I’ve lost my blogging mojo lately. It’ll be back I’m sure but in the meantime here are some photos from my run yesterday:
First off I had an audience:
It was a beautiful winters day here in Auckland:
I even discovered a new walkway which had a great view of the mangrove swamps:
I’m still running and my weight is still stable but I just don’t feel like I have a lot to say at the moment so blogging will be light until I recover my mojo. I’m probably still in my post marathon funk. 
It was cold, it was wet and it was very windy. Nuff said!
I first heard about Thrive from Matt over at No Meat Athlete and it seemed like a very handy book to have so I went and got a copy. 
I always had the vision of Vegans as being a bit odd but then I became vegetarian myself so I’ve had to re-evaluate my stance somewhat. Although there are those who think I’m a bit odd so I guess it all depends on perception.
The main thrust of the book is that you need to eat high quality foods that your body can break down easily for energy. It’s not at all preachy and it just focuses on which foods give you the most bang for your buck if you are vegan. A must read for someone who doesn’t eat meat and wants to get optimum nutrition for training.
After reading it I realised that when I’m eating well I’m already eating most of what he recommends. The trick is to be consistent with it!
I think most of us could testify to the truth of this:
What would happen to your weight if you added a tasty chocolate chip cookie to your daily diet without making any other changes? So you don’t exercise any more than you do today and you keep eating everything else that you’re eating today. Except for that extra 210 calorie chocolate chip cookie.
Your weight would go up, right? In fact, there’s a pretty well-known relationship between net calories consumed and changes in body weight than should be able to tell us by how much. That relationship tells us you will gain one pound for each additional 3,500 net calories you consume above what it takes to maintain your weight at a constant level. Likewise, you should expect to lose one pound for each 3,500 fewer net calories you consume with respect to what it takes to keep your weight steady over time.
As you might expect, the entire weight loss industry is largely built around this basic relationship. The only problem is that it the math behind the relationship doesn’t work in real life.
What happens in real life is that your body’s metabolism will adjust over time to compensate for the additional calories you’re consuming, in such a way that the amount of weight you might gain will be much smaller than what that 3,500 calories = 1 pound relationship would predict.
I’ve been intrigued by the Vibram Five Fingers ever since I heard about them and this past weekend I finally managed to get my feet in a pair!
I bought the KSO’s (Keep stuff out!).
My initial impressions are pretty positive. They snugly. They are very light. It’s almost like you are not wearing shoes. I haven’t gone for a run in them yet but I’m hoping to sometime this week. I won’t be using them as my primary running shoe (at least not this year) but I do want to give them a go.
In other news I’ve had one run since the marathon (on Friday). I did a very easy 4.5km local loop with my wife and it was most enjoyable. I was supposed to do a 10K yesterday but I stubbed my toe while vacuuming and it went all purply. It hurt like hell and at first I thought I had broken it but this morning it is not really sore but it looks pretty disgusting. My whole little toe and part of my forefoot is a nice purple colour!
I’ve had a week off eating sensibly and running (as part of the post marathon relaxation) and now it’s time to get back on track. I’m cutting out all junk again and want to try and lose about 3 or 4 more kgs before I start my serious training for the Taipei marathon. More about that later.
I went for gold in the Christchurch marathon. Gold for me is a sub 4 hour marathon. It was an ambitious goal but I knew I had a chance at it. Everything would need to come together perfectly for it to happen.
The day started off under a bit of a cloud in that the weather had closed in and it was raining heavily when I got up.
However, by the time the race started the rain had stopped and it never really returned during the race. The temperature maxed out at about 7 degrees C (44 F). I have to admit that conditions were absolutely perfect for running. We really could not have asked for better.
The course is two laps of a very flat course that follows the Avon River:
I set my virtual partner on my Garmin to run at just sub 4 hour pace. My plan was to attempt to run both halves of the course at 1:59:00ish.
I felt very good in the first half. I came in exactly on target and I was feeling strong. I must admit that I started to think I had it in the bag at that point.
The transition between the first lap and the second is quite startling. In the first lap you are surrounded by hundreds of runners at all times and then all of a sudden you are running by yourself. The whole event had only 5300 people and the great majority of them were doing either the 10K or the half option.
At the 24K mark I started to feel a little queasy and got rather worried. My downfall in the Auckland Marathon in November last year was my stomach and I really didn’t want to go through that again. However, I still was running at target pace.
Things went well until about the 28K mark and that’s when my pace started to slow. I don’t know if I hit the wall, or if I went out to fast or if my legs hadn’t recovered from the half marathon 2 weeks previously or if it was the churning stomach but I found I just couldn’t keep my pace up. Km 29 was ten seconds off the pace. Km 30 was 20 seconds off the pace and it just slowly got worse. I managed to claw it back a bit between km 36 and 38 but by km 40 I was feeling rather bad.
My aim at that point had changed to not walking and I did well up until km 41 when I thought I was going to throw up and I walked for about 50 meters till the feeling passed.
The camaraderie in the last km was great. I passed quite a few folks who were walking and encouraged them to get running (and two of the buggers did and passed me!) Everyone was really glad to get to the end of the race.
I got that burst of energy that you do in the last few hundred meters and managed to run it home. My wife, mother and daughter were at the finishing line cheering me on. I thought that was the highlight of the event!
I finished in 4:20:26. While not sub 4 hours it is still a 34 minute personal best in the marathon so I’m pretty happy. I always knew that sub 4 hours was a bit of a stretch for this marathon as I hadn’t trained for that but I have no regrets in going for it. I may have blown up somewhat but I still did better than I ever have before.
Photos will be coming!
My aim for the year is to break 4 hours at the Taipei Marathon in December. Originally that was going to be my only marathon for the year but about 8 weeks ago I decided that I was going to do the Christchurch Marathon as well.
I’d like to think I could break 4 hours at the Christchurch Marathon but the odds are really against it. My training hasn’t been about improving speed but rather about improving base fitness.
Having said that here are my goals:
I’m pretty confident I can hit my realistic goal and even the optimistic goal should be quite doable IF I pace for that. However, I reckon I’m going to go out and try and hit my dream goal. As you do! This might mean I blow up in the second half and do another 4:50ish or worse! If that is the case well at least I’ll go out knowing I gave it a go.
A pretty flat week except for Thursday (big family dinner) and Sunday (general overeating!).
2010 is still looking pretty good:
I’ve been feeling a bit blah about it all and I think it is because I’m not running as much as normal. This tapering period is driving me nuts. I’m trying not to overeat as every extra gram is a gram I have to carry for 26.2 miles on Sunday!
I’ve also been neglecting everyone’s blogs…much to my shame. I’ll get my mojo back as soon as the marathon is over!
