The Stride Racing winter NUTS series in Ogden has been a winter tradition for several years now. However, this year, there had been no mention of the 2007 series on the Stride Racing website, but in the meantime Striders Running Store announced the “Striders Series“, which looked like the same thing. I assumed that the Striders Series was replacing the NUTS series, but was still curious about the fate of NUTS. Well, today I checked the old Stride Racing website, and they have posted an update very recently:

The Stride Racing catalog of races have been sold to Strider’s Running Store. Because of this, there will not be a Northern Utah Training Series (N.U.T.S.). There will, however, be a Strider’s Winter Racing Circuit to replace the N.U.T.S. races. You can get more information by visiting Strider’s web site.

Thank you to everyone who has run N.U.T.S. in the past. We had a blast putting it on and hope that you enjoyed yourselves in the bitter cold as much as we did. Who knew that frostbite could be so much fun. Thanks again and we’ll see you at the races.

Well thank YOU, Mark and Kurt, for putting on the NUTS series! Myself and several running buddies from Logan did it last year and had a great time. More than anything, it was an excuse climb out of the murky netherworlds of Cache Valley, but it also featured pretty good competition, a laid-back, mellow atmosphere, lots of comraderie, ample donuts, and yes, plenty of frostbite. The 15K in Eden was amazingly cold! I talked to Mark several times, and he’s a heck of nice guy and did a great job managing the races. Kudos.

I’m planning on running the new Striders Series this year, and quite looking forward to it. By being managed by Striders Running Store, it may have increased exposure, but more importantly the entire series is part of the USATF LDR Circuit. This will bring in prize money, more competition, certified courses, and other benefits. It may also encourage more people who live north of Salt Lake City to do the LDR circuit, as driving to SLC every Saturday gets a little old if you are coming from Logan or Ogden. It also expands the duration of the LDR Circuit, which could help people to get in more races and make the circuit feasible to those who were doubting they wanted to race that often. Finally, the already-growing Ogden Marathon will further benefit from this. The main change between the NUTS Series and the new Striders Series is the addition of a 30K race (18.6 miles). By the time people have completed the entire series, including the 30K, they will be very tempted to go ahead and run a marathon, if they haven’t already signed up. And those who do run the entire training series will be very fit and have a better chance of running a good race at Ogden.

The series schedule is below. Pre-registration costs for the entire series is $60, which is a great deal for Circuit races.

February 10th 5k
February 24th 10k
March 10th 10 miler
April 7th 1/2 marathon
April 28th 30k

People sometimes ask me what I think about while I’m running. I’m not sure that “thinking” is the right word for me. Sometimes I just totally phase out, and I am aware only about my breathing, the strides that I am taking, and nothing else really beyond core brain stem activity. But more often I dream during my runs. What do I dream about? Well, running mostly. Just yesterday during my run I was dreaming about qualifying for Olympic Trials in the marathon. It was during the Top of Utah Marathon (or was is Ogden?). I run down the canyon holding a 5:25/mile pace. It feels easy. When the canyon ends and the topography flattens out, I do not slow down, though, I speed up. The pace melts into 5:20/mile. By Mile 20, the pack has broken apart; only a few of us remain on pace. The Wall is not there for me today, and I push my body harder. 5:18 mile, 5:16 mile, a 5:25 up the hill. 5k to go, and I push even harder, maintaining the pace. Increasing the pace. Was that just a 5:10? With half a mile to go I realize that my body is going to hold up; I am going to qualify…. My mind comes back to reality, back to my Tuesday training run. Although my true pace of the training run has quickened considerably, I have not really qualified for the Olympic Trials. It was just a dream. But I am smiling.

I think the ability to dream is a powerful part of the human condition, and an important component of the joy of running. Dreams create goals, goals create drive, and drive creates achievements. Dreams kindle the fires that fuel us. During my 5-month layoff this year due to injuries, I temporarily lost the ability to dream. The thought of racing again nearly died. The thought of enjoying the company of others runners during mere training nearly died. Dreams, both gradiose and mundane, were scattered, and all I had left was the desire to walk normally. Not the same. Upon returning to running, something awakened, and each week that went by and I stayed healthy allowed me to dream a little more. Soon goals began to be set, and small achievements were met, little by little.

Besides aiding the emotional sphere of lives, I think dreaming is an important pragmatic part of running. The borders between dreaming, goal-setting, and visualization are often very blurred. When you visualize something enough and then get in the actual situation, it has a better chance of happening because you’ve predetermined your path and choices. When you go through the half marathon mark on pace for that BQ or OQ, or when you are racing a rival with 400 meters to go, you are ready to react appropriately because you’ve already done it so many times in your head. Every couple years I do have a “dream race”, where I’ve actually ran that race that was in my head. St George Marathon in 2005 was one of them, where I set out to try to break 2:30 and crack the top ten. Instead I ran several minutes under 2:30 and placed forth. I remember almost crying at Mile 20 because it was actually happening for real. Another was in college when I first broke 31:00 in a 10k on a track. I went through the first 5k in 15:31 (faster than my open 5k race the week before)…and then sped up! I had never physically done anything like those races before, but had certainly dreamed about them.

