Flatlined!

I would like to start off by confirming that I am not, in fact, dead.  This might come as a surprise if you are checking out any of my Garmin stats, especially my recent uploads that include heart rates.  (Still cursing Scott for convincing me that this was a good idea).  As expected, this has become my new obsession and I’ve been doing research and analysis on optimum heart rates for runners.  I also reformatted the display on my Garmin to make the heart rate more visible so I could monitor it more carefully during my run.  My first run with the heart rate monitor was on Monday, where I maxed out in the 170’s in what I thought was a casual, easy run.  After speaking with some friends and looking it up online, 170+ is a pretty fast rate and is normally only reached during harder efforts.  I got a little defensive about this and started looking up other Garmin users in my area to see what they maxed out at.  Apparently I live near some real machines that can bang out 6-7 min miles and never break 150bpm. This led me to the obvious conclusion: I’m going to die of heart failure at any moment.  In an effort to avoid being overdramatic, I feel it important to explain a couple possible factors.  1. This was a trail run, which is a harder effort than roads.  2. I was the only female during this trail run.  Not only was I working a little harder to keep up with some of the guys but, um… hello… I was surrounded by men!  That alone should cause a spike of 20-30bpm.  3.  It was a short run.  I wondered if after a few miles my heart would calm down, or if it would sustain that hard effort regardless of the distance.

Factoring in those three points into my analysis, I have revised my heart rate from Monday’s run:

175 average BPM – 5 (trail run) – 25 (surrounded by men) – 5 (short distance) = 140BPM.  Voila.  Genius!

I have this reoccurring dream.  Every morning I wake up, go to the bathroom, brush my teeth, jump into my running clothes, lace up my running shoes, and just as I’m strapping on my Garmin…the alarm goes off.  Then I hit snooze.  Then I wake up, go to the bathroom, brush my teeth…blah blah blah…and the alarm goes off again.  By the time I stop pressing snooze, it’s time to get ready for work.  This morning was different though!  I woke up, went to the bathroom, brushed my teeth, jumped into my running clothes, laced up my running shoes, attached my heart rate monitor, (awesome, I am definitely not dreaming if I’m attaching my heart rate monitor! I’m awake!), and just as I’m strapping on my Garmin…the alarm went off.  UGH.  Apparently my reoccurring dream is evolving.  Finally, I managed to actually, really, truly wake up and do all of the above steps.  Ugh, I feel like I’ve done this 5 times already this morning.  However, when I fired up the Garmin I got the dreaded message: Low Battery Power.  What? Noooooooooooo!  How did this happen?  Oh please tell me I’m dreaming.  I won’t press snooze this time, I promise! 

Unfortunately I wasn’t dreaming, and I was kicking myself for hitting snooze so much this morning.  If I had given myself more time, I could have charged up the Garmin for a few minutes.  Since I cut it so short however, my only choice was to soldier on and get whatever life I could out of the battery.  I was only going for a four mile run so I hoped the Garmin would make it for the next 35 minutes or so.  I started my run very slowly, carefully monitoring my heart rate.  My goal was to keep it under 170.  I wanted to see how hard I could run before it reached 170.  So I just plodded along at a nice casual pace on a beautiful, sunny Friday morning.  My new obsession with this heart rate monitor is putting crazy thoughts into my head.  I was wondering what it would look like if I just dropped dead while running.  I have a vision of someone finding me, hours later, wondering what happened.  Then, a savvy detective who doubles as an avid runner would spot the Garmin, upload it, and see my stats.  This savvy detective would not only trace my starting location, but he would see my exact performance leading up to my collapse.  I thought of what the heart rate scale would look like: 167..168…169….170.…..171………Flatline.  This morbid thought for some reason struck me as hysterical, and I giggled and snorted my way down the street.  (I wonder how much laughing while running impacts heart rates?) 

At the one mile mark my Garmin chirped, and for the first time I didn’t even glance down to see my split time.  My new obsession has shifted my focus so far off my pace that it’s not even important anymore.  Getting to work on time is, however, a consideration so I made sure I wasn’t shuffling along too slowly.  After another minute or so I glanced down to make sure I was still in a comfortable zone, and I was struck with sheer panic.  The Garmin display was blank.  Empty.  Gonzo.  That’s it.  I croaked.  Bit the dust.  Kicked the bucket.  Flatlined.  My heart has stopped beating and any second now I will collapse.  Luckily it only took a millisecond for me to remember that it was only my Garmin battery that was dying, not my actual body, and I settled down.  I can only imagine what my pulse jumped up to at that brief moment.  I’m lucky I didn’t put myself into cardiac arrest!  Maybe I need to calm down a bit with this heart rate obsession.  I’m making myself crazy.

