Run to Win

This week last year covered a range of topics.

• A common question that I get asked is a variant along the lines of “Why do my feet go numb?” There are quite a few reasons that you might get a numb foot while you are running, and I go over what they are could be as well as how to prevent the problem.
• Finishing up a month about the media, Scott discussed Usain Bolt was still beatable as the USA did well in the men’s sprints.
• This website got hacked by some script kiddies after I waited too long to update the software I use to run the site. Let this be a lesson: Update regularly. There are much worse security vulnerabilities around for outdated versions of Wordpress these days.
• This week two years ago I was thinking a lot about marathons.
  • I explained 50 Marathons in 50 Days is impressive.
  • I discovered that it took 5 weeks of low mileage to decondition, and that I was able to regain that level of fitness in about two months. I also began lifting weights with a wedding ring on, which remains a surprisingly popular article.
  • The B.A.A. published a press release that they were going to move up the start of the Boston Marathon by 2 hours to 10:00 a.m. I predicted that there was going to be a blizzard due to the earlier starting time, and I was not too far off of the mark. A Nor’Easter blew through right before the race, which made it difficult for me to get home as the train tracks were washed out and the roads were all flooded and blocked.

Just like last week last year, most of what I wrote this week centered around the Boston Marathon. This week I described what happened as opposed to what was coming up.

• The website updated automatically as I ran with text alerts, notifying the site about my disappointing finishing time. I missed out on all of my goals, so while the race was a failure it was still well worth running.
• Getting home from the race was far more difficult than running the race. The Nor’Easter left a good portion of New England in a state of emergency. I couldn’t take the train home because the tracks had been ripped up, so I had to take a late bus back to Maine. When I got here, there was no power anywhere in the area except for the penitentiary and the local peeler bar. It took me 5 tries to find a way home where the road wasn’t blocked due to downed trees and power lines or due to flooding, and I only live a dozen or so miles from the train and bus station.
• I continued the April series on Mind Games by sharing a lesson that I learned during the marathon and that directly led to missing my goals during the race. You should never let fear overcome your common sense. I was afraid of the conditions that I might face rather than looking at the conditions that I was facing, and this led to overdressing and being way too warm for a majority of the marathon.
• I described my Boston Marathon experience in pretty good detail, breaking up each part of the experience into a separate article:
  1. The Athlete’s Village
  2. The Race (including a mile by mile breakdown with splits.)
  3. Post-Race
• In running news unrelated to Boston this week last year, over 5000 runners had issues with the heat during the London Marathon. (Conditions were much better this year, with finishing times amongst the leaders dropping by as much as 2 minutes.) Some shot putters saved a woman’s life during a track meet when they looked across the street and saw that her building was on fire. They had to talk her out of trying to stay in the building to find her cats and shared their warm up clothes with her since she wasn’t wearing anything other than her undergarments.
• This week two years ago, I got back to my animated exercise series by describing how to do a bridge. I later expanded on that by discussing the benefits of the bridge as an exercise. I recommended that you always run facing traffic, unless there are local laws to the contrary. I also continued the series on the New Rules of Lifting by discussing the twelfth and thirteenth rules.

Last night I received an email from Jane, one of my readers who is training for this weekend’s Boston Marathon. Jane’s training was going really well, she felt as though she were peaking at just the right time, she had just started her taper…and then she got injured. Sound familiar to you? It certainly does to me. Here is a part of her email:

I’m a 54 year old female training for my 7^th Boston. I peaked 3 weeks ago at 60 miles, and ran 45 miles 2 weeks ago, but last week I was diagnosed with plantar fascitis and a heel spur. I was told no running, I’ve been biking for 1 1/2 weeks, anti-inflammatories, lots of stretching & ice, and my PT has been doing iontophoresis treatments on my heel to help reduce the swelling.

I know I probably won’t be able to do another BG on Monday, but do you think I have a chance of running the whole thing? How much endurance have I lost by biking instead of running during my taper? Should I just wait and go for an easy run this weekend and see how it feels? I really hate to miss a Boston Marathon, but I also don’t want to do more damage.

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This week last year was centered on my preparations for the Boston Marathon.

• I began the week by discussing my taper and race goals, which wound up not being feasible no matter how realistic they may have began as.
• I quickly began to wonder whether the Boston Marathon would be rained out or not. This led to the very relevant question, is it possible to run a PR at a race like Boston? Obviously, that is going to depend on the individual’s level of training and their previous personal best, but this article delved into some of the factors that might make it easier or more difficult to run a good time in the race.
• For a bit of a history lesson, I explained where the name “Heartbreak Hill” came from. It doesn’t actually refer to the difficulty of the hill, because let’s be honest, it isn’t that impressive. The first time that I ran in Boston I didn’t even realize I was on it and had to ask when we’d get to it.
• With 1 day before the marathon the weather forecast began to improve. It looked as though the Nor’Easter was going to go through before the race and only make things miserable while everybody waited around in the athlete’s village. I republished an email from the BAA about how to avoid Hypothermia for anybody that might be interested in the kinds of conditions that had been expected originally.
• In running news and completely unrelated to Boston, I also wrote about how Tim Montgomery was looking at jail time for his involvement with steroids.
• This week 2 years ago, I saw a dumb woman at the gym try supersetting a leg press with a calf press. That strikes me as a quick way to hurt yourself. I also continued through the New Rules of Lifting by discussing the tenth) and eleventh rules.

