Dublin 10km Night Run race report!

This was my first race since the Paris marathon 3 weeks previous. I did an easy 7km run 5 days

previous and that had been the extent of my running since Paris. So I came to this race with no great expectations and it was a run I was viewing as the beginning of training for the Dublin marathon this coming October.

I had never raced at night before and with this race starting at 9pm (dusk) I was sure it would be dark when I finished. Although I had never raced at night before, the Abu Dhabi marathon I did a few years back started at 5am and it was dark at the start line but it got light fairly quick and with the light came the heat!

I really liked that roughly 95% of the participants wore the high viz t-shirts that came in the race bag.

The Samsung city run was organised well and it's a race I'll do again. I'm not sure wether its a good race for running a PB (personal best) as it is very technical course with lots of sharp turns and tram lines underfoot. However the route was nice and the atmosphere was great. The weather was slightly temperamental with rain showers and blustery wind. While running east along the river Liffey their was a nice tail wind but on the return back up, it was a nasty head wind. I tucked myself in behind 4 guys running at my pace and this eased the burden. Looking for shelter or drafting is a great way to Run Sensible and reserve energy.

I began with the a goal of running a sub 42min and finished with a respectable 41min46sec so I was fairly pleased considering the absence of training. Perhaps what was more pleasing was the guys I ran with, one of my best friends and my brother-in-law both doing their first 10k race. They finished in 55mins and 56mins respectively. "We'll done guys, you should be proud!"

I took a 3 week break of virtually no running after the Paris marathon. This was not something I had really planned or thought about but it felt right and I enjoyed the time off. I felt fresh running the 10k and the time off seems to have helped. Recovery is such an important aspect of training and if you don't get enough rest you will get injured.

I see people on Facebook and twitter posting every single run they do for everybody to see, these people seem to advocate and pontificate the importance of running every day and have all the bling posters that tell you to run, never rest and never make excuses, blah, blah, blah.

I just ran 60miles in 4mins, check it out in run keeper...Blah! These post often make me feel guilty when I shouldn't really be feeling guilty.

I ignore all that stuff now and you should too. First of all its not healthy to run every single day and no matter who you are you, you need rest and you will benefit from rest. Try not to feel guilty if you are "friends" with these tweeters and FBers when you see these post and posters, I'm fairly confident that half these people are lying about some of the training they do anyway!

If you need rest, take a rest. You'll know the difference between genuine rest and laziness and you don't need to be reminded of how good somebody else is and how bad you are by these posts!!! "Rant over"

I might just add that I do see the benefit in posting updates about training and racing. This is a great way to make yourself accountable and keep you focused. I do this myself using Strava, but tweeting every run? Really every single run?

To wrap up Run Sensible, rest, eat and race but most of all make sure you enjoy the experience, this after all is the purpose of fitness and health.

Neil

@RunSensible

Antacids and acid reflux!

I am taking the phrase "Run Sensible" to a higher level on this post. By "run" I mean allow your body to run sensible and I'm going to explain a very common use of a drug that has an opposite reaction to what is intended. I wrote this piece for the blog on my web site www.neiltheosteo.com but decided to include it here since I've treated a few runners and triathletes in recent months who suffer with this regurgitating problem.

There is a gaping big whole in the theory that taking antacid tablets will combat acid reflux or
esophageal reflux. When you look at the mechanism behind the compounds involved you will see that there is a contradictory affect. This means that the problem you are trying to solve is actually made worse by your actions.

So when you take an anti acid tablet the result is a neutralisation of the acid in your stomach which means the pH is raised or your stomach is becoming more alkaline. The stomach is a dark acidic hostile environment. The majority of nutrients which are broken down in the stomach are proteins. This is achieved by an enzyme called pepsinogen being activated by hydrochloric acid to become pepsin which breaks the protein into amino acids. If you don't have adequate amounts of hydrochloric acid the pepsinogen is not converted into pepsin and you will struggle to digest any amount of protein. So taking antacids will decrease protein metabolism or slow it down. Slowing protein metabolism down or prolonging it means it will be in the stomach for longer.

On reaching the stomach carbohydrates have all ready began the breakdown process, an enzyme (amylase) in your saliva has started this process. The stomachs low pH environment is like finishing school for carbohydrates. If the carbohydrates exiting the stomach have not completed the breakdown process they can not be absorbed or assimilated through the gut wall. These carbohydrates will go on to ferment in the gut. Fermenting carbohydrates in the gut will cause an explosion in bacteria, both the good and bad types. The bad arrive in the gut after successfully making it through an in-hostile stomach. All bacteria release methane gas as they feed on the fermenting carbohydrates. This will cause flatulence at the far end and a back pressure towards the stomach, which is probably still full of protein. The back pressure will push the stomach contents up towards the esophageal sphincter and its acid juices that are trying to breakdown protein will burn the esophagus which is heart burn.

