Running Log (repost)

Someday, I will share with you all the legend of Running Log, the great Native American track and field star. But not now.

If you'll look to the left over there, you'll see a link for the Nikerunning website, which contains a free training log.

I really recommend that you keep track of your running. Most obviously, it helps you have a picture of how often you're running, and what kind of mileage you're putting in every week. Most people think it'll make them feel bad when they miss a workout - actually, that's not a bad thing. But it will also give you an appreciation for how much you're doing. When you miss a workout, but you still see that you ran six or nine or (eventually) 20 miles that week, it can prevent that Stuart Smalley shame spiral where you decide it's all hopeless, and you go grab the peanut butter, a jar of Bonne Maman strawberry preserves, and the largest spoon that will fit in the mouths of both jars, and go to town, washing it down with successive Lone Star tallboys, the tinge of aluminum made slightly salty by your own tears.

It happens. Or so I hear.

So, check out the training log. It's fun to do, and you can also track your other activities, like yoga, cycling, swimming, and your weekly pickup jai-alai games. It'll also track your vitals, like your weight.

A training log is also good because it helps you track the mileage on your running shoes, which we call "tennis" or "tenny" shoes in Texas, but which the British, apparently being masters of the obvious and explicit, call "runners."

You guys are doing great - tomorrow, you get to learn how to run hills properly, and how to deal with insane people that scream at you from inside a creepy house in an otherwise yuppie neighborhood. That's right - it's the Pressler Repeats.

You're Going Out In That? (repost)

So, here's a fundamental issue that a lot of us take for granted: what to wear when we run. Running is a wonderfully simple sport, requiring very little "stuff", but it's still critically important to your running, your fun, and your health to have the appropriate "stuff".

Better Running Naked Than Barefoot
Clearly, most of it comes down to shoes. Shorts might ride up, you might chafe, that sportsbra may... do the things that bad sportsbras do. But if you have the wrong shoes, things can hurt, and you can end up with any number of long-lasting problems.

There are quite a few variables involved in running shoes. There's your pronation - whether you pronate naturally, overpronate or supinate. These generally relate to the height of your arch - flatfooted people like me tend to overpronate, people with really high arches are more likely to supinate. Accordingly, there are three broad categories of running shoes: neutral-cushioned for the natural pronators; motion control for the overpronators, and stability shoes for the supinators.

Most of these specific structures are accomplished with the use of different density foams in the sole of the shoe, arch supports, and rigid structures in the sole. Then there are variables of cushioning in general. I have flat, wide feet, and finding shoes has been a pretty frustrating process, quite frankly, even with really good people helping. I need a wide shoe with enough support to keep my foot moving properly, and being a bit larger than those stick-people runners, I need a good deal of cushioning, or I will literally feel the impact in my teeth and skull, which can't be a good thing.

So, most people want to steer me towards motion control shoes, which use denser (and therefore heavier and stiffer) foams, and more rigid (and therefore heavier and stiffer) structures. And I hate every motion-control shoe I've ever tried. The cushioning in the heel and forefoot might be great, but those rigid structures tend to be right under where most of my foot strike occurs, so I get the teeth-and-skull jarring ride.

The point is, you need help to identify your needs, narrow the options, and minimize the potentially expensive and frustrating trial-error quest for footwear. For shoes, then, go to Bettysport or RunTex, where they will take a look at your gait and other factors, and give you guidance on the kind of shoe you need. Don't go to one of the places in the mall, or a department store, unless you already know for certain they have the exact model of shoes you need to be running in.

Socks, the Forgotten Clinton
Yeah, Hillary, what have you done with Socks? What do you have to hide?

While we're waiting for an answer, and last year's tax returns, you should be experimenting with socks. Some people can run in thick, cushioned cotton socks. I sweat too much on a long run. When socks get soaked, your skin gets soaked and softens, and the friction actually seems to increase, as well. All this results in blisters. So, I use thinner socks that won't hold as much sweat. Sock thickness also obviously affects how your shoes fit, so be careful with that.

