January 28, 2011

Sister Madonna at the Boulder Bookstore

I had the privilege of hearing Sister Madonna speak Wednesday evening at the Boulder Bookstore.  She’s an icon in the world of triathlon and is known as “The Iron Nun”.  She began running at the age of 48 and started racing triathlons four years later, and has since completed 340 triathlons, including 36 Ironmans.  Standing 5’ 7” and weighing in at a scant 115 pounds, it’s no wonder the wind in Kona blew her off her bike one year.  Her autobiography, “The Grace to Race”, was released in October 2010.

Sister Madonna told many stories over the course of the evening; my favorite was the one in which she talked about her impetus to run her very first race, an 8.2 mile road race, just five weeks after she had taken up running.

She had been talking to her Mother on the phone about her brothers’ precarious marriage due to alcoholism.  The priest that had talked about the merits of running had talked about running being able to cure all sorts of ailments, such as diabetes, depression, addiction, and so on.  During the phone call with her Mother, Sister Madonna had an “ah-ha!” moment and decided that she would run the race to help cure her brother’s alcohol addiction.  She dedicated the race to him, and started to prepare.

During the ensuing five weeks before the race her body went through all sorts of aches and pains associated with ramping up mileage in short order.  She thought she couldn’t do it, and just when she was ready to quit the power of her faith gave her the strength to continue.  She had promised to run this race for her brother, and she was given all the tools she needed so that she could fulfill her promise.

The things that Sister never mentioned were her times, splits, or awards.  In answer to a question about her training, she replied, “I never train.  At some point you have to save your energy for the race.  I keep up my base and that’s enough.”

When she runs, she does it to celebrate the gift of the beautiful outdoors.  When she races, she does so and thanks God for the strength of her body and her health.  She’s not trying to get faster, better, stronger… she races because she can.

She talked about using the gifts that you have, and how NOT using those gifts is like refusing a present from a friend.  If you have the strength to run, then run.  If you have the gift of laughter, then laugh.  If you have natural ability, then use it.  Everything we have is a gift.  There are no “shoulds” involved in accepting the gifts associated with who you are.

On the flip side, she talked about using her athletic gifts not to benefit herself, but to honor those who can’t.  There are people who cannot run a race, cannot compete in triathlon, cannot get up and walk out their front door.  By using our own natural gifts of health and strength, we move the energy that we create onto those who need it.

She talked about compassion, and how we can offer it to those who aren’t with us physically by keeping them in our thoughts and hearts.  It is our intent that matters, not the outcome of any particular moment.  If we intend that we will do something to help someone else through a hard spot, then that action on our part fulfills the intent.

I’ve been thinking about Sister Madonna since that evening, and can’t write more about her without also writing about my friend Joe over at Joe Still Runs for Dom.  It seems that an 80-year-old Roman Catholic triathlete nun and a new father/marathoner living in Austin, Texas have a lot in common.  Sister Madonna started running races to help those in need.  Joe ran two back-to-back marathons in 2010 to raise money for his friend Dom who succumbed to cancer several months later.  Sister Madonna continues to raise money for charities while she races.  Joe continues to raise money for Dom’s kids, filling the coffers so that they might have the college education their father dreamed of providing.  Neither of them is racing for their own fame or fortune, but to promote and bring attention to others in need.

Compassion brings forth the best in everyone.  When we have compassion for others, our actions cease to be about ourselves and start to be about helping someone in need.  We stop being caught in the minutiae of our performance, appearance, or racing splits.  Not everyone is cut out to be a doctor, nurse, teacher or nun, just as not everyone is cut out to climb mountains or run races.  What Sister Madonna was trying to tell us was that we can be just who we are, and have that be enough.  Use your gifts to the fullest, dedicate yourself to helping others however you can, and the details will work themselves out (with a little bit of faith).

Filed Under: Books, Winter 2010 Tagged: , , , ,
January 25, 2011

A Running Compulsion

Just when I think I’ve got it figured out, I realize that yet again… I don’t know nearly as much as I thought.

