January 2011 Month End Review

In terms of running, this month was a difficult one. We had a fair amount of inclement weather, i.e. snowfall. However in terms of physical conditioning, January 2011 marked a milestone in my adult life. I have finally begun an exercise regimen which incorporates both aerobic and strength training components. The irony is it required a Nintendo Wii game console and an EA Sports Active version 2 exercise game to provide the motivation for initiating this regimen.

Last year during the month of January I ran sixteen times for a total of about 63 miles. This equates to an average run length of about four miles. This January I only ran ten times for a total of 61 miles. This equates to a average run length of a little over six miles. Since my next race will be a 6.2 miler (10K), I have become well acclimated to running that distance - albeit at a pace slower than race day pace.

Last January it appears I favored more of a 5K tempo run approach to my training. Of my sixteen runs, only two of them exceeded five miles. In contrast, seven of my ten runs exceeded five miles this January. One of the things I have read recently is that you need to have a solid base of long distance running (Lydiard?) before moving up the running training pyramid.

My long run for this past week was eight miles. I broke up the run into 4.5 mile and 3.5 mile segments. I stopped at my house for a minute between segments for fluid replenishment. I typically drink Gatorade but was out of stock. I drank orange juice. I don't believe the OJ was a hindrance on the second segment, but I did not get the energy boost I had anticipated.

Motivational Ebbs and Flows

There are many occasions where I am readying myself to embark on another training run and I ask myself "What am I doing ?" It would be much easier to lay on the couch and watch one more episode of ABC's Lost series I am catching up on. Why am I leaving the warm confines of my house to expose myself to temperatures below freezing ?

At this juncture, I am mentally and physiologically hard wired to run. Due to the extremely cold we have been experiencing recently, I have only been able to run four times in the last two weeks. These runs have been very enjoyable because I have had ample to time to recover between runs. I feel as though I am not in any way depleted from a prior run.

As best as I can describe, there's something inside which is driving me each week to climb higher up the mountain - currently my mountain is a sub 45 minute finish at the Ukrops Monument Ave 10K in Richmond Va. I believe most people have a desire to be good at something - whether it is making crafts, cooking, fixing things, etc. I really would like to be good at running. It hasn't been an easy trek to date, but I am making progress.

It's important to internalize a motivational force. If you rely solely on an external source for your motivation, your heart will not be into your efforts in the absence of this source.

I had the opportunity to meet the late Jack Lalane at a motivational speaking engagement at the Milton Hershey School in Pennsylvania some thirty years ago. He preached the three P's at that time ; pride, persistence, and passion. These elements provide a solid motivational foundation for everyone.

Nike Sneakers - Kudos

I am not very fond of mainstream brands. Our family does not eat at McDonald's or at fast food restaurants in general. I do not care for either the Dallas Cowboys or the New York Yankees. My wife and I do not currently own any Ford or Chevy vehicles. By the same token, in the past I have not been very fond of Nike footwear because of it's identity as the preeminent manufacturer of mainstream athletic footwear and their pervasive marketing campaigns.

I own three pairs of Nike sneakers ; Nike Vomero 4, LunarFly+, and LunaRacer +2. I love each pair of these shoes.

I use the Vomeros as durable everyday trainers. Why do I like the Vomeros ? I am not a heel strike runner - I place a premium on forefoot cushioning when evaluating my comfort with a prospective sneaker. The Vomeros have a level of forefront cushioning that I have not found equaled on any other shoe I have trained with to date. For whatever reason, it appears the majority of sneakers made today have a large part of their design centered upon heel cushioning.

I use the LunaryFly+'s primarily for tempo and interval work. These shoes are lighter than the Vomeros and have a tighter fabric-like weave than the open mesh of the Vomeros. My LunarFly+'s are black - this is fine for the winter, but the jury is still out for the summer in terms of overheating my feet. I ran seven miles in these yesterday and I felt like I was floating on air during the entire run. Again, these sneakers have excellent forefoot cushioning.

I have not run in the LunaRacer+2's to date. As the name implies these sneakers are very lightweight road racing sneakers. My initial impression of the sneakers from walking around in the house with them is they also have excellent forefront cushioning. I will run 10-15 miles in these shoes before I break them out for my next race at the Ukrops Monument Ave 10K race in April.

