Changes

I got to do a few runs in the Nike Frees, the longest being a 6 miler at 8:30 pace. Honestly, I can’t feel much of a difference between them and my regular beat-to-shit Saucony’s, but maybe I need to go long in them to see what the big deal is. My first outing I stepped into a big pile of dog shit which I hope is not an allegory for the training I have in the immediate future.

I’ve been having a pretty good week mileage-wise, even though I had to cut my long run to 10 miles yesterday to get Dimitri to his first day of kindergarten on time. I might try for 15 on Saturday morning, but it might be a crunch because I have to attend an old friend’s wedding which starts at noon. Today is an off day.

Erin and I are moving to a house in Syosset next month. Syosset is a town on the North Shore of Long Island where I grew up, and where I did some of my first long runs 18 years ago. It will be nice to get back on those old familiar roads and also have the opportunity to put in some miles on the trails of the Muttontown preserve which is a mile or two down the block. I’m eagerly anticipating the pleasure of a long slow run down 25A to Sagamore Hill, Teddy Roosevelt’s Long Island home.

The temperatures have been coming down and fall is definitely in the air; this morning was a nice, cool 58 degrees. I think I’ll get out on the road early tomorrow because I have a lunch meeting and won’t be able to grind out 5 on the treadmill.

Long Run Thursday

I went out for a long run this morning. I work from home on Thursdays so it’s easier to get up early and knock out some mileage, rather than trying to do it on a Sunday when there’s usually a lot going on. A couple of days ago I decided that I needed to add some kettleball squats to my daily routine, with the result being that I stressed out just about every muscle in the upper part of my hamstrings. For the last two days I have struggled to get up from my chair, never mind get in my daily mileage. Yesterday it took all of my strength just to get on the treadmill and get 5 miles in. I felt a little better today but it was still a tough 11 miles. I’m not going to beat myself up too much about the pace (9:15/mile) as I’m sure once my hamstrings get back in action I’ll be able to get back to my goal pace of 8:50. Overall I felt pretty good. Next week I’m going to shoot for 13 or 15.

I got my Nike Frees in the mail. They seem to fit ok in that tightish Nike sort of way. I ordered a 1/2 size larger to account for the fact that the shoes tend to run small but I’m wondering whether I should have gone up a full size. The toe box seems a little snug. I can’t wait to take them out for a run, but since tomorrow is a rest day I will have to wait until Saturday.

Back on the Road

A lot has gone on since I posted my last entry. For one, I finished the book, Born to Run by Chris McDougall. I’m not exaggerating when I say that this book changed my life. It reminded me why I am a runner and reignited my dream of becoming an ultra-marathoner. For those who haven’t read the book, Born to Run is ostensibly a story of the the reclusive Tarahumara Indians of Mexico’s Copper Canyons, a tribe who’s 100 plus mile foot races through mountainous trails are legendary among runners. However, McDougall’s book goes beyond an entertaining and thought-provoking look at the Tarahumaras (and the ultra-running community that is the tribe’s closest American counterparts.) Indeed the first two-thirds of the book lay the groundwork for the introduction of a startling thesis--that human beings have evolved for running. With the support of evolutionary biologists and anthropologists, McDougall tackles and answers some big questions: Why did our ancestors outlive the stronger, smarter Neanderthals? Why do expensive running shoes increase the odds of injury? Ultimately he comes to the conclusion that running steadily for hours at a time is not only therapeutic but also natural. Primitive humans did it constantly, catching and killing quarry simply by exhausting them in marathon hunts. They also did it barefoot. I urge everyone, whether runner or not, to read this wonderful book and then go for a run.

In acknowledgment of my evolutionary destiny, I signed up for the Philadelphia Marathon on November 21, 2009. Training has already commenced, and I am going to get this race under my belt and start running ultras.

Attachments

Attachment. The Buddha taught that suffering is caused by attachment to concepts and ideas, as well as attachment to our notion of the self. Attachment to ideas is associated, at least to me, with our obsession to label people and things and place them into mental categories where they become static and fixed. Some psychologists think that labeling and categorizing is the way human beings cope with enormous amounts of information. It is much easier to view a person or event superficially and put it into a neat little box in our mind where it remains, undisturbed, until something happens to disturb it. Of course, reality is neither static nor fixed. It is in a state of constant change. The really remarkable illusion that we all buy into to one degree or another, is that there is something solid that we can hold onto. But accidents happen. People die unexpectedly. Buildings are blown up in Manhattan and collapse into a hole in the earth. And there is nothing we can do about it.

It is with this in mind that I’m pulling the plug on my marathon training. October 11 is 10 weeks away and I haven’t been doing the kind of training necessary to get through 26.2 miles. I have spent most of the summer on airplanes, crossing the country for work, and as a result I haven’t been able to fit in any runs exceeding 10 miles. I am still logging 35-40 miles per week, but simply do not have the time to go out and knock out a 15 mile run on a Saturday or Sunday morning, especially when I haven’t seen the kids in a couple of days because I’ve been stuck at a meeting in Los Angeles for the better part of a week.

After I read Dean Karnazes books I became very attached to the idea that I wanted to run long distances, despite the fact that there is no way I could fit that kind of training into my lifestyle. I can run 40 miles a week, but I cannot run much more than that and still have time to do anything else. I have made peace with this decision. I still get to go out for 6 and 7 mile runs in some of the nicest places in the United States, and I can do it now without the specter of the Steamtown Marathon looming over my shoulder. I am going to replace Steamtown with the Philadelphia ½ and be thankful that I will have the time to do some fall camping and late summer scuba diving. Life is good.

