Archive for June, 2011

This was a tough book for me to review.  The Complete Idiot’s Guide To Marathon Training by David A. Levine and Paula Petrella required temporarily removing my personal beliefs on marathons (that they’re races you train for because you are a runner) in order to accept the concept of marathons as a “bucket list” item.

My trepidation began on the first page of the introduction when I read this, “If you are tired the next day after a workout, you are overtraining.” Uh oh, this does not bode well…

And on page 6, “When running marathons, men generally find inspiration in the goal of lowering their finish time.  Women tend to focus on the process more, citing reasons like feeling better about themselves and enjoying the challenge.”  I don’t even have a snappy reply for this, it irritates me that much.

Not to say the whole book is full of silliness, there is a good amount of straight info that someone who has never raced will find useful, from explaining what a timing mat is, to gun time vs chip time, to the general subjects found in this type of book (what to wear, nutrition, etc).  It also had a nice, easily digestible section on how the body works, muscles, mitochondria, oxygen, fat vs glycogen, etc.

But things like this give me pause: “The most pervasive marathon misconception is that only elite runners are capable of completing a marathon.” Pervasive on what planet?  Somebody made that up to support the rest of the paragraph because nobody with a working pair of eyes would ever think that’s true.

In the section on hydration during the marathon “…you need to drink every 10 minutes”.  No you don’t.

And this crazy thing “if you are tired the day after a workout you are overtraining” was actually repeated in at least 3 different places.  This tells me the authors don’t know what overtraining is, which makes me question their authority. If you’re tired the day after a workout, you’re not even overreaching.  For the record, overreaching happens before overtraining (which is a serious condition that happens over a period of months) and it sure as hell isn’t something diagnosed from one tired day.  People get tired for tons of reasons that may or may not have to do with exercise.

I also didn’t understand why so many pages were devoted to running form, given the “just get to the finish line” nature of the book.  If you’re going to bring concepts like “stance phase” and “recovery phase” into it, photos should be included. I can only imagine someone who’s never run in their life trying to physicalize that section.

Furthermore, including sections on POSE and Chi Running is truly superfluous, as is telling us Galloway suggests keeping your feet close to the ground while running.  It left me confused on what the authors recommend.  Maybe there is no recommendation but for someone just starting, this has to leave them scratching their heads.

Ditto on the Daniels vs. Lydiard section.  It didn’t make a lot of sense to see this in the context of this book. They talk about some Three Day Plan that I guess we should know about but they won’t name, saying it’s based off Daniels but I’m quite sure Daniels would not approve.

If you just want to finish a marathon with no time goal and you want to do the least it takes to get there, then this book might make sense for you.  Otherwise, I’d be infinitely more inclined to suggest Bob Glover’s Competitive Runner’s Handbook.  It covers all the race distances and is about a subject I hold very near and dear to my heart: Running.

It’s done, I’m fine, yesterday was a perfect run with nary a hint of anything achilles-related (ditto today).  An unpleasant few days though, especially when you read posts like “I wish I’d only broken my leg, at least that way you know it’ll be over eventually”.  But here’s what kept me calm:

1. I’ve never had achilles trouble before so it wasn’t a form or imbalance problem
2. I’ve been wearing the same shoe model for over a year with no problems
3. My mileage has been steady for a few months now
4. I found the muscle knot from hell in my calf

I’m ecstatically grateful for finding that post mentioning a relationship between achilles and calf knots.  Without that, it surely would have gone on much longer than it did.  As it was, it took me 3 solid days to get rid of that knot – a knot that I could not find with my roller!  Unreal.  But my fingers or the Stick would have found it, so that’s my bad, though when nothing’s hurting there’s little reason to go poking around.  Anyway, I’ve vowed to feel myself up on a daily basis from here on in.

Speaking of calves, mine are big, which is probably the reason I don’t feel much on the roller and also pretty much disqualifies me from ever becoming an Elite (oh, the injustice).  But instead of crying into my spilled Wheaties, I’m happy for this silver lining: did you know that large calves are less likely to get stress fractures than slim ones?  Here’s a great little paper on Lower Extremity Stress Fractures for Runners: Risk Factor and Prevention from Steve Magness of Science Of Running that mentions this tidbit (though I’ve read it in other places as well).  Having some extra cushioning is not always a bad thing.  The paper also makes a case for taking shorter strides (aka increasing cadence), among other things.  Give it a look when you have a chance.

In other non-runnerly, yet extremely annoying news, I was flossing my teeth a couple nights ago, like the angelic well-behaved girl I am, and felt something hard. Figuring it was a blueberry remnant, I spit it down the drain.  After brushing my teeth, I looked in the mirror and realized that what I’d spit down the drain was a piece of my lower front tooth.  It’s very small so not embarrassing, though it’s weird to see a slightly different me.  And while it’s not worthy of major dental work, I’ll eventually go in and get it filed smoother.  Just one of those gentle reminders of advancing decrepitude.  God, it sucks.

