Hot weather race execution

What can you do?

This is a really tough question because typically people are looking for answers the day before when they find out some event they have been training for is going to be a cooker.  There is no silver bullet. Different people handle heat in races better than others.  There are some things you can try.

Much of it depends on what you are used to and the training you are taking into the race.  One of the early Boston marathons that was run on a hot day was won by a furnace stoker.  He was used to the heat.  How your body reacts is dependent on how well conditioned it is to the heat.

If you have been training in the snow and ice your body isn’t going to be ready.  If you’ve been training in Miami Beach you will be in better shape.

The tricky thing about racing in the heat is that it’s different than your normal challenges like wind and hills.  Heat doesn’t require more energy; it just makes you less efficient.  After your core temp rises to a certain point your body stops functioning as efficiently.

Therefore the challenge to racing in the heat is to keep your core temperature low enough that your body can still race effectively.

How do you keep your core temperature low?

1. Reflect the heat.

This means anything you can do to have the energy from the sun bounce off you is a plus.  Light colored fabric reflect the sun’s rays instead of absorbing them.  A light colored, technical hat with a broader brim can keep the sun’s energy off your crown.

1. Stay out of the heat.

Before and during your race find those opportunities to stay out of the sun.  Running in the shade of a building or a tree line can be several degrees cooler.  Scout the course and look for shade opportunities.  In a slanting sun you can even stay in the shade of other runners.  It’s your call but it may be worth it to miss a couple tangents to find some shade.

1. Remove the heat.

Water has some amazing chemical qualities.  One of them is that it absorbs energy when it changes state.  When water evaporates, changes from liquid to gas, it absorbed 300 Kcal per mole.  The more you can get water to evaporate off of your skin the more energy it will absorb in the form of heat.

This means that the cold water you drink helps but the cold water you splash on your arms and legs helps more.  Try to spread a thin layer of water across as much exposed skin as possible.  The insides of your arms is a great place to spread some water to cool you down.

When I have raced in the heat I will squirt water from my water bottle into my palm and spread it on my arms and legs to maximize the evaporation surface.

Of course evaporation works best on dryer days and if there is some wind.

1. Turn the furnace down.

Finally, as hard as it is to stomach, if you haven’t trained in the heat you’re going to have to run slower and with less effort.   Go into the race with the knowledge that you may have to let this one go so you can live to fight another day.

Speaking of stomach, don’t wrongly assume that you need to take in more calories.  Since heat causes loss of efficiency, more calories are just going to make you nauseous.  Keep an eye on your water consumption and consider adding in electrolyte supplements, but back off on the calories.

Many people struggle with how much water to drink.  It’s not rocket science.  Weigh yourself.  Run on the treadmill at room temperature at a zone 3 effort for an hour.  Weigh yourself.  The difference is your baseline sweat rate.

Depending on how you have been training and how your body reacts to heat will determine how you handle hot weather racing.  If you’re not trained or ready for it then there really isn’t much you can do.  If you try to run through it you won’t last and will end up in the med tent.  If you are accustomed to running in the heat then there are a few tactical tweaks you can make to give yourself a better chance.  Either way, be realistic and have fun.  It’s not worth dying over.

Quick tip – Batching up some ice tea in the office:

When I’m in my office I drink a lot of tea.  In the spring and summer, especially after a hot workout I don’t really like too much hot tea.  I like it iced or at least refrigerated.

My office has a supply of tea bags and a water dispenser. The water dispenser is one of those things with the big 5 gallon bottle upended in it.  It dispenses hot and cold water.

In the morning, on my way to work I’ll typically stop for a cup of coffee.  This leaves me with several empty 16 oz to-go coffee cups with lids in my office.

What I do is toss a tea bag in them and fill them up with hot water from the spring water dispenser.  Then I put the lids back on and put the tea-in-process in the office fridge. This way I have iced tea ready for me in a handy travel container at some later date.

A couple points to note are first that my spring water dispenser in the office only holds enough hot water to make two of these.  After that the water gets tepid.  The optimal batch size for the ice-tea making operation is therefore 2 cups.

Another point is that these cups tend to come with that cardboard band to keep them from burning your hand.  This is an excellent place to tuck the tea bag tag and it secures it neatly.

This is a free and easy way to keep myself in iced tea in the summer as I’m working.  You can reuse the cups several times before they start to come apart.

The RunRunLive Podcast Episode 224 – Wendy Nail

Download audio file (epi224.mp3)

epi224.mp3

Show intro by:

Greg Boncimino – facebook.com/seegregrun

RunRunLive – Podcast Intro

http://www.runrunlive.com/home/read-the-runrunlive-podcast-intro

Intro:

Hello and welcome to undiscovered country podcast where we stand unsure and unknowing, blinking at the alien sun of a new world from the portico of our live’s spaceship, freshly arrived on a new world, and unhindered by the expectations of the old.

One of the star voyagers, the new people in this world turns to the other and murmers in a dramtic stage whisper – This is the RunRunLive Podcast and we’ve got a great show for you today. Welcome to episode 224.  This is Chris your host.

Today we speak with Wendy Nail.

I’m finally digesting my way through a big slug of interviews that I did earlier in the year.  It’s quite interesting to me because I haven’t listened to them since I did them a couple months ago. When I listen to the show it is new to me, just like it is to you.

Well this week has been an easy week for me.  I have stepped back from any race expectations and am just having fun, trying to strengthen my feet and thinking about new things, enjoying the spring weather.  I’m really happy all of a sudden now that I let it all go.

I’m setting new plans for new adventures that I’ll share with you over the next few sessions.  Buddy and I did a couple short barefoot runs.  It’s a new experience for me, not for him.  I have a 2km loop, well actually two 1km loops.  The first around my neighborhood on the road and the second in the woods on my trails.

