The Endurance Freak

Pigtails Run

2011-01-22T19:48:00.001-08:00

I've neglected this blog, but I'm still alive and still toiling away. The recent toil was at the Pigtails Run today.

Event: Pigtails Run
Location: Lake Youngs, Renton, WA
Course: 9.6 mi loop trail, rolling hills and lots of mud, 900 feet elevation gain/loss per loop.
Total Distance: 19.2 miles (2 loops)
Total Time: 4:34:38 (Non-official time)

Loop 1: 1:54:10
Loop 2: 2:40:27

Comments: This run was a huge jump in mileage for me since I had been running about 9-10 miles for my long runs so far. This was also some serious humbling running since I consider myself to be a seasoned runner. However, just because I have past experience with long distance running, there are lessons that need to be re-learned and re-learned hard.

I got to the race location 30 minutes before the early starters were supposed to run (6:30am) and tried to lend a hand to the race director to setup their home base. Now, this trail I am no stranger to. I have ran at Lake Youngs many times and it was one of my first ultramarathons I ever ran. My goal for this race was simple:

1.) Finish the distance of 19.2 miles that I signed up for. I didn't sign up for the 50k since I didn't want to do a serious jump in mileage from doing 9-10 mile long runs to a 31 mile long run. That would be just be retarded to commit to from the start.

2.) Finish the first loop within 2 hours or less and push to get through the second loop. If after finishing up the two loops and I'm feeling good and got enough time (the course cutoff time is 7 hours), I would go for the final loop with the 2.2 mile out-n-back to get a 50k.

After the early starters took off, I tried to help out some more and got ready for the run. The event was pretty full and there were plenty of familiar faces to get re-acquainted with. Soon, the race was on and I was moving. I tried not to push my pace too much, but I found myself running the uphills for most of the event and hit the flats and the downhills smoothly with speed. Although the course was muddy, this didn't slow me down much thanks to my Gore-Tex shoes that kept me dry and clean. Before I knew it, I had finished off the first loop and within an hour and 54 minutes! I was seriously stoked and seriously HUNGRY. I had chowed down on a bunch of Pringles and drank up several cups of Gatorade. I should have realized that my thirst needs were a sign of what was to come.

I must have spent about 5-6 minutes at the aid station and the port-a-potty before heading back out. One loop down, one to go.

Now, when I prepped for this race, I took only one 24 ounce bottle with a waist pack and about six GU energy gels and a Jelly Belly Sports Beans for some more carbs on the trail. I also had some S!Caps electrolytes and some Aleve with some Canadian 222's for pain management. The single bottle would be my fatal flaw. Since I have been doing one long run in my training and only ran about 9-10 miles at most, I would usually only use one bottle of water. This is why I was able to get through the first loop. 9.6 miles on one bottle is pretty much what my body was use to. Now I was going to go beyond what I have been use to and this was going to be the real test.

I ran out for loop 2 and after the first mile, my calves started to cramp up. I knew I had enough electrolytes. This was a different cramping. In my experience, you have two kinds of cramps - electrolyte imbalance cramps that can be fixed by taking hits of salt/electrolytes or pain cramps that are caused by physical fatigue that is beyond what your muscles are use to. This was the physical kind and I was in a world of hurt that I had not been in for quite some time since White River and Cascade Crest.

I immediately took action and popped a combo of two Aleve and two Canadian 222's. I needed to kill this pain quickly if I was going to get through this second loop and survive. I drank more from my bottle and pushed my walking pace uphill until I got to mile 3 in the loop. When doing any kind of races, if you push yourself to a "nothing to lose" point, you have no choice but to keep going until you're done. Since the course was a 9.6 mile loop, this means that once you get past mile 3, it's pointless to turn around to cover another 3 more miles usually. You might as well keep going and finish it all. Now I got past mile 3 and I had continued to do my usual pattern of walking the ups and running the downs and flats as my body would permit. Once I got to mile 5 though, I did find myself more parched and realized that I was sucking down my water too fast. 4.6 miles to go to finish off the loop and I'm now without any kind of hydration. In a race, this isn't good. People die from lack of hydration. I had to now be careful. If I ran too much, I would sweat more and dehydrate faster. If I walked, my sweating would be less but I would be slower. I opted to run where it was feasible but mostly power-walk everything else.

As I passed by each mile marker on the trail, I was more elated. 4 miles became 3.5...3.5 became 3 and so on. However, as each marker passed, I was really feeling the effects of not having anything to drink. My body was going to really let me know the consequences of 'running dry'. Like someone cracking my legs with a bamboo cane, my calves were cramping horribly along with my hamstrings. The pain was unbearable on a whole new level. This was a combo of electrolyte cramping and muscle fatigue cramping. Every step I took was agony. But I knew I just couldn't lay down. I was so close to finishing. I didn't care anymore about doing a third loop to get a 50k in or to get in a second loop in under or near 2 hours again. I just wanted to be done and not get to the point of possible organ failure from dehydration. I cussed up a storm with every step I took to power up the hills and attempting to run down hill and on the last set of flats. I looked at the puddles on the ground that were in the mud and was resisting the urge to get on the ground and drink from them. I kept telling myself, "You don't need to get dysentery. Just keep moving. Keep moving. KEEP MOVING! SHUT UP AND KEEP MOVING!!!" 1.5 miles near the finish and a runner who was in great shape had given me the last bits of what was in his bottle. It wasn't much, but I was grateful (it's stuff like this that others do in ultras that makes me come back to the sport - you don't get this from other sports). Around this point, my legs couldn't walk anymore and my knees locked up. I had to throw my hips back and forth and walk like I was a tin soldier to cover more distance until my knees would unlock from the pain and cramping.

With a half-mile to go, I tried to run as much as I could and rolled into the finish. Second loop time of 2 hours and 40 minutes. I was really really slow compared to the first loop.

So a total time of 4 hours and 34 minutes and I technically had enough time to do one more loop to get a 50k in. But with how much difficulty I had to endure, I couldn't do any extra credit and accepted that I finished what I set out to start.

The things I learned from my stupidity:

1.) MORE LONG RUNS. I remember my body use to do two of those loops without any difficulties easily. This showed me that if I train on a 9-10 mile training run, I will only do well for a 9-10 mile course. If I want to do well on longer distances, I need to do more longer distance training. PERIOD.
2.) One bottle of water for every hour I'm out on a course. The more bottles or water sources, the better.
3.) Practice more even pacing. I went out too fast in the first loop and I think that created some fatigue issues in the second.

Things that I realized were cool:

1.) Gore-tex shoes are awesome in muddy and wet conditions.
2.) Canadian 222's are a must for anyone to have.
3.) Some people are cool enough to help you out if you ask for help.

Now that's in the books, time to recover and get back into the mix again.

Green River Urban Adventure Ultra

2010-06-10T15:00:00.001-07:00

The short:

Total Distance: 35 miles (34 continuous, 1 mile broken up)
Total Time: 7:58:28 [13:40 min/mile pace]

Breakdown (mile values are rounded off):

Home to Marathon Start: 6 miles @ 1:17:45 [12:57 min/mile pace]
Green River Marathon: 26 miles @ 5:33:09 (Officially recorded as 5:33:40) [12:42 min/mile pace]
Marathon Finish to Water Taxi: 2 miles @ 41:29 [20:44 min/mile pace]
Water Taxi to Light Rail: 0.5 miles @ 19:55 (too many damn stop lights)
Final stretch home: 0.5 miles @ 6:07

The Long:

Now, after last year's bomb-out at Mile 16 at the Green River Marathon, I wasn't going to be defeated this time. But I also wanted to be a bit eco-thrift-conscious. The race itself is free, but transportation efforts usually involved me driving to the finish line and getting a ride to the start, finishing the race and driving home. I didn't want to drive this time and I didn't want a ride. So this is what I figured to do. I would run from my house to the start (about 6 miles), then run the marathon (26 miles), then run to the SODO area of Seattle to take the train and bus home (6 miles). So I was looking at 40 miles of pavement to beat my body down with.

I got up and headed out the door at 5:30am on an empty stomach and started the first 6 miles to the race start. I decided to maintain a 3 minute interval setup where I would run for 3 minutes and walk for 3. For the most part, this worked out very well for the whole race.

My hydration was my 2 liter pack and a 24 oz handheld bottle. I had a bunch of GU's along with a peanut butter and honey sandwich for later, some S!Caps, painkillers (Aleve & Canadian 222's), and some Tums. I primarily lived off of the bottle, but did need to take some from the pack when my bottle refills ran out along the course. I didn't consume anything more solid until I got 4 hours into the run. I was quite surprised by this. However, when I reached MY marathon point, the wheels came off. I was tired as hell and had to walk hard for a good stretch. After pounding half the PB&H sandwich, two Aleve and two 222's, along with another GU before then, I was able to rock the 3 minute intervals again.

About 2-3 miles towards the finish, the blisters on my feet decided to bust open. HURT LIKE HELL. I was still functional otherwise. Muscles weren't sore like I'd expect and joints (especially ankles) were feeling good. Blisters and just being tired were my two issues that plagued me after crossing the finish line.

After eating the other half of my sandwich and drinking some more, I set off to tackle the 6 miles to SODO to get to the Light Rail station and take the train home. But two miles of struggling to run, eventually walking the whole way - I decided to just take the Water Taxi to Downtown Seattle and then catch the Light Rail and eventually get home another way to where I would have less distance to run.

In the end...

Original Plan: Run 40 miles collectively
Actual Outcome: Ran 35 miles collectively.

When I got close to home, I didn't take any breaks in time and ran the whole 0.5 miles. Figured I needed to man-up at the end.

Didn't crack 40 miles for the week, but it was a solid effort. Now I just have to get these blisters fixed cause they hurt!

Redmond Watershed 12-Hour Race Report

2010-06-10T14:41:00.001-07:00

I've seriously neglected this blog, but as I said before - I'm still toiling away and still training. Although I'm also trying to still sort myself out.

In late March, I switched employers (YAY!), but with changes (good or bad) always has some kind of growing pain. So after missing Mt Si, I was more focused on getting some serious miles for the Watershed.

Last year, I volunteered as the Trail Director and Course Sweeper. I enjoy sweeping the course and I'm GOOD at it. I really embrace the "Leave No Trace" thing when sweeping.

The main goal was just to go as much as possible for the whole 12 hours. However, I didn't put in the running miles that I should have. Most of my regimen has been lifting heavy and some cardio from some biking and running. The course was going to punish me for sure.

Throughout the race, my ankles and the tendons around my ankles were suffering a serious beating. This is what I get for not training more specifically. I was running fine until the end of the 3rd loop and feeling my ankles buckling underneath me.

Reviewing my training weeks, I ran anywhere from zero to 10 miles a week. The last three weeks before the event I ran/walked 7, zero, and 5 miles. The zero was when I was sick as hell and trying to recover. Major muscles groups were pretty solid from my lifts. My hamstrings were sore, but not to the point of being debilitating. Had I ran more per week, have some decent long runs, I believe my ankles would have held up better and I could have gone further.

Thankfully, a timed event that is as long as this one allows anyone to chill out for as long as they needed to and I took that opportunity. So after a really painful 4th loop that had me walking and sitting to massage my ankles, I sat on the sidelines and chilled my legs in a very tall horse trough for over three hours before my ankles were able to support my weight again. I had decided to offer up my services again to Chris and Tom (the RD's) and sweep the course in the last couple of hours. So I went through the course in the final two hours, taking down markers and signs, looking out for trash and erasing any sign that the race ever took place.

Near the end, I managed to get in before the 12 hours were up and throughout the last loop, I ran pretty good for a big guy. Plus, that small loop was the most exciting thing to be apart of. Runners were going full-tilt at this point and at the end, I chased the first place runner down to the finish while ending my sweeping duties at the same time.

Times:

Loop 1 - 1:16:00
Loop 2 - 1:15:43 (2:31:44)
Loop 3 - 1:31:20 (4:03:04)
Loop 4 - 2:18:03 (6:21:08) <- Took a serious poop and a good number of rest breaks to massage my ankles
Rest - 3:38:51 (10:00:00) <- Refueled, Recovered, and shy of fixing myself up with duct tape and Gorilla Glue
Loop 5 with Extra Credit - 1:59:20 (11:59:20)

Total Distance:

28 miles (actual recorded distance since the extra credit didn't count: 26.88 miles)

Lessons learned: More specificity training...and more ice baths...and mixing Aleve and Canadian 222's is a GOOD THING.

Update

2010-05-12T09:35:00.000-07:00

Still toiling away. Still trying to find my groove.

Strength: Until I got really sick about a week ago, doing pretty well. Current strength cycle 1RM numbers based on my lifts in the Wendler 5/3/1 program are:

Back Squat: 310 lbs
Bench Press: 215 lbs
Deadlift: 355 lbs
Military Press: 155 lbs

However, based on previous workouts, my calculated 1RM are around here:

Back Squat: 330 lbs
Bench Press: 230 lbs
Deadlift: 375 lbs
Military Press: 160 lbs

Looking back, I'm a freaking long way from where I once was strength-wise and with this program, I can do it forever due to simplicity and always get some kind of gain.

Cycling: Minimum miles per day is about 7 miles. More of a challenge on the return trip having to contend with riding uphill to the bus station for about 1.5 miles. Some days I had to ride more due to my car going tits-up for various reasons (bad starter/alternator/battery, car accident, etc). Blame it on the evil 100 mile commute I had to do for over a year at my previous company. Anyway, back to the bike, my ass isn't as sore as it was when I started riding again and my legs are not getting nearly as knackered. Although I need to suck it up a bit more and learn to run on tired legs from cycling and try and gut it out when I have a strength session and my legs are still feeling the effects of the bike.

Running: This is truly the suck. I missed out on the Mt Si ultra due to the car issues. My mileage has tanked hard between getting sick and getting tired from riding my bike. However, when I did run, I was faster. One of my 5k-ish loops I finished in about 33 minutes, which is faster than I've done in some time. I am gaining speed and there is some endurance left. However, I know that this Saturday's Redmond Watershed 12-hour run is going to really make me suffer for missing out on those miles. But I'll use this race to my advantage and make my body remember what ultrarunning is all about.

I'm still alive

2010-03-25T14:29:00.001-07:00

I've been quiet here, but I've been training. More strength work (appreciating the barbell more) and trying to get my mileage to previous levels of 30 MPW as the minimum. I'm starting a new job on Monday and will start to re-incorporate my bike commuting again.

Pigtails Flat Ass Marathon Race Report

2009-12-21T09:43:00.000-08:00

http://www.marathonmaniacs.com/race/pigtailsFlatAss.htm

The short: Wet conditions on fairly flat gravel & paved trail. Finished the marathon in 6:13 (6:13:22 according to my watch).

The long: Since the Seattle Ghost, I tried my hardest to both recover and re-condition for this one. However, after some failures with getting my act together with my runs (17 miles the week after the Ghost, zero miles after that) and my strength conditioning (did some strength-endurance work with heavy weight, but not consistently), I knew I was asking to be punished by the course.

The race location was moved. Instead of it being in Renton, it was moved to Maple Valley. So the original turnaround was going to be the start/finish and we would run towards Renton along the Cedar River Trail until we basically reached the Renton border. Finding the race start area wasn't easy. Due to dark streets and lack of signs in the area, I ended up driving past where I should have gone. But common sense prevailed and I was able to find it well before the race was to start (I got to the race before Van 'Pigtails' Phan, the RD did!)

This race also had my wife and daughter in tow. It had been quite a long time since they were with me at a race. Since the race start was also the finish, I knew my ass would be grass if I didn't get myself to the finish line. No DNF allowed here!

As daylight progressed, things were much more visible...like the port-a-potties on the other side of the street and the parking lot. There was a good number of folks this year and the Maple Valley Food Bank was going to get plenty from the ultrarunning community this year since the entry is pretty much food donations and a minimum $5 fee to cover the insurance/permits.

While standing in the wet-wet-wet (a big F-U to the meteorologists who said it was going to be a dry Saturday!), everyone was ready to go. The course was in the shape of a "J" (or a funny upside-down "y" if you're doing the 50k), we would run for a half-mile down one access road along the river, turn around, go over the river, and then onto the actual trail where we'd be for about 12.5+ miles out and then back.

Closer to the race start time, Van tapped me to announce. Guess my loud vocal work at other events have given me a reputation to make everyone stand to attention. :-)

And as a simple 3-count, we were off and I was going to be punished for this one. I was in the back of the pack with folks like Michelle Barnes, Jenny Appel, and the ever cool hardcore marathoner, Bob Dolphin. Soon after we got past the bottom of the "J" and started on the longer part, Brian Pendleton caught up to me and we ran together to the first aid station about 5.8 miles away. Brian had been rehab-ing from a shin issue, so he wasn't going to go at a blistering fast pace. However, his non-fast pace did push me quite a bit more than I should have done. But in retrospect, I think it was necessary. We got to the aid station within an hour, which meant that if I could keep up everything, I could potentially get to the finish between 5-5.5 hours if nothing went wrong. However, I was shooting for closer to a 6 hour finish based on the Seattle Ghost time of 3:10 and the 14+ mile long run the week later also at 3:10.

After Brian went on ahead after the aid station, I drank some more soup (Thanks to Jess, Shawn, and Heidi for manning the aid station in the soggy weather!), put on my hydration pack I stuck in my drop bag and headed out. The wet never let up. Thankfully, it wasn't freezing cold and my body was radiating heat from all the activity. As I continued, I switched to a run 5 minute/walk 1 minute pattern until I got to the 2nd aid station. This one was unmanned and had just water and Payday bars. I chomped down on one and kept going. I was about 2.5 miles away from the turnaround and my time was around 2:40. I was very thrilled...until after the turnaround and I reached mile 15. After that, my quads and hamstrings seized. I didn't want to pop any Aleve unless absolutely needed. But after the gals from the Y-Run club passed me after they thought I was going to die, I decided to take three of those blue pills.

A mile or two of power-walking and the quads and hamstrings were feeling better. I got to the same unmanned aid station from before and was looking forward to the Payday bars...until I got there and saw they were gone. Like a drama-queen, I screamed out, "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! YOU BASTARDS!!!!!!!!". That lit a fire under my ass to get to the last aid station and get something better than the GU's that I've consumed.

As I continued, I ended up running for three minutes and walking for three for my pattern. My calves were trying to cramp up, but thanks to wearing diabetic socks with the feet cut off (TAKE THAT EXPENSIVE ZENASH CALF COMPRESSION SLEEVES!!!), the socks pushed the cramping muscles back into place and I was able to continue on. Note: My calves were 100% fine after the race, my quads were the only things trashed.

About 1.5 miles away from the final aid station, Michael Cartwright caught me on his bike doing sweeping duty. I let him know that there was Bob Dolphin behind me still and one other person. He assured me that I wasn't too far away from the aid station and that lifted my spirits. Checking my watch, I realized I would be on target to hit 5 hours to the aid station and my 6 hour finish time would still be possible. I was also glad that it wasn't too far away for one other reason: The hydration pack ran out of water and I was fortunate to still have a bottle on me that was half-full.

I made it to the aid station and sucked down more soup. By this time, I had consumed 3 Aleve, 4 S!Caps, and 3 Tums Smoothies chewables. Any more pills in my gut and I'd be able to open up a pharmacy. The GU's I had on the course were not agreeing with me very well, so it was a welcome site to have some real food. I also got some mental relief talking to Jess, Shawn, and Heidi before heading off to finish (apologies to Shawn for playing "Party in your Bedroom" by Cash Cash).

I was nearing the end. 4.7 miles left and the 3 run/3 walk was still working for me. I tried to run a bit more, but anything past 3 minutes was only making me more beaten up. I caught Lorie Alexander from BC coming back to do her 50 miles (she's doing fifty 50 mile runs for this year to celebrate her 50th birthday, this race was number 49.) I gave her a hug and wished her well. As I kept moving, I noticed that the mile markers that the trail had (not done by the RD, but by the city/county) seemed longer, unless my math was just wrong. But thankfully, I eventually saw the finish line and I finally made it across hearing cheers and getting a big hug and kiss from my family. Family does make a race better, yes it does. For my efforts, I received another excellent finisher's medal from Van - a pink colored jingle bell made to look like a pig.

Oh yeah, I also gave *tc a kiss on the cheek and licked the crease in his face per Shawn's instructions. (Don't worry *tc, my wife isn't jealous. ^_^)

Laughter aside, I downed some more soup and did some socializing before leaving with the family. Post-race eatings with the fam after the race? Carl's Jr. and it was delicious.

Post-race analysis:

- Quads still feel beaten up, but not the hamstrings or calves. So doing the deadlifts & good mornings helped. I should get back into doing more squats though.

- Now that I've gone 26.2, I can use this as a launch point to get more quality long miles done that are much longer than 13-14 miles and feel less of the sick effects of being under trained for distances.

- Need to find alternative to GU's (unless the batch I have left is just bad).

Next event: Tiger Mountain Fat Ass on January 2nd. I'll do at least one 16 mile loop, but if things go right, I'll take another trip around the mountain range.

Ghost of Seattle Race Report

2009-11-30T12:40:00.001-08:00

The short: Opted for the half-marathon and was slow as hell, clocking in at 3:10:51

The long: After the bout of the flu and the chaos that was this past Thanksgiving weekend, I went into the event to just get as much time on my feet as I could have allowed myself without screwing up too much and to see my friends during the event. Doing the whole 26.2 miles was a mild pipe dream due to the fact that I hadn't had run anything longer than 12 miles and that my conditioning levels for strength were okay, but I was on the downside for aerobic capacity compared to before (should have gotten that flu shot when I had the chance.) I also decided to go a bit minimalist and run in my Crocs. I wanted to maintain my form as best as I could and there is no better way to do that then to run minimalist.

As I said before, it's the Thanksgiving weekend and I was busy as hell. Even though I had a 4-day weekend away from work, home and family took over like mad and I got just as little sleep as I would have during the work week. Rest is important and I gave it the finger.

On race day, I scrambled out the door in my cold-weather gear and got to the race location later than expected. No parking spots near the start/finish for me. Even though I was supposed to early start with everyone at 7am, I ended up 10+ minutes past. Lucky for me, Scott Krell (the RD) was cool enough to let me just keep my own time. Wasn't like I was going to break any records or BQ anyway.

So with Crocs on my feet, I set off along the trail. It was a cold and windy day, so with my construction bag/body-bag poncho I made up the night before, I was kept nice and warm while the winds that came off the waters of Lake Washington doubled as an invisible hill. The bag acted like a parachute when running into the wind and as a sail when the wind was on my back. Yin and Yang baby, gotta love that.

My feet/legs were feeling good for the first 8-9 miles and I was running at the pace that I'd be grooving at (sub-12 minute miles). However, my hamstrings gave out on me at mile 10 and I ended up practically slow walking most of the last 5k to the finish line. I tapped out and opted to take the half-marathon finish. Funny thing is that from the waist up, I was fine. I wasn't winded and felt like I had the energy to keep going. But from the waist down, those hamstrings weren't cooperating and a blister on my right foot (4th toe) wasn't helping things along, even after downing two AC&C pills to ease the pain.

So what did I learn? Well...

1.) My running form has improved, but it's not there yet for a longer distance yet.
2.) I need to run more and get my long runs longer and more frequent.
3.) I need to hammer on my hamstrings more. I've neglected deadlifting and other exercises that targeted the hamstrings.

I've got about a month before the Pigtails Flat Ass run, but I'm more optimistic about that one to finish it and do much better time wise on a minute per mile basis than I did at the Ghost.

Do I consider this a defeat? Nope, just another learning experience. I figured out my faults and will start beating the crap out of them before I test out myself again for the next event. Onward!

Food for Thought: "All the 'Cool Kids' do it!"

2009-11-23T12:23:00.000-08:00

I had referenced this link on the CrossFit boards when someone posted up about CrossFit Endurance (specifically doing CrossFit and an ultra-marathon).

http://www.mikemahler.com/articles/wiggins_cool_kids.html

The article is more of a thought from Matt "Wiggy" Wiggins and it was addressed to the MMA crowd. However, his words go well beyond Mixed-Martial Arts and hits anyone who does any sport. Strength & Conditioning (or training for anything) is very diverse. Diversity is a good thing. What isn't good is to have the mentality of "My shit is better than your shit." Why? Because if you fail at any event, people can easily point to your program. Also, discounting other S&C programs isn't a good thing either. All programs have some type of value if you look objectively. But making sweeping statements about your program being superior over everyone else's just doesn't do you any good and makes you look like an ass. Also, if the program you used to train with didn't work for you, you have to face facts and consider that just maybe you may have flaws within your training (even if you were successful with it the first time using it, you might have gotten lucky!)

I've developed my own program specific to me. I'm experimenting with myself and I have no qualms with saying that if I succeed, then I know my program contributed to it. If I fail, then it's on me and also the program I made up - which I would then re-analyze on what went wrong and fix whatever needed to be fixed.

Questions are: If you fail at your respective sport, are you going to make excuses for your failure or will you point the blame at yourself and the things you did that got you to that failure? Will you actually learn from your failures and use that to fix what went wrong with your training or will you keep insisting that your methods are flawless and there is no room for anything else?

Never stop learning. Never stop growing.

Mild Reset

2009-11-17T10:57:00.000-08:00

Due to getting my ass kicked from the flu for over a week, I have to modify things a bit. Sucks too, since I was doing so well.

The first two weeks of Strength-Endurance training was going pretty well before the flu hit hard. I got up to doing 30 second rests in my 75 lbs sandbag clean & presses and my 150 lbs sandbag back squats. The clean & presses really messed with my CNS though and it took a few days for the feeling to pass with each workout. The back squats rocked and the combo of both workouts really reflected well in my runs, my speed picked up and so did my stamina during my long runs by a few minutes.

So what's up now? Well, I have to get back into the swing of things right. This means I need to do a benchmark test and see how much I can lift and then use that as my metric to continue the rest of time during this strength-endurance phase while still completing the Seattle Ghost Marathon next weekend.

The Next Phase - Strength-Endurance

2009-10-29T07:42:00.000-07:00

After pouring over various resources, I've cobbled together the next session of workouts (but I'm still evaluating as I go).

As I stated here about this, I decided to follow the 50/20 plan (which is based on Density Training) but with some twists.

1.) Two workout movements picked. In this case, I chose the Sandbag Clean & Press and the Sandbag Back Squat.
2.) The first movement (Clean & Press) is done on Mondays and Thursdays, the other (Squat) on Tuesdays and Fridays.
3.) Based on Prilepin's numbers and Wiggy's thing about Heavy Weights+Volume+Limited Rest, there would be 3 reps per set and the weight used would start around 55-65% (but I'm going to increase this sooner, I'll explain later).
4.) Rest intervals are timed with a digital cooking timer I got at DollarTree (works great!). 60 seconds after each set, reducing the rest period by 10 seconds with each new workout until I hit 20 seconds. Once the workout with 20 seconds is up, the next workout of the same movement will increase in weight by 5 lbs and the rest time clock resets at 60 seconds again.
5.) All workouts are within a 20 minute window and it is to be done with as many sets as possible. Obviously, as the rest times decrease, the number of sets will. (Yes, this does train Power-Endurance/Work-Capacity also - so I might as well get the best of both worlds).
6.) Eventual goal should be 17 or more sets with 20 second rests.

