For a long time I have struggled with injuries and muscular imbalances, as well as cramping during races. Sometimes the cramping has been so extreme - total Charlie Horses that send the muscle popping out of my leg in a huge lump - that I have gone crashing to the ground and then been unable to get up for several minutes. This has been the case in every Knee Knacker I've done, as well as my last two races the Dirty Duo 50K and Marathon Shuffle.
After going down probably 15-20 times in the Dirty Duo I was talking to fellow ultra runner Pushpa Chandra who is a naturopathic doctor and she suggested it was due to magnesium. I started taking a calcium/magnesium supplement, but at the Marathon Shuffle I was well on the way to a course record when the same thing happened. Although I also got lost after that which didn't help my cause any.
However I began to investigate other possibilities. After doing some reading I realised that all Canadians are deficient in vitamin D, which helps the body absorb and utilise minerals like calcium and magnesium. I eat a very good diet, so in reality I should be able to get most of my nutrients from food and I don't like to supplement anything unless I have to. Through the reading it became apparent that because latitudes north of 45 degrees are too far from the sun to get enough vitamin D from sunlight at any point during the year, and the Canadian border is at 45 degrees we all need to supplement vitamin D year round. Even people in the northern hemisphere but south of 45 degrees need to supplement during the winter months.
The problem compounded itself when I quit drinking conventional milk, which is fortified with vitamin D (so you can absorb the calcium) and started drinking raw milk. The raw milk I drink, while infinitely superior nutritionally and quality wise, has no vitamin D so I lost that source. Conventional milk is typically fortified with 100 IU per cup. The daily requirement to prevent rickets is around 200 IU, while the amount for optimum health is about 2000 IU. There are other things you can eat that contain vitamin D, but most have very low amounts that would never allow you to reach this optimum level of 2000 IU per day or more. Some even recommend 5000 IU. At very high levels vitamin D can be toxic, although it seems this is only at the extreme. Watch out for anything containing vitamin A with the vitamin D as vitamin A has higher toxicity.
As soon as I started taking the vitamin D I noticed huge benefits. Within hours I felt like I had a great amount of energy and my mood was noticeably improved. The next day, some of my old injuries which had been recurring began to really ache. I read up a bit on this and apparently this is due to the body finally utilising enough potassium, calcium and magnesium for those old injuries to rapidly heal. I had to miss my weekly long interval workout with VFAC and went to do my own workout around Rice Lake Loop. I was running each lap almost 2 minutes faster than the last time I did that workout, and the loop is only somewhere between a mile and 2 km. On Saturday I had my track workout with VFAC. For a long time I have literally limped off the track, unable to even to a cool down due to hip pain. Not only did I have my best workout in a long time doing my coach John's 'suprise workout' consisting of all out 200's, 400's, 800's and a mile mixed up, occasionally with suprise short rest. Not only did I feel fine after I felt like I could go for another run even after cool down.
So if you are reading this and suffering from cramping, muscle soreness, or even stomach issues (magnesium deficiency causes the stomach lining to become inflamed further limiting absorption of minerals) - go out and get some vitamin D. Apparently the best kind is vitamin D drops which I'm going to try next. Lookout for anything containing magnesium stearate as this is a sign of low quality - it is toxic but used as an industrial lubricant.
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Monday, April 12, 2010
Carbohydrates for Athletes
Carbohydrates are no doubt the most misunderstood, and thus unhealthy as commonly consumed aspects of the Western diet.
As this diet spreads through capitalism, eliminating or at least watering down traditional diets, it replaces natural foods with the unhealthy processed foods and simple carbs and sends obesity rates skyrocketing.
Thanks to the corn and other grain based junk food like high fructose corn syrup these most evil of corporations put in everything from soft drinks to health foods we are now seeing 7 year old kids with livers as sick as a 50 year old alcoholics! As athletes we are more at risk from these health effects than we might think. And yet most of the science behind what we use for fuels comes from the Pepsi Corporation and the Coca-Cola corporation through Power Bar and Gatorade!
This is why we keep pumping our bodies full of artifical toxic substances like high fructose corn syrup, fructose, glucose-fructose and malto-dextrin. Yet even the highly lauded 'rocket fuel' has questionable health impacts. As endurance athletes we may be able to escape the worst of the scourges of these substances such as obesity and diabetes, but it does concern me how much of this stuff I'm pumping into myself when it has numerous other side effects such as liver and kidney damage when I'm already placing myself under such great strain competing in events as long as the Plain 100 (which is somewhere in the range of 106-118 miles depending who you believe) last year. I'd estimate I consumed the equivalent of 55-60 gels during the course of that race, not to mention how many in training for it and other races.
Another source of health concern for runners is going to be controversial. Whole grains. If you are in a running club you probably have almost universal consensus that whole grains are good for runners. Then you'd break them down in to two groups. Those who consume whole grains as often as possible, and those who don't consume whole grains very often. Those that don't consume them very often often cite digestive issues with them, feeling excessively full and restless in the stomach, and other issues of that sort. If they mention them, even those that do consume a lot of whole grains will say they experience that somewhat but live with it for the health benefits.
Now I am not saying that whole grains are not healthy. But we are not using whole grains the way they were intended to be used; using techniques passed down from generation to generation. They were lost when the big money multinational food companies moved in during the 20th century, pushing the old traditions aside with white flour and yeast, baking powder and other products that accelerated the baking process. Enabling Wonder Bread to pump out loaves of nutritionally worthless bread by the thousands.
Now when we use whole grains we are using them like white flour. Buy them in flour form or even grind them fresh and then rise them quickly with yeast. Generally we are told to add white flour so that the bread will be palatable as whole grains are 'heavy'.
Hmmm.... wonder why people are experiencing that heaviness in the stomach when they eat them, and are still consuming large amounts of that white flour which even the companies who continue to push it on us have all but admitted is worthless nutritionally in their marketing for their whole grain products. You see the outer husk of the grains, part of what makes them whole grains, is not digestable in its present state, and it also contains miniscule carbohydrates that the body cannot recognise and does not know how to digest. This is where much of the digestive distress caused by whole grains comes from.
Perhaps even worse - from a performance issue - is the presence of phytic acid, which binds to minerals causing them to pass through the body unassimilated, and enzyme inhibitors which interfere with digestion and uptake of nutrients. These minerals, better know to athletes, as electrolytes are vital nutrients which regulate a variety of functions necessary for optimum performance, including functions of the nerves and muscles.
Am I saying that whole grains are bad? No, of course not. I am just saying that we need to look to the traditional ways people prepared whole grains, as advocated by the Weston A. Price Foundation (www.westonaprice.org). I would not suggest as an athlete following their recommendation for the amount of carbohydrates. I think the evidence suggesting that a high carbohydrate diet is best for optimum athletic performance is sound; I just don't think they are giving us the whole story on what is the best food to fill that need for carbohydrates. There is good reason for that; as long as that research is funded by Pepsi, Coca-Cola ect... it will never suggest that a better option comes out of a package with no major brand on it or not in a package at all. I think there is truth to what the Weston Price Foundation recommendation for carbohydrate need for an average person who rarely if ever sends their body into an aerobic state which burns carbohydrates rather than fat.
Dr. Price studied the diets of a variety of traditional groups throughout the world, and with regards to whole grains he found that they nearly uniformly prepared the grains by one of three methods prior to eating. One would be fermented batters such as sourdoughs and slow rise breads (Scottish people even ate fermented oatmeal, they would let a big vat sit at room temperature cooked for weeks and scoop it as needed - this is particularly important oats are one of the worst of the grains). The second is sprouting, where grains are soaked in water until they turn to sprouts. The third is soaking, where seeds are soaked in a healthy bacterial source such as yogurt or whey, or an acidic medium such as lemon juice or apple cider vinegar. It does not matter which method you use. I prefer to soak grains in water with a tablespoon or two of yogurt or whey added because it can be done overnight, although a full day is better. You can also soak unground grains for kashi or what not. Fermenting is also easy, sprouting requires a bit more work. Really all this requires is preplanning though. None are labour intensive.
