Archive July 2018

How I earned my Red Badge of Courage

Attention male readers, the content below is targeted for those who are interested in the use of menstrual cycle products as they relate running.  I give you permission to stop reading here (that includes you Trex).

I have been rather lucky when it comes to the timing of my long runs and races. But as the stars and moon would have it, eventually my luck ran out and for both Midnight Madness and our 15k night time training trail runs I ran into a few issues that only girls can relate. But with a little support and a costume change I fought the good fight and for it I have now earned my Red Badge of Courage.

I have failed to find any good blog articles that were helpful about how to prepare for long distance running while on my period, which is why I am telling my story here in case some other female comes along and wants some helpful / useful information.  Now to start there are several articles going around the Internet, like the ones on Livestrong, and RunnersWorld about how you will run/perform better for hormonal reasons during your cycle. Allow me to debunk that crap right now. It is total BS. While I have felt ok-ish energy wise (possibly due to Keto), which might support their evidence, that is minor in comparison to all the other stuff you have to deal with. No I can say for certain it is not helpful, not helpful one bit.

I highly recommend a useful little app called P. Tracker (or something like it) that I use on my iPhone that tracks the dates of my cycle easily and allows me to project out to the day (if my body plays nice) when I will start/end. Whenever we discuss doing a particular race I first check where that falls in the month and until this last month I have lucked out.  Just before the Little Rock Marathon I had a near panic attack as I had an ‘early’ warning scare and thought I was going to have to run my first marathon wearing the traditional forms of female protection. But it was only a scare and my body stayed on schedule. Whew! But this lead me to do some research and I found what I hoped would be the right combo of protection to avoid significant chaffing and leakage, and wouldn’t require equipment change midrace in a porta potty. Yuck!

So as it happened Midnight Madness was my first long race during which I would actually get to test out the reliability of my new female only gear, the Thinx sports shorts and a Diva Cup, both purchased for the inevitable times like this race when being a women feels like a curse. I chose the cup for the main reason that it fits better than most tampons do for running, and it can be worn for 8-12 hours depending on the day. That is important when running on trails where there are no bathrooms or for during long 6 hour races.  NOTE: I was not paid for or sponsored for this review. I purchased these products out of my own desperation at full retail price and here is my experience using them (both good and bad)

Before the race I had tested the cup a few times, but only on shorter runs, and had a dry run with the shorts to know they were comfortable to run in, but race day was my first use of them together as the pair to serve as my shield and armor.

For the first half of the race I was totally fine. Happy that I had the right combo of equipment and felt secure, confident and comfortable. But as the run went on I could feel the cup was just not seating quite right and it would need to be readjusted, having been jostled somewhat during the run. But much to my chagrin, mortification, and utter horror I found that I had a wardrobe malfunction around mile 8 of 20, when the Thinx shorts couldn’t handle all the sweat plus small amount of leakage caused by the running and the ill positioned cup.  Let’s just say I was utterly grateful for a night time race and my dark sweat towel.

Thank goodness for my DH, who just happened to be done with his race and met us along the way just in time. Like a saint he drove and retrieved my spare clothes (which I packed in my mobile aid station just in case!) and met me at the turnaround. Not wanting to slow us down too much with a wardrobe change I picked up pace and booked it ahead of our little gang and swapped my shorts out for a different set of Thinx underwear and a different pair of shorts and I was good to go again by the time they were ready to leave. At least for a while.

My change of clothes and the cup held up slightly better the second half of the race; and I felt good until about that last 3 miles of the race when all hell broke loose. Every so often my body likes to remind me I am a mere mortal and punishes me with a bout of cramps so bad they would bring a Dino to his knees; and well, my body chose the last three miles of my 20 mile race to dole out this punishment. I had the usual leg aches and pains, but those were insignificant against the low back, abdominal cramps, and a tender soreness of my nether region that I haven’t’ felt since my youngest was born. The pain was such that it actually induced severe nausea and by the end of the race, as we were all sitting around a carrot cake singing happy birthday to Trex, I was doing everything within my power not to ruin his hard earned homemade celebratory dessert.

