What began as an effort to help provide structure to a somewhat disconnected running community here in the Lehigh Valley is now coming to an end. I began this website in February of 2010 because I found it very difficult to meet others for a run. Information was sparse and the groups that I did see in various parking lots before or after a run gave me funny looks when I tried to introduce myself.
I thought, there must be a better way. And so, I built this website to deliver information to local runners, highlight different people as a way to help build that feeling of community, put together a local race calendar, gathered a listing of area trails and tracks, etc. Sadly, when I suffered an injury at home which put a sudden halt to my own running, my passion for reporting on it slowly dwindled to the point of nada at this point in time.
Happily, I see a now thriving running community here in the Lehigh Valley. Both of our excellent running stores now provide regular social events which include group runs and Lehigh Valley Road Runners revived their own group runs, now offering a group to run with on a daily basis. There are quite a number of Facebook groups and pages that have come into existence for all tastes in running; whether you like to run on a Saturday and then go out for breakfast, to hit the trails, or are into ultra running. There is something for everyone!
I’ve gone back and forth about continuing this website and have decided that it is time to turn the lights out and quietly slip off for a new venture. I am so grateful for the opportunity to have met so many wonderful people and develop incredible friendships as a result of this website. I will see you out there on the roads, trails and at races, again.
The site will close in early January.
Thank you, for all of your support over the past seven years.
“Run Free: The True Story of Caballo Blanco,” a feature-length documentary about ultra-running legend Micah True, will screen at the Frank Banko Alehouse Cinemas at SteelStacks in Bethlehem on Monday, February 15 at 7 p.m. The one-night-only event is sponsored by the Lehigh Valley Road Runners.
Micah True, better known as Caballo Blanco – the White Horse – was the focal character of Christopher McDougall’s 2009 best-selling book “Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen” about the Tarahumara Indians of northern Mexico. Also known as the Rarámuri, or Running People, they are some of the best long-distance runners in the world.
Caballo Blanco was an enigmatic visionary who lived and ran with the Tarahumara after moving to remote Copper Canyon in the 1990s, and who created the fifty-mile Copper Canyon Ultra-Marathon to honor their running traditions and aid in their sustainability. Now in its thirteenth year, the race attracts hundreds of local Tarahumara to the village of Urique to compete alongside some of the best runners in the world. All race finishers receive five hundred pounds of corn, which the international runners traditionally donate to the local Tarahumara, commemorating the spirit of sharing, or “kórima,” which is a way of life among the natives of Copper Canyon.
The documentary is directed by Sterling Noren, a filmmaker from Seattle who met Micah True in 2009. Most of the material for the film was recorded in the weeks leading up to the 2012 race. Shortly after that race, Micah True disappeared in the Gila Wilderness of New Mexico during his daily run, prompting ultra-runners from all over the country to drop everything and join in the search. His body was recovered several days later, found on a trail in a deserted canyon by some of his friends.
“We wanted to tell the story of Micah True in a way that was exciting and authentic, so that viewers could get a sense of what an amazing and inspiring person he was,” said Noren. “Micah’s vision lives on and his legacy is honored in this film. The film shares Micah’s compelling message of love, hope and kórima with the world while helping sustain the people and culture that meant so much to him. We’re honored to be part of this project and are committed to keeping Micah’s mission alive.”
“Micah’s genuine passion for honoring the sacred running traditions of the Tarahumara people was the essence of his being,” said Maria Walton, executive producer of the film and Micah True’s girlfriend at the time of his death. “We made this film to share Micah’s vision of hope for the Tarahumara culture and empower people everywhere with his joy of running.”
The 90-minute film recently won the 2015 Bud Greenspan Memorial Film and Video Award, presented by the Track & Field Writers of America. In addition, the film also was named winner of the prestigious Award of Excellence from the IndieFEST Film Awards, which recognizes film, television and new media professionals who demonstrate exceptional achievement in craft and creativity, contributing to profound social change. The IndieFEST Film Awards said of its latest winners, “The IndieFEST is not an easy award to win. Entries are received from around the world from powerhouse companies to remarkable new talent. The judges were pleased with the exceptional high quality of entries,” of which Run Free was singled out for its creative excellence.
