50 is the new 30

Weekly Status: 9 weeks to Eugene

2012-02-26T16:05:00.000-08:00

A shout out to Michael another 50+ runner/blogger out there doing his dardest to stay fit.

...this Sunday was his first marathon at the Cow Town (Fort Worth, Tx)....from peeking at the race results it looks like he totally SMASHED his A goal and had a great race. We'll know more how it went when he posts the race report!

Congrats Michael!

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Monday: Normally a rest day but since no Sunday run we did 70 minutes of biking, 5 of rowing.

Tuesday: 10 min row 2x1 min hard + 30 min biking 12 x {1 min @ level 15/20, recover to 115 bpm}, Lb weights.

Heel is getting better, but I can still feel it when going down stars or jogging on it so I'm not going to mess things up.. Another couple of days may just do it.

Meanwhile, cross training allows me to really push hard without hurting it. It's hard to get the HR up with biking but the 1 minute intervals I did today got me just up to 140bpm or so.. It's the legs that are really complaining however!

I remember fondly my cross training this summer during my previous issues and I had one heck of a time on the bike when I first started ;)

I managed to keep the cadence at 100 the entire 30 min....(I try to keep the cadence in the same range as running cadence.)

Wednesday: A test...5 miles at high base pace. Wore the Brooks Launch shoes.

It felt ok, I run at 11am and it was already close to 70 and SUNNY, so I was hot compared to my usual early morning runs.

Legs felt good, even with yesterdays hard bike intervals. The heel was way way better...and running in the Launchs seemed ok. I did ice after just in case but the proof things are able to improve is tomorrow.

Split	Dist	Pace	HR	% WHR	Cad	YPB
1	1.00	9:27	124	63.9	87	1.502
2	1.00	9:16	125	64.8	87	1.521
3	1.00	9:23	126	65.6	86	1.487
4	1.00	9:25	127	66.4	86	1.472
5	1.00	9:17	133	71.3	86	1.424
6	0.04	9:52	132	70.5	84	1.250
Sum	5.04	9:22	127	66.4	86	1.479

If we are lucky the rest days and the slightly higher drop, more forefoot cushion shoes will let us stay ahead of the game.

Thursday: 5 @ 10:23 m/m (HR 113), recovery pace.

I was all set to do some speedwork to test out the foot...but I was draaaaggin'. Usually after a mile I'll be warmed up and ready to go, but not today..for some reason I was tiirrrred. Kept it slow, enjoyed the sunshine. foot ok during the run...no big hit from yesterday's run...a good sign.

We'll see how we feel tomorrow...spent a bunch of time working all the trigger points out of both calves..there were 3-4 on the left leg.

Friday: 2 m warm up + 9 x { 4 min @ sub 8:00 pace + 2min recovery} + 2 m cool down.

This morning after sleeping like a brick, I felt a lot more energetic and so headed to track with calf sleeves on, temps around 50 and bright sun! Time to see if I could take some speedwork. The foot was feeling quite good so I decided to try 800s.

I guess what I did are modified Yassos....800m @ 8:00 pace takes 4 minutes...but I don't take a full 4 min recovery like a Yasso, but two minutes.

Split	Dist	Pace	HR	Max HR	% WHR	Cad	YPB
1	1.00	9:53	116	168	57.4	87	1.534
2	1.00	10:02	120	127	60.7	87	1.462
3	0.51	7:54	136	141	73.8	92	1.640
4	0.21	9:58	128	138	67.2	87	1.361
5	0.51	7:59	138	141	75.4	91	1.606
6	0.21	9:47	130	141	68.9	87	1.391
7	0.54	7:45	138	142	75.4	90	1.654
8	0.21	9:54	129	138	68.0	86	1.358
9	0.52	7:50	138	146	75.4	91	1.643
10	0.20	10:01	130	142	68.9	85	1.343
11	0.52	7:47	138	148	75.4	91	1.649
12	0.20	10:25	135	148	73.0	85	1.232
13	0.50	7:59	142	146	78.7	90	1.547
14	0.22	9:18	137	147	74.6	87	1.396
15	0.52	7:49	143	148	79.5	91	1.581
16	0.21	10:01	138	148	75.4	85	1.281
17	0.51	7:49	145	150	81.1	90	1.542
18	0.22	10:33	136	150	73.8	84	1.225
19	0.51	7:54	139	146	76.2	90	1.603
20	1.00	10:47	123	146	63.1	85	1.328
21	0.95	10:34	125	128	64.8	85	1.335
Sum	10.26	9:09	130	n/a	68.9	88	1.478

During the 8th it was getting tough..I was having to push to keep the pace and really concentrate on form. I knew I could do a full 10 but my little "inner voice" was telling me to be prudent..the heel was feeling very good but this was quite a bit of fast running..so perhaps I should stop. Sneaky that inner voice..always looking for a reason to cut things short.

I compromised at doing 9...the time was also getting late and I did still have 2 miles to get back home. I'm happy with low drift in HR and especially happy with the 90 cadence in the 2 oz heavier Launches!

Iced the foot after. Felt pretty good...proof will be how it feels tomorrow.

Saturday will be rest but not sure what to do Sunday, Jill?....12.5 @ base with last couple of miles fast?

----

Not much rain around here this "La Nina" year and it's already sunny and warm (70F+ today) and Spring!

And that means pollen..the flowering trees are out and the mustard is starting to bloom in the hills. After my run Friday I started sneezing later in the day..dear dear..what a messy runny nose..time for the meds!

Sunday: Jill says try to do 14 @ base pace..monitor the foot and abort if required. I was really looking forward to a long run....

It was a cool morning, 50s, some high clouds but pretty sunny.

Split	Dist	Pace	HR	% WHR	Cad	YPB
1	1.00	10:11	110	52.5	87	1.571
2	1.00	9:54	118	59.0	87	1.507
3	1.00	9:51	120	60.7	87	1.488
4	1.00	9:41	118	59.0	87	1.540
5	1.00	9:49	121	61.5	86	1.481
6	1.00	9:40	119	59.8	86	1.530
7	1.00	9:23	121	61.5	86	1.550
8	1.00	9:48	123	63.1	86	1.459
9	1.00	9:33	126	65.6	87	1.463
10	1.00	9:24	126	65.6	87	1.487
11	1.00	9:31	128	67.2	87	1.445
12	1.00	9:25	127	66.4	87	1.470
13	1.00	9:12	132	70.5	88	1.450
14	1.00	8:48	140	77.0	89	1.429
Sum	14.01	9:35	123	63.1	87	1.494

A decent run, pretty good HRs..not fully peaked yet but getting there..the foot didn't bother me much it was there during the run but didn't mess up my form, however after 10 miles I could tell it was going to be sore after, and yes, it was..icing as per usual.

I was happy I could do the run after doing a pretty hard set of intervals on Friday. Hopefully the foot will bounce back after the rest day tomorrow.

Total: 34.3 miles

For the first time in a long time I managed to hit <170 lbs on the scale. The weight bounces around from day to day so I don't obsess over it but watch for the min values...they are gradually going down. This morning I had to stop and cinch my water belt ..the default setting was just a touch too loose.

9 weeks to go.....

Midweek status and .....I'm Famous!

2012-02-23T12:20:00.002-08:00

Midweek Status

After doing cross training for a few days I started running again on Wednesday...5 miles at fast base.

Today I was really feeling a bit tired for some reason, so didn't push it and ran 5 at a recovery pace. My foot felt pretty good considering the previous day's run...no retribution there.

Even though it has gotten better I'm still not sure it's up to full bore training yet. Waiting another day or two before upping the ante. Doing lots of self massage of trigger points in left calf.

I like the Brooks Launches, I have no problem landing forefoot in them and boy, are they quiet! They are just the thing for babying my legs right now. (I will be going back to a mix of shoes once I feel up to it....not running in these all the time!)

I'm Famous! not really.

Marathon maniac Steve Walters made this MM logo artwork from about 400 Maniac names.

There are over 4000 Maniacs already (me #4012) so I was surprised to find out that my name was included in this ~~priceless creation~~ poster.