The rest of the run was fun and uneventful, and I managed to get by just fine without tracking my time, pace, or heart rate.  My only real disappointment was I didn’t get to see how my heart held up over the longer distance, but hey… there’s plenty more opportunities for that!

And for the record, my reoccurring dream isn’t so bad.  I also had a dream shortly before waking up that I snuck into my neighbor’s outhouse while they weren’t home.  (No idea why my neighbors had an outhouse in my dream, or why I would have a desire to use it while they weren’t home).  Then the outhouse started to flood and I was up to my knees, so I quickly jumped out of the outhouse, only to find that the neighbors had pulled into the driveway along with a bunch of other cars, and they caught me sneaking out of their outhouse.  So, in the grand scheme of reoccurring dreams, strapping on a heart rate monitor isn’t too awful.  As long as it doesn’t evolve into flatlining. 

Pressure-free running

My miscellaneous activities have continued over the last few days, due in part to my hip, the weather, and a mysterious new toothache.  This is also the first time in a long time that I haven’t had a race train for.  My next half marathon isn’t until October, and until then I just have some 5 mile trail races and a couple 10k’s over the summer.  Without a need to build up long distance miles, I find myself in this unusual position of pressure-free running.  In some respects it’s a nice feeling, but in others it worries me that I might become a little unfocused.  So, while I continue to log a small handful of miles a week, I’ve focused on finding other things to keep me interested and motivated.

The weather has played a big factor in outdoor activities over the last few days.  It’s been pretty soggy and cool in New England, but that didn’t stop us from taking the horses out on Saturday.  We brought the horses over to the Upton State Forest for a nice ride.  We were pretty lucky to get in most of our ride without substantial rain, although the wet leaves on the trees still got us pretty damp.  The horses really seemed to enjoy the cooler temperatures (maybe a little too much) but on the way back we got caught in some pretty steady showers, and we didn’t waste any time getting out of the rain.  Well, actually we wasted a little bit of time taking this picture.

Later on Saturday I was supposed to meet up with Kerri for a run, but at the last minute she had to change plans.  Since it was rainy and dark I had little-to-no motivation to run solo, so I was pretty content to lounge around and nap in the afternoon.  Eventually I talked my mother into going to the Milford bike path with me, where she biked while I ran alongside her.  This worked out pretty well because she had been looking forward to biking, and I had to work fairly hard to keep up with her.  As a bonus, because it was lousy weather there were very few people on the bike path so we didn’t need to worry about navigating around a lot of people (or getting mugged).

Mom on the bike

It rained very heavily Saturday night and it was just far too wet on Sunday to ride the horses, so instead I was able to connect with Kerri for a run.  I had mentioned the bike path to Kerri and she wanted to try it out, so I met her there for a run in the rain.  I really enjoy running in the rain, and I’m not the only one it seems, because I saw a fair number of other runners out on the roads dodging puddles.  Kerri and I had a great run at a nice casual pace, and went further down the path into Hopkinton.  Our run was just over 6 miles, and by the end I was getting tired. 



Milford natives on the bike path



I took full advantage of the fact I had run 6 miles, and spent most of the rest of the day just lounging around the house.  Later that evening, I ended up going for a little bike ride with Mom in the trails around the house.  It was a very casual pace (i.e. I could have run it faster) but it was nice to get out.