So far, I've done one Clean & Press workout and one Squat this week. The clean & press was at 60 lbs (about 50% of my calculated 1-RM for the Military Press), but the weight felt too light and I did 19 sets. This is too many for the first time at the longest rest, meaning that I'm more durable and need more weight. I'm going to increase the weight to 75 lbs today and decrease the time to 50 seconds for rest. That should get my sets closer to 14-15 at most. The squat was done at 137.5 lbs (about 53% of my calculated 1-RM for the squat). I could tell I was a bit rusty doing the squat at first since I had not really done any weighted ones for nearly a week. But I eventually got into my groove and I hit 12 sets in the alloted time. This is much better and on target for the number I should have landed on for sets compared to the clean and press. But I think I'll also raise the weight as well on this one (just needs a slight amp-up in the intensity).

While this is going on, I'm still running on Tuesdays (typically intervals) and Thursdays (typically tempo/Steady-State) and Saturdays (Long). I'm also doing the 100 Push-up program and 20 Pull-up Program as well for Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays as well at home (pull-up bar is there). Yeah, I've got a great deal more volume than before with my schedule being:

Monday - Lunchtime Clean & Press, PM Push-up and Pull-up
Tuesday - Lunchtime Squat, PM Run
Wednesday - Lunchtime Rest, PM Push-up and Pull-up
Thursday - Lunchtime Clean & Press, PM Run
Friday - Lunchtime Squat, PM Push-up and Pull-up
Saturday - AM Long Run
Sunday - Rest

Also, I'm Greasing The Groove and practicing my one-legged squats (pistols) and one-arm push-ups throughout the day. My range of motion is gently increased for both movements, but it's going to be a long time before I nail both of them down.

Since I suck at pull-ups, I'm starting on Week -2 and doing a great deal of negatives. But things are moving in a positive direction. However, I'll repeat that week anyway to improve. The push-ups are not going so well. Seems that my 15 max push-ups aren't translating well to week 1 of the push-up program (failed in set 4 of the first day and failed set 3 on the second), so I'll be repeating that week for sure.

One thing I'm trying to figure out is where to insert the Max/Raw Strength workouts. I know that if I keep up with the strength-endurance ones, I'll lose some raw strength in the process. I also need to watch out for staleness too and switch things up. But I'm sure I'll come up with something. Edit: And I figured it out. After getting to the 20 seconds of rest, I'll do max/raw strength work (upper-body on Thursday, lower-body on Friday). This will get me 4 sessions of max/raw strength work during this cycle.

During this cycle, I've got a few events that will supplement my training mileage.

11/28 - Seattle Ghost Marathon (5th week of the cycle)
12/19 - Pigtails Flat Ass (8th week of the cycle)
1/2 - Western WA Fat Ass (10th week of the cycle), but this is weather permitting since last year's snowstorm killed the event and a few brave/insane folks decided to give the run a go anyway in the heavy snow.
1/9 - Bridle Trails 50k Twilight Run (11th week of the cycle)

There's also the Last Chance Marathon on 12/31 and the 1st Call to Run Marathon & Ultra the day after on my birthday. However, I'm not in the position to start running back to backs just yet...not until the next cycle anyway. ;-)

I'm also experimenting with my nutrition as well. Following the Carbohydrate Curve on Mark's Daily Apple, I've set Mondays and Wednesdays as low IF/Ketosis days - keeping my carb intake at 50 grams or less. The rest of the week, I'm ranging from 100 to 150 grams a day with maybe one cheat day depending on my mood. I remember when I went almost completely carbless and the volume of weight I lost. However, I was a weak bastard and didn't do enough strength training and didn't eat enough protein and fat to supplement properly compared to now.

So far, the first low day was tough. The second one (yesterday) was much easier to deal with. I purposely set it up on Mondays and Wednesdays due to my running on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I felt that I didn't want to screw myself up too badly since running taps more glucose stores than lifting. Like I said, so far, so good.

What I'm expecting will happen in the next 12 weeks:

1.) A significant increase in stamina. (This is already happening, based on my last interval run - I reduced my time by 5-10 seconds.)
2.) Recovery time will improve. Less time to suck wind = More time to keep moving in a race.
3.) Strength gains I made during the first cycle will maintain.
4.) Body composition will change further for the better (lighter, but still durable).

Half-way through the first week. Let's see where the rest of the cycle goes.

And the weight rolls back!

2009-10-24T19:48:00.001-07:00

The scale is cooperating now and I'm 1.5 lbs from my 235 lbs original weight when I started the Stronglifts 5x5 Sandbag program 12 weeks ago. w00t!!!!

Early this morning, a nice 9.2 mile run in 1:55. It has been a long time since I did a run in the morning and not have any food before going. Would have been a bit faster, but nature called and I'm so glad that there was a Wendy's along my running route.

Looking forward to chilling out tomorrow and officially ending this first cycle.

I'll post up the workouts for the next cycle. It's going to be intense!

Phase 1 complete

2009-10-23T14:38:00.000-07:00

Today was the last lifting day...and I didn't bother.

I needed a few days to unload. I've noticed that is done in quite a bit of exercise training programs (whether they're for strength or running or whatever). So tonight, I'll do some lighter lifts, but not in excess of what is approaching my 1-Rep Max.

So my final numbers in the end come out to be:

Back Squat - 215 lbs (in a 5x5, which by 1 Rep Max calculators - 215 lbs matches my 5 Rep Max and my 1 Rep Max comes out to 259 lbs, which is above my current body weight!)
Overhead Press - 122 lbs (in a 3x5 set via barbell. My 1 Rep Max is calculated at 129 lbs, so I think I've exceeded this.)
Bench Press - 110 lbs (in a 5x5. Too easy though and I've already subbed for push-ups now since I'm lifting more weight via push-ups than by sandbag or barbell anyway).
Power Clean - 105 lbs (in a 5x5, but as I said before in my past post, I've done 130 lbs sandbag cleans and 122 lbs barbell cleans, so with more polished technique - I can do 150 lbs or better if I practice.)
Deadlift - 250 lbs (in a 1x5, but I really should head to a local CF gym to see if I can test my Max and get anywhere close to 322 lbs.)

Since I've never lifted before like this, I would have to say this is indeed a success - even with subbing/ditching some of the days (4 days out of 12 weeks).

After my 2 hour run tomorrow, I need to focus on getting ready for my Strength-Endurance phase. I think I've hammered enough of the details out, so I should be good. But it's always good to re-check your info too.

Inspiration

2009-10-20T06:16:00.000-07:00

To those that don't believe that completing a 100 miles is possible for anyone:

http://www.ultrarunning.com/ultra/features/news/amputee-wins-heartland-10.shtml

Yeah, Amy Palmiero-Winters. She lost her leg in a motorcycle accident a few years ago and she's done tons of races, from various running distances to tri's. Now she can check off "Ultrarunning Champion" to that list as well.

So, what did you do today?

Getting into the next phase

2009-10-13T11:29:00.000-07:00

I'm in the middle of week 11 and have one more week to go to end the first cycle of my training.

As I said before in my original plan description, the first cycle/period would be a strength-focused one. I followed the Stronglifts.com 5x5 plan but with a Starting Strength twist by ditching the supplementary exercises (no push-ups, pull-ups, planks, or crunches - all good exercises, but not in the Starting Strength program) and I swapped the inverted rows with power cleans. I still kept the 5x5 method over the 3x5 one simply because I believe that pushing past the 3x5 and doing two more sets of five would appropriately push me further without killing me. Thankfully, my believe paid off.

Another twist to make guys like Zach Evan-Esh of UndergroundStrengthCoach.com and Josh Henkin of Sandbag Fitness Systems proud is that I used a sandbag for pretty much the whole damn time (there were two sessions where I did use the barbell at home since I had days off and the sandbags are at the office).

Numbers-wise, here's where I'm at right now doing the 5x5 (these are not Max Rep numbers):

Back Squat: 195 lbs
Bench Press: 100 lbs
Power Clean: 100 lbs
Deadlift: 220 lbs
Military Press: 100 lbs (although I did do a 3x5 @ 120 lbs)

I have another week left. Unless I stall, I should be looking at:

Back Squat: 220 lbs
Bench Press: 115 lbs
Power Clean: 115 lbs
Deadlift: 260 lbs
Military Press: 115 lbs

Again, these numbers are not 1-Rep Max, but doing a 5x5 (or 1x5 for the Deadlift).

Also, I found an appropriate strength calculator for my 1 Rep Max and I was a bit ambitious using Ron Shaul's numbers at first. I'm confident I'll get there in the future, but for now this is what I found:

1RM Standard Calc: http://www.brianmac.co.uk/weight.htm
240 lbs male

Novice

Squat - 258 lbs
Bench - 193 lbs
Military Press - 129 lbs
Deadlift - 322 lbs
Clean - 186 lbs

Experienced

Squat - 316 lbs
Bench - 236 lbs
Military Press - 162 lbs
Deadlift - 370 lbs
Clean - 228 lbs

Advanced

Squat - 431 lbs
Bench - 323 lbs
Military Press - 193 lbs
Deadlift - 503 lbs
Clean - 310 lbs

Since I'm a novice, I'm approaching the 1-Rep Max limits rather quickly and I can do some maintenance heavy lifting as the weeks go on to keep it or not lose a majority of it.

And yes, I'm at 240 lbs at the moment. So within the entire program, I gained 5 lbs. However, the weight gain seemed to have stopped after the 8th week and my body shape has changed quite dramatically. My waist is a bit smaller, I can see my abs more and my chest and back are much more broader. Arms are a bit bigger and my quads & calves (as always) are solid as rocks. Overall more dense and durable. So, even though my weight is moving in the opposite direction of where I wanted to go, I'm turning more bulletproof. My last few runs aren't beating me up.

Speaking of runs, my mileage isn't very good. Minimum mileage has been zero. Max has been 16 miles per week. Longest run has been 12 miles so far. However, I'm still confident that I'll still get through the Seattle Ghost marathon (or 50k, still haven't officially decided yet) on November 28th. Some of the reduction in miles has simply been due to not running mid-week. After my lifting the previous day, I just felt too tired to run the following day. I'm just a lame-excuse machine, but I plead the "listening to my body" amendment. But as I said, there is still time and I'm still confident that I'll complete the run.

One thing with my runs is that I temporarily abandoned doing any kind of hardcore speedwork (no CFE-style runs). My body wasn't tolerating them and my form broke down hard during them compared to just running easy, tempo, or fartlek style. It could also be a time-issue with when I do these runs since I noticed with myself that I do better with my runs that are speed-intensive if I do them as one of the first things of the day instead of the last things of the day when my body has been chewed through the daily grind that's life. But I'll probably re-incorporate them back in if I'm able to sometime down the road depending on how things go.

So what's next after Oct 24th and the strength cycle ends? The strength-endurance cycle begins. Now, this is where things get a bit tricky. I could have gone from doing strength work into doing power-endurance (aka Work Capacity) workouts like the ones you typically see with CrossFit or other similar workouts where you do task-based and/or go against the clock. However, it boiled down to whether I wanted to:

1.) Lift fast but heavy with little rest. A good example of this is a task-based workout that involves multiple sets of lifts, little rest between sets, and an increase in weight if you tackle that next workout.

or

2.) Lift fast as many times as possible, but not necessarily heavy. Good example of this is a person pulling off a Fran workout at the typical Rx'ed weight. A very strong lifter will treat that 95 lbs barbell like it's air and get through the workout fast and the only thing that could slow them down is either bad pull-up strength (which is not very likely) or if they do a "Heavy Fran" and jack up the weight of the barbell and/or load some weight on during their pull-ups.

So I had to decide if I wanted to increase my work capacity and do more in the same time or increase my strength and the endurance/stamina to lift heavy instead.

Matt "Wiggy" Wiggins put this down when commenting on Density Training here:

Density Training is very beneficial because, depending on how it's "tweaked," it can accomplish a fairly wide variety of goals at one time. Coupled with extra calories, it can result in muscle and overall weight gain. Used with high sets with low reps, brute strength can be increased.

If rest periods are kept short, strength-endurance is benefited. If a fair amount of reps are used (say, perform 50 reps of a compound movement in 20 minutes), work capacity and overall conditioning are increased.

I figured that for the moment, strength-endurance was more important than power-endurance. Added bonus, my strength-endurance work will make it more possible for me to do power-endurance work better & faster. Although this explanation does give CrossFit's methodology and design some sense since a great deal of their workouts are tied to Work Capacity and it seems that "doing more in less time" does promote better overall fitness.

So now that I know what to focus on, the workouts that I have to do are proving to be a bit tricky to plan. I already know to do Volume + Minimal Rest + Heavy Weight. The question is what workouts should I do? I decided that I should still focus on the basics. Taking a page from the CrossFit Strength-Bias program, I opted to focus on Squats, Deadlifts, and Overhead Presses. No bench press, no power cleans. I also decided to have Mondays still used as the standard strength days, basically following the same 5x5 template, but seriously extended out. So what does this look like?

Week A:
Monday (Strength) - 3x5 or 5x5 Squat, 3x5 or 5x5 Overhead Press
Tuesday - Run
Wednesday (Strength-Endurance) - 15x2 or 15x3 Squat, 15x1 or 20x1 Deadlift
Thursday - Run
Friday (Strength-Endurance) - 15x2 or 15x3 Squat, 15x2 or 15x3 Overhead Press
Saturday - Long Run
Sunday - Rest

Week B:
Monday (Strength) - 3x5 or 5x5 Squat, 1x5 Deadlift
Tuesday - Run
Wednesday (Strength-Endurance) - 15x2 or 15x3 Squat, 15x2 or 15x3 Overhead Press
Thursday - Run
Friday (Strength-Endurance) - 15x2 or 15x3 Squat, 15x1 or 20x1 Deadlift
Saturday - Long Run
Sunday - Rest

The starting weight will be at 65% of my predicted 1-Rep Max and my rest times will be 60 seconds. Each workout will decrease the rest time by 10 seconds. When I get to a 20 second rest successfully, the weight will increase by 5 lbs and the clock resets back to 60 seconds again. The strength part I'll do my best with, but I have a feeling that I won't progress but be maintaining more than anything...but who knows?

Also, in addition to the lifting, I'll be focusing on my push-ups and pull-ups at home (another reason why I ditched the bench press and power cleans). So while I'm doing this strength-endurance stuff at work using the sandbags, I'll be following http://hundredpushups.com/ and http://twentypullups.com/. Similar to other programs that build strength-endurance like Recon Ron and even Grease the Groove (although GTG is meant to be done throughout the entire day, having access to a pull-up bar at the office is impossible...otherwise, I would have done that instead). So strength-endurance lifting at work, push-ups and pull-ups at home at night. The pull-up and push-up programs are only 6 weeks long (8 for the pull-up program for me since my test sucked and I could only squeak out one pull-up), but with the chance of any kind of setback, I can repeat a week or two during this cycle.

With my running during this time, I expect to be doing more volume due to various events from November to my "A" race in August (about 1 ultra per month). Based on my past performance, doing about one race a month gets enough aerobic conditioning in to where it has made me a bit faster at the same distance at other events. When I did my first 6 races in 6 months (four 50k's with a 50 miler after and then a marathon), my times were relatively improving compared to the difficulty of the previous event. When I didn't do as much volume, I suffered (my last two Mt Si ultra runs being a prime example of this.)

Crossing my fingers on this one! Let's see where this next cycle takes me!

Doctor Who Ain't Got Nuthin' On Me

2009-10-05T08:40:00.000-07:00

http://bakerlake50k.com/

I renewed my position as The TimeLord, keeper of the 4th dimension for the Baker Lake 50k again this year.

Some things were the same. Long drive from home to Concrete. Same stop @ Starbucks to get a coffee box for the race. Cold morning.

Some things were different. Brought my guitar and portable stove with some food to cook with (although barely played the guitar and didn't eat anything from my stove or practically nothing at the race except for a roast beef Subway sub). Had some company this time with Arthur who was racing this year.

Other different things: Lots more stuff! When I got to the campground, they had a few coffeemakers running along with music from an iPod docked in a speaker. There were pastries (cakes) everywhere it seemed. Someone else also had gotten Starbucks coffee too in a box like I did. Other folks that were helping out this year that I didn't see last time were Jay (Shawn's bro), Michael & Tamera Cartwright (Tamera was running this also), Steve Stoyles, and a few other guys that I didn't get a chance to introduce myself to.

A dark and cold morning, things were moving along very well. I have to say that this is probably the most organized I've seen races done in remote places. Usually, there is some kind of chaos. Things forgotten, things misplaced. Jay and Steve were working the check-in's in the dark. There was plenty of coffee for everyone. My buddy Stan Nakashima gave me a ton of produce from his farm (Thanks Stan!). Shawn and tc* were busy taking care of the last minute things on the course. Much better than last year for certain, I believe we learned from the last time.

Soon the early starters were getting ready and I sadly didn't have time to get my airhorn (the signal for last year). So with keeping time like last year, I had to substitute. In this case, my countdown ended up as:

3, 2, 1 - HAUL ASS!!!!!!!!!

Not quite the same punch as an airhorn, but good enough with my ability to project my voice thanks to years of vocal music training.

More check-in's and another countdown for the regular starters and the start was virtually empty of people as usual. Checking around the table, I was surprised to see the amount of cakes that Haggen Foods provided (20+, seriously!). I begged for us to do a Cake Walk, but that idea died quickly. Tried playing my guitar to kill time, but my fingers got seriously frozen from the cold. It was one of those days where if you were in the sun, you felt warm. You got in the shade, you were a frozen fishstick.

I got to run about 90 minutes before the first runner (Terry Sentinella - YAY TERRY!!!) came through and I got in a good 4 mile run along the trails. I noticed that I wasn't nearly as winded when it came to those rolling hills and my leg muscles were able to take the abuse without feeling beaten up. I was even able to run virtually all of the inclines with little difficulty. I can only assume that my strength training cycle of heavy lifting is responsible for this. However, I do notice that my aerobic conditioning isn't as good as it could be. I am confident that this will be remedied as I continue to progress in my training plan and move into future cycles that have more metcon and sport-specific conditioning.

I got back about 40 minutes before Terry showed up and was kicking myself that I could have gone a bit longer. Oh well, there's always next year.

About 15 minutes before the 5th hour, Terry showed up and won first place overall and first masters - a 2nd Baker Bear award for him. Funny thing is that the next several folks that came through also snagged Baker Bears for 1st Women Open & Overall, 1st Women Master, 1st Male Open, and 1st Male Senior all within 30 minutes of each other. Some of those runners had done other events a week before, especially the 1st Women (Shawna Wilskey) who WON 1st woman at the Hundred in the Hood the previous weekend! Yeah, she ran 100 miles a week before and then ran 31 miles more the next week, winning both 1st place spots for the women! Some people were built for speed, Shawna was built to make you eat her dust and like it.

As everyone started coming in, I was doing what I do best - playing the role of the timelord. However, this timelord got an upgrade and we were actually doing the timekeeping on a laptop this time, using an excel spreadsheet to enter the time in via keyboard macro. I tweaked out the form even further by making it calculate the start time against the time they came in - giving us a total time in hours and minutes. This was a great benefit for us and allowed the results to be posted practically the next day!

For the most part, everyone was pretty cool...except for two dudes. One guy who bitched about the course being about a half a mile longer than he expected and another guy who wanted us to adjust his time to match a 50k finish. Damn! Can't please everyone...although I was REALLY tempted to put DQ on their names. Maybe next year I'll be more brutal if someone acts like a dorkus.

Time eventually was winding down and towards the end, we had a few folks that were struggling to come in. Our final finisher came in just under 10 hours with an early start. He was given the Dead F*cking Last Baker Bear award. In these events, when everything is falling apart, sometimes the heart is the thing that pulls you through to the finish line.

After our final runner and sweepers were done, we tore down as fast as we could to get the hell out of there. I was there for almost 12 hours and up for about 15. Others were there for nearly two days. A nice place to visit, but you really don't want to stay around any longer than you have to. A final goodbye and Arthur and I were headed back south. Lots of chit-chat along the way home and I did enjoy the company for a change.

Another day of race volunteering done. I should have enough good trail karma now to complete 5 Cascade Crest 100's. :-) I kid, but I enjoy helping out (yes, even when there are some ungrateful people that always show up at races). Folks that really appreciate the help on the course, those are the people that I like. My buddies who work along side me at these things, always a party when we're together. Running, especially ultrarunning can be a very selfish thing. Helping out at events seems to balance things out a bit. It would explain why trail work is starting to become more of a requirement at races than ever.

Anyhoo, next event is November (not Ron Herzog, apologies to tc!). A nice 26.2 mile (or 31 mile, haven't decided yet) friendly fun-run we like to call the Seattle Ghost. It'll be my first event back in quite a long time. I don't plan on smashing PR's or anything crazy like that. I plan on getting some serious time on my feet, enjoying the camaraderie, and eating some of that yummy post-race food that completely trumps the so-called post-race food that the actual Seattle Marathon provides. Scott Krell's post-race food rocks!

Body Talk

2009-09-18T07:08:00.000-07:00

You know the saying, "Listen to your body." Well, seems that if you don't listen to your body, it might scream at you in return like a child's temper tantrum. Other times, it'll just throw the tantrum anyway, even if you are listening.

Case in point:

- Last weekend's long run of 12 miles. It was a night run and it was a 2 mile out-n-back repeated 6 times. The last round, I could feel the drain and my last two miles were reflecting a decline in performance and effort. The tantrum: FEED ME! FEED ME! GIMME CAFFEINE GOODNESS! Guess that's what I get for going out with water only.

- Skipped the two mid-week runs this week and chose to nap. The tantrum: SLEEPY! NO!!! NO RUN, SLEEP!!!! Looking at the last few days, I've been getting less sleep at night, so this is turning into a necessity for now. As long as I keep the long run though and maintain the strength-bias period, I should still be okay despite the mid-week run skips.

- My ability to zercher & front squat has taken a backseat to back squats using the sandbags. The tantrum: NO!!!! TOO HEAVY!!!! NOT GONNA DO IT!!!! OOPS-SIE! I MADE YOU DROP THE BAG!!! Seems my limit for now is 125-130 lbs to get into the zercher position. But the good thing is that I'm still able to do some kind of heavy squat and I'm at 140 lbs now, going to 145 lbs later this morning. Personally, I think that my 1-Rep Max for the backsquat might actually get close to 300 lbs...but we'll see if that's the case when I get near the end of the cycle. I still need to buy some heavier plates for home.

- My overhead press ability with the sandbag seems to have stalled out around 75 lbs where I can do a full 5x5 @ 75 lbs; all weight after that, I can do a 3x5 before starting to fail. The tantrum: SEE PREVIOUS TANTRUM!!!! WAH!!!!!!! Now, it could be the fact that it's a bag and not a bar. I think this goes back to the "Raw strength vs Barbell strength" thing that Rob Shaul talked about in a post awhile back.

- My clean could use some work (No body tantrum on this thankfully). But in the defense of cleaning a sandbag, I don't think I've seen anyone with 100% perfect form like you would have with a barbell (can you say CrossFit Slop?). The bag is awkward and there are multiple ways of getting yourself into position for it. Zach @ UndergroundStrengthCoach.com has a really good video here showing a good Power Clean example with multiple styles of sandbags - Military & the Josh Henkin bag.

Coming out the other side

Nearly done with this cycle and I've got 5 weeks to go after this week is over, YAY!!!

Trying to figure out what to program in for the next cycle is proving to be more difficult though. I'm limited in what I can do due to the equipment and time. It might end up being where I do two WODs in a day - one at work, one at home. However, we'll see what happens. I know I can't program it in the typical CF fashion since the week is setup so differently compared to a standard 3/1 or 5/2 format. But I'm sure I'll get something banged out in the next month.

6 down (almost), 50 to go...

2009-09-11T13:32:00.000-07:00

With my last strength session for this week done, I figured it's time to put up what I've done so far on here.

I'm halfway through the strength cycle using the Stronglifts 5x5 program and a sandbag instead of a barbell (although I had to use a barbell when I was at home on 09/07 & 09/09 since the sandbag is at the office).

So far, so good. Typically, I use to lift no more than 15-20 lbs dumbbells in my past strength training routines. I wouldn't be able to lift anything heavier and I was doing isolating work. My numbers so far using sandbags and the 5x5 method:

Squat: 130 lbs (Bear Hug, Zercher, and Back Squat)
Bench Press, Military Press, and Power Clean: 80 lbs
Deadlift: 170 lbs

I have to admit though that the days that I used the barbell at home when I was on vacation was easier compared to the sandbag, probably due to the distribution of weight being so different.

Running wise, my volume is relatively low (practically 10+ miles per week for the first 4 weeks, past week was 16 miles) as well as the intensity for some of them. Although my runs for the first three weeks on Tuesdays and Thursdays were CFE-based Stamina Runs and Intervals. I've been able to run on most days, with only one unplanned rest day, one rehab day (ankle seemed really twitchy and needed some TLC, massage, & Trigger Point Therapy @ home), and one 10 miler that went haywire and ended up being a 7.5 mile distance in futility. Thankfully, this is a strength-focused period and the running endurance that I'm rebuilding in the process is just gravy. Although I have to say, my ground speed is improving compared to what I was moving at before (sub-11 minute miles for tempo runs, sub-8 minute miles for speedwork, sub-13 minute miles for easy and long runs currently)...but I still have a very long road ahead of me if I want to recapture my easy/long pace of 9 minute miles, my tempo pace at 7:30's, and my speedwork at 6:00's.

As I said in my past post, I gained some weight yet my physique has changed to look more muscular and dense. Although muscular is good, the extra weight isn't and I need to work better at getting lighter. And getting lighter will require more nutritional scrutiny on my part. However, every single person that I've read up on that has been on Starting Strength and StrongLifts has gained mass. Comes with the territory I guess.

Six weeks down after tomorrow's 12 miler. Six weeks to go to finish off the cycle and 50 weeks till the next Cascade Crest 100. Onward!

Plan of Attack, The Weapon of Choice

2009-09-07T10:38:00.000-07:00

A bit of history...

After several races where I flamed out along with various failed training plans that I either paid for or had designed without enough forethought, I had enough and needed to take charge of myself and my destiny.

Since my original Type II diabetes diagnosis a few years ago, I got into controlling the monster via dietary changes and exercise. Eventually, things led to doing triathlon and then into ultrarunning within a relatively short period of time. Back then, I had taken things more seriously and was diligently training, a great deal of traditional methods - for triathlon, I was using HR-based training plan with some strength training during the week. For the ultrarunning, the plan was emphasizing long-steady runs on a Sunday with some shorter runs during the week to maintain my aerobic base, also cycling daily for my work commutes and doing some basic strength training 3 x Week. This took me through doing 4 50k's, a 50 miler, and pacing duties at my first marathon all in a 6 month period.

