Pumpkin Infusion

Happy Pumpkin Mania!

I may seem late to this trend—apparently pumpkin season started back in August before pumpkins were actually in season—but I held out until Official Fall. (Each season deserves its proper time!)

As seemingly everyone knows at this time of year, pumpkins are awesome. A lot of the flavors we associate with pumpkins are actually just the spices used in pumpkin pie: cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves. Adding these spices to nearly everything isn’t a bad idea: cinnamon may help control blood sugar, while ginger has anti-inflammatory properties.

But adding actual pumpkin—along with the spices, if you so choose—is a better idea. Pumpkin is full of fiber and vitamin A, a vitamin important for your eyesight and your immune system. You can also use it as a replacement for oil and eggs in brownie and cookie recipes, although you lose the pumpkin flavor that way. Pumpkin seeds have lots of protein (8 grams in a half-cup), healthy fats, and minerals like manganese, magnesium, and phosphorous.

Pumpkins all around: oatmeal & tea, muffins, and Mr. RunnerTeal Homebrew.

But pumpkins aren’t just delicious and nutritious. How else can you embrace this trend as a runner, besides doing your next run through a pumpkin patch? Here are a few RunnerTeal ideas*:
*Not guaranteed or even at all likely to work. Please do not sue for pumpkin-related injuries, arguments with farmers, or fueling mishaps.

• As weights: Hauling all those cans of pumpkin back from the grocery store (city dwellers) or pumpkins back from the patch (country folks) is a good arm workout.
• As balance balls: Find a great, big, very round one and lay it on its side. Do your core work, stretching, etc. while balancing. Ignore strange looks from puzzled farmers.
• As foam rollers: Using the smaller, bumpier pumpkins you discarded for the balance ball exercise, roll out those tight hamstrings, quads, and butt. (And seriously, extra bumpy is a plus.) For the city dwellers, a can might also work, particularly the larger sizes.
• As energy gels: Here you’ll need the fake, candy-corn ones. They are full of carbs: six candy-corn pumpkins have 37 grams of carbohydrates, compared to 25 grams in GU. But... the pumpkins also have five times the sugar, close to twice the sodium (good for salty sweaters?), and no potassium, which is probably why Brach's does not appear at running expos... yet. 

If those ideas aren’t your flavor, below are some of my favorite pumpkin recipes*.
*Much more likely to work, or at least be delicious. Guaranteed to cause fewer strange looks than those above.

• Pumpkin bread
• Pumpkin coconut muffins 
• Vegan pumpkin cupcakes 
• Chicken and pumpkin curry
• Pumpkin soup

Dream big and pumpkin spice it up,

Teal

(Non)Race Report: Rock-n-Roll Philly Half

Sunday was the latest battle in Philadelphia vs. RunnerTeal. I was taking on the Rock-n-Roll half and—for once in Philly—I wanted a win. Even a loosely defined one.

The best part of the day was when Kara Goucher spoke to me. In the elite area before the race, I was standing behind her in the porta-potty line. The race coordinators were yelling about how we all needed to get to the start, but the line wasn’t budging. Kara turned to me and asked, “Can’t we just pee behind the porta-potties?” I tried to say something helpful, but instead made a useless nervous giggle/noise. She disregarded my pathetic-ness, hopped out of line, checked out the situation, and—deciding it was a least semi-private—announced to the line, “Yea, I’m going to make this a thing.” Apparently, Kara Goucher is quite humble about where she pees. (Although, in stressed moments before a race, aren’t all runners?) Post-race, I had the chance to redeem my lack of skills interacting with running celebrities when Deena Kastor came up beside me at the dessert table. I wanted to ask, “How did you do, Deena?” as I hadn’t yet heard if she had broken the Master’s World Record. (She had.) Instead, I stood there pathetically and watched her eagerly select a mini-cupcake (red velvet, for those wondering).

The fact that the best part of the day was a pee-related incident with my idol says something. The day did not go well.

Changing socks. Not generally a photogenic moment,
but you can play Find My New Best Friend in the background.

After Kara and I became fast friends, we headed to the starting line. As I stood in the corral, bopping around to the music to stay loose, watching all the spectators snap photos of the elites, I thought, “You know, this is pretty awesome.” And not just because someone decided (incorrectly, as it turned out) that I was worthy to stand at the front. The start of any race is awesome. The music is going, the city streets are cleared just for us runners, spectators are out to repeatedly tell us we are awesome. I was reminded of what Mary Wittenberg says at the start of the NYC Marathon: “The city awaits you.” Sounds pretty sweet, let’s go.

