Week of July 12, 2010
by Trina Painter

Each year that I have the opportunity to be a part of adidas-McMillanElite and Team USA Arizona, I realize what a special group of people I get to work with. Aside, from being talented runners and just fun folks to hang out with, I am equally impressed with their desire and willingness to give back to our community and share their love of running with others. As coaches, we demand a lot from the runners focusing mostly on the physical and mental tasks of running. We also ask the athletes to move to Flagstaff so that we can oversee their training on a daily basis, train together as a group and also to become a part of the local community.

While it is true that we do live in a type of running bubble in order to stay focused and reach our Olympic dreams, we are not totally blind to what is going on in Flagstaff. One of the unique characteristics of our team is our Community Involvement. This past year we have been involved in several events with our main focus being on reducing childhood obesity in Flagstaff. As most of you know, the data is frightening from the CDC stating that almost 20% of children ages 6-19 are classified as obese. That number has almost tripled in the past 30 years. The decrease in funding for school P.E. programs, poor eating habits, and an increase in computer games and television viewing are all major contributors to the problem.

As we join the fight against childhood obesity, we hope to encourage and inspire young people to be active and lead healthier lifestyles. We have volunteered at a walk-a-thon at a local elementary school, Kids on the Run for elementary through middle school, gone to Cottonwood, Arizona to participate in a “Body-Walk” health fair. We are partnering with a program called “Fit Kids” run by the hospital and will be doing exercises with kids downtown on Friday night at the Movies on the Square. We also began a weekly high school run on Monday evenings and several of the athletes are participating in high school cross country camps this summer across the country to offer motivation and training tips.

While we have all been given different resources and talents, there is always room to share what we have. There is something wonderful when a person/athlete understands the importance of giving back and acts on it. I am so proud of our runners that serve in their communities and care about those around them. When you change or positively impact the life of a child or person in need, it makes everything else seem easier and worthwhile. While most of our athletes are not wealthy in terms of financial status, they are rich in ways that the world doesn’t measure.

Week of July 5, 2010
by Coach Greg McMillan

Happy Birthday to Us!

The US celebrated Independence Day on the 4th of July but a few days earlier (1 July), our group celebrated the completion of three years and the start of our fourth. Below are the goals we had for 2009/2010 as well as our goals for our 4th year (2010/2011). As you will see, we continue to meet or exceed our ever increasing goals. The athletes and support staff are working hard and the results are coming.

Year 3 - 2009/2010 (Current Year):

· Place athlete(s) in the Top 3 in National Championships
o Success:
- 1st US 20K Championships – Brett Gotcher
- 1st US 25K Championships – Andrew Carlson
- 2nd US 25K Championships – Brett Gotcher
- 3rd US 25K Championships – Nick Arciniaga
- 3rd US Track & Field Championships – Lindsay Allen
- 3rd US 1 Mile Championships - Jordan Horn

· Win National Championship(s)
o Success:
- 1st US 20K Championships – Brett Gotcher
- 1st US 25K Championships – Andrew Carlson

· Qualify athletes for US Teams with particular emphasis on World Cross Country Championships and World Track & Field Championships
o Success:
- World Track & Field Championships (Marathon) – Paige Higgins
- World Half-Marathon Championships – Brett Gotcher, Andrew Carlson, Andrew Lemoncello
-Chiba Ekiden – Andrew Carlson, Lindsay Allen, Jordan Horn, Ian Burrell
-5 Nations Indoor Meet – Lindsay Allen
-NACAC XC Championships – Emily Harrison (Silver Medal)

· Secure sponsorship contract for athlete(s)
o Success:
-Brett Gotcher – contract with adidas
-Andrew Lemoncello – contract with Mizuno
-Paige Higgins – contract with Saucony

· Gain experience competing internationally
o Success:
-Berlin, Germany - Paige Higgins
-Birmingham, England – Brett Gotcher, Andrew Carlson, Andrew Lemoncello
-Chiba, Japan – Andrew Carlson, Lindsay Allen, Jordan Horn, Ian Burrell
-Glasgow, Scotland – Lindsay Allen
-Trinidad and Tobago – Emily Harrison
-Fukuoka, Japan - Emily Harrison
-San Juan, Puerto Rico – Lindsay Allen

Below are our team's goals for the upcoming year:
2010/2011:

-Place athlete(s) in the Top 3 in National Championships
-Win National Championship(s)
-Compete positively in high quality road races
-Qualify athletes for US Teams with particular emphasis on World Cross Country Championships
-Secure sponsorship contract for athlete(s)
-Compete successfully in international competition

Thanks for all your support as we continue to push toward our Olympic dreams!

Week of June 7, 2010
by Ian Torrence

(via RunningTimes.com)

Ever bite into a cupcake wrapped in cellophane? Every weekend, thousands of runners do just that. We often want the prize without doing the work. But, to enjoy that cupcake, you’ve got to unwrap it. Proper training will help you sink your teeth into that sugary confection and avoid the suffocating inhalation of plastic. Hill work is a major component of this training.

One of the most common reasons runners don’t perform as well as they’d like in a trail race or ultramarathon is that they lose their legs on demanding hill climbs and descents. The best trail runners are efficient at both climbing and descending. You can certainly be successful by searching out the races that cater to your strength, but this can leave you secretly yearning for the entire cupcake, not just the crumbs.

This two-part series is intended to assist you with improving your performance by providing strategic workouts aimed at strengthening your uphill and downhill running.

Develop power with low injury risk

Many runners avoid hills because they are difficult or aren’t readily accessible. Unfortunately, the only way to become proficient at hill climbing is to practice on hills. Uphill running is a concentric movement, meaning the muscles in use shorten as they contract—similar to lifting a weight. It’s a deliberate and controlled action using the calves, glutes, hamstrings and quads. All of these muscles fire repeatedly when we run uphill and have very little recovery time even on a short ascent. You are essentially doing hundreds of one-legged squats as you ascend a hill, which is why it doesn’t take much time to raise your heart rate, breathe harder and feel a burn in your leg muscles.

The low-impact nature of running uphill allows one to practice climbing techniques and develop more power in a relatively short period of time with minimal stress to the joints and little chance of injury.

There are three basic types of hill workouts I prescribe to runners while they prepare for a hilly trail race or ultramarathon: short hill repeats, long sustained hills and hills on a long run. These workouts are an easy way to build leg strength and core power safely.

Because we don’t all have access to optimal training grounds, we must work with what we’ve got. Obviously, the best options would include trails or roads with hills similar to those you would encounter in your upcoming race. Bridge overpasses, parking garages and treadmills will all do the trick in a pinch. Take the time to discover your best training venues. You might find that your local roads supply you with better hills than the trails.

Short Hill Repeats

Short hill repeats are the bread and butter of most training programs. They should be done throughout the base or building phase, and then revisited periodically as you progress towards race day.

These repeats will help you with longer ascents. Find a hill with a medium slope (six to 10 percent) that takes 45–90 seconds to ascend. Run up at an effort equivalent to your mile race effort—this will ultimately equate to roughly 5K pace as you ascend the hill. Focus on good form with powerful push off and strong arm swing. Slowly jog down the hill to recover. Depending on your fitness level, do six to 15 repeats. If you find that you still lack significant uphill drive even after doing short hill repeats for a few months, then steep hill repeats might be the way to go. They aren’t as long (only 15–30 seconds), but the hill is much steeper. These really develop power in the legs. (Adapted from Greg McMillan.)

Long Sustained Hills

To run a sustained hill workout, find a trail or road that ascends for several miles and ideally gains between 500–1,000 feet per mile. Cover a total of four to 12 miles of uphill running miles, steadily increasing your intensity as you approach the end of the session. Depending on the length of the climb, try to sustain half marathon to marathon pace effort. If you need to repeat the same hill several times, then do so. Recover as you jog back to the bottom. This is a challenging workout and will likely leave you heavily fatigued. Repeat it several times during a season and track your fitness progression.

Hill Work on a Long Run

Run at an easy, relaxed pace (one to two minutes slower than marathon pace) during your long run, but at each hill, regardless of the size, surge at 5K to half marathon pace to the top. Recover on the downhill and flats. Regulate your pace and effort depending on the length and slope of each climb.

Strength Training for the Climbs

A majority of uphill-related injuries and weaknesses occur in the Achilles, calves, glutes and hamstrings. The following exercises, if performed regularly (two to three times a week), can assist with injury prevention and facilitate rehabilitation.

Hamstring and Glute Strengthening

Uphill running forces the hamstrings and glutes to work in a limited range of motion, causing them to fatigue quickly. The following strengthening exercises will assist in hamstring and glute strength, power and elasticity.

Exercise Ball Hamstring Curls:
Lie on your back with your heels on the ball and your rear off the floor. Use your arms at your side to steady you. You should be in a straight line (head to toe). Roll the ball to your rear with your heels. Contract the hamstring at the end of the movement, relax and return to the starting position. Start with two sets of eight to ten and progress to three sets of ten.

Hamstring Exercises

Jay Johnson’s Swiss Ball Exercises

One-Legged Squats:
Place the exercising leg and foot forward and rest the non-exercising foot’s toes on a step or box 6 to 8 inches in height. Bend the exercising leg, with most of your weight focused into the heel of that foot, to 90 degrees and then return to an upright position. Keep the upper body upright as you perform the exercise. Start with 8 to 10 repetitions for each leg and build to three sets of 10 to 12.

Jay Johnson’s Kettlebell Squat Routine

Calf Strengthening

We rely on a powerful spring from our calves with every step as we run uphill. The exercises listed below can help prevent the overuse issues that are associated with the repetitive use of the calves, ankles and Achilles.

Ankle and Knee Stabilizers

Week of May 24, 2010
by Trina Painter

I just returned from attending the USA Track and Field High Performance Meet at Occidental College in Pasadena, California. We brought three athletes to the meet to run in the 1500m. It was like an All-Star Game for middle distance track and field athletes. The meet was comprised of only two events: the 800m and the 1500m for elite fields of men and women. The goal was to put stellar fields together with rabbits in each race in the perfect California calm night air to produce fast times and we did not leave disappointed. The races were like works of art, beautifully played out during each lap. There was victory, defeat, agony and pain as the runners jostled for position, pushed their bodies to the limit and raced each other to the finish line. Some of the runners made it look easy, some ran with grimaces on their faces, some confident and some were experiencing this level of competition for the first time. There was an equal amount of tension, seriousness, professionalism and nervousness in the air amongst the favorites and the up and coming runners.

As I watched from the sidelines, it was amazing to witness the strength, power and speed of the athletes gathered on the track. Whether they were jogging during their warm ups, doing drills and strides or racing, they stood out. I’ve had the privilege to be around world class athletes for the past twenty years of my life, but when that many are gathered in one place, it still takes my breath away. It was the perfect blend of genetic talent and years of hard training and sacrifice that makes them stand out from other runners. It was an exciting night watching athletic poetry in motion and cheering for Jordan (3:43), Lindsay (4:20) and Jaime (4:22) as they each ran a personal best in the 1500m.

Week of May 17, 2010
by Greg McMillan

I've spent the first half of 2010 answering questions. After Brett's 2:10 marathon debut, Alvina's huge marathon PR, Jordan's sub 4:00 mile, Paige's top US placing at the Boston Marathon, our sweep of the medal stand at the US 25K Champs two weeks ago and Jordan's "surprise" Bronze at the US 1 Mile Road Champs (a surprise to some but not to me, keep your eye on Jordan Horn), runners and coaches are interested in our training philosophy and I'm happy to share.

Below is our group's philosophy. We call it our Paths to Success and it is the basis for the success we are having with men and women, middle distance runners and long distance runners, track runners, cross country runners and road runners. This philosophy is the result of what I've learned from key mentors like Arthur Lydiard, Joe Vigil, David Martin and Nobby Hashizume. As all four of these men will tell you, success has less to do with what workout you do on a particular day and more about how you live your life, how much priority you place on your running, how consistently you train year after year and how well you maintain your motivation to succeed. Our group is doing well and we are proving that this philosophy works for our situation and my coaching style. If you are a coach, do as Vigil says in his book Road to the Top and develop your philosophy first and then the training will fall right into place. If you are a runner, search out training philosophies from successful coaches and athletes (google Anatomy of a Medal by Vigil for a good starting point) and build your own philosophy. Then, apply it. Simple as that.

McMillan's Path to Success – Philosophy of Our Olympic Training Team
The training group's philosophy revolves around the following:

1. The Team is a Short Cut

Emerging elite athletes benefit from the team environment. The camaraderie, accountability, competitiveness and positive support of the group allow for better and more consistent training, which leads to quicker and better performances.

2. Long-Term Aerobic Development

Aerobic development is the key to endurance performance. The aerobic system takes years of consistent training to maximize and then to realize peak performance. Our training focuses on gradual yet progressive aerobic development through mileage and specialized aerobic system workouts. The aerobic development is accelerated by living and training at 7,000 feet in Flagstaff. 7,000 feet/2100 meters has been shown to be the ideal elevation for the training of long-distance runners and emerging elites athletes are encouraged to begin altitude training as soon as possible. We believe a large part of why our group has become one of the best in the US in two short years is that we are based at 7,000 feet altitude.

3. Capitalize on Strengths

Each athlete has a unique set of strengths (physical, mental and emotional). The training and racing capitalizes on these strengths (especially during the peak competitive season) and build these strengths over time.

4. Eliminate Weaknesses

Each athlete also has a unique set of weaknesses (physical, mental and emotional). The training (run training and ancillary training) and racing eliminates these weaknesses (especially during the non-peak seasons).

5. Build Confidence

Athlete performance is modulated by confidence. Therefore, the training and racing fosters greater self-confidence. Training and racing is planned as to promote success, which fosters greater motivation, which builds confidence.

6. Move Up in the Pecking Order

The team is a racing team, not a training team. Athletes must be ‘racers’ who enjoy testing themselves against ever increasing competitive levels. The goal is a gradual yet steady climb up the US rankings.

7. Become a Complete Athlete & Complete Runner

In general, the better athlete the runner is, the better runner he or she will be. Ancillary training is used to build the body – improving the core, dynamic ability, balance, function in the kinetic chain and better running form. Additionally, a well-rounded runner (good endurance, stamina, speed and sprinting ability) is a more competitive runner no matter what the event. Training includes specialized workouts to build each runner into a complete runner, tapping into each energy system as well as the other performance-related systems of the body.

8. Smooth, Consistent and Positive Training

Interruptions and inconsistency in training stalls development. The training program and lifestyle of the athlete fosters smooth, consistent and positive training.

9. Live the Life

The life of an emerging elite distance runner is not easy. It requires 24/7/365 focus on improvement, not only in training but also in all other aspects that impact performance – recovery, sleep, nutrition, pre-hab, mental training, etc. Life must revolve around training and racing and discipline and dedication are required to live the simple yet required life to become a great distance runner.

Week of May 10, 2010
by Tracy McMillan

Greg, Angus and I are embarking on a new adventure this spring—backyard farming! We currently have 9 chicks pecking away in a galvanized steel container in our garage, awaiting their 6-7 weeks of age mark so they can move into the fancy new chicken coop that arrived Saturday for them! Knowing we didn’t have the time to build a coop, we ordered one online from Horizon Structures of Pennsylvania. The chickens will live in style in a coop with 6 nests, a roosting area and a floorboard we can pull out to dump their nutrient-rich droppings in our new garden. It also came with an enclosed run for extra protection from the local critters when we’re not outside for free-range fun. Angus loves the coop and will be the primary occupant, I think, until the chicks are old enough to go outside permanently! Now, how will we break it to him once they move in…?!

Our other farming adventure, as I mentioned above, is a garden. Now, many of you might comment, “that’s not very adventurous!” However, we live at 7,250ft with a normal growing season between frosts of about 60-80 days, a pretty dry climate, persistent gophers and hungry elk. Plus, we experience some pretty blustery spring wind conditions! Flagstaff is made up of several microclimates and we live in one of the most hostile ones for growing, but we are up for this experience. We have two 4x8-raised beds, cold frames, Walls-o-Water, fences and heavy gauge wiring under the beds to keep out those gophers. I’ve selected mostly cool weather vegetables and will attempt some shorter growing season tender annuals. It’s a learning year and if we’re successful, we’ll explore a greenhouse in a couple of years to move toward 3-or 4-season gardening.

Our team is also a 3- or 4-season endeavor as well. With male and female athletes that race everything from the 1500 to the marathon (and assistant coach Ian Torrence is an ultrarunner!) and on all surfaces (track, cross country, roads) we are going almost year-round. In the past, racing was lighter in the summer, but we’ll have athletes going to Europe for the first time to race the track circuit over there, and we’ll have some road racing going on in the USA. June/July will be busy months with potential athlete recruiting visits too. None of us mind that, though, as it is an excuse to get together for team dinners, which are always more fun when the weather is nice and we can relax with a brat and a beer (case in point, Brett Gotcher fueling up for the 25k!). Maybe we’ll even have some vegetables to contribute to the dinners by the summer’s end!

Week of April 26, 2010
by Trina Painter

Flexibility is necessary in any sport, but especially in distance running. I’m not just talking about how far you can bend over or if you can sit and touch your toes with straight legs. Athletes have to have a high level of flexibility in their training and racing as situations change unexpectedly. While they try to control as many factors in their lives as possible by going to bed, waking and training at the same time each day, eating certain foods, taking their vitamins and getting regular massage, other factors are out of their control. Things don’t always go as planned. At that point they can either choose to adapt or allow it to interfere and be disruptive.

This past couple of weeks, we have had a lot of practice with changing plans. We had to delay workouts due to a severe Spring storm that brought strong winds and a mix of rain, hail and snow to Flagstaff. We had athletes and coaches with travel issues due to the eruption of the volcano in Iceland. We made changes in training schedules and shifted races to maximize performance of several athletes. Weather, travel delays, illness, injury, life and job stresses, are all examples of things that we have little control over and can cause stress in our lives.

It’s not the trigger that forces a change in plans that is important, but how the athlete handles the change and their attitude towards it that matters most. The successful athlete may be upset or irritated initially at having to delay a workout or change their race plan, that’s human nature. After the initial emotional response, they must be able to let it go, refocus and move forward with the new plan. While we can’t control things like the weather or getting sick, we can control our attitude. Athletes can’t waste energy worrying about what was, but must always look ahead to what needs to be done and what is next.

The sooner an athlete learns that change and disruption is inevitable and can ride the waves that come, the more successful they will be. While we know that not everything will go as planned, the focus must be on how the athlete adapts to the change. So as they say, when life hands you lemons, make lemonade or in Flagstaff, when life hands you snow, make a snowman!

Week of April 19, 2010
by Greg McMillan

I usually fill this space with all the great accomplishments of the athletes and there certainly continue to be many, many reasons to celebrate. But in this blog, I wanted to talk about the bad times. Our group has had an amazing ascent to become one of the best training groups in the US but it has not always gone according to plan. Every runner in the group has experienced dark times - injury, illness, fatigue or just a loss of motivation/confidence.

It's far too easy to look at the front of the pack and to think they have had it easy. They haven't. They have struggled just like you and I do. They have struggled through bad workouts, bad races, bad weeks and bad seasons. And, it sucks! It sucks to be injured or to race poorly despite good training or simply to have to live through those low periods of life due to other things in your world outside of running (especially when running is your sole purpose in life right now). As a coach, I really enjoy the good times because I have to live through these bad times too.

