General day to day ramblings
This morning I have the classic onset of DOMS after my 6 inch ultra adventure on Sunday. DOMS (Delayed Onset of Muscle Soreness) is your bodies way of reminding you you just did something very silly. (This is of course different to your mind which is still stoked after the previous weekends exploits and looking forward to the next beating.) I find DOMS comes on strongest on my second or third run after a marathon and today was my third recovery run after a double up yesterday and a day off Monday.
As I hobbled into my morning run, and it was a hobble, I realised I was certainly walking a tight rope where the benefit of the morning run was more for my sanity than my running fitness well being. I could have just as easily hit the snooze button on my alarm , rolled over and went back to sleep. Of course I would have missed running my favourite 10k for the 199th time ( thanks Strava.) and a biblical sunrise over Star Swamp but as for doing me good I would probably argue the snooze option was the better one.
There has been numerous studies showing after a marathon doing nothing for a week is probably as good as recovery runs. The snooze option is also safer as you avoid the risk of injury as you roll over and get some more sleep, which is another benefit as more sleep helps your body recover. Typing this I wonder what the hell I was doing running this morning ! The answer is of course because we are runners we like to run, even when we know the right thing to do is rest and recover. We kid ourselves these slow runs are doing us some good even when the legs are screaming in protest. It’s the same when we have to taper and of course hits us worst when we are injured.
I have been working hard on adding distance since June this year and even pre 6inch gave away the normal easy week pre-race and ran eight times for 82k before the race on Sunday. I justified this as the ADU (Australia Day Ultra http://australiadayultra.com/ ) is my goal race at the moment and the 6 inch was to be a long run with friends. Of course when the gun went off it was on for young and old and I ended up running a 4min PB and racing the event. (As if that was never gong to happen!) On the bright side it did get me another good week of distance (130k) and some serious ‘pain box’ time , which is all good. Downside, my legs are complaining more than Hilary Clintons supporters after the American election at the moment with a huge case of DOMS.
Anyhow after searching the internet I actually found an article that advocates DOMS as a good thing rather than just a side effect of a good beating a few days previous. Google was very generous on this subject and offered another good article from ultrarunning.com ( https://www.ultrarunning.com/ ) which also was worth a read, so go get yourself a cuppa and a chocolate digestive, settle down and digest these articles.
An article from Runners World on Why Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness is a Good Thing. By MacKenzie Loddy.
Whether it’s caused by mile repeats at 7,000 feet, a brutal long run before the upcoming Houston Marathon, or digging out from under 16 feet of snow in Mammoth, delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) has yet to evade anyone who engages in physical activity. The discomfort associated with DOMS usually materializes 24 hours post-exercise and lasts anywhere between two and four days. When your legs hurt immediately after a marathon, it’s not DOMS. However, when you roll out of bed the next morning and find yourself unable to descend the front steps to retrieve the morning paper, you’re experiencing DOMS.As a result of the fact that nearly every athlete has experienced this type of soreness, much research has been devoted to the prevention and treatment of this side effect. Massage, microtherapy, icing, hyperbaric oxygen treatment, fish oil and i.Tonic whole body vibration are just a few methods that have been tried with varying degrees of success.
While the silver bullet to avoiding DOMS has yet to be identified, several methods have been shown to be more effective in lessening soreness and encouraging optimal recovery. Probably to the surprise of no one, it all relies on smart training.
Where does DOMS originate?
According to Dr. David J. Szymanski, assistant professor and the director of the Applied Physiology Laboratory at Louisiana Tech University, there is currently a lot of misinformation floating around about DOMS — namely, the assertion that the accumulation of lactic acid causes it. While DOMS results from new, higher intensity workouts and an increase in lactate comes along with such activity, the soreness felt the next morning is not related. “That lactate concentration will go back down to resting levels within 20–40 minutes after exercise,” says Dr. Szymanski, who has studied the subject extensively. “Because of that, the pain that somebody associates with delayed onset muscle soreness 24–72 hours later cannot be because of that lactate that was built up while they were running.”
He contends that lactate does cause soreness during or immediately after exercise, and can end up decreasing performance if the athlete can’t clear it. However, the deferred discomfort has nothing to do with that process. Higher intensity workouts that you are not accustomed to, like hill repeats or intervals on the track, are often the culprits of DOMS. The eccentric component of exercise, in particular, can damage the integrity of the muscle cell membrane. This micro trauma creates tiny micro tears in the muscle fibers, which leads to inflammation, and thus soreness, fatigue, stiffness and reduced range of motion
Treating and preventing DOMS
Although the cool-down has long been touted as the main tool in a runner’s arsenal to combat muscle soreness by flushing out lactic acid (which is still important), research suggests that the warm-up is more important to reducing DOMS. One of the world’s leading researchers on the subject, Dr. Priscilla Clarkson of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, has demonstrated how important it is to get out and warm up before competition. By increasing the muscle temperature by 1 degree Celsius before eccentric training, the amount of muscle soreness experienced by athletes is noticeably reduced.
“If you already have the muscle warmed up and prepared, it is better able to handle the activity,” explains Dr. Szymanski. “Before a race, you need to lubricate the joints, ligaments and tendons so your body is better prepared for what’s coming next.”
He also identifies the “repeated bout effect” as a method by which DOMS symptoms can be ameliorated. While the term may be foreign, the concept is far from rocket science. For instance, the Boston Marathon is known to be brutal on the quads as a result of its many downhills. To prepare for this, a runner should train on downhills the few months leading up to the race. “The more times you repeat the activity, the less pain you’ll feel because your body will continually adapt to it,” explains Dr. Szymanski. “Keep doing this multiple times and your body will say, ‘No big deal. What else you got for me?’” Physiologically speaking, the body recovers and rebuilds, and with each passing week, is less fazed by the hills.
While this is a good way to avoid continued DOMS from the same types of workouts, it doesn’t mean you should simply train your body to withstand one form of training. It’s about building on your workouts week after week and training your body to withstand more. Dr. Szymanski explains: “We have what are called chronic adaptations. Once you do a specific amount of training for a certain length of time, your body will be able to handle it. That’s why training plans help you gradually progress.”
Perhaps the best news is the fact that delayed onset muscle soreness isn’t all bad. “Although DOMS is associated with something negative, it’s actually a physiologically positive reaction,” says Dr. Szymanski. “Once your body is exposed to whatever made you sore, the next time your body will say, ‘I got it, I’ll protect you.’ It’s actually a beautiful thing.”
An article from Ultrarunning.com by Roy Stevenson, MS, Exercise Physiologist
Muscle soreness and inflammation are some of the biggest nuisances for distance runners and unfortunately, many of the dubious treatments of these symptoms are based on all sorts of witchery and myth. Some of the treatments even exacerbate the soreness and prolong recovery. Runners can be a superstitious lot, and many continue to swear by certain ineffective treatments.
Since 1902, over 2,000 research studies have been conducted on various aspects of muscle damage, muscle soreness, inflammation and potential recovery treatments for these afflictions. You’d think that with this impressive pile of studies we’d be closer to figuring out some sort of effective therapy for the symptoms, or better yet, some sort of preventative measures that would minimize or eliminate them. Well, take heart, sore runners, because we are getting closer to answering these important questions. First, let’s look at what causes delayed onset muscle soreness (known as DOMS), what the symptoms of muscle soreness and inflammation are, and the recommended treatments for reducing the pain from this affliction. I’ll finish with some recommendations on how to prevent or minimize your chances of being reduced to hobbling around like a stiff-legged duck, based on some promising recent research.
Causes of DOMS
It is very common for out-of-condition or beginning runners to experience DOMS. Its severity depends on how much and how intensely we exercise, and whether we have performed that exercise before. But it’s not just beginning runners who are susceptible to DOMS – even well-conditioned runners who’ve been training consistently for several years can experience DOMS after a race or vigorous training session, especially a lengthy downhill-running workout.
What specifically triggers muscle soreness are the high force eccentric contractions we experience when we take up unaccustomed exercise, run harder than usual, or downhill. Our leg muscles lengthen under high load or impact, while trying to contract or shorten – a lethal combination! Recent research shows that some people are high responders to eccentric exercise, meaning that their muscle damage and inflammatory markers remain excessively high for several days after running.
The effects of DOMS on muscle tissue look formidable when seen through an electron microscope. Traumatized muscle is a war zone! Your leg muscles are under siege after repeated eccentric contractions and the descriptions of the damage sound horrifying. Here are some of the main protagonists: disruption to the muscle sarcomere; breaching of cell membranes; swollen muscle fibers; wear and tear on connective tissues (ligaments and tendons); calcium spillage from muscle tubules; cell inflammation and increased production of superoxide free radicals;
We’ve all experienced the nasty symptoms of DOMS: dull, aching pain, soreness, tenderness, stiffness of muscles and joints, swelling, loss of strength, and reduced range of motion. Typically, symptoms appear 24 – 48 hours after we run, and peak between 24 and 72 hours. After five to seven days, DOMS has usually abated.
