How to Find a Race

Where can you find details on races in your area? The best place to start is with a local running club. Don’t worry if you don’t know anyone in the club or even how to contact them. If you don’t know any runners in your area who you can ask about local clubs, call the national office of the Road Runners Club of America at (703) 836-0558. Ask for the name and number of the club nearest to you. Once you know the club in your area, give it a call. Most clubs maintain a hotline that has a recording of upcoming club races.
If you know of a running store near you, visit it. Ask the salespeople (who are usually local runners) if they know where you can find information about local races. Many areas have local running publications that do a fantastic job of listing all of the upcoming races in a locale. Most running stores are also depositories for race flyers. Look through them to see if any of them interest you.
If you have Internet access, next stop is the World Wide Web. Appendix B, “Resources for Runners,” lists some of the best running Web sites. Because of the nature of this book, most of those Web sites are national in scope, but many have links to local running Web sites. There, you can often find race listings.
The two top national running magazines, Runner’s World and Running Times, list upcoming races in their calendar sections. Of the two, Running Times maintains a more in-depth calendar, but neither can possibly list all of the 15,000 races that are held in the United States every year. Their calendars are handy resources, however, if you’re going to be traveling and want to sneak in a race while you’re away.

Over Hill, Over Dale

The most elemental of races is cross-country. These races take place on grass and dirt, usually through woods, on golf courses, or in other pleasant settings. Cross-country races are usually from 5K to 10K in length and are usually held in the fall. Like track races, they’re usually put on by local running clubs and have, at most, a couple of hundred runners. They usually are low-key affairs with no T-shirts and a small entry fee. Crosscountry races are often team races, and many people like that aspect of them. Times are pretty meaningless in cross-country, so runners concentrate on feeling that they ran strongly.
Building on this attitude is the growing number of trail races. These races are usually much longer than standard cross-country races; sometimes they’re as long as 50 miles or more. In spirit, these races are more akin to marathons, as most of the participants care more about finishing honorably than getting a certain time.
Training for and racing cross-country can do a lot to help you as a runner on other surfaces. You learn to run strongly over uneven terrain, and you become a better hill runner. Kenyan men have won the team title at the World Cross-Country Championships every year since 1986, and every year they produce an astonishing percentage of the top track and road runners in the world.

Get on Track

Races held on the track can be hard to find once you’re out of school. But especially during the summer, many local running clubs will put on one or more all comer’s meets. In some parts of the country, you also can find indoor track meets open to all runners during the winter. These track meets are usually sparsely populated events, with less than 100 runners taking part. There are no T-shirts, and the entry fee is nominal. All comer’s meets have an intimate atmosphere that’s hard to match at a big road race.
Whereas road races are often about doing the best you can on the course you find yourself on, there’s no such mystery in track races. Seen one, you’ve seen them all. Because of this universality of tracks, most runners are going to be there to chase after a time goal. As a result, many runners are intimidated by track races because they associate racing on the track with something that only really fast people do. That’s a shame, because I think all racers should experiment with different types of races occasionally. Track races are usually shorter than road races; 5K (12.5 laps of the track) is usually the longest race. Many runners gravitate to the longer distances because that’s what’s available on the road. But by running track races in addition to road races, you might find that you have a talent for speed-based events such as the mile. Track races are also a good place to develop a strong sense of pace. Because there’s no variation from lap to lap, you do best by getting in a rhythm. Learning how to get in a rhythm can help you on flat road courses as well. You also develop the ability to concentrate when you compete on the track frequently because churning lap after lap can get so boring.

Show Me the Money

Ted Poulos, of McLean, Virginia, runs more than 200 races a year. When you figure that the average race costs between $15 and $25 to enter, Ted has found himself an expensive little habit. Why do road races cost that much? I mean, aren’t you just running down a public road? Who’s getting rich off of these things?
Nobody is. The entry fee that races charge usually covers only about one third of the costs of putting on races. Events are a lot more expensive to stage than they used to be. Local governments didn’t use to charge for the police who are often necessary for traffic control. Municipalities are also increasingly requiring races to pay for permits to stage events, even though there’s really not a whole lot of demand for the space by others at 8 a.m. on Sundays. San Francisco’s Bay to Breakers race shells out $30,000 for police services, plus $50,000 for park fees.
Most of the expenses to put on a race are picked up by the race sponsors. Donations also go a long way to keeping race costs down. Because most races are to benefit some charity or nonprofit group, the organizers can appeal to the goodwill of local merchants to donate food and prizes. Given all that goes into putting on a race, a $20 entry fee is quite a bargain.
Some runners try to rebel against what they think are high entry fees by being bandits. They run the race, but don’t sign up for it. Bandits are bad. Not only do they sometimes mess up the timing of the race because they’re not wearing numbers, but they leech off of the majority of the runners who paid the entry fee. If everyone acted that way, then there wouldn’t be any races for them to be mad at. If you think that a race charges too much, then voice your disagreement with a letter and by staying away, not by being a bandit and thinking that you’re accomplishing anything more than ripping off fellow runners.
You can usually save money on races by registering a month or more before the race. Race day entry fees are usually about $5 higher than early registration.

Choose Your Road

For the most part, road races basically fall into two main categories: those put on by various community organizations and those put on by local running clubs. The most popular time for both types of road races to be held is early on a weekend morning. Start time is usually 9 a.m. in the cooler months, 8 a.m. in the warmer months. More races are held on Sundays than on Saturdays.
Races in the first category are usually held in conjunction with a local event or as a oncea-year fundraiser for a charity. The people involved in organizing the race are usually volunteers from whatever organization will benefit from the race. The organizers usually pay a professional finish-line coordinator to handle timing, scoring, and other race-day logistics. In these races, you almost always wear a number during the race, and you almost always get a T-shirt as part of your entry fee. There’s probably also going to be nice post-race refreshments, decent prizes for the top runners, and other amenities.
Local running clubs also put on races as part of their regular schedule of events. These races are usually more low-key and have smaller fields. Most of the people running them are members of the club, although all runners are certainly welcome to take part.
Organization and logistics are handled entirely by volunteers lined up from the club. These races often cost only a few dollars to enter, because there are no Tshirts or other major costs to cover. (These races often take place in more rural areas, so the organizers don’t have to pay as much, if anything, for permits, police, and so on.)

