October 24th, the day I had looked forward to for months.  One full year since I had surgery on my foot.  One full year away from a training/racing schedule that had become almost reflexive.

I had a lot of growing pains in that year.  Every time I missed another race, or took two steps forward and one step back, I was reminded that big injuries break more than a bone, tear more than a tendon…they reach into the control panel of your flight deck, rip out the “Auto-Pilot” button, wires and all, and chuck it out the window.

And thank goodness.  Auto-Pilot is a killer of dreams.

So after missing USA Nationals in June and completely screwing over the 2009 season, I stopped groping around for the auto-pilot button and realized that the old schedule was out the window, old “truths” about healing times were crap, return to fitness estimates are useless, and I had better grab hold of the steering column and take a good look at the horizon or I was going to crash the plane.

So that’s what I did.  I said, “OK, USA’s was just this day on your calendar that got you through the last 8 months of recovery.  Something to look forward to.  Well, you don’t get to pick the day your body is ready to kick butt again.  Sucks, don’t it?”  So I didn’t race.  I took care of my niggles instead and stopped trying to fit my recovery into some arbitrary season calendar.  I decided I wasn’t going to feel bad about it.  Instead I was going to celebrate being my new enlightened self, and focus on what I was gaining rather than what I was missing out on (at that exact moment I was gaining a cheese pizza and a beverage, and missing out on absolutely nothing whatsoever). Good start.

The next four months, I put a new day on my calendar.  October 24th, the day of the Nike Plus Human Race.  The day the world runs 10k and uploads it online to feel a sense of connectedness to the global running community (or to voraciously tear through all the results and see how your time stacks up).  For me, the race was to be a day to celebrate the passing of a year, and I had four months to find out how to look at that positively.  My goal was to get to the day of the race and feel good about myself.  Feel good about my progress.  Feel excited about my future as an athlete.  I wanted to feel the way I felt when I first fell in love with running in high school, somewhere at the end of my freshman cross country season.  I was out on this 6 mile run with my team, and we were about to run State that weekend, and we had a chance to win it.  We were running up to this water tower, on a loop that wound down some dirt roads torn up by dirt-bikers into a sandy wash, and out the other end of the dyke back to campus.  A loop we had done 20 or 30 times since I joined the team.  Here I was with all the Varsity Girls, mostly seniors, and I’m 4′10″ tall and totally awkward in real life, but on this trail at this moment, I am one of them.  I am hardly breathing as I crest the hill…its quiet except for our footsteps, all of us ready to run the best race of our lives up to that point.  I knew then that I was a runner for life.  And no matter what obstacles I run into, now or in the future, no matter how much success I have, that love for running is the only truth that matters.  It is the purest blood that can pump through my athletic life.

Its 5pm, October 24th.  I double-check the foot-pod in my Lunarglides and slide the insole back in before slipping the shoe onto my foot.  Selecting “shuffle” on my ipod, I put the earphones in and clip the ipod to my shorts.  I reset my watch and walked down my apartment steps toward the speed-bump in the road that marks the start and finish of all my runs. “Begin 10k workout.”  I’m off for my NikePlus Challenge: “The Human Race.”

My legs are tight from 10 miles in the morning with the 5 mile tempo I did at 5:35 pace (a season best), and for a moment I wish I had remembered to bring my nike plus with me in the morning so I wouldn’t have to do this now.  But, alas, I’m committed.  After 4 minutes or so, as I hop onto Pre’s Trail, my stride opens up and I feel completely fresh.  The voice on my ipod says “1k completed” and I feel calm and relaxed.  I settle into an easy pace and listen to the music as I pass alongside the rushing river, my footsteps in sync with the current and the music at the same time.

Because my ipod is on shuffle, all sorts of random stuff is coming up, and since I’m feeling particularly nostalgic, the songs take me to the time in my life when it was important to me.  The Waifs’ “lighthouse” takes me back to Oberlin, Ohio, 2004, when I moved there to train with Vin Lananna after he left Stanford.  I’m filled with memories of Black River Cafe, loops around soybean fields, my 83 year old lovely roommate Dori who took me in, and my friend Jen who I’ve since lost touch with and regret it.  Then Vampire Weekend plays “Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa” and I remember the first run back from injury where I felt totally normal, the rhythm of the song matching my stride perfectly, and I picked up the pace just to feel the scenery fly on by.  Then Celine Dion comes on and I press skip.  And so on, and so forth, for 10k.

I hit the speed bump outside my apartment and press stop.

Mission accomplished.

So you’re a runner.  You’ve got a coach and a team and a training plan, and you train your butt off.  That’s a start.  But for a competitive runner trying to get the most out of their training, it’s the 22 hours a day that you’re not training that can make or break your season.  My biggest breakthroughs in running came when I started to live like an athlete before and after practice.  Follow my top five tips for setting a PR, and you’ll run faster without training one extra step.

