Category Archives: Run

Loving the Run

Over the last few years, I have met a lot of runners. I enjoy chatting with them. So many runners talk about the runners high, and their love for running. I admit that I have struggled with this. The run, for me has several distinct phases.

  • Pre-run: Uggh. Run Day. Maybe lightning will hit me and I can take the day off.
  • The first 8 minutes: Uggh. It’s hot, my legs hurt, my lungs hate me, running sucks.
  • The next 8 minutes: Oh fine, I’m out here, let’s get this shit done.
  • Somewhere around 15-20 minutes in: Lalalalalala, I’m thinking and thinking and singing along to the tunes, oh hi other runner. How far am I going today? Aw screw it, I’ll go till I’m tired.
  • Somewhere around the time I’m supposed to turn around: I still feel alright, but the plan says only do x.
  • About halfway back from the turn around: Hmm, still feeling good, maybe I can push the pace a little.
  • About 8 minutes later: Holy crap, that hurt, WTH was I thinking.
  • The last .25 mile: finish strong you big dufus.
  • Post Run: That wasn’t so bad, I guess. I want ice cream. Cookies and Cream Ice Cream. It’ll spoil my appetite, but dammit I want ice cream.

Notice, nowhere in that is the famed runners high. For me, the run is something I have always had to motivate myself to do. Here we are, 4 years into this whole, getting fit and living a healthy lifestyle, and I keep telling myself how much I don’t like the run.

Then I take a few days off for some reason or another and I discover something.

I don’t hate the run anymore. Far from it in fact. Turns out, I really miss the running when I don’t do them. I feel guilty when I skip runs. I struggle to get motivated to DO the runs, but once done, I am satisfied.
Does this mean that I’ve found the love? Perhaps it does. At least it means that I value the work over the guilt of not doing the work. Perhaps, just perhaps, that is the real secret to learning to love the run.

Valuing the results over the actions. The fitness of getting that run done, and being better prepared for the next run with each one. Maybe that will get me over the hump to a point where I am excited about run days like I am for bike days.

Link
Article form Lower Extremity Review

Article form Lower Extremity Review

The whole article is worth a read, but it supports what the minimal runners have talked about for a long time. Too much padding can produce injury just as quickly as not enough.

Personal opinion? too many of us think we know how to run, but we don’t really know how to run to protect our bodies. Running with good, safe, form is really hard. Most of us have spent so much of our lives in shoes with heel to toe drops and right to left support that our bodies have forgotten how to absorb the impacts through our feet.

That means, you cannot just ‘switch’ shoes, you have to work towards less padding slowly. Apply a method, and most importantly, listen to your body. If something hurts, figure out why.

Training Opportunities with the OGRE’s

Just a heads up for any Atlanta area readers that might want to come suffer along with the OGRE’s. IT is Wednesday, so we will be out with the Endurance House crew riding their Wed Night Ride. OGRE Dru is expecting to lead the B2’s on the EH WNR route at about 16.5-17 mph and then follow that up with an 8 mile run around downtown Alpharetta.

Feel free to come out and get your sweat on (weather permitting, or not).

The Ride (Wheels down 6:15PM) https://www.strava.com/routes/2439821

The Run (Feet on the pavement after the ride) https://www.strava.com/routes/2940107

Weary Legs, Weary Body, Rest Day Blues

I’ve joked a lot about how much I struggle with rest days. Here we are, another week in the books, with less than 10 to go until IM Chattanooga, and it is rest day. For once, I am truly grateful for my rest day. My body is telling me it needs today in a bad way. It is not anything specific, but more of an accumulation of the last 3 weeks combined with a lack of sleep. The lack of sleep is mostly a side effect of work + training + family stresses all hitting high points at the same time. Eventually it all catches up with you, and that is exactly where I am today.

Weary.

