I originally published this blog post about three years ago under the title āThe Trap of Information Overloadā. I have coached many new runners since and one of the constants Iāve observed is how they get sucked into the need to track irrelevant parameters just because their watches display them. This is regardless of whether they understand what such parameters are actually measuring. Thus, I have decided to rerun this post, with a few updates. I hope you find it useful.
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Is this you while checking your watch during or after every run?
Let’s start by stating that I see nothing wrong with being on Strava, having an Instagram account to share your runs, or checking Facebook every so often to see what your running buddies are up to. It is great to live in an era where we can be in contact with people we havenāt seen in decades, stay connected with that cousin who moved to another country, or your buddies from elementary school you rarely have the chance to see anymore.
It is great to make social media acquaintances with people you’ve never met in person. I follow a Dutch runner named @mistermarathon on Instagram, who follows me back. When I visited Amsterdam a few years back, he took me for a running tour of the city; we had coffee at the Rijksmuseum and had a great talk. A few years later, he visited Florida, and even though I was injured and couldnāt run, we met for coffee and had another enjoyable conversation. It was great!
But there must be a limit. The data overload from social media, from our watches, from WhatsApp groups, and from measuring up to every stranger who follows our social channels is stealing the joy from many a runner. We should run because we like it. So, if something is stealing our bliss, it must go; or at least, its presence must be adjusted.
Yes, a pre-run picture with your buddies is cool, but if you missed it, you could still run. Skipping the recording of one run because your watch has no battery is not an excuse to miss a scheduled training. Checking your favorite elite runner on Strava and matching their training is a recipe for injury. Thinking that an ultrarunner in Germany, Australia, or Argentina is your buddy because he likes your posts on a regular basis is the prelude for a letdown. Wanting to run from New York to Los Angeles because so-and-so did it, is insanity.
Unless you know what a parameter is measuring, let it go!
It all starts with regulating the consumption of information we get from our GPS watches. It is wonderful to have all the information we could possibly need at a wrist flip. But, with certain exceptions dictated by a specific segment of your training program, the usefulness of such information is relatively innocuous. It is just a reflection of what you are doing, not what you are doing. It is not your worth as an athlete or as a human being. You donāt have to pause the watch because you hit a red light, or because you stopped at the water fountain. You donāt have to check your cadence or vertical oscillation every mile unless you are specifically working on it. And donāt get me started on VO2Max: If you donāt know what it measures, donāt dwell on it. You get the point.
I am amazed by the data that the watch keeps track of. NASA didnāt have such access to astronauts on the Moon. Most of it is great for the analysis of my training, for measuring my progress, or for keeping historical data. But your watch should just serve as a recorder of your performance, not direct it.
The more I use Strava or Garmin Connect, the more Iām impressed by what they can do, but I donāt follow or stalk people I donāt know. If I want to know what a friend is doing, I call him or text her. I donāt need to know what Kelvin Kiptum is doing every day, let alone compare his progress to mine. I donāt need kudos from 50 strangers to validate my run.
Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th President of the United States, once said: āComparison is the thief of joyā, and I agree 100% with him. Equaling it is part of human nature, and the right dosage of it may be healthy. But if we want to enjoy OUR running, we need to concentrate on what WE are doing and what WE can control. WE must center OUR running life on OUR progress, OUR failures, OUR injuries, and OUR parameters.
Most of the data is useless at the time we are running, anyway. It is afterward that we can learn something from it and make the necessary adjustments. If you list the top 100 reasons why you run, I bet that āto show up Alex in Stravaā, āto have more Instagram followers than Maria,ā or āto improve my likes on Facebookā wonāt make the list. So, get back to basics and take advantage of the exciting tech tools available to you, but donāt become a slave to them.
In my last blog post, I wrote about learning the hard way. Within the same theme, today I bring you the story of Javier Mota, a journalist and friend who, despite going out of his way not to consider himself a runner, put together a 1000+ day running streak. Given his accepted stubbornness, he is currently paying the consequences of not listening to his body. With his permission, I am publishing an article he wrote about his experience.
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Good and bad consequences after running every day for 3 years and 21 days.
