Posted on February 26, 2013 by jimmy76mac

Sequoia Bayview & Fern Ravine, Joaquin Miller Park #trailrunning #trails #oakland (at Joaquin Miller Park)

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Shin Splints!

Posted on February 23, 2013 by jimmy76mac

I haven’t run since last Thursday- and that could barely be called a run, more like a “.4 mile and three blocks away I’ll have to shuffle back home now, no thanks, not tonight” sort of run, which I’ve never had to do before. I’ve always run through the pain, but something told me “not tonight”.

Looks like it’s definitely shin splints. Medial tibial stress syndrome for all you doctor-types out there.

This is why I’m writing about it and not running the Chabot 50k that’s happening right now. This changes a lot of plans.

First, no 50k today. It’s been 9 days off of running and it finally feels good enough. Gonna run tomorrow, take it real easy- running on grass wearing the Minimus and no hills.

Then going to get back onto my training plan but for the first 2 weeks only do half the prescribed miles, hopefully be ready for a 50k come mid-March.

Then, Lake Sonoma 50 miler April 13th.

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11 BIGGEST LIES OF MAINSTREAM NUTRITION

Posted on February 15, 2013 by jimmy76mac

theaveragerunner:

 

…and here it is.

11 BIGGEST LIES OF MAINSTREAM NUTRITION

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3 weeks into the LCHF…

Posted on February 14, 2013 by jimmy76mac

…and it’s totally working. Was able to do some really hard runs this past week, including some speed work yesterday (mile repeats to the tune of 6:57, 6:43 & 6:32, which was surprising) and a 10-miler on Sunday with a few hills that also surprised me (sub-9 pace).

Since I don’t own a scale I have no idea how much weight I’ve lost (and really don’t care) but from the “eye test” I’d say maybe 5 pounds? Besides for the fact that I have some abs hidden under a slight paunch, I feel lighter (which translates to “faster”; have a look at the chart at the bottom).

I’ve never been particularly concerned about weight (or even looks) but learning to burn FAT AS FUEL for endurance running seems to make more sense. Again, not to belabor the point but if I’m carrying all this fuel already in (and “on”) my body to the tune of 60,000+ calories, it makes more sense to use that than to take in carbs & sugars on a daily basis, to which at any given time I’m only able to utilize 2,000 calories.

Anyway, the “feeling lighter” I mentioned earlier might also have something to do with being faster, even if it’s only a placebo effect. I’ll take a lucky rabbit’s foot anyday…

WEIGHT LOST / 5K / 10K / HALF-MARATHON / MARATHON
2 lbs / 12.4 secs / 25 secs / 52 secs / 1:45
5 lbs / 31 secs / 1:02 / 2:11 / 4:22
10 lbs / 1:02 / 2:04 / 4:22 / 8:44
20 lbs / 2:04 / 4:08 / 8:44 / 17:28
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14 Days into the LCHF diet…

Posted on February 7, 2013 by jimmy76mac

So here I am, 14 days into this thing. Basically, my old “staples” of bread, pasta, potatoes, rice and anything (everything) sugar (including most fruit, boooo) are gone, totally replaced by more of the following:

leafy greens (kale, spinach, salad greens)

chicken thighs (the darker the meat, the better)

salmon (I could eat salmon and tuna every day)

butter (yes, more please)

heavy whipping cream (I’m making sauces for everything!)

oils (olive, coconut, sesame, it’s all good)

cheeses of foreign import (especially brie, triple cream is best)

80/20 ground beef (bacon cheeseburger on a romaine bun!)

eggs (omelets for days)

full fat yogurt (with a few blackberries, damn that’s good)

coconut cream (Trader Joe’s sells cans of this, it’s amazing)

nuts (macadamia are not only the priciest but the fattiest too)

So it goes like this: Low Carb High Fat.

The main points: ditching the carbs (which are really sugars in disguise), get back to eating fats (like evolution intended) so your body will burn fat as its main fuel (because I’m already carrying around about 75,000 calories of energy on my body in the form of fat), since the liver and muscles can only hold a limited (small) quantity of glycogen and once it’s gone, you bonk.

This is not the Atkins (or even the Paleo) diet, because oils, creams and full fat dairy is allowed and even encouraged.

Just after 2 weeks I’ve noticed a few things: since I haven’t been on a scale in months I have no idea what my starting weight was but I’ve definitely lost weight, maybe 5 pounds? I really have no idea and I have to state that losing weight is not one of my goals of this diet (although I am losing some), it’s to teach my body to burn its own fat stores as energy for endurance running. Plain and simple.

Long runs on the LCHF: I’ve run them with my heart rate monitor to force myself to stay in the “fat burning zone”. My resting rate is 58, and since I’m 36 years old my max rate is 183, meaning that my optimal fat burning zone is between 133-151 bpm. Go here to figure all that out: http://www.runnersweb.com/running/hr_calculator_new.html

So I’ve been able to log runs of 10.3, 18.5, another 10.3, 19 and 11.6 miles all with NO FUEL WHATSOEVER. Not a single Gu, banana, nothing except water. By staying in that heart zone, my body never goes aerobic and I never have to burn anything except my own fat. Sure, I’ve run them all much slower (about a minute per mile) than I normally run but I’m in the process of teaching my body to burn fat.

I’ll have more in the next coming weeks.

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Posted on February 5, 2013 by jimmy76mac

Look around you on race day. Those who are busy turning their heads and looking for their competition in the first few miles are too stressed. Those are the folks who aren’t going to have a good day.

Karl Meltzer, winner of 34 100-mile races, reminding us to put pressure on ourselves later in the race, only after we’ve settled into a nice rhythm (in the same article he states that the “race doesn’t really start until mile 70”.)  .

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Posted on February 3, 2013 by jimmy76mac

Sometimes the trails are flooded. #chabot #sundayrun #trailrunning (at Columbine Trail, Anthony Chabot Regional Park)

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January Training Log

Posted on February 1, 2013 by jimmy76mac

Year-to-Date

Distance 169.3mi

Time 30hr 37m

Elev Gain 22,736ft

Runs 19

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LCHF

Posted on January 24, 2013 by jimmy76mac

I’m on Day 3 of this low carb high fat diet. I kept seeing those Vespa ads in Ultrarunning Magazine (as well as Trail Runner and others) and their motto “Fat is your fuel” I’m kinda intrigued. I think there’s always been a trend among ultrarunners* to be really mindful of what we’re eating and also how it shows in our performance. 

After re-reading Timmy Olson’s interviews after last year’s Western States I’m gonna give it a try, he’s a Vespa guy and a LCHF adherent, only taking in carbs on race day, and minimally at that.

I’m like 33 days out from my next race, so if I can go low carb during training (there’s going to be a lot of bonking I fear…) and teach my body to burn fat I literally have an endless (like 80,000+ calories) store of energy already in my body. That’s like 800 miles of running on my body fat alone.

I miss bread and potatoes already.

* – I kind of hate the term “ultrarunner”, there’s nothing “ultra” about the way I feel at mile 30 of a run.

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As a former Bay Area Ultra runner ,I tell people that I learned how to run ultras back east, but the Bay taught me how to CLIMB and ultra! Love the blog and I am slightly nostalgic when I see some of your great shots from the trails. Keep up the good work, and the passion, people like you are the reason that we love this sport and community so much!! Cheers – Colten

Posted on January 23, 2013 by jimmy76mac

Thanks for the shout out, I’ll be running a 50k back in Pennsylvania (where I grew up) in late May. I guess I’ll get to test my East Bay lungs and legs coupled with that Philly addytood to see where I stack.

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