I've been a heavy user of gu's, gels, bear-bait, or whatever you call them. There are some I've hated (PowerGel), and those I love (Hammer), but not much difference in how they seemed to perform. Then along came Vi Fuel. They have changed their name to VFuel because of a name conflict with a New Zealand product.
http://vfuel.com/
With VFuel, I noticed a significant-but-not-magical difference. Face it, mostly you have to train and race smart. Hydration and electrolytes are more important than fuel. But I noticed that with VFuel, I only need 40-50% as many calories. This is especially important if your stomach turns sour. The closer I get to max calories, the more nauseous I tend to get, so being able to fuel and lower calories helps. So apparently VFuel helps my body to burn fat easier. If you run too fast, your body will only use carbs, until that depletes and then it will attach your muscles. All the while, it ignores 1000's of calories of fat you wished it would tap into. Someone told me it was the amino acids in VFuel. I don't know what it is. All I know is it allows me to perform way better than I have a right to.
You can buy it online at the website. If you like it, ask your local running stores to stock it.
(Honestly, I haven't invested in VFuel at all. Just telling it like I've experienced it.)
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
Sunday, January 13, 2013
Last Year, This Year
Going back over my blog, it seems 2012 was quite an awesome year! Canyonlands, Grand Canyon, Escalante, Buckskin, Paria Plateau, my San Juan vacation, and Dinosaur NP.
My feet have been off-again, on-again, which is better than always "off". I've been told by others that when you destroy your feet as intensely as I've been doing, and you lay-off, then your feet actually get back to normal after a few years. That would be good news!
This year, I plan to do much the same as last year. Maybe a 50M or two, nothing more ambitious. More non-organized adventures to wild places. Some over-night hiking/running, or biking adventures, mainly in deserts, using my new ultra-light bivvy gear.
I now have two 1lbs down sleeping bags, a "down sweater", two SOL bivvy bags, and a new vest-pack.
I have been guilty of neglecting my blog, as you can tell. Laziness has been reigning, in spite of my adventures.
My weight has not changed even as I've gotten less exercise. I eat less. I no longer eat as much as a small nation. I eat only as much as regular people, or less since regular Americans over-eat. I eat the same stuff, but I eat more BBQ than I used to. Fried chicken is something I've always loved, but I don't eat that more than a few times a year. No more than I have been. Deep-fat frying is poison.
In 2013, I'm registered for the Moab Red Hot 55K.
I plan to play in the area south of the Colorado River and west of the Colorado National Monument. This area will be a minor hobby this year.
I might return to Dinosaur National Monument, but not sure. If I return, I want help figuring out some hikes from the staff. The park is not the most amazing after an initial visit unless you know where to go to. There are tons of obscure places that are off the beaten path.
I'd like to run a Bighorn race, but I'd better get off my ass and get registered, if it's not already too late. The rat-race of registering for races puts a bad taste in my mouth these days, though. It taints the whole experience.
I also have some secret Canyonlands trips I might take.
Paul Grimm and I might also do some Four-corners adventures on bikes or running. We'll see what pans-out, since we make stuff up on the spur-of-the-moment.
I plan to get a passport. Seems everyone has a passport except for me! I've only left this country once in my life, when I bought my Honda CR-X in 1986, with 60mpg, and I drove all the way from Wichita, KS, to Lake Winnipeg, Manitoba just because I could.
It would be nice to follow a sudden whim and fly to some distant place for a few days.
If we'd get some real snow, I'd like to go camping a lot more this winter. It's freezing-ass-cold trying to camp when there's no snow.
I spend many of my weekends between Buena Vista and Salida, CO. I hope to move to that area some day, and have been looking at properties. I prefer to build my own home and have a well drilled.
My feet have been off-again, on-again, which is better than always "off". I've been told by others that when you destroy your feet as intensely as I've been doing, and you lay-off, then your feet actually get back to normal after a few years. That would be good news!
This year, I plan to do much the same as last year. Maybe a 50M or two, nothing more ambitious. More non-organized adventures to wild places. Some over-night hiking/running, or biking adventures, mainly in deserts, using my new ultra-light bivvy gear.I now have two 1lbs down sleeping bags, a "down sweater", two SOL bivvy bags, and a new vest-pack.
I have been guilty of neglecting my blog, as you can tell. Laziness has been reigning, in spite of my adventures.
My weight has not changed even as I've gotten less exercise. I eat less. I no longer eat as much as a small nation. I eat only as much as regular people, or less since regular Americans over-eat. I eat the same stuff, but I eat more BBQ than I used to. Fried chicken is something I've always loved, but I don't eat that more than a few times a year. No more than I have been. Deep-fat frying is poison.
In 2013, I'm registered for the Moab Red Hot 55K.
I plan to play in the area south of the Colorado River and west of the Colorado National Monument. This area will be a minor hobby this year.
I might return to Dinosaur National Monument, but not sure. If I return, I want help figuring out some hikes from the staff. The park is not the most amazing after an initial visit unless you know where to go to. There are tons of obscure places that are off the beaten path.
