Better Living Through Chemistry

Abebi Bikila never took a pill from a bottle labeled with the disclaimer “These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration.”  He ran, he drank goat’s milk, he rested, he ran.  The rest of us need some help.  By the way, did anyone test the goat for steroids?

This week I had my annual appointment with my ENT doctor for a check up on my bionic ear.  One of the forms I was handed asked what medications I was taking.  There was barely enough room on the form.

Here’s what I take and why:

Vitamin C – for injury prevention, recovery and so I don’t get scurvy.  It is one of the body's most important anti-oxidants.

Vitamin D – to enhance my immune and thyroid function and for strong teeth and bones.

Fish Oil – it contains Essential Fatty Acids which reduce inflammation and the risk of pain from injury and also to promote a shiny coat.

L-Glutamine - This helps my muscles recover from hard exercise.  Protein builds your body, and amino acids build protein.  This is the most abundant amino acid in your body.

Glucosamine / Chondroitin – which helps prevent the destruction of cartilage that is the hallmark of osteoarthritis.  It helps keep my joints lubed up.

Multi-vitamin – just to be redundant and because I like having yellow pee.

Proventil – for exercise-induced asthma.

Zyrtec – for the random allergies I have.

Ibuprofen – for aches and pains.

And this is just the legal stuff!

Everything I take can be found in your local apothecary.  All but one (Proventil) can be bought without a prescription. 

It’s all about helping your body recover.  After workouts I have some quality protein like a cup of milk mixed with Ovaltine.  It really should be called Roundtine.  For breakfast I usually have some plant based protein – barley and quinoa.  Throughout the day I drink Powerade to replenish the salts (Potassium, Sodium, Magnesium and calcium) at the cellular level.

On Saturday I ran 17 miles over the hills around my house including the five mile climb from Redstone Park to Mountain Vista High School.  There is no level ¼ mile stretch of road in Highlands Ranch.  It is hard to get psyched up for Sunday’s 20 mile group run at the REZ. 

If I can’t hang with the gang, too bad for me.  Poker sympathy and running sympathy have a lot in common.  So, I try to do as much as I can to recover and be ready for the next workout. 

There is a muddy line between doing things to help keep you in the game, doing things that keep you at the top of your game and doing things that elevate you above your game.  It’s a bit like pornography; hard to describe, but you know it when you see it.  Which side are you on?

Light the Way

My brother John died from a heart attack at the age of 45.  If I could turn back time.  If I could find a way.  I’d tell my brother to take better care of himself; not only for his well being, but for his wife’s and children’s happiness as well.

Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States.  The month of February is dedicated to raising awareness about heart disease and increasing knowledge about prevention.  

At my brother’s funeral I remember thinking how wrong things had worked out.  I always figured we would grow old together.  I am full of regrets over things I should have said – quit smoking, eat less fatty food, get back on a workout routine, keep taking Lipitor.  

Is there someone you know?  You're taking their existence for granted.  You may lose them some day.  Something will take them away.  And they won’t hear the words you long to say.  It is an easy conversation.  Start with “Have you had your cholesterol checked?” 

We are harder on ourselves than we are on those around us.  We endure, but don’t expect others to be as compulsive as we are.  We apologize for our obsessive behavior, but why?  We are reluctant to curse another’s darkness.  

This is a call to light the way.

In other news, today was the February installment of Rocky Mountain Road Runners Trophy Series.  The course was a seven mile semi-figure eight which started and finished at the Platte River Bar & Grille.  I covered the course in 44:19 (~6:20 / mile pace).  

The key to recovery is ingesting quality protein.  So, after my 20 mile run yesterday, my wife grilled a juicy steak from beef our butcher had imported from Spain.  I ate a pound of that and felt like I could have run up Alpe D'Huez.

Bonus

It was a bitter / sweet week in the biome that is Carl’s closet.   We said goodbye to two pairs of running shoes.  It was time for them to go off the great long run in the sky.  I hadn’t run in them in months.  They were taking up room in the jumble of shoes.  More importantly, I believe they were the cause of the odor that seeped out of the closet.  I got a bit nostalgic thinking about the hundreds of miles I'd run in them. 

Also into the trash went about a dozen shoe liners, which I believe are superfluous.  Putting a removable shoe liner in a running shoe is about as silly as asking Carmelo Anthony to throw you the rock.  That man thinks that guard-ing and pass-ing are two cities in China. 

The bonus of the week was today’s 20 mile run.  After Friday’s snow storm I had written off any long run for the week.  Friday’s fitness journal entry was “shoveled show five times.”  Yesterday I ran nine miles on the treadmill while I watched my Syracuse Orangemen put the hurt on the St. John’s Redmen.  It was a colorful game.  Seven of those miles were at 6:40 / mile pace. 

