I wanted to share my favorite training tool with you because it has helped me immensely with my running and with all aspects of fitness.
It is non-traumatic, non-weight-bearing, totally user dependent in terms of intensity and very friendly on joints, time constraints, etc.
My favorite training tool is the old fashioned Schwinn Airdyne bike that has been around in various forms for decades.
The big thing that makes it so useful is the very thing that makes it different from spin bikes and other stationary bikes: the arm action.
I have found that at 50 years old I need to get my heart rate up to about 170 beats a minute and keep it there for a few moments in order to get the benefit of interval training. Interval training is absolutely critical for anyone who wants to run faster and better. These days it has experienced a renaissance because of some savvy internet marketers and of course for its superior fat burning capabilities. All of that, including my specific routine, will be in my upcoming books but for now just be aware of these facts.
1) Interval training has been around forever. There is nothing revolutionary about it and you can call it aftershock or turbulent or any other term you want to call it but the basics are the same as what high school coaches have been telling their pupils for decades in the form of wind sprints.
2) Interval training will burn more fat than any other kind of training with less trauma.
3) Interval training will not feel good at first but as you improve your fitness levels (about 6 sessions) you will come to love it so hang in there!
4) I love the Airdyne because the arm action allows more calories, more intensity and more load on my body without a whole lot of increased perceived exertion. Much like pole running you burn more calories but you don't "feel" it.
5) This type of training, especially with the Airdyne, allows you to crank up your heart rate without the local lactate accumulations you'd get from things like a studio cycle or Versa Climber, both of which, while phenomenal, limit your actually heart rate due to this local accumulation of lactate.
Now if you read between the lines you can see how local lactate accumulation would also be a great way to train. You can always use the Airdyne for this by locking the arms in the stationary position and using just the cycling portion for short super intense intervals as well as longer "burn" type of lactate thresholds.
The other thing is, when you are injured, the low impact of this tool allows you to stay fit cardiopulmonary wise without aggravating injuries… or causing them for that matter.
These days the Airdyne runs about $550 new but you can find older versions on eBay for less, although shipping is usually a consideration.
There are few tools so versatile for the runner or any athlete for that matter.
If you need to train for high level (not high latitude, mind you) sports but do not tolerate a lot of pounding, the Airdyne is the way to go!
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Tales from the Trail
Trail blindness and protecting your investment
The words of a concerned friend echoed in my ear.
“If you get injured now, you are done!” While I am not into naysaying or attracting negative things with negative thoughts, the truth of these words is undeniable. Last year my race preparation was cut short by injury. It was not until 3 weeks before the Canadian Death Race that I was sure I would be able to compete. Because of all the biomechanical problems, I was “forced” to adopt a strategy of minimal preparation, much of it away from running. The net result of this is all in my book to be published later this year after CDR #2 is completed.
Now the Canadian Death Race itself is fraught with hazards: weather, bear, cougar, terrain, altitude and probably some other ones I have not thought of in addition to the training and preparation issues! But if it’s going to go south, I’d rather have it happen in the race, not a month or two before hand.
So the closer your race gets and the more time and money you have invested in it, the more you have to be sensible about protecting your investment.
Somewhere around 2 months before the race (if you’ve made it that far without damage!) you should really start to have a close look at any “high risk” behaviors in your training and begin to curb them.
In my own training this includes really hard speed work, which is notorious for inducing injury and mountain biking at least on highly technical areas (read: dangerous) although mountain biking can be a fantastic training substitute for trial running. I start to get off the bike on serious downhills and even uphills where I might fall. Pushing a 30 pound bike up a steep hill with a 20 pound pack is probably even more of a training stimulus than actually riding the hill and you remove any “fall factor”.
I learned this last year when tailing a buddy of mine around the lake we often run. All of a sudden I got a bird’s eye view of just how aggressive the tread on his Nike’s really was!
He landed a good 15 feet off trail and was banged up pretty badly 3 weeks before my race. If that had been me…
The closer the big race gets the more I personally recommend shifting over to non-running activities to support your cardio and let your “running structures” (bones, joints, and muscles) heal up for your best race effort.
Still, you have to run and trial running is inherently dangerous so here is a little personal Tale from the Trail.
Long hours of repeatedly putting one foot in front of another can be taxing on your concentration.
And yet we all know that this is part of the game of trail running no matter what the distance.
A good trail runner inherently scans the trail 20 to 50 feet in front of them depending on their visual acuity to start planning for what is coming next. But most of the time is spent looking about 6 to 10 feet ahead depending on whether you are on hills or flat and depending on how rough the trail actually is. Rails to trails are not really trails in my opinion and they require far less concentration; a nice place to do some of your training.
Rocky, slippery terrain covered with roots etc. requires pretty intense concentration. Having run long stints on these kinds of trails I can tell you concentration is a must.
Today I ran a 36 mile training run on terrain that varied from pretty technical to pretty easy.
I almost face-planted 3 times and I want to share those episodes with you so you may avoid them. I managed to fall on a nasty pointed rock a few weeks ago and hit my hip (my trochanteric bursa to be exact) and it is still a painful and slightly discolored memory of what can happen when you fall hard.
Near-fall number 1 took place on rocky rooted terrain slightly down hill. I saw the most fascinating giant mushrooms; brilliant orange and white on a tree stump nearby. In the two seconds or less I was “off trial” in my gaze, my feet found a rock and I went sailing. Because I run with poles I was able to use the poles and my upper body strength to prevent a fall. Without the poles I would most certainly have fallen hard. The fact that it was slightly down hill saved me as well.
Near-miss number 2 took place on pretty average terrain and occurred because of what I call “trail blindness”. I was looking but not seeing what was in front of me because I tuned out. No doubt it was the result of having my head tilted downward at the same angle and looking at the same distance in front of me for too long without performing the “lift-your-head-up-and-start-to-scan-farther-ahead” move. After I recovered from the rock that grabbed my foot I also realized that I had my head in a set position for a long time and my shoulders were getting sore just from holding it there. The 20 pound pack and the late run fatigue didn’t help either.
Near-miss number 3 was a replay of near miss number 1. This time I caught a peripheral glance of an object that looked out of place on the opposite shoreline of the lake I run next to. It turns out it was a herd of deer in the water wading and some swimming. It was a beautiful site and one I had not seen before although I read that deer are excellent swimmers and that this may be one of the factors involving the spread of Lyme disease to areas in nearby New York.
The actual connection between this sight and these thoughts again accounted for no more than 3 seconds but it was just enough for me to trip. Again the poles saved the day to the point where one of them actually shortened several centimeters from the impact of me desperately planting it in the ground to regain my balance.
So there you have it, my friend; the perils of looking both off and on trail in the wrong manner.
Distraction and trail blindness both need to be avoided to prevent a potential injury situation.
Ironically enough, while I have slipped, occasionally fallen and slid on many occasions while practicing good visual hygiene on the trail, I have never been in a situation that was likely to cause me an injury under those circumstances.
Simply put, when your head is in the right place and you are aware of the dangers, you rarely fall and when you do, you are prepared in advance.
It’s when your mind/vision connections lapse off trail (distractions) or even on (trail blindness) you are likely to hit the dirt, or the rocks, or the tress, etc.
Tail running can be far more cerebral than most people realize in so many ways. Many people actually do all of the above very well without thinking. For them it just comes naturally.
But as your race day closes and especially race day itself you want to remind yourself to be as vigilant as possible, especially when you are tired or out for a long time.
In closing, I want to admit to you that much of what I have written in this blog is about what you DON’T want to do. This is simply me sharing my experiences and hard won knowledge with you so you don’t need to repeat my mistakes.