The pH of the stomach is around 4, if this level increases due to a reduction in hydrochloric acid (a result of antacids) nutrient absorption will quickly decrease. The nutrients that will be affected first are amino acids and vitamin B12.

Amino acid deficiency will cause a plethora of pathological and mechanical problems. Some of these condition include high blood pressure, poor immune function or sickness, neurological disorders, hormone deficiency, mood swings and pain to name just a few.

Vitamin B12 deficiency can cause numerous neurological symptoms but most notably it will cause macrocytic normochromic (pernicious) anemia. Presenting as; pale skin, slow but bounding pulse, breathlessness, dizzy spells and lethargy or tiredness.

Prolonged use of these antacids will almost always cause increased sickness by bacterial infection. The most common one seem to be gastric (stomach) ulcers as a result of the helicobactor pylori bacteria taking a strong hold in the stomach.Read the small print on/in the package.

Alternative or more healthy measures that you can choose instead of antacid tablets include; taking digestive enzymes before meals to aid metabolism, taking hydrochloric acid supplements to restore ability to digest protein and empty stomach quicker, taking a course of probiotics to replace or increase good bacteria in the gut.

Osteopathic treatment aimed at increasing digestion may help too. Manual techniques to restore diaphragmatic function will be very useful at preventing the stomach contents raising into the esophagus. The esophageal sphincter is after all a piercing in the diaphragm muscle. Visceral techniques will aid mobility and motility in the gut which will aid nutrient absorption and passage of waste. Cranio-Sacral techniques can be used to aid the parasympathetic side of the autonomic (involuntary) nervous system. The parasympathetic system is also know as the "rest and digest" system and therefore these techniques will aid all aspects of digestion and will combat stress.
The cumulative affect of all this will be increased energy, better health and a vast reduction in the symptoms of reflux.

Neil
@RunSensible

Stretch 002. SternoCleidoMastoid stretch and thoracic mobilisation

This video compliments the last video on neck stretches, try these out at your workstation they should give you some relief from stressful pain and office aches.

Please pay attention to the explanation I give about dizziness or nausea while doing this stretch!

 

I recommend holding each stretch for 30-45 seconds and make sure you do both sides!

Drink plenty of water and get up and move about every 20-40mins if possible.

For more explanation check out www.neiltheosteo.com

Follow me on twitter @RunSensible

I love Paris in the the Spring!

The title of this post is not a typo. When I was in primary school aged about 8yrs my teacher wrote that statement on the blackboard (if you don't know what a black board is then you are too young to run marathons, so stop reading), she had split the statement so it looked like this

I love Paris in the

the spring!

Myself and all my classmates, twenty seven boys aged 8yrs were asked to point out the mistake. Half the class saw the error and the other half swore blind that nothing was a miss. I'm not sure which side I was on and it's not particularly relevant. What is relevant is that I remembered this exercise and I've often thought about being in Paris during the spring so when the opportunity arose to see Paris in the spring of 2013 I accepted. On reflection this statement rang through, i did love Paris in the spring, albeit while running a marathon.

The journey began at my best friends wedding September 2012. It had been 4yrs since I last ran a marathon and 3yrs since I had last raced in Ironman 70.3UK. A this wedding myself and a few friends were discussing fitness, running and triathlon when somebody (not me) proposed running Paris!

During my time off myself and my wife had two children (both boys) and with their arrival and us living in a city without any family support it was difficult to plan a 6 month training program for a race. Plus I was content spending the weekends with wife and kids, while training and racing was not compelling. I was cycling every day (commuting) and running 2-3 per week during this period but racing was far at the back of my mind.

The wedding was in Ireland and myself and my wife flew home. We had left our boys in London and flew my parents over to babysit. This was our first sense of freedom for 3yrs and something must have stirred the sleeping beast because when the Paris marathon was mentioned I was totally compelled to do it.

After a super weekend we made our way (reluctantly) back to London and I took a few weeks to ponder my decision to race with my friends. It didn't take long to slip back into "family guy" mode and within days I was questioning my ability to chase down my 3hr14min personal best. The weeks slipped past as they do and it late November I signed up to Paris. I was nervous and excited and I was unsure how training would go. I knew my self obsession with times and stats and my keenness to run late morning or evening wouldn't work too well with family life.

