psychology

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Exciting news – and a good run!

I’m excited. No, not that I had a great run yesterday (although I did)! I am going to be used in a book being written by Runners World. You could just blow me away with a feather (although I would have to lose a few more pounds first). I saw an article saying that Runners World was going to do some articles and write a book about how running changed your life. So I decided to write my thoughts based on the questions they asked. Low and behold, I got a response back saying that some of what I wrote interested them and they want to use it!!

I really don’t know much other information right now, but I will be sure to write about it when I do. 🙂

Now on to my run yesterday… It was a 7 miler and the first 3 went well. I felt pretty good, but I was still sore from running my 5K and my workout on Monday. When I got to mile 4, my brain started to rebel. It was telling me to stop. It was telling me to walk or just give in. Mind you it was only 72 degrees out which is almost like winter in Alabama in July, so this was not heat related. I then decided to try something I have never tried before. I just blanked that thought from my mind. I refused to think about wanting to stop and I kept going. In the past when I would get those thoughts, I run anyway, but my running form would go down hill and it would end up being a difficult run. However, after I blanked that thought from my mind, I felt rejuvenated. My form came back and I suddenly had strength and power again in my legs.

This was an amazing thing for me to experience. I went from my run falling apart to having a really good run. Even my splits tell the story. Mile 1-3 were negative splits. Mile 4 was a much slower mile. Mile 5-7 were back in the same range as mile 2 and 3.

I don’t know if this was a one time event, or if perhaps, I have stumbled onto a key to my upcoming marathon. I am hoping for the second option here. If I can somehow stop the negative thoughts before they take over my run, that could change everything.

So all in all, yesterday was a great day. Hopefully today will be even better!

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Running, thankfulness and tomorrow

Yesterday was a day off from running, my second in 3 days.  I thought of taking Saturdays off, but it was too much having to run for 5 days straight after my long run.  So, I took Monday off and will just run a shorter run on Saturday to get the mileage up as I prepare for my marathon in September.

I want to thank my Lovely Wife and my kids for being so supportive of my running.  It is really starting to take up a lot of time.  I am going to have a record month and tomorrow I’ll update my blog with my miles for the month, but just to give an idea, since the first of April, I’ve run over 24 hours.  That is a lot of time that I am out running and not home hanging with the family.  I know that they want to support me and do it happily, but I just want to thank them for being so patient as I pursue my goal.

It is amazing how much of running is mental.  Everyone who runs knows that is true and those who don’t run… well they should run and find out what it is like.  Today is a workout day and right now I just don’t “feel” like doing it.  Of course it is early and I don’t run until this afternoon, but I know by now I can’t go on my feelings.  I have a goal and that is what pushes me forward.  As I reach higher and higher mileage and more and more time on the road running, it almost becomes robotic. I do it because that is what I do.

I love running and am thankful that I can run.  But sometimes I have to make myself get out there even when I just want to go home and watch a show and relax.  Every time I finish a run though, I look at my iPhone and am excited I made that run count.  That motivates me and gets me looking forward to my next run tomorrow.  As long as there are tomorrows, I’ll be running whether I want to or not 🙂

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Running, obsession, and a midlife crisis

I’ve been feeling a bit lethargic about running lately.  I’m not sure why.  Don’t get me wrong, I still run 6 days a week and still do my workouts.  I think the warmer weather has made it harder to get outside and get going.  But it isn’t about wanting to run, it is about running.  If I only ran when I felt like it, I would probably run a couple days a week and eventually just stop.  To be honest, I get up at 3:30am, get to work by 5:30, leave work about 2:00pm, get home by 2:30, get running around 3:00, finish running about 4:00, cool down and take a shower by 4:30 and then I get a chance to rest.  It makes for a long day.

Someone asked me recently if I was obsessed with running.  I guess I am to some extent.  I really am not an obsessive person, but I think having a goal that I desperately want to meet has made me more obsessive.  Also, as I have written before, if I weren’t obsessive, I wouldn’t run.  I have to push myself and I like that I can do that.  I have only really pushed myself a couple times in my life.  Running has brought out an area of my life that I never knew I had, discipline.  So I run each day and thank God that I live in a country that gives me the freedom to do so.

