Well, you should be running the majority of your training outside, but there are several valuable uses for our much-maligned friend the treadmill.

Here are the times you should consider incorporating a treadmill into your training:

1. When you are unsure how far you can go. Anytime I feel a little ill, the last thing I want to do is an out and back loop and get stranded miles from my house or car when I might be feeling sick and unable to run. By jumping on the treadmill instead, you can go as far as your body will let you without ending up with a long, painful walk back home.
2. For “Track” repeats. When I do my track workouts, I have to choose between a really poor-condition track near me or an only slightly better one much farther away. Sometimes it is easier just to use the treadmill and be able to perfectly manage my pacing that way instead.
3. When you don’t want to fight the weather. Sure, occasionally it can be fun to run in the rain (especially on hot summer days). And even on days it isn’t fun, forcing yourself to do so anyway is a good lesson in motivation and willpower. But what if it rains for days and days in a row? Much better to take a day on the treadmill than get sick from the cold and rain. Also, when the weather is like it is here for me, you may want to consider not running outside during days where the temperature is pushing 100 degrees. Stay inside in the air conditioning and avoid running outside during heat advisory days.
4. For a long run. I know, I know – why would you want to do your longest run of the week on the boring old treadmill? My main motivation for occasionally doing so is that I can have all the fluid and food on hand without actually having to carry it with me. Just because I like my hydration belt doesn’t mean I always want to be carrying a liter of water and a few hundred calories worth of food with me for hours at a time.

What about you? When do you like to use the treadmill instead of running outside?

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Like most runners, I’ve struggled with fueling during runs. Just recently I have finally gotten used to running with my Amphipod water belt and also have started using a Nathan hydration pack (which I will review soon also). However, I’m still looking for a practical way to get the necessary calories during medium and long runs. I’ve experimented with a lot of different foods – granola, raisins, nuts, regular clif bars, bananas and now these Clif Shots.

I have to say, that out of everything I have tried to use for fuel while running, that these are probably my least favorite. Here’s why.

The Good

• They taste not-terrible. Okay, so maybe that isn’t glowing praise, but for all I’ve heard about store bought gels I was expecting a lot worse. When I bought these I was expecting this to be the big deal breaker, but the taste doesn’t bother me at all.

The Bad

• Ridiculous directions. On the package it says, “For best results: One package 15 minutes before activity > One to two packages per hour during activity > One package immediately after activity.” That would mean for a typical long run, I’d be eating something like four t0 six of these in one sitting. Now, I know that the company is trying to make money and all that, but that is a little extreme.
• Hard to open while running. The first one of these that I took on a run, I didn’t think to pre-open it before heading out the door. Unfortunately the combination of sweaty hands and plastic packaging don’t mix well and I could barely get the darn thing open. I finally resorted to biting off the top of it and making a big mess just to get to the gel.
• Hard to completely empty. I can’t tell if there’s just not that much actual gel within the packaging or I just can’t get it all out. Either way it hardly seems like a lot of actual solid “food” either way.
• The price. I guess I’m actually fairly neutral on this, but they do cost roughly $0.75 per shot, even when buying through Amazon.
• The packaging. Like I said, there’s not that much actual gel in each package and yet there’s quite a bit of packaging for each shot. I may not be the biggest treehugger around, but the amount of waste per actual quantity of food seems pretty high, especially from a company so committed to environmental causes and using recycled materials.

My verdict

Personally, I plan to skip buying these and start making this energy gel recipe No Meat Athlete posted from Brendan Brazier’s Thrive. If these were priced a bit lower and packaged more to my liking I might consider buying more. As it is, I’m going to keep working to perfect a homemade gel recipe and continue to take fruit and nuts while running in place of these.

Have you used store-bought gels or gu? What do you think of them?

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A little over a month ago I posted about how I would be adding track workouts to my training for the Chicago Marathon this year. After six weeks worth of running Yasso 800s, I’ve reached some conclusions about them as a workout.

