Q&A with Hal Higdon

Hitting The Wall

trainingpeaks — Tue, 15 May 2012 18:59:35 +0000

QUESTION: I just completed my second marathon and hit a huge wall at mile 23. This was the first marathon where I followed a real training plan (Intermediate 1). I had a goal of 3 hours and 23 minutes. I was on pace for about 3:22 until mile 23. I started feeling really tight, and my body did not want to cooperate. I ended up running the marathon in 3:29. During training I felt good and was reaching all my milestones pretty easily (I did run a little faster than the program said I should.) Any advice on how to avoid that wall by training differently? Is there anything that I could have done differently in the race?

HAL’S ANSWER: Excuse me, but I don't consider hitting the wall at 23 miles in a marathon much of a failure. It's not going to make any top-10 failure lists, maybe not even top-100 or top-1000. And over the last 3 miles, you only slowed by a couple of minutes a mile, so you get no sympathy here. Consider how close you came to meeting a very difficult goal. Training differently? I dunno. Shifting training plans might be one alternative going into your next 26-er, but most likely you were well enough trained. Could you have been overtrained because you ran too fast in workouts? That's always difficult to prove. I would look instead at two possibilities: 1) Pace: You might have gone out too fast. That can get runners in trouble. Even a too-fast start of 30 or 60s seconds under pace for 2 miles sometimes can cause penalties in the last 2 miles. 2) Nutrition: Not merely what you ate immediately before the marathon and during, but what you ate the previous 18 weeks. It's worth reviewing your eating habits, whether you ran fast or slow. But there are no easy answers or solutions when it comes to the last 3 miles of a marathon. We simply need to keep coming back to the starting line until we get it right.

Hal uses TrainingPeaks to power his interactive marathon and half marathon training plans. Check out more of Hal Higdon's training plans here or on his website. Archived Q&A's from Hal can be found here.

Recovery vs. Cross Training

trainingpeaks — Tue, 15 May 2012 18:46:31 +0000

QUESTION: I plan to start using your Intermediate 2 Program for my next Marathon in October. I have been giving some thought to replacing one or two of the recovery runs on Tuesday or Thursday with a day or two of cross training. Would doing so compromise the Intermediate 2 program very much? I do some biking and circuit training including weights, push-ups, pull-ups, dip and core work for cross training.

HAL’S ANSWER: You certainly can make that change. The key workouts in the intermediate programs are the pace runs on Saturdays coupled with the long runs on Sundays. It is the bundling of these two workouts that is the key to success for intermediate runners. The next priority is the sorta-long runs in the middle of the week. The surrounding easy workouts on Tuesdays and Thursdays would be the logical spots for some cross-training. But beware: If you are not careful, you can slip into the error of converting an easy day into a hard day by substituting cross training where you get down into the tuck position on your bike and crank like Lance, or in the gym max out on the weights. I use a fat-tired bike for my easy rides. I do a bunch of lifts in the gym, but walk away knowing I could have lifted more overhead. So think “easy” when you do that cross training. Consider also splitting a workout: a shorter-than-scheduled run, then some time in the gym strength training.

When to Travel Before a Race

trainingpeaks — Tue, 08 May 2012 17:31:41 +0000

QUESTION: I will be traveling from Calgary to San Francisco to run a marathon in July and am wondering if there are any guidelines about how many days before the race I should travel. We will be staying in San Francisco for ten days, and I would like to run the race in the first few days after we arrive, but I don't know if that’s a good idea.

HAL’S ANSWER: Sounds good to me. I’ve read various recommendations that you should arrive one-day-per-time-zone before competition. In other words, if you live in New York and plan to compete in Europe five or six time zones away, arrive five or six days early. But this can be overkill if you are both young and/or well-trained. In my competitive years, I sometimes stepped off an airplane in Europe only 36 hours before a world masters championships and raced with distinction. When you arrive depends partly on how much time you have. With a ten-day planned vacation and not that much of a time-zone jump, it almost seems that you should make your decision for reasons other than the race. More specifically, for a race of only minor importance, I might travel down one day and run the next. For a major or destination marathon, I would travel down one day, have a full day of rest, then run the next day. If the San Francisco Marathon is truly important, you might want to save your sightseeing for afterwards, even though it’s going to be tough hiking the hills a few days. Take the cable car instead.

