Chasing Pheidippides

The start group was packed as sardines; we were lined up to cover the original, classic marathon, the real deal. I felt great and excited about the journey from Marathon to Athens, had studied the course profile and had a clear plan for the next 42,195 meters monitoring distance, time, pace, cadence and heart rate. In short, I planned to find a light, quick rhythm over the first 7 miles of easy terrain and slide over the next 3 uphill miles at a reasonable clip. The following easy mile would be used to regroup for the next 9 miles of variable uphills, and the last 7 miles into the finish should be enough easy terrain to secure a good enough average pace to land in about three hours. My proven PowerBar pre-race and refueling plan was also part of this. Although race morning revealed the course much harder than anticipated, such info is for the pessimists, and this was just like a Birkie start strategizing the options upon assessing ski speed and events on the start stretch and power-line hills.

The shot went off and we were on our way and soon came the surprise of the day. At 200 meters we caught up to walkers, at 600 meters it got quite crowded, and right before one K mark the road was totally blocked. An impenetrable line of people capped the rear of one solid mass moving forward at a snail’s pace as far as eye could see and the race plan and time-table were immediately irrelevant. Back to the Birkie; yes, this may be a familiar experience for some.

I was amazed at the activity level in this peloton; what actually went on besides running. Tightly packed, many were engaged in hefty, loud, highly animated conversations, while others were exuberantly celebrating the marathon screaming and shouting at the top of their lungs while moving as much in every direction as forward. Being in a culture where awareness of personal space, or consideration whatsoever, is reserved for a faint few did of course add to this picture. Some wore costumes; the most noticeable were the groups of classic Hellenic warriors with helmets, breast-plates, shields, spears and all. Although fully expecting massive show-boating through the streets of Athens, these scenes with 41K to go suggested this would be a long day under the hot sun for many.

A quick assessment of the situation made me join the brave folks taking alternate routes around the masses. It was stop and go, zigzagging, onto the rock and concrete sidewalk, down on the road again for a few feet, in the borrow-pits and ditches, cross-country dodging trees, culverts, spectators, traffic furniture and everything else, back into the crowd… This action, especially the vertical leaps and impacts, would be a wicket expensive toll on the legs, but clearly a calculated opportunity cost. I found it worth risking premature leg fatigue and a few very slow final miles rather than adding hours to my time stuck where I was. The congestion eventually started to loosen up although there were intermittent solid road-blocks up to the 10 mile mark and crowded well beyond that.

The half marathon point was passed in fine form with 6 more miles of uphills ahead. Knowing “Bitch Hill,” “Heartbreak Hill” and the alike, it is common for marathon courses to save the best for last, and reaching the highest point was a memorable climb. I worked hard up the final hills, but felt fine and kept passing people. The last 7 miles were wide boulevards, flat and downhill, and perfect for good finishing speed. My legs turned to concrete cylinders once starting to go down and I was happy to bring them forward a step at the time at low heart rate. Pushing hard would have been painful and unproductive; riding on the energy from the enthusiastic crowds was just the opposite. Everything went nuts approaching the finish in the historic Panathenaic Stadium. Greece2010/20x30-ZZZZ0008.jpeg

Wild crowds celebrating culmination of the 2,500^thanniversary marathon hyped by deafening sounds of Zorba and Mikis Theodorakis met us in the gardens and entering the track. This moment alone was worth the run and all the travels and everything else going into this project, and thanks to Pheidippides who go the whole thing started.

My watch read 3:17:45, 26.37 miles at an average pace of 7:28 min/mi, gaining 1,146 ft with heart rate of 136 bpm and 170 strides/min. This was truly a memorable day in my athletic life which may even have sparked the interest in running and trying another marathon. Thanks to everyone who supported and motivated me in this effort, including PowerBar, Rossignol, the Sun Valley Masters and all my friends in US skiing, as well as the Durance Cycling Team and my Idaho riding buddies. Special thanks go to Darlene who also ran the race and signed me up in the first place.

The chase of Pheidippides from Marathonas to Athens started in Ketchum, Idaho, and we should get to Athens in good time for the marathon run. However, the east coast saw the worst storm in 70 years and the well planned travel itinerary resulted in serious delays, a long New York layover, serious rerouting including a visit to Rome, and lost luggage. Luckily, both I and my shoes and shorts made it to Athens prior to race start, although not by much. The story would be more fitting for a trip to a mid-winter European ski marathon or the Masters World Cup in an awkward location than heading to a summer type event in a warm country.

An armada of busses took the thousands of runners to the start at the track stadium in Marathonas. Like so many places in Greece, the Marathon Stadium is on truly historic ground. But, this is the field of the Hellenic victory over the Persians in the Battle of Marathon in 490 B.C., and the starting point of the messenger Pheidippides heroic run that placed the name and marathon concept in the sporting world and far beyond. Some even go as far as saying the victory was significant in establishing western civilization and preserving freedom and democracy. The bussing appeared to be well organized and go amazingly well. However, we noticed unprecedented crowds in running gear in front of the Hilton indicating a serious snafu in local infrastructure and were happy to have assumed lower profile connections.