1. I love them! More important than anything else, the 800 repeats workout has become my favorite training session of the week. They’re just hard enough to be challenging without leaving me unusually tired the following day. I run the repeats on a very rundown, seldom-used track, so it is almost like running on quarter-mile grass oval. Some runners might prefer company to socialize with, but I love going to this track early in the morning and busting out a workout with no one else in sight.
2. Add them into your training slowly. I began incorporating them a few weeks before starting my “official” marathon training. This allowed me start off with two weeks of 800×2 workouts. After starting at 800×2, I’ve repeated each number twice before adding an additional repeat. This has allowed me to progress very slowly at a level I can handle.
3. Plan far ahead. I’ve preached about my love of planning many times. By mapping out these track workouts far ahead of time I will be able to do every level from 2-10 repeats twice between now and the Chicago Marathon with enough time to still taper for two weeks. Make sure and start adding these in your training as early as possible in order to be able to step up the difficulty at a gradual pace.
4. Don’t stress the exact times or paces too much. When I first started these workouts I tried to run my rest times at specific paces too and I spent the entire 800 meters looking at my watch, trying to hit my pace time exactly. When I started stressing out less about my times, I started having more fun with these workouts.

I’m definitely a convert to the Yasso 800s cult. I fully plan to keep using them for all future training as well as continuing to preach their benefits to anyone who will listen.

For more Yasso goodness, check out No Meat Athlete’s interview with the man himself, Bart Yasso.

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Sometimes it is easy to classify running as a purely physical sport. After all, unlike other sports, running doesn’t require watching game footage, learning plays or studying the opposition.

But the truth is, running requires a large amount of mental strength. If runners aren’t careful, they can train their body to fall prey to negative habits. By maintaining mental awareness and toughness though, runners can overcome this problem.

There are three keys area we need to train our minds as runners.

• Mental Toughness. There are going to be many times throughout training where things get really difficult. A run that would normally be an easy walk in the park becomes surprisingly difficult. Getting up early to run when your body only wants to sleep. Or just forcing yourself to start a long run for a distance longer than you’ve ever ran. These are the times we have to shut off the part of our brain that whispers fear and anxiety.
• Finishing Runs Strong. If you end every run by dropping of your planned pace, you are going to teach your body to finish every run that way and you will never be able to hold pace or achieve negative splits. By maintaining the same pace throughout or even finishing stronger, we can teach our bodies to respond with strength and intensity at the end of each run. This will transfer over into better racing performance.
• Not Falling into Routine. Most runners have a handful of routes they run throughout the week without too much variation. When doing these same routes over and over and over throughout training, it is easy for a runner to fall into a habit of finishing the run and nearly the exact same time. A runner can unconsciously get used to passing the same landmarks or mile markers at the same time, feeling the same way and fall into routine without knowing it. Finishing a run the same way every time is bad for training, so be sure to be aware of this and finish the run with deliberate awareness at the pace you mean to, not the pace you usually do.

What other ways do you have to train your mind in addition to your body?

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Finishing out injury week on Step 1 Runner will be my own personal nemesis – plantar fasciitis.

The plantar fascia is the connective tissue running from the heel to the five toes on each foot. Plantar fasciitis-related pain occurs in the heel or along the bottom of the arch of the foot. It is most commonly felt after long periods of sitting, upon waking up in the morning or after a workout.

Causes

Excessive pronation and very high arches or very flat feet are the main cause among runners. As a flat-footed over-pronator I frequently find myself struggling with this condition during peak training times.

Plantar Fasciitis can also happen to runners who exercise in shoes that are greatly deteriorated.

Treatments

As with almost every other running injury, the only sure cure is rest. If you continue to exercise on the inflamed tissue, tiny tears in the fascia can result, leading to chronic pain in the area. So be sure to take this injury seriously.

Massaging the connective tissue can also be an effective treatment. I’ve found that rolling a tennis ball beneath bare feet is a great way to massage the area while at a desk. This can be combined with icing the area by wrapping a bag of ice in a hand-towel and kneading the bottom of the foot against it.

If you are unsure of the mileage on your shoes, replacing them with a newer pair may help to alleviate some of the pain as well.

This finishes injury week on Step 1 Runner. If you have any “themed” week ideas you’d like to see in the future, let me know as I’ve liked doing this the past two weeks.

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Continuing injury week on Step 1 Runner, today I’ll discuss one of the most common injuries for new runners – shin splints.

If you want to get technical, shin splints are actually called medial tibial stress syndrome. The stress part of that name is probably readily apparent to anyone who has experienced shin splints.

Causes

Put simply, shin splints are caused by over-extending the foot during running, landing on the heel and forcing your body to pull itself forward with the shin muscles. Track runners experience this injury much more commonly than distance runners since sprinting requires much bigger strides, often resulting in over-striding.

