My Quarterly Report, Not That I Can Be Described In 3 Months

This has been one of my worst years as a runner. I wasn't able to run the first two months of the year (hip flexor), then I spent another month on the disabled list around August (shin).  In between, I've been trying to get back to a semblance of the runner I was last year.  I think those circumstances (subconsciously) led my posts to be more "public service announcement" in nature (ie. Coaching, Stress Reactions, Food).  Well, lucky you, now you get to read about some of my running exploits which have little to no bearing on your well being.

Periosteal Reaction

A couple posts ago I mentioned my right shin suffered a stress reaction (periosteal reaction).  The doctor told me to stop running for two weeks.  The update on that is, 2 weeks turned into a month.  It was probably prolonged because I kept cross training, but I tried to be careful and now the injury appears to be in my rear view mirror.  If the reaction had turned into a fracture, I would have been sidelined a minimum of 8 weeks.

Five minute mile on the AlterG.

While rehabbing my shin, I employed my coach's AlterG treadmill two to three times per week.  I set my body weight for 70% and I was able to run pain free.  I even did a couple 20 mile long runs on the AlterG.  To try and make up for my lighter weight, I set it for faster speeds than normal and got my heart rate into the Lactate Threshold zone.  I probably paid for half of my coach's mortgage payment that month.

I bring joy to some when
they see me coming.

I bring joy to others when
they see me going.

I've got plenty of dri-fit shirts to run in, but a lot of them are a solid color with no logos or "flair".  I like to express myself a little when I'm out running, and plain shirts just aren't cutting it. I decided awhile ago that I wanted a shirt for my blog, and so it was just a matter of time before I got around to designing a Limited Edition, 2 Slow 4 Boston shirt, and finding a company to make it.  I spent a lot of time trying to get the graphics right for the printer, and I'm pretty happy with the results.

Can I say I ordered shirts in
 three different colors if those
 colors are Black, White, and Grey?
The answer is not black and white.

Club logo used with
permission from me :-)

Last month I was elected President of the local running club sporting about 300 members. Most runners in the area use our club's website for the race calender and race results.  I think when it came time for presidential nominees to step forward, everyone else on the council took two steps back, leaving me unchallenged (and unsuspecting).  I'm tempted to embed a "Hail To The Chief" mp3 in my blog for your listening enjoyment, but I'll spare you, for now. This will probably be one of those jobs with all the responsibilities and none of the power or appreciation to go along with it.

My first marathon since last December, the Wichita Prairie Fire marathon, is now less than 2 weeks away. While dealing with my shin, I was only able to run 53 non-AlterG miles in the month of August. Come September, I felt out of shape. But then I ran a 55 mile week pain free followed by a 58 mile week, including my first non-AlterG-aided 20 mile long run of the year. My latest long run was 18 miles with a pace that equaled my marathon PR. I'm still not in as good of (marathon) shape as last year, but now I have some confidence and potential for a good race.


Surprisingly, I haven't talked about or promoted the Running Blog Database at all since I created it earlier in the year. Now it's time to mention it again. Most of my readers might not even notice it's tab sitting innocuously in 2nd place on my home page, or the big blue logo on my sidebar. Over the Summer I redid the RBD color scheme, and tried to make the layout a little more appealing. Every week another blogger or two adds their blog to the RBD.  It now contains about 749 blogs. Last month the Database page had over 150 views with a lot of those coming from other blogs who displayed the logo in their sidebar and linked to it. Thanks to all my blogging buddies who are helping to send traffic this way. Please check out the RBD if you haven't visited in awhile, make sure your blog is in there and up-to-date, and please consider linking to it on your sidebar if you're looking to add some "flair" (Office Space style) while promoting other Running Blogs to the general community.

Potato Chips: My Health Food

Potato Chips.  Call them what you want:  Junk food, snack food, gut busters, or grease in a bag.  I don't think I've ever heard them promoted as a healthy choice.  As a runner, my goal is to eat as healthy as possible while shooting for a low percentage of body fat.  In the mean time, work, family, and running often leave little time for proper nutrition.  So I need to make some compromises, or at least find convenient ways to eat well.  I have other goals as a runner too, but having Kara Goucher as my personal trainer, is beyond the scope of this article.

