Weight Control

Managing your weight can benefit you as a runner in a few ways. 

Carrying less weight means you need less force to accelerate that weight, (force = mass x acceleration) Newton's second law. Less force over a distance is less work (work = force x distance).  As a runner you are always accelerating and therefore applying force as you speed up/slow down, push through the friction of the air, push up against gravity, and overcome frictional losses of your foot landing on the ground.  A smaller mass to accelerate means less force you must apply and less force means less work.

The energy consumption of humans running is approximately 1 kcal/kg/km, regardless of speed.  Running 1 kilometer for a 90.7 kilogram (200lbs) person will consume 90.7 kcal of energy, however a 77.1 kilogram (170 lbs) person will consume roughly 77.1 kcal of energy.  This means less weight (mass) also yields a more efficient runner, requiring less energy to travel the same distance.

Having less body mass also means you generate less heat since you perform less work, you can also dissipate heat easier.  Heat is generated by muscle as it performs work.  Maintaining lower heat allows you to perform at higher levels for longer periods of time.

Some running sources say that you can cut 2 sec/mile from your pace for each pound that you lose.  Losing 10 lbs can cut your marathon time by nearly nine minutes, or a 5k time by one minute.  Of course there are extremes where you will no longer benefit from this weight loss as it begins to cut into your muscle mass.


Sample Results of Metabolic Test for 27 Year Old Male

Your baseline metabolism (also called: basal metabolic rate: BMR, or resting metabolic rate: RMR) is the amount of energy, in the form of calories, that your body consumes/transforms in a day if you were just to sit around.
You also have two other sources of energy consumption on top of your baseline metabolism: daily activity such as going to the grocery or walking around the house, and your exercise. The sum of all of these is your daily metabolic burn or consumption, measuring in calories.

In order to maintain your present weight, you must eat as many calories as your body burns.  To lose weight you must eat less than your body burns.   This can be done by burning more, eating less, or both.  I would recommend not starving yourself or changing your eating drastically as it will have detrimental effects on your baseline metabolism and you will not lose weight.  Instead, you should target to eat approximately your baseline metabolism every day. This will mean that you are running a deficit of the calories you consume through activity and exercise which will cause you to burn your fat reserves and lose weight in a safe and healthy way, and at a reasonable rate (about 1-2 lbs per week).

You can determine your baseline metabolism by taking a test administered at a clinic or fitness center.  You may need to search for local doctors offices or ask your doctor where you can take this test.  I was able to get mine tested through a program at work.  The test takes 10 minutes.  You breathe into a tube as you would normally breathe, while resting in a chair.  They also put a clamp on your nose to make sure all of your exhaled breath is analyzed by the machine to determine your resting metabolic rate.  It works by using indirect calorimetry, burning 1 calorie requires 208.06 milliliters of oxygen.  This relationship means caloric burn rate and oxygen intake are related and interchangeable.  The machine measures the volume of air exhaled and the concentrations of oxygen in the exhaled and inhaled air to determine how much oxygen was consumed and converted.

The result of this test will help you plan you diet in a way that helps you lose weight effectively and safely.

Korr makes metabolic testing equipment


New Shoes! A (sort of) Book Review

Last week I decided it was time for a new pair of kicks. My GelExcel33's were well past their prime with 550+ miles on them - I was through the soles and actually wearing into that white stuff in areas - yeah, not so great to run in when you're in the throws of marathon training. I'd been tossing around the idea of going minimal.  If you're not familiar with the term, minimalist running is supposed to mimic running barefoot; minimalist shoes contain no arch support, no cushioning, and no large chunk of material under the heel. This, supposedly, promotes a good mid-foot strike instead of a heel-to-toe rolling landing/push-off; also, apparently all of the muscles in your feet and calves will become balanced as they will now all need to work in synch to keep you moving. So it sounds pretty good, right? Run better, stronger, and with less injury.

I walked into a new local running store excited to try out some minimalist shoes.  The gentleman working that afternoon, who turned out to be the owner, asked me what I was looking for, and when I said I wanted to try something more minimal that what I was currently wearing, he asked me why. Having not expected this question (and therefore not prepared a carefully crafted response) and feeling a bit defensive, I offered, "Well, I just read Born to Run." This was apparently not the answer he was hoping for, a look of complete annoyance crossed his face. Great...this shopping experience was off to a fantastic start.

