Sweat Equity

I’ve got to be completely honest, right now my head is spinning and my legs are a bit gassed. Not only has this been the busiest July on record but we’ve gotten some intensely hot weather recently in the Northeast. Of all the months on the running calendar, I dread July and August the most. The heat takes a real toll on me no matter how easy the pace. Long runs, speed work, recovery miles…doesn’t matter. It’s at this time every year I think of buying a summer home in Fairbanks, Alaska.

You know it’s bad when you start daydreaming about shoveling out your driveway.

For two months straight as I’m lacing up my shoes I dawdle a bit too much before heading out the door, trying to delay the inevitable. These summer runs never disappoint either because very one of them is a battle. Spending that 40 minutes to 3 hours wiping the sting of sweat from my eyes, trying to manage the heat along with fighting back the occasional bout of nausea at times makes me question my sanity. I walk in the house after practically every workout completely drenched. Most days you couldn’t tell the difference between me post-run and me post-scuba-diving.

I’ve got a serious love/hate relationship with my training during this time of the year, emphasis on the ‘hate’. I love knowing the suffering is contributing to the end result but I just can’t get used to the heat. I’m now into the fourth summer of this going back to 2009 when I began running marathons again to qualify for Boston and history repeats itself four years later as I look to get into a more exclusive club. Right now I have less than 14 weeks to get ready for that attempt.

Eating at Windows on the World gave you a great view!

The NYC marathon has some special meaning for me this time. Growing up on Long Island and going to school in North Jersey, NYC has been a been a big part of my life. Many times I took the Long Island Railroad or the PATH trains into the city with friends and family. I remember taking my then girlfriend and future wife to eat at the top of the World Trade Center and then many years later to Tavern on the Green in Central Park. In looking back, the NYC Marathon was the last marathon I ran in my prime. I was 23 back in 1987 when I stood in a crowd of runners on the Verrazano Bridge waiting for the gun to go off. After we heard the gun we all stood in place or jogged slowly for another five to ten minutes before crossing the starting line. I don’t remember any corrals back then and there was no chip timing either. I remember fighting my way through the mass of runners for several miles until I found some room to hit my stride. The memories of that race are really vivid, each neighborhood had such a unique feel and culture. Brooklyn, Manhattan, South Bronx… I can remember those parts of the course but oddly enough I don’t remember the finish line. Maybe there’s a message there, the destination only has as much value as the journey itself.

A lot has changed in 25 years. From the number of runners to the ethnic makeup of the city and I’m excited to see the differences. I’m also different in a number of ways. More experienced, but (hopefully) more humble. Better prepared but with more wear and tear on the body. I can’t remember what I wore that day in 1987 but my race day singlet for Nov 4th is already safely tucked away in my drawer. For this race I’ve completely changed my training plan and I’ve completely changed how I fuel. Now I’m starting to see a difference.

For all my previous marathons I either used a stock training plan, or in the case of my mid-1980′s marathons, none at all. My McMillan training plan was designed specifically for me to get under 3 hours at NYC. Customized for the time, customized for the race and customized for the runner. I’m only 5 weeks into it so far and I’ve run more mileage below my goal marathon pace than during any 18 week training period to date (that’s a good thing… I think). I’m keeping an eye out for warning signs of overuse but so far good results.

In becoming a Gatorade athlete these past two months I’ve jumped into the product line with both feet. I’m not about to advocate to other athletes on products I’m not consistently using so I’m using everything. The biggest change for me was fueling pre-run. Always being cost and calorie conscious, I would often head out for a run on an empty stomach and only then fuel mid-run on my Sunday runs of 15+ miles. That’s changed as I now use either a Prime 4 oz pouch or Carb Energy Chew before I hit the pavement. For most of my key runs I’m also carrying a sleeve or two of Chews for some mid-run carbs. The water in my hydration pack on Sundays has been replaced by Gatorade Endurance Formula. The difference? I’ve hit every key workout even with the big change in routine and intensity. I’m still in evaluation mode but I don’t think this is coincidental, fueling before and during is definitely having an impact.

95 days to go, a 2:59 finish time to get to and the clock is ticking. Let’s get to work.

photo credit

Gatorade EndurAlliance – Part 3: Opportunities

On to part 3. In Part 1 and Part 2 I got as far as the end of day 1 at Gatorade HQ. At this point the first workday was over, we headed back to the hotel to drop off a few things and then piled on to the bus to get dinner and watch the White Soxs take on the Blue Jays at US Cellular Field. Since many of us flew in that morning it had been a long day so far and from the conversations I was overhearing we were all more interested in the food then the ball game. Once we arrived we headed into the stadium and then went up to the Gatorade corporate suite. If you’re going to attend a professional sporting event, this is the way to do it.

