Running Thoughts: I still need to do a full review of Ryan Hall’s new book Run the Mile You’re In: Finding God in Every Step, since i read it many months ago, but the idea of dealing with the place, or mile, you are at/in, came to mind, again, while riding this past weekend. For me one of the hardest parts about running or riding long distances is with my mind at the start and early in the run/ride. I think about all that is ahead and how I feel at the start, which may not be the best, which brings doubts about the coming miles. I usually find once I get past having less miles to go than I have already gone, things get better. Sure would be nice to get through those early miles without those doubts and that is what the following is about.
This is where the idea of running/riding the mile one is in comes into play. By this I mean not spending all one’s energy thinking about what is ahead and by doing so affecting the place one is at and often removing the enjoyment of where you are on the way to where you are going. This does not mean you should not have a plan for your run or ride and know that early miles can affect how you would perform later on so we do need a plan that gives context and guidance to each mile. The thing here is that often, if you are like me, I get so focused on the overall plan I lose sight of where I am and lose the enjoyment of the process.
I do not want this to sound like some psychological mumbo-jumbo but I have found the more I can focus on what I am doing at the moment, in the mile I am in, within the context of the overall workout/race, things seem easier mentally – which also reflects on the physical aspect. As an example, for the century I rode this past weekend I had the usual doubts early on but when I instead turned my attention to how I felt in the current mile and adjusted my cadence and gears for that mile things went better. This is not easy as it takes work to focus on the present while keeping the bigger plan in mind but not letting it detract from the current mile, but it can be done.
Another example where this worked well was when I ran my BQ qualifying time at the Derby Marathon in KY. In most marathons I go in with a pacing plan but often since it takes time to warm up the early miles play games with my head. Since I had just read Hall’s book, I thought I would take the title to heart. Thus, I had an overall plan to average just under 8:00/mile and get my assured BQ so reflected on what that would feel like since I had done a number of tempo runs at that pace. As the race went on I focused on each mile as they came and running the pace, or effort since some miles are up or downhill, that I had planned on. This went well till about 20 miles where the course heads a little uphill and is sort of a lonely stretch so I had to work hard to focus and while losing that focus a couple times pretty much stayed on pace till less than a mile to go where I had a hamstring cramp but once getting through that got going and got my BQ with plenty of time to spare.
The point of all this reflection is that while not necessarily easy trying to stay focused on where you are in a run/ride in the context of the full plan makes things much better. This concept not only works for individual runs/rides but also as you look at each mile of every workout when seen in the context of why you are doing what you do. You may not race as I do and just run for the joy of it but even for this it can add joy to every mile, socially those that are not as joyful, since we all have those.
Let me end with encouraging you to read Run the Mile You’re In and if you are not a Christian realize that while Hall speaks of his faith a great deal in this book the principles he shares can be applied no matter your faith.
Week’s Running Overview:
Well the plan for this week was to run 20-25 miles and ride around 150 miles with a long one on the weekend. That is just what happened this week with 21 miles running and 154 riding which included a 103 mile ride on Saturday. I think it may have been a little much for a busy week since to do this weeks mileage I had one two run day but with my work schedule the early run was pretty early. That said while my ankle was a little sore at times it came out pretty well. I even find my ankle probably feels worse at work than it does running. I am still at a place where it feels my limit on a single run right now is about 10 miles as the soreness comes and goes during a run and is not really constant but does show itself more the longer I go.
One thing I notice is that not only does this stem from some biomechanics up the chain I also seem to feel my ankle feels weak. I have tried some of the exercises offered up for ankle and foot issues and notice they are hard to do and my ankle is sore doing them. Due to this after this week when I get home I am going to start slow but begin working at strengthening my ankle and foot. Have been doing some already but need to re-evaluate how I am doing it. One thought that came to me is when I look back I have turned my ankle quote a few times over the years of running trials and other sports with a few being pretty bad. I have never hurt it bad enough to have surgery or anything but maybe over the years and now that I am older I am starting to notice issues from these past injuries. The hard part now is figuring the best things to do that work without doing harm as I find some just make things worse.
