Calling all Serious Runners!  That’s you.  We want to know what motivates you to run?  What is your favorite race distance?  How often do you run?  We would like to invited you to participate in Running USA’s 2009 National Runner Survey, a comprehensive survey to assess the demographics, lifestyle, attitudes, habits, and product preferences of the running population nationwide.  Running USA is a non-profit organization for the running industry.  Their mission is to advance the growth and success of the running industry in America.  I’ve used Running USA’s statistics and resources numerous times to learn more about what runners want and where the running industry is moving.  Running USA provides this great service for free so please help them gather the data.  Runners helping runners, it’s a beautiful thing.  Who knows?  You’re answers could change the face of the running industry for years to come!

The National Runner Survey is easy and avaiable online.  All responses are completely anonymous and confidential, so there is no reason to fudge your PRs!  Finally.  Help out your fellow runners and take this survey.  Thank you, and tell’em SeriousRunning.com sent ya. ; )

I run with my shirt off.  You’re welcome ladies.  I run shirtless any chance I get; 55 degrees is about my threshold.  As you can see from this picture though, I’m shirtless and the spectators are in heavy coats and knitted caps.  It probably was less than 55 degrees that day.  I recently read a blog, Feet Meet Street, about the Shirtless Coalition.  Well, I’m not one to join too many Coalitions, unless of course it’s Coalition Forces (or better known as US Forces) and freeing a country is involved, but the shirtless debate struck a chord with me.  So I’m here to tell you, if you are male, it’s fine.  I do it all the time.  Sorry ladies, but it’s just another one of those double standard things.  Trust me, I would love for you to be able to run shirtless too, it’s great for your running body; however, it’s just not socially acceptable.  Maybe someday we’ll get enough judges in the supreme court to overturn this terrible law, but until then, us men must maximize our right to run shirtless!  We will run shirtless at any chance we get.  So come on men!  Show your body off with pride!  You earned it, whether by running 20 miles or drinking 20 beers, it’s your body and be proud of it!  Do it for the women!  That’s not reason enough?  Well then here are some other reasons to run shirtless:

Running Style: I feel so free when I run shirtless.  I’m able to run in the most natural form possible; minus the whole shorts and shoes thing.  Honestly though, running without a shirt does allow me to concentrate more on the arm pumping portion of my running form.  Most runners ignore the importance of pumping your arms.  If you have forgotten how to pump your arms then I suggest you run shirtless.

Temperature: It’s obviously much cooler (yeah, there’s a double meaning there) to run with your shirt off.  Your body is able to release the heat and cool itself down easier.  Running shirtless is also a great way to leverage the breeze.  That’s right, I leverage things you can’t even see.  Like a boss.

Suntan: You get a great suntan in places you wouldn’t normally tan while out on the golf course or building a house; you know, things men do.  Women are able to sit outside by a pool all day and get an even tan but that is not a socially acceptable way for a man to tan his upper body.  The only acceptable activities for men are running or boating…or running on a boat, that’s acceptable too.  Run that extra mile and get sunburned so you can see what areas of your body you need to work on.  The areas that are most burnt are the ones that stick out the most.  Try to push those areas back in.

Positive Ego boosting: No matter what you look like, girls are going to look at you.  Don’t look at what their reaction is, just know they are looking at you.  That’s how you boost an ego.  At the beginning of this spring I had a very good looking girl take my picture with her camera phone as I ran by shirtless.  However, I later noticed she was standing in front of a High School…with a book bag.  Ego boost or awkward?  Well, I’ve never had an awkward moment in my life.

Overall Fitness: If you are running with your shirt off you are going to start thinking about what your overall body looks like, not just keeping your weight down with running.  Running with your shirt off will make you realize that you need to work on those pecs and maybe do some crunches, leading to an overall fit body.  It’s all about symmetry.

Go for a shirtless run men!  Show your battle scars and lower back tattoo off with pride!

