It was great to see those of you last night who could make it! I know everyone was there in spirit. :)
There really isn't alot to say at this point, other than to thank each and every one of you for being so disciplined and committed to training for this race. For those of you in my group, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for making this training cycle so much fun. You guys are just a blast, and you were the only reason I rolled out of bed some of those early mornings! I hope we can run together beyond Cowtown, no matter what our varying goals may be.
Don't freak out about the weather. The bottom line is that none of us are going to go, "Oh, I don't like the temp/wind/barometer/humidity/whatever, so I think I'll just skip it." We will all be there, and we will all do what we have to do. If conditions aren't perfect, so what? There were very few perfect training days, and quite frankly, a few of them just outright sucked. You all did great, and you will do even better with race suport and excitement. Time goals are great, but if we have weather that is very trying, please don't worry about your time. Trying to stick to an inflexible race strategy when everything about a race is constantly changing will result in dismal failure. I promise you if I get out there and 30mph winds are beating me up, I will just focus on finishing. I don't give a flip about the time it takes. Be proud of yourselves, and run your OWN race, not what expectations dictate. Relax, get into your zone, and enjoy the day. Races should not be episodes of pain that require you to gut them out. They are journeys and adventures, with some being harder than others, but in the end it is up to you to judge your own success.
In my mind, every person on this email is a success. While I'm running, I will think of you guys to pass the time. I will focus on Corina's stubborness and her willingness to do whatever it takes, for as long as it takes. I'll think about Kendra and Tara, my close friends, and how much respect I have for their dedication and their continual support. Randall and his words of wisdom and quiet positive attitude will take my mind off any discomfort. Ashley's incredible progress and speed, along with her sweet nature and friendship will inspire me when I'm tempted to start whining. Nikki's fantastic training cycle, in addition to our history and closeness from years of running together, will keep me from giving up. Ben's humor and dedication in spite of knee trouble will remind me it can be done. Denise's battle with the injury demons and her constant upbeat approach will make it impossible for me to feel sorry for myself. Matt's vast knowledge and wisdom that he's shared with me in answer to my questions will help me stay calm if anything goes wrong. And who can forget JBone and ZMan? Those two turned in great performances, and kept me laughing on every training run. I'll be focusing on getting to them at the finish line, and grabbing a Guinness to make it all better. :)
The list goes on and on. For me, this Cowtown is already one of the best races I've ever had, because of you, the people I've trained with. You guys are just the best, and if you ever need anything, I am forever in your debt.
GIjan
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Let's Talk Taper!!
As I write this, we are 10 days away from Cowtown. Hopefully everyone has been paying attention to nutrition and scaling back a bit on mileage.
Tapering is something that, in my humble opinion, is one of the most individually tailored elements of training. There is no one tapering method that works best for everyone, and you just have to learn what's best for you.
Having said that, there are some elements of every good taper that you have to incorporate these last 10 or so days if you want to race successfully. First and foremost, you have to acknowledge that it's the rest and recovery that are most important in the time left until race day. Your muscles, tissue, joints, and every other body part are tired. They have been asked to push and push and push, briefly rest, then push even harder the next week. Right now they are trying to rebuild and come back as strong as possible. Your sole job in the next 10 days is to stay out of the way! Let your body do what it knows should be done, and DO NOT SABOTAGE IT BY BEING STUPID. Go ahead and run, but keep it at a much lower intensity, and do not do any more hill workouts, speed work or try something new and different at your gym!
Your longest run from here on out will not be more than 10 miles (maybe 12 for Ultras but that's up to you). Anything more will not have time to fully repair itself prior to the race, and even if you feel rested at the start, the damage will show in the latter parts of your race. Right now your body is not only repairing itself, but it's also loading up on glycogen. If you go out now at high intensity, you just blew your reserves and you will not have time to get it back. I personally want a full tank at that starting line.
Do not cut yourself short on protein during this period. Also make sure you are taking Vitamin C if not already. A weird thing about tapering: Your body sees it as a sign to relax and start getting strong. That tells your immune system to relax as well, since it's been going on hyper drive during your hardest mileage weeks. This increases your risk of getting sick right before the race, so be proactive and up that intake of Vitamin C. I put a couple of "EmergenC" packets in a glass of water and really like the taste.