Now I know for fact that this was not food related. I had no indigestion, or significant trouble intestinally during or after the race. And as I said, I have had bouts with this sort of pain before, but not quite this bad that I can recall.

After the race I drank some Traditional Medicinals Womens Healthy Cycle herbal tea which gave me relief from the cramping and pain, took a long hot shower during which I discovered that I had chaffing where no women should chaff thanks to the ill positioning of the Diva Cup; then crashed in bed for the remainder of the morning.

Last night I experienced a milder version of the above. Having learned from the previous experience, I doubled up on my Thinx under layers, had a black towel at my car, extra feminine towelettes and water. I had to adjust the cup a few times to reseat it which is why I carry black towels and wipes.

Given conditions and my anatomy, frankly at this point I don’t know what will actually hold up, and not cause chaffing, leakage, or considerable discomfort, as the above combo just hasn’t been quite up to the task during my heaviest of days. I think really I just need a different shaped cup for running, or maybe a wet suite. Who knows?

I have since talked to a co-worker of mine who finished her first 100 miler and she too agreed my equipment of choice was the right way to go, but we agreed I should try different brands in search of one that will work better for me for longer distance runs. I found a website… putacupinit.com that seems promising at helping me in this search and it has wonderful information on how and why to use cups verses the more traditional options. I for one love the Diva Cup for everyday use. I also love my Thinx, but if I am at some point going to run 100 miles, I really hope it won’t come with another Red Badge of Courage.

So last month we went madder than the hatter and ran a 20-mile race starting at midnight.  Then last night we ran our first back-to-back morning then midnight 15k’s. As Trex has already given you his Race report, I suppose I should give my take since it was a tad bit different.

Having been on a Keto diet for month it was a preparing for races and long runs are different in many ways.

First no carb loading the days before the race and long runs. I have to say, while I am honestly not really craving carbs I did miss our pre-race ritual meals, Thai or Indian for dinner two nights before the race, and Honeynut Cheerios and bananas for breakfast (dinner in this case). Instead I eat more veggies,  avocados, fatty meats and fat bombs, drink lots of water and electrolyte drinks (Propel so far is my favorite from a flavor standpoint).

My vest isn’t laden with gels and treats, instead I bring Lyteshow, salt sticks, hammer electrolyte extreme endurance, Nuun Energy tablets, run gum and Rx Nut Butter,  Ucan and Propel server drink pouches.

Fueling for long runs is a bit different as we can’t depend on carbs. So I did some reading and found a few recipes for alternative fuels for Keto running. I bought some reusable squeeze pouches on Amazon and made up a few batches. One of pb,  ghee, avocado oil and salt. The other was pb, Lilly chocolate chips, and coconut oil. Lastly I fill a pouch or small water bottle with Gut Shot garlic and dill. Since I started Keto I crave pickle juice. This has really been a life saver and has helped with leg cramps, which I experienced around mile 13 during the Midnight Madness.  I also made lemon keto fat bombs (made with Coconut butter, which I don’t’ recommend) and usually have a couple in my ice chest.  Other snacks I pack for pit stops now usually include pickles, pickled okra, Moon cheese, Parmesan crisps, macadamia nuts and pork-rinds for crunchy salty.

With our race routes and long runs being on the same city trails we normally run, we park our vehicles to serve as our own aid stations. For Midnight Madness we parked right next to the race aid station, in the lower lot of Turkey Mountain, which stocked foods and drinks we can’t consume on this diet, so no aid there for us really.  It has worked out perfect and has ensured we have the right fuel and plenty of cold water at critical times during our runs.  Like most trail races I will grazed a bit when we stop, taking in little bit of the variety of goodies. And so far, by the time I do feel a bit tired and low on energy we are able to refuel and go.

Midnight Madness, being my first really long run on Keto I would still give it high praise for sustainable energy. During my 10-mile run through the Santa Cruz mountains and yesterday’s back-to-back 15k’s I didn’t bonk out. I feel like Keto has been way more of a help than a hindrance, at least for that distance/pace. On the other hand I have definitely noticed an impact to my HIIT runs and distances. My HR runs higher and I still find it harder to catch my breath, this is also impart due to the heat of the summer but I encountered this in San Jose so I am confident it is the greater amount of blood oxygen it takes to burn fat that is the cause of this particular issue.  Overall in terms of running condition I have felt really good for my long distance runs having started Keto and plan to continue to stick with this at least through our fall races, unless something drastically changes between now and then.

