Training...it works

"It's the road signs, 'Beware of lions.'"
Kip Lagat, Kenyan distance runner, during the Sydney Olympics, explaining why his country produces so many great runners

Hi guys - OK, I broke out the long sleeve this morning. Orion is overhead. Halloween is around the corner. Guess I have to concede that winter is on the way. I hate it, but there's nothing I can do about it. They say there is no bad weather, just inappropriate clothing, so be sure you're stocked up. In the coming weeks, I'll write more specifically about materials and what you're going to need when it really gets cold (as opposed to this coolness that I call cold). Just be sure to stay away from cotton - it's the material from the devil! If you're running or walking short, well then, OK, but if you're doing a long training session, once you start to sweat, it's curtains! The sweat won't dry. It'll get cold. You'll be miserable, and even a hot shower and coffee won't warm you up! Once again, I plug the Trak Shak because that's where you'll get the best advice if you really don't know what to look for. Those guys are trained, they run, they want to help, and if you're with TNT or the Birmingham Track Club, you get a discount.

Well, tomorrow TNT's Nike Women's Marathoners and Half Marathoners hit the streets of San Francisco. I ran with several of the trainees last week, and I know they're nervous wrecks right now and it's almost impossible for any coach to calm them down - Good luck Prince! Some nervous energy is actually a good thing, but worrying yourself sick is definitely going to be throwing the pre-race balance towards the dark side. For you guys training for the Mercedes Marathon and Half, just remember that every time you lace on your shoes and pound the pavement, your body is going to learn something about endurance training - how to produce energy, how to strengthen ligaments and muscles, how to have the most efficient stride, how to "go" in the woods, how to spit effectively...you know, everything! The point is that it does learn and adapt and there's no magic about it. As we get stronger, the long distances don't get shorter, but they do get easier. The muscles don't just get stronger, but they learn to fuel the muscles more efficiently so you're getting more coal in the engine.

Tomorrow, many of you training for Mercedes will be doing 11 miles for the first times in your lives. And this is only the fifth week of training. It sure makes a coach look good when you improve, but most of the time, my most important duty is to make sure you don't try to run too fast or do too many miles, or forget to drink. George Sheehan once said "We are all athletes...it's just that some of us are in training and some us are not.". Well, now you're in training and the number one, most important element of training is consistency. We've got essentially 4-5 months of training weeks, and these weeks should consist of one long day and 4-5 other days that are shorter, easier days. Don't worry about speed. It literally takes years to build up the tensile strength in your ligaments and tendons to take the pounding of a HARD marathon. But we're not talking about HARD marathons. We're talking about learning to run a very long distance. When I first started coaching marathoners 26 years ago, generally, I was coaching runners who had run for a couple of years and had done 10k's and Half Marathons. But then, in 1995, I was asked to become Leukemia's TNT Coach. At first, I didn't have much faith in a program that was going to take folks that literally had never gone over 4-5 miles and whip them into shape to run a marathon in 4 -5 months. They didn't even offer half marathon events back then. So, it was a learning experience for me too, and what I learned was that if you slow down (always run at a conversational pace), run moderate, and not high, mileage, ice your aches and pains right away, pay attention to proper athletic nutrition, and stay in contact with your coaches so your schedule can be flexible, then it was amazing what you can accomplish. I'll bet the success rate of the TNT runners that Ken & I have coached has been at least 95%. But. coaches don't do the sweating - we just tell you the things that will make you sweat. After the months of training are over and you're standing at the starting line of some race in some town, just let your body take over. As far as it's concerned, this is just another in a long line of training runs that you've been doing for week after week. There's no magic, no voodoo, no secret supplement. Just good old fashioned hard work and grit.

Yes, there's a ton of hoopla going on around you, and you should be excited, but scared, no! If you're new to long distances and train with us at the Sunday training sessions, you'll be surrounded by runners who have done this many times, but are still learning. But you know what they like to do 2nd best (to running)? They like to talk to new runners about running. So, ask questions. I'm not saying all the answers are 100% accurate, but they are helpful. Once, we all took our first steps just like you and were scared witless. Now we're just witless. Show up, ask questions, eat your vegetables, don't run with scissors and most of all, pat yourselves on the back for getting that first foot out the door. When that San Francisco group crosses the finish line tomorrow, they'll wonder what all the fear was about. They'll be tired as all get out, swear they'll never run another marathon (that promise will last about 10 minutes), and be proud beyond words what they just accomplished. Until YOU cross that finish line, you'll just have to take my word.

