Internal Thoughts of a Morning Runner

Internal Thoughts of a Morning Runner

by | Oct 5, 2021 | Guest Perspective, Opinion, Personal, Reflection

By Coach Shelby Schmidt *

Note from the Editor: I am subscribed to the ā€œRunning and Schmidtā€ blog by Coach Shelby. A few weeks ago she wrote a funny post. It was funny only because it was real, and somehow reflected the true nature of every morning runner out there. Every runner will be able to find a little bit of him/herself in these random thoughts. I am publishing her post with her permission.

Feel free to contribute with your own thoughts in the comments section. Enjoy!

Morning runner

There are countless tihngs that go through the mind of morning runners. Some, funnier than others (Picture by libreshot.com)

If you wake up at ungodly hours to run countless miles, you can safely fall into the category of \”crazy morning runner\”. You know them, you see them, you are them: we are the ones with headlights, neon vests, half opened eye lids and enough coffee in us to fuel a small rocket.

Most of us don\’t run with headphones at that time of the morning, for safety, so we have A LOT of time to think. Have you ever run more than three miles without headphones? I donā€™t love it. It allows me to have WAY too much time to think and my mind is like black hole with no end in sight.

While my endless thoughts just wonā€™t stop, every once in a while, I come up with some gems that I canā€™t help but share.

So, with that being said, I present you:

Internal Morning Running Thoughts

  • WHY am I up this early!?!?

  • When does the time change for it to be brighter earlier? (Then repeats ā€œspring forward fall backā€ and try to do math at 5am to what time it would actually be).

  • Passing the same house you did earlier but now they have lights on: ā€œOhhhh look whoā€™s awake now.ā€

  • Ā Seeing someoneā€™s garbage/recycle full to the top: ā€œDamn! did someone have a party?ā€

  • Ā When you see another runner like you crazy enough to give up sleep: ā€œDid we just become best friends?ā€

  • Ā Seeing a dark object that I canā€™t fully make out: ā€œIs that a human/dog/ wild animal.ā€

  • Ā When a car seems to be slowly coasting along past every house: ā€œWhat is that car doing? Iā€™m gonna break out my ninja movesā€”watch out!!!!! Oh itā€™s just paper delivery l, carry on.ā€

  • Ā Literally, every time I bump my pepper spray against myself: ā€œPlease donā€™t let me pepper spray myself.ā€

  • Ā Passing houses with lights on: ā€œDoesnā€™t anyone sleep around here!?!ā€

  • Ā When there is a mound of tree clippings taking up half the sidewalk or road: ā€œDo they have any trees left?!?ā€

  • Ā When anyone comes around a corner, otherwise of the street or basically into existence remotely near me: ā€œStay awayyyy!ā€

Ā I know I canā€™t be the only one to have these thoughts and Iā€™m sure that everyone has their own!

What are some of the thoughts you have?

Ā *Shelby Schmidt is a running coach certified by RRCA. You can follow her in Instagram at @runningschmidt, and read her blog at https://www.runningandschmidt.com/

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Keeping a Running Logbook

Keeping a Running Logbook

by | Aug 17, 2021 | Article, Opinion, Personal, Reflection

By Coach Adolfo Salgueiro

Maybe because I started running way before personal computers and the internet were ubiquitous. Or because I am a visual person. Or because I am just traditional. I like to keep track of my sporting activities in a written log. For years I handwrote in a 3-ring binder and, as the technology progressed, I set up a spreadsheet that has been constantly changing as I learned more about the wonders of MS Excel.

These days, with Garmin, Strava, TrainingPeaks, RunKeeper, and many, many more, you just forget about it, and someone keeps track for you. And they do so with more parameters than you will ever need, know what to do with, or care for. I do believe it is inevitable that any ā€œseriousā€ runner will end up with a GPS watch and an online account, and that is a good thing. But at the same time I believe that so much data, uploaded up there in the cloud, where you can access but small portions of it at a time, is not necessarily better. Yes, well into the 21st Century, I advocate for a written running log.

Running Logbook

World Record holder Eliud Kipchoge has been keeping a handwritten running log since he turned professional

Eliud Kipchoge, ā€”yes, that Eliud Kipchogeā€” has kept a had written, yearly running log since he became a professional runner. He records in every single workout as detailed as possible, also adding things and thoughts from outside the running world that may help his training. ā€œWhen you write, then you rememberā€, he says. If it works for Kipchoge, maybe you should give some thought.