Takin’ It to the Streets

More than 90 percent of the non-scholastic races held in the United States are road races. If you know someone who has run a race, it’s almost guaranteed that he or she ran in a road race. There are road races of pretty much every distance you can imagine from the mile to the marathon. The most popular distances are 5K (3.1 miles), 8K (about 50 yards short of 5 miles), and 10K (6.2 miles).
The size of the fields in road races runs the gamut, too: You can find small rural affairs among 15 people all the way up to the country’s biggest road race in terms of official entrants, The Lilac Bloomsday Run, a 12K (7.4 miles) run by more than 55,000 every May in Spokane, Washington. (Bay to Breakers, a 12K held every May in San Francisco, sometimes has as many as 100,000 people running it, but only about half of them have registered for the race.) A typical road race, in which runners wear race numbers and receive T-shirts, will have anywhere from a few hundred to 1,000 runners in it. Races with more than 1,000 runners are major productions.
I’m obviously biased toward road races, having earned the nickname “King of the Roads” in the ’70s. I like how the course of each road race has its own quirks that you have to master. I also like the (usually) firm footing and long stretches so that I can get in a good rhythm. The party atmosphere that I told you so many races have is almost exclusively at road races.
Another cool aspect of road races is that they are one of the few, if not the only, instances in sports where an average participant competes at the same time on the same course as the best in the world. Want to play baseball with Cal Ripken? Good luck. But line up with the 50,000 runners who run the Peachtree 10K in Atlanta every Fourth of July, and some of the fastest runners around are at the front of the field. Sure, you’re not going to be going head to head with them, but running is different because you’re experiencing the race exactly as the elite runners do. It’s fun to see how your time compares to theirs. You can’t do that in baseball, football, basketball, or almost any other sport.

What is Master Running?

Enter masters running. With awards given out in fiveyear brackets, you’re not forced to fight it out with the young bucks if taking home loot is part of the appeal of racing to you. Instead, it’s just you and your contemporaries, who are more likely to have the body and schedule that you do than some just-out-of-college hotshot is. The age-group categories level the playing field.
More importantly, masters running does a tremendous job of keeping runners motivated enough to keep attending races by giving you a way to set goals. In the last few years of my 30s, I was a little bit adrift. I was no longer fast enough to duke it out with the top guys in most races, and I wasn’t running as fast I used to, even though I was training as hard. It was tough to know how to assess my performances and how to set goals for future ones.
But when I turned 40, suddenly there were all these masters records to aim for—I got to see how close I could get to what other runners past the age of 40 had done. Mentally, I wiped the slate clean. I concentrated on setting masters personal records and took each personal record as a new standard, rather than comparing it to my faster times from my 20s and 30s. I start fresh every time I enter a new five-year age group. That kind of attitude helps to explain why in some races, more than half the runners are past the age of 40. They’ve figured out that they can continue to find meaning in their race performances by comparing them to what they have achieved recently. Racing gives them a fresh outlook and new goals to shoot for every few years. When you do that, you’ve found the fountain of youth, regardless of how old your birth certificate says you are.

Becoming Master Runner

No matter how long you’ve been running, once you’re 40 or older, you’ll be called a masters runner. For long-time runners like me, the phrase makes a certain amount of sense—after all those years of putting in the miles, you’ve mastered how to keep at it and with enough interest that you’re still showing up at races. What’s so great about masters running? There must be something to it because I know I’m not alone in finding my running revitalized by the turning of the clock. Competition for the top prizes in the masters category are among the toughest in running. Masters running has become such a big deal that the Indianapolis Life Insurance Company sponsors a circuit of races around the country that’s open only to masters runners.
Masters racing recognizes that no matter how intelligently you go about your running, it’s a lot tougher to run fast when you’re 45 than when you’re 25. That’s especially so for people who have been at it for a long time. Most runners reach their best performances in the first 8 to 12 years of running, regardless of the age at which they start. So if you start at a young age, by the time you’re 40, your times in races are almost assured to be slower than they were in your early 30s.
This inevitable slowing with age can be pretty depressing if you don’t have a way to deal with it. Say there were no age-group awards in races, but just prizes for the top 10. Who would ever have a chance to take home a trophy except for the young and the breathless? Even if you were never an award winner in your youth, how would you go about setting goals when you know that no matter how hard you work, you’re never going to run as fast as you once could?

Running for Charity

Races have long been venues for raising money for charities. I’ve always liked being able to tie in doing something good for myself with helping others.Most of the people running these kinds of races would probably have participated in them anyway; the money raised for charity is a nice side consequence of them doing so.
However, one of the biggest trends in American racing is charity running that works the other way around—people enter races (usually marathons) solely for the purpose of raising money for charity. This approach has long been applied to other activities. For example, think of the AIDS Walks or the March of Dimes. The new charity running emphasis at races is much the same, except that the runners use races that already exist, rather than events that are created specifically for them. The biggest of these types of programs is called Team in Training, run by the Leukemia Society of America. Runners sign up to participate in one of the many marathons that Team in Training sends people to. In exchange for raising a specified amount of money (usually in the neighborhood of $3,000) in pledges, program participants receive free entry, travel, and lodging at their chosen marathon. The locales can be pretty exotic, such as the program’s most popular race, the Mayor’s Midnight Sun Marathon in Anchorage, Alaska. Other big Team in Training sites are Bermuda, Honolulu, San Diego, Dublin, and Paris.
Runners in the program receive free coaching from knowledgeable runners in their area. Most groups meet once a week for a long run and a pre-run clinic from their coach. The usual training program lasts for six months so that the runners gradually build up to being able to finish the marathon.
Team in Training has been phenomenally successful in meeting its goals; it has raised more than $25 million for leukemia research, and now is the source of more than half of the Leukemia Society’s revenue. Similar groups have sprung up that raise money for arthritis research (Joints in Motion) and cancer research (Fred’s Team).
Many runners join these groups for emotional reasons—they know someone who suffers from the disease that their fundraising will battle. Almost all of the participants in these programs are first-time marathoners. In some cases, they’re even first-time runners, having started to run only after deciding to finish a marathon to raise money for charity.
Charity runners care mostly about finishing their marathon to raise money, not how fast they can run the marathon. They’ve added an important new element to the sport and have helped running to continue to grow. (About 14,000 people take part in Team in Training each year.) Because of the good coaching they receive, nearly all of them complete their marathon.