There are many positive and “do” aspects to running, some of which I will tackle soon.
Best,
Dr Dave
The words of a concerned friend echoed in my ear.
“If you get injured now, you are done!” While I am not into naysaying or attracting negative things with negative thoughts, the truth of these words is undeniable. Last year my race preparation was cut short by injury. It was not until 3 weeks before the Canadian Death Race that I was sure I would be able to compete. Because of all the biomechanical problems, I was “forced” to adopt a strategy of minimal preparation, much of it away from running. The net result of this is all in my book to be published later this year after CDR #2 is completed.
Now the Canadian Death Race itself is fraught with hazards: weather, bear, cougar, terrain, altitude and probably some other ones I have not thought of in addition to the training and preparation issues! But if it’s going to go south, I’d rather have it happen in the race, not a month or two before hand.
So the closer your race gets and the more time and money you have invested in it, the more you have to be sensible about protecting your investment.
Somewhere around 2 months before the race (if you’ve made it that far without damage!) you should really start to have a close look at any “high risk” behaviors in your training and begin to curb them.
In my own training this includes really hard speed work, which is notorious for inducing injury and mountain biking at least on highly technical areas (read: dangerous) although mountain biking can be a fantastic training substitute for trial running. I start to get off the bike on serious downhills and even uphills where I might fall. Pushing a 30 pound bike up a steep hill with a 20 pound pack is probably even more of a training stimulus than actually riding the hill and you remove any “fall factor”.
I learned this last year when tailing a buddy of mine around the lake we often run. All of a sudden I got a bird’s eye view of just how aggressive the tread on his Nike’s really was!
He landed a good 15 feet off trail and was banged up pretty badly 3 weeks before my race. If that had been me…
The closer the big race gets the more I personally recommend shifting over to non-running activities to support your cardio and let your “running structures” (bones, joints, and muscles) heal up for your best race effort.
Still, you have to run and trial running is inherently dangerous so here is a little personal Tale from the Trail.
Long hours of repeatedly putting one foot in front of another can be taxing on your concentration.
And yet we all know that this is part of the game of trail running no matter what the distance.
A good trail runner inherently scans the trail 20 to 50 feet in front of them depending on their visual acuity to start planning for what is coming next. But most of the time is spent looking about 6 to 10 feet ahead depending on whether you are on hills or flat and depending on how rough the trail actually is. Rails to trails are not really trails in my opinion and they require far less concentration; a nice place to do some of your training.
Rocky, slippery terrain covered with roots etc. requires pretty intense concentration. Having run long stints on these kinds of trails I can tell you concentration is a must.
Today I ran a 36 mile training run on terrain that varied from pretty technical to pretty easy.
I almost face-planted 3 times and I want to share those episodes with you so you may avoid them. I managed to fall on a nasty pointed rock a few weeks ago and hit my hip (my trochanteric bursa to be exact) and it is still a painful and slightly discolored memory of what can happen when you fall hard.
Near-fall number 1 took place on rocky rooted terrain slightly down hill. I saw the most fascinating giant mushrooms; brilliant orange and white on a tree stump nearby. In the two seconds or less I was “off trial” in my gaze, my feet found a rock and I went sailing. Because I run with poles I was able to use the poles and my upper body strength to prevent a fall. Without the poles I would most certainly have fallen hard. The fact that it was slightly down hill saved me as well.
Near-miss number 2 took place on pretty average terrain and occurred because of what I call “trail blindness”. I was looking but not seeing what was in front of me because I tuned out. No doubt it was the result of having my head tilted downward at the same angle and looking at the same distance in front of me for too long without performing the “lift-your-head-up-and-start-to-scan-farther-ahead” move. After I recovered from the rock that grabbed my foot I also realized that I had my head in a set position for a long time and my shoulders were getting sore just from holding it there. The 20 pound pack and the late run fatigue didn’t help either.
Near-miss number 3 was a replay of near miss number 1. This time I caught a peripheral glance of an object that looked out of place on the opposite shoreline of the lake I run next to. It turns out it was a herd of deer in the water wading and some swimming. It was a beautiful site and one I had not seen before although I read that deer are excellent swimmers and that this may be one of the factors involving the spread of Lyme disease to areas in nearby New York.
The actual connection between this sight and these thoughts again accounted for no more than 3 seconds but it was just enough for me to trip. Again the poles saved the day to the point where one of them actually shortened several centimeters from the impact of me desperately planting it in the ground to regain my balance.
So there you have it, my friend; the perils of looking both off and on trail in the wrong manner.
Distraction and trail blindness both need to be avoided to prevent a potential injury situation.
Ironically enough, while I have slipped, occasionally fallen and slid on many occasions while practicing good visual hygiene on the trail, I have never been in a situation that was likely to cause me an injury under those circumstances.
Simply put, when your head is in the right place and you are aware of the dangers, you rarely fall and when you do, you are prepared in advance.
It’s when your mind/vision connections lapse off trail (distractions) or even on (trail blindness) you are likely to hit the dirt, or the rocks, or the tress, etc.
Tail running can be far more cerebral than most people realize in so many ways. Many people actually do all of the above very well without thinking. For them it just comes naturally.
But as your race day closes and especially race day itself you want to remind yourself to be as vigilant as possible, especially when you are tired or out for a long time.
In closing, I want to admit to you that much of what I have written in this blog is about what you DON’T want to do. This is simply me sharing my experiences and hard won knowledge with you so you don’t need to repeat my mistakes.
There are many positive and “do” aspects to running, some of which I will tackle soon.
Best,
Dr Dave
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Speed work and strength training for ultras
It may seem strange but I don’t actually consider myself a runner.
I say this because I do not have what I call a “typical runner’s”
Mentality, at least as I have been exposed to it.
Until recently I always ran solo. When I joined a local running club last year it was a wonderful experience from the fun social standpoint but it was of marginal value in terms of “learning the secrets of ultra running”.
Why?
Well, I am sure there are exceptions to this but basically runners run.
If they do strength training it is usually pretty much worthless because it originated in a running mag or a book where the person/people who wrote it really don’t understand strength training.
Runners run.
And of course when the idea of strength training pops into running mags and articles it is still a new concept that has not really been tested for results.
Runners read it; they pick up a light weight because it says so in the article. They do high reps because it says so in the article and they do exercises that have nothing to do with running or even function like hamstring curls, because it says so.
Now honestly, since I am writing a book on the topic and it will include a lot of info on this and many other things I have learned by not adopting the typical runner’s mentality, I can’t really go into much detail here.
But here is a hint for you.
How does running differ from walking? Answer that and you might do a better job of functionally training for running.
Also ask yourself why the ultra running crowd is usually stockier and sturdier looking than a typical marathon crowd and you will have the metabolic basis for strength training.
Sorry, have to stop here or the publisher will shoot me!
Ok, onto speed work.
Consider speed work to be the Cadillac of all running training.
Simply put, just about anyone can run long slow distances but very few people can run fast.
Or how about this analogy.
I can teach and coach an average 100 or 200 yard sprinter to run a very fast 10K in 6 to 8 weeks. But give me an average marathoner and let’s see who wins the 10K even after training.
If you guessed the sprinter, I think you are right on the mark. Once again you have to fill in the blanks but some investigative thinking will lead you to some real discoveries for your training and your running as well as making you realize that not all of what is circulated in the traditional running community or the press that caters to them is accurate.
Much of it is flat out wrong!
Wanna see something funny?
