Alameda Runners – Get After It!

I ran into Joe P. from the Clif Bar company at lunch today.  I asked him a few questions and sent him an e-mail with some questions.  He was kind enough to answer quickly and directly.  He recommends that I keep a food log.  I am going to start one because I have a lot of issues with speed and longer distances.  Most people do not need to keep a log.  If you are a bit OCD like most of my friends on facebook and Dailymile, start a food log now!

We are very lucky to have Joe and the Clif Bar company right here in the East Bay.  His answers may seem easy or complex at first glance.  Read the answers thoroughly and think about your situation and how this information applies to you.  It makes sense.  When you go to the Oakland running festival or any other big event, give Joe or Clif a shout out for having great customer service.  They appreciate the feedback.

In my own experience I have found that everyone is very different when it comes to food and how soon after eating that they can work out.
Four hours should have been ample time between a meal and working out. Digestion of eggs is pretty quick but you said that you had an omelet
which could have had numerous ingredients in it. It really is hard to tell what it is that gave you difficulty during your workout. I would
recommend that you keep a food log and see if a pattern develops negatively with certain foods.

What do I eat before a race?
What to eat before a workout depends on the workout and how much time you have before you train. Also each of us know how much time it typically takes our bodies
before we can work out with any problems. Eat a sensible meal 200-400 calories prior. More specifically a complex carbohydrate meal (metabolic type). See below

What should I eat when transitioning from one workout to another (also known as a brick workout)?
Between workouts I would recommend a drink product, gel or blocks (I use Clif Bar Products). A few words of caution before consuming – do not ingest more than 250-300 calories because the body cannot assimilate more than that during workouts. You must remember the higher the intensity the more the oxygen is being shunted to the working muscle groups. The digestive track tends to shut down during very intense workouts or when an excessive amount of food has been taken in. On that note- drink temperature is also a very important factor – room temp is better for the body to ingest because it does not have to warm the drink body temp before it can be assimilated.

How do we consume enough calories to complete a 4-10 hour training session?
You should remember not to overload the body and only consume 250-300 calories per hour. Regardless what the product is: drinks, bars, gels, blocks.

How do we train our bodies to burn fat during these long workouts?
To train the body to burn more fat during workouts you need to work at 70-75% because more oxygen needs to be present for a fat cell to be broken down and assimilated into energy. Most people like to go hard and fast and unknowingly train their bodies to use glycogen as the primary fuel source. The other reason that glycogen is used is because there is not enough oxygen present for the body to use fat cells for a fuel source because of the metabolic process. Glucose breaks down easily and is usually what the body uses first as a fuel source.

Do you have any general dietary tips for us amateur athletes?  Something like, eat more spinach and limit Big Macs to one per week.
No general rule of thumb for eating habits. The athlete should figure out their own metabolic type and eat for their specific body type. Refer to the book “The METABOLIC TYPING DIET” by William Wolcott & Trish Fahey. With that said- you are what you eat – eat organic healthy foods that are minimally processed. Read the book ” How to eat, move and be healthy” by Paul Chek. I recommend this as I am a CHEK certified coach: CP1 & HLC2

I have my books on order from alibris.com, another local vendor.  Alibris is a bit like the original Amazon.com before they became a powerhouse.
How to eat, move and be healthy
The metabolic typing diet

Nutrition is dear to my heart since the day I bonked hard and Emily from Clif thought it was worth a call to tell me what a terrible thing I did to myself.  She also told me to make sure I never do it again.

If I ever wind up on the back of an ambulance because I bonk, I only have myself to blame.  She is such a wonderful person.  Can you readers guess who our number one expert is going to be for this series of articles?

Everyone is different.  We all have different nutrition and physiological needs.  I posted a question about nutrition to a small sample of athletes on www.dailymile.com.  Their comments are posted below.  To make it easy on our vendors who are answering the questions, I will post the questions first then the comments.

How do we find out what to eat before a morning workout?
What do I eat before a race?
I can swim for 30 minutes at about 80% effort 60 minutes after oatmeal.  I have trouble transitioning to the bike or run after the swim.  Nothing seems to want to go down.  I can drink some (4oz) coffee between the swim and next effort and be fine (note: the water is about 50F) Do you have any ideas on what I should try next?
How do we prevent the dreaded post workout crash?
How do we consume enough calories to complete a 4-10 hour training session?
How do we train our bodies to burn fat during these long workouts?
Do you have any general dietary tips for us amateur athletes?  Something like, eat more spinach and limit Big Macs to one per week.

