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!

Route 66 Marathon 2012 - Review

It's the week of Thanksgiving and that means that yesterday, Sunday, was the Route 66 Marathon & Half Marathon in Tulsa, Oklahoma.  It was a nice day for running.  The first hour or so at least.  The wind seemed to pick up as the day wore on.  But it was nice at 8 AM.  The sun had just risen and was shining on us we started out on the course.  It was chilly, the temperature being about 40 degrees Fahrenheit.  And it did slowly warm into the mid 40s over the next hour.  The clouds moved in not long after the start and kept the temperatures down. It never did get very warm.  Once we finished  the wind was quite chilling.(I ran the half marathon.)  The bands along the course were great.  Crowd support was nice.  Water stops were well placed and stocked with Gatorade and water at each. Plenty of volunteers.   GU gels were available at the 8 mile water stop.  The finish was nice. Again plenty of cheerful volunteers.  They had a plethora of drinks available including water, Gatorade and Muscle Milk.  Snacks were orange slices, bananas and what looked to be bread sticks. Beer was available out on the lawn of Veteran's Park along with a number of food trucks/ trailers.  I didn't buy any of the food from the venders.  Prices were reasonable I guess.  I did get a massage.  There was a group from OU Health Science with tables set up in one of the tents.  I had a young lady work on my calves and ankles.  A little painful but my legs felt so much better afterwards.  At another tent there volunteers provided race results.  You just gave them your number and they would look up your info and hand you a print out with your time, division, splits and your place.  That was nice.

Now for the negative.  What happened to the finisher shirts?  This year if you wanted a finisher shirt you had to pay $24 for it.   Don't think so.  The participant shirt this year was a technical shirt.  It seemed to me a little nicer than the finisher shirt.  This year's Finisher shirt is blue with white and grey text.  No detailed multicolor logo as in past years.  Just a very plain, very simple design. Rather boring. 

Also what's up with the shrinking medals?   The designs are great.  Very cool in fact.    But, the 2012 medal, is smaller than the 2011 medal and the 2011 medal is smaller than the 2009 medal.  (I didn't run Tulsa in 2010, so I can't tell about that year's medal.)  My 2012 medal looks tiny next to the 2009 medal.  I'm afraid at this rate I'll need a magnifying glass to read the text on next year's medal.  Haven't decided if I will run Route 66 next year. 

Anyway I had a good time.  Rode up with my buddy Mark, who was kind enough to drive.  Arrived in downtown Tulsa with a little over half an hour to spare.  Another friend, Dr. Brown, had driven up the night before and had our packets.  Took off my sweats and put on my number and my shoe tag.  All the way up to Tulsa I wore my Baylor hat.  Seems now that the night before the Route 66 marathon is the time for my Baylor Bears to knock off a ranked opponent. Last year we beat OU.  This year we knocked off top ranked Kansas State.  Anyway standing outside the car I had couple of folks congratulate me on my teams victory.  Almost chose to wear my hat to the race, but decided not to. Didn't want to get it dirty.  Had on a long sleeve Old Navy t-shirt that I had picked up at a thrift store.  I wore that over my 2009 finisher shirt.  Also wore some cheap brown cotton gloves.  I wore my $15 sunglasses that I had bought at Walmart.  Had on a pair of dark blue Nike running shorts, some Features running socks and my Brooks Green Silence shoes (Blue uppers with yellow sole and trim).  After four miles I got warm enough to throw off my Old Navy shirt.  I forgot my watch but did have my mile splits on a strip of paper around my wrist.  Worked out fine as there were large digital clocks at each mile marker.  I stayed pretty much on my target pace through the first nine or 10 miles.  I had selected 7:25 as my mile pace.  I chose this as it was one second under the mile pace I would need to run a sub 3:15:00 marathon.  Anyway managed to stay with this the first 10 miles.  Started to get a little ahead of pace toward the end and as I approached the 12 mile marker I picked up my pace.  And with a hundred yards or so left I sprinted to the finish.  The last 3 miles averaged out to somewhere around 7:03/mile.  Anyway I was pleased with my time.  This being my first half marathon.  I managed to get 4th in my age group and with more than a hundred in my division I am very content.