There are multiple ways to keep track of your activity. You can do it by hand in an appointment book, a 3-ring binder, or a notebook. There are also a variety of journals on sale specifically designed for this purpose. In your computer you can develop an Excel sheet to track what is important to you, or you can just write in your entries in a Word (or equivalent) document. Google has spreadsheets and documents that are accessible in your desktop computer and phone. The options, these days, are limitless.

It is important to take your time to write or type something into your journal, purposefully, so you can internalize it, meditate on it, and visualize. Your GPS watch doesnā€™t record your thoughts.

Your entries can be arranged, based on the platform where you keep them: daily, weekly, or monthly. My personal preference is monthly because it allows me to review a bigger segment of my training in a single glance. Since I developed my Excel sheet, I have added weekly totals, monthly and yearly totals, pace average, heart rate, temperature, humidity, cross training, and much more.

Why do we keep track?

  • Because when we get in a rut (and you will), you can go back to when you were doing great and check what worked for you back then.

  • Because when you are training for your goal race you can glance your entire training without thumbing through hundreds of single entries in Strava or Garmin.

  • Because when you decide to change GPS watch brand, or want to change your online tracking platform, you wonā€™t lose the data in your account.

  • Because when you are looking for a specific piece of data you can flip a page or two instead of combing through thousands upon thousands of data entries that were not designed with your needs in mind.

  • Because you can store it by year, month or whatever parameter works for you so data will be easily accessible when you need to consult it.

  • Because it creates a spectacular database that will become your frame of reference to get you from where you are today to where you want to be, tomorrow.

Running Logbook

Handwritten logbooks or computer spreadsheets can become as elaborate or a simple as your individual needs.

If by any chance I have persuaded you to give a running log a try, start right away. Now! Write down date, mileage, time and specific, detailed notes of each workout. If you did a particular mobility exercise or weightlifting routine that made you feel good, write it down. If you ran with someone who helped you get the best out of your ability, write it down. If the temperature or humidity became a pro or a con on your run, write it down. If you started with a new pair of shoes, write it down. If you feel any parameters become key in every workout, start tracking them.

The key to the usefulness of your log is the quality and trustworthiness of the data. If you fail to do your entries after each training, if you donā€™t keep good notes on why it went great or why you bonked, if you are just guessing your mileage and time, if you are lying to yourself, if you misplace your logs in your home or computer; then you are better off not wasting your time.

Think of all the benefits Iā€™ve enumerated and check for yourself if they have any merits.

Ā 
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The Case for Urinals at Starting Lines

The Case for Urinals at Starting Lines

by | Aug 10, 2021 | Article, Opinion, Personal, Reflection

By Coach Adolfo Salgueiro

I visited The Netherlands for my birthday, a few years ago, and of course I looked for a race. I was going to be in The Hague, and God smiled at me with the Den Haag Marathon on the exact same weekend I planned to arrive. I ran the half. It was an unbelievable experience. The most beautiful course in one of the prettiest and quaintest cities Iā€™ve ever visited.

But one of the memories that has endured from my experience in the Den Haag race is kind of weird. The urinals at the starting area, which was in a public park. Yes, urinals. And not just at the starting line but also in many public places around town and as permanent structures throughout several cities in The Netherlands.

Urinals at starting lines

Public urinal in front of the Department of Justice in Den Haag, The Netherlands.

While waiting for the gun to go off at Den Haag, I saw these weird rigid plastic structures. They were on top of a square shaped base, maybe 4 feet to a side, about 7 feet tall, each side bisected with a wall, which created four ā€œcubiclesā€. Each space had a ā€œVā€ shaped opening at about 3 feet high at the innermost corner. They looked likeā€¦ No!!ā€¦ It canā€™t be!!!… But they were! They were urinals and weirdest of all, men were actually urinating in them, leaving the port-a-potty facilities for those males with ā€œbigger needsā€ and women.

As you may imagine, I did not take pictures of people using these artifacts, but I did take a picture of an exact one, at a later date, this one in a square surrounded by restaurants, bars and located right in front of the Department of Justice (See accompanying image). It was there 24/7 for people (men) visiting their favorite watering holes to ā€œtake care of businessā€ without resorting to the unsanitary and illegal option of going against the walls, cars, trees or bushes. Very pragmatic, like most Dutch solutions.

