Training Supplement – January 15, 2017
It’s dark during my morning runs these days, so I invested in some visibility gear this month. I’m pretty sure the Runners Connect podcast with Jared Ward will be one of my favorites of the year. And, I cleared out a bunch of Stridebox products.
Site Administration: I decided to do the supplements bi-monthly this year instead of weekly.
Clothing & Gear
Visibility gear. It’s dark in the morning these days. I bought a lot of additional visibility gear this month to better ensure motorists, cyclists, and walkers see me out there. (Update: I already owned a few items. See my Clothes & Gear page for information on those items.)
Nathan Zephyr Fire 300 ($59.99). I ran with this for an early morning run early in the month. Aiding my sight while also making me visible to cars led me to immediately appreciate this product. It was sealed once I realized it also made it easier to warm walkers that I was coming up behind them. The downside: it’s hard to run with it when you’re wearing mittens.
Nathan LightSpur RX LED Foot Light ($29.99). Last December, I got an LED shoe heel in a Stridebox. I like the idea of this product. It’s a simple way to add visibility – attach it to your heel and turn it on before a run. However, I lost mine during a run, so I bought the Nathan model. Given the price, I’ll be very upset if this one falls off.
Nathan StrobeLight LED Clip ($9.99). I already owned one of this clip lights but I bought a couple more. It’s easy to just attach one on my hat, collar, water bottle… It’s an easy way to make myself more visible.
Water-Resistant Silicone LED Armband ($12.99). I thought this was a neat product but it didn’t fit around my arm. I wore it on my calf but I think there there are better products out there.
How are you staying visible in the winter?
Stridebox. This month’s Stridebox has instructions on how to put screws in the bottom of your running shoes for better traction in the winter.
(My Complete Clothes & Gear Page.)
Nutrition & Hydration
Caffeine. Run Gum. I had great expectations for this product. I’ve seen and hear a lot of advertisements and testimonials for it over the years. I had three packets from previous Strideboxes and finally tried it this month. It’s some of the toughest gum I’ve ever chewed. I woke up with a sore jaw the next day and realized it was from gnawing on this gum. And, insult to injury, I didn’t feel any kick from the caffeine.
Stridebox. I decided I didn’t want to take so many unused products into the New Year. I buckled down and tried, stored away, or just plain got rid of some of the items languishing from previous boxes.
The good…
Prince of Peace Ginger Candy. This was one of my favorite product. The candies were very tasty. I’m just not sure it’s something I’d eat all the time even though it has some great benefits.
Bell Plantation PB2 Thins. These didn’t quite taste like crackers to me – more like mini cookies. It was hard for me to think of them as health food.
Foods Alive Lemon Chia-Crunch Power Crackers. These weren’t bad I didn’t quite like the lemon flavor.
The bad…
Buff Bake Red Velvet Protein Peanut Spread. I tried this on toast and it was way too sweet for me. I think it’s because I’m used to eating peanut butter without added sugar.
Evoke Athlete Fuel Organic Muesli. The package said this could be oatmeal but it was very bland. Unfortunately, I didn’t have any brown sugar or honey to mix into it.
The ugly…
Protes Protein Snacks. These protein chips are made from pea protein in nacho flavor. They were not good.
Beet Boost. I hate beets.
Routes
Trails. This weekend, I deviated from my normal running routes. Generally, I like loops so I don’t see the same sights twice. But, I decided to do an out-and-back on the W&OD trail on Saturday, which took me outside the Beltway.
And then today, I drove to the southern section of the Mount Vernon Trail for my recovery run.
Safety. Kudos to the local groups who posted signs on the Custis and W&OD Trail reminding bicyclists, runners, and walkers about good trail etiquette.
Media & Motivation
Music. “Freedom,” by Wham! Another legend died in 2016. This has been my favorite running song featuring George Michael.
(My “Songs of the Week” playlist on Spotify.)
Podcasts. “Jared Ward,” by RunnersConnect. Stop whatever you’re doing and listen to this podcast right now. This was an excellent interview with the 6th place male finisher at the 2016 Olympics. The, “I should feel different, but I feel the same” moment that I think is the true feeling of a confident, well-grounded person. I took away two things: 1) I need to get back to running my true marathon pace – not a goal pace and not the pace of those running around me, and 2) I want to just get fit by May and let everything else fall into place.
“Breaking the 2-Hour Marathon,” by The Runner’s World Show. I read “Two Hours,” by Ed Caesar last year, so I was interested in hearing more after this story broke late in the year. I’ll be following but put me down as someone who doubts it’ll be done next year.
Websites and Blogs. Eugene Marathon Race Report, by Sweat Once a Day. I started looking for insider information on Eugene and was happy to find this race report (from a local, no less!) I don’t hope to do as well but I was heartened to read about her huge PR.
Motivation. “There are no shortcuts to any place worth going.” – Beverly Sills
I’m trying to pay more attention to the “little things” this training cycle. I’m seeing a chiropractor about my left hip, monitoring my sleep, and trying to get down to my ideal racing weight.
Hi Julia.
Thank-you for all the hard-work you must put into this wonderful blog. It’s a great read and I’m very glad I stumbled across you.
My long-term goal is the same as yours; to break 3-20 in the marathon. In my case it’s because it would qualify for the London Marathon as a ‘good for age’ runner. So everything I read here is very useful.
I wish you the very best of luck for the Eugene Marathon and all your other running events in 2017. I’ll be following with interest.
Gary 🙂
Thanks, Gary! Good luck to you in hitting sub-3:20. When and where are you going to try for it?
P.S. I noticed this weekend many of the site URLs are broken. I’m working on fixing them.
Thank-you!
My next marathon is in Manchester, England on April 2nd. I’m not in 3-20 shape yet, but working towards it. My target in Manchester is to break 3-40. 3-20 is probably a couple of years away (if I ever get there).
A bit of a long story, but I returned to running 2 & 1/2 years ago after a very long ‘too busy to run’ break. 12 years of no running at all, and about 20 years since doing any proper training. I ran in the wonderful New York City Marathon to celebrate my 50th birthday recently. It was my first full marathon since 1993. I went into the race with no time goals, just to enjoy the big city experience as much as possible. I crossed the line in 3-55 and had an absolutely wonderful day.
So anyway, I need to get in better shape and try to knock 35 minutes off my New York time. A 35 minute improvement sounds daunting at the moment. But if I can run 3-40 next time out needing another 20 minutes won’t seem quite so scary. If I can run 3-37-30 half of those 35 minutes will have gone at the first attempt. We’ll see.
What gives me hope is that I ran a 2-56 marathon (and 1-21 for the half) back in 1993, shortly before I left the sport. So I know I have the potential deep inside me somewhere!
Gary