1.     SLEEP MORE

If you are going to be strict about ONE THING, make it sleep.  Even if you don’t train any harder, sleeping 9 hours a night will make you faster.  Its when you are sleeping that you absorb all your hard work.  Your sleep is worth more than gold.  Protect it.  Its worth your friends thinking you’re lame for having a bedtime.

2.     DITCH THE SUGAR

Give up sweets 5 days a week and you will get sick less, recover better, and run faster.  If a muscle cell only lives for 6 months before a new one takes its place, in 6 months, every muscle in your body will be replaced by new muscles, and they will be built out of the foods that you eat.  You literally are what you eat!  You will run a lot faster made of real food than gummy worms!  I don’t believe in cutting out treats entirely for two reasons: 1.  Being extreme with food is pointless torture  2. Without chocolate, I would die.

3.     CARRY A WATER BOTTLE

Buy one you really like because you’ll be spending a lot of time with it.  When I started drinking water throughout the day, every day, those mystery “bad days” at practice happened way less often because I was never dehydrated.  Drinking water keeps your energy more level, which means sleeping less in Spanish class (bonus).  My bottle is always either in my hand, my backpack, or on my bedside table (except when I’m running). Pop a fizzy vitamin packet in there in the morning to keep it interesting, decorate it with stickers, and don’t let it get all moldy.  That’s just gross. 

4.     SOAK IN THE FIELD

Right before the race or the warm-up, take a minute to lie down in the grass, close your eyes, and breathe.  I call this “soaking in the field,” and I lay there until I feel like I’m sinking into the ground and the world starts to slowly swirl around me.  I tune out everything else and in about 30 seconds, I feel calm, grounded, and ready to get up and have some fun.  Don’t rush it, you’ll know when to open your eyes.

5.     ALWAYS EXPECT THE RACE TO HURT LIKE HELL

No matter how fit you get, the race will be hard.  I know, its not fair…at some point the reward for hard work should be that racing is easy.  Well, its not.  When I feel like caving in, I repeat this in my mind on repeat, “I train to handle pain.  Bring it.”  You’ll beat people simply because you are willing to hurt more than they are.

Let me know how these work for you!

L-Train

After an extended personal leave, I want to welcome readers back to this blog.  Its embarassing to say, but yesterday I just learned how to manage/edit/post comments myself, and I posted a whole bunch of your comments from WAY back.  I am excited to return to responding to comments and questions from the running community, and encourage you to post and respond to one another as well, if something in a topic ruffles your feathers or inspires you.

A heartfelt thanks to all the runners/coaches/fans out there who have encouraged me through the past couple years.  While giving you a chance to pose some questions for new topics, I will take the chance to share my crazy roller coaster experience of trying out for the Olympics last July.  I hope you find some common threads in your own running…from managing expectations, to trying to be the best you can be on the day, to coming up just short of your dreams, and having the courage to dream again.

You can post questions on this blog and follow me on Twitter @laurenfleshman.  There are some exciting projects in the works…I’ll keep you updated!

-L

I’m going to tell you about my most memorable race.

Part 1:

July 4th, 2008: The Olympic Trials final of the 5000 meters.

Its the time of day right before dark, where each moment is marked by less and less color, and the lush green of Eugene summers fades into varying shades of grey.

“This is it,” I tell myself, as I sit in the warmup area, slightly removed from everyone else to catch a few moments by myself before beginning my warmup.  I’m wearing warmups, even though its flippin hot….one of those weird things you tolerate because ever since high school, you were told you are supposed to wear sweats before a race.  You shakeout in the morning, you eat 4 hours before the event, you drink blue powerade even though you don’t like it, and you wear warmups.  You just do it.

With my hands wraped around my knees, I rock in place a few times, noticing that the damp grass has soaked through my pants.  Awesome.  Looking across the way, I see some of my teammates laying down relaxing.  A trainer is stretching out a sprinter who looks off into the distance.  Someone skips past me in deep concentration, doing drills before her race; as she passes by, I notice her butt is wet too and it makes me smile to myself.  The air is thick with anticipation, focus and potential energy.  Years worth of preparation can be felt all around me, and within me.  For a second I see that we are all united in that same feeling…we are all looking off at some far away horizon, lost within ourselves.

If I hadn’t been here at the Olympic Trials twice before, that type of energy in the air could completely unwind me like a ball of yarn into an absolute mess, and for a moment, I have a brief memory of my first Olympic Trials when I was 18: a true unraveling after the longest freshman year of college in history.  I got the pity clap that day as I barely finished my round of the 5k.  That was 8 years ago, and I’ve come a long way since then.  Injured in 2004, I watched that Olympic Trials 5k final from the sidelines and visualized myself winning four years later.  In 2008 I would be in my prime at 26 years old, and I would be unstoppable.  I knew it deep in my soul as an absolute truth.

