One month from today, I will have run my marathon. I feel ready for it, even though I have another 20 mile race standing between me and tapering (for you non-competitors out there, tapering is resting before the race). I have come so far, yet there's still another whole month to go, and who knows what other monkey wrenches will be thrown my way. So close, yet so far!
One title I thought about for this post was "20 miles: the aftermath," because a lot of what I have been struggling with over the past couple weeks was in the wake of my 20 mile race. There seemed to be a huge difference between how I felt after the 17 mile training run and the 20 mile race (granted, I also kept a faster pace in the 20 than Flash, Speedy and I ran the 17). I had a very hard time recovering in the week following that run in comparison with most other training runs- my legs were sore, and my joints ached. But what else was different? I noticed that, for the first time, I was really craving some chicken or turkey.
The day of the 20 mile race, I felt fine- I made sure I ate at pretty consistent intervals to fuel my recovery, but as I mentioned earlier, I probably should have rested more (instead, I went out that night and hiked the next day). But the real problem came after the hike. I have noticed a couple of times that the day after a really long run, I sometimes get really ravenously hungry without warning (blood sugar drop? protein or iron deficiency?) and if I'm not able to eat sustaining food pretty quickly, my body goes into panic mode. That's what happened the day after the 20 mile race: I had eaten a piece or two of toast that morning, but nothing else until 4 pm after the short hike. We stopped at a sports bar to get some food, but of course, what is mostly on the menu at a sports bar? MEAT, MEAT and MORE MEAT. One thing I can say for sure is that America loves its football, beer and meat. Oh, and frying everything.
So, what can you do in this type of situation? During my training I have run into this problem all the time, because vegetarian options are not necessarily that healthy. It may seem counter-intuitive, but trying to find a meatless salad in America is much harder than you'd think, and so you are often left with some kind of fried vegetable sandwich on white bread (not ideal). Your body is raging for food, and you are not really able to get to your normal, vegetarian and healthy options (such as veggie protein-rich foods like lentils). You ran 20 miles the day before, and you are really craving something filling. Your options are:
a) Eat something vegetarian, but unhealthy, such as fries or creamy white pasta (which isn't even really that filling OR good for you)
b) Eat something vegetarian and healthy, but also not very filling (cup of soup and meatless salad)
c) Eat something healthier but not vegetarian (i.e., a turkey burger or grilled chicken sandwich on a whole wheat bun)
What would you do? Now my friends, I have to admit, I really was craving a turkey burger. It was a very difficult decision to make, because I knew my body wanted it. But I wasn't sure if it was just a craving that could be satisfied later by some other food. To tell the truth, I almost got it, until my friend said "WHAT? will you feel like a fraud as the meatless marathoner??" At that moment, I faltered, wondering if it was really what I needed. I couldn't decide, so I ended up getting a small soup and salad, which isn't what my body wanted, and I was still very hungry later. But what really stopped me from eating it? Because I have been touting to all of you that being a no-meat athlete (even for a marathon) is doable. I have been running an experiment to see whether that is true, and up until that point it was never really difficult; I haven't been sitting around for the past six months and dreaming about greasy chicken wings or bacon double cheeseburgers.
But here's the thing: as I have thought about it more, I have realized that eating that turkey burger would not have been fraudulent, since I have told all of you time and again that the most important thing about eating lifestyles is listening to your body. When it tells you that you need vegetables, eat vegetables! If you really feel like some popcorn at the movies, get some popcorn. If you deny yourself what you need or want, you'll just end up unbalancing your body and possibly overeating later. I wouldn't say that you should go indulge in 20 cheeseburgers and a whole chocolate cake every day because you "feel" like it. But fighting against your body's natural cravings (especially if they are healthy ones) is not good either. Yes, a plant-based diet (or mostly so) is much better for you and for the environment. But at what point do you have to cut your losses and give your body what it's screaming for?
Friday, September 30, 2011
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
20
Physiologically, there is a certain point at which the human body has gone past its natural limits-- that is, when it has expended all its stored energy. According to runners old and new, there is a natural "wall" around mile 20 of the marathon. Despite the fact that a marathon is another 6.2 miles after that, most marathon training schedules never have you run past 20 miles. Scientifically speaking, the reason for this is that your your liver simply can't store any more glycogen than it takes to run that 20 miles. Even if you keep drinking gatorade or eating nutrition, your body will simply use it all up, and your body starts to break down after that point. The best analogy, as an experienced marathoner put it to me recently, is that the last six miles feels like running when you're completely hungover (which I have never attempted, but it sounds awful).
