Pausing during runs: yay or nay?

Sometimes, on the climb up the scree slope where the trail emerges from the forest, I'll stop and look out over the river corridor below and take in the beauty rain, wind, snow or sun. . . doesn't matter. Or when I get up above the old riverbed and I can see the city below. I never not stop when I encounter the heron fishing or, as last week on a long run, a bald eagle above me in a cottonwood. I slow for the deer on the narrow trail that they can find a way around me without having to climb the steep slope. It is this stopping to experience the greater of which I am a part that follows me throughout the day. And, I still get in my run.

Your body gets used to whatever stimulus that you give to it, so stopped is a habit that you don't want your body to get used to processing efficiently.

So interval training doesn't really work?

In high school a bunch of us decided to do a marathon. In training, I would stop fairly often to stretch, get water, whatever, and the other two guys would keep running and dump me or force me to catch up. The one guy was a more talented runner for sure, but very stubborn about never stopping.

Race result: me 2:52, them: 3:32, 3:36. Both stopped and walked during their race as they bonked heavily, I felt amazing but stopped once for a minute to massage a muscle cramp.

world famous pooper wrote:

every run, regardless of length, time of day, how much I emptied my bowels before, etc. I have to poop about 20-30 minutes in. that is the reality of my situation and if I try to fight it then it's a suicide mission

how old are you? i'm a 40s runner and carry TP all the time for exactly this. the youngins make fun of me.

earlier this year i had on brand new shoes, early AM run, a bit mentally foggy, and mis-stepped and landed in my own pile. damnit.....

For a period of time John Walker had problems running(had something wrong with his calves or something. Forgot exactly what it was). But what he found he could do to get around this was:

A. Run as hard for 30 minutes or so until he couldn't run anymore.

B. He found he could run uphill, but not downhill. So his coach would drive him back to the bottom of the hill and repeat.

This reminds me of a story from 84 Olympics. John Walker was out on a run with some other Olympians. In the middle of the run he had to stop. They all left him behind, but he eventually caught up and passed them all.

YMMV wrote:

In high school a bunch of us decided to do a marathon. In training, I would stop fairly often to stretch, get water, whatever, and the other two guys would keep running and dump me or force me to catch up. The one guy was a more talented runner for sure, but very stubborn about never stopping.

Race result: me 2:52, them: 3:32, 3:36. Both stopped and walked during their race as they bonked heavily, I felt amazing but stopped once for a minute to massage a muscle cramp.

So your marathon fartlek workouts worked?

Mine too.

i'm 25 years old; it's been like this since I can remember. when I lived in Boston I had to be very meticulous about my routes so that I was always within a mile of a bathroom. there's a 7 mile backwoods loop that my wife and I affectionately refer to as "the poop loop" because I had to pull off and poop in the woods once, but since then I routinely poop in the woods on that loop. the worst thing that ever happened to me due to this problem was that when I pooped on the poop loop, I used the wrong kind of leaves to wipe. Ended up getting poison ivy all on my butt and face. The itch and the urge to scratch was unimaginable, to the point where once I started I had to keep going until i got what felt like a non-sexual butt orgasm. I now carry toilet paper any time I go on that loop. Also last year I ran on my usual loop past portable bathrooms every few miles, but this day the town decided to remove all of the porta-potties from the soccer fields! I was stranded and ready to burst, but luckily there is a little creek that runs in a gutter underneath the road. Imagine a long tube about one meter in diameter. I crawled underneath that and pooped. I have never felt like such human scum in my life. It amazes me that I have my life together in so many aspects (married, $200k annually between us, PhDs) but I have to resort to pooping outside on a regular basis

ok now i'm feeling stalked. also live in boston. also have gotten poison ivy from route along the charles. also reasonably pulled together and yet frequently resort to pooping in the woods. there was a porta potty in newton along the charles for like 3 years. i used it all the time. one day they took it away, my body was so used to going there i had to go no matter. i consider it their fault not mine. i need a warning about stuff like that....

me too............. wrote:

ok now i'm feeling stalked. also live in boston. also have gotten poison ivy from route along the charles. also reasonably pulled together and yet frequently resort to pooping in the woods. there was a porta potty in newton along the charles for like 3 years. i used it all the time. one day they took it away, my body was so used to going there i had to go no matter. i consider it their fault not mine. i need a warning about stuff like that....

the anecdotes from that post were all from when I lived in RI. but in Boston I had all of the bathrooms mapped out. Museum of Science, au bon pain, MIT, and BU were my regular pit stops. I was always afraid to run to Jamaica Pond or the BC reservoir from my apartment because they did not have reliable bathrooms

I also live in Boston. I have one loop that hits bathrooms on the charles, BU, Harvard, Dunks, and BU again, its great.

Also a great man once taught me, while doing an out and back stop and take in the scenery before turning around. Stopping during a run is all about getting through runs. Some days you just need a break to keep yourself from cutting the run short.

New Folder (2) wrote:

. . . But in the bigger picture: if your training plan is built around 3-4 key runs and/or workouts . . .

Is this really something that people do? (Serious question.) If so, please share an example of a few key runs/workouts that you build the season around?

Thanks.

yay

relax

easy days are always the hardest anyway

Gallawalk a bit

The only thing stopping hurts is your ego.

In the summer I was struggling with some of my tempo runs here in Texas on those 80+ degree mornings with 90% humidity. I mentioned it to my coach and he suggested breaking up the tempo into mile repeats with a 60-120 second float. I asked him if that was less beneficial than running straight through and that's when he told me the only thing it will hurt is my ego. Physiologically there is no difference.

Me too. But it's easy to stay within striking distance of a park bathroom, outhouse, porta potty, fast food joint, hotel, big box store, etc. etc.

And the isometric squat benefits far outweigh any aerobic cost.

Mottram ran his easy days so easy that most 45 minute 10k runners in the US would blow past him on their "easy days".

I agree! In high school, I NEVER paused...ran around in little circles at stoplights. I saw pausing as a weakness. Now I am a Sophomore at a DII college and I usually pause once during every long run somewhere around the halfway point. A few deep breaths and a stretch help me to re-set my mental focus, and then I am on my way again a few seconds later! No harm done. I have seen drastic improvements in my times since high school, even with pausing!

I DO remember, however, when it was the end of July this past summer and I stopped like 3 or 4 times on one run in particular. That was such a bad run...I was not mentally in it at ALL.

In conclusion, pausing is good, but shouldn't be used on every run and in all circumstances.