Dessert? Yes please!

Today I had an appointment at the UIC Human Performance Lab. They have a hydrostatic water tank available which is the current gold standard for accurate body composition testing. The purpose of my visit was to find out how much excess fat I was carrying around. We all know that carving off the non-essential "dead" weight makes us faster, but like all good things there are limits. So I wanted to know how far I should go before cutting into essential fat and protein.

The shocking result: My percentage is 6.6% !

Good news: I am officially non fat. The ACE Personal Training Manual states the healthy range for male athletes is 6-13%. However, they also state that “Essential Fat” is from 2-5%. This seems to be quite a big range. From what little I could glean online 5% is a typical fat percentage for elite male marathoners. That being said with my natural chunkyness, there is still no mistaking me for an elite Marathoner these days.

Bad news: It comes as an unwelcome realization that I don’t have the gold mine of performance gains in reserve that I thought I had via weight loss. My plans of someday easily converting 10 more pounds of fat into pure speed might never happen. And there is not much more I can do to reduce unused musculature short of going under chemo. Definitely not hoping to go the Lance Armstrong route to better performance (testicular cancer).

I guess the silver lining is that I can now pretty much eat what I want!

Finally in the land of beer and honey(s)

Just got to Spain. I must admit I neither ran before I got on the plane nor when I got off it. I was too drunk for either. My send off involved a few drinks, and when I got on the
plane I discovered that they had double booked my tourist class seat. Regrettably, I was escorted to the front of the plane, thats right, first class. So for $350 (700 round trip) i got to sit next to some that had payed 3-5000 bucks. Needless to say I pointed that out to them... and proceeded to request repeats on all the free drinks the cute stewardesses kept bringing over... Then I slept it off in a reclining chair that was almost as big as a twin mattress.

Tomorrow I will run...,

WOW, eulogized and not even dead YET!!!

After reading JP's more than generous assesment of my running acumen I feel so moved I want to go out and hug someone. Preferebly a 16 year old, large breasted girl. Just kidding, I meant 18.

Seriously, I am very pleased that JP has joined our little blog, eat your heart out marathon pundit, no politics here this is a strictly BI-party-san venture which revolves around the love of running, and how fat who is getting due to the strange muffin top effect.

Now for a disclosure: I have been slacking. Today I woke up at noon, and missed a half marathon that started at 8 AM and which was to be my swan song till mid july. Need less to say, the guilt is killing me.

Then, I open the blog, after being AWOL for a few weeks, and find JP's praise, its words burning a guilt path through my rapidly enlarging belly (no Chris, I'm not pregnant!).

So I take this oportunity to make a public resolution: I WILL MAKE IT to 2:30. And I intend to drag a few of you with me into the 2:30's.

Now dont get me wrong, this will not be easy, and it may take some friendly competition and good natured ribbing for all of us to keep improving. I will do my best to try and stay ahead of you while I can, but you better get your asses out there and try to catch me. Inevitably, and sooner, rather than later, someone will. Which is fine, because that will give me further reason to train HARDER.

Now I'm going to get my ass back to bed, tomorrow I fly to Spain. but I'lll be damned if I dont go for a run before I get on the plane and AFTER I get off it. Lets quit screwing around, we got a marathon to run in October....

See yall in late July. JP welcome to the blog.

Ed and Breakthroughs...

As mentioned by Rick - Ed made a special guest appearance for speed work last night before he jets off for a summer of slacking in Spain. It was great to see him and have a chance to run together for that short period where he was still within sight (my sight - not his).

We were discussing the fact that when he made his major breakthrough as a marathoner (from 3:40 to 3 hours and then 2:40) there were as many folks in our group rooting against him as there were rooting for him. It's unfortunate - but also very likely true.

Though I always hope to finish ahead of Ed and haven't given up on the idea that I might at some point again -- I was extremely pleased with his amazing breakthrough. I was equally excited when Chris, Rick, Matt, Phil and David had similar breakthroughs.

Ed's breakthrough seemed to be the most dramatic for many in our group - as the others listed had shown incremental improvement in race performance along the way. Likewise, Cahn, Brian and I were running fairly consistently around or just under the 3 hour mark.

