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. 

Waterton Canyon

The Arapaho call it Niinéniiniicíihéhe.  You and I call it the Platte River.  It originates in Park County along the eastern flank of the Mosquito Range near Fairplay at a place where you could cross it with one step.  From South Park, it passes through 50 miles of the Platte Canyon and, at its lower section, Waterton Canyon.  It was in this lower section that our little group met to run this past Saturday.  We ran up and down South Platte River Road which parallels its namesake from Waterton Road to the Strontia Springs Dam.  

 

I suggested the change of venue for this week’s long run because I wanted some hill work and I wanted a break from our usual hill run at the Cherry Creek Reservoir.  It has been a particularly mild winter so far and the Highline Canal Path is virtually clear of snow.  The path is less demanding on our old joints, but is virtually flat.  The spring marathons we are running are hilly and require adequate training.

It is seven miles from the parking lot to the gate at the top of the dam with an elevation gain of about 800 feet.  In comparison, the Newton Hills in the Boston Marathon rise only about 200 feet over six miles.  Those hills culminate with Heartbreak Hill which rises only 88 feet (from an elevation of 148 feet to 236 feet), but it comes in the portion of a marathon distance where muscle glycogen stores are most likely to be depleted at mile 20. 

So, we train on hills to acclimate our bodies to climbing.  Running uphill trains the lungs; running downhill trains the legs. 

Uphill running teaches us to run with much better technique.  It forces us to lean forward and to run with shorter steps with a higher stride frequency.  It also trains us to keep our weight on the balls of the feet.

When running downhill, the tendency is to try to “brake” which puts a lot of stress on the leg and hip muscles.  We need to train ourselves to keep some of the forward lean so we don’t tax our legs. 

The Boston Marathon course elevation drops about 220 feet from the crest of Heartbreak Hill to the finish.  Anyone who has ever run the Boston Marathon can tell you how hard it is to run down Beacon Street. 

My spring marathon is the Colfax in May.  I came across an ad for the inaugural edition in 2006.  “It's flat, with elevation gain of only 279 feet.  No Heartbreak Hills.”  Whoever wrote that should be pummeled with Pumas.  While it is a fact that the finish was 279 feet above the start, the elevation chart looks like a hockey stick.  That course rose 538 feet over the last nine miles including about 150 feet in the last mile. 

This year’s edition of Colfax has an elevation gain of 548 feet, which is spread over about 15 miles.  The nice part of the course is that there is a six miles descent from “the Glenns” down Colfax Avenue to the Platte River. 

Sunday morning my legs were feeling the effects of the hill workout.  This means the workout was effective and it means I have more work to do.

Highline Hypnosis

What a difference a week makes!  This Saturday the high temperature was 54 degrees.  What little breeze there was came out of the south-west.  It gently pushed me along the outward leg of my 15 mile loop. 

When I left my house at 6:30 a.m. the temperature was 31 degrees.  As the saying goes, hot air rises, and the temperature steadily dropped while I followed the creek near my house downhill towards the Highline Canal Path.  Once on the Highline Canal Path I felt distinct changes in temperature as I ran past places where the canal was dry and where there was still some frozen water.  Those large ice cubes accounted for major swings in the air temperature.  I was dressed appropriately: tights (the required uniform), a long sleeve t-shirt, a wind breaker, cotton gloves and a lycra cap. 

Once I made the turn at the Big Dry Creek trail (at the 11 mile point) and started the four mile ascent towards home, the temperature steadily rose.  As a result of the combination of climbing away from the creek coupled with the sun warming the air, by the time I arrived back home I was sweating nicely. 

While running, I recalled when I registered for the 2005 Boulder Backroads Marathon.  The web site made a remarkable claim.  It said that for over 100 years, there had been no precipitation on that date (September 25^th) in Boulder.  As runners, we experience all kinds of weather in the Mile High City.

Because I run so many miles on the Highline Canal Path, I am able to recall a mental image of the path during the latter stages of races.  This is particularly helpful on courses I have not run before.  During the early stages of the marathon I concentrate on conserving energy.  The last miles of the marathon are all about focusing on finishing and finishing strong.  I relate the miles I have left with points on the path.

My reference points are the Goodson Rec. Center and my home.  Here are my benchmarks:

            It is ten miles from Hampden Ave. to Goodson.

            It is seven miles from where the Highline Canal passes under Belleview Ave. to Goodson.

            It is six miles from my dentist’s office on South Broadway to my home.

            It is five miles from the white bronco statue to Goodson.

            It is about four miles from Orchard Rd. to Goodson.

            It is also about four miles from Writers Vista Park (where I stop to use the loo) to home.

            It is two and a half miles from where the Highline Canal passes under University Blvd. to Goodson.

            It is about one mile from the little park by the church on Orchard Rd. (where I used to take my girls) to Goodson.

In the latter stages of races when I am suffering, I mentally put myself on the Highline and that gives me the confidence that I can finish the race. 

Tools of Ignorance

I rode the bench.  When I wasn’t in right field, that is.  One of the perks of riding the pine is that you get to score a lot of baseball games.  I studied the arcane rules laid down by Henry Chadwick in the 1870s.  Thus was born my love of sports statistics and the reading of box scores.

