Untamed Runner

One of my primary concerns around the virtual marathon on 3 October was mental fatigue. This isn’t boredom as my mind is always racing (no pun intended, really) and I enjoy the ability to lose myself in thought on long runs. Rather, pushing yourself at race pace while on your own outside of an official race is challenging and I could see it being quite easy to spiral into mental fatigue, especially if I was falling off the pace at all. It’s one reason I considered running the event with less emphasis on my time and more on savoring the run.

However, as I’ve gotten into the details of planning, it’s clear that there will be quite a lot to focus on over the course of 26.2 miles and the risk of mental fatigue seems less than I would have thought. On that note, at this point I’ll go for a 3:10 overall time and I’ve picked my course.

I’ve penciled in goal times for each of the 26.2 miles (including the .2!) based on how far along I am and where the hills are located. For example, if a mile includes a longer uphill segment, I’ve got a slower time goal. On race day, I’ll tape a card on my arm listing these splits and the cumulative time next to them so that I can quickly glance down to see how I’m doing. Doing this every mile isn’t a frequent distraction but it helps, and there’s more.

For hydration, my basic approach is that starting at the three mile point, I take a decent swallow of fluid every quarter mile. I’ve used less and more fluids than I expected on my longer runs but the every quarter mile strategy is a good minimum based on what I’ve experienced. If I hold to a 7:15 mile pace, that means taking a drink every 1:48 or so. My route is familiar enough that I know where most of the quarter mile points are but I will need to check my watch. Taking a drink every two minutes (roughly) may sound like long intervals, but I have missed a few on some long runs and so it does require some focus. This plus checking the mile splits keeps me fairly busy, and yet there’s even more.

Beyond the basic details of pace and fueling it will also be important to maintain the broad strategies and though that may seem obvious, it’s also easy to veer off of a plan. Sometimes you should change but generally you avoid it because if you’ve put time, experience, and evidence into the plan, it’s likely sound. While I don’t anticipate going out at a substantially faster pace and assuming I can hold that, if I’m rested and in the condition I hope I’m in, it can be easy to go out several seconds faster per mile and that also can set you back later. Adjusting this can be challenging as it’s risky to slow down too much and then have to make time back up, but you don’t want to burn out the engines early. On the fueling, if the day is cooler than anticipated, I might head into the final several miles thinking I can handle it with no further liquids but that would probably be a mistake.

Hydration and pace strategy will have to be designed for any long race, even a major marathon with thousands of people to keep you company. But, I hadn’t realized how much of a focus they can be and sticking to my overall plan, while properly hydrating and checking the per-mile times, should keep my brain pretty busy. (Given that my past marathons were 16-plus years ago, I also suspect that my hydration plan back then was to drink at the aid stations and then keep trucking–probably a benefit of being younger that I didn’t fully appreciate at the time.) Mental fatigue could still be a factor but it seems less likely than when I first started considering how to approach this race. How it actually plays out remains to be seen…

This post isn’t about stretching in the traditional sense, it’s about extending workout distances. Couldn’t resist a bit of word play.

This past Saturday I ran eighteen miles though my plan was sixteen. Things changed because at mile twelve I was feeling good and figured I could stretch it out to twenty. After juggling various extensions beyond sixteen in my mind for few minutes, I settled on eighteen. Could I have gone twenty? Yes. Two things held me back. I didn’t want to deviate too far off the plan and create a greater risk of injury that day or the ones that followed. The risk was low but my mileage was already on the higher end for the week. Also, there’s feeling thrashed after a long run (which I did) and there’s running to a point beyond that. Doing the latter would not have prevented me from lacing up the shoes the next day or embarking on another long run, but I chose to feel solid about already extending a distance run, as opposed to having gone beyond reasonable training boundaries.

There is supposed to be some pain when training for any race distance and you won’t be feeling joyful and inspired after every run. But, driving yourself to extreme pain on every workout can be counterproductive.

How do you judge when to keep to the prescribed distance or workout versus when to stretch it out? Part of it for me is feel. If things are going well, maybe I add on just a bit to a distance run. Or, if I’m doing a speed workout such as five 800s and I’m nailing my splits while feeling good, I might set a slightly faster time goal for the final one or two of those. (I would approach adding on splits, especially longer ones, with great caution.)

If I’m feeling good, I don’t mind adding just a little distance or upping the tempo a bit. It’s good to take advantage of a day where you’re feeling better than normal. And, since there are plenty of “meh” or painful days, for me it’s preferable to launch out of a better-than-expected workout into the next one as opposed to running myself ragged and wasting the boost I could have had.