You can watch the game while watching the game...

Words can’t do it justice so take a look at the pics. Widescreen TV, fridge, bar, and plenty of seating. We had Vienna beef hotdogs (which were probably the best hotdogs I ever tasted), steak sandwiches, and after that a dessert truck came by (bigger than a cart but smaller than an 18 wheeler) that had everything you could think of in mammoth sized portions. We all ate like we were running an ultra the next day.

Our seats were right across from Third Base

You know what the really cool thing was, we were all making comments like “Ok, that’s about 5,000 calories for me”, or “Hey, let’s make that 5 mile run tomorrow a 12 miler” and we all just laughed about it. There wasn’t anyone making the “you could stand to gain a few pounds” type comments that we are all use to hearing at almost every family event we attend. We had all just met that morning but throughout the day you could tell there was an instant camaraderie, we were all wired in a similar way. Despite the different ages and backgrounds, we “got” each other. It was a good feeling.

As dinner/dessert was winding down I noticed Coach McMillan was sitting by himself watching the game as most of us were milling about the suite either getting seconds or participating in a group discussion. It was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up. So I walked over and sat down, making sure to keep an empty seat between us (I didn’t want to crowd the guy). You know that feeling when you have so many questions you kind of freeze up and can’t figure out where to start? I had a terminal case of that. After a few minutes I was finally able to get a coherent thought and started talking.

What I was most curious about was what Greg’s thoughts were on form, foot strike and footwear. So I started by asking what his take was on heel vs. mid-foot/forefoot strike and his answer surprised me a bit. He said that where the foot contacts the ground is more important than which part strikes first. He explained that the heel can make contact first but the foot should land under the body, avoiding over-striding was important. He made a point of mentioning that there are healthy runners with bad technical form. “You look at them run and you wonder how they can train and not get hurt”. Some runners land heel first and some don’t, performance and staying healthy are more important than perfecting technical form. Coach McMillan explained that every runner has his/her own unique physiology and quirks so the ideal form for each runner varies. He mentioned that there were also great runners with great technical form but ironically some got injured often. It was clear that Greg felt very strongly that there was no ideal foot-strike, it’s very individualized.

Coach Greg McMillan and yours truly. You feel faster just standing next to him.

Our discussion on foot strike lead to footwear choices, I told him about my situation and how much going zero drop/minimal has reduced my injury rate. He replied “that’s great, you found what works for you but that might not work for someone else”. We started to discuss injury rates and I mentioned that I had read that the injury rates in the 60′s and 70′s were lower when all runners wore flats. He replied “That’s not true, injury rates haven’t changed even going back that far, in fact the raised heel was originally added to running shoes because runners kept tearing up their achilles”. As we talked Greg kept sharing some great insights that challenged me and really made me think.

On a footwear note, Greg is working with Adidas which will be coming out in the fall with running shoes he helped design. The heel in that shoe line starts at 11mm and goes down to 3mm. A bunch of us were drooling over the pair he was wearing (the 3mm version) and a few of the more bolder members of our group were trying to figure out how to score a pair from him. Be on the look out for these this fall and when I get more specifics I’ll pass them on. Overall on the footwear topic, as with foot-strike, I could tell that Greg felt strongly that footwear choices were individual as well, there was no ideal shoe for everyone. Performance and running injury free were key.

During the time we were talking I caught myself saying (rather frequently) “I hadn’t thought of that”. There are those moments where you realize just how little you know about a topic. It’s a good feeling though because it presents an opportunity for learning and growth. I mentioned I was running the NYC marathon in the fall and we talked a bit about training. When we were discussing my training plans his first question was “Where do you live, are there hills near you?” That got my attention and unbeknownst to Greg I felt convicted because I know I was under-utilizing hills in my training. I plan on changing that very soon.

He put NYC in the category of challenging courses. I thought about the hill profile for NYC for a moment and asked him why he thought it was challenging because I really couldn’t see it, even having run NYC once before many years ago. He said “You have the bridges and then the you have the roads which are in horrible shape. It’s not like Chicago where you can zone out for 26 miles. You need to stay alert to avoid all the cracks, manholes and bad pavement.” My reply? “I hadn’t thought of that”. That’s why Greg is one of the top running coaches in the US, because he sees the details most of us miss. I hadn’t consider the mental challenge of the race from that perspective, but I’m considering it now.