Most recently, the film was named the Best Documentary at the 2015 Arizona International Film Festival.
A percentage of the film’s profits, including from DVD sales, will go to benefit Norawas de Rarámuri (Friends of the Running People), the non-profit agency founded by Micah True to preserve traditional Tarahumara culture. Norawas de Rarámuri works to provide maize, non-GMO seed corn, and cash awards for participating Tarahumara runners, both men and women alike. On this way, the organization offers Tarahumara families nutrition during drought and support for a tradition of small farms necessary to both physical and cultural survival.
Tickets for the event are $12 in advance at www.imathlete.com/events/runfree or $15 at the door the night of the show. The Frank Banko Alehouse Cinemas at SteelStack is located at the ArtsQuest Center, 101 Founders Way, in Bethlehem.
The purpose of the Lehigh Valley Road Runners is to develop and promote distance running and racing in the greater Lehigh Valley area, to provide information and social activities, and to enhance training opportunities in a supportive atmosphere for runners of all abilities. The LVRR was formed in 1993 by the merger of the Lehigh Valley Athletic Association and the Emmaus Road Runners, two long-established local running clubs. For more information, go to www.lvrr.org.
I am by no means a super experienced trail runner. In fact, 2015 is only the second year I have focused my time and energy in the sport to moving quickly on the trails. A combination of ambition, stupidity and the perspective that — let’s face it, I’ll never win a road race — left me searching for something beyond the crowding and competition of road running. Some people like the attention and atmosphere of the big cities and big crowds, but I don’t think I ever got as much out of the external sensations as I did the internal. So after my fifth marathon, I decided to go upward and onward, literally.
I spent a year getting into trail and ultra-running by diving head first into a 50-miler. I’ve always had a tendency to seek out the challenges in running that try to break your will to keep on going, so easing into new distances was never an approach I have taken. You can’t find your limit if you never leave your comfort zone. Fifty miles came and went, and while I reached my goal of finishing in under 10 hours, I didn’t get the sense of achievement or enjoyment I was looking for. It was kind of just a really long, fun day of running in the woods. I filled my time with some mountain adventures on the Appalachian Trail in the northeast, and a 50k here and there, but I still had something bigger and better (worse) in mind: 100 miles. This past May I ran my first 100-mile ultra in Massanutten, Virginia. Still, I craved more.
Enter the Eastern States 100. In Central Pennsylvania, some people had created a torture machine of 100 miles called Eastern States 100. I’m guessing this was to showcase what makes East Coast runners. At first, I thought it was pretty bold of them to name it Eastern States. After all, the Western States 100 is the oldest and most competitive 100-miler in the US, how dare they?! Now, I am left thinking that since Western States is a lot about raw speed over 100 miles, Eastern States is a contest for the last man standing. Tough is what I wanted, and tough is definitely what I got.
At 3:30 a.m. on August 15th, I woke up, swatted around in the dark for my headlamp and crawled out of my tent into the pitch black night. The only light was coming from other headlamps, the stars and the pavilion where runners had to weigh in for their bibs, a medical precaution for many 100-milers. Once I had my bib, I spent the next hour and a half darting between the car and my tent, checking that I hadn’t forgotten anything, and shortly before 5 o’clock I made my way to the parking lot entrance to join the rest of the runners for the start. I love the last-minute approach to the start line of these races, as opposed to people standing and stretching in corrals for an hour before a city marathon. 100-miles is four times as long, so shouldn’t we all take this four times more seriously?
The countdown came and went and we were off into the dark. In the story of the tortoise and the hare, I am definitely the hare. I even have a hare tattoo to prove it. In true hare fashion, I was up in between the front pack and the second pack on the road section. It calms me down to place myself so far forward and I feel more comfortable pushing the pace like this where I can. I knew I would slow myself down, anyway, once we got off the camp road and onto the trail. The course followed a couple miles on this road before turning sharply up a staircase and into the woods. Then up it went, for a while. Really the first four or five miles of the race were either steady climbing, or absurd climbing, pausing only to move to the side of a wall blocking our way of going straight up the mountain. I spent this first climb quietly trying to imagine what kind of person thought it was a good idea to have a trail that went straight up a 1000-foot climb.
