1dfvdfv

5 BETTER FOOD GOALS FOR BET TER MILES

YOUR BEST YEAR EVER MORE

✔ENDURANCE

FASTER ✔ SPEED STRONGER ✔CORE

G R OW YO U R GRIT! P. 2 6

THE 5-MINUTE WARMUP FOR MAX RESULTS Strengthen Your Most Neglected Running Muscle

WINTERPROOF YOUR SKIN 9 Must-Have Products

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2018 RUNNERSWORLD.COM

FOREVER YOUNG

The Science-Backed Ways Running Slows Aging

Discover the ultimate runner’s high

Stay in world-renowned Carmel-by-the-Sea and explore one of the most beautiful places on Earth with our unique Locals Guide to Scenic Runs, Hikes & Walks. Come enjoy an ideal year-round climate for the ultimate Runcation-by-the-Sea. Book your getaway direct at Carmel hotels and inns to receive the guide. Visit CarmelCalifornia.com/Runcation for details.

Exclusive Carmel Fitness & Nutrition Retreats Join America’s Coach and Runner’s World columnist Jeff Galloway for a one-of-a-kind fitness retreat.

Book your Carmel Fitness & Nutrition Retreat at CarmelCalifornia.com/Retreats January 18–21, 2018 March 15–18, 2018 April 5–8, 2018

CONTENTS 75

YES, YOU ARE A RUNNER!

If you lace up your sneakers to hit the road, track, trail, or treadmill, ditch the self-doubt. You deserve the title “runner.”

BY KARLA WALSH

52 ON THE COVER Food Goals ............................34 Your Best Year Ever ................52 Grow Your Grit ......................26 5-Minute Warmup .................28 Winterproof Your Skin............30 Forever Young .......................66

LET THE GAINS BEGIN Losing, trimming, shrinking, and cinching? Hard pass.

This year, make your goals about what you have to gain—faster speed, a stronger core, a clear, focused mind, and more.

BY JENESSA CONNOR

60

THE LOVE OF YOUR LIFE Your relationship with running will evolve, change, and hit some bumps in the road.

Here’s how to keep the passion alive, for good.

BY MARC PARENT

66

THE REAL MIRACLE DRUG You don’t need all-promising pills, diet hacks, or hours of tedious (and dubious) brain games to look and feel younger. All it takes is doing that thing you love: running.

BY WES JUDD

COVER PHOTOGRAPH BY Emiliano Granado > MODEL: Alexandra Mack of Wilhelmina > HAIR AND MAKEUP BY Suzanne Katz for Wilhelmina > STYLING BY Susan Brickell > MANICURE BY Rachel Shim using Dior Vernis > CLOTHING: P.E. Nation The Hustler Crop Bra ($80) > Oakley Elevate

Shorts ($120) > Garmin vívoactive 3 Watch ($299.99)

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JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2018 RUNNER’S WORLD 3

CONTENTS

8

Rave Run

10

Editor’s Letter

12

The Loop

16

The Intersection

HUMAN RACE 41

Quite the Performance Meet a marathon joggler (as if running weren’t hard enough).

44

Embracing Tough Times One runner making a difference—one hug at a time.

46

The New Couch to 5K A psychotherapist has her patients lace up to get back on their feet.

47

Casually Cool The secret to a great run look? This stylist says keep it simple.

48

One Pretty Sweet Club Postrun treats keep this group of runners racking up the miles and circling back for more.

50

Chicago Hope A 5K won’t turn a neighborhood around, but it’s a start.

PERSONAL BEST 19

Good Vibrations The lowdown on pulsating recovery tools.

22

Lift Smarter There’s a fine line between strength gains and aches and pain.

24

No Glutes, No Glory Why a weak backside can slow your run.

26

Night Moves Could running in the dark make you faster?

28

A Warmup That’s Worth It Activate every muscle in just five minutes.

30

Weather the Winter Nine products that protect your skin from wind, sleet, and cold.

32

At Your Fingertips Check out our favorite tech-friendly gloves. #FoodGoalz Swap a generic “eat healthier” resolution for one of these.

36

Bowlfuls of Health Stay well with these delicious immunityboosting meals.

38

Milk Your Run How to balance dairy and nondairy drinks in your diet.

34

BY PETER SAGAL

51

Ask Miles My little brother just started running. Can I crush him in a race?

I’M A RUNNER 88

Rob Riggle The 12 Strong actor started running when he joined the Marine Corps and hasn’t stopped since.

47

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4 RUNNER’S WORLD JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2018

FROM TOP: JONATHAN PUSHNIK; JOHN MALTA; CHRIS HINKLE

34

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EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

MANAGING DIRECTOR

PUBLISHER

EDITORIAL MARISSA STEPHENSON Deputy Editor SUZANNE PERREAULT Senior Managing Editor MOLLY RITTERBECK Fitness & Gear Director JOHN ATWOOD Story Editor HEATHER MAYER IRVINE Senior Editor (Food & Nutrition) LINDSAY BENDER Assistant Managing Editor DREW DAWSON Editorial Assistant AMY GARCIA Intern

ART + PHOTOGRAPHY JESSE SOUTHERLAND Group Creative Director ERIN BENNER Art Director KAREN MATTHES Designer KRISTEN PARKER Assistant Photo Editor

DIGITAL MATT GROSS Digital Director ROBERT JAMES REESE Executive Producer BRIAN DALEK Senior Digital Editor MONICA GRATER Social Media Editor DEREK CALL Junior Video Producer PAIGE TRIOLA Web Producer JENNIFER GIANDOMENICO Mobile Edition Producer MORGAN PETRUNY Intern

BRAND DEVELOPMENT BUDD COATES Training Director LORI ADAMS Senior Projects Coordinator

WRITERS AT LARGE JONATHAN BEVERLY, AMBY BURFOOT, JOHN BRANT, CHARLES BUTLER, BENJAMIN H. CHEEVER, SARA CORBETT, STEVE FRIEDMAN, CYNTHIA GORNEY, MICHAEL HEALD, KENNY MOORE, MARC PARENT, MARK REMY, PETER SAGAL, ROBERT SULLIVAN, NICK WELDON

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS KRISTIN ARMSTRONG, CHRISTIE ASCHWANDEN, TODD BALF, SARAH LORGE BUTLER, ADAM BUCKLEY COHEN, BOB COOPER, CALEB DANILOFF, SCOTT DOUGLAS, LAUREN FLESHMAN, JEFF GALLOWAY, PETER GAMBACCINI, MICHELLE HAMILTON, JOHN HANC, HAL HIGDON, ALEX HUTCHINSON, LISA JHUNG, ARGY KOUTSOTHANASIS, CINDY KUZMA, YISHANE LEE, SAMANTHA LEFAVE, DIMITY McDOWELL, JANICE McLEOD (Research), SARAH BOWEN SHEA, MARTYN SHORTEN (Shoe Lab), CHRISTOPHER SOLOMON, ERIN STROUT, BARBARA WEBB (Copy), SELENE YEAGER

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RAVE RUN

MISSOULA, MONTANA Runner Forrest Boughner The Experience Among the gorgeous selection of nearby protected lands, the Ridgeline Trail on Waterworks Hill is a local favorite. Starting at the Orange Street Trailhead, the fairly level terrain is ideal for leisurely runs. “The footing is not particularly challenging and offers some rolling hills,” Boughner says.

“Much different from most of the steep, long climbs around town.”

Stopping Point A mere 15,000 years ago, the valley Missoula sits in was covered by 2,000 feet of water.

As you work up the hill, look at the surrounding mountains to see the rings of ancient water marks.

Local Fare James Bar, just .8 miles from the trailhead, has your postrun meal and pint. Boughner recommends the bison burger with sweet potato tots paired with a local favorite: Kettlehouse Brewery’s dark scotch ale, Cold Smoke.

Race Nearby Sorry ’Bout That Half Marathon January 13, 2018 Photographer Tom Robertson

FOR DOWNLOADABLE WALLPAPER IMAGES, VISIT RUNNERSWORLD.COM/ RAVERUN.

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2018 RUNNER’S WORLD 9

EDITOR’S LETTER

GOAL GET IT!

T RUN WITH RW!

THE START OF A NEW YEAR INEVITABLY

brings many “new you” resolutions: Shed those last five pounds (okay, fine, maybe 10), quit your late-night relationship with Ben & Jerry’s, stop hitting the snooze button every morning. But rather than use this motivating season to completely remodel yourself into someone new—which sends the demotivating message that there was something wrong with you to begin with—why not invest your energ y into maximizing all the great assets you already have?

I, for one, plan on making 2018 a year of adding more richness to my life rather than focusing on things I must subtract. That means more time spent planning and pursuing new adventures with friends, whether it’s a never-tried racecourse (London Marathon, I’m looking at you!) or a cross-training class (boxing always intimidated me, but now I’m eager for a healthy way to release pent-up stress). Running will continue to be a constant in my life, but one that is always evolving. As I write this, I am in the middle of the

#RWrunstreak and discovering that committing to run at least one mile a day is more freeing than I’d imagined.

Lacing up has become less about what I must accomplish on a short run and more about what I might discover and get to simply enjoy. It’s a brief movingmeditation break when I get to leave the desk in the late afternoon, go outdoors, and notice how early the moon rises in the winter, how pretty the sunsets are, how even just one mile energizes you.

Goal-setting is more effective when you choose a resolution with purpose— one that makes you feel good about tapping your existing superpowers and gets you closer to reaching your full potential. To help you decide, check out “Let the Gains Begin” on page 52.

You’ll find 30-day action plans to get more out of your running life—faster speeds, better endurance, lasting peace of mind. You’ve got nothing to lose.

Gain on!

BETTY WONG ORTIZ, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Whether you have a 5K or marathon on the 2018 horizon, let our customized training plans get you to the starting line fitter, faster, and ready to run your best. Download our new app, Runner’s World My Run Plan, at myrunplan.com to get a personalized run schedule—it automatically adjusts based on your day-to-day performance and fitness level. Bonus: My Run Plan syncs with popular activity trackers and training watches, including Garmin, Apple Watch, Strava, Fitbit, and Runkeeper.

10 RUNNER’S WORLD JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2018

PHOTOGRAPH BY NATHAN PERKEL

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Scientific evidence suggests but does not prove that eating 1.5 ounces per day of most nuts, such as pistachios, as part of a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol may reduce the risk of heart disease. See nutrition information for fat content. © 2017 Wonderful Pistachios & Almonds LLC. All Rights Reserved. WONDERFUL, THE FIT NUT, the Package Design and accompanying logos are trademarks of Wonderful Pistachios & Almonds LLC or its affiliates. WP170811-09

THE LOOP The Snark

We provide running advice every day on Twitter (@runnersworld). Sometimes readers share their own wisdom in response.

The Shameless Promotion I’m assuming on your feet? @theotheredge

Do you enjoy running in the cold? Neither do we. So bundle up this winter with our warm and cozy “I Running” beanie to keep your run streak (and your style) alive. Get it now at ShopRunnersWorld.com.

Step one: wake up in the morning.

Step two: run.

You’re welcome. @onceatraveler

The Poll

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40%

RUNNERS, WHICH PASTA SAUCE DO YOU PREFER?

ALFREDO

What race are you looking forward to in 2018?

The Antarctica Marathon with Marathon Tours and Travel! @sharonpetrik1

12 RUNNER’S WORLD JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2018

My first ever marathon at 45 years young #London marathon. @jhgf1976

Wicked Half Marathon in Wamego, KS.

The one that I won’t pass out in.

@ChrisBoie

@seterah_d

ANATOLII BABII/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO (PHONE)

The Question

Š2017 Marriott International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Westin and its logos are the trademarks of Marriott International, Inc. or its affiliates.

No matter what obstacles travel puts between you and your well-being, our signature wellness programs are thoughtfully designed to help you soar above it all. Stay well at Westin Hotels & Resorts, a place where together we can rise.

THE LOOP

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The Advice

When carrying anything—even a phone—you want to keep it close to your body so bigger bones and muscles can displace the weight. The best spot is the small of your back, in the center, just above your waistline. Choose bottle belts or small fanny packs over full-back packs, which place stress on your shoulders. If you have two or more bottles, keep it symmetrical between left and right, and alternate sips. MATT LOPICCOLO, ASSISTANT COACH AT REEBOK/ZAP FITNESS RUNNING CENTER

On my easy days, I end up running too fast. How do I stop overdoing it?

For training, easy runs should make up the majority of workouts. Many runners think that if they go faster, they’ll get faster times, but that’s not the case. Easy days prep the body to endure longer distances, like a half or full marathon, and increase cellular efficiency that’s needed to metabolize fat for fuel. These happen as a result of time spent running, not speed. To pull back, set a total time target and don’t obsess over distance or splits.

GARY BERARD, FOUNDER OF GB RUNNING

For the record: Should I wear underwear with running tights?

Nope! Commando is best because additional layers of fabric can soak up moisture and cause chafing or infection. If that’s not your style, choose breathable fabrics that wick sweat away from the body. For guys, we love SAXX Kinetic Boxer Briefs ($37, saxxunderwear.com), which prevent chafing.

For women, try Hanky Panky Mia Thong ($22) or Hipster ($36, hanky panky.com for both), which keep you cool and comfortable.

NEAL SCHULTZ, M.D., DERMATOLOGIST IN NEW YORK CITY

Do I need protein powder or shakes after a workout?

Not really. Runners can find sufficient protein from whole foods like dairy, quinoa, beans, leafy greens, and nuts. Protein powders and shakes are helpful if you’re trying to pack in extra calories because you’re not getting enough through your regular diet. And in the short term, powders may help with muscle protein synthesis, for recovery, but that doesn’t necessarily translate to increased performance.

THOMAS CAMPBELL, M.D., INSTRUCTOR OF CLINICAL FAMILY MEDICINE, UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER

NEW

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THE LOOP

THE INTERSECTION

WHERE RUNNING AND CULTURE COLLIDE

Four-time Olympic champion Mo Farah adds “Sir” to his long list of titles after he is knighted by Queen Elizabeth II.

When a motorcycle leads the frontrunners of the Venice Marathon a few hundred meters off course at mile 16, local Eyob Ghebrehiwet Faniel is able to win the race.

World 800-meter record holder David Rudisha fakes appendicitis, then gets out of an ambulance and jogs to the hospital to highlight the need for better emergency response in Nairobi, Kenya.

Go!

Stop!

Frenchman Chakib Limane receives six months’ jail time for running in soccer jerseys personalized with the names of famous terrorists on the back, such as “Bin Laden.”

Sixteen women dress as Noah Droddy for an Indianapolis five-miler, only to meet their longhaired mustachioed idol at the event. (Need a cheap DIY-costume sometime soon? The wig, mustache, and apparel cost about $15.)

NYC Marathon spectators try to track comedian Kevin Hart’s first marathon and unwittingly make Kevin Hart, a 59-year-old from Hollywood, Florida, the most tracked person at the race.

A crowd celebrates the final NYC Marathon participant passing through Lafayette Street by doing the electric slide, flash-mob style.