I know, I know, not all of you cook let alone grind and soak your own grains or whole grain flours. There are many options available. However, grains go rancid quickly once ground so it is much better to use freshly ground grains. If you get a Vita Mix blender or equivalent with the appropriate container it is remarkably easy. A bread machine makes making breads easier than going to the store to get them, you can even soak your flower in there over night, throw the rest of the ingredients in the next day and turn the thing on and you'll have bread better than you could buy. These processes mean that you can make a far more palatable bread with one hundred percent whole grains. I like wheat, kamut and spelt the best personally it is quite light.
Luckily there are many convenience foods available today, such as commercially prepared sprouted grain loaves. Bulgur is a cracked wheat made from sprouted grain, which you can grind into a flour and use without preparing so it is always good to have around, or kasha if you can find it which is similar but made with a variety of other grains. Rice is also a good option. Brown and wild rice contain very little phytic acid and are suitable for consumption without preparation.
Aside from reducing phytic acid, the other important thing is to always eat your whole grains and vegetables with high quality grass fed butter or healthy oil like olive oil or coconut oil to best absorb the nutrients. Remember the warnings not to smear a big spread of delicious butter are just lies to sell you toxic and disgusting margarine and other toxic vegetable oil products. If you are a vegan have coconut oil instead.
Where is the proof? Well, I'll be the first to admit I'm not a scientist. But if you look at the countries producing the most elite runners these days it is not doubt Ethiopia and Kenya. And Ethiopia despite having relatively few runners. Teff has often been credited as a major factor in this success. So we are told to grind up some teff and add it like white flour. But Ethiopians eat nearly all their teff as injera, a pancake made with a mixture of teff and another flour such as barley, which has been fermented for several days. Nearly all their other carbs come from vegetables, and they eat a good amount of starchy vegetables like potatoes. Aside from that they eat healthy animal fats from meat, unpasteurised milk and other raw dairy products from ruminants, especially goats, who feed exclusively on pasture.
So if you find yourself in a porta potty before your next race, firing off what sounds like a pudding cannon, or your running mates reply "pardon me" thinking your stomach just asked them a question on a long run, maybe its time to reevaluate your carbohydrate sources despite what the vested corporate interests are telling you.
As this diet spreads through capitalism, eliminating or at least watering down traditional diets, it replaces natural foods with the unhealthy processed foods and simple carbs and sends obesity rates skyrocketing.
Thanks to the corn and other grain based junk food like high fructose corn syrup these most evil of corporations put in everything from soft drinks to health foods we are now seeing 7 year old kids with livers as sick as a 50 year old alcoholics! As athletes we are more at risk from these health effects than we might think. And yet most of the science behind what we use for fuels comes from the Pepsi Corporation and the Coca-Cola corporation through Power Bar and Gatorade!
This is why we keep pumping our bodies full of artifical toxic substances like high fructose corn syrup, fructose, glucose-fructose and malto-dextrin. Yet even the highly lauded 'rocket fuel' has questionable health impacts. As endurance athletes we may be able to escape the worst of the scourges of these substances such as obesity and diabetes, but it does concern me how much of this stuff I'm pumping into myself when it has numerous other side effects such as liver and kidney damage when I'm already placing myself under such great strain competing in events as long as the Plain 100 (which is somewhere in the range of 106-118 miles depending who you believe) last year. I'd estimate I consumed the equivalent of 55-60 gels during the course of that race, not to mention how many in training for it and other races.
Another source of health concern for runners is going to be controversial. Whole grains. If you are in a running club you probably have almost universal consensus that whole grains are good for runners. Then you'd break them down in to two groups. Those who consume whole grains as often as possible, and those who don't consume whole grains very often. Those that don't consume them very often often cite digestive issues with them, feeling excessively full and restless in the stomach, and other issues of that sort. If they mention them, even those that do consume a lot of whole grains will say they experience that somewhat but live with it for the health benefits.
Now I am not saying that whole grains are not healthy. But we are not using whole grains the way they were intended to be used; using techniques passed down from generation to generation. They were lost when the big money multinational food companies moved in during the 20th century, pushing the old traditions aside with white flour and yeast, baking powder and other products that accelerated the baking process. Enabling Wonder Bread to pump out loaves of nutritionally worthless bread by the thousands.
Now when we use whole grains we are using them like white flour. Buy them in flour form or even grind them fresh and then rise them quickly with yeast. Generally we are told to add white flour so that the bread will be palatable as whole grains are 'heavy'.
Hmmm.... wonder why people are experiencing that heaviness in the stomach when they eat them, and are still consuming large amounts of that white flour which even the companies who continue to push it on us have all but admitted is worthless nutritionally in their marketing for their whole grain products. You see the outer husk of the grains, part of what makes them whole grains, is not digestable in its present state, and it also contains miniscule carbohydrates that the body cannot recognise and does not know how to digest. This is where much of the digestive distress caused by whole grains comes from.
Perhaps even worse - from a performance issue - is the presence of phytic acid, which binds to minerals causing them to pass through the body unassimilated, and enzyme inhibitors which interfere with digestion and uptake of nutrients. These minerals, better know to athletes, as electrolytes are vital nutrients which regulate a variety of functions necessary for optimum performance, including functions of the nerves and muscles.
Am I saying that whole grains are bad? No, of course not. I am just saying that we need to look to the traditional ways people prepared whole grains, as advocated by the Weston A. Price Foundation (www.westonaprice.org). I would not suggest as an athlete following their recommendation for the amount of carbohydrates. I think the evidence suggesting that a high carbohydrate diet is best for optimum athletic performance is sound; I just don't think they are giving us the whole story on what is the best food to fill that need for carbohydrates. There is good reason for that; as long as that research is funded by Pepsi, Coca-Cola ect... it will never suggest that a better option comes out of a package with no major brand on it or not in a package at all. I think there is truth to what the Weston Price Foundation recommendation for carbohydrate need for an average person who rarely if ever sends their body into an aerobic state which burns carbohydrates rather than fat.
Dr. Price studied the diets of a variety of traditional groups throughout the world, and with regards to whole grains he found that they nearly uniformly prepared the grains by one of three methods prior to eating. One would be fermented batters such as sourdoughs and slow rise breads (Scottish people even ate fermented oatmeal, they would let a big vat sit at room temperature cooked for weeks and scoop it as needed - this is particularly important oats are one of the worst of the grains). The second is sprouting, where grains are soaked in water until they turn to sprouts. The third is soaking, where seeds are soaked in a healthy bacterial source such as yogurt or whey, or an acidic medium such as lemon juice or apple cider vinegar. It does not matter which method you use. I prefer to soak grains in water with a tablespoon or two of yogurt or whey added because it can be done overnight, although a full day is better. You can also soak unground grains for kashi or what not. Fermenting is also easy, sprouting requires a bit more work. Really all this requires is preplanning though. None are labour intensive.
I know, I know, not all of you cook let alone grind and soak your own grains or whole grain flours. There are many options available. However, grains go rancid quickly once ground so it is much better to use freshly ground grains. If you get a Vita Mix blender or equivalent with the appropriate container it is remarkably easy. A bread machine makes making breads easier than going to the store to get them, you can even soak your flower in there over night, throw the rest of the ingredients in the next day and turn the thing on and you'll have bread better than you could buy. These processes mean that you can make a far more palatable bread with one hundred percent whole grains. I like wheat, kamut and spelt the best personally it is quite light.
Luckily there are many convenience foods available today, such as commercially prepared sprouted grain loaves. Bulgur is a cracked wheat made from sprouted grain, which you can grind into a flour and use without preparing so it is always good to have around, or kasha if you can find it which is similar but made with a variety of other grains. Rice is also a good option. Brown and wild rice contain very little phytic acid and are suitable for consumption without preparation.
Aside from reducing phytic acid, the other important thing is to always eat your whole grains and vegetables with high quality grass fed butter or healthy oil like olive oil or coconut oil to best absorb the nutrients. Remember the warnings not to smear a big spread of delicious butter are just lies to sell you toxic and disgusting margarine and other toxic vegetable oil products. If you are a vegan have coconut oil instead.
Where is the proof? Well, I'll be the first to admit I'm not a scientist. But if you look at the countries producing the most elite runners these days it is not doubt Ethiopia and Kenya. And Ethiopia despite having relatively few runners. Teff has often been credited as a major factor in this success. So we are told to grind up some teff and add it like white flour. But Ethiopians eat nearly all their teff as injera, a pancake made with a mixture of teff and another flour such as barley, which has been fermented for several days. Nearly all their other carbs come from vegetables, and they eat a good amount of starchy vegetables like potatoes. Aside from that they eat healthy animal fats from meat, unpasteurised milk and other raw dairy products from ruminants, especially goats, who feed exclusively on pasture.
