—The worst running advice…I’ve ever seen…was in a newspaper article some years ago. It quoted a high school track coach with questionable marathon qualifications. He suggested that all marathon training doesn’t have to be at a run. Of course, you need to put in the miles, but some of it can be at a walk.
—What? What did you say?
—To give him the benefit of the doubt, he may have been referring to interval training. Yet interval training is far more structured than just slowing to a walk when you feel like it.
—The value of running intervals is undeniable, particularly if you are working on speed. But training to run a long race like a marathon requires teaching yourself to endure, to keep going, to keep running! That is, after all, the challenge. For most of us It is as much an endurance contest as a race.
—In 26 miles you may have to walk, depending on how well you have trained. But if you train that way, I KNOW YOU WILL HAVE TO WALK! Actually been there, done that!
—Don’t be fooled! If you are going to run a marathon or a half marathon and you want to be adequately trained, you will need to put on the miles. Without stopping to rest!

—I know. You are tired from a long day at work; either from physical labor or stress that seems physical. Up and down stairs, in and out of the car, running back and forth, busy all day, you believe that work keeps you in shape.
—Truth is, ever since childhood you have learned to make work easier. You have been trained to use the most efficient tools, to rest periodically, to take breaks, to get help, to work in teams and to use any creative means to minimize effort. You get the job done, but in a way that makes it possible to keep going hour after hour.
—Exercise is just the opposite. Instead of trying to minimize effort we try to make it harder. Whether to lose pounds or to gain strength, speed and stamina, we intentionally add weight, reps and miles, ever increasing the difficulty of the work-out.
—So we try to make work easier and exercise harder. That means usually one can’t be substituted for the other. Sorry.
The upside? When you understand that work is not exercise, you have to believe that exercise is not work! Be happy to lace up your running shoes and hit the road.

—Atrophy, it’s not what you get for winning the race! No, just the opposite. It’s what you get for not running at all.
—Recently I skipped running for a few days. Well, 3, 4 then six days. By day 6, my body ached. Muscles were sore. I know my age is working against me, but is it the flu? Did I catch the dreaded H1N1? Or, my gosh, maybe this is what it feels like to get really old!
—Anyway, I felt like something your dog drops in the park. That’s not good.
—But now, after my run today, I feel great. These muscles need to keep working, or they start fading away. And they don’t go peacefully. They let you know. I decided long ago, that it’s better to feel a little tired and sore from a hard work-out than to have the kind of pain that comes from doing nothing.
—It makes me wonder, are the aches and pains that some older people feel just the result of not doing anything? With aching muscles from atrophy, it’s hard for them to get started.
—There are times when you may not feel up for a run. Physically. Could it just be a little atrophy? Maybe a run is just what you need.

Would you like to train effectively, avoid injury and really enjoy your runs? Without dedicating every day of your life to the sport? I have been running for nearly forty years and I think I have a system that provides just those benefits.

For years I worked as a firefighter on a 24 hour shift, basically one day on then one day off. Except for some futile efforts to train while on duty, my running had to be limited to every other day. Oops! There goes the fancy marathon training schedule!

Most of the published Marathon and race training regimens that I have seen demand obedience to a rigid work-out schedule. They must be designed by (and for) professional runners. They make sense if you have the time and energy to train full time. Or if you are so driven that you are willing to abandon your family, your friends and your spare time. Most runners will try to follow such a system, modifying it to suit their needs and to the time available.

But what I discovered was that my body liked the firefighter’s schedule. Of course some of my days off were for sleeping, but most often there was enough energy for a run. The advantage for my body was the scheduled 48 hour recovery. Instead of 24 hours between runs, my body had an extra day to get rid of the lactic acid build-up, repair overused muscles and rebuild my desire to hit the road.

