Run More, Think Less

I love this article. Thanks to Cal for sending this along. I won't claim that I follow this to the letter - I too track mileage - rarely time, but mileage yes. Nor did this occur to me until after I read the article. But this is very compelling.

Think of it - run until you get tired. Stop. Rest. Repeat. Love it. Who needs a stop watch or a heart rate monitor!

http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB10001424052970203550604574358764211082766-lMyQjAxMDA5MDEwOTExNDkyWj.html

Lemmings over the cliff?

The comments from this post on the New York Times blog got me thinking:

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/14/should-running-hurt-a-little/

The article is written by a recreational runner who has done several marathons. He's now being advised by a coach on ways to run "out of your comfort zone". The comments on this article were quite spirited.

In particular this comment:

"The short term effects of this exercise is going to be positive because you’ve been so lazy for so long. The long term effects from excessive running is negative. No one runs 35 miles a week for cardiovascular benefits. They are doing it for the ego. The problem we have in the U.S. is that 95% of us never exercise. Then a certain percentage of the 5% goes gung ho for a few months or few years then quits and become lazy again. Moderate exercise four times a week is what everyone should be doing. Marathon running or marathon training is not healthy."

and this one:

"There is PLENTY of encouragement among runners who will push you achieve these numeric goals regardless of injuries and the wear and tear on your body. They’re not right or wrong…. just obsessed with running. My Dad was a serious runner for many years. Now he’s in his early 60s, and after two knee surgeries and back surgery it’s hard for him to climb one flight of stairs. He’s prematurely crippled because of his running obsession."

Before carrying on, I'll simply acknowledge how unbelievably judgemental both of these posts are. And of course there are simply of lot of incorrect observations in there as well. Some people could quite possibly run 35 miles per week because *gasp* they like to run. As a reference, for a fairly good recreational runner, it takes about 5 to 6 hours per week to reach this 35 miles. But I didn't want to simply debunk some silly people who comment on someone else's blog (btw, I include myself in the label silly).

What does strike a chord with me in this discussion is a set of lingering questions about endurance sports. These questions relate to - 1) Motivation, 2) Lifestyle, 3) Health. I suppose these questions are the true reason I started writing in this space. While I mostly post about recent activities or cool ideas I come across, what I am most interested in are answers to these questions.

Motivation

What is the real motivation behind endurance sports? Are we all just a bunch of ego maniacs? Do we invest all this energy in early morning runs on long weekend bike rides simply for some twisted ego boost that we get from standing around the water cooler with coworkers on Monday morning boasting about the 5 hour bike ride or the 20 mile run we did that weekend? What is the difference between pride in an accomplishment like completing the longest run you've ever done versus embraking on some ego trip? Is there something inherently wrong with that ego trip if it is indeed the case? I suppose I should now go back and reread Catcher in the Rye - should I abandon an activity because it is filled with suspect motives and phonies?

Lifestyle

As most folks who have done a marathon or triathlon know, preparing for and completing an event involves a pretty solid time commitment - actually this is likely true of most 5K, 10K and half marathon runners and many others as well. Often times, this time commitment also requires you to make trade-offs or sacrifices in other areas of your life. If you are part of a running group that has a long run early on Saturday morning, your are less likely to be out boozing until 2 AM on Friday night - with a few notable and remarkable exceptions.

Then, for those who stick with their sport beyond a single event, these decisions about how to spend your time begin to evolve into a lifestyle. For example, instead of catching the latest Daily Show late at night as I used to, I now find myself conking out by 10 PM on most nights even if there is no planned workout the next morning (God bless TiVo). Then, when we do go out with the gang, I find myself making different choices about what I eat and drink, where we go and what we do. All the decisions are simply based on my own changing preferences which seem to have become tied up with this changing lifestyle.

Does this changing lifestyle make me an obsessed freak? What am I obsessed with? Is it some unobtainable body image that I allowed society to convince me I need to chase? Do I have a destructive urge to shave just a few more seconds off some best time in some arbitrary race? Am I simply becoming boring and one-dimensional? And if any of these are true, so what? Is obsession necessarily a bad thing?

Health

Everyone knows about the supposed health benefits of a little excerise. Good for the heart, good for the brain, good to release stress, and on and on. And I think it is intuitive that there is a point of diminishing returns to this exercise. So there should logically be some optimal point where the benefits to your health and life are balanced against the time and energy invested in this activity. But where is that point really? And how do we know? One commenter my link above mentions moderate exercise four times a week. How do we really know this and how do we measure all the benefits? Isn't there a social aspect to this that is not being captured? Isn't social interaction actually an important part of overall health?

Returning to the time aspect, is there a point at which more exercise becomes harmful to your health? I will submit the answer to this question is a resounding yes. Could that point be different for individuals? Again, I will submit the answer is yes. But is there also a point where no matter who you are and how genetically gifted, how well trained, how perfect your technique and how careful you are, you are simply driving yourself over a cliff of injuries? Are you envitably headed for the nightmare of blown out knees, arthritic backs, and all the rest? That cliff might be years away in the future and completely out of sight, but it might be there nevertheless. Are we all being driven toward this cliff by our fellow athletes, coaches, trainers, doctors, equipment and nutrition vendors and everyone else encouraging us and helping us along in what seem like worthwhile activities. We all recieve much needed support, advice and encouragement, not to mention cool gadets and other equipment from all these folks. And this is all given with the very best of intentions and recieved with deep gratidue. But what are the real consequnces here? Have we all undertaken in an activity that will inevitably lead to long term debilitating injuries and years of painful old age?