Brett ran an amazing 2:10 marathon debut but last spring, dropped out of a 5k, totally frustrated. Paige just finished one of her best marathon performances in her career but was in the recovery room from knee surgery at this time last year. Martin just won the Great Ireland Run but couldn't get to the marathon start line just a few weeks before. And, of course, we know how Meb won Silver in Athens, didn't even make the team in Beijing then wins the New York City Marathon.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that running is not a straight line of improvement and happy times. It has periods that are dark and troubling. But, and here is the message, you have to live through it. It's part of the deal. You have to buckle down and do the things you need to do to get through it. Sometimes that means taking a break and starting over. Sometimes that means focusing more on the non-running activities and sometimes it just means keeping on keeping on. Whatever your situation, just hang in there. We have so many great stories about how athletes come back from adversity. You can do it too.

Week of March 28, 2010
by Trina Painter

I just returned from the Cooper Bridge Run 10k in Charleston, South Carolina. I had never been to this race or Charleston before, so I was pretty excited when I was given an invite from the athlete coordinator to come join the field. The only negative was that I had to miss the Team USA Arizona Fundraiser, but I heard it was a huge success and a very fun evening.

I left Flagstaff on Thursday morning around 8:30am to drive to the Phoenix airport. I arrived in Charleston around 10:00pm and was picked up by a super nice race volunteer. She took me to a very modern hotel close to the airport. After the long day of travel, I was pretty tired and happy to fall into bed once I arrived. Just about the time I was falling asleep, I thought I was going to die from a plane crashing into the hotel. I was afraid to open my eyes, but then the bone rattling roar of the jet engines began to fade. When I awoke again, about an hour later, to the same thundering roar of jet engines, I realized the hotel was in the direct landing path for the airport. While I was relieved to be alive and still able to run the race on Saturday, I didn’t get very much sleep either night I was there.

The next morning, I got my sleepy self up at 7am (4am in Flagstaff) and went for a short pre race run after a cup of mediocre hotel coffee. My knee felt a bit stiff after the long plane ride, but loosened up as I went along. Next, a bus came to pick up the invited athletes to take us to a “press conference/sponsor luncheon”. It was held at an old Southern Mansion and was lovely.

After lunch, I went back to the hotel to rest before we were taken to the pasta dinner and race expo. The traffic was terrible getting downtown as this race sold out at 40,000 runners and they were all coming to dinner and to pick up their packets! I enjoyed a warm plate of spaghetti and breadsticks and a quick stroll through the expo. It was fun to watch the many different types of people that were running in the race the next morning.

I was able to return to my room to get as much sleep in between plane landings as I could by 8pm. With just enough sleep, my alarm sounded at 5am. I had to be in the lobby by 5:30am to catch the bus to the start line. Once there, about 50 invited and top local runners squeezed into the remaining bus to stay warm until it was time to warm up for the race. The temperature was cooler than past years with a strong wind that made it feel cold outside. About an hour before the race, the elite runners began to leave the bus to begin their race warm ups. As I put on my racing shoes, I was overwhelmed with the smell of “Icy Hot.” Almost all of the Kenyan runners were putting it on their legs.... maybe that’s their secret to running so fast!

The race is point to point and runs over a huge suspension bridge that is about 2 miles in length and rises 500 feet above the water. The initial climb of the bridge didn’t feel too bad, but just before you crest the top it gets a little bit steeper and makes your quads really burn. Then, you get over the high point and you must force your legs to turn over twice as fast as you begin the decent. The final 1.5 miles you wind your way to the downtown area and run over a few original cobblestone sections of the street. There was a lot of energy as the spectators cheered on the runners over the final mile. There were two women within reach of me and one was fading quickly, so I put on a big sprint in the final stretch. I was able to catch one, but I ran out of room, before I could catch the other gal who finished just one second in front of me. My final time was 35:27 placing me 10th in the overall women’s race, 3rd in the masters women and 3rd American. I was pretty pleased with the over all race effort considering I had a tough time training in Missouri during our spring break, I felt like I was fighting off a cold all week and had a terrible workout just days before the event. Thank you Janis Newton and all the volunteers at the Bridge Run for your Southern hospitality!

Week of March 15, 2010
by Tracy McMillan

Spring is finally starting to arrive in Flagstaff, albeit mixed in with the occasional snowstorm still. This week the forecast calls for sunshine and highs in the 50's most days so the snow will continue to melt. Our land is partially in a flood plain so I anticipate a stream forming behind our house in few more weeks; good thing our neighbor has a boat! Despite the frustration we’ve all felt at times this winter as the snow kept falling (one of the higher snowfall years in recent Flagstaff history), it will at least guarantee that the forests stay open this summer because of low fire risk and that the state has a good supply of much needed water. Everything is a balance in the Southwest; we live and die by water (I highly recommend the book Cadillac Desert: The American West and its Disappearing Water by Marc Reisner for an excellent read on water issues).

Beyond weather watching I’ve been busy coordinating our fundraising event (March 26th 7-10pm at the Orpheum Theater in Flagstaff!) and trying to hold onto the tan I got while we were in Aruba on a family vacation two weeks ago. Ah, the sun and the sand—how I miss it! It was great to relax and watch Angus enjoy the beach, the water and time with his grandparents. Just writing about it makes me crave that lounge chair and umbrella drink—Greg, get out the blender!

I also want to say welcome back to Flagstaff to our friends Kirsten, Sofie and Sondre from Norway! Kirsten is healthy and running again. Yeah!

A blog wouldn’t be complete if we didn’t congratulate athletes on great race performances. While we were on the island of Aruba, Lindsay placed 13th at the World’s Best 10k in Puerto Rico against a great international field and one week later Emily was on the island of Tobago representing the USA at the NACAC Cross Country Championships, where she placed 2nd overall and helped the USA to a Team Gold Medal. Needless to say, it was a great two weekends in the Caribbean! Look for results this coming weekend from the LA Marathon as Paige, Middle and Martin run 26.2 on the new Stadium to Sea course!

Week of March 8, 2010
by Coach Ian Torrence

After a two and a half year hiatus in Ashland, Oregon I’ve returned to Flagstaff. I drove the UHaul into town just before the New Year to find that not much had changed since I left; at least the things that mattered most to me. The endless miles of trails, downtown’s ambiance, the desert sun and, most of all, the people who make Flagstaff the running epicenter of the world were all waiting for me. Instantly, I felt like I had just put my arm around the shoulder of a long lost friend. It is good to be back.

I arrived in Flagstaff with the sole purpose of immersing myself in the running world here. Greg asked me back to assist with his on-line coaching business; a career path that I’ve always wanted to pursue and develop. I had hoped that one of the side benefits of that offer would be to assist with the Team he’s worked so hard to create. I had no idea how that would go. As it turned out, not only Greg, but also Tracy and Trina, have all welcomed me warmly as a staff member of the Team.

Then there’s the Team members themselves; these ladies and gentlemen have heaps of talent, dedication, fearlessness and are downright good people. All of their stories are inspiring. Only two months have passed since my arrival. There has been a slue of impressive results turned in weekly from each team member. My head spins just thinking about it; it’s difficult keeping track. This bodes well for the rest of the year and beyond. We’re all excited here!

The Team has also welcomed me into the circle. I feel more like a peer than an “assistant coach” when I work with the group. I’m taking as much away as they are from each workout, meeting and interaction. The learning curve is huge in our sport and we are all consistently learning, growing and improving. It is great to be a part of it all.

Personally, as a runner who still strives to compete at the best of my abilities, this is the perfect milieu to surround myself with. It’s March; the birds are singing, the snow’s melting and my shorts have come to the top of my dresser drawer once again. I look forward in continuing to support the Team’s progress to success and using that inertia to further some of my own running goals and growth. It’s gonna be a great year!

I was going to write my blog about Brett's recent performance but this interview from Flotrack sums it up nicely.

Greg

An Interview with Greg McMillan by Christopher Kelsall - Flotrack

Greg McMillan who operates adidas-McMillanElite in Flagstaff, Arizona - a post-collegiate training group for runners - is seeing significant returns from his athlete’s training efforts. He started the adidas-McMillanElite program nearly three years ago, and it seems this past year everyone is running new personal bests; right on schedule.

At P.F. Chang's Rock ‘n Roll Arizona Marathon Alvina Begay ran a 5-minute personal best with her Olympic Trials qualifying time of 2:37:14. Brett Gotcher ran the 4th fastest ever US marathon debut with his 2:10:36 at the Chevron Houston Marathon. Andrew Middleton finished the Austin half-marathon with a new pb of 64:48 - all on January 17.

Jordan Horn finished 2nd in 7:52.45 achieving the IAAF A Standard a USATF Indoor Championships qualifier. Paige Higgins managed a 2:33:22 the US Olympic Trials A Standard at Houston. December 13th at the USATF Club Cross Country Championships his women’s team finished 2nd and even the master himself, Greg McMillan won the Master's Title at USATF Marathon Trail Championships on a character-building course at elevation.

What is the secret to their success? There is no secret. In this interview below, Greg talks at some length about the training program he administers and more specifically Brett Gotcher’s training leading up to the Chevron Houston Marathon. I have included a question from our 2008 Flotrack interview.

May 15, 2008:

CK: Greg, you coach according to the Arthur Lydiard method. Do you embrace all aspects of Lydiard training?

GM: I was very lucky to spend the last week of Arthur's life with him. We talked extensively about training, how his group of "Arthur's Boys" worked together to become the world's best and about how to apply his principles to US post-collegiate runners. In my opinion, Lydiard's principles envelope every successful training program and what I learned from him (and he states this clearly in his books) as well as from his proteges, Nobby Hashizume and Lorraine Moller is that the principles are the most important aspect and each coach should apply the principles to each runner's situation. It's not about a formula or a set program. Lydiard hated equations. Understanding the principles is the key and with this understanding, the coach creates the perfect training program for each athlete.

While talking with Arthur, it was clear that the key points are (1) the development, over years, of the aerobic system, (2) the correct ordering of the training phases to reach a peak at the key races and (3) teaching the runner to listen to his or her body and learn his or her own rhythms with training. Lorraine and Nobby explain it better than I can, but in our group, we follow Lydiard's principles by building the aerobic base, adding hills to develop strength and power, then transitioning to race-specific training. I don't think this is too much different than what most other coaches prescribe, but I hope that as we give it 2-3 years to fully develop, it will honor Lydiard and continue to show that what he learned nearly 50 years ago is the foundation for distance running success.

February 2, 2010:

Christopher Kelsall: Congratulations not only with Brett Gotcher's recent 2:10:36 debut marathon, but all of the successes you are experiencing with your athletes.

In not so many words, you have said that it should take at least a couple of years before results begin to be demonstrated. You are there now with some of your athletes. At this point (two years in or so) do you begin to have a sense of an athlete's full potential?

Greg McMillan: Thank you. We know the training system we use works. We also believe that the group environment and altitude location are working. I was telling Brett (Gotcher) before his marathon that it's been fun to see our original plan yield results. And, in most cases, the athletes are now getting the feeling that they can, in fact, run very, very fast.

CK: Arthur Lydiard said: “Champions are everywhere, you just need to train them properly." If this is the case, when looking at applicants to adidas-McMillanElite, do you look beyond an athlete's athletic resume and look more at the person within?

GM: There are several important aspects we evaluate when looking at applications. One is performance level. We can only take athletes who are fit enough to train with the current group of athletes. For example, our 5K standard for men when we first started the group was 14:15. The second year, it was 14:00 and now it is 13:50. The reason is that if we were to accept 14:15 guys now, they would be over-training every day. The group is just too fast and our idea was always (or at least through this Olympiad) to add athletes that fit within the performance level of the group. New athletes must be able to train with the current group. They may be near the back of workouts, of course, but they shouldn't be off the back.

Another aspect we look at is mentality. Does that athlete have a demonstrated "winner's mentality"? Before we started the group, I asked a psychologist at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs about athlete selection. She said, "Just watch the finish line. The ones who are winning, regardless of time or level of competition (high school, college, club, etc.), are the ones we see making it to the highest level of sport." I've always remembered that and so we look back through the athlete's career to see if they exhibit that mentality. Did they win in HS? Did they win in college or at minimum exhibit the ability to set a goal (All-America for example) then go out and achieve it? Lastly, we look at personality and determine if that personality fits with our group. The spirit of each training group is different and the athlete must fit with the spirit of the group. If the athlete meets the minimum performance standards and looks like a good fit on their application, then I arrange a phone interview. If they seem like a good fit after the phone interview, then we bring them to Flagstaff to meet the team and for the team to meet them. This usually shows us whether the athlete will fit or not.

CK: If your performance standard requirements continue to rise, you may have to start another group at a lower level or stop accepting new recruits for a while.

GM: That's why I say, "or at least through this Olympiad." We have the idea that we will start another group within our group that would be for a new set of emerging elite athletes. On the women's side, we are still adding more emerging elite runners but on the men's side, we are looking for already very good runners to compliment our current group of men. I think it just shows that there is a need for more training groups to start; we need to help more athletes and to do that, we need more groups.

CK: With Lindsay and Brett at least, it appears these two athletes were performers in High School and are performing post-Collegiate. Is this because 3 race seasons during the University school year does not allow adequate time for recovery from racing and then the undertaking of a proper aerobic build-up? Or was it just a matter of circumstance with these two?

GM: In both cases, they had multiple coaches. This inconsistency matched with the influence of college life can interrupt the development of great athletes. We see this all the time - an athlete is great with their high school coach then they struggle in college. Most of the time, they then give up the sport because they lose their momentum. Sometimes, as with Brett and Lindsay, they stick with it and begin to return to the mindset they had in high school.

On Brett Gotcher

CK: You have said (something to the effect) that Brett is the perfect example of the type of athlete that will benefit from joining adidas-McMillanElite - can you elaborate as to why he is the perfect athlete?

GM: We have an abundance of talent in the US. That is not the problem. The problem is that we don't keep this talent in the sport long enough for the athlete's full potential to be reached. Brett was a stud in high school and due to just bad luck, he had three coaches in college so he didn't continue to display the talent seen when he was younger. Our group was formed to provide enough support for athletes like Brett to continue their running careers. Every collegiate runner and coach knows athletes who could have been world-beaters but they simply gave it up. Groups like ours keep athletes like Brett in the sport and as a result, he's been able to put in the training to be a very good runner and to reconnect with his best mental self, which allows him to now believe he can compete with better and better athletes. Imagine if there are 10 new training groups like ours and each new group could support 15 athletes. We would be able to keep 150 more athletes in the sport. They wouldn't all turn out to be Olympians but we would get many, many more Brett Gotchers who would force the performance level as a whole much, much higher.

CK: During Brett's first year and his first cycle of altitude training, how many miles was he running during that particular initial base phase, being fresh out of college?

GM: Coming out of college, Brett ran 75-85 miles per-week on average. His peak mileage was 95 and his low was 55 (though it should be noted that those were usually on 6 days of running, not 7). In his first base phase (Fall 2007), we were able to get in 12 weeks of a Lydiard base. We started at 75-85 miles per-week and gradually built his mileage to 95-105 (though he was rarely over 100 that fall). We took 6 weeks to build from 75-85 up to ~90-95 then we put in the next 10-12 weeks at 95-105 (this mileage level extended into the hill phase that followed the base phase). This was the base he needed and I think his development is due in part to this annual base-building phase. I should also note that when building the mileage, we would take a "down" mileage week every 3-5 weeks to avoid injury.

CK: How much aerobic development did Brett need before he exhibited signs of needing to move on to the hill phase. What were the signs?

GM: Our philosophy is to do as much aerobic base building as the year will allow. Our general plan for track-focused runners is to spend all fall in the base phase, take a recovery two weeks at the holidays, then do 4 more weeks of base in January. We then begin the hill phase in February and into March before we begin moving through the race-specific phases in the spring and summer. It's pretty standard periodization and when we start the hill phase it is determined more by the need to get ready for race-specific training as opposed to when the aerobic development is complete. I prefer to stay in the base phase as long as possible.

CK: Did you end up using the Gabriel Rosa marathon model in 2007, or was Rosa's model saved more for this latest sequence, leading up to Brett's first marathon in Houston?

GM: Do you mean the Rosa marathon model as our base building program? If so, then no. We use a Lydiard-style base. In reference to program, for Houston, the marathon-specific program was a combination of what I learned from Arthur, Dr. Rosa and from the Japanese (via Nobby Hashizume).

CK: No I mean the inverse pyramid inserted before the hill phase, with some quality running, of Rosa's model.

GM: For Brett we didn't. His fall was very half-marathon and marathon-oriented so his fall was very Lydiard looking. For Alvina and Paige, we did insert VO2max development first then the marathon-specific phase. Both ran US Club Cross Country Championships so we were getting ready for a 6K then from there, switched to marathon training. So, as often happens, coaches and athletes must modify the organization of the training to fit their goals.

CK: Did you need to fit in some sub-AT work and later AT work with regularity with Brett during the aerobic phase?

GM: In the base phase, we do one weekly session that we call a steady state run. It mimics what Lydiard called the 3/4 effort run. We build it from 4 miles to 10 miles over a few weeks and the athletes run it at what would be described as marathon effort. It's slower than a tempo run but faster than their regular training. For the men, I like to get in five 10-mile steady state runs and for the women, my goal is to get in five 6-8 mile steady state runs during our fall base phase.

Nobby Hashizume talks about Halberg and Snell getting their 10-mile runs down to 52 minutes and our athletes are inching closer to that speed even at 7,000 feet. We also include one leg speed session, which is our version of Lydiard's fartlek run. These two sessions plus the long run we build up to 2 hours in the first base phase of every athlete then up to 2-2.5 hours in the second base phase. All other running (most athletes run 10-13 times per-week) is at an easy aerobic pace. We are very mindful that the musculoskeletal system is the limiting factor and that's why we are so gradual in our approach.

CK: Can you describe the leg speed session for me?

GM: We rotate through four sessions, doing one per week during the base period. We start with 8 laps of 100 meters on, 100 meters off then the next week; we do 10 laps of 200m on, 200m off. Next, we do 300m on, 100m off then finish the cycle with 3 sets of 300m, 200m, 100m all with 200m jog between and 400m jog between sets. Then, for next rotation, we increase it to 10-12 laps of 100/100 and 12 laps of 200/200. It is VERY important to note that these are NOT anaerobic sprints. They are strides and don't result in a large build up of lactic acid. In other words, it is not a heavy breathing workout. It is all about controlled, leg turnover using good form. Since we are at altitude, I use these leg speed workouts in place of Arthur's fartlek workout because I want to make sure we don't go anaerobic in the base phase.

CK: There are many coaches and athletes it seems, who follow the Lydiard method, but often do not get into the hill bounding drills. I assume, so correct me if I am wrong here, that the resistance work that hill bounding is, is more suited for middle distance runners who will need to create more force in their push off? Did Brett not do bounding because of being a marathoner?

GM: I'm not sure we can say it's better for middle distance runners. In my opinion, it is important to look at the purpose of hill bounding. I get frustrated that some people say, "You don't do hill bounding so you don't support Lydiard training." We must remember that the purpose of hill bounding was to prepare the ankle joint for the race-specific training that follows the hill phase. Arthur always said that the runner must be like a ballet dancer with strong, dynamic ankles. He used hill bounding and springing to achieve this state. Most coaches and professional runners today use circuit-training exercises to achieve the same goal. Brett has been doing our circuit training routine for 2.5 years and he is a very dynamic athlete to begin with (just give him a basketball and a hoop and you'll see what I mean). So, we didn't need to do the hill bounding. Instead, we do the Lydiard-style hill circuit with strong uphill running, lots of strides at the top and bottom and fast downhill running.

