Run to Win

In a continuing collaboration with Scott over at Straight to the Bar, we have written about head games for the month of April and delved into the thought processes that you may have while you are working out.

Over the past month, we have mostly discussed how your mind controls your body. Specifically, we have discussed how important focus is, how fear can derail even the best laid plans, and the importance of visualisation. The state of mind that you are in when you are attempting an athletic endeavor helps to determine the state of your body when it comes time to perform.

One thing to bear in mind, though, is that the opposite can also be true. The state of your body has a profound effect on your mind. You can give yourself wild and drastic mood swings merely through how you treat your body and what you ask it to do. When you are performing at your peak and you are finishing that marathon or lifting more weight than you have ever supported, your body is completely in tune with your actions. You can be filled with a euphoria that is difficult to find even with drugs, and your body can help your mind find the focus needed to continue to strive.

Alternatively, the pain from your body under the same circumstances can drive your mind to distraction. You can begin to focus on the electrical pulses sent from your nerves to your brain which tells your mind that something is not quite right. You may begin to question what you are doing, or you may become numb and lose track of your surroundings. Little things may start to distract you, allowing you to continue or forcing you to quit.

We do not have to be active in order for our bodies to control our minds. Get in shape, and then take a little time off. Your body will crave the exercise, and may even go into withdrawel symptoms if you ignore it’s pleas to get outside and do something. As soon as you listen to your cravings you will become calm and any funk that you may have been in before your workout will melt away. Running or other types of exercise can be the best kind of therapy you could find for yourself, and will generally cost less than hiring a professional head shrinker.

It is important to focus and visualize your goals, and it is important to tell your body what you want it to do. It is also important to listen to your body, and to recognize that the communication between mind and body is a two way street. Forcing your body to do things it is not capable of will lead to injuries, but pushing it to its limits will lead to personal records and success in your athletic pursuits. Ignoring what your body has to say to you can also lead to injuries and depression, while listening to your body and just letting it take over now and again can make all of your problems seem a little less severe and more easily managed.

The Groton 10k Road Race is the second USATF New England Grand Prix event of the year, and the first of three events over the next month. Josh Ferenc managed to hold a lead by two seconds to win the men’s race in 31:32, while Caroline Bjune held a slightly larger lead to win the women’s race in 36:16. The GCS Triad Racing Team took home the men’s victory by a little over a minute, followed by the Greater Boston Track Club and CMS. The women’s race was a bit more spread out, with MVS beating Whirlaway by almost 5 minutes. There were 912 finishers.

Jarrod Shoemaker ran an impressive 14:52 to win the 5k race earlier in the day. He had no competition.

The 5k Grand Prix championship race is next weekend in Westford, Massachussetts.

(Race Results)

The Safe Passage 5k was this morning in Cumberland, Maine. A record number of participants showed up this morning, not least because of the passing of Hanley Denning this past Winter. She started the Safe Passage program, which provides education to the children who live in the Guatemala City garbage dump. The race raised about $18,000 for the program. There were 563 finishers, and both the men’s race and the women’s race saw course records.

The race was won by Ethan Hemphill in 15:14, which is 14 seconds than last year’s record setting run. There were 4 Dirigo runners in the top 5. The women’s race was won by Kristin Barry in 17:15, which lowered the women’s record by 23 seconds.

(Results - Photos)

This week last year was pretty busy. There was a lot of running news and tips, and I continued my animated weight lifting tutorials. The site also surpassed 100 people in a single day this week last year, which was a nice milestone to reach.

• I continued my animated workout series with how to do pushups, a staple in just about any routine. I also published a tip about bicycle riding and traffic, namely that you should always ride your bike with traffic. On a bike, you are usually going to be legally obligated not to ride against traffic.
• I first learned about the Endurance 50 Challenge where Dean Karnazes decided to run 50 marathons in 50 states in 50 days. I wound up getting to see him run one of them and was in another one (but I didn’t see him). In other marathon news, I learned that a 2:55:00 marathon guarentees entry into New York City, and not a 2:50:00 marathon. I also started a contest on the site to win a free copy of Coast to Coast, a book written by a friend of mine about a relay from the Pacific to the Atlantic.
• On a slightly less endurance-minded note, I gave my thoughts on whether or not it was worth it to taper for a 10k.
• I reviewed the Phedippations podcast/radio show. It is recorded by Steve “Runner” Walker on a weekly basis. I haven’t been keeping up for the past few months, though.
• I continued my thoughts on the New Rules of Lifting with New Rule #14 (stretching is not a warm-up) and New Rule #15 (you don’t need to warm up to stretch).

Photo by gabyuSwimming laps at the pool is a great workout, but how do you track how far you have gone? Especially when swimming laps continuously without breaks, it can become very easy to forget which lap that you are on and to get your count messed up. A lap in a pool is there and back and is usually 50 yards or 50 meters. A length is the distance from one end of the pool to the other, and will be half of a lap. Here are a few simple (and a few not so simple) methods for counting laps or estimating your swimming distance in the pool.
(Click here to continue reading…)

Raymond Britt ran the Boston Marathon this year with his camera, and he got some really great pictures. Even though he was an hour plus behind me, I can remember a lot of the spectators that he took pictures of. It’s really cool to see that those people were out there for hours cheering runners on, and it gives a very good view of the course from right in the thick of everything.

In a continuing collaboration with Scott over at Straight to the Bar, we will be talking about head games for the month of April and delve into the thought processes that you may have while you are working out.

This week, Scott talks about visualization and how it can relate to performance. Merely the act of seeing yourself succeeding can help you be more relaxed and subconsciously allow you to begin a lift or event with better form and concentration. Telling yourself that you can not do something is one of the best ways to fail, so telling yourself that you will succeed will help you to accomplish your goals.

This year I am attempting the other side of the sport by joining the board of directors for the New England Mile. We had a meeting today to discuss how the planning is going, and we seem to be ahead of last year’s schedule. We are still looking for sponsors, but we have all of our prizes donated and have begun to create donation that will be going to Easter Seals at the conclusion of the race. We have our race flyers printed up, and I have a stack of about 250 of them waiting to be handed out to various local businesses in an attempt to drive registrations our way. This should be a fun experience.