Are we all just lemmings lining up one by one rushing headlong toward some as yet unseen precipice?

Eagleman 2010 - I should have my head examined

It finally happened. I knew it would eventually. I signed up for Eagleman this weekend. Just made it in as one of the last few folks to register. I think the race sold out in less than 1 week. Crazy. Hard to believe so many people are lining up to put themselves through such torture.

The Eagleman is a triathlon in Cambridge, MD. The race "only" a half ironman distance. That's only 1.2 miles of swimming, 56 miles of cycling and a half marathon - 13.1 miles of running. Crap! I feel tired just thinking about it. Here's the website: http://www.tricolumbia.org/Eagleman/

How exactly did I let myself get talked into this one?

Last two track workouts

I had meant to post these last two fun track workouts for posterity. Ooops. Very late, but here they are:

Wed, Aug 12

Something called a "Michigan". I don't get it either - I'm not a track guy. Just give me some Texas 50's and I'll be fine!

The workout was:

1,600 @ 5K pace

1,200 a little faster

800 a little faster

400 a little faster

do 800 at "tempo" pace, no stopping for the whole run.

We did pretty well, but we were definitely slower than tempo pace for 800 in between each race effort. I still had a bit in the tank on that last 400, probably more than we were supposed to. Splits:

1,600 - 5:40

1,200 - 4:09

800 - 2:34

400 - 1:12

Wed, July 27

Still figuring out what this track stuff is all about. So, I pulled some recommendations from Daniel's and did:

4 x 1,200 with 4:00 easy jog in between

splits: 4:10, 4:09, 4:10, 4:10

Solid. Last one hurt pretty big.

Go to your dark place

Today I met the normal gang (most of it) for our typical Saturday AM ride. Normally, I wouldn't spend much time thinking or writing about this kind of ride because it is on the schedule every week. Mostly its simply a good workout and a fun group to ride with - but it's normally just a typical ride, no biggie. But this ride often takes me to what I think of as my dark place - that's what I want to talk about.

To catch up, this ride is lovingly referred to by the Cville Tri Club as the Saturday Chipolte Ride. I have no idea why Chipolte - especially since we usually go to Bodo's Bagels afterwards for sustenance and entertainment. Anyway, it's roughly a 54 mile loop through the rolling hills southeast of Charlottesville. The ride is done fast - usually the group finishes in about 2.5 hours.

Most of the riders in this group are quite a bit stronger than I. No real surprise there - I'm not a terribly strong rider. So for me, the goal is typically to hang with the group for as much of the ride as possible. Then with persistence, I hang on a little bit further every week. But let there be no doubt, I often experience what can only be described as epic meltdowns, sometimes with quite a few miles to go. I know plenty of folks more knowledgable than I would tell me to cut it out - the meltdown part that is. And that is something I'm working on.

But what is so great about the ride is that it helps force me into that zone of that combines both fatigue and intensity at the same time. I simply call this zone my dark place. Here's how my dark place feels. The legs are aching bad, but they are still strong enough to keep the pace. The lungs are working hard, breathing is difficult, but I'm not quite gasping for air. Half my brain knows that this pain will go away almost instantly, simply by dropping the cadence, or by lifting, ever so slightly the contant pressure to the pedals. The other half, refusing for the moment to admit surrender, pushes on for a few more precious seconds. I'm not ready to give in to the hurt just yet. Those seconds extend into minutes with agonizing slowness, but I push on.

After about 20 to 30 minutes of this, your perception begins to change in odd ways. The sun, which shone brightly just an hour ago, begins to lose its lustre. The Virginia countryside seems to fade away to a dull grey nothingness and the color fades slowly away. The only sounds are the rythmic spinning of cranks, chain, wheels and the labored breaths. Peripheral visions begins to fade away, reality becomes simple - person, bike, road. And I push on.

I am aware of my surroundings, but only enough to steer the bike and remain upright. My brain is solely focused on a set of fairly simple tasks - breathe in, breathe out, right leg push, left leg push, steer. I am enveloped in the darkness. I find it comforting in many ways - reality to reduced to a set of basic physic equations.

Finally - and for me this inevitably comes on some hill climb - the legs give way. The power that seemed to be there just 10 minutes ago has been claimed by the road. The matches are burned - there's nothing left. I am finally betrayed by my own human limitation. I press on to stay with the group a little longer, but for me it's over. I am, as they say, cooked.

The ride of course isn't over at this point, am I make it back to the car in reasonable order. Sometimes I am with the pack, sometimes a few minutes behind. Either way it's been a good ride. I got visit my dark place - it's a nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there!

Here's a map of the ride:

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/training/map.asp?routeid=89487