CK: Is the downhill striding done on the dirt path you show in the Flotrack video, where you talk about the Lydiard hill circuit? What is the grade like?

GM: Yes. That's the one we use for downhill running. It is ~5-6% grade.

CK: And the grade of the up?

GM: We use the same hill up as we do down. The circuit is like a figure eight with the hill in the middle, strides at the top and bottom loops.

CK: Did Brett have a workout where he demonstrated the fitness to run a sub-59 20k? Can you tell me about it?

GM: He had several workouts that let us know he was in great shape. His steady state runs were ~10 seconds per mile faster in the fall of 2009 than in the fall of 2008 so we knew he could now run low to mid 4:40s aerobically (which usually translates very well to 20K or half-marathon race pace). He also did 6 x 1 mile with 3 minute jog at 7,000 feet on the roads hitting 4:50, 4:44, 4:43, 4:41, 4:44, and 4:37. We get ~70-10 seconds per mile conversion for the altitude so this indicated that he was ready. I know these times aren't that fast but when it is combined within the smart plan of good volume, hill workouts and leg speed sessions, it proved he could run well when tired so our confidence was high that he could do well at the 20K. With the 20K, however, we cared less about time than about competing. It was all about trying to win and fortunately, he won and ran a fast time.

CK: During a typical week, how did Brett's anaerobic phase look leading up to Houston?

GM: His marathon phase which would match up with the anaerobic phase in the Lydiard pyramid followed Lydiard's concept of putting the most race-specific training closest to the race. So, the marathon phase was anchored about two key workouts - the long run and the marathon-specific workout. His other workout in the week was either another long run (usually 90-105 minutes), a hill circuit workout or a VO2max workout. This was the rhythm of the training and is what I have found works very well for most runners.

CK: When you arrived at the taper, did you have to lock him inside and duck-tape him to a chair, or did he cope ok with the downtime?

GM: He handled it pretty well. The main thing I worked on was keeping him calm mentally and helping him to avoid getting hypersensitive to his body. I call it the "Great Marathon Freakout" as runners head in the marathon peaking phase but Brett has always been pretty even keeled about things, which is why I think he handled the peaking phase okay and is why he will be a good marathoner.

CK: I understand for the spring Brett will be racing some shorter events, looking to take down some personal bests, which of course he clearly indicates the ability to run faster at 5 and 10-k than his record shows. For the fall do you have your eyes on something like Chicago or New York marathons? I assume NY makes more sense being rolly and providing more time for training?

GM: Yes. We believe it is important to run fast on the track while preparing for a fast marathon, particularly for a young runner like Brett. (We've seen new US marathoners abandon the track once they get to the marathon and they seem to plateau quickly. We prefer the method Meb, Deena and Paula took where they ran the marathon but continued to try to improve in track, cross and on the roads.)

Brett wants to have similar 5K and 10K credentials to some of his heroes like Rod Dixon and Steve Jones. We may not get there this year but I certainly think we can move closer to those times than he is right now.

For the fall/winter marathon, it will come down to what fits best for his development, where the 2012 Olympic Trials will be held and the financial opportunities as he tries to make a living in the sport.

2009 Recap – McMillanElite’s Amazing Second Year Part 1

2009 was our second full calendar year of the group and it exceeded our expectations. Here are the highlights:

January-

The year kicked off with Ian Burrell running 4:11 for the mile in the Lumberjack Invitational here in Flagstaff. The sea level conversion for our altitude of 7,000 feet is 8 seconds so Ian’s 4:11 was equivalent to 4:02-4:03 mile. This performance showed what we saw in him from his college days – a true talent.

The next day, in Houston, things really got rolling as I stood at the 11 mile mark of the US Half-Marathon Championships. Meb rolled by on his way to victory. Then, Ritz ran by. Then, to my delight, these two Olympians were followed to the line by two of our athletes - Brett Gotcher (3rd) and Andrew Carlson (4th). Both ran personal records and in any other year except the year Hall ran the American Record, both would be winners.

A week later, Martin Fagan and Andrew “Lemon” Lemoncello continued the great start to 2009. Martin won the 3M Half-Marathon in Austin, TX with Lemon coming 3rd. Both set new personal records and Martin broke the course record.

I had no idea at the time but these performances over the span of two weeks in mid-January would set the tone for the entire year.

February-

After short recovery period after the half-marathon breakthrough, Brett turned around and finished 7th at the US Cross Country Championships, earning a spot on the US Team for the World Cross Country Championships and our team’s first national team spot. In the same race, Giliat Ghebray earned his spot on the NACAC (North American, Central American and Caribbean) Team. In one race, we earned two US Team selections. Little did I know, there would be many, many more US Team selections ahead.

In the NACAC Championship race, Giliat earned the Bronze Medal and helped the US Team to Gold.

March-

Olympian Martin Fagan returned to action after his 3M Half-Marathon victory and headed to Den Haag in the Netherlands for a showdown with the Great Haile Gebrsalasie and a slew of other top Africans. One of the things I like about Martin is that he is not afraid of any runner. He is a front runner and is willing to risk all to run at the front. He ran side by side with Geb for most of the race, undaunted, and was rewarded with a new Irish National Record of 1:00:57 (4:39 per mile). This eclipsed the great John Tracy’s performance. Tracy is a hero to Martin and I could feel his excitement when he called me after the race. He knew he was on his way to becoming one of the greatest runners in Irish history.

Later in the month, Lindsay Allen returned to her alma mater, Stanford University. Running a 5K in preparation for her favorite event – the 3,000m Steeplechase, Lindsay knocked 40 seconds off her personal best! 40 seconds! It was incredible. I vividly remember standing beside the track and NOT telling her her splits. I was afraid to. I knew she was running splits she had never heard before and I didn’t want her to slow down. I just wanted her to keep rolling along. And, as she often does, she did. I couldn’t get to her fast enough after the race. I was so excited. It showed the talent that hadn’t been seen while in college and would kick off an unbelievable track season for her.

April-

April meant track season and the successes continued. In the Brutus Hamilton meet at Cal-Berkeley, we entered Jordan Horn and Matt Clark in the 5,000m, which had a loaded field. As the laps flew by, Jordan remained in the front group. Lap after lap, running a pace that would put him significantly faster than he had ever run a 5K, he ran with the leaders. Finally in the last lap, it was a mad sprint with Jordan in the middle of it. I clicked my stopwatch and had to look twice. Was it real? YES IT WAS!! 13:31 – he was now 30 seconds faster than when he entered the track season. Lemon ran by on his warm-up for the 10K that was up next and screamed, “Did you see Jordan?!” Yes I had and couldn’t have been happier. Matt even posted a 12-second PR running 13:45. One race; two significant PRs.

Shortly after the 5K, Martin and Lemon lined up for the 10,000m. The laps rolled by and they were running fast. With four laps to go, I yelled for Lemon to go to the front to help Martin who was, as usual, leading the group. Lemon surged to the front and the two teammates did some of the best running of their lives. The seconds ticked by and I yelled from the backstretch as I watched them sprint to the finish line. I clicked my stopwatch and again, did a double take: 27:57 and 27:58. Could it be? Yes. Both men broke 28 minutes for 10K (a 20 and 31 second PR for Martin and Lemon respectively). Quite an accomplishment. The day’s tally: four athletes, four PRs. After a late-night celebratory dinner, we all slept well despite our phones buzzing late into the night with congratulatory texts and emails.

May-

Again at her alma mater, Lindsay lined up for her specialty – the 3,000m Steeplechase. This time I was prepared for a breakthrough, after all I had seen what she had done a month earlier in the 5K. As expected, she blew away her previous best by 20 seconds (and remember, the event lasts less than 10 minutes!), running what at the time was the 10th fastest steeplechase in US history.

Another highlight of May was receiving a call from USATF letting me know that Paige was selected to represent the US in the World Marathon Championships to be held in August (more on that in a minute). I knew how much she wanted a spot on that team. I also knew to hold the phone away from my ear when I called to tell her! Still, I’m not sure my hearing has yet to come back to normal. Excited was an understatement. She had been through a lot (more on that later).

June-

Due to their successes in the spring track season, we qualified five athletes for the US National Championships.

Part 2 coming soon!

A Marathoner Again

A couple of weeks ago, I was running my first marathon in seven years. My previous three marathons (New York, RNR San Diego and Cal International) had not gone well. In all three, I fell apart in the last few miles and despite running 2:31 at Cal, I knew I was a better runner than that. The problem in all three races was simply a lack of proper training. I just didn't do the work necessary to succeed. These days, I'm surrounded by young people who ARE doing the work necessary to succeed. I see it everyday and you see it in the successes that are reported on this website.

As my son, Angus, got a bit older and started sleeping more/better and as my wife, Tracy, and I got the team settled in and working smoothly, I decided it was time for me to get back out there and do another marathon. Seven years is just too long and now that I am over 40, new goals were available - principally being the top Masters runner. I targeted the US Trail Marathon Championships (to be held at the Lithia Loop Trail Marathon in Ashland, Oregon) as my goal race. Several things were appealing about the race. First, it was a National Championship and I thought I could be competitive because (second) it was on trails which I run on each and every day. Third, it is a very, very hard course (see elevation chart below) and I usually do very well when the course is difficult. Fourth, most of the middle of the race is run between 4500 and 5000 feet above sea level. While this would be challenging to lowlanders, I would actually be coming down in altitude to race there. And fifth, I like Ian Torrence. Ian is an amazing ultra-marathoner who I met when he lived and trained in Flagstaff. Google him and you'll see all the accomplishments. Ian now lives in Ashland (the new Mecca for ultra runners) and was co-director of the race. He invited me up for the race so I jumped at the chance to get back on the marathon horse.

The Training

In July, I started getting my butt out the door more regularly. I had just over 4 months to get ready. I wasn't terribly out of shape but just wasn't running enough and I had about 5 pounds to lose. My goal for the training cycle was simple: run a lot and frequently. I wasn't going to worry about speedwork since the race would likely be slow due to the elevation chart. I just needed the strength to run hard for 26.2 miles.

July was good in that I got my base fitness back, started adding in more double runs to the week and felt ready to get a little more serious. August was really good as I was in Germany helping Paige Higgins prepare for the World Championships Marathon to be held in Berlin. Paige's teammate, Emily Harrison, had come over to Germany as well and she and I ran together twice a day nearly every day. Emily and Paige really helped me get the volume I needed to feel like I could run 26.2 miles. (Thanks Paigemo and Emilily!) September and October were my personal challenge. I travel a lot during those months and I am normally very bad at getting in my training when on the road - which is pitiful given that all my travel is to races! I stuck to my plan, however, and even put in long runs of over 20 miles while traveling in Minneapolis, MN and Birmingham, England. I also ran in New Haven, CT, Providence, RI, Blowing Rock, NC and London, England - all over the course of a few weeks. I rarely missed a run and doubled most days. I was getting in 90-120 minutes of running nearly every day. When in Flagstaff, the women's group allowed me to tag along, which I really appreciated. I'm sure it wasn't ideal for them and hope they'll recover from being around me so much now that I'm on some down time.

With running 90-120 minutes most days, plus all the double runs (which I had never done before) as well as the multiple runs over 20 miles, I felt confident that I could manage the marathon distance (though I was still scared of those last 6-8 miles of the race). I packed for the trip like all marathoners do - laying everything out on the bed and going over it several times to make sure I didn't forget anything. I headed up to Ashland on Thursday and Ian picked me up at the airport. It was great to see him again and to get to visit Ashland - also the hometown of Eron who is our adidas rep and a great friend - before the race on Saturday.

I had plenty of time to relax while there and to take care of my most important three things. First, I needed a good pasta dinner on Thursday night (36 hours before the race). Ian took me to a great pasta place that was just up the street from the hotel and I was lucky to get to talk shop with Ian, Hal Koerner (Western States 100M Champion), Mark Godale (American Record Holder in the 24 hour run) and their better halves. How these guys prepare to run hard for 12-24 hours is amazing. Second (on Friday), I needed Coca-Cola. I have always loved the taste of Coke and had had success using it as my "sports drink" on long runs and planned to use it during the marathon itself. (By the way, I have heard that Frank Shorter used flat Coke as his drink of choice when winning his Olympic marathon medals.) I bought two bottles, poured them into the hotel glasses and let them sit overnight to de-fizz, just like I had been doing before my long runs. Since the aid stations were spread far apart, I was more than happy to carry my own fluids and I think it was a smart plan. Third, I needed a good cheeseburger the night before the race. I'm not sure why (though I have some ideas) but I seem to have better long runs when I had a cheeseburger, fries and a beer the night before. After doing the obligatory carbo-loading in the last three days before the race, I stuck with this cheeseburger-before-long-run plan and Ian sent me to a local burger joint which fit the bill perfectly!

The Race
(Note: You can read several stories on the race as well as photos and videos here: http://roguevalleyrunners.blogspot.com/)

For me, race day was unbelievable. I felt great from the start and while the initial climb was long, it was easy compared to running uphill in Flagstaff. After the first 2-3 miles of being cautious, I realized that the effort was too easy and I should pick up the pace, even though that meant I would be in no-man's land between the lead group of 6 and my group for a long, long time. I ease the effort up a bit, found my rhythm and was soon getting time on the other Masters competitors behind me. I ran the next 13 miles without seeing a soul, except for the aid station volunteers at the top of the climb (mile 8). Instead of being focused on competitors, I just marveled at the beauty of the course and focused on maintaining my pace and enjoying the experience. Like most marathoners, I felt fine through the middle miles but was concerned about the last few miles. As I got to mile 13 though, I saw another runner ahead. He had fallen off the lead group and whenever the trail was straight enough (which was seldom), I could see him. I got very excited as I set my goal to catch him by mile 16 or 17. That way, we could run together for the last few miles. I finally caught him at 16.5 miles. He is a young, stud ultra-marathoner who was having stomach issues. He couldn't run his normal pace but my pace was okay. I can't thank him enough for getting me to 20 miles where he had to back off again.

Once I reached 20 miles, I knew I was going to be okay. No bonk for me this time. I felt strong and excited to go very, very fast over the last 10K. But, I couldn't. It wasn't because I was tired or my legs were shot. It was because the course was so steep and technical that I just couldn't go fast. Any time the course leveled off or was slightly uphill, I would fly. But, on the steep, technical downhills, I was just trying to, as one runner said, "preserve my dental work" and not tumble down the trail, off a cliff and into oblivion. I went as fast as I could for miles 20-24 and with 2 miles to go, saw another runner who was having some cramping issues. This was just the lift I needed to keep pressing. I passed him with a mile to go where we hit the pavement for the final stretch to the finish line. I hit the jets and flew. I have never, ever had that kind of feeling at the end of a marathon (though I must confess that I had similar feelings at the end of some of my long runs so maybe I was in better marathon shape then I thought). It was great. I passed Ian who was monitoring a turn nearby and asked if I was the first Master. He said yes so I knew I was about to be Masters National Trail Marathon Champion.

I crossed the line with a big smile on my face. I ran this race for me. I ran it for my son. (I want to stay fit and healthy so we can play, run, jump, throw, wrestle, etc. over the next few years.) I ran it for my wife who does so much for me with far too little thanks in return. I ran it because I wanted to have an experience to remember. I soaked up the race like no other I have ever done. I ended up 4th overall and Master Champion but most importantly, I ended up with a reconnection with the marathon again. I may never have another marathon where I feel as good as I did on race day but that's okay. I now take the good days and bad days in stride. I simply love the feeling of challenging myself and hope this race is the first of many that I do over the next few years.

Greg

Patience, Passion and Progress: Part 2
Happy Two-Year Anniversary!

Passion

A second theme that came up during the USA Track Championships and as I reviewed the last 2 years of the adidas-Flagstaff group is passion. Passion is the driving force behind success no matter the endeavor. This group has passion and it comes through in how the athletes live, train and race. Passion is sometimes a double-edge sword but it is a requirement for ultimate success and passion will always help you get through the lows so you can reach the highs.

For the Athletes-

They shouldn’t do it but they do. All of the athletes are well educated from some of the finest academic institutions in the US but yet you may be surprised to learn that nearly every athlete lives at or below the poverty line.1 They are poor. They live from month to month trying desperately to avoid having to get a second job or work more hours which undoubtedly will hamper their running. You enjoy a nice dinner out. They live on beans, rice, grilled chicken and cereal. They shouldn’t do it but they do. They are driven to fulfill their talent even though each one could be enjoying a comfortable life in corporate America. And they do it not just for themselves but they do it to pull on that vest that says U.S.A and race for the rest of us in international competition.

Their passion drives them to want to be the best, to see just how far and how fast they can run. They are willing to live without the normal trappings of post-collegiate employment. They are willing to forgo the usual lifestyle of young adults in their early 20s. They are so passionate that even living month to month becomes no sacrifice really. They inspire me and I hope they inspire you. If you really want to help US distance running, donate to an athlete or a team. Your donation significantly changes their lives. Our future Olympians shouldn’t have to scrape by in their pursuit of the USA jersey.

For Tracy-

I don’t know how or why she does it but my darling wife works day in and day out to help this group. It has become her passion. I dragged her away from a promising career as a university professor to move to the mountains and promptly drain our savings account to start this team. We were passionate about trying to give an opportunity to a few deserving distance runners and her passion for helping others inspires me daily.

She works tirelessly for the athletes and the group and all of it pro bono. She gets little thanks for her efforts because her passion for the sport and for the athletes makes it seem like it’s easy to manage a dozen athletes racing constantly around the world. She’s a great mom to Angus and a great wife to me. I will never, ever be able to repay her for helping me with my passion for running and I will never forget how passionate she is about helping young people, whether chasing a degree or chasing a personal best.

For Our Support Crew-

While the success of the group can be attributed to many, many folks, a few passionate ones have a direct impact on the team. Eron Osterhaus of adidas had a full plate when he was handed this upstart post-collegiate team over two years ago. He could easily have just done the minimum to keep us in shoes and getting to our races. But he didn’t. Our group has become his passion and I can confidently say that without his incredible support, our group would not have survived these tough economic times. Ours would have been like far too many other sponsored groups/events/athletes where the funding simply dried up. Eron’s passion is evident every time you see him interact with the athletes. He’s their greatest supporter. He loves the sport and works tirelessly to help athletes succeed. The sport could use a few more Eron Osterhaus’s.

Another 3-striper is Mike McManus. Mike works at adidas’ headquarters in Germany. I don’t know why but he’s always been a supporter of my efforts. When he heard about the dream of a team, he and thus adidas was immediately on board. He’s a great competitor. He’s a great coach and he’s a great fan of the sport and of helping young people succeed. His sponsorship and support of our group shows his passion for the sport.

Phil Wharton and Austin Ballie work on the athletes weekly. Helping athletes is their passion and their bodywork – flexibility training, massage and circuit training – is a large part of why the athletes are able to train at such a high level. And the one thing that I like so much about Phil and Austin is that they are competitive runners themselves. From riding the bike alongside Phil as he puts in 20+ milers in advance of a marathon to watching Austin win a solo 10,000m on the track in Portland, I see why these guys can help the athletes so well because they are passionate about their own running.

