Monthly Summary - October 2009

Here's October:

Swim: 16,513 yards
Cycling (outdoors): 31.3 miles
Cycling (indoors): 3:20 (hours)
Run: 161.05 miles
Strength Training: 5 sessions

Approximate monthly total training/racing time: 38 hours

Weight: 165.5

So... it was a really good 24 days. I'm withholding judgment on the last seven days of the month for a few more days, until I figure out what's going on with my achilles.

For the first 24 days, I ran my ass off, including runs of 18, 22 and 27 miles, 3 others of more than 10 miles and speedwork at the track once a week. I was feeling strong and running and recovering really well. Then, after last Saturday's 27 mile run, my right achilles started bothering me. The good news is that other than last Sunday morning when I tried running, it hasn't "hurt" at all. Sometimes it has felt a little tight and when I tried testing it on Wednesday with an easy run, I had to stop about 12 minutes in because I could feel it getting tight. So, other than that little "test", I took a full week off from running. That sucked. And what sucks the most is that I have no real way of predicting whether taking a week, or two, or whatever, off will cure it. In addition to taking time off, I got a massage from Scott, did a ton of self-massage with the Trigger Point gear, got acupuncture from Eileen, did regular eccentric calf raises, took some naproxen, used some herbal anti-inflammatory supplements and topical creams, used some Kinesio Tape (picture below) that Rom gave me and kept my fingers crossed all week!

After Wednesday's failed run, I decided I would try again today. I ran this morning, and I ran pain- and tightness-free. Granted, I only ran 3.25 miles, and I did it really slowly and on a totally flat course, and I was thinking about my achilles the entire time. But I still ran. After I got home, I stretched the hell out of my achilles and calves, did some eccentric calf exercises, iced and rolled-out my calves with the Trigger Point quadballer and massage ball.

That's my deal. For now, I'm sticking with my race plans. As long as there aren't any more major set-backs, I should be able to at least get through the races. I might not race as fast or as well as I'd hoped, but I wasn't going to win anyway; finishing these tough races was definitely the key goal all along. If my achilles does flare up again tonight or this week, then I guess I'll have to do some reevaluation.

Not running or cycling long today gave me a lot of extra hours. I slept in and then carved our pumpkin for tonight's trick-or-treating.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

Swim - October 26
Distance: 2,734 yards (2,500 meters)
Time: 48 minutes

Strength/core - October 26

Swim - October 29
Distance: 3,500 yards (3,200 meters)
Time: 1:09

Indoor ride - October 30
Time: 1:00

Run - October 31
Distance: 3.25 miles
Time: 27 minutes
Course: Neighborhood
Conditions: Sunny and nice (mid-60s)

Being cautious

I had a good week going. I was on course to my longest running week in a couple years. My 11 miles in Griffith Park on Tuesday went great and I felt good on my easy Wednesday run. Thursday night at the track I had a little twinge in my right achilles but by Friday night I'd pretty much forgotten about it.

Saturday morning I went out to Westridge and ran a pretty tough 27+ miles (4 hours). I ran a slightly different course than I've been doing with Rom - instead of going all the way out on Mulholland, I went on the Temescal Fire Road, which is hillier with some single track trails. I walked the bigger hills, which was good practice for the hilly races I have coming up. The only problem with the course is a lack of water. There's a water fountain about 4 miles in, but after that, nothing. I carried two bottles, but still had to ration my water and even then, ran out about 20 minutes before I got back to the water fountain. That distance felt great, and I'm confident that I can do the marathon and the 50K (even if they're tougher courses). Getting through 50 miles will still seems really daunting.

Anyway, last night my right achilles was really bothering me. I took some advil and tried stretching and icing it. My plan was to get up this morning and run with the LA Trail Runners Club. I've been thinking about running with them for a while, and this week, seemed like a good time for it. But the ache in my achilles put some doubt in my mind. I woke up early this morning and went to the meeting place near Will Rogers State Park. I met some of the people and started towards the trail. Three steps into the run, my achilles told me not to do it. So I turned around and came back home. Dammit.

