I couldn’t agree more with you Joe. I seldom run more than 10 consecutive days. I run when I feel like it, and don’t when I feel tired. I think age and wisdom have (finally) come into play for me. When I was younger, I ran myself into the ground a couple of times and ended up taking 3-4 months off with an injury. I still get injured occasionally, but usually only need a week or two to heal up. I think overtraining is typically more a male problem. As Jeff Galloway once told me, men have two things working against them, testosterone and male pride. Not that women are totally exempt either. The cross training is a great way to keep your fitness level up without running. Core strength is especially important for distance runners. I took up yoga about 14 months ago and believe the flexibility and strength have helped. The other problem I see is people who are following a program written by some running guru or other. While these are great guidelines, that is all they really are. Each individual runner has different training needs and should learn to listen to the cues their body is sending them. Of course there is always the “School of Hard Knocks”! You will learn eventually, one way or another.

-Gary

Baby it’s cold outside! Makes you want to curl up on the couch with a warm fire, or a warm companion. We watch someone out running as we drive down the road and think they must be crazy. How can anyone run in this weather?  While I admit, I don’t do it as much as I used to, it is still exhilarating to be out there in the bracing cold.

The hardest part of any run is the first step out the door. On cold days, you have to prepare a bit more, thinking about the elements. Dress in layers, with wicking material next to the skin. Most people don’t realize how lucky we are today. In college, I ran on cold days, with a cotton t-shirt and cotton hooded sweatshirt. Today we have many miracle fabrics to help keep us warm. Head down to the Runners Shop to check out the latest. 

Some quick hints about cold weather running: If possible, have someone drive you out, so you can run back with the wind. You can run on bitterly cold days if you just run with the wind. If this is not possible, run out against the wind, then back with it. If you do it the other way around, you will get chilled on the return run. 

Wear a stocking hat, and adjust it up or down to regulate your temperature. Gloves are good, but mittens are even better. The outside layer should be wind and water proof. Something light that you can tie around your waist if you get to warm. Goretex is great, but a bit expensive. A simple nylon shell will work also.

While the cold can be brutal, it also gives you a chance to test yourself, expand you limits. And that is never a bad thing!

-Gary

I must say up front that I don’t really enjoy speed work. That being said, I do know that it is important if you want to take your running to the next level. If you are happy with where your running is now, don’t really care if you improve your race times or don’t have a competitive bone in your body, this isn’t for you. It hurts at a certain level.  As a runner, you must understand the difference between good pain and bad pain. Bad pain is what happens below the waist. Stress fractures, sprained ankles, shin splints, knee pain and hip pain all fall into this category. Time off or a change in routine is the best medicine.

Good pain is what happens above the waist. All distance runners are familiar with this. How you handle this type of pain is what makes you a distance runner. Being able to shut it out of your mind and push through is what delineates us from the sprinters. Much of this pain comes from lactic acid which builds up in the muscles when you burn oxygen faster than your body can replace it. Training your body to run when you have this build up of lactic acid is one of the reasons to do speed work. Running faster than your normal daily pace, for short periods of time, with a prescribed rest time in between runs is call interval training.

Your body will adjust to just about anything you throw at it. If you go out and run 5 miles every day at a certain pace, eventually, it will get easier. And this will get you fit. However, there is a point of diminishing returns. If you always do what you have always done, you will always get what you always got! Does that make sense? If you want to improve your fitness level, occasionally, you have to throw something different into your workout scheme. Sometimes, go farther, at a slower pace. Sometimes you need to go FAST! (a relative term, fast is different for everyone)

Several of us have been meeting at the track on Tuesday evenings to share the workout. It is always easier to do the hard workouts if you have someone else there to encourage you.  Trevor, Joe, Amy and Dennis all did the workout with me last week. (7 X 800) Trevor and I were the only ones last night. (12 X 400) We are going to go one more night, so if you think you might want to try this, show up at the Sioux Park Track about 6:00 next Tuesday. All workouts can be modified to fit the individual, come out and give it a try.