When training for any distance or race, it’s always important to research what you need to do for your mileage schedule and build-up, including long runs and speedwork. It’s also important to plan out your nutrition and gear. You need to research these (I primarily talk with other runners), experiment to see what works best for you, and then go with that. In some ways, experimenting with energy drinks and food and gear can be almost or equally as important as the mileage because you want to maximize what they can do for you. Also, you want to wake up on race morning with your pre-race and in-race fueling and gear plans set in stone. If you show up not being completely sure of your plans or having done something new that morning, or even the night before, it can throw you off.

Learning to take in fluids while running takes a little getting used to but you’ve done it, it comes very naturally. You may goof up every now and then, such as taking in a little too much or little, but you can compensate. It’s why you train so that on race day, your body and brain are acclimated to what you need and you’re not thinking of it for the first time.

There have been a couple of times when I thought that I could go rogue on what I ate before a long or intense training run and that just wasn’t true. While I can get away with doing so for shorter runs, there are some things that just don’t work well for long runs or speed work. For example (and this list is not all-inclusive), spicy green chili the night before, fried eggs the morning of, or going too soon after drinking coffee. Fortunately, I did only try them (again) before a training run and not a race. Lesson reinforced. (My race and long-run breakfasts are two pieces of bread with peanut butter, a banana, and one cup of coffee. This, taken in an appropriate amount of time before the race or long training run, has worked well.)

It’s also important to test gear. I nearly screwed up one of my favorite runs around Furnace Creek, California, a few years ago, because of an equipment choice. I had planned to carry a bottle of Gatorade but at the last second, grabbed a small drawstring-bag to wear. I’d never done this before and the first quarter-mile was terrible, as the bag with the bottle in it banged around on my back. I stopped and cinched the straps tightly enough that it stayed in place but it was lucky that it worked.

I have a Camelbak water bottle belt that I wear on long runs and it is excellent. Besides the bottle holder, it has a small, zippered pouch. I decided it would be wise to carry a spare cloth mask and some cash in case I needed to make a stop along the way for a Gatorade purchase, etc. I didn’t need to stop and when I got back to my house, I learned that the pouch on the Camelbak, at least mine, is not waterproof. The mask and cash were soaked with sweat, which was pretty gross. For the next runs I’ll make sure to put extra items in a plastic baggie. Maybe a store clerk wouldn’t care about a sweaty runner in a foul mask handing them a soaked $5 bill, but…

You never can be entirely sure how your body will react to various drinks, food, or gear. While it’s frustrating to have even a training run, even a short one, interrupted by a poor choice, that’s preferable to having something go wrong on race morning, or even dealing with anxiety of trying to figure it out. There will be enough surprises and adjustments on race day. Pre-race preparation, what you wear, and how you refuel during the race (if applicable), don’t have to be among them.

A couple of people have asked how my marathon training is progressing so here is an update. I’ve been of two minds recently. I still have 3:10 as a goal, or 7:15 pace. However, while a few of my friends have graciously offered to pace me for a significant portion of that, I’m also open to running the 26.2 along a course that I will enjoy. In this scenario, any focus on time would be secondary.

I ran 15 miles the other day. It was the first time in over three years that I’d run fifteen straight-through. Part of me was a bit disappointed with how wiped out I felt following the run. Yet, there were a few factors influencing that. I had run six miles the afternoon before. Also, it was very warm. I enjoy running in warm weather and as I’ve mentioned, I still need to compensate for the heat. I under-packed on fluids and took in fewer than I would have liked in the middle portion of the run in order to conserve enough for miles ten through thirteen. (I figure that taking any new fluids in during the last couple of miles doesn’t really help you.) All that said, I kept the pace at under eight minutes per mile and came away with three lessons learned. I will definitely need to carry gels or something solid to eat. It wasn’t necessary for fifteen miles and I had remembered I would need solid food energy for the marathon, but this was knowing I would need it. Also, I will need to carry more fluids than I thought. And, if the day is forecast to be on the warm side, I’ll go for an earlier start, especially if I’m aiming for a fast time.

I’m far from settled on my course. If I’m really going for speed, I may do this on the local track. Everyone tells me this would be awful but oddly, 105 400M laps sounds better than the second option which is a course that I’ve mapped out from my house and would involve significant hills and a few longer repetitive loops. A third option is an out-and-back starting a little east of me. If I decide to go for running 26.2 without being concerned about time, then I’ll figure out a course that would be fun to run without as much consideration for elevation gain or traffic stops.

