Running: a Right or a Left Brain Activity?

Hi Athletes and Triathletes!

I have been running a lot more.  How much more?  I am now running 15-20+ miles a week, lame compared to my 35 - 45 mile weeks back when my hair was full and dark but... 20 is good for me now at age 55.

Three months ago I got a smart phone.  Before that I was running and listening to podcasts on an old inherited iPod, with Ted Talks, The Moth Radio Hour and  Wait Wait Don't Tell me among my favorites.

When I ran in the late 70's in high school, as a boy on the cross country team, we would occasionally discuss what songs we would sing along (in our head only) as we ran.  Songs by KISS and other hard rock bands would be mentioned.

So jump ahead some 35+ years and I started thinking about running and the brain.  When I am listening to a TED Talk when I run it's generally for enlightenment.  It's like really good food for the brain.  And that is absolutely appealing to the LEFT- logic part of the brain.

What about running?  I think running is more of a right brain activity.  The right brain of passion, creativity, feelings, intuition, etc.  I paired this hunch up with what I was playing on my phone when I ran.  Now when I hear ZZ Top, Lenny Cravitz, or Tom Petty, a few things happened.

The first thing was I felt cooler.  This is no small feat since running 9-10 minute miles at age 55 is about as glamorous as cleaning the toilet.  And by cooler, I also felt more coordinated.  That lasted about 10 days.  Then I found that my favorite rock-n-roll could give me a boost in power and speed and that is currently what I am still experiencing.  For me to finish off a 5 or 6 mile run, and finish faster the last mile than the first, I need AC/DC, and not an interesting podcast on parenting or medical technology. I need to tap passion and energy.


I save the music for later in runs.  For those first 10-15 minutes when the run is slow and laborious it's fine to listen to NPR, but when I want to kick it up a notch it's blues, rock and who knows, maybe the frenetic pace of techno!

In swimming laps, what works best for me is to think about a family or work problem and problem solve when in the pool.  My friend has somewhat successfully listened to music while swimming laps but there are still kinks involved in that technology.

When running, gone are the days of paying full attention to your breathing and pace.  I still do some of that in races, preferring to talk to fellow runners to relax but in racing I am not there to just run, but I am there to run a certain time.

So what works for you?  Drop me a note below in the comments box and happy running, riding, swimming, hiking, and what not!  It's all good.

Hitting the Wall, and Then Some

    Ten days ago I am on a ride with my friend Dave.  We were going for 47 miles, with 2300 feet of climbing. All but 200 feet of the climbing was in the first 23 miles.  Ouch.  At the rest stop midway, I got 16 ounces of chilled orange juice, ate some energy chews and right before we left - for good measure - I squeezed out a few ounces of energy gel - something I had never eaten before. A colossal and soon to be a painful mistake.

Five miles later I am noticing some pain building low in my right side.  Five miles after that, at 33 miles, I tell Dave I have to stop.  "I think I have a kidney stone."  I was having a flashback to about 15 years earlier when I had to be hospitalized and have a stone removed.  I tried to throw-up, but didn't as I also didn't want that added pain.  Next I became dizzy and weak and wanted to lie down on the ground in the fetal position in the parking lot.  Instead, Dave got me inside into an air-conditioned hotel lobby where we stopped when I began to sweat profusely but the pain subsided a bit.  Fifteen minutes later as Dave rode back to get our car, I was checking golf scores on my phone.  No kidney stone.

The culprit? Probably an acid stomach and a reaction to the suicidal dose of sugar I had put into my system. Moral of the story?  Don't experiment on nutrition when out on a long training ride or run.  Water works every time.  If I had wanted to have a bit of sugar to add to that there were safer choices, choices that I had made before like a mild solution of Cytomax or maybe a few (like 2-3) energy chews.  Other than a headache a few hours later I was fine.

My Complicated Relationship with SWIMMING!

      Calendar year 2014 I did lap swim 15 times and 2 triathlons for 17 total swims.  Already this year in all of March and half of April I have done 800 - 1000 meters now 15 times.  Have I discovered The Joy of Swimming?  Not so much.  I realize that the best part of swimming, especially early in the morning before work, is walking to the car after a swim and shower and feeling good about heading to work. It's like the old joke:  Why did < the dumb guy > keep smashing his hand with the hammer?  Because it felt so good when he quit.  That sums up my relationship with swimming.

Hydrating is important EVERYWHERE!

      Today's low-light was 800 meters from 6:30 - 6:55 am and having some difficulty (more than usual) with coordinating my breathing - thanks (perhaps) to my 2nd time using Ambien to help me sleep the night before.  I also wish I could say my times were dropping but I am pretty consistently swimming 24 - 26 minutes for 800 and I am in the 32 minute range for 1000 meters.  Sounds slow and it is.  It's also just alternating 50 meters of freestyle/crawl with 50 meters of breast stroke.  At 400 meters of 800, I drink maybe 8 ounces of water from my bottle next to my watch.  If swimming 1000, I will get more water at 800 meters.

        Is all this increased swimming activity to get ready for another triathlon?  Not really.  I am hopeful that I will do another this summer but the increased swim activity is more about having tennis elbow so badly that instead of playing tennis normally maybe 45 times so far this year, I have only played 5 times. I find that swimming doesn't hurt my arm at all and that the cardio is also good for my running.  And more about that soon!