Run to Win

This letter was written by Susan Reynolds in an email to the Ultra List in early February. I wanted to share it because I think that it is important to remember that the race director is there to take care of everybody, not just you. Enjoy what’s offered, give constructive feedback afterwards, and try not to be “that guy”…
 
It’s been a little more than two weeks since the 5^th running of the Ghost Town 38.5. 2010 was not only the GT’s 5^th, it is also the 400^th anniversary for the founding of Santa Fe, and the 2,500^th anniversary of the battle of Marathon. I love celebrations so planned a good many extras along a specific theme for race weekend.

The field limit was originally set at 75. The event sold out immediately and there was a large wait list right away. Right around the time one of those far back on the wait list announced that he was was buying his plane ticket anyway, I had reason to communicate with the Forest Service over something else and during the conversation was given permission to increase the field. Suddenly we were sold out at 100.

This is normally good news for an event. I was excited about the festivities planned for the year. Some of the extras included items for the packets (and the tote bags themselves) purchased through grants that I worked diligently to procure.

Ghost Town is held on my property. We use my kitchen for much of the food prep, Matt does the post-race bbq, I even feed runners who arrive early or who linger a bit on Mon. morning. It’s part of the weekend for me – I consider them to be GT runners, but also my friends and my guests. I want everyone to have a good time.

I paid the price for my attitude this year. There’s always been one person – could be a runner, could be a spouse of a runner – who is what we call in my family a “demanda” – that person who expects the rules to be bent just for him or her, sometimes who even expects other extras like “I won’t come if you don’t have potato chips at the aid station.” It’s to be expected, it’s part of the job of the RD.

But this year…there was behavior so rude by so many that even other runners were shocked. (Click here to continue reading…)

Well, I am almost halfway through the 1 More Mile for Sunshine challenge in terms of the number of days I’ll be running (13½ out of 31 days), but I am only about 20% of the way through the total number of miles that I’ll be running (107 out of 500+ miles).

For the first few days of the challenge, it was snowing constantly, so I’ve done almost all of my running in relatively slick conditions.

Being prepared for Winter running isn’t just what you are wearing, it’s also how you are running. I’ve broken through the ice a few times, which caused me to fall once so far, but otherwise I’ve kept my feet and have so far been injury free. I put some tips together about staying upright in snow or on ice while running over at the Challenge website if you want to take a look.

One of the suggestions that I have is to improve the traction on your shoes, either by buying something to strap around your feet or by just drilling some screws straight into the soles of them.

One thing that I’ve noticed is that with all of the extra trail running I’ve already done this year is that my screws are basically toast and already need to be replaced. I ran about 70 miles each in December and so far in January using one of my pairs of screw shoes (about 137 miles total) and so far I’ve lost 3 screws in one shoe, 2 screws in the other shoe, and have at least a few screws in each shoe that I’m not sure I’ll be able to get off they are so worn down.

And that leads into this week’s contest over at the challenge website…

IceSpike has been generous enough to sponsor the contest with two packages of their IceSpikes, which are like sheet metal screws on steroids. They have a self cleaning design and are supposed to last longer than your shoes (minimum 500 miles.) I’m looking forward to giving a set of them a try.

Until I get the chance, though, I’ll just settle for finding the time to replace the screws in my trail shoes…

If you want to give them a shot, then just click here to leave a comment on the contest page.

Just saw this video by fellow Dirigo runner Scott Douglas over at Running Times, where he details how and why to do a Diagonals Workout at least a few times per week:

Diagonals are a relatively low key type of exercise that are focused on leg turnover.

You just need to find a field, kick off your shoes, and do a combination of running and jogging for a set duration of time. Generally speaking, you will jog along one edge of the field, run diagonally across to the opposite corner, jog along another edge of the field, and then make another dash to the opposite corner once you’ve reached the end of that edge, as shown here:

Try working them into your regular routine and then come back and comment on your results!

(Video Source: Running Times)

When you are running at the edge of a road (or along a grassy hill or on a beach, for that matter) you may sometimes notice that the road isn’t exactly flat. The reason for that is because most roads have a camber to them that helps water drain off of them rather than pooling up in the center of the road.

The camber is any curve on a surface, and in this case refers to upward curve from the edge of a road towards the center.

The more severe the camber to the road, the easier it is to roll an ankle or to develop a muscle imbalance.

When a road is steeply cambered, you may find that one leg is at a slightly lower elevation than your other leg, which can throw your stride off.

The leg that is closer to the center of the road will feel like it is a “longer” leg than the other to your body, so your body will compensate through the way that it bends at the knee, how much your foot flattens on impact, and how much your leg rotates inward as you are running. This can lead to knee or hip soreness.

If you do find yourself running on steeply cambered terrain, try running on different terrain or different routes if you can. If you have to run on the same streets, try running them in the other direction (if local laws allow) or by running at the edge of the road on the shoulder rather than on the road itself. Icing and self massage will also help the soreness go away.

(Photo Source: Alistair Croll)

Most Saturday mornings, I am awake and ready to run the trails nice and early. This weekend, I was a bit tired but got up anyway so that I could hang out with a friend that was staying with us for a few nights.

By the time he left for a class he was taking, I felt wide awake and decided to ignore my desire to go back to bed and instead left the house to meet up with the Trail Monsters at Pineland Farms.