When I have explained this to some friends recently, several have asked the following: "Why don't you practice running past that point in the training schedule? Wouldn't it benefit you to see what it's like to run past that wall and keep going?"
According to several sources, running past 20 miles would actually hinder my training. Past that point, the body can't really recover fast enough for me to keep training right away, and I may even injure myself. After the marathon, I may be barely able to walk for several days, because I have simply pushed my body past its breaking point.
This past weekend was my first-ever 20 mile run. Flash had done a 20 mile training race called "The Revenge of the Penguins" (which is the nickname for slower endurance runners) as a training race for Marine Corps last year. Our training schedule doesn't necessarily call for the 20 milers to be a race, but the benefit of having aid stations as well as other racers to keep us company for three and a half hours is too large to pass up. Surprisingly, I didn't dread the race at all; possibly because I had handled the 17 mile run reasonably well. I even helped my friend move later that afternoon. Basically, I couldn't think too much about the enormity of the undertaking or I wouldn't be able to motivate myself to begin. Moreover, I knew that my fitness level now is such that I am capable of doing it, even if it's not particularly fast.
Saturday dawned with perfect weather for a really long run: high 50's to low 60s and cloudy, almost chilly. I have gotten into a good routine recently of going to bed really early on Friday nights and waking up at the crack of dawn to go on long runs, so I felt pretty rested. I drove up to Calderock, Maryland on the Clara Barton Parkway for the start, which seemed like it was out in the middle of nowhere. I knew that we would be running on the C & O trail,, but what I didn't know was that we would essentially be running from the forest up north down to where it begins in Georgetown and back up again. I ran into Flash and his friend Mer (a 7-time marathoner) before the start, but I still had to get my race bib and timing chip, so I got separated from them. I didn't find them or our other training partner (let's call him Speedy) before the start. There were several hundred runners, and we all were pretty close-packed on the narrow dirt/rock trail at first. I figured that Flash, Mer and Speedy would catch up to me at some point, and I saw them at a mini-turnaround point a couple of miles in, but unfortunately we never ended up running together. As Flash and I discussed later, though, for this kind of run it is actually really crucial to run at your own pace. and not to worry about running faster or slower to stay paced with the people near you. Even a 10-15 second difference can really change your gait and make it that much harder for you to get to the finish.
The race itself was very strange in some ways. The trail is basically a long path which follows the canal, and there were few enough racers that we basically all thinned out over the course until there were sometimes several minutes between people. It almost felt like I was the only one out there at some points, but there were one or two people who were running at about the same pace as I was, so we basically played leap-frog for most of the race. For the most part, however, I felt like I was going solo with only my music for entertainment.
I'll admit, it was sometimes very difficult to keep myself motivated. I used my trick of compartmentalizing the running segments (i.e., "Only three miles to go before 10, then you're halfway" or "Two more miles until the next water station") because allowing myself to think about the fact that I still had an hour to go after running for two and a half hours would be mentally crippling. The path was also very rocky, and my running shoes are reaching the end of their lifespan, so I felt sharp edges through the soles pretty much the whole way.
By the last five miles, I was starting to feel pretty bored. I wasn't exhausted, or at least I had convinced myself that I wasn't, but I was reaching the limit of mental fatigue. By the time I had passed the 17 mile mark, which is the farthest I had ever run, I just wanted to be done. I had started to speed up my pace by then, and I ended up powering in the last couple of miles at a half-minute faster pace than my overall average.
Mer was waiting for us at the finish, seemingly not that tired. As we waited for Flash and Speedy, she told me "You did it! Now you can do the marathon, no problem!"
I just shook my head, pointing out that another hour of running on top of that seemed insurmountable. Mer didn't listen to my defeatist attitude, however, pointing out how fast I was running in at the end. She said I probably had more 'juice' left in me than I realized, so I suppose I'll have to take that one one faith. Flash came in a few minutes later (he had gotten a second wind at about the 13 mile mark), and Speedy came in a few after that.
