Marathon High: New Season, New Goal

Jeff Knight coaches Team Rogue el Jefe, RogueAC and is the current director of Marathon High. He is a (running) nerd and loves using parentheses. Note: lab coats not provided.

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Training Bonus.
If I run, I get to eat a giant plate of hash. (http://rebecaelisa.wordpress.com/2012/02/29/austin-city-food-guide-diners/)

We all know (or will some day learn) that training for a marathon is more than just crossing a finish line or getting a medal, even if some double as a wine opener. There are a lot of “training bonuses”.  Marathon training is friendships, happy hours (i.e., a socially acceptable form of  “I’ll have a few drinks before dinner”), brunches (i.e., a socially acceptable form of “Ill have a few drinks before lunch”), long runs together and all the other things that bring us back to the training. Think about that for a split second.

As many of you know, Marathon High seeks to bring the marathon experience to underserved students in Austin — minus the happy hours and brunches! This previous year (our first year!) was a resounding success. We saw not 5, not 15 but 29 high school and middle school students complete the Austin Marathon or Half Marathon. Now, think about that for a second.

Photo donated by http://www.sarahbremerphotography.com

Next year, we have a new goal…a new PR. And that PR is centered on providing worthy and constructive “training bonuses” in conjunction with our run training.

Let me give you a sneak peak…..

Urban Roots ATX

(urbanrootsatx.org)

Urban Roots is an organization very similar to Marathon High.  We both have the similar mission except they using farming where we use marathon training.

In 2013-2014, we plan to take a field trip to the farm where Marathon High runners will learn about sustainable agriculture, healthy forms of food and experience the beauty of the true “farm to table” idea; all from their peers that work the program.  In return, we share the gift of running with their student workers.  Both sets of students gain a small, life-shaping experience that they’ll never forget.

The Trail Foundation

Eastside trail extension (artist rendition) via TTF website.

We all know and love the Lady Bird Lake Hike and Bike Trail. For the Austin runner, this is our old friend.  It is like a good pair of leather boots. We may stray for awhile but when we return, we are welcomed with open arms. Well, this old friend is growing some and learning a few new tricks.

The Trail Completion project is well under way and by this fall the progress (and excitement) will be very visible.  The planning and preparation for this project has been truly awesome.  There are entire ecosystems that have to be considered for a project like this. Trees, fish and animals. Errosion, soil content and traffic patterns. The list of things is endless and crazy interesting!

Marathon High is partnering with the The Trail Foundation to learn about this project. As users of the trail, our runners are the next generation of trail stewards and what better way to gain an appreciation, or a sense of responsibility, than by seeing this project in an up close way. This coming year Marathon High will experience guided canoe tours of the project, lead by engineers and project managers; laying out the “whys” and “hows” of the project.

Whole Foods Market Cooking Classes

Accessing inexpensive produce from farmer’s markets programs like Urban Roots ATX of Green Gate Farms is one thing, preparing that food is another thing. After seeing the source of good foods, our student will learn how to cook those same foods in an easy functional way.

We’ve partnered with Whole Foods to use their chefs and kitchen space to give our students real life experience preparing wholesome foods with ease.

Whole Foods Lamar via Tumblr

Girls on the Run

If you don’t know GOTR, you should.  They are like Marathon High for elementary school girls. As a national program, we aspire to reach their level of expertise and programming.

Marathon High has partnered with GOTR to give back.  Returning MH runners will get the opportunity to teach a younger generation about running. By attending GOTR workouts and races, our runners get the chance to mentor students in a new way through something they are passionate about, running.

(http://www.gotrchicago.org/)

So, who is excited about the next goal?  With all new goals, training starts now, in the off-season. Like you need training partners and running buddies, we need you. Help us take the first step toward achieving our new goals by supporting our Marathon High + Groupon Grassroots Campaign.

This Thursday (May 16^th), purchase a $10-Groupon here.  Share the link of Facebook, Twitter and through email. Get your mom to buy one, your coworker, your imaginary friend and your dog. It doesn’t take much for our staff to make these dreams a reality but it takes some.

Help us Share the High starting this Thursday because I love new PRs!

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Emails from my Team: [Insert Runner’s World tagline about setting PR’s by running less]

Posted by Jeff Knight, coach of Team Rogue El Jefe, program director of Marathon High, running nerd (mostly nerd) and adamant believer in the use of parentheses in his blogs (can’t help it). 

…..Well not necessarily running less. Maybe “running the same mileage” is more appropriate. Whatever. The point is that sometimes you don’t need to change you’re running to run faster.

