400's and Good Books

So Coach Tommy sent me out yesterday with my first truly "hard" track set - which included some nasty 800's, 1200's and 1600's.
I could have run outside, as it is a little less boring, but, as you know (unless you live in a cave in the South Pacific) our weather here in the Big Smoke has been a wee bit challenging for runner's the past week - although that sounds pretty lame when you consider over 300,000 didn't have heat or power while my biggest complaint was how the roads sucked to run on...), so, here was my choice:

Warm

                                                                       or

Not Warm

kids actually skating down the road - just the road I want to run on. Not.

I chose warm.
And while I was in the Dome, running solo and feeling sorry for myself - especially as for some reason the track was, judging by my 400 splits, quite long (as it couldn't be that I am simply wayyyy slower - hahaa), I got to thinking about 400's (ya, pretty random but what else do you think about when running than, well, running? I do also think a lot about food, especially desserts; I often drift off thinking about how I would rather be swimming that running intervals - which is ironic, as when I swam yesterday morning all I could think about was running intervals on the track (this must be some undiagnosed medical condition); sometimes I even think about all the unfinished house chores I have been tasked by AM, but surprisingly, those thoughts are extremely fleeting. So, ya, I tend to think about running when I am running [note how there is absolutely no intention to intrude on any copyright issues herein: What I Talk About When I Talk About Running [this is a really great book by the way - while I personally don't think it rises quite to the literary status of the your humble author's pedestrian (pun intended) writings herein, it has been a NY Times bestseller for quite some time: NY Times Book review- well worth adding to your quiver of running books, although I would personally start with John L Parker's classic, Once A Runner, one of my favourite books out there (64 x 400m's? really? WTF??); or, if you just want pure a "endurance", switch it up and read what is likely my single favourite, "the one book I would bring to the desert island": The Road by Cormac McCarthy - epic and sparse and beautiful and haunting).
Anyway - I digress: on the track yesterday while thinking of running and having each 400 split called out by the George Brown track coach (I had jumped into their varsity workout) - I wondered if there was any 400's harder than the ones I was doing...
turns out there are:

And now I fear what could be harder than next week's 800's...

see ya on the roads,
Mellow Johnny

As Fonzi said, "sit on this and rotate (your running shoes)"

Can Rotating Running Shoes Reduce Injury Risk? Seems so...

Shoe geeks rejoice! If you’ve been looking for a good reason to convince your spouse or significant other that you need a new pair of running shoes, look no further than a new study that suggests that runners who rotate among more than one pair of running shoes are significantly less likely to get injured than those who wear the same model of shoe on every run.

The abstract of the study arrived in my inbox a few days ago, and I do not yet have access to the full text, but Craig Payne at Running Research Junkie and Scott Douglas at Runner’s World have both covered it in some depth.

Here’s the abstract:

Scand J Med Sci Sports. 2013 Nov 28. [Epub ahead of print]

Can parallel use of different running shoes decrease running-related injury risk?

Malisoux L, Ramesh J, Mann R, Seil R, Urhausen A, Theisen D.

Abstract
The aim of this study was to determine if runners who use concomitantly different pairs of running shoes are at a lower risk of running-related injury (RRI). Recreational runners (n = 264) participated in this 22-week prospective follow-up and reported all information about their running session characteristics, other sport participation and injuries on a dedicated Internet platform. A RRI was defined as a physical pain or complaint located at the lower limbs or lower back region, sustained during or as a result of running practice and impeding planned running activity for at least 1 day. One-third of the participants (n = 87) experienced at least one RRI during the observation period. The adjusted Cox regression analysis revealed that the parallel use of more than one pair of running shoes was a protective factor [hazard ratio (HR) = 0.614; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.389-0.969], while previous injury was a risk factor (HR = 1.722; 95%CI = 1.114-2.661). Additionally, increased mean session distance (km; HR = 0.795; 95%CI = 0.725-0.872) and increased weekly volume of other sports (h/week; HR = 0.848; 95%CI = 0.732-0.982) were associated with lower RRI risk. Multiple shoe use and participation in other sports are strategies potentially leading to a variation of the load applied to the musculoskeletal system. They could be advised to recreational runners to prevent RRI.

© 2013 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

I’ve long felt positively about rotating running shoes since I think that one of the major causes of repetitive overuse injury in runners is that many of us run on the same type of uniform surface (road/sidewalk) in the same model of shoe on every single run. In other words, we hammer ourselves in the same way every time we head out the door (trail runners like my friend Maureen excluded!!).

