HADD training and the Chicago Marathon

DukeOfDromada

Experience with HADD training (so far!)

I have been marathon training for the last four months following the HADD approach. Thought I might put a summary of my experience of it (so far) up here as it is a bit different from the usual P&D and Daniels approach. This training cycle was leading up to the 2013 Chicago marathon so the race report will follow. Would be interested to hear any comments.

My previous marathons and results are:
Oct 2004 - Dublin 3:47
Nov 2011 - Philadelphia 3:38
Oct 2012 - Steamtown (Scranton, PA) 3:06:36 (BQ )
Mar 2013 - Lower Potomac, Maryland 3:59 (training run)
Apr 2013 - Boston 2:59:30 race report here

Other PBs (PRs) are all soft as haven’t been able to race them for over a year. Except a 10 miler which was 60:57 a few weeks after Boston but this is a bit misleading as it was a downhill point to point.

Target
Back in Jan-2013, even before I got into my Boston marathon training I had targeted the Chicago marathon, 13-Oct-2013, as the big one, the one where I’d target my big PB with its flat course. Might sound strange with Boston in the same year but I would use Boston as a stepping stone to get the sub 3hr and then move on. Target for Chicago, 2:50!!! Big step from the then current PB 3:06.

A summary of my Boston training:
Mileage started at 35 miles per week and peaked at 49 miles five weeks out from Boston. Increase was very gradual each week due to trying to keeping injuries at bay. The week was roughly structured with a long run on the Sunday, a midweek tempo run and three other 6 mile easy runs thrown in where they could fit. Long runs started off at 12 miles increasing each week by 2 miles until I reached 20. Then alternated between 20 and 16 each week and started introducing MP miles with 14 MP miles the peak. Got six 20 mile runs in. The midweek tempo run started off at 8 miles with 4 miles at tempo pace, increasing very slowly the overall distance and tempo section to 12 miles with a peak of 6 miles at tempo pace. Only ran once faster than tempo pace which was during a 5 mile race in early February.

You’ll notice that there were no intervals whatsoever and no runs faster than tempo which was about 6:30/mile pace at the time. Previously whenever I did intervals it nearly always brought on injuries so avoided them here.

HADD training
So, while I was in the middle of my Boston training I was reading up about Arthur Lydiard and his type of training. His approach focusing on developing the aerobic system (endurance-specific mitochondria, capillaries, fat burning system) resonated with me and I decided for the next marathon training cycle that I would do this type of training. Lydiard’s phase 1 training is lots of miles, easy with some steady runs. As I was in the middle of my Boston training (tempo and long run with MP miles) I wanted to keep going with this as I didn’t want to disrupt it and it would be a good marker if I kept with it. Shortly after reading about Lydiard I came across Larry Brent’s post about his experience with HADD training. This intrigued me also so I started reading about HADD. It seemed to me that his phase 1 is simply a methodical implementation of Lydiard phase 1 training, so decided this would be how I’d approach the next training cycle.

My basic understanding of HADD phase 1 (developing the aerobic system) training schedule was simply do two steady state runs a week with a long run at the weekend at an easy pace. All other runs should be also easy. To get the correct effort level for each run he relies on heart rate. His experience is that marathon pace for a well-trained runner is about 20 beats less than max HR. Instead of training at this effort level all the time he builds up to it by doing steady state runs starting at 15-20 beats lower than this again, slowly increasing by 5 beats when that effort level is ‘mastered’. All other runs, including the long run, should be at an effort level 50 beats less than max HR.

The purpose of the steady state runs is to improve your lactate threshold and to insure you train a wide range of your slow twitch muscles, not just the ones at MP effort. Improving your lactate threshold means you can run faster while still staying in an aerobic state, and so you can maintain that faster pace for longer distances. Essential development for any distance run, especially the marathon. Training a wide range of slow twitch muscles means you will be able to call upon a wider variety of them when the ones at MP get too tired to perform any longer. This gradual increase in effort level also removes any chance of running faster than LT effort level which is an easy and common mistake for people who do tempo runs.

