Prepare for Boston Marathon Now

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Prepare for Boston Marathon now Experts say when new year starts, you should also By JENNIFER
GOLDBLATT Staff reporter
12/24/2003

For those of you who have qualified for the Boston Marathon, there is good news and bad news.

The good news is that you earned a chance to participate in the Super Bowl of running. It's a feat
that is inconceivable for most weekend warriors.

The bad news is, even though you have had barely enough time to let the gun-metal-colored blisters
on your toes heal, you must start training again. Right after the new year, hit the pavement,
experts say.

It's important to arrive in Beantown well-prepared, because it's not easy to relax on race day. Race
day is always a rush, but Boston offers a unique set of adrenaline-inducing conditions. You've got
20,000 other runners, 500,000 spectators, hordes of reporters and photographers hovering and an
erratic weather track record.

Experts say go with what you know.

"Obviously, what you did to qualify worked," said Bob Schwelm, owner of the Bryn Mawr Running Co.
and co-owner of the Delaware Running Co., who has run Boston at least seven times.

Schwelm recommends that first-time Boston runners use a standard 16-week marathon training program
with interval workouts, tempo runs and a backbone of long runs - at least three 20-milers - plus a
few weeks to taper and let your bones recover.

Training should also include a few races to act as dress rehearsals. The Web site www.races2run.com
has a schedule of races in the region. Popular Boston tuneups include the PCSI Icicle 10-miler in
Wilmington on Jan. 29, and the 41st Citizens Bank Caesar Rodney Half Marathon on March 14.

The biggest mistake for first-timers, Schwelm said, is going out too fast. With fast downhills for
much of the first half of the race, he cautions to "go out conservatively." You'll need that energy
for "Heartbreak Hill," the series of hills that come between miles 16 and 21.

Local race director Wayne Kursh, who runs Marathon Sports Event Management in Montchanin, said that
one of the biggest challenges for first-time Boston runners is getting in long runs amid tricky
weather conditions.

Ice is your enemy. If you slip and pull something, it could throw your training way out of whack. To
avoid it, Kursh runs circles around office park parking lots.

"It's plowed, you're running on pavement, and nobody really bothers you," he said.

Other people take to treadmills, which offer cushion and weather-proof training. Kursh suggests that
those runners add some inclines into treadmill training so that you're not running downhill the
entire time.

As with many other aspects of running, "the whole thing is mental," Kursh said.

Terrence Mahon, who runs a Haverford, Pa.-based coaching service, warns against doing too many long
runs on the treadmills. Some people run into trouble transitioning to the roads.

"You may be able to run seven-minute miles on the treadmill, but running it on the road under your
own gumption isn't that easy," Mahon said. Also, the more even surfaces outside challenge the
legs' small stabilizing muscles, which help the bigger leg muscles like the quads when they get
fatigued, he said.

To solve the weather issue, Doug White, a 60-year-old Wilmingtonian who will run in his 31st
consecutive Boston Marathon next year, doesn't plan rest days for his week. Instead, he runs
whenever the weather lets him, so he can reserve the rest days for poor weather conditions. He plans
his long runs for Saturdays, so that if the weather is too bad, he has the option of doing it on
Sunday. The weather makes it harder to train, but not impossible, he said.

"If it's really important, you'll find time; if it's not, you'll make excuses," he said.

White said that the month between fall marathons and the start of the Jan. 1 training program is
plenty of time to recover. The important thing is for runners to take advantage and recover.

"The main mistake the average runner makes is not recovering from the first marathon enough and
going out too hard too soon again," he said. "An easy three or four weeks and you've still got
almost four months and there's plenty of time to train."

The worst thing you can do, said Jack Fleming, a spokesman for the Boston Marathon, is overtrain.
Often that's a problem for people who train through the snowy cold winters in the midwest and north.

"I think that people put undue pressure on themselves to change whatever has been working for them,"
Fleming said. "Generally speaking, if it worked for them in the past, they should probably try to
use a similar training program."

Reach Jennifer Goldblatt at 324-2877

In article <20031226085950.15401.00001899@mb-m03.aol.com>, Globaldisc wrote:

> The bad news is, even though you have had barely enough time to let the gun-metal-colored blisters
> on your toes heal, you must start training again. Right after the new year, hit the pavement,
> experts say.

Right, in fact maybe slightly before. I've already drawn up my training cal for '04 (mostly trying
to use Jan and Feb to build milage so I can get some good races on the record in spring) and if I
have the numbers right, you need to make the week beginning 12/29/03 week 1 if you're intending to
complete a 16 week program.

At least the weather we're dealing with is workable for the most part -- we've had very little ice
this season (though we did get just a little snow ;-)

Best of luck -- to you and anyone else training for Boston

Cheers,
--
Donovan Rebbechi http://pegasus.rutgers.edu/~elflord/

Donovan Rebbechi <abuse@aol.com> wrote in message news:<slrnbup1s1.khq.abuse@panix2.panix.com>...
>
Do they have a "dainty treadmill" section?

Donovan Rebbechi <abuse@aol.com> wrote:

>Best of luck -- to you and anyone else training for Boston
>
>Cheers,

My wife, running in only her 3rd marathon, missed Boston by a minute and a half a couple of weeks
ago. She did win her age group (55-59), though.

However, it has inspired her to go for it next year, and that will apparently be one of my running
goals. No, not me qualifying - training her to qualify.

Talk about late bloomers - she only started running 4 years ago with some friends. They did Disney
and Marine Corps in 5+ hours - just finishing was OK. Her 5K "PR" was around 29.

Then Toni decided she wanted to go under 5 hours and actually asked me to help. <g> The main change
I made was adding speed work. She hated it at first, but started seeing results. What I saw was that
it lengthened her stride more and made her more efficient. She's not there yet, but she's far, far
better than she was.

I knew things were looking up when I ran one of her speed workouts with her and was surprised at the
pace she did.

Anyway, her goal got adjusted down to 4:30, and I thought she could do
4:15 under ideal conditions. We didn't get the ideal conditions, and she made a strategy error and
went a bit too fast in the middle miles and faded just enough at the end to miss.

But she'll get it next year. We'll add some long intervals and some bridge repeats to work on
her strength.

Mike Tennent "IronPenguin"