To protest local gerrymandering, an Asheville, North Carolina, resident creates a zigzagging racecourse along the district line to bring awareness to the issue.

Runners wearing inflatable T. rex costumes dash across a pedestrian bridge for the second annual “T. Rex Stampede” in Nashville, Tennessee.

Dare we say, it was “dino-mite.”

Minnesotan Erik Anderson eats sloppy joes, cake, and ice cream, then wins $5,000 from his brother, who bet Anderson that he couldn’t run a subfive-hour marathon after the lunch.

Frivolous

16 RUNNER’S WORLD JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2018

TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP/GETTY IMAGES (KEVIN HART); KARAMMIRI/GETTY IMAGES (SHIRT); RAYMOND BOYD/GETTY IMAGES (MILWAUKEE); MARK COLLINSON/ALAMY (MOTORCYCLE)

A year after marking its course at least a half mile too long, the Milwaukee Marathon course is .8 miles too short. City officials are considering revoking the marathon’s license.

NEELON/ALAMY (SLOPPY JOE); COURTESY OF ERIC HOWARD/BIGESPHOTOS.COM (GERRYMANDER 5K); COURTESY OF T-REX STAMPEDE GROUP (T-REX STAMPEDE); ZOONAR GMBH/ALAMY (MUSIC NOTE);

Salomon designs a running shoe for Lucy, the 3.2-million-year-old Australopithecus afarensis, touting its lab’s ability to fit a shoe for anyone, past or present.

PHOTOGRAPHS BY REX SHUTTERSTOCK VIA ZUMA PRESS (FARAH); CRAIG HARTLEY/BLOOMBERG VIA GETTY IMAGES (LUCY); MO PEERBACUS/ALAMY (AMBULANCE); COURTESY OF TRENA ROUDEBUSH (NOAH DRODDY COSTUMES); MICHAEL

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PERSONAL BEST

Get Fit, Eat Smart, Run Strong

GOOD VIBRATIONS MORE AND MORE ATHLETES ARE USING PULSATING PRODUCTS TO HELP THEIR MUSCLES GET STRONGER. DOES THE TECH REALLY WORK?

BY CASSIE SHORTSLEEVE

PHOTOGRAPHS BY JONATHAN PUSHNIK

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2018 RUNNER’S WORLD 19

PERSONAL BEST

TRAINING

The Buzz on a Little Buzz

L

When our bodies are exposed to vibration, muscles automatically twitch against it, says Michele Olson, Ph.D., an adjunct professor of sports science at Huntingdon College in Montgomery, Alabama. It’s a defense strategy: Too much vibration can damage our organs, so muscles contract to dampen the blow. But low levels of pulsation can help muscles maintain their function and prime bones to lay down new cells while casting off old ones. So there’s a balance

to be found and, for at least the last decade, that was achieved primarily through whole-body therapy (e.g., using a Power Plate).

The problem is that the research on whole-body vibration therapy has been mixed. A small study found that running economy— the energy needed to put in miles—increased after eight weeks of whole-body vibration training. But other research compared wholebody vibration to resistance training in endurance runners, and the results were equal. So it begs the ques-

L E T ’ S P R E T E N D T H AT YO U ’ R E A S O R E RU N N E R

training for one of the world’s first marathons in ancient Greece. You visit a practitioner to heal your weak-feeling muscles. He places a plank of wood on your sore spot and, using your body as a stabilizer, begins sawing away. The hope: that the resulting vibrations reach your muscles and help alleviate pain.

That was the beginning of vibration therapy, and while it sounds a little horrifying, the intention was scientifically sound. We now know that the technique helps build strength and speed, improve flexibility, and loosen stiff muscles, says Matthew N. Berenc, director of the Equinox Fitness Training Institute.

And, until recently, this was largely done through bulky platforms found in gyms (rather than tools with dangerously sharp edges—phew). If athletes wanted to get strong, they stood on top of the vibrating Power Plate machine and performed dynamic exercises like squats and lunges. When recovery was the goal, they draped a leg over the platform as it buzzed. Either way, the vibrations stimulated muscle fibers and the nervous system, priming the muscles for quicker reaction and greater strength and power output.

But let’s be real: Unless you’re a hardcore athlete, these machines often collect more dust than users.

They also require a trip to the gym. That leaves a clear void in the market, which companies like Hyperice, TimTam, and TriggerPoint have recently filled. Their devices—mini jackhammers and vibrating foam rollers—can be used whenever, wherever.

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TheraGun G2PRO The device is a major splurge, but a slew of attachments—a deep-tissue cone, varied ball sizes, and a dampener for bony areas like the ankle— give you more bang for your bucks. $600

tion: Since you’re already doing strength-training, is it necessary to add more to your routine?

Some experts answer with a tentative “yes,” if vibration is delivered in a localized fashion. An exploratory study found that in recreational athletes, using a vibrating foam roller increased pain tolerance more than a traditional one did. Plus, when vibrations are applied directly to a muscle, certain proprioceptors (sensors in the muscle) cause tissues to relax and loosen, Berenc says. For

runners, that could lead to an increased range of motion. Preliminary research from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill found that when 19 people used the Hyperice Vyper, a vibrating foam roller, from their ankle to their knee, they experienced a greater increase in ankle range of motion than those who statically rolled.

When to Pump Up the Pulse Manufacturers will tell you that at-home vibration therapy is great before, during,

PRO TIP!

Newbie vibers should start on the lowest setting and gradually build intensity, limiting use to one or two times a week—and only vibing for 30 minutes max at a time—to avoid overuse injuries, says Berenc. “As your muscles become used to the stimulus, you can increase how often you use a device,” he adds. Pay attention to how you feel, and adjust accordingly.

and after a workout. And while science still has to establish this for sure, there is a case to be made for each.

Before your workout, Berenc says, you can benefit from post-activation potenti-

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Acumo 4-in-1 Massage Ball Consider this an upgrade to a tennis ball: Ergonomic ridges deliver deep tissue massage in places a foam roller has trouble reaching—your feet, glutes, and back—while the heat feature allows muscles to more easily relax. $99

TriggerPoint GRID Vibe Compact and light enough to pack in a carry-on, this vibrating roller comes with online programming to guide you through movements. $100

ation—a fancy way of saying your muscles are primed to work harder. “When the muscles work to control the vibrations, they recruit a high number of muscle fibers,” he explains. This way, when you start running, your muscles are already prepared and your stride could be more efficient, he says.

In the middle of a sweat session—say, in between sprints around the track— Jason S. Wersland, chiropractor and founder of TheraGun, says that quick, targeted vibration could signal glycogen to flood to a muscle. “It brings new blood and stored energy to the muscles, while also keeping you loose and limber so you can finish a workout feeling strong,” he says.

Berenc thinks it’s smart to vibe after you run, especially if you’re hitting the pavement five to six days a week.

Running more often means more repetitive movement, which Berenc says should be counterbalanced in a way that allows the tissue to relax so that you can maintain range of motion.

Ten minutes of vibration therapy each day is plenty to accomplish this; you can target three or four areas of the body each session to keep boredom at bay.

No matter when or how you use the device, though, most experts agree that it can’t hurt to give it a try. At the very least, you’ll get a mini massage—and we know those are awesome.

PERSONAL BEST

TRAINING

LIFT SMARTER

THERE’S A FINE LINE BETWEEN STRENGTH GAINS AND EXCESSIVE ACHES AND PAIN.

BY DAN ROE

YOU ALREADY KNOW

RUN + LIFT PLAN

loading; it’s why 10 heavy squats hurt more than 1,000 foot strikes.

The reason strengthtraining makes you faster is because it lowers the amount of energy required to hit a certain pace, explains Kenji Doma, Ph.D., a sports and exercise scientist at James Cook University in Queensland, Australia, and author of the review. Your brain alters its neural recruitment pattern, calling up the most fatigueresistant muscle fibers so you exert less energy.

The key to balancing both activities is timing. You don’t want to run at 80 percent of

your max effort right after heavy lifting, because there’s a lot more mechanical load being applied to your neuromuscular system, so your muscles fatigue more than they would in a typical running session, says Doma.

Simply put, you won’t be ready to perform at the same level if you run the next day. Proof: Researchers put runners who were experiencing delayed-onset muscle soreness (DOMS) after resistance-training on a threekilometer time trial. They found that, on average, the runners ran 9 percent slower and were at greater risk of

injury due to muscle fatigue causing poor running form.

The ideal strength schedule, Doma says, is to start the week with low weight and intensity to avoid shocking the body. Then prioritize. Runners should only strength-train twice a week, to ensure full recovery before a tough run, he says.

Last, realize it’s okay to run on sore legs. If they feel tired, Doma recommends moving at 70 percent or less of your max effort (a 7 out of 10 rate of perceived exertion).

Want to put everything into a real-life training week? Your wish is Doma’s command.

OFF DAY 1

DAY 2

DAY 3

Light resistance training with a focus on upper body

Tempo run (run at an 8 out of 10 effort for approximately 20 minutes)

Easy run, heavy resistance training with a focus on lower body

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DAY 4

DAY 5

DAY 6

DAY 7

Tempo run

Easy run

Long run

PHOTOGRAPH BY JOSH CAMPBELL/AURORA PHOTOS

that lower-body strength-training can make you faster, but damn if time in the squat rack doesn’t trash your legs for tomorrow’s run.

If you’ve ever rationalized skipping it to prep for the next day’s mileage, you may have a point. According to a recent review of 132 studies, it takes a full day or two more to recover from resistance training than it does a high-intensity run.

That doesn’t mean bail on strength work—just game it.

Research shows that properly scheduling resistance training can lop seconds—even minutes—off your PR. To get it right, you need to understand how your body reacts to moving heavy stuff.

Picture pushing a hand truck 50 feet. Pretty easy. That’s running, and your body is the hand truck—it moves its own weight rather effortlessly.

Now slide the hand truck under a fridge and push it just five feet. A lot more difficult. That’s mechanical

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Now available wherever you buy pet food.

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TRAINING

HAVING A WEAK BACKSIDE CAN SLOW YOUR RUN AND LEAD TO INJURIES. HERE’S HOW TO GET YOUR BUTT MOVING. BY LISA HANEY

WANT TO KNOW ONE OF THE TOP

reasons runners end up hurt? Look at your backside. Underutilized gluteal muscles are to blame for a large percentage of injuries, says Nirav Pandya, M.D., assistant professor of orthopedic surgery at the University of California San Francisco Medical Center. And it’s a weakness that often occurs because runners are hyperfocused on building strong quads and hamstrings.

That’s a problem because the work can’t stop at your legs. Your glutes help center your pelvis so that your center of gravity is in line with your ankles, knees, and hips.

That puts your body in a more powerful position to generate speed.

Unfortunately, glute weakness often becomes exacerbated when we sit all day; those muscles don’t activate while seated.

“Plus, sitting decreases bloodflow, further deconditioning the muscles,” Pandya says.

So, before you do anything else, he suggests getting yours more action: Try to get up for five minutes every hour and, twice a day, squeeze your butt for three seconds and release, repeating for eight to 12 reps.

If you’re not sure whether you’re actually activating your glutes, hop on a treadmill that’s positioned in front of a mirror and watch your trunk while you run. If it’s swaying from side to side, it’s likely your butt isn’t in on the action. Try staying centered and you should feel your butt muscles steady your pelvis. That’s the feeling you want.

To make that motion more natural, glute-building exercises are key. Ones that require hip motion or balancing on one leg, like these from John Henwood, running coach at Mile High Run Club in New York City, are best: They fire the glutes to help you stabilize and stay upright. Do one set of 15 to 20 reps, two or three days per week, and say hello to a stronger stride.

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1

V-Lift

Lie facedown on a stability ball. Position your pelvis in the middle of the ball, hands resting lightly on floor, legs straight, feet shoulder-width apart, legs in a “V” position.

Keeping your back flat, squeeze your glutes to lift legs as high as you can. Lower and repeat.

2

Single-Leg Hip Abduction

Place a resistance band around your thighs, a few inches above your knees.

Lower into a squat.

Keeping torso still, step one foot back at a 45-degree angle.

Return to start; quickly switch feet.

That’s one rep. Repeat, alternating legs.

3

Monster Walk

Place a resistance band just above your ankles. With your legs far enough apart to keep tension in the band, walk 20 steps to the right (make sure to pick up your back foot, and don’t allow knees to collapse inward).

Reverse to the left to return to start.

PHOTOGRAPHS BY MATT RAINEY

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NO GLUTES, NO GLORY

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4

Single-Leg Deadlift

Stand on right foot, knee slightly bent, left foot hovering next to right. With back flat, hinge forward reaching arms straight toward floor and raise left leg straight behind you. Return to start, remaining on one foot. Do reps; switch legs.

5

Hamstring Press

Lie facedown, arms bent so hands are folded in front of you, elbows out.

Hold a stability ball between your shins and ankles, legs bent 90 degrees. Squeeze glutes and lift the ball straight up and a few inches off floor.

Lower and repeat.

6

Bulgarian Split Squat

Stand with feet hipwidth apart, a few feet in front of a stability ball, hands clasped at chest. Place right foot (shoelaces down) on top of ball. With weight in your left foot, lower into a deep lunge. Push into left heel to stand. Do reps; switch sides.

HOW BIG IS YOUR BALL?

Choosing the right size stability ball matters—if you’re using one that’s too big or small, your body positioning could be wonky, making the move less effective, says Henwood. For the V-Lift and Bulgarian Split Squat in this workout, choose a ball that naturally has your legs at a 90-degree angle when you sit on it (your hips should be at the same height as your knees). You may need a smaller option for the Hamstring Press—opt for one that you can comfortably hold between your legs so it stays put for every rep.

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2018 RUNNER’S WORLD 25

PERSONAL BEST

TRAINING

NIGHT MOVES

COULD RUNNING IN THE DARK BE THE SECRET TO HITTING A FASTER PACE?

BY EMILY ABBATE

I WAS IN THE MIDDLE

of six pitch-black miles at 2 a.m., decked out in reflective gear and a safety vest for the second leg of my Ragnar Relay.

With my stride guided by a headlamp and my breath providing a steady downbeat, I felt strong.

While I was aware of the risks—inattentive drivers and unseen potholes— the dark enveloped me, pushed me to stay in the zone, and helped me cruise at a pace that made me feel like Superwoman.

So I had to wonder: Was the dark actually making me move faster?

Maybe, says Angie Fifer, Ph.D., executive board

member of the Association for Applied Sport Psychology in Philadelphia. “When you run at night, there is nothing to do but pay attention to your surroundings,” she explains. “It can make us more aware and focused, which provides a freeing sensation that can help us pick up the pace.”

Abandoned streets can also encourage you to unleash your inner speed. “No one is looking and judging, so in your mind you think, ‘I can just go, without inhibitions,’ ” says Fifer.

However, there is no research that shows exercising in the dark actually makes you run faster, even if it feels that way.

In one study, researchers examined cyclists through four 20-kilometer time trials, paying attention to how visual cues influenced how hard and fast they thought they were moving.

