A Smart Runner

For years, even though I'd run race events or run recreationally, when asked if I was a runner, I'd shy away from the label. I felt like a fraud. I wasn't a true runner. I didn't accumulate 20 miles a week. It surely wasn't the only activity I did, nor was I very consistent with it.

Over the past few years, my running has become a greater facet of my life, but still, it is not the only thing. Even after running a Ragnar relay, my first half marathon, then full marathon (all in 2009), I still wasn't sure I qualified as a runner because I did so much cross-training. It's the nature of my job as a group fitness instructor-- one day it's yoga, the next day Pump, the next day Zumba (R). I'd squeeze in training runs as often as I could, and inevitably end up with some sort of overuse injury.

This led to my study of the Chi Running method, which aligned with everything I already believed from my yoga practice-- that the body must be aligned and properly trained to run with ease and efficiency, that form did matter, that breathing should be mindful. Eventually I transitioned from my regular running shoes (which had contributed to my Achilles tendonitis) to very minimal zero drop running shoes. (You can read my review of minimal shoes to learn more about how to do this properly.) Once I felt confident with applying my yoga practice to my running style, I created a running class called Shakti Running at the fitness center where I teach to help others learn about the Chi Running method & specifically how to apply yogic principles to running (I am not an official Chi Running instructor-- that costs thousands of $$.)

Finally, I began to feel like a runner. Not an elite, superfast runner. But a smart runner. A runner who understood the vital principles of endurance running:

1.) Run less. Cross-train more. I realized that I actually felt better during a race event and experienced fewer overuse injuries just by running less often. This may seem counter-intuitive to marathon training. If you want your body to run 26.2 miles, shouldn't you give it as much practice as possible? Yes and no. What you really need to practice are the main 2 elements that help you survive a marathon:

a.) cardiorespiratory endurance. Can your heart sustain moderate intensity for multiple hours? But to practice this, running is not your only option! The fitness modalities that best improve your cardio capabilities include Indoor Cycle aka Spin, ellitpical/stairmill, Zumba, among others. Lucky for me, that's my job-- I was already getting tons of cardio.
b.) muscular strength & endurance. How heavy can you lift and for how long can your muscles stay engaged and working? The biggest mistake runners make is assuming that running alone is enough leg strengthening. They strength-train upper body and maybe abs but skip legs! I firmly believe it is wiser to cut a running day from your training schedule and insert leg strength training. Lunge away! Squat till you cry!

I will confess, I just ran a marathon 2 weeks ago with 11 miles as my longest training run. 11! I hadn't originally intended on running 26.2-- I was on a relay team & had planned to run my 7 mile leg, plus my husband's 6.1 mile leg, so that together, we'd have run a half. Two weeks before the race, my crazy husband suggested we run the entire thing. I nodded but thought he had gone coo coo for Cocoa Puffs. We were running Cape Cod Ragnar just the weekend before! We hadn't trained! We would be both tired and unprepared. But my accountant husband downloaded a pacing guide and had it all planned. We could beat Oprah's time! I loved his optimism & couldn't let him down-- I was the one who had pulled him into this insane running world in the first place. How could I not rise to the challenge? So I agreed to try, even though in the back of my head, I knew if it got ugly, I could get on a shuttle at one of the exchanges.

the hubby & I at Cape Cod Ragnar just 1 week pre-marathon!

This marathon turned out to be my best yet. First, because I hadn't really planned or trained for the full, I wasn't nervous. I slept soundly on my sister's couch the night before the race, and she fed us a perfect dinner of chicken, veggies, and pasta (which I didn't eat because I never do and didn't want to upset my tummy with something new-- but we'll save carb-loading for another blog post). Which leads to second, my tummy remained calm the entire race, which rarely happens. I had plain oatcakes and some coffee for breakfast, again food I'm used to, and stuck to bananas and orange slices for my race fueling, as well as 1 pack of Sports Beans (not clean, but I was desperate). I did well staying on top of my hydration and electrolytes. But most importantly, and this brings me to third, I had the muscular strength & endurance, as well as the cardio endurance, to get me to the finish line, despite my lack of mileage in my training. Better yet, I raced without any injuries, because I hadn't yet done any super long runs! No tendonitis, no bursitis, no aching joints. Besides the kinked neck from my couch-sleep & recent travels (long flights jack me up more than marathons!), I started the race in fairly good condition. Granted, I got my typical blisters (my baby toes must be misplaced because they always get tortured during long runs, even in my Injinji socks.) And my outer left knee started bugging a bit at mile 19, but I was able to work it out fairly quickly. But I had the strength & endurance to get to that finish line in my best time ever (4:17-- like I mentioned earlier, I'm NOT an elite runner, but I was proud of that PR) & this post-marathon week has been the least sore I've ever been after a race. Ever.