I was surprised, really, at this comment from the owner. My impression of Born to Run, written by Christopher McDougall, was that it was incredibly interesting and inspiring; a very well written account of the author's personal experiences with tons of factual information blended in.


The book describes a tribe living in the canyons of Mexico, separately almost completely from modern civilization. This tribe, the Tarahumara Indians, run.  All the time. At all ages. For crazy long distances. Without shoes. This last bit is the key to their beautiful, injury-free running form - no shoes.There are accounts of the Tarahumara coming to the US to compete in famous ultra-marathons, sponsored by shoe companies. They would start the race in their flashy new shoes, and after several miles, remove them and finish barefoot! 


While McDougall describes his experience traveling to Mexico with several US elite runners for a race with the Tarahumara, he also looks into the history of the running shoe, how and why it evolved as it did, and goes further, into the history of human beings, and how we may have evolved the way we did just so that we could be distance running machines.


Born to Run is fascinating. It's a must-read for every runner, offering a prospective on the sport that will get you thinking about your running style and keep you motivated for a long time.


So back to my shoe-buying...


Willing to oblige me, the owner brought out several pairs of shoes, each with a varying degree of minimalism, and our discussion started as he helped me into the first pair:


Point: "There are more running-related injuries today than 30 years ago."
Counter-point: "There are more runners today, the percentage of injuries is the same." I had to concede here because I couldn't remember the actual statistics - darn, I'm usually really good with numbers.


Point: "Wearing a shoe with tons of support stunts the development of muscles in your feet and legs and causes imbalance."
Counter-point: "People cannot move from a highly stabilized shoe to one without any stabilization - this will lead to injury."

And so it went on for a while and, I have to admit, I was completely impressed with the owner's knowledge, not only on subject of minimalism, but also on each shoe that he had in his shop. In the end, we agreed that minimalist running is all about progression. Moving from a highly stabilized shoe to a minimalist shoe may take years, with many intermediate steps down in stabilization. Minimalist running is about understanding your body, knowing when you are strong enough to make the next step without risk of injury. For me, I started with a pretty chunky shoe in August 2010. By Spring 2011 I wanted something lighter, and then I got rid of my arch suppport in Winter 2011.

In talking with the owner, I hadn't realized that I was running in basically the lightest version of Asics out there. I tried a very minimal Inov-8 shoe, but decided instead on the adidas Boston 3's. Making a drastic change to complete minimalism in the middle of marathon training, maybe not such a good idea; changing from cushiony Asics to the adidas with more feel is good enough for now!

Running, an Individual Sport

While there are ways to make running a team sport, such as relays, track meets, and cross-country teams, it is still by its very nature an individual sport.

To me that means that I am responsible for what goes into my running, and I get all the benefits of what comes out.  I can't go out and run awesome and feel great if I don't put in the time to train and practice.

Another similar individual sport is golf.  The thing I like about golf is that if you put in hard work, you will see results.  While you may have good days and bad days, if you are a beginning golfer you aren't going to go out and shoot under par on 18 holes, because there is not that much luck involved.  You need to be a skilled golfer to do that.  This is the same for a beginning runner, you will not go out run 6 minute pace in your first 5k.  You have to train and improve your skill to reach that level, you don't just get there from being lucky.

The one thing luck can give you is people that positively influence you, or train with you as a partner or team.  Even then, it is ultimately up to you to put in the practice and training necessary for you to improve.  And when you do improve or achieve your goal, it is OK to feel good about it.  It isn't selfish to feel good about your accomplishments. That good feeling is the motivation to put in the effort to get there in the first place.

So go out there, put in the work, get the results, and feel good about it.

How I Got Started Running

In January 2010 I made the commitment to getting in shape.  I was 25 years old and only 2 years into my professional career.  I was busy, just like everybody else, working a 40 hour schedule and taking two graduate school courses with 10-15 hours of school work and class a week.  I enjoyed typical fast food drive thru visits to Burger King, McDonalds, or Taco Bell.  I wasn't doing myself any favors, and my life was getting shorter one day at a time, maybe more.

I decided to make a change for a few simple reasons:

• I wanted to build confidence
• I wanted to be more physically fit
• I wanted to improve myself
• I was tired of being unhealthy

It's selfish to live an unhealthy lifestyle.  Trust me, your friends and family don't want to see you die of a heart attack when you are in your 40's.
In 2009 I weighed around 225 lbs.