I recently heard the term “compulsion” associated with running, and it stopped me short.  A running compulsion?  As though running were an addiction, the same way smoking, over-eating, shopping or coffee can be an addiction?  Yes.  I was totally intrigued and sat down to learn more about this.

Runners experience a release of endorphins and dopamine when they run, which is a sense of “reward”.  When endurance athletes cut back on running, have to taper or deal with an injury, they go through withdrawal because they’re not getting their usual supply of endorphins and dopamine.  After the withdrawal period, the runner is in a more mellow space and can think logically about their training, motivation, and family/life balance, but they can’t do this until the full amount of endorphins and dopamine is out of their system.  Here’s a snippet of information about running, addiction, and emotional and psychological elements that make it difficult to pin anything down.

A blogger at Macalister College (unfortunately I can’t credit the writer directly, I’m not sure who penned this) wrote about The Running Addiction:

“According to the DSMV, a person must exhibit three of the following five criteria in order to be dependent on a substance: tolerance, withdrawal, unsuccessful efforts to cut down intake of the substance, interference with social, occupational, or recreation activities, and continuation of the substance despite recognition that doing so has caused physical or psychological problems.

Let’s consider running as the “substance”.  A distance runner will meet all five criteria:

1) Tolerance – over time a runner must run more (or faster) to produce the same physical effects

2) Withdrawal – a runner becomes VERY grumpy when he has to take some time off

3) Unsuccessful efforts to cut down intake of the substance – a runner who has been advised to cut down his mileage will rarely do so.  He must run.  He hates the taper.

4) Interferes with social, occupational, or recreational activities – the run becomes one of the number one priorities of the day.  And because of the lifestyle choices that accompany running certain recreational activities, such as getting loaded the night before a big run, are not possible.

5) Continuation of the substance despite recognition that doing so has caused physical or psychological problems – a broken bone is the only injury that will stop a runner from running.

Moreover, running satisfies common features of addiction

1) Positive reinforcement – a runner is happy after a run

2) Negative reinforcement – running is a release from all problems

3) Craving – if a runner is watching other people run, he will want to run.”

The blogger at Macalister gave us definitive criteria about what it means to be dependent on a substance, but the inference that running satisfies common feature of addiction is harder to quantify mainly because addiction is not only physical, but also emotional and psychological; the three “common features of addiction” are mainly opinions.

A medical study done at Tufts University set out to answer the question: Can people be ADDICTED to running?

“In the study, researchers at Tufts University housed one group of rats in an exercise wheel, while another group had no exercise wheel. All the rats were given Naloxone, a drug that produces immediate withdrawal symptoms. The typically-active rats demonstrated significantly higher levels of withdrawal, similar to those of drug addicts, than the inactive rats. Why? “Exercise, like drugs of abuse, leads to the release of neurotransmitters such as endorphins and dopamine, which are involved with a sense of reward,” noted lead author and Tufts professor of psychology Robin Kanarek in LiveScience.

Sure, you seek a runners’ high to keep you going and miss running when you can’t fit it in, but you’re probably not addicted to running. Here’s why:

“The researchers haven’t demonstrated an addiction, what they have demonstrated is a physical dependency,” says Stegner. “It’s the same as when a person is used to drinking coffee regularly and then stops. They have a headache and don’t feel well. That’s a sign of physical dependency, but not necessarily an addiction.” This is where a rat comparison is problematic. In humans, signs of addiction also include an emotional and psychological component. Says Stegner, “We typically ask questions like ‘Are you sacrificing time with your family or job for a chemical? Are you constantly thinking about the next dose?’ Those aren’t questions you can ask a rat,” he says.”  –That’s Fit

Because we have brains that are slightly more evolved than rats, we need to look at the emotional and psychological aspects of running if we’re going to discover a true addiction or compulsion.

To start, let’s look at some questions:

Q: Are you sacrificing time (family/job/sleep) to run?