I am one of those kinds of people who fully embraces any opportunity to travel with open arms because of the excitement I get from thinking of all the different possibilities a new or different city holds within its borders. So when my job duties called for a trip to Silicon Valley I wouldn’t say I jumped at the chance since this is my third trip here in the last year, and frankly I don’t relish the idea of missing my family for a week; but since I can’t just quit my job and stay home with them, then I see no reason not to make the most of this trip.

Last year when it was Trex’s turn to make the journey for his job he went begrudgingly so, but luckily Karma overlooked his lack of enthusiasm, and he came back with a new found friend who is a lover of this crazy sport we call Ultra Running. She is not only a lover of the sport she is also a badass while doing it, and has certainly fanned the flames of my (our) interest in increasing my (our) distances, and venturing out to more scenic places to run than on paved city trails.  So when the chance came for me to take advantage of a company paid flight to California I booked the earliest flight out of town I could reasonably take to arrive with just enough time to take her up on the offer to play tour guide through her ‘playground’, the Santa Cruz Mountains; and oh what a playground it is, I have the bite marks to prove it!

The text conversation leading up to the trip started out something to the effect of  “I want someplace awesome to run that will make Trex greener with envy”– greener because well, he is already a green reptile; which was followed by some evil laughs and scheming to find a trail, elevation gain, and distance that wouldn’t kill me–since I am not quite the badass ultra-runner our friend is, but that would induce a fit of jealousy that might provoke a Trex to overcome his reluctance to travel.  So full discloser, this article will contain considerable bias in favor of the latter statement.

It is obvious the second you step outside in San Jose why people pay the astronomical price to live here. First and foremost the weather is freaking perfect. Pleasant, sunny, mild with a light warming or cooling breeze. Just freaking damn perfect. Next would be the views. Flying in you can see the mountains and hills that surround the ‘valley’ and they are most definitely a far cry from our little Urban Wilderness reserve Turkey Mountain. Here you are in proximity to so many outdoor activities and options, coupled with perfect weather that you can truly take to the hills to unwind after a long day and really recharge. And taking to the hills was exactly what we did.

Now, like us, our Rabbit friend (her nickname earned proudly from her exceptional navigation and skill of popping up all over the trails), is currently in training for her next big race, so she had to clear the planned distance for my scheduled run with her coach since we were running on her ‘easy’ day.  I of course laughed at this because I knew that my pace would be so much slower than her easy running pace that this would be like walking for her. But none the less time on legs and feet, while ascending close to 2K feet is wear and tear and the last thing we want is for her machine to become injured while she is in pursuit of her next big race, which is not just any race, it is none other than the Finlayson 100K. Look it up, it’s not for the faint of heart. So she, having “maps for brains” found us a good segment that was within my abilities and meet both her and my needs in terms of elevation and distance.

Our fair Rabbit friend picked me up after I arrived in town and took me for a bit of shopping therapy at her favorite local running store The Sports Basement.  This is a fun store, think REI meets TJ Maxx. They have all the big brands for all things sports but are generally sold at a discount. Truly a retail haven for the thrifty yet serious runner. We weaved around the store where Rabbit found the items on her shopping list. Myself I restrained from going nuts and limited my purchases to consumables for on the trip. I wish sincerely we had this store in our area.  Both eager to hit the hills we crammed a few protein bars in our bellies, that we picked up at the Basement–they have a huge selection, and wound our way up the sharp curvy Big Basin way to Skyline Trail. Once at the top, me a tinge nauseated from the curvy drive, with the usual preparations (water bladders filled, sunscreen and bug spray applied) we were off for our run.

