Boston Hill Training in Dubai:
1. HILLS! Surprise surprise, huh? For 3 weekends in a row during my "peak" March training, I went to Hatta twice and Jabeel Hafeet once... as my previous post details. Quite a nice change of pace and DEFINITELY a great workout. As I am writing this after Boston, I wouldn't go as far as say the hills there were "easy," but they were really not comparable to those steep steep STEEP hills. I pounded through the "heartbreak hill" not even realizing it was the heartbreak hill, so they really weren't so bad.
2. STAIRS! I can't emphasize this enough! I did both stair climber (yayyyy new equipment in my gym!) AND stairwell climbing. I can proudly say my posterior chain (i.e. buttocks) was fairly developed, he he. It is SUCH a good workout, and ... free! I go to my friends apt just a few hundred meters away, Index, and start at flight 32, go to 80, come back down to 0 and then back up to 80 and then back down to 32... sometimes even did it lunging (yes, I am crazy). Boring you ask? Not when you have some physio podcasts to listen too (that you've been meaning to listen to!). And if not that, some music.
3. Strength workouts! My friend that lives across the street at the Index also happens to be a personal trainer, so that helped me tons. We really worked a LOT on the butt muscles, back extensors, core, squats and lunges galore, and I definitely felt STRONG! At first I was worried I was getting too bulky, meaning carrying around more heavy weight, but then kind of leaned out a bit and most everyone that saw me towards the end of my training commented on how my physique changed (in a good way!). Then of course I did my own strength emphasizing the same.
4. Incline treadmill tempo workouts! I've been doing this for awhile and although some runners, many, will balk at my enjoyment of the treadmill, I really feel it can be a good workout if you want it to me. I do this 5 min "tempo" runs of alternating increase in speed and increase in incline, with the last 5 minutes being both. And to prevent boredom, I download Pixar or silly movies on my ipad and watch that... that is a lifesaver and the time goes by quickly.
5. Bridges and fly-overs... and parking lots! Again, we have to make the best of the situation here. A few times I ran up and down parking lots and tried to hit up bridges and fly-overs, I did this the least out of the above, but every bit helps and these "hills" were actually probably more realistic to the actual Boston prep!
Soo.... I detailed this for a friend that is running a marathon coming up, and wanted to share it here, MY own personal keys to success in marathon running. By NO means am I a super dooper mega marathoner, there are millions faster than me, BUT some things have worked for me and I like to share in case it can work for someone else!
My Marathon Prep and Tips:
1. SLEEP!!! I cannot emphasize this enough! I REALLY REALLY REALLY made an effort, especially for my peak March training when I was running 70-90km/week to get at least 7.5-8 hours of sleep. Protein shakes? Nah! Muscle recovery happens when we are sleeping! It makes SUCH a difference, I cannot even emphasize it enough. Not only during the training, but the few days prior to the marathon, which was rather a challenge being I was traveling across the world and totally changed time zones, but then even tried to get 8 hours of sleep! Being rested and well slept is really #1 key to success!!
2. NUTRITION! As a comparable tie to my favorite topics of discussion, to summarize, I (mostly) did a high good fat/high protein and low carb diet throughout my training. Then really tried to emphasize protein 10 days before the marathon. Also tried to lose a kg or two during that 10-day window to lose weight in anticipated carbo loading 2.5 days before the marathon... all went successfully. For me, success is definitely correlated with my weight, and I was probably the lightest I've ever been.... even since my 2014 Dubai marathon qualifying success. As we all know, carbs provide energy and also stores as glycogen, all of which are used up during the marathon. Contrary to popular belief of carbo loading the night before, it is carbo loading the days before that is the key to success. I think this extra carb loading is why I haven't "hit the wall" or crashed during these last marathons.
3. MENTAL STRENGTH! Just when I was about to start my tapering, my groups old coach, Coach Clarke, who has moved, visited us in Dubai. He is a sub 3-hour marathoner, and hence a God to us. During this one run, where I ended up with all these super speedy runners and was dying to keep up, Phil came up to me after sweeping us "slow" runners, and got a chance to chat with him. He really believes in the "do nothing" for taper period, which I found a bit too much. BUT what he did emphasize was the mental strength that one needs to run a marathon, and I agree with that, it is a really a mental game. I was soo strong mentally during the Dubai Marathon 2014 because I had such a great training season, there just wasn't a doubt that I wouldn't do well. Likewise with this one, I really did everything I could think of, for prep for training, you name it. Okay, probably shouldn't have enjoyed those sweets a few too many times, but hey, was working out soo much just gave myself that weakness to feed. That's when I think proper training comes into play, because when you do the right training, why wouldn't you succeed? I kept a positive attitude during the whole training, my time in Boston, and during the run (and it also helped I was so absorbed in the fun atmosphere). Dubai marathon is a bit hard I admit is a bit hard to stay strong because the course is so boring and you know exactly how far you are along, and phew, it's just tough. But with new marathons, it's more fun because it's something new. Anyhoo, mental strength comes in confidence, and when you feel fit, you feel good!!
4. The Training! I really would place the above in the order it is, training is training and we generally all do those infamous "long" runs. But if you don't have the other above components, that can really ruin a race.
Soo.... Below is my draft version of my training program, pretty much as I went along (didn't really follow any type of program). I have since made it nice and pretty on a Word document, but this blog thing doesn't allow it, only pictures. So here it is, a picture of my training program!!!
Oopsy, just noticed the last week before the marathon is not right.... On that Thursday I did nothing (I was traveling) so no 5km, that Friday I did HBY (which was awesome!), and then on Saturday I ran 5km - a jog, more or less. So that total weekly mileage was 24 km.
Oh, and here is another program I peeked at every now and then to get some insight to more official programs (from a coach that works with my running club!):
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