Untamed Runner

I ran a third 5000M time trial of the summer/fall several days ago. Running a consistent pace is one of the more challenging aspects of racing. This trial was on a track which would allow me to make adjustments if I was too far off the pace. I mapped out 400M splits that would get me to 18:57 which came out to 91 seconds/400M. The challenge with running every lap at the same speed is you actually need to run a little harder at every lap. Your body is getting tired and naturally slows, so you need to push past that. Though it has always worked for me in terms of reaching a goal time, it’s unpleasant. Thinking about that and ignoring that it has worked before, I suggested the idea of alternating my laps at 92/90 to a friend of mine who was going to time us and count the laps.  I thought pushing a little harder then backing off might make the run easier. He echoed what I have advised many times in the past—go with consistency. I abandoned the idea of 92/90 and went with the goal of 91s.

I knew two things going in based on prior racing experience. One was that my first lap would probably be too fast. However, as I was on a track, I could check my splits every 100M and back off as needed. Two, if I kept to the pace, there was a reasonable chance I could run the final 400M in a little under 91 seconds.

The morning was originally forecast to be in the low thirties but in a surprise switch, it was fifty. This was just perfect 5K weather. After a two-mile warm-up, stretching, and striders, it was time. There were two of us running and one timing—we would get our lap times called out to us and this proved to be immensely helpful.

True to form, my first 100M was around 19 seconds and I crossed the 200M at 42. Even backing off a little, 400M was still too fast-right around 87 seconds. I didn’t panic, put on the brakes a little, and kept moving. For the first 1200M, I felt wonderful. The pace didn’t seem too out of reach and though there were some odd hot/cold air pockets on the track and a little breeze, everything felt fine. Starting at 1201M, the pain began to creep in and as I wound from that point to 3200M, it gradually increased and the run was losing its appeal. Except, I was hitting my laps right on pace, 90-91s though by laps 8 and onward, a few 92s started to work their way in. While on one hand I didn’t have any “cushion” to work with, I was right there.

The downside was that I was feeling worse and worse. With 1000M to go, I felt rotten and in retrospect, it’s possible I’ve felt that lousy in a race in the past, but not when I was right on the edge of a goal time. With 800M to go, I was at 16:00. This initially concerned me. When I ran 19:01 earlier this fall, with a half mile to go I was also at 16:00. I didn’t quite go under 19:00 on that day but I had covered the final quarter mile in around 80 seconds. Remembering that, I knew that if I could hold the next 400M at around 90 seconds, I had a decent shot at going under 19:00. In spite of the ever-growing pain, this was a motivating thought.

And, I was still hitting every lap at anywhere from 90 to 92 seconds. The consistency was working. I hit the “bell lap” at 17:30, 200M to go at 18:15 (90-second 400M pace over those 600M if you don’t want to do the math) and then managed to turn over a 41-second final 200M for a finish at 18:56.

In theory I shouldn’t need any reminders that consistency is best when going for a certain time. If you go out too fast, the last chunk of the race will be even more painful than the consistency version. If you’ve aimed too slow, you can always pick it up over the last 800M or 1200M and then reevaluate for next time. And, if you pick the right time, just about at the point where you’re not sure how much more you can turn over, you should be cruising (maybe struggling at a fast pace) across the finish line.

One aspect of running that I appreciate is that just as life is often a complicated mix of gray areas and caveats and not simple right or wrong, so too is running. Only one male and one female will win on race day. If we look at course, state, national, or world records, even fewer people will attain those in their lifetimes. Yet, we still go out there and run and compete. Unlike competitions which focus exclusively on the win/loss outcome, there are numerous goals you can aim for in running. There are certainly people who are racing to be first and who can be legitimately disappointed if they’re not. But, if you’re not in a race for the podium or a course record, perhaps the goal is a new personal best time at a certain distance. Maybe you’re trying to finish a certain distance whether that’s a 5K, half-marathon, full marathon, or 100-miler. There is joy in accomplishing these goals, even if you weren’t “the best” that day.