What I noticed first and foremost was the clean fresh smell of the air. Unlike our trails the air was dry and fragrant with natural vibrant plant smells. Nothing reeked of rotting vegetation or stagnant water. It was just fresh and cool. The trails are mostly single track packed dirt with occasional up-cropping of  rocks and roots just to keep you on your toes. It is not too rocky or gravely, and a nice mix of a few interesting technical areas with long stretches of rolling trail which is perfect for running.  There is a great mixture of sunny areas and shaded areas that wind through the amazing tree canopy created by the mighty Oaks and Sequoya that cover the mountains. The vegetation that lines the trails stands out to me as one of the more memorable and enjoyable aspects. At several points along our route we encountered trees that were hundreds of years old with huge trunks and crocked limbs. There is a plethora of poison oak along the side of the trail that in a few places requires stepping carefully through where it has crept over the path.  There were small riveletts and gulley’s and even a waterfall or two. There were very enjoyable sections where climbing rocks and actual stairs were required and rather steep deadly drop offs which fueled our vertigo just a tad and restored a healthy sense of respect for natures boundaries.

But the absolute best part of this run of course were the vistas. Around the bends and through the trees you could come to vast views of the expansive mountains with a birds eye view of the cities far off. I was told by our fair Rabbit friend that the trail we were on runs through to the ocean and at several spots we could see the vast blue sky that touched it below the other side of the range. The feeling that over took my senses was a general sense of my own insignificance. When you stand next to trees so large they feel like buildings or look out to the cities below made microscopic by the height of nature you simply feel microscopic yourself.  It is a feeling I rarely encounter in my area of the world, and it is a good reminder to the ole ego to know just how unimportant I am in the grand scheme of the Earth. Now that’s not to say I don’t consider the importance of being a good citizen on this planet, but as a singular person I felt quite negligible. 

Along the way we passed several “civilians” as Rabbit likes to call them. Day hikers who carried clunky water bottles and cellphones in hand wearing sandals and street fashion athletic shoes and clothes. At least one needed directions and most had no clue about proper trail etiquette. I am sure most of the experienced trail runners had already come and gone during the cool of the morning, likely positioning themselves to see the sunrise over the valley. That’s what I would do if I had these mountains to play on back home. The temperatures varied quite a bit along the trail. In the direct sun on the rocky sides of the trails it was on the warmer side, but nothing compared to the heat back home, but just about the time I was feeling hot we would slip back into the canopy and the temperature was at least 10 degrees cooler in the shade. But in general through the heat of the day the weather was simply perfect. Perfectly warm, perfectly cool, and perfectly sunny. Darn you Californians with your perfect damn weather.

Rabbit and I bounded through the trails at a leisurely pace, walking much of the inclines and clipping down a few of the downhills.  We covered approximately 10 miles with 1900ft of elevation gain. That is comparable to the first segment accent we will cover for our 50K, so when I frankly wasn’t really all that sore the next two days it was a relief to know I am in much better shape than I thought I was preparing for our biggest race yet.  So except for the times when I nearly fell off the side of the trails whilst being bitten on my ass and neck (and not in a good way) by a few hungry yellow jackets which were attracted to my “fatty meat” smell  due to my Keto diet, I would say the run was by far the best trail run I have experienced to date.

I managed to fit my two scheduled training runs in the morning before work on Tuesday and Wednesday. Because of the 30 degree cooler temps, and the clean freshness of the air of the Lower Guadalupe River Trail that I ran on, these were very pleasant and enjoyable morning runs compared to the 104 degree temps I will be returning to for our evening runs.

Now as I write this from the middle seat of a Southwest flight back home and look out my window at the vast land formations, I feel the pull to get out there and give those yellow jackets a piece of my mind, but I miss my family more and am happy to be heading home. I count myself fortunate to have “broken trail” with our fair Rabbit friend and look forward to the next opportunity to hop around the mountains, whenever that may be. And maybe just maybe I can convince Trex to come too. (Not holding my breath though).

A couple of the local TATUR group took Bunny on a elevation route and we ran it last Sunday.  Run being an exaggeration as it’s not runnable by old dinosaurs such as myself.  Too much vertical in too short a space.

The ‘general’ loop we have is roughly 1 mile and stops at the parking lot so you can get by with carrying nothing which is nice.  I use the term general because we rarely come back down the same way so far.