I love my athletes. They work hard, they train consistently, they take care of themselves (most of the time) and they know what they want out of running.  Most of the time the road to that goal or accomplishment is pretty straightforward. Questions revolve around weekly mileage, rest days and pace.  Those are all excellent and supremely important questions. But sometimes you get those questions, those big-picture questions that, in all honesty, are really tough to ask but the pay off is huge. Indescribably huge.

This is what most of my athletes want. They want this or the coveted PR at this. (via https://twitter.com/bostonmarathon)

As a coach, I love those questions. When you get those questions I imagine its like when a music FOMO (“fear of missing out”, it’s a noun…sort of) gets the opportunity to go to that uber exclusive Justin Timberlake show at SXSW 2013.  (Ok, I realize I probably lost most of you guys to a google search.  That’s ok. It’s totally worth it to add “SXSW” and “Justin Timberlake” to my Tags for this blog.) The music-nut will do anything to get into the show. Once, there they tweet about, remember and relish the show.  Likewise, a coach does the same for these types of questions (minus the tweeting)…..the “big” question.  The reason is, if you can help the athlete reach some semblance of an answer to that question the pay off is substantial.  Below is a conversation regarding one of those questions.

To frame it, it was a conversation between myself and an incredible runner on Team Rogue el Jefe back in….cough!….December  (sorry, I’m a bad blogger).  She was in a bit of slump during that boring part of the training cycle and, not quite feeling it the way she normally does.

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The athlete writes:

“Ha “The Truth” as if I lie to you all the rest of the time?  No, I don’t.  I promise. 

But the truth is, I’m in a bit of a slump.  I’m trying hard at my workouts, which is good.  I’m in the mid-60′s mileage-wise, which is good.  But I’m not doing all the other things it would take to get me to my new PR.  I say I’m going to.  And then I don’t  I even make bargains with myself, and I still don’t. 

Part of it is that the wind came out of my sails after [Sue] race.  That probably sounds stupid.  What I mean is, I was counting on [Sue] so I could say to myself “See! [Sue] did it! You can too!” 

That’s not entirely it and it would be a stupid excuse anyway.  I recognize that. 

I ran with my girlfriend Laura and she said I’m afraid of failing.  I think that’s definitely part of it.  

I’m not quite sure how to lift myself out and I’m not necessarily asking for help, just letting you know.”  (emphasis mine)

This athlete didn’t even ask a question directly but I could feel it in the undertones. When you know an athlete well, you can see the questions in their body language or their statements.

Below is my response:

“Let me warn you, this is a little stream of consciousness….

First off, you’re [Jane]  Not [Sue].  [Sue] didn’t do what she was capable of doing for a number of reasons, most rookie type mistakes.  Nothing a wiley veteran would do.  Over hydrate the day before, go out too hard, get negative during the race, etc.    Her fitness was there.  She was on x:xx pace until mile 20 and then slowed down due to stomach issues. Not her legs. Not her breathing. The point is it had nothing to do with her fitness.

Yeah its nice to have that vicarious experience but a vicarious experience is no guarantee.  You still gotta go out and run the race. Which you will.   The reason you will is because you just initiated a very authentic and super tough conversation.  That fear of failure is the number one thing keeping EVERYONE from running at their fullest potential.  We honestly do have olympic-medal caliber athletes on RAC but until they TRULY lay it on the line, they wont do it.  The only way you can lay it on the line is overcoming that fear of failure.  How do you do that? Well thats a personal thing.  Here’s a few things to think about.  One might speak to you. All might speak to you. None might speak to you. They are related but also disconnected. 

1) Failing at the marathon doesn’t make you a bad person. You’re still going to be [Jane]. You’re still going to be an amazing runner and a wonderful person. It’s ok to fail. 

2) There is no such thing as failure, only the potential to grow. Even “failure” gives you the chance to learn and improve. In other words, there is no such thing as a bad race. 

3) You MUST fail to reach your potential. If you never fail you aren’t trying hard enough. You aren’t experimenting with things to make you better. You’re playing it safe becuase safe is comfy but safe isn’t always growth. 

4) Remove the negative.  Remove failure from your vocabulary.  Instead of going out with the potential to fail. You need to go out there as a fit, bad ass little marathoner seeing what she’s made of.  Its a journey of exploration. Lets see what you’re capable of. Lets see where your fitness will take you. Explore your potential.  

5) Its just running.  Yes you’re a runner. Yes that’s part of what you see when you look at yourself in the mirror but at the end of the day its just a hobby. A very serious hobby but nonetheless. Your paycheck isn’t on the line. Dinner isn’t on the line.  Rent isn’t on the line.  You do it becuase its fun.  Push yourself because it’s damn fun to see what you’re made of. 

