Do not Let the Weather Be an Excuse!

Training for an early spring long-distance event in the Washington, DC area presents a unique challenge. In some winters, runners have been able to train on the roads every day while, in other winters, ice, snow, and extreme cold temperatures have made it extremely difficult to get in solid training runs. What is a runner to do if she is training for the National Half Marathon on March 24? This is the very dilemma I have since I am planning to run it.

Use a Treadmill For those with access to a treadmill, you can do all your training without missing a beat if you can tolerate the monotony. However, if you are like me, running on a treadmill is like a death by a thousand cuts. After 30 to 40 minutes, I usually reach my maximum. Even when I use headphones to watch a movie or a sporting event, I can run a bit longer but I cannot possibly imagine doing a 12 to 15 mile run on a treadmill.

Be Creative Even in bad weather, you can still find ways to train. With a little bit of creativity and flexibility, you can usually find a way to do your long run. Because the purpose of the long run is build leg strength and acclimate your body to distance, it does not matter how slow you go. Thus, if forced to run on icy roads, the trick is to run very short, choppy steps so that you maintain your balance. In the event of heavy snow, there are always roads that have been plowed, especially near elementary schools. You may have to run single file with your group and pay particular attention to oncoming cars. Another option is to run early in the morning at a large shopping mall such as Tysons Corner, Montgomery Mall, etc. You may have to do run quite a few loops and approximate the distance, but it can be done--I know because I have.

You Can Still Do Speed Work You do not have to forgo speed work in bad weather. Here is where the treadmill is especially effective. You can set the pace and know exactly how far and how fast you go. Slow down, catch your breath, speed up again, and you're running intervals.

Years ago, during some particularly bad weather, my running group used to do its interval work in a covered municipal parking garage. We also did speed work around a high school parking lot when the track was snow covered. Of course, I never knew the exact distance we were running but it did not matter because the important thing is that my heart monitor informed me when I was running at anaerobic threshold. If you work in a high rise office building, consider running repeats up and down the stairs covering several floors. Although not as effective as running, stand up intervals on an exercise bike or a high- intensity spinning class can help improve your speed.

Run a Couple of Tune-Up Races in March Chances are that any snow or ice will be gone by early March. This means that in January you can actually plan on racing in early March. One large race in DC that will help you prepare for the National Half Marathon is the St. Patrick's Day 8K held on March 18. It is six days before the half marathon so you will have sufficient time to recover from an all-out effort or from using the race to run your projected half marathon pace. The size of the race, too, should help you mentally prepare for the next week for the logistics, the crowd, etc.

You should also try to find one other race, ideally on the weekend of March 3-4. You should try to reserve the weekend of March 10-11 for your last long run. However, if you do race on that weekend, you can get your long run in by doing a 2 to 3 mile warm-up before the race and a 2 to 3 mile cool-down after the race.

No Excuses In summary, the weather should not be the reason why you cannot run the National Half Marathon well. The same goes for those runners who will be doing the Credit Union Cherry Blossom the next week. There are ways that you can train if you want to.

Kirt West is a private coach for motivated adult runners. Questions can be sent to him at kirtwest@comcast.net.