TRIals and tribulations

Treadmill, sometimes you have to.

2012-01-16T12:57:00.000-05:00

Hello winter! You have arrived a little later this year. With the advent of freezing temps, and everyone's view on "freezing" is different, many people turn to running indoors. The trouble with the treadmill for many is that it can get pretty monotonous. No changing view to distract you, no 'next point' or curve in the road to go around. This post is on how to to make indoor running work for you rather than starting with the mindeset of "I have to run on the dreadmill". Going into a workout with a negative mindset is never a good thing so here are some tips for making the treadmill sessions fly by more quickly.

1. Music:

You need it. Load up a new playlist that you can tune into while running, good music always makes the time go by more quickly. If you are more into watching T.V, that's great too: Susan is known for getting sucked into Law and Order while cranking out some Tmill time. Personally for me, the T.V. is not right in front of the treadmill but on a slight angle and I can't really focus my attention on it for long. The music sets the tone for my run and I look forward to listening to some favorite songs while cranking out the miles.

2. Aerobic intervals:

I think the "hardest" run to do on the treadmill is the 'easy' run. There are no curves in the road or 'point to get to' to distract from the monotony of the easy pace on the treadmill. Since you may only have one speed interval workout to do a week and/or a tempo run (both mentally easier to accomplish on the treadmill) the majority of your runs should be in the easy pace range and these can be the most boring to accomplish on the mill. Aerobic intervals are a perfect solution. First, determine your easy pace range and make sure you don't go over the fastest speed that correlates to that range. I'll use myself as an example. My easy pace ranges from 9:45 minutes/mile down to 8:45's. On a treadmill this corresponds to 6.2 mph to 6.8 mph for me. On my easy days, I don't go faster than the 6.8 but I cut the time into chunks of 3-5 minute "intervals" to help me break up the boredom. Here are a few sample Easy Aerobic Interval workouts to choose from:

1. Warm up: 0.5-1 mile super easy.

Main set: 5-6 x 3 minutes at the faster end of aerobic range/2 minutes in between at the lower end.

Warm down 0.5-1 mile easy

2. Half mile at low end then increase by 0.2 mph every 2 min 30 sec. Work up to 15 minutes and then repeat 2-3 more times for a great 45-60 minute easy aerobic run.

3. The pyramid: Warm up 1 mile easy.

Main set is on 5 minute intervals: 1-2-3-4 minutes at fast end aerobic range. The recovery is the remainder of that 5 minute interval at low end aerobic range. For me this looks like:

1 minute at 6.8 mph/4 minutes at 6.2-6.3 mph

2 minutes at 6.8/3 minutes at 6.3

3 minutes at 6.8/2 minutes at 6.3

4 minutes at 6.8/1 minutes at 6.3

then work back down 3/2; 2/3; 1/4 and warm down a mile easy.

Happy winter training!

2012 shaping up

2011-12-30T18:13:00.000-05:00

2011 Wind down and it was a somewhat toned down year for me. It seems like a long time ago that I ran Boston, but that was in April of 2011 so I can't say I didn't do anything super long this year, I did and then just raced super short. It seems like a long time ago since marathon training and I suppose that's a good thing. I am getting psyched about moving my running up a notch again. I wasn't sure what I would have been able to handle volume wise when I went back to school this fall. Turns out my time management skills are still well in order, I'm looking forward to a 2012 fall marathon, hopefully at the Marine Corp. Marathon; it's always been a bucket list race for me, and I want to see a bit of D.C. with the family. So far for 2012 I've got three races on the definite list:

January 28th 10 mile run to the brewery (a never miss!)
NYC half marathon on March 18th (just got the acceptance today, yay!)
MCM October 28th

On the 99% most likely list:

April 21st: Hyner view trail challenge: just waiting to make sure my buddies are signed up, this is a definitely "need comraderie" race!
P4H off road half marathon in early May but it might conflict with the Greenbelt trail 25k. Will have to see which it will be, ideally if they were two weeks apart, I'd do both.

On the seriously considering list:

Wilmington Whiteface 100k Mountain bike race on June 17th. I'll be up there for annual June Firemanironman triathlon camp as a coach/speaker again, seems like a win/win and I'm looking to do something different regarding multisport racing in 2012. I *think* I can handle 60+ miles on mostly fireroads on a mountain bike, it all comes down to the time I have to train. I am taking two classes in the Spring that will end mid May. Do I have enough time for all the running and 2 days on the mountain bike (road training will make up up the rest)? hmmmm have to see but I really would really like to give this a go. It scares me a little, healthy fear always being a good motivator for me.

Triathlon:

I have nothing planned, which is weird. I do want to race but nothing super long. I'm thinking more along the lines of xterra racing this year which would go with all the mountain biking. I haven't thought about signing up for my usual- the Montauk Lighthouse Sprint, I feel like I want to be on a different schedule this summer, do some different, short races, maybe an olympic. We'll see, have to think about it more. Marathon training for MCM will take precedence anyway, I want to PR and beat my 3:42 which means I really want to go well under 3:40 so that means a lot of running this summer. When I hit that PR, I did a half iron so I'm not ruling that out either, something different and nothing too far away or too early, it has to be something I'm really motivated to do but I may just wait and see what Dave has in store. We'll be in Placid for a week in July for the Ironman, maybe I'll get in one of the sprint's up there. Maybe the Westchester tri in September, maybe just all local triathlons so I can concentrate on running.

Happy New Year's! Let's hear what you are thinking about for 2012!

The what behind "easy"

2011-12-27T14:17:00.000-05:00

Communication is essential for a good coach/athlete relationship. If you don't provide feedback to your coach about the workout then you aren't being coached, you are simply following a training schedule. If you go to the trouble of hiring a coach to help improve your performance, the best thing you can do is update your coach on how the workouts are going. For this reason it is essential to keep a workout log, whether you do it online or handwritten in a journal, you should be keeping track of your data; this can be as simple as how you felt and increasingly more complex depending on what types of gadgets you use. I have athletes that don't use any data beyond a chrono watch and I have athletes that use gps watches, power meters and sleep monitors! As a science girl, I love interpreting data, the more you can give the more I can help you from an objective viewpoint. If you aren't much for keeping track of your metrics during workouts the one thing you can and should keep track of daily is how you felt. How you feel during a workout lines up proportionately to what the workout calls for. For this reason, I am going to discuss what exactly is an easy pace. I'd like to thank Susan for the idea for this post, as once of my loyal athletes Susan is phenomenal at providing me with data, updating her training log after each workout so that I get to see it and provide her with feedback as needed. Sometimes the best intel I get is outside of the workout log however, in this case I happened to be catching up on some of my favorite blogs now that the first semester is complete and I can read something outside of science education for a little while! Susan wrote on "Finally following orders" and it's a really good blog about struggling with running easy when you are supposed to. I've written on pacing yourself before but it will be good to revisit easy running. Working with athletes for almost 15 years now and more recently at the Runner's Lab, one of the most common training mistakes I see runners make is running the same pace all the time, all year round. There is a time for maintaining pace, particularly in the easy zones at the beginning of a training plan. It allows you time to build your aerobic base and increase mileage. We all want to be faster, when focusing on improving your run speed it's a mistake to increase mileage while increasing speed, there is just not enough time for the body to adapt to the physical demands of both. Since the 2012 training season is just about to begin, focus on building your mileage for running first. Keep the runs easy, don't tack on more than a half to one mile to weekday workouts and more than 2 miles on your long run and you will stay within a manageable increase without overtraining. So, what's easy?
Easy running is a pace that you can maintain comfortably for a very long period of time. Your breathing rate, while increased from resting, should be free flowing and "easy", the effort should be completely comfortable, you should be able to hold a conversation if you are running with a group and you should simply feel good, like you could run for 2 hours at that pace if needed. At this time of the year, I often encourage the athletes I train to not wear a pace watch or gps tracking device while out running easy. With just yourself and a simple chrono watch, you can really tune into your body and run what feels easy on that day. "Easy" efforts change! If you had a great night's sleep, you are stress free, the environmental conditions are right than sometimes "easy" is faster. If you had a poor night's sleep, a particularly stressful day, the environmental conditions are hot and humid or extremely cold or windy; then "easy" can be a slower pace and that's fine! Body awareness of pacing is a skill that has to be developed. If you are a slave to the pace watch and find yourself running faster or slower than that set pace and you respond by increasing or decreasing your effort based on what the watch readout says then you are not listening to your body. For the next few weeks, go out for a run without the watch and just simply pay attention to how you are feeling, adjust your pace to an "easy" level by monitoring your body, not the watch. If your watch is such a crutch for you that you can't leave it home than change the data screens to reflect time, take the pace data and the alarms off. Allowing your body to run an easy aerobic pace is very beneficial to improving your overall fitness base and to allow you to tune in to your body, increasing awareness. 5-10 weeks of easy, consistent running can do so much to prepare you for the next phase of training in which you build speed towards a goal race as you maintain that carefully built weekly mileage. Base your easy pace on a recent race time. For example, if you recently ran a 5k and averaged 9:20 pace than your easy runs should be anywhere from one to two minutes per mile slower than this. If you held a 9:20 pace for a 5k and find yourself running 9:40's for an "easy" run, you are running way too close to your threshold pace and that "gray" zone can spell disaster in the form of injury if all your running is at that pace. You have my permission to slow down! You won't lose any fitness I promise, and if anything, you will gain fitness by running at an appropriate pace for your fitness level so that when the time comes to begin speed training, your body can handle the extra demand of the intensity you place on it. Now what are you waiting for? Head out for an enjoyable easy paced run!

My most recent easy run, on soft trails, easy on the body too!

Overcoming adversity

2011-11-27T13:41:00.001-05:00

"In spite of this we are doing just fine

Even diamonds start as coal

Give us time to shine

Even diamonds start as coal"

~Incubus

While out for a long trail run last week, I was thinking about overcoming adversity. I thought about my friends overcoming some of their issues to put forth 100% of their 100% every day. People like:

Matt Long- overcoming getting run over by a bus and being critically injured to return to marathon running and Ironman triathlon.

Sam Cila- getting blown up by an IED in Iraq. The blast blew out his left side taking with it his brachial artery and almost all of his left bicep and tricep. Because of the amount of nerve loss to his upper arm Sam's hand was now considered a secondary injury. He spent three years fighting a never ending battle. He took every opportunity available to him to try and fight the inevitable. Amputation. He is now an Ironman athlete (World Championships in Kona 2010) and just completed RAAM this year with Team RWB riding across the country in 7 days!

Nick Roumanada: At the age of 13, Nick Roumonada was stricken with bacterial meningitis (meningococcal) and was not expected to live through the night. While his life was saved by his parents' swift action to get him to the hospital, Nick's left leg had to be amputated below the knee as a result of the disease, this was followed by a second life altering event when Nick was diagnosed with Focal Dystonia (a neurological disorder) which ended his adult career of being an accomplished professional musician. Nick was recently a resident of New York, NY but moved to San Diego, California to fulfill a new chapter of his life by becoming a part of CAF (Challenged Athlete's Foundation) allowing him to dedicate all of his time to help bettering the life of fellow Challenged Athlete's like himself.

As I ran I thought about my own setbacks: severe asthma that reared its ugly head this week, yet there I was, albeit at an easier pace, out for a 9 mile trail run. Got in 22 miles this week despite have trouble breathing. Not too shabby.

Think about the obstacles that you face with training and think about a way to get over them. Sometimes the obstacle is a weakness. Figure out what your limiter is and then spend some time working on it this off season. We always want to do what we are good at, this winter, work on what you aren't so good it.

Matt Long - The power of "I WILL"

2011-11-12T18:14:00.000-05:00

When you have a chance, watch this video by my friend, Matt Long, and think about the adversity he had to overcome to achieve his goals and then think about what your goals are for this coming year. "I will..." are powerful words. Hold yourself accountable by telling people what you will do. I'll share my goals with you:

I will:

Put forth 100% towards my studies.
Manage my time effectively.
Find joy in my profession despite the tough challenges we face in the classroom each day.
Inspire a child to pursue and enjoy science.
Run the Marine Corps Marathon this year in memory and in support of the amazing veterans I knew and those continuing their active duty for our country.
Run a sub 3:40.
Enjoy the training process for the academic marathon I am on and the literal marathon I will run next fall.

Now, what WILL you do?

"In New York.....

2011-11-06T08:52:00.000-05:00

concrete jungle is where dreams are made of, nothing you can't do..."

Can't get this song out of my head on marathon morning in NYC. I have several friends running the NYC marathon today and what a perfect day for running it is! With Ironman Florida happening yesterday and NYC Marathon today, I am feeling all fired up like I want to do something challenging my endurance, particularly in the nature of running sub 3:40. Now it's time to pick a race. A couple of weeks ago, Van asked if we could go back to Chicago. I liked that marathon, it may be a good choice, flat, which is good for me but it can be warm there. I would love to get into NYC marathon and run it again but early November is not always the best time for me, I tend to get some kind of immune malady towards the end of October and I have school responsibilities so I am thinking that early October is probably my best bet, particularly Columbus Day weekend. This allows time for a summer build in mileage, one or two-three longer runs in September with only one of them being 20+. Doable for me.
School is going really well. First presentation down, working on my final paper, "A history of women, interscholastic sports, and science achievement", which will eventually encompass my dissertation research. I have a focus, feels good. I decided to take two classes in the spring which will significantly increase the amount of school work but the only other option is to take one class in the spring and one this summer (for 6 weeks!), NOT. I need some down time, need to be at the beach with my family and traveling. It's hunker down time with the books this winter, some easy trail running to maintain base and then May, post classes, will be the perfect time for a marathon build up. I have one taker for Chicago next fall, it's a great destination trip, who else wants in?

The devils advocate- 3 common mistakes that Endurance athletes make.

2011-10-13T23:13:00.000-04:00

dev·il's ad·vo·cate

Noun:

A person who expresses a contentious opinion in order to provoke debate or test the strength of the opposing arguments.

I take up this role as a coach quite frequently. The athletes I train, particularly those that have racing on the brain quite frequently, are accustomed to hearing me say "No" when they check in with me about signing up for particular races that don't necessarily fit in with the year plan and the main goal. Times like this make me think of my father. When I was in high school, I would say to him "Dad?" and he would automatically say "No", my response being, "I didn't even ask you the question yet" and Dad would say, "The probability of a 'yes' from me being less than 1%, let's just cut to the chase with a 'no'".
I don't always say "no" as a coach, sometimes the ideas presented are fantastic, other times not, but I am not afraid to tell an athlete what I think about a certain race/workout if I believe it will be detrimental to the overall goal, or bodily injury, particularly when their athletic history does not warrant the quest. I also carefully explain exactly why it's not a good idea which is very helpful, very often ending with the athlete agreeing with my concerns, and trusting in the knowledge I have to get them to where they want to be.
Endurance athletes are, for the most part, very social creatures. It is exciting to be part of a group, training for a common goal, sharing the experience of the process leading up to the race, traveling to the race, racing with comrades, and of course, the post race celebration! Endurance athletes are goal oriented individuals, dedicated to improving fitness, getting to the next level. What sounds like a great, fun idea at the time can also prove to be disasterous for the priority goal of the year. Since seasons are winding down and you may be starting to think about what you want to race next year, particularly with a group, outline your goals and what you want to accomplish first, then work back and see which races will help you move towards that goal, and which races or events will most definitely not. Here are the three most common mistakes athletes make, based on my experience as a sports physiologist and coach of athletes of all levels for more than a decade:
1. Long distance racing without a proper build up in distance. Whether it be triathlon, or distance running, allow yourself time to train properly and adapt to each distance as you move up in length. Not only will you give yourself time to orthopedically adapt to the stress of pounding the extra miles out, you will learn about the pacing requirements, energy expenditure, recovery rates, nutritional and mental nuances of racing longer distances. Don't sign up for an Ironman when you haven't completed an olympic distance race or a half iron! Don't sign up for a 50k (30 mile run) when you have never successfully trained for the marathon distance. There is an enormous difference in running 13 miles hard versus running 26.2 miles hard. Tack on another 4 miles to get to the 50k, without the proper build up in mileage (which takes time!) and you are begging for injury.
2. If you are racing an Ironman this year, work backwards over the number of weeks to plan any additional racing. 4-6 weeks pre-Ironman is a good time for a half iron, if you are racing a summer Ironman and you are running a spring marathon (like Boston), you need to plan time for recovery from the marathon that coincides with a build to Ironman (it can be done, but takes careful planning!). For example: If you are talented enough to be going for a Kona Q; racing Boston, followed by running a 50k two weeks later isn't a good idea. Remember the goal. You can't race well at a marathon, turn around and do a 50k two weeks later, then race a half iron 2-3 weeks after that and expect to have anything in the tank for Ironman. The 50k may seem like a good idea because it's a long distance, but the fact is your legs will be toast from the marathon, you won't be feeling your best at the 50k, further frying your legs, missing out on quality training time and then expecting to race a good half iron, whoops, have to recover from that, fit in some quality training and then do the Ironman. 9 times out of 10 this is not going to work out well for you. Even if you aren't going for a KQ, or race a 50k, the same thing applies to shorter distnaces. Just to finish decently at an Ironman or a half or half marathon, you need to plan out your racing carefully, hopefully with someone that can steer you in the best direction to meet your goal.
3. Back to back racing, no matter the distance. If your goal is to run a fast half or full marathon, fast olympic, half or full ironman triathlon this year, racing every single weekend is not in your best interest. Sometimes, small races can fit nicely into a training plan and they have their place. 5k's, 10k's, sprint triathlons that are what I call "C" priority races are fantastic for measuring progress and to practice race simulation efforts. These must also be planned to allow for the volume and intensity build towards your goal race, and for recovery after. If you are racing a short race that week, that becomes your speed workout for the most part. If you decide that you are going to do a 5k this weekend, a 10k next weekend a sprint triathlon the week after that and a bike race the fourth weekend.... where is the quality training time? It disappears. Hard efforts require 3 to 4 days to fully recover from. You can't go hard every weekend in a race and expect that you will get the quality training required during the week (and on the weekend!) to allow for adaptation and improvement in fitness.
As the season winds down, the athletes I work with are starting to plan next years goals. Luckily for me, I get to sit down with them, review what went right and what needs improvement from this past year, then we plan the next. The annual year plan is a necessity and an exciting meeting. The athlete reviews the past year and does their homework about which races they think they might want to participate in for the next. I point out the strengths and weaknesses and from there, we talk about what needs to be done in training, and we plan the racing around the A race of the year, long and short term goals. You can have two A races as well, one spring, one fall, or one big one. Everything else falls into a "B" or "C" category and as long as the quality training needs can be met, along with family and work responsibilities it's great to join your friends to travel, race and have a good time. Just keep the dedicated goal in mind, work backwards 10 weeks from that priority goal, place a big fat X on the calendar and know that you have some flexibility in racing and days off before that X and complete sacrifice and dedication to making that goal happen after the X. Careful planning starts now. For those that train with me now, we will be meeting up soon, particularly if your A race is done! For those that don't and would like to consult, get in touch with me! I don't have to coach you year round to help you plan out your year. Sometimes an objective eye goes a long way. Happy planning! Thanks for reading! Good luck to Jayasports athletes Anthony Snoble racing Xterra Worlds next weekend, Brooke Rodd at the NYC marathon, Kevin Drury and Katie Brooks racing Ironman Florida and Nick Roumanada working towards the Las Vegas marathon.

A different kind of strength training

2011-10-09T18:30:00.001-04:00

Looks like an innocent little log, doesn't it? I've been using this, plus 50 pound sandbags, and a new little contraption Sam referred to as "the sled" over the past few weekends. My major goal over the next decade since I have entered the 40 and over age group is to be strong: build and maintain some lean tissue. Functional strength is what I am after and that's exactly what I've been getting on Saturday mornings with Sam Cila and his partner Greg Trent. Push ups, mountain climbers, squat thrusts, prone holds, sprinting 100 yard lines (with or without sandbags) and squatting, flipping this log end over end down the field against competing partners has humbled me. It's also making me stronger. Sam and Greg's bootcamp lasts four quarters. A dynamic warm up is folowed by rounds of military style calisthenics. Push ups, flutter kicks, mountain climbers, jumping jacks and a prone hold called the bridge for 1 minute or more in decreasing rounds of 21, 16, 11, and 6 reps. A perfect three count jumping jack finishing with "a stick like Mary Lou Retton" as Sam says, and we are onto the next quarter. Or not, one person off and we were back to a six count. You can bet that the next group jumping jack was spot on. The "quarters" change up a little each week making me slightly apprehensive but also excited. It's a challenge for sure and I told Sam not to mention to Dave that I am lifting and pushing the 100+ pound log end over end down the 100 yard field and back, otherwise he'll have me outside doing more heavy yardwork! This weeks quarters included the log flip down and back for decreasing yardage (101, 81, 61, 41, 21) while your partner squatted the sandbag. Third quarter was sprinting the decreasing yardage with the sandbag while your partner did overhead presses from the knees with the log. Fourth quarter was pulling the sled (in a 90 degree squat!) backwards down the field while the partners sprinted to the 101 and back and then did 2 minutes of core work until the "sled dog" was done. After the first class, I was sore for 4 days, the second for two, a month later and I can feel the strength I have gained and it shows. You compete against yourself, heart rate maxed, the quicker you get the challenges done doesn't mean you get rest time, it means more time in a prone hold, but that's OK with me. I was thinking to myself that I need to get some of my off season athletes down here to up the level of competition- I would love to see you challenging yourselves in different ways! As my endurance training time has cut down (running only 20 miles per week, cycling once and a little rowing), and the strength training has increased to three-four days per week (one or two weight sessions, one power yoga and one Bootcamp) I have managed to drop 4 pounds. I am leaner than I have been in awhile and feeling stronger is beginning to transfer over to sport. I am excited about trail running this winter, the strength I am building will help, even if it's just confidence and not sport specific. A win-win. Come join us one Saturday morning if you are looking for a fun challenge during the off season: Sam's motto is 100% of your 100%. You give all you can. You won't regret it! As Sam likes to say, "that post workout soreness is weakness leaving the body". I love it! Saturday mornings, 7:30 am Peconic Bay Blvd. on the grassy field just after the Jamesport beach. You will get so much more for the $15 you spend.

Balance

2011-09-29T22:37:00.001-04:00

If you force a rose to blossom, you break off the petals....

I have had the pleasure of coaching many different types of athletes over the years, I truly believe 'that when the student is ready, the teacher will appear' - I see myself as the teacher in the coach/athlete relationship but I'm continually learning myself. It's a fantastic process. For some ahtletes, their needs are met quickly and they go off to coach themselves with a few more tools in their toolbox. For others, the journey begins and continues, each year learning more, each year improving while I get to continually tweak the training, working on weaknesses, moving them towards the long range goals and garnerning success with consistency within smart training plans. Some of the athletes I get to work with have hit their goals this season and are winding down, others are in the peak weeks with the A priority race within sight. No matter where you are at this time in your training and racing, you need to strike a balance between work life, family life, friendships, school, etc.. Training for a race, particularly your A race of the season is physically and mentally stressful. When you tack on life stressors, it can be overwhelming. At times like these I like to remind the athletes, myself included, that we do this for fun. When it ceases to be fun then you have to examine why you are doing it in the first place. There should be a sense of excitement and joy leading into or coming off of a big race. If you have trained with consistency, if you nailed down your nutrition strategy, if you have spent time learning how to fix your flats, or other potential mechanicals quickly and efficiently, if you have mentally rehearsed your race strategy then you are ready! The race is the icing on the cake, enjoy the day, control what you can and let go of what you can't. 9 times out of 10, things will go as planned and you will have a fabulous experience. Sometimes things don't go as you planned, sometimes things happen, then, it's all about how you respond to those events and what you can learn from them. Everything concerning racing can have a positive outcome if you are willing to step back, learn and grow from the experience.
I was thinking about these things while I was fully enjoying a bike ride today, indoors, on the trainer while it poured rain outside. I prefer to be out, but not in the pouring rain when I can help it, instead, I had a great ride to some great music and I got off the bike after an hour feeling mentally and physically refreshed and marveled that I did that ride not because I had to today, but because I wanted to. Competitive athletes have a strong drive. It appears in sport, it shows up in the careers and the approach to life in general. I took a step back from being a competitive ahtlete this past month and struggled with it, only realizing today, after a purely enjoyable ride, that I needed that break. With major life changes occuring for me this past month, stepping back as the right thing to do yet I worried about losing fitness, I worried about losing that part of myself that enjoys competition in sport. I can be very bookish, but I need my outlets and I was worried I would not be able to do the things I enjoy with the same zeal because I have so many other things going on. I finally let go of my mental trappings of the workouts I felt "I had to do" this past week and just enjoyed the freedom of movement when I could get it, without any worry for how much time or distance I was covering. What a world of good it did me and after your major race, I urge you to do the same. The break time is all relative to the person. For some, it is a week or two, for others it could be 4-8 weeks but stepping back, enjoying other things, coming off a strict training schedule is so mentally and physically beneficial. It doesn't mean you have to stop and sit on the couch, or it could! Some athletes switch their focus from triathlon training to running, others put the swim/bike/run gear away for pursuit of windsurfing, rowing or sailing. The first thing you have to do though, is let go. You aren't supposed to be in peak physical form year round. Your body needs time after a long season to unwind and so does your mind. Be active but you don't have to maintan a certain amount of hours or mileage per week. Find your joy again, think about what you may want to train for next year and get excited about building fitness towards a peak again for the next go around, the joy should be in the process.
For those that still have some time to go, who are fatigued, cranking out the necessary workouts in the last build before taper for the A race around the corner, be confident and steadfast. I saw a great interview with Peter Reid a short while ago where he mentioned the best single piece of advice he had gotten from someone concerning balance of training with life. 8 weeks out of the A race of the year, put a big X on the calender. Prior to that, train consistently but be flexible. Enjoy time spent with friends, take an extra day off, juggle the training schedule a bit to fit the demands of life + training. When the big X hits though, that's it. Laser like focus on the goal at hand, target the final 8 weeks knowing you did everything you could and should do to have the best race possible. Talk about racing confident. Awesome advice. Even if you are less than 8 weeks out now, put the X on your calendar tomorrow when you wake up and then get after it!
4 weeks into my mental and physical break I am finding my groove. I am excited to enjoy the simplicity of a short run or ride, some yoga, a little rowing, strength training. I find I am paying more attention to the quality and quantity of calories I take in as my level of activity has dropped and I am finding joy within eating healthier as well. I am getting excited about starting from scratch and building some new fitness towards new goals. How about you?

What's next?

2011-09-24T18:06:00.000-04:00

With the summer drawing to a close for me, it was time to direct my focus towards school. School in two respects, one for teaching and the other for learning as I started my first class towards my PhD on September first.
I have been putting some time management skills to the test. I was overwhelmed the first week back with helping Dave, starting work and adusting to teaching conditions that are less than ideal. I started having the recurring dream that I had years ago: standing on the beach or swimming in the ocean, it's usually one or the other, when the big set of waves come in and I start to get a panicky feeling in my chest like I may not come up for another breath of air, and then watching in dread, the tsunami rolls in, knowing I am powerless to avoid it's wrath. Luckily, I wake up just as the crest of the wave is curling over me. I remind myself to stay calm, I just need time to adjust to the pressure and demand of work due. A friend recently posted this picture on facebook about the new facebook layout, not my major life change, but it sums up my career and the pursuit of the PhD perfectly:

I went through steps 1 through 5 over the past 3 weeks, I would say I am at a solid step 6 now. Old habits die hard. For the past, what, 10 years? I've been training for and racing some kind of long distance endurance event. From Ironman to half's, back to Ironman a couple more times, to focusing on the BQ and marathoning, there really hasn't been a time where I'm not in the pursuit of some kind of lofty athletic goal. This summer I raced some short sprints but I still trained to run long, out of habit mostly. I signed up for a fall half marathon out of habit too and why not? I was running well, I was fitting the training in and feeling good. Then reality happened.

