FitFriend Runs

Running since 16 via trails, roads, and forest. I also build tech for anyone with short shorts and long socks - FitFriend for splits, and FitFrame for photos.

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[fitfriendruns]

Aiming to give away 5% annually

Let me preface this with this: I’m not rich.

I’m not in the top 1% of wealth. I don’t even know if I’m in the top 10-20% of wealth. I have no fixed assets such as real estate, etc. I don’t really have any savings.

But I’m not poor either. I’m pretty sure I’m in the top 50% of wealth at least, or maybe more. I work in software, which is not astronomical pay, but is pretty decent, and there is always a job somewhere. I don’t have any debt (but I go up and down, last year I ended 3 years of debt). I also just started investing in shares again late last year, with about 30% of my annual salary in stocks.

Why am I talking about this?

Well, spiritually I feel like I’m letting down humanity if I don’t help people who are homeless in some way. The most common way I’ve tried to help in the past decade is by walking with a dollar or 2 in my pocket at all times. When I see someone needing it, I take it out and give it to them. No questions, no judgement.

But I came to the realization recently that in the past 1-2 years I’ve been doing that less, because 95% of my transactions now are done using Apple Pay, or in-app ordering. Heck, most days I don’t even carry my wallet with me anymore, let alone use cash!

So what can be done in the Apple Pay era?

The video above is one fine example.

Donating to charities is also ok. But I’ve never felt great about it because:

There’s no guarantee all of it is going to reach the people who actually need it.

There’s usually arbitrary rules to distribute the donations, like food stamps, etc. I personally prefer to donate with the intention of having no judgement whatsoever on what and how the recipient chooses to use it.

Charities however, are the best solution for bigger problems, such as finding a cure for AIDS. Even though the bigger outlets still suffer from the 2 problems above, I’m ok with donating to these causes that I can’t play a role in helping to fix.

But homelessness is also fixable at a grassroots level!

So do I create my own charity?

That seems kind of crazy. Isn’t that only for rich people, like Bill & Melinda Gates, and actors?

Or is it? Why. The heck. Not?

Ok so maybe not a charity, technically. Like if I create a “Mike Charity” and put it out on Facebook etc for people to donate to, doesn’t that still not solve the 2 problems above? i.e., other people have no idea what I’m using that money for.

So I’ve decided that once a year I’m just going to literally walk in the street and give 5% of my wealth away, to anyone sleeping or begging on the streets.

I would prefer to give it away and help people in need rather than live in a bubble. Say for example if I have a total of $20,000 saved up or invested, I’ll be giving away $1000. No conditions. If I have $5000, I’ll be giving away $250. Etc.

I might donate some of this away as food, but the important thing is not to cast any judgement on people receiving this cash or food and how they’re going to use it. Take away people’s choice and you take away their humanity.

Why now?

I have this constant instinctive tendency to want to save up and build up all of my life’s wealth first, then give it away at the end of my life. Because I might fall under hard times, or I might be unemployed, or either myself or someone in my family might get sick, or I might get in a car accident, etc. 

I’ve had a lot of financial ups and downs since leaving the parental nest as an adult, so the temptation to build a massive rainy day fund overwhelmingly appeals to my inner reason. 

But when I think about it:

I can technically give away 5% annually and it will make almost no difference to any personal hardship. Just a difference to comfort I can live without. 

Why save up all my life and make massive donations towards the end of life or on my deathbed, and only help people then within a relatively short timeframe? Instead I can distribute the timeframe, and help people now.

Anyone can join me for this walk if they want to do the same - this is the charity, simply just join me in walking and giving.

I haven’t decided when exactly I’ll do this yet, perhaps around thanksgiving or Christmas.

I don’t personally believe in karma, this isn’t karma motivated. But I’m ok if you do.

I do believe that individuals can do more to bridge the wealth gap without relying on governments or charities to take ownership of that, and risking corruption. Governments and charities have done an incredible amount to benefit the world though, especially in the past century. This isn’t anti-government or anti-charity sentiment. 

I just simply think it’s time to progress to the next level. The middle class is bigger than it’s ever been, and we don’t need to wait any longer to help at an individual level. I’m not waiting for anyone else to join me, but the invitation is there if you want to.