I found my name within 5 minutes! Here's a closeup...it's from the bottom rightmost "s" in "MANIACS"...I have rotated the pic 90 degrees clockwise:

I'm not sure why my name got picked....perhaps he put all the MM-ers that are silver and above? I suspect I just got lucky...even at that there are more then 400 MM-ers.

This reminds me of the Honda LA marathon where they had two Honda cars with all the names of the runners on them. My brother in law and I found our names! I'm not sure how we did that...I think they were distributed in some kind of alphabetical ordering.....does anybody remember?

Analysis of pacing variation in the Eugene Marathon, Part II

2012-02-22T06:00:00.000-08:00

After my previous attempt, I was not satisfied using bar plots to look at the data and decided a simple scatter plot of percentage fade vs finish time (in hours) would be more useful.

I also downloaded the data for the Eugene marathon for years 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011 just to get more data ;)

As Nelly asked before, I'll tell you that when I say 'fade' I mean the percentage by which your marathon time went up due to extra time in the second half.

So if you ran a 5 hour marathon, and you took 2 hours in the first half and 3 in the second half you would have

fade_pct = (5hrs - (2 * 2hrs)) / 5 hrs = 1/5 = 20%

You will notice two lines on the plots..these show a best-fit line matching the average fade for men (red) and women (green). The slopes of the line are noted as well in the X-axis label text.

I have cut off the data at 5 hours..slower than that and you are getting into walking, as well as some people that were clearly not faded but injured (calf strain, GI problems, ??).

You can see that for both men and women the percentage spread of fades increases with running time. ...e.g. the really fast runners are less vulnerable to the problem. Remember that these numbers are already percentage based on the finishing time so the increases in fade are a double whammy to the finishing times.

To return to my original hypothesis about women and men's marathon pacing: with these plots, you can clearly see that the women have:

1) Less overall percentage fade. At a 4 hour finishing time the women have 2-3% less fade. This is 6 minutes!

2) Less increase in percentage fade vs total running time...by about .5-1% per hour. So as we are all out there the men fade more AND their fade increases about 1% per hour more than for the women.

There is a lot of individual variation but I think these plots show the effect pretty clearly.

Born to Run?

2012-02-20T11:35:00.000-08:00

Yes, I think so. I'll spare you all the evolutionary and biological evidence but, yes, I do believe Homo sapiens is the best distance runner on the planet.

But..

Born to Race?

Here I think the answer is: No. Racing is NOT part of our DNA.

(Racing on trails is a bit better, but even that isn't something we were doing a lot of in times long ago..)

Granted, some people can take more racing than others...I read blogs of people doing ultras and sub 3 hour marathons galore..and I've read other blogs of people that get stress fractures every time they try to do a marathon build-up. Age is a factor of course, but genetics is clearly a huge factor.

What do I mean by "Race" anyway?

I don't mean strapping on a chip and bib. I don't mean trying to get a new PR.

The thing that we aren't meant to do too often is peaked training for a specific race. This is what the professionals do all the time and this is not easy: you have to push the limits of what your body can do and it's quite likely you'll push too far from time to time and break something.

In my (slight) experience, its very hard to know when to let up the gas in training. Plenty of times during my CIM buildup I thought I was right on the cusp of some injury, but I would go out anyway, do a good long warm up, and then surprise myself by having a great training session and recover fine and on schedule (barely ;).

It seems inevitable we will push too much once in a while... and then hope to recover and resume without messing up the schedule too much. Every time this happens you lose a smidgen of potential training benefit and are not as optimized for race day as you hoped, but every time you push through you get to a higher level of fitness.

So it's a gamble...you push yourself and see how close you can get to the limit. Along the way you get serious about injury prevention and learn how to strengthen, stretch, fuel and treat your body to minimize the odds of downtime.

When you pull it off, it is sweet. There's a lot of time, effort, planning, reacting, thinking and luck, that goes into a peaked cycle and race day.

But, this kind of running is hard on your body..there is no doubt. There is only so much abuse the connective tissues of your body can take...and the amount of gains we get is absurdly small, really.

My sweet spot seems to be 4:10-4:15 marathons..I can run these with no speed-work and limited training time (averaging 25 miles per week). I finish these races in good shape and ready to do some light tourism afterward. I ran a flat, purposely slow paced (for me) 4:45 trail marathon and went skiing the day after the day after (usually the most sore day!).

CIM, by contrast, was a big buildup, not perfect...there were some glitches, but I reached a level of fitness that was clearly (looking at the training data) above and beyond. Result: about 15 minutes faster than my sweet spot pace. This is only about about 6-7% faster.

And, after CIM I was hurting. I had much worse post race soreness than any other marathon I've run. I'm sure that is not good for me.

Yes, I'm still going to "Race"

It's just too much fun to do once in a while..e.g. once a year or so. And I'll do it knowing that it might be a little bit bad for me too...it goes beyond "good health". (Hey, climbing Mt Everest goes beyond good health and has major death risks besides!)

However, it really sucks being unable to run race you've signed up for and you looked forward to.

Running marathons in the slightly slower "sweet spot" is incredibly fun and still challenging. Just because you aren't trained to the peak, you still have actually run 26.2 miles and you have to pick a smart pace on race day.

Most beginners at the marathon don't do any speed-work..the training plans opt there for beginners focus on getting you to the finish...which is tough enough.

Shorter races

If you've been following my blog for a while you'll realized that my ramblings above apply mostly to marathons..as that's mostly what I run. I have only run 3 half marathons and two 10ks and a few Bay to Breakers (12k) back when I started running.

I guess what puts me off is that running peaked shorter races for me means doing some Very Fast training and I find that fast running is the thing that puts me most at risk of injury...marathon training beats you up too, but I seem to do better at the somewhat slower paces there and my body doesn't mind the longer distance as much.

Another factor for me is that training time during the week is available, but that weekends are often busy with other activities and so race days are not easy to come by...hence I lean toward fulls.

What do you think?

How many total races do you do in a year? Do you peak for races multiple times per year? Which races do you enjoy the most?

Weekly recap: 10 weeks to Eugene

2012-02-19T12:45:00.000-08:00

Monday: Rest. I was a bit sore and tired from Sunday's run...took a walk of about 1 mile in the afternoon to loosen up my legs.

My nasty pinkeye is essentially gone now, yay!

Tuesday: 7 miles, 2 miles easy + 3 miles: 1 min @ 10K/1 min easy + 1 mile easy + 1 mile hard. Lb strength training

This time I understood the 3 miles of 'fartlek' 8). Since it is supposed to be 'speed play' and not crazy precise speed control I did mess around and do some minutes a bit faster than 10k and some slower.

Unfortunately this kind of running creates a lot of splits: (the fast bits are marked with ***)

Split	Time	Dist	Pace	HR	Max HR	% WHR	Cad	YPB
1	10:11.7	1.00	10:12	116	144	57.4	87	1.488
2	9:26.0	1.00	9:26	121	150	61.5	88	1.542
3	1:00.2	0.12	8:04	129	133	68.0	93 ***	1.632
4	1:00.9	0.10	10:29	127	133	66.4	88	1.365
5	1:03.7	0.13	8:02	130	135	68.9	93 ***	1.658
6	1:02.3	0.11	9:51	128	135	67.2	88	1.457
7	:59.7	0.13	7:36	132	135	70.5	94 ***	1.742
8	1:00.8	0.09	11:27	128	135	67.2	87	1.221
9	1:08.6	0.14	7:57	132	136	70.5	93 ***	1.633
10	1:01.7	0.10	10:25	130	137	68.9	87	1.317
11	1:00.4	0.13	7:49	131	142	69.7	94 ***	1.735
12	1:01.2	0.10	9:50	139	146	76.2	88	1.241
13	1:00.0	0.13	7:46	134	139	72.1	93 ***	1.707
14	1:05.1	0.11	9:37	134	139	72.1	88	1.332
15	1:05.3	0.13	8:07	136	145	73.8	93 ***	1.546
16	1:09.1	0.12	9:42	130	137	68.9	89	1.411
17	1:18.3	0.16	8:03	131	138	69.7	93 ***	1.647
18	:52.1	0.09	10:03	132	138	70.5	87	1.382
19	1:01.9	0.13	8:06	132	138	70.5	92 ***	1.680
20	1:00.4	0.10	10:16	133	138	71.3	88	1.315
21	1:00.4	0.13	7:32	137	142	74.6	93 ***	1.659
22	1:01.7	0.10	10:29	132	141	70.5	87	1.297
23	1:14.2	0.17	7:23	136	147	73.8	92 ***	1.779
24	1:09.0	0.13	9:11	136	143	73.8	88	1.463
25	1:00.5	0.12	8:43	136	140	73.8	91 ***	1.540
26	1:08.3	0.12	9:46	131	138	69.7	87	1.416
27	:59.9	0.13	7:32	137	143	74.6	94 ***	1.673
28	1:00.7	0.10	10:16	135	143	73.0	86	1.289
29	1:02.0	0.13	7:42	137	140	74.6	94 ***	1.616
30	7:49.6	0.77	10:13	121	139	61.5	86	1.431
31	8:46.9	1.00	8:47	131	140	69.7	89	1.530
32	1:34.7	0.14	10:59	124	135	63.9	85	1.259
Sum	1:06:17.1	7.15	9:16	127	n/a	66.4	89	1.495

My left heel sore spot wanted icing after...it's not too bad ..for example I could do my 2x20 eccentric heel raises/lowers after running and it was ok with it...but there as usual.

