Breaking it down

The Philadelphia Marathon is set for this Sunday, which means there are a few folks around these parts conserving energy, bouncing off the walls and trying as hard as they can to relax. That's the hard part, of course. Relaxing is always one of those things that is easier said than done in almost every situation. It's almost like telling someone to "just say ‘no.'" Yeah, well if I could say no or relax we wouldn't be in this situation. Who can relax after months of training and the idea of self-flagellation and masochism looming? Better yet, people actually pay money to run marathons. Good money, too. I'm told the Philadelphia Marathon costs more than $100 to enter, which, frankly, is a crime.

The folks charging good-natured runners that much cash should be forced to get out there and run the marathon, too. Get moving John Street...

Anyway, it's taper time for some folks making the jaunt through the city this Sunday and that's always a tricky time. Most people taper for two weeks, which, truth be told, is too long in my book. But, because most people aren't exactly Bill Rodgers (who used to taper for three days... maybe) and get their training plans off the Internet from some silliness presented by Jeff Galloway or Oprah or whoever else is telling people they can hurl themselves 26.2 miles by running less, then by all means, do your two weeks.

Want to know what I do? Well, it's my site and I'm going to tell you anyway.

Here it is:

Thirteen days before the race I do my last long run, which is anywhere between 22 to 24 miles. I continue to train normally the next two days, and then I start to bring it down a little bit. For instance, since I usually take it to 105-110 miles per week when getting ready for a marathon, I'll just go 20 miles on the Thursday and Friday. I just go 20 miles in those two days because I'm going to do a race (either a 5k or 10k) eight days before the marathon as a gauge of my fitness.

After that fitness-gauging race I get into a taper which goes like this:

* 10-13 easy * 10 easy * 7 miles at race pace * 1 miles warm-up/cool down + 5 miles faster than race pace (if I can do it in 27, I'm ready) * 4-5 miles easy * 3 miles easy * 4 miles easy * Go run a marathon

This was discovered through trial and error, though, I've done a few two-day tapers where I ran 16 miles a day until two days out before cutting back to 5 and then 5k. Interestingly, "The People's Champ," Brian Sell, does something a little similar.

At least that's according to Sell's log on the Athleticore.com site where the Hanson's dudes post their workouts. In the week before the Olympic Trials where Sell finished third in 2:11:40, he did a 10-miler in 66 two days out and a 10-miler in 52 the day before.

That comes after doing 46 miles in four sessions the three previous days to the pair of 10s.

You're darn right that's pretty impressive. Then again, after piling on routine 150-mile weeks, a 10-miler at 5:12 pace is probably a day off.

Here's something else people won't tell you about running marathons... when you're out there, put some time in the bank. That's right bank it because you're going to slow down late in the race no matter what.

Week of November 5-11 (22 weeks to the National Marathon – March 29, 2008)

Monday 15 miles in 1:39:08

Felt pretty strong the entire time and easily could have gone another 20 minutes without batting an eye. My form was good and all of that, however, I noticed that the pace dipped a bit on uphills. The effort didn't change, but the pace was bad. On flat ground I'm really decent.

Tuesday 15 miles in 1:41:53

I did the same exact run as yesterday, though it was much slower. I felt strong, though, and a little better on the hills. But I definitely was tired during most of the run. The good part is that it was a strength run and I felt strong.

Wednesday 10 miles in 65:04

I ran steady 6:30 pace and it felt easy. Actually, I was a little bummed I had to stop. I felt pretty good. Still, it's a little too early to push it too much. I'm still trying to figure out whether or not I should run on Sunday.

splits:

1st 5: 32:25 2nd 5: 32:39

Thursday 1^st run: 11 miles in 1:14:22

2^nd run: 3.8 in 26:59

This was kind of tough. My legs were tight and tired from -- I guess -- not sleeping well last night and waking up early. Plus, I'm putting on the miles again and maybe I'm not adjusted yet.

splits: 1st 5: 33:24.11 2nd 5: 33:44.86

Added an easy run at night. I went out later than I wanted because Brad Lidge was traded to the Phillies, so what are you going to do? Anyway, I went 3.8 miles in 26:59. I fought the slightest urge to run hard -- the point of adding the short and sweet second run is not to run too hard. I'm going to have to teach myself to go light.

Friday 10 miles in 64:58

My stomach bothered me for the first six miles, but my legs felt great. Maybe there's a difference between drinking coffee in the morning instead of Red Bull? You can't mix coffee with vodka, though.