Instead, I spent the day icing my achilles, doing self-massage on my calf and trying to keep off my feet. (It didn't hurt that there was a fair amount of good football on TV today - including a nice Chargers win.) It feels better now... I guess. At this point, I really don't think it's anything too major, but I am a little scared to test it. Tomorrow's not a scheduled run day anyway, so the earliest I'll try is Tuesday. I still had a good week - about 50 miles - but this does dampen my enthusiasm about that number a little bit. Hopefully it's just a little twinge that needs a day or two of rest.

Fingers crossed!

p.s. Maybe this is a good time to try a short run in the VFFs?

Swim - October 22
Distance: 3,390 yards (3,100 meters)
Time: 1:04

Speedwork - October 22
Total distance: 5.9 miles
Time: 1:00
Main set: 1600, 1200, 800, 400, 6x400

Run - October 24
Distance: 27 miles
Time: 4:01
Average heart rate: Not working
Course: Westridge/Mulholland/Temescal Fire Road
Conditions: Started nice and sorta cool, got sunny and warm (70's?)

Fad or For Real?

Oh yes I did!

Either I've fallen prey to the newest running fad or I'm dipping my toes in the barefoot running revolution. It remains to be seen which of those is the correct response to my recent purchase of a pair of Vibram Five Fingers KSO. (Then again, maybe it's all about the fashion statement... Those things look hot!)

After reading Born To Run and seeing Chris MacDougall speak, doing a little research on barefoot running and talking to some friends who are trying barefoot running themselves, I decided to try a little barefoot running myself. For the last few weeks I've done added some barefoot strides and easy cool-down laps at the end of my Thursday track workout. True barefoot runners run without shoes on all surfaces, but I'm not anywhere close to trying that. So, I bought myself a pair of the VFFs. If you're curious, there's a ton of information online about the VFF's and barefoot running - start here (VFF), here (Barefoot Ted), here (Barefoot Chronicles), here (Running Barefoot), here (Runner's World) and here (NY Times blog, subscription required, I think). Some of the websites "dedicated" to barefoot running can get a little preachy, but if you can get past that, there is a lot of interesting information theories about going sans shoes.

So far, I've only walked in the VFFs - just 30-45 minutes or so a day, mostly in the morning for Charlie's early walk. At some point, I'll do some running in the VFF's, but I know there's a risk of injury if I try running in them too soon or too much and I definitely want to avoid that, so I'll get comfortable walking in them first.

As I wear and use the VFFs and do some barefoot running, I'll obviously add my reaction, review, input and pictures into the online mix. And as always, I'll keep you posted!

Indoor ride - October 16
Time: 30 minutes
Average heart rate: 116

Run - October 17
Distance: 10.2 miles
Time: 1:17:30
Average heart rate: 143
Course: West Hollywood, Beverly Hills
Conditions: Evening run, clear, low 70s

Strength/core - October 18

Strength/core - October 19

Brick – October 20
Total Time: 2:25
Bike:
Distance: 14.3 miles
Time: 46:45
Average heart rate: Not working
Course:
Transition Time: 8:15
Run:
Distance: 11 miles
Time: 1:30
Average heart rate: Not working
Course: Griffith Park
Conditions: A little cool and overcast during bike, warmed up and got sunny for run

Run - October 21
Distance: 6 miles
Time: 47 minutes
Average heart rate: 141
Course: West Hollywood, Beverly Hills
Conditions: Evening run, clear, low 70s

Born to Run

Usually I leave book reviews in the far more capable hands of Valet Reader, but every so often I'll step in his territory and take a stab at a book review myself.

I recently finished Chris MacDougall's Born To Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen.


It's a great book and I highly recommend it - especially for runners or other endurance athletes, but it's also got science, sociology and adventure mixed-in which should make it interesting to non-runners as well. Also, if you're one of those people who think that running long distances is "bad for you" or that you shouldn't run past age 30 - or 40 or 50 - this book will teach you a thing or two about that idea!

I finished the book last week and I'd been working on this blog post for a few days when I found out that McDougall was speaking at Traveler's Bookcase in LA last night. I decided to hold off finalizing this review until after seeing him there and I'm glad I did. Chris spoke about his experience, read from the book and mingled with us for a while. Caballo Blanco - one of the "stars" of the book - was also there hanging out. Meeting Chris and Caballo Blanco at the event made me even more excited about the book, about barefoot running and about my fall running season. Chris seems like a really nice guy and was psyched to talk running, sign books and just answer questions. He took some jabs at running shoe companies and traditional sports medicine doctors (especially at the bullshit "stop running, get orthotics, go to PT" advice so many of them automatically dole out, which has so frustrated me in the past). He, and Billy, a local runner who organized the night, served up some iskiate and Tecates. Iskiate is a Tarahumara "super drink" made out of water, chia seeds, lime juice and honey. Many of the people in the book swear by the concoction as the best sports drink ever invented. It tasted fine and I like the fact that it's all natural, but I'm not swearing off my InfiniT just yet. (You can find Billy's review of the book reading, along with a lot of pictures and more info about LA running at his blog, L.A. Runner.)

