The Heart of the Athlete

Sudden cardiac death in athletes is a personal and professional interest of mine. In the past few years, running, triathlon and nordic skiing have all had major events where an athlete died of sudden cardiac death (death within an hour of cardiac arrest). In general, these deaths are not attributable to what we consider “traditional” risk factors for cardiac arrest. Many of these athletes had an underlying condition called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a generally asymptomatic enlarging of the heart. Until it isn’t. One of the biggest questions that I hope to answer across my career is whether or not this hypertrophy is part of why these athletes end up excelling at endurance sports in the first place; that is, if we’re going to screen, does focusing on endurance sports make sense?

This article frames the conversation about screening nicely. As Dr. Maron points out, the more people you screen with a test that isn’t perfectly specific, the more false positives you have which can trigger a battery of invasive, unnecessary tests. As a coach, this is an issue that sits at the back of my head. Last year at the Craftsbury Marathon, an event where Olympians, high schoolers and weekend warriors can all race together, a skier from Dartmouth died on the course. Some of my skiers were right around him and it was a difficult conversation to have with them about the likelihood of them having a similar experience.

At this point, the Class I recommendation is to use a 14 point screening test and then refer to ECG and further testing if an athlete says yes to any of the items. It’s not a perfect tool but may be a start towards earlier identification of cardiac issues in a population we often consider our most healthy.

Not All At Once

Last week, I was on the phone with the mom of an alumna with whom I remain close and we were talking about balance and the tendency of some women to take on too much. She remarked that she once heard Madeline Kunin (former Governor of Vermont and generally incredible woman) say that “Of course women can have it all. Just not at once.” That quote has hung with me since our conversation.

I am rarely overwhelmed by my schedule. In the past week, however, I’ve felt a bit overbooked and increasingly like I’m doing a sh*tty job at all my commitments. As I struggled out the door for my workout on Monday, feeling like I should remain tied to my desk instead of running, I finally admitted that something had to give, at least for the next few weeks.

Right now, my priorities are the Boards and MMU Nordic. The former is self-evident from a career perspective. The latter reflects a core priority in my life: give back to the community that raised me. Every season of coaching is special but when a State Championship is likely and you have three and four year skiers who have given their all to get here, they deserve your all right back.

By the end of my workout, I’d come up with a temporary solution (which I suppose made the whole run worth it). Until the end of ski season, I’ll use ski practice as my recovery days. I have two days a week slotted in as recovery runs and since the purpose of a recovery run is to just move, skiing will do just fine. This saves me a double workout twice a week and takes some pressure off. Is it the most specific workout for running? No. But it will have to do. Yesterday was an incredible day of skiing and it was made even better by being able to enjoy it for what it was, not worrying about when I was going to get my run in.

What compromises have you made to better fit running into your life?

Week in Review: 12.8.14 to 12.14.14

Whelp. It was almost a great week of running! The week started with some good runs and we even managed to run outside throughout the entire three day storm that socked Burlington and I was looking forward to a weekend of great runs. And ran exactly 0 miles on Saturday and Sunday. Goodbye Streak. On Saturday, I coached our first nordic race of the season at Craftsbury and my ankle BLEW up on the first lap. I think it’s fine but just wasn’t used to the amount of pushing off I was asking of it. When I got home, I decided it was silly to run a mile for a Streak and risk an injury and figured I’d just make it up with a slightly longer long run on Sunday. On Saturday night, a friend had a medical emergency and I spent the night with him in the Emergency Room. Everyone was wiped by 6 am and I slept for a few hours, losing the precious time I cut out of studying for running.

Life goes on. Ultimately, I’m still in my relative rest period until the new year and there are things far more important than hitting arbitrary mileage. I’m starting to get used to my new studying routine and hopeful that the new running routine that I’ve built around it will continue to help me get a solid run in each day. I’m also excited for the New England Grand Prix to get announced this week so that I can solidify my race schedule!

Monday: Freezing cold 5 mile extended campus loop with Will.

Tuesday: Snuck in 7.2 slippery miles before the storm really set in.

