2020 Goal Results

This was a strange year for goals. All the races I ran in 2020 were virtual, making running much different. It was also a frustrating year of injuries, so as a result my goals didn't go as well as I would have liked.

Here are the goal results:

1. Run at least 1,560 miles this year
Running injuries prevented me from making a real attempt at this goal as I took all of March off, but I did manage to put in 1,386 miles, so not bad for missing an entire month: 89%

2. Break 18 minutes in the 5K
I managed an 18:02 by myself, in the dark, with a warm up that was too short. I almost feel like I should get full credit for this one, but instead it's: 99.7%

3. Submit a story to Runner's World
I got stuck on this one. I didn't really have a good idea, and when I did get an idea, I didn't get it to go anywhere: 0%

4. Write 52 blog posts and have 48 of those finished by the start of December
Done

5. Get to and maintain racing weight
I made progress on this one and got down to the weight I was at for my first sub-3 hour marathon, but not to the weight of my PR marathon. This one goes down as: 95%

So there it is. I met 77% of my goals. Coming soon: goals for 2021.

Happy New Year!

I Am Not Bipolar

I am not bipolar. That’s right: I’m not bipolar. If you know me well and you’re feeling a little anxiety about that statement — perhaps you're worried I've stopped taking my medication — stay with me for a moment.

For years, and even in the not-too-distant past, if someone would have asked me, “are you bipolar?” I would have said, “yes.”

Now, however, my answer would be, “no.”

The thing is, I’m not bipolar. I have bipolar.

Consider another example: a person with diabetes. They’re not a diabetic. They are a person with diabetes. What’s the difference? 

Well, if one is a diabetic than that is who they are. She or he is defined by his or her body’s deficiency in processing sugar. Instead of being defined as a mother, a caring friend, a painter, or a volunteer, instead she or he becomes defined by meals, medications, and disease management.

In much the same way, I don’t want to say I’m bipolar. Rather, I’d like to say I have bipolar. In, “Preventing Bipolar Relapse,” by Ruth White, what she had to say on this matter really hit home for me. She writes, “Bipolar is not who you are — it is an illness you have. There is more to you than an illness of the brain.”

By thinking about bipolar as something that I have rather than something that I am, I feel more in control. Bipolar is something I can manage, not something I am. Instead, I can define myself in more self-effacing ways: Christian, father, husband, teacher, blogger, and friend to name a few.

So thank you to everyone in my life who's helped define me on things other than my illness.

Be well.

Working Out Indoors

Due to the risk of COVID-19, Laura and I thought that this would be the year where we bought a treadmill and cancel our gym memberships.

In Minnesota, working out indoors is almost inevitable. It's dark fairly late into the morning and gets dark late in the afternoon, which, for many, means no daylight hours to work out outside. And when there is time to exercise outdoors in daylight, there is snow and cold to contend with.

Working out indoors seems an easy solution to dealing with Minnesota winters, but there's one problem: it's boring. Some indoor equipment is worse than others, but whether it's a rowing machine or an elliptical, I find working out indoors significantly less stimulating than going for a run outside.

That said, there are some things one can do to make indoor exercise less boring.

Sure, some may have incredible mental fortitude and can run on a treadmill or spin an elliptical for hours without need of distraction. I, however, cannot. Instead, I rely on distraction to make the time go by.

One go to method for many is to watch some sort of video while they exercise. I've done this before on my phone while using the elliptical. It works OK, but I have to watch something that I don't have to look at the whole time because I'm tall enough that I have to look down somewhat which can make it uncomfortable for my neck. Home indoor equipment could face a TV or a tablet mount could be used to make watching video more comfortable. 

More often, I listen to books or podcasts when I'm working out indoors. It's great when I find something I'm really into because I can get lost in that book or podcasts and the time just flies by. 

One other strategy that seems somewhat helpful is covering the display on workout equipment either through using a setting that hides it or throwing a towel over it. It seems more mentally challenging to see a time or distance remaining that looks too long. Hiding that information makes it more bearable.

Our new treadmill has a program called iFit that is surprisingly enjoyable for an indoor workout. It involves following a trainer as she or he runs a route is some scenic place. The elevation and speed (though I override the speed) are adjusted automatically along with the terrain of the workout.

Do you have an indoor tip to share? What gets you through workouts indoors?

Home Update

 After going through pictures since my last home update, I realized I probably could have done two of these for the last month. It's amazing how fast time flies by. Here are some highlights:

Emptying her sleepsuits

The littlest one has started standing and is saying, "mamama," and, "dadada," along with various other iterations. She's making other sounds too and also enjoys climbing on things and getting into anything she can reach.

The weather in November and early December has been pretty mild, so we've made our way outside almost every day. We like going to the park where the older little one and I play dinosaur school (we've played tyrannosaurus rex school from kindergarten through college and several grades of velociraptors) on the bocce ball court while Claire moves as best she can in her snowsuit.

The older little one continues to do distance learning preschool. He enjoys just about everything we do and really enjoys the science projects. We've made dancing grapes with vinegar and baking soda and above we made a "lava lamp" with Alka-Seltzer, oil, water, and food coloring.

The littlest one likes to randomly suck her
thumb and snuggle up to stuffed animals

We watched an episode of Peppa Pig where the pig family uses Marble Run, so naturally we had to build our own. If you have kids, I highly recommend Peppa Pig.

For the first time in a long time, we celebrated Thanksgiving in Eagan, Minn., and it was the first time the older little one didn't spend Thanksgiving with my side of the family in Norfolk, Neb. My turkey didn't turn out very good (pretty dry), but I made decent turkey noodle soup.

Thanks to our friend Jared, we now have a 312 pound treadmill in our basement office/bedroom/workout room. We've both been enjoying the flexibility of running or walking at home.

I hope everyone's holiday season is going well. I look forward to sharing my next update from the home front.

Crossroads

When I ran my virtual half marathon a few weeks ago, I was hoping to run under three hours. My training had gone much better than the previous year's Twin Cities Marathon, so I thought I could do better than the 3:07 I ran there. 

Unfortunately, the last few long runs before the marathon my foot started acting up. At the marathon, it began to hurt at mile seven and by mile twenty-one I was ready to drop out of the race. You can read more about it on my race report.

