Training for Green Bay

A lot has happened over the last year.  The Route 66 Marathon of 2013 did not go as planned.  Extremely cold.  Temperatures in the low 20s to start.  The training that I thought would be sufficient was not sufficient.  Apparently running sub marathon pace training runs three times a week was not enough to run a sub 3:30 marathon. Rather I crashed and burned (froze actually).  4:20.  My slowest marathon ever. 

Got married in November of 2014.  A couple of weeks later I ran the Half Marathon at Route 66 in Tulsa.  Managed a 1:37:49.  Not quite as fast as a couple of years ago, but just a couple of minutes behind.  (I was not going to train for a marathon and plan a wedding with my wife to be.  So I chose the Half instead.)  And so feeling hopeful once again I have signed up for the Green Bay Marathon in May.  I think I will go with the Run Less schedule for a 3:25 marathon, though tweaked to match the lack of a track to do intervals on.  I will try to do some mile intervals.  And this time I will do some cross training rather than just resting on the non running days.  Cycling. 

I'll let you know how that goes.  And later this month training while on the road.

Happy Trails!  

3 Runs A Week - Training for Tulsa's Route 66 Marathon

Less than two weeks until the Route 66 Marathon in Tulsa, Oklahoma! (Sunday, November 24) 


Six weeks of travel in Latin America and Asia messed up my training schedule.  Too many late night arrivals and early morning departures.  Found it hard to get in enough training runs. Some weeks just two runs, others three.  My long runs on the weekend were never long enough. 

 

Ran up Mt. Doi Suthep to Wat Doi Suthep

Got back from my Asia trip on October 11th.  Ran 13 miles the next day, (which was the longest distance I had run since the Half Marathon in OKC at the beginning of May.)  I was thinking about switching to the Half Marathon for Route 66, but it turned out it was past the deadline.  (Took a few days to find that out.) So then I was faced with trying to ramp up my training to the level needed, without injuring myself ( in only 5 weeks).  So Sunday, October 20th, I ran 13.11 at a 7:31/ mile pace (mile splits ranged between 7:15 and 7:40/mi). Tuesday that week I ran 5.63 and Thursday 6.25 miles.  My pace was between 7 :25/mi and 7:31/mi.  My long run the next Saturday was 16 miles (October 26).  The following Tuesday and Thursday my runs were both 6 miles plus.  Saturday (November 2) was 18 miles.  Again Tuesday and Thursday, 6 miles plus.  Saturday (November 9) was 20 miles.  Every run has been under 7:50 per mile. The shorter ones were all under 7:39 with some of them under 7:20 per mile.

I believe that I can run the Route 66 marathon in under 3:25 (3 hours 25 minutes).  But my weekly mileage totals have topped 30 miles only the past two weeks.  I have only one run of 20 miles.  It seems unlikely that with only three runs a week and only one run of 20 miles that I could finish in less than 3 and a half hours.  It also seems unlikely that I could break 3:25 when I have never run a marathon faster than 3:32.  And finally I have never put in so few miles prior to a marathon before.  Prior to Houston I ran just three times a week but had multiple 20 mile runs.  (I finished in 3:34.  My goal was a bit too lofty. Faded badly.)  But if I can run 20.2 miles with an average pace of 7:47,  surely I can run 26.2 with a 7:48 pace. 3:30:00 or less would qualify me for the 2015 Boston Marathon.  3:25:00 or less would greatly improve my chances of actually getting in.  Beating the qualifying time by five minutes or more puts one into the third of four groups. The first group are those who finish 20 minutes faster than the qualifying standard.  The second group are those who finish 10 minutes faster than the standard.  The third group are those who finish 5 minutes faster than the standard.  The fourth and final group are those who finish less than five minutes faster than the standard. Following the listing of each group  on the Boston Athletic Association page are the words "if space remains"(starting with the second group).

Sic'em Bears!

Is Too Much Running Bad for You?

