Tag Archives: Run

Book Review: Eat & Run

I can’t remember the first time I heard about Scott Jurek. I think it was before Born to Run (where he is one of the main characters) came out but I can’t be sure… but I can tell you I’ve been a big fan of his from the moment I heard about him.

Scott burst onto the ultrarunning scene in 1999 when he won the Western States Endurance Run – a 100 mile foot race in the Sierra Nevada mountains in California… then went on to win it 7 more years in a row. He is also a two time winner of the Badwater Ultramarathon, a 135 mile race through Death Valley.

In addition to being a super-human-crazy-man who can run, er race, over a 100 miles at a time, he also powers himself on a plant-based (vegan) diet. A diet that is counter to what most people think makes a healthy, strong, athlete.

This book weaves together his journey to ultrarunning, veganism, “oh holy crap” race experiences, and even his favorite fueling tips and recipes. Pick up a copy, but have your running shoes and credit card near by. After you finish, you are going to want to go for a run and get some fresh food in your fridge!

The quote from the email signature of Scott Jurek: “Beyond the very extreme of fatigue and distress, we may find amounts of ease and power we never dreamed ourselves to own; sources of strength never taxed at all because we never push through the obstruction.” – William James

7 Steps to Becoming a Morning Runner

I’m in a rotational program at a telecom company, which means that every 3 to 6 months I get a new job and a new boss within the company. Two weeks ago, I was rotated into a supporting role on a large project with many moving parts that all happen during a small window of time. In order to meet deadlines, I’ve been working at night and on the weekends more than I’m used to. This means that I’ve been blowing off hikes, missing runs, and heading home about 8pm to make myself a quick dinner and open a bottle of wine before getting right back to work.

This makes me unhappy – not necessarily the hours – but missing hikes and runs. When I miss runs, I don’t have as much energy, I don’t sleep as well, I have trouble focusing, and Jason would probably tell you I get pretty grouchy. So, I think it’s time for me to become a Morning Runner.

I flirted with running in the morning a couple of years ago while training for my first marathon but I can’t admit that I was a Morning Runner because since I was freelancing I would usually get up early and work for a little while before running about 9am and getting back to work. I would also wake up early to do my long runs while it was cool because I hate running in the heat.

This time it’s different. Becoming a Morning Runner means getting up early enough to put in some miles (let’s start with 3) before getting to my desk by 8am. So, I’m either going to have to get a lot faster soon, or I’m going to have to start getting up much earlier than I have been. Let’s explore this idea.

Why run in the morning?

  • Better chance of sticking to your schedule since work deadlines, unplanned happy hours and other obligations are less likely to come up
  • The weather is much cooler in the summer
  • You start the day with a little metabolism boost that may even encourage me to eat better throughout the day
  • You get to start the day doing something for you – not for work, significant others, friends, you get some you time
  • If you like to participate in races, those wake up calls might not be as painful
  • Did your dad ever tell you that nothing good ever happens after midnight? Well mine did, and even though I disagree, it might help me get into bed a little earlier and avoid some of that trouble

How to start:

  1. Prepare. Lay out your running clothes the night before. Everything, iPod, headphones, shoes socks, something warm just in case so you have no excuse to just go back to bed because you can’t find that other sock.
  2. Get your zz’s. Go to bed a little earlier than usual at least the first few nights to make sure you get enough rest. It may feel early. You may feel lame. Just go to bed.
  3. Plan your route.  You are going to be half awake when you start out and will only be thinking about the distance back to your bed. Do yourself a favor and figure out where you are going the night before.
  4. Start slow. Go easy on yourself. Don’t start by getting up at 4am for a 10 miler. Pick out what is intimidating to you and give yourself a break. The run? Aim to get up and walk (I bet it will turn into a run). The time? Try going for just a mile or two. You probably only need 30 minutes from front door to shower.
  5. Enlist a buddy. My fiance Jason has perfected the art of pushing me out of bed as soon as he hears my alarm without even waking up. He even mutters things like, “you are so awesome, go get ‘em! You are amazing.” Hearing that stuff from my sleeping dude makes it really difficult for me to tell him to shut up before hitting the snooze. You could also find someone who is already a Morning Runner to join you.
  6. Don’t think. Just go. I’m the queen of rationalization. Seriously. I’m amazing. The only way to  beat rationalizing is to not let yourself think at all. Don’t give yourself the opportunity to decide that you need another few minutes of sleep or that you will go later. This is an important skill to learn and applicable in other parts of your life too.
  7. Be proud! When you see your sleepy coworker head back to Starbucks for a coffee refill congratulate yourself. You already ran/walked/survived some amount of miles today and can work late / go to happy hour / sit on the couch guilt free later!

