Running to Think

Monday 28 April 2014

Summary of week 17

Unknown 20:59:00 schedule , summary 17 2 Comments

This summary will be short, for the reasons that will be clear in a minute.

21/04/2014
rest

22/04/2014

Went to Sart Tilman. Ran the usual loop around Bois de Saint Jean the first time with Francois, then I made it longer alone, which meant another loop. Total milage of 27 km and elevation gain of 550 meters. Felt a bit of pain in the left knee...

23/04/2014

I decided to run to the station, take the train and run to the office. Usually that is a running session of about 13 km, one way. This time I had to take the bus due to an awfully painful knee.

After 2 days I got a terrible diagnosis: patellar tendinitis.

Game over. At least for the next two weeks.

Wish me a fast recovery.

Sunday 27 April 2014

Summary of week 16

Unknown 17:48:00 schedule , training 0 Comments

14/04/2014
rest

15/04/2014
I decided to spend some time into the forest. When I am in Leuven I miss Sart Tilman, and the other way around. Long story short, 13 km in the forest. But at a moderate pace of 4':30" per km.

16/04/2014
rest

17/04/2014
14 km again in Leuven. Decided to add some spicy hills of 300 mt at about 12% elevation. I couldn't do more than 6. Bad idea?

18/04/2014
Woke up with a sense of dissatisfaction. I was thinking of those hills of yesterday and to the reason for which I collapsed at the 6th. Went out for some more drills and went back home after climbing that 300 mt hill of yesterday 11 times, for a total daily milage of 18 km.

19/04/2014
Planned for an easy run of 15 km. Caroline decided to join. Caroline's father couldn't resist. Wanna know how this ended? 15 km with the guys and 13 with myself.
28 km was really not in the plan.

20/04/2014
7 km and stretching and rest. Damn week.

Total milage: 80 km

Summary of week 15

Unknown 17:27:00 schedule , summary 0 Comments

Two weeks after the not-easy-at-all 80 km of Paris, the only purpose has been to get back to the road with an easy pace and relax as much as possible.

7/04/2014

9 km on the hills of Sart Tilman. I must admit that I've been running easy here. Hills were not scary but I never tried to attack one. I also found a new path, quite steep, that will probably be a new friend in the near future.

8/04/2014

Whenever I go back to Leuven and plan a running session there, I accept the fact that there will be no hills at all. A peaceful 12 km run is definitely a relaxing one.

9/04/2014

I recently decided to commute to feet, from bike. This means that I am planning to run to work every morning. The transition is taking a while, due to technical problems I will write about. A total run of 15 km from home to the station to the office and back.

10/04/2014

Easy easy easy: 6 km and a lot of stretching. I need it!

11/04/2014

When Caroline wants to go to the sea, that's clearly an order I cannot deny. The only thing I can do is packing my stuff, lock a pair of shoes on the back pack and drive to the belgian sea. The first thing I've been doing after parking the car was a 12 km by the sea. Pretty windy up there!

12/04/2014

Wake up, get a light breakfast and run. These are the rules when I am at the sea. A windy 10 km run, indeed.

13/04/2014

Last day of the weekend doesn't really mean that I should run at a faster pace than the previous days. For some reason I have been running a 21 km at the steady pace of 4' per km. Quite flat, quite windy. A lot of sun. Loved it!

Total milage 85km

Friday 25 April 2014

Don't cook just eat. Really?

Unknown 19:33:00 campaign , cook 0 Comments

It's famous! It really is. I'm talking about the takeaway delivery service that advice their customers to eat, no matter what, and do not cook.

As a marketing campaign it seems to be very potent.
Not to mention that a lazy customer would treasure those words as coming from the Bible.
I'm here to be the antichrist then.
If these words are taken with fervour (and that seems to be the case, due to the extreme success that such a company is getting across Europe) this is the time to say what I think - if that really matters.
This is not the right period to deal with lawsuits. Therefore, I'm not gonna write if/how/why that might be junk food. I just want to point out that if marketing is fundamental, people's health should be too.
Suggesting not to cook seems to be a marketing operation that is going to educate people about ignoring how food is truly processed, what ingredients are used, their origin etc. But more importantly, this is making some people aware that eating is merely a physiological necessity.

Which is clearly wrong!

Don't JUST eat. Cook!

Sunday 13 April 2014

What is cholesterol?