Now, I'm getting tired of always being injured. I would say that I've joked before that running is just something I do between injuries, but it's not really a joke. Running is actually something I do between and during injuries.

So, after long consideration, I've decided to cut significantly back on my running. I'll use the extra time to work on strength and mobility as well as walking.

The hard part will be setting goals to stay motivated. Running fewer miles will most likely lead to slower race times, so I'll have to give some consideration as to how to structure my goals.

This decision-making process has given me conflicting feelings. Part of me feels optimistic and excited to be running without pain, but part of me feels disappointed that I'll most likely be running slower times. There is a remote chance that the extra strength and mobility work I'll be doing will make up for the reduction in running volume.

I'm interested to see how this goes. I know I won't enjoy it quite as much as running, but I will enjoy running injury-free (I hope).

Stay well.

Mental Health Day or Sick Day

It's a pretty common phrase: "I'm taking a mental health day." I don't know all the reasons people have for taking a mental health day, but generally it means that work is stressful and one needs a day off to mentally recuperate.

As someone with bipolar, were I to take a mental health day, it may be more complex. Unfortunately, most workplaces don't allow for mental health days, but they do allow for sick days, and this is where things get tricky for me. It was easier when I was a substitute teacher and I pretty much picked my own schedule, but before I substitute taught, there were times when I couldn't go into work because of bipolar symptoms.

Unfortunately, there's still a stigma attached to mental illness, especially bipolar, that keeps me from saying what the problem is that's keeping me from work. I don't feel comfortable saying, "My bipolar symptoms are really acting up, and I'm not going to be able to make it in today." Maybe that's partly on me, but I'd still feel more comfortable saying I had a cold or a headache that was keeping me from work.

And what do I do when I call in to work? If I had the flu, a severe cold, or a headache, I'd stay at home and rest. If I'm feeling bipolar symptoms, however, I'd much rather try to get myself moving to burn off some energy if I'm anxious or manic (within reason. Mania can be exacerbated by too much exercise), or to get a mood boost if I'm depressed.

It feels weird being on a run, at the gym, or out for a walk after calling in sick to work. It shouldn't. While resting is the best bet for some ailments, activity is better for others.

I hope one day it will be easier to call in sick to work and say, "I'm dealing with some mental health symptoms," and not feel ashamed doing it.

Stay well.

Gratitude

This time of year can come with a lot of anxiety and stress. Yes, the holidays can be fun and full of cheer, but it can also be stressful. Some struggle with preparing holiday food, organizing gatherings, and buying presents. Others face gathering with family with whom their relationships are strained. Still others find the changing season of more darkness negatively affects their moods.

In this pandemic, holidays look different for most people. Smaller gatherings and smaller meals may mean less stress in some ways, but it also means missing time with loved ones.

I've been struggling some with my mood. It's not unusual at all for me this time of year, and the shortening days and cloudy weather leave me feeling down.

But, one of the best things I do when I'm feeling down is to practice gratitude. When I'm feeling anxious and/or depressed, my thoughts often wander to the past or the future instead of staying in the present. I ruminate on past mistakes or future worries, which is not helpful at all. Instead, practicing gratitude brings me to the present and all the wonderful things in my life: a family, friends, faith in Jesus, and health are just a few things to be thankful for.

How about you? Do you practice gratitude in your life? What are you thankful for?

Buds or No Buds

In many ways, running is the simplest, purist sport there is. Shirt, (sports bra),  shorts, socks, and shoes, and you’re out the door. Or, in winter’s case, add some pants, jacket, gloves, and a hat. It’s simple, right?

Well, not completely. What about earbuds? The debates on the drawbacks and merits of earbuds are many. Just Google, “running with earbuds debate,” and you'll find articles that outline the issue, both positive and negative.

I have mixed feelings about running with earbuds. Those who say it’s dangerous to run while you're hearing impaired do have a point. If a cyclist is coming behind you and fails to give a verbal warning, you may not hear it in time to give the bicyclist space. During a race you could fail to hear an emergency vehicle approaching.

I now have a pair of Aftershokz headphones. They are bone conducting headphones that do not cover the ear, so it is still easy to hear surrounding sounds. Before that, when I ran with earbuds, I always used only one ear.

Still, as far as the safety thing goes, I think it’s good enough to have the volume at a reasonable level and/or have one earbud out. 

Another issue the anti-earbud crowd picks up is the lack of attunement to one’s body. Earbuds, they say, take away from the body’s natural signals of pace and effort. I agree somewhat with this one. I don’t wear earbuds when I’m doing an interval workout or a tempo run. I do, however, often wear earbuds during easy runs and sometimes long runs. I’m confident in my ability to run at an easy pace with or without earbuds in my ears.

I also tend to wear earbuds when I’ve gone a long time running without company (which has been a lot this year). After spending a lot of time in my own head, it’s nice to take a break and listen to a recorded book or podcast without having to listen to my own internal monologue.

How about you? Do you run with earbuds? Why or why not?

Virtual (not) parkrun

 

This year, with no in-person races, I ran several (not) parkruns. The (not) parkrun is the virtual version of the weekly free event, parkrun. Parkruns are all over the world, and one takes place in Eagan. Laura and I have raced it quite a few times.

After the pandemic, parkrun began hosting a virtual event. It's pretty simply — all one has to do is run a 5K and then upload the results on the (not) parkrun website. The time then appears with other runners of the same parkrun on the website.

Since my goal for the year was to run a 5K in under eighteen minutes, I decided to use the (not) parkrun as my race.

After taking off all of March due to injury, I gave my first (not) parkrun a shot in July with a time of 20:13. It looked like breaking eighteen minutes for the year would be a pretty tall order, but I knew I was a long way from being fit, so I wasn't too discouraged.

From there on I went from 20:13 and mostly improved my time each subsequent race I did around every three weeks. 

Then, on October 12, I ran 18:02. It was agonizingly close to breaking eighteen minutes. The thought also crossed my mind that I could have counted it for breaking eighteen minutes if I had stopped my watch at 3.10 miles. Instead, I stopped my watch at 3.13. On all my (not) parkruns (and most 5Ks in general), my GPS has read between 3.12 and 3.15 miles because one never runs the tangents perfectly and GPS isn't as precise as a wheel measured course.

