Because holidays are just better the runner way.
Happy Running Easter…may you make it through the intervals before you barf and may you eat your weight in chocolate eggs and avoid a refund. 😛
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More awesome cartoonage HERE!
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1) Do you tend to throw up after hard workouts or races?
2) Favorite kind of candy or chocolate goodie?
Cadbury does indeed rock, but Junior Mints are quite nice. But nothing beats Pop-Tarts. 😉
Running is tough. Racing is tougher…downright painful. The brain has a funny little way of dealing with that pain, it gets sneaky and tries to coax us into slowing down.
Runner Brain: “I want to run a PR, dang this hurts, but I’m going to put the work in and stick this out.”
Annoying Tired Brain: “Well, fine, if you’re not going to listen to my complaints and willingly slow down I’ll just find other ways to trick you into it!”
Oh the brain, you slippery little eel, you.
* Self-Defeatist Thoughts: This would be when you’re running and your mind starts screaming in your ear, “You seriously can’t keep this pace up for any longer.”
* Dwelling on the Future: This is when your mind has on repeat, “Umm, and HOW much further do you think you’re going to be forcing me to do this? Think again buster, you CAN’T last that many miles more!”
* Bargaining: When your runner brain and your sane tired brain get into a war, your lame-o brain argues, “C’mon, just ease up a little, trust me you’re not going to feel guilty or regretful about it, just ease up.” This is also known as a lie, because your runner brain knows you’ll feel regretful.
* Wandering: This is when your brain full-on goes on vacation, if you catch yourself mid-race thinking, “Wow, I really like the zebra print on that lady’s shirt, you see her, the one sitting on the 20th row of in the stands.”
A Wandering Mind = A Slowing Body
See, when the mind decides to check-out and wander like that what inevitably ends up happening is the pace starts to lag. Running through pain takes a special kind of focus, focus on forcing yourself to relax, to keep pushing, to stay ENGAGED in the race.
When your mind wanders it is sneakily distracting you from the battle race at hand. My latest article at Competitor.com is all about staying focused during a race so you then, race your best: “Got a Wandering Mind? Here’s How to Stop It”
Read the article, but I’d like to add that a wandering mind is much different from zoning out during a race.
Aww, c’mon, I’m only joking…kinda. 😉
Finally, zoning out is the epitome of being ENGAGED in the race, you’re single-mindedly in it.
A wandering mind is where you’re brain is anywhere but in the race. It is, in reality, just a backwards trick that your tiring brain is using to get you to slow down.
Don’t fall for it. Running often comes down to mentally ‘beating’ your own brain. Push past the pain, get through those intervals, drive for the finish line, and stay present in your race…because THAT is how you improve as a runner. THAT is how you set those wonderful PR’s. 😉
1) What is an example of a trick your brain has tried on you to get you to slow down?
2) How do you one-up that slippery little eel of a complaining tired brain?
3) What is an aspect of zoning out? How do you stay zoned during a race and stay ENGAGED throughout?
Let’s be honest, shouldn’t runners ALWAYS have the right of way? 😉
**I’ll put my disclaimer here at the onset so as to avoid any emails or comments reminding me about how important runner road safety is: ALL RUNNERS on the road need to be incredibly safe and conscientious of their surroundings. Awareness is imperative because most drivers not all drivers pay attention. I got hit by a car, it wasn’t fun, but I also know I wound up lucky because these accidents are far too common.
That said, I’ve professed my love of sarcasm and snarkidtude.
There should be a special kind of light that senses oncoming runners and automatically configures the stop lights accordingly. I mean they do it for fire trucks and ambulances, right?
That goes exponentially when it comes to actual hard workouts and tempo runs if you’re not blessed with a bike trail or a track to run them on. “I’m sorry, YOU are going to have to just honk away because if I stop now my heart rate will dip, thus negating the point of this tempo run.”
If I started just putting this random sign up do you think people would mind? It’s not tagging, and I mean runners would sort of be a ‘friendly gang’ if it were considered as such anyways.