[fitfriendruns]

As an annual little hobby of mine, I try to compile a best songs list every year (here’s the 2017 playlist).

If anything, it’s been a good exercise to stay in touch with brilliant new artists who are moving music forward every year. As I find that it’s very easy to get into the nostalgia trap once you’re in your 30s and write off “music today” as being inferior to yesterday.

From what I’ve been seeing in recent years, this is just not true.

Songs listed in the link above, and also as an playlist on Apple Music.

[fitfriendruns]

Training for the chronic fatigued

From late March, I have been taking a break from high mileage. I had hit a wall in a race, Around the Bay. It was supposed to be 30k but I only ran 7k before pulling out. 

Since then, April, May, and June all felt the same. Fatigued, drowsy, and bone achingly sore. 

The best way to describe chronic fatigue is like being jet lagged after a flight from Canada to Australia. Or that feeling 1-2 days after running a marathon. Only that it lingers on every single day, for however many weeks and months that it goes on for. 

Recovery started by taking a week completely off running. But after feeling no better, it just became this big mystery box of seeing when my energy would return.

This was the catalyst for my doctor and I to dig endlessly with blood tests to try to get to the bottom of this fatigue that has plagued me on and off for most of my life.

In general, it’s not necessarily the high mileage that causes chronic fatigue in runners, but the lifestyle around it. 

The lifestyle could mean one or all of these things:

The training cycles that predates the fatigue, not just the most recent training cycle. In my case I’ve been at this high mileage game for about 3-4 years.

Work stress and hours.

Constant adjustment and inconsistency with climate and diet.

Unfortunately the fatigue is due to something a little bit different in my case, and I’ll be blogging an update on some much needed answers as soon as I gather my thoughts.

At least I got to go for a rare long run on the weekend with @fuelingforfitness where she took these doozies.

[fitfriendruns]

I’m thinking of purchasing a pair of the new Snap Spectacles for capturing moments when a car almost hits me. 

I’ve been wanting to get a GoPro or something similar for a while for the same reason. But haven’t been able to justify the price for the sole reason of safety. Plus they seem kind of clunky, I don’t want to hold a stick for an entire run and I feel as if it would be too heavy if attached to my head. 

There’s been many a time though, when a car cuts me off or almost hits me, and I’ve been wishing for something strapped to my head to capture the incident. Phones take too long to take out and unlock. If I just had a button on my glasses, then boom, captured!

I would then either report it to police or simply just use it as a deterrent to a motorist about to pull off some kind of bullshit (motorists are becoming more hesitant of conflicts with cyclists now that they know the majority of them strap GoPros to their helmets). 

It seems like the Spectacles would be perfect for this. I don’t even use Snapchat so the glasses haven’t been on my radar until today. Has anyone tried using these?

[fitfriendruns]

Best songs of 2017

Radio now just plays music that sounds like it hasn’t changed in 30 years. 

There is so much really really good quality music that is getting made all the time right now, despite income and exposure being at an all time low for musicians. You just have to look for it, and listen to curated playlists instead of the radio.

That’s part of the motivation of why I continue to churn out a best of list every year. Great music is being made now, it’s just that the radio is no longer your source for this. 

There’s one theme that has carried through with my favourite songs from 2017 - a lot of them are from artists that have been around forever, and have somehow put out their best work last year.

YouTube links are below of last year’s favourite tunes, and I’ve also made a publicly available playlist in Apple Music.

1. Destroyer - Tinseltown:

This is hands down 5 x better than any other chillwave track that came out in 2017. It’s the kind of dark riff 80′s style with a quality composition that I was hoping that Future Islands would still be making. Well, they’ve inspired others.

2. Slowdive - Don't Know Why

I really like that style of music where the vocals are at a lower volume than the instrumentation. 

Also, this band has quite a cool story. Forgive me, as I have to ramble a bit about this one. Slowdive are quite old, they were around in the early 90s. They put out some good material but the they got canned by the British press, who were favouring the sounds of indie BritPop at the time. They then broke up in 95. Fast forward to around 2010 when bands like Beach House were coining the chillwave genre, and indie millennial kids started to explore older bands like Slowdive who used to do the same thing. They then reformed 22 years later and released one of the best albums of 2017! Isn’t that amazing? a

3. Real Estate - Darling

The best instrumental intro in many years. 90 seconds of it, and the rest is pretty great too.