My teaching job is not the same. For the last few years our class sizes have steadily been increasing. 25 went to 28 for a few years and then last year up to 30. We knew it was going to be difficult this year. After excessing close to 100 teachers in my district, we have many empty classrooms that were once filled with students. The students are still there, 35-36 students per class for those of us that are left. It makes a big impact on how smoothly a class runs. It's not that the students are bad kids, there is just too many of them. There isn't enough space to move, there isn't enough lab equipment. I have 5-6 students sitting at a lab table built for 4. It takes a few minutes to get everyone calmed down at the beginning of the period. In general, they are excited about my class, they enjoy it, I can manage the room but it takes a lot more time to get them and keep them on task. I have more students than ever that have special needs, with classroom and testing modifications simply because there is less of us teaching. My fear is knowing that I cannot get to them all, that some may slip through the cracks and I'm horrified by that thought. I care about how well the students do, I want them to learn to think critically to become good citizens. I want them to learn as much as possible and it is taking more energy to manage that learning and to maintain a positive learning environment. This is what the public and the lawmakers do not understand. This is the problem with having non-education people deciding the policies and procedures for teachers. This is going to be our undoing in this country. We are already behind in math and science compared to the rest of the world. The government is concerned with the dollar and these short fixes by slashing the budget for schools and education is going to be difficult to recover from. I know economic times are difficult for everyone, I don't want my taxes increasing either but we have to do something about frivolous spending. This is a rich country, we need some people running it who can manage the money better. Posted on fb by another friend:

U.S. Tax revenue: $2,170,000,000,000

• Fed budget: $3,820,000,000,000
• New debt: $ 1,650,000,000,000
• National debt: $14,271,000,000,000• Recent budget cut: $ 38,500,000,000
Now, remove 8 zeros and pretend it's a household budget …
• Annual family income: $21,700
• Money the family spent: $38,200
• New debt on the credit card: $16,500
• Outstanding balance on credit card: $142,710
• Total budget cuts: $385

**sigh** I'm not sure what the answer is. I try to vote for the people I think will help manage things best, we need educational reform. We need government reform too it seems. The class I am taking this fall is called 'the history of science education'. The scariest thing I am learning is that we are still following the same format as the National Education Association outlined in 1899. Yes, you read that correctly, decisions made more than a century ago regarding what and how things are taught in our schools are still in place today. In NY, ten years ago, the policy makers made the worst decision in making the regents level classes the basic graduation requirements. Instead of the higher status they held, they are now the lowest requirement and to make sure that the kids can graduate, they continue to lower the scaled score on the tests. Last year, Living Environment was considered a passed test if the student scored 37 out of 85 possible points. So basically a 45 is a 65. Who is this helping??? If the kids can't do it, they can't. Why dumb everything down? Taking a regents exam in NYS used to mean something, now it's just a joke. I teach more than required and my students have a phenomenal passing rate, most achieving "mastery"- an 85 or better. So what? The test is meaningless and this is how the government wants to evaluate teachers, by dumbed down tests that a 6th grader could pass. Of course I'm highly effective with a 98% passing rate on a meaningless exam. This is why I am pursuing a PhD, hopefully I can raise the standards in the future. It's tough to go up against century old dogma though.
Anyway, there's that stress. I'm making the best of it. Each day I wake up, I tell myself it's a new day with new opportunities to make a difference in some kids life. I can't help them all, but hopefully I'll make an impact on a few, to be successful adults in the future.
Fitting in time for exercise with a looming presentation, a final paper I am researching, and keeping up with the extra grading I have at work has been tough. I do find the time though, I have to. I get cranky when I don't exercise. It's weird though, I am working out 5 days per week, mostly running four and bike once but I feel like I'm not doing much of anything at all. The bonus is I am eating less because I don't need the extra calories. I am being careful about my food choices and as a result I dropped 5 pounds this month by actually exercising less. The obsessive part of me was struggling with not fitting in 2 hours of exercise a day. I'm on the 30-45 minute short and sweet schedule, but I am realizing how addicted I was to exhausting myself on a daily basis and for the first time in awhile I have more energy when I'm finished, which is the way it's supposed to be. It's tough to break the old habits though. Once an Ironman, always an Ironman. It's a fallicy that exercise needs to be to total depletion yet it's hard to force myself to stop sometimes. I remind myself of what my goals are and the only thing I have planned so far is the Run for the Ridley 5k in October. Short and fast is manageable for me right now. I think a 10k will be in order in November. It will keep me interested and I need that goal driven workout schedule, however scaled back. Making the time to train is important to me. First, it clears my hyperactive brain so that I can think straight, and secondly I am completely addicted to the endorphins and the health benefits that training has given me over the years. I will make the time, for me, training is akin to brushing my teeth. Has to be done but I do so with a sense of relief as my competitiveness on the "court" is replaced by competitiveness in the classroom. So what's next for me as far as sport? I've given it some thought and I am really liking the idea of trail running and racing this winter. As for now, I am enjoying a break from a regular schedule and basically doing what I feel like, although this won't last long. I've gotten my feet under me in school and in class, I'm ready to commit to racing again. First up is the Ridley and hopefully it will cool off soon! This relentless humidity is a killer. I want to get back in the trails! I've been thinking about some different kind of racing next year and it's a possbility that I may run the Hyner challenge in April, definitely the off road half marathon in Montauk in May and the Greenbelt 25k in mid May sound like fine ideas. Since strapping on a pair of shoes and literally running out the door is the easiest thing to do for the time crunched, I will be running at least 4 days per week. I like the idea of getting on the mountain bike and goofing around for a change and made some plans to race some Xterra triathlons next year but we'll see. I may also be in class this summer. I've been strength training three days per week which may also account for the fat loss. Less cardio time, more strength based exercise, more balance. That's the update as to what's going on with me. Have to get back to some informative blog posts about training related topics. Please suggest one! Thanks for reading today and happy training!

up·heav·al Noun/ˌəpˈhēvəl/ 1. A violent or sudden change or disruption to something.

2011-09-12T23:19:00.000-04:00

The second definition had to do with an upward thrusting of the earth's crust and even though I do feel like I've been shift off balance these past couple of weeks, our last East Coast earthquake that occurred while I was sitting in my car stopped at a light, didn't feel like much more than a car passing by fast and shaking the car a little, except there were no cars passing me while I was stopped at a red light. I learned later there was an earthquake via text from Dave in NYC, in for some pre-op testing. Upheaval is a good word to describe what's been going on with me the past few weeks and I'm not sure when things will settle, hopefully soon!
Rang in the last week of summer with plenty of time at the beach early in the week followed by days of prep for Irene. Dave's hip resurfacing surgery was scheduled for Monday am the 28th, not sure if Irene would tear apart the east end of LI preventing us from getting into NYC Sunday night, we went in early Saturday. Spent a great two days not noticing much of the storm at all with good friends Joe and Danielle at their apartment, relieved to find out that we suffered no power loss or flooding at our house. Whew.
The surgery went as planned and onward to recovery for Dave, the stress, buried deep reared its head Wednesday while on our way home from the hospital. Lots to do for my man, my boy and in preparation for the first day of work the next day and my first night of class as a doctoral student. Emotional, relieved that Dave made it through the major reconstructive surgery and that he was OK, there were frequent bouts of crying from frustration over small annoyances I wouldn't ordinarlily blink at and for those that know me well, I rarely, if ever, cry. Worried too, over the pain Dave was feeling and knowing there was nothing I could do to relieve it, only time and the healing hands of our awesome PT friends, Eileen and Sinead will take care of that end. Thursday the 1st was a 13 hour day for me, away from home on the first day that Dave was back. Thanks to great friend and athlete, Marty for checking in on him and Van in my absence. Labor day weekend was a blur, we did manage to get down to the beach for a couple of hours to relax on Saturday and the next rainy few days were spent in doors, me doing school work and Dave in increasing pain. For some reason, once he got moving, he was hypersensitive and while the hip is fine, his quad and ITB are screaming. Calls to the doc confirmed the muscle firing again waking up cut nerve theory (ha! you like that little descriptive name I gave it? There is some good physiology in there- have to tell you about it properly another time) I worked up, a little compensation going on as well and displaced stress from the trauma of surgery. A week later there still have been some sleepless nights but he is getting better. PT started officially with Eileen this past friday at the sports rehab and again tonight. Since DG can't drive, I'm it, coordinating Van's gymnastics with Dave's PT. So far I'm using the time to do some uninterrupted school work, doesn't seem to ever be enough time!
Last year when I interviewed for admittance to the PhD program, the Prof's had asked me what I was going to give up to find the time for research. I answered at that time "training competitively" because 8-15 hours per week is not compatible with full time work and school and family. Knowing it and experiencing it are two different things. Training has been such an enormous part of my life for the last 10+ years. I'm always training for some kind of event. I did sign up for a half marathon in a couple of weeks but I do not have the mental head for it. While I know I am coming off enough fitness to run 13 miles with no difficulties, I cannot run 13 miles as fast as I normally would and knowing my physical preparation has been compromised these past 2.5 weeks, I just can't go into a race feeling underprepared. I'm not a "run it just to run it" kind of racer but I haven't completely ruled out not doing the Hamptons Half either, maybe I could just do it for "fun" although 13 miles is not just something you do for fun, for me. The first thing I need to get myself on is some kind of routine. Getting back to work full time is always a shock to my system too. I know, I know, I hear your tiny violin playing for me, but my teaching job requires tremendous amounts of energy. Particularly this year as in this economic climate, we have lost almost a third of our teaching staff. I have 35 students per class. The dynamics are much different, stressful. 8 - 10 more dependent bodies in my classroom, I worry that I might not be able to give them all the adequate care and attention they deserve. I will however, give it 100% every day. My little guy started 4th grade, homework level is up, we all need to settle into a new routine in the Gatz household. Hopefully Dave will be feeling more like himself soon and be able to drive in the next couple of weeks. That frees me up for some running/study time while Van hits the gym team practices. The promise of fall is enticing me back in the trails, just need some cool nights to kill off the critters. I did manage to run 4 days last week and hit some strength training, it's just weird not to be running that much at all. 4-6 miles, nothing longer on Sunday because I just didn't have the energy for more than an hour. Hopefully soon for that too. There is nothing like a good 10-12 miler on a cool September Sunday morning. Lots more to tell you about the PhD pursuit and what I am thinking of centering my research around. Thanks for reading and good luck to any fall racing you may have left!

Sometimes it's better not to know the way

2011-08-21T21:56:00.000-04:00

I've been in a bad habit of sleeping in all summer. Good in a way because I allow my body to wake up when it's ready, bad because I end up running later in the day when it's warmer. The time for early risings will be back upon me in another couple of weeks, until then, I am enjoying some extra shut eye. My little man had an invite to a pig roast at a friends house so I took advantage of the time this afternoon and went for a run in a new spot. I had 12 miles scheduled for today and just didn't want to run the same familiar routes at home so I parked at Shoreham Wading River HS and took the nature trail. The trails are unmarked at first and being a little unfamiliar with them, I decided to stick with making lefts on the way out. Soon enough I hit upon the yellow trail and followed that for a few miles. The trails are well tended and wide so I wasn't really afraid of picking up any ticks and only mildly concerned about chiggers, keeping my fingers crossed that the paths I took weren't infested with them yet. Sticking with the plan of keeping my heart rate within a certain range, I weaved in and out, up and down while reminding myself that of course my pace is slower in the trail and heart rates a little higher. I tried not to look at how slowly I was running and just concentrated on keeping my footing while being able to absorb the quiet around me.

So much nicer than asphalt and cars!

Heading out, there were some nice short little hills and before I new it I popped out on Rt. 25, surprised that I had run that far already. Turning around I was happy to be heading down some of the short hills I just climbed but it isn't down hill all the way. Back up I went and back up my heart rate went as I tried to maintain some semblance of pace once again reminding myself that trail running fitness takes a little while to establish.

A short while later I popped back onto the green trail intersection and decided to detour to the right. It took me past some fat wild turkeys and through lots of sand:

Past a tiny little pond,

and I ran a bit further, just to spin it around at 10 minutes along my detour adding the 2 miles I needed. Running back though, for some reason I could not find the cut in. I did some back tracking a couple of times and the little yellow trail eluded me. So I ran straight on the green trail, and ran, and ran and finally realized that although I was moving northwest, I was in fact lost. I finally came to an intersection of a blue vs. green trail and decided to stick with green, eventually popping out on William Floyd Parkway and was I relieved to see this sign!

25a, one mile. With the hot wind at my back and very little water left, I ran the gradual uphill back to the high school, glad that my run still panned out to a little over 12 miles even with my "detour" in a couple of hours. It certainly kept me occupied and I was glad I had my cell phone with me, it's never a good idea to be without it, particularly when scoping out a new trail for the first time. Not really thinking I would need a pick up, more concerned with an ankle twist that would leave me a bit stranded. In the car sucking down some much needed ice water, my thoughts centered on coming back with some buddies that are a little more familiar with the routes back there, would be great for mountain biking too!

West Point Triathlon

2011-08-14T19:02:00.001-04:00

LOVED THIS RACE!
Drove up to Camp Buckner yesterday afternoon with my mom. Boys stayed home to hit the beach and rest the hip (T-minus 2 weeks until Dave goes bionic). Checked out the bike course while driving to registration. Recently paved roads, no traffic since it's all USMA land, plenty of space to ride, and the cadets were out there in a van stopping at points to sweep the road with brooms! Awesome! Registration was super quick and it gave me a chance to scope out the transition area, swim course, and the T1 and T2 entrance/exits.

Registered. Scoping out the swim course behind me. Can I lean on that bridge anymore? Sheesh.

After a nice dinner with my mother, we retired to the hotel to race prep and relax for the early morning wake up call at 4:30 am. Part of the race prep involved watching the weather channel and hoping that the rain to come would head further south. I posted this picture on my facebook page with the caption: "hoping it's 60% chance of no showers". Whenever I see "40% chance of showers", I'd rather think in the positive!

Woke up at what Sam calls "an ungodly hour" (4:20) and thought to myself that 5 years ago today, he raced his very first triathlon at West Point after recovering from an IED blast in Iraq. I told him this later on and mentioned how far he's come in those five years, from the West Point Tri to the Ironman Hawaii World Championships to RAAM this year, it's been amazing and I look forward to the next challenges. I was supposed to be racing West Point in 2006, but a crash in a bike race ruined my shoulder so this race was on the bucket list of the ones I never got to do. Leaving the hotel, mom and I were pleased at the "no rain" status but it was just a brief respite. After a stop at the DD down the road for the much needed coffee, the rain began and it never stopped!
Arrived in transition by 6:30, no special spot for the bike, things were just racked in a group numbering system. Sporting my favorite sun hat that fuctioned well as a rain hat, I set up, covered my shoes with a garbage bag so that they weren't competely water sogged and we went inside Barth Hall to stay dry and chill out until race time.

Crocodile DunJenn

The awesome thing about this race is that when the military says your wave starts at 8:12 am, it starts exactly at 8:12! Beach start (Yikes! Don't remember the last time I had a running start for a swim!) and I positioned myself perfectly, in front, on the right, the horn went off and I ran and dolphined my way out to swimable water comfortably in the lead with 2 other girls.

My mother's blurry pictures, I'm the orange head tucked in between no wetsuit and full wetsuit on the left.

Would be a cool pic if it was clear, but that is me second from left, must have been going for the dolphin.

This is what goes through my head at a swim start: "Fast! Fast! Turnover! Kick! Fast! Breathe!" swimming for clear water as hard as I can until I realize I'm clear and then it's "Settle, settle, breathe, settle, long and quick". I had one course correction to make, I sighted a bouy but to my 10 sec detriment it was one on the way back in, I quickly refocused to the right, I figured it cost me about 20 seconds. Hit the turn around, caught the wave in front of me and pushed to the finish out of the water on the way to T1.

I don't know what my swim split was but the rack was full when I got back. Wetsuit off easy, helmet and shoes on, out I went, into an absolute downpour. My motto was, for the second weekend in a row "safety before speed" except today, the downpour was so much greater that I found myself repeating "One piece, one piece" over and over again meaning that I wanted to get off the bike without having painted my body all over the pavement. The bike course is deceiving. There are a few little climbs that actually had me switch into the small ring to spin up. I quickly found my rhythm and alternately climbed and descended, but the descending was VERY cautious. I found that I was not hovering on the red zone line on the bike today and only because I was more concerned with staying upright. I knew I was losing some time to the women behind me because I didn't feel that burn I am accustomed to when I'm riding the edge but the edge would have been dangerous on an unfamiliar course for me. 10 miles in I started trading places back and forth with a woman in a red suit. She'd pass me on a descent, I'd pass her on a climb. Eyes stinging from the driving rain as we rode into the wind and at times riding with only one eye open, we hit the second turn around I realized that I was not seeing any women in front of me, I really must have had a good swim! Knowing I only had a few miles more to go, I spun up the hill and back down with a little more force. Trying to stay positive but there was a little pest in the back of my head that was telling me that I didn't risk enough on the bike. Finishing safely, it's always easier to look back and say "I could have ridden faster" and that certainly was the case today, but I am happy that I am sitting comfortably writing this blog from my living room (as the rain continues to pour!) and not from the E.R.. Racked the bike, pulled the shoes on and ran out of T2 and UP. Holy smoly that got my heart rate up! It's a steep incline right up out of T2 and only the briefest of recoveries before you are running uphill again, a quick downhill, some rollers on the out and back, and a right turn up a REALLY steep hill that levels and tricks you and then gets steeper! I heard light feet behind me and thought "woman or really skinny guy" and it turned out to be a woman, in my age group (Damn!) and she was easily running 10 sec per mile faster than me. I surged a bit, hung on just behind hoping for a second wind over the last mile. Down towards transition, tricked! Another half mile loop before the finish and I heard some heavy breathing in my ear and a 42 year old woman went by racing in a bathing suit old school style. I was running 7:40's by this point and was deep in the red zone.

Almost at the finish, I was running so fast I was like Flash- nothing but a blur baby

Around the corner to the finish, it was all I had. Back inside the dry Barth Hall, had some eats and drinks and awaited results. 4th- 40-44, 13th overall female- really happy with that. The first place 40-44 woman outraced us all by 5 minutes finishing this tough course in 1:24. 2nd, 3rd and me all finished in 1:29 and change, seperated by seconds. Tough competition, I didn't snag an age placing today but I wouldn't have it any other way except for a dry day where I could tear up the bike.

Smith Point Triathlon

2011-08-08T09:42:00.000-04:00

"Rain, rain go away...", yesterday's theme for racing was "safety over speed". I pulled into the parking lot at Smith Point around 5:40 am yesterday and was amazed by the number of cars in the parking lot. There were A LOT of people doing this local race and I was pleased with that because as the sport of triathlon continues to grow, more people are out there training, getting fit and accomplishing a goal. There was a slight mist in the air that early but no real rain yet, the darker clouds still off in the distance but not by much. Racked my bike in a really tight transition area, donned my sleeveless wetsuit and set off for the water. The swim is on the bay side (darn, would love an ocean swim but I understand the safety factors) and the water was warm, dark and murky. I tried not to think about the slime under my feet as I made my way out and in front of the majority of yellow caps in my wave. The first wave of men 35 and under took off and we lined up at the start. 1 minute countdown began and I found myself in front, on the right with a group of girls that looked like fast swimmers as evident by the tiny swim race goggles they wore in addition to the V shaped characteristics of their well defined swimmer backs. Horn went off and I sprinted out. It was crowded but I had a great start, settled into a good rythym, sprinted around a couple of girls in my wave and quickly started to catch the back of the first wave. The swim was tight, I thought to myself "Ironman swim conditions" got aggressive, picked up my pace to get around and through people where I needed, and before I knew it I was at the last turn around buoy and headed for shore. They lengthened the swim this year which was good. Flat, calm waters, I swam the half mile in 12:20.

Running to T1 as I unzipped my wetsuit I tried to will my heart rate down. Wetsuit off, cap and googles thrown on the ground. Bike shoes on, helmet strapped, out of T2. The bike course takes you out over the bridge onto William Floyd Parkway and the nice thing about it was that the entire left lane was closed down going out and coming back. To make the bike long enough you hook a left 5 miles up and ride through a nice neighborhood. Lots of turns, raining now, I was up out of aero for the quick turns. Safety first. The roads were nice, I was chewing up pavement, breathing hard but in control and passing lots of people. Back out onto the parkway the wind smacked you in the face. It was a strong headwind all the way back, rain stinging the eyes. Up out of aero over the bridge and the slick grates, turning the corner into T2. Bike 36 minutes.

Bike shoes exchanged for runners, hat on to shield the eyes from the rain and out of the parking lot back onto the parkway for a 5k. I ran as fast as I could, breathing through a straw in the thick humid air. "Light and quick" I reminded my feet. Got passed by a 40 year old (DARN!) towards the 1 mile mark. Tried to shout out "Emi!" to my friend and blazing fast athlete as she ran back to the finish but all that came out was a croak. I was on the red line again, willing the turn around to come sooner, stomach going acidic as I tried to push myself harder. I was counting the women as I ran, knew I was somewhere in the front but not exactly sure where and then my counting started to fudge and I just concentrated on holding my pace and controlling my breathing all the way to the finish line. Run 24:50, I was really pleased with the improvement to 8 minute pace.

Total time 1:16, good for 2nd in my age group (2 for 2 literally!) and very happy with my effort. The sky really opened up when I was done. It was time for a quick check of the results before heading home. Looked like 19th overall but there were some relay's in there, no matter. The field was VERY competitive with some really hard hitters there yesterday and it was a good, fair race. Outside of the swim waves being way too crowded and too close together (more waves going by age group similar to the Montauk Lighthouse Sprint) would work for this race perfectly and make for a more enjoyable and less frustrating swim for the MOP to the BOP, I can understand their frustration of getting pummeled by the wave coming up behind. Everyone deserves a chance for some free space to swim in without the fear of getting run over. While I am aggressive in the water, I do not swim over people, just through and around but other people are not as courteous and being pulled at, hit, and swam over is not fun and should not be tolerated. The race organizers can do something about that. Overall I loved the race, the course is great and I will definitely put this on my race calendar for next year. So should you!

Capped off the weekend with a visit from my bro from Florida and my cute little niece. We spent the rest of the rainy morning watching robots kick ass in Transformers 3D at the movies. Fun for the kids (for me and Dave too!).

Catching up

2011-07-29T12:23:00.000-04:00

Holy Crow!

When I think back to everything that has gone on over the past two weeks, my first thought was "Holy Crow!". While the urban dictionary declares that 'holy crow!' is just a reworking of 'holy cow!', wiki answers says that it's blasphemy based on the cleverness of the crow or the raven. You have to love google, I image requested it and this is what popped up. Funny. Anyway, it's been a busy couple of weeks after the Montauk sprint so I will try to briefly bring you up to date on my doings. Celebrated our 10th anniversary on Monday the 18th, followed by a trip up to Lake Placid for a week of training and race watching while celebrating my 40th birthday (F$&K!). Age is just a number right? Yet, I have a hard time thinking about the past 15 years flowing by like a blur. Life is good though and I am truly happy so that's how I'll celebrate this next decade. Happy.
We arrived at the house in LP on Wednesday afternoon after a brief stop at HSS in NYC. Dave will be receiving a bionic hip at the end of August, and while many people are "sorry" this has to happen, we are not. The type of procedure Dave will be undergoing is meant for younger athletes. With good muscle strength and flexibility, the Doc indicated that he is a prime candidate and doesn't see why Dave wouldn't be able to return to his athletic status after the requisite amount of healing and therapy take place. It's like a shining beacon, a light at the end of the pain tunnel.
Thursday morning we joined Nancy, Jose and two of his friends for what was supposed to be an easy 1 hour ride. Going out of town on 86 backwards, we got to Wilmington and went straight. It's a long gradual climb for a few miles. Nancy, Dave and I seperated off at the end of the road, Jose and friends making a left for a 3+ hour ride, we went right. A sharp downhill followed by a right turn took us to the end of the old out and back. "Yikes" we said, 1 hour ride just extended, by a lot. Never the less we took it easy on the way back, wind kicking up strong in our face climbing back into town. 40 miles in 2:20. Not necessarily the "easy" 1 hour ride we were looking for but it didn't matter. You have to take advantage of the riding up there when you can get it! Friday, my birthday, we met up with Doc Rush, Marty, Ted and his friend "young Matt". Ted said, "Jen, to celebrate your 40th, we are going up Whiteface today", I laughed thinking him not serious. Out of town we went, on the bike course. The roads were exceedingly crappy on the downhill this year. Normally I love to rocket down the big hills, had to pull back. At one point my bike was wobbling so badly I thought I flatted only to pull over and realize it was the road causing the wobble, not a flat. I went down a little more carefully after that and we all regrouped on 9 heading towards Jay. With a slight tailwind, we were flying down the road. I had no trouble hanging on until the speed got up over 30! Settling back into my own 25-26 mph pace I stayed within sight of the group, relishing the flow in the aerobars. What a great feeling that is. Making the left, we stayed together as a group for the climb stopping at the gas station for fluid refills and a quick Coke. Whiteface, it was on. We stopped for pictures in front of the big sign (have to get them from Marty) and began the onward and upward. I rode with Doc Rush for the first couple of miles, chatting away about training, studies, etc. and we regrouped for a short pit stop up ahead. I was very unsure of myself, I've never climbed anything remotely like this ever and wasn't sure I was ready for it. I haven't been riding all that much this year with no long triathlons scheduled and the Doc was reminding me not to fall into the peer pressure which of course I did. I turned 40 today, time to bring it in big. Up we went, and up and up which is pretty much the theme. It was really hard, spinning was virtually impossible and I had a 27 on the back. I felt like a was pedaling in squares. We stopped twice along the way on the climb to regroup and rest our aching muscles for a bit. Up, up, weaving (what a great way to get up the tough spots, I was riding horizontally for many of the sections!). At the last pit stop, Marty said "look up, that's where we are going", I cursed, a lot. Dave prodded me on and encouraged me. More square pedaling, turning a corner on one of the switchbacks, I knew I was closer. Sightsee'ers in cars were cheering us on. My own private Alpe de Huez. The wind was gusting near the top and FINALLY, the end was there, Ted waiting, and we all hung out for a bit at the top. The pictures tell it best:

Marty climbing steady

The boys: 'Young Matt', Marty and Dave at the last pit stop. I think speedy Ted was at the top already!

Yikes! Still another 100 feet of climbing to go!

Ted snapped this pic of me from his phone, I'm a speck in the road on the final switchback towards the bottom left. Having climbed Alpe de Huez before, Ted thought Whiteface was very similar.

Made it! At the top.

So happy to be up here.

View of Lake Placid at the top of Whiteface

This picture doesn't do the view justice.

Thanks Dave for encouraging me up.

Ted, this was all your fault.

After grabbing some fluid and completing the picture rounds it was time to head back down. I mentioned to Ted that I was a bit scared. The roads weren't great and I tried not think about what was on the other sides of the cliffs (nothing but air!). I descended cautiously, tapping the brakes and made it down to the bottom in less than a quarter of the time it took to climb up. It was hot as well, but spinning the last 10 miles uphill into town was a pleasure. No more square pedaling. I have to say, it was one of the hardest rides I have ever done. My legs were trashed for a few good days afterwards but I didn't mind. I learned something else about myself and my limits and I look forward to giving this a good go again next year, just on a road bike next time! Climbing like that on a tri bike is definitely tough and harder I think, the forward position really isn't meant for that kind of continual steep uphill effort.

Saturday I ran an easy 5 on dead legs for recovery, swam a bit in the beautiful Mirror Lake with Dave hoping that my legs would recover in the next 24 hours to run at least 10 miles after the swimmers went out on the bike course. I did manage it, feeling like crap after 4 miles but loosening up and feeling better for the final 6. Stopped at the top of Cobble to cheer on our friends. After a good meal and a shower we went back there to catch the bikers on their second loop and spent the rest of the day between the LP brew pub and Matt Long's I Will cheering station on the run in front of his house. What a great day and congrats to all the racers out there!

Scott K took our picture on top of papa bear. Dave's backwards visor looks like a bad 80's headband!

In front of Matt Long's. The I WILL cheering section making virgin margarita's for the runners. Hilarious.

Monday was an easy recovery spin tooling around with Dave for an hour, trying to ride "flat". Tuesday morning was a loop of the swim before the drive home. What a great week. Coaching has been busy, I started working with 3 new athletes this month in addition to my regular posse and I am very excited to help them reach their goals: 2 doing a fall Ironman this year (Harry and Katie), a consult for an IMLP athlete next year (Jim Mac!) and I'm proud to be sponsoring CAF's Nick Roumanada for triathlon and NYC marathon training. I love the teaching, planning, problem solving, intuitive, functional aspect of coaching.

Next up: Smith Point triathlon and West Point triathlon, both sprints for pure enjoyment. Bracing for the start of school. Four more weeks before I'm teaching again and 4 more weeks until I become a student myself again. Let's get this PhD started!

Montauk Lighthouse Sprint- the race report

2011-07-18T17:52:00.000-04:00

What a day! I love this race so much. Yesterday was extra special because I had so many friends racing as well as many members of my training posse. I was so much more thrilled with their results, mine were great but I was more concerned about the athletes I train than my own personal outcome. I am so proud and blessed to coach the athletes I do. Thanks for trusting and being loyal to me throughout the years. The consistency and hard work that you put into your training programs is paying off. Jayasports athletes raced at the front yesterday! WOOT!
On Saturday, my friend and athlete Marty asked me what my goal time was for the race on Sunday and I replied that I didn't have one. My only goal was to race as hard as I possibly could, fully in the red zone from start to finish. Mission accomplished!
The swim:
While standing on the beach with Marty, Dave, Wynn, Theresa, Susan, Jenn, Nancy and the Wingman we were all happily chatting away until Dave said to me: "green caps are in the water", "Oh Shite!" I replied. We all wished each other good luck and I quickly got into the water and up to the front. Right in front. Normally I hang back for second in line but I was feeling confident after working on my swim technique with kick ass swim coach Bryan Krut of OWS this spring. The water was perfect- rough chop (which I love, the rougher the better!) and the current was actually sweeping us away from the start buoy. The wind was carrying away the countdown but I heard the horn and sprinted out. No one passed me, I had a great start, angled in from the right towards the buoy's and tried to swim a straight line (have to work on this). I have a feeling I fish tailed a little, I had to correct myself a couple of times when I looked up. I'll be in the open water with Bryan in a couple of weeks to correct this, I have a feeling I can drop my swim time by a minute or even two minutes if I could swim in straight line. Most importantly when I stood up at the shore, my watch read 14 and small change, PSYCHED. I ran up to transition (heart in throat!) and I was one of the first ones there, all other bikes racked in my wave (PSYCHED!). Fumbled with my shoes, got everything together and raced out of transition happily seeing Susan at her rack (Psyched again! What a swim for her!) and high tailed it out of there.
The bike:
I raced old school style on a high tech bike yesterday, except it was girl and machine only. I neglected to change the batteries in my computer and I didn't want to deal with putting the garmin on in transition. I raced totally by feel. Knowing it was a competitive field and that the speedy young girls were in the wave behind us, I hammered the bike. Listening to myself breathe was horrendous, I was sucking some wind in and I had to remind myself to settle down a little bit so that I didn't totally blow up but other than that I was low, aero in my new position (thanks Sinead!) and I felt strong and really really good. With a nice tail wind up to the Point, I glanced at my watch quickly as we pulled in towards T2, 38 high and no women passed me. PSYCHED! It was a good ride and I was really pleased. I fumbled with my shoes in transition though, definitely lost some time. I couldn't find my yankz in my old sneakers so I just left my laces open to tie them. Mistake! My fingers weren't working as well and it took away a good 30 seconds. Then as I got up to run, I realized my spare tube and CO2 cartridge were in my tri jersey and I had to take a few steps back to transition to dump them- another 20-30 seconds wasted there and I was getting paniced because I needed that minute!
The run:
Up the steps out of transition and onto the course with my HR way too high. To settle into a good but quick rhythm I shortened my stride a little bit and pushed as hard as I could. Working on running the last couple of years, I have learned to suffer and it came in handy yesterday. By the first 100 meters I knew it was going to be painful. Listening to myself breathe like a stuck pig I tried to up my tempo as much as I could. When I hit puke threshold I knew it was all I could give and from then on I ran scared. The run course has these sneaky little gradual hills and after killing myself on the swim and the bike, it hurt. There is running and then there is running off the bike. Two different animals. While I do some hard brick training it still doesn't quite match the all out intensity of the race. I can get myself close, but racing is racing. Mile 1 passed by and a 15 year old sprite of a girl running super fast passed me by. Amazed. At mile 2 I was wondering if I would even finish the race- that's how I knew I was going as hard as I could, it was only a 5k! Shortly after mile 2 I got passed by another young girl (DAMN! Not that it mattered for my age group but I did want to finish up as high as I could in the overall) and then I saw Susan and she made some kind of sarcastic comment about my bright orange Saucony Kinvara's. Inside I was totally laughing but I was working so hard all I could manage was a grunt of acknowledgement and I was super psyched to see her because I knew she was on the way to a killer PR. Emi was next, storming the run and I managed a small wave and then I heard some light, fast steps behind me and knew I was getting passed by another woman (DAMN!) and this one was in my age group (DAMN!) but I did not have another gear and she was easily running 20-30 sec per mile faster than I was. I knew that I had to push as hard as possible to limit my losses and ever so slightly took the pace up a notch until I felt like puking again. At Mile 2.5 I heard "hey warrior" and Sam caught up to me. Sam was acting as Dave's legs today and he was doing a super fine job of it. I managed to croak out "kick ass Sam" and off he went. With a half mile left I told my brain "Brain, allow me to recruit a few more muscle fibers now, I'm almost done, COME ON" and I rounded the corner, up to the finish and my little guy was ready to run in with me and it was GRAND. 1:24, a 25 minute 5k (blech) but it was all I had in me so I was pleased with the results of the entire day. It was a stacked field today and highly competitive! Seconds determined placings and it turned out that my T2 KILLED me, I needed that minute to snag the win for the 40-44 women. First place out ran me by 50 seconds or so and I had her by a minute on the swim and a minute on the bike. I've been racing triathlons since 1995, you would think that I would not make rookie mistakes but the transitions in a sprint race are critical and I didn't remember how long it would take me to tie my shoes and place my flat gear in my pockets. Yankz and a new seat bag are on order. I will not be making those mistakes again this year. Next up is the Smith Point Sprint and a week after that the West Point Sprint and I've got an excellent block of training coming up these next two weeks. Time to get after it!
Congrats to my posse- everyone shined!
Emi Berger: 7th overall woman and not at full throttle, coming off an illness. Way to go!
Marty Viera: 19th male, 4th in the AG- he just did a half iron last week! Look out for him when his legs are rested!
Ken Moore: 14th overall, 2nd elite male
Susan Roman: took the Athena title and scored a 13 minute PR!
David Gatz and Sam Cila- team Operation rebound. Dave's hip sang it's last song last month, no running until he recovers from hip replacement surgery coming up soon. Sam stepped in as his teammate and Dave managed a 13 minute swim, a 35 minute bike and Sam ran a 21 minute 5k for a time of 1:13- with an extra minute spent in T2 when they couldn't find each other but they took the male relay title in grand style, beating the competititon by more than 12 minutes!
Joe O'Connell had an awesome race, really pleased with his solid effort on a great day and my friend Jenn Charvat finished her first ever outdoor triathlon and look out! Jenn can really run!
Anthony Snoble raced the Xterra Sky High triathlon yesterday and led from start to finish for the overall win. It totally capped off my day!
There were too many friends to mention that we enjoyed talking with yesterday. Great to see everyone staying fit and enjoying themselves out there. The only downer of the day was when we went back to T1 to pick up our wetsuits, Dave discovered that his Helix wetsuit and Ironman transition bag was stolen. It was very upsetting and the security people were upset as well. After checking everywhere we left Dave's number with the security people and we headed to the beach. 20 minutes later we got a call, his bag was returned! Someone had "mistakenly" taken it. Not too sure how that works as Dave had his suit halfway in the bag and his cap and goggles laying next to it so the person had to have scooped up everything, placing it in the bag and zipper it closed before walking out with it. Dave knew from the morning that he was the only one in the rack with a transition bag. Fortunately, someone recognized our last name labeled on his wetsuit and returned it to the security team. When they called Dave to get it, the security man mentioned that the person knew me and returned the bag. Thank you anonymous person for returning our equipment. Your honesty made our entire day brighter. Thank you.
Plenty of pictures from race day to come, thanks for reading!

Stretching for runners- dynamically

2011-07-14T09:44:00.000-04:00

dynamic [adj]
1. of or concerned with energy or forces that produce motion, as opposed to static.

Awhile ago, I wrote a post on whether or not to stretch (statically) before a run. The answer is no, you can actually decrease performance and you can read the linked article for an explanation. What I did not cover was dynamic stretching, which can actually be beneficial to performance so it's worth a look at what research has found and what types of stretching would be beneficial, particularly for runners who have incorporated stretching into their warm up routines and are reluctant to change. Post run stretching can be done statically for flexibility gains so it will also be good to highlight the best stretches for runners to loosen up tight hips, hamstrings, iliotibial bands, piriformis and calves.
Dynamic stretching is more effective when it is specific to the sport you are participating in and if it's done within a few minutes of starting your chosen routine. There have been a few studies highlighting the benefits of dynamic stretching, particularly when incorporated into a daily pre-training routine. Research has found that not only does dynamic stretching improve flexibility, it also has produced sustained power, strength, musclular endurance and agility in athletes. (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7). Dynamic stretching should loosen up your running muscles, increase circulation, including heart rate and blood flow to better prepare you for the workout. This Runners World video highlights some great dynamic stretches to incorporate to your warm up. Concentrate on your form, start slowly and gradually build your range of motion.

After running there are some great static stretches that you can do to promote flexibility. Since muscles are warm from running, the post run static stretch will do more to promote flexibility while you cool down from the session. Running tightens muscles, tendons and ligaments surrounding the hips, knees and ankles as an adaption to the ground impact forces. Since running is a forward plane of motion only, many of the stabilizer muscles can tighten up too much, creating tension. A good post run static stretch of these muscles can go a long way towards reducing tension. This video demonstrates many of my favorites:

Stretching is often the first thing to go when you are managing your time to fit all of your workouts in during a busy day, yet, if you've ever been injured running, many parts of a PT protocol involve stretching tight muscles. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure!

Run to breathe

2011-07-09T17:48:00.000-04:00

Controlled pacing, that was today's goal. Summer is officially here this week with hot and humid conditions. Walking out of the hotel this morning as we took the short walk/jog over to the start line for Boomer's cystic fibrosis 10k, I could feel the humid, trash and peanut smelling air (this is what NYC smells like to me!) constricting my lungs. Although (knock on wood) I have avoided any major asthmatic incidents this winter and spring, the fact remains that I am still an asthmatic and my lungs are tempermental in high humidity conditions. Learning to work with my limitations rather than against them, I knew to use the inhaler I keep stored in my spi-belt pictured above, 20 minutes prior to the start. Corraling up, M.E., Kiera (M.E.'s daughter) and myself split off. I spent the remaining minutes grinning as my 84 resting HR (my resting HR is normally much lower but the inhaler's side effect is an increase in HR) began to spike within minutes of the start as my brain anticipated the work to come: 124, 133 bpm as I walked to the start line with my group. "Control your pace" I told myself. I have a habit in the shorter races of taking off and seeing how long I can hold the pace when I feel good. This time, I made sure my data fields on the garmin had the heart rate displayed in a large enough box and I focused on that. First mile was slow: 8:25 and that was just fine. My HR was hovering around 167, close to my threshold. I felt good. As we ran up and down the hills through the Park, I noticed that if my HR crept up over 170 for any length of time, I did not feel good at all. Knowing I was accumulating too many hydrogen ions in my blood at this point (Glycolosis a.k.a. 'anaerobic' respiration converts glucose to pyruvate. Normally pyruvate converts to acetyl Co-A to enter the Kreb cycle but at high workloads 'aerobic' [with oxygen] respiration can't keep up with the energy demands so pyruvate converts to lactate which spills over into the blood. Lactate is then sent to the heart to be metabolized as fuel or the liver for gluconeogenesis [creation of glucose]. It's only when the hydrogen ions produced by the conversion of pyruvate to lactate build up to the point where they affect the pH of the blood that fatigue is caused, not the accumulation of lactate- common misunderstanding! Do I make sense? I hope I cleared up that biochemical nuance for you! Such a geek I am). As I noticed I was not feeling well over HR's of 170 (many of you may experience this as feeling like puking and/or intense burning sensations in the muscles being used- note for future reference), I dialed my pace back to HR's of 167-168. Much, much better. Now, I know my threshold pretty well so that 3-4 beat increase makes all the difference for me being able to hold my pace or not. Typically in the heat, your brain does not allow you to recruit as many muscle fibers as you would in 50-60 degree conditions as a protective defense against your core temperature rising too high (research has found this point to be core temps over 104). If you are aware of what your threshold HR is, then you can go into a hot and humid race relying on heart rate to gauge your pace. The majority of people will typically be much slower in the heat as your brain rallies to protect you against heat exhaustion/stroke so don't expect to run as fast as you would normally be in cooler conditions. If you are a taller/larger person, you will also store more heat than a smaller person making it more difficult for you to rid yourself of it through sweating. The things you can do to race as best as you can for the day in the heat is use RPE (rating of perceived exertion) to gauge your pace, make sure you go into the race hydrated (but not over hydrated!!!), and to use cooling methods to trick your brain a little bit. This includes swallowing short sips of water, and/or carbohydrate (by now I am sure you have heard of the "swish and swallow" research, if not, you can catch up here). Other effective cooling methods include the neck coolers for longer races, or in hot Ironman/marathon conditions, shoving ice down your suit, under your hat, in your groin area. It works. For more on brain regulation of pace, you can google Noakes' "central govenor theory". HR can be an effective tool for some people but not for all and it depends on the length of the race. If you are properly hydrated, slept well, ate a decent meal, and you have acclimated to the heat, you can use HR like I did today. HR can rise in the heat due to dehydration, sleeping and eating patterns, etc. so for the majority of people that aren't finely tuned into their ranges, RPE- how the exercise feels, is a better indicator for pace. If you are racing for longer periods of time (over a 10k distance or if your 10k takes you more than an hour) heart rate will rise at the similar workload due to cardiac drift. Accumulated fatigue and dehydration taking HR's higher than you would normally have for any given single given workout where you aren't at race pace. Whether you are a triathlete, runner, cyclist, "racing your way fit" has some great advantages. You will almost always push yourself harder in a race than you would in any tempo effort you do at home and it will help you to establish HR ranges, power ranges, and pacing ranges for your goal race of the season. Knowing a PR was not happening in the counter clockwise hills of Central Park for me today, my goal was to run as hard as I could in the conditions of the day and to control my pace from start to finish. I did this today, mission accomplished. 52:43 only a few seconds slower than my 52:30 finish at the 10k a month ago there. Today's course was tougher, a full loop of the park, it was 93% humidity, and warmer- much tougher conditions than the June 11th Mini. Progress towards the Hamptons Half Marathon this September and a flat, fast 10k PR this fall. Regrouping at the finish with M.E. and Kiera (who both ran great) who were talking with Terry Bisogno, famed race announcer of multiple local road races and next week's Montauk Lighthouse Sprint Triathlon, I was amazed by Terry's recall of stats as he quoted off my previous age group wins at next weeks sprint followed by last year's second to a young 35 year old by a few seconds. He was wondering if I was going for the win this year, and I told him since I was turning 40, I would give it my all just like I do every year out there, it all depends on who shows up. Competition for me is with myself. I race as hard as I can for that day, if someone beats me, great, they were faster than me on that day and hats off to them, I always know I give it 100% and I am pleased with any race result. There are no good or bad races, just athletic experiences you can learn from and progress. To waste energy on "I should have gone faster" is such a mistake, if you could have gone faster you would have. Period. Unless you are a quitter when the pain of fatigue sets in, then you have learn to overcome that by practicing race pace in the lead up. Either way, control what you can, let go of what you can't. Learn. Grow. Set goals. Most importantly have a good time, remember, racing for amateurs is supposed to be fun, that's how you got into it in the first place. If you aren't having fun, re-examine your motives, take a break. Sport will always be there for you when you are mentally ready to attack the challenge of it again. This is where I am at now. I toyed with the idea of doing the NYC marathon this year and dismissed it last week. I wanted/needed a break from the long distance racing. I am fully enjoying doing the shorter stuff and not completely blowing myself out in training and racing, what a reprieve! Much needed for me.

Post run, M.E. and I went out for a few extra miles around what she refers to as "the dog pound", a quick, flat run around the reservior for an extra 4 miles. 10 miles of work accomplished today preceeded by dinner and a show (Priscilla- Queen of the Desert, excellent!) and and nice breakfast after the race this morning. Great weekend!

Nutrition, hydration and electrolytes for long distance endurance events

2011-06-19T20:50:00.041-04:00

On location for the 11th annual Fireman Ironman Triathlon Camp. With exception of a couple of years where my teaching exam schedule has conflicted with the camp dates, we have been up here every year, well Dave has been up here every year even when I couldn't go! In the early days, there were 30 or so campers and over the years it has increased in popularity and capped at 150! It's been great to be included on the panel of coaches and experts and I really enjoy being able to help out the newbie Ironman athletes as well as the veterans. I was asked to reprise my talk on nutrition and hydration strategies that was very well received in 2009. This year I added a bit, focusing on how to adjust your strategies on the fly according to environmental conditions and typical GI distress issues and I received many compliments on how helpful it was. With so many speakers contributing incredible amounts of information, it can be tough to remember everything so here is a summary of my talk, a kind of "go to" guide to help you through your next Ironman, marathon, or any long endurance event lasting more than 4 hours.
I started out by asking how many athletes were first timers and quite a few hands went up! I then asked the veterans their opinion on the ever changing weather up here and got many head nods and grunts of agreement. The thing is, the weather up here in the mountains can change rapidly from day to day or hour to hour and you need to be prepared to adjust your nutrition strategy to the demands of the day. It requires some practice and paying attention to the needs of your body. For the past couple of years it has been a chilly, rainy start and you certainly can't apply a hot weather hydration strategy to cold weather conditions, nor does cold weather nutrtion and hydration strategies work for the hot weather which you very well may experience by the end of the bike! You can prepare for either though, first, let's get the generalities out of the way. Most people are aware of the basics or have heard from their peers:

drink every 15 minutes
"eat" every 30-45 minutes
250 calories per hour

Reality check: If it's cold you don't need as much fluid, if it's hot you will need more. If you are a big and/or tall person you may need more than 250 cals per hour and if you are petite you may need less! What you eat and drink is as important as the timing and is all depends on your sweat rate, gastric emptying rate (how quickly your stomach can pass the nutrients on to your small intestine) which is dependent on genetics, concentration of foods/drinks, and the weather! Yikes! What to do!?! Nutrition is very individualized and you must practice your strategies throughout all of your long training days leading up to the race. There is some trial and error to decide what works for you but the good news is there are guidelines that I can give you and pitfalls I can help you to avoid. Let's start with pre-race and I'll move your through the run. I'll also include some examples of questions/problems that I have been asked and the I'll give you my interpretation of the solutions.

Pre-race: In the days leading up to the race, eat and drink how you normally would. Do not change anything! Avoid overhydration, do not be the person walking around with a gallon jug of water. Drink to thirst and monitor your hydration by the color and frequency that you urinate. If you are frequently urinating and it is clear you are doing a fantastic job of flushing out all of your needed electrolytes. Your urine should be a pale yellow color. Drink to thirst, do not force yourself to over drink. Morning of the race, eat your normal breakfast at least 2-3 hours prior to the start to promote adequate digestion. SInce it is a few hours to the 7 am start, have a gel or three shot blocks 30 minutes prior to the swim to top off your blood glucose levels. You do not want to start a 10 hour plus race hungry! Besides, your body will pull the needed calories from your blood preserving your muscle glycogen for when you need it later on in the race.
Post- swim onto the bike: With 2500+ people thrashing at the start to find some clear water, I have no doubt that you will be sampling the quality of water in Mirror Lake. Luckily it's clean, allow your stomach to settle, if you need something coming out of the swim it will be there for you on the bike. It's time to get rolling. If it's cold/rainy conditions take the time to put some arm warmers on in transition, you can always roll them down if they aren't needed but they will help you conserve a little heat in the meantime. Drink to thirst! Odds are within 15-20 minutes you will be thirsty, you just swam 2.4 miles! On a cold day plan on 1- 1.5 bottles per hour and meter out the drinking. It's better to consume 4-5 oz. at a time than gulping large amounts. Your stomach can pass through a smaller amount of liquid more quickly than a huge bolus, especially if there are nutrients in it. In addition to whatever fluid replacement drink you use you need to drink water as well. Common mistake: drinking nothing but Ironman perform, perpetuem, heed, gatorade, infinit etc.. While they are necessary products as you need the 4-8% carbohydrate content, they also contain quite a bit of sodium. Many people take electrolyte tabs in addition to the salty drinks. Salt upon more salt. Sodium chloride is necessary but your body has homeostatic mechanisms to balance the level of salt in your blood. If you drink nothing but brand fluid replacement drinks + electrolyte capsules on the side you will most likely exit the bike dehydrated, bloated, stomach sloshing, swollen fingers like sausages! It's simple diffusion: salt diffuses into your cells and the water must diffuse out. The higher concentration of fluids you take in containing salt, the more your cells diffuse water out into the interstitial space between the cells. This causes the swelling/bloating. Think- you can't drink sea water, why? It's too salty!!!! So more water in between the cells, not in the cells where it is needed. More urinating as your kidney's try to rid your body of the excess fluid, and you? More dehydrated. Add food (gels/bloks/actual food) to the carbohydrate salt rich fluid you are taking in and it's no surprise that you have GI issues. The concentration is far too high for you to absorb and digest it quickly. Instead:

Calories- the standard is 250, if you are a larger person shoot for 300, smaller person or you have a slow gastric emptying rate- 200 cals per hour. One bottle of fluid replacement drink per hour = 100 to 150 cals. You can get another 100 cals from a gel/bloks (3)/ or food of choice. With eating drink water only!!! Aim to grab water at the next aid station and alternate your drinking of your fluid replacement drink with water. Guage how you feel by mile 80. Feeling good? Great! Not? Slow your heart rate down, stand up and stretch and get some nutrition in. There are many low's in a race. When your energy is low, your brain is not functioning because your brain only survives on glucose. Get some simple sugars in and get your blood sugar level back up to where it should be, you'll feel better! Listen to your body: sick of the sugary taste? Or, the fluid drink you are taking in tastes to syrupy/salty? You need water!!! Feeling flushed out and tired, craving a meal? You need the carbohydrate drink and probably some food!!
Hot environment: At least 2 bottles per hour- one your fluid replacement drink of choice and one water. If you are a heavy sweater, you may need more than this. Heat decreases the ability to digest. Blood is shunted to the skin to cool off your core, less blood is available to working muscles and even less to digestion. Pace can/will slow. If it is hot throughout the bike, plan on using carbohydrates that are easy to digest: glucose and maltodextrines (long chains of glucose), they are easily digestible. Disaccharides like sucrose (which break down into glucose and fructose) take longer to digest and fructose by itself can be difficult to absorb from the small intestine when temperatures rise. I have a previous blog post that describes the differences between sugars, you can find it under "training articles" on the right for more information, or click here.

22.1 miles is a welcome site but it's still 4.1 to go!

On the run: You can drink water only and rely on a gel flask (stores 5) or bloks if you are not a gel person. The flask fits neatly into any pocket and you can water down your gels to help you get them down. If your stomach is shutting down, coke! The bicarbonate in the cola settles the stomach and the simple sugars and caffeine can give you a much needed boost. If you feel fine getting off the bike, hold off the coke until the second half of the marathon. If you aren't a 9:30-11 hour finisher than you may want to freeze a bottle of coke to store in your special needs bag on the run. Sometimes the aid stations run out of coke in the latter hours of the race. Be prepared, it can't hurt to have your own stash in your special needs bag!

Electrolytes: If it is a hot environment or you are a particularly salty sweater you will probably need to take in 2-3 capsules per hour of Endurolytes. Avoid salt pills alone, you need more than just salt! Hammer's endurolytes also contain magnesium and potassium along with the sodium. If you use a different brand, that's fine, check the label to make sure it includes more than just "sodium chloride". Use the Hammer capsule tube. Have one with you on the bike, one with you on the run and store one in each of your special needs bags incase you drop it. If you've hydrated well, taken in your gels/bloks and you are still feeling low, central fatigue may be setting in and you can down a bunch of endurolytes with some water. Chicken soup, salty pretzels and the orange slices also offer a little something different that may help you out of a funk.

Q & A, four interesting case studies:
Problem 1. Severe cramping in right hip flexor getting off the bike. Eats a bar or gel right before the run transition.
Solution: Gel 30 minutes before getting off the bike to allow for digestion, or eat a bar 45-60 minutes before getting off the bike. Stand up and stretch a few times over the last 5-10 miles, the extended time in the aero position is most like cramping the hip flexor muscles and possibly making it difficult to digest the food. Change body postions to be ready for the uprightness of running.

Problem 2: Highly competitive female athlete, 5'10" 120 pounds. Overly strict eating patterns, trains 30 hours per week (tolerates high volume well without injury). Over the last few ironman's has to walk 7-8 hours into the race. Upon further questioning from me, only drinks IM perform. Does not eat enough calories on regular training days. Chronically underfed and dehydrated, body most likely in starvation mode. Chronically dehydrated state made worse by not drinking any water during the race. Eats 300-400 cals per hour on the bike (too much for her frame) and is eating more per hour in a race than on a regular day. Metabolism is most likely very low from not eating enough on daily training days which slows down gastric emptying rate and the athlete is not getting the needed calories to muscles and performance decline is due to a combination of glycogen depletion and dehydration.
Solution: Calculate daily caloric needs (see calorie requirements for female athletes), follow up with a sports nutrtionist for daily food intake. Since metabolism is low, stick with maltodextrines, drop cals to 250 per hour and drink water in addition to the perform.

Problem 3: Gluten intolerance, experiences bloating and swollen fingers by the time the run hits. Currently drinking and eating what is available on the course.
Solution: Limit the fructose intake in the course drink. Add one bottle of water per hour in addition to a multi-hour bottle of perpetuem or something similar. Try real foods on the bike like nuts/gluten free granola/gluten free bars and drink water with them. Coke on the run if bloating persists (place a bottle in special needs), water down an unflavored gel and store in a flask for the run.