After my active weekend I would gladly have taken Monday off from running, but thanks to our Monday night pond run with the running club, I had motivation to lace up.  Running this trail on Monday nights has become a regular routine of mine, and I look forward to running with other girls from the club.  This time, however, I was the only girl.  I was a little surprised at the low turnout since the weather ended up being fairly decent but it was still a fun run.   I was actually really excited about running because of my new gadget.  When I bought my Garmin last year, it came with a heart rate monitor.  This heart rate monitor has remained in the box that it came in for the last year.  I had little interest in monitoring my heart rate, and the strap kind of freaked me out, so I thought just tracking my miles would be enough.  Over time I became more interested in tracking pace, and finally just a couple months ago I learned how to track my individual mile splits.  Now, with a little encouragement from my dorky friend Scott, I have accepted the fact it’s time to take a look at my heart rate.  The way Scott explained it to me is that if I’m only looking at the pace and distance, I’m only seeing the “output”.  If I really want to see how hard I’m working, I need to look at the “input” (i.e. how hard my heart is pumping at a certain level of effort).  This could of course become a slippery slope for me, since I have a tendency to overanalyze things and I’m a bit of a numbers person.  After reading the directions I strapped the monitor on and tested it out.  Just walking down the stairs my heart went from 59 to 68.  Yup, this is going to become my new obsession.  I noticed for most of the Hopedale pond run my heart was in the 170’s.  Now of course I have to research that to see if that’s a reasonable level.  I think this will come in very handy when logging long slow miles, as it will prevent me from working too hard.  I’m considering wearing this thing everywhere now: Watching the Bruins game, at work, commuting.  After the club run I took a swing through Dairy Queen to get ice creams for the family, where my pulse was back to a comfortable 64.  It seems that even without a race to prepare for in the immediate future, I still have something to motivate me.  Yup, obsessed.

My first club run, and the marvels of technology

Yesterday I found out why being in a running club is so cool.  I originally started running about two years ago and after building up some endurance and learning some tips from Kerri, I primarily ran solo.  I always enjoyed the solitude as it gave me some much needed “me time” and was an endless source of sightseeing, daydreaming, and occasional mind games.  For a good six months now, I’ve been running regularly with my awesome lunch runners at work, and I genuinely look forward to having company out on the roads.

                Last fall I decided to join a running club for a few reasons.  I wanted to meet other runners, gain some good insight, and have a reason to stay motivated.  Late fall was probably the wrong time of year to join a running club, because there wasn’t a whole lot of activity over the winter months.  But as the weather got better I started attending some of the races, the last few member meetings, and I’ve done some volunteer work.  As I suspected all along, runners are a great group of people.  Everyone is so friendly and we all share a common interest.  No need to talk about the weather, because there’s never a shortage of conversation when you pull a bunch of runners together!  (Although we do, occasionally, talk about the weather.  But only as it relates to running!)  My club, the Tri-Valley Front Runners, holds a fun run every Monday night and last night was my first time attending.   What a blast!  I made quick friends with a couple girls and we had lots of fun trotting the 3 mile loop together while chit chatting.  At the end of the loop I was tempted to run again, but decided against it since I had already run 4 miles at lunch.  I felt that 7 was enough for one day, considering my aching hip.  I’m hoping next Monday I can get 2 loops in though, because I’m really going to need to pack a lot of miles into next week with my half marathon coming up.  And make no mistake about it, I will be back next Monday! The girls already made me promise to come back, and I’m not about to break a promise to my new club pals!

                On the hip front, I’m starting to become an unruly patient.  I know that logically I should be resting and giving it a chance to heal, but the goal-oriented runner inside me is pushing for higher mileage.  This dichotomy is further complicated because my MRI has still not been scheduled.  I called the doctor’s office today to see what the holdup was, and apparently my insurance company has not approved the procedure.  It infuriates me that despite what a doctor orders, the insurance company that I’m required to pay for can refuse to cover tests.  I’m hoping it will get approved soon, but in the meantime it has turned me into a bit of a renegade.  For example, the following thought flowed through my brain repeatedly today, “Oh, my hip isn’t bad enough to qualify for an MRI?  FINE!  I’ll just run until my leg rips off!  How’s THAT!?”  Yeah, I’m sure that’ll show them.  So, today on my lunch run I did a solo 3.6 mile run at home, and for the first time in a couple weeks I inched my pace up to race pace (actually a little faster).  The first mile was slow, but the second was 8:36 and the third at 8:22.  I was happy to be moving out and testing my breathing a bit.  It was nice to feel like I was working hard but not feeling depleted.  If I didn’t feel like my leg was going to fall out of my hip, it would have been a perfect run.  When I got back home I stood in front of my garden checking out my plants for a minute before walking into the house, and when I went to move I couldn’t seem to get my leg moving.  I’m sure my temper tantrum induced lunch run was not what the doctor ordered and contributed to my prolonged pain but as I’ve said, I’m becoming a bit unruly.  This isn’t, of course, the first dumb thing I’ve ever done.  Once I had a stress fracture in my foot and the doctor said absolutely no running for a minimum of 6 weeks.  I tried negotiating with him since Hyannis was in 6 weeks.  He wouldn’t budge, and told me Hyannis was absolutely not going to happen.  So, four and a half weeks later I was back on the road and made it to Hyannis.  I really showed him!!  Of course, my foot has never been the same and threatens me every time I start to increase mileage too aggressively.  Maybe it’s a blessing that the MRI hasn’t been scheduled yet since I might be facing the same fate on a larger scale, since I have a half marathon just two weeks away.