Yesterday was Hill Run Thursday.  I decided to try and break my record for running up this huge quarter mile hill.  I have only done it 4 times in a row in the past, so I thought I would try to get to 5.  I put on my new Saucony Fastwitch shoes (which I love by the way) and did a 2 mile warmup.  Then the hill…  I ran up and down over and over.  In the end I actually ran 6 repeats of this hill – a new personal record.  I wasn’t trying to break any speed records, but I broke my record and my goal for running this hill.

As I was running home I thought to myself, having goals and meeting or exceeding them makes running (and life in general) much more fun.  It is when I have no goals or deadlines or challenges that my life becomes boring and plain.  Running gives me new goals almost weekly and I love it.  I love the challenge and the trill of running up a huge hill 6 times in a row (I never thought I’d say that).  I love running farther and faster.  I can’t wait for my marathon in September to see how far I have come.  Boston or not, I think I have come a long way since March 2012 when I started (my Nike Plus app tells me so anyway).

So in the end I don’t think I am obsessive about running.  I think that by the time I turned 49, I looked at myself and didn’t like what I saw.  I was obese, lazy, on a CPAP to breath at night.  I had a type of a midlife crisis.  I didn’t buy a fast car or try to “find myself”.  I just went for a run and never stopped.

Now that I am 50, I like who I am.  So if that is obsessive, then I guess I am obsessive.

But I think happy might be a better word.

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Heart rates during my runs – interesting

I purchased a heart rate monitor during my 2 week break from running.  I just started using it last Sunday.  I mainly wanted it for my workouts, especially my tempo runs so I can see and not just feel how hard my cardiovascular system is working.

Sunday was my first 6 mile run since the half marathon.  My heart rate averaged between 150 – 156.  Not bad.  Monday was my day off.

Tuesday and Wednesday I felt good running and ran fairly fast for me (around 8:20 pace).  During those days my heart rate was down about 10 beats/minute at 140 – 145.  Okay, I wondered at this point, was Sunday “off” a bit with the monitor or was it my rest on Monday.  The other thing I did differently was eat a piece of plain bread right before I left for my run.  My dad used to do this and since I don’t eat many carbs, I thought it might help.

The plot thickens:

Yesterday I noticed a mile or two into my run that my heart rate was 160 – 170.  I wondered if my monitor was defective since I felt okay running.  Eventually I turned my phone off and just concentrated on my run.  It was one of those “hard” runs.  My legs started feeling like rubber and my pace got slower and slower as I went.  In fact, I would say it was the worse run since I started back.  As I looked at my heart rate, it stayed in the 160 and up range the rest of my run.

Now my thought was, maybe there was something going on in my body that was causing my heart rate to speed up during that run.  I did forget to eat the bread.  Also I lost a pound during the day and that included eating and drinking a gallon of water.  Maybe since I hadn’t had many carbs, my body had to work harder to get a similar result.

Was it the bread?  Was it just one of those hard runs?  Did my monitor give me insight into the fact that it was going to be a hard run?  Did I have a hard run because I saw that my heart rate was high and so psychologically it made the run harder?  Who knows.  I don’t.

So, I am going to keep wearing the monitor and see if I can glean anything from it to help my running.

If anything, it is interesting to watch.

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The Boston Marathon!

I think goals are important when trying to keep motivated to run each day.  Let’s face it, running could be boring if you have no motivation or goals.  Losing weight is a good goal.  Becoming healthier overall and doing what you can to live a long life for your spouse and kids are great goals.

Personally, I like to set goals for my races that seem “out there”.  By doing so, I have continually amazed myself after each race I’ve run.  For instance, my new goal for my next 5K in May is to run it under 20 minutes.  Is that possible?  I don’t know, but if I don’t try (and train) I’ll never find out.  Each 5K I’ve run in the past year, I have finished close to 2 minutes faster than the previous one.  My last I finished in 22:10.  So, why not have a goal to reach for and see what I can do.  It makes running more fun for me.