Athlete’s comments on asking questions to the professionals:

Great idea! I seem to be really bad at avoiding a post-workout crash. I’ll get through the workout and feel awesome afterwards… for about 15 minutes. Then I often go downhill- lightheaded, overly tired, very rarely I’ll be a tiny bit nauseous.

It’s always worse if I didn’t eat enough earlier in the day, but I’d like to know more what I should be eating before and also after workouts to help with recovery. Especially because often when this happens I haven’t even done anything too crazy!

I would love to know what to eat before a run. I usually eat something kind of high in protein afterward. It’s so hard to know what to believe when it comes to nutrition! Thanks!

I’d love to hear the information you get from the nutritionists – I struggle with knowing how much to eat before an early morning run, as well as what I should be adding to my diet to specifically help as I train (anything in particular that the average person might not eat much of, but that really helps runners?)

Good to see I’m not the only person that struggles with what to eat before a run.

I wound up with a CamelBak Groove water bottle for review a few weeks ago.  I am not a fan of CamelBak because I prefer using water bottles and spilling water all over the place and I don’t like having things in my mouth.  I usually have 2 or 3 water bottles on my desk at a time as I drink 2-6 bottles of water a day while at work.

The CamelBak is my most used water bottle.  I don’t know why I use it the most.  I just do.  It is probably because of the removable mouth piece that I can leave out all day and remove it for washing when I refill the bottle.

My young son Teddy’s thoughts on his bottle:

I bought a CamelBak water bottle at a good price. I liked it; the design was good and it’s good quality.  It is has a thick plastic, but it is light as well. The CamelBak bottle has a mouth piece that is disconnect able so you can clean.

It has a measuring tool on the bottle just like a good water bottle should.  The straw connected to the lid is a great part of the bottle is you don’t like to flip the bottle over; like the mouth piece it can also be disconnected. Overall, it is a great bottle and I recommend it…

It is always good to find running buddies to keep you company while out running.  My new best friend Shem from Alibris kept me company the other day while I was out on a recovery run.  We pushed each other’s pace for the whole run.  We did 4.4 miles at a 7:57 pace.  That is a pace we are both happy with.

While I was admiring my CamelBak bottle at work the other day, a coworker came into my office to complain about leg pain.  He explained his symptoms and told me his training routine.  I had him sit down and I put my finger on the exact spot of his pain.  He has the classic center of the calf pain from over exertion by doing too much too fast.

It is fun to go out and push yourself to your limits.  I do it all of the time.  Take it easy and build up your mileage and speed slowly.  Only go fast on distances that you have already done.  The older you get, the longer it takes to recover.  You can still workout while recovering; you just can’t push yourself too hard while you are recovering.  Don’t forget your rest days.

Welcome to the ‘Zone of Endless Motion’!

This is a short blog introducing you to ZEMgear, a minimalist shoe company specializing in helping customers move closer to barefoot. The Miami-based company was kind enough to send along a pair of ZEMgear Original Split Toe minimal footwear — my first attempt at testing something other than regular running shoes.

The ZEMgear shoes are a very minimal product that can be used for a wide variety of uses. I’m going to focus mostly on running and cross training — but the footwear can be used for other activities, including the following: gym, cross training, yoga, submission grappling, and other basic athletic activities.

The company currently has seven different minimalist products; each has a specific use, and are relatively low-priced when compared to other minimalist products.

I typically wear socks and sandals to get through airport security, but a pair ZEMgear footwear can be worn while passing through the metal detector. I’ll offer additional thoughts about casual comfort in regards to grocery shopping, driving, and lounging around.

The company’s blog is available here.

This is an article about what I did wrong.  I don’t know how to fix my workout nutritional problems but I will find out.  I will post the proposed solutions when I do find out.
Today was a triathlon training day for me.

The issues are the same for all hard exertions.  If you are going to do long workouts, you need proper nutrition to complete the workout.

Today I was supposed to ride for 40-50 miles then run 9-13 miles.  Someone just had to put a mountain near my route.  I decided to add 2 or 3 miles and about 4,000 feet of climbing to my ride.   This gave me 53 miles and 5,300 feet of climbing.  Changing my workout to suit the situation is no big deal to me as the primary purpose for today’s workout was to tame the nutrition beast for long workouts.  As usual, I did very poorly with the nutrition.