The diagnosis byĀ Dr. Luis ValenzuelaĀ from theĀ Meds ClinicĀ in Santiago de Chile, which stopped my 3 years and 21 days of running every day, was forceful:
āYou obviously have internal femorotibial osteoarthritis, with a degenerative tear of the internal meniscus. Also, chondral lesions in the patella. There is bone edema of the medial femoral condyle and medial tibial plateau due to joint wear and overload.ā
Javier Mota is a renowned automotive journalist and a friend. (Photo: courtesy of Javier Mota)
In simple words, theĀ MRI resultsĀ showed how badly I messed up my left knee, mainly due to a clear case of theĀ fine line between stubbornness and stupidity.
In hindsight, I should have stopped running when the pain and discomfort began on March 15, 2023, but out of my stubbornness, rather than determination or discipline, I ran 5 additional months in pain, first trying to reach theĀ 1,000-day mark and then, 3 years.
The additional 21 days only confirmed my lack of good sense and probably made things worse.
āPain is not normalā, another orthopedic doctor once told me during a casual conversation in a bar in St. George, Utah, after I insisted on running for a couple of months despite the discomfort.
Long before that, when I reached the 2-year mark, in August 2022,Ā Dr. Scott Lang, University of Central FloridaĀ“s Professor of Family Medicine, warned me:Ā āNever run in pain.Ā If you have muscle pain or joint pain when you run, ice it and rest. If the pain persists for more than a week, see your doctorā.
Obviously, I did not pay attention and on August 21, 2023, at the end of my annual ski trip to Chile, I finally decided to have my left knee checked by Dr. Valenzuela, who after a quick visual and tactile examination, immediately determined that an MRI was necessary.
Of course, between the time that passed from the end of the MRI and the time I received the diagnosis, I went out forĀ the last runĀ (2.75 miles in 30:36) because I sensed the end of the streak was approaching, under medical prescription.
The truth is that the discomfort never reached the point of paralyzing me, although, between March 15 and August 21, 2023, I reduced the distance and speed of each run, thinking that the pain would be reduced. That didnāt happen, but it didnāt get worse either.
This is Javierās messed up left knee (Foto: Courtesy of Javier Mota)
Dr. Valenzuela attributed this to the fact that through constant exercise for 1,115 days in a row, I was able to build enough muscle mass to absorb most of the impact on my knee.
Now,Ā the next challengeĀ is to dedicate myself with the same intensity to a rehabilitation program and incorporate other athletic activities, without impacting the knees to maintain the physical condition and weight (165 pounds).
Those last two were undoubtedly the biggest benefits of the running streak, which began on August 1, 2020, during the Covid pandemic, thanks to aĀ private Facebook group, to get out of lockdown.
In all, I ranĀ 3,257.3 miles, an average of almost 90 miles per month. The equivalent of driving from Miami to Seattle.
All this, despite the fact that I have never felt like a āreal runnerā. If I was, I would have followed theĀ 3R adviceĀ of the experts toĀ replenish, rest, and recover, and not become a āslave to the streakā, as Running CoachĀ Adolfo SalgueiroĀ warned me. But thatās exactly what I did.
I never warmed up before a run, nor did I stretch at the end. I have never undergone aĀ serious training programĀ to achieve a specific goal. Nor did I pay much attention to the advice not to wear old and worn-out shoes or to buy ones specially molded for my feet. As a consequence, I never improved my time or distance in these 3 years.
And as I said before and I repeat now, I donāt like to run. I think itās boring, so much so that for the last few months of the streak I tried to entertain myself byĀ picking up trash on the road, sometimes at an astonishing rate of 10+ pieces per mile. Thanks to that, and in a very unscientific way, I verified that theĀ Modelo EspecialĀ has indeed become theĀ most popular beer in the United States, given the number of empty cans I have found in recent months during my runs.
I also started stopping to say hello toĀ all the dogsĀ I saw on the trail, perhaps to justify my slower pace and to give my knee a rest, until one of them bit me on the left thigh, something unrelated to the injury, which eventually ended the streak.
Now the benefits
I always appreciated what happens when you run every day. You feel better physically and mentally, you sleep and work better, and you can eat and drink more. And you always feel good after every run, unless you get bitten by a dog.