In this climb, the race settled into little packs of runners. These would be my new friends and companions for the rest of the day. Everyone gets to talking about how they’re feeling about the race, what races they did recently, and realizing that we’ve all seen each other before. It’s not surprising that the same 200 people keep doing these ridiculous races. You pretty much have to be all-in to think this is a good idea. Cruising along, we enjoyed some fun conversation, making jokes and switching places depending on who was taking the climb or descent better, sharing the work. We even get a bit carried away, missing a couple turns or someone takes a fall because we are looking at something else.
The pace never felt ridiculous. It never felt like I was going to run out. I was having a really good day…then it got hot. Like a sauna. It was hot at Massanutten so I knew I had to drink more to compensate for how much I’d sweat out. I had no problems with hydration all day, but heat was just the beginning. I came through the first crew aid station at mile 17.5, in fifth place and feeling great. I found my crew, swapped bottles, ate some food and headed back into the woods. I had decided I’d take the midday running a bit easier to save energy for the long night ahead, but as I did that, the trail got tougher. A steady five mile section around mile 26 or so took us up to the next aid station at the top of the mountain. While it climbed pretty steadily, there were plenty of logs, rocks and stream crossings to mix things up and give my feet a hard time. I hit 30 miles starting to feel beat.
They notified us there that we were 7th and 8th (I was 8th) and my confidence was boosted for a moment until I started running again. Something was off, but since I had been running for 6 hours, I wasn’t quite sure what was off. I thought the heat was getting to me as it had at Massanutten, so I took the next section easier. 9th, 10th, 11th…a few runners passed me and I would pick up the pace for a bit when I heard someone coming up behind me, and then go back to a hike when they got out of view. This wasn’t good. I was really looking forward to getting to my crew at the next aid station, 36 miles, and getting some energy from them. It helped and I downed a soda, a gel and took 3 huge slices of watermelon with me on my way.
Pat leaving an aid station.
Then I hit a huge open powerline section. The heat killed me and the pain was getting worse. I was starting to feel where it was coming from: my left knee. I had issues with this knee after running a Skyrace up in Lake Placid in June, but the pain went away leading up to Eastern States so I thought it was just some mid-season fatigue. It came back sharply. Something was up. More people passed me and I tried to focus on moving forward, waiting for the night when it would cool down and I could make up time. I came slowly into the 40 mile aid station, my crew waiting. I got some attention from a podiatrist to patch up some hot spots on my feet as I ate pretzels and tried to stay calm, thinking about what was coming up.
When he had finished I grabbed my poles for the first time in the day and took off. I feel like I crushed that climb. My feet felt like new, I magically knew how to use the trekking poles to propel and stabilize myself, and the shade renewed my energy. It was great leading a short train of runners and their pacers to the top of the mountain. At that point, we had some ridge running in some random grassy field. The pain in my leg didn’t let up but I tried to convince myself that it was just fatigue that comes with having run 40 miles. “One more big descent, and then back up to the next aid station”. I tried to jumpstart my legs with this thought, since I’m usually a pretty good descender, but it wasn’t working. I was slowed to a hike, and not even a powerhike. A slow hike.
Pat’s IT band is being taped up.
My frustration had me distracted and got me off my nutrition and hydration plan, so I only got more tired. It took me two and a half hours for the next five miles. Half a mile to mile 50 where I was thinking I would drop out of the race, I saw Wayne, a friend and fellow member of D.U.R.T., come walking toward me on the trail. Back at 40 as I was having my feet taped, he offered to pace me from 50-61 since his original runner had already dropped out. We were dropping like flies out there. Here, he was out looking for me, since the last 10 miles took me around 4 hours. That was a huge drop off from the 2 hours per 10 miles I was clicking off earlier on in the race. As I expressed my frustration to him we walked in to the aid station and he shared that this was where he ran into a similar issue last year.
Finally in to the aid station at mile 50, I sat down and buried my head in my hands. I was tired, sore, hungry, thirsty, and most of all mad. My race had so quickly unraveled. How could this have happened to me? I liked to think that I was super tough since I pick tough races. Eastern States was quickly proving to me that I was as human as anyone else. The mountains own you here. My crew members ran back and forth between me and the aid station table, shuttling giant cups of soup and asking what I needed. I ate the soup and kept quiet since what I really wanted to do was yell and be angry and aggressive to try and re-energize myself.
