Merging Into Life: Running 101

[00:01:57]
Jeff Dengate: I’ve been running my entire life. I started when I was seven or eight years old with the local 5K, just jumping in with my parents and then I really got into running in high school and I’ve been sticking with it ever since. I’m also a real shoe nerd. I’ve been testing shoes and reviewing shoes for over 15 years now, so it’s kind of my passion.

[00:02:13]
Amanda Greene: What kind of runs are you doing now? Are you still doing 5Ks? Are you doing marathons?

[00:02:18]
Jeff Dengate: A little bit of everything. I’ll run a mile race on the road. I’m going to run the Boston Marathon in the spring. I ran one earlier this year, so I’ll run basically any distance up to a marathon. I love to go run trails as well, just go out and have an adventure. So, I’ve run 33 marathons. I don’t think the marathon is the only or the best distance. I think just getting out there and moving and challenging yourself at any distance that you find inspiring is a lot of fun.

[00:02:41]
Amanda Greene: So I would love to talk about being a beginner, starting to make some goals, and coming up with a training plan. How do you build up endurance for that first marathon or maybe a 5K?

[00:02:54]
Jeff Dengate: The first thing I always recommend everybody is just make it a habit. Schedule it, put it on your calendar like any other important appointment. The easiest way to do that is make sure you get it done in the morning as well, because when life gets busy and things get pushed at the end of the day, that run is the thing that oftentimes gets sacrificed.

So, you just want to carve out the time to protect the time so you can go out and run or walk, and if you have no idea what you’re doing, you’re going to get really excited. You’re going to head out the driveway, you don’t know how fast you should be going, and you’re probably going to get to the end of the block and feel tired and miserable and like this running thing is awful and it’s hard, and it doesn’t have to be.

The easiest thing you want to do is just get out and set maybe a time to be out moving, maybe 20 minutes, run and walk, mix it up. Just know that you’re going to be out there for a little while and you’re going to come back home and it doesn’t matter how fast you went or how far you went. These are your early days, your first days and you want to come back feeling fresh and happy and excited.

[00:03:44]
Amanda Greene: But how can you make sure that you don’t get too excited and overdo it and can’t walk for a week?

[00:03:51]
Jeff Dengate: Well, I mean, there’s a lot of people that do a run/walk method, right? You might run for two minutes, you might walk for 30 seconds. You can vary those intervals to whatever you want. And then if you start training for a race, you need to start thinking about training plans. A 5K, if that’s your first goal, maybe that’s going to take six to eight weeks of real training, but a marathon will take you 16 weeks or longer and you need to have a pretty good base as a runner and walker to even start that kind of training. Your early days though, it’s really important to just kind of take it easy, make sure you’re getting that movement in, make sure you’re feeling comfortable because if you get really excited and you run a lot, you’re going to get hurt. I see it all the time.

[00:04:26]
Amanda Greene: How often should a beginner be running or preparing for a marathon? Every single day? Is there a rest day?

[00:04:31]
Jeff Dengate: I mean, ideally you’re out there four or five days a week for 20 to 30 minutes. That’s whether you’re walking or running, that’s going to give you a really good baseline fitness. And we know that movement is medicine. It does actually help relieve a lot of medical problems that our society is afflicted with. So, if you’re out there moving for 20 to 30 minutes a day, five days a week, you’re going to be pretty fit. If you have more ambitious goals, of course you’re going to end up running a little bit longer. You might be out there for an hour on some of those days, but even your easy days, you’re not out there for more than 30 or 45 minutes. So it’s not a huge time commitment to become a runner. Now if you’re training for a marathon, you’re going to be on Saturday or Sundays, you’re going to be out there for two or three hours. That’s a commitment, but that’s also a lot of fun.

[00:05:15]
Amanda Greene: And something that you’re working up to. And I imagine once you’ve really mastered the beginner stage, you kind of want to push for more.

[00:05:23]
Jeff Dengate: We all have different goals and what we want to get out of running, right? Being a competitive runner and chasing times and competing with other people, and there are some people that will never race and they don’t want to do long distances and that’s totally cool. There’s groups that just get together once or twice a week with friends and you’re socializing more than anything. You’re a talking group with a running problem, for example. And so, it all depends on what you want to get out of the sport, but make it a habit. Make it part of your life and part of your identity and you’re going to enjoy the experience.