You can watch a short little video of the route up here.  As you can see we hold true to the RunSalty Prime Directive “If it’s a run day, you run.”
(Unless you have existing injuries that running will make worse in which case use your judgement)

This is the first week of our 50 training plan.   50K, 50M, take your pick.   We’ll be possibly over training for a 50k and honestly possibly under training for a 50M.   But at the end of this particular road is just a 50K on November 18th so I’d rather be extra ready for it than not ready enough.

Our first long run tomorrow I’ll be doing solo because Bunny will elsewhere #sadface and Eric who has decided to run with us will be also elsewhere #sadface.

On this training plan which is of my own personal devising the first long run is a 20K with a 10k the day before. I ran the 10K this morning on trails and thanks to it being 30 degrees cooler this morning than it was on Thursday afternoon I didn’t end it feeling like I was dying.

The RunSalty 50 Plan is based on other published plans I’ve seen and books I’ve read but set up to fit my schedule of STWTS with MF rest/core/cross train days.    W is almost always a 6K, just a shake out run plus some core/cross training work.   Tu is usually something complicated like a pyramid or threshholds or intervals.  Th tends to have longer slower runs with hills and the like.

One weekend a month our Su long run starts at midnight.

One weekday a month we have a morning and evening run, usually for a total of 10k-15k between the two.

One week a month is a recovery week with mileage of around 25-27 miles max.

Mileage is set to increase 8-10% a week over the 4.5 month plan with the last .5 (two weeks) being a taper and the last long run being a marathon.   The longest run happens a week or two prior to that.

All runs are mileage based and heart rate zone targeted with most runs falling on HR Zone 2.

Total mileage over the 14 weeks including the 50K race is right at 800 miles.

I don’t believe there’s anything basically egregious about it even though I don’t even play a coach or trainer on T.V.   I’ve poured over lots of training plans for marathons, 50K’s, 50M’s, 100K’s and 100M’s and other than making things fit our needs (4 month training with 2 week taper after).

One of the bad things about Garmin is there is no way to share, download, copy or otherwise make sure multiple runners have the same schedule.  At least out of the box but Eric found a java based tool that can take a CSV file saved out of Excel and create both the runs and schedule them.  By piping the output into all of our Garmin Connect accounts I was able to somewhat easily create the same schedule for all of us with the same workouts.   And far faster and less prone to human error than trying to manually create the plans on all of our schedules.

Here’s a Google Sheets copy of the export file that should make it semi easy to figure out what each work out is.

Here’s an example of the first 3 weeks in Garmin.  I gave all the workouts a 50P prefix to their names so I know what they are and to avoid potentially stomping on any existing workouts.

I installed a SSL cert on the site to make sure that browsers, particularly Chrome, will behave when visiting.  Without HTTPS support which the certificate provides browsers will start whining about it and quite possibly eventually stop displaying them without a user clicking “yes it’s okay to go there” in some kind of pop up.

Do I think SSL has its place?  Of course.  Is it necessary on a site such as this one that displays static information to visitors and doesn’t process any kind of interactions and allows for the transfer of no personal or to be honest data of any kind?  Eh, maybe not so much.

But there you go, all socket layers are secure.

I used my Garmin Course function for the first time this last weekend.  This was on a Fenix 5X but it’s available on a lot of the running models.

It worked very well with a couple of caveats.  To use the Course and a Training workout at the same time you have to start a Run, hold the menu (middle left on a Fenix) scroll down to Navigation, Course, select your Course, Do Course which will take you back to the Run main screen.  Then do the same thing and select Training, My Workouts or Training Calendar (whichever) and then select your workout or day then Do Workout which takes you back to the main Run menu then select Start (upper right).

That’s caveat one.   The other one is that you have to have Course and Map data screens installed on your activity.  What I found was since the course was 1 lap and we were doing 3 laps after the first lap the Course screen was blank, just black.   But I could use the Map datascreen to show the path that we’d just run and voila we could repeat it as often as we wanted.

It helped because for the first time outside a marked/laid out race course this was the first time we’ve ever run the route that we intended to run at Turkey mountain other than the Powerline out and back.   On the return loop of the first lap I went left instead of right at a Y and it was obvious within 30 feet we were off course.

I’m not sure when I might want to use it again but it’s nice to know it’s there.