Gary

Joe R came up with a great idea for a blog. How and why we started running. I’m going to tell you my sad story, and if anyone wants to add theirs, send it to me and I’ll post it.

I was a freshman in high school, and desperately wanted to be an athlete. At 5-3 and 120 lbs, my options were limited. To short for basketball, and to small for football, I decided to go out for track. The very first day, the coach had us split up, sprinters over here, distance runners over there. I had no idea where to go, but one of the older guys (Bob) went over there with the distance runners. Now I had this major crush on his sister Janice, and figured one way to get in good with her would be to hang with Bob, so I meandered over to the distance group. Little did I know, how that decision would change the rest of my life.

My first race was in the mile at the Pierre Legion Relays. Of course I toed the line fully intending to win the race. When the gun went off, I ran off with the lead pack. That lasted about 300 meters, then reality set in. Loren Kambestad (Central HS Cross Country Coach) was the state record holder at the time. He was also in that race. I always tell people that when he finished that day, I was about 3 steps ahead of him. Of course I had another lap to go, but that is just a minor detail that I sometimes forget to add. My time that day was 6:30. By the end of the year, I was down to 6:00, but wasn’t sure I liked being a distance runner. The 100 yard dash looked good, and I wouldn’t have to worry about getting lapped.

The next year, something happened to change things. We had a new coach, Lyle Claussen, fresh from college. He saw something in me, and encouraged me to keep running long. When I ran my first 2 mile that year, he stood alongside the track and cheered for me each lap. He took the time to help me get better, even though I still wasn’t very good. He instilled in me a love for running, pride in accomplishment and a will to get better that I still carry with me today. He only coached me that one year (he was drafted into the Army) but in many ways he had as big an impact on my life as my parents. Because of him, I became a coach, and a teacher. I still enjoy passing my love of our great sport on to others. (give me a chance, show up at the Sioux Park Track on Tuesday evenings, 6:15 for speed work)

Oh, and about Janice . . . well that didn’t last, but I often wonder if she has any idea how big an effect she had on my life. Hadn’t seen her in 30 years, till last year when I was helping Jerry Dunn with the DMT Marathon. She came through the line to pick up a packet and shirt?!?

Gary

I woke up yesterday (on my 54th birthday) and came to a realization. At the moment, I was older than I have ever been in my entire life. While that seems like a problem to some, runners usually look at birthdays from a different perspective. Most runners, of any age can do something that very few people are able to do. Run! And what a great sport we have. I played basketball, softball, football and several other sports when I was younger. I still ski, bike, swim, golf and run. Running is something I can do every day of the year, with minimal preparation and expense. I hope to still be running well into my 80’s and 90’s, long as the knees hold up. 

There are many runners in South Dakota who have more “experience” than the average runner. I’ve been running since I was in school, 40+years. However, I’m looked upon as “one of the young guys” in the Black Hills Runners Club. Our club president, Tim Raben is a young looking 60+, John Haeder, Ron Bunnell and Dennis Meier are all in his age group, and still running strong. Then we have club founders Don and Cindy Walker, who have been running longer than many of us have been alive. They both continue to plug along, despite bouts of health problems. Their indomitable spirit, determination and dedication are a model for us all. 

There are, however, a couple of South Dakota runners that I think deserve mention, and possible induction into the SD Runners Hall of Fame. I first met Bob Bartling when I traveled to Brookings in 1971 to run the Jackrabbit 15 Road Race from White to Brookings. Bob was an old guy then, at about 45. At one time, he was one of the best masters runners in the upper midwest. Last year, at age 81, Bob ran the Jack 15 in 3:48:23. While far from his prime, Bob still hits the roads daily, holding on to a healthy addiction that he started many years ago.

Edith Weber, of Piedmont, is another amazing runner. I ran a race with her in Huron over the Labor Day weekend. She was complaining that her time wasn’t as good as she wanted, because she hadn’t fully recovered from the Leading Ladies Marathon. At 77, she won her age group, and at 5:48:49, she finished 85th in the 97 woman field. 

