When to DNF (Did Not Finish) -- By Jon L

Have a gander at the splits on the right.  Looks like a tidy little race with relatively even splits, doesn’t it? Too bad that it was a marathon and the last time I checked, they are longer than 17.57 miles.  What these splits represent is my recent race in Philly when a good day came to an abrupt end.

I chose to DNF as opposed to pressing on, and it was the right decision. I don’t think that any of us wants to DNF, but knowing when to do so is a good skill to have if you want to run long term. As a coach, I think that there is a valuable lesson here and I would like to pass along what I learned from this race.

Separating Injury from Discomfort

The decision to DNF is not easy. Runners are used to dealing with discomfort, particularly when racing. I don’t think that I have ever run a race where I did not go through a rough patch at some point, and have learned different approaches to working through these periods to keep a good race going. Mental tricks like setting incremental goals (get through the next mile) or focusing on the competition (pass that guy….he looks like he is in my age group) are part of the arsenal of tricks that I use. Separating the abnormal pain of injury from the typical discomfort of racing is difficult given that adrenaline is high and judgment is impaired by oxygen debt. I learned some techniques from a former coach to discern the nature of the pain that have served me well over the years, particularly as a masters runner when the it seems like the ‘injury fairy’ is always lurking around:

Learn to Read Yourself 

The coaching method that I use (Lydiard based) helps to develop attributes (Response Regulate Adaptation and Feeling-Based Training) that allow you to tune in to your physical state during a training cycle to optimize the gain in fitness while avoiding overtraining. This is not unique to the Lydiard method and really just a fancy way of saying ‘listen to your body.’ Knowing when pain in a joint is just a transient that will pass, versus an actual injury pain starts with paying attention during training runs (especially harder efforts like tempo and interval workouts). 

For example, I take a physical inventory after each interval during a speedwork session to make sure that I have not strained anything while training at a hard effort level. This approach has caused me to shorten a workout from time to time, but has generally resulted in solid training that has not been interrupted by injury. The training benefit from a completed 12x400 workout is really not much different that a planned 15x400. Pushing to finish the last few intervals when my body is telling me to stop is not a sound strategy to get to the starting line healthy. 

Train Without Distractions

The subtle signs of an injury in the making are usually there but are overlooked. While I do listen to music on training runs, I only do so during easy paced runs. During harder effort training runs, I focus on maintaining good running form and listening to the signals that my body is sending. On a recent tempo run, I became aware of some pain in my right calf in the later miles that was caused by my form getting sloppy as I became fatigued. As soon as a noticed this, I refocused on my form and was able to get the pain to subside. If I had been distracted from this early warning sign by music, I probably would not have noticed it until it was a much larger issue that could have caused me to stop the run or perhaps strained my calf.

Injury Assessment While Racing

When a sharp pain flares during a race, it needs to be evaluated immediately. Pushing ahead without a sober assessment of the potential injury will likely just make the problem much worse. As a general rule, it is OK to push ahead if you can run without altering your running form, but you need to be careful and continue to listen to the pain. If you cannot run without altering your normal form, it is time to slow down, evaluate the pain, and consider calling it a day. Beware the phenomenon of ‘race brain’ where high adrenaline levels and the urge to finish cause you to make bad decisions. Race brain is like that friend in college that convinces you to drive to the casino on a Wednesday night during finals……he is not to be trusted.

What Happened in Philly

I was on track through the first half of the race, coming within 7 seconds of the split time that I had planned for at mile 13.1 (1:37:37). Feeling good, I began to pick up the effort level on the second half only to have an old foot injury flare around mile 16.5. This is a soft tissue injury that has been dormant for a while, and typically only occurs when running at race pace when there is more sustained stress on the foot. While pushing the pace on a downhill section, I felt the injury give way and the pain level flared to make it very uncomfortable to bear weight on my right side. I went into assessment mode and slowed my pace immediately to allow for clearer thinking. Over the next mile, I varied the pace and gait to assess the injury and to see if the pain would subside. I slowed to a walk briefly as the course crossed the river, and thought that it might be OK to run again. 

Resuming running on a downhill, the pain level rose again to the point of causing nausea and I noticed how tight my foot felt in the shoe due to swelling. My ‘race brain’ informed me that all I had to do was loosen the laces on the shoe and then everything would be fine. This is when I knew it was time to stop. Nine miles to go with a rapidly swelling foot was not a good combination. There were too many miles remaining to safely continue. Satisfied that I was making the correct decision, I stepped off the course, and called it a day.

