The Peak Performance Maine Marathon and Half-Marathon is just over five weeks away, on October 4, 2009. This means that over 50 people have been training hard for the past three months with the Peak Performance Marathon Training Group. (A few are doing other marathons, but are in the fold nonetheless!)

The 18-week program got underway on May 31st, with participation doubled from the inaugural group last year. Runners joined the program with a wide range of goals: many to do their first ever marathon or half-marathon; others to improve their half-marathon time from last year; even a 56-time marathon veteran came on board to run a goal time in the half! Over half the runners are also raising funds to benefit the Center for Grieving Children in Portland, Maine, the race beneficiary for the 2008 and 2009 events.

Runners received an individual training schedule based on their level of fitness, running experience, personal schedule, and goals. Most run their weekly long run on Sundays, as a group, while others run their long run on Saturdays, as it works better for them. A few live out-of-state and receive coaching via E-mail; and all are kept up to date with weekly communications.

About three weeks into the program, I received a call from the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Team in Training Coordinator. The Maine training group had lost its coach and was looking for support. These twelve runners from all around the state were welcomed into the group and are training for the Maine, Dublin, and Nike Women's Marathons, all in October, while also raising funds to benefit the Society.

The distances of the weekly groups runs have been progressively increasing, with a few runners up to 18 miles. Because it's an individual pursuit in a group context, distances and paces vary. What is fascinating and fairly reliable about the process is that people seem to 'find each other' and are able to develop friendships and training partnerships. Because so many are first-time runners at these distances, speed and intensity are not the focal point. Instead, long slow distance runs are encouraged, particularly for the weekly group run.

Training runs will occur on sections of the marathon course for the next few weeks before the taper phase. Runners should have a very good idea of the course and will be prepared both mentally and physically for the big day. Throughout the program they have had access to free clinics covering topics such as nutrition, injury prevention, sports psychology, self-massage techniques, and understanding the physiology behind performance and training. It's a full and productive four and a half months, no doubt!

If you have any questions or would like to receive more information about running programs through A Running Conversation or Peak Performance, please just let me know. And, if you are training for a fall marathon, best wishes for a great run!

Oh, to Post

Whenever someone approaches me and makes a comment about one of these blogs they've read, I'm reminded of how much I enjoy writing them, yet cannot for the life of me find/make the time to do it more frequently.

I suppose it's like stretching or cross-training, eating well or meditating. We know it's good for us and that we always enjoy doing it once we're engaged in it. But dedicating the time when the spirit moves us....aaargh! It is difficult these days.

Tonight Rick A. attended the clinic on injury prevention presented by physical therapists from Edgewater Orthopedic Physical Therapy in Falmouth, Maine. It was a very useful talk about, one, body design and function, and two, how to use it well without injury. Should injury occur, they talked about ways to heal and recover, and to resume your sport.

But back to Rick. He is an Ironman triathlete, in his sixties, and thinks that the over-the-hill phenomenon I mentioned in my last post is more universal than reserved only for women. Perhaps. I just know that on a local level, I see a numbers discrepancy whereby there are more competitive men over 50 than women. But I've not run the numbers so I could be all wrong.

But here's something ironic: I mentioned that a friend thinks competitors over-50 become somewhat discounted, or "invisible." While that notion didn't resonate entirely for me, I thought okay. Maybe. Well, didn't the Portland Press Herald completely leave out the Open Masters and Open Seniors divisions in their reporting of the Beach to Beacon 10K results last Sunday?! What a hoot. Nothing. They reported in the copy about the overall finishers, and the top Mainers, including masters, but when they broke out all the age divisions they failed to include the Masters (40+) and Seniors (50+). Humph. I felt invisible all of a sudden.

I let the Press know about the mistake and unfortunately didn't get a reply, but I'm not hung up about it. I know where I finished, and fortunately the Beach to Beacon race organization recognizes where I and the others finished, as these are prize money categories! They actually award us. I was quite happy to be a senior citizen on August 1st.

Which brings us to the middle of August already. School starts in a few weeks. Summer rapidly winds down. Major events like the Dan Cardillo Memorial 5K, the Reach the Beach Relay, and the Peak Performance Maine Marathon are upon us before you can count to twenty. Wow. I've got to get some sleep. I just remembered there's another clinic to attend tomorrow at the Center for Grieving Children in Portland, Maine - a fabulous organization and the race beneficiary of the Peak Performance Maine Marathon this year. It's a talk by a sports psychologist on how to use your head to its fullest when it comes to athletic performance. I love it! I'd much rather think my way through some of these races than actually feel how physically hard it it is! Go here for more on the clinic. Peace.