Often, maybe more often than we realize, we encounter situations where right/wrong or win/lose is not easily discerned, even if it seems obvious. In running, it would be easy to assume disappointment if you saw that someone finished second in a 5K by five seconds. While it’s possible they went out too fast and fell apart at the end, it’s also possible that they smashed their former personal best and completely surprised themselves. Maybe they wish they’d also gotten the win, but that feeling may be smothered under what they did achieve.

We can take our own talents, our own training, and our own goals and work accordingly. At the end of a race there are often many smiles, not because there were dozens of divisions each yielding a winner, but because we can recognize our accomplishments within our own expectations. Sure, we would like a win and some days, that will be there for us. Other times, we can evaluate our success according to our own progress and expectations. On the other side of this, there can also be disappointment at the end of a race because we didn’t run as well as we wanted. Similar to misinterpreting a second place disappointment, it’s easy to assume that just because someone ran faster than you, they must feel somewhat good about the result. Not necessarily true, especially if they completely blew their goal.

We all always want to be improving and with running, we can work towards our goals not necessarily with the focus on win/loss, but how we’re doing relative to our training, talent, and the field that day. Evaluating our performances with a more nuanced analysis can help us keep moving forward.

Over the past several months, efforts have been made to restart many sports and athletic events and there have been significant changes within most of them. Even early on during the pandemic, it seemed likely that some running events would still be held. There were still many questions, such as who would appear and how the events would look, considering that training routines and travel were significantly impacted.

A few weeks ago, Joshua Cheptegei broke the 5000M world record in a time of 12:35, knocking nearly two full seconds off the previous mark that was held by Keninisa Bekele for sixteen years. With that plus two other events over the next week, we may actually witness a significant shaping of running history in spite of the turbulence around us.

The London Marathon is hosting an elite-only race this coming Sunday, October 4^th, featuring a handful of invited athletes who will compete on a roughly 2-kilometer course in a contained biosphere in St. James’ Park. London assembled a stunning field including Eliud Kipchoge, Kenenisa Bekele, and Mosinet Geremew on the men’s side, and Brigid Kosgei, Ruth Chepngetich, and Vivian Cheruiyot for the women. How their training over the last several months has been changed due to the pandemic will impact how the race plays out. I wouldn’t currently bet against Kipchoge in the marathon but he loves crowds, who won’t be present, and if his preparation hasn’t been exactly as he would like, that may be a factor. Bekele has been all over the place in terms of how his preparation matches his performance, but I would see this kind of scenario possibly benefitting him. With it being a race with many laps, where he has excelled, and with the event being a bit unorthodox, that may shake things up in a way that works for him. Geremew made a valiant effort at London in 2019 and though he was 18 seconds behind Kipchoge, that’s close enough to consider making another run at the win. I would still predict a Kipchoge victory, but these unusual circumstances make predictions a little less solid.

Last fall, Kosgei broke the women’s world marathon record in jaw-dropping fashion, her time of 2:14:04 knocking nearly ninety seconds off the previous mark of 2:15:25. (On a tangential note, she would have qualified for the men’s US Olympic trials with nearly four minutes to spare.) Almost equally noteworthy is that the previous mark was over ninety seconds faster than the next fastest woman’s time of 2:17:01. Cheruiyot’s accomplishments are many, including four Olympic medals, and Chepngetich is the current world champion with a personal best of 2:18:08. While times alone would point to Kosgei dominating, maybe she simply showed what was possible.

In earlier posts, I’ve discussed the data and arguments over who the GOAT is in men’s distance running. I’ve also hypothesized that Joshua Cheptegei could enter that conversation. The three primary distances when discussing the GOAT are the 5000M, 10000M, and the marathon. My initial thought on Cheptegei’s contention (though he’s still some ways away from being a solid contender) was his smashing of the 5K road world record in 2020. He also temporarily held the 10K road world record last year. And now, he has the 5000M track record. A couple of weeks ago, it was announced that Cheptegei will make an attempt to break the 10000M world record on the track on October 7^th.

