XOWii Energy Drink

My wife, Chrissy, is a distributor for XOWii.  XOWii has a line of energy drinks that are low in sugar and caffeine, delivering sustained energy.  You can learn more and purchase products at http://www.xowiixowiixowii.com/.  The drinks have Kona Red cherry extract and Acai berry extract in them.  I am experimenting with drinking them before and after my training runs.  They might be a nice thing to add-on to my typical regimen of maltodextrin products (Hammer or GU).

Two-week Training Cycle

I’ve come up with a two week training cycle. I’m very excited about it, because it incorporates what I learned from my training this fall into a two week cycle. The problem with a weekly cycle is that there is an odd number of days in the week, so I would always make compromises that were not listening to my body. Here are the requirements I gave myself.

• three types of days: easy, hard, hard cross-training, long
• long must be on a weekend
• long is preceded by one easy day
• long is followed by two easy days
• incorporate some hard cross-training
• hard cross-training days can be followed by hard running days
• 1/2 the days are hard/hard ct/long, other 1/2 are easy

I thought the pattern would take more that two weeks to start cycling, so I’m very happy that it is as simple as it is.

– Week 1

• Mon Easy
• Tue Hard CT
• Wed Hard
• Thu Easy
• Fri Hard
• Sat Easy
• Sun Long

– Week 2

• Mon Easy
• Tue Easy
• Wed Hard CT
• Thu Hard
• Fri Easy
• Sat Long
• Sun Easy

Hard days can be intervals or tempo runs. Easy days can be complete rest, walk, hike, or gym for 40 mins at 130 HR.

Polar Fitness Test

I just did a fitness test on my Polar heart rate monitor. It has been a while since I did one and my score was really high. This is a nice boost as I’m waiting for my ankle to heal. Here is a graph of my scores over time. The Polar OwnIndex score tries to estimate VO2max as explained here.

Inertia

I went to the sports doctor today. I’m scheduled for an MRI on Wednesday and then I go back to see him on Friday for the results.

I’m thinking that I’ll run in the 25k in Warda on the 21st. Then I’ll completely heal my ankle which will probably mean six weeks of cross-training. I will most likely volunteer at the Bandera race on Jan 9. Then I’ll shoot for running the 26 mile race in Rock Springs in March.

A couple of weeks ago I decided to switch my focus from weekly mileage to total calories burned. I’m not looking to lose weight, but calories burned in a stat that is kept by my watch and it is a good measure of exertion. I ended up exercising for 10 hours across 7 days burning 7,000 calories. That included a 4-hour marathon session at Life Time on a Saturday morning where I maintained a 144 BPM average heart rate. That was definitely one of my greatest athletic feats.

High Ankle Sprain

I think I have a high ankle sprain. I think I need to rest it for six weeks to fully recover. I’m going to a sports doctor on Monday, so I’ll know more after speaking with him. The last two weeks I’ve run once a week. Both times I ran my ankle hurt while running and afterwards. While resting it, it definitely began to feel better.

If I rest it for six weeks, then I should not attempt to run 31 miles on Jan 9. I could probably gut it out, but my legs would not be in shape to have a good race and I would definitely risk injuring the ankle again. Typing this feels pretty devastating.

I think that I will volunteer at the Bandera race. It will be nice to get out there. Then I’ll plan to run either a 25k or 50k in March. Joe and Joyce Prusaitis are directing a brand new race the “Nueces 50″ in March, which includes a 26.2 mile race.

I will probably wait until the last minute to register for races in the future until I am very comfortable at the distance. This might cost me a little extra money and I might not get a T-Shirt, but it will keep me from overtraining and then feeling devastated.

I have a lot of respect for people who run ultra distance trail races. There are probably a few that never experience problems, but my guess is that most everyone deals with this sort of thing.

I have achieved athletic feats in the past year that I never expected I would achieve. A few years ago I thought the days of me considering myself an athlete were long gone.

Napoleon Hill wrote that you should always look at adversity as opportunity. Adversity always deals with perspective. Currently I can’t reach my goal of running the Bandera 50k in 6 hours. But does not running that race, open other opportunities?

Turn Around

I was in a pretty tough place mentally and I was able to turn it around.  After the long run on my birthday, I took off two days.  Then I ran four days in a row.  They were all short, one was at an upbeat tempo.  But overall I was wasted.  My ankle hurt, my legs didn’t want to go fast.  Running wasn’t fun.  I avoided my group runs with the HCTR club.  This past week was more of the same.  Two runs on Sunday where I could never get going.  A good run with the HCTR group on Wed. night, but after that my ankle was completely shot.

I decided to take off seven days from running.  I decided to cross-train by going to the gym and doing a variety of cardio equipment every day.  It has been an amazing turn around.  I feel refreshed.  I can’t hardly wait to run with the group again this Wednesday and I’m planning my longest run ever for this Saturday morning (Halloween).  It will be 19.5 miles on hilly trails between my house and the Hill of Life.  It is a 6.5 miles loop.  I’ll do it three time alternating directions.