One of the peculiar rulings is that the credit for the put out for a strike out is awarded to the catcher (the person who caught the out).  I had an epiphany and decided to become a catcher.  Kids idolize their sports heroes and I found mine in Thurman Munson, The Yankees’ catcher and captain.  (The previous captain was Lou Gehrig who retired in 1939).  I would stay up late scoring the games.  I couldn't care less what 2/3 multiplied by 3/4 was, but I kept a daily tally of Munson’s batting average.  While watching games on TV I would squat as I emulated his style.

It was a very sad day on August 3rd 1979 when I read that Munson had died when the Cessna Citation I/SP jet he was flying crashed the previous day.  I was on a bike tour through Maine on Route 9 near Kennebunkport when I saw the newspaper headline.  The death of a childhood hero is a life shaking event for a fifteen year old.  (The Yankees would not select another captain for three years).

I continued to play catcher until my freshman year in high school when I was cut from the team.  My eyesight and reaction time had not kept pace with the pitchers' skills so I couldn’t hit a curve ball, or a fastball, or any other kind of ball.  I don’t remember the exact words the coach said to me, but he left me with a great love for the game.  He told me to focus on sports that took advantage of the talents I had, my height and relative light weight.  I concentrated on swimming and the world of endurance athletics. 

All of these memories came back to me this Christmas when my father sent me the New York Yankees 1979 Picture Album.  There is a photo of Thurman and one of Yogi Berra, the great catcher from the previous generation.  Yogi was one of the Yankees’ coaches and my house was about 200 yards from his. 

Watching a complete baseball game is a luxury I get to enjoy about once a year.  A baseball game lasts approximately three hours, or roughly how long it takes the members of our little group to run a marathon.  Coincidence?

Thoughts of spring filled my head as I ran along the Highline Canal path Saturday afternoon.  The trail was a ribbon of white with an inch dusting of powdery snow.  The temperature on Saturday afternoon was 13 degrees.  It was a great day to break in my new running shoes – New Balance MT110s, size 13 EE.  I passed two runners. 

When I think of spring, I think of budding trees, I think about baseball and I think about spring marathons.  I registered for the Colfax Marathon.  So, whatever else I’ll be doing on May 19^th, I’ll be running 26.2 miles up and down those long hills on Colfax Avenue. 

Carry That Weight

Dijon, France is famous for many things; most notably mustard and burgundy.  It is also the birth place of Nicolas Clement.  He is famous for his achievements in physics and chemistry; most notably establishing the value for absolute zero and for being the first person to define the calorie.  (He also married his colleague’s daughter.  Guys with unmarried daughters, ponder that as you consider the single dudes in your office.)

A calorie is approximately the energy needed to increase the temperature of 1 kilogram of water by 1 degree Kelvin.  We use it when referring to the energy in food which we use to fuel our bodies.  A pound of fat contains about 3,500 calories.  We burn approximately 100 calories with each mile we run.  Therefore, a typical runner would have to run about 35 miles to burn one pound of fat.

The reason for this dissertation is because I decided to step on the scale this past Tuesday (New Year’s Day) and see how much I weighed.  It was not a happy moment.  There was much wailing, moaning and recrimination.  In the interest of full disclosure, the output read 182.4 pounds.  That is about seven pounds over my “normal weight” and about 12 pounds higher than what I weighed at my “peak running form”.

The Thanksgiving / Christmas / New Year’s celebrations have taken their toll.  Bouche de noel for breakfast, leftover Ina Garten’s macaroni & cheese for lunch, calorically dense dinners and an endless supply of cookies and candies at the office were my undoing.  It is time to reverse the trend.

Mary says there is just more of me to love.  This is true, but there is also more of me to carry up hills.  Weight, or more accurately, mass also has an effect on VO2 Max, or the maximum amount of oxygen a runner can use per unit time per unit body mass.  More simply, the lighter a runner is, the higher his VO2 Max and - at least in theory - the faster he will be.  

Research has shown that ten pounds equals 20 seconds per mile, which equates to a minute-plus in a 5K, more than two minutes in a 10K, nearly four and a half minutes in a half-marathon and almost nine minutes in a marathon.  Imagine running a marathon nine minutes faster than last year and all you have to do is loose ten pounds.  What could be simpler?

How do you go about shedding pounds?  The answer has to be through some combination of eating fewer calories and exercising more.  While I track my workouts closely, I need a system to track my caloric intake.  Well, there’s an app for that.  I downloaded LoseIt! – a free app – to my iPhone. 

You create a profile in LoseIt! based on your age, sex, height, current weight and goal weight.  It accesses databases of foods and activities which you select.  It gives you a calorie budget, tallies the calories and tells you if you are over or under budget.  I have been under budget every day this week.  I do find, though, that if I am well under budget near the end of the day, I eat just to get close to the budget.  It is kind of like how government agencies view their budgets.  I’ve got a budget of 2,038 calories per day and, damn it, I’m going to use them!

LoseIt! also gives you a breakdown of where your calories are coming from: fat, protein and carbohydrates.  Not surprisingly, 60% of my calories come from carbohydrates.  I was surprised, though, to see that 25% of my calories come from fat.  I thought I had a lean diet.  15% of my calories come from protein.  This tool is great because now I have something else to obsess about.  This is how technology brings joy to our lives.

Winter is a great time to get your body to race weight.  One way to lose weight is to stand outside in shorts and a t-shirt.  The thermal activity of shivering burns more calories than sitting on the couch watching the Packers beat the Vikings.  You’d burn even more calories if you were at Lambeau Field watching the game in shorts and a t-shirt. 

The other way is to go for a run.  Saturday our little group ran 15 miles at Cherry Creek State Park.