...And let me just say that a cold and windy day is not a good day for a 15 miler.
My feet were brutalized after that run, but I managed to maintain marathon pace throughout the entire run.
I will say that it pays to practice a pattern in which necessary actions are completed while running long distances. I forgot to zip the pocket of my running belt and didn't realize that my keys had bounced out near my home...
It wasn't until I was walking home as part of my warm down that I spotted the keys and thought, "wow, those look alot like mine!"
Yes, I was very very lucky with that one.
But what truly made me feel better were the 3 'cooked in bacon fat' burgers, 4 slices of bacon, 3 Rice Krispie Treats, 5 snickerdoodle cookies and a handful of Doritos that I inhaled after the run.
There is something quite beautiful about burning 1700 calories in a single workout.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Friday, January 21, 2011
Lesson Learned: Watch What You Eat!
I think that everyone pretty much knows about eating healthy foods and avoiding junk. This post isn't about that topic, although I may eventually get around to talking about my diet and weight loss experience.
What this post is about, is anticipating the effects of your diet choices on your training and possibly race performance.
And I'd like to illustrate this Lesson Learned through a story of what I went through today.
Last night, I went out for dinner with friends to the Liberty Tavern in Arlington, VA. It's a nice restaurant and got high marks for the food from everyone at the table. Throughout the meal, I enjoyed some of their various cheeses, sour cream topped potatos (certainly a cheat meal!), and a parfait made with some coconut sorbet and some creme anglais.
I'll be honest, I thought the parfait was going to have yogurt and granola in it... sorta like the ones that you can pick up at a corner market or a McD's. I was NOT expecting creme anglais. What's creme anglais? Why, it's cream, egg yolks, vanilla and sugar!
Did I mention that I'm lactose intolerant?
Yeah...
Well, to my gastrointestinal strength, I had no issues last night and no issues this morning as I prepped for my 10 mile run.
Yay!
However...(and you can probably see where this is going) at around mile 4.5, right after a quick pee stop behind some trees, I was hit with this unimaginable pain in my gut, as if someon had just stuck a knife into my abdomen. Well, not literally, of course, but, at least what I would imagine getting stabbed in the gun would feel like. It was bad and I came to a complete stop and doubled over in pain. It would take me a minute or two to figure out what the pain was from and the realization that relief from this type of pain usually involves a porcelain throne was disheartening as I was 4.5 miles from home, no port-a-potty in sight and rapidly losing body heat from standing around and not actually running. it was not a good situation at all and I even contemplated calling a friend to come pick me up.
Luckily, I was able to regain my composure and complete my run, albiet a bit slower than expected due to the massive strength needed to keep my rear end clenched. Further, I only had one reoccurence of the searing gut pain just half a mile from home, which was thankfully short lived.
While I do carry paper towels with me while I run in case of emergency (whatever emergency that might be), anticipating possible issues is incredibly important, especially if youre one, four or however many miles from home.
Your brain. Don't leave home without it.
What this post is about, is anticipating the effects of your diet choices on your training and possibly race performance.
And I'd like to illustrate this Lesson Learned through a story of what I went through today.
Last night, I went out for dinner with friends to the Liberty Tavern in Arlington, VA. It's a nice restaurant and got high marks for the food from everyone at the table. Throughout the meal, I enjoyed some of their various cheeses, sour cream topped potatos (certainly a cheat meal!), and a parfait made with some coconut sorbet and some creme anglais.
I'll be honest, I thought the parfait was going to have yogurt and granola in it... sorta like the ones that you can pick up at a corner market or a McD's. I was NOT expecting creme anglais. What's creme anglais? Why, it's cream, egg yolks, vanilla and sugar!
Did I mention that I'm lactose intolerant?
Yeah...
Well, to my gastrointestinal strength, I had no issues last night and no issues this morning as I prepped for my 10 mile run.
Yay!