I had a 5K on July 4th.  Coming into this 5K with Keto and a 20 mile run 3 days prior had me feeling pretty… less than speedy.   I can certainly relate to the ‘carbs are HIIT, fat is for endurance’ now.  I had no energy during this 5K and it was 4 minutes off my PR, which is pretty bad on a 5K. My legs were like lead.

All in all I wasn’t happy with the run, I ended up feeling like it was a non-event.  If I’d of broken 30 I’d of been okay with it I’m pretty sure but not breaking 30 even if by only a minute over and it felt like a yucky run.

Later that day I went out and ran another 5K as penance, and because I was bored, and to burn off some calories.   That 5K was at a 90 second slower pace.

All in all I think I’m going to add some 400’s or 800’s to our 50 training plan just to get some speed in there. There will be a few shorter races between now and then and I’d like to see if I can get a new 5K PR.

This weekend we’re going to do some trail running, 11-12 miles worth, doing the Snake Run course at Turkey Mountain 3 times and maybe some Lipbuster hills in there afterwards when we’re getting to that point of tiredness that you really don’t want to have to go up a 45 degree grade.

We did the Midnight Madness by TATUR.  The race started at 11:59 p.m. on Saturday and ran into Sunday which happens to be my birthday.

We ‘just’ did the 20 mile as the 50 is still way out of my league.  Even the 20 was ridiculously hard for me.  Blame it on the heat, the OMGodly humidity, that we ran a marathon 2 weeks prior or that we had ‘gone keto’ 10 days prior to the race, whatever the reasons it was hard.

So hard that we finished a bit over an hour longer than our last 20 mile run time.

At mile 6, 10 and 14 I had to refill my bladder with ice and a little water and drank the water as the ice melted until the next stop.  So about 4.5 liters of water just from my bladders.   Add in one half liter soft bottle I started with and another half liter water bottle I picked up at mile 10 at the start/finish aid station and almost 6 liters of water was consumed during this run.

I put out a lot of heat, a bladder full of ice melts under these conditions in about 2 to 3 miles tops at which point it’s just cold water.  Another mile and what’s left is just cool water.

The first 10 went okay under the circumstances.  The next 5 was harder.  Note that there was an option to drop from the 20 to the 10 after the first lap but… not an option for us cause ‘we don’t go back’.

The last 5 was harder still.  by mile 18 from the neck down was painful, from the hips down was a virtual horror show.  Glutes, calves, quads, feet, you name it, it was being a whiny little bitch.

Even Bunny was hurting at this point, I could tell by her stride and form, I’ve seen her run well over a 1000 miles and 18 months with me so I have a fair idea of what’s normal and what’s not with her.

As a ‘keto runner’, all in the name of losing weight mind you, I didn’t fuel much at all on this run.  A few mixed nuts, a small piece of keto pound cake over the course of the run although at mile 16 I did have a couple of small cubes of watermelon because watermelon is delicious.

I also did not carb load obviously for the run.  Prior to the run I’d lost about 10 lbs in the 10 days prior.   A fair amount of that, probably 3 to 4 lbs was cherry pick weight, just the water weight you drop by dropping your glycogen stores.  It’s a freebie almost.   The rest is a combination of fat and water weight loss.

I could certainly feel a distinct energy lack over the course of the run.  Again could be the training schedule, the heat and humidity, the keto, your guess is as good as mine as to what was the most significant contributor to the run or lack of running.

But in the end we finished it and with only a couple of exceptions that’s always been my primary goal for a race.   We landed about mid pack in terms of finish times so better than I expected to be honest.  It also gives you some idea of how the race was for other people.

One of our co-workers did the 50, finishing in a little over 13 hours.  She somewhat recently did a 100 mile run and was running with a slower runner or she’d of come in sooner.

Under these conditions a 50K, 100K, 50M, 100M seem all the more daunting.

But we do have on our schedule our 50K in November with last long run of the Bass Pro marathon and we have a 50M planned for February.

Not sure how I’m going to do with those but even if I finish DFL I’ll still do what I can to make sure I finish.  A DNF won’t shatter my ego or kill my pysche but it’s certainly not something I want to do unless there is injury or conditions such that it becomes long term impacting or deadly.