Personal Betting

I’ve always been a competitor, ever since I was the fastest kid in a run during gym class in school. Seeing how fast I can run has long been my primary motivation to be a runner. Oddly enough, that’s why I stopped running for a few years after college. My goal then had been to break 9:00 for two miles, and I did. I didn’t see the point in racing anymore, so I didn’t see the point in running anymore. (Now, of course, I know better. What’s that about youth being wasted on the young?)
I was fortunate to be able to win races when I was younger. I’m not going to lie to you and tell you that doing so wasn’t incredibly satisfying. Let me tell you, if you ever need motivation to get out the door for a run on a tough New England winter day, try telling yourself that you’ll be defending your title at the Boston Marathon in a couple of months. It worked wonders for me.
But even when I raced for place, I was also always focused on my finishing times in races. Now that I don’t win races anymore, I’m even more fanatical about them. I’m certainly not alone in that regard. For many runners, setting personal records, or getting under a certain barrier for a distance, or seeing how their time at a race this year compares to what they ran there last year, or any of the million other ways that you can look at your running times provides the biggest reason to race. There’s something intoxicating about racing against yourself.
Your race times provide an objective record of your accomplishment on that day. There’s just no way around it—your race time is how long it took you to run this course on this day. Unlike other sports competitions, races are about unadulterated human performance. In other sports, you’re maneuvering against your opponents and trying to finesse some piece of equipment. When you race for time, it’s just you, the elements, and the clock.
Nothing else I’ve found in sports gives you that yes-or-no sense of accomplishment that racing for time does. Suppose you play on a softball team. How do you know whether you’ve had a good game? There are so many variables that you don’t have primary control over. Did you get two hits because you swung the bat well or because the other team’s pitcher stunk? What about when you made that nice play at third base, but the first baseman flubbed your throw, or the umpire made the wrong call? There’s none of that uncertainty when you race for time.
Earlier in this chapter, I told you how aiming for a race is one of the best ways to set the short-term goals I keep recommending. On top of that, aiming toward a race and having a time goal for it helps to keep you running even more. It lends a logic to your training—with the race as your goal, you have a better idea of what types of running you should be doing. Those time goals are a great answer for that little voice in your head that’s occasionally going to say, “Why are you doing this?”

Racing’s Best-Kept Secret: It’s Fun!

People who haven’t been to races aren’t going to know this, so you’ll just have to take my word for it until you see it for yourself: You’d be hard-pressed to find an event more filled with smiles and unambiguous goodwill than your local road race. Put another way, why should you race? Because it’s fun!
A road race is the closest thing to a mobile party that I can think of. (Well, the closest legal thing.) Everywhere you look, there are smiles, cheers, laughs, and heartfelt congratulations from one runner to another. There’s music before and after (sometimes even during), there’s great food after, prizes are given out, and kids are roaming all around—sounds more like a circus than someplace where a bunch of skinny masochists gather to be miserable together, doesn’t it?
Of course, most people aren’t laughing it up and smiling during the race; they’re working pretty darned hard. But that effort explains the festive atmosphere afterward. The runners have pushed and challenged themselves, and now they’re all celebrating the sense of accomplishment that doing so brings.
In life, isn’t one extreme of something usually more enjoyable if you’ve recently been near the other extreme? Isn’t a sunny day more special when it’s been raining for a week than when it’s the 10th bright day in a row? Doesn’t your easy chair feel best when you’ve been working your hardest? That’s why races are so much fun. Once you’ve experienced a race, you’ll agree with me that there’s a certain kind of fun that comes from challenging yourself within sharply defined parameters while others around you are doing the same.

People Pay to Do This?

The average road race is held early on a Sunday morning. A standard road race with T-shirts, awards, post-race refreshments, and so on costs $15 to $25 to enter. In other words, most people running in them have gone to bed early on a Saturday night, gotten up at least as early on a Sunday morning as on a regular workday, and then handed over the cost of a nice dinner for the opportunity to inflict pain on themselves. Sounds like they’re the idiots, huh?
They’re far from it, and I’m not just sensitive to that charge because I go to 25 to 30 races a year. At some level, these runners realize that far from being masochists, they’re indulging themselves. That’s right—indulging themselves! Racing is the proverbial icing on the running cake.
Your regular training gives you the big health and fitness benefits that are the most
important thing about running for most people, but experiencing only that part of
running can get a little tedious. You need some excitement and some variety in anything
that you do regularly, no matter how much you love it. In running, that excitement and
variety most often comes from going to a race. You don’t even have to try to run harder
than you do when you run on your own. There’s just something about lining up with
your fellow runners and experiencing the same course together that adds an element to
your running that’s impossible to find otherwise. Say you really like to cook. Which would you rather do: Always cook for just you and
your spouse, making pretty much the same types of dishes at the same time of day? Or would you rather use those daily cooking sessions as the main way to enjoy your hobby, but also throw a dinner party once in a while where you get to put it all on the line and let yourself and others see just what you’re capable of? Most people would choose the second option, and that’s why you see so many people at races. Let’s continue that dinner party analogy just a bit farther. Say you invite a few friends over for dinner. You don’t worry about how your culinary skills compare to Wolfgang Puck’s, do you? No. You do the best you can given your background and ability, and afterward you’re rewarded with the feeling of a job well done.
The same is true of nearly all of the people in any race. They know that they don’t have to look like Frank Shorter or Joan Benoit Samuelson to race. They know that races give their running a focus and are a great source of motivation for getting out the door most days.
Many beginning runners have a sense that their running would be more exciting if they went to races, but they’re afraid that they’ll finish last and be embarrassed. As Richard
Nixon would have said, let me say this about that: First, most races have at least a few hundred runners in them. Just like only one person is going to finish first, only one person is going to finish last. The odds of that being you are pretty long, believe me. More important, if it is you, so what? No one has ever been shot or even booed for finishing last in a road race. In fact, some of the loudest applause from spectators in races are for those near the back of the pack. The spectators recognize the extra effort that these runners are putting out. Adding to that applause are often many of the runners who have finished their races, and then hung around the finish area to cheer on their fellow runners. That kind of camaraderie with your fellow runners is one of the main draws that races have.

Made in the Shade: Sun Protection

People used to think that a great tan was one of running’s main side benefits. Now we know better. There are almost a million new cases of skin cancer every year in the United States. My grandfather died from a melanoma, and my mom has had skin cancer, so I’m especially aware of this problem. But it’s not just those of us with a family history of these problems who need to be careful, especially with the growing hole in the ozone layer. These days, smart runners can take a few, easy steps to lower their risk of overexposure to the sun.
The major one is to wear a waterproof sunscreen. It should have an SPF (sun protection factor) rating of at least 15. Ten to 15 minutes before your run, apply it liberally to any body parts that are going to be exposed. In the past, you may have heard that these sport sunscreens interfered with sweating, making you much hotter. Recent research, however, has shown that you’ll sweat just as much when you wear sunscreen, so glop it on.
Other steps to lower your sun exposure while running include the following:

• Wear something on your head to shield your face.
• Wear sport sunglasses to protect your eyes.
• Try not to run when the sun is strongest, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
• Run in the shade. (You’ll also stay cooler if you do.) If you’re lucky enough to be running during daylight hours in the winter, don’t forget the sunscreen. The sun isn’t as strong then, but it can do its work nonetheless, especially when it’s reflecting off snow.

