I'm sure many of you reading this are thinking "ok Coach I love running too but come on!" I get it and I'll warn you these Saturday long run blogs may get a little away from me but that's what I love about my long run! today's a little rough not sure if it was off day or just or the hills that did it but Colima took a chunk out of me after 13 miles and left me a bit delirious. That being said as I ran I was thinking how much better much life has been with running in it and being a coach I have seen what drastic impact it has had in so many lives. From taking kids out of a destructive path to helping others find drive and determination for all aspects of their lives. Running can transform a person one day one mile at a time. To some degree many of you reading this already know it as you probably have similar stories in your own lives, but can it save the world?!? I think it can ! Let me explain. In a world in which more kids play video games to than any games outdoors, a world where Sunday fun day means watching Netflix all day instead of taking a trip to the beach or mountains, and a world in which the sense of community has all but fade away behind gated community and gated windows I do believe running can save the world! I am often asked why I coach? Why the long hours? why the little to no pay? why do this at all? Truth is we all have the ability to enact change in this world. Some will run for office others will help at church, I coach as I do believe running can save the world! First and most simply running is a great and direct way for many to get in shape and remain healthy member so four community. Something that is desperately needed with child obesity rates on the rise and overall health going down hill. Running can put kids on the right track so to speak to live productive lives. I credit running with giving me the tools to stay out of trouble when I was young and I raised my kids with the mentality of keep them busy and tired and they will stay out of trouble. I see many kids make better choices when they have running as a source of passion and determination. From there school, family, and more become more worth fight for and they tend to live better lives. Last but not least Running builds a sense of community more so that any activity or sport. Any giving Sunday there are 100's of thousands toeing the line as one community to race the local 5K to a major marathon. Sure there are 100,000 people watching a football game but being on the sideline in a game or life never has the same impact as being in the game or race! Running club exist all over the world from 3-4 members clubs to large organizations all together a part of our running community. Think about the possibilities if we could ever use the strength of running clubs alone we could change the world. One day someone says let's help a family in need everyone meet to run at this park and show up after to help rebuild a house or support a fundraiser our running community impact would be huge. In the end true change comes from communities not politicians or governments. Let them give their speeches while we help out our community. So doubling back why do I coach you may ask? Because I have had a dream for many years that we together as runners can not only make our communities safer and and healthier by introducing more to running but we can enact true change through the power of community! Hope you enjoyed my thoughts for this Saturday! Best of luck with your running dreams!
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When we speak of good runner's nutrition we mention carbs and protein and a vitamins and minerals that are essential for all runners but truth is if you can make one single change in what you put in your body and what you don't put in your body water is the biggest bang for your buck! We all know that runners and truly everyone needs to stay hydrated not just to run but to live but what many don't know is to what degree proper hydration affects your performance and health. Also many runners don't realize how much we sweat out during runs and what quantities of water must be a part of our regular routine. The University of Northern Alabama conducted a study on hydration and the impact it has on performance. They tested a group of runners after a 75 minute run and had them hydrate only 75% of the water they lost during the run through sweat. This is typical of most runners we tend to drink water but not fully replenish what we lost. The next morning they had them run a 10K race for time and recorded the time. This was done another time with the same runners but the only difference was the amount of water they drank after the 75 min run. This time they took in 150% of the water lost during that run. The difference was shocking even for myself when I read the results. When runners hydrated 150% they ran over 1 min faster than when they only hydrated 75%! That's a huge difference. That can mean the difference between a bad race and huge PR or a good race and winning the race! For those that think water plays a small role take note of these results. Now the question is how much to drink. 