I know this may be a weird topic for this forum, but I assume we are all adults and we can discuss the issue with some degree of maturity. And, since every runner has at least a handful of port-a-potty horror stories during their racing career, I wanted to make the case in favor of the use of urinals for races in the United States.

THE MATH

Letā€™s set up a case study with a mid-size race of 3000 runners. Letā€™s assume a 50-50 split on the binary genders (1500 each). And letā€™s assume for this example the race director calculated a port-a-potty for each 75 participants, for a total of 40. If 75% of people use the facilities pre-race (2,250) and letā€™s say one third of them (563) are in line at any given time before the gun goes off, this means an average line of 19 people per door. Assuming an average time of 3 minutes per use, the average waiting time is 57 minutes per user. Weā€™ve all been there and if not, we havenā€™t raced enough.

Now, letā€™s say this same race director decides to be pragmatic and exchange just five traditional port-a-potties with 4-corner urinals placed at an appropriate location in the starting area. For this example letā€™s say 75% of the male users (844) are using the facilities only for urination. Then, the overall population of runners using the port-a-potties has been reduced from 2,250 to 1,406, which at 35 doors and the exact parameters of usage as before, the average runner will be waiting in line for 40 minutes. Does it sound like still a long wait? Iā€™ll take it. It is 30% shorter. It is a start.

Ā THE SOLUTION

Urinals at starting lines

There is a solution to this problem. Do we have the maturity to solve it?

I donā€™t assume to be speaking for all male runners, but I believe I am for a vast majority. Letā€™s face it, most of us at some point have found a tree, a bush or a wall to relieve ourselves while waiting at the starting area of a race. And while there, very likely have witnessed females crouching with their shorts half down doing the same and for the same reason as us. And letā€™s come clear here, there is nothing sexy or sexual about adults exposing themselves to take care of business before a race. I havenā€™t experienced the first sexual frenzy in such situation. So letā€™s grow up and find a solution. There is one and it has been in use in Europe for years.

A difference between the Dutch and the Americans is that the former are extremely pragmatic in the solutions to their public issues while the latter are still embarrassedly prudish with anything related to sexual organs, even if they are being used for purposes other than procreation or related fun-driven activities. While the municipality of Amsterdam installed urinals around the bar areas once they figured out a substantial percentage of drowned men in the canals were found drunk and with their fly open, in the USA we would face a ā€œToday Show exclusive investigation on the immorality of urinals in foot racesā€, reported by non-runners, despite the fact that it will ameliorate a big problem within this industry.

The use of port-a-potties is as part of a race as complaining of nagging injuries with your friends. None of them are going away anytime soon. There is a solution out there. Can we grow up and use it? Or are we to prudish to implement it?

Any thoughts?

Ā 
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The Power of Being Constant

The Power of Being Constant

by | Jul 6, 2021 | Guest Perspective, Opinion, Reflection

By Anthony Reed *

Editorā€™s Note:Ā  This is a posting from Mr. Reed in our RCAA Coaches Group. I requested, and obtained, his permission to repost it here. I believe it shows the power of remaining constant and relentlessly moving forward towards your lifetime goals and its compounding results.

Life-Long Goal Setting: Maintaining a three miles per day in average.

Ā 
Being Constant

The Great Wall Marathon, China (Photo courtesy of Anthony Reed)

Many runners focus on various goals, such as running 100 miles per month. Today (6/6/21), during a 15-mile run, I finally logged over 47,000 miles over 42 years.

Ā In 1976, I set a lifetime goal to average three miles of running per day as a way of avoiding insulin. My primary goal was to run about 90 miles/month and the secondary goal was at least 100 miles per month. Also, I only wanted to run only three or four days per week. Iā€™m a very firm believer in ā€œeverything in moderationā€.

Ā I was diagnosed as pre-diabetic in 1963 and was told that Iā€™d be on insulin by the 1970ā€™s. I started running as a way to avoid this prediction. In the mid-1970ā€™s, a co-worker lost his sight due to glaucoma, had his foot and leg amputated, and died to complications from diabetes. I donā€™t believe he was more than 50 years old. I was scared to death.

Ā Iā€™ve maintained a handwritten running journal since 1979. The detailed, monthly data is summarized in an Excel workbook. Hereā€™s a brief analysis of 509 months of running.

RUNNING DATA

Ā – Averaged 3.03 miles/day over 509 months.