Coach McMillan mentioned that he had just submitted a manuscript for a book to be published this fall. He explained that it goes over his approach to training and coaching in detail. Needless to say I’ll be picking this up as soon as it’s available. I’m not big on book reviews (only because I don’t think I’m good at them) but I may have to make an exception in this case.

As the game got into the 8th inning even the 20-somethings in the group were ready to head out and crash back at the hotel. We had a 5 mile group run scheduled for 6:30AM so there wasn’t any resistance in the group.

Team Gatorade takes Chicago

We all met the next morning in the hotel lobby, decked out in our matching G-Bolt black Nike t-shirts. With about eight or so in our group including Coach McMillan and Michellie Jones, we downed some G Series 01 Prime and got on the road. The hotel was maybe a mile or less from Lake Michigan so we weaved our way thorough morning rush hour traffic and were finally in the clear when we hit the lake. It was a great morning, a clear sky and not too warm. We clipped along at about a 7:45 pace which was fast enough to keep us from getting bored but slow enough to encourage conversation. I noticed some startled looks from the local runners who obviously weren’t used to seeing what appeared to be a Black Ops team breezing by them while three different conversations were going on simultaneously. The only thing identifying us was an understated G-Bolt on the front for our shirts and an orange #winfromwithin hashtag on the back.

Day 2 was filled with Retail Training Events, a deep dive on the EndurAlliance Program along with excellent presentations from Michellie and Greg. There was a lot to learn so I soaked up as much as I could and took plenty of notes. If you’re in the Philly area you can see me put all this great knowledge into action at the Gatorade booth during the Philly Insurance Triathlon expo on 6/22 and 6/23.

At the end of the day we grabbed dinner and eventually headed back to the hotel. On Saturday morning I grabbed my early flight out of O’Hare and shortly afterwards was back to reality in Philly. It’s hard to sum up what a great experience this was, there were far more learning opportunities than I could count and I’m sure there will be plenty of learning opportunities yet to come as I reach out to the endurance community and help educate them on fueling and nutrition. I’ll keep you all posted as usual, so as always, stay tuned!

Pushing through Pain

Change is Hard: Pushing through Pain

“Experience has taught me how important it is to just keep going, focusing on running fast and relaxed. Eventually pain passes and the flow returns. It’s part of racing.” – Frank Shorter

If you’re a competitive runner, it’s the price of admission. It’s going to hurt, a lot. Both in training and on race day it’s the one thing you can count on to be there. Most running articles, blogs and advice I’ve read really don’t dig into this but are instead centered around the physical aspects of performance because the metrics are easier to measure. Training plans and races can be analyzed and tweaked based on splits and total time. The results can then be compared to determine the best course of action. Pain though is subjective and not easily measured. We all experience it in similar ways but for each of us pain is a singular experience. Like a fingerprint, you can immediately identify it at first glance but as you look closer all the subtle lines and details make our suffering uniquely ours. What this means is when you’re pushing your effort above the 95th percentile, getting those last few percentage points are all mental and there’s no cookie-cutter road map to getting to your peak. The only guide we have to maxing out is knowing just how much discomfort we can tolerate.

A Word of Caution First

To start with let’s be clear about what I’m taking about. I’m not referring to the type of debilitating pain that signals something is wrong. Issues such as a critical physical injury, heat stroke, hyponatremia and other serious and potential life threatening situations need immediate attention and the ceasing of activity. Ignoring this type of pain will turn you from a hero into a cautionary tale very quickly, so don’t do it. The more experience you get as a runner, the better you’ll get at understanding your body’s language and the easier it will be to know if you are in serious trouble or not.

So we’ve narrowed it down. We’re talking about the”‘gut check”, “grin and bear it”, “suck it up buttercup” type of misery we deliberately subject ourselves to on a regular basis. For what it’s worth here’s three ways for dealing with the inevitable:

Accept it

Admit it, when you first feel the discomfort rising your first reaction is fear. You can hear yourself saying “I shouldn’t be feeling this so soon”, “I’m in better shape than this” or “How bad is this going to get?” All of these responses are irrelevant. The pain fairy has shown up to make your day more interesting and she’s going to hang around for a bit. The key is not to react emotionally at first because your first reaction is typically going to be a negative one. That negativity then is going to wreck your confidence, sap your energy and just dig you deeper into the hurt locker.

Our attitude should be to expect it. Like a boxer in a fight you know your going to get hit so don’t flinch when the blows come, because they will come and flinching will only make it worse. Accept it so you can focus on what matters.