I bought new shoes on Zappos today.  I noticed that they finally had a pair of size 15 Inov-8′s.  I waited two weeks because we are keeping a close eye on our monthly budget.  I can’t wait to get them.  I’m going away from the racing flat in favor of more cushioning.  Hopefully this will help my ankle.  I also bought a Petzl headlamp.  No more getting caught in low light on the trails and this opens up my morning runs to the trails instead of lighted streets.

My plan is to reduce the number of runs I do a week and ramp up the cross-training.  Hopefully this gives me the most bang for my running time and gives my ankle time to recoup.  In my mind it is most important to have one tempo run and one long run each week.  My experience in the last two weeks has been that if I run on more days than this, then I end up not getting these runs in because I’m slogging along too slowly.

For me, prepping for the 50k Bandera race, a tempo run is 2 hours total with an hour at low 160s heart rate.  The long run will be run at a 145 HR for the first hour and then 155 from then on for a total of four hours at first and building to six hours.  I’m doing both of those on hilly trails.  If I can do both of those every week, it would be a huge improvement over what I’ve been able to do so far.  Not in terms of miles per week so much, as simulating the conditions of the race.  If I can get those two in, then I should be fine with cross-training the rest of the week.  I just don’t believe that a one hour recovery run at a 140 heart rate is worth the damage it does to my ankle.

This is certainly not by the book.  It is really individualized to my current situation.  This is definitely a stretch race for me, and I think this is the best way to prepare.  If I could handle running 80 or even 60 miles each week, I’d love it, but I think concentrating solely on weekly mileage isn’t the best strategy for me at this point.  I need as many high-intensity, long, hilly trail runs as I can get between now and Jan 9.

I’m running the Komen 5K with Chrissy this Sunday.  Chrissy has been training very hard for her first race.  I’m very proud of her for having the courage to take on the challenge.

I’m running a 25k warmup race in Warda, TX on Nov 21.  Then the HCTR group is having a big club run at the Hill Country State Natural Area (the site of the Bandera 50k) on Dec 12.  I might actually run 50k on Dec 12, but if I do I’ll take my time.

Birthday Run

I turned 34 yesterday.  Completely unplanned, I noticed as I was setting my watch that I was starting my run at 10:10 on 10/10.  It was a great run and I just realized that it capped off a 34 mile week.  All sorts of numerology.  34 miles equals my longest weekly distance from two weeks ago, but this past week had more high-intensity miles and it had more trail miles.

Yesterday’s run was great.  I ran pretty much the same loop as I did two months ago.  Started out my front door, took a trail down to Barton Creek, continued along Barton Creek to Zilker Park, then refilled my water bottles and head back upstream to the Hill of Life.  It was a very different run.  The creek was dry last time, this time it was three to four feet.  I didn’t even think twice when I crossed it last time.  This time the crossings looked different, but I was able to stay on course without much trouble.  Crossing the water slowed me down, but my overall time was faster.  The weather was much cooler than last time.  It was just about perfect mid 50s to low 60s.  I wore running shorts and a T-shirt with Nipguards and Glide on my belly button.  I usually go shirtless.  The nicest thing about wearing the shirt was that I was able to blow my nose into something.  I wore my heart rate monitor.  I did a much better job pacing myself this time.  The first hour was really easy, about 140-145 bpm.  Then I really pushed myself on the way back, 155 bpm.  My pace was probably pretty constant, 5 MPH.

Everything went great.  Minor slips on the rocks while crossing the creek.  My timing was near perfect.  I hit Zilker right at an hour and a half.  I topped the Hill of Life at 3 hours and 2 minutes.  That is really amazing to be right on plan for such a long run with so many variables.

At the end of my last creek crossing I had to climb up a steep muddy bank.  I reached for a limb and just barely grabbed it before I completely ate it.  I felt like I was on the home stretch, three miles of runnable trail to the Hill of Life.  But in the next five minutes I stumbled once, then toed a tiny tree stump and ate it hard.  Luckily I landed well and nothing was sprained.  Even the toes that took the direct impact seemed OK.  I was definitely shaken.  I went to a slow jog for a bit until I felt clear and confident again.

Chrissy and the kids were at the top of the hill of life with food, water and a change of clothes.  We went straight to Costco, and I feasted on all sorts of samples as my post workout meal.  Chrissy made me cupcakes and a healthy Tebow led the Gators to victory.  All in all a great birthday.

My body definitely held up better this time in the aftermath.  The inside of my left ankle is tender, but not completely shot.  My stomach was a little off yesterday (may have been the mishmash of food at Costco), but I remember last time being really messed up.  I drank much less water this time, sweated much less, and actually peed during the run.  I didn’t take any extra salt other than what is in the GU Chomps and Roctane gells.  The Roctane does tend to upset my stomach a bit.  I really like the Chomps.  The normal GU gels don’t seem to cause me any problems.  One worry I have is getting protein during the race and on my future long runs.  From what I understand, after three hours I need to start taking in some protein.  Maybe I’ll try Hammer Perpetuem again.