Wednesday: 100ups, 6 mile easy

Did 3:17 @ 10:24m/m

I felt tired this morning and my left heel spot was more sore than it has been thus far. I kept the speed down but decided that some more rest was required rather than just mindless slogging...so I cut the run short. I can always pick up a mile or two on a day where I'm feeling great.

Iced the heel after and during the day and it felt better.

Thursday: 6 miles @ base, 5x15s hill sprints, myrtle routine after

The heel was not happy this morning. It was not to the point that it interfered with my from but it was very close to that. I gave it a couple of miles to loosen up but eventually I decided that hill sprints were a Very Bad Idea.

Instead I did a longer run at a slow base average. I ran on the bay trails...(dirt) whenever I could and that helped too. It was pretty sunny although cool (43F or so)...the bright sun make the water blue which is always nice to see 8). There was some wind on the way out but at about mile 5 I turned around and whee: easy running with the tailwind.

Split	Dist	Pace	HR	% WHR	Cad	YPB
1	1.00	10:11	139	76.2	87	1.243
2	1.00	9:59	119	59.8	88	1.482
3	1.00	9:41	120	60.7	88	1.514
4	1.00	9:49	117	58.2	88	1.533
5	1.00	10:07	120	60.7	87	1.449
6	1.00	9:48	116	57.4	87	1.548
7	1.00	9:29	121	61.5	88	1.534
8	1.00	9:55	118	59.0	87	1.505
9	0.26	10:14	115	56.6	86	1.485
Sum	8.26	9:53	121	61.5	87	1.471

Back at the office when showering I could tell I did the run pretty low on calories..I was smelling 'ketosis' on myself:

Ketosis is recognizable by the smell of acetone (as in nail varnish) on the breath. It occurs when the body's processing of nutrient materials for the release of energy depends predominantly on the use of fats. In the absence of a dietary carbohydrate supply for maintaining blood sugar, or if sugars cannot be utilized normally, fuel must come from stored fat and muscle protein.

I get this whenever I do my really long runs, and on this run because I didn't take any GUs with me and I am dieting a bit.

I immediately iced and took some "vitamin i" (ibprofen) for the heel.
We'll see if I can get ahead of the curve on this thing again. I have 3 more tricks up my sleeve to try:

1) wear the calf sleeves (why have I not been doing this before?)
2) run later in the afternoon when my legs are less stiff and more flexible (morning is the worst!)
3) Put heel lifts in the shoes to reduce the 'drop' for fast running (<9:00 m/m) to reduce the stress on the AT during for these fast paces.

I will do the usual icing 3-4 times today and try all 3 of these tomorrow.

When I first got AT three years ago and was running in heavy rigid shoes it was HORRIBLE. I would wake up in the middle of the night with a burning, throbbing sensation. I could not walk barefoot in the morning..I had to have lifted heels. It was a full blown classic case of chronic AT.

Fast forward to now...and the CIM training and Eugene training have been tougher than anything I've every done and I'm *so* close to being able to do it with no AT issues.

I just need a wee bit more margin to lick this thing. Frankly, one thing that will help a bunch is to lose more weight. I really do need to drop as much as possible BEFORE these training buildups.

Friday: ~6.35 miles, 100-ups, 2 miles easy + 3x12 minutes @ ½ MP w/2 min recovery between sets + 1 mi cd
I did the icing yesterday and it did help...today I followed my 3 items above and I did seem to be better off than Thursday.

I was able to complete this run...my heel was sore but better than yesterday. I did do 3 min recoveries rather than 2 to give myself a bit of a break.

Split	Dist	Pace	HR	% WHR	Cad	YPB
1	1.00	9:26	119	59.8	89	1.568
2	1.00	9:44	124	63.9	89	1.459
3	1.00	8:28	135	73.0	91	1.541
4	0.42	8:22	137	74.6	90	1.545
5	0.30	10:57	124	63.9	86	1.314
6	1.00	8:30	137	74.6	90	1.510
7	0.42	8:26	139	76.2	90	1.513
8	1.00	10:11	124	63.9	86	1.394
9	0.20	10:09	120	60.7	86	1.437
Sum	6.33	9:15	128	67.2	89	1.485

Decently low HRs for the red splits.

Saturday: Ub weights + myrtle
Done. My heel was sore today in retribution from yesterday.
Sunday: 12.5 miles, last 25 min hard.

This morning I woke up and knew I probably should not run. Heel area just too sore..time to wear the shoes with slight lifts in them and let things settle down for a few days.

It's a drag having to let up on the gas, but after punishing myself on the CIM buildup I don't want to do that again...It's not sustainable...(besides I have my 3:56 ;). What I want for Eugene more than a new PR is to get to the starting line healthy.

So, instead I went to the gym and did 70 min biking at fast 95-99 cadence, 115 HR, while reading my kindle.

I went to the store and after trying on several shoes and running on the treadmill with them, I picked out a pair of Brooks Launch shoes to use when I'm feeling beat up. I love me my Frees and Kinvaras, but sometimes I need a bit more drop on the heel when my muscles are stiff and yanking on the tendons.

I also wanted a bit more cushioning under the forefoot too for the recovery days...the Launch had the best forefoot cushioning, .8cm of drop, and was only 2 oz more than the K's in weight. It was also less stiff then my old Nike Pegasus shoes (I took them all to the store to compare...as well as my postal scale 8)

Total: 25 miles, 70 min biking.

Analysis of pacing variation in the 2011 Eugene marathon

2012-02-16T14:32:00.000-08:00

UPDATE: a better version of this analysis, and covering 2008 to 2011 is in this posting

--

The Eugene marathon makes it easy to scrape all the results data off their site.

I wrote a python program to parse this data and calculate the first half vs second half splits.

I was curious to see if there was a difference between the men and the women..I had a theory that due to being less 'macho' the ladies might be a bit better at pacing...here's the stats:

number	ave % fade	max % fade	med % fade	max % speedup
TOT(2340)	5.76	31.53	4.98	-9.47
M(1222)	6.20	31.53	4.97	-9.47
F(1033)	5.72	30.78	4.99	-3.27

The median fade was about the same for both men and women.

Weekly recap: 11 weeks to Eugene, and Sherry

2012-02-12T13:27:00.000-08:00

Monday: Rest

Tuesday: 7 miles: 2 miles easy + 3 miles: 1min @10K/1 min easy + 1 mile easy + 1 mile hard, lower body strength after

I totally botched this. I was up early and decided to run from work and in the process of getting gear and clothes together didn't really study what I was supposed to do for the day...didn't read closely.

So instead of 3x1min@10k I did 3x one MILE at 10k, with 1 min recoveries between. Man I wanted that 1 minute recovery to last longer ;) The second fast mile was also into about a 10 mph wind, which sucked. But I did it. Good form and cadence for all three I think.

Eventually I found out I really was supposed to do 1 min @10k and 1 min recovery, for 3 miles. Whups.