I'll also add that you may want to be careful about how tight your socks are. Yeah, it sounds crazy, but when they're too tight on the toes, they can contribute to the dreaded Black Toenail of Death (BTOD), which, like the Windows Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) and the Xbox 360's Red Ring of Death (RROD), is really annoying and potentially embarassing. Eventually, the toenail will fall off, leaving a weirdly mutated little... toenail deposit sort of thing.

But, really, please don't run naked. Running naked is not Good Naked.
The tech fabrics, like Nike's Dri-Fit, Adidas' Clima-Fit, and the generically licensed CoolMax, are not just hype - they work. They wick perspiration from your skin, and speed evaporation, keeping you cooler, and certainly keeping you lighter. If you're able to run in this heat in a cotton t-shirt, and it's not 10 pounds of sweaty fiber in 10 minutes, you're clearly dehydrated and about to die.

But not all are created equal. Some cheap "tech fabrics" are, like so much of the 1970's, just pointless polyester, and seem to get just as soaked as anything else. Even within a brand and fabric, there's variation - some DriFit stuff is outstanding for hot conditions, some of it is thicker and warmer. Keeping it thin seems to help, obviously - moisture will evaporate out rather than get locked in the fibers. Some of the fabrics have dimples (like Brooks stuff), some have a sort of waffle texture (like Nike Sphere), that increase the surface area for evaporation.

You want to be mindful of seams - start running four or more miles, and they can chafe.

For shorts, I do recommend using shorts made for running. The fabric is lighter and less restrictive, the seams should minimize chafing, and you can get them in varying lengths. The length is important, depending on your body. If your inner thighs tend to touch, I'd go with longer shorts - they're less likely to ride up on you. This is just personal preference, though.

Believe it or not, one of the best places to go for general running clothes is Academy. They've got a good selection of Nike, Adidas and New Balance clothes, even more so for women than for men, and the prices are decent.

For women, Bettysport is a great, locally-owned athletic clothing store, carrying everything from the basics to the more expensive but extra-hip Stella McCartney Adidas line. For women needing help with sportsbras... sorry, I'm not your guy, but I'm told that Bettysport is where you should go.

Of course, there's RunTex, outlet stores, and you're a bit safer buying clothes online than shoes. Try RoadRunner Sports or Eastbay.

Other considerations

Headgear - it's a toss-up. A white cap is probably better than a dark head of hair on a hot sunny day. With my partially shaved head, I worry about the sun, as we all should, but a hat is hotter than going without. A hat can be useful in the rain to keep the water out of your eyes.

Bodyglide - Is your friend, one that you are likely to take for granted, but whose absence will make you weep and walk like John Wayne, and not in a cool, macho way, but in a slightly whimpering way because your thighs are chafed raw.

Band Aids and nipple guards - Guys, and even some girls, will start chafing in three-four miles, depending on how you sweat, how your shirt or bra fits, and how abrasive the fabric of that shirt or bra is. For girls, it's probably an indication that your sportsbra isn't fitting right. For guys - you'll see people at races with blood running down their white shirts. Nipple guards seem like overkill, and most adhesive bandages fail when they get wet, but Band-Aid's Clear Water Block Plus bandages are perfect (well, for guys, anyway), and won't come off. After my first marathon, I came home and crawled in bed. I didn't take a shower until the next day, and I still had to rip the Band-Aids off, after the shower.

A watch - You need to have the discipline and perspective not to be a slave to timing, but it's good to be able to keep track of your pace. All you really need is something with a stopwatch function, preferably that will track lap (keeping time for each segment of a run) and/or splits (accumulated time at each waypoint of a run). Some watches have heart monitors, but as I've said, I'm not a believer in them. There are also the cool Garmin GPS things, but I think that's more just a matter of gadget appeal for most people.

Start experimenting, and finding what you like. If you have any questions, let me know. If it concerns bras and what-not... did I mention Bettysport?

How to Run

I love the Monty Python bit about a show called "How To Do It." The show's hosts show the audience how to do things, like rid the world of all known diseases ("Well, first of all become a doctor and discover a marvelous cure for something, and then, when the medical profession really starts to take notice of you, you can jolly well tell them what to do and make sure they get everything right so there'll never be any diseases ever again."), and how to play the flute ("You blow there and you move your fingers up and down here.")

