From Zero To Running Strava 10K Run Challenge

Unlike a real race, you don’t get to brag about a virtual race

The number on Strava app shows a ranking of 7768 out of over 90000 runners on the last day of August, which puts me in the top 10% of the challenge. Unlike a real race, you don’t get to brag about a virtual race, and if you do, people will most likely think you are insane. The number really doesn’t matter for it is meaningless to anyone, but I do get this nice little feeling of seeing myself in a place unknown to me less than 10 months ago. I’m still slow by most long time runners’ standards, but I do manage a respectable time of slightly less than an hour for a 10K run, and live to tell what I’ve been through for anyone who may find it useful.

Thread Mill — Threat Mill

I happened to have free access to a local gym, so it became my natural starting point for running. The treadmill was more of a threat after seeing people pounding away endlessly. I’d pretend to be doing stretches, then sneaked onto a treadmill when no one was watching, hit start, and get into a fast walk pace. I’d do this till I’m fairly comfortable, then increase the speed for a slow run at about 5miles/hr. I couldn’t run more than 10mins the first two weeks, but it gets better week after week, and I eventually got to run like 20mins for a distance of 2miles without stopping. And I realized I could even speed up a little, to 5.5, 6, 7 miles/hr — then I got injured.

Runners Knee

You see, running on a treadmill is not exactly a natural thing. Many runners don’t ever run on it. When treadmill speed increases, and your running pace doesn’t keep up, your strides tend to open up causing an over extension of the legs. This exerts a high stress on the knees resulting in the injury commonly known as runners knee. It didn’t hurt when walking, or even running, but I couldn’t bend my leg more than 90 degrees, and squatting produced an excruciating pain, as if someone was stabbing a knife into the knee.

Learn To Run

I decided to stop running to see if I could recover from the knee problem, or if I should stop running altogether. I took 4 weeks off. Those period of time let me to re-evaluate my running, and catch up on how to run. After Googling for a while, I came to realize I had to learn running, something I ignorantly assumed was natural. I started reading stuffs from Runners World, and lurked around the great running community at Reddit /r/running . Pointers like tilting the body forward slightly while holding your chest and head up, swinging your arms with your fists clenched lightly as if holding 2 potato chips, landing your feet below you and never in front of you, and striking with your mid-foot lightly, … all the fundamentals of running, obvious to any now. And there I was, admiring those dudes heaving and pounding ever so loudly on those treadmills!

Blisters are bad, and hurts real bad, but calluses are actually good for runners

Fitbit

By the time I restarted, I got a little first generation FitBit with nothing but 4 little lights were my first running motivator. I’d try to run, walk, run, and lots more walks, until all 4 LEDs light up and I get that well-deserved buzz at the end, an official recognition of my 10000 steps achievement for the day. So that was my own C25K program that ultimately got me to running 5k continuously in about 4weeks or so.

Black Nails, Blisters, and Calluses

Daily runs, and higher mileage took its tolls — black toenails, blisters, and calluses invaded my feet, turning them into battlefields in their own rights. Yeah, these are battles scars runners brag about, but for me, it is just one big ugly mess that I hide inside socks. Black nails is the precursor to nails shedding off, requiring 2–3months recovery time. Blisters are bad, and hurts real bad, but calluses are actually good for runners — provided you are not a lady (or guy?) who needs to keep your feet nice and soft to show off those stilettos. Callus-hardened skin provides protection for the feet, minimizing the abrasion on your feet allowing you to run longer distances. Running articles often advise not to file calluses if you run.

Shoes Shoes Shoes

I nailed the main cause of black toenails to my shoes. The sneakers I’ve been buying up until then was good for anything from walking, casual hiking, errands, and any activity that calls for shoes. Running in those shoes was a big mistake. How should I know that my shoes would start to strangle my feet as they expand after running more than a few miles? I bought new shoes, in a much larger size I’ve never imagined I could fit. The result, I managed to run over a hundred miles in those new shoes without a single black nail.

If someone told you running doesn’t cost you anything, don’t ever believe it. You may not need to buy anything else for running, but you will need to buy shoes, and more shoes — unless you are a barefoot runner, or that legendary Flip-Flop ultra-marathon man down in Florida. I’m in my 3rd pair of shoes since I started, and that’s not even 1 year.

Running Buddies

My buddies back in my hometown have been running together for over 15years, and I ran with them for the first time after I gained some confidence. I was surprised they started really slow, about 1–2mins slower than what I was used to, so it started really easy. We were going on a 10miler that morning through a forest trail, and the lost distance I ran by that time was about 5miles, so I was prepared to drop out halfway. As we ran, they kept giving me turn-back directions in case I needed to drop out; but I kept going as the pace was slower than usual for me. In the end, I completed my first long run beyond 6miles without dying — I was happy. Another big thing about that run was that I realized how my friends were able to run at a steady pace throughout (9:30mins/mi or 6mins/km) — that’s something I couldn’t do when I’m off the treadmill, but I knew I had to start running that way.

