2012 Running Goals

I saw Katy's 2011 Goals recap, and I decided it would be a good idea to write a list of goals for myself for 2012.  These will generally all be running related, but there may be a few life goals thrown in as well.  So here it is, the OFFICIAL Running Daddy Goals for 2012:

1. Run a sub-two hour Half Marathon - If all goes well, I should be able to get this goal out of the way on Jan. 7 at the Walt Disney World Half Marathon.  If not at Disney, I'm also running the Lincoln (NE) Half Marathon in May, and I damn well better be able to hit this goal by May.

2. Run a Full Marathon - I will have to get a little better at organizing my life and getting my non-running and non-kids related tasks done just to fit in the longer training runs, but I hope to run the Twin Cities Marathon in October.

Becoming a Barefoot Ambassador

Al Bundy was sooo ahead of his time

The Maple Grove Barefoot Guy has a post about what an answer should be when someone asks you about minimalist running.  If I can summarize, his main point is to follow the Wheaton's Law... if someone asks you about your shoes say "I like them," and leave it at that.  If they push further, or ask specific questions, feel free to fill them in, but otherwise just let it drop.

I suppose I understand his point, but it is difficult to do when you're doing something that the "established" running-shoe wearer sees as odd (like when you're wearing Five Fingers or huaraches).  I haven't had too many people ask about my shoes (although I do get a few stares at the gym), but when I do it's always either a comment (a) of complete shock, or (b) of thinly veiled derision.  But, I suppose if the person making the comment is a total dick, I can just refer him to MGBG and then be happily on my way running faster than they are.

Good Form: Does It Matter?

(Image from Barefoot Running University)

Jason over at Barefoot Running University has a short post on bad running form (aka "heal striking") vs. good running form (mid-foot or forefoot striking). It has some excellent points about the stupidity of heal striking and the advantages of proper form. It's a bit simplistic, but still an excellent read.

Blisters *ouch* suck

I have yet another reason to hate treadmills. For me, they cause extra blisters. Let me explain:

As I mentioned in my "I'm Back" post, I've been running in Vibram Five Fingers KSOs for about a year and a half now, and usually I run in them without socks. Since I slowly built up my distance in the socks, my feet developed some lovely calluses in the areas where I would have gotten blisters.

However, once it started to get cold enough outside here in Minnesota, I started wearing socks (specifically Iniji toe socks). Well, apparently it takes less than a month of running in socks for calluses (or at least my calluses) to weaken enough that a measly little 5 mile run gives me blisters right on the balls of my feet. They generally go away by my next run, but I still have to hobble around for a couple days with painful feet.

In short... DAMN YOU TREADMILL!

"You're Crazy"

I had a 14-mile training run last Saturday, and since it was Thanksgiving weekend, I had to do my run in the foreign lands of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. My wife and I were visiting her family down in Iowa, so I had to pack up a separate bag full of running stuff (various outfits so that I could dress for whatever the weather might be).

Because my wife wanted to help cook the Thanksgiving dinner (which we were having at 1 pm on Saturday), that meant I had to be finished with my run fairly early in the day so that I could watch my two lovely children (my 3 year old son and my 18 month old daughter) while she helped with the food. That meant that I had to be up at about 6:30 so that I could finish my run (which I knew would take at least 2 hours and 15 minutes) and be back in time to help out.

I can't even count how many times some member of my wife's family said "You're crazy! You got up at 6:30 to run for 2 hours!" (Her grandmother was the biggest offender, who mentioned it at least a half dozen times).

I guess this is just what we runners go through.

Morning Workouts or Evening Workouts?

Like many people, I have a busy life. I work full time and have a family. It is very difficult to find enough time in the day to do everything I want/need to do, particularly when the things I need to do includes: (a) help get my 11-month-old son Andy up in the morning, get him fed, get him dressed, and get him to daycare (although my wife takes care of most of Andy's morning routine, but I usually help and I almost always drop him at daycare); (b) drive to work; (c) work 9-10 hour workdays; (d) drive back from work; (e) pick Andy up from daycare; (f) spend some quality time with Andy before bedtime; (g) feed Andy (usually every other day, split with my wife); (h) bathe Andy (same); (i) put Andy to bed; and somewhere in there (j) eat dinner and spend time with my wife before going to be.

As I'm sure my schedule is not really that unique (or challenging compared to some parents... we only have one kid... imagine a whole brood!), I'm sure there are many others who have trouble fitting exercising into their daily routine. Most of us have to squeeze in a workout either in the morning before work or in the evening after work (some have the ability to take a long lunch, which I have done in the past, but it isn't ideal for my work environment). I've tried both (er... all three, I guess), and each has their pros and cons.