I guess the moral to all this is that no matter how old I look or feel, there is always a reason to get out of bed, tie on my shoes and go for a run. Hopefully, I’ll still be doing it when I hit 100.

See ya on the roads!

Gary

A couple of the young guys (Joe Rozak and Chris Miller) in the Black Hills Runners Club are training for the 50 mile race this next weekend in the Lean Horse. Below is one of their attempts to get in some training.

Gary

30 hrs to FAIL!
Our Goal: hike the 109-mile Mickleson Trail straight through with minimal breaks and no sleep.
It might have worked but several things kept going wrong on the Friday we were supposed to start hiking (Fail). First, I got minimal sleep all week because of work, then on Friday work held us back almost 4 hours from our planned start time after being awake for 18hrs already(Fail X 2). Before we left to preposition the cars, I checked the website to learn the last 16-17 miles were closed b/c the bridge was out (Fail). We did persevere and kept with it and decided to try without the last 16 miles, so we would end up with about 95 miles. At this point it seemed all signs pointed to staying home for the weekend to catch up on sleep.
We started the hike at midnight in Deadwood and probably started out a little too fast to get away from the drunken bikers (Inevitable Fail). A few miles into it my left knee started hurting a little. “No big deal, just keep moving”, I thought (Fail again). About 7 miles into the hike the hallucinations began. “Is that a deer?” “What was that?” We could have seen deer, but we were not sure. After about 10 miles, we decided to jog a little to break the monotony. It helped believe it or not. A few miles later, I was dive-bombed by a bat (Fail). Closer to sunrise, during twilight, we decided to shut off the headlamps because we could see the trail a little (Fail). I sprained my ankle on a washed out section of the otherwise uniform trail (Fail).
We arrived at the Dumont TH, about 16-17 miles from where we had started, around sunrise and made the difficult decision to turn around (Win). Good thing we did because the 16 miles back were some of the toughest. Motrin wasn’t working, caffeine had no effect and sugar just made you even weaker after the initial effects wore off. To top it all off, the sun was out heating up the atmosphere. We valiantly made it back in 12 hrs only to realize that we needed to get the other car almost 2hrs away and then drive home another 1.5hrs from that (Fail) after being awake for 30hrs now.
No worries - we made it in one piece. The next day I couldn’t move my left knee at all and my right ankle starting swelling (Fail). So did we attain our original goal? No, but we did accomplish some secondary goals like staying on our feet for an extended period of time and sleep depriving ourselves. We are prepping for the Lean Horse 50 miler, so staying on our feet for 12hrs was excellent training (Win). We aren’t doing the 100, so the sleep deprivation wasn’t necessary, but it’s a starting point for training for a 100 in the future. I can always count on work for sleep deprivation training every now and then too.

Is it just me, or are others getting tired of the rude people using the bike path. I guess because it is called the BIKE path, they figure they own it. I ride on it occasionally, but am usually found out there pounding the pavement. Nothing bothers me more than someone coming up behind me and flashing past without warning. Sometimes it simply startles me, but often it scares me.

When I pass, whether running or riding, I always try to let people know I’m coming up behind. A simple “passing on your left” usually does it. If you have a bell or horn on your bike, that would do also.

I would like to hear from others out there. Am I the only one this happens to?

Gary Miller

July bring very warm weather which adds another element to running.  Now many runners move their workout to early morning or evening.  The question is what other strategies work to cope with the heat?  I have read hats and collars with cooling devises are now offered but know little about them.  I would be interested in any readers experience with things that work to keep cool when one has to run in hot weather.  This bring us to racing in hot weather.  My experience in 90 plus degrees is not good.  For the most part my performance fell off considerably.  How do runners prepare for summer racing or even winter racing in warm places?  I would like to hear what runners in Western South Dakota do in the heat, please share your experiences.  Thanks,

Tim

Below is  an open email from Brendan Murphy to the Black Hills Runners Club. Brendan ran across South Dakota this spring, with Nolan Taylor. You can follow the entire trip at chemoisharder.com

Brendan is committed to raising money for cancer research. Please read the message below and use this medium to respond. Are we willing to make ourselves stronger, while also helping with this challenge?