I remember in past years when I logged higher mileage while training for a marathon or 50K that my perspective on distance shifted. In “normal” times, four to six miles is a standard run for me. Once I shift into higher mileage, those runs become more recovery length. While I remembered this, I’d forgotten what knowing it was until the other day. After logging more mileage than I had planned last week, I used Sunday as a recovery day, did four miles, and considered adding on one or two more. Several weeks ago, my view of a four mile run would have been quite different and I’m going with the thought that it’s a good thing my body and brain have shifted into this new mindset.

I mapped out mileage goals before all of this started. I included a long run every week (anything ten miles or longer) but also felt that I might need to alternate long-run weeks. I’m forty-two with roughly twenty-eight years of running experience. I don’t want to overdo it and though lifetime mileage doesn’t substitute for current training, it does mean I can adjust a bit when needed. There have been a few weeks where my longest run was shorter than ten. My weekly mileage has been close to what I listed as my goals. Some weeks I’m a few miles longer and others, I may be a couple of miles short. Though I know I’ve basically been within my plan parameters, for the first time this past Saturday I added up the total miles from my schedule versus what I’ve done. The result? I had planned on 303 miles through these first weeks and I was at 303.5.

I’ve got six more weeks, including this one, of higher mileage training before shifting into taper mode. In some ways October 3^rd feels very close but there are still a bunch of miles to go.

For years I’ve enjoyed running in hot weather. I’m the only person I know of in this category and when I mention it to folks, I get a lot of “Really?” responses. The hot weather affects me just like anyone else, in that I need to be extra-aware of hydration and managing the effects of the heat. Yet, I enjoy it.

That being said, I’m also trying new things when running in the heat to mitigate its effects. In December of 2019 I asked for several buffs, or neck gaiters, to use for sun protection the following summer. I had no idea they would also be used as face coverings for the better part of the last twenty months. But, I still have them and though they’re a bit more threadbare from heavy use and washings, I can continue to wear them around my neck to block the sun.

For additional tips and shared experiences for hot weather running, in the interest of not being repetitive, here are two links to former posts:

https://untamedrunner.com/index.php/2018/06/21/summer-running/

https://untamedrunner.com/index.php/2020/06/25/warm-times/

Hope you’re able to get out there and enjoy the sun!

I was toying with the idea of entering a race this past Sunday and there were three distance possibilities: 10-mile, 10K, or 5K. Without going into too much detail, I initially considered the 10K then veered to the 5K. The week before the race I didn’t feel like I was prepared for any of the distances and decided to bag the whole thing. Last Friday, I signed up for the 10-mile.

Oddly, it was my lack of preparation that led me to choose the 10-mile. While I’ve run ten miles in recent months, I hadn’t done so in a way where I was fine-tuning for a race. However, I realized I hadn’t raced anything longer than a 10K since 2005 yet I’m signed up for a marathon this fall. This was an opportunity to do a longer race in “live” conditions.

Once I was signed up, I set my time expectations in a range from the low seventies, since that’s what I’d hit on a recent run, to high sixties. The course was net uphill on the way out and downhill on the way back. I mentally figured 36 minutes for the first five and just under 34 for the second half. It was a bit aggressive for miles six through ten but I also didn’t want to fall apart by going too fast on the first half.

I got to the turnaround at mile five in 35:54 and was on pace. However, based on how I was feeling at mile six, I sensed I wasn’t going to make it to the finish in under seventy. I relaxed to preserve energy figuring I’d likely be in the 72-minute range. Then I reached mile nine at 63:18, realized I was within striking distance of sub-seventy, and knew I had to go for it. I’ve written in prior posts that sometimes you reach a point in a race or a training run when you’re right on the edge of a time goal and where everything around you is blotted out and you’re only focused on the clock, where you distinctly feel a singular part of your body as you’re moving towards the finish. This fell squarely in that category.

69:45 was the final time and there were a couple of other lessons remembered and learned, as well. I mentioned in a prior post that I’d slightly backed off on small, short rises in a 5K time trial I did this past spring, as opposed to charging up them. I felt better at the end of that 5K and had a decent time, and I used this same strategy during the ten-miler. Though I don’t have another ten-mile race to compare this one with, I have to believe that this strategy does allow me to have a stronger finish.

When I thought sub-seventy was out the window and focused on relaxing my posture, while I’ve done this in training it’s difficult to make that a priority in a race. I wonder whether I could have run as relaxed if I’d stayed focused on sub-seventy during those three miles. Whether relaxing helped is hard to say but it clearly didn’t set me back, and I’ll continue to work on that as it may be a way to still run well but not lose energy due to tension.

It’s fourteen weeks until the marathon and a long way to go. How I would have felt at the end if I’d tried to go with my current target pace of 7:15 is impossible to say, but for now I’m keeping that goal there.