150% hydration was probably overdone for the impact of the test but you should always replenish what you lost after every run. So you ask how do I know how much I lost. The reality is it not easy for the average non scientist runner to figure that out but one way is to weight your self right before a run then again right after. The difference is almost all water loss so you need to drink back the weight. I know if you are trying to lose weight that can be a little sad but its best for you in the long run. It will allow you to recover well and be ready for the next days workout. Of course climate and other factors play a role in this. Much of what you eat contains water so its not all about drinking 2 gallons of water after every run. He is a very general rule I tell my athletes. On average drink to 8-12 water bottles a day of water every day that you run a bit less on days off. Remember even if you didn't run we are always losing hydration even while we sleep. In fact we are most dehydrated when we first wake up so have a glass or bottle of water on your night stand to drink right away! After runs how much you drink varies with many factors such as how much you ran how hot it was and the level of effort but for simplicity sake drink 1/3 of a water bottle per mile ran. Not all at once but in the couple hours after your run. One last important fact on hydration and performance. There is a myth that as long as you hydrate well the night before a big race and on that day you will be fine. Don't be fooled by this. Hydration is cumulative and lack of proper hydration even days and weeks before a big race can impact your ability to be ready so do this as a matter or practice year round! For this week's throwback I want to take all of you back with me to one of the reasons I even started to run. I was a junior high kid at the time in 6th grade with very little idea of what truly my life would be like. When it came to sports I knew what I was NOT good at, baseball, football, tennis, and a lot of other hand eye coordinated sports. Watching this race made me look at running in a whole new light and running the mile in PE class took on a whole new meaning. The rest is history and running became my life. I clearly remember watching the race on TV and being in awe at how hard it was for me to run 1 mile and these runners were running 26.2 miles much faster than I could ever dream to do! While most of my friends said that must be boring I was glued to the TV set sitting 3 ft away from it watching every step of that race and listening to every stories the commentator spoke about. You see the 1984 Olympic Women's Marathon was the very 1st ever women's Olympic Marathon. Yes that's correct women before 1984 were not allowed to run the marathon as it was thought to be way too difficult and a health hazard. Its unbelievable to think that today after watching some amazing marathon performances year after year. In fact Women had been banned from even running the 800 meter race before 1960! Saying it was too physically demanding for women??? After much effort by the running community in 1984 women finally were able to race the marathon in the Olympics and what a race it was! Race conditions were not ideal. With temperatures in the high 80's high and humidity even high at 95% you would have expected a slow pace with a ton of strategy until the end but Joan Benoit Samuelson of the US had other plans. Early in the race she made what would be a decisive move to take and extend the lead. Many of you competitors thought is was running suicide to go out that fast on a day that humid and hot so no one gave chance a mistake that was fatal as Benoit ran away with the race and won by over a minute over second place the great Grete Waitz. I remember as Benoit entered the stadium to a crowd 100,000 spectators as they all rose to their feet and the noise was just truly amazing! I got goosebumps as she ran her last lap and on to victory! They joy on her face made me want to experience that for myself. I wanted to run! As I watch other runners finish and thought about changing the channel something entirely magical happened. Gabriela Anderson-Schiess from Switzerland entered the stadium and I remember how tired she looks barely being able to keep her body upright and not fall. At first the crowd and all of us watching this didn't know how to react. Do you cheer do you cry with her to you feel sorry for her? No she proved to all of us that she wanted us to cheer to push her to push through the pain with her! I had thought the cheers were loud for Benoit when she won but now the entire stadium was on its feet the noise was deafening as Anderson struggle to walk and run with every step. She was now moving in across multiple lanes zig zagging almost as if with no control over her body and where she was going. Her back was bent almost in a cramp and couldn't get upright. Her legs muscles were lock almost straight with very little bend. It many ways to was both horrifying to watch yet unbelievably inspirational . Here was a runner in 37th place 20 minutes behind the winner that was not going to give up not goign to stop not going to fail at living her Olympic dream for her and for her nation! She was fully dehydrated and possibly very close to a heat stroke yet refused to let medical personal help her s she would have been disqualified. She was going to reach that finish line! As she made her way around the last turn with 100 meters to go I remember thinking "she's going to do it!" I yelled out "GO!" to the TV as if somehow she could hear me! At this point the whole world was focused on this brave runner the crowd was cheering for her effort for her heart for what she was giving our sport that day! As she stepped over the finish line she collapsed into the arm of an official and medical personnel rushed to carry her to the medical tent. The goosebumps the joy the utter amazement we were all feeling was enough to make everyone want to be her that day! I was hooked on that feeling from that day on! To see a person have that much gut that much grit that much dedication to anything inspired a whole generation. The 1984 Olympics was historical for many reasons. The first every Olympic marathon for women and Joan Benoit and her historic performance but for me and many I'll remember the extraordinary efforts of Anderson for the rest of my life! Hope you enjoyed this piece of running history! Video below of the inspiration finish! Time once again to look at another workout that will help you take your running to the next level. One of the key systems that any distance runner needs to improve is Vo2Max. This is the ability for you body to utilize oxygen as it enters your lungs. While we use some of it a large amount of oxygen goes unused