Also, it was great to receive encouragement from other runners, non-runners and even from companies likeĀ New BalanceĀ andĀ Apple who sent me products as an incentive to keep the streak alive; and from car brands that celebrated some of the streakās milestones when they coincided with some of their test driving programs around the world.
One of the 1,021 consecutive runs that lead to the devastating injury (Foto: Courtesy of Javier Mota)
It was also a pleasure to run in 16 countries and over 100 cities.
But what I enjoyed the most was the daily challenge of finding the time and place to run every day, despite the complications of constant travel as part of my job as anĀ automotive journalist.
The longest run (almost 9 miles) was in Munich, Germany, on September 2021, not because I wanted to run that distance, but because I got lost. The fastest run was a 10K at a pace of 7:58 minutes per mile, at home.
On December 31, 2022, I checked out at 11:30 p.m. to complete the daily 5k and then did another one starting right at midnight and ending on January 1st. 2023 to start theĀ New Year.
Several times, I landed at an airport and got out of the car on the way to the hotel so I could run before the end of the day. I also ran inside various airports, before and after flights.
So, in the end,Ā it was a good run while it lasted,Ā but I have a few points to consider now that this is all over:
First,Ā I do not recommend it to anyone!Ā Itās easy to become addicted, even a slave to personal achievement like this one.
And most importantly, as Iāve learned the hard way, itās essential to recognize thatĀ running every day for an extended period, not only can, but surely will cause injury sooner or later.
In conclusion,Ā listen to the expertsĀ and to your body; take adequate rest when necessary to prevent exhaustion and possible long-term health problems.
Without a doubt, this streak of three years and 21 days was an extraordinary journey, which some have called āan example of determination, discipline and the pursuit of personal goalsā, but it is also important to remember that the physical conditioning process of each individual is unique and must be approached with care and respect for oneās own body.
Maybe I will run again someday, but I will never run every day for 3 years and 21 days.
Javier Mota is a renowned automotive journalist and a friend. You can follow him on Instagram @javiermota, or at his website: https://autos0to60.com/. He made a YouTube video with his original post. If you want to check it out, you can do so by clicking here – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8sdfsl0c9w
I still canāt believe that it has been 40 years since my first marathon. Four decades since that unforgettable January 22nd of 1983 inside the old Orange Bowl Stadium in Miami. 14,610 days have passed since that unprepared 17-year-old higschooler crossed a finish line that became the gift that kept on giving.
Since I can remember, I wanted to run a marathon. Not sure why. Maybe because I read about the athletics exploits of Abebe Bikila, Emil Zatopek or contemporaries like Frank Shorter and Bill Rogers. Who knows? Somehow, I always loved the extremes. I started running when I was 12 or 13 while living in Caracas, Venezuela, and at 15, ran my first 10K race. Then, a couple of months after turning 17, my dad told me he was running the Orange Bowl Marathon in January 1983, and if I trained, he would take me to Miami. Maybe I just wanted the trip and a few days off school, or it could have been a legitimate attraction for the physical challenge. Regardless, what I know is that 6 weeks later I was lining up at the foot of the iconic home of the Miami Dolphins, who eight days later were taking on the Washington Redskins in the Super Bowl.
The Miami Orange Bowl stadium (1937-2008) seated 72,319, hosted 5 Super Bowls and was home of the Miami Dolphins from (1966-1986)
Iāve written before about that race. So, on this anniversary I donāt want to reminisce about that particular day, but on what the race has meant to me throughout my life. Last year, on the 39th anniversary of the marathon, I wrote a memoir about that day because I didnāt want details to be forgotten. If you would like to read more about it, please click here.Ā I also wrote a post about getting my finisherās medal 37 years later, back in 2020. If you want to read about it, please click here.
After that magical morning, 40 years ago, even if I never ran another step in my life, I was a marathoner. It is a label that sticks forever. It doesnāt fade away with time, or by forgetting the exact date and finishing time, or by never wearing a pair of running shorts again.
