Tuesday, Jan 23, 2024 – Harmony

Hey Everyone!

Hey we survived our first big cold snap! And we had as many people out at hills as I’ve seen! Not out of the winter woods, but if we can do that, we can really get through this.

What I’ve been thinking about this week is the relationship between health and performance. Performance is obviously an indicator of health and vitality. I’ve often thought: if I can run fast (for me) times and perform well, everything must be chugging along smoothly in my body, so if I just focus on that I’ll be good.

Recently however, we’ve been reading and hearing a lot about strength and how important it is to longevity. We only hang onto a certain percentage of our muscle mass from age 30 to age 80, so if we want to have a functional amount at age 80, we’d better start bulking up after 30. And it’s not only for lifestyle – it’s also for life. Studies now show that muscle mass is a greater predictor of longevity than cardiovascular fitness. Now, some of the fastest runners in the world (Jakob Ingerbrigston for one), don’t do strength work. I’m quite sure many of the marathoners we admire don’t do much either. They are genetically blessed and they save their energy for doing one thing really well. They perform, and they perform well. We might even be fooled into thinking they represent the epitome of health. But performance and health – particularly long term health – don’t necessarily go hand in hand. And many of these top performers will leave the sport entirely once they retire and move onto other activities. We should not model our lifelong patterns off what they are doing for a moment.

And then there’s mobility and stretching. I have always poo-poo’d stretching. After I read a study which said that the only measurable difference in Paula Radcliffe between her 2:17 marathon to her then world record shattering 2:15 (pre-super shoes) was that her sit and reach test got worse. Meaning her hamstrings were more tight and less flexible. The common takeaway was (and still is) that efficient runners need to have tight springs in their bodies rather than loosey goosey muscles which need to be engaged all the time. A tight muscle will spring back with less effort. So I’ve always if not prided myself on, at least radically accepted my very tight hamstrings. Until recently when I threw my back out doing a strength movement because I couldn’t get into the proper position. My tight hamstrings are great for running. Not so great for every day ease in life – anyone who has trouble getting out of a car after a long ride can feel me there. So, I took a yoga class. And I noticed something. People in the class weren’t trying to get a good workout in. Can you imagine?? No, they were all trying to do good things for their bodies – unrelated to the realm of performance. There was wisdom and self-care in that room. I used to get antsy in yoga classes, thinking if I wasn’t sweating, I wasn’t achieving anything. This time I was just trying to let my body relax – possibly into a less fast but healthier version of itself. What is the point of performance if you’re in pain and/or not going to live as long?

As a coach this is something I have to navigate with athletes as well. There are seasons for sure where all we want is a running performance and we can narrow our focus and energy to that. When people are starting a marathon build, I don’t advise to also start heavy lifting and yoga programs. But hopefully there is a season after the performance where we can focus on bringing things, if not in balance, at least in harmony. My hamstrings and back have been the wakeup call of this for me. I’m still going to try to perform because I do still value and love a good effort and to see what my body can do, but I’m going to keep a solid eye on longterm health and functionality as well.

On to tomorrow’s workout – Back to Lakeshore and Leslie: 6:05 drills, 6:15 GO! (I’ll be there jogging – back on the mend but not 100%)

2 x (1mile – 800 – 600 – 400). 2 min bw all reps, 3 min bw sets. There is some good volume built in here, but also good rest between the shorter stuff. The miles should be at Tempo pace, and we’re introducing going a little faster afterwards but with solid recovery time. 800’s should be 10K pace, 800’s 5K and 400’s faster.
If this is a lot from where you’re starting, start the second ladder at the 800. That is still a solid workout. Happy to chat in person tomorrow if you have questions about where you should be.

That is all – see you in the am!

Seanna