Num	Dist	Pace	HR	% WHR	Cad	YPB
1	1.00	9:45	119	59.8	89	1.516
2	1.00	9:46	123	63.1	89	1.465
3	1.00	7:59	143	79.5	93	1.540
4	0.10	10:55	135	73.0	83	1.176
5	1.00	8:04	146	82.0	92	1.494
6	0.07	14:34	134	72.1	81	0.881
7	1.00	8:01	146	82.0	92	1.502
8	0.05	21:06	135	73.0	57	0.634
9	1.00	10:43	123	63.1	86	1.335
10	0.92	10:59	120	60.7	86	1.337
Sum:	7.14	9:28	130	68.9	89	1.430

I'll have to see how snookered I am tomorrow..my AT was ok during..and I made sure to ice after. That's what I get for not reading CLOSELY.

In other news, caught nasty pinkeye in both eyes at the same time yesterday...getting worse today.

Wednesday: 100ups, 5 miles easy, myrtle routine

My pinkeye still bad today...did the 4.8miles @ 10:42 m/m....super easy recovery as I was miffed about my scratchy eyes and still a bit stiff from the erroneously fast running yesterday.
No 100ups..too tired.

Thursday: 7 miles at base, 9x8s hill sprints

pinkeye a bit better...lots of cold compress helps. I was busy at work and so ended up doing this run before dinner! This hasn't happened before..

Num	Dist	Pace	HR	% WHR	Cad	YPB
1	1.00	9:49	141	77.9	88	1.271
2	1.00	9:23	125	64.8	88	1.502
3	0.89	9:52	127	66.4	87	1.401
4	0.02	8:17	114	55.7	100	1.625
5	0.04	26:12	127	66.4	57	0.533
6	0.01	12:08	114	55.7	96	1.053
7	0.03	35:12	125	64.8	53	0.359
8	0.01	11:12	115	56.6	102	1.093
9	0.03	36:03	125	64.8	53	0.355
10	0.01	9:36	115	56.6	105	1.120
11	0.03	40:13	125	64.8	60	0.320
12	0.01	9:22	115	56.6	102	1.224
13	0.03	42:22	125	64.8	60	0.319
14	0.02	8:57	116	57.4	104	2.142
15	0.04	38:09	125	64.8	54	0.372
16	0.02	9:32	120	60.7	100	2.000
17	0.04	33:32	127	66.4	54	0.384
18	0.01	10:01	115	56.6	93	1.093
19	0.04	38:32	126	65.6	44	0.362
20	0.01	9:51	116	57.4	94	1.084
21	0.03	41:27	126	65.6	54	0.308
22	1.00	10:59	124	63.9	86	1.293
23	1.00	10:41	122	62.3	86	1.350
24	1.00	10:10	124	63.9	87	1.397
25	0.67	9:38	127	66.4	88	1.437
Sum:	7.02	11:19	127	66.4	83	1.224

Did this at the bike overpass "hill" so timings are not comparable to the hill I use from work. The paces are way slow even though I'm running them as hard as I can. This hill is steeper..or perhaps the mesh fencing that covers the walkway is blocking the GPS signal? Whatever..hard to measure accurately with GPS when the split is only 8 seconds!

As usual I recovered until HR hit 113-115 before starting the next sprint.

Friday: 6.55 miles: 2 miles easy + 2x15 minutes @ ½ MP w/3 min recovery between sets + 1 mi cool down, 100ups

Pinkeye better still today...swelling going down. 14 hours after my hill sprints yesterday evening I set out in the morning to do this set with a bit of trepidation. My upper left hamstring was a bit stiff from the sprints and in general I was beat-up.

Num	Dist	Pace	HR	% WHR	Cad	YPB
1	1.00	10:26	108	50.8	87	1.562
2	1.00	10:30	118	59.0	87	1.420
3	1.00	8:28	138	75.4	91	1.508
4	0.82	8:30	144	80.3	90	1.445
5	0.22	13:50	117	58.2	73	1.096
6	1.00	8:37	137	74.6	90	1.491
7	0.77	8:25	144	80.3	90	1.444
8	0.15	20:25	109	51.6	57	0.773
9	1.00	10:51	112	54.1	85	1.448
10	0.25	11:15	113	54.9	84	1.383
Sum:	7.21	9:53	125	64.8	86	1.424

I managed to hit the splits...afterward I was really sore when crouching down for example..iced the heels and they are ok after two days of fast stuff. No way I could do 100ups before or after without overdoing things.

Saturday: REST, upper body strength, myrtle routine,

I decided to do the virtual run for Sherry tomorrow during my long run..I was just too beat up today. I did not do my strength training either as I was having to do a lot of home project work in the garage and this involved plenty of upper body as well as lower body squatting, lift etc. Whew!

Sunday: 11 miles, last 20 min hard pace, RUN for SHERRY today.

This was a beautiful day to run, clear and sunny, cool but not cold and a slight breeze. I printed a bib and laminated it with carton-sealing tape so that it would survive the run.

As I ran I could see people once in a while notice my bib, but only one person...a runner going fast in the other directly said something directly to me....I caught only the name Sherry.

I remembered reading the press story about her disappearance when Toni and I were on our trip south..rechecking every few days wondering if she'd been found ok. When I returned home and caught up on blogs to my utter shock and surprise I learned about the connection to Beth.

Thinking about Sherry during the run made me sad and angry. I was also grateful at the same time that my life has not directly be touched by violence and to be alive on this fine day.

Women runners have to think about their personal safety in ways that a guy doesn't. This really SUCKS. I always carry my cell phone when I run so that if I need to get help for myself or anybody, I can do it as fast as possible.

Num	Dist	Pace	HR	% WHR	Cad	YPB
1	1.00	9:44	119	59.8	88	1.518
2	1.00	9:26	124	63.9	89	1.505
3	1.00	9:30	126	65.6	88	1.471
4	1.00	9:16	125	64.8	88	1.521
5	1.00	9:13	128	67.2	88	1.492
6	1.00	9:03	127	66.4	88	1.531
7	1.00	9:40	122	62.3	87	1.493
8	1.00	9:48	121	61.5	88	1.485
9	1.00	9:37	124	63.9	88	1.477
10	1.00	8:43	131	69.7	89	1.542
11	1.00	8:15	140	77.0	91	1.524
12	0.27	7:44	147	82.8	92	1.554
Sum:	11.27	9:15	126	65.6	88	1.509

I'm very pleased with these paces and HRs...getting up to 1.55 yards-per-beat efficiency at the end of a good medium run and at a hard pace is a good sign that things are coming along.

I had a good fast cadence...I find that as I get tired I slow down the cadence and lengthen out the stride. If I just concentrate on not overstriding and getting a good fore-midfoot strike, forward lean from ankles and up goes the cadence and back up goes the pace.

left heel sore spot not bad during run... iced after....

Pinned the bib up on my race wall...I will not forget this fine person.

Total 37.45 miles
Weight: 171.8, this is going well..sometimes it's hard but mostly ok.

I do find I sleep is the magic potion that lets me recover from such hard weeks. I'm not sure I would have ever learned that I can survive such hard training if had tried to coach myself...I would have been too chicken to push myself so hard for fear I would break.

Pinkeye about 75% gone.. when running outside in the moist air it's not noticeable.

The Eugene course map and elevation profile are posted on my 'running wall' so they can soak into my brain. Some very mild ups and downs but nothing really to worry about.

11 weeks to go now.

Midweek status

2012-02-10T14:14:00.000-08:00

The pinkeye is gradually going away. Yay!

Yesterday I ran before dinner..a FIRST. My legs were nice and limber rather than stiff like they are in the morning...hmm..perhaps that's another idea for reducing tendency to AT? I will have to try evening runs more..

Anyway this was a sprint day...and from the house the best place is the bike overpass bridge over highway 101 which is about 2 miles from my house...perfect warmup distance.

This ramp is a bit steeper than my normal sprinting hill so the splits are slower but it's probably better.

Today's routine called for NINE 8 second sprints..I have trouble counting and watching the HR for the recovery value (time to start next sprint) etc.

So today I took a little ice-plant leaf to mark each split. By the time I got to 9 it was a good thing I could just look and see how many I'd done..I was wiped.