With Kipchoge and Bekele both being in the GOAT conversation and competing head-to-head in London, and then Cheptegei making this WR attempt a few days later in Valencia, in a year where we wondered how the professional running scene would look, we potentially have a 96-hour period where the GOAT conversation may be significantly altered. I’ve maintained that if Bekele can break the marathon world record, he would be the GOAT in my book. His marathon resume is not as dominant as Kipchoge’s (no one’s is) but he does have multiple major wins and his accomplishments at the 5000M and 10000M distances are incredible. What if he became only the second person to win at 26.2 against Kipchoge even without setting a new world record? That also affects the conversation.

If Cheptegei sets the 10000M world record on October 7^th, he is still not fully a member of the discussion, but he’s definitely got one or two feet in the door. There are a couple of major things missing. He has world championship medals but no Olympic medals. He competed in the 2016 Rio Olympic games, though in all fairness he was only nineteen years old. (While I’m sure he had access to incredible coaching and resources, I think about how I ran when I was nineteen compared to later on and it’s quite different.) Also, he has not yet competed in a marathon, though it’s not reasonable that he would have. Typically runners graduate to that distance later in their careers. All that being said, at only twenty-four years old and with the Olympics potentially being held next year, he could do a couple of things that would build up his resume for the GOAT.

A few months ago, I would have assumed that any GOAT-shaping events would probably be delayed until 2021 but life surprises us in good ways sometimes. It may not have been a year where we get our full offering of running events that we enjoy, but seeing them in adapted ways works for now.

Sources used:

https://letsrun.com

https://www.npr.org/2019/10/13/769917804/kenyan-brigid-kosgei-smashes-womens-world-record-at-chicago-marathon

https://www.runnersworld.com/news/a27244432/eliud-kipchoge-wins-london-marathon-in-2nd-fastest-time-in-history/

https://www.runnersworld.com/news/a33649487/joshua-cheptegei-world-record-strava/

https://www.runnersworld.com/races-places/a33916287/london-marathon-bubble/

https://www.virginmoneylondonmarathon.com/event-info/spectator-info/elite-fields/index.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marathon#:~:text=The%20marathon%20is%20a%20long,run%20as%20a%20road%20race.&text=The%20marathon%20can%20be%20completed,with%20a%20run%2Fwalk%20strategy

One feature I would love in any race is to have a person to stick with who I know is running my goal pace. Even though running is mostly repetitive motion, it’s much easier to stay at a certain pace if you’ve got someone to run with. It takes the thinking and in-race math out of the equation and I will attest that math gets very sketchy in the latter stages of a race. I write my projected splits on an index card and tape it to my wrist so I don’t have to do the math. I just hit the mile marks, look at the card and my watch, and adjust if necessary. But, that’s not the same as having someone to stick with.

In many professional races, pacers will be employed to lead the field and keep the top runners at a pre-determined speed whether it’s for a world, national, or even course record. Sometimes it works brilliantly, such as when Brigid Kosgei broke the world marathon record in Chicago last year. Sometimes it doesn’t work and the field gets nowhere close to the record. Occasionally the pacers don’t pan out but a record is set anyway, such as when Kipchoge set the marathon world record in Berlin in 2018.

I’ve paced people in workouts and it’s fun. The key with pacing, whether it’s for a race or workout, is that you want whoever’s pacing to be able to hold whatever time you agree on without having to completely max themselves out. They need to be able to hold an even speed. When I did some 4 X 800M workouts with a friend, he wanted a pace I knew wouldn’t be too hard to keep. I hit every 200M split right on target, he got the times he wanted, and I got to practice running in a very controlled way.

A couple of weeks ago a friend of mine offered to pace me in a 5K time trial. He’s faster than me and the pace we chose would be one that he could hold without too much strain. He would fold it into a longer workout at that speed and I would be pushing myself to where I thought my current top 5K is. After a brisk two-mile warmup, we set off on a 5K out-and-back course. We kept at the pace we wanted and through most of the first half, I was charging up the small hills fairly well and feeling pretty good while holding even with him.