Ok, so for you Mercedes guys, tomorrow is 11 miles for the full and 7 miles for the half. Check out the 11 mile map at http://www.favoriterun.com/94597 Now, remember, when I reference a map, this is the map AFTER the 7 miles we do every week, so this map will be a 4 mile map to add onto that initial 7. I hate to keep repeating that, but it saves me answering a few predictable emails.
Hope to see a crowd out there. Dress warm and I'll see you on the road - AL



"One child lost is too many...one child saved can change the world"

(Don't) Be Like Mike

"If you believe that if you tie a clove of garlic around your neck that it will help you, then it will help you" - One of my Grandma's "grandmaisms"

Throughout the many years that I have been training runners to do marathons, I have been always asked, "What kind of shoes do you wear?", "What do you eat before running?", "What kind of vitamins do you take?", "What's your favorite shape pasta?". And that's just the tip of the inquisitive iceberg. We all believe that if we just do what successful folks do, then we will be successful (not that I was all that successful). Doesn't matter if it's athletics, business, or watching Emeril do the cooking (I think it actually helps my cooking if I yell "BAM"). Do it somebody else's way and Whammo, we can do it too! BE LIKE MIKE! If Mike ties that clove of garlic around his neck, then I'll do it and I can slam dunk too! If my running partner runs 90 miles a week, and recently ran a 2:58 marathon, then if I double my mileage up from 45 miles/week, I'm bound to improve my 4:40 marathon time! My Grandmother also used to say about that clove of garlic that if you wear it around your neck, you wouldn't get a cold - it's true, but I think it's because nobody will get close to you!

I have always tried (though also not always successfully) to keep things as simple as possible when coaching runners. After all, what is there to running...right foot, left foot, and repeat a few thousand times, and there you are a few miles down the road. There are many more ways to mess somebody up then there are to help them. God taught you how to run when you were just a wee one, so don't let a coach drill into you that you have to change too much. I think the main purpose of a coach is to keep you from doing the wrong things that will send you down the road to ruin and hope that you figure out what most of the right things are. But, I think a lot of the problem happens when you hang around with some runners who have been out there doing their thing for a long time and, wanting to do "their thing" too. You follow their program, eat like them, wear their shoes, and feel like this has got to be the right answer to get the results you want in the fastest time possible.

"What's the best shoes?" is the question I'm asked the most. I don't have any idea what the best brand is. I do think that if you stay with a known brand name, you'll pretty much do ok. In my three decades of running, I've probably worn every brand shoe, and honestly, I couldn't tell you much difference. Now, I'm in Nike Air Pegusus's (Pegusi?). But, through the years, I've sworn by (and at) Saucony and New Balance mostly. At their specific time, they were THE answer. Now, I know, the brand is not as important as what YOU require for your specific needs. Don't worry about what I wear, or what your coach wears, or the latest fastest Kenyan wears. Don't go barefoot because it's the latest nut-case craze fueled by a book about some peyote stoned Indian wanna-be. Find what works for you. George Sheehan, the late, great philosopher of running said we are all an "experiment of one".

As I said in a previous blog, learn the basics...I mean really learn them for yourself. When I was in Therapy School, I used to try to come up with some nifty rhyme, or acronym, or something to help me remember all those strange nerves and muscles. One day, one of my Professors, who was also a friend, asked me "Why don't you just learn it?". Hmmm, novel idea and good advice. So, why don't you just learn what's good for you? Don't mirror somebody else. Don't go against things that are right for you. Learn how to be a good runner from those that made mistakes before you, but gain experience by learning about what works for you. A successful athlete, salesperson, carpenter, whatever, learned how to do their thing by finding what worked best for them. Sure, ask for advice, learn by observation, read some books and magazines, but don't do things blindly like Mike just because you want to "Be like Mike". Learn to be you and you might just wind up being better than Mike!

By the way, my favorite shape pasta is Orzo, but it's followed closely by Rigatoni.

