What is PPT?

Good morning, my coffee taste's extra good this morning for some reason. This week is really moving along and I am excited about the coming weekend as a NFLR client is headed to DC for Sundays Marine Corps Marathon. Jennifer to NFLR during the middle of her training and asked for some help with her speed work in particular. Her goal wasn't necessarily to run a BQ, but she had run the same race last year and struggled to the finish in hopes of finishing close to 4 hours time. So this year she really wants to run a good race, finish under 4 hours and not be miserable doing it. Those seem like typical goals and reasonable for someone that has had a little experience. Prior to our first meeting I asked to bring along a copy of her current training plan and whatever else she kept in away of logs and etc... When we met I reviewed her training plan and it was one of the popular plans that can be obtained on the internet. I have mentioned a few times that I am not a proponent of cookie cutter plans but this particular plan has a reasonable amount of success for some people but again, these type plans are able to maximize an individuals training. No way can one plan fit most people when it does not take in to account the various intangibles of the individual. That first meeting with Jennifer I took in her history, goals, health issues, life style and compared them to her current training plan. Obviously since she had been half way through her training, some of where she was at with the training was somewhat aligned nicely. Her training plan wasn't going to help her with most of if any of her desired result. Her longest runs were not going to be long enough and her speed work was going to fall short of improving such things as V02 max and lactic acid threshold. Both of those contribute to running further with greater comfort. Without going into why running in your maximum heart rate zone for great periods of time make a difference, I knew that her speed work wouldn't accomplish that. With most of my clients I use minutes versus miles when it comes to their training but since Jennifer was already comfortable with running miles, I decided not to change that. Our meeting went well but like any new client I knew it would take some time before we built some trust that I believe to be important. Last week Jennifer and I met for one final session and that one was more about strategy. I had prepared a plan for her final week that mostly entailed reduced running and some nutrition thoughts. I am not a nutritional expert so I mostly discuss carbs to protein/fat percentages. Much of the meeting was about pacing, patients and trust (PPT). Most everyone knows that negative splits are the way to go but even the best runners struggle with PPT. Jennifer kept saying; "What if I wait and can't pick up the pace?" That would be the T part of PPT. She has worked extremely hard and I could not be more pleased with how she has done, but now it comes down to her brain and trusting that when it is time she will have the necessary strength and glycogen to increase her speed and finish strong. PPT. This week I have been driving Jennifer a bit crazy with some mentally challenging workouts but my intent is to keep her mind off the race and utilize her brain for other things. She is a bit frustrated with me but that's okay because I rather her focused on me than to start thinking what if. I'm not sure she realizes exactly what I'm doing and if she reads this I guess she will, at this point I am not going to get her mind off the race anyhow. I am excited for Jennifer because she has trained well and if all goes according to plan she will have a great marathon. Much will come down to PPT! Well time to head off to workout! Have a great Wednesday! mike