Rhoto Ironman Boulder 70.3 Recap

Holy crap. That was One. Long. Race. That’s all I need to say about that. The End.

Okay, okay, here’s the play-by-play…

Preparation

It was a tough training season for me:

  • I shopped for a house (using Wes Hobson, a world-renowned triathlete, as a realtor – he is also an actual realtor)
  • I bought a house
  • I moved into the house
  • I had about a hundred job interviews
  • I switched jobs
  • I went to Mexico for 4 days to lay on a beach, drink cocktails with umbrellas in them, and eat some very yummy food between jobs
  • I had a cyst on my knee drained
  • I had knee surgery to remove the remaining scar tissue from the cyst
  • I had a weird pain in my shoulder that lasted for almost a week

In short, I could have trained with a little more… focus… and discipline.

Sleep and Waking

Of course, I got absolutely no sleep the night before the race. First of all, I had to get up at about 4:45 in order to get to the course and have everything set up by 6:20. I went to bed about 10pm and woke up every hour from 12am to 4am wondering if it was time to get up and start moving. Second, I was very well hydrated so I got up to use the restroom every hour, on the hour, all night. It was ridiculous.

4:45am came way to fast. I stumbled down the stairs in the dark, pulled on my tri suit picked up my bag and headed out into the cool pre-dawn air. I rode my bike to the triathlon course, you know, because it felt weird to have only a 56 mile ride planned later and I figured it only made sense to make it an even 60-mile day.

On my way to the course a cab and another car both pulled over and offered to give me a ride, but I actually felt like being on the bike was a good warm up. I also noticed, just as I rounded the next corner, that cars were backed up about a mile and a half to get into the reservoir parking lot. I cruised right by them, pausing just outside of transition to let someone write my number on my arms with a big Sharpie: 1448, and my age on my calf: 30.

There is some strategy around choosing your space in the transition area. You can set up your bike, shoes, food, and other supplies by someone who looks nervous, someone who looks friendly, or someone who looks like this is not their first triathlon. I opted for a veteran and racked my bike next to a guy who obviously knew what he was doing. I asked him questions and organized my space just like his. Towel on the ground, gear sorted by discipline. Running stuff together, biking stuff together, swimming stuff in plastic bag to take to the beach, food and liquid everywhere.

Swim

Once my transition area was set up I headed down to the shore to find someone to talk to. Chatting with other athletes and spectators helped me get my mind off of the 70.3 miles that stood between me, a shower, a nap, and a decent breakfast… or dinner… actually. I tried to eat a cliff bar but gave up a little over half way through. I was so nervous and excited I could barely choke it down.

I was sitting on the ground, with one foot in a plastic bag and pushed through the first leg of the wetsuit (see my guide for putting on a wetsuit) when someone started singing the national anthem. I paused in my struggling to listen and contemplated the ridiculousness of the whole event. I couldn’t help but smile. I was a little surprised that, despite the fact that 4 months ago, I struggled to swim 10 laps in a pool, I was at the start line of a half Ironman.

Once the wetsuit was on I went down to the water to watch the pros start, get water inside my suit and check out the course. The buoys looked really far away. Seriously, very far. I asked a girl next to me if it looked far. “Yeah, it looks really far.” She agreed. Here’s the map of the swim. That little triangle is much bigger in person.

My wave (women 30-34) started at 7:30. I wadded into the water with the other athletes. We wished each other luck and I heard several, “oh no, you go first, I’m slow,” and “please, don’t kick me in the face or swim on top of me”s. So polite!