I believe that wearing shoes that vary in sole geometry and the amount of cushioning and support provided results in forces being applied to the body in different ways and thus reduces the overall repetitive load to individual tissues. This, in turn, reduces injury risk. I’ve employed a shoe rotation myself for several years now, though mine may be a bit larger than necessary given that I seem to have a running shoe obsession (what with over 15 pairs in the training room - and counting!). But, heretofore (I am inclined to use one "lawyer" phrase per blog posting) my thoughts on the benefits of rotating shoes were just a hunch based on my (rather limited) knowledge of how footwear can alter mechanics and force application; but the study reported above seems to lend some scientific support to the practice.

In his article on the study, Scott Douglas reports the following regarding the researcher’s explanation for the mechanism behind the benefits of a shoe rotation:

“The researchers wrote that this could well be because different shoes distribute the impact forces of running differently, thereby lessening the strain on any given tissue. Previous research has shown, and runners have long intuitively felt, that factors such as midsole height and midsole firmness create differences in gait components such as stride length and ground reaction time.

As the researchers put it, ‘the concomitant use of different pairs of running shoes will provide alternation in the running pattern and vary external and active forces on the lower legs during running activity. Whether the reduced [injury] risk can be ascribed to alternation of different shoe characteristics, such as midsole densities, structures or geometries cannot be determined from these results and warrants future research.’”

This hypothesis is thus right in line with my own belief that mixing up force application is a plausible explanation for why a shoe rotation might reduce injury risk. However, we can’t confirm the mechanism for certain yet.

In any event, it’s nice when science supports a practice that I and many people I know have long advocated. It’s OK to experiment with footwear, and in fact it may be a good thing. And this also lends further support when we need to explain why need a pair of different shoes for our long run; our intervals; our tempos; our marathons; our trail runs; track work; speed work; rainy days; etc..and don't even het me started on the need for racing flats and spikes!!

see ya on the roads

Mellow Johnny

Active Recovery is the Key

Aerobic Accelerator: Proper Recovery Between Intervals Is Key

                     (if you start puking in between sets - you be goin' tooo hard!)

It doesn’t take a research experiment to prove that aerobic fitness is important. Without input from scientists, coaches (and self-coached athletes) frequently recommend training right between the barrier of hard breathing and uncontrollable gasping — the spot where the body’s aerobic fitness is working at near full capacity — to boost aerobic fitness. But researchers at Rennes 2 University in France have found that the type of recovery taken between intervals is also important.

They trained two groups of new runners with interval workouts made up of the same hard sections, but with different recovery.

Science-Speak Translated

VO2 is shorthand for volume of oxygen. VO2 max is the most oxygen a person can consume and is a common (although imperfect) way to measure aerobic fitness.

For short-course triathletes who don’t fit into the “elite” wave, VO2 max is a strong indicator of performance, according to a study performed at the University of Tennessee. The right kind of training can boost this all-important number.

The Study

Group 1: Standing Recovery
30×30 seconds hard, 30 seconds standing
Result: No change to VO2 max

Group 2: Running Recovery
20×30 seconds hard, 30 seconds slow jog
Result: Improved VO2 max baseline

Despite running fewer intervals, the athletes who ran between repeats upped their aerobic fitness more than those who stood for recovery. If interval workouts with short repeats are part of your training plan, jog between repeats for a meaningful fitness boost.

Best Race Report - EVER

So - while I have written several race reports over the years[some good, some "meh"], I aspire to the self-deprecating humour, candour and sheer brilliance of Trevor's race report.
I bow at the feet of the master.

Trevor Wurtele's Ironman 2013 Arizona Race Report


Guess now I have to shoot for the stars.
And for the record, no, I have never "shushed" my wife during an Ironman. I am wayyyy too smart to run that risk...

peace out
Mellow Johnny

Running Form Comparison: Bekele, Gebrselassie, Farah

Running Form Comparison between Bekele, Gebrselassie, and Farah in the 2013 Great North Run

I came across this video clip via Peter Larson. Despite the fact that Bekele is turning through much of it, it gives us an opportunity to look at the running form differences between three great runners: Kenenisa Bekele, Haile Gebrselassie, and Mo Farah.

You may have first looked at footstrike, checking whether they heelstrike and/or overstride. These questions are so much the focus of research and discussion about running form these days that it can sometimes seem like they’re all that matters.

However, footstrike is really just the tip of the iceberg, and if you are trying to change your footstrike you need to know something about the whole iceberg, not just the part that’s most easily visible. So I’m going to walk you through a few of the things I look at when I evaluate a runner’s form and maybe this will give you some new ideas about what to feel for in your own form and look for in others’.

Before I go any farther, though, let me clarify that this commentary represents me adapting my evaluation methods to video. In reality I rarely use video to work with runners because what you can’t see in video dwarfs what you can, and my analysis doesn’t depend generally on particular moments in the gait cycle but how the cycle unfolds – in short, I analyze movements, not a series of positions.