Finally, dreaming removes the ceiling of our goal-setting. It allows us to think big, and an achievement begins as a thought. Once we remove those self-imposed limits, we can truly dare to succeed. This goes beyond running. Others may laugh, or we may laugh at ourselves, but there is nothing to lose. Keep dreaming, friends.

Merry Christmas everyone! Enjoy your holiday and visions of marathons being run in your head. The Christmas season is an opportunity to reflect on faith, give to others, and spend quality time with families and friends. I wish everyone the best.

For other mapping nerds, here’s a shot from Google Earth, which has been tracking Santa’s whereabouts.

Well, it’s that time of year again. As winter continues to advance, we runners pass our time by speculating on our spring and summer racing season. For many, winter is a time of base-building, but it is essential to during this time to plan ahead for key races in the future, as the races that we aim for will influence the upcoming training plan.

As for me, I thought I had everything figured out: build base over the winter, then start incorporating speedwork specifically designed for success in 5-k and 10-k races, run 5k’s and 10k’s over the summer for the LDR Circuit, and then, if all is going well, gear up for a fall marathon, either Top of Utah or St. George. For one thing, I’d like to get my speed back, but also after my year-long bout with injuries I’m wary about exposing my body to the type of training needed to run a marathon (not to mention the marathon race itself). All those 20-milers can beat the tar out me, compared to the training volume needed to race well in 5k/10k distances.

Well, I’m second-guessing myself now. The Ogden Marathon is calling me. It’s not just their new website design either. The longer I stay healthy, the more I think I can handle a spring marathon. I’ve decided to break it down into Pros and Cons.

Cons (against running a spring marathon, no particular order)

• Marathons are hard
• Still afraid of what 20-mile training runs every week will do to my knees, back, and foot.
• Desire to focus on redeveloping my speed and running a fast 5k; marathons make you slow
• Delaying return to marathoning could make a fall marathon better due to developing other systems

Pros (for running a spring marathon, particularly Ogden)

• The marathon is my best distance, why avoid it?
• All signs indicate that I’ve fixed whatever biomechanical issue that has been hindering me, and I can sustain marathon training without injury
• The Ogden Marathon is the logical finale to the Striders Series; I will be fit enough to do it and will have a huge amount of base under my belt
• Ogden Marathon is a lot closer to Logan than Salt Lake; it’s advantageous to do any LDR Circuit race that is in Ogden
• Ogden Marathon has good prize money and a pretty good chance to actually win some cash. I can always use cash.
• My long-term goal is to qualify for Olympic Trials. Running a spring marathon may help me to qualify this fall.
• I like the Ogden Marathon. I like the course, the organization, and have had success there.

Do these pros outweigh the cons? I’m not sure yet. I don’t have to make this decision anytime soon, but by March I will need to start gearing my training to whatever course I choose. It’s either focusing on a spring marathon, then 5k’s and 10k’s, and then a fall marathon, or focusing in 5k’s and 10’s all spring and summer, and then a fall marathon. Obviously a big difference between a 5k and a marathon. I believe that training should be specialized to fit a particular type of race. Generalists are kind of good at everything but really good at nothing. It’s either 5k/10k or marathon, but not both.

I was listening to NPR this morning while eating my oatmeal (yes, I lead a boring life), and they had an interesting segment about how intense light is still the best treatment for Winter Blues. The basic premise was that many people have had success treating seasonal affective disorder (SAD) by using theraputic light boxes. Those who don’t feel like sitting in front of a light box for for an hour can get similar benefits by plugging an ordinary light into a timer in their bedroom. The dim light will turn on around 5AM, or your time of choice, and fool your body into thinking the sun is rising, which will gradually pull you into the realm of wakefulness.

This all has a huge effect on our running. Even if one is not stricken with an acute case of SAD, it is still very difficult for many of us to get up when it’s dark. More time sleeping = less time for activities. Our families and jobs demand significant time out of our days (and rightfully so), which often leads to running being pinched when push comes to shove. But running is important too; we can’t run fast spring races without that big winter base. I guess I’m greedy, I want it all.

I’ve lived at the mid-latitudes my whole life, and have had trouble reconciling sleep and training with only 8-9 hours of winter daylight. The solution that I have implemented since this November was the same solution highlighted on NPR this morning: buying a simple $5 electrical timer and hooking up an old desk lamp to it. The lamp is on my night stand by my bed, and turns on at 5AM every morning (except weekends, of course). I was hoping this would help me get up at 6AM, because I was falling into the trap by October of sleeping in later and later every day. Sure enough, it worked! The dim light gives me an good hour to slowly wake up, and by the time my alarm goes off at 6AM, I am usually ready to go. Seeing as to how I was getting up at 8AM before I tried this trick, I now have an extra 2 hours to every day! Sometimes I do my workout first thing in the morning; other days I just go to work extra early, do a workout from my office, and still go home by 5PM. It ensures that I always get a quality workout in, and don’t sacrifice the more important parts of my day, like spending time with my wife.

Happy winter solstice!