What Awaits Over the Hill?

Bruce Springsteen turns 60 in September. Meryl Streep turned 60 in June. Joan Benoit Samuelson is 52. Jamie Lee Curtis is 50. Hilary Clinton is 62. Greg Norman's in his mid-fifties. Dara Torres is 42 (yeah, I know, she's not quite into the "second half", but still...) These athletes, politician and performers do not appear to be slowing down any on account of their age. In fact, some are feisty and forward-moving as ever!

This past Sunday, after completing a ten-mile run, I was talking with two female runners who are also in their fifties. We were discussing running after 50. One said she was running really well in her late-forties into her fifties, but that things have steadily gone down the tubes. My other friend wants to know what the heck is happening to her energy stores and consistency? She feels like she is on a roller coaster - sometimes she begins a run and feels like crap, and then suddenly all is well with the world. Then the negative, doubting self-talk kicks in and it's difficult for her to trust her training.

I am still fairly uninitiated, having entered this new age division less than a year ago. And I feel good. Granted, I don't always sleep well and often have night sweats; I train only at a moderate intensity; I can be moody and down-spirited without any obvious reason; I know I should cross-train and I don't; but mostly I remain confident about my running. In fact, my greatest concern about this issue is not my own ability, rather, it's where is everybody else?

We live in a state that has no shortage of excellent runners. In 1984, during the first ever Women's Olympic Marathon Trials, we had three women running from Maine. They are now all in their fifties. Since then, they and many, many others have been engaged in a high level of local and national competition. But Maine is a small pond and it appears that the landscape is changing. Maybe it's just my old eyes focusing on my old age group.

And this is exactly what disturbs my friend: Are the 50 and over women just not running, and if so, why not? Or if they are, how has it changed? What's it like now as they enter the second half of life? How does menopause affect their training? What do they do about it? Is it all physical, or could it be they think about competition differently and just might not want to do it? What does it feel like to have to slow down? Do we have to slow down?

I bet you can tell I am very interested in having this running conversation with the aforementioned runners and other experts. I'll keep you posted on any program developments and information I gather. Thanks for reading.

Busy Summer

I had hoped to be able to say it's finally stopped raining, but I can't.

Pretty much all of June and now, half-way through the third week of July, the weather has been wet. We never even planted our tomatoes and herbs this year. I hope the local farmers fared better and will have nice produce to offer at the farmers' markets...

Who am I kidding, though? I have no time to garden. I can't believe how busy this time of year is for me. And I know I'm not alone. People are on the move or they have friends and family on the move to come visit them. I think living in Vacationland makes us more prone to this "busy season" than if we lived in other places.

I see this with the Peak Performance Marathon and Half-Marathon training group. People have family commitments, vacation plans, visiting friends and relatives, weddings to attend, weddings to plan! It makes it a challenge to stick to a training schedule with all the extra activity, but as runners finish out their second month of base-building, it's important to keep the mileage up, and consistent.

Tomorrow the group will be out at Cape Elizabeth training on the roads there. Several runners will be running an awesome ten-mile loop. I love this loop for its scenery, rolling hills, and absence of significant vehicular traffic. The course is the Mid-Winter Classic road race, and I prefer to run it in reverse. (No, I'm not running backwards...I mean in the opposite direction of the race.) I find the clockwise direction provides a more gradual approach to the hills, that is after one is warmed up. Part of the course also covers the first mile of the Beach to Beacon 10K.

For most of the runners in the group, accomplishing a ten-mile run is a huge achievement and a 'first' for many. I love it when runners achieve a break-through in their training. It's a notch on the belt and something to be proud of, and certainly a gift to bear witness to it.

And the aspiration to run a first marathon or a half-marathon is awesome. It's rewarding to work with these first-timers as they head into the unknown. "Put your blinders on," I advise, because there are so many distractions to training, and such a great need to stay focused. We're nearing a half-way point in the training program, and the summer busyness is at full tilt. Focus, and keep your eye on the prize.

July 1

Rabbit, rabbit.

