Where and how to run on area trails

Now that summer is getting closer and there's more daylight, it's a perfect time to explore some new running routes. One of the best choices for seeing nature and experiencing a lot of different views is to get out on some area trails.  Two easy-to-use resources that can help you find nice places to run are the Montgomery County Trail Challenge and Circuit Trails.  Either resource will give you details about the trails you're interested in.  You can also drop by the store to talk about area trails as we've run on most of them.  Another great source are other runners that you will see out on the trails. 

Once you get to the trails there are a few simple rules you might consider using.  First, it's important to remember that runners aren't the only people using the trails.  You'll see bikers, walkers, hikers, bicyclists, dog walkers and nature lovers of all types.  All of those are going at different speeds with different attention spans and different ideas about what appropriate use of a trail is.  In our area, there are some trails that are wide enough for all to easily coexist while there are also ones narrow enough that when two people meet, one has to yield to the other.  


Common sense is the way to go here when encountering someone on a trail.  I usually think of three things that are all related to each other in some way; effort level, who has the harder terrain, and who is out of control. You should usually yield to a person at a higher effort level, like someone doing speedwork or hiking at their maximum effort.  Harder terrain would be someone going uphill while you're going down, a person crossing a stream right when you're getting to it, or children trying to keep up on a bike ride.  Out of control could be the person flying down the hill while running or on a bike, new trail users unfamiliar with these unwritten rules or totally distracted people who are out of control of either their emotions, dogs or people they are with.  A fourth, entirely different, factor is the person who assumes what they're doing is more important than what you're doing and will follow none of the rules above.  You usually don't have all four of these conditions occuring at the same time but if you do you should definately yield!

If passing from behind, it's good to give a verbal warning of some type so that the people in front of you know that you're coming up on them.  You usually pass on the left just as you would if driving a car.  A lot of the time if I'm running at a faster pace like speed work I'll also use a hand signal like pointing the direction I'm passing in so that if someone is coming up behind me to also pass, they'll know I'm moving to the left to pass or back to the right after passing.  That keeps me from suprising the bike rider out for a quick spin and they'll appreciate not wondering what you're going to be doing next.  If you're group is running towards someone, it's best to move to a single-file line until you get past them and then you can go back to your group formation.

It's also a great thing to greet fellow trail adventurers as well.  I'm known as the Peace Guy out on the Pennypack trail as unless running some faster speedwork, I always give the peace sign to everyone I see. 

Finally, remember to follow all trail signs.  You may think it's okay to run on a trail that looks safe but there is usually a good reason that it's closed. In a later blog, we'll get to some essential trail gear and now to make sure that you aren't damaging nature while on the trails. 

​What do I wear?

One question we're frequently asked is how do I know what to wear when I run or exercise?  Today there are a lot of different choices in apparel that will work well in any temperature or type of weather. 

What most people don't realize is that you are generally helped more by what you don't wear than by what you do. The human body works great as a furnace but not so great as a refrigerator.  As a result, once you get too hot it's hard to get cooled off while if you're too cold you can easily add more to warm up.  Generally, if you feel a little cool at the start of a run, 20 minutes in you'll feel perfect.  I usually head out dressed like it's 20 degrees warmer than it really is. If you follow our guidelines below you should  be able to run comfortably in any type of weather.  I've used these to run in 3 degree weather in Chicago and 104 in Tampa and both runs ended up feeling about the same.  

Below are our recommended guidelines for what to wear. 


Hot
70s and up - Use a singlet, skimpy top, or sports bra with shorts or quarter or half tights.

Warm
50 to 70 - Use a short-sleeved shirt or sports bra with shorts or quarter or half tights 

Cool
30 to 50 - Use a long-sleeved shirt or a short sleeved with arm warmers, and tights or running pants  

Cold
30 and down - Add protection for the hands and ears to what you used for 30 to 50.   Another layer in extreme cold. 

If it's raining and warm add a cap to keep vision clear but dress the same as for a warm day

If it's raining and cool add a cap and a water-resistent jacket. 

If it's snowing add a cap if possible. Also make sure that you are running where you have traction for your shoes.

