Smart training: find your sweet spot!

Find your sweet spot and stay there.

I have been reading about smart training. As I am now slowly increasing my mileage on flat runs,  I have been looking into ways of training smarter both to recover from my hamstrings injury completely, and to avoid injuries in the future. But to be honest, the main reason why I have become so interested in sweet spot training is because I have been finding it hard to get my running speed back. When I focus on speed runs, I get exhausted and disappointed, and I now realize that this kind of training is not helping me at all to increase my speed and endurance. Instead I find it much easier to focus on heart rate, and heart rate turns out to be the key to smart training. But don't be mistaken; although sweet spot sounds incredibly nice, it is a completely different place than comfort zone.

Of course I do not come up with these things by myself. Being surrounded by a lot of much faster and more experienced running friends, I try to learn from them what they are doing right. Several of my friends have told me that they never train for a long time at their threshold heart rate. They stay about 10 beats lower than that. To me this has been difficult to understand and follow. I thought that by training at your threshold you increase your threshold speed. This is true in some sense, but I now realize that it is true for intervals and shorter efforts like that. In fact, as I understand it, your sweet spot is around 10 beats lower than your threshold heart rate. When I heard about sweet spot training for the first time from my friend Lars, all previous advice finally made perfect sense to me.

Most probably you do not know your threshold heart rate. I took a lactate and oxygen volume test last year and found out that my threshold heart rate was 162. At that time this corresponded to running flat at a speed of 11.4 km/h. I am afraid the speed is much much lower now, but I think the threshold heart rate is still correct. It is the heart rate at which you can go for about an hour before you start getting stiff by too much lactic acid in your muscles, and it worked for me during the uphill races of this fall. At shorter competitions (like Stoltzekleiven) or at the end of long competitions (if I have any power left) I can go all the way up to 169-172. You could calculate your threshold heart rate from your maximum heart rate, you could take a lactate test (It is really a lot of fun!), or you can for example look at the following chart and try to match it to your values:

From this I conclude that my sweet spot corresponds to about 154 in heart rate. It fits with how I feel during training. When I try to run at the speed I could run before my injury, I very quickly go up to my threshold and beyond, and thus get tired. Instead, if I run at my sweet spot, I can go for much longer time. So why is this spot sweet? The next chart explains it. If you train at a heart rate that is above your threshold, you don't improve that much. In fact training too hard has exactly the same effect as training not hard enough! I have been thinking that since I have participated in a lot of competitions this fall, I have got a lot of good training. And then I have been wondering why I have not noticed a more significant increase in my endurance and speed. And now I finally understand it: competitions are not training! Competitions do not build our form, they tear us down. And if we always train at competition heart rate and speed, the improvement will be minor.

The line "Training effect" shows that the optimal effect is achieved at your sweet spot, which is a little bit below your lactate threshold heart rate. What we normally do is to push it as hard as we can at every training. When you are completely a new beginner, this is fine. Your form is anyway far below your limitations and as long as you are not training too often, you will gain a lot from pushing yourself hard. However, as you get faster and in better shape, you might experience that although you are training hard you are not improving anymore. And the reason is most probably because you are training too hard. Just watch your heart rate, stay below your threshold on the longer sessions, and most probably you will see an improvement pretty soon.

So this is now my training regimen for the next couple of months: Two interval training sessions per week, where I go up to lactate threshold during the intervals. One or two tempo runs where I try to stay in the sweet spot for 30-50 minutes. A long and slow run, where I do not care about the heart rate, the distance or the speed, but just run for a couple of hours. A recovery run at zone 1 (for me: heart rate between 120-130) for about 40 minutes. It will be an interesting experience to see whether this will bring me back to my old speed within a couple of months. And I will be strict about one or two complete rest days a week; no running or strength training on those days. Restitution is a very important part of building form! If my form does improve, I am wondering how it will affect my heart rate zones and sweet spot. I assume that I will be able to run faster at the current heart rate zones. But will my zones stay constant, or will I have to go up to higher heart rates?