Let me just start off by saying I am NOT a true vegetarian or vegan. I am merely a fan. I would be classified more as a “flexitarian” or “semi-vegetarian” due to my occasional indulgence of bratwurst and other irresistable fatty meats. But I have come to recognize and believe in the positive effects of healthy vegetarian and vegan cruisine on not just our general health, but on running performance as well. Here’s why:

1) Reducing or eliminating meat and dairy helps keep weight off. A runner carrying extra weight is slower, less economical, more prone to injury. I struggled to lose those 10 extra pounds for quite some time until I tried more vegan cooking. Exercise wasn’t doing it, but diet did.

2) You will feel better. A vegan or vegetarian diet will gravitate toward foods, fats, and oils that are natural anti-inflammitories, and stay away from foods that actually increase inflammation (red meats, grease, eggs, processed foods, sugars, etc.). I noticed that my inflammation from plantar fasciitis and back pain was at an all time high after a work conference where I ate out every meal at brew pubs (nachos anyone?). When I switched to healthy, low-fat, low-sugar vegetarian the next week, I quickly started feeling better, and even my plantar fasciitis finally starting improving. Other people I know have had similar successes in reducing their back pain and other inflammitory ailments through a change in diet.

3) You will have more energy and better daily performance. After eating a big steak or a couple bratwursts, I’m usually ready to just wash my face and curl up for a nap. On the other hand, after a nice vegan meal, or a good salmon cruisine, I’m ready to go out and run! Digestion is faster and takes less energy, plus my body is fueled with nutrients designed for performance. Since switching to a mostly vegetarian diet, my daily energy levels have never been higher. I sleep less, am more productive, get sick less, and maintain steady, consistent running performance. Sasha can attest this as well; the year he switched to a “vegan-ish” diet, he dropped his marathon time from around 2:31 down to 2:24. Scott Jurek, America’s best ultramarathoner, is a vegan. He attests that his performance is related to his diet.

How many of us are willing to sacrifice a few of our favorite meats and junk foods for a performance jump like that? I encourage people to give it a try. If you are looking for ways to keep weight off or lose weight during the off season (or during season), give the veggie thing a shot. If you’re dealing with chronic inflammation-related injuries, give the veggie thing a shot. If you’re out of training ideas but still need a performance boost, give the veggie thing a shot. If you just hate it, or don’t get the results, you can always go back. But diet should be a tool to help our running, and it is an available resource.

Before people jump all over me, I want to make clear that just switching to a haphazard vegetarian or vegan-based diet will NOT help us. If the diet does not fulfill fueling requirements, it will hurt us. Educate yourself on what composes a well-rounded healthy diet with proper energy requirements. This goes for all diets, not just vegetarian (yes, a meat-based diet can be extremely healthy and performance-enhancing as well — I just think vegetarian/vegan has better potential). A good resource to read for those considering introducing vegetarian cruisine to their diet is “The Vegetarian Sports Nutritiion Guide” by Lisa Dorfman. This book helped demystify vegetarian fueling for athletes, and contains a lot of great profiles of elite vegetarian athletes, as well as their favorite training meals and recipes.

Like I said, I still indulge occasionally in various wonderful meats and junk foods. I strive for moderation and balance, and enjoying all types of foods can help us enjoy life more as whole. Remember, there is more to life than running, but making certain lifestyle choices, including diet and nutrition, can help us out with our running!

I’ll conclude by sharing some of my favorite vegetarian, vegan, and pisco-vegetarian recipes. These are all available on the Whole Foods Market website. These recipes, along with being very healthy, have an amazing amount of taste, and my wife and I always look forward to making them.

Indian Dal — one of my favorites. Lentils provide protein, and cardmom, fresh cilantro, and a jalepeno provide the style points! (vegan)

Quinoa with Broccoli and Cashews — high protein, gluten-free. The sun-dried tomatoes and red onion make this dish. (vegan)

Black Bean Burritos — these are GREAT. The crushed red pepper, hot sauce, lime juice, and fresh cilantro ensure both kick and zing. Leave out cheese for vegan. (vegetarian)

Honey Miso Dijon Alaska Salmon — oh man, this is a taste sensation. Salmon provides Omega-3 fats, which are natural anti-inflammitories. Remember to buy only wild-caught salmon to avoid the toxins in farm-raised salmon. (pisco-vegetarian).

It’s probably quite evident from my previous TP Massage Ball Review that I’m pretty darned excited by Trigger Point Technology’s suite of self-massage tools. I’ve been using the Total Body Package for a couple months now (30-60 minutes a day, EVERY day), and have never felt better. No injuries, no aches and pains, and my training is fantastic right now. My one and only complaint of the TP products is their sparse documentation. The DVD and manual that comes with it gives you a few ideas, but leaves you wanting more. Many of the techniques are straight forward, but I was left with a lot of questions and wondered if I was really doing everything correctly. Well, we’re in luck. In the past month TP Technologies released their “Ultimate Six (6) for Runners” guide book. Is this the answer we’ve been looking for? The book retails for $20, which means that it’s going to have to impress most of us a lot to make it worth the money. But we runners will usually shell out bucks for something that will help make us faster and more resistant to injury. The Wasatch Running Center, my racing sponsor, was kind of enough to provide me with a copy of the book.