I'm still going to take a couple more shots at breaking eighteen minutes for the 5K this year. After I feel recovered from my marathon, I plan on running two (not) parkruns before the end of the year. I'm using the McMillan's advice in "Turning Marathon Fitness into 5K/10K PRs" to structure my training. We'll see what happens.

I'd highly recommend the (not) parkrun. It's free, and you can track your progress over time. You can also see other runners results and see your age grade%. You can sign up at About parkrun.

Run well.

Ran a (Half) Marathon? Run a 5K or 10K

<Image Credit>

In my last post I wrote about building a base for the spring racing season and running slowly after finishing up a fall race. If, however, you want to get a little more mileage out of your fall fitness, consider racing a 5K or 10K several weeks after a longer race.

While most in-person marathons have been canceled this year, many of you have completed a marathon or half marathon virtually. If you feel like you need another race to motivate you, there's an excellent article on the McMillan Running Website called, "Turning Marathon Fitness into 5K/10K PRs."

I've used this method in the past, and while it hasn't led to any PRs (mainly because my 5K PR was when I was in the best shape of my life), it's a solid plan to squeeze some more performance out of a marathon training cycle.

This year I did a virtual marathon in early November, so I'm trying McMillan's plan again. Unfortunately, completing the plan would mean a long shot at meeting my 5K goal for the year. I'll probably race a virtual 5K the last Sunday of the year and hope that somehow I can eek out a sub-18:00.

Run well.

Running Slowly

<Image Credit>

Most people are headed into the running offseason. There aren't too many fall races on the schedule other than a few Turkey Trots, and winter isn't the ideal time for racing. Without training for a peak race, now is the perfect time to train slow. There are two types of slow that are helpful for building a base: increasing mileage slow and running slow.

Training slow is great for building a base while avoiding injury.

If you’re starting to increase your mileage after a fall race, be conservative. Don’t return to the mileage you were running before the race right away. I’d recommend running one fewer day per week than you had been before your race and about 50% or fewer miles.

As you increase y3our mileage, make sure you're running slowly. There's really no such thing as running too slowly while you're building a base. I was listening to a podcast with a professional running who has run a 2:34 marathon, and she was doing some of her easy runs at nine minutes a mile pace. If she can run that slowly, I'm guessing many of us likely have room to slow down.

I've made the mistakes of increasing mileage too quickly and running my easy runs too fast several times. I get antsy to return my fitness to where it was before I was on a break. I know from experience too much, too fast, too soon is a recipe for injury, so don’t make the same mistake I have.

Stay healthy.

The Social Distancing Run Marathon: Race Report

I don't write race reports for every race anymore as I have already written over fifty. But, since this race consisted only of me, I thought I'd write a little recap for me to look back on.

Running a race where there were no parking or traffic issues, and I could do my warmup exercises at home before riding with the family to the start (five minutes away) was nice. Once I got there I set up my aid station of fluids and gels, my wife and four year old counted down, and I was off.

The course consisted of eleven 2.4 mile laps, most of it along the perimeter of Eagan's Central Park. The course probably wouldn't be considered a fast course — it had 1,626 feet of elevation gain — but it wasn't an overly difficult course either. The hills were pretty gradual and on the backside of each loop was a long downhill.

The best part of the race was that I had a group of friends who showed up to cheer. For almost the entire race I got to see them each lap.

As for the racing part, things didn't shake out quite as I would've liked. Around mile seven, my foot started acting up. It's an old injury that occasionally flares up, and it had during a couple of long runs, but it had been pretty manageable and hadn't hurt on most runs.

Unfortunately, as my race went on, it started hurting more and more. Even if it hadn't hurt, I don't think I would have run the time I wanted because I was feeling pretty tired around mile 18.

At mile 21 or so I called Laura and told her I didn't think I'd finish. She said, "Oh I'm sorry. You're so close." Thinking about how close I was made me re-think dropping out. I decided to walk for a few minutes and try running again to see if it were tolerable.

When I started up again, it still hurt pretty bad, but I thought I could make it five more miles.

My foot was varying degrees of painful after my long walk. There was a lot of walking for the last five miles, but the walk breaks kept my foot feeling just well enough to finish the race.

My friends and family set up a toilet paper finish line. It was pretty cool breaking the "tape." I finished first (and also last), and I was happy to be finished.

I'm glad to have finished the marathon. It was my 19th marathon and I've now run a marathon every year since 2009.

Thank you for all your support and especially thank you to those who donated to World Vision. It really made the marathon worthwhile.

Marathon Race Day

 

This morning I'll be running my first ever virtual marathon. I don't really know what to expect as far as how it will feel. I have a few friends and family members who are coming out to cheer a bit, but other than that the course will be spectator-free.

It'll also feel a little strange to have no other runners on the course. I might come across a couple runners and will definitely see a few walkers, but otherwise I'll have the paths to myself.

It's funny — I have been treating this virtual race as a real race pretty much since I started training for it. I've raced a marathon every year since 2009, and I didn't want to go a year without one, so I decided a virtual race would "count" as my marathon for the year.

My course is eleven 2.4 mile laps along the outside of Eagan's Central Park. I figure running 26.4 is close to what I'd get if I ran an official race, so I'm going to go the full eleven laps.

Eleven laps sounds a little monotonous, but I've run about half of my long runs there this training cycle so I can leave water at one spot and not have to carry it.

I enjoy the course. It goes through a short wooded section with a marsh and most of the route there's a view of the Sperry Tower for most of the run.

Sperry Tower <Image Credit>

Since there won't be much of a race day atmosphere, I decided to do something I've never done before — run with headphones. I won't be listening the entire way. I've got a playlist to play one song each lap. It might pump me up a bit and will be something to look forward to.

Thanks to everyone who donated to World Vision. I'll have a wrist band to dedicate a mile to each person or family who has donated.

Wish me luck!

Birds

Turkey in our yard

My friends have joked with me in the past that I am an old man. While there are a variety of reasons for this which I won't get into, one thing I get teased for is my love of birds.

Birds have always interested me. I remember sitting at my Great Uncle Harold's cabin when I was young and looking through his bird books. I still enjoy looking through bird books.

Often, I type my blog while sitting at the kitchen table and occasionally glancing at the two bird feeders out my window. Watching for and noticing birds while running is also something I enjoy. Sitting here, typing this blog post, I can distinctly remember many instances of birds I've seen while running.

