"When you think far, think really far" - the quote on my Road ID that I wear on EVERY run
Everyone has fantasies. No, not that kind of fantasy. I mean the kind that comes across your mind every once in a while, and you say "I know it's impossible, but I'd like to try that". It is something that's on the outer fringes of reality. Climb Mt. Everest, swim the English Channel, travel the world, train to be an astronaut. You know, it's there,but it's not really. It's not some wild-hair crazy out-of-universe idea, just one that a lot of "ifs & buts" get in the way.
Back when I was piling on the mileage, one of my fantasies was to run across America. I had no idea how I would do it. I had a job and a family, but the fascination has always been there as long as I've been a runner. When I worked at Cooper Green Hospital back in the 70's, I had a big map of the United States over my desk. At the beginning of the year, I would put a push pin in Birmingham and another someplace else; Seattle, San Francisco, Maine, etc. Every week, I would add up my weekly mileage and move the pin the appropriate distance towards my goal. I would even check the weather reports for where I "was" to add some more pseudo reality to my journey. Once, I began a 3 year trek around the perimeter of the United States - not sure if I ever finished that one. Back then, I was doing 2500-3000 miles per year, so I could "go" pretty far.
Reading about prodigious endurance events has always intrigued me, and books about running across America twangs a special string. About 20-25 years ago, I bought a book titled "Meditations From The Breakdown Lane: Running Across America" by James Shapiro. With a few maps and some clothes stuffed into a backpack, he covered 3086 miles from Dillon Beach, California to New York City in 80 days. That's an average of 37 miles per day. Looking back on it now, with all the "look-at-me" long distance headline grabbers going on seemingly every week, it doesn't carry the HOLY COW punch it did a quarter of a century ago. But, this journey by Mr. Shapiro fit right into my fantasy. He did the whole trip virtually unassisted. There were two stretches out west where it was too far between points of civilization to go it alone, so a support vehicle aided him, but other than that, it was him and the wide open spaces. To me, the book was fascinating and during all my push-pin long distance runs, it served as a fantasy reference book in hopes that one day I could actually plan such a trip. That's part of a fantasy - it's right there on the edge of reality.
Then, few years ago, I was in Huntsville to run the Mt. Mist 50K Trail Run and ran into an old friend, David Horton. David is from Virginia and I first met him a few years back when he would come down for our annual Birmingham Track Club 50 Mile Run. Well, David is a humble ultra-runner extraordinaire and he has performed many long distance feats that place him with the very best in our sport. Along the way, David has lived my fantasy - TWICE! In 1991, he set out to accomplish a new record for the fastest traversing of the entire length of the Appalachian Trail. The old record was 60.5 days to cover the 2144 miles. David ran from Push-pin #1 (Springer Mountain in Georgia) to Push-pin #2 ( Mt Katahdin in Maine) in 52 days, 9 hours, taking a week off the old record! He wrote a book that described his challenge titled "A Quest for Adventure". In it, he describes how he ran over 40 miles per day over very rough terrain to reach his goal, despite having no running partner. My fantasy has nothing to do with speed, but I envy the "here-to-there".
I said David lived my fantasy twice and the Appalachian Trail run was only half of the story, and only half of the book mentioned above. The second half takes us to 1995, when David, obviously having completely forgotten about the pain of the AT adventure, entered the Trans America Footrace. Folks, this is a 2906 mile race from California to New York! They run 64 days in a row, each day consisting of a stage of a set distance, averaging 45 miles! No days off, no whining, no bands at every mile, no nothing except getting up every morning and running another ultramarathon. When it was all said and run, David finished in third place in 449 hours and 26 minutes...an average of 9:16/mile!
Fantasies, hopes, dreams. They're all out there and they're there for us to deal with individually. James Shapiro and David Horton happened to to have the same running fantasy I had. The difference is they crossed that chasm to reality. Do I feel envious? Of course I do. Do I feel they somehow took a little away from my fantasy? Not in the least. I salute them both, and thank them for writing about their journeys. When I read their books, I can run with them and my unreachable quest has become just a little bit more believable.
Wherever they take you, I'll see you on the roads - AL
"One child lost is too many...one child saved can change the world"
"Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go."
