Intro for the Trail running 100 post 04/23/2012
After the last few years of focusing on long course triathlon, this years quest to run the Leadville 100 trail race has reminded me why I wanted to live in Colorado in the first place. We have the most amazing trail systems that the Rockies can offer and if you live here don't forget to get out there and enjoy them. If you are new to trail running, I have put together a short class to help you get started safely. So if your interested, check out the post below, then got out there, leave your ipod at home and listen to the rythm of your own trail run! Add Comment Trail running 101 Class 04/23/2012
Trail running 101 Class 04/23/2012
• Trial Running 101 • Cheyenne Mountain Trail Race • And Coach Josh @ www.MyPeakEndurance.com • What is Trail running 101 • This class is meant to be a basic introduction to trail running – Even though it covers some basic concerns, please recognize that trail running is meant to be experienced, not written about. – This class is meant to give you tools to make your experience more successful • What is Trail Running 101 • If you are embarking on first trail race or just looking to get off the beaten path, then you need to be prepared. • Trail running is a separate sport altogether from road running. • The environment, terrain, attitude of participants & overall focus are very, very different. • Technical vs. Non-Technical trails • The first thing that a trail runner wants to know about a new trail is whether it is technical or non-technical. • Non-Technical Trails are basically soft roads. – They are well maintained, they tend to be wide enough for 2 or even more people to run abreast, and there are not very many obstacles in your path as you run. • Technical Trails tend to be single track trails – Usually one person can advance along the trail at a time. – There will be numerous obstacles, including but not limited to rocks, roots, and rivers. – You need to maintain your focus in order to run safely along a technical trail. • Trail running rules to remember • One of the reasons many people are wary of trail running is that they are afraid of getting injured. • The uneven terrain, rocks, twisting paths & severe drops & rises, causes many uninitiated folks to worry about what might happen. • It does take a little while to become adept at “seeing” the trail. • But the following recommendations should help you get started feeling comfortable on the trails. • Eyes on the trail • Avoid the temptation to look around at your surroundings. • Trail running is a great way to get out into nature but if you want to look around and see it – Stop running or walk! – Leave your iPod in the car. – This will help you focus on what is coming up or around the corner. • 3-6 Feet rule • Looking 3-6 ft. in front of you is a good rule of thumb • Don’t watch your feet hit the ground. • Your mind will process what it has seen when you get to it. • Trust that your feet will know where to plant them self on the ground. • More Technical terrain brings your sights in closer (Example: if you have to cross a creek on rocks, that would be a good time to walk and look at where you step) • Slow Down • Learning something new, start slow – This is most important for injury prevention. • Unlike road running, trail running is not as pace or time driven. – Learn to focus on RPE (rate of perceived effort) – Heart rate zones – If you are competitive, possible race placing or group run finishing. • Walk when necessary • 15K on the trail can feel like 26.2 on the road. – Twist, turns, rocks and stumps you cross will add to your overall fatigue . – elevation gains and descents will take a lot out of you physically and mentally. – Plan a smart race and consider your current fitness level. For example, If you have not been training for hills, consider walking hills. • Truth is in a year no one is going to remember how fast you ran – Make sure you define what goals are important to you and run your race. • If you have to walk to achieve your goals then do it. • Passing • A lot of trail running is done on single tracks. – it is important to know the proper protocol to passing. • Announce yourself as passing on the left – most runners will move over to the right to make room for you to pass. • Not all runner will get over for you – If they don’t be careful where you pass – do this at a place on the trail where you will have plenty of distance to get around the runner without running into any obstacles along the trail. – Once you have found a spot be sure to accelerate quickly, pass on the left & maintain this faster pace until you are completely clear of the runner you have passed. • Equipment • Trail specific shoes are not essential but here is the benefit. – Trail running shoes do protect your feet and toes from trauma better than road running shoes – They also tend to have better traction, and should dry better than road shoes. – Note: before you even think of purchasing Gore Tex shoes, keep in mind that if you cross a stream, the water will STAY IN YOUR SHOES until you empty them out. • Equipment • Fueling and equipment needs – How are you going to carry food and other equipment – Vests, fanny packs, pockets, ect. • Hydrations – Preplan how you are going to carry your liquids – Handheld bottles, hydration belts, back mounted