The other runs in the week are to improve your aerobic and fat burning systems and to train even the very slowest of your slow twitch muscle fibres as during a marathon you’ll be calling on these too. Improving your fat burning system means you use less glycogen, stretching out what glycogen reserves you do have. This is essential in a marathon as you don’t have enough glycogen reserves to get you around the whole distance so burning more fat in the fat:glycogen ratio is critical. Also, you get way more energy output by burning fat than glycogen for each molecule of oxygen so it’s a no brainer to try and improve this. My understanding also is that aerobic developments like increasing your mitochondria and capillaries for endurance develop more so on the long runs when ran easy.

My implementation of HADD training
First I needed to find out my max HR. This involved dusting off the HR monitor and buying a new battery for it as well as running up a long gradual hill to exhaustion three times. Max HR came out at 196 bpm, as expected.

According to HADD my marathon pace HR (when well trained) should be 196 – 20 = ~175 bpm. Therefore the steady state runs should be ran at 155 bpm (175 – 20) effort level to start off with. When this effort level is ‘mastered’ I can then increase this by 5 beats each time until I reach 175 bpm. That is, start off with 155 bpm, when mastered increase to 160 and then to 165, 170 and finally 175 bpm.

‘Mastering’ an effort level means you can run at that effort level for an hour without the HR increasing or the pace dropping and feeling at the end of the hour that you could easily continue for a few more miles at that effort level and pace.

A steady state run for me would consist of a 1.8 mile warm up before starting the steady state section and about a 1 to 1.8 mile warm down depending on how the route and overall mileage would work out. As I was slowly building up my weekly mileage I couldn’t do a full hour for both steady state runs in the week.

All other runs, including the long run, were to be run at an effort level of 196 – 50 = ~145 bpm. This is the hard part for most people as it is very slow running compared to what one is used to. It took me a while too, it was strange at first but easily got into it. I did however on the long runs let this drift up to 150 bpm so I could fit in a 20 mile run without going over 3 hrs. My easy runs of 6 miles or less were all done less than 145 bpm, even as low as 140 bpm sometimes.

So two steady runs, a long run and as many easy runs in between as possible. My Boston training weekly mileage was between 40-50 miles per week on 5 runs per week during the main section. I wanted to up this to 50-60 mpw on possibly 6 runs per week if it worked out (if I didn’t go for a bike ride at the weekend). The week evolved into looking something like this:

Mon|6 miles easy or core strength
Tue|6 miles easy or core strength
Wed|wu, 1 hr @ steady state, cd
Thur|6 miles easy
Fri|wu, 45 min @ steady state, cd
Sat|cycle ~50 miles easy or 6 miles easy
Sun|Long slow run
Always did a core strength session a week. I’ve learned my lesson so they are an integral part of my training. Depending on which day I did these, I did the easy run the other day.

I did the cycle on the Saturday mostly. This was more effort than a 6 mile easy run and it meant I was starting the LSR on the Sunday with tired legs which some people think is a good thing. I’m careful about this as I’m more likely to get injured when tired but my legs were never too tired to be worried about it so kept with it. The change is also mentally good, plus it is with a group so got to socialise while training as opposed to all my solo runs.

The actual training
After a bit of an injury resulting from racing the Broad St 10 miler (5th May) too soon after Boston I started the HADD training at the end of June. I had lost close to 2 months with the recovery and injury before I could get out for consistent 4 times a week easy short miles. This gave me 16 weeks before Chicago which I knew at that stage was going to come around too soon.

The first week’s mileage was 38 miles with a long run of 12, a steady state run (targeting 155 bpm effort level for 1 hr of running with wu and cd on top of that) and some easy runs. The easy runs, including the long run, were trying to keep the HR less than 145 bpm which resulted in paces ranging from 9:45 to 10/mile. Yep that slow :eek (not being disrespectful here by calling it slow but remember that my MP in Boston was 6:51/mile). The steady state paces ranged between 8 and 9/mile as I was slowing down as the run went on while keeping the HR steady. A clear sign that I was not well trained at the 155 bpm effort level, however, to muddy the waters the temperature was hitting close to 30 deg C so this most likely contributed to the increased effort. Steady state run was a total of 8.5 miles.