- César Chávez
One of the joys of running is that, unlike other hobbies or other physical activities, when you go out of town, you can just put on your running shoes and off you go. Whenever I travel, I always look forward to getting up early the following morning and going for a run to see what I can see and find what I can find. There's no schedule to follow, no pace to run, no watch to keep track of. All I've got to do is go forward and try to remember my way back to the hotel.
As most of you know, I love baseball, so I'll usually see how close the I'm staying to the local ball park. Doesn't matter if it's the major league or the minor league - I just find fascination running around baseball parks. If there's none available, I'll settle for football stadiums, arenas, or college campuses. The "Holy Grail" of the ballpark runs is to find an open gate so I can run inside and see the field. I'm like a kid - "see the field before I get caught". Domed stadiums are the worst - they're never open! I all my trips to see Adam (my grandson) and my family in Boston, I have never penetrated Fenway Park. BUT, the search for the Holy Grail of Holy Grails is far from over!
But most of my "finds" are totally unplanned once read a book titled "Outside Lies Magic" about the loads of sites and sounds most folks never see they're closed up in their cars speeding from place A to place B. The author (John Stilgoe) urges you to walk or cycle to discover a whole new world (or rediscover an old one). Well, Mr. Stilgoe is apparently not a runner, but through running I have "accidentally" run upon some sites and sounds that made me so glad that I am a runner.
Many years ago, I was in Seattle, and early one morning I went through an open gate to what I thought might be a park. There was no one there and after running for a few minutes, I realized I was at the site of the old World's Fair! Just me and these many venues, sculptures, and exhibits. And let's not forget the Space Needle...and me...and nobody else! How cool was that?
In Tennessee, I found myself at a Confederate cemetery. It's humbling to see a hundred tombstones with basically the same dates (birth and death).
In my home state of New Jersey, while I was visiting my sisters, I went out for just an innocent jog, and was suddenly thrust into a sea of memories. I found myself on a street that I had lived on when I was maybe 5 years old and had long forgotten. I had some vague recollections of the area, but running down the road hit me like a 2X4. I found my house, my best friend's house, and places we used to play. Of course, everything was smaller than I remembered it. It was like my own private episode of the Twilight Zone.
In Dallas, I was running by myself early one AM down some solitary road when I was passed by the entire 15 person 7-11 cycling team. Us old cyclists remember the 7-11 team as a pretty big deal in the mid 80's. This was America's Team at the Tour de France and all the big races. I had no idea they were in Dallas training (and they probably had no idea I was in Dallas either!).
In Alaska, I ran the Midnight Sun Marathon and then stayed there for another week. During that week, I would awaken every morning and run down the the beautiful trails (fortunately forgetting there might be bears down these beautiful trails). One morning, I was running down a single track trail next to a stream, and up ahead came two bald eagles flying directly towards me over the water. I just stopped in awe as they flew not more than 10 feet above my head. Just magnificent!
I don't like to run on the beach, but one foggy morning in Oregon, the tide was out and the shore was perfectly flat, hard packed, and 200 yards wide. That was a wonderful 10 miler.
In Victoria, British Columbia, I just happened upon a large stone monument that had etched on it "Transcontinental Highway Mile 0". Visions of running the 3000 miles to the Atlantic enticed me, but I had to get back to the hotel for breakfast.
Bermuda has it's paved-over railroad beds that run the length of the island, Rhode Island has it's 300 year old college campuses, and in New Orleans, the very early morning French Quarter is quite different from the one the average visitor has seen.
Yes, I've been around the block, but thank goodness, a lot of it has been in my running shoes, because truly, Outside Lies Magic. I'll see you on the roads - AL
"One child lost is too many...one child saved can change the world"
"The past is a foreign country. They do things differently there." - unknown
How many articles have I read and how many times have I heard "Running is so simple. Just put on some shorts and shoes and go.". Now that I run a lot slower, I have much more time to think, and I was thinking about this the other day. Yeah, sure, when I began running, I'd throw on any old cotton t-shirt, a pair of gym shorts, some cotton socks, a pair of shoes and hit the UAB track. Those shoes were Puma something-or-other that I really did purchase at Walmart. I think they matched my shorts, so they were the right shoes for me. These shoes would practically last me the whole first year I ran. It was pretty simple.
