Monthly Archives: June 2012

June 17, 2012 · 3:12 PM

Book Review: “Eat and Run: My Unlikely Journey to Ultramarathon Greatness” by Scott Jurek

When I first heard about Scott Jurek’s new book called Eat and Run: My Unlikely Journey to Ultramarathon Greatness a few months ago, I immediately jumped online and pre-ordered my copy. Scott is an ultramarathon legend, who happens to be vegan, and the subject of food as it relates to running is a big passion of mine. So one mention of the title of the book and I knew I had to read it. The book finally arrived about two weeks ago (release date was June 5th) and I devoured it in about a week. It was a quick read with a lot of great stories and insights from Scott himself.

The book is essentially a story of his life until present. Scott talks about how he came into running, how he transitioned to ultrarunning, and how his transition from a meat-and-potatoes diet to vegetarianism to veganism ultimately transformed his running. After the chapters on Scott’s early life, each chapter of the book is devoted to some of the ultramarathons he has run (including the Copper Canyon ultra that was chronicled in Born to Run). Sprinkled throughout are stories about how his diet changed his running performance, helped him recover faster, and just feel better overall. At the end of every chapter is also a recipe. Most of them sound quite good and I plan on trying many of them.

What I love most about this book is that Scott doesn’t push veganism on the reader. He talks about how it helped him personally, but it’s not something that he preaches about or tries to convince the reader that they need to do. At the end of the book he even mentions that veganism is what works for him, but maybe a different diet has the same beneficial effects on someone else. Diet can be a very personal and individual thing and everyone has different needs.

I also love how Scott didn’t listen to everyone who told him that runners cannot and should not live a vegan (or even vegetarian) lifestyle because they need the protein and iron that comes from eating meat, poultry, and fish. Scott was very smart about making the transition from a meat-and-potatoes diet to veganism, he did his research, and he was (and is) very cautious about the nutrients he needs and gets and he makes it work. If you do it the right way, there is absolutely nothing wrong with combining running and veganism. And he proves that.

I really liked this book and would definitely recommend it to anyone who has a passion for running and eating. Come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve ever met a runner who isn’t also passionate about food.

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Filed under Book Review, Born to Run, Scott Jurek, Vegetarian/Vegan Diet

June 8, 2012 · 5:44 PM

What’s Next?

Sure enough, true to form, it hasn’t even been one week since my marathon and I’m already making plans for my next marathon. Don’t get me wrong – I still want to take the next couple of months “off” to take it easy and not train for anything. For June and July I am going to do what feels good each day and run just because I feel like it.

I’ve got a couple of half-marathons planned for the fall, including the Nike Women’s Half Marathon in October in San Francisco and the Women’s Half Marathon in November in Scottsdale, AZ. Those will provide the perfect base for my marathon training. Then I’ve decided to do the Phoenix Marathon in March.

There are a lot of good race options in Arizona between January and March every year and it’s always hard to choose which races to do. There’s the Rock N’ Roll Marathon in January, the Lost Dutchman Marathon and Arizona Marathon in February, and the Phoenix Marathon in early March. And the reason why I chose the Phoenix Marathon is because 1) it is the latest one, giving me more time to take off now and train later, 2) it is a gradual downhill course, but the net drop in elevation is about half of what the Tucson Marathon is, so I’m hoping I don’t have the same problems, 3) it is a brand new race and I’m looking forward to trying something new. Last year they just had the half marathon and I heard rave reviews, so I’m expecting the full marathon this year to be great as well. And finally, since the Phoenix Marathon is the latest marathon of the season here, that means I can do the smaller distances of the other races as part of my training. For instance, I could do the Rock N’ Roll half if I so choose to fight the crowds (I would just have to make sure I get in a front corral) and then the Lost Dutchman 10K a few weeks before the Phoenix Marathon.

I’m also hoping to incorporate more 5Ks and 10Ks into my training. I really think those help with speed, and since I placed in the last two I ran, I’m getting hooked on the acknowledgment and satisfaction that I’m actually fast.

 

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Filed under Feel Good Running, Marathon Training, Racing

June 5, 2012 · 9:20 PM

Race Recap: San Diego Rock N’ Roll Marathon

Let me start by just giving serious kudos to the Competitor Group, who puts on the Rock N’ Roll marathons. I have done several Rock N’ Roll marathons before (including Phoenix, San Diego, and Seattle) and each and every time I am blown away at their flawless execution of the race. Granted, if I was in Las Vegas last year, I probably would not be singing their praises so much, but seriously… 40,000 runners plus spectators, volunteers, etc. is a lot of people to support. From being dropped off one block to the starting line with no problems to crossing the finish line and hopping right on a bus that put me a few blocks from my hotel, the day was flawless.

I must also say that I love Rock N’ Roll full marathons, but the half marathons are a different story. The half marathons are always very crowded to the point of dodging people from the start all the way to the finish. For this reason, I’m not sure that I will do a Rock N’ Roll half marathon again anytime soon. The full marathons, however, are great. Some people like small and intimate marathons, but for me, I like having people to run with the entire way. With a small marathon, you typically start with hundreds of other people, but somewhere along the line you find yourself running alone and it often feels like simply another training run. With the larger Rock N’ Roll marathons, there are always people running alongside you, but it’s never too crowded (because they are all running the half).

Okay, so on to the race. While the event execution was flawless, my personal execution came up short. I started the marathon feeling great and was right on pace with 8-minute miles. I didn’t push myself and ran comfortably for the first ten miles. And my knee didn’t hurt one bit!! Then suddenly there was a gradual uphill for several miles and my legs became lead. I kept on pace through about mile 14 and then I knew that my hopes of a BQ were fading fast. As the miles went by, my pace slowed little by little. The rolling hills, which are usually my friend, suddenly became my enemy. By mile 20, my new goal of 3:40 (since I knew 3:35 wasn’t happening) was shattered when the 3:40 pace group passed me and I struggled to keep up. My new goal would be to come in under 3:50. My husband met me at mile 22 and ran alongside me for a while, which was a huge help. He could tell by the look on my face and the shuffle of my feet that things weren’t going well, and being the best husband ever (and one whose been in my shoes many times), he knew not to utter one word to me. In fact, had he tried to talk to me at that point, I probably would have punched him in the face.  Instead, he simply pulled up beside me and simply ran silently next to me. And somehow I managed to come in under 3:50 by 41 seconds (official finishing time was 3:49:19). Not a huge PR (2 minutes), but still a PR nonetheless.

While I didn’t BQ this time, I am surprisingly okay with that. I thought I would be crushed, but I’m not. And the good news is that the next time I run a marathon (assuming it is after October of this year), my BQ time goes up by 5 minutes because I will be in a new age category. Suddenly getting older has it’s benefits. And 3:40 seems so much more feasible than 3:35 for some reason. So, now I’ve got to get to work in order to shave off 10 minutes from my marathon time. But first, I am looking forward to taking some time off training and simply running for the pure joy of running. No training plans, no killer speed sessions, just simple and fun running. Who knows how long I’ll take off from “training” – I’m going to let my body decide that.

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Filed under Boston Marathon, Marathon Training, Race Recap, Racing