Right before the turnaround, I was starting to lag. After we finished, my friend commented that at that point he thought I was done at that speed and during the run, I was thinking the same thing. But here’s what makes a difference. Not only was I still close to the pace but he was holding the time we wanted and I could see exactly where that was. Instead of being on my own on a course, feeling the mid-race burn, and wondering exactly how much faster I had to go to catch up to the pace, I could see where I needed to be. Partly because of this, somewhere in the next quarter mile I found a second wind. While I fell off by a small bit over the next mile-plus, I could always see where I needed to get and though I was wondering just how I could hold on, having someone to work with helped tremendously.

While I enthusiastically recommend pacing on both sides, it is tricky. Even if you have a pacer who can hold the tempo you want relatively easily, there are other factors. I tend to go out too fast so while I would be glad to pace someone in an open road race or time trial, I would need to do some preparatory work. That might involve running with the person a fair amount leading up to it, and at least practicing running at that pace so it became second nature. But, it’s well-worth the effort and it’s a huge boost to the person being paced. For the pacer, there’s not only the reward of helping someone out, you also can develop your own skills in terms of moderating your own running and learning or reinforcing how to run in a controlled way.

I ran another time trial on August 21^st. It was a 3200M/2-mile where we began at the primary start line of the track, then walked off another 18M past that to allow us to measure both marks in the same race. Based on my time from a mile time trial a few weeks before, I used my past 1600M/3200M PRs, as well as a professional’s PRs, to calculate what I could expect that day.

The night before the time trial, there was an overwhelming vote at my house to have Taco Bell for dinner. This is not what I would normally eat the night before a race. However, a couple of times in the past year, I’d eaten Taco Bell in the evening and had a good training run the next morning. Based on the content of the food, this was surprising. In spite of these good experiences and that I love Taco Bell, I still hadn’t been ready to use it as a pre-race food. It was just too risky.

And yet, while I was initially inclined to suggest we push Taco Bell to the next night, I thought this might be an opportunity to test it. I hadn’t paid to enter this race and if it didn’t work, I would just never try it again. So, I headed out to pick up our dinner. My only concession was to order five items instead of my usual six.

In a downhill mile (1609M) time trial several weeks ago I posted 5:17. My past 1600M/3200M PRs were 4:49 and 10:22. Splitting the 10:22 into 5:11 splits would mean my 1600 split was 7.6% slower than my 1600 PR. Hicham El Guerrouj, the mile world record holder, had 1500M/3000M PRs of 3:26 and 7:23 and his 3:41.5 splits for the latter are 7.5% slower than his 1500M PR. Taking my 5:17 downhill mile, if I could assume a 5:35 mile on a flat course, which was optimistic by two or three seconds, adding 7.6% would yield a 12:00 flat two-mile.

Based on my 19:00 5000M from several weeks ago, I felt like I should be able to dip well under 12:00 but I took the more pragmatic route of settling on that and running 90-second quarter miles. In general I’ve always been a stronger distance runner, meaning my conversions as the race gets longer tend to be better than what the math would normally suggest. In other words, the math will tell me that the 19:00 at 5000M is faster than what I should expect based on a 12:00 two-mile, but based on where I thrive in running, it makes sense. The only part of my plan to go further under 12:00 was that if at any point past the one-mile mark I felt I could comfortably push under 90 seconds for a lap, I would go for it.

My friends and I were meeting at 6:00 a.m. to do a quick warm-up, followed by the race. For a pre-race breakfast I go for two pieces of bread with peanut butter on one of them, a banana, and one cup of coffee. Ideally I eat three hours ahead of time. In this case, I wasn’t going to get up at 3:00 a.m. so I got started at 4:15 a.m. and hoped two hours would work out in terms of my breakfast, the caffeine, and the previous night’s dinner settling.

