An Explanation

I want to apologize to the readers for disappearing for a couple of weeks. Unfortunately, my Mom passed away unexpectedly from a stroke two weeks ago, and I had to go down to Florida for a week to help my Dad make arrangements. This was followed almost immediately by a work trip to San Diego and then by several days of digging out from under a mountain of work.

While my Mother was not athletic (she abhorred exercise), she was very proud of my running and blogging. I came across a number of pages that were printed from my blog when I was going through some books in her room. Although she never commented on a posting, it was nice to know she was reading. As usual, it was running that kept me sane during that difficult week. I wrote her eulogy in my head during runs on the Dunedin causeway in the early mornings while feeling the sun rising at my back and contemplating the waters of the bay on either side of the trail. The causeway trail runs from Dunedin to Honeymoon Island, an area not as developed as other parts of the West Coast. It was the perfect atmosphere for contemplation and remembering my mother’s life. She will be greatly missed by her family. Back with more in a little while.

Cold Feet

Winter’s icy grip hasn’t loosened this past week. I’m still running inside, except for a 6 mile outing yesterday that felt surprisingly challenging. I say “surprisingly” because it wasn’t any different from the route I usually take but it felt like I was running through molasses. I thought I might have been experiencing the effects of overtraining, but today I got on the treadmill and flew through four miles while barely breaking a sweat. I was probably just tired. Erin and I bought a latex mattress about a year ago that totally collapsed in the center, so every night it’s a battle to find a comfortable position. Sleep has been elusive, both due to the bed situation and the kids coming in during the wee hours. I bought a new bed the other day and it arrives on Saturday. Hopefully that will alleviate some on the sleepiness.

I had an email exchange with Amby Burfoot from Runner’s World the other day. His most recent blog posting took a look at the questionable science (and motives) of some recent studies that concluded that running shoes might contribute to running injuries rather than prevent them. Anyone who has been following the recent trends in the running community have no doubt encountered an article or two by proponents of barefoot or minimalist shoe running.

The book Born to Run by author Chris McDougal has ignited considerable controversy on the issue of whether running shoes do more harm than good. I read Born to Run when my running and training were at a particularly low ebb. The idea that man was evolutionarily developed for distance running resonated so strongly with me that I changed my running stride and shoe selection and really started enjoying running again. While many of my lower mileage training runs for the Philadelphia Marathon were in Nike Frees (a so-called minimalist running shoe), my distance runs were all in my trustworthy Sauconys. Man may have been Born to Run, but he wasn't born to run on pavement. The barefoot proponants may have a point, (my intermittant knee and back problems disappeared once I changed my form and started using minimalist shoes) but their unecessarily strident tone can be off-putting. However, I think the editor of a magazine who’s principal revenue source comes from shoe companies advertisements should exercise a little more care when questioning the motives of a particular study’s author: “Richards has a stake in a minimalist shoe company. I'm not calling Kerrigan and Richards liars. Far from it, I agree with Richards's conclusion. But we should understand the motivation behind their writing and their research projects.” Yes, of course, but publishing your own article without a similar disclaimer about Runner’s World’s own pecuniary interests is at least as disingenuous. Amby responded to my comment in a personal email and argued that RW stands to earn even more advertising dollars that it would lose: “a decrease in running injuries, if this occurred through barefootin (sic), could possibly increase RW circulation, profits, etc. Since fewer injuries would presumably mean more runners and RW readers.” Well, I don’t buy it, but I appreciate the fact that he responded. I think the science on shoes could go either way at this point. Time will tell.

Cool Running

The Northeastern United States has been experiencing some severe weather this winter. After an early blizzard the week-end before Christmas, we’ve been treated to freezing cold temperatures accompanied by blasts of arctic winds. The combination of icy roads and sub-zero wind chills have kept me off the roads and on the hamster wheel at the gym for the past couple of weeks. I’ve made a deliberate effort to run outside as much as possible, but once the mercury drops below 20 degrees Fahrenheit, I throw in the towel. In my younger years I simply layered in more clothing and braved the elements, but then again, in my younger years I couldn’t afford a NYSC membership so I really didn’t have any other options.

