Coach Tip - Training In Heat

Most endurance athletes (serious and casual alike) know the important role hydration

plays in health and athletic performance. But what you don’t know can hurt you –

drinking too little or too much during intense exercise can be dangerous.

Dehydration: Too Little of a Good Thing

Keeping the body properly hydrated with the right fluids is essential to safety and performance in an endurance event. The fiercest competitor an endurance athlete faces is dehydration.

The first obvious sign of dehydration is thirst, but things can quickly get worse. Dehydration not

only hampers performance but also increases the risk of heat illnesses, such as heat exhaustion or potentially deadly heat stroke. The good news is that dehydration and heat illness can be prevented and performance improved simply by following the right fluid-replacement plan.

Signs of dehydration and heat illness can include:

• Headache    • Fatigue     • Dizziness     • Nausea     • Muscle cramps     • Weakness    

• Irritability     • Vomiting     • Heat flush     • Abnormal chills

Hyponatremia: Too Much of a Good Thing

While it’s important to drink enough to remain hydrated, overhydrating by drinking too much can

lead to a condition called hyponatremia, which is serious and sometimes deadly.

What is Hyponatremia?

Hyponatremia is a condition that occurs when the level of sodium in the blood drops below

135 mEq/L (138-142 is normal).* Symptoms of hyponatremia usually begin at blood sodium values below 130, with values less than 120 resulting in a serious medical emergency. Exercise-related hyponatremia is thought to be caused by overdrinking. Although rare, hyponatremia can result in seizure, coma, and death, so it is vital that athletes learn about the condition and how to prevent it.

Who’s at Risk for Hyponatremia?

Anyone who drinks too much and does not adequately replace the sodium that is lost in sweat

risks hyponatremia, but certain people should be especially careful:

• Endurance athletes – those exercising more than four hours

• Athletes on low sodium diets

• Beginning marathoners who tend to be slower and are hyper-vigilant about hydration

• Athletes who overhydrate before, during, and after exercise

• Salty sweaters – those athletes whose skin and clothes are caked with white residue after  

 exercise

Symptoms of Hyponatremia

Watch for a combination of these symptoms, especially if you or somebody you know is at a

high risk for the condition.

Signs of hyponatremia can include:

• Rapid weight gain    • Swollen hands and feet     • Confusion     • Dizziness     • Nausea

• Throbbing headache     • Apathy     • Severe Fatigue     • Cramping     • Bloated stomach

• Wheezy breathing    • Seizure

Seek emergency care for hyponatremia victims. In most cases, they will be treated with:

• An intravenous solution of a concentrated sodium solution,

• A diuretic medication to speed water loss, and

• An anti-convulsive medication in the case of seizure

The Winning Hydration Plan

The best way to prevent both dehydration and hyponatremia is to learn the right way to hydrate.

Use the following tips to create your own hydration game plan:

• Drink to Stay Hydrated, Don’t Overdrink —

Your fluid-replacement plan should be designed to minimize loss of body weight so that you avoid dehydration during exercise but prevent weight gain from excess hydration during training or races. A good way to gauge your hourly sweat rate is to figure out the difference in body

weight plus your drink volume. For example, if you lost 11/2 pounds (24 oz) during the training, and drank 12 ounces, you should try to drink 36 oz (24 + 12) each hour during similar-intensity

training and racing. In this example, drinking 9 ounces every 15 minutes would do it.

Overdrinking dramatically increases the risk of hyponatremia. It is vital not to overdrink before a

race, because doing so can lower blood sodium even before the race begins. Also, don’t overdrink during or after the race!

• Maintain a Salty Diet

To make certain you replace all of the salt lost during training. During a long race (e.g. more than four hours), consider eating salty snacks such as pretzels, especially if you are a salty sweater.

• Favor Sports Drinks

 During long distance or intense training and competition drink sports drinks to help keep your

 Body hydrated, fueled and salted. The flavor of a sports drink will encourage you to drink

 enough to stay hydrated, the carbohydrate energy will fuel your active muscles, and the

 electrolytes will help replace some of what is lost in sweat. But remember don’t overdrink any

 fluid!

• Recognize Warning Signs of both heat illness and hyponatremia and learn to distinguish

 between the two. When in doubt, stop exercise, stop drinking and seek medical help fast.     

