Editorial

Anyone who has bought a pair of tube socks knows that one size does not fit all, no matter what the package claims. Similarly, no one marathon-training program works equally well for every runner who uses it. Little tucks and wrinkles often need to be adjusted to suit the individual. Difference exists because although every human machine comes from the same blueprint, no two human beings are identical— not even twins. That fact is complicated by amultitude of differences generated by gender, age, athletic experience, dedication, enthusiasm, focus, motivation, diet, constraints of professional and personal life, and whether runners train alone or with others.

In an ideal world, each of us would have a personal coach who could customize and modify a program based on our reaction to a daily training regimen. But it’s impractical for most people to have a personal marathon coach. One reason is that there just aren’t enough good coaches to go around. Another reason is that not everyone who takes up the marathon is serious enough about it that they need someone who’s dedicated to getting the best out of them. Then there’s also the independent streak of longer-distance runners. They often tend to prefer to go their own way and not follow the advice of another.

For some world-class marathoners over the years, they’ ve done just fine without coaching. Others have improved dramatically once they found a coach who understood them. Some improved the most with just the least bit of coaching input (think Bill Squires and Bill Rodgers).

Much of the potential improvement at marathoning comes from factors within rather than technique from without. Ask any coach. It’s almost impossible to instill motivation and drive if it isn’t there to begin with. What comes to my mind when I think of motivation is the image of Emil Zatopek on guard duty as a Czech soldier jogging in place or back and forth along a stretch of border fence while wearing his combat boots in snow up tohis mid-shins. If anything, outside forces in Zatopek’s life attempted to demotivate him, the feeling being that his training was so overboard it was outré—and a detriment to success. You don’t see too many distance runners these days doing sixty 400-meter repeats in one session. Yet for Zatopek, it worked.

In fact, you don’t see too many American distance runners doing anything to excess these days. Butit’s not necessarily their fault. Exercise physiologists have brought “science” to bear to tell them not to do too much, that the previous generation of marathoners overdid it, that you don’t

need torun 100+ miles per week to be competitive.

Yet it’s rare to find a successful marathoner from the 1970s or 1980s who buys the less-is-more theory. Run down the names from the ’70s and ’80s, and you get 100+ mile weeks: Rodgers, Meyer, Benoit, Tabb, Durden, Fleming, Shorter, Moore, Wells, Catalano, Virgin, Hodge, Bjorklund, Beardsley, Sandoval, Pfitzinger, Doyle, Atkins, Mahoney, Thomas, Matthews, Petersen, Barron, Merritt, Binder, Dalrymple, Lodwick, Heffner, Rinde, Shea, Mendoza, Schlesinger, MacDonald .. . well, you get the idea.

The theory behind building a base of high mileage is eminently simple. The stronger you make the foundation, the taller you can build the building. Naturally, since the foundation is built underground, it’s out of sightand not nearly as dramatic as the soaring building itself. Just like the invisible extra miles needed to strengthen the foundation. They’re typically journeyman-type miles: nothing outstanding, nothing dramatic. Sit down with

American marathoners who have no need to pad their credentials, whose accomplishments in the record books speak for themselves. “As soon as I’d get above 120 miles a week, I’d begin to see results in races,” they report, chorus-like.

They also have another philosophy that held them in good stead: “I’d race anybody anywhere,” they say. “You’re not gonna get any better if you’re picking your races and winning every week. You gotta push yourself, find runners who make you work harder.”

Well yeah, you say, that’s fine for elite runners. But what about me? I’m married, middle-aged, with three kids and amore-than-40-hour-a-week job, plus I’m carrying an extra 10 pounds. This sound like you? Well, it doesn’t matter: the same theories apply. More base miles. More racing.

It doesn’t have to be 100+ miles a week. And it doesn’t have to be two road races per weekend, as Frank Shorter did in the summer of 1977 when he won the Chicago Distance

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An increase of 10 percent in base mileage can provide extra endurance fitness that splashes over to your marathons once you back down and fill in with more quality workouts to sharpen your racing skills. A good, hard road race every other weekend also brings noticeable improvements. A good, hard road race doesn’t mean going toa 10K where you jog through it—it means racing it hard, picking out people in front of you and reeling them in. The hard road races are especially important if you don’t do weekly track workouts.

As you face another calendar filled with 365 empty boxes, don’t be overwhelmed. Don’t look at all 365 boxes at the same time. Break the year into seasons and build a program based on increased mileage that you begin to spice with racing and hill training as you approach your several most important race dates.

And try new approaches for the new year. Don’t necessarily repeat what you’ ve been doing for the past five years. Consider trying these five variations this year:

1. Once a week, find a group of runners you can train with who are better than you are. If you can’t stick with them for the whole workout because they’ re too fast, that’s just fine; warm up in advance, then go out with them at their pace and hold it as long as you can. When they move away, keep your pace and finish your scheduled workout. This will build confidence and your legspeed at the same time. And don’t worry about being bummed out that you couldn’t keep with them for their whole workout. That’s not the point. The point is to feed off their talent to make you better.

2. Race at shorter distances more often. The key word is race. Get a good warm-up in advance of the starting gun, and leave the starting line at apace you can hold but thatis a strain. You’re supposed to breathe hard. You’re supposed to occasionally get that copper taste in your throat when you’re pushing it. Be sure tocooldown as carefully afterward as you warmed up in advance.

3. Try racing at a distance you’re not used to. The most dramatic improvements some of us have had in our marathoning came when we were also competing in Corporate Cup track meets. We weren’t necessarily very good at running a mile hard, but we gave it our best and—surprise! At our next road race, our legspeed was miraculously improved.

4. Run your long runs as though you mean it. Don’t merely slog through the miles because you know you’re supposed to get them in. Run them with style and good form and energy. Practicerunning smoothly and effortlessly while running 90 to 120 seconds per mile slower than you will during your target marathon. But don’t turn your long run miles into junk miles. And keep in mind that the better you run your long runs, the less time it takes away from your day.

5. Drink more water. Sounds extremely simple. It isn’t. Ittakes work. Notice we’re not saying drink more beer, drink more juice, drink more soft drinks. Drink water. If your exercising body is well-hydrated with plain water, your vital organs are bathed in fluid and consequently function more efficiently and recover faster. The water increases your blood volume, which improves the transport of oxygen and nutrients to every corner of your body. In recovery, your bloodstream can more efficiently remove waste and damaged cells. Think of a river that is low versus a river that is

2nd Annual

flowing full. The other advantage is that water has no calories, which means that besides the added miles in your program burning up additional calories, you’re minimizing putting extra calories into your body. The result will be a loss in body weight, which further improves your performance. Try running with a knapsack filled with 10 pounds of sand. Then take off the knapsack and run again. The results are dramatic.

Little changes to your program can bring big results. And little changes to your program tend to give it new life. Besides, what have you got to lose but a few pounds and a few minutes from your PR?

—Rich Benyo

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