Before I elaborate on how Potato Chips can actually be healthy, let me first offer the disclaimer that I am not a dietitian, and as with any food, all things need to be consumed in moderation (Even water can kill you by way of hyponatremia).  In other words, don't flame on me too much if you find holes/fat in my assertion. I also might leave out a few details since I'm going to avoid writing a complete dissertation on the subject.

Now, on to my supporting arguments.  As most of you know, people, and especially runners need to consume about 60-70% of their calories in the form of carbohydrates, preferably complex carbohydrates.   So what foods qualify?  You can take your pick from rice, pasta, beans, fruits, and vegetables.  One of the veggies packed with complex carbs is the potato, and that of course is the main ingredient in potato chips.

Is it considered cheating if Mr. Potato Head
eats another potato besides Mrs. Potato Head?

I admit, just because potato chips are made from potatoes doesn't make them healthy since you could add all sorts of crap to a potato to make it full of fat.  Take a baked potato for instance, which is thought to be a healthy choice.  I see a lot of people loading theirs up with sour cream or butter, not to mention other savory but unhealthy toppings.  In the case of most potato chips, the manufacturers add lots of fatty oil by virtue of deep frying.  The fat you really want to stay away from is the trans saturated fat.  I found a potato chip that avoids the deep fryer and therefore most of the fat that would go along with it.


A few years back, I was browsing the nutrition labels at the supermarket as I do on occasion when I came across Baked Lays potato chips.  To my surprise, I had trouble figuring out how I could go wrong if I included them as part of my diet.  Ever since, I've kept a bag or two at work to snack on or to supplement my lunch.  Let's take a look at the back of a bag of Baked Lays chips.

Baked Lays Potato Chip Bag

My picture isn't the greatest, but here's some of the highlights.  There are 120 calories per 1 ounce serving, and only 20 of those come from fat, no trans fat.  Sodium is a modest 135mg, while sugars are limited to 2g.  Having only 2g of protein isn't anything to get excited about, but it's better than nothing.  (It mentions there are about 15 chips per ounce)

I never eat directly from the bag.  I make a habit of measuring out 1 to 2 servings so that I don't lose track of how many chips I've eaten.  This keeps me from over indulging.

Another thing to read are the ingredients.  One rule of thumb I tend to go by is the fewer the ingredients, the healthier or more natural a product.  There are only 7 ingredients in Baked Lays, and just the fact that I can pronounce them all, and that they are all 2 syllables or less (besides the potatoes) tells me that it doesn't have unwanted chemicals or artificial additives.  Actually they tell you as much on the bag (see to

Baked Lays Potato Chip bag

the left).

For comparison, a bag of regular Lays potato chips, which are fried, contain 70 more fat calories per 1 ounce serving, and 35 more mg of sodium than their baked brothers.

I don't mean to promote Frito-Lay specifically, and they aren't giving me any incentive to.  Likewise, I'm sure there are plenty of other comparable baked potato chips out there.  I'm just trying to pass on some wisdom from personal experience.










So in summary:

• All things in moderation
• People/runners need lots of complex carbs.
• Potato chips = complex carbs
• Baking potato chips instead of frying them saves you from a lot of extra fat.
• I could be full of used canola oil, but I don't think so.
• This article is a feeble attempt of a non-cook to keep up with all the running blogs out there who post pictures of all their gourmet runner meals.

Next time you're in the grocery store or Subway and you walk by the Baked Lays potato chips, think of me.

Run Disney World

First let me say I didn't mean to take the whole Summer off from Blogging. It just kinda happened. (I got that excuse from Kristen Stewart) Ahem.  I would like to give a shout out to On the Right Track for being the only blogger to get in touch with me during that time to ask where I've been.  Glad that someone kinda missed me.  I guess my main excuse is I've dedicated a lot more time lately to my kids and other family activities starting with a one week trip to Disney World in June, which will be the topic of the day.  Despite following the kid's schedule while we were there, I still got in some runs around the resort area while everyone else slept in.

