Run to Stanley Park (30k)

Saturday run to our now usual long distance target went pretty well. This time around, I didn't forgot to drink my espresso two hours before we got going, however I followed the tips from Allen Lim, and decided to not take any food during the run itself and only rely on my usual energy drink (minus the Chia seeds) just to keep my blood sugar level elevated (and replace my electrolytes).

Since the infamous wall lives around the 30km mark for most people, I was curious to see if I will run into it (didn't ran into it last time I ran a marathon either) ... And, It wasn't the case as I feel pretty energetic all the way (with an average pace of 5:10/km). Obviously the 2 days of moderate carbo-loading plus a bagel (with peanut butter, chia seeds and one banana) 3 hours before the start of the run was enough to fuel me throughout the run. As a measure of precaution, I did carry a bunch of dates ...

Two days prior to the run, I started feeling one of these weird pains at the top of my left calf, not unlike other pains I have felt recently on my calfs. So I wore my compression bands (on both calfs) as prevention most of the two days and, of course, during the run (as usual). In the end, I didn't feel any calf pains during the run (nor after), just some mild knee pains. However, starting yesterday afternoon (so 24 hours after the run) my left thigh started being painful (rectus femoris?) when at ease. I cycled to work this morning and didn't feel anything special. Anyhow, I'm supposed to run this late afternoon so I'll see how it goes ...

Overall, I have to say that since I started wearing compression bands on my calfs when running, my calf pains have pretty much vanished. I know there's a lot of debate on the effectiveness of them, but it appears to be working for me ... or that's just a coincidence.

Here's the run details on Strava:

Tapering

With a flu and another long training run (30 km) coming up this week-end, I'm tapering a little. I'm still cycling to work (but on easy mode), but yesterday was our last run. Which, BTW, was crappy:

Just like the past week, I felt low on energy (I had a bit of food during the day) but in reality it was the flu (which my kid gave me, thanks ...) which was hitting "hard". Contrast the average pace of 05:24 with Tuesday's 5:04:

Oh well ...

The n00b's recovery drink

We went for a 10k run this morning after taking Saturday off. When we got back I thought about making a recovery smoothie. However, since I have not yet looked into details to what are the things such a drink should contain for post workout, I mostly worked off things I recalled from what I heard in the (sports) podcasts I listen to (e.g Zen and the Art of Triathlon) and it was yummy:

Here's the recipe:

• 1.5 cups of Almond Milk
• 2 small Plums
• 1 medium Banana
• 3 tsp Chia Seeds
• 4 Dates

I used SparkRecipes to estimate the nutrition info, and it seems pretty decent to me (carbs, protein and electrolytes) but hey, what do I know? ...

I shared the smoothie (about 2 cups) with the wife and the kid, but I had probably 2/3 of it.

The run to & back work experiment

A little while ago, I saw a video by ultra-runner Michael Arnstein (which is also a fruitarian)  in which we follow him during his daily commute in to work (15 miles) which he does running (so 30 miles in total) ... I immediately though "hey, why did I never thought of running to work?" ... at least occasionally since I commute 9 months of the year on my bicycle. I had the opportunity to try it out today using the same route that I ride back home, which is about 9km (so a total of 18k in the day).

Here are both runs on Strava:

It's not exactly the best run around since most of it is on the side-walks or directly on the road, but it was fun. I used one of my wife's small backpack to carry a few items and a bit of food to eat while at work (2 slices of raisin bread and one bagel). I don't know if that backpack (which is similar to this one) is meant for running, but when tightly secured it didn't move at all. I had my iPhone in one of the waistbelt pocket and listened to some podcasts both way.

My knees are a little sore, but overall I'm feeling fine (a little sleepy though). While my wife thinks I'm crazy, I may be doing it again ... but not everyday since I have to cycle. I'm pondering, however, if that may not be the way to commute once winter settled in from November to February.

Much better run today (with co-worker)! I guess I should snack a bit during the day .... or not since yesterday was a pretty unfrequent occurrence ...

Had a crappy run yesterday afternoon. I wasn't in any particular in pain but just low on energy ... I usually don't eat trough the day (unless I have done a long ride in the morning) so I'm not sure to why yesterday was so different from my usual days. Accumulated fatigue maybe?