My feet are getting stronger, I can feel the changes, and I think I can see them already after just a couple short weeks.  But, the pads of my feet are alight with, well, pain while I run.  You can’t cheat in bare feet.

I signed up for a sprint triathlon in July.  So that’s 3 events this summer.  The AppleMan Triathlon, the 100 on 100 in Vermont relay and the Pocatella Marathon.  I also can’t wait to get down to the Cape and run on the beach in my bare feet.  I love running on the beach.

I’m going to need to spin up some biking and swimming and lifting again because, let’s face it, 6km of slow barefoot running a week doesn’t move my calorie needle!

You ready for a new adventure?

On with the show!

Audio clips in this episode:

Anne Brennan – http://www.annsrunningcommentary.com/

“A Certain Strength”

http://www.runrunlive.com/products-page/midpackerslament

RunRunLive » Audio Products » MidPackersLament » The Mid-Packer’s Lament Audio Book

It took me a few months…but I kept at it and now can present to you The Mid-Packer’s Lament Audio book.  This is ~50 running stories read into audio by the author (me) and ends up being 6-8 hours of audio.

The Mid-Packer’s Lament is a series of short stories on long distance running, racing and the human comedy inherent in all sports enthusiasts.  This is the perfect book for runners and wannabe runners.  There are stories about training, eating, special places and special races.  There are stories about the accidental athlete in all of us and the stupid things we do for even amateur endeavors.  Whether you are a weekend mid-pack runner or a competitive club runner, you’ll find something thought provoking and amusing that you can relate to in the Mid-Packer’s Lament.

Hope you enjoy consuming it as much as I enjoyed recording it!

Ciao, thanks, and I’ll see you out there.

Chris,

Skits, commercials and parodies in this episode:

Story time:

Equipment Check:

Losing my barefoot virginity – http://www.runrunlive.com/losing-my-bare-foot-virginity

Featured Interview:

Wendy Nail from Korea…

http://www.blogger.com/profile/10118478530527972078

Quick Tip:

Outro:

Ok my friends, you have minced painfully down the sidewalk on broken and bruised feet to the end of yet another RunRunLive Podcast – Episode 224 in the can.

Next week we chat with my friend Kate Percy about her book “Go Faster Food” and it’s a fun chat where I have to translate from American to imperial English and back again.  It’s ok, because my English is much better than my Spanish or my French.

To take you out this week I have apiece I wrote about making the mental transition from my goal-oriented running to having a sense of adventure again.  I think one of the things we have to remember is how lucky we are to be able to get out there.  I think we have to do it for all those who never get the chance.  I think we have to stop beating ourselves up and do our thing.

It’s called “No time like the present” – http://www.runrunlive.com/no-time-like-the-present

And as you are doing that I will see you out there.

And it all happens OUT THERE!

…

I’ll be chillin at  Twitter, Facebook, DailyMile, YouTube, Google, Tumblr, Pinterest and since I have an iPhone now, Instagram! as cyktrussell that’s Chris yellow king tom Russell with two esses and two ells.

Call us!  206-339-7804 …Leave a message there it sends us an audio file.

Better yet call in an intro for us all – I’ve been getting a lot of emails from people lately about how they listen to the show – well call in and introduce yourself – How to submit one is in the show notes and on the web site –- you will find all the other content on the website www.runrunlive.com

Music to take you out is some smooth jazz so you can relax and get in that Karma mood.  It’s a piece called Afternoon on Laguna by the Duane Carter Band.

Love.

Great news my running friends – my book of running stories “The Mid-Packer’s Lament” is now available in Kindle format at the Kindle store on Amazon.com!  Just search on “Mid-Pack”.  It’s a bargain at an easy $5 and all proceeds go towards supporting the underfunded pension plan of the retired cleaning staff at the RunRunLive world headquarters. I recently got a kindle myself and I love it.  It does reading very well.

The Mid-Packer’s Lament is a series of short stories on long distance running, racing and the human comedy inherent in all sports enthusiasts.  This is the perfect book for runners and wannabe runners.  There are stories about training, eating, special places and special races.  There are stories about the accidental athlete in all of us and the stupid things we do for even amateur endeavors.  Whether you are a weekend mid-pack runner or a competitive club runner, you’ll find something thought provoking and amusing that you can relate to in the Mid-Packer’s Lament.

Music:

From Podsafe:

All music used in the show is from the Podsafe music network found at Music Alley.  Please support the starving, socially minded artists sampled herein by purchasing some!

Songs sampled from Podsafe:

a_band_called_quinn-hey_chi_chi_

a_band_called_quinn-the_audition

Outro music:

duane_carter_band-afternoon_in_laguna

Outro Artists Bio:
Bio:

Standard Links:

http://www.runrunlive.com

http://www.runeratti.com

Http://coolrunning.com

http://Grotonroadrace.com

http://SQRR.org

www.midpackerslament.com

Cyktrussell At gmail and twitter and facebook and youtube

Chris’ book on Amazon – > http://www.amazon.com/Mid-Packers-Lament-collection-running-stories/dp/141961584X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1228687012&sr=8-1

Mid-Packer’s Lament E-book

Mid-Packer’s Guide to the Galaxy E-Book

Dial in number for RunRunLive is – 206-339-7804

Chris Russelllives and trains in suburban Massachusetts with his family and Border collie Buddy.  Chris is the author of “The Mid-Packer’s Lament”, and “The Mid-Packer’s Guide to the Galaxy”, short stories on running, racing, and the human comedy of the mid-pack.  Chris writes the Runnerati Blog at www.runnerati.com.  Chris’ Podcast, RunRunLive is available on iTunes and at www.runrunlive.com. Chris also writes for CoolRunning.com (Active.com) and is a member of the Squannacook River Runners and the Goon Squad.