One of the most interesting was when I was running with a buddy on the Minnesota River Bottoms trail when we spotted a raptor sitting near the river. I walked pretty close to it and got a nice view of its curved, sharp beak and its black, penetrating eyes. I couldn't tell exactly on kind of bird it was, but I would guess a juvenile bald eagle. 

Another time I was running on the Big River Regional trail. The trail climbs up on the river bluffs with a view of the river and the tops of trees below. One day, as I was running, I heard a loud squawking sound. When I got closer, I could make out below me a small bald eagle, perhaps calling for its meal.

I could go on, and if you read this far you might be interested in birds, so one more story: On a run from my house to a trail along the Minnesota River, I heard a bird that sounds a little like a monkey. I scanned the trees, looking for the source of the sound and saw a pileated woodpecker on someone's bird feeder.

If enjoying bird watching, whether on a run or watching the birds that come to my feeders, make me an old man, pass me some prune juice.

Home Update

 It appears these are coming out about monthly, so here we go.

Life feels a little like Groundhog Day at times, but the little one started distance learning preschool a few weeks back, so that's given our days a little more variety.

Raking leaves was one of our preschool projects

The little one has been interested in books since he was one or so, and for the last few months he "reads" books he has memorized to his sister.

Reading a Sandra Boynton book

Laura has been doing the (not) parkrun 5k on the (not) parkrun course about once a week. The first time we came out and played on the playground and cheered her on each time she went by on the figure eight course.

The family after Laura's run. Notice the cowbell

The littlest one enjoys being on the move. I've let her crawl around a little outside, but she can only be on her own for a couple seconds before she tries to put things in her mouth. Pretty sure she got a bite of leaf during the taking of this picture.

We made it out to Afton Apple Orchard — an annual tradition. It was nice doing something socially distanced outside.

I've been enjoying staying home with the kiddos the past seven months. With the new one being so little, it's amazing the changes that have taken place in such a short amount of time.

Be well.

Sponsor a Mile: Donate to World Vision

Last year when I ran the Twin Cities Marathon, I raised money for Team World Vision. World Vision provides agricultural training, access to clean water, and essential health care among others. When I raised money last year, I raised over $50 per mile of my 26.2 mile race. I dedicated a mile to each person or family that donated.

It was motivating and meaningful during the marathon to think about and thank people each mile of the marathon, and I felt good about helping bring clean water to communities in need.

Initially I thought I wouldn't do another run for charity for a while as I didn't want people to feel pressured by me too often to donate.

But, I decided that I did want to make a difference with my marathon (even though it's virtual) and raise money for a cause I believe in. I won't, however, ask anyone individually to donate. Even if just one person besides me donates, I'll be happy.

If you do want to donate, please let me know what mile you'd like to sponsor, and I'll put down your or your family's name on a wrist band and dedicate that mile to you.

You can donate at the World Vision Fund or on Facebook.

Thank you, and be well.

Workouts and Confidence

 Over ten years ago I wrote a post, "Confidence in Workouts," where I opined on my guarded realism in my workouts' predictive values for races. In it, I wrote that poor workouts sapped my confidence more than good workouts improved my confidence.

A poor workout would make me question my goal time of a race while a solid workout would make me feel only somewhat more confident about an upcoming race. Since then, however, I've read, "If One Bad Workout Lowers Your Confidence Level, You Weren't Confident in the First Place," an article from Matt Fitzgerald on the 80/20 Endurance Blog. 

In the article, Fitzgerald writes, "an athlete’s best workouts are actually the most accurate indicators of their current fitness level and performance capacity." He goes on to explain that it is impossible to perform above one's current level of fitness, and relative easy to have a bad workout due to a variety of factors.

I had an amazing workout this past Saturday — eighteen miles with nine miles easy pace, six miles goal marathon pace, and three miles tempo pace. I nailed all my paces and didn't feel crummy afterwards.

Fitzgerald also writes that one should keep a level head and avoid extreme ends of confidence and insecurity (I really recommend the article as it applies to all areas of life), so I'm not going to get overly confident about my upcoming marathon based on this workout, but it does have me feeling more confident than it would have in the past.

Run well.

Streaks, Niggles, and Hypomania

All things must come to end. As of October 10, I had run 62 consecutive days and reached my 10,000 steps goal for 48 days. I hadn't kept track of my steps before, but my previous running streak record was 47 days.

This morning, I woke up feeling exhausted. After being up by 5:30 a.m. or earlier every weekday for a few weeks, I decided I was done with my running streak. I'd been having some little niggles in my feet and ankles (which I think were due to an old pair of shoes), so I decided that with the exhaustion and the niggles, it wouldn't be a bad idea to take a day off.  

I also cut back my mileage a bit because I read that it's possible that exercise can exacerbate or cause hypomania and mania, though whether exercise causes hypomania or mania or that excessive exercise is caused by mania or hypomania is not clear (Can Exercise Cause Mania?).

Tomorrow I'll be back at it, partly because I've come down from the mild hypomania I'd been feeling for a week or so and partly because exercise has a positive effect on depression. I generally get a little depressed after a hypomanic or manic episode, so staying active is important.

I enjoyed the running and steps streaks, but it feels right to let them end.

Be well.

Running Tourism

Though we’ve definitely slowed down since we had our first kiddo, Laura and I love to travel. We have a few travel goals—we’d like to visit every state park in Minnesota and every national park. We’ve got a ways to go, but we’re planning on really amping it up in about twenty-five years. Besides those two big goals, Laura is also aiming to run a half marathon or farther in every state. So far she has done so in ten states. 

While I’m not planning on running any sort of race in every state, I absolutely love running in places we visit. I know some places have companies that give running tours, but as of now, our tours have been self-guided.

Now that we have a four-year-old and a nine-month-old, I like to reminisce about times when we had a little more freedom with our travels.

One of our favorite trips was a road trip to visit several national parks in Colorado and Utah. While at Arches National Park, we had a limited amount of time, so we did some run/walking to see more of the park. By doing so, we were able to see probably a third more of the park had we just walked. I also got to do a run at Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park and got to see a little more of the park on foot.

