My First Success as a Coach-Winner of Atlanta Marathon

My first success as a coach came yesterday at the 2009 Atlanta Marathon, when Nathan Tew ran 2:34:24 winning and beating second place by close to 6 minutes. Nathan quit the Georgia Tech cross country team because he was burned out at the time, but after about 10 days off he started running again. He didn't lose much fitness over those 10 days, as he rides bikes all the time-mountain biking, cross country biking, biking on the road and doing 360's at skate parks on his bmx. After his second or third day back running we had a conversation that went like this:
Nathan: "What if you trained me to run the Atlanta Marathon?"
Me: "I am 90% confident that if you stayed healthy through the training I would give you that you would win."

A couple days later he told me to write up a schedule for him. He was going to run the Atlanta Marathon. Now let me explain why I was 90% confident he would win the Atlanta Marathon if he stayed healthy through the training. The average winning time is around 6 minutes a mile. I knew his talent level, how he is a one of the few pure distance runners-a guy that is so efficient that he just gets better as the distance increases. Out of all the teammates I have ever have he is the only one to convert perfectly as the distance goes up. This was why I was so confident. I was not speaking out of my ass. I believed I could get him to run faster than 6-minute miles.

I had 9 weeks to get him to the line ready to win the Atlanta Marathon. I had a schedule down for all the workouts over those 9 weeks. But as any good coach will tell you, you can't plan ahead for 9 weeks. You have to come up with a plan and adjust that plan according to how your athlete is doing. At first Nathan was nailing workouts, so I made the schedule more challenging, knowing that he would be able to handle the workload. Then there came a point where he could not handle when I dropped the rest on the interval days so I just kept it at equal rest. The point of the interval days was just to make marathon pace more comfortable.

Here are the workouts that Nathan completed before the Atlanta Marathon:

Week One of Workouts:
-12 mile long run at Kennesaw

Week 2
-3 mile tempo on lake loop in 5:35's
-14 mile long run @ Kennesaw(ran the final 11 miles @ 5:54 pace)

Week 3
-4 x 800 in 2:28-2:29 w/ 2.5' rest
-4 mile tempo on lake loop in 5:30's
-16 mile long run @ Kennesaw(final 13 miles in 6:03 pace)

Week 4
-6 x 800 w/ equal time recovery in 2:27-2:28
-5 mile tempo on lake loop in 5:30's
-18 mile long run at Kennesaw(final 15 miles 6:10 pace)

Week 5
-4 x 1200 on oval at piedmont park(ran 3:47-3:344-3:51-3:59 w/ 2' rest)*this workout showed me that i needed to give him equal time recovery. I really wanted him to be running 5:00 pace during these intervals rather than dying and falling off 5:00 pace.
-6 mile tempo on lake loop: 32:53
-20 mile long run at Kennesaw (final 17 miles in ~6:10 pace): ran 3 mile warmup, 16 mile loop, and a mile up the mountain

Week 6
-3 x mile at the river with 5' rest: 4:58-4:52-4:56
-8 mile tempo on lake loop: 5:33's
-23 mile long run at Kennesaw (16 mile loop w/ additional 7 mile loop)-ran final 20 miles in ~6:10 pace

Week 7
-6 x 800 on oval with equal rest: 2:27's
-10 mile tempo on lake loop: 5:24's Comfortably
-20 mile long run at Kennesaw(final 17 miles at ~6:10 pace)

Week 8
-18-mile long run at Kennesaw(final 15 miles ~6:10 pace)

Week 9
-8-mile tempo on lake loop: 5:25's (felt easy)
-16 mile long run at Kennesaw real easy~7:15 pace

Week 10
-Monday: 10 mile workout which consisted of 4 miles on lake loop at goal marathon pace~5:48's
-Tuesday: easy 6
-wednesday: day off(get that glycogen stored up)
-Thursday: 2:34:24 Atlanta Marathon

So as you can see from Nathan's training. he put in some serious work, but I know of a lot of runners that put in some legitimate workouts. What seperates Nathan from other runners that put in serious workouts is what Nathan does the other 22 hours of the day, what Nathan does on easy days, what Nathan would eat, and when Nathan would sleep.

