Running tired

There is something about learning to run when you are tired – or at least much that I need to learn.  And it’s actually an interesting phenomena. 

In my case, I’ll get to a point in my (long) run where I’m starting to think that “I’m tired”, but naturally, I’m not done with my run.  And as is often the case, I may be 5, 8 or more miles away from my truck or home, so being tired is, well, just too bad.  I have to finish.

There are times when the thought crosses my mind (very briefly, mind you) that I could just walk…  but that would take so long to make it back to wherever, so I just continue to run.

The crazy thing is that not too long after I get this feeling I seem to get a second wind, like new-found strength and I’m fine for a while longer.

I would be kidding you if I didn't tell you that there was a mental part to this.  When I get that "I'm tired" feeling, I'm instantly evaluating if my body is really trying to tell me something or not.  At 56, I'm scanning all of my vital signs like a pilot does his instruments - am I in trouble or am I ok?  99.9% of the time I am ok, and I have to find the mental strength to get past it. And sometimes it is hard, really hard, to do - but it feels so good when I do, when I push past being tired and keep rolling.  I have no idea where that comes from and I wish that I could find a way to bottle it up.

The really hard part is towards the end of a long run, particularly if that last bit is uphill.  The tiredness becomes very heavy, and all I think about is “keep running and just finish”. I use any number of little mental tricks to keep me going: I’ll tell myself that I’m on mile 25 of a marathon and I’m going to finish and I will do it running. Or I’ll think about other people who have actually had to run for their lives or someone else’s and giving up was not an option.  I’ll also imagine a wire attached to the middle of my hips that is pulling me to the finish (or up the hill) – that last one works to keep me pumping. 

I’ve never been so tired that I literally felt like I was going to collapse (that’s a line that I won’t fret with).  I think that instinctively I’ve always kept a reasonable buffer in the tank, so to speak, so that bad or weird things don’t happen.

The hard part is that when I start to get really tired, I mean really tired, I start to not process thoughts very well, and as a result I have to be extra careful that I don’t make stupid decisions.  I’ve learned that this is likely caused by the flood of lactic acid in my system. Hot conditions will do that also, but for different reasons.

But the even crazier thing is that finishing a run tired seems to better condition me for the next run. Which makes sense of course; I am pushing the envelope a little bit, expanding my ability by a bit more every time.  It turns out that there is actual science to this:  As I endurance train, I am increasing the amount of blood that is being delivered to my muscles.  But note that it is not my blood volume that is increasing, but rather the ability for the blood to reach the muscles that need the nutrition.  It turns out that I am increasing the number and size of the capillaries that deliver blood.  In addition, I am becoming more efficient at burning fuel (glycogen and fat).

One very telling symptom of this cardio improvement is that I’ve noticed that my resting heart rate is in the 45-50 bpm range. An emergency room doctor that I happened to run with one day told me that if I ever had the misfortune to wind up in an ER to be sure to tell the attending nurses/docs that I was a runner, or else they would start giving me drugs to raise my heart rate!  I thought that was pretty crazy..

Of course, after “pushing the envelope” the trick is to recover adequately and properly so that my body can take advantage of that new endurance.  By that I mean, refueling properly (water, electrolyte replenishment, carbs and proteins), taking care of my muscles (stretching, rolling), and some rest (but not too much).

The more I get into running (all 4 years of it so far), the more I can see how deeply engaged and involved one can get.  It all depends on how deep you want to go and how much time you have to spend on it.  Overall, I think it’s pretty interesting!  I’m just hoping that I can keep my body healthy enough to continue.

148 days to the MCM!