All this cold weather got me thinking about the body’s response to exercising at low temperatures. I always thought that you burned more calories when working out outside in the cold, figuring that the body had to burn more calories to maintain core temperature than it does in the summertime. Surprisingly, it turns out that the reverse is true. When the ambient air temperature is hotter, your heart has to do extra work to prevent you from overheating. More than 70 percent of the energy produced by your muscles during exercise is lost as heat. The harder you exercise, the hotter your muscles become. In hot weather, not only must your heart pump extra blood to bring oxygen to your muscles, it must also pump hot blood from your heated muscles to your skin where heat can be dissipated.

On the other hand, in cold weather, your heart only has to pump blood to your muscles and very little extra blood to your skin. Your muscles produce so much heat during exercise that your body does not need to produce any additional heat to keep you warm. Curiously, this may help to explain why people find the pounds creeping on in the wintertime, even when they stay active. (Of course, it couldn’t have anything to do with elevated consumption of Christmas cookies and egg nog)

I guess running on the treadmill at the gym, (which is mercifully kept at a temperature much higher than freezing), actually helps you maintain your weight during the winter better then running outside. If only it wasn’t so terribly boring.

Resolutions

Tonight at midnight, 2010 comes marching in. This year will be a busy one, with many changes and challenges, but as in past years I know that I can rely on running to keep me sane. I have been grasping around for a goal now that I’ve proven to myself that I am still capable of going the distance in the marathon, but I’m having trouble finding something sufficiently interesting and challenging. There was a time this past year that I became enamored with ultrarunning and thought that I’d like to take on the challenge of a 50 mile race, but the memory of the last six miles of the Philadelphia Marathon are too fresh for me to even contemplate a feat of that magnitude. Plus, ultras require an investment of time that I just don’t have. I was able to squeeze my marathon training in despite a work schedule that had me in the air for 40,000 miles this year, but I doubt I could pull off the kind of training required for an ultra without sacrificing more sleep than I’m physically prepared to part with. I think I’ll plan on a couple of ½ marathons this spring and decide mid-year whether I want to train for Philadelphia again in the hopes of getting into Boston for the following April. We’ll see.

I tend to divide my New Years resolutions into different categories. Physically, I plan on maintaining fitness, continuing weight training and adhering to the schedule noted above. Diet-wise I would like to try to cut refined sugar completely from my diet and try to eat locally, join a CSA and limit my consumption of refined foods. Staying healthy is very important when you’re an older Dad and have to keep up with two energetic young boys. I also resolve to take the boys out into nature as often as possible, including more camping trips and hiking excursions. I think we’ll all benefit from the experiences.

I don’t see too much happening on the job front this coming year. Hopefully everything in that area will remain status quo. I have some big personal events that will happen this year, including a marriage and the purchase of a house and a car. Not resolutions, exactly, but anticipated events nonetheless. While I am not an overtly religious man, it is my sincere prayer that everyone in my family will remain happy and healthy, and it is that self-same wish that I extend to you, dear readers, as we venture forth into the new year.

Winter Arrives

Winter came a few days early this year, blanketing the Island in snow and forcing the world to momentarily pause and consider frivolous things like sleds and hot cocoa. I was out in the driveway at seven, shovel in hand, ready to make short work of the blowing and drifting snow while getting a full-body workout. J and D came out with me but swiftly retreated to the warmth of the living-room when they discovered that it was fairly challenging to walk through drifts that came up to their armpits. In their eyes it was better to wait until daddy created some serpentine paths through the driveway, rather then explore the wilderness of the back yard unaided.

While watching the snow pile up around the windows late Saturday I was resigned to skipping my Sunday run-the gym was probably closed and the roads looked a little dicey-but the town’s monster plow eventually made it down our street and as I was finishing shoveling out the car, a solitary runner trotted by in the snow. I finished the driveway and laced up my sneakers. I headed out for five blissful miles on quiet roads, unmolested by traffic other than the occasional truck with front-mounted plow. Running on snow is akin to running on sand, albeit a touch easier since the snow on the road was already fairly well compacted. The physical exertion was minor compared to the sheer joy of hopping around in the white stuff. I hope we get a lot more storms this season.