Zappos Review #2

My review of the MBTs

I bought these shoes to be used as recovery shoes while I’m training for a 50k trail race. That means I wear them to work and to walk the dog and whatever else I’m doing at low speed on a hard, flat surface. They are great. You need to ease into them slowly, but after a week you can wear them all day. I wore them to Disney World and they were perfect. Very roomy toebox. Nice flat toe bed. It does feel a bit like you are walking in sand. It takes some effort to walk quickly in them. I have noticed improvements in the strength of my ankles and calf muscles. I like to stand on one foot for a couple of minutes in them. Definitely helps with balance and lower leg strength.

Zappos Review

My first Zappos review for my size 15 Merrell Spins.

I’m training for a 50k trail race. These are my main shoes I’m using for my trail runs. Typically 5-12 miles. I like these because the heel isn’t built up really high. I went up a size. They are roomy and comfortable. They are heavy and soak in water when I cross creeks, but are still useable. The shoe laces come undone unless I double knot them. They seem like they will last forever. I like to run in racing flats. These shoes aren’t racing flats, but they aren’t annoyingly bulky. They grip well. I have slipped a bit on wet stones.

Had a fantastic run on the roads in my neighborhood this morning. Nike+ iPod reported 7 miles in one hour. The Nike+ system has definitely provided motivation to run at a higher intensity during this early-to-mid section of my training. As the weeks unfold it is starting to remind me of waiting for Chrissy to produce a baby. Various points of excitement along the way, but all-in-all it is a long haul.

Running in Florida and a Banged up Shin

My first post in nine days.  I have a lot to cover.  I just got back from my third run with the HCTR club.  This one was a little crazy.  We ran over on time so it started to get dark.  We crossed Barton Creek twice.  Two weeks ago it was dry at the crossing points.  Today the first place we crossed — the damn just NW of the Hill of Life — had water up to my thighs.  On the way back we crossed at Sculpture Falls and it had some serious rapids.  I fell off on of the rocks and my left foot went deep into a hole.  My left shin smashed into a rock leaving a pretty good welt.  The girls were very concerned when I showed it to them, and impressed that I didn’t cry.  Everyone in the group made it back up the Hill of Life in the dark.  Nobody had a flashlight, but it was a full moon.

I spent five days on vacation in Florida.  My college roommate, Brad, got married.  The girls got to spend time with both sets of grandparents.  We took them to Disney World.  I kept up the running even on vacation.  On Sunday I met up with my friend Neil, and we ran for an hour in the Guana Reserve in Ponte Vedra.  Very pretty pine forests and marshes.  Yellow flies bit me a few times.  Prior to that I had my longest mileage total for a week, 34 miles.  It was topped off by a 12 mile run along San Jose Blvd in Jacksonville.  Flat, warm, and humid, I finished it in 2 1/4 hours.  I’m very happy with that considering that it was at the end of a very high mileage week.  I felt great afterwards.  Comparing how I felt last week to how I felt a month ago when I ran a total of 32 miles in a week is night and day.  I did end up getting a cold the last few days, but that also might be because I was in a strange place with strange germs.

I ate two GU roctanes before tonight’s run instead of the usual one, and suffered some stomach distress.  I’m not sure what to do with salt tablets either.  I took two Hammer Eudurolytes before I started, and because of the cramping in my upper abs, I didn’t take any more during the run.  The GU Roctane gels have 100 calories and they include a mix of complex carbs, fructose, protein, caffeine, potassium, and electrolytes.  I think I need more calories, but I don’t want more of all the other stuff.  I think I’m going to try taking a Hammer Gel each time I take a GU Roctane.  That might be a little high on fructose, but might work really well.

I’m gearing up for some warmup races.  I’ll most likely run the Cardiac 25k in Warda, TX on Sat Nov 21 and then the Shrodifund 6 hour on Saturday Dec 5.  I call them warmup races because I won’t taper for them like I will for Bandera.  Both the warmup races should give me a great feel for the race day environment.  I will also make at least one trip down to the park in Bandera and run the last 10 miles to get a feel for it.

I just learned about the Nike + iPod system.  I’m pretty excited about it.  Considering that I already own an iPod Touch it is a very cheap way to track my runs online.  Not quite as cool as the Garmin GPS watches, but it costs me an extra $60 for the sensor and an arm strap, compared to $350 for the Garmin watch.  It has me motivated to go out to a track which will be a good change of pace for me.  I found a track near my house at Small Middle School using this listing of tracks in Austin.  It is 2 miles from my house, so I can run up there and run back if there is a cut-through between a trail and road that show up in Google maps.