Week three was spent on vacation enjoying a little time away from the unsavory New York Winter. My girlfriend, Amanda, and I went to stay with my Uncle Stu at his town house in Marina Del Rey, CA. For those of you who don't know Southern California it's a strange mix of wealthy socialites, slackers, beach bums, surfers, stoners, investment bankers, rich lawyers, soccer moms and miscellaneous. You notice I didn't mention actors or screenwriters. That's because everyone in the greater Los Angeles area, regardless of what they actually do for a living, are screenwriters or actors, even if only in their minds.
In addition to relaxing in the winter sun and eating some good sushi I was really looking forward to testing my running legs out on the beach. Stu's townhouse is pretty nice, but the best thing about it is that it is literally a block from the beach. Amanda and I flew in from JFK and arrived at LAX at around 10am. At noon, PST, I was barefoot and running inches from the Pacific Ocean. Like most runners, my love of running doubles when I get to do it in a beautiful place and the beach at Marina Del Rey is beautiful. Feeling the cool sand on my feet and the warm sun on my back is a long way from the grimy streets and bitter temperatures of New York City. I felt like staying forever. About half way through my run my calves started to tighten up on me, so I put my running shoes back on and finished a near perfect experience.
Two days later I'm back on the beach. Amanda decided to join me. Amanda doesn't run but she's very supportive. The first time she saw me running barefoot she gave me that look that people usually reserve for three-legged stray dogs. She is supporting me today by sitting on the beach reading a book. I love that. I decided to start todays run with my shoes on. The magic of the beach still holds fast. It's the details that I love; The small rocks pounded smooth by the waves, those small birds that skitter away from the advancing foam, the sound of the surf. I ran the same distance I ran on day one which brought be back to Amanda who looked the picture of relaxation lying on her towel with her book. I dropped my shoes off, had a sip of water and decided to put in a little more distance. What started as a little more turned into about double the distance I started off with. By the time I got back to Amanda the temperature had dropped a few degrees, but instead of going inside, she waited for me, hudled under her towel. We sat together for a while listening to the waves. A pretty perfect day.
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Week 1: Pain
When I started running again I was most afraid of back pain. Well I've finished about a week of running and I'm happy to report that I do not have any back pain to speak of, just a little soreness. However, I do have plenty of other pain to talk about. I thought that if I started slowly, running just a little at the beginning, I could trick my legs into thinking they've been running all along. Unfortunately, my legs are smarter than I thought. They were perfectly happy sitting on the couch curled up under my *snuggie doing as little as possible. When I started them running again they gave a day or two of just mild soreness as if to say, "Running? Is he serious? I'll show that bastard!" And show me they have. I went for what seemed like a gentle run yesterday only to wake up today with my left ankle scolding me for going against doctor's orders. "Didn't you hear the doctor? No more running!" That's okay though. I've sprained my left ankle countless times (that's not an exaggeration either, I've lost count) and I'm hoping that thte barefoot running will eventually strengthen it back to health. But until then I have to deal with the growing pains. That's what I used to tell my personal training clients when they complained of soreness, "Don't worry, your body's not used to exercize yet. Those are just growing pains." My clients loved me. Oh yeah, and I'm running barefoot.
According to the latest science, barefoot running is the way we were meant to run and I'm giving it a try. When you think about it, how can 30 years of running shoe technology replace millions of years of evolution? Don't worry, I'm not running the entire run barefoot...yet. I'm starting off with short half-mile jogs in my bare feet around the track at my local park. I have to say, it feels weird. Weird and great. If you haven't walked around in bare feet for a while, I highly recommend it. Feet are very sensative. If you watched Love Story with your feet they would cry their eyes out. As a result you feel every inch of ground beneath you. The looks you get are also fun. I was jogging barefoot by this guy who was talking on his bluetooth and as I passed I heard him say "Holy Crap! This guy's not wearing any shoes." Of course he might have reacted differently if it wasn't freezing outside, like, "Holy Crap! What an idiot!", but I was so warmed-up by then the cold didn't bother me.
Even with my ankle pain and leg soreness I'm very happy with where this is going. For the first time in life I'm actually looking forward to running in the winter (I used to dread winter runs) and my back is good so far. I'm going on vacation this week in LA with a two-day side trip to Vegas. I'm going to try put a few miles in in the warm weather.