When Ed dropped under 2:50 - everyone wanted to know what he was doing differently. What's his secret?

The secret? Hard work and dedication to improvement. We've all done numerous marathons and know a great deal about different training approaches. How many days of speed training should you do? What's the best periodization to allow me to peak on race day? What is the right amount of weekly mileage?

I can talk all day about training strategy. Ed doesn't. He goes out and runs. When he wanted to run better -- he dedicated himself to running more. More of everything. More distance, more speed, more racing. The lesson we can learn from Ed's breakthrough is that there is nothing magical or revolutionary about it.

I don't know if I would break down from doing a 100 mile week because I've never developed a base that would allow me to get anywhere near it. If someone can manage to get 100 miles in per week - I'm the last one to criticize that approach. Seems crazy to me - but only because it's 20 miles more than I've ever managed in my heaviest weeks of training. Training is subjective - from Pfitzinger to Daniels to Higdon -- they are all just suggestions... ideas. I have no preconceived notion that my training approach is the right one (not even for me).

Assuming we can avoid freak dog-trip fractures - the same opportunity for breakthroughs exists for all of us - no matter what training approach we follow. We just need to work harder and be more dedicated.

Ed's faster than we are right now because he deserves to be.

He's worked for it.

Tues LT Report: 4.5 Miles @ 6:25

Workout started out blazingly fast with Ed & Matt pushing the first mile @ 6 minute pace. Then it seemed to settle back down as we took an extended mile under North Ave, and ran North into the wind up to Navy Pier. Unfortunately, I didn't take much advantage of the tailwind for long when my run crashed and burned at 4.5. My failure to get my pre-run bidness out of the way resulted in an emergency pitstop at the North Ave Boat House. TMI, I am sure.

This Saturday will be a good test of progress. Goal is to go under 6:30 for the Soldier Field 10 Miler. Phil and Matt will be running as well.

True Endurance!

This article discusses a couragous young man gearing up for the upcoming 48 hour "Sanford & Son Marathon". Like to see you try that Dean Karnazes!

Chris's Bringin' Sexy Back

Getting Our Groove Back

Nice tempo workout this morning. JP, Rick and I were the three amigos. It's a good thing Cahn is too wimpy to do an early morning workout. The north headwind would have shaken that little guy up. My 2 lb dominance kept me moving in a positive direction.

Yes, the winds were strong, but not enough of a deterrent to keep us from having a good workout.

Eight miles total, six at tempo. I have no idea what my heart rate was, but managed the following laps: 6:44, 6:54, 7:39, 6:30, 6:28, 6:18.

Ed, you need to let us know when you can run next week.

Annie Ryan Run - Elmhurst - May 20th - 9 AM

My former boss has a 5K in Elmhurst each year to honor the memory of his daughter who died ten years ago as a result of an undetected brain tumor. Proceeds benefit the Children's Brain Tumor Center at Lutheran General. http://annierun.com/main.html

It's a good cause and an opportunity to WIN a 5K for anyone that can run under 18:45. In past years... that's what it took to win.

If you guys are interested... we could do a few miles on the Prairie Path, run the race and then do another hour or so on the Prairie Path.

I think the race starts at 9. Rumor has it that Ed will be in town. I'll be driving past Forest Park on my way to Elmhurst (Ed's hometown) if anyone wants to ride along or get picked up on the way.

Brunch at Egg Harbor to follow the race and any post-race miles.

I'm thinking I will look to run for an hour or so before the race and another hour after the race.

Any takers?

Tues LT Report: 6 Miles @ 6:27

Coach called for 45 minutes @ LT. There was a light rain coming down which filled me with a certain amount of dread for the upcoming workout. As we got going the rain actually felt quite refreshing and then shut off after about 15 minutes into the run. I was pleasantly surprised to be hitting my time splits (going for 6:30's). After all was said and done, it really felt great out there tonight.

The rain kept the turnout pretty low. Fearghal and John M were the only others who showed up to run the LT. When finished both Fearghal and my legs had a nice stucco finish from the sloppy path. Too bad JP didn't show up. It would have been a great night for splashing through the puddles.