                In other news, I’m starting to become much more tech-savvy.  In fact, after a full year of owning my Garmin Forerunner 305, I have now learned how to put the data online to share with people.  It was actually very complicated.  I had to:

1.       Go to the Garmin website

2.       Click “upload”

You can see how this was confusing.  Once I mastered this skill, I started putting some of my routes into Google maps.  Unfortunately, until about a week ago I didn’t know how to record mile splits on the Garmin.  I was only able to get averages for the entire distance.  When I told Hiroshi this, he told me I had to change the settings.  So, after exhaustive research I learned how to update the setting to record splits:

1.       Go to Settings

2.       Press Auto Lap – 1 mile

Voila!  Now I have splits.  So, some of my newest routes have individual mile data, and the older ones from my rookie days (like, anything prior to last week), only have averages for the entire run.  I have been rather lazy about bringing my Garmin running with me lately, especially for well known routes that I have the mileage memorized, but the ability to analyze individual splits is just too tempting to pass up!  That Garmin is going everywhere with me from now on!  I’m seriously considering using it for other activities.  For example, I could compare my pace through the soup aisle at the grocery store against my pace down the ice cream aisle.  Meat aisle versus seafood counter.  Dunkin Donuts drive-thru’s.  The possibilities are endless! 

Now that I have access to this magical technology, I wanted to share a couple of my routes.  Click on the links to see what I’ve been up to the last couple days!

Hopedale Pond Run

Today’s lunch run

See?  Magic!

The G's of running

If you’ve been in the running world long enough, you’re bound to see a pattern.  It seems as though the whole sport revolves around the letter G.  From the time you hear: Ready, Set, GO!, the letter G is inserting itself in every aspect of the sport.  Today I’m focusing on the four main categories of G: Gear, Gadgets, Gels/GU’s, and GI.

Gear:

Gear is a huge topic in the world of running, and everyone has an opinion on what not to wear.  Run long enough and you’ll see why investing in the right shoe is so critical.  Run even longer and you’ll never run in a cotton sock again.  Once you become a running sock connoisseur, you’ll be combing the internet for the best deals on running socks, searching with keywords such as synthetic, seamless, cushioning, breathable, and so forth.  Gear is trendy.  Gear is addictive.  To a runner, the promise or even mild implication that this “newest, most advanced, best version yet” might possibly shave a second or two off a race pace is impossible to resist. 

A few days ago at work, Jaimee exited the locker room wearing knee high compression socks.  After dropping dead from laughter, I asked what prompted her to start running in compression socks.  In a very factual tone she responded that in her recent half marathon (in which she kicked butt, by the way) she noticed that “everyone” that passed her was wearing compression socks, so the only logical conclusion was that compression socks make people run faster.  Of course, she probably didn’t notice if they were all wearing bright yellow B.A.A. singlets, or if possibly they were demonstrating a successful negative split technique, but once she latched onto the idea that compression socks were the magic bullet, there was no stopping her.  I have to admit, she looks kind of adorable.

Of course now that she’s wearing the compression socks, I had to do some research to see if there is any scientific correlation between compression socks and increased performance.  After combing through tons of articles, to summarize: it depends who you ask.  Everyone can seem to agree that there is scientific merit in terms of re-oxygenating blood throughout the legs more efficiently and preventing blood from pooling in the legs.  After all, these socks were originally designed for people with conditions such as poor circulation, diabetes, and deep vein thrombosis.  What’s not clear is if the socks offer any sort of benefit while running.  Wearing these socks while running seems to be a matter of personal choice, with factors like: Am I cool enough to pull this off?  Do I like the warm, enveloping, snuggly feeling of knee highs?  Will I get too warm?  Am I okay with everyone staring at me?  What does seem to be a little clearer is that there is a benefit to wearing them after a long run, particularly when traveling.  (For example, driving a long distance or flying home after a marathon).  As far as Jaimee’s personal critique, she is officially won over by her new gear and swears it makes her leg muscles feel great.

