Month: April 2013

by

Victory over my long run day – Finally

It seems that all the pondering yesterday of my long run day did in fact help.  As I wrote, my long run days have been quite difficult.  Not just the mileage, because even at mile 3 I can feel awful.  Also I cannot seem to run them even close to my average time.  Somewhat I understand that, because it is a longer day and I don’t want to push too much, but considering I ran my half marathon under 8:00 pace and I cannot even run 10 miles under 9:00, it is frustrating to say the least.

What did I do differently yesterday?  Quite a lot.  Unfortunately, when you change multiple things at one time, you don’t really know what helped and what didn’t. I admit I was desperate to figure this out, so here is what I did differently.

  • I got up and drank 32oz of water as soon as my feet hit the floor.
  • I drank a cup of coffee (as I do most of other mornings)
  • I took a shower (I normally don’t take a shower until after my runs if I run early in the morning)
  • Right before my run I walked a quarter mile and ran very slowly another quarter mile.

So something in this mix helped me tremendously.  I felt great when I started my run and, in fact, felt good for most of it.  My hip began to hurt around mile 7, which was annoying, but I did well overall until mile 11.  Now you need to know that I haven’t run over 10 miles since February when we did our half marathon, and I wanted to run 12 miles yesterday.  Mile 11 was just hard.  I felt like I had nothing left.  However, when I got to mile 12, I thought, if this was a race, I would find something inside to pick up the pace, so that is what I did.  In fact the only mile I ran over a 9:00 pace yesterday was mile 11.

I finished my run, drank my chocolate milk and looked at my time.  I ran the 12 miles at a 8:38 pace!!!  Other than the half marathon, I have never run a long run in our neighborhood under 8:55 and it has been a long time since I have been under 9:00.

So, now I look at the 4 things I did differently and wonder…  which one helped, or was it just TJ’s advice to not over think the run.  Either way, I know myself, now each Sunday I will have to do those 4 things to make sure I am covered.  I know I’ll have good runs and bad, but yesterday made running fun again.

Today is our traditional off day, but TJ and I are going to run very slowly for a few miles.  Just for fun 🙂

by

Pondering my long run day

My run yesterday was an easy run. 4 miles and then home. I am trying to run less on Saturday since on Sunday I have my long run. For some reason, I do not run well in the morning, so my long runs have been quite difficult. They have been so difficult that by 3 or 4 miles, I just want to quit. I have two thoughts as to why. First is that I usually run around 3:00 in the afternoon, so when I start my Sunday run it hasn’t been 24 hours since I last ran. The second is that I am used to running after a day in which I have drunk 96 ounces or more of water and my morning runs happen before I drink any.

Well to figure this out, I ran a quick 4 miles yesterday. I ran it early and I drank 32 ounces of water this morning already. That last one may backfire, but I really want to enjoy my long runs more since I will be doing longer runs as the summer progresses.

Not much else to report. Our weather here has been fantastic and today is going to be another great day.

No more delay. Off to the hills.

by

Hill run redux

Yesterday’s run obviously had leftover fatigue from my hill run the day before. I ran well in the beginning, but then hit the new part of our workout where hills become larger and longer. Ouch.

My pace started in the mid 8:00 area and then did a nose dive to low 9:00. I could feel it hit my body just as if I was doing hill workouts.

One reason could be I ran a bit earlier in the day since I took the day off from work. TJ wondered if I am upping my mileage too quickly. One day isn’t a huge deal, but I do wonder if I need to not run as many hills on my easy runs.

Going on a short run today and then take my lovely wife to Starbucks. Tomorrow is a 12 mile long run. Should be fun.

by

Hill run and weight loss. Great day!!!

My hill run days are not days I look forward to. However I must say that I like them more than my tempo runs.

Yesterday went well. It was still cool and overcast but not raining. I got my 2 warmup miles in and then headed for the hills!

I did better this time. As I’ve mentioned this hill is very steep on the first half and then less steep but longer for the last part. This time I decided to time my assent on each half with the stopwatch in my phone.

So… I ran the hill 4 times up and down. This was the first time I ran down as it is so steep I was concerned running down it, but I figured eventually I’d have to start, so I went for it. The first time up I ran the steep part in 1 minute and the long part in 1 minute. Not bad. After going up and down 3 times, I went for my forth. It was tough. I did it in 1:11 for the steep part and 1:04 for the long part.

All in all it was my best hill run so far. My splits were in the 8:00 range until after my fourth run up the hill, and I finished the last two miles in the 9:00 range. The whole run was at 8:49 for 7 miles and 6:00 faster than last week.