Email me at cyktrussell at Gmail dot com

Running  Podcast, podcasts for running, podcast for runners, free podcast for runners, Running Blog, marathon, triathlon, mileage, sprinting, run, track, training, running clubs, running groups, running shoes, exercise, health, 5k, running, swimming, sports, injuries, stretching, eating, jogging, biking, trail race, 5K, 10K, Ultramarathon, jogging a good exercise, road runner, jogging tips, benefits of jogging, free running, running shoes, marathon training, running, jogging, health and fitness, runners, runner, Boston qualification, Marathon BQ, Boston marathon

No Time Like the Present…

I had a major flare-up of my Plantar Fasciitis over the last two weeks.  After taking over 6 months off from running I thought I had it under control.  But, it is back and it is as painful and limiting as ever.

It wasn’t one thing that caused this current episode.  I suppose hiking the Boston Marathon a couple weeks ago started the descent.  Although it didn’t hurt much after that.

The real culprits were three-fold:

The main culprit was the weekend of the Groton Road Race.  I knew I was going to be on my feet a lot so I decided to wear my Brooks Cascadia cushioned trail shoes.  I was on my feet and doing field work for a couple days straight.  My feet were screaming after this.  The cushioning didn’t help and may have made the PF worse.

Then I started doing some speed work to get my fitness back and potentially run up to a qualifying marathon this summer.  This additional stress of power-running puts an outsized stress on this injury.  Normal running, not so bad, but speed work equals ouch.

The third and final insult was going directly into business travel the day after race weekend was over.  Four days on the road in my work shoes and without my night splint was the coupe de grace.  By the end of last week I could barely walk.

Like it or not I’m confronted by a new set of facts. My heel is no better than it was a year ago.  After injections, rest, therapy yadda yadda yadda… wasted time, money and effort.  I cannot in my current state run any significant load or intensity.

A related fact is that without the volume and intensity I can’t run a qualifying marathon by September.  So, unless I rely on the charity of others I will not be running Boston next spring.

The epiphany is, as thick headed as I am, that what I have always done no longer works.  My traditional hard-charging approach to training and racing is no longer a choice.  Or at least no longer a smart choice.

Training and racing the same way as I have always done is going to give me the same results; a sore heel and a cup-full of misery. To keep running myself into this wall would be stupid.  But to give up, to embrace that form of inactive nothingness is not an option either.  When there is no clear way, we must find the third way.

I find myself once again in undiscovered country.  The core of my running, as Mr. Churchill would say; ‘the unmovable iron post in the frozen ground’ has been taken away, for now.

To steal an aphorism from the trite aphorisms file, when one door closes another opens.  This is one of those times of ultimate freedom for me.  Freedom from expectation.  Freedom to discover and learn (which are two of my favorite things – Besides raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens)

I have nothing to prove. I have only to let the malleability of my strength manifest.  Now is the time to pivot, and pivot I shall.

I’m very excited, like a little kid on Christmas, at the opportunities unfolding before me now that I have swept the house clean of old trophies and dust.

Come on then! You and I have some adventures ahead!

Losing my bare foot virginity.

Ow! It hurts!

I’m experimenting with running without shoes on.  Just my bare feet against the world.  I come to this as a veteran runner, marathoner, triathlete, cyclists etc.  I’ve spun a few rotations of mother earth beneath my feet.  Until this point my world and the actual world have been separated by lugs and leather and blown foam of one sort or another.

I find myself in the unique position of being able to report on the answer to the question, “What happens when a old guy who’s been running high volume competitively for years takes off his shoes?  Up to this point in my life this wasn’t an option for me because I’d have to step down from my mileage and give up my race goals to make the transition.

Since I’m an inherently lucky guy who is deeply loved by the universe I have been given the opportunity to try something new.  The only way for an existing mid-packer, like Moi,  to learn bare foot running is to start as if from the beginning with extremely low mileage and strengthening exercises.  This was my first lesson.

You can’t ‘jump into’ barefoot running.  You have to give your feet a chance to get used to it.  You have to give your legs a chance to learn the new form.  If you just jump into it you’ll tear all the skin off of your feet and give yourself stress fractures.  But if you’re willing to start with 100 meters of running and work up from there over 3-6 months, well, anyone can do that.

I’m 2-3 weeks into my foot strengthening activities.  I started with some short barefoot strides in the grass.  I worked in some longer barefoot walks with the dog.  I’m up to 2km every other day with the dog, but the cool thing is that I’m learning something new about running.  Think about that.  I guy my age, with my running resume, learning like a child in the wilderness.  That’s cool.

What have a learned so far?  First thing I learned is that you may think you have an efficient stride but barefoot is a whole other ball game.  I quickly discovered that although I’m a neutral mid-foot runner I’m also lazy.  When the heel is there, you use it.  When you don’t have shoes on you quickly learn not to EVER use the heels.  Why?  Because it hurts like hell!

Second thing I discovered was that I thought I had pretty good cadence but with barefoot, especially on the road I have to be 2 times quicker with my steps.  This is the only way to avoid over stressing the Achilles and pounding the forefoot.  In my normal stride I’ll pause on the foot strike, flex down into the impact and toe off with force.  You can’t do that in barefoot.  Want to know why?  Because it hurts like hell!  You have to take tiny, rapid steps like you are running on hot coals because it feels like you’re running on hot coals!

The third thing I’m learning is that my body is capable of building its own shoes.  I’ve noticed that as my foot pads get sore and recover they are not doing so in a blanket fashion.  They are not growing a new surface area like the bottom of a shoe.  They are growing new areas specifically to how my foot hits the ground.  My feet are constructing new shoes specifically for my stride mechanics.  That’s pretty cool.