Wednesday: 5.3 miles in the midst of the snowstorm. Lifted arms in the basement.

Having a gym in our basement is a game changer. Still looking for a treadmill and our collection will be complete.

Thursday: 3.5 miles in the slush/ice/snow. Ankle starting to bug me from so much stabilization. Core in the basement.

Friday: 6 mile loop through Winooski. Finally starting to get cleared, but still rocking Icebugs.

Saturday: Skiing at Craftsbury for 6 hours.

Sun trying to come out on Saturday. Awesome early snow made for great skiing.

Sunday: Lots of hours in my desk chair.

Total Miles: 27

A Graduation Day, Of Sorts

States 2011. It was frigid and I wore all of the layers.

In some ways, this weekend will be a graduation day for me. Tomorrow marks the 4th time I’ve gone back to Thetford as a coach. It marks the first full class that I’ve coached from Freshman to Senior year.

When I first met this bunch of freshman, they were overwhelming. There are a LOT of them and they were not your typical freshman, just quietly trying to fit in. From the very first practice on my very first day to Tuesday of this week where I implored them for some silence, they have been a joyful, energetic, boundlessly enthusiastic bunch.

Awkwardness has happened over the years.

But (and they’ll be the first to tell you this) they are basically responsible for my marriage.

I’m going to miss this bunch enormously.

Yes, even you boys.

So to the first class to go through high school with me (survive me? I’m not sure), I am so proud of who you are as runners and more importantly as people. Have a great day tomorrow! All of the prouds.

Weeks in Review: 10.6.14 to 10.12.14

10/6/14 to 10/12/14

One of the calmest, oddest taper weeks of my life. School and coaching were busy and we had a lot of stuff going on in trying to get our house set up again. By the time Saturday arrived, I hadn’t even finalized my outfit or fueling plan.

Monday: 4.7 miles early morning with Katie. Had to wear half tights!

Tuesday: 4.6 miles with striders in the last mile.

Wednesday: 2 miles at T pace (6:14, 6:08) and a mile of 200 ins and outs. Cold and windy but felt good when I got into a groove. 6 miles total.

Thursday: Off day.

Friday: 3.5 mile run with striders.

Saturday: 3.5 mile run with striders.

Sunday: 26.2 in 2:54:39. Race Report here.

10/13/14 to 10/19/14

Easy. No running! Monday and Tuesday were pretty sore days, so I just foam rolled and tried to be easy on my legs. I took a short walk with the dog on Friday and jogged a little at the race yesterday. My legs feel ok when I’m walking but were still made of concrete when I jogged yesterday, so I’m giving it a full week before I get back into training for Vegas.

In even more exciting news, it’s States Week!! This team has put in an enormous amount of work this year and started their peaking work last week. This week, we’ll hit full peak and get them ready to crush the State Meet next Saturday. I continue to be impressed with their grit and determination and I’m excited to see what they do next week.

Good Coach/Bad Coach

It’s no big secret that I love being a coach. I tell my girls almost daily that my time with them is always the highlight of my day and there’s little in my life that has rivaled my last four years at MMU. I had a physiologically “good” coach in high school, but he certainly wasn’t a cuddly guy and compliments were rare. When I took the job at MMU, my biggest goal was to make sure that every single one of my runners gained a lifelong love of activity and knew how proud I was of them, regardless of performance or outcome. The reality is that very few of my runners will go on to run in college. MMU is not a D1 production house. And that’s ok with me. My success as a coach is measured in how many of my girls leave MMU and still want to run. It’s measured in the bonds that form between generations of MMU runners. It’s measured in smiles that stay on our cheeks long after the races are over.

Coaching requires constant learning and adaptation, especially at the high school level. Although science says an exponential rapid drop taper is best, I learned the hard way last year that it doesn’t work as well with high school athletes who rarely get enough recovery due to outside forces. Over the past 4 years, I’ve kept a coaching log where I write up reflections on workouts, race performances and season patterns. This way, I don’t panic when we have a week in mid-September where the whole team is sick or injured.