Now the day is here, and I shake my head thinking about how sure I once was.  Even 4 weeks ago I didn’t think I would make the Olympics, I knew it.  That was the day I became the 8th American woman in history to break 15:00 for 5k, as I sprinted to victory in New York City and the crowd stood on their feet.  Was that only last month that I was bursting with elation?  I feel as if I’ve aged three years since then.  That was one day before a sharp pain in my foot kept me from running, and completely changed my Trials preparation.  I had made a decision then to heal my foot rather than train to win the Olympic Trials, knowing that it was the only way I could have a healthy, 14:50 5k body for the Olympic Games.  This was a huge risk because it would mean I would be running the Olympic Trials rusty and at 80%, but with only 4 women time-qualfied to fight for 3 Olympic spots, my chances were still good.  Worst case scenario I would finish fourth among those women with the Olympic time qualifier, and then all I would need is for one of those women to decide to run the 10k in the Olympic Games instead of the 5k, opening up a spot for me.  By the time Beijing rolled around six weeks later, I would be back to 100%.  Of course that’s not how I ever imagined myself trying to make this team…I was supposed to be peaked, confident, deserving, fighting for the win, unstoppable…

“Don’t think about that now,” I remind myself as I try to slow my heartrate back down. “All I have is now.  Do what you can with now.”

Zipping up my backpack and leaning it against a fence for safe keeping, I shuffle past all the out-of-town athletes, (who are warming up in circles on the grass field,) toward a fence leading to the outside world.  I head out to do the same warmup loop I have done a hundred times before, the loop Eugene locals do.  Jogging through neighborhoods, I tune out the feedback my body is giving me about how its feeling today.  It doesn’t matter.  Today, with this body, I race.

Past familiar houses, cars, dogs behind fences…I get lighter on my feet, smoother in my stride, quicker through the breeze.  I pass the turn-off for Pre’s Rock and make the turn back toward the track when suddenly I have tears in my eyes.  I can not breathe.  The tiny crack in my heart threatens to burst open.  Sitting on the nearest curb, the sadness turns to anger and my sinewy body balls itself up for a fight…a fight against what?  Fate?  The situation I am in looks nothing like what I had dreamed this day would be like for the past 8 years.  This is my home track.  I moved my life here for this.  The Olympic Trials.  My moment.  My moment.

To be continued…

One common question that seems to come up this time of year has to do with taking downtime in the off-season. The off-season is a long ways away for me right now, since I’m headed off to Europe to start getting things rolling. I’m currently at that stage of the season where running feels good every single day, workouts are coming together, and when I look at my week in my running log, I laugh at how effortlessly things seem to be now, things that were so dang tough a few months ago. You know what I mean….take a week of training during your peak training season and imagine your coach giving you that exact same schedule for a week in August. Repeat 400’s in what?! No way! Man, but that time of year when you can just clip off those 400’s, miles, tempos, and just show up to practice with the attitude “Bring it on, Coach,” that’s the best feeling around. If only you could bottle it up and sell it.

The problem with that awesome feeling is that you don’t want it to stop. For many people, this time of year is followed by a peak and then a downward slide where you feel tired and burned out. This makes it easy to transition into a period of rest and regeneration. But for others, (and this is dangerous,) they are afraid to let go of their fitness at the end of the season. It is scary to think about starting over from scratch sometims. Letting your fitness go willingly can feel like watching money slip out of your wallet and blow away in the wind: you have to resist the urge to reach out and grab it because you worked hard to earn it. You have to sit back and let some of it blow away.

I was on a run yesterday and it felt completely effortless. I was listening to The Shins latest album on my ipod, running along the railroad tracks in Eugene, playing around with pace and changing speeds just because it felt so easy to do it. I was thinking about my upcoming workout for Saturday and how I can’t wait to do it, whereas a few months ago I would have cringed at the prospect of fast repeat 800’s. I relished in that feeling for a minute and then it popped into my head:

“I don’t think I should take a break this year; just imagine what I could do next year if I don’t lose any of the fitness I have gained so far. I could just build on this and build on this. All I need to do is not let myself get burned out and then I won’t need a break.”

The feeling I had was that I wanted to protect the money in my wallet and continue packing more in. But improvement isn’t as simple as that. The wallet gets full of small bills and you can’t fit any more in. Its literally bursting at the seams. By taking a break, I can sit down and sort through the ones and fives and tens in my wallet and think about the year and how I earned each one. A few blow away in the wind while I sort through them, but in the end, I can add most of it up, go to the bank, exchange them all in for a couple hundreds and slip those into my wallet for next year. They don’t take up much room in my wallet and they are filed away. This is called the cumulative effect of training. Now with my slim wallet with a couple big bills, I can spend some time planning how I want to fill up my wallet next time around. Every year, there are fewer one dollar bills and more fives and tens. By taking the time to rest and think about last season, I develop an action plan with my coach that is more effective, with less waste.