As I was running south I saw Camille Herron streaking northward on Riverside Drive in her pink Spiderman (Woman) costume.  Congratulations to Camille for setting the world record for the fastest marathon time in a superhero costume!  I'm curious to find out how the costume was for running.  Guess I'll check out her latest blog post. http://camilleherron.com/

Just eight weeks until the Houston Marathon.  Hard to believe that it is getting that close.  I've got a 20 mile run scheduled for Saturday.  We'll see how that goes.  Just my second 20 mile run this year.  I'll actually get more than 40 miles in this week with the half on Sunday and a 20 mile run on Saturday ( two shorter runs on Tuesday and Thursday).  The weather should be nice. I'll try to get enough sleep in this week, though with Black Friday coming up I may be getting up very early. 

Well, happy trails and Sic'em Bears!



 

9 Weeks Till Houston, Route 66 next weekend

Just a little over two months till my marathon.  The last couple of weeks seem to have gone OK.  Managed to get a 20 mile run in last Saturday.  Pleased that I was able to finish it without pain or injury to cut my run short.  20 miles with an average pace of just over 8 minutes per mile.  So all is good.  Shortened one of my runs this week due to some discomfort, but today seemed to be relatively pain free.  A little discomfort on the inside of one knee but nothing major.  Did 14 miles at 7:41 pace.  Right on target for my schedule.  I've been going by the 3:15 Boston Marathon Training Plan in the book, Run Less Run Faster .books.google.com/books?isbn=1609618025   As I mentioned in my last post I haven't been doing the cross training except for my pushups and pullups.  Also I don't have easy access to a track so I have not been doing the track repeats.  Instead I just do two tempo runs in addition to my long run on Saturdays.  I seem to be able to do the distances at the paces listed, so I think it is working for me.  One other thing I don't do in my tempo runs, is that I don't do a slow cool down for the final mile.  I have never seen any research that shows any benefit from a cool down jog after a workout, or in this case a tempo run. See the following:  http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/15/health/nutrition/15best.html (Is the Exercise Cool-Down Really Necessary?) After my run I walk up the drive way, up the sidewalk and into my house.  I make my chocolate milk.  Drink that.  Drink a little water.  Write down my time.  Then it's time to shower and get ready for work.    Seems to be an adequate cool down. 

I ordered another pair of shoes yesterday.  I've been doing most of my running in a pair of Brooks Green Silence.   For me they are a nice combination of a light weight, low heel, racing flat, yet still with enough fore foot padding for my old feet and ankles.  Plenty of room in the toe box.  Comfortable.  And they are very Eco-friendly:  75% of the materials are post consumer recycled.  Brooks has discontinued the Green Silence but there are still available online and now they are at closeout prices.  $49.88 at Running Warehouse http://www.runningwarehouse.com/catpagesale.html?ccode=SALEMS  You should be able to find a discount code to knock off a couple more dollars.  I ordered the blue and red this time, the blue seems almost lavender. 

Monday is Veterans Day.  So I will be running in the Veterans Day Freedom 5k Run held in Midwest City.  A portion of the event proceeds will benefit the Warriors For Freedom Foundation.  It's going to be cold so probably have to get out the black running tights, but I will be sporting a red white and blue knit cap.  If anybody wants to join me, here is the link: http://midwestcityok.org/mwc-to-host-inaugural-veterans-day-freedom-5k-run

Till next time, happy trails and Sic'em Bears!

Marathon -Eleven weeks to go; San Juan, Puerto Rico report

Well eleven weeks from tomorrow is the Houston Marathon.  Finally today I managed a long run without having to cut it short due to leg, foot, or ankle discomfort.  It has been eight weeks since I tweaked my right Achilles tendon.  Very pleased to have run 17 miles and to do it in under 8 minutes a mile with no significant  pain.  I have yet to run a 20 miler this year.  Lord willing next Saturday I will run 20 miles.  I am confidant that right now I could run a 3:30 marathon if conditions were right.  Hopefully with good workouts the next several weeks I can get myself in shape to run a 3:15.

