La Sportiva Running Team - Athlete Training Tip

Athlete Training Tip - Bernie Boettcher

Bernie is a columnist for Trail Runner Magazine.
He is the 2003 and 2005 USATF Master Mountain Runner of the Year.
He is frequently profiled in magazines and newspapers.
And, he has run 212 races in the previous 211 weeks!

But that's just a quick glimpse of a few headlines. Bernie is well known by everyone in the trail running world for all of these notables, but mostly just for who he is. What he means to people.

In his Bio on this website, Bernie shows us not only his remarkable lifestyle but also his self-effacing humor, when he lists for his "Occupation":

"Runner, artist, writer, eater, sleeper, form-filler-outer, driver, cook, grocery getter, philosopher, environmentalist, clarinet player, political commentator, consumer, advertiser, inventor, lawn maintainer, house painter, garbage picker-upper, dishwasher, barber, dreamer, laugher, exaggerator, model, typer of useless information..."

Training Advice
I don't do any track work; I get injured. Same with most stretching, but I definitely do a personal set of strength/stretching exercises before every run.

Somewhere along the line I came to the conclusion that life is really short, and I should focus on doing the things that I love to do. When I made that decision, my life changed for the better. I got happier. Running makes me happy, so I do it a lot.

To heck with the rest. You can't let the good things in life get in the way of the great things in life.

What Keeps Me Going
I like the idea of being relentless.

I've never been particularly fast, but I seem to be able to recover faster than most. I don't know why I'm good at it, but since it seems to work, I've sort of made it my niche.

I do a lot of races to continually find my limits, and test the possibilities. I've learned that the only person I can ever truly beat is myself. Every run is a measure of where I am, and races allow me to focus all my attention on the minutest details of my own weaknesses ... which I'm in a constant struggle to abolish.

I try to learn something new every time, and in the process I know I'll wear myself out. But I'd rather be a worn out old shovel than a rusty one in the corner.

What's Next
My next race is the Anna Banana 5K this Saturday. I feel a need to work on speed a little, and I'll get to meet some of the states best H.S. cross country runners, and see how many of them I can beat. It'll be a nice diversion since the average of all my races since doing the Pikes Peak Marathon is over 17 miles per race (every weekend). Also, it will be my 212th race in 211 weeks (since turning Master).

Notes
Every single training mile I've run in the past several years has been in La Sportiva shoes. They're made to last, though I do my best to beat them to death!

Sample Training Log
Last week's training:

Monday - Off. Worked construction all day.

Tuesday - 9.5M, hilly, in 1:20:49. Worked construction all day.

Wednesday - 1:19:54, 9.6M, not as hilly. Worked construction all day.

Thursday - 9.2M, half hilly, half flat, in 1:13:01. Worked construction all day.

Friday - Off. Worked construction all day.

Saturday - Raced 8.5 mi, rough trails, some hills, in 49:36.

Sunday - Raced 5.5 mi, rough, hilly, in 2:02:59.

Last month's racing:

9/2: Beaver Creek Vertical Ascent, 23.1M, 6:42:31, 3rd

9/9: Imogene Pass Run, 15.5M, 1:41:35, 3rd

9/10: Teva Evergold Trail Run, 10K, 47:00, 2nd

9/17: Lead King Loop, 25K, 2:02:59, 2nd

9/23: Mary's Loop Trail Run, 8.5M, 49:36, 1st

9/30: Anna Banana 5K, 5K, 5th