Time and time again, I see athletes give in to the elation of being on top of their game. Getting back into shape after a break is hard. It hurts. Bad. But the alternative is stuffing the wallet so full that the seams rip and money spills out everywhere, sending you scrambling for scraps.

Trust me, its worth the break. Take it before you need it. Otherwise you set yourself up for a couple really big highs, sandwiched between some terrible-aweful-no good-really bad lows. These lows could be serious injuries, emotional pits, or mental burnout. Take control by planning an ebb and flow into your seasons and into your years. You will work your way up the improvement ladder and enjoy the benefits of cumulative training.

How I take a break:

Time: 2-4 weeks of no running. For two weeks or so I just chill out. I watch TV, go on road trips, spend time with people, stay up late, sleep in, etc. I DO NOT RUN A STEP! The next two weeks I am more active, going on bike rides with friends, hiking, swimming, playing. I listen to my body and if I feel like going for a run, I’ll go. If I don’t, I don’t. The important thing is that I don’t have a plan that I have to follow…if a run works its way into the day, so be it. On average I end up running about 5 or 6 times total over two weeks. Preferably, I’d spend this two weeks water-skiing or hiking and do very little running, but sometimes I’m stuck at home and bored and crave a run. Sometimes its 20 minutes, sometimes its 60 minutes.

Weight:

I let my body recover by not trying to force it to stay at a certain weight. It is important to keep race weight for racing only. Just like training, body weight should ebb and flow some. For me, there is about a five pound swing between my highest and lowest weight.

Diet:

I eat pretty balanced most of the year, so I don’t feel this huge need to pig out all the time on my break. I learned that being crazy strict about things just makes you swing the other way in the off-season. Its not good for anyone to eat tons of junk in a two week period of time, whether you are an athlete or not, so it would be silly to go on a mission to get a heart attack. In the off-season, I eat more ice-cream and cookies than usual, (because they are sent from heaven directly,) but basically the biggest change is that I don’t worry about timing my meals to maximize my energy, and I just eat whatever is served. There are times during the season when I would turn down chocolate cake at a dinner party, but the off-season isn’t one of them.

Journaling:

Writing about last season while it is fresh in my mind has proven to be the most educational thing I could do for my running. The best person to learn from is yourself.

Best of luck with your off-season! I hope you enjoy your well-earned break!

Off to Europe for me…

-L

Dear Lauren,

I’m a junior in high school this year.  I just started running last year and its been going really really well.  After a couple months I started winning races, and this year I won nearly all of my races in my state.  I have been looking on dyestat and talking to people and it seems like some of the fast high school runners race against college runners in open races.  I am bored with high school races and really think I need to do some of these open races to improve, but my coach won’t let me.  He doesn’t think I should travel to these races because I am “only in high school.”  I want to be really good, but I think my coach is holding me back too much.  What should I do?

 -Zibby2000

Alright Zibby2000, I have an answer you might not like.  In my opinion, it doesn’t matter if you are #1 in the country, it generally doesn’t make sense to skip steps in your development.  Now if your coach was really excited about it and the race was local, etc, then whatever.  No big deal really.  But if you think High School running has taught you everything it can teach you in less than two years as a runner, think again. 

While running against college kids could be a good challenge, its not worth fighting with your coach over it.  Your coach is your #2 most important resource, behind your desire and passion for running, so protect the relationship with your coach with your life.  He or she is a critical part of your current success, and that deserves some thought before you start thinking your coach is out to lunch.   Talk about the issue with your coach and really get a solid answer out of him or her.  Coach communication is crucial.

I would encourage you to master the level you are at right now.  If you think you mastered it, you haven’t.  There is a saying that goes, “the smarter you are, the less you know.”  That applies to running too.

You may have mastered racing as an athlete new to the sport with no expectations on you, but this season will have a new slant to it.  To be a great runner, you need to be able to run well under any circumstance.  This year has a lot to teach you.  You will need to learn to race well as a veteran.  You will need to be able to run with expectations on you.  You will need to learn to race when its not that exciting and instead generate your own excitement.  You will need to learn to be a leader…to bring along some of the younger girls on your team so that your whole team is stronger.  There are a million ways to improve other than by what the clock says, and it best to do so at the level appropriate to you.  Trust me. 

So lets find some new challenges!  So you win races now?  Try to be dominant!  Try to get your name in the paper so often that people can’t help but remember you when you go away to college!

It took me four years of gradual improvement to win my California State Title, so I can’t say I had the same problem as you in high school.  However, in college, I won NCAA’s in the 5k as a sophmore.  That’s the highest honor you can win in college and I still had two years left to go before graduating.  Some other fast runners left college early to go pro after having success like that.  For some of them it worked out fine, but others struggled as a result of skipping steps in their career. 

My coaches encouraged me to play out my time in college to its fullest.  They guided me to improve at my appropriate level in every way I could, and by the time I graduated I was really ready to pursue my Olympic Dreams as a pro runner.  I had truly experienced high school and College running and I don’t regret a thing.  It was so much fun I get goose bumps thinking about it. 

Skipping steps works for some people, but its not worth a fight, and frankly, I think its overrated :).  Best of luck with your running.

-L

Its official:

My coach is messing with my head.

I’ve always suspected Coach Lananna’s gift for coaching moved beyond the physical, but now I’m sure his little hands are wrapped tightly around my over-active brain. After seven years of working with one of the most legendary coaches of the present time, it took a simple 8×400 meter workout on Wednesday to make his methods (a tiny bit more) clear. He is coaching my mind.

When it comes to exceptional coaching, you don’t have to be Bill Bowerman, Arthur Lydiard, Jack Daniels, or Phil King to create great results. Hundreds of coaches all over the world will stumble upon a magical formula that works on some of their athletes, guiding those athletes to levels they never dreamed possible (on every level from the Olympics to breaking the 6 minute mile). What makes exceptional coaching is often a mystery; a certain magic happens between a coach and an athlete that makes the blah blah blah physical preparation translate directly into competitiveness and confidence. The best coaches have left a legacy of artistry and finesse, and the specifics of their workouts are simply scraps left behind for the rest of us to chew on.

Whether its 10×400 vs. 12×300… stair climbs vs. hill reps… its all hard work. Writing out workouts is one thing, and “executing them” is another. My coach, Vin Lananna, has always treated coaching like an art, executing workouts to complicated levels requiring 5 or 6 stopwatches and several assistants, pulling athletes out early because of “how they look”, even if they are hitting all the right times. I never picked up on the subtleties, and would try to figure out why so many Stanford Athletes were running well. In the track office, I’d ask Vin about his training philosophy and what workouts were going to make me a faster athlete. Time and time again, he would lightly dismiss physiology talk and direct the conversation to my goals, my motivations, and other non-related subjects that exposed how my brain worked and what made me tick. It was as if I were asking Willy Wonka for his recipe for chocolate and Willy Wonka, (pointing to his giant magical Chocolate Factory), says “the taste has got very little to do with the actual recipe, my dear.”

During my time there, Stanford was Coach Lananna’s Magical Choclate Factory, and I was an everlasting gobstopper. The success was never meant to end, so long as we believed. NCAA champions and All-Americans were popping up all over the place. I had four uninterrupted years of incredible fun that I will never forget. This was of course complicated by graduating from college, and Coach moving to Ohio and leaving coaching behind for a little while. Outside of the magical factory, the training plan over email became just a recipe. Left only with numbers and symbols on a calendar, it no longer looked so impressive. “Is that all?” I’d think. “That can’t possibly be enough training…” I’d muse. Left only with my workouts, I looked around at what workouts other people were doing for comparison. Slowly but surely I was looking everywhere else but right in front of me. I’m sure you can guess that my racing started to suffer a bit. The whole grass is greener thing is disasterous in sports. Just don’t do it, ok?

To my great excitement and good fortune, Coach Lananna made a big move back into coaching last year and moved to Eugene, Oregon to coach the ducks. There was very little question in my mind that I needed to move there too. I missed the magical chocolate factory. I missed being the everlasting gobstopper.

Yesterday I came down to the track at Hayward Field for 8×400 meters with Coach. We’ve been working together again for a couple months now and it feels like a good old pair of shoes getting broken back in. Even though the routines came back immediately, the magic takes a little longer to brew. We both have our own sparkle, but does the potential for magic leading up to the 2008 Olympics still exist?

After yesterday’s 400’s, I have a feeling it does. And how do I know? Because I came face to face with Willy Wonka himself on #6 of 8 400’s.

You know how in 8×400, #5, 6, and 7 are the hardest? But somewhere after #6ish, you know you are home free and there is a big relief inside knowing the worst is over. Suddenly you feel better, you focus on doing the last one well, etc. Your focus changes from being a tough cookie to being finished soon.

Now imagine at the moment of switching to the relief of being nearly done, you coach leans over right before #7 and says, “You are going to do 10 instead. Can you do 10? Ok, #7…GO!!!”

So I’m off on #7 running, and my mind is like “What the heck! He can’t do that! This is supposed to be my almost-last-one and now I’m not even close! Ow, this is really hard! I’m tired. My legs hurt. I can’t breathe! I can’t possibly do three more after this. What a jerk! Grrrrr…..”

And for that whole 68.1 seconds, I’m mentally fighting a war. He did the same thing to me on 1000 meter reps last week and I mentally fell apart, and now I’m realizing that this is a test. Its part of the training that isn’t on the recipe….its part of the magic. I pull myself together and focus on passing this mental test. I CAN be tough when things turn out harder than I expect them to. I CAN change from cruise-home mode back to tough-girl mode.

