Feed: Quadrathon - AggScore: 71.5

Today my wife and I sorted through our garage, when we moved in in March we kinda threw everything in there with the intention of sorting it out at a later date…well that date came today. In the garage I have a little plastic tray thing that I keep all my gels etc but during the course of the year they have been dispersed into the kitchen, my running vests, my running bag and so today during the course of the tidy up I consolidated them…let’s just say I am banned from buying any more until I have used these up!

I dared not count them and this doesn’t include to three tubs of Cytomax, the tub of Amino Vital, the really large tub (albeit nearly empty) of Perpetuem in the kitchen and the three flasks of gel in the fridge!

And I don't even like Heed that much!

This is after sending Aron her Chocolate #9 as well!

Given that I live about 10 miles away I have no excuses! Hopefully October will be the date...

In case the picture does not enlarge this is the text underneath:

It's going to happen!!! Moeben will be putting on a trail 1/2 marathon, full marathon and 50 mile run in the early fall of 2010. I'm working on it so that the 50 mile can be a qualifying race for WS 100. I will announce the official date once we are certain, but we are looking at Aug 14th, Sept 4, or 18th or 2nd weekend in October. I don't want The Moeben "get dirty" trail races to conflict with others, i.e Mt. Disappointment 50k & 50 mile, Bulldog 50k and AC 100 so we are just waiting to hear back on race date confirmations. We will be doing something new with this race, and it will benefit a special charity, so more news to follow!

I'll keep you posted...

Once again I am using the FIRST training plan. I really like the FIRST plans and I have used modified versions of them for the last two years with some measurable success, I reduced my 5k time by over a minute this time last year and my 50k time by over an hour using their speed drills in March of this year. Their premise is pretty simple; three quality runs a week; Track Intervals, a Short Tempo and a Long Tempo Run, with two cross training sessions in between and a day off a week, I really like the ability to have cross training included and with my propensity to ITB issues and the couple of triathlons scheduled I’ll still be able to keep up my swimming and re-start cycling which is my preferred form of cross training.

Looking at my schedule and looking at how they plan out their plans it looks like I’ll start training using their 10k plan next week for 12 weeks and then switch over the their 16 week marathon plan around the middle of February. My 10k time is pretty crappy (47:53) and while using their plan I unofficially dropped that during a 10 miler to around 42:00, so following this plan means I can pick off some low hanging fruit on the PR front. FIRST base each run's speeds on your current best 5k race which I am sure, for me now, is heinously slow, even if I use my current PR (19:42) I am still slow, I need to get it down by another 1:20 to hit my 3:00 marathon goal. A 19:40 gives me a 3:11 projected finish.

I’ll be starting in one weeks time, so that means I should be able to shake off this lingering cough…I’ve got a sneaking suspicion this is going to hurt; bring on the pain!

Nobody reads blogs at the weekend, right! I know this from my Sitemeter stats, everyone is out doing weekend stuff, it’s a well known fact that blogs are read (a) at work, (b) at home on a laptop while watching TV and (c) if you’re like me in the wee early hours while having breakfast during the week.

That being said I thought just in case anybody is around you might be interested in a few bargains I’ve seen over the last few days, it’s that time of year I guess with folks outing 2009 gear and ushering in the 2010 look. So in no particular order.

Hammer Nutrition are having their end of year blow out, pretty much everything is discounted; Perpetuem, which I have used for the last two years, their gels; again I used these heavily until finding Chocolate #9 as well as all their pills and potions. I picked up some excellent cycling outfits from them this time last year. Their kit is made by Voler. Voler is a US based cycling clothing manufacturer based in Southern California, I really like their clothing, it fits really well, is made really well and lasts really well!

Voler themselves are having a blow out on many items, and with in mind that I have two triathlons for next year I splurged (it was only a little spluge) and snagged a tri outfit. I am a firm believer that feeling the part is halfway to being the part, it’s a zen thing…what would a triathelete wear? It will also be a good incentive to drop some of the ‘I am injured but I am eating like I am running 50 miles a week’ weight gain otherwise I am going to look like a quart poured into a pint pot come race day!

Finally and sticking with the cycling theme Primal Wear are having a Veterans sale with their forces orientated outfits on sale, check them out and show some patriotism at the same time. They’ve also got some of their regular jerseys on sale.