First let me talk about what Nathan ate. He worked on increasing the number of carbohydrates he would eat at meals. this gave him fuel for his training, and taught his body how to store higher amounts of glycogen. Too many runners eat too much fats and proteins. They never give their body a chance to recover because they never replenish their carbohydrates.

Then there was how Nathan ran his easy days. We had him run them as slow as he needed. Easy days are just that. They are supposed to be EASY! You run them as slow and as comfortable as you need for two reasons. First, it allows you to recover for your next workout and it takes nothing out of you for the next workout. Second, running slowly allows you to burn less carbohydrates and more fats, so that you have the much needed carbohydrates(glycogen) for your next workout.

Sleep is critical to success. Nathan would sleep at least 8 hours a night during the school week and more on the weekends. The latest Nathan ever stayed up was 1:00 a.m. and that was rare.

The final key and probably the most important was that Nathan never drank alcohol once during the 9 weeks leading up to the marathon. He took care of his body.

It was a real honor coaching Nathan. His dedication to his goal of winning the Atlanta Marathon was something to admire. Seeing him run the race and drop the other two runners that were with him by mile 13 showed his confidence in his abilities. He ran physically strong, mentally tough, and supremely confident.

How The Goal Race Went

I set a goal: Top 50 at Regions, four years ago after my first region race. In the years in between I doubted the likelihood of me finishing in the top 50 but this year I finished 49th in a time of 32:11 for the 10k on Alabama's course.

Before this race I decided that I was going to run this race for my grandma who passed away September 13th of this year. I loved her very much and we were a lot closer than most people are with their grandparents. After the race, I gave my grandpa a hug. I told him that I ran the race for his beloved wife of 59 years and he could see the tears I was holding back and I could see the tears he was holding back. I am blessed with a family that has always given me their love and support no matter the endeavor.

I got out hard in 4:58 and 10:00 for the mile and two mile respectively, but I did not hear any of the times after that.

I brought everything I had to this xc season. Not to say I brought any less the previous years. I have always put in the effort.

It was a season that started poorly and got better as each race went along. It was an honor to run for the Georgia Tech Cross Country team. This year was something special for me. The team dynamic was the best I have ever seen. Along with the work ethic of my teammates and their desire to improve. Our team finished eighth place at the acc championships-a place our team has not finished since 2004.

I am sad that it has come to an end. I have always considered cross country as my strength. There are no hills on a track, but I am going to bring my best to this track season. I want to see what I am capable of. While I was in the van on the ride back to Georgia Tech, I had the pleasure of sitting in the passenger seat as Coach drove and having some good running conversations. I was the last person Coach dropped off and as we are getting out of the van, Coach said, "Greg you had a great race and a great cross country season. Now lets bring that to the track." And that is exactly what I plan to do.

Nice Guys Finish Last

I hear all the time: "nice guys finish last." Well, let me change that saying to be more applicable to running: "Hard working slow runners finish last."

The reason I decided to write this blog was because I wanted to show that through hard work, a slow runner could finish reasonably well for himself as a collegiate runner.

What is slow? Slow is being an individual who was never able to break 60 in quarter in high school. Slow is being an individual who can get passed like he is standing still by most of the runners on the women's cross country team during strides. Slow is having to pump your arms vigorously to be able to handle the smallest amount of speed.

A hard working slow runner may earn the respect of the best runner on the team, David Herren, but then again David may ask, "Aren't you ever mad that you work so hard and there are guys who hardly work and they beat you?" To which the hard working slow runner responds, "At least when it is all said and done, I will know that I gave it my all and I will have no regrets."

Ask yourself, "Are you the hard working slow runner or are you just a slow runner?" Maybe you are more talented than the hard working slow runner. Is that an excuse to not work as hard? At the end of your collegiate career you will think back to all the decisons you made throughout your collegiate career. Did you make the right decisons? Did you reach your full potential? DID YOU WORK LIKE THE HARD WORKING SLOW RUNNER? BECAUSE HARD WORKING SLOW RUNNERS DO NOT FINISH LAST!