and exhaled with the next breathe. The measurement of Vo2Max is the amount of oxygen that a runner can utilize during intense running such as a race. The more you can use the more ATP a runner can produce and the faster you can run. Now don't confuse this with Lactate threshold which is the point at which the runners body during intense running begins to build up lactate levels which eventually will slow you. The issue for today is how do we improve Vo2Max. There is no magic spell or pill. It will take some hard work and for some of you a change in your routines. If you haven't done any form of speed work and have been doing easy/long runs for awhile you more than likely have improved but might have seen that the improvement is much more gradual now if at all. You need to add speed work which come in many forms to improve more than just your endurance. Vo2Max is just one of the other systems and here is how to improve your running through bouts of Vo2Max workouts. Ideally you will have run a 5K or other race recently so that you can use that time to calculate the correct pace to run these workouts. Its best to find a track or a well measure loop to do these but even a trail or area where you can run 1000 meters without traffic lights will work. We will assume for now that you are on a track. 1K or 1000 meters is 2.5 laps on a standard track. You may be asking why such a strange distance 2.5 laps instead of 2 or 3? This has to do with finding a distance that has you run at that intensity for the correct amount of time. If the distance is too short and you are too fast you will not get the correct workout and if the distance is too far you will not run at the right pace to improve this system. Ideally for a Vo2Max workout you will run between 2.5 min to 5 min at the Vo2Max intensity level. So doing 800's for some runners will have them running in under 2:30 so that too short. for others running 1200 or 1600 repeats will have them taking 6 or 7 min so that's too far. 1K's tend to be the happy medium where most runners can stay within the 2.5 o 5 min range. Now what pace producing the correct intensity. This is where your recent 5K comes in or any race you ran recently. Plug that into our training pace calculator and look at the pace you get for Vo2Max. Now look below at the pace chart and see what that time you should be hitting for each of your 1K repeats. So 2 items lets to figure out. How many reps to do and how much recovery between each rep. For this type of workout you should be around 2 to 5 miles of intensity meaning 4 to 8 reps of the 1K effort. Typical workout is 5 x 1K but as you get stronger build up to 8 in time. Recovery between each should be equal time of the hard effort it varies per runner. if it took you 3:45 to run the 1K then recovery for 3:45 as well. Now notice I said recover not rest. So don't stand still for that time. If you do you will get cold and stiff and not perform well on the next one. Run a 400 meter(1 lap) very slowly during that time. then go again! Don't forget to warm up with 1-2 miles of running and cool down with at least 1 mile of easy running. These workout tend to leave you more sore and tight compared to regular easy days so make sure you have a cool down routine such as the Myrtl routine as part of what you do post workout. So here is an example: Runner that can run a 17:30 5K would look at training pace calculator and see that for Vo2Max he/she should be running at 5:27 pace for the 1K repeats. If you look below the chart you will see that 5:27 pace translate to hitting about a 3:24 per 1K rep. So here it is: 2 mile warmup 5x1K @Vo2Max (3:24 per 1K) with 3:30 recovery of slow jogging for a 400 meter lap in between each one 2 mile cool down Best of luck and go chase your running dreams! This week I want to tell you about another one of my top runs. I had a chance to run it New Years Days and its always an experience. I've mapped out a 5.37 out and back route through Murphy Ranch Park but you can start farther away from the park to make you run longer or even start closer to make it shorter yet still enjoy the run through the park trails. For the purpose of this blog I started it at Whittier and Colima Rd. You could park in that area and begin by goign east on Whittier then turn left on La Serna Rd. north up until you reach La Serna High School. Turn right and follow the road straight to Murphy Ranch Park. As you enter the park the trail begins immediately. There are several smaller trails you can try out but for today lets have you stick to the main trail and run straight for about 600 meters at which point you will start to climb and begin the "switchbacks" for a quick right then left then right then a longer stretch with a final left turn still going uphill. after another 1/2 mile of so you will reach the end of the park and the top of the climb taking you out of the park and on to Le Flore Rd. Turn left and head down to to another dirt path for another 1/2 mile to the end of the route. You are now at the turn around point and some amazing views! Take some picks and head on back the way you came. You could continue down either Colima trails to a slight left or right down Las Palomas to make you run a bit longer if you prefer. This is another hilly run with some very steep sections so be careful on the way down and control your pace. As always consider safety and run in groups or at least with a running buddy especially in area like these with little other people around. I promise next week we will add a run more on the flat side and get away from all these hills! If you like great views and getting away from the traffic of the city this route is a great option! If you are not quite ready for these steep hills it also doubles as a great hike for your and your family! Here is the link to the Map of this route. As always best of luck with all your running goals! Enjoy! Many of us take a moment to reflect on the previous year around this