Mile Markers

Ten thousand miles after age 40. I’m not really a big fan of spelling out numbers, it always seems cooler when you see the zeros: 10,000 miles… yes, that’s better.

I saw this milestone coming last year as I looked at my training log. Having a numbers oriented, goal setting mentality I wasn’t surprised that I started zeroing in on this one. Looking ahead I saw it as one more achievement to check off, another one for the record book. As I tried to estimate my training mileage last year I thought I’d hit this number sometime over the summer, maybe in the months of June or July. It came a little earlier than I expected as I was able to increase my mileage for the Philly Marathon last fall and Boston last month.

I was curious when it would come, you think about big milestones having an epic story behind them. Would it come during a race, maybe during an intense interval workout? Turns out it didn’t happen that way, I had an easy 5 on the schedule today with 1.7 miles needed to cross the 10,000 barrier. Rather than messing with my training in trying to ‘create’ a memorable event, I just went with it. Got home, got my gear on, did my warm ups and out the door I went.

Familiar Surroundings

I find comfort in routine so I went out and covered the same route I always use for my runs. I know where every crack in the pavement is, where each subtle change in incline starts and ends. I know when to focus on the on-coming traffic where the shoulders narrow and blind turns appear. I wish I had that adventurous curiosity, to go out and mix it up and try something different, but that’s not me. Being that familiar with my surroundings I often catch little details most folks miss. Usually it’s nothing noteworthy, maybe a new mailbox or a newly paved driveway. I enjoy the little details, getting to know my route the same way you get to know someone and grow close over many years. No matter how well you know them, there’s always something new to discover and every time you’re together there’s an opportunity for discovery that brings you closer.

From my front door I’ve got certain markers pegged almost to the hundredth of a mile, so after mile one I started thinking about 10,000. Should I stop at 10,000 and take it all in?… nah, that’s sounds over dramatic, better just to press on. After 1.5 and 1.6 I had a change of heart, why not stop for a few minutes, so at 1.7 I hit the stop button on the Garmin to appreciate the moment. I looked around for a minute and gave it some thought. I looked at the ground, looked up at the sky, gave a wave and a nod to a power walker cruising by. I had nothing. No profound revelations, no insightful visions. Once I started thinking ‘OK, I’m feeling a little silly’, I hit the button on the Garmin and got started on ten thousand and one.

Looking Forward by Looking Back

Tonight as I’m looking back, mile 10,000 didn’t seem any different from the 9,999 miles before it, and I think that’s the point. As runners we continually define ourselves with numbers whether they’re measured in distances or time. I’m as guilty of that as anyone as I’ve often used running to feed my ego and measure my self-worth. I’m starting to figure out that this can be self-destructive. Whether I’m using my own numbers or someone else’s as a measuring stick, it can turn into a vicious cycle. Achievement for achievement’s sake is a fairly shallow pool, not much depth there to explore. While routine has its place, all journeys take you through unexplored territory. Maybe it’s time to start looking at different routes.

Photo Credit

Pushing through Pain

Change is Hard: Pushing through Pain

“Experience has taught me how important it is to just keep going, focusing on running fast and relaxed. Eventually pain passes and the flow returns. It’s part of racing.” – Frank Shorter

If you’re a competitive runner, it’s the price of admission. It’s going to hurt, a lot. Both in training and on race day it’s the one thing you can count on to be there. Most running articles, blogs and advice I’ve read really don’t dig into this but are instead centered around the physical aspects of performance because the metrics are easier to measure. Training plans and races can be analyzed and tweaked based on splits and total time. The results can then be compared to determine the best course of action. Pain though is subjective and not easily measured. We all experience it in similar ways but for each of us pain is a singular experience. Like a fingerprint, you can immediately identify it at first glance but as you look closer all the subtle lines and details make our suffering uniquely ours. What this means is when you’re pushing your effort above the 95th percentile, getting those last few percentage points are all mental and there’s no cookie-cutter road map to getting to your peak. The only guide we have to maxing out is knowing just how much discomfort we can tolerate.

A Word of Caution First

To start with let’s be clear about what I’m taking about. I’m not referring to the type of debilitating pain that signals something is wrong. Issues such as a critical physical injury, heat stroke, hyponatremia and other serious and potential life threatening situations need immediate attention and the ceasing of activity. Ignoring this type of pain will turn you from a hero into a cautionary tale very quickly, so don’t do it. The more experience you get as a runner, the better you’ll get at understanding your body’s language and the easier it will be to know if you are in serious trouble or not.

