First, let me say that I ran on Wednesday and I just haven’t gotten around to posting the results. After much thought, I’ve decided the FIRST program is great if you start at the beginning, but jumping into the middle isn’t the way to go even if you have a stellar week where, somehow, you’re able to run their crazy suggested times. Last weekend’s long run has forced me to come to grips with the fact that I am, without question, out of shape. But I’m running the dang 1/2 Marathon anyway, just not very fast.

Ever since I had my first calf-lockup last year I’ve been curious about sports physiology and all the products that profess to help increase your performance or, at the very least, keep you from dying while exercising. Gatorade, PowerBar, Clif, Powerade, the list goes on (an on). Every one of these companies has a huge presence at the Expos I’ve been to and every time I wonder how much of it is hype. I even visited the Gatorade web site naively thinking that it might have some good information about fluid intake (i.e. could my calf problem have been a result of dehydration or electrolyte imbalance, etc.). Stupid move. Obviously the Gatorade site is there to sell gasp Gatorade and can’t be counted on for any reliably independent opinions.

Yesterday I found a site that can.

The blog The Science of Sport is written by two PhDs (Sports Medicine and Exercise Science) who are out to address several of the issues that fitness companies try so hard to obscure. I don’t think they’re out to debunk the entire fitness industry. But they do want to separate the products from the problems being addressed. For instance, they have a four part series on fluids and its affects on the athlete which kind of throws Gatorade’s entire ad campaign out the window (although they do offer the marketing team some suggestions for legitimate uses of the stuff — and not in a sarcastic way).Keep in mind, this is written by two PhDs and so some of the points require a second read just to digest the information (for me, at least). But I’m starting to feel a lot more informed and will probably stop buying sports drinks altogether after this.

I’m also reading ChiRunning which JQ snagged from a pile of books that a friend was giving away. So far, nothing helpful, but it does seem to agree with what I’ve always thought — that the more you concentrate on form and perfecting your movements, the more efficient and less injury prone you are. It also weaves a lot of Eastern philosophy into the mix which I’m not totally against but I’m only a couple of chapters in so we’ll see if there’s anything worth sharing after I’ve gotten to the meat of the program.

This is all to say that I should have run yesterday or today but yesterday my calves were hurting and I have a dentist appointment today after work. Winter is a problem. It seems that I’m either going to have to get a gym membership (bleh) or a treadmill (for which we have no space…or money). This may be a winter of non-running. I’m going to make the call after the LA Half Marathon.

I was out of town from Friday to Monday and ended up skipping a run but I have two to upload. One was done in Albuquerque at an elevation of 5,000ft. And yes, that hurts. I also did some light hiking some of which was at 10,000ft. That didn’t hurt, but I got a little dizzy at one point.

It’s hard to believe that it’s at these elevations that I ran some of my fastest times. I wonder what would have happened had I raced in California in my prime after a season of training at altitude.

Probably nothing spectacular.

Planned: 2mi @ 7:45
Actual: 2.01mi @ 7:25

I’ve decided to scrap the race on September 15th since that’s three weeks away and I’m still barely in shape. I’m looking at one in Santa Monica near the end of October. And what does that mean? Right! Another trip to SmartCoach.

I decided to stick with “Hard” instead of “Very Hard” and it still looks challenging. At some point, I’ll post it on the intertubes.

Also, I’ve decided that I’ve had enough of these Blogger templates — and maybe Blogger in general. I want to stretch myself some so I’ve decided to either re-install WordPress or re-install Moveable Type. And on top of that I’m in the middle of designing a custom template. Web Standards are such a good idea. If only they were (a) standard and (b) easier to wrap my brain around.

Planned: 5mi @ 8:00
Actual: 5.01mi @ 7:41
Average Heart Rate: 158bpm

Yea for Band Aids. No blood this time. But I started out too fast.

And there were a lot of people running today.

Finally, I would like to point out that my Average Heart Rate is dropping, if slowly. So that’s good.

My reign is over.

In 1993 at the State Track Meet held at UNM in Albuquerque, New Mexico I had a chat with my hurdling coach, Scott Neal, moments before I was to step into my blocks for the 300m intermediate hurdles. First, some context.

A 300 is three quarters of a lap. Add about 10 hurdles to the mix and you’ve got yourself a deceptively tiring race. My strategy (which started in 10th grade and served me well ever since) had me starting off at about 85 percent pace allowing the other runners blast out of their blocks and feel pretty good about it.

