Running log

Introduction

When I was a kid I used to like running. Not much, just a few kilometres every other day. Sadly, I've had a rather distressing father that could only see the negatives in anything I was doing, so I got it drilled in my head that I am not good enough for anything, let alone to run. I left home, and tried to run with my then girlfriend/spouse, but it went wrong all the way. After divorce, I decided to start running again, but I was put off by a relationship with a girlfriend that didn't think one should run and just plainly belittled my habits, so I stopped for the benefit of the relationship (nice guy syndrome). Yes, I was the weak one for not ending the relationship sooner and care more about what I like.


Motivation

I have depression since I was a kid, but now (actually a few months ago) I decided it's time to let it go. So I did the unthinkable: there's no more "no"; if I enjoy now or enjoyed something in the past, I will do it. I wanted to learn to ride a bike and was not allowed, but promised by my parents - the bike never came. So I bought now my own bike and I learnt to ride in 20 minutes; its now part of my daily life, I love it to bits.

At the same time I became extremely health conscious after watching documentaries such as "Forks Over Knives", "What the Health" and a few others. I then became aware of one man that when he was my age decided to turn his life around and became an ultra-athlete, Rich Roll; blew my mind, I have no excuse. I read his book, "Finding Ultra" and highly recommend it, not for running, but for finding motivation during adversity.

Last week I've also learnt about two other ultra-athletes, women in this case.

Courtney Dauwalter - ran 240 miles (!) and finished 10 (ten!) hours ahead of the guy in the second place.

This is a video with her from another run, of 200 miles, where she came in second:


You can find on youtube a video with her being interviewed by Joe Rogan, after she finished the 240 mile race. Mind blowing.

The second woman, Elle Goodall (Australia) went from being obese to being one of IRONMAN's ambassador. Yeah, Ironman is no longer what it was supposed to be, now you have Ultraman, but still her transformation is insane; how many of us here can run a marathon next month? Here's a short video with her transformation:


So... there's no excuse.


Goal

I don't intend to run next year's Ironman in my city, but if I can train myself to run a marathon and save some cash to get a decent bike, both for early next year, I gather my transformation will start. Who knows, in two years race some weird trial race or maybe even a triathlon if I muster the guts to re-start swimming. But let's start with running.

First step

I ran today 10km/6mi, at a slow pace. The goal today was to keep the heart rate at under 130bpm, maximum for my zone 2. Heart rate zone 2 is the best for endurance sports, such as marathons and ultra marathons. I failed dramatically, I couldn't get the heart under 135bpm at all! Absurd! I gather 120bpm would be walking for me?! I thought I was in shape, but by god... the numbers are so honest!

Why is this important? Once you exit the zone 2 lactate fills your muscles. You can run fast, but for short time - sprints. That's why after a strenuous workouts people develop sore muscles, because they pushed the energy consumption too high and lactates formed in the trained muscles.

When you don't put a lot of effort, your body relies on aerobic methods (that's fancy for "uses oxygen") to work the muscles. Once you put in strenuous effort, the aerobic methods are no longer sufficient, so the body releases lactate that helps with the breaking down of the glucose for muscle consumption. The harder you train, the more energy the muscles need, the more glucose needs to be broken down, the more lactate is going through your muscles. Result? sore muscles, post-workout pain.

So, here are the stats for the initial run (embarrassing stuff):
Distance: 10km / 6mi
Pace: 8:15/km / 13:10/mi
Heart rate: average 141bm, max 156bmp
Duration: 1:23:15
Calories burnt: 1000

The spikes in the heart rate have been mostly generate not by change in elevation, but by... thoughts! Since I could see live the heart rate and was aware what was in my mind, I could very easily associate the thoughts with heart rate spikes - that's the biological representation of anxiety.

Working on improving the pace at low heart rates means that I can run faster (better pace), while keeping the muscles fed oxygen and not glucose (more efficient energy use), while trying to meditate (keep thoughts away, to avoid heart rate spikes).

 

Cheers mate! Hope your ankle heals soon

 

Run #2

Summary
Distance: 10km
Pace: 6:44 min/km
Time: 1h07m
Average heart rate: 154bpm
Outside temperature: 27C
Humidity: 55%



Listened to:


Changes since last run:
- included 1km stretching, not stationary stretching
- included 1km wind down post-run, just walking

Areas to improve:
- body posture / pilates - after listening to the podcast, I'll probably dig into pilates to correct the body posture
- heart rate - I think I could have easily gone 5km extra, but my goal is to lower the heart rate as much as possible. After today's run, I expect to have sore muscles, because I was way over the target heart rate.
- new shoes - yeah, although my finances are not the greatest, I will get a new pair today. I got one nail digging into a toe, and that really sucks. Shoes are important.
- breathing exercises - breathing technique 2:2 was nearly impossible and 4:4 was increasing my heart rate.

Notes:
Post-run mood is on the optimistic side, a bit more energetic than before. Right now the pain in the muscles is setting in, which is not a welcome feeling. I had a cooler shower than usual, including a scrotal temperature regulation phase (that's fancy for "I cooled my balls" - sorry ladies) - this phase also regulated the mood. Had been thinking quite a bit about diet, but I will write about it in the journal.

 

The book, I assume you're referring to "Finding Ultra", does not give that much advice on running or any other sports, the author highlights his life mostly and key points, then gives sort of general advice on how to achieve goals. Ok-ish advice, but way better than what you find generally on the internet.

The 2:2 and 4:4 breathing technique I found from a triathlete on youtube and I think another video gives a much better explanation of the technique:

Erm... 50bpm is for extremely highly conditioned athletes... Most fit people have about 60. Heart rate of 32 is... quite absurd for an athlete even at 34 years old... Probably at 18, yeah, but not 34... Are you sure these numbers are correct?

 

Cheers @Vendettana for the hints, much appreciated. Today I've seen some runners doing cadence likely lower than 140, falling on the heel, flat foot and then using the toes to propel forward; I noticed how much they struggled to breathe too, because of the pressure on their entire body due to this "elegant" but painful method of running.

And kudos for the fitness level. Why not do just some small runs every now and then, for the sake of keeping fit? You don't have to run ultra-marathons again

 

3rd run

Summary
Distance: 10km
Pace: 6:31 min/km (improved)
Time: 1h05m
Average heart rate: 141bpm (improved)
Outside temperature: 27C

Listened to:
My frustrating thoughts, 1-2-3-4 cadence, police sirens, dog barks and people's phone conversations (because nowadays it is rare to use the phone like a phone, people use it like a walky talky so that everyone hears their conversations).

Changes since last run:
- kept constant, fast cadence and upright posture all throughout
- breathing only through the nose, trying to match cadence (4 steps = breath in, 4 steps = breath out; it worked most of the time, other times the body just wanted a longer breath in, but not necessarily a longer breath out)

Areas to improve:
- post-run massage/relaxation, because muscles seem to become inflexible

Notes:
Good mood, happy I reduced average heart rate by a lot. The max heart rate was 156 (compared to 154 average on previous run). During the run I focused mostly on 1-2-3-4, 1-2-3-4, 1-2-3-4 cadence in my mind, but obviously unpleasant thoughts creeped in, same thoughts I didn't put on paper last night because... well, I had a couple of beers; noted. The new shoes are ok, but not amazing; low heel and harder sole than the ones I used before. Now off to wash the car for the first time in months. After that, probably a 20km bike ride. My thoughts recently have been around restarting swimming; I'll postpone though the water play, mostly because of the financial aspect (freakin' expensive here to swim).

 

I got a lot of inspiration from this:


And I'm writing this while on the foam roller. Thanks again for the advice!