Over the next 4 weeks I increased the long run by 2 miles to reach the 20 mile target. I increased the steady state run by about 0.5 miles each week and slowly introduced the second, shorter, steady state run. After 4 weeks I was able to keep the HR steady and the pace even got faster as the run went on showing clearly that I was now well trained at that effort level. An early indication that this HADD thing was doing something.

I moved the effort level to 160 bpm for the two steady state runs but felt very comfortable at this effort level. My HR didn’t increase, the pace didn’t slow and felt I could keep going. I think I was well trained at this effort level because this was about the pace (7:30-8:00/mile) that I did a lot of my easy runs during Boston marathon training. Because I felt well trained at 160bpm, over the next 3 weeks I did the shorter steady state run at 165 bpm and the longer one at 160. Even though I felt well trained at 160, I wanted to spend some time at this effort level before moving on.

The 165 bpm effort level was a little tougher at the start but after 5 weeks at this level I could hold a steady HR for the full hour without the pace dropping. As the focus on these runs is to keep a steady HR the pace obviously changes. For me, when I’m starting the steady state session my pace is always slower progressively getting faster over the hour. On any given day the pace for a particular HR is also dependent on external factors like heat or headwind. For these 165 bpm steady state runs my pace ranged from 7:00-7:20/mile.

Finally getting into the business end of the steady state runs, effort level 170 bpm. However it was now only 5 weeks till Chicago and so I knew I wouldn’t be well trained at this effort level in time. I had some serious doubts about continuing with this type of training as I knew I’d get pretty much no runs in at 6:29/mile pace (2:50 marathon target). I was also reading about other Boardsies targeting the same time as me doing easy runs of 7:30/mile, knocking out tempo runs at 6-6:15/mile pace, long runs with massive MP sections and hitting 1:20 half marathons. I hadn’t ran faster than 7/mile, my easy pace was 8:30-9:00/mile and it was now 5 weeks till I was supposed to aim for 6:29/mile for 26.2 miles!! This type of training takes as long as it takes, it doesn’t fit in a schedule. You only move onto the next level when you are well trained at the current level. This progression depends completely on the person doing the training and everyone progresses differently. I knew the marathon was going to come around too soon even before training started but didn’t think I’d get this apprehensive. I decided to stay strong and stick with what I was doing and not worry about anyone else. Even though Chicago was the main target for the last 10+ months I reminded myself that this type of training is a long term development plan and there will be other marathons. If I stick to it the rewards will be greater. Plus it would be a great experiment to compare to previous training, but would only be comparably if I stuck with it. Mind made up, sticking to it and we’ll see what happens in Chicago.

The pace for the 170 bpm effort level ranged from 6:45-7:05/mile. Needless to say I didn’t master the 170 effort level before Chicago. Only got 4 weeks at this effort level as didn’t do a steady state run the week before the marathon. I also didn’t get the full two steady state runs in each week due to holidays and squeezing in a half marathon to use as a training run (which was done at MP and went ok). Legs were well and truly exhausted this period as two of the weeks I hit 60 miles, most I’d ever done. As I was so tired and it was still warm enough, I was hoping that by the time Chicago came around I’d be on fresher legs and the temps would be cooler resulting in 170 bpm effort pace been much closer to 6:29/mile. Here’s hoping!

The longer steady state run (the 1 hour steady) each week got to 12.6 miles with 9 miles at the steady effort level. The second shorter steady run peaked at 10.6 miles with 7 miles at the required effort level. I did one main longer one first and then built up the second one. I was carefully managing my overall weekly mileage increase so as not to increase it too quickly.

I was now doing a 20 mile run each Sunday. As I said I let the HR increase slightly on these so I could get the 20 miles in without going over 3hrs. I also allowed HR to increase to cope with a bit of heat. Pace for six of the 20 mile runs were 8:30/mile or slower. The seventh and last 20 miler was a progression run with a large chunk at 170 effort level. This was three weeks before Chicago.

