Running is a brutal and beautiful sport. It’s hard to keep in mind that great moments rarely come without intermittent failures, that the pleasure of a race well run is never without the painful slog of miles, and that PRs are typically interspersed with mostly mediocre races. Happy to share my personal experiences with the sport and how I view certain experiences along the overall spectrum.
Brutality -> BEAUTY
The despair of week 8, 9, etc., of what appears to be a never ending injury
Watching the squad leave for the meet without you
Losing to a rival
The first step you take knowing your injured
Dropping out, and the torment of whether you should have kept going
Pre-race nerves
33 degrees and raining
The fear and uncertainty that remains at Mile 20
Being forced to miss a run as a neurotic person
The semesters you have early classes and have to workout on your own
The lingering, but manageable existence of plantar fascitis
Continual fatigue and just wanting to nap
The bore of a 24 mile long run
Post-work runs in the dark
Losing to a friend, and running poorly yourself
When you first realize that your heroes were cheating
Having to do the “little things”
The third-to-last interval
Muddying up your brand new running shoes
The part of the two weeks off when you really want to run again
Forgetting your shoes
Your last race for the high-school / college team
The satisfaction of the last day of practice before summer
Discovering a new route
The unspoken connection between the squad during a workout
Watching a friend run an incredible race
A firm foam roller
Hitting your exact goal mileage
A fresh pair of shoes
The dream of running a mile on an automatic sidewalk
A cool jug of chocolate milk
The summer mileage tan
Exploring a new city by foot
The excitement of the first day of practice
When you and your best friend both run a PR
The last few miles of a marathon, and knowing “you’ve got this”
Two weeks off
The wonder and awe you feel for the sport as a young runner
Pasta nights with the team
Running camp
The ability to “eat whatever you want”
Receiving anything running related for free
Running in the rain, and deciding you don’t care about being wet
Geeking out for the Olympics
The cool down after a great workout
Single-track trails through the woods
Recovery runs with the crew
Post-season parties and celebrations
Your first sub – 6:00 / 5:30 / 5:00 / 4:30 / 4:00 mile (we can dream)
Your first sub – 3:00 / 2:45 / 2:30 / 2:20 / 2:15 marathon (we can dream)
How many “sick days” does your running program allow?
Why do we allow ourselves a sick day from work, to recover and treat ourselves well, but fail to do the same during our training programs and other life endeavors?
I get 9 sick days per year at work, hence…hence! by the same logic (albeit very loose), given that my average training cycle is 4 months, I should receive at least 3 sick days per marathon cycle! At least! GIVE EM TO ME!
Take your sick days, because whether you just really don’t feel well physically, or you don’t feel fired up enough emotionally, some days aren’t worth pushing through. You may have some great opportunity to travel at an odd time, have a presentation at work, or want to subject yourself to Coachella. Allow yourself these days to enjoy those experiences and to not obsess about the mileage! On my latest trip to Edinburgh, when I only had 8 total hours of daylight, I decided only to run 13 miles instead of my prescribed 22. Sick day 1 is gone for me, and while I “only” ran 92 miles that week instead of 100+, I enjoyed exploring the city and felt like I used the most of my vacation and daylight! In all honesty, I still count the week as a 100 mile equivalent, but either way, that’s what I needed on that day to feel like a happy human being. In Paris, I just didn’t wanna. Didn’t wanna deal with the traffic, the rain, and the French pedestrians (baguettes everywhere), so I let myself off with a sickie. Let’s be honest, this sport is about making yourself feel miserable for a good portion of the time, there’s no way around that, but there’s also a line, as a semi-pro / amateur athlete, where the sport bleeds into your personal and professional life and, if toxic, begins to affect your quality of life. While I’ve discussed the ways in which we may want to integrate these lives, we want life as a runner, professional, and friend to be as seamless and intrusive-less as possible.
Allocate these days at the start of your training program and give yourself the permission to take them all. You can even write in your normal mileage, and allocate an “SD” for Sick Day next to the number (you know, for accounting purposes), or don’t, but give yourself the reward and potential placebo benefits of writing the “run” in your log. Then, instead of running, treat yourself well and recover even more.
There’s a time and a place for grinding it out, but there’s absolutely a time for treating yourself well, and 3 days out of a 120 day program, especially when allocated towards days that are supposed to be “recovery” days, will definitely not break your performance.
The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain! And…on the streets of Barcelona at the Mijta Marato de Barcelona!