That's about it for this week from the Batcave. Hope to see a bunch of you Birmingham folks out there tomorrow with our Mercedes training group. I understand there was a pretty big crowd out there last week while I was in Boston. Nine miles for the full and 6 miles for the half. I'll see you all down the road - AL

For those of you that may have a tiny bit of interest, and as a follow up to last week's blog, the day after we left Boston, ADAM TOOK THE FIRST INDEPENDENT STEPS OF HIS LIFE!! As Confucius said "Every journey begins with a single step". See you down the road Adam - Grandpa


"One child lost is too many...one child saved can change the world"

Cross Training at Grandpa Bootcamp

"It's kind of fun to do the impossible."
- Walt Disney (1901-1966)

Ok, so while my son and daughter-in-law are vacationing, they asked my wife and I if we would babysit our nearly one-year-old Grandson, Adam for one week. So, as they used to say in the old Dragnet TV show: This is the City: Boston Massachusetts. I work here...I am a Grandpa.The story you are about to hear is true. Only the names have been changed to protect the innocent...Well, actually none of the names have been changed, but it's a great beginning to a TV show!

Holy Crow! I thought this would be snap. I trained for over 30 years for this (actually 63 years, but many of those were, shall we say, less aerobic) and Adam has been training for less that a year. I've got a ton of experience, know how to complete long endurance events, and everything he does is something new - therefore, he is breaking one of the cardinal rules of endurance sports...NEVER DO ANYTHING NEW! I try to pace myself and he is full-bore-ahead every waking minute. I thought squats were good, but I guess several hundred a day, plus many of those combined with lifting a 22# weight has been doing a number on these trail and road worn legs. But, it's got to be beneficial to my long distance training, right? So, we're up early and Adam gets some early pre-event nourishment (I, on the other hand, am too involved with his breakfast to see after my needs, and so I hit the first training session in carbo debt). We then dive right into some fairly light work of moving all around the house at a leisurely pace, but ever so imperceptibly, the pace picks up and the next thing you know, we're headed for places not allowed at a brisk pace, with Grandpa in hot pursuit. At times, it's easy to lift up this sack of hay, but other times, when he's not so willing to leave what he's doing, it's like picking up an egg yolk! No kicking and screaming, just not willingly helping in any way at all. Then, Adam, who is not too adept at this walking thing (actually hasn't taken an independent step in his whole life!), wants to test out his bipedal motion, so Grandpa acts like his pacer and walks alongside, hunchback style, grasping his hand for balance (his and mine). This goes on room-to-room, with periodic stops to see if this drawer opens, or this cabinet is child-proofed yet, or this pile of books needs pushing over. Finally, after the initial two hour salvo, he hits the first rest break and a truce is called for an hour or so while he naps. I try to pick up the debris left behind, try to take a short (very non-productive) run, shower, and am ready for the second leg of this day's stage. He begins with getting his legs loose by darting around at short intervals interspersed with periods of checking his gear (toys). He then has a balanced lunch and we head for the great outdoors (no time for my nourishment, thus again breaking a cardinal rule of my own - keep those calories coming in!). So, I lift the stroller from the back of the car, swearing this thing is built so there is no way to lift it with one arm while holding the squirming aforementioned egg yolk in the other, slowly cramping arm. Now, we hit the park for a couple of hours of playing on the swing, pushing his wagon, picking up acorns (lots of bending), and sitting in the sand pit trying to build sandcastles faster than Adam can destroy them. Falling in the mud is also great fun for both of us as I picture a definite affinity to trail running in his future. Of course, all of these changes of venue involves Grandpa to again and again lift the growing trail runner. Starting to feel my energy levels recede like low tide, but all this is great practice for my mental "push-through-the-wall" encounters in my runs.

And so home we head for another well deserved rest (nap). I am pooped and put my feet up hoping the blood realizes that it has to circulate around a few times to replenish the energy used - oh wait, maybe I better eat something quick - good, I find some pretzels! After about an hour and a half mental recharging (me) and physical recharging (Adam), we are at it for the final joust of the day. It's like the final hill of the marathon - it's best to just take a deep breath and pace yourself up it 'cause it ain't gonna go away. Adam has some secret white energy drink that is made from a powder that says "formula". Ah-ha, now I know what I need on those long trail runs, but that's another blog. So, we tear into another couple of hours of swinging and lifting and playing on the floor and climbing under furniture, until finally, it's supper time. I think I'm finding his secret - the doggone kid eats super-healthy!! I mean he has this formula thing 5 times a day, then carrots and sweet potatoes and spinach and broccoli, not to mention bunches of bananas, mangos, and blueberries. The secret weapon must be beets, because there is nothing, I MEAN NOTHING, compared to poopy diapers after a full serving of beets - Holy Mackerel...it looks like he swallowed purple dye! Beets in...Beets out!! It takes special internal fortitude for a Grandpa to say "Good Job" when you're changing this diaper, believe me! "Holy Crap" is more like it, I just have my doubts how holy it is!

