Archive for April, 2009

My Cross (Training) to Bear

For once, I’ve done everything correctly in my rehab. I took three weeks off from running. The pain is gone in my right leg and I can do every physical activity comfortably – except run. My ankle is still stiff during a run and sore afterwards.

Age is definitely a factor… OK, I’m 50, which is not exactly dead, but yesterday I pulled a muscle in my right arm putting my pants on. It’s enough to make you give up pants. There aren’t too many other explanations for why it should take four to six weeks for tendinitis to dissipate, except my rubber bands are stretched pretty thin.

So, from being a runner with a little cross-training thrown in, I’ve become a cross-trainer with a little bit of running thrown in. Instead of reducing my splits, I’m increasing the distance and intensity on non-weight-bearing cardio-apparatuses (apparati? apparatusimus? appareo decet nihil munditia?).

Here’s how it’s gone:

April 16 – 20 minutes at level 3 on the elliptical (starting slow to avoid destroying my calves again).

April 17 – 30 minutes at level 3 on the stationary bike, 7.5 miles.

April 18 – 1.75 mile run at an 8:58 pace.

April 19 – 4 mile walk.

April 20 – 30 minutes at level 4 on the bike, 8.1 miles.

April 22 – 1.75 mile run at an 8:27 pace.

Today – 30 minutes at level 4 on the elliptical, 6.6 miles.

My running pace suggests the cross-training is keeping me fit (even if endurance is already out the window), but more importantly it has cured my unscheduled taper madness. I got my heart rate up to 175 on the elliptical, so I’m pretty sure my body is getting the message.

But it’s funny. I started running to get into shape, but now being in shape is not enough. I get pangs when I see people running down my street. I stare longingly at race brochures.

I always thought getting all deep about running was an affectation. Now I’m not so sure. Now I want to run because I need to run.

The Carnival of Running #26 – Boston Marathon Edition

Welcome to the 26th edition of The Carnival of Running!

If you have ever run a marathon, you know how you feel afterwards. Now imagine delaying your food, water, massage and ice while some clown who doesn’t know your name waits for his microphone to work:

Of course, if you’re an elite runner at Boston there are a number of ways to console yourself.

One indication of just how tough Boston is: both of last year’s winners ended up in the hospital this year.

Losing was so painful, some folks simply printed the results of last year’s race.

I might be able to huff and puff my way through the Boston Marathon, but tweeting would be out of the question.

Olympic 10k bronze medalist Shalane Flanagan finished second in the BAA Invitational Mile at Boston and thinks she may move up to the marathon next year.

The Boston Globe has a gallery of photos of people who wore costumes during the race.

As a former historian, it’s hard for me to believe that some people don’t know what Patriots Day commemorates.

Local newspapers really got behind their Boston Marathon qualifiers, from Hawaii all the way to Kamloops.

Something you might want to frame – the elevation chart for the marathon route (you’ll recognize Heartbreak Hill when you see it).

I was far from the only one who thought Universal Sports’ coverage stunk on toast. The residents of LetsRun.com chimed in, and if you read all of their live thread you’ll get a better sense of how frustrating it was.

Some people don’t realize how lucky they were.

Bill Rodgers showed he’s a better runner than prognosticator.

Who cares about running? Here’s a five-part series on the best Boston Marathon pubs.

You might think that writing funny articles about running is easy, but this guy proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that not everyone can do it.

And Jimmy Fallon was hilarious, too. “The 113th Boston Marathon was run today. People train all year to get up early, drink beer and yell at runners.”. Was that really the best he could come up with?

Running along with Kara… on a treadmill.

DC Rainmaker scores with an excellent Boston expo report.

As you might expect, there’s always at least one dissenting voice.

Marathon Mama paced a friend to a monster PR.

Finally, our enthusiastic congratulations to copia verborum, The Running Laminator, Frayed Laces, Bill, Jennifer, and anyone I missed who completed Boston. Great job, one and all.

That’s all for this time, friends. It’s back to regular spring running. Submit your posts to carnival@runningisfunny.com. Now run away!

Goucher to Run London on Sunday?! UPDATED

Coach Salazar says it’s a long shot, but the slow pace of the women’s race doesn’t make it completely out of the question. What do you think? Has she lost her mind because she came up just nine seconds short, or could she do it?

UPDATE: On second thought, never mind.

Why Is Boston Marathon Coverage So Awful?

The Boston Marathon is the most prestigious distance race on the planet, and this year – after some 24 years of futility – American runners had legitimate chances to win in both the men’s and women’s divisions.

National television coverage of the race has bounced from Versus to ESPN to nothing in the last three years, forcing enthusiasts to watch the 2009 running on the Universal Sports web site.

The race itself was well worth watching, particularly the women’s side, as Kara Goucher could not hold her lead over the last mile and finished third. Ryan Hall surged at the end to also finish third after being dropped with about 7 miles to go. I assume Universal was piggybacking on local coverage of the race, but it was very difficult to watch the constant split screens within a tiny viewer.

The visuals were acceptable, but the commentary was not. With all the running talent available, why, why, why do we have to endure Al Trautwig and Larry Rawson again?

Here’s what you missed:

* Rawson telling viewers that wheelchair champion Ernst van Dyk had a “genital defect” instead of a “congenital defect.”

* Rawson asking Trautwig to guess what runner Daniel Rono did while in the city for the New York Marathon, and Trautwig replying, “Sat in traffic?”

* Trautwig and Rawson arguing about cherry blossoms during the latter stages of the women’s race.

* Trautwig several times trumpeting the Ethiopian sweep of the men’s and women’s races, despite the fact that a Kenyan won the women’s race.

* Trautwig and Rawson paying little attention to the plight of second-place women’s finisher Dire Tune, who had to be placed on a stretcher at the end of the race.

Covering marathons is a challenge. It goes on for more than two hours without many dramatic moments, requiring quite a bit of time-filling commentary. This leads to lots of soliloquys about the Ethiopian economy, the wind direction through Boston, and other extraneous stuff. Even so, the coverage failed to provide some basic information, like WHAT MILE ARE THEY ON? A graphic of the elapsed time for both the men’s and women’s races was smart, but without any indication of where the runners were – except for fleeting glimpses of kilometer markers – the time wasn’t very useful.

A marathon will never be a TV ratings bonanza, so if we’re stuck with live video streams, let’s experiment with no commentators and additional graphics, or commentators actually in the pack with the runners, or spectator Twitter reports from various locations (“Kara Goucher threw her GU pack at me!”). Anything to shake things up.

Kicking the Running Shoe Industry

Christopher McDougall is looking to shake a few cages at Nike, Brooks and elsewhere. Read the short version of his thesis here, but it’s well worth your time to peruse the long version here, even if you never intend to run a marathon barefoot or wearing “thin leather slippers.”

Nike Naked Running Camp

This is going viral even as I write, so take a look (warning: bare bottoms):

Hat tip: The Biz Runner.

Flap Jack Is Looking for Love

I introduced you to Flap Jack a couple of weeks ago, and now they’ve posted a new interview with him, in which he bares his longing for a companion:

RunOregon: What is really important to you, Flapjack?

Flapjack: Eating! And now my second love is running. But deep down though I have to admit that I am always looking for that Ms. Right. Maybe a hot young Scone or Muffin that I could make mini flapjacks with.

He is running the Eugene 5k today and hoping for no breeze, because “my physique isn’t built to fight the wind.”