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There is a lot of confusion related to the human body’s need for carbohydrates, especially during longer, more intense workout sessions.

Why are carbs the ideal fuel for the body?

Well, to put it simply: Our bodies can utilize carbs to help generate energy during rigorous exercise without the aid of oxygen, and we can eat or drink some carbs during exercise to help keep the fuel levels topped off.

Also worth note: Carb depletion is right up there with not drinking enough fluids when trying to figure out why we sometimes bonk.

Before long runs or bike rides, the Alameda Runners love to eat pancakes (normally Ted’s terrific pancakes) with syrup,

For longer workouts, eating carbs days before will help ensure you have a sufficient level of carbs to help fuel you. Each night when we’re sleeping, our bodies use carbs to pump our heart, help keep our bodies breathing, and general physiological requirements that we sometimes take for granted.

Here is what a Runners World story posted a few years back had to say:

What you need are carbohydrates,” says Deborah Shulman, Ph.D., a sports nutritionist in Bellvue, Colorado. Carbs are a good source of glucose, a form of sugar that our brain, nerves, and muscles need to function. A small amount of glucose circulates in our blood, but the majority of it is stored in our muscles and liver as glycogen.

If you’re in it for the long run, consuming carbohydrates and keeping hydrated will give you the energy boost to run stronger during you half marathon or marathon. Many of us drink Cytomax, Gatorade, and similar drinks that have electrolytes, but drinks with carbs can help keep you fueled.

To sum things up: enjoying some carbs during your prolonged workout can help ensure you run or ride stronger with less likelihood of physically cracking. You should also keep in mind that protein and fats are excellent fuel sources, so you shouldn’t go too carb heavy with your workouts. (Alameda Runners plans on calling upon a local sports guru for some assistance related to properly fueling our workouts.)

To help explain further, I have some good reading material for you to quickly read:

Link courtesy of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

Link (PDF) to the US Potatoes, discussing carbs, carbo loading, and other helpful information.

Link published by Stockton College, explaining how carbs help fuel athletic performance.

Happy training.

Editors note: If you can only exercise for 1 hour, loading up with carbs will not give you enough energy to exercise for 4 hours.  It takes time and practice to build up endurance.

Now that the main running season is over, it is time to take cross training seriously again.  When I say cross training, I mean cross training with weights.  Most of us run or bike for cross training.  Now, is the time for strength training.  I like to lift weights but I have to sacrifice something to get out and do it.

Training is a personal thing with one rule.  That rule is to get out and do it.  I am in off season training mode right now.  My training for the week and reason for the training are listed below.  I am not advocating my work out plan.  I am pointing out a plan and a reason for the plan.

Monday – Weight training at the Coast guard base.  My reason for using this gym is because I am out of coffee at home and they have good breakfast at the base chow hall for about $2.00.  All of today’s training will be done with light weights.

• Squats – 3 sets of 10-20 reps
• Calf raises – 3 sets of 10-20 reps
• Leg extensions – 3 sets of 10-20 reps
• Leg lifts – 3 sets of 10-20 reps
• Bench press – 3 sets of 10-20 reps
• Shoulder press – 3 sets of 10-20 reps
• Swim ½ to 1 mile after work then sit in the hot tub for a little while.

Tuesday– 4 mile lunch time run, if I feel good.  Yoga after work because I need to work on flexibility and core strength.  The Yoga place is right next door to my work and the schedule is convenient.

Wednesday – Weight training at the Coast guard base.  My reason for using this gym is because they have good breakfast at the base chow hall for about $2.00 and Wednesday is the day they have waffles.  I like to bring my own syrup.  All of today’s training will be done with light weights.

• Squats – 3 sets of 10-20 reps
• Calf raises – 3 sets of 10-20 reps
• Leg extensions – 3 sets of 10-20 reps
• Leg lifts – 3 sets of 10-20 reps
• Bench press – 3 sets of 10-20 reps
• Shoulder press – 3 sets of 10-20 reps
• Swim ½ to 1 mile after work then sit in the hot tub for a little while.