Endurance runners should not be landing with a heel strike. Without going into the specifics of stride mechanics in this article, if heel striking is common for you, try shortening your stride to avoid heel-striking. Your feet should be landing directly underneath your body, not in front of it.

Treatments

The best cure is rest. Letting the muscles rest for one week to ten days is usually enough time for healing. In addition to resting the muscle, lightly massage the shin muscle with your fingertips and apply ice for ten to fifteen minutes a few times each day.

Make sure to stretch the calf muscles properly before and after running also. Even while sitting at a desk, you can be lightly stretching the calf and shin muscles by extending a leg into the air and rotating it in circles.

If shin splints are a recurring problem, make sure your stride is not the cause of the problem. Knowing how to cure the pain once it has already occurred is great, but preventing it altogether is even better.

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Friday will finish injury week on Step 1 Runner.

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After dealing with post-race recovery, emotions and training last week, Step 1 Runner will be focusing on three common running injuries this week.

The illiotibial band is a tissue that connects from the pelvis and hip to just below the knee. Its purpose is to stabilize the knee and it moves with every stride of the leg. Illiotibial Band Syndrome, also referred to as ITBS or IT band syndrome, generally causes pain just below the knee, where the band connects with the top of the tibia bone.

Causes

ITBS is generally caused by an unevenness between the way two feet strike the ground. For example, repeatedly running on steeply banked roads can cause one leg to strike the ground at a substantially different level than the other leg. If one leg is slightly longer than the other or one arch is slightly different between feet, ITBS is also likely to occur.

Severe supination is a another frequent cause, as the foot is pushing off unevenly, causing the band to stretch more than it should.

Treatments

As with most injuries, the RICE method is usually a great first step in treatment. Another solution that many runners swear by is using a foam roller over the area. Foam rollers are a versatile piece of fitness equipment and can also be used for stretching, pilates, yoga and other body weight exercises. I’ve actually had success using a regular kitchen rolling pin in place of a foam roller. It can take some getting used to, but it does help.

Also be sure to evaluate the surfaces on which you’ve been running. Do you always run on roads, especially sloped roads? If so, try switching up and running on trails or at the track to make sure you feet are landing at an even level.

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Wednesday and Friday will continue injury week on Step 1 Runner.

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Earlier this week in parts 1 and 2, I wrote about the minutes and following 24 hours immediately after a race and how to deal with recovery and emotions in the week after a race.

Today, I’m going to finish post-race week by discussing base maintenance.

What is base maintenance training?

Every training plan should be built around a specific race or series of races. Where base maintenance training comes in is when one races ends before the specific training plan for another race begins.

For example, say you ran a mini-marathon at the end of April in preparation for a marathon in October. Almost all marathon training plans are four months or sixteen to eighteen weeks long. That would leave a little more than a month gap without a specific, planned training schedule.

It is during this gap that a runner should determine a relatively easy amount of miles to run each week. This amount only needs to be hard enough to maintain the runner’s current level of stamina. It is called “maintenance” because the goal of this time-frame is not to increase endurance or speed. It is simply to let a runner’s body rest and recover before hard training starts again, without a loss of stamina. Because of that, base maintenance training shouldn’t include speed work, hill training or any other difficult workout. At most, these types of workouts should be done at a very reduced intensity.

Really, more than anything else, base maintenance training is about continuing a strong running habit. There should be no other pace or mileage expectations during this period and planned or unplanned rest days should be as frequent as necessary. Even taking a whole week or more off wouldn’t be the worst thing during this time. Listen to your body and determine how much training you can handle without getting burnt out or tired before the serious, planned training starts up again.

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Thank you for reading part 3 of post-race week. I will continue my “themed” weeks with injury week starting next Monday, where I will discuss three common running injuries.

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Post-Race Recovery

One of the most insightful things I’ve ever read about post-race recovery was by Hal Higdon, when he wrote about advocating a “reverse taper” in the week after a marathon. It came across as sort of a throwaway comment in the context of the article, but I found it interesting since there’s been so much written about tapering, but very little discussion ever about the week after a race.

What does a reverse taper mean?

Let’s use a common marathon taper week as an example. For a Sunday race, the week’s schedule might be something like:

• Monday: rest
• Tuesday: 3 miles
• Wednesday: 4 miles
• Thursday: rest
• Friday: rest
• Saturday: 2 miles
• Sunday: race

Now, let’s flip that backwards for the reverse taper week starting the following Monday.