I didn't realize I had signed on for a duathlon, but here comes the swim portion of the competition, otherwise known as Bath-time! I thought the egg-yolk was hard to pick up. Well, let's just lather up that yolk with soap and see how hard it is to pick up while on your knees and the yolk is happily splashing away. Now, he's in the tub, but I swear, he's not much wetter than I am! Finally, dry and in clean PJ's, we begin to settle down. The whole chaos of the day, the constant pinball-like atmosphere, the mental push of "did-I-do-everything", comes to this moment. Adam is in my arms, drinking his last bottle of the day. We are in his dimly lit room and while I rock him, I am reading him a bedtime story that by week's end I will have memorized and can recite with my eyes closed. He is drifting off and I am softly singing him the A-B-C song (it's the only thing close to a lullaby that I know). As I kiss him on the forehead and place him in his crib, I thank God for so many things... And I can't wait till he wakes in the morning and we go at it again.

And so my friends, tomorrow we wing our way back home to Birmingham while you Mercedes trainees do 9 miles (full) or 4 miles (half). Be kind to Coach Ken without me there. I hope you all have had a good week running and training in the (finally) cooler weather and next week I will see all of you on the roads - AL

"One child lost is too many...one child saved can change the world."

RUNNING FOR A PURPOSE

"In the beginner's mind, there are many possibilities. In the expert's mind, there are few" - Shunryu Suzuki-roshi

Last Sunday, we started a new training group for the Mercedes Marathon. The new runner is always naive to the process of developing this new skill as is any newcomer in any arena of life. They tread very tentively onto unfamiliar ground - "will it be solid, or will I sink like a rock in quicksand?".

It's hard to believe, but for the past 25 years, I have been running with new marathon trainees at least once a week with my various training groups, spanning the Vulcan Marathon, the Mercedes Marathon and my many years with TNT. Their inquisitiveness never fails to fuel my desire to lead them through the thickets and briars of running long distance events. And it also feeds my flame for training, not much different from when I was a Physical Therapy Clinical Instructor with UAB. I always felt that the student's enthusiasm and sponge-like desire to improve kept my professional fires burning.These new runners reflect their enthusiasm that spreads to all levels of runners, no matter what our level of experience. It's a joy to partake in this symbiotic relationship where we all feed off, and benefit, of one another.

I want to say how proud I am of all of you TNT guys that are currently raising money for the Leukemia Society this year. Some of you triathletes complete your event this weekend doing a 70.3 in Georgia (Good Luck Bob), and you runners have San Francisco and Chicago coming up very shortly (YIKES - Chicago is in 2 weeks). Recently, TNT has been having recruitment meetings for the Winter marathon season, and after sitting in those meetings for many years, watching the "let's pump you up" video, I realize how easy it is to lose sight of your real purpose for being out there. The marathon is simply the vehicle you choose to raise money so that you can help to wipe leukemia out. Every 5 minutes, someone else is diagnosed with leukemia, and that's AFTER TNT has raised over a billion dollars for research in the past 20 or so years! The survival rate has increased from 4% to 80% in some forms of blood-borne cancers, but that's not nearly good enough. Heck, 99% is not good enough. You are all bricks in a giant wall. Each one of you is so important to this crusade. Whether you run a 3 hour marathon, or struggle to the finish line just before the sun goes down, that's trivial compared to the good you are doing just by willing to put yourselves on the line. I was with TNT for 15 years, and was always astounded by the continued enthusiasm that the groups showed year after year. Although I only follow TNT peripherally now, I will continue to help you all I can to achieve your physical goals and honor the hard work you have done to reach your fund raising goals. I salute any athlete raising money for ANY charity and I'm sure the same sentiments can reflect on all those charities. I love running and if it can be used to kill the Devil, well then, keep running! Keep running like somebody's life depends on it!!

