My Keys to Running Success

It’s been a while since I blogged and I wanted to write a post on some of my keys to running or achieving goals and what has helped me the past few years and this year.  Below are what I find are the three biggest things that have kept me motivated and running great this year and I think are some of the most important things you can do in running and in life to achieve your goals.

1)      Find a way to way to have joy with running.  It’s easy to set goals and strive towards those goals and we can easily find joy when we accomplish them, but if you want to have success with running it has to go beyond that.  You need to find joy in running every day, it can’t just be based on successes or goal races.  It’s really important to have goals as they help us have something to strive for but we need to find a way to love running.  In 2016 I can truly say I have found utter joy in running.  I have missed goals, I have swung for the fences and missed, and I have had some really bad races but I can say I have had so much fun and I love the chance to go out every day and run again.  It’s the single biggest reason to me this year I have been able to keep going strong and race as often as I have.  From great times at races, to group runs, to track workouts with everyone struggling together every time out on a run is a joyful occasion.  I have had the luxury to meet so many friends this year through running and it’s that type of happiness to keeps me coming back for more.  If you can do nothing else for yourself, when it comes to running find a way to absolutely love it aside from just running personal bests.  Or you will find yourself struggling to ever satisfy yourself, because in the end there will always be another goal to achieve and we will never find ourselves happy.  Running for most of us is a hobby we do and not our full time job, if you make it like your second job you will find it may become too much for you.

2)      Consistency – Just like with everything in life the more consistently you do it the better you become at it and running is obviously no different.  The single greatest you can do to become a better runner is just be consistent.  Day in and day out, week after week.  Put together a good week and follow it up with another good week.  Sometimes as runners we get too bogged down with fitting in the perfect workout, or making sure to get in a long run and hit these splits and we get so overwhelmed or tired we end up missing a couple days or burning out or worse getting hurt.  Instead sometimes it’s just important to just keep putting in the work.  If you are sore go slower but get in the run.  It’s hard with running sometimes to stay consistent because the gains we see are usually not instant.  It sometimes takes a long period of consistency to start hitting the times we want, but if you keep with it you will reach your goals.  Running is the great sport that the more you put into it the more you get out.  If you start anywhere with improving your running, be consistent as you do that start fitting in workouts and other stuff from there.

3) The last thing I’d say that is a key to success is just determination.  It kind of goes with joy but it’s just having that desire and fire to be your best.  Determination is something we all have in any aspect of life, it’s what makes us push extra hard to accomplish something when faced with adversity.  It’s what helps us run that extra mile or push through the pain.  When you have a goal you want to achieve you now need the determination to do whatever it takes to reach it.  Having joy with running and being consistent are keys to getting you there but you have to want to get after it.  Only you can control your desire to achieve the goal and what you are willing to do to accomplish it.  In the end the goal you set needs to be something you are willing to push your body to achieve so make sure to never set your goals to something unobtainable.  Set goals that you know you will be determined to achieve not just something that sounds like you should do.  That way you will force yourself to get after it.  For me in 2016, I was determined to PR at every distance from 5k to Marathon and I even added some Ultra's to the plan.  I've wanted to have range at all distances and that goal has allowed me to stay determined all year to try and achieve it.

It’s been a while since I did a recap of my training so here’s a shorter version of what I have done in September and October.  September and October now rank as #1 and #2 all time on my mileage months.  I hit 340 miles in September and 366 miles for October.  In September I had a pretty intense 22 day stretch where I ran 274 miles, 4 races and 4 workouts and 3 long runs all in that period.  It was the most intense period of training of my life but it was worth it when it was all done.  During that period the 4 races I ran were Parks Half Marathon where I was 11^th in 1:18:06 on a really hot day, 34:53 for Race for our Kids 10k for 5^th place when everyone showed up to get paid, probably one of my best races of the year the Charm City 20 miler where I ran 1:56:23 and got 1^st and 5 days later followed that up putting myself among the greats of Falls Road winning the RM Classic 5k in 16:20, now linking myself to Ryan McGrath for the rest of our lives.