A very slow trot home..on the way passing this house. This is Steve Job's house..a very modest french country style house with a slate roof.

Fruit orchard planted around.

It's springtime starting here now...the days of 32F mornings seem to be gone. Yesterday's sprints were done at a temp of 65F.

The bulbs are up! This guy was glowing in the sunlight.

Annoying speed bump

2012-02-08T15:24:00.000-08:00

Tuesday I awoke looking forward to new week of training...12 weeks left ahead and for some reason I thought to myself this was just 70 workouts. Doesn't really seem like much time invested to run a fast marathon when I think of it that way.

Anywho, I woke up and noticed my eyes felt pretty puffy and crusty...rinsed my face ..in my gear-collection frenzy rushed out the door. Got to work and hit the trails and noticed my AT felt pretty good...put in the 2 miles of warm up and then poured on the coal to do the first of:

3x (10k pace with 1 minute recovery).

I hit the mile at 8:00-ish pace and dropped back to a trot, savoring my 1 minute recovery...at the end of the minute my HR was still not below 120 so I was kinda miffed but dutifully cranked up the pace and did another mile as before....another minute of rest...NOT enough...why does Jill have such a short recovery I wonder? Last split..ugh, now I'm fighting a 10 mph headwind...me thinks I will not be able to do it.. but the body delivers the goods. Then I enjoy the easy pace to the gym to do a full set of lower body strength training.

Eventually, sitting at my desk, I pull up the doc file and see my mistake:

3x(1 min @ 10k pace with 1 mile recovery)

OH, that's why the recovery seemed so short. DOH! RTFM Dude!

So 24 minutes of hard running instead of 3. It was a hard workout but not that out of line 8)

So by now you are wondering where's the speed bump? Well, remember the puffy eyes? By afternoon they were pretty red and dry..and I was googling 'conjunctivitis'. It was listed as pretty contagious (in the viral form anyway) so I decided to spare my co-workers and went to the urgent care at my HMO. There I got some drops (in case it was a bacterial form..the viral form you just wait it out) and went home.

Today, my eyes are gradually getting less puffy and red. This morning's easy 5 miler was welcome and I ran it nice and sllooooww.....the moist outside air felt better on them. Sunny today and so wore my shades, luckily since otherwise I'm a dead ringer for Beelzebub's older brother. Getting better quickly so by tomorrow I should be more presentable.

I have no idea how I caught this..esp in both eyes at the same time. Probably haven't had it since I was a kid.

Weekly recap: 12 weeks to Eugene

2012-02-05T17:29:00.000-08:00

Monday: Rest

Tuesday: 5.5ish miles, 2 miles easy + 2x10 min @ ½ MP w/2 min active recovery between sets + 2 miles easy

I was a bit confused by these instructions as the 2x10 min at 1/2 MP (8:25 pace) would add up to 2.5 miles right there. What with the 2 warmup and 2 easy after that would be 6+...but didn't matter I just cut the cool-down at 5.5.

Split	Dist	Pace	HR	% WHR	Cad	YPB
1	1.00	9:47	150	85.2	88	1.200
2	1.00	9:55	129	68.0	88	1.375
3	1.00	8:23	138	75.4	92	1.520
4	0.37	8:07	143	79.5	93	1.505
5	0.19	10:38	128	67.2	86	1.285
6	1.00	8:20	141	77.9	92	1.498
7	0.27	8:24	144	80.3	90	1.453
8	0.65	10:28	127	66.4	86	1.330
Summary	5.48	9:13	138	75.4	89	1.383

The fast running went well...I'm noticing a small sore spot on the left side of my left foot heel. It's not hurting..just sore and doesn't get worse when I run....it's just 'there'. Doing some icing just to be safe which works really well to clear it up.

Wednesday: 100-ups, 8 miles easy

Ah my old friend 10:00 pace! So often I run away from you wanting to leave you behind. But you always welcome me with open arms when I decide to come visit. Fondly, I remember our first marathon together...you were so kind to me and led me to the end of the race without a wall to be seen! Why do I forsake you so often just to make fleeting contact with the cool 9:xx kid on the block?

Num	Dist	Pace	HR	% WHR	Cad	YPB
1	1.00	10:04	114	55.7	87	1.533
2	1.00	10:15	119	59.8	87	1.442
3	1.00	10:11	115	56.6	87	1.502
4	1.00	10:01	120	60.7	88	1.463
5	1.00	9:59	118	59.0	87	1.494
6	1.00	9:41	115	56.6	87	1.581
7	1.00	10:00	117	58.2	88	1.505
8	1.00	9:53	119	59.8	87	1.496
9	0.17	9:46	118	59.0	87	1.554
Sum	8.17	10:00	117	58.2	87	1.504

Exactly 10:00 m/m average 8)

5 miles into the run I hit the Paly track and this time I did a full minute of fast padding around barefoot on the AstroTurf infield . Then I did about 60ups of the so-called '100ups'..I was losing my snap on them and they say to stop when you aren't getting good form...so more next time. I think it was good to do them so far into a run..your brain is already tired and so you really have to focus to get your muscles to move quickly and precisely.

Didn't do icing.

Thursday: 4 miles @ base + 8x8sec hill sprints, myrtle routine

This went well..finished the 7th interval as nearly as strong as the first one, except was suppoesd to do 8........8/. After a few of these who can count? ;)

Num	Dist	Pace	HR	% WHR	Cad	YPB
1	1.00	10:26	124	63.9	86	1.360
2	1.00	9:58	130	68.9	88	1.357
3	0.29	9:31	120	60.7	86	1.533
4	0.03	6:10	128	67.2	100	2.380
5	0.04	20:38	128	67.2	56	0.693
6	0.03	7:11	114	55.7	97	2.375
7	0.04	17:22	127	66.4	60	0.726
8	0.02	8:38	112	54.1	95	2.193
9	0.04	19:05	121	61.5	62	0.679
10	0.02	7:05	113	54.9	99	2.124
11	0.05	18:49	126	65.6	63	0.795
12	0.02	6:37	124	63.9	99	1.958
13	0.04	20:04	129	68.0	60	0.626
14	0.02	6:40	117	58.2	95	2.256
15	0.05	20:04	129	68.0	62	0.716
16	0.02	6:21	118	59.0	87	2.057
17	1.00	10:08	124	63.9	87	1.401
18	0.37	10:38	118	59.0	87	1.393
Summary	4.09	10:38	125	64.8	84	1.324

Should have added the max HR for the split here too..oh well too lazy to re-do the table. Each set starts with the recovery of the HR down to about 113 or so..so the average over 8 seconds doesn't get that high.

Sore spot still there on left outside..kinda not the usual thing. Didn't seem that bad and was pressed for time so no icing.

Friday: 100-ups, 7 miles: 2 miles easy + 3 x [ 1 min @ 10K pace with 1 mile easy pace] then 1 mile easy + 1 mile hard

My sore spot felt tight and stiff this morning. Just for kicks I decided to wear my Nike Pegasus shoes (which have sat unused) to give my heels a bit of a lift. I set out for the track and they felt ok, heavy and clunky but do-able. I had to really work on a fast cadence and midfoot.

I did the 3x intervals and then decided to do the 100ups. Took off the shoes and socks and did them on the infield. Again, after all that running I could only do 50 before my snap wasn't snapping very well.

Shoes and socks back on and set of back for home to do the mile easy/ mile hard. WHOA...after doing the barefoot 50ups the SHOES FELT TERRIBLE....total suck. They felt like huge, stiff lumps of plastic..which isn't surprising since that's what they are 8/

Num	Dist	Pace	HR	% WHR	Cad	YPB
1	1.00	10:10	142	78.7	87	1.220
2	1.00	10:22	126	65.6	86	1.347
3	0.14	7:18	135	73.0	96	1.819
4	1.00	10:00	122	62.3	88	1.443
5	0.13	8:03	135	73.0	94	1.681
6	1.00	9:36	122	62.3	87	1.503
7	0.13	8:03	134	72.1	92	1.660
8	1.00	10:02	120	60.7	86	1.463
9	1.00	10:36	115	56.6	85	1.443
10	1.00	9:03	130	68.9	89	1.497
11	0.01	8:28	133	71.3	88	1.444
Summary	7.40	9:51	126	65.6	87	1.417

Back to my Frees/Kinvaras!