So we’ve narrowed it down. We’re talking about the”‘gut check”, “grin and bear it”, “suck it up buttercup” type of misery we deliberately subject ourselves to on a regular basis. For what it’s worth here’s three ways for dealing with the inevitable:

Accept it

Admit it, when you first feel the discomfort rising your first reaction is fear. You can hear yourself saying “I shouldn’t be feeling this so soon”, “I’m in better shape than this” or “How bad is this going to get?” All of these responses are irrelevant. The pain fairy has shown up to make your day more interesting and she’s going to hang around for a bit. The key is not to react emotionally at first because your first reaction is typically going to be a negative one. That negativity then is going to wreck your confidence, sap your energy and just dig you deeper into the hurt locker.

Our attitude should be to expect it. Like a boxer in a fight you know your going to get hit so don’t flinch when the blows come, because they will come and flinching will only make it worse. Accept it so you can focus on what matters.

Pursue it

In some races it comes and goes in waves, in others it’s a slow smoldering burn that builds in intensity until it’s searing. Instead of backing way, I’ll force myself to lean into it and if I’m feeling too comfortable mid-race I’ll start looking for it by pushing the pace. Our instinct when we’re hurting is to slow down until the pain is manageable, but this is a missed opportunity. You’ve been handed a motivational tool that if used and channeled properly can help propel you and keep you focused. When you feel yourself struggling keep the pedal down. Find out if this is a ‘stick around’ kind of suffering or just a ‘comes and goes’ type. Regardless keep pressing, you’ll never be able to push past your limits until you know where they are.

Pass through it

In some races it feels like we are stuck in our current predicament and when that happens panic can start to set in. If we give in to panic we initiate a series of events that is going to undermine our performance and set us up for defeat regardless of how we run the rest of the race. With each stride you are moving through an experience, you’re not trapped so don’t react like you are. Now is the time for that emotional reaction only it needs to be positive. Use visualization techniques and see yourself passing the field, setting a new PR or placing in your age group and what you’re going though now is the price you have to pay to get that. This positive feedback will keep you moving and focused on the race instead of the discomfort. Let the pain pass through you instead of letting it set up residence.

Pain Comes in Many Forms

Non-running lesson of the week: Last Wednesday was a pretty apocalyptic day for me, not physically but emotionally. I’ll spare you the details but I had to deal with a work situation that was a perfect storm of Murphy’s law, instructions not followed and some high visibility commitments. It got ugly early and didn’t get better until I headed home. That evening as I was struggling to fall asleep I had a bit of a revelation, I got to the point where I couldn’t feel any more frustration, disappointment or anger. Then it hit me… you can only hurt so much. Pain doesn’t scale to infinity even though we think it can. I accepted it, passed though it, and then fell into a deep sleep.

As I went in the next day to continue to deal with the aftermath, I was at peace with what occurred and thought about how to make the best of a bad situation. I learned, quite by accident, that every kind of pain has its limits and only has as much power over us as we choose to give it.

photo credit

Broad Street Run – Race Report 2012

Broad Street Run Pre-Race:

In the interest of full disclosure, I had no idea what was going to happen at this race. I’ve scheduled my races this year around my two marathons along with the Mid-Atlantic USATF Grand Prix races since my running team competes in those events. The Philadelphia Broad Street Run is one of those USATF events and when I saw that it was three weeks after Boston I winced as I pressed ‘send’ on the email telling my team captain I was running in it. I normally like to have at least a good month after a marathon to fully recover and even though I have bounced back quicker after each marathon over the past year, three weeks was cutting it tight.

Broad Street Run

I looked through the race guide a few days before race day and I saw a reference to the “over 37,000 runners” that were registered for the race. The last time I ran Broad Street back in 2005 there were 12,000 runners and the past few years there were about 25,000 each year. Increasing the field size 50% in one year seemed like a recipe for a logistical disaster so I planned my weekend with that in mind.

The pretzel street venders must have made a killing!

Packet pickup options allowed for a Friday or Saturday pickup. Trying to avoid having to drive into Philly on Saturday I decided to take a long lunch to see if I could run over and grab it on Friday since I figured most runners would come on Saturday…big mistake. I wound up standing in line for over 30 minutes before I had to leave for a meeting. Never even got indoors. Saturday morning I got there right around the time the expo opened and was in line for only 25 minutes since the line was moving well. I feel sorry for the folks that got there later.

If it takes longer to pick up your bib than to run the actual race, that might be a bad sign.