As the clocked turned to October the training ramped up a little more.  Running some pretty quick workouts on the track and getting on the trails more often to get ready for JFK.  Probably the most fun I have ever had during a race was during the Baltimore Marathon Relay, where Falls Road put 6 Legends of the Hidden Temple teams in to all race one another.  I decided to run the entire Marathon with my relay team(Blue Barracuda's) and then running the last leg as hard as I could finish.  The team did a great job and I managed to pull us into second place among Falls Road teams and passing the 1^st place Mixed Team with 800 meters to go, winning the Mixed Relay for the squad and a sweet Baltimore Cheese Platter pictured below.  But it was just a fantastic day in Baltimore seeing so many friends and family running or cheering along the course.  I ended up running about a 2:52 marathon that day, and 8 days later I was off to Atlantic City to run the AC Marathon.  This was my first race in NJ since 2003 back at Monmouth.  Even 8 days removed from a marathon and doing a long run the day before I was able to get 4^th in the Atlantic City Marathon and run a evenly paced 2:37:53 a new 3 minute 27 second personal best on a really windy day.  I finished up this 3 week stretch with another solid workout and long run and now it’s just time to get the body ready for JFK 50 Miler on 19 November.  I can't wait!

A lot of fun in the past two months of running and even a fun experience working at the Baltimore Expo selling some shoes for Falls Road and getting yelled at by my boss for two days.  Check out the pictures below!  I hope you enjoy.

Nutrition and Supplies

I’ve wanted to do a blog post on my nutrition products and supplies and give a shout out to some of many favorites for many months now.  So I finally decided to sit down and write all about them and give some insight to everything I use to help me stay on top of my running game.  These products have helped me to stay hydrated, to eat and fuel up better, and to stay on top of my game during my longer runs.  In my younger years a lot of these things I would just ignore and just fight through without fuel for a long run or something to recover after a run but I have been more rigid about these things in my accelerated age and I think it has done well to help me feel recovered and ready for my next run.  I hope you gain some insight or at least get some ideas from this post.

Water has always been something I have struggled to drink as I just usually don’t enjoy the taste of plain water, so I would always drink something with flavor like lemonade which is full of calories and no real value as a runner.  Water however is critical, half the time your hunger is just your body saying I am thirsty but I just usually feed it more food.  I stumbled across Nuun a couple years ago and have loved it ever since.  I use Nuun as an everyday drink, and it’s full of electrolytes to go with water to keep me refreshed all day and tastes better than pure water for me.  This allows me to drink more water on a daily basis but not get filled up on calories as nuun is low in calories.  It is however high in sodium and electrolytes so the Nuun Active I use is better if you are in fact active otherwise you may be overdoing your sodium intake for a daily basis.  Nuun has other capsules for different lifestyles of course but the active is by far my favorite.  It’s easy enough for me to bring to work and just drop into my water bottle and keep drinking my water throughout the day.  Also Nuun Active is the perfect hangover cure, if drinking too much is something you might occasionally do!

Another product that I have just started using is Tailwind and it is my new favorite nutrition drink during a run.  I’ve tried many things, Nuun Plus, Gatorade, Skratch but on my long runs when I want to take in calories and also fluid and electrolytes I just find tailwind to be perfect and light on my stomach.  It allows me to customize my drink from 1-3 scoops, and still be very light.  3 scoops is a bit much for my taste, but 1-2 scoops feels fine and helps me get in 100 - 200 calories which is critical for me to be able to drink my calories on the run and not upset the stomach.  For me sometimes on runs it is easier to drink stuff especially later on in a race/long run so having some calories to drink that my stomach can handle has been very helpful in these longer races I have been doing lately.

I do use Skratch also and I do love it, it’s just I cannot handle it during a run.  I find it to be perfect drink before or right after a run to get in some calories and it tastes really good.  The Orange and Lemon and Limes are by far my favorite.  I prefer to not drink it all day as unlike Nuun it has a decent amount of calories and I would rather during the day get most of my calories from real foods that add other benefits. I do find it to be refreshing and also a great drink prerace in the morning if I just can’t get my body to want to eat because it is too early.

Post run I swear by the science that you must put something back in your body.  If you went out for 40+ minutes or just had a really hard effort you need to replenish what you lost and you need protein to start healing all the muscle fibers you damaged on your run.  You really need to get that in within the first 30 minutes to kick start the recovery process.  I have been using Endurox R4 for the past 5 years and I swear by it.  It tastes great to me and it is something I look forward to after a run to get my body to begin recovering and ready for the next run.  I will use the industry standard of chocolate milk from time to time but I find it difficult to bring that and have it sit in my car when I run in the heat, Endurox is perfect to sit in the car and still taste pretty good post run.  Whatever you choose, get something that gives you carbs and protein post run and your body will thank you when you can begin recovering for the next run immediately.  Especially for us older runners recovery and injury prevention become too of the things I spend most of my day doing, on top of strength training to keep my body from withering away.

