That was the year that was...

As my bio states I have always been a runner sometimes off and sometimes on. The recent ‘on’ has been going since 2004, when after moving back from NYC to Los Angeles I decided that I really did need to loose those 45lbs gained in the big apple! So I laced up my shoes and headed out, 15 minutes in one direction and turn around, by the end of 2006 I had dropped 55lbs and was running 25 miles a week and could often be seen pushing my son in the stroller for our “long run” run on a Sunday morning along the beach path.

Well it was one year ago today that I set my sights on a 3:30 marathon; alas it was not to be. The closest I got was a 3:45:09, close but no cigar. However like the horizon as the year moved so did the goals, while I still harbor a desire for a 3:30 or better yet a Boston Qualifier (3:20) those targets, have for the moment, been replaced with lengthier ones.

The birth of this blog, in February, was as a result of a Nike+ challenge created by a fellow runner (Nike+ ID Snowcrash) called the Quadrathlon, four events; 1 mile, 5k, 10k and most miles accumulated during the month, with a scoring system designed to calculate the overall winner, the challenge is still going strong and celebrates its one year anniversary in January 2008. This blogs original purpose was as somewhere to post the results, however, it soon became my personal cathartic vehicle on my running adventures which are contained within these electronic ones and ohs.

So the summary for the year. I will spare you the high and low lights in any great length, but here’s a quick list, all of which are written about in excruciating detail in this blog:

• Ran a sub 100 minute Half Marathon; 1:37:32 Wine Country Half Marathon
• Completed first Marathon; 3:45:09 San Diego Rock ‘n’ Roll
• Finished first Ultra-Marathon PCTR Pt Mugu 50k 6:54:07
• Missed both my ‘A’ race; San Francisco Marathon and ‘B1’ race; Bulldog 50k
• Ran and biked the equivalent of traveling across the continental United States; 1650 miles ran, 710 biked, total 2360
• Was injured for ten weeks with ITB syndrome
• Turned 40 and experienced the joy of the birth of our second son
• Learned more about running, cross training, stretching, nutrition, hydration and running gadgets than I knew existed!
• Made a ton of new virtual friends, many of which welcomed me and some I welcomed into the world of early mornings, late nights, intervals, fartleks, Garmin data, RSS feeds, splits, pace, results, successes and disappointments that we all run towards

Looking forward to 2008, my goals are simple to state but difficult to achieve but I know that my RBFs and the communities that I visit as well as my family and friends will be there to support me (and no doubt sometimes question my sanity) as I attempt them.

So as this year draws to a close, as they always do, I wish each and everyone of you a successful 2008 may your goals be achieved and your horizons a little closer.

New Year = New Fuel

Anyone who knows me will know that I am a bit of a nutrition/ hydration nerd. My rationale is that there is no excuse for not taking control of these things as there are so many other things that can go wrong; it’s about minimizing the odds.

As I am sure you all know; if you are running or cycling or exercising at any intensity for more than an 60 minutes you should be refueling on the fly…you do know that right?!?

All this year I have been using Accelerade and EndoroxR4 as my primary source of during and post exercise nutrition/hydration. As my supplies dwindled towards the end of November I decided to change. Two things prompted me to change, the first was the discovery that Accel Gel contains HFCS (High Fructose Corn Syrup) and the second was that the taste of Accelerade had become decidedly too sweet for me, in fact a lot of foods seem to have taken on stronger flavors of late, I think this is a result of the Paleo diet which I have been following this month where I have eliminated all processed foodstuffs, salty snacks and sweets, my new snack of choice is an apple with a dollop of almond butter…yum!

Anyway I digress, having done a bit of research I decided to give Hammer Nutrition products a whirl. My preliminary conclusion; I am impressed. The flavors are flavorful but not sweet or strong, they are very gentle on your stomach; I have the constitution of a compost heap, but even so they are very palatable. My initial order was a tub of Perpetuem for during and Recoverite for post exercise, I also ordered a selection of gels. The package arrived promptly, they are located just up the west coast from me, and to my surprise contained a multitude of goodies; extra gels, gel bottle, sample sachets of Heed and electrolytes and energy bars as well as a newsletter and catalog. I am working through the “extras” but so far I am very impressed. The energy refueling has proven to be effective, I have two 20+ milers under my belt in the last 12 days and no sign of the wall. As mentioned they are very gentle on your stomach and very palatable.

If you fancy trying them, and I recommend you do, click on the above image and you'll be directed to “my page”, here you will receive a 15% discount on your order, in return I accumulate a percentage of your order towards my next order…hey that’s a win:win in my book.

The Hills have ‘I’s Pt 2...I's losing my mind!

Last night was interval night and as per last week I ran the hill loop around my neighborhood, I knew I was going to be slower this week as despite my best efforts the holiday excess has taken a toll. More worrying was that I could not remember if I needed three loops or four; I would like to blame the alcohol but a glass and half of wine in a week is really not the culprit. Not to be one to scrimp I went for the latter. Whoops! The fourth lap was a killer and the time does not really illustrate the pain, but hey pain is just weakness leaving the body at least that’s what my old Sergeant Major used to tell me. The good news was that the downhill sections were faster but this I put down to the snowball effect, that is the rotund tum’ vs. gravity battle. Here are the numbers:


Tonight was Doug'sDay for tempo and I have my new tempo route but I also have the bodyaches /shivers/sore throat etc that precedes one of those stinker colds.

Honey & lemon, and off to bed! I'll pick up the slack tommorow.