The lingering sores after each long run keeps re-defining the word agony, but the after effects are stronger legs, sturdier body, and better cardio.

Run Slow, Run Long

Learning to start slow, and maintaining a steady pace enabled me to run without running out of breath, and exhausting my energy store. These made completing longer distances possible. Following the rule of thumb of increasing 10% distance per week, I slowly worked up to 20mile runs in about 2 months. Pace was about 9:30mins/mile which works out to slightly more than 3hrs for a 20mile run, with just a few water point stops, and without walking.

If you haven’t walked or run such a long distance, you ought to try. I knew running long distance was tough, but I didn’t know it was going to be a test of epic bodily pains in places I never knew could hurt. Shoulders, arms, hips, abdomen, pelvis, thighs, calves, ankles, toes, and othe useless parts began to ache, sore, numb, and abrade. On one of the runs, a piercing pain developed on my left foot after 15miles, and it became increasingly sharp to the point where I couldn’t take another step.

The lingering sores after each long run keeps re-defining the word agony, but the after effects are stronger legs, sturdier body, and better cardio. The sum effect doesn’t make running any easier; it makes running longer possible.

Heel drop is a simple yet wonderful innovation.

Stretch, Swing, Drop, and Roll

You can either stretch, or jog slowly as an active-warm up before a run. The point is to warm up the muscles before you start to avoid injuries — think frozen meat that is hard and brittle, versus tenderized meat that is highly-malleable. Running is not just about the legs. Imagine holding your body still for an hour or more, arms and shoulders begin to ache, stiffen, and can become numb, even when running. So it is just as important to get the upper body into the swing of things — by positioning the arms slightly at the waist level, and swinging in unison with the striding of the opposite leg (or you could run with both arms and legs on the same side swinging out together, just like old-school robots).

Heel drop is a simple yet wonderful innovation. By placing one foot on a step with the heel in the air, lifting the other foot, and letting the heel drop down from the step, the entire body weight exerts a tension on the calve. Doing this after a long run provides an amazing relieve to the lower legs, and helps prevent Achilles problems. Another great innovation is the foam roll which is a cheaper alternative to a personal masseuse. You just lie on top of the roll placing the parts of your body that needs to be worked on, and start rolling. Simple, fun, and affords huge after run relieve.

It is the culmination of ignorance, foolishness, mistakes, injuries, pains, endurance, research, experiments, tracking, and lots of running. I do not think I will get any faster, but I am sure I will get slower if I do not continue to run.

Run Tracking

RunKeeper was my first love, providing a breakdown of distance, time, average/current/split pace, average/current/split speed, etc. Its periodic audio cue announces what you have run the last 5mins. It serves to remind you to slow dow when you are rushing, motivate you to run faster when you are slacking, or make you give up when you are exhausted, and realized you have only covered the first few miles of a 20miler. RunKeeper became my running mentor, providing periodic feedback for me to adjust my runs for a steady pace. It has some neat charts to show the splits data for a run, and helps in monitoring performance changes allowing you to experiment with running differently such as stride length, pace, trail/road/track etc.

I discovered Strava, and fell in love with the virtual run challenges it offers. This is designed for those of us who live in the virtual world of Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, and do not like to deal with reality (booking and paying big money to run, preparing months for the race, traveling and waking up in the wee hours for the race). Strava Challenges can be done anywhere, anytime (this is definitely truer than what other products can claim). Each challenge provides a leader board showing the top 10 runners and their astounding statistics. By joining a challenge, it lets you see where you are, and what others are doing. The leader of August 10K was Ryan McLeod with a pace of 2.59/km which translates to a time of under 30mins — that’s about the time I finish a 5K and still panting. Bet you didn’t know that Dave Alley runs 80K a day in his Race Around Australia, or that Yusuke Ohnuki of Japan runs 3 or 4 times a day ranging from 20K-30K daily.

I now have a bunch of virtual running buddies (who are easier to deal with than actual people) whom I give kudos to, and they return, and get to see what incredible running activities people engage with all over the world.

Making It

As I see it, making it into the Top 10% is purely accidental, yet there is no magic. It is the culmination of ignorance, foolishness, mistakes, injuries, pains, endurance, research, experiments, tracking, and lots of running. I do not think I will get any faster, but I am sure I will get slower if I do not continue to run.