I may have to send a memo to my buddies at Clif to help get this thing straightened out.  I knew today would be tough so I carbo loaded last night with lots of pizza and beer.

For me 2 glasses of beer is lots.  I started out the morning with two servings of oatmeal with two tablespoons of grade B maple syrup.  During the ride I had the following:

20 oz of Clif shot Electrolyte drink Cranberry Razz 3 scoops
3 Clif shot gels, chocolate, vanilla and some type of berry (Razz).
Did not eat the chocolate
1 large Macadamia Clif Bar.  Ate three-fourths of the bar.
28 ounces of water.  Drank 1.5 bottles

Food                              Calories
Electrolyte                      240
Gels                                   200
Bar                                    180

That gives me 620 calories consumed and I am probably being optimistic here.  My Garmin said I burned 4800 calories.  I seem to be at a calorie deficiency.  To make matters worse, I only drank an optimistic 60 ounces of water over the course of a 5 hour ride.

Is it any wonder why I was a mess for the final 5 miles of the ride that were mostly downhill?  I ate a gel at about 4:15 into the ride and wanted to throw up for the remainder of the ride.

I did a lot of things wrong today and lived to tell about it.  Adding 4,000 feet of climbing to a 50 mile ride is not always the brightest thing to do but it was so nice out I just had to go to the top.  The Clif instructions say to eat 2 gels per hour.  That seems a bit excessive to me.  GU says to eat 4 packages per hour!  I don’t know why but was racing to get sweats on before I started shivering too much to function.  Maybe, I was shivering because of the cold or maybe, it was because of my poor nutrition.

Tour guide

Shout outs for this ride:
Kenny for being a great guide and waiting patiently for me at the confusing intersection.  I may be hurting but I had a lot of fun riding up Mt.  Tam.
Clif for their great products to carry on the ride.
Athletes Honey Milk for making strawberry protein milk taste like a milkshake.
Alpha-Flex for making a great massage lotion for post workout pain.

Instructions for running a half marathon in two hours and fifteen minutes.

Alamedated, that’s me, will be running a pace group to complete the 2011 Oakland half marathon in 2:15.  To complete the run in 2:15 we will have to run an approximate 2:10 pace.  Here is a picture of me and my sign.  It is not fancy but it will work.  Last year we finished at 2:15:37.  I was told we ran a 10:03 minute per mile pace.  I had people lined up to pace other groups but the event organizers did not get back to me when I requested permission to set up pace groups for more times.  That is okay.  I will be back with my 2:15 sign again this year.  Maybe I will make a snazzier sign.  I had a lot of fun last year and I hope to see you back again this year.

I will be there 30-45 minutes early.

I will be standing around mid pack.

We will be running at approximately 10:00 per mile to make up for lost time in the crowds.

We will start out by standing with space around us. The space will close up and people will pack in ahead of us.

It will take time to get to the start line. Do not worry, we will make it up.

If you get pushed away by the crowd, just keep the sign in sight and slowly catch up. It will get easy after the first couple of miles when the crowds start to disperse.

We will be behind schedule until mile 10 or 11.  Do not worry, we will make it.  It does not matter if we are 2 minutes late as long as we finish.

I will walk approximately 15 seconds at every water station.

Do not worry about missing a station, there are plenty.

If it is hot or I notice fatigued runners, I will instruct people to drink and slow down to accommodate fluid intake at the aid stations.

I do not have a speedometer so the mile times may vary but I will try to maintain a constant pace.

If you feel fatigued, slow down to an easy shuffle. Keep the sign in sight as long as possible.

If you are new to half marathons and want to speed up, stay with the group until mile 8 then slowly speed up.

Along with my sign, I will be carrying a camera. I will take some pictures along the way. I may hand the sign off to someone then dash ahead to take pictures.

I will post all pictures that are not blurry.

Good luck and have fun. I will post more instructions as I think of them.

alamedarunners.com
Mile    Time
0    0:00:00
1    0:10:15
2    0:20:30
3    0:30:45
4    0:41:00
5    0:51:15
6    1:01:30
7    1:11:45
8    1:22:00
9    1:32:15
10    1:42:30
11    1:52:45
12    2:03:00
13    2:13:15