So, back in 1978, there was only one Running Shoe store in Birmingham, and that was Versal Spaulding's Running South. OK, it really wasn't a store, but an old garage in which you walked into and there were stacks of shoe boxes going up all the walls. He had several folding metal chairs, the most personable smile, and a knowledge of running shoes that we didn't even know was necessary. Well, two things occurred at the same time - I happened to treat Versal's wife in my PT clinic (and she got well), and my beloved Walmart Puma's had given me a rip-roaring case of plantar fasciitis. So, Versal got me down to his store and gave me a pair of my first "real" pair of running shoes - Nike Elites. When I put them on, they fit like gloves that were made just for me. I couldn't believe how soft and comfortable these were compared to my concrete Pumas. Unfortunately, these Elites were on the opposite side of the Bell Curve of stability (as in none), so they didn't help the plantar fasciitis, but they did make me take that fork in the road that traveled towards the slippery slope of running technology.
Through the many years, I humorously weaved through the evolution of running gear that at the time was like "the future is now". I remember how excited my neighbor was when he "discovered" this miracle running suit that was supposedly water resistant. I remember two things - 1) it was called Gamex, and 2) it didn't matter if it was water resistant...you sweated so much wearing it that it stuck to your skin like Saran Wrap. It definitely wasn't water resistant on the inside. Gamex didn't last long.
Then came the miracle running fabrics that "wicked" the sweat from your skin as you ran. Polypropylene was the first I remember about 1980. I recall there was a store called Athlete's Foot and they were the first to sell this. Well, one week, they had a Gambler's Sale where every day the price of items would drop another 10% or so. I went the first day, found a Polypro shirt in my size, and stuck it in the back of the women's shorts so it couldn't be found. I went back 5 days later and picked it out of my secret hiding place and got it for 70% off! Not a great story, but 30 years later, it's still fresh in my mind, so either I'm proud of my cunning, or still guilty from bending the rules. Anyway, I can't say Polypro really kept you dry, but I was convinced I was wearing a miracle, so ofcourse I was running faster. And running shirts would never be the same.
I can never forget the first digital Casio chronogragh I had. It had a metal silver band, could hold 10 splits, and a one-run memory. Yep, 1981 and I'm running the Marathon Marathon (named after the Oil Company) in Indiana. At about mile 18, I'm sweating up a pretty good storm, look down at my watch, and it's literally shorting out right before my eyes. Not sparks and smoke, but all the numbers looked like some alien dashboard. Then the whole thing went blank. I guess it was water resistant to a depth of skin sweat! Ever since, watches have been almost a fetish of mine. Do I really need a watch that tells me the difference of altitude from my first floor living room to my upstairs bedroom?
Once, I ordered a Gore-tex hat (!) from a running magazine. The hat cost $10 and the shipping was $12. To this day, I have no earthly idea why anyone would need a Gore-tex hat.
I've gone through a couple of Heart monitors. Never could get it quite right because I never could quite accurately figure out what my maximal heart rate was, which is a very integral part of the idea of a heart monitor. It just was a constant novelty on my wrist that told me my current heart rate that I never really had any idea if it was good or bad. I guess I got my greatest enjoyment out of it by seeing how low it would go before an early morning run...not to see if I was in shape, just to say "hey, 44, cool". By the way, I now have an app on my phone that gives me my pulse and I do the same exact thing in the morning!!
Yeah, running is real simple. Shoes, shorts, go! The whole idea for this post came about two weeks ago as I was laying out my clothes the night before the Mercedes Marathon:
Dri-release shorts (short or long?)
Windbreifs
Coolmax socks (thick or thin?)
Thin long sleeve dri-release top (decision was set because I was a Pacer)
Hat (oh man, the statement decsions to be made here)
Ankle supports (one or two layers?)
ID bracelet (so if I get hit by a car in the middle of 6000 runners, the medics know who I am)
Garmin GPS watch (so I know how far 26.2 miles is)
The RIGHT pair of shoes ( I rotate two)
Gloves or no gloves. Favorites or throwaways? HotHands?
