Don’t be all on your Jack Jones

By Danny Mackey, M.S. 

 Did you ever notice some things are just better together verses alone?   

      Chips = good, picante salsa = good, chips + picante salsa = great.  I also just got introduced to those Uncrustables, and that reminded me of the classic all time best combos…..peanut butter and jelly.  Side note: if you like PB & J, try Uncrustables, though I think there is “something” in them, so don’t feel bad if you put down an entire box.  You can probably tell I’m hungry while writing this, but what about a running analogy?  A 10 miler on soft trails, on a sunny non-humid Saturday morning, after sleeping in = good, that same run with 8 of your best friends = great.   

      The autumnal equinox was the 22^nd so that officially means, sadly, summer has ended. That also means the XC season is in full force.  At this point, the collegiate and high school programs that tend to “wait” to integrate the hard workouts have begun some form of interval training.  Most teams have been together for at least a month, if not longer.  Being with the team may bring along some irritating runs, the little things about your teammates that did not bother you in preseason; 2-stepping the easy days, the one teammate that somehow wakes up at 6 am uncomfortably chipper and talks your ear off the entire run, or that friendly competition on those interval sessions….now start to get under your skin.  So what might happen now is instead of calling the crew on the days when you are not required to meet, you might want to go alone.  Now, I am not going to say that solo training is bad, running alone has benefits because you go at the pace you want/need, and sometimes you just need a day off.  What I am going to say is there is some research backing up the power in numbers, specifically while exercising. 

      I have some antidotal evidence from my personal experience last year.  I moved out West for my new job, and knew one person.  Plus, I started my job the DAY after I moved across the country, add in that fact that I was in a panic mode trying to get in shape for the marathon trials.  My job requires some independent work and I remember a 4 day stretch were I didn’t say a word at work, went home ran 19 miles solo, did core work, weights, ate then went to bed (technically passed out on the floor).  A friend called a few days later, and I thought I forgot how to speak.  I felt like Queton Cassidy.  The solidarity began to chip away at me, after a while I started to struggle.  The amazing trails did not fire me up anymore and the thought of doing mile repeats made me sick, my training started to go downhill.  I did not know what was wrong until I went down to Eugene and ran with a group of guys, I was like a little kid a summer camp. I probably annoyed every one of the OTC guys because I did not stop talking. More importantly, I ran my best tempo run of the buildup to the race.

      What does science say? (A disclaimer: I’m not a psychologist so brain activity is out of my field but the hormonal responses, specifically the stress hormones mentioned here, are similar to what we see in exercise and this is where the relevance to running is the concern) A few years ago Nature Neuroscience published an article on exercising rats. The study had 2 groups of rats; 1 group was living in isolation and running, the other set was living together and running.  Corticosterone (stress hormone) had a greater effect on the solo rats (even though exercise in general is a normally beneficial experience) and other stress hormones peaked higher in response to varying stimuli.  Furthermore, the group of rats training on the “team” setting had increased nueron growth (so you might do better on tests along with running faster).  Bottom line, there is a possibility that training together may attenuate the effects of stress hormones.¹ As the Rene’ Descartes said hundreds of years ago with his thoughts on “dualism”, depending on your current mental state, your race day performance will be influenced.

      Furthermore, numerous studies have shown that exercise stimulates the neurotransmitters serotonin (regulates mood, sleep), dopamine (controls movement, movtivation), epinephrine (influences arousal), and beta-endorphine, and beta-endorphin, all of which elevate mood and reduce depression and anxiety.²  Research is showing what runners have known for all along: In this state of mind, they are more likely to disclose thoughts and feelings—whether it’s to a training partner or licensed therapist—when they are logging miles.  In my opinion, doing too much of a good thing SOLO, can be a hinderance.  I end up analyzing every split, cramp, or .2 mph of wind solo, plus my mind seems to go downhill and out of focus.

      So, on that cooldown with the OTC we did agree that the days’ workout would have sucked solo.  There are common thoughts for why; having someone lead into the wind, pacing purposes, etc etc.  But what about the social interaction?  As we all know, not much “social interaction” happens at 4:30 mile pace, but there is the short winded “good job”, or “2 more to go, sack it up”, or “damn that was a hard one.”  I didn’t appreciate those little comments until I had the lonely training to compare it with.

   If you just look around at groups like the Hansons, Zap Fitness, Oregon Track Club, etc etc, some of the magic in those groups (beyond the financial support) is just that…..the group.  So, embrace the 2-steppers and the teammate that cherry-picked the first 5 repeats only to hammer the last one, without them you could be a sad lonely rat running on a wheel trying to set a PR. 
 

1. Nature Neuroscience; Dr. E. Gould 2006
2. Indian J Exp Biol. 2008 Jul;46(7):498-504