I kept running for a handful of years after my first marathon. By the time I turned 21 I had four under my belt, with a couple of them in the 3:30 range. I ran through my first three years of college and even had escalated disagreemtns with my girlfriend, who at times was fed up with not going out with our friends on Saturday nights because I had a Sunday morning long run. Many a time I had to put my foot down and state that I would drop her before my training. Today I would have handled it in a different way, but that was then.
As I have mentioned in other writings, as I was training to go sub-3 in 1986, I had a devastating non-running injury on my left knee that left me on the sidelines. It was such a demoralizing blow that I stopped running for decades. While not running I discovered the pleasures of sleeping in on weekends. I didnāt want to have the same issues with new girlfriends, so I went out partying on Saturday nights, and on Friday nights, too. I focused on getting my career in sports journalism started, graduating from college and all the stuff ānormalā people do when they donāt need to wake up early to run long next day. The day I turned 18, I went to bed at 8PM because I was running 30Km (19 miles) next day as part of my training for the NYC Marathon. What a weirdo!
There is not much to be found online about the 1983 Orange Bowl Marathon. Surprisingly I found this cotton race shirt in eBay for ājustā $149,99. Thanks, Iāll pass.
Yet, somewhere deep inside, I always knew I had one more marathon in me. Just one, to remind myself I could still do it, or to fool myself into thinking I was still as good as when I was a teenager, or to revisit old glories, or to show my young son what you can accomplish when you work hard towards a difficult goal. Whatever it was, I still wanted to hit the asphalt and take that 26.2 trip once more. Just once.
But sometimes you cross paths with the wrong people and they clip your wings. At 39, after a 2nd knee surgery in July 2004, I told the doctor I still had one more marathon in me and asked if he thought my knee could take it. He told me in no uncertain terms that I shouldnāt and couldnāt. I was stupid enough to take his word for it.
But one day, out of the blue I started walking for hours at a time, feeling good about it and experiencing the runnerās high once again. I found racewalking and then racewalked four half marathons, transitioning to the 26.2 at the 2012 Philadelphia Marathon. Three years and two more marathons later I realized that I just took the doctorās word and did not run because he said so, not because I tried and failed. So, I got my running restarted and ran my first marathon since 1985, in 2017. Five years, four marathons and an open-heart surgery later, I am still running and looking towards my next 26.2-mile adventure.
The Marathon Training Academy podcast runs a great tag line: āYou have what it takes to run a marathon and change your lifeā. I certainly had what it took to run it again, and my life hasnāt been the same since I completed that 2017 NYC Marathon after I became a runner for the 2nd time; nor since I racewalked the Philadelphia Marathon in 2012 after a 26 year hiatus, nor after that magical morning at the Orange Bowl Stadium, 40 years ago, this week, when my lifetime love affair with the mythical 26.2 monster got started.
As a ānaked runnerā (1), for many years I enjoyed the freedom of not being attached to tech gadgets. Gadgets that most runners use to measure mileage, pace, heart rate and what not. They come in different forms of watches, headphones or wearables. These days most smart phones can track you, just as your significant other does (just joking).
What is it that a naked runner enjoys? This is a good question for a podcast, as it may need a long answer. I can only tell you about my experience. I enjoy the conversational running, the sound of the waves by the beach, the flapping of bird wings and even the occasional āget out of the f*$%ng bike lane!ā reminder. With this mindset Iāve ran 5K, 10K, plenty of half marathons and even one marathon without proper training, where my buttocks hit the ground (literally). In some smaller races I even placed in my age group, including a 2nd place in the birthplace of Ricky Martin (San Juan, PR).
However, events involving my close family happened this year and made me reconsider my comfort zone. What I mean by that is that I felt like I got into a comfortable running routine that my body just got used to. It took a doctorās advice to snap me out of it. He said: āsometimes you have to endure physical pain to obtain unique benefitsā.
So, I registered for a half marathon in Panama, where the humidity would likely be 100% and my goal was to smash my PR on the distance by almost 10 minutes. To accomplish this, I decided to get a coach with enough experience to turn a ānaked runnerā into a ādressed runnerā.
I needed guidance, arduous work and some luck to transition into this new chapter of my running life.
Fast forwarding to race day, luck ran out. I started to cramp up at mile 7. But suddenly, I recalled on the sacrifices Iāve made to get here. Waking up early, watching and timing my food, pushing my body to a certain pace, trying new goals, sometimes with uncomfortable results. And then, the lessons learned as a ādressed runnerā started to pay off.
