The Hamster Wheel

After much animosity, I have finally made peace with the Treadmill. For many years, I despised running on a treadmill, mostly because it made me feel like a bored and pitiable hamster—expending lots of time and energy, and all the while going absolutely nowhere.

Whereas last year I ran outside through the winter, this year the cold has gotten the better of me. I’ve been blaming this aversion to the cold on my growing instinct to secure my basic needs of warmth and shelter.

For lack of alternatives on a number of occasions, I found myself giving the treadmill another chance—and happily learned that it has actually improved my running pace quite significantly. The approach I’ve been using for my treadmill workouts goes something like this:

• Set the treadmill for a 30 minute run


• Spend the first 5 minutes at what I call my ‘resting pace’ (a slower pace I can maintain for long distances


• Add .5 mph to my speed incrementally at either 5 or 10 minute intervals


• Leave the last 5 minutes for cool down by resuming my resting pace
  

While there is nothing official about this approach, I am pleased to say that it has allowed me to gradually spend more and more of the 30 minutes at the faster paces. Within a month I’ve shaved almost 2 minutes to my average pace per mile. After doing a few Web searches on treadmill workouts, I found that it’s actually quite similar to a few suggested on the Runner's World Website.

So while I still can’t help but think about those furry little creatures as I hop on the treadmill, I have made peace with it. And I have something the hamsters don’t have—hundreds of potential training programs at my fingertips to fend off the boredom.

'Tis The Season

I know I’m not alone with the sentiment that the holidays are notorious for delicious (and overwhelmingly unhealthy) food habits—some stuffing here, a few gingerbread cookies there—and before I know it, not only have I totally derailed the healthy food and exercise habits I’ve built up, but I also guilt myself into defaulting to my go-to New Year’s Resolution of doing something healthier.

I decided to avoid that route by laying out a few guiding principles for myself this holiday season:

• Make the time to work out, even if it means a shorter routine than usual (along the lines of one of my older posts, “Better Than Nothing”)


• At meals, eat the nutritious food first so I’m more likely to fill up on that (I borrowed this one from Oprah). And don’t go to parties hungry.


• And lastly, The March Rule: Ask myself, “would I eat like this in March?” (For example, “Would I eat 2 slices of pecan pie followed by some chocolate chip cookies for dessert in March?”). If the answer would be “no” in March, chances are it should be “no” now, too. In other words, try to eat the way I usually do.

I can’t say these have been totally fool proof, but they have gotten me through the past few weeks of holiday party treats and other temptations without compromising any of the fun. And I’m happy to say that I can focus this year’s New Year’s Resolution on something else altogether…such as maintaining a more active blog, perhaps? ;-)

Happy Holidays, All!

Losing Track

I recently started running on Boston University’s indoor track on days that are too cold or wet to run outside, and while I will always prefer running outdoors, I am starting to develop a fondness for the track. However, I only realized this fondness once I found a way to overcome my initial frustration.
Ever since I trained for my first marathon last year, I’ve gotten fairly into calculating the distance I run. Treadmills obviously make this a no-brainer, and online mapping programs (like my beloved Map My Run) are also pretty straightforward. I assumed it would be just as simple on a track, where the “loop” provides a clear distance metric.


But on the relatively small track where 7 laps = 1 mile, I immediately found myself losing “track” (of course, pun intended), and within minutes my self-questioning of whether I was on my 2nd or 3rd lap compounded into uncertainty regarding whether I was on my 7th or 15th.

Feeling a bit frustrated with my apparent lack of preschool-level math skills, I decided I was better off disregarding distance altogether. To my pleasant surprise, I found myself able to completely relax and zone out—possibly more so than I have in a while: No pace-per-minute calculations, no street traffic to navigate, and best of all, no counting.

While I have no intentions of abandoning my distance tracking as a whole, I do think I’ll pursue a more Zen-like approach towards the track.

Speed Demons

Those who know my running style know that ‘fast’ has never been my thing; I’m a fairly slow runner and never really thought much of it. However, lately I’ve felt that I need a new challenge to re-energize my running, and inspired by the Monday night 5Ks I’ve been participating in, I decided to focus on improving my speed.

Not knowing where to start, I solicited feedback from my friends and other running enthusiasts through Facebook and LinkedIn. (As a marketer who’s increasingly using social technologies professionally, I must admit I’m growing quite keen on leveraging social networks for information).