The scientists realized that performing in a setting where you can only see things right before you approach them (like when it’s dark out) yielded a greater sense of speed and effort.

Despite the higher sensation of exertion, however, there was no difference in heart rate or cadence.

There are other worthwhile benefits to tackling dimly lit miles over sun-soaked ones, though, says Danny Mackey, head coach for the Brooks Beasts Track Club in Seattle. “Night runs can be advantageous on days you want to go slow,” Mackey says. “Turn off the GPS and focus on having your run feel good, and you’ll be set up for the next pace-breaking workout.”

SAFETY CHECK USE THESE SIMPLE STRATEGIES TO LOG SHADOWED RUNS UNSCATHED.

Get techy.

Leave the ’buds, but bring your phone: Having the bSafe app handy means a simple button push can alert friends of your location and that you’re in trouble if things go awry.

Stick to known trails.

The dangers of unexpected turns or a technical route outweigh the benefits of being one with nature. Save adventuring on new trails for well-lit weekend outings.

Light the night.

Now’s not the time for black zip-ups and matching tights.

Layer on bright items with reflective hits, like a BSeen LED Slap Band ($10).

PHOTOGRAPH BY VGAJIC/GETTY IMAGES

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PERSONAL BEST

TRAINING

SURE, YOU COULD JUST RUN SLOW FOR YOUR FIRST MILE. BUT THIS ROUTINE HAS WAY MORE PAYOFF.

BY JESSICA DUNHAM

28 RUNNER’S WORLD JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2018

Sure looks that way, according to a study published in the Journal of Human Kinetics. Researchers split a group of 36 athletes into three groups: those who did a 20-minute bicycling warmup before performing weighted lunges, those who only did a cooldown, and those who did neither. Everyone was given a pain threshold test on the two days following to determine muscle soreness, and guess what? The group who warmed up had the highest

pain threshold and reported relatively ache-free muscles.

There’s a big difference between that bicycling warmup and simply taking it slow the first mile into your run, too, says Katie Dundas, a doctor of physical therapy at Regions Hospital in St. Paul, Minnesota. “Both cycling and running keep blood moving to bigger muscles in the legs, which is important in a warmup, but the cycling also provides a dynamic stretch to the hamstrings and quadriceps,”

PHOTOGRAPH BY JORDAN LUTES

ON SET STYLING BY JILL MCFADDEN; HAIR & MAKEUP BY KAY WAMSER USING KEVYN AUCOIN

A WARMUP THAT’S WORTH IT

IT’S HARD ENOUGH TO

overcome the lure of a cozy bed for an early a.m. run or to squeeze in a fourmiler after work. But on top of it, runners constantly hear that they should tack on a 20-minute warmup too.

That’s not happening: A recent poll of Runner’s World Instagram followers confirmed that most—er, 75 percent—forgo a proper prerun routine. So does doing one actually benefit your run that much?

A dynamic warmup, even one that lasts just five minutes, provides the stretch needed to run stronger and help prevent injury.

5 Minutes Before a Run...

Quad + Piriformis Walk TARGETS:

she says. “A light jog doesn’t offer that same stretch and response movement.”

So if there’s no question that a warmup gives you bonus benefits, the real Q becomes: “How long do I need to actually do it for?” And it’s a good-news answer: Warming up for just 10 minutes may work as well as a session lasting 20 minutes or more, so long as that time is spent on focused, dynamic movement.

A recent study in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research found that when scientists analyzed velocity, heart rate, oxygen intake, and rate of perceived exertion in endurance runners, they noted no significant differences in most categories between the two protocols.

In fact, Dundas says, you can halve that quota if really necessary. “An abbreviated version of five minutes of dynamic stretching still provides what you need to help prevent injury.”

That may be the most important reason to warm up.

As we age, muscle elasticity decreases, and Dundas says warming up properly expands your range of motion to help counteract those deficits.

Perform these six dynamic moves from Dundas at the start of every run, doing each for 30 seconds to one minute.

Then consider your running engine officially revved.

ILLUSTRATIONS BY CHARLIE LAYTON

Quads, glutes, piriformis

Frankenstein Walk TARGETS:

Hamstrings

Grab one foot behind you, pulling toward your butt. Release and step forward; switch legs.

After 30 seconds, cradle right leg at ankle and knee, pulling up to chest. Release and step forward; switch legs. Repeat for 30 seconds.

Start standing with feet together. Extend right leg straight out in front of you as you bring left hand to tap right toes. Lower leg and step forward; repeat on opposite side.

Continue for 30 seconds.

Hip Opener

Leg Crossover + Scorpion

TARGETS:

Deep hip external rotators

TARGETS:

Lower back, hamstrings, hip flexors

From standing, bend left knee and lift leg to hip level, then rotate out to 90 degrees. (Place left hand under knee to stabilize and guide if needed.) Bring leg back to front; lower foot and switch sides. Repeat for 30 seconds.

Lie faceup, legs straight and arms out. Lift right leg up and across your body, tapping foot to the floor. Return to start; repeat on other side.

After 30 seconds, flip over to lie facedown and repeat movement. Continue for 30 seconds.

Arm Circles

Inchworm

TARGETS:

Chest, deltoids, upper back

Stand with feet shoulder-width apart and lift arms out to shoulder height, palms down.

Make small circles; after 30 seconds, switch direction. Continue for another 30 seconds.

TARGETS:

Core, deltoids, hamstrings

From standing, bend forward at the waist to touch toes, then walk hands out to a plank.

Hold for 2 seconds; walk feet to meet hands.

Roll up to starting position. Repeat for 1 minute.

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2018 RUNNER’S WORLD 29

PERSONAL BEST

GEAR

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WEATHER THE WINTER NO WIND, SNOW, OR SLEET SHOULD DETER YOU FROM HITTING THE ROADS THIS SEASON. THESE MOISTUREBOOSTING BALMS WILL PROTECT YOUR HAIR, FACE, AND BODY.

BY JESSICA PRINCE ERLICH

4

1. Lush Locks Free of sulfates and silicones, Redken Clean Maniac Micellar Shampoo eliminates dirt without stripping oils from the scalp.

Plus, its odor-neutralizing technology extends hair freshness—a nice perk if you can’t shampoo immediately after a long run. $19

30 RUNNER’S WORLD JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2018

2. Sun Shield On cold, bright days harmful UV rays reflect off snow and can burn skin as badly as at the height of summer.

La Roche-Posay Toleriane Double Repair Moisturizer Broad Spectrum UV is rated SPF 30 and includes hydrators to calm redness from high winds. $20

3. Smooth Moves Apply a dollop of Curél Hydra Therapy Wet Skin Moisturizer before you step out of the shower. Its positive-charge ions bind with negatively charged water droplets on skin; once activated, moisturizing ingredients penetrate deep below the skin surface, soothing dryness. $11

4. Pretty Handy Aside from your face, no part of the body is more consistently exposed to elements than hands. If yours get cracked and tender, use Bioderma Atoderm Hand & Nail Cream. It leaves palms silky (not sticky), and even softens scraggy cuticles. We slather it on pre- and post-run. $10

PHOTOGRAPHS BY MITCH MANDEL

5. Super Suds Who doesn’t love a steamy shower after a subzero run? Use the Juara Candlenut Hydrating Shower Gel and make the water as hot as you’d like. The gel is loaded with candlenut oil, an ingredient that prevents dry skin and repairs rough, chapped areas, too. $30

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6. Sole Support Ahava Dermud Intensive Foot Cream is ideal to hydrate and soothe cracked, sore heels. Formulated with aloe vera and mineralrich Dead Sea mud, the consistency is rich enough for winterbattered feet, but sinks in promptly without leaving skin greasy. $29

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7. Have a Soak When hill sprints make your muscles scream, go for Kneipp Mineral Bath Salts. The formulas contain arnica to combat aches, lavender to help you relax, or eucalyptus to ease cold or flu symptoms. And while the salts have a sharp scent, it’s worth it for baby-soft skin. $20 8. Lip Service Consider CeraVe Healing Lip Balm as important—and protective—as your fleece-lined tights.

The moisturizing stick keeps lips soft through frigid temps and whipping winds, thanks to hyaluronic acid and vitamin E (and, boom, SPF 30 ensures they won’t get sunburned). $6

9. Smog Fighter The lightweight Chantecaille Anti-Pollution Mattifying Cream keeps your face soft and has a special bonus: The lotion counters the effects that air pollution has on skin. Now you can feel a little better about running near bridges and highways. $98

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2018 RUNNER’S WORLD 31

PERSONAL BEST

GEAR

1

AT YOUR FINGERTIPS THESE TECH-FRIENDLY RUNNING GLOVES GET TWO (WARM AND COZY) THUMBS UP.

BY SAMANTHA LEFAVE

1. Gang’s All Here Reflective detailing for safety. A grippy palm to nix phone slips. Even a snot-wipe thumb to avoid farmer’s blow. Yeah, the Asics Thermal Protection Glove has it all. $30

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2. Stash Your Stuff Brooks’s Greenlight Glove has an envelopestyle palm pocket that’s perfect for storing a key and cash, and sweat-wicking fabric so hands stay comfy and dry. $34 3. Double Duty Get two gloves in one: The Saucony Ulti-Mitt has a thermal interior layer to ensure fingers are warm, while a convertible wind- and waterresistant mitten keeps them that way. $35

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PHOTOGRAPH BY MITCH MANDEL

A DV ERT ISEM EN T

Eat, Drink &

Still Shrink

Break Through Your Weight Loss Plateau

By Amber Rios

Being a health and nutrition correspondent means that companies frequently send me their products, and ask for my stamp of approval. Most of the time I dive into research, give the product a try, and send the company honest feedback about what they’ll need to change before I’ll recommend it. Plus my hectic job and my determination to stay fit means I’m always hunting for a quick and nutritious way to fi ll up on nutrients my body needs. So I can confidently say, “I’ve tried it all”.

Last Tuesday work was especially hectic, but I’d booked with my $200 an hour personal trainer, Tony, a triathlon winning, organic-to-the-bone fitness guy with a ten mile long track record of whipping the “who’s who” into shape in record time, so I had to go. He noticed that my set count was down and playfully asked, “Feeling a

little tired today?”, as he handed me a bottle from his gym bag. After one sip I fi gured that there was no way this could be healthy because the creamy chocolate fl avor was just too delicious. Still, he’d never risk his reputation.

With more than a healthy dose of scepticism I decided to investigate this shake he’d called INVIGOR8.

Turns out, it’s a full meal replacement shake, which stunned me because virtually every other shake I’d researched had tasted chalky, clumpy and packed with hidden “nono’s” like cheap protein, tons of artificial ingredients, not to mention harmful synthetic dyes, additives, sugars, preservatives, and hormones. And even though INVIGOR8’s full meal replacement shake cost more than many of the shakes I’ve tried, it was about half the

price of my favorite salad, and the nutrition profi le looked second to none.

Wanting to know more, I reached out to a few of the people who were talking about it on trustworthy fitness forums. By the next morning three people got back to me saying, “As a trainer I love Invigor8. It’s defi nitely helped me to have more all-day energy, plus build the kind of lean sculpted muscle that burns more fat.”

“Yes, I’ll recommend it, it tastes great, and I really like how it keeps me feeling full for hours.”

“I’m a marathon runner and a friend recommended it to me. Drinking it has become a part of my regular training routine, because my time has improved, my energy is up, and I’m thinking more clearly than ever before.”

I decided to take my investigation one step further by researching the development of INVIGOR8. I was pleasantly surprised to fi nd out that the company went to great lengths to keep INVIGOR8 free of harmful ingredients.

The makers of INVIGOR8 were determined to make the fi rst 100% natural, non-GMO nutritional shake & green superfood. The result is a meal replacement shake that contains 100% grass-fed whey that has a superior nutrient profi le to the grain-fed whey found in most shakes, metabolism boosting raw coconut oil, hormone free colostrum to promote a healthy immune system, Omega 3, 6, 9-rich chia and flaxseeds, superfood greens like kale, spinach, broccoli, alfalfa, and chlorella, and clinically tested cognitive enhancers for improved mood and brain function.

The company even went a step further by including a balance of pre and probiotics for optimal digestive health, uptake, and regularity and digestive enzymes so your body absorbs the high-caliber nutrition you get from INVIGOR8.

As a whole-foods nutritionist with a thriving practice I understand the importance of fi lling my body with the best Mother Nature has to offer. I have always been reluctant to try new products because I was never sure of the impact they would have on my energy, and weight. INVIGOR8 is different, not only because it’s deliciousz, but because it helps me to maintain the energy I need to run my busy practice, while helping me to stay fit and toned.

Considering all of the shakes I’ve tried, I can honestly say that the results I’ve experienced from INVIGOR8 are nothing short of amazing.

A company spokesperson confi rmed an exclusive offer for Runner’s World’s readers: if you order this month, you’ll receive $10 off your fi rst order by using promo code “RUN10” at checkout. You can order INVIGOR8 today at www.DrinkInvigor8.com or by calling 1-800-958-3392.

PERSONAL BEST

FUEL

#FOODGOALZ BROAD “BE MORE HEALTHY” RESOLUTIONS SET YOU UP FOR FAILURE. SWAP THEM OUT FOR A GOAL THAT’S SPECIFIC AND ACHIEVABLE, AND REAP THE RUNNING REWARDS ALL YEAR LONG.

BY CINDY KUZMA

34 RUNNER’S WORLD JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2018

IT’S THE TIME OF YEAR

when big, sweeping resolutions loom large: lose weight, eat “clean,” curtail the booze. While those are all worthy ambitions, your odds of achieving them skyrocket if you shoot for one or two small, specific food-related objectives that support the loftier nutrition goals, says Anne Mauney, R.D., mara-

thoner and coauthor of Nutrition for Runners.

Here are five goals that do just that. How to choose?

Pick one (or two!) that fits your lifestyle and that you know you’re likely to achieve.

“That way you’re setting yourself up for success by creating a positive feedback cycle,” says trail runner Maria Dalzot, R.D.

ILLUSTRATIONS BY JOHN MALTA

Clean Up Your e-Feed FOMO isn’t just for parties.

While Instagram can offer inspiration and recipe ideas, scroll too long and you might find yourself weighed down in comparisons and unrealistic expectations, thanks to impossibly perfect meals and their ripped, lean creators.

(We’re betting most of those don’t say #NoFilter.)

A 2016 study in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics found the more time spent on social media, the greater the risk of eating and body-image concerns.

Consider each health- and fitness-related personality or influencer you follow, Dalzot advises. If their posts leave you feeling unworthy and sad rather than joyful and motivated, tap “unfollow.”

Unfollow Instagram accounts whose posts make you feel defeated and lessthan instead of motivated and excited.

(chicken, fish, or legumes) and whole grains like brown rice or quinoa. Add a teaspoon to tablespoon of healthy fats found in avocados, oils, and nuts for flavor, nutrient absorption, and crucial bodily functions.

If you’re trying to lose weight, go a little lighter on grains on your easy days.

