Dear Fall Marathon: It’s Not You. It’s Me.

Based on some of the responses I got from my Rut post last week, it seems I’m not the only runner-in-training who’s in a bit of a funk right now.

Which got me thinking about the downsides of training for a fall marathon.

Sure, spring marathons have their own winter training challenges: ice, snow, polar vortexes, to name a few.

But training in the summer brings its own special sort of hell.

1. Heat. I know there are people who dream of running Badwater. I’m not one of them. I can barely stand to sit by a pool in the heat, let alone do something to raise my VO2 max threshold.

2. Humidity. Even worse than the heat. Truly. Lately, I may as well have been running on a treadmill in a steam room. While smoking.

3. Schedule. It’s been many moons since I last sat in a classroom, but there is still a part of me that sees “Summer” and wants to take a vacation from everything “Schedule.” Even if your training schedule is as half-assed as mine, it is still a schedule. Screw schedules. I want to be a Grasshopper in the summer, not an Ant.

4. Exhaustion. Summer training kills my sleep. If I want to get a solid run in on a weekday, I’m out the door as the raccoons are heading off to bed. I like to get up early, but there is a difference between getting up early and having coffee in bed vs. getting up early and doing intervals. No rest for the weary during summer marathon training.

5. Social Life. Because I have to be careful of what I eat and drink so I don’t puke on my hot, humid run at dawn, marathon training sure does put a damper in those Summer Nights. No midnight margaritas on the deck the night before a tempo run. If you have my stomach, there is also no: beer, wine, Mexican food, pizza, dairy, salad, anything spicy, or anything that ever touched a vegetable or fruit. I can stomach pancakes or scrambled eggs the night before a long or intense run. With water. Not exactly standard fare at summer soirees.

6. Chafing. When it is cool, I have an idea of where you will chafe, and can glide up properly before you head out. All bets are off when it is hot and humid. I can glide the hell out of every area that touches a waistband, bra strap, pocket – you name it – only to find (when I hop in the shower – Youch!)  that there was a random seam on my singlet that got soaked with sweat and chafed my shoulder blade. I developed a chafing rash on my sockline a few weeks ago. WTF? Short of gliding my entire damn body and slip-sliding all 19 miles, summer long runs are hard lessons in the odd places one can chafe.

7. Sandals. I’m not vain, but I also don’t like scaring people. Which is why I hate baring my marathon training feet to the world. Honest truth: every time I go to my local nail salon, they send a guy over. Apparently, my feet are a man’s job. (???) Nothing worse than putting on a cute pair of sandals and realizing that beneath the dainty straps, all you can see are callouses, healing blisters and missing toenails. At least in winter, no one knows what lurks beneath my Uggs.

8. Dehydration. I am either dehydrated, or recovering from being dehydrated, or worried about being dehydrated. All. The. Damn. Time. I am sick of carrying a water bottle everywhere I go. I am tired of Gatorade. I don’t want to add chia seeds to everything. I don’t want to check the color of my pee. I am still a little confused by salt pills. I want a beer. I want more beer.

9. Outdoor time. In the winter, running gives me a good reason to head outdoors. What other excuse do I have for getting some fresh air and Vitamin D when it is 8 degrees? In the summer I have lots of reasons to be outdoors, many of which involve shade, a cool drink and a book. I don’t need the lure of a 3 hour run through the rainforest to motivate me to leave my house.

10. Performance Depression. No matter how hard I run, how much water I drink, how well I fuel, if I look at my pace on my Garmin, I know I will not be impressed. I know, I know – training is more about effort than pace. Even Hanson says so. BUT, there’s something a little thankless about running your heart out only to find that you actually are moving at a snail’s pace.Almost backwards at times. Say what you will about cold temps, but they at least make you zippy.

Two of my bucket list marathons – New York and Chicago – are in the Fall, so I’m probably not done with the fall marathon yet. And the truth is, the fall is a GREAT time to race.

I just wish the summer was a good time to train.

How do you feel about training in the summer? The winter? Ever? Which races are on your bucket list?

MacGyver Would Have Made a Great Distance Runner

Courtesy of Celebremix

 

For all you young’uns out there, MacGyver was a 1980’s action-adventure TV character who was known for his ability to craft anything out of anything to solve his problems. As Wikipedia says, “Resourceful and possessed of an encyclopedic knowledge of the physical sciences, he solves complex problems with everyday materials he finds at hand, along with his ever-present duct tape and Swiss Army knife.” The Urban Dictionary defines a macgyver as “someone who can jump start a truck with a cactus.”

You get the picture.

I love tapping into my inner MacGyver and remember one vacation where we realized that our 8 month old needed his mobile (left at home, of course) to fall asleep, so I Macgyver’ed one out of a ceiling fan, a belt, a coat hanger and some stuffed animals.

Of course, that was my first kid. If it were my 3rd, I would have tossed “Go the F*ck to Sleep” at him and left the room. But I digress.

Distance runners channel their inner MacGyvers a lot. In fact, the first sports bra was actually 2 jock straps sewn together by Lisa Lindahl, Polly Smith, and Hinda Schreiber in 1977. Thus was born the “JogBra.” True Fact. Store it away in case you’re ever on Jeopardy.

If you look around any race, you’ll see all sorts of creative ways runners try to keep hair back, keep injuries at bay, avoid chafing, prevent blisters, stay hydrated…you name a runner’s ailment and someone, somewhere has figured out a creative way to address it.

When I complained about my painful callouses on my toes, my triathlete friend Laurie showed me this super-special way she laces her sneaks so that her feet stay firmly in place but her toes have plenty of room to move around. She competed in the Ironman World Championships, so she knows blisters and callouses. And when she hands out advice, I take copious notes. And pictures.