So, in only a very vaguely similar vein, the first big training secret to running is... to freakin' run. Now, my job is to show you how to do it, and tell you how often to do it and all that, but beyond that, the biggest thing you have to do is get off your butt and do the running.

When I trained for my first half marathon, even my first marathon, I wasn't that committed. I showed up for most of the weekly "quality" workouts, and I showed for slightly less of the Saturday long runs. The longer I've run, I've found that while building strength and speed and extending distance are critical, no component of training is as fundamentally important as building a strong mileage base.

Now, you guys aren't training for anything longer than a 5K or 10K right now, and I can hear some of you saying that you don't want to be fast, you just want to be able to run. Actually I can hear some of you say "10K? What the hell are you talking about? That sounds like two times the 5K I want to do." We'll deal with that argument later. Anyway, the simple mathematical fact is that to an extent, faster=sucks for less time. On top of that, getting stronger and faster just makes covering the miles easier on your body. You may always challenge yourself to run faster or farther, but the idea is that you want to build the strong base that will allow you to run comfortably at certain speeds, for certain distances, and to push the envelope beyond that when you want to.

Believe me, I know how difficult it can be to get out there and run, in the morning, or at the end of a mind-numbing or overstimulating day at work. So, here's some things that might work for you:

• Anything is better than nothing at all. If you don't have time for a 40 minute run, run 30. Heck, run 20 - it's better than not running at all. It's too easy to rationalize that if you can't do your full run, you'll put it off until "That Time Later Today or Tomorrow Morning That We All Know Doesn't Actually Exist".


• Run an errand, literally. Gotta return a movie? Mail something? If it's nearby, run there. Or, just incorporate your run into the errand - some days, I'll go to Whole Foods after work, park there, run, then come back and pick up groceries, before I ever go home to the evil evil couch with its invincible gravitational pull.


• Keep running clothes and shoes with you, always. Just because running later doesn't seem like a good idea when you get up in the morning, doesn't mean you won't be able to get yourself to go right after work.


• Get into your running clothes as soon as possible. Change clothes before you leave work. If you get home, change into your running gear first thing. If you're going to go to the store before you run, change first. It puts you one step down the road to actually running. Avoid the television, avoid the couch. The damned, damned couch.


• Enlist help. We have enough people that there's someone else that you could be running with. Get to know each other. If it's OK with everyone, I'll distribute an email list. Set up a running time, and don't let the other runner down.


• Keep your inspiration in mind. You're doing this for a reason, I hope, but don't limit it to some cold and clinical goal. You want to drop some weight and look better? BFD - you could be doing Jazzercise. Why are you running? What does that mean to you, and what's it worth to you? You want to be ready to train for a half or full marathon? So you can put a sticker on your car? BFD - distance and time, in and of themselves, are pointless. What does achieving that really mean to you, and really say about who you are? The answers to those questions are the true inspiration for putting in the work. Looking at today's workout as 30 minutes of running that you're supposed to do is not motivating. Seeing it as an important step on whatever journey you're on is where you get inspiration and motivation. Every. Day. Counts.

Overall, keep in mind that you've made a commitment, and you're putting in a good deal of work coming out on Tuesdays. But if you don't do the work the rest of the week, you're wasting that effort and time, and selling yourself short.

I also always keep this in mind - if I give up, or I fail to follow through on this, then what else will I give up on? What else will I think is important but fail at anyway, just for want of a little effort?

A professional marathoner said that "The will to win is nothing without the will to prepare." Going out on a given day and running a 5K or a marathon can be a proof of your character and will, but it is nowhere near as important or impressive as having the discipline and passion to go out and put in the work on a daily basis, or at least three or four times a week. That is what will ultimately make this rewarding for you.

Now go! Run! Do it now!

Team Spiridon Rocks the Missions 5K!

One of my favorite lines from a movie I've never seen is from "Hardball", starring Keen-u Reeves. I like it because I can do a fair imitation of him, at times, and I think it's a silly line, especially when delivered with Keen-u's weird surfer-like gravitas. He's addressing the little league baseball players he's apparently been comically saddled with coaching, and he says, "One of the most important things in life is showing up. You guys blow me away with your ability to show up."