When you have a hard workout, long run, or race, bump up the carbs to as much as half the plate.

Boost Breakfast Be Real About Carbs Carbohydrates are the go-to fuel source for endurance exercise like running. But even marathoners don’t need to gorge on giant plates of pasta nightly, says Anne Rollins, R.D., a sports dietitian for the Core Diet.

Instead, make sure each meal contains all three macronutrients: protein, carbs, and fats. You don’t have to count grams or calories—just use your plate as a guide, says ultrarunner Stephanie Howe Violett, Ph.D. On most days, fill about half with colorful fruits and veggies, and one-quarter each with lean protein

MAKE IT A NOCLEANSE NEW YEAR

Literally running out the door on coffee alone? Rethink that. Overnight, your body depletes the stores of glycogen in your liver, leaving your muscles starving for energy. Early-morning runners who fuel up first—even on something as simple as a banana, or toast and jam— usually feel and perform better, Violett says.

Postrun, chow down on a meal that contains carbohydrates as well as protein and fat to stabilize blood sugar, improve recovery, and reduce cravings all day long.

A smoothie with yogurt or protein powder, chia seeds, and fruit; oatmeal with milk

and nut butter; or avocado toast with a fried egg and wilted spinach (zap fresh leaves in the microwave for 45 seconds) all fit the bill, Mauney says.

If you’ve always skipped breakfast, start small and expect it to feel a little gross at first, Rollins says. Your body has been trained to not produce digestive enzymes early in the morning. After a few weeks, your body will get the hint and ramp up your appetite, allowing you to tolerate more fuel.

Nail Long-Run Nutrition Mastering midrun energy needs pays dividends long after you’ve kicked off your shoes, Violett says. Getting fuel the moment you need it gives you a jump-start on the recovery process, warding off the #runger that makes you eat everything in sight and sometimes causes weight gain.

For runs that are 60 minutes or longer, you want to aim for 30 to 60 grams of carbs per hour. If you’ve never eaten on your long runs before, start small and see what your stomach can

tolerate. Experiment with different bars, chews, and gels, and yes, real foods like bananas, raisins, and dates.

For those with sensitive stomachs, you’ll achieve the best digestive success if you start fueling earlier and in smaller doses, spreading out a gel or a pack of raisins over three or four miles, Mauney says. Wash it all down with water since food requires a little fluid to help with digestion.

Make Meal Plans Look at your calendar each week and identify potential challenges to healthy food choices—your kids’ soccer practices, a late-night meeting, or the night before a super-early run. Then find time slots when you have time for meal prep (say, chopping veggies, boiling eggs, or cooking an extra batch of brown rice).

Match them up, and you can avoid disaster, or at least an impulsive trip to the drive-through. “This planning takes a little more time upfront, but later on, when you’re hangry or tired, you’ll be thankful you did it,” Dalzot says.

One resolution to skip: juice cleanses. You might drop a few pounds spending a week or two on an all-juice diet, but some of that comes from muscle, not all fat, says marathoner and Ironman Susan Kitchen, R.D. And entering near-starvation slows your metabolism so you store more fat when you resume eating normally. What’s more? Extremely low-calorie diets can also hurt performance and affect your immune system, says Rollins.

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2018 RUNNER’S WORLD 35

PERSONAL BEST

FUEL

BOWLFULS OF HEALTH

EAT WELL AND STAY WELL WITH THESE DELICIOUS, NUTRITIOUS IMMUNITYBOOSTING MEALS.

BY ELYSE KOPECK Y

Strengthen your body’s defenses with the antiinflammatory properties of cinnamon.

▲

Fight infection with garlic, and boost immunity with the vitamin C in spinach and carrots.

36

GO TO RUNNERSWORLD.COM/BOWLS FOR BONUS RECIPES.

PHOTOGRAPHS BY MITCH MANDEL

FOOD STYLING BY JULISSA ROBERTS/RODALE TEST KITCHEN

▲

Salmon’s omega-3s fight inflammation, and its vitamin D helps create a healthy immune system.

1 1 1 ½ E E E

Salmon-Coconut Curry MAKES 4 SERVINGS

1 Tbsp. coconut oil 6 cups mixed veggies, chopped (onions, carrots, celery, mushrooms, asparagus, broccoli, sugar snap peas, etc.)

1 can (13.5 oz.) coconut milk 3 Tbsp. Thai green or red curry paste ½ tsp. salt 4 salmon fillets (about 1 lb. total) E salt and pepper to taste 2 cups short-grain brown rice or buckwheat noodles, cooked In a large pan or wok, heat coconut oil. Add veggies and sauté over high heat until browning begins. Transfer veggies to a bowl. Turn down heat and add coconut milk. Stir in curry paste and salt. Once simmering, add salmon fillets, skin-side facing up. Simmer until cooked through, 8 minutes.

Add veggies back and toss until reheated. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve over rice or noodles.

In a bowl, combine quinoa with coconut flakes, walnuts, sunflower seeds, and sesame seeds. Add milk and microwave until warm. Top with sliced banana, drizzle with honey, and sprinkle with cinnamon.

Simple Chicken White Bean Soup MAKES 4 SERVINGS

1 1 2 4 1 32 1 1

E E

MAKES 1 SERVING

½ cup cooked quinoa 1 Tbsp. toasted coconut flakes

SUPER FOOD ADD-ON

Tahini Garlic Dressing

1

Quinoa Hot Cereal

Tbsp. walnut pieces Tbsp. sunflower seeds Tbsp. sesame seeds cup milk banana slices, to taste honey, to taste cinnamon, to taste

Tbsp. olive oil onion, diced carrots, chopped garlic cloves, minced tsp. sea salt oz. low-sodium chicken broth lb. skinless, boneless chicken thighs can (15 oz.) cannellini beans (rinsed and drained) small bag baby spinach (5 to 6 oz.) salt and pepper to taste grated Parmesan to taste

Heat olive oil in a large soup pot. Add onion, carrots, garlic, and sea salt, and sauté until softened. Add chicken broth, chicken, and beans. Bring to a boil, then turn heat to low and simmer, covered, for 25 minutes.

Remove chicken from soup and use two forks to shred; return it to soup. Add baby spinach. Add salt and pepper to taste. Ladle into soup bowls and top with grated Parmesan.

Loaded with garlic—an ancient germ-fighting remedy—and probioticrich miso for digestive and immune health, this dressing goes great over salads and other savory bowls.

¼ cup tahini ¼ cup olive oil ¼ cup applecider vinegar 2 or 3 cloves garlic, minced 1 tsp. miso paste ¼ tsp. salt ¼ tsp. pepper

In a glass jar combine tahini, olive oil, and apple-cider vinegar. Add garlic, miso paste, salt, and pepper. Thin with water to desired consistency. Store in the fridge for up to 1 week.

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2018 RUNNER’S WORLD 37

PERSONAL BEST

FUEL

MILK YOUR RUN

DAIRY AND NONDAIRY DRINKS HAVE A PLACE IN YOUR DIET, BUT THEY’RE NOT ALL CREATED EQUAL. HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW.

BY A.C. SHILTON

PHOTOGRAPHS BY MATT RAINEY

AS MANY HEALTH-

conscious Americans seek greener, cow-less pastures and turn to plant-based milks, the dairy milk market has plunged $1 billion from 2011 through 2015. But there are still plenty of reasons to tap dairy to fuel your fitness.

With its fast-acting whey content, it’s the top choice of protein among athletes, says Melissa Majumdar, R.D., and personal trainer. Whey, which constitutes 20 percent of all

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MEMO ON MODERN MILKS

milk protein, also contains all nine essential amino acids, making it a complete protein your body can use for muscle repair. The other 80 percent is slow-burning casein, which means milk is an effective recovery late-night snack. In fact, a 2017 study published in The Journal of Nutrition found that when older men ingested casein protein before bed, they had higher rates of overnight muscle protein synthesis.

The protein in milk—eight

grams per cup—and the carbohydrates (sugar) in chocolate have made chocolate milk a go-to post-training drink.

Data backs that up: A 2006 study found that cyclists who drank chocolate milk after a morning workout pedaled longer until exhaustion than their sports-drink-chugging peers.

As dairy alternatives become more popular, though, you have options to aid recovery and mix up a prerun smoothie.

The lowdown, below.

Ditched dairy or trying something new? Read labels. Many faux milks are lower in protein and have added sugar.

1. Pea

4. Nut

Go ahead and giggle.

But this milk made from split peas can have as much protein as regular milk, and it contains iron, vitamin D, and omega-3s.

The floury taste isn’t for everyone, so maybe don’t buy a gallon to start.

Increasingly popular, but these nondairy milks are often a poor nutritional alternative to dairy unless they’re fortified with protein, calcium, and vitamin D. And most people buy the sweetened versions, adding a lot of extra sugar.

1

4

2. Hemp

5. Oat

Lower in protein, but often enriched with omega-3-rich hemp oil. Check the ingredients to rule out added sugars. (And no, this milk won’t give you a buzz. Sorry!)

A good choice for postworkout recovery because of its 24 grams of carbs, two grams of fiber, and four grams of protein per serving. Serve with a piece of peanut butter toast to add a little more protein.

2

5

3. Coconut 3 Higher in saturated fat, and often has added sugars. The American Heart Association recommends just 13 grams of saturated fat a day for a 2,000-calorie diet.

A serving of coconut milk can have 10 grams (whole dairy milk has 4.6 grams).

6. Soy

6

The OG dairy alternative, soy is a complete protein, making it the most nutrient- dense of the plant-based milks. Because of its phytoestrogens, limit your intake to four servings a day, says Heather Caplan, R.D.

“WHOLE”ISTIC THINKING If you grew up during the ’90s, you were probably taught that full-fat dairy is bad. But a 2016 study found that kids who drank whole milk tended to have healthier weights than those who had 1 percent. And dairy fat may have its own health perks, thanks to its wide number of fatty acids, says Adam Lock, Ph.D., associate professor of dairy cattle nutrition, who has researched the benefits of full-fat dairy.

One study found that diets higher in saturated fat from dairy correlated with a lower risk for heart disease—the exact opposite of what diet lore has espoused. While more research is needed on what the individual fatty acids found in dairy fat could do to advance health in humans, for now, don’t fear the fat.

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2018 RUNNER’S WORLD 39

©2017 AMERICA’S MILK COMPANIES

SM

MIRINDA CARFRAE

4X TRIATHLON WORLD CHAMPION

TRIATHLETE’S TRIPLE THREAT NUTRIENTS TO REFUEL PROTEIN TO REBUILD BACKED BY SCIENCE

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HUMAN RACE

News, Trends, and Regular Runners Doing Amazing Things

QUITE THE PERFORMANCE THIS MARYLAND NATIVE JOGGLES MARATHONS. AS IF JUST RUNNING A MARATHON WEREN’T HARD ENOUGH.

BY ANDREW DAWSON

PHOTOGRAPHS BY RYAN DONNELL

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2018 RUNNER’S WORLD 41

HUMAN RACE

F FOR BARRY GOLDMEIER,

a marathon is a 26.2-mile stage. His act: joggling.

After working the juggling festival circuit, the 53-year-old spent nearly 30 years running and juggling bean bags during road races. By 2010, he’d grown restless with the routine.

He needed to do something else—be someone else.

So, for the past seven years, Goldmeier has taken on a persona—movie character, sports figure, or one of his own design—and dazzled race crowds by keeping the accompanying props airborne, from hockey sticks to Ping-Pong balls to deflated footballs.

The Maryland native does some 20 marathons a year nationwide and isn’t focused on speed or competing. He lines up in the back of corrals for space and to not bother other runners. Mostly, he appreciates the smiles and the laughs.

“The whole idea is to be funny,” he says. “I’m out there about six hours, and by the time I get near the finish, people are just surprised I’m still going.”

While Goldmeier has many clever gimmicks, here are four of his greatest hits.

42 RUNNER’S WORLD JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2018

GLOBETROTTER When the Harlem Globetrotters are in town, you get an acrobatic basketball spectacle. When Goldmeier runs, you get a joggling wonder. Though basketballs are his favorite props to juggle, he’s hesitant to use them in a race, for safety reasons. “When a bean bag falls and is stepped on, it goes squish,” he says. “Basketballs are unpredictable.”

Instead, he often dribbles a basketball and juggles two bean bags in the other hand.

DEFLATED BRADY One of Goldmeier’s first gimmicks was as a quarterback.

The costume was simple: a jersey, a mask, and some slightly deflated footballs. When Deflategate rocked Tom Brady in 2015, Goldmeier created his most famous schtick: a Brady mask and jersey with a sign reading, “The Official Game Ball of the New England Patriots.”

Says Goldmeier, “I always deflated the footballs, but I really deflated them for Brady.”

FORREST GUMP With Goldmeier, you never know what you’re going to get. So when shopping for a new role, he turned to the fictional ultrarunner.

Donning Gump apparel and a black wig and beard, he bounces a ball on a Ping-Pong paddle with one hand and juggles bean bags in the other. It’s quite a handful. “That’s probably my slowest outfit,” he says.

SPORTY SANTA “Not everyone gets the sports things, but everyone gets Santa Claus,” Goldmeier says. However, he can’t resist his sports props. Three of D.C.’s professional teams share Santa’s fondness for red; with a mini Capitals hockey stick, a Redskins football, a plastic Nationals baseball bat, and a white beard, he becomes Santa’s little D.C. sports fan.

Because he’s not going to walk himself #MyReasonToRun

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HUMAN RACE

EMBRACING TOUGH TIMES THIS RUNNER AND PEACE ACTIVIST STRIVES TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE—ONE HUG AT A TIME.

BY LISA JHUNG

WALKING AWAY FROM A

44 RUNNER’S WORLD JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2018

the plane,” he says, “the video had gone viral.” The Free Hugs Project was born to spread peace in a time of “hate, chaos, and violence.”

With this mission, Nwadike traveled on his own dime to riots, rallies, and confrontations, to unite others through conversations and, of course, hugs. A video of people threatening him after he hugged a police officer at the 2016 Charlotte riots has more than 33 million views. “Instead of walking away from the threats, I walked toward them,” he says.

Word spread of his ability to de-escalate violence, and protest

organizers began footing the bill to have Nwadike help keep the peace. Since Boston, he’s attended at least one conflict a month, and addressed two or three colleges a week as a motivational speaker.

Despite frequent travel, he still fits in at least two 5Ks or 10Ks a month and hopes to do half marathons in the future. The runner also put in a bid for the 2020 presidential election. It’s more than a long shot, but that’s Nwadike—he dreams big.

And even if he loses? “I’ll still be able to grow the platform of promoting love and unity.”

NWADIKE HAS GIVEN OUT THOUSANDS OF HUGS VIA HIS FREE HUGS PROJECT. PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF KEN NWADIKE

problem has never been Ken Nwadike’s m.o.

The 36-year-old grew up in homeless shelters in Los Angeles and San Diego, and turned to track-and-field at his public high school to earn a scholarship to California State University San Marcos. His success led him to join the elite Nike Farm Team, where he laid down a 4:00 mile.

