R.Y.B.O. – A.T.S.

Winter comes early, and lasts long, in Syracuse, NY.  Usually, by the last week in October the first flakes of snow have fallen.  Those harbingers of winter don’t disappear until sometime in April.  In between are over five months of cold, grey bleakness.  

I bring this up because I witnessed the first frost of the year this Saturday.  The Farmer’s Almanac is forecasting a harsh winter.  In anticipation, I fished my winter running clothes out from the depths of my closet. 

In the fall of my freshman year, after the crew team retreated from the boathouse on Onondaga to the tanks and weights in Archbold Gymnasium, we began the first of four winter training cycles I experienced at SU.  The freshman crew team had (thankfully) shorter workouts than the varsity team, but we were aware of their workouts because they were posted, each day, on the wall outside of Head Coach Sanford’s office.

At the bottom of each workout, after the weights to be lifted, minutes in the tanks to be rowed and stairs or miles to be run, were the letters ATS.  I assumed those were coach’s initials until I realized his name was William E. Sanford.  It wasn’t until I became a varsity oarsman the next year that I discovered those letters stood for And Then Some.

ATS was Coach Sanford’s shorthand for some additional calisthenics.  ATS was always the same:  100 pull-ups, 100 push-ups, 200 back arches and 200 sit-ups.  It was the athlete’s option to determine what order, or how many sets, it took to reach those numbers, but we held each other accountable to complete those exercises.

As I talk to other runners I am hearing common themes.  “My racing season is over.”  “I am taking some time off.”  “I’m running fewer miles.”  “I’m trying to figure out my next race and what I want to do to prepare for it.” 

This all fits the concept of periodization which is the systematic planning of athletic or physical training.  It involves progressive cycling of various aspects of a training program during a specific period.  It is a way of alternating training to peak for racing season. 

I am in the recovery phase of my training.  My training volume is still pretty high, but the intensity is not.  In addition, I am doing some calisthenics to help build core strength and general fitness.  I have my own daily ATS ritual:  10 pull-ups, 120 lunges, 20 push-ups and 1 minute planks.  This won’t lead to a Schwarzenegger-esque body, but even after one week, I feel a fullness in my muscles. 

Thinking of the spring will help me through the winter months.  There is a cheer Syracuse crews gave as we pushed off from the dock on our way to race - R.Y.B.O.  I’ll let your imagination come up with what those initials stand for, but it is PG rated. 

You can adopt a variation as you head out for your next race - R.Y.B.O.

Sometimes

Two and half miles, as the crow flies, from the house I grew up in Montclair, NJ, on the crest of the third Watchung ridge, sits the Eagle Rock Reservation.  It is notable for the Essex County September 11th Memorial.  It was from this vantage point that citizens gathered to watch the events unfold 17 miles away on that fateful day twelve years ago.

Last Sunday I was in New Jersey and ran one final lap around my hometown.  I ran up Crest Dr. (aka Snake Hill Road) arriving at the ridge about 30 minutes past dawn.  It was a stunning sunrise and a photographer was there capturing the skyline.  The temperature was about 47 degrees with a still, cloudless sky.  

It was a run down memory lane for me.  I ran past landmarks that held importance to me including the Montclair Art Museum where I once worked checking coats.  I ran past houses I had painted and lawns I had mowed.  As I passed houses of old friends I wondered if the families still lived there. 

I ran past my old high school, stopping at the amphitheatre where my graduation was held.  I paused at the George Innes Annex, where freshman had their classes, with its segregated boys and girls gyms.  I ran past my old elementary and middle schools as well.

My spirits were sinking as I moved on.  Montclair is a beautiful town and I’m proud to have grown up there.  I’ve run along these streets many times, but this time the scene was tinged with sorrow.  I didn’t know when, or if, I would run this way again. 

It was at that low point when I spotted a figure running about 200 yards ahead of me.  There is no joy quite like gaining on, and passing, another runner.  I overtook that runner quickly and saw another runner, which I passed as well.  I was soon passing small groups of runners when I hear a voice call out “Hey, I know the Boulder Running Company!”  The shirt I was wearing had that store’s logo printed on my back.  The runner who spotted the logo had been to the location near South West Plaza Mall. 

I had stumbled into the tail end of the Fleet Feet Fall Marathon Training Run which was a supported 20 mile group run that crisscrossed Montclair.  The runners in this little pack were training for the New York City Marathon.  Entry into that race is about as hard to come by as a Rockies victory.  Meeting the runners broke my preoccupation and put me in a great mood.  