This is our first utterance on the first day of each month. It's supposed to bring good luck for the month. My friend Joycie and I have been practicing this little exercise for years and now I have infected my family with the habit. It's a fun way to stay in touch with Joyce and a superstitious way to keep things looking up!

Many athletes are superstitious in their quest for success. You hear about the lucky pair of socks that MUST be worn for racing, or the small stone in the pocket. The most vivid example I can think of is probably more like an obsessive compulsive disorder. Do you remember seeing Nomar Garciaparra, the former Red Sox shortstop, take the plate? It was actually painful to watch him twitch and fiddle with his gloves, pant leg, and stance when at bat. But he apparently had to go through it to play his game.

I tend to wear tried and true clothing on race day, for sure, but I can't think of a superstition I hold related to my performance other than occasionally reading my horoscope and trying to say "Rabbit rabbit" each month. How about you?

Simply Striders

Coach George Towle, University of Southern Maine's women's cross-country and track coach, spoke at Peak Performance Multisport last evening about "running economy." It's all in the striders, he says.

Simply stated, striders are when a runner picks up speed for a period of time such as 20 - 30 seconds, and then jogs for a minute to recover. An example of a workout might be doing this six times, with a warm-up before and a cool-down after. This picked-up pace is the runner's mile race pace.

This concept is very simple and any level of runner can gain speed and efficiency by doing striders a few times a week. That is, of course, assuming the runner has been running for a while and has a mileage base. Running without injury is a result of a slow and progressive build-up, not doing too much too soon.

Coach Towle also talked about running economy, which he defined as "the amount of oxygen consumed relative to the runner's body weight and speed which he or she is running." Doing striders or repetitions (usually a little longer than striders but at the same pace) will improve running economy because the runner will focus on proper running form - no unnecessary leg or arm motions - and an increased comfort level at faster speeds. Basically, this is how I define training: Practicing something over and over so that it becomes familiar, and works like a stepping stone on the path to improvement.

Proper running form can be practiced by thinking about CHP - chest, hips, and press. Towle's student athletes recall the acronym by calling it California Highway Patrol. Catchy, I think. 1) To achieve proper chest position, standing tall and relaxed, take a deep breath and hold it. Your chest will expand, shoulders go back, chin down. Now release your breath but maintain the chest position. This is the proper chest position. 2) Touch your hips with your thumbs, finding the hip joint. Now tilt your pelvic bowl up, which flattens your lower back a bit. This is proper hip position, again, while keeping everything else relaxed. 3) The press is the push off from the ground while running. The last thing on the ground should be your big toe. Think about pressing that big toe on your take-off.

Once you have the form down, you can practice improving your stride rate, that is how many strides you take for a set amount of time. Ideally, a runner should take 175 - 200 strides per minute. The higher the number, the more efficient (and likely faster) the runner is. You can practice this by timing yourself for a minute and counting how many times your right foot lands. Double this number and you've got it. If it's low, practice a quicker turn-over or cadence, again with a focus on good form. You will begin to see improvement, and, it won't hurt!

Good luck with it. The racing season is upon us - time to make some strides!

Summer's Almost Here

The empty yellow school buses lined the public parking area at Pine Point Beach in Scarborough today, after depositing groups of school-aged children to the beach for what was apparently a "beach day" field trip. Good for them.

I ran to the beach and hit it at the end near the jetty, as part of a five-mile loop from my home. The beach was the most crowded I've seen it in a while, and it was only 10:30 in the morning. The students were in groups - some walking along the beach with teachers or chaperones, collecting shells and whatnot, while others, in fact, no less than 40, bounced up and down valiantly in frigid water up to their waistlines, hands flapping in the air. Good for them. The scene really brought a smile to my face.

Summer running. Time to think sunscreen, hat, early morning runs, hydration, lots of tourist traffic, crowded beaches, the smell of fried food in the air, sweating, lots of races, festivals, longer runs, ice cream indulgences, minimal clothing, days off for family and friends, trips to Peaks Island, Bridgton Four on the Fourth, lots of races on the Fourth, parades, training for Beach to Beacon, weight loss, tanned skin, good fun, new friends, cold beer, healthy competition, surprises, camping, hiking and swimming respites, biking too. And so much more!

Remember running in December and January in preparation for the Mid-Winter Classic? Brr.

Enjoy this final week of Spring 2009, and let's hear it for Summer!!