The next year, we flew to San Francisco to tour the city and then drive to see some California national parks and run the Modesto Half Marathon. While we didn’t run in any national parks, we did do an awesome run over the Golden Gate Bridge and through Presido Park along the beach.
California Running

A year later, we did a trip out east, and I got in some amazing runs. Laura and I got to run together in Niagra Falls, Ontario as well as running the Shoreline Half Marathon at Hamlin Beach State Park along Lake Ontario in New York.
Shoreline Half Marathon

I’ve also got to run in numerous state parks including Nerstrand Big Woods State Park, Lake Bemidji State Park, and a memorable run in Banning State Park where I forgot running shorts and ran in some cargo shorts instead.
Banning State Park
Big Woods Run

How about you? Have you had any memorable runs in unfamiliar places?

Cadence: Injury Prevention Update

 It's been a little over six months since I took all of March off to attempt to heal from an injury. I wrote in a previous post about some things I've done to reduce to risk of injury. You can read about it here.

The one thing I didn't mention in that post that I'm also doing to prevent injury is increasing my running cadence. Like many things involving the human body, there's not solid evidence that increased stride rate helps reduce injury risk, but there are some studies that indicate it might. You can read about stride rate and injury prevention from a couple perspectives (How to Prevent Injury by Improving Run Cadence by Laura Norris from the Runkeeper website and Does Running Cadence Predict Injury by Alex Hutchinson from Runner's World).  

The lowdown on cadence is mixed with some studies suggesting that increasing stride rate may help prevent injury and some studies showing that there is no significant distance. From what I've read, I decided that increasing my stride rate may be helpful.

In the "How to Prevent Injury by Improving Run Cadence," Norris suggests that rather than working to a magic number, one should increase stride rate incrementally by 5%. Then, if that runner is staying healthy, she or he can increase cadence again if they desire.

Read the Runkeeper article above for how to set up tracking and setting a desired stride rate. If you don't have a smart watch or app on your phone that tracks stride rate, you can simply count your steps for a minute several times during a run to calculate your stride rate. Be aware that stride rate changes depending on how fast you are running.

I worked on increasing my stride rate with the help of Maelz Sport. I like the app's simplicity and the fact that it will keep beeping when listening to a podcast or recorded book.

I've successfully increase my stride rate by 3 - 5 % depending on the run. My stride rate was fairly high to begin with, so I didn't see a need to try and increase it more than that.

So, if you're frequently injured I'd say that as long as you increase your stride rate slowly it may be worth a shot to see if you can reduce your injuries.

Run well.

Gross Workout of the Week

 

I have no idea why I'm smiling in the above photo. I had just finished my grossest run ever — sixteen miles, three of which were filled with bugs. I was running along the Minnesota River on the Minnesota River Greenway Trail when a bug flew into my eye. It's my least favorite thing to happen on a run followed by a bug in my throat.

So I keep going and I'm noticing more and more bugs. I'm not an entomologist, but I would call the tiny hell beasts gnats. And they were awful.

What started as a bug in my eye turned into clouds — not an exaggeration — of disgusting little bugs. I could feel myself running through them, and with their fragile little wings, rather than bounce off me, they stuck to my arms, chest, and face. The picture above doesn't even do it justice. I wiped off my arms several times, and my arms still looked like this:

Gross. When my run was finished and I got to a mirror, I took three bugs out of my eye.

So my other runs this week were nice. The fall temperatures have been perfect, and the only downside to my runs is that I'm running really early, so it's dark outside and I have to wear a headlamp.

Weekends when I run in daylight have been nice. After those gross pictures of gnats, here's a picture of a tree I ran by:

Virtual Races

Without almost any in-person races going on, many are turning to virtual events. An event I've been doing is the (not) parkrun. Parkrun is a free 5K run every Saturday in various places around the world. Laura and I used to do one in Eagan, Minn. fairly regularly. Now, without the in-person event, parkrun has started the (not) parkrun. In the (not) parkrun, one submits her or his time to the website to appear in the results.

Before this year, I did one virtual run over ten years ago, the Global Warming My Ass Run (not an anti-science run, just a nod to beating cold weather). My race report can be found at: Virtual Race Report: GWMA. I enjoyed it and enjoyed writing a race report about a course I created myself.

There are two things I enjoy about virtual runs. First, you can pick the course and make it as hard or as easy as you like. Secondly, in most events, you can pick the day and time. This means you can work around your schedule as well as the weather.

Some of the downsides of virtual runs include the lack of race day excitement, no crowd support, no finish line fun, and no physical competition.

Another downside I've run into is the ease one can give up on the race when having a bad day. One day, I was planning on doing a (not) parkrun, but just wasn't feeling great. After running two miles and looking at my pace, I decided to bag the run and "drop out" of the virtual race. Had it been an actual race, I almost certainly would have toughed it out and finished, even if my time wouldn't have been great.

There are many virtual races out there, some free and some at a cost that includes swag like medals, hats, and shirts. I decided since I already have a crap ton of running gear and medals, I'm going to stick to the free 5Ks. I'm also signed up for the free version of the Marathon Training Academy's Social Distancing Run. I'm planning on making it a marathon that I'll run around my 38th birthday.

Anyone run a virtual race this year or thinking of running one? What do you think?

Workout of the Week

Most of the training plans I write are pretty similar. I set up three harder days each week and the rest of the runs easy to very easy. Some plans only have two harder days per week (or none if it's a plan for a beginner or someone returning from injury), but three is standard for someone looking to run a fast race. Of those three workouts, one is a faster workout done around 5K pace, one is a tempo (sometimes called threshold) workout  done around half marathon to 10 mile pace, and one is a long run.

Structuring my week with those three workouts has worked well for me in the past, so I figured on this training plan I'd stick with it.

A key workout this past week was a tempo run. The workout consisted of one mile of easy running followed by 30 minutes at tempo pace and finished off with about two miles of easy running.

The workout went great. I ran the 30 minutes of tempo pace at 6:19 per mile.

While I'm glad I hit my pace, I don't worry as much about pace during a tempo workout. Instead of having a set goal for a set distance like an interval workout, I tend to do my tempo runs more by feel. I like to call tempo runs, "comfortably hard." When I do a tempo run, I'll often not even check my pace until halfway through or so. Instead, I'll run what feels like a pace I could sustain for about an hour. I also use my breathing as a guide and sometimes check in by making sure I can say a couple words strung together but not more or less.