Pursue it

In some races it comes and goes in waves, in others it’s a slow smoldering burn that builds in intensity until it’s searing. Instead of backing way, I’ll force myself to lean into it and if I’m feeling too comfortable mid-race I’ll start looking for it by pushing the pace. Our instinct when we’re hurting is to slow down until the pain is manageable, but this is a missed opportunity. You’ve been handed a motivational tool that if used and channeled properly can help propel you and keep you focused. When you feel yourself struggling keep the pedal down. Find out if this is a ‘stick around’ kind of suffering or just a ‘comes and goes’ type. Regardless keep pressing, you’ll never be able to push past your limits until you know where they are.

Pass through it

In some races it feels like we are stuck in our current predicament and when that happens panic can start to set in. If we give in to panic we initiate a series of events that is going to undermine our performance and set us up for defeat regardless of how we run the rest of the race. With each stride you are moving through an experience, you’re not trapped so don’t react like you are. Now is the time for that emotional reaction only it needs to be positive. Use visualization techniques and see yourself passing the field, setting a new PR or placing in your age group and what you’re going though now is the price you have to pay to get that. This positive feedback will keep you moving and focused on the race instead of the discomfort. Let the pain pass through you instead of letting it set up residence.

Pain Comes in Many Forms

Non-running lesson of the week: Last Wednesday was a pretty apocalyptic day for me, not physically but emotionally. I’ll spare you the details but I had to deal with a work situation that was a perfect storm of Murphy’s law, instructions not followed and some high visibility commitments. It got ugly early and didn’t get better until I headed home. That evening as I was struggling to fall asleep I had a bit of a revelation, I got to the point where I couldn’t feel any more frustration, disappointment or anger. Then it hit me… you can only hurt so much. Pain doesn’t scale to infinity even though we think it can. I accepted it, passed though it, and then fell into a deep sleep.

As I went in the next day to continue to deal with the aftermath, I was at peace with what occurred and thought about how to make the best of a bad situation. I learned, quite by accident, that every kind of pain has its limits and only has as much power over us as we choose to give it.

photo credit

Bad Software

The Art of Running: Bad Software

Leonardo da Vinci - Vitruvian Man

As an engineer the human body amazes me. We have a number of systems all over-layered with one another yet there’s this harmony of form, function and sophistication that no man-made system can duplicate. Our built-in software and organic CPU is what really blows my mind though (pun intended). Before we are born our native OS (Operating System) is hard at work controlling our involuntary systems and responding to our inputs. This software is so complex and fine-tuned that it enables us, over time, to perfect our movements. We compensate for our environments, we learn and adapt, we develop techniques and improvise ways to overcome obstacles (climbing a tree) and obstructions (crossing a river) practically on the fly. As we hit the same challenge time and time again our OS analyzes our various responses, identifies which is most successful, and then stores it in long-term memory for future use. If you’ve haven’t picked up a baseball bat in ten years or ridden a bike in fifteen, you still reflexively know:

- where to place your hands and feet.
- how much pressure to apply with your grip.
- how to balance your weight.
- how to keep your movements fluid and in rhythm.

and this all occurs subconsciously.

Fascinating...

With the continued advancements over the past several decades in artificial intelligence and robotics, we are still no where close to duplicating our natural capabilities in a computer program. If we were a machine, any scientist would find us ‘fascinating’ yet we find ourselves in our later years lumbering along on our runs when we used to glide effortlessly. We started with the best software ever written but at some point during our lives we got hacked. Let me explain…

The day before the Boston Marathon I did my best to just relax in my hotel room and save my energy. I had a dinner reservation at 7:30PM but by about 5 I started getting antsy. My hotel was right next to Boston Common so I decided to take a short walk and sit in the park for a while. In my ‘retirement dry run’ I couldn’t help but notice folks running through the park and then I started noting their strides. I saw the typical range of form from smooth to awkward and then a family with a few kids came walking by. Correction, the adults were walking, the kids were running. Back and forth and around in circles, little balls of limitless energy bouncing off each other. Then I paid attention to how they were running, it was practically flawless. I was jealous of their technique for a moment, I realized I’d spent the past two years working on mine but had yet to reach the level of a four year-old. A real ego boost the day before Boston.

Instinctive running

At one point we were all kids and had this instinctive ability. Then we lost it, why? First think about what kids spend most of their time doing. Any parent will tell you how hard it is to get preschoolers to sit still. They are constantly moving and providing input and feedback to their software as they run, jump and climb. It’s also tough to get them to keep their shoes on (and their clothes in some cases). The reason kids hate wearing shoes is the same reason they hate wearing gloves or being blindfolded. It’s sensory deprivation.