If Philly is intent on making this a big race nationally then they should plan the expo accordingly. Having it at Lincoln Financial Field (Home of the Philadelphia Eagles) is a good start but they didn’t utilize the available space well. Once you got into the stadium the section that housed the expo was fairly narrow and only allowed enough space for the vendors and about one lane of traffic going in each direction. It made for a lot of congestion. Also they staged bib pickup and t-shirt pickup at opposite ends of the expo to force you to walk past the vendors twice. I’ve seen this done at a few races and I think it’s bush league. If you give the runners a good experience they will be more likely to purchase from vendors. Make it difficult for them and all they’ll want to do is get their stuff and get out.

Broad Street Run Race Day:

Enough about the expo. I went into race day hoping for the best but planning for the worst. Since Broad Street is a point-to-point race there is some transportation logistics involved. If you were driving your best option was to drive to the stadium parking lots (about a mile from the finish) and take the subway up to the start area. SEPTA allowed all runners to ride for free which was a nice touch. For a 8:30AM gun time my plan was to get to the start area a little after 6:30AM since I expected a mob scene and wanted to make sure I could take care of any pre-race “issues” with minimal stress. Factoring in the drive and the subway ride, that meant a 4:30AM wake up.

It's beautiful man...sniff...

The early wake up paid off. That morning everything went off without a hitch and I found myself at the start area staring at a field filled with porta-potties and no lines. I well up a little just thinking about it.

Our gear bags needed to be on the buses by 8AM so I headed over there to remove my warm ups and get race ready at about 7:30. For me the weather was perfect, temps in the 50′s, overcast and a bit of a breeze. A little chilly for shorts and a singlet but wonderful for running. I did some warm ups and then headed to my corral about 8:10. Corrals were assigned based on time but there’s no verification process so you know how that goes. Some folks took advantage of the honor system. Also there wasn’t any corral enforcement in place so the honor system was getting abused a bit there too. Nothing egregious but noticeable.

Race Start

There was just one corral between me and the elites so when the gun when off at 8:30 we started about 2 minutes later. This worked out well because over the race there was just the right number of runners on any section without it being over crowded.

If you don’t know Broad Street it’s a fast course, downhill most of the way:

Broad Street Run Elevation

Miles 1 thru 3

I went out too fast but I realized it and went with it anyway. I didn’t have a really thought out plan since I wasn’t fully confident where I was recovery wise. I figured I would start to fade at some point so I went out hard and had the goal of holding on as long as possible. The first few miles didn’t have any spectators and weren’t very scenic so I just focused on finding a workable pace. My first three splits were 6:10, 6:13 and 6:17.

Miles 4 thru 8

These miles were fun while we went through the heart of Philly. We passed Temple University, City Hall as well as the Kimmel Center for Performing Arts. Great crowds, marching bands and mascots all around. One sore point was I could tell the folks working the water stops weren’t pros since at a few water stops it seemed we were getting funneled into a narrow lane from the crowd on one side and the water stop volunteers on the other. I’m sure it widened as bigger crowds of runners came through but it was a brief concern.

Broad Street was in pretty good shape, a few pieces of pavement missing here and there but I’ve seen worse. One section though actually felt a little slick as I was making ground contact. It must have been from motor oil residue on the surface so I moved over near the double yellow and that felt firmer. Still loving racing in the Inov-8 150′s, it’s a great shoe. I don’t think I would have felt the pavement surface change if I was wearing my old Hyper Speeds.

Splits were 6:26, 6:16, 6:11, 6:18, 6:20

Past Mile 8 to the Finish

The course was flat for the last two miles and I thought I was in trouble as my perceived effort went up a notch or two between mile 8 and 9. Being so close to the finish though gave me the mental energy to keep the pedal down along with knowing I was looking at coming in under 1:04. My last two splits were 6:22 and 6:19 giving me a 1:03:06 and a new PR.

Epilogue

Right after I crossed the finish I noticed to the side of the finishers chute Cecily Tynan was standing there talking to someone. She had a post race glow that most runners recognize immediately. Cecily must have a had a good race. I thought back to the Haddonfield Adrenaline 5k where she beat me by one second. She was probably in the corral in front of me so I wasn’t sure how she did. When I got home I saw she ran a 1:02:12. AHHHHHH!!!!!

TYNAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNN!!!!!!!

I think we are officially in nemesis territory here. Her Doc Ock to my Spiderman, her Dr. Doom to my Mr. Fantastic…you know Sheldon was right, it’s amazing how many super villains have advanced degrees. Grad schools should really do a better job weeding them out.

Purpose

I find that I use my recovery time after a marathon to reflect on my past training and look ahead to what I’m planning for the rest of the year.