You’ll get outta this rut. Don’t force your way out, just let it happen. Its a tough time of year. Boston is forever away.  Im not focused on it. No one else in the group is really focused on it. And thats how it should be.  I promise that in January Boston will be the number one focus. You’ll get all the love and attention you deserve.  That will help bring you outta it. You’ll get the workouts you need to get the confidence to run 3:25.  I’ll brain wash you to believe in your fitness    You’ll be fine.  I promise.  

Until then focus on you. Focus on [Jane].  Its an experiment of one. Not an experiment of [Sue]-[Jane].  The rut will pass. The confidence will return. You’ve got plenty of time to do the things you need to do.  The fall build was 16 weeks and that was borderline too long.  As long as you’re ready to work when things start up in Jan. you’ll be fine.  You’ll feel my energy then.  You’ll be in a good place.”

The point is sometimes to run faster, you don’t have to run differently. Instead you need to ask yourself some questions, chew on those questions and get feedback on those questions from people you trust (like your coach). It’s like a mental training session. Sometimes runners won’t even realize they are being held back by something like fearing to fail. Runners spend so much time in their own head but most of that time is the equivalent as watching TMZ.   As a coach, I challenge you to spend some of that time asking yourself big questions like “What if I don’t get my PR”, “Why do I still run after 10 years of running?”, “What do I want to get out of this next race?”, “What is that big question?” or “What if I do hit my PR?” (fear of success……that’s a whole ‘nother blog). Spend some time that is the equivalent to watching…..Baby Einstein…..Planet Earth in your head.

Whether they know it or not, every runner is struggling with a “fear of failure” question. And I promise you, if you actively work to answer this question you’ll run faster.  Like way faster.  Faster than you know you can run.  Most of our limitations aren’t physical; they’re mental barriers.  In order to over come them you must first 1) identify that barrier and 2) engage in an authentic conversation with yourself and someone else to find a way to get over that barrier. Like a hard track workout, this exercise is challenging but if you do it you’ll run faster and, as promised, you’ll do it without every having to run an extra step.

To view other “Emails to my Team” click here. 

Emails to My Team: Shorten It Up!

Posted by Jeff Knight, coach of Team Rogue El Jefe, program director of Marathon High, running nerd (mostly nerd) and adamant believer in the use of parentheses in his blogs (can’t help it). 

As a coach for Team Rogue I get the opportunity to work with some pretty amazing athletes from across the spectrum. Some are serious age-group runners at the community level. Some are super hobbiest. Some are race-a-holics. And some are World-Championship Team Triathletes.

This past week I had a back and forth (email war!) with one of my athletes (well…..triathlete) regarding stride rate.  Stride rate is the number of times your feet hit the ground per minute. For the newbies, stride rate  is one of those things, if addressed early, that can help ensure you become a run junkie (aka, a ROGUE). If your a pretty experienced runner, stride rate is one of those things that can help smooth you up and make sure you’re running with good form.

The man on the right is what appears to be a Rogue in its rarest form (Roguerus Maximus). Working on your stride rate will help ensure that you too will someday run shirtless in the snow.

The email stemmed from watching this athlete run bound her way through a workout and I thought I’d share it (don’t worry, I got her consent!). This athlete is a classic “over strider”, meaning her strides were extremely long (and slow) given her size.

“Ok, more on the stride length conversation from this morning.

There are a few ways to practice shortening your stride length but before you do that, I want you first to count your current stride rate.  This is how you should do it:

1) While running on a FLAT, straight road (not townlake or a track),

2) set the timer on your watch for 1 minute.

3) start the timer when your right foot hits the ground.

4) count how many times your right foot strikes the ground within that 1-minute period.

5) multiply that number by 2.

I’m guessing your stride rate will be around 160-170.  What is considered the “gold standard”? About 180 steps per minute (thats 90 right-foot falls during a minute). Why is this considered gold standard? Similar to cycling, its probably about the rate at which we recruit our slow-twitch muscles most effectively. As a result we run most with the least amount of energy output.  Furthermore, running is all about inertia  (surely they talk about that at Stanford).  What I mean is, along as you don’t hinder your forward momentum you’ll keep moving forward.  What hurts our forward momentum in running?  Wind resistance?  NOPE.  The answer is ground contact time.  When your feet are on the ground they are actually “braking you”.