Pre-Race Jitters

trainingpeaks — Tue, 01 May 2012 17:20:04 +0000

QUESTION: Any advice for night-before-the-race jitters? I usually have no problem sleeping through the week, but the night before my last race I only slept three hours! Does this happen to anyone else?

HAL’S ANSWER: Anyone else? No, it happens to everyone else. Let’s take a quick survey: Those who have slept soundly the night before an important race, please raise your hands. (I thought so.) Pre-Race Jitters is a universal disease. This is why sleep the night before "the night before" is more essential. Store up on rest the Friday night before a Sunday marathon. Grab a nap Saturday afternoon after coming back from the expo. Go to bed whenever you want, knowing that you are probably going to need to get up inexcusably early to do all the things one needs to do before an early-morning race. If you have to lie awake for an hour (or two or three or four) staring at the ceiling of your hotel room, relax. You have plenty of company. In fact, knowing that fact might allow you to get to sleep more easily next time.

Goofy's Race and a Half Challenge Training Plan

trainingpeaks — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 19:36:13 +0000

QUESTION: Any advice or suggestions on what training schedule I should follow to run Goofy’s Race and a Half Challenge this year? I ran the Disney World Marathon for my first and only marathon in January 2012, but would like to train to compete in both the half and full marathons in January 2013. My assumption is that I would have to train two long and longer runs on back-to-back days.

HAL’S ANSWER: Your assumption is correct. Excuse me for pounding my own drum, but the perfect training plan for Goofy's Race and a Half Challenge is my Intermediate 2 marathon training plan. Or for more seasoned runners (i.e., those used to speedwork) Advanced 1 or Advanced 2 marathon training plans. In fact, even though I designed those three programs before there was a Goofy (combining a half marathon on Saturday with a full marathon on Sunday), it almost seems as though I had Goofy in mind. This is because of the two-day progression in my top-line training plans featuring a pace run on Saturday and a long run on Sunday. The programs peak in Week 15 with a 10-mile pace run and a 20-mile long run, like you said on back-to-back days. Voila! It's an easy jump from 10-20 to 13-26. Here is a link that will take you to my Intermediate 2 program.

But you won't be starting Goofy training until the fall. Consider for the interim one of my half marathon programs, 12 weeks long, aimed at a race that distance this spring or summer. Good luck with your training, and maybe I will see you at Disney next year.

Numb Feet

trainingpeaks — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 17:27:40 +0000

QUESTION: I have a problem with one of my feet going numb as I run. I purchased a new pair of shoes last week. So far, I have run two times in the shoes, and both times my right foot has fallen asleep. It didn’t seem like my laces were too tight. This hasn’t happened before.

HAL’S ANSWER: Whether or not the laces were too tight, the shoes apparently were. Check the fit, particularly the right shoe. Should you have gotten a half size larger? As we run long distances, our feet begin to swell. So runners often need shoes somewhat larger than street shoes. As we run, fluids descend to the low points on our body (feet). But then those same fluids must be pumped back to the top. Unfortunately for beginners, their cardiovascular systems are not yet well enough developed for efficient circulation. So some of the fluids get stuck down below, and the feet swell. (So do the hands.) Don’t worry. Developing a more efficient cardiovascular system is one of the positive results of training—but it takes a while. In the meantime, you need to be more careful about shoe selection, particularly if your plan includes regular long runs.

'Tweener Program for 50-Staters

trainingpeaks — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 21:15:34 +0000

QUESTION: I ran my first marathon in November, last year, and am training for a second one in late April, this year. I am addicted. I now have a new goal of running a marathon in each state. How much time should I give myself between marathons? The full 18 weeks that most of your marathon programs call for, or would some shorter ‘tweener training period be okay?