Coach's Tip - Running and Walking Your Perfect Marathon Pace

Running and Walking Your Perfect Marathon Pace

Adapted from: Marathon: The Ultimate Training Guide, by Hal Higdon

The simplest route to marathon success is to follow the so-called perfect pace that has the runner run or the walker walk at the same speed mile after mile for the full distance. Running or walking the right pace can speed you to the finish line. For instance, to run a 3-hour marathon, you simply run 26 consecutive miles in 6:52. Even pacing seems to work the best overall.

Coach Tom Grogon of Cincinnati agrees: "I want my runners to run at relatively even pace. Given this, they should view those who bolt out early as foolish people whom they will catch at the end."
If you really enjoy catching people, you can even try running or walking "negative splits." This means that you run or walk the second half of the race faster than the first half. The advantage of this approach is that at a time when most athletes are slowing down, you will be speeding up. You'll pass others, rather than have others pass you, which can be stimulating mentally.

 In picking any pace strategy, it's a good idea to know what you're doing before approaching the starting line. Here are some tips for finding the right pace: 1.) Choose a realistic goal. 2.) Believe in your pace chart: check each mile, making no changes in the first 20 miles (no matter how "good" you feel). 3.) At 20 miles, if you feel good, go for it; if not, hang in there. 4.) If the course is especially hilly, be prepared to make the necessary adjustments. Weather conditions also can affect your pace times. 5.) Carry your pace chart with you. This allows you to know how close you are to pace at every point in the race. 6.) Meeting intermediate time goals gives the runner or walker confidence and causes the miles to pass faster. You'll find it easier to run or walk using a pre-determined pace.
On race day, always consider that there are many factors that can affect your pace including wind, temperature and other weather condition, your level of health, hydration and nutrition and others.
Be careful about misjudging your own abilities and setting yourself up for failure on race day.  It's much more fun if you can successfully race your plan versus feeling that you have failed when you go slower.

The best pace-setting device inevitably becomes that in your own head. Experienced runners and walkers eventually know when to slow down and when to speed up. Experience thus becomes a major factor in marathon success as well as one of the fascinations of the race. Although ability and training certainly are major factors, the marathon definitely is a thinking man's (and woman's) race.

Running, walking or doing a combination at the correct pace for your ability level is crucial in the marathon, especially for the first time marathoner. It's so easy to start the race by going at too fast pace for which you are prepared. Your pace during the first mile oftentimes feels effortless due to the adrenaline rush and excitement of the event. If you run or walk the first mile or too fast, you'll pay dearly for the mistake in the later miles. A much better plan is to start out slower than what you hope to average and then run the middle miles at your chosen (hopefully realistic) pace. It's a better strategy to pick up the pace during the final miles when you know you can finish rather than starting aggressively. In the world of marathoning, there's no such theory as "putting the fast miles in the bank early in the race" and then holding on in the end. If you go that route, you will most assuredly visit the dreaded "wall" (the point in time when glycogen stores within the muscles have been depleted and as a result, the runner's pace slows considerably, oftentimes to a walk). During the marathon, constantly monitor how you are feeling, and adjust your pace accordingly based on your perceived energy level. Your past long training runs will enable you to do this.

Runner's Web has a wonderful tool, a marathon splits calculator, that enables you to key in a goal marathon time and view split times for shorter distances displayed in both miles and kilometers. Some texts have "race predictor charts" which will provide you with the opportunity to extrapolate from your shorter race times (e.g., 10K, half-marathon, etc.) a projected marathon times. Check out this great web site, MarathonGuide.com, for their "Race Time Predictor Chart". Use charts such as these as a guide in determining what pace you should theoretically be able to maintain for your marathon. The information derived from these charts is less-reliable if you haven't completed some training runs of 20 miles or longer.

Coach Tip - How to Read the Schedule

Today we will be talking about how to read the Illinois Run-Walk training schedule.

To start first make sure you have the schedule by getting it from your staff person or your coach. The 2015 Sprummer training schedule can be downloaded at

http://bit.ly/1BDjOeM.

Once you have the PDF file open it you’ll see several pages.

The First page is our Saturday Long Run Schedule

Saturdays are when Team gets together for their long runs. Now let’s look at the rest of each column. You'll see:

• The Week
• Date of training
• Start time of training
• Length of training depends on your event.
• The next three to four columns indicate location of training based on the closest city you live in. 
• Example: If Today was February 7th and your training for the Soldier Field 10 you’ll be training at Braeside Train Station Place for 30 minutes if you are on the North Team.

Please refer to your staff and coach emails for directions to training. 

The last column will indicate if the Coaches will feature aclinic that will take place after training.

The other pages are each month that you in training. Each month has it’s own page.