After 9, he stops the workout. “I’m on to your little trick, Coach…” I want to say to him. But I don’t say anything. I play my role and scowl at him and I let him be the magician. I may not have aced the test, but next time I will. Thinking about it later that night, I realized that lots of women can run 400 reps in 67 to 68, yet only three stand on the podium. It is my belief that what sets those three apart is often the artistry of coaching and the chemistry between coach and athlete. It takes a little magic.

So when I started out by saying that my coach was messing with my mind, that’s what I meant, and its a good thing.

I believe in magic.

Bring it on.

-L

Training on vacation.

I don’t know about you guys, but for me, there is nothing more fun than getting all my training in when I’m on vacation. I love having to do all my runs early in the morning between long days of being up on my feet, or baking in the sun. The stimulation of running 90% of my mileage on the two-inch shoulder of some highway is almost too much to bear. During the holiday break, I’m especially motivated to get out the door and do a track workout while everyone else sits around all day enjoying the conveyer belt of treats, sweets, brunches, music, TV, and relaxation.

Personally, my favorite part of training on vacation is around 6pm, when I haven’t gotten in my run yet and have been out with family doing a million things all day. I love to just sit there on the couch staring out the window at the last 30 minutes of sunlight, thinking about how I planned to get in one hour tonight. Oh! The sun sets as my mind starts to think about all sorts of motivating things, like how my tacos from an hour ago are hovering somewhere in my esophagus; that laying on the beach all day without drinking water sucked every drop of water out of me, turning my blood into syrup, my legs into lead, and my mind to mush; and how I really haven’t had a proper day off in at least…oh wait…it was 2 days ago. To run, or not to run…

The truth:

Look, there is no way around it. Training on vacation really sucks. I joke about it, but as you know, all those things I mentioned really happen. Whether its Christmas Break or family reunions or ski-trips or weddings, there is a common thread: we are out of our routine, and the trip is not all about us.

It is in situations like this that we are really challenged as athletes.

Now, you will probably expect that as a professional runner, I will now say that if we want to be the best, we need to rise to this challenge! We must prioritize our training and do whatever it takes to get it done. If we are serious about improving, then we should let no adverse conditions, no family commitments, no turkey dinner, no Christmas cookies stand in our way. Ummmm…no.

I can’t say that to you because, for one, I would be a complete hypocrite, and for two, I don’t agree with that approach. Its unrealistic, unnecessary torture if you ask me.

In my experience:

I set training goals on vacation and always come up short. In high school and college I would blame it on not having my own car, or my family not making my training their #1 priority. And it just wasn’t fair! I mean, I’d wake up from camping in my tent to the smell of bacon and pancakes, and I’d be faced with the decision to run now or later, knowing that later had a good chance of becoming never. I’d put on my running stuff and stand there, watching everyone laughing and relaxing and flipping pancakes, carefree and easy. My stomach would grumble. And then I’d just start to get mad.

Enter Lauren and Mom on camp trip:

“Oh good morning honey! How’d you sleep? Come get some pancakes. Did you hear the raccoons last night? It was….”

“I have to go do a tempo run.” (Grouchy frown).

“Well the food might be gone when you get back…are you sure you don’t want to grab some greasy slabs of pig before you go run up the giant mountain we’re camped on the side of?”

Camera pans to the road that switchbacks up the cliffs.
Exit Lauren in exceedingly bad mood.

You get the picture.

When I’m on vacation, I often feel that there is no right decision. There is no good time to work out. Its easy to sit there and think that if only I were more dedicated, I would have gotten it all in. I used to think that professional runners would be the ultimate example…that they’d know how to make a fail-proof vacation plan, and then when I went pro, I was disappointed when nothing magically changed. For my first year or two, I thought that it was something that I lacked…that the best athletes must either not go on vacations, or else they must travel under stipulations that are totally unrealistic for my family.

But now I look at things differently. With experience, I’ve learned that the biggest challenge is NOT actually getting in all the training exactly as planned. If I really wanted to, I could be completely blind to the people around me and make running the most important thing in the universe. But not only is this unnecessary, it’s actually destructive.

To use a simple but illustrative simile..If training in the routine of home is like swimming in a silky smooth Olympic Pool, training on vacation is like swimming in the choppy waves of the ocean. You can’t expect to swim in a perfectly straight line…stubbornly fighting the waves will leave you exhausted. Successful vacation training requires moving with the waves as they come.

Adaptability:

The most valuable challenge that vacations present to us as athletes is adaptability: your ability to roll with the punches and make adjustments on the fly. You become a better athlete when you can make a plan, but not be made by that plan. Many runners put way too much emphasis on one or two specific workouts and allow them to make or break their upcoming races. Being an athlete requires being better than your workouts. They are a means to an end and their affect on you is cumulative.