A: No.  The time that I run is my own time, scheduled into the week.  Running is how I choose to spend that time.  I attend all appointments, drive my kids to school, and get my work done regardless of the time that I spend running.

Q: Are you constantly thinking about your next dose?

A: No.  I think about a million different things during the day, and running may or may not come up in there depending on the day.  I know what my training plan looks like and I have my run times planned out, much like any other appointment.

Q.  Is running one of your top priorities throughout the day?

A.  Yup.  On days when I run, it’s the first thing that happens.  When I was training and needed more recovery time, then recovery, hydration and proper fueling became the top priority, and running came second.

Since I’m not a psychologist and I don’t play one on TV, I’ll stop the line of questions there.

So here’s a summary of what we’ve learned:  There are physical addictions, and then there are emotional and psychological addictions.  A physical addiction is much easier to diagnose than the other two.  Running is not a physical addiction.  But any compulsion to run could be based on emotional or psychological needs, which makes them all the more slippery to pin down and examine.

I learned a little something with this line of research, and some of what I learned reinforces other things I’ve known.  I learned that addiction is physical, and that running isn’t a physical addiction.  I’ve known that there has to be a balance between the emotional and psychological benefits to running with the rest of life, but sometimes those lines are muddy. To what extent does physical exercise help a person cope, and when does it take on a life of its own?  When those questions can be addressed and answered, the premise that running can have roots in emotional and psychological addictions becomes more relevant.

Filed Under: Winter 2010 Tagged: , , ,
January 20, 2011

Tipping Point

My world is full of balances; so many things to fit into a day, and only so much time.  Spend too much time on any one thing and the others end up coming up behind me when I least expect it, biting me on the butt in revenge.

I tweaked something in my legs recently, but kept running through it, figuring that the pain was only temporary.  More foam rolling, more stretching, more sleeping… for what?  So that I could post runs on DailyMile and see the numbers get higher?  So that I could assure myself that I’m a REAL runner, not some fly-by-night who just likes the clothes and gadgets but can’t make a real commitment?

I dunno.  The tipping point came when a friend, a husband (mine), a sports PT and a sports massage therapist all told me the same thing; sit down, shut up, and stop running until it stops hurting.

Now, to be fair, no one told me to stop moving altogether.  It’s just the linear running motion they want me to cut back on.  Cross training and easy stretching is fine, just don’t try to beat any records.  Easy is the key word in all of this mess.

When I think back on when the symptoms started, all I can think is “Marathon”.  I haven’t fully healed from the race and I’ve started a new training program.  I have high aspirations for the spring, and none of my goals have anything to do with sitting still.  I want to run a FAST half-marathon at the end of March, and six weeks later I want to do a super-cool 25-mile trail run in Buena Vista, CO.

My friend held the magic mirror up to my face the other day and said, “Do you want to be a February champion or a race champion?”  I didn’t really know what she meant, so she explained.  A “February champion” is someone who doesn’t let the down-time happen, doesn’t take advantage of the off-season, doesn’t let her body rest.  A race champion takes advantage of the off-season, lets her body rest, and rebuilds in time for the race.

The great big elephant in the room is the fact that I’m horrible at resting.  I really like running.  A lot.  I love the different seasons, the way the trail under my feet feels, the way the sun shines down on my sweaty face.  I adore the movement, the motion, the meditation of running.  I don’t get that anywhere else, and I crave it like water.

I’m going to cut back for the next week or so, and see how things feel.  I’m being told to cross-train and keep the mileage really low.  This will all give sore, achy muscles time to relax.  Now, if only I can get my brain to relax at the same time… that’s the tricky part.

Sometimes we think one thing and it takes hearing the same message several times, packaged in different ways, before we pay attention.  I’m no different from the rest of the average population; I need to hear a message many times before I’m willing to listen to it, especially if that message is anything different than what my little heart desires.

My heart and soul desire running.  I am a runner, pure and simple.  I am also human.  I need to rest and I’ll say it here; I don’t want to.  I want to run.

Filed Under: Sick or Injured, Training, Winter 2010 Tagged: , ,
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