The tail and the dog

On February 11, 2009 By Emerging Runner3 Comments

As I edge closer to my April race date I find myself tuning my runs for greater speed and distance. Knowing that these upcoming races are looming creates an urgency to my training. Four miles on April 19. No big deal for most runners but it’s still a challenging distance for me. I have exceeded the four mile mark a few times and I could probably even run five now but I wouldn’t be too happy by the finish.

I recently ran into a friend who I haven’t seen in a while. Like everyone who knows me but hasn’t seen me for six months he looked concerned and asked warily if I’d lost weight. I told him yes, that I’d been running. He told me that he runs and has been running for years. I asked him about distances and he said he runs six miles during the week and over ten miles on weekends. We compared paces, etc. and once again I was humbled in the presence of a real runner.

I told him that I was signed up for a couple of races in the spring and I asked him how often he competed. He surprised me by saying he didn’t race. In fact he had never raced and didn’t see the point of it. To him running, not competing, is the point. When you’re competing you spend your time focusing your activity on a single event – not on the enjoyment of the sport. Running is the dog and the race is the tail. Most people chase the tail and miss the fun. He said he’d rather just run. I asked him then why he tracked distance and pace and he laughed and said it was a force of habit.

I’m not sure that I agree with my friend on this. Training for a race can be fun. Making goals and training to exceed them can be an enjoyable experience. I don’t expect to win on April 19th but I’m going to try. There are worse things to do on your birthday.

Aging backwards

On January 21, 2009 By Emerging Runner2 Comments

This past weekend my mother-in-law declared that I look ten years younger since I’ve returned to running. I appreciated the compliment although I think she was just being kind. Either way it was nice to hear, better than the more common statements of concern that I get from friends: “You’re losing too much weight” and “You look like an underfed prisoner.” That is certainly not the image I’d like to project. Even my wife has pointed out that since I’ve hit my goal I should start eating again like a normal person. I told her she should listen to her mother.

I agree that I have reached my desired level for weight but I’m not going back to my old habits. I’m in far better shape than I’ve been in over a decade and I’d really like to stay that way. Besides, I’ve already had my suits tailored. Although I don’t do many upper body workouts I’ve noticed that muscle definition in my chest and arms is much more noticeable. Results like that add to the motivation to run and cross train. I’m not looking to reverse the aging process except to help ensure that I can ably run in the decades ahead. I’m in an unusual place compared to many runners my age who, despite dedicated training, will soon begin to see performance declines every year simply due to nature. Since my starting point is different (I’ve had lots of room for improvement since returning to running last August) I’m actually gaining in both performance and endurance. I don’t know how long it will be until I hit my peak and then start to lose ground but I’m not worrying about that now. It’s great to be told that you look years younger (especially if it were true) but I much more prefer the way it feels.

Racing toward Spring

On January 18, 2009 By Emerging RunnerLeave a comment

I have discovered that anticipating a race is a great way to focus on your training goals. Moving closer to pace and distance targets requires a re-thinking of training methods and priorities. The joy of running must give way, at least a little, to the rigors of training and conditioning. Everyone has a different method and I am fortunate to have heard from people who have shared theirs. The interesting thing about this blog is that those who read it are likely to be better and more accomplished runners than me. There are many articles on the web and in magazines about preparing for your first race, but when I hear about the experience directly from a fellow blogger or reader it seems more valuable to me.

Preparing for my 4 miler in April and then a 5K two weeks later is relatively easy right now since I have about 12 weeks to reach peak conditioning. I’ll need to figure out what methods I should maintain and what changes I should make to best prepare for these events. My new focus on core seems correct since it’s about building running strength. I think my diet is pretty good but I wonder if I’ll need to increase protein intake for strength as I approach my race dates. Established and accomplished runners do lots of interval training, uphills and tempo runs. I’ve done some but I have to admit it’s tedious. Perhaps it’s important to get past that perception if I want to hit my goal of running a 10K this year.

So what’s the key advice to preparing for a race? How is it that most runners I know (online and off) are capable of running six to ten miles at any given time? How long does it take to get there? I’ve heard from someone who started running last September and is now preparing for a 10K in April. Even with a setback or two she has easily surpassed me in terms of distance progress despite my daily dedication. That tells me I should be doing something different but I don’t know exactly what to change.

