Treadmills You Say?

My dance card’s starting to fill up, gang. I’m not sure how I’m going to work in my weekly 35-40 miles AND tend to my mounting responsibilities.

Enter the daunting task of time management. What portion of the day (or night) do I shave off to free up more time for my morning runs? Do I get up earlier (groan)? Do I stay up later (groan)? Or — do I invest in a treadmill (hmmm)? I know I was knocking them five posts ago, but again … hmmmm. Let’s think this thing through.

A treadmill would certainly consolidate things. Those pre-dawn jaunts would become no more dangerous than a trip to the fridge. I could get up fling a whole grain waffle in the toaster oven for my dude and get a mile or two in before he’s done with breakfast. He could eat and I could run. Problem solved

But what would he say about this if he could talk?

The conversation (while I was on this treadmill and he was eating breakfast) might go something like this:

Him: Dad?

Me: Yeah?

Him: Nice high chair.

Me: It’s not a chair, it’s a treadmill. It’s a time saver and I can run in inclement weather. It’s perfect for my busy schedule.

Him: What’s weather and since when do you need a high chair?

Me: It’s a treadmill, and cardiovascular fitness is improved at a similar rate whether you run on a treadmill or outside on the road or track. The treadmill provides many added benefits for runners, including injury prevention, safety, convenience and improved exercise adherence.

Him: Great — You got any of those Kix cereal jobbers mom gives me.

Me: Good point, son. I’ll take that into consideration.

Well, that settles it. I’d like some Kix cereal.

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Kicking the Tires

There’s a blog I check out every few days called Training for a Half. The author manages to be clever without being snarky or sarcastic (a couple of my flaws), and her writing is top notch. She posed a question to her readers in today’s post that I’d be happy to answer.

“How long does it take you to warm up?”

Well — let’s see. My son starts babbling and cooing from his bedroom around five or so. Babbling and cooing aren’t the best words to describe his morning exhalations; “dah!” and “wa wa wa wee wee wa! (done with a kind of canary’s cantillate) are more on the mark.

Anyway, he does this for about 15 minutes before someone (me or my wife) goes in there and bails him out. He’s typically all smiles — an affectation that makes those difficult mornings a bit easier.

Then we head downstairs, I fire up the coffee maker, and we stare at it for awhile; sometimes too long, and he’s forced to remind me that I’m encroaching on his breakfast time. “DAHH!”

That’s where the routine falls off a cliff. Any number of things could happen in those hours before daycare … his, not mine … I don’t go to daycare anymore … I’m a big boy.

By the time I get around to running, it’s eight-ish, which feels like noon some days. But I wouldn’t change a thing. I get that, “We do more before 9 a.m. –” feeling. Like I’ve cranked out a day’s worth of activities before most people clock in. I always thought that expression was a bit of a misnomer though. The verb to do is so subjective; everyone’s got there own definition of “doing.”

Plus, there was a lady up the street from me who had this bumper sticker: “I shovel more manure before 9 a.m. than most people do all day.” I’d run past her car and think, Why? then I’d think, I certainly hope so.Then I’d think, So?

Ohhhh, bumper stickers.

I’ll catch you tomorrow after my run through — cue foreboding pipe organ — Dreaded Druid Hill.

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Running Time … as in in the length of a movie

Here’s a few films to get you back on the streets — running I mean — not gang banging.

Chariots of Fire “This is the story of two men who run…not to run…but to prove something to the world. They will sacrifice anything to achieve their goals…Except their honor.” That was the IMDb tagline for this 1981 period piece. I know — same old triumph-over-adversity plot, but who can forget that mega-synth jam by Vangelis in the opening scene? Actually that’s all I do remember about the film.

Marathon Man — Anyone who’s seen this movie has wanted to do a couple of laps around the reservoir in Central Park — during the day — post 1994.

Running Brave — Ohhhhh nooooo. I loved this movie when I was 8, but right now, even the title of this straight-to-cable biopic about Native American, Billy Mills, is making wonder why I put it on the list. Maybe it’s because there are not many good movies about running out there.

On the Edge — Bruce Dern (Laura’s dad) plays an amateur long-distance runner in this 1985 B-u-tiful flick. He’s banned from amateur status but decides to prove “he’s still got what it takes.”Que Eye of the Tiger training montage and enjoy the show.

Spirit of the Marathon — On the serious tip, if you’re not a runner, this documentary might convince you to become one. It tracks six runners, both rookies and elites, through their training for the 2005 Chicago Marathon and the race itself. I saw it at the historic Senator Theater here in Baltimore, and there might, I emphasize the word might here, have been a tear or two shed.

Note that I didn’t mention either of the two marketing-vehicles made about Steve Prefontaine. We shan’t discuss them … because they were so bad … and Jared Leto is kind of a tool.

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Saturdays with the Elite

I stopped by Falls Road Running Store today to hunt down Baltimore ultra marathoner Pete Mulligan. He did the JFK 50-miler in just under 11 hours. That’s right — 11 hours of running. I’m not sure how a human being manages that without a morphine/pasta/amphetamine/Gatorade intravenous drip. What’s the recovery time for a run like that anyway … your 40s?

These endurance spectacles have been around for a bit, and the registration numbers get bigger every year. I would be lying if I told you I found the prospect of running one unappealing, though.

Mulligan was talking shop with some friends when I finally tracked him down, so I busied myself with the bargain bins, periodically stuffing my gigantic troll feet into too-small shoes, until he was done talking. I turned around, and he was gone. Drat! Insert clever “take a Mulligan” joke here.

But oddly enough, I was able to get a hold of Ray Zahab via e-mail. He’s one of the runners showcased in Running the Sahara, a film about … well, running across the Sahara Desert. He had some advice for those of us aiming for the big run.

“Truly believe you can do it,” Zahab said, “and train and prepare as best as you can — in that order.The last five years of running have taught me that we all have the capacity to do whatever we set our minds to. We first have to believe in our goals, though.”

That’s right; Zahab’s relatively new to running. Man, I feel lazy.

“I just finished an unsupported expedition to the South Pole,” he said. “It was incredibly difficult, but I kept telling myself that I had prepared as best I could- I needed to trust in that.”

I’ve never considered traversing the South Pole myself — by any means of locomotion. But After running 50 miles a day for 100 days across some of the most unforgiving terrain on the planet, the South Pole probably seemed like the natural progression for Zahab. Hats off to you, Ray Zahab.

I did get a chance to talk to Mike Greenebaum and Jon Sevel, the co-chairmen of the Maryland Half Marathon, which I did register for. They told me about some great trails to check out. More on that tomorrow.

Ice, elevation, and ibuprofen.

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