This is a post from my friend Tim Hatton who was inspired by this blog to begin running.  I’ve always said, ‘if we inspire at least one person to start running, then we’ve succeeded.’   I guess I can go home now.  From Hatton:

I am the first to admit that my first perception of running was “it’s boring” and “painful”. My approach to running was something like this: I have not run in a while let’s test how far I can go, as fast as I can go. After that distance is determined I’ll just try to go as hard and go a farther distance. So having done little to no running (or activity for that matter) I went out determined to run as fast a mile I could. The results: a 7 minute mile with a dash of right knee and shin pain, but overall decent results, I thought. Having gone basically to the end of the street and back in a flash, I felt active again. I told most of the people I saw over the next few days about how I was going to be running more often, change my lazy ways. I think we have all reached that point of feeling fat, dumb, and lazy – it is no way to go through life.

The reality: I went running maybe two to three more times before my knee started to seriously hurt and I called it quits. I just wasn’t cut out for running, I justified to myself and others that I had impress just weeks early with my new found (renewed) motivation. The sports I have been into – lacrosse and hockey (yes, just hockey, when you grow up in Connecticut you don’t have to call it ice hockey) – just hadn’t prepared my body for running longer distances consistently. And that is where I put running in my mind – maybe not so much as boring anymore as I enjoyed getting to know the neighborhood a little closer, at a slower speed than driving (more about that later) BUT definitely still painful.

Enter Amanda. Amanda is my cute, little girlfriend, who runs. And she runs quite well. She is capable of maintaining her speediness over long distances, quite impressive (3:52:12 Chicago Marathon). Distances in my mind never achievable for me because of my knee problems, probably the result of a slash I took during the Tennessee game my senior year at Georgia playing lacrosse, which sidelined me for the second half despite my self-medicating 5 Advil. Anyhow, back to how Amanda fits in. She was a cross country runner in high school and college and explains to me the pain I am experiencing is because I am not building up properly. What? In hockey and lacrosse you just sprint as fast as you can for short spurts, then as you feel needles in your lungs you go to the bench for subs. And while I did get shin splints during pre-season training they eventually subsided as we played more games and quit with the stupid two-mile lake runs, around UGA rec field.

Getting back to the build-up. The reason, she explained, was that I was going to hard, stressing muscles and joints that had not been properly trained. She explained it like this – if you want to bench press 250 pounds (pounds, baby! – Jerky Boys) you do not get on the bench and man up 250 lbs on your first, gym head-turning grunt, you build up slowly. First, try 150 ten times (pantzy) and then slowly add weight. Ok, that makes sense. Go slow, build up, slowly add more weight, ah, distance to your routine.

So I started to try that. I ran two miles, a couple of times the first week. Then I ran 3 miles the second and third, and completed a 5k in 24:36. A few months later of consistently adding miles and soon I will be running a 10K with a goal of 45 minutes.

Here are the best ways to recon your running race course, utilizing my military training with running experiences, to help you do the most effective route reconnaissance.  There are four types of recons:  map, ground, foot, and aerial.  Sorry Rocket Man, but capital probably limits you from doing the aerial type of recon so we’ll just stick to the map, ground, and foot recons.  The foot recon is the most preferred method but map and ground recons can be fine substitutes.  If you listen to me you’ll have the best information possible going into the race, Private First Class Runner.

Map Recon: These days there are numerous sources on the Internet to find any type of map.  When I was deployed to Iraq we would even surf google maps to see if there were any bad guys cruising around the streets.  Not really Grandma.  Seriously though, first you need to get a map of the race course from the race website.  These courses are very well drawn out with street names although some smaller races may only have directions in text.  If this is the case, then go to google maps and print off the area your race runs in.  Then take a highlighter and draw out your course.  Isn’t it fun to make crafts!  If you want to mark the distance on your paper map, take out a pieces of string along the route and compare this to the scale at the bottom of the map to measure your distances.  Or you can just got to mapmyrun.com and do it on the computer.  That’s all that website is good for though.  Come back to seriousrunning.com for all things running…minus mapping capabilities.  It’ll come.  Do beware though, the distances on these mapping programs are not very accurate.