I'd like to know of anyone who was able to stick with their normal daily training schedule while on family vacation at Disney, cause for me, I had to dig down deep to do a fraction of my usual mileage.  The day after arriving in Florida, we spent 13 hours walking around the Magic Kingdom.  Needless to say, a 10 miler the next morning was not in my cards (try 2.3 miles).  We stayed at the Disney All-Star Movies resort. From reading online, I knew they had a jogging path set aside. I envisioned running along a scenic trail, through trees with views of the Disney Parks and moderate to cool morning temps. Instead what I got was a sidewalk running along the access road with a few trees and a lot of humidity.  Despite that letdown, it was great to have a change in scenery.

Let's get right to the pics.  What you probably notice first in the pic to the left is that my head is bigger than the traffic signs. I promise that is just an illusion, but after you get past that hopefully you can make out the names of all the Disney Parks which I put a lot of forethought into capturing in the picture.  And if you were there with me in person, you might smell a sausage egg biscuit from McDonalds on my breath since there is a McDees off to the right of this photo.  It was a nice deviation from resort food, even if I stopped to eat it mid run.  Also notice the bus in the background.  We rode the buses everywhere.  Disney has their own fleet of them.  I heard they have over 350 buses.  Whatever the case, I counted the buses once while running, and one out of every seven vehicles to drive by was a Disney bus.

Darth Vader came with the meal.  It was my duty to take a bite out of
the dark side of the force.

As I predicted, I ate like crap on this trip.  Lots of pop.  Desert with every meal.  Fried food.  Over-sized portions.  The ironic thing is, when I weighed myself after coming back home, I was only a pound or two heavier.  I guess that's testament that being on your feet all day and keeping up with little kids can really burn the calories.

The highly reflective sign to the resort we stayed at.

Back to the running...  I was scheduled for 38 taper miles that week, but consider myself going the extra mile to manage just 21 miles including an 8-miler.  The sidewalk running along the All-Star hotels was about a mile long.  By crossing a busy intersection, I was able to continue on another sidewalk for another mile before it stopped, and I had to turn around.

Patience pays off finding Disney dri-fit shirts after a week on the prowl.

I was one picky souvenir shopper.  I knew before stepping one foot in the many gift shops that I wanted a Disney dri-fit running shirt.  Day after day, park after park, shop after shop, I looked but left empty handed.  None of the employees had even seen them around Disney.  However, the day we left for home we visited Downtown Disney, and in the Team Disney store, there was a small selection of Disney dri-fit shirts. I got the "In Training" shirt shown here.


As most everyone knows, Disney has a marathon.  One day I shall return to complete it because those finisher medals are simply kick-ass.


I will leave you with a few more stills from our trip.

This is not a picture of my daughter having fun.
This is a picture of her getting her picture taken
in front of Cinderella's Castle whether she
 likes it or not.

I've got my own idea for a welcome sign.  "Let the Money Disappear!"

I'm Getting Schooled... Part 5 of 5 (Coaching Costs)

The first four parts of my coaching series dealt with services that I had to pay for.  I intentionally left out the payment details until now so that I could sum them all up together.  As I mentioned in Part 1, the potential costs were an issue I had to overcome.  Turns out, hiring a coach was cheaper than I thought it would be, not that I'm done whipping out my checkbook yet.  Here's how my expenditures break down:


Initial Consultation

• Duration - 1 hour
• Cost - $40

Lactate Threshold Test

• Duration - Aprox. 40 minutes
• Cost - $75

Stride Analysis

• Duration - Part of a 1 hour training session
• Cost - $40

AlterG Treadmill

• Duration - 1 hour
• Cost - $20/hour, better rates if multiple sessions are prepaid.

Custom 10k Training Plan

• Duration - 5 week plan
• Cost - $35

Since I didn't have to pay to try the AlterG, the total I've paid for services so far from my coach is $180.00 (including a $10 coupon).  Pretty reasonable wouldn't you say for all the help I've got?


Of course, rates will vary from coach to coach, region to region, and year to year, but I think posting these numbers will be helpful to others who are seriously considering hiring a coach like I did.



