"There's got to be a morning after ..."

Granddaddy Pine - Intact

Hurricane Isaac has come, and now nearly gone. We're still having some trailing bands of the storm marching through during the remainder of today, but hopefully the worst is over. The timelapserunner is simply astounded by the enduring presence of Big PawPaw's pine trees, especially Granddaddy Pine (see photo).

Thank you, Big PawPaw, for your intercession during this windy storm. Your trees are - for the most part - intact and we are safe. We are blessed.

Truly. But some sacrifices were made in the process, it would seem. Not every tree stands after this damaging storm rode through.

As Isaac was spared, may we be spared ...

Big PawPaw's Pine Trees
Monday Morning

Somehow, running and thoughts of next January's marathon are taking backseat to nature's interloper: Hurricane Isaac. Let me be the first to admit something. Storms like this seemed like a lot of fun and great excitement when I was seven, or ten, or twelve. But at my age, all that has changed. I want to admit that I am profoundly intimidated by a threatening hurricane, this one in particular. I've tried to ingest the words of Blessed Padre Pio - Pray, Hope, Don't Worry. But I only get partially through the first of those three before I start worrying again.

Let me express my most pointed fear directly: that Isaac will uproot the huge pine tree in the timelapserunner's back yard and send it crashing into our house. There. I've said it. But I don't feel much better.

Twice as large as it needs to be ...

Glass and liquid quandary
(Courtesy kalyan02 @ Flickr)

The argument has been raging for centuries now: is the glass half full or half empty? Those with a positive outlook on life, see positive prospects and are sure the glass is half full. Those with a more cynical view counter with a conservative half-empty assertion. If all we're fussing over is a few ounces of water, just pour more into the glass already. But, of course, the quandary is more a philosophical or world view exposé than a puzzle to be solved. How do we view life's experiences? Through a prism that splays the colors of the rainbow or through jaundiced eyes? OK. I don't want to wax too philosophical in this post. I just want to reflect on the timelapserunner's experience this past Thursday morning.

"Say hello to my little friend ..."

My little friend: Mr. Squirrel
(Courtesy RonaldWong @ Flickr)

Scarface may have made that particular quote famous, but it's still apropos for the timelapserunner to echo the phrase. Not too far from the completion of this Tuesday's run, we chanced across one Mr. Squirrel hopping down S. Lakeshore Drive. In his little squirrel mouth were a cluster of two pecans, protective casings still intact. Mr. Squirrel would hop about four steps, then come to a stop, hop another four steps and come to a stop once more. This he did several times until we caught up with him - at which point he seemed a bit perplexed. "What am I to do?," he thought. "What am I to do?" (Spoken in my best squirrel-imitating voice.)

Train the brain to tolerate pain

Today, we provide a mini-review of the other book we've been reading: Brain Training for Runners by Matt Fitzgerald. We've taken an extensive look at the role our brain plays in our activities in the past few months (see here, here, here and here) but this book really puts the pedal to the metal in both theory and application. Fitzgerald realizes that he's out on the proverbial limb with the ideas in his book inasmuch as they appear - at least on the surface - to dispute well-established notions of how to build training plans from running physiology science. However, it's hard to argue with the insights that he shares here, as they resonate with most runners' personal experience of both training and racing. Let's take a little closer look at what Matt has to say and what - if anything - we'll do with it during the next five months.

Chalk Dust is in the Air + Week 7 Schedule

The Campanile Bell Tower
(Courtesy brianmullnl @ Flickr)

I'm not sure how typical a kid I was. I'm sure that I looked forward to summers like every other school child. What's not to like about summer? Playing outside all day till the street lights came on in the early evening, running around shirtless and shoeless. Building play forts; fighting mock wars. Catching bugs, lizards, mosquito hawks. Snagging turtles in the ditch. And, perhaps best of all, snowballs - New Orleans style! Summers between school years were usually a whole lot of fun. But somewhere in late July, I'd start getting bored with all that free time (doh, what was I thinking). I would start itching for school to resume, for the chance to see all my buddies again, and for the opportunity to learn new stuff. Now that I'm on the opposite side of the teacher's desk, things are different - yet somehow still the same. Let me explain.

