New Year's Resolutions

I have always found that there is quality in quantity. By creating or accomplishing as many individual things as possible, a person is - in some form - producing a special value. We see it with running in various forms. Running one mile a day is nice for the average as a means to burn some calories and keep his or her weight down. Nice, but nothing special. Running one mile a day for an entire year or as Mark Covert from Lancaster, CA has done, for the last 44 years (or 16,235 consecutive days, to be exact). Quality in quantity. (Special shout-out to Brian Casey from Paramus, representing our home state of New Jersey with a 13,023 day streak of his own! When the Running Pride podcast gets up in running in 2014 - I’ll save that for next year’s resolution - you can bet I’ll do everything to interview him.)

Last year, a runner set out to keep a 9 minute mile pace. Was it you? It could have been as it easily could have been myself for much my injury plagued year. This pace is to be commended for anyone getting off the couch and putting forth his or her best effort. Some might judge that as quality. But when you realize that the runner was Western States Endurance Run winner Timothy Olsen, you now KNOW that a 9 minute mile is indeed quality. It’s other-worldly. (It’s also better than a 9 minute per mile pace.) Again, quantity - in this case 100-miles run at that average pace - can equate to quality.

This is what I’m aiming for with my 2013 New Year’s Resolutions.

1. Take an ice bath once a week. I utilized ice baths often while training in 2011 for the JFK 50 mile. I was running upwards of 60 miles per week and pushing my body’s limits. I had tried taking an ice bath once or twice before, but from everything I was reading I needed to implement this strategy more often. Once a week I plunged my body into the icy depths of my tub and each week seemed to get easier and the pain more enjoyable.

I abandoned this recovery-aiding strategy for my 2012 fall training for no particular reason. I was injured in one particular area and I needed much more than just ice to recover from it. Plus, I wasn’t doing many miles or heavy cardio workouts. I’m essentially in that same position now, but I want to get back into the habit. It certainly can’t hurt.

2. Get healthy and stay healthy. Ice baths are a start. Listening to my body when it needs a break or when a certain activity is causing pain somewhere. Cross-training more frequently in order to reduce the pounding on my knees.

3. Consistently run under 20 minutes for a 5k and/or do speed work and tempo runs. I’ve only broke 20 minutes 2 or 3 times and it was at a local running club race. I was doing speed work for a few weeks and the results were immediate. In order to have such success, I’ll need to get back to the track at least once a week for several weeks or months in a row.

4. Break 1:30 for the Half Marathon. If I can do #3 on my list, then I think I’ll be able to tackle this one. My favorite race, the Seaside Half Marathon, is currently in jeopardy. I’m not sure what the conditions are of Seaside Heights, Seaside Park, or Island Beach State Park after the devastation that was Hurricane Sandy.

5. Log more miles on trails. If you know anything about Ocean County, you’ll know we’ve got the Jersey Shore (no, not that one), Six Flags Great Adventure, and flat, trail-less land. Someone once told me that the highest point in Ocean County is the clock tower on the campus of Ocean County College in Toms River. There are a few nice parks that offer hiking trails, but nothing for logging substantial running miles. My options aren’t, but I’ll do the best with what I have in order to achieve resolution completion.

I’ll run the limited miles on the county parks trails. I’ll run behind the development near my home and along the train tracks of the MOM Line. I’ll make weekend trips to Monmouth County, where I’m familiar with more challenging terrain, or to other locations in North Jersey that offer some elevation gain.

6. Listen to more music while running. My apologies to those who cringe at this one, especially since I’ll more than likely be doing so on trails. I typically listen to podcasts while running, which offer nothing in forms of improving turnover or pace. Many times, I simply end up zoning out the comedic beats of the Sklar Brothers (Sklarbro Country), Comedy Bang Bang, or Marc Maron (WTF). I love laughing and I love running; perhaps I’ll try making these two things more exclusive.

7. Publish weekly articles/updates on Running Pride. While it’s impossible to build a running website brand that could ever match that of iRunFar’s Coca Cola, I wouldn’t mind being in the same business with them even if that meant being relegated to a Mr. Pibb or RC Cola status. Just to have readers checking my site on occasion would allow me the ability to pretend I was a journalist. In keeping with that, I hope to interview ultra runners from New Jersey or nearby locales and even offer race reports of local endurance races. Whatever it takes to sooth this new online ego.

In summary, I want to be healthy this year and I want to be fast again. This might mean getting away from running an ultra. It could even translate to running no more than a half marathon. I want to run a 100-miler badly and I know this is simply what it’s going to take to point me back in the right direction. I feel like I could run a 100-miler this weekend if I had to; my ability to do so is all upstairs and mentally I am strong enough to tackle such a feat. But doing so might mean a major injury to my knees or another part of my leg, not to mention damaging my organs. If 4-time Hardrock 100 winner Diana Finkel can come down with rhabdomyolysis, what could possibly happen to me with my little training? While I’m mentally strong enough to handle 100 miles, I’m simply not structurally sound enough to ensure my safety.