Another person with that same passion is Trina Painter. She’s been so inspirational to the athletes – not only in her past successes (American Record holder in the 20K being one of many) but in her current pursuit of masters running success. The athletes benefit when she is around and she’s been a great asset to me as a coach. They say two heads are better than one and I can confidently say two passionate heads are even better.

I also see the passion in those of you who follow our team – the families and friends of McMillanElite. Some of you I coach and it seems that we spend half our time talking about the team and not your running. Some of you are family and your backing is the #1 requirement for success. We find that athletes who don’t have a supportive family network are unlikely to succeed. And we know it’s tough on you. Athletes move away, live on meager paychecks and delay some of life’s experiences. This is hard on family but we know you share the athletes’ passion and will always play a critical role in their success. Some of you are friends. Your understanding and support of your athlete plays a greater part in their success than you may know. A simple email, text or call offering support from an old friend means the world to the athletes.

For Myself-

I started this team to help US distance running. I started this team to see if I could coach runners to the highest levels in the sport. I started this team because I am passionate about running and I want to foster this same passion in other competitive runners.

Sometimes my passion gets in the way. I can be too demanding. I can have too high expectations. I can forget that the athletes and staff haven’t spent nearly every waking hour for the last 25 years, thinking about and studying running like I have. I can get too passionate. (I’m Scotch-Irish after all.) But for all my faults, my passion is undeniable. My love for the sport and for the athletes I coach is on display every day. I suffer with them during the tough times. I beat myself up and lose sleep when we don’t get the results we want and I feel like I fail them. I also hold back tears (often unsuccessfully) when they do well. I think about how to be a better husband, father and coach each and every day. My passion drives me.

I feel honored and lucky to have found something to be so passionate about. My mentors were the same way. They were all known to have been a bit crazy or moody or volatile but they were passionate and with passion comes emotion. Emotion is good. It allows athletes (and coaches and bosses and parents and spouses) to go beyond themselves, and for athletes, it allows you to grasp the excitement of the day and ride the wave to a breakthrough performance.

I believe in the system we’ve put in place here in Flagstaff. I believe adidas, the New York Road Runners, the Houston Marathon Foundation, the Lydiard Foundation and the USATF Foundation have given us the chance of a lifetime to pursue our passion. I believe our athletes and those that support them will succeed because of their passion. Passion can sometimes get the best of us (I know it does for me) but passion is the secret to success and it’s been a consistent theme through our first two years and will be for many years to come.

In the next blog – Part 3, I’ll review our Year 2 goals and how we did and preview what we hope to accomplish in Year 3 (July 2009 to June 2010).

1 The poverty line for 2008-2009 is $10,830 annually for a single person in the lower 48 states.

Patience, Passion and Progress: Part 1
Happy Two-Year Anniversary!

Our adidas-Flagstaff training group is celebrating our two-year anniversary this month. It’s been great to see the idea become reality and for our goals to be met and often exceeded. We’ve learned a lot and continue to learn but for me, Tracy, Coach Trina Painter and our athletes that have been here since Year 1 (Andrew Middleton, Brianna Torres, Brett Gotcher, Martin Fagan and Andrew Lemoncello) this is a special time.

We just returned from US Outdoor Track Nationals (where we qualified 7 athletes this year as opposed to just 1 athlete last year). For me, the track meet was a microcosm of how I’ve felt through this first two years of the group. As I reflected on this track season and this second year of our group, patience and passion were the themes that kept coming through.

Patience

In Training-
We said it from the beginning and still believe it now. Patience is the key in developing emerging elite runners. For me, patience in training means applying Arthur Lydiard’s principles. Arthur taught us to gradually but progressively build the athlete’s aerobic ability; to gradually but progressively build their musculoskeletal system; to gradually but progressively build their speed; and, to gradually but progressively build their confidence and competitiveness. I hope Arthur would be pleased with how we are doing.

All my mentors, including Arthur, told me that it would take two to three years before we started to see success. Then, it would take another two to three years to be the best. They were right and as we now hit this first two to three year period, we’re going to keep on keeping on and letting Arthur’s principles build the foundation for long careers at the top.

Patience in training doesn’t just involve training for two to three years though. It involves the development of the coach-athlete relationship. Most of the athletes who qualified for the World Team at the US Track Championships last weekend have been with their coaches for several years. It just takes time for the coach to learn what works for the athlete and for the athlete to learn how to read his/her body. Mistakes will be made but this is part of the process and the coach and athlete must have patience and openness to build the kind of relationship that creates champions.

In Racing-
Patience in racing is the hardest part for our group. We want to win. We want to be in the front of each and every race. It’s very difficult at times to finish in the middle or back of the pack as we go to ever increasingly competitive races. We structure the racing schedules so that there are some races the athletes will win, some they can win and some where they will simply get crushed but learn where they stand in the pecking order. The athletes are doing a great job in their racing and the experiences will help them as they mature through their careers. But, it does take a lot of patience.

For the Athletes-
The athletes have been amazing. As I mentioned above, I know they want to be the best right now yet they seem to really understand that it will take a while to get there. It’s helpful that most are running PRs while in this development stage but still, I’m continually impressed with their patience as they grow and mature. They seem to understand better than I sometimes that there will be ups and downs in life and running but that they are doing the work that will make them great. I wish each of you could come to Flagstaff for a week just to be around these impressive young people.

For Myself-
Patience has been a struggle for me. I talk about it every day and know intellectually that patience is the way to the top but it’s still quite difficult for me. I’m a very competitive person and want results now. I know that that’s unreasonable but it’s my nature. This group is helping me learn patience and Angus has been a great teacher as well!

Whenever I get too anxious for results, I always reflect on what we said when we started two years ago. I reread our mission statement and paths-to-success statement. I revisit Arthur’s writings or talk with a mentor or friend who brings me back to reality. I slowly relax and get my mind in accord with the path that, after all, I laid out two year’s ago. Our group is doing great and we are on an amazing trajectory for a group that started from scratch with no NCAA Champions and little sponsorship. I couldn’t be more proud and appreciate how patient everyone is with me (especially Tracy) as I become a more patient person.

In Part 2 (coming next week), I’ll discuss the other theme that comes to mind when reflecting on our first two years – Passion. Part 3 will discuss our progress.

Coach's Blog
The greatest thing about our sport is that it often brings the world closer together. We've seen it time and time again at the Olympics where two athletes from "enemy" countries become the best of friends. Over the last two years, my world has gotten smaller through this great sport. I traveled with Martin Fagan to Monte Gordo, Portugal for a winter training camp and met dozens of European athletes and coaches who I have seen from time to time since then. I traveled to Japan for Martin's pre-Olympic training camp with the Irish team meeting many great Irish athletes. In fact, I just cheered on Alistair Cragg at a track meet in California this weekend. Alistair was in Japan with us as he ran the 5,000m for Ireland. And, of course, living in the world's best training location for distance runners, I get to meet great people as they make their way here for training camps. (You may have read a blog from our Norwegian friend Kirsten who I'm sure I will be friends with for the rest of my life.)

As you'll read below, my world continues to get smaller as my friend Nobby Hashizume will document in his blogs from the Lydiard Foundation website. It should be a great summer of making friends from around the world!

Please visit www.lydiardfoundation.org to keep up with the regular and very informative blogs.

Greg

"Fellowship of the Ring" by Nobby Hashizume (www.lydiardfoundation.org)

We unite under the name of Arthur Lydiard--across the country; and across the globe...

Flying over the rugged beauty of the Grand Canyon, my iPod Shuffle is playing the “Fellowship of the Ring” from “The Lord of the Ring”, I could not help but feel the presence of spirit of Arthur Lydiard. I’m on my way back to Minneapolis from a short visit to Flagstaff, AZ. I received a phone call from Coach Shigeharu Watanabe, now the head coach at Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Running Team, one of the strongest women’s marathon teams in the marathon-craze country of Japan. Their team won 6 of the last 8 years of national Ekiden road relay championships (marathon distance of 26.2 miles run with 5 athletes on a team). The team also includes Reiko Tosa, a double Olympian for women’s marathon in 2004 and 2008 with 5th place finishing in the former, also a double medalist in the World Championships, silver medal in 2001 in Edmonton and bronze in 2007 in Osaka; as well as Yoko Shibui, then the world debut marathon record holder (2:23:42) at the age of 21 in 2001, the 6th fastest women’s marathon in history with 2:19:41. I’ve known Coach Watanabe, fondly known by close associates as “Nabe (Nah-bay)” (as opposed to Nobby! ;o)) before I even knew he was training one of the best women’s running team in Japan. When Arthur Lydiard visited the US in 1999, he told me of this young Japanese coach who came to visit him in 1995. Just as I did in 1984, he came to NZ to study Lydiard training principles. Arthur gave me his contact address and phone number and I’ve been in touch with him ever since. It was the beginning of 2001 when I received a Christmas card from him. “Thanks to all your support, our team won the national title...” Little did I know that I was “not worthy!!” (the story of Mitsui team here)

It was Nabe who contacted me, only 5 weeks before the Patriot’s Day in 2006, to squeeze Reiko Tosa to that year’s Boston Marathon where she would eventually finish third. Ever since, I’ve been following her progress, through her gutsy come-from-behind bronze medal performance in 2007 to her heart-breaking DNF at Beijing. I was very much tempted to go to Beijing Olympics to see her win the women’s marathon. You don’t get to have too many opportunities to see your “friend” win the gold medal and I really thought she had a very high chance to pull it. Of course, later I found out that the Team Tosa, including Nabe, was trying really hard to hide the fact she bruised her foot only a few weeks before the Games (the story here). Now Tosa leaving the competition (at least for a while), the new star has risen – well, in fact, she’s an “old” star coming back as a more mature, and complete, athlete. They say Tosa is a product of hard work and dedication. Yoko Shibui is natural.

Shibui was a decent runner in high school though she never left any significant mark like winning inter-high school championships (like Seko did). She was like a wild horse, unpredictable but, if everything falls in place, he would score a big one. A big one she did score in 2001. It was Osaka Ladies Marathon. A 22-year-old Shibui, running her first marathon, took off after half way mark and set the fastest debut marathon time of 2:23:11 (which later was broken by Paula Radcliffe, which in fact shows the significance of her record). But her wild-card nature plagued her and, except for 2004 Berlin marathon where she broke a 2:20 barrier with the national record of 2:19:41 and in 2005 at Cardinal where she led and beat Deena (then) Drossin to set the national 10,000m in the time of 30:47, which still stands as the Japanese record; her marathon career was more of disappointment and frustration. Often characteristic of a fast runner, she would take off and sink in the second half of the marathon. Osaka Ladies Marathon in 2004 which was one of the Olympic Trial races for Athens. The race started out a slow 19+ minutes 5k pace, she lost her rhythm and finished distance 10th place.

At last year’s Tokyo Women’s Marathon, Shibui took off once again only to get caught by the eventual winner, Yoshimi Ozaki, and faded to 4th place. Frustrated, once again, she flew to Kuming for a lone training camp. Under the renowned program with Nabe, she had a sweet revenge only 69 days later at Osaka Ladies Marathon (more detailed report of Osaka marathon here). Now she’ll have the opportunity to prove herself and better the previous performance at World Championships where, in Edmonton in 2001, she finished 4th in the marathon (Tosa was the silver medalist there) in Berlin this summer.

It was a few weeks after Osaka Ladies Marathon, Nabe called me and asked me about high altitude training situation in the US. “I heard Salazar’s group train in Park City, UT…” he asked me. “I have no idea about Park City but a good friend of mine coaches in Flagstaff, AZ…” Flagstaff identified itself as the next running Mecca with the ideal altitude (2000m) and endless trail as well as High Altitude Training Center (due to close by the end of June but they are being hopeful that it would be revived soon) where famed Dr. Jack Daniels works. Many international teams train there, including Japan’s national swimming team. Kosuke Kitajima, a multiple gold medalist in breastroke, was in fact there training for the national swimming championships while I was there last week (the story of Kitajima here). So after a couple of conversations over the phone, Nabe made up his mind that he would bring Shibui for an extended training camp in Flagstaff.

Coincide with his mother’s passing, Nabe wasn’t able to join us for the initial checking of the place and training venues, he sent the team manager, Takashi “Tuck” Takaseki. We met (for the first time) at Phoenix airport and drove through the dusk up the mountains to Flagstaff. We were to stay at Greg McMillan’s place. You would climb just a notch after you entered the city of Flagstaff so the actual altitude would be about 2100m. We would go around various training courses, check out trails and measure some loops; as well as locating some good supermarkets and Japanese restaurants!

As we drove into Greg’s house driveway, Tuck pretty much made up his mind that this is it. Stars were twinkling all over the sky – something you don’t get to see that clearly in the city of Tokyo. Training environment of Flagstaff is something I’ve never seen anywhere. As Greg has already told us, you can get flat courses, undulating courses, super long uphill (in fact, we measured a 6-mile long climb just a mile and a half from Greg’s house)…dirt paths, paved roads…long relatively flat road or various loops. On the final day, we drove through a small town of Sedona, about an hour drive from Flagstaff but you climb down to about 1300m where newly laid high school track would be available to public. As we talked to the high school track coach, he told us that coach Salazar and Kara Goucher were there, training before Boston. The scenery from the track is like a miniature Grand Canyon.

That evening, Tuck and I went over some details to prepare for a 2-month long altitude training camp for Shibui at the hotel near Phoenix airport (his damn flight was 7:30 AM so we had no choice but drive down the day before and stay by the airport…unless of course if we didn’t mind getting up at 3:00 AM…). We called Nabe for our assessment. As Tuck handed his cell phone to me and I talked to Nabe for a while. I had told him about Greg McMillan before – how he was the one who Arthur was with in his last minute and our connection. “You just know this is not just a coincident, don’t you?” Nabe said… “Arthur got us together, Arthur got you and Greg closer…and now we’ll be having a training camp at Ma-koo-Millan (McMillan) san’s place… And now Shibui’s performance at Berlin would be the end-product!” It did feel like “Fellowship of the Ring”. It is the collaboration of Greg, Nabe and myself – all united through Arthur Lydiard. And I’m sure many more to come, whichever the side of the Pacific they may come! I can sense Arthur being happy up there… “It is,” he would say, “gratifying…!”

PS: While Shibui and Nabe are in Flagstaff, Lydiard Foundation is planning on conducting a running symposium with them included; most likely toward the end of July.

To Berlin, Germany, from Flagstaff, AZ! by Nobby Hashizume (www.lydiardfoundation.org)

Congratlations to McMillanElite and Coach McMillan for getting Paige Higgins to the World Championships...

It was before this year’s Boston marathon when I was talking to Greg McMillan about possibility of Mitsui-Sumitomo team (with Yoko Shibui) coming to Flagstaff and having a training camp to prepare for Berlin World Championship, he pointed out; “Wouldn’t that be great if both Shibui and our Paige (Higgins) get to go to Berlin together…” Paige is another one of PR breaking runners on McMillan Elite group. She improved her PR by almost 7 minutes to 2:33 at last year’s Chicago Marathon

Paige was due to run Boston and we were looking forward to getting together. However, right before Boston, the unfortunate news was that Paige developed some knee pain and had to scratch it. Now having to rely on her 2:33 performance from Chicago, possibility of her going to Berlin was up in the air. Just a few days ago, while talking to Greg about Mitsui’s camp, he told me (still quietly) that Paige was selected to represent the US team for Berlin World Championships this August. While some of his runners represented the US team for some international competitions already, Paige would be the first athlete from Greg’s group to run in the USA uniform for THE World Track & Field Championships.

Greg has been coaching this group of post collegiate potentials since 2007 to “fill the gap” between college to elite, applying the Lydiard principles of training along with some live-coaching experience he had gained through his own. Lydiard used to say that “what you do this year is for next year; it’s not what you do this year or next year that counts but what you’d be doing in 5 years time.” Every time I talked to Greg, he would explain how they apply the Lydiard principles to their own training: “We try to develop good solid aerobic foundation,” he would say. “It’s amazing how simply sticking to the fundamentals bring about good results" (his training philosophy here). His young runners had been performing very well lately. Now within 3 years of founding, he is sending an athlete to the World Champs.

Greg was telling me that he would “experiment” some of Japanese marathon training philosophies of long tempo runs on Paige to prepare for Boston (some of the insights to Japanese marathon training on our forum here). “She is not very fast but she can go on and on at a strong pace,” Coach McMillan says. “So she would be perfect for training regime like that."

As already well-established coach, Greg keeps his eagerness to learn more and Japanese marathon training method is something he is very much interested in. We hope this summer’s Mitsui training camp would be as exciting an experience for Greg, as a host, as much for Yoko Shibui and Coach Watanabe, and also for Greg’s athletes like Paige (though we may have to keep those young Japanese girls away from Martin…his name is tattooed in Japanese on his ankle so he wouldn’t have any trouble introducing himself to them!) – to learn about each other’s training and motivate and inspire each other.

Greg and I always talk about this international circle, global togetherness through running and Lydiard. Paige and Yoko would be a perfect example of getting united through “Lydiard”. It would be to their advantage as well, comes August 24th, when they face each other at the start line, they will feel perfectly at home to have each other there as a member of “Lydiard family”, having trained together through the dry summer air at highland of Flagstaff, and enjoy a BBQ or two at Greg’s house!

Congratulations, Paige and Greg!!

To read more about Paige’s story, click here.

Paige's image from 2008 Chicago Marathon: Victah Sailer. Paige's headshot: Josh Biggs. Yoko Shibui's image, 1km to go at 2009 Osaka Ladies Marathon where she won in 2:23, and her headshot: Rikjo Magajin (Track & Field Magazine of Japan)

The Search for the Perfect Race

I'm a stickler for racing properly. I have a mountain of videos of races from the 1960s thru to the Beijing Olympics and watching them is very instructive for racing. With our group, we focus a lot on racing better - not just running faster or placing higher but racing better. The perfect race is not necessarily one where you PR or win but one where you make all the right decisions throughout the race. If you race, you know that this is harder than it sounds. There are many split second decisions that can make or break your performance. The perfect race to me is the one where you always make the right choice when these split second decisions are upon you. And, just like taking a test, your first instinct in these situations is usually the correct one. It's when you delay the decision and begin to debate the pros and cons of the make or break moment that you usually miss the opportunity for a better race.

In Running Times magazine, I described our Go Zone Racing concept and this is our team's fundamental approach to racing. The article is here and will give you an idea of this approach to racing. As I state in the article, the key part of every race - no matter the distance - is the third quarter of the race. It is here, in this section of the race, where you must push harder to stay on pace. It is here where most runners lose time and begin to fade. It is also here where great performances are made. This is our Go Zone and while we may not make a significant move or break, we are increasing our mental effort significantly to stay on pace or even go faster if possible.

The other part of the perfect race (aside from pushing through the Go Zone) is being in the right place at the right time. For track runners, this can mean where you are in the pack - on the rail, on someone's outside shoulder or hanging on to the line of runners as you race around the track. For road runners, it often means pacing properly in longer races, maintaining contact with appropriate competitors, making or reacting to a move and sometimes even just going for it.

To date, the athletes have produced several perfect races (Brett's Houston HM, Lindsay's 1500m at Baldy and 5K at Stanford, Jordan's 5K and Lemon's 10K both at Brutus to name a few) and everyone seems to be improving their ability to race. This is not only resulting in significant personal records but is setting them up for long-term success as they move toward the higher echelon's of distance running. Keep your fingers crossed for more great races as the track season rolls on.