• Monday: rest (in place of the race day)
• Tuesday: 2 miles
• Wednesday: rest
• Thursday: rest
• Friday: 4 miles
• Saturday: 3 miles
• Sunday: rest

I love this idea and have been using it after my long races to add a little more planning to my post-race recovery.

Post-Race Emotions

The other main problem I’ve had in the week following a race is dealing two different, opposing emotions.

After completing my first marathon, the following week I ran a grand total of 1.5 miles (that I hated). The last thing I wanted to think about that week was lacing up my shoes and heading out for a run. It wasn’t because my body was particularly sore, it was because I had a lack of motivation and a strong sense of letdown. Sure, I had accomplished my goal, but what now? Start training all over again? Bleh.

Well, as a goal-oriented person, the answer actually was to start all over again and set a concrete goal. Once I started planning out training runs and looking ahead, my sense of purpose was renewed and I was ready to get back on the horse.

The lesson? To battle a lack of post-race motivation, remember that you’ve enjoyed the entire training journey, not just the race itself and start out the planning process again to generate some excitement.

What about the opposite end of the spectrum? Have you ever finished a race and felt overconfident? Maybe you just completed the longest race of your running career and felt like the king of the world. You decide you don’t really need to take time off to rest and go out and try to maintain the same level of peak training and then…you get injured. Excitement and enthusiasm post-race are great, but the week after still needs to be focused on rest and recovery. Channel that energy into picking out and planning for your next race.

What is the biggest challenge for you in the week following a big race?

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Thank you for reading part 2 of post-race week. Part 1 dealt with “What to Do after Crossing the Finish Line” and part 3 on Friday will discuss the month following a race.

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This week I am going to be focusing solely on the post-race aspects of running.

Today’s post is going to deal with what to do immediately after crossing the finish line until roughly 24 hours after a race. Check back Wednesday and Friday for parts 2 and 3, dealing with other aspects of post-race recovery. After all, if I spend so much time devoted to the training and build-up leading to a race, shouldn’t we take some significant time to discuss what happens afterward also? After crossing the finish line, chances are the first thing most people think about is finding the first place they can sit down. It certainly is tempting, but this is also the worst thing you can do at that moment.

Here are the five main things to focus on in the 24 hours after finishing a race.

1. Grab all the food and liquid possible. As soon as you cross the line, race volunteers will start handing out or offering various fruits, snacks, water, etc. Just take everything they offer. No matter how good or bad your stomach feels at that particular moment, there’s a good chance you will want all of it sooner rather than later. The standard offerings like bananas, Gatorade and potato chips are all great at replacing certain nutrients lost during a long, challenging race. Test out your stomach by gradually sipping Gatorade or water before and after every bite you eat. I’ve actually been so dehydrated I wasn’t able to swallow food without additional liquid, but even if that isn’t the case for you it is a good way to slowly but steadily began to replenish fluids.
2. Keep (slowly) moving. After crossing the finish line and taking a moment to meet up with friends and family, keep moving! The transition between racing and resting should have a gradual middle ground. While a long walk back to a car or hotel after a race will seem like torture, it is actually a great way to stretch out and relax a tired pair of legs. The results of the shock to the system from immediately collapsing after a race will feel much worse than a 15 minute walk back to your hotel.
3. Drink large amounts of water. Over the 24 hours following the race, the main concern should be dealing with the inevitable dehydration resulting from the race. Keep a large bottle of water within arm’s reach throughout the day and make it a priority to take small sips over and over, all day long.
4. Reward yourself accordingly. There’s a good chance you’ve been depriving yourself certain treats in the days or weeks leading up to the race. The night after is a guilt-free evening. Enjoy whatever forbidden items you want as long as you pair them with a significant amount of water.
5. Sleep in and then sleep some more. The day after a race is no time to worry with setting an alarm clock. If all of your training runs have taken place early in the morning, relish in the enjoyment of a morning off. Make sure not to schedule anything for the day if at all possible. Lounge around the house and use the day to relax and pat yourself on the back. Tired halfway through the day even after sleeping in? Take a nap, you’ve earned it.

Do you have any post-race traditions or recovery tips?

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- If you found this post interesting or helpful, I would appreciate it if you shared it on twitter or your favorite social network. Make sure to catch parts 2 and 3 of post-race week by signing up to receive free Step 1 Runner updates via email or RSS.