Morning Workouts
Pros:

• A great jumpstart to your day - I have found that I am generally much more awake (particularly in the morning) when I workout before work. There is just something about the feeling of hitting the pavement before most people are even up and getting to work knowing you've done more already that morning than most of your coworkers. I'm sure there is some kind of physiological response that comes into play as well, like the adrenaline released as you exercise helps wake you up, but I don't really feel like researching it.
• Get it out of the way - if you get up in the morning and finish your workout early, then you can't forget about it and don't have the chance to talk yourself out of it later on. Obviously, this requires you to actually get out of bed and do the workout, but once you've won that battle, actually running (or whatever) is a piece of cake.
• Seems to be more efficient - I have no way of quantifying or proving this, but my day just seems to run more efficiently when I run in the morning rather than the evening. Perhaps there is some logistical reason for this, but my point is I just feel like I have more total time in the day to work with. Even if it is just more efficient by 15 minutes, that can be a huge benefit as far as stress management.

Cons:

• You have to get up EARLY - this one is pretty obvious. To workout in the morning beforeo everything else you have to do, you have to actually get up earlier than you normally would. This is mostly a problem when you first start doing morning workouts, because your body quickly adapts to the change in sleep routine, but there is no doubt about it, the psychological fight to actually get up and go when you could just go back to sleep for another hour is palpable.
  
• Can lead to submaximal training - because you have to get up early, that also means you should go to be early so that you get enough sleep. But, if you're like me, you may go to bed at pretty much the same time you would have if you weren't running in the morning. This can lead to a less-than-optimal performance in your morning training sessions, which over time will lead to less-than-optimal performance in your races. Similarly, since when you get up early it is difficult to eat a proper meal before you workout (unless you want to get up even earlier), you may not be properly fueled, which can also lead to less than optimal training. But, since I never plan on being a serious competitor, the fact that I don't necessarily squeeze out every last possible second from my race time isn't that critical to me. Don't get me wrong, I want to do as well as possible, but (to borrow a cliche from the work world) I'm "running to live... not living to run." If I were a professional athelete, this would be a BIG con, but I'm just a normal guy who just needs to get the workouts in and hope for the best
• I'm HUNG-RY! - I have no idea if this applies to everyone who works out in the morning, but I am generally ravenous all day long when I workout in the morning. I'm sure it's my bodies way of responding to the jumpstart in metabolism and to the large breakfast I eat after my workout, but my stomach starts demanding more food by about 9 or 10 in the morning, and it doesn't seem to stop until mid to late afternoon regardless of how many snacks I have or how big a lunch I eat. This can lead to weight gain problems if you aren't careful (I am trying to be very good about eating healthy snacks including whole-grain crackers, fruit and vegetables rather than sweets or other nutrionally-devoid foods).
• It's 2PM... I need a nap - the other big side-effect for me is that I have an energy crash in the mid-afternoon. This is partly counteracted by eating the snacks I talked about above, but the combination of waking up early and exercising early causes my body to start crying for rest much earlier in the day. It usually passes after a half-hour or so, but that is a pretty hairy half hour!

Evening Workouts:
Pros:

• You don't have to get up early
• It's light out (this is becoming more and more apparent... my morning workouts now require a flashlight, or the snazzy (or perhaps I mean dorky) new head lamp I purchased)
• It is usually a little easier to rearrange your schedule to fit in evening workouts, whereas morning workouts are always done at about the same time (right after you wake up).
• For me, it is usually easier to adjust my workouts based on how I feel that day. In the mornings, I usually haven't been awake long enough to figure out what my body is telling me, so if it is screaming "Take it easy!" the message doesn't penetrate my foggy brain until halfway through the workout.
• Adequate fuel. Since you have been up all day and have eaten at least two full meals, your muscles are usually well fueled and you can have a more effective workout.
  

Cons:

• Laziness can take over and convince you to put off your workout. If you've already gotten up and ran in the morning, its too late for your laziness to rear its head.
• Life can get in the way and prevent you from working out. There have been a few nights where I had planned on working out in the evening after my son went to bed, but then he was more difficult to deal with, or something else got in the way and I was either unable to do my workout, or had to settle for running late at night in the pitch black.
• If you are worn down after a long day of work, you may be so tired that even if you do workout, you may not have the energy or drive to workout effectively. For more casual runners like me, this isn't a huge deal, since putting in the miles is much more important than the quality of the miles, but the more serious you become, the more this matters.

Okay... that's all I can really think of right now, but I'm sure there are plenty of reasons that the rest of you can come up with. If you have any other thoughts on this conundrum, please put them in the comments.