Sea Level Camps NOT Altitude Camps

Excuse me while I get on my soapbox for a moment. For the last half dozen years, I've attended high performance coaching conferences and at each one we are told time and time again that the best runners in the world live and train at altitude. Joe Vigil (one of my mentors) always states that since the 1960s 94% of all medals won at events from 800m to the marathon are from athletes who are altitude-trained. At a conference this past December, it was stated that 85% of those making the finals in the Beijing Olympics (and thus the only ones with a chance at a medal) were altitude-trained. Over and over, you hear that the best distance runners base themselves at altitude for all or at least a significant portion of the year.

Yet at these same conferences, presentations are given on "altitude training camps" - when to go up, how high, how long to stay, how to train there and when to come down for racing and how the long the adaptations last, etc. etc. Why?! The US is blessed with a dozen or more amazing high altitude training locations (which other countries would kill for) yet we sit around and talk about altitude training camps. We should be talking about "sea level training camps" because all of our budding young studs have based themselves at altitude to, as Vigil states, "catch up aerobically" to our international competitors. These young runners should follow the advice (as our group has) and get to altitude as soon as possible after college (though attending college at altitude is also a good idea). Flagstaff (us), Boulder (Tempo Sports) and Mammoth (Mammoth Track Club/Team Running USA) are (sadly enough) the only organized groups at altitude in the US. How in the world can we compete with the rest of the world? Vigil, Larson and now Mahon have shown that altitude is the way to go. We must follow and we must do it NOW! Group training is great but group training at altitude is even better and I'm more and more convinced that consistent altitude exposure (living at altitude or a distant second, living in an altitude house) is the key to ultimate success.

In our search for the ideal place to start our group, my wife and I toured all of the US altitude sites and they are all great. We chose Flagstaff but here are some of my top places (grouped by state not by rank) where I think someone should start another training group to give more of our athletes a fighting chance in the next 10-20 years:

1) Lake Tahoe, CA - 6300 feet and just beautiful. I did a Discovery USA camp there and loved it.
2) Big Bear Lake, CA - 6700 feet. Home of Ryan Hall. Enough said.
3) Bend, OR - 3600 feet and far to low for proper altitude training BUT the surrounding area has living and training areas above 5000 feet.
4) Ft. Collins, CO - 5000 feet. Home of Jon Sinclair (road running stud from years back) and Kim Jones (total stud sub-2:30 marathoner).
5) Colorado Springs, CO - 6000 feet. Olympic Training Center for goodness sake!
6) Albuquerque, NM - 5300 feet (same as Boulder). Incredible tradition of altitude training (Paula even uses it).
7) Santa Fe, NM - 7000 feet (same as Flagstaff)
8) Pinetop-Lakeside, AZ - 7200 feet. Good weather just like Flagstaff.

This is just a short list and there are many, many, many other great towns just waiting for a new training group. All have pros and cons but the fact remains that we must get our runners to altitude. We must get them there ASAP so that they can get acclimated (1-2 years) and so they can devote themselves to the 2012, 2016 and 2020 Olympics.

I am admittedly biased on this subject but if I was a budding young star in distance running, I would not want to line up against my competitions knowing that I wasn't doing everything within my power to be the best distance runner in the world. Basing yourself at altitude for the majority of the year is what the best do. Period. Why we aren't following along boggles my mind. After all, if the best runners in the world did 40 x 400m every Wednesday, then you can bet every coach would be doing the same. Why not with altitude (especially given all the great altitude sites we have)?

As one of our new runners told me after he joined the team, "The other groups I looked at all touted that one of their perks was that they went to Flagstaff (or other altitude site) twice per year for altitude training. If altitude training is so beneficial, why wouldn't I just train there all the time?" Couldn't have said it better myself.

I will expand on this topic more in the future but I just had to get this off my chest.

Greg

From the outset (2007/2008), we established a series of increasing goals for the team. In year one, we hoped to create a positive training environment and a culture of excellence. Athletes like Brett Gotcher, Jordan Horn, Andrew Lemoncello and Andrew Middleton saw the vision and quickly settled into the lifestyle of a professional runner. They created this culture and are the reason the group has made such a rapid rise in the ranks of post-collegiate training groups. The culture of excellence is firmly established and the athletes (both old and new) are building on it.

We also hoped to put athletes in the Top 10 in National Championships. Thanks to Brett's 4 Top 10 performances, we also achieved that goal. Our final goal was to qualify athletes for the Olympic Trials. Again, Brett delivered. In year one, all of our goals were met.

For year two (2008/2009), our goals stepped up again. First, we wanted to add more and faster athletes to our team. The chart below certainly indicates this!

Below is a comparison of the 5,000m times of the 2007 versus the 2008 male recruiting class

Another goal was to place athletes in the Top 5 in National Championships - a difficult task these days! Luckily, this has happened twice already - Brett was 3rd in the Half-Marathon Championships and Ian was 5th in the 5K Championships (and Cele who has moved to a professional athlete contract was 5th in the US 20K Championships). We also wanted to compete positively in high quality road races and our performances at the Manchester, Synaptics and 3M races certainly qualify as goal accomplished.

Our three final goals are to qualify athletes for US Teams (Brett and Giliat have done that already), to gain experience competing internationally (Brett flies to Amman, Jordan on Saturday to compete in the World Cross Country Championships), and to secure a sponsorship contract for athletes (Andrew Carlson and Cele Rodriguez have accomplished this). Nearly all of our goals for year two have already been met and this keeps us on track as we march toward our ultimate goal in 2012.

I say all of this as a way to partially explain why the athletes are running so well. They have gradually, yet continually raised their level of expectations. What was a good or even great performance last year is just run of the mill this year. For example, Matt Clark and Jordan Horn both ran big PRs in their season openers this outdoor track season but you wouldn't know it to speak with them. After the race, both downplayed their success. I know that both athletes would have been over the moon if they ran those times last year but not any more. They see their training partners running fast so they have their sites set on much better times as well.

This, for me, is a sure indication that our team is going to be successful. The athletes are raising their own expectations of what is good. 13:50 is faster than any year one athlete, save Lemon, had run before joining the group. Now, it's just a rust buster to get ready for higher goals. I have always said that if you get a group of talented runners training as a group at altitude with a gradual yet progressive training philosophy, success will come. Add to this a positive environment and ever increasing motivation and expectations and it's a winning combination. This spring should be fun. Stay tuned.......

A few weeks ago, I got to do something I have been wanting to do since the fall. I sat down with Middle and planned his training. And then this week, I got to watch him do his first "workouts" in over 6 months. For any of you out there who have struggled with a mysterious injury that you just couldn't kick, you will completely understand what Middle has gone through.

On Labor Day and for no apparent reason, Middle's hamstring locked up. What appeared to be a simple problem, soon began to drag on and on. He rested. He modified his training. He did more therapy than most runners do in a lifetime. He did everything right (which is the norm with Middle) but the hamstring/glute/groin (the injury started moving around) just got worse and worse. He took a month off. Still no better. He tried to run through it but after only 2 days he could barely walk. It was extremely frustrating to all of us in the group.

He continued to work on his body in Phil Wharton's clinic (I think he wore a groove in the road driving back and forth) and it was working. He was the strongest, most flexible and his muscles were the most balanced they have ever been. But, running still caused pain. Total frustration.

He saw an orthopedic surgeon. He got an MRI. He saw a neurologist. All results negative. A total mystery. The worse news you can get when searching and searching for a diagnosis.

Then, he made the leap of faith and the 2.5 hour drive to Phoenix to see therapist, Dr. John Ball. John is becoming the go-to guy for chronic, mysterious injuries. Many runners from Flagstaff are now seeing him with success. John is like a mechanic. He tinkers around. Has you go out and run a bit and come back with the data (how you felt). Then, he tinkers some more. You run more. He tinkers more and more as he gradually deduces what the problem could be. With Middle, the process went quick and luckily the results have been even quicker. Middle's hamstrings and groin muscles which attach near one another on the pelvis were fused together with scar tissue. While they sit in close proximity to one another, each muscle has to work independently. Tie them together with scar tissue and things go awry. You get tightness in the hamstrings even though they are flexible and strong. You get pain in the groin (from nerve compression) even though you can't find the pain in the groin muscle.

After a few intense sessions of massage, the scar tissue cried uncle. And, Middle began to run - pain free. What a glorious feeing for any runner. Now, we are several weeks post-miracle and he is still running pain free. He built his mileage up and is now starting the Lydiard base phase. We have a long way to go and there may be bumps along the way but he is running and for me, at long last, I get to talk with him about running, not about therapy or injuries, and that is happiness defined for both runner and coach.

To say I'm proud of how well the athletes are running would be an understatement. You see, I'm lucky. I am with them everyday and I see how hard they work day in and day out, week after week and month after month so I am extremely happy for their successes. While we try to post lots of videos to give you a glimpse into their lives, the videos just don't do justice to how hard they are working and just how tough this sport is. But I see it. I see it each and every day. And, I am so impressed and inspired by each athlete. They are working hard and so the results were always just around the corner.

Here are the latest successes:

1) Lindsay not only qualified for her first USATF Indoor Track Championships but ran a PR in the championships. Coming into this indoor season, her 3,000m PR was 9:35 (5:08 per mile). She lowered that to 9:17 in her first indoor race then took another 3 seconds off of that at Indoor Nationals running 9:14 (4:58 per mile). I don't have to tell you that taking 21 seconds off your time in a race that lasts less than 10 minutes is an amazing achievement.

While this improvement is impressive, what you don't see is just how tough Lindsay is. Like some of you, she has asthma and training at 7,000 feet is especially hard on her. What you don't see but I do is her dominating steep hill repeats at altitude while wheezing to try to suck in sips of air while the rest of us gulp it down yet are still suffering. What you don't see but I do is her racing indoor races up here in Flagstaff where she is white as a ghost because she simply can't get any air in, BUT she never gives up. She just pushes and pushes. What you are just starting to see, but I see everyday is the champion insider her.

2) Giliat went to the NACAC Championships with the goal of winning a medal. Well, he won 2 - an individual bronze medal and a team gold medal. As the press release said, he now has a Gold, Silver (from 2006) and Bronze medal from NACAC competitions. Not sure how he got all that hardware through airport security.

What you don't see but I do is how Giliat has gone from a discouraged runner after an '08 track season that wasn't what he wanted to a highly confident athlete poised for a breakout track season. What you don't see but I do is how he made the move away from family and the nice weather of the San Francisco Bay to suffer through an especially cold and snowy Flagstaff winter. He could have thrown in the towel (and I wouldn't have blamed him) but he didn't. He stuck it out. He put in the work and showed his resiliency by training in our winter weather. What you don't see but I do is just how Gil is building himself into a great runner.

3) Jordan and Matt opened their outdoor track season at Jordan's alma mater, Cal State Fullerton. At the Ben Brown Invite, both ran big PRs. Jordan's previous track PR was 14:01 (4:31 per mile) and he smashed it in his season opener by running 13:50 (4:27 per mile). Finishing at his side was teammate Matt Clark who dropped his PR from 13:57 to 13:50. The goal was to run 13:50 and they hit it right on the nose. They worked together, traded laps and cruised to PRs in a controlled season opener at a small meet. Jordan also got to go back and race in front of the home crowd and gave them the victory that we hoped for.

While the home crowd got to see a great race, what they didn't see but I did was how hard Jordan has worked to increase his flexibility and get more stride length out of those long legs of his. What you didn't see but I did was how he could barely touch his knees when he first arrived and worked diligently for over a year to improve his hamstring flexibility and his new beautifully long stride is evidence of it. What you don't see but I do is how he has honed his physical and mental gifts into a running machine.

Matt is no different. What you didn't see but I did was how he struggled in the fall in training. What you didn't see but I did was how hard it was mentally and physically to get dropped on each and every workout. What you didn't see but I did was how he stuck in there and let the fitness build. What you didn't see but I did was how dependable he is when it comes to racing. Just when we needed a big performance at Club Nationals, Matt delivered. He's a competitor and as his fitness has caught up to the group and he challenges himself in training, his potential is coming out.

Well, that's it for this week. The racing season is heating up as we have athletes racing nearly every weekend from now till May. Should be a fun ride and we thank you for all your support. You don't see it but the athletes are truly thankful to have you out there cheering them on.

Marathon Recovery
by Greg McMillan

Emily Harrison
Talent. Talent. Talent. That's what I think of when I think of Emily. We followed her through her college career and are honored that she has joined our group. Emily is exactly the type of athlete who is successful in our group. She's down to earth, nice and team-oriented. She's also fiercely competitive when the gun goes off and extremely versatile with potential for improvement on all surfaces - cross, roads and track - and as she moves up in distance.

She won't tell you but her accomplishments are many. She's a 3-time state champion while in high school in Virginia and went on to All-America honors while at UVA. Emily is a great addition to our women's group and we look forward to sharing her successes over the next few years.

Training & Racing
For new athletes, we always follow a strict altitude-adjustment program that I learned from Joe Vigil. The first 7 days are absolutely critical when coming to altitude and I think it's one of the reasons our athletes are successful at making the transition to altitude (and also why I think so many runners 'fail' when they do an altitude training camp or move to altitude). You simply must allow the body to adapt. For Emily, this first 7-day acclimation period is now over and we begin to gradually ramp up the training in her first month. I will say at the outset, that altitude seems to have little effect on her. She is just such a smooth and efficient runner and even on her recruiting trip, the altitude didn't bother her much.

Altitude Acclimation Training Program
Day 1 - 30 minutes
Day 2 - 40 minutes
Day 3 - 50 minutes with optional 30 minute second run
Day 4 - 60 minutes with optional 30 minute second run
Day 5 - 60 minutes with optional 30 minute second run
Day 6 - 50 minutes with optional 30 minute second run
Day 7 - 75 minutes with optional 30 minute second run

Despite track season (Emily's goal) is coming up fast, we are still going to do a few weeks of Lydiard base (leg speed on Mondays, steady state runs on Wednesday days and long runs on Saturdays) to ensure her acclimation is optimal. Given her strengths as a runner, this will fit right in with training to get her ready for a fast 10K on the track later in the spring. We'll also be increasing her mileage over the first month to get back to the 80-90 miles per week that seem to work for her.

Stay tuned for more on Emily

Videos
Flotack interview after winning the prestigious Roy Griak Invitational

Flotrack Race Footage of the Roy Griak Invitational

Off We Go

Year 2 for our new group is off with a bang. Not only have all the athletes arrived and gotten settled in, but we are already hitting the roads. A group headed to the US 20K Championships in New Haven, CT on Labor Day. In their first races for McMillanElite, Cele Rodriguez, Ian Burrell and Paige Higgins all placed in the the top 10. Cele's 5th place was very solid and shows he is coming into form as his debut marathon approaches. Ian's 8th place was very impressive. He, at only 23 years old, held his own in his first race over 10K and showed that he is poised to challenge for national titles in the future. Paige, like Cele, is in marathon training mode but was still able to get in the top 10. I expect good things from each of them as we head into the fall.

As you've seen, we are not just a training team but a racing team. It would be easier to not put ourselves out there but that's not our style. We want to race. We want to challenge ourselves. It doesn't always go right but we keep at it. That's what runners do. You keep trying. Expect to see us on the roads frequently as we head into fall and we'll keep you posted on how it goes.

Greg

Well, That Was Interesting

Arthur Lydiard said that only 10% of Olympic competitors are prepared to compete at the Games. Only 10% are fit, healthy and have the skills (physical and mental) to cope in the pinnacle event in our sport. I guess our lackluster performances in the Games can then be taken with a grain of salt - at least we have the company of 90% of the competitors (especially the US track and field team).

While just making the Olympic team in the first year out of college was quite an achievement for Lemon and Martin, it was still important to make the Olympics a positive experience. For Lemon, that meant qualifying for the final in the 3,000m steeplechase. It seemed he was ready. Under the watchful eye of his Scottish club coach, Ronnie Morrison, Lemon's preparation for the Games while in Scotland and in the pre-Olympic camp in Macau was solid. He seemed ready to run well enough to get to the final but knew it would take a very strong race to get there. From the gun, he felt flat. No go in the legs. Was it nerves? Was it the excitement over the Games? Was it simply a big jump up in level of competition? Who knows. The bottom line is that we didn't get it done. While there are many positives that we can take from the experience, we still need to get to the point where we can compete at a consistently high level. Consistency will be our focus going forward.

For Martin, the goal was top 20 and maybe even top 12. He's talented enough to run that well but it would be a challenge given that the Olympic marathon was only his 2nd marathon. His training in Japan was very good and if he could tolerate the weather, then he had a shot. Prior to the race, the consensus was that the race would be won in 2:11-2:13 and top 20 would be around 2:20. The race was expected to unfold similar to the women's marathon where the pack would come through halfway at an easy pace then the fireworks would start. For Martin, who is a front-runner and can easily get drawn into running too fast, too soon, this would be perfect. He could sit in the back of the lead pack, come through half-way in 1:07-1:08 after a slow first 10K then hold on as the heat and humidity took their toll. It was a good plan right up until the gun went off.

As you saw, the men's Olympic Marathon was not normal. It was not relaxed then fast. It was aggressive. It was fast from the gun. It challenged everyone's race plan. For Martin, this was probably the worse case scenario. He would easily get sucked into running too fast, too early just like everyone else. And he did, running 15:00 for his first 5K (2:06 pace) and 30:19 for the first 10K (2:08 pace). WAY too fast yet he wasn't alone. The large first pack saw everyone going through way above their pre-race plan. As I followed the race online, I knew outcome before he reached 15K. He would have to drop out. The fast early pace, the heat and humidity and the marathon distance would become too much to take. Am I unhappy that he had to DNF? No way! I am not the macho “must finish” type. Running too hard in hot conditions has ruined many great runners and at 24 years old, Martin has many great races to come. Instead, I follow the advice of my friend and 1988 Olympic Marathoner, Mark Conover, who advises “live to race another day.”

Are we seeing a change in how the Olympic Marathon is run though? I suspect so. In the 1988 Olympic 5,000m run, John Ngugi from Kenyan single handedly changed how the Olympic distance track races are run. In Games prior to 1988, the 5,000m and the 10,000m were tactical affairs with the pace dawdling in the early stages then someone surging in the last 3rd of the race then a big sprint at the end (think 1972 Olympic 5,000m). Occasionally, someone would try to make the pace fast but invariably, they would simply be the pacemaker for the kickers, setting a nice smooth fast pace. Ngugi changed all of that. With only 2 and a half laps of the 12 and a half lap race gone, he surged and not just a little surge, a huge surge. He ran 58.2 (3:52 mile pace) for his next lap and 2:32 for his next kilometer (2:30 per km is 4:00 mile pace). The field didn't know what hit them and Ngugi opened up a 30-meter lead. He went on to win handily and ushered in the current fartlek-style of racing in championships.

Did Wanjuri's run in Beijing do the same for the marathon? It seems likely. After all, we are seeing the same thing in big city marathons. Athletes are simply going for it (think 1st Avenue in the New York City Marathon where in the last few years the leaders have dropped sub 4:30 miles with 8 miles of running still to go!). It's not a stretch to suggest that a more aggressive style of marathoning is coming. While World-Record attempts will likely include smoother pacing, I suspect you will see more and more fartlek-style marathoning. The pace will be fast from the start and athletes will repeatedly surge. Fartlek marathoning may become the norm in big city marathons and seems will likely become the norm in Championship races like the Olympic Games and the World Championships. After all, if they are willing to run like they did in the heat and humidity of Beijing, what will they do next year in the in the World Championships in Berlin and in 2012 in the London Olympics - both places where the weather is expected to be more conducive to marathon running?

