Alameda Runners – Get After It!

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).

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 you 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 27th.

Week :   Mon                  Tue             Wed               Thur           Fri          Sat    Sun

01/03| 30 min up tempo| Cross train| 40 min cruise| 30 min run| cross train|4 mi | Rest
01/10| 30 min up tempo| Cross train| 40 min cruise| 30 min run| cross train|5 mi|Rest
01/17| 30 min up tempo| Cross train| 40 min cruise| 30 min run| cross train|6 mi|Rest
01/24| 30 min up tempo| Cross train| 40 min cruise| 30 min run| cross train|8 mi|Rest
01/31| 30 min up tempo| Cross train| 40 min cruise| 30 min run| cross train|7 mi|Rest
02/07| 30 min up tempo| Cross train| 40 min cruise| 30 min run| cross train|9 mi|Rest
02/14| 30 min up tempo| Cross train| 40 min cruise| 30 min run| cross train|10 mi|Rest
02/21| 30 min up tempo| Cross train| 40 min cruise| 30 min run| cross train|11 mi|Rest
02/28| 30 min up tempo| Cross train| 40 min cruise| 30 min run| cross train|12 mi|Rest
03/07| 30 min up tempo| Cross train| 40 min cruise| 30 min run| cross train|13 mi|Rest
03/14| 30 min up tempo| Cross train| 40 min cruise| 30 min run| cross train|10 mi|Rest
03/21| 30 min easy run | Cross train| 40 min cruise| 30 min easy| cross train|rest  Half Marathon

I am always asked about my diet and how I manage to look so trim.  People are always amazed when I tell them I do not diet.  I eat healthy foods and try to consume as much as I burn.  I do try to count calories on long workout days so I have some idea of how much extra I need to eat to maintain weight.  Here are my main thoughts on maintaining a healthy weight in some semblance of order.

1. Drink a lot of water.Water is very good.  It helps you digest food and feel full.
2. Stop drinking soda. Soda is loaded with junk calories that do nothing for you.
3. Do not eat food that you do not like because it is healthy.
4. Eat responsibly, you know what is good for you.  Do not over indulge in junk food.
5. Try to eat food that was available 200 years ago.  I try to eat organic food whenever possible but it is expensive and my budget does take a hit from the organic food.  The meat is really expensive but I think the added hormones are are bad for you.
6. Margarine was not around 200 years ago so use butter with moderation.
7. I switch types of milk randomly between skim and whole milk sticking mostly to 1% and 2% milkfat.

I tend to gravitate towards a high carb, high protein diet with little junk food thrown in.  I almost always eat pasta or pizza on Friday before my long workout on Saturday.  Again, I like to stay natural and not add anything powdered or processed to my food.  I do add natural Parmesan cheese to my pasta.  I also like to eat a healthy lunch.  Usually a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with fruit and pretzels.  I like Skippy peanut butter and organic jelly.

My key points are drink lots of water, no soda and moderate all other types of food.

Alameda Runners recently caught up with DeFeet to discuss running sock and clothing products athletes rely on. DeFeet is best known for its socks, but also has products ranging from arm warmers to boxer briefs and baselayer shirts.

We focused on socks and making sure we keep everyone injury free (to the best of our ability).

Trying to determine when to replace running socks can be a difficult challenge, especially as runners begin to prefer certain socks over others.

“Generally when the yarns begin to wear thin or become overly rough on the skin, usually in high abrasion areas for runners,” DeFeet told Alameda Runners. “Also if the sock no longer fits snug and secure to your foot. Never run in loose fitting or baggy socks.

When to throw them out varies greatly on the individual and how well the socks are cared for. It is perfectly normal for spun polyester or Merino Wool to develop some piling (little balls of fiber that appear after multiple wash & wear) in friction areas.

DeFeet also recommended proper care for technical running socks (so you’re less likely to destroy your pricey socks). “Never subject your high-end technical running socks to bleach or harsh detergents, it damages the fibers and results in pre-mature breakdown.”