So if you find yourself in a porta potty before your next race, firing off what sounds like a pudding cannon, or your running mates reply "pardon me" thinking your stomach just asked them a question on a long run, maybe its time to reevaluate your carbohydrate sources despite what the vested corporate interests are telling you.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
2008 Is a Wrap
Sorry not much activity but not much has been going on with my running. I am currently working on moving out of our apartment into a house nearby.
I took a few much needed weeks off after Haney to Harrison and just as I got my training mileage up to a reasonable level the snow hit. I did a little bit of snow shoe running but not too much training aside from a few runs through the snow and water and some treadmill intervals and tempos. I spent xmas with family in Alberta and there was an indoor track there and I managed to get a reasonable though a bit slow workout in but I have struggled to run well ever since my tight hip flexor suddenly loosened and I have been able to use my weak left leg as much as my strong right. The left leg has been very sore after workouts but seems it is finally starting to catch up to the other in speed and strength.
At the VFAC annual xmas party I was awarded the Coach's Award for 'Most Improved Male Athlete' mostly on the basis of my half marathon time dropping from 1:30:54 to 1:25:57 in the spring and then 1:21:15 in the fall. This was the bright spot of my running since October, the actual running has not been going so smoothly! In such a large running club of such talented runners it is an honour to be recognised for improvement - and good thing too because I don't think Jay MacDonald has anything to fear about Top Open Male - at least from me - for a while.
Anyway my main goal for 2009 is to run with my hips level and gain an equal amount of strength in my left leg to the right. If I can accomplish this I believe that I will be able to run the next season injury free and continue to improve rapidly. In addition I would like to increase my training mileage to a pretty stable marathon level through the racing season, and go by my coach's more disciplined training regimen at least through my spring marathon season (Vancouver Marathon) and just change the terrain for the summer/fall trail ultra season (the Knee Knacker, Canadian Death Race and Plain 100 miler). As far as a time goal for the upcoming year I would have to go with the 1/2 marathon in 1:15 or less - my distance goal it complete the Plain 100 miler. Seems like a strange choice I know (the course is not marked, you follow a map, and the volunteers don't tell you where to go) after going off course in the STORMY but I will have time to train on the course.
Although I'll be lucky to improve at all at the First Half in February. On my easy run last Sunday I knocked my cuboid bone in my foot out of whack and it got really swollen. I went to see Sophia at Active Life Physio in North Vancouver and she unstuck it and loosened up my foot but it is still pretty tender. At least I can move it somewhat normally now. Anyway I should be back in a week but I'll be happy just to be running decently by February 15th and would be incredibly happy if I could just crack 1:20 for elite seeding at the First Half in 2010. Although it doesn't really make that much of a difference there its not exactly the Sun Run in terms of numbers and its really well organised at least at the front. It does make it easier to warm up on the course and then not get stuck behind slower runners who think that because they got there first they should be right at the front.
I took a few much needed weeks off after Haney to Harrison and just as I got my training mileage up to a reasonable level the snow hit. I did a little bit of snow shoe running but not too much training aside from a few runs through the snow and water and some treadmill intervals and tempos. I spent xmas with family in Alberta and there was an indoor track there and I managed to get a reasonable though a bit slow workout in but I have struggled to run well ever since my tight hip flexor suddenly loosened and I have been able to use my weak left leg as much as my strong right. The left leg has been very sore after workouts but seems it is finally starting to catch up to the other in speed and strength.
At the VFAC annual xmas party I was awarded the Coach's Award for 'Most Improved Male Athlete' mostly on the basis of my half marathon time dropping from 1:30:54 to 1:25:57 in the spring and then 1:21:15 in the fall. This was the bright spot of my running since October, the actual running has not been going so smoothly! In such a large running club of such talented runners it is an honour to be recognised for improvement - and good thing too because I don't think Jay MacDonald has anything to fear about Top Open Male - at least from me - for a while.
Anyway my main goal for 2009 is to run with my hips level and gain an equal amount of strength in my left leg to the right. If I can accomplish this I believe that I will be able to run the next season injury free and continue to improve rapidly. In addition I would like to increase my training mileage to a pretty stable marathon level through the racing season, and go by my coach's more disciplined training regimen at least through my spring marathon season (Vancouver Marathon) and just change the terrain for the summer/fall trail ultra season (the Knee Knacker, Canadian Death Race and Plain 100 miler). As far as a time goal for the upcoming year I would have to go with the 1/2 marathon in 1:15 or less - my distance goal it complete the Plain 100 miler. Seems like a strange choice I know (the course is not marked, you follow a map, and the volunteers don't tell you where to go) after going off course in the STORMY but I will have time to train on the course.
Although I'll be lucky to improve at all at the First Half in February. On my easy run last Sunday I knocked my cuboid bone in my foot out of whack and it got really swollen. I went to see Sophia at Active Life Physio in North Vancouver and she unstuck it and loosened up my foot but it is still pretty tender. At least I can move it somewhat normally now. Anyway I should be back in a week but I'll be happy just to be running decently by February 15th and would be incredibly happy if I could just crack 1:20 for elite seeding at the First Half in 2010. Although it doesn't really make that much of a difference there its not exactly the Sun Run in terms of numbers and its really well organised at least at the front. It does make it easier to warm up on the course and then not get stuck behind slower runners who think that because they got there first they should be right at the front.
Monday, November 10, 2008
H2H, it wasn't pretty but hey - we medalled!
Although I have been in races with relays before, this was the first time I did not run all the legs myself. With all the partying required after the run I had to make sure I had something left in me!
The last couple of weeks training has been nearly non-existant. After my big time PR and win at the North Shore Half my legs have been stiff as can be. I went out to an interval workout with VFAC the Thursday after which was luckily changed to 2 X 3 miles. The first one was slow but within reason but the second was barely a jog. After that I decided to take some time off and rested until the Sunday, then went for a pretty casual 2 hour run on the North Shore after picking up my hardware and shoes at North Shore Athletics. I managed a decent easy run but was still tight as can be. Tuesday was my next run and I decided (probably foolheartedly) to do a tempo run on the Baden Powell. Things were not feeling well but I was flying like never before on that trail, even managing a 3:39 km on a flat portion. Since then my running had totally been in the crapper, and I had some pretty miserable runs and a lot of resting. The Thursday interval workout with H2H was agonising but at least my times were approaching normal.
The morning of H2H I was finally feeling reasonable although my expectations were much diminished as I had done no long runs and only the one very hilly tempo. I picked up Alex downtown and we began to make our way out to the start in Haney to cheer on our leg 1 runner Sophie. Things were going fine, if only because we had not spoken to anyone, until we arrived in Maple Ridge. We were about 10 minutes from the stage 2 start when we received a call from Sophie (I think - Alex spoke to someone and wasn't sure who it was). Sophie had finished her leg and our leg 2 runner, Monika, was not there. Alex was to run leg 2 now but we were still a few minutes away. I was quite suprised that Sophie had finished already as I had an older printed off spreadsheet from earlier in the week showing our start time as 7:00 (turns out it was 6:30). We arrived at stage 2 and went running looking for Sophie but couldn't see her anywhere, and couldn't reach anyone on Tim's cell. After searching around for a few minutes we gambled a guess that Tim, our team captain, decided to take over the leg as he was there. I was to run leg 3, which is a little over 15 km and hilly with more uphill than down, so we hoped we were right and headed off towards the 3rd exchange. We were relieved when we saw Tim running and got to the exchange with a reasonable amount of time.
We parked the car and headed up to the exchange and very shortly after Ernest from our master's team came in. I knew that Tim was not far behind him and they are a comparable speed so I had to warm up quick - again time was not on our side. I warmed up back towards him and saw him barely a couple of minutes later, so I turned around and headed back. With maybe 3-4 minutes warm up I waited there but I was not sure exactly how the exchange was going to work. I waited in the exchange area but somehow we had missed each other and I saw him wandering on the outside, obviously looking for me. I grabbed the timing chip and took off, the leg started with a relatively flat section before a series of hills. I passed several people here, although judging by the results they must have had an earlier start as we finished my leg one spot behind where we were.
