2020 Goals Review

I’ve had the intention of beginning to write this 2020 running goals assessment blog for a week or two now. I’ve been thinking about it, but 2020 was anything but a typical year. How do I even attempt to objectively assess what progress I have made towards my goals when the very structure (organized races in this situation) pretty much ceased to exist. I’ve frequently heard this year described as a “dumpster fire” and I believe that many of the people using that term have good reason to do so. However, other than the cancelling of in person racing and virtual schooling for my children, I have skated by relatively unscathed by the major impacts of the COVID-19 global pandemic. I never even ran out of toilet paper. And for this I am extremely grateful (the whole unscathed thing, I wouldn’t have been that upset about the TP thing; I poop in the woods). Even so, how easy it would have been to just quit on 2020 and not attempt any of my running goals! But I couldn’t have that. I reassessed, recalibrated, and adapted my goals to the new situation.

An effect of this process was my outlook on races and running. Without races, I had to test my beliefs about my true motivation to run. Had I been running to train for races or did I truly enjoy the process of training as I have preached? This idea and method of assessing my running goals developed for me this past weekend during my long run. I wasn’t sure how to approach this blog post and I wanted to run for a few hours so I figured I’d give it some thought while I run. It seems that I come up with more creative ideas and am better at problem solving while running. The ideas usually seem genius to me while running, but too often when I get back home they’ve lost their spark or I’ve completely forgotten them. During this past weekend’s long run I listened to music (something I don’t do regularly while running). A meaningwave song by Akira the Don with excerpts of audio of Jordan Peterson speaking about the value of music came on. While listening to it and running, I realized that what he was saying about music is what I feel about running: the “patterns” I find in a single run or over the course of months of runs with varying tempos, the emotional highs and lows, and the delivery of a feeling of transcendence when everything falls into place and is as it “should” be.

“I think the most accessible form for most people is music.

And music to me is the most representational form of art because I think that the world is made out of patterns.

And we perceive some patterns as objects but fundamentally it’s patterns and what you want is all the patterns of the world to interact harmoniously in something where every element is related intelligibly to every other element.

And I think that when your life is in harmony that you can feel that.

When you’re dancing to beautiful music you’re acting that out.

The music is the music of the spheres and you’re participating in the patterning of your being in accordance with that structure and that gives you an intimation of transcendence.”

---- Jordan Peterson ----

Based on my thoughts and feelings during this run, I don’t think my overall view of running changed, but the value I put on organized races may have been altered. It’s been over a year since I’ve done it, but I think I still love racing. Maybe not for the competition factor as much anymore, but maybe even more so than before for the fact that organized races provide us an opportunity to run some really cool trails in beautiful areas without having to put almost any work in on the logistics side of how to pull it off. 

So with that short introduction, or maybe it was a tangent, here’s my 2020 goals assessment....

2020 Goals:

1. Run at least one 24 hour event (scratched)
2. PR longest distance in a single run (>104.8 miles) (complete)
3. Complete my "Run Every Single Street" of Egg Harbor Township project (progressed)
4. Run at least one “last person standing” event (scratched)
5. Volunteer at a local race with my son (altered)

With pretty much all running events cancelled (including the 24 hour race I was registered for), goals 1 and 4 were scratched from the list. I can’t very well run a race if races aren’t happening. I had intended to get my longest distance run accomplished at the 24 hour event that was cancelled. Even with races cancelled, this was something I could still complete. I did so by going after an FKT longer than any race I had ever run, the Batona trail out and back (about 106 miles). It wasn’t that much farther than what had been my longest distance (104.8 miles). I had hoped to increase that distance PR by more than just a mile or two, but an FKT had been on my “to do” list for a while and it would complete one of my goals. I would be able to at least check one goal off of my list and maybe still leave room to improve my distance PR next year.

Goal number 5 could have been scratched altogether for the same reason as goals 1 and 4, but I decided to alter it a bit and complete an adjusted goal. Rather than volunteering at a local race with my son as I had intended, we helped out with a couple organized clean ups along a multi use path that I run on occasionally. It wasn’t as much fun as I had expected volunteering at a trail race with my son would have been, but again I was forced to adapt to the situation. Rather than just give up and do nothing, I wanted to do something. I thought this was a good compromise that would still benefit the running community in my area. 