None of the above accounts for the wind but most long-sleeved tops and jackets are now wind resistent.  If you know it's going to be windy and cold, it's best to start running into the wind so that you get warmed up and then have the wind at your back for the last half.  If you run into the wind at the end, you'll probably be sweaty and end up getting colder.  

 

​Lots of people wonder about what to eat and drink before, during and after a run.  Even more obsess about it to the point of worrying, which can negatively effect the fun and relaxation that a run often is all about. 

The large amount of supplements that are available now can confuse anyone including us!  To make it easier for you to figure out what you need to do, we've created an easy to follow chart that will help you to decide what you want to do.  We've also included a few common sense suggestions that should help you with your pre, during and post run nutrition needs.

​Many people just roll out of bed and hit the road or trail.  However, having a little nutrition onboard before you start isn't a bad idea.  About an hour before you start consider having a low-fiber, high carb snack like a banana, toast with jam, or handful of dried fruit combined with water or an energy drink.  You'll want to experiment with this to figure out what works best for you as each person is different.  A few easily consumed nutrition products that work well for this purpose are Honey Stinger waffles, Gu energy stroopwafels, and Nuun hydration.  If you're closer to run time Honey Stinger or Gu gels or energy chews as they get in your system a little faster.  

Most people take a gel or some chews about 15 minutes before beginning a run.  Depending upon the intensity of the workout most will also take a gel or chews every 45 minutes during the workout.  However, it's best once again to experiment and find what ratio works best for you.  We currently stock 20 different gel and chew flavors from Honey Stinger and Gu with some having caffine and some being caffine free.  It's easiest to pick a flavor that looks like something you might enjoy and try it on a run before buying a large amount of them. Experimentation with different flavors and timings will give you the best ratio.  Currently I take a gel 15 minutes before and have found out that taking one every 30 minutes for the entire run works best for me.  The flavors that work for me are caramel flavors or chocolate as anything fruity doesn't work well.  However my sister uses only fruity as chocolate or caramel upset her stomach. That means she tends to use chews most of the time as they taste a little fruitier to most people.

As you can see, the choice between gels and chews is mostly personal preference.  Chews have a solid consistency and are usually easier to digest and can be taken without water.  However if you don't want to have to chew the nutrition, gels are the way to go.  I find it tough to take chews when I'm running at race pace so I tend to use gels then.  In the summer, I'll also tend to use gels as I take them with water which rehydrates me a little as well.  Also, a gel left in the car is still usable but forgotten chews become a syrupy and unusable mess.  In the winter though, when I'm generally just getting miles in, gels tend to thicken or freeze on longer runs so I'll use chews instead.

What to drink during a run is also highly personal.  Some people like water while others use a Nuun hydration or Gu Roctane energy drink mix.  Using water with gu or gels works well but you need to be careful about over-sugaring yourself if you combine a drink mix with gels or chews.  Sometimes the combination can upset your stomach or make you nutritionally crash, also known as the bonk.  It's a fine line between success in nutrition, average or feeling bad and like I've said above you need to experiment to find out what works best for you. Over the years, I've found that for drinking about 6 to 9 ounces an hour by sipping some every half mile works best for me.

After a run, in order to maximize any training benefits and to recover, having some properly timed nutrition is also a good idea. Most research points towards the optimum time being within 20 minutes but most people aren't able to do that unless they are ending their run close to home.  As a result, within 2 hours is a good guideline to follow. Some good choices that will give you the carbohydrates and protein essential for recovery are greek yogurt, banana or a smoothie, cereal and milk, or a bagel with an egg.  If you're running later or don't feel like breakfast foods a lean-meat sub like turkey or pasta with meat sauce can also do the trick.  If you're running right before work and are rushed a little, a protein bar will get you started and then you can add in more after you get to work.


If all the above leaves you a little confused, stop by and we can go over your specific nutrional needs and make some recommendations that should get you started down the road to nutrional success.  Getting it right can be challenging but once accomplished your running, mood and overall fitness will improve.