The final learning I’ll share with you today is that I am amazed at how fast my feet are changing.  Our bodies are amazing and my feet are amazing.  After on 2-3 weeks of exercise my feet are getting bigger and wider.  Put this in perspective of the 49 years they have been wrapped up in shoes (except for a few summers when I was a kid) and it is another amazing testament to the adaptability of our bodies.  They are a well engineered machine.

I’m still running defensively and it still hurts like hell, but I’m seeing glimpses of overlap with my running past.  I feel the power of my legs and feet on those uphills in the trails.  I feel the joy of sweat and a raised heart rate as I mince along grimacing through the woods.  I get to join Buddy in the mud at the stream crossings and the spring melt water feels so good on my sore feet.  He can’t quite figure out what I’m doing yet, but he’s all for it, whatever it is.

Reporting from the front lines of this running life I’m here to tell you that bare foot running is not a panacea to your injuries and your race times but it is a cool experiment and hopefully a living, learning, bridge to my recovery.

The RunRunLive Podcast Episode 223 – Steve Bicycle Dreams RAAM

Download audio file (epi223.mp3)

epi223.mp3

Show intro by:

Greg -

RunRunLive – Podcast Intro

http://www.runrunlive.com/home/read-the-runrunlive-podcast-intro

Intro:

Hello and welcome to Post-race funk podcast where I try to shake the cobwebs of standing around in the sun all weekend out of my cranium.

We had another successful road race this weekend at the Groton Road Race.  Our 21^st year went off well without anyone getting lost or keeling over.  We got great weather, sunny and cool with a little dry wind.

Apparently there was a stray horse loose on the course at some point but I never got the full story.

And speaking of loose horses this is the RunRunLive Podcast episode 223 and we have a great interview today with Steve Aurback who directed the award winning movie ‘bicycle dreams’ about a the race across America…

In addition to that we have the usual dancing pigs and talking dogs and other weird species of audio bestiary that we cull forth from the dark recesses of our minds to keep you entertained, informed and inspired for 40+ minutes on a weekly basis on your weird journey.

I’m doing ok.  My Plantar Fasciitis is very sore this week, not from running but from standing around and doing physical work all weekend.  I managed to squeeze in a couple runs over the weekend and am not completely hopeless when it comes to training.  But I am struggling to find my groove – as you’ll hear in one of the pieces today.

I signed up for a marathon.  The Pocatella Marathon in Idaho on September 1^st.  It looks like a good qualifying race and is in time for Boston registration and I’ve never run a race in Idaho.  Lord knows if I’ll be ready or even running in September but when it comes to marathons, I’m an impulse buyer.

I took a couple days off last week to do stuff for the race, but ended up doing chores mostly on Thursday.  I cut down a big fir tree in the front yard and had another burn pile going. Got rid of some wood and junk.

Came home last week one night to find a blue porta-john in the cul de sac in front of the house.  The trail guys dropped it there because the local schools are having the kids out for excursions into the conservation land behind my house.  My trails!  So all day Thursday Buddy and I got to watch school buses drop off and pick up kids as we worked.

And, I guess we have some work to do here, so on with the show!

Audio clips in this episode:

Anne Brennan – http://www.annsrunningcommentary.com/

http://www.runrunlive.com/products-page/midpackerslament

RunRunLive » Audio Products » MidPackersLament » The Mid-Packer’s Lament Audio Book

It took me a few months…but I kept at it and now can present to you The Mid-Packer’s Lament Audio book.  This is ~50 running stories read into audio by the author (me) and ends up being 6-8 hours of audio.

The Mid-Packer’s Lament is a series of short stories on long distance running, racing and the human comedy inherent in all sports enthusiasts.  This is the perfect book for runners and wannabe runners.  There are stories about training, eating, special places and special races.  There are stories about the accidental athlete in all of us and the stupid things we do for even amateur endeavors.  Whether you are a weekend mid-pack runner or a competitive club runner, you’ll find something thought provoking and amusing that you can relate to in the Mid-Packer’s Lament.

Hope you enjoy consuming it as much as I enjoyed recording it!

Ciao, thanks, and I’ll see you out there.

Chris,

Skits, commercials and parodies in this episode:

Story time:

Equipment Check:

Where am I?

Featured Interview:

As for links, the web site is www.bicycledreamsmovie.com.

I have attached our logo and a photo.

We currently do not have any more screenings scheduled at the moment, but we plan another tour next winter.

Let me know if you need anything else. Thanks.

Quick Tip:

Outro:

Alrighty my little school of endrance fishes you have ridden your bicycles clear across the country to the end of yet another RunRunLive Podcast – episode 222 in the can.

I have shot the rapids of Boston and Groton and now find myself awash aimlessly in the basin at the bottom of those falls.  What to do?  This is that post-event Ennui.  I’ll have to figure it out.

I am in the midst of a heavy travel week.  I spent some time in southwestern Minnesota.  Farm country.  Didn’t get much exercise other than the chewing of lots of high calorie comfort food.  I did get out Thursday morning for a easy 35 minute run around.

Had a nice jog, crossed over the west fork of the Des Moines River, saw a historical marker for the first outpost in the area in 1856.  These guys have no history.  Lots of dirt and trucks and tractors and corn.

The piece I wrote above about being lost came through my fingers without any premeditation or malice-aforethought.  Most of the time I let a seed germinate a bit before I pen it, but that was purely a case of being possessed by the spirit and speaking in tongues.