*I don't really own a snuggie, but my girlfriend's parents did buy one for our dog, Fred, and as far as I can tell, he really likes it. He can wear his snuggie and use the TV remote at the same time. It's great.
According to the latest science, barefoot running is the way we were meant to run and I'm giving it a try. When you think about it, how can 30 years of running shoe technology replace millions of years of evolution? Don't worry, I'm not running the entire run barefoot...yet. I'm starting off with short half-mile jogs in my bare feet around the track at my local park. I have to say, it feels weird. Weird and great. If you haven't walked around in bare feet for a while, I highly recommend it. Feet are very sensative. If you watched Love Story with your feet they would cry their eyes out. As a result you feel every inch of ground beneath you. The looks you get are also fun. I was jogging barefoot by this guy who was talking on his bluetooth and as I passed I heard him say "Holy Crap! This guy's not wearing any shoes." Of course he might have reacted differently if it wasn't freezing outside, like, "Holy Crap! What an idiot!", but I was so warmed-up by then the cold didn't bother me.
Even with my ankle pain and leg soreness I'm very happy with where this is going. For the first time in life I'm actually looking forward to running in the winter (I used to dread winter runs) and my back is good so far. I'm going on vacation this week in LA with a two-day side trip to Vegas. I'm going to try put a few miles in in the warm weather.
*I don't really own a snuggie, but my girlfriend's parents did buy one for our dog, Fred, and as far as I can tell, he really likes it. He can wear his snuggie and use the TV remote at the same time. It's great.
Friday, January 8, 2010
Beginning
I started running again. Pretty dumb I know. I used to love running. I was never terribly fast, about a 7 minute miler at best. I ran the New York Marathon in 2000 in about 4:30 with an ITB injury. Without the injury, I was shooting for 3:30, but I was happy just to finish. I also did a bunch of sprint and olympic-distance triathalons. Even though I really like swimming and hated the bike, I loved the run. I was a heavy teenager, about 225 lbs. at age 16. Then my drama teacher and friend Rob Foley got me into fitness training to try and lose weight. When I first started running I found it to be so tortuous I would sometime break down into tears because I just felt so out of shape. However, I stuck to it and not only did I lose about 40 lbs by my 18th birthday, I had fallen in love with running. Since then I ran for fun and fitness up until...
About a year ago I was told by a doctor that I had mild arthritis in my lumbar spine. I went to see him because my back was killing me. You see, I had always suffered from lower back pain, ever since I was in college. Some days my back hurt so much I couldn't even stand straight. My life became about pain management. Years later I became a personal trainer and heard all kinds of advice about how to manage my pain. People would tell me to give up running, buy this or that shoe, don't sit in chairs, read this or that book, ice, heat, cross train,etc. I tried it all and none of it worked. I still had pain, but I dealt with it. I still ran and when my back hurt I tried to ignore it. However, a year ago, I read a great article in the NY Times telling me that running shoes were the problem and if you do run, run in flat shoes. So I got my Chucks out of the closet and celebrated with a fast five mile run. Oops. Too much, too soon. My back was very, very angry at me. It felt like someone had stuck a rather large pin in the voo-doo doll version of me right on the left side of my lumbar. That's when I went to the doctor and that's when he gave me the bad news. Thirty-eight years old with arthritis. That news is pretty hard to handle for someone below 40, but at least now I knew what the problem was and even though the idea of not running anymore was unappealing, pain was less attractive of an option. So I gave up running.
No more running, but I still wanted to stay fit, so I went to the gym and lifted weights, boxed, jumped rope, did yoga. None of it gave me that feeling of freedom that I got when I was running. Running is different from every other kink of exercise. It doesn't take any fancy equipement, it gets you outside (unless you're on a treadmill...yawn), and it doesn't cost more than a pair of sneakers. Then, after my year of forced exile, I was listening to NPR (Nerd Public Radio) and Leonard Lopate was talking to some guy named Christopher McDougall who wrote a book called Born to Run. The book was about...well...running. The main focus of the book was a tribe of indigenous people in the Copper Canyons of Mexico, the Tarahumara, who run. That's an understatement. They really run. They love it. They live for it. Running is their raison detre. My girlfriend gave me the book for Christmas and...I'm not one of those guys whose life gets changed by reading a book, but this book changed my life. The cause of my back problem, according to the studies done in this book, was in fact my running shoes, just like the NY Times said. It's not that I've been wearing the wrong running shoes, it's that I've been wearing running shoes at all. The Tarahumara run races in excess of 50 miles wearing homemade sandals. No arch support, no stability, no cushioning, no motion control, just a thin piece of rubber cut from an old tire and some leather straps to tie them to their feet.