The monthly calendars are the days participants train on their own.  At a closer look:

If you have participated in more than one endurance event and you want to challenge yourself. 

Remember that the schedule is a guide and not written in stone. Contact your coach to help modify your schedule to your needs. Your coaches can help you rearrange the schedule due to personal and job conflicts. Or your coach can modify it so you can train properly if you are injured.  Good luck on your training. 

Thank you for creating a world without cancer!

Breaking Down the Mental Marathon

Original Article from Active.com - http://bit.ly/Hie9CG

If cognitive strategies during a marathon won't exactly make or break your race, they are still among the most important weapons you have in your arsenal against fatigue. To try and determine which might be the most effective, researchers questioned non-elite runners in the 1996 London Marathon about their race-day thought processes, and found the following four mental strategies to be the most common:

Internal association. This focuses on how the body feels while running.

Internal dissociation. This is essentially distraction: examples include playing songs over and over in your head and solving mental puzzles;

External association. This focuses outwardly, on factors important to the race: passing or being passed by other runners, looking out for fluid stations and calculating split times;

External dissociation. This, too, focuses outwardly-but on events unimportant to the race: enjoyment of the scenery, attention to throngs of cheering spectators or glimpses of outrageously costumed runners passing by.

The questionnaires keyed in on whether, when and how intensely these four groups experienced the Wall, the notorious elephant that sometimes lands on your back during the last quarter of the marathon. Whether runners may benefit from a particular combination of mental strategies as the marathon progresses remains a subject for further inquiry.

The study reported that the greatest percentage of those who hit the Wall said they had relied primarily on internal dissociation. It seems all-out distraction may make it difficult for you to judge your pace and to know other vital information, such as when you're dehydrated. It's therefore not a good idea to avoid monitoring your body altogether.

Internal association, while the most prevalent of the four strategies, magnified discomfort among the runners, who reported the Wall appearing much earlier and lasting longer than others.

Interestingly, external dissociation seems not to lead runners into the trap of hitting the Wall, as you might expect from the results of internal dissociation. The researchers speculate that the observance, however unrelated to racing strategy, of passing by other runners and spectators may provide enough of the focus needed to keep the correct pace, effectively anticipate hills and so forth.

Similarly, runners using external association didn't experience the Wall as often or as intensely as the internally-focused groups. It may be ideal, then, to check in on your body periodically-if briefly-and focus most of your attention externally: on both factors important to the marathon as well as on the enjoyable atmosphere. The latter may be unrelated to performance in any direct sense, but it nevertheless has the power to surround and energize you as you strive to keep your head up, your confidence high and your feet moving toward that finish line.

Coach Tip - Training in Heat

Most endurance athletes (serious and casual alike) know the important role hydration plays in health and athletic performance. But what you don’t know can hurt you – drinking too little or too much during intense exercise can be dangerous.

Dehydration: Too Little of a Good Thing
Keeping the body properly hydrated with the right fluids is essential to safety and performance in an endurance event. The fiercest competitor an endurance athlete faces is dehydration.
The first obvious sign of dehydration is thirst, but things can quickly get worse. Dehydration not only hampers performance but also increases the risk of heat illnesses, such as heat exhaustion or potentially deadly heat stroke. The good news is that dehydration and heat illness can be prevented and performance improved simply by following the right fluid-replacement plan.

Signs of dehydration and heat illness can include:

• Headache    
• Fatigue 
• Dizziness
• Nausea
• Muscle cramps
• Weakness    
• Irritability
• Vomiting
• Heat flush
• Abnormal chills

Hyponatremia: Too Much of a Good Thing
While it’s important to drink enough to remain hydrated, overhydrating by drinking too much can
lead to a condition called hyponatremia, which is serious and sometimes deadly.

What is Hyponatremia?
Hyponatremia is a condition that occurs when the level of sodium in the blood drops below
135 mEq/L (138-142 is normal).* Symptoms of hyponatremia usually begin at blood sodium values below 130, with values less than 120 resulting in a serious medical emergency. Exercise-related hyponatremia is thought to be caused by overdrinking. Although rare, hyponatremia can result in seizure, coma, and death, so it is vital that athletes learn about the condition and how to prevent it.

Who’s at Risk for Hyponatremia?
Anyone who drinks too much and does not adequately replace the sodium that is lost in sweat
risks hyponatremia, but certain people should be especially careful:

• Endurance athletes – those exercising more than four hours
• Athletes on low sodium diets
• Beginning marathoners who tend to be slower and are hyper-vigilant about hydration
• Athletes who over hydrate before, during, and after exercise
• Salty sweaters – those athletes whose skin and clothes are caked with white residue after exercise

Symptoms of Hyponatremia
Watch for a combination of these symptoms, especially if you or somebody you know is at a
high risk for the condition.