I don’t like to do that.  To vent.  To let go with unprocessed thoughts and emotion.  For you it is like seeing the cake being made.  You see the mess of the kitchen and I would rather just show you the prize of the cake.

Sometimes in life we want things to be done and we want to have direction.  We want it now.  We try to eat our cake before we have let the yeast mature the mix.  I try not to do that because You may not know you are peering into the mess of the kitchen.  You may just see it as a mess.  Only I know that at some point there is a pastry.

I never could understand people who saw things in black and white.  In good and bad.  Without any doubt.  They are either slightly malformed intellects or they are hiding the truth from themselves.  Like they are afraid to let that sliver of grey into the room because once there is doubt then all is in doubt by definition.  And I’ve spoken before about how human minds recoil from the idea of an infinite grayness.

But the same is true of making decisions, or looking for answers while the cake is still being made.  You will just go crazy because you cannot extrapolate a cake from the mess.  You can only extrapolate infinite cakes.  The mind quails at this and hence the outpouring of weirdness based on an incomplete set of data.

I see this in business everyday where people want an answer.  And there is not enough information for a good answer.

Sometimes you have to wait and let more things fall into the sifter until the answer appears and the cake is new again.

It is truly a leadership attribute to not make snap decisions on limited data amidst the pressure for an answer.  Let the beer ferment.  Let the cake rise and cook.  Let the roiling emotions of a bad workout settle down and think about the long view.

And as you are doing that I will see you out there.

…

I’ll be cogitating my next few moves at  Twitter, Facebook, DailyMile, YouTube, Google, Tumblr and Pinterest as cyktrussell that’s Chris yellow king tom Russell with two esses and two ells.

Give us a call and share your thoughts at 206-339-7804 …Leave a message there it sends us an audio file.

Better yet call in an intro for us all – I’ve been getting a lot of emails from people lately about how they listen to the show – well call in and introduce yourself – How to submit one is in the show notes and on the web site –- you will find all the other content on the website www.runrunlive.com

Music this week = the_fire_men-busted_in_jamaica

See you next week.

Great news my running friends – my book of running stories “The Mid-Packer’s Lament” is now available in Kindle format at the Kindle store on Amazon.com!  Just search on “Mid-Pack”.  It’s a bargain at an easy $5 and all proceeds go towards supporting the underfunded pension plan of the retired cleaning staff at the RunRunLive world headquarters. I recently got a kindle myself and I love it.  It does reading very well.

The Mid-Packer’s Lament is a series of short stories on long distance running, racing and the human comedy inherent in all sports enthusiasts.  This is the perfect book for runners and wannabe runners.  There are stories about training, eating, special places and special races.  There are stories about the accidental athlete in all of us and the stupid things we do for even amateur endeavors.  Whether you are a weekend mid-pack runner or a competitive club runner, you’ll find something thought provoking and amusing that you can relate to in the Mid-Packer’s Lament.

Music:

From Podsafe:

All music used in the show is from the Podsafe music network found at Music Alley.  Please support the starving, socially minded artists sampled herein by purchasing some!

Songs sampled from Podsafe:

cat_jahnke_yong-kee-crocodiles

cat_jahnke_yong-kee-theme_song

Outro music:

the_fire_men-busted_in_jamaica

Outro Artists Bio:
Bio:

Standard Links:

http://www.runrunlive.com

http://www.runeratti.com

Http://coolrunning.com

http://Grotonroadrace.com

http://SQRR.org

www.midpackerslament.com

Cyktrussell At gmail and twitter and facebook and youtube

Chris’ book on Amazon – > http://www.amazon.com/Mid-Packers-Lament-collection-running-stories/dp/141961584X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1228687012&sr=8-1

Mid-Packer’s Lament E-book

Mid-Packer’s Guide to the Galaxy E-Book

Dial in number for RunRunLive is – 206-339-7804

Chris Russelllives and trains in suburban Massachusetts with his family and Border collie Buddy.  Chris is the author of “The Mid-Packer’s Lament”, and “The Mid-Packer’s Guide to the Galaxy”, short stories on running, racing, and the human comedy of the mid-pack.  Chris writes the Runnerati Blog at www.runnerati.com.  Chris’ Podcast, RunRunLive is available on iTunes and at www.runrunlive.com. Chris also writes for CoolRunning.com (Active.com) and is a member of the Squannacook River Runners and the Goon Squad.

Email me at cyktrussell at Gmail dot com

Running  Podcast, podcasts for running, podcast for runners, free podcast for runners, Running Blog, marathon, triathlon, mileage, sprinting, run, track, training, running clubs, running groups, running shoes, exercise, health, 5k, running, swimming, sports, injuries, stretching, eating, jogging, biking, trail race, 5K, 10K, Ultramarathon, jogging a good exercise, road runner, jogging tips, benefits of jogging, free running, running shoes, marathon training, running, jogging, health and fitness, runners, runner, Boston qualification, Marathon BQ, Boston marathon

I find myself in the midst of an existential crisis.  I don’t know where my fitness is.  I’ve got chronic plantar fasciitis that has me wondering if I should just give up running altogether.  That would be a shame because I love it so.

I was on the treadmill today trying to belt out some 800’s at a pace that would have been my ‘step-back’ pace 5 years ago.  I couldn’t do it.  I was at the track last week trying to knock out some 400’s at a pace that would have been my speed pace 5 years ago.  I couldn’t do it.

Is it just fitness?  Is it strength and mechanics?  Why is my form breaking?  Why can’t I hold these paces?  Why is my heart rate maxed out at half the effort I could do last year?

Am I remembering the effort level incorrectly?  Maybe it was always this hard and I just have rose-colored glasses.  Which, by the way, I need now, because I can’t see anything.

It’s probably a combination of all of these things.  The injuries, the fitness the specificity of speed work that I haven’t done for a year.

