Crazy Floridian

Many things happen while running the distances we do.  Some of them are physical while others are mental, and some are completely fictitious creations of our mind to keep us busy.  I thought I would share one such event that was real, but obviously just “bubble gum for the mind” to keep myself occupied on a long run.  So there I was running a mid-week 20 miler of what will be a 103 mile week after running a couple of 93 miles weeks back to back.  I had taken a paved trail along a canal with lots of wildlife which was peaceful from the lack of traffic sounds.  I have been putting in some late afternoon runs to pick up heat training so I am better prepared to handle it if the pending Iron Horse 100 turns out to be hot, like last year.  While moving along at a nice 8:45 per mile pace I was feeling pretty good.  I ran 16 miles the day before, and today the pace felt very good though not easy.  There was a slight breeze, light fluffy clouds in the sky, and I was thinking that after I finish my first 100 mile ultra I will use the gained fitness from the training to concentrate on my speed and finally get Boston Qualified.

As I was crossing a street in order to continue along the trail I noticed a young woman running down the street toward the trail.  At a glance I quickly analyzed she was not a serious runner, though she was in pretty good shape.  In her cotton t-shirt and normal gym shorts her calves did not have the “look” of someone who ran many miles.  I remember thinking my 8:45 pace was plenty to ensure she would not catch me, and she was probably marveling at how I was running very well for being 8 miles into a 20 miler. (Yeah, we all do it.)  Although in reality she probably didn’t notice an older guy running with a bright red Camelbak 100 oz pack on a short 3.5 mile stretch of trail.

My mind quickly switched gears to other subjects, and the young woman was forgotten.  I continued at the same pace and was thinking more about my strategy for the upcoming race.  Then it happened.  From the corner of my eye I saw someone passing me.  At first I thought it was probably a cyclist since they often use this trail as well.  Then I noticed it was actually the young woman I saw earlier, and she was listening to an iPod and smiling slightly as she passed.  I remember thinking “Well, good for her.  I am glad to see her feeling good about her run.”

When she was about 10-15 yards ahead of me I decided to match her speed, because I was curious how fast she was actually traveling.  Garmin said we were running a 7:50 pace.  I had no intention of passing her because I was getting in a much longer run than she was probably doing, and I did not really want to do a marathon pace run.  However, she must have sensed me trailing because she increased speed to a 7:33 pace and maintained it for another 1/2 mile as I matched her.  Again, I had no intention of passing her.  She was going much faster than I intended to run, but I was feeling pretty good so I continued to match her speed while maintaining distance.

I was actually interested in her running form as we were running a pretty nice pace.  She seemed to be running pretty easy, and while her form was not graceful it was very “easy” looking and she gave no open signs of fatigue.  I was impressed and continued to tail her to the next street crossing the trail where she got off and stopped.  As I crossed the street, watching traffic, I noticed that she was bent over slightly catching her breath as she glanced up at me a few times. (So she did notice I was there.)  I guess it was a good workout for her after all, and was not as easy as her gait had indicated.

After safely crossing the busy street I continued the remaining 11 miles of my run at the planned pace now that my mental deviation from the run had passed.

I know you have all been waiting on the edge of your seat for the official Adam Culp (Crazy Floridian) product review of the knuckle lights since I bought them a while back. (They arrived in late September.) So here it is.  I would have written sooner, but really wanted to take them on a bunch of runs to be sure I was gonna love them as a part of my running gear, and waiting a bit also enabled me to really see how long they would last on a set of fresh batteries.

Now that I have used them as running lights on more than 30 runs, and at least 3 times as hiking lights in the woods of the Smokie’s and the hills of Colorado, I feel I can properly write about them.  I was pleased that the batteries lasted about 15 2+ hour runs.  I am not sure how long they would have lasted for a single run if it lasted longer, but will let you know in February after the Iron Horse 100.

As many of you know I run a bunch of miles (2,200 miles in 2011), and many of these runs are at night, or start late in the day and end up in the dark before the run is done.  Unfortunately I live in an area where there is high traffic and not street lights everywhere, and when cars are driving toward me I often cannot see anything. This makes for some interesting night running. There have been times when I tripped over a curb, sidewalk, debris, and once even some roadkill.  So I resorted to buying a headlamp.

Now I don’t know about the rest of you, but a headlamp is truly an inconvenience to wear when running. First I needed to adjust the strap tight enough so it does not slide down my face, but lose enough so it doesn’t result in a headache.  Needless to say I eventually just tied it around my hand and positioned it in such a way to use it like a flashlight.  However, there were two problems with this: First, I had to twist the strap pretty tight to my fingers to be handy and cause my fingers to hurt after hours of running. And second, the strap becomes worn, and over time loses its elasticity so it basically was cutting off blood flow to your fingers to hold it in place.

After almost 2 years of running this way I saw an advertisement in Runner’s World for Knuckle Lights.  It was awesome to see someone had also done the same thing I’d done with the headlamp, and decided to make a “real” light with straps to be held on your hand similar to the way I was using the headlamp. Awesome!!!

I ordered a pair of Knuckle Lights and waited for them to arrive. I could hardly wait to get them.  When they arrived it was like Christmas, and I was impatient to give them a try.  Of course I did a head to head comparison against my headlamp, and the Knuckle Lights were brighter, but wouldn’t you know it…I had to wait a full two weeks before the opportunity arose for me to give them a try, and loved them immediately.  The handle is pretty comfortable even though it is a plastic strap.  I was a little nervous about that when I first saw them, but after adjusting them to the right size for my hand I don’t even notice it on my hand.