Take a group of ultra or even marathon runners who are not professional or Kenyan line them up and ask them to do a 50 yard or 100 yard sprint.
At the end of an agonizingly slow sprint you will see a bunch of people with horrified looks on their faces gasping for air.
You become what you train for and training specificity is a real thing!
You will also see this group try to use the same form to sprint they do in their distance running.
Even the ones who routinely do hill repeats will come out badly.
Wanna see something cool?
Spend a session on sprint form and use a few tools like large elastic bands and parachutes to teach proper form and add fun. By the end of the session you will have reduced their times in these sprints by at least 1 second - many times more.
Ok, distance people - one second may not seem like much to you but remember this is a 50 or 100 yard sprint.
Try it and you’ll see what I mean.
Now they are still not going to be fast but just by adjusting form you make them and yourself faster.
So why, when and how to do speed work?
Well, again I can’t tell you everything or there would be no book after this second Canadian Death Race, but, here it is in a nutshell.
1) Sprint type speed work is used to change up muscle groups and build lactate and anaerobic thresholds. In most long ultra type runs you better not go near those zones or you will be walking the rest of your race. Still, in terms of building the reserve muscle needed for ultras (have you noticed ultra people are a bit stockier than their marathon counter parts?) speed work also hyper accentuates the muscles of running and pushes the cardiovascular fitness levels even though it is not considered cardio.
Finally, in my opinion, because of all of the above it helps injury proof the body.
2) Short intense speed work makes sense at the beginning of your race training, several months out from race day. As you get closer, start lengthening the distances and do longer and longer speed work segments but do not exceed a distance you can recover from quickly. This is not a way to “put miles on your feet!” It’s speed work.
As you may have guessed, I have just given you a little bit of info.
Beyond the fact that I need to keep confidence with my publisher and have new and different content in my book, some of this is still in the testing phase!
No one has ever really tested or quantified what you need to do speed work wise for ultras.
Like so many other things, running ultras falls under the mantra “runners run”.
I hope to change that with my book but I also need to continue to test and improve the protocols over the next couple of months before the race. Simply put, I want to fill the void or gap in the knowledge base for people who want to get into ultra running or improve their performance.
I do not want to write yet another “story book” about running long distances.
There are enough of those.
So stay tuned!
- Doc
I say this because I do not have what I call a “typical runner’s”
Mentality, at least as I have been exposed to it.
Until recently I always ran solo. When I joined a local running club last year it was a wonderful experience from the fun social standpoint but it was of marginal value in terms of “learning the secrets of ultra running”.
Why?
Well, I am sure there are exceptions to this but basically runners run.
If they do strength training it is usually pretty much worthless because it originated in a running mag or a book where the person/people who wrote it really don’t understand strength training.
Runners run.
And of course when the idea of strength training pops into running mags and articles it is still a new concept that has not really been tested for results.
Runners read it; they pick up a light weight because it says so in the article. They do high reps because it says so in the article and they do exercises that have nothing to do with running or even function like hamstring curls, because it says so.
Now honestly, since I am writing a book on the topic and it will include a lot of info on this and many other things I have learned by not adopting the typical runner’s mentality, I can’t really go into much detail here.
But here is a hint for you.
How does running differ from walking? Answer that and you might do a better job of functionally training for running.
Also ask yourself why the ultra running crowd is usually stockier and sturdier looking than a typical marathon crowd and you will have the metabolic basis for strength training.
Sorry, have to stop here or the publisher will shoot me!
Ok, onto speed work.
Consider speed work to be the Cadillac of all running training.
Simply put, just about anyone can run long slow distances but very few people can run fast.
Or how about this analogy.
I can teach and coach an average 100 or 200 yard sprinter to run a very fast 10K in 6 to 8 weeks. But give me an average marathoner and let’s see who wins the 10K even after training.
If you guessed the sprinter, I think you are right on the mark. Once again you have to fill in the blanks but some investigative thinking will lead you to some real discoveries for your training and your running as well as making you realize that not all of what is circulated in the traditional running community or the press that caters to them is accurate.
Much of it is flat out wrong!
Wanna see something funny?
Take a group of ultra or even marathon runners who are not professional or Kenyan line them up and ask them to do a 50 yard or 100 yard sprint.
At the end of an agonizingly slow sprint you will see a bunch of people with horrified looks on their faces gasping for air.
You become what you train for and training specificity is a real thing!
You will also see this group try to use the same form to sprint they do in their distance running.
Even the ones who routinely do hill repeats will come out badly.
Wanna see something cool?
Spend a session on sprint form and use a few tools like large elastic bands and parachutes to teach proper form and add fun. By the end of the session you will have reduced their times in these sprints by at least 1 second - many times more.
Ok, distance people - one second may not seem like much to you but remember this is a 50 or 100 yard sprint.
Try it and you’ll see what I mean.
Now they are still not going to be fast but just by adjusting form you make them and yourself faster.
So why, when and how to do speed work?
Well, again I can’t tell you everything or there would be no book after this second Canadian Death Race, but, here it is in a nutshell.
1) Sprint type speed work is used to change up muscle groups and build lactate and anaerobic thresholds. In most long ultra type runs you better not go near those zones or you will be walking the rest of your race. Still, in terms of building the reserve muscle needed for ultras (have you noticed ultra people are a bit stockier than their marathon counter parts?) speed work also hyper accentuates the muscles of running and pushes the cardiovascular fitness levels even though it is not considered cardio.
Finally, in my opinion, because of all of the above it helps injury proof the body.
2) Short intense speed work makes sense at the beginning of your race training, several months out from race day. As you get closer, start lengthening the distances and do longer and longer speed work segments but do not exceed a distance you can recover from quickly. This is not a way to “put miles on your feet!” It’s speed work.
As you may have guessed, I have just given you a little bit of info.
Beyond the fact that I need to keep confidence with my publisher and have new and different content in my book, some of this is still in the testing phase!
No one has ever really tested or quantified what you need to do speed work wise for ultras.
Like so many other things, running ultras falls under the mantra “runners run”.
I hope to change that with my book but I also need to continue to test and improve the protocols over the next couple of months before the race. Simply put, I want to fill the void or gap in the knowledge base for people who want to get into ultra running or improve their performance.
I do not want to write yet another “story book” about running long distances.
There are enough of those.
So stay tuned!
- Doc
Speed kills but heat massacres!
We’ve all heard the adage “speed kills”. Now most people will have different interpretations but runners who have “been there” know exactly what this means.
As the title implies, heat may be a far worse enemy but let’s talk speed first from the runner’s perspective.
You will never run very much faster than you train to run. At least not for very long.
Many of us, myself included, have fallen victim to “runners high”, that euphoric feeling you get during a run where all kinds of wonderful chemicals are floating around your brain and making you feel fantastic.
Problem: it doesn’t last.
The temptation is to celebrate the feeling by running faster.
Nothing will shorten runners high faster than running too fast!
I have to go back a decade or so to one of my marathons to relay my personal experience.
I had trained to run 8 minute miles. At 215 pounds and doing a fair amount of heavy weight lifting I thought this was a reasonable goal.
That would have put me somewhere around a 3:30 marathon, something I would have been happy with.
One month earlier I had done a flat 18 miler at an average of 7:40 a mile so I thought this was all very reasonable.
Well somewhere in this marathon around mile 7 or so I picked up a 17 year old cross country runner who was “running his first marathon”.
And I believed him! We started talking and slowly but surely the pace crept up. I remember thinking “this is pretty cool - I am running with a fit 17 year old and I am feeling great!” Around mile 13 I glanced down at my watch and realized we were doing sub 7 minute miles and had been for some time.