"Can You Get Too Much Exercise?", asks Gretchen Reynolds in the New York Times on Wednesday.  This question and other similar questions have been asked and debated extensively over the past year.  Can you get too much exercise?  Probably so, but it is clear is that exercise improves heart health in most people and reduces the risk of developing heart disease or dying of heart disease. The questions of too much and how much is too much, remain to be answered. Back in November of last year, Dr. James O'Keefe suggested that one should not run more than 25 miles a week and never faster than 8 minutes a mile.
 http://indorgs.virginia.edu/MuscleClub/OKeefe_JH_article1%2B2.pdf

  The graph above is from that article.  The data, which was taken from a study published in The Lancet, appears to show that the benefit of vigorous exercise levels off after about 50 minutes of activity.  In reality the data did not end at 50 minutes, it went on well beyond that point.  Such that at 120 minutes the hazard ration for all-cause mortality reduction was at .55 noticeably better than at .48 or so at 50 minutes.  For a more thorough discussion take a look at Alex Hutchison's column in the November 28, 2012 Runners World.
 http://www.runnersworld.com/health/too-much-running-myth-rises-again

Wednesday's NYT article focuses on study involving athletes who can completed the Vasaloppet, a grueling 56-mile cross-country ski marathon held each March in northwestern Sweden.  The study found that among male participants of a 90 km Vasaloppett, a faster finishing time and a high number of completed races were associated with higher risk of arrhythmia. This was mainly driven by a higher incidence of atrial fibrillation and brady arrhythmia. No association with supra-ventricular tachycardias or ventricular tachycardia/ventricular fibrillation/cardiac arrest was found. And while the risk of arrhythmia increased, the authors state that "participants in Vasaloppet have lower mortality than the general population and that mortality decreases with increasing number of races."

  -Mortality amongst participants in Vasaloppet: a classical long-distance ski race in Sweden. J Intern Med 2003;253:276-283. doi:10.1046/j.1365-2796.2003.01122.x.

  So your risk of arrhythmias increases slightly with very high levels of exercise.  However your risk of dying goes down.  Hmm.  Guess that means I should keep on doing my long runs, my fast runs and my marathons.  As Dr. Anderson says,"Carry on as usual, but remember to listen to your body and seek a doctor if you experience any symptoms from your heart."
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/07/24/can-you-get-too-much-exercise/?_r=0

Houston Marathon Review

Today is the day after the 2013 Houston Marathon.  And boy am I sore.  It's been over a year since my last marathon and forgot how sore I get after these.

The Houston Marathon is one of the larger marathons in the US.  A total of over 25,000 people in the marathon and half marathon.  The weather was not ideal, but the temperature was close to ideal (upper 40s).  Standing in the starting corral with the rain coming down and winds blowing from the north was not too pleasant.  Finally after the greetings, opening remarks, Star Spangled Banner, and prayer, we finally started.   I was wearing a trash bag (with holes cut out for my head and arms) over my shorts, t-shirt and running singlet (tank top).  On my head a wore a cheap ball cap that I had waterproofed.  Shortly after the start we crossed a long overpass.  Rather cold as the wind was really blowing.  I ran the first few miles with my arms inside my trash bag.  Finally after the first 30 to 45 minutes the rain stopped.   A few sprinkles after that but nothing much.  Also running through tree lined streets helped with the wind.  The course is nice.  Mostly homes, small businesses and shopping areas.  The course also passes Rice University and goes through Memorial Park.  A group of the Marching Owl Band was playing near the entrance to Rice.  I yelled out to them as I passed, "The MOB rocks!".  They seemed to appreciate the praise.  Overall pretty good crowd support considering the cold, windy, rainy weather.  Lots of cheering folks with signs, one garage band, a group of belly dancers and some Bolivian dancers as well.  The course finishes downtown with a long straightaway toward the convention center.  Downtown both sides were mostly full with a number of folks in interesting costumes.  The finish area was nice with blue bleachers on each side.  A large group of friendly volunteers gave out the medals.  The medal design was attractive.  Good size, not too small. 

The finisher t-shirt was ok.  Nothing outstanding or unusual but nice.  Plenty of food was available after the race.  Eggs, sausage and biscuits as well as yoghurt, provided by HEB grocery stores.  All complementary for the runners so no need to purchase anything.  And as it was inside the convention center I didn't have to worry about staying warm. 

