Science Friday: Stress-ercise

I've been a little stressed lately. There's work, wedding planning, and plenty of workouts, enough to make anyone a little crunched for free time. Some people's response to my hectic life is to suggest I give up running. I have to work of course, and the wedding will be the wedding of the century. (She says without a hint of Bridezilla in her voice.) But running, that's just for fun. Why add any unnecessary stress?

My response is always something along the lines of running is my stress release. Sure, as the Big Race gets closer it can seem quite the opposite, but in general, running keeps me sane. Even though it robs me of mornings spent sleeping in, late nights socializing, and lazy Sundays, I love it. I'd rather metaphorically run around a little hectically than literally not run around at all. 

But it has got me thinking, is there a point where the pressures of lots of miles, big races, and goals of PRs negate the stress release provided by a daily jog? What if it starts to feel like just another item on a long to-do list?

An interesting article came out recently about forced exercise--if you really hate exercising but your doctor or gym teacher is making you, do your stress levels still benefit? Or does the agony of it all just lead to more anxiety? To address this, the researchers used rats forced to run on treadmills and on running wheels. Previous research has shown that rats forced to run on treadmills don't have the same reduction in anxiety as rats that voluntarily run when they please on a wheel. (Rats: I totally understand your perspective here. Treadmills stink.) Was it the forced nature of the running? Or was the treadmill running just unnatural for rats? Rats tend to run in intermittent bursts, so the researchers rigged running wheels to do the same. (I.e. the wheels rotated quickly for a few minutes then stopped for a bit before starting again, uncontrolled by the rats.) Another group of rats ran on wheels whenever they wanted, a third group was forced to run continuously on a treadmill, and a final group did not exercise. After six weeks, the rats were stressed by a standard rat-stress-paradigm (shocks to their tails.) The rats’ behaviors following the stress showed the no exercise group and the treadmill group were the most anxious. The voluntary wheel runners had less stress (as expected), but interestingly, so did the forced wheel runners. Even though they were being told when and how to run, their anxiety levels still went down. The take-home: even forced exercise (doctor, gym teacher, or Jillian Michaels prescribed) is better for stress relief than no exercise. (Provided the exercise isn’t “unnatural” for humans.) Also, treadmills are the worst. (See previous comment about unnaturalness.) 

Of course I don't feel my running habit is forced upon me. I do it because I love it. But it’s nice to know that even on those days when it might feel like another chore, it is actually helping me relax. But if I was really pressed for time, would it help to give it up for a little while? 

A different study hints at the answer to that question. What happens if exercising mice stop exercising? Do they return to baseline (the same as non-exercising mice), or do things get worse? Here there were three groups of mice: mice that exercised for three weeks, mice that did nothing for three weeks, or mice that exercised for one and a half weeks and then did nothing for one and half weeks. Continuous exercise reduced some measures of anxiety, but the group that stopped exercising looked the same as mice that never exercised. On other measures, the exercise-quitters were worse than the ones who never exercised. The authors suggested these could be withdrawal symptoms; maybe the mice were addicted to running. Finally, the authors measured the number of new neurons in the hippocampus. (Exercise has been shown to increase neurons in the hippocampus, an important area for memory.) Once again, the mice that kept exercising had the most, while the non-exercisers and exercise-quitters looked the same. The take-home: Reducing exercise can increase anxiety, negating any benefits from previous exercising. So no, you shouldn't give it up even (especially!) if you're feeling stressed. 

Remember, these are rodents. But from my own human experience, I almost always feel better after a run. Maybe it's because I've already checked one item off my day’s to-do list, making the others seem do-able as well. Maybe it's because I’ve got new neurons in my hippocampus and endorphins in my bloodstream. Maybe it’s because I love running, even when it’s hard to fit in my schedule.

The take-home: I'll keep on running and not stressing about it.

Dream big,

Teal

Race Report: St. Patrick's Day 8k

The Fear has set in. Only a few weeks left until the Big Race, have I put in enough hard work to beat my previous self? Workouts this season have been different than the past; they're more frequent, but (purposefully) slower than last season. The marathon pace runs, which are one of my standard measuring sticks from season to season were faster, but never quite as fast as wanted. Worse yet, a disastrous last attempt made them end up shorter than last season. And there's no time left for another go.... 

Going into a marathon with shaky confidence is a dead man's game (DNF man's game?) so something had to be done. After the upsetting marathon pace run, I decided to give the 8k a try. 

I've run this race the last two years, it's always a fun day with lots of green and lots of costumes (despite being a week away from St. Patty's.) I figured all I needed to do was run faster than last year to prove to myself I'm in better shape. Last year I ran 6:15 pace (31:02, 8k is a hair under 5 miles) and beating that should be no problem at all. After I'd proven that to myself I'd feel better. 