The advice I received on how to run faster covered a wide spectrum, ranging from the humorous: the “oh sh*t a bear is chasing me” approach, to the technical: e.g. “try to improve your per-second pace by 6-8%”, to some advice that I first thought was a joke and then realized I was simply lacking some key running vocabulary: fartleks, anyone?

I'd like to thank everyone who took the time to give me their recommendations, and I wanted to share a few of these with others:

• Break running speed into two components: Turnover (strides per minute) and the distance each stride covers. Runners should first focus on improving turnover rate, and then on springing off their feet more and more. For more details on this approach, contact athletic coach Steve Bentley or visit his Website.
• Fartlek (interval) training: Varying pace throughout the run—including quick bursts of high intensity running (around 30 seconds each time), followed by a slower recovery pace. Active.com (as well as many other sites) has some easy-to-follow examples of fartlek programs.
• Pace workouts: After choosing a specific distance to train for, break that distance into intervals and set a target time for each. Then aim to run the interval at the target pace and recover with a slow jog in between. Pace charts can be helpful for this, and Runner’s World has a few of these on their site.

A common theme across all of the advice I received was to listen to your body and not take on too much too soon in order to avoid injury. I also feel obligated to add a disclaimer that I am by no means an expert (or even have much experience yet) with these approaches, so take from it what you will (and I am planning on doing the same). I will keep you posted on my own progress in an upcoming post.

Someone Else's Words

Over the past few months I’ve been collecting motivational running quotes I’ve come across, and (aside from the fluke nice weather we’ve had in Boston the past few days) the combination of daylight savings & colder weather makes this just the right time to break out some words of inspiration. Some of my favorites include:

• “The feeling you get from a good run is far better than the feeling you get from sitting around wishing you had gone for a run.” - Unknown
• “My feeling is that any day I am too busy to run is a day that I am too busy.” - John Bryant
• “Ability is what you are capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it.” - Lou Holtz
• “Success isn't how far you got, but the distance you traveled from where you started.” – Steve Prefontaine
• “You should run the first 3rd of every run with your body, the second 3rd with your mind, and the rest with your heart” - Unknown
• …and my #1 favorite (and most motivating) running quote: "Ask yourself, ‘when is the last time I went for a run and regretted it?’”

For more running quotes, check out some of these resources:

• Daily e-newsletter: Runners World’s Daily Kick in the Butt running quotes
• Websites with running quotes: Brocaw Blazers’ Famous running quotes, Run the Planet, The Running Advisor

My Italian Vacanza

I had every intention of continuing my morning runs throughout my multi-city vacation in Italy last week. However, I failed to account for one key factor: Vacation is not about squeezing in my morning runs. Vacation is about RELAXING.

So while I did have the pleasure of venturing off for a memorable run in Florence along the Arno River, I spent the rest of my trip exploring these cities as one should when visiting Italy: lots of walking, lots of food, and lots of wine.

And I have to say, I'm pretty sure my sneakers appreciated their vacation, too.

It’s Cold Out There

I was hoping I wouldn’t have to broach this topic for a few weeks, but cooling temperatures in Boston (and now during my week long stay in London) are an unwelcomed reminder that winter is just around the corner.

It’s a bit disheartening to acknowledge, but my favorite thing about running in the cold is the gratitude I feel once the temperatures rise again in the Spring—not necessarily the best attitude given Spring is a solid 6 months away. But in the meantime, I’ve started reflecting on some of the things I do differently to accommodate the cold weather, including:

• Bundling up. My $2 gloves from Target go a long way towards keeping in the warmth. And when the temperature drops a bit more, I’ll rely heavily on a fleece vest and headband to get me through.


• Extra stretching. While I usually don’t allocate enough time for stretching, in the colder months, I make a point to find the time to stretch pre- and post-run, as I notice a significant improvement in how I feel both during and afterwards.


• Embracing the dark. Whether before or after work, the shorter days leave little choice but to run in the dark, and while it’s generally not my preference, I try to make the most of it. This morning for example, I ran a 3 mile loop around London’s theater district. Rather than avoiding the run altogether, I brought my camera along and snapped some 6AM “night shots” along the way—a very different landscape than I would have seen at the same exact time just a few weeks ago.

Curious as to other’s perspectives, I found a short and to-the-point article on Runner’s World on “10 Tips for Running in the Cold” which highlighted a few aspects I hadn’t thought of, like warming up indoors and running with the wind. Got any others? I’d love to hear them.