But seeing as you’re all out doing weekend stuff you’ll not be reading this will you!

PS good luck to everyone running the inaugural Malibu Marathon and Half Marathon this weekend!

Something different for 2010; at least for the first 6 months; short and fast. The idea is to work through the distances progressively and get faster as I go... yes there are a couple of triathlons there, in fact they are reverse triathlons, strangely that's all there was; and yes you can all nod your heads wisely and say I told you so! .

In a strange way my injury has opened up a whole new avenue of endurance.

I still need to iron out some wrinkles and I hope to pick up some new PRs along the way but the ultimate goal is a sub 3:00 marathon...hey you have to aim high right!

Feb 2; Redondo Superbowl Sunday 5k

Feb 27; Race on the Base Reverse Triathlon

Mar 3; Pasadena Reverse Triathlon

Apr 26; 3nd Annual Gator Run 10k

May 3; Santa Monica Classic 10k

May 8; Santa Barbara Wine Country Half

May 31; State Street Mile

June 5; Newport Marathon or

June 6; San Diego RNR Marathon

I'll look to carry the speed over to the trails for the second half of the year. Maybe I'll see you out there?

So with my leg now approaching working order it’s time to think about the rehabilitation piece. I have written the rest of the year off in terms of racing, I am volunteering at the PCTR Pt Mugu race at the end of the month. It’s the course of my first ultra, a scant two years ago! If you’re in the neighborhood come up, say hi and check it out, there are multiple distances starting at 9km. They’re great races, well organized and fun…seriously what’s not to like!

With the rehab in mind, I’ll be introducing the bike for the next two weeks, maybe three and then hopefully put on some running shoes and taking baby steps with a view to being back in the game to start training towards the end of the year/beginning of next. That’s in addition to the swimming, which if I confess to myself I am starting to enjoy and, if truth be told, getting a bit better at. Of course now I've got a cough that nearly turns me inside out, couldn't have caught when I was limping around...oh no!

I am starting to think about next year’s schedule and have some ideas about the first half of the year which will pull me off the trails, I need to work on regaining some of my speed back, I’ve not done speed work since the beginning of the year and it will carry over onto the trails later in the year I’ve got some lofty goals and I am working out the target races but it’s looking like it will be a busy six months!

So with that all said tonight was the drawing for the Chocolate #9 gels and the winner is…

Aron email me your address and I'll get them in the mail, enjoy!

It's taken seven weeks of recovery but I can finally do a full rotation of the pedals!



I wouldn't say it's exactly smooth or anything, I am just glad for this right now!

Another Friday night another trip to the pool. I managed to get there in good time this evening and didn't have the need to rush off early. I was hoping to get in 1200 meters for a 2000 meter week.

I've been swimming a lot of breast stroke; it's comfy but I need to move out my comfort zone and get on the freestyle wagon so without the time crunch I could spend some time practicing.

I also took my camera which has a pretty decent video camera and with a big enough SD card can just be left to run, I tucked it under my towel just to remove temptation and just left it recording. Unfortunately it did a great job of focusing very sharply on a leaf just in front of it and not much else, everything beyond that is blurred! That being said I was able to see how bad my form is, I was sharing the lane and the recording shows me, by comparison to my more efficient lane sharers, waving my arms like a windmill; very uneconomical. I managed the 1200 meters, so just under 2200 yards for the week. The learning curve continues...

Don't forget if you're interested in entering the draw for some Chocolate #9, add a comment to my previous post.

I was first introduced to Chocolate #9 gels by a friend of mine who read my ‘gastric’ race report from the Leona Divide 50 Mile Run, earlier this year. In late April he contacted me and was generous and kind enough to send my a handful, in fact it was a large enough envelope, full of gels to last most of the summer. I was intrigued...a chocolate and agave gel....hmm well ok!

My taste in gels has migrated from CarbBoom to Accelerade and through Crank, I've dabbled with Gu, tried Roctane and learned to avoid PowerGels. Since the beginning of 2008 I've been using Hammer Products. While always being open to new things I am also a firm believer in the maxim ‘if it ain’t broke…”, but after Leona Divide something clearly wasn’t working so it was time to take the lid of the can and peer inside.