I know sometimes you wonder how your individual fund raising can really make much of difference. Believe me, it does. The following is one of my favorite stories:

An old man was picking up objects off the beach and tossing them out into the sea. A young man approached him and saw that the objects were starfish. "Why in the world are you throwing starfish into the water?"
"If the starfish are still on the beach when the tide goes out and the sun rises high in the sky, they will die", replied the old man.
"That is ridiculous. There are thousands of miles of beach and millions of starfish. You can't really believe that what you're doing could possibly make a difference!"
The wise old man picked up another starfish, paused thoughtfully, and remarked as he tossed it out into the waves, "it makes a difference to this one."

You are all making a difference guys - we are all starfish throwers!!

OK guys, that's it from Planet Al this week. I'm back up in Boston this week for a week of baby sitting Adam. He's one week short of a year old, and we're going to see if both Adam & I can survive a weeklong edition of Grandpa Bootcamp. This is going to be a ball!! Have a great week guys, and I'll soon see you on the roads - AL



"One child lost is too many...one child saved can change the world"

...And Now It Begins

"The distance is nothing; it's only the first step that is difficult."
Marquise du Deffand


Hi guys - Beautiful, pre-dawn run with Ken this morning was one of those mornings you wish you could bottle...good company, warm with tolerable humidity, rolling terrain. Except for a not-so-graceful fall on some road trash, it was great. The fall would have been a typical trip on the trail, but to fall on pavement is a little bit of a downer (ha! Downer! Get it?).

Tomorrow (Sunday) we begin our Annual Trak Shak Mercedes Training and Wow! I've been getting a lot of emails about training with us for both the Mercedes Full and Half marathons which will be February 13, 2011. We begin our training at the Brownell Building in Homewood/Mt Brook . If you're using GPS to find us, use 813 Shades Crest Pkwy, Mt Brook as the address. For some crazy reason, Lakeshore Pkwy changes names for about one block before becoming Mt Brook Pkwy!?! Anyway, the answer to the question I get the most is NO, there is no cost to training with us and it's well worth the price. Basically, we provide a place for runners and run/walkers to meet 1x/week and magically transform you into a long distance machine. Well, it doesn't happen quite that easily, but training with a group sure does help a heap. You can find the training schedule at www.mercedesmarathon.com/

I have placed the training maps on the right side of my web Blog site (http://runningwithal.blogspot.com) If you receive this by email or a reader, you will have to go to my site to view the links to display the maps. All groups will always begin together running towards Green Springs.

1)We leave the parking lot at 6:30AM sharp.
2)I'll usually make a few comments about distance, etc, but nobody listens.
3)I run about a 10:30-11 min/mile pace and encourage most runners to surround me and ask questions. If we can talk while we're running, then it is a good pace.
4)Ken does his run/walk at a slower pace and usually does 7 minutes of running and then one minute of walking.
5)We put coolers of Powerade or water out about every 2-3 miles, and if you really want to become an endurance athlete, learn to drink at EVERY water stop!
6)We have many runners training for different marathons, some coming up soon, some many months away - BUT we're all in the same boat. Don't be afraid to ask questions. If you're one of the TNT guys training on Sunday instead of Saturday, you are more than welcome, but make sure I know the schedule YOUR coach gave you, just so we're on the same page, but just know that there's a ton of experience out there.
7)Any money you find during the Sunday run MUST BE GIVEN TO ME!

We take a very laid back approach and focus the training mostly towards the first timer. As I continue to write this blog weekly, I will put tips along the way, but I'll hide them discreetly so you have to read the whole daggum thing. I do not want RWA to turn into some boring training manual. I want it to remain a boring reflection of my weekly ramblings and whims! OK, so everyone just calm down. As P. Diddy said after completing the New York Marathon - "It ain't no publicity stunt". Except for a little better grammar, I couldn't have said it better myself. The training program we put in front of you is pretty trimmed down to get you to the finish line in good shape, but you still have to burn the coal in the engine. None of you will win the marathon in terms of finishing ahead of everyone else, but you will win in that you'll finish ahead of a lot of other folks who don't train correctly or just have no specific training plan. So here's the deal - follow the training schedule. If you have any questions, talk to one of your coaches (TNT) or email me. There's no magic secret to doing this long distance thing, just train smart and be consistent.