Saturday: Rest, upper body weights.

Sunday: 10 miles with last 10 min "moderately hard".

Rest day does wonders..ready to go.. I had some errands etc so didn't get to the run until later in the day..and it was already in the mid 60s F and pretty sunny! aka too hot.

Another good run but that nagging sore spot should have had
more icing earlier in the week. Didn't stop me from doing this:

Num	Dist	Pace	HR	% WHR	Cad	YPB
1	1.00	9:01	141	77.9	89	1.384
2	1.00	9:32	122	62.3	89	1.512
3	1.00	9:28	129	68.0	89	1.442
4	1.00	9:38	129	68.0	88	1.417
5	1.00	9:37	128	67.2	87	1.429
6	1.00	10:01	125	64.8	87	1.405
7	1.00	9:32	123	63.1	87	1.501
8	1.00	9:52	129	68.0	88	1.383
9	1.00	9:15	137	74.6	89	1.389
10	0.95	8:50	144	80.3	90	1.387
Summary	9.95	9:29	130	68.9	88	1.429

Did icing after and was a bit stiff after...perhaps over did it? Glad tomorrow is a rest day!

35 miles for the week...a tough week but I survived. HRs vs pace are not bad for this stage. The sore spot on the left outer heel is a concern. I'm way ahead on miles and paces vs the last build-up for CIM so I should probably not press so hard.

Weight 172.6..this is going well. Portion control is key.

12 weeks to Eugene now. Toni asked "How come you haven't hung up the map for the Eugene race yet?" How well she knows me..yup time to pin that up and start letting it sink in.

As race day draws near perhaps I'll watch some movies about Pre to have something inspiration during the race.

Marathon training and the long run

2012-02-03T06:00:00.000-08:00

Go slow. Everybody knows that as you build up your long runs in marathon training you are supposed to run them SLOW in the beginning..eventually you can start to run parts of them at marathon pace, but you still run the majority of the miles at M.P + 20-45sec/mile or even slower.

That's not for me! That said, almost everybody I know has this little birdie in their head that says "Well, that's all well and good for everybody else but I am going to see if I can run them at race pace..if I can run 20 at race pace I'll be much more confident I can go all the way and meet my target of X:XX".

Why only 20 miles? In fact, some non-runner (or short-distance-track runners) will be shocked that one doesn't even run the full 26.2 in training. "How can you race 26.2 if you've never run that distance at all?!?"

Long runs are the foundation. If there is one thing that's really really important to enjoying a marathon it's mastering your long runs. If you don't learn to love your long runs you aren't going to enjoy the marathon. (duh).

So, why Go Slow?

The first thing we need to acknowledge is that distances beyond 20 miles are special in their difficulty. There are two main problems that don't occur in shorter distances:

1) Our bodies can't store enough glycogen to propel us the whole way.

2) "Normal" non-elite runners can suffer large reductions in running economy as we get tired and don't extract rebound energy...slowing us even more or taking even more energy when we don't have it to give. We can be very sore the day after because of the damage to the muscles after racing 26.2 miles.

---

Problem #1 is addressed by teaching the muscles in your legs how to metabolize the triglyceride fats that are stored there. The trouble is that the genes that enable you to do this are only turned on if you are not forcing your body to use glycogen...i.e. not running fast.

If you insist on starting your long run training at race pace, and continue on that way, you will never teach your leg muscles how to burn fat. You will be very fast at running 20 miles but hit the wall at longer distances.

If you slow down, your body can switch over and will gradually adapt. The good news is that once you get this adaption, it seems to take a while to lose it.

Once you have the adaptation, you can gradually kick up the pace and get both your speed and keep the fat burning.

Why not run 26.2 very slowly to get even more benefit? Because it's just too hard on your body. You get enough adaptation by going out to 20-ish...any more than that and you will be too sore to maximize your training for a number of days after that mega long run...you therefore you will lose speed. Years of experimentation by the elites teaches us schubs 8)

---

What about problem #2? Why does running economy suffer and what can we do about it?

There are two reasons running economy can go to pot as far as I have read..I will shorten and paraphrase.

1) The brain gets tired. Running is an amazing choregraphed dance of nerve firings to control hundreds of muscles from your big toe up to your head. As your brain get tired, the 'spark' from your brain gets weaker, and your ability to get power out of your muscles diminishes.

The classic example of this is 'bonking'. Usually bonking isn't running out of fuel in your muscles at all, its running out of glycogen for your brain. When this happens your "stride falls apart", you start to do more damage to your legs because of that, you get depressed and you have a very hard time continuing.

The brain, alas, can't be taught how to burn fat..it need high quality fuel: blood glycogen. It relies on the glycogen stored in the liver (limited to 100g or so) as well as sugars (drinks or gels) to power it during a marathon. Ultra runners talk about being completely spent and done..utterly unable to run and then getting a shot of sugar and caffeine and off they go again!

You need to fuel during a marathon to keep your brain happy and/or you need a little breakfast a few hours before your marathon to top up your liver glycogen. I have tried breakfast vs no breakfast and using GU and find if I take 1 GU every 30 minutes the breakfast can be pretty minimal (banana and bagel).

This 'brain strength' issue comes up in other areas too...we practice different running paces so our brains can learn the firing patterns and get them habitual. Those of you that complain "I just can run slower...it seems so hard"..you need to practice it until your brain learns it.

Pylometrics (jump squats, etc) help develop a good mind/muscles connection ..trains for a 'hot' spark if you will.

Learning to run with both short compact, high turnover stride as well as a longer slower stride trains your brain and muscles to make you a more versatile runner. Different strides use different muscles and lets you get at more of the stored energy......unused muscles can't "give" unused glycogen or fat to other muscles during a race...it goes wasted. Being able to do other strides lets you harness all of it.

(This is perhaps why many runners say that a slightly rolling course is often one of the fastest..even better than flat. You get to use all your muscles.)

2) Not enough muscle.

Continuing on the above theme, another problem is that some runners have just barely enough muscle to do the job. They don't do sprints, strength training, core training or speedwork.

During a race your brain fires muscle bundles in rotation..a given bundle gets tired and it moves to a new one, then the next until it comes back around to the first set.

The more muscle you have, the longer each bundle gets to rest between firings (and of course you have more glycogen and stored fat) It's that simple.

So more muscle == less probability of hitting wall. Most beginner training plans don't include anything much other than long runs and that's good enough to get you to the finish, but perhaps not as fast as you could be.

---

I hope this helps explain why we do long run and other marathon training the way we do. In a future post I will do small reviews of the books I have read (where I learned all this stuff).

Some of the information learned in the last decade is pretty interesting...and shocking in fact!

Have a great long run!

How I use my Garmin 610

2012-02-02T06:00:00.000-08:00

And of course the answer to yesterdays the water drinking problem is that food calories (big "C") are 1 Kilocalorie ...i.e. 1000 chemistry calories. So my ex-boss's boss was losing 1/100th of a pound / day, not 10 lbs / day!

-------

Me loves me my Garmin 610..it was a gift to myself after reaching Marathon Maniacs two stars (silver).

Before that, I had a Garmin 405. Which I also liked..a lot of people have trouble with the touch bezel on this watch..I did not perhaps because I would always lock the watch when I was using it.

The 610 has a cool touch screen which works really well..and it's pretty slim and trim which I want. But I got the 610 because it had two other features I really wanted:

1) It has vibrate alerts. The 405 has a little 'chirp' noise it makes that sounds just like any number of little birdies we have around here 8/ So I'd always miss my 1 mile autosplit displays. You can also set pace or heartrate low/high thresholds and get vibrate alerts.

2) It can display 4 numbers at once. (405 can only do three)

This watch also lets you have 4 different displays and with the touch screen it's actually practical to flip between them on a run (unlike the 405).

NOTE: I set my watch to default to 1 mile autosplits as a default..what most (non-metric) people do.

Here's the screens I use:

1) basic easy run screen. Sorry for out of focus a bit. Shows me my HR and cadence so I run easy but keep up my turnover....but not pace or distance so I don't obsess.

2) Typical garmin 'salt of the earth' display with HR, avg pace and distance.

