maintaining focus while running

[Trojan]

Something strange happens when I run. I usually run at about 10:00
p.m. Two things cause me to become tired rather quickly:

1) looking straight ahead. When I started running a couple
months ago, I looked straight ahead and I would get
tired (and bored). I started to look around at houses,
cars, etc. and that seemed to have helped. Now I run
almost exclusively with my head turned about 20 degrees
to the right, not looking at anything in particular.
Since I've started that, I haven't become overly tired
on my last 2 runs.

2) having an audience. Like I said, I run fairly late in the
evening, so there aren't many people out at the time I
am. But whenever I see a walker or someone sitting on
their porch or a car driving by, I immediately realize
how tired my legs are getting.

Has anyone else had either or both of these problems? Did
you find any ways to overcome them?

Thanks!

~Trojan

[Donovan Rebbech]

On 2004-06-07, Trojan <morgasaurus@hotmail.com> wrote:
> Something strange happens when I run. I usually run at
> about 10:00
> p.m. Two things cause me to become tired rather quickly:
>
> 1) looking straight ahead. When I started running a couple
> months ago, I looked straight ahead and I would get
> tired (and bored). I started to look around at houses,
> cars, etc. and that seemed to have helped. Now I run
> almost exclusively with my head turned about 20 degrees
> to the right, not looking at anything in particular.

That sounds odd. But whatever works. If you're looking dead
straight-ahead the whole time, maybe that's because you're
too focused/pushing too hard. Looking off to one side *the
whole time* isn't much different (except that it's terrible
form -- may cause you problems later on)

How fast do you run on your training runs compared to your
race times ? I find I tend to look straight ahead when I'm
doing speed work or racing, and look around much more as the
pace drops.

> Has anyone else had either or both of these problems? Did
> you find any ways to overcome them?

Training runs are not supposed to be hard. You're not
supposed to need to expend a lot of effort to finish the
run. If you find this is the case, it's possibly a sign
that you need to adjust your training -- weekly milage,
training pace, etc. Find a pace you're comfortable at, and
enjoy the scenery.

Cheers,
--
Donovan Rebbechi http://pegasus.rutgers.edu/~elflord/

[Miss Anne Throp]

You're jogging, and you don't know why you feel tired?
C'mon, you're dragging down the collective IQ of the group.

[Gentolm]

i time myself on most of my runs
(1) if a am over training my times will tell it
(2) as i get better my times improve
(3) my data i compare with my other run data and i see
where i can improve this helps pass teh tiem as i
run plodzilla

Trojan wrote:
>
> Something strange happens when I run. I usually run at
> about 10:00
> p.m. Two things cause me to become tired rather quickly:
>
> 1) looking straight ahead. When I started running a couple
> months ago, I looked straight ahead and I would get
> tired (and bored). I started to look around at houses,
> cars, etc. and that seemed to have helped. Now I run
> almost exclusively with my head turned about 20 degrees
> to the right, not looking at anything in particular.
> Since I've started that, I haven't become overly tired
> on my last 2 runs.
>
> 2) having an audience. Like I said, I run fairly late in
> the evening, so there aren't many people out at the
> time I am. But whenever I see a walker or someone
> sitting on their porch or a car driving by, I
> immediately realize how tired my legs are getting.
>
> Has anyone else had either or both of these problems? Did
> you find any ways to overcome them?
>
> Thanks!
>
> ~Trojan

[Rick++]

I like the mountain dew commercial where dogs and humans
switch places in a dogsled, and the humans chase after a
'dew on a stick.

[Rick++]

Its a lot like driving. I spend about half of attention,
almost subconsciously, looking for hazards on the trail and
street. I spend the other half meditating about the outdoors
scenery or some event of the day.