A runner came up from behind named Bruce - a former 2:30 marathoner - and we ran alongside each other for most of the leg. My foot pod which is normally quite accurate was giving me some crazy readings saying some km's were as quick as 3:00 and I knew we weren't going that fast. I guess either having the timing chip right next to the watch was interfering with the wireless or the way I tied the foot pod on was allowing it to flop around. Anyway we passed many runners and chatted for a while until I developed a stitch. Unfortunately what breakfast was still left in my stomach was not happy staying there. I eventually made the call to duck off to the side of the road as I probably would have lost more time trying to run like that than I would lose with a quick pit stop. About 5 people passed me as I was in the bushes and I got back going again and made my best effort to catch back up to Bruce. With my sad few weeks of training I was definitely not at the top of my game though and although I managed to pass the people who passed me Bruce was still a good 200 metres ahead. Through the rest of the leg I closed the gap little by little but never quite managed to catch up and finished probably 100 metres behind him.
That is where the chaos continued. First I screwed up and ran past the tent where I was supposed to wave the timing chip. I looked around for some time for anyone from my team as I had no idea what was going on now. Was Monika taking over for me or did she even show up? It was after a while of this I realised that they were yelling from the exchange about the chip. I was so focused on finding whoever was doing the next leg not only did I forget to swipe it through I completely ignored the people who were trying to help me. I headed back and waved it through and still no sign of anyone. I started wandering around the crowd, feebly yelling "Monika, Monika!" Still no sign of anyone from VFAC let alone my relay team. Finally at the far end of the crowd I saw John, our coach. I ran over to ask if he knew what was going on and then noticed the person he was talking to was Monika. She was standing as far as possible from the exchange facing away from it, and she had a rain jacket on with the hood cinched tight around her face, it turned out there was a power outage in her area and her alarm didn't go off. She grabbed the chip and took off after a bit more sorting out what was going on with John.
She had a flight to be on at 11:00 at the Abbotsford airport, so she was not able to run all of leg 4. This meant Alex would have to take over and would be running most of leg 4 plus all of leg 5, as 4 legs had to be completed by females. Tim and Alex showed up just then and Ernest took Alex to meet Monika midway through stage 4. Tim and I went to a spot near the end of the leg and waited for Alex. She came through with a good effort and managed to pass her ex - which she was very pleased with. The exchange at the end of leg 4 was a total zoo with many cars parking and a lot of traffic at kind of a weird corner but we had to stop in to let them know of changes to the runners. Once done there, we headed to exchange 5. The weather took a turn for the much worse. I saw some friends from Club Fat Ass there, Gilles and John who were monitoring the ultra marathon and Gary and Jurgen who were running (and drinking) with the mulleted Chachie Brothers. Also a guy Dan who was in my training class at CMBC was hanging out with them. We had some time to relax there before Alex arrived in the frigid monsoon. She was quite a trooper and saved our asses, and was freezing until she got into some warm clothes. Ryan took over from her fairly smoothly and from there the chaos subsided.
It turned out pretty much as well as it could have. We could have easily had 2nd in the open mixed category but all of the mix ups put us about 10 minutes back of the second place team. First was the Phoenix team and we didn't really have a hope in hell against them anyway. On a day with so many excuses, third place was a great spot to land up in!!!
The last couple of weeks training has been nearly non-existant. After my big time PR and win at the North Shore Half my legs have been stiff as can be. I went out to an interval workout with VFAC the Thursday after which was luckily changed to 2 X 3 miles. The first one was slow but within reason but the second was barely a jog. After that I decided to take some time off and rested until the Sunday, then went for a pretty casual 2 hour run on the North Shore after picking up my hardware and shoes at North Shore Athletics. I managed a decent easy run but was still tight as can be. Tuesday was my next run and I decided (probably foolheartedly) to do a tempo run on the Baden Powell. Things were not feeling well but I was flying like never before on that trail, even managing a 3:39 km on a flat portion. Since then my running had totally been in the crapper, and I had some pretty miserable runs and a lot of resting. The Thursday interval workout with H2H was agonising but at least my times were approaching normal.
The morning of H2H I was finally feeling reasonable although my expectations were much diminished as I had done no long runs and only the one very hilly tempo. I picked up Alex downtown and we began to make our way out to the start in Haney to cheer on our leg 1 runner Sophie. Things were going fine, if only because we had not spoken to anyone, until we arrived in Maple Ridge. We were about 10 minutes from the stage 2 start when we received a call from Sophie (I think - Alex spoke to someone and wasn't sure who it was). Sophie had finished her leg and our leg 2 runner, Monika, was not there. Alex was to run leg 2 now but we were still a few minutes away. I was quite suprised that Sophie had finished already as I had an older printed off spreadsheet from earlier in the week showing our start time as 7:00 (turns out it was 6:30). We arrived at stage 2 and went running looking for Sophie but couldn't see her anywhere, and couldn't reach anyone on Tim's cell. After searching around for a few minutes we gambled a guess that Tim, our team captain, decided to take over the leg as he was there. I was to run leg 3, which is a little over 15 km and hilly with more uphill than down, so we hoped we were right and headed off towards the 3rd exchange. We were relieved when we saw Tim running and got to the exchange with a reasonable amount of time.
We parked the car and headed up to the exchange and very shortly after Ernest from our master's team came in. I knew that Tim was not far behind him and they are a comparable speed so I had to warm up quick - again time was not on our side. I warmed up back towards him and saw him barely a couple of minutes later, so I turned around and headed back. With maybe 3-4 minutes warm up I waited there but I was not sure exactly how the exchange was going to work. I waited in the exchange area but somehow we had missed each other and I saw him wandering on the outside, obviously looking for me. I grabbed the timing chip and took off, the leg started with a relatively flat section before a series of hills. I passed several people here, although judging by the results they must have had an earlier start as we finished my leg one spot behind where we were.
A runner came up from behind named Bruce - a former 2:30 marathoner - and we ran alongside each other for most of the leg. My foot pod which is normally quite accurate was giving me some crazy readings saying some km's were as quick as 3:00 and I knew we weren't going that fast. I guess either having the timing chip right next to the watch was interfering with the wireless or the way I tied the foot pod on was allowing it to flop around. Anyway we passed many runners and chatted for a while until I developed a stitch. Unfortunately what breakfast was still left in my stomach was not happy staying there. I eventually made the call to duck off to the side of the road as I probably would have lost more time trying to run like that than I would lose with a quick pit stop. About 5 people passed me as I was in the bushes and I got back going again and made my best effort to catch back up to Bruce. With my sad few weeks of training I was definitely not at the top of my game though and although I managed to pass the people who passed me Bruce was still a good 200 metres ahead. Through the rest of the leg I closed the gap little by little but never quite managed to catch up and finished probably 100 metres behind him.
That is where the chaos continued. First I screwed up and ran past the tent where I was supposed to wave the timing chip. I looked around for some time for anyone from my team as I had no idea what was going on now. Was Monika taking over for me or did she even show up? It was after a while of this I realised that they were yelling from the exchange about the chip. I was so focused on finding whoever was doing the next leg not only did I forget to swipe it through I completely ignored the people who were trying to help me. I headed back and waved it through and still no sign of anyone. I started wandering around the crowd, feebly yelling "Monika, Monika!" Still no sign of anyone from VFAC let alone my relay team. Finally at the far end of the crowd I saw John, our coach. I ran over to ask if he knew what was going on and then noticed the person he was talking to was Monika. She was standing as far as possible from the exchange facing away from it, and she had a rain jacket on with the hood cinched tight around her face, it turned out there was a power outage in her area and her alarm didn't go off. She grabbed the chip and took off after a bit more sorting out what was going on with John.
