"I am not a role model." - Charles Barkley

Wouldn't it be cool if I had something seemingly worthwhile to put into this post? Sadly, I don't. I'm pretty boring these days. Now that college football and fantasy football are over, I can truly think of no real reason to sit around on the weekend doing nothing active. Hence, I will return to running. Here's some perspective on how lazy I got. After recently taking an Air Force fitness test using the famed "Sportscenter Preparation Method" that once earned me a B on either an Organic Chem or Genetics test, I ran the mile and a half in 14:52. That's right, folks: 14 minutes, 52 seconds.

So, here's the deal. I'm actually going to use this blog, and I will actually run. Since I have discovered that I do best when training for an event, my next event will be the OKC Memorial Marathon Relay on April 25, 2008. You are all invited to read along with my misery and offer smug comments, or jibberish if you're Jackson (who at this point is the only one that might actually read this before I run in April.)

Jackson, I still dream of Antarctica.

Much love to the gauchos,
jlowe

new year, new shoes, odd stretching question

so, being 2008 we can all offically say that we are training for a marathon "next year". how is everyone doing?? im ok, havent made huge progress, but have kept a decent base up. I think i need to strengthen my legs some, so hopefully i will be disciplined to do some strength training, or to hop on the bike once a week. I got 2 pairs of new shoes while in dallas (thanks sis for the gift card to sports authority). I got some nike air structures and some mizunos. i figured they will last me a while if i keep swithching them out.
ok, random question i thought about today: anyone (or should i just say this is for micah directly??) ever read or heard anything on whether its better to stretch with our without your running shoes on?? just a curious thought that crossed my mind today.
sj down south

What's Worse?

The disappearance of chatter, blog posting and general hype of Houston 2009..... OR the disappearance of the OU defense against WVU???
On the 12th run of christmas my goal was fulfilled to me.. running 12 days in december...
ill be travelling back to south america on jan 4th, with a bike, which will hopefully help me with some cross training.
see u fellers
sj

december goals?

ok, i see we are coming up on another month of no blog activity...
i quit running for a few weeks, and now its time to get back into it.
Jackson goal for December: run 12 days, for 30 minutes per run.

Ryan Shay, Olympic marathon hopeful, dies in New York

In case you missed the news from Saturday, Ryan Shay died while participating in the US Olympic Marathon Trials race. Shay collapsed after five miles and died before arriving at the hospital. The cause of death is not fully known, but he was known to have an enlarged heart and that likely played a role.

Running a marathon (which he has done before, and quite more than we'll be endeavoring to do), while possible for anyone (or near anyone I believe) should not be regarded as a small task. If proper training is pursued then the race can go well, but everyone who takes on the task of training or racing in a marathon should be sure that they are, and feel, physically capable of the pursuit. I don't plan on paying for my steak dinner post-race in January of 2009, but I can certainly think of worse situations. Read this great New York Times story on Ryan and the race, train well, and be well.

And I'll see you in Houston, if not before then.

Hydration, dehydration, hyponatremia and risks of running a marathon

Probably, since you have your eye to run a marathon in early 2009, you took special notice of the news story that a Michigan man died while running the Chicago marathon. Or at least you took notice when you heard that the race was stopped early and 300 participants were hospitalized because of the heat.

It turns out that this unfortunate man passed away from a heart condition, but it serves us well to take notice of some of the risks associated with running a marathon. It will serve you well to learn much in the next 14 months. Proper hydration may be one of the more important lessons. Probably a good place to start is with this Washington Post article. At least for me, reading about a physiological phenomenon often has little impact (no offense to any physician, exercise physiologist, or Beth Leuck who may read this post) but reading about the honest mistakes of a real person and fellow runner make clear the need for me to learn and get this right.

So what risk is there with hydration and running a marathon? While you've certainly heard of dehydration (which is severe and leads to much fatigue and physiological stress) it's unlikely that dehydration will result in a fatal condition for most runners. In the end, you won't likely be able to continue running and will probably stop to drink some water anyway. Heat stress or any overheating-related condition is more likely, but also you are likely to stop running and therefore stop the cause of the problem. (And this isn't something for discussion yet).

But hyponatremia is a different problem. Hyponatremia is drinking too much water, also known as water toxicity. Because your body balances water volume with salt (a rough generalization), reloading your body with water must also take into account how much salt (or electrolyte) must be reintroduced. This happens naturally over the course of days because the food we ingest normally carries sufficient volumes of the various salts we may desire. But during a 5 hour race we can easily deplete our water and salt levels through sweat and only replace one (by drinking water alone) or replace both in an inappropriate manner (by drinking gatorade, which has electrolytes, but may not be exactly what we need).

So, what can we drink? Or what should we drink? Well, there seems to be no exact answer. That is to say that I can't prescribe how you should hydrate, though maybe someone here can. But the answer may indeed be as simple as: drink when you are thirsty. That simple? Well, learn about how to train in a healthy manner, and train in that healthy manner. It is said that in life, you'll likely die how you've lived. It is certainly true that in running a marathon, you'll race how you've trained. You've got plenty of time to try and see what works and doesn't. You've got plenty of time to pay attention, learn from your body, and train it and the rest of yourself to run in a safe and efficient manner. And if you do, you'll conquer many goals and fears, not the least of which are the potential risks of running a marathon. And when you've trained well and are ready for the race. Read again how to race, since many before you have made serious mistakes and not all have been novice runners.

Train well and enjoy running. I expect you'll have a safe and enjoyable race.

my training so far: football

after experiencing 9 years of haunting nightmares of an ill-fated pass, jack-nut finally exhumed the "exceedingly high pass" deamons and the big T curse in the first ever tackle football game in cordoba Argentina. Throwing 16 for 25, 3 TD and O INT helped put the "blanquitos" in front, winning 18 to 12.
Its definitely unconventional marathon training so far.
scott jackson