Book Review: Running on Empty by Marshall Ulrich

Posted on July 12, 2011 by Coco

My favorite of the three running books my Mom gave me for Mother’s Day was Running on Empty: An Ultramarathoner’s Story of Love, Loss, and a Record-Setting Run Across America by Maschall Ulrich. (That’s an Amazon Affiliate links, which means that if you click through and make a purchase I will earn a small commission. Thanks for your support!)

In the book, Marshall describes his great adventure running from coast to coast. I was a bit worried that I wouldn’t enjoy it since I am not a marathon runner, let alone an ultra-marathon runner, but the running talk was very down to earth. Apparently, when you are running 3,000 miles you don’t worry too much about your split times. 😉

Most of the story is about the mental and emotional issues he faced on the road.  Although he also details his physical struggles, because he had to put those out of his mind to reach his goal, the psychological struggles take the forefront, and I found those easy to relate to.

One thing that struck me was his selfishness, and his unapologetic honesty about it. He admits up front that his running took precedence over his family, and while he regrets the damage that did to his relationships with his children, he doesn’t seem to wish he had made different choices. He had to run and run to deal with what he was (or wasn’t) dealing with. Still, it makes me wonder if a wife and/or mother could do the same thing to such acclaim, without getting judged for neglecting her husband and children.  (I have added Run Like A Mother by Dimity McDowell and Mile Markers by Kristin Armstrong to my reading list to see what they have to say about this!)

Maybe I was too wrapped up in the story, but I didn’t really come away with any great insights into running or life. On the other hand, when my family thinks I am taking running too seriously with my 5:00 am wake-up calls and ice baths, I can point to Marshall and say, “He had his toenails removed so they wouldn’t cause any issues–at least I’m not that crazy!”

Posted in Book Reviews, Fitness, Life | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

How To Do An Easy Run

Posted on July 11, 2011 by Coco

I am trying to run my long runs at a slower pace, based on information from different running pace calculators. While I don’t believe that there is a universal “right” way to train, I’ve courted injury by running my long runs at a fast pace, and am willing to try something different. What I still need to figure out, is how to run at an “easy” pace. I don’t set out to run my long runs fast, but I seem to have one pace for training (hard) and one pace for racing (harder). After Saturday’s run, I think I finally have figured out how to keep myself to an easy pace.

1. The week before, spend three days in the hot sun at a lacrosse tournament.

2. The day before, cheer on your son through three tough games in the championship rounds.

(They ended up placing 2nd out of 20 teams!)

3. The evening before, squeeze in your usual full body weight routine before dinner:

deadlifts/military presses/push-ups
plie squats/French press
lunges/bicep curls
step-ups/lateral raises/front raises
bent-over rows/hamstring curls/leg extensions (on Bowflex)
crunches/tuck & pile (on fitball)
side-lying leg lifts/crunches (on mat)

4. The night before, stay up too late (again) and set your alarm for 5:00 am anyway.

5. The day of your run, make sure the temperature is at least 70°F and choose a hilly route.

I credit all of these factors for helping me with my easy run.

Garmin Data:
Total Distance: 6.67 miles
Total Time: 1:05: 50
Avg. Pace: 9:52 min/mile
Split Times: 10:20, 9:50, 9:55, 9:56, 9:56, 9:37, 9:20

Those 9:55-ish minute miles fit right within the McMillan Running Calculator pace range for my slow and easy runs. It looks like I reverted to my usual pace for the last 1.67 miles, which was flat to downhill. I think I tend to run faster as I get close to home. 🙂

I will have to come up with a new strategy for next weekend, when I won’t have lacrosse to wear me out! 

 

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The Cynic’s Gratitude List

Posted on July 10, 2011 by Coco

One of my friends shared the idea of a “cynic’s gratitude list.” Take something that you want to gripe about and find something positive to say about it. You can be honest or snarky. Either way, the exercise is likely to turn your mood around–or at least make you smile.

Some examples we’ve come up with over the years:

  • I’m glad my daughter is learning to play my favorite song on the piano. I love hearing it over and over and over again.
  • I’m glad my dishwasher was broken for 6 weeks. It forced me to slow down as I washed all of our dishes by hand.
  • I’m glad my client called at 5:00 pm on Friday with an urgent project. I hadn’t figured out what I was going to do over the weekend.

When I heard last Sunday’s Gospel reading (Matthew 11: 15-19, 25-30), I thought about our cynical gratitude lists, and wondered if Jesus was being sarcastic.