I have to give Nike credit for the excellent product line I have been exposed to so far. While I am sometimes overwhelmed by Nike's presence on athletic equipment in general, I am grateful for their contributions toward running footwear.

I should mention I am regarded a Clydesdale runner, weighing in at 195 pounds.

Personal Fitness - Nintendo Wii Style.

Nintendo Wii - EA Sport Active 2

Over the last two years I have had a singular focus on my efforts to resurrect a healthy and fit lifestyle. I have run and run and run. While I knew I needed to begin a strength training regimen to complement my running, I never found a suitable outlet until recently.

I recently purchased a Nintendo Wii gaming system for my oldest son. It will serve to promote hand and eye coordination while also teaching him a bit about sportsmanship. In the course of searching for games I noticed their was a fair complement of workout games for the Wii console.

One game in particular which stood out was EA Sports Active 2. This game uses a heart rate monitor and leg activity/motion band to record your movements as you exercise with your trainer.

I purchased this game and began a three week beginner cardiovascular workout. The training sessions last about 30 minutes and incorporate a variety of exercises. Every workout begins with three of four warm up exercises and ends with a cool down of about the same number of exercises. The schedule is set up for four workouts per week, which you can modify to complete them any days of the week which are suitable for your schedule.

I have worked muscles this week I haven't used for years. What makes this tolerable is you are pushing a beginner's envelope - you are not working as hard as you would in a Marine basic training camp.

You enter your age at the beginning of the program and it then uses this information to set up your heart rate zones based upon your calculated max heart rate (220 - your age is your max heart rate). As you work out you can see your heart rate accelerate and decline on the screen in addition to the heart rate zone you are currently training within.

My major physical weakness to date has been a very flimsy, marshmellow-esque core. This training program is addressing my weak core and should translate into faster times in the spring. My legs have become stronger from running; this program will tone the rest of my body. I am very anxious to complete the program - although informing friends I was trained by Nintendo doesn't have a lot of cachet value.

Winter Blues

It has been four days since I have run outdoors. The weather had been extremely cold as of late. My last run was a very taxing seven mile run. I have rationalized not running this long by focusing on the benefits of my body recovering fully before my next run.

There are seventy-nine days until my next race, the Ukrops Monument Ave 10K in Virginia. I have to constantly remind myself this race is not an Olympic trials qualifier. I tend to take my races more seriously than necessary. I am enjoying the journey to improve my running, but I am not a single professional runner with hours upon hours to dedicate to this endeavor.

I am scheduled to do an interval run as my next workout. In essence, I will run at about 98% of my maximum heart rate for a quarter of a mile and then jog for a quarter of a mile. I'll complete five sets of this run - jog combination. Factor in a warm-up run and cool down run and I should complete about four miles for this training session.

We'll see how well my Jack Daniels' training program works in about eleven weeks.

Dehydration Strikes Again

After a two day rest I decided to do a long easy run last night, specifically Sunday evening. The sun sets now at 5:00 pm so I had to bring my orange light baton for the run.  The temperature was a bearable 29 degrees with a slight wind chill - somewhere on the order of 17 degrees accounting for the wind chill.

I had a most difficult time motivating myself for this run.  It's tough running six or seven miles for me in optimal conditions.  Factor in oppressively cold temperatures and winds and  an easy run is no longer easy. Part of me questions how effective a training session will be when you are running at a sub-par rate due to the elements.

I felt very strong for the first two or three miles of this workout.  Running was relatively easy.  However around the four mile mark I began to lose steam.  The last two miles of this seven mile run were very labored.  I pushed myself through it, in spite of feeling slightly light headed.  This run was designated an easy run, so I simply backed off the pace at the end of the run.

Much to my chagrin, after replenishing my fluid level with chocolate milk and Gatorade, I still had a hydration issue. My urine was a deep brown color again. It had been weeks since my last occurrence of this issue.  I will need to load up on fluids before my next long run because I do not want to carry a bottle of Gatorade in below freezing weather.

This was a very unwelcome incident.  I am having difficulty coming to the realization my body is not made for long distance running.  Ten kilometers may be my healthy upper limit for racing.  A half marathon and marathon are not feasible or reasonable race distances given my propensity for dehydrating so easily.