16 week period, 777 miles, average 48.5 miles/week,
All runs were in the morning before breakfast therefore I deliberately did my long runs in a fasted state and didn’t bring any gels or anything with me, only water, with the aim of encouraging additional improvements in my fat burning.

HADD test
HADD has this test where you run at a steady HR for 2,400 m making note of your pace at this HR. you then increase your HR by 10 bpm and repeat. HR levels are usually 140, 150, 160, 170 and 180 bpm. By tracking your pace at each HR effort level you can see the improvements of your fitness as your training progresses. I attempted this test at the start of the training cycle however it was a bit of a disaster. And as the temps were high over the summer there wasn’t any point in doing the test again as the heat would skew the results making them incomparable.

Bring on Chicago!

Some articles on HADD training:
http://can.milesplit.com/discussion/topics/90162
http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=2375989
and got a pdf from somewhere but can't remember where, I'll try and attach.

DukeOfDromada

So the target was 2:50 (6:29/mile) but as explained above I hadn’t done any MP miles (except for the half marathon MP training run) or faster so had no idea how this would pan out. I felt though that 2:55 was in the bag as my 170 bpm effort level ranged from 6:45-7:05/mile on tired legs so a bit cooler weather and allowing HR to go above I thought I could handle 6:40 pace for a 2:55 marathon. Hoping that this would extend to a 6:29 pace!?!? :eek::rolleyes:

Pre Race
We (me + the OH) flew into Chicago Friday afternoon, checked into the Hostel (HI Chicago, definitely recommend it) and got the courtesy bus down to the expo. Pretty decent expo with all the big running brands having their own stylish areas, especially Nike, the main sponsor. No such thing as a simple stand for these guys. Had to do the expected and buy a Chicago marathon t-shirt, two of them. Back in the hostel we met up with Blockic for the first time, he was sharing with Belcarra. When Belcarra eventually landed that evening we had a quiet night in some restaurant around the corner.

Next morning was just a nice easy 3 mile jog along the lake front. Very nice place to go for a run with great views out over the lake on one side or Chi town the other. Legs unfortunately didn’t feel fresh; I had done the usual taper but all week they never seemed to come around as expected. I never felt raring to go and needing to hold myself back. The day before the marathon though it is difficult to tell whether it is nerves or not.

Afternoon was planned months ago, off the feet for a nice relaxing architecture river boat tour through the heart of the city. Very interesting tour, would recommend it; we also met up with RunForestRun and Peckham + OH for it too. Lunch, failed attempt to go up the Sears Tower (now known as Willis Tower, queues were 2+hrs) so chilled at the hostel while waiting for the free pasta dinner the hostel were putting on especially for the runners. Massive feed, this hostel is great and way better than forking out the $35 or so on the official pasta dinner. Early to bed.

Race Day
Next morning got up nice and early, I was a bit disjointed (surprisingly) and not ready to leave when the others (Blockic, RFR and Peckham) were, so Belcarra hung back with me and the OH. A relaxed 2 block walk (this hostel was perfectly located) and we were waltzing our way through security. It was still dark at this stage so took a bit of effort to find the others chilling out on the ground. Hung around for a bit soaking up the atmosphere and getting in the mood. Porta Jon, bag drop and in the corral where I again caught up with RFR, Blockic and Peckham. It was good to be around the guys to distract the nerves a bit. An intermittent PA system for the national anthem, some sort of fly over that I missed and then we moved up en masse closer to the start line. We were on the left side of the road which seemed to be up further than the right and so we were very close to the elites. If only I was a bit taller I might have got a good look. And then we were off.

Mile 1 – 6
RFR was also aiming for 2:50, Peckham 2:55 and Blockic sub 3. The four of us pretty much ran the first mile together. Then RFR and myself slowly pulled away as our pace slightly increased towards our MP. Crowds were large and loud, great atmosphere for that early in the morning. Also got an unexpected shout out from my OH within the first mile, which was a pleasant surprise. The route zigzagged through the city a bit crossing the river three times before heading north for our first venture outside the downtown area.

