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| Double loop finishers Julie Boggs and Dan Horvath |
If it's Hinckley, this must be Sunday. Yes, the hills are alive here, especially when you do two (9-mile) loops. Theresa and Katherine joined Julie and I for the first nine, but for the second one, it was just the two of us. After a poor outcome on Friday, we both managed to complete the double today. The cooler weather sure helped. But so did the companionship.
New guy Steve wisely calls it a day after the first loop, but now Julie, Shannon, Debbie, Kelly, Katherine, and I were joined by Sarah and Theresa. In case you're bad at math, that's seven lovely ladies... and me. I'm not thinking too very much about these gender issues (although the subject does arise in the conversation). I'm thinking of just getting through today's planned long run. It's getting quite warm as we begin our second six. Now, it gets serious.
As for excuses, I have a bunch. Would you like to hear them? Of course, you would. Yesterday's run at Mugrage was as soupy as it gets. Seven miles did me in for the day. So did the afternoon yard work and beer sampling. This morning had started with an attempt to guzzle beet juice and coffee. Neither went down well. I was still not entirely good when we started our 5:00 A.M. run on this warm and humid Friday.
A half-mile or so into this second loop, I begin to feel like myself again. Maybe the beet juice and caffeine are starting to kick in. I try to take the lead at times so that I can slow everyone down (we're on the Lester Rail Trail, which isn't exactly narrow, but you can't have more than two or three abreast). Other times, the faster folk take over and it's all I can do to stay with them. That's all kind of normal with this bunch.
What isn't quite so normal is me hitting the wall at around mile eleven. I drastically slow down, and I watch everyone slowly get smaller and nearly disappear in front of me. My pace goes from around 9:30 minutes per mile to 11 and then to 12. It's all I can do to shuffle back to the trailhead. I am done done (I used to use this terminology to refer to a work project as really and truly finished). I say goodbye and good luck to the intrepid three-loopers.
Like junkies trying to plan their next hit of drugs, just minutes after a bad trip, Julie and I immediately begin plotting our next attempt at a long run: two loops at Hinckley this Sunday.
For the first time in several years, I tried drinking beet root juice as I awoke. This was in order to help with today's run. It was a good long run for me; I would have to say that (other than tasting nasty) the stuff certainly didn't hurt, and it may well have helped. My friends seemed interested, so here's what I've learned about beet juice.
I gather that beet juice, beetroot juice, and beet root juice are all different ways to refer to the same thing: juice made from beets. To me, adding the word root does nothing to enhance understanding or description, since beets are roots anyway. I'll not engage further in the redundancy and refer to it as beet juice from here on. I should add that I do like the taste of beets. I eat them cooked, canned, or pickled. I can't say that I like the taste of beet juice, however. It does taste like liquid beets, but in this form, at four-ish in the morning, yuch.
Here are the results of the research I did regarding beet juice.
1) Although beet juice provides several important nutrients, nitrates are considered the most important. According to Healthline, beets are healthy no matter how you prepare them. But juicing beets is a superior way to consume them because cooking beets reduces their nutritional value.
2) According to a WebMD article, the nitrates are converted by your body into nitric oxide, which helps with blood flow and blood pressure. Some additional benefits of beet juice in general are improved exercise stamina, improved muscle power in people with heart failure, possible slowing of the progression of dementia, possible help with maintaining a healthy weight, and possible help with the prevention of cancer. Note that better exercise stamina and improved muscle power may be of interest to runners.
3) In a Runners World article, Andrew Jones, Associate Dean of Research in the College of Life and Environmental Sciences at the University of Exeter, states that “Nitric oxide acts on muscle cells and blood vessels, and being able to produce more nitric oxide might both improve muscle efficiency (and therefore running economy) and improve blood blow to muscle,”
4) Several studies provide insight. One found that supplementing with beetroot juice at least six days prior to intense exercise or athletic events for improved stamina and recovery. Other research found that active healthy adults supplementing with beet juice for 15 days showed an increase in power and oxygen during sustained exercise. Determination of the best way to use beet juice may require some individual experimentation.
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| This is the powder form that I acquired from Amazon |
Although it's available to buy as a liquid, this morning's dose was in powder form. I mixed a tablespoon in a glass of water. I'm not sure whether anything is lost by using powder, but it's certainly less expensive. I'll keep using it and see what happens.
Finally, here is a blog post from a few years ago about a relatively successful marathon where I chugged the beet juice on the way up to the race in Erie.
One final thought: from my perspective, it's not possible to say for sure that any particular factor weighs more than any other in influencing running performance. There's simply too much going on. I don't do controlled experimentation. All I can say for sure is that it tasted awful, but it certainly didn't hurt me for today's run.
Airnow.gov is the website I use to check the air quality. I checked Airnow.gov this morning before heading over to the Tuesday Track session. The air now was in the "unhealthy" range: not so good. I'd hoped for better, especially since the forecast was calling for better air. Incidentally, I was calling for better air myself.
Yesterday's air now was even worse. It was so bad that I skipped running outside and stayed on the mill. That was no fun, and neither was today's early mill running. What I'd decided to do was to run some of the miles on the mill, a few easy ones at the track with the gang (but without breathing too very much), and then the rest back on the mill.