Then, as goals shifted after a few successful races and I wanted to take on other challenges (namely, my first back-to-back marathon weekend), I modified my training appropriately, doing back-to-back long runs on the weekends, medium-distance runs during the week, and a good amount of cycling to work still with some mild strength training still. Although not all the mid-week runs happened, I did do the weekend long runs without fail...well, not 100% without fail. There were some second day runs where I felt like the crap of crap (yeah, sub-crap), but my body built up stronger and my two marathons in two days went through without a hitch.

After that, things stopped working. Looking back, a majority of it was lack of proper goal setting. Sure, I got some races done like White River and others during this time, but it was like driving on flat tires on nice smooth roads. The damage won't kill your rims as quickly, but over time - you're going to be stuck on the side of the road and thumbing for a ride.

And when things stopped working, I stopped too. Basically just running in things because they were there, even though my own fitness level decreased. I was still under control with my diabetes (blood work confirmed this at my last physical), but the passions for endurance sports were practically dead.

Today...

Then sometime in early 2009, I was ready to start getting back into the swing of things...until my company relocated me further away from home for my commute. After some mild employer-loathing and spending a few extra hours driving on the road just to make a buck, I got over myself and decided that there was no point in being all whiny and bitchy about the shit that life throws at you if you don't do anything about it. So, with my endurance-life, I'm doing something about it.

Well, as promised from a couple of weeks ago, the goals and the plan:

To help setup the plan, I needed goals. To have goals, I followed the SMART criteria.

Goals should be:

S - Specific
M - Measurable
A - Attainable
R - Realistic
T - Trackable

I had to think about what I wanted and it had to fit the model. I also had to think of the importance as well. Also, I've learned that you need to have long-term goals and short-term goals. So, here are my goals:

Long-Term (6-12 months):

1.) Complete Cascade Crest 100 mile course within the cut-off time (32 hours) for August 2010 race.

2.) Complete White River 50 mile course faster than previous time of 13:49 for July 2010 race.

3.) Complete Mt Si 50 mile course (three attempts, DNF twice) and finish faster than previous time of 10:37 for April 2010 race.

4.) To reach Rob Shaul's Mountain Athlete requirements of having his athletes being able to:

- Deadlift @ 2xBW
- Squat & Bench Press @ 1.5xBW
- Power Clean @ 1.25xBW
- Military Press @ 1xBW
- 20 strict BW pull-ups
- 40 strict BW dips.

However, this is already being re-evaluated and I might be better off lowering the goals for now until I can see where I'm at (since endurance training does conflict with strength training due to the catabolization of muscle):

- Deadlift @ 1.5xBW
- Squat & Bench Press @ 1xBW
- Power Clean @ 0.75xBW
- Military Press @ 0.75xBW
- 20 strict BW pull-ups
- 40 strict BW dips.

5.) Get below 200 lbs. Current weight at 239 lbs, original weight when I was setting the goals was at 235 lbs. I'll talk about this later in the post.

Short-Term (0-6 months):

1.) Complete Seattle Ghost Marathon in November 2009.
2.) Complete Pigtails Flat Ass 50k in December 2009.
3.) Complete Western WA Tiger Mountain Fat Ass 50k in January 2010.
4.) Complete Bridle Trails 50k Twilight Run in January 2010 (the week after the Tiger Mountain 50k.)
5.) Complete the Pigtails Run and Yours Truly 50k double in last month of January 2010.

~~Yeah, I know. There really isn't much for the short-term. But this is still a work in progress and I'm an experiment of one.~~ Edit: There's a crap-load of volume that I guess I'll be doing. But my plan was to do one marathon or ultra per month to toughen up my aerobic base while still training for Cascade Crest.

So, with the plan, after much research into my life after my diabetes diagnosis and checking various exercise protocols and methods, I eventually landed on a blend of things from various sources. Folks like Greg Glassman, Mark Twight, Dan John, Mark Rippetoe, Rob Shaul, Hal Higdon, Jeff Galloway, Pete Pfitzinger, Brandon Oto, Gant Grimes, Steven Low, Brian MacKenzie (yes, even BMack), and others have provided great influence on the plan I've developed for myself. Also, a good way to plan the future is to look at the past. Figure out what worked and what didn't.

This is what I've now understood:

1.) You got to have a specific goal set for yourself. It doesn't matter if your goal is to just look good and have a lifetime of health, be the world's strongest man, or to do a transcontinental run, without something to focus on, build an intelligent plan, and take action to get to it - you're going to be FUBAR'ed.
2.) Strength Training is necessary in any training plan since it keeps injuries down in your respective sport. Functional strength training has the most superiority due to the transferability to life and sports.
3.) Power-to-Weight ratios are in ALL SPORTS. The heavier you are, you've got to have the power to balance it out. This is why at every race I've been at, I've seen beanpoles being outran by hefty guys. In cycling, most guys that look like scrawny dudes are able to attack steep inclines compared to the larger, heavier guys. However, there are some large cyclists that are excellent climbers and it's due to their power-to-weight ratio being so high.
4.) Gym work needs to be useful to your sport and/or life. This goes back to #1 & #2. There's no point in doing an exercise in the gym if it doesn't help you out in your respective sport or in the real world.
5.) Train all energy systems, but you've got to decide what takes priority based on your sport/life/goals.
6.) Eat clean. Garbage in, garbage out.
7.) Recovery is MORE important than training. There's no point in hitting it hard every single workout if you can't recover from it so you can reap the physiological and psychological benefits from it. Use your recovery tools - SLEEP, MASSAGE, ICE BATHS, TRIGGER POINT THERAPY, etc. Faster recovery is also a good sign of physical health.
8.) Adaption takes time. There are no shortcuts and you need to have patience in yourself.
9.) Training plans are not dogma. Just as people change every minute of every day, the training has to adapt to meet those changes.
10.) Mistakes are fine to make. Not learning from those mistakes are costly in the end.

So, with that in mind, here is what my plan entails:

1: Strength Focus (12 weeks)
2: ~~Secondary Strength~~ Strength-Endurance Focus (12 weeks)
3: Power Focus (8 weeks)
4: Power Endurance Focus (8 weeks)
5: Sport-Specific Endurance Focus (16 weeks)

This is based on Mark Twight & Rob Shaul's setup. Past research has shown that periodization when preparation for an event does create effective results. Once when a person is at a particular level of strength/speed/endurance/etc, the goal shifts to maintenance. Since I'm virtually back at zero again, this will help keep things organized, focused, and rebuild what I had in the past (and adding some more than I had before).

Twight's original design is setup as 4-6 week periods:

1. Foundational Period
2. Strength Period
3. Power Period
4. Power-Endurance Period
5. Endurance Period

However, the original foundational period is basically doing GPP training. Funny thing is that in the CrossFit world, if you're starting out at zero - everyone points at either doing scaled workouts or doing Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe. Most who are solid CrossFitters have done better doing a Starting Strength cycle (or two) first and THEN going into CrossFit's GPP, their metcon capacity catching up quickly to their strength and gymnastics usually being the last thing that kicks in for most folks. Checking Rob Shaul's methods, he typically has most folks doing strength as the very first thing as well before progressing to other types of mixed-modal workouts.

Strength Cycle I

So, right now I'm focused on strength. The strength workouts are 3 x week (M,W,F) using the StrongLifts.com 5x5 program using sandbags at work (yeah, no barbell and doing these at work gives me a bit more free-time at home with the family). So far, so good, I'm 6 weeks in and although I've gained about 4 lbs during this time, my physique has changed dramatically and I've been lifting more than I ever had when doing my old strength training routines. Although, I'm going to have to find a way to add more weight to the sandbag without taking up more space in the locker that all the bags are located (I've got 150 lbs of sand at work and it's not going to be enough for my squats in another two weeks and I'm already past this weight for my deadlifts.)

On the days when I'm not doing my strength workouts, I'm focused on sport-specific work. This is based on Mark Twight's (picking another focus when not doing the major focus), Rob Shaul's (do Sport-Specific workouts when not in the gym), and Greg Glassman's (play and do sports) views. So I'm running on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. The mid-week runs for now are just to get some time on my feet and focus on having good running form. I'll move to having those Tuesdays and Thursdays to Tempo/Stamina & Interval runs, using some of the running WODs that Brian MacKenzie has posted on CrossFit Endurance. (Note: Although BMack and I don't see eye-to-eye on everything, he has some seriously creative interval and tempo/stamina runs listed on the CFE site. Much more variety compared to doing regular track work and that's always a nice change.)

On Saturdays, I am rebuilding my long runs. I'm a strong believer in "you have to train long to go long" and having this one long run day will help rebuild my aerobic base. Looking back at my past training, the long run was the thing that made the serious difference between being strong for an event versus falling apart at one. So far, so good. My longest run has been 10 miles and about a month or two ago, this wasn't even possible.

I've got a little over 6 weeks left before this strength period ends. Provided that I don't have any major setbacks, I'll be able to hit a majority of the strength goals in the early stages and then strive to get to Rob Shaul's requirements for the rest of the year.

~~Strength Cycle II~~ Strength-Endurance Cycle

The next period is still a strength period, but with a twist. Instead of 3xWeek, it's 2xWeek (Mondays & Wednesdays), with the Friday to get acquainted with the other areas of focus (Max Strength, Power, & Power-Endurance). The strength progression will be slower with only having two days instead of three, but there will be progression. During the off-days, there will still be a focus on running just like before.

Update (09/17/2009): Like I said, the plan is constantly evolving. Checking CrossFit along with other sources, I realized I missed something that is really necessary in my training and that is strength-endurance. Just because you can lift a really heavy object once, but get seriously gassed afterwards doesn't help most folks. From the person who carries loads of groceries into their home to the dude at the construction site who has to load all that material and tools from point A to point B, those things all require a combo of both strength and endurance. This would explain why ruck running/marching in the military, mountain trail running/hiking, and wearing a weighted vest during runs and other workouts carries over well into regular running. But strength-endurance work (as Matt Wiggins put it):

Strength-Endurance = Heavy Weights + Short Rest + Volume

Most of the CrossFit WOD's that are done for time and involve weight (either bodyweight or external weight) fit this. A good example are workouts like Fran. I think that this is where CrossFit and other hybrid-based fitness programs bread and butter really come from more than anything. On T-Nation, an editor who went to a CrossFit cert makes mention of this:

...If someone trains to get strong in the traditional sense, not only does maximal strength improve, but strength endurance improves as well. If someone just trains for strength endurance, he merely improves his performance at his current level of strength. He can't improve his maximal strength without focusing on it.

As mentioned, CrossFit programming tries to mitigate this effect by scheduling periodic low-rep, max-effort days...

Now the argument of who's fitness program is the best? My answer: If you have to ask this question, you've got too much time to think of questions and you're not spending it on your "game". Bust your ass dude!

Power Cycle

After the ~~second strength~~ strength-endurance period is over, the next move is to the 8-week Power phase. Power workouts are aimed at increasing the rate of force production, the ability to activate the muscle fibers instantly in a coordinated manner. This generates max cardio stress (red-lining) within a short period of time. Workouts like Olympic Lifts, Box Jumps, Interval Runs, and Hill Sprints can also be considered Power workouts since it requires fast and explosive movements. The weeks will basically having a Monday strength day (heavy slow lifting), Wednesdays and Fridays being Power-Focused. The run schedule still being the same.

Power-Endurance Cycle

After the Power period is over, the focus moves to an 8-week Power-Endurance period. Power-Endurance is a mix of both aerobic and anaerobic sources. Everyone might be more familiar with this as Tempo work, Stamina work, or Lactate Threshold work in the running world. Hard and fast endurance efforts that last up to 30 minutes most of the time. The schedule does get a bit more flexible this time. Mondays are still a strength day, Wednesdays and Fridays get the Power-Endurance WODs (running mostly), while the off-days that are running on Tuesdays and Thursdays can be swapped with Power work. Saturdays will always remain a long run day.

Sport-Specific Endurance Cycle

After the Power-Endurance period is finished, we get into the final phase - the Sport-Specific Endurance phase. This lasts for 16 weeks and the main focus is running. After consulting Rob Shaul, he recommended that Mondays is left for "gym work", trying to maintain what was developed from the previous cycles. The rest of the days (Wednesdays and Fridays) would be a mix of Power and Power-Endurance WODs that are running specific or have enough transferability to running. Tuesdays and Thursdays will be easy runs or possibly continuing as they did before using CFE-style runs. Saturdays will still be a long run.

Closing...

Please keep in mind that this isn't in stone, but just a guideline that I'm following. As things continue, if I feel the need to change things around if something doesn't fit, I'll change it. If I need to scrap something, I'll scrap it (it already happened for one strength day, I chose sleep due to the volunteering at Cascade Crest and being sleep-deprived for nearly 30+ hours after working two aid stations.)

However, I'm 6 weeks into this now and I am starting to feel stronger and more durable. As time continues and as things progress, I feel very confident that this training will work and eventually, I'll be able to be on a more consistent maintenance plan that will allow me to maintain the strength, speed, and endurance that I've gained AND allow me to further refine my abilities as needed when I set newer goals for the next year.

Hyper-volunteerism @ Cascade Crest

2009-09-03T08:32:00.000-07:00

This past weekend was the Cascade Crest 100 race. Although I wasn't a participant in the event as a runner, I did what I seem to do best - help out those that do run.

The jobs - Aid station work @ Mile 23 (Tacoma Pass) and Mile 60.5 (Keechelus Ridge).

I wouldn't be the captain of the aid stations like I was at the 20th Century 100k event back in June, but I was going to bust my ass to make sure every runner was taken care of.

Saturday morning, I had a drowsy & wet start being 4am and driving through a mild downpour on the way to Easton. Thankfully, the rain stopped when getting past the Snoqualmie Valley. The runners and volunteers wouldn't need to breakout the rain gear this time.

I got to Easton around 7am after getting some Starbucks and gas, headed to the firehouse and got some breakfast with the rest of the runners and volunteers that were there. Lots of familiar people. A good who's-who of ultrarunning. Mark Tanaka, Andy Kumeda, Catra Corbitt, Christian Griffith, James Varner, Rod Bien, etc. Some that I've never met in person, some that I've ran with (or rather, got outrun by), but all of them that I consider friends and fellow brothers & sisters in suffering. I kept mental note of who was there since I knew I'd meet them again...and again.

After a few more introductions, I started lugging supplies into cars and trucks for the various aid stations that were starting early, mine being one of them. Before 9am, it was off to the first aid station - Tacoma Pass. I followed our fearless captain, Eric Sach from the Balanced Athlete with his wife Iliana in their car. Eric has been the aid station captain here for about 4 years now and knows the way all too well, driving along the washboard/pothole dirt roads like a rally car driver. My poor minivan was so traumatized!

We eventually got to the aid station location and setup halfway. Afterwards, we went for a nice run along the Pacific Crest Trail, heading southbound. A good ~60 min hike & run for me. I'm looking forward to next year to run the event and actually RUN up some of those hills with a bib number attached to me. Once everyone got back, the crews for the various runners showed up and with the help of some of the kiddies who came along, we got the aid station ready...almost.

One thing we didn't account for was a few runners (i.e. Phil Shaw) coming in faster than expected. We expected runners to appear at 2pm, Phil came in at 1:30pm! Thankfully, we got our act together and worked like a well-oiled machine (even with the wasps that kept attacking our aid station table). When you're at this aid station, you can see who looks good to go another 50 miles and who's going to suffer if they keep going. Good to know for next year. This aid station also goes very fast, since there is still daylight and there's plenty of time to get VERY TIRED later on. When the sweeper finally came in, we all jumped for joy and started the teardown of the aid station. I had the dread of having to drive along those evil roads again.

The things to remember: A tablespoon or two of Yellow Mustard can cure leg cramping/pain. Seemed to work for Randy Gierhke, the co-creator of the original Cascade Crest course. (Randy dropped later on in the race. Guess he should have taken my mustard bottle with him.)

After another traumatic drive along the roads back to the Interstate, we finally got back to the race start/finish and unloaded. It was still daylight and I had time to get to my next aid station, Keechelus Ridge @ Mile 60.5. I had originally downloaded my directions from Google Maps, but it got really confusing when you go down dirt roads with no signs anywhere. After climbing what seemed like Mt Everest in my minivan and getting lost, I eventually found the aid station.

What a site! High up, a 7 mile climb from Hyak. I was crossing my fingers that the clouds would be gone and we'd get a starry sky. Sadly, we didn't get to see the heavens that night. This aid station is where folks can come out looking like rock-stars or they're on their way to a death march.

The hurried pace from Tacoma was non-existent here at Keechelus Ridge. With our aid station captain Adam and fellow workers Cameron & Ondrej, we gave more attention to our runners that came in and I broke out the mini-stove to make up some cheeseburgers for folks (a little experiment to see who'd be up for burgers - seems that the mid to back of the packers ate them up...the elite to front of the pack...not so much).

Towards the end, we were getting VERY TIRED and the last few folks that came in did their best to continue. 4 people dropped at our aid station, two that had their crew come to fetch them. The two that were left, one had enough and was feeling ill (his vomiting when we returned to the start was a giveaway), the other drop...well, a mild injury kept her from going, but her attitude towards myself and the rest of the aid station crew was unnecessary. Keechelus Ridge is a non-crew access aid station for the most part due to the narrow roads. If someone drops, they typically have only two options: Go to the next aid station at Kachess Lake (7 miles away, downhill) OR wait until our aid station was done and we closed shop. The first option can get most folks to the next point within 1-2 hours depending on how fast they are. The second option at the time could take 4-5 hours. Plus, the human body can often times rebound if it keeps going during events like these. However, this particular runner shot all of us a dirty look when we gave her those two options. A look of, "What? You're NOT going to drive me down to the finish right NOW???" Needless to say, we had a very difficult time blowing this attitude off and eventually, the runner decided to wait it out until we closed shop.

Runs like this are hard, emotions are high, this is understood. But when you're out there running, be grateful that there are people there to make sure that you're able to eat, drink, make sure you got a pulse, etc. No one paid us to be there, so if we can only give you so many options - cut us some slack.

Anyway...aside from this one incident, aid station #2 for me went well and I learned how to cope with the lack of sleep again and being on my feet for extended periods of time. Perfect for training with future races and the next Cascade Crest 2010 run.

After a quick teardown of the aid station, I headed back to Easton to unload one final time and get to see some runners finish.

Hanging out with friends, seeing the triumph of the human spirit as various folks finished their 100 mile adventure, embracing life. This is why I'm so hooked on this sport and even though I've done less running in these things, sitting on the sidelines and lending a hand puts me in a special place where I get to see the joy (and the sadness) that comes with this thing we call ultrarunning.

...although, I do miss being the sweaty one crossing the finish line. But all in good time.

Blowing the dust off

2009-08-18T08:12:00.000-07:00

It's been some time since I've updated this.

But life is always moving and always going forward, even if this blog isn't (which is cool.)

Training and races - I decided to scrub the rest of the races in the near future. So no Hundred in the Hood for me, my first 100 mile dreams will have to be on hold until 2010.

However, I am at the beginning of a new training plan that I designed, based mostly on Rob Shaul's Hybrid Program and design at Mountain Athlete. I won't disclose too much now since it's in the early stages and I'm on week 3 at the moment, but here's the skinny:

The program is setup using periodization. Currently, I'm on the beginning part, which is Strength Focused. When this period is over, I'll shift to the next one (to be disclosed later).

The week is setup as:

Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays - WOD
Tuesdays & Thursdays - Sport-Specific WOD
Saturdays - Long Run
Sundays - Rest

As I said, I'll go into more specifics later on.

Currently, everything is being documented on paper (yeah, the old fashion way). Seems that I respond better if the training log is in my face. I'll eventually copy the information here for sharing purposes.

Green River Mara...16 miler.

2009-06-09T12:17:00.000-07:00

Yeah, another DNF. This time @ mile 16. I was cruising along around 11 minutes a mile. Some faster, some slower, but generally at 11 minutes. I went by RPE instead of HR and everything seemed to be okay...until I started chaffing. My HRM belt was messing with me. My nipples were not feeling good against my shirt. My shorts decided to mess with me as well. Yeah, too much info, but you get the idea. All was going well until after the half-marathon point, then it went south.

Once I got to mile 16, I decided to bail simply because the fun run wasn't fun anymore and I didn't need to cause a monsterous chaffing incident with myself. I still have scarring on my chest that looks like that damn Suunto ANT+ belt.

So from now until I completely heal up or if I get the newer Comfort Belt, no more HR Training for me. Just as well, I want to go by feel anyway.

My So-Called Training Life

2009-05-20T06:46:00.000-07:00

Since my office move further north, it's been a struggle when it comes to finding a groove for training. The longer commute times (from 23 to 45 miles one-way) have gobbled into my free time, so I've had to consistantly re-evaluate my training over and over. Also, not having access to things that I did from my previous office location (namely, an on-site gym) has also made things more challenging.

However, I do believe I found a decent groove to work from and I've been trying to make a go of it for the last month. This past week, it is improving.

Basically, it's going like this:

Monday: Rest
Tuesday: Sandbag Strength Training during lunch, 6 mile run in the evening w/4 miles at tempo pace or entire run as a fartlek.
Wednesday; Metabolic Conditioning workout during lunch (although I've missed a few of these sessions since I started), easy 3-6 miler in the evening.
Thursday: Sandbag Strength Training during lunch, Interval runs based off of time @ sprint pace or tempo pace.
Friday: Rest
Saturday: Medium Run (unless its an event)
Sunday: Long Run or event

Funny thing is, I've done the sandbag training almost consistantly for the past month (thank you Josh Henkin @ Sandbag Fitness Systems for the Sandbag Fundamentals program!), the running...not nearly as much as I want. Mileage since my utter FAIL at Mt Si this year has only been: 4 mi for one week, 19 for another, 5 for the next, and 17 for the past week. It's going to be tough to build up to having a solid 40-50 mile week by the time the Oregon 100 comes.

However, I am hoping that I've been developing plenty of running karma due to my volunteering at races. This past Saturday, I had the pleasure of being the trail director for the Redmond Watershed 12-hour ultra. This kept me in the middle of the action the whole time. After 10 hours of being there, I then swept the big loop of the course and ran an overall 6 miles for that day on rolling trails. It was a good day for sure, better than last year's heatwave. I have a few more races that I'm volunteering for during the rest of the year, like the 20th Century 100k. Hope to build that trail running karma to where my races won't punish me severely!

The Agony of My Feet: 2009 Mt Si Ultra Race Report

2009-04-22T14:17:00.000-07:00

The score: Me - 1, Mt Si - 2.

So far, a best out of three fight - I've lost this one. However, as long as the race still is being held, I will continue to return and not only even up the score, but make my victory table very lopsided.

I went into this run with less training miles than my previous year and the previous one before that. However, I had more gumption (or so I thought). My only goals this race were:

1.) Finish.
2.) Finish in the cutoff.

Fail on both counts. However, I didn't quite fail on the lack of training (even though my miles were absolute crap.)

An early morning drive with the family to the race start, I had prepared for the strong chance that I was going to be aid-less from the Cedar River turnaround (mile 34.5) to the finish. In my second drop bag, I had packed my hydration pack and a large thermos of flattened Pepsi. I was going really old school, all the way to the Karo Light Syrup I had in a gel flask to consume for some of the run.

The "gun" went off just after 5:15am and I went at a VERY conservative pace (15-16 minute miles). I eventually felt my body warm up well and began to run 12 minute miles instead once I got on the Sno-Valley Trail. I ran a bit with Francisco, a first time 50 mile runner. I told him what to expect from Rattlesnake to Cedar River and back, giving him some tips from my training runs there and previous experiences. (Francisco finished in just over the cutoff, but a 50 mile finisher all the same.)

As I continued on the trail, I saw that I was making decent time. Just enough to make the cutoffs. When I got back from the first turnaround (9.9 miles) and to the dropbag point at mile 14, I started to feel some hotspots on my feet - my left more than my right. I took off my left sock and slatered some vaseline on the area and continued. I should have kept that damn baggie of vaseline with the popsicle stick on the course, cause I was going to regret it later.

When I got back onto the road (it always seems longer when you head back), I proceeded to cruise easy on the asphalt. My road shoes were doing what they do best, run on roads. Nice downhills and flats to really get your flow going.

When I reached the 20.4 mile aid station, those hotspots started to feel HOTTER. I should have asked for Vaseline or something at this point, but I was...stupid. I pressed on and things started to go further south for me.

I ended up doing more walking than running as I was trying to reach the self-service aid station @ 24.3 miles. My legs were sore, calves and hamstrings were nagging the hell out of me, but the hot spots were now big blisters and I had one on each foot. I began the hike up to the second drop bag at mile 28.9. This was the place where I eventually dropped last year. I was dead set on not doing that this year and finishing. Well, I did half of that anyway.

The hike/walk with mild running combo got me to my dropbag with a good 12 minutes to spare. However, my time got gobbled up quickly after asking for duct tape and proceeding to tape up my damaged feet. I should have read up more on my Fixing Your Feet book by John Vonhof. You should only tape up after draining those blister bastards.

I strapped on my hydration pack and filled my bottles with pepsi with the help of an aid station volunteer, then setoff to Cedar Falls. As I went past the crowd, I felt some confidence and started to run. The tape didn't feel too bad...until the blisters exploded underneath. It turned into the horrific pain that I had last dealt with at Dizzy Daze a month ago. But unlike Dizzy Daze, I had more distance to go for Mt Si and both feet were suffering.

I was at a slow shuffle, seeing everyone else passing me (although I did appreciate all their encouragement) and then coming back the other way. I eventually made it to Cedar Falls, over 25 minutes from the time I was shooting for. The aid station folks were still waiting for me and gave me a ride back to the start. I was so grateful for them being there, race course volunteers are very critical to making these events work and work well. All runners should always give thanks and also volunteer as well, giving back to the community that supports their habit.

In the end, I covered 34.5 miles and took a very LONG 8 hours and 50 minutes doing it before I surrendered to my blisters. Further than last year, but still no cigar.

Post-race: I had to take two days off from work due to the inability to walk (blisters had wrecked some of the tendons in my foot, causing severe inflammation), my nervous system was fried, and my endocrine system was heavily taxed. I do know that I can build upon this failure of a race and make the rest of my running calendar for the year before the Oregon 100 a better one for sure.