The wide angle LED bulbs are pretty nice because the beam is not really altered by my hand movement as I run.  Of course you do not get the distance you would get with a spotlight type of beam, but seeing that far is not really a concern when running.  I only need to see things closer to me to prevent tripping, and I can generally see farther objects enough to know what is ahead in any way.

The package comes with two Knuckle lights and included batteries, but I generally only use one at a time.  The second light really doesn’t illuminate much more than a single one will do by itself.  Even while hiking with the family in deep woods a single light was more than enough for me to see with, so my wife had one while I carried the other and it worked awesome.

In February I will be using these lights while running the 2012 Iron Horse 100, and I believe they will work out wonderfully since I have thoroughly tested them since September.  I recommend these to any runners, hikers, bikers, or anyone that has a need for some sort of lighting.  They are priced reasonably, do not eat batteries, are comfortable to wear and use, and supply an awesome amount of light.  Please go get your own.

After a couple years of running with my normal prescription sunglasses I finally broke down and bought a pair of sports sunglasses with prescription lenses. I have had enough of constantly pushing my glasses back up my nose because they slid down when the sweat begins. You may remember the product review I wrote in April 2010 for a pair of Ryders Eyewear. The nice folks at Outside PR were nice enough to send me a pair to review. Of course I loved the sunglasses, but was a little disappointed that I could not get them with a prescription. (My wife uses those now, and loves them.)

At first I was already set to shop for a new pair of Oakley sunglasses, but was surprised by the HUGE price Oakley charges for their lenses. (All added up I would be paying around $650 for the sunglasses with spare clear lenses for night running.) You see the trouble is that I do a bunch of running, which means I run during the day and sometimes at night. The pair of glasses I wanted would need to have lenses that could be changed out with clear ones for night running. Enter Adidas.

While at the store looking at Oakley I came to the decision that I would simply live with the way I had been doing things.  But the friendly store owner asked if I had considered other brands, and asked me to try on a pair of Adidas.  When I put them on I was immediately shocked.  They actually fit more comfortable than the Oakley with more adjustments possible, and were about $30 cheaper even before the prescription lenses were calculated. The clerk pointed out that with these glasses I could get lenses much less expensive because they could be made right in the store. (Total price for the glasses with 2 pairs of prescription lenses would only be around $300!) SOLD!

Now that I have had them for around 6 months I figured the time has come to talk about them. THEY ARE GREAT!!!

When running it is easy to get them on and off if I feel the need to wipe the sweat from my face, since I live in Florida and all. They never slide around or bounce as I run. The lenses easily pop in and out so I can switch from polarized to clear, and back again. Plus the stems and nose pads adjust to 3 different positions to allow complete customization. (Of course once you get them set right they will probably never change again.)

Overall I highly recommend these shades, even if you do not need prescription lenses. Enjoy.

Lately I have discovered the magical properties of blueberries and grapes (specifically concord grapes for me).  Sure I heard they were helpful to endurance athletes, but I never suspected they would be so darned powerful against lactic acid and joint inflammation.

As an example:
This past weekend I ran a 9 mile Saturday and followed that with a 17 mile Sunday. On Saturday I was felling pretty sore after the run and was really wondering if I would be OK for Sundays long run. However I ate about a cup of blueberries and literally felt the pain melt away over a few hours. (I also iced my knees, which is a usual ritual in the evenings as I watch a bit of TV.)

Sunday morning came and I was full of energy and completely pain free prior to the run. The 17 miles passed without any issues, and I was a bit stiff afterwards. I cleaned up and fuelled as normal. (Gatorade, protein shake, water, veggie soup) But I followed the meal with a cup of blueberries, and sure enough the pain melted away just as it had the day before.  By the early evening hours it was as if I had not ran a long run at all that day.

I experienced the same results earlier in the week with concord grapes.

Oh, and by the way…the seeds are very healthy and should also be eaten.  Crunch, crunch!

Wow, it is hard to believe that 10 weeks have passed since my last blog post. So I will simply post all 10 weeks miles into one post as I get rolling on the blog again.  For the most part I have remained somewhat consistent, as I continue to run maintenance miles to keep up my fitness prior to actually training for an event.

Speaking of events, I am now in training for the 2012 Iron Horse Endurance run where I will once again try to finish my first 100 mile event.  Last year I completed my first 100K, and the year before that I completed my first 50 mile.  So I think this is the year I will finish my first 100 mile. I have started to ramp up the miles as I prepare, with only 18 weeks left till the event.

Running Miles:
Wk 30 – 41.5
Wk 31 – 34.5
Wk 32 – 35.5
Wk 33 – 33.66 (5=running, the rest was hiking)
Wk 34 – 12
Wk 35 – 18.5
Wk 36 – 35.5
Wk 37 – 37.5
Wk 38 – 36.25
Wk 39 – 34
Wk 40 – 46.5
2011 Running Miles: 1,502.41

I have been using Cron-O-Meter as a desktop application for some time to keep tabs on my daily intake of calories and nutrients.  As an application developer I often get so busy during the day that I forget to eat, so this helps me stay on track and ensure I get the proper amount of nutrients to workout and run the way I do.  I really like the desktop application, but often wondered why it was not online and even thought of building an online version of my own.

The other day while starting the application I was prompted that a new version was available for download, so I went to the site and learned that the application I loved is now available online at www.cronometer.com.  I immediately created an account and found that the online application is much more functional than the desktop version.  There are more stats, better use of historical data, and it is also much easier to use.

Please check it out.  Many people I talk to complain because they cannot lose weight, even though they work out regularly, while some others have trouble gaining or maintaining weight like myself.  I always point them to the application so they can track their nutrition for a few days.  Many are surprised at the results.  If something is not tracked, we often do not realize what our intake actually is.