Getting Started

I started by doing what my friend Rob did.  I walked a little bit, and then jogged a little bit.  I did that two or three times a week around my class schedule and I did absolutely nothing to change my diet.  I just focused first on being more active, diet can come later.  It was winter in Ohio, so I walked and ran on a treadmill, which was good since it allowed easy control of my pace.  It was NOT EASY at first, but the determination I had to get back in the game drove me.  I remember a few of my first workouts went like this:

Walk 0.5 miles, run 0.5 miles, keep alternating. 4 miles total.

After I started getting better at that, I began to run more and walk less.

Walk 0.5 miles, run 1 mile, walk 0.25 miles, run 1 mile, walk 0.25 miles, run 1 mile.  4 miles total.

Then once I started getting batter at that, I could begin to run without walking:

Run 4 miles. 

Run 5 miles. 

Run 6 miles without stopping by middle of March, 2+ months into training.

This progression did not happen overnight, this took weeks of sweaty shirt drenching progress.  By early March, my old body had begun to melt away, I saw the ‘1’ digit on the scale for the first time as I dropped below 200lbs.  I must tell you that carrying around 25 less pounds felt so great, it made me want to do more.

I eventually took the running outside when the weather got nice.  Running on the road and trails is different than the treadmill, and I’d say it’s harder, but in a good way.  I think it has to do with the body being more naturally suited to moving on the ground, but I don’t know for sure.



Sept 2009-225 lbs.
Lucky to run a sub 8 minute mile.



I ran my first race with my new girlfriend, now fiance, in June.  It was a 5k, and I finished at 23:30.  That was pretty exciting for me.  We began running and training together all summer.  We did a few more races that fall, 5k, 4 miler, 5 miler, 10k.  In the following winter, we decided to train for a half marathon in May, and a duathlon (2 mile run, 10 mile bike, 2 mile run) in June.  The training meant my fiance and I were now spending 4-5 days per week in the gym or running outdoors instead of the 2-3 days when I first began running.  We enjoyed the increased time commitment because running was no longer as challenging as it was when I began.  It was fun running at the gym, and talking to and socializing with other runners there.

 

Marathons



After completing the half marathon  (1:37:30), we decided a marathon was in our future. As with most



March 2012-180 lbs
Can run a sub 6 minute mile,
or 20+ of them sub 8 minutes.



new marathoners, the goal of my first marathon, the 2011 Akron Marathon, was to simply finish. We put in 11 weeks of training, a total of 300 miles.  This training was heavily focused on moderate pacing, and controlling our heart rates, especially on the weekly long runs.  We scouted the course on 3-4 of our long runs including running 20 miles of the course 3 weeks before the race on a Saturday morning.  When race day came, after tapering we were both totally excited about the run.  We both couldn't sleep as we were only dreaming about the run.  The weather was perfect, and the crowd support was awesome.  We were very happy to finish together with a time of 3:56:57, 3 minutes under our goal of finishing under 4 hours.

After finishing a marathon, it is hard to tell yourself that you will not do it again.  You begin to enjoy the structure that the training brings to your life and if you are like me you also enjoy the sheer amount of food you get to eat while you continue to lose weight. 

We registered for the 2012 Surf City Marathon.  With one marathon under my belt, this was my first real chance to open up and see what I had in me.   We trained for 15 weeks, a total of 500 miles.  I also began to eat less junk food, and less red meat.  I still enjoy a big burger every now and then, but I now try to eat more fruits, vegetables and grains.

I finished Surf City in 3:27:01, an improvement of nearly 30 minutes over the Akron Marathon less than 5 months earlier.  It felt good to finish in under an 8 minute pace, although I definitely started feeling it after mile 20 as expected when my pace slipped into the upper 8 minute range.  I still held on and finished without walking.

By this time I had dropped to 180 pounds on the scale, an astonishing loss of 45 pounds over a two year period.

Currently we are training for the 2012 Missoula Marathon in June.  The plan calls for 17 weeks of training totalling 630 miles.  We are 6 weeks into the plan and it is going great so far.

The Blog

My fiance and I started this blog to be a resource to beginning runners so we can share what we have learned over the past few years as we have started running. 

Hopefully you'll get some good tips and ideas that will improve your running skill and enjoyment, and help you meet your personal commitments of getting in shape, being healthy, and living an active lifestyle.