Ground Recon: Get a course map and hop in the car to drive the race route.  Make sure you start a new trip on the odometer so you know your distance.  Point out your the easily identifiable landmarks to give you an idea of where exactly you are while running the course.  While racing you always want to maintain situational awareness.  Always know where you are and your estimated time on target.  As you are driving, visual how you will be feeling and what will be going through your head at certain points along the route.  Utilizing this recon technique at night doesn’t make much sense unless you have night vision goggles…or live in Alaska.

Foot Recon: Find out the race course and go for a run.  Try doing it by yourself.  Don’t race it.  Take it easy.  Take is slow to see everything around you.  Focus on what you will be feeling at which points.  Notice all of the hills that you will have to run up.  Notice of all the downhills you can pick up some time on.  Think about the other runners.  Where will they probably be tired?  This is where you want to make your move.  Make sure you don’t put your move point too far from the finish.  You want to be able to make your move earlier than the other runners and sustain it.  The best way to learn is through experience.  Get some ORT, On the Route Training.  The Army is into the whole “acronym” thing.

See you on the objective!

One of my friends from the Army was telling me that he is running a marathon this weekend and his goal is to run it in under 5 hours.  Sometimes I forget that there is a whole group of runners out there who’s only goal is to finish the race.  That’s not a bad goal to have, a marathon is a difficult endeavor and not everyone can do it.  Here are some tips for running a successful marathon.  Just remember, it’s not how fast you run, it’s how you finish the race.  A smile and still standing is optimal.

Hydration is probably the most important factor to running a successful marathon (assuming you’ve trained and have the right mental frame of mind going into it).  It is important to start hydrating for a race about a week prior to the event.  Try to alternate between Gatorade and water in order to get the right amount of electrolytes.  It is possible to over-hydrate so don’t put down more water than your body needs.  Only drink water and Gatorade the week before the race and don’t drink anything that will dehydrate.  You can concentrate on dehydrating when are ready to celebrate your accomplishment.

In addition to increasing your hydration intake, you need to load up on carbs.  Doesn’t that sound fun?  You also need to try to get some protein in there.  I typically pay attention to this about 36 hours prior to the race.  I feel like any earlier than that and you use the energy doing other things and the nutrients pass through your body by race day.  But then again I eat spaghetti every night anyways so its tough to tell.  Some nights if I’m in a hurry I eat a can of Spaghetti O’s instead.  I love’em.

Make sure you get in the right frame of mind as you’re toeing the line.  You want to be mentally prepared for your race so think about all the training you have done.  Think about how you are ready to run it.  Imagine how it will feel crossing the finish line and seeing your family or friends.  Think about having to tell them “I didn’t reach my goal” or “I had to walk.”  You’ve got to tap into both positive and negative reinforcement to achieve your goals.  I once dated someone who always told me I was awesome and it got to the point where I thought it was counter-productive.  If I’m already awesome, then why do I have to work hard to become awesomener?  I’m fine with awesome.

You need to have a good race day breakfast.  It needs to be something that has carbohydrates but nothing too extreme that may upset your stomach.  I typically have a couple of plain bagels.  Try out a couple of different breakfast items before your long runs during training and see what feels best for you.  No matter what the type of food it is, you need to have some energy in your body for the start of the race.

Try not to run out too fast.  I wasn’t sure if I should mention this though.  Many races I have gone out a little faster than I had planned but it worked out for the best.  Yes, my first couple of miles may be faster than mile 20 and 21 but it sets a good tone for the race.  It’s puts you in position to have a great time or you can ease off a bit and run what you imagined you would.  However, just don’t get too excited and over extend yourself to the point that you are tired and negative for the remainder of the race.  I did this in the first marathon I ran, first half in 1:30, the second half 2:15.  I didn’t enjoy the second half as much even though it was in the Hollywood area instead of Inglewood.  I lived in Inglewood.

