Advice from the Newton-Wellesley Experts - Tess

Mental toughness is an important part of training for a marathon, and perhaps one of the most valuable benefits from your weekly long runs. Even if you are injured or unable to make your long runs due to other commitments such as work or family, you can prepare your brain for the rigors of the marathon through visualization.

Start by finding a quiet space to sit comfortably. Visualize yourself in the race. Where do you imagine yourself? Which mile marker or aide station did you just pass? How are you feeling? 

Then identify any negative thoughts you might have. Write these thoughts in a journal to help you find patterns of negative thoughts like “I always get tired here,” or “My calves always hurt when I run up hills.”  Replace all of your negative thoughts/images with positive ones. By thinking, “I’m going to relax while I’m climbing the first half of the hill and then accelerate up the top” and visualizing yourself running the hill, you will have practiced that particular hill dozens of times prior to actual race day. While this may seem like a challenge at first, the mental practice of positive thinking is an incredibly powerful tool.

On the day of the race, harness any nervous energy by reminding yourself that you are prepared.  You have created a “blueprint” of the race day with your visualization.  Persevere through the tough patches in the race to meet your goal: of finishing, a new PR or smiling the whole way through.

Crossfit and Marathon Training - Suzi

Throughout the last eleven weeks of training, I have incorporated Crossfit training twice a week into my program at Vagabond Crossfit in Easton, where I have been a member for almost two years. Most people have heard of Crossfit at some point or another, but many don’t truly know what it’s all about. In the fitness community, Crossfit is a love it or hate it form of exercise, with it getting some bad press due to injury. While there is certainly a risk of injury, there is a risk of injury with any undertaking of physical activity or sport. Crossfit incorporates all styles of physical fitness; Olympic lifting, gymnastics, running, calisthenics and body weight movements to achieve the goal of overall fitness. Crossfit values ever changing, varied routines over various times, distances and number of repetitions. One thing Crossfit does not encourage is specialization (read me, marathon running!). This is the very reason I continue to Crossfit during my training. I do not lift heavy weights at the moment, but I do lift weights quickly to increase my heart rate. I find the variation in the Crossfit workouts keeps my body guessing, and allows me to push beyond the steady state of my long runs. I also enjoy the mental break from my long runs. While at Crossfit, someone else tells me what to do and I only have so much time to complete a certain task, or I have a task that I need to complete as quickly as possible. This helps break up the week mentally and is a great physical challenge!

Two weeks ago, the Crossfit Open’s began, and to many in the Crossfit world it was like Christmas morning. The Crossfit Open is a series of five workouts, released over five weeks that anyone in the world can participate in.  Each workout is judged and given a score based on the amount of work completed, or the time the work is completed in. The results are logged and ranked, with each person competing to be among the top in their region by age and gender.  Statistically speaking, most people will not make it out of the opens into regional competition or further to the Crossfit games.  Still thousands of people all over the world compete in the Opens to see where they stack up, or just to see how well they’ve improved from last year.

Each Saturday for these five weeks, my Crossfit gym organizes heats to allow members to complete the workout. This is probably the best time of the year to be a part of a Crossfit gym like mine because during each Opens workout, the gym comes alive and becomes so much more than a gym. It becomes a place of personal records, a place of triumph, and a place to try again after a workout didn't go as planned. It becomes a place that families come to watch their loved one compete, children come to watch their parents and everyone cheers for one another. The last two weekends I have gone to watch, and each time I leave more and more impressed and inspired by my friends. It’s for this community and the motivation they provide to one another that I continue to be a part of it even though I'm not doing the Opens myself. I know they'll be right there next to me pushing me beyond my comfort zone in classes during the week.  Even when I'm out on the road, I have the voices of my coaches in my head telling me to "get better!!" while I'm running miles on end these days. Their enthusiasm carries over in me and has helped in countless training runs, sprint sessions and sometimes the hardest task of all, getting out of bed. I feel fortunate to have this group of people to help me achieve this goal of mine, and even though they won’t be running those 26.2 miles with me, they'll be by my side the whole way. 

Advice from the Newton-Wellesley Experts - Brendan

March 10 – Six weeks till race day.

As March rolls in, it reminds us that April is next month and the 2014 Boston Marathon will soon be upon us.  Six weeks to go, the final stretch is coming!  You are in the midst of doing some of the longer runs in your training regimen. Preparation is key to staying healthy and having a successful Marathon.  Here are a few things to keep in mind:

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         Think about your footwear: Your running shoes are generally built to last about 400-500 miles of running.  That means the shoes you started your training with should not be the ones you run with in the Marathon. Logging how much distance you have put on each pair of shoes can be helpful.  The stability and cushioning that the shoe provides can degrade before showing obvious outward signs of wear. Try not to get to the end of life of one pair of shoes and then move to another; instead break in a new pair while still using the old pair by alternating runs.

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          Stick to your training plan: This will help you get to your goal of finishing April 21, but will also reduce your risk of injury along the way.  Generally, we would not want to exceed a 10% increase of total weekly mileage.  Most training plans keep this ‘rule’ in mind. So, even if you feel like you could keep running longer, you’re better off sticking to your planned mileage.

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          Practice your race day routine: While you are thinking more about adding miles as we get closer to race day, don’t forget to think of the other big things that go into running a successful marathon. Make sure you plan for what types of foods you will eat the day of and night before; what clothes you will be wearing; and other things you might need like sunscreen, sports lube, band aids, etc.  The day of the Marathon is not the time to try something new. Taking the time to figure out what works for you is important and will make everything go smoother!