Neither Sleet, nor Hail: Foul-Weather Running

Along with the frozen-lung query, one of the other most common weather-related questions I hear is, “What do you do when it rains?” The answer: Get wet. What I mean, without being too much of a martyr about it, is that part of being a runner is coping with the hand that Mother Nature deals. Again, most people in our society have lost their connection to the outdoors. The only running in the rain they can imagine is from their office building to the car so that they don’t get wet.
But what do you do after a run? You get in the shower; you get wet. Why is so horrible to get wet during your run? Unless the rain is cold, running in the rain can be incredibly enjoyable. Think about when you were a kid and how you splashed in puddles or how good it felt to be in the rain in the middle of summer.
Of course, running in the rain isn’t always ideal. As I said, a cold rain is not that fun. You have to be extra careful, especially if you’re running near a lot of traffic. Cars aren’t going to be able to see you as well. But most times, putting on the right gear and a baseball or painter’s cap is the only added step you need to take to have a great run. When you get home, just be sure to change into dry clothes as soon as possible. Notice how I keep mentioning cold rain? I’m not going to tell you that being a runner means you stick to your planned run no matter what the conditions. Freezing rain, sleet, hail—when the weather is that bad, it’s usually time to reconsider. Shorten your run, sticking close to home so that you can end the run quickly if conditions deteriorate. Or, if the nasty stuff is only going to be around for a day, don’t feel guilty about taking the day off. You can get battered around if you always try to run in those conditions. I once had to take cover while running during a major hail storm in Arizona. The only other weather I really fear is lightning. I just don’t go out when it’s striking.
Fortunately, you can usually wait for it to pass and get in a nice post-storm run.

Footing, Short Days, and Icy Roads

The lack of light, not the potential freezing of your lungs, is the biggest threat to your well-being when you run in the winter. Watch your footing. Try to run on level surfaces that you’re familiar with and choose the most well-lit routes. Be extra careful after snow or ice storms. Snow on the ground can often help your night vision, because it reflects what light there is. But under that snow may be patches of ice. Also, watch traffic even more than you usually do. Don’t assume that cars can see you or that, if they do, they can get out of the way quickly. Just as snow and ice can make you slip around during your runs, they also can cause cars to careen out of control. Fortunately, most good winter running apparel made these days has reflective features. If yours doesn’t, you can buy reflective strips and a reflective vest at most running stores. Almost all good running shoes have reflective elements built into their design. These elements are a must if you want to run safely in the dark.

The Freeze-Your-Lungs Myth

Except for the few hottest days of the year, most people aren’t going to question your sanity when you’re out running in July or August. But keep running through the winter, and eventually someone is going to ask you, “Aren’t you afraid that you’ll freeze your lungs?”
Even my dad used to ask me this when I started running in high school. I was taught to respect my elders, so I didn’t laugh in his face or anything, but this question is one of the silliest I’ve ever heard. Have you ever met someone who has frozen a lung? Of course not. As the air you breathe works its way into your lungs, it’s warmed more than enough to keep it from freezing anything.
I bet you have met someone who was in pretty good shape, but stopped working out when it got cold, and started the spring with more weight and less fitness. That’s a shame, and an unnecessary one, because winter running can be some of the best of the year. And I’m a New Englander, so it’s not like I’m sitting here espousing the joys of winter running from my house in Los Angeles.
I get a certain pride out of knowing that on those short, dark, cold days with plenty of windchill, when most people are always under shelter, I’ve been outside moving under my own power. I know that when people look out their windows and see me running down their street they think that I’m both miserable and insane. Those people don’t know that when I’m done with my run, I’ll enjoy being inside that much more. Running in the winter involves a bigger mental aspect to it than running during the rest of the year. I admit that after doing this for 30 years, I still sometimes have a tough time getting psyched to run when there’s only been eight hours of daylight for the last couple of months. You just need to keep focused on your goals. After awhile, you’ll learn how to get out the door and through those tough first few minutes until you start getting warmed up. I can usually do this by reminding myself how much better I’ll feel after my run. Also, ask yourself if you would be so ready to bag your run if it were sunny and 70 degrees.

Jogging in Winter

One of the main reasons that running in the winter can be so nice is because running in the summer can be so tough. With all the heat that you generate after a few minutes of running, you can be warmer running outside in 40-degree weather than inside your 68-degree home. So you stay warm enough to stay comfortable, but don’t get so hot that you get really dehydrated. The best of both worlds!
You can’t get away with running in just anything in the winter. Some necessary items of clothing will help you stay comfortable when it’s cold. The key is wearing the right gear for the right conditions, which usually involves layering.