(Chris signing my copy of the book, photo courtesy of Billy)

A little about the book: The book is about ultrarunning and more specifically barefoot/natural ultrarunning. The story is built around the Tarahumara Indians (or Raramuri, which is what they call themselves) who live in the Copper Canyon in Northern Mexico and have been running long distances (50 miles is a short race for them) for centuries. The Tarahumara start running when they're young and do it until they're way older than what we traditionally consider "too old to run". And they do it barefoot or nearly so, in their "flimsy" huarache sandals. (That link gets you to "Barefoot Ted's website where he sells huaraches. Barefoot Ted is another interesting character in the book!) They don't worry about pronation or arch support and don't get runner's knee or achilles tendonitis. They run 50 or 100 or more miles at a time. And not only do they run, they run fast!

Chris went down to Mexico to write a story about the Tarahumara and their incredible running ability and, through Caballo Blanco - one of the few gringos who is close to the Tarahumara - subsequently got to know some of the Tarahumara.

Chris writes about running science and biology, making a very strong case that human's are actually the perfect running machine. He supports the idea that it's not running that causes injuries, it's running "wrong" that causes injuries. And he mostly blames two things for causing people to run "wrong". First, he explains that our expensive, cushioned, medial-supported, heel-strike-reinforcing running shoes distort the natural human stride causing inefficient running, joint pain and stopping people from being able to have fun running. Second, he writes a lot about the value of just plain enjoying being alive and letting running be an expression of that. The Tarahumara, and some of the other best ultrarunners in the world, run because they love it, not out of obligation or the drive to get rich from sponsorship dollars. Chris backs up his theories with scientific studies and real-life examples, including some of the top ultrarunners in the world and his own running. I especially liked the section of the book about how animals run and why humans are actually built to be superior distance runners.

The other parts of Born to Run that I really had fun reading were the stories about ultrarunning in the US. Scott Jurek and Jenn Shelton, two of the top US ultrarunners are prominently featured. I met Jenn at Badwater and heard (and have since read - here's a little taste, also by Chris for Outside Magazine) some pretty interesting stories about Jenn's wild side. Chris backs it all up (and then some) in the book!

There's a subplot in the book about testing the Tarahumara against the top U.S. ultramarathoners at U.S. races, particularly the Leadville Trail 100. And the whole book leads up to an informal ultramarathon in the Copper Canyon, pitting Tarahumara against some top U.S. ultrarunners. I'm not going to tell you any more or what happens in the race - you should read that for yourself! (You can find out more about running races in Copper Canyon and the Tarahumara at Caballo Blanco's website.)

Born to Run is the best sports-related book I've read in a long time. It's also one of my favorite books of any kind that I've read this year. Do yourself a favor and read it!

Strength/core - October 12

Run - October 13
Distance: 10.5 miles
Time: 1:25
Average heart rate: 150
Course: Griffith Park
Conditions: Overcast, some light rain, low 60's

Indoor ride - October 13
Time: 50 minutes
Average heart rate: 113

Run - October 14
Distance: 6 miles
Time: 45 minutes
Average heart rate: 141
Course: West Hollywood, Hollywood
Conditions: Rain, low 60's

Swim - October 15
Distance: 3,500 yards
Time: 1:10

Speed work - October 15
Distance: 5.75 miles
Time: 1:00
Main set: 4x800, 4x300

Amazing Kona

Like many endurance athletes around the world, I spent most of the day yesterday staring at my computer, watching the Universal Sports live coverage of the Ironman World Championship in Kona.

Although the men's race was a good one, and watching Craig Alexander chase down Chris Lieto on the run to win his second consecutive title was pretty sick, the stories of the day for me were in the women's race. Coming into the race, I was really excited to see by what margin Chrissie Wellington would crush the rest of the women's field and whether she could break the 16-year-old course record (which she, of course, did).

