It’s official, Montreal Endurance is now a club. Disclaimer, I’m in that club and already so happy about it. Why? Because fast runners are training with fast triathletes (Marc Antoine Christin, Amélie Kretz, Phil Trembay & Deschamps). It’s good to see a group where people REALLY wants to access their potential. As you know, in that group there are some personalities who really love the sport and want to share.
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As usual, Alex Hutchinson wrote a great article (again!). It’s a must read. Think you know how you’re supposed to train? Well, no.
An example.
THE RULE: Cap your longest run at 20 miles
Many marathon-training programs dictate 20 miles for the longest long run. But this leaves runners in uncharted territory for the final 10-K, says Galloway. Based on surveys of thousands of runners, he has concluded that « people ‘hit the wall’ within about a mile of the length of their longest run. » Why? « Part of it’s mental, » he says. « But at the end of a marathon, guess what? It is mental. »
HOW TO BREAK IT: If your marathon goal is simply to finish, run up to 26 miles three to four weeks before race day. If you’re gunning for a time goal, run up to 29 miles at any pace you can muster. This will help stoke your confidence that you have the endurance to hold your pace right to the end.
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4:08 marathoner makes Olympic trials From running magazine canada.
It didn’t take O’Mara long to drop her marathon time. In 2007, she shaved 46 minutes off her marathon time and qualified for Boston. In the 2008 Chicago Marathon, she ran a 2:55:46. At the race on Sunday, she then shaved almost 12 minutes off her time to meet the qualifying standard. It was her seventh attempt to meet the standard in two years.
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An interesting article from CyclingTips. You need to eat more really cold food and drink before exercise. Yep Slush could be the new pre-exercice drink.
A lot of bike races tend to take place off the beaten path, and there’s not usually a 7-Eleven on the nearest corner. But there are other places where you can pick up an ice slushie in a country town, such as a petrol station or even McDonalds (Frozen Coke). But other frozen foods and drinks may also help to reduce body temperature. Ice blocks, icy poles or those tubes of frozen fruit juice that school canteens sell are all good ways to bring your temperature down, and a couple of those before or after a training session or race on a hot day are a real treat. Icy poles are essentially carbohydrate (sugar) and fluid, so they also provide the fuel that you want for your riding, and help to replace it after a race.
There are also a small number of studies looking at the effect of drink temperature during exercise on performance, but sadly the design of the studies doesn’t reflect real world situations. Most compared a very cold drink (4C or 10C) with a very warm one (37C), probably an unrealistic comparison. However the research does suggest that there may be a benefit in having very cold drinks during a race if possible.
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