Enthusiastic, energized and ecstatic would not start to describe the atmosphere among the reported 16,500 participants in this 25^th hundred anniversary event; this was Birkie Fever at its very best, and then some. We stepped off the bus and into a mass of humanity and everything that goes with it. Most of what the athletic community has to offer was seen here, including endless permutations of running outfits with my personal favorites being the people in scotch-plaid bath robes. My only thoughts of cross-country skiing came as I saw someone carrying ski poles; they were real poles with baskets and mud stuck to the bottoms, and it would have been interesting to see this person navigate through the crowds. My wife and I fought our way through the masses; we kissed good luck and see you in Athens before manning ourselves into our assigned starting blocks. My bib read a hefty 10774, which meant I was back in the pack, but start assignments were based on prequalification, and this was where I belonged.

I had studied the course profile and knew we had two long sections of climbing. Not being a road runner, I had little feel for the physical topography before I rode the bus to the start and realized these up- and down hills were definitely beyond what we had anticipated. Last week I heard from my friend Lee Todd who just had been in Athens looking at the course for a future event and reported: “This is not your normal marathon course, there are long grinding uphills, then down and down...” He would know and I trust him. The time in the start block passed quickly as I ended up with a cheerful group from Hong Kong. In the same three square feet were also two guys from Norway. They appeared very organized with kilometer-pace arm bands, GPS watches and lots of stats, including information how the course was about seven minutes slower for the world’s best male runners, a three hour runner would have to plan on an additional 15 minutes or more than over a “normal” course, and so on. We finally learned The New York Times described the hilly course as one of the most difficult in the world. OK, the message was clear and strong, but so was I.

Start groups went out a few minutes apart and it was soon time for my Group 6; thousands of runners in sardine-can formation pushing for the line. The effects of multiple travel days and sleepless nights, jet-lag, malnutrition and anxiety were far gone as I walked towards the line. I was charged and ready to run as at the start of the Birkie or even an Olympic relay. What happened after the gun went off will come in the next part; please stay tuned.

The reality of this Master Skier’s chase of Pheidippides from Marathonas to Athens on off-season ski training is approaching; the event takes place on October 31. I avoided running as a major part of ski training due to wear and injuries after the 1994 ski season, did the Backcountry Run in Sun Valley on a whim about 10 years ago, and have turned into a local masters bicycle racer.

The Athens Classic Marathon motivated about 10 runs up to one hour duration over the spring and summer and entry in an 8.6 mile road race out-of-the box over Labor Day. The event was in mountainous Idaho over wicked hills, half gravel, half pavement; nevertheless a road race, and close to one-third marathon distance. Without any baseline or reference came a decent average pace of 6:36 min./mile, but my heart rate was definitely a few beats below what I normally would have produced in a ski race or cycling time trail over the same time frame. The experience pointed at running efficiency as the limiting factor.

Extensive research involving copious data points suggests the efficient marathon race pace matches the effort yielding 2.5 (+/-) millimols lactate per liter blood. During recent training, my lactate 2.5 running pace has shown to be in the low 6:40’s with a corresponding heart rate close to a predicted 94% of lactate 4, or threshold, pace. However, the perceived effort suggests this is beyond what the old legs can carry over 26 miles. The aerobic/anaerobic threshold numbers we often focus on in skiing are less applicable in this context. The training takes place at 6,000 feet of elevation; “Daniel’s Running Calculator” suggests corresponding sea-level adjustments, but I have not dared to make such predictions. The out-of-sync legs again point to the lack or running efficiency.

The training focus soon went to running efficiency and form, efficiency, form, efficiency, form… Without time to accumulate mileage and hours as prescribed for marathon training, I opted to train my weakness in the marathon run, mainly the body alignment, running posture and form. That included positioning the pelvis for high hips, the forward lean, elbow bend and use of the arms, how to land on the ground and roll over the ball of the feet… Skiers studying the “basic position” may recognize a thing or two. This born-again runner certainly recognizes marathon form being different than what we practiced on the track as teen age middle distance runners. These skills have been practiced in bouts from 20 minutes to 16 miles since my Labor Day debut.

A recent Runner’s World article and my more experienced wife have both stated 180 strides per minute being the optimally efficient cadence. Our buddy Nordic Dave, who in the glory days posted marathon times most people would be very proud of, added: “the marathon is all about staying focused to maintain the cadence.” Ok, I get it. This is about turning it over, carrying the body weight as little as possible in each step. Perhaps that will help explaining the inefficacy of the displacement with both feet on the ground and corresponding late kick in diagonal skiing to my students. On Dave’s advice I started running with a stop watch, counting steps. It was amazingly more productive to count 90/180 steps and clocking the time than stressing to fit 180 steps into 60 seconds, yet discovering the foot-pod accessory connecting to the GPS running watch further improved the process by making the counting obsolete. 180 may be challenging, but my old heavy legs have found a new home in the mid to upper 170s when things roll well. In any event, this is way different than scrambling forest trails and ski walking in the uphills.