Over the years many treatments and interventions for muscle damage repair have been proposed and tried. Some “work” and some don’t, and you’ll be surprised at what the research shows.
What Doesn’t Reduce DOMS Symptoms
Stretching Surprisingly, the majority of studies that looked at the effects of stretching on DOMS have found that stretching before or after exercise does not alleviate DOMS, or that its effect is so small that it is not worth the time. My recommendation here would be that if you try stretching, make the stretches mild, and hold them for only a few seconds. If they aggravate your soreness, discontinue them.
Massage therapy Research suggests that massage is either ineffective or has only limited influence on DOMS, muscle repair and swelling. Its effects are minor or transitory.
Ultrasound Using ultrasound in physical therapy was found ineffective in reducing DOMS (Tiidus et al 1999).
Heat Above all, resist the temptation to apply heat in any form immediately after an ultramarathon or intense training session. Heat vasodilates (widens) the capillaries and arterioles, hastening the release of inflammatory substances into the muscle, thereby increasing swelling and inflammation. Sitting in a hot tub after a long run, no matter how tempting, exacerbates muscle damage.
What Might Reduce DOMS Symptoms
Much research into the hot topics of antioxidants and natural supplements is underway. Some substances being looked at are alpha-Tocopherol (vitamin E), Beta-Carotene, Ubiquinone, flavanoids, bromelain, Genistein, alpha-Lipoleic acid, Vitamin C, Vitamin D, Glutathione, and Cysteine. In addition, there are enough kitchen ingredients thought to decrease inflammation to make a good curry: sage, black cumin, cinnamon, capsaicin, quercetin, turmeric, and ginger.
Most of these substances have no effect on DOMS, but a glimmer of hope shines through for vitamin C, D and E. Before you rush off to buy these supplements, consider the modest findings first. Although vitamin E has shown a reduction in cell leakage, thus far it shows no alleviation of DOMS symptoms. A Vitamin D supplement of 2,000 IU, twice daily, has been shown to alleviate muscle soreness, but only if Vitamin D levels are lower than 75 nmol/L. The Vitamin D Council has some interesting anecdotal evidence of its effectiveness, although this source is hardly likely to be objective.
Several promising research papers support the practice of ingesting a solution of mixed carbohydrate and protein immediately after our training and racing efforts to rebuild our muscle tissue.
What about homeopathic remedies? A natural anti-inflammatory preparation comprised of plant and mineral substances including St. John’s Wort, echinacea, belladonna, arnica, and chamomile, under the brand name Traumeel ©, was found in one study by Peter et al (2009) to reduce certain anti-inflammatory markers after running downhill on a treadmill for 90 minutes on a -6% gradient, but no mention in this study was made of perceived pain relief.
What Does Reduce DOMS Symptoms
Warm-up One study found that a ten-minute warm-up reduced DOMS a small amount 48 hours post-exercise, while a cool-down performed after strenuous eccentric exercise, surprisingly had no effect at all.
NSAIDs and other drug therapies Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) have the benefit of relieving DOMS pain by blocking the production of prostaglandins, a compound that activates the inflammatory response in damaged muscle. However, bear in mind that several studies show that by doing this, NSAIDs actually delay the recovery process by impairing protein synthesis and muscle cell regeneration.
Currently, we think it is necessary for inflammatory cells to invade the injured muscle to control the tissue damage, so the muscle tissue can then be repaired. This needs to take place for the muscle to bounce back stronger and be more resistant to future encounters with DOMS.
However, if you are in extreme pain and hobbling around like the walking wounded, NSAIDs may be just what the doctor ordered. Thus, short-term use of NSAIDs or painkillers when the pain and soreness is unbearable may well be recommended, but the prudent runner will discuss this therapy with a sports medicine physician before popping NSAID pills like candy, especially in light of what I’m about to say about their side effects.
There is strong evidence that long-term use of NSAIDs can cause gastro-intestinal bleeding, stomach upset, ulcers, kidney problems, impaired blood clotting, and possible death with long term (greater than 90 days) use of NSAIDs. So if you must use them, take them with meals and monitor yourself for sharp stomach pain and distress that could indicate ulceration. And never, ever take NSAIDs before competition or training! They can mask pain signals and reduce blood flow to the kidneys, which is definitely not what you need during a race.
RICE (Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation)
Rest, then light mobilization Temporary rest during the most acute phase of inflammation is indicated if the athlete is in severe pain. However, this is not an invitation for complete bed rest until the soreness has dissipated. Mobilization, or light exercise using the affected area, has been shown to reduce soreness to some extent. Some physical therapists recommend that when the pain has subsided to a manageable level, light exercise – such as walking on a soft surface (sawdust, dirt trails, or grass) will help disperse residual waste products. Then you can progress to several days of slow, easy running on soft surfaces. Use your own subjective pain and soreness to help decide when to resume normal training intensity and duration, somewhere around two to four weeks.
Ice. Cryotherapy (application of ice) has been found effective in pain reduction and limiting inflammation, presumably by limiting swelling through vasoconstriction of the capillaries and arterioles in the affected area. Ice also temporarily deadens the nerve endings, bringing temporary pain relief. Ice is most effective when the ice pack or “cold cup” is gently rubbed back and forth over the affected area for no longer than ten minutes; cold-water baths or showers can also be helpful.
Compression One study found that compression bandaging of the legs was more effective than massage. Moderate pressure bandaging of the calf and quadriceps muscle groups, with frequent bandage release to encourage blood to circulate, may help prevent swelling and pain.
How to Prevent DOMS in Distance Running Training Apart from using the modalities recommended above as preventative methods (warm-up, ice, compression, some antioxidants, and post-training carbohydrate/protein mixtures), stimulating DOMS to a minor degree in training will prepare the runner better for DOMS muscle trauma.
The Repeated Bout Effect This effect occurs when a bout of unaccustomed exercise (such as running downhill) gives a protective effect in subsequent running sessions of the same nature. This explains why, after recovering from muscle damage and soreness from a race or hard session, you recover faster, and experience less soreness and pain in subsequent workouts.
What can we learn from this to implement in our training programs? Start slowly and gradually allow your muscles time to adapt.
When beginning running, or coming back from a layoff, avoid strenuous eccentric muscle movements such as downhill running, until your muscles are ready for it.
After a month or two of steady running, while slowly increasing your distance and pace, include an occasional faster, more intense effort. Then hit it hard again after allowing yourself time to recover and adapt. Every two to four weeks, do a strenuous high-intensity or downhill workout again.
Studies indicate that higher intensity eccentric workouts designated for the repeated-bout effect do not even need to be maximal in quantity or quality, and can progress in small increments over more than two weeks. The repeated bout effect lasts from two weeks to ten weeks, so runners should include hard, long or downhill running sessions at least once or twice every month to retain the effects of this training phenomenon. By gradually increasing the intensity and duration of higher intensity workouts, you should avoid that painful zombie walk that accompanies severe DOMS.
Incorporate resistance training into your program. Using a different mode of eccentric exercise (such as weight-training) confers the repeated-bout effect. Thus runners, especially beginners, benefit greatly from a basic resistance-training program that starts several weeks before beginning a running program. The resistance-training program should involve the major muscle groups used in running: quadriceps group, calf muscle complex, and hamstring group.
Recovery after repeated-bout workouts You will need to determine how easily you run after these intense workouts by how you feel. It is unwise to set a prescribed workout schedule and stick rigidly to it because your body may need extra time for the inflammation and repair process to take place. The days following repeated bout workouts, either take the day off, or run very slowly, for a short period of time.
Warm up Perform five – ten minutes of general aerobic activity, such as jogging or cycling.
Run on soft surfaces as much as possible. Harder surfaces impart a higher impact, causing more muscle damage than running on soft surfaces.
Consider some form of cross-training at least once a week to give your leg muscles a break from impact. Cycling, swimming, deep-water running, elliptical trainer, Stairmaster or similar modes are ideal.
Roy Stevenson has a master’s degree in exercise physiology and coaching from Ohio University. He teaches exercise science at Seattle University in Washington State and has coached hundreds of serious and recreational runners and triathletes in the Seattle area. As a freelance writer, Roy has over 200 articles on running, triathlons, sports, fitness and health published in over fifty regional, national and international magazines in the U.S.A, Canada, England, Scotland, Ireland, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.
This morning it was meant to be an easy 10k as the last run pre-6 inch ultra marathon on Sunday. As Thursday is normally a progressive run day and we normally run 14k, starting at 5:30am outside Yelo thus finishing at 6:30am when Yelo opens, it was decided to start 10 minutes later and slow the pace and shorten the distance. If all went to plan we would run for 50 minutes at 5min/k pace and be back ay Yelo for the 6:30am opening, as per usual.