I looked at my Garmin and I adjusted my pace. I also timed my intake of salt and fluids the way I trained for. At the end, I was able to shave off six minutes from the same race back in 2019. Not what I wanted but I was satisfied with the result.
Was I disappointed at missing my PR? Of course! God willing, I still have 2023 to accomplish it. Now as a ādressed runnerā.
I want to thank Coach Adolfo, my running partners Dmitriy, Wayne, Luis and Luis āChamoā, as well as the rest of my running group for their support during my quest.
*Ruben Urieta is an experienced runner based in Pembroke Pines, Florida. He has completed multiple half marathons and one marathon. He runs with No-Club Runners on Saturday mornings, and he is also a good friend.
(1) ā A naked runner is one who runs exclusively by feel, with no assistance from any type of tech gadget or wearable gear. It has nothing to do with running in the nude.
We all run for different reasons, including losing weight, improving our health, making new friends, or competition. I run for all these reasons. As a senior runner (68 years old), one of my motivators is a hope to delay the onset of dementia which is common in my fatherās side of my family. I also enjoy the excitement and competition of races.
As we get older, we inevitably slow down. When I do training runs with my old high school buddies up north, we mostly jog. Theyāve had more health issues than I have, and although they are still mobile, they donāt have much speed left. For most āserious runnersā, getting faster means running and competing with faster people. One of the reasons I enjoy running with younger people when Iām in Florida is that they motivate me to run faster.
John in one of his 27 podium finishes (Photo courtesy of John Mounteer)
Winter in South Florida is a runner paradise, especially compared to the cold, snow and ice in upstate NY where we live in the summers. The humidity is a factor to deal with, but it beats frostbite. The number of fall and winter races here, is extraordinary. Every weekend we have a choice of multiple races at all distances within an hourās drive. We can choose from very competitive, fast, large races with thousands of participants and thousands of dollars in prize money for the top finishers, to a local Fun Run and Walk. There are benefits to both types of events.
Large competitive races have the benefit of letting you know how you measure up against other serious runners your age. This can have two effects: motivation to train harder or despair that youāll never get a spot on the podium. You may have to face the fact that you are a small fish in a big sea. I am a small fish. I was never fast. Even in my high school. cross country team, where the first 5 runners count, I was lucky to place 4th or 5th, way behind the fast guys. My āage percentageā (my finish time compared to other runners of my age and sex) is around 60-66%. That means that at least a third of runners my age, are faster than me, and some are much faster.
In comparison, smaller races allow you to be a big fish in a small sea. Some small races still give medals in each five-year age group, although ten-year groups have become more common. The competition does thin out as you move up the age groups. Iāve run in races where almost everyone who showed up and ran was a winner! It feels good to get a place medal even knowing that youāre not the fastest runner in the area, but you were the fastest in that race that day.
You must do some searching to find the local, smaller races. Since we moved to Florida, Iāve run in dozens of small races, so Iām a lot of email lists and get notices for many of them. So can you by searching your local listings online.
John and Coach Adolfo after the 2022 Tamarac Turkey Trot, in Tamarac, Florida
Iāve been running mostly 5k and some 10k races in Florida for about 10 years, and in that time, by cherry picking small races Iāve gotten 27 age group awards ā ten 1st place, nine 2nd place, and eight 3rd places. And, in really small races I have a 2nd and a 3rd overall. Thatās crazy fun!
Iāve had great luck by searching for a couple of key phrases, ā1st Annualā and āfun runā. Another thing to consider is what other competitive races are occurring on the same weekend. Itās likely that the fast runners will be there and wonāt rain on your parade.
Some might think that ācherry pickingā races is a form of cheating, and maybe it is, but winning medals helps motivate me to keep training. My method also works better in the younger and older age groups where there is less competition to begin with. I donāt recommend that anyone does just easy races. I find that it still important to do the competitive races so that I donāt become complacent, but the feeling of standing on the podium is addicting.