Well, first to describe the book itself. It is a bit smaller than I thought, about the size of a day-planner or journal notebook. I thought this was a bit lame at first, that something so small is $20. But once I starting using it, the small size was an advantage, as it is quite portable and I could have it available while using the massage set without cluttering the floor.

The front and back cover is a nice laminated material. This immediately came in handy when I spilled water on it minutes after getting home. TP Technologies, being endurance athletes themselves, must be keenly aware of the poor hand-eye coordination typical to distance runners. So the lamination was a good call. This book can take a beating. It is spiral-bound, which again helps make it compact, portable, and available while you are using the TP set.

The book itself is 17 pages. For those who are keeping track, that comes out to $1.18/page. Not a great value in that aspect. The first four pages give an introduction to the plan of the book, runner biomechanics in relation to the Trigger Point philosophy, and basic guidelines of using the TP tools. The guide then launches into step-by-step instructions on the six essential muscle manipulations: Soleus (3 pages), Quads/IT Band (4 pages), Psoas (2 pages), Piriformis (2 pages), and Pectoral (1 page). The last page is just contact information, so the book really only contains 16 pages of useful information ($1.25/page).

The pages themselves are well-done, organized, and easy to follow. They avoid getting too technical with terminology, which makes it easy understand to most runners who are familiar with the basic muscle groups. The pictures are informative and add value. That being said, some of the pictures are recycled from their web site.

My personal test of the value of the book is whether it would teach me, a two-month user of their product, anything new that I could apply in my daily routine. The pages on the soleus manipulation included nothing I wasn’t already doing. However, it gave me more insight into the proper breathing, amount of repetitions, and duration I should perform the manipulation. Those things had been a bit of a mystery to me previously. Okay, a good start. Likewise, the pages on the quads helped refine some of my techniques. It also added a new muscle group to address. Oh boy, did that hurt! More value, but not ground-breaking. However, the third manipulation, the psoas region (between hip and belly button), was brand new to me. I was aware of the psoas, but previously had not been able to reach it with the massage ball. The guide book gave very clear techniques and illustration to get into the psoas. I applied them and had immediate success. The manipulation itself is rather painful, but the results are quite good, and I felt better afterwards. I’ll throw this one in my daily routine for sure. The piriformis manipulation (gluteus region) had eluded me in the past. The book was helpful and gave good step-by-step instructions, but I was still having trouble getting into the muscle rather than my bony butt. I haven’t given up on it, but will need to go back to it. Finally, the pectoral manipulation was one I was already doing, so nothing new there. It did provide information on why we runners would want to manipulate our chest, and more insight into proper technique and duration. This is actually one of my favorite manipulations to do with the ball. After I minute or two, I usually feel like my whole shoulder area is about an inch lower due to released tension. This helps posture and arm swing.

So that’s it. I think this is a good start for TP Technologies. For $20 I would rather see something like a 60-minute DVD. In fact, this book would be a great companion to a DVD. However, the book itself succeeded in filling gaps in my knowledge, answering questions regarding technique, and introducing new, useful manipulations. Its compact and efficient spiral-bound design made it easy for me to use and keep around near the TP tools as a quick reference. But I am not sure it is worth $20 for many runners who are on a budget. But someone who really loves the TP massage tools, like myself, may be interested in acquiring it as a resource. It would also make a great gift or stocking-stuffer (it actually fits in a stocking),

Cotton race t-shirts have been the longtime standard of road race goodie bags. Run the race, get the cotton t-shirt. Then came along the wonderful new “tech shirts”. Lighter weight, better moisture wicking, cooler-looking, it is all win-win right? I remember the first race that I got a tech shirt from was the Top of Utah Marathon in 2004. I thought, “Wow, this is great! What a deal!”. Next thing I knew, more and more races starting giving out tech shirts as “the shirt”, until now it is basically the standard, and even little po-dunk 5k’s give them out. This is good, right? Wrong! My dresser, which used to be overflowing with cotton race shirts, are now overflowing both short-sleeve and long-sleeve tech shirts. Meanwhile, my cotton supply is dwindling and growing very ragged. Cotton t-shirts and long-sleeve shirts are the lifeblood of my daily wardrobe. Shorts/jeans, birkenstocks, and a race t-shirt comprise my business attire. These same race T’s are my paint shirts, undershirts, and dust rags. Even underneath my nice Sunday outfit lies a cotton race t-shirt. I used to take these shirts for granted, but as my ragged supply grow smaller, I value and covet cotton race T’s more and more. “White gold”, I call them.

Sure, the tech shirts are nice. I prefer to wear them rather than cotton for working out and hiking. But daily wear? Forget it. One word: Stinky. White gold absorbs oder wonderfully. Poly-pro, not so much. Plus, tech shirts just look funny in the workplace. I’ll stick with cotton, thank you very much.

But like a non-renewable resource, I expend my valuable cotton race shirts, but no longer assimilate new ones. My supply is aged and running out. They are truly becoming an endangered animal, and may go the way of the Dodo. What can we do? Save the cotton!! Write a letter to your local race director and say, “I want cotton! And knock $5 off the entry fee while you’re at it!” At least give us the option! Who’s with me??

