Monday, September 29, 2008

Peaking instead of tapering in marathon training may improve performance

I recently read 2 interesting articles in Running Times magazine (Nov issue).
One is written by Greg McMillan (USATF certified coach and exercise physiologist) and addresses an important issue: should we taper or peak during the last phase in the marathon training program?. The article gives you useful tips about the prerace and race day strategy before your marathon.
The second article talks about combining carbs in various ratios (example glucose-fructose 2:1) and their arguably superior efficacy as compared to just having a simple carb such as glucose.
Several examples are given (Roctane endurance gel for example or Power bar). This article talks about the pros and cons of these combinations and the mechanisms by which these combined carbs may lead to an increased transport from the gut to the muscle, and therefore, improving your performance.

Citius

According to my watch, we definitely picked it up this week. I had us cruising an 8:10 pace. Is that right? If so, the cooler weather agrees with us.

The good doctor in Nebraska put a whuppin' on that course. The day after running a sub six mile, he flew through the Omaha Half in 1:46:45. This on a course where only 4 runners broke 80:00. (Official Results-Click Here)

Also, top ten in his age group.

But of course, age is just a number...

...unless you run faster than lots of people who are younger than you. In which case you wear it like a billboard and remind the young slowpokes in the same way that Alex Rodriguez reminds a baseball where the outfield fence is located.

Friday, September 26, 2008

Sunday Morning - 7:00 a.m.

Everyone appears to be in agreement to move our start time on Sunday morning to 7:00 a.m. So we'll see everyone then.

Any suggestions on a route?

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Isle of Palms Connector - Sat Oct 4th 8:00am

Anybody up for this 10k ? I'm thinking it really is 10kms, Trevor, for real !!

www.IOPConnectorRun.com

Gordon gave me some good advice about the wind - any other pearls from previous vets ?

Monday, September 22, 2008

Time Change

Temperatures are getting cooler. Early hours are darker. The group discussed moving our official Sunday Morning start time back up to 7:00 a.m. (as it was over last winter). Even if you don't plan to be there this Sunday, please weigh in. But unless the group feels strongly otherwise, I say let's plan to start this Sunday's run at 7:00 a.m.

Sunday, September 21, 2008

Kiawah Triathlon

Well another tri in the bag, but the first to a 3 race 3 weekend binge! I had a decent race altogether and ended up finishing in 2nd for the 25-29 age group. Last year I was out of the hardware for Kiawah so it felt nice to get back in with an award. I had a super slow swim coming into transition at right at 30 minutes. I lost anywhere from 3 to 5 minutes on most folks that I should have been racing with. I felt like I had a great bike and run. No official splits yet but what I added up on my watch gives me a 39:28 10k fastest I have ever done but I do suspect the run was short. Swaz and I were battling it out on each turn around but I never could real him in. It will be nice to see what the difference in our times. Overall a good day and I will be back at it next week for the half ironman in Greenwood, SC. Take care guys!

Monday, September 15, 2008

Sunday 14th - Another scorcher!

Camelia and I had a good 13 mile run through downtown but the heat made the last two miles quite tough. We were lucky enough to find sprinklers going off at the baseball field downtown. Despite the heat it was a beautiful morning.

Hope to see a crowd for next Sunday! Distance?

Monday, September 8, 2008

Sunday 7th - Hot!

We tried to stay out of the sun for most of the run but found ourselves overheating towards the end. Tough 16 miles but Trevor and Camelia pulled me in. Nice to see Swasi (sp?) join the group. Rusty ran the bridge while on his way to a 17 miler - wow. Hope next week will be cooler!

Saturday, September 6, 2008

Sept.7th - After the Rain

6:30am South Windermere - looks like it will be a nice day. Hope to see everyone.

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Dogmatic

The weather was slightly cooler and we had a fast crowd at the track last night. Some folks did 4,8,4's. My group did 800's. We saw some old faces out there. Hopefully some cooler weather might bring out a few more.

The football parents were in full bloom last night. Lots of parents and athletes were wondering on and off the track. There were no collisions, but things were getting tight. Again, the non runners didn't seem to understand why runners are so dogmatic about wanting to run on lane #1 (heck, there are five other lanes).

I sent a note the the Mt. Pleasant Rec Department to give them a heads-up, and got an immediate return note. They're going to increase their visibility and send a note to coaches and parents reminding them to leave the track to the runners and walkers.

Tuesday, September 2, 2008