Start Running, Week 3

For week 3 we'll continue to step up the workout.   You now have the basics down and are ready to focus on increasing your running endurance and walking less.  Don't run faster than before, just walk less and run longer.  Be sure to keep your pace at a level where your breathing is controlled.  If you are huffing and puffing, then slow down as your aerobic level isn't ready to sustain that level yet.  It takes 6-18 months of training to raise your aerobic level to it's maximum (improving your VO2 max).  You should be breathing at a level where you could carry a conversation or be able to breathe through your nose with your mouth closed.  This is the level of activity that will give you the greatest boost in your aerobic level, running faster and breathing harder will not improve your VO2 max, and it will not burn fat.
Week 3 Plan
Day 1: 1/2 mile walk, 1 mile run, 1/4 mile walk, 1 mile run.  2.75 miles total.
Day 2: Rest
Day 3: 1/4 mile walk, 3/4 mile run intervals. Do three.  3 miles total.
Day 4: Rest
Day 5: 1/4 mile walk, 1 mile run, 1/4 mile walk, 2 mile easy run/jog.  1/4 mile walk, 1 mile run. 4.75 miles total.
Day 6: Rest
Day 7: Rest -or- Optional 1/4 mile walk, 2 mile easy jog.
Extra Curriculars:

1. Register for a 5K race in your area that is coming up in 8-10 weeks.
2. Find out about local running groups in your area either online or at your local running store.

Bad Days

We all have them - at home, at work - even our hair has them. So why do we expect our running lives to be exempt from bad, horrible, awful days?

I don't know. I do it, too. Yesterday during my 5th of 6 half mile intervals I practically had a breakdown in the middle of a fairly busy park because my scheduled 5K-10K pace was actually turning out to be worse than my half-marathon pace. So naturally I decided that regardless of my efforts, I am in fact getting worse at running, I will never be able to run a fast half marathon again, let alone a decent 5K, and obviously I've hit my prime and everything will only go downhill from here.

I'm usually a very rational person. Seriously. But I'm also very competitive, to a fault. For the most part, this is great for my running. I set very high standards, and then push like crazy to meet or exceed them. And when I do, I feel amazing. But this makes it very tough to accept the days when I just don't have it.

I really wish I could provide some wisdom here. A list of 10 reasons why bad days are actually awesome. I tried, but nothing. So instead, here's a list of the things I tell myself...

1. Training isn't racing and shouldn't be. If you able to run your race pace every training run then you're running your races too slow!

2. There are always compounding factors to a bad run. Call them excuses, but last night's tossing and turning, this morning's horrible meeting, the traffic jam on the way home, that huge handful of jelly beans you ate as you ran out the door, the 50 mph winds that you can't seem to escape no matter what direction you run, some of these are real reasons that you shouldn't expect your body to perform at its highest level.

3. One event does not define a trend - one bad run has little to no reflection on your actual ability as a runner.

4. Tomorrow is a new day so stop mourning the loss of your running career, get out there and get it back!

Making the most of your Rest Day

I woke up this morning, stepped on the scale, and was slightly disgusted. Even with the 16 miles I had run yesterday morning, Easter Sunday, with its delicious brunch, large dinner, and basket full of candy, had taken its toll.

Usually, I love Rest Days. But today, all I wanted to do was get out there and put a few mile dent into the number that I read on the scale. Not allowed. My body needs a day to recover and rehydrate. So instead of running, I turned on my go-to Pilates workout: 10 Minute Solution: Pilates Perfect Body. In total, it's a 50 minute workout, with 10 minute segments for abs, legs, arms, total body, and stretching. The DVD is set up such that you can do the entire 50 minute workout, or pick any one of the individual segments.

For me, this is the perfect Rest Day workout.  It focuses on strengthening your core - your abdominal and lower back muscles - which are so important for runners but sometimes overlooked. Also, timing your breath, inhaling through your nose and exhaling through your mouth with each movement helps you effectively use your breathing. The exercises leave you "feeling the burn" but don't raise your heart rate enough that you're tired or sweaty, which would thus defeat the purpose of Rest Day.

Most importantly, this workout concludes with a little more than 10 minutes of comprehensive stretching. If there is one thing that I need to be better at, it's stretching. And the stretches here aren't your typical bend and touch your toes, count to 10. The stretches force you to focus on your movements and concentrate on lengthening your muscles while maintaining your balance.

Finishing this Pilates workout should leave you feeling physically strong, mentally renewed, and a little better about that bag of Whopper Eggs you demolished the day before! You'll definitely be rested and ready to face tomorrow's run!