That said, here are three very interesting positions I’ve pulled out of the video:

1. Midstance

The first collage is midstance for each of the runners, plus or minus the margin of error of my reaction time on the YouTube “pause” button. If you wondered whether any of these runners were overstriding, this should set that question to rest.

Yes, yes, I know these are not pictures of footstrike! Frankly looking at initial contact of a foot with the ground can be confusing because whether it’s the impact-transient-causing type of event depends on what is on the foot, how stiffened the leg is on contact, how the weight progresses over the sole of the foot, and even how fast the runner is going. At the speed these guys were running the foot definitely touches the ground out in front of them, but their bodies are moving so fast that by the time there’s any significant force through that foot they’re on top of it.

With so many conflating factors in visually determining whether a runner is overstriding I’ve stopped caring much about the question unless it’s extreme, and I’ve switched to checking where their weight is in midstance instead. If a runner is overstriding in a meaningful way, their hip joint will be behind the ankle in midstance. These guys all have their standing hip joints exactly over their ankles in midstance. Clean as a whistle. (And in case you’re wondering how I determined midstance, I picked the moment their heads were lowest.)

So they’re not overstriding. However there’s a major difference between the first two and Farah. Bekele and Gebrselassie are both leaning forward (And please note in this part of the gait cycle it looks like “bad” leaning, just from the pelvis. It isn’t, as you’ll see in the other pictures.) If you drew a line from ankle upwards through the hip joint and continued up to head height, both their heads would be in front of it. However the back of Farah’s head lies on the line. He’s much more upright than the other two. (In this context I’m using “upright” to mean how close to vertical his spine is, not how straight it is.)

2. Toe-off

In this picture you see the three at the moment of toe-off. As you can see, their shoes have just lost contact with the ground. I’ve taken a shot at drawing lines from hip joint of the toe-off leg through the neck to the head, it looks a little sloppy and I didn’t have the control to get them exactly where I felt they were most accurate. (If anyone knows of a better tool for doing this than picmonkey.com, I’d be grateful if you’d leave a comment pointing me to it!) In pictures where someone has drawn a line through the body I often disagree with their placement of the line as being not anatomically precise. It’s easy to draw these things in a way that confirms your bias. I’ve aimed my lines to run from hip joint parallel to the spine, through the neck and into whatever part of the skull they arrive in. I didn’t get all three necks the same, Gebrselassie’s should angle yet a little more forward. Even so, you can see that Bekele and Gebrselassie are leaning forward about the same at this point (Gebrselassie actually a little bit more) and Farah is quite a bit more upright. You can also see that Farah’s chin is more tucked than the other two. In this picture it’s hard to see Gebrselassie’s chin but overall in the video you can see that he tucks his a little more than Bekele.

Aside from lean you can also see that Bekele and Farah have their left shoulders and hands behind the line I’ve drawn while Gebrselassie’s shoulder is right on it and his hand is in front of it. This shows something that will be even clearer in the next set of pictures, which is that Gebrselassie uses less trunk counterrotation than the other two when he runs. You can also see here that his back leg is not as straight as the other two have theirs. This is connected to the counterrotation issue – less rotation gives him a shorter stride length which he compensates for with a higher stride rate. I counted the stride rates of the three while watching the actual race and got approximately 180 for Farah, 188 for Bekele, and 204 for Gebrselassie! All of them are reasonable for runners of their level but it’s worth observing that Gebrselassie and Farah use opposite strategies for speed – Gebrselassie takes shorter, super-quick strides with minimal torso rotation while Farah takes super-long, slower strides with huge torso movement. Bekele is right in the middle in balancing stride rate/stride length.

3. Maximum Trunk Counterrotation

In this final collage I’ve selected what looks like the point of maximum trunk counterrotation for each of them, which happens in the flight phase of the gait cycle. These pictures are the hardest to compare because each runner is captured at a different angle and Bekele’s head is still turned, which limits how much he could turn his upper body the other direction. It looks from the leg and foot position like I’ve caught Farah a little bit later in the gait cycle than the others but I’ve watched the video a million times and this seems to be the moment of maximum forward movement of his shoulder, so I’m going to go with it.

The first thing that stands out to me is that the difference between the forward lean of the first two runners and Farah has become very large indeed. His spine looks absolutely vertical. We’ve seen this change in the angle of his trunk to the ground over the course of his gait cycle, and this reveals the biggest difference between him and the other two: Farah moves his trunk in the sagittal plane when running and they do not. He goes from a moderate forward lean at midstance to almost upright, then leans forward again for the next stride. The other two maintain a steady lean through out their gait cycles.