Either way, I felt great and the running felt easy. I think I'm into it now... we'll see what happens.

splits: 1st 5: 32:34 2nd 5: 32:24

Saturday 10 miles in 67:31

My stomach bothered me again -- I think it might be the ibuprofen. Other than that, it was a slight drag to get out of the house. Still, I ran rather well and my legs felt decent. I didn't push the pace really at all... I just kind of settled in.

I think I'm going to try to get up tomorrow morning and go to Harrisburg... we'll see.

Sunday 10 miles in 58:23

I ended up staying awake all last night with a stomach ache where I worried about whether or not I OD'd on ibuprofen. Either way I've officially decided that I'm finished with ALL drugs. And I mean ALL drugs.

Anyway, I pushed myself out the door and ran to Mountville. I started out solid but not spectacular though I really ran hard from about 2 miles away and broke my course record. Interestingly, I paid attention to the terrain and noticed that there were a lot more hills than I thought on the route.

It was a pretty good run.

Better yet, my stomach isn't bothering me as much as it did yesterday, though I'm starting to get a headache... it's always something.

'It cuts me straight to the heart'

NEW YORK - It was supposed to be American marathon running's greatest day. It was the day where American marathoners were going to send a message to the rest of the world that they were - once again - a force to be reckoned with during the Olympics in Beijing next August. In one regard that was very much the case. As evidenced by Ryan Hall's inspirational victory in a blistering 2:09:02 over the unforgiving rolling terrain in Manhattan's Central Park in Saturday morning's Olympic Trials marathon, American marathoning is, indeed, back.

Big and brassy.

So how can a day that began with so much promise and with so many dreams end so tragically? How can one bear so many contrasting emotions?

How can so many great performances by some of the best in the sport be rendered so meaningless? And how can life be so cruel sometimes?

A run for the ages Oh, but let's begin with the heroes so we don't go crazy...

"I didn't expect to run this fast on this course, especially after previewing it," said Hall, America's great new hope in the marathon. "I didn't care how fast we ran the first half, I wanted to close fast. It was a good run for me. I was trying not to get too excited too early, but I saw myself achieving my goal in the last lap. The last mile, I knew I was going to be OK."

During his inspired run to shatter the previous American Olympic Trials marathon record by more than 70 seconds on a criterium-styled course that some experts and runners predicted would gobble up the runners and send them limping in no better than 2:13, Hall announced his presence on the world marathoning stage. In just his second marathon, the 25-year old Stanford grad training in Mammoth Lake, Calif. under the tutledge of ex-Villanova runner and Delaware Valley stalwart, Terrence Mahon, showed that he just might be the next American runner to win gold in the Olympic marathon.

Hall threw down the gauntlet around the 17-mile mark and surged away from four other runners in the lead pack with a pace no one could match. Better yet, Hall went through the first half the race in a modest 1:06:17, before turning it up with a 1:02:47 during the second half... talk about negative splits.

Hall's surge was a 4:32 mile, followed by a 4:41, and a 4:34. For the 20^th mile, Hall ran a 4:40, followed with a 4:51 at 21, a 4:42 at 22. He ran miles 23 to 25 in 14:28 just in case anyone might have doubted his intent. During the last loop of the course when it was clear that no one was going to be able to catch him, Hall pumped his fist, directed spectators who dashed onto the course, pointed to the sky and waved to the crowd.

It was domination with flair.

"I felt like today what I did was more impressive than London," said Hall, whose 2:08:24 effort in London last April was the fastest marathon ever by an American-born runner.

Judging from the response of his competitors, Hall might be right on the money in his assessment.

I looked at some of the mile splits and honestly, I was blown away," said defending trials champion Alan Culpepper, who was forced to drop out of the race at the 16^th mile with hamstring trouble. "I think he could run three minutes faster on a standard marathon course."

Said fellow Olympian Brian Sell: "I think he's one of the top three marathoners in the world right now."

Hall predicts the best is yet to come.

"I know I can run considerably faster," he said. "There's definitely more gears in there. I'll get to test those in Beijing."

Meanwhile, 24-year old Dathan Ritzenhein from the University of Colorado finished in second place in 2:11:07, and Pennsylvanian Brian Sell rounded out the Beijing-bound trio by finishing in third place in 2:11:40.

Two-time marathon world record holder and top American qualifier, Khalid Khannouchi, turned in a gritty performance to finish as the first alternate in fourth place with a 2:12:34 after two years worth of injuries limited his training before the trials.