Last week I was in San Juan, Puerto Rico for a conference.  Weather was nice.  Rather warm and humid.  A few brief rain showers.  Highs in the mid eighties.  Ran twice in San Juan.  From the conference hotel across the bridge to Old San Juan and around the island.  The north edge of the island is really nice.  The sea, the architecture of the old buildings, the old cemetery, old fort and old lighthouse made it a really scenic run.  A few steep hills as well.   Really have to get up early there as the sun rises just after 6 AM.  Eastern edge of the eastern time zone.  I'd love to go back someday and visit some of the sights I didn't have time to see.  Certainly missed the warm temperatures this morning.  Just barely above freezing this morning when I started my run.  Wore my running tights, long sleeve polyester shirt, knit cap, cotton gloves and a 180s light weight vented jacket.  Seemed to be just enough.  Had to take my hat off once as my head was getting a little warm.  Had trouble keeping my fingers warm enough though.  Had to ball up my fists inside my gloves much of the time to keep my fingers from going numb.  My right ankle was giving me a little discomfort all throughout the first ten miles.  But finally over the last several miles it started feeling better.  The two previous Saturdays I cut my run short as the pain seemed to increase.  So today's result was most reassuring.

I haven't managed to much in the way of cross training.  Just doing my pushups every third day or so (3 x 50).  And I haven't done any track work.  So far just tempo runs of around five or six miles twice a week. After a slow first mile the remainder are run at about a 6:55 to 7:25 minute pace.  Not real even pacing but I seem to be pretty close to the tempo paces listed for the 3:15 marathon training plan in the book Run Less, Run Faster.  Maybe next week I can drag myself over to the Wellness Center on the university campus to do some work on the rowing machine.  Not totally sold on the necessity of cross training.  I think the pushups and pullups I do benefit my running somewhat (strengthen core muscles).  Perhaps that will suffice for cross training.  Well till next time.

Happy Trails! And Sic'em Bears! 

5 weeks since injury, 100 days to marathon

Tomorrow morning will mark five weeks since I tweaked by right Achilles tendon.  I think I am pretty well recovered.  Now to get back on the path to my marathon goal.  Over the last two weeks I have set new PRs for 5K and 10K.  (Personal records for the past three and half years, I'm not counting the times I ran during cross country my sophomore year of high school.  I can't remember those times anyway.)  I still think I could better both of those times this month if the opportunity came along.  That said I feel like I have a good chance of running a Boston Qualifying time at the Houston Marathon.  In fact I think I may still have a shot at running a 3:15 in Houston.  Now to just figure out how best to train.   And more specifically how to gradually increase my mileage without re-injuring myself.  I have basically said goodbye to the Pfitzinger 18/70 plan.  Too many days of running and not enough time to recover.  I am looking at the FIRST training program and am easing into that this week and next.  I ran 6.3 miles on Tuesday as a tempo run.  First mile 7:55, succeeding miles were run between 7:03 and 6:31 per mile.  Wednesday rest, plus a brief orientation to some of the equipment at the Wellness Center.  Thursday another tempo run.  This time just 5 miles.  First mile 7:46, the successive miles were between 7:09 and 6:45 per mile.  Next week I'll try doing the rowing machine at the Wellness Center on Monday and Wednesday.  Guessing around 25 minutes after looking at my book, Run Less Run Faster. http://www.amazon.com/Runners-World-Less-Faster-Revolutionary/dp/159486649X Hopefully next week I can get up early and try the track repeats on Tuesday.  The FIRST plan has three basic runs:  1) track repeats, 2) tempo run, and 3) long run.  And at least two cross training exercise periods per week.  Tomorrow morning will be my first true long run since the day I hurt my Achilles.  A bit chilly so I'll be wearing long sleeves, gloves and a hat.  Not looking forward to running in the cold these next couple of months.  But that's what I get for signing up for a January marathon.  Well time to get to bed so I can get up early tomorrow. 

Happy trails.....