Ok guys, you're ready to enter this journey that will take you along a few hundred miles of Birmingham pavement and end at a finish line downtown in February. Welcome aboard and I'll definitely see you on the roads - AL


"One child lost is too many...one child saved can change the world"

The ups and downs - take them in stride

"I try to take one day at a time, but sometimes several days attack me at once"- Unknown


You know, sometimes you can train and things are just going great, then wham! out of the blue, you lose the zip on your fastball and your legs just don't want to produce like you expect them to. I have been slowly nurturing my gimpy ankles along and gradually adding mileage, but nothing to write to Grandma about. This past Saturday, it was a beautiful pre-dawn morning, and I set out from home. Surprisingly, ankles felt good, breathing was smooth, and I wound up doing a hilly 14 miler. No big deal for most of you guys, but for me, other than a 15 miler I did in February, it was my longest run in 11 months!! I still view myself as a long distance runner, but my running has been a long, long way from being able to put the rubber to the road for long distances as I self-rehab my wheels. Other than being stiff and slightly achy, I was feeling pretty full of myself on Saturday. Then, on Sunday, another beautiful morning, I wound up doing another 11 miles with my usual Sunday running group. A little stiffer than Saturday, but "Hey, I'm coming back!!". Monday was Labor Day - for my out-of-the-country readers, Labor Day is a USA holiday where we celebrate our Work Force by NOT working!!! Anyway, I took the day off from running and actually slept till almost 8:00 (practically midday for me). Tuesday, I got up at 4:30 to run before work, and from the first step, it was cement-in-the-legs city. Holy Crow! I mean, never mind being as slow as mollasses, I could have been passed by mollasses, cold mollasses at that! Now, with over thirty years of long distance running behind me, I've been down this rocky road many times before, and I know it's no big deal. I knew what the problem was - ME!! I just went over the edge with a little too much exuberance. And I should know better. I'm a Physical Therapist. I'm a marathon coach. My area of interest is Exercise Physiology. BUT, above all, I'm a runner. My friend Danny had knee surgery this week and he said "I love to run, but more than that, I love to run pain free". Well, I think most of us turn it around much of the time..."I love to run pain-free, but more than that, I love to run". So, if we're not limping TOO much, off we go. Stupid? Yes. Changable behavior? Possible, at best!

There are several reasons that you can have a not so stellar run, but when you have a run like I had, you don't need to spend a whole lot of time to think about it. If you're coming back from a hard race, a lingering injury, or an overloaded training program, I think when you do these hard runs or activities back-to-back is when you start to teeter on the fence. Now, that other side of the fence can range from just "no gas in the tank", which is what I'm hoping I suffer from, to falling back onto the injury wagon. Physiologically, there is a two-day rule: the 2nd day after a hard session will be more stressful on your legs than the day after. Glycogen hasn't replenished, injured muscle fibers are beginning to heal and thus you're pulling on semi-hardened glue, and inflammation is causing tissues to swell and be irritated. None of these will help you feel better.

OK, so now I have to sit down and figure this out. Our Mercedes Marathon Training group begins in a week, so that will take care of Sundays. My initial thoughts are to NOT go over 20 miles for two days combined, so if the MM group is doing 13 on a Sunday, I'll limit my Saturday run to no more than 7. Yeah, that's the ticket. I have been improving over the past many months, but one good run throws me into that "cake and eat it too" mode. I want to train smart AND I want to get back to long mileage. That ain't gonna work! Back about 10 months ago, I made a deal with God that all I was asking was to be able to run...I didn't care about distance or speed. Guess she's calling me on that one. Ok, I'll try to be good

Training for a marathon is a long road (literally) that has 4-6 months of goal-oriented runs attached to it, so that's well over 100 training runs and your body will learn something from EVERY run you do, some of it good, some not so good, but it will learn. So, when I do something not so smart and my body says "hey Al, let's review who's boss here", it would pay to listen. Three decades and I haven't completely learned that lesson yet, but I'm working on it. By the way, I went out Thursday morning, ran the same course, and it was 100% better! This morning I hit the trails, and I do love running in the woods. Man, I wish I could figure this out and bottle it...maybe in another 30 years! Yep, the highs are usually never as high as you think and the lows are usually never as low as you think. Have a good week and I'll see you on the roads - AL

"One child lost is too many...one child saved can change the world"

Good to the Last Drop

"Everybody should believe in something. I believe I'll have another coffee." ~Author Unknown

First of all, I want to send my best wishes and vibes to my buddies running the Tupelo Marathon tomorrow morning. Never made that one. Any run that has a Flaming Skull as their logo, and "Trample the weak, hurdle the dead" as their motto, just hints that you might want to sidestep around this one. Usually this race is run in terrible humidity and a high morning temperature, but it looks like we can't use that excuse this years fellas. Fifty-four degrees!! Holy Crow! I must say, this morning's long run in 60% humidity was great. If it would just stay like this instead of that doggone freezing crap that's looming on the hoirizon! I complain about hot weather, but I absolutely, beyond any concievable doubt, HATE cold weather!!