Working-class hero More than a simple reemergence of the American marathoner, Saturday's trials showcased a dichotomy in racing style, and pedigree. Both Hall and Ritzenhein were high school all-Americans who were highly recruited by all of the big-name running schools as well as the top shoe companies following their highly decorated college careers. Hall ran a 4-minute mile in high school, but struggled with that event at Stanford before moving up to the 5,000-meters.

Less than a year after finishing up at Stanford, Hall won the U.S. Cross Country championship, set the American record in the half marathon with a 59:43 before his epic marathon debut last April in London.

Ritzenhein, the youngest runner in the field, was a collegiate 5,000-meter and cross-country specialist, who won the U.S. Cross Country championships in 2005 - not even a year after he ran the 10,000 meters in the Olympics in Athens.

But Sell was a product of little St. Francis College in Loretto, Pa. after starting out at even smaller Messiah College near Harrisburg. His high school two-mile times were, he says, more than a minute slower than his new Olympic teammates'. A self-proclaimed late bloomer, Sell joined up with the Hansons-Brooks Distance Project based in Rochester Hills, Minn. where he developed as a marathoner. A strong performance in the 2004 Olympic Marathon Trials, coupled with even more impressive runs in the Boston (2:10:55 for fourth place) and Chicago (2:10:47 for sixth) marathons in 2006 solidified his standing in running circles.

More than that, Sell became the de facto "People's Champion" of marathoning because of his penchant for piling on the miles - running upward to 160 per week with most of them faster than 6-minute pace - and his so-called "blue-collar" ethic. Despite running all of those miles per week during his marathon buildups, Sell still found the time to put in his 30 hours working in the garden department at Home Depot.

"I hope every kid out there who's not a state champ or district champ looks at what I achieved today and says, ‘Hey if I put in the work, I can do this,'" Sell said. "This is the happiest ending I can think of."

Even his effort on Saturday morning in Central Park personified his ethic. Not blessed with the turnover of the former miler Hall and the all-American Ritzenhein, Sell stuck to a simple plan of running as many 5-minute miles as he could. While running most of the race with the chase pack - sometimes a minute off the pace set by the lead five of Hall, Ritzenhein, Meb Keflezghi, Abdi Abdirahman and Dan Browne (all past Olympians) - Sell says he had no other choice but to stick to his steady-as-he-goes strategy. Had he dipped down ever so slightly to a 4:50 pace, or attempted to chase down the leaders, Sell says he likely would not have finished the race.

"When we were out in 11 flat for two miles, I knew I had to keep it honest to have a chance at all," Sell explained of his off-the-pace strategy, one he used to run good races in Boston and Chicago in ‘06. "Honestly, I was trying to run around five-flat. I didn't have too many miles above five-flat. That tells you how fast these guys were up front. I was just fortunate to pick up the carnage from these two. I was just trying to keep relaxed until the last lap, then attack. When I saw them with a lap to go, I just didn't want to go too hard. I'm just happy I timed it right."

Had he not qualified for Beijing, Sell told The New York Times he was ready to hang up his Brooks trainers and head off to dental school.

Instead he has at least one more race to train for.

"It's been 13 years in the making for me, so this is one of the greatest days of my life aside of the birth of my daughter," Sell said.

But Sell related that elation in a subdued manner. The same went for the guys sharing the podium with him, too.

"Today was a dream come true for me. I've been dreaming about this moment for 10 years," Hall said. "But as great as the moment is, my heart and my thoughts are with Ryan Shay and his family."

Death in the family Distance running, and marathon running in particular, is as beautiful as a sport can be. Bathed in simplicity, running is as pure as athletics can be. But it's also a cruel sport. Often, every weakness is exposed during a competition no matter how strong or well prepared a runner is.

But then again, that's part of why we love the sport so much.

Running, too, is a small, tight-knit community. If there are six-degrees of separation in regular society, cut that in half in running. After all, even a beginning runner can catch up with Brian Sell at the Home Depot.

Amongst the sports' best, the dividing line is even narrower. At one point or another, the top American runners cross paths for regular training runs, let alone races on any weekend in any back road hamlet across the country. Between all of the training and racing it's more than a common language or a shared lifestyle that runners share, it goes much more deeper.

That's why Ryan Shay's death in Saturday morning's race - just 5½ miles into the run - sends tremors through the community.