People new to running (and sports in general) may be shocked to see the cost of running socks and other performance apparel. Despite the higher price tag, most athletes believe it’s worth a few extra dollars to purchase the higher-quality products. DeFeet was quick to point out what sets its products apart:

“The most important things that go into DeFeet are technical fibers that work by providing rapid moisture management, secure fit, durability and value. We personally use and test the socks we manufacture and bring to market. High-end technical fibers such as EcoMade CoolMax® and Merino Wool bring with them a higher cost of goods. Defeet is a premium brand that is owned and operated (manufactured) in NC (USA).”

We typically like to try to shorten quotes to prevent including large blocks of information, but our final discussion topic (plantar fasciitis) warrants a full verbatim entry:

“In general – plantar fasciitis is the result of inflamed foot muscles tightening up overnight. Tightened foot muscles accentuate the pull on the heel bone spur and plantar fascia, making your first steps painful. You know you have heel pain if getting out of bed in the morning and stepping down makes you want to yell “ouch”! Relief and prevention is not usually associated with socks. Here is some info I found while refreshing my mind on the condition. Taking the pressure off the foot goes a long way in helping treat plantar fasciitis. Other plantar fasciitis treatment techniques include:

• Wearing proper footwear for both everyday and sporting activities.
• Using insoles that support the arch and reduce tension on the ligament.
• Making use of a heel pad, heel cushion or slight heel lift to relieve pressure and reduce inflammation of the plantar at its attachment to the heel bone.
• Correcting leg length discrepancy via an adjustable heel lift.
• Using a heel cup to add extra shock absorption to shoes, thus reducing pressure on heels.
• Giving the afflicted area an ice massage to reduce inflammation and relieve tension.
• Stretching calf muscle to reduce tightness
• Maintaining length of the tight calf muscle with the use of a night splint.”

We won’t tell you to buy DeFeet socks, but we hope you appreciate they took the time to answer our questions for us. Keeping your feet, ankle and knees healthy is extremely important for runners, and the socks are an important starting point.

I hope everyone has been training for our March adventure through Oakland.  If you can’t run two miles, three times a week yet, keep up the run walk rotations.  You will adapt quickly.  It may not seem like you are adapting quickly at first but you are.  If you are up to two miles three times a week, add a mile to one of the runs during the week.

Last year, it broke my heart watching people drop off the pace after a few miles.  It was a lot of fun running with a big group all with a common goal.  Last Saturday, I showed up for a hilly half marathon totally unprepared.  As I was running along, I would find different groups to keep me company and one by one the groups went by me as I was struggling along.  It is not fun getting dropped after you have been running with someone for an hour so please train hard and stay with the group.

Now that you made it through my rant, here is the plan for beginners:
Run/Walk M/W/F for 20-30 minutes per day.  Try to run the whole time but take breaks if you need them.  If you start to breath really hard, slow down and walk.  This is the build up phase.
Saturday – Easy shuffle for 30 minutes
Joggers
Easy jog 2 miles on Monday and Friday.
Easy jog for 3 miles on Wednesday
Easy 30 minutes or 3 miles on Saturday.

If you are more advanced and can do more, keep it up.

The Oakland half marathon will take place March 27, 2011 at 9:00 am.  It is time to start training.  For those of you who are already running, keep doing so.  For those of you who have been procrastinating, now is the time to get started.

I will be carrying my 2:15 pace sign again this year.  Last year, we finished at 2:15:35.  The plan I am posting is for new runners who want to finish between 2-3 hours.  I will start out with some basics then get more detailed as we get closer to race day.

In my training plans, I usually increase for 3-4 weeks, take an easy week then repeat the cycle.  The December cycle is our strength cycle.  The first full week of December is easy, just get out and do it.  Get out for a 15-20 minute jog every day.  Take Friday off and run again on Saturday.  If you can’t jog the whole time, slow down to a shuffle or walk.  Try to jog but you want to go slowly.  You don’t want your lungs to burn at all during this phase.  If you feel pain from an injury, stop.  You may feel some pain from being tired but you should not feel foot, leg or knee pain.