I was interested to read this article on Coach Wetmore of Colorado last week. Wetmore is a fantastic coach (CU is arguably the most successful XC program in the US) but isn’t known for being warm and fuzzy. I found it interesting that despite this, his athletes love running for him. I especially loved the story of him walking away as an athlete won a national championship because Wetmore already knew he would. He didn’t need to watch the final stretch to see it happen.

I was appalled to read this article about a coach in South Carolina who drove a vehicle full of athletes while drunk. Driving athletes is terrifying. I drove a car full of girls to Manchester recently and have rarely paid more attention to the road. Precious cargo! I cannot fathom the decision making process that coach must have gone through that led to this news story.

Finally, I loved this article on why some kids try harder than others. Although it was more applicable to parenting, I can certainly see applications to coaching. The premise is that there are two mindsets: fixed (what you’re born with for talent is what you have) and growth (talent can be developed with hard work). Coaching relies heavily on a belief on the latter; if talent was all that mattered, we wouldn’t need coaches.

If you’re a coach, what’s your favorite part of coaching? Who is your favorite “famous” coach and why?

This Is Why We Love XC

We had the pleasure of volunteering at the middle school race today and although we may not have been professional starters (we had a small airhorn glitch for the girls), we had a blast cheering on the up and coming runners. I won’t lie, I was also scouting heavily and like what I’ll inherit next year.

While we were there, we happened upon a bunch of motivational signs in the utility shed and it inspired a photo shoot. Joking aside, this really is why running is just the best sport to coach, to participate in and to watch.

Week in Review: 9.22.14 to 9.28.14

Taper has begun and par for the course, I’m now terrified that I’m going to break an ankle, get pneumonia or get hit by a rogue biker. The last item was close to reality on my long run today, as the bike path was packed with people taking advantage of unseasonably warm temps to evidently learn how to bike.

Monday: 7.2 miles with the team at mostly recovery pace with a few hills at a faster pace. Feeling pretty good from the workout.

Tuesday: 11 miles that was supposed to be easy and became less easy when I got totally and utterly lost in Starbird. Beach abs afterward.

Wednesday: 12.7 mile tempo run. Warmup, 3 by 10 minutes at T pace then 5 by 30 seconds hard and cooldown.

Thursday: Official beginning of taper. 7 mile recovery run.

Friday: 8.3 miles with 4 striders on the track.

Saturday: 5 miles at Manchester Invitational. Stood in the hot sun all day, which wasn’t optimal but the girls ran SO well, who could care.

They insisted on the porto-potty pose. I love them.

Sunday: 14.75 miles. 3 mile warm up, 40 minutes at T pace (6:35 today) and cooldown to the 2 hour mark. Can’t believe this is it. Total body lift afterward.

Total Miles: 66

Besides some short tempo efforts and striders, all the hard work is over. Now all I can do is drink lots of water, get plenty of sleep and work on getting my mind ready for 26.2.

Number of Weather Checks: 1 (For the record, low of 37 the night before and high of 62 and cloudy for race day. I’ll take that.)

It’s the Little Things

In the grand scheme of things, getting mileage in is sort of the easy part of training. It’s all the extra things that take additional time  and although you can skip them once in a while and get away with it, eventually avoiding core, flexibility, striders, nutrition (the list could go on and on) really catches up with you.

Over the past few weeks, my runs have felt really sluggish. At first I attributed it to heat and humidity then to the grind of high mileage and finally to school starting again. Even with these attributions, however, a voice in the back of my head started to worry that my slow pace was going to become a chronic condition. At the same time, one of my athletes began to have similarly sluggish legs. Without missing a beat, I asked if she was doing striders after easy runs and we made a plan to make sure she isn’t doing recovery paced days without them. On the drive home, I realized I couldn’t think of the last time I’d done striders. I always have them on my schedule but I don’t always get them done. After this realization, I started doing my striders again and miracle, my legs (and paces) feel much better. Science. It’s a thing.