Higher ranked runners are put in the first lanes so if you’ve got the best time in your heat, you’re in lane one — the inside lane. Lane one also happens to be staggered the furthest back (because, obviously, it’s got the shortest circumference of all the lanes). It’s psychologically damaging for the runner in lane one because it feels like you’re behind from the moment the gun goes off. But if you can get over this perception, you can use your position to your advantage.

No one can see you coming.

By the time the other runners are feeling the burn somewhere around the 150 meter mark, I would start to increase my pace. So while their form is breaking down, slowing them even more, I’m just starting to hit full speed, form intact.

Now consider the fact that no one knows where I am for the first 125 meters (because by junior year, I owned lane one). To have a runner blow past you at the 150 mark is not easy to reconcile when you’re having trouble breathing.

For me, the last 100 meters was all about maintenance. Usually, I was able to finish people off with 50 meters to spare and from that point on I was racing myself.

I never understood why I was the only one who used this strategy. I even told the other hurdlers from our team what I was doing and how well it worked. No one even gave it a shot.

The UNM stadium was packed. Coach Neal walked with me to the track entrance and said something to this effect:

“Why don’t you try going out fast? You’ve already got a state title. This is your last chance to see what happens if you go all out. You’ve done the training. You should be able to handle it.”

I gave him a worried look and said, “Are you sure?”

“Absolutely.”

The walk to the starting line was draining. Why was I going to give up the only thing I knew that worked? Anything else was unproven. I didn’t want to be one of the guys that just died half way through. My strategy set me apart. But I told him I’d do it. And this was going to be my last race. Ever. Might as well.

I have no memory of anything after the gun going off. I know I started off full speed and I assume I suffered at the 200 meter mark, but I couldn’t tell you what it was like. What I do remember was the light in Coach Neal’s eyes after I’d crossed the finish line and shaken hands with all the other runners.

“See!? I told you!” Not only had I won the race, I’d gotten a personal record which we later discovered earned me a plaque in my high school gym as the school’s 300m hurdle record holder.

That plaque is now on its way from New Mexico to our house in L.A. because they’ve just put up a new one. The difference? Point zero seven seconds.

Fourteen years ago I broke my school record in the 300m intermediate hurdles. At the State Meet last spring, someone broke mine.

Planned: 4mi @ 8:00
Actual: 4.1mi @ 7:35
Average Heart Rate: 149bpm

I had a little iPod glitch at the outset which is why the distance is off. I mean, yeah, still having calibration problems too. I can’t win.

I also stopped about three quarters of a mile in because of the issue in the picture. Yes, that’s my heel. Yes, that’s my blood. Yes, I bled for my sport.

I’ve had a heel problem for a while. Partially it’s the shoes. But I also had some disappearing sock problems which caused the initial injury. It never really healed. So now I aggravate it every time I run. I’ll be taking tomorrow off to apply copious amounts of Neosporin.

I should have stopped.

Anyway, my average heart rate’s going down. Soon I will rule the world.

Planned: 4mi @ 8:00
Actual: 4.62mi @ 7:46
Average Heart Rate: 160bpm

Some days you just don’t feel like blogging.

Planned: 3mi @ 8:00
Actual: 3.66mi @ 7:41
Average Heart Rate: 160bpm

I totally would have stayed around 8min. pace if some dude hadn’t passed me in the last half mile. Not that I caught him or anything. But that didn’t stop me trying.

Planned: 3mi @ 8:00
Actual: 3.54mi @ 7:19 (or 7:53?)
Average Heart Rate: 161bpm

Oh, the humidity!

So I ran faster than I wanted to (whichever device you’re looking at) and I’m wondering why the Garmin is convinced I ran it at lightning speed because I’m pretty sure that’s not the case.

I now have conclusive proof that I’m out of shape. Below is a graph with pace and heart rate from my last run before the sickness.


And here’s today’s graph. Look at that mountain of a heart rate!


Nearly the same distance. Nearly the same pace. Not nearly the same fitness level.

I’ve got a ways to go.

Planned: 2mi @ Whatever
Actual: 2mi @ 7:56

I’d feel better about this whole thing if my graph and my experience matched. I swear I started out steady and then sped up about half way through. Why? Because there was competition and I’m an idiot. The fact that the graph goes way down doesn’t make me feel good about the realties of my fitness level.

All those weeks of no entries — that’s not a mistake. This is the first run I’ve done in about three weeks. And, boy, could I tell. I think I’m at the bottom rung again and I can’t even see where the ladder ends. I’m having second thoughts about that race on September 15th. And the workouts I had planned have been very scrapped. And danced upon. And burned. Because there’s no way I could survive them now.

I’m still not 100%. But I thought it was time. Now it’s time for a nap.