My point is, there is NO way I could have run a marathon with just 11 miles as my longest training run had I not had the muscular strength & endurance. (I'm inclined to also attribute this accomplishment to proper nutrition and an overall clean eating lifestyle, but again, this could be an entirely separate post!) Everyone says it's all mental, but I disagree. If your body can't get you at least to the 18-mile point, your mind isn't going to do it for you. The mental kicks in sometime after mile 18; until then, you HAVE to have some kind of physical stamina.

Just to be sure that my motto "Run less, Cross-train more" actually holds water, I asked a marathon-winning runner (female) how often she runs. I mean, the girl is fast. She's experienced. I wanted to know if my theory applies to even elite runners. Her response validated my beliefs. She said, "Oh, I only do one tempo run, one speed training run, and one long run a week. The rest is cross training." She said her goal is to run JUST ENOUGH and as infrequently as she can get away with.

Cross-training is not only the answer to avoiding injuries, it's also how we keep our metabolic engines going. Running burns a lot of calories, yet you often see overweight runners. This is because steady-state cardio, especially always doing the same type of cardio, causes your body to go into autopilot. It gets extremely efficient, so much so that even on a healthy diet, runners who only run can manage to gain fat. Yeah, the people winning marathons are built like sticks and can eat an endless amount of food. That's called "good genes"-- they're built to run; lightweight, small-boned, mobile hips, efficient metabolisms. I'm talking about the normal people here. I know that for me and anyone like me (endomorphs-- our bodies would rather be fat & we really have to work for what we've got!), if I even splurge post-marathon, I'll gain a pound or two. Cross-training is essential for me to stay lean, and a lean runner is a lighter runner is a faster runner is a less injured runner. (Quick tangent: too often people choose running as a way to lose weight; they end up injured. I recommend that many of my clients actually drop 30-40 pounds before they try running, for it is one of the highest-impact activities they can possibly do! Do NOT take up endurance running if you have 20+ lbs to lose. Lose it first.)

Cross-training is also the best way to avoid burnout & boredom. I may be banned from the Zumba community for admitting it, but if all I ever did was Zumba, I'd get sick of it. If all I ever did was Yoga, I'd get sick of it. If all I ever did was run, yep, I'd get sick of it. Perhaps I'm a little ADHD, but I crave variety. And it's actually proven to be the best thing for my muscles (just ask my Spinal Touch therapist, who raves about my muscles' responsiveness, what what!) Best cross training for runners? I recommend Zumba to keep hips loose and for cardio endurance; Pilates and Yoga for core strength (essential for downhill running), knee stabilizing, and overall muscular endurance; and Spin for cardio endurance, leg work, and lo-impact, which gives your joints a much-needed break.

But back to the list of vital running principles . . .

2.) Form, form, form. If you want to make it to the finish line of an endurance event, you need to keep your body somewhat together. And in order to not totally break down, you need to run with proper form. I won't spend too much time lecturing on this. I will say: Read "Chi Running". Take some yoga. Take photos of yourself scantily clad and barefoot, from the front, side, and back and STUDY your body. This is your vehicle, your machine to get you from start line to finish line. Do you even know what it looks like? Not your face, but your BODY! Do your feet overpronate or supinate? (These are sub-conscious actions, by the way, not conditions or diseases-- don't get me started on this! Again, I need to dedicate another post to this!) Do you hyperextend your knees? Is your spine at all kyphotic (rounded/hunched upper back) or lordotic (swayback)? Is one shoulder higher than the other? Does your head tend to tilt more to the right or left? Does either hip externally rotate more so than the other? (This is common due to the way we drive right-footed. Check out your right foot and hip-- they might turn out more so than the left.)

Overpronation is somewhat common. The way to fix it is AWARENESS, then correcting it intentionally until you create new neural pathways and your muscles learn to automatically adopt proper alignment. Below is a photo of one of my clients' overpronation of the left foot. Notice what happens to the line of the left knee . . .

Take pics of your own body like this and really look closely. Would you drive a car this much out of alignment? Then why on earth would you try to run many many miles out of alignment? It's not a matter of if you'll get injured, but when. If you know your vehicle (your body) & its inherent issues, you can strengthen, stretch, and use mindfulness to correct many misalignments. You can better understand why your right knee always bugs you after a few miles of running, why your shoulder hurts when you run, why your left calf is always so tight, etc. You can adjust your stride, your arm swing, your posture to make running feel better to your body and decrease your chances of overuse injuries developing.