I'd like to run a Bighorn race, but I'd better get off my ass and get registered, if it's not already too late. The rat-race of registering for races puts a bad taste in my mouth these days, though. It taints the whole experience.
I also have some secret Canyonlands trips I might take.
Paul Grimm and I might also do some Four-corners adventures on bikes or running. We'll see what pans-out, since we make stuff up on the spur-of-the-moment.
I plan to get a passport. Seems everyone has a passport except for me! I've only left this country once in my life, when I bought my Honda CR-X in 1986, with 60mpg, and I drove all the way from Wichita, KS, to Lake Winnipeg, Manitoba just because I could.
It would be nice to follow a sudden whim and fly to some distant place for a few days.
If we'd get some real snow, I'd like to go camping a lot more this winter. It's freezing-ass-cold trying to camp when there's no snow.
I spend many of my weekends between Buena Vista and Salida, CO. I hope to move to that area some day, and have been looking at properties. I prefer to build my own home and have a well drilled.
Sunday, December 23, 2012
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Monday, October 8, 2012
Saturday, September 29, 2012
Aspen Golden Leaf 2012
I didn't bring my camera - sorry.
My peeps do this every year more as a weekend-long road-party than a race. Although some of us get kinda serious about the race, mostly we're serious about the swag. There's more swag giveaways than any other race I've ever heard of, plus the post-race lunch tends to be equaled only by the SJS50.
I had the luxury of starting in the first wave of six. With bibs going from "1" to over "1000", everyone had to be broken up in 5-minute-apart waves. I was grouped with the 170 runners in wave 1. Yikes! Lance Armstrong was there, as well as Scott Jurek and his girlfriend, Jenny Uehisa, and Karl Remsen (winner) from Leadville.
So now I can say I was only about 8 feet behind Lance Armstrong during a race. Yeah, that was only the first instant of the race, but when you get old and fat, you gotta take what you can, right?
I looked pathetic at the start, with all the elites running away from me, but my finish time was 2hr10m, which allowed me 155th place out of 782 finishers. And I just did a PR in a 51 mile race the weekend before and was limping at the start.
It seemed more people than ever before dropped or were carted away due to injuries. Lots of crashing-and-burning out there that day in spite of perfect weather and trail conditions. The RD warns everyone this is not a walker's race - you're expected to run it. I think the carnage shows that most do. It is a rugged course, actually. The gold and red aspen steal the show, so the ruggedness of the trail doesn't get mentioned. Sometimes you're trying to run in a trough, where your shoe keeps getting caught on the edge of the trough, there are countless tree roots jutting from the ground, and of course there' tons of rocks. There are stretches that are wide and free of hazards, and the last couple of miles is down in town. But if you're going full-tilt-boogie the whole way, there's a good chance of doing a spill.
As everyone knows, I'm not in good cardio condition, so I suck on the climbs. The downhills are what I do best, even through rocks. So this is the first and only time I've ever run Golden Leaf where I didn't lose 20 minutes trying to pass a multitude of people. This time, I passed about as many as passed me.
Fun trip, but my left foot has a new pain. My entire heel hurt, but it wasn't the plantar. I had to ice it in a creek, but that only got rid of the risidual soft tissue swelling around the heel. The root cause seems to be my cuboid bone, and ice and massage doesn't help. Its like a stress fracture. I haven't been doing much running, though, so I'm not sure what it is. Running aggravates it tremendously. It's not much pain. It just sucks.
Otherwise I'm a very happy camper enjoying the changing of the seasons, trying to anticipate my last pre-winter adventures.
My peeps do this every year more as a weekend-long road-party than a race. Although some of us get kinda serious about the race, mostly we're serious about the swag. There's more swag giveaways than any other race I've ever heard of, plus the post-race lunch tends to be equaled only by the SJS50.
I had the luxury of starting in the first wave of six. With bibs going from "1" to over "1000", everyone had to be broken up in 5-minute-apart waves. I was grouped with the 170 runners in wave 1. Yikes! Lance Armstrong was there, as well as Scott Jurek and his girlfriend, Jenny Uehisa, and Karl Remsen (winner) from Leadville.
So now I can say I was only about 8 feet behind Lance Armstrong during a race. Yeah, that was only the first instant of the race, but when you get old and fat, you gotta take what you can, right?
I looked pathetic at the start, with all the elites running away from me, but my finish time was 2hr10m, which allowed me 155th place out of 782 finishers. And I just did a PR in a 51 mile race the weekend before and was limping at the start.
It seemed more people than ever before dropped or were carted away due to injuries. Lots of crashing-and-burning out there that day in spite of perfect weather and trail conditions. The RD warns everyone this is not a walker's race - you're expected to run it. I think the carnage shows that most do. It is a rugged course, actually. The gold and red aspen steal the show, so the ruggedness of the trail doesn't get mentioned. Sometimes you're trying to run in a trough, where your shoe keeps getting caught on the edge of the trough, there are countless tree roots jutting from the ground, and of course there' tons of rocks. There are stretches that are wide and free of hazards, and the last couple of miles is down in town. But if you're going full-tilt-boogie the whole way, there's a good chance of doing a spill.