An injured week in review:
Monday: 9@8:28 (7 strides)
Tuesday: 12@8:14 (12 x 60 sec. on/offs +  6m. Achilles jog of shame)
Wednesday: Achilles rest day
Thursday: Achilles rest day
Friday: 9@8:39
Saturday: 13.5@8:10
Sunday: 13.5@8:09
Total: 57 mi (avg pace 8:18)

I don’t usually do .5s but there was a Triathlon going on this weekend – Sprint yesterday, Olympic today – and those thoughtless creatures put their finish line .25 mi in front of my turnaround point.  I wasn’t into making it up somewhere else, that’s enough come-back distance for this week.  Tomorrow, I’m back to the schedule. yay!

It came on Monday, out of the blue, on a 9-mile recovery run: tightness in my achilles area.  Having no experience with achilles problems (except knowing it can be a serious, tenacious injury like PF) I almost bagged my strides but after the first one, it felt fine so I did 6 more.  Mistake #1.  It might have ended on Monday had I not done the strides.

Later, sitting in my computer chair, the stiffness increased as the day wore on. I took ibuprofen and iced often.  I also foam-rolled before bed but didn’t notice anything particularly painful to attack.

The next morning, I could feel it on my run and but it didn’t hurt, it was just “there”.  The run was 12mi with 12x60sec. on/offs.  I hadn’t researched much achilles stuff online yet, just the stretch, so I went ahead with the on/offs thinking “if it hurts, I’ll just run easy” but the fast running actually seemed to squelch it, so I finished the set.  Mistake #2a) it’s classic that it abates during fast stuff and 2b) doing fast stuff is ridiculously stupid if your achilles is acting up.

As soon as the on/offs were done, it began to hurt.  For the remaining uncomfortable 6-mile jog home, I berated myself and worried about what I’d done.  When I got back, my wise forum friends suggested I take the following day off to which I stubbornly replied, “I’ll play it by ear in the morning”.

Meanwhile, I found some achilles cross-friction massage videos that seemed to help, took ibuprofen, iced a lot.  Then I found an old LetsRun post where some guy mentioned that his achilles problems were always accompanied and caused by a knot in his calf.  So I gave my calf a poke in the big fleshy part (the gastrocnemius) and yoweeee…incredible pain.  It was one giant knot that neither running nor rolling had uncovered.

This was an excellent discovery!  It meant it wasn’t purely a tendon issue but a tight muscle creating a tendon issue.  The reason achilles tendons are so hard to treat is due to lack of blood-flow, but you can go to town on a tight calf muscle.  So I pummeled that thing with my fingers, the Stick and a tennis ball and went to bed thinking maybe I could run the next day.

My last day off was May 1st, so I’m annoyed with myself for expecting to soldier on, this is what rest days are for!  But sensibility reigned the next morning when my first few steps out of bed reminded me I had a problem.  I declared it a day off.

Yesterday, I was sure I’d be able to run on it again, since I could prod and pinch the AT and found no tenderness.  The calf was still very painful to the touch, though.  Taking precautions before leaving for my run, I applied a heating pad to the whole lower leg to warm it up.  I also stuck a couple round makeup sponges under the heels of my insoles for make-do heel lifts (thank you Coolrunning for that tip).  But by the time I turned the corner of my block to where it starts going uphill the AT piped up.  So I stopped and walked back to my front door. (Mistake #3, avoid uphills completely…though in retrospect, it was all for the better since I’d probably have continued running if not for that.  Very glad that I took 2 days off.)

Oddly enough, I didn’t get freaked out about it.  I wasn’t happy but was prepared to take a third day off if necessary because the thought of having a chronic achilles problem makes my stomach turn.

So I spent yesterday with more calf attacking, hamstring stretching (might as well work up the chain) and eccentric heel drops and was rewarded by feeling quite good today.  I woke with no sign of it, did the heating pad thing, didn’t bother with the heel-lifts and took the flat route to the park, going 9 miles.  For the first half of the run, I was aware of tightness, though no pain.  I stopped a few times to stretch which helped though it was a bummer, having this remnant.  But it got progressively better on the second half of the run to where I felt like my old self.  Hallelujah!

The test will be how it feels as the day progresses – crossing fingers  and toes that no stiffness returns.  If everything’s A-OK, I’ll keep the mileage down for the rest of the week, no strides or tempo, and then next week start fresh. Just please Leg, let that be the end of it, ok?  Thanks.