These workouts have been going well for me and that has me feeling good about my goal of breaking 18 minutes in the 5K. I'm also planning on a virtual marathon, and after a couple more weeks of training and seeing how my workouts are going, I'll have some ideas of what I'm capable of in the marathon.

Workout of the Week

A couple of weeks ago, I started doing some workouts. Before that, it had been all easy runs. My goal for the year of breaking 18 minutes in the 5K led me to start doing workouts again.

In the past, I’ve shared my training log, but from now until I run a virtual marathon in November, I’ll share a key workout I’ve completed each week. Last week I did a tempo run and an interval workout. Both went great, but I’ll share my interval workout since it went particularly well.

When training for a 5K, I’ve set up interval workouts that best mimic the effort of racing a 5K. The key workouts in my progression are 6 X 0.5 miles at 5K pace with two minute recoveries, 5 X 1K at 5K pace with two minute recoveries, and 3 X 1 mile pace with two minute recoveries.

Last week my workout was 6 X 0.5 miles at 5K pace. I’ve been a little discouraged because my goal of breaking 18 minutes in the 5K has been looking unlikely based on my previous attempts, but this workout gave me a lot of confidence.

After a warmup, I jumped into the intervals. Here’s how they shook out according to minutes-per-mile pace.

1 - 5:49 / mile

2 - 5:38 / mile

3 - 5:26 / mile

4 - 5:40 / mile

5 - 5:32 / mile

6 - 5:28 / mile

The big pro from this workout was that I ran every interval but one at a pace fast enough to run a sub-18 minute 5K. It’s exciting to me that those intervals didn’t seem overly taxing — I wasn’t completely spent after the last one and the next day I wasn’t really sore. 

The con coming out of the workout was that I wasn’t very consistent.

After running this workout, I had some confidence on my next 5K attempt. I managed an 18:08 — a big improvement from my previous season best of 18:45.

Next week I’ll share another workout. I’m hoping it goes as well as this one.

Training Plan

 It's actually been about three years since I wrote a training plan for myself (besides a plan I didn't end up doing due to injury). In that time, I've written quite a few plans for other people, but I have just stuck to flying by the seat of my pants with my own training. Part of that came from when I read the book "Run: The Mind Body Method of Running by Feel" by Matt Fitzgerald. "Run" devotes an entire chapter to "winging it." This does not mean no structure at all. In fact, in that chapter Fitzgerald writes, "Training without a plan... is not exactly training without planning."

However, I do not use plans from books or websites. I would recommend that if you're newer to running, you use a pre-written training plan and eventually get an idea of what workouts are like and what workouts work best for you.

What I've noticed is that my best race performances have come when I have had a written training plan. I've done training plans from several different books along with one website, and I feel like I have a good idea of how to structure my training. But, instead of completely flying by the seat of my pants, writing a training plan based on what has worked for me in the past along with improving my weaknesses should give me a better chance at success.

The training plan I've written is a little wonky. I really want to get as close as possible to meeting my goal of breaking 18 minutes in the 5K, so I have a lot of 5K-focused workouts. I also want to finish a marathon as well as I can, so I've got a good amount of marathon-focused workouts as well.

I'm hoping my training plan leads to some success. The past few weeks of running has been going really well, so I'm hoping that momentum carries into completing my training plan leads to some big gains in my performances.

Home Update

Since Laura went back to work after maternity leave, I’ve been home with the kidddos for six months now. Though it can be challenging sometimes, for the most part the kids are pretty easy. The four-year-old is good at listening and sometimes keeps his sister entertained while I take care of something. He has a very cute song that he wrote himself that he likes to sing to her.

It feels good that I’ve been home with the kids this long. Four years ago, when our first one was five months old, I was going to stay home with him for the summer. Unfortunately, shortly after starting the summer with him, I started to have some moderate bipolar symptoms that kept me from being able to take care of him, so we had to send him to daycare.

On this go ‘round, I was more than a little nervous about taking care of two. If one was difficult, two was going to be even harder. I worried that my bipolar symptoms were going to crop up, and I didn’t know what we were going to do if I was unable to care for them.

Fortunately, for the last six months my bipolar symptoms have been in check, and I’ve only had a few rounds of depression and hypomania, both of which were mild enough that I was still able to care for the kids.

We’ve stayed busy while at home, and every day goes by quickly. I made the older one a couple pictorial schedules, so every day he knows what we’re up to. He really enjoys the schedule, so when I thought that after doing the schedules for a while he might want to just do our own thing, he said he wants to keep the schedule. Here are some fun things we’ve been up to:

The littlest one still enjoys crawling under things. She’s was doing mostly army crawling, but it the last few days she's been regular crawling.

We’ve started solid food. She does a nice job of trying every food, but she hasn’t been eating a whole lot:

A big game changer for me has been getting them both in the double jogging stroller. It's not actually that bad to push around, and it's a nice way to get us all out of the house as well as getting to parks that are a little out of walking distance.

Besides the jogging stroller, the older one can ride his bike for a while while the little one rides in the stroller. It's not the fastest way to run, but it's fun. Laura even finds time to run with them as well. 

That should do it for my home update. Stay safe out there!

Running Injury Prevention: Slowing Down

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Earlier I wrote about things I've been doing to reduce my risk of running injury, but I wanted to spend a little more time on running easy. Since restarting my running life in 2009 and reading many books and articles on training, I've known that easy runs are supposed to be just that — easy. I hadn't, however, realized how easy. 

I was listening to a podcast that said you should be doing your easy runs 90 - 120 seconds slower than your marathon pace. I don't think I've ever done my easy runs that slowly. I tried running that pace for a while, but it felt really slow. There are other formulas for easy runs, so I checked out McMillan's running calculator and Jack Daniels' running calculator, both of which I've used in the past, to get get a range of paces for easy runs. McMillan's fast end was a little fast, so I decided to go with the Jack Daniels' range of paces when 90 seconds slower than my marathon pace is feeling a little too slow.