But what turned out to be my favorite story of the day started developing about ten miles into the marathon for the top pro women. Chrissie already had a huge lead and was essentially guaranteed the win. The only question was who would come in second. Mirinda Carfrae came off the bike in ninth place among the women - 26 minutes behind Chrissie, 15 minutes behind Tereza Macel in second place and over 12 minutes behind Virginia Berasategui, the third woman off the bike. By running at a 6:32 pace through the first half of the race, Mirinda ran herself into third place and was challenging Virginia for second place. To make a long story short, Mirinda passed Virginia somewhere around mile 20 of the marathon and though it looked for a few minutes like Virginia might stay with her, Mirinda never let up. And in the end, Mirinda ran a friggin 2:56:51 marathon, the fastest ever for a woman at Kona. AND, the SEVENTH FASTEST MARATHON OVERALL OF THE DAY! Only six dudes beat her, and those guys are generally considered the fastest marathoners in triathlon. Oh yeah, this was her first Ironman - not just her first time at Kona, her first time racing this distance at all. To put things into perspective, her time - on a blistering hot day on a tough course after swimming 2.4 miles and cycling 112 - would have still earned her 45th place among the women at the Chicago Marathon today. I am still in awe.

As for me, training is going really well. I ran the Westridge/Mulholland Drive trail yesterday and last Saturday with Rom, which was great. Having company on those stupid long runs makes getting through them so much easier. A 22+ mile run yesterday, with at least two more long runs before the marathon puts me in a great position as I prepare for the Northface Endurance 50. I've been kicking up the volume and so far (knock on wood), I've been running injury-free.

On a final note, after nearly four weeks without desert, I finally broke down last night. We were at a dinner party and the panna cotta with strawberries just looked too damn good. I also ate about a pound of candied pecans. The "splurge" felt good and, after my 22 mile run, it was well-earned, but there still won't be any cookies for breakfast anytime soon.

Swim - October 7
Distance: 3,390 yards (3,100 meters)
Time: 1:09

Run - October 7
Distance: 4.3 miles
Time: 32 minutes
Average heart rate: 135
Course: West Hollywood
Conditions: Sunny, mid-60's

Speedwork - October 8
Distance: 5 miles
Time: 1:02
Main set: 4x800 (90" rest)

Indoor Bike - October 9
Time: 30 minutes
Average heart rate: 109

Run - October 10
Distance: 22.25 miles
Time: 3:30 minutes
Average heart rate: 130
Course: Westridge/Mulholland
Conditions: Overcast, fog and high 50's at start, some sun and low 60's by end

Run - October 11
Distance: 6.75 miles
Time: 52:30
Average heart rate: 132
Course: West Hollywood/Beverly Hills
Conditions: Overcast, low 60's

PB&J

Who eats more peanut butter? Me your average 2nd grade kid?

Me. Hands down. I think I have a problem. I can't remember the last day that I didn't have at least one peanut butter (and jelly or honey or banana or some combination) sandwich. And then there are the plain spoonfuls and the other "vehicles" I find to help get peanut butter into my mouth - apples, celery, rice cakes, etc.

This nasty kid might have me beat though:


(somehow he is the first image that comes up in a Google image search for peanut butter)
I wonder if anyone's ever done a study of what percentage of your "normal" triathlete or endurance athlete's diet consists of peanut butter.

Speedwork - October 1
Distance: 6.2 miles
Time: 1:00
Main set: 2x400, 6x800, 2x400

Indoor ride - October 2
Time: 30 minutes
Average heart rate: 115

Run - October 3
Distance: 18.25 miles
Time: 3:06
Average heart rate: 123
Course: Santa Monica Mtns from Westridge
Conditions: Sunny, mid-60's to low-70's

Run - October 4
Distance: 4.2 miles
Time: 33 minutes
Average heart rate: 130
Course: West Hollywood
Conditions: Evening run, mid-60's

Strength - October 5

Brick – October 6
Total Time: 3:03
Bike:
Distance: 17.0 miles
Time: 52:32
Average heart rate: 132
Transition Time: 3:50
Run:
Distance: 7.1 miles
Time: 1:10
Average heart rate: 151
Conditions: Sunny, high-60's