Running shoes allow us to run far, fast and hard. They also let us run incorrectly. Simply put, if you run with cushioned shoes you can strike the ground with your heel, which is terrible for you. However, if you run barefoot you land softly on your midsole and naturally roll your foot inward towards the padded ball of your foot. Running barefoot also forces your body to align itself properly. My uncle Stuart loves to run leaning forward like a linebacker going in for a tackle, slapping the ground with his feet. Take off his shoes and that posture would not be possible.
Could this be it? The answer I've been looking for? Well, it's worth a try. I've decided to get back into running. This time, though, it's not to lose weight (though that would be nice), or prove to myself that I'm not the unathletic misfit I've always considered myself to be. This time I want to see how far I can go and how much fun I can have getting there.
About a year ago I was told by a doctor that I had mild arthritis in my lumbar spine. I went to see him because my back was killing me. You see, I had always suffered from lower back pain, ever since I was in college. Some days my back hurt so much I couldn't even stand straight. My life became about pain management. Years later I became a personal trainer and heard all kinds of advice about how to manage my pain. People would tell me to give up running, buy this or that shoe, don't sit in chairs, read this or that book, ice, heat, cross train,etc. I tried it all and none of it worked. I still had pain, but I dealt with it. I still ran and when my back hurt I tried to ignore it. However, a year ago, I read a great article in the NY Times telling me that running shoes were the problem and if you do run, run in flat shoes. So I got my Chucks out of the closet and celebrated with a fast five mile run. Oops. Too much, too soon. My back was very, very angry at me. It felt like someone had stuck a rather large pin in the voo-doo doll version of me right on the left side of my lumbar. That's when I went to the doctor and that's when he gave me the bad news. Thirty-eight years old with arthritis. That news is pretty hard to handle for someone below 40, but at least now I knew what the problem was and even though the idea of not running anymore was unappealing, pain was less attractive of an option. So I gave up running.
No more running, but I still wanted to stay fit, so I went to the gym and lifted weights, boxed, jumped rope, did yoga. None of it gave me that feeling of freedom that I got when I was running. Running is different from every other kink of exercise. It doesn't take any fancy equipement, it gets you outside (unless you're on a treadmill...yawn), and it doesn't cost more than a pair of sneakers. Then, after my year of forced exile, I was listening to NPR (Nerd Public Radio) and Leonard Lopate was talking to some guy named Christopher McDougall who wrote a book called Born to Run. The book was about...well...running. The main focus of the book was a tribe of indigenous people in the Copper Canyons of Mexico, the Tarahumara, who run. That's an understatement. They really run. They love it. They live for it. Running is their raison detre. My girlfriend gave me the book for Christmas and...I'm not one of those guys whose life gets changed by reading a book, but this book changed my life. The cause of my back problem, according to the studies done in this book, was in fact my running shoes, just like the NY Times said. It's not that I've been wearing the wrong running shoes, it's that I've been wearing running shoes at all. The Tarahumara run races in excess of 50 miles wearing homemade sandals. No arch support, no stability, no cushioning, no motion control, just a thin piece of rubber cut from an old tire and some leather straps to tie them to their feet.
Running shoes allow us to run far, fast and hard. They also let us run incorrectly. Simply put, if you run with cushioned shoes you can strike the ground with your heel, which is terrible for you. However, if you run barefoot you land softly on your midsole and naturally roll your foot inward towards the padded ball of your foot. Running barefoot also forces your body to align itself properly. My uncle Stuart loves to run leaning forward like a linebacker going in for a tackle, slapping the ground with his feet. Take off his shoes and that posture would not be possible.
Could this be it? The answer I've been looking for? Well, it's worth a try. I've decided to get back into running. This time, though, it's not to lose weight (though that would be nice), or prove to myself that I'm not the unathletic misfit I've always considered myself to be. This time I want to see how far I can go and how much fun I can have getting there.
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