Last is goal number 3, to complete my “Run Every Single Street” of Egg Harbor Township project. This goal is the only one that was not impacted due to COVID-19 restrictions. Yet I still didn’t complete it. I’ve made quite a bit of progress as I am at almost 50% complete, but that’s only about the halfway point. Why didn’t I complete this one? The main reason is because of the self imposed rules or restrictions I have put on myself and the manner in which I intend to complete this project. When I started, I had planned to drive to starting points to run new streets once I surpassed the 25% complete threshold. Well, 25% came and went and I continued starting all of my runs to reach new streets from home. This of course adds lots of miles as I am “rerunning” the same roads to reach new roads. Is this the right way to do it? Is it the wrong way? I guess that’s part of what intrigued me with these every single street projects.The rules are up to you. Could I have finished by now if I had been driving to new starting points? Maybe. But I’d still like to see how close I can get to 100% before resorting to that option. 

So that was my running review of 2020. Definitely not the year I had hoped for, but I think that goes for everyone. I still got to run plenty of miles and achieved an FKT that I hadn’t even planned to go after so it’s not like it was all bad. I hope everyone else isn’t too disappointed with how their 2020 turned out and that they were able to find some silver linings somewhere along the way. Cheers to all, happy new year and here’s to hoping that all of your running dreams come true in 2021!



Scott Snell
December 21, 2020

Reset: Mind and Body

An extremely festive truck seen during my long run!

I hadn’t been feeling it the past week or so: the motivation to run, the excitement about current or potential running adventures, the anticipation when the moment comes to lace up your shoes and see where they take you, and yes even that feeling of accomplishment and mood boost that usually peaks at the finish of most runs has even been diminished or absent. I’m not sure what caused it. I could blame the shorter daylight hours or the colder temperatures. I could blame my lack of motivation to run on feeling tired after work and getting home after dark when I’m hungry and ready to eat dinner. Maybe it was fear of falling into this routine of honestly not wanting to go out for a run. Daybreak, work, sunset, travel home, relieve the wife of some parenting duties, dark, dinner, get the kids ready for bed, and now I’m too tired and it’s too cold and too dark to want to run. It was only a three day stretch without any running, but it felt like it could continue indefinitely and I felt powerless to change it.

Thankfully I had already planned to use some leave from work to take a long weekend. And even better, the weather warmed a bit for it to provide a nearly perfect running day temperature. I went out only with the intention to cover some new streets for the Every Single Street (ESS) project I am working on. I had an idea for my route planned which I thought would probably be about a 10 miler. I figured that would be good to get me back on the horse and get back into the right headspace again. Of course I had the option to lengthen the route with more streets of Egg Harbor Township I hadn’t run yet if I was feeling good and wanted to go longer. And as I should have learned by now, anytime I don’t specifically plan and map out a route for an ESS route, it is always longer than expected. I was out running. The weather was perfect. Things felt right again. Of course I extended the route and kept going longer than originally planned. I had thought it would be about 10 miles, but I told my wife I might be out for about 13. As the day would have it, I covered about 18.5 before arriving back home. The following day I ran another 8.2 miles at my most local trails.

                            

Like all other runners, I have been told that rest days are as important as workouts. Likewise, I have also read about how important cross training and workouts besides running are for a runner’s longevity and to reduce the chances of injury. I don’t practice either of these as regularly as I know I should, especially as I get older. And I think that may be why I went through the bit of a funky period I did. I ran a much higher mileage November than I intended. I wasn’t building for anything, the weather was just good and I was finding more free time to run. Before I knew it, November was over and it was one of my highest mileage months of 2020. Maybe the overall lethargic lack of motivation I was feeling was my mind and body needing a reset. Maybe a couple lighter mileage weeks and a three day period without any running was just the reset that my body and mind needed. I certainly hope so. If yesterday and today’s runs are any indication, things are beginning to feel in place again.




Scott Snell                            

December 12, 2020  

Science in Sport REGO Rapid Recovery Review

Disclaimer: I received Science in Sport REGO Rapid Recovery to review as part of being a BibRave Pro. Learn more about becoming a BibRave Pro (ambassador), and check out BibRave.com to review, find, and write race reviews!