However...(and you can probably see where this is going) at around mile 4.5, right after a quick pee stop behind some trees, I was hit with this unimaginable pain in my gut, as if someon had just stuck a knife into my abdomen. Well, not literally, of course, but, at least what I would imagine getting stabbed in the gun would feel like. It was bad and I came to a complete stop and doubled over in pain. It would take me a minute or two to figure out what the pain was from and the realization that relief from this type of pain usually involves a porcelain throne was disheartening as I was 4.5 miles from home, no port-a-potty in sight and rapidly losing body heat from standing around and not actually running. it was not a good situation at all and I even contemplated calling a friend to come pick me up.
Luckily, I was able to regain my composure and complete my run, albiet a bit slower than expected due to the massive strength needed to keep my rear end clenched. Further, I only had one reoccurence of the searing gut pain just half a mile from home, which was thankfully short lived.
While I do carry paper towels with me while I run in case of emergency (whatever emergency that might be), anticipating possible issues is incredibly important, especially if youre one, four or however many miles from home.
Your brain. Don't leave home without it.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Ramping Up Training - 2 Week Sprint
Well, the cold is gone and this week will hopefully prove to be a milestone week at 50 miles of total running... if I make it! Last night's rain transformed the Northern Virginia area into a big ol' ice rink and as much as I love to skate, risking some potentially bad falls on the hilly terrain I frequent, running outdoors wasn't in the cards this morning. Hopefully, my quicker medium length runs (Wed/Fri) will be ice-free, but the reality of that is questionable at this time. I really don't want to run 10 miles on a treadmill, especially on one of the crappy treadmills at my apartment complex...
In addition to this week's bump in running, I'm going to try to add swimming back into the mix. At least one or two sessions this week, all at low intensity as I focus on my form. I've added some spinning in the aero position (while watching YouTube) on my trainer, but again, nothing intense.
However, that said, I'm going to bump up the amount of my non running workouts over the next two weeks to see how my body reacts to the increased load. One thing I'm definitely interested in definining is how many hours I can go before I see serious performance/health breakdowns. This is only for two weeks, and while that may not be alot of clinical data to really draw some conclusions, I'm hoping that I'll be able to see some kind of patterns, both positive and negative.
In addition to this week's bump in running, I'm going to try to add swimming back into the mix. At least one or two sessions this week, all at low intensity as I focus on my form. I've added some spinning in the aero position (while watching YouTube) on my trainer, but again, nothing intense.
However, that said, I'm going to bump up the amount of my non running workouts over the next two weeks to see how my body reacts to the increased load. One thing I'm definitely interested in definining is how many hours I can go before I see serious performance/health breakdowns. This is only for two weeks, and while that may not be alot of clinical data to really draw some conclusions, I'm hoping that I'll be able to see some kind of patterns, both positive and negative.
Friday, January 14, 2011
Giveaway Reblog: DC Rainmaker
DC Rainmaker, one of the best Triathlon tech blogs out there in the blogosphere, has a pretty sweet giveaway: A Garmin 310xt.
http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2011/01/garmin-forerunner-310xt-giveawayjanuary.html
It's pretty much the gold standard device for a multisport GPS watch w/ANT+, and his blog has a great number of reference and comparison articles for the Garmin 310xt, as well as many other sport and sport related electronics.
http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2011/01/garmin-forerunner-310xt-giveawayjanuary.html
It's pretty much the gold standard device for a multisport GPS watch w/ANT+, and his blog has a great number of reference and comparison articles for the Garmin 310xt, as well as many other sport and sport related electronics.
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Something Learned: Being Sick
The last time I took a multi day break from exercising was one month ago. I added 2 extra days off from my usual Monday off.
Exactly 2 months ago, I caught a minor bug and was semi sidelined for 5 days.
Today is the third day in a row that I've felt like a Brillo pad has been taken to my throat.
Granted, while the timing of this illness coinciding with my pre-planned break from training is better than the alternatives, being sick sucks.
To me, being sick means that I lowered my immune system through training far enough to prevent my body from recovering sufficiently. Granted, it is cold/flu season and I do take the subway to work every morning, which is packed to the brim of people who don't know how to cover their mouths when they sneeze, but considering how drained I felt after my 13.5 mile run last Sunday, I'm convinced I went too long without a focus on recovery.