Develop some mantras to keep you occupied and motivate you.  You have to determine what works best for you, but mine is usually, “The faster you run the quicker you’ll be done.”  Please don’t use my mantra though.  It’s mine.  Mantras value is inversely proportion to the amount of people who use it.  If you need one try, “Serenity Now.”  I’m sure no one has ever said that before!

Overall have the right mental state of mind going into the race.  Doing all of this things will give you the confidence you need to know that you are ready and able to achieve your goals.  You can do it.

Do you want to increase your speed?  Sure, we all do.  But how do you do it if you are already running for distance?  Well, first of all, speed is relative to the amount of effort you put in; however, there are some ways you can increase your speed without taking anything away from your distance work-outs.

Tempo Runs are a great way to work on speed and still get the distance you need.  Try running distances less than the race distance you are training for at your race pace.  When doing this you are increasing your body’s knowledge of what it is like to run at that fast pace and how to execute that task.  Don’t worry if you feel exhausted after running a shorter distance than your race at race pace.  It’s not race day yet and there are other factors during a race that contribute to you running a faster time that can not be replicated very easily like the other runners, spectators, and water stations.

You can also increase your speed by incorporating hill work outs in your training.  When running uphills you have to use your leg muscles and upper body more than normal running which translates into faster running when you are on a flat surface.  Plus you’ll appreciate flat surfaces more.  You never know how good you had it until it’s is gone.

Changing your running mechanics can help as well.  In order to run faster than you normally do you need to increase your stride.  The longer your stride, the farther you go, the faster you run overall.  Make sense?  Of course, it’s logic.  In order to increase your stride start by making sure you stretch before every run.  The looser and more flexible your muscles are, the longer your stride.  Also try pushing off of your toes more.  It will increase your forward momentum along with your stride length.  However, do not increase your stride so you look like a gazelle or some other African inhabitant.  At some point, altering your stride and running style will give you diminishing returns.  Kind of like your current equity portfolio.  Sorry.  That wasn’t funny.

Lastly and most importantly, you want to increase your upper body strength.  Long distance runners often overlook this and it shows when they take their shirt off.  But if you look at any sprinter when they take their shirts off you can  see that larger upper body muscles increase speed.  Now stop staring.  Some areas you want to focus on are you chest, biceps, triceps, lower back, and shoulders.  Use less weight with more repetition rather than a couple of sets of heavy weights.  You don’t want to add too much bulk and weight to your body that you end up not using when running but still have to carry.  You just want efficient body mass that will help you push your upper body forward to help along your lower body.  Do not work out your legs if you are running a training plan.  This will only cause them to fatigue.  Just go run; better, faster, work  harder, get stronger.  I heard you’d do anything for a Klondike.

If you follow this advice you will run faster than you did before.  100% guaranteed or I will refund the price you paid to read this blog, including all opportunity costs; which I estimate to be rather low because you would have been on twitter otherwise.  While you’re there start following Seriousrunning…if you’re you can keep up.  Snap!

I have been training to run a half marathon in 1:25 for the past 9 weeks.  The training has gone well, I may have actually over trained a bit, running as much as 17 miles last Sunday, but I think I am fine.  I took a couple of extra rest days this weekend.  The race is a week away; however, I did not register and don’t have a number.  I had a couple of different options for obtaining a number, from friends that weren’t planning on using theirs, a couple of acquaintances at ING which is sponsoring the race, etc., but all of those options have now fallen through and the last day to register was last night.  So I decided since I have put in all this effort in training, I should see if I am able to attain my goal, even if I won’t be able to participate in the event.  I have never raced a half marathon distance before, only while running a full marathon, but I’m very confident that I can do it in less than 1:30.  I do think that my goal of 1:25 is going to be very difficult.  That’s why it’s a goal though, it’s not just something I could do at anytime without putting forth a good bit of effort.  So since I don’t have a number, I’m going to run my own race, which is what running is all about anyways, right?  I have two options for where to compete in my personal race, running 13.1 miles on the track or on the road.  I ran 13.1 miles in a trail race about a month ago, running it in 1:34, so I don’t need to race on a trail.  That day the trail was very saturated too, so I’m confident that I could have run it under 1:30 in normal conditions.  I know my body, my abilities, and my race pace.  Apparently I just don’t know how to obtain a free race entry.

