May 30, 2019
In today’s podcast I talk to Michael Ovens (Strava), a 41 year old runner
from Jersey in the UK. So far he improved from a 5 hour 15 marathon
down to 3 hour 18 marathon, with his eyes set on Sub 3 marathon
goal next. I am convinced he will reach this goal as well.
I really like how honest Michael was in this conversation. We
all learn from our training and racing mistakes and in today’s
episode Michael shares several of his painful mistakes and ups and
downs in training, starting with his five hour marathon. He hit the
wall so hard that he thought he got hit by a bus, several great
stories there. This made him relook at his entire approach to
training and racing.
He is now feeling so much better about his training and
nutrition with reduced stress levels. We dive deep into a variety
of topics around his training, MAF and low HR, nutrition, racing
and more.
Many members in the Extramilest
Facebook group submitted questions for this podcast, so thanks
everyone for your great input!
This week I’m giving away a copy of Dr. Phil Maffetone’s Big
Book of Endurance Training and Racing. To enter, let me know one
takeaway from this conversation in the comments on this YouTube
video.
Enjoy my conversation with Michael Ovens.
Show notes
- Michael background in running [4:46]
- His first marathon training and first 5 hour marathon race
experience in 2010 [6:10]
- Bringing down his 1/2 marathon time from 2:20 to 1:48, still
loads of injuries and exhausted [7:40]
- How his training approach changed after reading The
Triathlete’s Training Bible [8:40]
- The heart rate zone Michael started training at [9:50]
- Michael’s second marathon experience with the worst bonk he
ever experienced “felt like hit by a bus” [11:00]
- When Michael discovered the PDF Flo wrote with Marathon
Training Fundamentals [11:45]
- Michael’s first experience with MAF low heart rate training
[13:00]
- How Michael does a Lactate Test on a running track [13:55]
- Michel’s MAF test improvements down to 6:45 min / miles so far
[15:10]
- Michael’s experience with Paleo and Keto [17:40]
- Floris’s own experience with Keto and his thoughts on nutrition
[22:25]
- Michael’s last marathon in Amsterdam, things that went well and
things that could be improved [25:00]
- The training approach for his last marathon with MAF low heart
rate and his takeaways [28:10]
- Michael will be increasing his training volume to 60 or 70
miles = 97 or 113 km a week [30:00]
- How Michael is aiming to accomplish his Sub 3 marathon goal,
with coaching by Josh Sambrook [31:50]
- Michaels watch setting during training and on race day
[33:20]
- Strength training as part of Michael’s training approach
[34:00]
- The main factors that helped Michael improve significantly over
time so far [36:30]
- The biggest challenges Michael encountered with his training
and his solutions [37:40]
- Typical training week for Michael, with mostly early morning
runs [39:30]
- When training mostly at MAF, what HR strategy does Michael have
for race day [40:50]
- Marathon pace runs during Michael’s training cycle [43:00]
- What Michael eats and drinks during training cycles
[43:40]
- Beer is Michael’s one weakness [44:50]
- Michael’s struggle with weight and how he deals with it
[45:40]
- Michael aims for 7 to 8 hours of sleep, now he has less
training stress and gets more quality sleep [47:25]
- What Michael does to keep his stress levels low during the day
[48:10]
- His next marathon, the Jersey Marathon on October 9, 2019
[49:35]
- Michael’s closing tips for runners looking to improve in their
running [50:10]
Links
Special shoutout
Thanks to everyone in the Extramilest Facebook group for
submitting their questions. Thank you Mariano Uberti, Brian
Ballard, Marc Copeland, Darren Rutgers, Rishi Sareen, Brandon Rose,
Andy Sullivan, Vincent Cheah, Nicolas Garcia, Prashant Fadnavis,
Dan Aupperlee, Dave Lee, Dave Lee, Saeed Khan, Blair Margot, Johan
Sandgren, Rishi Sareen, Darren Rutgers and Morgan Pettersson
Links
Special shoutout
Thanks to everyone in the Extramilest Facebook group for
submitting their questions. Thank you Mariano Uberti, Brian
Ballard, Marc Copeland, Darren Rutgers, Rishi Sareen, Brandon Rose,
Andy Sullivan, Vincent Cheah, Nicolas Garcia, Prashant Fadnavis,
Dan Aupperlee, Dave Lee, Dave Lee, Saeed Khan, Blair Margot, Johan
Sandgren, Rishi Sareen, Darren Rutgers and Morgan Pettersson.
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You can find me, Floris Gierman here: