Greetings Winter/Spring Runners; Week #6
“I like the winter periodization excuse for my 5:29:58 for the Disney marathon. I was, however, 11th out of 34 in my age group. My daughter, Sarah Bell, ran with me even though she probably could have finished an hour earlier. Tom Goodridge”
Here's Cris Eck’s Goofy (Daffy Half Marathon on Saturday and Mickey Marathon on Sunday) report:
“Two things you never want to hear on vacation to Florida are "record low temperatures" and "coldest temperatures in a generation". This definitely was not the weather I was expecting to have when I signed up last January for the Goofy Challenge.
I think I expended a lot of energy stressing over the temperatures though I had packed pretty well for cold weather just in case. Jeff and I got some chuckles at the local Orlando news doing stories about "shivering" and instructing how one should dress for cold weather.
But then the forecasts progressively became colder until there was no real difference between the weather in Maryland and Orlando.for the weekend. Additionally, by Thursday night the forecast was calling for light rain with sleet on Saturday morning in temperatures in the mid to upper 30s with wind chills in the 20s. One can imagine that the runner's expo was doing some frantic business in gloves, tights, hats, and jackets. I was able to get a water resistant jacket (fortunately because the expo was running out of them Friday) and a rain poncho.
Fortunately when I walked out to catch the shuttle at around 3:30 AM it wasn't raining but it was still chilly and there was a steady wind.
At about 5am, a light rain with sleet starts. Everywhere you look, people are standing in tight bunches and if there's a spare bit of tent under the baggage tents, people were packed in. I was never so glad for a tacky rain poncho in my life because it cut the wind and kept me dry.
The half-marathon turned out to be a fairly pleasant run. I was able to take off one cold weather layer after 3/4 miles after the start even though I was running a very gentle pace (I had to use the legs again on Sunday after all). The race runs you to the Magic Kingdom from Epcot and back again. Magic Kingdom was the big highlight with a run up Main Street, back through Tomorrowland, through Cinderella's castle and out again through Frontierland and the back stage areas (and Jeff was out there before and after the castle :-D ). There was a wedding crooner out on the golf course near the Grand Floridian who was making everyone laugh. After I left the magic kingdom I decided that I had enough of the rainy weather (even though it was a light rain and after sunrise the sleet had stopped) and began to pick up the pace. I felt fairly tired from the run but not too beat up. Mostly I wanted a nap after being up at an insane hour.
For Sunday morning, the weather report was for temperatures in the 20s that weren't going to get above freezing until after 10am with a wind chill in the teens. And when Jeff and I went to the shuttle on Sunday morning at 3:50 AM (I _paid_ to do this two days in a row) to go to the full marathon shuttle, it was as cold as advertised. We had just enough time to drop our bags, go to the port-a-pots, and walk to the start. Even more fireworks for the marathon start but I don't think I was noticing much because I was shivering pretty hard. We finally get going about 5:50 am and we were thankful to finally be moving. After a couple miles, I was finally warm again. The water stops were treacherous--the water itself was icy and the ground had an icy glaze from the tossed cups. Somewhere before the magic kingdom we found Willie and stuck with him through the magic kingdom. I stopped a number of times to get pictures :-) The wedding crooner was back again over by the Grand Floridian (and everyone I had spoken to remembered that guy... he was awesome). At about the 15 mile mark, I'm felt the fact I ran 13.1 miles the day before. The course was also very congested so we spent a lot of time weaving around people. In the last 10k I pretty much gritted my teeth through it, and my fastest mile split for the day was mile 25. I wish the weather was better and I had more training in my legs because I would have enjoyed the Animal Kingdom and particularly Hollywood Studios more than I did. I don't really remember the final run through Epcot and the country showcase.