I follow just about every running outlet on the Internet, so I had always believed that I was pretty in-the-know about all things running. Sure, I might have known every stat about the top runners in the nation. But I wasn’t aware of one of the most pressing issues in the running community. I didn’t understand why some of the girls around me looked so unhealthy, or why rising stars in high school fizzled out and faced injury after injury. 
I hadn’t heard of the term “female athlete triad” until my junior year of high school. The triad consists of three components: low energy availability with or without an eating disorder, menstrual dysfunction, and low bone density. These three components wreak havoc on the female body, and can lead to long-term or permanent damage such as broken bones or infertility.  I think that it’s pretty revealing that I was clueless to a phenomenon that affects so many women and girls. In fact, around 78% of high school athletes experience one or more of the three components of the triad (Hoch). Why didn’t I know that the triad was especially prevalent among female endurance athletes like myself? It had taken me ten years of running to even hear the term, let alone understand its consequences and effects on girls in the running community. 
At that point I had gone through what, in my opinion, was the most impressionable part of my life as an athlete: my body had changed as I hit puberty, and I had adapted. My perspective of myself and others in the sport was changing as well; I was much more conscious of the other body types I saw on the line. Although I made it through this time healthily, many female athletes are not so lucky. I’ve definitely dealt with my share of health issues, but they’ve always been manageable and relatively minor. I never developed an eating disorder or lost my period as a result of running. I’ve never had a stress fracture due to a lack of estrogen or nutrition. Not every female runner can say the same.
One of the most high profile cases of the female athlete triad is that of Mary Cain. In her New York Times Op Ed, she recounts how “an all-male Nike staff became convinced that in order for [Cain] to get better, [she] had to become thinner. And thinner. And thinner.” I had grown up hearing about Mary Cain’s incredible performances, and like so many others, I had simply accepted that she was ‘burnt out,’ and that her career was over. I never questioned who or what was responsible for the breakdown of her body, and thought that this was just what happened to high school phenoms. After watching her OpEd in the New York Times, I felt as though there was finally some light being shed on an issue I’d been witnessing for a while, an issue that had really shaken my faith in the running community. I hoped that people would begin to care about the long term well-being of female runners, and not just sit in awe of stars who burned really bright when they were still just girls. I hoped that young girls would be able to pursue their goals in a sustainable way, without putting their bodies on the line. 
One of Cain’s allegations in particular stuck with me. When describing her time with the Nike Oregon Project, Cain says, “I got caught in a system designed by and for men, which destroys the bodies of young girls.” It’s not just one program or one coach that caused Cain’s downfall. Rather, the lack of regard for and miseducation about female bodies in this sport is what causes girls’ bodies to break down. Alberto and his all-male team did not adapt Cain’s training to be feasible or sustainable on the female body. Cain points to the lack of female coaches as one of the factors that made her feel so unheard and hopeless at the Nike Oregon Project. Again, this rings true across the running community, not just for the Oregon Project. According to a 2018 study, just ten women held head track and field coaching positions at NCAA Division 1 schools, compared to 83 men; for cross-country, 17 women and 86 men (Strout). I think that disparity is significant, and that with more female coaches, female athletes will be more seen and heard. 
I don’t want to come off as offering a be-all-end-all solution to such a complex problem. I know that it’s not as simple as hiring more female coaches, or requiring coaches to learn about the triad and prevention techniques. But I do think that female athletes deserve to be heard and voice their grievances with a system that exploits their successes and then discards them when their bodies begin to break down. Cain’s story resonated with so many women in the running community, including myself. She helped to expose the flaws in the system, and has demonstrated how the stories that we tell can help to enact tangible, positive change in the running community. As I enter a more intense phase in my running career, I do so with hope. I believe in this sport and the running community to continue the narrative that Cain started. I believe that we can teach sustainability and health. And I believe that we can get really fast, on our own terms.   