Find something comfortable and get out and do it.  Your clothes do not need to be fancy, just comfortable.

Good luck to all of you runners in Sacramento this weekend.  I hope everyone is healthy and trained.  I am sitting at home envious of all the healthy people who are doing the run this year.

For the first timers, bring a throw away jacket for standing around in the start area.  Bring some gloves and a hat.  It is better to have and take it off than wish you had it.

Have fun all.

I’m taking a trip to Colorado early next month to get a rare chance to play in the snow, after major snow withdrawal from living in California for so long. As someone currently living just a few feet above sea level, the thought of visiting a location that is above 8,000 ft. in elevation sounds like an adventure.

It’s been a while since I’ve been to the mountains, and a few people have warned me about possible acute mountain sickness (AMS). I’m not overly concerned, but wanted to share a few tips and recommendations how to avoid feeling down during vacation.

If you want to learn more about AMS, here is some reading material at Altitude.org and the NIH.

To help reduce the likelihood of suffering from the effects of high altitude, the Breckenridge Medical Clinic has a few recommendations:

• Increase fluid intake
• Decrease salt intake
• Avoid alcohol and minimize caffeine
• Eat frequent small meals
• Moderate physical activity and get rest
• Medications and oxygen can help you feel much better

The excellent people at Breckenridge helped share their experiences, with one especially helpful PR person noting she stuck with a slower pace “to compensate for heavier breathing.”

Of note: “Since most people traveling to Breckenridge do arrive through Denver, the BMC’s advice on spending a day or two down there is quite good and I’ve definitely advised family members to do so.”

I’m going to spend almost two nights in Boulder before heading up to Breckenridge, and have been told by locals that should be plenty of time to adjust to the higher altitude.

In addition to the altitude, residents from climates like the Bay Area need to be fully prepared for the weather.

Here is basic winter weather information about Breckenridge:

Breckenridge enjoys a high-alpine climate with an average annual snowfall of 300 inches. The average winter high temperature is 28 degrees Fahrenheit and Breckenridge enjoys on average 300 days of sunshine per year. It is estimated that the valley basin has only 30 frost-free days a year.

Since the weather temperature remains mild throughout the year around here in the SF bay area, it can be hard to remember what it’s like to experience multiple seasons. I’ve checked the Breckenridge weather forecast every day, and have noticed dramatic changes in the weather.

Unpredictable weather means additional time packing and preparing for the trip to ensure I don’t lose any fingers or toes to frost bite.

This turkey is too fast to be eaten

What is Thanksgiving without the traditional turkey trot?  I enjoy getting out and doing a run on Thanksgiving morning.  Turkey trots are always social events which make them fun.  I want to run today but I got out there early to take pictures.  The people from the food bank were out early collecting food and helping out with race logistics.  I did not know about the food bank because I didn’t read any of the pre-race instructions like I should have.  Not only did I show up at an event for sharing and did not have anything to share, I was interacting with the wonderful volunteers from the food bank.  You can bet that I won’t miss the next bin for a food bank.

The race started out with a kids run and the Nitro Turkey.  It was fun to see how popular the Nitro Turkey was.  I was taking pictures of the kids run and was totally overwhelmed.  There were so many kids and proud parents in the race that the winners crossed the finish line before everyone crossed the start line.  I tried to take pictures but I was confused and could not handle the mayhem.

Point Pinole is not very big but it is fun to run there.  The views are excellent and the course is pretty flat.  It is a strange feeling to run with the 5K runners and you can see there finish line when you have to turn the other way because you are only half way done.  Getting out for an early run is a great way to start Thanksgiving.

A big shout out to Sam, Jasmine and Marie over at Brazen racing for a job well done.

After a streak of handing out bad products, I seem to have hit a winner with Athletes Honey Milk.  For those of you looking to buy some, I buy it online.  If you are interested in ordering some, send me a message and I will send you a coupon code.