Besides using pace, I also use a method I read about in Matt Fitzgerald's book, 80/20: Run Faster and Race Stronger by Training Slower. He writes about running easier than the ventilatory threshold — the pace at which your breathing becomes labored. He suggests that 80% of training should be done easier than ventilatory threshold, and he gives some advice on determining and staying within one's ventilatory threshold. The method I use is to say the Pledge of Allegiance. If it's not too hard to say, then I'm running easy enough.

The only negative to running so much slower is that I'm able to run fewer miles with the time I have. I used to knock out eight miles in about an hour and now it can take me as long as an hour and twelve minutes. Really though, it's not that much of a negative because decreasing mileage reduces my injury risk too.

After all the research I've done on running easy, I'd recommend it to anyone — not just to prevent injury but also to get faster.

Stay healthy.

Running Injury Prevention

In a previous post, I wrote about my training errors that have led to running injuries. In this post, I'll outline how I plan to reduce my running injuries.

Looking at the list injuries I've had could make me depressed and think there's no hope for running injury-free. I've joked before that running is something I do between injuries. I've been to physical therapy quite a few times, and each time the PT recommends at least one exercise, and it's usually two and as many as four. If I did every PT exercise I've been prescribed for injury prevention, I would have daily sessions that last between forty-five and ninety minutes.

As I've mentioned previously, I've started a program called Foundation Training. The premise of the program is to improve functionality of the posterior chain to reduce or eliminate back pain (something I also deal with) and to improve daily activities and athletics. The FT Streaming service has exercises specific to running, and they seem to help. The amount of time spent on these exercises can be as short as eight minutes, so since I've started this program in March, I only missed a few days of doing a Foundation Training routine.

Along with Foundation Training, I've also been running significantly slower on my easy runs than I ever have. I'll explore that in more depth in a future post.

In addition to Foundation Training and running slower, I'm using three other injury prevention tools. First, I increased my weekly mileage at a painfully slow pace. Second, I started my running after a long break in March by running five minutes and walking five minutes. I slowly worked my way up and landed on taking one minute walk breaks every 15 minutes. I've now switched to walk breaks only on my longer runs. Honestly, I don't know if that's frequent enough to make a difference, but it doesn't seem to be hurting.Third, I've increased my running cadence.

I've been running injury-free since I started up my running again in April. Whether that's because of using run/walk, increasing my mileage slowly, slowing my easy runs, increasing my cadence, doing Foundation Training, or all of the above isn't clear.

Here's hoping I can continue injury-free running.

Hypomania and Productivity

 A week ago or so, I was feeling a little hypomanic. Hypomania, according to an Ask the Doctor article on Havard Health, is: "at least three of the following symptoms for at least four days: inflated self-esteem or grandiosity; decreased need for sleep; increased talkativeness; racing thoughts or ideas; marked distractibility; agitation or increased activity; excessive participation in activities that are pleasurable but invite personal or fiscal harm."

While hypomania can be bothersome and often harmful, when managed properly it can be used to one's advantage. In the article, "March Madness: 7 Signs of Hypomania," by Helen Farrell, she writes, "When the symptoms... coalesce to produce an extremely goal-oriented and focused individual, hypomania can be a good thing. The key is that functional people in a hypomanic state are able to keep their goals rational and concise, and they can plan around them accordingly."

In that past several years, I've continued to work on managing my symptoms in order to keep them from interfering with my life and to harness the energy that comes from hypomania to be productive.

It's interesting how the swings of bipolar can change my outlook and functioning in a short amount of time. Before the hypomanic episode, I was feeling pretty down and ready to abandon some goals. My wife did a nice job of reminding me that my running goals help improve my exercise and that exercise in turn helps my functioning in general.

Then, a couple days later the hypomania hit. Racing thoughts and ideas, increased activity, increased talkativeness and distractibility are challenges to manage, but I feel like I continue to manage hypomanic episodes much better than I have in the past. As a result, the episodes don't last as long and can actually be productive.

In my most recent hypomanic episode, I've cleaned more thoroughly, reined in my talkativeness, written several blog posts, and thought of more ideas for a couple of books I've been working on.

Previously, I've often jumped from one thing to another, leaving things half-cleaned or half-written. I've also tended to set out to accomplish more things than I have time for along with mismanaging my priorities.

Now, I still struggle with some of those things, and I know I'll never be perfect with or without hypomania, but I'm grateful that my management of hypomania has improved.

Be well.

Why So Many Injuries?

 In my last post I wrote about all the running injuries I've dealt with. While I believe some blame lies on genetics, most of the blame is likely from training error.

 The primary training error I've made is running too fast on my easy days. Often, way too fast. In and after college I blamed my coach for my running injuries. It may have been partially his fault — we didn't do much in the way of injury prevention exercises, but other things like static stretching before workouts were not well known to be harmful to performance. 

But, another thing that contributed to my college injuries was doing my easy runs too hard. In fact, I did my "easy" runs with athletes far faster than I and would sometimes get dropped on a longer easy run, and my coach had nothing to do with that. In fact, I'm pretty sure he told us to run at a conversational pace, and I definitely wasn't conversing while trying to keep up with faster athletes.

My eyes opened to my overly-speedy training runs this year when I read the book "80/20: Run Faster and Race Stronger by Training Slower." The thesis of this book is that approximately 80% of training should be done at an easy pace. In a future post I'll explore how to determine that easy pace.

Another training error I've made is not doing enough core and strength exercises. I stayed pretty injury-free in high school, and I think part of that was because I weight lifted several times a week. I like to run, so when I've had time to work out in the past, I usually spent that entire time running rather than working on strength exercises.

Finally, I've increased my mileage too much in the past. That error is an older one as I'm much more conservative with my mileage increases now, but it's definitely contributed to past injuries.

In a future post I'll write about what I'm doing to prevent running injuries.

Stay healthy.

Running Injury Blues

If you follow this blog, you're probably aware that I deal with lots of running injuries. Just because I have, however, doesn't mean you have to. I'm naturally injury prone, and I've made a lot of training errors that have led me down the injury path. In the next few posts you can read about the mistakes I've made, and I hope you can have far fewer injuries than me.