time of year. This New Years I'd like to take a look back at the last year specifically my time coaching at Cal High. This last year was my 4th track season and 5th XC season at Cal High in Whittier, CA. 3rd and 4th years as the head XC coach and head distance coach. Every day of every year I have spent with this team has been blessing and this last year was no exception. It was a year filled with heartache and headaches but I would have never traded any of it for all the money in the world! As we often say on the team its was a year filled with "Blood Sweat, and Tears!" On both the boys side we came into 2017 knowing that on paper we would end our XC undefeated streak this year if we didn't get it together considering our returning times after our seniors graduated. Around the same time to add insult to injury we lost one of our very top returners due to a move out of state. We knew it was time to dig deep and move forward and our boys did just that with an amazing track season. Not only being able to watch our senior class end their time at Cal High with a very strong season but watching our returners step it up during the season and realizing that hope was still alive for another undefeated league season. My best race memory of that track season was one that left me literally jumping up for joy! At the San Gabriel Valley Champions which is a championship track meet for all the school in the SGV bringing in the top talent from those school we had a chance to repeat as SGV Champs! The previous year the boys had won it with a strong group effort in different events from hurdles to pole vault to distance but this year the head track coach had approached me right before the 3200 to say sorry we won't be much help this year to get points for the win. We were in 12th or 14th place going into the 2nd to last event the 3200 and almost 30 points out of first place. No one and I mean no one including us gave us any chance to win this. As the gun went off for the boys varsity 3200 any hope of a repeat championship rested on our loaded 3200 group. Our boys put in a tremendous effort on a hot afternoon and not only took first in that race but went 1 2 3 4 to score over 30 points in 1 event catapulting us all the way into 1st place! As our boys took that last corner and into the straight away I literally jumped and threw my hands into the air almost hitting another coaching standing next to me with my clip board! On the back of our boys we had clinched another title! The girls entered 2017 coming off of the first league championship in XC in a few years and knowing they were no longer the underdogs in the league or anywhere for that matter! The pressure to perform again and again was something new to them. We knew it will be twice as hard to continue that momentum but our girls were up for the challenge. While there is not one race highlight in my mind the biggest highlight comes in a form of something much more valuable. The girls team made a huge jump during the track season in terms of the level of discipline and organization they rose up to! I would challenge any coach that could honestly say their team had more raw GRIT than our girls and that was a defining moment. I had the coach from Valencia high girls team tell me during on of the invitationals that he uses our girls team as the example when he speaks to his girls team. Saying " We need to be more like Cal High I see them running even on holidays!" I have to admit that made me smile on the outside and in my mind I was throwing my first in the air! Now came the summer and of course the XC season! Our bread and butter! Our everything for this team! Expectations were high not just from us but from everyone around us! Can boys make it to state 3 years in a row? Can girls team arrive to the top level of the state teams! Can we do this without driving each other crazy ! (yes its a real thing!) Once again tragedy struck us on both the boys and girls side. We lost a our #2 boy runner to disciplinary issue and several of our best returning girls as well in the course of 2 months time right before the start of the season. Any other team would have dialed it in, called it a night, and went home for the rest of the year... but not this bunch of kids from Whittier! Like they say when the going gets tough the tough get going! And did this team ever step up! Boys team now being down 2 of teh top 3 returners from last years XC team stepped up big time to not only go undefeated again in league to finish ranked 10th in all of Division 1 in the entire STATE of CA!!! While we just missed making state it was a heck of a run for these boys! The girls facing so many loses of top runners including a couple more during the season it would have been ok to just win league and call it a season but that was not enough for these girls! They not only won league and went undefeated for the second straight year but did so in a dominate fashion. At league finals they went 1 2 4 5 7 to score 19 points in a blowout and put all 5 scorers on the all league team!!! To top that off our girls went out at CIF prelims and qualified for CIF Finals for the first time in school history!!! Along the way they broke every team school and league records in the books. It was an amazing year in 2017 one that I will never forget. I will always even with the added grey hairs I would never trade the time I have spent with these kids and their families for anything in the world! They are truly my family and 2017 would not have been what it was without them! Thank you for the memories! |
AuthorCoach Rojas has 11 combined years of coaching experience at various levels including coaching a high school D1 State finalist team and 3 years in a row of a top 10 state ranking. He is passionate of the sport of running and loves to see new runners take up the sport! He wants to share a lifetime of running experience to all Archives
March 2018
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