Every single athlete will have a couple weeks a year where things don’t go according to plan. These are “pauses” in training, and they are so common they are practically mandatory. For some it’s an injury, for others its bronchitis, for me its vacation, but no one is immune. When these “pauses” come up, you need to recognize the pause and adapt. When it comes time to race, your ability to adapt to the unknown will shine through in your performance.

Improving:

Each year, sit down and think about the number of interruptions and pauses you had in your training. Which ones were avoidable? Which one’s weren’t? As you become more committed to running, you will gradually minimize the circumstances that get in the way of your running. Since you don’t live in a bubble, you can not expect perfection. And the nature of athletics demands that you respond to imperfect situations, so it actually pays to be “good at” imperfect.

When it comes time to race, adaptability will ultimately show you the biggest personal improvements. As you get better at adapting to the unknown, you will find yourself beating athletes who are more talented and physically fit than you. You will be able to rise to the occasion on race day. More than one of my national championships was won in this way so I speak from experience! Friends and teammates of mine were often shaking their heads at how I could “pull a race out” after pulling an all-nighter for a test, or after missing training for some minor injury the week before the race. It seems I rarely ever create an ideal scenario for success. Perhaps I prefer a little sprinkle of chaos. But so long as the chaos can fade into the distance when you step on the starting line, it is inconsequential.

Seven Tips for Vacation Training:

1. Google Maps.
A week before you leave, type the address of the place you are staying into Google and click the maps tab. Use the maps to scope out the area for potential runs, a gym, or anything else that might come in handy.

2. Go-to Run.
Find one simple run from your hotel that requires no driving, even if its just on a main road. Prepare yourself for the worst, and assume that you will have to run on this stupid, boring road every single day. Get over it.

3. Book the Mornings
Because we do not have the technology yet to be two places at once (which I can’t seem to remember), you will have to miss some stuff in order to train, like pancake and bacon breakfasts. But you will never regret getting your training out of the way. Tell your family that you plan to run in the mornings so that they can set that time aside for you. It’s easier for everyone and you will be able to enjoy the rest of the day more. I usually run twice a day, but on vacation, the afternoon runs don’t always get done. If I’ve done the majority of the running in the morning, I feel OK skipping the afternoon run in the name of adaptability. Its just part of the deal.

4. Get Someone in Your Corner
Before you leave for vacation, strategically find someone who will look out for your athletic interests. If you are like me, and no one else in your family is obsessed with working out, it helps to talk to someone in advance about what you want to get done in your training and ask them to help you. Tell them that stuff comes up on vacation and all you need is for one other person to be on your side when Aunt Mary wants to leave for the nature walk at 8am. Its nice to have someone there to say, “Why don’t we leave at 9:30 instead so Alex can get his run in first.” Chances are, this person will be really excited to help you.

5. Don’t Dwell on Times
If your schedule has specific times to hit, take them lightly. When I went to Maui last week, I had some pretty tough track workouts on my schedule, but its turned out to be hot, humid and really, really windy. Like knock-you-over windy. I was freaking out a little bit, but Coach Lananna reminded me that I was on vacation and that times were only a guide. He understood that conditions might be weird, or I might be tired from some family adventure, and reminded me to focus on the effort and listen to my body. If you feel good, run fast, and if you feel bad, slow down. Its really that simple. Being stubborn about your times is a recipe for negative training.

6. Avoid Runner’s Remorse
Don’t talk yourself out of running. Adjust the effort if you have to, but get out the door and do something. Whenever I’ve had to fight the mental battle of whether or not to run, I have NEVER regretted running. I always feel better about the day if I’ve set aside that time for myself and worked
out. I’m happier for the rest of the day, and I contribute on a higher level to the family vacation. You are doing yourself and everyone else a favor by avoiding runners’ remorse.

7. Plan a Day Off
Try to put a flexible day off somewhere during your trip. Don’t waste it on the travel day if possible. Its worth getting up at 5:30 to run before going on vacation if it means that in the middle of the week, you can take the day off when circumstances don’t allow you to get your run in, and not
feel guilty about it.

I hope these tips help! Feel free to add some tips of your own as a comment to this blog.

Yours,
L.

Maui Feb 16-25: Family Vacation

Importance: Jesse is my fiancé, and his dad and step-mom are bringing all 4 brothers and their significant others to the island for their anniversary. His family is totally awesome and it’s a once in a lifetime celebration that I refuse to miss.

Upcoming races: March 2, 10th in Melbourne Australia.
Main Focus: Summer races; USA Nationals, World Championships

The Challenge: Enjoy 10 days of family activities on a gorgeous island while still preparing to run outdoor track races in a week.

The Perspective: You can’t have your cake and eat it too, so I know that sacrifices will be made. I will have to miss a couple cool family things, may not get to surf or bike up a 10,000 foot mountain with Jesse, etc. I will also have to adjust my ideal training plan to do more important things with the family sometimes.