Here are some running injuries I've had since running my first marathon in 2009:

• Patella tendinitis
• IT band syndrome
• Posterior tibial tendinitis
• Calf strain
• Broken leg at knee (from basketball)
• Runner's knee
• Peroneal teninitis (left)
• Metatarsalgia
• Peroneal tendinitis (right)

There's one pro that comes out of that list: I average fewer than one injury per year, so when I sat down and listed these, it was fewer injuries than I thought. Part of this was that I enjoyed injury-free stretches from the fall of 2011 to the fall of 2012 and again from 2016 - 2017.

Unfortunately,  some of my racing seasons were disrupted or curtailed, and one, the spring of 2018, I would have abandoned altogether if I hadn't already been signed up for a marathon. This spring I wouldn't have raced due to my peroneal tendinitis, but races being canceled due to COVID-19 meant my missing the season due to injury didn't matter anyway.

Some of these injuries cleared up on their own and others required some physical therapy.

In my next post, I'll be writing about how my training errors have contributed to my running injuries.

Stay healthy.

Coping Skills: Audiobooks, Podcasts, and Music

In my last post, I wrote about how I was dealing with some anxiety and some strategies I've used to get through it. One thing I didn't write about was how I've also used listening to books and podcasts to improve my mental health.

I know there's some debate out there about having earbuds on when you run, so I'll touch on that briefly. First, it's a safety thing. If you run with earbuds, you should either run with one out or run with the bone conduction earphones that leave the ears uncovered. It's not safe to run outside when you can't hear things like cars or bikes that may crash into you.

Other than the safety issue, there's the issue of not being mindful of your run. You may have trouble with pace, especially while listening to music. An upbeat song may cause you to run too fast. Also, by listening to something while you run, you may also may also miss out on the meandering stream of consciousness that can sometimes help you process your thoughts and work through problems.

That said, the issue I sometimes deal with when I'm in a more depressive, manic, or anxious state is a difficulty controlling my thoughts. I'll worry, ruminate, regret, and have arguments in my head (I often come up with the perfect thing to say ten years after an argument).

When I'm having trouble controlling my thoughts, listening to a book or a podcast while I run helps get me out of my own head. While running usually helps me break the cycle or rumination and worry, sometimes that time alone with my thoughts can be filled with negativity.

So, in order to to keep my mind from wandering to negative thoughts, I often listen to an audiobook or podcast while I run. Music might help too, although I find my mind wanders more when listening to music. I'd say that I'm about 50/50 on whether I'm going to listen to something or not when I run. Sometimes I listen just because I enjoy it, but I listen more when I'm having trouble controlling my thoughts and less when I'm in a good place emotionally.

Besides runs, I also often listen to books or podcasts while cleaning. It's sometimes hard to get motivated for chores, especially when I'm feeling depressed, and listening to something helps me complete a task by focusing my mind on something I enjoy rather than a mundane task.

If you're having trouble with negative thoughts, I'd encourage you to give podcasts or audiobooks a try. They might help you take your mind away from your negative thoughts and into something you pleasantly distracting.

Improving the Moment Part 2

In my last post I wrote about four ways from IMPROVE I use to cope with anxiety through the DBT skills of improve. For reference, the DBT acronym for IMPROVE stands for:

• Imagery
• Meaning
• Prayer
• Relaxation
• One thing in the moment
• Vacation
• Encouragement

For more detail on how this works, take a look at the article, "How to IMPROVE the Moment" from the Mindsoother website. I've covered the first four of these techniques, so this post will focus on the last three.

Using the one thing in the moment technique, one focuses the mind on one thing. When I'm feeling acute anxiety, it can become difficult to get anything done because my mind bounces from worry to worry and regret to regret. By focusing on one thing in the moment, I try to put those things aside and become involved in the task at hand. This can be as simple as focusing on the physical sensations of a run—my feet hitting the ground, my breath, the visuals of the scenery as I move. Or, I can focus on mundane tasks such as washing dishes and being mindful of the warm, soapy water on my skin rather than letting my mind wander to negative thoughts.

Using the vacation technique, one takes a "vacation" from a regular routine. This could be taking a break to read a book, calling or meeting a friend, or watching a TV show. These "vacations" can help take the focus away from negative thoughts to enjoyable experiences.

The last technique is encouragement. One can use encouragement to tell oneself that the stress being experienced is temporary, and that one is doing the best she or he can to cope with that stress. I try to use this technique by telling myself I am doing the best I can to deal with the stress I'm feeling, and with continued practice of the skills I've learned, my situation will improve.

Even if you don't have a mental illness, these techniques can help manage stress and reduce anxiety. Give them a try and see if they help improve your mood.

Improving the Moment

In my last post, I wrote about some ways I combat anxiety through mantras. Another way I use to cope with anxiety comes from DBT. The acronym IMPROVE provides a list of ways to improve depression and anxiety in the moment. IMPROVE stands for:

• I: Imagery
• M: Meaning
• P: Prayer
• R: Relaxation
• O: One Thing in the Moment
• V: Vacation
• E: Encouragement

To find out more about each, check out the article on the Mindsoother website, "How to Improve the Moment." In this post, I'll focus on imagery, meaning, and prayer.

Imagery involves imagining a situation that's better than the current situation. It can be an idealized future situation where things work out well. It could also be a past situation where life circumstances were positive. Using imagery has worked for me at times because I tend to think about negative experiences in the past or worry about what could go wrong in the future.

Meaning is about recognizing values and/or looking at past circumstances to tap into the meaning that can be learned from them. Using meaning has helped me think about what I can learn from past difficult situations as well as how I can apply my values to my current situation to turn it into an outcome I can improve.

Prayer lets one submit to the will of a higher power and helps one realize her or his own helplessness. As a Christian, it is helpful to me to know that Jesus went through every human experience and emotion that I do, so that God understands our suffering. At times I've struggled with my belief in God, especially because there's so much suffering in the world. I've heard and learned that there are just no easy answers, and that disbelieving in God will not make that suffering go away.

Relaxation is self-explanatory, but I'll explain it anyway. One can use a variety of ways to relax—meditation, progressive relaxation, listening to music, etc. The key is to find something that works. Sometimes my difficulties with relaxation stem from being anxious enough that I can't find something to relax as my mind continues to wander back to my worries. I'm now going to try harder to practice relaxation techniques when I'm not as anxious, so that when I am I'll be more likely to be successful.

Up next will be the rest of the IMPROVE techniques for coping with depression and anxiety. Thanks for reading.

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