Kampuchea Crossings

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I ran the 50th NYC Marathon!

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What a journey! Fourteen weeks of training was quite the project – logging the miles, energy management, the mental aspect. I regrettably injured my knee 10 days before the marathon so my race strategy went out the window – pacing, fueling and hydration, and mental game. It was down to a mile-by-mile approach, where I was so focused on and favoring my right knee that I thought for sure all the compensations my body was making would cramp my legs up. I might’ve dropped out if not for incredible energy from the 26.2 mile cheer zone, drowning out any pain and moving me forward. It was ugly, but I crossed that finish tape at 5:32:42. And now I’m game for improving that finish time to redeem myself, if I can continue running on this knee!

Resources specific to the NYC Marathon

If you have the NYC Marathon in your future, below are three excellent resources from Richard White. He’s been running for over four decades and is a 17x finisher of this race. Richard’s been a tremendous coach / mentor to many of us over the years – first, as we started running, then as we trained for longer distances, and recently to help us get through this race for our first time. His tactical advice at every stage of training is funny and useful and very on-point, helping each of us aim for goal finish times in every race. His love for the sport and enjoyment of this particular course shows through in these pieces:

NYC Marathon Episode on the Strength Running podcast with Coach Jason Fitzgerald. Richard talks about the corral logistics, chunking up the distance, tackling the hills, and how to deal with the baddest, most amazing 26.2 mile cheer zone you might ever run through!

A Brief and Highly Selective Tour of Historical Landmarks and General History Along the NYC Marathon Course. This unique route winds through diverse neighborhoods with rich histories. Richard touches on the colonial events shaping these neighborhoods, explains notable landmarks like the temples and bridges, and how the city’s landscape was shaped by glaciers retreating at the end of the Ice Age. It’s informative and special, particularly for people who live and run in NYC.

And here he has valuable Tips and Advice for First Time NYC Marathoners. The NYC course is more technical than many other marathons because of its bridges and elevations. Breaking the course down by its natural landmarks helps you strategize through it.

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Gender differences in athletic training

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Did you know that performance advice for athletes are mostly based on studies done on young white males, but are generalized to all other populations? How should those of us, from demographics who are not typically studied, approach the mainstream training advice? .

So I’m training for a marathon this year. It’s been a while since I was on a training regimen, and I had coaches back then to push and help me do my best. These days I’m on my own to figure out my workouts, fueling, hydration, etc. There’s a lot of new info!

Below are notes from the various emerging research on gender differences and performance. At the end of this post I reference resource persons and podcasts where I learned these.

Note this is specific to female athletes and how we can leverage the phases of our menstrual cycle to maximize performance potential. There’s also new research for those across the gender spectrum, and other demographics.

Leveraging the Menstrual Cycle for Training Effects

This visual below depicts the typical cycle of 28 days (this length varies by individual). Day 1 indicates the first day of bleeding, and this onset occurs due to the drop in oestrogen and progesterone.

Image source: ZRT Laboratories

In the week before bleeding starts:

  • It’s harder to access carbs to fuel high intensity workouts.
  • Instead of focusing on intensity, focus on skills-based, de-loading, technique and functional movement, to lower our cardio stress, e.g., work on form when doing reps, when running, etc.
  • Keeping our training stress down helps reduce cortisol, the hormone involved in storing body fat.

During the period (Day 1 of the menstrual cycle is the first day of bleeding):

  • Mineral needs go up, e.g., Mg (that’s why there’s chocolate cravings) and Zinc 
  • More carbs are needed to do higher intensity work, because our energy needs grow by ~150cal; the body is building uterine lining. 
  • Kispeptin (co-transport mechanism) is sensitive to low carb situations, so its activity falls if our diet is low on carbs, which puts the body in starvation mode and leads to increased storage of body fat. 
  • Endocrine function is also thrown off if the body doesn’t get enough carbs. It is different for men because they have a different endocrine environment. 

In this first half of the cycle, or low hormone phase (Day 1-14): 

  • This is when women can work to improve strength, the overall top end power, our aerobic or anaerobic capacity.
  • The body uses carbs well – it can access and store carbs, so we can decrease carb intake in this phase.
  • As estrogen and progesterone start to rise – first estrogen during Ovulation – our carb intake needs to increase. Our protein intake needs to increase also, to counter the catabolic effect of progesterone (muscle tissue breakdown).
  • Aim for high intensity workouts during this low hormone phase, e.g., fast repeats, hills, plyometrics, heavy lifting with low reps.

Around Ovulation the ligaments loosen (part of preparation for possible pregnancy) which brings increased risk for ligament years, like ACL tears.

In the high hormone phase the body can’t access and store carbs as well, so carb intake should increase, e.g., foods that are low on the food chain, like greens.

  • Hydration should increase during this high hormone phase; it’s not a good idea to rely on thirst so in long duration activity like long runs, drink on a schedule.
  • Training should be lower intensity with more focus on functional fitness, technique, running skills, in high hormone phase (e.g., the week before period).

This strategy is better for lean mass and muscle development than doing strength training 3-4x/wk strength:

  • Low intensity work (form and function) towards the later half of the cycle, or the high hormone phase
  • High intensity workouts in the first half of the cycle, or the low hormone phase

These quick summaries are for my personal reference; there is so much to learn. Anyone who has a daughter or who coaches or mentors young girls and women can help them stick to their sports, or optimize their athletic potential(!), by just knowing and working with this menstrual cycle. It’s a game changer that helps girls stay active (rather than letting them quit because of a lack of understanding about all the changes happening at puberty and by cycle). I’m grateful for the scientists who are spearheading research studies around this important topic. Only a few of them are listed below, but I’ll add to it as I learn of them.