Awww…..stop-and-go traffic on I-35. As blissful as sunbathing in hell, yet an unfortunately a good metaphor for the physics of running. (photo via utexas.edu)

Think about driving your car down I-35 at 5:00pm (I know what your thinking…. “why the hell would I torture myself like that?” ….but bare with me, its a hypothetical situation). Traffic is stop-and-go at best. So when it is stop and go, which is worse, tapping your breaks for half a second in between accelerations or pressing your break for 2 seconds between accelerations (Hint: skipping the drive for Happy Hour at Trudy’s is not an option)? Well, tapping your breaks for half a second is way better.  The car feels smoother and you keep way more momentum (and I’m sure your gas mileage would be way better).  Running personifies this hypothetical situation. (Yes, running is unfortunately a lot like stop-and-go traffic on I-35.) We accelerate when our feet leave the ground and we tap the breaks when a foot hits the ground. So like a car, we want this brake tapping to be as short as possible.

With this in mind, a shorter, more frequent stride should shorten up your ground contact time and thus help you maintain your inertia.  Will it feel this way at first? Heck no!  It will feel harder….like inertia is fighting back…but, it won’t feel like this forever.  Is 180 steps per minute a uniform rule across the board? No, not necessarily.  For every golden standard there is an outlier.  Thus, you might be the outlier……but then again, you might not  ;-)

 As a result, I want you to give it a chance. I want you to increase your stride frequency for a few weeks.  You have to do it for at least a few weeks so that your body can “learn” what this stride rate feels like and get over that initial awkwardness.  If after 3-4 weeks this stride rate still feels harder, forget about it and go back to what ever is your norm.  (But if I were a betting man, I’d bet you won’t go back.)    Here’s how I want you do this:

1) Do this on an easy running day, not during a workout.

2) On a flat, straight stretch of road (not track or townlake),

3) set your watch timer for ten seconds.

4) start your timer when your right foot hits the ground,

5) and count how many times your foot hits the ground during that period

6) Now run for a second and then repeat steps 3-5 but this time try to force your right foot to hit the ground 15 times during that 10-second period (15×6 = 90 steps with your right foot. multiply that by 2 and you get the total number of steps for both feet or 180)

7) do this periodically through out your run to check your stride rate

8) you should get into a rhythm of 180 steps per minute by the end of the run

Repeat this every time you do and easy run, or during parts of your long run, to learn this rhythm.

alternatively you can try this if your run with an iPod:

1) Do this on an easy running day, not during a workout.

2) On a flat, straight stretch of road (not track or townlake)

3) put on a song that has a beat of 90 beats per minute (you can just google this–there are entire websites dedicated to this) like Jack Johnson’s “Crying Shame”

4) Simply synchronize your right foot step with the beat of the song.

5) Your left leg will fall in perfectly and yield 180 total steps per minute.

Make sense?  Give it a shot and let me know what you think.

~El Jefe”

I know what you are all thinking….did I get her stride rate correct? Of course I did. Nailed it, in fact. 162 foot falls per minute.  I’m not overeducated for nothin! Just for the record, my athlete is now experimenting with shortening her stride a bit.

Just to reiterate, this is no magic bullet nor is this reminiscent of Alberto Salazaar micromanaging Dathan Ritzenhein’s stride like germ-a-phobe manages . Am I saying that everyone should go out there and start counting stride rates and totally change your running because you run at 176 steps per minute? No. Instead, this is a reminder that despite the simplicity of our sport, it is a very intricate physical process and that we are, in fact, control of part of this process. And, as we progress we should continuously challenge ourselves at every level so that we can…..well…..kill our age group in the Austin Distance Challenge

This is Dathan Ritzenhein. Dathan. He most likely wishes he spent more time training and less time worrying about the angle of foot eversion at ground contact.

A Rogue perspective on the Mel’s Meals 21-Day Challenge, Weeks 2 & 3: An Unexpected Experiment

Posted by Jeff Knight, coach of Team Rogue El Jefe, program director of Marathon High and running nerd (mostly nerd). 

Its official. I think I’ve become healthier.  Like, I-like-real-healthy-food healthier.  As I mentioned last week, I am  thought I was a pretty healthy eater.  Apparently I wasn’t. YOu know….That whole reference point thing.

I realized this during week number two of the Mel’s Meals 21-day challenge. You see, my wife was doing the 21-Day challenge with me.  At the beginning of week #2 she got sick.  Like all she ate was soup. As a result, the ready-to-eat deliciousness began to back up. Really back up.  So, she emailed Mel to pause her program-which she did-and I took the rest of the food to work at Rogue. I figured between the handful of emaciated, professional distance runners (and trail nerd) that work on the shoe floor that the food would be gone in no time. Turns out I was right but in the process I learned something.