Thursday – 4 mile lunch time run, if I feel good.  Yoga after work because I need to work on flexibility and core strength.  The Yoga place is right next door to my work and the schedule is convenient.

Friday – Swim ½ to 1 mile after work then sit in the hot tub for a little while.

Saturday – Bike ride, if the weather is nice.

Sunday – off

This is my plan for the week.  It is a plan that works around my schedule and breakfast desires.  My primary goal is to build leg strength and maintain fitness.  I will do a couple of early half marathons that I must maintain my fitness for but I really working on triathlon training for next year.  I am  far down the list on the Vineman Half Ironman but they also have an Alcatraz Triathlon that month so I need to be ready for a July triathlon.  I will be training like this until the holiday season ends in mid-January when I come up with a more regimented plan.

Let me start out by saying, I don’t understand tapering.  I taper because I am told it is good for me.  I also want to show up at the start line healthy.  I figure a healthy start will give me a better chance of having a healthy finish.

Tapering for the big event is a difficult thing.  You work so hard to get into great shape only to rest for the last few weeks leading up to the big event.  I was cycling my training up and down for 3 months to get ready for the marathon, now I am supposed to rest the few weeks going into the marathon.  My running buddies can do a marathon every 6-8 weeks with no problems.  They don’t need to taper, why should I?  I feel great; I should be able to go out for some speed work, a couple of days before the marathon.  I am tapering, I will just let my legs “carry me” for 4 miles.

Now that I am tapering for a marathon, I realize why I write a plan before I start training and stick to it.  I may vary on the day to day implementation of the plan but overall, I am pretty close.  The reason I create and follow the plan is simple.  When I am planning an event, marathon or triathlon, I am in planning mode.  To plan an event, I work on my current fitness level, what worked and what others recommend.  I take my work schedule and current ambition level into account when creating the plan.  Now that I have the plan, I move into work mode and just follow the plan.  Following the plan takes emotions out of the picture.  There are days, when I just want to roll over and go back to sleep because it is too cold to go out and run.  No excuses, stick to the schedule.  There are days when I feel great and just want to go out and tear up the trails.  Slow down, stick to the schedule.  When it is time to taper, I just want to out and do tempo runs because that is how my legs “carry me”.  Slow down, stick to the schedule.

I also take my brain into account.  I am tapering for a marathon that will happen next week.  I have an ambition for a triathlon in 9 or 10 months.  While I am doing my taper training, my mind is wandering toward big bike rides.  I realize 2 things from my cross training dreams.  I want to do a big triathlon next year.  In order to complete a big triathlon, I will have to finish the marathon healthy.

You may ask yourself how a triathlon that will happen in 10 months will impact a marathon taper.  It is because I need to finish the marathon in good shape in order to start the triathlon training.  To finish the marathon, I will need to show up healthy and slow down during the run to increase my odds of finishing healthy.  Tapering is individual.  Do your best.  Take it easy and have fun.

While talking about running half marathons and marathons, I was recently asked how people get started in running.  Now that our culture is designed around cars, we don’t walk so much.  A lot of people have desk jobs and live in driving communities.  The most exercise we get is when we walk to the parking lot to get into our cars.  If you are in this group and just starting out, I will explain my plan.

I will start my explanation with a couple of rules.
Rule #1 – Have fun
Rule #2 – Be proud of yourself
Rule #3 – Take it easy

My half marathon plan is a 3 month plan with a one month warm up to get ready for the training.  The first month is basically the same training repeated every week with the expectation of getting stronger as miles build up on your legs.  I start out with a 30 minute run/walk plan.  Make no mistake about it; running for 30 minutes is hard.  I started out by running from one telephone pole to the next, then walk to the next pole and alternate the sequence.  As the run progressed, I would start walking a step short of the pole then start running a step after next the pole.  I would talk to myself about how close to the pole I would get before I started walking.  Then I would drag my feet a little before it was time to run again.  It would look something like this:

• Pole 1-2: Jog
• Pole 2-3: Walk
• Pole 3-4: Jog
• Pole 4-5: Walk
• Pole 5-6: Jog
• Pole 6-7: Walk
• Pole 7-8: Jog
• Pole 8-9: Walk