From the beginning my wife (who runs too) and my eldest son (3.5yrs) were very supportive. We agreed that my wife would run early Sunday mornings and that I could do my long run as soon as she finished. My weekday runs were all very early morning or late evening after the boys went to bed. From the beginning I knew I wasn't going to run a personal best so I took the opportunity to try some new ideas I had and to love racing again. I did a 3 week base training not using my Garmin. After the 3 weeks I did a lactate threshold test, using this data I calculated my lactate threshold and did most of my training just below this measurement. It was now mid January and I knew time was tight. Ideally I would retest my lactate threshold every 4-6 weeks but my training schedule was a little bumpy and I missed a couple of long runs due to minor incidents at home and easy excuses not to run with dismal weather.

For the most part training went well, I only managed one 32km long run and three 25km runs all just below lactate threshold. I knew I hadn't covered enough long distance runs but I was confident that my training method was correct. My time trials improved week on week. Most Monday evenings I ran a 5km, 10km or 15km TT, these times kept getting better and better due to the long runs below threshold.

My pace in early Jan was 5min10/km on my long runs, as my lactate threshold increased due to mitochondrial density and vascularity in muscles this pace increased to 4min30/km by March. I missed or changed most of my interval runs during training so I knew a PB was impossible. I was hoping to hold a 4min.44/km for the whole marathon but I knew the long runs I missed were very important. At 4.44/km I would finish in 3hrs20.

The two weeks pre race taper I had planned didn't happen. My wife was very sick so I was on duty most of the time with our kids. The only running I did on the lead up to Paris was a few very short runs with (personal training) clients. Although I knew this wasn't adequate, I did my best and tried to enjoy the challenge of marathon running as a father.

Race day was perfect, blue skies, no wind, not too cold and a super flat course. I chose to wear my innov-8 barefoot shoes, I had worn these on my TT sessions and on 2 long runs. After both the long runs in innov-8's my calf muscles were quite sore but knowing I wasn't going to PB I chose them over my Asics (super reliable) DS Racer,,,, bad idea. I was slightly intrigued about the whole barefoot movement and I think I get it now! I held pace at 4min42/km until 37km at which point my calf muscles were screaming. Walk, run, walk, run, walk, run and 5km later I crossed the line in 3hrs24 an average pace of 4min50/km. Those long runs I missed proved to be vitally important!!!

I finished 4mins slower than I had hoped and I don't blame this solely on my footwear choice, my below par training regime had a big part to play too. The night before the race I told my friends wife I thought I run in 3hrs22 so I'll claim the footwear slowed me by 2mins.

On a more positive note I had finished in a fairly respectable time. I had rekindled my joy for racing and training and stats and fitness gadgets. During this process I discovered some very motivational people and a whole new world of nutrition. I'm in the process of becoming a plant based eater and the results so far have been remarkable. I have my sights set on a few more races this year and hopefully training as a father will get easier.

I am fully recovered from the Paris marathon hangover and I start training for a 2hr59:59 marathon tomorrow. The race is Dublin on the last weekend of October 2013.

Running injuries, are you going too hard?

In the last post "running faster" I outlined the mechanism behind making yourself run faster by training below your lactate threshold. There is another golden reason why running below you lactate threshold is vitally important and it's got nothing to do with speed but keeping yourself healthy and injury free.

I'm sure you've all met people like myself who never get injured and claims to feel energised after exercise. Most people I know who are training for a specific event will feel tired or worn out a couple of weeks into a program. It's not uncommon to hear marathon runners and triathlete wishing race day away so they can have "time off training" or "get there lives back" and are complaining about being worn out.

These people are also the individuals who are going to complain of these running or exercise related injuries. The injuries in question are; joint pain, ligament strain, Achilles tendinitis, compartment syndrome, shin splints, stress fracture, knee bursitis, meniscus or cartilage damage/tear, runners knee, IlioTibial band pain, low back pain, shoulder capsule pain and rotator cuff injuries (in swimmers).

So why are these injuries so common and why are the occurring?

Let me begin by giving my views on a quote that gets thrown around all to often. I'm not 100% certain who the quote came from so I won't suggest but it was definitely from somebody in the "barefoot" movement. The quote goes to the tune off "Running is one of the most dangerous exercises you can choose with over 70% participants getting injured" they proceeded to suggest running barefoot would save you from this dooming percentage.

Well even if you run barefoot with picture perfect posture your risk of injury will be up around 70% if you continuously train above lactate threshold. So once again physiology reins through and regardless of what you do or don't put on your feet you must obey the physiology and biochemistry if you are to avoid these injuries.