Breakfast and Long Run Debrief

Reward awaiting long run completion

The timelapserunner thought he offer a bit of a debrief from today's long run and first use of the Amphipod RunLite AirStretch 2+. But first we want to spend a few moments talking about breakfast. I love breakfast. Always have. Grew up learning to love breakfast. I remember those early mornings before school. My brother and I would get up and head to the kitchen where Grandma would be waiting to serve us a warm, filling meal. Oh, those mornings were so great. Between the two of us - my brother and me - we'd eat nearly a whole loaf of bread - either French bread or regular toast bread. Buttered heavily. We'd dip the buttered bread in an extra-large cup of piping hot café au lait. Now that was breakfast!

The 21-Day Commitment Fulfilled

Bent knee hamstring stretch

On Wednesday of this week, we marked without fanfare a mini-celebration: completing the 21-day commitment to the Wharton active-isolated stretching routines. Yes, the timelapserunner stuck to his promise to try this method of stretching for twenty-one straight days, to give it a chance, to see if this technique would alleviate some of the really tight muscle areas generated by months of running with little or no stretching. In today's post we'll discuss what we've discovered as a result of these three weeks of active-isolated stretching.

We're ready for a drought now

Amphipod RunLite AirStretch 2+™ 

The timelapserunner has been obsessing about hydration for weeks now (see here, here, here, and here). Worried about drinking too much and worried about drinking too little during a training run and, of course, come race day. With yesterday's post we pretty much lowered the angst level by understanding that thirst should drive one to drink - water, that is. Still, we have a number of very long runs in the offing according to our training plan and we already know that it's hard to rely on park fountains to be working well enough (or at all) to offer relief. So, what's a thirsty boy to do?

The Truth about Hydration - a la Noakes

The timelapserunner has been reading his copy of Waterlogged which arrived last week. This work is impressive, and not just for the fact that it's 400+ pages. Dr. Tim Noakes' work is clearly the definitive word on what the best research has to say about hydration during intense exercise. And it is also clearly at odds with a lot of advice given to recreational runners over the last forty years or so. It is not entirely coincidental, Noakes points out, that some of the advice to 'hydrate, hydrate, hydrate' started up in earnest about the time that sports drinks were coming onto the market. Noakes points more than just a single finger in that direction, in any case. So, what is the right piece of advice to follow? What should we recreational-but-still-serious runners do regarding in-race hydration?

PSYOPs - Part II: Mantras & Magic Marathon Words

What's your mantra?
(Courtesy zenobia_joy @ Flickr)

If you're doing a task that demands a lot from you, do have thoughts of quitting, giving up? I know the timelapserunner does. He experienced this just recently in trying to prepare for the fall semester's teaching assignment. Much to do, some of it tedious, not much of it falling in the category of 'fun to do.' At one point I dreaded starting this daunting task and feared I'd not complete it on time. But then I talked to myself, in my head, saying little motivational phrases, like "... just get started," and "... this won't be difficult," and "... one down, two to go." I didn't write these little phrases down or have them molded into a wristband. But I know they helped me overcome fear and dread - well, OK, maybe just a bad case of reluctance and procrastination - on the way to accomplishing my goal. Might this same psychological tool work to help us conquer the marathon?

The Route for the Week 6 Long Run

Long run route, if we were in Iceland
(Courtesy rafael rybczynksi @ Flickr)

Well, this week's workout schedule calls for a bump up in the long run mileage to 7 miles. Not a big deal - we've run this far before and we'll be mixing running and walking together anyway. But still, we will be out on the street a bit longer, perhaps as much as an hour and forty-five minutes. We'll have to start getting creative in designing routes for our long run day, especially as the miles creep up into the teens and beyond. As long as the weather remains warm and humid, the timelapserunner will need access to water as well. We've got a solution to this which we'll reveal in another post later this week, but for now let's see what path we've chosen for this 7-miler.