You may only jog for 1 or 2 of these legs the first time you go out.  That is just fine.  Give your body time to adapt to motion.  Over time, you will be able to follow the plan.  As time progresses, you will be able to run the whole time and do speed intervals on the poles.  For now, just work on being able to jog for 30 minutes without walking.  Take your time.  It may take months for you to be able to jog for 30 minutes straight.  You are better off easing into things than to try and race right off.  Avoiding injuries and feeling good enough to go back are very important to every runner.  If you go out too fast, you may not want to run again because it was so painful.  If you ease into things, you feel a lot better about running and you can find that inner peace.

It is easy to get into a rut.  Pay attention to yourself and break out of the rut by doing something different.  Think about what you do every day.  Odds are, you have a routine.  You have to figure out a way to break the routine and change things up.

My last note on cross training missed my intended point, when I started talking about how easy it is to get into a rut and not cross train enough.  I started out with the goal of saying how important it is to train for your specific sport.  Every time we go to the internet or open a magazine, we are inundated with the importance of cross training and magic formulas about how standing on a Bosu ball will help us run faster.

A Bosu ball will not make you a better runner.  Running will make you make you a better runner.  Cross training will certainly help by making your supporting muscles strong.  When you are worn out from a long training session, a strong body will help you get through it.  Part of my weak body realization came when I was out on a long run and choked on a payday bar after I was out running for about 3 hours.  The coughing hurt my stomach.  Some work on the abs solved the problem.  Good abs help when you are choking while running.  They did not help me be able to run for 3 hours.  Running did.

I was out for a swim last week and ran into a young guy training for a big swim event.  He was really ripped.  He told me he spent a lot of time getting into shape to be ready for the swim.  I was thinking he would win, if the competition included standing at the end of the pool posing.  I told him that pool time was very valuable and the time should be spent on swimming.  When you are in the pool, it is not a good idea to waste pool time doing pushups on the pool deck.  Public pools can get very crowded and people will get mad if someone wastes a lane by doing calisthenics at the end of the pool.  A lot of people will sit on the bench and seethe, if someone hogs a lane.  People like me, who are used to swimming in crowds, will jump right in and make you suck it up and share.

The biggest benefit I get from cycling is that I have an elevated heart rate for hours.  Having an elevated heart rate for a long time burns a lot of calories.  Burning calories is good for weight control.  Weight loss for some and weight maintenance for others.  Stopping to do pushups and sit ups on the side of the road, help burn calories and build strength but it will also build fatigue which will cut your ride short.  The best way to be good a climbing hills on a bike is to go climb hills.

At the end of the day, it is better to get out and do something than to sit on the couch all day.  Both cross training and sport specific training are good.  Use some sense and think about your situation.  Try not to trade a long run in for a session of squats.

It is time to start training for the Oakland Running Festival half marathon again.  I will be carrying my 2:15 pace sign once again this year.  Last year, a lot of people fell off the pace during the run.  I did not like watching so many people fall off the pace, so I wrote a training plan for a successful 2:15 half marathon. 

Completing a 13.1 mile run in 2:15 requires an average pace of 10:20 per mile.  Last year, I planned on running a 10:15 pace to make up for time lost at the start line.

In reality, we ran at a 10:03 pace to make up for the start time and walking through the water stops and finished at 2:15:35 clock time.  To finish at 2:15 you will need to train for a 10:03 pace.

To make training easier, I wrote a training plan for you to follow.  I know a lot of people do not want to run four days a week.  Running four days a week will certainly make things easier for the half marathon but days can be skipped. 

It is very bad to skip long runs (need to build up those miles) or tempo run (which is when you build your speed and endurance).

The main training begins in January.  I started with a month of run/walk for people who are just getting into running or getting back into the swing of things.  It is a good idea to be able to run 4 miles before you start your half marathon training plan.

I like to do my long runs on Saturday.  Sunday is fine for long runs too.

Long runs – During the long runs there should be no hard breathing.  You should be able to hold a conversation for the whole run.  If you start to breathe hard, slow down.