And so from their website:

Chocolate #9;
* Contains no refined sugar
* Is sweetened only with organic agave.
* Contains pure belgian cocoa
* Has been tested and certified as a LOW glycemic index item (e.g.,
* Because of its low glycemic index, when you use the gel you will reduce the negative effect of repetitive insulin spiking during sustained exercise (it's the reason you choose wheat bread rather than white bread, fruit rather than candy)
* Won't cause sugar low-bonk
* Is an excellent energy choice for athletes in general, and for those with diabetes, low blood sugar in particular, or those who want to avoid refined sugar
* It is vegan and low in fat
* Contains no synthetics, no unpleasant after taste.
* Contains two perfectly balance energy enhancing ingredients and nothing more!
* Ingredients: Organic Agave Nectar, Breakfast cocoa processed with Alkali.
* A note on ‘breakfast cocoa.’ Breakfast cocoa is a FDA term for the class of cocoa’s with the highest fat (energy) content. Using breakfast cocoa only made sense for an energy gel and lends to chocolate #9’s rich and smooth texture.

The premise they present is that as the gel is low on the glycemic index you are less likely to crash or bonk after taking it. Of course the fact that it’s chocolate is, let’s face it, a big selling feature.

If you’ve followed my blog for anytime you’ll know that this summer I had some pretty long runs and big days on the trail and so armed with them and obeying the golden rule don’t try anything new on race day I set out to try them out. And onto the resuts…

The taste test; duh well it’s chocolate! But seriously the taste is of high quality chocolate, the sweetness is not overly sweet, it’s not creamy like milk chocolate nor is it bitter like dark chocolate. It does have a rich smooth taste that’s very palatable. I filled a gel bottle with them and it came out as a solid ‘plug’ which could be rolled around the mouth or stashed in the cheek or under the tongue, this is stark contrast to typical gels which are usual sticky and cloy the mouth. Oh yes, did I mention it’s chocolate?

The service; having used them pretty much through the summer I felt confident enough to use them as my primary fuel source for 100 in the Hood. I had left it a bit late to place my order however through the power of Twitter I contacted them and they confirmed I would have them in time and they actually arrived the next day!

The results; for the ‘Hood I set my stopwatch for 40 minutes and took one at every chime of the alarm, the only exception being if I had literally just gone through and Aid Station. Unlike my experience with other gels I never got to the “ugh do I have to eat this again” point which is something that I have encountered before; it was, to be honest, a bit of a treat. If you have read my race report you’ll know that my nutrition plan really worked out, I had zero, absolutely zero issues with fuel, be it gels, drink or the ‘real’ food, additionally my electrolytes remained in balance for the event. Now it could be argued that this was because I was moving slowly, but I believe that whatever the pace I still needed to be fueled to move.

The proof, as they say, is in the pudding; almost literally in this case! Of course nutrition is such a personal thing I cannot categorically say that it will work for you; one thing to note is that a sachet is only 70 calories instead of the usual 90 or 100 that’s something you need to remember when planning a nutrition plan. Currently only available as sachets, I have heard that more environmental bottles will be available soon. There are several reviews available on the web and Chris Russell has interviewed the company owner on his podcast RunRunLive. Not the cheapest gel on the market you can buy an introduction pack of three for $4.95 ($1.65 each), a box of 24 is available for $32.49 ($1.35 each) bigger discounts are available for larger purchases reducing the price down to $1.04 each.

In summary if you’re struggling with the traditional gel or looking for a change or even for some variety this could be a good move for you.

I’ve got a bunch left over so as an incentive to help a fledging company I’ll send three sachets to a lucky winner, just leave your name in the comments section and I’ll pull a name out of the hat on Sunday for Monday’s mail collection!

Well I wasn’t expecting that! I had totally forgotten that it would be dark when I got to the pool. I was late getting out of work, caught by the door for an impromptu discussion on change management that lasted 30 minutes. As you can see it was dark and foggy; thick marine layer had rolled in from the ocean. The thermometer in my car said 64f; it wasn’t that cold, in fact the water temperature was warmer than the air temperature.