The plan was to run at MP (6:29) effort till about 6/7 miles and see how things felt. Before I even got anywhere near to mile 6 the effort felt too hard for this early in a marathon. I kept with RFR a bit to see if I’d get into it but when mile 6 came around and the effort was still too much I eased off and let RFR head off.

1 mile splits, 1 to 6 miles: 6:48min @ 163bpm, 6:31@175, 6:31@176, 6:26@177, 6:25@177, 6:22@177.

Looking back at the HR numbers they were too high. I had only trained at 170 bpm effort for a bit. Even giving myself a bit of leeway for the marathon I’m not yet ready to race at HR of 177 for a full marathon. Slowing down when I felt the effort level too high I think was a very wise decision even though that meant 2:50 was now gone.

Mile 7 – 18
During marathons I find that I get into a zone from the early stages to about 17/18 miles where the effort is easy and I just cruise along. This never really happened in Chicago, the legs felt tired the whole way through. Was a bit concerned that the legs never really got into it but just kept plugging away as the effort and breathing felt comfortable. Took first gel at mile 7 and washed it down with some of the 330ml bottle of water with a sports cap I was carrying in my hand. Can’t handle cups and American races only hand out cups, no bottles.

Reached the furthest point north around the 7.5 mile mark and we started making our way back south to the downtown area. Passed through some really nice neighbourhoods with some awesome crowds out cheering. Downtown again was loud. Over the river twice again and then headed out west. Soon after I passed the half way in 1:25:43; second fastest half marathon time ever. Other quickest was 5 weeks previous in Philly where I used it as a MP training run coming in 1:25:02. Need to sort that slow time out.

Took second and third gels at 10 and 13 miles and finished the bottle of water. Even though I never availed of the water or Gatorade stations they looked really well organised. They were massive taking up two full blocks, first block water, second Gatorade (I think that was the order). Best water stations I’ve seen.

Don’t really remember much about this section of the course, halfway to ~17 miles. I think it’s because I was starting to feel worse, that is, the legs were getting quite tired. My OH was waiting for me around the 17 mile mark to hand off the second bottle of water. Wasn’t feeling the greatest at this point and she knew it.

Picked up three more gels from the gel station at around 17.5 miles. Again, very well organised with big flags marking the different flavours. I don’t do caffeine very well so it was easy to pick out the right ones for me. Took the fourth gel immediately after.

Splits, 7 to 18 miles: 6:32@175, 6:36@174, 6:31@173, 6:37@172, 6:37@173, 6:29@172, 6:33@173, 6:38@172, 6:32@173, 6:35@172, 6:31@173 and 6:33@174.

Mile 19 – 26.2
I think I got distracted trying to store the two extra gels I had picked up along with the now very tired legs as the pace dropped without me knowing. This was definitely a mental thing as the effort and HR also dropped in line with the pace. For four miles I just couldn’t snap out of it, the course wasn’t the most interesting though we did pass through Chinatown and with the 2:50 target now gone I was kinda floating in no man’s land between 2:50 and 2:55 which didn’t really mean much. There was no big target to chase, not like a sub 3 or anything. What’s the difference between 2:52/2:54? Took the fifth and sixth gels at around 20 and 22 miles in the hope that the sugar rush would snap me out of it. Maybe I should have taken a caffeine one.

At mile 22 I said feck it, I can handle a bit of pain from now till the end, it’s only 4.2 miles left! So picked up the pace to where it should be and motored along overtaking people. Pace actually felt good though my breathing was now heavier but nothing to be too worried about.

This increase in pace lasted only 2 miles. The effort level stayed high but the legs were now starting to give up and the pace was dropping. Couldn’t do anything about it. Miles 23.5 to 26 are basically a perfectly straight line running north to come back into Grant Park. This long straight doesn’t do much for the mental struggles when you can see how far away the buildings are. Just kept plugging away as I knew it was nearly over and couldn’t wait.