Problem 4: 6 bottles of Ironman Perform on the bike, got off feeling very hot, dehydrated and had a hard time running. Covered in white salt at the finish of the workout.
Solution: Add one bottle of water for every bottle of Perform that you drink on the bike. Carry a tube of endurolytes and take 2-4 per hour with water on the bike. Eat foods on the bike with water only. Wear a hat on the hot run to stuff ice in and stuff ice into trisuit wherever it can go. Take advantage of chicken soup on the course during second half of marathon for something different but be prepared with a tube of your own electrolytes to take as needed.

Problem 5: Tall athlete 6'4" suffering from lightheadedness and has to walk on the run. No problems in training. Fast athlete, goal is to qualify for Kona.
Solution: Not enough calorie intake on the bike. I worked with this athlete closely for 6 months in which I was able to create the training program, monitor progress and monitor nutrient intake while making adjustments. He did qualify for Kona and has gone on to be highly successful at all racing distances.

These are quick solutions to somewhat common problems but there may be other factors involved. If you have an issue, go ahead and ask me question, I would be happy to help! Remember, if you are feeling bloated and/or have GI distress you are probably drinking a large amount of fluid at once and you have exceeded what your system can tolerate. Instead of guzzling, stick with short drinks 4-5 oz, more frequently throughout the hour to speed gastric emptying. If you are experiencing frequent bathrooms stops on the run, salt induced dehydration and inability to digest fructose may be an issue for you. Happy training, good luck in your race! Perfect practice makes perfect!

Giving it 100% of your 100%

2011-06-11T19:20:00.000-04:00

The women's mini has become an annual event for me. This was my third adventure to the mini with M.E. and it was a thoroughly fun time. It's not often that I get to start in corral one, right behind the pro's (how I end up here every year I do not know because my corral time is based on a 10k PR of 46 minutes that I set in 2009 and I do not re-enter that time each year, I am not in 46 shape at all!) but the start is great with the pro's getting up to speak and they are right next to us. Amazing to see how petite Deena Kastor is, I felt like a giant standing on the ground only a few feet away from her! Today's race was dedicated to the great Grete Waitz and for the first time in 40 years, the women's mini had a male runner: Grete Waitz' life partner ran in her stead. Shortly after the anthem, the gun went off and and the crowded corral quickly thinned out. Customarily, I ran too fast the first mile (7:30). For some reason I can never hold back in a "short" race, I had no idea what I was going to do today, thinking 48 if things went spectacular to 52 high if things were less than spectacular. "Things" being my fitness first and the environmental conditions second. It was cooler at the start: 69 degrees but the 96% humidity is a killer on these lungs, I was feeling it by mile 3. The beginning of the race is on the flat section of Central Park West, for 1.5 miles I am in my element, the flats, then it's a quick right and hard left turn into Central Park followed by a short gradual climb and then the first major uphill. Mile 2 was just under 16 minutes and I thought if I could hold on, it would be a spectacular day. My garmin was way way off. I couldn't rely on the pace at all so I went by heart rate, pegging it at 170-174. Mile 4 was the slowest (there is a long uphill there) and then it was just a hang on until the finish. Once I settled myself to running at the upper end of my HR range, the pace no longer mattered, it couldn't, I was running as fast as I could. Today, it wasn't fast: 51:29, my slowest 10k in awhile but that's OK. It's the reality of what my fitness was today and I can only get faster from here. Looking forward to training for a fast 10k in the fall, increasing my mileage gradually and racing my way fit with some short, fast local races. I never push myself as hard in a tempo run as I do in a race. In order to get faster at the shorter races, I will have to race more and that's fine, I'm looking forward to it! A big congrats to M.E.'s niece Michelle, doing her first ever 10k, the longest distance she has ever run, a great accomplishment! The running genes are evident in the family and M.E.'s daughter Kiera went 49! Great day!

The Brick

2011-06-04T08:58:00.000-04:00

A single brick by itself does not create a foundation, layers of bricks do. If you are a duathlete or a triathlete, the brick should be a regular component of your training program. Whenever I review a training schedule for a new athlete, one of the things that I commonly find is the absence of brick training or the brick is done only after the long ride of the week and the run off the brick is not at a pace that simulates goal race pace. Here is a list of what you need to do to add this important component to your training plan correctly:
1. Set a goal. Have a goal pace in mind for what you think you are capable of running off the bike and it must be realistic. If you have never run faster than 10 minute miles off the bike than running 7:30's is not in your fitness range. Choose a reasonable goal, like 9:45's this year. 15 seconds per mile doesn't seem like much, but trust me, it's difficult to maintain and dropping 30 seconds per mile is even harder. That requires months of focus and training. So, look at last year's racing and then set your goal for what you can reasonably run this year.
2. Figure out which day of the week works best for your higher intensity brick. Planning to run fast off the bike does not really pair up well with a run speed workout the day before for example. Allow enough time for 60-90 minutes of riding and 30-60 minutes of running.
3. Ride the last 30-40 minutes of the bike at your goal race pace.
4. Running at goal pace off the bike needs to occur in increments: first week/10 minutes at race pace; second week/15 minutes; third week/20 minutes. The remainder of the run is at an easy pace.
5. This is a great time to nail down your nutrition plan while heart rates and effort levels are higher. It will give you a good idea of how well you can digest what you are taking in. Pay attention to your calorie needs, very important for longer distance racing.
6. Recovery from this workout is important! Refuel with a meal within 60 minutes of this intense workout to replenish your muscle glycogen stores.

Happy training!

Bike fit. If you've never had one done professionally, you should!

2011-05-30T20:45:00.000-04:00

The school year is winding down and my stress level is winding up. Crunch time for covering material, keeping it interesting, fun and applicable to the real world while 14-15 year old's stare whistfully out the window wishing they were anywhere but sitting in the classroom. I can't blame them, sunshine and 80 yesterday and I couldn't wait to get home for a warm weather run myself. Warmer weather has me craving some ride time too, ride time equates with a comfortable set up on the bike which had taken a back seat to the running for the last couple of years. I finally did something about that last weekend.

Driving out to Sag Harbor, I was really excited. It's not everyday that you get bike fit by an uber P.T. that is currently finishing up coursework for her PhD in Orthopedic Sports Medicine. Most bike fitters are enthusiastic, experienced cyclists that sit through a weekend certification course (in the words of Seinfeld 'not that there is anything wrong with that'). Sinead is a master of manual and sports physical therapy working in her private practice on the east end of Long Island. The difference in biomechanical education is a no contest, oh and she is a former professional cyclist that went to every bike fitting certification course offered in the USA and now uses the Retul system. Experience + education, I can honestly say that there is no other bike fitter in the USA like her. Good ones with many years of experience, yes, but they still aren't Sinead. As an added bonus, when Dave, Marty and I walked into her office we found Susan Roman there as well, Susan is just finishing up her DPT at Stony Brook, and will soon be working with Sinead in the Sag Harbor office. Two pairs of trained eyes, awesome!
Dave was up first:

You can see the biomechanical dots that are picked up by the retul camera and sent to the computer.

Sinead readjusting straps and markers on Dave to look at the right side profile. His seat was moved up almost 2 cm which alleviated a lot of pressure on his arthritic hip. Stem shortened as well.

Marty and Dave during a brief respite while Sinead and Susan were crunching data in the background.

Marty for the right side view. Susan picked up that Marty was continually readjusting his butt on the seat after changes were made in an attempt to find the old position. It was unconscious on his part, muscle "memory" goes a long way and it does take time to adjust to a new fitting.

Fitting a proper stem length. Susan and Sinead adjusting the fitting stem.

Marty's computer man pedaling on the screen.

The new fit. Due to a leg injury, Marty's right knee was not tracking correctly. Sinead adusted the seat and the stem simulatneously making him more aero and improving his pedaling efficiency.

Yours truly: stretched out with a huge spinal hump.

After a seat height increase, seat moved back and a change from the factory 100 mm stem to a 70 mm stem. Noticeably different and noticeably more comfortable!

Sam Cila on the boardwalk at Cupsogue beach during a pit stop. Foggy morning ride!

Riding this weekend was an absolute pleasure. Intervals friday for an hour as part of a brick and my legs felt really fresh off the bike. Saturday an easy ride for an hour. Sunday I spent two hours in the saddle riding with Sam Cila down to the beach. With very little effort we averaged a little over 19 for the two hours (until Sam felt like stepping up the pace for a stretch and I had to push to hang onto his wheel) the miles whipped by in absolute comfort. Before, my neck was sore but that wasn't even my main complaint. I could not take the saddle, the nether regions were not happy, my right hip was complaining and so was my right knee. Now, it's all good! Love my new saddle, love my new fit, love love love riding my bike again. If you've never been professionally fit, I encourage you to check out Sinead's website at www.bikefitplus.com you will improve your efficiency and performance on the bike. The couple of hours you spend are absolutely worth it and your cycling will improve tremendously!

The deceleration of Jen

2011-05-15T09:03:00.001-04:00

I usually take the worst race photos. With trepidation, I clicked on the link in the email to have a look at the photos from this years Boston marathon. Since I am giving up the long distance for awhile in pursuit of the PhD, I decided to purchase some of the photos this year as a reminder of the suffering I endured and I have to share them with you because I am visibly in the pain cave.

Walking to the start corrals, happily bundled in throw away clothes. That's my friend Scott K. walking with me on the left, well, half of Scott K. The photographer could have taken a better shot. I love the throw away clothes look, Scott has on some great capri's and my pants are 5 times too big, we should have switched.

Crossing the start- no, must be later on I don't have the water bottle in my hand. 10 mile mark? How I have no one around me is a mystery. Two things I like about this photo: my hair bouncing up behind the visor and my shadow. My outfit is horrible, it screams "triathlete" but let me tell you, I am comfortable. Comfort trumps style for the marathon and I love my compression. Note the smile, at least I think I'm smiling.

Smile has evaporated. I can't place the picture but it has to be after mile 15. I have to do something about my arms, too much crossover in front. Not efficient, waste of energy.

An attempt at a "cool" picture and a possible attempt at a smile that just ended up as a grimace. No hair bounce, legs barely off the ground, I basically look like I am standing still and I can tell you I was willing my body to run as fast as I could. No mind of matter in this case.

I think this was rounding the corner towards the finish. I can see the shadow under my right foot, such a supinator I am. At least my back foot is off the ground. Rounded shoulders, hands crossing the midline of my body (I have to correct this). You can't really see it here but my left hand is completely unrelaxed and rigid. Still, I like this photo, no random people around me and I am clearly sighting on something down the road, the finish a quarter mile away, the longest quarter mile ever. The prize.

Crossing the finish, didn't have it in me to make that clock read "3:5x" but it was close. I gave it all I had. Feet in a shuffle, no smile, arms raised for the double high fist pump. No smiles on the girls next to me either, pure grimacing. The girl on the right had some kick left in her but it hurt, the girl on the left is in the pain cave with me. Shared suffering.

If I ever say I am going back there, remind me to scroll through these pictures!!!

Biking to-do-list

2011-05-14T16:46:00.000-04:00

Went outside for the second time this year this morning. Arm warmers, leg warmers, vest, undershirt, full gloves. It was the same when when I went out two weeks ago, somehow the time I have to ride never correlates with the nicer weather. As I was riding, I started paying attention to my thoughts and I figured I would share them with you. If you are like me, and you hung up the wheels for awhile in pursuit of an alternate endurance sport quest, then you'll understand what I am going through as I try to regain my lost cycling legs.

In Speonk. Ive got some beautiful routes, of course today was overcast and grey but it was still beautiful.

To do:

Change my seat. I have a brand new ISM saddle sitting in the box. Time to swap it out. You can't sit on a bike with an uncomfortable crotch area especially since it's a main contact point. Must do this before Wednesday's ride.
Bike fit. I have an unconfirmed appointment with Sinead on Saturday the 21st and I really really need it. My right knee, right hip and my neck are not feeling well and I should not have any pain 10 miles into a ride. Bike fit, a must. If you have never had a bike fit, I highly suggest it. I can tell you that I hate riding uncomfortable. I had my previous Kestrel fit and it was a night and day experience. I still love riding that bike. While I set up my new Kestrel trying to match the measurements of the old, this isn't accurate as the aerodynamics, seat angle, drops are all different. If I am going to enjoy cycling again then I have to be comfortable to want to sit in the saddle for 1, 2, 3, 4 hours. Have to keep the nether regions happy too- new seat, new fit, top priorities.
At first I was thinking that I was not liking the sound of the wind in my ears. When I run, I mostly listen to music as I cannot stand the sound of my own breathing. I do not wear earphones while riding, too dangerous, so not only do I hear myself breathing, the wind is rushing into my ear canals. I stopped this negative train of thought by reminding myself if I became deaf, I would cherish the sound of the wind in my ears. Changed my perspective.
I felt like I was constantly riding into the wind and then I stopped at the bridge above to take a picture and realized there was no wind. It was just simple rolling resistance as my own body and bike cut through the air. Yikes, too much time on the trainer! Must ride outside more often. My thoughts tuned back to numbers one and two.
Batteries for the bike computer need replacing, garmin needs to be charged. The last time I wore the garmin was Boston, brought it to the Peconic Paddlers off road half marathon and it was dead. Bike computer gradually faded out, time to hit the Shack for replacement batteries. I need data, I was dataless today although halfway through the ride I was glad I was dataless, If I saw how slowly I might be riding, I would have upped the tempo and defeated the purpose of my easy 2 hour ride. I have trouble holding myself back on the bike so for today, while I was riding uncomfortably on an ill fit bike, I was glad I did not see how "fast" I was riding. Granted it's only the second time outside today but I have a long cycling history and very little patience. I have a need for speed.
Helmet is killing my forehead, need to find one that is comfortable. Then I thought, all my helmets bother my forehead. Unfortunately, I cannot change my forehead. Must get some kind of padding, I can't loosen it up, it wouldn't be safe to have a helmet sliding around my head, defeats the purpose of wearing one.
Cycling clothing- I don't remember the last time I purchased a good set of shorts. Dave has brought me home a couple of jersey's from his travels but I am in need of decent bike shorts/bibs. Might help me with the seat problem too.
Saddle bag- everytime I go to ride, I am looking around for the tire iron, CO2 cartridges and inflator, spare tube. I take them out and place them somewhere, Dave takes back the inflator and the cartridges, then when I go to ride I either can't find my stuff or I have it in different places around the house and need to gather it all. What a waste of time. Saddle bag with flat kit needs to be ready to go. I think I'll purchase two one for the road bikes and one for the mountain bike. This way they are permanently attatched to the saddles and all I have to do is pump the tires up and roll out.
New road shoes. My old Kestrel and the road bike have an older pair of speedplay's that are not compatible with the cleat for the newer speedplay's on the new Kestrel. This is stupid, should have thought about that but didn't because my old road shoes were fine, until they weren't. They fell apart. Have to order new shoes and swap the cleats on them. Not looking forward to finding a shoe. Bike shoes are like seats to me and I am very picky, I also know this is going to cost me $$$. Bike shoes are not cheap and it isn't worth it to buy cheap crappy shoes as they won't last. I like my garneau tri shoes, maybe I'll just get another pair to use for the road anyway.
Time to train. I've only been on the bike a couple of times of week since I ran the marathon. While I clicked off thirty miles today without blinking, I can feel that I do not have the snap in my legs nor the ability to climb. Aerobically, I'm fine, now I just need some bike specific strength and that will come from putting time in the saddle a consistent three to four days per week. While I was busy berating myself for being slow today, (30 miles in 1:45- it's a little over a 17 mph average which isn't bad for not trying to ride fast but it's certainly not where I was at in September of last year, did I mention that I am impatient?) I reminded myself that I need to adjust my perspective. Getting out of the pool on Thursday I was miffed at myself for having a slow night. I was tired, not enough sleep, a stressful week and I was just not swimming as fast as I was on Tuesday. Some days are like that but I do not like it when it happens to me. After the first two hundred with paddles, coach Bryan says "what's the matter with you tonight". "I'm tired" I said, "remember I told you that you killed me on Tuesday?". I was not recovered from that swim and while thinking this, I cursed myself for my 40 year old body's slower recovery. I struggled, but I made it through the workout, desperately trying to hang onto the fast feet in front of me and getting pissed off for having to move back in the lane. I should be happy that I am back swimming in the fastest lane yet here I am, bitching in my head about being slow on one night. In the locker room after practice a woman approached me and complimented me on my swimming and was asking me for advice on her stroke. It's all perspective. Here I am complaining and this woman is working harder to try and swim more like me. That was an eye opener. As competitive athletes we can be so hard on ourselves. I see it in the athletes I train and I know the struggle, I'm always telling athletes to relax and allow the training to work for them. The will to want to do and perform better all the time, to be going fast and passing others is intrinsic to all competitive athletes. I couldn't stand it that I had a hard time on Thursday keeping up with the speedy men and then that after pool conversation changed my perspective. How lucky am I that I spent years practicing good swim technique so that I could swim faster? I'm still working on my technique as I am by no means the first out of the water in a triathlon, nor the fastest person in the pool. I want to get faster than that "back of the front pack" swimming, and that's going to take some time in the water too. I'm so glad I hooked up with Coach Bryan and OWS- I truly believe he's going to help me swim faster this summer.

Time to get to work on this list. Swapping out my seat tonight.

3 weeks post marathon

2011-05-09T18:18:00.000-04:00

Seems longer than that because mentally, I am past it, my body has not forgotten though. It's truly amazing how long a full recovery can take (usually 4 weeks) and at this point I've got great marathon and half marathon fitness but no short distance speed. Time to change that.
I start adding in some strides this week, scheduled a 10k for June 11th, similar to last year I will be running the Women's Mini in Central Park with my running partner in crime: M.E. Here is a picture of us crossing the finish line together last year. M.E. on the left myself on the right in a hideously ridiculous 80's lime green tank:

Good thing you can't see my face, that 49 hurt!

I'm looking forward to increasing my run mileage this week but at the same time, I promised myself I would be more of a multisport athlete, so I have to remember not to get stuck on the numbers. Last week I got in 2 swims, 2 rides and 2 runs. Nothing long- everything felt great but I could still feel the leftover heaviness in my legs from the marathon. Come on snap! Come back! If you are recovering from a similar long race it can be frustrating because it feels like you are back at square one: no fitness, yet just weeks ago you were at peak fitness. Where did it all go? Did you use it up? Yes and no. If you pushed yourself really hard, past the point of fatigue, willed yourself on when your mind was begging for it to be over then your muscles need time to repair. You did some damage, I know I did, after all, the last 5 miles were a cramp fest for me, no such thing as a 'feel good finish'. It was more like brute will to continue as my legs and core muscles buckled as I simultaneously fought with my mind's urge to stop. This is the lure of the marathon though, it comes down to that final 10k and it's also what makes the finish so sweet, knowing I continued on, staying mentally strong through the finish regardless of what my time was. Interestingly though, that's the first thing someone asks you, "what was your time?". "Good for the day" is my response, and that time frame differs for everyone. My four hours is someone's PR and another persons failure. It is all relative people, just give it your best. I did, therefore it is acceptable. Onward, hopefully to faster short distance times as soon as my body finishes adapting to the stress of three weeks ago, it will pay off, you can't go wrong with a great aerobic base and the marathon training gave me that.

Recovery continued and other awesomeness

2011-04-29T16:38:00.000-04:00

After overdoing it during a power yoga session last Saturday, I had to take 2 days off to allow my overstretched hammies to calm down. Tuesday I went for my first run since the marathon and surprisingly, I didn't feel too bad but I was also glad I wasn't running more than 3 miles! I did a short 15 minute recovery swim in the endless, stretching myself out. I felt like running again on Wednesday so I did, I ran 4 in the trails, felt great. Went to masters swim on Thursday and got myself kicked out of my regular lane and put into lane 6 with the speed demons. I'm glad we were wearing flippers for drills and did a lot of kicking (a strength for me, I was able to keep up with the guys and even move up in the lane). Sucked some serious wind on the five one hundreds of all out sprinting (with fins- whew) but I enjoyed the sensation of feeling like a rockstar fro the first 25, riding high in the water and then gradually losing steam, sapped of strength and it was full out lead arms by the last 25 as I struggled to keep up with the fast feet in front of me. Today was a 1 hour ride on the CT followed by an easy 20 minute run- I tried St. Croix real course video, um that was an eye opener. Hello constant 3-9% grades and I didn't even get to the Beast! Good luck to my husband and to Sam racing there this weekend. Add some wind and some rutted roads and you have the makings for an epic racing experience. Speaking of Sam in related awesome news, not only do I get to coach him for RAAM this year, just found out that it's a definite a few weeks ago.... Sam was invited to ride President George Bush's Warrior 100k this week. No matter your political views, it was awesome I imagine and I can't wait to hear all about it when he gets back. I do have some pictures to share and I'm going to quote Anna (Sam's wife) when she posted on facebook, "at dinner with the President, Lance Armstrong, David Blaine and oh... my husband ;)" too funny!

That's Sam and teammate Andy and another warrior with the President

Looking pretty good on that MTB!

Paceline in the desert of Texas

and that paceline was lead by none other than 7 time tour winner Lance Armstrong

A close up of Sam's kick ass prosthetic made by Step Ahead

Inspiring!

Marathon recovery: days 3 & 4

2011-04-22T17:58:00.000-04:00

Thursday rolled around and already I noticed I was walking much better after a good night's sleep, going down stairs normally too- although I could feel my quads protesting just a little. It's been perfect timing that this years Boston marathon fell on a week I'm off work for vacation, it definitely speeds recovery along when I don't have to stand on tired legs for 7.5 hours per day (afternoon napping helps too!). I went back to the pool last night for masters practice, it was good to see Coach Bryan, haven't been back to practice since October (eeek!) and swam once at the lab pool for approx 30 minutes so I was a little apprehensive jumping back into the mix of a masters workout, particularly on a night when it was an extended 2 hour practice rather than the regular hour. Go big or go home right? After a few hugs, hello's and how are you doing's from faces I hadn't seen in a few months, I actually started off in my regular lane, winging it but knowing I would swim easy and towards the back. Gliding through the water with a smile on my face, and in between 100's I was reminded about how much I enjoy sports other than running and it was so good to have some comraderie and shared laughter in the short rest intervals. I surprised myself last night, despite not having any top end speed since I (1) ran a hard marathon 3 days prior and (2) not swimming for months on end; I swam well! The technique never left, I had the fitness from running and 1.5 hours later I ended up swimming 4400 yards. 25 x 100 never went so fast in the middle of the workout, some of it easy, some with fins, some a little faster but it went quick because I wasn't training alone, I had fun and I enjoyed the great criticism and encouragement from Bryan on the deck.
After another great night's sleep last night, 4 days into recovery I could actually think about running this morning as I walked around the house, until I walked down the back steps this morning and reality set in. Quads are still stiff and sore but walking down the stairs is smooth, I'd say I am at about a 5.5 on my recovery meter.

I went to the gym on this 40 degree morning for a little Concept II time: rowed 5000 meters with no power whatsoever, could still feel that my core, leg and arm muscles (OK my entire body) was still fatigued from Monday's effort. Nothing under 2:00 per 500 meters today, conversational rowing pace but I fell easily into a steady smooth rhythm and dreamed of being back on the water this summer, envisioning competititon of a different type, hopefully at the Head of the Charles this fall if I can get into a sweep 4 locally. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the local club needs an experienced starboard rower. Finishing up with a quick turn on the bike and the elliptical to round out an hour, I left the gym for the "boathouse" to check out the opportunity of rowing with a crew very soon. No one was available today but I was all fired up after being around these familar sights:

Beautiful. I am so looking forward to getting back that fast, smooth, team effort feeling; working as one with power and grace and we fly over the top of the Peconic Bay waters. Let's go!!! Although I only know how to row sweep style well, I look forward to learning to scull, it can't be too hard of a transition. I can see myself owning my own single and perhaps a double with Sinead! Woot!

That's me in the bow, like the headband I'm sporting?

Sinead: you and me in the near future.

After checking out the East End Rowing Club, I went over for some promised pampering at my local pedi place. These tired dogs haven't been this smooth and looking good in awhile! Lower leg massage too, nice.

Not particularly attractive for feet, but a little polish goes a long way, you wouldn't want to have seen them right after Monday's 26.2!

Tracking recovery from the marathon: Introducing the Gatz Recovery Scale

2011-04-20T20:01:00.000-04:00

Two days after the marathon and the DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) has officially reared its unwelcome head. I figured that it would probably be beneficial to track my recovery from the marathon while providing some insight on what is an appropriate level of exercise post race. You have to keep in mind that the speed of your recovery is based on your fitness going into the race, genetics, age, nutritional choices and experience. Human bodies adapt according to their own individual schedules but as humans, we share many traits as well. There are quite a few studies that outline the fatigue factors post marathon, but if you have run marathon distance before, these findings will not be surprising to you. It's always amazing for me to see the contrast pre-race when you are feeling invincible post taper and then immediately post race when you are at your most fatigued and weakest, barely being able to negotiate a small flight of steps up or down. It's humbling.
In order to gauge how I am feeling and match it to what I think I am capable of dealing with training wise, I've devised a scale of my own invention. If you are familiar with the famous Borg scale of perceived exertion, then you will see a slight similarity with mine, which I will now refer to as the Gatz Recovery Scale. The differences of course are that I am not monitoring my exertion levels with activity, I am monitoring my perceived recovery level based on my ability to move without sore/heavy legs and my overall fatigue level. The scale is color coded from deep red to bright green; like a traffic light, red means stop, bright green means full systems go for training. Allow me to introduce you to it:

Since I just ran a marathon on Monday, this scale will be based on my running recovery but ideally it can be used for any type of sport or individual workout as a metric tool to help you gain body awareness and learn how to be flexible with your training schedule. I know that I will be using this metric as a gauge with the individual athletes that I coach to better adjust their schedule post race.

Explanation:

1. Not recovered at all. Immediately post race, exhausted. Leg muscle movement not well coordinated. Inability to walk normally. Walking is painful and slow. Need assistance by using arms to raise and lower from a sitting position. Sleep is restless and intermittent. Rest is required, ice bath recommended. Red light. Stop!

2. Barely recovered. Walking is still painful and slightly uncoordinated. Leg muscles are sore to the touch. Descending stairs sideways and climbing stairs is slightly painful and requires handrail to help pull the body up. Sleep may still be restless and intermittent. Overall fatigue level is high. Very light, non-weight bearing exercise like swimming or cycling of short duration (20-30 minutes) and low intensity (zone 1** only) can be done to improve circulation and promote recovery. Light dynamic stretching is also recommended.

4. Beginning recovery. Walking is normal and not painful. Stairs can be descended normally, although slowly. Deep leg muscles may still be sore to the touch and joint stiffness may still be evident. Sleeping patterns are back to normal, overall fatigue levels are low. Light non-weight bearing exercise still recommended at low levels for up to an hour (Mostly zone 1, with short periods of zone 2 as tolerated).

6 - 7. Turning the corner. Daily activities and walking are completed at normal speed with no lingering soreness. Ascending and descending stairs without pain or difficulty. Overall fatigue level is very low and the desire to train has returned. Exercise intensity should remain in Zone 1 to Zone 2 with the majority of the exercise being non-weight bearing (up to 90 minutes duration) and impact activities can be reintroduced to the training schedule. Running or related high impact exercise should remain in zone 1 levels for a short duration (20-40 minutes). Yellow light, slow yourself down!