Since diving into the ultrarunning world about five years ago, I may have changed a bit. I definitely look at distances differently. I can’t drive anywhere and see mileage signs without thinking to myself “I could run that far.” Anytime I travel, a part of my preparation is to look at maps of the area I’ll be visiting and try to find cool running routes. I would say I wasn’t brand loyal before, maybe even opposed to it in a general sense, but in ultrarunning when you figure out what works for your mind and body you tend to stick with it. It happened quickly with shoes for me. As soon as I ran my first trail run with my Altra Superior 1.5s I was hooked and now run in nothing but Altras. I’ve been more of a vagabond when it comes to fuel, hydration, and supplement products, but as this is the third time I’ve tested and reviewed a Science in Sport product and for the third time I am thoroughly impressed, it may be time to admit where my allegiance lies. For me, Science in Sport products are becoming the standard against which I judge other endurance fuel and supplement products.

SIS REGO Rapid Recovery is a post workout supplement that contains a blend of carbohydrates, electrolytes, vitamins, soy protein, and nutrients. SIS REGO is designed to be consumed immediately after workouts to replenish depleted glycogen stores and expedite the process of muscle rebuilding and recovery. This means that you will be ready and better prepared to push yourself for your next workout sooner. 

Recover and prepare for the next workout!

Without any races on the calendar, the biggest test I could come up with for SIS REGO was a 45 mile round trip run commute between home and work I ran earlier this month (full report here). I ran the 22.3 miles to work in the morning carrying a single serving packet of SIS REGO along with some SIS gels. After consuming three SIS gels on the way, I immediately mixed and drank my serving of strawberry SIS REGO recovery supplement. After my day at work, I repeated the process to get home. I was pretty impressed with how good I felt for the trip home. I ran the route home slightly faster than my morning run to work and never felt completely depleted or exhausted. I took another serving of SIS REGO recovery when I got home to see if it would help me recover from a high mileage day. I took one day off as a rest day and then went for a test recovery run. I felt so great during my “short recovery run” that it turned into a little over an 8 mile run.

My run, work, run test of SIS REGO.

On top of working really well for me, I also think the taste and consistency of SIS REGO is top notch. I tried both chocolate and strawberry flavors and enjoyed them both. They’re not chalky, overly sweet, or ridiculously flavored like other protein and recovery shake supplements out there. The powder also dissolves with total ease using the SIS shaker bottle to produce a smooth shake without any lumps.

If you’d like to try SIS REGO Rapid Recovery, use discount code “REGO10BIBRAVE” for 10% off on top of all other promotions! Good through December 4, 2020. 

The shaker insert that helps to prevent any clumping!

Here are a few more details about the product:

• Lactose Free - SIS REGO uses a soy protein source making it an ideal recovery option for anyone who is lactose intolerant.
• Vegan - Again, the soy protein source makes SIS REGO an option for vegan diets as well.
• Gluten, Nut, and Wheat Free - Yes, the soy protein source again makes SIS REGO an option for individuals with gluten, nut, or wheat allergies.
• Free of Banned Substances - SIS REGO is triple tested by a third party laboratory to ensure no banned substances are present.
• Convenient Packaging - The individual serving packets are perfect for recovery on the go while the larger 3.5 pound container is great for mixing at home. 

See what my fellow BibRave Pros thought of SIS REGO:

• She Runs by the Seashore
• This Old Runner
• Another Half Please

Run, Work, Run

My Work Run Commute Challenge: Run the 23ish mile route to work, put in my work day, and run the 23ish mile route home.

Disclaimer: I received Science in Sport REGO Rapid Recovery to review as part of being a BibRave Pro. Learn more about becoming a BibRave Pro (ambassador), and check out BibRave.com to review, find, and write race reviews!

During the challenge:

I’m at the halfway point as I begin writing this report. I ran 22.36 miles from home to work this morning, just a bit shorter distance than what Google Maps had predicted (23 miles). I just ate lunch (a foot long turkey sub) and wanted to record some of my thoughts at this point. I feel good after refueling since this morning’s run and am eagerly waiting for the end of the workday so I can finish my round-trip commute. So far, the most difficult point for me was just getting started. I had trouble getting myself out of bed to begin with. I asked myself “why am I doing this? I’ve driven this route countless times; why run it?” It’s not a scenic route, it’s not an FKT attempt, and I usually don’t even like driving the route. Even with all this running through my head, I pushed myself out of bed and prepped for the first half of the run commute. 