Finally, the gun went off and I wadded out until I couldn’t touch the bottom anymore. My wetsuit helped me stay on the top of the water and I started my stroke on the outside of the group. It was about the time I reached the first buoy (going clockwise) that I realized that I was kind of tired. I took stock of my body and found out that I wasn’t actually physically tired, I just realized that all my training in a pool prepared me to get a break every 50 yards when you turn around and go the other direction. I started trying to get into a rhythm where I would take 20 strokes and then take a few side-strokes or flip onto my back and count to 10 before flipping back over for another 20 strokes. This gave me a rhythm to get into and worked until the second buoy where the wave of men who started behind us began to catch me.

I was keeping up with them while I was doing the crawl, but would drop behind when I started side-stroking. The water got super choppy, which made it hard to breathe without also inhaling reservoir water. I decided to let the front row of them past me and tried to ignore the headache that was developing due to the fact that my goggles were on so tight to prevent getting water in my eyes or being kicked off.

There were smaller buoys in between the big buoys which kept us on track and gave me little milestones to go between. There were about seven from the last turn buoy to shore. About three buoys away from shore was the low point of the swim for me. I felt like I was so close to being done but I didn’t feel like I was making any progress. I started to swim in little zigzags and tried to focus on just making forward progress.

About that time, I saw Jason standing on the beach and could tell he was looking for me. He waved when he recognized me – still not sure how he did that – about one buoy away from shore. I finally felt my feet touch the ground and stumbled up onto the beach. Jason was able to get right up next the the chute into transition, “That was so fast!” he called, “53 minutes! You are doing great!” I had hoped to finish the swim in less than an hour so I was pretty happy. I meant to thank him for coming. I meant to be excited at this positive news. Instead, I’m pretty sure all I said was, “That swim was really $%&*@ long!” and headed through a little shower and into the transition area.

Bike

It took me a good 5 miles before I realized that I was on a bike. My stomach was a little upset and I had a headache. I felt like I couldn’t catch my breath. I tried to force myself to eat a granola bar that I taped to the top tub of my bike and tried not to tip over. “This is the fun part,” I told myself. It took 10 miles before I believed it. I finally started to relax.

One of the many downsides to starting in such a late wave was the pros and early waves had an hour head start on me so they were on their second lap of the bike course as I was just starting out. It made me grumpy to think that they were so far along and I had so far to go, but I tried to keep a good attitude and eventually found it kind of fun to watch them whiz by me. On the second loop, I was all by myself on the course and was kind of lonely.

The volunteers were fantastic. Not only had they mastered the art of handing open bottles of Gatorade and water to moving cyclists, but as the day continued to get warmer, they would spray us with Super Soakers and other misting bottles as we passed through their aid stations. I focused on hydrating, staying relaxed and getting some more food in me. Here is a map of the course and the elevation changes:

When I was about 5 miles away from the finish of the bike leg, the wind started picking up. I was going directly into it and up a false flat. This means that the ground looks flat, but you have to work a lot harder because it’s really a slow ascent. I was tired and wanted to cry just thinking about the fact that I still had to do a half marathon. I considered crying but I felt like I was getting a little dehydrated and didn’t want to waste water – or salt – on tears so I told myself to suck it up, take it one pedal stroke at a time and finish this ride out.

Run

I started the run a little before 12pm. The wind had continued to pick up and the air was hot and dry. I focused on going slow and steady, taking small steps to shake out my bike muscles, and tried to get into a running grove. “Restart.” I told myself. “Forget that you have already been moving about 4.5 hours.”

I saw Jason and my friends Wylie and Mike leaving transition. Jason jogged up to the road and said that they missed me on the bike. They arrived at the course long after I had passed and they had been looking for me ever since. Jason announced that I was, “killing it.” I had forecasted about 4 hours for the bike and I finished in about 3.5. At this point in the race, I was about 30 minutes ahead of my self-projected finishing time. I wanted to pick up the pace, but I knew it was going to be a long, hot run so I kept it nice and steady.