This used to be what I had on my 405 for most training runs and for marathons.

I used to be very happy just with this display ;)

3) Split timing mode. I use this when Coach Jill has me doing intervals. I can see the current lap time, my HR, my current lap pace and my previous lap pace.

Super useful for hitting the marks spot on during hill sprints or other speed work.

4) My favorite mode: Marathon race mode 8)

Here we have the total time (which is what really matters after all), the distance, the current lap pace and the overall race average pace.

Of course the average pace is something we track and shoot for and I always try to keep that in my expected range (correcting for GPS and not running tangents errors, etc..see below)

But having the current developing mile average is great too! For the first few seconds into a lap, the lap pace is a bit wonky because it only has a few seconds of data..after a minute or two it starts getting more and more accurate. This tells you you need to hit the gas or let up so that you can hit your next mile split spot on...and you can do the correction very very gradually over several minutes.

You'll notice the HR is not displayed. Yes, I do pay a lot of attention to HR during training but during the race it's just a distraction. (I do record it of course)

I used this display format during CIM and it was AWESOME. The only time I missed my splits was when I intentionally let up for a long uphill during that split and then I would gas it a bit on the next mile to bring it back in line.

I also used a pace band for a 3:58 time so that I could track the garmin / tangents losses..which settled in at about 5s per mile (started out for the first 5 miles at 7s /mile). 5s a mile is HUGE: 2.5 minutes in a marathon. Having the total time is a must to use the pace band. (duh)

I'm a fan of getting very close to dead even splits and the 610 with it's 4 number display mode really helps.

Stuff that bugs runners...

2012-02-01T05:00:00.000-08:00

Megan had a post about sh*it that bugs runners.

Always an amusing topic 8)

My funny story....

At my first job the Director of our division (about 100 people) was not very healthy..he was overweight and didn't exercise.

Once day, over lunch we noticed him drinking some ice water, a LOT of ice water, which was unusual. We asked him "Hey, Byron, why so much ice water today? It's not even hot in here."

His answer was that he read that it takes one calorie to raise one gram of water 1C. Therefore if he drank 1kg of ice water (about a quart) each day he would lose a ton of weight! Ice water is at 0C, the human body is at roughly 36C so 1000 grams of ice water would take 36,000 calories to heat up in his body. This means he'd lose 10 lbs! Brilliant!

You might think because he was our boss's boss we would be very reluctant to POINT OUT WHAT AN F*ING DOLT HE WAS.

No siree bob! That's one of the things I liked about computer engineering. Even good ol' "El Hefe" is ripe for skewering 8). He turned bright red when we pointed out his folly.

Luckily he didn't hold it against us...probably because every single person at the table (except him) burst into raucous laughter at the same time and he couldn't single out anybody in particular ;).

Actually he was a nice guy...just not good at critical thinking and ignorant of an important fact.

We gave him double grief because if drinking a 1kg of ice water could lose you 10lbs a day WOULDN'T EVERYBODY BE DOING THIS?

How many of you know why this was such a howler? I hope all of you ;)

Guest blogger Liz Davies

2012-01-31T05:00:00.000-08:00

Liz Davies has been trying to spread the word on various cancer and exercise topics for the last year or so on many blogs and I was happy to help:

Exercise and Chemotherapy

Benefits from Exercise
Exercise has proven to be beneficial for many people going through chemotherapy. There has been a lot of research done on women with breast cancer and there have been impressive results from people who continue to exercise through various forms of treatment. What is very remarkable is a recent study which showed there are benefits to patients who were receiving chemotherapy for inoperable lung cancer.
There are mental and physical benefits from exercise and for these lung cancer patients both types of benefits were discovered. People undergoing chemotherapy often experience exhaustion, vomiting, pain, depression and anxiety. Exercise is able to lessen and sometimes even eradicate these symptoms.
The patients in the study had stage three and four lung cancer and completed a six-week exercise regimen which consisted of both cardio exercises and strength training. At the end of the six weeks the lung cancer patients had an increased lung capacity and an increase in muscle strength. It was also seen that their mental well-being had also improved drastically and patients had more energy for daily activities.
Many times exercise is not recommended to cancer patients with a poor prognosis. This is true for lung cancer patients, mesothelioma cancer patients and people with other types of cancers with low survival rates like pancreatic cancer patients. Doctors often find a hard time seeing the benefits when it comes to these cases. But through this study it was shown that it is important for patients even with low survival rates to take part in an exercise routine. The physical benefits are important but the mental benefits are extremely significant for patients who are experiencing such an intensely emotional time.
Cancer patients often have a hard time finding the motivation and energy to begin a full fitness regimen. One way for patients to keep a program going is to have the program take place at a gym and to have a personal trainer. There are trainers who specialize in working with cancer patients and they are able to give high levels of motivation to these patients who especially need it. If the plan is to complete home-based training it is very easy to skip exercising.
After patients take steps in creating an appropriate exercise program and begin following it they will be sure to see the results.

Liz Davies is a recent college graduate and aspiring writer especially interested in health and wellness. She wants to make a difference in people’s lives because she sees how cancer has devastated so many people in this world. Liz also likes running, playing lacrosse, reading and playing with her dog, April.

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One of the ironies of exercise is that so many of the people that need it the most don't get any. It turns out this is true for those battling severe cancer too...

But, fighting such diseases must be a terrible combination of long term emotional stress punctuated by lots of boring waiting around for heath care professionals to do their thing. I can imagine that exercise could be something stress relieving and providing a feeling of self empowerment....at least SOMETHING is under your control. (I remember ready stories of Fred Lebow (NYC marathon founder) dealing with his brain cancer hospital time by doing laps around the ward..IV in tow.)

Weekly recap: 13 weeks to Eugene

2012-01-29T19:40:00.000-08:00

Monday: Rest

Tuesday: 4 miles + 6x8sec hill sprints + lower body strength training.

did 4.29@10:18 avg

Split	Dist	Pace	HR	% WHR	Cad	YPB
1	1.00	9:52	139	76.2	86	1.284
2	1.00	9:20	149	84.4	87	1.265
3	0.82	9:34	125	64.8	86	1.472
4	0.04	6:59	131	69.7	97	2.107
5	0.05	20:25	132	70.5	52	0.633
6	0.03	6:42	117	58.2	99	2.355
7	0.04	19:46	128	67.2	58	0.657
8	0.02	6:59	113	54.9	94	2.077
9	0.04	18:10	126	65.6	60	0.730
10	0.03	6:31	114	55.7	97	2.807
11	0.05	19:14	129	68.0	59	0.683
12	0.02	7:21	116	57.4	77	2.001
13	0.05	19:54	131	69.7	58	0.636
14	0.03	6:13	118	59.0	97	2.856
15	1.00	10:34	126	65.6	83	1.323
16	0.07	10:58	125	64.8	84	1.317
Summary	4.29	10:18	134	72.1	83	1.277
Summary2	4.29	10:17	126.2

I really love the hill sprints (splits in red)...I was always scared of them before..the few times I tried them I came close to hurting myself because I did too much too soon.

Jill is a good coach:..she starts me out with small numbers of reps and short ones..and gradually builds up each parameter week by week. This works great and builds new muscle you can feel in the back of your legs in just a month or so. Plus, feeling the wind in your hair is pretty fun.

When I got to the gym after my running I didn't have a printout of the strength routine, I did single leg squats, 2x10 ...could not do more (yet)..they are tough. Then I did stability ball leg curls...2x15 success!. Last buildup in the summer when Jill threw these at me the first time I could not do them at all. Now I can 8)...I was sore the next day from them...they are tough for me.

Then I did squat jumps (2 legged) was supposed to do one legged. Then I did 1 legged box jumps (was supposed to do box lunges), then clams, then eccentric heel lowerings. The box jumps were really tough, and I only had a very short box ;)

Wednesday: 6 miles @ base. '

did 6.1@9:51m/m avg. I was feeling it in the legs after the sprints and exercises on Tuesday. Did "myrtle" hip routine.

Thursday: 6 miles, last 10 min at 'moderate pace'. eccentric heel lowerings. Did the 10 min (1.2 miles) at <9:00 pace as the 'moderate pace' stuff. I was pressed for time and so could only run 4.6, not 6 miles.