“I beat the odds,” he says. “I didn’t become a statistic, solely because of being a track athlete.”

Fast-forward a couple decades to 2013. Nwadike was working as race director for the Hollywood Half Marathon, which supports the homeless shelters that helped him, when he watched the Boston Marathon bombing on TV. He made a decision right then. “I had to be there the next year,” he says.

But he failed to qualify, first by a “heartbreaking” 23 seconds, then by 59 seconds six days later. Still, Nwadike didn’t walk away.

He booked a flight to Boston and wondered how he could participate. “My response to the violence was, ‘How can we counter it with love?’” His answer: don a “Free Hugs” T-shirt to cheer on runners and film the action. Thousands stopped at Mile 15 for hugs.

That evening, Nwadike edited his footage, set it to music, and posted it on Facebook before flying home. “By the time I got off

Make this your most magical race season yet!

Race to runDisney.com/AboutUs to learn more EVERY MILE IS MAGIC ©DISNEY

HUMAN RACE

THE NEW COUCH TO 5K

THIS PSYCHOTHERAPIST HAS PATIENTS LACE UP TO HELP THEM GET BACK ON THEIR FEET. BY JENNY M C COY DURING HER RUN THERAPY SESSIONS, SAREMI LETS PATIENTS SET THE PACE.

NINE YEARS AGO,

Sepideh Saremi barely recognized herself. As the primary caregiver for a family member battling cancer, she was dealing with depression and anxiety.

In search of healing, Los Angeles–based Saremi started therapy and running.

Session by session and mile by mile, she built herself back up.

Together these were cata-

lysts for a big change: Saremi quit her content development job at a startup to go back to school to be a therapist.

At the University of California, Los Angeles, she studied links between exercise and mental health, and had an epiphany: Why not combine therapy and running to amplify their benefits?

After joining a private practice in 2014, Saremi

46 RUNNER’S WORLD JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2018

tested her “running therapy” theory. She held al-fresco, onthe-go sessions that allowed patients to get outside and move, but more important, helped them to open up.

“Running is nonthreatening and comfortable for people,” says Saremi, who is also an RRCA-certified running coach. “It’s much easier to do than sitting on a sofa with somebody that you just met.”

Today, the 33-year-old has her own practice—Run Walk Talk—in Redondo Beach, and about 25 percent of her patients are therapy runners.

Sessions include a 10-minute warmup, 30 to 40 minutes of running, and a 10-minute cooldown.

There’s no hard science that says running therapy is more effective than the couch; still, Saremi suspects neurochemicals released during exercise play a factor. “Endorphins can help you tolerate physical pain—and it may be a similar effect with emotional pain as well,” Saremi says.

And she isn’t the only therapist seeing results with the unconventional treatment. Other California-based practices have implemented similar methods, and see the act of running as a metaphor for emotional progress.

“We’re literally moving forward,” says Emma Bennett, a California-based therapist who provides running therapy to mothers. “We’re engaging in motion that feels productive and powerful.”

Moving forward is important to Saremi, too. With her practice off the ground, she hopes to develop a certification process for running therapists and implement it across the country.

“There are people who would never in a million years sit on a therapist’s couch,” she says, “but they would consider running therapy.”

PHOTOGRAPH BY MATHEW SCOTT

HUMAN RACE

STREET STYLE

CASUALLY COOL FOR THIS PROFESSIONAL STYLIST, CREATING A GREAT LOOK IS ALL ABOUT KEEPING IT SIMPLE.

BY K ATIE NEITZ

THERE’S GOOD REASON

Patrick Kenger looks put-together: It’s his job. The 27-year-old founded Pivot Image Consulting in Scottsdale, Arizona, with the mission to turn “great guys into attractive gentlemen.” Sound superficial?

Not in Kenger’s book. “There’s a lot of self-exploration in finding personal style,” he says. When clients invest time to put their best foot forward, it can boost confidence, Kenger says, which leads to success in personal and professional relationships.

Kenger gave himself a makeover four years ago, when he realized his weight was an issue.

He started running, dropped 20 pounds, and is currently training for the Rock ’n’ Roll Arizona Half Marathon in January, his first go at 13.1.

When it comes to his own look, one thing is certain: You’ll never see him in Day-Glo. “Athletic wear is usually brightly colored, and it can be overpowering,” he says. “I keep my style simple and subtle.”

PHOTOGRAPH BY CHRIS HINKLE

“I’ve had this Emporio Armani Athletic T-shirt for about a year. It’s super-versatile, so I’ll wear it when I’m not running. Fit is really important to me. Even something that’s a highend brand can look awful if the fit isn’t right.

I look for a tee that is cut in near the sides, with a sleeve hem that sits a little higher on the bicep.”

“I like these Native Youth joggers, which are out of England. They are great for night runs when I need a little extra warmth. Joggers have become more fashionable recently, and the trend of showing a bit of ankle is something I like.”

“I like a monochromatic look with one pop of color, usually in the shoes. These Nike Revolutions are what I like to wear on days when I go to the gym and then do a shorter run.”

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2018 RUNNER’S WORLD 47

ONE PRETTY SWEET CLUB

THIS GROUP’S POSTRUN TREATS KEEP RUNNERS RACKING UP THE MILES, AND CIRCLING BACK FOR MORE.

BY K ATIE NEITZ

WHEN R ACHEL CR AMPSEY bought the Montclair Bread Company in Montclair, New Jersey, in 2012, gluten-free and vegan treats lined the shelves. To keep the established customer base happy, Crampsey carried out the previous owners’ legacy, stocking her kitchen with soy milk, rice flour, and agave to replicate their recipes. Until one day, “I cracked,” she says. Crampsey’s specialty had always been French pastries and European-style artisan breads made from butter, milk, and sugar. She started baking what she loved—buttery, flaky croissants and crusty-white French bread—and watched as new faces started coming in the door. And lining up down the block.

Sunday evolved into doughnut day, and her warm, cinnamon-and-sugared circular creations became instantly popular. Especially, she noticed, among those in tech gear and running shoes.

“I found it a little gross at first—people were pulling sweaty bills out of their sports bras,” she laughs. “But it quickly became clear that runners looking for recovery fuel were my biggest audience.”

To thank this new customer base, in 2014 Crampsey decided to put on a 4K fun run outside her bakery; she made doughnuts the finish-line reward. Though Crampsey was not a runner, she got caught up in the event’s celebratory, friendly vibe, and she jumped in to run with the pack.

That single experience transformed both Crampsey and her business. Today, Crampsey is 65 pounds lighter and an avid runner with three marathons to her credit. The 37-year-old mother of three ran the Chicago Marathon last October in 3:39. But perhaps her proudest running accomplishment is the community she’s created as the founder of Fueled by Doughnuts.

The running club, which is celebrating its second anniversary in February, has more than 1,500 active members.

The club is structured into two

PHOTOGRAPHS BY RICKY RHODES

tiers: general membership is free and gives runners the opportunity to participate in five weekly group runs, including a trail run and speed workout.

Two hundred and fifty of those members opt to pay $75 a year for a few extra perks, including a monthly pizza party, a discount at the bakery, a weekly training newsletter, and guaranteed entry into the club’s races. Which is no small thing. The club’s annual 5K sold out in three hours, its half marathon in four days.

While the promise of a sweet postrun reward is certainly a draw, it’s not the only appeal of the club’s races and weekly group runs.

“Fueled by Doughnuts is like a family—people have met partners, best friends, new running partners all within a short period of time,” says Anne Arthur, who participated in Crampsey’s initial thankyou 4K and is now an active member of the club. “One of the things that really stands out to me about this club is how we are always trying new things, doing new races, inviting new speakers, launching new training programs. We are always looking to evolve.”

Indeed, despite the success of her existing events, Crampsey is still looking to do more.

In September, she organized a trail race that featured a

FUEL FOR THE ROAD CRAMPSEY’S MOST POPULAR CREATIONS OPPOSITE, CLOCKWISE FROM UPPER LEFT: FUELED BY DOUGHNUTS CREATOR RACHEL CRAMPSEY; THE GROUP GATHERS BEFORE A RUN; HAIR PREP PRE-MILES; RUNNERS GO IN FOR THE TREATS. ABOVE: A SELECTION OF FAVORITE DOUGHNUTS.

10-miler, 20-miler, and 50K. And this year, Crampsey wants to create an Oktoberfest run that will feature five beer stops, highlighting local breweries.

That event would highlight Crampsey’s real motivation to run.

“I made significant changes to my diet two and a half years ago to lose weight, but I don’t believe in dieting to the point that you can’t enjoy your favorite things—beer and doughnuts are nonnegotiable,” she says. Especially that second thing. “I think there is something special about doughnuts. They make our club feel accessible and friendly and open to everyone.

Doughnuts just make people happy.” Amen, Rachel.

BIRTHDAY CAKE

“Hand-cut, buttermilk cake doughnut topped with vanilla buttercream and rainbow sprinkles.”

MAPLE BACON

“Brioche doughnut with bourbon maple glaze and crisp bacon strips.”

NUTELLA

“Brioche doughnut stuffed with Nutella and dredged in toasted hazelnut flour.”

GLAZED

“My favorite! A classic brioche doughnut with vanilla bean glaze.”

APPLE CIDER

“Brioche made with local apple cider dough, fermented overnight and infused with cinnamon.”

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2018 RUNNER’S WORLD 49

HUMAN RACE

CHICAGO HOPE

A SIMPLE 5K WON’T TURN A TOUGH NEIGHBORHOOD AROUND ALL BY ITSELF—BUT IT’S A START.

BY PETER SAGAL

50 RUNNER’S WORLD JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2018

munities diverged, first a bit, and then, with redlining and white f light in the 1960s and ’70s, more dramatically. Today, Oak Park remains a diverse community with excellent schools, a vibrant business sector, and safe streets. Austin is poor, majority African-American, and plagued by violent crime.

Today, I was going to run there.

I crossed Austin Avenue and walked east down Chicago Avenue, the central neighborhood artery. It was the morning of the third Austin P.O.W.E.R. of Life 5K (People Organizing Wealth & Economic Resources), whose race planner, Malcolm Crawford, has deep roots in Chicago activism. His father, “Big John” Crawford, was a central figure in local politics in the ’60s and ’70s. Malcolm, 50, got into community organizing about 30 years ago, when he opened an Africana store in Austin, which soon became a neighborhood center. When Walmart wanted to open a store in Austin, they held private meetings in Malcolm’s back room.

Crawford’s vision: Take vacant storefronts along Chicago Avenue and bring in blues bars, dance clubs, and cultural centers reflecting the rich history of AfricanAmericans in Chicago—a “Soul Cit y Corridor” to go with Little Italy, Chinatown, and Greektown. But first they need money, to buy and renovate buildings, and community, to put aside skepticism about all the good past do-gooders had promised to do. “So why a 5K?” I asked.

“Wasn’t my idea,” Crawford said. “It was Tim Brown, our police community liaison. He kept saying, ‘You gotta do a I EYED THE BORDER NERVOUSLY. 5K.’ Eventually, I gave in.”

I tugged on my singlet, adjusted “Is Tim a runner?” I asked. my shorts, and crossed the street. The “Oh, no,” Crawford said, laughing. first guy I met narrowed his eyes. “Some “Tim weighs 400 pounds!” kind of marathon going on?” he said.

Tim, who is not 400 pounds (“I’m…

“Sort of,” I said. “A 5K.” The man seemed close,” he says), saw the broader surprised. So was I. I was three allure of a race. “Tell people in blocks from home, and this was Oak Park you’re doing a comnew to both of us. munity walk, they’ll ask you to For the past 20 years, I have explain it,” he said. “But a 5K? lived in Oak Park, Illinois, a They’ll say, ‘Sure, I’ll use it as suburb just west of Chicago. part of my training for the ChiMore than a hundred years cago Marathon,’ or whatever.” ago, the adjoining neighborThe author is a 3:09 Tim was right. I was proof. hood immediately to the east, marathoner and the Austin, was a quaint village of host of NPR’s Wait leafy streets lined with VictoLESS THAN AN HOUR BEFORE Wait...Don’t Tell rian houses. But in 1899, Austin the 8:30 a.m. start, I located the Me! For more, go to was annexed by Chicago, and race registration in a flooring runnersworld the fortunes of the two comstore where young women sat at .com/scholar.

ILLUSTRATION BY ANDREA MANZATI

Ask Miles tables. I picked up my number and asked one, “Do you have a gear check?”

“I’m sorry, I don’t know what that is,” she said. Outside, there were no tents or sponsor banners, but the Chicago Police had a table. I left my bag with the cops.

The people waiting at the stage for announcements were not the usual race crowd. A few, mostly white, wore shorts and singlets. But for each of us there were three in new shoes, long pants, and sweatshirts, on a day headed to 90 degrees. Kids abounded. Rules were loose— no mats, chips, or official timing.

Miss Junior Pre-Teen Illinois sang the national anthem. Then came politicians, including the local state senator, county executive, and alderman, all African-American, all calling out faces in the crowd, followed by Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, dressed to run. “We have to show our kids a model to aspire to,” he said. “And show the world that this community is not what we see on the news.”

Finally, Crawford thanked everyone for coming and announced he was going to run. He looked doubtful, though. He hadn’t run any distance in quite awhile.

A horn sounded, and we took off. I slipped right, juked left, and found myself among the leaders. Then I came upon the mayor, who must have claimed a primo starting place. We could have a heartto-heart...or I could beat him. I kept running. For a moment, I was second but was passed as I melted in the heat. I finished third and clutched my generic 5K medal to my heart like an Olympic bronze.

Runners and walkers kept appearing, huffing and puffing or grinning and waving. Eventually, there came Crawford.

He’d thought of quitting and riding a golf cart to head to the finish line to greet runners, but a friend was broadcasting his race live on Facebook. He couldn’t quit in front of the whole world, could he?

Afterward, Crawford told me he’d like the race to grow, but doesn’t want it to become just another 5K. “We want it to stay fun, with everybody in the community feeling like they’re a part of it.”

And will he run it again next year?

“Next year, I’m going to win it,” he said.

Headed home, I looked back as I crossed Austin Avenue and saw people talking, laughing, just existing. I looked ahead at my neighborhood. Both places looked exactly the same.

ILLUSTRATIONS BY ANDY REMENTER

He’s been around the block a few times— and he’s got answers.

I encouraged my little brother to start running, and he’s doing his first 5K with me this month.

We’re pretty competitive.

Okay to try to crush him in the race, or should I hold back?

My best friend constantly posts on social media about his running. I haven’t said anything, but it’s annoying enough that it’s hurting our friendship.

What can I do?

PATRICK, LOS ANGELES

BRIELLE, CLEVELAND

Family dynamics are complex—especially between siblings, and doubly so when sibs are competitive. Most people reading this would urge restraint, asking you to balance your desire to “win” against your little brother’s feelings.

They’d argue that encouraging a nascent runner is more important than your own performance.

I, however, am not those people. You have my permission to destroy him in this or any race. Good luck!

