Restless Legs

Anyone else get restless legs when you taper?

I’m taking a light week in advance of the Miracle Miles 15k this weekend, kind of a mini-taper.  My legs were bouncing up and down so hard during dinner last night that I almost toppled the wine glasses.  This was despite the fact that I ran 20 miles Sunday and had a vigorous speed workout Tuesday.  Missing a single mid-week 8-10 mile run has left me bouncing off the walls.

The last two weeks of October are going to be misery.

Am I an athlete?

Because I’m old and nostalgic, I reached for the dusty dictionary I keep within arm’s reach of my desk:

ath-lete (ath-leet)  n.  a person trained to compete in contests involving physical agility, stamina or strength; a trained competitor in a sport, exercise, or game requiring physical skill.

and because I’m not completely technologically inept, I also referenced dictionary.com:

ath•lete  [ath-leet] 
noun
a person trained or gifted in exercises or contests involving physical agility, stamina, or strength; a participant in a sport, exercise, or game requiring physical skill.

I’ve seen this term bandied about recently, even by myself, but never in reference to myself.  I don’t consider myself an athlete.  Never have.

I played organized sports as a kid, swimming, soccer, baseball, etc.  By the time I reached high school those days were behind me, save for the occasional pick-up game with friends.

30 years later I find myself accomplishing things physically that I never dreamed possible. Does that make me an athlete?

I train.  I train hard.  4 to 5 days a week.  Speed work, hills, long runs, tempo runs, progression runs.  I put in the miles.  I improve.  Does that make me an athlete?

I enter contests.  I’ve even won a few awards.  Does that make me an athlete?

At what point do you become an athlete?  Is it when you enter your first competition? How about your 10th?

Could it be earlier than that?   Maybe it’s when you first start measuring your performance, striving to improve.

Is it a state of mind or something quantifiable?

I think it’s words like “skilled” and “gifted” that appear in the definitions that give me pause.  Those are the qualities of an athlete that I believe I lack.  A friend of mine recently pointed out that people like us are not “genetically endowed” with the qualities necessary to easily compete with those so gifted.

Ouch!

At least he didn’t shatter my dreams completely.  He qualified his comment with this:

. . . unless you want to hire a professional coach and do nothing else but train all day in a feeble attempt to improve your aerobic capacity beyond its natural limit.

Feeble?  Did he really have to say feeble?

He has a point though.  Skills are achievable with training, dedication and hard work.  Skills are still within my grasp.

Gifts, on the other hand, are by definition given.  “Genetically endowed,” as my friend would say.  Gifts are not a guarantee of success, but when combined with the work ethic required to hone skills . . . great things are achievable.

In my mind, that is the stuff of athletes.

I have been privileged during the course of my feeble quest for running skill to run with true athletes and the experience has always been inspiring.

Weird Stuff in my Running Kit

Things that might be hard to explain to a non-runner without them questioning your sanity:

Band-Aid Dots

Bandana

Towel

Body Glide

Duct Tape

Dr. Scholls Shoe Shot Powder

Gel Packets and an assortment of electrolyte tablets/powders/gels . . .

Ziploc baggies

Head Lamp/LED Flasher/Reflective Vest

and to think I used to believe all I needed for a run was a good pair of shoes, shorts and a shirt.

Happy Anniversary!

Whew, that was close!  

I almost forgot this one.  If I had missed this anniversary there would have been no avoiding those passive aggressive stares looking back at me in the mirror.  I would have never let myself live it down.  I can be so difficult to live with sometimes.

Happy 6^th running anniversary to me!  I hear the gift theme for this one is sugar.  That should be easy enough.

Here’s the first entry in my running log from August 15, 2005. 

I ran a whopping 6/10 of a mile.

That was 2,813 miles ago.

From humble beginnings . . . .

Going Streaking

Not quite as consistent as I would like, but I squeaked
past 100 miles during the last workout of the month.

I finally broke the 100 mile/month barrier again.  After a streak of 13 consecutive 100 mile months I decided I needed a break.  I was feeling a bit battered and suffering from shin splints and general aches and fatigue after training for the Croom 50k.  I reluctantly cut my mileage back to about 60 miles/month for two months.