These past two seasons have been tough ones for me. Runners’ knee in both knees, lower back pain, SI joint pain, plantar fasciitis, and a groin strain had brought my running to a grind (literally) during 2005 and the first half of 2006. After months of not running, and enduring physical therapy, chiropractic, and massage therapy, I was finally back up and running by September of this year. I noticed that deep tissue massage was particularly effective in accelerating healing, but at $40/hr, I could not afford to do it more than once or twice a month.  Then I discovered Trigger Point Technologies and their massage products through injury message boards and word of mouth. I figured that the TP Massage set would be good investment, since I could use it every day at no cost after the initial purchase. If it holds to even half of the claims of the website and of other peoples’ reviews, it would be worth the money by helping keep me injury-free and feeling good during and after runs. Other reviews of this self-massage toolset can be found by Linda Gallo, SNEWS, and active.com. Reviews such as these, plus the product’s informative website, convinced me to shell out the $$ to buy it myself and add it to my arsenal of injury-prevention and running maintenance tools.

I have been using the massage tools and techniques faithfully every day now for the last 8 weeks. The tools of the “Total Package” include the Ball, the Footballer and Block, and the Quadballer. The Ball is a little bigger than a tennis ball, and the Footballer and Quadballer are dumbbell-like contraptions that you can roll various body parts on. The Baller Block is just a foam block used to get leverage. I’m sure something else could be used if I ever lost the Block. The tools all have a hard core with a unique, patent-pending material that is neither hard nor soft (kind of like a very viscous gel), so it is more comfortable and effective than using things like a rolling pin (too hard) or a tennis ball (no core, can be pushed in). The website claims that the material will mold to the form of a human thumb after 5-7 seconds of direct pressure. It is kind of a dubious claim, but having experienced it myself, I have to say that it is true; it sure feels like a thumb and it sure gets deep into the muscles!

The best part is that you can use your own body weight to control the location and amount of pressure, and you can massage a knot/trigger point to the duration and intensity of your heart’s content. Usually a few minutes is sufficient. The ball can be used for virtually any location and muscle group. If you only have $20 to spend, the ball can get it all done with a little effort. I tried replicating the feel of the TP Massage Ball with a softball and a tennis ball and couldn’t do it; the TP Ball is unique and does as advertised. I use it every day primarily for my neck, shoulders, and chest. After a minute or two on each muscle group, much of the tension built up during the day has been released. The neck is especially tender and sensitive to the ball, but it’s amazing how much better it feels afterward. The ball is supposedly effective in treating piriformis syndrome (sciatia). I have not used it much on my own piriformis muscles, as they have not given me any trouble. However I have used the ball on my interior quad muscle just above the knee cap when I was feeling the onset patellofemoral pain, and it helped reduce the muscle tenderness and prevent the pain from developing further! I am quite impressed.

I use the Footballer for my lower calves (soleus) and the outside of my calves and shin area. Rolling the outside of the calves feels especially good after a longer run of pounding the pavement, and helps rejuvenate the achy muscles. The first week of using the Footballer on the calves was painful; it’s amazing how tender the muscles were. But after a week, my muscles were responding well, and instead of hurting while using the product, it just felt like a good massage. I took that as a sign that the product was helping repair muscle damage, and it was actually working. According to their website, the Footballer applied to the calves is the cure for plantar fasciitis, since treating the calves can release tension on the fascia. That falls in line with other things I’ve heard, but my own case of PF was already better before I started using the product, so I can’t give first-hand testimony. I’m a bit skeptical when anyone claims they’ve found a cure-all for PF, since every case is so unique, but I imagine the TP products can help certain cases.

I use the Quadballer to roll out my quads and IT bands, and also my lower back and neck. Laying on top of the Quadballer was very painful for the first two weeks on the quads, but my muscles eventually adjusted and knots were released, and like my calves, it simply feels really good now. I was quite impressed with that. It took about three full weeks for me to lay on the Quadballer and roll out my IT band without pain (the IT band is VERY sensitive), but now I can apply my full body weight on the IT band without discomfort and can get a very good massage out of it. Both the quads and IT bands are very important for maintaining healthy knees, and my right knee, which I have had problems with and had been feeling rather weak before, is actually feeling very strong and durable now. I feel that the Quadballer has helped this, particularly in the IT band. The Quadballer will also get VERY deep into the lower back. I massage out my lower back at least once a day by lying on the Quadballer and rolling back-and-forth and side-to-side. I have had no lower back pain AT ALL in the last 2 months, which is great, because that has been a problem for me over the last year and a half. So I’m very pleased with the Quadballer.

Aside from injury prevention and maintenance, the TP Massage tools have helped my day-to-day running performance some, particularly in my calves. When I massage out my calves before a run, I feel a bit more bouncy. My runs have been feeling very good, and I have not had any little aches and pains that can get in the way of a good run.