I honestly don’t know which option would be tougher, running my personal half-marathon race on a track or road.  The track is flat and I would be able to concentrate on my splits, even every 400m if I needed to, but I get very bored running on a track.  I haven’t run further than 5 miles on a track or treadmill in probably over 10 years, so doing 13.1 miles on the track for time would be a challenge for me.  Also, I wonder if running that long of a distance on a track would decrease my overall speed on the run because of the constant turning.  It makes sense to me, but I’ve done more orienteering courses than most normal people.  I’ve never claimed that my life thus far has been normal, it’s been purposely engineered that way.  I do have a little more confidence in my abilities on the track because in my training I ran intervals there, many of which were for longer distances at race pace.  I have confidence in my physical toughness for a track, but mentally I’m not sure if the perpetual running in circles without going anywhere would eventually begin to demotivate me.

It’s tough to be motivated to attain your goals if you are constantly working to reach them but end up going nowhere.  All I can say is keep running harder…but I guess that wouldn’t help on a track.  How about, if your going no where, try getting off the track and going to the weight room.  There’s properly more attractive people there anyways.

I could also pick a road course where I could run 13.1 miles without having to stop for cars or street signs; however,  I’m not sure exactly where that would be at this time.  I would run with my Garmin Forerunner 205 but this would not be as accurate as the track or a USATF certified course.  I do think it would be close enough to accurately gauge whether or not I met my goal, plus or minus .1 miles.  Obviously there would be more hills than the track, but this would be more like to the half marathon race I was going to run.  Running on the road would be the best replica of the race I was planning on doing, but I think running 13.1 miles on a track would be more difficult.

I know either option will be more difficult to attain my goal than running in the actual race though.  In the race there are people watching and cheering, helping you to maintain a good pace and motivation not to slow down.  Also, the water and food stops make the race more attractive.  I may recruit some friends to meet me on my race with some goo and water.  Other runners help too in allowing you to gauge your pace and sometimes draft off of.  Overall, whether I do it on the track or on the road, running by myself is going to be more difficult than running in an organized road race.  After running 17 miles a week ago I thought to myself, ‘A half marathon just doesn’t really have the allure of being a challenge, no matter how fast of a time I set my goal for.’  But as a former US Army Officer, I plan to execute the task I said I was going to do, even if I only promised myself that I was going to do it.  I think I got this from my parents who never let me quite an organized activity as a child no matter how much I complained that I didn’t want to do it anymore.  I think I tried to quite Boy Scouts about 100 times.  Or I got it from the Army, who threatens to send you to jail if you decide to quit.

Let me know if you think running on a track or road would be tougher.  Also, if you have any recommendations of how I can make my goal a little more difficult to accomplish please let me know.  I won’t promise I’ll do it though.  Whatever, I do what I want!

Everyone has fallen or will eventually fall when running.  Sorry, but it’s just math.  All you can do is try to minimize the occurrences and mitigate the severity of the impact.  Most of the time falls result in skinned knees or elbows but falls while running can be worse, like a sprained ankle or a broken wrist.  Not to mention a busted ego.  Sometimes that takes the longest to heal.  It’s better than a busted face though.  See.  Way to stay positive.

Most people fall because they are thinking about something else and not paying attention to their environment and surroundings.  I find that when trail running I don’t think about much other than the next safe step I need to take.  This is very different from the deep thought I often go into when road running.  However, you do need to stay alert and be careful when road running.  Instead of roots and rocks to avoid you have to worry about potholes, cracks in the road, or small dogs.  If you are running in a group it helps to point out possible obstacles to other runners by raising one arm in the air.  You can also point your finger up in the air, wave it in a circular motion and then point to an object.  This is the non-verbal sign for a “rally point.”  Just don’t tell the Russians about it.  Also, try not to run when it is dark, especially in an unfamiliar area (not because of the Russians but so you don’t fall).  Our busy schedules often require us to run when it is dark out, so make sure you run a route that you are familiar with where the obstacles are.  Doesn’t it feel like you’re running faster when it is dark?  Maybe because you can’t see objects around you as well to give you a reference of how fast or slow you are running.  That’s a discussion for another blog post though.  Don’t be greedy, I’m here everyday, running down a dream.