The big run is a couple of weeks away; there will be more running, a few sessions of ski strength and some rollerskiing before heading to Athens. We are looking forward to good weather and good times, and only plan to outdo Pheidippides on the point of survival, upon which the experience will be told. Although a grunt over hours, something tells me this will be different than another Birkie.

We are continuing the Master Skier’s chase of Pheidippides’ run from Marathonas to Athens with off-season ski training. The big day, the 2,500^th anniversary of the fabled run, is coming up on October 31. Our summer activities have consisted of minimal running, sporadic ski training and some amateur bicycle racing. Successful running requires lots of specialty conditioning, so the realistic assessment is to run and enjoy the marathon rather than trying to ace it. We have learned a good part of the course is uphill; how well does this elevation gain compare to the hill-climbing we seek out for ski training? With a little help from Google Maps and Garmin’s GPS, we recently plotted out a workout highlighting this point. We completed a loop of running segments comparable to the grades to be experienced in the marathon, a ski-walking section up a set of ski slopes, a lift ride down and a run back to the starting point. The elevation below shows the profile.

The marathon running pace, in the area of 6:00 to 10:00 minutes per mile, is much higher than what we produce ski-walking steep hills. We know the marathon is run at or around lactate 2.5 (millimols/liter) pace, while the ski-walking with poles is done at a pace dictated by higher resistance of the steep grade and desired training intensity.

The Heart Rate Response tells us how hard we are working. The marathon pace yields much lower heart rates than the hill-climbing. Running is 100% weight bearing and constant pounding on the road surface. Ski-walking is full body exercise, imitating the smoother movements along the ground. On that basis, we can "afford" to train and race at a higher heart rate over longer time.

We have determined that our “running legs” will be the limited factor in the upcoming marathon, and we’ll see what we can do for improvement the next few weeks. Ski marathoners stay tuned as we chase Pheidippides through traditional and not so traditional cross-country ski training from Marathon to Athens. You will also find an account of this project at the link: www.xcskicoach.com/id74.html. The upcoming event is found at: www.athensclassicmarathon.gr.

What if Fippi had a bicycle? Idaho’s ski marathoners, a.k.a. Master Skiers, came out in force to conquer a similar distance, 187 miles and 16,191 feet of elevation, in the 2010 Lyle Pearson 200 cycling team relay through the peaks and valleys between Boise and Sun Valley, Idaho. The skiers were seen scaling steep slopes at 7,000 feet, bombing awesome descents and powering the carrier stretches in between.

This may appear to have little to do with cross-country skiing, but why do skiers ride bikes and why do the cycling teams recruit skiers? Although focusing 24/365 on skiing, our elite athletes are often seen in other sports during the off-season. Doing a varied set of activities is even more relevant for the rest of us who are pursuing fitness for a lifetime rather than the next ski championship. Besides specific ski motions, cross-country skiing is part of the endurance family of sports with a multitude of fine cross-over activities in any season. Events, like this bicycle race or tracing Fippi on foot, make for good intermittent focal points as well as fitness goals and motivate people to come out.

The point of this is to encourage the vast population of cross-country skiers to stay fit in the off-season, yet avoid getting carried away with ski training in the spring and early summer. Endurance, VO₂ and strength can be trained in a variety of ways; we have half a year before next winter and several summer months to bring specificity into the ski training. We need to hit ski season with excitement, in high spirit, and with good energy for skiing. Stay fit and enjoy the summer.

Ski Post readers are all familiar with “Ski Marathons” and vaguely where the term comes from, but what is the idea behind this? We find the word “marathon” attached to anything long, enduring and often grueling, and in running it simply means 42,195 meters. That distance, or the magic number of 26 miles 385 yards, was what it took to satisfy the viewing pleasures of the British Royals and few practical considerations for the road running event in the 1908 London Olympic Games. The Marathon run of approximately 40 km was introduced with the Modern Olympics in Athens in 1896; this was the ultimate endurance event celebrating the Greek warrior Pheidippides’ heroic run from Marathon to Athens in 490 B.C. to report the victory over the Persians at the Battle of Marathon. “We have won” were the words from an exhausted Pheidippides as he expired. So goes the legend, or at least one version of the story, and we like it.

The 2,500^th anniversary of the fabled run from Marathon to Athens takes place this fall. We are joining the event for hands-on research of the original marathon from a cross-country ski marathoner’s perspective. Why are we doing this? - The answer is simple;