She had a flight to be on at 11:00 at the Abbotsford airport, so she was not able to run all of leg 4. This meant Alex would have to take over and would be running most of leg 4 plus all of leg 5, as 4 legs had to be completed by females. Tim and Alex showed up just then and Ernest took Alex to meet Monika midway through stage 4. Tim and I went to a spot near the end of the leg and waited for Alex. She came through with a good effort and managed to pass her ex - which she was very pleased with. The exchange at the end of leg 4 was a total zoo with many cars parking and a lot of traffic at kind of a weird corner but we had to stop in to let them know of changes to the runners. Once done there, we headed to exchange 5. The weather took a turn for the much worse. I saw some friends from Club Fat Ass there, Gilles and John who were monitoring the ultra marathon and Gary and Jurgen who were running (and drinking) with the mulleted Chachie Brothers. Also a guy Dan who was in my training class at CMBC was hanging out with them. We had some time to relax there before Alex arrived in the frigid monsoon. She was quite a trooper and saved our asses, and was freezing until she got into some warm clothes. Ryan took over from her fairly smoothly and from there the chaos subsided.
It turned out pretty much as well as it could have. We could have easily had 2nd in the open mixed category but all of the mix ups put us about 10 minutes back of the second place team. First was the Phoenix team and we didn't really have a hope in hell against them anyway. On a day with so many excuses, third place was a great spot to land up in!!!
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
North Shore 1/2 Marathon
This year on thanksgiving monday I decided to do the North Shore 1/2 Marathon instead of the Victoria 1/2, where I have not had good luck in either attempt last year and the year before.
It was a pretty miserable morning. As I got in the car to head over there was a very steady sprinkling of rain and not a blue spot of sky to be seen. A few times on the drive over the sky unloaded a sudden deluge of heavier rain but thankfully went back to the sprinkling pretty quick. After arriving and getting my chip and bib I went out for a warmup up Indian River Drive. My calf and foot on the right side were not feeling good so I tried to stretch my stride out little by little and make sure I did no more than 15 minutes. I did a couple short strides upon arriving back at the parking lot at Parkgate and then popped a gel and got some water.
The race started over a comically narrow mat, not sure what was up with that but I stayed pretty close to the front so it was not a big deal for me. A couple of strides in I was already in front, I made sure not to push at all on the way uphill towards Indian River Drive. There was a turnaround pretty quickly and the course is a pretty good downhill until Dollarton Highway. My Puma H Streets were quite slippery on the wet asphalt so I wasn't running the downhills nearly as aggressively as I normally would but I was still pulling away quickly with the police escort and lead bikes as my only company.
Heading along Dollarton there was a series of rolling hills and I made sure to take it easy on the uphills and let it go a bit on the downhills. The minute after minute ticked by and I had not seen a single distance marker. When I started nearing the Ironworkers Memorial Bridge I asked the lead bike if there were any. He said he was not sure but would find out. I had decided not to bring either my GPS or my foot pod, so I was hoping for something. He never did find out and I never did see any so I really had no idea how fast I was running but I felt more comfortable than I have in a long time during a half.
When we passed the North Shore Auto Mall the course went over a bridge and made a little lollipop before going back over the bridge and continuing west towards Park Royal. I got a look at second place in the lollipop and he was far enough back I knew as long as I could hold my pace there was little chance of him catching up. The course flattened out as the Lion's Gate Bridge began to appear in the distance through the mist. I knew it couldn't be far from there to the finish at Park Royal so I tried to kick it up a notch but I still had no idea what pace I was running. I kept trying to imagine getting caught to keep me going strong, but at the same time I wanted to make sure I had enough gas in the tank if it came down to a sprint finish somehow.
When I passed under the bridge I took one last look back on a long straightaway and didn't see anyone so I started pushing to make sure I would hit my goal time. When I entered the parking lot at Park Royal I looked down at my watch and it appeared that 1:20 was a possibility (my goal was somewhere in the 1:20-1:22 range) but the course went all the way to the far end and then looped back towards Delany's and the North Shore Credit Union. I gave as much of a kick as I had left when the finish line came into sight and finished in 1:21:15 good for the victory and a few seconds short of my second 5 minute PB in the 1/2 marathon this year. There was no time to celebrate though, as soon as the drop bags showed up it was straight onto a bus and off to work.
It was a pretty miserable morning. As I got in the car to head over there was a very steady sprinkling of rain and not a blue spot of sky to be seen. A few times on the drive over the sky unloaded a sudden deluge of heavier rain but thankfully went back to the sprinkling pretty quick. After arriving and getting my chip and bib I went out for a warmup up Indian River Drive. My calf and foot on the right side were not feeling good so I tried to stretch my stride out little by little and make sure I did no more than 15 minutes. I did a couple short strides upon arriving back at the parking lot at Parkgate and then popped a gel and got some water.
The race started over a comically narrow mat, not sure what was up with that but I stayed pretty close to the front so it was not a big deal for me. A couple of strides in I was already in front, I made sure not to push at all on the way uphill towards Indian River Drive. There was a turnaround pretty quickly and the course is a pretty good downhill until Dollarton Highway. My Puma H Streets were quite slippery on the wet asphalt so I wasn't running the downhills nearly as aggressively as I normally would but I was still pulling away quickly with the police escort and lead bikes as my only company.
Heading along Dollarton there was a series of rolling hills and I made sure to take it easy on the uphills and let it go a bit on the downhills. The minute after minute ticked by and I had not seen a single distance marker. When I started nearing the Ironworkers Memorial Bridge I asked the lead bike if there were any. He said he was not sure but would find out. I had decided not to bring either my GPS or my foot pod, so I was hoping for something. He never did find out and I never did see any so I really had no idea how fast I was running but I felt more comfortable than I have in a long time during a half.
When we passed the North Shore Auto Mall the course went over a bridge and made a little lollipop before going back over the bridge and continuing west towards Park Royal. I got a look at second place in the lollipop and he was far enough back I knew as long as I could hold my pace there was little chance of him catching up. The course flattened out as the Lion's Gate Bridge began to appear in the distance through the mist. I knew it couldn't be far from there to the finish at Park Royal so I tried to kick it up a notch but I still had no idea what pace I was running. I kept trying to imagine getting caught to keep me going strong, but at the same time I wanted to make sure I had enough gas in the tank if it came down to a sprint finish somehow.
When I passed under the bridge I took one last look back on a long straightaway and didn't see anyone so I started pushing to make sure I would hit my goal time. When I entered the parking lot at Park Royal I looked down at my watch and it appeared that 1:20 was a possibility (my goal was somewhere in the 1:20-1:22 range) but the course went all the way to the far end and then looped back towards Delany's and the North Shore Credit Union. I gave as much of a kick as I had left when the finish line came into sight and finished in 1:21:15 good for the victory and a few seconds short of my second 5 minute PB in the 1/2 marathon this year. There was no time to celebrate though, as soon as the drop bags showed up it was straight onto a bus and off to work.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
My strength training routine
My Full Body Strength Routine for Running/Triathlon
- this is a strength training program I have been working on for myself and have found it really beneficial so though I would share what I am doing
- I do as many reps of each exercise as I can in one set
- I focus on improving the quality (form and posture, and going deeper into each exercise as I progress), before focusing on increasing the quantity of reps
- most of these are very difficult exercises, if you find you are unable to do one practice just statically holding your weight in that position, then progress to a partial rep, you might try other easier but similar exercises to build up to them too. You will find that even trying unsuccessfully to complete a rep can be quite a workout!
- these exercises are designed to use minimal equipment (all that is needed is a piece of wood, a chin-up bar or substitute {playgrounds are usually always available, I do mine on the stanchions of the buses at work}, and possibly some kind of weight if available for the calf raises), at the same time they will build better functional strength than you could ever achieve with weight machines. And because of compound movements you have minimal time investment!