Off we went, myself and ‘Marky’ Mark Lommers meeting with with Mike Kowal after the first kilometre before being joined by Mark Lee who had been running a Fartlek but decided to slow down the pace for company. The four of us headed south for the planned 5k before turning to complete the morning 10k. As always with our group the banter was fast, relentless and amusing. That’s the good thing about company the time just disappears and before we knew it we were 6k into our run, unfortunately with all the banter I had lost track of distance and 6k into the run would have been fine if we had turned a kilometre ago, we hadn’t.
Thus my 50 minute, 10k run was now going to be at least a 12k run and nowhere near the 50 minute time allowed to get back to Yelo for opening. I blame Mark Lee myself but I’m sure he’d say the same thing about me. That is the point, the four of us were having such a laugh we forgot all about distance and time, just ran with good friends having a great time, well I was anyway. This is the point of the post, friends really do make running seem easier and actually a more enjoyable experience all round. It gets even better as you get to sit down with them afterwards , over a muffin/pancakes and good coffee and ‘chew the fat’ for an hour. How good is that ? I can never understand how people say running is ‘boring’, they obviously haven’t spent anytime with my group of runners, we are many things but boring ain’t one of them.
It gets even better on the Sunday long runs as we have 2 hours to kill and the banter is again normally continuous, like a tsunami of useless facts (and fiction) or putting the world to right. The topics can be humorous or thought provoking but never dull. Lately the state of American politics has been a constant source of amusement and on a couple of occasions the run itself has vanished in a blink of an eye as we discuss the merits of a Donald Trump led superpower (How did that ever happen, it’s a joke right ?) Admittedly towards the end of the run, when you have the normal last 5k pace pick up as you smell the coffee (literally), conversation can temporarily stop as all energy is reserved for keeping up with your fellow runners and not coming in last for fear of verbal retribution over the obligatory pancakes, or maybe banished to the table of shame.
Friends will also keep you honest. Apparently some people find it hard to get out of bed in the morning and go for a run. (go figure?) Meeting a friend will give the extra impudence to make an effort and actually get out of bed and go meet them. (There is the Mark Lee card of course, though give Mark his due there’s always a valid excuse for not turning up, normally involving alien abduction, Lord Lucan, bears or the like…) Also if you are going to run fast go alone but if you want distance I highly recommend friends. I love my running (you may have gathered that already.) but a long run alone can test even me. As I mentioned earlier in the post a good conversation can last for miles.
Working towards a common goal is another benefit of finding like minded people. Every year my group and I train for the same marathons and ultra’s. The ADU in January ( http://australiadayultra.com) Bunbury in April (for Jon, http://bunburyrunnersclub.org/3-waters-marathon/), Perth in June ( https://www.wamc.org.au/major-events/perth-marathon-relay/) , City to Surf in August,( http://perthcitytosurf.com ), Rottnest in October ( https://www.wamc.org.au/major-events/rottnest-marathon-fun-run/ ) and finally the 6 inch ultra in December. ( http://www.6inchtrailmarathon.com ) Add in a smattering of half marathons and shorter distance and you’ve always got a lift to the race and a partner to warm up with and then normally discuss the race with afterwards. Joined together by a common goal and bond. Wow, this post is getting deep.
Finally if you are really keen you can all get together and form your own club and then buy tops so you all look the same. Now that is living….
Today was a classic example of fitting running in when you have family chores. My youngest , Charlotte, had basketball at 11am and then Acro (Dancing) at 1:30. I had been assigned chauffeur duties so seized the opportunity for some heat training as the temperature was due to hit 37c around midday. So off we went to basketball, Charlotte resplendent in her basketball uniform and me in my running singlet and shorts. Charlotte could tell something was up (maybe the running clothing gave it away, she’s not silly my youngest!) and guessed it would be a drop off and pick up. My youngest wasn’t overly concerned as she loves basketball with her friends and it matters little whether Dad is court side as she is in the zone. (By in the zone I mean charging around like a swarm of bees around the ball with little or no idea of team tactics, the way the game should be played by nine year old girls.)
Anyway the first part of the plan was successful as I managed to get in a relaxing 8k while paying attention to the fact I’m racing tomorrow (albeit a 4k or 8k?) . This was also a good chance to get in some more heat training ahead of the ADU in late January. Because the temperature was so high I ran on heart rate and tried to keep the BPM under 130. This was do able bar the hills when you really find out how hard it is to run in the heat and keep the heart rate down. There was only one hill on this 8k loop but when I ran up it my heart rate spiked and I could feel my legs complaining with the extra effort required. I remember thinking to myself how quickly the whole feeling of the run could change when the temperature is so high. One minute you’re cruising along enjoying the warmth but as soon as some effort is required the body knows it is in a battle. Noted for the 6 inch in a weeks time.! ( http://www.6inchtrailmarathon.com )
After a quick pitstop at home for some marmalade on toast and yoghurt it was back in the car for the trip to DanceETC and Charlotte’s dancing. This was to last an hour so I was confident of getting in a 10k, again in the heat of the day. I have a 1k loop in an industrial estate mapped out when Charlotte has dancing so round I went 10 times again using my heart rate as the pace limiter. Mission accomplished nicely on the second run and it was straight back home for a cup of tea and blogging.
These extra training runs are important if you want to improve as a runner. Rather than sit with the rest of the parents waiting for their offspring, faces buried in their iPhones, get out there and sneak in a 8-10k run. Just round the block 10 times will make a difference in the long run. All these runs snatched from various family commitments add up and truth be told running is what we do so if we can kill two birds with one stone then so be it. Everybody needs their own ‘Balcatta Industrial Estate 1k loop‘…
I am often asked how I manage to find the time to run twice a day and on the weekend these are the sort of logistical exercises that need to be created and followed to keep the kids and No1. Wife happy, well happy would probably be stretching it, not too unhappy is a better description. Weekdays it’s all about getting up before anybody else and getting back from a morning run before they awake. I understand I may sneak off to bed just after putting my youngest down and this may affect time with No1 Wife but as I said before spending too much time with my Wife always puts a strain on the marriage….
On the subject of fitting running in around family I wrote a post in October that is worth revisiting because most of you probably missed it. This is the first time I’ve reposted one of my previous posts because it does compliment my day so far.
While I holiday with Rottnest I have made an effort to read as much as possible, in-between running of course. One of my favourite books is the running bible by Tim Noakes , ‘The Lore of Running’. A 921 page book of biblical proportions containing just about everything you ever need to know about running and more. It must be noted though, as pointed out by my friend Mike, ‘how can anyone write so much about running, it ain’t that complicated’.
There are hundreds of extracts I could post on the blog but this one section caught my eye this morning which I think is worth sharing. It describes the selfish runner syndrome and balancing running with life’s other commitments (There are other commitments ? ….) Noel Carroll, an Irish double Olympian, describes runners as an introvert lot. ‘They like keep their thoughts to themselves. Their behaviour is at best antisocial , at worst utterly selfish…‘
What amused me in the book by Noakes was a section where he offered pointers to avoid the selfish runner syndrome, or at least mask it. One of his offerings was :-
Don’t allow running to affect the way you carry out your household responsibilities. Doing so provides your family with a tangible reminder that they come second.
What a classic quote from a by-gone age (I think?). So runners if you load the dishwasher once in while and maybe even mow the lawn intermittently you may disguise the fact that running is far more important than your family.
It gets better,
Be aware of “danger times” – you will know what these are in your household. At these times, be at your most attentive and, at all costs, do not open your mail to see if your running magazines have arrived, discuss running, or, worst of all, go for a run. Weekends too must be handled carefully to ensure that running conflicts as little as possible with the family’s weekend recreation.
Not sure what to do when I live in ‘danger times’ constantly. ? Luckily we now have the internet so I can pretend to answer emails while secretly reading my online running magazines.
One last gold nugget from Noakes.
Don’t get overtired. As a runner with a family you just have to accept that, for the sake of your family, you simply can’t train hard enough to run your best. That is the price that must, realistically, be paid.
He is a wise man Noakes, I just hope my Wife never meets him or reads this.
All joking aside, which I assume Noakes was doing when he wrote these little gems, family life and running are not ideal bed partners. I often say to my non-running colleagues that I run early morning before the family awakes and lunchtime , when the family are miles away. Truth be told this has the knock on affect of course that after I read my youngest her bed time story I sneak off to bed myself, leaving my Wife to do whatever she does for a few hours. (‘Karen time’ I think she calls it )
When I was training for Comrades in 2008/2009 and 2010 I have three young Daughters. After my long runs, which would sometimes be up to 50k, I would return home and like limpets the girls were on me, excited to see their Dad return. Karen, my Wife, would of course then hand then over as she had looked after the girls till then. It made the afternoons as challenging as the previous 50k of running. Many times I would bundle the girls in to the car and find a park where I would position myself to watch over them from beneath the shade of a tree but that would be my contribution. The legs would be stiff and tired from the mornings exercise where as the girls were full of life. Sacrifices had to be make. Looking back I can see why most ultra-runners are older as after the mornings training nothing would have beaten a nap, after a good sized lunch of course.