Runner's High-Part 2

After perusing the dark corners of the internet in between doing my actual work, I’ve concluded that there is a wealth of information about how running supposedly aids in alleviating depression. A number of studies done over the last few years provide compelling support for the proposition that aerobic exercise, and running in particular, can be as effective as pharmaceuticals in treating mild to moderate depression.

A study in the January 2005 issue of the Journal of Preventive Medicine suggested that a half-hour a day of exercise six days a week is roughly the amount needed to trigger the anti-depressive effect. The study compared two groups of depressed patients and found that the first group, which performed only 80 minutes of exercise a week, received little to no mental-health benefits. However, the second group which logged 3 hours per week of aerobic exercise had a substantial reduction in symptoms. The study concluded that "the response and remission rates in the (three-hours-per-week) group are comparable to other depression treatments, such as medication or cognitive behavioral therapy." It seems to me that runners, who often train far in excess of three hours per week, would obviously derive the full benefits, while the average 3x per week gym rat’s cardio work-out couldn’t deliver the goods.

What no one is really sure of is how it works. There is speculation that endorphins are released during exercise (“runners high”) and that they act as mood elevators. However, studies in the early 1980s cast doubt on the relationship. One study found that when an antagonist was introduced that blocked neuron receptors, the same changes in mood state occurred as when the person exercised with no blocker. So maybe endorphins have nothing to do with it.

Moving forward, a 2003 Georgia Tech study found that runner's high might be caused by the release of another naturally produced chemical, anandamide (a cannaboid) The authors suggest that the body produces this chemical to deal with prolonged stress and pain from strenuous exercise. However, no cognitive effects were observed when it was released so it’s doubtful it has any association with depression.

Just to confuse matters further, in 2008, German researchers using PET scans combined with recently available chemicals that reveal endorphins in the brain, were able to compare runners’ brains before and after a run and discovered that endorphins were indeed produced during the exercise and were attaching themselves to areas of the brain associated with emotions (limbic and prefrontal areas).
Scientists are now suggesting that endorphins work together with epinephrine, serotonin, dopamine and other chemicals to produce the physical and cognitive benefits associated with the runners high and the commensurate decrease in symptoms of depression.

What I was unable to find was a study that looked at what happens when someone using exercise as a depression treatment suddenly stops exercising. I also wonder whether the depression reduction effect turns into something approaching euphoria at the level of the ultra-marathon runner, and whether a sudden cessation of training in the aftermath of a big race has the potential to send the participant into a depression spiral, possibly triggering a suicide attempt. I’ll keep looking.

Runners High

Dean Karnazes, the Ultra Marathon Man has a blog on Runnersworld.com that he updates with, how shall I put it charitably, less frequency than yours truly. Frankly, I wonder where the man finds the time to write at all, since most of his waking hours are taken up with running excruciatingly long distances in various inhospitable parts of the world. Nevertheless, Dean does find time to write and his most recent entry on the suicide of his friend, another ultrarunner, seems to have touched a nerve in the running community. One paragraph that stuck out to me contained the assertion that “Endurance athletes can be prone to depression. We experience great emotional highs from doing what we love, but the post-event lows can sometimes be correspondingly devastating.”

I’ve been thinking about this for a few days. Apparently so have many other readers of Runnersworld.com, who have been moved to comment with their own stories of overcoming tremendous adversity through the act of running. I have absolutely no science to back this up, but there seem to be a disproportionate number of runners who defend the physical and psychological benefits of this sport with the type of zeal usually seen in Amway salesmen and Jehovah Witnesses. I count myself among them. If it weren’t for me discovering running some 20 years ago, I would probably be taking medication for depression and buying my clothes in the tall and fat store. I rarely, if ever, see this sort of gratitude to a sport expressed by people who ride stationary bikes or rock the elliptical at the gym. So what is it about running? Why does running seem to stimulate the brain and at the same time render one calm and focused? On the other hand, why can it, as in the case of Dean’s friend, exacerbate depression? I suspect the answer lies in brain chemistry-neurotransmitters. Hopefully over the next few days I can take a look at some science and let you all know what I come up with. Meanwhile, take a look at some of the comments appended to Dean’s blog. Very interesting.