Jack Daniels' Cruise Intervals

     One main takeaway from the Jack Daniels' training book I am reading is the concept of lactic acid accumulation and your body's ability to clear or process the lactic acid.  I had often felt there was a pace during a training run or race that if I exceeded it, my body would soon be overcome by fatigue.  I didn't know the scientific basis for this sentiment, but it was a real phenomenon.

Cruise intervals are runs designed to acclimate your body to running with elevated levels of lactic acid.  The key is to run at a pace where your body can process the lactic acid to the degree the levels do not accumulate to a point where you become debilitated.  This pace is referred to as a threshold pace.

For my cruise interval workout today, I began by running 0.75 miles to warm up. After my muscles were warmed, I ran four sets of one mile intervals with a one minute rest between intervals. My magical threshold pace was on the order of 8 minutes per mile.   The temperature today was 32 degrees with no winds.  In the spring and summer this pace will moist likely be slightly faster.  I completed the workout with a six minute cool down run.

The threshold pace is sometimes described as comfortably hard pace.  In my case, it's a pace where I know I am running fast, but I am not laboring to maintain the pace.  During today's workout my first three mile intervals were run at a pace close to my target eight minute per mile pace.  I had to run the fourth mile interval at a much slower pace in order to not accumulate too great of a lactic acid buildup.

As is this case with much of my training, I ran too many miles of cruise intervals today.  I failed to read Jack Daniels' qualifier for this workout stating the total distance should be limited to 8% of my weekly total mileage.  He states if you are running twenty miles per week (which I am) you should only do one and a half miles of cruise intervals.  This would translate to running three sets of one half mile interval runs.

2011 - My Breakout Year

Using the Jack Daniels running program has given my training the formal structure I have lacked since beginning running some two years ago. I have incorporated tempo runs, intervals, hill climbs, and fartlek running into my training in the past. What was lacking was a cohesive regimented structure to the training.

I have already noticed I have progressed to a new fitness tier. One thing I had skipped in my training was simple and easy long distance runs. By pushing myself too hard too frequently I was dancing on the wrong side of the aerobic / anaerobic fence too frequently.  The whole month of December was dedicated to long easy runs. My average run for that month was nearly six miles.  It wasn't too long ago I couldn't run six miles.

I feel more confident running now than ever.  I am beginning to feel like a bona fide runner.   I have had to rid myself of many years of internal rust via running.  I have accumulated about 1400 miles of running in the last two years. I feel my body is finally responding well to training.  I no longer have chicken legs - they are more muscular - comparable to a turkey's legs now. For so many months I felt like I was 'getting there' fitness-wise.  I didn't feel as fit as I wanted to feel.

 An interesting racing strategy I read recently was to set a split for where you want to be at the 2/3 mark of the race.  Then from there race with your heart or guts.   I think the logic is to run a structured race for the first two thirds of the race and then let everything go from there for the last third. I will most likely use this strategy first during the Ukrop's Monument Avenue 10K race in April.

I haven't set specific goals for 2011 yet, but I would like to break 21 minutes for a 5K.  Breaking the six minute barrier for the mile was my highlight of 2010.

800 Miles in 2010 - Did It

The last two weeks of 2010 were a little hectic. In the course of planning for Christmas and New Years, I had to make time to run 70 miles in December. Fortunately, the weather was tolerable and I was able to remain injury free.

The toughest day of running was the day after Christmas. The temperature was 24 degrees and factoring in the wind chill, the temperatures was a frigid 10 degrees. Running into a cold wind is tough on two fronts. The first is the air permeates your clothing and sends a chill through you. The second is your coefficient of drag. The wind transforms a level road into a steep incline. The combination of the deep chill and the hill climb effects renders you into a state of wondering why you run.

I am also concerned about having an issue in the cold weather. Because most people stay inside during cold weather, it could be some time until someone could assist myself. I am always a little concerned I could have a heart attack or stroke while running.

Running a little every week has been instrumental in running this personally astronomical amount in 2010. It serves to show how much can be accomplished when you use a divide and conquer approach to tackling large problems.