Book Review: RUN: The Mind-Body Method of Running by Feel by Matt Fitzgerald

A couple weeks back I was browsing the running section at the book store and stumbled across Matt Fitzgerald's RUN: The Mind-Body Method of Running by Feel.  I really liked Racing Weight, so I figured to give this a try.  Also, judging by the title and back cover I thought this might confirm a lot of what I've suspected about the "secrets" of improving your running.

As the title suggests RUN is about finding your own path to in training rather than trying to conform to standard training schedules and "rules of thumb" concerning distance running success.  But this book is not for beginners.  

Actually it can be for beginners, but I believe someone who has a couple years of training behind them will benefit most from this book.  That's because (as Fitzgerald explains) your mind learns from experience.  Over time you have positive results from workouts, schedules, rest periods and equipment that are all stored in your mind.

Tapping into that is the challenge, but eventually you get a sense of what works for you and what doesn't - often in the form of enjoyment.  Fitzgerald goes into greater detail, so a very over-simplified way of thinking about it is, if you hate a workout (say, Tabata intervals or 800-meter repeats) maybe they don't work for you.  Now, you could take this to the extreme and say "I don't like long runs, so I don't need them for my marathon training."  Which is ludicrous and not the point.  The point is some workouts work for you and others don't.  And what works for you might not for me.

A while back I compared the training strategies of Dean Karnazes and Anton Krupicka.  They have two very different approaches to training, but ultimately the end is (essentially) the same.  They are also at very different points in their running careers and have had very different histories with the sport of running.  And that's why their strategies, while very different still both work.  Ultimately the challenge is finding the strategy that works for you, and chances are you're not going to find it in the pages of Runner's World, on Hal Higdon's website

  or on the shelves of Barnes and Noble.

 

While all those things I just mentioned are excellent resources to help guide you ultimately, you have to find your own way.  You will still use training plans and traditional workouts as guides, but what works for you has to come from your own experience and RUN helps you find your way there.

Run More, Write Less

I am aware that it has been six days since I last posted.  And I'm okay with that.

For a while I was posting "just to post" every day.  Then two or three times a week.  Now I'm to the point that if I have something to say running related, I'm good with once a week.  Maybe some day I'll get to every two weeks, but so far I'm not even close.

Anyhow, I have been busy.  Last weekend Beth and I went up to her parents to celebrate our birthdays.  Actually we spent a night at a bed & breakfast in Erie to celebrate our birthdays.  We went to her parents so they can see Adele.  And because they are nice people and we like them a lot.

Also, I've been running and reading about running.  I just finished Matt Fitzgerald's RUN: The Mind-Body Method of Running by Feel.  I'll post a review sometime in the coming days, but I really liked it because it supported my overall attitude towards my training, but at the same time challenged me to stretch myself (like do a few intervals now and then) and work a little harder to reach my goals.

And the running?  I'm looking at a new PR for monthly miles in October.  I've got a long run scheduled for Saturday and I'm currently 15 miles short of the 132 miles I put in in February of 2009.  Also, its looking like I'm headed towards a PR in year total miles, thanks to only a couple week-long layoffs instead of multiple month-long layoffs.  And the first couple months of the year I was still crawling back from last year's foot injury, so hopefully my 2010 mileage will not be a PR for long.

Finally, I've settled on a race schedule for next year:  the Pittsburgh Marathon in May, the Finger Lakes Fifties 25K in July and the Oil Creek 50K in October (provided I'm alert enough to get my registration in on time).  I decided against doing the HAT run next March due to a Marriage Retreat that weekend and I want to spend a couple extra months honing my training instead of tapering, racing and recovering for the HAT.  I might mix in a half-marathon as a tune-up for Pittsburgh, I think after so many months of training without racing it will be helpful to have a time to help set my target for Pittsburgh.

Also, I decided against doing the 50K at Finger Lakes next summer since it is so close in time after Pittsburgh.  There is seven weeks between the two events and I think I'd need a bit more time to recover from the marathon and build back up for the 50K, but the 25K will give me a good gauge to help me determine a target time for the Oil Creek Ultras.

