Monday, June 8, 2009

Informal Club Runs are Motivating



My running club holds informal group runs at the Seabrook Trails on Sundays so I showed up for it yesterday. I hadn't run with this particular group before, and I didn't really this time either.


Not that I didn't start with them. They were just too fast for me. Oy vey! There was a time when I would have pressed on with them, but the years and the miles have conveyed a bit of wisdom to the rational part of my mind. It happens.

But I did get to talk to my old friend Lou, who I hadn't seen for many years. He's always been faster than me, but one year I was able to hang with him for about the first eight miles of the Dallas White Rock Marathon. Awesome course.

Finding Your Own Pace

When the running club is large enough, these informal runs take on a real social flavor and there's several runners in each slice of the pace pie. Track interval workouts are the same way. This is where the motivational aspect comes in. In my view, the social aspect is as important as the psychological training aspect.

We all want to get faster, but it's important to temper the desire with a smidgen of reality and train scientifically, not haphazardly. And above all, keep it fun.

Case in point: a few years ago, the club was doing race management for a local 5K. Jay and I set up the course in the dark pre-dawn. Since we were going by clumsy handwritten course instructions, we set the turn-around cone about 50 meters too far out. Oops.

Curb Your Enthusiasm!

Should have been no biggie, right? Well, to most folks it wasn't. But the first guy through the finish chute was one of Houston's elite runners. You know, not fast enough to make a paycheck, but fast enough to score free "sponser" Powerbars every now and then.

He had a good enough sense of pace to know that the course was long, and he let us have it with both barrels. By golly, he was 3 seconds off his predicted finish time! Reason enough for a major temper tantrum. Very sad, even for this regional demi-God.

Sometimes being a middle-of-the-packer is its own reward. I'm blessed that talent and genetics haven't turned me into a Lord Farquaad.

Monday, June 1, 2009

Begin a Fitness Program on National Running Day

Despite the fact that fitness incentives and promotions crop up from time to time, we're still a country of chubbies. Sad but true. This week there's another drive to raise awareness. June 3rd, 2009 is National Running Day.

Find a Local Running Event

There are locally organized events all over the nation. Find a running event that you can participate in. Sad to say, the dialog box where you enter a state, zip code, etc. didn't work too well for me. Just scroll through the list and see if you can find one.

Can't find one? Doesn't matter a whit. You don't need something organized to begin a running routine. Running is a minimalist sport, yet it's one of the best ones for your heart, lungs, immune system, attitude and more.

Get Your Fitness Gear

At a minimum, you'll need a properly-fitted pair of running shoes and a pair of shorts. Cheap, eh? No greens fees, no gym membership, no gasoline and boat trailer tax. Once you really get into it, there are some really cool toys, er, ah, I mean accessories! Check upon it out:
  • Hydration. No doubt you've already got a basic plastic water bottle even if it's just the one from the grocery store, or a used Gatorade bottle. But there are handy water bottle belts. Check out Fuel Belt for one.
  • Identification and emergency medical information. This is one that a lot of runners forget. Anytime you wander from home, you risk a medical problem. It's easy to have that info on hand without getting it tattooed on! For an affordable wrist ID, ankle ID, shoe ID, or shoe pouch ID, check out www.RoadID.com.
  • Heart rate monitor. These come in handy for training in specific zones based on your maximum heart rate.
  • Performance-enhancing MP3 recordings. I recently found this one and it's awesome. It uses gamma and beta waves to get you "in the zone" and boost endorphins, better known as the "runner's high".

So there you go. Motivated yet? Lace up those shoes!