Every training cycle is full of dropped little things. Now that I’m a little over 5 weeks away from Albany, however, the little things are basically all I have left. The vast majority of my mileage is done and I only have a few workouts left. I do, however, have 40 ish days to make sure the rest of me is ready to run. Here are the little things to which I’ll be attending over the next few weeks:

Nutrition

Tis the saddest time of the year with timing right around my birthday AND pumpkin beer season, but within 8 weeks of a goal race, I avoid all alcohol. If I were really serious, I would avoid it for the whole training cycle but I live in Vermont and near way too much delicious craft beer goodness. My compromise is that once I’m into the final stages, I don’t drink.

It’s also the time when I start avoiding any allergens (milk/dairy) and swap to low fiber versions of food. No more brown rice or veggie pasta; white rice and semolina for me!

Finally, it’s time to dial my in-race nutrition in. Albany doesn’t have bottles like VCM did, so I have to practice with lemon lime gatorade. Thankfully Will rides next to me on a bike and just hands me a bottle when “it’s my time,” so I don’t have to do a lot of thinking.

Strength Training

At this point, I’ve stopped lifting heavy legs in the gym. The muscle I have now is the muscle I’ll carry in the marathon and lifting doesn’t help me hit my workouts at my best. I will continue to do my hip core routine right up until about a week out. I will also continue to lift arms up until about a week out. Core work (which is on pause right now because I stupidly strained an intercostal muscle) will continue until a week out as well.

Flexibility

This is the big one and one I haven’t been as good about in the last few weeks. To rectify this, I’ve been foam rolling in the morning when the dogs eat breakfast and stretching my psoas as often as I remember to.

PT

I had surgery 10 months ago? Right. Right after I finish foam rolling, I spend a few minutes per foot on my foam pad to continue working on proprioception. My foot is feeling ok but I can tell when I’ve skipped my PT work.

Sleep

This is a hard one when I have to balance school, coaching, training and occasionally hanging out with my husband. As often as I can, I aim to get at least 8 hours of sleep a night. I knew when I signed up to coach again this fall that I have to give up some other things and school is one of the things that I have to be flexible on. We’re lucky to be on an Honors-Pass-Fail system and I constantly have to remind myself that I am not Supergirl and that if I want to be Supercoach and Superrunner, P = MD for me. Even with this attitude, there are days (and stretches of days) where 6 hours of sleep is a luxury.

What are your “little things?” What changes do you make as you begin your final approach to a big race?

Recently Read: Mistakes, Proper Arm Form, Faking Confidence and Do I Need a Coach?

This cracked me up. I hope this isn’t my purpose on the planet.

In the perennial debate of how should we run, another study concludes that the “best” form is basically whatever you do naturally. This conclusion is one we’re seeing more and more as running becomes extremely mainstream and “form coaches” attempt to make money off the shufflers, the T-rexers and the paddlers. Yes, some form quirks are highly inefficient but we should all aim for small adjustments, not total overhauls.

Pacing matters. We’re all guilty of getting overexcited at the start of a race or chasing someone down a sidewalk on a recovery day. Appropriate pace and correct perception of pace, however, is critical to top performance. One of my big foci this training cycle is to be more attuned to effort; I’m doing this by using my GPS, my own RPE and a heart rate monitor to compare what I feel to what my body is reporting that I feel.

This TED talk really deserves it’s own post but I don’t know enough about the psychology of body language and don’t have time right now to delve into it. That being said, it’s just a beautiful clip with actionable suggestions to help you on the starting line, in the board room or basically anywhere where you need confidence but are likely to lack it. It’s something we’ll be working on as a team this fall and I’m so looking forward to seeing the results.

Finally, although there should be an enormous caveat to vet anyone claiming to be a coach, this article is a good example of how coaching can help athletes of all levels. With the proliferation of free online plans, I’ve also observed a proliferation of injuries from plans that don’t (and couldn’t) accommodate individual needs. Can you complete events without a coach? Absolutely and many do (I did for years). Can you maximize your potential without a coach? I’m not so sure about that.