Unfortunately, about a mile and a half later, I’d discovered just what an engineering marvel modern cars are.

10 years ago, I’d have had an engine in my lap. Instead, my 17 month old car just dropped half the front end on the street and the rest of it crumpled up in front of the car. The windshield, tires and cab weren’t damaged at all, so I was able to steer the car off the road after the impact.

I did need the emergency brake to stop the car since the brake lines were gone, but I got out of the car without having been hurt. The airbag felt like a good punch in the face and is certainly something I hope to never have to repeat, though.

This just needs to be a reminder, if you are running or driving, to be sure that you pay attention to your surroundings. The intersection where the accident happened is a pretty common place for cars to hit one another according the officer and the guys from the fire department that responded to the accident.

In fact, damage to a nearby telephone pole was originally called in as part of my accident until the officer realized that there was no way that either car could have hit it.

This is just one more reminder about why it is important to be mindful of your surroundings when you are out running. Thankfully, there were no pedestrians near that intersection during the accident, but there easily could have been. I’ve run through there dozens of times over the past few years.

I’ve been hit by a car while running before, and it only takes a moment of distraction on either the runner or the driver’s part for their to be a problem.

As for this past weekend, nobody got hurt. Despite all the damage to the front end of the vehicle, I walked away uninjured. I am so impressed by the car that I am probably going to replace it with a newer model of the same car.

(More Photos: Flickr)

Last night I sat down and recorded a video explaining all of the questions you need to ask yourself before choosing your next (or first!) marathon. It wound up being a bit too long, though, so I’m going to separate it out into multiple videos that I’ll release throughout the week.

The first video in a series is now available, and here’s the link:
http://www.runtowin.com/coaching/choosing-a-marathon-1.html

The video details the first few questions you need to ask yourself before choosing a marathon.

Let me know what you think, and I’ll explain the other questions you need to ask yourself and discuss more details about the coaching program as I put each video out this week. Be sure to sign up for the early bird notification list if you want to know as soon as each video is available.

Here’s that link again:
http://www.runtowin.com/coaching/choosing-a-marathon-1.html

The following article was written by Mary Gorski to the UltraList. Somebody was asking what gains can be made from barefooting on the treadmill, and how this can be translated into better performance on the roads or trails. Here is Mary’s response (reprinted with permission):

I’m just commenting from personal experience — I have no expertise in physiology. I started shoeless (I keep my socks on) running on the treadmill two years ago. For years I have had off and on frustrations with my lower left leg — a snowball of issues related to repeated ankle sprains.

Two years ago on a snowy winter day I was doing a run on the treadmill at the Y. About a mile into it my achilles started to act up. I got irritated since I had been doing all the things that I thought that I was supposed to do keep that cranky lower leg happy, including the use of expensive prescription orthotics and proprioceptive exercises. I thought that I was prudent in my mileage.

When the achilles whined I thought of either moving to the eliptical or the bike. But then I remembered some casual discussions about barefoot running.

Advocates promoted it as a way to strengthen your lower legs and feet. Thinking I had nothing to lose and knowing that I could stop at any moment while on the treadmill, I took off my shoes and tentatively gave it a try. It seemed so counter-intuitive but surprisingly, my feet felt great. Everything felt fine. My achilles was fine.

That first day I only did a very slow mile. I then put my shoes back on and ran again. After a mile barefoot, the shoes felt like little stiff tanks on my feet.

I added a shoeless running session one to two days a week, doing it on the treadmill because it was cold outside. I built up my shoeless mileage very slowly.

I have no empirical evidence, but my feet and lower legs felt stronger after a few weeks. Wear patterns on my shoes now indicate that I have more of a forefoot touch than a total heel smash as I did before. I slowly stopped using my prescription orthotics and have not touched them in probably a year. I moved to less structured over the counter orthotics but now rarely use those.

My taste in shoes has changed. I used to look for a lot of structure and control, thinking it best for my pancake flat feet, and now I am most comfortable in lightweight, less structured shoes.

My ankle is still as loose as a wet noodle (after months of accident-free running I tripped on an easy ski trail last week and did a minor sprain) but I seem to twist it less often than before. I feel more confident in my foot plant with the less structured shoes and without orthotics. I generally don’t have the shin, calf and achilles hassles that I used to.

Coincidence? Perhaps. My lower leg concerns may have finally begun to heal on their own. But I attribute much of my success to the shoeless running. I think of it as a strength workout. I don’t do much shoeless running, but do it frequently enough to maintain the lower leg strength that I believe it developed.

So, that’s why I run shoeless on a treadmill.

– Mary Gorski

Have any barefoot treadmill running experiences of your own? Did you get the same results as Mary? Leave a comment below and let me know what you think.

Runners are presented with a unique challenge during hunting season that they rarely have to worry about for the rest of the year. Usually, we do not really have to worry about getting shot while we are out getting our run in, but in many areas of the country that could be a real possibility right now or in the near future.

Here in Maine, Youth Deer Day is this Saturday, with the normal hunting season beginning on Halloween. For most of the month of November, running on the trails isn’t quite as safe as it normally is.

Here are a few things to bear in mind when you are hitting the roads or the trails that will help to keep you safe: (Click here to continue reading…)