My knee (it's not actually my knee but you know what I mean) felt better with a wider range of motion; I feel like I am really in the closing stages of recovery. The recovery seems to have accelerated over the last week or so, fingers crossed it continues. I am going to give it another two weeks minimum before I lace up my shoes; just to be on the safe side.

I only managed 800 meters, I’ll do more on Friday; I’d like to do 2000 meters this week.

Five weeks no running; yep cabin fever is setting in and I just ordered me a pair of these sweet rides! But having said that the swimming is going well, well as well as two sessions can go. Nearly 2000 yards this week, I could have gone further but as usual I was pushed for time. After tweaking my knee Tuesday I took it easier on Friday. I also invested in some larger hand fins to take the pressure off my legs otherwise I am bit like a log in the water! Using a pull buoy helps as well for the buoyancy and a swim cap helped with the cold, so now I at least look the part.

I tried my benchmark pedal rotation on the bike and there’s further improvement; forwards I am up to around 2:00am and backwards around 11:00pm, it’s a little sore to go this far but not to the point of doing any damage. Finally I have made in dent in my weight gain so that’s a move in the right direction.

I hosted this week's Runners Round Table podcast, the topic was "Going Long; Ultra-marathons and IronMan", it was a great show and well worth a listen, check it out on iTunes and take it for a run.

All in all everything is good news, but I would really like to go for a run!

I have been running with a headtorch for the last couple of years now, early starts and late finishes often bookend my day with running, but 95% of those runs were on the road, mostly with street lights and mostly with cars. My go-to headtorch has been a Petzl TacTikka Plus which is great for a "be seen with" rather than a "to see with" torch. For the ‘Hood I was going to be running through the night…in the woods…with a half moon; dark with a capital D!

Headtorchs span the gamut of price range if you really want to go mad you can easily blow $100 and have a set up which is bright enough to light up a Hollywood sound stage but these typically come with large battery packs sometimes which need a “sold separately” recharging unit and the additional weight that you would expect. So my criterion was bright, light and cheap!

I looked around a bit but ultimately went for the path of least resistance; Zombie or WRC, Zombie’s were either not as good as my Petzl or in the $50+ range; too little or too much, so armed with my discount coupon code for 10% 'QUAD10' I picked up a Black Diamond Spot from Wilderness Running Company for $36.00.

So here are the technical specs, The Spot has eight light-output settings—three brightness settings and strobe illumination in either SuperBright LED or one-watt LED mode. It comprises One-watt HyperBright LED, Three SuperBright LEDs and comes with a Three-year guarantee. It weighs 85 grams (3.0 ounces) with batteries and 50 grams (1.8 ounces) without batteries, (not sure why you would carry without batteries?)

It comes with the standard elastic band and is comfy enough, it requires three AAA batteries. The interesting stuff is brightness and durations, this is a screen shot from the instructions:

Still confused, well basically my usage was either the Hyperbright LED (1W) or the three Superbright (3 LEDs). I didn’t realize that there were half settings until I researched this post. Under the heading that a picture is worth a thousand words, it’s Friday and spent most of the week at a pc here’s a picture. Petzl on the left, SuperBright center and Hyperbright on the right. (Bigger picture to follow).


As you can see there is a significant difference in brightness this translates into distance as well, although experience has taught me that looking just in front of me rather than off into the woods is the best place to look. With Fall upon us, yes it’s finally arrived here in Califonia, and shorter days if you’re running in the dark anywhere you need a decent light system, do yourself a favor and consider this one.

See previous gear reviews in the sidebar on the right. If you have a product you’d like reviewed, contact me at quadrathon@gmail.com.

So today I went swimming, told you I was going to! Of course I happened to have picked one of the coldest, windiest days we’ve had in months; outdoor pool! That worked in my favor as I actually had a lane all to myself and once I was in it was pretty much ok as long as I kept going. I got a bit over excited at one point and overbent my knee so now I am sat here with an Ace tube on it, it’s swollen a bit…another lesson learned the hard way!

I checked out some YouTube Videos last night, this one I thought was pretty good and helped me visualize what I need to be doing; remembering the ‘rotation’ helped today. I didn’t go mad, and swam about 800 meters, to be honest I lost count but I was at it for about 40 minutes, easing myself into it until getting all over cocky and bending my leg too far!