Being Constant

Antarctica Marathon (Photo courtesy of Anthony Reed)

– Ran 5,359 days (34.6%) out of a possible 15,496 days. As a father and husband, I wanted to keep running simple, fun, flexible, and injury-free. Thus, I felt that running everyday would put undue pressure on me. So, I opted to run only 3 or 4 days a week.

Ā – I was not perfect. I failed to reach my primary monthly goal 40% of the time, including 29 months of not running a single mile. However, I never lost sight of my goal AND my reason for achieving it. I wanted to live past 50, keep my eyesight, not have any limbs amputated, and not be on insulin. The money saved from paying for insulin was used to travel around the world and finish marathons on seven continents (completed in 2007) and fifty States (completed in 2013).

Ā – Longest streak of reaching at least 100 miles per month was 21 months; from June 1985 through February 1987. Averaged 148.7 miles/month.

Ā – Longest streak of not reaching primary goal was 29 months; from August 1990 through December 1992. Averaged 60.74 miles/month.

Ā – Maximum miles in one month: 200.13 in January 1986 over 17 days of running.

RACING DATA

Ā – Fastest races: Marathon – 3:36:45 (1984); 20-Miler ā€“ 2:35:54 (1987); Half marathon ā€“ 1:34:11 (1985); 10K ā€“ 41:31 (1983) [BTW ā€“ These PBā€™s were run while weighing about 195 pounds at six feet tall, which wasnā€™t easy.]

Ā – Completed 226 races between 1979 and 2018 (averaged 5.3 races/year).

Ā – Averaged 2.3 marathons/year between 1982 and 2000. Only one marathon (Chicago) of my first 42 marathons was outside of Texas, which included 15 Cowtown Marathons (Ft. Worth) and 15 Dallas Marathons (formerly White Rock). You have an entire lifetime to run marathons, so take it easy on the racing, especially if you\’re just beginning.

Ā – Completed 131 marathons between 1982 and 2018 (averaged 3.5 marathons/year).

Ā – Longest monthly streak: 15 marathons between February 2012 and January 2013.

Ā By keeping focused on a lifetime AVERAGE, it took the stress off everyday living and goal setting. Next month, Iā€™ll turn 66 and am still not on insulin.

* Anthony Reed is the National Black Marathoners Association Co-Founder & Executive Director. He is the author of the book ā€œFrom the Road Race to the Rat Raceā€ which was published in September 2020.

Ā The National Black Marathonersā€™ Association (NBMA) is the country\’s oldest and largest, not-for-profit organization of Black American distance runners. It is open to everyone, regardless of athletic ability or previous marathon experience. Objectives are to:
Ā·Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā  Encourage Black Americans and others to pursue a healthy lifestyle through long distance running and walking.
Ā·Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā  Serve as a vehicle for Black American distance runners across the nation to meet in mass at a single marathon.
Ā·Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā  Recognize the accomplishments of Black American distance runners.
Ā·Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā  Provide scholarships to deserving high school boy and girl distance runners.

For more information about the National Black Marathonerā€™s Association, you can click here.

Ā 
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The Art and the Science of Coaching Runners

The Art and the Science of Coaching Runners

by | Jun 15, 2021 | Article, Coaching, Opinion

By Coach Adolfo Salgueiro

A few weeks ago I went for a run with one of my trainees. He brought a friend to join in. He knew how beneficial it had been for my trainee to follow a structured, individualized, and supervised training plan. He was very aware of my traineeā€™s progress during the months we worked together. So, as we ran, he picked my brain with a few poignant questions.

Coaching RunnersThere was one that caught my attention and kept me thinking for a few days. He was training for a 50-mile race, and he wanted to know: As a coach, what is the weekly mileage I recommend for someone wanting to complete his distance?

As you may imagine by now, there is one and only one answer for such a question: ā€œIt dependsā€.

It was then when I started enumerating the different variables that need to be considered before I answered such a question. There is a whole set of variables that needs to be pondered and expressed in a training plan before a goal may have a chance to be realized. These variables, among others and in no particular order, are:

* Goal ā€“ What is it that you are trying to achieve?
* Balance – There must be a reason why miles are prescribed. No junk miles.
* Rest ā€“ It is a much part of a training plan as a long run.
* Nutrition ā€“ Without being a dietitian, a coach must understand the basics of healthy eating.
* Speed work ā€“ has to be balanced between long runs and recovery days.
* Intensity ā€“ It is not about how fast but how hard you are pushing.
* Aerobic capacity ā€“ For runs over 800 mts, it is the basic measurement of endurance.
* Strength training ā€“ core and weight work are key to the success of a runner.
* Cross Training ā€“ It canā€™t be all running. Supplementary activities need to be performed.
* Hydration ā€“ Not only about avoiding dehydration but when and how much fluids to consume.
* Fueling ā€“ caloric intake that needs to be consumed for the body to complete the task efficiently.
* Race strategy ā€“ What will you do on race day with what you have worked so hard to obtain.
* Recovery ā€“ What to do once you are done with your training cycle, so you donā€™t burn out.