No worries; I still felt great. I remember distinctly hearing the kid saying a few miles later, “We are flying!” Yep, we were at mile 17 and we are down to 6:30 a mile.
At that point a little teeny tiny alarm bell went off in my mind. I was feeling just a little less great than I thought I should. I realized that while I had actually done one 5:15 mile in my speed work,
6 minutes to 6:20 was my usual “speed work pace" for one mile intervals.
Thus not a good pace to be running well into a marathon!
Almost as soon as these thoughts entered my head my body started to tell me it was realizing the same thing and I needed to slow down. I told the kid good luck and backed off.
Too little too late!
I completed the first 20 miles of this marathon in 2:30 and then I hit the wall.
Only 10K to go and I realized I had completely let my ego destroy what might have been a really nice performance for me in this marathon, 3:30.
Had I played my cards right I might have been able to do it even a bit faster.
That is what I had trained for. All the charts pointed to that number but I had completely forgotten it and ran way out of my zone.
End result: a 4 hour plus marathon with the last 10K a mere shuffle.
It didn’t hurt, it was simply a feeling as if my body had sabotaged me!
No matter what I tried to do I could not go faster. Bonked and boinked all in the same moment!
If I ran any faster for 10 steps my body yanked me back to the slow shuffle and said, “oh no you don’t!"
That was one of the very few times I hit the wall, and it was totally avoidable.
Believe me, this experience is always in the back of my mind when I am training and running long distances now.
Speed kills!
But that is just one interpretation.
The next is that speed work in training, especially longer intervals run fast (whatever fast is for you!) and repeatedly, are a huge burden on the body. Most people do not allow adequate extra time for recovery after their speed sessions.
They simply try to insert them right into their training schedule in place of a longer slower training run. This does not work unless you are genetically gifted.
The end result is injury or overtraining or both.
I applaud speed work. I do speed work even when training for a 78 miles race like the Canadian Death Race! But I always allow full days
off from running in addition to the usual breaks.
So for instance, if I am running distance Monday, Thursday and Sunday and I do a serious speed session on Sunday, I will not run again until Thursday the next week, giving me a full 4 days of recovery (calculated from a Sunday 8am session to a Thursday 8am session) before I hit my next long run.
Ok now let’s look at heat.
In the past couple of weeks I have been in some very different climates (Pennsylvania and Texas) and experienced running in 40 to 93 degrees F with heat indexes as high as 100!). The hot runs happened in no particular order with the cold runs. They simply happened as a result of heat waves in the two different states followed by colder fronts.
There was no time to acclimate and I was stupidly poorly prepared from a hydration standpoint.
The first one happened a few weeks a go in PA. I had run 35 miles two weeks before and was going out for a 20 mile downward taper run. Easy compared to the much longer run, right?!
Wrong.
The long run happened at 40 degrees, the 20 miler at 83 degrees with significant humidity. I actually thought I had hydrated adequately until I realized I had not stopped to pass my water in a couple of hours and I was getting very lightheaded with a few miles to go. My running partner had already succumbed to the heat that day!
Now please understand that in August, 83 degrees would be fine and running in it would be no problem because I would have had several runs in that kind of heat and hotter, and my body would have been prepared for it.
As it was, I finished by paying strict attention to getting more water and slowing down a whole lot.
At the end of the run I had lost 6 pounds, obviously most of it water
weight!
A few weeks later at the end of my downward taper (the next series of
runs will escalate back up in mileage). I found myself in Austin Texas
running over hilly and difficult terrain in a heat wave. Again
stupidly I didn’t realize I had not packed my Camelback and had to
make due with water bottles. I carried and consumed about 72 ounces of
water during the half marathon distance. It was clearly far too little
and the end result was that I knew early this would be a slow run and
it was.
While I did not hit the “wall” my body let me know and this time I
Listened, “go slow or you will not survive this brutal heat!”
So I let this be an acclimatization run and accepted the 3 hour plus
time it took to negotiate the trail safely.
Lessons learned.
I want to finish be telling you what happens when you underestimate
your hydration needs and overestimate your speed in the heat.
A good friend of mine and a very very experienced trail runner entered
a 50 mile race that he had completed several times before in good time
with no problems. On this particular day the area was immersed in an
early spring heat wave with starting temps close to 80 and mid day
temps close to ninety. Again the average temp he had trained in for
this race was probably less than 50 degrees.
Out he went, keeping what he thought was a solid pace, one that he
“knew” he was capable of and had done before in this very race.
But all the other races were done in seasonal temps (much cooler). As a matter of fact, seasonal temps for this race were around 50 to 55
Degrees, which many runners consider a perfect temperature to run in.
Well somewhere around 25 miles he dropped out and was taken to the
hospital. Diagnoses: dehydration and heat exhaustion.
So as we are in changeable weather and may not be able to reschedule
our runs, please keep the following in mind:
1) Heat acclimatization is a real thing and it takes a few runs to let
your body get used to the heat. If you must train in hot weather and
are not used to it, cut down your mileage and reduce your speed by at
least 30 to 60 seconds a mile. Or, if possible, run very early or later
in the day when the heat is not likely to be a problem.
Don’t worry, after a few runs in the heat your body will be ready for
faster runs but…
2) You will never run as fast in the heat as you can in cooler weather.
Not ever. Your body will rein you in in one way, shape or form or
another at least if you are doing distance running.
3) Odds are you will always under hydrate. I have read some books and
articles that say people pay too much attention to hydration and you
over hydrate. Much has been made of a few cases of dilutional
hyponatremia (low blood salt) that have happened in some of the
marathons. If you look at this, these are people who were out so long
and running so slow that they really did over drink! Bottom line, if
you are that slow you should not be out running marathons or greater
distances; you are not ready for it!
Again, most runners don’t eat or drink enough under any circumstances.
Running long distances especially puts your brain in “ignorance” mode.
You have to ignore so many noxious stimuli like pain, fatigue, boredom,
Etc. just to finish that it is not uncommon for eating and drinking to
fall by the way side too since you are not hungry or thirsty until way
after it’s too late.
A simple rule of thumb for ultra long distances is: if you have not
passed your water in the past 4 hours, you are getting dehydrated.
I have not touched on electrolyte replacement yet since that is a more
complex topic but understand that that goes with the territory as well…
especially in the heat!
When I say heat massacres, I mean it. It will slow you down; accept it
and figure out how to make the run work for something. Even a short
run and then a longer run on a cooler day is a wise choice if you know
the weather is going to get cooler soon.
People have died from heat stroke but never from running too fast so,
while speed kills figuratively, the heat kills for real. If you are
out in the wilderness like I am for hours on end with no one in sight
and nowhere to get water or help, please do not let your ego get the
best o you!
- Doc
As the title implies, heat may be a far worse enemy but let’s talk speed first from the runner’s perspective.
You will never run very much faster than you train to run. At least not for very long.
Many of us, myself included, have fallen victim to “runners high”, that euphoric feeling you get during a run where all kinds of wonderful chemicals are floating around your brain and making you feel fantastic.
Problem: it doesn’t last.
The temptation is to celebrate the feeling by running faster.
Nothing will shorten runners high faster than running too fast!
I have to go back a decade or so to one of my marathons to relay my personal experience.
I had trained to run 8 minute miles. At 215 pounds and doing a fair amount of heavy weight lifting I thought this was a reasonable goal.
That would have put me somewhere around a 3:30 marathon, something I would have been happy with.
One month earlier I had done a flat 18 miler at an average of 7:40 a mile so I thought this was all very reasonable.