Alas, alas, where’s the respect? Apparently getting to their jobs, making it to Starbucks for their fix, and Driving Miss Daisy has got people too impatient to give every runner, every time, everywhere the right of way. 😉
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Revisit my post on Road Running Safety.
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1) Ever had a driver actually stop to let you pass when the didn’t have to.
Actually the STRANGEST thing happened to me once running in Seattle. There was no enforced traffic signs on a road, I saw a bus coming so started to stop to let it pass by, but the driver caught my eye, put on the breaks, STOPPED, and waved me forward. It was surreal, I’m sure I could almost hear the passengers complain, but I waved a big thanks! Haha.
2) Do you do much of your running on the road and around traffic? How do you stay aware and safe?
3) Do you run with an iPod or music when you’re on the road?
No, but I never run with music
4) If I put up this sign how fast do you think other people would take it down? 😉
When minimalist running turned from a concept into some kind of near-cult ideology, I’ll admit to shaking my head. More correctly I was soured that with the launch of the Vibrams and ‘Born to Run’ book release the masses became obsessed with immediately running barefoot. Everyone wanted to jump headlong into this running trend with no other reason than they thought it was the cool thing to do. I mean “Waaaaaaz up” was the coolest thing to do for a time too, no?
Misinformed runners were getting hurt, and THAT was really what I was stuck on or against. Well, and in all honesty I think the Vibram toe-thing is silly. I’m not anti-minimalist, in fact I began implementing Nike Free running in 2004 in order to increase foot strength and mobility. The key word there is IMPLEMENTING.
Scott Douglas, multi-running book author and editor for Runner’s World, just released “The Runner’s World Complete Guide to Minimalism and Barefoot Running” for which I was given a copy to read and review. I was nervous at first only because of that buzz word minimalism but I also have read enough from Douglas to have faith that rather than just glorify barefoot running the book would be true to name and act as a manual. There IS sound reasoning and logic behind minimalist running, it then becomes a matter of ensuring enough runners learn and understand just HOW to go about running in ‘less’ without just getting themselves hurt.
I was relieved because right off the bat because Douglas tackles the logistics and starts not at the aspect most minimalists and runners begin, the foot, but instead explains that the running body is a package. A runner’s body is an interconnected machine, you can’t take a single injury or problem at face value, but rather trace it back to the underlying cause of it. A problem with your foot can be stemming from your hips, you have to fix the underlying cause before the foot gets any better.
Source: Roadale, Inc.
Some of the actual running shoe stats and numbers may not have been absorbed as fully by me as others, as I’m not a total running shoe ‘addict/geek’, but I still got the gist. What I was more interested in was that the book tackles more than shoes and feet: the importance of running form, the importance of GRADUALLY transitioning and that injuries aren’t caused or cured merely by a shoe-swap and there is still the need for strengthening and mobility work (the book includes exercises). These are all, in fact, fundamentals of running people should read outside of shoes and minimalism.
The book was written with the input and thoughts from an array of different running coaches, shoe experts, and exercise physiologists. Among them, and someone I’ve often sought keen insights from for my own articles, was Steve Magness. I appreciated his parts not just because of the knowledge and science there, but explaining why elite distance runners aren’t all striving to run barefoot all the time, but that they still get minimalist style miles in the form of racing flats and spikes. Finally, the drills are things all runners should do and the suggestions for cooling-down or doing striders barefoot get back to that gradual implementation.
Bottom line, both from the book and in line with my own reasoning: Shoes and whatever people end up running in shouldn’t be dictated by a running trend or fad, but rather what keeps them running healthfully and ideally as fast as possible. Everyone wants to be faster, right? 😉
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Scott Douglas’ “The Runner’s World Complete Guide to Minimalism and Barefoot Running” can be purchased in stores or online.
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1) What are your thoughts on minimalism and/or barefoot running? What kind of shoes do you prefer to run in?
