It seems that in the world of hydration systems, there is always give-and-take and compromise. The small, light packs may not carry enough water. The bottle-based belt systems require use of hands and often make you stop in your activity during use. The hands-free, bladder-based systems tend to bounce around too much and cause discomfort.

Personally, I tend to gravitate toward the bladder-based hydration systems, such as those made by Camelbak or Ultimate Direction, because I can use them in full stride during my runs. I hate having to stop, pull out a bottle, and then put it back before resuming my run. However, all of the bladder-based hydration systems I had used in the past tended to have a heavy weight, poor center of gravity, and a tendency bounce around. Over the duration of a long road or trail run, this not only proves to be annoying, but can also cause chaffing, discomfort, and alteration of my stride.

This past month I have had the pleasure of testing the Camelbak Octane 8+ hydration pack…

Read the full review at The Final Sprint!

Several competitive runners over the last couple days have asked me, “How on earth do you run 100-mile weeks?” In all cases, this was not a snide question, but an honest one. These people realized that they could make performance gains by training more, but were at a loss on how to do so. Training 100+ miles per week is not an easy endeavor, and can leave runners fatigued, frustrated, and/or injured if done improperly. However, if successful, this high-volume training most often leads to marathon breakthroughs, and is necessary for those wishing to become elite or semi-elite.

Some personal history: I tried several 100-mile weeks back in 2003 and 2004 with little success. They merely made me tired, I was unable to do any sort of quality speed work, and I ended up running my worst marathon in 2004. This summer I revisited high-volume training, but this time I was able to handle the load rather easily and still incorporate long, high-quality, intense workouts twice a week. The result was not just better workouts, but better race performances and better recovery. Not to mention I am experiencing fewer aches and pains than ever, and am the healthiest I have been in years.

So what was the difference? What did I change to turn 100-mile weeks from a drain to a delight? Here are the keys:

• Build a big base over a long period of time. If you’ve been running 60-70 miles/week all winter, building to 100 miles/week by summer will be a natural progression rather than something to dread. Build up to it slowly, no more than 5 miles/week on average. Personally, I like to increase mileage every three weeks, and then maintain for two weeks, then increase again. This keeps things nice and slow, and reduces risk of injury and fatigue.
• Turn easy days into doubles. Running 16 miles is hard. Running 8 miles is easy. Running 8 miles twice is also easy.
• Make easy days easy, and hard days hard. It’s okay to run those doubles I mentioned in the above bullet at a very slow pace. It’s common for me to do my easy runs at 7:30/mile pace, and even occasionally dip to slower than 8:00/mile. The point of these runs is to build aerobic volume, get the blood flowing, and recover from your hard days. When you do work out, make it worth your time by employing Tinman’s Big Workout philosophy.
• Get up early. For many, finding time to run a couple times each day is as big of a challenge as finding the energy. I’ve found that getting up at 6AM or earlier creates all sorts of time!
• Get quality sleep. Take naps. Your body heals and grows stronger while you sleep. I make sure I am in bed by 10PM (which makes the above bullet, getting up early, a lot easier). And since I am up early and done with my run early, I usually have time for 30-60 minutes of napping before I roll into work at 9AM. It is not uncommon for me to pick up an extra 7-8 hours of naps over the course of a week. I sincerely believe this “8th night” of sleep is one of the absolute key elements of high mileage. In general, shoot to average 9 hours/day of sleep, including naps.
• Take a “day off”. Sometimes you have to run less to run more. Make sure you get one day per week of very little running. For example, I only run 4-6 miles on Sundays, and often take multiple naps. It is truly a day of rest and rejuvenation. Relative to other days of the week, this is a “day off”, but I still get in a few valuable miles, enough to get the blood moving. I know plenty of other runners who easily get over 100 miles/week while taking one day completely off.
• Eat healthy and hydrate always. Recovery and fueling is key during a demanding training program. Think of your body as a high-performance car. You don’t give a Ferrari regular unleaded, you give it premium! Keep a water bottle by you at all times. Consume a sports drink immediately after running. During meals stay away from processed foods and junk foods, and pursue fresh fruits and veggies, whole grains, lean meats, and other healthy foods. This will help reduce recovery time and give you more energy, not mention keep you trim.
• Extra credit: work an easy, flexible job. It is quite taxing if you have to be on your feet all day at work. And those naps are hard to fit in if your job has a rigid schedule or long hours. In order to sustain high-volume training for a long period of times (weeks and months), it really, really helps to have a job that lets you sit on your butt all day in cool air conditioning, and has flexible hours to allow you to come and go as you please. One such job is “Professional Runner“. For those of us who aren’t so lucky, “Self-Employed” is probably the next best thing. My job, “GIS Specialist“, is very conducive toward running, as is my laid-back office (and I am grateful for that!). Most people aren’t going to change jobs just for running, but if you already hate your job, maybe here’s one more reason to quit!