Things learned:

- Acetaminophen, Caffeine, & Codeine pills from Canada make for a very fast and effective pain reliever on the course (better than NSAIDS since it doesn't inhibit the muscle's ability to repair itself). In the USA, it's known as Tylenol 1 w/Codeine, however this version has caffeine since it's from Canada. It's composed of 300 mg of Acetaminophen, 15 mg of Caffeine, and 8 mg of Codeine Phosphate (a very low dosage). Taking two of those took effect in under 15 minutes and if it wasn't for those blisters generating new bits of pain every time I took a step, I believe I could have gone on.
- Brooks socks (the Burn model - yeah, "Burn") are good for anything below 13.1 miles. Anything past that for me, I have to expect problems.
- I need to boost up my base, which means that I need to run longer on the weekends. A 2-hour run might be good for maintenance, but I should learn to stay on my feet for 4-6 hours at a minimum. As Mark Twight from Gym Jones said, There's No Such Thing As A Free Lunch. If I want to run long, I have to train to run long. There are no shortcuts.

Well, that's the story and I'm sticking to it.

Run happy & safe everyone!

A Tweak-Tweak here, a Tweak-Tweak there...

2009-04-10T09:01:00.000-07:00

I'm still alive. Very busy, but still training. Starting to find my groove.

Basically, due to job office relocation (same company, longer commute), my training time has been gobbled up by the commute. So I'm left with doing short runs during the week (so no midweek long runs). But that's okay. I found that my body can't really tolerate that right now anyway. So it's going to be workouts during lunch (sandbag training for strength, some rope work, and some runs - hopefully it won't rain out there too often since I won't have any indoor facility to do those things), short runs immediately when I get home of 30-60 minutes, a long run on Sundays, and maybe a middle distance or short run on Saturdays.

I've also recalibrated my HR zones, going off of the Karvonen method for HR calculation (the Suunto T-Series HRM's seem to use that) and getting my resting HR from my morning averages (64 bpm) and my MaxHR from the Dizzy Daze run at the end (191 bpm), I end up with a completely different set of zones from when I did my metabolic test. I believe that my aerobic capacity has improved since then and my training runs seem to prove this as well based on the Training Effect that is being generated and my ground speed improving overall. I'll get into this later on.

Main focus: Dial into the Zones more and treat next week's 50 miler (Mt Si) as a practice in walk/run combos, hydration/fueling, pushing after mile 29 before Rattlesnake Lake, and then throwing the hammer down for the remaining 15 miles on the downhill to finish (hopefully within the cutoff).

The Dizzy Data

2009-03-30T10:42:00.000-07:00

The data from Dizzy Daze is an interesting one.

After the hard run with Thomas in the 3rd loop, I walked pretty much everything at the end. My walking speed at 13-14 minutes a mile had my HR anywhere from 141 bpm to 150 bpm. If I pushed my walking pace, it went close to 160 bpm. But check out my EPOC/TE numbers, they're LOW. I'm hitting the high 1's to low 2's for Training Effect if this was segmented in separate runs for each loop.

In theory, I could start LOW for the 30-60 minutes of a run and progressively increase my HR (and therefore increase speed). This would generate a higher training effect, but only do it just a little bit. If I plan this right, I could start the first half of a race at a low EPOC/TE and gradually go to a higher EPOC/TE in the second half of a race. Negative split anyone? :-)

Earning the shirt: Dizzy Daze Race Report

2009-03-28T20:22:00.000-07:00

http://databarevents.com/dizzy.asp

The short: Flat course of 3.2 mile loops around Greenlake. Wet, cold, muddy, blistered. Chose the Marathon distance, finished in 6:55:37.

The long: Originally, I was registered for the 50k. The race only had two options: 50k and 100k. However, a few days before the event, the RD (and fellow Marathon Maniac, Jonathan Bernard) had opened up a newer option - a marathon distance. This was a good thing for me. I could still participate, but not go nearly as long. It's nice when you have a bailout option in a race. If you're not feeling so good, you can opt to stop, but not be considered a DNF if you reach a certain designated spot to drop. If I was feeling good, I would continue to the 50k. If I was falling apart, I would do my best to hold it together until the marathon point.

My original plan was this for the run:

1.) Keep my HR within my aerobic range (around 138 bpm)
2.) Shoot for a finish no later than 8-9 hours depending on whether I choose to do the 50k or marathon option

The night before, I got two whole wheat Peanut Butter & Strawberry sandwiches cut and bagged up, my Nathan's hydration pack filled with 2 liters of water (opted not to run with hand-held bottles this time), two packs of Espresso Love GU, a pack of S!Caps for electrolytes, a pack of TUMS Smoothies, some basic pain-killers, my clothes, and my Suunto HRM ready to go for the next day.

I woke up around 4-ish in the morning and realized I wasn't going to make it to the 5am early-start after getting dressed and breakfast, but I could make it to the 6am start. I popped my vitamins and drank some Super Orange Emergen-C, drank some chocolate milk and headed out the door after getting changed into my gear. As I was on the road, I started having GI issues. Seems the vitamin C boost mixed with the chocolate milk in a bad way and I was suffering for it. I had to make a pitstop at my office on the way to the race course. Lesson learned.

I got to the race start, but since it was so rainy and dark around there - I had no clue where anything was. Thankfully, someone else showed up and told me where the start would be once the official start time happened. So, I started running at 6am exactly and ran into the darkness. As I was going, I found that I was running in the wrong direction. My friends who started earlier were coming in from the other direction! Oops! But I had already started and since it was a loop, there was no point in turning back around since it would be the same distance in either direction. There was a double-blessing in disguise going this way. Seems my GI issue from earlier wanted to come back to attack me once more. I saw a 7-Eleven in the distance (about a quarter-mile away) and I headed there to beg the clerk to let me use their bathroom. Thankfully, he showed mercy and that was the last GI issue I had.

I got back onto the course and continued with the mantra of Forward Relentless Motion. Heart Rate was doing great and I eventually finished the first loop in under an hour with the pitstop time at the 7-Eleven. I re-checked in with the RD and proceeded to run in the correct direction (counterclockwise). It was much easier this way since I was running against traffic and wouldn't get so spooked by cars.

Finished up my second loop and was on for my third. I was starting to struggle to keep my HR low, but staying on top of things. Then one of my Maniac buddies (Thomas Tan) had caught me in the middle of my loop. He had early started at 5am and was on his 6th loop. He was also getting really tired and achy (IT Band issues). I was totally cool with him running with me, but I warned him that I was going slow due to HR training. Seems that my body and spirit decided to break all the rules after that. I stopped focusing so much on my HR and proceeded to run more. I began to push the pace with Thomas coming for the ride. What was a shuffle at 13 minutes/mile became 8:30-9:00/mile and no stopping until we reached the end of the loop. I messed up my original plans, but I didn't care. I felt awesome moving that fast. It was very liberating. Thomas only had two loops left to do and was going to only go to the marathon point. With how soaked I was with finishing three loops, the marathon option would be my choice as well.

With 5 loops to go, I started to walk it all. Now when I walk, I walk with purpose. My stride and leg turnover is pretty decent (12-13 minutes per mile has been my best speed for fastwalking, I usually can hold a 14-15 minute per mile pace better). I found that I was able to complete each loop in about 47-50 minutes every time. This was a positive sign that I could complete the race in well under my 8-9 hour planned time. At this point, it was a mental game when it came to the loops. I got through the 4th and 5th loops easily. I even did a quick errand and got my friend's tiresled harness out of her car (yeah, I said tiresled - I need it for my training for the Oregon 100! Gotta develop that core strength!)

In the middle of the 6th loop, I started to feel alot of discomfort in my left shoe. The pain was relatively familiar. A rock? Gravel? After another series of muddy puddles and getting filthy, I sat down at the aid station to check my foot out. My shoe was empty. Small grains of sand, but nothing that would make me feel like this. I wiped out what I could and then continued on my 7th loop. The pain didn't go away though. I stopped again on a bench in the park and decided to take off my sock. That's where I freaked out. Somehow, all of those puddles of dirt had sand as well. The dirtsand-water got into the shoe and into the sock. I wiped a rather LARGE, putty-textured glob of sand off of my left foot and saw the blister underneath. The clump of sand rubbed so much and grew so large, it might as well been a rock. I wrung out the sock to see more dirty water, put it back on, and proceeded to finish up the run. I thought, "Okay, we're fine now. Can't get any worse." Wrong.

Ann Treason said one time about ultrarunning, "It hurts to a point, then it doesn't get any worse." Ann was wrong or I wasn't at "the point". A large bolt of pain shot through my left foot and I winced hard. That pain was extremely familiar and something I hadn't experienced in a very LONG TIME. The blister popped open and I had to finish up the current loop, one more, and a .6 mile out-n-back. This was the point where I knew I had to suck it up hard. I played alot of mental games with myself to focus on other things. I kept reminding myself that I'm almost done and just had one more loop left.

I hit the aid station and decided that I'd do my best to run some of the last loop. Run to the tree and walk. Run to the traffic light and walk. Run to another landmark and walk. Going around a loop over and over, you get familiar with how far things are due to passing by them so often. I finally hit the aid station to finish the last loop and it was time for the final out-n-back. For that, I shut everything off in my head and ran for it. I knew I could hold it together to do this. There was no dropping, especially now.

I came screaming into the finish in 6:55:37, a sub-7 hour marathon. The longest marathon I've ever done, but the only marathon where I've ever walked the most.

I hung around to recover, chatted with my fellow Marathon Maniac friends who were still running the longer distances (much respect to my brothers and sisters in suffering!), and was so happy to be involved in this. This was the kick in the ass that I needed. Despite all the training and all the focus on numbers, I needed this. The distance. The pain. The accomplishment.

My first race for 2009. I can say that I've earned my t-shirt and definately earned my self-respect to start wearing my Marathon Maniacs singlet again.

So, now I'm at work, feeling mild soreness and twinges. Have a Johnson & Johnson Advanced Healing Compeed pad on the blister I had to cut open (it got really dirty inside after it popped). But ya know what? I'm feeling fan-freakin'-tasic right now and I'm looking forward to the next event and my continued training.

Dizzy Thoughts

2009-03-27T07:42:00.000-07:00

I had a pretty decent run yesterday and thanks to my buddy Rob T. and letting me borrow his old ANT belt, I had better readings using my Suunto t6. The old belt I had I found had cracks in it, which would explain the erratic readings from before. I still need to work more on keeping my HR in check, but I was able to stay in my low-intensity aerobic zone (below 138 bpm) for 40+ minutes out of a solid 47 minutes. Most of the increases in HR were around 1-3 beats above 138 bpm, which is a good thing...but it could be better. So in 3.2 miles, I'm able to run about 47 minutes. Based on this, I can potentially finish tomorrow's Dizzy Daze run in about 7.5 hours if I run/walk the 50k distance and keep my HR completely within my fat-burning zone. However, I could also do everything in 6.5+ hours if I opt to stop at the marathon point. I guess I'll just have to see how much I'm up for it. I really only need to do enough to get my endocrine system to respond appropriately in time for the Mt Si Ultra (doing the 50 miler again).

Then again, I could just run the first 6-7 loops in my low intensity and then run the last 2 loops at a harder pace to finish sooner and see how the EPOC looks afterwards. I'm sure I'll figure it out by tomorrow morning.

Transmitter Death

2009-03-21T20:11:00.000-07:00

I think my Suunto's transmitter belt is on its final beat (no pun intended). My last few runs have been just all over the place and despite understanding things like RF interference and cardiac creep (so not to be a slave to your monitor), it is seriously f&*king up like no one's business (drops from a steady 160 bpm to a steady 80 bpm while I'm running a fast pace isn't supposed to happen). However, since the previous owner had put a lot of miles on it (pun intended and a large dose of reality tossed in), I had to figure that this could happen. Just like buying a used car, you can't expect it to be exactly new. But unlike a used car, you can't exactly fix the thing yourself...even if you do have a soldering iron and experience with circuitry.

So what am I going to do? Well, I'll do my best to fumble through my training (as piss poor it's turning out to be) and I'll have to get a replacement strap. Good thing is that I can get a new Suunto Comfort Belt like what the newer T-series Suunto's carry and from what I've seen - the newer belts that all of the HRM manufacturers are coming out with that are similar in design (like the Polar WearLink Belt) and the belts are able to stay on better while transmitting at a higher efficiency. Thanks to my friend from up North who sent me a gift certificate to purchase one at a lower cost through Amazon. However, due to financial difficulties, I'll have to hold off on getting it till late April. It's going to make the next six weeks a bigger chore in training now, but c'est la vie.

The Drain - Oregon 100 Training, Week 2

2009-03-16T19:54:00.000-07:00

The only thing to sum up this week is...tired. I missed two runs as a result of needing more rest than I was scheduled for.

Tuesday's 4 mile tempo and Sunday's 8 mile second long run were scraped, leaving me with a 30 mile week this week.

Wednesday - 8 miles, weather was decent.

Thursday - 6 miles with the dog again. Seems she has way more energy than I do.

Saturday - 16 miles of trail and roads. I took a serious beating due to a combo of the weather and the conditions of the trail (slush, ice, and snow - lots of slipping).

I need to do my best to be more on-top of things with my training and get every run in and making it count.

Hitting the reset button - Oregon 100 Training, Week 1

2009-03-09T10:27:00.000-07:00

Well, I can't say this is a genuine reset, but definately a rebuild. My main focus is on the Oregon 100 (aka Hundred in the Hood) as my A-priority race in late September. At the moment, I'm rebuilding my base after a bout of being ill with some kind of flu bug that really messed me up. I'm still HR training, but found some defects that I think I've remedied, so hopefully things will get even better as the weeks progress. Anyway, here's the first week of training I've done...

March 3rd - 2 Miles on the treadmill, first mile as a warm-up. You can tell I was trying to get back into the swing of things and not very well.

March 4th - 4 Miles easy, outdoor run. This was the start of when I figured that something was up with my Suunto T6. Rainy day run, but I felt really good.

March 5th - Ran 6+ miles with the group. Had about a 20 minute head start to finish with them in the end. I thought I was doing okay until after I got the HR data. More indication that something was up.

March 7th - First long run day. 14 miles of hell. My body was cooperating at first, but the HRM wasn't after about 6 miles in, giving seriously erratic readings. I eventually went old school, running about every quarter-mile and checking my pulse on my neck to stay within my HR zone. This was also the longest run I had done in a VERY long time. I realized that you need to run long frequently to be able to maintain your form and endurance level. This includes teaching your muscles to retain glycogen more efficiently while burning fat and teaching your endocrine system to not rebel against your own body.

The 7th was also the day where I had to effectively "break" my Suunto T6 in order to get the battery out of the back. Whomever designed this thing was on crack. I used a Dremel to wear down the plastic slot and fashioned a hole that would fit a regular flathead screwdriver and was able to open it easily without breaking the rubber O-ring seal. After replacing the battery, I filled the newly created screwdriver hole and slot area with glue from my glue gun and smoothed out the area. It is still retaining its water-proof design and now I can replace the batteries quickly without any headaches.

March 8th - My legs and body were really tired from the previous day, but I knew I had to do something to get those 8 miles in. Time on your feet is extremely important, so I opted to take the dog out for an 8 mile walk. This was the only time where my HR stayed in the fat-burning aerobic zone this week. But I'm glad I did that purposeful walking. My HRM didn't go crazy and I was very efficient in my walking, even with the dog. This is a good thing during the 100 miler since EVERYONE WALKS, but those that walk with purpose versus just doing the death march have a better chance of finishing.

Total miles this week (including the miles from the calibration of my device on Monday at the track): ~36 miles! (Right now, I'm REALLY enjoying my rest day today!)

Next week's projected mileage: ~42 miles. The weekend back-to-back long runs are going to be on the Mt Si Ultra course from Tanner Rd to Rattlesnake Lake and Cedar Falls (16 miles on Saturday) and then from Rattlesnake Lake to Cedar Falls (8 miles on Sunday). These two runs will essentially replicate the "hardest" parts of the Mt Si Ultra course. The last time I trained on the course like this a year ago, I had stopped at Rattlesnake Lake. This was a bad move since I could have sucked it up and kept going instead of dropping out @ Rattlesnake since I had it in my head that the final 4-5 miles to the turnaround aid-station was too far for me to do. Doing these two runs should psych me up a bit more. Familiarity can make things easier on the mind and in these events, it is more mind over body.

Flu shots - Phooey!

2009-02-26T14:25:00.000-08:00

I was under the understanding that a flu shot was supposed to PREVENT you from getting the flu.

For the last 72+ hours, I had been fighting a really bad case of just...yuck!

My lungs had felt like they went through a Cuban Tabacco Harvest. Breathing was damn near impossible. I might as well have been at high-altitude or deep under water with the lack of oxygen. Workouts have been a big fat zero as well. I haven't ran or done any kind of CrossFit workouts at all this week.

I guess I'll just call this a recovery week. I'm already set now to train for the Oregon 100 (Hundred in the Hood) and making that the focal point of the year. I've got 30 weeks till that run and thanks to fancy-Nancy (aka Nancy Shura from the UltraLadies, she's shown me the way to my first 100 miler. I'll still incorporate HR training, but it won't be the major focus. I will use some events as supported training runs, but I've taken myself off of a lot of the races on the Maniacs calendar. I am confident that I will be able to do this and do it right. But we'll see.

Adventure awaits!

Perception is Everything

2009-02-17T19:47:00.000-08:00

The short: 4 miles, easy feel.

The long: My wife pushed me out the door after work to get my run over and done with. I decided to test out my Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE) versus what my HR would say. My aerobic/easy pace is supposed to be at 138 bpm. As you can see, it took about 10 minutes for my HR to chill out, even though I was moving at roughly a consistant 15 minutes per mile. Once when those 10 minutes passed, my HR would hover anywhere from 135 bpm to as much as 142 bpm. So my body is starting to adapt, it's just not 100% there yet. But with more time and training, it will be. My RPE seems to be better than before, so I think that I'll lean on that, but always do a double-check against my HR to be sure.

No excuses left...

2009-02-17T10:14:00.000-08:00

Since my last post, I carefully looked over what options were available to me and decided to jump in and test some newer uncharted waters. So now I'm officially registered for the only 100 miler in Oregon, Hundred in the Hood - put on by the very awesome Olga.

Since it's my first 100 miler and the course is the first time a 100 miler has been put on in Oregon, the pairing will make for an interesting situation.

I checked over the course from the description on the website and following the Pacific Crest Trail that it will be following. There are some premo advantages to running this over Cascade Crest as my first 100 miler.

1.) It's one month further out than Cascade Crest, so it'll give me more time to train.
2.) The elevation gain and loss is about 10,000 feet for the entire 100 miles. Cascade Crest is double that (over 20,000 feet). The White River 50 has about 17,000 feet of elevation changes and I managed to get out of that alive.

The first half, which is the PCT 50 mile ultra has about 5000 feet of overall elevation gain with most of it being in the first 25 miles to Timberline. I'll have to work on improving on my hill climbing more, but I think it's more doable.

The second half that goes south on the PCT, I had to gmap-pedometer the trail as best as I could. However, the elevation profile looks like you go up one hill for about 1000 feet in six miles, then drop down for about 3 miles back to the previous elevation, then rise again for another 2000 feet for 6 miles, drop about 500 feet for 4 miles, go back up 500 feet for 3 miles, then drop down 500 feet until you hit the turnaround at the Olallie Meadows Campgrounds. I think some Mt Si repeats, a few of sessions at Tiger for a 12 Summits, 3 Summits, or a Seattle Favorite Loop might do me good for this. I don't expect intense climbs, but enough to make things interesting.

3.) The cost is a bit less. $150 versus paying almost $200. However, I'll be using that up with gas for the drive and camping out, so it's kind of a wash.
4.) Running on the Pacific Crest Trail. I've been wanting to do that for some time. Even though it's in Oregon, the PCT spirit stretches across the entire Pacific portion of the USA. Totally kick ass. :-)
5.) More drop bags for me to have access to along the course. I was going to be crewless for Cascade Crest and there are only 4 drop bag points there. This race will have 6 points, but you have a few extra times to access them along the course since it's an out-and-back. That will help make up for not having a crew.
6.) Lots of fellow Maniacs will be there as well, although a great deal of them will obviously be finished well before I am. However, since it's an out-and-back in both directions, I'll see them at the start, coming back from Timberline (the 25 mile turnaround), and coming back from Olallie Meadows (the 75 mile turnaround).

So the cash has been laid down - no refunds, no excuses. I've gotta train smart and well.

Now onto other things...

Since my last post, not too many things are different.

CrossFit workouts done:

Wednesday - 30# DB Push Press (18,15,12)
Friday - Swapped the squats with some Turkish Get-ups (33# DB x 6 each side)
Monday - 33# DB Dead Lifts (15,12,9)
Tuesday (today) - 500 meter row x 2 (1:51 & 1:54)

Runs done:

Wednesday - ~3 mi run at a steady state, keeping HR below 150 bpm.

Saturday - ~13 mi run along the Snoqualmie Valley Trail from Tanner Road going past Rattlesnake Lake. I did my best to maintain my HR around 149 bpm going up, but going down I let gravity take over and said screw it for the HRM. My HR ranged anywhere from 150 bpm to 175 bpm, with my pace bouncing from 10 minutes per mile to 8 minutes per mile. It felt freakin' awesome and I didn't feel winded at all letting gravity take over. I think that I have a high tolerance for running at my Lactate Threshold, which may explain why my perceived exertion is odd.

I have a feeling that I'm going to HR train for about half the time, allowing more time to actually ENJOY the running moments like I did on Saturday.

The defeat of the slacker

2009-02-15T09:53:00.001-08:00

Cascade Crest has pretty much been filled and due to events with finances, I couldn't get my entry mailed in a timely manner.

I can always volunteer, but it looks like I'm going to have to try and find another 100 miler to train for.

The latest...

2009-02-10T20:43:00.001-08:00

So far this week:

Monday - Dumbbell Deadlifts (18 reps @ 40lbs, 15 reps @ 45lbs, 12 reps @ 52.5lbs)
Tuesday - 500 meter row in 1:53, really cranked it hard at the end and almost felt like puking.

And some running:

I decided to do the same type of treadmill run as last time, maintaining a HR average well below my aerobic threshold of 138 bpm. Despite going over it a few times during the warm-up for some reason as it was recorded, it went well and I did 3.5 miles worth of distance. I'll gradually increase the distance/time as the weeks go on.

Germ Warfare

2009-02-07T14:50:00.001-08:00

This week was not a good one for training. I had gotten sick on Tuesday and it really hit hard on Wednesday and tapered off on Thursday. You'd think I would do my best to protect my immune system with having a child in the house who interacts with other kids at school (school = germ factory). So no runs for me. However, I did manage to do most of my CrossFit workouts. I figured that I could go through a very intense workout that CrossFit in a short time versus doing a run that would tax my system at a "lower intensity", but for a longer period. Although, the ideal workout day would have been to CrossFit during my lunchtime and then run in the evening a few hours later. Anyway, here's what I did workout wise:

Tuesday: 500 meter row @ work. Damper set to 5, completed in 2:02 (focused on form)
Wednesday: Sick at home, but managed push-press DB workout. 33 lbs dumbbells, chipper workout of 15/12/9. Focused on form, not time.
Thursday: Still sick at home, but feeling better. No rowing machine, so substituted 500 meter row with 50 Sumo Dead-Lift High Pulls using 33 lbs DB's. This took some time after the first 25. Unbelievably sore afterwards!
Friday: Returned to work, but opted to rest this time instead of doing squat workout.

And we get to today...

I wanted to go long and easy. So the prescription was a 2-hour run (8 miles), trying to stay at or below my Aerobic Threshold of 138 bpm as best as I could. As you can see in the image, most of the HR spots that go above th 138 bpm point are usually hanging around 140-141 bpm, so I'm doing better with handling my HR outside of a treadmill environment, but I need to stick with it and tighten up the zones even more.

Another thing that I noticed is that after an hour of running, my EPOC gradually declined as I continued to run around the same HR. It looks awfully familiar to previous sessions where my EPOC dropped during a long workout. However, the curvature of the drop is alot more easy than before. Doing some research on this (pretty tough since alot of the info was white papers) and remembering various things from my calculus classes back in the day, I believe that what should happen when I continue to run at the same HR zone, the curve will start to flaten out. The 10-minute warm-up that I did will not rise into the Level 2 area for the Training Effect and the EPOC peak will land in the lower points of the Level 2 area of the TE, like a 2.2-2.4 if things progress well and there are no setbacks.

But basically, I ran 8 miles (old running route) in under the 2-hr time and I was able to keep my HR avg in the 136-137 bpm area, so I'd say I didn't do badly this run.

Tomorrow, I get to re-learn what it's like to be on tired legs. 3 hours, same workout intensity. I'm eager to know what the numbers say! Update: Didn't happen. Did alot of walking while running errands, but that's it!

That's one slow step for man...

2009-02-02T20:20:00.000-08:00

On my own now with my training, I've been pouring over information from various sources on being able to have a balance between:

1.) Developing an optimal training plan that will help me get to Cascade Crest this year.
2.) Having fun as I do it.

Today's workouts consisted of:

- About 7 miles of cycling for my work commute (3.5 miles each way)
- A return back into CrossFit again, using the Beginner's Routine (Today's lunchtime workout: Dumbbell Deadlifts of 15 @ #30, 12 @ #35, 9 @ #40)
- 30 min run (w/10 min warm-up) in Zone 1b.

For the run, I opted to do this on the treadmill. I wanted to see how tight I could make the HR stay within 135 bpm or less, but not go over my 138 bpm Aerobic Threshold. The warm-up was better than most other ones, but seems that 15 minutes might be the norm of when my body starts to settle in. Needless to say, I was very happy about the end Training Effect (TE) result of a 2.1 for the run. (Notice the general solid line in the training effect once it hits the Level 2 area.) This is good to know, since a majority of my training will have to be in this area to help with the fat-burning and running longer. I'll have to see how my body does doing a training run of a TE of 3.0-3.9 & 4.0-4.9 and figure out where my HR zones fall specifically around that.

The last thingy: HR Training - Day 42 & Final Thoughts

2009-02-01T18:37:00.000-08:00

Today was a very odd day. After a stint in fixing the toilet tank in the bathroom all night and into the morning, I woke up too late for the group run. I figured that I could possibly run in the evening and subject myself to one more night of treadmill hell, but I was really tired - almost to the point where I felt like I hadn't even gone to bed at all.

After running my errands for the day, I decided to just take that final day off for my own good. This was the only one of two days where I actually bailed out during the entire training plan, the other being a light run a week earlier.

So this is what my last week ended up as for the Training Effect:

And the overall since the beginning:

So what was the point of all this?