Preschoolers eventually become teenagers who eventually become adults and the further along that timeline we go, the more sedentary we become. We also spend the majority of that time encasing our feet in thick protective enclosures. During this process our adaptive systems are continually at work. Inactivity and lack of sensory input is seen as an obstacle so our brains immediate start compensating and begin overwriting our efficient movements. What was once easy and fluid becomes hard and awkward. Years of bad footwear choices and spending most of our waking hours relatively motionless resulted in us hacking our own code. The learned movements that were refined during our youth weren’t forgotten, it’s worse than that, they were overwritten. Imagine how difficult it would be to swing a baseball bat if you spent the last ten years wearing thick oven mitts. All the compensation your systems made for the mitts has replaced the natural sensation of gripping the bat. You’d be a complete klutz.

If you were raised in a modern society this was inevitable, like some bad Sci-Fi movie plot your memory’s been wiped and replaced. We’ve got bad software, flawed code, so now what? If you spend a lot of your time in front of a keyboard like I do, it’s an ongoing battle to relearn those fluid movements and retain them. To fight your way back to efficiency, you need to take some proactive steps:

Education: Seek out experts.
- Dr. Pete Larson over at Runblogger has several excellent articles that discuss both form and footwear.
- The Natural Running Center is another excellent resource to learn about proper form. The director of the center, Dr. Mark Cucuzzella, knows his stuff and finished 4th in the 45-49 male age group at this year’s Boston Marathon with a 2:37.
- Runner’s World, Running Times and Competitor can also help in pointing you to good articles and subject matter experts.
Practice: Do the work.
– You need to reprogram your form. During your runs shorten your stride, keep proper cadence and posture and integrate form drills into your workouts and warm ups
Patience
- Change is hard and takes time. The longer you’ve been running with flawed form, the longer it’s going to take to correct. Go slow, make small changes and reinforce those changes with consistent technique.

Now that you understand the problem, it’s time to start working on the solution. Free your feet, embrace change, run with joy.

Nutrition

Nutrition: A Work in Progress

Disclaimer: I’m not a doctor or registered dietitian. I have no formal training in human physiology or nutrition. Come to think of it, given my upbringing and past eating habits, I’m probably the last person on the planet you should be looking to for nutritional advice so have a nice day and thanks for stopping by.

OK… now that the lawyers are gone we can talk. Since publicly coming out with my ‘Dear John’ letter to Splenda I’ve been continually working to improve my diet. I think all of us would like to make more healthy and natural choices when it comes to our food selections but some things always seem to get in the way. Willpower was at the top of the list for me for many years since favorite meals (pizza), enticing desserts (ice cream, home-made cookies) and holiday indulgences often threw me off track.

Calories?...what calories?

With the decision made I now find a couple of different obstacles standing in the way. Considering our family’s existing expenses and our two teenage boys who eat way more than I do, our grocery budget just can’t stretch enough to include a Scott-Jurek-like $600/week trip to Whole Foods. Any mom can tell you that unhealthy food is cheap and healthy food can get pricy. It’s just the nature of the beast, all families need to find that happy medium between eating healthy and having enough to feed their family.

Time is also an issue for me. It might seem like an odd obstacle but follow me on this. One activity I’ve wanted to get into was juicing but it looks like a heck of a lot of work. Also healthy foods in general require some degree of preparation and planning. When you’re walking out the door you can’t just stick some celery stalks in your pocket to nosh on later. There’s a reason prepackaged foods are popular, they’re convenient. Now some folks (like Mrs. Designed to Run) love to cook, it’s their joy and an activity they look forward to. As for me, I’d rather you give me a paper cut and pour salt into it. When I was in my 20′s and single, I would shop for microwave dinners based on how many seconds faster one package would cook than the other. Now with a full-time job, full-time family, 60+ mile weeks and blogging on top of that, the last activity I want to be involved in is food prep (especially since my PS3 has about two inches of dust on it and I think the last game I played on it was Madden 09).

So what’s a guy to do who hates cooking but wants to eat healthy and run competitively? He breaks down what his primary nutrition needs are and finds some creative solutions.

Protein

For me protein is priority one. I spent a lot of my adult years eating a carbohydrate loaded diet and got my protein mostly from pizza, hamburgers and my morning bowl of Capt. Crunch (don’t judge me). When you start amping up the mileage this diet obviously isn’t going to cut it. It’s only been over the past few years I’ve realized I’ve been sorely underestimating my protein needs. For runners protein is key for recovery and you need to know how much you need. Most articles I’ve read target 1.2 to 1.4 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight per day. Power Bar also has a Protein Calculator on its site that’s allows you to enter in some parameters and provides a protein intake recommendation based on body weight and other factors. I’m about 145 lbs so I typically try to shoot for a range of 100 g to 125 g per day. Those numbers may be a little on the high side but I want to make sure I’m covered.