Well somewhere in this marathon around mile 7 or so I picked up a 17 year old cross country runner who was “running his first marathon”.
And I believed him! We started talking and slowly but surely the pace crept up. I remember thinking “this is pretty cool - I am running with a fit 17 year old and I am feeling great!” Around mile 13 I glanced down at my watch and realized we were doing sub 7 minute miles and had been for some time.
No worries; I still felt great. I remember distinctly hearing the kid saying a few miles later, “We are flying!” Yep, we were at mile 17 and we are down to 6:30 a mile.
At that point a little teeny tiny alarm bell went off in my mind. I was feeling just a little less great than I thought I should. I realized that while I had actually done one 5:15 mile in my speed work,
6 minutes to 6:20 was my usual “speed work pace" for one mile intervals.
Thus not a good pace to be running well into a marathon!
Almost as soon as these thoughts entered my head my body started to tell me it was realizing the same thing and I needed to slow down. I told the kid good luck and backed off.
Too little too late!
I completed the first 20 miles of this marathon in 2:30 and then I hit the wall.
Only 10K to go and I realized I had completely let my ego destroy what might have been a really nice performance for me in this marathon, 3:30.
Had I played my cards right I might have been able to do it even a bit faster.
That is what I had trained for. All the charts pointed to that number but I had completely forgotten it and ran way out of my zone.
End result: a 4 hour plus marathon with the last 10K a mere shuffle.
It didn’t hurt, it was simply a feeling as if my body had sabotaged me!
No matter what I tried to do I could not go faster. Bonked and boinked all in the same moment!
If I ran any faster for 10 steps my body yanked me back to the slow shuffle and said, “oh no you don’t!"
That was one of the very few times I hit the wall, and it was totally avoidable.
Believe me, this experience is always in the back of my mind when I am training and running long distances now.
Speed kills!
But that is just one interpretation.
The next is that speed work in training, especially longer intervals run fast (whatever fast is for you!) and repeatedly, are a huge burden on the body. Most people do not allow adequate extra time for recovery after their speed sessions.
They simply try to insert them right into their training schedule in place of a longer slower training run. This does not work unless you are genetically gifted.
The end result is injury or overtraining or both.
I applaud speed work. I do speed work even when training for a 78 miles race like the Canadian Death Race! But I always allow full days
off from running in addition to the usual breaks.
So for instance, if I am running distance Monday, Thursday and Sunday and I do a serious speed session on Sunday, I will not run again until Thursday the next week, giving me a full 4 days of recovery (calculated from a Sunday 8am session to a Thursday 8am session) before I hit my next long run.
Ok now let’s look at heat.
In the past couple of weeks I have been in some very different climates (Pennsylvania and Texas) and experienced running in 40 to 93 degrees F with heat indexes as high as 100!). The hot runs happened in no particular order with the cold runs. They simply happened as a result of heat waves in the two different states followed by colder fronts.
There was no time to acclimate and I was stupidly poorly prepared from a hydration standpoint.
The first one happened a few weeks a go in PA. I had run 35 miles two weeks before and was going out for a 20 mile downward taper run. Easy compared to the much longer run, right?!
Wrong.
The long run happened at 40 degrees, the 20 miler at 83 degrees with significant humidity. I actually thought I had hydrated adequately until I realized I had not stopped to pass my water in a couple of hours and I was getting very lightheaded with a few miles to go. My running partner had already succumbed to the heat that day!
Now please understand that in August, 83 degrees would be fine and running in it would be no problem because I would have had several runs in that kind of heat and hotter, and my body would have been prepared for it.
As it was, I finished by paying strict attention to getting more water and slowing down a whole lot.
At the end of the run I had lost 6 pounds, obviously most of it water
weight!
A few weeks later at the end of my downward taper (the next series of
runs will escalate back up in mileage). I found myself in Austin Texas
running over hilly and difficult terrain in a heat wave. Again
stupidly I didn’t realize I had not packed my Camelback and had to
make due with water bottles. I carried and consumed about 72 ounces of
water during the half marathon distance. It was clearly far too little
and the end result was that I knew early this would be a slow run and
it was.
While I did not hit the “wall” my body let me know and this time I
Listened, “go slow or you will not survive this brutal heat!”
So I let this be an acclimatization run and accepted the 3 hour plus
time it took to negotiate the trail safely.
Lessons learned.
I want to finish be telling you what happens when you underestimate
your hydration needs and overestimate your speed in the heat.
A good friend of mine and a very very experienced trail runner entered
a 50 mile race that he had completed several times before in good time
with no problems. On this particular day the area was immersed in an
early spring heat wave with starting temps close to 80 and mid day
temps close to ninety. Again the average temp he had trained in for
this race was probably less than 50 degrees.
Out he went, keeping what he thought was a solid pace, one that he
“knew” he was capable of and had done before in this very race.
But all the other races were done in seasonal temps (much cooler). As a matter of fact, seasonal temps for this race were around 50 to 55
Degrees, which many runners consider a perfect temperature to run in.
Well somewhere around 25 miles he dropped out and was taken to the
hospital. Diagnoses: dehydration and heat exhaustion.
So as we are in changeable weather and may not be able to reschedule
our runs, please keep the following in mind:
1) Heat acclimatization is a real thing and it takes a few runs to let
your body get used to the heat. If you must train in hot weather and
are not used to it, cut down your mileage and reduce your speed by at
least 30 to 60 seconds a mile. Or, if possible, run very early or later
in the day when the heat is not likely to be a problem.
Don’t worry, after a few runs in the heat your body will be ready for
faster runs but…
2) You will never run as fast in the heat as you can in cooler weather.
Not ever. Your body will rein you in in one way, shape or form or
another at least if you are doing distance running.
3) Odds are you will always under hydrate. I have read some books and
articles that say people pay too much attention to hydration and you
over hydrate. Much has been made of a few cases of dilutional
hyponatremia (low blood salt) that have happened in some of the
marathons. If you look at this, these are people who were out so long
and running so slow that they really did over drink! Bottom line, if
you are that slow you should not be out running marathons or greater
distances; you are not ready for it!
Again, most runners don’t eat or drink enough under any circumstances.
Running long distances especially puts your brain in “ignorance” mode.
You have to ignore so many noxious stimuli like pain, fatigue, boredom,
Etc. just to finish that it is not uncommon for eating and drinking to
fall by the way side too since you are not hungry or thirsty until way
after it’s too late.
A simple rule of thumb for ultra long distances is: if you have not
passed your water in the past 4 hours, you are getting dehydrated.
I have not touched on electrolyte replacement yet since that is a more
complex topic but understand that that goes with the territory as well…
especially in the heat!
When I say heat massacres, I mean it. It will slow you down; accept it
and figure out how to make the run work for something. Even a short
run and then a longer run on a cooler day is a wise choice if you know
the weather is going to get cooler soon.
People have died from heat stroke but never from running too fast so,
while speed kills figuratively, the heat kills for real. If you are
out in the wilderness like I am for hours on end with no one in sight
and nowhere to get water or help, please do not let your ego get the
best o you!
- Doc
Tales of the biomechanical monkey
Again, a brief cautionary tale that many runners can sympathize with.
For this one I will use another smart, highly-motivated, compulsive runner who also happens to be a physician.
At nearly fifty he, like me, dusted off his running shoes and started and illustrious career as a long distance tail runner… Until the nagging pain in his foot began to slow him down.
What did he do?
He ran more, of course. His social and reward systems had become attached to running and he was not willing to give them up.