Again, this is why I have chosen minimalist running-- it allows me to take shoes out of the equation. If I'm hurting, it MUST be something I am doing biomechanically. With traditional running shoes, you must first eliminate the shoe as the source of your pain, which can lead to a very long & expensive experiment as you try to correct the problem. I've also grown to love that feeling of running "barefoot"-- that connection to the ground beneath me, the feeling of energy transferring from my soles all the way up my legs, the awareness that comes when the feet are awake and alive and actively and totally in use.

**If you're concerned or curious about your form, feel free to either schedule a session with me or email me some pics and video for a long-distance analysis. I offer running assessments for $65 for 90-minutes of one-one time with you, plus a personalized training regimen and nutrition guidelines.

3.) Fuel Right, Run Light. Yikes, yet again, I could expound on this topic for pages and pages. But for this post, I'll keep it simple. Eat clean. Eat real. Eat protein! Eat carbs via veggies, fruit, and small amounts of starchy complex carbs like oats/brown rice/quinoa/amaranth/potatoes/pasta. Eat healthy fats in moderation. Fat is fuel. Drink lots of water. If you eat right all the time, you don't have to worry about making major changes during your training or racing. I'm always amazed at runners who eat like crap. Or those who eat too much, with the belief that they need tons of calories to meet their training needs. Unless you're metabolically-blessed, it just isn't so. The first marathon I ran, I gained 5 pounds during training, simply because I thought I deserved some extra calories. Now I try to eat less overall while training in order to shed some pounds and run lighter.

I will say this for race day fueling, and this is just based on personal experience from myself and others:
a.) Skip the pre-race spaghetti dinner. Let's just say, the night before a race, don't eat anything you'd hate to poop out all morning, like tomato sauce-- owie! While you might feel you're owed a grand dessert, don't sugar-overload right before a race-- it leads to drops in blood sugar and that crash sensation. Eat up your veggies & fruit for cleaner pre-race sugars; but avoid veggies that cause bloating or that you're not used to.
b.) Don't eat new foods the night before or morning of. Steer clear of adventurous, ethnic, & spicy food the night before. Inevitably this leads to you in the Honey Bucket regretting that Thai food . . .
c.) Eat protein and starchy complex carbs race morning. My favorite are plain oatcakes (see my post about building a better breakfast)-- they stick to the ribs, are bland, can be easily nibbled while you sit on the bus, provide high-quality protein and starchy complex carbs.
d.) Hyrdate well throughout the week but dwindle your water guzzling the evening before to ensure you don't have to pee every other mile during the race. Drink some water at every aid station, Gatorade if you like it and don't have other electrolytes. Some runners like to alternate water and Gatorade every other station. (I recommend peeing twice before you hit the start line!)
e.) Don't take the Gu if you've never tried it. It can get ugly . . .
f.) Gu, Sports Beans, etc.-- they aren't "clean" but I say go for it in this instance, as long as your body can tolerate it. Again, avoid caffeinated ones if you aren't used to caffeine. Half of the population metabolizes caffeine quickly & the other half metabolizes slowly, which is why some people do great with 5-Hour Energy & others get sick. Know which half of the population you are!
g.) Eat the bananas and oranges offered. Just like energy gels, this is quick sugar! And it's clean! Just don't choke . . .
h.) Salt Sticks are a great way to get electrolytes if you don't like Gatorade-- these are pills you can buy at any running store. Take according to directions (every hour).
i.) Sports Legs- my hubby and I have a little debate going about the efficacy of what I firmly believe is magic in pill form. It's lactate and assists with muscle soreness, preventing "bonking" "wall-hitting" whatever you want to call it when your body just shuts down on you. It's also great for post-race soreness! I swear by it, only because I've run marathons with and without it & have seen a tremendous difference! Take according to directions.
j.) Post-race- carb up, hydrate, and reward yourself if your tummy is feeling up to it ;) Recognize that you do NOT need to take everything being offered at the finish line. The race organizers are handing out whatever sponsors have given them. At my recent marathon finish, they were giving out Coke & Diet Coke! What the what?! You know how anti-soda I am-- I was somewhat appalled. But you better bet my hubby grabbed some. I stuck to the water bottle and the orange slices, bananas, and whole wheat bread. It was not my treat day, so I skipped the Creamies, too ;) Afterwards, we hit Cafe Rio where I devoured a delicious salad with chicken & guzzled the stevia-sweetened strawberry lemonade. Then I immediately felt bloated, but it was tasty!

And those are what I deem the 3 essential rules of endurance running:
1. Run less; cross train more.
2. Form, form, form.
3. Fuel right, run light.

There are many other aspects to endurance running, but for now at least, these are the 3 essentials I'll focus on. I'll save running accessories for another day, but check out this pic and you'll see just how much I likey the running accessories ;)