You can easily see an indicator of Farah’s sagittal-plane movement in full-speed race video, for instance the 10,000 meter final from the Olympics. When seen from the side, his head clearly bobs forward and backward (relative to the speed of his body overall) in contrast to the heads of all the runners around him which just move smoothly forward. Farah positions his trunk so that when he pushes off in late stance his head is behind the line of force and is pushed backwards – in other words, pushing off makes him arch his back a little. And then he has to counter that movement by activating his trunk flexors to bring both his head and leg forward for his next footstrike. Very few world-class runners do this; I believe very few runners who do this rise to world-class level because it is less economical than positioning the torso so the force in late stance is transmitted through the spine to the head, pushing it smoothly forwards instead of backwards. However, a runner’s success is created by a constellation of attributes and economy is only of them, and Farah depends on it less than the other two.

What causes Farah to organize his running in this more expensive manner is something that can’t be determined visually; I’d have to put my hands on him and feel what his neck is like, his ankles, his upper spine, and so forth to know the answer. (Incidentally, the level of tension a runner would feel in their neck, face, and jaw running like this would lead to a lot of grimacing.) In my experience, people instinctively choose to be economical when they can feel how to do it, and if a runner isn’t making that choice there is probably what Feldenkrais practitioners call “parasitic effort” getting in the way.

There’s still more to say about this: the possibility that Farah is at maximum trunk rotation later in his gait cycle than the other two points to the overall larger trunk movements he makes, much of which can’t be seen from the side. His head moves more side-to-side than other runners’, as do his shoulders and ribcage. When he stretches out his stride at the end of a race he makes his fabulous stride length happen without overstriding through this huge trunk movement. The possibility that it might be slightly out of sync with his legs – slightly delayed – coupled with the sagittal-plane trunk movement so unusual for a runner add detail to the impression I always get that he’s “pumping” not only with his arms but somehow with his torso, pushing harder against the ground and driving his legs through the whole cycle by tremendous auxiliary motion of his trunk. This is strength, not economy, that he calls upon to perform his best.

You can see a small difference between Bekele and Gebrselassie’s backs in these pictures as well. Gebrselassie is a little straighter, you could almost say his back looks arched as well. That difference would likely seem larger if Bekele were looking forward and his shoulder were able to move naturally – he would look even more relaxed and forward-leaning, based on how he looked in the rest of this race and how he usually looks. Gebrselassie has always had a slightly more arched back than the average East African distance runner, and a tendency to tuck his chin as well though under pressure he lets it move forward in more efficient fashion – the opposite of Farah’s response to pressure. Bekele by contrast has always had an exceedingly clean lean and easy trunk mechanics free of distortion. If I had to be any runner in the world other than myself, I’d want to be him.

(If you haven’t seen the whole race, you can probably find it on YouTube and if you’ve read this far you should really just go watch it! Then read the rest of this blog post.)

Under pressure at the end of the race, Farah pumped in all the ways I’ve described, reaching out of his form for more power anywhere he could find it. He found it and closed on Bekele in amazing fashion. Bekele, nearly overtaken, seemed to smile calmly and then inexplicably sped up without appearing to do anything different, and won the race.

Does Bekele’s win mean his way of running is best? I think at this level “best” is a vague and possibly useless word. Farah beat Bekele in the Olympics 10,000m, after all, and Gebrselassie is more accomplished than either. I think we could eventually agree that Bekele’s style is most efficient and Farah’s least, or, to flip it around, Farah’s is most powerful – even extraordinarily so – and Bekele’s least, with Gebrselassie striking perhaps the perfect balance and possessing more versatility than either.

For me this becomes an aesthetic question. They are three extraordinary runners with very different styles, bodies, and personalities, and so they give very different gifts to those of us watching. I think we love to watch Farah run because he embodies desire and force of will, Gebrselassie displays amazing speed and lightness, and Bekele channels calm and grace.

Feeling Blah? You're Not Alone

Tips to Harness Motivation

It’s a phenomenon every runner has experienced: Some training sessions, you feel motivated, energetic and capable of pushing your body to its limits. Other days, you barely feel inspired enough to plod through a recovery run.

Sports psychologists say low-motivation days are no accident, and say negative thoughts can stymie motivation and jeopardize performance, for pros and weekend warriors alike.

“I think every athlete has those moments of doubt,” says 10,000m American record-holder Shalane Flanagan, who worked with sports psychologist Greg Dale while running cross country and track at University of North Carolina. “My doubts are usually along the lines of, ‘Maybe I’m not fit enough or strong enough to do this.’”

Flanagan combats those motivation-zappers with visualization exercises, including one she calls upon often frequently during tough workouts.

“I’ll pretend I’m grinding out the last 600 against the top Ethiopian runners,” Flanagan says. “I just visualize running against them, and getting that fast time, or winning the race, during a workout, and it gives me that little boost of motivation.”