I don’t have a solution.  My solution has always been to put my head down, ignore the discomfort and grind it out.  To try harder and eventually all the pieces fall in place.  But now as I’m limping through life I’m wondering if in fact that hand has been played out.

It’s always been a struggle to find the time and to maintain the ambition, but now it just seems a struggle.

The only solution I find is to tactically retreat.  You can’t just stop.  You have to fight for every inch of ground, doggedly dragging the dirt with you all the way to the open maw of the inevitable grave.

Last week I switched those 400’s to 200’s and completed the work out.  Today I dropped my pace by 20 seconds and completed the workout.  I could have walked away.  I didn’t.

I am trying to figure out if those 400’s are gone for good or if that pace is gone forever or it is foothold that needs to be found.  If I’ve learned anything from myself and all the others in the sport you can never count your body out.  It figures stuff out.  It is amazing.

As usual my big brain is getting in my way.  I’m comparing myself to a man who does not exist anymore.  It is unnerving because I’m casting about for the new normal and until I find it there is no base case for comparison.

Part of my problem is that I come at it from the top and adjust my way down.  Whereas a true beginner would come at it from the bottom and ratchet things up.  But, how do I, with my overflowing rack of medals and mind full of stories take on and wear the raiment of a beginner?  How do I acquire the beginner’s mind?

Thanks for letting me talk through this with you.  Now I see what I must do.  I must, as I have always done, treat it as a new, fresh adventure.  I need to cast off expectation but keep my persistence and find a new normal.  I am a student.  My world is out there.  I must find it.

Although I wander, I am not lost.

Robots and focus.

I read an article this week of a robot scientists have designed that can be controlled by human brain signals.  The human, in this case a paralyzed individual, wears a skull cap with electrodes that picks up and amplifies the electronic signals emitted by the brain.

This is difficult, but fairly straight forward.  The subject thinks about something like moving a finger and the scientists isolate the brain signals associated with that thought process.  They write some code that translates the received signals into action commands for the robot.  When the subject thinks about moving the finger the robot finger moves.

The problem they have is all the noise in a human brain.  When we think about walking, we don’t just think about walking.  We think about a thousand other things as well as the walking.  Sometimes when we are walking we don’t even think about walking at all.  This makes it difficult to tease out the command ‘to walk’ because our brains don’t work that way.

When we think about walking we don’t focus on it consistently.  We just initiate it and then leave it to some lower level automated process to keep it going.  Initially in these experiments on human thought controlled automation the human would be forced to keep sending that strong signal.  To keep focusing on the task consistently.   That is hard to do and tiring for the human.

The breakthrough they had recently was instead of having the human focus on the task the whole time they just kick the task off and the robot keeps doing it until the human says to stop.  For instance the command to start walking.  The robot would keep walking until the signal to stop walking. Instead of having to send a continuous ‘walk’ signal the whole time.

This impressed me because this is why I hate swimming.  When I run or bike I get to the point where I stop thinking about running or biking and it just takes care of itself.  My mind is free to wander and explore.  Not so with swimming.

When I swim as soon as I stop thinking about hand and body position I sink and inhale water.  In much the same way I am forced to continuously focus on the task of swimming because when I stop focusing on it I cease to swim.

My struggles with swimming may be that I just haven’t done it enough for it to become mindless.  Maybe at some point an automatonic response will happen and I’ll swim without thinking about it.

Maybe someone will design a robot to do my swimming for me.

The RunRunLive Podcast Episode 222 – Sue Kenney Pilgrim

Download audio file (epi222.mp3)

epi222.mp3

Show intro by:

Raymond King – Geeks in Running Shoes -

RunRunLive – Podcast Intro

http://www.runrunlive.com/home/read-the-runrunlive-podcast-intro

Intro:

Hello and welcome to Groton Road Race addition of the Podcast.  Yup. You get this one early because I have to be the powerless figurehead for a local road race this week.  It’s actually a great joy for me to be able to be part of something that is such a positive influence on our community.

We scouted the courses on Sunday morning and they are in fantastic shape.  The long term forecast looks good and everything is under control.  All we need to do now is hang around and wait for Murphy to show up so we can start earning our pay, not that we get paid, but you know what I mean.

So- Anyhow, This is the RunRunLive Podcast Episode 222 and today we have a great show for you.  I speak with mystical pilgrim Sue Kenney about all sorts of high-fallutin stuff.  She is a writer, speaker, pilgrim and barefoot enthusiast.

I feel good coming off a week of no training after Boston. I’ve managed to shake off my doldrums and come up with a plan.  As if you didn’t already know.  I am so easy to figure out.  I’m going to start training and re-qualify this summer.  There, I said it.

I’ve got to find the right balance and work on strengthening my feet – but I’m confident I can pull a rabbit out of my hat.

I had an epiphany this week. I was back in my office and mounting the cool medal rack that I got from IronSportWorks.  As I started to hang up all those medals I was a bit taken aback by all I have done in the last few decades.  It made me feel good. Confident.

I’ve got a couple stories from last week to share with you.  First one is kind of funny.  I was eating dinner in the Marriott Sports Bar last week and writing in my notebook. Which is actually funny side story. I told the maitre de that I needed somewhere I could write while I ate my dinner and she said they didn’t have electrical plugs.  Then I held up my notebook, made from honest-to-God dead trees and gave her a sheepish shrug.

But, back to my original story.

I’m writing and eating and watching the hockey game and the lady next to me ask me, get ready for it…if I’m the Actor from ‘House’.  I’m befuddled and reply “Hugh Laurie?  No, he’s British.”  I guess any bearded Caucasian guy with a limp…

Then for my second story… I’m sitting having lunch on Saturday in my living room and Buddy is out in the front lawn. I have him on a lead so he can’t go exploring.  He starts barking.  Now, that is not uncommon because on nice days there is a constant stream of people and dogs entering and exiting the conservation property that abuts my yard.