To make a long story short, he ignored the pain until he could no longer take 50 steps without it becoming severe. At each juncture where his body told him “stop” he kept going.
This led to arthritis in a specific joint and eventually surgery.
After almost two years he is beginning to take a few short runs but still has pain.
It looks like my dear friend will be a great biking buddy.
Isn’t it kind of funny; it seems like so many runners wind up on bikes because they ignore their aches and pains until permanent damage is done.
Now I am not immune to this and have made the same mistakes very recently. A lot of this is in my book and more importantly how to avoid it but here it is nut a nutshell.
Your cardiovascular system (heart and lungs) is geared toward rapid improvements. You will take this as very positive feedback and well, you should because we are marvelous machines.
But our orthopedic system (muscles, tendons and bones) is nowhere near as fast to respond. There are a lot of physiologic reasons for this but here is a good rule of thumb.
What you can achieve heart and lung-wise in 2 to 3 months may take a year or more for your skeletal system to catch up with.
This is the reason people can go out and run 10 or 15 miles after 6 to
8 weeks of solid training say maybe 10 to 15 runs. And on the last run they develop a tendon, or muscular or worse yet, a bone problem that stops them dead in their tracks.
It’s also the reason why the recommended mileage increases are so much lower than it feels like they should be -- 5 or 10% every 2 to 3 weeks or less if you are going for ultra long distances.
At some point you will bump up against what I call your biomechanical monkey. That is the musculoskeletal system’s limitation (again, muscle, bone, joint or tendon) that makes you less than a perfect runner.
Unless you are one of the few lucky individuals who are truly “built”
for running, you will meet the monkey at some time.
Everyone has a distance or a speed or a combination of both that lets the monkey out of his cage to make mischief and wreak havoc with your training.
For some, it’s plantar fasciitis. For others, it’s IT band syndrome or shin splints or Achilles tendonitis or runners toe or any number of wonderfully complex sounding names that boil down to this: “too much too soon” or in some cases “that is as far as you should really be running!”
Now again, as one who has beaten some of the worst biomechanical monkeys in the book and done what most doctors told him not to do, I can tell you there are always ways around this stuff if you are truly willing.
Again that is in my book, but for now here it is:
Beware of the biomechanical monkey and pay attention to it as early as you can!!!
Otherwise it may be with you a lot longer than you want, maybe forever!
- Doc
For this one I will use another smart, highly-motivated, compulsive runner who also happens to be a physician.
At nearly fifty he, like me, dusted off his running shoes and started and illustrious career as a long distance tail runner… Until the nagging pain in his foot began to slow him down.
What did he do?
He ran more, of course. His social and reward systems had become attached to running and he was not willing to give them up.
To make a long story short, he ignored the pain until he could no longer take 50 steps without it becoming severe. At each juncture where his body told him “stop” he kept going.
This led to arthritis in a specific joint and eventually surgery.
After almost two years he is beginning to take a few short runs but still has pain.
It looks like my dear friend will be a great biking buddy.
Isn’t it kind of funny; it seems like so many runners wind up on bikes because they ignore their aches and pains until permanent damage is done.
Now I am not immune to this and have made the same mistakes very recently. A lot of this is in my book and more importantly how to avoid it but here it is nut a nutshell.
Your cardiovascular system (heart and lungs) is geared toward rapid improvements. You will take this as very positive feedback and well, you should because we are marvelous machines.
But our orthopedic system (muscles, tendons and bones) is nowhere near as fast to respond. There are a lot of physiologic reasons for this but here is a good rule of thumb.
What you can achieve heart and lung-wise in 2 to 3 months may take a year or more for your skeletal system to catch up with.
This is the reason people can go out and run 10 or 15 miles after 6 to
8 weeks of solid training say maybe 10 to 15 runs. And on the last run they develop a tendon, or muscular or worse yet, a bone problem that stops them dead in their tracks.
It’s also the reason why the recommended mileage increases are so much lower than it feels like they should be -- 5 or 10% every 2 to 3 weeks or less if you are going for ultra long distances.
At some point you will bump up against what I call your biomechanical monkey. That is the musculoskeletal system’s limitation (again, muscle, bone, joint or tendon) that makes you less than a perfect runner.
Unless you are one of the few lucky individuals who are truly “built”
for running, you will meet the monkey at some time.
Everyone has a distance or a speed or a combination of both that lets the monkey out of his cage to make mischief and wreak havoc with your training.
For some, it’s plantar fasciitis. For others, it’s IT band syndrome or shin splints or Achilles tendonitis or runners toe or any number of wonderfully complex sounding names that boil down to this: “too much too soon” or in some cases “that is as far as you should really be running!”
Now again, as one who has beaten some of the worst biomechanical monkeys in the book and done what most doctors told him not to do, I can tell you there are always ways around this stuff if you are truly willing.
Again that is in my book, but for now here it is:
Beware of the biomechanical monkey and pay attention to it as early as you can!!!
Otherwise it may be with you a lot longer than you want, maybe forever!
- Doc
The first thing to go
As a physician who is athletic and trains athletes and hangs around athletes at places like the Institute of Human Performance in Boca Raton (www.ihpfit.com) and of course the athletes both sponsored and unsponsored at the Canadian Death Race, athletic longevity is of great interest to me.
I could go on and on about how supplements, nutrition and smarts can literally extend your career for decades, far beyond what the genetic dye your parents cast when they had you will do, but that is a topic for my anti-aging newsletters.
If you care about anti-aging and staying young and strong, feel free to visit www.DrDavesBest.com and sign up for the free newsletters there.
But for today I want to talk about overtraining and the first thing to go.
Coaches and athletes will tell you that monitoring your heart rate is a good way to see if you are over training.
Increases in heart rate 5 to 10% above your usual established resting heart rat can often indicate overtraining.
There are other factors you have to take into account which are:
1) When did you take that resting heart rate? You really need to
lay awake but still a few minutes after the alarm clock wakes you if you use an alarm clock, because that will send your heart rate and blood pressure through the roof!
2) Have you consumed any alcohol during the past 24 hours?
3) How many hours did you sleep? Sleep deprivation especially can raise resting heart rate.
4) How much caffeine or other stimulants have you had in the past 24 hours?
5) Are you sick or getting sick?
6) What has your nutrition been like?
7) And of course a whole bevy of conditions from accelerated thyroids to pregnancy anemia (in women sometimes related to menstrual flow).
If the answers to these questions are ”nothing unusual” then your resting heart rate is valid and you can use it, providing you have a couple of days to compare with each other.
Erratic heart rates are not of much use and could indicate anything from not knowing how to take a heart rate to an irregular heart rate, so keep that in mind.
OK let’s say you can use your heart rate data to watch your training.
Great, but what is really the first thing to take a pounding when you over train and what can you expect?
Well first your immune system and, depending on how many sick people you are around and what time of the year it is, you can expect anything from low grade flu-like symptoms that don’t go away and make you chronically sore and tired to a full blown viral or, in extreme cases, a sever bacterial illness like pneumonia.
Now it has been years since I’ve had a serious illness primarily due to my Immune Booster supplement and the other great things I put in my body, but journey back to my first running career, which culminated in me running a couple of marathons some 9 years ago.
During the training for the third one I was pushing really hard and also lifting some serious weights.
Giving my body mixed signals and stimulating two very different systems (strength and endurance) was more than a physician working 70+ hours a week could handle.
I developed a flu-like illness in late spring, long after the “flu” was out of the area. True, I had been around quite a few sick people; that is an occupational hazard, but I was also sleep deprived, over-caffeinated (I am not much for caffeine anymore), under rested and over stressed.