Sports psychologists offer the following tips for other runners looking to harness their motivation:

Identify negative thoughts. Sports psychologist Alison Arnold, founder ofHead Games Sports in Westford, Massachusetts, has coached a host of Olympic athletes and warns that negative thoughts can be sneaky. We know better than to tell ourselves we're about to have a bad workout. We're more likely to make definitive statements like, “I always get tired around this point,” or, “I never run well in the morning,” Arnold says. And Greg Dale, now a professor of Sport Psychology and Sport Ethics and the director of sports psychology and leadership programs for Duke University athletic teams, says something as simple as the weather can spur a chain of performance-hampering thoughts. “If you say, ‘Man, it’s going to be hot out today,’ you plant a seed before you ever get started that it’s going to be a crappy run,” Dale says. Dale tells athletes to keep a journal tracking their thoughts before, during and after workouts to learn how their thought patterns affect their performance.

Substitute positive thoughts – or at least neutral ones. Dale says it’s important to acknowledge negative thoughts, then to rationalize them with thoughts that are “positive, truthful, and relevant to you.” “You don’t need to tell yourself, ‘I’m the fastest runner in world and I feel wonderful today,’” Dale says. Arnold says it’s OK to take "one step up on the feel-good scale." Rather than telling yourself you feel fabulous when you’re slogging through a long run, simply tell yourself you can make it to the next curve in the road, Arnold says.

Find out what works, then feed it. Once you figure out which positive thoughts fuel your best performance, feed them with breathing, music and continued positive self-talk, Arnold says. Dale suggests having a specific plan to direct your brain toward performance-boosting thoughts during difficult parts of races or workouts. Arnold says a pre-run ritual of stretches, music or breathing exercises can “anchor the mind, and prepare the mind for what it’s about to do.”

Infuse long-term goals with passion. Every runner should have a long-term goal they’re passionate about, and should remind themselves frequently why that goal is important with visual representations and key phrases, Arnold says. This can mean a course map on the refrigerator, a motivational quote on the bathroom mirror or a billboard with inspirational magazine cutouts and photos. Arnold recommends dedicating races, either formally or informally. “When you’re doing something for a cause, there’s emotion involved,” Arnold says. "That's what will carry you through the hard days."

Let yourself feel disappointment. Then, move past it. Arnold says it’s important to “honor yourself” by not squelching feelings of anger or sadness after a disappointing workout or race. But she says it’s also important to consciously move past the disappointment. Dale suggests using visualization, saying one athlete he worked with imagined pouring a bucket of water over her head to wash away negative feelings. Arnold says it helps to diffuse a difficult runs with humor and “a lightness of being.” “It is so important to not take ourselves too seriously,” Arnold says. “There is such a difference between saying, ‘I can’t finish this run today’ and saying, ‘I guess today’s my day to just walk and smell the roses.’"

Channel past successes. Dreading your speed workout? Spend a few minutes visualizing your best race before heading out the door, says Eugene sports psychology consultant and marathoner Kay Porter. In the last few laps of the 10K in the 2008 Olympics, Flanagan imagined she was finishing a tough workout on the American Tobacco Trail in North Carolina. “It made me feel like it was just another hard workout,” Flanagan says. “It calmed my nerves, so I could execute the way I’d execute in practice.” The proof it worked: Flanagan netted a bronze medal. 

Open Water Anxiety - all gone!

I stumbled across this piece in "Triathlete" - a good overview of how not to freak out in an open water swim.

'Nuff said: 

A few years ago, watching an open-water swim left a lasting impression on me. It was at the Cayuga Lake Triathlon in Ithaca, NY, where my wife, Alice, was participating in the 1.5k relay leg.

I watched five waves, each with some 80 participants, start the swim. Each time the same pattern unfolded: Following the start, 10 percent of the field swam steadily and confidently down the course. Another 20 percent swam reasonably well in their wake. Fully 70 percent swam uncertainly at best, barely at all in some cases, stopping frequently, switching to breaststroke, turning on their backs. Generally they took five to ten minutes to settle their nerves before making steadier progress. 

Alice, a skilled swimmer with 30 years of pool experience, who had swum two miles and more at Total Immersion Open Water camps, was among those who looked overwhelmed and unable to swim at anything like her true ability until the field spread out.

New triathletes have a right to be a little timid when it comes to the open-water swim. Even 2008 Olympic open-water silver medalist David Davies said he felt "violated by people swimming all over me." If an Olympic medalist feels that distressed, what chance does a triathlete have of being comfortable in a chaotic swim start?

Actually, a very good one.

When it comes to swimming, the majority of triathletes have a more urgent need to learn how to be comfortable than to increase speed or fitness. Here’s my four-part prescription for new triathletes to maximize their chances of a safer, happier swim in their first race and every race.