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          Don’t ignore pain: With all the training and miles you are doing, sometimes pain or discomfort can be part of the process.  If this is getting in the way of your training or preventing you from running, go see a medical professional.  Factors that are associated with having pain with running include running every day without a break, weekly mileage over 40 and having a history of previous injury.  The sooner the better, especially at this point!  Most of the time some advice or small changes in your training can make a big difference.

Dreamland – Aubrey

I am happy to report that after last week’s IT Band fiasco, I am back in the saddle! Taking the week off, although terrifying, was the best thing I could have done. But as soon as I got home on Tuesday, it was all I could do not to trip over myself as I laced up my Asics and ran out the door. It was like seeing an old friend after years of separation. I felt alive again.

Tuesday’s run is always short to ease into the training week. With only four miles to do that night, I wanted to make the most of it. I wanted to soak in the sunny evening, feel the biting air on my face and celebrate every pain-free strike. I chose to run a very familiar loop around my East Boston neighborhood, heading over both the Chelsea St. Bridge and the Meridian St. Bridge before ending with the steep hills around our condo. Although I set out to take in the beautiful evening and the colorful sunset, I somehow missed all of it. I was so in the zone that I barely remember how I got home when I landed on my stoop. Talk about a trance state, I’ve never experienced one quite like this. I didn’t even realize that my music had stopped with over a mile to go.

Despite the weirdness, the good news is that I got home, stretched out and remained pain free for the rest of the evening. Even better, I did an eight-mile sprint workout the next day with ease. With my knee injury behind me and sunnier days ahead of us, I’m looking forward to more after-work runs. I enjoy the quiet time even when I don’t remember it.

Advice from the Newton-Wellesley Experts - Martha

As Yogi Bara said, “Ninety percent of this game is mental; the other half is physical.” As we get closer to the marathon, the mileage picks up, including in the long runs. Maintaining mental stamina is often the biggest challenge. There are many strategies for bolstering your stamina. Running with others can be very helpful. Some like to listen to music or have a partial distance destination. Here are some other ideas:

•          Create a personal mantra. It can be very simple: “I run, I finish”, or “I am strong”; or more elaborate: “I am a marathoner. Snow, ice, and rain, I run. My legs are strong, my heart is strong. I am a marathoner!”
•       Try mental imagery. Imagine yourself moving lightly and powerfully. Imagine yourself climbing easily and fluidly up heartbreak hill, or envision the finish line and you gracefully, calmly running toward it.  
•             Break up your long runs into smaller runs. If you’re running 20 miles, structure this mentally as four 5 mile runs, and congratulate yourself on completing each segment. 

If one strategy doesn’t work for you, don’t give up. Change the mantra, imagery, or structure, or move on to another strategy.

What a Pain In The Knee! – Aubrey

Every day since I found out that I got a bib for Boston all I have thought about was training. Everything I have done has been focused on sticking to my schedule. I have eaten, slept, dreamt and not shut up about it for the last seven weeks. I have missed dinners with friends, avoided travel, fallen asleep during movies and avoided all human contact on weekends all for the sake of fitting in my runs. Luckily, my boyfriend has not left me for a non-runner. I guess that’s because he’s a runner too and understands. However, after many weeks of rigidity and dedication, my training has been thrown off kilter. Last weekend while I was running the Hyannis Half Marathon, I somehow injured my knee. To my horror, it’s totally sidelined me. Luckily, I visited NWH’s new Ambulatory Care Center at Wells Ave, and received some top notch training advice and PT. It’s helping, but I’m still struggling with pain, and am unable to run comfortably. All I can think about is when I’ll be able to lace up my Asics again. I’m frustrated and scared – and even worse, my routine change has really messed with my training anxiety, which I had previously kept at bay. I know injuries are par for the course, but I’ve been incredibly lucky so far and (although delusional) thought that I had been spared. Alas, here I am rolling out my IT Band and popping Tylenol like candy. I’m taking it one day at a time, but I am anxious to get back on the road. In the spirit of staying positive, I was able to find a silver lining – I finally started catching up on True Detective this week. I’ve been cheating on my treadmill with my television, and it’s really fun. I guess if I have to take some time off, at least I’m indulging in good TV!

First Two-Hour Run – Suzi

"Always concentrate on how far you've come, rather than how far you have to go.'' This week I finally completed a two-hour run; something that has been somewhat haunting me up until this point. My confidence was shaken over the weekend when I cut my long run Saturday basically in half. What was supposed to be 105 minutes, was a measly 55 minutes. My legs were heavy and my mind was elsewhere. This made for a short run, and a nervous Suzi. I was nervous not so much for the two-hour run, I knew with proper food and hydration I'd be ok. I was nervous for the 4:30 am wake up and the eight hours of work following the run. In the past, whenever I have run for that amount of time or longer, I have been able to go home and do little to nothing for the day, or at least for a few hours until I felt motivated. This time around I've chosen to do my runs in the morning before work. This has made for great runs and a great mood early in the day. It also has left me anxious about waking up on time, and wondering how I'll ever handle a full day of patient care afterward. This is what I've been anxiously awaiting since I began training.

Now that my first two-hour run is in the books, a busy day of echoes followed, and I survived. I also managed to go food shopping, cook dinner and lunch for tomorrow. This reinstalled my confidence in myself and my training plan. I'm proud that not only did I complete my two-hour run feeling good, but I also had a normal and productive work day after. I have to stop and look back at the days when after completing a half marathon I'd barely be able to walk the rest of the day, if I got off the couch at all. There were also days that I never believed in a million years I could run a marathon. I have come a long way since those days. I am proud of the how far I've come in these last nine weeks. I run the hills each time I go for a run, and each time while still hard, they seem a little more manageable. I'm happy about where my training has gotten me this far, and I'm excited about how far it will take me in the next few weeks.