8 - 9. Almost fully recovered. A return to all exercise related activities feeling good with the exception of high intensity. The athlete may still feel a lack of power/speed and may have a sense of deep muscle fatigue if intensity is pushed too high, even for short durations. Training may be conducted in the zone 1-3 levels, keeping zone 3 to brief/short intervals with the majority of the exercise landing in zone 2. Exercise duration may increase to longer workouts up to 2 hours as long as the intensity stays low.

10. Fully recovered. No lingering soreness, feeling great and ready to return to normal training in all zones (1-5). High intensity speed training may be reintroduced with appropriate recovery intervals. Green light, all systems go!

As of today, I am at a level 2 in recovery. I was able to spin on the bike in a zone 1 effort for 45 minutes on the trainer. I would not have been able to adjust to the demands of riding on the road, climbing anything, even a small hill would have been out of the question today. I am still descending stairs sideways and found my legs (the quads) buckling at times while walking through Target this afternoon! I slept intermittently with restless legs the last two nights and I am hoping that I can get a full nights sleep tonight to further promote recovery. I did take a nap today for almost 2 hours (that tells you how tired I am, hyperactive Jen never naps!). Tomorrow I will swim and hopefully my legs will not be buckling under me while walking and I hope that I will be able to swim without cramping! I have a feeling the pull buoy will be put to good use tomorrow.

Hopefully this scale will help you after your next big race and I look forward to refining it, hmmmmmm I sense a research project here!

** I refer to Zones 1-5 in training with Zone 1 as Active Recovery and Zone 5 as Anaerobic Capacity. This is an actual chart from an athlete I train. LT determined by field testing and "Pace" is my term for 'fast aerobic/race pace'. Heart rates are used here in this example but I also use zones 1-5 for Power (watts) and run pacing (minutes per mile)/swim pacing (time per hundred). You will need to determine your own zones, please do not use the ones shown here.

"Venga venga venga..Go N'eiri an t'adh leat.."

2011-04-19T23:17:00.002-04:00

My good friend Sinead posted this on my facebook wall. Venga meaning 'Come on! Hurry up!' and the gaelic meaning 'May the luck go with you'. I loved it. This years Boston marathon can be summed up with this definition:

o·ver·come/ˌōvərˈkəm/Verb

1. Succeed in dealing with (a problem or difficulty).

2. Defeat (an opponent); prevail.

I learned a few more things about myself on marathon Monday. Marathon is truly a test of human endurance in so far as much as pushing yourself to the limits of speed over distance. There are ultra marathons for sure but to truly race the marathon distance is for me, the pinnacle of suffering. Each time I think I have suffered, there seems to be a whole new level of what I can endure and that's what I learned through this year's race. To look at my results? Plan C in full effect, I certainly would have preferred the 40k time as my overall!:

It's numbers on a page, it's meaningless without knowing what I went through to get it. By no means was this a PR race for me and I knew that going in. First of all, Boston could never be a PR marathon course for me, it doesn't suit me at all and that's OK, for me it was all about celebrating the accomplishment of getting there in the first place. In 18 months I did 3 marathons, scored a 3:42 PR at the first and did the next two at Boston, I'm very proud of that, not everyone gets to run Boston. I did twice now and I can hang up my marathon shoes with a smile on my face because I fufilled two life goals: breaking 3:45 in a marathon and qualifying for Boston. Check.

We arrived a day earlier then originally planned. Dave scored a really nice hotel for one night. After checking in, we cabbed it to the expo. The Boston marathon expo is fantastic, yet, each year we go (we've been there 5 times now: three Boston's for Dave, 2 for moi), we are in and out in under 45 minutes. It's literally packet, jacket (it's all about getting that Boston jacket!) and exit. Neither of us have the patience to deal with the crowds, it's all about efficiency and Van eating and drinking his way through the expo in those 45 minutes! On the way out we stopped by for a quick visit with Matt Long at the Runner's World booth- through years of affiliation with the firemanironman triathlon camp, we met Matt before his accident and have marveled at his recovery after. An amazing story.

Back at the hotel, Van hit the pool, his favorite destination for all trips involving athletic insanity.

Sunday morning, after a quick swim for Van and Dave and a quick 2 mile easy circulation boost on the elliptical for me, we checked out of hotel 1 and went to our main stay for the rest of the weekend. Lunch, back to the pool again for Van while I relaxed and read my book, early dinner with friends Marty and Eileen in town and then back to bed but this year there was no 5 am wake up call. I had an extra hour thanks to KB and the renting of the town car to get us out to the start. Joined by Dominick and Scott K, it was a very pleasant drive out. We arrived at the athletes village by 9 am, promptly stood in line for a port-o-potty for 35 minutes (oh man did I have to pee!!!) and then it was time to drop the bags off at the buses and head for the start which was fine by me, I don't like having a lot of standing/sitting around time. Comfortably corraled, the energy was palpable, everyone wishing each other a good race. My plan this year was to go out at a very controlled pace. Walking forward to the start line as a group I watched my HR rise up with anticipation, my corral started its slow jog and over the start we went, so exciting! I promised myself that no matter what the day enfolded, I would enjoy every minute. I drank in my surroundings, I smiled and waved at the crowds. I knew starting that this may very well be my last time running from Hopkinton to Boston and I wanted to hold onto those memories. Fully present, I reigned myself back in. First mile 8:38- perfect! As a matter of fact, miles 1 through 10 were perfect. I felt fantastic, I felt like I was out for a slow jog, I felt like I continually had to hold myself back to run slower. All going according to plan. The start is very deceiving. There is 130 foot drop over the first mile and then thereafter there are a series of rollers, up and down, up and down, mostly down, it's what sets up your quads for a checkout by the time you reach the big hills of the race in Newton. I held myself back this year in the hopes that I would have more in the tank for the hills to come, I felt GREAT, then suddenly at mile 11 I noticed I had to work a little hard to hold onto the 8:40's. Climbing up 12 I had to push a little harder again and by the time I hit Wellesley and the half marathon point in 1:56, I knew 3:50 was out of the question. OK I thought, onto Plan B, let's break 4 hours. Up and down, controlled pacing, mile 15 is a long downhill and then knowing what is coming is a little daunting. 16 is the first of the hills in Newton. I was kind of waiting for my friend Nick to catch me, his plan was to run 8:15's and he was in the corral directly behind me. I was keeping an eye out for him, then I saw Dave, who was waiting for Nick to pace him in for the final 10 miles first, it was a good energy burst, always happy to see my encouraging husband. Down 16 up mile 17, onto mile 18 and I ran with Dave and Nick and then slightly in front thinking that I was a good rabbit to catch for a little while. When Nick and Dave caught up I asked him how he was feeling and it was very much along the same lines as myself, not that great but holding on. Shannon jumped in there too, to help pace Nick to the end, good to see her as well but I couldn't talk at this point, it was full focus forward. I thought briefly about slowing slightly and running in with Nick but I was afraid to stop for fear that I would not be able to run again and that fear was well founded. Down mile 20, up mile 21- Heartbreak Hill and it really is, it's a long uphill that you never quite see the end to, finally I spotted this huge red chalk drawing of a heart with a zigzag through it that stretched across the entire road and I knew I was at the top. Up and over, down a steep descent. It's a sharp drop off heartbreak and that's when my legs caved last year. This year I didn't feel as bad running through the Newton Hills, I would slow into the mid 9's and then get right back on the 8:40's-50's running downhill. Then at mile 22 my right quad went. I mean full on cramp. "Keep running, it will work itself out" I told myself. The expected fatigue really started to sink in at 35k, when I started to think I only had 4 miles left and then realizing it was longer than that. Ouch. Could I make it, could I break the 4 hour mark? At mile 23 my left calf started to go- severe twitching. Cramping in the right quad, left calf now starting in, "hold on, 3.2 miles to go, you can do this!!!!", I was begging for mile 24 to come sooner and it did, I did manage to pick my pace up a little for that mile and it felt like I was running all out (haha). 2.2 miles to go and 17 minutes, crap! Fresh no problem, end of a grueling marathon? Problem. Technically I was running all out because my body was absolutely shutting down and I knew it. Citgo sign, 2 more miles to go "YOU WILL NOT WALK!!!" that's what I kept telling myself. The pain was SEVERE, more than fatigue pain, lots of twitching not only in my legs, but other ancillary muscles as well. I willed myself to try and run faster, my right oblique and abdominal muscles seized. Bent over, I kept running. At the medical aid stations I scanned for signs of anyone holding/yelling out "salts!" alas, this was not a long distance triathlon. I started craving chicken broth at the aid stations. What I did take was sips of gatorade to swish around in my mouth hoping that my brain would sense the carbohydrate and allow me to recruit a few more muscle fibers, simultaneously realizing this might not work because I know about the physiological jedi mind trick on the brain. Honestly, I think I was using every muscle fiber to stay upright and "running". Past Boston College, incredible crowds, relief at hitting mile 25 (FINALLY), knowing there is "only" 1.2 miles left. Jedi mind tricking myself, "1 lap around the block and a down and back on Ann Ave. at home". VENGA VENGA! Downhill under the bridge, passed the Army ROTC group rucking the 26.2, up the hill towards the Boston Commons sign, a right turn, slightly uphill but relieved knowing that when I made that final left on Boylston I had a little more than 0.2 to go. I could see the finish, tried to pick up my pace but ended up with a limping gait, my left calf was no longer firing. Crossed the finish line in 4:02 absolutely elated. I endured. I pushed past the pain and the fatigue. I came, I saw, I suffered. The hills conquered me yet again, differently than last year. That course is the devil, no doubt about it. Am I glad I did it? Am I glad that I overcame one of the more horrible winters to train in? Am I glad I suffered? Hell. Yes. This is life, I am alive, I am living.

I was asked on more then one occasion on the slow trudge through the finish if I needed help by the medical people. Apparently I looked like walking death because when Dave got to me at our designated meeting place he said "JESUS, look at you, your face is completely covered in salt, your streaked with white. Wash your face with some water, here.". I told him about the cramping, "no wonder, you have no salt left in you". Big mistake on my part. In the 3 prior marathons (Chicago '08, MHMR '09, Boston '10) I had a small flask of endurolytes. I forgot them this year, mainly because it has been so cold in training, I never needed them for a run 20 miles or under and that's really the key, 20 milers were my longest runs, I never felt the effects of lack of electrolytes in training because it's something I only associate with heat. Duh. I should have known better, I just simply forgot, it cost me. Probably early on too. I drank my own bottle of HEED for the first hour then just subsisted on water and the 5 gels I had. I forgot about the important role the 'lytes have played for me in the past. I am officially retired from long distance racing for awhile. I'll never say never again, the desire to push past my limits and see the amount of speed that I have still lurks in the background (because I know I'm in 3:40-45 shape on a flatter course easily) but for now I will be content to be racing shorter and faster and using this hard earned endurance for something else. There are other ways to suffer and enjoy pushing myself than running 26.2 on pavement and I look forward to exploring new roads down this alternate path. Thanks for reading! Hopefully I've helped you think about the things you want to accomplish and how you want to go about doing them. I started this blog just before running the Chicago marathon as a way of holding myself accountable to the goals I set for myself. You, reading my thoughts and commenting was very much a part of me achieving so much so THANK YOU. It's been a great ride and I look forward to documenting my next adventures in racing (so much to do!) and the pursuit of the PhD. Onward!

Boston bound, go time!

2011-04-15T22:12:00.000-04:00

Last of the pre-race, get the jitters out and try and decrease the anxiety training runs. 3 miles today, easy with my "taper reps"" 4 x 90 sec at goal pace with three and a half minute recoveries. I felt awesome, but like I said to Sam on the phone later on when he asked me how I was feeling, "it's three miles today, of course I feel awesome". This final taper week did my body some justice. I ran 8 progressive on Sunday (yes KB, I listened this time, unlike the bus fiasco last year). I whittled the week down, taking it easy and keeping things light and myself loose with a bit of yoga thrown in with the taper runs. Physically, I am completely and totally ready. While I was running today I thought to myself, 'the next time you run, you will be running 26.2 and it will be the longest run you will do for a really long time, or maybe forever' and it's true. For many reasons, I have decided to give the marathon distance a break so when I line up on Monday, I plan on taking in every aspect of the Boston marathon with a profound sense of joy and awe at what I have the opportunity to do. I am truly blessed that I have the physical capability to have run the last three marathons as hard as I could. Monday will be no exception. I dotted all my i's and t's in my training plan throughout this brutal winter. Compared to last year when I suffered the debilitating effects of asthma out of control and lost a good 7-8 weeks of training time total, I am going into this years marathon confident. Through careful research and applied science, I subverted any disasterous illness this winter and accomplished the goal of going into this marathon absolutely healthy and I am really looking forward to seeing and experiencing what my body can do. With all of the physical aspects of training in check, it's the mental aspects I have been focusing on this week. I found this great link through a tweet someone sent out, a mile by mile guide through the Boston marathon and even though I experienced the race first hand last year, most of it is a blur, except for the suffering. Monday will be really hard, my friend Dejan hit it home with this message for me, "Stay strong, stay patient and focus on kicking the crap out of the Boston marathon, but respect it! :)" It's so true, the nature of this course is tough. I wasn't exaggerating in my race report last year when I said it was the hardest marathon I've ever done. Last years experience taught me quite a few things and as I practice mental imagery of how I picture the race will go, I am seeing myself starting out more reserved than last year, holding back over the first few miles before I settle into the rhythm of the goal pace I have practiced. I see myself climbing the hills with strength and flow, I see myself descending the hills without tension. I know the pain is coming, I am ready for it and no matter how bad it gets, I will persevere and I will work as hard as I can. I see myself crossing the finish line with the utmost feeling of joy, knowing that I gave it my all, knowing I ran through the fatigue in my muscles screaming at me to stop, and I see myself giving a hearty fist pump at the job I came to do, accomplished. I do not see a time at the finish. The time I run this marathon in is irrelevent, it's all about giving it 100%, pushing myself past my limits and celebrating the journey that lead me here in the first place, that's what I can ask of myself, that's what I am looking forward to doing.
I am usually more of an alternative rock out girl while running but this song fired me up today:

Do you know that there's still a chance for you
Cause there's a spark in you

You just gotta ignite the light
And let it shine
Just own the night
Like the Fourth of July

Cause baby you're a firework
Come on show 'em what you're worth

Thank you Marathon, it's been a great ride, one more, let's bring it in GRANDE style.

Oh taper, there you are! (feeling every bit of the taper slug)

2011-04-07T19:03:00.000-04:00

Sleep: check. I'm sleeping really well, konking out by 9-9:30 pm and sleeping until 5:50 every morning. Solid sleep too.

Eating: check. Cut out all junk food. Increased fruits and vegetables, definitely paying more attention to what I am eating and to the quantity as well. As the running volume drops down, I have to be careful of unnecessary calories.

Workouts: check. I've nailed every workout on the schedule. Finished the last 20 miler three weeks out with a half marathon sandwhiched in the middle at goal marathon pace. 2 weeks out I ran a hilly 15 in tough, windy conditions. Easy 5 Tuesday, short tempo 3.5 at the park yesterday. A day off from running today but I am about to hit some yoga for some dynamic stretching and strengthening. Short tempo run effort in a 6 miler tomorrow. Easy three Saturday with a little cycling. I'm super psyched that I don't have to run longer than 12 miles this Sunday. The first time in awhile! Volume is dropping, intensity remains (very important for allowing for adaptation, recovery and packing the muscle cells with much needed mitochondria to power the cells!).

Stress level: Low. Check. All the work is in, I am confident in the execution of my training plan through one of the toughest winters here ever.

Mental training: check. I've started using positive imagery of how I picture my ideal race. I ban all negative thoughts. I remind myself to use my power words when the going gets tough and fatigue settles in and I picture myself continuing to work hard despite the pain of fatigue. I picture finishing happy with my performance, arms raised in victory over that famous finish line. I picture myself running strong from start to finish. I banish any negative thoughts, particularly those that I have no control over. I do not worry about the weather, I can't control it. I do not worry about the pain, I know it is coming. I am not even worried about the Newton hills, I can't change the landscape! I have my strategy set, all three of them.

Race strategy: check. I have trained to run my goal pace, if I have ideal conditions (50 degree temps, sunny day little to no wind) and I feel good that day, I would love to run 3:45. Plan B? Happy with anything under 4 hours. Plan C will be implemented due to inclement weather (for me, this qualifies for temps under 45 degrees, with or without rain, strong headwinds the entire way, or temperatures above 65 that I am just not acclimated for this time of year). I'm not an extremist. If it is a freak 70 degree + day, my brain will regulate the appropriate pace and if it's over 4 hours, it is. I am prepared for any weather and I will be happy with my performance no matter what it is because I know that I trained to the best of my physical capabilities.

Fatigue level: High. Unchecked. Hence the taper slug. I am very tired. I also know that this is very normal for me to feel this way a little less than two weeks out from the race. I've been racing long endurance events for 12 years now. I know this slug fest feeling is coming. I know the phantom pains are fleeting. I know my body is regenerating itself, adapting to all of the training I put in. My deep muscle fatigue is repairing, cells renewing, growth factors are high. I am conserving every bit of energy for the big race to come. I know this, I've experienced this many times before and the only seed of doubt I have is "will this fatigue go away?". It will. I'll recharge through the weekend, I'll get the high energy, nervous, butterflies in the belly feeling starting about Wednesday next week.

I'm ready. Bring on the Boston marathon!

An open letter to Running

2011-04-03T10:05:00.000-04:00

Dear Running,
We've had a great relationship over the past few years. Back in 2008 when I decided I would run the Chicago Marathon, you were there for me and you came through big time, the first time I broke 4 hours. I realized you had more to offer me then and I took you seriously that spring and our relationship deepened as we went for the PR- hitting 3:42 at the Albany marathon and a BQ. Despite the sickness I dealt with last winter, you waited patiently until I was well and we churned out another sub 4 through Boston's Newton hills. You've been a great go to friend. When I have a stressful day you help me clear my head, when I have an excess of energy, you are there to help me manage it. The closest I have come to feeling like a super woman is when we hit that blissful runners high together. You have helped me grieve, celebrate milestones, feel invincible, sort out some problems, think straight. I've enjoyed your company on the roads, trails, treadmill, snow and the beach. I can take you anywhere! I look forward to future travels and new milestones, particularly after our second and most likely last 26.2 miler in a couple of weeks. We weren't always the closest of friends. Way back when, you were a way to hold off 'the freshman 15'. I hated you that first mile around the hilly Ithaca campus. I tolerated you slowly after that, mostly when you became the pre/post warm up and warm down from crew practice. When collegiate rowing came to an end you didn't mind being the tail end of the swim- bike- run thing I started up. For many years I dreaded you coming off the bike. We survived most of those races and there were many times you wanted me to quit running while finishing up the Ironman's we did together but it wasn't until 2008 that I looked forward to you off the bike. Marathon helped us grow closer. Today is the last longer training run I will do before the big dance in a couple of weeks and after that? I look forward to a new direction. I hope you can get along well with swim and bike. I hope you will form a new partnership with row. I look forward to spending more time with you on trails and seeing how fast we can go together on the dirt for trail races rather than pounding the pavement for the next PR. I look forward to increasing my strength and know that my tolerance for distance may decrease slightly as I incorporate the resistance training in to a greater degree. Most of all, I look forward to fun, pure enjoyment as I continue to spend time with you while making room for other adventures. Thank you Running. You are awesome.

Sugars and exercise

2011-03-29T16:01:00.000-04:00

There are so many different types of nutritional products available for endurance exercise. If you are new to endurance exercise and new to what is available or if you've been around for awhile and have nutritional issues that are plaguing your ability to perform at longer distances, hopefully I can help you.
Much of what you will tolerate is via trial and error. Each person is different and has a different digestion rate during exercise. Some have the ability to absorb liquids and semi-solids quickly, for others it takes an extended amount of time. This is where the ingredients become important. You have to read the labels and you need a basic understanding of the types of carbohydrates available to you and a little bit of knowledge as to how they are digested. Endurance athletes must rely on additional sources of carbohydrates to delay the onset of fatigue and to help maintain performance levels. You have some stored muscle sugar (glycogen) but it's best to preserve these reserves as long as you can. If you have nothing available to you to ingest, and you run out of sugar available in your blood, your body will metabolize (breakdown) the glycogen stored in your muscle tissue. There isn't that much there, marathoners that drink nothing but water and take in no gel call this "hitting the wall", cyclists and triathletes refer to this phenomenon as "the bonk". Bonking or hitting the wall boils down to you having used up all your sugar storage leaving only fat for fuel. Fat does not burn as quickly even though you have plenty of stored calories to use so you slow down, and often feel horrible with little energy left to complete the task. It's easily avoidable with the right amount of calories. The average person can take in 250-300 cals per hour with exercise and those calories mostly come in the form of sugars. It's the type of sugar that makes all the difference for some people.
The Basics:
Carbs break down into sugars. The type of carbohydrate you ingest dictates the sugar(s) it breaks down into.
Monosaccharides: the simplest sugars. They include glucose (a.k.a. dextrose), fructose and galactose. These sugars differ based on their structure which we don't need to get into. Note that they have a high glycemic index meaning that they typically tend to break down quickly and enter the bloodstream faster than other sugars.
Disaccharides: two sugar molecules combined. These include: Sucrose (table sugar) = glucose + fructose; Lactose (milk sugar) = glucose + galactose; and Maltose = glucose + glucose. Some people cannot break the bond that holds the sugars together; like the lactose intolerant and bloating, cramping, gas, and diarrhea become common symptons since the sugar cannot be digested and absorbed into the bloodstream.
Polysaccharides: Long chains of glucose. These are your starches. A polysaccharide like maltodextrin is a typical component of many sports drinks, it is just a long chain of three or more glucose molecules held together.
So what does this mean for the endurance athlete?
Many companies use combinations of monosaccharides and disaccharides only. Others use predominantly maltodextrin. Your ability to digest certain sugars depends on your gastric (stomach) emptying rate, the concentration of the fluids or gels you are taking in and how hard you are working. Higher heart rates make it more difficult to digest and absorb nutrients as the blood is shunted away from the core and towards the muscles for powerful contractions, and increased oxygen and waste removal demands. If you have been suffering from GI distress during long workouts and races, check the label! If you are taking in sugars in the form of fructose- it may be the culprit. Fructose malabsorption is common, symptoms may include stomach pain, gas and diarrhea. If you notice that you have difficulty digesting anything with fructose in it while exercising, watch out for sucrose! Sucrose breaks down into fructose and glucose. While glucose is actively absorbed in the small intenstine, fructose is not and it may pose difficulty in absorption. Fructose must also be sent to the liver first since the enzyme fructokinase to metabolize it is only found in large quantities there. The other main thing to look out for is the concentration of the fluids and gels use take in. Take gels with water only. If you are taking your gels in conjunction with a sugary fluid replacement drink the concentration (osmolality) of the mixture increases and makes it more difficult to digest and absorb. You need water too! Don't forget it! Many people rely soley on the sugary drinks and gels and forget to take in water. Listen to your thirst, when you are craving water, make sure to get some! GI distress distress can also be caused by ingesting too much salt, so be wary. If you have any questions, feel free to ask. Exercise nutrition is very personal and it helps to have an objective opinion. Send me your issues in a comment or by email and I'll be happy to post a Q and A blog that may help many other people out there! Physical training is important for long endurance racing but you will never finish within your potential unless your calorie intake is nailed down. Let the questions begin!

Long runs, literally.

2011-03-14T19:12:00.000-04:00

This past Sunday, I had what I referred to as a "high anxiety long run" on the calendar. I was anxious not because of the distance, I have massed a ton of 12-13 milers, two 14's, a 15, 16, and an 18 miler. I was ready to run 20... last weekend. That didn't work out. Feeling very fatigued and short of breath I cut my planned run down to two hours, of which I accomplished 12 miles in the very wet, humid trails. The mold spores of spring had sprung, not very good air quality for me. Weighing the pros and cons, I decided against forcing another hour of running in that condition, no need to physically stress an already stressed respiratory system any further that day. I was unusually fatigued and sporting higher heart rates than normal for what was usually a very easy run pace for me. Sometimes you really have to know when to fold 'em.

No flexibility in my schedule from this point on either, I had to run 20 this past Sunday and I was anxious about it. I had what I refer to as "phantom pains" in the two days leading up to Sunday's run. I tight hip, a tight hamstring, constantly nagging at me causing me more anxiety about whether or not this run was going to take off. I foam rolled, I iced, I stretched, and my flexibility was good, it was mental. I made sure to have a day of recovery with an easy spin on the bike on Saturday so that my legs would be a bit more fresh. Set the clock the night before, laid everything out, I downloaded a new mix onto the Ipod, I was ready to go early. Woke up at 6, which was really 7 am. Whoops, forgot to factor in daylight savings time. I treated my long run like an actual race. I had my breakfast and coffee as usual, made sure I was digested and strapped on the nutrition I was carrying. I planned my route carefully, out into the wind which would hopefully be at my back on the way home. I had a perfect refueling spot on the road in the form of a Hess station so I could get a water refill easily without having to plant extra bottles. I chose a hilly course on purpose. I had friends running on Dune Road but flat Dune Road is not going to help me in the Newton hills in a few weeks, I was solo today. I was encouraged by temperatures in the 40's on a dry day. Perfect. Go time.
I felt like crap the first two miles. I've learned to disregard early crappy feelings as my muscles are not fully warmed up to the exercise, these days it usually takes me a good three miles to settle in. Mentally, I break up these long runs in 5 mile chunks and I force myself to concentrate on how I am feeling at the moment, I know the last 5 are going to be tough, they always are and somehow it doesn't matter what the distance is, it could be 10 miles and the last 5 are tough. I reminded myself to stay relaxed as I ran into the wind, careful not to waste any extra energy by tensing my shoulders and hands. When I found my shoulders rising up and my hands clenched too tight, I shook them loose. I drank every 2 miles, 5 miles is the mark for nutrition. I swigged some watered down gel (not my usual, I was out, this proved to not be a very good idea for me later on). I hit mile 6.5 and hit the gas, time for some goal marathon pace on the hills of Mill Road. I felt good, no, I felt great. I ran the next 3 in the zone, the runners high. Love these days. Turned around at 10, another swig of gel, time to go home. I started breaking down the miles further, to the end of Mill Road was 6.5 to home for me, get there first. Stopped at Hess and refilled my water bottle, took out two shot blocks to suck on, hit mile 14 and hit the gas again, this time with a tailwind, another gel at mile 16. I extended the goal marathon pace to mile 18. My brain was registering I was almost done, I was fatiguing, I could feel the two hard efforts in my legs. Reduced to short distance strategy (get to the sign, get to the tree, get to the bushes, get to the light, get to the bowling alley, get to the fence) and I was home. 20 miles in 3:04, I fist pumped myself in the driveway. Mission accomplished.
Then the wheels really fell off.
I showered immediately since I was completely soaked. I then had to lie down on the bed as the simple effort of pulling my socks on was overwhelming. I knew I needed to get some real food in me so I forced myself into the kitchen to make a sandwhich. Had to stop and lean on the counter quite a bit. Had to make lunch for Van too. I ate, slowly. I realized that something was wrong. Serious.... GI... disturbance. Van said "what's wrong Mom?", I replied "My belly Van". He said "don't worry, I know what to do"- he went in the cabinet and got me a tums, then he ordered me to go sit on the toilet. While saying this he said "Oh God, I sound just like you". He's right, my poor little guy has a milk allergy that's cumulative. He felt my pain. I did what he said and let me tell you, it was not pretty. I've experienced this type of bonk before. Amazingly, I seem to be able to get through an Ironman, or a half iron or a marathon and not suffer from GI distress until afterwards. The last time this happened to me was 2005 at Eagleman and I could not get out of the bathroom for almost an hour. A similar occurance happened after my first Ironman, where I passed out in the shower, then again at the second where I went down in the lobby of the hotel. I have since learned my lesson that my body does not tolerate fructose/simple sugars well. No gatorade or regular Gu for me, I can't digest it while exercising hard, at all. Which means I do not get any calories that are needed except what I get from the fluid, which is not enough. Talk about mind over matter, somehow I hold it together until the task is completed. It took some trial and error with several products until I found Hammer and it's been a great ride ever since. Unfortunately I did not have any of my regular gel stock so I went with Dave's EFS. Didn't really look at the ingredients, that was a mistake.
My post exercise bonk lasted for a good 2 hours. Not fun. Today I examined the ingredients. It wasn't the shot blocks, I've used them before and I tolerate Clif gels and the brown rice syrup well. I drank Heed so that wasn't it, that's my usual. The only thing different was the EFS. Examining the contents I zeroed in on the sugars: dextrose and sucrose. Found my culprits. In my next post, I am going to explain some basic organic chemistry concerning different types of sugars and how they are digested and assimilated by the body particularly during exercise. You should know about what you are taking in and how it relates to your performance. Until then, check your labels and think back to any GI distress you may be having or have had with longer endurance efforts.

Keeping track

2011-03-14T16:23:00.000-04:00

Training logs, do you keep one? You should for a variety of reasons. If you struggle to fit in any exercise, a log is a great way to get yourself motivated, who wants to see blank weeks? A training log also helps to time manage your life so that you can schedule exercise in. If you are a competive athlete, a log can be a valuable tool to monitor your progress as well as offering an objective view of your workouts. Often, an athlete will log miles, speed, distance and forget a crucial component: how you felt. Tracking how good you feel can provide a lot of feedback as to the progression of your training leading to a goal race and it can bring to the surface overtraining symptoms that may be lurking around.
While working at the lab today, I reviewed a training schedule with a runner leading up to his first marathon in a couple of weeks. He had a very simple method of tracking how he felt for each workout and I loved it!

Luckily there were mostly clear circles on his training log but it made me smile and I had to share this with you. Think about adopting something similar in your workout log. I use daily mile (link on the right, the widget shows my latest workout) and when I record a workout, I can record how I felt (Great, good, alright, tired, injured, sick), very user friendly with a click of a button. If you use training peaks http://www.trainingpeaks.com/ you can record how you felt in the metrics, or like many of the athletes I train, record your feedback in the post workout comments section if you have a premium account with a coach. The metrics are helpful because you can plot them on a graph and it includes everything from sleep to food if you wish. There have been a few instances in my build up for Boston that I realized I was feeling just "alright or tired" and I had to restructure training to allow for extra recovery, they have also served as a precursor to an oncoming cold virus that I needed to nip immediately. If you are recording how you feel, fantastic, keep it up, if not, make it a goal this week to start, it will pay off for you.

Come along

2011-03-12T14:34:00.000-05:00

I meant to post this Tuesday night after I had just completed this particular run, but then Tuesday quickly became Wednesday and Thursday, Friday, the week flew by. My TO DO list is enormous this weekend and before I get started on it, have a look and join me where I reduced my stress and enjoyed being a part of the world for a little while before the chaos of the everyday reconsumed me.

1 mile in, view to the right

Left view at 1 mile

Beautiful loop overlooking the bay, 1.5 miles

One of my favorite spots, especially on a sunny day

2 miles in or so, very slight uphill

Finishing up ~3.5 miles, turned around to capture the fireball descending.

Locals: where was I? Can you guess?

Blech and the refocus

2011-03-06T17:41:00.000-05:00

From the Urban Dictionary:

Blech: to find something wholly offensive as to want to throw up to purge the sensation from the mind and/or body

That pretty much sums up my run today. It happens occasionally, I like to call them "meltdown" runs. My mind is always willing and more often than not has an exceeding capacity to be able to push my body through terrible suffering. What I "blech" about is when my body finally calls it "QUITS" and I have to scale it back or suffer the consequences. I've experienced those moments in the past, but being experienced in the art of suffering, I have learned to recognize the symptoms of "shutdownitis" more aptly and professionally known as "over-reaching/over-training" which I discussed a couple of weeks ago. If you click on the link and scroll down to the checklist, I've got 7 out of 9 check marks. Bad bad girl. So far I have avoided the 'chronic injury and increase in colds/respiratory illnesses' and I know that had I run another hour on top of the two I did today that I would have been checking all 9 off. I forget that my recovery takes just a little bit longer in the winter when I am working full time. I like to think I have boundless energy and am otherwise invincible, I like to toe the edge and I found it today but I also like to stick to the plan I have given myself so I feel a bit of guilt. Because of this:

Yep, it's getting close. Originally I planned to follow a similar schedule leading up to my PR at Mowhawk Hudson River Marathon last year, unfortunately I discounted how much working full time impacts my recovery schedule. It's entirely different to be able to wake up when my body tells me to and not to an alarm. Train and then recover on the beach all day, take a nap. That doesn't happen this time of year. I have learned that I am a much better summer/fall distance runner, unfortunately Boston takes place in the spring. I've got some nice long runs in already and a great base so what am I freaking out about? I'm disappointed that I did not get in the 19-20 miler I planned for the day even though I knew that I should not stress my body as I had difficulty just finishing the 2 hour trail run today. Luckily I planned an extra long run or two if I could tolerate it, apparently not so I have an easy switch to next weekend, running 19-20 and then backing down, then back up for at least one more 20 if not two. My negative thinking, Van calls it "sneaky hate spiral"- a nod to Allie Brosh's Hyerbole and a Half, spurred me to think about an email exchange with my friend I want to share with you.
I've been back in touch with a good friend from college rowing over the last couple of weeks and this person asked me:
"I don’t really know you now, but I knew you a while ago… work hard but remember to step back and enjoy things a bit too. I have this gut feeling that you still don’t allow yourself to do it very often – although I could be wrong."

I had a "wow" moment after reading that, it's so totally true, I don't allow myself to step back and enjoy things, I think because I am so goal oriented. It took me a better part of a week to respond because I really thought about those words and yet instead of stepping back and enjoying the fact that I am good enough to be a qualified runner at the Boston marathon and enjoying the training leading up to it and the fact that I will be running there on April 18th with some of the world's best runners, I fell into the trap again today. I am in a foul mood after running in a beautiful trail with my husband (not that I can ever really "run with" Dave at his pace but at least I was in the vicinity today) and friends because I couldn't perform the way I wanted to today. It's ridiculous and silly. I should be grateful that I have the ability and I get to do some things that many people couldn't even dream of but being human, I quickly forget, take what I have for granted and get pissed off because I am not doing something "more". My reply to my friend after I thought about what was said:

So after a lot of thinking, I can say that I enjoy myself or I wouldn't be doing "it" (it = the multitudes of things that make up my days) but the question I really wondered about was, am I truly getting the satisfaction and enjoyment in that present moment or does it come after? I am so goal oriented that I often have a checklist, ticking off the different parts of my day and I feel the sense of accomplishment afterwards. I have to learn to be happy with what I am doing at the time. Often my brain is already thinking of the next thing coming up. Like here I am at work, enjoying the fun activity I am doing but in the back of my mind, all I'm thinking about is the run outside on this beautiful 50 degree day that I can't wait to do at 4 pm. While I run, I'll be thinking about the dinner I am going to have with a nice glass of red. Never fully present am I?

So yes, I enjoy everything.... after the fact.

Wise words from my friend, also a successful multiple Ironman:
The problem with triathletes (Ironman’s in particular) is that it takes a compulsive, task-oriented personality to do it, and even more so to do it well. If you aren’t running, biking or swimming, you are either doing sit-ups or filling water bottles for the next session. Of course, I am biased, but I also think that the same traits are what allow us to get stuff done. We never really allow ourselves to be impressed with what we have accomplished. Finishing an Ironman is an accomplishment, but very few of us allow ourselves to believe that because we are disappointed that our swim wasn’t a few seconds faster. In hindsight, I never really allowed myself to be excited about qualifying. I put so much pressure on myself to qualify that I went into Florida with a Success or failure mentality. When I made it, I was more relieved that I did not fail than was happy at the success.

I'm sharing this email exchange with you because maybe you will find yourself in them. I am going to try really really hard to enjoy every possible minute of the last six weeks of the lead up to this race. To not worry about the next workout to come and stress over how many miles or how fast I am going. I am going to push myself, no doubt about that, I want to get across the distance as fast as I am able but I am going to try and be present wholly and not existing in the past or the future. Just the Now. How am I feeling now? Good. Do I have anything to worry about Right Now? No. 42 days of Now leading up to this race, let's see what I make of them.

Why I teach and the hilarious Jon Stewert

2011-03-05T10:24:00.000-05:00

Teaching is something I largely practiced outside of formal public education. I started teaching gymnastics as a part time job through high school and college. Education was paramount during the 10+ years I spent practicing cardiac rehabilitation as an exercise physiologist. It was rewarding to see the behavior modification and positive lifestyle related changes for patients and it was equally disappointing when I could not help those who did not want to be helped, although I still tried and continue to do so as part of the Occupational Medicine Clinic staff at Brookhaven National Lab. I teach as I coach and there is nothing better than figuring out the optimal way for an individual athlete to achieve a goal, observe the athlete execute the plan and achieve the winning performance on race day. Part of the reason that I started this blog was to have a forum for my thoughts on training and racing related material that would serve to better educate people about their bodies. I'm often asked why I switched from being a full time physiologist to a public school teacher but in my perception I never did. I'm still the full time physiologist in every sense of the title, I just felt a calling to influence younger people in a positive way, to give back something since I have been so blessed, to inspire a young malleable mind to achieve what they want and to be the very best person they can be. Teaching in the hospital or teaching in the classroom have many of the same attributes: it is rewarding to be able to positively impact a child's life and it it disappointing when I cannot reach through to a troubled child, although I never give up. In light of all the talk in the media about how to determine whether or not a teacher is effective or deserves to be paid the mediocre salary we get while having time off in the summer; I figured I would give you my personal definition of a successful teacher.
A successful teacher is:

Energetic
Enthusiastic
Approachable
Fair
Interesting
Creative
Prepared
Well organized
Compassionate
Fun
Safety conscious
Provides real world application of what they are teaching
Constantly evaluates and reflects on the lessons given, to make them better in the future
Helps to develop character in children, to mold them into being contributing members of society
Has the ability to command absolute silence and attention from a room filled with 30+ adolescents on a daily basis, this is no small feat, particularly in our inattentive, instant gratification, techonology based world while having limited supplies and technology at hand.

This is what I get to do everyday and when I'm not teaching, I'm thinking about how I could make what I will be teaching or have just taught, even better. Education has no beginning and no end. Students learn from me and I learn from them. A continuous circle of knowledge, learning, education. There is always something more to learn, to seek out, to find out about. The possibilities are endless and education continuous if you are willing to open your mind to learning something new. This is what I do and I love it.

Sinead posted this link on facebook this morning and I'm glad I clicked on it, I literally laughed out loud quite a few times. Thank you Jon Stewert for comparing teachers and the banking industry. Please watch, it's fantastic!

The Daily Show - Crisis in Dairyland - For Richer and Poorer - Teachers and Wall Street
Tags: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

Aging and sports performance

2011-02-27T10:57:00.000-05:00

Joan Benoit Samuelson at the 2008 Olympic Trials

Think you will slow down as you get older? Think again! There seems to be a prevailing idea that when you hit your late thirties or early forties that your times will decrease. Think about it, when was the last time you heard someone say "I age up next year, thank God, it will be good to be back on top". How much of that is just your perception of how you will perform in the future versus reality? Much of your performance when you keep the physical training component part constant, is mental. If you think you will be slow or if you start thinking (or even saying!) "I am slow", then guess what? Slow you will be. In a study conducted this past November, researchers looked at running times for marathon and half marathon participants ages 20-79. The running times for over 500,000 male and female participants were examined and although performance times decreased for males and females over 54 years of age, the declines were small and the researchers found that a substantial number of older athletes were faster than most of the younger half and full marathoners. Furthermore, half of the runners aged 20-54 reached the finish line after 25% of the best 60-69 year old runners. Researchers concluded that middle age alone was not enough to decrease performance and as long as regular training is maintained, older adults can achieve impressive results. You can read the full paper here. I've looked at this issue before with triathletes, nice to see more corraboration with runners, particularly on a large scale. Get off the couch, train smart, pay attention to recovery, avoid overtraining, think "fast" and enjoy the fun of exercise and competition.

Run pacing, what speed should you be running at?

2011-02-25T11:37:00.000-05:00

On the heels of my last post about speed, I thought it may be a good idea to give you some pointers on what speed you should be running at based on your current fitness level. The good news is it's pretty easy to calculate and while you are at it, you can give yourself some great heart rate data too and it doesn't take rocket science to figure it out! If you have been running based on how you feel that day and you aren't training for anything in particular, that's fine, as long as you allow yourself enough recovery time in between runs and as long as you are not stacking interval workout on top of more intervals or intervals followed by tempo workouts or intervals + tempo + hill repeats + a long run thrown in there. Hmmmmm suddenly this training thing is getting more complicated. Basically, you need to think about what you are trying to achieve in your running and making sure your goals are in line with your current fitness level. For example, I recently spoke with an athlete that wants to qualify for the Boston marathon. Fantastic goal. At 38 years old he will have to run a sub 3:10:00 (there is no longer the 59 sec window!). Current marathon time: 4:05. While it is an admirable goal, it is not realistic to be able to drop 2+ minutes per mile off current pace for 26.2 miles within a year. Speed can be improved with proper training and if the goal is to qualify, make it a long range goal. Be patient, put the time in and plan to PR under a 4:05. If your current marathon time is within 10-15 minutes of the Boston qualifying time, you have a much better shot at qualifying this year if you have been running consistently for awhile and do not have any nagging injuries. If your goal is to improve times at a 5k, 10k or half marathon this year, consistent running still applies. Work on building mileage consistently at first to the 20-25 miles per week range. Then you can work in specific workouts to improve your speed. Why consistent running? It's the best thing you can do to improve your running economy. Want to be more efficient at running? Run more. Cross training is good and it has its place in the overall development of aerobic capacity, but if you want to be a good or a better runner, you must run.
Step one: run consistently
Step two: pick a race to field test. The distance doesn't matter, it could be a 5k, a 4 miler, a 10k. Run as fast a speed as you are able to maintain. "Ride the red line".
Step three: You have just found your threshold pace for that distance. You have also found your average threshold HR
Step four: figure out your pace ranges. Easy runs should be done 90 sec to 2 minutes per mile slower than your average race pace where you were in the red zone. If you ran a 5k or a 4 miler, that pace and heart rate becomes your short interval 5 k efforts (30 sec up to 400 meter repeats). Add 15-20 sec to that pace to figure out 10k effort pace (good for longer repeats (5 minute intervals up to miles). If you ran a 10k race, subtract 15-20 sec per mile to get your 5k pace for repeats.
Step five: train appropriately. No more than one interval workout per week for speed at 5k pace ranges. No more than one tempo effort run at 10k pace to half marathon race pace. All other run workouts must be in the easy range! Stay out of the "grey zone" at levels that are in between easy and race pace.

If you are not one for doing your own calculations, you can easily use an online calculator to figure out your pace ranges based on a recent race. Make sure its recent!!!! Last years 10k when you were in peak form at the end of the season is not appropriate, that is not your current fitness level! I like the McMillan running calculator but there is a lot of overwhelming information and paces on there. If you are using this calculator rather than figuring out your own pace ranges than stick with these:

Incidently, these are my current pace ranges based on my recent 10 mile brewery run. For speed workouts I use the "Long distance runners" guidelines as should you.

Another great pacing calculator is the Jack Daniels Vdot:

Personally I find the Vdot calculator to be a bit more on the conservative side so I prefer first to calculate my own using my field test method above and this typically correlates well with the McMillan calculator ranges for myself. My Vdot values are a little slower but if you have never done any kind of speed training, then I recommend starting with the Vdot values and progressing to the McMillan speeds. Either way you will improve your run speed and you will begin to see some frequent PR's at races while remaining injury free.

Now pick a race, test yourself and get training the right way!

Not giving in

2011-02-22T12:23:00.000-05:00

Freak day this past Friday, 60 degrees, warm breeze and a total tease of the promise of spring. Almost unfair, I enjoyed it in the moments I was running comfortably outside without a jacket, gloves, hat, vest, hot hands, etc. and then I was quickly reminded that winter still has its grip on us throughout the weekend. 40 mph wind gusts and dropping temperatures on Saturday followed by chillier temps and strong winds on Sunday, not the ideal running out of doors conditions. It's always windy here on the east end of Long Island and it's a rare windless day when you get them. I'm fairly accustomed to the steady 5-15 mph breeze, so much so that I've been at races elsewhere in the country and have heard people complain about the wind on the bike or run and Dave and I would look at each other simultaneously thinking "what wind?" to us, it was calm. It's all about perception and what you are chronically exposed to. This winter I have been chronically exposed to colder than average temperatures with frequent snow/ice conditions and yet what I am experiencing pales in comparison to what some states get in the midwest. Keeping it in perspective. I agonized over the weekend. Saturday was a cross training/recovery day in what was to be the long run day on Sunday. Van woke up sick Sunday morning. Poor kid, off to the urgent clinic for a couple of hours and then there were lots of hugs and tender care needed. By the time the afternoon rolled around it wasn't looking good for the long run. Do I go? Do I leave my son for a few hours? Dave decided to run with the guys, he wouldn't be back until 3. Do I get on the treadmill? Start the run at 2 then go outside in the blustery freeze for another 2 hours? "No, mommy, stay with me", what do you say? So I stayed, and worried about the long run. I pushed it until Monday morning and the forecast was rain/snow/wind/ 39 degrees. Oh well. While Van napped I got an hour of yoga in, at least I was doing something. Early to bed and when I woke up at 7, I was greeted with 3 inches of snow, unplowed roads and temperatures in the low 20's. What happened to 39??? Dave needed to drop off his car for service, I volunteered. I dressed in many layers. I broke out the hot hands and the yak trax. I drove the car up to the dealer noticing the unplowed state of the roads. I figured out a route to stay on the somewhat plowed main road to get onto South River and into Manorville. Then I started running. It was peaceful, the trax kept me firmly routed to the slippery ground. Not many cars out with the snow still coming down. I concentrated on keeping the pace easy and light. The plan was to run some marathon paced miles for three mile sets within the long run. This was almost impossible. I got onto Mill Road, a winding hilly section through Manorville that I love to bike on. I picked up my pace at the 6 mile mark like planned but I didn't hit marathon pace. The effort was there, the heart rates were there so I just have to be satisfied with that. Reaching Connecticut Ave., I stopped to take the picture above and quickly get a gel in. I was 8.25 miles in at that point and I had to consider, run another .75 and turn around or continue all the way around Halsey Manor and 111. I always wanted to run may favorite bike loop for a long run so I hooked a left at that corner, dodged a few plows and ran up 111. It was tough! The wind returned and then returned with a vengence on Cty Rd. 51. I ran onward and upward against the chilly headwind, uphill with 6 miles to go. I cursed myself for not turning around on Mill and being shelterd from the wind and actually having a tailwind on 24! It was hard, my body was fatiguing fighting the elements, mentally I pushed forward reminding myself that the end of the marathon feels very similar. I clicked off the miles just concentrating on putting one foot in front of the other, constant forward motion was my mantra. Don't look at the garmin, don't worry about your pace, at these heart rates you are running at half marathon pace, just get to the light. Just get down the hill, just get to the corner. Only at 17 miles another loop around the block was needed. 0.8, 0.6, 0.2 left. Done. 18 miles in the bank on a ridiculously hard day. I'll remember this one running up the hills in Newton for sure. Soaked to the bone, chilled, cursing that the hot tub is still not fixed I stood in the hot shower for awhile, tension and anxiety about the long run shed, for another week. Mission accomplished for today. 3 more really long ones to go.

Speed

2011-02-20T15:56:00.000-05:00

We crave it.
We dream about it.
We make goals trying to achieve it.
We are amazed by it.
We think about it. Constantly.
We envy it.
We work hard to get it.
We buy all kinds of equipment that we think will increase it freely.
We ingest a multitude of products and supplements to contribute to it.
We read/watch/write about it.
We research it.
We are never satisfied with it.

Speed. Kind of like the object you really want stuck under the couch, way towards the back and you stretch your arm, straining to reach it, fingertips almost touching it...almost.... That's the way I think of it sometimes. If you think back, there were many times you did get it. That blissful race, the one where you felt powerful, strong, fast, where everything came together. It's an amazing feeling, addictive. You want to repeat that performance but faster next time. Such is the life of the competitive athlete and it doesn't matter where you are in the pack, I think it's human nature to want to be faster than we currently are. It's also the beauty of the training program. Done correctly and with proper recovery, a training program can result in significant speed gains. Of course at the beginning the PR's come quickly and the times drop by huge chunks. As we begin to reach our potential, those PR's become a little bit harder to attain, a minute or two, sometimes just a handful of seconds but it's faster and that's what we were after. Time can be speed's friend or foe. It takes time to properly train to achieve speed gains and then it's time that robs us of us of overall speed as we age.
Here is the best piece of advice I can give you concerning speed: you need a proper foundation. Without a solid aerobic base, speed training is like making a sand castle either too close to the water's edge where it completely dissolves in an oncoming wave or without enough water on soft sand and when you turn he bucket over the tower just collapses. In our case it ends up as an overtraining injury or illness. Build your base, make sure you have enough miles in on the bike or on foot. The amount of miles depends on your current fitness but a good rule of thumb is to hold a particular amount of mileage for three to four weeks during base before increasing. Allow the body to make the adaptions necessary. With a solid base, you can tolerate speed training without breaking down. Run or bike at the appropriate speed too. If your marathon PR is a 4:20, you have no business doing repeats at 6 min/mile pace, it's erroneous thinking that such a large increase will automatically make you faster. In fact the only thing it will do is cause tissue damage from recruiting muscle fibers that do not have enough mitochondria to produce the energy needed to sustain such a pace. Once of the major adaptions that occurs with proper aerobic conditioning is an increase in the cell's "powerhouses", the mitochondria that breakdown oxygen, glycogen and fatty acids into the ATP necessary for muscle contraction. The more trained you are, the more mitochondria you have, the more efficiently you use oxygen and the more economical you become. This is the beauty of periodization. Base train first, wisely, and then the speed development can begin.

Thoughts on overtraining and recovery

2011-02-12T20:52:00.000-05:00

Sore much? Tired? Struggling to get the next work out in? I should really make a quiz here. Ever take one of those magazine quizzes? Where you select A, B, C, or D and then you turn the page and add up your point value score to find out? Like, "You debut a hot new outfit at the office, you are the type of girl who"....

___ A. Waits for someone to give you a compliment
___ B. Hides is under a jacket or coat
___ C. Tells everyone how much it cost
___ D. Immediately posts a picture on facebook

and then you find out when you added up your points that you are a "Seasonal gossiper that doesn't need to be the center of attention. You know there is so much more to life than 'he said/she said', for this reason people can confide their deepest most darket secrets to you!!!". Whew, what a relief!

Now if you really want to waste time you can take a quiz on facebook, easy to get sucked into that vortex of time wasting. "So and so's IQ score is _____, find out yours!", I have all kinds of security locks on mine so I never see these things but I did a quick search for "quiz" on there and this is what popped up:

Quiz planet has almost 7.5 million users per month so it's pretty popular!

Here's my 'are you getting enough recovery from your current workout routine?' quiz:

____ Are you feeling tired, drained and lacking energy for more than a few days?
____ Do you have lingering mild leg soreness and other general aches and pains that are not typical for you?
____ Have you noticed a sudden drop in your performance?
____ Are you suffering from insomnia or intermittent poor sleep?
____ Are you moody and irritable?
____ Are you experiencing a loss of enthusiasm for your sport?
____ Have you noticed an increase in injuries?
____ Are your heart rates elevated more than 10 beats per minute on average for a workout?
____ Are you experiencing an increase in colds/upper respiratory infections?

If you have checked off three or more items you may be over-reaching and/or suffering from overtraining syndrome. If you checked off almost all or all of them, you need some recovery! There are many factors that can lead to over-reaching:
- Too much intensity in each workout
- Skipping workouts and then stacking them together thinking you can "make up" the missed workout
- Poor sleep and eating patterns
- Dehydration on a daily basis
- Training in the "grey" zone- meanining you are working too hard on scheduled easy or recovery days
- Stacking week after week on a continual build cycle, constantly ramping up mileage without scheduling in a "down" week of lower intensity and volume every 2-3 weeks.

A great way to avoid over-reaching that leads to overtraining is to log not only your workout for the day, but how you felt doing it. When you notice continued soreness, "dead legs", fatigue and irritably for three or more days, you need to take a day or two off from exercise completely. The training is only beneficial if you allow your body to adapt to the physical breakdown you caused in the previous workout. Take your recovery seriously, as part of the training itself and watch your performance soar to new levels!

Forgiveness

2011-02-06T14:29:00.000-05:00

I am planning to write a post about recovery and aging but I can't get thoughts on regret and forgiveness out of my head so I am going to purge these first and maybe somewhere along the way, you can find yourself in these words or it will give you cause to unlock the door on a similar situation in your past that warrants some thought. Writing has always been a medium of catharsis for me. Maybe it's learned though, when I was a child my mother said to me "if something is bothering you or if someone hurt you and you need to get the thoughts out, write them down. You'll feel better and then you can decide whether or not to give it to that person or to simply let it go and move on". Writing orders my thoughts.

"Regret of neglected opportunity is the worst hell a living soul can inhabit". ~Raphael Sabatini

"We must all suffer from one of two pains: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret. The difference is discipline weighs ounces while regret weighs tons." ~Jim Rohn

"You can't undo anything you've already done, but you can face up to it. You can tell the truth. You can seek forgiveness". ~Anonymous

and from Ekhart Tolle:

"Life will give you whatever experience is most helpful for the evolution of your consciousness. How do you know this is the experience you need? Because this is the experience you are having at the moment."

"Sometimes letting things go is an act of far greater power than defending or hanging on."

"You find peace not by rearranging the circumstances of your life, but by realizing who you are at the deepest level."

Earlier last week I had the opportunity to contact someone I had closed the door on more than 17 years ago. It is funny how opportunity presents itself sometimes. I went through a time warp in my mind and a dusty old door that had been boarded and nailed shut opened a crack. A little bit of pale yellow light creeped through it. Over the years that door had cracked open before, but I quickly closed it. Like Tolle says, "life will give you whatever experience is most helpful..." and along those lines I saw the opportunity that may not present itself again and I pictured myself using the claw side of a hammer and prying out the nails that boarded up the door and as another day went by I turned the doorknob and began to peek inside. Pensive, brooding on "do I or don't I", reliving some moments in my past with this person, some really really good and others horrible. The good memories make you smile and make you feel the warmth of that moment. The bad, well, those are the ones that haunt you. They are the reason you closed the door and boarded it up in the first place. To be honest, my senior year of college was a blur. My father died suddenly without warning, I was left with a deep sadness and whatever was done to me by this person and another I can hardly recall. I only remember my own actions, the ones I regret. I wish that I could turn back the clock and redo those moments, take back the things that I said and the decisions I made that hurt another human beings feelings deeply and regretably. Opening the door brought back a flood of emotions that I had been harboring unconsciously for almost two decades. Stuck and almost paralyzed by these past events, I reached out. I made the connection. With that came truth, honesty, and an ability to talk with maturity. Of course, 17 years can dull the freshness of emotional pain and the high drama from my early 20's that was heightened because of immaturity, lack of experience and selfishness. "Time heals all wounds" is partially true. The wounds are still there but the attached emotional pain dissipates when you board it up. Life moves on and it becomes easy to forget the things you feel guilty about.

