Are You Out of Service?

Stuck on an Escalator

One of my pet peeves is that most people seem to think that an escalator is some type of carnival ride. They step onto it and immediately stop walking. I want to shout, "It's a staircase that moves to help you, keep walking." It's not just me; years ago the comedians at Saturday Night Live made a skit [1] about people trapped on a stopped escalator. 

When we are used to doing something a certain way, and suddenly we find ourselves temporarily unable to do that thing, it's tempting to just throw up our hands and declare ourselves "broken".

Like the escalator pictured above, you may be temporarily out of service as a runner. But that doesn't always have to mean that you're stuck laying in bed binge-watching Netflix and eating bonbons all day. Take a closer look at that picture. Do you see a broken escalator, or do you see a perfectly good staircase disguised as a broken escalator? That escalator is still usable, it's just not running!

Injuries Happen

Runner or not, injuries happen. People - usually non-runners - like to point out how frequently runners seem to get injured. In fact, if incidence of injury is calculated according to exposure of running time the incidence reported in the literature varies from 2.5 to 12.1 injuries per 1000 hours of running [2]. Funny thing though, a 2015 study showed that for cycling, the overall incidence of injury and illness was 5.83 per 1000 cycling hours[3]. Wow. That 5.83 is pretty close to the middle of the 2.5 to 12.1 range. So, running isn't really more injury prone than cycling, for example. Yet, I personally haven't heard of any cyclist being told by non-cyclists, "You're going to hurt your knees if you keep cycling so much." I think non-runners just like to pick on runners because they're jealous that they are not runners themselves. 

Pain-Free Motion is Good for You

Personally, I feel better when I move. It's sitting still that seems to make me hurt. In a 2017 article for The University of British Columbia’s Faculty of Medicine, one doctor explains [4] why she changed her sports medicine practice to adopt movement as the gold standard for treating physical injury. She cites research that shows movement improves blood flow, which drives oxygen to heal the injured area and removes metabolic waste, while also stimulating the healing of tissues.

RICE is Bad for You

I'm a proud vegan and carb-lover. Lower-case rice is good for you. But it turns out that upper-case RICE (Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation) might be bad for you. Who would know better than Dr. Gabe Mirkin, the man who coined the RICE term in a sports medicine book he wrote back in 1978. 37 years later, in a 2015 blog post [5], Dr. Mirkin writes, 

Coaches have used my “RICE” guideline for decades, but now it appears that both Ice and complete Rest may delay healing, instead of helping.

However, it is important to note that ice can help reduce the pain of an acute injury right after it happens. That said, there is no reason to continue icing an injury more than six hours after it has occurred.

What's an Injured Runner to Do?

If you hurt yourself, stop running! Evaluate the injury. If it causes you to change your gait, do not continue running. Walk if you must, to get back to transportation. Consider seeing a sports physician or physical therapist. When it's time to start healing look to activity instead of idleness. Keep moving, but if it hurts stop. Remember, pain-free movement promotes healing. Movement that causes pain is likely causing further injury. 

Ending With an Analogy

While you're waiting for your escalator to be repaired, remember that there is an elevator nearby if you need one, and don't forget that a stalled escalator can still be used as a stairway.

References

[1] https://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/escalator/n36866

[2] Running injuries. A review of the epidemiological literature

[3] Injury and illness among athletes during a multi-day elite cycling road race

[4] MOVE an injury not RICE

[5] https://www.drmirkin.com/fitness/why-ice-delays-recovery.html

[5b] https://snltranscripts.jt.org/04/04aescalator.phtml

https://facebook.com/groups/RealisticRunning

Realistic Running?

As my first post in a new year, I'd like to once again dive into why I chose the name "Realistic Running."

Pablo Picasso

There's an old story in various forms about someone approaching Pablo Picasso at a cafe and asking him to do a sketch on a napkin. A few minutes later he asked for 10,000 francs. The requestor was shocked, saying, "But it only took you a minute to draw!" "No," Picasso replied, "that took me 40 years."