And finally, go with your intuition on rest days prior to the race. Some people prefer to do a 30 min. light run on Thursday, rest Friday, then race Saturday. Others prefer to rest Thursday, light run Friday, race Saturday. My taper works best with the day before a race completely off, and I do mostly cross-training race week, but I never do anything new or unfamiliar. It's all stuff already in my schedule. Go with what you've learned about your body through training. Also, don't interpret "taper" as laying around on the couch from here on out and eating what you want! That will just result in you being sluggish and fat on race day?!
Every single one of you is ready for Cowtown. ZMan and JBone paved the way, so play it smart and I'll see you Saturday!!
GIjan
Tapering is something that, in my humble opinion, is one of the most individually tailored elements of training. There is no one tapering method that works best for everyone, and you just have to learn what's best for you.
Having said that, there are some elements of every good taper that you have to incorporate these last 10 or so days if you want to race successfully. First and foremost, you have to acknowledge that it's the rest and recovery that are most important in the time left until race day. Your muscles, tissue, joints, and every other body part are tired. They have been asked to push and push and push, briefly rest, then push even harder the next week. Right now they are trying to rebuild and come back as strong as possible. Your sole job in the next 10 days is to stay out of the way! Let your body do what it knows should be done, and DO NOT SABOTAGE IT BY BEING STUPID. Go ahead and run, but keep it at a much lower intensity, and do not do any more hill workouts, speed work or try something new and different at your gym!
Your longest run from here on out will not be more than 10 miles (maybe 12 for Ultras but that's up to you). Anything more will not have time to fully repair itself prior to the race, and even if you feel rested at the start, the damage will show in the latter parts of your race. Right now your body is not only repairing itself, but it's also loading up on glycogen. If you go out now at high intensity, you just blew your reserves and you will not have time to get it back. I personally want a full tank at that starting line.
Do not cut yourself short on protein during this period. Also make sure you are taking Vitamin C if not already. A weird thing about tapering: Your body sees it as a sign to relax and start getting strong. That tells your immune system to relax as well, since it's been going on hyper drive during your hardest mileage weeks. This increases your risk of getting sick right before the race, so be proactive and up that intake of Vitamin C. I put a couple of "EmergenC" packets in a glass of water and really like the taste.
And finally, go with your intuition on rest days prior to the race. Some people prefer to do a 30 min. light run on Thursday, rest Friday, then race Saturday. Others prefer to rest Thursday, light run Friday, race Saturday. My taper works best with the day before a race completely off, and I do mostly cross-training race week, but I never do anything new or unfamiliar. It's all stuff already in my schedule. Go with what you've learned about your body through training. Also, don't interpret "taper" as laying around on the couch from here on out and eating what you want! That will just result in you being sluggish and fat on race day?!
Every single one of you is ready for Cowtown. ZMan and JBone paved the way, so play it smart and I'll see you Saturday!!
GIjan
Monday, February 16, 2009
Congrats Guys
JBone & ZMan,
Congrats guys! I am really curious how you both are feeling. Up for "The Hill" anytime soon? Just curious. I really hope you are both feeling great and are reveling in the joy of finishing the race. I am so glad you will be at Cowtown. Denise
Congrats guys! I am really curious how you both are feeling. Up for "The Hill" anytime soon? Just curious. I really hope you are both feeling great and are reveling in the joy of finishing the race. I am so glad you will be at Cowtown. Denise
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Good luck!
Good luck, Jason & Z! We'll be thinking of you tomorrow morning -- it is going to be YOUR day to rock that course! Be awesome and TAKE IT TO THE HOUSE!!
Monday, February 9, 2009
Cowtown volunteers...
Yup, that's right.
The Jbone and I (assuming no conflicts with work) will be one of the smiling faces to greet you all at the finish line! Only caveat is we'll need you across the finish line by 10 30am :)!!! Just kidding, we'll give you till 11 but after that we gots ta go....The Flying Saucer beckons 2 of it's most loyal customers.
By the way, the description of our volunteer role we'll be providing first line assistance to runners by distributing medals, heat sheets, & providing direction to water & medical tent.
The Jbone and I (assuming no conflicts with work) will be one of the smiling faces to greet you all at the finish line! Only caveat is we'll need you across the finish line by 10 30am :)!!! Just kidding, we'll give you till 11 but after that we gots ta go....The Flying Saucer beckons 2 of it's most loyal customers.
By the way, the description of our volunteer role we'll be providing first line assistance to runners by distributing medals, heat sheets, & providing direction to water & medical tent.
Friday, February 6, 2009
Need some inspiration?