It really is the best word for it. Nothing is broken, nothing is injured, but I need a day off nonetheless. The worst part is that by this afternoon, I will have forgotten how worn out I feel this morning and I will have to resist the desire to do something. In the grand scheme of things though, these days are arguably more important than workout days. They clearly indicate that the training days are getting it done. It is however, high time this old body takes the day, so that is what I am going to do.

Running In Circles

Monday Miles

I hate doing ‘laps’. Seriously, when it comes to running, this is the hardest running there is for me. I’d rather go climb a mountain than run laps. Last night, with the imminent threat of storms, a need to get some miles in, and a desire to stay closer to home, I ended up heading over to a great little facility not too far from the house. Sweet Apple Park in Roswell is a great little run. It is a 1.05 mile loop of crushed granite running loop. It has a little climb and descend, but it is a 1 mile box around a park and a school ( and passes close to some tasty restaurants, the smells make running even harder ). The goal for the day was 5-6 miles at an easy pace, keeping the heart rate down in zone 2-3. This is a bit of a challenge for me anyways, since I tend to run with a fairly high heart rate anyways. It is incredibly easy for me to push into zone 4 and even zone 5 with a moderate effort.

Putting it bluntly, I am not an ‘efficient’ runner yet. Almost 4 years in, and I am just beginning to figure out how to run efficiently. It will be a long time before I see fast miles at these heart rates, but that is part of the journey. It is part of why we do this. In order to get more efficient and to run better, sometimes we have to do things we do not want to do. Hills, Fartleks, Rest Days, and yes, Running in Circles.

So what about running in circles makes me a better runner? A lot of things, but last night it was working on two very distinct things. Efficiency and form at a lower effort level. The theory is that as efficiency and form become habit and muscle memory takes over, the same motions translate as the speeds and efforts ramp up. Combine that with a concerted effort to go with negative splits, I do feel that the work is valuable and shows an impact. Particularly in areas like how I feel afterwards.

It used to be that these 6+ mile weekday runs were a struggle the day after, but as I have worked on these types of runs, the hardest parts of the recovery have eased.

The observant reader may have noted that I had to go into Roswell to get the kind of facility I wanted to get this run in. The truth is, the City of Milton does not have this kinds of facility open yet, but they are working on one. I can not wait, since it will be about a mile from the house.

OGRE Dru suffering from a cramp in the run at IM Choo 70.3

OGRE Dru suffering from a cramp in the run at IM Choo 70.3

Just one look at the above, and you can understand why nutrition matters. This is what happens when you do not fuel your body on the bike and hit the run without enough fuel to keep the body from cramping up. Once you get to this point, you can’t recover while still racing. This is why we work on nutrition plans during training days too.

The story behind this, and the tale of woe that I hope you can learn from my mistake. You see, I had trained my nutrition plan. Thought I had it wired. Infinit Go Far in one bottle. Nuun in the other. Gu Gel at 45 minutes on the bike, Bonk Breaker bar at 90 minutes on the bike, Gu Gel at 135 minutes on the bike, another Bonk Breaker before run transition, then Gu Roctane Gels on the run, with water and gatorade provided on course. All of this augmented with electrolyte capsules at a rate of 1 per hour.

In training, this went great. Race day however did not play well. You see, it rained on the bike course. Lesson to take away, Bonk Breakers are messy and difficult to consume in the rain, so I didn’t consume them as planned. I think you see where this is going already don’t you? Yeah, me too. I didn’t eat the solid nutrition, and the gels just aren’t enough to keep this engine going, so when I hit mile 6 of the run, and the quad started cramping to the point of locking up the knee, I knew that my 2 hour run was now an impossible goal. I could finish, but the last half of the run was going to be a long cycle of run slow, cramp, walk it out, repeat to the finish line. It took almost twice as long to cover the last 7 miles as it took to cover the first 6. Crossing the finish line, I had already had a while to stew on what I did wrong.