Of course, what Picasso meant was that it was his entire 40-year journey as an artist that allowed him to draw that sketch in a few seconds. That story has nothing at all to do about running, but it does explain why you should listen to what I have to say about running. I have been running for, let's say, 39 years; I didn't know when I started that I would have to remember the date. I have experienced many, many cycles of ups & downs, what works, what doesn't, and... the injuries. On top of that, I've taken the time to become certified as a both a running coach and an online coach. Aside from being a running coach, I am also a software engineering manager, I've been a Scoutmaster, and at two different times in the past I've been a karate instructor. I am no stranger to coaching & training people of all ages to accomplish difficult things!

The "realistic" part comes into play as a contrast to many opinions that you might find elsewhere on the internet. I belong to too many running & fitness related Facebook groups to count. I see many people who join those groups looking for information. Oh, do they ever get some information! Because runners in general love to talk about running and love to help other people run, the information is free-flowing in Facebook groups. The problem is that much of that information is misguided. There are multiple reasons. It's not intentional. People are trying to help. But it seems that there is an "oral history" for running provided online. What I mean is that training tips are passed on by word of mouth from runner to runner. Some of it is based in research that happened a long time ago without keeping up with new research showing different results. Also, what appears to have worked for Runner A isn't necessarily the best thing for Runner B. And, sadly, sometimes Runner C proudly states "Oh yes, I've had the same injury as you for 5 years, I do this and it works!" Does it, though?

Examples of Running Lore That Aren't Really True

• Your maximum heart rate is 220-(your age)
• Stretching makes you a better runner
• Weightlifting makes you a better runner
• Cycling makes you a better runner
• Heel Striking is bad, Forefoot Striking is good
• 180 steps per minute is the Holy Grail
• "Lactic Acid"
• Shoes can cause or cure injuries
• The average college kid working part time in a running store knows about gait analysis
• Endurance running lowers your immunity
• Exercise-Associated Muscle Cramps (EAMCs) are due to dehydration/electrolytes.
• You can do anything you set your mind to!
• Who needs to pay for a coach when marathon training plans are free?

Why Should You Listen To Me?

Why do I think I know better than years of running lore? There are a few reasons. First of all, like I said above, I've been through a lot myself. I've had asthma, a major broken leg, stress fractures in legs and feet, a sports hernia, a "slipping rib", and sciatica, to name but a few. I've coached others, young and old, who have had similar and different setbacks. On top of that, I have a burning desire to fight the battle against aging and improve my performance. But most of all, as those of you who have watched my FB Live videos know, I call myself "a perpetual student of all things running." I don't just run, I am into running. I read books about running. I look up medical research on running. I experiment by trying new things on myself, so I know first hand whether or not they work. 

The Coming Year

I look forward to expanding on the example topics above in the coming weeks. In every post you will see references to research explaining my point of view. My goal: to get others to join me in practicing Realistic Running!

https://facebook.com/groups/RealisticRunning

New Year, New Statistics

As you can tell from the December 13th edition of this blog, I'm kinda sorta into technology and data. But in order for that data to be useful, I need to correlate that data into statistics. For example, here's a post that members of one of my Facebook running clubs saw from me back in November:

2021 was a good November for me. I blasted through the annual mileage goal (1700 miles) that I failed to achieve last year. New target: 2,021 miles in 2021! The good news: as of the end of November, I am on track to reach my annual goal by 12/29 and to end the year with 2030. With 1 day off each week, the holidays & travel days, I’m guessing I have 22 running days left this year. So, I need 7.4 miles each of those days I run to reach my goal. Here are the November details:

200.01 miles in November, which is 2.5 miles less than last month. I am at 1854 miles for the year so far. I’m on track for 2030 by 12/31/20, currently running about 4 miles ahead of schedule on my annual goal of 2,021. November’s miles are an average of 9.1 miles per day for 22 running days, which was 73% of the month. An average of 6.7 miles per day over all 30 days in November. That is above my 8.3 miles-per-running-day average for the year and also above my YTD average (67%) of days running (223 days out of 334). My November average of 43.1 miles per week was less than October but above my annual average of 38.7 miles per week 2021 YTD. 

As I described in the December 20th edition of this blog, there are many different things out there that can motivate us as runners. Call me a nerd, but setting a goal and tracking the statistics along the way motivates me! If you, like me, are motivated or at least interested in tracking your running statistics, keep reading for more details. On the other hand, if your eyes roll back in your head when you think of such details, or if you have arithmophobia, you may want to stop reading now.