Unknown 15:10:00 cholesterol , diet 0 Comments

We all have hectic schedules. We decide to cook something easy, fast or even go for ready-to-eat food to warm up and good luck... Do you know what all of that is? Junk, of course. We deserve better than that. Making healthy choices takes time and effort, I know. But the benefits that we can get in terms of quality of food, energy and health in general are almost immediate.

The question is: what is cholesterol?

It might surprise you, but cholesterol is not that bad. Let me explain. Cholesterol is just one of the many substances created and used by our body to keep us healthy. It is basically a waxy substance produced by the liver and found in certain foods. We use it to make vitamin D, produce some hormones, build cell protections and create bile salts that help you digest fat. Wax to digest fat, exactly. How crazy our body can be. There are 2 types of cholesterol: HDL and LDL. HDL is the so called good cholesterol which helps keeping the LDL (bad) cholesterol from getting lodged into your artery walls. A healthy level of HDL may also protect against heart attack and stroke, while low levels of HDL have been shown to increase the risk of heart disease.

In order to increase your HDL and take its benefits you should reduce trans fats and have a balanced and nutritious diet.
When too much LDL is circulating into blood stream, weird things might happen: arteries can be obstructed at the point that the risk of heart attacks and strokes becomes quite consistent. LDL cholesterol is naturally produced by the body. But a number of people dispose of a good genetic inheritance by which they get more that they should. The overall amount of LDL is also determined by nutritional habits, namely eating saturated fat, trans fats and the junk food that you should be aware of (shouldn't you?)

Diet, as always, plays a fundamental role in lowering your cholesterol. Here are some foods that can lower your cholesterol and protect your heart.

1. Oatmeal and high-fiber foods

Oatmeal contains soluble fiber, which reduces the low-density lipoprotein (LDL), the bad

boy. Soluble fiber is also found in foods like kidney beans, apples, pears, barley and prunes

2. Fish and omega-3 fatty acids
Eating fatty fish can be healthy for you heart because of the high level of omega-3 fatty acids,
which can reduce blood pressure and lower the risk of developing blood clots.

3. Walnuts, almonds and other nuts
Walnuts, almonds and other nuts can reduce blood cholesterol too. Rich in polyunsaturated
fatty acids, walnuts also help keeping blood vessels healthy. Eating about a handful (1.5
ounces, or 42.5 grams) a day of nuts, such as almonds, hazelnuts, peanuts, pecans, some pine
nuts, pistachio nuts and walnuts, may reduce the risk of heart disease. Just make sure the nuts
you eat aren't salted or coated with sugar.

Did you hear me? No salt. No sugar.
Caroline

Saturday 5 April 2014

An energetic and healthy bar

Unknown 18:51:00 breakfast , diet 0 Comments

This morning i decided to make an easy and healthy snack. You could definitely use this snack as a breakfast bar. These bars are the solution when you have no time in the morning or whenever you are craving right before lunch or dinner.
The low glycemic index in this carbohydrate-rich food will slowly raise the blood glucose and will be digested at slow pace. Turns out that you will feel full longer full and way more energetic for the rest of the day.

The bars contain a bunch of complex carbohydrates, proteins and healthy fats. Its nutrients directly influence the skin (acne), the nervous system, improves mental health (reducing stress), the circulatory system and heart (high cholesterol). The digestive system benefits too by reducing constipation.

Was I convincing enough? Here is an easy procedure of how to make some.

Ingredients for 6-8 bars:

Olive oil for greasing the plate

2 tablespoons of honey

4 tablespoons of coconut oil

3 tablespoons of peanut butter

280g of oatmeal

3 tablespoons of ground flax seed

1 tablespoon of pumpkin seeds

1 tablespoon of goji berries

2 tablespoons of chopped dates

1 tablespoon of chopped and dried figs

Procedure

Warm up the oven up to 180°C and grease the baking pan with olive oil

Let the honey, coconut oil and peanut butter melt on a low fire

Put them off the fire and incorporate the rest of the ingredients (keep some seeds and dates to sprinkle later)

Press the mixture firmly in the baking pan and sprinkle the seeds and dates over it

Put the pan for 10-15min in the oven until the mixture looks gold brown

Let it cool off and slice the cake into stripes

If you feel like it's too dry, feel free to add some honey on top

Et voila, a delicious and easy pack of nutrients at your disposal!

Enjoy!

Caroline

Tuesday 1 April 2014

The lecture from 80 km EcoTrail Paris

Unknown 00:56:00 eco trail paris , ultra running 0 Comments

"Don't be afraid to fail".