Split	Dist	Pace	HR	% WHR	Cad	YPB
1	1.00	10:22	116	57.4	86	1.463
2	1.00	10:18	154	88.5	86	1.109
3	1.00	10:24	121	61.5	86	1.399
4	1.00	8:51	134	72.1	90	1.483
5	0.23	8:58	139	76.2	89	1.433
6	0.41	10:29	128	67.2	85	1.318
Summary	4.63	9:58	131	69.7	87	1.346
Summary2	4.64	9:57	132.0

Friday: 6 miles easy. I needed the 'easy'. I ran to the Paly track (2 miles) and did about 100 yds of very gentle barefoot running then did the final 4 miles after that.

..total of 6@10:14m/m avg, 116 HR

Saturday: No running, but upper body weights and bicycles. I did a lot of house project stuff today which involved a lot of moving. Feeling stronger today with the rest...you can really tell.

I bought a couple of 15lb dumbells so I don't always have to use the gym just for upper body stuff.

Sunday: 9 miles with last 20 at moderate pace (and hills if possible), myrtle routine

I really wanted to do my beloved bay trail loop as it's been so long..and so no hills. Instead I did the entire thing targeting 125 bpm. The resultant paces are not too shabby and I felt pretty great the entire time..smooth feeling and good form, 4:2 relaxed breathing and with a good cadence for that pace.

Split	Dist	Pace	HR	% WHR	Cad	YPB
1	1.00	9:46	113	54.9	87	1.595
2	1.00	9:45	122	62.3	88	1.479
3	1.00	9:15	124	63.9	88	1.533
4	1.00	9:13	123	63.1	88	1.552
5	1.00	9:12	125	64.8	88	1.529
6	1.00	9:27	127	66.4	88	1.466
7	1.00	9:17	129	68.0	88	1.469
8	1.00	9:14	125	64.8	88	1.525
9	1.00	9:21	126	65.6	87	1.493
10	0.50	9:29	125	64.8	87	1.486
Summary	9.50	9:24	124	63.9	88	1.511
Summary2	9.5	9:23	123.9

The birds were out feeding as it was low tide in the morning so it was a happening place. I could hear the muffled bangs of the duck hunters out in their blinds a few miles away down by Moffat field. I get nervous running the trails down there on weekend mornings 8/

I was supposed to also do some 100ups after my runs this week. FAIL on that. I'll try this coming week.

I should also mention (mostly to my future self that might be trying to remember what I did on this training cycle ;) that I've been dieting the last 2 weeks (since I got back from vacation). I have been well over 170 lbs (173-175) for many months (even during CIM) and added a couple more lbs during my vacation. I would like to get back below 170. (you may remember my post where I found out I'm 18% body fat by getting dunked).

Back pre-CIM I realized that building up for CIM and doing strength training, sprints, drills, etc, etc, I just could not add dieting to the mix..I would not be able to do the workouts. This time I feel like I'm starting from a better point and I'm also being very modest: get below 170lbs by Eugene. 13 weeks to lose 3-5lbs seems doable.

I never skimp on calories after a run..I eat (within 30 minutes) enough to full pay back the run, especially important if I've done fast running of any kind or strength training. I'm eating a bit more protein and generally cutting back the lunch and dinner just a tad and for sure reducing the empty calories (e.g. alcohol, bread before meals at restaurants, desserts).

Speaking of strength training nothing burns the cals like having more muscle. I have never felt so ravenous in my life since I got all these muscles. You an just sit in a chair and they still demand food!

So far, so good. I can tell I'm losing fat (using the pinch method)...I think I'll be sub-170 by race day no problem, maybe a couple lbs less even...mastering the BMI will only help running fast and not getting AT.

Today I weighed in at 173.3
Total 30.5 miles for the week..two 30ish mile weeks. Previous buildup was only low twenties for these weeks(!) 12 weeks to Eugene!

Tagged.

2012-01-28T07:00:00.000-08:00

Kepa is excited about his first tagging and has tagged me so I'll oblige.!

If you are interested in random me-stuff facts you can check out
this post.

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Do you keep a training log?

Sorta...I have this blog, in which I record details of specific training buildups via split tables from the garmin data and also my race reports. I also keep all my garmin .tcx files and use garmin connect to look over old data...I also have some software of my own that I can use to parse the garmin data.

Do you think videos of guys getting hit in their privates are funny?

Nope.

Train/Race - socks or no socks?

I use silk sock liners from REI. I have never had a blister from running in my life (knock wood).

What is your favorite movie?

Hmm. That's a hard one. I like a LOT of movies...last movie seen: "Tin Tin" in 3d.

Do you listen to music while you train?

Nope. I do listen to music a lot, but just not while running. I think using earbuds when running is a bit dangerous and when racing downright rude. I do hear music in my head though 8)

Heel striker or mid/forefoot?

Midfoot

How many pairs of running shoes do you own?

3: saucony kinvara 2, nike free 2, saucony peregrine (for trails).

What is your favorite color?

Blue.

Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Independent, Other... Don't Care?

Prefer not to bring politics to my blog...

At what training distance do you decide to carry your own hydration?

For distances less than 6 miles I just chug some water before I leave the house. For longer distances I will carry either a one or two bottle pack.

Do you wear your workout clothes more than once before washing them?

I used to wash my tech shirt and shorts while in the shower and then wring them out really hard. They will then air dry by the next day.

However now I have so many tech shirts from races now (and I bought more shorts) that I just toss 'em in the wash.

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I think this meme has been around once now so I'll stop passing it on. (With a branching factor of 11, the entire blogosphere gets tagged pretty quickly ;)

The Myth of Protein Complementing

2012-01-27T06:00:00.000-08:00

"My what a nice amino acid you have there"

No. Not that kind of protein complementing!

Back in 1971 there was a very popular book called "Diet for a Small Planet". In this book was put forth the idea that if you were a vegetarian you needed to mix types of protein to get a compete set of the 4 amino acids that are not made by the body.

So for example rice and beans went well together because each was high in a different 2 of the 4 amino acids...both together gave you all 4 in good amounts.

Even though I was not a vegan, I have leanings in that direction and so I always remembered that part of the book. (as well as the parts about how terribly inefficient it is to grow meat).

These days I'm a vegetarian about 85% of the time (I eat dairy, but only skim milk)...the rest of the time I'll eat meat or fish as along as it's damn good stuff.

Recently, I was eating lunch with a co-worker (a pretty solid vegan) and he didn't know about this at all (!). The reason is: when we got back to our offices he looked this up and it TURNS OUT IT IS NOT TRUE.

Here's part of the wikipedia entry for Diet for a Small Planet;

Knowing that her audience would be skeptical that a vegetarian diet could supply sufficient protein, much of the book is devoted to introducing her theory of complementing proteins, also called protein combining. This is a method of eating different plant foods together so that their combined amino acid pattern matches that of animal foods. But while Lappé was correct that combining would indeed result in a more meat-like protein profile, it is also unnecessary: Individual plant foods contain all the amino acids required by humans, in amounts which satisfy growth and maintenance; however, certain deficiencies of particular amino acids should be considered since such deficiencies can have a negative effect on health.^[1] In other words, mimicking the composition of animal proteins is not essential to human nutrition. After this was pointed out, Lappé recanted the idea of protein combining in the 10th anniversary 1981 version of the book:

"In 1971 I stressed protein complementarity because I assumed that the only way to get enough protein ... was to create a protein as usable by the body as animal protein. In combating the myth that meat is the only way to get high-quality protein, I reinforced another myth. I gave the impression that in order to get enough protein without meat, considerable care was needed in choosing foods. Actually, it is much easier than I thought.

"With three important exceptions, there is little danger of protein deficiency in a plant food diet. The exceptions are diets very heavily dependent on [1] fruit or on [2] some tubers, such as sweet potatoes orcassava, or on [3] junk food (refined flours, sugars, and fat). Fortunately, relatively few people in the world try to survive on diets in which these foods are virtually the sole source of calories. In all other diets, if people are getting enough calories, they are virtually certain of getting enough protein."^[2]

(Red parts emphasized by me)

So there you go. It's even easier to eat vegan than I thought.