On the suggestion of JD and few other people I ordered this book and DVD from Amazon, thank goodness for used, much as I like kit $40.00 for a 30 minute DVD seemed a little steep so a used ‘new; unopened’ one for $12.00 was a bargain along with a ‘used; like new’ book for $5.00.

I am thinking about a swimcap…everyone seemed to have one, maybe for warmth? I think my wife has one from her tri kicking about somewhere, maybe I’ll snag that and see.

I have to say all in all I enjoyed it and so other than the knee thing so far so good, I am aiming to go again on Friday...yeah the next thing'll be webbed feet!

This weekend marks week four since the ’Hood. During this week I have felt a marked improvement in my leg, since going to my GP two weeks ago I am still not able to ride my bike, the issue is that I cannot do a full rotation, it’s improving. If you can imagine with the crank at 6:00pm; week one I could go to 7:30pm forwards and 5:00pm backwards, week two I am up to about 4:00pm and 9:00pm, this Tuesday I’ll try again but overall it’s really starting to feel like it’s healing, I am able to skip up and down stairs and getting in and out of a car is easier, other than the bike these are really the two ‘benchmarks” I have.

I’ve been doing some core stuff but obviously I’ve not been expending the calories like I had been previously (and I am not going to kid anyone that I have adjusted my diet), end result is a best described as imbalanced input/output, imbalanced to the tune of about 12lbs! Yeah I nearly fell of the scales!

I’ve also been listening to lot of podcasts lately, I listen to them in the car during my commute; you can really burn through them with a 2½ - 3 hour commute a day. One of them in particular struck a cord with me, if you’ve followed me for anytime you’ll know that I am pretty can-do person especially when it comes to running, now when it comes to swimming; and specifically freestyle, well let’s just say that can and do are not usually in the same sentence…well until now. It’s really a case of not doing it because I don’t like it and not liking it because I am no good at it…well duh Stuart there was a time when you weren’t running a bajillion miles and how did you get to that point…I could go on but you can see where I am going.

I am not quite jumping in the deep end literally or metaphorically as I had some lessons earlier this year and even invested in some hand fins and a pair of jammers (who knew they were called that!) I am not sure if I will ever be ready to go all out Speedo but certainly loosing those 12lbs will point me in the right direction

Borrowed from a buddy on Facebook who took it from the Ultralist. The Ultralist describes itself as follows:

"ULTRA is a list dedicated to the sport of ultrarunning. By “ultrarunning” we mean running of a distance longer than a marathon in distance or time as well as shorter specialty races such as Escarpment, Pikes Peak ascent and Mt. Washington. The list will concentrate on matters related to ultrarunning. However, we recognize that the members of the ultrarunning community cover a wide spectrum. Some are interested solely in training and racing information, techniques and experiences. Others enjoy the more ‘peripheral’ areas of the sport, from ultra prose or poetry to descriptions of interesting people or scenery seen during a run or race. All those people, and all those ultra topics and many others, are welcome here. The list will NOT be moderated, however flaming, SPAM and advertising (other than race announcements) are not allowed".

For an audio interview with the creator of the Ultralist go here, to subscribe to it go here. Be warned your inbox will fill up fast so make sure you select the right settings! And so onto the post...it kinda ties into my last one!

Joe Judd of Colorado, writes,

You are more than ready. I think that 50 miles in 12 hours is very attainable, especially if it is a flat course.

1) Focus on keeping moving for the whole 12 hours.
2) A run/walk startegy works well for most people. Something like run for 5 minutes, then walk for one minute. I just run at a comfortable pace for as long as I can, then walk when I feel I need to have a break. Getting exhausted is hard to come back from.
3) Don't stop for too long. Keep aid stops to a maximum of around 5 minutes, maybe 10minutes around dinner time. Remember, if you stop for 5 minutes every hour, you've lost a total of an hour of the race.
4) Most of what you need to overcome is in your head. It's not terribly hard to run a pace of 14:30 per mile. Doing it for 12 hours is another issue.
5) Stay in the moment. It is not a good idea to think of how much longer you have to run. Focus on how you're doing at THAT moment. The hours and miles will take care of themselves. Relentless forward motion!
6) It will get bad. But, then it will get better. It's never a consistent downhill spiral. No matter how bad you feel, you WILL bounce back.

Gold indeed!