That's a quote that has been characterising the training period of my first ultra trail.

After 5 months of training, 1 foot tendon stress fracture and 1 contraction of the rhomboid muscle, a bit more than 2000 km in 3 different countries and 2 pairs of shoes, on the 29th of March I had to put myself to the test and run the 80 km Eco Trail of Paris.

I am writing this as a reminder to myself, rather than a race report.

My first ultra marathon went differently than I had thought: I had to quit after 55 km due to a painful foot (the extensors were giving me the awful feeling of a couple of hundred needles stuck in the flesh, again). But more surprisingly my quadriceps were numb after only 25 km, when I had the same sore legs I usually get after an impressive amount of squats at the gym. Numb. Knackered. And it was only the 25th...

EcoTrail of Paris was not exactly smooth, at least not as smooth as I had imagined. The temperature didn't help either. After 5 km with the leading group I started feeling those 22 degrees on my head. Overheating was driving me crazy and the body was asking for more and more water. The hydration pack was empty by the time I reached the first station. In numbers: 1.5 liters of fluid in 22 km.

I had the feeling that something wrong was already happening.

The time I stopped at the first aid station was short enough to refill and drink one more glass of fresh water. I didn't need to eat anything there. Gels and bars were at my disposal, in the pockets of the shirt. I was following the nutrition plan carefully. With an intake of 300 kcal per hour, I was not feeling hungry, weak or the like. I was just feeling perfect.

Having said that, the group I was running with was pushing, relentlessly. We were running at 14.7 km/h. Crazy and insane for an ultra marathon of 80 km with 1500 mt elevation gain.

For some reason I felt like being part of that insanity.

Any inner voice kept telling me, repeatedly: "You're too fast man! where are you going?"

But somehow I was curious to see what was next—and I didn't want to miss that opportunity. After all, I felt great, light, energetic and, despite the hot weather, still fresh.

An underestimation that I would soon pay dearly for.

Yeah, alright, I was not afraid to fail. But that pace was not my pace. And it was not the others' pace either. We were all running towards hell. I was willing to run at my pace. Therefore I detached from the group and just let them go.

Km 23, km 24, km 25. I could already recognise some runners from the crazy group. I was taking them on hills. It was hard to run there. We all had to walk. Some of them were not even doing that. They were just standing. Too soon to draw conclusions though. Km 29 had a terrible surprise in store.

The extensor of the right foot started to kick in. I kept ignoring the slightly perceptible pain when I was climbing and running on flat terrain. Things got worse when I went downhill. Every step had the feel of a knife forcing its way into the flesh. Suddenly my plans and my strategies made little sense. I had to deal with something I hadn’t planned for. Foot pain, no water, sore legs and, even more harrowing, 50 km left.

"Step by step!" I was repeating to myself.

The next aid station was only at km 44, Commune de Meudoun. My pace was already slowing down to normal, as if there were anything normal left. At km 33, I took more sips from the hydration pack another time. After that last sip a bubble of air whispered in my ear that the fun was over. No more water for another 7 km. I did my best to deal with such a dry situation. Then I gave up and turned to three runners who were taking over me. Two of them were Italians. A guy called Ivan, and Simona Morbelli, who finished first woman. Great job. At the 44th km I had to refill the hydration pack one more time. I wanted to quit. But I couldn't for one reason: Caroline was waiting for me at km 55, where I planned to get the gels I was not carrying.

Those 11 km were just like a trip to hell. The legs were not responding at all. Ankles were unstable and painful. The extensor of the right foot was so stretched that I started to believe that it could break any time soon. Moreover I couldn't get used to the pain. And who can?

Some more hills slowed me down and forced me to walk. But this time even walking was not a pleasant feeling. Recovery times became longer and longer. At the end of the hill I usually started running again. Not this time. Soreness and pain are the perfect combination that change that habit into something that has just one name. Quitting.

At km 55, I could see Caroline and let her know of the change of plans. My Eco Trail had to stop there, in Chaville. No words. No explanation. Just a doctor who did her best to unpack two capsules of Dafalgan and write my name onto the DNF list.
Did Not Finish.

When a runner achieves his goal, he celebrates.

When he fails, he reflects.

There are three questions I need to answer in the upcoming weeks.

Why was I drinking like a camel?

Why was I accumulating so much lactic acid already from km 20?

Why did the extensor tendons of the foot collapse and gave me such an extreme pain?

It will take me some time. But I am sure I will find an answer to each of them.