There were aid stations every mile on the run stocked with water, ice water, flat Coke, GU shots, energy bars, and sponges soaking in ice water. Oh, the sponges. I will smile at every sponge I see for years. They saved my life!

My sweat was just evaporating off of me, leaving my skin hot, dry, and salty. I couldn’t keep myself cool. The first time a volunteer handed me a sponge I almost hugged her, but that would have been very, very gross for her so I restrained myself. How you carried your sponge became a funny form of self expression that kept me amused for a mile or two. Some people had their sponges tucked in the back of their hats. Others used them to wipe their sweat off.

For several miles I just shoved one right down my top. The water would run out and soak my shirt and the top of my shorts. Unfortunately, the water warmed up and I couldn’t feel it so I found it worked best to grab two sponges and shove them under the straps of my top near my shoulders.

My stomach started cramping near mile 7 so I started walking once in a while and jogging when I got fresh sponges. I tried to eat my Honey Stingers, but I couldn’t stomach any more gooey sugars and carbs. At mile 11 I spotted something that made me happy. Pretzels. I wanted solid food. And salt. I wanted salt so much that I picked up a handful, shoved it in my mouth grabbed another handful to go and a cup of water. This did not leave me a hand to get my sponges out so I stopped at the end of the aid station, where a volunteer (God bless her) took my sponges out from my top, dunked them in ice water and bravely put them back in my top. She then removed my visor, dunked it in the ice water and put it back on my head. As I started trotting away, she followed me, running a sponge over my back. This woman was a saint.

About the same time, I started feeling blisters on my pinky toes. I wasn’t able to get all the sand off my feet after the swim and still had some in my socks. My toes hurt when I ran, but my hamstrings hurt when I walked so I switched awkwardly from one gait to another before finally settling back on running. “I would get there faster,” I figured. But not by much.

The last mile was miserable. The wind was blowing 25-30mph and it was about 97 degrees. I jogged it in, but I felt like I had to steal every breath I took from the wind that was trying to pull it out of my lungs before I could use it for fuel. Finally, the finish line, and my friends, were in sight. I don’t know how I picked up the pace through the chute, but I finished. 7 hours and 33 minutes after I started. (The clock in the picture says 8:33, but I started an hour after the first gun went off)

It was the slowest half marathon I ever ran, but I had never swam and biked that far before starting a half marathon. I’m usually done with half marathons when restaurants are still serving breakfasts.

My friends, M.E., Seth, Wylie, Mike, and of course, Jason were there at the finish, supportive and amazing. I didn’t really know what to say to them except for, “wow, that was a really long race, thank you for being at the end of it.”

And now, I am half an Ironman.

What to Wear for a Half Ironman?

It seems simple, but it’s a complicated question. What can you wear under your wetsuit that will stand up to the wear and tear of a bike seat and not get in your way on the run? I posed the question to the BeginnerTriathlete.com forum and here’s what they had to say:

  • It really just comes down to personal preference. I see most athletes in two pieces, tri shorts + tri top. I like that combination personally for a few reasons. First I don’t think anyone looks remotely good in a one-piece tri suit  and second it’s much easier to use the bathroom with the 2-piece ensemble.
  • I second the two piece, I had GI issues my first HIM which put me in the porta potty each mile of the run, a one piece would have annoyed the heck out of me!
  • I’m a two piece guy. Also, it needs to be tight(er).  I bought my first outfit too big and ended up rarely using it.
  • I like to rock the onesie.
  • I just started wearing a one-piece this year, and really like it.  I agree they don’t look as good as the two-piece, but I’m getting over that.  I have worn it at a few sprints and an olympic and am likely to try it for my upcoming HIM.  For a full IM though, I really think I would go with the two-piece for two reasons: 1.  The porta potty thing 2.  At T2, depending on conditions, it might really be nice to quickly trade in that tri-top for a clean, dry, and perhaps loose-fitting top.  Wearing a 2 piece, and keeping that spare top in your T2 bag, you have that option.
I decided to try out the two piece ensemble. I splurged and ordered Pearl iZumi’s Pro Tri Singlet and Shorts:
If you are near the Boulder Reservoir on Sunday, August 7th and you see an exhausted girl with short brown hair wearing this, start cheering, because it’s me!
by Lindsay Brust

Tri… Backwards

My long workout last weekend was a backwards triathlon. I made some coffee and put on my running clothes before taking a little time to lay out what I was going to wear for the bike ride. Then I put all my swimming gear in a backpack with some clean dry clothes so I could grab it quickly on the way to the pool.