HAL’S ANSWER: I can’t offer you any numbers. 50-Staters are a breed unto their own, and rules set for ordinary mortals do not apply to them. You’re going to discover while two marathons a year seemed a reasonable limit your first year pursuing your goal, three or four will become doable soon. Five marathons in a year? Ten? Why not, if you have any hope of reaching your goal in a lifetime. As you continue (and as you talk to other 50-staters about their experiences), you will discover that you no longer are training a marathon at a time (requiring 18-week programs), you are training for continuous, multiple marathons so your planning and training must also be continuous, over years, not months or weeks. So take each marathon as it comes to you. I also would not be in a rush to complete your goal. Take your time and savor the experience. If you decide to devote 25 years to the task, you would need to run only two marathons a year. Running four or five marathons a year would allow you to reach your goal in half the time. Enjoy the ride.

Tapering for a Half

trainingpeaks — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 16:58:57 +0000

QUESTION: I'm using your intermediate program to train for a half marathon and was wondering why you have us increasing mileage up to the week before the race instead of tapering the last few weeks, like you often hear people advise?

HAL’S ANSWER: I’m not sure who those people might be. In my marathon programs, I taper runners three weeks before the race, the longest mileage coming in Week 15 of the 18-week program. But you’re right. In my 12-week half marathon programs, peak mileage comes in Week 11, allowing only one week to taper. This is because the half marathon is nowhere near as stressful as the full marathon. If you are a talented enough, or experienced enough, runner to sign up for an intermediate program, a single week should be enough. Following the half, it should take you much less time to recover and be back in full training stride. Lately, the half marathon has become America’s most popular racing distance, three times as many runners having run half marathons last year vs. full marathons. We haven’t abandoned 26.2-mile races, but we love going 13.1 and not having it interfere with our regular running routine.

How Long Should My Recovery Be?

trainingpeaks — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 14:00:21 +0000

QUESTION: I have been dealing with patellar tendonitis and a small baker’s cyst in my right knee. I have continued with my half marathon training, because I'm running a half marathon in a couple of weeks. I usually only take a few days off after a half, but was planning on taking longer to rest the knee (I will cross train of course.) How long of a break would you suggest I take?

HAL’S ANSWER: I assume that you have seen a doctor who diagnosed those injuries, because I don’t possess an M.D. degree, nor do I pretend to practice medicine on the Internet. I defer instead to those smarter than me, or at least better trained in certain specialties. As to how much of a break to take, the period immediately after an important race might be the best time to focus on rest. Shift to cross-training for whatever length of time it takes, and be sure that you are 100 per cent cured before you step out the door to run. How long of a break should you take? A long enough break so that you can run injury-free.

Egypt 2012: Some Final Words

trainingpeaks — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 20:11:10 +0000

Hal Higdon and his wife Rose will be traveling through Egypt and Israel from March 7 through March 27. In addition to our regular Tuesday Q&A postings, we will be hosting Hal's updates from his travels on this blog, under the tag "Egypt".

Departing from our hotel in Cairo we shared an elevator with several people, one a young man talking into his cell phone. When we reached the ground level, he rushed first off the elevator, leaving Rose to depart second. Had I detreched a small cultural difference between our two countries? In the United States, an American would probably defer to the woman, politely allowing her first exit.

But does this make any difference in a nation where the main question is, will the military continue to conttrol Egypt even after the demise of Mubarak, or can the people continue to maintain the momentum of the events that followed January 25?

This in a country where 54% of the college graduates are now female, 80% of them entering the work force with different hopes and aspirations than those held by their mothers and grandmothers. During our last days in Egypt, we met a woman, a Carleton graduate, who had lived and worked in Cairo for two decades. She talked abouty her hopes and her aspirations for her adopted country. But during her talk, one of our fellow tour members asked a pointed and political question. I have forgotten her answer--or don't want to reveal it--but she looked over her shoulder to the right, then looked over her shoulder to the left, then said cautiously, "I am not free to comment on certain subjects."

Egypt will be free only when people like her are free to talk.

Thank you for following my Egypt blog. I am in Jerusalem now on the final leg of our journey. I'll look forward to communicating with you all after we return to the US next week. Thanks to Gloria Liu of TrainingPeaks and our daughter-in-law Camille Higdon for helping with Egypt 2012.