Busy Monday #2

I went to my now usual Monday long ride this morning (on my way to work). The weather forecast was a little worrisome, but it was actually rather nice (14C, mostly sunny). Since some rain is (or was) forecasted for later during the week, I really wanted to get that ride done before my next long ride this coming Sunday:

So, instead of making my now standard energy drink, I went with a lighter version of it:

• 2 bags of Jasmin Green Tea brewed in 800 ml of filtered water
• 2 tablespoons of Agave Syrup
• 1.5 scoop of Maltodextrin (so about 120 kcal of Carbs)

Since I had (over)eat enough Sunday (it was a day off), I didn't feel like I really needed the extra calories punch in my drink not the electrolytes (since it wasn't going to be too hot). For nutrition, I packed some leftover home-made Larabar from our Saturday run. My hydration/nutrition plan was the following:

• Couple of sips of drink every 20 km
• One Larabar every hour

Worked pretty good as far as I can tell, except for the fact that the bars are kind of hard to chew and swallow while in aero position (in which I was for most of the ride, without much pain). I probably should cut them smaller so that I can chew and breath with more ease ;-)

To finish-off the day, I did an easy 8k run (with da wife). Felt pretty good doing it. Which I guess is a good thing ...

Run to Stanley Park (28k)

So this morning we ran to Stanley Park (again) but this time pushed to 28km. Since I followed loosely the nutrition plan I had described yesterday I felt pretty energized for most of it, even-though I totally forgot to drink the espresso two hours before, doh ... Physically, I didn't feel any pain to my calf (I was wearing compressing band on both) and only my knees were somewhat sore at times.

Here's the run details on Strava:

During the run, I made a couple of adjustment to the nutrition plan just so it'll be easier to keep track of when I should be drinking or eating:

• Every 5 km, I drank (probably 100ml each time)
• Every 45 minutes, I had one of the Larabar
• One kilometre before the end, I had a handful of dates

While my energy level was never low, I could definitely feel a slight boost starting 10 (or so) minutes after ingesting the energy bars. The dates didn't seems to do much of anything that late in the run, however I did felt some stomach discomfort later on.

My GPS watch contraption didn't cause much trouble during the long run. It did felt a little heavy on the wrist though ... I'm not sure this is the best solution, obviously. 

Energy packed breakfast

(pre) long run nutrition plan

In preparation for this October Marathon, I have started collecting tips and info on pre-race and race nutrition. Since we have a few long (> 20 km) runs left in our training schedule, it's a good time to specify a plan, and test it out so that it can be adjusted.

So, at the moment, here's the pre-race nutrition/hydration plan:

• 3 hours before the start: one (toasted) bagel + peanut butter (spread) + banana (sliced) + chia seeds (2 tea spoon)
• 2 hours before the start: one espresso (with one cube of brown sugar)
• drink water regularly (not over doing it)

As for the run, the plan is:

• After 5 km: starts drinking regularly 200 ml every 5 km (or whenever thirsty)
• Every 45 minutes: ingest a small Larabar (da wife's recipe)

For hydration, I'll be repeating the home-made energy drink I did for my ride last Sunday, but this time with a little less chia seeds. I'll also carry a smaller bottle of water to drink with each of the Larabar.

I'm not totally convinced that I need to eat regularly during this particular run since it will be only an extra 2 km from the previous time and that I didn't bonk then. However, it'll be good to see if I do feel fresher by the end and also if my stomach can take the food during a stressing time.

Easy 10k today since I'm scheduled for a long ride tomorrow morning, also it's our wedding anniversary ...

Vancouver Veg Fest (report)

So the run went fine, I could easily have gone further but the wife was insisting we stopped at Granville since that's the street where the Veg Fest was. Here's the details of the run on Strava:

The Fest was a bit disapointing. While there was quite a few (vegan information) booths, there was only one vegan food vendor (e.g "chicken" burger and such). The other booths were occupied by various shops and eatery trying to raise awareness to their existence.

Maybe I was expecting too much, I dunno ... Anyway, here's a few pics from it:

Vancouver Veg Fest (pre)

Tomorrow, Saturday 4th, is the 2nd Vancouver Veg Fest downtown. We're running to it as part of our on-going Marathon training (we're doing the Victoria Marathon this coming October). It's about 17km or so to downtown from where we live. We already did that run (actually all the way to Stanley park) a couple of weeks ago pushing our kid in the running stroller. It should be fun (we'll have some "Larabar" to fuel outselves), althought it is supposed to be rather hot ... At least, there's be vegan treats at the end of it ;-)