Inactive recovery, circa 2003

As athletes it’s easy to find ourselves bouncing from one training workout to the next, from race to race, and in the flurry of our complex and overflowing schedules confuse activity with accomplishment. For a marathon training plan we focus on the minutia of every run. The days we have tempos, hill repeats, long runs and rest days are all scheduled with laser like precision least we over-train and risk injury or under-train and miss our race day goal. There are reasons for every activity (or lack there of) in the plan. Every run in the plan has a purpose.

That’s as far as most of us take it though. We see a race we want to run, we put a training plan in place, we execute the plan, and then run the race. It’s a very common and familiar theme we all recognize. Now ask yourself “why run the race?” and the question that naturally follows is “why run at all for that matter?” When you ask most runners those questions you get the basic stock answers and they tend to be very general, it’s rare to get a focused answer. “For a sense of accomplishment” or “I want to be in better shape” are very common responses. Some are raising money for charity, which is noble, but there are other ways to raise money. What are you trying to accomplish? If your serious about it, what’s the purpose of your running?

Whether it’s health, achievement, or charity, I don’t think many of us really give it enough thought. Email, voice-mail, job pressures and daily errands occupy our thinking to such a degree we never take a step back and evaluate the big picture. We never take the time for long-term thinking, things just seem to play out as a result of our short-term decisions. Do you see the problem here? If short-term thinking drives long-term decisions where is your running going to be three years from now? Are you satisfied just being on the hamster wheel of activity?

It’s at this point in my post I need to ask you to stow your tray tables and put your seats in their full upright position because it’s going to get a little bumpy. To fully answer what purpose your running has you need to take one more step back. You need to look at what your life’s purpose is and that brings up a bunch of issues most of us would rather not confront. I don’t have the answers for you but what I want to accomplish here is to get you asking the right questions. So here we go.

“There’s no escaping reason, no denying purpose, because as we both know, without purpose we would not exist.
It is purpose that created us,
purpose that connects us,
purpose that pulls us,
that guides us,
that drives us,
it is purpose that defines,
purpose that binds us…”
Agent Smith: The Matrix Reloaded

Why Purpose Matters

For a fictional, sentient computer program, Agent Smith pretty much nailed it. Take a moment now and look away from your monitor and note some of the objects in your environment. I’m sitting at my desk in my office and the objects in my field of view are magazines, papers and gadgets all spread out in different piles in front of me along with a water bottle within arm’s reach. Do you know what they all have in common? Every single one of them has a purpose and there is no reason to think we are any different.

It may seem nonsensical to start comparing a person with an inanimate object but follow me on this for a minute. Imagine the water bottle on my desk was searching for personal fulfillment and decided “You know what, I want to be a chair! A chair is a great job with good benefits. People would look forward to sitting in me and relaxing. They might also want to use me to do some productive office work. Holding water by comparison seems so work-a-day and uninspiring. That settles it, I’m a chair.” The water bottle then spends the next 20 years in misery because it wasn’t created to be a chair. It’s uncomfortable to sit on and it can’t support much weight so it never gets used. It then can’t understand why it’s so unhappy when the answer is so simple. It’s not fulfilling its purpose.

Asking the Right Questions

First question: How do you determine purpose? It begins with brutal honesty. In our postmodern society we’ve become such experts at rationalization it’s become increasingly difficult to take an objective look at who we are and where we are going. If you have a spouse, partner or really close friend sit down with them and ask them if they can give you some honest feedback on your choices and life decisions. You might find that they’ll confirm for you some things you’ve been thinking about but were afraid to admit to yourself. Their insight might save you a few years of misery. For years during my flying career my wife would tell me I should work in the computer field and I would insist I would never get hired because I didn’t have the right work experience. Yet here I sit fifteen years later having spent the last eleven as a Database Engineer. Your spouse has incredible insight into how you tick, listen to them.

The next question I would ask is ‘What makes me feel comfortable, secure and safe?” Find out what that is and then run as fast as you can away from it. I’ve never heard or experienced a situation where purpose wasn’t found after overcoming conflict and emotional turmoil. As runners we don’t shy away from hard work and struggle to get where we want to go, how you approach your life shouldn’t be any different.

One last question for you: Am I living someone else’s life? We spent so much time trying to fit-in, conform and copy the success of others we lose ourselves in the process. Stop worrying about what your friends, family and coworkers think and follow your intuition. Listen to that voice telling you to act. The more you listen, the louder it gets. Trust me.

Running = Life

Take the same approach to finding your life’s purpose and apply it to your running. If we are honest with ourselves we all have to admit that there is something about our running that resonates on a level we don’t fully understand. It may just be a hobby for you now, or it might be something more. You won’t know until you start asking the right questions.

Designed to Run

Endurance produces character, and character produces hope

Monthly Archives: May 2012