All TP products come with a 9-minute instructional DVD, with is only slightly helpful. It is not long enough, nor informative enough. It also comes with a small pamphlet that suffers from the same problem. Between the two, though, and by listening to my muscles, I could figure out most of the best techniques to use the tools. The website is pretty helpful, and contains some good articles diagrams, but you have to filter out all the jargon and marketing ploys. Read through the website and you will see what I mean. A about a month ago they released a small book called Ultimate 6 for Runners Guidebook, which is an instructional guide with step-by-step directions a full-color pictures that would be a great resource to maximize the utility of the product. But they are asking $20 for this 17-page book, which is a bit hard for me to swallow. If I could get it for about half that price, I would consider buying it, because I think it would fill in the gaps of my knowledge and help me use the product better. If I end up buying it, I’ll be sure to give a full report on it.

The TP products are rather spendy, due to the materials and development behind them (I’m not sure what their mark-up is). The Ball alone is $25, the “Starter Set” (ball, block and footballer) is $70, and “Total Package” (ball, block, footballer, and quadballer) is $130. All the products come with the DVD and instructional pamphlet. You can save a bit of money on them by shopping around the internet and running shoe stores. Sometimes the TP web store runs specials as well.
Cost and marketing aside, these are great products and really simulate deep tissue massage (I have been to several massage therapists and can compare the difference). Since buying the “Total Package”, I have stopped going to my massage therapist completely, and have saved money and recouped cost that way, and I feel great! I have had my running buddies try it after Saturday runs, and they are all impressed as well. Anyone who has a history of injuries, or just wants to eliminate muscle knots and aches/pains should consider trying the TP Massage products. The Ball alone can get just above everything done, so it’s the cheapest place to start if you are money-strapped or skeptical, but the Footballer and Quadballer cover a lot more surface area and make the massage for certain muscle groups a lot easier than just using the Ball.

Anyone’s experiences or questions regarding TP Massage products are welcome.

Relay races have been around for awhile, but they are gaining steam quickly and becoming some of the hottest and fastest-growing new races. Many runners are already familiar with large “granddaddy” relays such as Hood to Coast and Reach the Beach. However, new relays are springing up right and left. The Wasatch Back (Utah), Great River (Wisconsin), del Sol (Arizona), Wild West (Colorado), Green Mountain (Vermont), and Fall 50 (Wisconsin) are all new relays, less than a few years old. I’m assuming there’s all sorts of new relays that I haven’t heard about, but these are just the ones that have contracted me to make their course maps. The point is that they are springing up and growing like wildfire. Why all growth and excitement in relays? Well, in a nutshell, they are just a riot to run. Combine a college road-trip with running and racing, and you get a relay. Most relays range in distance from 50-200 miles, have 6-12 person teams, and can last well over 24 hrs. The general process is 1)pile a bunch of runners into a van; 2)jump out and run 4-8 miles really fast (or slow if you like); 3) jump back in the van and drive for awhile; 4) repeat several times. Sleeping is optional, and is the exception more than the rule. Due to the non-standard leg distances, and often the harsh topography, getting a PR is not an option, which is actually a good thing because it lets you relax and actually enjoy running for running sake. Forget your time and mile splits, and just run hard! Relays make running how it was when you were a kid. Fun. No pressure. Combine that with the comradery and friendships that will develop from being in a van with the same people for 24-hours, and sharing the same adventures and supporting each other, relays give some of the best “bang for buck” for the “entry fee to enjoyment” ratio. I have ran the Wild West Relay once (2005), and the Wasatch Back Relay twice (once as a runner in 2005 and once as a driver in 2006). I’ve seen landscapes and visited places I never would have seen before and made friends with complete strangers that I would have never met otherwise. I recommend that anyone looking for a new aspect of running and racing try a relay. I’ll be running the Relay del Sol this March 30-31. The 190-mile race starts in Wickenberg and ends near Phoenix, AZ, and will travel through some truly outstanding desert landscapes.
Post-edit: Check out the new PC TV clip on You Tube about the Wasatch Back Relay.

I weighed in today at 132 pounds. So that means I’ve finally hit my goal and returned to my college racing weight. Hurrah! I celebrated by getting my chin-up PR (14). Chin-ups are a lot easier without love handles. Celebrated more when I got home by eating an orange.

I am originally from Wisconsin, and love things like beer, bratwurst, and cheese Danishes. It had taken its toll, and I developed the dreaded “skinny-fatguy belly” after college. I was about 145 pounds last winter when I got hurt, and over 140 pounds during the Grand Slam when I got hurt. A couple winters ago I hit 155. I think I read somewhere that every running stride you take, your joints bear 3x your body weight upon impact. Running downhill, it is even more. So for me to lose 10+ pounds is really like losing 30+ pounds, as far as my knees, back, and feet are concerned. It also factors into running economy and VO2Max, which may explain why holding a 6:30/mile pace seems pretty effortless right now, whereas my easy pace the past few years was 7:00+/mile. So I think meeting this weight goal will continue to help with injuries and also performance. 90% of my meals now are vegan or vegetarian, and that has been key for shedding excess weight, plus my energy levels have never been better. The funny thing is that after a while, you really start to like rice, beans, lentils and buckwheat. There are some excellent recipes out there. I still like the occasional bratwurst though, and if I lose any more weight, I will have to start adding more sausage and battered food to my diet! I am happy where I’m at and don’t need to lose a pound more.