The Final Countdown: 13 Days to my Goal Race

Well, I knew I would eventually get to the point where time is running out. There is no magical workout that is going to make or break my final collegiate xc race. There will be some final sharpening workouts, but nothing that will break me down.

I remember my freshman year, 4 years ago, I was a top 7 runner throughout the year on a team that finished last in their conference championships. I was scared. I had doubts. I was not physically prepared to compete against the runners in my conference and in my region. After my freshman campaign, I said I am going to contribute to this team in some way by my fourth and fifth year.

Well as I have continued my collegiate xc career, I have continued to improve but I have still never felt like I contributed to the team. All the work and nothing to show for it.

Once I got to my third and fourth year, I began to believe my teammates were on another level than myself. I started to think that the best I could do for this team was be a top 7 runner in the 8k races. I set my sights on my best event: the 10k xc race at regions, where I believed I could be a top 5 runner for the team and finally contribute.

After this past track season, I brought a level of focus to my running that would only be surpassed by the most dedicated collegiate and professional runners. When you only have one last shot you are willing to do anything to make it count. You start to recover from workouts faster. You start to get overly giddy and excited for tempo runs, long runs, intervals. You start to see out of a new pair of eyes. You know the importance of every workout and that there can be no bad workouts if you are going to acheive your goal.

It gives me goosebumps, even right now as I write this post, to think how far I have come this past half year. It wasn't by chance. It was a summer filled with quality long runs, tempo runs and tempo-paced fartlek. A summer with 3 hours of core work a week. A summer where three times a week I would perform body-weight exercises, and do fast strides in between the body weight exercises. These exercises would take about 20-30 minutes 3 times a week. Then I would follow up those exercises with a series of ankle weight exercises-hamstring curls, and three other exercises. This would take 15 minutes 3 x a week. Once the school year started I have tried to keep up with my core, probably averaging 1 1/2 hours a week. I have been doing weights but I still do the ankle weight exercises(the hickey routine) on my own 2 x a week on non-race weeks and one time on race weeks.

As a result of this work, I am stronger than I have ever been. My hamstring has given me no problems thanks to the hickey routine. Aerobically, I can clip off 6:00-6:10 miles on a long run comfortably. My lungs are strong, from the intervals we have run. I can go out harder in races without being forced into oxygen debt immediately.

This weekend was my final conference championships. Going into the race I was scared, nervous, I had doubts just like Pre-Nats. But I had a game plan. Get out, stick with Garad, finish. The same three goals I had at Pre-Nats. I had a time goal because we had run this course 4 weeks earlier, and I knew that if I had a great day I would like to run 25:15, and I thought if our team had a great day our top 5 would be right at or under 25:10.

I viewed the conference championships as a stepping stone towards my final goal, the region championships. If I finished outside of the top 7 on the team, I would not be taken to my goal race. If the region championships are my version of running in the 10k in the olympics, then the acc championships became my version of running in the U.S. olympic trials.

As I stepped to the line, the doubt faded, my nerves calmed and my fears disappeared. All I thought was my mantra: Get Out, Stick with Garad, Finish. The gun went off, and there was a false start, so we lined up again. The next time the gun went off I executed my game plan. I got out in a decent position for myself, a 4:53 first mile. I came through 2k in 84th place and 6:13. I came through 5k in 63rd place and 15:53 and I finished the race in 49th place with a time of 25:09. I pushed the downhills and relaxed on the uphills. You would be surprised how many people allow themselves to catch their breath going downhill. Well, while they put 2 seconds on me going up the hill, I put another 3 seconds on them for the downhill.

Halfway through the race, I heard my coach yelling at me that I was doing great. I must have looked strong but I certainly did not feel it. I was hurting, my legs felt like they weren't going to make it if I continued on at my current pace, but this race was make or break. I focused on catching the next competitor and then the next and so on and so on. The feeling in my legs like I wasn't going to make it got no worse and I began to realize that I was going to make it around 6k. As I approached 7k, I saw our team's top runner and I focused on catching up to him and working with him to the finish.

The ACC championships were the best race I have ever run, but it was not my goal race. My goal race is 13 days away. I am physically fit, physchologically confident and I still have my last shot at collegiate xc.