Beating the Heat

Now that I’ve completely turned you off on running in the heat, what can you do to fight dehydration? Drink, drink, then drink some more. Your thirst mechanism is imperfect; by the time you’re thirsty, you’re dehydrated. How do you know if you’re staying on top of staying hydrated? First, weigh yourself before and after runs in hot weather. However much lighter you are at the end of the run, drink at least that amount of water within the first two hours of your run. Remember, a pint’s a pound the world around, so for every pound you lost on the run, drink 16 ounces.
Don’t cheat on this method if one of the reasons you’re running is to lose weight. The weight that you lose on a run in the heat isn’t fat. It’s water and needs to be replaced if you want to keep running. Your blood and other body fluids help to remove waste products and to carry nutrients to muscle tissues, so the faster you replace lost fluids, the more quickly you’ll recover from run to run. Replacing water doesn’t have anything to do with how many calories you burn on a run, which is what counts in determining how much fat you lose. If anything, quickly replacing water weight loss will help you lose weight because you’ll feel better from day to day, and you’ll be more likely to stick with your running in tough conditions.
For some reason, it’s tough for most people to stay hydrated. Maybe that’s because eating is one of life’s great joys, but after awhile, drinking water just gets boring. Make it easy to drink water often throughout the day. One coach I know tells his runners to keep a two liter bottle of water at their desks at work. They’re supposed to finish it at least once from when they get to the office until they go home. I also know runners who are in the habit of stopping for a drink at every water fountain they pass during the day, regardless of whether they’re thirsty. It’s also a good idea to keep a bottle of water by your bed. I know this sounds like a lot of work, maybe even borderline obsessive. But it’s worth it, because you’ll feel so much better on your runs.
Not only is it important to drink water before, after, and between runs, it’s important to drink during them as well. I keep a water bottle hidden in the woods a few miles from my house. When I run by it, I stop and drink, and then restash it. When it’s empty, I carry it home, refill it, and drive it back to its hiding spot. Here are other ways to conveniently get drinks on the run:
➤ Plan your route so that you’ll pass schools, gas stations, and other places that have water fountains.
➤ Plan your route so that you pass your home once or twice. Have a water bottle waiting for you at the end of driveway.
➤ The night or morning before a longer run, drive over your route, stashing bottles along the way.
➤ On the hottest days, carry water with you. Many runners prefer fannypacks that hold bottles to keep their hands free and their arm action normal. If you can use some of these methods to make sure you get some fluid every 15 to 20 minutes during your run, you’ll last a lot longer in the heat.
I also like to drink two or three glasses of water a few minutes before I run. Sometimes the water sloshes around in my stomach at the start, but I know it will help me by the end of the run. Nothing beats water for pure hydration. But you’re more likely to drink enough if you enjoy a variety of fluids. What are other good options for just before, during, and right after a run? Studies have shown that sport drinks that are four to eight percent carbohydrate, like most of the commercially available ones, are absorbed as quickly as water. They have the added plus of providing energy. Fruit juices aren’t absorbed as quickly; dilute them by half with water. Carbonated beverages aren’t a great idea because they might upset your stomach and because they make you feel full. If you drink a carbonated drink, you might think that you’re more hydrated
than you are.
Finally, when you run can make a big difference i\how much the heat takes out of you especially when you’re not acclimatized (used to running in the heat).
Avoid the hottest times of the day. This is one instance where you’re at an advantage if you have to squeeze in your run before or after work. Still, be careful: The humidity is highest in the morning, and it can still be pretty oppressive at 7 p.m. in some places in the summer. When in doubt, slow your pace from the start, rather than having your dehydrated body slow it for you near the end.

The Dangers of Dehydration

The upshot of all this dripping sweat is a dropping pace. One study found that for each one percent of body weight that you lose because of dehydration, your running performance falls by three percent. Bear in mind that one percent of body weight isn’t much— if you weigh 150 pounds, that’s only 1.5 pounds, or 24 ounces. It’s not unusual to lose three or four pounds of water in an hour of running on a hot day. This loss causes your performance to sag by more than five percent, which can be as much as a minute slower
per mile. Are you starting to see why it’s so tough to
feel comfortable while running in the heat?
You also need to consider cumulative dehydration.
Cumulative dehydration is what happens when it’s hot for several days in a row, and you don’t replace all the fluid you lost after each run. Suppose that during a hot week, an 150-pound runner doesn’t rehydrate himself completely each day. By the end of the week, he has a cumulative loss of two pounds of water—that’s more than one percent of his weight. As a result, his performance is off by more than three percent by week’s end, but he may not make the connection to dehydration.
A lot of runners, myself included most summers,
go through the hottest parts of the year chronically
dehydrated. As a result, our running suffers.

A Hot Time in the City

You know that you tire more quickly when it’s 90 degrees rather than 50 degrees, even if you’re just taking a leisurely stroll. And you know that the harder you work, the more tired heat makes you. But why is that? And what can you do about it? When you run in the heat, your body sends more blood to your skin to cool you via evaporation. As a result, less blood, which carries oxygen, goes to your leg muscles, and they have to work harder just to maintain your usual pace. Also, the warmer it is, the more you sweat. This is good, because sweating helps to cool you as your perspiration evaporates. But it’s also bad, because your blood volume decreases. With less blood returning to your heart, your heart has to pump more often to keep the same amount of blood circulating throughout your body. And when your heart rate increases, you’re working harder.\ Running is even tougher on humid days. You generate all that sweat, and it’s supposed to cool you down, but the air is so moist that it can’t absorb much more water. So your sweat stays on your skin rather than evaporating, and your body just keeps producing more and more sweat, and you just keep getting more and more tired. That’s why it’s a lot tougher to run on a 90-degree day in the humid Northeast part of the country, like Washington, DC, than in someplace like New Mexico. Out in the desert, it’s hot, but dry, and your sweat can cool you like it’s supposed to.

Post-Partum Expression and Running

The answer to how much and how fast to run after giving birth, just like how much and how fast to run before giving birth, differs from woman to woman. A lot of it has to do with how tough your pregnancy and delivery were. A standard guideline is to wait about six weeks after a vaginal delivery, a bit more for a C-section. Again, though, those are just general guidelines. Part of being a runner is being in touch with your body, and you should have a feel for when it’s right to get going again. Gwyn Coogan started running again only 10 days after giving birth, but Janis Klecker waited eight weeks. As some women runners have pointed out, you never know until it’s too late if you tried to come back too soon. In this sense, starting to run again after giving birth can be a lot like starting again after an injury. You’re always going to be wondering if it’s OK to try to progress, and you’re going to feel a lot different running than you used to. That’s especially the case for new mothers who are probably trying to run with more weight than they had before being pregnant.
Your joints and ligaments remain loose for about nine months to a year after delivery. This looseness makes you especially susceptible to injury during this time, so you should avoid hills and uneven terrain. Put all those factors together, and most women runners who have been through the process, even highly motivated ones like Coogan and Klecker, think it’s a good idea to err on the side of caution. Some women say that once they return to their regular running program after giving birth, they feel much stronger. Of course, there’s a psychological side to this. As Louise Kelley, a top local runner in the Washington, DC area, says about being a running mother, there’s nothing like a forced nine months off to get you really motivated.