[00:05:49]
Amanda Greene: Shoes are probably the most important equipment and the most important thing to make sure you’re getting right in the earliest days of running, and I see behind you all different kinds of shoes because you mentioned being a product tester. So what is the best running shoe for running a marathon?

[00:06:03]
Jeff Dengate: Shoes are our most important protective piece of equipment. Comfort is the first key because if they don’t feel good, you’re not going to wear them and you’re not going to run.

I’m in the shoe lab and we bring our wear testers in and we see them and so many times, even experienced runners, they’re wearing their shoes too small. They’re not going to be the same size that your street shoe or your work shoe might be. They may be a size or a size and a half larger. Sometimes it’s going to feel like your shoe is just too big. You might think this feels loose. And so, I send people out with them, run in them and then try your old shoe. And when they come back, they’re like, ‘Oh, those old shoes were too tight.’ So you want to make sure you’ve got a little room at the end, not sloppy, not too big.

There’s Miracle Foams out there right now. These things are light and soft. They feel great and bouncy, but that might not be what you need as a beginning runner. You might want something middle of the road that’s soft but not too squishy, not too thin and hard because if it’s thin and hard, you’re going to feel the road and that might hurt after a few miles. You don’t need the high-end, $250 racing shoe if you’re getting started or for daily training, something middle of the road is going to be good.

Now, if you have no idea where to start, I recommend always going to your running store. Be honest. Say, “Listen, I’m new. I don’t know what I don’t know, and I would love some help.’

[00:07:09]
Amanda Greene: Other than shoes, what other gear does every runner need?

[00:07:12]
Jeff Dengate: Well, so women really need to invest in a good sports bra. It is another really important protective piece of equipment. Don’t skimp on that. Don’t think the old one that you’ve had for years is going to give you the support you need. And the fit is again, key. And then, I always recommend sunglasses for every runner. We only have two eyes, and even in the dead of winter when there’s sun out there, you need to protect your eyes. You need some covering. So, invest in a good pair of sunglasses that are going to give you that UV protection.

[00:07:38]
Amanda Greene: How do you track your runs? Are you doing it on a watch or do you have your phone attached to your arm? I feel like I see people with all kinds of contraptions attached to them.

[00:07:48]
Jeff Dengate: Yeah, I mean, the watches are the easiest way now, whether you have an Apple watch or a Garmin or even your phone, they track, and a lot of them will do it automatically and they store it and save it and you can review it. I send my workouts to Strava, which is an online training log. It just automatically uploads it there depending on whatever device I’m testing that day.

I think it’s really important to definitely track your runs, even if you just want to write it down in a notebook like I did when I started, a little journal, and just what the day was, how far you went, maybe you were out for 30 minutes, doesn’t even matter about mileage, how you felt, what the weather was, something that you can kind of look back later and see how far you’ve come, how you’ve progressed.

And also, running is not a linear process, so you will have ups and downs. You will have days of motivation where your motivation is struggling a little bit or you’ve been dealing with a little bit of an injury. And if you’ve been keeping track of what you’ve done, you might remember, ‘I had that before,’ and you can look back and see what you did, how you got over it, or you can just kind of see how far you’ve progressed in the last months. You won’t see improvement from day to day, but if you look back three months, six months, even a year, you can see, ‘Wow, I can’t believe where I’m at now compared to where I was then.’ And tracking it with your watch or your device is an easy way to do that.

[00:09:05]
Amanda Greene: Absolutely. So I guess it’s best to just use whatever works best for you. What about running in the winter?

[00:09:12]
Jeff Dengate: A lot of people don’t run outside in the winter. They’ll head to the gym, they’ll get a treadmill, and I get it. It’s tough especially in places where you get snow and you get those nor’easters and it’s hard. So running in the winter is all about staying comfortably warm. A lot of us overdress, we think we have to have a big puffy jacket, but you don’t. You really need thin layers that can help moderate your temperature. So a thin polyester base layer is always going to work well to get the sweat away from your skin. And then a good windproof jacket if you live in a windy area with a zipper so you can unzip it and kind of use it almost like throwing open the window when you get too hot.

Hat and gloves are important, but you don’t need big puffy things. I like Merino gloves that are just kind of help regulate the temperature. You can take that stuff off and tuck it in your waistband when you get warm. And there’s a tip for running in the winter that I really like because you’re going to get sweaty no matter what you do. And if it’s a windy cold day, start out running into the wind, you’ll feel cold at the start because you’re not warmed up yet. But do that because when you get sweaty, you don’t want to be running into the wind, you turn around and run back with the wind, so the wind is at your back, you’re not getting cold, then you’re able to keep your warmth a little better.