As everyone knows, I'm not in good cardio condition, so I suck on the climbs. The downhills are what I do best, even through rocks. So this is the first and only time I've ever run Golden Leaf where I didn't lose 20 minutes trying to pass a multitude of people. This time, I passed about as many as passed me.
Fun trip, but my left foot has a new pain. My entire heel hurt, but it wasn't the plantar. I had to ice it in a creek, but that only got rid of the risidual soft tissue swelling around the heel. The root cause seems to be my cuboid bone, and ice and massage doesn't help. Its like a stress fracture. I haven't been doing much running, though, so I'm not sure what it is. Running aggravates it tremendously. It's not much pain. It just sucks.
Otherwise I'm a very happy camper enjoying the changing of the seasons, trying to anticipate my last pre-winter adventures.
Monday, September 17, 2012
Run Rabbit Run 50
No photos, sorry.
This year is the first year for the Run Rabbit 100, but I only ran the 50. I've been injured and getting fat, yet me and the bunny have been dueling and it seems I keep finishing long in the same several minute time-frame.
This year, I hardly trained at all. I used to do 40+ mile solo training runs. This year, nothing longer than a couple dozen miles. I used to break 100 mile in a week a couple times a year. This year I don't know if I broke 40.
Something bad has been brewing in my right foot for the past 11 months. It might be related to falling arches. The pain is at the top of the arch, where the bones are crunching together from arch failure (midtarsal fault or dorsal compression syndrome), I think. Or maybe its a ganglion cyst? Or nerve entrapment? Or gout? Any of the above aggravated by osteoarthritis? I know I have arthritis - it shows up in my x-rays over the past few years.
It's along the tarsometatarsal joint and it started last year when I wasn't running. Running aggravates it, but isn't the exact cause.
So not so much pounding like before.
I've been biking a couple hours or more each week to make up for it.
I wanted to beat my previous PR of 11:23 for Steamboat Run Rabbit Run 50, or RRR50. When I got to Steamboat, I discovered they'd lengthened the course by over half a mile. It's now 51 miles. That's an additional 7 minutes, if you average an 11:20 finish.
I used Vi Fuel for this entire race. Somehow, it seems to enable me to burn my own body fat better than any other fuel. I consumed about 80 calories per hour during the race. Trying to force more made my stomach turn.
I carried two 24oz handheld bottles and no pack. My Vi, salt caps, and everything was in my cargo pockets in my shorts.
It was perfect weather and a perfectly executed plan. As I told a fellow running, I felt appropriately delusional, and was counting on my delusions getting more severe as the race wore on.
I'm not in good cardio fitness, but I have muscle, no brakes, and an ability to run through rocks as if its flat ground. This equates to great downhilling. I was counting on reaching the top of the last steep descent with at least an hour left. I wasn't very fast, but managed 9-minute miles for the last 6.5 miles, which was enough to shave 6 minutes off and set a new PR at 11:17:14.
This year is the first year for the Run Rabbit 100, but I only ran the 50. I've been injured and getting fat, yet me and the bunny have been dueling and it seems I keep finishing long in the same several minute time-frame.
This year, I hardly trained at all. I used to do 40+ mile solo training runs. This year, nothing longer than a couple dozen miles. I used to break 100 mile in a week a couple times a year. This year I don't know if I broke 40.
Something bad has been brewing in my right foot for the past 11 months. It might be related to falling arches. The pain is at the top of the arch, where the bones are crunching together from arch failure (midtarsal fault or dorsal compression syndrome), I think. Or maybe its a ganglion cyst? Or nerve entrapment? Or gout? Any of the above aggravated by osteoarthritis? I know I have arthritis - it shows up in my x-rays over the past few years.
It's along the tarsometatarsal joint and it started last year when I wasn't running. Running aggravates it, but isn't the exact cause.
So not so much pounding like before.
I've been biking a couple hours or more each week to make up for it.
I wanted to beat my previous PR of 11:23 for Steamboat Run Rabbit Run 50, or RRR50. When I got to Steamboat, I discovered they'd lengthened the course by over half a mile. It's now 51 miles. That's an additional 7 minutes, if you average an 11:20 finish.
I used Vi Fuel for this entire race. Somehow, it seems to enable me to burn my own body fat better than any other fuel. I consumed about 80 calories per hour during the race. Trying to force more made my stomach turn.
I carried two 24oz handheld bottles and no pack. My Vi, salt caps, and everything was in my cargo pockets in my shorts.
It was perfect weather and a perfectly executed plan. As I told a fellow running, I felt appropriately delusional, and was counting on my delusions getting more severe as the race wore on.
I'm not in good cardio fitness, but I have muscle, no brakes, and an ability to run through rocks as if its flat ground. This equates to great downhilling. I was counting on reaching the top of the last steep descent with at least an hour left. I wasn't very fast, but managed 9-minute miles for the last 6.5 miles, which was enough to shave 6 minutes off and set a new PR at 11:17:14.
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