Play, Don’t Labor: Running While Pregnant

Pregnant women used to be told any exercise beyond even the most low-key, minimal exertion would endanger both their health and that of their fetus. The main concern was that the mother and fetus wouldn’t gain enough weight to produce a healthy baby come birth. It was also thought that when a pregnant woman runs, the fetus would be harmed because of less oxygen and blood flow going to the uterus. Because of fears like these, the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology (ACOG) used to say that pregnant women shouldn’t work out strenuously for more than 15 minutes and that they should keep their heart rates below 140 beats per minute. In other words, don’t really run. A lot of faithful women runners chose to ignore those recommendations when they became pregnant. As they did, and seemed to produce normal, healthy babies, more studies were done about running and pregnancy. Among other good things, these studies found that the fears of damage to the fetus by running moms-to-be were unfounded. The pregnant body has compensatory mechanisms for decreased oxygen and blood flow to the uterus. It’s been shown that both the woman and fetus have all the fuel they need when the woman runs, even in the late stages of pregnancy, when fetal growth really takes off. Hey, Sue Olsen had to get energy somewhere during that 24-hour race, after all.
In terms of birth and after, studies have shown no real difference between sedentary pregnant women and active ones in these important matters:
➤ Complications of pregnancy, labor, and delivery
➤ Type of delivery (C-section versus vaginal)
➤ Circumference of the baby’s head
➤ Overall health of the baby
➤ Weight of the baby at birth
As for weight gain during pregnancy, one study found that active pregnant women put on about 30 pounds each, compared to 39 to 42 pounds for nonexercisers. ACOG recommends that most women gain 25 to 35 pounds.
One study compared women who worked out vigorously, including running, to those whose only exercise while pregnant was walking. When the children of these women were five years old, those of the intense exercisers scored higher on tests of intelligence, coordination, and language skills.
Because of all of this evidence that vigorous exercise is safe, ACOG revised its guidelines in 1994. Now, it encourages women who are fit and active when they become pregnant to remain so as long as they can comfortably during pregnancy. So long as you keep in close contact with your doctor and use common sense, ACOG says, it’s OK to run vigorously throughout your entire pregnancy.
Now, whether Sue Olsen’s exploits would get the ACOG seal of approval, I’m not sure. But I bet they wouldn’t have any problem with Joan Benoit Samuelson, who ran five miles on the morning before she gave birth to her second child, and remembers the
run as one of the favorites of her whole life. Remember, this is a woman who won the Olympic Marathon!
Sue and Joan are among the luckiest ones. No matter how many green lights ACOG gives you, and no matter how dedicated you are, there comes a time when intensive weight-bearing exercise like running becomes too uncomfortable to be worth doing for most pregnant women. If and when that occurs will vary from woman to woman and even from pregnancy to pregnancy for repeat moms. That’s where the common sense part of ACOG’s current guidelines come into play.
When running isn’t an option anymore, many women runners turn to less-intensive cross-training options.
When Janis Klecker, a 1992 Olympian in the marathon, was six months into her second pregnancy and pregnant with twins, running became a hindrance rather than a help. So she switched to swimming, walking, and riding a stationary bike. An Olympic teammate of hers from 1992, Gwyn Coogan, ran until the seventh month of her pregnancy, and then switched to hiking, biking, and swimming. The key is that they sensed when the running wasn’t worth doing anymore, accepted that temporary situation, and found other, more comfortable, ways to stay fit and active.

Two for the Road: Running and Pregnancy

In June 1995, while 8 ½ months pregnant, Sue Olsen ran a marathon in 4:00:50. The following week, Olsen competed in a 24-hour race. Less than 30 hours after finishing that mega long event, she gave birth to a healthy son who weighed seven pounds, three ounces. OK, so Olsen is a bit on the extreme side. But I thought you should know about her because she, and her healthy son, are evidence that being pregnant doesn’t necessarily mean lying on your back for nine months eating chocolate-covered pickles.

Running and Birth Control

Obviously, birth control is an incredibly personal choice. I just want to tell you what some women runners have experienced. A few studies have found that women runners are less likely than sedentary women to take birth control pills. Many women report that they just don’t feel as good while running when they’re on the pill. Fatigue and nausea are common side effects of being on the pill, as is weight gain. Because the pill eliminates the premenstrual and early flow phases of a period, the pill can be a good birth control choice for women runners who feel that their running suffers at these times. Overall, though, most women runners who have found a successful alternative to the pill prefer to avoid oral contraceptives.

Women of Steel: Iron Needs

Women runners should be more careful than men runners about preventing low iron stores. Iron is used to produce hemoglobin in your red blood cells. As mentioned before, one of the reasons that women are, on average, slower than men is because women have less hemoglobin. This condition is made worse if your iron stores are low, because then your hemoglobin levels become lower. When hemoglobin levels decrease, less oxygen reaches your muscles when you run, so running your normal pace feels harder. Why are women runners more susceptible to low iron stores? For starters, all women lose iron through menstrual blood. On top of that, women runners tend to be more careful about their diet than sedentary women. That’s usually good, except that one of the things that women runners often get more selective about is eating meat. Limiting meat can be a good way to cut fat out of your diet, but it also can mean too severely limiting your iron rich food choices.
Good food sources of iron that aren’t high in fat include the following:

➤ Lean red meat and dark poultry
➤ Dark green, leafy vegetables
➤ Legumes
➤ Dried fruit
➤ Whole-grain or enriched cereals and bread

You can increase how much iron you absorb from a food by eating foods rich in vitamin C at the same time. Using cast-iron cookware also helps. On the other hand, you decrease how much iron you absorb from foods when you drink coffee or tea with meals. Premenopausal women runners should shoot for an iron intake of at least 15 milligrams (mg) per day; post-menopausal women need 10.
Other reasons that women runners might have low iron stores apply to men, too: loss through sweat and urine, increased blood volume with training (which lowers iron concentration in the blood), and what’s known as footstrike hemolysis, which is the breakdown of red blood cells from your feet repeatedly hitting the ground. When you have blood tests done, ask for your hemoglobin and serum ferritin (a measure of your body’s iron stores) levels to be checked. Normal hemoglobin concentration for women is from 12 to 16 grams per 100 milliliters of blood. Because of the increased blood volume that comes with running, a reading of 11 can be considered safe for a women runner, but anything below that is asking for trouble.
The acceptable range for serum ferritin is 10 to 20 milligrams per milliliter of blood. Some experts caution that any reading below 25 can hurt your running.

Running and the Menstrual Cycle

Just as the effects of menstruation itself differ greatly from woman to woman, the effects of menstruation on running performance vary greatly as well. some women notice no difference in performance; others notice a great deal of difference. If your period is going to affect your running, it’s most likely to occur during the premenstrual and early flow phases of the cycle. The good news is that many women runners find that their running helps to ease cramps, bloating, headaches, fatigue, and all of those other friendly monthly visitors. To best deal with the effects of menstruation, track how your cycle affects your running in a training log, and then plan accordingly. For example, if you notice that running often seems harder during your premenstrual phase, accept that and don’t try runs that are longer or harder than usual during this time.
On the not-so-good side, running can lead to increased bleeding. Some of the painkillers, such as ibuprofen, that help with other side effects can also reduce bleeding. The increased bleeding usually isn’t so great that it’s visible. But if you’re worried about this, do what Olympic gold medalist in the marathon, Joan Benoit Samuelson, does and run with a tampon in a plastic bag pinned inside of your shorts or tights. Women runners sometimes don’t have periods. This condition is called amenorrhea, and although it might sound like a dream come true, it’s not good. It usually means that little or no estrogen is circulating in your body, which can lead to your bones becoming weaker, as well as short-term infertility.
The causes are complex, but most experts think that amenorrhea is caused more often by not eating enough than by exercising too much. Running alone can’t be named as the cause, given that some women train more than 100 miles a week and still have regular periods. If your periods stop or become irregular (more often than every 25 days or less frequent than every 35 days), see a doctor. Just don’t let him or her convince you that running is solely to blame.