Cruise runs are a bit faster than the long runs but do not need to be too fast.  These runs are just to add miles to the legs.

Runs are random things that are a bit faster than cruise runs.  You can vary the pace of normal runs to change things up.

Tempo runs are where you build your speed.  They hurt.  You will need to build up to 9:00 to 9:30 miles for 30 minutes.  It is good to start out by jogging for about 10 minutes then pick a target a few hundred yards away and run towards it.  You should be breathing hard when you get there.  Slow down and repeat the process.

It is tradition to tell yourself to go get a physical before you start a running plan.  If you have good luck with getting a sports physical, let me know who your doctor is. 

Get to training and I will see you on March 25th.

Week :    Mon                  Tue             Wed             Thur          Fri          Sat         Sun

12/05| 30 min run/walk | Cross train| 30 run/walk  | 30 min jog| cross train|1-3 mi|Rest
12/12| 30 min run/walk | Cross train| 30 run/walk  | 30 min jog| cross train|1-3 mi|Rest
12/19| 30 min run/walk | Cross train| 30 run/walk  | 30 min jog| cross train|1-3 mi|Rest
12/26| 30 min run/walk | Cross train| 30 run/walk  | 30 min jog| cross train|2-4 mi|Rest
01/02| 30 min up tempo| Cross train| 40 min cruise| 30 min run| cross train|4 mi|Rest
01/09| 30 min up tempo| Cross train| 40 min cruise| 30 min run| cross train|5 mi|Rest
01/16| 30 min up tempo| Cross train| 40 min cruise| 30 min run| cross train|6 mi|Rest
01/23| 30 min up tempo| Cross train| 40 min cruise| 30 min run| cross train|8 mi|Rest
01/30| 30 min up tempo| Cross train| 40 min cruise| 30 min run| cross train|7 mi|Rest
02/06| 30 min up tempo| Cross train| 40 min cruise| 30 min run| cross train|9 mi|Rest
02/13| 30 min up tempo| Cross train| 40 min cruise| 30 min run| cross train|10 mi|Rest
02/20| 30 min up tempo| Cross train| 40 min cruise| 30 min run| cross train|11 mi|Rest
02/27| 30 min up tempo| Cross train| 40 min cruise| 30 min run| cross train|12 mi|Rest
03/05| 30 min up tempo| Cross train| 40 min cruise| 30 min run| cross train|13 mi|Rest
03/12| 30 min up tempo| Cross train| 40 min cruise| 30 min run| cross train|10 mi|Rest
03/19| 30 min easy run | Cross train| 40 min cruise| 30 min easy| cross train|rest  Half Marathon

Pace and nutrition go hand in hand because you have change what you eat when you change your pace.  I find out things like this the hard way, usually by getting sick.  When you get sick from eating the wrong thing, the rest of the activity can be miserable and you can hit the wall.

Pace – Do not increase distance and speed at the same time.  It is an easy trap to fall into.  We all know how fast we went and want to improve on that time.
Speed – If you run 3 miles a day and try to go a little faster every day, your time will probably increase week after week until you hit a plateau.  Once you hit that plateau, you will have a very difficult time increasing your speed and you may even start to slow down.  You need to cycle your workouts.  Do speed work for 2 or 3 weeks then take a rest week where you cruise through your runs.

Good things for speed:

• cycle your workouts throughout the week.
• Add sprints into one run per week
• Do pace pickups during a run
• Do a pace increase run where you start slowly and pick up the pace until you are going flat out at the end of the run
• Try a tempo run that is just below race pace
• Sign up for a race and find out what your race pace really is
• Attempt to run at race pace while not racing.  It is not easy.
• Use your imagination

Distance – There is a 10% rule for increasing your distance no more than 10% per week.  That is a general rule.  If you have been running 3 miles a day for 5 days a week, you should be able to increase your distance to 18 or 19 miles per week with no problems.  It is not a good idea to increase your mileage by 20% per week for 3 weeks in a row.  A sample increase for our 3 mile per day runner should look something like this:

• 3,3,3,3,3,0,0
• 3,4,3,4,3,0,0
• 3,3,3,3,3,3,0
• 3,4,3,4,3,3,0
• 3,4,3,4,3,5,0
• 3,4,3,4,3,3,0
• 3,4,3,4,3,5,0

Do you see a pattern? Exercising in cycles is good It is a good practice to increase your distance for a few months then work on your speed for a few months.  It is your body, pay attention.  When you start getting into the longer distances, it is easier to get injured.  You do not always get injured the day you over do it.  It can take up to 3 weeks to pay the price for overdoing it.  Be careful.