Once again, it was no fun. Except for the middle part.
I don't do much up-scale running, but I do do running in the U.P. and that's what this post will be all about.
It's our second attempt to get to Isle Royale and this time we're gonna make it or else. After stopping in Chicago, we spend the night in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, where I do my first run, It isn't particularly fast, and it's not even pretty. Google Maps had displayed what looked like a bombed-out area, and I learn that that's because it is a bombed-out area. Bombed by the Wisconsin Army National Guard, no less. I didn't attempt to get too close, so back around the long way I went.
Our staging area for the ferry to Isle Royale is Copper Harbor, Michigan. It's at the tip of the Keweenaw Peninsula. I am up and out early this morning. It's like old times: out the door before four. The reason? The ferry leaves at 8, but check-in is 45 minutes prior to that. Brekkie is 20 minutes before that. And shower and other preparation is a good half-hour before that. But the real reason I'm out so early is that aurora borealis is forecasted.
On the one hand, we're so far North that we stand a good chance of seeing the northern lights. But on the other hand, the nights are short up here in mid-July. That's why I'm really out so early. I'd been worried that it might be cloudy, but I do see stars. Yet they're not super bright, even here in this dark-sky area. I figure there must be some high clouds.
Try as I might, I don't see any aurora. I decide to try to get out of this small town and into the woods where it will be darker still. This doesn't take long - soon it's so dark I can't see a thing. I still see only a smattering of stars.
But then there's a sudden flash of brilliant light. It's so bright that the woods all around me are completely illuminated. It only lasts a split second, but it nearly knocks me down. Not that there's any shock or even any sound at all, but the unexpected suddenness of it all completely overwhelms me. Naturally, I stop running to take stock of what happened. Was it lightning? There were no clouds that I could see. Aurora? Too sudden, I think. At the moment, I'm at a loss.
Scared and shaken now, I stumble back into town. I jog around some more, now even slower than before. Eventually, I spot some more of what I determine to be far-away lightning. I now even see the source clouds that happen to be low in the sky.
It's getting light as I am about to complete the run, and the flies and mosquitos are already out and about. I get a couple bites. Now I am (finally) running fast.
Later in the day, Lady Adventurer and I actually make it to Isle Royale, where we set off on our planned hike on the Stoll trail to Scoville Point. When Lady A. turns back early, I walk/shuffle/scoot/run the rest of the way out and then all the way back, so I suppose you can count this as a run as well. You can read more about this part of the adventure in my travel blog post.
Our final stop for this trip is Bay City, more than halfway home. There's a Menards, a Meijer, a Ponderosa, a Culver's, an Uno. There are gobs of banks, churches, and what they call party-stores. There are a couple of hotels, including ours. But what do they not have here? A place to run! It seems to happen a lot when I travel to Southeast Michigan - nothing but busy five-lane roads with no sidewalks. After dancing around parking lots and taking my life in my hands on the five-lane (it wasn't all that busy on a Sunday morning), I finally find some residential streets on which to run. So it's a not-so-memorable end to an otherwise nice trip.
Danny Boy has done a whole lot of long runs on Lester. Today, running gods willing, will be yet another.
A thought occurs to him. Maybe it would be better to do 19 miles, rather than the usual long run total of 18. Wouldn't that be crazy? 19 seems like a good number today because: 1) 18 doesn't seem like quite enough, and 2) 20 would be too much. Sound reasoning, right?
A good way to do 19 would be to do one mile before the rest of the gang arrives. That way, he'd only have to worry about the last 18, and much of that running would be with friends. But even though he arrives ten minutes early, he's unable to get that first mile in. It seems that one of today's companions, Katherine Kinsey, has also arrived early, and Danny Boy winds up spending the extra time kibbitzing with her. Oh well, he thinks; if he does only 18 today, it won't be a total failure.
Within a few minutes, Shannon Barnes, Chadwick Sunday (and Ella), Julie Boggs, and Kelly Parker arrive. Yes, it's four tough and accomplished runners (plus Ella), and Old Danny Boy. We do one 6-mile loop in the early morning gloom, return back to York Township Municipality Park, and pick up yet two more friends: Harold Dravenstott and Debbie Hicks. Now we have seven (not including Ella). And it's getting real.
The humidity makes it tough but we get through another loop. People begin dropping off (Katherine has run her longest ever), but Julie, Chadwick, and Danny Boy soldier on. Somehow, the number 19 arrives on their watches, and they can stop.
Been a good one. Let's keep it going, thinks Danny Boy. He's thankful for his friends.
The Sizzler sizzled today. It nearly never fails to live up to its name. It's also loads of fun each year, and once again, it didn't disappoint.
The 5K was fast like always. Of course, it could've been faster as far as I'm concerned. I ran it in 24:41; 7:57 pace. I suppose I'll take it.
The 10K was slow like always. Of course, it could've been slower. My time was 53:54, good for 8:40 pace. I suppose I'll take this one too.
Some fast old guy showed up and beat me in both races. I'll have to trip him up next time.
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| Julie and son Ben Boggs in the 10K, I am up ahead |
The Twin Sizzler is one of those events where everyone knows your name. I love seeing the Square alive with activity and bumping into all of my friends, new and not quite so new. I'll be back again next year.