Headed into tomorrow's 20 miler (I'll miss you guys, but I'll miss you more on Sunday when I'm pounding it out on my own), if you're looking for that little extra push to get you to the end, tune into SHO Time for the next few days and catch Running the Sahara.
This documentary summarizes the journey of three ultra runners who ran across the Sahara Desert in 2007-2008. In one word, this film is AMAZING. You think you're tired? Try running an average of 50 miles a day for more than three months, without a day off. In the desert. Phenomenal. I meant to watch only the first twenty minutes when I got in from Denver last night, but ended up watching the whole thing because I just couldn't stop. It is truly inspiring, and it's a great message that the limitations we put on ourselves are truly mental and not really physical. Your body can do amazing things if your brain will get out of the way and let it. I don't know if it's on the main SHO Time channel again anytime, but it's on for the next few days on all the secondary channels:
On Showtime Too
02/06/09 at 1:45 PM
On Showtime Showcase
02/08/09 at 6:45 AM
On Showtime Next
02/09/09 at 11:00 AM
On Showtime Showcase
02/11/09 at 12:30 PM
On Showtime Showcase
02/11/09 at 5:15 AM
If you can't find it, come over to my house and we'll watch it on the DVR. Seriously. You have to see this. Just be prepared to go for a run afterward!
UPDATED:
Forgot to note -- the driving force for all this is a charitable organization that they started to help fund: http://www.h2oafrica.org/
This documentary summarizes the journey of three ultra runners who ran across the Sahara Desert in 2007-2008. In one word, this film is AMAZING. You think you're tired? Try running an average of 50 miles a day for more than three months, without a day off. In the desert. Phenomenal. I meant to watch only the first twenty minutes when I got in from Denver last night, but ended up watching the whole thing because I just couldn't stop. It is truly inspiring, and it's a great message that the limitations we put on ourselves are truly mental and not really physical. Your body can do amazing things if your brain will get out of the way and let it. I don't know if it's on the main SHO Time channel again anytime, but it's on for the next few days on all the secondary channels:
On Showtime Too
02/06/09 at 1:45 PM
On Showtime Showcase
02/08/09 at 6:45 AM
On Showtime Next
02/09/09 at 11:00 AM
On Showtime Showcase
02/11/09 at 12:30 PM
On Showtime Showcase
02/11/09 at 5:15 AM
If you can't find it, come over to my house and we'll watch it on the DVR. Seriously. You have to see this. Just be prepared to go for a run afterward!
UPDATED:
Forgot to note -- the driving force for all this is a charitable organization that they started to help fund: http://www.h2oafrica.org/
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
When you're finished training, you're not finished.
We're reaching critical mass in our training, but for endurance athletes, sometimes the next couple of weeks are actually harder. We want to log those last precious few miles, try to make up for anything we may have missed, and usually end up putting in the junk miles that not only do us no good, but actually harm us. Just don't do that, okay? You will regret it. In addition, we neglect our nutritional obligations for being the best we can be. When you consider that refueling properly after your workouts can improve your race day performance by as much as 3:1, you may want to consider giving it some thought.
Attending to your recovery is every bit as critical as paying attention to your workouts. If you are not refueling your body for recovery, you have just negated much of the workout that came before it. There are four primary nutritional areas to remember: rehydration, the two macronutrients (carbohydrates and protein), along with the micronutrients -- primarily antioxidants. I could bore you to death with this topic for about 150 pages, but the key things to remember are as follows:
1. Rehydrating: No brainer. Drink your water. Not just during a race, but every day. Many athletes go around chronically dehydrated. Try not to lose more than 2% of your body weight during a hard workout, and do NOT gain. A loss of more than 2% signals a decline in performance, and we want to avoid that.
2. Carbohydrate replenishmnet: The sooner, the better. You get a small window where your body is most receptive to carbohydrate uptake, and that's right after you exercise. It maximizes both glycogen synthesis and storage -- you need every bit of this on race day. Try to use high glycemic complex carbs rather than simple sugars. Consider this: A less-fit athlete who does not practice adequate refueling can have as little as 15 minutes of muscle glycogen available. An athlete who trains hard with adequate refueling/recovery on training runs can hit 90 minutes. Which group do you want to be in? Carbs also tip your body in the direction of protein synthesis (rebuilding) rather than protein catabolism (breakdown). Your goal is to get 30-60 grams of high quality carbs within 30 minutes of finishing your workout.