Now I am retired, but I maintain the 48 hour recovery between runs. If it worked for me in my thirties, I knew it would work for me as I aged. So now, approaching 70, I am still running! But I don’t have to run every day. In fact I prefer to run Monday, Wednesday and Friday, taking the week-ends off. It happens that often a run gets pushed back a day, so I am running Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

Try it! You have to get past your Type A traits and realize that you can have intense work-outs without running every day. And with less pressure and anxiety, less chance of injury, you may look forward to your runs with new enthusiasm.

—I had to skip it this month, but in the previous two years I ran with a team in a 200+ mile relay. The race, or endurance contest, went from LaCrosse, Wisconsin to Minneapolis. (This year it started in Winona, Minnesota.)
—Here’s the program. Each of 12 runners does 16 miles, more or less. In about 30 hours, more or less. Simple enough!
—So, what’s different? For years, I ran by myself. Only rarely with a companion except in Marathons or organized events. So I always ran at my own pace. At times, I worked on speed. Sometimes distance. Once in a while, I just ran for a specific period of time. By myself. In fact, I am the poster boy for the “loneliness of the long distance runner.”
—Never before, at least before running the relay, did anyone else rely on my performance. Years of doing my own motivation was now replaced with teammates cheering? Now I had to feel guilty if I didn’t have a good run? Well, all the young people on the team were pretty gentle with their token old guy (some of them were my children.) And besides, it was a diverse team with some new runners.
—The challenge, besides the desire to run well for the team, was camping out in a van with 6 or 7 other runners and all their stuff. For about 30 hours! It is hard to eat properly and nearly impossible to sleep.
—But it is great fun. I missed it so I will try to sign on with a team next year. And it’s for charity.

— In case you don’t remember, Jim Fixx was the author of “The Complete Book of Running” a best seller in 1977. He did not popularize running but his book became a reference for novices. And for many, Fixx became a well-known symbol of the sport. Then he had a heart attack and died at the age of 52.
— For some of the multitudes of non-runners his death was an “I told you so!” moment. “See! I knew it! Running is bad for you!” Smug and self-satisfied, thousands climbed back into their couches and rocking chairs.
— But what the exercise-averse masses never learned was that before he began running at the age of 35, Fixx smoked 2 packs of cigarettes a day and was overweight at 240#. An additional risk factor—his father died at age 47.
— Ironically, “The Complete Book of Running” referenced studies showing that exercise and running helped extend life.
— As a heart attack survivor and Marathoner (before and after the heart attack) I can tell you that running, by itself, is not enough to prevent cardiovascular disease. In my case, slightly elevated cholesterol and incredible work-related stress combined to nearly kill me.
— So runners and others are subject to the heart disease risk factors. The main risk factors are elevated cholesterol, smoking and high blood pressure. Secondary, but critically important, are: being male, age over 50, sedentary lifestyle, obesity, family medical history and stress. Some of these factors are out of our control, but its clear we can control our risk.
— And we have to keep running until the doctor or the undertaker tells us to quit.

It ain’t where you start, it’s where you finish.

The early bird gets the worm—but the second mouse gets the cheese!

— Are you one of those drivers who can change lanes while eating a taco, reading the paper, tuning the radio and talking or texting on a cell phone? I hope not, but you know we share the road with multi-taskers. The combination of technology from cell phones to automatic transmissions makes it possible, if dangerous, to do two or more things at once.
— But a lifestyle that is so demanding of every second of our time cannot be healthy for body or mind. And it’s probably not healthy for pedestrians or other drivers on the road either.
— It’s only a matter of time before we’ll be in a footrace with someone who seems to be talking to himself. It will be Bluetooth and he’ll be calling friends to brag about his running pace or perhaps telling his broker to buy Nike or New Balance stock. He could even be talking to another runner on the same course. It’s OK. None of the rest of us wanted to talk to him (or her) anyway so he’ll hear no complaints.
— Some runners have to multi-task to get time for a run. If it’s the only way they can find the time, or if they need the distraction while they run that’s their business, not mine. Still, I have to wonder if they are getting the full benefit from the effort.
— I was once the Mayor of a small town. There were constant phone calls. Surprisingly, few to none of them were glowing reports or compliments on my performance. As part time Mayor and a full time firefighter, a ringing telephone could mean only one thing: problem! To this day, even in my retirement, I shy away from answering the phone and I can guarantee you will never see me running with a phone plugged into my ear.
— One of the best reasons for a run (for me) is the escape, the change of pace or for a time-out. And for me, more than anything, the best reason is solitude. Time away from the house. Time away from the phone! Time away from anything that distracts me from thinking about….whatever I want to think about.
— Running is respite from everyday stress and stress from unusual and critical situations that we encounter in our lives. A tired and warmed up body can relax and truly rest. And what could be more important to someone living a high stress lifestyle than a good night’s sleep? But wait! Do they take that thing out of their ear when they go to bed?

