Running on Empty

Recently I came across an article on the Running Times Nutrition website about one of Meb Keflezighi's (Olympic Marathoner - Team USA) training tactics. He calls in running on empty. Basically, when your body is completely glycogen depleted and then perform a high intensity session research (Keith Baar Ph.D study which can be found in the European Journal of Sports Science) has shown improvements in your body's ability to burn fat thereby sparing glycogen stores. It also can help you mentally since it can get you accustomed to running with very little energy (which will happen regardless of your training methods at the end of a marathon). I just came back from a depleted double, where I skipped CHO throughout the day then played 60 minutes of floor hockey (lots of sprints and quick burst, plus I didn't take any shifts off), then right after skipped refueling (I did rehydrate - just with water), and then went on a 20k tempo run (1:11:30 - was just ripping up the road thanks to my achilles feeling somewhat better probably 75%). Anyways, I feel like a zombie right now but we'll see in Mississauga if this workout today pays off.

Post-Race

As you know this weekend I competed in the Run for Retina Half Marathon. If you read my last post you would have seen I was fearing the unknown due to a few injuries - especially my achilles tendonitis  - that had crept up earlier in the week. In fact, between Wednesday morning's run and the 9:15am race start on the Sunday I had not run due to the injury. Although I was doing other things like biking and swimming to keep myself somewhat relaxed and to keep my muscles from turning into sludge, three whole days off running. That is the longest break from running I have had since June 1st of last year when I take about 9 days off running due to a flare up of my reoccurring shin problems (stress fracture). Going into this race I had thought there were not going to be many fast runners however a few runners from the University of Western Cross Country Team showed up. I asked one before the race what time they were aiming for and the guy said that a few weeks ago in the Chilly Half in Burlington he ran 1:10 - gulp!

Getting ready to go and feeling very nervous.

The gun suddenly went and we were off. The adrenaline seemed to help some of the pain - but I'm not going to say I was pain free as I was clearly favoring that leg and running with a bit of a limp. Surprisingly at about 0.5k I was in the lead for about 2 minutes when the two guys from Western passed me. I tried to stay with them for as long as I could but I knew that the pace was too ambitious for myself so I settled down and let them go - however I did manage to keep them in sight. It wasn't advertised this way but the course was actually very hilly and after the first big one I lost sight of the two leaders. Felt odd during the race since there was about a 1:30 gap between me and the two leaders who were working together (teammates at western) and a 1:30 gap between me and the rest of the runners. So I was largely running on my own for the entire race. Some might say that it is never a good thing to be on your own during a race, but I don't mind it since that's how I do all my training and I am more than capable of pushing myself. At around 14 kilometers the leader dropped out (he went too fast at the start) - and I'm not going to lie, it inspired me to push harder. I closed the gap between myself and the leader to where he was about 40 seconds or so ago but unfortunately I just couldn't find that next gear to catch him. Still, I crushed my previous record for the half and ran a 1:13:56 for second overall. I was shocked that I was able to run that speed in a fair amount of pain - luckily afterwards the prize money and complementary massage made my leg feel a little better. 

Btw to clarify the lady there is in the 10k - so shes not beating me

So onto the mississauga half marathon in 2 and half weeks (May 5) hopefully I can beat this achilles injury before then, and manage to get a couple quality speed sessions along with a few LSD runs. If I manage to do that I don't see why on the largely flat course of Mississauga I can't go sub 1:13 or faster. If my training keeps progressing at this pace I think it may be time to start thinking about taking it to the next level finding a coach, and seeing what I am really capable of accomplishing in the half. 

Pre Race Report

Thought I would take a quick break from studying for a few minutes to write a quick post. This weekend I am competing in the Run for Retina Half Marathon. Due to flooding in the area the race start was moved from Harris Park to Storybook Park. I am really hoping that the new half marathon course is certified 21.1 not 21.8 or something like that. I remember last year at the Oakville Half Marathon where the course was a whole 650 meters long. For some people this may not be a big deal but to those of us racing against our own time and not necessarily our competitors (like myself) it is a huge problem. I means about 2 minutes added onto your time. When looking back on the race it appears as though my time from the Mississauga Half in the spring last year and the oakville in september got worse. This may not seem like an issue now because I know the course was longer so it doesn't mean anything, but that's the point: that it doesn't mean anything and takes away from all the hard work you put into training and prepared for the race. When I step up to the starting line, after paying my 60 or 70 or sometimes over 125 dollars for a race I expect the race to be 100% accurate, in addition to a number of other components which make a race enjoyable and worth the price.
Just to rant for a minute or so, I feel the registration fees for road races, and triathlons is getting out of control. Just last month, I was looking for a local 5k race to tune my skills before going to the Around the Bay. I came across a race called the Achilles St. Patrick's Day 5k which was held downtown Toronto, but I chose not to sign up because it would have cost me near 60 dollars to register, plus parking and other fees. Do the math, if I was to run a 16 minute or so 5k (not really sure what my time would be since I've never ran a 5k race)  I am paying over 4$ per minute to run. Being a kine student, I am always being taught the benefits of physical activity, and about the obesity epidemic spreading across North America with more than 68% of the population being inactive and considered overweight. With childhood obesity rates skyrocketing, and the baby-boom cohort which is largely inactive one can only wonder what are we doing wrong as a society to promote physical activity. O, let me take a quick guess, maybe its because of greedy race coordinators, gym owners, and community fitness centres charging an arm and a leg to participate. One other example just this week I went to the Dufferin Clarke Commuity Centre website to see what it would cost me to have year-round access to the pool. For 50 visits it would cost a person my age 200 dollars and 300 dollars for the year (not to mention the fact that length swim is unavailable on weekends? and only available 3 days a week for 8-9:30). If we want people to get up a move for a change, how about we making physical activity a little more accessible to the  public. If I was a parent on a strict budget it would seem like a no brainer -"For 300 dollars my kid can either swim a couple times a week for a year or so, or for that same 300 dollars I could buy him (just hypothetically) a ps3 with 3 games and multiple controllers to invite his friends over a play for the next 5-10years." Wow that's a tough one.
Just to report on my pre race status a few weeks ago I was looking foward to this race to set a new PR in the half. Unfortunately, I think a PR would be a long shot as my training has hit a bit of a set back. On Sunday evening after my hockey game, I went for a easy 27k run, but over the last couple kilometers (which is all uphill) I started to feel a minor ache in my left achilles tendon. Monday morning i got up and was experiencing an excruciating pain in the tendon, and hobbled around the house. Pretty sure it nothing too serious just a resurfacing of achilles tendonitis which I got last year 2 weeks out from my STW Marathon in October. To make matters a bit worse favoring my right leg on my runs on Tues and Wed has now caused some pain in my right tibia to come back (a injury I've been dealing with on and off for the last 18 months since the 2011 STW Marathon). But to keep things positive, I know from last year's marathon that I am more than capable of running through pain (some may say I am an expert in it) and come Sunday I will line up at the starting line ready to go (and hoping the race is the right distance). If I spend the next couple of days worrying about the pain, odds are it will surface come race-day. Think positively, and as Bob Marley says, "Don'y Worry about a thing, cause every little thing is going to be alright."