Wayne and Ron, another member of D.U.R.T., who had signed up for the task of taking me from 60-78, explained that a lot of strong runners had dropped here, or even before this aid station, so the fact that I made it was a big accomplishment. I just wanted to eat the soup and try and figure out how to go on. Wayne devised a plan for taping my IT band, the source of the pain. It had tightened severely and reduced me to a walk. He convinced me to tape up and do the next section to 60, and reassess how it feels. The soup helped convince me, giving me the calories I so desperately needed for the last 3 hours. Night was falling, but we were well ahead of the cutoff. I was starting to get cold, so we taped up and I gathered my things for the next section.
Magically, I took off running down the service road. 100-milers are such an odd thing like that, you can be at the breaking point one minute and super fresh the next. Wayne and I had two rolling hills, a deep descent and climb to the next aid station, and then a long descent to mile 60 where my crew would meet us next. I tried to keep a steady quick hike on the rolling section since I had momentum, and once we hit the long descent I let gravity do the work. Normally, I try to stay away from using poles in races but at Eastern States, they’re almost a necessity! I could tell that I was pulling away from Wayne on the descent, but I got tunnel vision, seeing only what my headlamp would show me, and I knew he’d catch up on the climb.
I think I passed two pairs of runner and pacer on that descent, and that was a good boost. We climbed to the next aid station, hearing cowbells and shouts, but unable to see any sort of light from headlamps or fires. Part of me thought I was starting to lose it but Wayne confirmed that we couldn’t tell how far away they were. Ravines can be tricky like that. As we finally reached the aid station I got a nice bowl of potatoes with salt to eat. Late in a race like this, pretty much any food can be the best meal of your life. I was feeling much better on this section than the last, but I could tell my day was done.
I still have one more 100-miler this year, Grindstone 100 in October. I decided it would be much smarter to drop at 60 and heal up so I can finish Grindstone. That is a more important race to me since it will qualify me to enter the lottery for the infamous Hardrock 100. Defeated by Eastern States this year, I made my way down the last road, passing houses and side roads, returning to civilization after a day in the middle of nowhere. We came in to the aid station and I took a seat, put down my poles, and waved the white flag. I decided to take on 100-milers to see if I can become a better runner, tackling longer distances, times, and more difficult terrain. I may not have run 100 miles on that hot and humid day, but I definitely became a better runner and I’ll definitely be back for revenge.
Ultra runners rely heavily on their crew to complete 100 miles. Pictured: Amy Putlock (L), Pat, Melissa Mouchref (R)
Aardvark Sports Shops’ annual summer clearance sale takes place Saturday, August 1st. Select shoes and gear are 40-50% off, and if you shop between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. 5% of your purchase will support pediatric cancer.
If you’ve been driving into Lehigh Parkway via Park Drive over the past few months you may have noticed that the cones have moved, pushing cars further and further left, away from the wall. Prior to the start of this morning’s LVRR Kids’ Series races the inevitable finally occurred.
The wall broke.
Police quickly arrived at the scene, rerouting traffic while maintaining safety.
Huge props to the quick response of the Allentown Police Department.
A crew is currently on site working on the wall at the time of this article publishing.
Here is an article which was posted two days ago on wfmz.com about the wall and its planned repairs. The wall dates back to the Great Depression and was constructed as part of the Works Progress Administration.
Whether you are looking for a hit, boost, pleasing stimulant, or excuse to socialize with your friends, coffee is the go-to beverage for many runners. Coffee-drinkers enjoy the way a cup of morning brew enhances their feelings of well-being and their ability to accomplish daily tasks. An estimated 80% of us drink coffee daily. Why, we are more likely to drink coffee than eat fruit! Thank goodness moderate coffee intake is typically not associated with health risks.
For runners, caffeine is a proven performance enhancer. In their new book Caffeine for Sports Performance, sports dietitians Louise Burke and Ben Desbrow and exercise physiologist Lawrence Spriet address all-things-caffeine that a runner might want to know. Here are just a few tidbits that I gleaned from this comprehensive resource. Perhaps the information will help you add a little bit of zip to your workouts.