Maine Running Company will once again bring in a marathon legend during the week of the Boston Marathon. This year, Dick Beardsley will return once again to relive the 1982 “Duel In The Sun” between himself and Alberto Salazar. The Maine Running Company will have copies of “Duel In the Sun” for sale and Dick will do a meet and greet on April 15^th at 6 p.m., followed by a presentation at 6:30 p.m.

Last year, 75 came to hear him speak despite the Patriot’s Day Nor’easter that tore up the area. Dick will once again recount his story of overcoming almost losing his leg, his addiction to prescription drugs and his ability to survive after his historic race with Salazar.

Once again, I seemed to miss a week for looking back. Last week last year was busy, with quite a few news notes, training tips, and discussions on research findings.

• I discussed some research on the merits of tempo workouts vs. interval workouts. Personally, I prefer a good mix of different types of workouts in my regimen.
• I recommended that you should watch for falling objects when you run, especially at this time of year. As ice melts in the trees or off of power lines, it can come crashing down quite forcefully. It also helps to spot any tree limbs that might be coming down or anything that the breeze picks up and throws towards you.
• After a close call in poor visibility, I reminded you to never play chicken with a car, mostly because a car is much more massive and will usually win. It just isn’t worth the bother. Having been hit by a car before, I actively take steps to avoid getting hit by car again.
• In response to an article at Complete Running, I disputed 7 sleeping myths and facts that were presented with my own thoughts on the matter. There were a few points that I agreed with up to a point, so they weren’t all wrong (from my point of view.)
• I pointed out an article at Free Money Finance that described how the author improved his life through exercise. Having never not exercised, one reason that I keep it up is to keep from degrading my life.
• In racing news, the men’s 8k championship was in Central Park, which had a few hitches but still provided some good entertainment for spectators. A couple of my college teammates were competing. I also began preparations for the Boston Marathon, spending the weekend shoveling snow and getting in a fast long run.
• In sports news, the Spanish doping raid’s charges against elite cyclists were dropped after they were deemed unlawful. At the time of the infractions, there was no Spanish law that made the specific practices at that clinic illegal. Just unethical
• Last week two years ago, I continued the animated lifting series with a demonstration of how to do a triceps extension using a pulleyand suggested that you flex at the lowest point of your pull. Running Dog Sports closed their doors for good, which was a shame. There was some research that pointed to the lack of brain benefits when running by yourself, but I think that that research was flawed. It did lead to pondering whether the time of day affects the clarity of your mind while running, though. I also continued the weekly series about the New Rules of Lifting, exploring the second and third rules.

Spectators at this year’s Boston Indoor Games got to see some more records set, continuing last year’s trend. Meseret Defar took the spotlight, leading Kim Smith into a world record pace in the 2 mile with a time of 9:13.94. The former indoor world record of 9:23.8 was set at the 2002 Boston Indoor Games, and Smith watched Defar cross the line in 9:10.5. “It’s nice to beat a World record (best),” said Smith, “it’s only too bad that Meseret was there first.”

Craig Mottram also had a good day. He broke the American soil record in the 3000 meter by almost a second after he ran 7:34.5, which also lowered the Australian national record. “It was a good time, and I’m happy with it. I’m running as well as I’ve ever done, in about the same shape as I was this time last year. I just need to keep a lid on things, keep turning the screws, and keep getting ready for Beijing.”

Local runners Dan Franek and Pete Bottomley competed in the Masters’ Mile to open the meet up. Both men run for my team, Dirigo Running Club. Dan Franek came in 2^nd place with a time of 4:31.37, and Pete Bottomley was 8^th with a time of 4:40.81.

The Boston Indoor Games is the second of five meets in the indoor Visa Championship Series.

(Sources: 2008 Results - USATF - IAAF)

You may have read about the Nova Marathon Challenge at this year’s Boston Marathon. Tufts University coach Donald Megerle and 3-time Boston winner Uta Pippig took a dozen people off of the street and trained them for the marathon over a span of 9 months.

Throughout the entire process, one person who was diabetic sustained multiple stress fractures and had to quit. She was replaced with a former NFL lineman, Steve DeOssie. Of the 13 people who were involved in the program, 12 of them made it to the starting line, and all 12 of them finished the race. All of the participants were sedentary and (technically) overweight before starting the program, and other than DeOssie none had spent much time exercising since college, if ever.
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