Over the past couple of months, running has been working its way back into a settled competition schedule. As usual, there is vigorous debate around the results and performances. Numerous world and other records have fallen over the past several years. These time drops have coincided with Nike’s release of its carbon plate-modified Vaporfly series; these plates are now also included in some of their racing spikes.

There have been too many superior performances to pretend that the shoes don’t have an impact. They have been ruled legal in terms of running and setting records, but new limits have been imposed on footwear, both in their construction and in their availability. In short, there’s a height limit which effectively limits the number of carbon plates that can be stacked inside the soles (though I think at some point shoes would get too tall to be practical) and prototypes cannot be used for races, which means they have to be available to the general public to allow for fairer and broader access.

I’ve mentioned before that I’m not a Nike person but I’ve been reluctant to offer criticism of this shoe technology. Nike has an overwhelming number of resources and the mantra to win. Somehow, they came up with this foam and carbon plate technology to enhance a benefit of shoes that was already there. Running shoes have returned energy for years and the Nike shoes simply do it a little (or maybe a lot) better than others. While it would be unfair and justifiably illegal for shoes to give athletes more energy than they put into each step, the whole point of running shoes is to make you more comfortable and to allow you to run longer than you would if you were barefoot, or running on small strips of leather or rubber. (Compression socks are supposed to provide a similar benefit via a different mechanism but that’s a different topic.) Had a different shoe brand developed this technology first, they likely would have been the target of ire.

It does seem fair to allow equal access to a racing product among the competitors. However, prototypes aren’t guaranteed to work. In the 2015 Berlin Marathon, Kipchoge’s insoles in his prototype Nikes weren’t properly fastened and they worked their way out over 26.2 miles, gradually blistering and bloodying his feet. This is an unusual occurrence so disallowing the use of prototypes is a good step and one could argue it protects the athletes. But, there’s another point here. Kipchoge still won. While it would be accurate to say that among twenty of the top world’s marathoners, those that wear Nike’s latest product might have a slight advantage, some of those folks are going to win no matter what’s on their feet.

An American high schooler, Hobbs Kessler, recently ran a 3:34 1500M which puts him under the Olympic qualifying standard. It’s an absurdly good time for someone his age and the initial reactions boasted that his performance was better than Alan Webb’s high school mile record run from twenty years ago, and comparable to Jim Ryun’s 1500 in 1966. It’s probably fair to include the shoes in this conversation as Kessler was wearing the latest and greatest carbon-plated Nikes. That offers some context as to which of the three, Kessler, Webb, or Ryun, had a better performance. However, there’s no doubt that Kessler is better than all the other current high schoolers out there and is destined for a highly decorated college career, unless he opts to go professional right away. A straight-to-the-pros route might have been less likely without the carbon plates, but he would be considered one of America’s top future running products in any racing shoe.

Sports have rules and for good many reasons. Even if we are questioning the philosophical nature of the rules or pointing out some absurdities, athletes are expected to follow them or face respective consequences. Yet, we also expect equipment to evolve and get better within those rules. I hear and empathize with the arguments by some runners that the new Nikes are unfair. When you’ve put years of training into your event and are routinely pushing your body to its outer limits, it would be frustrating to show up at the starting line knowing you’re already a few seconds back in a competition by virtue of the shoe. However, running shoe companies have been and will be constantly developing new products to make running easier and faster for all of us. One way to look at it is that the current shoes are within the reasonable scope of development that we expect, even if we’ve shoved a little further forward than we anticipated. It may be that we have to evaluate a product more closely or change the language of the rules to make sure we’re still within the spirit of the sport, but hopefully we’ll continue to use our expertise and experience to make the good products we enjoy even better, and to see what we’re capable of achieving.

I started this blog a little over three years ago. For the first anniversary, I did a long run using birthday cake flavored Gu (which tastes just like a good sheet cake, by the way) and last year’s anniversary occurred (obviously) in 2020. The number of notable world running events has been impressive over the past few years: the men’s world marathon record was lowered in 2018, the two-hour barrier was broken in the marathon in 2019, the women’s world marathon record was decimated that same weekend, and the 5000M and 10000M records were broken in 2020.

During this I managed to win a small 5K in Laramie, Wyoming, to get back under nineteen minutes for a 5K in Medina, Ohio, and to run a night race in Phoenix, Arizona. Of course, the majority of my miles have been in Colorado, many as a member of the Runners Roost Race Team, another new experience since this blog was launched.

It’s difficult to say how the running landscape will change over a period of time. With the postponement of the 2020 Olympics, some athletes who would have had their peak performance at that moment may not be able to replicate it, yet others who were either injured or not quite ready for 2020 may excel. The U.S. held their Olympic marathon trials before the pandemic and will honor those results. Other countries have held them more recently. It’s hard to say how this will affect their performances and much of it likely comes down to the individual athlete and how they focus and prepare.

