MISSION COMPLETE: How to Become a Better Runner in 30 Days Series

#30 Mission Complete

SNAPSHOT

I must be honest, 30 days of writing in a row contained some struggles but after completion, just like training and racing, I am a changed person, more experienced and I hope a better writer. It was a positive experience and I feel a sense of accomplishment. I set out a challenge, stuck with it, and had fun along the way.

DIGGING DEEPER

At first, it was easy to find topics to write about. Oh, course I had to cover female training, sleeping, shoes (part 1 and 2), winter running, gear (including watches), treadmills, training plans, and sitting. But then came the inspirations day by day, like listing my runner’s phone uses, and when to stop or start running. The polar freeze brought topics of training partners, motivation, Minnesota play, and strength training. I love reading so I naturally shared favorite authors and books, as in Fatigue Tolerance, Fast or Slow, Older Runners, Runners Stretch. Topics close to my heart crept into the blog with Run Like a Kid, No Pretty Runners, A Runner’s Will, and Rest Days. My training partners brainstormed and uncovered a few gems like Runners Vacation and Running Friends.

Through all of these posts I shared knowledge and experiences along with links to articles and shopping. I hope this 30 day series is a resource for you and your training partners for many years. An added SEARCH BAR at the bottom of the page will aid you in finding the information you seek. Please share the posts in order to help others find joy in running.

Although my 30 days are up, I am not powering down the computer, since I have plans for weekly blog posts. And I am excited to bring into the discussion guest bloggers whose experience and viewpoint can enlighten us all. I am hoping to find another blog that will give me the chance to share my love for running with their community as a guest blogger. Perhaps these first ventures into select topics can continue to mature into published articles.

SOLUTION

Tomorrow when I wake up and don’t need to complete a blog, I will be sad, for I will miss our time together.

I am a learner, wanting to grow and grow. If you have ANY feedback for me as a writer and coach, please contact me. I value your thoughts. Thanks, friends!

LAST POST — This 30-day series is a quest for me as a writer, coach, and runner. I promise to write about running for 30 days in a row. In doing so I intend to gain in knowledge and expression of running and daily life. My hope is that we all grow together.

Older Runners: How to Become a Better Runner in 30 Days Series

#29 Older Runners

SNAPSHOT

OLD, a word I dislike. The word old takes away all the beneficial qualities of years of experience, knowledge, and mastery. I prefer the word MASTERS. In running once you pass your 40th birthday you are officially a masters runner. The men and women masters runners that I have trained and raced with throughout the years have colored my world, broken glass ceilings, and taught me the value of patience. THANK YOU!

DIGGING DEEPER

#1 You’re not old! You are still a growing developing individual seeking new challenges and experiences.

#2 You’re not who you use to be. Your mind is stronger, your actions wiser, and your experiences are more vast. However, your body has changed along with time. Don’t try to relive the past, instead forge a new future.

#3 Your past mileage counts for a lot! You have this wide foundation in which to draw upon. Don’t train like a beginner, train like an experienced runner.

Run Less Run Faster by Bill Pierce is my favorite book (I even have a signed copy from meeting him at a coaching seminar) detailing how to train as a masters runner. The combination of Pierce and training with the Willow Street Athletic Club’s masters runners I have shown me you can be an impressive runner into your master years.

HOW TO BE A MASTERS RUNNER

Strive For Realistic Goals and Progressions - Be your current YOU. You are impressive. I admire you. I want to be a masters runner chasing current personal records, just like you. As you progress through your training season give yourself flexibility in your training. You may have more traveling to navigate around or need extra time to recover from illness. Lower your expectations in training and racing and enjoy the experience and friendship community you have grown.

Complete Three Quality Runs- Quick, Steady, and Long. Hit these three paces most weeks of your training season and you will be set for toeing the line at your favorite races. The workouts don’t need to be long, just consistent. Your body has a great memory, able to rebuild central nervous, metabolic, and muscular systems quicker than in your early years of running.

Do Critical Cross-Training - Cash in all your years of mileage and replace some of your easy runs with cross-training activities. Recovery is critical for all runners, but especially for you. You need a few more days of recovery than in your early years. Enjoy cross-training and less pressure for weekly mileage goals.