Today I will get out there and do my best against a 4 mile target. I’m hoping yesterday’s 3.6 mile run won’t be the best distance I can do this weekend. With the holiday on Monday I’ll have an extra day to try. I’m hoping that the temperature will rise enough to allow me to hit the track. However, as we’ve all discussed, the treadmill is also a great resource for the dedicated runner.

Two miles the hard way

On January 3, 2009 By Emerging RunnerLeave a comment

After a very full day I decided to do an early evening run at the track. It’s near the end of our vacation so we’ve tried to pack a lot in over the last few days and I didn’t get an opportunity to run in the morning. Today was cold and I dressed for the weather but the wind chill was tough. I was only planning to run a couple of miles today but at a faster pace than normal.

As I’ve mentioned before, the wind at the track really comes in hard at certain angles and it almost feels like running uphill. The wind picked up greatly after the first ten minutes and the effect was palpable. If not for passing a couple of people walking the outside lanes I would have thought I was standing still. My splits were pretty wide with the first mile at 8:39 and second at 9:52 for an overall pace around 9:25. I had to push hard to maintain a sub-10:00 pace for the second mile and when I finished the back of my throat was really burning. I was happy that I ran but today’s run was much more work than fun.

A good running start to 2009

On January 1, 2009 By Emerging RunnerLeave a comment

I planned to skip exercise yesterday in support of my resolution to do one rest day a week. I even thought about it as a good bookend to the beginning of 2008 when I wasn’t running. However, I gave in and ran about 1.25 miles after dinner. Despite the short distance it was an extremely taxing run, I had a lot of cramping, probably due to running after eating a full meal. Earlier in the day I was talking to a friend who came by about the benefits and liabilities of training every day. This friend is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist® (CSCS®) who teaches high school students about training, nutrition and physiology. He told me that there is no right strategy for training but that I should listen to my body. If I’m exhausted I should not train. If I have energy there’s no reason to skip a run. The point is that a person can recover overnight provided that the day’s effort was at a recoverable level. I’d expect that anything over 5 miles for me would require more than an overnight recovery at this point in my training. This morning I ran 3.7 miles at a 9:31 overall pace. I was happy with that and I felt very strong up until the end. I could have easily run another 15 minutes but I want to run tomorrow and didn’t want to overdo it.

My poll to collect preferences for what the Emerging Runner should cover has closed. Motivation and running technologies came up most often (although with 5 responses it’s not exactly statistically significant). But for those who chose to vote, thank you. I will concentrate more on those areas.

I hope everyone had a great New Years and are planning to do some great running in 2009!

I heart my elliptical machine

On December 27, 2008 By Emerging RunnerLeave a comment

Even after icing my lower back last night and early this morning my hamstring pull was still aggravated. I read online that you can run with a grade 1 hamstring pull but very soon after I started to run this morning I realized that was a bad idea. We are having guests over today and knew my window for training was short so I decided to see if the elliptical machine, with its low impact motion, would feel better than running. It was a good decision to use the elliptical as I couldn’t feel the injury at all. I did 45 minutes at medium-high resistance which ended up being a decent workout. My machine displays a number of metrics, including watts, which are a measure of energy expended. I was told that watts are a constant that can be observed on different equipment so you can compare training efforts across disciplines. That will be a useful benchmark for tracking progress going forward. As much as I love this machine I’m still waiting for Fitness Showrooms to install a new heart rate monitor. They said the part should arrive soon…

Although the elliptical is a great alternative to running it isn’t running. It’s a method not a sport (have you ever met someone who categorized themselves as an “ellipticaler?”). Tomorrow will either be a rest day or I’ll try a light run depending on how I feel overnight. I am disappointed to encounter an injury, however slight, over my vacation. I was hoping to build up some distance in anticipation of the 4 mile race. There’s still over a week left before I return and plenty of time to hit the track.