On top of that I decided to run a “practice marathon” at an 8 minute mile pace which was hard for me.
The net result was that I got sick. It started with extreme fatigue and achiness beyond what I would normally expect.
The next day I felt a bit better so I decided to do a strength workout and noticed I was very short of breath.
A day later the cough started. Within 5 days I was coughing for long spells and bringing up ugly looking stuff that does not belong in your lungs.
I broke down and took antibiotics, something I rarely do and did something even rarer. I actually finished all 10 days worth!
Of course it did absolutely nothing to speed up this illness since it was most likely viral but was desperate to get back to my training. I had to speak at a conference so I also had to travel and be on an airplane, which we all know is a cesspool of germs!
But after about 10 days of no running and no lifting I was feeling pretty good so off I went to do a standard 10K RUN.
BIG MISTAKE and I knew it within the first mile. Every hill caused me to gasp and on more than one occasion I had to stop and catch my breath. Stupidly, I willed myself to finish even though I grew more fatigued and exhausted with each step. Needless to say I was down for the count for another 10 days before I truly turned the corner.
Now I tell you this story because it represents the two opposing forces that plague all runners no matter how much they know and how educated they are.
Those forces are common sense and dogged determination.
Let’s face it, we all “run through” stuff and sometimes we get away with it. If we stopped for every little ache and pain, especially as we age, we wouldn’t be running -- we’d be swimming instead or doing Yoga (both of which are great supportive activities by the way!).
Each of us somehow thinks we are “special” and the laws of physics and the universe do not apply to us.
So we keep running as if our very lives depended on it.
And when we crash and burn we feel our bodies have let us down.
No, my friend, you and I are both human. But I have seen this drama played over and over again in so many different ways that I use my own stupidity as a cautionary tale for you.
I should have known better but the “runner” part of me won and I pushed myself.
The net result was that a 7 day illness sidelined me for almost a full month before I recuperated enough to get back on my training.
It was a blessing.
A lot of little aches and pains went away and stayed away until after the marathon.
I was so pent up and anxious to run again that I was very highly motivated, but I was also humbled by my own frailty so I was very careful about my training.
This focus and this knowing my own limitations has come in handy 9 years later when I decided to dust off my running shoes and tackle the
78 mile Canadian Death Race in 2008 and again this year.
But not before I was humbled again in a different way.
But that is a tale for another blog.
Bottom line: when you over train, your immune system goes first no matter what kind of training you do; strength, strength endurance or pure endurance. The net result will be that you will perform poorly and may wind up getting sick.
If you take time off and wait until your body tells you, really tells you “I am better” and not just that little devil in your brain saying “train, train, train” you will save yourself a ton of time and aggravation.
There is no sport anywhere where people push themselves more, over train more and ignore their bodies more than distance running! If any of this sounds like you, and as a runner I could place a 95% positive bet that you have been exactly at the place I just described, then do this magical thing: learn from your experience and don’t do it again!
In the long run this compulsive running behavior will lead you to run less and shorten your career.
My soon-to-be-released book tells you a lot about how to get around all this but in the meantime heed my advice…
Listen to your body or your running will be the first thing to go!
I could go on and on about how supplements, nutrition and smarts can literally extend your career for decades, far beyond what the genetic dye your parents cast when they had you will do, but that is a topic for my anti-aging newsletters.
If you care about anti-aging and staying young and strong, feel free to visit www.DrDavesBest.com and sign up for the free newsletters there.
But for today I want to talk about overtraining and the first thing to go.
Coaches and athletes will tell you that monitoring your heart rate is a good way to see if you are over training.
Increases in heart rate 5 to 10% above your usual established resting heart rat can often indicate overtraining.
There are other factors you have to take into account which are:
1) When did you take that resting heart rate? You really need to
lay awake but still a few minutes after the alarm clock wakes you if you use an alarm clock, because that will send your heart rate and blood pressure through the roof!
2) Have you consumed any alcohol during the past 24 hours?
3) How many hours did you sleep? Sleep deprivation especially can raise resting heart rate.
4) How much caffeine or other stimulants have you had in the past 24 hours?
5) Are you sick or getting sick?
6) What has your nutrition been like?
7) And of course a whole bevy of conditions from accelerated thyroids to pregnancy anemia (in women sometimes related to menstrual flow).
If the answers to these questions are ”nothing unusual” then your resting heart rate is valid and you can use it, providing you have a couple of days to compare with each other.
Erratic heart rates are not of much use and could indicate anything from not knowing how to take a heart rate to an irregular heart rate, so keep that in mind.
OK let’s say you can use your heart rate data to watch your training.
Great, but what is really the first thing to take a pounding when you over train and what can you expect?
Well first your immune system and, depending on how many sick people you are around and what time of the year it is, you can expect anything from low grade flu-like symptoms that don’t go away and make you chronically sore and tired to a full blown viral or, in extreme cases, a sever bacterial illness like pneumonia.
Now it has been years since I’ve had a serious illness primarily due to my Immune Booster supplement and the other great things I put in my body, but journey back to my first running career, which culminated in me running a couple of marathons some 9 years ago.
During the training for the third one I was pushing really hard and also lifting some serious weights.
Giving my body mixed signals and stimulating two very different systems (strength and endurance) was more than a physician working 70+ hours a week could handle.
I developed a flu-like illness in late spring, long after the “flu” was out of the area. True, I had been around quite a few sick people; that is an occupational hazard, but I was also sleep deprived, over-caffeinated (I am not much for caffeine anymore), under rested and over stressed.
On top of that I decided to run a “practice marathon” at an 8 minute mile pace which was hard for me.
The net result was that I got sick. It started with extreme fatigue and achiness beyond what I would normally expect.
The next day I felt a bit better so I decided to do a strength workout and noticed I was very short of breath.
A day later the cough started. Within 5 days I was coughing for long spells and bringing up ugly looking stuff that does not belong in your lungs.
I broke down and took antibiotics, something I rarely do and did something even rarer. I actually finished all 10 days worth!
Of course it did absolutely nothing to speed up this illness since it was most likely viral but was desperate to get back to my training. I had to speak at a conference so I also had to travel and be on an airplane, which we all know is a cesspool of germs!
But after about 10 days of no running and no lifting I was feeling pretty good so off I went to do a standard 10K RUN.
BIG MISTAKE and I knew it within the first mile. Every hill caused me to gasp and on more than one occasion I had to stop and catch my breath. Stupidly, I willed myself to finish even though I grew more fatigued and exhausted with each step. Needless to say I was down for the count for another 10 days before I truly turned the corner.
Now I tell you this story because it represents the two opposing forces that plague all runners no matter how much they know and how educated they are.
Those forces are common sense and dogged determination.
Let’s face it, we all “run through” stuff and sometimes we get away with it. If we stopped for every little ache and pain, especially as we age, we wouldn’t be running -- we’d be swimming instead or doing Yoga (both of which are great supportive activities by the way!).
Each of us somehow thinks we are “special” and the laws of physics and the universe do not apply to us.
So we keep running as if our very lives depended on it.
And when we crash and burn we feel our bodies have let us down.
No, my friend, you and I are both human. But I have seen this drama played over and over again in so many different ways that I use my own stupidity as a cautionary tale for you.
I should have known better but the “runner” part of me won and I pushed myself.
The net result was that a 7 day illness sidelined me for almost a full month before I recuperated enough to get back on my training.
It was a blessing.
A lot of little aches and pains went away and stayed away until after the marathon.
I was so pent up and anxious to run again that I was very highly motivated, but I was also humbled by my own frailty so I was very careful about my training.