[Runners World]

Re: maintaining focus while running

Just focus on that tiny little one incher between your legs
(use a magnifying glass if required, but watch out for the
sun going through that magnifying glass)

[Trojan]

Donovan Rebbechi <abuse@aol.com> wrote in message news:<slrncc90i5.q4j.abuse@panix2.panix.com>...
> On 2004-06-07, Trojan <morgasaurus@hotmail.com> wrote:
> > Something strange happens when I run. I usually run at
> > about 10:00
> > p.m. Two things cause me to become tired rather
> > quickly:
> >
> > 1) looking straight ahead. When I started running a
> > couple months ago, I looked straight ahead and I
> > would get tired (and bored). I started to look around
> > at houses, cars, etc. and that seemed to have helped.
> > Now I run almost exclusively with my head turned
> > about 20 degrees to the right, not looking at
> > anything in particular.
>
> That sounds odd. But whatever works. If you're looking
> dead straight-ahead the whole time, maybe that's because
> you're too focused/pushing too hard. Looking off to one
> side *the whole time* isn't much different (except that
> it's terrible form -- may cause you problems later on)
>
> How fast do you run on your training runs compared to your
> race times ? I find I tend to look straight ahead when I'm
> doing speed work or racing, and look around much more as
> the pace drops.
>
> > Has anyone else had either or both of these problems?
> > Did you find any ways to overcome them?
>
> Training runs are not supposed to be hard. You're not
> supposed to need to expend a lot of effort to finish the
> run. If you find this is the case, it's possibly a sign
> that you need to adjust your training -- weekly milage,
> training pace, etc. Find a pace you're comfortable at, and
> enjoy the scenery.
>
> Cheers,

So far I haven't had trouble with looking to the side
(neck/back pain), if those are the problems you were
thinking of. But I can see how that type of thing could hurt
in the long run.

I don't time myself on my runs - not yet, anyway. I'm afraid
that timing myself and discovering a slow time might be
discouraging. I'm running to obtain and then maintain
fitness, so I didn't think timing myself would be that
beneficial. Once I get to my goal of 5 miles per run, I plan
to either increase the speed or increase the distance and
then I'll worry about times.

Thanks for your suggestions!

~Trojan

[Trojan]

High_Colonic@webtv.net (Miss Anne Thrope) wrote in message news:<17404-40C5C290-12@storefull-3157.bay.webtv.net>...
> You're jogging, and you don't know why you feel
> tired? C'mon, you're dragging down the collective IQ
> of the group.

I can't tell if this post was facetious or sarcastic or
what. So I'll answer it.

I know I'm going to feel somewhat tired after I've been
jogging for a little while. However, I feel more fatigued
when I'm concentrating only on running than when I'm looking
around and thinking about other things.

~Trojan

[Donovan Rebbech]

On 2004-06-08, Trojan <morgasaurus@hotmail.com> wrote:

> I don't time myself on my runs - not yet, anyway. I'm
> afraid that timing myself and discovering a slow time
> might be discouraging. I'm

It doesn't matter if you run slowly in training runs. My
race times for 4 miles are around 5:40 per mile. But my
training runs are always 7 minutes per mile or slower
(sometimes much slower).

> running to obtain and then maintain fitness, so I didn't
> think timing myself would be that beneficial.

Given your goals, an approach worth considering would be to
use a heart rate monitor, and try to stay under 80% of your
max heart rate. You can use the heart rate monitor to check
that you're not overexerting yourself.

Cheers,
--
Donovan Rebbechi http://pegasus.rutgers.edu/~elflord/

[Becca]

morgasaurus@hotmail.com (Trojan) wrote in message news:<82e0510a.0406072035.2f333e08@posting.google.com>...
> Donovan Rebbechi <abuse@aol.com> wrote in message
> news:<slrncc90i5.q4j.abuse@panix2.panix.com>...
> > On 2004-06-07, Trojan <morgasaurus@hotmail.com> wrote:
> > > Something strange happens when I run. I usually run at
> > > about 10:00
> > > p.m. Two things cause me to become tired rather
> > > quickly:
> > >
> > > 1) looking straight ahead. When I started running a
> > > couple months ago, I looked straight ahead and I
> > > would get tired (and bored). I started to look
> > > around at houses, cars, etc. and that seemed to
> > > have