Still trying to figure out what went wrong with my marathon plan.  My training seemed to go well the last couple of months.  Just didn't have it on Sunday.  Lost my mojo.  Something.   Looking back at my last 20 mile training run that I did back on December 22nd, my last 3 mile splits that day were 7:41, 7:38, 7:31.  Not bad at all.  Maybe my goal was just a little too ambitious.  Maybe I would have been ok with running 7:26 mile splits instead of 7:23 that I tried to run in Houston.  The shoes I wore were the same model that I had trained in so no change there.  Maybe I need just a little bit more padding underfoot.  Anyway I struggled to the finish Sunday.  Lots of periods of walking over the last few miles.  My calf muscles kept threatening to cramp up, but they never did completely do so.    After 20 miles, my feet and ankles were definitely beat as were my quads.  Made running very difficult the final three or four miles and more so as I got closer to the end.  Anyway finished 87th out of 593 in my age group.  Not bad.  Not good.  But OK.  I did manage to beat George Bush's Houston Marathon time of 3:44:52 (in 1993).  He was two years younger and I beat him by more than 10 minutes.  So maybe not so bad after all.

Till next time.  Happy Trails!

Running and the Brain

Need to remember something?  Take a quick run around the block or hop on your bike for a few minutes.  A short burst of moderate exercise enhances the consolidation of memories in both healthy older adults and those with mild cognitive impairment according to research done by scientists at UC Irvine's Center for the Neurobiology of Learning & Memory. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121127094315.htm  "In their study, post-doctoral researcher Sabrina Segal and neurobiologists Carl Cotman and Lawrence Cahill had people 50 to 85 years old with and without memory deficits view pleasant images -- such as photos of nature and animals -- and then exercise on a stationary bicycle for six minutes at 70 percent of their maximum capacity immediately afterward.
One hour later, the participants were given a surprise recall test on the previously viewed images. Results showed a striking enhancement of memory by exercise in both the healthy and cognitively impaired adults, compared with subjects who did not ride the bike." From the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease - "Exercise significantly elevated endogenous norepinephrine in both aMCI patients and controls. (amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI))"  Norepinephrine plays an important role in memory modulation.  

Not only does a short period of moderate exercise help your memory, but running can increase neural stem cells.  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19544415

The study on mice showed that the running mice showed significant increases in neural stem cells.  "In this model of aging we found that the number of active neural stem cells dramatically declines with age, but exercise dramatically reversed this, increasing stem cell numbers." Professor Bartlett, the Director of QBI.

Blackmore DG, Golmohammadi MG, Large B, Waters MJ, Rietze RL.

Queensland Brain Institute,The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.

“Our findings suggest that moderate exercise, from early to late in life, can have a very positive effect,” Dr Blackmore said. 

So not only does running help you maintain a healthy weight, http://www.dukehealth.org/health_library/news/aerobic-exercise-trumps-resistance-training-for-weight-and-fat-loss
it's also good for your brain!

Peace! Happy Trails and Merry Christmas!

Three runs a week to Boston Qualifying

It's December and here in OKC it is about to turn cold.  The low temperature Tuesday morning is forecast to be 19 degrees F.  Brrrr!  Tuesday morning is usually my first day to run during the week.  So I am thinking that I may start a bit late that morning.  (I'm scheduled a couple of hours of vacation this Tuesday morning, so maybe I can do my run at 8:30AM)  Each week I run on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.  Saturday being the long run.  Tuesday and Thursday are tempo runs. For the last month and half I have been following the schedule in the book, Run Less, Run Faster  http://www.runlessrunfasterbook.com Created by the folks at Furman University, the FIRST plan calls for 3 runs a week with two days of cross training.  More than just three runs a week, it is three intense runs a week.  Long runs are not slow easy jogs, but rather they are run at pace closer to marathon goal pace.  15 to 30 seconds slower than planned marathon pace. The first few weeks were 30 to 45 seconds slower but now my long runs are within the range listed.  Today's 20 mile run was about 15 to 20 seconds slower. 