Spain has treated me well these past 3 months. My girlfriend, Gigi, and I had already planned a week away in Barcelona, Paris, and Dublin, so as I had mentioned previously, I took the opportunity to try to test myself at a half marathon in Barcelona. I showed up in downtown Barcelona at 5:00pm the night before the race, straight from the airport, and sat, with a great sense of unbelonging, as the race directors casually informed us that the pacer would go through 10k in 28:30. The director, who seemed to be seeking some sense of approval, asked, “That’s good?”, in broken English, before dismissing us all. I proceeded to pick up a complimentary t-shirt assuming that this would be the only thing I would truly walk away with that weekend.
To my complete surprise, I walked away with new PR of 1:04:58 and a newfound sense of confusion and wonder, much like Colonel Hugh Pickering and Eliza Doolittle do in My Fair Lady after Eliza overcomes her thick English accent. While I lost by over 5 minutes, I couldn’t help but think that while I was not yet a king, I had managed to convince the running aristocracy that I could pass as at least the Dutchess that Eliza desired to emulate. Colonel Pickering would indeed be proud. I knew I had a 65:00 in me as much as I knew I had the sub-2:19 in me last November, but to dip under the barrier, this weekend, was a bit of a surprise given my ~67:00 PR, the last four 100+ mile weeks worth of marathon training, and a less than adequate taper. My surprise is outlined below through both a previously unseen (by myself) and potentially misinterpreted two-minute long scene from My Fair Lady (thanks Gigi):
Young Austin’s real-time race day reactions:
Start – 10k -> This is going well so far (0s – 34s of the below video)
10k – 15k -> 30:45 through 10k….let’s just do this again (35s – 42s)
15k – 20k -> I think I’ve got this! (43s – 52s)
20k – 20.75k -> Somehow under a time crunch, is this course long? (Whatever chaos is going on prior to this video)
20.75k – 21.0975k -> Had to sprint for that sub 65:00, but I got it!! (53s – 1:56)
Immediately after the race -> Well, that happened, woohoo! (1:57 and beyond)
What went well:
Low expectations: I believe there is HUGE power in having minimal expectations. I capitalized from the benefits of this in Barcelona, and experienced the benefits of truly having zero expectations in past races as well (Texas Relays 3200 in 2009 thank you). I went into this race with the goal of setting a PR, which was either 67:00 if you count the split I ran through the middle of the 2016 US 25k championships, or 68:24 if you count my official finish time at the hilly Ealing Half Marathon. For someone with a 2:18:05 marathon best, this goal seemed attainable, and while I was nervous, I viewed the race as simply a great opportunity to lower my mark and test myself at a challenging phase in the training cycle. Anything else was a bonus! Going forward, I’m going to try to see if I can use this type of psychology considering I have already run the 2020 US Olympic Trials marathon standard, and really have nothing to lose as long as I gain experience along the way.
Mental Self-Talk: I remember distinctly what was going through my head at various points in the race, which is a good sign that I’m improving in my ability to control my own thoughts through the hardest phases of long races. With three miles to go I went through a half mile portion where I repeated “re-dem-ption” along with my footsteps. Dramatic much? Yes…but I viewed this as my change to “qualify” for the 2016 trials, in post. In 2016, after a year or more off from serious training, I trained for 5 months for the Houston Marathon and made a serious attempt USATF lowered the standard to 2:19. While I ran 2:21:38 in my debut, my comrades, friends, and former training partners ran incredible sub 65:00 performances to qualify for the trials, leaving me to always wonder whether “what if.” While it was incredible to watch those guys battle the heat in LA that year, I knew I had to prove that I belonged at that distance.
Focus: While I’m now strongly convinced a half marathon is a bit too short for my meditation theory, I was able to practice this skill through the mid portions of the race. The pace felt quick, and the race really isn’t that long, but I did a great job of settling into, and sharing the pace with three other guys who finished in sub 65:00. I was able to focus on each footstep, and making sure I was simply floating my way through each mile. Occasionally, I would reassess and attempt to run, e.g., the next two minutes without any effort in an attempt to relax my breathing, control my stride, and make sure I wasn’t putting in any unnecessary strain.
Conclusion
After 4 weeks down post Valencia, and a series of 6 truly high mileage weeks [86, 91, 105, 105, 105, 78], I am very happy with where I am! The mental work will continue to take a high priority, as will the nutrition, sleep, strength, and recovery. With 9 total weeks, 6 of them being challenging (1 recovery week and 2 weeks of tapering), the scale of training seems increasingly attainable. Continuing to have fun and experiment with semi-profession running life and fully professional work life is a massive priority of mine. I have a quick trip to San Sebastian to look forward to in 3 weeks, a wedding in New Orleans, and am hoping to schedule a quick trip to Belgium on the Eurostar.