Since falling while running has to do with balance, there are actually ways you can improve your balance and minimize the risk of falling.  Start by lifting one leg off of the ground, with your thigh parallel to the floor, standing on one foot; hold for 15-30 seconds.  Change legs and repeat as desired.  Bottom line, if you want to improve your balance, practice standing on one foot.  Kinesiology must have been a tough major.  I’m glad I took Economics.

If you feel like you are going down then don’t try to fight gravity; you’ll lose.  Instead, tuck your arms in and try to roll to your side to lesson the impact.  This way you avoid your wrists or elbows taking the full impact of the fall.  Another option is to try to grab something on your way down.  Use a tree, parking meter, or another runner if you need to, but try not to take them down with you.  Two falls don’t make you run upright.  Zing!

Don’t kid yourself, running isn’t extreme but it can be dangerous.  Be careful when running on any terrain.  Accidents do happen…just not as much now that you’re a big boy or girl.

It’s race day and you’ve done all of your training, you’ve got your running shoes, the only thing left to do is wake-up, eat some breakfast, and push yourself to attain awesomeness status.  So what kind of food should eat the morning before the race to allow you to become awesome without making you feel like you have to throw up?  I personally have a difficult time determining how much food is enough to eat the morning before races.  I always push myself to the “I feel like I have to throw up” level so I usually don’t want anything in my stomach on race day; however, I need energy, especially for longer races.  Sometimes the less I have in my stomach the easier it is for me to feel like I have to throw up.  I’ve seen runners eat a full breakfast before a race and I’ve also seen runners forcing themselves to throw up at the starting line of a race.  Don’t make yourself throw up.  Even if you are trail running.  You’re already skinny.  You must be, you’re a runner.  So here are some universal tips that every type of runner should consider when eating breakfast the morning of race day:

Your objective on race day is to top-up on your liver glycogen stores, maintain blood sugar levels, and hydrate properly.  Too easy.  In order to do this you should eat foods that give you carbohydrates with a small amount of protein.  Some suggested combinations are raisins with honey, cereal with a banana and low-fat milk, two slices of toast with some orange juice, or a bagel with peanut butter.  As a side note, growing up in the South, the first time I ever saw someone eat a bagel was my Sophomore year of High School before a cross-country meet.  The first time I ever ate a bagel myself was my Senior year of High School when I was working at a grocery store stocking cream cheese and decided to buy some bagels.  They were pretty good but I thought my father was going to kick me out of the house when he saw me walk through the door with a bag of bagels.  He usually eats fried peach pies for breakfast.  My mom bought him fried blueberry pies because they were “healthier.”  I’m serious.

If you have a weak stomach on race day then you should at the very least drink a sports drink or a sports meal replacement to get the nutrients you need.  You know your body needs some energy during the race.  If you have had a problem with having food in your stomach during a race then try eating 2-3 hours prior to the race to give your body time to digest the food.  Also try eating easy to digest foods like oatmeal to allow your body to receive some energy but remove the excess waste before you start running.  If you a running a race under 60 minutes then you don’t need to worry about eating at all, just make sure you drink water and stay hydrated.  If you still have a problem with food in your stomach during races then start finishing your races under 60 minutes no matter what the distance is.  Problem solved.

Race day can be a nervous morning.  Blame your shivering on the cold weather and toe the line with the confidence that you have the proper amounts of nutrients in your body without feeling like you have to throw up.  Only 5% of runners who feel like they are going to throw up actually do.  So push yourself and be in the top 5%!  Measured on the belly curve of course.