When you exercise and let's take running as the example although this applies to all exercise but running is a good example because of the impact. Cycling and swimming are virtually impact free so these injuries are less likely, however the rules still apply.

During exercise you are breaking your body down in an attempt to rebuild it and make it stronger and perform better. Every single workout should have a purpose and that purpose should be fresh in your head during that work out. Differing workouts during the week will have varying purposes but all workouts are aimed at getting you to the same place.

In the last post I gave an example of a female runner training above and below her lactate threshold. I explained that once you go above your lactate threshold your will be burning sugars as a primary fuel source. This means you will be generating lactic acid at a rate quicker than you can process it, to be reused as energy. This lactic acid will build up in your muscle and connective tissues and this is not a good idea. Let me explain!

When exercising a waste product spills out from the power stations in your muscle cells called lactic acid. Lactic acid is collected and brought to the liver where it is processed and manufactured back into a fuel source to be reused. You might remember this from school, it's called the Kreb's cycle. Above your lactate threshold lactic acid will accumulate and eventually make your muscles feel so sore that you have to stop. Below the lactate threshold you will be able to process this lactic acid and continue exercising for a long period. If you stay below lactate threshold and exercise for a few hours eventually lactic acid will build up and you will lose the battle to process it quicker than you develop it. When lactic acid builds up is tissues they will feel sore and you will have to stop.

Along with lactic acid build up during training above lactate threshold you will also accumulate carbon dioxide in your tissues as you develop breathlessness. This will push the body into a more acid state. As you push on the glycogen stores run low and your body starts looking for protein to use as fuel.

Since the muscles have a huge blood supply they are not at huge risk of the ill effects of these metabolic products. However in the connective tissues; fascia, bone, ligaments, tendons, joint capsule, joints, meniscus, cartilage and bursa there is very little blood turn over. As a result of poor blood turn over metabolic waste can build up really easily and very quickly in these tissues, especially if you are always training in a zone that produces lactic acid faster than you can recycle it, above your lactate threshold.

When you keep running above the lactate threshold and repeatedly beat your body up you will accumulate enough waste and acid by products to cause sever pain (free nerve endings or pain receptors don't like acidic environments) and eventually injury. Once a connective tissue becomes injured by tearing or spraining it is very difficult to repair. These tissue don't have a huge blood supply so the process will take time (far longer than a muscle strain), it will also require rest which is usually the last thing a marathon runner will do if a race date is approaching.

The general story of a person with one of these injuries is; take a few days rest until pain subsides, since you're not running the acid accumulation is less and therefore pain is less. Then the person will go for a light jog and they feel good, most people are worried and this light jog is under the lactate threshold so no acid accumulation. Then the person feels cured so goes out the for the next run all guns blazing, training way above lactate threshold and to their utter surprise the injury returns.

Does any of this sound familiar? If so try experimenting with a heart rate monitor. I've been using Garmin for the past 6 years before that I had a Polar. Personally I think the Garmin brand is best. I use a forerunner 310XT, which meets all my swimming, biking and running needs.

I commute on average 140km per week around London on a single speed bike, the vast majority of this is below my lactate threshold. Also all of my long runs are performed 1-2bpm below my lactate threshold. It is these factors alone that prevent me getting injured no matter how many kilometres I run each week. I measure my lactate threshold roughly every 6 weeks. It's essential to monitor the lactate threshold (it will vary with fitness) so that you can be just under it on a long run pushing the fat burning system to its limit.

Remember you can't run a marathon or ironman on sugar, so train your body to fuel on fats.

In the next post I will describe how you go about finding your lactate threshold without using any equipment other than a heart rate monitor. That seems like a logical step since I've been explaining its importance so much.

Neil
@RunSensible

Stretch 001. Trapezius and Levator Scapula

If you experience upper back and neck strain or pain while sitting at your work station, this video might help you get some relief. 

I recommend holding each stretch for 30-45 seconds and make sure you do both sides!

Drink plenty of water and get up and move about every 20-40mins if possible.

Video: Low carb diets and running injuries!

This is the link to the video I made to back up the post 'low carb diets and running injuries', it's my first video where I try to develop a blog post a little further. It felt a bit weird talking to my iPad and I was slightly uncomfortable but I'll catch on pretty quick and the following vids should get better.

I hope!

Neil

@RunSensible

How to run faster!

Most people who partake in running or triathlon begin with a goal of just completing whatever race they want to do but soon after that race, if they have been bitten by the bug they'll want to run faster.
The common method for increasing running speed is running faster and faster on each training session. However that method is incorrect and will lead to minor increments in running times, injury and poor health.