Funnily enough I only started to run marathons ,and then ultra-marathons, when I had my third daughter, I’m not sure if it was a conscience decision but running further, although harder, was still easier than looking after three young daughters, I’m sure Noakes would understand, not so sure about Karen.
As I get older I have managed to keep my love of running and even managed to up the training but this has the negative affect on any other sporting activity with my girls. Basketball, Tennis and Netball are all far too dangerous to an ageing runner who is one bad injury from retirement. As soon as any ball based game is offered I retort with how dangerous it would be for ‘my hammy’ and runners are ‘built to go in straight lines not move from side to side !’ The girls are less than impressed, another sacrifice us selfish runners make.
Truth be told my family does realise that running is important to me and they also realise it has stolen time that would have normally be assigned for them. Because of this they are flippant to the point of uninterested in any of my achievements which is a pity because it would be nice if they were to share in my successes (or failures) but it seems I may have not followed Noakes successfully enough.
Running is a selfish sport and families do suffer because of it but I would hope my family realises that although I love my running nothing is more important to me than family. (Just don’t tell them I said that!)
After this mornings glorious 10k (surprise, surprise my 10k ‘old faithful’, #192 thanks Strava!) I knew I would be running in a furnace lunch time as the temperature moved towards 37c . Determined to keep up my two runs a day I ventured out in the heat alone after my running buddies all came back with excuses ranging from the sun affects my skin to blaming school pickups and then my favourite one from Steve, ‘it’s too bloody hot‘. Regardless I set off on a nice easy 10k to Matilda Bay and back from the CBD.
I admit it was a tad warm but by slowing my pace to a 5min/k average I was able to conserve enough energy to keep my core temperature down and actually enjoy the run. I concentrated more on my heart rate than pace and let my heart beats dictate how fast I ran. This was a success as I moved through the kilometres actually enjoying being ‘out there’. The run itself turned into a progressive, albeit a slow one, as I eased into the run and I was in two minds whether to turn a 10k into a 12k as I was enjoying myself so much. Take that Steve, you missed a great run.
With the 6 inch ultra marathon ( http://www.6inchtrailmarathon.com ) in a weeks time there is the chance we could be starting at 4am and the temperature could be in the twenties and rising. I’ve ran the 6 inch seven times and we had a couple of scorchers in that time. Certainly adds to the enjoyment factor (?) when you’re facing a 46k trail ultra with some serious elevation and the temperature starts at twenty and rises quickly. To this end these lunch times runs are a necessity to get your body use to running in the heat. Matt Fitzgerald eludes to this in his article on heat training below so it must be true, in Matt we trust. ( http://mattfitzgerald.org )
It’s summertime and the weather is heating up. Soon you will be forced to take measures to avoid training in excessive heat, such as moving workouts from the middle of the day to the early morning or evening and transferring outdoor workouts indoors.
Not only is training in excessive heat uncomfortable, after all, but it also slows you down and thus doles out a smaller fitness benefit.
Or does it? Actually, new research suggests that training in the heat may be more beneficial for fitness than doing equivalent training in cooler weather. So instead of doing everything you can to avoid exercising in the heat this summer, you may want to use it (carefully) to your advantage.
The idea that suffering through a one-hour run or a two-hour bike ride on a 100-degree day could be more beneficial than doing the same workout in greater comfort and faster in 55 degrees may seem crazy. But there are other methods, including altitude training, that are known to enhance the effectiveness of exercise by making it more difficult. Heat training has the potential to boost fitness in a parallel way; however, like altitude training, heat training is not something you’d want to do all the time.
The proof of heat training’s effectiveness comes mainly from research conducted by Santiago Lorenzo at the University of Oregon. In 2010 Lorenzo recruited 20 highly trained cyclists and had them complete a performance test in temperate conditions on two occasions separated by 10 days. Between the tests, all 20 cyclists completed a prescribed training program, but 12 of them did it in a controlled, hot environment (100 degrees) while the other eight performed their workouts in temperate conditions (55 degrees) matching those of the performance tests.
The 12 cyclists who underwent heat acclimatization improved their performance in the cool performance test by 6 percent. In addition, their VO2max and their power output at lactate threshold increased by 5 percent. There were no improvements among those who trained in a cool environment.
The authors of the study attributed the performance-boosting effects of heat training on endurance performance in cool conditions to improved efficiency in heat dissipation and increased blood volume. They also found evidence that it caused some changes in muscle cell enzymes, which may have contributed to the effect as well. Lorenzo and his colleagues are planning future studies to pinpoint the specific mechanisms underlying the performance benefits and to determine whether heat acclimatization enhances performance in a real-world temperate time trial.
In the meantime, you might wonder what the practical implications of these findings are for you. In this regard, it is important to note that it didn’t take much heat training—just 10 days—to increase performance capacity in cool conditions. Therefore the results of this study do not suggest that endurance athletes should train in the heat all the time. In fact, that would be a bad idea, because no matter how heat-acclimatized you are, you can’t go as fast in a hot environment as you can in a cool environment, and there’s something to be said for going faster.
It is for this very reason that few elite endurance athletes train at high altitude all the time. Instead, they spend most of their time at sea level, where they can go faster, and then go to the mountains for brief “altitude camps” before racing
So, one thing that this study might inspire you to do is to conduct your own “heat camp” before racing in temperate conditions. For example, instead of going out of your way to avoid hot weather, go ahead and expose yourself to it for the last 10 days of training prior to racing in a cooler place or at a cooler time of day (usually early morning).
Another viable option is to periodically expose yourself to hot weather in training over a longer period of time. While Santiago Lorenzo’s study involved 10 consecutive days of training in high temperatures, it is likely that you could get a similar boost from doing one or two hot workouts per week for eight to 12 weeks. This approach might enable you to exploit the benefits of heat training not only when you race but within the training process itself.
If you decide to try either of these experiments, do it cautiously. For starters, don’t exercise in temperatures above 90 degrees unless you are already in good shape. Aerobic fitness enhances heat-training capacity just as heat training enhances aerobic fitness. No matter how fit you are, it’s very important that you give yourself a chance to gently acclimatize to training in hot weather before you attempt any kind of challenging workout in the heat. You can do this both by doing shorter, slower workouts in very high temperatures (90 to 100 degrees) and by doing normal workouts in progressively warmer temperatures (75, then 80, then 85, etc). Avoid training in temperatures much higher than 100 degrees.
Obviously, you’ll want to be sure to have plenty of fluid available throughout your hot workouts. Since heat increases both the sweat rate and thirst, plan to carry or have access to a significantly greater volume of fluid than you would need for a workout of equivalent length in cooler weather.
Be aware, however, that staying hydrated has a very limited capacity to keep the core body temperature from increasing. A much more effective way to stay cool is to slow down. Listen to your body when training in the heat and go as slowly as necessary to remain relatively comfortable. Exertional heat illness is relatively rare because the nervous system ensures that we feel lousy before we’re in real danger; don’t try to override this self-protective mechanism.
Finally, when preparing to train in very hot weather it’s a good idea to plan routes that allow you to get indoors quickly if necessary. For example, you might do an eight-mile run comprising eight one-mile loops around your neighborhood. It’s a little dull, maybe, but it’s better to be bored and safe than entertained and at risk.
Another reason for the lunch time run was to get use to a slower pace so I can prepare myself for the 100k in January when I attempt my first Australia Day Ultra. ( http://australiadayultra.com ) I’m actually starting to enjoy my 4:45min/k to 5min/k slower training runs as this pace would be ideal if I could maintain it for 8 hours or so. Sounds so easy typing that but pulling it off will be a huge challenge. The only saving grace is Ron , the race director, has started the 100k race at midnight this year so we should only be faced with 3-4 hours of sunshine to deal with. Of course this presents its own issues as I’ll be surprised if I get any real sleep before the start, thus sleep depravation will also play a part combined with distance and heat. Got to love this ultra scene. At least the course itself is dead flat albeit with around 20 speed bumps which may be challenging in the dark. Thanks Ron.?
Funnily enough I have a funny story about my 50k race last year at the ADU. I decided that I wouldn’t need a head torch as we were starting at 3am and it would be light by 5am. I would just run with the leaders, who all had head torches of course, and then when first light came I would explode to the finish under glorious sunshine. My plan worked for the first 12k loop but at the start of the second I was in trouble and dropped quicker than an Ikea instructions booklet. The next group was probably 600m behind and I was in no mood to wait for them so I continued on with only three finger torches I had worn as a joke for the start. (Basically one small LED light you attach to your finger for no real purpose and definitely not for shining light to help you run ultra marathons!) Luckily it was awful moon and I stumbled on , alone in the dark, for the next 45minutes cursing my ‘great idea to save weight’, lesson learned. Also these speed bumps were then a serious issue for me as I really couldn’t see them. How I laughed each time I nearly tripped up as yet another speed bump appeared out of the dark.
So the hotter the better at the moment, don’t hide from the heat , get out there and play in it. If Matt says it’s good for you that’s good enough for me.