A good troubleshooting FAQ starts with the most basic question (“Is the unit powered on?”) before wading into more arcane stuff. In that spirit: Have you tried unfollowing or muting your friend? In fact, I’m going to leave it at that. If your friend’s posts are so annoying that they threaten your relationship, it’s time to unfollow or mute. If he asks why, tell him. If your friendship continues to give you trouble after that, try restarting.

MILES ASKS What’s your biggest treadmill pet peeve?

Accidentally hitting the stop button midrun. @karinacocina

Running for 40 minutes and looking down and seeing you’ve really only run for 4. @billjordan4

Not going anywhere. @ericedits

Have a question for Miles? Email askmiles@runners world.com and follow @askmiles on Twitter.

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2018 RUNNER’S WORLD 51

LET THE GAINS BEGIN Losing, trimming, shrinking, and cinching? Hard pass. This year, make your goals about what you have to gain—faster speed, a stronger core, a clear, focused mind, and more. BY JENESSA CONNOR

52 RUNNER’S WORLD JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2018

PHOTOGRAPH BY EMILIANO GRANADO

When your daily run becomes a chase toward a bigger, broader goal—a full-on pursuit for something more than checking off a workout or hitting a weekly total—suddenly every mile has intention, and every step gets you closer to reaching your full potential.

You’re not just running. You’re running with purpose.

Ready to start?

Choose from these six expert-backed gain plans, and you can become the runner you’ve always wanted to be—faster, stronger, tougher, more confident—and all in 30 days. Commit to a goal now, and you’ll reap the rewards all year (check out the real runners’ success stories for proof).

You’ve got nothing to lose—and everything to gain.

IF YOU’VE ALWAYS WANTED TO PR A HALF MARATHON

or shave seconds off your mile time but dreaded the speedwork you knew it would take to get there, fear not. Stephanie Schappert, professional runner for Hoka One One and the New Jersey New York Track Club, says it only takes a little bit of oomph to get big results, no matter what distance you’re running. If you’re currently training four to five days a week, Schappert recommends incorporating drills like strides, hill repeats, and track workouts into just one or two weekly runs. Go ahead and use a timer or running watch if you want to know your exact speed, but her advice on pacing is simple: “Try to run faster than you usually do.”

Add 2 to 4 60-meter strides at the end of 2 weekly runs.

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SPEED

THE GAIN PLAN

THIS PAGE: PHOTOGRAPH BY ANDI FRANK/GALLERY STOCK; OPENING PAGE: PHOTOGRAPH BY EMILIANO GRANADO, HAIR & MAKEUP BY SUZANNE KATZ FOR WILHELMINA, STYLING BY SUSAN BRICKELL, MANICURE BY RACHEL SHIM USING DIOR

CRANK YOUR

GROW YOUR

GRIT “I DID IT!” Wendy DeChambeau, 40, wasn’t eyeing a particular race or gunning for a new PR when she decided to add speedwork to her routine. She just had a sense that her regular three-mile runs could be faster.

“I’ll never be competitive, but I wanted to challenge myself to make certain times that I believe are reasonable for me,” she says.

By adding hill repeats and speed intervals, “I’ve taken one minute off my average mile so far, and I feel like it’s also helped increase my endurance,” she says.

THE NEED-TO-KNOW FOR SPEED

Strides Run faster than usual pace for a set distance (on a scale of 1 to 10, push a 6 to an 8 and aim for good form vs. all-out sprinting), then walk back to recover.

Strides and Turns

Hill Intervals

On a track (or a treadmill’s version) run fast on the straightaways, then slow down to a jog or walk on the turns to recover.

Find a hill or crank up the incline on the treadmill.

Charge up at 60 to 80 percent of your max effort, then walk back down to recover.

WHAT SEPARATES THE RUNNERS WHO TRAIN WHEN

they don’t feel like it from those who find excuses? The same thing that drives a racer to cross the finish line long after he’s hit the wall: grit—a combination of perseverance, resilience, and determination. And according to Jonathan Fader, Ph.D., sports psychologist at SportStrata, it isn’t an innate quality that some athletes have and others don’t. With a little mental conditioning and consistent practice, anyone can gain guts.

THE GAIN PLAN

“I DID IT!” “I take myself more seriously as a runner when I address my mental game,” says Pam Moore, 39. The six-time marathoner and two-time Ironman finisher prefers 5Ks and 10Ks these days, but still uses visualization in her prerace routine. “I close my eyes and imagine exactly how I anticipate I’ll feel, and how I’ll respond to fatigue at different points during the race,” she says.

Her go-to mantra in moments of doubt is “Yes I can,” but she encourages experimenting with different types of self-talk. “The key is finding something that works for you and making it a habit.”

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2018 RUNNER’S WORLD 55

SCORE STRONGER

CORE STRENGTH HOW WELL AND EASY YOU RUN IS DIRECTLY

related to your core, explains Rachel Cosgrove, certified strength and conditioning coach and owner of Results Fitness in Newhall, California. “If our core isn’t strong, we use more energy because we’re not able to stabilize our body while we take that next step,” she says. That energy drain can slow you down and make training feel harder. And because a weak core can force unnatural movement compensations, it may also be the cause of recurring injuries.

The fix: Do exercises that, like running, require you to stabilize your core while moving your limbs. Perform this five-minute prerun routine, and you’ll strengthen your core from every angle.

YOUR 4 CORE E S SENTIAL S

Slow-Mo Mountain Climber

Start in a high plank position, wrists under shoulders. When you can hold for 30 seconds, progress to lifting left arm and right leg. Return to starting position and repeat on opposite side.

From a high plank position with core engaged, slowly draw left knee to chest. Return to starting position. Draw right knee to chest, and continue to alternate slowly, using good control.

While training for her 16th half marathon, Crystal Weber, 38, focused on core strength. When race day came, she nabbed a PR. “Honestly, it has helped me be more efficient by minimizing the side-to-side motion, since I can rely on core muscles rather than accessory muscles,” she says. “One of my running buddies said my ponytail swings less than it used to.”

THE GAIN PLAN

Body Roll

Dead Bug

Lie faceup with arms stretched overhead.

Engage just the core muscles to roll over onto your stomach. Resist the urge to push with the legs or generate momentum. Turn onto your back and repeat rolling to opposite side.

Lie faceup with legs in tabletop position.

Extend arms straight up.

Straighten right leg and lower it to hover above floor while reaching left arm back overhead. Return to start and repeat on opposite side.

Cosgrove recommends core training 3 times per week.

Choose 1 prone (facedown) and 1 supine (faceup) exercise for each session, and hit all 4 moves each week. Complete the reps or hold planks for 30 seconds. Rest no more than 1 minute between sets.

WEEK

WORKOUT

1

2 sets of 6 to 8 reps

2

2 sets of 10 to 12 reps

3

3 sets of 6 to 8 reps

4

3 sets of 10 to 12 reps

PHOTOGRAPH BY MIHAILOMILOVANOVIC/GETTY IMAGES; ILLUSTRATIONS BY CHARLIE LAYTON

Plank With Arm/Leg Raise

“I DID IT!”

AMP UP YOUR

ENDURANCE MOST RUNNERS DON’T ENTIRELY UNDERSTAND

the concept of endurance, says Chris Hinshaw, endurance coach at NorCal CrossFit in the San Francisco Bay Area. Athletes of all levels come to him wondering why they haven’t improved their 5K time or why they are still struggling through the last couple miles of a half marathon, despite increasing their mileage.

We all have an entire spectrum of muscle fibers available for work, from the fastest of the fast-twitch fibers to the slowest of the slow, Hinshaw explains. Runners, he says, have a tendency to train in one “gear.” Either they don’t like distance running, so they stick to short sprints, or they’re more comfortable at a steady pace, so they never run fast. As a result, one type of muscle fiber often remains untrained and passive. No matter your preferred distance, you need to have both types available for firing, he says. To gain endurance, Hinshaw’s plan will help you train every one of your available speeds, from breakneck-fast to slow and steady.

Need a plan to get started?

Download the new Runner’s World app, My Run Plan, at myrunplan.com.

It offers personalized training programs from 5K to marathon that instantly adapt to your day-to-day performance, which can help you finish a race up to 7 percent faster!

THE GAIN PLAN

“I DID IT!”

Adapted from Run for Abs: The 6-Week Plan to Torch Fat and Shrink Your Middle, available January 2018 at runnersworld.com/runforabs.

A few years back, Sonja Schweigert, 36, says half marathons left her exhausted, and her goal to break two hours seemed impossible. Then CrossFit workouts led her to Hinshaw’s endurance running group. Since joining, she’s learned to train smarter, and she’s hit a sub-two half marathon.

What’s more, she actually looks forward to training.

“Now running is a joyful adventure for me—it’s fun and exhilarating, whether on the track or on the trails.”

This plan subs interval training for one of your midlength runs and adds a bit of speedwork to your regularly programmed long run. A couple tips to dial in the right pace: If your stomach churns and your legs burn halfway through, you’ve gone too fast. If you cruise through the interval feeling great, too slow. If doubt starts to creep in at the halfway mark, you’ve found the right pace. For overall volume, Hinshaw recommends increasing your weekly mileage by no more than 10 percent each week.

WEEK

LONG RUN

INTERVAL RUN

1

Halfway through your run, do 10 minutes of 5-second surges (accelerate as fast as you can) every minute on the minute. After 5 seconds, recover at normal pace.

Alternate between 2 minutes of fast running and 1 minute of rest. (You can jog or walk during the rest intervals.) Complete 10 rounds total.

2

Repeat 10 minutes of surges, but increase the surge duration to 10 seconds and use 50 seconds to recover.

Run 3 minutes at a fast pace and rest for 1 minute. Complete 8 rounds total.

3

Stick to 10 surges every minute, but lengthen each surge to 15 seconds.

Run 4 minutes at a fast pace and rest for 90 seconds. Complete 6 rounds total.

4

Increase to 20-second surges every minute on the minute for 10 minutes.

Run 5 minutes at a fast pace and rest for 2 minutes. Complete 5 rounds total.

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2018 RUNNER’S WORLD 57

INCREASE YOUR

COLD TOLERANCE WINTER TRAINING RUNS BUILD THE

Mackenzie does cold plunges in 34-degree water, but you can start building your tolerance by intermittently adjusting the temperature of your morning shower to help you get out the door for future subzero runs.

“I DID IT!” Scott Carney, 39, author of What Doesn’t Kill Us, used the cold-shower technique and a breathing program to prep for England’s Tough Guy—known as one of the coldest races in the world. “I ran in my skivvies!” he says. “While everyone else was miserable, I was just this guy with a giant smile on my face; I was having a blast.”

LET’S GAIN TOGETHER

Share your progress with us on Instagram by tagging @runnersworldmag and #MyGainPlan for virtual high-fives and fist bumps.

58 RUNNER’S WORLD JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2018

PHOTOGRAPH BY STEPHEN MATERA/ TANDEMSTOCK.COM.

foundation for summer PRs. But that also means you’re bound to find yourself facing a few frigid miles. While some runners’ motivation understandably dips with the thermostat, others will tell you they simply cannot train in cold temperatures. That’s avoiding opportunity, according to Brian Mackenzie, founder of Power Speed Endurance (PSE), an online programming and coaching platform for athletes.

“It’s just an adverse sympathetic reaction,” Mackenzie says of the typical cold-weather freak-out marked by a racing heart, short breaths, and clenched muscles. If you’re mentally and physically unprepared for the cold, your nervous system will tell you to flee for more comfortable conditions. Follow this at-home version of Mackenzie’s training program, and you’ll gradually expose yourself to cold temps and learn to control breathing so your body adapts physiologically, and you can finally beat the freeze.

THE GAIN PLAN

PHOTOGRAPH BY EMILIANO GRANADO, HAIR & MAKEUP BY SUZANNE KATZ FOR WILHELMINA, STYLING BY SUSAN BRICKELL, MANICURE BY RACHEL SHIM USING DIOR VERNIS; CLOTHING: P.E NATION THE HUSTLER CROP BRA ($80), OAKLEY

ELEVATE SHORTS ($120), ASICS QUICK LYTE WOOL BLEND CREW SOCKS ($22), REEBOK FLOATRIDE RUN SHOES ($150), GARMIN VÍVOACTIVE 3 WATCH ($299.99)

“I DID IT!” “My meditation practice has profound impacts on my running,” says Knox Robinson, 42, cofounder of Black Roses NYC running crew and longtime Headspace user.

“Once I cracked sitting in silence, I realized, ‘This is exactly like an hour-long tempo run. There’s no need to fear it.’”

Now Robinson says he can better handle any race situation.

MASTER YOUR

MINDFULNESS “MINDFULNESS IS THE QUALITY OF

being in the present moment, free from distraction,” explains Andy Puddicombe, cofounder of Headspace and the voice of the app’s guided-meditation tracks.

But between playlists, audiobooks, podcasts, and our own churning brains, runners have essentially mastered the art of distraction.

Train in mindfulness, though, and you’ll automatically put yourself ahead of the pack. Puddicombe often sees this advantage

among elite athletes. “The difference on race day is their mind-set,” he says. “Some people might even be better than others, but they just don’t bring the right mind-set on that day, so they don’t perform as well.”

Outside of competition, mindfulness affords runners increased body awareness, which encourages better posture and technique. Postrun, it can even enhance recovery, lead to better sleep, or keep your head in the game when you’re sidelined with an injury.

PR ACTICE MAKE S PERFECT Training your mind is just like training your body. For optimum benefits, Puddicombe recommends daily practice with this technique.

Before you run, sit for one minute. Close your eyes and allow your mind and body to settle. Think about why you’re running and what you intend to accomplish.

1

Ease into your run slowly. Give your body time to adjust to the movement.

Feel the ground under your feet. Notice other sensations like the breeze on your skin.

2

As you pick up the pace, keep a relaxed focus on your technique. You’re not thinking about making your legs move; imagine your body just knows how to run.

3

Don’t worry about “clearing the mind.” When you get distracted, bring your attention back to the feeling of your feet hitting the ground.

4

To end your run, pause for one minute of stillness.

Focus on recovery.

Close your eyes and allow breathing and heart rate to settle.

5

THE GAIN PLAN

Try Headspace for free for one month with code RUNNERSWORLD at headspace.com/code.*

*This code is capped at the first 25,000 users; offer expires 3/1/18.

W

WHEN NONRUNNERS ASK HOW LONG

L I K E A N Y ROM A N C E , YOU R R E L ATI O N S H I P W ITH RU N N I N G W I L L E VO LV E , C H A N G E , A N D H IT S OM E B UM P S I N T H E ROA D. H E R E’S H OW T O K E E P T H E PA S S I O N A L I V E , FO R G O O D.

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I’ve been running and I say 10 years, I get an expression of amazement, followed by, “You must really love it!” I smile and nod because I really do, except for the days when I really don’t.

“It’s complicated,” I tell them.

Like every relationship, a running relationship goes through phases.

When I first began, running was all I could think about. A year later, I loved running kind of like I loved my right arm; it was simply a part of me. By year five, I took running for granted.