He’s still barking when I go out to work in my garden.  That’s when I see there’s something in the front lawn.  I walk out there and sure enough there’s a reasonably sized snapping turtle making its way across the yard towards Buddy.  And Buddy thinks this is wrong.

She wasn’t a giant, maybe 10 inches across.  And I say she, because this time of year the females come up out of the ponds and bogs to lay their eggs.

Our snapping turtles in New England are mean.  They have a leather shell and look like something from the age of the dinosaurs.  I used to catch them by accident when I went bass fishing.

I take a couple pictures and go off to work in my garden figuring that the turtle isn’t going to walk into a barking dog.  But I keep looking up and it’s getting closer.  Finally I go over and grab it by the tail and carry it around to the back yard.   There just is no good that would come from the snapping-turtle vs border collie cage match.

How about that?  You learned a couple new things about me this week.

On with the show!

Audio clips in this episode:

Anne Brennan – http://www.annsrunningcommentary.com/

Dr. Mark Cucuzzella 3_  A Smorgasbor from the Trail Runner Nation Podcast

Liberty Loco Promo – http://resurrectedrunner.blogspot.com/

http://www.runrunlive.com/products-page/midpackerslament

RunRunLive » Audio Products » MidPackersLament » The Mid-Packer’s Lament Audio Book

It took me a few months…but I kept at it and now can present to you The Mid-Packer’s Lament Audio book.  This is ~50 running stories read into audio by the author (me) and ends up being 6-8 hours of audio.

The Mid-Packer’s Lament is a series of short stories on long distance running, racing and the human comedy inherent in all sports enthusiasts.  This is the perfect book for runners and wannabe runners.  There are stories about training, eating, special places and special races.  There are stories about the accidental athlete in all of us and the stupid things we do for even amateur endeavors.  Whether you are a weekend mid-pack runner or a competitive club runner, you’ll find something thought provoking and amusing that you can relate to in the Mid-Packer’s Lament.

Hope you enjoy consuming it as much as I enjoyed recording it!

Ciao, thanks, and I’ll see you out there.

Chris,

Skits, commercials and parodies in this episode:

Story time:

Boston Marathon 2012

Equipment Check:

Featured Interview:

I am a pilgrim.

Sue Kenney walked 780 kilometers on a medieval pilgrimage route in Spain known as the Camino de Santiago de Compostela. She went alone in the winter on a spiritual quest and then became a best-selling author of the book My Camino. Sue is an internationally acclaimed speaker and life coach who applies the Camino as a metaphor for life. She often walks barefoot, grounding with Mother Earth for radiant health and healing.

Twitter is caminoperegrina FB suekenneysmycamino website www.suekenney.ca

Youtube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHf4IYzvVT4&feature=colike

Sue Kenney | Inspirational Speaker | Coaching | My Camino | Pilgrim

suekenney.ca

Quick Tip:

Outro:

OK my friends you walked the camino del RunRunLive to the end of yet another compelling and endearing show – episode 222 in the can.

I’ve jumped back on the horse, so to speak.  I had great run Sunday morning. I ran both the 5k and the 10k courses of the Groton Road Race with Buddy and some of the club. It ended up being 9.35 miles according to my Garmin.  Buddy and I were both tired and it seemd to be the right distance for us.

Monday I did a great total body weights work out at the gym.  I worked up a sweat and felt good.  I know it was a good workout because I was sore for 3 days! Especially my glutes from doing weighted squats.

I did a great speed session down at the track Tuesday.  I did 2 miles worth of 400’s and 200’s at a sub-6 pace.  I’m trying to learn some speed back.

Before I did my workout I did some 100m strides barefoot in the grass of the infield. I have to tell you that the barefooters are right when they say it’s impossible not to smile when you’re running barefoot in the grass on a sunny day!

There was a middle school girls soccer club there practicing.  I remember all the years I coached my girls in that soccer league and how much fin the kids were to hang around with.

The two coaches saw my Groton Road Race Sweat shirt and started telling me how they were going to run and how much they loved the race.  I shared that I was the race director.  It feels good to be associated with something people love.

Next week we have a great chat with Steve Auerbach who is the producer of the Bicycle dreams movie about the RAAM.  Very cool.

…

Outro post “It’s the Journey Stupid” – http://www.runrunlive.com/its-the-journey-stupid

…

My trip happens at Twitter, Facebook, DailyMile, YouTube, Google, Tumblr and Pinterest as cyktrussell that’s Chris yellow king tom Russell with two esses and two ells.

Since you have to stop to use the rest room on your journey anyhow why not call 206-339-7804 …Leave a message there it sends us an audio file.

Keep reading those intro’s for me – How to submit one is in the show notes and on the web site –- you will find all the other content on the website www.runrunlive.com

To take you out I have a longish blues tune by gregg_martinez-called mark_my_words.  It’s a tad over 4 minutes long so pace yourself and enjoy.

Ciao

Great news my running friends – my book of running stories “The Mid-Packer’s Lament” is now available in Kindle format at the Kindle store on Amazon.com!  Just search on “Mid-Pack”.  It’s a bargain at an easy $5 and all proceeds go towards supporting the underfunded pension plan of the retired cleaning staff at the RunRunLive world headquarters. I recently got a kindle myself and I love it.  It does reading very well.