- exercises can be split 1-6 and 7-12 for upper/lower body specific days
- start with a 5-10 minute warmup doing jump rope or barefoot running on grass
Click the text for a video example:
1. Pull-Ups
- use bar high enough that you can hang with your arms straight at the elbow
- hang from bar with arms facing palms out, spaced so if you were to put the top of your head level with the bar your arms bend 90 degrees at the elbows
- start with the bar close to your chest, lower until arms are straight (ALL THE WAY DOWN!!!) knees can be bent if bar is not high enough, pull chest up towards bar until almost touching
2. Chin-Ups
- hang from bar with palms facing in, approximately shoulder width
- start with bar below chin, lower until arms are straight (ALL THE WAY DOWN!!!), bend knees if bar is not high enough, pull until bar is just below chin
3. Handstand Push-Ups
- balance on hands with arms straight but not so elbows are locked
- lower yourself down as low as you can while taking a short shallow breath out, then push back up to starting position while forcing out as much air as you can
if you can't do any:
- balance on your hands with your toes against the wall and do handstand push-ups this way
- once you can do 8-10, start your session balancing with your arms straight and heels against the wall, and try lowering yourself a little then back up to the starting position finish with a set with toes against the wall
- once you can progress to doing some with your heels against the wall, try balancing, you're closer than you think. You can practice balancing in a hallway facing towards a wall so if you fall forward or backwards you fall against a wall, or in a field, or on gymnastic mats
4. One-Arm Push-Ups
- start in a regular push-up position but with one arm behind your back
- lower yourself as much as you can, always working to extend the depth of the push-up, but start small and work towards a full push-up
- repeat on the other side
- don't be discouraged if you can't do any, just try to work to be able to support your weight with just one arm and be patient, this is tough exercise!!!
5. Dands (Hindu Press-Ups)
- start in the yoga pose 'Downward Dog' with bottom of feet and palms of hands on ground shoulder width apart and body in a 'V' shape
- lower your chest towards the ground allowing your arms to bend as you breathe out
- roll over the front of your feet so that the front of your feet are now contacting the ground as you breath in and push your chest out moving into the yoga pose 'Upward Dog', making sure your legs (especially quads) are strong and your lower back gently arched, and looking up
- pause briefly then breathe out as you push back into 'Downward Dog'
6. Acrobat Bridge / Wall Walk
- for the acrobat bridge start with the bottom of your feet on the ground and in a sitting position
- reach backwards putting your hands on the ground with your fingers pointing towards your feet lift your pelvis up pushing it up as high as you can, and pushing up with your back and arms to lift your head off the ground, if you cannot left your head off the ground put a pillow under your neck and balance on it until you are strong enough
- depending on how flexible you are your body should be more or less in arch shape from the floor, hold this position as long as possible
- for the wall walk start with your back to a wall and feet about 1 metre or more from the wall
- bend backwards, placing your palms against the wall with your fingers pointing down the wall
- slowly walk your hands down the wall as low as you can, making sure to start small and build up to going deeper, then walk your hands back up using your abdominal and quadricep muscles to pull yourself up as you come back up
7. Burpees
- stand with your feet roughly shoulder width apart
- kick your feet back as you drop into a push-up position
- with your hands still on the ground jump with your legs so they land between the hands
- leap up off the ground as you throw your hands in the air above your head
- land on your feet, drop your hands and repeat
8. Morning Star
(the version he calls the yoga version but with leg raises)
- start in a typical side plank position with your feet on the side one on top of the other, balanced on one hand with finger pointed back and the other extending straight into the air with palm facing forward and fingers extended
- lift the leg balancing on the one supporting you as high as you can in a slow steady controlled manner, do as many as you can, then repeat with an equal number on the other side
9. Hamstring Curl
(different but gives an idea, do not go all the way up at first, and starting from flat on front instead of bent 90 degrees at waist)
- anchor your feet under something that will not move lying face down on the ground, if you have bad knees try putting some cushioning under your knees or skip this one
- using your hamstrings with your upper body straight pull your butt up slowly using controlled motion towards your feet as high as you can
- pause briefly at the top before lowering to the starting position
10. Pistols
(like this but with the big toe of leg extended in front held with same hand)
- this is a tough one to get going but is has many strength, flexibility and balance benefits for runners, start slowly and work towards a straighter extended leg and deeper squat
- stand on one leg straight but knee not locked, extend the other leg in front of you, grabbing the big toe with the two fingers closest to the thumb of the same arm, if your hamstrings are tight start with the leg bent and work to straighten it out further and further as you do the squats
- slowly lower yourself, making sure the knee goes over the front of foot between the big toe and one beside it, go as deep as you can into the squat, then slowly raise yourself back to the starting position
11. One-Legged Calf Raises
(no holding on though!!!)
- balance on one foot on a strip of wood roughly the width of a business card or slightly larger on the ball of the foot
- start with the foot extended so that you are in the highest position you can reach, then slowly lower until heel comes into contact with the ground
- slowly push up onto the front of the foot back to the starting position, repeat on the other side
- this is the one exercise I like to use weights for, you don't really need actual weights. A 25 or 50 pound bag of rice or dog food ect... would work great
12. Bethaks (Hindu Squats)
- start with your feet shoulder width apart and your hands extended in front of you, palms down
- inhale deeply as you lower yourself into a deep squat, allowing your arms to drop down behind you
- with a fast, explosive movement exhale as you launch back up and raise your arms back into the starting position
Do 10-20 minutes easy barefoot running on grass if non-running day for a cooldown or go for a run immediately after. I recommend stretching especially the leg muscles and shoulders after this workout.
Please be advised I am not a trained coach or personal trainer and I make no claim as to the safety of these exercises for other people. As with any fitness plan you should consult a doctor before beginning. Although bodyweight exercises are known to reduce the possibility of injury, it is still a possibility especially if you over do it at first, or if the exercises are performed improperly. Please research the exercises thoroughly before trying them if you are unsure or consult a fitness professional.
- this is a strength training program I have been working on for myself and have found it really beneficial so though I would share what I am doing
- I do as many reps of each exercise as I can in one set
- I focus on improving the quality (form and posture, and going deeper into each exercise as I progress), before focusing on increasing the quantity of reps
- most of these are very difficult exercises, if you find you are unable to do one practice just statically holding your weight in that position, then progress to a partial rep, you might try other easier but similar exercises to build up to them too. You will find that even trying unsuccessfully to complete a rep can be quite a workout!
- these exercises are designed to use minimal equipment (all that is needed is a piece of wood, a chin-up bar or substitute {playgrounds are usually always available, I do mine on the stanchions of the buses at work}, and possibly some kind of weight if available for the calf raises), at the same time they will build better functional strength than you could ever achieve with weight machines. And because of compound movements you have minimal time investment!
- exercises can be split 1-6 and 7-12 for upper/lower body specific days
- start with a 5-10 minute warmup doing jump rope or barefoot running on grass
Click the text for a video example:
1. Pull-Ups
- use bar high enough that you can hang with your arms straight at the elbow
- hang from bar with arms facing palms out, spaced so if you were to put the top of your head level with the bar your arms bend 90 degrees at the elbows
- start with the bar close to your chest, lower until arms are straight (ALL THE WAY DOWN!!!) knees can be bent if bar is not high enough, pull chest up towards bar until almost touching
2. Chin-Ups
- hang from bar with palms facing in, approximately shoulder width
- start with bar below chin, lower until arms are straight (ALL THE WAY DOWN!!!), bend knees if bar is not high enough, pull until bar is just below chin
3. Handstand Push-Ups
- balance on hands with arms straight but not so elbows are locked
- lower yourself down as low as you can while taking a short shallow breath out, then push back up to starting position while forcing out as much air as you can
if you can't do any:
- balance on your hands with your toes against the wall and do handstand push-ups this way
- once you can do 8-10, start your session balancing with your arms straight and heels against the wall, and try lowering yourself a little then back up to the starting position finish with a set with toes against the wall
- once you can progress to doing some with your heels against the wall, try balancing, you're closer than you think. You can practice balancing in a hallway facing towards a wall so if you fall forward or backwards you fall against a wall, or in a field, or on gymnastic mats
4. One-Arm Push-Ups
- start in a regular push-up position but with one arm behind your back
- lower yourself as much as you can, always working to extend the depth of the push-up, but start small and work towards a full push-up
- repeat on the other side
- don't be discouraged if you can't do any, just try to work to be able to support your weight with just one arm and be patient, this is tough exercise!!!