Renato Canova

Ryan Hall

I read today that Ryan Hall, US Olympic Marathoner and US Half Marathon record holder, has made a coaching change.  Hall will now be coached by world renowned Italian marathon coach, Renato Canova.  http://www.runnersworld.com/elite-runners/canova-101?page=single  It seems that much of the FIRST plan has many similarities to Canova's teaching.  "Following the Golden Rule of Canova, to achieve your best race-day performance, you must practice running at or around goal race pace for long periods of time."  "Perhaps no workout better represents Canova's system than 17-to 24-mile runs done at roughly 95 percent of marathon pace. These closely simulate the demands of the marathon race in terms of speed, distance and psychology."

I take comfort in knowing that what I am doing with my long runs lines up with what Canova teaches to his elite athletes.  With just five weeks and a day till the Houston Marathon, I am confident that I can run a BQ time minus 10 minutes.  And I 'm starting to think that maybe I could run 15 minutes under a BQ time. :-)

Peace and Joy in this season of Christmas!

And Sic'em Bears!   

Can too much running kill you?

That seems to be what some recent medical studies and one story in the Wall Street Journal seem to be asking.  In the article "One Running Shoe in the Grave"  http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323330604578145462264024472.html?mod=e2fb the following quote from the British journal Heart appears,"Running too fast, too far and for too many years may speed one's progress toward the finish line of life."  The study indicates that while runners have a significantly lower death rate than non runners, as one gets older, running more than 20 to 25 miles a week erases the benefit that runners have. The source article is at http://heart.bmj.com/content/early/2012/11/21/heartjnl-2012-302886.extract.jpg     (I could only read the first page.)    The editorial is entitled "Run for your life...at a comfortable speed and not too far"  The authors, James O'Keefe and Carl Lavie, also state that running vs non running provides great benefits health wise, running at a pace faster than 8 minutes per mile provides no additional benefit. 

Beyond this guidance is a warning.  Studies they cite show damage to the heart occurs from high intensity exercise sessions greater than one to two hours.  These can cause "acute volume overload of the atria and right ventricle, which can bring about overstretching and micro-tearing of the myocardium." These are evidenced by a rise in cardiac bio-markers.  Usually after a week these markers return to baseline.  However "after years and decades of "excessive exercise" and repetitive injury" these can lead to "patchy myocardial fibrosis".  The fibrosis and scarring can potentially create a potential substrate for arrhythmias. 

In a video from Dr. O'Keefe's talk at TED http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6U728AZnV0 he shows slides showing veteran marathoners (those who had run more than 25 marathons) had increased levels of plaque in their arteries.  Dr. O'Keefe then talks of Cardiomyopathy.  He cites the case of Micah True, the ultramarathoner mentioned in the book, Born to Run.  Micah died in March of this year while on a relatively short training run in the mountains of New Mexico.  His autopsy showed a thickened heart with scar tissue.  The coroner indicated cardiomyopathy as the cause of death.  

My question is after how many marathons does fibrosis and scarring occur?   Dr, O'Keefe says one marathon won't hurt. But if I train for and run one marathon a year does that put me at risk? Should I stop running marathons after age 50?  What of  90 year Michael Freemont, who recently set an American age group record for the marathon?  And what about the rat study?  The marathon rats..http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/123/1/13.abstract  After 16 weeks of intense exercise the rats showed cardiac fibrosis and increased arrhythmia inducibility.  However the study also stated the following, "The fibrotic changes caused by 16 weeks of intensive exercise were reversed after an 8-week exercise cessation."  So if I take 8 weeks off after my marathon does that mean I am OK and that my heart is fully recovered?

I have run two marathons over three years time and am currently training to run a third in January.  My training run this morning was one hour and 15 minutes, a bit more than needed to gain full benefit in terms of postponing my mortality.  ;-)  Saturday's run will be closer to two hours.  So maybe I'm still ok according to Dr. O'Keefe.  Just a couple of runs greater than two hours these next few weeks.  I am thinking if I qualify for Boston and if I run that in 2014, I may just run half marathons and less for a few years.  Something to think about.  Maybe by 2014 we will some new research to evaluate.  

Feel free to comment if you have any thoughts or questions.  

Merry Christmas to you and Sic'em Bears!