[00:10:15]
Amanda Greene: Between the ice and the snow, how do you even manage to stay upright?

[00:10:19]
Jeff Dengate: So the biggest recommendation I have is wait until the roads are plowed or wait until the sidewalks are shoveled. And please shovel your sidewalks if you have them – us runners need to use them.

But wait until the snow and ice are gone if you can. And that means sometimes it’s tricky if you’re a morning runner because the sun hasn’t come up and it hasn’t melted anything yet. Now, if you are going to get out there and you insist on, I have to be on the ice and the snow, there are things like Yaktrax. They’re kind of like tire chains for your shoes that you can put on and slip over your shoes. It’s amazing how effective something that little is in giving you just that enough traction to stay on your feet.

The other thing about running on ice and snow, just don’t be afraid to slow down. A lot of us look at our watch and we think we have to be running our typical pace and it doesn’t matter. You’re out there, you’re getting the fitness. You go for time, have fun, and remember that you’re going to be doing more work in the snow. You’re slipping and sliding. Your heart rate’s going to be up no matter what speed you’re going. So you’re out there just getting in that work. Stay safe, get the running.

[00:11:16]
Amanda Greene: What other physical exercise is useful to incorporate when you are training, other than going for runs?

[00:11:23]
Jeff Dengate: Runners think we just have to run and that’s it. And we’ll be fit and we use certain muscles but we don’t use others. And so, strength training is important. Hitting the gym, lifting some weights, doing just even body weight exercises in your basement with a single kettlebell is a really great thing that’s hugely popular because it’s something that’s simple that runners can do with just limited equipment, limited space, and it doesn’t take a lot of time. But the benefits of actually building a strong body is that it supports your system when you’re running, so you can fend some of those overuse injuries. We’re hitting the road with the same force and the same stride and the same motion time after time after time. And those muscles and those tendons and ligaments, they start to get overworked. And if you have a strong system, you can actually take that load and put it elsewhere and not get those overuse injuries.

[00:12:11]
Amanda Greene: Injuries, they can put quite a damper on any new runner enthusiasm. I think this is a good time to bring in Mike Vaiano because …

[00:12:21]
Mike Vaiano: Typically patients will walk through the door when it’s a little too late, so they’ll walk in unfortunately after they have gotten injured.

[00:12:27]
Amanda Greene: Mike is a physical therapist at Schwarz Institute on Long Island, New York.

[00:12:32]
Mike Vaiano: So with new runners, we typically see a couple common injuries, one of which is called shin splints. That’s the muscle in the front of your leg that gets overworked and you get a sharp pain and a lot of people suffer from it and it usually happens when you ramp up too quickly, so you don’t go through the proper build-up to running a 5K or running whatever type of race you want to run and what happens is the muscle gets overworked and then it can’t handle the stress it’s being put under. Another common injury we see is called runner’s knee or like a patellar tendonitis type of thing. That’s from faulty mechanics or if you’re overusing a certain muscle when you’re running, it can lead to knee pain.

[00:13:12]
Amanda Greene: So what can runners do to prevent these kind of injuries?

[00:13:16]
Mike Vaiano: So there’s a couple different things. If you just go out there and try and run three miles in the first day, you’re probably not going to last very long because your body’s going to be hating you and everything’s going to be hurting. But if you build up slowly, so maybe going a half a mile the first day or whatever your tolerance is, just slowly build up and leave enough time before the race to build up. If you decide, ‘Oh, next week’s the 5K, I want to get out there,’ that’s probably not enough time. Give yourself a month or two months to properly train and make sure you’re ready to go for the race. There’s some other things you can do in terms of exercising to making sure your muscles are strong enough. If you haven’t been on an exercise program prior to starting, that’s something you’re going to want to do to strengthen up your quads and your glutes and calves and also stretching as well.

[00:14:00]
Amanda Greene: What kind of stretches do you recommend?