Are Women Runners Different from Men?

Yes and no. Yes, if you’re asking from the standpoint of “Can they run as fast?” But, more importantly, no, if you mean, “Does running affect women differently?” If the two are equally well-trained, the average woman is going to be slower than the average man, from the 100-meter dash on up to the marathon. Women have certain disadvantages when they compete against men:

• Women have smaller hearts than men, so the heart pumps less blood with each beat. To run a given pace, a woman’s heart rate has to be higher than a man’s. ➤ Women have lower hemoglobin levels than men, so less oxygen is sent to working muscles.
• Women have higher essential body fat stores than men.
• Women’s lower levels of testosterone mean that women have less muscle mass than men.

Working together, these unavoidable physical factors make women, on average, 10 to 12 percent slower than men at all commonly run distances.
So, on the whole, women are always going to be slower than men. I suppose it’s easy for me to say this, but I wouldn’t make that big a deal out of it. Although women are not as fast as men, running has the same effect on both genders. Women have traditionally been discouraged from running as much or as hard as men, but there’s no basis for this practice. Studies have consistently shown that women who train at the same level as men see the same amount of increase in their fitness.
Title IX, which banned gender discrimination in federally funded high school and college sports, was signed into law in 1972. Since then, women’s participation in all sports, including running, has skyrocketed.
Remember that strange phrase, VO2 max? It’s your body’s ability to use oxygen while working and is the most important measure of your cardiovascular fitness. Six months to a year after starting to run, previously sedentary people can expect their VO2 max values to increase by 20 to 30 percent. That’s equally true for women and men. What you probably care about a whole lot more than maximum speed is your running—how to get fitter, how to find the time for it, how to stick with it, and so on. The answers to those questions are the same for all runners. That’s not to say that women runners aren’t going to want answers to questions that we men never to have to think about. The following sections examine some of the most common areas of concern.

Other Cross Training Options for Runners

The three best remaining aerobic alternatives for runners are cross-country skiing, stair machines, and hiking. Cross-country skiing has been touted as the best all-around exercise because you simultaneously use just about all of your major muscle groups in a non-pounding activity. You and I don’t live in Finland, however, so to plan it as a regular part of your program is going to mean hopping on a NordicTrack or similar indoor machine a few times a week. That’s a tough routine to sustain for any appreciable amount of time.
Stair machines have similar plusses and minuses. They can provide a great workout, assuming you take deep enough steps and don’t lean against the rails. They’re also low impact. But they, too, can require Herculean efforts of will to stay on for at least half an hour a few times a week. That’s why most people on them read, listen to music, or watch TV while waiting for the clock to run out.
Hiking offers the great benefit of being outside in beautiful surroundings without the pounding of running. And a mile covered on foot burns roughly the same number of calories whether you run it or walk it. But it’s tough enough to find the time to run for short periods a few times a week. For hiking to make sense as part of your regular program, you’re going to need at least a block of a couple hours a few times each week.

In-line Skating and Running

I must admit it would take a lot to get me to put on a pair of in-line skates, but that’s more because of my love of running and utter lack of coordination than any inherent problem with the activity. Certainly, the ever-growing number of skaters get something out of doing it.
Studies have shown that a similar effort between in-line skating and running requires you to skate twice as fast as you run. As with cycling, it’s important to be mindful of your effort. Otherwise, you might find yourself coasting and not getting as good of a workout. But if you stay on top of your effort and have done it enough so that you don’t spend all of your time picking yourself off the ground, in-line skating can give you a good workout in a concentrated time, as does running, but without the pounding.

Cycling for Runners

Cycling has long been a favorite of cross-training runners. Besides the fact that the two exercises complement each other in developing your legs, both give you that great feeling of exercising outside. Cycling can be almost as convenient as running if you don’t live in a high-traffic area, and because you cover so much more distance, it’s a great way for runners to discover other places to enjoy their favorite sport.
The main drawbacks to cycling are weather and money constraints. As Chapter 16, “Weathering the Elements,” explains, you can safely run in just about any conditions. But even the most committed cyclists have to reconsider things during and after heavy rains and snows when they’re likely to take a spill. (If you’ve ever fallen while riding 20 miles per hour, you know that it does a bit more damage than tripping over a root on a run.) Also, once it gets below 30 degrees, cycling outside remains uncomfortable no matter how hard you’re working because of the windchill that you generate. It’s also not the safest practice to ride in the dark.
Financially, a good bike and the necessary equipment (helmet, gloves, shoes, and so on) can easily cost you close to $1,000. Indoor cycling on a stationary bike involves less hassle and cost, but a lot more boredom. It’s tough to be motivated to stay on these machines for long enough to get a real workout in.
If you want to cross-train with cycling, you better be pretty committed to it. Ride at least two days a week so that your legs remain accustomed enough to the activity to allow your heart to reap the benefits.

Swimming for Runners

If I had to pick one supplementary activity that would help you the most as a runner, it would be swimming. Once you get your stroke down, swimming has many benefits: You can work hard enough to sustain a solid effort; it’s a great upper-body strengthener, it’s a nonimpact activity; and the kicking is terrific for loosening tight tendons and muscles in your feet, ankles, and legs.
The other great use of a pool for runners is water running. This activity is pretty straightforward: You head to the deep end of the pool, usually with a flotation device on, and start running in place. After a few times, it will feel pretty much like running on land. Water running is especially good for injured runners who don’t want to lose their land legs during a lay-off, as well as for cross-training runners who get injured beyond a certain level of mileage, but don’t like other activities. As with swimming, you have to work a little harder than you would on land to maintain the same heart rate. Many pools now offer water running classes.
The two main drawbacks to swimming are convenience and gauging effort. Finding a suitable pool (one that’s big enough to legitimately swim laps in) that isn’t too crowded and that has decent hours can be a real challenge. If you don’t have good technique, you’ll spend your swim flailing around rather than giving your heart a good workout. Even when you do become adept, comparing swimming to running takes a little extra math. Because you’re supported by the water, and because you stay so much cooler than when working out on land, your heart will beat about 15 fewer times per minute for the same effort. So you really have to keep at it to keep your pulse near what it is when you run. Kicking vigorously with your legs is a good way to do this.