Ryan Shay, a 28-year-old veteran marathoner, collapsed during the race in Central Park and was pronounced dead at Lenox Hill Hospital. No cause of death was given. The Michigan native was a graduate of Notre Dame and was competing in his second Olympic Marathon Trials. In 2003, Shay was the national champion in the marathon and won five total national titles in distances ranging from the 5,000-meters to the marathon.

Shay was considered a darkhorse contender for the Trials race, though was well off the pace through the first five-kilometers.

It is, after all, a small group. Shay was recently married to Alicia Craig, who was a Stanford classmate of Hall and Hall's wife, Sara. In fact, Sara Hall was a bridesmaid in the Shay's wedding last July. Hall and Shay lined up next to each other at the starting line of Saturday's race.

Tragically, Shay's body was transported in an ambulance past Hall and the frontrunners near the nine-mile mark of the race.

"It cuts me straight to the heart," Hall said, clearly having a more difficult time grasping the reality of his friends' death in the race than the realization that he had accomplished his goal of making it to the Olympics.

Shay trained at altitude in Flagstaff, Ariz. with Abdirahman, who told reporters that he warmed up before the race with his friend and kept looking for him on the course as the race progressed.

"I warmed up next to him this morning," Abdirahman told The New York Times. "I was the one complaining instead of him. He was looking good. In the race, I was looking around at 10-13 miles to see where he was. I expected him to come up because I knew he was in good shape."

In trying to make some sense of what had happened to their friend, runners were quick to point out Shay's ability to pile on a heavy workload. In fact, Shay revealed in a Runner's World interview before the race that he had been diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome and had finally recovered enough to train hard(er) for the Trials. After the race, Shay's father Joe told The Associated Press that his son was told he had an enlarged heart as a teenager, but had been cleared to run by doctors. Those doctors, the elder Shay said, claimed the larger heart might have helped him become a champion runner.

"The thing that made him such a great runner may have killed him," Shay said. "But he never complained about it."

Shay was born May 4, 1979, in Ann Arbor, Mich.. He is survived by his wife of nearly four months, his father, Joe and mother, Susan, both high school cross country coaches. He is also survived by four older brothers and sisters and three younger ones, as well as his large family of runners.

"He achieved through hard work and effort goals and dreams that most people will never realize," Joe Shay told the AP. "He was a champion, a winner and a good person.

"He used to say, ‘Dad, there's a lot of guys out there with a lot more talent than me, but they will never outwork me.'"

More: NBC's complete race coverage

Full results

It cuts me straight to the heart

Counting down to the Trials

At this point in the game, the runners in the Nov. 3 Olympic Marathon Trials are beginning to think about their taper. With months of 120 to 140 miles weeks behind the top runners, there isn't too much many more hard workouts will do for a guy other than wear him out. A hard long run or a serious set of intervals this late in the game is almost like studying for an exam the night before - if you don't know it by now, it's too late.

So with 11 days to go before the biggest marathon of the year, all that's left is to hype the race... and relax a bit.

It is funny (in the ironical sense) that the taper period is the most difficult part for runners to get through. Going out there every day to run 15 to 20 miles is always less scary than the very idea of cutting back the training.

Anyway, this year's trials could be the deepest ever. In fact, Khalid Khannouchi, the American record holder in the marathon (2:05:38) says in an interview with Runner's World that there are "seven or eight" legitimate contenders to take the top three spots to earn a position on the Olympic team. Of that seven to eight, there are two runners whose injuries could prove to ruin their chances at making the team.

The biggest name of the bunch is Meb Keflezighi, the silver medalist in the 2004 Olympic Marathon, whose calf injury forced him to shut down his normal training routine for a few days. If Meb is going to make another Olympic team he's going to need healthy calves to negotiate his way over those five-mile loops on the criterium-style course in Central Park.

Khannouchi, the former world-record holder, is another runner who always seems to battling through one injury or another. However, Khannouchi turns 36 in December and knows that he doesn't have much time left if he wants to make an Olympic team or run fast times. Actually, the Nov. 3 Trials could be Khannouchi's last shot.

It could be the last shot for a lot guys, too. But you can read/watch all about that on your own. The New York Road Runners - host of the Central Park Trials - has put together a comprehensive web site complete with profiles of the runners and the uncompromising course. Runner's World site is loaded with interviews of the top runners and the latest news.

My favorite bit from the RW site is the interview with contender Brian Sell, who when asked the reason why he puts in the 150-mile weeks was for his mileage was for his "body or his head," just laughed and said, "head."