As in past years, I didn't taper and took it more like a workout. On the line, I was shocked to realize I wasn't even nervous! (If I could summon this attitude for every race, we'd really be talking.) The first mile was a little fast, the second a little slow, but I tried not to let it phase me. Last year at that point I was dying, getting passed by people, hating racing. This time I felt fine. Good, even. And I was the one passing people. At four miles, I tried to push it a bit, but I'm not sure how much I actually picked it up. I finished in 30:05; if I had known how close I was to sub 30, would I have pushed more? I think I could have.

So the race served its purpose: I got a good workout and a confidence boost. I really needed the boost now, before tomorrow's half marathon. I didn't want to go into the half marathon with shaky confidence, race poorly, then be even more worried for Boston. But I proved to myself I'm in better shape than last year, so there's no reason not to go for a big PR in the half.... 

And then another one in the full... (one month to go!)

Spectators beware: Fiance had a spectacular showing. On a course that is <5 miles, he saw me 4 times. The parents will be down this weekend to join him in their own final Boston tune-up; can they set a spectating PR? 

Dream big, 

Teal

Science Friday: For the Love of Chocolate, Bite Two

Happy day after Valentine’s.

I’ve crawled out of my chocolate-induced coma to bring you the second annual installment  of Chocolate Is Good For You News.  This study came out last year, too late for Valentine’s but in time for Easter. (Do I need to start having an April edition of CIGFY News to justify my Cadbury egg consumption?) It doesn’t have anything to do with running or exercise, but it’s chocolate, so I couldn’t resist. (As is usually the story with me and chocolate.)

In this study, they asked over a thousand people about their eating and exercise habits, evaluated their BMIs (Body Mass Index, a ratio of height to weight) and mood, and most importantly asked the age-old question, “How many times a week do you consume chocolate?” (More than you’d like to know, Researcher. More than you’d like to know.) As you might expect, they found that people who ate chocolate more frequently consumed more calories overall, including more saturated fat, and had higher rates of depression. But they also found that people who ate chocolate more frequently had lower BMIs. (Emphasis is theirs. Even they were so surprised by this that they had to add italics.) They found no link between chocolate eating and exercising. 

What’s really remarkable about this is the issue of calories. There’s an idea that a calorie is a calorie, meaning that no matter what you eat, if it adds up to more calories, you’ll gain weight. Of course that’s overly simplified. Studies show some calories are better or worse than others: protein has been shown to keep you lean, monunsaturated fat to reduce your risk of heart disease, trans fat to raise your risk. Most people would put chocolate in the bad calorie column; it’s full of sugar and fat. But this study suggests it’s not so bad; that a chocolate calorie isn’t just a (delicious!) calorie. Even though chocolate lovers ate more calories, they were still thinner. The authors cite other studies that have found chocolate helps regulate insulin sensitivity, blood pressure, and cholesterol levels. Maybe these advantages of chocolate offset the sugar and fat. The authors finish by concluding that a randomized clinical trial of chocolate may be needed. Count me in!

Unfortunately, the researchers didn’t ask about the type of chocolate. Dark chocolate gets all the good press and is getting more popular, but considering the ubiquity of milk chocolate products in our supermarkets, I can’t imagine these people were eating only dark chocolate. It would have been interesting if they had included that distinction, especially if it gave some credit to poor old milk chocolate. 

Dream big,

Teal 

Science Friday: Hunger Games

The link between exercise and weight loss is controversial. Lots of studies and personal testimonies (yours truly included) indicate that exercise leads to weight loss, but there are other studies that swear it doesn't. (Some studies just throw everything you thought you knew on its head.) I've talked before about the idea of "fit and fat;" it seems that even people who may not experience weight loss still experience many healthy benefits of exercise. But what's the deal with the lack of weight loss? Of course exercise burns calories; one worry is that people over estimate what they burned and overeat, consuming more than they lost. Also, exercise makes us hungry. (See my current amount of food consumption, which has sky rocketed with marathon mileage.) 

An interesting recent study investigated the link between hormones released before and after an exercise intervention and the amount of food eaten. The hormones studied (CCK, obestatin, GIP, and leptin) help to regulate your eating; CCK and leptin tell you to stop eating, GIP tells you to eat more. (Obestatin's role remains controversial.) Obesity may disrupt these hormones' ability to accurately regulate food intake. For example, some obese people have high levels of leptin but seem resistant to its effects. (Leptin should decrease eating.) Some evidence suggests that exercise can help get these hormones back in check, which should help prevent overeating and improve weight loss.