Well, this is what I got out of it:

1.) HR Training does work, but it does take a great deal of time and patience in it. If I was an elite career athlete instead of a weekend warrior, I would probably devote a whole year to just tune in my HR and not do any events. But I'm not on the cover of a Wheaties box, so the idea of me strictly doing that doesn't fly.
2.) If you run for fun and only for fun, then HR Training isn't for you. The fun for me was gradually sucked out and I tried my damndest to enjoy the runs with what I had.
3.) If you have a very specific goal in mind, HR Training can work for you. But your patience will be tested greatly. Expect to be frustrated with yourself for the first two weeks. It will get better once your body "gets the message", but it'll suck at first.
4.) If you decide to do HR Training, expect to be ALONE. Unless you can exercise restraint and not get sucked into the semi-competitive nature that group runs can generate, you're better off being alone and focusing on yourself.
5.) If you train on a treadmill, you can tune your HR better - but it can turn to crap when you're outside. However, 99.9% of races will not be done on a moving rubber belt, so learning how to run outside while HR training is necessary. There's no point in learning how to develop perfect-pitch in vocal music if you're not going to practice actual songs for a concert. This goes back to the goals thing.
6.) If you decide to pursue HR training, get a VO2Max/Metabolic test done. There is a cost, but you'll have the most accurate information to help you out and the motivation factor of "I PAID FOR THIS, I BETTER USE IT" really kicks in. I doubt I would have taken my HR Training as seriously had I not paid for my testing.
7.) If you are not able to mentally handle HR Training while doing other types of workouts (cross-training), you might have to abandon your cross-training for a little while. I had to since my brain was stressed out from trying to remember the training patterns for my specific HR training.
8.) Get use to radio interference and those transmitter belts just going nuts for no reason. Mine would lose signal or give off a reading that didn't match my perceived exertion.
9.) Figure out what your perceived exertion is using the HR data. The better you know what your breaking points are, the more in-tune you'll be with your HR when you lose the connection or get erratic readings. My perceived exertion has gotten better since my start of this training 6 weeks ago.
10.) If you train outside, you need to REALLY focus on matching your perceived exertion against your HR. Reason: You may not hear the beeps or the HRM might not operate properly in spots. The world isn't a quiet place usually.
11.) If you decide to HR Train, do as much of it as possible to adapt faster. I walked alot more and did alot of the slower light-runs when I had time. The more time you put in, the more does come back. However, it also has the negative effect of getting really boring and giving you the desire to scream obscenities frequently.
12.) Don't be afraid to ask questions or to question the methods of any HR Training plan. I know with my training plan specifically, there were alot of crazy things and every run seemed like it was an interval run. Eric told me that the training plan he devised for me was to tune into my HR zones better. However, looking back I think my training zones were too wide and I should have had more sub-zones to train at. Running at my Aerobic and Anaerobic Thresholds made me go as fast as I could within those zones, but I know that isn't always the best thing to do now. You need a variety of HR Zones or sub-zones to train in depending on what you're aiming for in your goals. This is why I developed those sub-zones for myself based on my own observations in my training.

As for my actual performance, I'll let the numbers do the talking...

These are the numbers for the runs that were "light". Check out the average speed and the top speed of these:

12/18 - 21:50 avg/15:30 max (this was before the official training)
12/22 - 23:23 avg/13:27 max
12/23 - 20:16 avg/16:51 max
12/25 - 17:39 avg/10:44 max
12/26 - 17:57 avg/13:02 max
12/27 - 19:39 avg/13:29 max
12/28 - 16:06 avg/9:52 max (this was a very good day)
12/29 - 18:23 avg/15:28 max
12/30 - 19:23 avg/14:53 max
01/01 - 19:52 avg/14:27 max
01/03 - 18:27 avg/13:58 max
01/07 - 19:23 avg/15:57 max
01/09 - 19:35 avg/14:19 max
01/14 - 16:47 avg/11:12 max
01/16 - 15:17 avg/10:45 max
01/19 - 19:02 avg/15:52 max
01/21 - 20:07 avg/16:28 max (powerwalked, cranked up treadmill to max%)
01/31 - 17:01 avg/10:56 max

As you can see, the overall speed has increased within a six week time. Also, my HR has been more steady as well (although I do need to fine-tune things a bit more).

Overall, I would have to say my experience was good and I will be taking some aspects of what I've learned and incorporating it into my training

For those in Seattle, Tacoma, or points in-between, definately do your VO2Max training test at The Balanced Athlete in Kent. You'll get your test plus the bonus of a training plan and advice on improving your performance...and making sense of crazy HR Training zone runs.

Well, now that's over - on to the future!

I SAID GO HOME!!!: HR Training - Day 41

2009-01-31T21:14:00.000-08:00

The last light run of the training plan, I had the fortune of running at my in-laws place in North Bend, WA. The skies were clear, so the view of the Cascades, Issaquah Alps, and Mt Si were in full view with their mild snow-covered caps.

I usually run to the Snoqualmie Valley Trail, but I decided that I would try to run on the roads. I took the original run and added an extra 15 minutes on it to make it a 15m-3m-15m-3m-15m run, using the first 15 minutes as a warm-up. For this warm-up I tried to keep my HR under my Aerobic Threshold, but as you can see in the graph - it didn't work well (although my HR didn't jump that high on the watch that I can remember, it recorded otherwise - go figure). Eventually, my heart rate settled down and overall my HR did try to stay at or below my Aerobic Threshold, occasionally drifting over. I sometimes wish that someone could invent a pair of glasses that have the HR numbers displaying in a Heads-Up Display like a video game. That way, you don't have to keep looking down at your watch to figure out where you are and when you'll be bleeding over your HR.

On the way back to my in-laws house, this insane dog decided to show its authority and come at me. I stayed remarkably cool and screamed at the dog to GO HOME! The dog gave me a WTF look and backed off. Lucky for the pooch.

I do need to practice running below my Aerobic Threshold outside. I personally think I've gotten it down decently on the treadmill, but races don't happen on a treadmill and being outside in the nice weather for the run was a good exchange for having a HR that wasn't as smooth as it would be on the treadmill. I am confident that it will improve as the weeks go on and I put more time into my training.

Last day of the plan tomorrow. I wonder if I'll be able to stay with the group? I wonder how much distance I'll cover?

Slowin' My Roll: HR Training - Day 40

2009-01-30T21:13:00.000-08:00

There was something about this week that just seemed...draining. Originally, I was going to run immediately after work to catch some daylight left, but some force in the universe was sucking the life out of me. Maybe Dick Cheney was nearby? He is out of the White House after all. (Damn that Jon Stewart and his Star Wars comparison!)

Anyhoo, I decided to go down to the dungeon again after dinner. However, I decided to hold back during the Base Builder II run. I did my best to keep my Zone 1 runs at 135 bpm or less instead of hitting the Aerobic Threshold of 138 bpm. I also was trying to keep my Zone 2 HR at or below 150 bpm (but I was looking to keep it at 148 bpm as best as I could.)

I have to say that it was a good run. My ground speed was between 3.7-3.8 MPH for Zone 1 runs and 4.3-4.4 MPH for Zone 2 runs. I didn't have too much HR drift and I think due to the good warm-up, I was able to maintain my HR's in the right places.

Tomorrow is my light run that I'm going to do at my in-laws place, Sunday the last day of the training plan (an LSD Base run) that I'll do with the group. Looking forward to the end of this and building on what I've developed these past 6 weeks.

Feeling things out...

2009-01-30T14:15:00.002-08:00

Setting up my training schedule for Cascade Crest and the rest of the year is going okay.

I decided to run based on time and less on distance. This way, improvement can be seen by how far I traveled at the same intensity and time. I had trained this way in the past and it was pretty effective, although a bit odd when you would tackle a route where you're use to running a 4 mile loop in 40 minutes, but find yourself having to go just a wee bit further past the loop's original starting point. I'll also be cross-training as well. I've found that I'm lacking some core strength and need a boost in firing up my metabolism, giving me overall strength (stronger muscles help dealing with the impact that running does to the body), and help burn off some of this excess fat that is weighing me down. So, back on the bike for commutes and going back into CrossFit again (beginner's routine to start).

This is the weekly schedule I've got setup at the moment:

Monday-Friday:

- Cycling commutes totaling about 7 miles of distance each workday, gradually increasing the distance as time goes on (and weather gets better).
- Following the CrossFit Beginner's Routine during my lunchtime at the company gym. (It won't be Rx'ed - Barbell will be replaced by Dumbbells for the Deadlift & Push Press; Running 400m will be replaced with 500m rowing on a Concept-2-Rower.)

For the actual running part...

I've labeled things the Maffetone/Mittleman way for now until I tweak things a bit. Remember MAP (Most Aerobic Pace/Zone 1), MEP (Most Efficient Pace/Zone 2), & SAP (Speedy Aerobic Pace/Zone 3)?

Mondays: Rest or MAP
Tuesdays: MAP
Wednesdays: MAP
Thursdays: MEP or SAP
Fridays: MAP (possible Rest if Saturday's a race day)
Saturdays: Rest or MAP (possible Race instead)
Sundays: Long MAP, Long MEP, Combo Run (combining all three zones), or Race (possible Rest or regular MAP if Saturday was a Race instead)

Most runs will be anywhere from 40-90 minutes during the week and the long runs will range from 2-6 hours or even longer depending if it's a race or I need to train for further specificity. For the mileage nuts, this would make my weekly milage anywhere from 35-ish miles to as much as 65-70 miles depending on the situation. I will be also flexible with my training. I'll really focus on listening to my body and deciding on whether I'd genuinely need a rest day or two more based on physical needs and not because I'm just wussing out.

Hope this goes well!

Setting the Dial: HR Training - Day 38

2009-01-28T20:53:00.000-08:00

The last Base Builder run in the training plan. I did it as Rx'ed for the 40 minutes.

Certain facts I have to face:

1.) You can't win the lottery without atleast buying a ticket.
2.) My warm-ups will always be a challenge.

I did a brisk walk at a 3.5 MPH speed and my HR was hovering around a 109-115 bpm. I did this for about 8 minutes. However, once I started to get into a light jog, the insanity in the first 10 minutes showed up. As you can see, things really didn't settle in until after those 10 minutes were up and I was running in the 5 minute block at zone 2.

However, I decided to lower my intensity and try to keep my HR well below my Anaerobic Threshold of 161 bpm in Zone 2 and below my Aerobic Threshold of 138 bpm in Zone 1. As you can see, it actually did work and I was pretty steady for the most part. I did notice something else though. When I was keeping my HR around 130 bpm in the middle of the run and then shifted to the second Zone 2 interval, it took more to raise my HR to get it around the sub-150 bpm range. In my training after this week, I need to have each workout setup to run at certain points with the zones. This means possibly breaking up the zones I created into smaller sub-zones. This way, I can tune my body into the right exertion perception against my HR, eventually getting this working in my races.

Since I'm nearly done with the plan, here's the rest of the plan for the final week:

Thursday: Rest
Friday: Base Builder II
Saturday: Light (I might extend this to an hour)
Sunday: LSD Base (planning to join the group again for this one to see how my body behaves on relatively flat roads versus hilly trails like I had done the previous two LSD Base runs)

Expectations and Astronauts: HR Training - Day 37

2009-01-27T20:55:00.001-08:00

Another group run, doing a Base Builder II workout. As you can see in the image, the warm-up isn't there. I tried to do one, but it was a serious flop. I had tried to do some brisk walking and some very easy jogging to get my HR going and the blood flowing, but my HR dropped back to the resting state again after standing around too long before the actual run.

I'm still trying to learn how to monitor myself on the ground versus the treadmill. I'm also trying to get use to running with the group without getting sucked into everyone elses pace. There are some steady moments, but not enough steady moments within the zones. I will be tightening this up as time goes on in my training after I'm done with the plan for this week and beyond.

Afterwards, Eric and I had a good solid talk about his expectations versus my goals. As I told him, I'm always willing to listen to people - even if I decide to do something else in the end. This would be one of those times. Eric's expectations based on what I've been blogging about and what his experience is, he recommended that I postpone Cascade Crest for 2010 and focus on my HR for the next 9+ months, maybe do a marathon or 50k as a race to focus on for this time (my calculation, that would put either the Portland Marathon in October, Seattle Marathon in November, Baker Lake 50k in September, or the Ron Herzog 50k in November as a single thing to focus all my efforts towards.) This means that other races throughout the year that I would desire to do would be off the table - no White River, no Chuckanut, no Mt Si, nothing. It would all be HR training and tuning. He said that it was something I probably didn't want to hear. He was right and I decided to go against the recommendations.

We talked at length about everything. The training. My progress. My goals. Everything that could make and/or break me for Cascade Crest. I totally saw where he was coming from - get the HR thing down to where everything afterwards would be awesome later. My thing was to simply aim for the stars. For the past several weeks while training, I had been reviewing all of my data from my past races and training schedules. Looking at what worked well and what didn't. This is what I found so far:

1.) HR training in the past worked (although I went off of the 220-age thing)
2.) I cross-trained a great deal (swim & bike when tri training, bike commuting, and strength training) which added more hours to my training weeks.
3.) I had only one session a week that was dedicated to just faster running (tempos and intervals). All the other runs were either easy or long. Looking at my times during my triathlon training and my half-marathon training for Chicago, the swim/bike/run gave me stronger legs with a better core, the HR training then when going out for my easy runs got progressively better as each day went on - the HR staying under control. The strength training also helped me as well, especially with my metabolism. I was able to process fuel better since the muscles were leaner and more active. Also, I could take the pounding better and recover faster in a shorter period of time.
4.) I ate better. Don't get me wrong. I don't eat the junk like I use to, but I haven't relaxed the portion control on some things.
5.) I weighed less (but that was from very tight control of my diet and workouts to the point of being obsessive-compulsive). I also had less muscle compared to now (although having more muscle mass isn't a bad thing), which made me faster since I carried less while running.

So this is what I decided to do:

1.) Sign-up for Cascade Crest this year.
2.) Focus on my HR for my training aimed towards Cascade Crest after I'm done with the current training plan.
3.) Re-incorporate my cycling (not to mention cycling work commutes) back into my life
4.) Re-incorporate strength training back into my life as well (Looking forward to doing CrossFit again, but starting back on the simple routine using the CrossFit Beginner's Program)
5.) Do my best to buckle down on some of my eating habits to find a good balance between how much I burn during training versus what I need to consume for proper living.
6.) If at any time Cascade Crest seems like it's not an attainable goal based on what I'm going through, I will request the RD (Charlie Crissman) to defer my entry for the following year.
7.) I will use various races from now till Cascade Crest as an aid to help me train, but it won't be a monsterous amount of races. Every training run, every race will serve a purpose.

I had told Eric that I want to experience all that Cascade Crest and moving 100 miles will do. In the past, I had told Eric of my first ultra - the 1st Annual Pigtails Flat Ass. I had gone through some insanity that winter and with my amount of frustration in life, I wanted to run long and just hurt. However, the hurt was short-lived and the euphoria of moving for hours (under 5:30 to be more specific) took over. This is one of the major reasons why I run. People mention their Love/Hate relationship with running and exercise in general. Hell, New Balance made a few commercials on this. The one thing that I did not want my training to turn into is ALL WORK. I want moments to enjoy as well. It took some doing, but I found a bit of the joy in the current training, usually in the slow light runs or when I hit the trail those two times. However, the stress of having to deal with mini-intervals on a daily basis and memorizing the patterns did deflate some of that fun. So this is what I'm left with: Perform at my Potential or Have Fun.

The answer: I choose a happy balance. I will HR train and do alot of cross-training to help facility my aerobic capacity. However, I will make sure that every run counts and that I can smile along the way.

Manic Moderate Mondays: HR Training - Day 36

2009-01-26T21:16:00.000-08:00

After a good amount of debate on whether to do the Base Builder II run or the Moderate run, I had decided to do the Moderate run as a double. Basically the same run as I did on Thursday (or rather, I did HORRIBLY on Thursday), but it would be on the treadmill again at the usual 1% incline. As you can see, I was able to maintain a consistant heart rate for each of the 12 minute runs in Zone 2, only rarely bleeding past my 161 bpm ceiling. For each 12 minute part, I was able to maintain a decent speed of 5.6-5.7 MPH until the last set where I decided to slow it down to just 5.0 MPH and learn to relax more. The HR ended up being lower on the last one compared to the others, but not by huge leaps and bounds (about 3-4 bpm less than before).

It was a good run, but I was in that moment of "When is this going to be over?". It's been awhile since I've felt like that on a treadmill run. I can only assume my brain and body need more outdoor stimulation from running.

The Grief of Good: HR Training - Day 34

2009-01-25T21:28:00.000-08:00

Today was the Pigtails Run. In the past, this was my track record:

First time in 2007 - Ran the whole 50k course in 5:28, two minutes slower than my first 50k run (which was the Pigtails Flat Ass, go figure).
Second time in 2008 - Ran two loops, fell asleep while running in the start of the third and decided to bail out. The new job I had really messed up my sleep schedule ever since, even though I quit and went back to my old company.

So, now I have this event as my third time running it and my expectations were:

1.) Do your crazy LSD Base run on the course, but keep your HR more consistant.
2.) Try to enjoy the moment.
3.) If you have time and the family is cool with it, run more loops. Maybe even finish the 50k.

Well, 1.5 out of three ain't bad (ain't good either!)

I did the same course last week, same workout. There were some things that were royally screwed up.

1.) Warm-up sucked. My HR was pretty low one minute, then high the next, waivering back and forth within the first 10 minutes, even though I did a couple of repeats to get the blood flowing in the beginning.
2.) HR was recording some really strange crap on some of the run. I would run hard and it would register 118 bpm. Seriously, WTF? Was the HRM losing contact with my chest?
3.) Footpod stopped sending data to the watch. Dying battery? I had to stick the thing in one of my strap pockets on my Nathan's Hydration Bladder to have it communicate to the watch. Seems that the beeps from the watch would only go off with the footpod being on. (Note: Alot of the data in the chart doesn't totally flow with the run, mostly the interval times.)

But with the things that failed, there were the good things too:

1.) I did enjoy that there was company on the course. Seeing people before the start, my Maniac bros & sisters and friends from the Balanced Athlete group. Honestly, it has gotten too lonely on those training runs sometimes.
2.) My HR was a bit more steady on the ups and downs as you can tell (well, when the HRM wasn't going nutty). If you compare with the previous time, I have done better.
3.) My wife and daughter being there. I usually run most of these things solo, but it is nice to have family. However, I did wish my kid was more patient and not begging for me to quit (I ended doing only one loop and lot of time to kill - next time, she's getting a babysitter).

Below, you can see how I did on Saturday versus the other day on the same course. My Training Effect ended up being higher, but there is more consistancy in the more recent run then the previous one. The recent run is listed in black. (Note: The interval points are in the wrong place for some stupid reason - don't ask me why.)

And as always, the recap for the week. Week 5 is officially over and I'm on the last week now. (Note: I skipped a light run that I was planning to do the following day, but decided to just run errands and spend time with the family. Sometimes, you just gotta do that.)

Tonight, I'm stuck between doing a treadmill Moderate run or swapping that with the Base Builder II run instead. I'm planning on meeting up with the Balanced Athlete group on Tuesday for another group run (I know, I'm asking for trouble), but Eric did say that he had some additional thoughts on my training (some things I won't like he says, but it'll be better for me in the long run) and I'm willing to listen...mind you, I may not DO everything he says, but I am willing to listen to everything. :-)

Blazing my own trail: HR Training - Day 32

2009-01-22T20:05:00.000-08:00

In my attempt to try and run with the group, it could be only described in one word that populates the internet greatly...

FAIL.

The reasons for the fail:

- No warm-up. Note the chaos in the beginning. Although, I think that the area near the store might also have some interference as well (that's my take on it anyway).
- Letting the group dictate the pace instead of me doing my own thing. But that's the problem with going with running in a group when you're focus is how your HR is doing and no two folks are alike. The guy that eventually ran with me (Rob) the entire 4+ miles has HR trained longer than I have and even though he's coming off of an injury layoff, he's able to run at a faster clip with a lower HR. But it was a good balance that evening since my comfy pace (note the middle where it holds pretty steady) and his easy pace where he's running at a lower HR (around 135 bpm for him, I think) were pretty close.
- Not being able to actually hear the beeps this time from my Suunto to tell me to switch from Zone 2 to Zone 1. It was supposed to be a Run 12 minutes at Zone 2, run 2 minutes in Zone 1, repeat three more times. Do you see the odd markers in the beginning? That's from straight-up confusion when was running. I didn't realize to drop zones until it was too late. I also didn't complete the run (should have covered 6 more minutes worth of time).

Thankfully, I didn't get beaten up during this run like I did in the past ones, which proves that I am improving from when I started. I also did have the company of atleast one person (Thanks Rob), which was a nice change instead of being on a treadmill or alone on the roads all the time.

I had asked Eric about the training plan and what comes after day 42. At first, he said that we weren't there yet and not to rush the plan. I was very suprised to hear that response since it would be 10 days until the end and the idea of not even knowing what to do with myself after the plan just doesn't sit well with me. If this was just a fitness thing and nothing more, I would be fine with it. But since I have a goal race for the year, not having a plan of attack is foolish.

He then gave me some more detail, but not quite what I expected. He wanted me to fine-tune my HR training some more and repeat a certain week where my HR stayed the most rock-steady (after you remove the garbage data of interference, coffee, no warm-ups, or experimentation.) What? Repeat a week? THAT didn't sit well with me either. Fine-tuning my HR further, great - I'm all for it. But just repeating a previous week? That doesn't make much sense. I know I've made gains. I KNOW I'm not rushing the plan and I'm really doing my best to focus on my HR. Looking at my past data, everything does look good when you remove the crap. However, it has also been a very big learning experience and alot of information I had to figure out on my own (which is why I've been posting all this stuff).

There was an extra nugget that he tossed me though that I kind of figured on my own, but he confirmed. He said that he trains in 5 zones, while noting that I only have three (technically 4 if you include the peak zone that is usually reserved for the last minute kick in races or a flight-or-fight response that people get when in danger). Now this helps greatly since that will let me breakdown those zone runs further for my benefit. Remember the whole MAP/MEP/SAP thing I mentioned? This is where things might fall better into place.

Here are my current zones based on the VO2Max test taken on Dec 16:

Low Zone: 79-138 bpm
Moderate Zone: 139-161 bpm
High Zone: 162-178 bpm
Peak Zone: 179-183 bpm

Here are the zones based on the Maffetone 180 approach with the Stu Mittleman twist (Congrats Stu on making into the Ultrarunning Hall of Fame!):

MAP Zone: 119-138 bpm
MEP Zone: 139-149 bpm
SAP Zone: 150-169 bpm

I've made an adjustment for my age since my original calculation was when I was on the cusp of moving from age 30 to 31. Note how now my Aerobic Threshold of 138 bpm from the VO2Max test matches to the highest number of the MAP Zone. Coincidence? I think not.

Remember my comfy pace? My HR stayed around 145-149 bpm. Check out the MEP number. See how it is in the lower part of the Moderate Zone?

Update: I re-did the calculations for the other options of "If you're an experienced endurance athlete (3-5 hrs of running or more a week), add 10 points" and "If you're active but not experiened (less than 3-5 hrs of running a week), add 5 points".

Adding 5 points:
MAP: 124-143
MEP: 144-154
SAP: 155-174

Adding 10 points:
MAP: 129-148
MEP: 149-159
SAP: 160-179

Yeah, based on my VO2Max test, these numbers are WAY off if I raised them.

So if I start chopping things up from the VO2Max test and the Mittleman numbers, this is what I end up with:

= Low Zone =
Zone 1a: 79-118 bpm
Zone 1b: 119-138 bpm

= Moderate Zone =
Zone 2a: 139-149 bpm
Zone 2b: 150-161 bpm

= High Zone =
Zone 3a: 162-169 bpm
Zone 3b: 169-178 bpm

= Peak Zone =
Zone 4: 179-183 bpm

So the question is...how does this help me out now? What does this do for my training?

This is how:

= Low Zone =
Zone 1a: Warm-Up/Cooldown/Recovery, usually walking briskly or a slow shuffle
Zone 1b: Easy Pace, using fat for fuel

= Moderate Zone =
Zone 2a: Comfy Pace/Steady-State Pace
Zone 2b: Tempo Pace

= High Zone =
Zone 3a: Long Interval Pace, aid with increasing Anaerobic Threshold
Zone 3b: Short (but Harder) Interval Pace, aid with increasing Anaerobic Threshold and VO2Max

= Peak Zone =
Zone 4: The final kick (BOOM goes the dynamite!), aid with increasing VO2Max (to be used judiciously.)

Now that I have my numbers more fine-tuned to what I need to do, I just need a structured running plan (or enough info to devise my own, which I'm pretty close to). I'll try and ask again in the last week, otherwise I think I'm going to have to find my own way and hope for the best.

The Incline of Death: HR Training - Day 31

2009-01-21T20:19:00.000-08:00

Another light session, but I decided to not run this time. I wanted to change things up and test other aspects of putting one foot after another. Since my "A" race requires me to climb every mountain (no Sound of Music jokes, please), I figured what would be a good baseline to setup is a treadmill walk with incline increases.

When I started, I was moving at a 3.8 MPH walking pace at a 1% incline. When I finished, I was moving at a 2.5 MPH walking pace at a 12% MAX incline. As I progressed, my HR struggled to stay within the aerobic zone. This is a good thing to know for those long climbs that are more either very steep and long (atleast 1 mile or longer). I know that as I continue to train, my HR will drop during the ascent if I powerwalk/powerhike and will make it possible for me to run (if only for a short time). Yeah, downhill running is what rules in ultras, but if you can get up the hill faster than others AND have good downhill running ability - you'll have the edge over many in the field and be able to survive.

Looking forward to tomorrow and running with the group (if only for a short time). Tomorrow's run: A Moderate Run (12 minutes in Zone 2, 2 min in Zone 1, repeat) and doubled! That should get me 4 miles for sure, enough distance during the group run to participate and fast enough to keep up due to the HR zone.

Built like a racehorse, stubborn as a mule: HR Training - Day 30

2009-01-20T20:18:00.001-08:00

30 FREAKIN' DAYS!!!

Even I can't believe I've hung in this long! Although, technically it has been over 30 days since I had started dabbling in aerobic-HR training about a week or two before the VO2Max testing. I'll make a mild comparison at the end of this post.

After a few calls, I finally got my lab results from my physical. All my fears came to rest. No sign of diabetes. Glucose levels were 95, Hemoglobin A1C's were a 5.2% - diabetics are usually over 6%, non-diabetics are under this number. So I'm still a former "Type II" and despite my increase in size, I'm still good. Cholesterol, HDL, LDL, Triglycerides - they're all in excellent ranges. The nurse that gave me the info was very impressed with the data and wanted to know how I have such good numbers. I do get amused when people get shocked at the idea of ultrarunning, but you can't argue the end results of the training. :-) (Oh yeah, I also agreed to give the doc a second chance. What can I say? The nurse was really convincing!)

As for the training today, I decided to be a jackass and not warm-up to test the waters. A mistake? You betcha. A standard Base Builder run, kept at the 10m-5m-10m-5m-10m:Zone1/Zone2 pattern. I treated the first 10 minutes as a warm-up by walking a decent amount of it before running. However, since I didn't warm-up like I should have, it reflected within the 5 minute-Zone 2 bursts. My HR was already hitting the Anaerobic Threshold of 161 bpm at 5.0 MPH. That's 12 minutes a mile! I've ran faster at that higher HR before! However, the second 5 minute burst was better since my body finally was in the groove and I was able to run to 6.2 MPH before it was over.