1. Learn Balance. This is the primary skill that gives you a sense of having control over your body in the water. In TI, balance is the foundation for every subsequent swimming skill. Learning to control that sinking legs sensation gives you confidence you can learn to control other things—like anxiety in open water. And feeling support for the water brings an overall sense of calm.

2. Practice Mindful Swimming. Replacing reactive thinking with calm, observant, reflective thinking is integral to the process of learning balance and every subsequent skill in the Total Immersion method. The ability to exert control over what and how you think in an environment where you may not be able to control much else is the best defense against anxiety. When teaching Total Immersion Open Water camps, I always teach our students how to use focus to create a “cocoon of calm” in the midst of exterior turmoil.

3. Practice with a Tempo Trainer. An inevitable result of the fight-or-flight response in open water is a shift to high-rate survival strokes, which greatly increases respiration rate. Faster, shallower breaths make you feel light-headed, making an uncomfortable situation even more so. Using a Tempo Trainer to encode a controlled tempo in your nervous system will also control your respiration rate.

4. Avoid the rush. After the start signal, take your time before you begin swimming, and/or start at the perimeter of the pack. “I remind my triathletes of pythagorean geometry: On a 200-yard stretch, if you start 60 feet outside the most direct path to the first buoy, you’ll only swim one yard farther to get there,” Says Total Immersion coach Dave Cameron.

What to do when anxiety strikes anyway?

It’s not the end of the world if you still feel your heart, breathing and stroke rates getting away from you. Here’s how to handle that.

Hit the reset button. It’s so common to feel some anxiety early in the swim leg, that all new triathletes should have a plan for recovering from anxiety—and practice it in advance. The athletes I observed at the Cayuga Lake event had the right idea: Swim 10 or 12 strokes of breaststroke—a more naturally relaxing style than crawl. Stretch out fully with head hanging between your shoulders. Emphasize a leisurely glide, exhaling fully to clear CO2 and slow respiration. As you do, remind yourself how great it is to be living it in such a vibrant manner. Take a few more strokes and breaths to visualize how you want your crawl stroke to feel, and then get back to it calmly and easily.

Become the "quiet center." I personally love pack swimming and swim better with close company than alone. A primary reason I enjoy it so much is that it sharpens my focus. When swimming with others in open water, I observe their strokes and turn it into a game, testing my ability to swim with a quieter, more leisurely stroke than anyone around me. In fact I enjoy it so much I’m sometimes sorry to see the race end. When in a pack, strive to swim with a more relaxed stroke than all those around you. This will help turn your swim leg from pressure-filled into a game or work of art.

see ya in the lake

Mellow Johnny

"I'mmmmmm Baaaaack"....

So, after Boston, I sort of laid low and in light of everything that happened during - and after - the marathon, sort of lost my mojo.

But, one can't wallow forever, so, I slowly headed back into training, knowing that the ITU World's are only 16 weeks away - and full on training seemed to be the way out of the darkness that Boston foisted on all of us.

Under the excellent - but often merciless! - coaching of Tommy Ferris Team Ignition Fitness, we targeted the Binbrook Triathlon as the first tri of the year.
Having raced this event for the last several years, it is a great season opener to shake off the rust and get back into the game. John Salt, Jason V and the team at MultiSport Canada put on a fantastic series of events and this one is one of my favs - warm lake, flat bike on beautiful country roads and flatter cross country run: perfect for me!
So with more swim/bike/run miles on my aging and pretty creaky body than last year (thanks Coach!), I was pretty excited about how going from the long tempos of Boston training to the "seeing red from hurling blood" fast shite would play out (and of course, there was and is the great unknown: my wonky hip - but more on that later).
Race day started with the usual bad sleep - you would think after nearly 25 years of racing every summer I would have this dialed in, but nope, still get those butterflies and nerves, which I suppose is a good thing?!
Arriving and setting up in transition was like old home week - all the old farts in my age group [50 plus...] were there: Brett, Alfred, et al - really great to see all the gang back, and they are as competitive as ever!
The race - well, suffice it to say I made the usual "early season mistakes" - but overall I was pleased with the whole race.
My swim was quick - and thankfully the water was quite warm [relative to Lake O!]; out 3rd, as usual I was passed on the run up by what seemed like the entire 11th grade of a local high school! Great bike - pushed up and stayed in 3rd - which is where I started the run about 300m back from the 2nd place runner.

