Arun Gupta, Miles to go ...

Marathon training: More mental than physical

Practicing for a marathon, to me, is a more mental exercise than physical. I think physically most of us are capable of completing a marathon but training requires motivation, discipline and perseverance. All of these come are mental rather than physical aspects of human psychology. And of these motivation is the MOST important since others follow.

I love running and have been self motivated so far. I found a running buddy few weeks ago but that's only 2-3 days a week. Mostly it's me running alone on rest of the days and all my long runs, for instance, are alone only. I have approx 8 more weeks of intense training and then the taper down starts. Having run slightly over 400 miles in past 11 weeks, I'm hoping to stay motivated all through out.

This article (Getting the MOST Out of Training) accurately summarizes the importance of mental training for a race. Here is a great quote from the article:

"Far too often runners look at mental and physical training separately and this disconnect is usually most evident during training."

 Here are some other articles on staying motivated through the training:

1. Marathon Motivation (poem)
2. 25 reasons to run
3. Running motivation tips and techniques - Great quote from the article "Seek motivation first and the desire to run, and run successfully, will surely follow."
4. 10 Guaranteed Ways To Burst With Motivation
5. Psychology - 4Cs (Concentration, Confidence, Control and Commitment)

George W Bush is the only president to have run a marathon. He completed 1993 Houston Marathon in 3:44:52 for a pace of about 8:36/mile. Now that's another source of inspiration for some

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Posted by Arun Gupta in Running  |  Comments[1]

Marathon Pace Band

Found Marathon Pace Band to help maintain my pace and also achieve marathon goal time.

Click on "Pace Band" link in the window and it will launch a pop-up window. Make sure pop-ups are enabled in your browser or at least selectively enable them for this website. Enter marathon goal time (hours, minutes and seconds) in the left side and click on "Create Pace Band". This fills up an HTML table on the right with 27 rows (1 row each for 26 miles and last row for 0.2 mile) . The left column indicates the number of miles covered (static) and the right column indicates the time that should have elapsed to achieve your goal (populated based upon your goal). This table can be cut along the border, water proofed and wrapped around the wrist during the marathon.

I expect it to be a handy tool as it will provide feedback on whether I'm running ahead or behind the goal.

Technorati: Running Marathon Training

Posted by Arun Gupta in Running  | 

Vegetarian and Marathon Training

An interesting read for vegetarian friends training for a marathon.

I've been on a completely vegetarian diet for the past few weeks and cant feel a difference.

Technorati: Running Marathon Training Vegetarian

Posted by Arun Gupta in Running  | 

Uphill run this morning

Today's running target was 16 miles but Sawyer Camp Trail closure for today (probably due to high fire hazard) and high temperatures in the valley cut my run down to 10 miles. This particular trail has mile markers all through out and is almost 85% shaded. I thought it would be perfect for a long run and also trying out my new Nike Pegasus. But then after talking to some fellow runners, found another shaded trail in the Wunderlich Park. This park offers numerous trails and mostly shaded which was definitely required for the hot temperatures today.

I did a full loop of The Alambique Trail (5.1 mile one way) and it was fun. The more enjoying part was the fact that I could run all the way to the top at Skyline Boulevard and then of course came running down. Took me 2:03:41 (12:22/mile pace, aargh) and burned 1937 calories. The pace was definitely slow but I enjoyed running uphill.

Here is the detailed training calendar until today:

Technorati: Running Marathon Training Trails

Posted by Arun Gupta in Running  |  Comments[2]

11.5 miles this morning

I'm trying to make best use of July break by running some extra long distances. 11.5 miles this morning was just superb. The run up Saratoga was definitely great but Quito Road had no shoulder for significant part so I don't think I'm going to repeat this route again.

Technorati: Running Marathon Fitness Training

Posted by Arun Gupta in Running  | 

Heart Rate Monitors and Marathon Training

With only 16 more weeks remaining for my marathon training, I'm planning to buy a heart rate monitor (HRM) to assist me. Read here to see why heart monitoring is beneficial along with an explanation of different features of a HRM. Here is a comparison of features for the options that I'm considering:

A detailed set of comments from the users of HRM is available here.  Here is an extensive review of Polar AXN series. REI allows to generate a comparative chart of different HRM here. Overall, I've heard mostly positive comments about Polar. Timex and Nike seems to have a few problems as can be found from the opinions row in the table above. The opinions row in the table above helped me decide on Polar F11. I finally bought it yesterday from Sports Authority (fka Sports Mart). Got a $25 discount for any purchase over $100 and then there is an additional mail- in rebate of $10 so it will turn out to be $125.64, that's pretty much the cheapest I could find anywhere on the web or in retail stores.

I used it for a 9 mile run this morning and found it useful. The out-of-zone alarms are just great and a continuous feedback about the heart rate really kept me within my target zone. I plan to use it more-and-more during my training sessions and report on it's usage in subsequent entries, so far it's a pleasant experience but I've hardly used it!

A random set of  helpful reviews is given below:

• http://www.consumersearch.com/www/health_and_fitness/heart-rate-monitors/reviews.html
• http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,5033,s6-52-74-0-8400,00.html
• http://www.prevention.com/article/0,5778,s1-2-68-123-4185-1,00.html?
• http://outside.away.com/outside/gear/gearguy/200404/20040412.html
• http://www.epinions.com/well-Supplies-Home_Diagnostics-Heart_Rate-All

Posted by Arun Gupta in Running  | 

Interval and Tempo Training

Read a good article explaining the different elements of training. In this article on interval training, I liked the way a hierarchy is created between interval (distance/ time for which you run), repetition (several intervals together along with a specified recovery distance/time) and set (group of intervals). These terms can be combined to create your own schedule of tempo runs. BTW, here is a great article explaining tempo runs. After 3 weeks of  training so far, I'll now be incorporating tempo runs in my training calendar, probably on Wednesday and adjust my rest of the schedule accordingly.

I've explored 3.5 mile main route, alternate 3.5 mile route and 4.5 miles so far. I plan to explore 5.1 miles, 10.1 miles and 4.0 miles in the days to come. Here is my training calendar so far:

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Posted by Arun Gupta in Running  | 

Marathon Running Schedule

As I mentioned earlier, here is my running schedule for the upcoming Silicon Valley Marathon. I prepared this using a StarOffice spreadsheet, so let me know if anybody interested in using the same model or doing a run together. Most (read all) of my runs are early morning but I'm willing to change my weekend runs if I get a company

Few points ...

• A detailed explanation of the model will follow in a subsequent blog.
• This is only the first draft of the schedule and will be changed after week 2 runs.
• I'll post a weekly update to the schedule, hopefully Sunday nights.

Technorati: Running Marathon Silicon Valley South Bay

Posted by Arun Gupta in Running  | 

Overhydation in Marathon training

Too much fluid intake during a marathon may not be good as it may lead to hyponatremia. 1 and 2 are some simple definitions of this condition. Read this article for more details. As a runner, I always want to reach the finish line. So if you are interested in summary of the article (it's a long article), just go to the end of the article.

USA Track & Field (national governing body for track and field, long-distance running and race walking in the United States) hydration guidelines also recommend (on the similar lines) to be "guided by your thirst" instead of "stay ahead of your thirst". Another useful article on this condition.

Technorati:
Running Marathon Training track field

Posted by Arun Gupta in Running  |  Comments[0]

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