[audio:https://runrunlive.com/PodcastEpisodes/epi109.mp3|titles=Episode 109 – Utah Valley Marathon]

Show intro by:

The Resurrected Runner – http://resurrectedrunner.blogspot.com/

Intro:

Hello and welocome to the 109^th episode of the RunRunLive Podcast. This is Chris your host and I hope you, my friends are doing well. I’m in my taper week for my target ½ marathon. If you have been paying nay attention to my ramblings you’ll know that I’m trying to break 1:30 for the half and I’m running the ½ at the Hamptons in NH on Sunday February 21^st at 11:00 AM East coast time. I feel fit I think I’ll have a good day.

The weather is looking good so it’s all up to fate and the Gods of running now. Did my last easy training run today a little 5 mile jog in the slush. I’ll take tomorrow Friday off and maybe go for a short jog on Saturday to wake up the legs. We’ll talk a little about my pre-race routines and how to come to grips with taper madness today.

I’m interviewing Gary from the Utah Valley Marathon. We met on Twitter and I found the event interesting – hope you do too. I like smaller races in cool places. I haven’t spent any time in Utah, but it sounds very pretty.

Jen from Minnesota was kind enough to read a story into audio for me – it’s called “The Minnehaha Express” and it’s about running on railroad tracks. I know how hard it is to read my obtuse prose wiwth its weird back-ended sentence structure, $5 vocab words and literary references and I think she does a laudable job. You can find her podcast on iTunes – it’s called “Running From…”

So let’s lock and load and on with the show!

Audio clips in this episode:

Chris ice bath – Westford Knight.

Skits, commercials and parodies in this episode:

none

Story time:

The Minehaha Express By Jen.

Equipment Check:

Let’s talk about shoes. As Runners we have a crazy relationship with our shoes. We love our shoes. And one of the questions we always get asked is “what kind of shoes do I need to get” And the reason that there are so many rich shoe companies is that this is a question that has no answer. But when we do find a pair of shoes we love we will sacrifice all our capital to get them!

I have run in all kinds of different shoes. Many different brands. I have fallen in and out of love with companies and shoes over the years and I suspect you will too.

You can make some gross filtering assumptions like you need cushioning or control or neutrality but the bottom line is that it is a personal preference and you’re just going to have to run in those shoes and find out which ones do it for you. There is no silver bullet.

You will also find that your requirements may change over time as your running changes. As you do more tempo and speed work you will find that you will need faster and lighter shoes than those clunky old trainers you started in.

I currently, and usually, have 5-6 pairs of shoes kicking around. I have 1-2 pairs of road shoes and I’ll rotate those. I don’t keep a journal of the miles in the shoes, I just go by feel. You can tell when they are wearing out; you can feel it in your legs. I also have 1-2 pairs of Trail shoes that I’ll rotate through. Trial shoes tend to last longer because the surfaces are softer. And finally I’ll have at least one pair of ‘fast’ shoes. These are lighter shoes I use for speed work. Currently my fast shoes are NB 800’s…

So I don’t know if that is helpful, but at least you’ll know that when your significant other starts giving you crap about having 9 pairs of running shoes you’ll know you’re not alone. It’s a personal preference. I look for bargains and I’m not afraid to experiment. This means I throw away or donate a few pair, but in the end it works out.

Featured Interview:

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Links

Quick Tip:

Taper madness. This is what runners call the emotional state of a runner in the easy weeks leading up to a race. What happens is that you’ve been focused on your training and all of a sudden you hit a week of relative inactivity. It is amplified by the intensity of the final weeks of your training – the drop off combined with anxiety over your upcoming race can make normal people crazy.

It usually manifests in anxiety or nervousness or depression like symptoms. I get grumpy. Even though I know what’s going on, I still find myself sweating over the upcoming race and at loose ends. It’s almost like you get addicted to the training cycles and you go into withdrawal.

So what do you do? How do you counter act taper madness. Well first some things to watch out for. First thing you have to watch out for is over eating because your nervous. Second thing is to try to train hard and skip your taper – that’s a no no too… Don’t try anything new or experiment during your taper. Just try to relax as best you can.

Some things you can do is first, realize the symptoms so you can engage your big brain and not react with your animal brain. Second focus on stretching more and longer. Third visualize the race. Drive the course if you can . Picture what you are going to do when. Visualize finishing strong and how it is going to feel to run well and strong. Finally – get more sleep and just enjoy the time off.

Taper madness won’t ever go away, but like any other stressful situation, you can learn to manage it.

Outro:

Ok that’s it. Episode 109 in the can!

Got my race in 3 days, we’ll let you know how that turns out. I’m in pretty good shape so I’ll probably just continue training and shoot for a good time at Boston. And by Boston I mean the venerable Boston Marathon. Perhaps you’ve heard of it? Speaking of which – this will be my 12^th qualified Boston Marathon. Let me know if you have any requests for what you’d like to hear for race weekend. I mean it’s old news for me – but if you’d like to pile on the vicarious band wagon give me some direction for how to help you experience Boston through me. Should be fun.

I missed some of my favorite spring races, The Derry 16 miler, The Cape Elizabeth 10 miler and the Martha’s Vineyard 20 miler, but I can still jump in on some of the others like Stu’s 30k and the Eastern States 20. It’s all good.

Next week we have an interview with Josh Cox. It’s a great chat – don’t miss it. I’m working on some other cool stuff too. Activity for the Groton Road Race is accelerating…if you haven’t signed up please do so now at www.grotonroadrace.com These are busy times in the CYKTRussell household.

I’m reading a book right now by Jack Canfield called “the Success Principles” and he has an interesting take on rejection. You can say the same thing about failure in general. He says that rejection is a myth. For example if you were to ask that special someone out to dinner and they say ‘no’ you havne’t lost anything. You weren’t having dinner with them before you asked. Nothing got worse, you haven’t lost anything – it’s stayed the same.

I would say you can apply the same thinking to anything where you feel there is a risk of failure. Hey, you didn’t have that goal before you tried, so if you miss it you haven’t lost anything. And actually you have gained because you have learned. At the very least you have learned one way to not be successful.

The real tragedy is not trying, not taking the perceived risk, because then you definitely won’t achieve anything. Think about it as slim as the odds for success may appear to you they are definitively better than the odds of success if you don’t do anything. What’s the worst that can happen?

So let’s make a pact you and I to attempt something that scares the bejesus out of us this month, to set a goal that sounds just a little crazy, and when we both succeed I will see you out there.

Music tonight, after you thought I found all the Rancid songs on the podsafe music network, no no no – I found one more this is a number called Hold On by Tim Armstrong who is the lead singer for…yes you guessed it! Rancid!

Have a great week and pray for me this weekend!