This focus and this knowing my own limitations has come in handy 9 years later when I decided to dust off my running shoes and tackle the
78 mile Canadian Death Race in 2008 and again this year.
But not before I was humbled again in a different way.
But that is a tale for another blog.
Bottom line: when you over train, your immune system goes first no matter what kind of training you do; strength, strength endurance or pure endurance. The net result will be that you will perform poorly and may wind up getting sick.
If you take time off and wait until your body tells you, really tells you “I am better” and not just that little devil in your brain saying “train, train, train” you will save yourself a ton of time and aggravation.
There is no sport anywhere where people push themselves more, over train more and ignore their bodies more than distance running! If any of this sounds like you, and as a runner I could place a 95% positive bet that you have been exactly at the place I just described, then do this magical thing: learn from your experience and don’t do it again!
In the long run this compulsive running behavior will lead you to run less and shorten your career.
My soon-to-be-released book tells you a lot about how to get around all this but in the meantime heed my advice…
Listen to your body or your running will be the first thing to go!
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Introduction to Runner's Book
Dear Runner,
As a bit of a tease I thought I would start this blog off with an intro to my new book, which has been over a year in the making and should be ready in about six weeks. I hope you enjoy this brief excerpt from the book's introduction.
Best,
As a bit of a tease I thought I would start this blog off with an intro to my new book, which has been over a year in the making and should be ready in about six weeks. I hope you enjoy this brief excerpt from the book's introduction.
Best,
Dr Dave
Introduction
When I sat down to write this book I had a real dilemma.
You see, there was so much drama in my life (physical, personal and even business at the time) when I decided to run my very first ultra trail marathon that this book would easily have made a tremendous semi-fictional novel.
In the end I decided to leave out the "fictionalized" real events (you know, the names have been changed to protect the guilty, etc.) and focus on the training aspects and experiential learning that I have to give you.
I did so because I did not want the drama to dilute the real information in the book as might be the case. In other words, I haven't yet figured out how to write a mix of real and semi fiction that would be taken seriously by the running community and other athletes as well.
Ok, so why did I really write this book?
As far as I am concerned Ultra Marathons are the next big thing.
As baby boomers age and some of the other generations begin to sense their own mortality the need to "do something special" and really challenging "before it's too late" comes into more and more people's minds.
About 15 years ago marathons were the thing. Then it became acceptable to walk/jog a marathon and take 6 or 7 hours to complete it.
Literally hundreds of thousands of people have now completed the distance of 26.2 miles
While this is not necessarily bad for the sport it does make the achievement a wee bit less special unless of course you go for one of the qualified marathons like Boston.
At this moment triathlons are experiencing a real surge in popularity, especially the shorter "sprint" distances.
Like the marathon craze, I think it's wonderful! People are getting into better shape, experiencing competition sometimes for the first time and in this case mastering or at least learning several different disciplines.
BRAVO!
That said, however, I am certain for all of the same reasons I have mentioned already and all the same reasons that apply to marathoning and triathloning, ultras are the next big thing and a lot more people are going to attempt them.
So who better to write the definitive "how to" guide than the crazy but well-educated dude who hasn't run in years and gave himself about 6 months to tackle one of the toughest races in the land and, walked away smiling!
Now onto a few definitions and generalizations.
Ultra marathon distances vary greatly but usually start at the 30 mile range and go all the way up to 100 miles and beyond.
The first ultra I ran in and the one that is the center of this book is called "The Canadian Death Race" and, being held in a country that is on the metric system, is referred to as 125K (just shy of 78 miles). I have known of some local races that are considered ultras that are 32 miles and of course there are many longer distances out there.
Not to be confused with adventure races, which require some kind of water craft and often long distances, biking and pure hiking, ultra marathons are strictly hike/run events, the amount of either usually being determined by 3 things: the terrain, the distance, and the ability of the athlete.
Another generalization that can be made about ultras is that they are usually off road e.g. trail running events.
One more thing that bears mentioning... Amongst the running communities that I have contact with, ultras are thought of as "races for older slower people". This comes about because many of the runners who do them are 35 and over.
While it is true that most of us slow down and become less crazy about proving our competitive worth, I honestly don't think the reasons are only speed related.
First off, running a 10 minute mile pace consistently over a 50 or 100 mile trail run that covers several mountains in the several thousand feet range would be a challenge for ANY runner.
What I have found to be the real reasons people do these are the following:
You see, there was so much drama in my life (physical, personal and even business at the time) when I decided to run my very first ultra trail marathon that this book would easily have made a tremendous semi-fictional novel.
In the end I decided to leave out the "fictionalized" real events (you know, the names have been changed to protect the guilty, etc.) and focus on the training aspects and experiential learning that I have to give you.
I did so because I did not want the drama to dilute the real information in the book as might be the case. In other words, I haven't yet figured out how to write a mix of real and semi fiction that would be taken seriously by the running community and other athletes as well.
Ok, so why did I really write this book?
As far as I am concerned Ultra Marathons are the next big thing.
As baby boomers age and some of the other generations begin to sense their own mortality the need to "do something special" and really challenging "before it's too late" comes into more and more people's minds.
About 15 years ago marathons were the thing. Then it became acceptable to walk/jog a marathon and take 6 or 7 hours to complete it.
Literally hundreds of thousands of people have now completed the distance of 26.2 miles
While this is not necessarily bad for the sport it does make the achievement a wee bit less special unless of course you go for one of the qualified marathons like Boston.
At this moment triathlons are experiencing a real surge in popularity, especially the shorter "sprint" distances.
Like the marathon craze, I think it's wonderful! People are getting into better shape, experiencing competition sometimes for the first time and in this case mastering or at least learning several different disciplines.
BRAVO!
That said, however, I am certain for all of the same reasons I have mentioned already and all the same reasons that apply to marathoning and triathloning, ultras are the next big thing and a lot more people are going to attempt them.
So who better to write the definitive "how to" guide than the crazy but well-educated dude who hasn't run in years and gave himself about 6 months to tackle one of the toughest races in the land and, walked away smiling!
Now onto a few definitions and generalizations.
Ultra marathon distances vary greatly but usually start at the 30 mile range and go all the way up to 100 miles and beyond.
The first ultra I ran in and the one that is the center of this book is called "The Canadian Death Race" and, being held in a country that is on the metric system, is referred to as 125K (just shy of 78 miles). I have known of some local races that are considered ultras that are 32 miles and of course there are many longer distances out there.
Not to be confused with adventure races, which require some kind of water craft and often long distances, biking and pure hiking, ultra marathons are strictly hike/run events, the amount of either usually being determined by 3 things: the terrain, the distance, and the ability of the athlete.
Another generalization that can be made about ultras is that they are usually off road e.g. trail running events.
One more thing that bears mentioning... Amongst the running communities that I have contact with, ultras are thought of as "races for older slower people". This comes about because many of the runners who do them are 35 and over.
While it is true that most of us slow down and become less crazy about proving our competitive worth, I honestly don't think the reasons are only speed related.
First off, running a 10 minute mile pace consistently over a 50 or 100 mile trail run that covers several mountains in the several thousand feet range would be a challenge for ANY runner.
What I have found to be the real reasons people do these are the following:
- They like to run on trails because trails present an entirely different style of running and an entirely different set of problems.
- They have the discipline to run at a slower pace for 12, 24 or more hours and the discipline to train correctly for that kind of running.
- Believe it or not most of us who have run roads at one point and trials at another agree: you are less likely to get a serious overuse running injury on trails simply because of the diversity of the terrain your feet "see".
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