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Week 2 – February 11th thru 17th

House Keeping Notes

1. NO Wednesday Evening Group on Feb 20th…please join the morning Group
2. Normal Group Training on Saturday February 16th  

Long Run Schedule for Boston

Feb 24th – 16 miles

Mar 3rd – 22 miles

Mar 10th – 15 miles

Mar 17th – 17 miles

Mar 24th – 21 miles

Mar 31st – 15 miles

Apr 7th – 10 miles

Apr 15th – BOSTON

Monday 11th            Cross Train Day

                              Lift Weights/Pilates (Mat or Reformer)/Yoga – 45 to 60 minutes

Tuesday 12th           Easy/Light Run 40-45 minutes (Boston Crew – 50 minutes)

                              Include 5-6 x 30 sec light strides/60 sec easy within run

                              do light strides after 20 minutes of running

                              Sports Conditioning Class @ CAC-Flatirons – 10:45 am

Wednesday 13th      Fartlek Workout         

                              East Boulder Rec @ 6:30 am OR Potts Field @ 5:30 pm

                              Warm Up 15 min/Stretch/4 x 30 sec strides

                              2 x 3 min @ 10 km effort with 90 sec easy

                              take 2 min active rest after second 3 min   

                              5 min @ 10 km effort

                              take 2 min active rest 

                              2 x 2 min @ 5 km effort with 60 sec easy

                              take 2 min active rest after second 2 min   

                              2 x 4 min @ 10 km effort with 2 min easy

                              active rest = walk/slow run recovery                                

                              Cool Down 5-10 minutes

Thursday 14th          Cross Train Day

                              Lift Weights/Pilates (Mat or Reformer)/Yoga – 45 to 60 minutes

                              Sports Conditioning Class @ CAC-Flatirons – 6:00 pm

Friday 15th              Easy Recovery Run 40-45 minutes (Boston Crew – 50 minutes)

Saturday 16th          Tempo Workout from East Boulder Rec @ 7:30 am

                              workout on bike path @ golf course

                              Warm Up 10-15 min/Stretch/4 x 30 sec strides

                              3 km @ marathon pace with 3 min active rest

                              2 x 2 km @ half marathon pace with 3 min active rest

                              2 x 1 km @ 10 km pace with 2 min active rest                                   

                              active rest = walk/slow run recovery

                              Cool Down 5-10 minutes

Sunday 17th            Boston Crew – 18 miles

                              Easy Long Run – 70-80 minutes

                              Relaxed Pace/Hydrate on the Run

                              Easy 5 min Walk Cool Down

Easy/Light/Recovery Run - Conversational Pace/Relaxed Effort

Long Run – 60-90 sec Slower than your Marathon Goal Pace

Tempo/Sustained - Run between 70-80% Effort of Max

Fartlek – Playing with Fast/Slow Speed

Hills - Work on Good Form (drive with arms/relax the shoulders/get up on toes/quick

          turnover/mid-foot strike on the downs/look 5-10 feet in front of yourself)

Meeting Places

East Boulder Rec - follow Baseline east to 55th St. Take a right on 55th and follow the road until the sharp left turn and go past the first parking lot and tennis courts towards the Rec Center. Park on the West Side of the Rec Center Parking Lot close to the tennis courts.

Potts Field – CU Outdoor Track between Foothills Parkway and 30th off of Colorado Avenue

Coach's Notes

ASTYM and GRASTON – the “scraping” technique for healing tendon injuries

Heel, calf, shin, knee, and hip or shoulder pain: these are many of the injuries we recognize as a barrier to our training and performance. Many times these injuries come and go like our last interval workout. Other times these injuries feel much like your last long run…like it will never end. During those seemingly never-ending periods of soreness and discomfort, we try everything to reduce and eliminate the symptoms…stretching, icing, resting and sometimes ingesting more anti-inflammatories than a race horse should take. Then, just when you think you are beyond the pain, you return to running and come to the realization that you are no healthier than you were before you took time off from training.

When this happens, it means the annoying little tendinitis or acute inflammation of the tendon, has converted to tendinosis or chronic inflammation of the tissue. This means your body's natural process of healing was insufficient. Your body's healing process takes place within about two weeks, and any extra rest after that may not make any difference. A chronically injured tissue, when looked at under a microscope, is disorganized and looks like cooked spaghetti in a bowl. Healthy tissue looks like dried spaghetti in a box...it lines up in nice, organized parallel lines. This injured tissue or "scar" tissue is by nature contractile: it contracts down upon itself over time, meaning the injured muscle tends to get shorter and more restricted. The layers of skin, fascia and muscle adhere to one another, and develop a grainy, gritty texture that you feel. These adhesions have poor blood flow, restricted movement and can be precursors to injury. Much like endurance sports science and training, treatment techniques have progressed and evolved over time. These progressions can be seen in the past few decades with the invention of soft tissue remodeling techniques called ASTYM and GRASTON.  

ASTYM is a way to encourage healing in degenerative soft tissue by stimulating the same healing process in your body that was previously unsuccessful, and gives it another chance at a heightened level. This happens by creating controlled micro trauma and the release of a growth factor that stimulates new blood flow and nutrient delivery to the area. The patient can feel the adhesions being mobilized underneath the skin, often accompanied by a crunching sound.

GRASTON technique, which also facilitates blood flow and nutrient delivery, involves using tools to locate and reduce collagen cross-links and splays in connective tissue while realigning fibers.

Both methods are performed in conjunction with prescribed stretches and exercises to further promote healing and recovery while accelerating the ability to train or race without pain. Specifically designed exercises aid the soft tissue treatment by realigning the tissue and strengthening it to allow for higher force production during activity. When combined with a physical therapy program, runners are often able to return to physical activity after their first ASTYM or GRASTON treatment. Research continues to be conducted on the efficacy of these treatments, and results demonstrate significant reduction in symptoms and time required for healing. More research needs to be done on the long-term benefits of these techniques, but considerable anecdotal evidence demonstrates a considerable drop in time spent off of activity while undergoing treatment.

It's painful...but can be very effective.