Measuring Progress by Effort

If you’re cross-training because you’re too injured to run, then you want to have some general idea of whether you’re doing enough in other sports to compensate for your lack of running. Even when you’re cross-training to supplement your running, it’s nice to have some general idea of how much work you’re doing in a language you’re used to. So at the risk of contradicting what I said in the preceding paragraph, try this: Figure that you’re getting roughly the same cardiovascular benefits as running for every minute that you cross-train at a similar intensity to the level of effort that you normally sustain while running.
If 4 miles in 40 minutes is an average, medium-effort run for you, then sustaining that level of effort for 40 minutes on a stair machine will provide roughly the same aerobic benefits. Your heart doesn’t care what’s getting it going, so long as it’s an activity that uses major muscle groups for an extended period. Admittedly, this system is imprecise, but I would rather add cross-training to horseshoes and hand grenades and consider “close enough” as being worthwhile than worry too much about exact trade-offs.
After all, those same runners who so precisely say, “I ran 43 miles last week” are deluding themselves unless all of their running is on precisely calibrated courses. Most days, they’re making rough estimations about how far they ran based on the amount of time they were out for. I don’t see much harm in taking the same approach to cross-training. However, notice that I said, “every minute that you cross-train at a similar intensity to the level of effort that you normally sustain while running.” That’s different than just counting the number of minutes that you cross-train. On a stair machine, for example, you’ll often spend the first 10 minutes or so getting going; if so, those 10 minutes aren’t really at the same intensity as the first 10 minutes of most runs. During a two-hour bike ride, you’re likely to spend a nice chunk of that time going downhill, drafting, coasting, and so on.
If you’re new to a sport, it can be difficult to gauge accurately how hard you’re working. It might seem as though you’re really putting in a good effort, but that could be because your legs are easily tired by the unaccustomed motion, rather than because you’re working at a high heart rate. Many runners experience this kind of fatigue on their first few bike rides.
If you have a heart rate monitor, use it when you cross-train to gauge whether your pulse stays in the neighborhood that it usually does when you run. Otherwise, expect to spend at least the first few workouts in a new sport learning how to assess your effort.

Comparing Apples and Oranges

One of the reasons that hard-core runners don’t do more cross-training is because they don’t know how to compare it to their running. The major way that they track their progress is to recite their weekly running mileage to anyone who will listen. A five-mile run is a five-mile run is a fivemile run, so if you only run, keeping records is pretty easy. But what about a two-hour bike ride, a half hour in the pool, or 45 minutes on a stair machine? How do these compare to running miles?
My advice is different than what most people are going to tell you. I say, don’t worry about it. That’s because I’m recommending that you cross-train to add to your running, not replace it. In that case, there’s not much point in obsessing about whether three cycling miles equals one running mile and how many minutes on a rowing machine equal one mile of running. To paraphrase Sigmund Freud, sometimes a two-hour bike ride is just a two-hour bike ride.

Cross-Training Time

You wouldn’t expect to feel comfortable running if you did it only once a week, but that’s the approach that many runners take to their alternative exercises. This approach isn’t a good idea, because you’ll never become adept enough at the activity for it to contribute significantly toward your fitness. So when you find a second sport that works for you, try to practice it at least twice a week.
Unless you’re injured and are cross-training as a substitute for running, don’t let your aerobic alternatives take precedence over your running. For example, you don’t want to put in such a long, hard effort on a bike that your running is compromised for the next few days. Once you get used to your activity, treat it the same as an easy running day. You shouldn’t be sore or overly fatigued from your cross-training. One of the best times to schedule cross-training into your routine is on the day after a hard or long run. The exercise will help to remove waste products that might have built up from the previous day’s effort and will help work out any stiffness, but you won’t be subjecting tired legs to as much pounding as if you ran.

Should You Cross-Train?

So what about my old buddy Tom Fleming’s point, that if you want to be a good runner, then you should run? After all, you don’t become a better cook by washing dishes. First of all, remember that he’s talking about runners who are trying to be among the best in the world. These people live by their running mileage, much as a factory lives by the number of widgets it produces per day. (I should know. Having averaged 130 miles per week for most of the ’70s and ’80s, I was one of these people.)
I’m not suggesting that you replace running with other aerobic activities, but that you supplement your mileage with them. Among the benefits of doing so are the following:

• Fewer muscle imbalances, which are a leading source of injury. For example, running strengthens and shortens your hamstrings while pretty much neglecting your quadriceps (thigh muscles). But cycling does just the opposite, so combining running with riding helps your legs to keep the proper ratio of strength between front and back muscles.
• Greater aerobic capacity. A lot of runners can take only so much pounding from running each week before their bodies start to break down. If you find what that level is for you, stay just below it, and add other activities, you can continue to develop your aerobic base beyond what you could just through running. To a large degree, your heart doesn’t distinguish what exercise is making it pump more vigorously.
• Greater weight loss. Because you’ll be able to work out more often without getting injured.
• A more interesting exercise routine. Some people love running so much that they don’t need other activities to stay motivated. But a lot of runners find that they look forward to working out more if they alternate among a few sports.
• The chance to work out with non-running friends. You probably have friends who aren’t going to join for a five-mile run, but they might go for an hour’s bike ride with you.

Finally, even the most hard-core runners become cross-trainers when they’re injured and are desperate to maintain their fitness. If you can run as much as you like without getting injured, can meet your weight goals through running only, are endlessly fascinated by doing just one activity, and regularly do stretching and strengthening exercises that develop whole-body fitness, maybe you don’t have to worry about cross-training.

What Is Cross-Training?

Like cooking, cross-training is one of those formerly precise terms that has been used in so many ways that it has come to mean pretty much whatever the user wants it to. Just like people call popping a frozen dinner in the microwave cooking, you’ll hear people say that they’re cross-training when they’re mowing their lawn, shoveling snow, or heading out for a night of dancing.
I want to use a narrower definition. For the purposes of this chapter, cross-training means aerobic exercises that you plan as part of your regular running program. With this tighter definition, I think that most runners, especially beginners, can benefit from cross-training.
Cross-training doesn’t mean anything that you do physically in addition to your running. Household chores, walks around town, and so on should be seen as part of your everyday activities, not as cross-training. Doing yoga or lifting weights doesn’t count as cross-training either. Although these stretching and strengthening exercises are important for runners to do, they don’t provide the aerobic benefits that crosstraining activities do.