Looking back, I now realize that my previous attempts at 100-mile weeks were done improperly. I hadn’t built a big enough base, my average runs were too long (not enough doubles), my easy days were too hard, I wasn’t sleeping enough, and I wasn’t eating healthy enough. I was unable to perform quality workouts, and received no benefit from the mileage. But utilizing these tips have helped my running blossom this year, and I hope they will be beneficial to you as well.

Part of the fun of being a marathoner is picking out your races each year. Another aspect of marathoning that is both fun and important is designing your strategy once you have registered for the race. Personally, I use elevation profiles to help me with both tasks.

An accurate elevation profile will show runners the nuances of gradient throughout a given course layout. Within 5 seconds, a viewer can answer the questions:

• Is the course hilly or flat? Is this course fast or slow?
• Does it give me a good challenge or is it too hilly?
• Can I achieve my goals on this course?
• How should I race this course?
• How should I train for this course?

When I create elevation profiles in support of my race course mapping, I aim to make them as clear and non-misleading as possible. After all, the profile can be one of the major factors that influences a runner to run the race. Every race has its own “personality” that should match up with the strengths and preferences of individual runners. Personally, I like downhill courses, but if the profile shows too steep of a downhill, I will not run it out of fear of injuries and diminishing returns on my finish time.

Three marathon courses in my fine state of Utah that offer fast, downhill layouts are the Ogden Marathon (May), Top of Utah Marathon (September), and the St. George Marathon (October). I have raced Ogden twice, Top of Utah four times, and St. George once, and they are all good P.R. courses — provided that you have trained for downhill!! If you have not engaged in a lot of downhill training, all three courses will eat you alive. I love these three races, though, and highly recommended them, especially St. George.

Since Top of Utah and St. George are both coming up within the next month, I decided to create a graphic that compares the profiles of the above three races.

Looking at the comparison, it is very clear that St. George should by far be the fastest course. Not only does it have the greatest elevation loss, but it is also at the lowest average elevation above sea level. Interestingly, St. George has the greatest elevation gain as well, as neither Ogden nor TOU have any hills even approaching the Vejo hill along Mile 8. The 400′ of total climbing at St. George is certainly nothing to sneeze at, and it really forces runners to train for both ups and downs.

However, it is NOT clear from this elevation comparison which is the faster course between Top of Utah and Ogden. Based on the total statistics and the profile line itself, it appears to be a complete wash. They both have virtually the same gain and loss, but are distributed differently. Personally, I like Ogden better, because much of the downhill is during the last 8 miles, whereas Top of Utah is rolling to flat during the last 8 miles. For me, this at least makes Ogden mentally easier. However, the top times at TOU tend to be faster than those at Ogden year after year. And if you poll 100 Utahns, most will tell you that TOU is faster. But when I look at the course profiles and evaluate my own experiences, I think they are almost identical in speed.

I wonder if TOU’s faster times are a result of simply being a fall race, whereas Ogden is a spring race? Training during Utah’s winters is often harsh, and perhaps most people do not get into peak shape until autumn. I think this could easily cause a “time bias” in favor of Top of Utah.

What do you think?

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One final note of interest: The first 3.5 miles of all three races have identical elevation drops and gradients. Beyond being a cool coincidence, this fact is also useful in that you can uses your experience(s) in the other races to determine how fast to begin a race you have not run yet, or not run recently. First example, I ran 5:28/mile for the first four miles of the Ogden Marathon last May. Using estimates of fitness gains since May, and the fact of analogous gradients between courses for miles 0-4, I have determined that I should run the first four miles at St. George at 5:20/mile pace.