packs • Equipment • If you plan on running close to night fall consider headlamps or lighting systems. – Remember that trail runs can take longer then you expect. • Other considerations – Dirty Girl shoe covers, bandanas, safety glasses, cell phone and cash • Running Form • Remember to pick up your feet. – You may be getting tired earlier, and after about 4 miles, one tends to just lift their feet barely above the trail. – This is when the roots jump out and get you – Its always the small ones that get you. • Running Form • Trail running take more core strength then road running. • Consider all the extra motion involved – It take more twisting, turning and jumping to get you down a trail. • It is import to work on core strengthening prior to any big trail running event. • Running Form • Consider your dominant leg. • Figure out which one it is before a big event • Don’t abuse that leg during the event. – Consider stepping up on rocks or over logs with a different lead leg each time. • Consider that your energy and muscles are like a matchbook – When that match book is burned up then so is all your energy and muscles. – Learn to burn your matchbook slow! • Running Form • Specific points that you can analyze about your running gait and work on when running trails include: – Relaxing your ankles and feet… – Taking short strides… – Maintaining a quick cadence… – Striking the ground mid-foot… – Maintaining good posture… – Developing your core strength… – Avoid hunching over when running up-hill • Safety • Follow the Left Hand Rule: If you are unfamiliar with the trails that you are running on, then always turn left whenever an opportunity presents itself. Worst case scenario involves running in a circle, and the best case scenario is that you can easily find your way back to the trail head by turning around and taking right turns if you get lost. • Safety • Run with Friends: – Running with a friend is more fun and is also safer. – Always let somebody know where you are running and when you will return, especially when you do not have anyone to run with. – At the very least, leave a note in your car. If you get injured on your run, then it will be easier to find you if somebody knows where to start looking. – You may also want to stick to more frequently traveled trails when you are running solo. • Questions??? Fueling for Life and building a machine 01/09/2012
Fueling for Life and building a machine 01/09/2012
I want to write a short article not to down play the “trendy” diets that are out there but more to back the importance of healthy living. There are so many different diets out there and some are just to make you lose weight fast by cutting calories or Carbohydrates. Some are a little closer to making a true life style change by not restricting calories, but they are based around cutting nutrients that are beneficial. The one positive thing that comes out of this type of “dieting” is that all of these cut out unhealthy foods, extra sugars, saturated fats, etc. What’s somewhat funny to me is that many of these diets claim to be the magic potion for weight loss. Well that is if you follow their meal planning and get in a listed amount of cardiovascular exercise per week. Wow, healthy food and exercise. Maybe it is not really the trendy magic diet but a combination of the right foods and exercise that makes the magic happen. Having said that, if following a meal plan is going to make you eat healthy and cut out the bad foods, then I say go for it. First let’s talk about some of the pitfalls of calorie restrictive and nutrient restrictive meal planning. As athletes we all understand the willingness to work hard and fight to achieve our personal goals. If we look deeper into this we realize that as humans we have a programmed need to live that we call “fight or flight”. Whichever we choose is a means of survival for ourselves. Our bodies are programmed the same way when it comes to our intake of food and especially lack of food. When we do not get enough calories a few very important things happen. First, our bodies look for the fuels elsewhere and the next place that it is found is in our muscle that we have worked so hard to build. That’s right; our bodies actually begin to cannibalize muscle to support its needs. That explains why people lose weight fast from calorie restriction along with low to no Carbohydrate intake. The next import thing that happens is that our metabolism slows down and begins to store more calories as fat and not use it as fuel. This also explains why when you diet, you lose a lot of weight up front and then the weight loss begins to slow down and eventually plateaus. So where does this leave us? We know that if we eat too much then our body stores the added calories as fat in our body. If we eat too little then we lose muscle that we need to support our active lives. This puts us in a Caloric window that is very individualized. If we take in the right amount of fuel our bodies will also become the high performance machines that we all want and strive to be. The easiest way to know how many calories that you need is to see a Registered Dietitian or a Nutritional Specialist. I hesitate to even put these two in the same sentence due to the huge difference in knowledge that the RD has over the Nutritional Specialist but each do have