So go we did. And then it got decidedly not awesome. My very loose “plan” was to go out at 6:15 pace for the first five miles and then see how I felt. If I was in good shape, I’d pick it up from there. If not, that’s okay, it’s early in the season; I’d just try to maintain.

I hit a fast first mile and a slow second one, but by 4 miles I was pretty much right on my planned pace. Mile 5, though, was way too slow and I could tell picking it up was not an option. In fact, dropping out entirely seemed much more probable.

I debated this for much of the next mile. Again, it was a replay of the last time I raced here. (Why do I keep reliving races?) Dropping out around mile 5 is the ideal giving up spot; you’ve just looped back by the start/finish area and can easily duck out and pretend today never happened. But I realized that dropping out was not so ideal (obviously!) because not only would I have given up on the race, I also would have given up on a solid workout for the day. In my world, all things revolve around the marathon, and being in terrible shape for a half marathon does not give you license to do nothing. The marathon looms, and it’s Sunday Runday so you better do something. I gave up on the race, but tried to salvage the day. I’d keep on plugging along and take it as a workout.

Mile 7. Enjoying having a cheering squad/paparazzi to help me through the "workout".

The fact that I was no longer racing relaxed me only slightly, I was still upset as to what terrible shape I was in. My splits edging closer to--and becoming slower than--marathon pace didn’t help. (I’m hoping to run a marathon faster than my average pace from Sunday, so, even as a marathon pace workout, it wasn’t great.) My time was embarrassing (“Um, who invited this girl to the elite area?? She is not worthy to pee anywhere near Kara.”) and I wish I could erase the whole day. Sadly, I can’t. It was humid, but I’m pretty sick of making excuses. There will be other chances, I hope (although perhaps not to tell Deena that red velvet is always a good choice).

Whatever Sunday was—a non-race, a workout, a glorified stroll along the Schuylkill, a pathetic embarrassment on all fronts—it was not a win. That means the score is now:

Philadephia: 7

RunnerTeal: 0

A few other runners enjoying their race/workout/Schuylkill stroll. Next time, Philly.

Dream Big,

Teal

The Philly Curse

This weekend, I take on the first of the season’s races: the Rock-n-Roll Philadelphia Half Marathon. Unfortunately, I don’t have such a great track record in Philly. I’ve bonked, I’ve lost, I’ve not even started.

Here is my score sheet for running in Philadelphia:

• 3 poor races (the 2009 half, the infamous Broad Street loss, and the 2012 half)
• 2 marathons entered, none started
• 1 workout that left me unable to run the next day (and for the next two months after that) 

Six attempts to run in this city. Six different disappointments. What’s the deal, Philly? I grew up not far from you, I’ve got family in the area, I even carved a pumpkin in your honor. Can’t you cut a South Jersey girl some slack?

C'mon, Philly. Return the love.

When I signed up this year, at the beginning of the season, I had high hopes for reversing this Philly curse.

The beginning of the season is always a clean slate. Anything is possible. The calendar of races stretches out ahead like a perfectly crafted path of potential PRs; it might as well be full of rainbows and candy, there for the taking. From Candy Cane Forest and Gum Drop Mountain all the way to the Candy Castle, it’s the Candy Land board of races. Everything will go perfectly! I will be faster than ever! PRs all around!

But then, you know, reality sets in. 

I had a couple of weeks where things were clicking; I was getting stronger and faster. Then I hit a rough patch (the Molasses Swamp?). I felt sluggish, had a couple of bad workouts, my hip tightened. My body needed a break so I gave it one. I took my scheduled recovery week even easier than planned, and by the following week my body felt 100% better.

But the damage to my head—to my confidence—was done. I don’t feel like I have the workouts under my belt just yet to really kill it at Philly. It is still early in the season, so maybe that’s okay. Maybe no Candy Cane Forest just yet. I'd be happy to just run comfortably strong for the whole race and not implode in the second half like I’ve done often lately, and always when in the City of Brotherly Love. I don’t really know what that will turn out to be, pace-wise and time-wise. The plan—or lack of one—is to try to ease into it, see how I feel, and try to pick it up in the second half. Hopefully the sluggishness of a few weeks ago is truly gone. If I can just run a strong, solid race, I feel like I'll break this curse. And I'll raise my arms in victory (however small) when I get back to the Art Museum, Rocky style.

[Photo courtesy of Susan Smith.]

You know what they say: the seventh time’s a charm... ?

Dream Big,
Teal

Science Friday: Chasing the Runner’s High

A few weeks ago, my mom asked about advice for a family member who just started running. “She’s complaining she can’t get that runner’s high yet. It’s still not very fun. How long does it take?”