[00:14:03]
Mike Vaiano: One great way to warm up and to stretch beforehand will be a dynamic exercise. So what you can do is a high knee, so you’re jogging and you lift your knees up towards you. There’s also an exercise called Frankenstein where you’re kind of kicking your legs straight out in front of you, and this will help to loosen up your hamstrings as you’re getting ready and you’re not doing as much of a static stretch. This is more of a dynamic stretch, which means you’re moving while you’re stretching, which is shown to be a little bit better for your muscles. It’s important to stretch your hamstrings, your calves. There’s some basic stretches that everyone knows that can loosen you up before you get out there.

[00:14:36]
Amanda Greene: How about proper form? What does that even look like?

[00:14:40]
Mike Vaiano: So you want to run on the middle of your foot and if you lean too far forward, it’s going to push your body weight forward so your back muscles are getting all fired up trying to hold you up. It just leads to a number of issues. So maintaining that upright posture is one of the most important things you can do while you’re running.

[00:14:58]
Amanda Greene: Okay, so form is very important to avoid injury.

[00:15:00]
Mike Vaiano: Yes, definitely.

[00:15:02]
Amanda Greene: What kind of role do diet and hydration play in performing our best or what do you eat before running a marathon to prevent potential injury?

[00:15:10]
Mike Vaiano: So diet and nutrition are huge when it comes to running a race or preventing an injury or making sure you’re prepared for a certain event. So you want to make sure you’re hydrated at least 72 hours before the race. So don’t start hydrating the day of the race, that’s going to be too late. And then typically the night before the race, I like to have my athletes take in a decent amount of carbs because that’s what your body uses for energy while it’s running, especially when you’re getting into those longer races, you really need those carbs. And in the morning of the race, you definitely don’t want to eat anything too heavy, so that’s just going to sit in your stomach. So eat something that you’re comfortable with that will give you a little bit of energy the morning of.

[00:15:47]
Amanda Greene: So, skip the stack of pancakes, that makes sense. But even if you do everything right, injuries do happen. So how do you know when to push through the pain and when to take a break and get treatment?

[00:15:58]
Mike Vaiano: It’s hard to differentiate, at least when you’re just getting into running because right when you start off, you’re definitely going to be sore. So being able to differentiate between being sore and having a pain is something that is crucial. What I characterize pain as is something that’s sharp. If something sticks around for three or four days, then that’s something that you should get looked at or figure out what’s going on. And then I also like to use the pain scale. So if there’s anything over like a five out of 10 pain, then that’s something you should get checked out. If it’s below that, it’s something you can work through a little bit.

[00:16:31]
Amanda Greene: This has been very helpful. Thank you so much, Mike. So now we know the basics, the gear, the commitment, and how to prevent injuries. Jeff, let’s say we’ve done it. We’ve incorporated running into our life. What do we need to know before we step up to the start line for the first time?

[00:16:49]
Jeff Dengate: The training for a race really beats you up. It leaves you tired, especially close to race day. You’re putting in most work, you’re getting ready, but you need to recover. So we have what we call a taper in running, and it’s no matter what race distance you’re going to do, you’re going to taper and that’s just reducing the amount of running. The first week you might do like 75% of the work that you were doing and then 50% and then the last week like 25%, and you might take a couple of days entirely off before your race. So in that taper period, you can’t actually get any more benefit from doing harder work. You might be nervous and think, ‘I’m not going to be ready. I need to do another workout.’ That’s wrong, and that’s going to leave you cooked for race day, and you’re not going to hit your goals when you start doing that.

[00:17:29]
Amanda Greene: What about you’ve been training for this for a while, you’re here doing your thing, you’re going to hit a dark patch during the race. How do you get through it?

[00:17:37]
Jeff Dengate: Every race, there’s a dark moment. It doesn’t matter the distance either. If you’re running a mile, the third lap on the track is going to just be hard and you have to go into it prepared. You’re training your body for weeks to get ready for the physical toll, but you need to prepare your brain as well. Just get through that moment of mental toughness. Your body can do more than your brain will let you.

Your brain is going to try to preserve the system and it’s going to try to shut you down if you’re doing something really hard. So you need to trick your brain, maybe you’re going to count. I’m just going to get to that next light post. If you’re racing with other people and you look ahead and pay attention to who’s around you, you might see somebody struggling more than you and, I’m not that person or I’m going to catch that person. Kind of use them as motivation and when you see somebody else struggling, you understand we’re all in this together, you’ll find ways to get through there, but you’re always going to hit that tough patch, so train for it and kind of understand what is going to work for you to get through it.