Last night Ken sent an email saying the Cherry Creek Reservoir path and roads were clear.  So, Tom and I met Ken at the middle school parking lot at 8:00.  Half way around the first lap we met up with Scott and Frank, so we had a quorum.   It is so hard to put in the quality and quantity of miles while running solo and I was grateful for the company.

There was one incident, though.  At the beginning of the second lap Ken slipped on some ice and fell.  My innocence was witnessed this time.  Unlike Tim, Ken obviously had paid attention during tumbling time in pre-school.  He executed a nice one somersault with a half twist in the semi-tuck position (degree of difficulty – 1.7).  I’d score it a 5.  Ken bounced up and we were back on pace in moments. 

The consensus is that while the High Line Canal path is a nice place to run; soft surface, no traffic and scenic, the REZ, with its hills and open, windy terrain is a better place to train for the spring races we are targeting. 

Returning to my closet; once the floor was clear, I was able to vacuum.  I replaced my athletic shoes; two by two, just like Noah.  I built a base of flip-flops, huaraches and an old pair of Bata Bikers from the ‘80s.  On top of that I put my flats followed by my trainers and dress sneakers.  Two positive things came out of this undertaking.  One is how nice my closet smells; not exactly spring fresh, but not compost pile either.  The other good thing is I now have room for more running shoes. 

X the X Games?

Aspen once again hosted The Winter X Games this week.  I did not attend them.  My presence at this annual ritual surely was not missed.  There were enough adrenalin junkies there without me. 

Two things are striking about the skiing and snowboarding competitions.  One is the insane maneuvers the participants perform.  The tricks they do create and defy hyperbole.  The other is the ages of the recently weaned children doing them.  Quite a few are still in their teens; barely old enough to grasp the risks of what they are doing.  Sarah Burke’s recent death should be a sobering reminder of those risks. 

Sarah was a Canadian freestyle skier who was a pioneer of the superpipe event.  She was a four-time  Winter X Games gold medalist, and won the World Championship in the halfpipe in 2005.  She successfully lobbied the International Olympic Committee to have the event added to the Olympic program for the 2014 Winter Olympics.  She died following a training accident in Utah doing what she loved to do.  She was 29 years old. 

When I was a teenager, for an adrenalin rush we would go to an abandoned quarry in eastern Pennsylvania, climb the rock cuts and jump 60 feet into the cold, spring-fed pool.  Nowadays, my rush comes in those few moments on the starting line waiting for the race to start.

This week I paid for my entry into the Colfax Marathon which will be held on May 20^th, so my focus is on preparing for that event.  Today I ran 15 miles including the eight mile segment of the course from the Bronco Bridge to the highest point on the course near 20^th and Garrison.  There is a lot of climbing on that course.  Fortunately, most of it is in the first half of the race.

From Sports Authority Field at Mile High (aka Invesco Field, aka Mile High Stadium) the course heads west on Colfax to Perry where it turns north to, and around, Sloans Lake and back to Colfax.  Next, the marathon heads west on Colfax to Pierce (Casa Bonita) where it jogs north to 20^th, then west to Garrison before returning to Colfax and the downhill run back to the finish in City Park.

It isn’t so much that the Colfax Marathon is hilly; it is that there are many miles of constant uphill running.  It is good that we have been doing our long runs in Cherry Creek State Park.  The hill work will put me in good stead.

Getting back to the X Games.  I have a morbid fascination with them; kind of like watching NASCAR or a Category IV criterium bike race.  You know there is going to be a crash; you just hope no one dies.

Feed Me!

What does an athlete eat after a 20 mile training run? 

I confess that a big part of my motivation and a reason I exercise to the extent that I do is so I can eat more.  My relationship with food is almost obsessive.  No casual observer of my eating / exercise behavior would characterize it as normal. 

But I am discriminating in what I eat.  I would never eat Paula Deen’s signature dish; a hamburger, topped with a fried egg and bacon sandwiched in a doughnut.  That’s 936 calories in a handful of bites!  We’ll see how many more of these artery cloggers Paula pushes now that she has been outed for having Type 2 diabetes.  She kept that dirty little secret for two years.

Life is filled with choices.  I chose to run 20 miles this morning.  We choose to fill our recreation time with physical activity.  We also have a choice of what we put down our gullet. 

What are some alternatives to that hamburger?  You could eat nine medium bananas or four large baked potatoes or a cup and a half of Haagen-Dazs Mocha Almond Fudge Ice Cream.  If you run a lot, you could eat all of that in one sitting.

Things I like to eat pre-long run:

Peanut butter / honey / banana sandwich

Baked potato with cheese

During runs over 20 miles I usually ingest a gel.  20 years ago when I was bike racing, our team was on a training ride to Bennett and back, a distance of about 100 miles.  I noticed one rider had what appeared to be a wind breaker rolled up in his jersey pocked.  We stopped in Bennett to eat and refuel.  While we gnawed on cold, hard Power Bars, that rider unwrapped a big ham and cheese sub.  Real food tastes so much better than engineered nourishment. 