One other thing I have noticed that is interesting is I have tried some inserts to temporarily support my foot but find my foot is more sore with them than without. Might be they are too high but need to look into this as well. As I have stated before this is not all a foot issue as it can get really sore just sitting which tells me that muscles are pulling on the chain that ends at my foot creating discomfort. Bottom line I have a ways to go.
As far as riding I rode a couple 25+ mile rides with a few harder efforts but was a little tired this week but not too bad. Did do a good fat adaptation ride of 103 miles on Saturday that started in the rain but ended in much better weather. Was a good ride with some excitement as Ryan, the guy I was riding with, had a fall early in the ride on a wet turn and providentially I had backed off to take it a little slower and was able to pretty much miss him with only my pedal light hitting his helmet. So ,after getting everything back together, after maybe 8-9 miles, we headed out for the rest of the ride. Kept a good pace but not hard for the ride and at about mile 70+ going through some traffic and after just passing a group of riders heard a crash behind us but due to traffic could not tell exactly what happened but crashes are never good. Riding is a great sport but does have its dangers that running does not have and add other bikes and moving/parked cars to the mix and there is more opportunity for problems. From there we finished off strong and felt good as at about 60 or so felt really tired but in last 25 felt tired but really good.
More centuries ahead to get ready not only for the Dirty Kanza 200 and Steamboat Springs Gravel Race (140 miles) but also for Boston. These long rides, at least for me, are great for endurance without the pounding longer runs can bring. This does not mean I do not do long runs but I can not do as many of them as I used to do to get ready for marathons. It worked earlier this year in getting my BQ at the Kentucky Derby Marathon so we will see how it does for Boston next year.
Overview of Weeks Runs and Rides:
- Monday: Ride – 25.8 Miles
- Tuesday: Run - 6.2 Miles
- Wednesday: Ride - 25.8 Miles
- Thursday: Run#1 – 5.1 Miles
- Thursday: Run#2 - 5.1 Miles
- Friday: Run - 4.6 Miles
- Saturday: Ride – 103.2 Miles
- Sunday: Rest Day
Totals:
- Running Miles – 21 Miles
- Riding Miles – 154.8 Miles
- Total Time – 11:33 Hours
Pre-Ride:
- Coffee with Coconut Oil and Butter, Collagen, Half & Half and Chocolate Primal Fuel
- 1 SFuels Bar
- 1 Altred (Beetroot Extract)
- Also use the AMPHuman PR Lotion - works great on the legs and as it was cooler help insulate a little early on
Ride Fueling;
- 3ea - 24 OZ bottle of water with 3 SFuels-Race+ packets
- 1ea - SFuels Bar
- 1ea - Maurten Gel
- 4ea - S!Caps (2ea at 2 hours and 4 hours)
- 3ea - Altred (1 at start then 1 after 2 hours and 4 hours)
- Totals: 610 Calories - Carbs- 82 g
Weekly Diet Notes;
Nothing really here to report as just trying to do my best to control carbs while on travel. Have not done too bad but know I need to do better as I just feel a little off as compared to how I feel when I am more consistent when I eat. I often talk about diet with regards to performance but the truth is along with that is feeling better. Over the last few years I have found foods that I like to eat that I now have to pass on. Now there is a possibility this is due to my age as our metabolism and such changes as we age but regardless we probably all have foods we like that if we reduced or stopped their intake we would feel better. More to come on this as I settle back in to things after a hectic past few months.
Conclusions and the Week Ahead:
After good week of workouts this coming week will be much less time wise. Since I have a busy week of work before I head home to KY form So. Cal figured I would not get to ride much so decided to give the bike I borrow back to Jamie, it’s owner, and this week will just run. With travel this coming Saturday my goal is 30 miles for the week but as usual will see how that goes. I do want to do some work this week deciding on my exercise/strengthening plan for my foot/ankle for when I get back so I can get ready for that to start up next week.
As always if you have questions let me know in the comments below.
Last Week's Overview #26