After denouncing the many who had heard Him preach and seen Him perform miracles, but still did not become followers, Jesus said:

I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure.

This passage had never struck me as possibly sarcastic before (and I may be completely wrong–see disclaimer below regarding my lack of formal religious training!), but one thing I truly adore about the Bible is that you can hear the same passage many times and still hear something new.

I imagine that Jesus might have been a bit exasperated. Not only did he share the Good News of God’s love and salvation, he backed it up with numerous miracles. Yet, still, he was challenged as a fraud (or worse). What would it take to convince these people???

His life would have been so much easier if the elders believed in Him. Instead of His scraggly band of disciples, He might have had the endorsement of the Temple. Instead of getting by on the hospitality of others, He might have been put up in a fancy palace. Even if Jesus understood that things had to happen the way they did, He might have been a bit wistful for a different storyline.

While Jesus’ gratitude may or may not have been cynical, mine is genuine. I’m glad that God revealed his Word to children, so that people like me with a simple understanding of God’s love can believe.

What’s on your cynic’s gratitude list?

Posted in My Faith, Venting | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Five For Friday: Race Tips on Family Fitness Food

Posted on July 8, 2011 by Coco

Funny how things work out. At the last minute I decided to take off for my son’s lacrosse tournament so I didn’t have a blog post for today, but I’ve got a guest post up at Carrie’s blog, Family Fitness Food.

I haven’t tried to do hyperlinks from my WordPress iPhone App, so I hope this works!

See you over there (or on the lacrosse field!).

Posted in Fitness | 2 Comments

Pacing Myself

Posted on July 7, 2011 by Coco

I have been looking for some guidance on pacing my various runs, and am drawn to the suggested paces on The McMillan Running Calculator.

When I plugged in my GW Parkway Classic data

10M

1:26:00

8:36

It showed me what I might have been able to do at the Zooma Annapolis Half Marathon if I hadn’t had my annoying Camelbak issue or had to walk off a cramp:

13.1M

1:54:13

8:43

All things considered, I wasn’t too far off with my 2:02 finish, but I was aiming for 9:00 min miles, not an 8:43 pace!

His 5K data also was faster than my Lawyers Have Heart finish

5000m

24:42

7:57

But I could have come close if the course hadn’t been so crowded. Again, though, I never even thought to aim for a sub-8:00 pace!

The Runner’s World Training Calculator gives me similar race paces:

1500m 6:58
the mile 7:31
3000m(3k) 14:32
3200m(about 2 miles) 15:34
5000m(5k) 24:58
8000m(8k) 41:06
5 miles 41:21
10,000m(10k) 52:04
ten miles 1:26:13
a half marathon 1:54:48
a marathon 3:59:20

What I really need guidance for is training runs. While the McMillan race times seem ambitious to me, the long/slow/easy run paces seem slow:

Endurance Workouts

Pace/Mile
Recovery Jogs

10:42 to 11:12
Long Runs

9:42 to 10:42
Easy Runs

9:42 to 10:12

On the other hand, the suggested pacing for other types of workouts seems fast!

Stamina Workouts

Pace/Mile
Steady-State Runs  

8:43 to 8:59
Tempo Runs  

8:22 to 8:43
Tempo Intervals  

8:15 to 8:32

How long are these “stamina workouts” supposed to be?

And then these speed workout paces seem ridiculous!

400m

1:46.4 to 1:50.9

800m

3:37.0 to 3:47.0

1000m

4:43.4 to 4:56.5

1200m

5:40.5 to 5:55.8

1600m

7:44.6 to 8:02.4

2000m

9:53.1 to 10:10.2

I don’t think I’ve ever made it around the track in under 2 minutes.

Clearly, my natural running pace doesn’t fit these parameters. My race times are relatively consistent (given the high bar set by the perfect conditions and all-out finish of the GW Parkway Classic), but my long/easy runs are too fast and my speed work is too slow. Since I prefer to train conservatively to avoid injury, I am not going to push my speed workouts, but I am going to try to slow down my long runs.

As I contemplate my performance at Zooma and consider signing up for another half marathon, I realize that if I want a half marathon to feel comfortable, I need to be used to running for 2+ hours. I only did one almost-two hour training run, and probably could do more without getting injured if I ran a bit more slowly.

Have you checked out The McMillan Running Calculator or the Runner’s World Training Calculator?

Do you find it easy or hard to adjust your pace for different types of runs?

Posted in Fitness | Tagged , , , , , | 9 Comments