the ability and knowledge to help define daily caloric needs. To simplify this, if that is even possible, what each person needs to figure out is what their resting metabolic rate is (The amount of calories that your body uses to survive without adding daily activity). Then figure out the average amount of calories your body burns each day from work, errands, exercise, etc. Then add the two together and be able to replace these with healthy foods, with the right macro-nutrient break down of course. Your RD or NS will have a more advanced formula to figure this out for you. Another option is metabolic lab testing which may not be the right financial choice for us average folks on a tight budget. Another important factor in nutrition is timing our intake to support our activities especially if you are an endurance athlete. For now I am only going to talk about Carbohydrate intake because this is the easiest fuel for our bodies to use for moderate to high intensity workouts, training and racing. In most people, our bodies can store up to 400 grams of carbohydrate. Since carbs are so easy for the body to use as fuel this also means that they are used up very rapidly as well. It is important for us to pre-load with the right amount before a workout. Here is a quick breakdown of how many grams of carbs to take in for a given amount of time. If you have one hour before you workout, you should aim for .5 grams per pound of body weight. So if you weigh 150 lbs. you should aim for 75 grams of carbs. If you have two hours before your workout you should aim for 1 gram per pound of body weight. If you have three hours then aim for 1.5 grams per pound. An example of a 75 gram meal before a workout would be; one cup of oatmeal + 3 tbsp raisins + yogurt with fruit flavor. If you are planning on exercising for more than an hour then you need to fuel during exercise. During exercise you should aim for .3 grams of carbs per pound of body weight per hour. This can be accomplished with whole foods or by sports drinks, sports bars or gels, etc. Be sure to read the product label or know the nutritional value of your foods before your workout. Post exercise nutrition is one of the mort import parts of recovery. Your recovery fueling should begin within 15 min and no more than 30 minutes after a workout. You should aim for .6 grams per pound of body weight per hour for at least two hours after a workout. This is also the time that you should be sure to take in protein. We will discuss this in another article but if you take in between 6-20 grams of protein this should be a sufficient amount to allow for your muscle to repair the damage that has been done to them. Try to think of healthy living as a triangle with the sides being nutrition, exercise and recovery (rest). If one of these sides is not there then the triangle will collapse. Let’s work hard on building a strong well supported triangle and machine! 300 mile week Totals 08/31/2011
Just as it is important to have annual training goals, it is also import to have short term goals. Here was my goal for this week. I wanted to bike 300 miles in a seven day period. Not only did I reach this goal but I was able to do it in five days of cycling! Here is my break down and totals: Total: Hours Cycling: 18:53 Miles: 303.51 Elevation gain: 17,197 Total Kilojoules: 9,442 The weeks break down: 8-25-2011 3:17 hours 49.48 miles 4721 ft of climbing 1550 Kj. TSS: 148.2 8-26-2011 4:49 hours 70.10 miles 5276 ft of climbing 2250 Kj TSS: 168.8 8-27-2011 3:32 hours 49.52 miles 4260 ft of climbing 1642 Kj TSS: 142.7 8-30-2011 3:06 hours 60.32 miles 1777 ft of climbing 1750 Kj TSS: 170.2 8-31-2011 4:09 hours 74.09 miles 3163 ft of climbing 2250 Kj. TSS: 218.7 I'll try to post my routes later but for now, Not a bad way to end the Month! Thanks for reading!!!!!!!!!! Endurance Miles, Calhan loop 05/10/2011
Doug Pape joined me on todays ride to Calhan. Easy ride out then Doug desided to wake up and really start pushing the pace into the Calhan wind. I wish he would have warned me that he had some legs on him. Very strong showing on his side today. Nice work Doug! Here is the file from our ride. I forgot to restart my watch after a short break in Calhan, so i am missing about 6 miles and two tough climbs. I would say our total Kilojoulse of work was closer to 2000. Great ride today! Now we wait for the snow to come tomorrow. Garmin File- Cheyenne Mountain Trail 50K 04/25/2011
Cheyenne Mountain 50K report 04/24/2011
Yesterday was the inaugural Cheyenne Mountain 50K Trail Race. With never having run that distance before and going into it without specifically training for this race I was not sure what to expect. So I guess you could say I went into it with little performance expectations (or so was the plan). What I was really hoping for was the Colorado Springs weather to cooperate and to have a great long day of trail running. Race day for me is great because there is no other plans that day or worries about being out for too long. Not that my great wife and biggest supporter has a problem with my long days, but as a Dad of 4 it is hard to stay away for hours at a time when I am not doing it to support the family. I guess that is more of an internal struggle that most endurance athletes with families deal with. Anyway, this race was supposed to be