The parkrun is without doubt the most fun you can have, for free, on a Saturday morning at 8am, for less than 17 minutes. I know a lot of you are thinking there are other alternatives but being happily married with three wonderful daughters I’m going for the parkrun every time. Being the competitive bugger I am I love the stats that are available online including my favourite , the age graded best times. Being of an advanced age I love the fact I can be near the top of the table as all those young whipper-snappers who streak past me are then pulled down to earth by age, or lack of. Sorry boys, you may be quicker but if we add Father Time into the equation you are eating my dust! Age category records and age graded tables level the playing field and , albeit virtually, let me rise higher than my speedier younger opponents.
I just checked the age graded tables and I had moved to 3rd place on my local parkrun table. Apparently some young gun ran a 15:10 and even taking into account his tender years was still ahead of me. Luckily I am still getting older (funnily enough) and will move into the 50+ age group in a few months. It will then be on for young and old, literally. With age on my side I am confident I will moving back to the top of the table. Maybe they should start age adjusting marathon times so we wouldn’t know who really won until all the runners were finished and then maths combined with age, rather than finishing times, would determine the winner. Maybe not, we have age groups to race in and that is enough. That being said I still love the age category and age graded tables the parkrun website produces.
There are many ways to run a parkrun. For me I open the pain box and settle in for the 16 or so minutes it takes me to complete the event. The Carine parkrun, in Perth, starts on a hill so all ideas about pacing and taking the first kilometre easy go out the window the moment the starter lets us go. I mean it’s only 5k what could possibly go wrong ? Well I have a funny story about when 5k runs go wrong, spectacularly !
A couple of years ago I had suffered a confidence hit after a bad marathon and was struggling competing in some of the longer WAMC (West Australian Marathon Club) club runs. To this end I started to concentrate on the shorter distances in an effort to maybe grab the odd bling for a top 3 podium finish and also to get the whole racing thing over with sooner rather than later. Thus I found myself at the start of the Founders 16k/5.15k race determined to grab a top 3 podium medal. The start pistol went off and I sprinted away from the field confident in my ability to complete the 5k event with ease. At the time this was probably only my second or third 5k distance so I was really relying on bravado with little experience to back up my 1oom starting pace. Needless to say at about the 1.5k mark I started to get the first inkling things were not going as planned. If I was a car the head gasket was just about to blow and the engine was certainly not good for the remainder of the race. The eventual winner went past me like a train at around the 2k mark and remarked afterwards he could see I was gone and actually felt sorry for me ! The second placed 5k runner got me about 3k which meant I had to hang on for 2k to grab my bling and make the pain box time just about bearable. With about 500m to go my friend Mark Lee overtook me but that was ok as we had spoken at the start line and he was doing the 16k. No problem as we approached the finishing chute I had accomplished my goal, just needed Mark to run past and all was good. Imagine my surprise when instead of running past the chute Mr.Lee ran through it grabbing third place, he then proceeded to keep running all the way to the toilet as he had been taken short and this was his escape plan. He was rewarded with a medal while all I got for the race from hell what a hard lesson in pacing, even the shorter distances. I can still vividly recall those last 2k when the legs were gone and the heart rate was through the roof and I was deep in the pain box getting a ‘right royal seeing too’. This really was a way not to race a 5k and since then I have ran many parkruns and finished like a train, rather than a second hand Ford Escort with a blown head gasket and oil leaking from every orifice.
It’s the same when you watch track and field and you watch the 800m’s. Normally someone goes off like they’ve been shot from a cannon and for the first lap you think they’ve blown away the field but when the legs go they go quickly and 200-300m later they’re going backwards quicker than a Hilary Clinton victory speech.
A succesful parkrun is all about pacing, as is all running truth be told. You need to decide at the start what each kilometre will be ran in and then stick to your plan. The good thing about park running is you get to do the whole thing again next week, so if you do finish and it’s too easy , or fall apart in a heap, you can adjust next week and learn from your mistakes. You also have the added benefit of all your times stored on the website , normally with photos, and you can watch as you rise up the age graded table and do battle in your age group.
There is also the social side of parkrun which is just as important as the racing. Every weekend you can get down to your local park and run with your mates and then ,over a coffee and muffin, give each other sh*t discussing the morning run. As you can imagine there is a lot of that going on within the St Georges Terrace Running Club when we all decide to race.
Either way the parkrun is without doubt the best thing you can do for less than 17 minutes on a Saturday morning, unless you have another idea?…….
Today after a hard 30k Sunday run with the posse we all showered (Well covered ourselves in very cold water at the local surf club) before breakfast at Clancys Cafe for what we consider the best buttermilk pancakes in the Southern Hemisphere. (You would have seen a few images of these bad boys over the last few months so I won’t bore you with any more but today was a particularly good day for pancakes.) Anyway imagine our surprise when the T-train turns up wearing a triathlon top, it pains me to even type those words. I had attached an image of the sight I had to endure while I went one on one with Clancy’s best.
Now we all know the T-train ran the Bussleton half-iron man earlier this year (though we never talk about it.) as he was recovering from a nasty case of Plantar Fasciitis that he picked up in the Bunbury 50k race in 2015. Before this event I think Tony had entered just about every marathon or Ultra in WA (and placed or won most of them) for the previous couple of years. In the Bunbury 50k he was running well but had to DNF because of the injury. Now as we all know a bad case of Plantar Fasciitis stays with you a long time and is a real bugger of an injury. Every morning you wake up and hobble around like a 90 year old before it eventually (if you are lucky) calms down enough so you can continue with the day and even go for a run. Tony realised the only way to get over this injury was less running but he was keen to keep up his fitness so turned to the dark side, yep, he brought a bike and a pair of ‘budgie smugglers’. (Speedos to the non-Australian amongst us.)
For the rest of the year he would still run with us on Sunday but when we scuttled off to the Dome (Our restaurant of choice for the that period of the year as Michael Barton insisted we eat there so he could get his coffee card stamped. The things we do for each other as runners.) Tony would don his wetsuit (and thus save us from the view of him in his budgies pre-pancakes, thanks Tony.) and go for a ‘swim‘. You’ll notice I have put the word swim in italics, there is a reason for that. The T-train is a good runner but a very, very bad swimmer. One Sunday on the way to the Dome, to help Michael get a free coffee, we stopped and watched Tony swim. To this day I swear we watched him for at least 5 minutes and he didn’t actually move forward. He swims like a brick attached to another brick, and neither brick ever had swimming lessons. You’re getting the picture right. Luckily his riding was better and I feel towards the end of his training he was a half decent cyclist, still a good runner but as for swimming, he was still ‘challenged‘.
Tony did well at the half iron-man but the most important aspect of this little experiment was his overall general cardio fitness was certainly improved. He was looking a lot leaner and lost that puppy fat he was still holding onto. (albeit in his late forties!) To this end he was able to enter the race that broke him a year later and actually win it ! It had taken a year , a new bike and a pair of budgie smugglers but the T-train was back and better than ever. He then turned in a stellar year winning more ultras and placing in many more. He kept up the cycling but his swimming was sacrificed when I feel his Wife started to get concerned for his safety and insisted he only swam in water depots he could put his feet down if he got in trouble. (That was a joke by the way.)
So the point of this post is the T-train did what so many runners find difficult to do. He realised he was running too much, this had caused an injury which required rest but needed to keep up his fitness. He decided to cross-train. Being the competitive little bugger he is he also gave himself a goal and trained for a half iron-man. Luckily we didn’t lose him to the dark side and once his injury was cured, and the bike and smugglers put away, he was back 100% into running and had actually improved. Cross training it seems can be a good alternative to running or even a partner.
I must admit to cycling a few months of the year when it gets too hot to run twice a day. I run early morning and then commute to work by bike before returning home in the afternoon, normally on a longer route. I’ve even been known to sip the odd cappuccino in lycra but that’s our secret. When I cycle I make sure I go hard (no peloton free wheeling for me!) and also keep up a high cadence, avoiding the high gears as I’m not interested in those cycling muscles these gears encourage. As a runner a bike is a cross training piece of equipment that allows us runners to raise the heart rate and keep the general cardio fitness levels high enough so, if we have been forced to the bike by injury, when we return to running we haven’t slipped backwards too far, cardio wise.
As well as cycling there is swimming which is another great non-impact workout, and you get to wear budgie smugglers if you are under forty. Over forty the rule is board shorts in Australia and no one can ever wear budgie smugglers if you cannot see a beach. Other good cardio workouts are circuit classes, yoga, pilates (great for the core and so neglected by all runners) and any exercise routine that gets the heart rate higher. Just make sure it’s high repetition, low weights, remember muscle weighs more than fat so we don’t want too much muscle, much to my Wife’s disgust.
So is cross training as useful as cross dressing for runners ? On the evidence of the T-trains swimming I feel he’d be better of cross dressing but overall his 6 months of cross training was a success and he returned to running a better machine than when he left. I’m actually quite looking forward to getting the bike out in a few months and I may even treat myself to a new set of lycra, just got to make sure my Wife doesn’t catch me as in her view middle aged men in lycra is worse than cross dressing. Each to their own….