Though my 2020 running plans were thrown off track, it provided the opportunity to do some other speed events in the form of time trials with friends. In a normal year, I’m not sure I would have done a 5K or 2-mile on the track, or a downhill mile preceded by an uphill mile, all of which were enjoyable (aside from the standard race pain that accompanies them). Instead of my usual local training routes, I used the pandemic as an opportunity to discover other quiet neighborhood roads where I can run. Now my total number of routes has expanded, which allows me a little more creativity with the training.

I’m signed up for two races so far this coming year. While some recent time off and an attempt to ward off some persistent soreness means I probably won’t be in top form for my first race, the broader goal is to prepare for the virtual marathon this coming October. In the meantime, running and race events are fun and I’ll look forward to them, even if I’m a little uncertain of what to expect.

As far as this blog, I have yet to post the short history of the 5K, and I also have a couple of other ideas I’m considering. In the meantime, I appreciate that you’re reading it and I look forward to writing more in the coming weeks and months.

On my next-to-last run prior to the time off I referenced a couple of blog posts ago, I did a test on part of my marathon course for this coming fall. Because I was dealing with a couple of sore spots in my legs, I did ten miles instead of the planned fourteen to sixteen.

I kept a 7:15/mile pace for the ten and while that’s well short of carrying that pace for 26.2, it doesn’t seem like an unreasonable time goal at this point. Less ideally, while I knew that the first six miles would be mostly uphill, I hadn’t fully realized how much that can sap you on the opening stretch. I found a different starting point that is traffic-free and will likely use it. However, there are a couple of drawbacks. The main one is it means not using my driveway as the starting line. Also, it would mean that the course has a net elevation loss of 400 feet. This isn’t a bad thing in terms of speed, but I had hoped to start and end at the same elevation. The Boston Marathon has a net loss of 320 feet so a plan B is to match that. While Boston is not world-record eligible partly due to that drop, it is one of the six world majors so equaling that drop seems reasonable.

In the meantime, formal training starts in several more weeks so for now, I’ll keep a solid mileage base while throwing in some longer runs. I’ve not fully decided on a training plan but I’m keeping in mind that I’m forty-two with nearly twenty-eight years of running on my legs. I’ll want to find that right balance of doing appropriate mileage for the distance, not beating my legs into smithereens, and trusting that having running experience can help you grind through some things.

On a random note, when I went out running today, something felt off. It took me a little while to figure it out, and after about a quarter mile, it hit me: humidity. My formative running years were in the thick humidity of Virginia and though this was nowhere close to that, it was still an unwelcome guest. Running at elevation is tough because of the lack of oxygen but humidity can also be a tough opponent. In theory the humidity shouldn’t seem too bad given my background but it’s not pleasant. I’m not a scientist and thus have no idea whether the extra humidity injects more oxygen into the air, but from my non-scientist perception, when the air is wetter in Colorado, it feels like I’m fighting both it and altitude.

There are a number of reasons people sign up for a race. It may be to have a family outing on or near a holiday. It may be motivation to train and get in shape for a certain distance. It may be that a friend has signed up for something and wants you to join them. If people are aiming for a personal best time for a distance, like a 10K, they will likely run several 10Ks in the few months leading up to it to prepare themselves.

Professionals pick certain races for time or place goals and train around those. Though they’ll still be pushing hard in these advance races the taper for them, if it exists at all, won’t be as significant as it is for the main event.

Though the vast majority of us are not professional, we also can benefit from tune-up races. Like so many things in life, mimicking a high-adrenaline, stressful event in practice is difficult. With running, typically the more you race the better you’ll be at it. This isn’t just a case of the physical exertion. It’s also learning how to handle race-day nerves and the atmosphere, and the stress those can place on brain and body.

If you’re aiming for a specific time and/or distance, there are a couple of things to keep in mind. If your goal is a certain time in a 5K or 10K, it’s good to run other races at that distance in the weeks leading up to your circled event. With the rule of thumb that you need one day of recovery for every mile of a race, in theory you could do a 10K the week before a race. That being said, giving yourself a two-week buffer also works. If you’re going for a longer distance, you won’t want to match that distance too close to your main race, but you can still go for shorter races to at least get or regain the feel for race day atmosphere.

I’ve signed up for a 10K in July; this is well before my marathon in October. In addition to this, I’ll find a few other races before then. Though I’ve done many races over the years and a number of time trials over the past year, getting back into, or staying, in race mode is key to having a successful goal event.