"I don't have any advantages over those guys in terms of talent so knowing that I ran 20 to 30 miles more per week it gives me the strength."

Sell's answer is better than mine when folks asked me why I ran 100-mile weeks when preparing for a marathon.

"Because that's what it takes."

Truth be told, it's more for my head than for anything else.

More: Breaking down the Trials... sort of 

*** Speaking of my head, my hour-a-day plan has entered its second week though there have been a few hiccups here and there. One was a two-day visit to the hospital for our youngest boy, Teddy. The little fella got a virus/cold that resulted in a 103-degree fever. Because he is just seven-weeks old, his doctor decided around-the-clock care at Lancaster General was the smart plan.

So yeah, I skipped a day.

Meanwhile, I ran from my house near Franklin & Marshall College/Lancaster Country Day to Columbia, Pa. on Sunday during the hottest part of the day, and today I did 10 in 69:05 (splits: 34:36; 34:29) aching from a spasming calf and an old-fashioned head cold.

Needless to say it was a struggle. And frankly, if I feel this way before the Harrisburg Marathon I'm going to take the DNS. That could mean a full calendar year without a marathon...

But that won't last. My manager (wife) and I went through the schedule and crunched the numbers and decided to target The National Marathon in Washington, D.C. on March 29.

The plan is to regain my strength and drop some weight for the next eight weeks before putting my 14-weeks plan into full effect.

The training plan? Here it is with unexplained jargon:

Week 1 2 miles easy + 2 x 2 miles @ 5:35/mile + 9 miles easy + 3 miles @ 5:35/mile + 2 miles easy

4 miles easy + 5 x 1 mile @ 5:10/mile + 5 miles easy

Week 2 20 miles in 2:15

2 miles easy + 10 miles in 58 2 miles easy

Week 3 4 miles easy + 8 miles in 48 + 1 mile in 5:35 + 6 miles in 36 + 1 mile in 5:35 + 2 miles easy

knockdown in 33, 32, 31

Week 4 22 miles with 5 miles in 28

knockdown in 32, 31, 30

Week 5 22 miles in 2:28

2 miles easy + 10 miles in 58 + 2 miles easy

Week 6 20 miles with 12 in 72

knockdown in 32, 30, 29

Week 7 22 miles with 5 in 28, 10 easy, and 5 in 28

knockdown in 31, 30, 28

Week 8 22 miles in 2:27

4 easy + 10 in 57 1 mile cool down

Week 9 23 miles with 12 in 72

knockdown in 31, 31, 27

Week 10 22 miles with 5 in 28

knockdown in 32, 30, 29

Week 11 22 miles easy

4 miles easy + 5 x 1 mile @ 5:10/mile + 5 miles easy

Week 12 BLAST WEEK

Week 13 22 miles easy

5k or 10k race

Week 14 * 13 easy * 10 easy * 4 miles warm up and cool down + 3 in 16 * 6 miles easy * 4-5 miles easy * 3 miles easy * 4 miles easy

Suck it up

All this means is that I’m no expert on Michigan or its climate, but I bet it gets a lot colder there than it does here in Lancaster, Pa. We’re pretty close to the Mason-Dixon Line, after all. Once, for kicks, I rode my bike to the Pennsylvania-Maryland border near where the Susquehanna pours into the Chesapeake Bay. I’ll have to dig up the essay I wrote about that…

Anyway, it tends to be warmer here in the winter than in Michigan. When it snows it’s a bona fide event. Schools close, the mail stops, people lose their minds and fight over bread and milk at the grocery store, and chairs grow out of the ground to hold shoveled out parking spaces. Then, around 4 p.m., it all melts away and we go back to our normally scheduled lives.

But this time is was different. My car is still stuck in the driveway because somehow ice settled underneath the front tires. The glacier still covers the landscape and runners like me curse Mother Nature as their fitness wanes.

In Michigan where the runners in the Hansons-Brooks Distance Project train, it snows a lot. Nearly every day, I bet. It gets really cold, too. Much colder than here where I wore shorts when I went out to run until Jan. 10.

Still, rain, sleet, snow and cold weather, the Hansons get out there to run. In this interview with Brian Sell from the New York Road Runners web site, the 2:10 marathoner with a good shot at finishing in the top three at the Olympic Trials in November reveals that he goes out to run every day.

Outside.

No treadmill.

In Michigan.

The point: guys like me should suck it up and run. So it snowed and iced… big deal.