There is Raw Data

Here's a snapshot of a spreadsheet that I've been using and refining for a few years now to generate all 

those statistics:

As I update this sheet during the year, all I have to do is add a new line, enter the distance run that day, and the sheet does the rest. If you're interested in having a spreadsheet like this of your very own, leave me a comment on this blog or in the Facebook group Realistic Running and I'll fix you right up!

There are Daily Statistics

Date

Day of the Year (1-365)

Days Left in the Year

Total Miles in the Last 7 Days

Monthly Miles to Date

Annual Miles to Date

Miles You Should Have Run to Date

Miles Remaining to Reach Your Goal

Miles Per Day Needed to Reach Your Goal

Days Until You Reach Your Goal

Projected Date to Reach Your Goal

Projected mileage at End of the Year

There are Monthly Statistics

Average Miles Per Day This Month

Running Days This Month

Average Miles Per Running Day This Month

Average Miles Per Day This Year

There are Annual Statistics 

Number of Running Days This Year

Average Miles-Per-Running Day This Year

Average Miles Per Week This Year

Maximum Miles Per Week This Year

Average Miles Per Week for Each Month

And Then There are the Graphs!

A picture is worth a thousand words. Here are two pictures! The top graph has the "target" line for Miles Per Year in red, and the actual mileage in blue. The bottom graph has the target 2021 MPY as the horizontal centerline, and my actual mileage in blue, wavering around the centerline.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/RealisticRunning

A Special Motivation Just for You

With the year coming to a close, it’s a time when many are working hard at finishing up the current year's goals while looking ahead to new goals in the new year. Regardless of the goal, it’s motivation that is responsible for getting it done. There is a wide range in the amount of motivation an individual needs to reach their goals. Some of us are intrinsically motivated, while others require one or more carrots-on-a-stick to get us up and out the door. And that intrinsic motivation can change based on current circumstances. This post looks at a few of the different forms of motivation you can try, whether you just need a kick in the pants to get out the door on a snowy Saturday, or whether you need something extra to get you through those last few runs to meet an annual mileage goal.

Many Options

Dictionary definitions of "motivation" say things like:

• the reason or reasons one has for acting or behaving in a particular way
• the general desire or willingness of someone to do something

Let's face it... the fact that you are reading this blog probably means that you are a Runner. (I'm pretty sure my wife - not a runner - doesn't even read this!) That's a capital-R Runner, meaning you make somewhat of a habit out of this pastime. Just that fact alone means you are already more motivated than 85% of Americans. (About 50 million Americans participate in some form of running or jogging, according to to a 2020 report from the Sports & Fitness Industry Association.[1])

A Matter of Life &Death

For some, it's a simple fact: run or die. Literally. There are a number of chronic conditions that running helps to keep in check. Running has benefits in the prevention of obesity, hypertension, dyslipidemia, type 2 diabetes, osteoarthritis and hip replacement, benign prostatic hypertrophy, respiratory disease, cancer, and disability. Running, even in quite low doses, is associated with a substantial reduction in cardiovascular and all-cause mortality.[2]. I can relate! With a family history including hypertension & dyslipidemia, and having had asthma since childhood, maintaining and even improving my health is definitely high on my motivation list.

Annual Mileage Goals

Another good source of motivation is to set an annual mileage goal. I've been doing this for a few years now as a background goal in addition to any events I might have on my schedule. It started in 2016 with a magazine-based challenge for 1,000 miles per year. I thought, "That's less than 20 miles a week, I can do that!" So I started tracking, and ended up that year with a bit over 1200 miles. Every year since then I raised my new annual goal by 100 miles over what I achieved the previous year. In 2020 I had my first "failure"; I topped the previous year's 1600 but failed to reach the current year's 1700-mile goal. I more than made up for that in 2021, when I blew past the 1700-mile goal in early November. At that point I did some quick math and set a new goal: 2,021 miles in 2021. As I write this on 12/20/2021, I am only 24 miles away from this lofty goal. "Running The Year" has been a thing for many years. I never thought it was within my realm of possibility. But CONSISTENCY (that's another post [3]) got me close enough to go for it, and achieve it!