There is a tiny little hill at mile 26, the only hill on the whole course, a nothing hill, normally. When you take that second last corner and face that hill, at that point in a marathon and after running on such a flat course the whole way, it is a killer. All I could do was put the head down and work as hard as I could. I also heard my name been shouted, knew immediately it was my OH which was great but didn’t have the energy to turn around or wave at that stage. Eventually got up the hill and straight after is the last left corner and the home straight. As the crowds were so great along the course I expected this famous finishing straight to be awesome. Disappointingly it was quiet, seemed like there was hardly anyone around and the race photos confirmed it. This area was reserved for people who paid for a VIP pass or was given one (I would suspect). A shame as I was expecting a loud and inspiring crowd. Crossed the line in 2:52:41, a new PB (or PR) by 7 mins, nice!

Splits, 19 to 26.2: 6:44@170, 6:44@172, 6:46@172, 6:43@173, 6:31@175, 6:32@177, 6:40@176, 6:55@175 and 0.2 in 1:20@179 (6:06m/m). Avg 6:35/mile @ 173bpm.

Quickly met up with RFR who had ran an amazing 2:50:xx PB. In fact, all of us got PB’s and we also finished 3rd in the novice team competition which is fantastic (still waiting on the prize). Turns out the winning male time was just 20 sec off the world record which goes to show the perfect weather conditions and course we had. The 27th mile party was great, chilling out on the grass, sun shining sipping a beer or two with the satisfaction of a job well done. Needless to say we drank and ate far too much the rest of the day and next few too!

Reflection
Well, I didn’t get the 2:50 time but I think 2:52 was the best time I could have asked for. Don’t think I could have done any better as when I did increase the effort at mile 22 I couldn’t sustain the 177bpm effort level. Good decision slowing down in the early part of the race as no way would I have gone the whole way at that effort level (not yet anyway!).

I hadn’t ran any miles at 6:35/mile pace (except for the half) or faster during training so being able to do that pace for a full marathon is saying something about this type of training. I feel I have definitely improved my aerobic and fat burning capabilities. I think the HADD training has proven itself to work for me and I’m only half way through the schedule. According to HADD my marathon HR, when well trained, should be ~175bpm. At this stage the pace for that is about 6:25/mile. But when I go through the full HADD phase 1 training I should be even more aerobic so who knows what my pace might be? Exciting challenge trying to find out!!

statss

Thanks for sharing this, very informative.

ecoli

Great to see someone implement HADD and having the conviction to stick with it.

Keep it up

yaboya1

statss wrote: »

Thanks for sharing this, very informative.

+1

This seems to be a very accurate way of predicting what time you're capable of in the marathon. I might try this approach for whatever Autumn Marathon I sign up for.

blockic

Just got around to reading this now. Great report on the training and race DoD.

DukeOfDromada

Thanks everyone. I am stepping back to the 160bpm effort level and building up again. Not planning a spring marathon so will hopefully get through all of phase 1 before an autumn marathon.

bobwilliams

DukeOfDromada wrote: »

Thanks everyone. I am stepping back to the 160bpm effort level and building up again. Not planning a spring marathon so will hopefully get through all of phase 1 before an autumn marathon.

have read ur thread with interest,i'm pretty new to running.I'm looking for a HR monitar that won't break the bank.
So many to chose,not sure if the cheaper one's are any use at all,any you would recommend?
Cheers

DukeOfDromada

bobwilliams wrote: »

have read ur thread with interest,i'm pretty new to running.I'm looking for a HR monitar that won't break the bank.
So many to chose,not sure if the cheaper one's are any use at all,any you would recommend?
Cheers

Hi, I have a Polar RS100 I got about 5 years ago, think ~€100. It does the job for me but only records your average and max HR for each split. You can also set limits which is extremely useful for this type of training (keeping HR below a certain level). I would prefer one that would record HR over time however its good enough. Before that I had an Aldi/Lidl one that worked more reliably than the Polar, great job. Wouldn't recommend the RS100 as I think it is far too pricey for what you get. If needing to go that high you'd be as well to go for a cheap/second hand GPS Garmin. Best of luck in your search, definitely worth it.