Be Strong - You loose muscle each birthday year, shore up your muscle fiber count with a couple of short strengthen sessions a week, bodyweight training is quick and effective.

Stay Flexible - Be bendable. With the flexibility will come better mobility (a key to fewer injuries)

Be Adventurous- Yes, completing your 20th Thanksgiving Turkey Trot is admirable but you may find joy in trying a new distance, location, or terrain. Shake up your racing schedule and try a new race.

SOLUTION

Masters runner, YOU AMAZE ME!

ONE DAY LEFT in my QUEST —This 30-day series is a quest for me as a writer, coach, and runner. I promise to write about running for 30 days in a row. In doing so I intend to gain in knowledge and expression of running and daily life. My hope is that we all grow together.

Running Friends: How to Become a Better Runner in 30 Days Series

#28 Running Friends

SNAPSHOT

The Sweetness of Running Friendships

DIGGING DEEPER

”I wish I could run, but I get bored.” exclaimed a woman in the Y locker room. My friend and I turn to hear her thoughts about running. She went on to list all her family members that run and enjoy it. Wanting to experience the same joy as they do, she was in a state of wishing. I replied with, “You need to run with others.”

It has been two long weeks of running on my local YMCA’s treadmills and yes it can get boring very quickly when alone. Another running friend texted me this morning when she had to run without our group of runners, “It’s boring now running without you!” I totally agree. Once you have running friends, it can be difficult to run alone.

I certainly had my fill of running alone after moving to Minnesota from New York in 2017. In NY, I had someone to run with almost every day of the week, possibly several times a day. However, in MN, run after run was alone.

At first, I was diligent and out at 6 am every morning as the lonely runner. Figuring I would find runners out on the roads, as plentiful as in NY. But I decided no one ran in my town, they all drove into the Twin Cities and worked, leaving no time for running through our small town. Once there was a 6 am morning running group of three men that I made a few mornings a bit sweeter. But I had to change my running time due to not enough sunlight exposer in order to keep winter depression at bay. Next, a chance encounter united me with a new dear friend. Our friendship grew as we ran together at least once a week: rain, snow, or heat couldn't get in our way. All this time, anyone that I have heard is a runner, I boldly and quickly set up a running meeting. Some have not been the right fit and others have been awesome! Each runner has a unique friendship story, all valuable.

I went through the stage of participating in races alone. The pain of a disappointing race couldn’t be masked with friendly conversation. When there were good races there was no one to share the joy with. And so this fall, I vowed to not run another race alone. It just was not worth it, however well my race turned out, to not share the joy with another runner friend.

Running friends are more than someone to have small talk with as you cover the miles. They are sounding boards, sympathizers, cheerleaders, comedians, and wise counselors. They have shared my journey through life. Each run recounting recent news or detailing future plans with each other. We have chatted about the simple things in life and dig deep, searching to solve the world’s problems. Those miles together never forgotten.

I swam on my high school swim team. I wasn’t all that great at it, but do have some natural ability. However, it did not become my favorite sport because it didn’t include enough time talking with others. Hence why running has fit my personality so much better, with plenty of opportunities to talk together. I find it fascinating to learn about others and hear about their thoughts and lives. Running gives me a chance for more friendship time.

So how do you find new running friends? Well when I moved to MN, I checked out Meet Up running groups, joined local running Facebook groups, talked with runners that finished near me at the end of races, asked runners if they knew other runners that lived in my town, and was flexible with when and where I could run and what pace I could run in order to have more opportunities to run with others. Season by season my running friendship group has grown. Currently we are brainstorming a name for our running group. So far Purple Pandas got knocked out by Northwest Distance Club or Woodlands Distance Club.

Whether you have many running friends or none, I hope you look for a new running friend this month. Take the time to be a friend.

SOLUTION

And so back to the story of the woman at the Y, I ended with, “Next time you see me at the Y or outdoors, come next to me and we can run together.” I hope to see her soon!

This 30-day series is a quest for me as a writer, coach, and runner. I promise to write about running for 30 days in a row. In doing so I intend to gain in knowledge and expression of running and daily life. My hope is that we all grow together.