If you read my blog last week, you know that this is indeed a challenge.  Mel’s Meal uses real, non-processed, wholesome ingredients. That means that all the little diet-vices were removed. Adios sucrose!  Anyone that has dieted (Disclaimer: Although the 21-Day challenge shares similarities with a diet, it is not a diet; it’s much more) knows how it goes.  Let me explain through an illustration:

Day 1-3, you feel like a mix between a badass and a martyr. Your internal spot line is shinning bright and directed right on numero uno. Since you committed to some novel thing that it should totally be accompanied by an angelic chorus and trumpets.

Day 4, you’re conflicted. Part of you is all in, part of you is all out. You’re like a pressure cooker or a tea kettle thats about to boil.  One small misspeak and you’re punching Erik Stanley in the mouth.

Day 5-9, miserable.  You question life. Religion. Even running.  Its bad.

Day 10 and on, equilibrium.  All the work you’ve been doing comes the norm and its in the most anti-climatic way.  One day you wake up and eat breakfast, lunch and make it to dinner before you even notice you’re eating healthy.  It’s weird.

Honestly, all these feelings and moods aren’t related to the food or anything. It’s more about what the foods don’t have. You see, Mel doesn’t dig salt and sugar. So when those are removed, you notice.  As a result, I think the whole mood cycle was more related to my (“step 1: admit your addiction”) salt and sugar addiction. And by “my” I mean “all of us. But you know what, that’s what is so beautiful about doing the 21-Day Challenge. You reset the pallete. You reset your taste standards. You kick the bad habits.

So back to the experiment.  After everyone was trying the meals I’d brought up to the store, their responses were similar to mine the first week.  ”It tastes kinda bland”, “It could use some salt or something” and so on. But what is really CRAZY is by that point I didn’t even notice.  The meals no longer taste bland or “saltless”, they just taste normal. What I learned is that I had a new normal. I’m not all excited about a meal or dreading a meal. I simply enjoy the meal like I would any other meal.

That is the number one reason why I am glad I did this.  The 21-Day Challenge has allowed me to pass on the salt and break the sugar cravings. As a result, I can now REALLY eat healthy (not healthy with a “pass the salt”).  Sure there were other things about it that were cool, like I never once felt bloated or gassy during a day when I ate only Mel’s Meals or the fact that I felt pretty f&$king fast when putting the good fuel into the tank.  And, like I said, it just became routine. It just became normal.  Its like our running.  10-mile long run? To us its not big deal but to our beer-drinking and wino friends its like you just ran to Dallas and back.  That’s what is so special. Thats why this is more than a diet. You see, its not the weightloss or anything else. Its the new…I dunno…mouth?

So do I want to do it again anytime soon? I can happily say “No”, not anytime soon. Would I recommend to people absolutely. Even the people not looking to lose weight or any of the knee jerk reasons that people decide to do something crazy like deprive themselves of the things they love (my sweet, sweet NaCl). There is just something about reestablishing ourselves, making that new status quo, that becomes so much bigger than our other motivators. The subtle things.

And with that…bring on the turkey, ginger bread houses, and candy canes….just hold the salt.

A Rogue perspective on the Mel’s Meals 21-Day Challenge, Week 1: Clear the fridge!

Posted by Jeff Knight, coach of Team Rogue El Jefe, program director of Marathon High and running nerd (mostly nerd). 

Imagine 1000′s of these wonderful hair-styles wandering Congress avenue wearing leather racing jackets and “Keep Austin Weird” visors.

Rewind back a few weeks to F1 weekend in faux-Monaco Austin.  I was sitting in traffic like every other Austinite trying to get the heck outta downtown before all the euro-mullets and leather Ferrari jackets descended on ATX. Instead of heading north, south or anywhere but “Fan Fest” I was heading to Rogue to listen to Mel of Mel’s Meal talk to the Rogue coaches about her 21-Day Challenge. After arriving 20 minutes late, I sat down with a Hops and Grain Alt and listened to Mel give her spiel. My wife, who was kind enough to come down with me, and I left intrigued but had some reservations.

Let me take an aside to explain the Mel’s Meal 21-Day challenge.  Basically she challenges (challenge is an understatement) you to eat ONLY freshly prepared, pre-packaged meals literally made by Mel.  I mean like everything you put in your body for 3 weeks comes from Mel.  Breakfast. Snack. Lunch. Snack. Dinner. No, muffins from Quacks in between breakfast and lunch. No, “I’ve been really good for breakfast and lunch, I think I’ll go to Huts for the 2-for-1 burger on Wednesdays……and eat both since I was so good for breakfast and lunch….” (I know I’m not alone here). Everyday is carefully planned to make sure you get the right amount of calories, protein, fat and carbs.  Sounds simple enough, right? Right?