I've got lots of other busy-ness in the coming months.  It's meeting season at church and there is, of course the holidays.  I'll still check in regularly here.  I've got some ideas for my training in the Winter and Spring that will hopefully continue the fitness gains I've seen in 2010.

Boston Marathon Registration Closes in Just Nine Hours!

The Boston Marathon is the most prestigious marathon in the United States.  Maybe the world (except perhaps the Olympic Marathon).  They have stiff qualifying times you have to run in order to register (unless you get a charity exemption).  A 31-year old male (my age on race date) has to run a marathon in 3:10:59 or less to qualify.  So it's not the easiest race to even be eligible to register for.

But on Monday, when registration opened, 26,790 people (who had qualified or had a charity exemption) registered in nine hours and three minutes and registration was closed at 5:03 PM.  Planning on running a qualifier in New York or Philadelphia?  Too bad.

And Boston's not alone.  Races that never filled before are filling up.  Last summer I was surprised when the Finger Lakes Fifties closed registration prior to race day - this hadn't happened before.  In 2008 the JFK 50 miler had to put a cap on participation, limiting the race to 1,000 runners.  It filled in just a few weeks.  In 2009 it filled in a few days.  This year the JFK has switched to a qualify/lottery system similar to that of the New York Marathon.  But eventually, you have to imagine that those qualifying by time will eventually squeeze those getting in by lottery out of the race.

As running becomes more and more popular and people become interested in running greater and greater distances, it's becoming harder and harder to get into the most popular races.  The Oil Creek 100 events all filled long before race day, and in the case of the 50K and 100K distances, as much as six months in advance of race day.  And that is for only the second running of the race!

I think there is a certain level of frustration out there, especially among veteran runners that the races fill up so quickly.  It used to be you could say "I'll train for it, but we'll see how I'm feeling when we get closer to race day."  Not anymore.  You have to commit months in advance, and most races don't have refund policies, so if you get hurt or are not ready to race for another reason, then you're out $60, $90, or $180.  (See also 2009 HAT Run.)

Maybe the solution is to just keep it simple.  Granted, in my mind Boston is a reward, you worked hard to make that qualifying time and it's an acheivement to get in.  But other races?  Instead of the HAT run, there's Hashewha Hills.  Instead of the Philadelphia Marathon, there's Harrisburg (and by the way, registration for the Harrisburg Marathon on November 14 is still open!).  And every year frustrated people are starting new races.  Missed out on the JFK 50?  This year the inaugural Stone Mill 50 is happening on the Seneca Park Greenway - on the same day! (...hmmm it appears to have also sold out).

So, yeah, go for the big races, but if you don't get in, don't dismiss the small races, because some day they'll be the big races.

Why Do I Need to Know This?

I will acknowledge that I am pretty much inviting mean-spirited comments from people who I don't know and that don't read this blog with this post.

I'm not really a dog person.  But I appreciate other people's dogs.  Especially fun dogs that can catch a frisbee or play tug-of-war or will fetch a ball.  Not so much small dogs that would have to be put down if they were ever hit by a frisbee.  So while I have no interest in EVER owning a dog, I would not call myself a dog hater.

So here's the thing:  What's up with those "Caution Show Dogs" signs that people put on the back of their vehicles?  Do they really think that someone will be following them closely, see the "show dogs" sign and then be like "whoa, they have show dogs in the car, I need to back off!"?  (Or would they be more likely to say "oh, one of you!" and follow even more closely?

I guess my point is, I find it a little (and here's where people are going to get upset) pompous.  Because the only thing you see this sign for is show dogs.  Occasionally you see a "baby on board" sign, but that isn't really warning people to not tailgate them, it's just someone wanting to brag on their kid, and I get that.  I never see a "caution expensive electrical equipment" on the back of an engineering firm's vehicle.  You don't see "caution really sweet bikes" on the back of Team Radio Shack's team cars.  But show dogs?  You better back off.

And are show dog owners really getting rear ended this often?  I mean, I've been rear-ended twice, both times in rush hour traffic on my way to work.  I don't know much about dog shows, but I'm going to guess that you don't often have to transport show dogs at 7:30 on a Tuesday morning.  But maybe you do.