I decided on my biggest goal of my short career yesterday.  Boston.  Yup, I am no longer going to say that I hope to qualify for Boston in the Jacksonville Marathon in December.  My goal is to qualify for it.  Once TJ, RS and I qualify, we have to be “chosen” and then we will run it.

So, to make this a real goal and have a constant reminder, I am changing the tag line at the top of my blog from, “The journey is the destination” to “My Journey to Boston”.

I may not make it.  Who knows.  I may not get under 20 minutes in my next 5K.  But if I don’t try and if I don’t set a goal that seems beyond my reach, I’ll never fail because I’ll never try. I would rather try and fail then never try at all.

So here is to the Boston Marathon.  I hope to see you soon!

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Another reason I do tempo runs

I like the effect tempo runs have on my running, but they are torture to me while I’m running them.  Yesterday was my third tempo run and for the first time I made my goal of running 3 miles at a tempo pace! Thanks TJ for encouraging me to do this run.  I really was dreading it.

About half way through the run I starting feeling tired and my body was saying it had enough.  This time I didn’t listen to my body and I pushed through.  I kept telling myself that I was in charge of my body and that my body wasn’t in charge of me.  It reminded me of something I read in the Bible where Paul says, “…I beat my body and make it my slave…”

I think this year of running has made my body my slave where in the past I was enslaved to my body. Contrary to what my body tells me, I drink a gallon of water a day, I eat less, I run more and I have given up pizza.  Okay that last one was a lie.  I love pizza.  My body wins on that one.

So, although I hate tempo runs, they make my mind stronger then my body.

I guess some people call this being disciplined.  I waited 49 years to achieve this.  I guess an old dog can learn new tricks.

I love running.

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Running is cheaper than therapy (part II)

Yesterday was not a fun day.

Work was piling up.  My family has been sick.  It seemed all the world wanted something from me.

I love my work, but somedays are frustrating.  I thought of running after I got home, even though it was my off day.  Then my son was sick, so I took him to the doctor and didn’t get home until 4:00.  By then I was not in a good mood, even tough my lovely wife tried to cheer me up.

So I ran.  It was only 3 miles since it was my off day, but I ran an 8:09 pace which is good for me.

I wrote a post a while back about a bumper sticker that I saw that said, “Running is cheaper than therapy”.  Really, to be totally honest, running has become therapy to me.  Yes, I want to run races and to do well in them.  Yes, I want to run a marathon as my dad did in his 70’s.  But I realize that running helps me deal with life.  It helps me at work to be more efficient and productive.  It helps me at home to be less frustrated at normal circumstances.  It just helps.

Here is an article that says that running increases dopamine.

Health newstand says this about dopamine:

Dopamine is widespread in the brain as well as the rest of the nervous system. This neurotransmitter plays a critical role in the control of movement. It has a stimulating effect on the heart, the circulation, the rate of metabolism, and is able to mobilize many of the body’s energy reserves. It helps to modulate brain activity, control coordination and movement, and regulate the flow of information to different areas of the brain.  Dopamine is believed to release chemicals that allow us to feel pleasure (e.g., endorphins).

I’m not sure why I went in this direction with this post.  I guess I realize that my days are better when I run.  Is it chemical (dopamine, endorphins) or just the fact I am finally getting in shape and feel better about myself?  I don’t know.

This is what I do know…

I love running.

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Running up Mountains

Okay, not “mountains”, but a really steep hill.

Yesterday was my hill run day.  Everyone I talk to says hill runs are the best for increasing your endurance and speed in a race.  So, the last day of January I go out for my second week of running this hill/mountain.  Last week I ran it twice and ran some other routes in between each hill run.  This week, I changed it up.  I ran about 1.8 miles before I got to the hill to get warmed up some.  Of course it was also the first time in 10 months that I forgot my phone, so I don’t know how fast I was running, but when I reached the hill, I was breathing a bit hard.