That's How the Big Boys Do It + Week 6 Schedule

Uganda's Stephen Kiprotich
grabs flag on his way to victory
(snapped from NBC TV)

My restless anticipation of the men's marathon had me tossing and turning in bed even before the alarm went off at 4:55 AM. Felt a bit like it might feel come next January, perhaps. Before my eyes could get into focus the race would begin. Olympic officials had denied the request of runners to start the marathon a couple hours earlier to avoid the midday heat, but at least the weather forecast would not include a heavy downpour like the one that occurred during the women's race a week earlier. This one would be contested without that burden, but the course and fellow marathoners would surely generate sufficient hurdles to overcome for anyone pretending to the 2012 Olympic marathon throne, erm ... podium.

PSYOPs - Part I - Trigger Points

We must resort to ... PSYOPs!
(Courtesy jared @ Flickr)

A 26-mile race is a bit different from shorter endeavors, for sure. It's not all out like a sprint. It doesn't have the horrible bear-on-your-back feeling of the second lap of an 800m run. You're not likely to run into acute lactic acid buildup felt in a hard 5K. The distance is unique. For example, did you know that the first half of a marathon is not complete at 13.1 miles? From both the physiological and psychological effort points of view, halfway is more like 18 to 20 miles into the race. I know - that sounds crazy. But that's about where the trouble usually begins based on the experience of many marathoners before us. So, we simply must have some formidable psychological weapons at our disposal to deal with what our left brain will begin to tell us at that point in the race.

The Tactical Art of Surging

Makhloufi's tactical surges pay off
(snap from NBCOlympics)

The 100m race is run all out. You get the best start you can and then run as fast as you can till you're through the finish line. Tactics during the finals of such an event are virtually nonexistent. Sure, during the qualifying heats a runner might decide to make a statement by running hard to show his/her stuff. Or that same runner might simply hold something back and keep the rest of the field ignorant of their full capability. But periodically speeding the pace up as a tactical move (i.e., surging) simply isn't in the cards - the race is too short. The fastest persons wins, not the one with the best tactical maneuvers during the race. In longer races - certainly from the 1500m on up - tactics, like surging, come into play.

Afterburners and other such things

Some runs / walks are leisurely
(Courtesy g23armstrong @ Flickr)

Given the likely pace that the timelapserunner will be going come marathon race day, photographers trying to capture the scene won't need fast film. There will be no blur. No speeding bullet whizzing by. Oh, don't get me wrong, the pace will likely seem fast to the timelapserunner, at least during the running intervals. The walking intervals will likely be viewed as a welcome but dangerous respite; dangerous in that the temptation to ease up could be strong. But wait. Galloway's method comes with an interesting catch: he suggests that after the first 18 miles, walk breaks can be reduced or even eliminated. Did I just hear a bullet whizzing by?

Run / Sleep / Run

So .... on Monday evening the timelapserunner - knowing that he would be rising at 5:30AM on Tuesday morning for his workout - headed off to bed at about 9:30PM. After his early morning run, Mrs. timelapserunner asked if he had gotten enough rest during the night. "Sure," I said, "but I only got my needed eight hours." At which point, I was reminded that I had fallen asleep in the lounge chair far, far earlier than 9:30PM and only barely awoke to stumble down the hall and fall into bed at that time. Embarrassed, the timelapserunner lamely retorted with "Well, you've got to get the sleep you need."

Exercise for the mind, not just the body

All that talk a few posts back (here and here) about how our brain can work against our best efforts to achieve our goal got me thinking: maybe we can teach our brains to work for us instead of against us. Surfing through running books on Amazon, I stumbled across the title on the left by Matt Fitzgerald, running coach and author. Brain Training for Runners is based on the premise that distance runners can improve performance if they provide the brain with the right feedback. Fitzgerald's work brings recent research findings to bear on a number of areas critical to distance running; among them fatigue, pacing, and dealing with injuries. Clearly, these areas, and the others covered in this book, offer great potential for exercising mind over matter. Weighing in at nearly six hundred pages, digesting all that Matt Fitzgerald has to say might take some time, however.