Event-Based Goals

Whether it's your first marathon or your fiftieth, a Couch-to-5k or your weekly Parkrun, races and other events on your calendar are a dependable source of motivation. Most recreational runners run "races" without any hope of winning. But realistically, runners of every ability and experience level can use any event as a motivational goal. Signing up for a race of a distance you've never run before means an automatic PR! In other cases, you can run your local annual 5k against "former you". This always gives you a reason to train and try harder. Successively harder goals are to PR, win your age group, and maybe even some day place overall, depending on your ability and how hard you want to try. Finally, there is always the run-for-charity option at larger events. Raising money and running for a worthy cause can help make training for and participating in an event more about the cause than about you. Any running event provides many goals for everyone! 

Running Streak

Again, I've detailed this topic in another post [4]. To summarize here, a Running Streak is a type of personal challenge where the runner vows to run at least one mile every day for so many days. It's fun to start small (for example, New Year's Day to Ground Hog Day. it's only a month!) and then see how long you can keep it going. A Running Streak helps teach you how to run slow and easy, to pace yourself, and to be determined in the face of daily adversities that may arise. By starting with only a month goal for this, you give it time to create a habit but it's not an insurmountable time period... it's only a month!

Friendly Competition

This is the realm of the office Step Challenge or Biggest Loser competition. As long as you can keep it friendly, this is a reliable source of motivation. It's great to be able to pit yourself against each other, driving each other forward to succeed. Even the "loser" is still a winner in this case!  

Running With Friends

Whether it's a neighbor or a local Running Club [5], running with friends can motivate you to get your lazy self out the door. In this case, peer pressure is a good thing. When someone is depending on you to be there, your activity- or lack thereof - is no longer all about you. Now there is someone else relying on you. Also, running with others of different ability can help you to either slow down or speed up, whichever you are having trouble doing. It's amazing how much more quickly the miles go by when you run them while you're having a conversation with one or more friends. It can also be amazing to learn that your "conversational pace" is actually faster than you thought it was. On the flip side, if you need to learn to slow down, running while chatting with others who are naturally a bit slower than you are can help you dial back your speed - while it's helping them to run with someone faster (see above). Need motivation? Try running for someone else for a change instead of just yourself!

Epilogue

Please don't ever forsake your running due to lack of motivation! There are so many different ways to get motivated. Bookmark this post. Share it with a friend. Share it in your running Facebook Group. Get to know what motivates YOU, and get ready to use it. 

References

[1] Running/Jogging Participation Report 2020

[2] Effects of Running on Chronic Diseases

[3] https://plantbasedplodder.blogspot.com/2020/01/consistency-is-key.html

[4] https://plantbasedplodder.blogspot.com/2018/07/streaking.html

[5] Find A Running Club

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Tech Can Be Your Friend

If you follow any online (or print, that is still a thing) running-oriented sites, you will see quite a few exhortations to “leave the technology at home” for a more relaxing run, and other possible advantages. That’s fine, but I think that as long as you manage the relationship, technology can be your friend and running buddy. 

I don’t want to say here that any brand is better than another, but I’ve been a Garmin user for so many years I can’t remember how long it’s actually been.  It all started maybe 15 years ago with the Forerunner 305, but that is not the story I want to tell here. (Can you believe I actually ran with this huge thing on my wrist?)

A quick Google search of “run without technology” will turn up a number of headlines exhorting us to unplug. Here are but a few:

 No, You Don't Need Any Technology to Have a Good Run

The Benefits of Running Without Technology

Ditch the Technology to Improve Your Running

Yes, you can go running without technology

Minimalist Running: Ditch the Technology and Run Free

But my thinking is that like anything else, as long as you can control yourself, technology can be your friend and faithful running sidekick. Here's a quick overview of some of the great things I think running technology has to offer.

Elapsed Time

This has been available on digital watches pretty much since we first saw digital watches. So I don’t think this one counts as “technology” any more.

Distance

When I started running, I had to get in the car first and go measure the route using my car’s odometer. Luckily I was young and could remember where most of the mile splits were. Having this data on my watch saves me time & gas now! I set my watch to do an automatic lap every half mile by default. But when I’m doing speedwork, I create a workout with the appropriate intervals. This way, I don’t have to go sneak onto a school track after hours to do intervals. Also, the watch tells me when to start and stop each interval, so I don’t even really need to look at it. But it’s there, watching me run. This feature also allows me to run in circles at the end of a run to end up with a total distance that is an even number of miles. Everyone does that, right?