Ok, back to the important subject (me), my main reservation was the same as everybody else: price.   For three weeks worth of food the cost is $525 dollars, thats $25/day.  I initially scoffed at this amount, thinking that surely I spend less than this on food per day….until I was at Wholefoods for breakfast the next morning……where I spend $12 on breakfast.  Ok, so maybe $25 isn’t so bad.  And as I learned, $25/day is actually a heck of a bargain when you eat with Mel. So, my $12-Wholefoods breakfast was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Kelli and I are in.  We’re taking the challenge!

Monday rolls around and I rush up to Mel’s Meals on Lamar to pick up my food for the day next three days.  That’s how it works. You pickup 3-days worth of food on Monday and 4-days worth of food on Thursday. I also, picked up for Kelli as well. Why the rush? Well, I didn’t realize that you pick-up on Monday to start on Tuesday.  Doh!  Yes, yes, this totally makes sense in hindsight (and also explain why there wasn’t a line out the door to pick-up food at 7:45 on Monday morning) but sometimes I’m a little slow. Ok, really slow.

I forgot to to take a sexy food shot prior to eating. Yup, there were three frittatas.

So I arrive at Rogue with 3-day’s worth of food for 2 people and quickly realize that this is a LOT of food. Like we don’t have enough fridge space at Rogue amount of food. So after moving around chocolate milk (and beer), throwing out  Erik’s lunch (he doesn’t need that) and giving Chuck a hard time (that doesn’t really have anything to do with fridge space…its just part of my routine), I manage to squeeze all of our food into the fridges up here. By this time I’m ready for breakfast. I pull out the designated Tuesday Monday breakfast (a day’s worth of food is conveniently packed in labeled, recyclable bags), check it out and due a double take. My first reaction is, there is no way all of this food is only 300-something calories.  While stuffing my face with impossibly-under-caloric southwest chicken frittatas, I pondered what form of witch craft does Mel use to get so much food to have so few calories.  A magical calorie-shrinking laser? The special stuff (bacteria) they use to make light beer? Apparently (and sadly that no lasers are involved) it is neither of these things. Evidently if you use wholesome, real and simple ingredients (farewell simple sugars…..you will be missed) you can pack in a lot of food without a lot of calories.  Why hadn’t I thought of this?

Snack #2: Mellon + feta cheese + onion + dressing = surprisingly really good!  I didn’t want it to end… 

After eating breakfast, a snack, lunch and another snack (italian mellon salad….yum!), I packed up all of our food, made one last jab at Chuck and headed home to run into the same problem I had at Rogue.  This is a ton of freaking food!! Time to clear the fridge to make room.  This is actually an unadvertised bonus to the 21-day Challenge, a forced fridge cleaning.

Actual fridge photo…..ignore the lonestar.

Day 1 is done and Im feeling pretty dang proud of myself. Extremely full and still in shock that I stuffed my face for only 1700 calories. Despite stuffing my face, I felt pretty good. Full yet comfortable. Satisfied without remorse. So back to the price. The $25/day thing is an after though. From my perspective it is actually a pretty good deal.

Sparing you with minute details from the rest of the week I thought I’d cut to what I learned during the first week.  One, it is a lot of food. I struggle to finish a day’s worth of food.  Two, Mel loves protein.  Men listen up, Mel is not afraid of the meat.  It is common to see animal protein in pretty much every meal. Before I loose you, there are vegetarian and vegan options but this leads me to the next thing I learned, there customer service is really good.

Normally I don’t eat a lot of protein; I am an unashamed carbo-holic. I love carbs! Wheat, rice, etc.  Bring it on!  I might be able to live on bread alone. By day 3 my protein-intolerance was starting to take a toll.  So, I email Mel and her nutritionist, Sterling, and explain my love affair with carbs (or really my body’s rejection of an abundance of protein) they immediately worked to fix the problem.  By Thursday (pick up day #2), Mel was personally substituting high-protein meals with high-carb meals some meals. By the weekend I was back to feeling good.

Now, the 21-day Challenge isn’t all a blissful experience. It is, as the name implies, a challenge. You see, I’m also a salt-o-holic and “Mel doesn’t dig salt”. As a result, the word “bland” did come to mind fairly often early on but, as I am now into week 2, bland doesn’t come to mind as often. Maybe my tastes have adjusted? Maybe my palette has pressed “reset”?