Note: No amount of caffeine will compensate for a lousy diet. If you choose to use caffeinated products to enhance your sports performance, make sure you are also fueling wisely!
• A cup of pre-exercise coffee can help most runner work harder—without realizing it. Caffeine has been shown to enhance performance by about 1% to 3%, particularly in endurance sports. For example, cyclists who consumed caffeine prior to a 24-mile (40-km) time-trial generated 3.5% more power than when they did the ride without caffeine.
• Runners vary in their responsiveness to caffeine, from highly effective to negative. Some of the side effects associated with too much caffeine include higher heart rate, anxiety, “coffee stomach”, irritability, and insomnia.
• The recommended performance-enhancing dose of caffeine is about 1.5 mg/lb (3 mg/kg) body weight. This can be consumed 1 hour before you run, and/or during a long run (such as a caffeinated gel or defizzed cola every hour). For example, triathletes commonly consume caffeinated gels before each segment, to distribute the caffeine throughout the event rather than have a big pre-race jolt that might make them feel shaky and unable to concentrate. Some runners delay caffeine intake until fatigue starts to appear, and then they ingest 0.5-1 mg/lb (1-2 mg/kg) body weight.
• Caffeine’s ergogenic effect maxes out at about 200 to 250 mg caffeine. (This is much less than previously recommended.) More is not better. Experiment during training to learn what amount (if any) works best for your body!
• Because the amount of caffeine in coffee and tea varies, elite runners commonly use caffeine pills or commercial products to ensure the desired intake. A comparison of the caffeine content in 16 ounces of coffee from 20 coffee venders ranged from about 60 to 260 mg. Even when the researchers purchased the same brand of coffee (Starbucks Breakfast Blend) from the same location on six consecutive days, the caffeine content ranged from about 260 to 565 milligrams per 16 ounces.
• Research suggests the caffeine content of espresso also varies. A customer might get served 0.5 to 3.0 ounces of espresso (depending on the barista’s generosity) with a caffeine range of 25 to 214 mg. In general, the larger venders (such as Starbucks) offer a more consistent product. But this means you don’t know what you will be getting if you plan to purchase a pre-race espresso or coffee.
• Energy drinks are a popular source of caffeine. A study of 500 college students in North Carolina reports 51% drank at least one energy drink in an average month in the semester. Sixty-seven percent used the energy drink to stay awake; 65%, to increase energy; and 54%, to drink with alcohol while partying. Of the party-drinkers, 49% consumed 3 or more energy drinks. That makes for a wide-awake drunk who may believe it’s OK to drive a car…
• Caffeinated chewing gum is popular among (sleep deprived) soldiers. The gum effectively boosts physical and mental performance and helps maintain reaction time, vigilance, and ability to think clearly. The caffeine in chewing gum gets delivered quicker than via a pill (achieving significant levels in the blood in 5 vs. 30 minutes) because it gets absorbed though the cheeks, not the gut.
• Caffeinated colas offer not only caffeine but also a hefty dose of sugar. Colas, taken later in a long run, can provide a much-needed source of fuel so the combination of caffeine + sugar can provide a nice boost! Hence, some runners claim defizzed Coca-Cola is their preferred sports drink despite having only 35 mg caffeine per 12-ounce can.
• Caffeine is only a weak diuretic and is no longer considered to be dehydrating. A novice coffee drinker can become tolerant to the diuretic effects of caffeine in 4 to 5 days of regular caffeine intake. Even high doses (3 mg/lb; 6 mg/kg) have no significant effect on urine production in coffee or tea drinkers. Hence, there appears to be no hydration-related reason for runners to avoid caffeinated beverages.
• Caution: Consuming caffeine might contribute to negative effects. For example, let’s say you are running in more than one competitive event in a day. If caffeine helps you go harder in the first event, will that “fry” you for the second event? Can taking another dose of caffeine counter that fatigue? With back to back events, will too much caffeine on the first day ruin your sleep, so you are unable to perform as well on the second day? More research is needed to answer those questions but for the moment, these situations provide good examples of why advice to use the smallest effective dose of caffeine is sensible.