The Iceman, Wim Hof came into my home, through the internet. I’d seen Wim Hof, a Dutchman known for his ability to withstand extreme cold, on a tv show in either high school or college and afterwards in the below Vice documentary. While I hadn’t considered the potential for application to my own life and running, more and more I’ve heard him quoted on interviews and podcasts, and while he sounds, well, slightly crazy sometimes, he truly believes in his practices, as do thousands of others. Some of these people featured in the video appear to be high as a kite, but who am I to judge at this point!
Who is Wim Hof?
While my English teachers look on in dismay, I continue by quoting Wikipedia:
“Hof holds 26 world records, including for longest ice bath. In 2007 he climbed to 6.7 kilometres (22,000 ft) altitude at Mount Everest wearing nothing but shorts and shoes, but failed to reach the summit due to a recurring foot injury. In 2008 he broke his previous world record by staying immersed in ice for 1 hour, 13 minutes and 48 seconds at Guinness World Records 2008.The night before, he performed the feat on the Today Show.
In February 2009 Hof reached the top of Mount Kilimanjaro wearing shorts within two days. Hof completed a full marathon…above the arctic circle in Finland, in temperatures close to −20 °C (−4 °F). Dressed in nothing but shorts, Hof finished in 5 hours and 25 minutes. The challenge was filmed by Firecrackerfilms, who make productions for BBC, Channel 4 and National Geographic.
In 2010 Hof again broke the ice endurance record by standing fully immersed in ice for 1 hour and 44 minutes in Tokyo.
In 2011 Hof broke the ice endurance record twice, in Inzell in February and in New York City in November, setting a new Guinness World Record of 1 hour, 52 minutes, and 42 seconds. In September, Hof ran a full marathon in the Namib Desert without water, under the supervision of Dr. Thijs Eijsvogels.”
In 2014, a study was performed showing that Wim and a number of participants, after weeks of training, were able to activate the nervous system and immune response, typically considered an autonomic process and not within our control.
This study is what led me to believe that whatever Wim was preaching was at least worthy of delving into further. Even the slightest ability control the autonomic nervous system and stress response associated with marathon running could be huge in maintaining control during a race! Hell, maybe even just improving the ever depressed immune system of a long distance runner could stave off the constant possibility of an illness developing before raceday. I almost always get sick within the three weeks of a marathon! Typically, I drop my mileage and, BAM!, wake up a few days later with a head-cold and have a mini-nervous breakdown as a result. Prior to Valencia, I was convinced a stuffy nose would derail the race, but luckily woke up on race day with clear sinuses.
What I also find hopeful is the idea of restarting my ice bath (cold shower) tradition, which is absolutely miserable, and may in fact just make us tougher human beings all around. I’ve seen some tough dudes wince at the suggestion of plunging even a foot into an ice bath, and toughness in marathon running is something that you absolutely need! Most societies today benefit from a myriad of new-age creature comforts, including air conditioning and central heat. I understand that there are way to many in this world who are not fortunate enough to benefit from these luxuries, but could living in our modern, regulated society be making us mentally weak?
Anything to help support a runner’s immune system or mental toughness is worth trying, in my opinion, so I dove head in…
An Intro to the Wim Hof Method
While the method in itself borders on the edge of spiritual, the tenants of the Wim Hof method are as below, and what I take away from each of these activities is they are intended to develop the ability to control your body:
Breath work
Ice Baths
Meditation
Breath work:
Warning: Do not perform these activities while driving, in or near water, or near polar bears. Seriously, I am not a doctor, am not prescribing this work, and do not advise this if you have a serious medical condition.
The Wim Hof breath work is really a glorified form of controlled hyperventilation. Deep breath in, partial breath out, deep breath in, partial breath out (x about 40 breaths), which oxygenates the blood, followed by a breath hold as long as you can and then an additional large inhale and great old for 10-15 seconds. I’m not a scientist, but from what I understand, low CO2 levels associated with hyperventilation increase the oxygen saturation in hemoglobin in the blood, while decreasing oxygen levels in the tissues themselves. This oxygenation of the blood, and the resulting decrease in acidity, is what Wim Hof claims is the goal. While I know that oxygen and CO2 levels are critical for maintaining homeostasis during distance running, there are a dozen other variables in this hyperventilation exercise and within distance running physiology that I DON’T understand. I can hypothesize about the benefits of potentially improving hemoglobin’s capacity to retain oxygen or hold your breath, but then there’s the matter of releasing it into the tissues, arterial pressure, and whether higher PH acidity is even beneficial for the body. In the end, this speculation is beyond what I’m willing to make from a scientific perspective, and not much research is available online.