I had some spare time this week so decided to reacquaint myself with one of my favourite running books “The Big Book of Endurance Training and Racing’, by Dr. Phil Maffetone. If you read just one book this year make it this one. The Holy Grail of running books in my opinion with some advice that will change your running life for the good. Admittedly there are a few aspects of the book I’m not so sure about but each too his own, for the most part it preaches good old fashioned common sense tips from a man who had experience measured in decades and a list of World Champions that includes perhaps the greatest triathlete ever , 6 time Hawaii Iron-Man Champion Mark Allen. ( https://philmaffetone.com )
Maffetone divides his book into three sections. The first one deals with building your endurance foundation before moving onto Diet and Nutrition and finishing off with a section on the importance of self-care and injury prevention. That just about covers the running spectrum as we know it. As I said before it really is the holy grail of running books.
I won’t spoil the book for you if I summarise, very quickly, what Maffetone is all about but must stress this is a summary, you really need to read the full monty to get the full picture. In the first section he preaches building endurance by training constrained by a heart rate figure dictated by following four simple rules. This is your Maximum Aerobic Training (or Maximum Aerobic function), once you have calculated this heart rate figure you then train to stay below it, not interested in pace or time. The theory is the more you train at this reduced pace, in the aerobic zone, the fitter you become. Over time the pace will increase while the heart rate will still be stable. This is the theory behind his technique, similar to the Matt Fitzgerald train slower, to race faster. ( http://mattfitzgerald.org )
I must warn you Maffetone may not be for everyone’s taste. He has some radical theories on running shoes preferring as little support as possible and pouring scorn on the ‘high heel‘ padding favoured by the shoe industry as a whole. I must admit to changing over time from the good old fashioned Asics Kayano’s to running these days in Nike Luna Racers. I’m light on my feet and very much a Supination (under pronation) foot strike. This means I can generally run in any shoe and have a garage full of all different kinds of shoes (I never throw out an old pair of running shoes, too many good memories, much to my Wife’s disgust ) I understand running shoes are so important to all runners so will reserve judgment on selecting running shoes as to me it is so personal and each person is different, I cannot really condone sweeping statements about footwear selection.
Maffetone’s next section is on nutrition and again he has some great sections which I’m sure will help but also some very ‘interesting’ ideas on carbohydrates particularly a two week test where you take carbohydrates out of your diet completely to see if you are carbohydrate intolerant. I couldn’t bring myself to do this as I love my carbs so yet again me and Dr. Phil have a small difference of opinion. He has some great points on Protein, Fats, Electrolytes and Water as well as offering great advice on nutrition for endurance athletes. A really good read and worth digesting. (That was a play on words by the way.)
Finally Maffetone dives into the importance of self care and avoiding injuries. Another great section and all good common sense advice. Yet again he pushes the limits with his advice about avoiding sun protection as Vitamin D is good for you, living in Australia with it’s high skin cancer rates I find it hard to agree with him on this point. He is also very anti-supplements which I probably agree with him but again I may need to sit on the fence.
So to sum up, in my opinion, Maffetone is spot on when it comes to building endurance by slow running using your heart rate as the limiter, combined with distance. His thoughts on nutrition and injury prevention is provoking and again in my opinion for the most part credible, there are also great sections on over training, competition, reducing stress, improving brain function and even training at altitude, I highly recommend this book with the caveat that there are some ideas that may be out with the normal consensus of the running community but this may not be a bad thing. Finally, as with all running literature, you take out what applies to you. For me it was the building the endurance base and slowing down my ‘slow’ runs. There were great nuggets of useful information but I also felt some ideas didn’t resinate with me, these I chose to ignore.
One thing I do agree with is Maffetone’s thoughts on steak and eggs. He loves them and so do I , so tonight Dr. Phil I’m having steak with a couple of eggs and salad, the sacrifices one makes for his sport.
I awoke this morning with the normal pre-running fatigue that tends to happen when you run twice a day , every day and are about to move into your second half century. My running friend for the morning had cried off but will remain nameless, mark lee so I struggled to the door and crawled up the street to start my 10k ‘old faithful’ route for the 181st time (thanks Strava).
The sun was about to rise behind me as I started down the first hill which is always a great way to start a run in my opinion because the auto pilot light really is shining brightly for the 1k and also gravity as a co-pilot certainly helps, initially. I hit the 1k mark as I’m about 200m up the second challenge for the day as small hill to make up for the soft start. Again a good thing as this starts to engage the mind and the legs start to wake up. This small hill then gives ways to another decline before I cross the road into Star Swamp and the highlight of the morning run.
I time my start each day so I can see the sunrise from Star Swamp and every time I do it is like the first time. To describe it as inspiring does not do this justice but it will have to do. The temperature to is normally just about perfect at 5am making the whole experience so worth the early start. It is about here I am starting to warm to the task and must admit every time I see the sunrise, through the trees and bush, it brings a smile to my face.
I get about a kilometre of trail running before I am ejected back onto the bike path and start another incline for 500m before a kilometre of decline that encourages pace and caresses you to the start of the Carine park entrance. Here I normally get to enjoy the park alone and again bathed in sunshine peaking though the trees. I make an effort to look up while in the park as so many times I am focused on the ground 20 metres ahead of me. The park , like the trail in the swamp, can be inspiring if the light catches the surrounding trees and you have fingers of sunshine protruding all around you.
The park eventually gives way to the last hill of the run which can be used as a final test to raise the heart rate or as a time to reflect on the run as a whole and start planning run number two, one is never enough surely.
Although I’m normally chasing a sunrise I also use this as a double up run after work and race the sunset. Instead of the first light of a new dawn you’re racing against the last light of the day. Where as in the morning the sun can be on your back as you race the sunset it is ahead of you slowly disappearing to the horizon. This brings into play more wondrous images as you run into the last breath of the day. Same run but from a totally different light, which can make it feel like a new run completely. It’s get better, there is even a third option as you run in the middle of the day and , being Perth is really built in a desert, you dart from shade to shade avoiding the intense glare of the sun at the height of it’s prowess, an intimidating beast of pure heat and anger. Running really is the sport that just keeps on giving.
So that is my old faithful, go-to, 10k. One I run at least three or four times a week and one I never get tired off. All runners need an ‘old faithful’ because training for a marathon, or any distance really, requires repetition and sometimes you just need to switch off and get the job done. Having a run that allows you to tick all the training requirement boxes without the added pressure of too much thinking is paramount to success. Let’s face it marathon training can be , at times, a ‘slog’ , and that’s putting it nicely. To me a marathon is really about two thousand kilometres of training with a final 42k run to the finish. It’s the two thousand training kilometres in all sort of conditions that people don’t see, not the final 42k that is for the public and record books.
Tomorrow morning set the alarm a bit earlier and go and chase a sunrise, you never know you may find a new friend that over time cam turn into an old faithful and for runners that ain’t a bad thing……..
In Perth at the moment we are heading towards summer and believe me when I say in Perth we get a summer big time ! Living in what is essentially a desert does have it’s advantages. For nine months of the year I consider the climate to be just about perfect for running. A reasonable temperature with little humidity and even less rain. When it does rain it feels like a warm shower compared to the horizontal ‘take out your eyes’ sleet I use to experience in the Scottish summers I came from. (Apparently it’s worse in winter but I never found out as it was too dark , too cold and too damn dangerous to ever wonder outside.) When Summer does arrive you can still run in good conditions you just need to adjust your day. You need to awake at first light and race the sunrise before the Perth sauna is turned on and anyone found outside understands what it feels like to be cooked in a microwave. If you’re lucky you may get a reprieve in the late evening but when summer comes a calling you may only get that small pre-sunrise window of opportunity.
Runners though like to run and not be dictated to by temperature or season, thus sometimes they just put on the trainers regardless and brave the elements; after first bathing in suntan crème. When you are faced with anything over 30c it’s time to rethink your run. Pace needs to go out the window and in comes survival and damage limitation. Believe me I’ve been there when you’re halfway through a 10k loop and suddenly realise you’re dehydrated and the body has had enough. It’s not pleasant and it always happens when you are at your furthest from any help. (Funny that?) It’s at times like these you need to just knuckle down and plough on, albeit slowly with walk breaks if needed. The most important thing is getting back to the start in one piece without doing to much damage, both mentally and physically.
So what’s the answer ? Running in the heat can improve your running and even make you stronger but there are certain aspects of your run that need to be adapted. As well as running slower you must also be fully hydrated, common sense I know but still worth highlighting. This hydration process is also best started the day before the run and continued up to the run and while running, and of course afterwards. Basically drink, a lot ! I would also recommend electrolytes rather than just water , it all helps.