Researchers Studying Gender Differences and Exercise Science

Researchers who are active online on their blog, on twitter or instagram:

Podcasts I found really helpful are below. For some of them, I had to listen a few times!

Running for tots

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It is really cute to watch kids run a race. New York Road Runners has a Rising New York Road Runners program that helps get kids out and active. At the end of popular races, they also have kids compete in age bracket-specific competitions. (Think of the two-year-olds trying to run 50m and try not to smile!) They even get their very own very funny sports commentator rattling off race highlights.

I’m biased, yes, but aren’t these cute:

One More Mile and the Cookie’s History!

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Establishing healthy habits in kids is no easy task. But it’s more important than ever, considering the gamut of health problems caused by inactivity – from poor mental and emotional resilience to disabling and fatal diseases.

Like other families, we’re constantly challenged to stay active. How do we encourage kids to make a habit of integrating movement into daily life, a basic skill that affects so many aspects of mental, emotional and physical well-being? It’s an exercise in creativity to make physical activity routine, while at the same time creating memories and strengthening our relationship with them.

And how do you make that habit stick?

While we love organized sports, it’s a significant commitment. The kids are age-segregated so won’t be in the same camp time/day. This increases the time, effort and expense of shuttling them to practices/games that are on fixed schedules. Did I mention the costs? There are so many points in this chain where our motivation can break no matter how we prioritize it.

For economy of effort, we focused on making the little things count. And we looked at running as a cost-effective and convenient activity (doable anywhere and anytime) that draws several goals together for us as a family.

Here’s our ongoing journey, from the daily efforts to running in NYC’s Bronx Zoo Run for the Wild 5K to developing a homeschool curriculum around the lessons we learn along the way.

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Even with a compelling wealth of evidence, more of our own efforts at modeling healthy habits fail than not. So it’s even tougher to help our kids understand the system that impacts their choices and the long game that is their mental, emotional and physical health and well-being. This makes every effort count because the human mind and body are capable of amazing things when it’s in the best condition it can be. The healthiest life attainable is our goal.

Read the entire article at Multicultural Kid Blogs, written for National Physical Fitness and Sports Month.

The bane and beauty of running

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It’s said that life begins at the end of your comfort zone. I’ve followed my dad’s footsteps in this one, and for running it certainly holds true.

I run. I run for that “me” time. I run for that clear-headed exhaustion at the end. I run for the physical and health benefits. And I run to eat cookies.

This winter I was out the door pre-dawn at least five days a week. I love when the city is mostly asleep and the darkness makes it picturesque. It’s just me, the fruit stand and coffee cart vendors, bus drivers and deliverymen. From mild mornings to the cold rains and driving sleet, these tranquil moments belong to few. I love running in below zero temps before sunrise; it is so reviving when that polar chill cuts through my base layers while I’m sweating it out. 

It’s 20 blocks to the mile in NYC. I step out the front door and run that same route day after day, preferring the obstacle course of the concrete track to the monotonous pace of Central Park or Riverside trails. 

I can sustain a running routine for years at a time and can’t recall the reasons for stopping, but my running is a good metric for the difficulty setting my life is at at the moment.  

It’s usually stress that pulls me back. And so it was 15 months ago that got me pounding the pavement again. I’d push through that familiar bane of running – shin pain – and once the pain goes away after about a mile and a half I’d enter The Zone.

It took a year to build a solid running base back up. Every morning the excuses run like a ticker across my groggy consciousness, especially when the sun isn’t up yet. But I will somehow spartan up and hit the pavement, and actually look forward to that punishment. It takes discipline to power through it – sucking wind, burning muscles, hitting the wall and grappling for the last oomph of energy your head and body disagree over. But you get more out of it than what you put in, and when you start crushing the miles you feel like you’re on top of the world.

Running made me aware how self-destructive I got those first three years back here in New York, isolating myself from things I used to do and love, and relying more and more on harmful habits.

But my old self is waking up, and running put me back in touch with that person. I took up meditation and started writing again, both of which complement running well. I also picked up more books, reconnected with friends near and far, and made more effort at meeting new people.

Other upsides to my morning runs? 

  • It’s physically transformative. My knees are stronger than ever (22 years after ACL reconstruction), muscle and joint aches are gone, posture and core strength are better than in my twenties, and I’m back to my college weight.
  • Being a lifestyle choice, running is a catalyst for major life shifts. You can’t sustain the habit without building up the values and character traits needed to actuate changes.
  • It’s meditative. I focus on and control my breathing, and the blocks just fly. Do you know how much power you draw from the simple act of focusing on your breath? 
  • Mental health and stress levels are back to form, and I’m back to being the eternal optimist, adventure seeker, and avid risk taker my family knows me to be. I’m also back into concocting stories my kids love.
  • It’s the first winter since being back in the US that I didn’t get sick once. 
  • Higher resistance to the cold. While others at work blast space heaters, I’m stripping down to shirt or tank top.
  • Allergies normally seize up my respiratory system around this hay fever season, but symptoms were mild last Spring and so far this year things look good (knock on wood!).
  • I can eat more cookies (the truth comes out)!

I’m in a much better place now, with similarly improved running form and technique. Running has taught me a lot of things about myself, about endurance, and discipline. And I credit the running with helping me cut toxic jobs, people and habits fairly decisively. I love that my biggest competition is me, that it’s low-tech and cheap, and that I can be as anti-social or social as I want with the sport. If I can conquer running I can handle anything life throws at me.

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