In this study, both male and female overweight participants underwent a 12 week exercise program. Before and after the program, hormones levels were measured after fasting overnight and then directly after breakfast. Other days, participants were given a milkshake and then treated to a pasta lunch. (Milkshakes and pasta? Count me in!) The amount of pasta eaten and the amount of food consumed for the next 24 hours was assessed. The trick was the milkshake: one day it was filled with malodextrin, a mostly flavorless substance that more than doubled the calories. Another day malodextrin wasn't added. The researchers asked how the milkshake affected the rest of the day's eating. Will the participants' bodies sense the extra calories and eat less after the megacalorie milkshake? Will an exercise program help?

First of all, the participants lost weight in the exercise program. That's an important note because it's more evidence that exercise can lead to weight loss, even though the participants were told to maintain their normal diet throughout. After the exercise intervention, leptin levels were decreased during fasting and remained decreased after a meal. This may seem counterintuitive, but leptin decreasing with exercise may help the body become more responsive to its effects. (Remember, obese people may have too much leptin and be insensitive.) The milkshake and pasta lunch combination didn't change after the exercise program. Both before and after the exercise program, the participants ate less pasta after the megacalorie milkshake than after a normal milkshake. However, their food intake over the course of the day changed: after the exercise intervention, the mega milkshake led to less food eaten the rest of the day. (Prior to the intervention, the mega milkshake actually led to more food being eaten the rest of the day, see graph below.) This indicates that the exercise program helped to regulate the body's ability to count calories. It's not that exercise makes you eat less (the days with a normal milkshake had increased food intake compared to days before the exercising, compare hatched bars below), but that your body is better able to judge how much you're eating and when you've had all you need.

 Before the exercise program ("All-Baseline," at left) the participants ate more after the mega milkshake (HEP, solid bars) than after the normal milkshake (LEP, hatched bars). After the exercise program ("All-End", at right), they ate less all day following the mega shake.

It's important to note this study looked at participants who were overweight to start with. Previous studies on this subject tested normal weight people, which isn't as relevant to the population of dieters these studies aim to help. The good news for people trying to lose weight with exercise is that exercise may get your body to help out, by teaching it to better regulate eating.

Lastly, the study is an important reminder to know what you're eating. Restaurants (and researchers!) can trick you into consuming way more calories than you may be aware of. This study suggests your body might be able to compensate to some degree, but do yourself and your body a favor and eat fresh and homemade whenever possible!

Dream big, 

Teal

Baby, It's Cold Outside

It’s really freaking cold outside. Like slap you in the face, knock you over, why am I outside? cold.

But yes, I ran yesterday. And I’ll run today. No, it wasn’t the best run ever, thank you for asking. But I’m glad I got out there. And you will too. Need some motivation? Take your pick.

For the scientifically orientated:

The more  miles I log in the cold days of January,
the faster I run my spring marathon.

Yes, it’s an n of one. Yes, I’m specifically choosing to ignore other factors that may have influenced my marathon times. But there’s a graph, and it looks nice, doesn’t it? I got out the door, so can you.

For the visual learners:

For the Resolutioners:

As per the NY Times, if you can keep your resolution through the end of January (1/3 of people don’t!), you have a good chance of keeping it. This is the hardest month, stick with it!

For the competitive types:

A reality check that might help you get out the door any day: 

And relevance to today’s post: “Someone who is colder than you is running right now.” I really shouldn’t be complaining, because I live in DC, and anyone north or west of me can tell me I’m a wimp and to get over it. (Although this wimp used to live and run in Boston, where she swore 30-degree weather was warm enough for shorts. She doesn't think that anymore.) No matter where you are, there are probably people dealing with worse. If you follow runners on Twitter, you get a good sense that everyone else is braving the elements, and coming back to Instagram photos of themselves with icicle beards.

For the marathoners:

Days until LA: 53

Days until Boston: 81

Days until London: 87

Don’t waste them!

For the appearance driven:

I can’t give you a countdown until beach season officially starts, but I do know that stores have spring lines and bikinis out. Seriously.

For the Southern Hemisphere types:

Screw you. Let’s talk again in July.

Bundle up and get after it! (Safely of course, I’m not talking about running in ice storms here.)

Dream big and stay warm,

Teal

Happy New Season

More than two weeks into the New Year, how are the resolutions coming? I’m enjoying the extra people out running; it’s always a pleasant surprise I’m not the only crazy person running around in the cold. Hopefully the unseasonably warm weather here in D.C. has kept some people on track. I’d really love to see the Resolutioners still out in February, when it’s really miserable.