If I should only achieve half of what I set out for, I think I’ll still be pretty satisfied. And I’ll even have a better average than anyone in the history of baseball. Sample size be damned!

Winding River Washout

On Saturday, I ventured outdoors for another walking journey. The previous day's workout was lackluster and uninspired, so I settled for 45 minutes of the slowest peddling witnessed by the human eye. This bike was especially stationary while was using it. So, I woke up with the urge to bounce back.

Unfortunately, Mother Nature did not care about my plans... and I did not care about Mother Nature's plans. I grabbed a few layers, a pseudo-rain jacket from Brooks that I picked up at the Marine Corps Marathon - which I didn't need at all since Hurricane Sandy wasn't far enough north yet - and headed out into the light drizzle.

Winding River Park looked like a ghost town, but wet. Not even the birdies were coming outside. Besides one man with an umbrella, I was the only living creature to be seen at the park between the hours of 10am and 12pm. It was eerie yet adventurous.

I wanted to walk on earth rather than the macadam path that traverses through the park. Each trail I turned down lasted just a few footsteps because of the water overflow that washed out so much the park's land. I continued on until just before the bridge section that overlooks the curving waterway. The park looked the same last year after Hurricane Irene; I thought the small pond was overflowing but upon further examination this time, it seems that the current was moving into the pond.

This one trail comically split off into two directions; thankfully that tree with the blue arrow pointed me in the right direction.


I went back through various trails and re-examined if I could make it over or through the sitting water that blocked their traversing. Some of the trails simply required me to jump over a newly formed stream or to create a make-shift bridge out of fallen branches. As careful as I had been, my feet still ended up soaked.

When all the trails were finished, I walked beneath the power lines that paralleled the park, dodging more puddles and marshy obstacles. I considered following the power line trail out to the nearest highway, but a gigantic puddle made it impossible. It was time to turn around and head back to the car.

It has been a difficult year for the environs of Tri-State area. Our parks and recreation areas have been battered by Superstorm Sandy and Winter Storm Athena, and winter has yet to begin it's chilling wrath. But we know one thing from Mother Nature and that man named Bruce: everything that dies someday comes back.

Walking! Yes, Walking!

With just 4 days left in the year, everyone is trying to predict the hottest trend for the upcoming year. And I think I've found it.

Walking.

Walking is everywhere right now. Justin Beiber recently walked on stage at his latest performance and was greeted with a cacophony of screaming tweens, teens, and weens (fans of Ween and Dean Ween himself). A toddler in Portland, Oregon just took her first steps after months of doing little more than lounging around; this promptly sent Fred Armisen scurrying to work on a new character. Need more proof? You are a tough customer.

Two running podcasts have recently profiled walking as an important tool for recovery, completing long-distance races and overall fitness. First, check out Dirt Dawg's Running Diatribe episode entitled "Pedestrianism and Edward Payson Weston". Ol' Eddie Weston was one walking son-of-a-gun. Impressive times, even for walking.

Follow that episode with a wonderfully on-point rant from Ashland Dave in the his 12/8 episode 168 called "Run! Walk? Run! Walk?". For years I had passed up the Running in the Center of the Universe podcast simple because I didn't want to be reminded of that majestic beauty beholden of the Pacific Northwest and how my trails - or lack thereof - couldn't even compete with the worst stretch of trail in Oregon. Turns out Ashland Dave is from Virginia - hey, I've run there! - and his best marathon time is 4:17 - hey, he's not some elite with ridiculous times, that's how fast I run! Plus, this dude isn't afraid of taking a walking break and bragging about it. I think I've got a few old episodes I need to check out.

To cap off all the walk talk, I'll share with you my Christmas Day experience with walking. At the moment, I can't run without feeling pain (and regret, I want to get healthy before I'm running again). Using the different stationary bikes or rowing machine at the gym doesn't entirely prevent my knee from feeling tension. Even walking on the treadmill feels cumbersome. But I just can't accept that I may be better off with my feet up on a couch recovering. So, I decided to go for a walk.

I treated this somewhat short walk - mileage wise - like a backpacking adventure. I geared up: hydration pack, energy bar, gaiters and a buff to cover my face. The temperature was about 40, but the sun was working hard to stay out and keep me warm. I walked about a mile before I hit the only trails within 10 miles of my home. This old dirt bike trail leads all the way to some railroad tracks that follow behind a retirement community. It took a long, long time to get to the train tracks. All the while I was conscious of leg turnover and foot placement. This gave me good walking form and little to no pain in my right knee. If it was for getting back to and getting ready for the Christmas Party, I would have stayed out longer than an hour-and-a-half.

When it was all over with, my legs spoke to me and smiled as I cooled down. My knee was alright, too. It was only 4 miles, but it was an achievement for me that signaled hope for the future. Hope for 2013.

Gear

Yesterday, iRunFar published a review of the best trail running gear from the Outdoor Retailer Summer Market. Since some of this gear isn't even available yet and won't be until early next year, the seemingly late review comes at a good time.