Runner's Vacation: How to Become a Better Runner in 30 Days Series

#27 Runner’s Vacation

SNAPSHOT

Vacationing while training for a race can put a runner between a rock and a hard spot. No worries, I am here to help!

DIGGING DEEPER

WHAT IS YOUR SITUATION?

NO TIME TO RUN

You may not have time to run during your trip because your trip calendar is packed to the max. Ok, plan a harder week before you leave and a harder week afterward. Caution: Don’t lose your flexibility. Stretch often.

TOO HOT TO RUN

Texas in the summer requires 4 am runs. Vacation and 4 am don’t mix well. So venture out in the morning hours for walks. Visit an indoor facility in order to fit in cardio training.

NO ONE TO RUN WITH

Be a guest with the local running club. Select a new purpose in running, like a destination, pace, or even make a shape out of your route (view afterward on a map, fun to instagram).

UNSAFE TO RUN ALONE

Safety is the most important. Research ahead of embarking on your trip to see if there are any alternatives like a local running group, indoor facilities, or safer neighborhoods.

LOTS OF TIME AND NEW PLACES TO RUN

Live it up, to a degree. Keep within the max 10% increase of weekly mileage, reduced weight training on your first try, and recover well. Aim for a solid week of training. Remember all your work won’t pay off if you don’t allow for recovery or end up injured. Be smart and enjoy!

ONLY SMALL OPPORTUNITIES TO RUN

Grab even the short windows of time to get in 20-30 minutes of running. It will make your vacation even better since you will feel refreshed and accomplished. Those short runs really can keep you from losing fitness and flexibility. You don’t need to run every day. Alternate walking and running days, perhaps family or friends can join you on the walk days. Add in yoga to your bedtime routine.

TIPS: Remember to drink water often, sleep as well as possible, and soak in the vacation experience.

ONE LAST THING

Stay healthy and don’t return with an illness. Getting sick after a trip is usually when a runner gets off track and ends up losing a total of 2 weeks of training. So if you don’t get any running in during your vacation at least try to come back healthy and happier!

SOLUTION

Play is good for the soul!

This 30-day series is a quest for me as a writer, coach, and runner. I promise to write about running for 30 days in a row. In doing so I intend to gain in knowledge and expression of running and daily life. My hope is that we all grow together.

Rest Days: How to Become a Better Runner in 30 Days Series

#26 Rest Days

SNAPSHOT

Did you hear the silence?

DIGGING DEEPER

One of the most valuable insights to being an experienced runner is knowing when to take a rest day.

During the training season, I already have motivation, direction, and hopes. This includes a usual rhythm of six days a week of running with one day of rest from running. Yet knowing just when to take this day of rest is the result of years of successes and failures.

Perhaps the day of rest needs to come on the same day as a day of skiing or perhaps it doesn’t. Sometimes the rest day needs to wait until a busy day when finding a chance to run within my schedule is impossible, therefore decreasing mental stress. A rest day may come on the onset of symptoms of a past injury. As I am reaching closer to the masters age level (40), I touch upon a brink where without a rest day, the training can’t be accomplished. Now, I am not getting old, just playing the training dance with my current body.

So when to take a rest day is not about a planned 7th-day rotation. It is about listening and being aware.

Rest days to me can mean anything from laying on the couch for several hours to cross training by kayaking, biking, or skiing. Most rest days during the training season need to be a full rest day with several hours of no grand movements. This is a time that I imagine my muscles restoring energy, nutrition, and repairing. The next day I can feel like a new person with an extra push in my running.

Most of all be flexible when planning and taking rest days in your training. When a rest day is needed, it is only going to hurt you to put it off. For 95% of the population, it is unrealistic to run every day, understand the value of a 48-hour regeneration window.

Newer runners - 3 rest days a week

Intermediate runners - 2 rest days a week

Advanced runners - 1 -2 rest days per 14 days

Replace a run day with a walk day to restore your body

SOLUTION

In 2016 I wrote a post about NO DAYS OFF and what that meant to me as a runner. Check it out.

This 30-day series is a quest for me as a writer, coach, and runner. I promise to write about running for 30 days in a row. In doing so I intend to gain in knowledge and expression of running and daily life. My hope is that we all grow together.