Final words: Pay attention to your body and donāt overdo it while youāre young. Iāve had some injuries, but not as many or as bad as some of my contemporaries who ignored pain and did permanent damage. The secret to being competitive in older age group running is just to make it to next age group. Thanks to all my South Florida running family for keeping me going!
*John Mounteer is a runner who splits time between Upper State New York and Broward County, South Florida. While in Florida, he runs with Hollywood Run Club, Runnerās Depot Run Club and No-Club Runners. He is also a good friend.
As daylight gets shorter and the further north you go the less opportunity there is to run under natural illumination, and the more we need to adjust if we want to keep active in our favorite sport.Ā I wrote this post two years ago, but I find it important to revisit as we adjust to our new running reality.
By Coach Adolfo Salgueiro
If you canāt run without headphones, do not get into this setting. Jump on the treadmill, instead.
With the autumn months in full swing and the winter ones in the on-deck circle, there are longer nights which present a slew of challenges for runners.
It is paramount to understand that our safety is our individual responsibility. In this litigious world where nobody takes responsibility because they think they can sue whoever hurts them, you must be aware that as a runner, it doesnāt matter who had the right of way, who had the obligation to see you, or who will win the argument in court. If you get hit by a vehicle, you are the one getting hurt. Is up to you to make sure you are seen by those who could harm you.
The following are nine recommendations to keep you safe while enjoying your runs in less than ideal lighting conditions:
1.Ā Ā Ā Ā Do not improvise your routes: When you are running in the dark is not the appropriate time to be adventurous. Select routes you know are safe, well-lit and familiar to you. This is not the time to cross a street and find out there is no sidewalk, or that you are lost.
2.Ā Ā Ā Ā Wear at least one light/reflecting device: You must prepare to be visible at the time you end your run, not just at the start. You can run lit like a Christmas tree, or you can use a reflecting vest, or you can wear blinking lights on your shoes, shorts, or hats. The options are plenty and they fit every budget.
3.Ā Ā Ā Ā Run against traffic: It canāt be easier than this. By running against traffic you can be alert to any danger ahead of you. Drivers maybe playing with their phones and heading towards you. You wonāt see these idiots unless you are facing them. This doesnāt mean to run in the middle of the road, make sure you obey all traffic guidelines.
4.Ā Ā Ā Ā Rethink your usage of headphones: Running in the dark has its own challenges. Donāt handicap yourself by not having your auditive sense available and/or half of your brain distracted with music or a podcast. If you canāt run without your headphones, jump on the treadmill or choose a well-lit, familiar route where you donāt have to cross any streets.
5.Ā Ā Ā Ā Run with your phone: Well into the XXI Century, phones are ubiquitous. Not even sure why we still call them telephones. Make sure you run with yours when you are in the dark. It is better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it.Ā Sharing your location on WhatsApp or any other app is a good practice. There are so many options to carry a phone these days, that there are no excuses to leave it at home if you are running into the dark.
6.Ā Ā Ā Ā Always tell someone where you are going and how long you plan to run: Even if you are taking your phone, but especially if you are not, make sure someone knows what your route is and how long do you expect to be gone. If you are going for 5K around the block and it has been two hours, someone should be checking on you.
Reflecting vests are good and affordable options. They also made you seen from both sides.
7.Ā Ā Ā Ā Run in groups whenever possible: There is always additional safety in numbers. It is easier for a driver to see a group of runners than to see just one. Plus, more eyeballs, more brains and more safety devices together can only increase the safety of your run in the dark.
8.Ā Ā Ā Ā Carry ID: I am not paid by them, but I do believe RoadID is the best alternative for carrying identification with you. I have been using it for years and they have plenty of unobstructive, affordable options so someone can take care of you if you are ever found in a ditch. Worse comes to worse, carry your driverās license in a pocket.
9.Ā Ā Ā Ā Carry pepper spray: Having it is not enough. It must always be accessible. The moment you need it is not the time to figure out where it is or how it works. Mind the wind, or you will pepper spray yourself.
These are by no means all the safety precautions you must take to run safely in the dark. For one, make sure you trust your instincts always, so you donāt have to second-guess yourself when it is already too late. If something doesnāt feel right, get out of there immediately.
Anything else I forgot, or you would like to recommend to your fellow readers?
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