SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 04, 2016

Finally a cooler, less humid weekend!

Here in Annapolis, we have been burdened with hot, humid weather for much of the summer. Most runs have been sweaty and slow, often more of a slog than a fleet-footed transit of the distance. As my friend Tim said, "You know it's hot and humid when your running shoes leave wet footprints on the road."

Conditions have required that we pay great attention to hydration and maintaining electrolyte levels. What's been even harder is doing track workouts, tempo runs, faster intervals and races at times that we consider up-to-par.

In my most recent race, the hilly Annapolis 10 Miler, I was pleased to average my target, a 9:21 mile pace, which if extended to 26.2 miles (no easy proposition!) when I run Baltimore Marathon in mid-October, would yield me a Boston Marathon qualifying time of 4 hours and 5 minutes.

The good news is I ran my marathon pace in a race conducted when the temperatures were in the mid to high 70s Fahrenheit. Using a calculator based on information from renowned running coach Jack Daniels, the same effort at 60 degrees would have produced a 9:09 mile pace for a five minutes faster marathon time of 4 hours, all other things being equal. (Of course, they never are!) Here's what the temperature-effect calculator shows me:

For those who are targeting different marathon times, here's a summary chart on the effects of temperature that may be useful:

Since most fall races are run in cooler weather, the advent of autumn augers faster times than we have seen in summer racing and training.

And how about running and riding in lower humidity, which we also can look forward to in the weeks ahead?

Information I could find on the effect of humidity on athletic performance times sends mixed messages.

One study of the performances of 1,791,872 participants in six years of the Boston, New York, Chicago, London, Paris and Berlin Marathons showed that higher temperatures resulted in slower finishing times and more runners dropping out, but concluded that higher humidity levels did not have any significant impact on finishing times.

Yet, another study, this one of eight cyclists who rode indoors to exhaustion at 86 degrees F under varying humidity levels, demonstrated significant effects on performance from higher humidity in hot weather:

This study concluded that "exercise capacity at a moderate intensity in a warm environment is progressively impaired as the relative humidity increases." It noted that the primary accompanying physical effect is increased body temperature because higher humidity keeps sweat from evaporating as quickly.

To me, the cyclists' study seems to get it right: Humidity adds to the summertime burden for runners and triathletes.

So, take heart. Lower temperatures and reduced humidity, as well as gains from added training and leaner bodies, mean that more speed and better times are ahead!

Posted at 11:21 AM in Ironman races, Marathons, Running Races (not Marathons), Training, Triathlons (not IMs), Workouts | Permalink | Comments (0)

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 01, 2016

Be safe out there

IMG_1179Several weeks ago I received a package in the mail. With the delight of a kid at Christmas, I tore the box open, and found a gift I had given myself: A Road ID bracelet.

As you can see from the photo, it cryptically lists my contact and medical information, and has a red medical badge. I now wear this bracelet so if I am in a serious accident, first responders will have a clue as to who I am, how to treat me and whom to contact.

I acquired my Road ID bracelet because in the past year I had to begin taking a blood thinner when it was discovered that I am prone to blot clots. I could bleed out in a serious accident if first responders do not take immediate action.

When I left Illinois several months back, I and my running buddies were engaged in a continuing discussion about whether at least one of us ought to be carrying a cell phone on our training runs. Being old school runners, carrying anything at all on our runs was abnormal for us. As I was the only marathoner in the group (the others were focused on 5K and 10K racing), only I would carry anything, that being gel and sometimes salt tablets for my long runs. Otherwise, when we ran together three to four times a week, we all carried nothing. No one wanted to bring along a phone. And, yet, doing so probably was a good idea for reasons of safety, starting with runner Jerry's recent rewiring with a heart defibrillator after he had collapsed at the start of a road race due to arterial blockage.

Most runners who carry phones are doing so for music or are using a running app to track splits and distance, but there is a comfort that it is there to be used if medical or safety issues arise.

Yet, I can only think of very few instances when having a cell phone at hand would have been really useful for me for medical or safety reasons in training situations.

One that comes to mind was when I was riding my bike in a rural area early one pre-cell-phone weekend morning. Right after a stand of trees on a farm lot, a large dog barking madly came charging at me. I was so startled that I jerked up on my handle bars and torqued my bike around, crashing into the road with the bike landing on top of me. After taking the biker's first obligatory step - checking to be sure the bike was not harmed - and noting that the dog had stopped politely at the edge of the lot and was no longer barking, I assessed my condition and found that I had ground the side of one leg into the rough pavement. I was bleeding. A lot. I staunched the bleeding until it slowed. No one came by the help me. I eventually struggled back on to my bike, said good bye to the nice doggie, and slowly rode the 10 miles back home, my leg oozing blood from my torn bike shorts as I pedaled. As I waited at a stop light near my house, a driver pulled up next to me and asked with great concern, "Are you all right?" I assured him that I was, and rode on. I have no idea why he thought a battered and scraped up bike rider with a bloody leg would not be OK!

Most of the other times I have had close encounters with disaster while running, biking and swimming have been in races with many people around or while training with other athletes. The most salient example is when, unbeknownst to me because I was unconscious after I crashed on a downhill in Ironman Canada, competitors who spotted me laying in the road had alerted medical personnel and gotten me the first responders and ambulance that I badly needed.

I remain old school and don't want to carry anything non-essential when I train and race. That's one reason why most of my workouts these days are with others. Assuming they don't see more value in me dead than alive, I am entrusting myself to their good sense, just as they are to mine.

Nonetheless, now when I get on my bike I slip my phone into my jersey pocket. And I have carried it a few times lately on long solo trail runs. I get it that females who run early in the morning or in the evening want a phone with them. It just makes sense to do what's needed to be safe out there.