A quick google definition of guilt: "Guilt is a cognitive or an emotional experience that occurs when a person realises or believes--accurately or not-- that they have violated a moral standard."

All week I have been feeling tired while running and sore when I'm not. Tight legs, tension pains in my weakest areas, poor sleep, probably from the facing of old feelings, getting them out in the open and more importantly, said. "Imagine if we had been able to communicate like this back then", this person said to me. Imagine.

I can't change the past, I can pay attention to the present though and be grateful for the love that I have from my family and my friends. To not take all that I have for granted. To be careful about not making the same mistakes again, and to hope, that's what I've learned from this experience. Never say never, the future can hold many different realities based on the decisions I make now but I do so with a clear heart and mind.

We all have a weakness
Some of ours are easy to identify
Look me in the eye

And ask for forgiveness
We'll make a pact to never speak
That word again, yes you are my friend

No wonder I love music so much, it expresses thought in a way that I've tried to do but can't. For you:

The only antidote to mental suffering is physical pain- Karl Marx

2011-01-23T10:59:00.001-05:00

I doubt Marx was thinking of running when he said this but it works perfectly for me.

With temperatures hovering around 15 degrees, I have been mentally battling myself over running long this weekend. I will run long, there is no choice about that. The mental struggle becomes getting out the door when the little voice in the back of my head says "run on the treadmill" and then the other voice says "no way are you running in place for 2+ hours". As I look outside to see the blanket of white that has covered the ground for more than two weeks and the dead brown leaves moving from the wind, I know I am in for an icey, bone chilling run. I sink a little lower under the blanket, sipping my hot tea, working up the courage to dig through my winter gear and shore up my resolve to get this done.

Last week, my friends had a good laugh over how I dress for winter running. Susan, posting her race report wrote that I was easy to spot since I looked like this:

Additionally tagging me in this photo on facebook which prompted me to post my real photo from the race:

although it started out at 11 degrees, the race finished up near 30, practically tropical compared to today. I was thinking that I really may need to break out the puffy down ski jacket for this 15 mile run I have to do:

I might look like the michelin man running down the road (definitely inching closer to the waddling kid from A Christmas Story) but I would be toasty!

The treadmill is sounding like a better option....

** Update: 15 miles, 19 degrees/with a ridiculous wind chill and it was windy. Did the same loop 4 times but I was shielded from the wind except for a half mile section. Bottle/gel stop at the mail box at my house. Broke out the hot hands for the last 7 miles and I had "hot feet" pads in my shoes keeping my toes toasty. I wore:

Compression shorts with long tights over them and Nike wind pants over those too.
Smart wool socks
Under armour long sleeve with a poypro short sleeve over that
Microfleece pullover
Biemme cycling jacket to block the wind
Beanie hat
Balaclava covering everything except my eyes
Nike fleece gloves
Lobster gloves over those

I feel like I am forgetting something. I guess I really did look like the kid from A Christmas Story!

Contemplating my athletic status...

2011-01-20T21:45:00.001-05:00

I guess I've been an athlete my whole life. My mother tells me that when I was three I was so hyper that she took me to the pediatrician to get some suggestions on what to do with me (good thing it was 1974 otherwise I'm sure I would have been given some kind of pill) his advice was to get me in an activity everyday like gymnastics or swimming so my mother signed me up for both.

I loved to swim but I loved gymnastics even more and that became my passion until my freshman year of college and many broken bones and torn ligaments/tendons/muscle pulls later.

Senior year in high school, I was an expert in wrist and ankle taping, got to love that high pony tail too,
I think that was a failed experiment with "sun-in".

When my body called it quits from this sport, I was left with an emptiness my freshman year of college. Not knowing what to do with myself (outside of studying and partying like a rock star that year) I started running around the campus, the one mile loop around seemed like forever. I played volleyball for a few weeks on the D III team but wound up in a cast after re-tearing an ankle ligament (lingering gymnastics injury) that spring with a third degree sprain. Out of the cast I swam but for the first time I wasn't part of a team and I really missed it. Prior to starting sophmore year I saw a sign for the crew team, I went to the first try out and loved the idea of being on the water. As a novice I made first boat and then went on to row in the JV boat for the first part of my junior year and the Varsity 8 A boat the rest of my college career.

Head of the Charles, 1992. Bronze medalists, IC crew Varsity 8. That's me in the 5 seat (count from the back up), I'm still in touch with these girls today, you form a tight bond rowing together in unison feeling like you are going to puke your guts up by the end of the third 500.

Crew was another obsessive sport. If we weren't rowing, or training for rowing in the gym outside of practice, or lifting weights or running to and from the boathouse we were talking about rowing.** I missed it terribly after graduating and went on to coach Dowling's Women's Varsity crew team for 2 years at the crack of 4 every morning before I went to work. I was in the launch coaching, not rowing but I was on the water and did land and erg train with the girls for those 2 years and towards the end of the first was when I discovered triathlon, by accident.
My friend and fellow crew mate, Danielle, was home from IC as well and suggested training for a triathlon. At the time, we were both personal trainers and met up to swim some laps, or go for a run and we did our very first bike rides together on borrowed bikes. Mine was my 6 foot brother's steel bianchi with the old time Scott aerobars, it didn't fit of course but I lowered the seat, reached a little further and was down the road doing a whole 16 miles that felt like a century. We picked the Tobay triathlon to race not realizing that you couldn't just show up morning of to sign up like a local 5 or 10k. It didn't matter anyway because Danielle overslept and we missed the time to leave to arrive on time so we just rode and ran from my house in our own short version of a duathlon. I did sign up for the Mighty Hamptons race the following September of 1995. I joined a local masters group with Rick Ferriola at the Y in Mastic and I remember making the decision to swim with them, to improve my speed. I raced that fall, finished and left and found out that Tuesday morning at swim practice that I won my age group. One of the swimmers picked up the award for me, I was shocked, back then there weren't that many women racing, particularly in my age group so I could have been an age group winner of 1 female from 18-24 for all I know! You know what was fun about those early days of triathlon? Everything! The training was all new, I enjoyed it, I had a team of people to swim with and most were triathletes and being single, I travelled with many of these new friends to races like the Blueberry festival in NJ, the Fairlee Triathlon in VT, and I rode my brothers bike for years until I saved up enough money for this:

Ironman Lake Placid 2003, concentrating down the big hill!

My fire engine red Kestrel 500 Sci that I bought in the spring of 1998 and rode in every triathlon through 2008. I still love that bike, everything on it still stock except for the spinergy's, I blew those out in 2004. Up until a couple of years ago when I really started to concentrate on the running, I thought of myself as a pure triathlete. Somewhere along the marathon ride starting with Chicago in 2008, I became a runner. My triathlon career started at the olympic distance in 1995, progressed to half ironman's through the late 90's, to ironman's through 2005 back to half ironman through 2010 but even though I did 2 triathlons a summer the past couple of years, I was a runner in my heart. Here it is January of 2011 and after some rough winter training in 2010 leading up to Boston, I'm going back for one more round. I find that I love running more now than ever. I've been struggling to return to swimming. I want to swim but I find that each week since December, "something" comes up. Like tonight, after 4 hours of sleep last night, I'm tired. Going to the pool and swimming at 8 pm is not really a good option for me today. Getting off the phone with Sam, he'll be back in action on Tuesday coming up so I'm SWEARING on this blog that I am going to the pool on Tuesday. I miss gliding through the water but it will still just be a cross training workout. I've ridden on the computer trainer a few times, only when I couldn't run. I haven't signed up for any triathlon's for 2011 yet. If and when I do, I'm going back to the beginning, I'm going short and staying short. I haven't signed up for the Montauk sprint but I guess I should soon. I would really like to do West Point and I think I might want to go back to Mighty Hamptons for the 30th anniversary. School starts, marathoning will not be possible, neither will serious long distance triathlon. Plenty of room for 5k's - 10k's, maybe some open water swim races, and I want to join the local rowing club and get back in a shell this summer! So for the first time along my athletic journey, I don't want to identify myself as anything, not a gymast, or a rower, or a triathlete or cyclist or runner... whatever I do will be competitive, but I won't be any one thing except an athlete that's mostly an academic for the next 6 years.

** substitute triathlon for rowing and boathouse for pool and it's very similar: If we weren't doing a triathlon, or training for triathlon in the gym outside of practice, or lifting weights or running to and from the pool we were talking about triathlon. It's not so surprising that many former rowers become triathletes!

Motivating factors

2011-01-16T19:08:00.000-05:00

It's put up or shut up time, 91 days to Boston.
I'm a little afraid of my training schedule too, but it's a healthy fear. I know what it takes to run a successful marathon; I also know it's much harder to accomplish a similar training schedule in the dead of winter. Training has been progressing nicely, I have a great base and I'm ready to up my mileage, particularly the long runs which I consider to be anything 15 miles or over. First of the "longs" is this weekend, 15 miles and from there it progressively goes up to the 20's every third week or so. Considering the long distances and the type of weather we have been having in the Northeast I have to be a bit flexible on the days I get them in, there has been some shifting around but I've still been hitting my targets. Yet there is still anxiety, still a bit of fear, of what? Stepping outside my comfort zone.
There is a poster hanging outside the West gym in the high school I teach at; a quote by Wayne Gretzsky "You'll always miss 100% of the shots you don't take". You can't argue the truth in that. In order to do a better job on the hills during the back half of the Boston marathon, I've got to step outside my comfort zone this winter. I have to mix in some different types of hill training and take the risk of feeling sore and then getting out again to run the next day. What am I afraid of? Failure I guess, it's a common denominator among athletes and performance, "the fear of failure". According to Hardy (Br Med Bult 1992 Jul: 48 (3): 615-29), the sources of stress in sport are fear of failure, concerns about evaluation from peers and coach, lack of readiness to perform, and loss of internal control of the environment. I think we can each relate to these four sources in some capacity. While out on a 14 mile run a couple of weeks ago, I put some thought into fear and what my strategies were. Goal setting is one, imagery is another. I also value positive self talk. It's very easy to get seriously negative while you enter the fatigue zone and the pain cave during a long event, this is the time that you need to turn your thinking around to the positive side. I saw a quote today from Ghandi that describes this perfectly and I will recite this in my head on the next long run when I enter the hurt zone: "Strength does not come from physical capacity, it comes from an indomitable will". The fear I have for sport pales in comparison to the actually fear experienced in a life and death situation. To analyze it further I reached out to a few members of my inner circle that have experienced "real fear" and I asked them each the same questions:
"Thinking back to all of your experiences, could be with fighting or not, when you had to do something scary to most people, or knowing something big was coming and you needed to clear whatever hurdle it was; how did you approach it from a mental standpoint? What did you tell yourself to set the fear aside and move forward with whatever you had to do?"

Anthony Snoble, Martial Arts Master, champion triathlete, UFC competitor: "Mentally....I always thought of one of my inspirations or saw myself defeating the opponent, issue, or obstacle. Putting myself in someone else's shoes that I trusted....and meditated on it...and I don't mean just sitting lotus style in a dark room, but constantly putting those cantations in front of me to see and focus on while going through the motions of my day. But I never think of it as fear because it would consume me".

Lt. Martin Viera of the elite Air Force Pararescue team: "the first thing to come to mind is what they taught us in INDOC. Conquer the challange that is in front of you. Do not think of the long term. When it came to jumping out of an airplane at 10,000 feet. I just kept telling myself it was one step, after that I could not turn back. The other thing that I have been doing, when a scary or dangerous training event is scheduled, I think about the person I will be saving in the future."

US Army Sgt. Sebastian Cila (Ret.), served in the Iraq war and injured by an IED now competing for Operation Rebound after the amputation of his left hand and forearm post 40 surgeries to try and save it: "fear is contagious". Sam had so much to say on this topic that I had to call him, to get some clarification and insight on fear being contagious. Sam explained that thoughts become words and words become actions. On the battlefield, everyone is afraid but no one voices it. Instead, if he or another soldier sensed the rising fear in another they gave a vote of confidence and that positive confidence was also contagious in the group. Each soldier knows the other is experiencing fear and for him, it was never the fear of dying, it was the fear of being injured in action and not being able to continue the fight. Sam believes that the key to conquering fear is learning how to control it by awareness, anticipation, and concentration, all part of the "warrior's mindset". Sam also has an interesting view on competition in sports, and because of what he has experienced in the line of duty for our country it really puts things in perspective:

"As athletes we do not do things that are hard, we do things that are challenging!"

Keeping this in mind over the next few months as you prepare for your "A" race of the season, set your goals, practice positive mental imagery of how you want to accomplish these goals and engage in positive self talk, particularly when things get tough and the fatigue sets in. For my 15 mile run next Saturday, I am already planning on it being a success, I anticipate that the leg fatigue will begin to set in around mile 8-9 and I will remind myself that the run is not hard, but challenging.

Brew race

2011-01-15T18:45:00.001-05:00

How could you go wrong with a race like this? Actually, the brew run was a favorite event of mine for the past few years. Run with friends for 12 miles and then drink free beer and the best thing was that it was a free event put on by GLIRC and maybe a 100 people, maybe a little less would show up but it was a guaranteed fun run in the middle of winter with good friends (and beer, did I mention that? haha).
This year, the Sayville running club took over the event, made it a 10 mile race, completely changed the really nice out and back course to a two loop run with so many rights and lefts through neighborhoods around tightly packed icey corners and since they charged $25 for entry 500 people showed up! At 5:30 am the weather channel was reporting that it was a balmy -1 degrees and Dave and I laughed that we were actually going out to race in this. My sister was kind enough to take Van early and drive him to gymnastics practice so D and I could go together and we arrived at 7:45 am and a "warm up" to 11 degrees with plenty of time to register and stand inside the big tent with the heaters, huddled together until it was time to form up on the street. I was late getting to the start and had to weave a bit through people traffic to move up towards the front and then for some weird reason they squeezed us all together on one side of the road. I think they wanted to let a police car through but I guess they must have realized that the car was not getting past the cattle heard of 500 runners shivering and anxious to race! I started with Dave and I had no plan for today, which is a little unusual but I had no idea what kind of shape I was in. I spent November and December working up my mileage and building a nice base and this was the first test of the legs since early October. I think I was so happy to be finally moving and generating warmth that my leg turnover was really high. My friend Jenn C. caught up right around mile 1 which we clocked at 7:40 (whoops! way too fast for a 10 mile race for me) and we chatted it up running 7:45's-7:55's through mile 5 when my legs began to feel the effects of my early efforts and my mind realized I still had another 5 miles to run! This is why it is so important to schedule some shorter races in during any kind of marathon or half marathon build up. I thought I would be somewhere around 8:10-8:15 shape and had I started out at that pace I might have felt a little better over the last 4 miles but sometimes I just need to get out there and see what I'm made of and it becomes a learning experience as well as a reflective one. I've had races where I've gone out fast and was actually able to hold it so sometimes I just throw the dice. Today wasn't the day for sustained speed. I lost Jenn around mile 6 as I slowed down to 8:08's, then to 8:30 for a mile. I quickly took a gel, scanned my body realizing my hips and hamstrings were getting tighter as the race progressed (from the cold? from the faster early pace? probably both) and dug in and forced myself to run 8:20's as the little devil in the back of my brain and my aching legs were trying to convince me to slow down. I put those thoughts aside quickly, reminded myself that what I was feeling over the last 4 miles was similar to the last 4 miles of the marathon and I embraced the suffering, welcomed it and looked forward to finishing strong. The course was a little long, Dave and I both clocked it at 10.2 on the GPS, a few other friends had 10.1 and change. Dave wasn't up to running the full 10 as his achilles has been giving him trouble so he did the first loop in a little over 35 minutes and called it a day. It was great to see so many friends: Andrew, John and Jerry from the lab; KB, Shannon, Susan and Chris, Wynn and Theresa, Emi! My friend Rick kicked some serious arse today finishing third overall with a time of 59:40 in these conditions. Amazing! I was very happy with the 1:24:50 finish, no PR today (that was 1:20 set on a beautiful May day at the Long Beach 10 mile trophy run) but the effort was high and that was the goal. 10th in my AG and I realized that my time would have been good for 4th in the 40 group (that's one good thing about aging up in a few months) and I feel that I have tremendous room for improvement as I move forward on the next phase of training. Time to get to work on making those effortless 7:40's last for a lot longer than 5 miles!

Constant forward motion, my thoughts on the run

2011-01-02T20:07:00.000-05:00

A long run always invokes a small amount of fear leading up to it. I think about it with increasing intensity as the days of the week pass by and the day before a really long run is similar to the way I approach a race. I invoke the cyclists motto of why stand when you can sit and why sit when you can lay down. The fact that Saturday this week fell on New Year's day after a mild evening of revelry just happened to be perfect timing! I didn't over do it though, just enough staying up late and waking up early to the kids on Saturday morning that left me sufficiently tired enough to take the day off on Saturday. I had 22 miles in up to this point as well so I felt I earned the day off.
After sleeping in fitfully until 9 am this morning, I waited for the fog and rain to clear up a bit before embarking on the planned 14 miler. I've been running long and have a good base going so far and I noticed for the first time that I was choosing a route that was progressively harder, in fact I was really looking for one. I initially considered running flat towards Pleasure Drive and then finishing up on the golf course road hills but Dave informed me that it still wasn't plowed so it wouldn't be much good to run on. I was thinking about this as I started to run away from my house this morning and how different it was from last year when I would fear the hills and really have to steel myself up for them, now I could care less if they are there... even the steepest ups and downs. Wondering why as I ran I was thinking it has to do with running the Newton hills last year late in the race and realizing I ran them as hard as I could in a marathon and if I want to hit those same hills this year with a bit more confidence I have to mimic that attitude and that type of course in training. Rounding mile 2 on the sidewalk careful of my step among melting snow, I saw a dead bird, face down and the first thought that came to mind was "poor birdie" and then I wondered why that was my first thought and pondered this philosophy for the next three or so miles. Is it human nature in general to be so empathetic or am I more concerned with my own mortality and that causes the empathy for the dead bird? Still not sure but it gave me something good to think about. Five miles into the run I hooked a left into a little neighborhood to change things up. What nice hills we have here! Continually stepping up, nice and steep, relaxing my body and concentrating on flowing down the hill and not tensing up I was a mile in before the turn around. Nice, just have to add another mile out on the rolling County Road and I'd have my 14. At mile 8 my pace picked up a little, no sign of fatigue yet and I was in a good groove. Heading back towards home my thoughts shifted to overcoming fear. Sam has an expression: "our thoughts become our words and our words become our actions". I thought about those words and what they mean to me, in the past I've used something similar in my mind when speaking aloud my goals. First to think about them, then say them out loud then set out to accomplishing them. Positive thoughts manifested into words tend to become the positive actions or performances we want and the same is true for the negatives which is why "can't is a four letter word"... any negative thoughts mainfested into words will have a negative outcome. If you repeatedly tell yourself "my biking sucks or I'm a slow runner" then guess what? Your biking will suck and you will be slow. Change the thought and the words behind them and you may just overcome that plateau or jump the hurdle that has been plaguing you for awhile. It's no coincidence that I was pondering mortality and fear after a week of watching/reading about ultra running. I am not interested nor do I have the time to train for such an undertaking, I am purely interested from a psychological and physiological perspective. What is it about these runners, covering ridiculous distances in ridiculous conditions, willing their bodies forward mile after mile to reach that 100 mile mark or even worse, reaching the 135 mile mark at the Badwater ultramarathon with the last 12 grueling miles up a moutaintop peak with daytime temperatures exceeding 120 degrees? I am amazed by these individuals just as I am continually amazed by mountain climbers and their drive to reach the peaks of the world in below freezing blizzard and avalanche risk conditions. The ultra runner and the world class mountain climbers have much in common with the way they approach the task at hand and accomplish the mission. I can only experience this on a small scale on days like today when my 14 mile run on a hilly route constitutes another drop in the bucket of fitness leading up to my goal this spring. I do think whatever your goal is: running a marathon, climbing one of the 14 highest peaks of the world or testing your body and mind over a 100 mile trail with 10000 feet of climbing and descents; or quitting smoking or losing fat mass or pursuing your education; you do it with a plan in mind, a series of steps pursued with determination. Whatever your goals are for this new year, pursue them in constant forward motion. That's my resolution this year as I start some new projects like Runners Lab and begin the pursuit of my PhD, no looking back, no regrets!

Happy Holidays!

2010-12-27T10:34:00.000-05:00

Cozy, under a blanket with a steaming cup of coffee, I am thrilled with the idea of staying warm inside with the house and yard covered in a foot high blanket of snow. After a week of last minute rushing around to prep for the Christmas holiday, I feel like a can finally relax without the never ending list of things to do crashing around inside my skull. Normally going out for a run relieves the stressors of the day; last week simply fitting the running in became a stressor unto itself. I did manage to get the miles in I needed but I didn't get to enjoy them as much as I was thinking about the next thing I had to do afterwards. It was all worth it though, even though Christmas morning and day go by so fast, we had an excellent day of presents, food, family, fun and merriment. Waking up to the weather report of the impending blizzard the day after Christmas lent an air of urgency to fitting in the long run. I downed some toast and coffee and got dressed. I am so lucky that I have multiple trail routes through the Pine Barrens literally right out my door, I opted for looping the red trail as it is mostly flat to gently rolling without the steep sharp climbs and quick desents in the white trail that burned my glutes out last week.

The red trail, pre-snow

It started snowing mid run and the trails were really pretty with a light dusting of snow, by the end of the run the snow really began to come down, sticking to my eyelashes. I rounded out the planned 10 miler with a "fast" finish over the last 2 miles. I haven't been wearing the garmin in the trails because trail pace compared to road pace is so much slower around here. Still in base training mode I'd rather opt for effort based pacing than looking down at the garmin to realize I am not covering as much ground at an effort that mimics road pace. Mentally for me, it's much easier to go by standard chrono watch and rate of breathing in the woods; only then can I enjoy where I am rather than being worries about how fast I'm not going. Knowing my chosen route is five miles long, I did both loops in 1:38- which I was pretty pleased with, particularly because I only cover 10 miles on the road in 1:30, my fitness is picking up.

A week off from work now, I have plenty of time to train this week. The roads should be cleared by tomorrow for the first run of the week. This is week one of the first two week build leading into Boston. No work, plenty of recovery time, no excuses!

Happy New Year!

Attitude is everything

2010-12-18T10:19:00.000-05:00

"Weakness of attitude becomes weakness of character." ~ Einstein

I stumbled across this quote this very morning as I contemplate yet another run in the frigid temps. I don't remember it being this constantly cold this many days in a row and then I wondered if my attitude was different about it last year. I don't think we hit as many chilly days in a row this early last year and even if we did, I had the treadmill right downstairs in my house. You don't know what you have until it's gone..... our treadmill served us well for 9 years. That's a lot of miles. Purchasing a quality treadmill can be a bit costly and right before Christmas is not the best time of year for us. I've been running 4-5 days per week outside and it's been tough for me. I've realized over the past couple of weeks that I am truly not an extreme weather person. I don't like the gripping scorching hot and 100% humidity of the summer and neither does my body respond well to 500 layers of clothing and arctic wind chills. If I could run in the middle of the day when its "warmest" I could probably get away with running outside everyday but that's not the case for me. It's either very early in the morning and the dark (4:30-5:30 am) or it's in the evening after 5 pm just as it hits full dark and the temperatures drop with the disappearing sun. Not to mention the safety factor, like I said to Dave last week, the thought of running on isolated open farm roads in the pitch black with the fear of being run over or abducted makes me slightly sick. Running for me is a stress release and I shouldn't feel fearful or loathing the run at the beginning or end of the day. No need to add to the stress in my life and work has been stressful; Obama's "race to the top" has not been good for anyone, trust me. I fear that it will drive the good teachers like myself away from teaching due to administrative B.S. but that's a topic for another blog. In any case, work has been much more stressful and much less enjoyable making the need for enjoyable running that much more necessary, to clear my head and do something positive for myself.
Monday I raced the dark at 3:30 pm to fit in a 10 miler that had me running in icy winds and brief periods of freezing rain. Wednesday I caved to the twenty degree temps and cross trained on the bike and elliptical in my basement. Thursday I ran outside at high noon in the trails. The red trail is one of my favorite 5 mile loops, it's peaceful and beautiful yet I never quite warmed up and my joints, particularly my right hip were aching me towards the end which was really unusual and distressing. Not to mention the rapid onset of the "asthma cough" that appears when I stop. The doc cautioned me about the cold temperatures when I saw him Thursday morning. He was glad to hear I had no races planned for the next couple of weeks reminding me that the cold and dry temperatures constrict my airways and cause a leakage of interstitial fluid into my lungs. Yoga calmed my breathing and loosened me up, the foam roller got rid of the kinks and I resolved to join the gym and end this madness.
It was really enjoyable to run in a tank and shorts last night with no aching joints and to have the ability to pick up my pace and do a bit of speed work. The change of scenery was good for my body and good for my head. I have options now and the sense of dread has gone. Boston will be my last long distance race for quite some time, I want to enjoy the process leading up to it and enjoy the marathon itself. One last good go before I dig into the pursuit of a PhD. I'm looking forward to school, and I'm looking forward to doing some short distance 5k to 10k races and a couple of sprint triathlons. I'm even thinking of joining the local rowing club and getting back into a shell as a starboard rower, keeping fit and healthy without the stress of having to do frequent 4 hour rides because I signed up for some crazy long distance triathlon. If I feel like riding 4 hours with a group I will but not because I have to. Yesterday I was talking with Jenn C., one of my running partners and discussing my attitudes towards Boston. With the reality of a very cold winter training season setting in, I decided that I just want to get the required miles in and stop worrying about my performance on actual race day. I want to train happy, I want to be physically well and run without incurring injury. I want to show up on race day knowing that I prepared as best as I physically could and then I can face whatever elements I get on that one day and just enjoy running from Hopkinton to Boston for what may be very well the last time I do it. I am equally looking forward to a stress free summer of training and racing for the love of sport and the freedom of movement. Mental overhaul, complete attitude adjustment.

Inspiration. Where do you find yours?

2010-12-12T12:41:00.000-05:00

Pictured here are two of my good friends, Rick and Nick during the NYC marathon this year. Rick started running a couple of years ago and I had the pleasure of coaching him towards his first marathon. An accomplished cyclist, Rick switched to running as the demands of family and work took up the many hours needed to ride competitively. Goal oriented and fiercely determined, Rick smashed the 3 hour barrier this year at the Hamptons marathon running an amazing 2:54 and he's only been running a couple of years, there is more speed in those legs! What an engine. Rick paced Nick to his first marathon finish at NYC this year and we had the opportunity to watch them run together and to see Nick complete his quest and he too has only been running for a couple of years after receiving his Flex Foot from Step Ahead Prosthetics in 2008. Another amazing talent with more speed in the legs, running 3:45 for a first ever marathon was awesome and I look forward to watching that time drop remarkably with training and race experience. Nick has had many trials and tribulations to overcome in his life, his story is inspirational and I thought about him a lot early last week while I was struggling with the inability to breathe properly and many times when negativity slowly crept its way into my thoughts, I redirected myself by thinking "we take what we are given and we run with it", Nick's mantra. To learn more about Nick and his very inspirational journey, click here. It's very easy to get caught up in your own drama and although lungs that function correctly are essential to running, it's necessary for me to step outside myself and have a look at what others must overcome to achieve their goals. It reminds me to be appreciative for what I have and am able to do. It reminds me to look forward and not back. It reminds me to not take for granted that I get to do the Boston marathon this year and it reminds me to enjoy the process. Thanks Nick, I'm taking what I have been given and running with it.