How long of hating running before you love it? How long, despite the sweat in your eyes and the exhaustion in your legs, until you cherish it? Like a morning cup of coffee, you crave it, you need it. Gimme the good stuff. You become addicted to the runner’s high, that feeling where a run becomes relaxing, calming, cathartic. But it doesn't come with every run, and it doesn't start on your first trek out. What causes the runner's high and how can we get it? 

The runner’s high is classically blamed on exercise-induced release of endorphins, the body’s natural morphine, its natural pain relievers. Recently, another class of molecules, endocannabinoids, has shared some of the credit. Endocannabinoids are the body’s natural THC (the active ingredient in marijuana), its natural calmers.

A brief foray into how the thinking has bopped around a bit: Endorphins were initially held responsible for the runner’s high because they could be detected in the blood after exercise. But endorphins are too large to get from the blood into the brain—where they would need to be to affect mood—so their role was dismissed. Some even took this to mean the runner’s high was a hoax. Researchers desperate to prove the runner’s high was real discovered that endocannabinoids are made in the brain following exercise and lead to a sense of calm. Voilà. Endocannabinoids stole the show. But the endorphin proponents would not be silenced. Advancements in neuroscience allowed them to see that endorphins are actually made in the brain as well. The moral of all this back and forth research: endorphins and endocannabinoids deliver a one-two punch. Less pain, more calm. (Also, the runner’s high is real, and don’t tell a researcher who runs that it’s not.)

Back to the main question: how many pills do you have to pop to get the high?

Most of the endorphin research is focused on endorphins in the blood; the more recent discovery of brain endorphins means there hasn’t been much written on the intensity or duration of exercise needed for their release in the brain. We do know that exercising at over 75% VO2max (75% of maximum aerobic capacity) caused a spike in blood levels of endorphins. For cyclists pedaling at about lactate threshold (roughly equivalent to tempo run effort), endorphins increased after 60 minutes.

After an hour at lactate threshold (when lactate is produced and
cleared at an equal level), beta-endorphin increases in the blood of cyclists.

We might speculate that brain endorphins would follow a similar pattern. The study that found endorphin release in the brain only looked at one time point—after a two hour run. Two hours was long enough for the participants to have both a surge of endorphins and good feelings. Below is a graph of how they felt after doing nothing (rest) and after running. Happiness and euphoria increased significantly. Interestingly, fatigue didn’t change at all. (I told you long runs are energizing! Or at least not as exhausting as you would expect.)

VAMS is a scale for evaluating mood. Following a run, levels of happiness
and euphoria were significantly increased compared to rest. 

(Mostly unrelated—but too hard to resist—aside: if you feel so inclined to go for a little bike ride during labor, the ensuing endorphin release can help with the pain of delivery. Let me know how that works out for you.)

Endocannabinoids are released in a similar way. In one study, endocannabinoid levels increased after an hour of running or cycling at a moderate pace. In another study, researchers looked at thirty-minute runs of varying intensities. After a slow jog or a medium intensity run, endocannabinoid levels skyrocketed. However, after a high intensity workout (or an easy walk), there was no endocannabinoid increase. In the paper, the researchers say, “High intensities lead to limited changes in mood or affective state.” I’m not sure I entirely agree with this. Maybe because I have been a running addict for years I have built up quite a tolerance, but I think the really tough workouts can be some of the most psychologically releasing. After they end, of course. 

Luckily, both these molecules get released under the same conditions: moderately intense exercise, a solid tempo or a long run. These also happen to be the workouts that might require an extra push to get through. Our brain senses that and kicks on to give us the good stuff when we need it.

As for beginners, the news is less heartening. It takes a while before you can start grinding out these intense workouts or logging hour-plus runs. Fortunately, other benefits of running (strength, energy, weight-loss, health) may be more immediate. Take comfort that with each run you’re many steps closer.

This week, our family’s newest runner finished her first 5k. I’d say she’s well on her way.

Dream big and keep getting your fix,
Teal

Race Report: Crystal City Twilighter 5k

Saturday night was my second attempt at the 5k in three weeks. I hoped it would be a repeat of two years ago: disappointed by a less than stellar Firecracker 5K, I came back for revenge and—bolstered by the presence of my teammates—set a PR on the darkening Crystal City streets.