I’ll be honest—I don’t make New Year’s resolutions very often. What I do make often and repeatedly are New Season resolutions; when I start getting back into training, I’m optimistic and eager. This will be the season I strength-train/increase my mileage/eat better/sleep more! The success rates of these missions are modest; I have cranked up the mileage and gotten better about eating and sleeping right. But sorry, strength training, you’ve yet to make the cut.

I do appreciate the starting over. Last season was a bit of a mess. I was feeling great in August, getting in the rhythm of workouts with the team, doing strength stuff, looking forward to lots of fall races. But then in September, things fell apart. I was exhausted all the time, couldn’t hit paces in workouts or easy runs, and ran one of my most disappointing races to date. (Ok, Chicago 2010 was worse.) Afterwards, I didn’t really know what to do. I took some days off, moped around a bit, and finally realized I might have iron issues. But after that, I couldn’t get back in the groove, strength workouts slipped away again (they are elusive little buggers!), and my mileage never got back to where I wanted it. More often then I'd like, I abandoned my good diet and sleeping habits. October through December is a bit of a blur of more disappointing races. Honestly, looking back, I’d say I wasn’t giving my all. I was going through the motions, but it wasn’t getting me where I wanted to be. I was in a rut, and I couldn't get out.

So ever since the season wrapped up, I’ve been looking forward to hitting reset. New year, fresh slate, and back to the marathon—my true running love. There’s something satisfying about marathon training--being constantly a little hungry, a little exhausted, and yet completely fulfilled, knowing you're cranking out the miles and hitting the workouts. Now Boston is circled on the calendar, and Coach and I have come up with a plan to get me there, full of all the workouts I love and the ones I love to hate. I’ve got my diet back in check, I’m trying to sleep more, and once again, I’m attempting to sneak that strength training back in. (C’mon, I’ve got to get some wedding arms!) With it all planned out in front of me, it doesn’t look daunting, but like there’s a clear way to get to where I want to be. Just follow the steps. All the bad races and exhaustion are so last season—we’re starting over, with high hopes.

P.S. Happy late birthday to the blog! It’s been over a year, can you believe it?

Brother brought up a good question about race pace workouts. I talk about my favorite (although daunting) marathon workout here. If you ever have any questions, feel free to leave a comment below, or email me at teal@milestothetrials.com. 

Dream big,

Teal

Lauren

This past weekend was the National Club XC Championships, a race our team has looked forward to all season. Instead of the celebration we had planned, we suffered the most significant loss. On Saturday, December 8th, while walking across the street, our teammate Lauren Woodall Roady was hit by a car and killed. She was just 27 years old and recently married.

When we gathered after hearing the news, our team was in shock. How could this happen to someone so young, so full of promise, so kind, so careful? It didn’t seem real. It cannot be rationalized.

We stayed up that night sharing all the reasons we love Lauren. There were a lot of reasons, but no one was keen to sleep. Much was said about how driven she was. Since joining our team last spring, she has annihilated all of her PRs (she was going to crush her marathon PR in January) due to her incredible work ethic. She was the most disciplined runner I've ever known. During workouts, she always set the pace a little too fast, mostly because she didn’t know her own talent and didn’t realize the paces she was running with ease were faster than the rest of us had planned on. On Saturday, in her last race, she gave her absolute all, collapsing at the line. She was an inspiration.

Off the track, she was always positive, warm, and filled with endless energy. Besides having a full schedule as a lawyer, high mileage runner, and gym rat, she found time to make delicious homemade treats: cookies, muffins, strawberry jam. (“Strawberry jam is easy to make! You just start by picking 30 pounds of fresh strawberries...”) She had motherly qualities: an eagerness to help, a kind heart, and a knack for being prepared for anything. When someone mentioned being hungry before Saturday’s race, she whipped out a loaf of bread, a packet of peanut butter, a jar of jam, and a knife from her race day bag. She was a wonderful teammate. 

The next day, our team somberly took the bus back to DC. I wouldn't wish a ten hour bus ride on anyone grieving, but I was glad to be with my teammates who knew Lauren and understood what a loss this was. 

Despite the many discussions and tributes to her life, I am still in shock and cannot believe this is real. When I think of those most affected, her parents, her new husband, I am inconsolable. Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers. For my own part, I feel blessed and thankful I was able to know her and run with her for those few months. She will live on in all our hearts, and remain an inspiration to us always.

Our team after Saturday's race. Lauren is furthest left.

Lauren, we love you and miss you. You will forever be our teammate and our inspiration.

Dream as big as Lauren did,

Teal