For our group, we are happy that Lemon and Martin made it to the Olympics. They are now and will always be Olympians and that is the highest honor in our sport. But we still have a lot of work to do. We must train smarter. We must train more consistently. We must race better. We must race more aggressively. We must get ready for what is to come over the next four years which I suspect will be another step up in the quality and depth of distance runners around the world making the medal stand an even harder task than it currently is. Time to get to work.

It's a bit of a 3-ring circus around here at the moment. We have marathoners in the early stages of their fall marathon training. We have several track guys who have finished their seasons, taken their mandatory breaks and are now back in the base phase. And, we have new athletes arriving weekly. They're settling in and getting comfortable with their new surroundings, new coach, new teammates and life after college. We also have visiting athletes that come and stay plus more recruits checking out our group. All in all (and like a circus) it's quite fun and exciting for everyone involved.

Lately, we seem to have only written about racing but for most of our group, the focus now is on training. For our marathoners, they have just completed their first week of the marathon phase. As per Lydiard, we completed a base phase then a hill phase prior to the marathon phase. I described the way we do the base phase in an earlier blog but to recap, we do a leg speed session once per week, a steady state run once per week and a long run on the weekend. Leg speed sessions usually involve a series of strides run as ins and outs on the track (e.g., 10 laps of 100 on 100 off). This keeps the body ready for fast running without any build-up of lactic acid - a big no no in Lydiard base training. The steady state run builds to 10 miles at marathon effort which is 50-60 minutes for the marathoners. The idea is to run at the fastest aerobic pace and just shy of the aerobic threshold which is different (and 15-20 seconds per mile slower) than the anaerobic or lactate threshold. Aerobic threshold running is the key to maximizing the effects of the base phase and once per week seems to work well for most athletes though some more experienced runners can handle 2 steady state runs per week. The long run builds to 2-2.5 hours and is done on hilly courses and at an easy pace.

For the marathoners' hill phase, we again adapt Lydiard's concepts. We use three types of hill workouts and rotate them so that we do each workout 2-3 times. The first workout is on our Chevron Hill (named because a Chevron station sits at the base of it). The hill takes 40-60 seconds to ascend and is very steep and paved. With this hill, we work on Lydiard's explosive ankle flexion and driving the body up the hill. Speed is less important than technique and we push strongly against the ground to drive the knees forward and practice good arm swing. After a brief jog at the top, the athletes head halfway done the hill where they do a stride in a side parking lot. Next, they continue down to the bottom of the hill for another stride then hit the hill again. We start with 6-8 reps and build to 10-12. Leg strength, good mechanics, heavy breathing and lactic acid tolerance are the outcome we're hoping for.

The second hill workout is done at Buffalo Park and has been shown on Flotrack. It is like a Lydiard hill circuit in that we run up a moderate grade, dirt trail for 600m then do multiple strides before running back down briskly. At the bottom, more strides are completed before we head back up the hill. The total loop is just over 2 miles and we start with 3 loops and build to 6 loops.

Lastly, we do a Rosa-inspired hill climb. When I coached the Discovery USA team, we did a 20K run that included 10K of continual uphill running from 4000 feet to 6000 feet of elevation. So, we do a warm-up then a 10K hill climb to the top of Mt. Elden. The dirt road starts at just over 7,000 feet and ends at 9,600 feet. It is a very tough run but we've seen very good fitness jumps from it.

After building the base and mileage and completing the hill phase, they are now in the marathon phase which includes high mileage and lots of marathon-specific workouts. We'll keep you posted on how it goes. The greatest risk is that they will peak too soon so we're trying to hold them back since each is feeling very fit right now.

For our returning track runners, each took 2 weeks of no running or just easy jogging for up to 30 minutes a few times per week. My hope is that they took more off days than running days in order to recharge the batteries. Most took trips to see friends and family and lived like a 'normal' person for a couple of weeks. Now though, we are back to building the base like we did last year. I'll make a couple of adjustments to what we did last year but essentially, we'll just bump the mileage up 10-20% and include leg speed, steady state running and long runs. I always like fun test workouts and low-key races so we'll do some of that as well.

For our new runners, each undergoes a strict altitude acclimation phase which lasts 4 weeks. The first 7 days are very gentle as the body adapts then the next 21 days are a gradual return to normal mileage and the beginning of the base phase workouts. Being smart when arriving at altitude pays big dividends so we take it gentle at first. We also recognize that for new athletes, there is a lot of life stress. Most have just graduated, packed up and moved to a new place, changed coaches, training systems and teammates, found a new job and many other new stressors. We respect this and the altitude adjustment month is as much for non-running activities and stress as it is for the running. After this acclimation period, each runner and I sit down to map out the next 4-12 years. Then, they begin the training. In our group, we have 3 areas of focus that each athlete falls within. One group is purely track focused and everything points toward next spring and summer. They may race some short road races and cross country but the focus is squarely on indoor (if we do any meets) and outdoor track. Another group is track/road. The main goal is still the track but longer (and more frequent) road races plus cross country are included. This group will likely move to the marathon in a year or two. The last group is our marathon group. While they'll race some road races, cross country and track, the focus is squarely on marathon performance.

Well, there you have it. A bit more on what our training is like. I'll try to focus on our training concepts in future blogs which will hopefully be posted each week. If haven't noticed, we are going to 2 athlete blogs per week plus a coach's blog. Your feedback has been great and we've listened. More blogs, more videos and more training insights. You got it! Thanks for visiting and keep the feedback coming.

Greg

PS: As our group grows in order to help more athletes, our limited resources are strained. If you enjoy reading the blogs, watching the videos and following the group, we'd love to welcome you as part of our extended family. Your donation has a direct impact on the athletes. If you or your company would like to sponsor our group, just let me know.

It's July 19th at 10PM and I should be asleep but I'm not. I'm still reeling from today. Saturdays are our long run days and today was a particularly fine one. We ran our old standby A-1 Mountain Road and several of the new athletes had very good runs. They are starting to get acclimated to the altitude and are all excited for the upcoming year with the expanded group we have. The marathon group also ran particularly well and are building steadily toward the fall. But before we even got to the start of the long run, I received the call I had hoped for. It was Lemon on the other end of the line. He was calling from France where he just raced a PR the night prior to let me know he had been selected for the UK Olympic Team. What a thrill! We are so proud of Lemon. He deserves it. Good luck in Beijing!

Speaking of a Beijing-bound athlete, I also received a text from our other Olympian, Martin Fagan, who had flown to Dublin to run the Irish National Championships. Though in the middle of marathon training, he won handily in less than ideal conditions, even letting someone else lead (which hardly ever happens with Martin). The goal was to win as easily as possible as to limit the disruption in his Olympic preparation and that mission was accomplished. He'll do one more training run/race before Beijing and I look forward to heading to Japan in a couple of weeks to help him with his final marathon prep for the Games.

We are also excited to have our latest athlete arrive in town. Giliat Ghebray arrived last night and it's great to see him again. We've been excited for his arrival since his recruiting visit three weeks ago. Giliat is a great person and also fast runner (13:42 for 5,000m) and he's a great addition to our track-focused group. Welcome Giliat.

He's pumped and we're pumped and now I must hit the hay. Angus likes to wake between 3 and 4AM so I better get some precious sleep before then.

There's a buzz growing in our group. Something is in the air. Stay tuned as we work toward continued success in year 2.

G-Mc

PS: If you have a kilt, wear it tomorrow to celebrate Lemon's success. The Celtic Festival is going on in Flagstaff right now so I may just go and get one myself!

A driving force behind the resurgence of US distance running is the New York Road Runners Club. Period. While they don't publicize it often, they give several grants each year to US post-collegiate groups. Their support plays a key role in helping our runners advance to the top of the podium. We are one group that they have helped this year and without it, we could not provide the key injury prevention plan for our athletes. Extremely grateful is not a strong enough statement to express how they are directly helping our athletes. And, you can be part of it too (and get to run the 2008 ING New York City Marathon and enjoy some VIP perks as well).

Here are the details from NYRRC:

The New York Road Runners Champion’s Circle is an initiative by NYRR to support U.S. post-collegiate and Olympic Development training groups around the country. Your $2500 donation is directed to fund long-term development of professional USA distance runners to prepare them to compete successfully in domestic and international competition. This donation entitles you to guaranteed entry into the ING New York City Marathon 2008. For more information, please visit http://www.ingnycmarathon.org/about/champs.php

If you love the sport and are looking for a way to make a direct and profound impact on our emerging elite athletes, please take part in this program. And, please pass the word along to your running friends. The more money raised, the more help for the athletes. And that, my friends, is what it's all about.

Greg

Things just keep getting better and better. I am very excited to announce some new members of our group:

1) Giliat Ghebray is a huge talent from the University of California. He's run 4:02 for the mile, 7:56 for 3,000m and 13:42 for 5,000m. He'll be arriving in Flagstaff in mid-July.

2) Ian Burrell is a 3-time All-American, 2-time SEC Champion and 13:45 5K runner while at the University of Georgia. As a native of Colorado Springs, Ian is excited to resume training at altitude. Ian and his fiance, Courtney, arrived in Flagstaff tonight (6/30/08) and will be getting married in August.

3) Matt Clark is an All-American at 10,000m, ACC 10,000m Champion and 10,000m record-holder while at Clemson. Matt has run 13:57 for 5,000m and 28:49 for 10,000m and is eager to continue his rise in the sport with us here in Flagstaff.

On the women's side, we welcome:

1) Paige Higgins: US 25K National Champion (already in Flagstaff and training hard),

2) Becky Guyette: 3-time Big West Champion (arriving in a week or two), and

3) Lindsay Allen: Stanford Steeple record holder (4th at NCAAs and arriving in early August).

Stay tuned for more athlete announcements as McMillanElite heads into Year 2 with a full head of steam!

Things are hopping. We've added two more female athletes to our roster - welcome Paige and Becky! (We'll have photos and bios up for them as soon as Middle returns from his honeymoon.) Lemon is doing well and looking forward to more European races. Martin is in full swing getting ready for the Olympics and Trent is finding his stride as we head into summer. Bri is back to full training after her break post-Trials and Michelle will now take her break and then return to join the women for our summer/fall campaign. Brett, Jordan and Hanlon headed to the Jim Bush Meet in LA and came away with 2 PRs. We knew it would be a time trial and it was. I'm proud of them for working together, taking turns leading, and for Brett and Jordan to come away with PRs.

Fasil, James and Andrew – Models for Emerging Elite Runners

I like Fasil Bizuneh (who lives here in Flagstaff). I like James Carney (who trains in Boulder). And, I like Andrew Carlson (who trains in Minneapolis). Not only are they nice guys, they are also great models for emerging elite athletes like the ones in our group. First, none of these guys were superstars in college. They were good but none stood out. Their 10,000m times were 28:46, 28:48 and 28:56 for Fasil, James and Andrew, respectively. Good times for sure but, each knew he could be great, not just good. He just needed to do the work and post-collegiate programs were the ticket.

In 2003 after finishing their collegiate eligibility, Fasil and James joined the Big Sur Distance Project (a post-collegiate program coached by legendary coach Bob Sevene), each spending three years doing the work. Andrew joined the Team USA Minnesota post-collegiate group after graduating in 2005 and has been doing the work there ever since.

Today, some 3-5 years later, they are great. They are always contenders in every race they run. Fasil, now 28 years old, is consistently in the top 5 at National Championships and lowered his 10,000m PR to 27:50 this year. James, now 30, is our 2008 National Half-Marathon Champion and ran 27:43 for 10,000m last year. And Andrew, now 25, is our 2008 15K National Champion and has run 13:32 for 5,000m. Was it a straight line up to the top? No way. There were lots of good races and lots of bad races.

Each runner, however, shows the path for emerging elite athletes. This path involves a few years of doing the work and building toward the future with the inevitable good seasons and bad seasons that characterize athletes trying to be the best. It’s just the way it is for emerging elite runners; expecting otherwise is ignorant. Sure, if you’re a superstar in college, you can make a fairly quick transition to racing to win national championships and other high profile events the first year out of college. You’re likely to also have a six-figure endorsement deal so finances aren’t a concern. Not so for the emerging elite runner. Life often involves a part-time job and time spent doing the work as the skills are developed to compete on the national level.

As James says in the July/August issue of Running Times magazine, “I like to think I give hope to guys who come out of college and don’t have super-fast PRs. You’ve got to have perseverance, and if you stick to it long enough, you can have success.” You do give hope, James. You and Fasil and Andrew point the way for our runners. It will take some time, and part of this time will be tough. However, if young runners stay in the sport, if young runners put in the 2-3 years of training after college and if they continue to believe in themselves even when they aren’t yet the best, the results will come and we will have yet another crop of former emerging elite athletes like our role models who are now at the top of the heap

Lemoncello in Hengelo

Big congratulations to Lemon on his opening steeplechase of 2008 at Hengelo, Netherlands. His previous best opening steeple was 8:34 and we thought something in the low 8:30s would be a great start to his track season. But, his workouts are really going well as we now enter the track training and we are very happy with the 8:28 opening race (just 5 seconds off his PR). This bodes very well for the rest of the season which we hope will culminate at the Olympic Games in August.

PR's

Just a quick note to say congrats to the athletes setting new PRs. Brianna set new PRs at 10K and half-marathon in her preparation for the Olympic Marathon Trials where she set a new PR in the marathon. Jordan ran a PR in the 1500m, Lemon ran a PR in the half-marathon and Brett ran a PR in the 10,000m. Things haven’t all been rosy, of course. We’ve certainly had our failures but hope to make the necessary changes in training and racing over the next few months so that every athlete sets a new PR and takes a small step forward as we head into year 2 of the program.

2 Down 2 to Go

Part of the master plan for the young runners in our program (the Cooper House guys) has been to spend the fall and winter working on strength and exposing them to longer distances on the roads. Maybe it was unfair of me to put them in every US road championships, taking on longer distances than each had ever run and going up against seasoned pros but I felt the experiences would help them down the line.

As of yesterday, two of them (Brett and Middle) completed the first leg of their journey – the last road race before track season. Brett has been amazing. He has had the most consistent training of everyone and his consistency in performance matches this. He carried the banner for our team with his top-10 finishes in each road race he did. I’m very proud of him for his hard work and openness to racing frequently and against the nation’s best. It would not surprise me to find him consistently in the top 5 next year and with a national championship in the near future. He’s that good and with another year of training and this year’s race experiences, he’ll be ready to not run at the back of the lead pack but to be aggressive and take his shot at victory.

Middle’s 15K performance was very important. While it wasn’t spectacular, it was solid and we needed that. After a great start to the fall with an 11th place finish at the US 20K champs and a good prep for his marathon debut at hot and humid Chicago (where I stopped him at 20 miles), we’ve struggled. I’ve not been able to fully dial in Middle’s training so we’ve had more than our share of downs. I’m hopeful I can do a better job of matching the training to his strengths and weaknesses as well as the demands and limitations of his event (10,000m). The 15K provides some positive momentum and I’m hopeful we can build on that. Training is not always cut and dry. It requires lots of tweaking but we’ll work together to dial it in.

Next up on the road race scene will be Jordan and Hanlon in the US 8K Champs and what a race that should be. The field is absolutely loaded and it should be a great event as every NYRRC event is. For these two young runners, our goal is simple – a positive race. Both are having great workouts so they are ready to run fast, it’s just a matter of smart pacing and being competitive with themselves and their competitors in the final 3K. Then, that will complete their road racing experience and we’ll get ready for track, which will begin on the 21st of March.

A Week in the Life - Mike Hanlon
March 3, 2008

Hanlon is on fire. After more than his share of rough weeks of training and racing, it seems he has finally hit his stride. It is so satisfying to see a young athlete face tough challenges, work hard and then overcome these challenges. That is certainly what Mike has done. He’s not only worked hard in his run training but he’s made the most gains in several other areas, particularly his core. Now, he’s itching for a good race and I suspect one is on the way. One thing about Mike, he’s one tough runner and a tough runner will always have success. It’s just a matter of time (think Brian Sell).

Mike’s training is nearly a mirror image of Brett’s, which I described last week. He does a leg speed workout early in the week then a stamina (lactate threshold) workout late in the week. His volume (and long run) are back to his college levels as we approach track season. He’ll race a road 8K on the 15th of March then we’ll begin track season where he’ll venture into uncharted territory, the 10,000m.

A Week in the Life – Brett Gotcher

Brett completed his base phase in the fall and his strength phase in the winter. Now, we are in the stamina (lactate threshold) phase prior to beginning race-specific training during track season. Most weeks in this phase involve some sort of light pace workout (10K pace work) or a leg speed session on Tuesdays then a stamina (lactate threshold) workout on Friday (with some light strides on Thursday). Sunday's long run is now only 90 minutes but we include some faster surges (ala Bill Squires) or a fast finish (ala Gabriele Rosa) to begin to introduce a bit more transitional running prior to the track training beginning.

While we increased his mileage by 10-25% in the fall, we are now back to the 80-90 miles per week that he ran in college. The plan is to each year inch up the mileage with some periods of a large increase (10-25%) and other times with a small increase (or no increase) so that his average weekly mileage increases by ~10% a year for the next 4-5 years.

Brett continues to respond very well to the training and his race performances have been consistently good since the fall (with the notable exception of the US Cross Country Championships last month where we mistimed our drop down from altitude for the race).

What I've learned from our conversations and from watching him train is that he responds very well to the stamina work. Armed with this information, we'll include a bit more stamina training in his track phase as compared with more of a speedster like Jordan who will have more anaerobic work in his track phase. Since we've only been working together for ~8 months, we are working closely to dial in the training that best fits his strengths and weaknesses and builds toward the future. This is the fun part of our group. Year one is filled with a lot of feedback as we determine the best pattern of training that produces the best results and also builds him into the athlete he wants to be in the future. As I've said before, we won't sacrifice the long-term for the short-term but with our open and honest communication, we are having good results now AND have an eye on the ultimate prize in the coming years.

Prescribed Performance Suppression

It may sound strange but there are times in each athlete’s career where he or she must sacrifice current performance ability for long-term benefits. This certainly was the case for our young runners this past fall. In a long-range program like ours – taking young runners straight out of college and developing them into 2012 Olympians – we are open to periods of each year where we compromise race performance in order to acclimate to certain types of training as well as to build specific components of fitness.

Our first example of prescribed performance suppression was this fall, our first training cycle as a new team. For the young runners coming out of college, our goal was to build their aerobic systems (specifically the capillary beds, mitochondria and aerobic threshold) and condition the musculoskeletal systems (muscles, tendons, ligaments, bones) in order to handle more volume as we advance each year. This base building went beyond just laying a foundation for success in this initial training cycle in 2008. It was designed to set the athletes up for 2009, which will set them up for 2010, etc. For most of the athletes that meant 10-25% more mileage than they averaged in college. Naturally, this increase in volume required lower intensity than usual and resulted in higher residual fatigue. Both of these effects meant that while the athletes were healthy and “pleasantly fatigued” from the training, racing was a little compromised. There was always a little residual fatigue in the muscles and the legs lacked that zip that we all like as we get ready to race.