Next, this may sound crazy but you do have to adjust to healthy eating. You might be thinking, “Wait a second El Jefe! I’m a healthy eater!”; well, so am I….or so I thought.  Im not saying you have to adjust to eating egg+kale+orange+juice smoothies but you certainly have to have some will power.  So yeah, you get the cravings; the desire to cut loose and eat a slice (or 8…..aka, an entire pizza) of pizza from Little Deli.  But, then again, it is a challenge. Lastly, the hardest thing so far is desert.  Like I said, the meals taste healthy and that includes desert.  Unfortunately the only thing delicious about the brownies are the looks. Yes, it makes me sad inside too.  But then again running really fast is delicious!

But, honestly, these criticisms fail in contrast to my overall experience thus far. After one week I can say the process has been enjoyable, easy and fun.

In a nutshell, my initial impressions are this: if you’re looking for a way to kick start healthy eating or if you’re interested in resetting the taste buds I strongly recommend giving it a shot. I assure you it is plenty of bang for your buck.  Plus, meal plans are 20% off in December! I’ll be back next week with week 2 musings and thoughts.

Marathon High Challenge: Half Way There

Reblogged from teamrogue.org:

Last Thursday Rep Eddie Rodriguez  issued a challenge  and the community answered that challenge with a sprint!  Over the last six days just over $500 dollars have been donated. Your initial response to this challenge and support of Marathon High has been astounding.

Now I'm wondering if we can we run faster than expected?

Can we meet the $1000 donation mark by December 8th, this coming Saturday? 

Read more… 57 more words

The Eddie Rodriguez Marathon High Challenge

Texas House Member of District 51 has issued a challenge! Representative Eddie Rodriguez has donated $1000 to provide the gear, race entries, and transportation Marathon High teens need to achieve their goals. He is challenging you to make him donate additional $1000 to match dollar-for-dollar any donations starting today for Marathon High.  That means that for every dollar you or one of your friends donates will be matched dollar for dollar by Eddie Rodriguez.

By donating through PayPal on the Roge Athlictic Club website and writing “The Eddie Rodriguez Marathon High Challenge,” in your donation notes your money will be matched dollar for dollar until we have met his $1000 challenge.

His support for Marathon High does not end at financial aid. He has also begun to prepare to run the Austin Half Marathon alongside our local teens to provide pacing and inspiration.  His multifaceted backing has allowed the dreams of Ruth and the Rogue Athletic Club to become a reality.

I challenge you to meet his $1000 in the next 20 days and help us raise $3000 through this challenge. By December 17th (two months before the marathon) I want Mr. Rodriguez to know that the running community supports Marathon High and that we believe that these kids can rise to finish their first major race.

Do Chickens have a Lactate Threshold?

Yeah…I don’t really know if they do….. I just thought it was one of those fun titles.

(hillcountrychicken.com)

To talk about LT (Lactate Threshold) you’ve gotta talk about fried chicken.  I love fried chicken.  I grew up in East Texas, which is sort of like Alabama or some other place in the Deep South, which means I grew up eating fried chicken at every church function we went to.  When it comes to fried chicken there are two camps: dark meat people and white meat people.  To chicken people, this is a very serious matter.  Personally, I like dark meat and if you’re a distance runner, you should too.  White meat on the other hand….not so much. So grab that box of greasy goodness and settle in.

Believe it or not, if you eat chicken you know quite a bit about exercise physiology.  Seriously! Think about it. You know that there are really just two colors and they’ve gotta be different colors for a reason.  In reality, dark and white meats are an excellent display of the two major types of muscle fibers that exist. And humans, like chickens, also have these two muscle types.

What the heck does this have to do with LT?  Slow down, take another bite of that drumstick and read on ‘cause I’m getting there.

The fact that there are two colors of chicken meat is important because each type of meat is used for something different.  In nerd speak (which is based on Klingon), white meat is considered Fast Twitch muscle and dark meat is Slow Twitch muscle.  The white meat (breast, for example) is used generate a lot of force, like when the bird is taking flight – although I doubt most of the chicken we eat ever got a chance to fly.  For the chicken, taking off requires a lot of force (think about trying to slam dunk; you work really hard) and the white meat generates that force.  For us, running fast requires a lot of force so we use white meat (Fast Twitch fibers) in this scenario.  Conversely, the dark meat (like chicken legs) is used to do things that don’t require a lot of force (like walking around the “Free Range”).  We use dark meat (Slow Twitch fibers) predominantly when running slow.