Laced up sneaks – Laurie Style

I haven’t tried it yet and my change in running shoes is doing the trick so far, but I have a feeling I’ll be lacing up “Laurie Style” by the time the real heat of the summer sets in.

My big find last week were the Band Aid Blister bandages. No, not for blisters. MacGyver wouldn’t use them for blisters. Too obvious. Last week I discovered that they work beautifully for those adorable love bites that sports bras leave in hot & sticky weather.

After the Heartbreak Hill half, the band on my sports bra attacked the skin on my back to the point where it was bleeding. Thanks to the heat & humidity, I think the Glide I applied melted off before we even started the race. So I finished a killer half and my quads, hamstrings, calves and even feet felt fine. Great, even. But I needed to take recovery days because there was no way I could get a sports bra on without popping a Vicodin first. Ridiculous.

By Wednesday, I was itchy to run again, so covered the wound with a non-stick steri pad with a bandaid over it. No good. It was rainy and the water soaked through the bandaid and steri pad, leaving me YELPING by the end of my run.

Thursday I was a little gun shy about running again, but then noticed my box of Bandaid Blister pads left over from a battle I lost with a pair of borrowed boots in our March Snowshoe Race. Threw one over the wound and headed out for another rainy run. Worked like a charm! The sticky part of those bandaids forms a seal, so no moisture gets in to the wound. Plus, they are padded and filled with a gel that protects against pressure discomfort. Finally, you can leave them on for days, to let the wound heal underneath while you keep it dry and protected. Love them and am buying more boxes. Can’t wait to see what else they are good for.

What are your MacGyver running tips?

And for the love of God, does anyone have a sports bra that doesn’t bite in humid weather?

Summertime Blues

It’s no secret that Colby and I are not exactly fans of running in the heat. But since summer is almost here and there are lots of hot-weather runs and races for us in the near future, we have fully accepted that we are just going to have to suck it up. Sigh.

Gearing up for the hot & sticky running season ahead, I thought I’d write down some of my favorite tips for running in the heat. If you can’t beat ’em, join ‘em…

1. Wear light clothes. And I don’t just mean lightweight, I mean light in color, too. Dark clothes absorb heat. Loose fitting clothes will feel cooler than tight ones, as well. Save the black compression shorts for when it is cooler.

2. Avoid cotton like the plague. Look for fabrics that wick unless you want a hot, soggy mess stuck to your skin for the duration of your run. And a nice case of road rash afterward.

3. Speaking of which, loose-fitting tech clothes – though way better than plain old cotton in the wicking department – do not possess magical powers, and will still get damp, especially along the seams. Since wearing wet clothes is an invitation to chafing and road rash, be sure to use Glide on any skin that touches the seams, waistlines, etc. of your clothes. I always get “bitten” on my back by the waistline of my shorts even with Glide – I can only imagine how bad it would be without it. Yowza.

4. Wear a visor. Or a loose fitting, breathable hat. Keeping the sun from beating directly on to your face will make a world of difference in your comfort level.

5. Wear sunscreen. Running with a sunburn will only make you feel worse, both during and after the run.

6. When you are sweating a lot, water alone isn’t enough to keep you safely hydrated. Make sure you switch up plain water with a drink that contains sodium and electrolytes. Your stomach may not like this. Be sure to experiment with different drinks (or gels or chews) before race day.

7. Hydrate before you head out for a run – drink a glass of water before you head out the door. If you have a race coming up, be sure to start hydrating with extra water, coconut water and/or sports drinks a few days before the race. Lots of juicy fruits and vegetables, chia seeds and some salty foods in addition to water in the days before a race or long run will help keep you hydrated.

8. Hydrate while you run. Be sure to bring water with you if there is no water available on your route. Camelback bags, hydration belts, handheld water bottle holders – there are plenty of options for carrying water with you while you run, including the old school option of just carrying a water bottle in your hand. Colby shared a great idea with me a few years ago –she stashes water bottles along her route before she heads out for a long run, so she has a fresh supply at regular intervals. I usually put them in friends’ mailboxes that happen to be on my route, so I can easily swap out the empty bottles for the full ones. If your stomach tolerates it well, add in a sports drink at some point during a long run or race. I can’t drinks sports drinks during a long run or race, but do just fine with coconut water.

9. Hydrate after you run. Sense a theme here? Hydration – it’s a Good Thing. Make sure you switch up plain water with a drink (or food, chew or gel) that also contains electrolytes and salt – especially if, like me, you have limited stomach tolerance for drinking sports drinks before and while running. If it sounds like you basically have to hook yourself up to an IV for the summer – well, that’s about right, if you plan on doing a lot of running outside.

10. If you are racing, focus on running smart, not fast. If you take the few seconds to stop at water stations for a drink or two, you will probably finish the race faster, not slower. And you will feel a heck of a lot better at the end. A race in the heat is not the time to try for a PR.

11. On the subject of wet clothes…lots of hot weather races have sprinkler stations. While running through cold water can be instantly refreshing, tread lightly when it comes to the sprinkler station. Running afterward in wet clothes may make you feel worse and give you a rash and/or blisters. Probably best to hit a sprinkler station toward the end of the race, so you aren’t running for long in soaking wet clothes and shoes.

12. Putting a coldpack or running cold water on the inside of your wrists is a great way to cool down quickly after a run. And it feels great.

Anyone else have some good hot-weather running tips? Let me know. It’s a blissful mid-60’s/low 70’s here in CT this week, but we’re not fooled – we know it’s not gonna last for long….