There, but for the Grace

I have often said that if you substitute any deviant behavior for running in my life, you’d probably want to lock me up.  If you have even a modestly addictive personality or are slightly obsessive / compulsive, you know how easy it is to over-indulge in the habit of running.  You hear it in the subtle choice of words.  “I want to” versus “I have to” versus “I need to” go for a run.  You see evidence of it in people’s cars, homes and cubicles.  You smell it from the well worn race T-shirts. 

But does that equation work the other way?  What happens if you substitute running for the deviant behavior?  On Saturday morning’s long run (my first 20 miler of the year), Scott told me about a group organized by Nick and Shane Sterner (father and son) at the Denver Rescue Mission.  This is an inspiring story and it is worth taking a few minutes to research. http://www.cbn.com/700club/features/amazing/Sterner031108.aspx   They lead Activity Inspired Rehabilitation, an organization confronting homelessness and addiction through distance running.  The program introduces homeless people to running and shows them how to change their focus and live productive lives.

Here are the principles behind the program:

-Goal Setting helps participants stay focused on becoming healthy and productive members of the Denver community.

-Incremental Accomplishment through training and races builds self-esteem and self-confidence as program members create new identities.

-Health and Fitness Training creates lasting change in the health and fitness levels of AIR members, building a foundation for a lifetime of health and self-sufficiency.

-Positive Connection With The Community changes the way members feel about themselves, allowing them to make a positive connection to the people around them and become role models for others in need.

In 2010 23 men participated in the Rock-n-Roll Denver Marathon and Half-Marathon as part of the Denver Rescue Mission Marathon Team.  Preparing for and running a marathon changes you physiologically and psychologically.  For those who participate in Shane’s program, these changes bring them back to life.

We have all had the experience of running alone in the last few miles of a marathon with only our thoughts for company.  In some ways it is like a vision quest.  We all know the feelings of pain that pass over us as we try to reach our goal.  We know that we do not suffer alone.  There are those who have suffered more than we have.

Zen Time

We exercise.  Our reasons for engaging in this activity are as varied as our personalities.  As a doctor friend of mine bluntly stated “you stop, you die”.  But the other day I asked myself, as I rolled out of bed at 4:35 A.M., why at this hour, the last edge of night, not quite early morning?

At this hour:

Before the first cup of Joe – this, my natural shot of endorphins. 

Before the intrusion of the news of the world – of meteors and wars and scores and who’s dating whom. 

Before the rush - when the air is still and the noise a low hum. 

Before the hassles and responsibilities - when my time is my own.

While running, I try to focus on my breathing, on my feet as they strike the ground, on how my body feels, on the sights and sounds around me, and on my thoughts as they occur.  I try not to think about the past or the future, but try to remain in the moment.  Running is a quiet time, to think about my life and what is important to me.  It is my way of attaining enlightenment and it is my form of personal expression.

My athletic aspirations are beyond my actual capabilities, but in this world I am unaware of this discrepancy.  It is a time to dream with my eyes open.  There are races I plan to run and performances I hope to achieve.  While I may not reach my goals, we miss all the trains we don’t race to catch. 

Then to the east the aurora rises.  The older I get, the more I enjoy the dawn, the more I need it.  It is a blessing to be engaged physically, to be alive as those positive ions crest the horizon.

Don’t Tread on Me

You would not believe the silliness that pours into my email inbox.  As an Active.com member each Wednesday I receive a collection of articles under the Active Runner banner.  One of this week’s articles was titled “Treadmill Workouts Made Easy” written by Marcus Eichhorn.  As a member of the Society for Human Resource Management I receive a weekly collection of articles and this week there were three treadmill-at-work related articles written from the Human Resources perspective.  I took this as a sign that I should write about treadmills. 

 

Eichhorn’s article asked five questions. 

• When do you start your watch at the beginning of an interval?

• Do you start your watch as you increase speed, or do you start your watch when the desired speed is reached?

• When do you start your watch for the recovery period?

• Do you start your watch when you are decreasing speed or when you reach your cool down speed?

• What percentage of your heart rate or 5K time should you try to obtain while performing the workout?

The only one of those questions I've ever contemplated is the last one.  I must not take my running seriously.  I do consider the effect of air resistance on my pace when I’m running.  When I’m on the treadmill I increase the incline to one percent to compensate for the lack of a headwind.