family friendly. The plan was to have three different events for kids. A kids fun run, a kids guided hike and last the zoo was going to have an exhibit set up. What an awesome idea! Well, by no fault of the race director who did an amazing job setting this up, I guess the Colorado weather had other plans. When I woke up it was 34 degrees at my house at 6 am. When I got to the race sight (only 30 minutes from home) it was 7:15 and had warmed up to a nice 39 degrees. No worries though, there was still 45 minutes until start time for the sun to come out. Unfortunate for all the kids the sun didn’t really make an appearance. I think the reason was the weather but all the kids activities were canceled. I have to say, my wife and kids were troopers and made it through the whole day. The weather was ok for running but not for standing around waiting all day! This race was set up with a 25k race and a 50k race. The course was set up in a figure eight shape. One lap was 25k so it was a two lap race for the 50k racers. The 50k started at 8 am and the 25k started at 8:30. I think there were 5 elite level runners in the 50 k race and they started with us amateurs which was kinda cool! Each lap was set up with two lollipop loops so depending on where you were on the course you had a chance to see the elite runners or your friends on the course, kind of. I say kind of because for me this was a very lonely race. The groups in this race broke up pretty quick. I think by mile 8 I didn’t have anyone in front of or behind me. On the lollipop loops you would see people but it was hard to tell who was racing the 25k and who was doing the 50. The trails were amazing. This is a state park so I believe the funding to keep it up is pretty good. Throughout the course you run through a lot of Colorado Springs has to offer. You start the course in a main parking lot and head west and up up up up hill. You run through scrub oak and then up into a lot of Ponderosa pine. After you climb about 1200 feet you head back down through the start area and out through some open grass land. Oh, the wind really likes this grass area too. Most of the course the wind is blocked by tree cover but the grass is pretty open and I would guess we had about 20 mph wind on the east side of the course. But right away you are climbing the second half of the first lap back through the scruboak and into the ponderosa again. And also back up anther 1200 ft. Lots of opportunity to see the local wildlife as well. I saw tukey and one rattle snake. Theirs is also deer and bears in the area but I am guessing they were all scared off by the 300 racers in the area. Aside from the race start and a couple road crossings the course was almost all single track trail. There was quite a bit of technical running with the trail being very winding with a lot of natural obstacles along the way. Their was also a few areas that were more like walking paths but I would say you really had to be on your game for 90% of the course. That was apparent by the couple racers I say still going on with bloody faces. So lesson learned, Don’t loose focus! They did a great job of marking the course as well. There was one unmarked Y in the trail but if you were paying attention the sign at this spot said “overlook” on it so that really means “Dead End”. The aid stations were well stalked. The race was sponsored by Hammer so that’s what they had for gels and drinks. They also had BBand J’s, pretzels, chips, jelly beans, m&m’s and cola. Their might have been more but that’s all I remember. I brought my own hydration. I used three packets of generation Ucan mixed into a 20oz. hand held bottle. The first two were without protein and the last was with. Next time I might even do the last two with protein as my muscles were pretty trashed from all the climbing pretty early in the race. One lesson learned was, don’t give up your bottle at an aid station. I put my last packet of Ucan in my bottle and the volunteer took it, filled it with water and set it on the table where it fell over, dumping out a lot of my drink powder. I’m not knocking the volunteer because without them the race would probably not happen. That was more of a note to myself to fill my own bottle. I took in one Hammer gel every 45 minutes for the first 3 hours. After that I was getting hungry so started taking BB&J’s and pretzels as I passed the aid stations. With the way the course was set up you passed the aid stations 6 times per lap. I did take in one last gels around 5 hours. I could tell I was really fading from try to run on only Ucan and PPJ’s. I probably had a total of one PPj sandwich. It did take away my hunger but didn’t do enough to fuel me. We did have light snow and sleet on the course and like I said I went into the race with low performance expectations. I say that but as soon as the gun went off I was in race mode and felt like competing. I can’t complain about my results. I ended up 22nd place overall with a time of 5:45:00. I also know that I reached my limited that day for distance with that kind of elevation gain (Total elevation gain was 5000 ft.) When I go for 50 miles I will have to train specifically for that distance and not just do it on a whim!       Dry land practice for the freestyle catch 03/28/2011
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