And with that, have a great weekend, friends!  Happy, safe and healthy running to you all.

Dang these things are good!  I could end the review right here because that really sums it up.   But that would make for a short blog post so here’s a bit more…

The cool folks at Evol sent me 16 mini burritos to try in a variety of flavors.  Because they’re frozen, FedEx delivered a full-size cooler loaded with dry ice and the precious burrito cargo…pretty entertaining as far as deliveries go.

When I mentioned this to my friends on the 3:20 thread, my pal Ron/ESG piped up with “I regularly eat and enjoy those Evol burritos.”  Aha!  A good sign right off the bat.

You may be wondering why Evol sent these to me in the first place.  Well it so happens that these tasty things make the perfect apres-run recovery meal.  We need carbs and protein after a run and it’s excellent to have a handy, fast thing that isn’t sweet.  These savory treats really hit the spot.

Maniacally adoring my Evol Burrito

Calorically, they’re excellent, from 160-190 calories depending on the flavor but the best part is that they’re all natural.  The chicken is free-range, you can identify the veggies inside the Veggie Fajita (that one’s vegan, btw) – it’s simply clean eating.  And all it takes is one minute in the microwave.

Another fab thing about these is that they list the protein and fiber grams on the front of the wrapper so you know what you’re getting right off the bat and if it’s a low-fat one, it’ll say so as well.

Speaking of the wrapper, their whole business model is way hip and includes a large dollop of humor.  On the back of the wrapper is their tagline “An Evol plot to change your world: Evolburritos.com“.  I’m into that.  So check out their site and put them on your grocery list, they’re worth it!

Please excuse the total non-sequitur, but if you guys want to get in on the Zico coconut water giveaway, it ends tonight at 9pm.  The clock is ticking…

This week’s attempt was much closer to the ballpark, 12 miles w/ 3@7:02.  The cool thing is that the tempo portion was below my usual Half heart rate so I know at least one thing for sure: my current Half pace is faster than 7:02.  Way cool.

But wait, there’s more!

1. The remaining 6 miles were comfortable 8:05s, confirming how little of an energy suck the tempo was.
2. Conditions were not exactly optimal. Allow me to illustrate the effect of 72 degrees w/ dewpoint 69 via this extremely unflattering photo I took right after the run. No comments on the nip action, I could have Photoshopped it out but that’s part of the wet t-shirt joy of it. Anyway, if I was going to take the hot weather deduction a la Daniels (which doesn’t even take humidity into account) my Half pace is faster than 6:55.

So the jury’s still out on where my current fitness lies and what my training paces will be, but I figure a couple more weeks of this fast stuff (strides, on/offs, little tempos) should unveil a final baseline.  Kind of thrilling in the meantime.  Wherever it lands will be more than I expected…it already is!

A Nifty Shuffle Condom
Due to prolific sweat glands, I’ve fried 2 iPod Shuffles in the last two years but am determined to keep my 3rd one alive.  My breakus interruptus method is to take a piece of Saran wrap, stick one end under the clip that’s on the inner shorts side, then wrap it to the other side and tuck it under the main body of the Shuffle.  The important thing is to make a little awning over the headphone jack/button panel since that’s where water can enter.  You can still use all the buttons, no prob.  And you could make it look neater but I don’t give a shit.  When I get home, I take the wrap off and disconnect the headphones so if any moisture got in there, it’ll dry out.  So far, so good! 

Btw, this is me at 122 lbs (minus a few temporary lbs from sweat loss).  Still 5’4″ as far as I know.  No waif, that’s for sure.

My thighs amuse me lately.  Not that we sit around exchanging humorous anecdotes, but they’re bigger, more muscled and in a completely unexpected turn, that chicken skin thing they used to do when my foot hit the ground and which always disgusted me is (dare I say?) almost gone – something I never thought possible.  I believe Falls bridge is to thank for that.  Bless you, bridge, bless you.

The good ole week in review:
Monday: 9@8:08 (9 strides)
Tuesday: 12@8:04 (10 x 60 sec. on/offs)
Wednesday: 18@8:11
Thursday: 12@8:15
Friday: 12@7:57 (w/3@7:02)
Saturday: 15@8:16 (6 strides)
Sunday: 12@8:05
Total: 90 mi (avg pace 8:08)

I went 18 miles yesterday.  Last time I ran longer than 17 was the Boston Marathon, April 2010 – long time ago.  It wasn’t planned when I left the house, I was expecting to do 14 or 15 but the day was nice, I was running well and it seemed like a fun thing to do, just to see how 18 miles would feel.   It was a great run, 8:11 pace with a low heart rate, no fatigue at the end, no wishing it was over, just enjoyment.