Friday night I cashed in the gift certificate to the Buckhorn Exchange that I won at this spring’s Platte River ½ Marathon.  Mary and I had dinner guests and I brought home three Dutch Lunches and three Dutch Apple Pie slices.  We savored the spoils of my victory.

An Active Insider email I received this week issued a 30-Day Lunge Challenge, so I printed out the 30-Day Lunge Tracker calendar started the program.  Today I was able to do 100 lunges (30 front, 20 right side, 20 left side, 30 reverse plus 10 scissor lunges) at one time, though I had to rest between sets.  This will give me something new to obsess about. 

Clocks Don’t Lie

So, I competed in the American Discovery Trail Marathon last Monday.  It was a sunny day.  There had been severe thunderstorms during the week and the trail was soft and loose.  The soft trail, coupled with the warm temperature and a strong head wind, contributed to slower times for most of the competitors.

Gerald Romero, who last year set a Masters course record of 2:49:57, finished this year’s event just two minutes ahead of me.  When asked for his assessment of the eleven minute difference between this year’s result and last year’s he just shrugged his shoulders. 

My time was 3:02:57, which placed me ninth overall, third place amongst the Masters Men, and earned me $100.  That money will buy me a new pair of running shoes from Runners Roost. 

I snaked around the course a fair amount.  My Garmin Forerunner indicated I had run 26.7 miles, about a half mile longer than the stated distance.  If the marathon route was a straight line, and I had run at an angle to that straight line, I would have run about 5.15 miles off course. 

As we awaited the awards ceremony, Jonathan Drout (Masters winner – 2:55:54), Courtenay Brown (first female – 3:07:08) and I discussed the race.  This was Courtenay’s first marathon.  She competes in triathlons and loves to run.  Jonathan was lamenting that he he’d only recently started running. 

There were many photos taken by Christian Murdock of The Colorado Springs Gazette. 

Mentally preparing for the race.

The start delayed five minutes for late arrivers.

The hounds are released.

200 meters to go.

Tuesday’s Phidippides track workout was a fartlek run in Cherry Creek State Park.  I had the privilege of running out with Mike Chessnoe.  Mike is 72 years old and regularly places in his age group.  We talked about competing and how much fun it is to train for events.  We are all at an age where an accident or injury could end our racing.  Each race is something to be cherished.  Mike is a role model for many.

I had the equally distinct privilege of running the return leg with Noah Turbyfill who is 12 years old.  Noah is just starting to compete and also places in his age group.  We said very few words.  He has a whole lifetime of races awaiting him.  What a thrill.  Noah is wide-eyed and fast.

My bags are packed. I’m ready to go.

My belief is that you should maintain a state of race readiness.  While my training has not been as focused on the American Discovery Trail Marathon as it was for the Platte River ½ and Colfax Marathon this spring, I have been training with the expectation of running a fall marathon.

Since the Colfax Marathon on May 19th I have run 876 miles.  That is an average of ~46 miles per week or ~11.5 miles each day I run.  I have also swum 225,000 yards which is about 127 miles.  That is an average of ~11,830 yards per week and ~4,165 yards per workout.  I have rested four days.  In short, I’ve been training fairly hard.

Periodically I record my waking resting pulse rate.  My normal waking resting pulse rate is ~42 BPM.  If I am really sick or tired, my pulse moves up to ~50 BPM.  If I am rested, it is ~40 BPM.  My resting pulse rate on Friday was 38 BPM.  That means I am very well rested.  Will it translate into speed or endurance or stamina?  We’ll find out on Monday.  But it gives me a lot of confidence going into Monday’s race.

In preparation for Monday’s marathon I thought it would be a good idea to do an inventory of my race bag.  Here goes:

Running shoes – New Balance MT110

Race shorts

Race singlet – Practical Coaching Singlet

Spare singlet

Spare shorts

2 pairs of socks

Garmin Forerunner 205

Cinch sack for drop bag

Compression sleeve – in case of muscle tear

Ratty T-shirt to wear to keep warm before the start

Clean T-shirt to wear after the race

Copy of registration receipt

Race instructions

Cap

Sun screen

Sun glasses

Rash Guard body lube – to keep the parts from chafing

Toilet paper – the last time I ran this race there weren’t enough Porta Potties

Ventolin inhaler

Energy gels – I think I’m only going to carry 2 during the race

Cliff Bar

Water bottle

And what about the mental / emotional baggage we carry to races?  There is also an emotional inventory I perform as I get ready for the race.  The purpose is to crowd out the negative thoughts.

