1
1 votes
Runner......know thyself
Posted by
Caterpillar
,
09 April 2012
·
234 views
Here's the low down on the past 2 months.
After recovering from my blood bank donation in early January, and enduring the January heat, did some great running in a cooler February. Ran daily for an average mileage of 16.3km/day and an average speed of 12.6km/hr. Very happy with the inspire 7s, and I can't thank WetWeek enough on recommending them. They're lighter than the ASICS 2160 with a firmer ride and faster transition, with no aches or pains. Also embarked on mile repeats in February, and have improved my mile interval times by about 30 seconds compared to last year.
My cadence had been on the high side during intervals, so tried to lengthen it a little, focussing more on a better push off and air time which somehow managed to improve my foot strike, landing more on my mid and front foot areas, and I noticed my foot landing directly beneath me. However the additional weight bearing and toe off has given me a stubborn metatarsalgia and a capsulitis on the second toe on the left, and have had to modify my mileage a little and take an extra easy week here and there.
My weight has been steadily dropping thanks to calorieking. At least 60% of my caloric intake is carbohydrates, in order to maintain reasonable glycogen levels. BMI now just under 21, from 23 in December. Body fat now around 6% (was 9%). No doubt this has contributed to the faster pace. Curiously I am finding it easier to keep the fat intake low, compared to the protein intake, even when consuming minimal fish and meat. I need the structure that calorieking provides, but I don't want to use it forever when the time comes for weight maintenance. I may end up using it for a few more months once I achieve a target weight for weight maintenance, and then see if I can gradually wean myself off it. I am a lousy judgment of how much food I really need however.
The queasiness which developed during marathons and speed sessions is improving, again, after much trial and error. Have found that taking a combination of a couple of zantac, a few lactase, and using milk substitutes in my morning caffeine fix seems to do the trick. During my last two marathons the queasiness would come on between 10-20km and was an unpleasant distraction. Hopefully won't happen during my next race.
I was watching a documentary on kenyan runners a fellow coolrunner kindly shared on the forum, and, I think it was Kip Keino, said something profound along the lines of:
"..know when things are going right...and why they're going right. Know when things are going wrong...and why they're going wrong.."
this resonates, and I believe it means that we need to reflect about our running. For me, it also means a lot of trial and error is in order, trying different things, and maintain a journal of sorts. Thank goodness for garmin connect. I often review my running log searching for patterns and compare current with past training runs, and if there's a noticeable change, whether it be better or worse, to be able to identify, or at least speculate on, the reasons for this. This need to reflect also applies to any niggles and soreness which develops during training.
To put it more succinctly:
Runner....know thyself.
So why am I persisting? A lot of people put the marathon on their bucket list and only complete one. I surprised myself with a sub 3 hour marathon on debut in 1994, and maybe that's a motivating force to keep trying, and training. Recently I managed to get a hold of a copy of the newspaper results of that first marathon, and with the help from Michael from ausrunning.net, scanned and uploaded the race report and my results (in very fine print), over here:
http://bit.ly/HtslbT
Awesome memories.
My speed keeps picking up, and have been doing some regulation long runs at sub 4min30s pace. My average speed for March was 12.8km/hr and thus far April's is 13km/hr. If my next marathon were to be a flat course, I'd be taking a stab at a sub 3hr, but alas, the next marathon is hilly, which will probably cost 5-10 minutes, moreso if there's a westerly. Don't have a definitive racing strategy yet, but I think I'll endeavour to head out conservatively, and hope I still have some reserve at the top of the last hill at 28km.
Only 40 days to go. I can almost see the starting line from here.
After recovering from my blood bank donation in early January, and enduring the January heat, did some great running in a cooler February. Ran daily for an average mileage of 16.3km/day and an average speed of 12.6km/hr. Very happy with the inspire 7s, and I can't thank WetWeek enough on recommending them. They're lighter than the ASICS 2160 with a firmer ride and faster transition, with no aches or pains. Also embarked on mile repeats in February, and have improved my mile interval times by about 30 seconds compared to last year.
My cadence had been on the high side during intervals, so tried to lengthen it a little, focussing more on a better push off and air time which somehow managed to improve my foot strike, landing more on my mid and front foot areas, and I noticed my foot landing directly beneath me. However the additional weight bearing and toe off has given me a stubborn metatarsalgia and a capsulitis on the second toe on the left, and have had to modify my mileage a little and take an extra easy week here and there.
My weight has been steadily dropping thanks to calorieking. At least 60% of my caloric intake is carbohydrates, in order to maintain reasonable glycogen levels. BMI now just under 21, from 23 in December. Body fat now around 6% (was 9%). No doubt this has contributed to the faster pace. Curiously I am finding it easier to keep the fat intake low, compared to the protein intake, even when consuming minimal fish and meat. I need the structure that calorieking provides, but I don't want to use it forever when the time comes for weight maintenance. I may end up using it for a few more months once I achieve a target weight for weight maintenance, and then see if I can gradually wean myself off it. I am a lousy judgment of how much food I really need however.
The queasiness which developed during marathons and speed sessions is improving, again, after much trial and error. Have found that taking a combination of a couple of zantac, a few lactase, and using milk substitutes in my morning caffeine fix seems to do the trick. During my last two marathons the queasiness would come on between 10-20km and was an unpleasant distraction. Hopefully won't happen during my next race.
I was watching a documentary on kenyan runners a fellow coolrunner kindly shared on the forum, and, I think it was Kip Keino, said something profound along the lines of:
"..know when things are going right...and why they're going right. Know when things are going wrong...and why they're going wrong.."
this resonates, and I believe it means that we need to reflect about our running. For me, it also means a lot of trial and error is in order, trying different things, and maintain a journal of sorts. Thank goodness for garmin connect. I often review my running log searching for patterns and compare current with past training runs, and if there's a noticeable change, whether it be better or worse, to be able to identify, or at least speculate on, the reasons for this. This need to reflect also applies to any niggles and soreness which develops during training.
To put it more succinctly:
Runner....know thyself.
So why am I persisting? A lot of people put the marathon on their bucket list and only complete one. I surprised myself with a sub 3 hour marathon on debut in 1994, and maybe that's a motivating force to keep trying, and training. Recently I managed to get a hold of a copy of the newspaper results of that first marathon, and with the help from Michael from ausrunning.net, scanned and uploaded the race report and my results (in very fine print), over here:
http://bit.ly/HtslbT
Awesome memories.
My speed keeps picking up, and have been doing some regulation long runs at sub 4min30s pace. My average speed for March was 12.8km/hr and thus far April's is 13km/hr. If my next marathon were to be a flat course, I'd be taking a stab at a sub 3hr, but alas, the next marathon is hilly, which will probably cost 5-10 minutes, moreso if there's a westerly. Don't have a definitive racing strategy yet, but I think I'll endeavour to head out conservatively, and hope I still have some reserve at the top of the last hill at 28km.
Only 40 days to go. I can almost see the starting line from here.