Really what these signs are saying are that show dogs are more important than whatever you've got in the back of your car, so don't treat me like just another vehicle.  And my guess is that they don't really work.  Because when I see that sign, I just think "good for you, you've got show dogs - not really something I'd brag about, but good for you."

Of course, maybe these signs are a warning not about the cargo but about the driver.  Because if someone is going to take the time to put up a sign on the back of their vehicle that they spend their time primping their prize-winning Portuguese water hounds, you can bet they'll take the time to take every penny they can from you and/or your insurance company.

Calculators

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With how things went at the half marathon in Lancaster, it got me re-thinking over my time goal for the Harrisburg Marathon.

I stand by the statement that my primary goal is to finish in under four hours.  Regardless of what my time is, I will be more than satisfied if there is a 3 in front of it.

But...

I've lamented in the past how my race times don't match up to the predictions given in most online race prediction calculators.  But something has changed this year.  Using the McMillan Running Calculator, My 6:39 mile (not a PR) translates to a 23:02 5K; I ran a 22:28 (PR).  My 22:28 5K translates to a 1:43:51 half marathon; I ran a 1:45:09 (PR).  My 1:45:09 half marathon translates to a 3:41:46 marathon.  So...

What if I aimed for a slightly higher goal than sub 4:00.  Could I be so bold to shoot for 3:45?

The thing is, the marathon is just a different beast than the half.  It takes a lot more endurance to run 26.2 than 13.1 and if I hit the wall before 18-20 miles it could be a long slog to the finish on City Island.  Some people would argue that the calculators just don't work for times slower than 3:30 and the slower you are, the more off those calculators can be.  And for the most part I'd agree with that.  But...

A week before the half marathon I was talking with Brad (my wife's best friend's husband - who also ran the Finger Lakes Fifties 25K - and came in fourth) about how training has been going this summer.  We both said that our training times this year have been crazy fast compared to last year and felt like our training was headed to a new level.  Obviously he's a little ahead of me, but I think we both had a breakthrough summer of training.

He ran the Steamtown Marathon last weekend, broke his PR by 30 minutes and qualified for Boston.  So...

If I'm having a similar breakthrough training season, it might not be so crazy to think that I could knock 20 minutes off my PR, especially since taking 20 minutes off a 4:08 marathon is considerably easier than knocking 30 minutes of a 3:40.

Of course we could have a heat wave or sideways rain that would throw all this out the window.  (At least I could still PR in sideways rain.)

Before & After

Tuesday I received my pair of the New Balance MT101 trail runners.  I planned an 18-mile run at Pinchot, so I thought it might be interesting to take a picture of them in their brand-new pristine state, since they will never look like that again - especially since it pretty much rained all week and Pinchot's trails are prone to muddiness even in the driest summers.

Before:

After:

Okay, not a huge difference since the trails weren't nearly as muddy as I had anticipated.  But I did have a great 18 miles, finishing both loops faster than I ever had before and it was the first time I had run more than 3-4 miles on those trails at a sub-11:00 pace.

I had my cell phone with me, and I was prepared to get a picture of anything interesting I saw along the way.  But the only thing that caught my attention was this:

The lake was actually at a low level so...what's up with the picnic tables?  (Especially the one that's upside-down!)

I Need to Just Stop Using Tools For a While

 (Yes, the bonus room is still a makeshift storage area.)

...or buy my furniture pre-assembled.

...or not buy my furniture from Big Lots.

Hands-On House Half Marathon Race Report

Okay, forget what I said.

I didn't stick to my plan.  But it turned out okay.  Well, more than okay - but first I must elaborate.

The alarm went off at 6:00 AM.  The plan was to leave by 6:45.  That way we would leave by 7:00.  I thought I had everything laid out that I needed, but as Beth and I got in the car (Adele got to spend the morning at home with Grandma and Grandpa) I realized I had forgotten my watch.  I normally train with my Garmin Forerunner 305, but when racing, I prefer to use my cheap-o brand athletic watch so I only have the stopwatch that I can check at the mile markers.  That way if I'm not exactly running the tangents, or losing signals when running under trees or big buildings I can match my pace to the actual race distance.