I started out by running for about half an hour along a trail near my new townhouse. The trail was well packed dirt and gravel and gently rolling under shady trees. It was awesome. What a find! I felt well rested, refreshed from a couple of days off due to my knee draining. My iPod recently quit on me so I used my iPhone. I have been hesitant to introduce my iPhone to my sweaty hobbies for fear that it would get salty, dirty, and gross. But, since my choices are, use the phone I already have or shell out $100 for a new iPod, I stopped worrying about the potential saltiness of the phone. I downloaded the Nike+ GPS application and covered about 3.4 miles in about 32 minutes. Anything under a 10 minute per mile pace is pretty good for me. I was excited. Lindsay Brust

Next, I biked about 60 minutes in the rolling flats north east of Boulder. I am very bad at planning what to wear on a bike. I always under dress. I think it’s because I run so slow that I always get so warm from the lack of breeze that I don’t compensate for the fact that I ride slightly faster then I run. Regardless, it was a gorgeous day with just a couple of things I needed to slow down for.

By the way, this train wakes me up at night pretty frequently at it passes about a block away from the new townhouse. I underestimated how loud train whistles are. I should know better.

My swim, as usual, was the hardest part of the workout. I was a little warn out from the run and the bike — which, for the record is two workouts for anyone not living in Boulder. Normal people would throw in the towel at this point and go get breakfast and take a nap. Not me. I had to go not drown for a while.

I only made it about 20 laps, which is crazy because a few weeks ago, I was really proud of myself for not drowning for 20 laps. Now, it’s just 1/2 as much as I’m going to need to do and 1/3 as much as I should be doing. (I dislike fractions almost as much as I dislike swimming.) Anyway, I survived. I treated myself to mimosas, sweet potato fries and laying on the couch watching a chick flick. You know, what many people skip directly to on Saturdays.

Dealing with the Elements, part 2

Today, I failed in my quest to continue with my training schedule despite the weather… though I have to admit, my resolve was already weakened when I was invited to help a couple of friends from grad school celebrate their engagement. Champaign was involved.

I had registered for the Colfax half marathon today (Sunday). Here is the chain of events that caused me to stay in bed:

  • It rained most of Saturday
  • It is really cold outside
  • The race started at 6am
  • I would need to get up at 4:15am
  • My friends are celebrating their engagement and it’s my duty to help
  • I’m having a great time hanging out with people I don’t get to see as often as I would like
  • My friend who I’m suppose to meet at the finish line is super cool about letting me off the hook
  • Jason (a barefoot runner) is steadfast in not giving me his opinion but I know he wouldn’t mind staying in a warm bed
So, last night I made a choice to skip the Colfax Half Marathon. I’m not proud of this choice. I feel a little like a slacker, though I did manage to get in my 6 mile, hour long, run in at the CAC this afternoon. That was what I was suppose to do according to the new plan I put myself on courtesy of BeginnerTriathlete.com. Here is the plan I’m on in case you want to feel sorry for or laugh at me.

First Brick Workout

Last weekend, I did my first brick workout. For those of you who don’t know, a brick workout is when one long workout includes two different sports. Usually, a brick workout consists of a bike followed by a run with no time in between.

Saturday morning, two friends and I rode 20 miles on the rolling hills and flats north of Boulder. It was a beautiful chilly morning morning but the sun was warm and there wasn’t much wind. I was enjoying myself quite a bit when someone in a funny shaped helmet streaked by me. Turned out there were time trials being held on our route that morning. The racers were fun to watch, but there is no place like Boulder to make a reasonably fit girl (me) feel more out of shape then when I’m working hard on a hill and someone goes flying by me like I’m standing still.