Works Cited
Hoch, Anne Z et al. "Prevalence of the female athlete triad in high school
     athletes and sedentary students." Clinical journal of sport medicine :
     official journal of the Canadian Academy of Sport Medicine vol. 19,5
     (2009): 421-8. doi:10.1097/JSM.0b013e3181b8c136 
Cain, Mary. "I Was the Fastest Girl in America, Until I Joined Nike." The New
     York Times, 7 Nov. 2019, www.nytimes.com/2019/11/07/opinion/
     nike-running-mary-cain.html. Accessed 2 June 2020.
Strout, Erin. "American Running Needs More Female Coaches." Outside, 14 Sept. 
     2014, www.outsideonline.com/2342711/why-we-need-more-female-coaches. 
     Accessed 2 June 2020.

​

​My name is Issy Goldstein and I’m a senior at Germantown Academy. I’ll be attending Harvard University next year, where I’ll be running cross country and track. Along with running, I also love writing, and I hope to combine my interests in this blog!

"I was never a part of any organized sports when I was younger, but I was always active. From playing tag as a kid to basketball with friends in my teens, it didn’t matter as long as I could get outside and move. 

I joined the Marine Corps at 17, and that put me in a whole new world of physical exertion I never knew. Boot camp was the first time I ran continuous distances longer than your typical gym class in high school required. After boot camp, and picking up smoking somewhere along the way, running was not my friend. I did the minimum required which was two 3-mile running tests annually. That, and other unhealthy habits, followed me until just before I left the Corps. I realized I was not where I should be as a 25-year-old and ditched the smokes and started running more. When I got out in 2011 at age 27, I PR’d my three-mile test with a time just over twenty minutes, and I was hooked.

Fast forward a few years to 2015, when I was in college, and a friend asked me to join him at a Spartan Race. I said “sure” because I thought I was in decent shape. And I was; just not enough to compete at a Spartan Race. I finished that five-mile race after giving my all and having my whole body cramp at the end due to exhaustion. I was in so much pain, but I fell in love. I ran two more races that year, extending my longest ever run to 16 miles at the Spartan Beast in Vermont. I just couldn’t get enough. I continued to get better each year, running upwards of 8-12 races a season. This increased running also started causing many injures. I struggled with multiple stress fractures and other injuries that sidelined me. But after going through rehab and learning how to properly run over the last two years, I’ve overcome all those injuries. And at 35 years old in 2019, I finally got to the point where I was becoming a competitive force. I found my niche, which turned out to be races less than 10k. I haven’t finished lower than 7th place all year and managed to secure two 2nd place podiums and one 3rd place podium. 

​I plan on taking myself to the next level in 2020 by running in the Spartan Elite heat for their Stadium Series. This series has racers running through iconic baseball stadiums such as Fenway Park, Citi Field, and others. I figure I have been doing this for five years, and I’m not getting any younger, so if I’m going to see what I’m capable of, now is the best time."

​Like many people, every year I have trouble managing my weight between Thanksgiving and New Year’s. Instead of just exercising self-control on the caloric-intake side of the balance sheet this year, I decided to improve my chances of coming out even by starting my first run streak: Three miles a day for 36 days.
By any measure of effort this should have been easy. If I did no long-distance runs, 3 miles a day would only amount to 21 miles per week, less even than my typical 30-mile maintenance weeks between marathon training seasons.

Instead this streak has been daunting and relentless. One reason is that I only run 3 days a week when I’m in maintenance mode, Monday (8 miles), Wednesday (8 miles), and Saturday (14 miles). And those days are so much a part of my routine that I hardly have to think about doing them. (For those of you who are actually counting, this is why it wasn’t a 35-day streak, Thanksgiving Thursday to New Year’s Wednesday. I’d already done my usual Wednesday run, adding 1 day for a total of 36.) The other 4 days haven’t been part of any routine and I’ve constantly had to wrestle with where they fit.

The second reason why this streak has been so challenging is that there’ve been many soggy and rainy days that I could otherwise just skip. When I’m maintaining 30 miles per week, it’s no big deal to blow off a day here and there. Sometimes I can make up that day, but other times I can dismiss one without guilt. By definition, though, a running streak has no days off. Day in and day out, regardless of the conditions, the streaker has to get out and deliver. Rain? Get out. More rain? Get out. Monsoon? Get out.