I recklessly increased mileage, got injured, and hated it for that. I considered quitting, looked into other forms of exercise, disliked those, and imagined returning to a sedentary life where I would grow old, fat, and depressed.

As that stark potential reality sunk in, I realized running was worth fighting for. I threw on sneakers and clawed my way back, one slow mile at a time.

Stay with running, and you will experience your own version of the same.

You will lose weight, gain it back, and lose it again. You will make new friends and watch others fade away, grow stronger, become injured, fall horribly out of shape, and build it back better than before. You will run solo and in groups, with or without animals, with or without music, and you will be certain one way is better than the other until the day you decide it isn’t. You will run short and long distances at wildly varying paces that bear little resemblance to stamina or effort—short runs that kill you, long ones that feel like flying. The miles will simultaneously fill you with desperation and joy—make you feel like a teenager on a Monday and a tired old professor on Friday. If you run long enough, you will love it, but you will also feel many other things. It will be complicated. And just like the best romances, there are also classic stages of running, and the longer you’re in the game, the more likely it is that you will see (and survive!) them all.

1.

THE HONEYMOON

Y

actual brain chemistry changes happening to dopamine-rich regions associated with reward, motivation, and “wanting.” Hence that starry-eyed look of those in the middle of it.

New runners ride the same dopamine train, but their excitement combined with novel high-impact activity makes the honeymoon phase more likely to produce trouble. In a Danish study of 933 runners, about 25 percent experienced injury in the first 23 miles; more injuries piled up with increased mileage. The most common: shin splints (15 percent); “runner’s knee” (10 percent); and medial meniscal injury (9 percent). Almost 5 percent received surgical treatment. The median recovery period for all injuries was 71 days—enough time for many to give up running.

The takeaway: Honeymoons burn bright, but can flame out fast if you’re not careful. Slowly build speed and distance, and you’ll coast through the first 23 miles to move with newfound strength and freaking beauty to phase two of your running relationship.

ou complete your first mile without injury or unconsciousness and decide in a blazing stupor that you will run every day for the rest of your life because it is so freaking fantastic. You call friends and ask them why they aren’t freaking running. “It’s freaking fantastic,” you say.

Everyone is happy for you, but you’ve become freaking difficult to hang with. You talk about the marathon you’ll run one day; probably the one in NYC. It’s the most famous. You’re happy all the time. You high-five coworkers at the holiday party and overindulge on desserts because you’re running now and you can eat whatever you want. You wear colorful, metallic running shoes to those parties that somehow scream, Ask me about my mileage!

According to New York City–based biological anthropologist Helen Fisher, Ph.D., the honeymoon phase of a romantic relationship isn’t just an overwhelming crush of feelings—it has real biochemical underpinnings. During a honeymoon period, there are

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2.

THE RETURN TO REALITY

T

running honeymoon. It wasn’t a track they ran on as much as a quarter-mile welcome mat to the real world. By the end of their “real race,” Flanagan was still laughing and Cooper was hunched over with his hands on his knees, exhausted but also a smarter, better runner than he was before.

In many ways, the Reality phase of running is the best of times. Running is still as new and exciting as ever, only now you get to have your friends and family back. They might even ask how the running is going, and you know enough to give them an answer in under 30 seconds without mentioning your VO2 max, metatarsals, or lactate threshold. You’re getting faster and running longer, but your dreams are private and rooted in the possible. Maybe you’ll run a marathon one day, but you know what it would take to pull it off, and you don’t tell a soul.

his phase in a runner’s life is marked by the realization that you couldn’t keep up for a single lap on the track with four-time Olympian Shalane Flanagan no matter how many of your buddies you beat during Thursday night 800s. Anderson Cooper went through this phase rather publicly when he challenged Flanagan to a quartermile race around the track at the Nike World HQ training facility near Beaverton, Oregon. Before the “race” he must have thought he had a nonzero chance of keeping up with her, or at least not getting completely destroyed while she giggled to herself, which is exactly what happened. What was Cooper thinking? It could have been a man thing (he did say it was a “real race” when Flanagan asked before they began), but I think the more likely culprit was the waning twilight of a

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3.

ADVERSITY STRIKES

M

hurt my knee, ignored the pain because that’s what we runners sometimes do, and loped on it like a fool. Until I couldn’t.

Until soon a mile, much less a marathon, was completely out of the question.

This phase strikes nearly every lover of running. A study by the Sports Medicine Center of the University of British Columbia in Vancouver that followed more than 2,000 runners for two years found that the 10 most common injuries, including plantar fasciitis, tibial stress syndrome, glute injuries, and knee problems like patellar tendinopathy, popped up after the runners had been at the sport more than five years. Though the study doesn’t comment on whether or not carelessness played a factor in experienced runners’ injuries, it does cite, among other things, “extrinsic factors.” The training errors, old shoes, and poor running surfaces—all signs of getting perhaps a little careless.

y dad once told me the two most dangerous times to ride a motorcycle are when you first start out and after you’ve done it for five years. “I don’t ride a motorcycle, Dad,” I said. He nodded. But I did realize it was a good point to keep in mind about any activity involving risk: At the start you’re not good, and five years in you’re not careful.

It took me about five years to get to drama-free 10-mile runs.

Then, before I knew it, those same 10-mile runs morphed from drama-free to easy. I added speed and that was fun. I added distance. It felt like an actual superpower—one where I sat comfortably on my legs and rode them effortlessly through cities and over the countryside. An Olympic trainer analyzed my stride and running routine and told me I was ready for a marathon. I chose NYC, because it’s the famous one. Then I

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4.

THE CROSSROADS

T

activity, but neither is sitting on the couch slowly gaining close to a pound per year. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the average woman in her twenties weighs 162 pounds and will increase that weight to 169 pounds over the following 10 years. The average man goes from 184 to 200 pounds. If they maintain a sedentary lifestyle, like pennies in a bank, they’ll amass a fat fortune—both men and women continuing to gain weight have an accompanying higher risk for all manner of related health complications in subsequent decades.

I brought my running habit through the Crossroads by looking ahead and comparing those older than me who had quit running against those who’d kept it going. In the end, there wasn’t really a choice. We can’t decide whether or not we grow older, but we can hedge our chances on how we do so. By the time my knee completely healed, I had fallen completely out of shape. I returned to the road and recommitted myself for good, for always, starting with a single, difficult mile.

he shortest and most deterministic of all the stages of running is the Crossroads. Unlike the Yogi-ism, “When you come to a fork in the road, take it,” the running Crossroads requires that you choose the left or right path. The Crossroads may follow a serious injury caused by running or by anything else. But it can just as easily follow any life change not immediately compatible with running—a new job, a big move, an illness, a new child, or even just a busy holiday season with several months off that lead to several more.

Whatever the cause, the Crossroads is that moment you decide whether your running habit is a life stage, as in, I ran through my twenties, or a never-ending lifestyle, as in, I’ll collapse on the road one day, and they’ll know I died doing what I love.

If you find yourself at the Crossroads, in terms of any personal health issue, only a physician can recommend the right move. For the vast majority of us, the decision to keep running makes sense by almost any measure. Sure, it’s not a risk-free

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5.

M AT U R E L O V E

C

admires the tenacity of a long-standing good habit that ain’t always easy.

Mature Love runners know how to run, when to run, why to run, and with or without whom. They know when to push it, when to pull back, and what to eat when doing either. They’re secure in their running. Their habit runs deeper than any sidelining injury. They know that bodies heal with rest, and as long as the heart beats, the runner returns to the road, come what may. You know you’ve reached Mature Love when someone asks you why you run and you can only smile and shrug.

The real answer is complicated and there are miles to cover, so just throw on some shoes and get some. You’ve gone too long to ever question it; you’re in too deep to ever quit; you’ve loved too deeply to ever look away.

ertified couples therapist Darren Wilk of Langley, British Columbia, provides sharp insight on the secret sauce of a long-term relationship: “You will always find what you look for—if you look for stuff that your partner is doing wrong, you will find it every day.

And if you look for what your partner is doing right, you’ll find it every day.” Reread that statement replacing the word “partner” with “running” and you’ll get a sense of the secret sauce in a long-term running relationship. Instead of focusing on what hurts, or the growing limitations of speed and distance, runners making it to the Mature Love phase focus on the simple fact that after all the ups and downs, they’re still lacing up, heading out, and hitting the road to strengthen and inspire not only themselves, but everyone around them who

65

You don’t need all-promising pills, diet hacks, or hours of tedious (and dubious) brain games to look and feel younger.

All it takes is doing that thing you love: running.

By Wes Judd Photographs by Mitch Mandel

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2018 RUNNER’S WORLD 67

Americans are obsessed with aging.

Or, more accurately, with avoiding it.

Between the wrinkle-zapping skin creams, Botox and chin tucks, and “rejuvenation” supplements, the business of anti-aging has grown into a more than $250 billion-with-a-capital-B global industry, and it’s projected to top $330B in the next three years.

Silicon Valley is happy to oblige. Corporations have recently entered the age-prevention market with gusto— Unity Biotechnology, Elysium, and Google’s Calico have invested hundreds of millions into R&D of therapeutics and medicines that work to mitigate or even reverse the effects of growing old. While a magic-bullet pill has yet to appear, the researchers are feeling bullish. “We believe that age can be solved,” says Sofiya Milman, M.D., the director of human longevity studies at the Institute for Aging Research at Albert Einstein College of Medicine.

“We don’t think that people will be immortal, but we do believe that you can certainly delay diseases and dysfunction that come with aging.”

Here’s the funny thing: We already have something that can ward off disease and prevent, even reverse, the telltale signs of age. In fact, look at the Venn diagram of what a hypothetical anti-aging pill would accomplish and what this existing tool already does for the body, and you’ve got two circles nearly overlapped. You don’t need to be a biohacker or billionaire to tap into this fountain of youth. Just lace up your sneakers and go.

Running, according to nearly a dozen of the nation’s top longevity researchers and decades of study, is and always has been one of the best age-preventers. Yes, we all know on some level that running is good for us. It helps control weight, strengthens the heart and lungs, gives us the best kind of feel-good high. But look specifically at what it can do for us as we age—and how it can preemptively combat some of the most common age-related diseases and ailments—and it’s clear that running is as close to a miracle drug as we’ve got. And it’s not just that our favorite sport can tack years onto our lives—a full three, if you recall that landmark study published in Progress in Cardiovascular Diseases last March—it’s that it can add more life in our years. Run, and your health, energy, and quality of life are superior in ways both subtle and absolutely vital.

Living to 100 is meaningless without that.

68 RUNNER’S WORLD JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2018

ancestors, and it makes sense why running is a natural lifeextender. For about 2 million years, the WE WERE activity was integral to our survival. “Our ALL BORN bodies adapted to running because we had to do it to get food,” explains David Raichlen, T O RUN Ph.D., an anthropologist who studies runners and the evolutionary history of exercise at the University of Arizona. The need to constantly be on the move caused our hearts to enlarge, our capillaries to grow, Raichlen says.

In a fascinating 2014 paper in Trends in Neurosciences, he lays out how running allowed Homo sapiens to reach old age. Thousands of years ago, our ancestors had two copies of a genotype that greatly increases the risk of Alzheimer’s and cardiovascular disease. Yet during this time, humans began living much longer than other mammals. Raichlen believes that’s primarily because we were constantly running—for our food, from our food—which minimized the chances of developing these diseases, despite having the high-risk genes. He also doesn’t think it’s a coincidence that today, as our species’ time spent running (or doing any activity) plummets, our chronic disease risk skyrockets. “I tend to think that exercise explains quite a bit about why we are the way we are today,” he says. Put another way: Not running actually goes against our own evolutionary history.

LOOK TO OU R A NCIENT

PU T YOU R PA L M U P T O the left side of your chest. Feel that strong beat? That’s the biggest age-beating benefit your run is giving T HE S E C R E T you. Heart disease is the leading cause of S TA R T S W I T H death in the United States, killing more T HE HE A R T Americans than all types of cancer combined. As we age, our arteries stiffen; they can’t widen as well to accommodate an increase in bloodflow, and this is particularly true in the aorta, the artery leading from the heart, and in the carotid arteries, which run from chest to head. When these insidious changes happen, major

YOUR BODY ON RUNNING

From heart to muscles to the brain and immune system, running at any age and for almost any amount of time turns the body into a more efficient version of itself. “If you could put the effects into a pill, it would be a multibillion-dollar pharmaceutical company,” says exercise historian David Raichlen, Ph.D.

M I N D // Runners have a higher concentration and greater volume of gray matter, which means better memory, quicker recall, and generally feeling sharper and a lot freaking smarter.

Run through complex environments— a busy city or a rocky trail—and you also strengthen the brain in ways that positively affect planning, multitasking, self-awareness, and motor control.

IMMUNE S Y S T E M // Ever notice you don’t get colds and flu as often as nonrunner friends? Not a coincidence. Regular running is linked to a stronger immune system, and it may even prevent agerelated deterioration.

or at a local race, can help you create essential social connections. That’s more important than ever. Last year, former United States Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, M.D., called loneliness “an epidemic” for adults today.

V O 2 M A X // Not just a stat for fitness nerds! As you age, your VO₂ max, or the maximum amount of oxygen you can use during exercise, naturally drops; this jacks up risks of chronic illnesses. One of the best ways to keep VO₂ max high is periodically pushing your heart and lungs with running intervals.

M U S C L E S // As you heft your body weight with each step, you’re preserving muscle and bone strength—a huge component of staying young.

PHOTOGRAPH BY JAMES FARRELL

W E L L- B E I N G // Running, whether it’s via a run crew

H E A R T // Aerobic exercise restores elasticity to arteries, allowing them to behave years younger.

This helps decrease the likelihood of kidney disease, diabetes, neurodegenerative diseases, and inflammation.

cardiac events aren’t far behind. “We now know that cognitive decline with aging and disease are significantly due to decline in artery function and health,” says Douglas Seals, Ph.D., a distinguished professor of integrative physiology who studies vascular aging at the University of Colorado Boulder. “Your tendency to become more prone to diabetes with aging is affected and highly correlated with vascular health and function. Even kidney disease is closely linked to the health of your arteries.”

Run regularly, and you may safeguard yourself from all of this, according to Seals. Running not only maintains artery dilation and elasticity, it actually restores youth and vigor to the vessels. Take your first step, and all your muscles—quads, calves, glutes, even your lats, shoulders, and biceps—demand more oxygen. To feed them, you suck in air, your heart beats faster, and it pumps that oxygenated blood through the arteries and to every muscle fiber. This process is more than just a delivery mechanism; it is silently and invisibly keeping the arteries strong and healthy. And it means that no matter who you are—a 40-something joining a run crew or a retiree chasing grandkids—you’re transforming your heart into a younger version of itself.

What’s more, science shows that when your arteries are healthy, everything outside the cardiovascular system is usually in good shape, too.

That’s why Seals, who also codirects the University of Colorado’s community outreach program the Healthy Aging Project, counts exercise like running as the It Factor for staying young. “It is the single most important thing—more important than healthy diet, more important than reducing stress.”