4. Phoebe Bridgers - Motion Sickness

There was once a time I hated folk music. That time is not anymore. I’ve changed, and perhaps folk has changed a bit too (?).

5. Ride - Cali

This brings 90s nostalgia. Sonic Youth, Breeders, Teenage Fanclub in one song.

6. Broken Social Scene - Skyline

I realize BSS have been around for a long time, but I’ve never liked them. Oh man has that ended now.

7. Cigarettes After Sex - Each Time You Fall In Love

Very 90s trip hop nostalgia. Best played on a drive from Portishead to Bristol. Amazing overall album!

8. Craig Finn - Preludes

When I finally realize my adult dream of a microbrew tour of Minnesota and the midwest, this seems like the perfect track to play on repeat.

9. Future Islands - North Star

Jeez, for a while there I was worried I’d have to leave them off the list! This sounds light on the surface but is pretty deep underneath.

10. Ariel Pink - Feels Like Heaven

Pink is supposed to be a bit of an ass to his collaborating musicians, but musically he can swing between decades with perfection. 

Others

Hoops - The Way Luv Is:

Sleigh Bells - Rainmaker

John Maus - The Combine

Feist - Century

Stars - Real Thing

Miguel - Told You So

Grizzly Bear - Mourning Sound

Louise Burns - Who's The Madman

The xx - I Dare You

LOLAWOLF - Baby I'm Dyin'

GGOOLLDD - Excelsior Springs

Cut Copy - No Fixed Destination

Autograf - You Might Be

Wild Beasts - The Devil's Palace

Casper Skulls - You Can Call Me Allocator

Grandaddy - Evermore

Sylvan Esso - Die Young

[fitfriendruns]

This must be wintermission

I’ve now taken a week off of running, and the previous week I drastically cut back to less than 40 miles. I feel at odds about this, because I’m pretty sure that I’m in peak marathon fitness right now...if not right now, then in another month. 

But if I take another week off then it’s all over, as this is the most critical time of training during the whole build. That may be ok, as I had a huge realization when I dropped out of a race last weekend. 

The race was a 30k, and was supposed to be my big marathon dress rehearsal. 5k in and I felt fatigued, really fatigued, in my mind. I’m sure the fact that I developed a cold that night played a role in that, as my mind was probably tapping into some physical fatigue from fighting germs. 

I’m also realizing that I’m mentally connected to my wife more than I thought, because as soon as she started to take a break from running, that’s when my motivation started to crumble almost overnight. Make all the co-dependant jokes you want, but in reality I’d rather have it this way than the other extreme. 

So 6k into the Around the Bay 30k (5.9k exactly, that’s how much I didn’t care) I pulled out of the race without a drop of regret or hesitation. A little earlier, at around the 4-5k mark, my internal discussion reached a conclusion that 30k is a long way to run at a high intensity if you don’t have a reason. 

Pre race bliss (ignorance).

Internal conversations of dropping out of a race is normal, and at least 1-2 times every race my mind entertains that thought. What was different this time was that I didn’t have an answer for myself when I asked “wait, why am I doing this?”. Usually that answer can slap me into continuing. 

No answer came this time, and honestly, that scared me a little. 

I remarked on my Strava log that my “injured self would hate me right now”. What I meant by that was that I’ve rarely wanted to stop running due to a lack of mental strength or motivation. Usually, it’s come in the physical form, where running is taken away from me. My injured self, especially in my perpetually shin splints and ITB plagued 20′s always wanted to run. 

Previous motivations that I’ve had to train, include:

The self belief that it generates.

Channeling the pain that social anxiety has caused me, and the thousands of opportunities it’s taken from me for most of my life.

In more recent years, I had a chip on my shoulder about bombing in my first 2 marathons. A chip on your shoulder is very good motivation to train, possibly the best.

Perhaps the 3 areas above are getting increasingly now resolved. I gain self belief from my wife, some parts of my career (as issues there are slowly starting to resolve), and other areas in life. Social anxiety is improving year after year, since I’ve stopped seeing it as an un-mentionable skeleton, and have seen a couple of therapists about it. 