One last note: This morning I got on the scale and weighed 176.9. That is lower than I have weighed since college. Wow, it has been a strange week. I started weighing 184 and ended lower than after my diet. Must be because I added some carbs to my diet.

7 miles today and then the weekend. I decided to take today off from work, so it is going to be a nice 3 long weekend for me. More time to run 🙂

by

Yesterday

Yesterday

  • Steady rain
  • Windy
  • Cold
  • Tired
  • Sore
  • Worked late

I got home and… ran.

Totally worth it!!!

by

Tempo hill run

Yesterday’s tempo run went well.  It was tough as usual.  I have written about my tempo runs here before, but it is not something to which I look forward.  After my 2 mile warmup I took a deep breath and went for it.

This time I decided to run a different route.  Partly because I wanted to run in a different area and partly because there were more hills on the new route.  I figured that running a 5K as fast as I could and having to deal with hills would be a good thing to do to prepare me for the 5K we are going to run in May.  So my times weren’t as good as last week, but as TJ said, they were more in line with what the running calculator says I should run.

Here are my tempo splits:

Mile 1 – 7:02
Mile 2 – 7:23
Mile 3 – 7:13

Also I was able to run another 2 miles after my tempo run and the first of those miles I ran at 8:31 which was good for me since I am usually wiped out by then.

I am looking forward to todays easy run.  I realize that running tempo and hill workouts during the week make the easy runs much more enjoyable.  It becomes less boring running 7 or 8 miles at an easy pace after running 3 out of 7 miles at a tempo pace.  In fact overall, for all 7 miles yesterday I averaged an 8:07 pace, which is really good for me especially considering my last mile was a recovery mile at 9:25.

Only 10 hours until my run today.  I can’t wait.

by

How to run and gain weight: reduce carbs?

Yesterday was my off day, so I went for a 2 mile walk (part way with HM before he had to go to work) and then TJ and I drove a new 8 mile course he mapped out in our neighborhood.  I really can’t imagine that it was only a year ago I was pushing it to run 2 miles every other day and now I am working toward 7-8 a day.  How things have changed in such a short time!

Now to the subject of this post: I have written in the past on this blog about my struggles with running and losing weight.  I have been really perplexed as to the reason I can run 35 miles a week and eat well and still not lose (or even gain) weight.  I found an article the other day that really seemed to nail my issue.  It is from Bodybuilding.com and deals with people who workout  and have an issue with weight (in this case body building, but I know it could apply to running also).

Here is a quote: “Our bodybuilder suffered metabolic damage: a drastic slowing of the metabolism that is caused by excessive caloric restriction, cardio, and stress on the body.”

Essentially, working out hard, eating low carbs and pushing your body can kill your metabolism.  What is confusing is that I can run 10 miles and my app says I burned 1,400 calories.  Wow, then I should be able to eat a bit more than normal.  NOT.  I gain weight.

Metabolism Massacre: 7 ways to avoid undermining your fat loss

Here are some highlights of the article:

It’s All about Survival 

Let’s clear one thing up right now. It is normal for the metabolism to slow down on any diet or calorie restriction. This is all due to metabolic adaptation.

As soon as our hypothetical competitor cut calories from 3,000 to 1,600, his metabolism began to downshift. Many people do not realize that the body uses calories simply through digesting and processing food. This is described as the thermic effect of food. The simple act of eating less causes lower energy output.

Once the body senses a loss of body fat, it will begin to lower thyroid levels and diminish nervous system output in an effort to stop the weight loss. Once further calorie cuts are made and cardio is increased, fat loss will resume again, and the body further lowers thyroid levels and nervous system output. It also lowers testosterone levels and raises cortisol levels, both of which eventually lead to muscle loss. Since muscle is a metabolically active tissue—it consumes calories simply to exist—the metabolism will drop even further.

So why does the body sabotage effort like this? It’s simple: survival. If our bodybuilder ate 3,000 calories per day, cut his calories to 2,500, and his body did not have these adaptive abilities, he would lose weight continually without stopping until he eventually died. Luckily, nobody starves to death on 2,500 calories per day—even though it may feel like it sometimes. These normal adaptations are necessary for survival.

The human body is an amazing adaptive machine that always strives for homeostasis. Whatever condition the body is put in, it will strive to survive within that new norm. For a successful prep, you need to understand how to work with your body as much as possible, and understand that your body will automatically take measures in response to calorie intake or expenditure.

5 Tips to Prevent a Slowdown

Luckily, there are several ways to prevent serious metabolic issues from occurring. The metabolism will slow a bit on any diet, but this does not and should not lead to extreme calorie deprivation and hours of cardio.

This isn’t healthy, and in the end it won’t get you lean enough. Here are the rules to follow for a better prep.