It took me until day 11 to figure it out the third reason, though. From day 7 the streak already seemed relentless. As a marathon runner, I’ve learned to break a 26.2 mile race into quarters and thirds to help gauge my sense of progress. With a mile as the unit of measure, 7 is one quarter down. Nine is one third. Thirteen is a half. But the unit of measure for this streak has been days. At 36, it’s 10 longer than a marathon. You can argue that comparing days and miles is like apples and oranges, but it’s counting either way, and reaching a count of 7 still hadn’t gotten me to a quarter of my goal. That wouldn’t happen for 2 more days, when I reached 9. At a count of 13 when I would be virtually half done with a marathon, I was still shy of half of my streak by 5. At a count of 26 when I would otherwise only have 0.2 miles left to finish a marathon, I will still be 10 shy of the end of my streak. Neverending.

Solutions: (1) Start measuring runs in kilometers, which would put a marathon at 42 units and condition me to work with numbers bigger than 26. (2) Do this streak every year, which would also get me more accustomed to numbers like 36. (3) Never do a supra-26 streak again. Hmm.

-CtCloser (Calvinthe), "Negative split or positive splat" 

Text: Calvin Wang, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Tale of Two Races


Sometimes it all comes together in running.  Sometimes, if you're prepared, it comes together twice. This is the tale of two races where despite totally different approaches, the end result was the same. 

I ran a half marathon using a 20 week plan divided into 4 phases with a taper period.  It was the high mileage, high intensity type of plan that has been really successful in my running development.  Starting with hills and moving to tempos and extended interval sessions with form drills included, I was running at least 40 miles a week with three event specific intensity running workouts and ran two times a day twice a week.  Knowing that the course is typically windy I ran most speed work into the wind on a 3/4 mile long abandoned Navy airstrip to get ready for the anticipated conditions.  I also found a hill similar in grade to the only uphill on the course and tried to run it at about the same time of a workout that I thought I would be running it during the race.  I also ran all of the workouts in the 4th training phase in the exact clothing and shoes I planned on using, used the same fueling pattern down to specific flavors of gu at exact times at race pace, practiced drinking at the right times and speed and ran most of the sessions by myself at the time of day the race would be held so that I knew I could run at pace by myself if I wasn't in a pack during the race.  I also diligently weighed myself, had a fairly strict diet, got 8 hours of sleep every night, lifted and did yoga and core work on alternate days and extensively studied the course even though I knew it from having run the race many times before.  Finally knowing I was running this for both time and place, I developed an A, B, and C race goal plan that not only included my plans but incorporated how I planned to respond to and/or take advantage of my competitors' known strengths and weaknesses.  Looking at the weather conditions during the week before, I was positive that I'd average between 7:50 and 7:55 per mile in the race and place well unless some wild card was inserted that I hadn't planned for. 

We went down to the race a day early, sat in the room and watched baseball and I ate a preplanned meal. On race day I ate early, followed my prerace drinking plan, did an extensive warmup, changed into my matching racing attire and everything worked like I thought it would.  Despite having to pretty much run side by side for the last 5 miles with another guy my age racing for place in our age group, the plan worked and I placed third in my age group, top 50 in the race and averaged 7:52 per mile.  Pretty much right what I had worked for and planned to accomplish.


Six months later I ran a 10 miler in the same city and had a much different approach.  Since I'd run that half earlier in the year, I'd also raced another half in early August.  For the rest of August, all of September, and the first two weeks of October I didn't look at my watch at all and ran whatever speed I felt like running for as long as I felt like running.  I was still averaging about 40 miles a week but was also stopping during runs to look at foxes, eagles, and chipmunks or running and talking with other people at their pace instead of being focused on running by myself.  I did no speed work or intervals, ran no hills and didn't really taper much either.  I ate whatever I wanted, stayed up late, and didn't even go near the airstrip. 

