{"id":29553,"date":"2020-08-21T11:33:35","date_gmt":"2020-08-21T16:33:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.charanis.com\/blog\/?p=29553"},"modified":"2020-12-21T11:35:32","modified_gmt":"2020-12-21T16:35:32","slug":"running-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.charanis.com\/blog\/2020\/08\/21\/running-again\/","title":{"rendered":"Running Again"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-media-text alignwide is-stacked-on-mobile\"><figure class=\"wp-block-media-text__media\"><\/figure><div class=\"wp-block-media-text__content\">\n<p>I&#8217;m running again. Last year I tried it &#8211; June in anticipation of the Peachtree. Fail &#8211; by the second week fo July I had stopped. Then in March of this year everything changed. The Pandemic was beginning, I started eating. Too much. I let it get in my head and it was bad. In April 2020 I tried running, lasted 2 weeks and then, fail &#8211; down for the count for 2 weeks, more eating and depression. Then something clicked. <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>On May 19 I went for a 3 mile run. It took me 33 minutes at 10:41 pace. My heartbeat 159 times per minute on average. My Garmin watch told me I was running a tempo run &#8211; too fast for an average run.  Not anywhere near what I wanted to run a 5K race at. I was sad and disappointed. My body was weak and the 180lbs I had in mass was pounding on my joints.  Still &#8211; I thought this is how it begins.  I do that sometimes &#8211; play an epic soundtrack in my head, try to make it dramatic &#8211; &#8220;And now it begins!&#8221;  So I ran again the next day hard and fast &#8211; another 5K this time it took me 29:29 minutes or a 9:21 pace. My heart rate hit 162bpm average and peaked at 184bpm in the end. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/connect.garmin.com\/modern\/activity\/embed\/4963356946\" title=\"Tempo 5K Running\" width=\"465\" height=\"500\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n<p>This was bad. Looking at the chart I had hit 150bpm within the first two minutes just running up the hill out of our neighborhood (granted, its a bitch of a hill). If you drop this in <a href=\"https:\/\/runsmartproject.com\/calculator\/\">Jack Daniel&#8217;s VDOT Running Calculator<\/a> it would put me at 31.5, more on that later. It meant a long road ahead. Still, I didn&#8217;t listen and just kept running without a plan. At the same time I started to think differently about work, life and my frame of mind. I tried meditation &#8211; downloaded a few apps &#8211; needing to calm my mind. I couldn&#8217;t get there consistently.  Work was getting really uncomfortable. NCR was hit hard at first but we regrouped and leadership made some hard decisions. I had to take a temporary salary reduction. I wasn&#8217;t selling enough already and deals stagnated. The pandemic and stay at home was in full lock down. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I took some time to hike, ran every day a bit too hard and still no weight loss and improvement.  On June 10 I picked up my copy of Daniels&#8217; Running Formula &#8211; a book I purchased about 6 years ago when Sophia (my daughter) was running CC in high school and they needed some help coaching. I was frustrated because another parent was pushing coach to follow the ancient Lydiard method &#8211; pushing super high milage training with nothing but obsession with statistics. I called my high school cross country coach &#8211;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.baltimoresun.com\/maryland\/howard\/sports\/ph-hs-earl-lauer-returning-to-coaching-atholton-20180801-story.html\"> Earl Lauer <\/a>who got the most out of me and asked him. It was amazing to talk to him after decades &#8211; after so many runners he remembered, offered his advice freely, still a wonderful person. He suggested <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Daniels-Running-Formula-Jack-Tupper\/dp\/1450431836\">Daniels Running Formula<\/a>. I was familiar with Jack Daniels (not the bourbon &#8211; without the &#8216;s) and suggested it to the team. The other dad focused his daughter on high milage and a streak of running every day, I took the time with Sophia to help her balance with base, quality work and mechanics. It worked. She was amazing &#8211; not just the program, her commitment, her passion, her competitive spirit and how she knew the difference between real pain and <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Lactate_threshold\">lactate threshold<\/a> &#8211; the pain runners thrive on. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So here I am in Mid June &#8211; finally running consistently for two weeks, trying to build a base. I did some hiking and running on and off. I took the Daniels formula seriously. I told myself to slow down and earn the right to run fast. I forced myself to follow the 5K program. This required 4 to 6 weeks of phase 1 base running. I started at 30 minute easy runs and increased this only when it was time. Still I was running too hard and injured myself &#8211; my Achilles felt like a spring loaded pen that stopped working. So I stopped for two weeks. And I missed it. The first week of July I woke up one morning and said &#8211; something has to change. I had lost a little weight &#8211; was down to 175 but that still sucked. It still hurt to run. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Stephanie to the rescue.  She had been going to a personal trainer and was also taking an interest in fixing the impact this stay at home pandemic was having on our heads, hearts and health. She started a metabolic reset diet challenge with the trainer and I decided to join her. It was not much different than the Whole30 you hear about from time to time &#8211; cutting carbs, removing potential inflammatory foods like dairy. So I did it with her &#8211; 30 days of really uncomfortable elimination of comfort foods.  It worked. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I lost 10 pounds in 30 days &#8211; making it a total of 15 pounds in 3 months. This created a circular positive effect &#8211; as the weight dropped I focused on running consistently. I signed up for the VdotO2 training website to make it real. By July 11 I was ready to log a VDOT challenge and figure out my VDOT level &#8211; 10K at 55:38 put me at a 35.3 which made me sad but gave me a goal. This meant that I had to run slow E runs at 10:37-11:49 &#8211; it felt like walking. I added dumbbell training 2-3 times a week. I stayed with it for the remainder of July and by August 1 I was ready to start phase 2<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I ran a 5K hard, at race pace and clocked in at 23:56 putting my VDOT at 40.3 level 5. And I I began my program. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" height=\"405\" width=\"590\" frameborder=\"0\" allowtransparency=\"true\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https:\/\/www.strava.com\/activities\/3913500682\/embed\/6e6c2e0ea5275f4895e4f7bc465fdd6161d1aae0\"><\/iframe>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I&#8217;m running again. Last year I tried it &#8211; June in anticipation of the Peachtree. Fail &#8211; by the second week fo July I had stopped. Then in March of this year everything changed. The Pandemic was beginning, I started&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[100,63,52],"class_list":["post-29553","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-thoughts","tag-covid","tag-fitness","tag-running"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3mX8K-7GF","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":30942,"url":"https:\/\/www.charanis.com\/blog\/2022\/10\/21\/sprain-spill-running-interrupted\/","url_meta":{"origin":29553,"position":0},"title":"Sprain spill &#8211; running interrupted","author":"Jimmyc","date":"October 21, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"July 2021 was the fall, spring 2021 was the peak. After using the pandemic\u2019s WFH and travel less time to build running I managed to kick ass in the first quarter of the year running times I hadn\u2019t seen since my 30s. We got a cabin in April up in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Health&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Health","link":"https:\/\/www.charanis.com\/blog\/category\/health\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":68,"url":"https:\/\/www.charanis.com\/blog\/2013\/07\/22\/running-vs-grass-cutting\/","url_meta":{"origin":29553,"position":1},"title":"Running vs. Grass Cutting","author":"Jimmyc","date":"July 22, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Here is a fitness comparison for you. Why we 21st Century Americans have to exercise. We have a push reel mower and a power mower. Daniel (my son) has been cutting the grass with the push mower. Its a nice cut - especially with the bermuda grass. He is away\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;technology&quot;","block_context":{"text":"technology","link":"https:\/\/www.charanis.com\/blog\/category\/technology\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Run-v-Chores","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/charanis.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Run-v-Chores-300x125.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":29557,"url":"https:\/\/www.charanis.com\/blog\/2020\/08\/15\/strides\/","url_meta":{"origin":29553,"position":2},"title":"Strides","author":"Jimmyc","date":"August 15, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Oh my God, I've been running strides all wrong! Yes I am a runner, whatever that means. To me it means I ran in high school and I should know these things. I read Daniels' book and it didn't pop out to me how to do strides. I just assumed\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Health&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Health","link":"https:\/\/www.charanis.com\/blog\/category\/health\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":27748,"url":"https:\/\/www.charanis.com\/blog\/2015\/10\/27\/running-with-attitude-the-right-attitude\/","url_meta":{"origin":29553,"position":3},"title":"Running with attitude &#8211; the right attitude\u00a0","author":"Jimmyc","date":"October 27, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"I ran cross country in high school. \u00a0In my senior year I was the fastest runner, leading the team. If I knew then what I know today I would have been a better leader and ran even faster. Cross country running is a team sport, most people don't realize that.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;leadership&quot;","block_context":{"text":"leadership","link":"https:\/\/www.charanis.com\/blog\/category\/leadership\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.charanis.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/IMG_6837.jpg?fit=491%2C554&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":29563,"url":"https:\/\/www.charanis.com\/blog\/2020\/08\/14\/quality-workout\/","url_meta":{"origin":29553,"position":4},"title":"Quality Workout","author":"Jimmyc","date":"August 14, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Week two of my Phase 2 program under the Daniels's running formula. Today's run was a quality work out meaning it included a focus on building strength and speed as well as ongoing endurance. I'm so lucky to have the track nearby my house, at Brook run Park. It started\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Health&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Health","link":"https:\/\/www.charanis.com\/blog\/category\/health\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":83,"url":"https:\/\/www.charanis.com\/blog\/2013\/09\/07\/time-is-a-bitch-63-36-10-30-numerology-and-time-running-style\/","url_meta":{"origin":29553,"position":5},"title":"Time is a bitch&#8230;63, 36, 10, 30 Numerology and Time &#8211; Running Style","author":"Jimmyc","date":"September 7, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Today is my 30th HS reunion - graduated from AHS in Columbia, MD 30 years ago spring 1983. This morning I ran 6 miles in 60 minutes - so that would likely have been about a 63 minute 10K for argument sake. 30 years ago I ran a 10K in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Health&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Health","link":"https:\/\/www.charanis.com\/blog\/category\/health\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.charanis.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29553","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.charanis.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.charanis.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.charanis.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.charanis.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29553"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.charanis.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29553\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29782,"href":"https:\/\/www.charanis.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29553\/revisions\/29782"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.charanis.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.charanis.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.charanis.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}