2) Have you wound up with an injury tied to making the jump to minimalism too quickly? If so, have you learned and then gone forward with a way to include minimalist style running without an injury?
3) Douglas also asks a very poignant questions in his book along the lines of: If you are a minimalist, where does your journey to ‘less shoes’ end? It doesn’t necessarily become when you’re running barefoot all the time.
Runners may have an odd way of expressing their affection for each other. But hey, if you’ve met your perfect match then they should totally get that being the ‘fart’ in this instance is a total compliment! 😉
Shall we say that the two perfectly match strides?
Maybe true love always turns left together?
Perhaps even it’s not so much that I totally adore you’re company, as much that you push my @$$ to a new PR?
Bottom line: you know it’s a real match when you’re both out on a training run, one winds up injured or hurt, but their immediate response is, “Don’t stop the watch! Keep going, I’ll see you when you’re done!” #dontsacrificetherun 😉
1) What are your favorite kinds of fartleks?
Maybe 3 minutes on two minutes off? Pyramid fartleks can be fun too.
2) Do you have a corny runner line like the one above?
3) If you’re on a run with other people and one is unable to keep going for whatever reason, what is your reaction?
Unless you’re racing on a track, there’s SOME kind of terrain you’ll need to be prepared for come gun-time. Even during track season athletes have much to gain from varying the terrain on their workouts.
Those are all general reasons why mixing up your running terrain is a good idea, but if you know your actual race course will have key elements you’ll need to be prepared for, it’s even more important to introduce those same obstacles in training.
Hilly Courses
Trail running
Tracks, Roads and the Elements
Until the day that all races are held on treadmills, runners should be mixing up the terrain of their workouts and runs. By tailoring your training to your specific race course you’ll be setting yourself up for even better results. And hey, who doesn’t want to run that much faster and have a bit of an edge over their competition? 😉
1) How do you train for your course? If it’s for the track, how do you add diversity to your workouts?
2) Do you prefer road races, track races, cross-country, or trail races?
3) How do you plan, adapt, or prepare for various weather conditions?
In MY version of fairy tales, the princesses all run, with names like Kara Goucher and Shalane Flanagan. In my comic books the heros wear Dri-FIT racing gear, they don’t need pseudo-names, Dathan Ritzenhein and Meb Keflezighi will do just fine. The truth is in ‘normal people’ land that’s more than enough to fly under the radar mostly unnoticed. The pap’s are too tied up stalking Honey Boo Boo. 😉
Running princesses are sweet but an epic force on the track. Steely eyed mid-repeat, tough as nails. So don’t confuse sweet and nice with damsel in distress, heck, if a runner dude is tanking mid-run they best keep looking over their shoulder because they very will may be passed.
Perhaps the power of the running superheros isn’t so much super strength, super endurance, or super speed, it’s just guts, grit, and the ability to push themselves harder than any sane person would. MENTAL strength is something you can’t teach, or quite explain, that’s what makes it all the more alluring and admirable.
So little girls, don’t dress up in doily dresses, but opt for Tempo Shorts…trust me, there are plenty of fun colors. Little boys, you don’t need to steal your sister’s tights and find a cape, micro-fiber running tights will do just fine.
Runners are, by definition alone, super heros and the most kick@$$ kinds of princesses.
1) When you were a kid, what was your favorite kind of character?
I won’t lie, I was obsessed with wanting to be a mermaid. Ariel and that movie Splash were on constant repeat.
2) What is a way you’ve felt like a kind of super hero in your running experience or journey?
3) What do you feel is a kind of super power that is possessed by runners?
I’ll say the people with the most mental tenacity win in my book.
Running and fueling the machine. In my recent article for Competitor: Nutrient Timing is Everything for Runners I really like the bottom line to everything my go-to sports nutritionist Krista Austin Ph.D. professes, “Food is a performance tool.” She teaches her runners to “eat to perform.”
