After I quit running, I went through a long phase when I absolutely hated the sport and was glad to hang up the spikes. That seems to be a common theme with most former college runners I've spoken to. After many 15 minute runs (without iPod) I believe I've identified the reason. The reason is that 90% of running SUCKS! In fact, the suck ratio is probably even higher if you were constantly injured and forced to spend weeks in the training room every year. I was at least lucky enough to usually get injured at the same time one of the hot gymnasts or soccer players were also injured.
Once I started running again - my motive being weight loss and a reduction in heartburn - I realized that perhaps running didn't necessarily have to suck. Maybe, my hatred was related to our absolute obsession with running and lack of any type of perspective that would allow us to realize that a bad workout in Purcell had absolutely zero effect on humanity.
The simple solution was to come up with rules to eliminate those things we all did that made running suck. Here are some of the rules I came up for myself:
1) Running in Sub-35 degrees. I don't remember once running on a treadmill due to frigid temperatures in college. What was the point? I think it was some faux bravado and a little insanity. The worst was when we'd cover our entire face because it was so cold that any type of exposure could cause frostbite. I did violate this rule once two weeks but that was Foster's fault for telling me he ran 20 miles the previous week. Thanks Train!
2) Two a Day Training. Not only was running early in the am miserable, I'm not even sure if I got any value out of it. In fact, I think running with tight muscles triggered the injury that forced me to quit running.
3) Ice Therapy. I've recently completely violated this rule. I bought a huge quantity of those stupid paper cups and have began icing my knee. It's pretty horrible but hopefully I won't start the ice/heat contrast therapy.
4) Running while sick. I'm not talking about a tad under the weather. I'm talking about dragging yourself out the door despite the fact that you probably have a fever. This rule will be the easiest to abide by.
5) Always running the planned amount. I have no problem cutting a run short if I planned on going 30 but realize I feel like shit. This rule also includes that stupid extra loop around the block to get 30 instead of 29:28. I've mostly been true to this rule but am fighting my instinct.
6) Running in cold rain. Originally the rule included any rain but I got caught in a couple downpours this Fall and didn't exactly turn around early. Running in 40 degree rain in the Winter is just horrible and doubt I'll break this anytime soon.
7) Over 30 miles a week. As long as I can exceed this threshold without violating the other rules, I could potentially see myself sneaking in a 35 mile week sometime but I'm in no danger now.
I'm sure there's more rules but I need to go get in another ice cup massage before bed followed by 4 or 5 Ibuprofin. So what did I miss?
I follow you here. However, some of the things you list are really symptoms of being serious about running. You can look back on a lot of these things and remember how much they suck, but they are pretty much required activities to be a decent runner. I'm not saying that you should always run when sick (I think I would have been better off to run easy when I was sick instead of just scaling back to three fourths of Purcell workouts). But, pushing through things that suck really just prepare you for racing hard. I mean, if you consider being in a lot of pain something that sucks, then racing absolutely sucks.
ReplyDeleteGood point. I guess the same applies to being good at any sport; you gotta persevere through endless mounds of suck for the hope of achieving greatness.
ReplyDeleteI think what I'm attempting to do with this little experiment is see how fast I'm capable of running while still keeping it mostly enjoyable. I'd be ecstatic if that resulted in a sub-18 5k and one of those age groups awards I used to take for granted.
After reading Running with the Buffaloes I've started to think 2 a days might not be necessary to be a good runner. I'm doubtful I got any value out of my 20 min slogs and may have triggered some minor injuries by running on tight muscles in the cold. Same with running in 20F temperatures. I see that as simply an injury risk; especially since the coldest XC race I ever raced in was 45F.
I also think I'd have benefited by occasionally reducing the "planned amount". This is a slippery slope though since you can't run exactly the amount that is comfortable.
Tom Jeffrey pointed me to read about Rob Conner from University of Portland. Check out this interview, http://runningtimes.com/Article.aspx?ArticleID=15744. I think he has the right idea. It seems like they have taken out some of the things that suck in training, and have had a lot of success with it. Amazed that they do so few quality workouts, but it kind of makes sense to me. I think during the indoor season, we used to do 5 days a week of hard running.
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