Two nights before the race, I stayed up until 12am, then went down to the race a day early, walked about 6 miles, ate brats with saurkraut and hot mustard and garlic noodles, walked some more, got some fudge, walked a little more and went back to the room thinking about maybe getting some sleep.  I didn't get up early to eat, followed no drinking plan, grabbed 3 random gu flavors and walked to the race.  I wore totally non-matching gear, which if you know me is totally out of character, forgot my running water bottle and only did a marginal warmup primarily so I'd have a good reason to end up down by the good indoor bathrooms and not have to use the portapotties.  I lined up around the 9 minute pace group because I figured that seemed about right. 

From the beginning I knew, as most people who run a lot do, that this was going to be great and a fun race.  I walked every water stop, ran 3 miles talking to another runner and moved up gradually through the field increasing my pace every mile and ended up making up a one minute fifty second gap between me and the guy in my age group that was running 3rd in the last two miles and turning it into a 20 second gap positive gap for me. Despite doing pretty much everything I tell people not to do if they want to race well, I improved both time and place from the previous year and had a great time doing it. 

So what do I take from this tale of two races?  First that if you want to run a really good time, you do need an extensively thought out and executed training plan.  The plan let me run nearly 30 seconds faster per mile for the half than I did for the 10 miler.  Second, it's okay, as shown by the 10 miler, to relax and do what you want because if you have a basic training base and miles in the tank it can be fun in a different way. The no plan reduced the stress to almost nothing and made training more free.  Third, both ways worked for me and I'm going to do it again in the future.      

​By Calvin W.

In the last post, Soothing the Savage Breath, I introduced the idea of rhythmic or cadence breathing when running, i.e., your breath rate synchronizes with your footsteps. Then I brought up the idea of even-pattern and odd-pattern breathing rates. With the even-pattern breathing that people commonly use, you inhale across a certain number of footsteps and exhale across the same number, e.g., 4:4, 3:3, 2:2, and 1:1. With odd-pattern breathing, you inhale across a certain number of foot and exhale across 1 fewer foot strikes, e.g., 4:3, 3:2, 2:1. Finally I brought up the idea of combining the 2 types to transition across a running effort.

​Here’s how it works for the different kinds of running I do.

For an easy run, I start out with 3:3 breathing. Once I relax and fall into a steady, sustainable, not-too-aggressive pace, I switch to 3:2 breathing and maintain that throughout the duration of the run. This is the kind of effort and breathing pattern common to a long, slow run.

​By Lauren T.
Forward by Drew M.

One of the great things about working with the vibrant JRC community is getting to know each runner as a person. A few weeks ago I ran into one of our customers who is an avid member at Orangetheory Fitness in Willow Grove. When I first met her she was just starting to get serious about Orangetheory and since she has grown into one heck of an athlete. I had heard that she was competing in Spartan Races but I didn't realize I was speaking with a top 25 racer in the world. What impressed me more however was her backstory:

"​To give you back story of my fitness/athletic history I have grown up always being active, starting to play sports at the age of five. A three-sport high school athlete turned into a Division II NCAA Field Hockey Athlete at Shippensburg University studying Exercise Science. During my time there I played in four NCAA final four tournaments and won one National Championship, winning 77 games and only losing 10 games in my entire career. This career was not all perfection, it was more of a battle. My freshman year I was diagnosed with Thoracic Outlet Syndrome, which is impingement of the Brachial Plexus to the Ulnar side. This impingement was due to a broken collar bone in high school, for three years during college I spent extensive time doing physical therapy to only end up on a surgical table after my junior year. I learned to play autonomously with a numb hand, but the constant tremors in my hand and lack of pulse recognition had to end. During surgery I lost 2.5 liters of blood, but thankfully due to my health I was able to walk away from this surgery successfully. In a month I was back on the field and playing, but the blood loss took longer to recovery from than the actual incision.
After college, I promised myself that I would not allow myself to be the former athlete that turned into a couch potato. I continued working out but missed the competitive feel and working out with my teammates. This brings Orangetheory Fitness into my life, where I met wonderful people whom pushed me to be a better version of myself every day. This workout has made me a better athlete and pushed me to build my confidence. A fellow member continually asked me to join him for Spartan racing, but due to what I thought was my lack of upper body strength and limitation with lingering numbness and quick fatigue in my shoulders, I was hesitate. After a year of him bugging me, I finally gave in. Now in my first year of Spartan racing I will complete Four Trifectas (Sprint, Super and Beast/Ultra). Outside of that I have had amazing success podiuming in these races and finishing within the top 10 each race. I have also completed an Ultra Beast which consisted of 31.5 miles, 68 obstacles, over 12,000 ft of elevation gain. This was my fourth Spartan race to date, where I achieved my first podium placing 3rd in my age group and 6th overall. I have qualified for all major championships; North American Championships, World Championships in Tahoe, CA, and World Ultra Championships in Sweden. During North American Championships I finished as the 6th best female in my age group and 41st overall female amongst the qualified females from USA, Canada, and Mexico. I am currently ranked 23rd in my age group in the World Series Ranking. My 2019 season is not over yet, as I have 5 remaining obstacle races and two trail races."