1 / Practice Patience

Fat loss should not be rushed. It takes time, and plenty of it. Aim to lose no more than two pounds of fat per week, and preferably closer to a rate of 1-1.5 pounds. This ensures that muscle loss is minimized. Muscle tissue consumes calories all the time. You don’t want to cannibalize this metabolically critical tissue.

2 / Keep The Carbohydrates

If you want to get lean, you sometimes have to drop carbs to low levels. This does not mean that you should eliminate them.

Carbs increase cellular hydration, and therefore cell volume. When muscle cells are hydrated and have greater volume, this signals the body that it is in a satiate state. The body, sensing it is fed, keeps the metabolic rate raised. Obviously if carbs are too high, fat loss cannot occur, but for continued fat loss, carbs should remain in the diet.

This next tip was very interesting to me:

3 / Utilize High-Carb Days

I believe carbohydrates are essential to keeping an elevated metabolism. Leptin is a primary reason for this. Leptin is a fat-burning hormone; its release is directly related to carbohydrate intake and body fat levels. Leptin serves many functions, including the control of energy expenditure.

As carbs get low and body fat levels dwindle, the body inevitably lowers leptin levels. You can combat this to an extent by adding in high-carb days. A high-carb day once every 4-8 days can boost leptin levels; leptin is highly responsive to glucose metabolism.

Add high-carb days to boost leptin, and it will lead to a more positive hormonal profile in general. High-carb days can lead to higher levels of the thyroid hormone t3, as well as help to keep testosterone levels elevated, both of which can further your fat-loss efforts.

4 / Don’t Cut Fat Too Low

Fatty acids must be available in the body to create cholesterol, which is eventually converted to testosterone. If fat intake is too low, there won’t be enough fatty acids available for optimal testosterone production.

This leads to lower testosterone levels, which lead to greater muscle loss during prep. The two combine to lower your metabolic rate.

5 / Reverse Diet

A reverse diet is where you add calories back into your diet slowly, much the same as when you cut them slowly in order to get lean. This will prevent copious amounts of adipose tissue from collecting within the first month or two after a show. Reverse dieting is essential to prevent the cycle of metabolic slowdown, or stop it if you are already in the situation.

I’m going to stop here.  The article mentions two more tips (even though it says there are only 5) but these were the most interesting to me.  I cut a lot out of the article to get across the main point, so go there and read if for yourself.  http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/metabolism-massacre-7-ways-to-avoid-undermining-fat-loss.html

This article rang true to me and my experience, which is what this blog is about.  I began to run to lose weight.  I now run because I have an ultimate goal of the Boston Marathon.  Either way, I know I need to keep my weight and diet in balance and anything that explains this complex body to me is helpful.

by

2014 Boston Marathon, I’d like a chance…

First, about my run yesterday.  There are always “firsts” in running.  Yesterday I had one of my own…  I stopped my run short.  Not because of injury, but because of lightening.  It was a good run and to be my long run, but 8 miles into it the thunder started.  I can live with thunder. I can live with rain. But when the lightening starts, I’m heading home.  I have a great app called weatherbug.  It has been out for a long time, but they just added a feature that tells you how close you are to lightening strikes.  I looked at my app after the storm started and it basically said, “Take cover ASAP”.  So I texted TJ and asked him to come get me since I was a bit far from home.  Needless to say, I only got in 8 miles, but since I was 2 miles over for the week, I did get to 40 miles which was my goal.

Now on to Boston.

I checked into registration and found out that it starts and ends in September.  So, if we wait until December to run our marathon, we wouldn’t have a chance to get into the Boston Marathon until 2015.  If I try and can’t qualify until 2015, that is fine, but I would like a chance for 2014.  So I did some research and found a marathon that is run the beginning of September and has one of the highest qualification percentages for Boston in the country.  It also has a net -240 elevation drop for the race.  Here is the link… http://www.marathonguide.com/races/racedetails.cfm?MIDD=3015120909

So, if we are ready, we could actually run a marathon in September that would qualify us for Boston in 2014.  We will see how it goes.  At least there is an option.

Another tidbit I found out is that to run the Boston Marathon at my age, I would have to run a qualifying marathon in 3:30.  I think that is possible.  Then I found out that in order to get the faster racers in the race, they start registration with people who finish at least 20 faster than the qualifying times.  Then they go to 10 minutes faster and then if there are any spots open, they let the rest fill up the open spots.  That is a lot to think about.  I wish they looked at people with the most weight loss and the most enthusiasm.  Maybe they will next year. 🙂

So I have a long way to go.  The most important thing is to not look past today.  I am going to train and run my plan and do my best.  If I make it to Boston or don’t make it, I know I have come a long way.

I can be content with that.