We need to start getting active again and getting more stuff to review.  After my harsh review of the Timex GPS, I don’t think they will be too eager to send us anything else to review.  It would be wrong to give a good review that I do not believe just to get some free stuff.  When Timex sent us the Triathlon HRM there only stipulations were that we disclosed it was sent to us free of charge and that we give it an honest review.  I have to give Timex some love for their corporate policies.

Speaking of corporate love, I have to give a shout out to Clif for being an awesome company.  They are environmentally responsible, try to make products as naturally as possible and they have great customer support.  If you have questions about how to use their products, send them an e-mail.  They are very responsive with excellent instructions.  I am not a fan of Clif gels for long run days but for long bike/run days, I tear their stuff up.

I am doing the Vineman Half Ironman this year in July.  In honor of that event I started www.alamedatri.com.  The site is brand new but it is up and running.  We will be starting a master swim program in January to get ready for triathlon season.

If you have a marathon in December, it is time to taper.  If you don’t have any hard events until after January, it is party season.  Lighten up, let your body rest and have fun.

After careful deliberation, I bought the Timex Ironman GPS Trainer because a $50 rebate and 15% off coupon made it $100 cheaper than the Garmin.  I also thought it would be easier to use.  I should know better than to think, it only gets me into trouble.  It is not easy to use.  It was a brick strapped to my wrist.  I figured since I went to the trouble of buying the thing I should at least give it a fair try before I took it back.  Maybe the ladies will think I look sexy with a brick strapped to my wrist.

I spent about 3 hours reading the instructions and trying to get the thing to tell me what time it was.  I did not realize that satellite reception is hard to get in the San Francisco area.  My Garmin never had a problem.  I got the time to show the correct time and told the watch my age and weight.

I took it for a practice walk and the watch told me I was going for a swim.    I did get it to switch to run mode and there are a lot of options for configuring the watch face.  I could go from 1-4 items on the face and they are easily configurable without reading instructions.  I decided to give the brick a fair trial starting with a swim.

Off to the pool I went to put my swimming toy through the paces.  The watch failed miserably.  Actually, I was the miserable one.  I managed to get it into swim mode in less than 5 minutes which is a respectable time for something high tech and no instructions in hand.  Happy with my progress, I pushed start and jumped into the pool to start my swim.  I did not mention how the chest strap is hard to adjust and uncomfortable when tight.  I feel it is worth mentioning now because it went to my waist as soon as I kicked off the wall.

I put the strap on the wall and started swimming again.  I swam for about 4 minutes consciously aware of the brick on my arm.  It was uncomfortable and heavy.  I checked the distance and found I went more than 400 meters in 4 minutes, including the time I spent taking the strap off.  For you non-swimmers, that is world class speed.  The GPS did not consider arm rotations as part of swimming.  Since I really wanted the GPS to succeed in the water, I switched from brick mode to anchor mode and put the thing on my leg.  I only found it a bit odd that it fit my leg better than my arm.  Apparently the watch did not like being on my leg and it stopped doing its GPS thing and went to watch mode.

I did not cry when it failed the swim test because I did not really expect success.  I really did hope it had some cool math algorithms going so the distance would be close.  It showed a distance that was greater than twice the distance traveled.  I might have kept the watch if the GPS worked in the water.

Getting to the desired mode is aggravating.  Like most people, I wear the HRM GPS when running more than anything else.  The watch should default to run mode.  It defaults to triathlon mode.  In all fairness, it is not very hard to switch to run mode.  I don’t like the idea of changing modes every time I run.

After reading the instructions, the watch is really powerful and relatively easy to use.  The chest strap is very well constructed with very nice pickups.  It does have snaps which are terrible for us open water swimmers.  The dual adjustment strap is hard to get right.  The watch is big and fits small wrists very poorly.  It fit my leg pretty well but it is hard to read on my ankle.

The GPS watch is so big, heavy and inconvenient to use, I took it back before I got out for a run with it.  Sorry Timex, you have the makings of a great product here but size, weight, GPS performance and triathlon first setup sunk this one for me.  The buckle has a little too much metal that cuts into the arm because the strap has to be tight to keep it from bouncing and it seems like the watch is not designed to be worn.