Running clothes – check, hydration pack – check, shoes – check, watch – check, headlamp – check…time to go. Why am I going? I went through the list again looking for my why all the while thinking of the parts of the route that were going to be the least enjoyable portions to run: busy intersections and areas with little to no shoulder. Then my why finally appeared. It was the challenge, the challenge of sandwiching a long day of running and a workday. I was confident the 23ish mile run there wouldn’t be too challenging, but how would my legs feel when I start my run home? What will the pace of my run home be, faster or slower than going there? At that point, the greatest challenge of this run was the lack of motivation for me to take that first step out the door. It was hard because for most long runs I’ve done there’s a list of secondary benefits: beautiful landscape, new trails and areas to explore, and the comradery of running with other trail runners. Even previous long training runs that I wasn’t particularly excited about had the added motivation of being a training run in preparation for a big trail race. This run had none of those added stimuli. Sometimes people will say that the first step of an ambitious journey is the hardest. I was definitely experiencing that cliché as I stood in my kitchen ready to go and searching for motivation. Eventually I decided that the challenge in and of itself was enough, and I headed out the door. 

Several days after completing the challenge:

It’s been a few days since completing the 46ish mile round trip and I’ve had a chance to reflect on my why and just where I can find value in taking on such a task. The spontaneity of the idea for the challenge itself and the bit of unknown adventure it presented was one additional benefit I was able to tease out of this challenge. The idea for this was not my own, but my wife’s. It was the first weekend of November and we were having unseasonably warm weather, nearly 70 for a high and sunny all day, every day. I had taken a three day weekend and was itching to get a longer run in at some point before the following work week started. The Cape to Gate (from Cape May Point to Margate) 50 mile route had been on my radar for a while, and I told my wife I was thinking about giving it a shot which would require a ride either to the starting point or back home from the finishing point. Maybe she just didn’t feel like giving me a ride because she suggested the idea for me to run to and from work on Monday when the weather was forecasted to still be pretty nice. It would leave the weekend wide open for me to spend the time enjoying the weather with the family before the shorter cold and dreary fall/winter days set in. And with that, two days prior to the run, the idea was suggested and it was decided. As certain as I was at that point, I had no idea how much I would second guess my decision and have to force myself out of bed and then out the door come Monday morning.

Another value added benefit of this challenge I realized while running was that it was great mental preparation and a confidence booster for several multi day routes I’ve been considering trying. Since running the entire Batona Trail out and back as an FKT, I’ve been looking at other long routes and considering the many options of how to approach these routes that will most definitely be multi day efforts if/when attempted. Some of the routes that have gained my interest are primarily road routes. Having never run more than about 26 miles on roads in a single day, I’m not sure how my mind and body would acclimate to a stretch of multiple high mileage days all primarily on the shoulder of roads. If I planned a 3-5 day route all following roads, would I hate it and want to quit after the first day? I still can’t say for certain what the answer is, but this challenge helped give me a taste of what a multi day road route might be like. 

With the running challenge complete, I can say it was far from the most enjoyable run or route that I’ve run. Of course, that is the opinion of someone who prefers trail running over road running. It served its purpose in providing a long run, a unique challenge by splitting it into a double, and an opportunity for me to practice quick recovery between back to back long runs. My recovery plan was pretty straightforward and began before I even finished the first half of the run. That part of the plan was to avoid becoming calorie depleted or dehydrated. I avoided both by simply drinking water and eating Science in Sport (SIS) gels for the first stretch of the day. Once I arrived at work I quickly refueled with SIS REGO Rapid Recovery post workout drink which contains a blend of carbohydrates, electrolytes, vitamins, soy protein, and nutrients. The individual serving packets were clutch for this and perfect for a run commute recovery. I then pretty much followed my normal routine for a work day which is pretty much staying on my feet all day at my stand up desk (Varidesk). Personally, I think that staying mobile and avoiding sitting helped keep my legs in better shape to run the second half of my commute. Apparently what I did for recovery and prep for the second leg of the challenge worked well for me. By the end of the work day I was looking forward to the run home and was able to maintain a slightly faster pace running home than to work. Maybe it had something to do with my headlamp batteries starting to weaken and my light beginning to fade, but I felt good at the pace I was running.