Signs of hyponatremia can include:

• Rapid weight gain
• Swollen hands and feet
• Confusion
• Dizziness
• Nausea
• Throbbing headache
• Apathy
• Severe Fatigue
• Cramping
• Bloated stomach
• Wheezy breathing
• Seizure

Seek emergency care for hyponatremia victims. In most cases, they will be treated with:

• An intravenous solution of a concentrated sodium solution,
• A diuretic medication to speed water loss, and
• An anti-convulsive medication in the case of seizure

The Winning Hydration Plan
The best way to prevent both dehydration and hyponatremia is to learn the right way to hydrate.
Use the following tips to create your own hydration game plan:

Drink to Stay Hydrated, Don’t Over drink
Your fluid-replacement plan should be designed to minimize loss of body weight so that you avoid dehydration during exercise but prevent weight gain from excess hydration during training or races. A good way to gauge your hourly sweat rate is to figure out the difference in body weight plus your drink volume. For example, if you lost 11/2 pounds (24 oz) during the training, and drank 12 ounces, you should try to drink 36 oz (24 + 12) each hour during similar-intensity training and racing. In this example, drinking 9 ounces every 15 minutes would do it. Over drinking dramatically increases the risk of hyponatremia. It is vital not to overdrink before a race, because doing so can lower blood sodium even before the race begins. Also, don’t overdrink during or after the race!

Maintain a Salty Diet
To make certain you replace all of the salt lost during training. During a long race (e.g. more than four hours), consider eating salty snacks such as pretzels, especially if you are a salty sweater.

Favor Sports Drinks
During long distance or intense training and competition drink sports drinks to help keep your Body hydrated, fueled and salted. The flavor of a sports drink will encourage you to drink enough to stay hydrated, the carbohydrate energy will fuel your active muscles, and the electrolytes will help replace some of what is lost in sweat. But remember don’t overdrink any fluid!

Recognize Warning Signs 
Recognize the warning signs of both heat illness and hyponatremia and learn to distinguish between the two. When in doubt, stop exercise, stop drinking and seek medical help fast.   

Buying New Shoes at the Mid Way point of training

The single most important piece of equipment you must purchase as a runner or walker is a pair of running shoes. Athletic walkers you should be wearing running shoes as well.
Click Here For More Information.
Some things to consider for your new pair of shoes:

• If your current brand/style of shoes is working for you, by all means stick with them.  Be aware, however, that manufacturers change their shoes frequently and a new generation of the shoe is born.  For example if you were wearing Asics Gel Kayano 14, now they may be on generation 15.  You may or may not like the changes in the new version.  Sometimes they change the design slightly and seams hit you in different places.  At any rate, make sure that the shoe still works for you!
• Do not wear your new shoes on a long training before breaking them in. When you get your new shoes wear them for two weeks on short trainings during the week, then you can break them out for a long training on Saturday.  With this timing your shoes will be fresh enough but also broken in enough for your event day.
• If you have been experiencing blisters, black toenails or any other discomfort or injuries, discuss these issues with your running shoe specialist.  They can help you to find solutions to these problems as related to footwear.
• Always purchase your shoes from a reputable running shoe store (not a generic sports store.  Ask about the store’s return policy.  Most good running shoe stores have a liberal policy that allows you to return shoes that are clean and have not been worn a great deal.  Check and always save the sales receipt.
• Don’t forget our friends of Team in Training who offer you a discount! Click Here to see our Google Map for a list of locations.

Psychological Issues of Long Distance Events

Endurance events create challenges both physically and mentally. Even after completing all the required training and making it to the race site rested and healthy, arriving at the starting line in less than the ideal state of mind can have a devastating effect on your performance.   Please be familiar with the following terminology (described with positive outcomes), as each will be mentioned later in this section:

• Mental Rehearsal/Visualization - The process of creating pictures or images in your mind.
• Imagery - Playing out/imagining in your mind the way you wish for an event to occur.
• Self-Talk - The "voice" in your head that can be trained to provide positive affirmations during adversity and tough times.

Before You Begin

There are certain "prerequisites" or internal characteristic that an athlete must possess in order to undertake the necessary training that endurance events requires. These include motivation, self-discipline, and effective time-management, all of which are inter-related characteristics.