Given how slow my 5k PR is compared to my longer distance PRs, it shouldn’t be difficult to break. I’m not in prime shape now, but my PR was set at this same midsummer, off-peak race. I wasn’t in prime shape then either, so I couldn’t use that as an excuse. Coach had said a 5:55 first mile would feel comfortable. I wasn’t quite confident that comfortable would be the appropriate adjective, but it sounded reasonable and was PR pace, so I was game.

Warming up with the GRC ladies.

I hit the one mile marker at exactly 5:55, and it did feel comfortable. Running a second mile at 5:55 would certainly not be as easy (or comfortable), but I felt good and I had teammates both at my side and just ahead to gage off of. As we hit the turn-around, I felt like I could be slowing, but I seemed to be improving, or at least maintaining, my place in the field. I figured I was running close to 6:00 mile pace, which would still be good enough for a PR. But as I passed the two mile marker, I realized I had slowed much more than that. Crap, crap, crap. I had to get it back in the last mile. I couldn’t pull a Classic Teal and give up. And it didn’t seem like I was. The effort felt different than the Firecracker race; I didn’t feel like I was unraveling, it felt like a PR effort. Maybe I hadn’t reclaimed 5:55 pace, but I was churning along, not throwing in the towel. K caught up to me, and having her there gave me a needed push.

I didn’t have a great sense of where the finish line was (the course was new), but I thought I could identify one of the intersections close enough to start pushing. The problem was I was mistaken, started picking it up, and realized too late we had not yet passed the aforementioned intersection. Oh well, at least I tricked myself into running faster for longer. Like last time, I struggled to see the finish line in the dark until we were pretty close. I kicked as best as possible, but had no clue what the time was; the clock was blinking nonsensical numbers. I didn’t know how I’d done until I had walked away, caught my breath, and finally peaked at my watch.

18:56. What? Five seconds slower than my PR. I was pissed. The effort felt like I earned a better time than that. I knew that I had slowed in the second mile but it didn’t dawn on me that instead of making up for it, I had actually continued to slip.

This morning I looked up the official results, which shows me six seconds slower than my watch time. (It also shows equivalent gun and chip times, even though I started a couple seconds back.) I thought I finished closer to K, but apparently not. Officially I didn’t even break 19 minutes. This just keeps getting worse and worse. 

Officially or not, my time was slower than 2012 when I had just joined the team. Have I not improved in two years? (Actually—although I currently feel like wallowing in this recent failure—the reality is I have improved at every distance except the 5k. Sadly, the only other distance where my improvement was almost negligible was the marathon, which, of course, is the one that matters most to me.)

The truth is I don’t really care about 5ks. I care about what this means for my other races and bigger goals. To hit my September goal, I need to run the same pace as Saturday for 13.1 miles—i.e. ten miles further. To hit my October goal, I need to run faster for longer (10 miles). To hit my December goal, I need the confidence gained from nailing the other two. I know it is the beginning of the season and real training hasn’t begun, but is the real training enough to give me an extra 10 miles at that pace? Enough to get me to go ten miles at a pace I can currently (maybe) hold for only two?

Let’s hope so.

Dream big (even when results tell you otherwise),

Teal

Science Friday: Oxidative Stress is Hot Stuff

In last week’s post, I discussed hot weather training and how its benefits persist even in cold weather; since your body has to work harder in the heat, you are forcing it to toughen up. This translates to improvements that last even when the stimulus is gone. (The same way training at altitude pays off at sea level.)

This week, I came across a study that discusses one of the ways this may occur, i.e. one of the ways heat forces lasting improvements. Here, subjects biked for an hour in different temperatures: 45° (cold), 68° (room temperature), or 91° (called “warm,” but this warm-weather wuss would call that “hot”). Afterwards, the subjects were kept in their temperature-controlled rooms for three hours. (It’s unclear what they were doing for those three hours. They were given dry clothes, something to drink, and got to lay down, which sounds like a perfect recipe for a post-workout nap, but they were periodically poked and prodded by the researchers, so maybe not.) Blood samples obtained over the three hours were examined for markers of oxidative stress. When oxygen is broken down by mitochondria to produce energy (as happens normally and to an increased extent during exercise), reactive oxygen species are also produced in the process. Oxidative stress occurs with the overproduction of these species, which are thought to damage DNA and accelerate aging and disease. (This is why people tout antioxidants, which sop up these species.) In the study, the subjects that exercised and recovered in the warm room had the highest levels of oxidative stress.

But oxidative stress is not necessarily a bad thing. Like weight lifting or running, it causes a stress to your muscles that forces them to rebuild stronger. In this case, oxidative stress encourages cells to make their own antioxidants and increase mitochondria, which make all that wonderful energy. This increase in oxidative stress in the heat may be one of the explanations for the benefits discussed last week. Just like heat demands us to deal with less blood pumping to our muscles, it also forces us to deal with reactive oxygen species. The muscles clean up the mess and patch us back up, better than ever.