Stay tuned and we will find it out altogether!

Triple triumph - Blåmanen race 3

Yes yes yes! Sometimes everything goes better than expected!

Blåmanen race 3 was yesterday. A bit sad that it's all over for this year. I have heard this from several people this past week - we should have Blåmanen races all the way to Christmas! Yesterday's race was perfect in all ways, in fact in more ways than I could have expected or even dared to hope for. Just an hour before the race I was not sure that I would be able to participate, but then everything worked out in the best possible way.

On Wednesday during a test run of the third race together with Fjellgeitene, I suddenly felt a sharp pain in my ankle. It was so painful that I decided to stop and simply walk back, not to risk any injury. And then started of course several days with worries and wondering about whether I should participate in yesterday's race or not. I have a few long distance running goals for 2016; was it worth risking a long period without being able to run again, just for a single race? On the other hand, I had this kind of sharp pain at the exact same spot once before, and then after a couple of days everything was fine.

What would life be without the caring, compassion and advice of good friends? I discussed the matter with many people. Several of my friends who have had long time trouble with their achilles tendon advised me the be cautious. And a long term achilles injury is exactly what I am most afraid of. But my trainer Ketil and my friend Irene, who is a physiotherapist, concluded from the description that it is probably not the achilles, and as long as it is not painful I should simply participate in the race. Yesterday morning I had still not made up my mind. My plan was to warm up with my proper asphalt running shoes, and then decide depending on how everything felt. I used kinesiology tape on my heel after watching some youtube videos on how to apply it, and during the warm up I had no pain what so ever. At the end it was when talking to my friend Roger just before the race that I made up my mind. He said "that's not the achilles, that's just some simple ankle pain. I get it sometimes, too, and then the day after it's gone". Yes! Exactly my experience, so I decided to race. And it all went so well!

Thanks to breaking the practice on Wednesday, and not running anymore until yesterday, my legs were completely rested. This last course of the Blåmanen races is my favorite. It is also the one I know the best, as I practiced it twice last year before the race, and went there several times again after the race.  The weather was beautiful! Big sun from a cloudless sky. And cold enough for all the mud to have frozen to give a steady, albeit pretty slippery here and there, surface to run on. I used my shoes with spikes and they worked perfectly.

So many heroes yesterday! I got so much help all the way up; it was simply heavenly! On the first flat part I was running with Cathrine and Tone, and we were laughing all the way. On the Fløyen turns, in fact all the way up to Fjellhytten I had the company of Hans Erik. Just like last year! So reassuring to have the same feeling as last year, where this was the race I did the best. This is our course, Hans Erik! Just before we reached Fløyen, we met many of our Melkesyre friends who were doing the regular Saturday intervals. They stopped and cheered vigorously. And then came Bjarne, as always in the middle of the steepest hill! I was so happy to see him, and he kept me company during the worst part. Just at Fjellhytten, Jan Erik was cheering and taking photos. And from Fjellhytten and all the way to finish I had the company Aldona who was just in front of me. I cannot describe how great it feels to be surrounded with all this goodness and kindness. Thank you so much everybody, I owe you all big time!

The best part was that I felt no pain whatsoever in my ankle (and of course my hamstring injury was completely forgotten for the time being), so I was exceptionally happy, cheerful, and not the least grateful all the way. The sun was shining brightly all the time, I found myself smiling all the way, especially towards the end when I knew that I would actually be able to finish without having to stop or slow down due to pain. And then my finish time.... 57 minutes!!! OK, still one minute worse than last year, but one minute better than last week's race, which is for most people a faster race. Last year, I had exactly the same time on both races, 56 minutes. This year, 58 on the last and 57 on this one. So in a sense I did better than last year, given the circumstances.

I feel that I am the luckiest person in the whole world!

Not quite there yet - Blåmanen race 2

Things take time...