My training blog has been a lot of fun, and I’ve decided to branch out and make this new blog featuring my more “colorful” thoughts and opinions. While the training blog has been awesome for tracking training, I felt that I wanted something more in terms of pure blogging ability. So here we are. A real, full-fledged running blog. Bloggerific. My goals for this blog are to continue to write about races, training methods, running news, products, and others things related to the wonderful world of running. And I will add what I am a great expert in: my opinion. I know it better than anyone. I look forward to good discussion. Also note that I have RSS feeds coming from Cool Running, so this blog will also be a daily news source for running.
This site will be under construction for a while as I learn all the new tools and how to go about doing this. It will also be a function of time, which can be limited.

Over yesterday and today I transfered my Polar training for 2005 to the training Blog. 2005 was a breakthrough year for me, in that I finally utilized smart training, and finally figured out how to run a marathon properly. Both of those accomplishments were greatly influenced by me reading “Advanced Marathoning” by Pfitzinger and Douglas. The ideas in the book help me formulate a good training plan that employed a lot more tempo and marathon-pace running, and less VO2Max. It also helped me with proper tapering, hydrating, and fueling, which are crucial (and often underestimated) for the marathon.

This was also the year I ran the Grand Slam. Why did I do the Slam? I was so jaded from the TOU Marathon in 2004, when I put all my marbles in the one race and lost big. So I decided to do the opposite in 2005: run a bunch of marathons until I got it right. Also, there would be no pressure on me (from myself) to perform really well at any of them, which would allow me to loosen up and RUN MY OWN RACE. Well, to make a long story short, I ended up doing really well in ALL of them, and came out with some nice PR’s, and a lot of valuable experience. So in order to run fast, I had to try to run slow. What this meant was that in all my previous marathons, I tried to run a pace beyond my training, and ended up running slower than I should have because of those improper race-day tactics.

The downside of doing the Slam was that I got injured (knee and lower back). I chose to abuse ibuprofin and just run through it, and did so “sucessfully”, but I ended up taking October-December completely off in order to rehab and recover. And when I started running again in January, I developed similar injuries again. Either my biomechanics changed or my body’s ability to heal and/or absorb shock had been compromised. I hadn’t had an injury before the Slam for the previous 10 years of competitive running. I do not blame the Slam itself, but rather me running it too hard with TOO LITTLE BASE.

People often ask me about the Slam and for tips. Here are my tips, ideas that I did use or SHOULD HAVE used.

1) Build a big base during the 4 months preceding the first race (Ogden). 70+ miles/week for at least couple months is optimal. Once the Slam starts, you will be forced to drop mileage due to constant recovery.

2) Pick 1 or 2 races as your focus races. Run the others as “workouts” — ie do not “race” them. For me, my focus races were Des News and St. George.

3)Negative or even-split every race. Do not hit the wall. I found that races that I negative or even-splitted, my recovery was an order of magnitude faster than races where I hit the wall and ran a slower 2nd half.

4) How do you not hit the wall? Run your race, not someone else’s race. Ignore “the pack” and run a pace that seems too slow at first. You have 26 miles to get your PR. Going out hard the first few miles can ruin the last half of your race. But going out easy can make the last half a dream. I ended up passing a lot of people that are normally faster than me in the last miles of races using this strategy, and even unintentially won money by winning the “war of attrition”. Pfitzinger says that running a negative split means that you could have ran faster, but that’s what we want in the non-focus Grand Slam races.

5) Run for “active recovery”. Hydrate and fuel EVERY aid station, even if you are not thirsty or tired. Walk through, if needed. I actually walk through aid stations now to get more fluid, and I don’t believe it nets me any loss in time, because I “get it back” later. Take liquid and fuel after Mile 20, even though it will not help you for the current race, it will help you recover from the race faster, which is key for the Slam.

6) Do not taper heavily for your non-focus marathons. Since you just did a marathon a few weeks ago, your mileage will probably not be that high to begin with, and your fitness can not afford a big taper. One week with 20% reduction should do it, and then the marathon itself will add 26 miles for the week, so on paper, there will not be any drop in mileage at all!

7) Monitor your body, and think long-term rather than short term. If you are injured, suck it up and drop out of the circuit. Some injuries will go away on there own, but others will not, and continuing to run will make things worse and have long-term consequences. I’ve had a rough year since the Slam because I did not listen to my body and tried to mask my pain with NSAIDs. Don’t do it!

Enjoy it! Running the Slam takes you to a lot of great courses and beautiful areas in Utah. Relax and admire the scenery during your race. Be inspired.

I think that the Grand Slam in 2007 will “only” consist of 4 races rather than 5. This should make the circuit more achievable, and allow for faster times.