Tangentially, I frequent a few sports related forums form time to time and when a new person asks how they should go about starting to pursue their sport of choice, the most common responses I see are, "Run!" or "Do intervals" or "Join a group ride!" or some other training technique or concept. While I agree that many of the suggestions are valid and will produce results, my advice to beginners hasn't wavered:
"Do whatever you can to maintain consistency"
The interesting thing about this advice is that it means different things to different people. To beginners, it means, "Don't over do it. You'll increase your chances of getting hurt and that will sideline you for days or weeks or more." For Pros, it could mean, "Make sure you get massage 3 times a week so that you can continue to train 20+ hours a week." And for A type amateurs like me, it probably means, "Make sure you work on your recovery and figure out how many hard weeks you can go in a row before your immune system crashes."
And yes, I'm working on listening to my body and as far as I can figure, the number of 6 day workout weeks I can go without needing multiple rest days is between 3 and 3.5 weeks depending on the weekly volume. What I need to figure out/work on is how I'm going to build on that to add in swimming/biking and what I need to do/eat to boost my immune system.
There's just too much to learn that the only thing I can do right now is evaluate each day, one day at a time.
Exactly 2 months ago, I caught a minor bug and was semi sidelined for 5 days.
Today is the third day in a row that I've felt like a Brillo pad has been taken to my throat.
Granted, while the timing of this illness coinciding with my pre-planned break from training is better than the alternatives, being sick sucks.
To me, being sick means that I lowered my immune system through training far enough to prevent my body from recovering sufficiently. Granted, it is cold/flu season and I do take the subway to work every morning, which is packed to the brim of people who don't know how to cover their mouths when they sneeze, but considering how drained I felt after my 13.5 mile run last Sunday, I'm convinced I went too long without a focus on recovery.
Tangentially, I frequent a few sports related forums form time to time and when a new person asks how they should go about starting to pursue their sport of choice, the most common responses I see are, "Run!" or "Do intervals" or "Join a group ride!" or some other training technique or concept. While I agree that many of the suggestions are valid and will produce results, my advice to beginners hasn't wavered:
"Do whatever you can to maintain consistency"
The interesting thing about this advice is that it means different things to different people. To beginners, it means, "Don't over do it. You'll increase your chances of getting hurt and that will sideline you for days or weeks or more." For Pros, it could mean, "Make sure you get massage 3 times a week so that you can continue to train 20+ hours a week." And for A type amateurs like me, it probably means, "Make sure you work on your recovery and figure out how many hard weeks you can go in a row before your immune system crashes."
And yes, I'm working on listening to my body and as far as I can figure, the number of 6 day workout weeks I can go without needing multiple rest days is between 3 and 3.5 weeks depending on the weekly volume. What I need to figure out/work on is how I'm going to build on that to add in swimming/biking and what I need to do/eat to boost my immune system.
There's just too much to learn that the only thing I can do right now is evaluate each day, one day at a time.
Monday, January 10, 2011
45 Mile Week Done! Hungry for more!
45 Mile week... Done! Most of it done in my new Mizunos (more on that later). I gotta say, the 13.5 miler was kinda brutal after finishing 31.5 miles in the five days prior. I'm buoyed by the fact that I ran the 13.5 at marathon pace and that my form stayed reasonably good throughout the entire event. I was tired after the run, but I think that a majority of that was from the mileage prior to the long run.
It boggles my mind that I'll be adding another 25 miles to last week's effort at my max mileage weeks and I'm kinda intimidated at the prospect of running 7 miles for my short runs, 14 miles for my medium runs and a 21 mile long run after all that is said and done.
What I'm finding as a new and added challenge, is the stomach to eat more after my long runs to make up for the caloric difference! I'm adding a good deal more carbs to my diet to keep up with my endurance focused workouts, but the problem with carbs and protein is that they both fill you up quickly, but without a significant addition of calories.