Runners are human, of course, but at the same time it would be naive to ignore the fact that what goes into your body has a direct correlation to what it is able to give you right back. Thankfully, I also like that quick on the heels of that Austin also says, “However, my policy is that at least once a week every athlete should have a ‘fun meal’ where they don’t think too much about what they are eating and just enjoy fun food-the key is to watch the portion sizes.”
It’s all a matter of balance. Just as runners and training, balance, consistency, and the law of averages often wins out with their nutrition. That isn’t to say there aren’t times when the PERFORMANCE style of eating trumps the LIFE side of eating.
Case in point, the night before a race or the actual day of your race. Here is where, if you’re a runner, ignoring your taste buds and eating with your HEAD is the wiser choice. Austin has explained to me that Dathan Ritzenhein’s top pre-race meal of choice is plain, white rice. Is it his favorite tasting meal? Probably not, but you know what? He knows it sits well in his stomach, it will give him the non-complex carbs he’ll want in his system right before the gun goes off, and he knows it works. His race, his PERFORMANCE, is the priority. Taste buds can wait until after the finish line.
I’ve done numerous articles on runners and nutrition, a few you can revisit:
How Runners Can Stuff Their Faces at Restaurants But Still Perform at Their Best
Runners Going Gluten-Free: Could making the switch work for you?
The Post-Run Refuel: Why 30 minutes is your winning window of opportunity
Dreaming of cake works as motivation…just wait until after the finish line! 😉
* Think long term goals AND short term nutrition goals: With nutrient timing there are macro and micro cycles; the macro would be your BIG training goal, think an entire season or build-up for a marathon. Tailor your food choices and nutrition goals for that, but within each multi-week/month macro cycle fit in 3-10 day micro cycles. An example- A macro cycle would be if you’re training for a marathon, a micro cycle IN that would be a week where you’re focusing on building your speed with shorter intervals. For the micro cycle your eating would be different than in your longer/base phase.
* A second recovery window: We’ve all heard that within 30 minutes of finishing your workout you NEED to get protein and carbs back into your system. What I didn’t know was that there is ANOTHER window of time that is particularly important to refuel your stores: just before bed. Aim to get 20-25 grams of protein, preferably in the form of dairy (cottage cheese, milk), with some carbs. It’s been found the muscles will respond to this, and it also aids with sleeping.
* Marathoners and carbs: Yes, we need carbs as runners, but a mistake many marathoners in training can make is just over-doing the carbs. Meb Keflezighi has become more strict with his carb intake as he’s gotten older; he’s moved up in distance but switched some of those carb calories over to fats and protein and they help keep him fuller. He’s a lot more picky about the KINDS of carbs he eats, WHEN he eats them, and WHICH training phase he’s in.
For more information on how to time your eating so that it’s best fueling your running performance check out the article.
Food is fun, one of the BEST perks of being a runner is we have way more entitlement to stuff our faces. BUT there are times when we must stuff our faces with our brains…because in fueling our bodies right we can fuel them to perform at their optimum level. Read as: Run PR’s! 🙂
1) What is something you learned from either this post or from the article? If nothing care to share a tidbit of your own?
2) What is your go-to pre-race meal?
3) What is your go-to post-race meal or ‘fun meal’?
For runners the weekends usually mean two things: races and long runs. In honor of the first I’ve brought you a little running cartoon.
Okay, okay, I’m not suggesting we all become snarky, “I just kicked your butt” runners…or, well maybe I am. How about I want you all to go out there and kick@$$ but let’s keep the majority of the snarky comments in our heads??
Oh, even better, you can bring all your runner snark here and let it out! 😉
Go, run, kick some butt! 🙂
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Racing ultimately comes down to an inward battle, it’s a matter of MENTALLY pushing further than what your body is ‘telling’ you it is capable of. HERE, HERE, and HERE are all posts relating to improving your mental toughness.
More cartoons and my Runner’s Strip comic HERE! 🙂
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1) Pick a race distance, and where does the real pain start to set in?
