Getting Stronger

Lakeshore Park
10 Miles in 1:42
Vibram FiveFinger KSO

My first 10 mile loop of Lakeshore this season. The run itself was amazing. One week into a vegan diet and my energy levels feel much, much higher. Was running most hills, fast-walking the breaks and sprinting at some points. No fatigue until mile nine, when it became so dark I couldn’t see and kept tripping over roots and branches. Despite the thrill, I found myself a little discouraged and (embarrassingly) kind of scared. Lakeshore has a tendency to confuse, and I’ve been lost there more than once in broad daylight. Can’t imagine being stuck there after dark, lost with no torch.

Around late dusk I was in Loki’s Loop – a heavily wooded section of the trail. My feet hitting the ground must’ve been waking the bats from their sleep, because they seemed to “eek” and flutter out of the trees along with me as I made my way back to the trail head. This was kind of surreal, and one of those strange moments that makes trail running so much more meaningful than sidewalks and streets.

Dusk came pretty fast, and the last two miles of the trail were run mostly in the dark, since I didn’t anticipate needing a headlamp. The last half mile was run in almost complete dark, and my strategy was to more or less aim for the blurry, white line which seemed to be the path.

Got to the trail head and it was dark out, but all in it was a great, tiny adventure to cap off the weekend.

My running pace must have been pretty solid, since I was running 8 and walking 2. To average out to a 10 minute pace I must have been going pretty strong on the running sections. I’ll wait to see how I feel tomorrow before calling it a success. If I’m good, I’ll consider this a promising training run for the Woodstock Hippie Half Marathon next month.

Gear
The Forerunner 405 continues to absolutely shit the bed when it comes to trails. This is a 10 mile loop, and the GPS is coming up short of 9 miles? On streets, it’s fine. On trails, an expensive let-down. Additionally, the buttons and bezel often fail to work/respond to touch when they’re wet with sweat. But hey, at least it looks cool, and can double as a real watch.

On the other hand, the FiveFinger KSOs continue to impress. Over a year old and hundreds of miles logged, with little sign of wear and tear. The small tear in the cloth that recently developed can be fixed with a needle, thread and some goop in a matter of minutes. My feet are getting stronger, and I felt absolutely great all the way through the loop. I’m looking forward to the KSO Treks, but am on the fence about them due to their Kangaroo Leather upper. Aside from the ethical considerations, I wonder if they’ll feel as light and if they’ll be able to handle puddles and moisture as well as the KSOs or other “topless” models. I guess we’ll see. Maybe I can ask Barefoot Ted when I see him in a few weeks.

Clif Bars and Accelerade seem to be a working combination, but I’m going to start moving to real food, and will likely swap out the sports drink with Green Magma in the near future.

Lifehacker Post on Barefooting

A friend linked this article to me via twitter (get me at @nateluzod). Thought I should start archiving things like this, just to make this site more of a resource.

Excerpt:

Christopher McDougall, author of the forthcoming Born to Run, excerpts a section of his book that suggests costly, tech-term-laden training shoes aren’t helping runners all that much—and they may actually be hurting.

+ Lifehacker: Expensive Running Shoes Aren’t a Necessity

Lifestyle Choices

You could say I’ve spent the last week thinking more about running than actually running. A 5 day work trip to Southern California and not once did I make it out for a run along the ocean. This, despite, sleeping a mere 4 blocks away from it and taking my morning coffees sitting on a bench by the strand, watching other folks run. In a way, I felt intimidated by the amount of people out.

It seems like everyone in LA runs – and fast. There are roughly 2000% more runners out there than in Detroit, and at almost any time of any day, you’ll find at least a few people out no matter where you go.

Why are we Detroiters (as a whole) so out of shape? We can’t blame the weather, can we? Denver has the most physically fit population in the country, and they duke it out with the cold for half the year. Can we blame the economy for dampening our spirits, or do we just have a toxic lifestyle? Smoking’s still allowed in public places. Rampant obesity – even in children, high diabetes and high heart disease. Most people seem to care only superficially and in passing – not quite enough to change their habits.

One of my favorite quotes, by author Jim Harrison, reads:
Only in the midwest is overeating still considered an act of heroism.

This was proven true my last night in LA, as I out-ate each of my friends at an Italian restaurant notorious for its daunting portions. The only one who could keep pace was my friend from Jersey City (which is socioeconomically too similar to Detroit). When I’m running regularly, this appetite is somewhat justifiable. When only sporadically, it’s only justifiable insofar as I’m a Midwesterner. Which is to say, not really.