The hammer that drove it home? After a good meal, and a couple hours of walking around the city as a tourist post race, the cramping was gone, and there was no soreness or weakness in the area. Lesson learned. Eat, and more importantly, prepare for the conditions. What I would do differently is to portion my Bonk Breakers into bite sized portions that are easier to consume in inclement conditions. I won’t repeat that mistake again. Instead, I am sure I will find entirely new mistakes to make.

Some days are better than others

So Monday’s training got derailed by life, so I only got in about 40 minutes in the pool, and had to settle for 28 minutes of core work using an old ab workout from the original Insanity training videos. I figured I’d get back on track Tuesday. Yeah, not so much. Helped my brother move out of his house from 7:30AM until about 5:15PM, followed by a quick swim to rinse off, a change of clothes and my weekly group run. Planned on ~6 miles, ended up doing just 4. Heart rate went nuts, and the body said simply “not tonight”.

So be it. IF there is one lesson that I have had hammered home to me in my training it is this: “trust your body, and know the difference between discomfort and pain”. This was not discomfort, and so I stopped. I’ll feel better for it tomorrow, and I won’t miss training because I didn’t push through pain into an injury.

Strava Run… Not Pretty

Gearing Up

In all of the insanity that is training for an endurance event like long course triathlon, the challenges that surround selecting equipment are sometimes lost. The list of equipment that you need it long, and unfortunately much of it boils down to personal choice and comfort. There really isn’t much that is ‘one size fits all’. Just a partial list:

  • Swim suit(s)
  • Swim Cap
  • Swim Goggles
  • Wetsuit
  • Transition Bag – Schlepping the stuff around
  • Run Shoes
  • Run Socks
  • Hydration Belt/Bottles
  • Run Shorts
  • Run Tights
  • Run Shirts
  • Run Cold Weather Shell
  • Bike
  • Bike Shorts/Tri Shorts
  • Bike Top
  • Bike Cold Weather Shell
  • Bike Shoes
  • Bike Socks
  • Bike Helmet
  • Bike Gloves
  • Bike Cold Weather Extras
  • Bike Rack for transport
  • Indoor Trainer
  • Sunglasses

For most of these, you will need multiples. Remember, training is 6 days a week. If you also work a full time job, that means rest days are laundry days, so you need enough gear to get through a week of training. You’ll probably also want a race day kit that doesn’t have thousands of training miles in it.

It is a lot to tackle. Most of the time, athletes coming into this sport already have a base in at least one of the disciplines, but there is still more to add.

Though I have been a cyclist for years, I am having to slowly rotate and replace some of my old cycling favorites with some items that are more tri appropriate, but much of my gear works well for continuing the bicycle base training. I have also been running for a couple of years, but even then, I simply don’t have enough gear to get through all of the training sessions without doing laundry more than once a week. And swimming? not even close.

It goes without saying that building up the gear base is tough, and when you look at that list, a huge percentage of it is gear that boils down to personal preference, and experience. There are things on that list have to tried, and tested and iterated to find that ‘perfect’ fit.

Some of it, I have already done, some I have yet to do. Well, over the coming months, I will be sharing some of my adventures in selecting gear, and some of my misadventures.

My first one will be about a touchy subject, shoes. Specifically my adventures over the last 3 years finding a shoe that really worked for me. The problems that come with doing things for all the wrong reasons, and how NOT to change shoe styles. Should be riveting.

Let the Training Begin ( in earnest )

Well, base building is done. Now we start the training plan. This journey is all about the training. The race itself is just the proof of the training.

At least that is what I keep telling myself. At this point, what I know for certain is that it is time to get my game on. On the agenda for this glorious Tuesday? Core Strength and a run. That is good, but you know the best part?

Over the weekend our youngest decided she wanted to join us on the run. So saturday she went out for a run with us. 9 years old, no training, just jumped in and banged out 3.2 miles in 38 minutes. She had so much fun that she is joining us tonight for the Endurance House Tuesday Night run of 3.5 miles, and wants to sign up for a 5k race in February.

How awesome is that? yeah, she is that awesome.