By the time we had warmed up and were ready to run, I felt pretty good. One thing I was focused on was staying patient on the opening quarter. It’s not unusual to go out too fast but I’m not sure that the payoff is worth it. For me, this meant not hitting the 200M any faster than 41 or 42 seconds, and being no faster than 87 seconds at the quarter mile. Off the line, I held back just a bit and at 200M and then the quarter, I was at 43 and 87 seconds, respectively. I went through the half-mile in 2:58 and didn’t feel that strong until I remembered we were on an 8-lap race and not a 12.5 lap race. For the next four laps, I settled in but never felt that I was ready to push to go much under 90 seconds. As such, I came through each of the next quarters in overall times of 4:27, 5:58, and 7:27. I was pleased with my splits and with 800M to go, I was at 8:57 and the Taco Bell seemed to be working well enough. Yet, I was on the fence on whether I would get sub-12:00. It seemed likely, but it would be close. I hit the bell lap at 10:27 so I could run a 92-second final quarter and stay under 12:00 for 3200M. Doing the same for the two-mile would be tougher. With 150 meters to go, I checked my watch. I was at 11:23 and fairly confident I would make my mark. On a final surge I crossed the 3200M mark in 11:54 and the two-mile in 11:59.

The verdict? Directly relevant to racing, I was pleased with the result and a large part of that was because I had run at the higher end of what the data had suggested I could do. Immediately afterward, I wondered whether I could have pushed the pace more and gone for 11:45/11:50. Yet, knocking even a second or two off per lap can cost you. When you cross the line feeling good, it’s easy to assume you could have gone faster. When you cross the line feeling wiped out, you wonder whether you started too fast and ran out of gas, or maybe started out too slow and had to work too hard to make up time. Self-evaluation reigns supreme. But, when you hit a time that you calculated was at the higher end of reasonable expectations, it’s fair to feel pretty good about that.

The other verdict? Taco Bell works! Okay, I’m not sure if I would willingly use it before a large race but if I’m “outvoted” again, I won’t argue.

Running food review: (note–gels, bars, chews, and other items affect everyone differently. Try them on a short run before using them for a key training run or race): I’ve actually covered Taco Bell as a pre-race meal and that review is in the Running Pantry. For this post’s review, it’s, Nuun Hydration Citrus Fruit: Nuun typically carries a very light taste and this flavor is no different. Mainly I used it as a past-run drink but for the run where I used it as fuel, I enjoyed it. Similar to Tailwind, because the flavor isn’t so heavy I would see that being a big advantage on a longer training run. The citrus flavor is accurate and I do like this one.

My local run club started up again this week. There were several rules around participation including a twenty-person total cap, we would be broken into smaller groups for the run, and we would be required to wear a face covering when in close proximity to others. I was on the fence on whether to go but ultimately I put my name on list and showed up.

Doing things that were once considered standard or casual can be a bit bewildering these days. In the past couple of weeks, I’ve gotten my hair cut and had the oil changed in my car. In both scenarios, the other people and I were wearing masks but besides the visible evidence of how these appointments were different than before, there’s a mental tax to stepping out into something “normal” when our circumstances clearly are not. My haircut was a little disappointing but I sure didn’t want to sit in the chair longer than I had to so I left with the thought that I’ve got a few good hats and my hair will grow out. Poor or sound judgement? Hard to say, but clearly a pandemic will affect your thinking.

Yet, once I’ve done something normal in the new not-so-normal way, it’s also interesting how much better I usually feel overall. It’s one reason I decided to go to run club. We were going to meet outside, there wouldn’t be any snacks or beverages afterwards, and there certainly wouldn’t be the usual high-fives and fist-bumps, but it would be similar to the Wednesday evenings we all enjoyed up until mid-March.

We all arrived, stood several feet apart from each other in a very large circle, then headed out for the trail. Being on a trail was an adjustment and as my standard routes these days are mostly flat, there were a couple of hills on the route that were not as much fun as they might have been several months ago. It was the first time I’d run in the late afternoon or evening since March. I thought I’d consumed enough fluids ahead of time but it was in the low nineties and a couple of miles in, I cramped up a little. Fortunately this occurred around the time the course was flattening out so it didn’t impact me too much.

At first, running near others requires some getting used to, yet it seemed to be a similar feeling for all of us. A little ways in, at least for me, it started to feel like one of our old Wednesdays, albeit with masks and staying further apart. In spite of no snacks, beverages, or presentation from a product rep after the run was completed, we all sat around in the grass for a little while, enjoying the chance to meet in person again and do something that resembled normal.