I try to get in lean cuts of meat into my meals as much as possible and when it comes to beef for my protein needs, I make sure it’s grass-fed. My wife and I a year ago watched the documentary Food, Inc. and it cured us forever from eating fast food burgers or eating grain fed beef. I highly recommend dialing it up on Netflix and doing some research on the topic. It’s important to get a solid understanding of the food that’s fueling your run.

I honestly don’t get as much animal protein as I need so I supplement a bit with protein bars and mixes. Word of caution though, I recently discovered that most mixes contain sucralose so if you’re trying to avoid artificial sweeteners you’ll need to do some more research. Also I suspect that many cheap protein mixes use whey from grain fed cows. I don’t have a mix to recommend as I need to dig a little deeper on this issue but as far as protein bars go, you can’t beat Clif Bar Builder’s Bars for both price and taste.

Fruits and Veggies

Fruits I’m pretty good with. Vegetables, I have a historical adversity to them. It probably goes back to my youth and those mulch sized bags of Birds Eye vegetable medley that made the corn and carrots taste like lima beans and my mother’s cooking methods pretty much boiled every last nutrient out of them.

AHHHHHH!!!!......IT BURNS!!!!!!

It may not be optimum, but I found a solution to my vegetable issues: V8 V-Fusion. I love this stuff! 100% juice, gluten-free, no added sugar and no high fructose corn syrup. I can pick up a case of 12 oz cans at the local warehouse store and put them in my lunch and bring them on race day. Best of all it gets me a full serving of fruits and a full serving of veggies without having to pull broccoli bits out of my teeth. Win-Win-Win.

Now don’t get me wrong, I do eat fresh veggies at every opportunity. I’m honest enough to admit though it’s much less than I need so I need to supplement. And speaking of supplements…

Supplements

I highly recommend a good multivitamin regardless of your current diet. No matter how vigilant we are, we always tend to miss something. Whether you’re a hard-core vegan or bringing along a t-bone steak for a snack after your Cross Fit class, chances are you need to supplement. I’m constantly on the look out for a good multi but as in other areas I need to strike a balance between quality and price. I’m currently taking the GNC Mega Man Sport and I have no complaints. As with my protein intake I’m sure I’m getting more vitamins than I need and while I’m not advocating a ‘more is better’ approach, I want to make sure I’m covered.

My other supplement is omega-3 fish oil. I have a fish issue similar to my vegetable issue (fine, you can go ahead and judge me now). I started taking these on the recommendation of my doctor mainly for heart health but omega-3 has other benefits as an anti inflammatory. Since I don’t eat much fish, it makes sense for me to supplement in this area as well.

Conclusion

The simple answer for runners is get enough protein and eat a balanced diet. We all have our food preferences and issues so we need to make a concerted effort to work around those. Many runners deal with recurring injuries and while we tend to look at bad form or improper training as a root cause it’s possible that some injuries might be due to our diets. Stress fractures for example might be linked to vitamin D/calcium deficiencies and a poor diet in general might lead to more frequent illnesses. As the science on diet and health is frequently changing we need to pay attention and stay current. Proper nutrition is a journey, not a destination.

Back to Boston: Boston Marathon Training Week 13

Back to Boston: Boston Marathon Training Week 13 Wrap Up

Overview

This may be my final training update for Boston. From here on out there’s not much excitement. It’s a matter of getting in the mileage, some strides twice a week and letting the body heal. It’s better to under-train by 5% than over-train by 1%, especially for masters runners.
53 miles last week with the Caesar Rodney Half Marathon on Sunday where I PR’d with a 1:25:14 tag time.
My biggest concern was how my legs would handle running a half marathon three weeks before Boston. Legs feel good today with little or no DOMS. I have about 55 miles on the schedule this coming week and then two weeks of serious taper.
Less than 3 weeks to Boston.

Monday

Standard lower body conditioning routine (See week 5).
100 Push-up program: Week 6, Day 1, Level 2, 200 push-ups over 5 sets.

Tuesday

6 miles easy at a 8:35 pace.

Wednesday

Aerobic run, 11 miles averaging 8:09 pace.

Thursday

Aerobic run, 14 miles averaging 7:59 pace.

Friday

100 Push-up program: Week 6, Day 2 Level 2, 224 push ups over 9 sets.
Easy 8 miles, 8:28 pace.

Saturday

Standard lower body conditioning routine (See week 5).