The Mid-Packer’s Lament is a series of short stories on long distance running, racing and the human comedy inherent in all sports enthusiasts.  This is the perfect book for runners and wannabe runners.  There are stories about training, eating, special places and special races.  There are stories about the accidental athlete in all of us and the stupid things we do for even amateur endeavors.  Whether you are a weekend mid-pack runner or a competitive club runner, you’ll find something thought provoking and amusing that you can relate to in the Mid-Packer’s Lament.

Music:

From Podsafe:

All music used in the show is from the Podsafe music network found at Music Alley.  Please support the starving, socially minded artists sampled herein by purchasing some!

Songs sampled from Podsafe:

the_pierces-boring

ron_wiseman-mystical_mood

Outro music:

gregg_martinez-mark_my_words

Outro Artists Bio:
Bio:

Standard Links:

http://www.runrunlive.com

http://www.runeratti.com

Http://coolrunning.com

http://Grotonroadrace.com

http://SQRR.org

www.midpackerslament.com

Cyktrussell At gmail and twitter and facebook and youtube

Chris’ book on Amazon – > http://www.amazon.com/Mid-Packers-Lament-collection-running-stories/dp/141961584X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1228687012&sr=8-1

Mid-Packer’s Lament E-book

Mid-Packer’s Guide to the Galaxy E-Book

Dial in number for RunRunLive is – 206-339-7804

Chris Russelllives and trains in suburban Massachusetts with his family and Border collie Buddy.  Chris is the author of “The Mid-Packer’s Lament”, and “The Mid-Packer’s Guide to the Galaxy”, short stories on running, racing, and the human comedy of the mid-pack.  Chris writes the Runnerati Blog at www.runnerati.com.  Chris’ Podcast, RunRunLive is available on iTunes and at www.runrunlive.com. Chris also writes for CoolRunning.com (Active.com) and is a member of the Squannacook River Runners and the Goon Squad.

Email me at cyktrussell at Gmail dot com

Running  Podcast, podcasts for running, podcast for runners, free podcast for runners, Running Blog, marathon, triathlon, mileage, sprinting, run, track, training, running clubs, running groups, running shoes, exercise, health, 5k, running, swimming, sports, injuries, stretching, eating, jogging, biking, trail race, 5K, 10K, Ultramarathon, jogging a good exercise, road runner, jogging tips, benefits of jogging, free running, running shoes, marathon training, running, jogging, health and fitness, runners, runner, Boston qualification, Marathon BQ, Boston marathon

I was down at the track last night doing a speed work out.  The one small theoretical difference that CoachPRS and I have is around speed work.  He likes the long tempo, similar to Arthur Lidyard’s approach.  His theory is that if you build overwhelming fitness you can find the speed during a race.

I think that’s good too but I think you have to preload some leg strength and speed before the tempo can be at a level you need to support your race goals.

I could go out and do a step up run at a pace around 7ish minute miles to failure, but I specifically want leg strength, turnover and speed.  The tempo is going to build fitness, but it’s not going to burn in the speed.  The tempo runs aren’t going to have the essence of the speed work.

It’s different for me, being a mid-packer.  I never had any speed. It’s not like a miler building fitness to run a marathon.  It’s not like I’m taking any pre-learned speed into the training program.  For me, and I’m guessing for many mid-packers, I have to learn the speed.  I have to teach my body the speed.  I have to get acclimated to something that is quite foreign indeed!

Instead of long tempo I choose to do faster intervals to teach my legs the speed.  Then later in the cycle I can do the long tempo to get more fitness at race pace.  I can’t claim to be scientific or to have any proof one way or the other but I find the speed work gives me confidence and builds strength and fitness very quickly to support the rest of the training cycle.

Last night I wanted to remind my body what a 6 minute mile feels like.  I did 400 and 200 meter sets at a sub-6 pace.  I did 2 miles worth of these.  I jogged a cool down of half the distance between reps.  Again, the point was not to run to failure or to run anaerobic.  The point was to maintain and repeat that pace.  To teach that pace.  The other stuff is a happy coincidence.

If I could have run 800’s or 1600’s at a 6 minute pace without my form breaking or my HR exploding, I would.  But, in these early workouts where I’m trying to teach speed, it is the pace and mechanics of the speed that is important, not the distance.  I hold the desired pace and mechanics steady and adjust the distance to manage it.

That’s why I started out doing 400’s but dropped to 200’s because I wasn’t holding form well at 400.  It’s really not about effort here either.  Of course there is some effort involved and you will get a great cardio workout from a set of speed work.  But, the focus is on the form and mechanics of that pace.

The first speed workout of a cycle or a comeback is going to be tough.  You won’t be able to do what you think you should be able to.  That’s ok.  It takes 2-3 weeks before the body learns that pace.  The speed muscles get strong and the pace isn’t so hard so your cardio comes down and you can hold it for longer intervals and less rest.

Don’t do one speed work and give up.  Do at least 4 to start seeing the benefit.  Once a week for a month.

What are the mechanics of the speed?  Running fast forces good form.  You are going to have to lift your knees high out in front of you.  You will need to lean forward at the ankles.  You will need to land on your forefoot and ‘grab’ with your foot pulling it through with a high kick in back. You’re cadence will need to be higher and your stride length will get longer too.

You’re going to have to open up your stride to do this and it may point out some tight spots where your body is constricting the pace.  To support the stronger stride you will need to manage your arms and upper body.  Your arm will need to pump a little more to offset the stride.  You will need to run tall and relaxed.  Speed work, if done right, will teach good form.

The nuts and bolts of my workouts?

-        Warm up by taking 4-5 barefoot 100M strides in the grass.

-        Warm up with 4 laps on the track at an easy pace.

-        Stretch well.

-        Run your speed intervals.

-        Cool down with 4 easy laps on the track.

-        Stretch well.

We will see you out there.

Chris,