Walking through it later, I have no idea how I got from Great Britain to Italy on that loop. :-)
For someone who hadn't really done a run longer than 13 miles since Thanksgiving, my runs were about what I expected and I was trying not to race myself into the ground. But the weather was very stressful and tiring. I think I lost a lot of energy in the shaking and shivering. Also the course was so congested that my garmin recorded an extra 0.4 miles on the half and 0.8 mile on the marathon. I was incredibly grateful to have Jeff with me for the full marathon but he was terribly cold before the start considering he didn't really pack for the cold weather like I did. As it was I was wearing tights, pants over the tights, wool socks, a thermal long sleeve shirt, and a wind breaker in addition to the hats and gloves. I feel like I need to do it again just to get the appropriate experience. The medals are as nice as advertised and the parts of the race through the magic kingdom were awesome.”
You have all heard me ‘preach’ about doing your runs at about 70% effort to improve strength and endurance. Well here is another reason. The term ‘fat burning’ refers to the ability to oxidize (or burn) fat, and thus to use fat – instead of carbohydrate – as a fuel. Fat burning is often associated with weight loss, decreases in body fat and increases in lean body mass, all of which can be advantageous for an athlete.
It is known that well-trained endurance athletes have an increased capacity to oxidize fatty acids. This enables them to use fat as a fuel when their carbohydrate stores become limited.
Factors affecting fat oxidation
Exercise intensity – One of the most important factors that determines the rate of fat oxidation during exercise is the intensity. Although several studies have described the relationship between exercise intensity and fat oxidation, only recently was this relationship studied over a wide range of intensities.
In absolute terms, carbohydrate oxidation increases proportionally with exercise intensity, whereas the rate of fat oxidation initially increases, but decreases again at higher exercise intensities. So, although it is often claimed that you have to exercise at low intensities to oxidize fat, this is not necessarily true.
In a series of recent studies, we have defined the exercise intensity at which maximal fat oxidation is observed, called ‘Fatmax’. In a group of trained individuals it was found that exercise at moderate intensity (62-63% of VO2max or 70-75% of HRmax) was the optimal intensity for fat oxidation, whereas it was around 50% of VO2max for less trained individuals.
Other factors affecting Fat Burning include dietary effects, duration of exercise, mode of exercise, gender differences, nutritional supplements, and environment.
Wednesday Track Session - START 6:00pm The AHS track is clear but still dark. If you plan to go to the AHS track – REPLY ALL, and at least I will be there. Otherwise plan on doing your speed session on the treadmill or on a clear residential road. It may be easier to use time instead of distance as the measure. Do 10x :30sec at Z4(80%)with :30 sec recovery, then 4 x 100 at Z5 with :20 sec recovery.
I think next week we can look at getting back on the track since sunset is getting close to 5:30pm which offers enough twilight so we will not be running in pitch black.
Saturday Run – ***START AT 7:00am. **** This Saturday is another 16 mile easy run with 4.5 miles at :15/:30 sec faster than marathon pace; 7 miles this week for Half Marathoners. There is a significant number of us working toward the HAT 50k. A group will again be going down to do one or two loops at Rosaryville (10 or 20 miles). We will meet at the Annapolis Harbor Center Starbucks at 7:00am.
. Sunday Trail Run –Start at 9:30 am for one loop of the AHS trail. We ran them this past Sunday and there were a few icy spots, and a few muddy spots, but still very runable – go for it J We would love to have you join the New Years Beginning Running Program 11 am or 1pm session. I know the group would love to hear from some ‘vets’.
NOTE: Steve has added a rotating photo feature to the web page. I have sent him some photos but if you have any you like, send them to Steve at: steve.carton@retrievalsystems.com Take a look.
The Winter Training Program is open online at: http://www.active.com/event_detail.cfm?event_id=1814952
Tom Nelson has constructed a site to show our routes and water stop locations for the long run coming up each week. You can indicate your intention to run and see who else is planning on showing up – one more incentive for getting there. Check back to the following website later in the week for the latest info on water support: http://www.runningahead.com/groups/truman/Forum
"Undertake something that is difficult; it will do you good. Unless you try to do something beyond what you have already mastered, you will never grow."