Pace

This can be instantaneous or averaged by the lap, by the mile, by the run. I use this during tempo runs to know that I am staying on the prescribed pace. Instantaneous pace changes way too often to be useful. Conversely, the pace for the entire run is also not useful because it’s too late to do anything about my pace at that point. I have one of the watch’s data screens tell me the Current Lap Pace. With the default auto-lap set at every half-mile, I get a good average of my pace over the last zero to five or so minutes as that half-mile progresses. That gives me a chance to see something meaningful and adjust as needed without trying to figure it out with constantly changing instant data.

Heart Rate

Knowing my heart rate at any given moment is a great tool for keeping my easy runs easy. On Easy Run Days I can use my heart rate data to slow down. Many different things can affect your heart rate during a run: the terrain, the wind, the temperature, the humidity, your hydration, how much sleep you had the night before. Are you overtraining? That can also be reflected in your heart rate. I also like to train myself for good endurance by starting long runs slow – by keeping my heart rate lower, and then speeding up at the halfway point by just enough to end with a negative split – the second half faster than the first half of the run.

Beyond the above four data items, some watches can start getting complicated.

WARNING! Science and Math in Use Ahead!

Power

Do you remember your high school Physics? “Power” is defined as the amount of energy transferred or converted per unit time. What does that mean in English? In other words, “Power” is the rate with respect to time at which “Work” is done. “Work”, involves moving something through a distance. When you consider how long it takes to move that thing, you’re talking about “Power”. So, running is ”Work”; the force is basically the weight of your body and the distance is how far you are running. When you also consider your pace, now you’re talking about “Power.” The thing is, having to move your body during a run changes based on going uphill or downhill, having a headwind or a tailwind, and even how slippery a wet path or sandy trail might be.  I have added an app to my watch that can estimate the Power I’m using. This works because the GPS watch knows how fast I’m moving, whether I’m going uphill or down, and even what the wind is. We all know that running uphill or into a headwind is more difficult. That’s because we have to generate more POWER to move at the same pace uphill than we do on a flat path. While this is more often used by cyclists, some runners train by power output, slowing down when going uphill to keep their power output as close to constant as possible. At the very least, it’s interesting just to see the data showing how much more power it takes to run uphill!

VO₂ & VO₂Max

I have another watch app that uses a tried-and-true 53-year-old method to estimate my body’s maximum use of oxygen and estimate in real time how my current efforts measures up to that. The Cooper Test is a test of physical fitness. It was designed by Kenneth H. Cooper in 1968 for US military use. The point of the test is to run as far as possible within 12 minutes. The outcome is based on the distance the test person ran, their age and their gender. The results of the Cooper Test do a fair job at estimating VO₂Max, which – oversimplified - is how much oxygen your body uses over time. [1] Professional athletes have this measured in a lab running on a treadmill wearing a breathing apparatus. Thank you very much, I’ll settle for the estimate. Some watches have a built-in estimate of VO₂Max. The watch calculates and adjusts this value over time, based on your running pace, distance, and heartrate data. Some research has shown this well-known formula to be up to 90% accurate. My watch tells me that my own VO₂Max “is superior for men in my age range,” that “my fitness age is 20,” and that “that’s the top 5% for your age and gender.” Well, thank you, Watch for making me feel great about myself! But I’ve noticed that my watch can change it’s opinion of me after a few easy runs. But it does track in line with my fitness over time, fluctuating along with the intensity of my training, so I’ll keep watching it. If I start running harder & faster but see my VO₂Max decrease, maybe then I’ll start to be concerned.

The above list of data points only scratched the surface of what's available with modern technology. There are runners who never use anything more than a simple wrist stopwatch. Yes, they exist - I know one of them personally. But I love my advanced-feature watch and will likely always run with one. The type of run I’m doing at any given time will determine how much I look at it while running, but I will look back and evaluate the reams of data after pretty much every run. I still use “old fashioned” technology – an Excel spreadsheet – to log my daily runs. The spreadsheet calculates so many data points: weekly, monthly, annual mileage; daily averages, and the number of miles left in my annual goal are some of the things I track. 

Call me a Nerd, but I enjoy looking back at the data to see how far I’ve come, and to aim for where I’m headed. I think you should, too. Tech can be your friend.

#realisticrunning

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[1] Reference: A comparison of methods of predicting maximum oxygen uptake