5. Dands (Hindu Press-Ups)
- start in the yoga pose 'Downward Dog' with bottom of feet and palms of hands on ground shoulder width apart and body in a 'V' shape
- lower your chest towards the ground allowing your arms to bend as you breathe out
- roll over the front of your feet so that the front of your feet are now contacting the ground as you breath in and push your chest out moving into the yoga pose 'Upward Dog', making sure your legs (especially quads) are strong and your lower back gently arched, and looking up
- pause briefly then breathe out as you push back into 'Downward Dog'
6. Acrobat Bridge / Wall Walk
- for the acrobat bridge start with the bottom of your feet on the ground and in a sitting position
- reach backwards putting your hands on the ground with your fingers pointing towards your feet lift your pelvis up pushing it up as high as you can, and pushing up with your back and arms to lift your head off the ground, if you cannot left your head off the ground put a pillow under your neck and balance on it until you are strong enough
- depending on how flexible you are your body should be more or less in arch shape from the floor, hold this position as long as possible
- for the wall walk start with your back to a wall and feet about 1 metre or more from the wall
- bend backwards, placing your palms against the wall with your fingers pointing down the wall
- slowly walk your hands down the wall as low as you can, making sure to start small and build up to going deeper, then walk your hands back up using your abdominal and quadricep muscles to pull yourself up as you come back up
7. Burpees
- stand with your feet roughly shoulder width apart
- kick your feet back as you drop into a push-up position
- with your hands still on the ground jump with your legs so they land between the hands
- leap up off the ground as you throw your hands in the air above your head
- land on your feet, drop your hands and repeat
8. Morning Star
(the version he calls the yoga version but with leg raises)
- start in a typical side plank position with your feet on the side one on top of the other, balanced on one hand with finger pointed back and the other extending straight into the air with palm facing forward and fingers extended
- lift the leg balancing on the one supporting you as high as you can in a slow steady controlled manner, do as many as you can, then repeat with an equal number on the other side
9. Hamstring Curl
(different but gives an idea, do not go all the way up at first, and starting from flat on front instead of bent 90 degrees at waist)
- anchor your feet under something that will not move lying face down on the ground, if you have bad knees try putting some cushioning under your knees or skip this one
- using your hamstrings with your upper body straight pull your butt up slowly using controlled motion towards your feet as high as you can
- pause briefly at the top before lowering to the starting position
10. Pistols
(like this but with the big toe of leg extended in front held with same hand)
- this is a tough one to get going but is has many strength, flexibility and balance benefits for runners, start slowly and work towards a straighter extended leg and deeper squat
- stand on one leg straight but knee not locked, extend the other leg in front of you, grabbing the big toe with the two fingers closest to the thumb of the same arm, if your hamstrings are tight start with the leg bent and work to straighten it out further and further as you do the squats
- slowly lower yourself, making sure the knee goes over the front of foot between the big toe and one beside it, go as deep as you can into the squat, then slowly raise yourself back to the starting position
11. One-Legged Calf Raises
(no holding on though!!!)
- balance on one foot on a strip of wood roughly the width of a business card or slightly larger on the ball of the foot
- start with the foot extended so that you are in the highest position you can reach, then slowly lower until heel comes into contact with the ground
- slowly push up onto the front of the foot back to the starting position, repeat on the other side
- this is the one exercise I like to use weights for, you don't really need actual weights. A 25 or 50 pound bag of rice or dog food ect... would work great
12. Bethaks (Hindu Squats)
- start with your feet shoulder width apart and your hands extended in front of you, palms down
- inhale deeply as you lower yourself into a deep squat, allowing your arms to drop down behind you
- with a fast, explosive movement exhale as you launch back up and raise your arms back into the starting position
Do 10-20 minutes easy barefoot running on grass if non-running day for a cooldown or go for a run immediately after. I recommend stretching especially the leg muscles and shoulders after this workout.
Please be advised I am not a trained coach or personal trainer and I make no claim as to the safety of these exercises for other people. As with any fitness plan you should consult a doctor before beginning. Although bodyweight exercises are known to reduce the possibility of injury, it is still a possibility especially if you over do it at first, or if the exercises are performed improperly. Please research the exercises thoroughly before trying them if you are unsure or consult a fitness professional.
Nike+ Human Race 10K Race Report
I decided to do the Nike+ Human Race just a couple days before. Kind of a 'speed check' in the midst of my trail ultra season and to accompany my girl Olivia who was running with a friend from work. She hadn't been running a lot over the summer after having to drop out of running the Big Sur Marathon with a stress fracture and the subsequent healing and then getting back into the swing of things. I was curious to see how I would do as last year by this time my body was broken down and wracked with injury from mileage and my old heel-crashing ways.
This year, mostly thanks to a more 'on the toes' running style recommended by my physio Sophia at Active Life in North Van, I seemed to be picking up speed right through my long distance stuff, and not really feeling anything serious as far as soreness. This despite ditching all cushioning and support in my shoes, first switching to exclusively racing flats and I was now toeing the line in Puma H-Street casual shoes.
I have to give props to these shoes. I had heard about them when I first changed my style but I was a bit hesitant to completely forgo cushioning. After a spring and summer burning through flats like they were disposable using them for long runs ect... I decided to try on some of my old light weight trainers. I jogged just a little but and it felt like I had balloons strapped to my feet. And we're talking 11 ounce shoes not some tanks. I ordered the H-Street online from www.puma.com (they are impossible to find anywhere else at least in the synthetic upper) and at first they were a real shock to the system as you really feel your landing at first. But I got in a tempo run in them on the seawall before the race (which I hadn't done since the spring as I've been on the trails doing heart rate based tempos) and dropped my pace on a 12 km run from 4:15 in the spring, to 3:58 now! There have definitely been fitness increases but these shoes totally allow your feet to work as they naturally should and I felt a good kind of soreness in my feet after the run like they had had a good workout, something I have never really experienced or at least noticed before. If you are not a heel crasher and land softly I really recommend these shoes, especially if you experience tight calves from running as these allow your achilles tendon to go through its whole range of motion. I don't even like running in flats anymore as I can feel the cushioning and odd shape pressing against my foot.
Please Puma make these shoes more available and do not discontinue them again they are the greatest shoes ever made, way more durable than flats and not even 6 ounces!
So anyway back to the race. Among the 5000 people who showed up, I was suprised to see some friends from Club Fat Ass there; Tim and Betty but stranger yet Baldwin (apparently it was his third run of the day so makes more sense now). Also less suprisingly some VFAC'ers Rory (whose house I had way too many beers at the night before), Mark and helping out as volunteers Matt and Trudy.
The start line was obviously different from other local 10K's I have been to. Not the same Timex series crowd, more like a mix of everyone like the Sun Run. Standing out amongst the crowd all in the same red shirt was a group of African looking guys right up front. I had been at the package pickup when one of them came in to get 28 packages at once all comped, all I picked up was they were from back east and he had an accent. They looked very fit and I thought to myself how there's another 28 Kenyans on top of the local guys to kick my ass. Even at the start any comments from the hosts about elite runners were directed right at them.
Turns out they were perhaps Nike employees or athletes from other sports or something as they all took off right in front at the beginning but only a couple were serious contenders and I don't know if they were even actually with that group. 500 metres in on the Cambie bridge I started overtaking them and all the other over-enthusiatic starters, of which there were many at this race. I went through the first km in 3:32 but was starting to feel some bad effects from the night before. I knew it was not going to be a fantastic run at this point but I knew I could still PR (my 10K PR was set at the Sun Run when I got a yellow bib, tried to sneak into the blue section, then when I was sent back the yellow was full for an hour and they were directing yellows into the green section) so I backed off slightly a little bit more into my comfort zone.
As I came around the corner onto Quebec street I felt something whipping against my left shin. My double-knotted shoelace had come undone and worse yet me chip was tied to it since Nike did not provide the zip-strips to attach it for some reason. I couldn't risk the chip falling off so I was forced to stop and tie it. As I was busy tying my shoe Rory ran past, I ran up beside him to see how he was doing, then pushed on. As we turned onto the seawall I heard Chris from VFAC taunting Rory. He was into his 8th beer polishing off the leftovers from the party with some buddies from Calgary and was running beside Rory, beer in hand giving him a hard time. "If I can run with you, you're not running fassht enough..." he slurred.