The best superhero ever.

2010-12-05T21:15:00.000-05:00

From Wikipedia: Wonder Woman is an Amazon (based on the Amazons of Greek mythology) and was created by Marston, an American, as a "distinctly feminist role model whose mission was to bring the Amazon ideals of love, peace, and sexual equality to a world torn by the hatred of men."^[2] Her powers include superhuman strength, flight, super-speed, super-stamina, and super-agility. She is highly proficient in hand-to-hand combat and in the art of tactical warfare. She also possesses an animal-like cunning and a natural rapport with animals, which has in the past been presented as an actual ability to communicate with the animal kingdom. She uses her Lasso of Truth, which forces those bound by it to tell the truth, a pair of indestructible bracelets, a tiara which serves as a projectile, and an invisible airplane.

I suppose if you are a guy reading this, your best superhero of choice would be of the masculine sort that may possess super human strength, speed and agility and might be proficient at hand to hand combat and tactical warfare, oh and fly BUT the lasso of truth, indestructible bracelets and the tiara are hard to argue with. As a kid, I totally wanted to be wonder woman, I remember spinning in my living room and "changing" into the super powered wonder woman, ready to battle. I can think of many times where the lasso of truth would come in handy today. Fun to imagine.

The closest I can get to be wonder woman is through athletics. I love the days when I feel powerful and strong, hitting my targets in workouts, pushing the pace, and for a very few brief moments, feeling invincible. That's the feeling I strive for during each workout and each race, sometimes getting it sometimes not. It's fun to plan too and I have a plan, hoping to be my own personal wonder woman at Boston this year. My plan was a bit derailed this week, a minor setback. I have to accept it, no need to whine about it or complain, life is what it is sometimes. What started out as a minor cold three weeks ago has triggered the asthma. I was OK to train through until about Thursday this week and then I was not. To most people I sound sick, yet I am not. My 'illness' is not something that can be passed onto anyone although it has the ability to stop me in my tracks. I refuse to give in to it however, but I am also maintaining the realistic possibility that winter training and asthma do not necessarily get along so well. I will have to take measures to make sure I can exercise in a temperature controlled environment sometimes and I will have to manage my diet and my sleep to avoid a future crash. In a way, I feel lucky this year because last year I was down for the count 4 times with serious flare ups from October through December. This year I made it almost through November, a definite improvement. I asked my doc if I was allergic to fall, he agreed with a laugh. Knowing the triggers, recognizing the symptoms before they become life threatening is also important. By Saturday afternoon I was no longer functioning, I called my doc and I called M.E. for some moral support and I'm glad I did. Had I not, I might be writing this blog from a hospital room, instead, I am feeling better today with the proper medical treatment needed to get me out of the allergy cascade that has take over my body. We did learn by looking through my chart that my asthmatic condition is much worse when exposed to a virus. If my immune system is at a low point (easily caused by stress and lack of sleep) I am more open to this severe type of reaction. Knowing this is helpful in that I will take preventive measures in my diet and sleep patterns to strengthen my immune system. I have been talking about looking into acupuncture and chinese herb therapy for awhile, then I forget to do it when I am well. I can't afford that anymore, not if I want to continue following the training plan I have laid out for myself, it's time to pursue that avenue in earnest. I am optimistic. In the meantime I have taken advantage of the down time this week to revamp my website (check it out www.jayasports.com) and we announced Runner's lab; I wrote a 10 week generic triathlon base schedule for sprint to half Ironman triathlete's that is available for purchase (many athletes have been asking me about this for awhile, I'm on the fence about doing it for races, too many variables that I can't control for but for base training it was time); and I sat down with a few in my posse to plan out the next year and talked to several others via phone inquiring about training for specific events in 2011. I'm excited, lots of good things happening!

Your potential, our science...run healthy. Phase II

2010-12-04T11:27:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago I mentioned that "we" have some really good things coming up and that when the time was right, I would share it with you. Without any further adieu allow me to introduce: Runner's lab:

www.runnerslab.net

We are really excited about our new project!

Goals- it's time again!

2010-11-29T19:47:00.000-05:00

What do you want to do in 2011? What will your A priority race be? Time to decide, once you do you can pretty much plan the rest of your training and racing around that top priority race, then you can pick a couple of B priority races that you want to do well at keeping in mind that you want to peak for the big A race of the year. Any other races become train through races, C priority. It is possible to have two A priority races in a season but they do need to be spaced out enough that you can peak for the first, recover sufficiently, rebuild and peak again for the second A priority race. A periodized training program is a perfect solution if the training leading up to the first and second race is done correctly and enough recovery has been taken, that of course is the tricky part and it helps to have someone outside yourself giving you an objective opinion on what and when you should be doing certain types of training and racing. It is also fun to plan, I spent Saturday afternoon with Sam and Anna, planning races and figuring out what the general outline will look like for his 2011 season, it's important to have a series of goals to help you through winter training in the Northeast. Nothing like counting back the number of weeks until the first race of the year and you realize it isn't actually that far away when you look at the calendar from that perspective.

What do I want to do in 2011?
Boston is the first big race of the year. It has to be an A priority race for me, it's a marathon. There are many people who can use a marathon as a "train through" race or a "something to do after an Ironman since I spent so much time training anyway" race or a "I am going to build of my run mileage through the winter for a spring race" and then not worry about how fast they actually run it but I don't have the mental capability right now to let go and just "run easy and have fun" and no matter what your goal is, the last 8-10 miles of a marathon are really hard, it's a long way and I'm going to run it as fast as I am able to hopefully recreating the "zone" I had in Albany last year. That was just about the perfect race and I will never forget that feeling, I want it back. Last year I was sick so much leading into Boston that the inconsistency in training led to a weak second half. This year I want to make sure I stay well, put in the kind of base mileage and actually increase my mileage during the winter and I want to enjoy every phase of the training no matter how dark or how cold it is outside, I'll be happy running because I can. I can then go to Boston relaxed and happy, knowing that I did all I could to prepare properly and by then the pace I want to run will feel "easy" for the first half and I can have "fun" pushing my limits over the second half.
Leading up to Boston I will run a 5k next Sunday to see where my fitness is currently at (a free pint at the end is a huge draw- thanks Susan for sending me the link to this one!).
Jan 9th- 10 miler to Bluepoint Brewery (more free pints hee hee)
End of January I will run the Manhattan Half Marathon in Central Park again (always fun to go in with my racing buddies and hit the diner in Commack afterwards)
February- something... it's a tough month for racing anywhere but I'll find something.
March- Hopefully I'll get back into the NYC half marathon again, I think they post lottery results soon otherwise I'll have to do the Suffolk half marathon on dreaded Nicholls road.
April 18th- Boston marathon. 139 days from today.

I will then be ready to throw in the performance towel and run some races purely for fun:
Early May- North Face Endurance Challenge half marathon in the trails
Mid May- Greenbelt 25k
June- Women's mini- 10k in Central Park (love this race)

Wow- that's a lot of running races, guess I feel like running!
I will use May to build up some cycling and I do not plan on doing any long endurance based triathlon this summer. Over the last few years the thought of spending 5-6 hours in the saddle frequently for an Ironman has been very unappealing to me so I haven't gone back to Ironman distance since 2005. It's now 2010 and the thought of spending 3-4 hours in the saddle frequently to prep for a half ironman is equally unappealing to me. I'm not sure why this is, maybe because I am forced to train solo so much of the time so that Dave and I can balance out training and family life. Maybe I used to enjoy cycling more when I didn't care how fast I ran on the day after a long ride. In any case, looking back on the last 10 years I've done 3 Ironman's and I've done a half ironman every single year for the last 12 years. 12 half iron's, 3 Iron's, 5 stand alone marathons. It's been a good run.
I want to get back to really enjoying triathlon. I consider myself more of a runner than a triathlete these days and I've often thought of changing the "triathlete" in the header above to "runner" but I don't just run to the exclusion of everything else. My roots are in triathlon and I want to get the racing fire back. I want to race short and fast. Sprints, olympic distance, endurance rides with a pack up to 50 miles and not having to worry about tacking on anything longer, an xterra. Pure fast, red zone racing until I feel like I'm going to puke. For some reason this is more appealing to me than riding at 75-80% for hours followed by a long run. I'll leave the option open though, If I get the training miles in on the bike while I am enjoying myself training and racing at the "puke threshold" then maybe I will do a half in the fall, something local that I can sign up for last minute. Maybe not, I start school next fall and I have a feeling I will be completely overwhelmed by balancing life, family, training and school but I don't want to do what I did this year and sign up for a half for the simple reason that they close out so early. It's just not as important.
I did not get into the NYC triathlon however and that was disappointing.
So Montauk Lighthouse Sprint is on the "to do" again- love that race.
NYC triathlon is August 7th, maybe there is a way I can get in, otherwise it will be The Port Jeff swim/run biathlon and then the Schiff Scout MTB triathlon at the end of August. Maybe Mighty Hamptons in September, that would close out a season well but I think that is also a race you have to sign up early for now and I'm not sure I want to do that and then get to September and not want to race. I still have time to decide. I'm planned through July, 7 months of racing. Looking forward to it!

Go Christine

2010-11-26T17:30:00.000-05:00

"I know so many runners who live in the past and don't make adjustments physically or mentally for their age. They end up injured and not racing. I try to dwell in the present and recognize the limitations placed on me by age. Just because a person is 55 doesn't mean she can't get out on the track and do some speed work. I love the feel of doing speed work. Running has made me who I am and I don't want to lose that, and I hope I can inspire some women to keep running as they get older."

~ Christine Kennedy, 55-59 AG winner at the 2010 Boston marathon. That first sentence is a gem, she's inspired me. She ran a 2:57 and she's gunning for a 2:54 this year and a new world record. Her history and the article are a really interesting read. To read it, click here.

Before the run, to stretch or not to stretch... not!

2010-11-20T20:45:00.000-05:00

"Macca was in his zone. I was in my zone. He was convinced to win. I was convinced I would win. Everybody had their own strategy. But we both knew it was gonna hurt badly for the showdown."

~Andreas Raelert

Embracing the pain to come. I love this quote, it came from an interview on Slowtwitch with the second place finisher at this year's Kona showdown. Good read and it was almost a sprint finish, a complete duel to the end, great to watch.

A FAQ I get frequently from athletes is whether or not to stretch prior to running. For the past few years, my answer has been "no", yet, go to any race, or meet up with a few people prior to going for a run together and you will notice people stretching. If you ask them "why", most often these very same people do not really have an answer with the exception being "because I always do it", which really is not a very good reason to do something when you think about it. Yet, in the world of exercise, many people do things "because they have always been done that way" and some things work and others do not and this is why I love science. Through study, we learn, requestion and make new hypotheses. For the layperson I can understand that this can be very frustrating because it sometimes appears that people do one thing for awhile in thinking that it is good for them and then suddenly research tells us it is not so. Usually these inquiries become very controversial, particularly the "3 set weight lifting rule" which is bunk- another one of those things that people do because they and everyone else they see in a gym is doing it; stretching before running is another. The controversy with stretching is that people stretch before running because they think it prevents injury, yet research tells us this is not true. When that was first revealed a few years ago, many people in the health field balked at first, mainly because it was always done. Think back to any sport you played growing up, the coaches typically had you stretch first as a group, to "warm up and loosen up" and another new study was just released this week in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning research, this time targeting performance in elite runners comparing stretching to non-stretching for a one hour timed run for distance. Titled "The Effects of Static Stretching on Energy Cost and Running Endurance Performance", Wilson et.al. found that stretching before an endurance event decreased endurance performance and increased the energy cost of running. How can a few static stretches affect your speed? The researchers provided a short review of the literature that "reported a strong association between running economy (RE) (i.e., lower energy association between running velocity) and long distance performance...[as] RE seems to be the most important variable to discriminate top level athletes in a homegeneous group of long distance runners". Wilson et.al. showed that stretching done statically "appears to acutely decrease muscle force production capactiy". The researchers go on to explain that the drop in performance is attributed to greater stress-relaxation of muscle tissue which can lead to decreased muscle tendon stiffness and strength. Why is this a concern? Strength and muscle tendon stiffness lead to greater running economy so Wilson et.al. hypothesized that "as static stretching decreases force production and muscle tendon stiffness for up to 1 hour, it may increase energy consumption during an endurance event, decreasing the performance of trained athletes". This is precisely what they found. Using the 5 most common static running stretches (seated hamstring stretch, calf stretch by hanging heels off a block, standing quad stretch, runner's lunge and the glute/hip abduction stretch done lying on the floor- opposite foot over opposite knee, pull knee to chest) in the experimental group; the researchers compared 10 male elite level runners for 1 hour total. The first 30 minutes were at 65% of VO2 max and the second 30 minutes were at a pace dictated by the runner with the goal of achieving the most distance within that 30 minute window. The findings demonstrated that the mean distance run was significantly greater in the nonstretching group (6.0 +/- 1.1 km) vs. the stretching group (5.8 +/- 1.0 km) for the performance run and that the mean energy expended was significantly greater in the stretching group (425 kcals vs. 405 kcals) for the run at 65% of VO2 max. The researchers speculate that the stretching may induce an increase in the number of motor units recruited which may increase energy expenditure decreasing the time to fatigue and that the decrease in muscle tendon stiffness may change stride frequency both of which need further study. Also of note, the researchers indicated that a limitation to the study is that it only included male participants... females have less muscle stiffness than males (~29% less) so further study is needed there as well.
So what to take from all this?
If your goal is long distance running then avoid static stretching prior to the run to save yourself some energy and actually get to the finish line faster! For my fellow exercise scientists out there, gets studying the effects on women, measure changes in stiffness related to ground contact time and find the mechanisms that cause the detrimental performance effects and energy costs. By the time I get to actual dissertation research, I hope more light is shed on the processes! For now, warm up by actually doing the specific activity you are engaged in, jog easy, do some strides and make it as close to start time as possible to have the most desireable effect. Then by all means, stretch when you are done with running to alleviate stiffness and promote recovery!

Skill

2010-11-18T21:05:00.000-05:00

I have so much to write about, Clearwater, an awesome new research article I just read, just have to make some time to catch up on the posts.
This is for all the bikers out there, you have to appreciate this man's skills!

Feeling relaxed

2010-11-12T10:17:00.000-05:00

Taken from the pier just to the left of our hotel room, I wanted to share the view of where I am running every day this week. We touched down in Tampa on Wednesday night. Thursday morning I ran 4 miles barefoot on the flat, powdery white sand beach here. Round 2 coming up shortly but for a bit longer and in shoes today as soon as Dave comes back from his last pre-race swim. 70.3 World Championships for him tomorrow morning, send him some good vibes!

Reliability/Specificity

2010-11-09T21:42:00.000-05:00

In a rush to beat the approaching dark, it was a race out the door to begin with. I did manage to grab my headlamp, forgot the light gloves and the water bottle, oh well, at least it isn't at the 30 degree mark yet.

Sunday brought daylight savings time, great to have an extra hour to kick around on Sunday morning and nice to have a little more light early but during my work week, I have to be there so early that it benefits me to have it stay lighter later on into the evening so "fall back" doesn't really work to my personal benefit. What I did get out of my run today were several things worth noting, the first being the awesome array of colors in the sky in my race against the setting sun. I was bargaining with myself before I left the house... the schedule I wrote for myself today dictated 5 x 600's and 4 x 200's and I considered moving it to Thursday but as my feet hit the ground and the turnover began, the intervals were exactly what I needed to calm a hurried mind. I ran up the big hill away from my house at a faster tempo than usual but I felt good and distracted with the sky. The orange, pink, grey, purple, blue and white striations were beautiful and each time I glanced in a different direction I was reminded of how amazing a sunset can be and equally grateful to share a part in it. With the sun disappearing below the tree line and my first two miles in it was time to start running faster. I have no pace goals for early speed training. I am even reluctant to refer to what I did as "speed" training because I am actually base training for Boston. In between the 600 meter efforts where my mind blanks out to nothing but feel for my body and concentration on the effort at hand, I thought a lot about repeatability and specificity in training. When most people see a main set for a run workout that includes repeats in meters they usually associate "track" with the intervals and it doesn't always have to be that way. My first repeat was mostly downhill, the second and third were uphill into a headwind. The fourth was on a straightaway with a tailwind and the last was on a slight downhill. Sure, I could have went to the track and did the same workout with faster times recorded but that wasn't what this workout was about. Boston is ridiculously hilly and I need to be able to maintain my marathon LT speed while running up and downhill. A flat track isn't going to meet my specificity needs unless the workout calls for steady 400's on a goal pace that I want to repeat every few weeks for reliability measures, to see my progress and compare my data. Tonight was all about facing the elements. I could be running uphill into a headwind during a race, and I need to be able to maintain a fast turnover downhill without blowing my quads to oblivion like last year. Lessons learned.
As to why I am doing 600 meter repeats so early:
I'm not speed training per se now. Any faster efforts are all about turnover, getting the legs moving at a quicker cadence. I concentrate on a quick turnover and whereever that pace ends up is fine. Sometimes it's close to 5k pace, sometimes its closer to 10k pace in a headwind but the pace is not important now, just the quick turnover. Base training involves a lot of running at aerobic speeds while I steadily increase my mileage each week but I don't want to get caught in the trap of constantly running long, slow, distance (LSD for runners) because in the end, all I'll specifically train for is running long and slow if I do that. I am interested in running long and fast and that requires a set of tactics. I switch up my turnover sessions and I only do them once per week, typically after a two day rest period off running. Today was perfect for that. I ran 12 steady Saturday in the hills, walked around NYC cheering my friends on for the marathon on Sunday, had a nice recovery spin last night so today my legs were ready for "light and quick" - the two words I repeat to myself during the intervals called for. The workout went by fast and so did the light. It was full dark for my last two miles down the hill to home. Headlamp on I thought to myself that I much prefer the early morning darkness to early evening dark if I have to choose. There are just too many cars in the evening, yet the mornings can be a bit spooky when I'm out there alone. I glanced over my right shoulder before crossing the road and saw a big cresent moon lighting up the road over County Road 51. Watching my step on the illuminated ground before me, I was hoping I would see the carcass of the racoon I passed earlier before stepping on it. Poor foragers, this is the time of year when the road kill levels go up. On the last couple of runs I've seen several dead deer and racoons, hit by cars in their quest for winter food and it reminded me to be viligent and visible, glad that I had on my reflective vest and shoes. I lost my race with the sun today but I will get plenty of it for the rest of the week; off to 70.3 World Championships in Clearwater. Dave is racing Saturday and Van and I plan on getting plenty of swim time and run time on the beach each day. A little bit of summer before the stark reality of Round 2 winter training begins.

Phase I

2010-11-05T20:23:00.001-04:00

"The world's a rollercoaster

and I am not strapped in

maybe I should hold with care

but my hands are busy waving in the air..."

~Incubus

We have some really good things up and coming...really good and I'm really excited about it and when the time is right I'll share it with you, for now we are in Phase I - development.

Phase I for marathon prep as well: development phase, aerobic conditioning, laying the groundwork, putting down a foundation, working the base mileage, staying in the comfort zone. I'm 15 miles in already this week, 12 more tomorrow. In a couple of weeks I'll be up at 30 again, I'll maintain that for a few weeks then creep it up to a steady 35-40 interspersed with a down week around 25 or so miles every couple of weeks. Then Phase II will begin, right around January for the marathon prep and for the new and exciting thing to come. Mileage will increase steadily and I'm hoping I can tolerate a bigger base mileage this winter. A step up from last year. I have lots of tricks up my sleeve for this round and I'm ready to break them out!

Heat camp

2010-10-30T07:57:00.001-04:00

If you train hot through the summer and race and feel better in the cooler weather of September or October, (like most people) it's a no brainer to pick a priority race in the cooler conditions. A new study just released in the last few weeks showed (in the lab) that heat acclimation over a period of 10 days actually improves performance in cooler conditions by 7%. That is quite significant and may impact training protocols. Athletes with a key race in cool conditions may likely benefit from training in the heat just prior to the event, particularly useful to those of us in the cooler northeastern climate.
Researchers noted that your normal training protocol must be kept throughout the heat acclimation process, that can be a little harder to do if you aren't acclimated to the heat in the first place however. The best application of this would be training hot all summer, then race in the cooler temperatures a week or so later in the North. Another application would be a getaway to the south in the week to 10 days before a fall marathon, also difficult to do if your funds are limited and you aren't racing locally. You could simulate heat acclimation by layering up on the clothes and training during the warmest part of the day a trick used by northeastern triathletes prior to heading to Kona or Clearwater for late fall races in the heat after it's been cooler here for a number of weeks.
As to why training hot and racing cool works:
When you acclimate to the heat, your sweat rate is improved, your blood volume remains normal, and your core temperature stays lower for a longer period of time, all of which delay fatigue. Let's not forget perceived effort either, your brain may allow you to recruit more muscle in cooler temperatures as the threat of heat injury is decreased. Training in the heat would help you to keep these adaptions which can be applied to racing in cooler temperatures, managing sweat rates, delaying dehydration and fatigue that much longer.

What it takes

2010-10-26T22:43:00.001-04:00

For most people involved in any kind of endurance sport training and racing, it isn't what M.E. refers to as a "carnival". Sure, there are people who do some minimal training and participate in the race for the fun of it but "fun" and "racing" have a myriad of definitions dependent on the individual. Most people I know involved in sport are competitive with themselves and with others. Whether you are just starting out, have been a back, middle or front of the packer or a professional, no doubt you train and race to challenge yourself in some way.
What separates people of similar abilities in a race? Often we look to the elite athletes for an answer to that question. I happen to be married to an elite age group athlete. Many people have asked me (and him) and wondered how he has done so well in long distance triathlon, not only winning his age group in Kona, but returning there 6 times, the last despite a hip that was no longer functioning. Yet when it came time to qualify, he was able to put out an awesome performance, finishing in the top 5 on the podium at any qualifying Ironman securing that spot for Kona. In 2008, if you saw an xray of his hip at the time, you would think he could barely walk on it. Knowing surgery was imminent at the end of the season, he wanted to go back to Kona, just incase he couldn't run again. He ran an awesome marathon off the bike, finished in just over 10 hours at Lake Placid and went back to Kona just as he planned. How does he do it? Tenacity. Mental grit. His ability to focus and push through pain and the worst of elements. I saw him do this in many Ironman's and I saw him do this before the long distance racing. Dave was one of the elite runners my partner, Arthur Golbert, and I used for our masters research project, I'll never forget him, completely maxed out, still straining the keep up with the speed and grade of the treadmill, never quitting, pushing past the pain of fatigue into....somewhere else. I saw it again two Saturday's ago. Dave normally rides with a crew from the house. The crew becomes more sparse as the season winds down and it was not a surprise to me that he had no partners on a cold and extremely windy morning, a good steady 20-30 with some gusts up to 40-50 mph. Out he went for a 60 mile ride in those conditions and when he came back, wind burnt and tired, he had a grin on his face. "How was it?" I asked. "Really hard" he replied, and he maintained a ridiculous pace in those conditions. Instead of letting the conditions wear him down mentally, he embraces them, considers it an outright challenge, puts his head down and hammers. True mental grit. I also believe it's what seperates the tight pool of competitors of near equal ability.
The mental aspects of racing are often overlooked in the pursuit of the physical. Don't just train to log hours. Have meaning to your training. Ask yourself why you are doing things a ceratin way and back it up with real science and if you're not the science research geek that I am, ASK ONE, objective opinions are priceless. Often we cannot see for ourselves the mistakes in training that someone else can easily pick up on. Set your goals, then set mini goals each week, each month, to accomplish the major goals. Allow yourself to recover from training, the most overlooked aspect of a proper training plan. Don't ignore injury type pain and train through it, you are risking permanent damage to your body. Take the time to go to a proper physcial therapist that is experienced in sports medicine for an accurate diagnosis. Often the ITB pain, calf pain, pyriformis pain, etc. is caused by an imbalance somewhere else. When your body is healthy, finely tuned and you are following an appropriate training protocol for your personal level of fitness you will experience improvement in performance. The last thing you need to do, and sometimes the hardest thing to do, is embracing the pain of fatigue and pushing past it. Know it's coming, accept it and learn to work through it. For me, there is no such thing as finishing any race "feeling good". When I'm racing at my threshold, it feels like hell, yet I know exactly where that threshold is and I know what I have to do to be able to hold it on race day. Distance doesn't matter, I'll push myself to the brink and I know where that pace is. I think back to the hard workouts I put in practicing my pace, and I toe the edge of the red zone. You can't guess at it and be successful, you need to be practiced. You need to work up to doing the swims/rides/runs holding your goal pace. You need to be able to do ceratin longer workouts finishing fast when your mind is begging you to slow down. Embracing the pain.
For more on mental tenacity, there is a really great article you can read here.
For more on proper training protocols, stay tuned and certainly ask me any questions, I love to talk the science of training!

Boston- the sequel

2010-10-18T18:38:00.001-04:00

Boston Athletic Association

Dear Jennifer:

Your entry for the 115th Boston Marathon has been received, and your spot in the race has now been reserved, pending verification of your entry and qualifying information.

Just got a call from my friend Bob K. - the Boston Marathon is now closed. Wow! That has to be a new record! Just to see for myself, I went to the website:

" BOSTON, Mass. – Registration for the 115th Boston Marathon began at 9:00 a.m. today, and closed at 5:03 p.m. The Boston Marathon -- the world's oldest and most prestigious annual marathon -- will take place on Monday, April 18, 2011, Patriots' Day in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. In 115 years, this is the fastest period of time in which the field size limit has been reached."

Glad I made sure to sign up today during one of my off class times at work, up until yesterday afternoon I was still on the fence. My SI joint was killing me and I felt like dog crap running all week. I had the adjustment at the chiro again on Saturday and I felt so much better. No pain on Sunday so I went and ran for 1.5 hours. Unfortunately I was a bit dehydrated after drinking the Kona coffee that Sam and Anna brought back for us all morning, then had another cup of coffee at Van's last track meet (pictures to follow) and went home, had lunch, didn't drink a thing, finished swapping out summer clothes for winter gear, then decided that I better run if I was signing up for this marathon and 1 mile in my back felt great but I still felt like dog crap, nothing like starting out a 9-10 mile run already dehydrated (and I'm sure the pumpkin beer I had while bowling with buddies the night before didn't help my situation either) oh and the fact that I only had a half a bottle of water with me during the run. Sometimes I can let common sense slip. Nevertheless I finished my run and made the decision to go for Boston this year. I also drank copious amounts of water the remainder of the night! That started me thinking of what I would like to do this year training for Boston vs. last year.

Stay well- now that my vitamin D levels are where they should be I haven't had a hint of asthma. I am off all those nasty meds that were causing upper respiratory infections. I figure I missed 5-6 weeks of training from being sick not to mention having to adjust mileage after being sick so I could recuperate.
Increase my weekly mileage, I'm ready, but I'm going to be smart about it.
Continue strength training and yoga to avoid injury.
Be more accountable for my diet. I need to have better nutrition.
Train with the laser like focus I had for qualifying in the first place and enjoy every moment because I can. Even when it's freezing outside and I need to run 20 miles, I'll remind myself "because I can", not everyone gets to.
Learn to love my treadmill, it will be necessary to fit the miles in!