Coaching RunnersCombining all these and many more variables in a reasonable, achievable, and well-balanced plan, requires knowledge, preparation, and experience, both as a runner and as a coach. But even with all these elements, coaching runners is still not an exact science.

Each body reacts different to the same stimuli, and because life affect every runner in an individual way, it is imperative for a running coach to be openminded, flexible and willing to adjust as weeks go by. This canā€™t be achieved by cookie-cutter, generic plan downloaded from the internet.

Running a 10K, a half marathon or a marathon is not unachievable. Hundreds of thousands of people do it year in and year out. But as you look to achieve certain distance or time goals, if you want to get the best out of what you have and/or if you want to improve and test your limits, the guidance of a knowledgeable coach, one who can balance art and science, becomes more important, if not indispensable.

Ā 
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Tears and Running

Tears and Running

by | May 11, 2021 | Opinion, Personal, Reflection

By Coach Adolfo Salgueiro

Tears are the reflection of the extreme emotions of our lives. We shed them out of love when our kids are born but also when a loved one passes away. We shed them out of joy over a personal accomplishment or when we enjoy someone elseā€™s triumph, graduation or wedding; but also when we share our frustrations, failures, or broken hearts with those closest to us. Tears of joy are so ubiquitous that they even have their own emoji.

When it comes to running, it is no different. Why would it be?

Tears and Running

Crying on the last few meters of the 2022 Houston Marathon, 7 months after open-heart surgery.

When I was 17, I went to Kilometer 30 (Mile 19) of the 1982 Caracas Marathon, where my dad was going to run in a friend. What I experienced there was so overwhelming, that on a whim, I jumped in and ran the last 12 Km (about 7.5 miles) to the finishing area. The tears I witnessed, changed my life.

I saw grown-up men crying out of frustration when they could not run any longer and had to walk. I saw every type of emotion reflected in the faces and bodies of those I passed. And I saw tears of joy as runners approached the finish line with smiles covering their faces. I was hooked. I had to experience those extremes. I didnā€™t know when, but I knew that one day I would run a marathon myself. That day came sooner than later, when I finished my first marathon a few weeks later, but that is a story for another day.

If I teared up or cried during my first life as a runner, I honestly donā€™t remember. Maybe since I was still a teenager, I thought I was invincible, and running marathons in the 3:30 range, or better in the near future, would last forever. Who knows? My first knee operation, in 1986, gave me a reality check.

I was training for the 1986 Caracas Marathon, trying to approach the 3-hour mark, when I hit my knee and ended up under the knife just 6 weeks prior to the race. I cried out of frustration when I saw my two training partners finishing in 2:56 and 3:04. But that is life.

The first time I vividly remember crying while running, was as I crossed the finish line of the 2012 Philadelphia Marathon. It was my first marathon since December 1985. A 26-year hiatus. Since then, not only I had two left-knee surgeries, but after the one in 2004, at age 39, I asked the doctor if he thought I could ever complete another marathon. He told me, in no uncertain terms, to forget it. It was not going to happen.

So, as I approached the finish line through the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, on that cold November day in Philadelphia, as I was praying in thanks to God for giving me this remarkable opportunity, I started feeling a knot in my throat. Once I was able to distinguish the finish line in front of me, tears started running down my cheeks. When I hugged my wife a few yards after the end, I was openly sobbing. This feeling was beyond anything I could have ever imagined.

I have cried again on the asphalt. I did so at the finishing of the Den Haag Half marathon, my first running half after three years of racewalking. I also cried at the start of the New York City Marathon in 2017, still trying to grasp that I was there again after 32 years, ready to absorb the experience. I shed some tears at a small 5K in late 2019, my first competition after a heart procedure. And I hope I can cry some more, soon. It can only mean I am alive, overcoming obstacles and still running.

I would love to hear your crying-while-running-stories. You can share them in the comment section, below.

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