There are training plans like this all over the internet.  There are also plenty of books on the subject.  I highly recommend books by professionals.  Here is one of my favorite places to buy books.  Alibris.com

Long distance training is hard.  You have to build your way up to long distances.  While you are building up to the marathon or other long distance, you need to practice with your equipment, pace and nutrition.  Today, I will cover equipment.

Equipment:  You can read about equipment all day long and spend another day trying different things on.  Reviews are great.  Trying things on is even better.  You won’t know if the equipment will really work until you try it out for a long run.  It is amazing how much stuff works for 13 miles but causes problems at 20 miles.  I will start at the bottom.

Shoes generally work well for 20 miles if they work for 13 miles.  Minimalist shoes can cause a problem because they have little padding and alter your stride.

Socks can work well for 13 miles then fall apart at longer distances.  They can cause blisters, bunch up and be plain old uncomfortable.  A blister at mile 18 can be quite painful for the next 8 miles.

Running shorts can ride up, bunch up, chafe and cause rashes.  Spandex shorts pretty much eliminate all problems from shorts but can be uncomfortable for men and they have a weird feel when you sweat a lot. There is also a lack of pockets to put stuff.  If running shorts become a problem, a little Body Glide or Vaseline can go a long way.  There are alternative creams but I don’t know their names.

Belts are a great thing.  I love to hang a bib from mine on race day.  I use different belts for different occasions.  Belts are personal too.  My running style dictates a bottle that is held on a slant across my back.  My son uses a belt with a bottle held straight up.  He also uses a fuel belt.  Other people like to strap things onto their hands.

Shirts can be great for up to 15 miles but cause chafing under the arms and bloody nipples on men.  It is also a good idea to pull your shirt up a little bit above your belt.  The belt will pull the shirt tight causing problems.

Sports bras are important for women.  I don’t know personally but wife sure lets me know about it.  A poorly fitting sports bra could cause serious chaffing.  My wife had a strap burn that lasted more than a month and the mark remained for a year.  A loose fitting sports bra can cause painful bouncing problems.

Sun glasses reduce glare in the eyes and help keep your face relaxed while you run on a bright, sunny day.  A squinted up face cause tenseness in the whole body.

A running hat keeps the glare out of your eyes, keeps the sun off your face and helps steer the sweat away from your eyes.

No matter what you wear, stay comfortable.

I say in one line to run at your own pace, then I say find a training partner.  What is Ted thinking?  Ted is thinking about how great training partners are.  When I do my long runs, I pick places where there are a lot of people out and about.  People help me pass the time for my long runs.  I often pick up running partners along the trails.  When I am out for a long run of longer than 2 hours, my heart rate has a range from 120-130.  It is easy to adjust to someone else’s pace if they are close.  Most people enjoy company on a long run.  30 minutes of company is a great way to break up the monotony of the long slow run.

If you are out for a long fast walk, partners are especially good.  Long walks create pain in unexpected places.  If you are alone, the pain can get overwhelming and the temptation for Starbucks and bagels can win the day.  When you have company, the time seems to fly by.

When you do speed work, partners can help you find the next level in your training.  Our brains are amazing things.  We can go to a track alone and find that our max heart rate is 171 bpm.  We can go to that same track, with someone who is a little bit faster, and find that our max heart rate is 175 bpm.  When you find that extra little something, it stays with you for a while.  Find yourself a training partner or running group and be social about running.  Exercise is not about punishing yourself.  It is about being fit and having fun.  Just be careful that you do not try to keep up with the speedy group who has been at it a lot longer than you have.

Be social and have fun.