Upon my arrival home I was immediately greeted by my oldest son who loudly proclaimed to me and the rest of my family “Dad’s home! Challenge complete!” And that proclamation really drove the purpose for this run home to me. It was about finding a challenge that grabs your interest, makes you question whether it is a good or bad idea, and ultimately gives you a feeling of accomplishment when completed while teaching you something along the way. So what did I learn? I learned that not all challenges have to be epic adventures planned out far in advance, that you can create a challenge out of your daily commute. I was reminded again that mindset and personal drive make a difference as I wrestled with myself to get out the door in the morning. I was shown again that I don’t need a specific goal solidified with a set date to enjoy a tough training run. More or less, I was reminded that running is about the process, not what happens on race day.

Scott Snell

November 13, 2020

Every Single Street Stalled Out...Attempting To Restart

Screenshot of StatsHunters generated heat map.

I’ve hit a few speed bumps that have delayed my progress with my run every street project. The first and worst of those speed bumps was an injury to my calf (you can read about it in this blog post) at the end of March. After what felt like a long recovery period, the injury seems to have healed and I decided to get back to making some progress on my run every street project of Egg Harbor Township, NJ just last weekend. While recovering, I avoided going more than a mile or two away from home just in case the injury flared up and I had to hobble home. So running farther away from home to continue this project was a bit of a big step in my recovery.

I decided to re-run a grouping of streets I had run once before, but for some reason the data didn’t sync to CityStrides (the mapping tool I’ve been using to track my progress). Introducing speed bump #2: tech tool issues. I didn’t mind rerunning a few streets due to a technology issue, but after the second time of running them and having them not sync I started looking into alternative tools.

Jonathanokeefe.com

http://www.jonathanokeeffe.com/strava/map.php

This tool will create a heat map of your strava activities. You can specify activity types and the date range of activities you want a map of. It’s a really cool tool, but it lacks the really useful features for a run every street project that CityStriders offers: percentage of streets completed and node finder which can be used to pinpoint streets that have not been completed. There is a “new” option to download a KML file of the created map, but thus far I have gotten an error message everytime I tried to use that option.

StatsHunters

https://www.statshunters.com/

Another really cool tool that will create a heat map of your Strava activities and provides a plethora of statistics from all of your Strava data and loads of ways to filter your activites. The statistics are cool to look over and I like the heat map better than the jonathanokeeffe map, but this site has the same drawbacks in regard to missing the really useful features for a run every street project that CityStriders offers.

Street Ferret

https://www.streetferret.com/

This tool seems to be the best choice in my experience for a run every street project. It provides all the necessary tools to make the tracking of a run every street project effortless and make planning easier. It quickly synced all of my Strava data in a matter of minutes; CityStriders took nearly a month to complete the initial sync. I didn’t use Streetferret for as long as CityStriders, but for the week I did use it all of my runs synced quickly and consistently. This is in contrast to CityStriders which I have had syncing issues with. With CityStriders, usually it is just a 1-2 day delay, but there have been several periods when runs just don’t sync at all. Of all the tools covered here, Streetferret is the only one that is not free. It offers a free one week trial, but after that it charges a fee of $4 per month. 



With the injury and tech issues, my run every street project has not shown any progress since the end of March. It’s kind of a bummer for me, but I’m reevaluating and then will be back at it. At this point, I think my plan is to print out a large EHT road map and highlight all the roads I have run so far and update the map as I make progress. Yes, it is more labor intensive, but I also feel it is more dependable than software mapping options I have used so far. Once I am pretty confident that I am near 100% complete, I plan to pay for a month of Streetferret to get my percentage complete and determine where/which streets I still need to complete.

If there are any tools that I failed to mention here, I would love to hear about them and give them a test run. Thus far, Streetferret is by far the most useful dependable tool I’ve found for a run every street project, I’m just not willing to pay the monthly fee for the service while this is a long term project for me. Once I know that I’m within a month or two of finishing, I’ll be happy to drop that 4 bucks a month.