The Aftermath

The foot was very painful but responded well to both straight icing and contrast baths (continuously alternating hot and cold for 5 minutes at a time). After 48 hours, the swelling was gone and only the stiffness remained. As I am (unfortunately) familiar with this particular injury, I knew that it would respond well to active recovery and embarked on a slow 3 miles to loosen things up. Over the next few weeks, I slowly added mileage back and was able to maintain my fitness on a steady diet of very easy miles.

Along the way, I discussed possible factors that contributed to the injury with some running colleagues and had a gait analysis performed to assess the theory that my footwear choice has something to do with the problem. After a month of easy recovery running, I ran the Ted Corbitt 15K in my replacement racing shoe candidate and was pleased to run a smooth progression of paces with no pain (first mile 8:15, last mile dipping under 6:00). 

The Takeaway

When I stopped running in Philly, I was initially very disappointed. The first thought that jumped to mind was ‘all those miles in training and nothing to show for it.’ The reality is that I could have pushed on and finished the race, but it would have come with the high price of a much more severe injury. I likely would have been unable to run for a few months, and would have been forced to sit on the couch and watch my fitness erode. As it stands, I was able to resume running fairly soon after the injury, and plan to ramp up the mileage again in January once I am sure that the injury is fully healed. I may even consider a spring race if training goes well.    

If you do face an injury during a race, keep in mind that a DNF is a sound choice if it preserves your health. If you learn what caused the problem, you can refocus your training and will be a stronger runner as a result. There will always be another race if you run within your limits, and since none of us get paid to do this…..being able to run is our reward and being able to run healthy should be the primary goal. 

-Jon L.

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Shoe4Africa: Getting Involved

Jon L

I count myself quite fortunate for the friendships that I have made in the past few years since I joined the Flyers. In particular, I am grateful that I met Flyers Speedwork Head Coach TOBY TANSER and learned more about the efforts of Shoe4Africa (S4A) in developing health and educational opportunities in Kenya.  2013 has been a very busy year for Shoe4Africa. Here's a partial list of achievements for ongoing projects:

January

Distribution of school books from our friend (and fellow Flyer) Pat D at many schools near Eldoret including Little Joy Primary School:

February

Thanks to the generous efforts of S4A friends Peter and Victoria Farago, dozens of Nook eReaders were donated by Barnes and Noble and distributed throughout the schools supported by Shoe4Africa.  In a place where access to books is a real issue, having hundreds of books instantly available to support basic education is invaluable.

March

Distributed Vibram FiveFingers shoes to the kids at three schools to prevent the spread of hookworm and provide basic protection.

July

Opened Shoe4Africa Moses Kiptanui Public Primary School.  Already there are 300-kids enrolled plus 70 more in the kindergarten class.   Thanks to kind donations, Shoe4Africa was also able to provide a computer class as well.

August

A project that has been many years in the making hits a major milestone.  The groundbreaking and laying of the foundation begins for the first public pediatric hospital in all of eastern Africa.   In a region where one in eight children will die before their 5^th year and 2/3^rds of these deaths are completely treatable or preventable, access to basic medical care is crucial.

As you can see, Toby has been busy, which is why we have not seen too much of him in NYC.  You can read and see more about some of Toby Tanser's activities and projects by clicking HERE to view Toby's Flyer Blog posts.

When I first met with Toby earlier this year, I was astounded at what Shoe4Africa has achieved, and the success of these ambitious projects is due primarily to his tireless efforts.  As a 501(c)(3) non-profit, Shoe4Africa operates on a shoestring budget (no offices, no paid staff) to make sure the maximum value is realized from all donations.  Like many of my fellow Flyers, I am happy to support Toby in whatever way I can and I am currently coaching a group of runners that will be running NYC in November as a result.  

Do you want to get involved and help us by supporting these projects?  We would welcome your involvement:

·         Donate to support one of the Shoe4Africa runners at the following site: http://www.shoe4africa.org/charity/runners While we have raised much of the money to fund construction of the hospital, we are also raising the funds to fully equip the new facility.

·         Run to support the team.  If you would like to run the NYC marathon and fundraise for Shoe4Africa, we would be happy to secure a spot for you.  If you already have entry and simply would like to fundraise and run with the team, we would also be happy to have you join us.  Email me if you are interested: (jonathanlang@yahoo.com).

·         Do you have some other idea on how to support the charity or the ability to facilitate corporate sponsorships?  We would welcome any idea that helps to support the mission of Shoe4Africa.  Please contact Toby with your ideas: (toby@tanser.org).

-Jon L.

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The Lydiard Approach to Training and What it Has Done for Me

Jon L

For the past few years, I have experienced some solid improvements in my running fitness.  After my last 5K, our illustrious Flyers president Alan G jokingly demanded (I hope) that I report to the Flyers' medical staff for drug testing.  