The line rang in my head Saturday morning, as Jean, Christina and I were able to show up at the St. James Missionary Baptist Church Missions 5K (whew - I know). And, we showed up well.

Many of us identified this as an important event. A couple of years ago, I ticked off a lot of people on another running group's forum by asking why there weren't more black folks in the group. Lots of people jumped all over me for asking such a clearly racist question, though notably, the two or three black folks that were in the group asked, "No, really, why is that, and what can we do about it?"

There are lots of reasons that the Austin running community is not more diverse, and the fact that IH-35 is once again the physical demarcation of this failure indicates that those reasons are not the fault of either community, but are issues of exposure, culture, and economics.

Just as problematic is the fact that, while we like to trumpet Austin as being such a fit city, we also rank fairly high in obesity, a problem that is universal, but also disparately correlates to minorities and lower-income groups.

In the past few years, we had the Go For The Gold 10K and (Almost) 5K, that not only ran in East Austin, but did a fair job of drawing registrants from both sides of the interstate. This year, with that race dead and, at least for now, gone, the St. James Missions 5K was the only shot to really fill that role.

The timing was difficult, with the exertion and expense of the marathon and half marathon just two weeks behind us. Most people reponded with heartfelt regrets at not being able to participate due to conflicts, but even then, it was clear that people "got" the importance of the event. That understanding and desire to "give back" says a lot about you.

The race was a huge success. The close to 300 registrants got a challenging course that was still very fair, if run properly, and they were treated to some of the best energy I've seen at any race.

The race started in the parking lot of the St. James church. Organizers did a very good job of lining its walkers up behind the runners, in large part because the walkers were extremely cooperative.

Jean, Christina and I started near the front, which ended up in something we've never really experienced before. We went out at a steady pace, and as the rolling hills of the four-sided trapezoid of the course opened up ahead of us, we could see the seven to eight people that were ahead of us. For once, we weren't just running against ourselves and the clock in a pack - we could see the possibilities ahead of us - we were really racing.

Christina and I ran it hard, but pretty strategically. I had done the course measurement and laid cones out along the route that morning, so we had the benefit of knowing the course, and knowing that at least some of those runners ahead of us would blow themselves out. Sure enough, a couple of fairly strong-looking runners did, and we passed them eventually.

For once, I was able to edge past Christina in the last half mile or so, as I took advantage of the fact that, unlike her, I had not been out drinking until 2:45am.

In the end, though, Christina was the second female finisher overall, and had a large PR, as well.

I PR'ed by 31 seconds, enough to come in sixth overall and first in my age group, which is something I never thought I would be in danger of experiencing.

And, Jean came in third in one of the larger female age groups, though she left before we knew that she would be claiming a medal.

The finish and post-race atmosphere was amazing. Everyone, runner and walker, young and old, black and white, got genuine, enthusiastic, and rowdy applause, while gospel music sent waves of highly energetic positivity across parking lot, where the finish line and health fair were set up.

With such a great turnout for its first year, this race will grow, and I'm proud that we were able to see and be a part of its birth.

I'm also proud of another round of success for some of our runners. Even though the field was small, and the finishing times relatively unimpressive for a 5K, we placed because we showed up, and because we ran hard in a race that gave us average folks, of all colors, a chance to compete together and celebrate together.

So, as proud as I am of Team Spee performances Saturday, I was even prouder that once again, our team recognized the importance of an event like this, not only to the race organizers, and not only to the Eastside community, but to helping grow the Austin running community into something we can all be proud of, in directions that better represent our entire city. An appeal to that sensibility was sent out a week ago to two other large running groups. Gilbert responded with interest, and I believe sent an email out to his Gazelles, who were represented by a woman and her son. Other, far larger running groups who got the same email didn't respond and were conspicuously absent.

You guys have raised money for good causes, helped fellow runners out on the road, and volunteered to help out with the marathon effort - not doing something intrinsically fun or flashy, not out of some bloated sense of self-importance, and not to advertise this group, but because you believed we could have fun and do some good. I don't want us to be arrogant or self-righteous about it, but I do have to say that for the newest and one of the smallest groups around, it's just another way you've been proof. Thanks for that, and keep it up.