Fastest Men in the World

Faster than a speeding bullet
(Courtesy KevinOQ @ Flickr)

The history of the 100m dash is the history of the world's fastest men. The first man to run a sub-10-second 100m was Jim Hines - 9.95 sec - at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics in a non-finals heat ('Bullet' Bob Hayes won the gold medal in the finals in 10.06). The great Carl Lewis set the world record three times during his career, his last at 9.86. But three men in this year's finals heat were the last three to lower that number: Justin Gatlin (United States) had run a 9.77. Asafa Powell (Jamaica) had run 9.74. And Usain Bolt (Jamaica) had successively lowered the world record to 9.72, 9.69 (2008 Beijing Games), and finally 9.58 seconds (Berlin, 2009). But who would win it in these 2012 London Games? The winner would be declared the World's Fastest Man, regardless of who owns the current world record.

The Women's Olympic Marathon and Week 5

Tiki Gelana of Ethiopia hits the tape
(pic from NBC's broadcast)

The ladies sure know how to put on a good show in the marathon. This race portended to be very special with the strongest field ever assembled, with seven women having run sub-2:20. American hopes in this race centered on our strong contingent of Shalane Flanagan, Desiree Davila, and Kara Goucher. However, realistic hopes for a medal from amongst these three had to be set low, with all their PRs (personal records) exceeding 2:25. Still, hope springs eternal, at least at the start of every race. The smart money was always on either the Kenyans or the Ethiopians, with the favorite being Mary Keitany (Kenya), recent winner of the 2012 London Marathon in a time of 2:18:37, and Keitany holds the world record for the half-marathon. So? Who won? (See 1st inset.)

Brain Games - Part 2

Abby Normal's Brain
(Courtesy karmaOWL @ Flickr)

Yesterday we discussed some interesting ideas about how our brain can make goal achievement harder rather than easier. These ideas come from a great little blog piece by Gregory Ciotti. Today we'll finish up with two remaining notions about the games our brain tries to play with us: 1) how our brain just loves to engage us in mindless busywork, and 2) how poorly our brain functions when it tries to act as the great spur-of-the-moment planner. We'll also look at how these two notions interact with our efforts to train for and successfully complete our marathon goal.

Did you know that your brain can be your enemy?

Is all this really going on up there?
(Courtesy TZA @ Flickr)

There's a great article out there all about how our brains get in the way of us achieving our desired goals. Gregory Ciotti has cobbled together some interesting items from the research world to give us a heads-up (pun intended) on our scheming brain, and gives us some ideas on how to cope with it and achieve our goals in spite of ourselves, or at least in spite of our brains. Today and tomorrow we'll review some of Gregory's interesting observations, plus we'll look at how our little brain's dirty tricks apply to our training for a marathon. This should be interesting. (Shhhh! I'm typing very quietly now, so that my brain doesn't wake up and see what we're talking out. I don't want it to find out about our nasty little plan to trick it.)

Ramp that long run up, Baby!

Ramp to nowhere
(Courtesy jczart @ Flickr)

We've been in coast mode for too long, it's starting to seem. That's about to end. This Saturday's long slow run ramps up from the 3 and 4 milers to 5-1/2 miles. OK, that's not REALLY long, I know. But it's the longest run since the middle of June. If the temps stay warm like they've been, we'll be averaging close to 15 minutes per mile. That means we'll be out on the road for 80 minutes or more. We'll notice that. If not from pounding (which we have to avoid), then from simply staying engaged with the process for an extra half-hour. This should be interesting. Let's hope it's not a ramp to nowhere (see inset pic).

Halo, everybody. Halo!

The timelapserunner's
infected drooping eyelid

The timelapserunner still hasn't quite learned that it's best to lay out all one's clothing and equipment the night before the next morning's run. Why? There are two good reasons, listed in my preferred order of importance: 1) rummaging around for that stuff in the dark whilst Mrs. timelapserunner is still trying to catch the last of her beauty sleep is a plan fraught with downside potential and is, of course, inconsiderate of me, and 2) it's quite easy to forget one of the many items (though probably not running shorts) in the haste of getting ready for the morning workout. Turns out that one of the most important items on the list - and the easiest to forget - is a sweatband.