Compression socks (the newest addition to the Running Managerie)
And this doesn't touch on what to wear TO the race, or what to pack to wear AFTER the race. And this is a local marathon!!
I can't imagine how complicated life must be for triathletes!
OK, folks, that's it from RWA Central this week. I have to go lay out my clothes for tomorrow morning's run. Supposed to be cold and that means layers, so I need extra time to think about this. I'll see you on the roads - AL
"One child lost is too many...one child saved can change the world"
"Dead Last Finish is greater than Did Not Finish which greatly trumps Did Not Start" - on a marathon t-shirt
What a week! Winter got confused and the temperature is hitting 70 this week, baseball spring training is under way, and ol' AL, for the first time in 2 years, finally finished another marathon!!
Yes, I put a lot of mental eggs into this basket. A year ago, I probably wouldn't have given myself a snowball's chance in hell to finish another marathon. I mean, it wasn't like I got some serious health problem, or fell off a cliff, or gained 100 pounds, I just have had a lot of birthdays and a lot of miles in my feet, and instead of my ankle joints gliding like glass rubbing on glass, I had sandstone rubbing on sandstone. My running went from trying to qualify for Boston (more on that timely subject later) one year, to struggling to get under 10 minute miles the next...then 10:15...then 10:30...and so on. I still had the marathoner's mind, just not the wheels. I had to give up my coaching the TNT group after 15 years, and had my first calendar year since 1979 that I didn't run a marathon. I ran about 20-25 miles on good weeks and didn't put in one 20 mile run in 2010. All of a sudden, writing "The Non-runner's Guide to Marathon Training" seemed in my future. Through all the stretching, grunting, limping, Aleve, ice and whatnot, I always still felt I wanted to pace with the 5 hour group at the Mercedes Marathon and that was my comeback marathon goal. I have paced every year since year #2 (out of 10), although my effort was aborted at mile 15 last year, and I desperately wanted to finish this year.
As the Pace Team Director, one of the advantages is to place the volunteer pacers at the times I think they are needed. So, as I did last year, I deftly placed Marie Bartoletti from Pittsburgh to be the other 5 hour pacer. Now Marie has done 197 marathons and ultras and has also tacked on a couple of Ironman races and cycling adventures. What she spelled to me was my insurance in case I had to bail out again, I knew she was gold to get our group in.
Last weekend on race day, God smiled on Birmingham and gave us the most beautiful day to run. It was 30 at the start and warmed to 60 by the early afternoon. No wind, low humidity. There were a little over 6000 in the race (marathon, half, and relay) and we had about a dozen in our pacing group. I won't go into the details of the race itself, but we paced evenly and a core of 5-7 runners stayed together. One of the runners, Veronica, has been battling ITB problems the last 6-8 weeks, but has been showing up every Sunday at our training runs, having to cut a few runs short. She has (stubbornly) ignored my pleas that she change from the full marathon to the half. So, at about 14 miles, her knee began to complain enough to cause her to slow down. Now, also at this point, my ankles are not screaming, but slowing down was not voted down by internal registered voters. So, I decided if Veronica was going to gut it out, she'd have her coach by her side to watch for potholes (actual and mental). She hurt on the downhills, I hurt on the uphills, so we were a perfect non-match. Marie got her roadies in right at 4:59, and me and Veronica crossed the finish line in 5:09. She was ecstatic to finish her first - I was as ecstatic to finish my 129th. I really didn't know if I was going to last 26 miles when we lined up, and now it's a good feeling to know I can once again say I run marathons without the verbal rope-a-dope. Whether you run it in 2 hours or 6 hours, 26.2 miles is a long way. Congratulations to all of you that finished the marathon, and the half marathon. As I said to Ken after the race "I'm back in the saddle again but I'm not eager to get back in the saddle again".