And the start of the run is where I had one of those "come-to-Jesus" moments: do I settle for 3rd, or not...
I think we have all had those internal chats with ourselves during a race: "Hey John, it's your legs - this pace is too hard! Settle back, go easy, no shame in 3rd, pal - 3rd is better than 4th - so relax, and stop hurting so much..."
You know what I mean - the dark demon of mediocrity!
But as Jens Voight [he of TDF fame] is known to say, "shut up legs".
And so, I sucked it up, and while I knew this was going to hurt - a lot - I began to try and run down the two guys in front of me.
And it was a good day - and I was able to somehow put together the turnover to catch Roman, who was battling hard to stay up front - and take 1st overall.

*ya, I did the "hands on knees and drool" thing at the finish line. nice.

                                                                           

The better news was that I although one year older and thus should-be-slower, I actually had a better swim, bike and run time then last year -and shaved over a minute off my ridiculous "are-you-kidding-me-how-slow-that was" transitions (seriously - I freakin' hate transitions - since when does it take a minute to take off a bloody wetsuit> For god's sake, when I was in university living in my frat, with the right sorority girl, I could make 2 martinis, get completely undressed and throw on some sexy tunes in less time than that!)(...if my wife is reading this, kidding!).

My teammates from Team Ignition Fitness also tore up the course - with Jesse, Cavin, and Keith having stellar races (man, if I could run like Jesse - and ride like Keith - I would be SuperHero fast!).
And: my training partner also podiumed - in only her second full tri [awesome job Mits!] so it was a good day all around.
After I finished, I went for a nice easy cool down run on the country roads - and yes, like a total idiot, I missed the awards - so there are the two podium shots: overall winners, with me absent, and then me, hopping up and getting a solo pic (big shout out as usual to Mike Cheliak and his team for their usual excellent race pics!).

I also found this race summary on You Tube: great coverage of the race, and for my money, it gets really good at around 7:10 into the vid - hahaha (note to self: wipe race crap off face if on camera after crossing finish line!)(and ya, some of the other racers really were "so young", or is that just a reflection, sadly, that I am just bloody old?).

So there it is: 2013's race #1 under the belt.
See ya in Welland.
Johnny Boy

ps: go 'Hawks.

After Boston: Run the Recovery

I read this piece, by American distance runner Mike Cassidy, in the upcoming May 2013 "Running Times".
Wish I had written it...

I am a runner.

I’m also an American. I’m a Catholic. I’m a New Yorker. I’m a graduate student. I’m a former government employee.

Those things describe me. But running defines me.

I am a runner who ran the 2013 Boston Marathon. My family and I — like most runners — were fortunate to be out of harm’s way. The victims were someone else’s child, someone else’s parent, someone else’s friend. Their faces and names were unfamiliar, their pain incomprehensible.

But they were part of the tribe of runners, family and friends of runners. They are the type of people who sacrifice Friday nights for Saturday mornings — or support it. The type of people who measure life in minutes per mile — or can interpret it. The type of people whose most treasured possession stinks up the closet — or at least don’t complain about it. They are strangers, but they are runners, and so we know who they are.

Runners share an unspoken bond, a spiritual affinity that runs deeper than age or race, nationality or religion. Show me a runner, and I’ll show you a friend. Running identifies.

Running is not something you do; it is something you are. It’s a worldview as much as it is a form of exercise. It’s a way of life as much as it is a sport. It’s a state of being as much as it is a means of transportation. An attack on any of us running is an attack on all of us.

That is why we must run on.

The cruelest part of the bombings was the jarring juxtaposition between the senseless slaughter of innocents and the marathon’s jubilant pageantry. In an instant, something we had spent months and years meticulously preparing for became magnificently inconsequential. Our standard obsessions — in my case, a disappointing finishing time — suddenly seemed astoundingly selfish.

The overriding sentiment was one of shocked disbelief, tinged with anxious outrage. A sacred ritual had been gruesomely desecrated. We were confused, angry, scared. We wanted comfort, security, revenge. But most of all, we wanted answers.

Who did this? How could this happen? Will marathons change forever? 

In the wake of tragedy it is natural to ask questions. To change perspectives. To challenge priorities.

As runners, we were forced to confront a troubling truth: Running was fallible, even trivial. As we watched others suffer, we were forced to ask: Does running matter?

And the reality is: Running doesn’t matter as much as we think. It matters more.

When despair is overwhelming, what do we do?  Go for a run. When stress is oppressive, what do we do? Go for a run. When hope is gone and all seems lost, what do we do? Go for a run.

A run can turn the worst day into the best day; it can bring us from the lowest of lows to the highest of highs. I ran after September 11, I ran after the deaths of my grandparents, and I run whenever things aren’t going my way. It never fails.

If the perpetrators wanted to inflict lasting devastation, they could not have picked a worse target. Running defies destruction.