This period of performance suppression ended with the Houston Half-Marathon and the athletes will now slightly reduce their volume as we begin to enter more race-specific training. Following Lydiard’s principles, we’ll do some hill training and some longer intervals before we get to track season. I appreciate that hard work the team has done and for them tolerating a bit of extra fatigue which slightly reduced their performance ability. I hope to pay them back by setting them up to race fast this spring.

The Fagan Flash

In July, I received an email from Martin Fagan, the talented Irishman who had just ended his successful collegiate career at Providence College. He was interested in working together as he entered the next phase of his running career. We set up a call, he in Belgium racing in some European meets and me in Flagstaff getting ready to start our group. I could hear in his voice his desire to be great. I could tell that he was ready to “step it up” and make the running lifestyle his everyday lifestyle. My instincts were correct. Martin Fagan is the real deal. He works hard. He does the little things that elite runners must do and I’m honored that he has faith in me.

As you probably read, Martin had troubles in the 6 weeks leading into his marathon debut in Dubai. He went through hell, mentally and physically, as we had to constantly change plans, hopes rising and falling and rising again. While this tough period would have destroyed most runners, Martin held firm to his goal – the 2008 Olympics. He was flexible and we found ways around his predicament. He used the experiences to become a better person and a better athlete – now even better equipped to handle adversity.

I am so proud of Martin. He put in the work and it paid off. He is now an Olympian – something very, very few humans will ever become. He’s a good role model for our team. He’s a good role model for young runners and he continues to mature as a professional runner as he deals with the increased media attention that comes from being the first Irish Olympic marathoner since 1992!

I shook his hand and looked him right in the eyes as I left Portugal to return to the US before his trip to Dubai. It was 3AM and I normally wouldn’t wake him but I wanted to see it. I wanted to see that resolve that all champions have. It was there as I knew it would be and I flew home to Flagstaff knowing that he’d get his Olympic qualifier, knowing that he was taking a step up in the pecking order, knowing that the man was on his way. Congrats Martin. You certainly earned it.

A Week in the Life – Brett Gotcher

Brett completed his base phase in the fall and his strength phase in the winter. Now, we are in the stamina (lactate threshold) phase prior to beginning race-specific training during track season. Most weeks in this phase involve some sort of light pace workout (10K pace work) or a leg speed session on Tuesdays then a stamina (lactate threshold) workout on Friday (with some light strides on Thursday). Sunday's long run is now only 90 minutes but we include some faster surges (ala Bill Squires) or a fast finish (ala Gabriele Rosa) to begin to introduce a bit more transitional running prior to the track training beginning.

While we increased his mileage by 10-25% in the fall, we are now back to the 80-90 miles per week that he ran in college. The plan is to each year inch up the mileage with some periods of a large increase (10-25%) and other times with a small increase (or no increase) so that his average weekly mileage increases by ~10% a year for the next 4-5 years.

Brett continues to respond very well to the training and his race performances have been consistently good since the fall (with the notable exception of the US Cross Country Championships last month where we mistimed our drop down from altitude for the race).

What I've learned from our conversations and from watching him train is that he responds very well to the stamina work. Armed with this information, we'll include a bit more stamina training in his track phase as compared with more of a speedster like Jordan who will have more anaerobic work in his track phase. Since we've only been working together for ~8 months, we are working closely to dial in the training that best fits his strengths and weaknesses and builds toward the future. This is the fun part of our group. Year one is filled with a lot of feedback as we determine the best pattern of training that produces the best results and also builds him into the athlete he wants to be in the future. As I've said before, we won't sacrifice the long-term for the short-term but with our open and honest communication, we are having good results now AND have an eye on the ultimate prize in the coming years.

Wow in ’07 and Hope in ‘08

2007 was a banner year for my wife and I. Our goal for the last few years has been to give back to the sport I love so much. In 2007, we began our labor of love - McMillanElite.

We wanted to create something that helped young people striving to fulfill their potential. We wanted something that honored the runners that have received training programs through McMillanRunning.com. We wanted something that would “pay it forward” and “pay it backward” – something that provided benefit to others who would then go on to provide benefit to even more others and also something that honored those that supported us as we worked to define our roles in life, namely our parents, families, friends, coaches, teachers and mentors. We wanted to complete the circle of giving, helping and loving.

The McMillanElite team is the result and 2007 was its birth. “McMillan” is used to honor all the runners that have used the services offered at McMillanRunning.com. They provided the financial resources that got the team started. “Elite” is used not to signify the fastest or the fittest but to signify the pursuit of excellence – your excellence, my excellence, their excellence. To be elite means to be your best and to do the thing that you do well to the utmost of your ability.

Once in a while, a new project is greater than the sum of the parts. McMillanElite certainly is. It is something more than just a group of runners. It is a team, a family.

2008 is a big year. It’s an Olympic year. It’s the first full year of McMillanElite. We are excited for 2008. We are hopeful of continued good performances and development of the young people who’ve entrusted their development to us. We are hopeful that we can continue the athletes’ pursuit of excellence and provide opportunities for more emerging elite runners. We are also hopeful that we can provide opportunities for others who love the sport like we do to get involved in supporting the McMillanElite athletes. And in the end, we are hopeful that we will simply keep putting one foot in front of the other, moving closer and closer to our goals, just as every runner across the world hopes to do this year.

Happy New Year

Greg & Tracy McMillan

A Week in the Life – Brianna Torres

Brianna is completing her base phase. As I described in an earlier coach’s blog, our team uses the Lydiard base phase and Brianna has now completed 12 weeks of base training, exactly what we wanted. With this base established, she is now ready to transition to the hill phase (also described in an earlier blog) before we begin the marathon phase for the Olympic Trials in April.

Bri is making great strides forward and every week we get a glimpse into her new fitness level. She’s running more consistently than ever and she’s built her mileage to the upper 70s, low 80s. This will make it easy to get to 90-100 miles per week (our goal for this training cycle) in the marathon phase just with the addition of a few more double runs and some longer workouts/long runs. We’ll also get a better idea of her base fitness with upcoming races like the Houston Half-Marathon. This will provide the starting point for our pace build up for the Trials. We need to make a couple of big jumps in pace before the Trials and we have good momentum for these jumps.

A Week in the Life – Brianna Torres

Brianna is completing her base phase. As I described in an earlier coach’s blog, our team uses the Lydiard base phase and Brianna has now completed 12 weeks of base training, exactly what we wanted. With this base established, she is now ready to transition to the hill phase (also described in an earlier blog) before we begin the marathon phase for the Olympic Trials in April.

Bri is making great strides forward and every week we get a glimpse into her new fitness level. She’s running more consistently than ever and she’s built her mileage to the upper 70s, low 80s. This will make it easy to get to 90-100 miles per week (our goal for this training cycle) in the marathon phase just with the addition of a few more double runs and some longer workouts/long runs. We’ll also get a better idea of her base fitness with upcoming races like the Houston Half-Marathon. This will provide the starting point for our pace build up for the Trials. We need to make a couple of big jumps in pace before the Trials and we have good momentum for these jumps.

Pure Fun

If you haven’t attended or competed in a USATF Club Cross Country Championships, make a note to get to Spokane, WA next December. This event is just pure fun. Saturday was my second Club XC Champs and like last year, it was cross country at its best.

Snow had fallen the prior few days and with 4-5 inches of snow covering the course, we jogged what we could make out as the route on Friday. The athletes then spiked up and did a few strides. Running on a snow-packed XC course would have been fun (see Canadian XC champs on Flocasts). The forecast, however, called for rain that night and the next day. If that happened, no more packed snow. Welcome sloppy, slippery mud. Sure enough, it rained that night and when we showed up to the course all had changed. No more snow, just mud. And with 3 races before Bri’s race and 4 races before the men’s race, the course was sure to be a glorious mess.

Like many runners, my first love in running was high school cross country. There is nothing like competing on a cross country team. There is nothing like racing as hard as you can over uneven, twisting, turning terrain through trees and over ravines in the rain or snow or mud or sand or hills or even in perfect running conditions (though preferable not in perfect running conditions). It’s fun to race for place instead of pace. It’s fun when doing your best is the bottom line and doing your best isn’t just for yourself but also for your teammates. That’s XC and this annual championship is our chance to do just that. With divisions for all adult age groups, it’s truly a once in a year opportunity to have some fun.

Our first Club XC as a new team was very successful. We put an athlete in the top 10 (Brett) and set ourselves up for an individual champion in the near future. Hanlon showed that if it comes down to toughness, he’s your man. Middle showed that he’ll always do his best even if his coach fries him in a workout before a big race. Jordan showed that no matter how fit you are, if you can’t find firm footing, you’ll have a tough day at the office on a course like this one. And Bri showed that even if she’s asked to race a 6K race in the middle of training for a 42K race, she’s on board. I’m so proud of each of them and can’t wait till we can field full teams next year.

Short-term Racing, Long-term Goals

As we head into a big race week for our group, it’s hard not to get ahead of ourselves.  We want to win NOW.  Our athletes are uber-talented.  The training is going well and despite the fact that we only started this team a mere 5 months ago, we feel ready to take on the world. 

It would be easy to forgo our long-term goals and focus on short-term races like this weekend’s US Club XC Championships, but we won’t.  We know our best races are coming in 2-4 years so we’ll keep to the path. We’ll keep building the runners day by day, week by week and month by month.  We’ll exhibit the patience that produces long distance running success.

We want it badly this weekend and will certainly go for it.  But, no matter how we perform, we’ll be happy knowing that we did our best. We’ll take pride in the work we’ve done thus far and enjoy the knowledge that we are building toward super-success in the coming months and years.  In running, it’s very easy to get ahead of yourself.  We won’t and hope you don’t either this winter.

The Altitude Advantage
Over the last 30 years, we learned that when a human being is born and raised at altitude, does lots of aerobic running throughout his or her youth, begins serious training in the late teens and early 20s, and has a high motivation (often to achieve a new socioeconomic status), he or she can achieve outstanding performances in distance running. This is what we think when we look at east Africans, isn’t it?

Ryan Hall’s performance in the Olympic Marathon Trials on November 3rd was and will continue to be an inspiration to all of us in distance running. But, it shouldn’t be seen as something out of the ordinary given what I said in the first paragraph.  Ryan simply fits the mold of what has produced the greatest distance runners of our time.  He was born and raised at altitude. His father used the Lydiard system with lots of aerobic development when Ryan was in high school and now he is part of our most successful post-collegiate program (Team Running USA) with good coaching and support.  And maybe most importantly, he has high motivation to use running to honor his gifts in life.  What we saw on November 3rd and hopefully will continue to see in Beijing and beyond is simply the result of the same pattern we’ve seen over the years – namely that altitude plays a large part in the success of long distance runners.

Most of us were not born at altitude but it is Coach Joe Vigil’s contention (and he knows a thing or two about running and altitude training) that by getting to altitude and laying the groundwork of lots of smart miles, the US distance runner can ‘catch up’.  We’ve seen it with Deena and we’ve seen it with others as well.  I believe this to be true and that’s why our team is based at 7,000 feet. That’s why we focus on aerobic development.  That’s why we keep the motivation high and know that with a few years of proper development, we will compete with the best in the world.  

Scientists can argue all they want about whether ‘altitude works’ but any runner who has trained at altitude and then raced at sea level knows that altitude provides an advantage.  For those of us committed to helping US distance running, it is an exciting time.  We’ve never had so many of our best distance runners living and training at altitude. We’ve never had so many of our best distance runners putting in the miles.  And it appears that we are on pace to have more distance runners performing at the highest levels by the time 2012 rolls around.  

The McMillanElite athletes hope to contribute to this resurgence in US distance running by using the altitude advantage here in Flagstaff. 

Racing Recap

Martin 2nd at Manchester Road Race
Anyone who says Martin Fagan isn’t tough will get a firm poke in the eye from me!  Martin is in fabulous shape but became very, very ill as he headed to Connecticut for the Manchester Road Race. He spent three days in bed and his first run of the week was a sluggish 30-minute run the day before the race.  And, despite feeling like “shite”, he put his best effort forward and was just nipped at the line by former champ, Andrew Letherby.  At 100% health, I’m confident that Martin would have run away with the race but that’s running.  We’ll just have to wait till next year. Next up for Martin is the European Cross Country Championships in Spain on 8 December – a tough race usually won by a tough man.  Let’s hope it’s Martin.

Brianna and Lemon Win
Using Phoenix races as workouts, Brianna and Lemon put in good efforts in different races (Bri in a 10-miler and Lemon in a 10K) both with the same results – a win and food. Brianna’s take was a pie and Lemon’s was a turkey.  Sounds like another Thanksgiving dinner is in the works!

Brett just off 5K PR in Seagate Elite 5K

Short-term Racing, Long-term Goals

As we head into a big race week for our group, it’s hard not to get ahead of ourselves.  We want to win NOW.  Our athletes are uber-talented.  The training is going well and despite the fact that we only started this team a mere 5 months ago, we feel ready to take on the world. 

It would be easy to forgo our long-term goals and focus on short-term races like this weekend’s US Club XC Championships, but we won’t.  We know our best races are coming in 2-4 years so we’ll keep to the path. We’ll keep building the runners day by day, week by week and month by month.  We’ll exhibit the patience that produces long distance running success.

We want it badly this weekend and will certainly go for it.  But, no matter how we perform, we’ll be happy knowing that we did our best. We’ll take pride in the work we’ve done thus far and enjoy the knowledge that we are building toward super-success in the coming months and years.  In running, it’s very easy to get ahead of yourself.  We won’t and hope you don’t either this winter.

Open to Change
As runners, we like a firm schedule. We like a guideline to follow.  We like formulae and equations and calculators.  As much as we say we don’t like things written in stone, we actually do. There is comfort in a set program.  Coaches are the same way.  We like routine. It makes things easy. Just follow this schedule and voila you’re a champion.  We like the rule, not the exception to the rule.

But, every athlete and every coach MUST be open to change from the usual program.  We must be ready to take an alternate route to achieve the goal.  A good example is Mike Hanlon.  Mike has struggled with the weekly steady state run.  He didn’t do any training of this nature in college and this workout has become his nemesis.  It would be easy to just throw in the towel and give up or to keep trying the same thing and expecting different results.  Instead, we adapt. We are open to change. We find an alternate route.

In Mike’s case, we simply broke the steady state run into intervals. Instead of one continuous run of 10 miles, we started by doing 5 x 2 miles with 1.5 minutes recovery jog and now progressed to 3 x 3 miles with 2 minutes recovery jog.  We are still getting the same amount of running at his aerobic threshold.  And instead of struggling with the workout, he is now excelling. This builds his confidence and puts us back on track for our goals.  It’s just another way to the same end result. All runners and coaches must be open to this.  I’m certainly trying to be.

Speaking of goals, it’s probably a good time to talk about 2008.  The majority of our team is focused on the track for the next one to three years (will vary based on the athlete). We aim to improve each athlete’s track times.  Some will focus on the 1500m/5000m and others the 5000m/10000m.  The exceptions are Bri Torres who is preparing for the Olympic Marathon Trials in April, Martin Fagan who will debut in the marathon in 2008 but who may still run some track and Mike Smith who just competed in the Olympic Marathon Trails though like Martin, he may run some track this year. 

Our long-term goals are the marathon in 2012 but we are a track-focused group for right now and are very excited about the potential for significant improvements in track times as we get to the spring.  Most collegians still have significant room for improvement in track times and our goal is to maximize this improvement.

A Week in the Life –Mike Hanlon

Respecting Your Immune System

Our trip to NYC last week accomplished several of our goals – 1) to expose the athletes to an Olympic Marathon Trials in anticipation of their Trials in 2012, 2) to expose the athletes to a big city marathon like the NYC Marathon and 3) to meet with our main sponsor, adidas, so they could put faces to names.

In addition to these positives, there were several negative stressors mainly that there was more stress – from travel, the altered sleep/rest cycle and Ryan’s death as well as more exposure to germs – on the airplane and throughout our visit to a city of millions.   Many of us were a bit under the weather from the trip, which brings up an important point for every distance runner.

We know a fair amount about the immune system, how it works and what strengthens it and what weakens it.  As an athlete, you must respect your immune system and recognize when it is compromised. When life stressors increase, you must add additional rest, more immune support and be prepared to seek medical care when necessary.

While you may be able to will yourself through workouts, you just can’t bull your way through a weakened immune system.  Illness can cut short great training progress so just like warding off injury, you must be alert to situations where your immune system is weakened. Our trip to NYC was one of these situations. You may experience this when life stress--whether from work or family obligations--seem to overwhelm you. 

When high stress, exposure to germs, and other immune system suppressors present themselves, make sure to respect this and alter your training (more easy running, less hard running) and life (more sleep, better nutrition) to balance the stress. As they say, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure and for a runner this is vitally important. We took it pretty easy the week following our trip and it was definitely the smart thing to do. This decision will benefit us greatly as we head into a winter of travel and racing where our immune systems could be compromised. We’ll work hard to respect this stress and keep our immune systems strong.  As winter weather approaches, we hope you can do the same.

A Week in the Life – Brett Gotcher

Brett completed his base phase in the third week of October.  He spent 11 weeks building his aerobic system with lots of easy miles and a gradually increasing long run (reaching 20 miles by the end of the base phase).  He worked on his leg speed once per week and increased his aerobic threshold pace by a whopping 15 seconds per mile through the weekly steady state workout.  He also showed great racing performance with his 6th place finish at the US 10-Mile Championships - a performance that was achieved without anaerobic or speed work but rather through a proper base training program.  The bottom line is that any talented post-collegiate runner that executes the base phase like Brett did can expect great results. One key is to run slowly on the daily runs so as to avoid injury and burn out.

With the base established, we now turn to hill training, as we want to build leg strength, learn Brett’s best uphill running technique and also his best downhill running technique.  And, like Arthur Lydiard’s hill circuit, we want to continue our neuromuscular development through the use of strides after each uphill and downhill.

Our hill circuit utilizes Lydiard’s principles and is a figure eight loop at Buffalo Park.  The total loop is 5K (whereas Arthur’s loop was 2 miles) and we shoot for 3 or 4 loops depending on how the athlete is feeling.  Our hill is ~600m long and is a moderate slope (~6%). The athletes run strongly up the hill using good technique.  They don’t stop at the top of the hill but run strongly over the crest of the hill to the entrance to Buffalo Park.  Once at the top, the athletes alternate easy jogging for 100-300m with a 100-200m stride.  On the upper loop, they complete 5 strides before heading back down the hill.  The strides are performed at a strong but controlled pace. 

After the top loop of strides is complete, the athletes run fast but under control down the same hill.  We ask the athletes to play with their technique until each finds his best downhill technique.  The fast downhill running improves the athlete’s leg turnover and strengthens the quads.  Once back at the bottom, the athletes continue the loop with one more stride at the bottom before heading on the next loop up the hill.  Since the loop takes 17-19 minutes on average, the total workout provides a good volume of running. 

Brett will continue the weekly hill circuit for a few more weeks and he’ll also continue the steady state run during this phase as well.  He will race twice in this phase and we are hopeful that he will continue to have positive race results to match his positive training results.

Denial and Grief
I was ready for this Trials to be over before it began.  I was excited to watch the much-anticipated event that would be select our 2008 Olympic Men’s Marathon Team but was also eager to see Mike Smith get healthy and happy. Things were going as planned as Mike completed half of the race and then dropped out so as not to cause permanent damage.  He achieved the goal of the 2008 Trials, which was to qualify. Now, we can work on his 2012 goal of making the Team.