Before I close this week's edition of RWA, I have to comment on the Boston Marathon once again making the throngs of would-be BM runners spit up. Essentially, due to the warp-speed that the 20,000 slots filled up this year (8 hours), something had to be done. Now, before I give my opinion, you have to realize that this is from a view that I have run 5 Bostons and have qualified 6 times AND the fact that now Grandma Moses has a better chance of qualifying than I do. Essentially, for the 2012 race, Boston is opening the registration process on a "rolling admission"...faster qualifiers get to register first. Then, for the 2013 race and beyond, the rolling admission remains PLUS all qualifying times are reduced by 5 minutes PLUS they are dropping the "59 second lifeline". This meant if you were running for a certain BQ time, say 4:00, you could run a 4:00:59 and that time would count. No more! So, is all this unfair? Of course not. Boston is one of the most prestigious races in the world and one of only two that you have to qualify for (the Olympics being the other). It shouldn't be easy. They can set any rules they want to. Where it is unfair is that they are changing the rules mid-stream. Say you barely qualified by a minute at Chicago in the fall. So, now you've been doing fast-finger intervals so you'll be ready to hit the computer when registration opens next September. Then Bingo! - you have to wait till the SEVENTH day of registration to even have a prayer of getting in! You can't change it to TWO STRIKES AND YOU'RE OUT after you're in the batter's box! It's not first down and 15 yards to go after the kickoff. If you want an elite field of very fast runners (along with few doctors and charity runners), that's fine. But if Jane Doe busts her butt reaching the qualifying standards by the rules you set, don't kick her in that same butt because now you want to change those rules. If Tom, Dick, and Harry meet the standards, they should proceed with the same restrictions they KNEW before qualifying (not being fast enough on the computer). C'mon Boston, show a little more class. You can see the changes at www.baa.org
OK guys, that's all from sunny and warm Birmingham for this week. We will continue to be at Brownell every Sunday at 6:30AM. Now that the temp has gone up, there should be much less whining from the group (ok, from me!). I'll see you all on the roads - AL
"One child lost is too many...one child saved can change the world"
Weather forecast for tonight: dark. Continued dark overnight, with widely scattered light by morning. - George Carlin (1937 - )
Hi Guys - Well, that above quote is about as close to accurately predicting the weather as I can get. But, for those of you that are going to be running in the Mercedes Marathon or Half Marathon tomorrow, it LOOKS LIKE it's going to be cold (30 degrees) at the start. So, you say to yourself "well, that'll be easy. I'll just put on a bunch of layers and be toasty warm". OK, couple of things wrong with that. #1) if you've been reading RWA, you know one of the few constants in this world is that you will warm up when you start to run. #2) there will be virtually no wind to speak of in the morning, #3) the humidity will be low, and #4) it will be sunny and it's supposed to warm up to 55 degrees by noon. See, the problem here is that you have to walk from your car to the start. During that short time frame is when you'll probably try to make your decision as to what to wear for the race. You're nervous, it's dark, and you're not thinking clearly in the first place. Focus on what you've learned, folks. One long sleeve, and possibly a light short sleeve or singlet over that. If you want to start in a windbreaker, and then toss it to a friend or tie it around your waist, that works. GLOVES are essential!!! Gloves that you really don't care about are great because you can toss them when it gets warm. However, I have been known to wear gloves until the temp got into the 60's - guess they just become a traveling partner. If it's really cold, a couple of those "HotHands" to stick in your gloves are great to generate some heat. They make the equivalent of "HotButts" too, but I haven't tried them, so I can't tell you their worth. I know some of you don't like hats, but that's where you will lose most of your body heat, so it's probably a good idea unless you like complaining (not always a bad thing - it warms you up, too). Probably the thing I'm asked the most about when it gets cold is "Should I wear tights?". Well, not when it's 50 degrees, and unless you can think of quick way to change, you'll be pretty uncomfortable when the temp rises and you feel like you're cooking from the bottom up. If it's windy and cold, I might wear tights - and they feel good - but in a marathon where it's going to warm up, I don't think it's a good idea at all. You'll be miserable enough without adding to it.
