Last weekend, I attended the 2nd Annual Elevate Adult Running Camp. First off, this has to be one of the best running camps out there. The amount of information on all aspects of running provided in four days is incredible. What sets this camp apart from others is Coach Dean Hebert‘s willingness to share his extensive knowledge and experience. He doesn’t give you a taste of things during camp and pitch you to have him coach you the rest of the year. You get everything he knows. And given he stays up on the latest research, you’re getting the best, up-to-date information there is. You shouldn’t miss this camp next year.
And, this is no “foo-foo” camp. The day starts at 6AM with the first of 3 daily workouts and ends at 10PM following a running movie or a night run. In between there are a series of in-depth lectures and discussions. Topics this year included neuro-muscular versus heart-rate training, the hierarchy of training and its different phases, mental focus and toughness, visualization (Coach Dean is a certified mental game coaching professional), nutrition, injury prevention (including exercises), how to run hills, running-specific strengthening movements, running form drills and leg work drills (to get faster). We also had a session on aging and running 
…. it’s not good news.
Last year my major take-aways were how to train more efficiently (quality over quantity), the importance of having enough quality, and the benefits of mental focus and goals. This newly gained knowledge helped me PR in the 10k by 21 seconds and both break 1:30 and PR by 2 minutes in the half marathon.
Here are my take-aways from this year:
(1) You have to train for everything you want to happen on race day. The physical training part is pretty obvious. Also, I’m pretty good with the other physical-related items (e.g. nutrition, hydration, clothing, shoes etc.). But for some reason, it never occurred to me that you have to train for the mental aspect of the race. I’ve been frustrated with my inability to have the mental part click on race day. Now I know why 
(2) Hill running technique. The are specfic ways to run up and run down hills. Additionally, there are specific technqiues to transition from hills to flat, flat to hills, uphill to downhill and downhill to uphill. Applying these techniques will help the loss of pace and momentum on hills during a race.
(3) To become a stronger runner and lessen injury potential you have to do running-specific strength training. This doesn’t mean strength training at the gym, but includes drills, exercises, specific workouts and hill training.
(4) To become a faster runner, aside from quality training, you also have to increase your power, stride length and shorten time your foot is on the ground. Check out this article for background. You do this organically in training using specific leg form drills.
(5) You have to be mentally tough to perform to your true ability. Mental toughness is achieved by doing three things – Staying in the present (don’t think about the future or the past), focus only on what is controllable, and using the 3 “Rs” – Recognize, Regroup and Refocus. And yes, you got it, you get mentally tough by training to be mentally tough. You can’t expect it to magically happen on race day.
Given this, I’m adding to my training. I will specifically train to develop mental toughness every workout that I do. And, I will add a weekly set of leg form drills to improve my power, stride and lessen my foot/ground contact time.
This is good stuff.
. Running in these conditions feels like you have a hot, wet blanket wrapped around you while wearing a wet diaper. It’s not pleasant. I bagged it at 16 miles. I’ll go out again tomorrow morning and get another 10 done. Hopefully it will finally rain overnight.