Things I like to eat post-long run:

Scrambled eggs with grits

Waffles

Pancakes

Hash browns

Oatmeal with raisins, chopped nuts and brown sugar

 

My diet is almost entirely vegetarian, but I am a big fan of braised meats like Beef Bourguignon, Braised Pork Shank and Coq au Vin.  I eat a lot of pasta.  For breakfast during the week I eat a mixture of grains including steel cut oats, kashi, quinoa, bulgur wheat and barley.  For the most part, I eat like a

cow.  The incidence of heart disease in cows is so low it is statistically non-existent. 

So, what does an athlete eat after a 20 mile training run?  Anything they want. 

When they finally lock me up in the asylum for deranged runners, they’ll put me on a diet of pizza and pancakes; things that can be slid under the door.

Eight Seconds

Did anyone watch the 2012 London Olympic Marathon Trials?

Eight seconds.  A lot can happen in eight seconds.  It is the minimum time a cowboy must stay on the horse or bull for a scored ride in a rodeo.  

The eight second length of a qualified ride was devised purely for the safety and well-being of the animals involved.  I assume that includes the human animals.  After eight seconds the horse or bull's bucking ability decreases because of fatigue, adrenaline loss, etc.

In order to prevent the animal from becoming overly stressed, the buzzer or horn will sound to signal the rider to end the ride and prepare to dismount.  This keeps the animal's spirit high and healthy and keeps them from 'breaking' or taming down.  I am not sure if that includes the human animals.  

In the Olympic Trials eight seconds is how long Dathan Ritzenhein watched as Abdi Abdirahman took the third and final spot on the 2012 London Olympic Marathon team while he ran the last yards of the race.  What a heart break.  

Ryan Hall set the early hard pace, but Meb Keflezighi matched that pace, surged late in the race and held on to win by 22 seconds.  

Well, my bucking ability has certainly decreased over the last few years and, while I haven’t had it tested, I’m sure I’ve lost a fair amount of adrenaline as well.  That doesn’t mean I’ve lost my competitive spirit.  

Take this morning’s long run, for example.  We ran two laps around the Cherry Creek Reservoir.  There is some unspoken rule that every hill must be contested and none of us want to be the first to back off the pace.  The result is a lot of needless exertion.  It is race-pace conditioning, which is probably a good thing for us.  

Our focus is on upcoming races.  Four in our group are running the Boston Marathon while two of us are running the Platte River ½ Marathon which will be held the same weekend in April.  We all recognize the need to increase our long runs and today’s was about 19 miles at an average pace of about 7:17 / mile.

Some day I’m going to climb onto one of those mechanical bulls and see if I can hang on for eight seconds. 

Winter Wonderland

“'Ods pittikins!  Can it be six mile yet?”

William Shakespeare

Cymbeline - Act IV. Scene II.

Reflections on the Rocky Mountain Road Runners Trophy Series 10k race at Twin Lakes Park.

Ah, there’s nothing like a 10 kilometer race in January.  The temperature at the start was about 20 degrees.  The snow storm that passed through the Denver metro area the previous evening left the course with alternating sections of snow and ice.  The sound of cheek meeting pavement was heard, and felt, by a few of the hearty souls who braved the conditions to snatch up some trophy series points.  

The Trophy Series is Rocky Mountain Road Runners’ monthly race series featuring a handicap scoring and starting system.  Participants are given different starting times based on ability.  “In theory”, everyone finishes at the same time.

The turnout was surprisingly high considering the conditions.  Chalk it up to New Year’s resolutions.  The out-and-back course which starts and finishes at Twin Lakes Park is a gem.  Its existence is incongruous given that it runs under some highways and major roads (notably I-25 and routes 270 and 36) and skirts I-76.

It was at the first such overpass where trouble met one intrepid runner.  Tim and I started even at 30:09 after the first runner.  It is hard to describe how Tim fell.  The pavement was dry.  One moment my right foot was on his left foot and my right hand was on his shoulder, pushing him down.  The next moment Tim was ass-over-tea kettle.  I stopped to help him up, shouting encouragement.  “Get up you big baby!” and “quit whimpering and run!”  Tim suggested I go on without him.  

This was a good wake up call for the 2012 race season.  It was long enough to make it a good workout, but short enough to keep the pain to a reasonable dose.  I covered the course in 40:31 (~6:32 / mile); a fine performance under the conditions and at this point in the season.  I’ll log it in as a tempo run.

There was quite a bit of camaraderie and joviality after the race and many runners added a few more cool down miles.  Representatives from Honey Milk and Wheaties Fuel were on hand with samples of their fine products – thank you very much.