[00:18:27]
Amanda Greene: The mental part of training sounds just as big as the physical part. It’s really powerful. Is there anything else that you would want to share with a beginner who is just starting out? Do you have any words of wisdom for them?

[00:18:40]
Jeff Dengate: Biggest thing I will always tell anybody who’s new is you’re going to be so excited to do this and you’re going to take on too much. It’s the biggest trap for runners is too much too soon. It leads to injury. So we have what we basically call the 10% rule. Don’t do any more than 10% more work from week to week. You shouldn’t go from like 10 miles a week to 25 miles a week. You’ll get away with it for a week or two, but three weeks down the road, your knee’s going to start hurting, your back’s going to start hurting, something shins. It’s going to happen. So you want a nice steady progression and running is a long-term gain. It is all about consistency. It doesn’t happen overnight, but you’ll get there. So think weeks down the road, build and train for that and stay in it for the long term. The health benefits are huge, so give yourself the permission to set it into your schedule, make it important and stick with it.

[00:19:27]
Amanda Greene: Okay, we’re going to do a little rapid-fire quiz. Are you ready?

[00:19:34]
Jeff Dengate: Let’s do this.

[00:19:35]
Amanda Greene: Awesome. What’s your favorite thing to use for fuel during long runs on race days?

[00:19:40]
Jeff Dengate: Maple syrup, they make them in little packets and they’re tasty. There’s some salt in there. Sometimes there’s a little bit of flavor, like a raspberry-salted maple syrup. So good.

[00:19:48]
Amanda Greene: What’s your favorite marathon that you’ve ever run?

[00:19:50]
Jeff Dengate: Oh, Big Sur out in California. It’s so beautiful.

[00:19:53]
Amanda Greene: How often should you replace your running shoes?

[00:19:56]
Jeff Dengate: Around 300 miles. Start thinking about your body. Does something hurt? How does a shoe look? Have I worn through the rubber on the bottom of the shoe? You might need to start replacing them kind of early, especially some of these newer shoes with lightweight foams, they wear out a little bit quicker.

[00:20:08]
Amanda Greene: Which is more important, warm-up or cool-down?

[00:20:10]
Jeff Dengate: Warm-up definitely is more important.

[00:20:12]
Amanda Greene: What is the biggest goal on race day?

[00:20:14]
Jeff Dengate: Usually hitting the finish line.

[00:20:16]
Amanda Greene: And what’s one word to describe that feeling after finishing the race?

[00:20:21]
Jeff Dengate: Now that could be, I say this because I think it’s two things. One is hungry for food, especially long runs or races. But also hungry for more. Maybe you’re done, you did that marathon and you’re like, ‘That was so cool. I’m going to go sign up for another one.’ And sometimes you’re signing up for that next race the next day.

[00:20:36]
Amanda Greene: Amazing. Thank you, Jeff, so much for sharing all of your experiences with us, and thank you so much for joining us.

[00:20:42]
Jeff Dengate: Thank you so much for having me.

[00:20:43]
Amanda Greene: And thanks to Mike Vaiano, physical therapist at the Schwarz Institute. If you’re new to running or getting back into it, you don’t need to overdo it with expensive gadgets. You do need a pair of well-fitted running shoes. And if you need one, a sports bra. Track your progress over time, whether it’s with an app on your phone, a watch, or even an old-fashioned notebook and pen. Seeing your progress over time is a huge motivator. Winter running can be done from the warmth and comfort of a treadmill, or you can head out into the elements. Dress in layers, you might need to shed some as you heat up. Keep safety in mind as we know those roads and sidewalks can be treacherous in the winter. Because you don’t want to hurt yourself, do some dynamic stretching to start, slowly progressing into harder runs, hydrate properly beforehand, and eat your carbs the night before a race. There is a lot to it, but at the same time, it’s simple. Running is good for you. All you need to do is carve out some time, lace on some shoes, and go.

You’ve been listening to Merging Into Life where we navigate life’s milestones, one episode at a time. Brought to you by AAA Northeast with assistance from JAR Audio. I’m your host, Amanda Greene. If you’re learning as much as I am, follow us wherever you get your podcasts and leave a review. We’d love to know what you think. Email us at podcast@AAANortheast.com.

It is still raining, but if Jeff can run in a snowstorm, I guess a little rain won’t hurt me. Let’s do this.

The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are not necessarily the views of AAA Northeast, AAA, and/ or its affiliates. AAA Northeast does not endorse any of the products mentioned in this episode.