These new products range from a $17 pair of socks (lime green color), a $150 backpack (with room to carry an axe), a $165 hooded jacket (weighing in at only a few pounds) and a $500 headlamp (with its own battery pack to carry). Yes, I want all four of these items.

Which begs the question: why would I need all this gear? The answer is: I don't. I live in suburbia and the highest point in my state is barely over 1,000 feet. Ironically, it's called High Point. This past summer in Colorado, I merely ascended a set a steps that topped such an elevation; shout-out to Manitou Springs and the Incline. I have dirt bike trails near my neighborhood that allow me to run for about 7 miles roundtrip. I simply don't need any gear.

But this does not stop the want I feel inside. And it does not stop the urge to facilitate a change in climate so that I will need such gear. What I'm trying to get across is that I will move to Colorado permanently (or another location with elevation above a few thousand feet) in order to need items such as a high-powered headlamp, a lightweight backpack with the capacity to allow me to comfortably get lost for hours on end, or an invisible waterproof cloak to protect me from freakish weather changes on the top of a mountain.

In three days, it will be Christmas. I will be hundreds of miles from the Appalachian Mountains and a mere few inches from level pavement. So long as Santa brings me a sweat-wicking long sleeve top, I think I'll be just fine.

Doctor's Visit

It wasn't until I started filling out the seemingly repetitive five pages of forms at the doctor's office that I realized my knee injury first began over a year ago. Perhaps I knew this fact already, but I had chosen to ignore it through 2 marathons and a 50-miler. It was finally time to pay the piper and may cost more than the $20 copay.

After a few x-rays, the doctor twisted my leg around to see if there was any pain in the knee. Fortunately or not, there was no pain. I'll need an MRI to for further diagnoses.

The visit today further hammered home the idea of running efficiently and being healthy. It was somewhat comforting that the doctor showed little amazement about my running accomplishments or my current condition. But he's a doctor that has seen his fair share of nimrods and I'm simply not that comfortable with that self-imposed label. So I need to make a change.

The year 2013 should not have me see another ultra or possibly even a marathon. It shall be about health and hopefully, regaining some speed. Trading the harsh pains of endurance running for the striking pain of tempo and speed training. If all goes well, 2014 will give me a 100-miler and allow me to regain my nimrod status.

Cardio Workout

With my self-imposed limit on all running or lower-half cardio (elliptical or stationary bikes), I've been pained with an additional layer of blubber around the waist. While my weight has stayed the same since JFK50, my eating habits have strayed. The holidays have brought work parties, delicious donations, and random sweets laying about the work space. I don't want a repeat of last - rather, every - winter.

I love working out for hours at a time. Without the ability to hop on a treadmill or rowing machine for 30 minutes to an hour, I've been a little limited in maintaining my gym rat status.

In addition to the balky knees, I've had a somewhat serious issue with my right wrist. It began with CrossFit and ended with CrossFit. I rested the wrist for well over two months and noticed a major difference. But in preparation for JFK, I decided ease up on the running and ramp up the weight training. In the process, I re-injured my wrist.

Since I can't throw around the weight like last winter AND I can't do much cardio, what can I do to keep off the yuletide tonnage? Sure, I could simply stay away, but we all know that's not an option. I've been getting better as of late. On the 3rd day of a "gourmet" cookie binge, I started enjoying the cookies less. Before the pre-work party today, I forced myself to eat some carrots and broccoli first, followed by a mediocre cookie and a cannoli. This was impressive for two reasons: I had never eaten raw carrots or broccoli before and I consumed these vegetables at 8:15 am.

Back to the exercise portion of this post. My workout this morning was awesome. It wasn't until I got changed that I realized that I had released a lot of sweat. No one exercise turned the heat up for me. It was a consistent workout that kept my heart rate up. I began with a series of lifts concentrating on the shoulders with a 12-pound weight. Then, I started three exercises I read about in September's UltraRunner Magazine that focuses on strengthening the core. The article, by Andy DuBois, beautifully illustrates how most core exercises fail to place the same load upon the core as running. These new exercises were difficult, but effective. I followed up with some reaching side planks and a series of machine scattered near my workout mat.

While its not the same as the typical cardio workout, its the best that I've got right now and its quite the metallic silver lining.

Recovery

Recovery means different things to different people. To some, it relates to moments of resistance to drug or alcohol-related addictions. On the Jersey Shore and parts of New York, it pertains to the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. Others simply lay in hospitals or move slowly in physical rehabilitation centers as part of their recovery.

Three weeks ago I used every fiber of my being to run 50 miles on a compromised right knee that had little training to begin with. Now both knees are sore and I am unable to do the one thing that liberates my soul. As part of my recovery - so that I am able to move again for 50 miles in a single stretch - I must remain as inactive as possible until the new year.

Though this mild undertaking has proven incredibly challenging for me to cope with, it is nothing in comparison to the recovery experienced by many others. Mine is the issue of the blessed.

Good luck and God bless to all those in recovery.