For me in Perth at the moment I’m out the door and running by 4:50am and although that may sound early the rewards so outweigh the early start. I get to see the sunrise every morning and also enjoy the solitude of the early morning. Everything is so much quieter and you really can bask in the new dawn. The downside of course is after I put my nine year old to bed I scuttle off to my bed myself to eagerly awake my alarm informing me I get to race the sunrise again . My Wife , who luckily is a night owl, gets her ‘Karen time’ so all is good in the Matthews household. (Spending too much time with my Wife always put a strain on the marriage. That was a joke by the way.!) So for summer move your waking day to the left and rise early, enjoy the morning before sneaking off to bed while most people are sitting down wasting their lives watching rubbish on TV and eating ‘crap’. You know it makes sense, I’ll see you out there.
Footnote. I took my own advice for a change and rather than put myself through the sauna that is lunch time running I waited until the evening and ran a pleasant 10k racing the sunset, after racing the sunrise this morning. Both glorious runs for different reasons and so much more pleasant than a lunch time run when I would have been battling the higher temperatures and returning to work looking I’d been swimming while wearing my work clothes. So, as pointed out in the articles below, you just need to choose your time wisely when it comes to running in heat, best to avoid it really but if it is unavoidable make the best of it.
I have found two great articles below that explain how running in the heat can help to improve ones running and with the right tweaks can also be as enjoyable as running in normal conditions.
One of the highest sweat rates ever recorded was that of marathon runner Alberto Salazar at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles. In the months leading up to the games, which were expected to be oppressively hot, the marathoner was put through a regimen of temperature acclimation training with the goal of helping him adapt to running in the heat. While Salazar placed only 15th overall, the program was deemed a success, physiologically speaking—vitals taken after the race found that Salazar’s hormonal and thermoregulatory systems were completely normal. His body had compensated by causing him to sweat at an incredibly high rate—about three liters per hour, compared to the roughly one liter per hour for an average human.
Researchers have been looking at the effects of heat on athletic performance for decades, and their results have been consistently surprising. Studies have found that, in addition to an increased rate of perspiration, training in the heat can increase an athlete’s blood plasma volume (which leads to better cardiovascular fitness), reduce overall core temperature, reduce blood lactate, increase skeletal muscle force, and, counterintuitively, make a person train better in cold temperatures. In fact, heat acclimation may actually be more beneficial than altitude training in eliciting positive physiological adaptations, says Santiago Lorenzo, a professor of physiology at Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine and a former decathlete at the University of Oregon. “Heat acclimation provides more substantial environmental specific improvements in aerobic performance than altitude acclimation,” he says. And in contrast to the live low, train high philosophy, we more quickly adapt to heat stress than we do to hypoxia. In other words, heat training not only does a better job at increasing V02 max than altitude, but it also makes athletes better at withstanding a wider range of temperatures.
Athletes can adapt to heat in one of two ways. The first is through incremental improvements in tolerance over time—work out in the heat a little bit every day, and eventually your body will dissipate heat more effectively. The second way is through thermotolerance, which is a cellular adaptation to an extreme heat experience, like suffering such severe dehydration after a run that you need an IV. Essentially, if you shock your system, your body will be able to withstand greater temperature stresses later on. But successful heat adaptation is difficult—and clearly dangerous—to achieve outside of controlled settings. Lorenzo explains that performance gains are possible only when athletes elevate their core body temperature, and without careful monitoring, it’s possible to elevate your core temperature to lethal levels.
When performed safely, however, heat training can have extraordinary effects. This phenomena fascinates Chris Minson, a professor of human physiology at the University of Oregon, who studies heat acclimation responses in athletes. According to his research, heat training can expand blood plasma volume, but Minson says there also seem to be inexplicable changes to the heart’s left ventricle, which helps to increase oxygen delivery to the muscles. In addition, he says that athletes who train in warm temperatures generally get better at regulating heat by sweating earlier, as Salazar did, or developing a colder resting body temperature.
A 2011 study by a group of researchers in New Zealand also found that overall volume of blood plasma increased at a greater rate when athletes did not drink water during exercise. While some coaches are carefully experimenting with dehydration, Minson and Lorenzo are not because it adds too much additional stress. However, they do say that this type of training can be beneficial because it produces a higher number of “heat shock” protein cells.
Ahead of Western States this June, ultrarunning coach Jason Koop worked on heat training with Amanda Basham and eventual winner Kaci Leckteig. Koop believes this type of acclimating is a good example of blending an academic concept with real-world training. But, says Koop, “at a certain level, you have to compromise training quality for the heat acclimation. Acclimating to the heat is additional stress [on the body], just like more miles or intervals, so you can’t simply pile it on. Something on the training side has to give.”
One method of heat acclimation that Minson uses with his athletes is to do hard workouts on colder days or earlier in the morning, and then start training in hotter conditions with less intensity. He is also looking into adding heat in ways that wouldn’t require an athlete to train in high temperatures at all—using hot tubs, for instance.
All this being said, not everyone responds to heat at the same rate or with the same physiological gains, which makes it similar to altitude training in that it might make a high-performing age grouper, college athlete, or elite a little better, but it won’t compensate for intelligent, consistent training.
How to Incorporate Heat Acclimation into Your Training Schedule
When acclimating to heat, you’ll be forced to compromise training quality, says Koop. While he understands the benefits of heat acclimation, he still prioritizes smart, solid training. But if you want to incorporate heat into your workouts, here’s how he recommends doing it safely.
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First, pick a protocol (sauna, hot bath, or exercising in the heat) that minimizes the impact on training, both physically and logistically.
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Koop most commonly recommends that his athletes use a dry sauna immediately after running. “It doesn’t impact training nearly as much as running in the heat, and the effects are similarly positive,” he says. He often tells his athletes to not drink water during these sessions to enhance the effect. Koop recommends spending 20-to-30-minutes in the sauna, depending on tolerance.
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Koop says that when he has his athletes exercise in the heat—either naturally or by wearing extra clothing to simulate the experience—it will be on a long, slow day for 60 to 90 minutes. The time completely depends on the athlete’s tolerance and previous experience. But he stresses to not do this on a recovery day, because heat training is an added stress on the body. Koop recommends drinking 30 to 40 ounces of an electrolyte drink per hour during these sessions And for safety, he advises using low-traffic sidewalks and bike paths—not trails.
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Despite the benefits of heat training, Koop reminds his athletes that running in the heat is extremely difficult and usually replaces a hard day. “You are substituting one potential gain for another one,” he says. In other words, use it carefully
One more article , this time by Jason Fitzgerald from Strength Training. ( http://strengthrunning.com/about/ ) A great read.
Summer training ain’t easy. With skyrocketing temperatures, high humidity, and scorching sun it can feel like it’s impossible to get in a good run.
A long run or fast workout is hard enough. What about a RACE? Like a friend of mine always says: In the heat, I don’t compete!
Even if you just run easy and skip the hard workouts, how are you even supposed to just feel good when running in the heat and humidity of summer?
In the last few weeks, the runners I coach have said some funny things about running in the heat. My favorite:
“I just got back from my 8-miler, and it was BRUTAL. I couldn’t do the workout… my body just isn’t ready for 90 degrees “feels like 95” at 6pm. I just tried to repeat to myself “I LOVE SUMMER!” while also being glad I wasn’t jumping over piles of snow.”
Training well through the heat and humidity of summer takes a careful approach that combines timing, gear, and an understanding of why exactly it’s so damn hard to run in the heat in the first place.
But of course, it will still be tough. A few weeks ago at the Heartbreak Hill Festival put on by Runner’s World, I was talking to another runner about a race she ran in Miami. She was lucky to meet Kara Goucher and Shalane Flanagan (two pro distance runners), who told her: “I’ll take running at altitude over running in Miami any day!”
Even the pros hate summer running!
Instead of complaining about how difficult it is to run in the heat, let’s see how we can make the best of it. And maybe even make the fall our fastest season yet.
Why is it So Hard to Run in the Heat?
If you’ve read Christopher McDougall’s fantastic book Born to Run, you’ll remember that humans are amazing endurance animals for a host of reasons. We have:
A huge Achilles tendon that produces a significant energy return while running.
A (mostly) hairless body and highly evolved sweat system
Big butts. I cannot lie: according to Harvard professor Daniel Lieberman, our glutes are “running muscles”
A special ligament that attaches the spine to the skull and keeps our head from bobbing as we run
Can you guess which adaptation here is impacted by running in the summer? It’s our incredible sweat system.
Perspiration helps cool us off because as our sweat evaporates from your skin, it takes heat with it. But when humidity rises, it reduces your body’s evaporation rate because there’s already so much water in the air. Soon, you feel overheated and have to slow down.
If you live in an arid place like Colorado where the humidity is low, a hot summer day can still wreak havoc on your training for two important reasons.
First, the dry air evaporates sweat from your body almost as quickly as you’re producing it so you can become dehydrated much more quickly. If you start a run slightly dehydrated or run long without any fluids, your performance will significantly decrease (and you’ll feel like death).