Cutting back was a tough decision and one that made me feel surprisingly guilty.  I tried to console myself by recalling that not too long ago I would have been ecstatic about a 60 mile month.  It didn’t work.  I also tried to remind myself that my original goal was to maintain that level of training for a year – and that I surpassed that goal.  That didn’t work either.  There was no assuaging the guilt, but it was the right decision.  I did suffer a decline in my fitness level, but my legs feel healthy again.  I’m reinvigorated and excited about ramping up the mileage again.

I’ve got plenty to keep me motivated over the next few months.  The Marine Corps Marathon in October, the Space Coast Marathon in November, the Key West Ragnar Relay and a Doppel gathering at the Miami Marathon in January, a possible attempt at a 50 mile ultra in the spring, and probably a few other treats along the way.

So let the streaking begin.  I’ve got a 13 month PR to break. 

And for those of you that I lured into reading this post with a deceptively prurient title:

The dirty little secret behind America’s obesity epidemic.

The alarming increase in America’s obesity rates has been featured in the news lately.  Unfortunately, the trend has even touched this intrepid runner/blogger.  I have packed on 15 pounds in the past year.  In that same time period I ran 1,373 miles, an average of 114 miles per month.  I trained for and ran a 15k, 2 half marathons, 2 full marathons and an ultra marathon.  So how is this possible, you may ask?

To get to the bottom of this mystery I took on the arduous task of analyzing my running log.  Hidden deep within the bowels of that digital labyrinth I discovered the horrible truth.

As I scanned through my notes a definite pattern emerged.  Here are some samples:

 . . . . Deleon Springs State Park Trail run with the West Volusia Runners followed by grill-your-own pancakes at the Sugarmill . . . . enjoyed a couple of beers at Genuine Bistro after a 5 miler with WVR  . . . .  Victoria Park meets Deland Hills.  Had this delicious French toast sandwich at Half Full Coffee House . . . . WVR Dunkin Donuts run . . . .Chicken dancing and German beer at Hollerbach’s . . . . Tammie made awesome cupcakes for the 4^th of July run at Gemini . . . . Gemini Springs run with WVR followed by pancake breakfast at IHOP . . . .  WVR Christmas party . . . . Pasta dinner at Vienna Café after the WVR run tonight . . . . Jennifer’s banana bread . . . . $1 burger night at Dexters run with WVR . . . . Run through the Stetson U campus with WVR followed by Ice Cream at Sweet Spot. . . .    

  

I could go on, but I think you get the point.

So don’t blame fast food for America's expanding waistlines.  There are 1000’s of running clubs in the US that are gaining in popularity at precisely same time obesity rates are on the rise.  Coincidence?  I think not!

Protect yourself!

Keep your distance! 

Stay away!  

Running clubs are fattening . . . and addictive, a dangerous combination!

Giddy no More

Disclaimer: The above picture has very little to do with the subject of today’s post (at least she looks like she’s running fast). I received feedback from my Giddy School Girl post yesterday questioning my testosterone levels so I’m overcompensating.

Yesterday’s speed session went very well. We were privileged to be able to work out with the University High School Cross Country Team. The workout consisted of a one mile warm up, 8 - ¼ mile intervals, and a mile cool down.

We were instructed to run the intervals at our 5k pace which for me is about 7:30. I ran the first interval in 90 seconds flat, much faster than my 5k pace but it qualified me to run with “Group 1” for the rest of the session. I’m not sure if that was privilege or punishment. Doing the math I realized that was a 6:00 mile pace.

The coach did an awesome job but was relentless. After what seemed like mere moments of recovery she would call for each group to line up for another lap as we were still dry heaving from our last effort. She wielded the lanyard on her yellow stop watch over us like a whip to “encourage” us like galley slaves on a roman trireme. It worked.

By the time we finished the 6th interval I realized I had no idea how many we were running. Concerned, I sheepishly decided to give myself another minute of rest and waited to run the last two laps with Group 2.

My pace proved to be too fast and I lost a few seconds with each lap. I did manage to complete the first mile of intervals in about 6:20, not bad for this old geezer. By the end of the session I slowed to 1:50 per lap which is right on target with my actual 5k pace and probably where I should have started.

It was great to run with the high school kids too many of whom made running seem effortless, easily loping around the track while I was gasping for breath. Curse them for their youth.

This will become part of my weekly training and is a great opportunity afforded by WVR.

Anyway, back to the girl in the picture. Was anyone else’s first impression on seeing her a concern that she has a serious over striding issue?

Anyone?

Anyone?