensity. The rest of the time I run. So my total training hours are actually decreased. In addition I am supposed to run at a heart rate below 150 at all times. It's hilly here so sometimes I end up above but always for less that 10 to 15 % of my run.

Could I still end up injured. Absolutely. But that's where monitoring is so important. And like I said, this is a journey of exploration. In the end, I'll learn a lot regardless of whether or not I'm actually physically capable of doing it.

Update: today is day 5 running in a row. I haven't gone yet but I plan to make this a recovery day (only 3 easy miles) but if it feels good....?

[kelownagirl]

Wahine - you really are amazing. I think in some ways, doing regular workouts are 'intensives' for me. Always pushing my body to do things I never thought I could do. And as I get older, I imagine it will be a push just to be able to maintain fitness as I age.

[Pika]

HI Wahine
Has been a while since I checked the boards and this is a great thread to welcome me back.
I think you should be able to smash your preconceived ideas of your "self" and come out ever stronger on the other end of your journey- It is great to see you - and others on the board- strive to crumble those barriers! Seems the self made barriers are the toughest to push over!

As an aside/ observation- while I was learning to lactate balance point testing the fellow running the course was retelling a story of "Juerg". He is an olympic level coach and he wanted to know how many hours his athletes could train at -20LBP and still show improvement. So he had them rotate between rowing, cycling, running 2 hrs each- For a week they just rotated among those three ( all this was closely monitored with blood work etc- and he found his athletes could train at -20LBP- for 8, that is eight hours per day and still show the benefits ie improved aerobic capacity with out the injuries/breakdown.
So keep your heartrate 20 beats below your lactate balance point and you can train away ...watching the bricks of the self imposed barrier tumble one by one

[Wahine]

PIKA!!!! How are you?!

Thanks for your note.

Today I ran another 4 miles. My lower legs were very sore but my hips/quads and hammies where happy. That's from changing my running form to more of a mid to forefoot strike. It's taking some time for my lower leg muscles to catch up. But I was sore enough today that Coach S said to do yoga tomorrow. Then I'm supposed to do a 10 km road race on Saturday. He wants me to run so hard that I can't finish. He said the best result for me would be to have my best ever 5 km split and to blow up on the next 5 km. This is all about the mental barriers. He wants me to learn how to not hold back, to go really hard when I go hard. This is going to be very interesting.

Don't worry, other than my 10 km all my training is about 18 to 20 BPM below my anaerobic threshold which I'm pretty sure is less than LBP - please correct me if I'm wrong. Maybe I'll go google it.

[Zen]

Isn't it the same thing?

[Wahine]

Could be Zen but it's not a phrase that I'm very familiar with and there are a lot of these floating around... aerobic threshold, anaerobic threshold, lactate threshold, lactate balance point. All of these are meant to help measure changes in metabolism from aerobic to anaerobic but I know for sure that the first 3 are slightly different (in some people the difference in BPM from one to another is 2, in others, it's much larger). I'm not sure about LBP.

[Tuckervill]

I wonder if I would need a trainer to supervise me while I apply the intensives principle to housework around my house? Boy I could use some mental barrier-smashing in that area!!!!!

It is fascinating to read about it, Wahine. I'm always interested in challenges of the mind.

Karen

[Pika]

LBP in this context I meant Lactate balance point ( not lowback pain as it might normally read in my shorthand)- the lactate balance point from what I have learned is the point at which your body is producing enough lactate to buffer the hydrogen your cells produce during aerobic activity. My understanding is that it is slightly different than anerobic threshold- or at least the method of measuring it is slightly different but not to get caught up in too many details- I just meant to keep it easy with all that running and you will be great!
Good luck on your run! That sounds like a tough assignment- Run til you puke Glad it is you and not me