<snip>

> So far I haven't had trouble with looking to the side
> (neck/back pain), if those are the problems you were
> thinking of. But I can see how that type of thing could
> hurt in the long run.
>
I'm more worried about you being "off-balance". In swimming,
you breathe to both sides to insure that you use both sides
of your body equally (crossing over and other bad form is
common when you breathe on one side). I'm worried that you
may be putting more stress on the entire right side of your
body or crossing over on your steps, etc. Any way you could
look right for 2 minutes then left for 2 minutes, etc.

> I don't time myself on my runs - not yet, anyway.

But you don't need a watch to know if your pace is too fast.
Can you speak comfortably while running? Can you sing your
favorite song while running? You are training for a fitness
base so you should be running slow enough to sing and run.
If you don't feel you can sing, slow down...

I'm afraid that
> timing myself and discovering a slow time might be
> discouraging. I'm running to obtain and then maintain
> fitness, so I didn't think timing myself would be that
> beneficial. Once I get to my goal of 5 miles per run, I
> plan to either increase the speed or increase the distance
> and then I'll worry about times.

Have you ever thought about having one long run and a couple
of shorter recovery runs? Similarly, one long, slow run, one
distance workout and one short, recovery run?
>
> Thanks for your suggestions!
>
> ~Trojan

[Becca]

morgasaurus@hotmail.com (Trojan) wrote in message news:<82e0510a.0406082059.5aa52b9c@posting.google.com>...
> High_Colonic@webtv.net (Miss Anne Thrope) wrote in message
> news:<17404-

Ignore Miss Anne Thrope at all times. It makes life so much
more pleasant. Actually anyone posting from web tv is
obviously not intelligent enough to run AOHelL, let alone a
real ISP. Also on the ignore list...malceroy...

Just giving you a heads up as you are new to r.r. ~b

>
> I can't tell if this post was facetious or sarcastic or
> what. So I'll answer it.

[Becca]

morgasaurus@hotmail.com (Trojan) wrote in message news:<82e0510a.0406082059.5aa52b9c@posting.google.com>...
> High_Colonic@webtv.net (Miss Anne Thrope) wrote in message
> news:<17404-

Ignore Miss Anne Thrope at all times. It makes life so much
more pleasant. Actually anyone posting from web tv is
obviously not intelligent enough to run AOHelL, let alone a
real ISP. Also on the ignore list...malceroy...

Just giving you a heads up as you are new to r.r. ~b

>
> I can't tell if this post was facetious or sarcastic or
> what. So I'll answer it.

[Jr]

"Becca" <BradleyQT@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:ba67623.0406090655.6443e36e@posting.google.com...
> morgasaurus@hotmail.com (Trojan) wrote in message
news:<82e0510a.0406082059.5aa52b9c@posting.google.com>...
> > High_Colonic@webtv.net (Miss Anne Thrope) wrote in
> > message news:<17404-
>
> Ignore Miss Anne Thrope at all times. It makes life so
> much more pleasant.

On the contrary (in my opinion), Miss Anne's posts are
frequently, in fact, almost always quite funny.

> Actually anyone posting from web tv is obviously not
> intelligent enough to run AOHelL, let alone a real ISP.

As opposed to snobs?

> Also on the ignore list...malceroy...

The difference being that macelroy doles out advice, a lot
of it bad. Miss Anne just makes comments. Funny comments.

[Jr]

"Becca" <BradleyQT@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:ba67623.0406090701.4f0a7e50@posting.google.com...
> morgasaurus@hotmail.com (Trojan) wrote in message
news:<82e0510a.0406082059.5aa52b9c@posting.google.com>...
> > High_Colonic@webtv.net (Miss Anne Thrope) wrote in
> > message news:<17404-
>
> Ignore Miss Anne Thrope at all times. It makes life so
> much more pleasant.

What you CAN ignore is multiple posts.