As far as the meals I eat on a daily basis I snack throughout the day at work and always have some fuel in my running bag just in case, but for meals I got introduced to the Runner’s World Cookbook about 2 years ago, and Kelly and I immediately fell in love.  While her first thought was, this better not be some terrible tasting healthy runner food cookbook, but then when we starting making the recipes we loved the taste and I loved all the health benefits from all the different meals.  We have been rotating two different Runner’s World Cookbooks with over 300 recipes for the past two years and these recipes have become many of our favorites that we even introduce our friends to at various events.  If drinking more water was 1 part of getting myself healthier and to lose some weight, these cookbooks were the other part.  I love the information on each recipe and what it can be used for.  There are recipes that are fuel for a long run, or a post recovery run, you name it, and it’s in the book.  We even started baking our own granola bars that I use as a quick pick me up before evening runs when I need some fuel and won’t have dinner until 830 in my second home Canton.  We just got Shalane Flanagan’s Run Fast Eat Slow Book and can’t wait to try out all the recipes in there.  For us it has been great to get in the kitchen and cook more recipes and try tons of new foods we would have never thought would go together.  Things like adding Oat Bran to your Meatloaf to get in some extra nutrients or mixing beets and avocado’s with orange slices for a delicious salad.  I’m not sure we would have ever tried these without these cookbooks.  Additionally I just love the benefits you can get from food as fuel for your run.  Each type of food has nutrients that can be beneficial for your next workout or long run.  I won’t go as far as to say without eating the exact right foods you can’t run fast, but I will just say that getting in the right balance of food can only be beneficial to your body and you’re exercising in the long run.  And go talk to a nutritionist as I am not one!

Some other fueling products that have become the staple of my long runs include Cliff Shot Blocks, I find them easy to get down on a long run and easy to carry in a small pouch.  I still continually using Power Bars and Power Bar GU’s on my long runs or for some fueling up on the run.  There are so many of different types of these products available it’s finding the right ones that will work for you while on the run to get in some calories.  Additionally since  I am also talking about the supplies that keep me running it’s no surprise from my posts online I absolutely love Under Amour running shoes.  I have been wearing the original bandits for 1.5 years now and I have just begun rocking the Bandit 2’s and they are even better.  For my training runs I am always usually rocking some pair of UA shoes to keep me going strong on my runs.

And finally I can tell you all about these wonderful products that keep me going but where do I get all my supplies?   I get everything I listed above from the best running store in Baltimore the FallsRoad Running Store.  On top of the things I listed in this post there are tons of other products you can try as fuel before, during or after runs and the store has tons of options that you can pick and choose to find out what works best for you.  So that about sums up the many products I use to stay hydrated, stay fueled and recover from runs and the shoes I wear while doing the running.  I hope some of this information is useful for you in your runs or whatever exercise you choose.

So what have I been up to lately?  Still training hard for JFK 50 miler in 12 weeks upping the mileage and getting in long runs on all surfaces.  Ran a few races finishing 2^nd for the 2^nd straight year at the Angel Park 5k, which is now becoming my white whale in my hometown.  And I won the MD Heat 25k this past weekend at Patapsco State Park, which was my first really technical trail race.  I absolutely loved this race and will devote a blog post to it and why I keep falling in love with trail running and why every runner should get out and run/race trails.  Otherwise enjoy the picture below with my cool prize from the Angel Park 5k.

Working on your Weaknesses!

Up until about a week ago I was a man without a goal race for this fall and my racing plans were ALL over the place.  Basically every week I was telling someone a different race it would be fun to peak for.  My original plan of the Berlin Marathon was supposed to be my fall race, but a miracle happened and with a baby on the way for Kelly and I later this year we decided to push the Berlin Marathon off to another year.  After tons of back and forth I ended up deciding to go with the JFK 50 miler as my peak race.  Yes, I have decided that 31 miles and 4 hours of running was not enough and that I wanted to add a couple more hours and 19 more miles of fun!  What lead me to make such a crazy decision with only one 50k under my belt and my general feeling of not being a great long distance guy, well read on and get inside my head!

Ever since I started running again in my 30’s after a long hiatus my mindset has changed drastically as a runner.  Ask me in high school and college what I needed to do to be a great 5/10k or steeplechase runner, well the answer was always intervals on the track, short long runs and no real long runs.  Who needs them, my race is 6+ miles long and the work to be done was on the track.  I HATED running long, you couldn’t pay me to run double digits.  Doubling, was the worst (two runs in the same day!).  But when I started up again as a more experienced person in my life, I followed the mindset I had the first day I got my first real job.  I wanted to be as well rounded as an employee I could be.  I was a software engineer by degree, but every day I was learning something new outside my area of expertise, something I felt I was weak or lacked knowledge about.  I would continually speak/learn from others on the project to try and broaden my knowledge of everything that went into this project.  My strength was software by degree, but by learning about everything else it would only help me to make more informed decisions as a software engineer.  I immediately became more powerful in my job because of having knowledge of other parts of my project and being able to apply that knowledge into software decisions.  But enough nerd talk what does that have to do with running?