As you become more and more dehydrated throughout a run, your heart needs to work harder to pump your blood because it’s becoming thicker (among a few other reasons too). This is called cardiac drift: your heart rate increases over the course of a run even when the intensity stays the same.
Let’s not also forget the heat and sun, both of which increase your core body temperature. As soon as you start getting too warm, running will feel much more difficult. Your “Rate of Perceived Exertion” (RPE) will increase even if you’re running a pace that’s usually comfortable.
Less evaporation because of higher humidity levels, increased chance of dehydration, and a higher core body temperature means that you’ll have to run slower to maintain the same effort. An unfortunate reality of summer training.
The Dangers of Running in the Heat
This article isn’t meant to scare you. After nearly 16 years of competitive racing and running in the heat and humidity of New England and the mid-Atlantic states, I’ve never been seriously affected by the heat in any meaningful way. Neither has any of my teammates in college and high school – and we raced and ran very tough workouts in brutal temperatures sometimes.
But that doesn’t mean the dangers aren’t real. If you run too hard at noon in July, you might experience some type of heat illness. Here’s what you need to know so you can avoid these setbacks.
Heat Cramps: muscle spasms that are caused by large fluid and electrolyte losses from sweating. They can occur while exercising but also hours after your run. No need to worry, they’re not serious – but make sure you stay hydrated and get enough electrolytes with sports drinks or fruit like bananas.
Severe dehydration: we’re all familiar with dehydration. Up to a 4% loss in fluid levels from exercise is still safe, but any more than that and you may experience dizziness, fatigue, and even mental disorientation.
Prevent this level of dehydration by starting your run already hydrated (your pee should be a straw color) and replacing your lost fluids as soon as you finish running. You can figure out exactly how much fluid you’ve lost by weighing yourself before and after a hot run.
Heat Exhaustion: if you work out too hard in the heat, you may come down with heat exhaustion – a case of dehydration, headache, nausea, and a core body temperature of up to 104 degrees. It’s much more common in runners who aren’t adapted to the heat.
If you think you have heat exhaustion, stop running, get out of the sun, and cool down with a cold drink and preferably air conditioning. And next time, run earlier in the day!
Heat Stroke: Danger! Heat stroke is very serious since your core body temperature is probably over 105 degrees. Symptoms include disorientation with clumsiness, confusion, poor balance, and a lack of sweating. Immediate medical attention is required where you’ll be cooled with a cold bath, air conditioning, and cold liquids.
At the 1978 Falmouth Road Race, Alberto Salazar (two-time winner of the NYC Marathon) suffered heat stroke and collapsed at the finish line after fading to the 10th place. He was rushed to the hospital with a temperature of 107 (!) degrees and read his last rites in a tub of ice water. He recovered and went on to become one of the greatest coaches our sport has ever seen.
7 Tips to Beat the Heat
The heat of summer isn’t the time to run your hardest workout and biggest mileage weeks – unless you’re super careful.
Run by effort, not pace. Running in the heat is the perfect opportunity to work on the skill of running by feel. Instead of strictly following pace targets that you might normally follow, run by time and effort rather than distance and pace.
Run early. There’s no perfect time to run in the heat of summer. But the early morning hours offer the lowest temperatures and a break from the strongest hours of sunlight (even though the humidity will be at its highest).
Get off the roads! Asphalt and concrete absorb heat and radiate it back onto your poor, wilting body. The summer months are a good time to try more trail running. Bonus: you have to run a little slower on trails which will keep you slightly cooler and trails are usually shaded. Win-win.
Adjust your expectations. If the National Weather Service issues a heat advisory (when the Heat Index, a score that reflects a combination of both heat and humidity, is over 105 degrees) running fast or long will be difficult and dangerous.
Even if there’s no heat advisory, remember why it’s so hard to run like you normally do in summer weather. Maintain the same effort and don’t sweat the slower paces (see what I did there?).
Don’t wear dark colors or cotton. Gear matters in extreme conditions so dress appropriately! Synthetic fabric like polyester is used in most running gear these days – use it.
Start your run hydrated (and keep hydrating). Even though hydration has been overemphasized in the last decade (see Waterlogged by Dr. Tim Noakes), it’s important to hydrate well before and after your run. Unless you’re running more than 75-90 minutes, you probably don’t need to take any water with you. But learn what works for you.
Plan your run around water. I never carry any fluid with me on a run – even a 20 miler in the summer. Instead, I run by fountains in public parks where I can swig some water and stay hydrated. If you live in a dry climate, running through sprinklers can help you stay cool, too. And who doesn’t love frolicking through a sprinkler?
Running in the Heat Has Its Advantages!
With all the whining we do about summer training, it actually makes you a better runner. Running in the heat causes our body to acclimatize to the conditions and adapt:
Your body gets better at sending blood from your core to your skin, helping to dissipate heat
With all that blood rushing to your skin, your muscles now get less oxygenated blood. So to compensate, your body produces more (who needs blood doping?!)
The body learns to control its core temperature and it won’t increase as much after you’ve acclimatized
You start sweating sooner at a lower body temperature to improve the cooling process
Sweat contains less salt so you maintain the right electrolyte balance
All these adaptations improve your efficiency and make you ready to run even faster as soon as the heat and humidity drop in the fall. So embrace the heat and run through it!
Then again, there’s some evidence that suggests that summer training is difficult because you think it will be difficult.
Yeah, tell me that after I shuffle home from a track workout in the sun and I might throw you out of my living room window.
But, it’s useful to know that at least some of the drudgery of running in the heat is because of our brain. It may present a good opportunity to “train your brain” to be comfortable being uncomfortable.
When you do, you’ll be in a good position to run a lot faster this fall. Take advantage of the physical AND mental adaptations you’ve gained from a summer of uncomfortable running.
You might just surprise yourself at what you’re able to run in a few months
My friend Nic Harman turns 21 today and what better present than a post about reaching your true potential. (Actually Nic would probably prefer hard cash but blogging does not pay the bills….) I first heard of Nic when he won the inaugural Carine Glades Park run in June 2014 in a time of 16:58, with my mate Steve ‘Twinkle Toes’ McKean second a few seconds behind Nic. Funny thing was Steve reckons he was catching him, if he was that was his one and only chance because now Nic is running over 2 minutes quicker. In-fact a few weeks ago at another local parkrun Nic ran 14.53 for the 5k. That is now seriously rapid. Unfortunately ‘Twinkle Toes’ had his one and only chance to beat young Nic and blew it.
Since 2014 Nic has been working with Raf Baugh, the owner and coach supreme from The Running Centre ( http://www.therunningcentre.com ) and under his tutorage Nic took out the Western Australia State 10k title a few weeks ago setting a blistering time of 30:11 and beating the long term WA Athlete of choice Dr. Roberto Busi into second place by just over 10 seconds. Roberto has been the main man in WA for many years and this was a PB run for him , which considering he turned 40 recently is very impressive.
What I believe has set Nic apart from the many young talented and quick runners out there in WA is his ability to work with a great coach and follow instructions. Raf has big plans for Nic and Nic has an unwavering obedience that allows Raf to mould him to be the runner he believes he can be. Add in a work ethic that is just about as strong as imaginable and you have all the making of a future Australian champion, and then who knows.
As well as being a very talented runner Nic is just about the most humble person I know. Whenever I talk to Nic I always come away thinking that conversation was one sided with Nic listening and offering encouragement at all the right times and actually taking an interest in what I was saying. Maybe I’ll get Nic to spend some time with my Wife (That was a joke by the way…) Funnily enough the most talented runners are normally the most humble while the normal runners start blogs, that may not have come out as I hoped it would. Even I’m confused now and I wrote this paragraph. To sum it up Nic is talented, hard working and humble. These three attributes , together with a good coach, will ensure success. There you go, got there in the end.
So what can we take from Nic’s meteoric rise to eventual superstardom. One of Raf’s favourite quotes is ‘be your best’ and we can all live this manta if we choose to. The early mornings, late evenings, double up days when you’re fatigued or at the end of a threshold when your legs are screaming. These are times when you will be challenged and these are times when you need to step up and ‘be your best‘ . I’m not suggesting we’ll all ever run as fast as Nic but we can run to the best of our ability and leave nothing in the tank, that is what being your best is all about. Finding your limit and getting to a point where you feel you can’t take one more step, then taking one more step.
How do we measure our goals and set ourselves targets ? Through past experiences and achievable targets. Once we have our targets we then design a training plan to achieve these. This is when a coach can help but if you cannot find one for ,whatever reason, it is up to you to draw upon your experience or from a more experienced running friend. (We all have them.) Then set about putting in the hard yards to achieve your goals and ‘be your best. ‘ Targets can be finishing a certain race, achieving a certain time or just running a certain weekly distance. Each of us sets our own targets and with hard work and determination you will achieve them, who knows maybe next year you’ll be sitting behind Nic Harman running the WA State 10k feeling you have him in your sights, a bit like ‘Twinkle Toes’ in 2014, if you do you better be prepared for a battle……