The other day, a runner told me she couldn't use any gel that had caffeine in it because it made her jittery. I thought to myself "C'mon, it only has 25-50 mg of caffeine while a cup of joe has 100-125". The bigger question I asked myself was if it only has the equivalent of a half a cup of coffee, what good could it possibly do? This subject has been a pendulum that has been swinging back and forth for many years, but now there actually seems to be some good studies that sheds light on caffeine's effects. I'm not going to go into the deep pharmacology of how caffeine works, but generally, it's a stimulant because it actually blocks a calming chemical and it raises your heart rate, blood pressure and your brain activity, but seeing that you're running a marathon in the first place, we won't talk about the level of that brain activity.

Now, I'm going to skip all the dry results of the studies, but time and time again, those that ingested 1-2 cups of coffee before exercise had better bike time trials than those that didn't. It's much easier to test cyclists than runners, I guess, 'cause that's what most studies are done on. Anyway, if you figure that a cup of coffee typically has about 100-125 mg of caffeine, you figure that one of those little Powergels or Gu's aren't going to do a whole heck of lot (@25mg a packet - some have 50mg). But, some studies seem to indicate that caffeine helps speed the rate at which ingested carbohydrates (100mg in Powergel) are absorbed during an endurance event. That's a good thing. The faster you can get these carbos to change into blood glucose, the faster they can be zipped to your muscles as fuel and spare what little stored energy we have. So, in this case, the caffeine acts as a kick in the butt to get the energy fires burning. But, it seems the more direct effect is that it releases some amino acids (fat energy) into the blood stream that the muscles can use most redily and also spare some of that precious, limited glycogen (stored carbohydrates). So, what this means is that a cup of coffee before you run may get those little fat molecules cruising in your bloodstream and get you down the road a piece before you dip deep into your muscle energy supplies. Then, the small amount of caffeine in those gels can give you a reboot to your blood and again delay the glycogen debt that's always on the edge of a marathoner or ultramarathoner. Once the stored glycogen starts to push the "E" on your fuel guage, suddenly, words like "wall" and "bonk" start to creep into your mind, as do a few other four letter words. But, I have to admit, I still don't think those gels will make you "jittery".

You can develop a caffeine dependence if you drink a whole pot of coffee each day at work, but it seems that you don't build a tolerance to how effective the caffeine will help your running, so drink up. If you are that 10 cup-a-day drinker, then whatever you do, DON'T give up the habit cold turkey the week before a marathon. You're going to be bouncing off the walls enough without going through withdrawal on top of it. Another misconception about caffeine is that it makes you head for the bushes more during your run. Well, it's true, it will make you urinate, but only to the same level that water does. So, stay hydrated, find those bushes, and get back running.

So, all of this says that it is safe for you to intake caffeine before and during an endurance event ( I don't think a carbonated Coke is too good an idea), and it may actually help your performance. In case some of you speedballs are wondering about testing positive for caffeine in a post-race drug test, at the present time, caffeine is NOT banned by the International Olympic Committee, and in order to test positive for the NCAA, you would have to ingest the equivalent of 7-8 cups of coffee AT ONCE - in other words, you really have to be trying super extra hard to use caffeine to give you that extra buzz. At this time, I don't think many Mom & Pop 5k's are testing for caffeine. As with EVERYTHING, try it first in training. If you don't drink coffee, don't dare say on race morning "I'll bet a cup of Java will calm me down!!".

OK guys that's about it from near-earth orbit this week. I hope you all have a safe Labor Day, and take advantage of this cooler weather. For my readers up in the Northeast, thank goodness Earl exited Stage Right and only got you a little wet. Running in rain is most of the time a blast...running in a Hurricane is stupid! I'm a runner - I know what some of you would have done!! Oh, yes you would...I'm Al, I'm one of you! I'll see you on the roads - AL

"One child lost is too many...one child saved can change the world"