The new section on the seawall twisted and turned quite a bit and went through a field for a few hundred meters and it seems the pace slowed for everyone there. I sped back up through the third quarter of the race and was starting to feel quite a bit better. The last quarter of the race was tougher though. After coming over the Burrard Street bridge and turning onto Pacific, I saw one of the Kenyan looking guys from back east a few hundred meters up ahead. He stuck out like a sore thumb as he was holding his red race shirt in his hand (they had the bib number on the front so you had to wear/have them so it was a sea of red Nike shirts) so I focused on him as my goal to pass. About a block later he looked over his shoulder back at me. I guess he became as focused on me not passing him as I was on passing as he kept looking over his shoulder back at me, but he was fading and I soon caught him. It didn't help that he kept turning around and looking at me, looking more and more panicked as I pulled closer. And it was strange he seemed so focused on me considering there were others passing him during this time. As I pulled past him he picked it up a bit and started to match me stride for stride. Although I am much shorter than he was I stretched out my stride as I have been working on since I came to the conclusion that I can't really over-stride landing on the balls of my feet. I pulled away most importantly with ease as I knew there was a decent hill around the corner. "Shit, shit, shit!!!" he muttered when he had to drop off.
Once I came around the corner onto Cambie, the finish line was in sight. But the short hill to start the race was now a long and grueling climb to the finish, at least by 10K standards, as they walked us down the hill to the start line from the finish area, but the finish line was at the top of the hill. I held on to my pace as much as I could and managed to keep passing people through here,until the last 100m or so. A guy came sprinting up suddenly, I don't know if he was behind me passing people for a while or what but he just laid on a vicious sprint. He came by so quick he probably had 10m on me before I realised what had happened. I turned it on as much as I could, matched his pace within a few strides, and started reeling him in a few strides later, but I would have needed another 50m to get back out in front of him.
My final time was 38:07, good for 26th overall (in the Vancouver race). And the first time in a race with over 50 people I didn't get 'chicked'!!! Not the sub 37:00 I was hoping for - definitely have some work to do on my short road race effort level and I can drop a lot more timewise, even given my current level of fitness - but a solid PR nonetheless on a course which though similar (but in reverse) of the easy Sun Run in many spots is actually quite a tough course. And not going to a party and over-indulging the night before then spending the afternoon at a barbeque feasting would probably help. Especially given the cruel uphill finishing sprint trying to fend off 'the kick'. I almost puked. But then Perdita Felicien handed me my finishers medal after I collected myself, which was a whole lot nicer than the medal itself (nothing against it - but it's just another one in the box).
This year, mostly thanks to a more 'on the toes' running style recommended by my physio Sophia at Active Life in North Van, I seemed to be picking up speed right through my long distance stuff, and not really feeling anything serious as far as soreness. This despite ditching all cushioning and support in my shoes, first switching to exclusively racing flats and I was now toeing the line in Puma H-Street casual shoes.
I have to give props to these shoes. I had heard about them when I first changed my style but I was a bit hesitant to completely forgo cushioning. After a spring and summer burning through flats like they were disposable using them for long runs ect... I decided to try on some of my old light weight trainers. I jogged just a little but and it felt like I had balloons strapped to my feet. And we're talking 11 ounce shoes not some tanks. I ordered the H-Street online from www.puma.com (they are impossible to find anywhere else at least in the synthetic upper) and at first they were a real shock to the system as you really feel your landing at first. But I got in a tempo run in them on the seawall before the race (which I hadn't done since the spring as I've been on the trails doing heart rate based tempos) and dropped my pace on a 12 km run from 4:15 in the spring, to 3:58 now! There have definitely been fitness increases but these shoes totally allow your feet to work as they naturally should and I felt a good kind of soreness in my feet after the run like they had had a good workout, something I have never really experienced or at least noticed before. If you are not a heel crasher and land softly I really recommend these shoes, especially if you experience tight calves from running as these allow your achilles tendon to go through its whole range of motion. I don't even like running in flats anymore as I can feel the cushioning and odd shape pressing against my foot.
Please Puma make these shoes more available and do not discontinue them again they are the greatest shoes ever made, way more durable than flats and not even 6 ounces!
So anyway back to the race. Among the 5000 people who showed up, I was suprised to see some friends from Club Fat Ass there; Tim and Betty but stranger yet Baldwin (apparently it was his third run of the day so makes more sense now). Also less suprisingly some VFAC'ers Rory (whose house I had way too many beers at the night before), Mark and helping out as volunteers Matt and Trudy.
The start line was obviously different from other local 10K's I have been to. Not the same Timex series crowd, more like a mix of everyone like the Sun Run. Standing out amongst the crowd all in the same red shirt was a group of African looking guys right up front. I had been at the package pickup when one of them came in to get 28 packages at once all comped, all I picked up was they were from back east and he had an accent. They looked very fit and I thought to myself how there's another 28 Kenyans on top of the local guys to kick my ass. Even at the start any comments from the hosts about elite runners were directed right at them.
Turns out they were perhaps Nike employees or athletes from other sports or something as they all took off right in front at the beginning but only a couple were serious contenders and I don't know if they were even actually with that group. 500 metres in on the Cambie bridge I started overtaking them and all the other over-enthusiatic starters, of which there were many at this race. I went through the first km in 3:32 but was starting to feel some bad effects from the night before. I knew it was not going to be a fantastic run at this point but I knew I could still PR (my 10K PR was set at the Sun Run when I got a yellow bib, tried to sneak into the blue section, then when I was sent back the yellow was full for an hour and they were directing yellows into the green section) so I backed off slightly a little bit more into my comfort zone.
As I came around the corner onto Quebec street I felt something whipping against my left shin. My double-knotted shoelace had come undone and worse yet me chip was tied to it since Nike did not provide the zip-strips to attach it for some reason. I couldn't risk the chip falling off so I was forced to stop and tie it. As I was busy tying my shoe Rory ran past, I ran up beside him to see how he was doing, then pushed on. As we turned onto the seawall I heard Chris from VFAC taunting Rory. He was into his 8th beer polishing off the leftovers from the party with some buddies from Calgary and was running beside Rory, beer in hand giving him a hard time. "If I can run with you, you're not running fassht enough..." he slurred.
The new section on the seawall twisted and turned quite a bit and went through a field for a few hundred meters and it seems the pace slowed for everyone there. I sped back up through the third quarter of the race and was starting to feel quite a bit better. The last quarter of the race was tougher though. After coming over the Burrard Street bridge and turning onto Pacific, I saw one of the Kenyan looking guys from back east a few hundred meters up ahead. He stuck out like a sore thumb as he was holding his red race shirt in his hand (they had the bib number on the front so you had to wear/have them so it was a sea of red Nike shirts) so I focused on him as my goal to pass. About a block later he looked over his shoulder back at me. I guess he became as focused on me not passing him as I was on passing as he kept looking over his shoulder back at me, but he was fading and I soon caught him. It didn't help that he kept turning around and looking at me, looking more and more panicked as I pulled closer. And it was strange he seemed so focused on me considering there were others passing him during this time. As I pulled past him he picked it up a bit and started to match me stride for stride. Although I am much shorter than he was I stretched out my stride as I have been working on since I came to the conclusion that I can't really over-stride landing on the balls of my feet. I pulled away most importantly with ease as I knew there was a decent hill around the corner. "Shit, shit, shit!!!" he muttered when he had to drop off.
Once I came around the corner onto Cambie, the finish line was in sight. But the short hill to start the race was now a long and grueling climb to the finish, at least by 10K standards, as they walked us down the hill to the start line from the finish area, but the finish line was at the top of the hill. I held on to my pace as much as I could and managed to keep passing people through here,until the last 100m or so. A guy came sprinting up suddenly, I don't know if he was behind me passing people for a while or what but he just laid on a vicious sprint. He came by so quick he probably had 10m on me before I realised what had happened. I turned it on as much as I could, matched his pace within a few strides, and started reeling him in a few strides later, but I would have needed another 50m to get back out in front of him.
My final time was 38:07, good for 26th overall (in the Vancouver race). And the first time in a race with over 50 people I didn't get 'chicked'!!! Not the sub 37:00 I was hoping for - definitely have some work to do on my short road race effort level and I can drop a lot more timewise, even given my current level of fitness - but a solid PR nonetheless on a course which though similar (but in reverse) of the easy Sun Run in many spots is actually quite a tough course. And not going to a party and over-indulging the night before then spending the afternoon at a barbeque feasting would probably help. Especially given the cruel uphill finishing sprint trying to fend off 'the kick'. I almost puked. But then Perdita Felicien handed me my finishers medal after I collected myself, which was a whole lot nicer than the medal itself (nothing against it - but it's just another one in the box).
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