I’ve written about running the first mile, how hard it is for most of us to transition our bodies to running mode, warming up the muscles and getting the heart and lungs up to speed. Unless running is much easier for you than me, I have suggested that the first mile be run at an easy pace, until your body is ramped up to your training or race pace.
But what about mile 2, or 5 or 10? What keeps you going when your body is saying “enough”? Or when you feel like you are running in overshoes? Many times during a run I have asked myself the question, “Is it worth it?”
Since I have been answering that question for almost forty years, I must be convinced that running is indeed worth it. But often I still need to motivate myself. Once in a while, it takes a trick. After all, at this point it is a mental game, so why not use any mental trick that, well, does the trick. Here are some of mine:
I look forward to a nice cool down walk for one. Or I just dwell on a reward at the end of my run. Sometimes I think about how I will feel after a long shower and a nice relaxed dinner with my family. Should I be gloating about dessert tonight? I am out here earning it, for goodness sake!

Harvey Mackay, who wrote “Swimming with Sharks” motivates himself by asking the question, “Would I do this for 10 thousand dollars?” It clarifies the value of the effort. That number works for me too. Nobody is offering us (or Mackay) that much to run, but if they were, wouldn’t it be easier?

But here’s one I can share with those who are old enough to remember classic movies. In John Ford’s 1939 film “Drums Along The Mohawk” starring Claudette Colbert and Henry Fonda, someone has to get out of the besieged fort, through the French and Indian lines to reach the British army for help.
After the first attempt fails, Henry Fonda volunteers to give it a try. There follows a classic cross country run in which he is chased by three warriors who want to end his mission and take his scalp. In the hot sun, one by one his pursuers drop off exhausted and Henry gets through! He saves the fort!

When I start losing interest in my run, or when my body is telling me to slow down, I think about my pursuers. What will happen if they catch me? What will happen to my wife and friends at the fort? What will happen to my scalp? Then I can get just a little more from my legs and lungs. But that’s just me. Maybe mind games work better on me!
You’re welcome to give it a try when your run starts to drag. Go on! Try harder! Save the Fort!

The crabby old runner is participating in a wear test for a National Brand of running shoes. I am not sure the company would want their wear test program to be identified with my blog. Truth is I have run in the National Brand shoes for a number of years.

The purpose of the test is to check fit, comfort and durability, all the things we care about when we are making an investment in shoes. And all the things we care about when we are taking a chance on comfort and utility in a purchase that, generally, we have to live with for several months.

 I seem to need more room in the toe box than most and the ready availability of 4E widths in this National Brand ensures a good fit for me. With some manufacturers it seems to be hit or miss when it comes to extra wide. And I am not usually impressed by claims for “new” features that seem to come not from testing or engineering, but from the marketing departments.  

The test shoes seem to be a good solid design. I’ve reached about the 90 mile mark on the pair. That’s too early for me to tell about durability, but I suppose technicians at the company will be able to make some assumptions when I complete the test form and return the product later this month.

So far, they are like the shoes I want to wear and buy. I hope that helps them decide to market them.