Well, I couldn't find my cheap-o watch so I grabbed my Garmin because I needed to use something.  (I also grabbed my coffee that I had left on the counter.)

It was about a 45 minute drive to Lancaster and we had no problem getting to the museum and finding good parking.  When getting my race number and bag, we learned that they did have to use the alternate course (mapped by the USATF) due to some flooding.  Didn't matter to me, since I had no expectations about the course.

After I had my goody bag, we went back to the car so I could put my number on, inspect the contents of the race bag and get ready for the race.  When I went to get my Forerunner from the console in the front seat I was surprised to find my cheap-o watch sitting next to it.  I put it on and hit the "mode" button to check to stopwatch.  We heard a pop and the display read "PM C:CC FJ."  I couldn't change it.  My cheap-o watch had died.  Fortunately, I had the Forerunner with me, so I put it on and hoped not having to do the math to workout my pace wouldn't mess with race focus.

Beth and I wandered around a while after that, and I warmed up and made multiple trips to the port-a-john.  I always feel a little bad for Beth during races like this, since she just hangs around the start-finish for two hours while I'm off running.  I took my time finding a spot in the crowd and as I scouted the field I said to her, be ready for me at about 10:50 (nine o'clock start), hopefully I'll be in by 10:55.

The horn sounded and we were off.  With over 600 runners, the field was considerably larger than Chambersburg, making it even more important to find your pace early rather than get swept up with the speedsters or getting stuck behind the slowpokes.  I found a nice easy-difficult half marathon pace early, but was a little surprised when I looked at my Garmin and it told me I was moving at a 7:35 pace.  It was less than a mile in and we had gone slightly downhill, so I continued to run by feel, figuring my pace would even out in the first couple miles.

I missed the first mile marker, but at mile two my time was 15:46 (I did my best not to use my Garmin to judge distance since I knew it could be slightly off based on tangents or lost signals).  Still a sub-8:00 pace.  But I knew the "challenging climbs" were coming, so I didn't sweat it (proverbially speaking).

Those big climbs came in the fifth and sixth miles.  I still have an ultra-runner's mentality towards steep climbs, so I was the only one walking to the top of each one to save my legs (and I'm pretty sure it was totally worth it!).  I hit the sixth mile marker at 48:19, over an 8:00 pace, but barely.  At this point, my foot wasn't bothering me much - it would get sore now and then but overall it was doing very good.  I knew it could get bad at any time.  So the thought occured to me:  if I'm likely to blow up, why not do it spectacularly?

So I committed to keep the 8:00 pace for as long as I could.  We went down a steep grade, then about a mile of flat running on an out-and-back spur along a creek.  After nine miles I had pushed my pace back under 8 minutes - or a 1:45 finish. 

At this point it occurred to me that I had told Beth that I'd be done in 1:50 at the earliest.  I was now due to finish five whole minutes ahead of that pace!  I thought, maybe I should have told one of the race leaders who I passed on the out-and-back section to tell Beth that I'd be early? I'm sure they would have been happy to help!

After 11 miles I started to crack and by the 12th mile marker I was consciously pushing my self forward, and did my best to control any side-to-side swaying.  I had bonked.  I took in some Gatorade at the last aid station and it was just enough to jump-start me and get my legs moving straight.  When I saw the turn-off for the finish line I kicked it into high gear and pushed for the finish knowing that I still had a good chance to finish sub-1:45.

I broke one of the "unwritten rules" of racing and ruined my finishing photo by checking my watch at the finish.  I didn't cross the start line until a few seconds after the start, and I had hoped it would be enough to make me sub-1:45, but alas, I didn't quite make it.  The clock at the finish said "1:45:14", my watch had "1:45:02" and my official finish time was 1:45:09.

I couldn't believe I had taken 11 minutes off my best time that I had just set in March!  Then I remembered the comment left on my race preview post - was this a short course since they changed it due to the rains?  Well, my Garmin still said 13.14, and the winner finished in 1:17, so I think I can comfortably say that this is a legitimate personal best!