I felt a huge difference between my recovery from the 17 mile training run and the 20 mile race over the next couple of days. I'm not sure what it was in particular; whether it was breaking "the wall," or because I ran at a faster pace. Whatever the case, I got home, showered, and curled up in a ball under the covers (I couldn't get warm) and slept for hours. I had, unfortunately, made more plans that weekend, thinking that I would feel better than I did, and I had planned to attend a friend's birthday party that night starting at 10 pm. I also had hiking the next day. I ended up doing both and had fun, but it probably stretched me too thin. As Flash has said, I need to take my own advice and rest more.
We have only three more weeks of peak training (culminating in another 20 mile race) and then we start to taper for the marathon at the end of October. It's getting so close, yet a month and a half is still a pretty long time. I feel like I am really pretty ready for it at this point, so more fitness is just icing on the cake.
When I have explained this to some friends recently, several have asked the following: "Why don't you practice running past that point in the training schedule? Wouldn't it benefit you to see what it's like to run past that wall and keep going?"
According to several sources, running past 20 miles would actually hinder my training. Past that point, the body can't really recover fast enough for me to keep training right away, and I may even injure myself. After the marathon, I may be barely able to walk for several days, because I have simply pushed my body past its breaking point.
This past weekend was my first-ever 20 mile run. Flash had done a 20 mile training race called "The Revenge of the Penguins" (which is the nickname for slower endurance runners) as a training race for Marine Corps last year. Our training schedule doesn't necessarily call for the 20 milers to be a race, but the benefit of having aid stations as well as other racers to keep us company for three and a half hours is too large to pass up. Surprisingly, I didn't dread the race at all; possibly because I had handled the 17 mile run reasonably well. I even helped my friend move later that afternoon. Basically, I couldn't think too much about the enormity of the undertaking or I wouldn't be able to motivate myself to begin. Moreover, I knew that my fitness level now is such that I am capable of doing it, even if it's not particularly fast.
Saturday dawned with perfect weather for a really long run: high 50's to low 60s and cloudy, almost chilly. I have gotten into a good routine recently of going to bed really early on Friday nights and waking up at the crack of dawn to go on long runs, so I felt pretty rested. I drove up to Calderock, Maryland on the Clara Barton Parkway for the start, which seemed like it was out in the middle of nowhere. I knew that we would be running on the C & O trail,, but what I didn't know was that we would essentially be running from the forest up north down to where it begins in Georgetown and back up again. I ran into Flash and his friend Mer (a 7-time marathoner) before the start, but I still had to get my race bib and timing chip, so I got separated from them. I didn't find them or our other training partner (let's call him Speedy) before the start. There were several hundred runners, and we all were pretty close-packed on the narrow dirt/rock trail at first. I figured that Flash, Mer and Speedy would catch up to me at some point, and I saw them at a mini-turnaround point a couple of miles in, but unfortunately we never ended up running together. As Flash and I discussed later, though, for this kind of run it is actually really crucial to run at your own pace. and not to worry about running faster or slower to stay paced with the people near you. Even a 10-15 second difference can really change your gait and make it that much harder for you to get to the finish.
The race itself was very strange in some ways. The trail is basically a long path which follows the canal, and there were few enough racers that we basically all thinned out over the course until there were sometimes several minutes between people. It almost felt like I was the only one out there at some points, but there were one or two people who were running at about the same pace as I was, so we basically played leap-frog for most of the race. For the most part, however, I felt like I was going solo with only my music for entertainment.
I'll admit, it was sometimes very difficult to keep myself motivated. I used my trick of compartmentalizing the running segments (i.e., "Only three miles to go before 10, then you're halfway" or "Two more miles until the next water station") because allowing myself to think about the fact that I still had an hour to go after running for two and a half hours would be mentally crippling. The path was also very rocky, and my running shoes are reaching the end of their lifespan, so I felt sharp edges through the soles pretty much the whole way.
By the last five miles, I was starting to feel pretty bored. I wasn't exhausted, or at least I had convinced myself that I wasn't, but I was reaching the limit of mental fatigue. By the time I had passed the 17 mile mark, which is the farthest I had ever run, I just wanted to be done. I had started to speed up my pace by then, and I ended up powering in the last couple of miles at a half-minute faster pace than my overall average.