Go To:
Part 1 of 5 (My New Coach)
Part 2 of 5 (Lactate Threshold Test)
Part 3 of 5 (AlterG)
Part 4 of 5 (10k Training Plan) 

I'm Getting Schooled... Part 4 of 5 (10k Training Plan)

As I alluded to in the first part of this series, I have done alright on my own as a runner, and have come a long way since my clueless beginnings.  However, my marathon PR still sits 20 minutes away from a Boston Qualifier, and I am looking for better improvements.  Hence, it's time for a coaching change (I'm firing myself).


With the change comes a new and welcome training plan, customized for me by Coach Wadsworth.  In the short term, I've got my sights on a 10k race, and that training plan is what I'm going to share with you today.  While this 5 week 10k training plan was tailored for me, I'm sure there are many runners who could gain something by it.


I would describe the plan as advanced, and geared toward a half or full marathoner who needs to squeeze in a 10k.  Note that the minimum daily mileage besides Sundays and race week is 6 miles, and it maxes out at about 56 miles in the third week.  One possible inconvenience is instead of listing paces for each workout, the speed is determined by heart rate zones.  I will go into more details after the training plan chart.

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
Rest or (E-A) 6 miles	(E-A) 6 miles	(E-A) 7 miles/strides	(T) 2 miles	(E-A) 7 miles	(E-A) 10 miles	Rest
Intervals 4x800, 4x400, 4x200 meters w/equal jog rest (T-I) zone	(E-A) 7 miles	(E-A) 7 miles/strides	(T) 3 miles	(E-A) 7 miles	(A) 12 miles	Rest
Fartlek 15x60 sec. w/equal jog rest (T-I) zone	(E-A) 7 miles	(E-A) 8 miles/strides	(T-I) 4 miles progressive	(E-A) 7 miles	(A) 14 miles	Rest
Intervals 5x1000, 4x200 meters w/equal jog rest (T-I) zone	(E-A) 7 miles	(E-A) 7 miles/strides	(T-I) 4.5 miles progressive	(E-A) 6 miles	(A) 10 miles	Rest
Fartlek 10x90 sec. w/ 2 min. jog rest	(E-A) 6 miles	(E-A) 5 miles/strides 8x200 meter fast w/ 200 jog	(E-A) 4-5 miles	Easy jog 3-4 miles w/ strides	10k Race	Rest

Notes: Blue denotes a recovery week.  Week 1 was denoted a recovery week because I just raced a half marathon the day before.

Heart Rate Training Zones:

(E) - Easy/Recovery Zone:  70% LT - 84% LT*

(A) - Aerobic Maintenance Zone:  85% LT - 95% LT*

(T) - Threshold/Steady Zone:  Lactate Threshold HR ± 2%*

(I) - Interval Zone: 102% LT - Max HR*

*To make this plan as generic as I could, I converted the zones to percentages of Lactate Threshold.  You will have to either get a LT test done or make some educated guesses to obtain desired heart rates.  One estimate to determine LT is to take 85% - 90% of your max HR.  My LT is about 88% of my Max HR.  If you want to throw out all this Lactate Threshold and heart rate stuff, you could simply think of the 4 zones as slow, medium, fast, and fastest.

One of my pet peeves of a lot of other training plans found across the world wide web is they only give minimal information like distance and maybe a 2 word description.  They might say nothing about intensity or specifics of the speed work.  Hopefully I can fill in the gaps.

• E-A runs start in the Easy zone, finish in the Aerobic zone.
• Jog between intervals.  Allow HR to dip below Easy zone before starting next one.
• For all Interval, Threshold, or Fartlek days add a 2-3 mile easy warm-up and a 2-3 mile cool-down to what's listed in the chart.
• The fartlek repetitions should get gradually faster (progressive) so that although they might last the same duration, you should cover greater distances as the workout goes on.
• Strides are 100-200 meter accelerations at 80-95% max speed with a short 1-2 minute rest between. Aim for 4-8 repetitions and relaxed but fast running.  Do strides at the end of the day's run with no jogging in between.

Feel free to contact me if I left out any details.  Maybe this training plan will be helpful to others who are needing to mix things up a bit like I did.  In my final post for my coaching series, I will go over what all this advice has been costing me.  Thanks for reading.



Go To:
Part 1 of 5 (My New Coach)

Part 2 of 5 (Lactate Threshold Test)

Part 3 of 5 (AlterG)

Part 5 of 5 (Coaching Costs)