Links to bicycle repair and maintenance sites

http://www.bitrot.de/bbook_intro.html

http://www.peterboroughmoves.com/all-content/cycling/bike-maintenance

BETTER IN TIME

A serial marathoner's tips on how to run your next 26.2 faster than your last.

By Dean Karnazes


PUBLISHED 06/30/2008

[Source: East Coast Cycos newsletter in Tri-Rudy newsletter, July 23, 2008]

On September 17, 2006, I sat stiffly in a hotel room with a needle in my arm. It was 5:30 in the morning on Day 1 of The North Face Endurance 50--in which I would run 50 certified marathon courses in 50 states in 50 days. The phlebotomist who had been hired to stick this needle in my arm--a stout, thin-lipped woman in her mid-50s--filled three vials with blood and then handed me a small plastic cup.

"Urinate into this," she said dryly.

I would have to endure a version of this ritual many times for the next seven weeks. The idea was to monitor some of my body's health indicators as I ran. A couple of recent medical studies had suggested that running long distances might be physiologically damaging. I wanted to prove them wrong--or die trying.

Still, I wondered. Would I progressively break down and end up hobbling (or crawling) as the days wore on? Was I hurting my body? The opposite turned out to be true. The human body is a remarkably adaptive machine. I was able to run faster, with less exertion, as the days progressed. My last marathon was my fastest--New York City, in 3:00:30--and this final of 50 consecutive marathons was a telling indication of how well the body responds to a physical load upon it over time.


Raising the Bar

While the primary goal for first-time marathon runners is just to reach the finish line, most second-timers (and beyond) aim for something more--to beat their first marathon time, to eclipse a round-number finishing time (such as four hours), or to qualify for Boston. It's a natural progression. Raising the bar adds a new level of excitement to the process.

But what should you target? One way to determine a realistic new marathon time goal is to base it on your performance in a 5-K, 10-K, or half-marathon tune-up race; plug your time into a prediction calculator to see what your marathon time could be (go to runnersworld.com/raceprediction). This is no guarantee, but it could be one helpful guideline to use in the goal-setting process. Once you've set a goal, improving your marathon time requires raising the level of your training. Here are the best ways I've found to do that:


Run Longer, Earlier

Most first-time marathon runners complete no more than one or two 20-mile training runs. This approach is adequate if your goal is just to finish, but if you're gunning for a challenging time goal, you need to build more than the minimal amount of endurance required to complete the race; you need a surplus. To achieve this, do your first 20-mile training run at least six (or more) weeks before race day, and do at least three total long runs of 20 to 24 miles.


Practice Your Goal Pace

It is important that your body adapts to running at your goal pace before you attempt to sustain that for 26.2 miles. If you're trying to achieve, say, a 3:40 marathon, your body needs to get used to running 8:23 per mile.

A simple way to gain efficiency is to do a few goal-pace long runs during the latter half of your training. Seven weeks before your marathon, you might replace your slow long run with a workout consisting of a four-mile easy warmup followed by eight miles at your goal marathon pace. Two weeks later, repeat the workout, but add two more miles of goal-pace running. Finally, three weeks before your marathon, do a 16-mile long run, with 12 miles of goal-pace

Build Speed

Workouts involving running speeds that are significantly faster than marathon pace increase the body's capacity to consume oxygen during running, so that you can sustain faster running speeds more comfortably. Two effective workouts for marathoners are mile repeats and tempo runs.

For the mile repeats, warm up with a mile or two of easy jogging, then run a mile at your 10-K race pace. Jog a quarter mile, and then run another fast mile. Do one more, and then cool down with a couple of easy miles. Repeat the workout a week later, adding a fourth fast mile. Build up to six fast miles over the next few weeks.

For tempo workouts, start with 10 minutes of tempo running between a 10-minute warm up and a 10-minute cool down. Repeat the workout every seven to 10 days, building up to approximately 30 minutes of tempo running. Run comfortably hard--the fastest pace you can sustain without struggle.

The last marathon of my 50-50-50 quest was not only my fastest finish, but my smartest race. I ran the first half of the New York City Marathon in 1:30:31; the second half in 1:29:59. Maybe I was just glad to be done.

Yes, it was over. But for me, as for so many runners, there really are no finish lines. Runs end; running doesn't. At a party to celebrate that night, a single thought kept repeating in my head: What now?

Adapted from 50/50: Secrets I Learned Running 50 Marathons in 50 Days--and How You Too Can Achieve Super Endurance!, by Dean Karnazes with Matt Fitzgerald (Grand Central Publishing, $25)


Dean K.'s FAQs

I answered a lifetime's worth of questions from runners between St. Charles, Missouri, in September, and New York City, in November. If I could offer only one piece of advice, it would be: "Listen to everyone, follow no one." Each runner is unique, so there's no one thing that will work for everyone. Here are the three things I was asked most frequently.

How do you train?
I run as far and as fast as my body tells me to each day, though I try to do at least two very long runs per week. In the six months leading up to the Endurance 50, I completed 15 races between 26.2 miles and 100 miles.

What do you eat?
I base my diet on natural, whole foods (vegetables, meat, dairy) and avoid modern processed foods (fast food, packaged products, soft drinks). Of course, I've also been known to eat an entire pizza when running 24-plus hours straight.

How do you keep from getting injured?
I have good genetics. I also do a lot of cross-training with other sports, including mountain biking and windsurfing, to strengthen all my muscle groups.