There were some good things I did notice though and compared to the first few times when I started this training, this is what I've noticed:

1.) My walking pace has increased (able to shuffle at 16-17 minutes/mile), but my HR stays pretty low (in the 100-110 bpm range).
2.) My aerobic pace ground speed has increased. On the treadmill (w/1% incline), I'm able to cruise at a 4.0 MPH (15 minutes/mile) and have an HR ranging from 128-134 bpm usually (although I do experience some HR drift that bleeds over past my Aerobic Threshold of 138 bpm). On flat ground, I'm able to move at a sub-15 min/mile pace (best efforts at a sub-13 min/mile pace) and my HR stays around 135-138 bpm and tends to hold steady.
3.) My comfy pace on the treadmill is usually a sub-12 min/mile pace. Outdoors on flat roads, it goes between 10-11 min/mile.
4.) My fastest ground speed that could be considered a Tempo effort for the moment outdoors has been around a 9 min/mile pace, but I haven't had to hold it for too long compared to the other runs.
5.) The fastest speed I've done period during this training has been a sub-6 minute/mile pace when I went balls-out during the LSD Base run on Sunday. But the downhills kind of gave me an advantage, so I can't take all the credit.

Compared to when I first started, I was moving alot slower and having more HR difficulties. Body composition-wise, I haven't changed too much (lost about 2 lbs of just body fat only). However, this is also due to the fact that I have only been running and not doing anything else. I believe that once when I incorporate my CrossFit Hybrid training in the mix, I'll shed some of the excess fat that I don't use as fuel during my runs and I'll be better prepped for my races (and life in general).

12 days left of this plan. I'd love to know what happens afterwards. :-)

Missing my Doc: HR Training - Day 29

2009-01-19T21:01:00.000-08:00

Today was my physical. My old doctor decided to retire after many years of being in the medical game, so I was assigned a new guy. Although I should really give him a decent chance, first impressions - he seems like a douchebag. I felt like my physical was somewhat rushed and he was really pushing the pills on me before I even had to give blood for testing. Seriously, he was pushing Metformin and Baby Aspirin on me without discussing any possible alternatives and without all the data being available from any kind of lab work. I know that Aspirin is toted as a wonder drug at times since it works on so many things, but come on - don't give out any recommendations until you get all of the data. I'll find out what my full results are by tomorrow (hopefully), but I have a funny feeling I might be seeking my medical services somewhere else in the near future.

Anyway, the run today was made to be light (no doubling up today - not in the mood to do that on the dreadmill in the dungeon). Thankfully, it was the first run where I actually managed to stay within my parameters of Zone 1 for both 15 minute blocks. I also took it really easy, refraining from the temptation of a faster pace. Good thing the run was short. If it was longer, I most likely would have pushed the pace a bit more.

Checking the schedule for the rest of the week, there is another new type of run tossed in that might be fun - stay tuned.

A Trip to LSD: HR Training - Day 28 & Week 4 result

2009-01-18T20:57:00.000-08:00

Today was my first LSD Base run according to the training plan. It's one of the most complicated runs in the entire list, touching all three HR Zones. Here's the pattern:

5 min Zone 1
5 min Zone 2
5 min Zone 1
3 min Zone 3
10 min Zone 1
10 min Zone 2
5 min Zone 1
3 min Zone 3
15 min Zone 1
10 min Zone 2
20 min Zone 1
10 min Zone 2
15 min Zone 1

Total time is supposed to be 116 minutes (not including my 15 minute warm-up). But there are two problems I have with doing this:

1.) The pattern is insane! No way I can remember this! I knew that I'd mess it up somehow. (Which I did during the Zone 2 and Zone 3 runs).
2.) The 3 minute bursts in Zone 3 cannot be programmed into the Suunto's interval timers anywhere, so I'd have to mess with this too, setting my watch to go off every 5 minutes and with the Zone 3 runs, run hard for those 3 minutes and then slow down after for the remaining 2 minutes. This would make the run at 120 minutes instead.

So, with a complicated run like this, what do I do? I make it more complicated by going to a trail with rolling hills (aka Lake Youngs). Sure, like I don't have enough problems already.

However, this would be a good test to see how I would manage myself on the ups and downs while maintaining my HR in the appropriate zones.

As you can see, compared to my past runs, this was all over the place. There were some good points where I was able to keep my HR in zone 1 while going uphill and downhill in spots. However, if I'm going to be able to take on Cascade Crest, I'm going to need to train on hills MORE and get my body toughened up with some core work (hence, my CrossFit training using the Gant Hybrid after day 42.) And I ALMOST finished the whole loop in the 2 hours (2:04:27).

Other good things: Flying on the downhills! Change of venue! The sunshine!

Hopefully, I'll do better next week for the actual Pigtails Run where I'll do the same loop again - maybe faster or have a better controlled HR? We'll see.

And as always, the week in review. Compared to previous weeks, I did alot more harder runs according to the training effect.

The Puggle Shuffle: HR Training - Day 26

2009-01-16T20:24:00.000-08:00

I don't know why, but I had it in my head to take the Daisy out with me for my run.

I should have just played in traffic.

See those spikes? Every time she would pull on the leash and I would have to fight to keep her in control...BAM! It was a tug-o-war the entire time. I covered close to 5 miles. Her back and forth efforts made her cover 10.

But, for the chaos I brought onto myself, the run was okay. Seems my groundspeed on flat land has been staying more within the 12-13 minute/mile range, going no slower than 15 minutes per mile if I have to really back off. So, with just a month, I've gone from 17 minutes per mile to almost 12. So does this HR training actually work? I think the data speaks for itself. :-)

Thinking to the future, I have to figure out what happens after day 42 in the training plan. Do I get some structured advice to build my own plan? Do I get another set of days that are outlined like what I got after my Metabolic/VO2Max Testing? One thing that I'm definately going to do is to re-incorporate my cross-training again. As I said before, I'm looking to do CrossFit, but following the Gym Jones idea of "Crosstrain for overall fitness, but you need to go long if that's your sport." If I didn't believe that you had to run long for ultramarathon conditioning, I would do the CrossFit Endurance workouts instead. But the idea of just hammering yourself into the ground with intervals, tempo runs, and time trial runs that are no longer than 13.1 miles just doesn't sound right - especially if you mix that in with the standard CrossFit 3/1 workout routine (and those WODs are already tough as hell if you do them Rx'ed.

Thankfully, I found some info on a hybrid system that uses some CrossFit, but focuses on gymnastics, Olympic lifting, and slow lifting with limited metabolic conditioning...aka Gant's Hybrid Program. I can do Gant's program at work during my lunches and do my shorter runs in the morning or at night during the work week and a long run (or two) on the weekend. Gant's Hybrid would help condition me without overtaxing me and I'll have enough energy to run. Plus, it's structured on a weekly 7 day schedule - which is a bonus. I'm really looking forward to it.

Tomorrow: A nice rest day. Sunday: My first ever LSD Base run! It's two hour long and a mix of everything, including zone 3 - ZONE 3!!! But, I'm going to give this a whack at the Lake Youngs Trail. I figured what better place to test this out and get some experience with hills than to go there since the hills aren't killer, but there is enough variety to test my HR and see how my exertion perception is when going up and down (not to mention trying to have a low HR when going downhill.)

What else can you say but...WTF?: HR Training - Day 25

2009-01-15T21:41:00.000-08:00

For the past two days at work, I've been stressing out. Although yesterday's run sedated me, today's run wasn't going to cut it the same way. Also, I went on a caffeine kick again with a Venti Skinny Vanilla Latte at Starbucks (hey, its been some time). But I don't think it messed with me this time since my workout was several hours after the java.

The positives of this Base Builder II run:

1.) Warm-up was better (even with the HR spikes).
2.) I've been maintaining a speed of 4.0 MPH for more of the zone 1 runs...until the last 15 minutes of them at the end of the run.
3.) I'm able to go up to 6.0 MPH (usually hovering under at 5.8 MPH) if I gradually increase the speed. This means that in the real world, if I decided to push my pace - I have to push it gradually like how you would shift gears in a manual transmission car, one gear at a time and not rushing it.

The not-so-positives:

1.) My best efforts to stay within my zones and not bleed over wasn't doing so well.
2.) I should have had a full bottle of water beside me on the dreadmill. I think some of my HR drift might have been from water loss via sweat.

And those sudden drops in my HR during zone 2, that's the true WTF moment. I actually SAW it drop and without reason it seems! I KNOW that my HRM isn't a lemon, despite it being used (and I know that my friend wouldn't burn me like that). So what happened? Too much sweat getting between the belt and my chest? Not enough Buh-Bump cream? What was it? Why drop like that and climb back up? Can Suunto's just not have a 100% reliable device? What gives?

One thing I know. I'm not going to just toss it out with the money I spent on it, so I'll just have to make due in the mean time. But it is giving me enough good data to where I can see improvement within myself.

Light run for tomorrow. I'd like to do double the time like I did yesterday, but I might end up with just doing the standard.

In the Groove: HR Training - Day 24

2009-01-14T21:40:00.000-08:00

A light run that I extended to double the time (the 15m-3m-15m-3m-15m-3m-15m pattern) and it was the best thing I've done for myself.

Despite my now refined abilities to go mentally numb on the treadmill, I've found a bigger joy in being outside and running. So, I went mildly minimalist for the cold 40 degree temps. A tech shirt, running shorts, and my SOLE baseball cap were the things that I had on to keep me "warm". I strapped on the reflective vest, headlamp, and flashing redlight for the night. So with a cap on my head and SOLES in my shoes, I decided to steer myself to a different direction that I decided to choose. (Yeah, I'm stuck in Dr. Seuss mode for a moment.)

I decided to take a south path again and after my chilly warm-up, I headed off. I focused on being more relaxed and to soak up the gentle quiet world that comes out at night in my little town. Don't get me wrong, there is traffic. But the traffic was mild and no drivers were being jerks this time.

Since my running routes are so common for me, I know where each mile is based on a landmark. Well, to my delight, I reached my first mile in UNDER 15 minutes. I was ready to do backflips! Would I be able to keep it up? Answer = YES! Even with the 3 minute rests (and I actually STOPPED and stretched. No walking at all during those moments), I covered almost 4.5 miles! (Note to self: MUST CALIBRATE DAMN FOOTPOD DEVICE!)

This is a very good sign. More proof that this is working and at this rate, my easy pace will be fast enough to not only keep up with the group, but also be easier on my body during events. Hell, who knows? I might just move up into the middle of the pack for a change!

Tomorrow: Another Base Builder II run in the dungeon. But it ain't gonna keep me down!

Like a Rocket: HR Training - Day 23

2009-01-13T21:18:00.000-08:00

Another visit down in the dungeon, another Base Builder II run.

Despite my inability to control my HR as much as I wanted as the run continued after the first half, I did have alot of positive notes to this run compared to previous ones:

1.) I had a much better warm-up since I decided to walk briskly for 5 minutes, then I alternated between walking and doing intermittent strides about every 10 seconds, eventually increasing the strides into a lighter jog.
2.) The first two sets of 5 minute runs were so perfect that I could sing praises to heaven above. I was maintaining a relative HR of 130-134 bpm and moving at a 4.2 MPH speed (that's a sub-15 minute mile!) during my Zone 1 runs. My Zone 2 runs were even better, moving at a speed of 6.2 MPH (a sub-10 minute per mile pace, almost approaching a 9:30/mile speed!) and my HR was just barely touching the anaerobic threshold of 161 bpm!

However, this was not to be once I got through the first half of the run. For some reason, when I tried to repeat the same results again at the 35 minute point, my body wasn't having it. The faster speeds from before were not acceptable to my HR, it shot up to 176 bpm! Seriously, WTF? I had to drop to a much slower speed to be near my anaerobic threshold. My slower running in zone 1 also suffered. I couldn't maintain my HR without it drifting so much. Seriously frustrating, although I'm glad I'm use to the annoyances that come with HR training.

I have to figure out why I was able to maintain faster speeds with lower HR's in the beginning, but not as time progressed. Seriously, if you could run faster and use less exerted effort, you know you'd totally want to.

Brother, can you spare a heart transplant?: HR Training - Day 22

2009-01-12T20:01:00.000-08:00

After many days of toiling in the dungeon (aka the treadmill in my downstairs rec area at home), I needed to have planet EARTH under my running shoes for a change instead of a moving piece of rubber that is controlled by a computer and motor.

But, I always keep forgetting some of problems of my area.

1.) TOO MUCH INTERFERENCE FOR ABOUT 0.5 +/- MILES! Even when I was WALKING, the HRM went apeshit! I even did a 20 minute walk with my family before my run to warm-up with no difference!
2.) Drivers in the town are assholes! I had to jump further into the ditches since there is no sidewalk on my roads for some distance.

My HRM wasn't cooperating in the beginning at all. High jumps all over the place and even though the Suunto itself had some lower numbers, they obviously didn't get recorded.

It wasn't until I got a good mile OUT of my neighborhood when I was able to have normalized readings. I was truly grateful for that. I noticed that my pace is moving a great deal faster than being on the dreadmill (compare 16-17 minutes/mile on treadmill versus moving at 12-13 minutes/mile at nearly the same HR). However, I did have more HR drift outside than being on the treadmill, so I had to intermix walking with running a bit more. The other thing I noticed is that my body was going OVER my Anaerobic Threshold level more. My efforts seemed to push at a "comfortably hard" pace, but I think that my body still feels somewhat taxed from the harder runs the past few days. The schedule doesn't give me a light run day until Wednesday and Friday of this week. However, it's a mixed blessing since my HR is staying in the Aerobic range while my speed is picking up more. Good trade off so far and an okay run for a Base Builder workout.

Back on the Dreadmill tomorrow for another Base Builder II run.

This Boogie is for real: HR Training - Day 21 & Week 3 Result

2009-01-11T21:26:00.000-08:00

Over the weekend, I had a few choices. Either take Saturday off or turn it into a 5.1 mile muddy, horse-crap covered, cold, dark trail run at Bridle Trails. Thankfully, better heads prevailed and my senses said to stick with the training schedule.

So, originally I was going to run outside to do the Base Builder II run with a 15 minute brisk walk for a warm-up. But then something started to nag at me and I decided to hold off on doing it outdoors, settling again for the treadmill hell that I've developed an unusual and sick liking for. Sure enough, a sudden downpour showed up at the time I was planning on heading out. Dodged that bullet. I have enough to worry about with managing my HR in the training plan, I don't need the pain of being cold and wet (mostly wet) until I get this thing nailed down first.

So, on the treadmill again with a 1% incline, doing the same run as I did on Day 16 and Day 18, except an even longer warm-up (15 minutes versus 10) and I would try like mad to keep my HR in better check in the zones. I also chose to run a bit easier in Zone 2 and not try to push it to the 161 bpm Anaerobic Threshold limit.

I have to say that this was another interesting find. I kept the speed between 3.6-3.7 MPH and my HR hovered roughly around 134 bpm on average, usually staying relatively low for the first two Zone 1 runs. It eventually creeped up as time went on as I maintained the same speed settings for those 5 minute spots. When I was required to go to Zone 2, I didn't push as I said. I went easier and more comfortable than in the past. As a result of that, my set speed was at 5.0 MPH and my HR stayed in the relatively lower 150's! I knew I had it within me to push more in the zone, but as I said - I didn't want to force it. Also, checking past data points from previous runs in the same "moderate" zone, I had a higher HR on average, more points where the HR would be floating above the 161 bpm mark, and my speed was not all that much faster than 5.0 MPH (between 5.1-5.2 at best and I HAD to slow down for those times!)

There is also something else that I noticed. Every time I took a swig of water, my HR would go up a few points (anywhere from 2-4 beats). If I drank where the water slowly entered my system, the rise was less than if I swigged and gulped. I wonder if the body processes it as fast as it can, causing the HR rise? I can only assume that if this is indeed true (still trying to find any documentation that can support this), eating on the run will also diddle with the numbers as well.

Well, this is the half-way mark in the training plan and I have another three weeks left. For the remaining weeks left, I have to start heading outside. The new run on the weekend (The LSD Base Run) requires that I'm out for 116 minutes (this doesn't include any warm-up or cooldown times) doing a combo of Zone 1, Zone 2, and even some Zone 3 (yeah, my HR gets to get jacked up past my 161 bpm Anaerobic Threshold limit a few minutes at a time). But one nice thing is that I can use one of these LSD Base runs to do an event! More details to come on that.

And below is the progress for Week 3.

A Remarkable Thing: HR Training - Day 19

2009-01-09T20:48:00.000-08:00

Another light run, but I did my damndest to keep it under 138 bpm - I really did!

However, it was not meant to be with this run and I ended up spiking above in spots, letting my HR drift oddly again. Plus, not having enough Buh-bump! cream on the HRM didn't help things either.

But I did figure out some stuff.

1.) My HR doesn't stabilize in the first 10-15 minutes, even if I'm running "easy". It will stablize if I walk briskly though.
2.) Seems after the 10-15 minutes, my HR turns more consistant (guess I should warm-up more often and walk a good 10-15 minutes before most activities?)
3.) Once properly warmed-up, the slow speed that I was running at (about 16 minutes/mile) ended up giving me an HR in the low 130's/high 120's! I had to kick the treadmill past 4.0 MPH (15 minutes/mile) to start approaching my Aerobic Threshold of 138 bpm. Another piece of proof that this training IS working.

However, I'm still questioning why I have those low HR drops in the 2nd half of the run. The watch itself didn't display this data, so I'm wondering why the Suunto Training Manager is? Then again, I didn't use enough Buh-Bump cream.

Taking tomorrow off and enjoying the rest. Getting ready for Sunday's Base Builder II run. It'll be a nice change to not be subjected to a treadmill. :-)

And BOOM goes the Dynamite!: HR Training - Day 18

2009-01-08T21:11:00.000-08:00

Well, comparing this Base Builder II run to the one on Day 16, the EPOC and the Training Effect were virtually identical. The HR zones that I was able to stay in at was not too far off either. But there was one CLEAR difference between the two. Today's run covered MORE DISTANCE and I was able to run at faster speeds within the same HR limits! Max speed was at a 5.7 MPH, 5.7! That's creeping closer to my 10 minute per mile pace that I've missed running at. Compared to when I was running in my Zone 2 level when I started (around a 5.2 MPH speed), this is showing me serious progress. I have also noticed that during the 5 minute zone 1 runs, I'm either at or just below a 15 minute per mile pace (4.0 MPH). This is also something very positive for me as well. If this keeps up, my easy/light pace might end up approaching 5.0 MPH or higher sooner than later.

The one thing that mildly bugs me though is that my HR was seriously drifting in the last 15 minutes of zone 1 running. It would suddenly crawl up to 145 bpm for a moment and then drop back down. I even dropped my speed below a 17 minute per mile pace and it was STILL doing that. I don't know whether it was dehydration (did sweat alot and sucked down my 16 oz bottle of water quickly) or just physiological changes from running a medium-hard run two days ago, only to do it again.

Looking forward to the light run tomorrow to give my body a bit of a break and I'll definately enjoy the rest day on Saturday!

A Near Death Experience?: HR Training - Day 17

2009-01-07T21:28:00.000-08:00

See the first dot at the bottom of the screen? That's the 8 minute mark where my HRM read ZERO. Yeah, no beats per minute. The same HR that a corpse gives. I stopped my Suunto t6 and had it reconnect to detect my HR Belt again.

The light run was okay. I kept it at the original plan of 15m run-3m rest-15m run. My calves are mildly tight and I wanted to just get enough in since I have the Base Builder II run tomorrow.

I've noticed that my HR does tend to drift. Not too high after I'm warmed-up well enough, but enough to be annoying at times.

Good thing is that my need to walk to calm my HR down is becoming less and less. Plus, more of my HR steady beats are within the 132-136 area and only will crawl to 137-138 bpm (the limit of zone 1). If I push a bit more however, that's when it starts to crawl up to 139-141 bpm. Like I said, not too high of a drift, but enough to be annoying since my perceived exertion isn't THAT hard of a push in my opinion.

Oh well, the joys of trying to exercise PATIENCE.

Base Builder II tomorrow. Will I be alive for that one the entire time? Find out next time! :-)

The Sonic Boom: HR Training - Day 16

2009-01-06T21:40:00.001-08:00

This was a very taxing run. Not to the point of all-out sprints, but to maintain the intensity to shift back and forth between zones 1 and 2 within 5 minute spurts was an interesting one.

The Base Builder II consisted of running in 5 minute patterns of zone 1-2-1-2-1-1-2-1-2-2-1-1-1. I decided to take a queue from Stu Mittleman and do a 10 minute walk to warm-up. He advocates walking as a warm-up for 5-15 minutes, depending on the type of run that will be done. It also helps start up the Fat Mobilization process as well.

So, as you can tell, the EPOC curve is alot more gentle in the beginning than in my previous runs. Throughout each 5 minute moment, I did my best to stay in my respective zones, but if you're set to run 5 minutes at a faster pace to then drop to a slower one 5 minutes later, your HR will need time to drop. From what I gather, I think this teaches the body to recover faster and get into the lower HR zone more easily. But, it was a fun time to be able to run 5.4 MPH for most of the zone 2 stuff (about an 11.5 min/mile pace).

Seems that keeping my HR belt tighter nearly did the trick...almost. Still had one HR dip that was from a really quick adjustment during the speedy part.

The suprising thing was probably the EPOC and training effect landing in the Level 4 area (a Training Effect of 4.4). I worked just hard enough for the Suunto to consider this a "Highly Improving Training Effect". However, there are warnings not to get into this area too often and I hope that my second Base Builder II run on Thursday will be a good one too.

Pullin' back on the reins: HR Training - Day 15

2009-01-05T21:03:00.000-08:00

After a few email exchanges with Eric, I decided to do my best to pull back on the effort and try to stay MORE within my zones and not really diddle with the plan (he said to double the time with the same pattern at most, but not to go beyond unless I want to mess with my positive results so far.)

So today, I would keep the workout for the Base Builder at 40 minutes, the original time. Not increasing it to 55 minutes like I had been, not doubling it up to 80 minutes (although I'm allowed it), not tacking on other runs on it like I did on Sunday. I would keep to the zones as best as I could as well.

So during each 10 minute spot, I went at a slower speed than before and did my best to keep my HR hovering around 132 bpm. I ran at a slower speed for the 5 minute bursts, keeping it around 153-157 bpm as much as possible. I would do this and do my best to remember how the feeling was.

All in all, not bad. Some of the HR drifts were typical, but less than usual. I had one HR drop, but that was from a re-adjusting of the strap (I tightened it, but not enough - I might have to just buy one online or find a vendor who just sells the strap alone.)

Tomorrow - Excitement! Base Builder II! More faster running! More duration! Did I say excitement?

Breaking out the Duct Tape: HR Training - Day 13, Day 14, and Week 2 result

2009-01-05T07:25:00.000-08:00

The light run on Saturday (Day 13) was a "Perfect 3" as Suunto would say. Although I should find a way to warm-up better to control the initial wonky HR. I would have preferred to have it for an hour, but the 33 minutes (15m run-3m rest-15m run) was good enough.

Sunday's run (Day 14) was going to be longer than I had done in some time. I missed being out and just soaking in the world. Despite my current ability to run on a treadmill and not get bored out of my skull, I needed to get outside and get some Planet Earth under me for a change.

The run was originally a Base Builder run, but I figured that trying to run for over 90 minutes doing basically 6 medium/hard runs and 7 easy/recovery runs so soon was out of the question. I'll have to contend with something like that for Day 21 anyway, so why rush things? But I did need more time on my feet. So after I didn't get any word back from Eric on tweaking the day, I decided to blend the Base Builder day with some light running before and after, throwing in an experimental run based solely on my RPE (Rate of Perceived Exertion)...figured that would make things a bit interesting.

So, this is how the workout went:

1.) 15 minute light running in zone 1 (basically, this is the warm-up)
2.) 3 minute rest
3.) 10 minute running in zone 1
4.) 5 minute running in zone 2
5.) Repeat #3 & #4 three more times
6.) Run at what I think feels comfortable to me for about 5+ minutes and see where the HR lands
7.) Cooldown run/walk for another 7+ minutes.

The beginning part was messed up, but some of that is attributed to the powerlines in the area by my home. I've always had to deal with the insanity of those when I had HR trained in the past. Once the actual workout started, it was fine...until the insta-drop in my HR after 40 minutes into the entire workout. I was approaching an area that is notorious for creating unusual surges in electronic devices, but seeing my HR drop so much was definately pointing at other possibles. I was feeling fine. My exertion levels were good during both parts of the run when I would switch from zone 1 to zone 2 and back. I got back about a mile away from home and then decided to just run based solely off of feel and seeing if I can determine my steady-state/Most Efficient Pace (MEP) for myself. So, for about a half mile, I tend to feel steady at a 11 minutes per mile with an HR of about 150-153 bpm.

I can't say this was a good run, but it could have been worse. I doubt that I screwed anything up, but after doing some more research on the reasons for so many HR drops, I finally found something from Ironman triathlete Mark Allen (one of the huge supporters in this kind of training) and he says that these drops are common and caused by HR belts that are not strapped on very well. This would explain alot, especially since my HR belt does seem to want to slip. I'll have to try and tighten it up a bit more...then again, nothing like a bit of duct tape to fix that thing on for good, eh?

And for the 2nd week's progress so far:

Breakthrough!: HR Training - Day 12

2009-01-02T21:51:00.001-08:00

Another base builder workout on the treadmill again like Day 8 and Day 9, except no lunchtime light run since I had too much to do (left work early to return a rental car and to pick up my car at the shop half-repaired).

Compared to the previous days doing the same workout, this was much better. My HR was able to recover better and my speed was around 5.5-5.6 MPH (sub-11 minute miles, hell yeah!) for each of those 5 minute bursts, my HR staying relatively in the high 150's to the limit of 161 bpm, occasionally rolling up a point or two above the limit. The 10 minute recovery runs in the low zone were also at a steady pace as well, between 15-16 minutes a mile.

I have another one of these workouts for Sunday, but I really have the desire to go long (atleast 2 hours or more). I need to ask Eric about how to do the workout if I want to go longer and whether it's smart to just repeat the pattern, but for the longer duration.

The Shell Game: HR Training - Day 11

2009-01-01T20:40:00.000-08:00

I should have done this run yesterday, but due to a series of unfortunate events (car going crazy, leaving it at the repair shop, having to get a rental car at the last minute on New Years Eve - just alot of drama), I couldn't get this run in. So with all plans, I had to adjust and basically shift everything over one day (giving up a Saturday "day off").

So, the typical light run of 15m-3m-15m-3m-15m-3m-15m was on the menu again. Another treadmill run with a full stop for the 3 minute rests. Comparing the data to the previous days doing the same workout, I have indeed increased my capacity. The distances that I'm running has increased and on the treadmill itself, I am maintaining mildly faster speeds compared to when I first started this and having less HR increases as I'm going.

The added bonus I would have to say is that when doing these runs, I am often left with feeling like I could go another hour or two (or five!)