To run is to live. Running nourishes our muscles and nurtures our minds. It induces clarity of thought, vitality of physiology, and tranquility of emotion. It demands complete unity of body and spirit, it requires your legs, your lungs, your heart, your mind, but rewards all those parts too. It’s in this harmonious holism that we come to understand our true identities, our authentic selves. The universe’s uncertainty is distilled into a singularity: We exist in and of the moment. In the midst of entropy, serene bliss. In the midst of confusion, clarity. Surrounded by constraints, we are freed. Running creates.

But running is more than the antithesis of terror; it is also the antidote. Just as a vaccine implicates pestilence in its own defense, running takes pain as a template and produces something beautiful.

Terror holds no more power over running than wind over wildfire. Runners do not avoid suffering, they embrace it. Pain is merely the pathway to our potential. From the depths of agony rise meaning and purpose.

It is perhaps this fact that separates runners from non-runners, and it’s why we are the subject of curious bemusement and occasional derision. In a world that celebrates leisure and luxury, runners seek austerity. In a world in search of simple answers, runners chase impossible questions. In a society that valorizes the easy way, runners take the path of most resistance.

But it goes deeper than that. We do it together. Running unites.

The falsest truism in all of sports is that running is an individual pursuit. Anyone who has ever run for a team recognizes the value of training partners. They push us when we’re hurting. They make us laugh when we want to scream. They turn our doubts into confidence, our dreams into realities. United by shared sacrifice, they become lasting friends.

But the same is true of our opponents. In running, there is no such thing as foes, only co-conspirators. It’s one of the few competitive endeavors where my success doesn’t mean your failure.

Sure, only one person can win — but it’s not a zero-sum game. The real rewards are diffuse and self-defined. Victory and defeat — these occur internally, in our ability to conquer our emotions and triumph over our own limitations. Work together, and we realize collective greatness. Our fates are linked. It’s no accident that records are often set in pairs. As much as relative success yields medals, as much as podiums mean prize money, as much as second place is a footnote, we cannot hide from our most relentless rival: ourselves.

And this amicable accord extends beyond the athletes to the fans. In running, the sidelines are part of the playing field. If competitors require us to run faster, crowds inspire it. Nothing can galvanize greatness as much as throngs of screaming fans. Running persists on passion. It rides on emotion. Cheers can’t compensate for underprepared hearts or untrained legs, but they can make those hearts beat a little faster and those legs drive a little harder. 

Just as important as the volume is the attitude: inclusive rather than exclusive, universal rather than partisan. In running, cheering for someone doesn’t mean rooting against someone else. Being a fan at a marathon is an expression of genuine altruism: helping a stranger without request or recompense.

Kind words infuse failing spirits with optimism. Internal anguish is transformed into external glory. I’ve always felt a marathon felt seems shorter when it’s 26.2 miles of compliments. Adrenaline is a heck of a drug.

Nowhere is this more obvious than Boston, where the fans are unquestionably the most passionate, most knowledgeable spectators in our sport (and this is coming from a Yankee fan). In many cities, a marathon is a significant event; in Boston, it is a holiday. Lined with fans, Heartbreak Hill feels flatter. With applause echoing, the Citgo sign approaches faster. When you do something for 117 years, you get pretty good.

It’s days like the Boston Marathon that remind us the running community is greater than the sum of its parts. Bound by the pursuit of the same ephemeral euphoria, our collective presence makes its realization all the more likely.

This is why running community must carry on — not in spite of Boston, but because of it.

As we heal from the attacks, the right question to ask is not if we should run, but why we run.

It’s not about running logs or mile splits, PRs or age-group awards, breaking tapes or setting records. It’s much more basic than that. We run because it’s who we are.

Running cannot resurrect lives or repair limbs, but it can recall the spirit that brings us together on Marathon Monday. It reminds us that even on the loneliest of long runs, we are not alone. We are part of something bigger. What distinguishes running is not solitariness, but solidarity.

Each run is an emphatic statement for everything that terrorism is not. Terrorism destroys; running creates. Terrorism divides; running unites. Terrorism is about fear; running is about hope. Terrorism signifies giving up; running means pushing ahead. Terrorism represents humankind at its malevolent worst; running, people at their inspirational best.

When we run, we take a stand for life, and in so doing, we bring into being the very spirit that defines the greatest threat to terrorism: the unconditional embrace of existence, the relentless optimism that progress is possible, and the unflinching conviction that our individual hopes are inseparable from our shared humanity.

To transcend our limits, we must confront our own mortality. As runners, reaching new levels demands staring human fragility in the face, accepting the futility of our quest, and forging ahead anyway.

Then somehow, when those magic Marathon Mondays come, what was once unfathomable becomes unavoidable. The inconceivable becomes tractable; the hypothetical, real. The most insurmountable peak becomes a mere plateau on the path to greater heights. The boundary is extended. The cycle begins anew. The finish line becomes the starting line.

see you in 2014, Boston
Johnny Boy