This is just meant to be a quick primer for tomorrow and not a overall discussion of all cold weather gear. If you ran last year, it was 26 degrees I think, so just look at last year's photo and see what you wore then. Can't be simpler than that. I wish you all the best of luck. Over and above everything else, remember this is just a run. Put it in it's proper prospective. We all have goals. Sometimes we meet them and sometimes we don't. When you don't, you figure it out and try again. When you reach your goal, pat yourself on the back for a while and then get back to work towards the next goal. Goals are a lot more than 26 miles of pavement in Birmingham, Alabama. For all you TNT folks, your individual goal pales in relation to what you have done - raised monies that will be used to eradicate a most horrid disease that is the leading cause of death from cancer among children. Each of the dollars raised is that much closer to a complete cure. So, tomorrow, whatever your time is, be proud of yourselves. The same goes for those raising money for our local Bell Center for Early Intervention. Whether you've raised money for charity or not, you've put in lot of work over the past few months and tomorrow is test day. Have a good time being the star.
I'll be pacing the 5:00 group, so before the race, stop by and say Hi so I know somebody reads this. Or better yet, run with me for a while. Tomorrow is kind of a personal test for me. Due to having too many birthdays, gradually my once proud marathon & beyond lifestyle has taken a dip in the toilet. If your joints go south, it's hard to log the magic miles. Whereas 20 miles used to be a weekly run with friends, my last marathon was 23 months ago, and I've only banked two 20 milers in the last 18 months, so "nervous as a kitten" is putting it mildly. So yeah, I have goals, but they're way different from even just a couple of years ago. I want to finish with my group (I've niftily paired myself up with Marie Bartoletti as my co-pacer - she's done 195 marathons & ultras and is like dependable clockwork. So, if I falter, she's like gold for the group). If not with the group, I want to finish just to get in that "marathoner" mindset that only us that have done these distances that others call "crazy" know what that mindset means. So, just like you, I'll toe the line and see what tomorrow brings. Whatever the outcome, I thank the Great Runner upstairs that I still can toe that starting line and I always thank Him for friends like you all. Even if you're not with one of the pace groups, run or walk a smart race. And somewhere, maybe tomorrow, maybe next week, I'll see you on the roads - AL
"One child lost is too many...one child saved can change the world"
"If you make every game a life and death proposition, you're going to have problems. For one thing, you'll be dead a lot." -- Dean Smith, basketball coach
Hi guys - What the heck happened? I guess Father Nature returned from his vacation and decided to get back to work. Warm early morning runs last week and this week, I'm freezing my butt off again. Had another short ice storm and sightings of snowflakes that nearly shut down the city AGAIN! Could be worse. My son in Boston almost can't see out of his living room window because of the snow! When Bostonians complain about the snow, you've really got something. Kind of like an Eskimo saying "Man, it's chilly out!".
So many things to cover this week and I know I'll leave somethings off that I'll remember later today. Ah, the joys of getting old.
First of all, on a very serious note, we, in the Birmingham running community, were deeply saddened when one our half marathon trainees was hit by a car while running early one morning this week and very sadly passed away. Sundeep (Andy) Caplash was only 38 years old with a lovely family...so sad. You always think something bad will happen to the other guy, but as my dad always said "To the other guy, you're the other guy". My dad was pretty deep! Please, if you run in the dark, make yourself visible with reflective gear, blinking lights, or some other warning. When I switched to early morning running, I was reluctant to wear reflective stuff (guess it was a macho thing). Now, I look like the State Fair. Andy's legacy should be that we ALL vow to be safer. I didn't know him well, but in our close community, it does strike a special chord with all of us when a tragedy like this happens. I know many of us will dedicate runs or the upcoming marathon to Andy. So sad!