TH ER E’S A NOTH ER mysterious barometer to gauge our age, a single measurement that acts as a portal through which we can determine P O W E R ING our health span: VO2 max, or the maximum YOUR IN T E R N A L amount of oxygen you can use during exercise. VO2 max is likely the last thing you think E NGINE about when you run, and really, all you need to know about it is that the more often you push yourself—doing intervals, in particular—the more your VO2 max goes up. This is good for reasons besides setting a marathon PR. “The body somehow associates low maximal oxygen consumption to chronic disease,” says Frank W. Booth, Ph.D., a professor of physiology at the University of Missouri who studies the relationship between fitness and disease. “Once your VO2 max falls below a certain value—and no one understands why—then chronic diseases skyrocket.”

The good news: It doesn’t take much to keep VO2 max at an optimal level. Doing short intervals where you push yourself at 85 to 90 percent of your maximum effort, once or twice a week, is enough to maintain a high number. “It is one of the more malleable characteristics of aging,” says Booth, “and you want to fight like hell to keep your VO2 max from falling if you want to keep your health span.”

SU R E , YOU C A N WOR K your heart and raise VO2 max on the bike, in the pool, hell, on a hike with the dog. What makes running HONING special, according to scientists, lies within YOUR MIND your head. As University of North Carolina researchers put it, runners literally have a “younger-appearing brain.” Even more incredible: In 2016, researchers at the University of Arizona found that running can change the brain in many of the same ways that activities requiring fine motor skills do, like racquet

sports or playing an instrument. This was surprising, say lead researchers Raichlen and Gene Alexander, Ph.D., because conventional logic says that running is anything but mentally taxing—put one foot in front of the other and try not to trip. “Running is actually a pretty cognitively demanding sport,” says Raichlen. “You just don’t realize it.”

The root in the middle of the trail, the stoplight that’s about to turn red, your dog zigzagging on the leash ahead of you—these are all challenges you have to navigate on a second-by-second basis.

Look back again to our forebears, and you find the evolutionary explanation for this. “As hunter-gatherers, we moved quickly around the landscape, but we’d also have to remember where we were going, use spatial navigation, and executive functions like planning and decision-making,” explains Raichlen. “We think those cognitive skills got linked to exercise through evolutionary processes.”

RUNNING VS. EVERYTHING ELSE Your body doesn’t distinguish one type of aerobic activity from another—your heart, for example, doesn’t know the difference between a bike ride that gets your pulse up to 150 and a run that does the same. Still, there are reasons why running is the top form of exercise to keep the muscles and mind young. And they’re best illustrated in this massive 2017 international study: Researchers examined more than 55,000 men and women between the ages of 18 and 100 and determined that regardless of how old you are, whether you’re male or female, how much booze you drink, or whether you’ve ever exercised before, if you start running just one to two hours per

week, you can slash your risk of cardiovascularrelated death by 45 to 70 percent and your chances of dying from cancer by 30 to 50 percent. The clincher: Researchers discovered that runners lived far longer than those who exercised regularly but didn’t run. Take that, cyclists.

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2018 RUNNER’S WORLD 71

IS THERE A RIGHT AMOUNT TO RUN?

TAK E ONE GLANCE AT THE GAMS

of the elites lining up at a marathon, a nd you know running BUILDING & carves lean muscle. But the most P R E S E R V IN G significant impact it has isn’t on S T R E NG T H aesthetics, but what it does internally, on a cellular level. Just as it does for arteries, running is believed to restore and rejuvenate mitochondria, the powerhouses of each cell; this means muscle fibers can generate energy more efficiently to contract.

That’s key, because as you age, your mitochondria naturally become less effective at generating that chemical energy. “Essentially oxygen leaks across the inner membrane of the mitochondria, requiring your muscles to use more oxygen,” says Justus Ortega, Ph.D., a professor of kinesiology and the director of the Biomechanics Lab at Humboldt State University. “What’s really interesting about running is that it seems the vigorous nature stimulates the repair of mitochondria, and allows them to generate energy as efficiently as younger adults.” Ortega and his University of Colorado team documented evidence of this in a 2014 study that found older runners not only have better mitochondrial health, they’re also highly efficient runners.

“Running allows your muscles to behave like much more youthful muscles,” Ortega says. “It’s this crazy trickle-down effect. If you’re able to keep your mitochondria in a more healthy state through running, that allows

72 RUNNER’S WORLD JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2018

That’s the million-dollar question, and the one researchers say they get the most often. Everyone wants to know the minimum they can get away with and still reap the benefits—the optimal dose, if you will. While there is nuance to that answer (for example, the type and amount of running you need to improve vascular health is different than what you need to increase VO₂ max), the overwhelming consensus is “not that much.”

“I think what people don’t realize is you get a huge fraction of the benefits from relatively modest amounts of running per day—just a few miles,” says Michael Joyner, M.D., a physician and researcher at the Mayo

Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, and one of the world’s leading experts on human performance and age. In their broad 2017 epidemiological study on running, exercise epidemiologist Duck-chul Lee, Ph.D., and cardiologist Carl Lavie, M.D., found that running just two and a half total hours per week is enough to reap all its youthpromoting benefits.

“Compared to not running, any running is good,” adds Lee. And the good news for those logging three-plus hours a week is that, while you don’t get exponentially more benefits the more you run, you also won’t be hurting your health, as some experts had warned in the past.

you to be more active in all the other aspects of your life, and that can help to stave off all the things that we typically see with aging—heart disease, diabetes, obesity, bone loss.”

And therein lies the magic: While running itself can produce immediate and lasting changes that make the body “younger,” it’s this ripple effect that researchers point to as the sport’s most important quality. HavGOOD NE WS ing the strength, vigor, and energy to FOR OLD, do anything you want—that’s what NEW RUNNERS gives running its value. As a society, When it comes to we are desperate to find elixirs and heart health, brain quick fixes that will give us just that, benefits, and overall but running—the sport you love that age-related disease you thought was simply justifying prevention, runners an order of large fries—has all along see positive results been providing the cure. “Running no matter what age is not just about muscle efficiency or they pick up the benefits to your bones or heart,” says sport. In fact, says Ortega, who is 45 years old and has Mayo Clinic physibeen running for the last 25. “What I cian Michael Joyner, found incredibly rewarding was the M.D., you’ll see the social benefits of meeting different most benefit from people, the emotional benefits of how running between it made me feel, the opportunity to roughly 45 and 60 see wildernesses all over our counyears old, when try that I probably would never have lifestyle-related disseen. You couldn’t put enough pills eases really emerge together to have that happen.” and accelerate.

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We use excuse after excuse (after excuse) to not take on the runner title. But if you lace up sneakers to hit the road, track, trail, or treadmill, you are a runner—and these people are living proof.

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YO U A R E A RUNNER!

PHOTOGRAPH BY HANA ASANO

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2018 RUNNER’S WORLD 75

MY OLD EXCUSE:

“I DON’T RUN THAT OFTEN”

76 PHOTOGRAPH RUNNER’S WORLD

BY DAYMON JANUARY/FEBRUARY GARDNER2018

DARYL FARLER, 37, FRANKLIN, TN

“No feet, no excuses.” That’s what’s emblazoned on Farler’s chest as he competes in races as an amputee. But he wasn’t always a believer: In 2006, a dog scratch led to a life-threatening strep infection, coma, and eventually a double lower-leg amputation; the first four years postsurgery found him spiraling into a debilitating depression. In 2011, though, Farler was asked to join the board of the Amputee Blade Runners in Nashville. “The organization provides sports prostheses to amputees, and I realized I wanted to start looking the part,” he recalls. So he ran a 5K for charity and was instantly hooked. He’s now done half marathons, Ragnar Relay races, and the Boston Marathon. “I may be missing my legs, but I’m alive. Running is a powerful way to celebrate that.”

MY OLD EXCUSE:

“ I H AV E A DISABILITY”

← PAIGE JACKSON, 31, NEW ORLEANS

“I’m an athlete, not a runner.” It was as if Jackson had been taught that you had to choose between the two, and the Louisiana Department of Education staffer told herself that running was just a form of conditioning. But then Jackson signed up for multiple road-trip-required 5Ks within a few months, and that's when she grasped the extent of her commitment. “It wasn’t an either-or situation. I could be an athlete who enjoys running and a runner who participates in other activities,” she says. Jackson joined her local Black Girls Run! club and now runs once or twice a week while also taking other fitness classes.

“Just because I’m not logging miles every day doesn’t mean I’m any less of a runner.”

PHOTOGRAPH BY ABIGAIL BOBO

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2018 RUNNER’S WORLD 77

KIMBERLY NUZINGAH BRADLEY, 36, ATLANTA

“I was 400 pounds and struggling with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) when my doctor told me to shape up,” Bradley says. So the plus-size wellness coach hit the hiking trails because, as an asthmatic, she told herself she couldn't be a runner—breathing would be too hard. But when Bradley’s PCOS symptoms and complications (irregular periods, prediabetes, mild depression) continued to bother her despite moving more, a friend convinced her to train for a 15K. “PCOS can make it hard to lose weight, but having a finish line as the goal reframed my idea of health,” she says. She went on to finish 15 races within a year and hasn’t stopped. “Now that I’m a consistent runner, my menstrual cycle is more regular. And my asthma? I rarely need that inhaler.”

MY OLD EXCUSE:

“I’M NOT H E A LT H Y ENOUGH”

→ MARLON BARCELONA, 42, PLACENTIA, CA

In his mid-30s, Barcelona was busy trying to be the best husband, father, and health and science teacher when he realized exercise needed to be in his schedule. “My weight had reached 186 pounds, and I was diagnosed with high blood pressure,” he says. But he thought his short, casual runs didn’t make him a runner—until the Boston Marathon bombings happened.

“I knew I needed to honor the lives lost, so I signed up for a tribute run,” Barcelona recalls. “That’s when it finally clicked that it didn't matter how far I ran.” Today, he joins local running groups as a mentor for new runners. “I remember how I felt when I started, and I want to help people feel confident in their abilities.”

78 RUNNER’S WORLD JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2018

PHOTOGRAPH BY LEAH OVERSTREET

MY OLD EXCUSE:

“I DON’T RUN THAT FAR”

PHOTOGRAPH BY HANA ASANO

MY OLD EXCUSE:

“I DON’T LOOK LIKE A RUNNER”

80 RUNNER’S WORLD PHOTOGRAPH

BY IANJANUARY/FEBRUARY MACLELLAN 2018

BRIDGET SUTHERLAND, 39, VERNON, CT

As a mom of four, Sutherland knows a thing or two about time management. The one clock she doesn’t watch? The one on a race course. “I ran the Hartford Marathon as a bucket list item, but it made me realize that I didn’t need a fast finish time to prove that I’m a runner,” she says. “As much as I enjoyed the cheering crowds and the five-hour break from chasing my kids, the medal didn’t really matter to me.” Instead, the registered dietitian prefers short runs that she ends feeling healthy and strong. Without a competitive bone in her body, she only signs up to run events that benefit charitable causes. “Still, I like to set a healthy example for my clients and kids. Running is one of the most accessible ways to stay fit, so why wouldn’t I do it?”

MY OLD EXCUSE:

“I DON’T LIKE TO RACE”

← MARTINUS EVANS, 31, STURBRIDGE, MA

“You’re fat. If you don’t lose weight, you’re going to die.” Those words were tough for the 370-pound former football player to hear in 2012, but his doctor’s blunt delivery was needed. Evans stepped on a treadmill that same day, determined to get through a Couch to 5K program. But he noticed others’ stares. “It was a mental challenge to keep going when others commented about my size or laughed,” he says. The marketing manager kept at it, though, and a year and a half after that doctor’s appointment, he signed up to run 26.2 miles—a feat he finished in 6:46. “I realized it didn't matter if someone thought I was too big. All I had to do was put in the work and trust my training.”

PHOTOGRAPH BY JASON EVANS

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2018 RUNNER’S WORLD 81

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ROB RIGGLE

47, ACTOR AND COMEDIAN, LOS ANGELES don’t know how long you are going for. It was a great way to build up that mental toughness.

I learned in the Marines that you get your running done early in the morning. Because you will come up with every excuse under the sun to skip it once people wake up and the work piles up.

I took that lesson seriously when I moved to New York to start doing comedy. Because I was still serving in a reserve unit during the day, and doing standup at night, I ran before the sun came up. My wife and I would run to Central Park, around the reservoir, and back home. It was about three miles.

I burned CDs with the theme from Rocky and AC/DC songs— this is back before Apple watches and earbuds—which I listened to on a Discman I would have to carry. It is hilarious to think about that today.

Once I was a Marine, running was part of daily life on base. I hated it at first because of the pain, but after a while it

88

started to become what I looked forward to most; it was the only time I got to be in my own head.

I had a commanding officer who liked to take us on runs without telling us how long they were going to be. Sometimes it was five miles. Sometimes it was 10. It was a mind screw, but the truth is when you jump out of a helicopter during a mission, you

GO TO RUNNERSWORLD.COM/IMARUNNER FOR A VIDEO INTERVIEW.

Riggle, a United States Marine Corps Reserve lieutenant colonel, stars in 12 Strong, based on the first special forces team deployed to Afghanistan after 9/11, out this month.

I have been lucky to be in a few pretty memorable movies, and no matter where I am, people will randomly yell lines to me on the street. The most common are, “In the face!” and “Not up in here!” from The Hangover.

They are some pretty motivating statements to hear, actually.

PHOTOGRAPH BY MICHAEL LEWIS

GROOMING BY AMANDA ABIZAID FOR ZENOBIA AGENCY

I joined the Marine Corps when I was 19 years old, and running three miles was part of our required fitness test. That’s when I started taking running seriously, because it was literally a job requirement.

I volunteered for active duty again after 9/11 happened.

During that year back in service I entered the lottery for the New York City Marathon and got in.

I didn’t have any time to train because I was still working at Central Command. I got back home just one week before the marathon, so I did it without any real training. Now, I think I may have one more marathon in me.

I’d like to do Marine Corps in D.C., for my friends still in.

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The all-new 2018 Subaru Crosstrek means the weather won’t slow you down.

Standard Symmetrical All-Wheel Drive + 33 mpg* and 8.7 inches of ground clearance get you out there. And the Crosstrek is a 2017 IIHS Top Safety Pick+ with EyeSight

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and Steering Responsive Headlights. Love is out there. Find it in a Crosstrek.

Crosstrek. Well-equipped at $21,795.† Subaru, Crosstrek, and EyeSight are registered trademarks. *EPA-estimated highway fuel economy for 2018 Subaru Crosstrek CVT models. Actual mileage may vary. †MSRP excludes destination and delivery charges, tax, title, and registration fees. Retailer sets actual price. Certain equipment may be required in specific states, which can modify your MSRP. See your retailer for details. 2018 Subaru Crosstrek 2.0i Limited shown has an MSRP of $28,390. Vehicle shown with accessory equipment.