Humans Are Built For Long Distance Running

It’s not surprising, but with the injuries I sustained last year while running 40-50km a week, it was apparent that something was going on. It’s obvious that many runners pound the pavement way too hard, relying on their shoes to absorb the impact. This is why flat soles have made a comeback. You could always run barefoot or use a Vibram Five-Fingers, Personally, I’d like to cut down the chances of cutting my feet, so I’ll try running at least one a week with Five-Fingers.

On a hot day, the two scientists wrote, a human could even outrun a horse in a 26.2-mile marathon.

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50 KM Night Bike Ride

I wanted to go out on a bike ride yesterday, but was busy with work. So today, after coming home, I went out on a ride. It was about 5:30PM. I came back at around 7PM. It felt really good. I was a bit slower than a few weeks ago, but it was still a good time.

Are Marathons Safe?

Over at the Well blog of the NYT, Tara Parker Pope wonders if marathons are safe. As an endurance sport, if you aren’t well trained or well prepared, they can be dangerous. Her research indicates that triathlons are even more dangerous. How about ultra-marathons?

Another interesting post is about running barefoot, but that’s already been mentioned on this blog. Running barefoot is good for you.

Ultramarathoners Remove Toe Nails

Mr. Ulrich's permanently removed toe nails, Matthew Staver for NYT

More and more ultramarathoners are opting to have their toe nails permanently removed.

6.6 Km Night Run

Tonight, I decided to go for another run. I was a bit sore from yesterday’s run, but I need to train, so I told my wife that I was going out. She said that she would join me. I was surprised, but liked having company.

We took the same riverside route. It was along the Xindian river until the Huajhong bridge. It took me 18:30 to get there and I completed 6.6 km in 35:07. It’s slower than yesterday, but I wasn’t surprised. It was hard keeping accurate time yesterday. Today, it was more focused. We took some breaks, but we did well. I felt that I was dragging more bulk along and that my legs were sore. Not very sore, but slightly sore. Cardio-wise, it’s not a problem. I don’t feel exhausted or winded afterward. That means that my bike training was worth it.

6.6 KM Night Run

After Chad bought some running shoes, I suggested that we go run together tonight. I hadn’t worked out for about a month and was jonesing for some endurance sports. Having someone else run with you holds you accountable.

It’s been a while since I seriously ran. I really love biking, but it’s not as good as a cardio exercise as running. I am always prepared though. I had a frozen water bottle for this run and it came in handy. The run was good. Chad brought his husky Ash along, and he was getting pulled most of the way, though by the second half, he had calmed down. I kept a steady pace.

A Metric Century Night Bike Ride

I was way too tired last week to go out on bike rides. I was back at teaching fulltime, around 28 hours a week, on top of that, I was covering some freelance blog posts at Unplggd. That meant that I was going to bed very late and waking up early. My system included a three to four-hour night, a 30 minute noon-time nap, and a 2-hour nap after work. I don’t think this system works well. I totally broke down on Saturday and slept 16 hours.

Rest Days

Marc Cavendish on a rest day!

I’ve got problems sleeping without an AC in Taipei. It gets so hot at night that I have trouble sleeping, ever since our bedroom AC broke down. We still have our main unit in the living room, but it’s not the same. Also, the drone of the AC was nice since it drowned out other noises, from dogs barking to people shouting.

Anyway, after tossing and turning for a few hours in bed on Saturday night, I got up and slept for a few hours on the couch. I didn’t get much sleep that night, which was strange because I got a lot of sleep the night before, after having resumed my training.

Well, I have a sore back from the couch. It started bothering me on Sunday and became worse. It’s nothing I haven’t had before, but it’s just annoying. I would have gone for a run with my wife on Sunday night, but didn’t because of that. My muscles don’t feel sore and that really annoying. Only my back is sore.

I’ve iced it down and tried to keep off my feet today, but that was hard since I was back working. Luckily, I won’t be working tomorrow, but I have to get some stuff done in Taipei.

I’ve read up on nutrition and figured out that I should never head out without having eaten enough. I won’t be able to ride as long as fast as I do right now. Tomorrow, sore back or not, I’ll head out for a nice long ride. I will do so during the day, so I’ll be able to ride longer. I’ll take along a banana and some Vitamin/Protein/Energy In jelly drinks fro Weider.

For some reason, I got tired of fruits a few weeks or so ago. I started eating a lot of fruits again last week. I don’t know why this happened, maybe I didn’t feel like buying them. Usually, I eat at least 10 portions of fruit a day, if not more. It’s a nice healthy snack, but over the last two weeks, I’ve been craving meat and carbs. I tend to listen to my body, unless it tells me to buy chocolate.

Strangely enough, I haven’t been as faithful to my diet as last year. I’m eating some carbs because of the amount of exercise I do, I don’t have a choice. I still eat chocolate from time to time, but I have tried to replace that need for sugar with granola bars. Sometimes, on the bike, I crave sugar and fantasize about them. A granola bar tends to shut that urge up pretty quickly. Still, the amount of energy you get from a chocolate bar is pretty high. It also acts pretty fast.

Instead of going for sugary drinks, I go for sugary teas from CoCo. The only reason why I like CoCo is because it’s the nearest tea shop to my home. I really like the passion fruit tea, with coconut jelly and the tapioca. It’s awesome. Fruit teas are strange. They are more akin to juices than anything else, but the combination of the jellies, the passion fruit seeds is really great.

70 KM Night Bike Ride

Kuota KOM

You may wonder why I keep posting all of these Kuota KOM images. The answer is pretty simple. It’s the bike that I’m trying to get.

So I was supposed to do at least 100 km, but only managed to do 70. The advantage of doing loops is that you have the flexibility of stopping when things get hairy. After 60 km, I started feeling groggy and tired. I knew that I would make a mistake soon. I decided to stop and not go for 100 km.

70 KM Night Bike Ride

Kuota Kom Agritubel team edition

Well, I finally managed to go out and train. Since I came back from Hong Kong last Monday, a typhoon devastated Southern Taiwan and we have been plagued with rain.

So basically, since Tuesday the 4th of August, I have been waiting for the rain to abate. I need to get another training solution so that I can still work out inside. Probably some kind of flywheel thing. I’ll check that out over the weekend.