Malpaso

Why I Run: Leaving the World Behind

I don't reflect very much on why I run. I just do. Reading Paul Valéry recently, I came across his statement on the craft of poetry. It summarizes for me why I run.

"It happened at certain stages in my life that poetry became a way of cutting myself off from the "world." By "world" I mean the whole complex of incidents, demands, compulsions, solicitations, of every kind and degree of urgency, which overtake the mind without offering it any inner illumination, move it only to disturb, and shift it away from the more important toward the less... It is no bad thing if certain men have the strength of mind to attach more value and significance to determining a remote decimal number, or the exact placing of a comma, than to the most resounding of news items, the most terrible catastrophe, or even to their own lives. This leads me to reflect that one of the advantages of observing traditional forms in the construction of verse consists in the extreme attention which is developed by this discipline, conceived as an ordering toward continuous musicality and the charm of sustained perfection which (according to some minds) is what a true poem ought to offer. The result is an absence of prose --- a freedom, that is, from any sense of interruption. To outlaw the arbitrary: to shut out accidents, politics, the chaos of events, and the fluctuation of fashion; to attempt to draw from oneself some work more exquisite than one might have hope; to find strength in oneself not to be satisfied with less than prolonged struggles (emphasis mine), to set about a passionate quest for the solving of problems imperceptible to most people, in defiance of the headlong rush, the distractions (however affecting) that intrude from the outside world -- this is something that appeals to me."

Running after all is a form of inner poetic expression, the writing of verse with one's own body.

Probable Life of An Endurance Athlete

A stress fracture is a terrible thing to waste. It is making me pause to consider the probable life of an endurance athlete. Are most of us headed inevitably towards the "suck threshold" (a life of injuries) or can we devise an intelligent path towards the "zone of felicity" (performance improvements free of injury).

Training to run marathons is a form of calculus. It involves solving a maximum-minimum problem with our mind and body. The goal is to maximize performance while minimizing injury. Solving the running calculus problem is not trivial because performance improves only by subjecting the body to stress, which in turn leads to stronger muscles, greater stroke volume, better form, and more efficient energy production. But stress can also lead to injuries. 

We know that injuries are unavoidable. But what techniques can we follow to minimize injuries? Furthermore, what principles are these techniques based on (science) and how can they be developed into enduring habits (art)?

Stay tuned as I work through my injury.

Get In Gear 10K Race 2009

This was my first Get In Gear and also my first 10K ever. By simply finishing I achieved a PR for the 10K. A Minnesota event since 1978, the Get In Gear 10K is one of the largest 10Ks in the country and certainly among the best organized and pleasant races to run. This year nearly 6000 runners finished the event, including the 10K (3422 runners), the 5k (1604), and the newly added half marathon (804). The gloomy weather forecast --- cold, rain, wind and possibility of lightning --- didn't materialize. It was a chipper 43 degrees and I ran the race in my shorts and a t-shirt.

It was good to see Antonio Vega, a local runner and member of Team USA Minnesota, capture 3rd place in a  competitive men's field. Vega's personal best in the 10K came last year at the Peachtree Road Race with a time of 29:00:47. Vega was the second among American runners at the 2008 NYC Half Marathon with a time of 1:04:26.

Antonio Vega, Team USA Minnesota Photo: CompetitiveImage.Us

I have been having problems in my left leg (midway on the tibialis anterior muscle) and didn't quite know how my bum leg would behave. Resting up during the week kept the legs fresh and overall I had a good race. I maintained a fairly even pace for the entire race, at slightly under 7 minutes per mile. 

Time (43:23) and Pace (6:59)

Splits: 7:09, 6:46, 6:54, 7:00, 6:54, 6:56, 1:23

Using a Garmin Forerunner 405: Lesson 1, Introduction to Garmin Connect

Most runners I have met don't seem to take advantage of many of the features of their Garmin 405 sports watch. The out-of-the-box default setting is adequate for tracking basic measurements such as time, distance, and heart rate. But if you are in training or running a race why not take advantage of some of the great features available with the watch?

When you purchase a Garmin Forerunner 50 or 405 you get access to Garmin Connect, a web site where you can upload and track all your runs or "activities."

The Garmin Connect website used to be extremely flaky, but they seem to have worked out most of the earlier problems. The following is a summary view from one of my recent runs. As you can see, upon data upload Garmin Connect automatically maps the run against Google Maps and also provides useful summary information.

If you set up your watch properly, you can obtain a record of your split times. If I had worn a heart-rate monitor, my average heart rate would also appear for each split.