Lastly, I don’t carry a chip on my shoulder anymore, mainly because my last marathon closed a chapter, and I train alone rather than in a group of arrogant jerks. What’s that I hear you say? I should just train with a bunch of arrogant jerks to get that chip on my shoulder again. Problem solved! But I believe that motivation shouldn’t be so superficial, it’s better when it comes from a deeper place. 

There is an overall pattern though, in that motivation comes from a dark place in most case. 

It’s very hard to train if you don’t have a chip on your shoulder! 

Not many runners would admit they have a chip on their shoulder, but it’s true, most of us do. That’s not a bad thing, quite the opposite. We wouldn’t have such fast times, and witness inspirational performances, if there weren’t any demons that needed banishing. Hey look at that, we’re doing God’s work at the same time as self improving too. 

The previous times that I remember that I felt unmotivated was in my mid-teen years, before I saw the value in being competitive, and the self belief and drive that comes from that. That’s a long time ago now, and I’m not sure how to deal with that anymore. Which is mostly the reason to write this down. 

Perhaps I can get out of it. Perhaps I’ll take a sustained break. Things will be a lot clearer after another week goes by. 

[fitfriendruns]

Welcome 2018!

I’m saying welcome 2018 instead of goodbye 2017, ahh because it’s more positive. 

2017 granted me record mileage, I ran 5547 km / 3446 miles. But not much in the racing department. It was a strange year of training. 

Training went well. Racing just didn’t happen. Oh well, 2017 was a year of patience. Sometimes it’s all grind and no reward for a while...running continues to be such a great metaphor for anything else in life! 

The final run of 2017 was a 15k recovery in the frikken cold at -14C. I was not expecting 15k but I got into a groove with @fuelingforfitness.

We had a chat about rigid vs loose new years resolutions with our favourite coffee barista this morning, the gist of which rigid ones are bad, loose ones are ok. Ima gonna go with that. I don’t tend to commit to rigid resolutions like, “I will run a 2:55:39 marathon by May 11″.

A loose new years resolution I’m going to commit to, is to restore a balance of racing to training. I’ve added 6 races in my calendar just from now until April. I haven’t signed up at all yet, so right now it’s all talk 😉 Hold me to account. Happy new year all!

[fitfriendruns]

Also, scrolling down my tumblr feed I’ve made a realization that I was unmotivated to check it as much this year because of all the reblogs hiding all the posts from real running posts that I care about. 

So I’ve decided to suck it up and unfollow a bunch of people who reblog more than they create their own content. Starting now. Chances are anyone who’s reading this won’t be unfollowed, as the rebloggers are mainly the ones who don’t follow me back anyway.

My tumblr feed should improve because of it, and I should be able to get back in touch with everyone who I’ve been missing. 

[fitfriendruns]

The year of aimless runs & minimal racing

There’s a correlation between the two, I think.

The year didn’t start off so aimless. It’s just coming to a close and I’ve realized I’ve hardly done any road races. 

I ran a 5k in March and August, both at similar times in each training cycle when I was introducing speed back, and ran average times compared to my PR because of that (17:47 and 17:55). 

That was it for the road. I ran 3 trail races during the summer, each one progressively slaughtered me. None of which I’ve blogged race recaps for. Can you tell I’ve been dragging my feet into races this year? 

I was aiming for a half marathon and 50k in the spring, but had to abandon that due to a weak hamstring. Plans for a marathon in the fall were looking good, but I abandoned one due to warm weather and a dose of sinusitis ruined my backup. 

So it was a strange year where I could string 2 decent cycles of training together, without capitalizing in any races. 

...and I’m just learning that it’s created a side effect. It’s affected my motivation.

I have to recognize that there was major change in my non-running life this year, as my wife and I moved back to Toronto in April. Sort of abruptly. Luckily my Vancouver employer was willing to keep employing me remotely for a while, but I had to transition eventually, and I’ve just spent the past 3 months unemployed looking for work locally. I’ve finally found a stable job and just started work again last week. 

Hopefully now that the job situation is handled, I’ll dial in on a routine with sleep and energy again. I was really wiped out this summer despite doing less mileage than last summer. If I get my motivation back, next year I'm going to do a stack of shorter road races. 