Gary Miller

 

Hello All-

This is Brendan Murphy, just wondering if we can start a chat about how I can put on a challenge for “CHEMO IS HARDER” in the next couple of months…  In fact, it may take too much from a logistics standpoint to make it happen this year, unless we can get some of you to sit down and get some motivation to make this happen.  If anyone has ideas to help here I would greatly appreciate it!

My thoughts are to start at Storybook where most of the 5K’s begin/end (cause it is a great place especially for parking etc…)  -or- at the Fish across from Office Depot, since it too has parking.  I have preliminary routes for either one…part of which would go up “M-Hill” and back.  The bottom line is that I want “CHEMO IS HARDER” to team up with the Runners Club and was hoping to do a joint effort to not only promote healthy living through running/biking/walking, but also raise more money for cancer research. 

I wanted to see if there even is a weekend you might think would be the best and does not conflict with something the Runner’s Club already has planned.  (of  course not wanting to get too far into the year where weather is an issue…the cold stuff I mean)

I  want to talk about liability issues associated with it as well and see where we stand there…I got to thinking on my 429 mile run that anyone can do whatever they set their mind to (you just have to commit) and so I propose to do something that is CHALLENGING and more than what you see at a typical race.  

I plan on incorporating push-ups and situps as part of physically challenging people … along with running/biking/walking (which we could have 3 events for folks to sign up for). Some may not want to go up M-Hill, but want to walk along the bike path for a 5K and that is great, it is up to every individual to choose.  There would be three separate distances which I have an idea on.  What the push-ups and sit-ups do is simple:  getting people to built strength and endurance while getting physically fit.   COOL STUFF!!!

I also thought if we incorporated the BH Mountain Bike Association (BHMBA) (also a non-profit benefiting local trails for enthusiasts) in this “challenge” we could get a new approach to getting lots of people involved…after all, we are trying to get people in shape aren’t we?  I know that alliance has not really formed yet, at least not to my knowledge, but I believe if we think outside of the box, we could really have a great event.  Who knows…it could really take off into something people look forward to each year.  It would bring runners, bikers, walkers and anyone that is just looking for something new!

I would really appreciate your thoughts and comments on this.  

We will need a ton of support from volunteers and we could get local businesses to help donate and support this event.  Getting the word out would be easy with some help.

I would love to move on this so if it can be done this year GREAT, and if it needs more attention and would be better next spring, then let me know.

I would love to see the First Annual “Rock Hard Challenge” presented by Chemo Is Harder, the BH Runner’s Club, and the BHMBA this year…

The “Rock Hard” incorporates the “rock-hard” abs folks will get by practicing sit-ups, “rock-hard” chest they will get by incorporating push-ups in their daily routine, and of course, the “rock-hard” course they face going up M-Hill.  What do you think??

I also have ideas on some great medals and prizes.  We all know it’s cool to get the goodies at the end…it helps recruit others for subsequent years…

Can’t wait to hear from you!!

Brendan~

This blog is intended as a forum for runners and would be runners. Here runners can exchange information about running whether it is training, social, nutrition, injury, gear, events or just stories.

Considering stories it seems appropiate to kick off this blog with the question why run? This past weekend over 1500 people participated in the Deadwood Mickelson marathon and half marathon. Why do people toe the line for these events or the numerous 5Ks held throughout Western South Dakota?

The Black Hills Runners Club has over a hundred members many who come together regularly for weekly runs, monthly social runs and various running events. Perhaps the social interaction motivates these runners but then there are also numbers of lone runners plying the streets early morning and in the evening. Of course the health benefit of running is well known but there are many activities and behaviors known to contiibute to our health yet “good for you” doesn’t necessarily mean people do it. So, what drives you to run? What motivates you to get out the door?

What advise can you offer to help would be runners get started? I think it would be interesting to see the diverse opinions about, why run?