It would be useful to have the ability to attach notes for each run. For example, on mile 6 I slowed down considerably as a fellow runner felt the need to ask me all kinds of "computer" questions. Or, on mile 12 I stopped for a water break and then lost some time coming back up to pace.

Garmin continues to make improvements to the web site and it's worth your while to get "connected" to the web site. The "Getting Started" section of the "Help" page is a good starting point for using Garmin Connect.

Marathon Training: Separating Fact from Fiction

Running a marathon requires perseverance and some knowledge. There are hundreds of sites that offer advice on running and marathon training. But how to sort fact from fiction, science from folklore?

Pete Pfitzinger and Scott Douglas note in Advanced Marathoning,

"The key to simply finishing a marathon isn't a secret: Train long to go long. But what about when you want to race a marathon? Then things aren't so simple. Besides getting enough baseline endurance to complete the distance, now your concerns turn to matters such as how fast to do your long runs, what types of interval sessions to do, how to manipulate your diet for maximum performance, how to schedule hard workouts to allow both progress and recovery, and so on. The best answers to those questions aren't so obvious and they require a solid base of knowledge."

As a solution Pfitzinger and Douglas suggest, of course, that we all read their book: "You'll acquire that knowledge through this book." Advanced Marathoning is a very good book indeed, but it begs the question as to what constitutes marathon training knowledge.

This is my second year of marathon training and I have a lot to learn. I think of knowledge about marathon training along three dimensions. The first dimension of knowledge is the one derived from science. Even with scientific knowledge, however, there are degrees of certitude. The second dimension of knowledge is derived from experience (i.e. the wisdom of experienced runners and coaches such as Daniels, Salazar, Pfitzinger.) The third dimension is personal and concerns the specifics of one's circumstance. This dimension tends to be the most neglected in many training programs. The best coaches put all three together. But most of us don't have the luxury of having a full-time coach to give us guidance.

For me the challenge of marathon training then is to evaluate each dimension of knowledge and apply it to my own training. When I read something now I ask myself: "Is the information based on science?  If so, how well established is the science? Or, is the information based on the experience of coaches and other experts? If so, is it the opinion of a one or two people or is there something like a consensus?  Finally, is the information based on my knowledge about myself or someone's personal knowledge about me?"  We all know that self-knowledge is notoriously tricky and as much subject to deception as other forms of knowledge.

Being a nerdy type of guy I have also thought of quantifying each dimension based on a scale of 1 - 5. When I post some "information" or "tip" I will post along with it my score on the knowledge, experience, or personal meter.

Murakami on Running

I have long admired Haruki Murakami's writing. I didn't know until recently that he is also a distance runner. His latest book is a memoir of sorts and is centered on the importance of running in his life: What I Talk About when I Talk About Running. 

Here are some excerpts: 

"As I run I tell myself to think of a river. And clouds. But essentially I am not thinking of a thing. All I do is keep on running in my own cozy, homemade void, my own nostalgic silence. And this is a pretty wonderful thing. No matter what anybody else says." "The body is an extremely practical system. You have to let it experience intermittent pain over time, and then the body will get the point. As a result, it will willingly accept (or maybe not) the increased amount of exercise it's made to do. After this, you very gradually increase the amount of exercise you do. Doing it gradually is important so you don't burn out." "Sixteen is an intensely troublesome age. You worry about little things, can't pinpoint where you are in any objective way, become really proficient at strange pointless skills, and are held in thrall by inexplicable complexes. As you get older, though, through trial and error you learn to get what you need, and throw out what should be discarded. And you start to recognize (or be resigned to the fact) that since your faults and deficiencies are well nigh infinite, you'd best figure out your good points and learn to get by with what you have."

From his Der Spiegel interview:

SPIEGEL: How do you manage to motivate yourself again every day? Murakami: Sometimes I find it too hot to run, and sometimes too cold. Or too cloudy. But I still go running. I know that if I didn’t go running, I wouldn’t go the next day either. It’s not in human nature to take unnecessary burdens upon oneself, so one’s body soon becomes disaccustomed. It mustn’t do that. It’s the same with writing. I write every day so that my mind doesn’t become disaccustomed. So that I can gradually set the literary yardstick higher and higher, just as running regularly makes your muscles stronger and stronger.

Here are some reviews of Murakami's book on running:

• Alastair Campbell in the guardian.co.uk
• Evan Fleischer in the Bostonist
• Shaun Manning in the Bookslut
• Geoff Dyer in the NY Times
• Marjorie Kehe in the CS Monitor