Hanson Method and a Hike

Workout: short walk with Bailey on Hemlock, 45 minutes

It's a typical, lazy "I swear I'm going to study for multiple hours today but it'll actually be more like one" kind of Sunday here at JJ-o headquarters. I kicked it off with a short walk with the derg. Here's some photographic evidence!

I realized why I like sutro so much-it makes mountains look less washed-out

I spy a dog

It would be nice to be up IN those mountains again. For now I must be content with viewing them from afar

It was the perfect way to start off the day and also a nice peace offering after leaving Bailey home during yesterday's run.

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I think I miiiiight just jump on the Hanson Method wagon for the marathon I plan to do this summer but haven't talked about yet. I was intrigued enough to buy the book a few days ago and have flipped through it some. I plan to give it a thorough read soon.

My immediate thought  upon reading the first chapter was "16 miles is the longest LR? Sign me up!", followed immediately by "Wait a second, it's 16 miles following a very high-mileage week. I guess this isn't some magical plan that will allow me to run a 2-hour marathon on little to no mileage. Ugh."

I don't know anything about running so I'm not endorsing this plan or anything, but the author has a very valid point about the weaknesses he sees in typical training plans. He says that many plans have the trainee running incredibly low mileage during the week and killing themselves during their LR on the weekend. The length of these long runs breaks the body down enough that the runner is forced to spend an entire week recovering from it and gearing up for the next LR. He also argues that running only 3 or 4 times a week to allow full recovery between runs isn't ideal because it is running without being fully recovered that forces the desired physiological changes to occur.

The last thing that really resonated with me was his comment that "Our programs are designed this way to help you feel your best during the race, not during training. After all, you never want to execute your best performance in practice" (I'd cite a page number but I've got it on Kindle and Kindle just doesn't roll that way. First Chapter in the "Recovery: Partial Rest" section). Whereas traditional plans try to make training easy and force you to half kill yourself on race day, Hansons' (they're brothers, I guess?) plan makes training difficult in order to allow you to run a successful marathon. At least that's their spiel. Who knows whether it's true.

I was initially intimidated by this plan because I had read that the weekly mileage is very high. I assumed their first week would involve 40+ miles and given that I'm hovering right around 20 right now, I thought that sounded like a disaster for me. I was pleasantly surprised, however, to see that the first five weeks are well within my current abilities. My main reservation is transitioning from running four days a week to six days a week (even if some of those days are very easy recovery miles), and the seemingly ridiculous, sudden 15-mile bump-up in weekly mileage between weeks 5 and 6 (24 to 39 miles). I'll have to read more to see if they provide an explanation for that, but to me it seems like a recipe for broken body parts.

I used Hal's plan last year with success (that is, until I randomly stress fractured my foot during an easy half marathon two weeks before the marathon) so when I decided to train for another marathon, I automatically assumed I would use that plan again. However, I remember being frustrated with the low mileage during the week and LRs really took it out of me, plus I realized I wasn't that excited about doing the exact same thing again. Running 20 miles didn't suddenly made me feel like I could run a marathon; I think that actually running 26.2 is the only way to know for certain that I can do it. So the idea of having my longest run be a full ten miles short of the actual distance I aim to run doesn't worry me as much as I thought it would.

Once I've had a chance to read the book, I'll report back on my plans (because I know you're on the edge of your seat right now).

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Oh yeah, it was really cold again today.

Written on frost accumulating inside the window, NBD

Question time:

• Tell me about the Hanson Method. Tell me it's the best plan ever and helped you run your marathon PR, or tell me why it'll just cause me to injure myself.
• Any students out there who can relate to "Ugh, homework" Sundays?
• Anyone do anything awesome today? Let me live through you.