I’ll pick a 5k…that first mile really is deceptively ‘easy’…second mile you start to feel it, then BAM if you were ‘stupid’ that first mile, you REALLY feel it that third. The last .12 then is lost in a fog of, “Where is that darn finish line?!” 😉
2) If you have a race on Saturday, do you come back with a long run on Sunday? Or how do you work a long run in, if you do?
I suggest, depending on how hard the race was, you either do a longer cool-down and make Saturday the double-duty race/long run day. Or if it’s early in the season long run on Sunday after race.
3) What does your running weekend look like?
If you’re going to do something, why not make it epic? This quote has been running through my mind lately; 1) I’m working on a pretty exciting project, stay tuned for details and 2) It also has to do with THIS cartoon and the story behind it..sorry, Mo, I stole your word! 😉
But back to the quote, and going for epic. Perhaps I should edit it to say: “If you’re going to do something, why not TRY and make it epic.”
Because the truth of the matter is you very well may not wind up making it all the way to epic. I’m not being pessimistic, just realistic. Some people would argue that quote is setting people up for disappointment, “If I’m never going to run in the Olympics, be the best in the world, or set a World Record, then where is the point in all this training?”
True, most people won’t ever set a National or World Record, they won’t come home with a Gold Medal. But the thing is, I’ll guarantee you that you’ll run and set a Personal Record at some point…probably more.
Insert obligatory eye-roll here. But let me continue. The people who don’t at least TRY for epic really are just afraid to step out of their comfort zone. Their comfort zone is safe, it ensure they won’t really fail, it also ensure they probably really won’t excel…they’ll just be nice, safe, *gasp* mediocre. Now, mediocre is totally OKAY, nothing wrong with it at all. But the thing is, if you’re NOT okay with mediocre, you’re always welcomed to TRY for epic.
Running is awesome because it is a sport where anyone can improve with hard work, grit, determination, and self-motivation. The feelings of PR’s and knowing you pushed yourself to new limits are indescribably self-fulfilling. The feeling of KILLING it in a track workout or race are, in a word, epic.
Why not shoot for epic?
Define epic…it is greatness, it is awesomeness, it is rewarding, it is awes-freaking-tastic. But all of those can be different for different people. You see, epic doesn’t have to be defined as setting a World Record or being a total flop of a failure. YOUR epic may be realizing that you much stronger, faster, fitter, mentally stronger than your ‘mind’ told you that you were.
Quite honestly, you may wind up short along the way. A goal you don’t hit, eventually you will set your last PR…*single tear*. When you hit the climax, what the heck happens if you DON’T hit what, in your mind, was your ‘epic’?
You would be allowed to be disappointed. But I GUARANTEE you that you’re much higher up on the ‘epic scale’ than when you started. Running and training your @$$ off, you maybe didn’t hit the pinnacle you wanted, but dang-nam-it you improved.
You didn’t sit at mediocre. You TRIED.
If you’re going to do something, give it your all. If you truly want it, believe in it, and you find it rewarding…TRY for epic.
What holds most people back? Ultimately fear. Right behind it a lack of motivation…lol.
But I think fear is the root of it. Fear of the work it would take. Fear of failure. Fear you’re not good enough. Fear you’re not as good as you think you are…aha…that one!
That brings up the question: Would you rather stay at mediocre but live with the assumption that if you DID try then you would be awesome OR go out on a limb and try, then be faced with the reality that you didn’t quite measure up? Going with the first one will keep you in the safety bubble of mediocre.
Don’t let insecurities, fear, failures, hard work, REALLY hard work [umm, trust me, track workouts need a whole new word for REALLY. HARD. WORK.], and set-backs rob you from trying for YOUR epic.
Be different, test yourself, push yourself, be unique, FIND YOUR epic. Hell, go run. 😉
1) Define what ‘epic’ would be for you? Pick a goal, it doesn’t necessarily have to be running related.
2) Define what falling short of that epic would mean to you?
Sure it sucks, but we CAN cope with sucky.
3) What has been something that’s held you back from getting to your epic, or holding you back from TRYING for your epic?