Up I went – up the hill.  It was a rough run.  I got to the top and it levels out for a bit before I turn to go back down the hill.  By the time I got to the bottom (which was hard in and of itself since it was so steep), I was ready to go up again.  Without a break I went for it.  Back up the hill to the top.  This time it didn’t seem as hard and as I went back down, I felt pretty good.  My goal was three times, so I went back up.  Not bad.  It seemed that each time I went up I felt a little easier than the last.  My legs were tired and running down the hill was harder, but I was shocked that I was able to make it three times without much fatigue.  I then ran a couple more miles to make sure I made 5 miles and went home to take my son to a doctor appt.

What an end to a month.  It was close to record mileage, but since I forgot my phone, I am not 100% sure.  But for two months in a row now I have been able to run over 150 miles.  Wow, it wasn’t but early fall that I could barely break 100.  Also, I am on pace to make my third 40 mile week in a row.

Do you want to know why I love running?  The activity is rather boring and takes a lot of time, however I love running because I can run faster and farther with little skill.  Running just works best if you do it.  Also it doesn’t really cost too much, except for shoes that can be found rather cheaply on sale.   I work with technology all day long.  I have computers and phones and tablets and gadgets blinding my eyes.  When I run, it is just me, outside with the sound of my feet on the pavement.  I’m alone..  I work through problems in my head.  I pray.  I get out my frustrations.  It really is better than therapy.  No pills, just nature, neighbors and running shoes.  Wet, cold, hot, sunny, cloudy.  Any and all weather.  Whatever the weather is like at 2:00, that is what weather I am going to run in.

Ultimately, running up mountains is a good name for this post.  I named it that for the hill run, but every run is a run up mountains.  It is primal.  It is therapeutic.  It is just nature and me, alone, together.

I love running.

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“Running head games” or “The psychology of running”

On a quick note… I changed my run plan around for this week.  TJ likes to run his first day back for the week as a normal run and then on Wednesday do a tempo run.  I did this last week, but found that by doing this, my hill run was on Friday and then I only had one day before my long run.  I wonder if that was my issue on Sunday with my hip and legs hurting so much during my long run. So, I’m trying my tempo run this afternoon and see how it goes.  I think having 2 regular days before my long run should help.

I am sure many people have written about the psychology of running, but the more I run, the more I am convinced that 50% of running is in my head.  What I mean is that my mind will tell me to stop, tell me to slow down, tell me my legs are tired, etc.  My mind will tell me, “don’t run today it is too cold, it’s raining, it’s snowing, it’s hot and so on”.  I think the psychology of running is as much of telling your mind to shut up as anything else.  There are times to listen though.  If I am running and my hamstring starts to pull, or my knee hurts, I’ll tell my body to relax and slow down a bit until the pain goes away.  But for the most part, running is a mental activity in which I run best when I do the opposite of what my head is telling me to do.

This is the reason I get home from work and immediately get on my running clothes and go out for my run.  I say hi to my lovely wife and pat the dog and wave at the kids and I’m off.  If anything interrupts that schedule, my chances of making my run for the day goes down dramatically.  Habit is as important in my running as anything else.  In the summer when it is 107 degrees and 90% humidity, I have to run anyway.  In the winter when it is 22 degrees and 20 mph wind, I have to run anyway.  6 days a week 52 weeks a year, on vacation or during a holiday, I cannot give my head an excuse not to run.  If I do it once, then I’ll do it again and before I know it, I’ve stopped running.  Then the momentum is gone and it is twice as hard to get going again.

These are my thoughts on the head games I play with myself to make myself do something I’ve not done in 49 years.  Run.  I’m up to 40 miles a week now.  The half marathon is in less than 3 weeks.  My body has to contol my mind, not the other way around.  I guess what I am talking about is discipline.  Also wisdom to know when to stop or when to ignore what I am feeling.

I love running.