The race, too, was all it was hyped to be. It was simply a masterful display of American marathoning – a return to our history of fast times, depth of runners and athletes who can actually be a factor in the Beijing Olympics.  Our entire team (save Mike Hanlon & Martin who had obligations in Flagstaff) was on hand.  We were having a blast. That is until a phone call suggested that our friend and training partner, Ryan Shay, had collapsed and was taken to the hospital.  When suggested that it may be serious, I brushed it off.  I assumed it was a hamstring problem or something treatable. 

As I entered the finish tent, I saw a coach of one of our new Olympians. I congratulated him but he was stone-faced.  He asked if I heard about Ryan going to the hospital and I said yes. He said he heard Ryan died. I didn’t believe him.  The suggestion was so far out of my reality that I brushed it off as a crazy rumor on marathon day.  As I finally met up with my wife and Mike Smith, she gave me the unconfirmed news that he had in fact died.  I didn’t believe her.  I was in denial.  Soon, confirmation came.  We were all in shock not knowing what to do.

No one is equipped to handle a situation like this, especially when we were supposed to be having such a great time - celebrating the accomplishment of so many athletes.  Since that moment and even as I type this on the plane heading back to Flagstaff, I, like everyone else on this team and everyone involved with US distance running, have bounced from denial to grief and back again.  I suspect this will continue for quite some time.

Our collective loss, you, I and all of running, is beyond comprehension.  The loss to our running community is immediate and profound. But the greatest loss and my greatest sadness is for Alicia, Ryan’s new wife.  Her loss is unimaginable.  My eyes swell with tears and my heart aches thinking of what she is going through.  Our running community is small and we will work together to help her through this. I hope you will join us as well with your thoughts and prayers.

A Week in the Life – Andrew “Middle” Middleton

Middle has now joined our Track group and will begin the hill circuit phase that contains hill work on Tuesday and a Steady State run on Friday.  Long runs continue to be on Sunday.  This week, however, was adjusted due to our trip to New York.  We moved the Steady State to Wednesday (so we could do it on our normal course) and instead of hills, we did strides in Central Park.  Next week, it’s back to the normal routine except for a few athletes who will be racing in Phoenix.

One Tough Job

Since I don’t get paid to coach this team, I shouldn’t say “job” but I do put heart and soul into the athletes. This week has been particularly difficult for me. More times than not, I felt at a loss for words or at least the right words. I’ll be a parent this coming winter so maybe this is helping me get ready.

I think every coach/parent struggles to know what is best to do or say when their athlete/child is suffering. Obviously, you want to end the suffering but sometimes there is simply nothing you can do. That is our situation heading into the Olympic Trials. Things are not good and there is no sign that they will improve. The athlete is suffering – physically and mentally - and there is nothing I can do. I try to help but feel I fail. I can’t change the situation but can only offer support and ways to deal with the disappointment. I’m just not sure I’m doing a good job with this.

I won’t give up, however. I’ll keep trying but I just wish I were more optimistic that I’ll have good advice and helpful answers to the very difficult questions that this situation involves. Time was/is the solution but we didn’t have time. We had the Olympic Trials – a race that comes around only once every 4 years. We’ll just have to get to Sunday and then this tough time will be over. We will be able to move on to blue skies and better times. I trust we’ll learn from this but I do not enjoy the feeling of inadequacy at helping an athlete in pain. Tough job indeed.

A Week in the Life – Brianna Torres
Brianna is in her build-up phase for the Olympic Marathon Trials in April. With the injury in June, we are gradually yet steadily building her base mileage back up to the 90-100 miles per week she will run in the marathon phase. This will take another two to three months to achieve. As with all athletes in the base phase, Bri performs a leg speed workout once per week to work on body posture, proper foot plant and development of the neuromuscular system. She also performs a weekly steady state run to improve her aerobic threshold – slightly faster than marathon race pace.

A Time of Transition
I can’t believe October is nearly over. I can’t believe that a year ago, Mike Smith was the only athlete here.  I can’t believe how much this team has come together.  There is talk of ‘chemistry’ in teams.  Coaches try to figure out how to achieve it but the more you are around running, the more you realize that team chemistry is rare.  Somehow, someway, it has happened here.  This team has great chemistry and seems to truly enjoy being around one another.  I can only think of what next year will be like.

Our Training
Training has turned into a three-ring circus around here.  Middle finished his marathon prep but (thankfully) not the marathon.  Now, he’s moving to the Track Trials group.  Most of the Track Trials group moves from the base phase to a hill phase. (Except for Lemon who will stay in the base phase a bit longer as his track season will occur later than the others.)  Bri continues her base build-up toward the women’s Marathon Trials in April and Martin moves from the base phase to a short hill phase in anticipation of his winter racing goals.  Jordan Horn arrives this weekend and will start his base phase.

And lastly, we are on the final stages of piecing together Mike Smith’s training for the Trials.  Hats off to him for hanging in there. I know he is hurting more physically and mentally than he lets on. He never wants to bring anyone else down or burden anyone with his problems.  He wears a smile despite the disappointment. All Trials participants have heavy expectation whether you have a shot at the Team or not.  Friends, family, the local paper and random strangers all show up to the Trials waiting and watching and hoping.  Athletes always feel a heavy burden and put more pressure on themselves than their friends and families know.  They don’t want to disappoint and feel that anything less than the perfect race, a top placing or a PR will suffice. This, of course, isn’t true but that’s how the athletes feel.  So, we, as their friends, family and fans, must be aware of this as 3 November draws near.  There are only 3 spots available for the Olympic Team. Most athletes will have a disappointing race.  That’s how these things go. I’ve been to several marathon Trials and most athletes are unhappy after the race.  They feel a heavy responsibility to themselves and to others. It’s our job to keep their perspective straight. We must celebrate their accomplishment. Competing in an Olympic Trials is such a rare and privileged accomplishment. It is something to be celebrated no matter the results on 3 November.  One of our mantras is that trying to be the best you can is a noble endeavor no matter the outcome.  Over 100 athletes will toe the line in New York and my hat is tipped to all of them for trying to be the best they can be. We should all follow their lead. 

A Week in the Life
Friends tell me that they want to know more about our training. I’ve tried to provide some insight in previous blogs but thought a ‘Week in the Life’ section may help in understanding what we are doing. Since we’re just finishing the base phase with our Track Trials group. I thought I would provide an actual week of training to see how we do it. This week comes straight from Brett Gotcher’s log.  This week is representative of 90% of the weeks in his base program, which, per Arthur Lydiard, has lasted 12 weeks.  CAUTION: Don’t try this at home. Brett had a gradual progression to this level of running.  We didn’t just jump in and start running this much. We gradually built to it.  He ran 85-90 miles per week in college so this amount of running is just the next step in his advancement.  We also run easy on the easy days and nearly all of our running is on a soft surface in good shoes. 

Thoughts on Martin Fagan

There are a few immutable laws and one is that it is always good to have an Irishman around. It is no surprise then that we were excited to have Martin move to Flagstaff and work out with our team. He was successful as an Irish junior runner. He was successful as a collegian at Providence College and now he has his sights set on being a successful professional runner. Anytime you have a talented athlete that has worked with a great coach like Ray Tracey at Providence, you are set up for success in the years following college. We are working to build on what Martin has done before as we move into new events.
One attribute that is key to his success is that Martin simply loves to run. He seems to always be smiling and is always up for a run. He’s a fierce competitor, a natural front runner and an athlete that is very coachable – rare for many successful male distance runners. And that combination of traits, my friends, is why you should keep your eye on Martin. Me thinks good things are to come in 2008.

Our Training & Racing

Delayed fitness. It almost seems counter-intuitive but the key to being a champion distance runner is NOT getting as fit as fast as you can. It is timing your peak fitness to match up with when you need to run fast. Peaking on time is the key to success and this is what I learned from Arthur Lydiard – the master of peaking.
Here’s an example of why this concept is important. There is a very, very good runner who comes to Flagstaff for training several times per year. In 2007, a year where the World Track & Field Championships were the numero uno goal for any professional runner, this athlete mistimed his peak. From February thru April (nearly 5 months before the World Championships and 2.5 months before our Trials to determine the World team), he had a string of stellar races – winning a national championship on the roads and running exceptionally fast on the track. He achieved peak fitness. By the time the US Champs rolled around in late June – his time to make the World Team, he was toast. He got too fit too fast. He needed to delay his fitness so as to be ready to compete when it mattered. Instead, he trained as hard as he could and got as fit as he could – at the wrong time of the year. He failed to make the world team and missed a great opportunity to hone his skills in international championships competition.
With a group of super talented runners like I work with here in Flag, it would be very easy to get too fit too fast. And this is the greatest risk in our group. That’s why we are careful to control ourselves in training. We are careful to control the rate of fitness improvement so that we are always pointing toward peak fitness in our goal races. Running is not like football where you give it the ol’ 110% on every run. In running, you give 80% consistently over 4-5 years. This is the path to success – always has been, always will be. Control your training. Build the body and its energy systems in the correct order and at the correct rate. This will lead to peak performance when it matters. That’s our goal. Wish us luck.

Our Training & Racing
This is the first blog where I get to report on our racing so I'll focus on the races instead of the training. If you've been following along, you know that this past weekend was our first big race weekend with Brett Gotcher and Mike Hanlon heading to Twin Cities to compete in the US 10-mile Championships, Martin Fagan heading to Boston to run the BAA Half-Marathon and Andrew Middleton heading to the always cool, crisp air of Chicago for his first marathon.

As most everyone knows by now, Chicago did not provide the cool, crisp air we are used to but instead endured oppressive heat and humidity on marathon morning. We knew it was going to be hot but just never expected it to be that hot. I am so proud of Middle for the work he did to get ready for the marathon. His training was nearly flawless and he was ready for a great day. The weather, however, had other plans. And despite the fact that until two months ago he had always lived and trained and raced in hot/humid Texas, it is simply not possible to run fast in those conditions and in my opinion, it can actually be detrimental to an athlete's career to race a hot/humid marathon. With the Olympics and World Championships being the exception, I won't subject an athlete in this program to a marathon in the kind of conditions that occurred on Sunday. That said, it is no surprise that we stopped Middle (though he did not take any convincing) at 21 miles. Even then, he was toast and it is truly heart-breaking to see someone that you care so much about suffering like he did in that heat. As always, he didn't complain. He simply endured the long walk to the subway and the train ride back to the hotel where he could finally cool off. He'll recover over the next few days and then we'll get back to work on our next goals. Being a smart runner means knowing when to say when and we are okay with that.

(I do feel it is important to say that the conditions in Chicago and how the race ended up are in no way a reflection on the Chicago Marathon staff. I have heard runners complaining about the race but the race did absolutely everything it could to help the runners. They, like all of us, can't control the weather but took every reasonable precaution to protect the runners.)

While Middle was getting ready before the marathon, Martin was starting his race in Boston. We knew Martin was fit but he's only done base training so we didn't know what performance to expect. The BAA Half is a great race but the course is fairly demanding. Most elite runners we talked with run a minute or two slower on that course than on a flat course. With four very, very good Kenyans in the field, our plan was to just sit behind them and hang on. If you know anything about Martin Fagan, however, you know that sitting behind is not his style. When the Kenyans didn't want to take the pace, Martin went straight to the front. If he's going to race, he wants it to be an honest race - very Steve Jones-like in that way. Once the group got going, they were really moving and Martin was feeling really good. At 7 miles, the pace dropped to 4:23 which we simply aren't trained to run at this point in the base phase and 2 runners got away. Martin, however, simply maintained his pace and finished strong in just over 1 hour and 3 minutes. For a guy who's in base training, been in Flagstaff for only 1 month and for his first go at the distance, this is a fantastic result. I was running from the 13.1 mark to mile 17 in Chicago to catch Middle when Martin called me and it was just so great to hear the excitement in his voice at the result. He's doing the work and we'll continue on our path toward his winter goals.

Shortly after Martin started his race and before Middle started his, Brett and Hanlon lined up against one of the deepest fields in a US road championships. With the marathon Trials only a month away, many of the contenders for the marathon team were on hand and fit. I figured any placing within the top 20 to be a great result for us. Both Brett and Hanlon have only been here for 2 months and are only doing base training so it seemed unrealistic to expect much against this field. Don't tell that to Brett Gotcher though. He simply went out there and kicked butt. He has had the best build-up of anyone on the team that is doing the base phase and we knew his base fitness was high but with no race-pace training, we didn't know what to expect. He ran a very smart race and found himself not in the top 20, not in the top 15 but 6th overall!! It's our first top 10 at a US championships and a great result as we get started with this post-collegiate team. Tracy nearly jumped out of her skin when I got off the phone with Brett and told her the result.

Hanlon struggled in his professional debut but we knew it would probably be a tough day for him. While Brett may have had the best build-up phase, Hanlon has had the worst. We've had constant interruptions in training but he showed his mettle by gutting it out. I can see that every week, Hanlon gets more and more professional in his approach to running and I think now that we have some things behind us, he's going to experience the same fitness as Brett and Martin by the time he completes his base phase.

For me, I'm thrilled. Things are coming together just as we had hoped. We are seeing some initial success and spirits are really high in this group. I'm thankful for the faith the athletes have in the plan and for the hard work they put in. But I'm most thankful that they are happy; that they have settled in and come to support one another; that they have become a team.

Thoughts on Andrew Lemoncello
We announced this new post-collegiate team in February 2007 via this website and a Flocast interview. We hoped to recruit athletes throughout the spring then get the group together in July. The very first athlete to apply to the team was Andrew Lemoncello and that was a week after we announced the team. To have an athlete as talented as 'Lemon' express interest really buoyed our confidence that we could put together a great team. Now that he's here and beginning to train, it is clear that our suspicion that this guy is going to be great is indeed correct. He has all the attributes a long distance runner needs and it's going to be fun being a part of his rise to international success.

Our Training
In the last blog, I wrote about the two 'workouts' we do in the base phase - the steady state run and the leg speed workout. And in a previous blog, I wrote about the weekly rhythm we use for base training - alternating 60-minute runs with 90-minute runs. This week, I want to discuss the weekly long run. For us, that means building up to 2+ hours of continuous running. Again, this is pure Lydiard. Arthur learned that there was something that happened to the runner when he or she routinely logged 2+ hour long runs. Science has teased out some of the physiological benefits but I still think there are changes that take place that we don't understand but that the runner feels. These changes may also be part of the incredible psychological benefit that runners who do regular long runs feel and to be honest, I don't care what the scientific reasons are. Regular long runs work and so we do them every week.

Doing them correctly of course is the trick. The long, steady run as is performed in a proper base phase should be at an easy effort. What pace is this?...who knows and who cares? What HR is it?...who knows and who cares? What lactate level?...who knows and who cares? The most important variable to monitor in a long run is effort. If the effort is easy and the long run doesn't take too much out of you then you are doing it correctly. Remember, we are trying to build capillary beds (the small blood vessels in the muscles where the oxygen from the blood is transferred into the muscles). Long, easy running is the best for building these capillary beds - particularly at altitude. Running too hard on long runs is one of the most common mistakes competitive runners make. They think faster is better but this is not necessarily true.Why? Because of injury and peaking too soon. Injuries which often start when running too fast on fatigued legs interrupt your week in and week out long run. This disrupts adaptation and cuts short your progress. The small extra stimulus (physically and probably more mentally) from a hard long run is far outweighed by injury risk. In my opinion, it is much more important to stack 10 long runs together that are a bit slower than it is to push too hard and risk injury. As a result, our long runs are at an easy pace and every runner knows if he or she is running easy or not. Our internal coach let's us know. Unfortunately, many competitive runners are quite adept at ignoring their internal coach. Let's learn from their mistakes and perform long steady runs at an easy pace.

Thoughts on Mike Hanlon
Aside from an unhealthy obsession with Michigan football, Mike brings a wealth of opportunity to the team. His college coach held him back and yet he ran 13:55 for 5K. We believe that he is a diamond in the rough and over the next few years, we intend to polish that diamond. It will require Mike (like everyone else) to make lots of changes as he transitions from a collegiate runner to a professional runner and we look forward to seeing the results of his hard work.

Our Training
In the last blog, I spoke about the weekly rhythm we use for base training. This week, I'll discuss the two workouts that are performed in the base phase. The first workout is a leg speed workout. Year-round, it is important for distance runners to work on leg speed. Leg speed workouts are NOT heavy breathing workouts. They are neuromuscular workouts to make sure the brain and muscles remember how to turn the legs over quickly. Since we don't want to breath heavy (indicating a large build up of lactic acid - a big no-no while in the base phase), these workouts include repeats lasting less than 30 seconds. We often go to the track for this workout as most of the athletes in the base phase are preparing for spring track. We don't time the repeats but simply work on a fast leg turnover and good technique. A good example might be 10 x 150m striding the first 50m, running quickly the second 50m then at 90% of top speed for the final 50m. The recovery jog is the 250m remaining to make a full lap of the track. Technique is more important then speed and we focus on running quickly but very relaxed. The athletes enjoy this workout because it is a departure from the base miles yet doesn't fatigue them since they are running two 90-minute runs and a two-hour long run each week. This workout is usually performed on Wednesday.

The other workout during the base phase is a steady state run and there is a video here that explains a bit more about that workout.

Thoughts on Brett Gotcher
All I will say about Brett as a person is that the world needs more Brett Gotchers. He's nice, polite, positive and always has a smile on his face. He inspires all of us to be better people. As an athlete, he is extremely talented. He matches this talent with focused training and never, ever gets drawn into running too fast when he shouldn't. He feels no need to 'strut his stuff' on easy training runs but is focused on being a great racer, not a workout king. I'm scared to think of how fast he will run next year.

Our Training
For athletes like Brett, who are just out of college and are focused on the 2008 Olympic Track Trials in June 2008, our goal this fall is to give them the proper base that they couldn't fully develop in college due to racing obligations. We are taking the time to provide them a full three to six months of base training to maximally develop their aerobic system. As Joe Vigil pointed out in a presentation last year, our athletes must 'catch up' aerobically to the rest of the world and these athletes must put in the mileage over the next two years to set them up for our push to the 2012 Olympics.

Our base training comes directly from Arthur Lydiard with slight modification for our athletes. Our first task is to build the athlete to the following volume (which comes directly from Arthur's Running to the Top book):

Monday: 60 minutes
Tuesday: 90 minutes
Wednesday: 60 minutes
Thursday: 90 minutes
Friday: 60-75 minutes
Saturday: 60-70 minutes
Sunday: 120 minutes

Depending on their previous training volumes in college, this may take three weeks or it may take three months. We have a long-term focus so whatever it takes, it takes. We just gradually build them up to this level. From a mileage standpoint, this amount of running works out to in the mid-80s for these runners. We then add 'doubles' to build them to their goal mileage which gradually but progressively moves them to 90-110 miles per week.

Given that most of them only ran long runs of 90 minutes in college, we are careful and gradual in our build-up to doing three runs per week over 90 minutes. Once we reach this level of running, we will maintain this for three to six months to maximize their base.

In next week's blog, I'll go into the workouts we include in this base training.

I'll end this week's entry with the following quote that was in a card given to me by my aunt before I won the state championship in high school. It provided inspiration to me and I think of it frequently.

"To believe in yourself and in what you can do is to take the first step on the road to success."