We all have weaknesses and we can choose to accept them as that or choose to try and turn them into strengths.  One of the reasons I started this blog is because my comprehension of the English language is quite terrible (if I knew another language I would definitely be #ESL) so I continue to force myself to improve by reading books and writing this blog.  The dream is to one day write an email that has the correct “then” in it!  For a while like a lot of people I just accepted my weaknesses as something I am not good at but need to overcome, but at this point in my life I look at every weakness as a chance for me to get better at something.  It’s easy for us as people to just continue to do things we are great at, instead of trying to do something we are terrible at and risk looking stupid (I look stupid everyday it’s really not half bad).  As I apply this to running, I have spent the past five years always trying to find something I am not good at and focusing on that to try and turn it into a strength, something I hadn’t done in my younger years.

One thing I continue to do on a yearly basis as a runner is have tons of variety in my running.  I feel if you just keep focusing on the same stuff you get stale and you miss out on a valuable chance to improve all aspects of your running.  I have never done more than 1 marathon in a year, I always plan a shorter distance season, and usually a mid-distance race like 10 miles or a half marathon.  There are however a few weaknesses I have always had that I haven’t tried to improve and they are the reason I have decided to do the JFK 50 miler this fall.  I have never been great at having the mental focus needed for longer races or even longer training runs.  The Rosaryville 50k taught me that when you spend 3-4 hours alone on trails with no one around it’s that mental focus that will keep you on track and keep you going.  Especially when you look down at your watch and realize you have 17 miles to go, you need to stay focused and keep moving.  Even in training I don’t usually go for longer runs, looking back at my logs, in my 15 years of running, I have only ever done 15 20+ mile runs (counting marathons), so this is definitely something I call a weakness.  Another weakness is if you read my race report from my 50k I struggle mightily in taking in proper nutrition in races.   Every Marathon I have a problem getting in getting in nutrition when my heart rate spikes late in races, and well in the 50k that was even more magnified.  Additionally I am terrible on technical trails, my entire career I have avoided trail running like the plague.  If there are roots or rocks you can be sure I would find another place to run.  It was one of those things that I knew I was weak at so just avoided it at all costs so I didn’t get dropped on runs or hurt myself.  All of these are areas I have ignored for years and thought this fall would be the perfect time to try and improve. 

Now one might say… Nick every single weakness you pointed out is exactly what makes up the JFK 50 miler.  A race that has 15+ miles of technical trail(on the Appalachian trail), that is 50 miles in distance, that requires you to probably take in 1200-1400 calories, and that will require tons of mental focus as you are out there mostly alone for 6-7 hours.  And to that I would say, hmm you might a good point why did I sign up?  But seriously, I think it’s a great opportunity in my life at age 34 with many years of running behind me to be able to train really hard and try and attack a lot of the weaknesses I have as a runner in 1 training cycle and race.  Will I turn all of these into a strengths by November 19^th, hell no.  But by sometime in the afternoon on Saturday November 19^th, I will feel confident that I have trained and gotten better at each one of these weaknesses.  It gives me a level of excitement to know I am challenging myself in new ways as a person still into my mid 30's.  And in the end I will know that by taking on this challenge it will make me that much of a stronger runner across the board in 2017.  So as a runner and as a person I implore you to get outside your comfort zone as often as you can.  Don’t accept a weakness, try and improve them.  Sure it might be embarrassing at first but when you are on the stage karaoking “We Are Who We Are” by Kei$ha and killing it you will forget all about your fear of public speaking and just have fun.

Past couple of weeks update.  Well in my race recap I pointed out some foot pain I suffered before the Rosaryville 50k and thought it had basically subsided so it wasn’t anything to worry about.  Turns out after seeing my doctor I broke bones in two different toe’s about 10 days before the race.  So I ended up running the entire 31 mile race with 2 broken toes!  So that was fun to find out and the doctor and I had a good laugh.  Since I have listened to my Doctor’s advice(While being a giant whiny pain to everyone!) and taken the past 12 days off and just started running again this past weekend as the training ramps up on the way to JFK 50 miler in November.