Mer was waiting for us at the finish, seemingly not that tired. As we waited for Flash and Speedy, she told me "You did it! Now you can do the marathon, no problem!"
I just shook my head, pointing out that another hour of running on top of that seemed insurmountable. Mer didn't listen to my defeatist attitude, however, pointing out how fast I was running in at the end. She said I probably had more 'juice' left in me than I realized, so I suppose I'll have to take that one one faith. Flash came in a few minutes later (he had gotten a second wind at about the 13 mile mark), and Speedy came in a few after that.
I felt a huge difference between my recovery from the 17 mile training run and the 20 mile race over the next couple of days. I'm not sure what it was in particular; whether it was breaking "the wall," or because I ran at a faster pace. Whatever the case, I got home, showered, and curled up in a ball under the covers (I couldn't get warm) and slept for hours. I had, unfortunately, made more plans that weekend, thinking that I would feel better than I did, and I had planned to attend a friend's birthday party that night starting at 10 pm. I also had hiking the next day. I ended up doing both and had fun, but it probably stretched me too thin. As Flash has said, I need to take my own advice and rest more.
We have only three more weeks of peak training (culminating in another 20 mile race) and then we start to taper for the marathon at the end of October. It's getting so close, yet a month and a half is still a pretty long time. I feel like I am really pretty ready for it at this point, so more fitness is just icing on the cake.
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Fighting through Fatigue
I'm now on week 11 of 18 in my schedule, more than halfway through official training for the marathon. At this point, the normal weekday runs are 5 miles, 8 miles, then another 5 miles, and the longest weekend run so far has been 17 miles, so 35+ miles total. At this point, I have had to scale back quite a bit on my cross training (usually only once or twice a week), because I have to fit in all the running days as well as try to rest for one day a week. A couple of weeks ago, when the weekly mileage started to climb above 30, I started feeling very fatigued, especially when I was doing high-intensity workouts on my "off" (that is, non-running) days. In the past year, I have really been used to running every other day and alternating with cross training, but not running four to five times a week, especially at such high mileages on weekdays. I wasn't sure if my nutrition or sleeping patterns were more of the issue, but I was starting to get worried about being that tired for the rest of my training.
One thing that I now know is really important, and which Flash has been hounding me about for many months, is to make sure that you actually give yourself one full rest day a week. I could get away with not doing that when I wasn't doing the marathon training schedule or even when I was training for the half marathons in the spring. But now it's really crucial to rest and recover, even though I sometimes hate to do it (I feel weird on days when I don't work out). There are several reasons for this: first of all, if you never get enough rest, your muscles won't have time to recover and rebuild (duh). I usually try to take my day off right before the long run of the week so that I feel pretty rested and not sore on my really long runs.
Second of all, mental fatigue can be a huge problem, and forcing yourself to take a day off can alleviate some of that. I have virtually been training non-stop for races (starting with shorter ones and building up to this point) for the past year straight. I really love to exercise and train, but even the best runners I know, like Flash, sometimes start getting mentally fatigued after so many weeks of intense training. I am pretty confident most of the time, but even I sometimes have doubts about whether I am capable of all of this. I have to tell you, there have been several times in the past few weeks when I have had to go to sleep really early on a Friday night (my social life is sometimes nil these days) and just sat there thinking, I have to get up at 5 AM and run for three hours tomorrow morning. Why did I think this was a good idea? What did I get myself into?
But I can tell you, when I have gotten going on those long runs- the 14, 15, 17, etc. milers with Flash and our other running buddy- something has started happening. It's like I'm tapping into the real endurance runner within me, a whole new level that I didn't even know I had. I start feeling stronger and stronger as we run, and I hit a really great stride at about mile 8-10 which only builds as we go. It's an incredible feeling. Granted, we are not running at a really fast pace, but that's what you are supposed to do for these long training runs- go about a minute and a half slower per mile than your race pace. Regardless, in the past week or two I have started feeling like I'm reaching the best running fitness level I have ever been in. Last week, I was supposed to run 8 miles after work on Wednesday, and I felt so good that I ran 10 miles in my fastest training time ever. Then only a few days later, I ran 17 miles and didn't even feel that fatigued afterward- I ran errands and helped a friend move for the rest of the day. I'm discovering that my body is very resilient and can rise to higher challenges than I thought possible. Of course, it helps that I try to treat it really well- as I have mentioned before, I am still not drinking at all, I don't have refined sugars, and I eat lots of wholesome foods.