I wished the experiment had also examined differences between exercising and recovering in the heat. (A way to test this would have involved everyone first exercising in the heat, followed by half the subjects recovering at room temperature and the other half recovering in a hot room.) Recently, there have been warnings against going overboard on recovery aids. In some regards, the soreness, inflammation, and—in this case—oxidative species caused by a run are a good thing. Ice baths, ibuprofen, or perhaps even cooling off in a comfortable room may cut your body too much slack. The researchers didn’t test that here, but it’s an interesting idea.

Antioxidant supplements have come under fire recently for a similar reason. As I described in a post about vitamin C, taking antioxidant supplements (which contain a much higher dose than found naturally in fruits and vegetables) may block our bodies’ adaptations to exercise. (An interesting take on why fruits and vegetables are better than synthesized pills is here.) Again, it’s a case of overdosing on recovery; trying to force your body to bounce back, when the best improvements are made by letting your body recover naturally, with whole foods, time, and perhaps even a post-run nap in a warm spot.

Dream big,
Teal

Science Friday: Embrace the Heat

It’s mid-July. It’s hot. It’s humid. It’s horrible.

Running in the heat is miserable, as I’ve experienced in a few races and every time summer rolls around. As you heat up, your heart starts beating faster to pump more blood to the skin, where the heat can be released. Sweat rate increases to help cool the skin through evaporation. (The reason humidity is such a nuisance is that the air is so saturated with moisture, the moisture on your skin doesn’t have anywhere to go and the cooling effect of sweat is lost.) Running performance plummets because your heart is working harder than usual, but the oxygen-rich blood is being shipped to the skin, not to your muscles. In addition, sweating can lead to dehydration and electrolyte loss.

Every summer we are reminded what to do to exercise safely: run in the shade, early in the morning, in technical clothes (Dri-fit, etc.); drink water and/or electrolyte beverages before, after, and possibly during runs; and accept slower times or even a workout cut short. We are comforted that after a few weeks (about two), things will get better. Our bodies will adapt by sweating sooner, more aggressively, and forfeiting less salt (yes, being super sweaty is a good thing). The heat won’t annihilate our workouts as much; we’ll be able to go faster with less effort and lower heart rates. We’ll be acclimated.

Yes, a couple weeks in the heat means it’s less terrible to be in the heat. But this news is not preventing me from daydreaming of moving to Antarctica. What does hot weather training have to offer, besides a pile of drenched clothes and a sports bra tan line?

A 2010 study by Santiago Lorenzo and colleagues details an unexpected reward. In the study, competitive cyclists were split into two groups. At the start, both groups endured a number of physiological tests in both cool (55°) and warm (100°) conditions. One group then spent ten sessions riding at an easy pace in a hot room (104°, aka too hot to try this at home) while the other group did the same workouts in a cool room (55°, aka ideal exercising weather). After the ten sessions, both groups were again tested in cool and warm conditions.

A summary of the results is shown in the graph below. As you’d expect, when tested in the heat (black bars) the experimental group that practiced in the heat improved across the board: increased VO2max (the maximal amount of oxygen that can be taken in and used), lactate threshold (the point above which lactate accumulates in the blood; approximately tempo run pace), Qcmax (the maximal cardiac output, how much blood the heart is pumping), and time trial performance. They were acclimated after the ten sessions. The control group that practiced in the cool room was not acclimated to the heat, and the group's scores hovered around zero; they didn’t improve much from the start to the end of the study. Not surprisingly, their time trial performance worsened in the heat.

What was surprising to the researchers were the results from the tests in the cool conditions (white bars). Even under these conditions, the group that practiced in the heat did much better compared to the group that practiced at ideal temperatures. Again, both physiological measures and performance improved in the heat-acclimated group while the cool-training group remained the same. Heat training led to improvements no matter the conditions.

As Steve Magness mentions in his new book The Science of Running, heat training is analogous to altitude training. The stresses our bodies have to deal with in the heat (less blood flow and oxygen to the muscles, similar to training at high altitude) force a number of adaptations, including increased blood volume. In the summer, you get an “altitude-like effect” without having to move to Flagstaff or Mammoth Lakes. (And it might even discourage dreams of Antarctica.) When the weather cools, your body will be stronger and tougher from its heat training.

So embrace the heat (safely). Come September, you might have a shiny new PR because of it.

Dream big and don’t sweat the sweating,

Teal