Back to 20

After weeks of feeling sorry for myself on account of repeated injuries, I finally made something of myself yesterday with a 20 mile trail. Tried a few new things that might or might not be great ideas for the long haul, but at least I know now:

• Succeed S! Caps
  This was my first pill-popping long run and I must say, they made an entirely noticeable distance. The only nausea/sick-stomach feeling came when I licked my arm to test my electrolytes (salty taste=ok, bland=running low) and forgot that I had about 3 layers of OFF Skintastic dried onto my skin. Mile 17 was spent fighting the urge to duck aside and vomit, but I toughed it out. Popping one every hour worked like a charm. I also downed a Clif Shot Blok every 1/2 hour as a semi-solid intake, so we can thank them for assistance as well.
   
• Green Magma
  I drank this+water rather than the standard Accelerade. Seemed to work OK and provided enough energy, though I wonder if the protein in Accelerade helps ease soreness a bit. I read that some elite ultra runners use Magma during runs, so I thought I’d give it a shot. At $40.00 for a tiny canister though, fat chance I’d be using it regularly unless, like elite ultra runners, I got sponsored by Green Foods (another fat chance).
   
• FiveFingers
  They’ve been seamless for anything under 15 miles, total comfort and great all-around feeling. Beyond that, my feet don’t seem tough enough to handle hours of abuse from jagged rocks and sharp tree-stumps. The bottoms of my feet are mostly bruised, and miles 16-20 were spent coping with agonizing pain in the balls of my feet. I’ll keep trying long runs in them to see how my strength/tolerance builds up. On the bright side, I have no joint pain whatsoever, so they seem to be doing their trick to that end.
   

All-in-all, it was a decent run in a decent, 43 mile week. Some very solid shorter runs with (relatively) respectable times. The 20 took a bit longer than expected, but I just wanted to get the time on my feet and start working on a reasonable hike/run combo. Will try bumping the long-runs up by a mile or two each week, and hopefully be capable of a not-excruciating 30 miler by the end of August. Things seem to be falling into place again. ‘Bout time.

A Run That I Almost Hated

14.5 miles, 95 degrees and humid with vampire bugs. More detail below if you’re curious.

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Today’s big plans for returning to the 20 mile distance quickly melted due to lack of bearable temperatures.

Lakeshore Park, despite the heat, was still wet from recent storms – making for a slippery first loop. In the FiveFingers, I was able to hit puddles pretty hard and the cold water splashing up helped keep me cool, relatively speaking. I had to lose the shirt by mile 4 and, while much better, this left me open to bug bites and blazing hot sun on my bare skin.

Bugs are evil in this heat. I stopped to pee twice, got gang-raped by mosquitoes both times and had to learn to run and pee to finish it off the second one. Things turned out messy – I will leave it at that.

The first 5 miles were a bit monotonous, but 6 through 8 are beautiful and here’s where the run went its best. I worked at a 25 minute-run (10 minute pace)/5 minute-walk(15 minute pace) combo, and the heat didn’t really catch up to me until mile 9 – which is when I bonked pretty hard. Had to walk most of this, running only when the bugs found me and began their attack. I spent most of this mile trying to talk myself out of the second loop.

A quick rest in the car and a banana later, and I’m back out for loop 2. This time I left the FiveFingers and went all natural. As awful and dehydrated as I felt, I realized I wasn’t going to make it another 10 miles, but I wanted to get what I could out of the day. Running the last 4.5 miles barefoot gave me a greater sense of accomplishment, helping me cope with not hitting my mileage mark. I also earned some quizzical looks from the few mountain bikes who dared to make it out for the hottest part of the day. I didn’t hold to any run/walk combo – I just listened to my body and ran when I could and walked when needed. This was so much more enjoyable and comfortable. By the time I got back to the car I felt like I could heap on a few more miles. I’m glad I didn’t, though. A few hours later and I feel horrible – the kind of dehydration that entails headache, diarrhea and a completely pissed-off stomach.

As hard and somewhat disappointing as today’s run was, I felt I got a lot out of it. Obviously not in terms of raw mileage, but discovering some things that need serious work (namely my fluid/electrolyte intake) and getting a few good barefoot miles in to toughen up my soles. Also on the bright side, my joints and muscles feel great. This shoe-less thing is working out well.