One more thing that I have noticed, though, is that nowadays I can get pretty hungry ALL day, because I'm just burning so many calories. In the past five days, for example, I ran 17 on Saturday, swam for 45 minutes on Sunday, ran 6 miles Monday, ran 8 miles really fast on Tuesday, then ran another 8 yesterday. I was ravenous all day afterward. I'm attempting to eat every few hours so that I don't get TOO hungry and so that my body has enough fuel, and as usual try to get enough protein and good fats. One thing I recently discovered (curtesy of a friend) is a cool fueling/recovery drink: all natural peanut butter, almond milk, and banana smoothies!!
The only thing I'm worried about now is peaking too early... since the race is still a month and a half away. Even though I feel really strong now, I guess I can just get better from here! Next up: 20 mile race on September 17.
One thing that I now know is really important, and which Flash has been hounding me about for many months, is to make sure that you actually give yourself one full rest day a week. I could get away with not doing that when I wasn't doing the marathon training schedule or even when I was training for the half marathons in the spring. But now it's really crucial to rest and recover, even though I sometimes hate to do it (I feel weird on days when I don't work out). There are several reasons for this: first of all, if you never get enough rest, your muscles won't have time to recover and rebuild (duh). I usually try to take my day off right before the long run of the week so that I feel pretty rested and not sore on my really long runs.
Second of all, mental fatigue can be a huge problem, and forcing yourself to take a day off can alleviate some of that. I have virtually been training non-stop for races (starting with shorter ones and building up to this point) for the past year straight. I really love to exercise and train, but even the best runners I know, like Flash, sometimes start getting mentally fatigued after so many weeks of intense training. I am pretty confident most of the time, but even I sometimes have doubts about whether I am capable of all of this. I have to tell you, there have been several times in the past few weeks when I have had to go to sleep really early on a Friday night (my social life is sometimes nil these days) and just sat there thinking, I have to get up at 5 AM and run for three hours tomorrow morning. Why did I think this was a good idea? What did I get myself into?
But I can tell you, when I have gotten going on those long runs- the 14, 15, 17, etc. milers with Flash and our other running buddy- something has started happening. It's like I'm tapping into the real endurance runner within me, a whole new level that I didn't even know I had. I start feeling stronger and stronger as we run, and I hit a really great stride at about mile 8-10 which only builds as we go. It's an incredible feeling. Granted, we are not running at a really fast pace, but that's what you are supposed to do for these long training runs- go about a minute and a half slower per mile than your race pace. Regardless, in the past week or two I have started feeling like I'm reaching the best running fitness level I have ever been in. Last week, I was supposed to run 8 miles after work on Wednesday, and I felt so good that I ran 10 miles in my fastest training time ever. Then only a few days later, I ran 17 miles and didn't even feel that fatigued afterward- I ran errands and helped a friend move for the rest of the day. I'm discovering that my body is very resilient and can rise to higher challenges than I thought possible. Of course, it helps that I try to treat it really well- as I have mentioned before, I am still not drinking at all, I don't have refined sugars, and I eat lots of wholesome foods.
One more thing that I have noticed, though, is that nowadays I can get pretty hungry ALL day, because I'm just burning so many calories. In the past five days, for example, I ran 17 on Saturday, swam for 45 minutes on Sunday, ran 6 miles Monday, ran 8 miles really fast on Tuesday, then ran another 8 yesterday. I was ravenous all day afterward. I'm attempting to eat every few hours so that I don't get TOO hungry and so that my body has enough fuel, and as usual try to get enough protein and good fats. One thing I recently discovered (curtesy of a friend) is a cool fueling/recovery drink: all natural peanut butter, almond milk, and banana smoothies!!
The only thing I'm worried about now is peaking too early... since the race is still a month and a half away. Even though I feel really strong now, I guess I can just get better from here! Next up: 20 mile race on September 17.
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