Sunday

Caesar Rodney Half Marathon: 1:25:14 tag time, killer hills and 14 miles total.

Back to Boston: Boston Marathon Training Week 12

Back to Boston: Boston Marathon Training Week 12 Wrap Up

Overview

A little late posting this week but better late than never…
With the 5k last week and some tired legs I pulled the mileage back to 53. Starting to enter the ‘Don’t do anything stupid’ phase of my training. Looks like it was a good call as my legs are still tired but holding up. Will probably look at keeping the mileage under 60 this week as well.
Less than 4 weeks to Boston.
1st treadmill free week of the year, Woo Hoo!
Citizens Bank Caesar Rodney Half Marathon on tap for Sunday.

Monday

Standard lower body conditioning routine (See week 5).
100 Push-up program: Week 6, Day 1, Level 2, 200 push-ups over 5 sets.

Tuesday

9 miles with some interval work. 5 x 600m at 5k pace (6:00 min/mi.)

Wednesday

Aerobic run, 13 miles averaging 8:13 pace.

Thursday

100 Push-up program: Week 6, Day 2 Level 2, 224 push ups over 9 sets.

Friday

Easy 5 miles to shake out the legs for the 5k on Saturday, 8:32 pace.

Saturday

Haddonfield Adrenaline 5k new PR of 18:43! 6 miles total on the day.

Sunday

Long Run, 20 miles averaging 8:08 pace.

Back to Boston: Boston Marathon Training Week 11

But First, Story Time

Before the training wrap up I wanted to share a quick story about the world class customer service I experienced from Patton at the Natural Running Store.

For some time I had agonized about what race shoe to wear for Boston in April. Up to this point all my races for the past 3 years were in the Asics Hyper Speeds. These were great shoes for me at the time but I’ve outgrown them as a runner. I’ve transitioned for the past 9 months to minimalist footwear and the Hyper Speeds with their 6mm heel raise and spongy ground feel just weren’t going to work. I had done some research and narrowed it down to a few selections but none of the shoes I was looking at were available at the local running stores. With so much riding on this, I didn’t want to blow it by making a bad shoe purchase or spend the next month buying and sending back shoes from online retailers.

Who you gonna call?...

I’ve bought shoes from the Natural Running Store in the past so I got on their site and using their cool instant messaging feature I explained my dilemma to whoever was on the other end. The reply I got back from was Patton himself and for those who don’t know him, he’s the owner. That startled me at first, I mean how many owners are manning the customer service desk?!?!?

We chatted for few minutes and he asked if I preferred my answer via IM or video. I told him whatever was easiest for him and he then asked me to give him a few minutes and he’d be right back. He then sent me a link to a 3 and 1/2 minute video where he addressed my concerns, compared the Altra Instincts with the Inov-8 Bare-X Lite 150 (shoes he personally trained in) and discussed the benefits of each. I’ve dug back through my browser history and found the link so if you want to check it out here it is (for as long as the link lasts): http://ml.vu/xmJu1v

After another 5 minutes or so chatting, I decided on the Bare-X Lite 150 (in Super Hero blue):

Cape sold separately

I asked about sizing and Patton told me to go a 1/2 size smaller than the size 9 of the Altra Instincts. To be honest this made me a bit nervous because EVERY running shoe I’ve ever owned was a size 9. The Natural Running Store has an outstanding return policy so I went with the 8 1/2 size.

If you look down at my training, my Saturday marathon pace run was my first run in the 150′s. It was a great test to see if they would work for me since I was closely simulating race day conditions. They were light, responsive and with just the right amount of ground feel. And how did they fit?…

Thanks Patton for blowing my mind with great service and great shoes!

Back to Boston: Boston Marathon Training Week 11 Wrap Up

Overview

Planned for 70 miles this week but clocked 62. Still feeling like I might be pushing close to the injury zone so I cut some mileage again this week.
5 weeks to Boston.
Haddonfield Adrenaline 5K coming up on Saturday. Race season has begun!!!

Monday

Standard lower body conditioning routine (See week 5).
100 Push-up program: Week 6, Day 1, Level 2, 200 push-ups over 5 sets.

Tuesday

Aerobic Run, 10 miles on the treadmill averaging 8:04 pace. Was scheduled for a VO2Max run today but my left leg was telling me that would be a mistake. It’s typically the speed workouts that have caused me injury in the past. I made the call to back off a bit.

Wednesday

Aerobic run, 15 miles on the treadmill averaging 7:59 pace.

Thursday

Easy run, 5 miles on the treadmill averaging 8:34 pace.
100 Push-up program: Week 6, Day 2 Level 2, 224 push ups over 9 sets.