Two of the human resource related articles were “How Treadmill Desks Can Improve Your Health and Productivity” and “Your Treadmill Desk Is Hurting Your Productivity”.  In the same bundle of articles!  So, which is it; better or worse for your productivity?  Undaunted, I waded into the confusion.

“How Treadmill Desks Can Improve Your Health and Productivity” by Lisa Evans.

The treadmill desk is based on the concept of incorporating movement into your daily work routine.  It is the brain-child of an endocrinologist at the Mayo Clinic.  That doctor says “People feel more energized, productivity improves, people with back and joint problems get better, and people feel brighter,” when they exercise.  I completely agree with that statement, but is a treadmill desk the best solution? 

The article mentions a desk that costs approximately $4,000 and has a two mile per hour maximum belt speed.  The LifeFitness Club Series treadmill costs about the same, but has a maximum speed of 12 mph.  So, on a dollar per mph basis, the LifeFitness machine is six times better. 

“Your Treadmill Desk Is Hurting Your Productivity” by Vivian Giang.

This article begins by conceding treadmill desks have health advantages that will help reduce the risk of obesity and heart disease, but goes on to say they may have an adverse impact on how efficient you are with your work.  It quotes a study (by the very same Mayo Clinic) that typing speed and accuracy decrease by 16 percent when compared to a standard desk.  In another study conducted by the University of Tennessee, researchers found that “treadmill walking resulted in up to an 11 percent deterioration in fine motor skills like mouse clicking, and dragging and dropping, as well in as cognitive functions like math-problem solving.”

In my opinion, workouts and work should be separate; just like church and state. 

My treadmill interval workout this Tuesday was 4 X 1 mile repeats at a 6:10 / mile pace with a ¼ mile recovery plus 4 X ¼ at 11 mph with a ¼ mile recovery.  I’ve been doing intervals workouts on the treadmill to get ready for the Phidippides Track workouts which start in less than a month.  Also, on Monday I registered for the Georgetown – Idaho Springs Half Marathon.

In other news, the February edition of the RMRR Trophy Series was held this morning.  It was a seven mile race along the Platte River.  I covered the course in 44:12 – eight seconds faster than last year. 

In the Beginning

Before babies can walk, they must develop muscle strength and coordination.  They do this by learning to sit, roll over and crawl.  Then they begin to pull themselves up and stand.  As a baby’s legs get stronger, they can bounce themselves up and down by balancing on their feet.  By the time they are nine months old, most babies can pull themselves up and walk around the room by holding onto sturdy furniture.  

Within six weeks of taking those first steps, most babies learn to balance themselves and even bend at the knee.  By the time they are 15 or 16 months old, babies can usually toddle around with push-and-pull toys.  Most children have become pretty good at walking by the time they are 18 months old.  This is how we learn to walk.

I thought about this as I watched a swimmer with no legs below the knees compete at my daughter’s high school league championships.  She qualified for the championships in the grueling 500 yard freestyle event.  She starts from the blocks and does flip turns.  It was an inspiring performance. 

In that same event was a girl who is about to undergo chemotherapy for Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.  That girl recently had five inches of her lower intestine removed.  She swam a State Championship qualifying time which was her third fastest time ever.  It was a heroic swim. 

Once a child masters walking, the next developmental milestone is running.  Running requires a high level of balance.  So, after they learn to walk, most kids practice standing on one foot.  Then it’s just a matter of time before they are jumping, skipping, hopping, and galloping, all of which help them learn how to use their muscles to run.  This is how we learn to run. 

I thought about this as I watched a mother running with her young son on the Highline canal.  The kid was about five years old.  It was a heartwarming scene.  The temperature was about 30 degrees and this kid was clearly having fun. 

Once we learn to run, we want to run faster and father.  It is a primal instinct of ours.  Two things determine how fast we can run: stride rate and stride length.  There are a few things we can do to increase stride rate.  One way is to do consistent speed work.  This can take the form of intervals on the track or fartlek runs.  An example would be running 100 – 200 yard repeats at a fast pace with a recovery of equal distance. 

Another way is to run in place with a metronome.  The goal is to run about 180 steps per minute.  This exercise translates into faster leg turnover which leads to faster times.  This is how we learn to run fast.

I thought about this as I was watching the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix which was held at the Reggie Lewis Center on the campus of Roxbury Community College near Boston.  Mary Cain, a 16 year old, smashed the USA high school and junior records for the two mile and 3000 meter runs.  We think we run fast until we see people who really do run fast.