A nice birthday run for me. :-)

Falling off the Starbucks Wagon: HR Training - Day 9

2008-12-30T11:49:00.000-08:00

A Double Day like yesterday, but will the outcome be better, worse, or about the same? Let's see...

This morning, I caved into my vices and got a Venti Skinny Vanilla Latte. For the coffee-drinking challenged, that's a large 20 ounce cup of coffee that has a decent amount of steamed non-fat milk and sweetened with sugar-free vanilla syrup. I also got another vice, a toasted Chonga bagel with Cream Cheese (yeah, that was REALLY bad). But we all fall off the wagon now and again. But this wagon I believe really messed with me with the workout. I have no doubt that it'll probably mess with me tonight with the second run as well.

As I was running on the treadmill, it seemed that my heart rate was all over the place. Really low at one moment, really high the next that was well outside of the zone that I was supposed to be running in. I tried to feel my way through the run, but my perceived exertion was not jiving either and I would rather err on the side of caution in this case. Towards the end, I was mostly walking. Not a "bad" run, but it wasn't the best either. Moral of the story: Gotta lay off the 'feine.

And the evening run:

Same pattern as yesterday's 10m-5m-10m-5m-10m-5m-10m, going from zone 1 to zone 2 and back. The exertion level that I was feeling felt not too different then yesterday. However, I really should try and run more in the middle or slightly below the limits than running to the limit for each zone...although I really don't want to move any slower than I already am. Damn my stubbornness!

...And it's screaming for Excedrine: HR Training - Day 8

2008-12-29T21:29:00.000-08:00

Today's the start of my two-a-day runs. Light runs during my lunch hour (the old 15m-3m-15m pattern), evening runs based on whatever the schedule dictates. As my aerobic capacity increases, I will swap some of the lunch runs with strength training (possibly doing CrossFit workouts, but most likely maintaining the Gym Jones view of blending High-Intensity cross-training while maintaining the necessary workouts in the aerobic realm that are sports specific.

Anyhoo, here's a nice graphic for the first run:

Treadmill run, set at 1% incline. Speed was between 3.5-4.0 MPH, usually sticking around 3.7-3.8 MPH for the majority. I started the run with a mild headache, but as I was going - it stopped. When I finished, it slowly returned. I'm questioning on whether the lack of caffeine (I've been cutting back on Starbucks and Diet Pepsi as best I can to calm my heart down when I'm not working out) is giving me this feeling. It would make the most sense. Regarding the run itself, I could have controlled myself a bit more, but it was a better run than yesterday. Although, I should try and aim for keeping my HR even lower than the 135 bpm that I was trying for (the ceiling being 138 bpm). My hope is that I'll eventually be able to do long/easy runs at a good feelin' pace in the 125-130 bpm range.

And for the second run:

This run is a Base Builder run, consisting of running in zone 1 (79-138 bpm) for 10 minutes, then up to zone 2 (138-161 bpm) for 5, repeating once, then ending in zone 1 for 10 minutes (a total time of 40 minutes) However, I extended this out another 15 minutes, maintaining the pattern as 10m-5m-10m-5m-10m-5m-10m.

This run was kick-ass! I was able to run at a pace I felt like was genuine running! I got my speed up to 5.2 MPH! Funny thing is that I didn't really feel labored at all moving at that speed. I felt under good control, but felt like I was working a bit more. It's going to be awesome when I can run at 5.2 MPH or faster and not be in the zone 2 range.

Tomorrow: It's going to be a repeat of the same workout. Hope it goes even better!

HR Training - Week 1 Result

2008-12-29T21:26:00.000-08:00

Not too bad! I wonder how this week will compare!

The Squeeze: HR Training - Day 7

2008-12-28T22:01:00.000-08:00

The Short: The same as yesterday, but replace the treadmill with actual road, trail, snow, ice, puddles, and ScrewShoes.

The Long: You know how they say that when you train at higher altitudes, your body works harder? Seems that even a small amount of altitude change can do this too. Today's run was at my in-laws place in North Bend, near the Snoqualmie Valley Trail. Throughout the entire run, it was alot harder to maintain control of my HR. Every time my body would move out of the aerobic fat-burning zone (aka the Most Aerobic Pace or MAP zone) and shift into the moderate zone (what Stu Mittleman refers to as the Most Efficient Pace or MEP zone), I could actually sense it before my Suunto would go off, even if the HR rise would be only about 1-3 beats above 138 bpm! I could actually "taste" the odd shift from my MAP to MEP and let me tell ya, it isn't a sweet taste. I can't identify what it is exactly, but I'm sure I'll figure it out soon enough. I'm sure it's related to the bump from tapping into fat as the primary fuel source and dipping into that area where fat and sugar are both used (or as Stu's Book refers this as, "The Tightrope Walker").

Another thing that helped with the difficulty factor was the snow that was still on the ground. Tie that to also running on actual trails that are still mushy and wet and you can expect to use more muscles as you move across the land. More muscles working = more work. More work = more energy expenditure. More energy expenditure = higher heart rate.

But all in all, it wasn't too bad of a run. There were moments where I was moving long pretty well and feeling pretty free. I always enjoy myself the most during those times and look forward to those before hearing the beeps. However, it COULD have been better. But as the weeks progress, I'll also be making more trips to places of higher elevation to have my body adapt more and also do some hill training to prep for Cascade Crest.

Finding the sweet spot: HR Training - Day 6

2008-12-28T10:37:00.000-08:00

Another run on the treadmill again yesterday, same pattern as I did on Christmas Day. I covered about the same distance as Day 4, but with the exception that when it came to the 3 minute rests, I actually sat down in a chair for a spell. Didn't make a lick of difference though in the HR drop, but I was able to get my shoes fixed. I had put on a different pair of running shoes in my supply and didn't put in my foodbed inserts. (Note: I can't run WITHOUT the SOLE heat-molded inserts in my shoes. If I do, expect discomfort!)

I did have more difficulty in trying to keep my HR below the 138 bpm threshold this time. I'm not sure whether it was my enthusiasm in moving faster or just having an odd day. I am learning more by re-adjusting my rate of perceived exertion to match my HR level and I'm getting there, slowly but surely.

One positive with the HR strap, I found a nice way to cover the plastic clasps with fabric tape. No more pinching or digging into my skin now! However, I'm still wondering why my HR went all wonky with spikes and dips towards the end. It was like that on Day 4, but it took longer. Maybe my electro-conductive cream called Buh-Bump! was wearing off? Meh, who knows?

The OMG moment: HR Training - Day 5

2008-12-26T22:10:00.000-08:00

The short: Ran a light 15 min/3 min/15 min set. HR steady and speed max to 4.2 MPH.

The long: If I wouldn't have experienced it myself, I wouldn't even believe it. Seems that this aerobic training/low-HR training does indeed work. 5 days into it (well, technically 2 weeks since I started running at slower speeds before my VO2Max testing) and I'm seeing an improvement!

My HR had stabilized itself sooner and didn't have nearly as many drifts above the 138 bpm limit. I was bouncing between 130 and 136 bpm at my faster efforts. And the faster efforts were also FASTER!!! I was able to go at a speed of 4.2 MPH towards the end. 4.2 MPH!!! That's a 14:17 min/mile pace! I'm able to run closer to normal running speeds for a change! If this keeps up, I might be able to not only be back running with the group in 42 days, but I might be able to keep up with the pack with future race events! :-D

A WTF X-Mas: HR Training - Day 4

2008-12-25T12:53:00.000-08:00

The short: Run pattern as 15 min run-3 min rest, repeat 3 more times.

The long: Yesterday was Day 3 and a scheduled rest day. I was hoping to run, but opted not to due to feeling really rundown. Yesterday, I also decided to check my blood sugar levels and I was in for a shock. I had a glucose level of over 240 mg/dl and that's not good. I checked myself this morning, 348 mg/dl. My doctor said that my diabetes could come back if I slip up. Looking back, I've slowly slipped up. My weight has gone up from what I considered more healthy. I neglected my eating habits over a course of many months. My workout routines were being neglected and I was getting lazy. The results of the glucose tests does seem to match up with the VO2Max/Metabolic test that I took, since it showed that I'm using nothing but sugar while I'm at rest. This would explain it. Funny thing is that other than the rundown feeling that comes and goes, I'm not having any other symptoms that I experienced in the past. I'll be setting an appointment with my doctor's office to get an updated evaluation and a script for new diabetes testing supplies (the strips I used were expired, but even expired strips usually don't give off results that are this high.) I'll be damned if I have to go back to meds and feeling even weirder.

Anyway, regarding the run today...it was like the 'generic version of trail running'. The snow and ice were half-melted, causing unusual footing and movement. Also, my HR was all over the place since I had to use different muscles to maintain my balance. But I did eventually maintain some decent control...until the fourth 15 minute run. My HR started to drop. I mean DROP! I was at 90 bpm! Eventually, it fixed itself, but I'm so confused on why this would have happened. I had tried my best to use exertion rate based on the previous runs, so I don't think I messed myself up too badly.

Tomorrow is supposed to be a scheduled rest day, but after the glucose readings - I think I'll be looking to having more activity on a daily basis and focus on my aerobic HR training even more. More activity. Burn fat. Get stronger. Run longer. My X-Mas gift to myself is another chance to kick some ass.

Taming the Ego: HR Training - Day 2

2008-12-23T19:15:00.000-08:00

The short: 33 minutes during lunch on the treadmill. 1% incline. Speed between 3.5-3.7 MPH. Followed the plan as 15 min run, 3 min rest, 15 min run. HR was kept pretty well under the 138 bpm threshold.

The long: I thought I had an extra set of workout clothes, but I was without running shorts, so I had to wear the sweats I wore into work. Good thing the low-HR training doesn't make you sweat hard all over if it's under an hour!

I turned up the radio to C89.5 WorldWide and did my best to maintain my HR under the 138 bpm limit. I didn't do too badly. Over the limit for under 3 of the 33 minutes, so I can say I did a good job.

My biggest problem was that someone came into the gym after my first 15 minute set and powerwalked along side me on the other treadmill. I had to really do my best to focus and not think that it was a race or to maintain the pace they were! But I did it!

I have to say that the second 15 minutes felt better than the first 15. I was able to kick the speed up a bit more and had less HR increases than in the first 15. One thing that does suprise me is my EPOC value/Training Effect is at a 3.1, meaning it shows that I'm improving. Improvement on the second run already! Looking forward to the next run!

Putting the Screws To It: HR Training - Day 1

2008-12-22T18:29:00.000-08:00

The short: 1:04:15 around the neighborhood. Icy/Snowy roads and paved trails. Workout Pattern was 8 minutes running in Zone 1 (79-138 bpm), 3 minute rest, repeat pattern 5 more times.

The long: After hitting Lowes on Saturday to get some sheet-metal screws to make my regular Brooks Adrenaline GTS 7 running shoes into ScrewShoes, I finished outfitting my shoes for the ice and snow yesterday. After finishing my work today (telecommuting does indeed rock), I set out for my run on my new training plan.

The same workout as I did on Friday, I extended the duration further. The pattern ended up being 8m-3m-8m-3m-8m-3m-8m-3m-8m-3m-8m-3m, 66 minutes total time.

I layered up and headed out. The streets were compacted down with snow and ice patches were very noticeable. My HR was a bit wonky in the beginning, but there are some areas where the powerlines have caused interference in the past when I had HR trained about two years ago. My HR did settle down a bit more and I had less rises above my 138 bpm limit, but I do need to exercise some more control to have less bumps above my limit. During the 3 minute breaks, I either walked EXTREMELY SLOWLY or just stood still in one place. As each moment when I was able to run for those 8 minutes, I was feeling better every time and running a bit faster each time. Nice and relaxed. Loose and free. The thing that I always have enjoyed about running. I finished up the 5k+ route well within the time I wanted and felt like I could have ran another 2-3 more hours for the fun of it. A most excellent feeling!

Bonus: NO SLIPS, TRIPS, OR FALLS!!!! The ScrewShoes are the best!

Listening to your body

2008-12-21T19:59:00.000-08:00

My body yesterday decided not to participate in the 50k. I was seriously out of it and in retrospect, it was for the best.

I wasn't really ready to do that distance again and I should focus on my low HR training.

But I did stop by and dropped off the soup cans I promised. I know that it would go to the Maple Valley Food Bank if it wasn't used, but with how the temps were - I'm sure they were used to warm the bellies of those that finished the run.

Other nice things were that I finished the last of my X-Mas shopping and I bought my Brooks Cascadia 3 trail shoes finally. I look forward to using them on the trails.

In the meantime, tomorrow is Day 1 of my official low HR training. I'm going to definately do more duration (most runs to be 1 hour long or longer). Tomorrow's run, I'm going to kick it to a full hour and I'll even suck it up and freeze my butt off tomorrow in the snow.

Stay warm everyone!

The Old College Try: HR Training - Day 0

2008-12-19T11:16:00.000-08:00

Yesterday night, I was not in the mood to get outside and attempt to run in the snow & ice. Plus, not having YakTrax or ScrewShoes setup on my shoes, I opted to run on the treadmill at home.

So, since I was going to be inside, I decided to try out Day 1 of the training plan that was setup for me since my VO2Max test that I did on Tuesday. Since Eric said that I can extend the workout time as long as I wanted, I just had to make sure I maintained the pattern of the workout. In this case, the original workout called for:

- 8 minutes of running in my low HR zone (79-138 bpm)
- 3 minutes of rest (NO RUNNING)
- 8 minutes of running in my low HR zone (79-138 bpm)

A total of 19 minutes of actual time. Yeah, I decided to add another 8 more minutes to make it 8-3-8-3-8, 30 minutes total.

And here's how it turned out according to my Suunto Training Manager software:

I have to say, it wasn't bad at all. I was able to keep my HR hovering between 130-135 bpm (some mild spikes, but not too bad) and my speed was between 3.6-3.7 MPH (a 16:12-16:40/mile pace) for each of those 8 minutes. I felt very comfortable and loose. I didn't feel like I was forcing anything else but restraint and I eventually let go of that restraint as well. I have to say that I'm starting to embrace this slow burn.

I doubt that I'll employ the resting as much for tomorrow's run at the Pigtails Flat Ass, but I'm only going out there to enjoy myself as best as I can (yes, even with the chilly weather). Whatever comes, will come.

The Numbers

2008-12-17T18:33:00.000-08:00

Here are my results for the VO2Max/Metabolic test from Tuesday:

VO2Max: 36.4 (Fair, Male 30-39 age range)
Aerobic threshold limit: 138 bpm
Anaerobic threshold limit: 161 bpm
Max HR measured: 183 bpm (I think it could have been higher, but I was seriously tired and hungry due to fasting for 12+ hours and no breakfast).

Workout Zones calculated from the test:

Low Zone: 79-138 bpm
Moderate Zone: 138-161 bpm
High Zone: 161-178 bpm
Peak Zone: 178-183 bpm

Here's the interesting thing that I found when calculating my zones based on the Maffetone calculations and Stu Mittleman's MAP (Most Aerobic Pace), MEP (Most Efficient Pace), SAP (Speedy Anaerobic Pace):

MAP Zone: 120-140 bpm
MEP Zone: 140-150 bpm
SAP Zone: 150-170 bpm

The low zone and MAP zone are pretty close to each other. The SAP zone is alot smaller than the high zone, but I think it's simply due to the test being able to lock on at where my body gets into an anaerobic state. The moderate zone and high zone however seem to overlap with the MEP and SAP zones. I'm thinking that the moderate zone could be broken up as "moderate 1" (ranging from 138-150 bpm) and "moderate 2" (ranging from 150-161 bpm). I remember when I heart rate trained before and there was a point where there was a point called the "steady-state pace". The steady-state pace feels like you're not going too slow or too fast and you could hold your pace for a considerable distance. The steady-state pace is where most long distance races are done at when you get past the first 5-10 miles. My guess is that I'll be in the steady-state in moderate 1 and if I have to gently pour on the juice without totally ditching the fat-burning, I can shift to moderate 2 before having to go more balls-out in an event.

The 42 day schedule is something that is less than desired for running junkies. Here's the first week alone:

Day 1: Run 8 minutes in low zone, 3 minutes below low zone (which means I might have to just stand still), run 8 minutes in low zone. That's it.
Day 2: Run 15 minutes in low zone, 3 minutes below low zone (more standing still), run 15 minutes in low zone.
Day 3: Rest (yeah, rest after doing that itty-bitty work from day 1 and day 2)
Day 4: Repeat Day 2.
Day 5: Repeat Day 3. (Yep, another rest day!)
Day 6 & 7: Repeat Day 2.

But the following weeks do start to look a bit better. More mixing of zones, meaning moving a bit faster for some of the time. 10 minutes low, 5 minutes moderate, repeat. This is where everything looks more promising.

I'm so glad that I've already semi-started with the low-HR training and have gotten alot of the frustrations out of the way. Added bonus is that I can add more duration of the workouts provided I maintain the pattern of the workout. And my research does show that the more time you put in, the faster the adaption will occur.

I'm looking forward to the next 42 days after the Pigtails Flat Ass. Bring it!

VO2...Uh oh...

2008-12-17T10:57:00.000-08:00

Okay, I'm mildly exaggerating, but it's not a good thing either.

I fall in the "Fair" category for folks that are men, 30-39 years old for my VO2Max test I did yesterday. It was a bit stressful and awkward putting that mask on and sounding like Darth Vader while running on the treadmill. But I got my numbers and my results (I'll post those up later).

My new training plan requires me to train below a 138 bpm heart rate for a majority of my training for the next 42 days after the Pigtails Flat Ass (yes, I've decided that Pigtails will be my very last race for the year until I see how I do after the 42 days of training.)

I will be running solo for the entire time, no group runs.

I will be also trying to add as much base time as possible (mileage will not be the thing to focus on, but time in an HR zone and putting in ALOT of time as I can).

I'll put more up later on this. Wish me luck!

The Zen of Moving Slow

2008-12-14T20:01:00.000-08:00

For almost two weeks of training via HR, I had lost a great deal of patience for myself and going so slow. Today's run was different. I actually appreciated the slow pace and the restraint. I modified my HR training zones based off of the Maffetone Method of "180 minus age" to determine the MEP (Most Efficient Pace) and then calculating my MAP (Most Aerobic Pace). Without too much scrutiny, I ended up with a MAP zone of 140 bpm limit.

I decided to run alone. No group run. No one to have to catch-up to. Simply have to run with the guys that I neglected for sometime - me, myself, and I.

So after lunch, I headed out of the house at 2:30pm and figured 3 hours would be a good amount of time to be on my feet. I knew that I'd have to exercise some serious retraint and would have to walk alot, but since I was expecting this - it made things a bit easier to deal with.

To my suprise, I made it to my 6 mile point in under 90 minutes (1:29) and then coming back home to complete 12 miles was even better. I actually had a negative split! A 2:53 total time! I was able to maintain my HR and running pace for longer periods of time and enjoyed each moment when I did. So a 14:28 min/mile pace keeping my HR at 140 bpm for most of the time.

My hope for Tuesday's VO2Max test will set my MAP zone and MEP zone higher, which would allow me to run faster for the Pigtails Flat Ass run on Saturday. If I have to run at an even lower HR, I'll have no choice but to scratch every race for the next three months and simply focus on my HR and getting faster by starting slower. Man I hope this doesn't happen.

An Experiment of One

2008-12-12T13:29:00.000-08:00

After the demoralizing run yesterday night, I went on my typical walk during my lunch...only it didn't end as a walk. A thing that Eric showed me yesterday was how his running and walking form don't really alter much. So I decided to try and run on the treadmill at a VERY SLOW SPEED (about 3.5 MPH) and keeping my HR further below the threshold that I had yesterday (yesterday's limit was 147 bpm, today's limit was set to 128 bpm.)

To my suprise, I was able to maintain my form and run while keeping my HR below 128 bpm! WTF? So if I run at a dictated speed and keep my stride short and light, I end up running at a lower effort. If I try and go faster, my heart rate goes nuts.

I hope the VO2Max test on Tuesday will give me an answer on where I am at, so I can take some of the guesswork out of doing this. As much as I appreciate the advice and info I've researched, I have to do my best to find what works for me. God, I hope that comes sooner than later.

One thing with the 30 minutes on the treadmill today...I felt more "in the moment" than I had yesterday and actually enjoyed myself for a change. That's the running I like and a reminder of why I do what I do and why I like doing it for hours on end.

I almost want to cry

2008-12-11T20:25:00.000-08:00

Tonight's run left me unbelievably frustrated with myself.

It was a 6.4 mile run (although my footpod registered 6.07 miles, but it's not calibrated yet) and like last time, the group completely left me in the dust. I was fine with this. However, what I wasn't fine with was being completely alone while my Suunto HRM would scream at me every 5 steps I would take in a run. It was rare for me to be able to maintain a run at or below 147 bpm at a steady pace. Then the parts where the run stopped being remotely fun and turned into serious work was when out of nowhere, my HR would go to 180 bpm! I barely moved a step and it would do this a few times and with each spike, I'm forced into a walk and slowing down. My run took me 1:24:44 to complete and I was not happy about that one bit. A few people who were done well ahead of me were leaving and suprised to see me. One questioned whether I actually started with them. That pissed me off even though I knew they didn't mean anything by it.

Then, like an idiot - I began whining to Eric at the store about it all. In a way, he did and didn't have sympathy for my situation. He understood my frustrations fully, but it all (and always does) comes down to me and my willingness to change and be patient with the training. I also found out that he bought his own VO2Max testing machine and has been doing testing in-house. (That would have been nice to know before I had tried to find out whether my own health insurance was going to cover the testing from a different company that was more expensive and less helpful with the information. But that's time I won't get back now. Anyway...)

It seems that everyone at the store has gone through VO2Max testing, has gone through the same training struggles (one girl had to only walk for several months before she could run), and eventually everyone is able to run at a faster pace with lower efforts. I have the potential to be able to work like this again, but how much do I want it?

We'll see on Tuesday. I have my VO2Max test scheduled at 8am.

Taking a beating from Dr. Cooper

2008-12-10T20:21:00.000-08:00

Ever hear of the Cooper Test?

It's a sick way of trying to figure out your own VO2Max without having to shell out almost $200 to get one professionally done. Consider it the 'poor man's VO2Max test' along side the many other ones like the Rockport Walk Test. But it does have some science behind it and for those that have done the actual Cooper Test and a VO2Max/Metabolic test, they come pretty close to the same result - only off by at best 2-3 points.

So, since I botched the Balke Treadmill Test yesterday (hey, is it really my fault that the treadmill could only go to 12% incline and the test demanded for you to walk until exhaustion - expecting you to fall apart after 15 minutes?), I decided that today would be a no-excuses day to do a Cooper Test on the treadmill. Now, the treadmill isn't an ideal place since you're better off going to a 400 meter track and running on the inside lane. However, since tracks are a place I don't want to go during the winter - treadmill would have to do.

So, down to the workout room where the treadmill is and my wife and daughter agree to play safety monitor for me. In the event I fall apart on the 'dreadmill' and someone has to get 911 fast, they were at the ready. I warmed up for 15 minutes, walking and easy running to get my muscles ready and then took off as hard and controlled as I could. Unfortunately, my goal to try and run a hard 8-9 MPH was out of my grasp for fear I'd fall apart too soon and literally fall while the treadmill was moving (see why doing this on a track is better?)

After 12 minutes of torture at my best fast speed on that thing (7.5 MPH - yeah, I'm a bit embarassed), I got the mileage off of the device as 1.471 miles (2367 meters). I couldn't use the footpod since its still not 100% calibrated, it read off only 2,000 meters! My wife said that at the last two minutes, I looked like I was making a face that read, "If I have to run another minute after 12, I'll kill myself." I completely agreed.

So, with my new data in hand, I'm listed as "Above Average" for a 30 year old male. The VO2Max conversion comes out to be 41.63 (although the Suunto device read off 49 for the oxygen consumption). So, I'm not nearly as out of shape as I thought I was and I do have an added advantage now that I know where I'm at approximately, I should be able to adjust my training accordingly and run at better paces and at lower heart rate efforts. I don't think I worked as hard as I could have though since my HR went no higher than 189 BPM and I've gone to 210 just two weeks ago.

So, I took a 12 minute beating on the treadmill to attempt to better my performance from this point forward. My legs feel like jello now.

The Non-Fast and The Furious: Cardiac Drift

2008-12-07T20:16:00.000-08:00

The long run this morning went well. I was able to maintain the same HR (better actually) that I did during that 4+ mile run on Thursday, with something that I'm very happy about. I was able to go faster (YAY FASTER) than I did on Thursday, an average speed of 12:32 min/mile. That's WAY BETTER than that 14:01 min/mile that I did on Thursday obviously. This also means that I could potentially finish the Pigtails Flat Ass 50k run in 6.5 hours (5.5 hours if I opt to do the marathon distance instead).

I didn't want a repeat of Thursday's wonky HR going all over the place in the first mile, so I walked 1.5 miles to warm-up before the run and it helped greatly. My HR gradually increased instead of going nutzoid. The majority of the group was going to run 10 miles, but since they got away from me - I had to decide which way to go after I lost them. I ended up running over 12.5 miles (12.71 mi according to the foot pod) as a result of this. As I said, this run was better than Thursday. I was able to maintain my HR in the zone I wanted more and could hold my pace longer before I had to walk to bring my HR down. However, after the 10 mile point, my HR was turning seriously unstable. This wasn't the electronic interference that is typical on the Interurban Trail (my HR spiked to 180 bpm!!! Boo interference!!!), but the unstable thing known as Cardiac Drift. Cardiac Drift can happen for a variety of reasons (although sports scientists still say that it's a mystery still). One major thing is when the body's fluid level is depleting and the blood in the body is trying to pump through and since the blood is "thicker", it pumps through harder - jacking up your HR. This is one reason why hydration is so freakin' important. Nutrition on the run is also important as well since that can also cause the same effect as well (you need liquid to help with digestion and if you don't have any liquids to drink, your body will use its own to help).

So after mile 10, every running step I would do moved my HR by 10-20 bpm from the top of my HR zone (jumping from 147 bpm to 157-167 bpm). So I ended up moving very similar to the way I did on Thursday. But I thankfully didn't feel gassed and I caused my drift from what I believe. Why? I didn't bother bringing any water or food with me on this long run. Yeah, I did a rookie mistake that I shouldn't have since I knew better.

But I did good. On zero carried water, I'm able to maintain an easy pace for 10+ miles before the drift effect takes its hold and I can now fend it off a bit more with some hydration on the run the next time.

I think the only thing I could have a genuine gripe about that isn't related to my efforts was that the HRM chest strap actually gave me a chaffing rash and a piece of it was sticking into me that hurt bad and forced me to adjust it quite a bit on the run. It was one of the things (other than my HR spiking so much) that made this run full of cussing (despite how well I did). I think this is why Suunto changed their HRM chest strap design. Others must have had similar problems. It couldn't have been just me. Oh well, looks like I'm going to have to tape up more now for the run to stop chest strap chaffing.

