Boston marathon and a MRI

What would training be without an injury or setback. I have had a very mild discomfort on the ball of my right foot that has gradually progressed. Nothing on top but the dreaded stress fx thought has entered my mind. It seemed to have started after a longish run in the Brooks Ghost. I got them thinking that they were a compromise between the minimal Launch and the maximally cushioned Glycerin. Were the Launches causing a problem? no. The Ghost have a little more arch. I think they pushed my foot to supinate a little more. For most part I am a neutral midfoot striker. Anyway, a little tenderness started after the long run and has progressed. I ran the Gasparilla relay in the Glycerins for 19miles with essentially no problems. I have been running in them a little more trying to stretch out the Lauches for the last 100miles. I ran the Sarasota half in the Launches without much problem. Last weekend I developed pain in my right foot at the end of the run. Much like muscle spasm. We did 20 miles a week early just because it was only a little further than 17.3 miles and the weather was good? It did provide for good psychological reinforcement for Joules 2 and 3 that they still had a 20 miler in them. Nevertheless, the nagging pain has persisted. Worse after a run then during. No pain on top with minimal pain with running. Because Joule 3 is a radiologist I was privileged to get a peek at the injury with an MRI. No breaks just bruising around the second metatarsal joint. That was a relied. I figured I was going to run anyway but would drastically taper if there was evidence of a stress fracture. It is Boston. I think I will stick with the Lauches and break out the new ones for the taper and race. The Ghost will sit idle and the Glycerins?

The 4 Joules at the Sarasota Half Marathon

March 14, 2010 was a beautiful day in Sarasota, Florida. The am temps were 58F as the Joules stood together to start the running of the Sarasota Half. This was our last race before Boston. It was my daughter, Addie's first half marathon.
We took off before sunrise on the side streets of Sarasota to the bay's edge and then down 41 and across the Ringling Bridge. There was some wind but not nearly as bad as we have experienced in recent training runs. We were pretty far back in the field as we emerged from the mile long porta potty lines so the first mile was mainly about dodging walkers and run/walkers. The race went smooth after that and the sun was coming up by the time we hit mile 4. The course is quite scenic and familiar so the miles clicked by. I tried a new drink mix made by Infinti. You can have your own blend made and name it. My is called Seabiscuit fuel. I mixed in a concentrated form for about 300 kcal in a 10z flask. It is a mix of cho and a little protein and essential amino acids. There are also added electrolytes. I squirted a small amount into a cup of water at every other aide station. It seemed to work well. No cramping or GI issues. I finished in 2:02 which was 37/154 in my age group so not too bad. I felt good and could have gone a few more at that pace. The Joules came in in succession all smiling ready for breakfast. Off to the Egg and I we went to enjoy our post race celebration. A great day to be a runner in Florida.

Gasparilla Relay Marathon

February 28 was the final voyage of the Gasparilla Marathon. They site not enough entrants into the marathon as the reason. They needed at least 4000 to continue. It is hard to believe that a marathon as well run as Gasparilla could not make it. A fast, flat Boston Qualifier in a nice winter climate city with an international airport could not attract the numbers.
Nevertheless, the day was perfect with respect to temperature and sunshine. I saw a few complaints about the finishing headwind but really it was nothing compared to weather we have been having this winter. Team Joule was ready to go more or less. Addie was elected to go first with a seven mile leg. We gave her three weeks warning after basketball season finished. We didn't tell her it would be in the dark as the marathon starts at 6am. (she is afraid of the dark)
As for the rest of the Joules the plan was for us to run together the last 19 miles as a training run passing the torch as we crossed the check points. Meanwhile, Rom developed an Achilles problem pretty much like I had last year and an upper respiratory tract infection the week before. He finally decided to settle for running the last 12 and was definite about running the park 8 loop to get revenge for last years wrong turn. The day before it was decided we would do this as a training run. Not for time or speed. Yeah right. Carol always blames me for dragging her but it is not true. She is dragged by shear determination and grit that never slows.
Race morning we sent Joule 1-Addie off in the dark. Mistake number one- we went to Starbucks the hour before we ran. Coffee and a granola bar. Off we go to meet Addie. She finished strong and smiling. It was her first experience in the crowds of a marathon start as a competitor and she loved the excitement. Carol and I took off happy to get warmed up in the low 40s F temperatures. We took off-fast. Our usually long run pace is 11 to 11:15 min miles for our training runs. My last marathon pace was 10:36. We were running 9:30 to 10 min miles. Carol was leading. We slowed to 10:15 to 10:30 but in the end averaged about 10:30. This was not so good in the end for Carol who started having some GI issues about mile 8 which got worse about mile 12. We met Rom anxiously waiting at mile 14 ready to go. We kept that pace until about mile 12 which called for a bathroom break for the both of us. Rom went ahead afraid that his Achilles would lock up. My stomach was rumbling and I was afraid to take much in the way of gel for fear I would stir things up. I was carrying a flask of heed that was mixed a little strong which did not help. I decided to stick with the water. I did take some amino acid tablets and endurlytes. They eventually kicked in and I was able to pick up the pace at a mile 13 to 14 and took the band from Rom four the last 4 miles. Addie met me to run the last .25mile and we crossed at 4:45. Carol and Rom were about 10minutes back and finished strong.
The post race party was one of the best with food from Columbias and Mich Ultra. We sat in the sun and planned our next run. A great day to be a Joule.
I think that was my last coffee before a marathon. Also, I am going back to the strict rule of eating 2 hours or more before the start. I think the Heed is ok. The endurlytes and amino acids definitely. Not sure about the gels Still a work in progress.
We have the Sarasota half marathon in two weeks as our next run. I plan to race that run if all is well. We hope to get 2 more twenty milers in if possible before Boston. I wore Glycerin 7s for this run. I think I will were the Launches for the half and possibly for Boston.

