Running History 101: Why I Was a Lousy Runner in College.

Back in college, I was a four-year starter on our soccer team.  As you might imagine, training for college soccer included plenty of long distance running.  You might think that if I like running enough to start a blog about it, that I would not have had that much of a problem handling the running aspect of training.  But I did.  I struggled with it nearly every run.

Now you might be saying to yourself, "Soccer.  That's the kind of football that you have to run about six or seven miles per game.  That's the sport with no timeouts.  That's the kind of football that doesn't have twenty-five minutes of commercials after the kickoff."  (Uh-oh, my hatred of football americano is taking me on a dark tangent.  Reboot.  Reboot.)  Well, I had a few things in my favor.  First and most important, I was a goalie.  My training regiment was quite a bit different than the field players and the fact of the matter is I did not need the same VO2 max as the field players.  Second, in college soccer, there is an unlimited substitution, unlike club or professional soccer.  Anyone who needs a quick break can get one.  Third, while the struggle was real, it was not impossible.  The majority of runs I did finish, I just had a great deal of pain to go along with it.

Looking back, I can point to a number of reasons as to why I struggled, some of which were in my control, some of which were not.  Here is a list in no particular order.

1.  Technology, or a lack thereof.  My college years took place in the early eighties.  No smartphones.  No running watches.  No computer programs to access and analyze your running data.  No online forums about running.  No online forums.  No internet.  No computers.  I find that the ability to track and analyze my running data is one of the things that keeps me motivated.  Can I make it up "Acushnet Heartbreak Hill" or "Main Street Hill" faster than I did the day before?  What was my heart rate at the end of five miles?  And, to be perfectly geeky, I am fascinated by the online maps of your runs that your device can generate.  The only data that we could compute back then was approximate pace and time (taking a quick look at the library clock at the start and finish) and distance (getting in a car after a run and re-tracing the route).

2.  Footwear.  As a runner today, I am not only spoiled by the choices I have in running shoes, but I can also go to my local running store and get expert advice from a trained professional about the best type of shoe for my stride and training.  These shoes are able to cushion the runner's footstrike, thus minimizing the overall pain factor and chance for a running-related injury.  Back then, the majority of my footwear budget was focused solely on boots for the soccer pitch.  Running shoes were usually purchased from a bargain bin with absolutely no thought as to fit or comfort.  I would imagine that there were running stores around in the early eighties, however, I do not remember any of them in my area.  Even if I had an idea about running footwear, I am willing to bet that the price tag would have prevented a sale.

3.  "The psychology of short legs." My legs are short.  I walk kind of goofy.  My right foot points out at a slight angle.  Not really a huge deal......unless you think so.  I always figured this was my root problem, the angle and shape of my lower extremities would make any type of running difficult.  So difficult that giving up was sort of, well, expected.  This thought process stayed with me throughout my life; I was always looking for alternative methods of aerobic training.  When I did start running, I was extremely hesitant to run over 5k, thinking that the leg pain would be too much.  Think again.  With a good warmup and cool down, and some adjustments in stride, this was an easy hurdle to overcome.  And speaking of stride........

4.  Stride.  For the reasons mentioned above, my stride was pretty bad.  There was no one around to correct or even adjust it.  There was very little information around to educate myself about improving.  This is one area of running where trial and error just does not cut it.

5.  Stretching pre-run. I think this might have been conventional wisdom back in the early eighties.  Stretching before a run was the best way to warm up the muscles.  Well, we did this as a team, and it didn't work.  Clearly, a more dynamic, active warm-up would have made the body more ready for a run.  Interestingly, if we had games on back to back days, we would do an early morning dynamic warm up, and you could feel it help.

6.  Gear.  My college was based in Southern Maine, right along the coastline.  Our runs took place in the early morning before classes.  The weather varied greatly, and even if we did know what was coming, the gear we had access to was useless.  It was either cheap sweats, or goofy shorts for bottoms, and a windbreaker or a heavy t-shirt for a top.  Any way you played it, it was not comfortable or efficient and made for a grueling run.

7.  Nutrition.  I was in college.  Beer, Captain Crunch, and hot dogs were staples.  There really is not too much more to say here. 

I am glad it is all different today.  Sometimes I wonder what things would be like if I had the tech/swag/knowledge I have today with the twenty-year-old body I had then, but then I start running and calculating my pace, and I am just happy that at my age I can still run. 

My Birthday and a running anniversary

March 19th; not only the anniversary of my birth (57) but also the anniversary of my first half-marathon (1).  The New Bedford Half Marathon was run yesterday, evoking all kinds of strange emotions, so I thought today would be a good day to post an update on my recovery.

I am currently in a type of physical therapy called "work conditioning" or "work hardening."  It is considerably more involved than regular physical therapy.  A typical day consists of a warm-up of a twenty-five-minute treadmill walk, workouts on various weightlifting machines, picking up heavy boxes and either lifting them, lowering them, walking with them, or (in rare cases) dropping them.  There are also some other extras to confuse the muscles, such as climbing up and down stairs, pushing a small box of metal weights, and pushing a makeshift sled with a bunch of cinder block inside of it.  My therapist, Barbara, has a keen sense of trying to mix up the various disciplines to get the maximum effort out of the session and working toward a slow but steady progression.  Barbara is also an accomplished runner; she has qualified for the Boston Marathon this year and has run several marathons in the past.  It is good to know that I can ask her about my recovery "runner to runner."

I have not tried a training run yet; something of a fearful combination of not knowing if I can make a certain pace or distance, being caught under surveillance by the wonderful worker's comp insurance people, and flat out not having any goals to base my training on.  I am hopeful to be both back to work and on the roads again very soon.