A coach can be enthusiastic about the training program he or she designs/presents and show interest in the runner's development; however, motivation and self-discipline must be developed primarily from within. The best marathon training program in the world will not enable a runner to make it to the finish line of a marathon if he or she isn't internally motivated to undergo and complete the training and then finish the race.

Similarly, it requires a great deal of self-discipline to complete the long trainings while at the same time, cope with other daily distractions and manage all the personal responsibilities daily living provides. This is why it is crucial that the runner who wishes to train for the marathon be an effective manager of time. It is beyond the scope of this web site to discuss in detail strategies to enhance one's motivation, self-discipline, and time management strategies. There are a wealth of resources available featuring information relating to both these topics and sports psychology.
Short and Long Term Goal Setting
General Goal Setting Considerations

For most first time marathoners, goal setting is simple… To finish the race! Nevertheless, regardless of your experience level and race aspirations, it is best to be as specific as possible when setting goals. Be sure to write the goals down, perhaps tell others about your goals, and set a time frame for achieving the goals. These strategies will enhance the possibility of achieving both your short-term objectives as well as your big goal.

There are two basic types of goals: Process goals and outcome goals. It is important to set short-term objectives (process goals) on your way to achieving the big goal (outcome goal). The definitions and examples of process and outcome goals are listed below:

• Process Goals - These types of goals involve activities that focus on mastering the task and increasing one's skill level (e.g., the knowledge and training needed to complete a marathon). Examples of process goals include: Following the training schedule as closely as possible; Improving your nutrition; Reading as much as you can about the marathon; Consulting with your coach on a regular basis; Getting more sleep to be as rested as possible, etc.
• Outcome Goals - These goals relate to the finished product or stated differently, goals you hope to accomplish in the marathon. Examples include: Breaking 4 hours in the marathon; Running the second half of the marathon faster than the first 13.1 miles; Defeating a rival; Running a personal best in the marathon.

Race Goal Setting Considerations

In the couple of weeks prior to the race, think about three (outcome) goals you'd be interested in accomplishing for your event: (1) an easily obtainable goal, (2) a realistic yet moderately challenging goal, and (3) an ultimate goal. Determine a strategy to achieve the ultimate goal, but build into your plan flexibility to aim for less ambitious goals if things don't pan out the way you had planned. Above all, be realistic. For example, if you don't possess the genetic predisposition (natural ability) to run a sub-38 minute 10K, there's very little chance you can break three hours in the marathon, no matter how positive an attitude you possess!
Strategies for Completing the Training

• Find a coach with the reputation for being both enthusiastic and positive. These traits can help inspire and motivate you.
• Join a group or team whose members share your same goals. These individuals can provide you with the needed emotional support to succeed. Groups or a training partner can help make completing the long runs easier than doing these alone. It is essential to find training partners who run your approximate pace so that your workouts do not turn into races.
• When doing your long runs, break the course into sections mentally. That is, mentally run from one landmark to the next instead of thinking of completing the entire 20-mile training course. When you reach the first landmark, then mentally think of running to the next and so forth.
• Realize that the training will not always be easy. If running a marathon were simple, there would be no challenge as everyone would be able to do it. To enable you to cope with the physical and mental demands of completing the long training runs and the actual marathon when the going gets tough, there are several mental strategies you can utilize. These strategies and examples are listed in the next section.

Examples of Mental Strategies During Your Training
Self-Talk Thoughts

Think and say to yourself…

• "If this was easy, then everybody could complete a marathon."
• "Keep running . . . Maybe I'll feel better when I have some Gatorade."
• "If I quit now, I'll be very disappointed in myself later this afternoon."
• "I'm not really physically tired; I'm more fatigued mentally."
• "Completing this important training run will give me confidence and enable me to finish the half-marathon comfortably."
• "In just one more hour this run will be finished and I'll be in at home...showering, relaxing, eating, etc."

Imagery

Imagine…

• Imagine that you are a world-class runner and are in the lead of the Boston or Olympic Marathon.
• Imagine that your running form is smooth and graceful.
• Imagine that your a running effortlessly and very relaxed.

Visualization/Mental Rehearsal Strategies

Visualize…

• Picture yourself running every mile of the marathon for which you are training.
• Visualize what the finish line area will look like (e.g., with the clock displaying the time you're shooting for).
• See in your "mind's-eye" the spectators who will be cheering for you.
• Think of all your friends back at home who will be thinking about you and pulling for you while you'll be running.