• In 1984, caffeine was banned by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). But in 2004, WADA reversed the ruling. New research indicated the amount of caffeine needed to reach the threshold dose was detrimental to performance. Although caffeine is no longer banned by WADA, it is on the banned list for NCAA, the governing body of collegiate sports. Collegiate runners can be cited for doping if their caffeine level is higher than 15 micrograms/ml urine. (A normal urine caffeine level is between 1-2 micrograms). Unlikely but possible.
• Teen runners should be fully mature and eating an optimal sports diet before even considering the use of caffeine. Again, no amount of caffeine will compensate for lousy fueling practices.
• For even more helpful tips and tid-bits, get a copy of Caffeine for Sports Performance. You’ll actually stay awake while reading it; the book is not a snoozer!
Boston-area sports nutritionist Nancy Clark, MS, RD counsels both casual and competitive athletes. Her private practice is in Newton, MA 617-795-1875). For information about her new Sports Nutrition Guidebook and her food guide for marathoners, cyclists, and soccer players, see www.nancyclarkrd.com. For online education, see www.sportsnutritionworkshop.com.
Common Sources of Caffeine
For a 150-pound (68 kg) runner, the recommended dose of caffeine is about 200 mg one hour before exercise. That’s the amount in a large mug (16 oz) of coffee. No problem for most coffee-drinkers!
Two suspicious packages discovered by Robin Hood Bridge in Lehigh Parkway this morning caused officials to cancel the Superbowl 10K. Kudos to all who calmly and quickly exited the Parkway after the race director and police officer in charge notified participants. The north end of the park by the 15th Street entrance is still closed and officers are requesting that you stay clear of that section.
UPDATE: The suspicious packages have been deemed non-explosive.
Today’s ice and cold didn’t stop 163 runners from finishing the Ice Scraper 5K in Lehigh Parkway. Due to the terrible conditions of the roads race directors decided to turn the race into a fun run and use the Summer Series course, instead. Hot chocolate and a warm fire welcomed finishers. Because this was a “fun run”, no timing equipment was set up. Bib tags were pulled and order of finish was recorded. You can view results here.
That’s the question runners of all ages and abilities most commonly ask when I’m presenting a sports nutrition workshop. While most people expect a simple response, such as “Eat a banana” or “Have a slice of toast,” the answer is actually complex and depends on many factors. After all, we are each an experiment of one.
The following information can help you figure out the best way to fuel your body before you exercise.
Does what you eat within 30 minutes of a run offer performance benefits?
Your body can actually digest and use the food you eat before you run as long as you are exercising at a pace you can maintain for more than 30 minutes. Research also suggests that eating a snack just five minutes before moderate exercise can improve performance compared to exercising on empty. Yet, if you will be doing intense exercise—a track workout, hill repeats, or heavy weight lifting session, you should experiment to determine the best time to eat. You will likely feel more comfortable allowing two or three hours for your pre-exercise food to digest and empty from the stomach.
Will pre-run food cause heartburn or nausea?
While many runners can comfortably tolerate pre-exercise food, others experience stomach distress. If the food you eat within the hour pre-run “talks back to you,” figure out:
Does the discomfort happen if you allow two or more hours for the pre-exercise food to be digested?
Does the type of food cause the problem? That is, do a few pretzels settle well but a cup of yogurt feels acidic?
Did you eat too much? Would half a bagel with a skimming of peanut butter digest better than the whole bagel?
Are you doing very high intensity work? If so, your stomach will shut down and your body will want to get rid of the contents.
What if I run in the early morning, before my stomach is awake?
If you drag yourself out of bed to exercise at early o’thirty, before your body and your mind are fully awake, you might not want to eat much of anything. I know of many runners, swimmers, rowers and ice hockey players who eat their breakfast the night before. That is, instead of eating a bowl of cereal at 5:30 a.m., they enjoy it at 10:00 pm, before going to bed. This food helps them wake up in the morning with a normal blood glucose (blood sugar) level, and provides energy for an enjoyable and effective workout.
What if pre-run food contributes to diarrhea and undesired pit stops?