The correct way to get faster at endurance running is learning how to run slow first, this will speed you up long term and will help you avoid unnecessary injury.

I should point out that endurance or distance running is anything further than 800m. Yes that's right 800m, so if you are training to run the mile or anything further you are training for endurance or at least you should be. The 5km race series or the run in a sprint triathlon (5km) is definitely an endurance feat and this should be addressed in training. Any run that is longer than a marathon (26.2 miles or 42.2km) is considered an ultra distance race.

The line between endurance running and speed running can be drawn at the 800m line because of physiological measures. If you prepare correctly it is possible (just like David Rudisha demonstrated in the London Olympics 2012)

to run 800m in an all out sprint from start to finish. During this distance your body can rely predominantly on sugars as a fuel source from start to finish. This means you can run in an anaerobic (without using oxygen for fuel and solely relying on glycogen) state. Any distance further, lets say 1 mile, you can not run solely on sugars, at some point in that distance fats must be a fuel source. Which means you can not go all out sprint from start to finish,,, you must pace yourself and you will have to use oxygen along with those fats. Therefore running in an aerobic state.
As I have mentioned before in this blog, all 3 of our energy systems are active all the time. However the dominance on one system will change dramatically depending on exercise. The line between burning glucose (sugar) as a primary fuel source and fats as a primary fuel source is called the lactate threshold. It is this key feature of physiology that you are trying to raise by training, the higher this lactate threshold becomes, the faster and longer you will be at distance running.

The lactate threshold is determined by the bodies ability to burn fat as a fuel source. By developing your muscles power stations (mitochondrial density) you can raise your lactate threshold. Raising your lactate threshold inevitably brings that number closer to your maximum heart rate (MHR) number. If you don't know your maximum heart rate it can be roughly calculated by subtracting your age from 220. MHR = 220 - Age.

So lets say we take an individual who is just beginning running. Lets suppose her  MHR is 180bpm (beats per minuet) and at 120bpm she will reach lactate threshold. That means when exercising the heart rate up to 120bpm she will be relying 50% on fat and 50% on glucose as a fuel source. If she keeps the heart rate below 120bpm she is relying predominantly on fat as a fuel source and above 120bpm she is relying predominantly on glucose as a fuel source.
Since distance running requires fat as a fuel source, you don't need a great deal of distance before fat is dominating sugar fuel source considerably. And the longer you run the more and more fat dominates as a fuel source. So in order to become faster you must be able to burn fat more quickly, remember fat yields more than twice the energy that glucose yields per gram.

The key question I suppose is "how do I train to burn fat and raise my lactate threshold?" This training needs to increase the muscles mitochondrial density and vascular pathways (see previous posts). The more power stations and road ways the more energy you will have available. The only way to increase mitochondrial density is to train your body to burn fat. This can only be achieved by training just below your lactate threshold.

So our individual needs to run at a heart rate of 119bpm, for her long run. As the muscles develop and open new mitochondria the lactate threshold will slowly increase as will her speed and ability to run further.
Now lets suppose after 6 weeks of training the lactate threshold is 125bpm (as a result of new blood vessels and increased mitochondria in the muscle cells), the individual will now be able to run at 124bpm and feel as comfortable as she did at the beginning when running at 119bpm. If at 6 weeks later the new lactate threshold is 130bpm she will feel comfortable running at 129bpm and so on! You get the message?
Since the heart rate or bpm determine the effort and the effort determines the speed, the higher the heart rate (so long as you are under the lactate threshold) the faster you become at distance running.

An important note to remember. If you are all the time training above your lactate threshold you are training you body to burn sugar. If you train your body to burn sugar, guess what? Your body is going to crave sugar! It doesn't matter how strict you are on the Paleo diet, the Atkins diet or any other low carb diet, if you train your body to burn sugar by being above your lactate threshold, your day is going to be filled with thoughts of quick fix sugar foods and fizzy drinks. You can't cheat physiology, you just can't! 

My suggestion to anybody doing any type of training from running, cycling, swimming, cross fit, weight lifting or spinning you should include a sub lactate threshold training session once a week to gain speed, reduce fat and prevent injury. I'll explain how this type of training prevents injury in the next post. 

Neil

@RunSensible

Intro video to discuss future direction of this blog!

This vid is a preview of the new projects I'm planning and the direction that I plan to take this blog. I'll will back up or reinforce the specific blog posts with further information and explanations which I hope will make everything a bit more user friendly.

Your Feedback is always welcome below or by email to neilrooney@gmail.com