Boston Marathon Training

I calculated the big hills starting at mile 16 on the Boston course. The first is .25 miles at 2.5% grade. There is a .5 mile hill at 2%grade and heart break is 2.3 percent for .75 miles. So I plan to start my hill repeats during the week as well as continuing the Punta Gorda Bridge in the long runs and adding the Ringling Bridge in Sarasota as additional training.
We are doing the Sarasota half marathon which incorporates the Ringling Bridge. I would guess the Ringling Bridge is about a .4mile climb pretty steep so it should provide good training.
In addition I am incorporating leg strength training once a week with single leg lunges, reverse lunges. forward lunges, and squats.
Only time will tell how it all pans out. This week a 20 mile run in Punta Gorda

Training runs/races and winter running

We have completed two races in so far in 2010. The first was the Sarasota Ringling Bridge run. There were 1573 finishers for the 4 mile run. It was very congested in the early miles but a great run over the bridge on a cool January morning in the fifties. My time was 34:32 about 15 sec slower than last year. I am going to attribute it to little speed work and a very slow first mile secondary to congestion. We followed this with a 10 mile training run the next day. This week we did the Hands across the Harbor 8K in Punta Gorda. Time 43:45 . It was very windy on the return trip across the Peace River Bridge but overall a nice day to run. There were only 83 runners and 9 in my age group. I won my age group thanks to Leah D winning overall masters. She usually beats me in the age group. Today we did a 15 mile long run at a slow pace. It was cool and windy in the fifties. It seems we have had more cool runs this year than last year.
My treadmill broke so I have been running outside at 6 am with my running buddies. It is really nice running with them and the sunrise is very pretty. However, there is not much spare time before work so speed work and increased mileage is more difficult.
We are still experimenting with the raw diet. The granola is good. Getting good a smoothies for breakfast. Tried corn chowder made with walnuts, corn, and olive oil this week. Pretty good. I think there are many benefits so far. I had a banana/almond milk smoothie and granola prerun and did well.

Raw vs Julia : your genes win

I have no doubt that eating a raw plant based diet has health benefits. The nutritional benefits of eating a wide variety of vegetables and nuts are clear. There are some drawbacks of course. It is very difficult to go out to eat and find something besides a green salad, which means you need to eat before or after you go out. If non raw friends find out they will be afraid to have you for dinner or stress out trying to prepare you something special. The prep time requires you to plan ahead for things that need to be sprouted and dehydrated. I do not get the purpose of making raw substitutes for dishes that do not exist like pasta or bread. I do feel from my personal attempts so far to eat fairly raw that I did digest things well without bloating (except for the raw broccoli) and was very satisfied and not hungry.
I am not a huge cream fan and actually do not tolerate it well alone. But Julia Child's movie did inspire me to look more closely at some of the recipes. Butter makes everything better. Cream and gravies. Beef and pork. Sauteed vegetables. Potatoes. Of course the prep time for good French cooking can be extensive. I think the main thing with French cooking is portion size. If one were to consume the traditional American portions, the caloric intake would become a significant problem.
This does not even bring into other favorite ethnic foods such as pastas and breads.
So what to do.
One argument I read for the raw diet was that humans were the only ones to heat their food so it must not be necessary and domesticated animals get similar diseases as humans. To my knowledge wild animals do not live as long as humans. Julia Child and her husband, as well as a lot of French, live quite l0ng and productive lives eating cooked food with all the bad things we were not meant to eat. We all know people that developed diseases young and those who lived to be very old eating a horrible diet. I have definitely seen people and been one of them that drops weight and cholesterol with a vegan diet. I have also seen overweight vegetarians who consume a lot of dairy and sugar. I have never seen a study comparing cooked vs. raw so it is hard to say that a cooked vegan organic diet is worse than raw.
The answer: check your risk factors. If everyone in your family lives to be 100 you can probably live on donuts. If your relatives die young of cancer or heart disease you would be better off with more of a raw diet. I also think the French diet that Julia Child writes about is much different than the antibiotic, pesticide, poorly fed plants and animals we consume today. So again, we are probably better off leaning more toward the plant based diet with organic ingredients. That said the words of Julia are still pertinent. Eat small portions and don't snack.
My plan is to eat mainly vegan (cooked and raw) with a little of Julia and Nuni thrown in there. Keep the portions controlled and run until I cannot.

Happy New Year 2010

2010 begins today. Last year I fininshe 1486 miles. The goal will be more for this year. The first run this year will be on the treadmill since it is raining so hard hear in Florida. Boston Marathon training officially begins. Will start increasing the base from the low 30s trying to peak in the fifties again. Need to get back to the weight lifting two days a week. Will focus on stability training with this.
On the road to Boston I plan to run a 4 mile Bridge run in Sarasota, the Gasparilla relay, the Sarasota half marathon and a few scattered 5ks perhaps.
I think I will stay with a more basic shoe such as the Brooks launch as opposed to more cushioned shoes. I think less is probably more with the shoes. Core stability with push ups, squats, stability ball exercises and planks will be a big focus. I will get back to healthy eating from this Christmas hiatus.
As for the diet plans, I think I will be searching for middle ground. I would like to eat as clean and organic as possible. More plant based. A good portion raw. Minimal processed foods. I will also add a few special dishes at night be it Italian or something from the Julia Childs cookbook.
The priority is to maintain small portions of the bad stuff.