Lauren's story is that of breaking through barriers. Each time she has faced a hurdle in her career she has found a way to get past it without giving up or making excuses. Even now as she sees success in a new avenue of her career she finds ways to reinvent herself to overcome the obstacles in her path. Lauren's impressive story certainly inspires me and I hope you find inspiration too. No matter what life throws at you there is always a way to keep moving forward. 

On behalf of JRC I'd like to wish Lauren the best of luck with the rest the season and Championships!

By Calvin W.

One of the early challenges I remember when I first started running is figuring out how to breathe. It all felt so ragged until I got to that point in a given running effort when my breath rate finally matched my pace. Until it didn’t again as I got further into the run. Until it did again as I progressed even further.
I came to realize that the first period of smoothness came when it took 3 footsteps to inhale and another 3 to exhale. That happened relatively early in a run not long after I got started. But that never lasted long as my body moved to the next level of effort. That’s when my breath rate and running cadence became asynchronous and ragged again. The next level of synchrony happened when I settled into the next higher level of effort when my breathing pattern became 2 steps to inhale and 2 to exhale. Once I reached that level, which fortunately lasted the majority of a running episode, I was comfortable and my breathing rhythmic.
There are terms for the phenomenon of breathing rate matching the footsteps—rhythmic or cadence breathing—and it’s the kind of issue that running authorities address. Conducting an internet keyword search on ‘breathing pattern running’ returns several popular running authorities who do just that: Runner’s World and RunConnect among others.
Reading through some of their pages, you can find information about even patterns like 3:3 and 2:2. Runner’s World (Exactly How to Breathe When You Run So You Can Go Faster and Longer) also talks about 4:4. The author even talks about odd-pattern breathing rhythms like 4:3 and 3:2.

I first heard about odd-pattern breathing in conjunction with the assertion that your body relaxes when you exhale which leaves the runner susceptible to injury when you consistently land on the same foot. Odd-pattern breathing alternates which foot you land on when your body is most relaxed. It’s an assertion that hasn’t been borne out in research. Here’s an article that talks about the practice and the research: How Should I Breathe When I Run?
What no one seems to talk about is transitioning. They talk about finding the right breathing pattern for yourself for different running efforts. But who of us maintains the same level of effort throughout a run? Even starting a given run, it takes a few minutes to warm up. And if you’re a long distance runner like I am, I don’t warm up for 3-5 miles. That’s a lot of minutes of irregular breathing.
I started experimenting with odd-pattern rhythmic breathing for my own reasons. During that period, I found that 3:2 breathing worked for a lot of my running: inhale across 3 footfalls, exhale across 2. It takes some getting used to, but like any habit, once you get used to it, it becomes second nature.
Still, as I asserted, no one maintains consistent effort level through a given running episode, and I still experienced irregular and awkward breathing across the transition to 2:1.
Then it hit me. What about combining both even-pattern and odd-pattern rhythmic breathing across a run? Here’s where I’ve landed.

​By Calvin W.​What motivates you to run? 

I don’t mean what motivates you to be a runner, but what motivates you when you’re facing a specific run?

Runners are cut from different cloths. Some are driven by internal motivators like the need to stick to a specific weekly schedule. Some are driven by external motivators like the desire to spend time with a runner friend.