Blåmanen race number 2 was yesterday. As fun as always; I just love these races! But it is time to realize that I am far behind in my running form compared to last year at this time. OK, so it should perhaps not come as such a big surprise. I have, after all, just started running again, and the longest I have run since January is about 12 km. Last year at this time I had completed three half marathons within the last six months... Well, at least I have been able to keep my uphill form; I cannot describe how happy I am for this year's record at Stoltzekleiven. That is in fact my only registered accomplishment of 2015, so it saves the year. Although I participated in a lot of uphill races this fall, they all involved (for me) fast walking and not running. And that is the clue. I have lost a lot of speed when it comes to running, and it is taking me time to get it back.

Last year I completed the Blåmanen race 2 i 56 minutes, and I did not even push it. This year; 58 minutes... I probably did not push it as much as I should this time, either. I had a good feeling throughout the race, and was not that exhausted at the end. I also saw afterwards that my heart rate did not go as much up this time as the first race last week. So I could, and probably should, have pushed a bit harder. Or perhaps not. Who knows?  I am still in recovery, and perhaps I am avoiding to reverse the healing of my injury this way. By pushing not too hard. I don't know. What I do know is that I should focus on the positive.

I am extremely happy for:

1. I can run again!!!! I can run almost as much as I want. And I know that my form will come back; I just need to work hard and give it time. The most important thing is that my injury seems to be getting better and better all the time. Just a couple of months ago, I was not at all sure that I could ever run as I wanted again. I now start believing that I can. And I am extremely grateful for that.
2.  I am participating and having incredible fun at various races. And I get so much compassion and encouragement from my friends. One of yesterday's heroes is Ove. At the beginning of the uphills I was having a hard time, and he kept talking to me all the way; gave encouragement exactly where I needed it. It felt easier and easier as I got used to the pace. And Bjarne with his camera in the middle of the course, taking pictures, cheering, giving advice... I was actually looking forward to seeing him and wondering where he would pop up, and that thought helped keep me going. And then Patricia and Solveig handing out drinks and cheering just before the last hill, and Christian and Åshild at the finish. Thanks so much guys! And Roger when he came to finish; always a caring clap on the shoulder. I feel the luckiest in the world to be surrounded with these people.
3.  There are so many fun things going on throughout the winter. On Wednesday I participated in a test run of yesterday's race with Fjellgeitene. These guys are amazing. I now finally dare calling myself a fjellgeit (mountain goat), too. When registering for races it will be now my standard to write "Varegg/Melkesyre/Fjellgeitene". There will be a test run of the last Blåmanen race the coming week, and then the race itself, and then more races, and training for them. Looking forward to all of that! I also have some long term goals, which I will tell you about in due time. In the meanwhile, I tell myself:

The most wonderful time of the year: Blåmanen race 1

One down, two to go!

The Blåmanen races are on! Yesterday was the first one of this year's three races. I came home from Paris Friday evening, and I was very tired after a week with early mornings, long days at work, and little sleep. Still yesterday morning I felt very ready for the race. I also felt very happy and excited because I knew that I would meet many of my friends whom I haven't seen for a few weeks. This race series offers one of the most fun race experience ever. I think it is because I seem to know about 80% of the participants. It is like a playground!

I had a test run with Frank a few weeks ago, which I completed in 1 h 04 min, and yesterday my goal was to go below 1 hour. Unfortunately, it did not work. I completed in just over the hour. Although I have been running and trying to push myself in Paris, I haven't had uphill training for the last three weeks. I went with really high heart rate throughout the race, and was pretty exhausted in the end, so at least I think I pushed as much as I could. Although slightly disappointed about the time, I am so happy about so many things around this race. For the first time in a long long while, I did not feel any pain in my thigh or butt while racing, and it was only my breath that was limiting me; not at all my legs.