Despite his reckless character assassination (my lawyers will be in touch Alan), my later-in-life running renaissance is solely due to finding a better approach to training.   For the past few years, I have been using a training approach that is based on the methods of legendary coach Arthur Lydiard (1917-2004) and I would like to share what I have learned.

Lydiard Basics

The principles of sound training that Lydiard developed in 1960s––based on experimenting on himself and a small group of local New Zealand runners––have stood the test of time as the scientific studies have caught up to validate his approach.  Many of the principles that are part of the Lydiard system are found in coaching and training systems in use today, and nearly every successful athletics coach or athlete consciously or unconsciously emulates Lydiard's training system by laying an endurance base and making use of periodization for peak performance.  

Initially, this culminated in sending Murray Halberg, Peter Snell and Barry Magee to the medalist’s podium at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome.  Subsequently, too many runners to mention have used Arthur Lydiard’s approach to achieve an impressive array of Olympic medals and race wins throughout the world.

Lydiard based training is based on five critical principles:

1. Aerobic Conditioning – At the start of any Lydiard training cycle, there is a long phase of aerobic running to build endurance and lay the base for a strong performance on race day.
2. Response Regulated Adaptation – Trying to run at training paces that are not aligned to your current fitness level is not a recipe for success.  Lydiard plans adjust your effort levels based on how you are responding to training stimulus to optimize your fitness improvement.
3. Feeling Based Training – Learning to accurately interpret the language of your physiology allows the runner to stretch the training envelope while avoiding the perils of overtraining.
4. Sequential Development – Unlike many running plans that seek to develop multiple facets of running fitness at the same time, Lydiard training is based on a philosophy of developing the building blocks needed for a good race day performance individually over a longer training cycle to allow optimal fitness development.
5. Peaking – The later phases of Lydiard training are designed to guide and sharpen the runner to a point where they are in peak condition on race day in an excellent position to run the best race possible.

The Lydiard Training Pyramid

A typical Lydiard plan includes five distinct training phases over 22-24 weeks:

Aerobic conditioning – a period of aerobic runs (run by overall time, not mileage) at a variety of paces to develop stamina and a base of conditioning.

Hills – Develops the leg power and flexibility that will be needed to support faster running while continuing to develop the aerobic base.

Anaerobic – Adds faster running (tempos and intervals) to prepare the runner to be able to handle race pace.

Coordination – Race distance specific tuning and sharpening including shorter distance time trials.

Taper - Final preparation for race day.

While it is a longer training cycle than what you may be used to, the length of the cycle allows the safe development of running fitness as each phase builds on the previous one.  The individual runs are not significantly different from what you might find in another training approach; it is the overall structure and flow of the plan that sets Lydiard apart. 

My Experience Using Lydiard

After wrecking my right knee playing contact sports in high school, I was told by my doctor to never run again.  A couple of decades later, I decided to give it another try and have been running steadily since early 2009.   In my much younger years, I was a middle of the pack guy (4:42 mile, 18:22 XC 5k) and never really knew how to train properly.  

Upon my return to running, I decided to focus on longer distances and made a study of a number of different training methods. While I did achieve some success based on the fact that ANY running is helpful for a novice, I quickly hit a plateau where my fitness stopped improving as quickly, and I began to struggle.   

After I made a mess of a marathon and ended up in the medical tent after the finish line, I was fortunate to make the acquaintance of one of the founders of the Lydiard Foundation (Coach Nobby Hashizume).  He reviewed my training logs and helped me to understand that simply running a bunch of miles in an unstructured way was not the path to success.  With his encouragement, I embarked on a training plan for a half marathon using a 22 week Lydiard based plan.  The result:  I took my half PR from 1:47 to 1:37 and ran a very strong negative split race. 

I followed up my HM phase with a training effort focused on bettering my 5K time.  In December 2012, I ran a 21:23 to set my baseline for training.  In May 2013 after a 22 week training program, I ran a negative split 19:49 that was a strong effort to the finish.  

In both the HM and 5K training phases, I have seen strong benefits from following the Lydiard method:

• Aerobic Base – In both races, I had the capacity to push the pace in the later part of the race.  This contrasts sharply with my non-Lydiard races where I was typically trying to hold on to the pace at the end and "survive" to the finish.  This capacity was developed in the first phase of the plan through a healthy dose of comfortably paced miles.  Some running friends were a little incredulous at a 16 mile long run when training for a 5K but I have come to understand that you really cannot run a fast race without a solid foundation of easy aerobic running.
• Peaking – In the lead up to both races, I felt a strong surge of fitness in the later phases of training.  There was a tangible shift from focusing on trying to maintain the pace on training runs, to a mode where I had to consciously hold back to avoid peaking too soon.  Lorraine Moller of the Lydiard Foundation refers to it as ‘having wings on your feet’ which I think is a very apt description.  I have never felt this peaking effect with any other training method, and arrived at the starting line for both races in excellent condition with legs that were itching to run hard.
• Pace awareness – The ability to understand the signals from my body has enabled me to race more effectively.  For my recent 5K, my plan of monitoring my Garmin to stay on goal pace was ruined by the loss of satellite signal just as the race started.  Faced with no other option, I made the snap decisions to run by feel and focused on running at a hard but sustainable pace.  I will not soon forget the feeling of seeing “19:xx” on the clock when I was simply hoping to see “20:xx.”  Taking 94 seconds off my master’s PR is not something I expected to do and I credit the awareness of effort level that I learned using the Lydiard approach.
• Injury avoidance – When I started using the Lydiard method, I was nursing a couple of injuries including a nagging case of Plantar Fasciitis.  As I trained through two Lydiard cycles, I have noticed that my injuries have gone dormant even though I am now running more mileage than I was before.    I attribute this to the overall structure of the Lydiard approach that builds intensity gradually, and carefully prepares the runner for each successive phase.

As I have learned more about this method, I have also become involved in a community of runners that use the Lydiard method.  This group is littered with examples of the success that is achievable with this training method.  A recent example would be the 48 year old runner who just bettered his 1994 lifetime marathon PR by running a 3:09:40.  I have also been certified in this training method to further my understanding of this method to help others and to allow me to train as effectively as possible.

Lydiard Certification with the Principles of the Lydiard Foundation

Coach Nobby Hashizume, Lorraine Moller 
(4 time Olympian including Bronze in the Marathon in Barcelona), and Jon L

More information

Are you interested in learning more about this training approach?  The Lydiard Foundation has setup a website (click HERE) to maintain the legacy of Arthur Lydiard and his training methods.  They have also set up a plan generator (click HERE) that will create a training program for you based on the Lydiard method.  If you would like more information or have questions about this approach, I would be happy to go for a run with you and discuss it further.  

-Jon L.

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Flyer Mondays

Jon L

Do you like to run?  Of course you do!  You’re a Flyer and that’s what we do.  I had the good fortune to stumble upon the Flyers when I moved back to NYC a few years ago and I am richer in friends and running experience as a result. 

I am writing today about the Monday night group run.  This run has long been a staple of the Flyer’s calendar and is one of my favorites.  The chief ringleader of this run is Anick J with special guest leader appearances by some of our fellow Flyers from time to time (including Maribeth C, Brett S and Mark R).  Mark also frequently provides the services of his Jeep as baggage storage to facilitate the run.  

It is a great way to get a jump on the week’s training on a scenic course with a group of people who genuinely love to run.  Who could ask for anything more?   We meet at 13^th and 8^th (west side of Jackson Square park – close to stops for the A,C,E,1,2,3,L) and make our way down the west side including portions of Battery Park and the Hudson Greenway. 

The map at the right shows the general course of the run.  Please pardon the obvious GPS issues in Battery Park City.  Some people blame the tall buildings for causing GPS issues, or it could be the proximity to Goldman Sachs causing a ripple in the time-space continuum.  Perhaps if you join us, you can help us sort out this thorny issue.

So what is so special about this run?  For me it involves the three things that I like about running.

Thing 1 – Running with people

My own running tends to be a solitary effort most of the time.  The combination of a busy work schedule and a long commute leads to many runs done at odd hours.  Monday nights are a welcome oasis on my training calendar as I get to have a run with some fellow Flyers that always makes the 6 miles feel very short.  A nice range of running paces is available, so I can always find someone to run with whether I am doing a recovery run or something more up tempo. Just look at these smiling faces:

Michael R, Liz R, Nick J, Mark R and Brett S

Thing 2 – Running outside in a scenic place

For those of you who have not run on the Hudson Greenway, you are missing one of the gems of the city.   I live downtown and do most of my runs along the Hudson.  It is really a runner’s paradise where you can typically run in an non-crowded space (compared to Central Park) while being safe from cars.  On Monday nights, we are frequently treated to views like this one:

Thing 3 – Proper post-run hydration and refueling

As runners, we all know how important it is to properly hydrate and refuel after a run to facilitate recovery.  Given that my fellow Flyers are wise and caring about my health, I am touched by their efforts to make sure that I do not ignore this important part of proper training.  Accordingly, on the first Monday of the month, the run typically ends in an establishment that offers the correct post-run recovery nutrition.   Below is a typical example of a carbohydrate enriched beverage that we consume:

So there you have it…a nice run with great people in a scenic place with beer.  I can’t think of a better way to start my training week.  I hope to see you there next Monday.

-Jon L.

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