I suffered the first official injury of my half-ironman career. I was trying to slide between two signs on the bike path and I didn’t realize that my right foot had clipped back into my pedal. I tipped over and landed on my elbow. It’s a little skinned up, but the only thing that was really hurt was my pride. Good thing my friends didn’t laugh… too much.

We arrived back at my house after about an hour and a half. I waved goodbye to my friends before I changed out of my riding clothes and into my running clothes I had laid out beforehand. Technically, you aren’t really suppose to take a break between biking and running in a brick workout, but I was starving and I knew my 9 miles I had scheduled for a run was not going to go quickly so I made myself a quick bowl of oatmeal and set off down the bike path.

I quickly realized that the reason why it’s called a brick workout must be because you feel like a brick for the first mile or so. My legs felt like lead! About a mile from home, I met the Ninja riding his bike home from kung fu. He was nice enough to ride along beside me and keep me company for a little while before leaving me to the rest of my run.

I have some trouble pacing my long runs because I always get bored and want to run faster to get it over with. I think I did a pretty good job of keeping a steady pace until about mile 7. Home seemed so far away and I was so tired. You can tell by the graph of my running below:

Fortunately, as I got closer to home, I got a late burst of energy. I should probably give credit to the Adam Lambert song that came on my iPod at that point. Either way, I was able to increase my pace to back under 11 minutes per mile. Here were my splits:

My shower and late lunch after so much work was delicious. We will see if I can get another brick under my belt next weekend…

Running Running

My mom and aunt recently told me that when I was a kid they used to watch me run. I would run around in the back yard after my dog. I would run up and down the golf course behind the house. I would run up and down the side walk in front of the house. When we were on a walk, I would run to the next corner where I would stop to wait for them for a second before I realized that I could keep running if I ran back to them, then back to the corner again. I apparently ran around so much that as soon as I got started my mom and my aunt would look at each other and say, “there she goes, she’s running running.”

Well, apparently, I never really stopped running running. I’ve run over 1500 miles in the past three years alone while training for the 33rd Marine Corp Marathon, the Denver Marathon in 2009 and the Rock ‘n Roll Denver Marathon in 2010. In 2010 I also ran the Colorado Relay, a 175 mile race from Georgetown, CO to Carbondale, CO. You can read more about my training for the 33rd Marine Corps Marathon and raising money for the American Heart Association for my late uncle Andy here.

Recently I sat down to plan out – and budget out – the races I’m going to shoot for in 2011. Here’s what I’m thinking:

May 15 – Colfax Half Marathon: I know. It’s Colfax. But a friend of mine has done it and she said it’s pretty nice… and flat. I’m going to be shooting for a personal record, in fact, I’m going to try to break 2 hours. This means I’m going to have to run about 9 minute miles and I’m a solid 10 minute mile girl. Plus, my friend is running it again and it’s so fun to go out for breakfast and get mimosas afterwards. I’m going to have to start training for this soon!

August 7 – Ironman 70.3 Boulder: So I have a friend named Wylie who routinely talks me into doing somewhat crazy stuff. It’s an art he’s perfected. He suggested a half ironman to me a couple of weeks ago and I haven’t stopped thinking about it. He hasn’t stopped talking about it. Chances are, it’s only a matter of time until I pull the trigger on this. If someone can teach me to swim, I would appreciate it very much.

August 26-27 – Colorado Relay: The 2010 Colorado Relay was absolutely the best running / racing experience of my life for a couple of reasons. I loved being a part of an extremely supportive and enthusiastic team and I loved how it was a challenge in endurance in different ways. I ran a total of about 23 miles over three different legs, but I also had to time my eating and my resting so that I was fresh and well fueled when I needed to run. Also, I had an 11 mile run I will never forget. I ran into Eagle, CO in the middle of the night (my leg started at 2am) in 50 degree weather under a full moon. There is no way I’ll miss it this year. You can read more about my experience with the Colorado Relay in 2010 here and here.

October 9 – Portland Marathon: This is the fall marathon I’m leaning towards. Wylie and his girlfriend, the Ninja and I are all talking about running it, then spending the next few days after hobbling from one winery to another replacing some serious caloric deficiencies.

Have you done any of these races? What do you recommend?