What I think is interesting about breathing in general, however, is that the science is either complex beyond basic understanding, or within the realm of mysticism. Where’s the real practical middle ground? If you’re talking about breathing, you’re most likely either a PHD or a wizard, a scientist or a sorcerer. Wim Hof gives off that mystic kind of vibe too, but I think he sits closer to the middle of the spectrum than most due to the science that provides some support his methods. Maybe the study doesn’t hold up, but what I do know is that humans do not understand a large swath of the reality of the universe, and that includes how the human body works, so I’m going on faith that something here ties into the natural world because that’s what Young Hippocrates is all about! I mean, have you seen those people in that video! Holy shit!
Ice Baths:
Ice baths, cold showers, dread!
While I haven’t taken an ice bath in years, just the memory of peering into the icy waters back in college makes me cringe. Maybe I’m just not as tough as I used to be, so I decided I would start taking the cold showers as prescribed by the Wim Hoff Method in order to, at bare minimum, improve my mental strength.
Wim suggests building up to a point where you can take an ice cold shower for 5-10 minutes. I started at 15 seconds on, 15 seconds off for 2 -3 minutes at the very end of the shower and worked my way up to taking showers 30 second – 1 minute intervals. Where I’ve noticed the most improvement is in managing the initial “shock factor” of the first slap of cold water, which invokes that gasp reflex and an instinct to hyperventilate (hmmm). This reflex has largely disappeared, and I’m now able to breath in a smoother and more controlled fashion throughout the shower. Afterwards, I’ll admit that I feel pretty fucking amazing, and I do think it’s working on calming my nerves to the “shock” in general, and potentially improving my ability to control myself, physically and emotionally, during times of extreme stress.
Is there any application to running? Does your ability to withstand cold exposure improve mental toughness or your last 6 mile drive? I guess you could argue that, by the same logic, if we asked someone to punch us in the stomach over and over it might make us tougher too, which might well be true! However, cold exposure does have solid science to back it up, which I can’t say for getting punched in the stomach on a daily basis!
On top of what I hope is an improvement in overall levels of raw mental toughness, studies also show inverse correlations between cold exposure and levels of depression. How spectacular! Dr. Rhonda Patrick describes in a 20-page paper the benefits of cold shock as hormesis (improved health as a result of a low grade stressor), which increases norepinephrine, lowers inflammation, and potentially increases the body’s number of immune cells and mitochondria.
While more studies ultimately need to be done on ice baths and cold exposure, the benefits look reasonably promising. I’ll also admittedly commit a logical fallacy in saying that Tony Robbins, the man, begins every day with a plunge into a cold pool, so it’s probably legit. I’ll take even the weakest form of reasoning!
I’m going to continue working towards lengthy cold showers because I’m stinky and gonna be showering anyway! I feel good afterwards, so what’s to lose in the end. I can already sense an improvement in my ability to retain control during the stressful event of the cold shower, so maybe this will translate into improved control in running, or just better health in general.
Conclusion
While I don’t think I need to go into my view on the benefits of meditation, the third component of the Wim Hoff method, I admit that I haven’t finished his course. If there are any particularly interesting insights, I will absolutely share these!
While there is some science to support the benefits of taking an cold shower on a daily basis, and the study supporting improved immunity and autonomic control is incredibly interesting, am I going to be able to be able to fully replicate this, in my home, to the extent that I feel confident enough to inject myself with a bacteria like those participants did? Maybe not. What I take most from the Wim Hoff method most is that this might be a reasonable way to practice pushing both the body and the mind to their extremes. Marathoning is in itself an extreme push beyond a person’s comfort zone, so I view the use of the Wim Hoff Method as a challenge worthy of undertaking.
Is it possible that pushing our ability to withstand the pain of cold temperatures (within reason) improves our ability to withstand the pain in a marathon? Yes, so I’mma take that shower. Can learning to expand and control our breathing both in the cold and out have a positive impact our ability to retain control during the most unknown portions of the race? Yes, I’mma practice controlling my breath in the cold shower and out. I think it’s plausible that in combination, this may actually improve our nervous system and immunity, so I’m forging ahead. Keep on Wim, keep on.