[fitfriendruns]

Sinusitis and antibiotics before a marathon

Here I am going into the final week of the taper, with the previous week tapering like a pro. Or an amateur, depending on your take of what makes a good taper. Or a sick #runnernotrunning incapable of any activity.

I only managed a grand total of 1 day of running last week. I've had the last 5 days in a row off from any exercise due to this cold that seems to be hitting a new low with every passing day.

Normally I breeze through colds, back to running within 1-2 days. This is my first cold for the year though so it's probably hit me harder than normal. Ugh.

If this was a normal part of the training cycling I probably would've tried to run through it as much as I could. But there's always a delay with doing it that way, the worst could be over within 1-2 days but that remaining 10% could linger on for 2-3 weeks. By opting to rest instead, I'm aiming to have this gone as soon as I can.

I'm a little annoyed I didn't get in a final workout before the magical 10th day before race day, but whatever. This training cycle certainly hasn't gone perfect. I have managed to put in some decent miles and have had some good workouts though.

Fall colors are finally coming out, #seenonmywalk yesterday.

All I can do now is aim for fresh legs, and a cleansed chest, and hope that my mileage and workout paces will pull through on marathon day!

Sinusitis

Today I went to the Dr’s and was diagnozed with sinusitis. He gave me a prescription of antibiotics for 10 days. Amoxicillin, particularly. I’ve already taken 2 today. But this may not be good: 😬 

When antibiotics are taken for an illness rather than a skin infection, athletes may blame the decrease in pace (or increase in effort at the same pace) on the illness rather than the antibiotic.

However, even athletes taking antibiotics for an infection of the skin have reported slower racing and training paces.

What is your own experience with racing when on antibiotics?

Personally after reading some information on the interscares, I feel like taking them is a risk. Not to let opinions of others affect me, but basically here’s where my head’s at: 

If I take antibiotics, then from what I’ve read, the marathon is 100% out. 

If I don’t take antibiotics, then it’s still a 50% chance depending on how fast this infection clears naturally.

[fitfriendruns]

Recommitting Marathon Choices

I ran another medium sized long run in the middle of the week instead of what should have been taper week #2.

Recently I decided to run the Toronto Waterfront marathon on Oct 22. I was pumped. I love the organization, the course, and the atmosphere...I've run the half marathon 3 times and this would be the first year I was set to run the full.

But now I am undeciding to run that race! 🤷🏼‍♂️ The weather is not working out for me. 

It's going to be in that territory where the majority of people will race fine, but I'm a big sweater so I need sub 10 temperatures guaranteed, 5 ideally. Otherwise I still suffer from electrolyte depletion. It took 2 epic marathon fails to learn that.

Life is too short, and training cycles are too long, to lock in a race that you know is not going to work in your favour. Take control of what you can, that’s my mentality anyway.

I’ll start a new 3 week taper from next week, in prep for Hamilton Road2Hope marathon in early November!

[fitfriendruns]

Sometimes it's a lonely road doing high mileage. You've got a lot more runners who place emphasis on speed or cross training, so you've got a lot less people to bounce wisdom off when you're unsure about something. 🤷🏼‍♂️

I still wouldn't want to train any other way though, I love the challenge, and I love the very gradual sparingly spaced out rewards.

The above random quote on LetsRun stuck out to me recently. It's so simple, but it's a reminder that you improve as a runner by placing new stress on your body every training cycle. That stress comes from either 3 ways, increased speed or mileage or ideally both.

Continuing on with this theme, today I capped off a new highest mileage week (barely, by 1 or 2 k) with this hot hot 22 miler fade! 162k / 101 miles all up for the week. 

That was gruellingly hot out there! That's pretty much been the theme for the whole east in mid September. I’m aiming for a marathon in Ontario on either October 22nd or November 5th.

[fitfriendruns]

August Miles

I've never had an interest in seeing how far I can run in a single race #notanultrarunner (yet). But I do have a keen interest in seeing how far I can run in a single month.

With exception to 2 or 3 months a year where I purposely take down time, every month I try to see if I can run further. I haven’t quite gotten there this year, with a few niggles earlier in the year, and the humidity that interrupted high mileage plans over the summer.