Well, here we are...one week from the Mercedes Marathon and Half Marathon. Hope I didn't surprise anybody with that last sentence! If I did, then it's time to get serious about your training. The good thing is that you can just ease right into your taper week. I hope some of you are getting nervous, because if you're calm, then you don't get it, or else you're one supremely confident person. Nervous energy is good as long as you can control it and you keep it positive. Don't let it develop into panic as the week progresses. Keep reviewing the training you've done - you've been out there for months in the rain, heat, cold, wind, snow, everything that Father Nature could throw at you. You've done your 20 miler, you're 17 miler, your 15 milers. Why in the world would you have negative thoughts? When I was training for my first marathon (I think it was the one right after Phidippides died in 300 BC), my mentor, Max Michael, told me if you can get through the training, then you're a marathoner. Yes, so many things can go wrong on the BIG DAY, but let's just put that in the "things we CAN'T control" column. Your body is ready and rarin' to go, Don't let idle negative thoughts muck it up. If you've been following the taper plan, then this will be one easy week. Tomorrow, the full marathoners do 11 miles and the Half Marathoners do 15 miles - just want to see if you're paying attention - you guys do 6 miles. Then the rest of the week is laid back with just a few miles to keep the legs loosened up. NOTHING you do this week will help, but you can do a whole lot to screw up your race. My usual schedule is to take Monday off, run Tues/Thurs, off Friday, then a short 20-30' jog on Saturday IF I feel like it. I like that Saturday run especially if I fly to a race on Friday, but seeing that I don't plan to fly the 10 miles from Hoover to downtown, I'll probably take Saturday off and spend part of the day at the Expo. All runs or walks should be done at the same pace you have been doing in training - don't goof off just because it's taper week and don't try to cram in any speed work! Eat normally, which should mean 60-70% carbohydrates and don't stuff yourselves. The fact that you're running less will cause your muscles to store the extra carbos you're ingesting just by eating normally. Drink often - don't pass a water fountain without taking a swig. Don't worry, you won't get hyponatremia walking around the office! By now, you should know my #1 bit of advice - KNOW THE COURSE!!! Get a hold of a course map, including the elevation, and look at it EVERY DAY this week. Then try to picture yourself running the course comfortably, I don't want anybody to ask me at the start "Are there any hills?". Hopefully, you locals have done at least one of our "on-the-course" training runs. If not...Too late!! There is so much confidence gained in knowing the course.
I've put together a team of Pace Leaders that will pace 4 - 5 hours ( 5 groups at 15 minute increments). If you've never used a pace leader, it does take some of the strain of thinking off of you. All you have to do is run! Once, when I was about to lead a 4:30 group a few years ago, some gruff runner asked me "Do you guarantee I'll finish under 4:30?". I answered, "No, but I guarantee I'LL finish under 4:30!". A Pace leader studies the course and will adjust the pace during the run so energy is spread out to allow the goal. I'll be leading a 5 hour group, and although the overall pace is about 11:30/mile, I doubt we'll run many 11:30 miles. But, we'll get to the church on time.
OK, that's about it from Running With Al Central. Tomorrow is the huge Futbol game and I sure hope Birmingham City can muster the energy to beat West Ham in the English Premier Soccer League. I know you all feel the electricity. Oh yeah, then there's that other Football game with the 3 hour halftime show. I'll be rooting for the Steelers, but I think the Packers have the better team. How's that for covering my bases? Speaking of bases, pitchers and catchers report for baseball Spring Training next week - Yey!! I know, I'm weird...soccer, baseball, running...I hope you all have a good taper week, and most of all, run safely. I'll see you on the roads - AL
"One child lost is too many...one child saved can change the world"
“It is not necessary to understand things in order to argue about them.”
- Caron de Beaumarchais
See, whining pays off!! Week after week, I complain about the cold weather, and voila! Mother Nature caves in and today is going to be 67 degrees! 67 in January! My trail run this morning was so much more delightful without 3 layers of clothes, two layers of gloves, and HotHands. Surely Winter is over and it will be like this till next October. I love my little fantasy world.
When I first got the absolutely crazy idea to run a marathon more than 30 years ago, I had no clue that there was more to it than just piling on the training miles, ignoring any aching niggles here and there, and then gutting it out during the event. Cotton shirts were great because that's all there was, shoes were apparently way ahead of their time because they had no cushion (barefoot running?), and you drank water, an infant form of Gatorade, or (ready for this), defizzed Coke. Then in the late 70's, something called ERG came along that said Glucose was the main element needed for long distance running, and since then, the discussions for sugar DURING the event has been (to steal a phrase from Waffle House)) smothered, covered, chunked, diced, peppered, capped, and topped. It seems that many folks now do Saturday or Sunday long runs with a fuel belt around their waists, like they're running the Trans-Sahara, even if they are only going a few miles.