There really is something to be said about this casual increasing of distances and efforts.  I like it so much that I plan to continue this model long-term (knocking on wood for continued health):
1. Summer base-building, completely low-key, emphasis on volume
2. firm it up for Fall racing, try to keep the mileage up through the season (racing will naturally interfere some, but it’s ok)
3. take 1-2 weeks off completely as Winter sets in, then
4. spend Winter running mid-60s to 70s (no way I’m doing 90mpw in wintry suck) – again keeping it casual
5. returning to 90mpw and race prep in the Spring.

The trouble with higher mileage in singles
As you know, I prefer doing all my runs in singles and so far, it’s been just fine.  However, now that I’m adding in quality work, scheduling becomes more complicated. I only have one short day, Monday, which I consider to be a recovery day or “my little reward for having completed another chunky week” so it’s a putter day if I choose.  That leaves me 6 days of double-digit runs in which to place speed and tempo workouts.  This is why extending the Long Run to 18 and beyond is helpful, as it lets me shorten a workout day.

Not that it’s horrible to do a speed or tempo in the midst of a longer run, it’s just a pain in the ass.  Because if I do it towards the front of the run, energy levels are good but that leaves a lot of miles afterwards.  Alternately, if I wait towards the end of a run as I would for speedwork (because 1-2 miles is the most I want to deal with after that type of effort) then that’s an 8-9 mile warmup…a tad excessive.

Additionally, the day preceding a quality day will probably always be 14 or more, which means my legs aren’t exactly bouncy when it’s time to do the workout.  And with my preference for 2 days between quality sessions…you see how it can be limiting.

On the other hand, quality days within longer runs aren’t the worst thing ever, it’s certainly good for endurance, but you have to accept that there will be some performance tradeoff.  So if I find I’m too tired to do the workouts properly or that my progress is being held back because of it, I will either have to drop some mileage (even 5mi would help) or incorporate a couple doubles.

The good thing is that I’m satisfied with any progress at the moment and am in no hurry to get from A to Z.  So I won’t be making any changes just yet, but this is an ongoing experiment and it’s interesting to see how these components will unfold as the workouts go from baby steps to Real.

My Goals and Revisiting Marathons
I wrote a post on the 3:20 thread the other day in response to the usual teasing from my forum pals about my “Great marathon training, Flo!” or asking me when my next Full is.  It always makes me laugh and I haven’t said anything about goals in a long time because I stopped having any.  Well, that’s not exactly true, I’ve had a sub-20 5K goal for almost 2 frickin’ years, lol, and if I don’t get it this Fall, there’s something seriously wrong with me (meaning, I’m confident it’ll happen).

But anyway, I finally said something goal-ish to my 3:20 pals because I wanted to admit I have one, even if it’s a while down the line.  This is a goal I’ve secretly coveted for ages but dismissed for being impossible, but here it is back on the table… a 1:30 Half.  NOTE: I have to make this super clear before anyone gives me a “you can do it!” before I’m ready; it ain’t gonna happen this year!   It’s a 2012 goal but the fact that I even have it (and think it’s acquirable) is beautiful.  So that’s my #1, long-term goal.

Now about those pesky marathons…
While on a run the other day, I got to thinking about the things I disliked about marathons and marathon training: those interminable long runs, the way improper nutrition or hydration can kill a race, that bad weather can crush months of hard training in an instant, not to mention my feet always get beat up and hurt like hell during a marathon.  Then it hit me that two of those things are no longer applicable.

Long Runs are obviously not heinous anymore and 6 purple toenails later my feet are acclimated to constant pounding (crazy how bad my feet got the moment I raised my mileage, but all is well now).  As for the other things, I still hate them.  I haven’t had a gel on a training run since March 2010 and love not having to worry about it, and the thought of racing hard for 3+ hours in crappy weather turns my stomach.  I’m not ever going to be someone who finds the challenge of those things exciting or something to rise above, it’ll always be irritating shit in my book.

Now here’s a thing:  about a year and a half ago when I announced “no more marathons”, I told my friend Lara that there was one lone circumstance in which I’d reconsider the decision and that was if I could confidently go after a sub 3:10.  It was a “when pigs fly” type of remark because I knew it was never gonna happen.  But now I’m not so sure what I know or don’t know anymore – there’s really no telling where this new phase will lead.

If, for some crazy reason, I’m able to drop my times to where 3:09:59 seams feasible, then I actually would probably go for it.  But I still don’t love the marathon distance, so please nobody expect me to be perusing Rock N Steal Your Money Roll’s website for the latest fab race any time soon, it’ll be a while, if ever.

So that’s what’s been going through my head lately.  Since what I’m doing is pretty much marathon training.  How ever the hell that happened.