But in August my body has either adapted to the summer, or the temperatures have cooled down enough to recover better again, or both. This was the first new highest mileage month since July 2016! I am starting to feel like I might be able to salvage a chance to PR in a marathon in the fall.

[fitfriendruns]

July Miles

That's 2 months in a row of over 300 miles, meaning we're right in the middle of goal focused training again...my favourite place! 💆🏼‍♂️ While I was happy with my base phase, it wasn't as many miles as July last year. After chatting to a few local runners wiser than me, I started to accept that you can't run as much in the humidity. The last 2 summers on the west coast were still tough but a lot easier to build mileage without risking a muscle tear. 

So I've reduced my weekly mileage by about 10-20 miles than originally planned, and hoping that this poor mans altitude of heat/humidity makes up for the lost miles, and allows me to PR strongly in the fall! 

In the fall I'll be aiming for PR's in the half & full marathons on the road, and possibly a debut 50k on the trails.

[fitfriendruns]

Trail triumphs, and trail recovery observations

You wouldn’t know it from my inactivity on this blog, but yesterday I achieved something that's been on my goal list for many years...to place overall in a 5 Peaks trail running event! I’ve placed many times in my age group, but placing overall has seemed impossible sometimes. 

When I was running a lot of these events 5-7 years ago, I couldn’t keep myself uninjured enough to train well enough to break the top 10. Plus even if I could, most of the top runners were way above me, the kind of runners with 70-80 minute half marathon times. Based on what I’ve managed to stalk on Athlinks.

Yesterday I managed to place 2nd overall in their “half marathon” event at Albion Hills. I want to write a recap on this, and also last week’s North Face ECS Ontario marathon relay (I ran leg 1 for our team of 4, and we finished 3rd out of 25 teams). For now, I just want to note some differences in what I’m experiencing in leg pain the day after each of the 2 events:

Even though I raced twice as far on the trails for yesterday’s 5 Peaks 21k vs last weekend’s ECSON 10k relay leg, I woke up way less sore today.

From what I’ve experienced with racing trails, there could be a few reasons for that. Elevation, intensity, and the body adapting.

Muscle adaptations aren’t likely after only 1 week/workout, so that’s not a major factor. But it could be a very minor one.

The bigger factors are elevation and intensity on the trails.

Hard intense efforts over uneven terrain over 5-10k, leave me sorer than longer efforts at a slightly lower intensity.

Once you add a greater elevation to this, well that also adds to the intensity. Yesterday had less net elevation over twice the distance, but it did seem to have about 100m more raw GPS elevation. I’m not sure which is more accurate, Strava’s algorithms or my Apple Watch. 

I know of a manual way to accurately gauge the elevation by studying the map contours of each race, but it’s time consuming and I don’t care enough to do it.

Both races were hard in their own way, I went as hard as I could. Average heart rate was almost the same for both (178 yesterday vs 181 for the ECSON 10k leg).

Noting the difference that elevation and intensity over distance has, is definitely a factor in recovery the week after. In conclusion, this week I may need less recovery despite racing longer. 

[fitfriendruns]

Neuroscience Reveals What Fasting Does To The Brain (And Why Big Pharma and the Food Industry Won't Study It)

I came across this TEDx talk given by Mark Mattson, the current Chief of the Laboratory of Neuroscience at the National Institute on Aging. It presents some fascinating details about fasting and why it isn’t as popular as it should be. Countless research studies are showing its benefits. These studies have suggested that intermittent fasting …

Somebody posted this on a Maffetone group I follow on Facebook. 

The whole premise of intermittent fasting might be valid, but the article is very vague. How do they define intermittent fasting? 

Is it defined by having dinner, then working out the next morning on an empty stomach like what I tend to do? Or some greater timeframe? 

Also, as usual there is a lack of how this "research" translates to high intensity or elite training... Is it worth taking off 2-3 days of running after having fasted for a day, etc? How does that work for elites or sub elite runners when they're running 6-7 days a week? 

Fasting may be something more for the inactive public, or worse, another lose weight quick scheme in endless decades of lose weight quick schemes. How many decades or centuries of fads do we have to live through before realizing that lose weight quick schemes are making us bigger?