That darn metric system

On December 27, 2008 By Emerging RunnerLeave a comment

Earlier this week I had a conversation with my nephew, a member of the local High School track team, about the actual diameter of the HS track. I discovered that I had made a bad assumption about the distances I was running as I had assumed the measurements were in quarter mile increments. He told me the track is measured at 1600 meters around. That explained why my Nike+ Sportband was off when I thought I was running my measured distances. What’s puzzling is that when I measure the track using the extremely accurate Google Earth ruler tool the distance around is actually .26 miles or about 4% longer than a quarter mile. It should actually be shorter than a quarter mile, not longer. Either way I now know the actual distance so I can calibrate accordingly but I’m obviously missing something.

Today I did 25 minutes of upper body work to rest my legs but later in the day I went over to the track with my wife and kids because the kids wanted to run. Instead of doing laps I did sprints to work on my fast twitch muscles and anaerobic conditioning. I’m not used to running that fast and started to develop some tightness in my leg (different from my previous muscle pull). I stopped right away and iced it when I got home. I’m not taking any chances. Tomorrow I plan to run 3+ miles as my training for the April race continues.

A new challenge

On December 24, 2008 By Emerging RunnerLeave a comment

I looked at the 2009 race calendar and saw that while a number of races are scheduled in January, none were listed for February and only one race was listed for March and April. The calendar will get updated as the year goes on but right now those are my choices. January is out – I have too much planned already and won’t have time to properly prepare. The event in April looks interesting, a 4 mile run on the 19th, which happens to be my birthday. It’s a USATF sanctioned event for a good cause and it also includes a kids fun run. I really didn’t want my first race to be a 4 miler but I’m up for the challenge.

In that spirit I had a fairly intense workout this morning running 3.62 miles at a decent pace. I was working on distance more than speed and was pleased with the way I felt. I could have gone another mile but since I run almost every day I don’t want to push myself into injury territory. In the January issue of Runner’s World there’s a Q&A called “Ask Miles” where someone asked how many runners there are in the US. I posted on this subject but from a different source a couple of weeks ago. Miles’ answer was different, but amusing:

“…About 16 million of us are “frequent runners” (we run 100-plus days per year). Those who run 365 days per year are called “injured runners…”

I like Runner’s World. What other magazine would have this headline on it’s cover?

I’m hoping to hit the street or track tomorrow if the weather cooperates. Should be pretty quiet out there on Xmas morning.

A tale of two injuries

On December 18, 2008 By Emerging RunnerLeave a comment

I’ve spoken to some experienced runners about running with injuries. They’ve all said it’s much better to take a break than further exacerbate the problem. I’m an impatient person so following that advice has been hard but it has paid off. After trading two days running for two days of upper body training I was feeling good enough to run on Wednesday. Today I stepped it up by increasing my pace but I didn’t push it. Happily, at the finish of my run my muscle pull was unnoticable.

My wife has also been managing a workout related injury that reached the point where backing off became a necessity but not a cure. After two weeks of increasing pain in her shoulder her doctor diagnosed a large calcium deposit. Calcium deposits are common for athletes and the treatment is usually a cortisone shot and rest. What I didn’t know about this condition is how painful it can be. A website wryly described it this way: “Calcium deposits will not kill you, but the pain will make you wish it will.” Through my wife’s suffering over the last few days I can certainly attest to that.

Now that I know the value of taking breaks from running I will try to do it more often. I don’t fear the pain of injuries as much as a possible setback in conditioning. That’s something I need to get past.

The Emerging Runners hit the track

On December 14, 2008 By Emerging RunnerLeave a comment

Yesterday afternoon, after I recovered from my early morning run, I went to the high school and ran with my son and daughter. They did great and my son was able to run 1/2 mile without a break. My daughter also ran well and she kept going much longer than the last time. We covered about a mile overall and everyone slept well last night.

This morning I returned to the track and ran about 2 1/2 miles. I have a slight muscle pull so I cut it shorter than yesterday’s workout. There were other runners on the track and I passed a guy who was about a half lap ahead of me when I started. So that felt good. His wife was also running and she was faster. I didn’t pass her but I was able to maintain about the same pace. My overall pace was 9:34 but I was doing an 8:13 mile at the 1 mile point. I was happy to see that my Sportband was recording accurately after yesterday’s recalibration.