Food generally takes one or two days to travel through the intestinal tract. Hence, an undesired pit-stop during a long run on Sunday might relate to food that you ate the day or two before. That is, if you ate an unusually large bowl of high-fiber bran cereal on Saturday when carbo-loading for the Sunday long run, you might end up wishing you’d carbo-loaded on low-fiber corn flakes or Rice Chex. Or maybe that bean burrito on Friday night caused the problem? You can try tracking your food and fiber intake, looking for suspicious patterns.
In general, exercise speeds up intestinal motility. With time, most bodies can adjust if you train your intestines to handle pre-exercise food. For example, one runner started by nibbling on one pre-exercise pretzel, and then two, and gradually built up his tolerance to the suggested 100 to 300 calories of carbs consumed within the hour pre-exercise. He enjoyed the benefits of feeling stronger at the end of his runs.
Should I purposefully not eat before I exercise because I want to lose weight while I exercise?
One client reported she didn’t eat before she went to the gym because she was exercising to burn calories. Why would she want to add calories to her diet? Wouldn’t that defeat the main purpose of her workouts?
Think again: If you consume 100 to 300 calories before you train, you will be able to run harder, longer, or at higher intensity and burn more calories than if you schlep through the session on fumes, with little enthusiasm or enjoyment. (Plus, you will not be as hungry afterwards and will be able to refrain from over-indulging.) Trust me, the plan to exercise-on-empty is hard to sustain; it is not fun. Just notice the drop-off in attendance at the gym between Jan. 1 and Feb. 1…
Food is fuel. As a runner, you need to fuel your body appropriately—including pre-exercise. Just as you put gas in your car before you take it for a drive, you want to put fuel in your body before you embark on a busy day. Be as nice to your body as you are to your car, please!
By eating nothing before my morning run, won’t I burn more fat?
You may have heard you can burn more fat during low-level “fat burning exercise” if you do not eat beforehand. Yes, you might burn more fat than carbohydrates, but burning fat differs from losing body fat. You lose body fat when, at the end of your day, you have created a calorie deficit. That is, you will lose body fat (weight) if you have eaten only 1,800 calories by bedtime, even though you burned off 2,200 calories during the day. By fueling pre-exercise, you can have a better workout—and perhaps burn more calories than if you were to run on fumes.
To lose body fat, I suggest you fuel adequately by day, so you will have energy to enjoy an active lifestyle, and then lose weight at night by eating a lighter dinner. Fueling by day and dieting by night (so you lose weight when you are sleeping), is far preferable to restricting by day only to over-indulge at night due to extreme hunger.
Can running on empty enhance endurance?
Some recent research suggests that highly competitive athletes might be able to enhance their performance if they train under-fueled a few times a week. These depletion workouts can alter muscle metabolism so that the muscles are able to compete better when fully fueled.
If you want to “train low,” be sure to do your important high intensity workouts when you are well fueled. You cannot (enjoyably) exercise hard when you are running on fumes. Your performance will suffer unless you do some high quality hard runs when you are well fueled.
Boston-area sports nutritionist Nancy Clark, MS, RD offers one-on-one consults with both casual and competitive athletes. Her private practice is in Newton, MA (617-795-1875). For information about her Sports Nutrition Guidebook (2014) and food guides for runners and marathoners, see www.nancyclarkrd.com. For online education, see www.NutritionSportsExerciseCEUs.com.
Kutztown Area High School is currently seeking a head track and field coach for spring 2015. Send resume, application, clearances and references to: KASD, Attn: Lori Werley, 251 Long Lane Rd, Kutztown, PA 19530.
You may also call KASD Director of Student Activities and Athletics Michael O’Neill at 610-683-7817 for more information.
At 3:30 a.m. on August 15th, I woke up, swatted around in the dark for my headlamp and crawled out of my tent into the pitch black night. The only light was coming from other headlamps, the stars and the pavilion where runners had to weigh in for their bibs, a medical precaution for many 100-milers. Once I had my bib, I spent the next hour and a half darting between the car and my tent, checking that I hadn’t forgotten anything, and shortly before 5 o’clock I made my way to the parking lot entrance to join the rest of the runners for the start. I love the last-minute approach to the start line of these races, as opposed to people standing and stretching in corrals for an hour before a city marathon. 100-miles is four times as long, so shouldn’t we all take this four times more seriously?
Lehigh Valley Running Scene 