So, with coaching long distance runners for a long time, and discovering the many pitfalls myself, I thought I might shed some light on a small aspect of fueling during the run as seen from my eyes (my blog...my eyes!). Although I will concentrate on gels, think of "gels" as a generic term for jelly beans, blocks, drinks, bars and a variety of concoctions that comes from the "if-you-buy-it-we'll-make-it" School of Research and Development. While ingesting carbs during long training runs may make you feel better, I believe it defeats the purpose of the run and turns off the exact signals you're trying to turn on.
First, you need to understand that the primary purpose of training long is not to just make you tougher when faced with the Fatigue Monster (see last week's blog), though that's definitely in the top three. No, along with a whole host of really neat physiologic changes (well, I think they're neat), you teach your body to store more glycogen (energy sugar) in the muscles and train your energy system to burn that glycogen more efficiently along with fats. The ability of the muscles to propel you down the road or trail for prolonged periods is strongly influenced by the amount of carbohydrate stored in skeletal muscles, with muscle glycogen depletion becoming the decisive factor limiting prolonged exercise.
By far, carbohydrates are the #1 choice for fuel by the muscles, but our injector system only stores enough glycogen in the muscles, liver, and blood to get us a little more than 2/3's of the way down the marathon road (can you say WALL?). Running out of glycogen presents an enormous threat to your muscles' survival, so when you train long and the fuel gauge creeps towards "E", the muscles start sending up rescue flares and a very strong signal is sent to cause 3 things to happen:
1) Your brain says to your muscles "Hey, I'm not exactly sure what the heck he's doing, but he may do this again", so more glycogen is made and stored in your muscles than what was previously present, thus putting out the fire of the threat and increasing endurance for future efforts. Research shows that the more your glycogen tank is emptied, the faster and more it's refilled. That's a good thing, because the more glycogen you have packed into your muscles, the greater your ability to hold your marathon pace to the finish. To create the largest muscle glycogen storage possible, you need to deplete muscle glycogen on a regular basis.
2) Your muscles are forced to rely more on fat as fuel, making them much more effective at using fat for energy. No matter how thin you are, you have oodles of fat. The problem is that muscles like the rich, high-octane stuff, not that low-grade, hard-to-burn fat. But, the better your muscles are at using fat for energy, the longer it will take to run out of your limited store of glycogen and the less your pace is going to slow toward the end of the race. You need 100% energy and so you go further burning 50% carbos than burning 80% carbos.
3) Your very smart liver, sensing that muscle glycogen and blood glucose are low, synthesizes new glucose from non-carbohydrate sources, namely amino acids and lactate. The new glucose is then used for energy so you can maintain your marathon pace.
So, when you down those gels, or some other form of sugar energy during your long training runs, providing muscles with a ready fuel, you blunt all three of the above adaptations. To maximize your physiological adaptations, it's better to cut down on your "topping the tank". I teach my runners to take no more than one gel during a training long run (usually at the midpoint) and drink mostly water instead of gulping down a sugar drink every 2-3 miles. With this method, your energy system won't expect a constant jolt several times along the way.
Now, in the marathon itself, however, you do want to consume carbohydrates since it's important to maintain blood glucose levels for as long as you can so you can use it as fuel. First, energy will be derived from the glucose in the blood, then the muscles, and finally, the liver. Of course, there's some overlap, but basically, that's the pecking order. So, you begin ingesting your first gel at about thirty minutes, and then about every 30-45 minutes after that. If you drink an energy drink at the aid station, don't "Sugar OD" by adding a gel. You can only absorb about 240 calories of carbohydrates an hour, so based on about 100 cal/gel, two gels an hour is about it. More than that...well, don't complain to me if your tummy starts to feel like a giant Boy Scout knot.
Running a long distance is a series of doing things right, cutting corners when you can, and not going down the "I'm different than the average runner" road. I strongly believe that a steady flow of injested carbohydrates during the event will help your outcome, but you can tilt the odds in your favor with some solid fuel planning in the months and weeks before you toe that starting line. Train smart my friends.
For those of you in Birmingham, tomorrow, we have our last "on course" training run from Boutwell downtown. That'll be 13 miles for those training for the full and 8.6 for the half. We only have 2 weeks folks, before the Mercedes Marathon, so now would be a good time to see and feel the course. Leave your gels at home (except one), and I hope to see you all on the roads - AL
"One child lost is too many...one child saved can change the world"