Even though we’ve found plenty of ways to connect online, I’m not sure what being more confined to our homes and physically away from people will do to our individual and collective psyche. As we continue to figure out how to grapple with this crisis, perhaps we’ll gradually find small, social-distancing-responsible ways to at least echo what we once felt as normal and enjoy connecting in-person with our friends and colleagues. (From a purely running standpoint, it may also take some adjustments, whether it be for course types we’re rusty on, or times of day we’re running, or other factors.) It’s a pleasant change from the past several months and if we can continue with it, maybe we’ll be a little closer to what we enjoyed even if we have to wait a little longer for this situation to ease.

This past weekend I ran a time trial. When I was accepted onto the 2020 Runners Roost Race Team #roostraceteam, I had a set of goals and was looking forward to training for them. Obviously things changed in March with races being cancelled or going to virtual formats. Luckily, I’ve had the opportunity to do some time trials with a couple of friends. The first one was a little over a month ago, a 5000M on the track. This past weekend, we met to do two, one-mile time trials. The course was a downhill mile that is traditionally run on July 4^th. We decided to race it uphill first and then do the downhill, with roughly fifteen to twenty minutes of rest and jogging in-between. Equipped with watches and sidewalk chalk, we marked the course, took our marks, and set off.

Often having someone to race “with” can help push you and since the fastest among us was always out in front and on his own, before the downhill mile I suggested that we stagger our start so that we all would have someone to focus on catching during the race. We kept the start delay to ten seconds between each of us which allowed them to each catch at least me (they’re both faster), but they would likely pass me before the end so that I would then also have someone to try and catch. It added an extra level of interest to the race and basically worked the way we wanted.

Mile races, whether formal or as a time trial, are tough. About 100M into the uphill mile, my brain was moving in a thousand directions, mostly on variants of the question, “What have I done?” For the downhill mile, I never assumed it would be easy but I also didn’t appreciate how much of an effort it would be. Before we started, as we were running down the hill so we could set up for the uphill mile start, they pointed out spots along the course where, during the race, certain thoughts creep up including, “What have I done?” This proved to be very helpful for even though the experience was new for me, I had the same thoughts at the same spots and realized they weren’t unique.

My expectations were matched in my downhill mile time. According to one of my friend’s Strava, you could add twenty seconds to your time to get a somewhat accurate flat mile estimate. I posted a 5:17 and so this would translate to 5:37. When I was first considering training for the mile, I figured that somewhere in the high 5:30s was about as fast as I could be without focusing on speed. So, assuming the plus-twenty is accurate then I am about where I figured I could be without extensive speed training. In theory, more speed training would make me faster and I should lower my time. (It also reinforces that the 5:10 I posted in late March was probably due to the course that I ran being a little short. Oh, well.)

Running is one sport that may be able to come back as an event for amateur competitors sooner than others because it’s easier to social distance. Yet, it’s difficult to imagine large races coming back any sooner than next spring, or to have substantial demand for them if they do. In the meantime, time trials with a couple of friends are a good way to keep sharp.

For the majority of my runs, I don’t have a regimented routine prior to going out the door. I do have a pre-run routine for longer runs and hot-weather runs. Last weekend, I was heading out for a hot-weather run and I prepared just like I have for the other five or six that I’ve done this summer. In fact, the evening and morning leading up to it I hadn’t done anything different than usual.

This is why I was unpleasantly surprised when less than halfway in, I did not feel normal. My legs were starting to feel oxygen-deprived and my stomach was churning a little. This was a run where, once I hit my turnaround, I have two opportunities to take a shorter route home. As my regular readers have gathered, I’m a bit stubborn when it comes to running. When I came to the first turn-off where I could have gotten home quickly, I was not feeling any better and my Gatorade was soup-hot and running low. Yet, I figured I could power through and so I continued on with my normal route.

Right after this junction, I got into a section of the route that involves a decently long uphill and about halfway up this, I was regretting my decision because I was feeling worse. I told myself it was all mental and drained a bunch of my Gatorade while wondering whether I would get to the top.