The Pool Is Open

On Sunday I’m scheduled to go on my first Atlantic Ocean dives since June of 2007. I find scuba diving to be pretty much the antithesis of running insofar as the sport requires an enormous amount of expensive gear, considerable travel to get to the dive site, slow movements to conserve energy and total focus on the act of diving. On the other hand, both are intensely physical activities so maybe the difference isn’t as great as it first appears. I like to dive to get away from terra firma for a while. After pounding the pavement for weeks on end without a break, it is nice to float weightless in water, even if that water clocks in at a chilly 55 degrees Fahrenheit. A wetsuit keeps the hypothermia away, though just barely.

Diving in the Atlantic Ocean should not be confused with the sort of diving one watches in brilliant HD on the Discovery Channel. Tropical diving is a truly sublime experience, akin to floating weightless in outer space. Most time you don’t even need to wear a wet suit because the water temperature is in the upper 90s. Visibility is often unlimited, and sunlight illuminates the reefs and wrecks well below 100 feet.

In contrast, diving in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Long Island is a decidedly more intense experience. For starters, the water is cold, and it’s liable to be dark as night at any depth exceeding 70 feet or so. Visibility can be as great as 80 feet, or as little as none, with the average somewhere in the 5-20’ range. You have to wear, at minimum, a 7mm thick wet suit, booties, gloves and a hood, and you should carry around a spare air tank in case something goes wrong. Despite or maybe because of the challenges, divers here in so-called Wreck Valley have the reputation of being the best trained and skilled divers anywhere in the world. I got into diving a few years ago and having experienced both environments. As much as I enjoy tropical diving, I have to admit I like the challenges posed by northeast conditions. Since my budget for travel to warm climates is decidedly limited, I think I’ll reacquaint myself with the Atlantic and get some chilly dark dives under my belt. The pool, as they say, is open.

Healthcare

At lunchtime today I was watching the talking heads on CNN attempt to dumb down the health care debate, while grinding out my daily 5 on the office treadmill. Admittedly, healthcare is a complex issue, but to hear how the debate is being framed by the mainstream media, one could come away with the impression that if we allow Obama to push through a publicly funded plan, the government is going to come and take away our soda and cookies while taxing everything else in sight. This alarmist coverage is so far removed from what should be a sober debate on American fiscal priorities that I am compelled to conclude that the coverage is being scripted by CNN’s insurance company advertisers.

With the enormous wads of cash being thrown at the financial industry and the fact that the United States military is engaged in fighting two costly wars halfway across the world, the debate should be focusing on where else besides the taxpayer’s pocket the money to fund healthcare reform can come from. I have not heard a single media report that suggests that the money spent bailing out Wall Street bankers would be better spent on health-care. CNN and its corporate cronies have instead decided to frighten Americans by raising the specter of “socialized medicine” and tax increases that would be necessary to pay for it. As far back as the 1930s, conservatives have attempted to smear progressive national health care reform proposals by calling them "socialized medicine" or a step toward that inevitable result.

And what’s wrong with socialized medicine, anyway? To me it just seems like everyone chipping in through taxes to take care their neighbor. Insurance companies are only interested in making money, so they do whatever they can to deny people treatment. One of the worst things about the American system is insurers denying referrals to specialists, thus ensuring that preventable or treatable afflictions blow up into catastrophes. Countries with socialized medicine also have programs that provide numerous incentives to foster healthy lifestyles so that one doesn’t get sick in the first place. That is much more proactive than our culture can stand. Remember, America is home of competitive eating.

Running on Empty

I have been taking it easy lately, trying to build up a good reserve of rest before jumping into marathon training. I also haven’t been watching my diet as carefully, which is a problem since I’m still about 5-7lbs over where I want to be for the fall. Fourth of July was full of beer and bar-b-q; kind of a lost week-end insofar as fitness is concerned. Beer is especially troublesome since it takes a good five days or so for the excess water weight to dissipate. Meanwhile you carry that extra two pounds around. I feel like I’m sloshing every time I put my foot down. Stopping off at White Castle in the Bronx on the way back from Pennsylvania probably didn’t help any.

There are many opinions about the proper nutrition for runners; timing, composition of food, hydration, etc. In fact, there is a lively discussion on the topic over at The Well, the NY Times fitness blog. What I’ve been able to gather, is that aside from some areas of common agreement, i.e. the White Castle Bacon Double Cheeseburger is not a particularly desirable fuel source for runners, scientists and nutritionists are all over the map when it comes to this stuff.

When I started running 20 years ago I was a vegan. I lost a lot of weight, but I was also tired all the time and would feel like I was about to faint if I stood up too quickly. I think it was my vegan self-righteousness that kept me alive until I transitioned to a more normal ovo-lacto vegetarian diet several years later. Eventually, I tired of eating beans three times a day and switched to a more conventional diet, loosely based on the Zone diet, but less restrictive. My problem has always been volume. If my running exceeds 30 miles in a week I become an eating machine. I have been trying to figure out a way to prevent my weight from increasing along with my mileage, but so far I’m finding it to be a delicate balancing act.

People are different. It follows that bodies will respond differently to different fuel sources. Some people chug Gatorade at water stops with no problem, others end up heaving it up on the side of the road a mile later. The trick is knowing what works for you. My favorite pre-run drink on Saturday mornings is a large cup of coffee. Others prefer a smoothie. Vive le difference.