To become the best athlete you can be you must be motivated to do what it takes to maximize your ability.  What is the best motivator for athletic performance?  Is it anger or fear or greed or adulation or love?  Beyond the pithy sayings, there must be something of meaning that leads or drives or chases or haunts you.  Otherwise you wouldn’t make the commitment. 

There are intrinsic rewards – the feelings, like pride and enjoyment - which you get from performing well.

There is extrinsic motivation – tangible and intangible rewards like medals, money (gift cards) praise and recognition.  These are not more important than competing well, but are the by-product of your focused effort. 

I’ve got a bag full of motivation for this race and I’m sure I’ll be pulling everything out of it on Monday.

Go With The Flow

While returning from our family road trip to Scottsdale, I passed souvenir-laden tourists in air conditioned vehicles.  With an ailing parent and my first born about to head off to college, I was laden with emotions, not Native American tchotchkes.  I counted my many blessings and thought about things that bring happiness and meaning into my life.  Running is certainly a component of that. 

I just registered for the American Discovery Trail Marathon, which will be held one week from today, on Labor Day.  I love that course.  It is beautiful and mostly downhill, giving me the chance for a personal best.  This is the latest I’ve ever registered for a race. 

My success this past spring was due, in large part, to my questioning of widely-recognized and standardly-held beliefs.  These radical departures from the norm produced some very good race results.  I changed many variables, so it is difficult to pinpoint any key element, but the results speak volumes.

With this in mind I just finished reading Waterlogged:  The Serious Problem of Overhydration in Endurance Sports, by Tim Noakes MD.  It is a dense, one inch thick, 428 page tome that reads like a biology text book.  The premise of the book is this; we drink too much water / sports drinks which impacts our performance in a negative way and can be dangerous.

Dr. Noakes addresses how the guidelines for hydration have changed over the years.  Prior to 1970 there was no real guideline.  After 1970 the advice was to stay ahead of your thirst.  After 1996 the advice was to drink as much as tolerable with a goal of 0% dehydration.  That is, replace lost fluids while you are running / racing.  Now, the International Marathon Medical Directors Association concluded that runners should simply drink when thirsty.  "The new scientific evidence says that thirst will actually protect athletes from the hazards of both over- and under-drinking." 

Neither Emil Zatopek, the 1952 Olympic Marathon champion, nor Abebe Bikila, the 1960 and 1964 Olympic champion, drank water during their victories.  That was the norm. 

Dr. Noakes spends a whole chapter outlining the anthropology of how we are perfectly engineered to run.  One of the main factors is that humans sweat profusely – more profusely than any other living creature.  This fact has led to the recent fear of dehydration.  A whole $40 billion industry is built on this fear. 

Dr. Noakes mocks the current hydration behavior.  Somehow our ancestors were able to run for 12 – 48 hours in the desert with minimal water yet modern humans can’t run 3 – 5 hour marathons without a “comfort station” every 2 miles.  As a result, the incidence of Exercise Associated Hyponatremia EAH - excessive water intake while exercising – has exploded. 

Not only is drinking unnecessary, but it is also dangerous.  Since 1993 there have been at least 12 EAH–related deaths.  There have also been ~230 cases of EAH–related cases.  Prior to 1993 there were none. 

We have a built-in, genetic and evolutionary-honed mechanism to prevent dehydration.  It is called thirst.  The fastest marathon runners in the world regularly lose 10% of their weight through perspiration and don’t die. 

So, I put this theory to the test last weekend.  I ran 19 miles without drinking.  I will try the same approach at next week’s American Discovery Trail Marathon.  Worst case, I can take a swig from the Monument Creek. 

Clarence Mather Was a Runner

On Sunday June 4^th, 2000 my father, Clarence, tied his size 14 New Balance trainers and competed in the Montclair YMCA 10K Run.  He finished 335^th, beating 103 other runners.  His time, 59:07 (9:31 / mile pace), placed him 8^th in his age group.  He was 68 years old at that time. 

It was remarkable that he entered the race.  He grew up on a farm and if you had energy enough to run, there were plenty of chores you should be doing.  His family raised dairy cows (Holsteins) in Cazenovia, NY.  Plowing the field was done by hitching two horses to a yoke.  The family did not own a tractor until my dad was in college. 

My dad would not have gone to college if he had not received a scholarship to study art at Syracuse University.  It was there that he met my mother. 

Upon graduation my dad received a Fulbright Scholarship to study in Denmark.  A year later my parents were married in Copenhagen.  The newlyweds returned to America and settled in the Astoria section of Queens, NY where my two sisters were born.