3. Protein: Your best choices are whole eggs or whey protein -- isolate, not concentrate. Soy proteins rate far below these items on most of the scales measuring recovery efficiency. Rule of thumb: Soy proteins BEFORE a workout, whey proteins AFTER.
4. Antioxidants: This one is complicated, but try to make sure you're getting glutathione and glutamine. (My supplements/protein powder has these. I'd have to look around to find other sources.)
One other interesting fact pertinent to this phase of our training: The old belief has always been our immune systems are at their most susceptible during the peak (highest intensity/mileage) of our training. New research is showing this to be false. We're actually more susceptible to illness and compromised immune systems during our TAPER. One of my best friends, a professional triathlete and physical trainer for an NFL team, called me last week to talk about this. He suggests increasing your Vitamin C during the taper phase, and also said rinsing your mouth with hydrogen peroxide every night/morning will help eliminate alot of germs that lead to making us sick. So.....that's what I'm doing. He's usually right, and has access to about the latest and greatest info, equipment and athletes out there, but it's up to you if you want to adopt this strategy or not?!
See you guys Saturday, and take care of yourselves!!!
GIjan
Attending to your recovery is every bit as critical as paying attention to your workouts. If you are not refueling your body for recovery, you have just negated much of the workout that came before it. There are four primary nutritional areas to remember: rehydration, the two macronutrients (carbohydrates and protein), along with the micronutrients -- primarily antioxidants. I could bore you to death with this topic for about 150 pages, but the key things to remember are as follows:
1. Rehydrating: No brainer. Drink your water. Not just during a race, but every day. Many athletes go around chronically dehydrated. Try not to lose more than 2% of your body weight during a hard workout, and do NOT gain. A loss of more than 2% signals a decline in performance, and we want to avoid that.
2. Carbohydrate replenishmnet: The sooner, the better. You get a small window where your body is most receptive to carbohydrate uptake, and that's right after you exercise. It maximizes both glycogen synthesis and storage -- you need every bit of this on race day. Try to use high glycemic complex carbs rather than simple sugars. Consider this: A less-fit athlete who does not practice adequate refueling can have as little as 15 minutes of muscle glycogen available. An athlete who trains hard with adequate refueling/recovery on training runs can hit 90 minutes. Which group do you want to be in? Carbs also tip your body in the direction of protein synthesis (rebuilding) rather than protein catabolism (breakdown). Your goal is to get 30-60 grams of high quality carbs within 30 minutes of finishing your workout.
3. Protein: Your best choices are whole eggs or whey protein -- isolate, not concentrate. Soy proteins rate far below these items on most of the scales measuring recovery efficiency. Rule of thumb: Soy proteins BEFORE a workout, whey proteins AFTER.
4. Antioxidants: This one is complicated, but try to make sure you're getting glutathione and glutamine. (My supplements/protein powder has these. I'd have to look around to find other sources.)
One other interesting fact pertinent to this phase of our training: The old belief has always been our immune systems are at their most susceptible during the peak (highest intensity/mileage) of our training. New research is showing this to be false. We're actually more susceptible to illness and compromised immune systems during our TAPER. One of my best friends, a professional triathlete and physical trainer for an NFL team, called me last week to talk about this. He suggests increasing your Vitamin C during the taper phase, and also said rinsing your mouth with hydrogen peroxide every night/morning will help eliminate alot of germs that lead to making us sick. So.....that's what I'm doing. He's usually right, and has access to about the latest and greatest info, equipment and athletes out there, but it's up to you if you want to adopt this strategy or not?!
See you guys Saturday, and take care of yourselves!!!
GIjan
Sunday, February 1, 2009
The Railroad Car
Before I write this, let me say "knock on wood"....I just finished my Sunday morning run and I finally felt it. I call it the railroad car feeling. It comes when your running stride mechanics get right....running feels like your lower body is a railroad car rolling smoothly along on the tracks and your upper body is the passenger along for the ride. To me that's how running is supposed to feel. I just hope I have that feeling a lot along the way on Feb 28. And I hope each of you run your races feeling like that the entire way!
If you believe the philosophies of Aristotle, then we believe that we become what we practice. I guess that implies that all our training makes us runners. Aristotle was a smart guy....I think I like all his quotes. Anyway, train hard for 1-2 more weeks!
If you believe the philosophies of Aristotle, then we believe that we become what we practice. I guess that implies that all our training makes us runners. Aristotle was a smart guy....I think I like all his quotes. Anyway, train hard for 1-2 more weeks!
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