Training Supplement – August 10, 2016
It’s been an Olympic Week! “One Moment in Time” came up on my playlist and inspired a couple of workouts. I tried some new products for fueling my runs and traded big spaghetti dinners for bland salmon with rice the night before workouts. The sidewalk in my neighborhood was fixed! And, I read more Science of Running.
In my haste to post on Wednesday morning last week, I realized the next day that some content wasn’t included! Somehow, I didn’t save my most recent draft on WordPress and published a previous version. I didn’t go through and edit everything I’d changed that morning, but I added the sections I’d written on trying UCAN’s hydration product, the Runners World podcast on Team RWB, and the August edition of that magazine. If you’re interested in those things, check out last week’s updated post.
Clothing & Gear
Shoes. The Mizuno Wave Rider 19s don’t seem to be going anywhere so I ordered a new pair so I now have three shoes in rotation – two Mizunos and the Brooks Ghost 8s.
(My Complete Clothes & Gear Page.)
Nutrition & Hydration
Sports drink. I was excited to try Tailwind Endurance Fuel when it came in my May 2016 Stridebox. A woman in my running club used it to fuel her first ultra and recommended it. I took it with me on my long run this week. One packet has 200 calories, 606 mg of sodium, 276 mg of potassium, and 50 g of carbohydrate. I liked it, but my tongue got tired of the taste. It’s salty but not in a bad way, to me – I prefer salty over sweet. But by the end of the run, I felt like it coated my tongue.
Electrolytes. This week, I tried Vega Sport Electrolyte Hydrator on a run. At first, I thought it was too sweet but it grew on me. It’s made with red beet juice powder, and I tend not to like the taste of beets, but I was okay with this. I wasn’t wowed, though, and it wasn’t very high on the electrolytes runners tend to want, (e.g. sodium and potassium).
Pre-workout nutrition. The bland dinner seemed to be working. I had salmon with rice for dinner the night before my tempo run on Friday and progression long run on Sunday, and my GI tract was much happier.
Routes
Hazards. To my surprise, the sidewalk in my neighborhood was fixed! I can’t imagine it was a coincidence that I just blogged about it two weeks ago. If someone who reads this blog made that happen, thank you! Selfishly, it’s one less thing I have to worry about when I’m starting or finishing my runs. But, I’m sure everyone in the neighborhood appreciates it.
Media & Motivation
Music. “One Moment in Time,” Whitney Houston. The Olympic Games started this week!
(My “Songs of the Week” playlist on Spotify.)
Podcasts. “Mike Long,” from RunnersConnect. An amazing story that had me reminding myself to practice gratitude and perspective.
“Rio 2016” from The Runner’s World Show. I was confused about the Russian athlete ban since I saw they were in the Parade of Nations during the Opening Ceremonies, but this explained it. But, my favorite part of the podcast was this quote about sport: “The voluntary acceptance of unnecessary obstacles,” from Bernard Suits. (The actual quote is more like “…playing a game is the voluntary attempt to overcome unnecessary obstacles”.)
Books. “The Science of Running,” by Steve Magness. I got to chapter on VO2max. Very timely since a few days earlier, my Garmin 630 told me that my VO2max was 49, which corresponds to a sub 3:15:00 marathon according to the tables in Daniels Running Formula! Ominously, the chapter was titled, “The Fallacy of V02max.” The author pointed to studies showing that VO2max doesn’t correlate with performance. He posits that trained distance runners should train based on recent race performances or percentages of goal race paces rather than VO2max. So much for that 48! I also read the chapter on lactate. He notes, contrary to the popular notion, it doesn’t cause fatigue but rather it correlates to it. He offers several workouts aimed at improving lactate threshold (LT) including runs at marathon pace, traditional tempo, and long intervals.
Television. Rio Olympics. The track and field events start on Friday, but I went back to my roots and have been watching Team USA Field Hockey.
Motivation. “Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.” –Arthur Ashe
In so many ways, I feel like I’ve been starting over this training cycle. Adapting to being coached, learning what paces feel right and what my stomach will tolerate… Being a new runner is frustrating.
That book sounds interesting – thank you for your reviews and summaries of it.
BTW, I just read an article in the last week or two that was talking about the effects of heat and humidity on running, and one of the things mentioned is that they can cause GI distress. So maybe when this heatwave ever passes you can go back to your normal routine.
Out of curiosity, what do you do with a running shoe that doesn’t work for you? I tend to stick with my one go-to shoe because I hate to spend $100+ on an experiment. I’d like to try some other shoes but need to get past that.
Thanks for insight on the weather and GI.
This might sounds like an injury waiting to happen but most of the time, I’ll still wear shoes that I don’t like unless I absolutely hate them. Usually, I’ll put them in the rotation with my “go to” shoe and wear them on a few easy runs. With the Ghost 9s, I brought them into work to complete a workout outfit.