There is a classic story of how my dad got his first job.  Down to his last few dollars, an acquaintance told him to go to 291 5^th Avenue, a 21 story building in Manhattan.  He was told to start at the top floor and ask every business if they needed an illustrator.  It wasn’t until he got down to the 10^th floor before he found a company that did.   

The growing family moved into a 4,000 square foot Dutch Colonial in Montclair, NJ.  Three boys soon entered the brood.  My dad walked at least four miles a day en route to and from his job. 

My dad retired in 1998 and started running five miles a day.  He told me a story about being chased by some wild turkeys.  I couldn’t understand why he was not able to shoo them away.  It wasn’t until this past weekend that I realized how vicious wild turkeys are when I witnessed two turkeys attacking a fawn. 

Somehow he got the wild idea to enter a race - the Montclair YMCA 10 K Run.  The great quote attributed to The Penguin John Bingham comes to mind.  The miracle isn’t that he had the strength to finish.  The miracle is that he had the courage to start.

My dad stopped running in 2005 when my mother got sick.  He wanted to be close to her to try to help her through her illness.  Cancer took her life in 2009.

My dad passed away this past Thursday.  He was 81 years old.  It was a blessing that I was able to spend last weekend with him.  There is a photograph of my dad from that 10K race.  It is easy to see that he was enjoying himself.  Clarence Mather was a runner. 

I Get Around

"I Get Around" by The Beach Boys topped the charts when I was a wee bearn.  It was the group’s first number-one hit song in the United States, reaching that mark on July 4^th, 1964.  That song sums up the past four weeks for me.  I’ve been to New Jersey twice and on a road trip to Arizona.

Our family spent our summer vacation in Scottsdale during the first weekend in August, as crazy as it sounds.  The weather was quite pleasant; temperatures in the 90s, low humidity.  On the way to Scottsdale we spent the night in Albuquerque. 

The Rio Grande River slides through Albuquerque like a slow moving cappuccino.  Its turbid brown current carries sediment from Colorado to the Gulf of Mexico.  In the 1970s enlightened and responsible civic leaders built the Paseo del Bosque path which parallels the river.  Sunset Magazine named it one of the best bike paths in the west. 

On Friday morning I ran about 7.5 miles on the path, in addition to the two miles from the hotel I stayed at to the path.  En route to the path I tripped and pulled my left thigh muscle, though not badly enough to keep me from running 9.5 more miles. 

Scottsdale is named after Civil War Union General Winfield Scott, who owned 640 acres in the area that now bears his name.  On Saturday I ran with the Mummy Mountain Runners.  The group meets for a 10-mile long run around their namesake peak at 5:00 am.  I awoke at 4:00 and ran the three miles from my hotel to the meeting point for the run.

On Sunday I met the Bandidos for a 12 mile run along the Arizona Canal.  We started out at 7:30 / mile pace.  They waited three miles to see if I could keep that pace before they engaged me in conversation.  As it turned out, two of them had been in Denver the previous week and commented on how fit the people seemed. 

After discussions of mileage, races and hydration, the conversation turned to the alarming obesity rate in the US.  Most people I run with in different parts of the country have difficulty understanding why people aren’t more active.  The dialog is the same.  This is fun; the camaraderie; the satisfaction of completing something; being a part of a bigger cause; the sense of accomplishment.  Who wouldn’t want to be a part of it?

No product, however beneficial, sells itself.  How else to explain the career of Billy Mays?  No cause, however noble, is self-sustaining.  How else to explain the growing obesity rate in America despite the mounting public policy initiatives?  We put a man on the moon.  Why are we not able to lower the obesity rate?

Last weekend I was in New Jersey and ran with Essex Running Club, Northern New Jersey’s Friendliest Running Club.  Sunday they held their 10 Hill Challenge Run – 10 hills spread over 13 miles.  Over 60 runners met for the 7:00 am run.  As I led the group over the first hill, I introduced myself and said I was visiting from Colorado.  What followed was a discussion about relative effort at altitude versus sea level and whether you gain the time back on the downhill that you lost on the uphill. 

There were many turns on the route and I called out where each was and mentioned streets we would be turning onto later in the run.  After announcing the forth turn someone asked me how I knew the course so well.  I came clean and told them I had grown up there.  The route eventually passed the street I grew up on and I took that opportunity to leave my new friends. 

Meeting new runners as I travel to different parts of the country is such a treat.  Though we have different backgrounds and aspirations, we are all sharing the dream.