Another controversial gear topic involves the dichotomy of shoes vs. barefoot.  I’m a huge fan of running shoes.  I like them with squishy gel, ultra breathable, and with enough support to provide some stability without being clunky.  My dear friend Todd believes shoes are society’s way of confining our freedom of movement, with our poor soles imprisoned in a cell of rubber.  In Todd’s defense, he’s from New Hampshire.  He takes the whole “Live Free or Die” slogan very seriously.  (He won’t even put a leash on his dog because he doesn’t want her to feel that level of imprisonment).  Instead, Todd wears minimalist footwear like Vibram Five Fingers to provide some protection to the bottom of his feet while giving him optimal freedom.  When he made this switch to Vibrams he had to modify his gait, and he is still currently recovering from an IT band injury and continually trying to reform his posture.  In my opinion, the only difference between his barefoot running and everyone else is that we have cleaner feet after a run.  Again though, running with this gear is a personal choice: Am I cool enough to pull this off?  Do I like the feeling of individually wrapped toes?  Am I okay with everyone staring at me?

Gadgets:

Gadgets, a sub-category of gear, are also impossible for runners to resist.  Whether it’s an iPod, a Nike+, or a Garmin (another G!) runners are always looking for the next piece of technology that’s going to push their performance into elite status.  I admit I have an iPod (although I don’t use it very often), and used to track my mileage with a Nike+ before I discovered the Garmin.  I’m currently sporting a Garmin Forerunner 305 watch, which is roughly the size of a laptop on my wrist.  I’m a little embarrassed to say I have very little working knowledge of this device, other than to track mileage, pace, elevation, and then see my route in Google (G!) Earth.  My pal Scott is a total gizmo geek and has a Garmin Forerunner 450.  His blog posts are full of all sorts of stats including laps, pace, cadence, and heart beats.  I’m kind of hoping I don’t evolve into that.  Although, just today Garmin announced their newest version, the Forerunner 610, which is Garmin’s first touch screen GPS for runners.  Sigh.  Now I want one.

Gels/GU’s:

Ever wonder why GU rhymes with “Ewww”?  I’ll tell you.  Because: It.  Is.  AWFUL!  I have yet to find an energy gel that I can slide past my esophagus, which is becoming a real problem as I log longer and longer distances.  I’m always on the lookout for some alternative, and the most recent Runner’s World had an article on this very subject.  There was a homemade recipe for Gatorade (G!) which I tried.  It was awful.  They also suggest using little jelly packets you get at the diner in place of energy gels.  Tastier, I’m sure, but not very practical.  It would require me carrying a knife, butter, a piece of toast, and a newspaper.  Jaimee let me try one of her special all natural GU’s, which was slightly better but still barely edible.  I’m going to keep searching in hopes of finding something I won’t gag (G!) on, but in the meantime I think I’ll start carrying Gatorade on my long runs.  Fortunately they just came out with a whole “G Series” for the various stages of performance.  (Clearly the makers of Gatorade understand the significance of the letter G).  

GI:

The irritated gastrointestinal tract has plagued many a long distance runner, and everyone knows that I am no exception there.  I’m in a constant worry about what I can eat hours or a day before I run, and often even with careful planning I still end up with miserable cramping.  I don’t have a great solution yet, but I’m continuously adding to my list of danger foods.  This list contains: popcorn, corn, brussel sprouts, red onions, Kashi cereal, tuna, goldfish crackers, anything spicy, and sardines.  I have also found that my best chance of avoiding a stomach catastrophe is to eat a small dinner the night before a run, and very little breakfast in the morning.  I know I need a certain amount of fuel in order to perform well, but my stomach prefers to be as empty as possible when running.  It’s a constant game I play of finding just the right balance.  It’s also a constant topic of conversation on our lunch run, as inevitably I am asked if I need to poop.  (This only happens when Todd runs with us).

This blog post was brought to you by the letter G.  (C’mon, how could I resist…)