The Oath: I, Lauren Fleshman, commit to balancing running and vacation to the best of my ability. I will look at my training schedule and circle the most important things that will make me feel good about my training. I will do those things, in some form or other, on the trip, even if I have to be really creative. I will anticipate potential problems to getting these things done and will find someone I trust to be on my side who will help me on these days. I also promise to run by effort and not be a slave to my watch when events of the day tire me out. I will try to get out the door first thing in the morning. And when tempted to skip the run due to lack of motivation, I will remember that I have never regretted the decision to run in these scenarios, but I ALWAYS regret skipping it. By choosing to workout, I will feel better about myself, and will be the best version of myself for the rest of the vacation activities. If I come up short of my plan for a day, I will not be a grump. I am on vacation, not at a training camp, and stuff happens.

The training plan:
Planned training in italics, actual in bold.

Friday 16th:
Am: morning flight to Hawaii, run early in the morning if possible.
Pm: shake out and light strides
Am: not happening. Left house at 6:30am.
Pm: 9m on road from condo.

Saturday 17th:
Am: 1:30 long run (or as long as I want).
Pm: nada
Am: 1:30 long run on same road.

Sunday 18th:
am:4m tempo on track/off track combo at 5:20 average, last 800 2:30
Pm: 20 min run, 2 sets of 4 200’s in 34 with 200 in 45 between (continuous). Lap jog between sets. Last 2 in 30, or flat out 300 to finish. Cool down Weights/core
Am: 4m tempo on track (off track not safe). Really really windy. Ran 5:21, 5:18, 5:20, 5:17. No pickup last 800 because wind took it out of me to run 5:20’s.
Pm: 20 min run, during first set of 200’s, felt absolutely horrible. Legs were lead, wind was bad, was at the beach, did 2 in 34, took longer rest, did 2 more in 34, and called it quites. Cooled down 10 minutes. There are no weights to use; that was a bit optimistic to think there would be Took ice bath. Went to bed early.

Monday 19th:
Easy two runs
Easy 3m morning (didn’t get up early enough to do big chunk), 9m pm.

Tuesday 20th:
am: 5×400@72 with 200 rest in under 1min, 3 min rest, 1000 in 3:00, 3min rest, 5×400 again same as before.
pm: 4m brisk, 6x flying 50’s,weights
am: 4m and strides
Pm: 5×400@ 73 with 200 jog in 50-55, 2:40 rest, 1000 in 3:08, 3 min rest, 5×400 @72 (really windy, had to adjust times).

Wednesday 21st:
Am: 5m, core
Pm: 6m
Am: 6m, core
Pm: 6m

Thursday 22nd:
Am: 4m with light strides
Pm: Time trial 2k at under 6:00.
Am: Time trial 2k in 5:55 (really windy)
Pm: 3m easy, light strides

Friday 23rd:
Am: 10 miles easy. Weights/core
Pm: 30minutes aquajog easy
Am: nothing
Pm: 10m easy, core (no pool available)

Saturday 24th:
Am: 6m
Pm: 6m, drills, light strides, good stretch out
Am: 7m
Pm: 0 (last night family function).

Sunday 25th:
day off, travel to Melbourne on 8am flight. Arrive 9pm that same night.
day off

Thoughts: I had to skip a couple runs that were on the schedule because of beach trips, snorkling, or family dinners. Also, I chose to rest instead of run a couple times because I was tired and didn’t see the point of totally wearing myself out. These were not high priority runs anyway.

Days I was really proud of: The workouts were strictly for Tuesday and Thursday and could not be moved due to the timing of recovery for my upcoming travel to Australia and my upcoming race on March 2. I knew I couldn’t move the dates no matter what we had planned for vacation activities, so I talked to everyone in advance and got Jesse to help me strategize. Tuesday, I had to get up at 5:30am in order to get ready, drive to the track to do my tempo run, properly warm up, cool down, stretch, drive back, shower, etc to be ready by 8:30am. This was the only time of day I could get it done because we had a packed schedule. Doing this very early required going to bed really early on Monday and skipping some quality time going out with the brothers, but it was a priority for me since it was a key workout. I made sure to be at all the other fun stuff with the brothers after that. Thursday required waiting until the afternoon to work out, which meant running in the wind. Even though the workout involved timed laps on the track, I adjusted for the wind and just did my best.

Days that could use a little improvement:
Two of the days I didn’t follow my own advice about taking advantage of the mornings. I slept in and the smell of breakfast was just too good. On these days I ended up running a long way at the end of busy days, so I felt drained and unmotivated. I really need to avoid that because it takes the fun out of the run. One time I ended up cutting the run short because I was squeezing it in between dinner and dark.

Good adapting:
Adjusting track times for severe wind; listening to my body to adjust effort.

Results:
We shall see.

Off to Australia!
L.