I found that despite relatively low mileage, I built a tremendous amount of fitness through doing the Grand Slam. Why is that? Well, my theory is that Slammers do tons of marathon-specific workouts…what is a better marathon workout than 26.2 miles at MP pace? Fewer long training runs are needed, as the marathons themselves build a lot of fitness and train the body to burn fuel efficiently. Even my general speed was pretty good by September, as demonstrated by a strong Peruvian Dash 8k finish. Finishers of the 2006 Slam had a lot of PR’s and remarkable performances as well. This leads me to believe that multiple marathons can be a good way to go. Of course, doing 5 in 6 months is extreme, but if you train for months and months and do your marathon…why not do one other in a month or two? You’ve worked very hard over several months to build your marathon fitness, and if your recovery from the first marahon goes well, why not jump in another? You have already done the work, so the second marathon is “free”, and I believe the probability of a PR in a second marathon (if spaced far enough apart) is good.

Those are my Sunday Blog thoughts. As usual, other people’s experiences and comments are welcome.

I spent some time last night and today transferring my Polar training log over to the training Blog for the 2004 running season, including race reports. So now I have 2003, 2004, and most of 2006 posted. I’ll fill the gap probably next weekend. Looking back at 2004, I did A LOT more mileage than in 2003, and I expected it to pay off and run some really fast times…but that’s not what happened. In fact, 2004 was probably my worst racing season. Despite holding steady to 80-100 mile weeks for most of the summer, my times were slower compared to 2003, from 5k to marathon. This means either 1)I’m not meant to do that high of mileage; or 2)I didn’t see the fruits of my labor immediately; or 3)some of my training methodology was wrong. I feel that the reality was a combination of all those reasons. When I do 100-mile weeks, I get fatigued, and don’t race or work out well. However, I feel that all mileage adds to “lifetime base” and will pay off in later years. 2005 for me was a really good racing year, despite low mileage, and I think that the high mileage I did in 2004 set me up for the Grand Slam in 2005. Finally, most of my workouts in 2004 were geared toward VO2 Max (short intervals). I did little threshold and marathon-pace running, so it’s no wonder that I crashed and burned at TOU that year; my body could not sustain a long effort nor store/burn fuel efficiently. Although I was doing more mileage in 2004, I still lacked any thoughtful training methodology, and just thought that if I ran lots of mileage and did track intervals, that I would become fast at all distances…immediately.

The training element that killed me the most for the 2004 TOU race was my taper. I went from doing 90-100 mile/weeks through August, to 35-45 miles/week in the two weeks before TOU. I felt led to do so because I felt fatigued from the mileage and I didn’t know any better. But the taper was too sharp (50-60% cut) and sustained over too long a period of time (2 full weeks). During the 2006 Grand Slam, I experimented with great success with 10-20% tapers sustained over one week. For example, if I had been running 60 mpw, I would taper to 50 miles in the week preceding the marathon. I now believe that a key to good training is not to fatigue yourself, and if you are not fatigued there is no need to taper for longer than a week, or to cut your miles by more than 10-20%. Hard-gained fitness can be lost over long tapers. I see marathon programs advocating 3-week tapers, and that just seems wrong. If one’s body is so broken down that one needs three weeks to mend, replenish, and fuel it, then the training program is fundamentally flawed to begin with. Everyone is different, of course, and have different needs, but it seems that if one is in good health, has trained within their limits, and fuels their body healthily, then 1 week or maybe 2 weeks at the very most should be sufficient to run an optimal marathon.

Over the weekend I started transferring my old Polar calendar data to the training Blog, so that I have a complete training and racing record in one place. So far I’ve completed 2003, including race reports from doing the LDR circuit. I’ll try to do 2004 and 2005 when I have time. It’s funny how much I can remember about each race, as I fill out the reports over 3 years later. Having done 2003, I’m amazed at how bad and haphazard my training was back then. I would literally jump from 70 miles to 100 miles in a one week span. I could get away with than then, but it’s the kind of thing that got me injured this year. I’ve learned. Also, I did a total of about 6 speed sessions that entire summer. So really no workouts aside from racing. I had no plan and no training program, but had good health and a bit of speed left over from college. Now I have a solid training program and wisdom, but just need the body and health to support what’s in my head. Need to get the speed back too.

I also devised my weekly mileage build-up for the next several months. In general I will follow the “no more than 10%” rule and make it a slow build-up. Here it is:

Remaining weeks of Oct: 23, 25, 27

Nov: 30, 33, 36, 40

Dec: 44, 48, 48, 50

Jan: 53, 55, 60, 60, 63

We’ll see how that goes. Those numbers are based on 5 days of running until early December, and then 6 days of running after that. Of course I can’t plan setbacks or illness, but I’ve found that it’s good to map out how much I need to run each day, and actually make a daily calendar that I can refer to. That way I don’t go overboard.

Today I ran from my house to the TOU finish line, doing the last 1.5 miles on the TOU course. Got a split from Mile 25 to 26 at exactly 8:00. Felt pretty good, especially considering I was standing up at the expo all night. I did 4×150 barefoot strides on grass at the TOU finish line before the first finishers came in.

I was quite impressed with all performances at TOU. I think some of this can be attributed to a chilly morning, which makes it uncomfortable to stand around, but perfect for performance. Several other bloggers had hefty PR’s and exceeded goals. Several of my other friends killed their goals as well. I think there were something like 37 people total under 3:00, and one American qualified for trials, “breaking the seal” for the TOU race. I imagine the race can build off this year and have even better comp next year. Hopefully I can kick my injury bug and be part of that field.