Frank and I arrived the start well ahead of time. We had both decided to start individually before the elites, Frank a little later than me. We were extremely lucky with the weather, which was sunny between heavy showers the night before and the following afternoon. After getting our tags for timing, saying hello to our friends, and warming up a little, it was time to start. I was chatting with people and missed my friends who started a couple of minutes before me, so I was alone most of the time. The track until Sandvikspilen was extremely muddy. In the beginning I was trying to jump from stone to stone, but in the end I did not care anymore where I stepped. Sometimes I was down into the mud up to my knees, which was fine except that I was afraid to lose my shoes a couple of times. As I was getting close to Sandvikspilen, which is the end of the steepest part, I was feeling pretty tired. Then I heard the voices of friends who were cheering and taking pictures. It was wonderful to have Bjarne, Helge, and Cathrine there at the top! They made sure that I kept going at a moment when I wanted most just to stop, or at least slow down.

As usual, all the time I was wondering whether I had started too hard. Compared to our test run, I gained a minute until Sandviksbatteriet, another minute until Sandvikspilen, another minute until Brushytten, and finally another minute until the end, so I seem to have run pretty evenly. I was hoping to be significantly better at the race than at the test, since I had significantly lower heart rate at the test, but I had forgotten all about the backpack... I did not have a backpack at the test, while at the race a backpack of at least 1.5 kg is compulsory. I must remember to train with a backpack (or lose 1.5 kg until next Saturday!). Since this was the first time I did Blåmanen race number 1, I have no previous recorded time. So at least I can hope for an improvement next year. In the meanwhile I am really curious to see whether I will be able to improve my time in the next two races, compared to last year. Already looking forward to next Saturday!

Thank you Varegg!!!

Run the city!

Put on your running shoes and be there for the sunrise!

When on travel, especially in connection with work, I find morning runs essential to keep my form and burn some calories. Even before I became serious about running, for the last 15 years I have always taken my running shoes with me whenever I have traveled. Although at home I usually do my training in the afternoons, when on travel, mornings are often the only possibility. The days are perhaps long and packed with meetings, discussions, or presentations, and there is always some social program in the evenings. Running is a great way of seeing a city. Most times, there is a river, lake or sea nearby, and it is convenient and nice to run there.

(Duluth, Lake Superior, USA)

In winter it is a bit more problematic as it is dark in the mornings when I have to do my run. Sometimes, if I do not know whether the city can offer safe surroundings for running, I try to choose a hotel with a treadmill. Although one can be surprised that what the hotel advertised as a "gym" is just a treadmill and a rowing machine in a tiny room, there is usually nobody else there at 6 am.

(Verona, Italy)

When I could not run during the period of my injury, I felt pretty desperate when I was on travel. Work travel involves a lot of sitting still for long hours, and sometimes food is served so there is not the option of choosing salads or lighter meals. Putting on weight is always a worry for me, and sitting for long hours made my injury ache and feel stiff and painful. I almost dreaded travels in this period. It is therefore great to be able to run again, and this time I am in Paris for a couple of weeks, a city which offers great running opportunities.

   

There is for example the Bois de Boulogne, very close to the city center, with two small lakes, lots of trees and soft grounds to run on. On work days it is a bit too dark and too lonely to be there early in the morning, but it is a perfect option for a little later in the day or on a weekend. It is possible to combine its paths to as long runs as you like. 

I like to run in the park by the Eiffel Tower. It is about 1.7 km in circumference, which is comparable to my Tveitevannet Lake, and although it is very central it is surprisingly quiet and detached from traffic. There are a lot of people running there even at early morning when it is dark, and many cleaners, caretakers, etc, so it feels safe and social. It provides soft ground to run on, and it is perfect for intervals or progressive rounds. If that becomes boring you can combine it with the path along the Seine, which goes all the way to the Louvre museum, and the gardens next to that museum are also very nice for running. It is possible to make a round of about 15 km combining these parks and gardens with the paths along the Seine.

Since the Blåmanen races start in less than a week, I wanted to put some uphill training in my program. I remembered that there were a lot of stairs at Trocadéro, just across the bridge from the Eiffel Tower, but unfortunately, the stairs were fewer than I could recall. Although my interval training there became a bit too monotonous, I was rewarded with the most beautiful sunrise views of Paris.

Early bird gets the worm!