I did crest the hill and this got me to a portion of the run that was downhill and flat. By the time this easy part was completed, I would be at the second junction where I would have another opportunity to either cut the run short or continue on. I reached it and though something deep in my brain told me the smart thing to do was to peel away into the shorter route, I forged ahead. I had another short climb coming up but it was the last one and surely by the time I hit the top, I would get a second wind and cruise home.

I was wrong. When I got to the top, my legs were still feeling weak and my stomach was at a bad spot. I was thinking I was either going to have a major GI-problem to deal with, or my legs would just get to a point where I had to stop for a while, or both. I was out of shortcuts home so there was only one thing to do. I motored, or maybe sputtered is a better descriptor, ahead.

As I headed down the sun-baked streets and wondered just what I had been thinking, I found myself settling into a pretty easy trot with the plan being to finish while still standing. Roughly a half mile from home, while there wasn’t even a trace of a second wind coming on or even a gentle breeze, I knew I would get to my driveway in decent shape. There would be no surge over the last quarter mile, or even fifty yards, but I would finish on my feet while running at a somewhat respectable pace.

The run did a couple of things for me. It reinforced that strange stuff just happens sometimes. I hadn’t consumed anything the day before or in the few hours leading up to the run that was abnormal, I had slept decently well the night before, and I had an appropriate level of coffee and breakfast in my system. Nothing on the surface could explain it. It’s another good reason to enjoy solid race performances or training runs and not take them for granted because it doesn’t always work that way. And, if something like this does happen, just keep trucking on the next run. And, strange things can happen in both directions, like an unexpected, good race performance.

This shouldn’t scare off any new runners. In fact, it should be encouraging. Things don’t always go exactly according to plan. It’s frustrating, but you can bounce back. When I got home on Saturday, I had a text from a friend of mine who had planned on a time trial that same morning. He told me he’d bailed halfway through because he just wasn’t feeling it and something was just off. Maybe the stars just weren’t aligned for runners this past weekend.

For the first time in several months, I have a running food review!

Running food review (note–gels, bars, chews, and other items affect everyone differently. Try them on a short run before using them for a key training run or race): Skratch Hydration Lemon Lime: The first time I got “lemon lime” it was a green Skratch package but it was green tea flavored. That will surprise your taste buds. This time, I actually got lemon lime, it tasted like lemon lime, and it was wonderful. Even better, I used it on day when it was 99 degrees. My stomach was a little funny during the first mile but after drinking some of this, I actually felt better and I felt good through the whole run. (It was obviously not used on the run I described in this week’s post.) Good stuff in this package.

As regular readers of my blog know, I love running. As much as I love running, I don’t want it to spiral into compulsion or addiction as it seems that could quickly lead to a point where any joy that I felt on the run would be minimized, or evaporate completely. How do I measure for this?

There have been times when evidence suggested I’ve teetered on the edge. I’ve definitely cut it close on making work meetings on time after a lunch run, or arriving at a social event for the same reason. One stark example is the time I got up at 2:15 a.m. to get a run in before a very early morning flight. Probably for the better, I felt out of it from the moment I stepped out of bed until sometime later that morning. To illustrate my belief that I veered back into love of running, since that time I’ve used early-morning flight days as either my rest day for the week, or I plan to run when I arrive at my destination. The goal remains to hit the pavement because I love lacing up the shoes and going.

Is it important to maintain a line between love and addiction when it comes to running? I think it is. I hear and read stories about the extreme lengths to which people go to keep up with their running or to increase their training. I have to wonder whether there is wisdom in their decisions and whether they’re being pushed by an addition or compulsion. For example, maybe they try to come back too quickly from an injury, or maybe they inject stress into the rest of their lives to keep up a busy race schedule. Perhaps they engage in a high-intensity training regimen and maybe their bodies can handle it, but should they?

It’s a very fine line. For those of us who run, it’s important to make time for that, to push ourselves, and engage in a way that we find meaningful. Taking time off or backing off is an anathema to the competitive spirit. There will be times during any training schedule when we’re frustrated, or days where we don’t feel up to pushing ourselves, or we’d rather do an easy four miles and not the speed workout. That’s normal and to push through can lead to a small sense of victory. However, it’s also important to respect our bodies, not only if we’re coming off an injury but to prevent overuse injuries. Beyond the physical impacts we experience with running, allowing running to consume us, to always push for more and more and lose sight of what we love about it, can push us to burnout or to forget the joy we had at one point, and then what you wanted is gone. If you veer into addiction or compulsion, burnout seems far more likely because you’re going to keep pushing with what you’re doing, maybe increase it, without stepping back and observing the why of your actions.