Enter the world of fat. I'm turning up the fat dial in the form of butter, olive oil, coconut oil, and avocados to bring up my calorie deficit. Last night, I was faced with a 1000 calorie deficit before bed and a bowl of icecream later, and that deficit was cut down by more than half. Granted, ice cream probably wasn't the best choice, but it was alot easier to tuck into than 2 more chicken breasts. =D
This week is a recovery week. Going to let the body rest a bit.. maybe spin some on the trainer to keep the blood moving.
It boggles my mind that I'll be adding another 25 miles to last week's effort at my max mileage weeks and I'm kinda intimidated at the prospect of running 7 miles for my short runs, 14 miles for my medium runs and a 21 mile long run after all that is said and done.
What I'm finding as a new and added challenge, is the stomach to eat more after my long runs to make up for the caloric difference! I'm adding a good deal more carbs to my diet to keep up with my endurance focused workouts, but the problem with carbs and protein is that they both fill you up quickly, but without a significant addition of calories.
Enter the world of fat. I'm turning up the fat dial in the form of butter, olive oil, coconut oil, and avocados to bring up my calorie deficit. Last night, I was faced with a 1000 calorie deficit before bed and a bowl of icecream later, and that deficit was cut down by more than half. Granted, ice cream probably wasn't the best choice, but it was alot easier to tuck into than 2 more chicken breasts. =D
This week is a recovery week. Going to let the body rest a bit.. maybe spin some on the trainer to keep the blood moving.
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Good Shoe Review
Running and Rambling, has a great review of the Vivobarefoot Neo soon to be released (March 2011) running shoe.
Check it out here:
http://www.runningandrambling.com/2010/12/vivobarefoot-neo-running-shoe-review.html
That said, I love seeing the evolution of running shoes and these may be on my wishlist soon, depending on how my experience goes with some new shoes I just received in the mail.
More on that later.
Check it out here:
http://www.runningandrambling.com/2010/12/vivobarefoot-neo-running-shoe-review.html
That said, I love seeing the evolution of running shoes and these may be on my wishlist soon, depending on how my experience goes with some new shoes I just received in the mail.
More on that later.
Monday, January 3, 2011
A Milestone of Sorts with the New Year
Yesterday marked a milestone in my run training. With the completion of yesterday's run, I wrapped up a 40 mile week. While this isn't anything ground breaking or complicated or innovated, it does give me some idea of the level of effort needed to build upon this much running volume. This is important because as the year progresses, I'll be adding more biking and swimming into the mix, especially after my marathon in March. Carrying and keeping as much run fitness into the tri season will be paramount. I suspect that a 30-40 mile/week run volume while swimming and biking will be necessary to hit my goals at the Olympic tri distance, while converting one of the shorter 'prep' runs into a speed workout.
As for the New Year, my goal is to stay as active, if not more, in 2011 as I was in 2010. I'm learning quite a bit with regards to training, diet and recovery so I plan on putting all of that to good use with this new year. I don't have a particularly aggressive schedule of events, but I do hope to set some new PR's with each event that I do.
To further that mindset of activity, I do want to keep encouraging and inspiring others to become active. At the same time, I don't want to be 'that guy' who only talks about working out and hounding others to partake in athletic events. I think that there can be a good balance of inspiration, education, and irritation (hah!) when it comes to encouraging others to think of their health as something they can positively affect with just a few good decisions each day.
Cheers, to good decisions!
As for the New Year, my goal is to stay as active, if not more, in 2011 as I was in 2010. I'm learning quite a bit with regards to training, diet and recovery so I plan on putting all of that to good use with this new year. I don't have a particularly aggressive schedule of events, but I do hope to set some new PR's with each event that I do.
To further that mindset of activity, I do want to keep encouraging and inspiring others to become active. At the same time, I don't want to be 'that guy' who only talks about working out and hounding others to partake in athletic events. I think that there can be a good balance of inspiration, education, and irritation (hah!) when it comes to encouraging others to think of their health as something they can positively affect with just a few good decisions each day.
Cheers, to good decisions!
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