Life is Good

The past month wore hard on us both. Running injuries and workplace politics left us needing an escape. And as I’m a firm believer in resting when needed in order to lead more fruitful lives when truly needed, now was the time.

I can’t remember the last honest-to-goodness weekend we had. I mean the kind where you don’t work, and you minimize thoughts about work, and you go somewhere unrelated to work. And to be on the safe side, you turn off your Treo which means no work emails and no phone calls and no text messages.

We’ve gone up north so often, and as much as we love the Traverse City and Charlevoix areas, they’re a considerable hike there and back. So why not enjoy our equally beautiful west coast, a mere two hours away? We heard a lot of great things about Saugatuck, and learned that they were all understatements. Great people, amazing food, and beautiful scenery.

It’s 1:30am and pictures speak more than words, so enjoy.

Lake Michigan’s magical healing powers.

Skipping Stones.

Climbing sand dunes and looking out over the beach.

Eh. . . More pictures exist. But I’m still in relaxation mode. Perhaps more to follow.

Recovery, Sorta.

The week of biking and swimming and cross training ended up getting consumed by 15 hour work days. To cope with the ungodly work demands, I also shunned any type of healthy diet and re-addicted myself to the dreaded coffee/beer one-two (coffee to stay awake until you can’t possibly function, then beer to make yourself fall asleep). I also took to drinking sodas to settle my stomach. Relief was short lived.

In the midst of all the work, the injury was well-timed in some ways. On a very serious down side, I’ve done absolutely nothing active for over a week.

So I hopped on a treadmill for 40 minutes tonight, rattling off a very slow and boring 4 miles. I could feel my ITB throbbing with each step as I tried to correct my form. It almost felt like learning to walk again – who knew a week off could be so damaging? By mile two I could feel things smoothing out, and am optimistic about tomorrow’s trail run as well as Wednesday’s and Thursday’s.

A new opportunity has popped up, professionally, and while it’s essentially everything I could want from a job (creative director at the ripe age of 30), I’m horrified at what routine 60 hour work weeks will do to my running – though not enough to dissuade me from trying. It’s tough enough balancing 50 hour weeks, freelance, a girlfriend, and a condo. To that end, I’m amazed at those who find time to run, work and parent.

Speaking of, a gigantic congratulations to the Dirty One for Sunday’s PR in Toledo.

And with that – I go back to work. . .

Ultra Training Week #2

And feeling “ultra weak”. It’s week 2 of the training plan, and I managed to surpass the goal and log 53 lovely miles last week. I’m sore everywhere, including restless legs that keep me up at night, black toes on my right foot and blistered toes on my left. All evidence of how out of shape I let myself get over the holidays (and I still have about 15 more pounds to shed before we hit the target).

The pain’s not a big deal if you view it as an indication of progress, though. So long as it’s not intolerable and I’m not having to mask it with Ibuprofen just to get a short run out the door, I’m assuming my body is OK with it.

I’ve cut cheese and dairy out of the diet to see if it makes any difference in healing times and energy levels. I’ve been experimenting with some interesting new vegan recipes (self-invented/improvised) such as Red Beans & Rice, which I haven’t had in the 14 years since I stopped eating meat.

Treadmill pace is whittling down into the low 8/high 7 minute mile range. Distances are getting back up there. It feels good to feel somewhat back in the game.

A nice long trail this weekend will be a good change of pace, and hopefully the last snowy run of the year. Sure I love them, but having to gear up like an Eskimo is getting tired.

Ill

I’ve been sick more times in the past 10 months than in the past 5 years combined. The only real new factor, obviously, has been the running.

20 miles weakened my body, then sleeping with the window wide open on a 50 degree evening drove it home. I’ve had a cold for the past two days, and it doesn’t show much indication of stopping anytime soon.

Nutrition has to be a key factor. At the same time as the 20 mile run, I ramped up with a little junk food (Chex Mix, even a soda) and afterward I killed a bag of Doritos and a Coke, followed by a Chocolate Bar day after. I really need to learn to keep it healthy, even when my metabolism’s going at warp speed.

I ordered the book Scott Jurek mentioned last week on his site. Hopefully this will provide a bit more guidance and insight where I’m obviously lacking. Calorie counting hasn’t been a strong point, nor has learning different benefits of different foods. Definitely something I need to concentrate more on, as evidence by the pile of crumpled kleenex in the trash bin net to my desk.