Friday

Aerobic run, 8 miles on the treadmill averaging 8:05 pace.

Saturday

Long Run, 18 miles outdoors with 14 miles at marathon pace. MP splits: 6:44, 6:49, 6:45, 6:57, 6:54, 6:51, 6:53, 6:54, 6:59, 6:48, 6:52, 6:48, 6:52, 6:59.

Sunday

Easy Run, 6 miles averaging 8:40 pace.

Change is Hard

Change is Hard: Good Bye Splenda

Dear Splenda,

I’ve been struggling for the words to express how I feel about you. Things haven’t been right between us and we’ve drifted apart for some time. I don’t want to prolong this any more than I have to, so I’m going to come right out and say it…

It’s over.

I know you won’t be upset because things were never that good to begin with. When we first met you were there waiting for me as I picked up the pieces from my NutraSweet dependency that nearly wrecked me with month-long headaches and a MRI scan that thankfully was negative. Being the stubborn man that I am, my Diet Cokes and zero calorie drinks were a habit I still wasn’t ready to let go of and you stepped right in as my enabler.

Now after 11 years together, I’m done. I’m sure you or your sibling sucralose will sneak into a beverage from time to time, but the cases of Propel Zero and 12-packs of Diet Cokes are behind me. I’m sure we’ll see each other from time to time at Costco and Wegmans and I promise I’ll be civil. Just stay out of my cart.

Love and Kisses,

Rob

Change is hard, harder still for some of us. Change is needed when you realize that established habits are becoming counter-productive or even destructive. Food has always been an issue for me but that doesn’t make me unique. From a quick survey of the blogosphere it’s apparent many others share my affliction and some of those are still unaware of the grip it has on them.

7 Vitamins and Minerals!!!

In the interest of full disclosure, I have to admit one of the things I’ve always loved about running is its calorie burning benefits. Since I grew up in a household where Pop-Tarts were part of a balanced breakfast and Yodels were a standard part of every lunch, my weight tended to be a bit on the high-side during my youth. Add to that the disdain I have for cooking and to this day I always seem to gravitate toward the prepackaged snack foods.

I’ve always been very body conscience, so I cut calories wherever I can. Being lazy, an easy way to reduce my calorie intake is in beverages. I wouldn’t dare sacrifice on taste though, so instead of drinking water I reached for the artificially sweetened drinks…almost exclusively. Luckily this wasn’t my mother’s era where the only option was Saccharin-laced Tab. It was the 80′s and NutraSweet was changing the world of diet drinks. No longer did you have to suffer with bitter after-tastes and a lack of choices. It was great until about 2001 when I got a headache that lasted over a month and wouldn’t go away no matter how much Advil I took. A precautionary MRI came back negative so I started changing my diet and as soon as I went off Diet Coke the headache subsided. Problem solved.

So here I am 11 years later, looking at my diet and trying to find ways to eat healthier and more natural foods. I’m old enough to realize my body can’t handle the diet of a 25 year old and if I want to be a happy and healthy runner well into my later years that depends on the choices I make now.

This time there are no headaches or MRI scans, just some common sense that says if you can avoid pumping artificial chemicals into your body, do so. As I continue to look to improve as an athlete, I’m continuing to check my food intake. In my next post I’m planning on covering my current diet and supplement regime, both the good and the bad. I’m hoping that the transparency (and humility) will help nudge me to make better choices.

…and water isn’t so bad once you get use to the taste.

Back to Boston: Boston Marathon Training Week 10

Back to Boston: Boston Marathon Training Week 10 Wrap Up

Overview

Planned for 70 miles this week but clocked 55. Had some extended fatigue issues in the legs so I dropped a couple of recovery runs but kept the quality workouts.
6 weeks to Boston.

Monday

Standard lower body conditioning routine (See week 5).
100 Push-up program: Week 6, Day 1, Level 2. Finally decided to go with Week 6 after about 2 months on Week 5, whatever it takes… 195 over 5 sets with 55 on that final set.

Tuesday

Easy Run, 5.5 miles on the treadmill averaging 8:38 pace.

Wednesday

Aerobic run, 15 miles on the treadmill averaging 8:06 pace.

Thursday

100 Push-up program: Week 6, Day 2 Level 2, 215 push ups over 8 sets

Friday

Off Day

Saturday

Aerobic Run, 12 miles outdoors averaging 7:59 pace.
100 Push-up program: Week 6, Day 3 Level 2. 245 push ups over 8 sets.

Sunday

Long Run, 22 miles averaging 8:16 pace.