5K, 10K, 15K, 10 miles and Half-marathon & marathon training advice in 280 page running book.
Or send $17.95 per book to David Holt at PO Box 543, Goleta, CA 93116. (includes shipping and tax)
David Holt brings English humor and his experience from running 31:16 for 10,000 meters (5:02 per mile) to 280 pages of running insights. Consistently training 3,000 miles a year for 15 years, he has over 300 races on track, road and cross-country; and 11 consecutive years without injury. He's sold to Runner’s World and Running Times, and writes for the Internets Transition Times.
“The five day a week runner,” said the Guru, “will gleam the occasional nugget from the rest of the book. He or she should use anything in the following pages to make running more satisfying. Most of the possible health benefits ARE achieved by the millions of runners who exercise about three hours a week as shown in the first three parts of this book. Though cardiac events will continue to decrease, there is probably no need to increase your training--the closest you get to immortality occurs at about 40 miles per week. “If you do increase the training load for an extension of your pleasure and faster race times...expect to feel some fatigue and discomfort while looking for progress. Aim to end every run looking forward to your next run. Don’t run a particular session to exhaustion. You get better by using a variety of sessions placed closer and closer to each other, rather than by running one particular session to exhaustion. You should feel exhilarated after a session...not dead.” He said those things as a caveat to this part, about mid-way through our Monday discussion. I’d taken a day off--and with most people working, I had few distractions. I’d done my hundred meter striders after work on Satur¬ day...saving my long repetitions for today. The beach beckoned, and who was I to fight. Low tide was at 10 a.m., a perfect time to run. And the perfect beach. Miles of sand with minimal slope...or camber, as the Guru calls it. No chance to get over engrossed with the watch either. The restrooms are mobile; the houses too far from the compact sand I run on; so, other than the pier, I have no set points for this session. I won’t run fast within a mile of the pier anyway. Once that far away, the leisure walkers of which I used to be a member, have thinned to a dribble. Most people are satisfied with the two mile round trip. Which is good for me. Three weeks ago, after ten minutes of running, I’d made a double line, a ditch with my heel, from the ocean edge up about 15 yards. Another five minutes of running and I marked a second line. These were my start and finish points. A pretty arbitrary distance of course, it took a little over three and a half minutes to run each rep. Today I had my beeper watch set at four minutes. I figure I’ll run two going south, then one rep coming north.
One minute into the rest after the first effort--the Guru materialized. “How was Kenya?” I said. “Poor but happy. Chasing worthless assets is not the route to happiness.” “Too true,” I said. “That’s why I took an extra day off.” “You’re ahead of your time, David. If only you’d realized this before you took on the mortgage.” “I’ve got that in hand also,” I replied. Now here is his advice. “The main problem of upping the mileage, is the increased risk of injury. The knees or calves which can handle 25 miles of running a week may need help and nursing along to handle 40. Refer to parts 2 and 7 if you have any problems--it may only take one exercise done daily to strengthen a weakness. “The first stage to getting stronger is a slight increase in mileage. I’m a realist, David, I know people will read the entire book before they’ve finished the practical for Part One. I suspect many of them will increase their long run to fifty minutes during Part Two, and to sixty minutes in Part Three. “But you my friend, you don’t have the complete book in front of you. You will be going at my pace. This extra running will be the foundation for your future quality work. “Your options are several: You can add an extra run on your rest days...Tuesday or Friday in my schedule. These runs should feel like rest; they must be very easy. Polepole as they say in Swahili.” “Polepole? Meaning what?” I said. “Slowly or strolling. The Kenyans who run 46 minutes for ten miles, run prodigious mileage at eight minutes per mile. Don’t be frighted to run slow.” “After running polepole for a period, you can upesi the pace again.” “You mean, up the running pace, my friend.” “No. I upesi means fast. But we aren’t running speedwork in this part, so lets stay with the slow stuff until you get a strong. Strong muscles and ancillary tissues make for fast running.” “So I upesi the running pace in the next phase.” “Perfect. Now, in addition to adding Tuesday or Friday runs, you can increase the length of your two steady runs. You can also add a longer warmup and more efforts in your speed sessions. Most likely, you will do all three...just do it in rotation to keep yourself below your injury threshold level. Let your body adjust to the new demands you’re putting on it. Aim to increase your running by about one and a half hours per week over three months. “The first hour of the increase will probably be in the length of your two steady runs. An additional five minutes every fortnight will be enough. One hour should be the norm for these runs, though you should make the Sunday run ten to fifteen minutes longer than the midweek run. Sixty-five and fifty-five minutes running would give a good balance. “This is a long time to be on your feet. If you run too fast, it will wear you out for the rest of the week.” “So I ought to imagine I’m carrying a pole which will keep me running slowly...thus avoiding any inclination to upesi the pace.” “Yes.” He gave me a strange look. “But stay relaxed. The easy pace can initially be slower than you’ve been used to--closer to 60 percent max H.R. After a few weeks you’ll ease back to your former running pace--and maintain that pace for an hour. “It’s the last quarter of these runs which are most impor¬ tant--where you reap the gains. You’ll have to use more of your fast-twitch muscle fibers late in the run. You are educating them to become endurance muscle fibers. The longer you run, the more your fast-twitch fibers will come into play. “You’re educating the muscles to use fat as its energy source--but you’ll only do this by training at modest speeds--about 70 percent of maximum heartrate. Fat use requires 10 percent extra oxygen compared to sugar use--a factor in hitting the wall in mara¬ thons.
Or send $17.95 per book to David Holt at PO Box 543, Goleta, CA 93116. (includes shipping and tax)