Is an addiction to running or other exercise bad? Not necessarily. I assume most medical professionals would prefer to see someone with a running addiction as opposed to a substance addiction. Yet, if someone has an addictive personality, for the sake of physical and mental health, I also assume it’s beneficial to try and manage that.

How do you keep from allowing running to turn into an addiction or an unhealthy compulsion? Make sure you’re setting aside time for running but doing so in a way that respects the rest of your life. Make sure you take time off. Maybe that’s one day a week or maybe it’s a chunk of time, say one to three weeks every year where you allow your body to rest. Keep your goals in mind. If you hit them easily, they probably need to be changed but consider how much they’re changing, whether they’re feasible, and always remember where you said you’d be happy. When I first hit sub-18:00 in a 5K, I had been training so hard that I forgot about the fact that was a time I’d always wanted. Instead, I viewed it as a time I was entitled to and only thought about how I should be faster. A comment from a friend of mine helped steer me back to a balanced view on it, thank goodness.

How do I measure whether I’m still out there for the love of it? A couple of weeks ago we went camping. It was a two-night trip and my wife asked if I was going to run while we were there. “No,” was my answer and for the following reasons. One, I could run the day we left and the day we got back and thus miss just one day in-between. Two, we were going up there to enjoy some different activities around the area. I didn’t like changing the schedule and my decision isn’t a guarantee that I’m not addicted to running, but being able to set it aside seems good enough. It felt good to adjust the schedule a little, and to know that I was still out on the pavement for the love of running.

We’re into summer temperatures and here’s a link to a previous post where I discuss my preparations for running when it’s excessively warm outside.

I love running in the heat but the funny thing is, so far this summer I’ve only run a few times when it was blazing hot outside. As I’m avoiding heavily traversed trails and paths and aiming for less-populated streets and sidewalks, I’ve been running early in the morning or on the treadmill and thus my usual running temperature is around 55-70 degrees while outside, and 75-78 degrees inside (our treadmill is in the basement).

Over the years, I’ve accumulated a decent number of running shirts, both from races and purchases. Some are sleeveless and in the past, I didn’t use them very much. I prefer to be on the warm side and unless I was racing and needed the sleeveless shirt, I wanted to start out comfortable. Of course, even on a cooler summer morning, it doesn’t take long to heat up so now I’m using them often as it helps with the adaptation to the heat. Here’s another funny thing. I actually use them more when it’s really early and still cool and I use short sleeve shirts when it’s sunny and hot. Why? Sun protection.

The sleeveless shirts obviously expose a lot more skin and while I could use sunscreen, I tend to think it’s better to keep the skin covered. I don’t know the science or the tipping point between when it’s better to keep the sun off versus letting your skin breathe while using sunscreen. However, when you see athletes at Badwater with their arms covered, it makes an impression. In fact, several weeks ago when it was really hot, I wore a shirt with short sleeves and I put on compression sleeves. I definitely got warm but it kept the sun off. Fortunately, for the length runs I’m currently doing, it probably doesn’t really matter whether I use sunscreen or sleeves, but it’s a lot easier to use the sleeves and they may be better.

Overall, my basic strategies for running in hot weather have not changed. I did take Gatorade with me the day I wore compression sleeves. Similar to when I ran in Twenty-nine Palms last summer, the Gatorade got hot—not nearly as quickly and it didn’t reach soup temperature, but it still got hot. It served as a good reminder to use insulated bottles when possible.

My summer running so far this year has looked similar to the last few months of running but quite different from my usual summer routine. Normally I try to soak up as many hot weather runs as possible. These days, I’ll still be going early. Regardless of when you’re going, even early temperatures can still be warm, and it’s still good to prepare accordingly. Even if you like hot weather as much as me, your body still needs you to be ready for it.