I became a Wednesday night runner at JRC partly because that day fit my weekly running strategy. As for running with the store group, I did wonder if a group would keep me motivated as a relative newbie. Of course, the fact that it was a group was only part of the thinking process. I wasn’t going to keep running with any group, after all; what if I didn’t like the members? Worse, what if they didn’t like me?

And what about the running route? Then-organizer Chas said it might not be for everyone: 1 mile uphill at the end. Well, the uphill wasn’t that steep and I could dismiss other aspects of the course that I didn’t necessarily care for. The Growlers Group Run still does that route during the winter when we can’t get into Alverthorpe Park. And now I’m just used to it.

There are other factors runners consider: What’s the weather like? Some runners can accept a little rain, but a steady rain might be a no-go. (Comfort is a funny ask for someone who’s rapidly moving her or his feet for distances measured in miles. On the other hand, thunderstorms can be a real safety issue and I did cancel a recent Wednesday run under the threat of them and the visual confirmation of local storm clouds moving in.) Now, what happens if a heavy rain starts mid-run? Most runners I’ve been with will just gut it out. You still have to get back to the starting point.

Here are even more factors: Some people run to take care of their emotional health. Difficult day? Run. Others occasionally have home or work responsibilities that can’t go to someone else to manage. Run another time. Family members have grown pretty independent. Run. Nursing an injury. Maybe not.

People can only manage a finite set of variables when a decision is on the line. If the equation becomes too complex, they’ll just toss out a bunch of the lower level variables in favor of the most important ones. We do it in all aspects of life, not just running.

I’ve started my run in many a downpour when I’m in the middle of a marathon training cycle because I need the workout. Low-level variable: discomfort. Moderate-level variable: relatively short run. High-level variable: Sticking to the training plan. On the other hand, last month, when I wasn’t training, I looked out the window upon a modest rain while on the phone with a running buddy…and I bailed. I just didn’t need the run that badly and the prospect of wet shoes made me give up, even with a definitive running partner. Now if she’d twisted my arm, the scales might have tipped enough for me to give in. But she didn’t and so I didn’t. Low-level variable: getting a workout. Moderate-level variable: An available running partner. High-level variable: discomfort. Notice how discomfort figured into both of those considerations.

A few months ago, I wrote about EPBR Tania telling her kids she was going out for ice cream. Unwilling to face the ribbing she expected from them for running yet again, she used it as an excuse to join GGR secretly for a 3-miler. Low-level variable: the time it took to squeeze in a 30-minute run. Moderate-level variable: the likelihood that her kids would figure out it didn’t take an hour to get ice cream. High-level variable: the availability of other runners. High-level variable: the need to do a few more miles.

The point is that balancing multiple variables can cause a runner to make funny decisions as some jockey for position over others.

Pay some extra attention to the decisions you face, including non-running ones, and see if you agree with me.

-CtCloser (Calvinthe), "Negative split or positive splat" 

Text and photos: Calvin Wang, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

​By Calvin W.A month ago, I had to miss the usual Wednesday night Growlers Group Run from the store because I was in Chicago. Upon my return I learned that BD (Big Dave) had brought his 2 young’uns, Rowan (9) and Maren (7) who each ran some 3.5 miles (See “JRC Growlers Group Run Weds, 6:30 p.m. run, 5/15/2019” email and cross-posted Facebook GGR Group post).

Bless my soul, they showed up again this past Wednesday and here are some of the thoughts that issued from their presence.


To start, Dharma Running’s Eric led us in a standing loving-kindness meditation for Global Running Day. (For the month of June, Dharma Running is changing its Mindful Monday to Watchful Wednesday and joining the Growlers.) We devoted a few minutes of compassionate thoughts about people who are easy to love consecutively to people who elicit neutral emotions. Normally this metta meditation would go the next step to transferring those thoughts to people who aren’t so easy to love thereby helping to cultivate compassion everywhere, but we were going easy for the night. (Presumably we’ll go to the next step in future runs lest we become merely quasi-compassionate people.)