I hate it when they're right...

2008-12-06T16:23:00.001-08:00

Just finished a 4.23 mile walk at my in-laws neighborhood with my Suunto t6 HRM.

I had an average HR of 126 BPM and was only about 4 minutes slower than my actual run on Thursday, covering the same distance! My HR on Thursday was struggling to stay down after it went all crazy to 149 BPM average. There IS a method to this HR training madness.

Looks like I'll be sticking to the 1st and 2nd HR zones and making sure my EPOC numbers stay below 3.0 for the next several weeks. If this progresses, as I hope it will, I might just get my groove back.

Lots of walking and very slow running to come. Guess I better enjoy the beeps of the HRM more.

Walk This Way

2008-12-05T12:25:00.000-08:00

3 miles according to the treadmill (although the foot pod registered 2.86 mi, go figure).

Average speed: About 3.5 to 3.7 MPH.

Time: 50 min + 90 second cooldown

The awesome: Kept myself in my zone of < 128 bpm, average at 124 bpm. I was able to keep myself in zone for about 43 minutes.

The suck: Should have packed my workout clothes when I did this instead of my street clothes. Sweaty jeans are not cool!

Turtles and Boomerangs

2008-12-05T09:13:00.000-08:00

Yesterday's run...sucked. Well, sucked in that I got another reality check/slap in the face. Geared up with the Suunto t6 that Arthur sold me awhile back, I decided to play into the rules of the heart rate monitor training. I would hold back and make sure my body stayed in the aerobic zone, in my case - I calculated it to 126-147 BPM based on what happened on Tuesday with my HR spiking to 210 BPM when I was finishing up.

So, 4.23 miles later (yeah, I wore the footpod too - seems gmap-pedometer overshoots the distance a little bit), I struggled to keep my wonky heart rate down in the zone. Average HR was 149, I kept it in the zone for under 20 minutes. The rest of the time, I was over 147 BPM. My body was shuffling at best at a rate of 14 minutes per mile. I've been able to crawl faster than that!

So, moving like a turtle, I did finish my run and didn't feel beaten up like I had in the previous runs. I must have done something right then. Eric Sachs told me that my internal perceptions are messed up, which I agree with. The pace that I feel comfortable running at doesn't match up to my body's actual effort in running it. If it feels easy, my heart should be working easy. Everything that I learned about heart rate training has come back to bite me in the butt. I toss out the HRM, only for it to return back to me.

Dr. Maffetone's methods. Lydiard's training. Daniels' training. All of them pimping on the need to build your aerobic base, finally has sunk in. This is why my performance two years ago was so much better than my performance lately. Atleast now, I know what I have to do and Eric gave me the okay to add on as much mileage as I'd like as long as I keep it in the zones and don't feel beaten up by the extra mileage.

So no anaerobic workouts for me. No weight training (body weight stuff is fine - pushups, pullups, crunches). No going balls-out on things for awhile until I get this aerobic capacity nailed down. This also means no CrossFit or HIT for awhile too.

Off for a walk now (one of the things that a fellow runner in my group told me can help with dropping my HR). Thinking about the next event, at a rate of 14 minutes a mile to keep my HR in check, I should be able to finish the Pigtails Flat Ass 50k in...a little over 7 hours. Oh boy. My HR better learn to adapt soon!

Today = WIN

2008-12-04T10:15:00.000-08:00

I finally did something right and was able to get up early enough to commute via bike. WIN! May there be many more of those.

Also, my quad strain is getting better. Lots of heat applied. Lots of deep massage. Gotta love the Sports Injury Clinic.

Reviewing my training plan right now, figuring out what months could be used for periodization as base, what weeks for hills, and maybe what days to use as speed sessions. Checking out Dr. Maffetone's HR training and looking at the training from guys like Landy, Van Aaken, Cerutty, Lydiard, Sumster, and Daniels. However, from what I've been told - Daniels probably will work best versus everyone else when it comes to training for ultras, just have to add more miles/time for long run days.

And I'll still try and use some kind of regular cross-training to fight back the effects of the typical beating that we get from many miles. So far, retro-running/retro-walking is helping me out to fight back the quad-strain discomfort, but it gets a bit disorienting to move backwards for so long.

Redlining and Rantings

2008-12-03T08:17:00.000-08:00

Yesterday evenings run showed me that I am truly out of shape compared to the way I was a year ago (and even two years ago).

I could blame the dying batteries in the chest strap, the watch, and the footpod, but no. This was all me. My perception of what I feel is easy vs moderate vs hard for exertion effort does not match to what my heart rate is.

A run that is approximately 4 miles (almost 4.4 according to gmap-pedometer.com) took me about 45 minutes to run. Not good, not bad. But here's the kicker. My exertion level for what is supposed to have felt like an "easy" run was showing my HR at an average of 170 BPM. Totally unacceptable! But my HR didn't calm down when I tried to catch up to the group and I didn't let it fall enough when I did catch them. It's the one thing that sucks about group runs, if the main part of the pack is too fast for what you're training for, you might as well have ran alone.

When I was training for my first half-marathon, I was able to keep my HR at 154-157 BPM and run at a 9:30 min/mile pace. My tempo speed was around 8:00 min/mile with my HR at 168-170 BPM. My hard speed doing intervals on the track was around 6:30-7:30 min/mile with my HR going to 185-195 BPM usually. But I put the HRM away after I moved away from triathlons and shifted to ultrarunning. I think a big part of my problem was that I didn't know how to use the data very well. I had a general idea when I was doing tris, but I wasn't able to fine-tune things.

After a very annoying morning of not waking up soon enough and just stressing out WAY TOO SOON for the workday, this is what I know:

- I need to take my health more seriously.
- I need to take my training more seriously.

For the health part:

- I need to get back to my original weight that I was at when I was triathlon training. I was around 180-190. I'm at 220 at the moment.
- I need to modify my eating habits again and go back to a combo of calorie counting, portion control, and having my meals better balanced (more veggies & fruits, less refined carbs, leaner protein)
- I need to get better sleep and have better sleeping patterns, even if it means to go to bed before everyone else in the house.

For the training part:

- I need to have a bigger aerobic base. By the results of the HRM, my aerobic base has tanked and I need MORE cardio. This also means that I need to cross-train as well. (God, I miss cycling in the mornings for my work commute.)
- I need to run more, even if it means to be slower and alone in my runs. I have to heart rate train now and only heart rate train until I can maintain a better aerobic base.
- I need to fix my injuries. Get the deep-tissue massage. Do better stretches. Cross-Train right.
- I need to force myself to find time to train and have balance. Even if it means to come off as selfish at times. I'm no good to anyone if I'm not taking care of myself.

And something that goes beyond training and health: I need to not have lofty goals and be more specific with what I want in my running and the races I do. I have my heart set on the next Cascade Crest 100, but I need to have all of my training focused on doing that race and that race alone. I have to use other races as ways to get my aerobic base up and not as a way to get more marathons and/or ultras under my belt.

I have to run with a better purpose. I have to light a fire under my ass and get moving!

Seattle Ghost 2008 Race Report (aka There's always next year)

2008-11-29T22:04:00.000-08:00

http://www.nwultras.com/ghost_main.htm

The short: What started as a 50k, ended up turning into a half-marathon with about 7 miles extra credit.

The long: It was a morning of high hopes, but should have had lowered expectations. The idea of me pulling out a 50k or marathon distance after getting back into the running game in 3 weeks is something that only movies are made of (think Run FatBoy Run).

I got up at a fairly decent time and headed to Seward Park to get there for the early start at 7am. This was my third time at this race and it was my first attempt three years ago as my first jump to doing a 50k. Seems that after three years, you'd think I would have eventually hit that number. 2006 - I dropped after passing the half-marathon point. 2007 - I finished the marathon distance and opted not to do the 50k since it was my first double marathon weekend (2 marathons in 48 hours). For 2008 - I would try and get those 31 miles in as best as I could.

So, after the usual talk about the course by one of the best RD's around (Scott Krell), a group of us took off at 7am. I ran for a bit with my buddy Stan Nakashima, but he was running at a clip that my weenie legs couldn't keep up with. I let him go ahead and made a pitstop (for a race that is considered a fat-ass/low-frills event, the number of bathrooms along the course is quite remarkable.) The pitstop was a blessing, since that mild "rest" actually got my running mojo going and I was feeling very good and very comfortable running through the course for the first half. Running on the soft-surface trail next to the waters of Lake Washington felt very liberating. I saw my Marathon Maniac cohorts, always a pleasure to see them in passing, feeding off their positive vibes. I was right on pace, hitting about sub-12 minute miles. Then something odd happened after passing the half-marathon point, my left quad was starting to seriously bug out.

I thought that maybe I could walk it off. I proceeded to walk the entire Seward Park loop, about a 4 mile lollypop loop before returning to the aid station/start/finish point. I was moving at 15 minute miles at this point and thought that I could continue for the rest of the course. I had moved for about 17 miles and figured I could go for the remaining 9 miles to do atleast the marathon distance or if I could run again, finish the 50k.

After another mile of walking, my quad was screaming. There was no shutting it up without stopping. I had to take a hard look at myself and re-evaluate my objectives. Do I suck it up and keep going, even though I could mess myself up more? Do I wave the white flag and live to fight another day? In my head, I thought, "I was able to finish a killer course like White River with little training, why can't I keep going now?" Then I realized that I was better conditioned to handle a course like White River back in July. I've been deconditioned for several months and actually convinced myself that I could pull myself through a flat paved 50k. I cut my losses and opted to have my results down as finishing a half-marathon (actually closer to 14 miles since I did the longer out-n-back) plus close to 7 miles of extra credit. So I went for about 19-20 miles today. But hey, this marks the longest distance I've done now since my original stress fracture injury. That counts for something.

So, a nice freezing soak in the waters of Lake Washington to aid in the recovery (others followed my lead soon after) and some excellent aid station & post-race food that whups the Seattle Marathon's stuff, hands down. Chicken Soup, Vegan Chili, Vegitarian HotDogs, Boiled Potatoes with Salt Dips, Candy, Coca-Cola, Water, Gatorade, etc. Always kick-ass!

The amusing things that came from this event:

- Maniac Ray "McGyver" Shaw snagging the hotdog that I made up for myself (yeah, we all cracked up once I realized what just happened)
- Shawn thinking that she was done, then finding out she had another Seward Park loop left to complete a 50k. She was ready to start boxing someone, yo! :-)
- Watching people get use to the chilly Lake Washington waters. It's always funny to see people do that shiver-shake the moment they get in.
- Scott Krell's Scotty Dog trying to eat three sugar packets without anyone being the wiser. Good thing my "no-no, bad dog!" senses were tingling at that moment.

A kudos for those that ran this course to completion and an extra kudos for those that are doing their best with trying to handle the Northwest Triple. Good luck at the Seattle Marathon guys! And to Maniac Monte: Hope you get through your 100th Marathon tomorrow!

To Everyone

2008-11-26T13:41:00.000-08:00

Have a Happy Turkey Day!

It's all about technique...

2008-11-25T11:55:00.000-08:00

Technique. You hear about it everywhere. Athletes hear about it the most and are constantly reminded to make sure their technique in whatever they do is as flawless as possible. But why? Why is technique so important?

Technique is defined as "The procedure used to accomplish a specific activity or task."

My experience with changing the procedure to accomplish a specific task was an interesting one today.

A fellow co-worker had given me some tips and advice on my workouts with the Concept2 Rower - an ergonomic rowing machine. In a former life, she was apart of a rowing team down in Texas and is looking to get back into it. After my first time rowing 2,000 meters, she told me what I needed to tweak out with my technique to be faster/stronger/better. So, today I did exactly as she told me. Push off with the legs first before pulling on the chain. Make your movement one fluidic motion. Make sure the chain stays roughly straight and don't go over your knees. I focused on these things as I started to row, row, row...and it worked!

My time the previous rowing session was going about 2:15-2:30/500m with the way I worked before. Today's time with those simple tweaks: 1:92-2:02/500m and I was not getting the same arm strain that I was the last time. I was able to complete a 2,000 meter row in under 8 minutes, shaving off 90 seconds from my previous time.

Although I was a bit jelly-legged (I was warned this would happen too and it's a sign that you did it right), I felt great! Added bonus, that quad strain that I felt was eased greatly after doing this workout!

In all sports, we're coached to move a certain way. Sloppy effort equals sloppy results. During my 10+ miler on Sunday, I felt better on that run than previous runs. Reason: Eric was coaching me on - SUPRISE! - running technique. Little changes to the way I move my legs, how I plant my feet, my body alignment, etc. All of those little changes gave me bigger gains. I felt more comfortable. I felt less sore. I felt like I could go on longer, even with my lack of a bigger aerobic base due to being sidelined these past few months.

When I was doing triathlons, the same thing applied. With better technique, I cut through the water like a hot knife through butter. I was able to ride uphill and not have to get off the bike and push it like a car with a dead engine.

So what's the point? You have a good technique and you can equalize the field of competition. I've seen guys on old steel road bikes beating dudes on $5000 triathlon bikes made of carbon fiber. Guys were the same size and had the same VO2. But the road bike dudes had better riding technique. I've seen ladies in their early 50's deadlift 200 lbs barbells that guys in their 20's couldn't do half the weight and the guys looked more "muscular".

Whatever you have a passion to do, learn it well and learn how to do it right everytime.

The Joy of Massage

2008-11-25T08:12:00.000-08:00

My wonderful wife gave me a helping hand and aided my massage of my left quad. Seems a few days ago, I mildly strained it with doing dumbbell squats (52.5 lbs in each hand). And since then, the muscle is still pretty tight and has a deep ache depending on how I move my leg or if I even tense/flex the quad. But the achey feeling does go away during my runs, so this won't sideline me for Saturday. However, I think I'll look into getting a sports massage or a deep-tissue massage after the Ghost. It's been some time since I've had an LMP turn my muscles into melted butter.

Always inspiring

2008-11-24T09:28:00.000-08:00

Full video at http://lstudio.lexus.com/#vid346

L Studio: David Goggins, Ultramarathoner - Watch more funny videos here

Before I forget...

2008-11-23T19:47:00.001-08:00

10.60 mi @ 1:57:28

Very good long run! I think I'm ready for the Ghost!

Dogs don't run...

2008-11-17T13:22:00.000-08:00

Well, my dog doesn't...or rather she chose not to run yesterday as I had hoped.

I had woke up a bit later than expected, so running with the group was out of the question. I needed to do about 16-18 miles VERY SLOWLY. I had decided at the last minute to take the family dog with me. Well, our puggle pup decided that after two miles, she wasn't going to take it anymore and proceeded to trip me. Over and over. I wasn't too happy about that and decided that the run would have to be bagged. So after walking her for the remaining 2.5 miles (we were that far from the car), I was glad to take her home and just take that morning as it was.

However, despite that long run snag - the training plan went well. This is what I've figured will work with my work and homelife schedule:

Mondays: Rest
Tuesdays:
Lunchtime - X-Train during my lunch (weights, rowing, etc)
Evening - Group Runs of 6-8 miles (Although they're supposed to be "easy" runs, they feel more medium or marathon pace for me at the moment)
Wednesdays: Lunchtime Runs @ Work from 2-4 miles (Could be easy/recovery runs, could be tempo/intervals, could be just good powerwalks)
Thursdays: Repeat of Tuesday
Fridays: Repeat of Wednesday
Saturdays: Rest or Alternative Long Run (if I can't do a long run on Sunday for whatever reason or if's just some place too good to pass up.)
Sundays: Long Runs ranging from 12-35 miles, preferibly sticking around 18-20 miles weekly.

I followed this so far this past week and with the exception of Sunday getting botched, it went well. I'm still pretty confident that I'll hold up for the Seattle Ghost in two weeks. As long as I'm conservative on that day and take an early start, I should be able to complete the distance (not to mention giving myself a serious shock to the system) in the cutoff time.

Officially Sponsored! happy dance

2008-11-13T06:29:00.000-08:00

To my suprise yesterday, a package was waiting at home in a BIG BOX from SOLE.

I'm right now wearing the really cool black t-shirt and flexfit cap with the company name and logo on them. (Pics to come later...maybe. Black is definately slimming!) And it goes well with the red sports flask they also provided! They even threw in an extra pair of heat-moldable footbeds for my regular shoes too! Thanks to SOLE and especially Claire from their Marketing Dept who was nice enough to offer this to me!

I'm no Dean Karnazes by any means, but I hope to be a positive representative for SOLE! I'll definately write up how the footbeds (and my foot) hold up after my first race since my stress fracture sidelining me and for my subsequent races after that (including my goal of doing the Cascade Crest 100).

So far, it's been a month since I've been using them and the experience is positive overall. The tendons in my right foot rarely (and I do mean RARELY) bother me during my runs now. The original pains I felt have diminished greatly and the support I get now is phenomenal. I'm also able to maintain better form, despite my muscles still needing better conditioning (which will come with time and training).

The only difficulty I'm experiencing in relation to using the SOLE footbeds is trying to adjust my laces of the shoe since the arch of my foot goes up in the sweet spot and the current lacing system I have doesn't work as well as it should. However, that's simple user error on my part and I simply have to find a better lacing method to make the shoe fit better. The other thing I have to learn is to STOP JAMMING MY FOOT IN THE SHOE! Cramming/Jamming your foot into your footwear can cause a minor shift in the footbed placement and you'll feel weird when standing in them. Slipping them on gently always works best.

Things learned so far this week:

- On a group run, figure out where exactly everyone is going and then go at your own pace - not theirs. I got smoked and slowed considerably after two miles in a 6+ mile easy run due to running a faster 8-9 minute pace versus a 10-11 min pace that my body can currently handle better. (6.43 miles in 1:06:17; traffic light stops - boo!!!!)
- Make sure you don't forget your workout clothes. Due to no running clothes, I did a 2 mile powerwalk on the treadmill in my jeans and a spare t-shirt. I had the speed set to 4.0 MPH @ 2% incline, so yeah - I got sweaty after the first 15 minutes.

I also think I figured out a good running/workout schedule for myself, but I'll see if it's successful after this week is up before I disclose it.

Happy running all!

Soup Nazzie - Volunteering @ Ron Herzog

2008-11-11T08:59:00.000-08:00

http://www.ronherzog50k.com/

Another race I participated in without putting in a single mile of running. Wanting to be apart of something in some way, I volunteered again at another event - a 50k in Granite Falls, WA (just outside of Everett). The task I agreed to: Manning the Start/Finish aid station, makin' soup. Yeah, I was going to be the Soup Nazzie.

The previous night, despite waking up 5 times in a row - I felt remarkably refreshed. I figured that I'd help out and get some running miles in since I missed a run that week. Hit a Starbucks along the way and got some coffee for everyone (which only a handful of folks actually drank - must get a "Coffee for all" sign next time.) After some scary driving in the darkness that is late autumn, I found the race site. The one thing I've always hated about running these things or helping out at these things is trying to find the places at night. I'm always paranoid that I'll miss a turn or get lost and end up somewhere like in the movie Deliverance.

After finding the site, I saw that things were already underway. Shawn and tc were getting things in order, registering folks and trying to bring order to the chaos that goes along with being in-charge of races. A pretty warm morning, we figured things were going to go well for most folks.

After the first set of runners left for the early start, a few of the faster folks hung around waiting for the regular start. Well, with all this waiting time, people talk...about weird stuff. You stick a bunch of ultrarunners in the same place and you get the most oddest and inappropriate conversations...that I won't get into here and will leave this post relatively PG. Haw-haw! :-P

Once the regular starters went off, we pretty much chilled for a bit. Our other volunteer (Jess Mullen) was going to be running the aid station around mile 8 and since the course forced people to run virtually uphill for the whole way there, she had plenty of time to drive over and setup shop for those runners. But soon, Jess, Shawn, and tc all took off to their respective places and I was alone. Just me and my propane stove...until a green Saturn rolled in fast and out popped Linda Barton with a late start (but still a pretty fast finishing time being tardy!)

Still, there was plenty of time before I had to play Soup Nazzie, so I figured it would be a good time to get a run in of atleast an hour. Ya know, get a feel of the place. That's when the sky opened up and decided to dump on the whole place. Call me a fair-weather runner if you will, but my t-shirt and shorts that I packed in the car were not going to cut it for this amount of wet.

So, with my main plans of running during the downtime being shot, I pre-occupied my time with my new issue of Runner's World with David Goggins on the cover, my Nintendo DS, and checking/readying the supplies for soup. That's when I started to be a dorky nag about things.

When I was done hooking up the propane tanks to the stove and the smaller tanks to the portable heater, I realized what was missing:

- Four D batteries for the heater to operate the fan (but that wasn't too bad to not have since the heater itself worked.)
- No matches or lighter for the stove (yeah, it didn't have any kind of starter built-in).

"Okay, how do I light the burners?", I thought to myself. Then I saw that the heater had a small pilot light that would pop out when you started it up. I used a wooden stirring stick that was provided with the Starbucks coffee I bought earlier and used that as a way to get some fire for the stove.

Now that the stove was working (well, slowly at first), I looked at the soup that was donated. My first thought was, "OMG WTF?" We had 30 runners and we had 6 cans of various chicken soups, 5 cans of various beef veggie soups, two cans of tomatoes, and one can of chicken cream chowder...HUH????? The registration was to bring TWO CANS and $25 for the entry. The point of the cans was to have a really good surplus leftover so we could donate it to a foodbank. We also had vegitarian runners out there and they were going to have the choice of either beef or chicken??? I also knew that we were going to run out of one and people would barely eat from the other if I cooked up both Beef and Chicken soups. I then also noticed something else...no spoons. No bowls. No scoop. Oh boy. Time was ticking by quickly at this point. It was 4 hours since the regular start and people would be showing up wanting warm food, especially after running in the cold rain for 2+ hours.

tc and Shawn showed up just in time and had the rest of the stuff needed for soup. It was the big oops of that day. Then as the first and second runners came in, they had to go without any warm goodies. Both vegitarians...and both guys also failed to bring in cans of soup themselves. (NO SOUP FOR YOU!) Thankfully, a majority of the folks were meat-eaters and slammed down that chicken soup (and some even enjoyed the beef!).

Everyone seemed to be in good spirits. As for me, I originally felt like we weren't as well organized as we were at Baker Lake. Looking back, I think that feeling was more attributed to the fact I didn't have everything I needed at the start at first. Mistakes happen and it wasn't something that would take down the event. I was just my typical anal-retentive self, but I always want to make sure that things go well during these events. I personally think it's my best quality as a volunteer, to care enough to want things to go 100% well and that everyone is taken care of. Hopefully, I didn't alienate myself to my friends in being so anal-retentive.

Now that's over, I wonder what the next race is that I'll lend a hand at? Will I ever RUN any of these races? Only time will tell. :-)

A run of change

2008-11-04T22:58:00.000-08:00

6.2 miles in 1:01:12, flat and feeling good at the end...and then I came home just in time to see this...

Barack Obama wins the Presidential Race and is now going to be the 44th President of the United States!

YES WE CAN.

Pushing past the edge

2008-11-02T20:49:00.000-08:00

8, maybe 10 miles. But I was thinking 8.

But somehow, with some patience and a little help from my friends (well, one friend - Thanks Rob), I ran almost 14 miles (13.68 mi) in 3 hours exactly. A very slow pace of 13:09/mile, but all the miles and time - total quality.

Best thing of all, the only thing that hurt was the good kind of hurt in my calves and hamstrings. My stress fractured area was a non-issue. *BIG CHEEZY GRIN*

This run has shown me a few things:

1.) With enough patience, I can go long...not fast, but long.
2.) Doing the Seattle Ghost Marathon or 50k at the end of the month looks more doable.

Totally looking forward to tomorrow and beyond. Totally.

Catch-up for the week

2008-10-29T09:13:00.000-07:00

I'm still a bit sore from yesterday's run. We had to play the game of "Beat the Train" and I ran harder than I wanted to, causing some aggravation to my foot. It settled back in after a few minutes with the support in my shoes, but I knew that I was going to have to take today as a forced rest day in order for my foot to feel normal again and to do some serious massage therapy on it.

But so far, here's how the week's played out:

10/20 - 1 strength training set w/10 minutes of jumprope skipping
10/21 - 2.94 mi easy run in 30:33
10/22 - strength training (2 sets) w/500 meter row warm-up
10/23 - 4.2 mi easy run in 46:02 (shin pain was less)
10/24 & 10/25 - Rest/Family time
10/26 - 6 mi easy, flat run with the dog in 1:02:52
Total weekly mileage: 13.2 mi

Current:
10/27 - repeat of 10/22, more weight for squats and focus on toe lifts
10/28 - 6 mi "easy", rolling run at night in 1:01:31

If my foot starts to feel better in a few, I'll see how a strength training session holds up. Update: I was able to get through 1 set but had a constant headache that wouldn't let up, so I decided to stop and tend to my noggin.

Sponsorship would be cool

2008-10-21T12:02:00.000-07:00

Heh heh, a guy can dream. But I was amazed to see that after I posted up an entry about SOLE heat-moldable footbeds, SOLE actually responded to me in 24 hours from it! The age of the internet is remarkable, it really is.

Well, to SOLE's credit - so far, so good. Although I'm wearing the Slim Sport versions in my old Asics Gel-Kayano 14's that I retired after running the White River 50 mile ultra as regular walking shoes, I bought two of the Dean Karnazes signature edition versions at REI as well. I took one of those pairs with me to work today to get them in one of my Brooks Adrenaline GTS 7's that I keep at work for running workouts. Followed the instructions and got those warm footbeds into my shoes. Although I'm an 11.5 shoe size, the size 11's seem to work better than the 11.5-12's when I tried them in the store. After baking, they fit even better inside the shoe.

A few hours later, I took those out for a real run. A quick massage of my feet, some mild stretching and I was soon out the door. Flat roads & concrete, easy pace, no HRM (cause I failed to bring it), and the weather was very cooperative for a Seattle October. With traffic lights, I ran just under 3 miles (2.94 mi for those counting) in 30:33. Had I not been required to stop, I'm sure I would have had a sub-10 min/mile pace instead of doing 10:11 min/miles.

I was glad I was able to control my pace and not go bananas out there. Running on concrete wasn't too bad this time. My right foot wasn't wonky (YAY for SOLE!) and the only problem I had was my left calf and shin, which I attribute to some deconditioning and my need to work on my form. The only way to fix that, more running.

Being able to run that distance with relatively minor discomfort is a good thing for me since it means that I can get back into my running routines that I enjoy. Doing 6 milers and some long runs with my running buddies at The Balanced Athlete. Participating in local ultras & marathons with The Marathon Maniacs. Being able to finally go and run on trails at the Issaquah Alps and other areas (although I got to get some new trail running shoes).

I know I won't be fast, I've never been. But I'll be happy being able to go long and not stopping until I hit that finish line. Can't say that's sponsor-worthy, but I know what I like and I know what I can do. If those SOLE's can hold up under me, I'll sing their praises too.