Here is an aside for the true nerd out there (cough, couch….James Dodds…cough, cough) Dark meat is dark for a reason.  It contains a lot of myoglobin (huh?). Myoglobin is hemoglobin’s greedy brother.  Most (like 2-3) of y’all recall that hemoglobin carries oxygen from the lungs to the muscles in the blood.  This myoglobin lives in the muscles itself and steals the oxygen that’s bound to the hemoglobin floating around in the blood….poor hemoglobin….thus transferring oxygen to the muscle.  Like hemoglobin, myoglobin also has iron attached to it (you know…the thing college and HS running coaches get all worked up about because of anemia).  Welp, iron is red (think rust), thus dark meat is red.  Remember, dark meat has myoglobin, myoglobin has iron and iron is red. At this point, you should be asking yourself – in between bites of you chicken wing (you’ve finished the drumstick) – why the breast meat isn’t red.   Breast meat is white because it doesn’t have a lot of myoglobin and since we all have a little bit of Sherlock Holmes in us, we’ve deduced that breast meat must not use much oxygen.

Alright everyone, pick up that chicken breast and let’s get back on task.  I said that when we run slowly we use mostly dark meat (slow twitch fibers) because slow running doesn’t require a lot of force production. And when we run really, really fast we use mostly white meat (fast twitch fibers) because fast running requires a lot of force.  So when we steadily accelerate from slow, easy running (easy-day pace) to fast running (5k pace running), our body transitions from using mostly dark meat to mostly white meat.  The majority of the time we are using some combination of dark meat and white meat and, depending on which end of the spectrum your on, the more of one or the other you use. Check out this___*gulp*___graph (sorry, sorry!).

Hey, this isn’t so bad. It is clear to see that as speed increases you use more and more white meat. (wow, Jeff, I didn’t know you could color between the lines!)

DAMN IT, JEFF! I THOUGHT THIS BLOG WAS ABOUT LACTATE THRESHOLD?!? Relax, relax.  It is, I promise. ……Those are just the meat sweats getting to you.

When we accelerate from slow running to FAST running, there is a point when our legs start to feel like they are on fire!  They get that heavy, leaden feeling, locking up hurt.  Think about running an all out 400; the last 100m of that is hell. You might as well not have knees because you are in all out shuffle mode. That feeling is due to lactic acid (or the consequences of lactic acid).   All right, so have you seen a trend here?  When we run fast we use white meat; concurrently, when we run fast we generate lactic acid. Thus, dark meat is probably the source of this nasty lactic.

So Jeff, before I fall asleep from the meat coma I noticed that your graph suggests that even when I’m running slower than marathon pace I am using some white meat.  I thought you said that white meat generates lactic acid and lactic acid lights my legs on fire?  I don’t feel…..yawn…..on fire when I’m running slower than marathon pace….

That’s true! Good point! Even though we are using white meat at some easy paces, thus producing lactic acid, our body can handle it.  You know how most doors only open in or out? Well we have special doors on our muscles for lactic acid (aka, transporters in nerd-speak), the lactic-acid door on white meat only opens outward (into the blood) and the lactic-acid door on dark meat only opens inward (from the blood into the muscle cell/fiber).   So you can see a direction of flow.  Lactic acid is generated in the white meat (Fast Twitch muscle cells), it flows out into the blood and then into the dark meat (Slow Twitch muscle cells).  Dark meat can then turn lactic acid into energy.  That’s good!

(moddb.com)

If anyone has ever been to Ginny’s Little Longhorn on Sunday for the Austin icon, chicken shit bingo, you know the place gets crowded. I mean, I’m-feeling-violated-just-standing-here crowded. Imagine that the front door only opens inward and that there is no back door. If this were the case, it would get so crowded inside that the door wouldn’t even open, and even if it could people couldn’t get in because the room can’t handle it.  Our body operates the same way. At some point our running speed requires so much white meat that the amount of lactic acid produced can’t go into the dark meat.  As a result, it has to hang out in the blood. That’s bad!

Lactic acid is, well….acid.  Ever had lemon juice in your eye (e.g., has your drunk friend ever thrown a margarita in your face)? Stings, don’t it?  Lactic acid in the blood does the same thing.  Once our blood gets all acidic and shit quits working.  We can’t lift our legs, we cramp up, our legs are on fire, etc.

So that’s it. That’s LT. Our dark meat can handle the lactic acid from the white meat up to a certain pace but as the pace picks up we use more and more white meat until eventually we produce lactic acid too fast for our body to handle. Thus, as the name implies, it is a threshold. To recap, running fast (~10k-15k race pace) requires a lot of force, a lot of force requires a lot of white meat, a lot of white meat makes a lot of lactic acid and our dark meat can’t use all that lactic acid so the lactic acid is “stuck” in the blood.

So now you see; you can’t talk about LT without talking about fried chicken.    In two weeks, I’ll talk about how LT affects your race and how you train your LT.

Jeff Knight coaches Rogue Athletic Club and Team Rogue. He is a nerd and loves using parentheses. If you’d like to train with Jeff (el jefe) click here.  Note: lab coats not provided.