"There's a hell of a difference between doing it almost right and doing it right. The outcome of games is far more a result of mistakes than great plays" - Bobby Knight, basketball coach
Well, this week marks 11 weeks since you all began training for the Mercedes Marathon and Half Marathon. Why do I mention this? If you're following the schedule, this past Saturday you did 15 miles and this week you do 16. At this point, you're not just getting used to going longer distances, but your body has actually started to physiologically change the way you get from point A to point B.
Whatever event you're training for, the base layer of training is improving your aerobic system so that it burns fuel more efficiently. The first choice of fuel to burn is the high octane carbohydrates. When you eat carbs, they're broken down into a lot of "oses" (sugars) - glucose, fructose, sucrose, lactose, etc - and then mishmoshed (my grandmother's word) together to come out with glycogen, which is what your body stores in the muscles, liver, or blood to be ready when you need it. But these precious guys are limited and your body has to go to plan B to spare the glycogen so you don't burn them up before you get halfway down the road. Plan B is to burn fat. Now, don't take this personally, but you have a figurative ton of fat, but here's the problem - fat can't be burned except in the presence of oxygen and this is a much slower process than burning carbohydrates, so as we train, the body learns to burn fat better and the ratio of fuel it has to throw in the oven is more fat and less glycogen. This spares the limited glycogen and TA-DA, you won't hit the wall at 20 miles because you won't run out of glycogen!!! If you do drain the tanks, the ol' body has to rely on Plan B almost entirely and you HAVE TO SLOW DOWN. No gritting your teeth on this one buckeroo - your body is the one and only boss. The brain is cooked (afterall, it can ONLY burn glycogen, so it's hacked at you in the first place for doing this crazy thing and stealing it's fuel).
At about 8-12 weeks of training, there are many physiological benefits...You'll increase the blood flow to your muscle fibers by 40% (that's how the oxygen gets to those muscle powercells - the mitochondria). And speaking of mitochondria - you'll increase their number in the muscle cells by 5% per week and you'll increase their size by 35%. Your muscles will store up to 250% more carbohydrates (and carbs are your friend, despite what those diet whackos say). Man, I'm getting fired up - I love this stuff...but the absolute number one change that pertains to this monologue is that your leg muscles can now burn fat 700% more efficiently. That's a huge advantage to where you were two months ago (assuming you're doing the training). It may not feel 700% better, but you're as tired now at 15 miles as you were 2 months ago at 6 miles, and you now know you could go further. If I said tomorrow that the printed schedule was wrong and you had to do 4 more miles than was on the schedule this Saturday, you would say "aw crap, this coach sucks", but you would do it and not be completely wiped out. This is a process even I can't screw up for you. Do the scheduled training and your running engine will try it's hardest to keep your bow aimed towards the shore and not floating aimlessly in the sea of confusion (Man, what a picture I can paint).
Woody Allen once said 80% of success is just showing up. This is the big leagues folks. A 5K will get you from here to there, but a marathon will get you from here to way over there!! Consistency, both mentally and physically, is the key to any endurance event.
I'll see you on the roads - AL
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