Building A Better Bumblebee

Mark B wrote:

ounce wrote:NO A/C?!?!?!?!  Yes, you've mentioned that before.  Looking at your prognostication, I know 90+ is hot (although the NWS calls 95 hot, but what do they know?), but y'all are cooling down into the 60's each night.  That tends to indicate y'all are pretty low humidity, even though 60 degree lows is above the norm.  Window unit A/C?  Lemonade?  Mint Julep?  Trash can wine?  Fire up the grill?  At least your electric bill won't go berserk!

I'm sad that you'll have to go through all that heat, since you don't have A/C.  Just find solace in knowing that Houston hasn't hit 95 degrees yet, this year, we have a 658 day streak of no 100 degree days, & we're +10" on rain this year.  Plus, when it gets into the 90's here, it doesn't get below 75 for a low temp.

Feel better?  NEXT!

So not surprised. So, what was the population of Houston before a/c was invented, anyway?

Anyway, it's usually fine around here in the summer. But we do get heat spikes (our record high is 108) from time to time, and there's a concern with our very warm winter and warm and dry spring that it's going to be a bad one this year. And these hot spells don't usually come quite so early.

I will note for the record that we're looking at two days with lows in the upper 60s, which for here is quite warm. Not like where I used to live in NorCal, where they're looking at lows in the mid- to upper-70s and highs around 110 over the next week or so. A bit early in the year for those temps, but they're not unheard of. I didn't have central air when I lived there (or even have a/c in my car), but I did have a swamp cooler. That helped a bit, until it cracked 110.

Heat sucks.  Heat and humidity really sucks.

Modern central A/C was invented in 1902 by Willis Carrier. 

About a year after getting married, we bought a house built in 1954 that had a 'whole house fan' at that time and central air was installed in that house in 1973.  I know all the houses I lived in once the family moved to Texas in 1960 had central air.  The population of Houston in 1950 was 596,163.  Now, it's 2.2M.

Well, I know you will survive, Mark.  Maybe crack an egg on the pavement.

ounce wrote:

Mark B wrote:

ounce wrote:NO A/C?!?!?!?!  Yes, you've mentioned that before.  Looking at your prognostication, I know 90+ is hot (although the NWS calls 95 hot, but what do they know?), but y'all are cooling down into the 60's each night.  That tends to indicate y'all are pretty low humidity, even though 60 degree lows is above the norm.  Window unit A/C?  Lemonade?  Mint Julep?  Trash can wine?  Fire up the grill?  At least your electric bill won't go berserk!

I'm sad that you'll have to go through all that heat, since you don't have A/C.  Just find solace in knowing that Houston hasn't hit 95 degrees yet, this year, we have a 658 day streak of no 100 degree days, & we're +10" on rain this year.  Plus, when it gets into the 90's here, it doesn't get below 75 for a low temp.

Feel better?  NEXT!

So not surprised. So, what was the population of Houston before a/c was invented, anyway?

Anyway, it's usually fine around here in the summer. But we do get heat spikes (our record high is 108) from time to time, and there's a concern with our very warm winter and warm and dry spring that it's going to be a bad one this year. And these hot spells don't usually come quite so early.

I will note for the record that we're looking at two days with lows in the upper 60s, which for here is quite warm. Not like where I used to live in NorCal, where they're looking at lows in the mid- to upper-70s and highs around 110 over the next week or so. A bit early in the year for those temps, but they're not unheard of. I didn't have central air when I lived there (or even have a/c in my car), but I did have a swamp cooler. That helped a bit, until it cracked 110.

Heat sucks.  Heat and humidity really sucks.

Modern central A/C was invented in 1902 by Willis Carrier. 

About a year after getting married, we bought a house built in 1954 that had a 'whole house fan' at that time and central air was installed in that house in 1973.  I know all the houses I lived in once the family moved to Texas in 1960 had central air.  The population of Houston in 1950 was 596,163.  Now, it's 2.2M.

Well, I know you will survive, Mark.  Maybe crack an egg on the pavement.

Yes, I think we'll make it, Ounce. And that's a pretty astounding statistic.

Trail Run: About 2.5 miles

Weather: Sunny (but shady in the forest), warm and muggy. 67° Gear: Altra Lone Peaks, shorts, T (shed?!?) Fuel: Half a cup of coffee beforehand, water during

We're now in our big heat wave, so Alita and I got up early to go play on the trails of our neighborhood forest.


Enticing, non?

We started about 7, and it was already getting warm. I even shucked my shirt for the last few minutes, which probably caused an anomaly on the instruments on the International Space Station. Solar flare! Wait, from Earth?


Aren't you glad I didn't post this one big?

We kept it nice and easy, with some walking up the steeper spots. I kept my HR down, which was good.

Walked first and last 5 minutes. Average HR for entire run: 116

Glad your schedule allows you to get up and get out there early when it's reasonably cool.  Looks like the heat wave is going to last for at least the next 10 days.  I sure hope everyone is cautious with their fireworks!  Stay as cool as possible.

nkrichards wrote:Glad your schedule allows you to get up and get out there early when it's reasonably cool.  Looks like the heat wave is going to last for at least the next 10 days.  I sure hope everyone is cautious with their fireworks!  Stay as cool as possible.

Clark County, Washington, has the MOST INSANE love of fireworks. We'll be having mortar shells going off around our house for days. I've never seen a place where these fireworks were even legal, but they are here -- and their advocates are entrenched. Even if it does burn the county down.

Note: Across the river in Portland, the fire chief just ordered a complete ban on all open-flame fire -- INCLUDING FIREWORKS -- in the city and surrounding county, until further notice. And they don't even allow the sale and use of the type of fireworks we have on this side of the river!

By the way, it was 86 degrees at 9 p.m. here in Vancouver, with 12 mph winds gusting to 20 mph. If this keeps up, and it very well might, this next week could get very interesting. Especially with the heavy vegetation growth we got for our moist, warm spring turning tinder-dry about two months earlier than usual. Whee!

I'm working the night shifts on July 3 and July 4, so wish me luck.

As far as running goes, I'm getting up early and heading out. That's been pretty effective so far. It'll be more of a challenge once my long runs get into the 3+ hour range. Yawn!

Welcome back to those bonny bygone days of that early wake up call to run!

As far as the shirtless picture, I haven't seen that much glare since someone took a picture of me with the sun bouncing off my bald head. 

ounce wrote:Welcome back to those bonny bygone days of that early wake up call to run!

As far as the shirtless picture, I haven't seen that much glare since someone took a picture of me with the sun bouncing off my bald head. 

Yep. Call me Mr. Specular Highlight.

Low HR Run: 4.38 miles

Weather: Increasing clouds, warm and muggy. 69° Gear: Lunas, shorts, T. Fuel: Coffee before, water during.

Out to the track with Alita, meeting Eric and Stella (his great dane). Alita did her own thing while Eric and I started up. I had hoped to do about six to hit my target of 30 miles this week, but I wasn't wedded to it. I figured I wouldn't be able to do a full MAF test either, though I was able to catch a MAF mile split after a warmup mile that wasn't bad. My second mile split came in 1 second faster than Mile 1, but I had to pause for a pit stop, so it's not solid data.



Still, as I look back on MAF mile gains since I switched my HR target, I guess I can't complain much.

It was an unusually warm and muggy morning. Almost Midwestern! It helped when clouds started coming in.

We decided we'd had enough after about 45 minutes, so we wrapped it up. We got to chatting and I forgot to stop my timer, so I've got an amazing "fastest speed" reading for part of the drive home.

Average HR for entire run: 110

Walked first 5.

But what did Stella do?

ounce wrote:But what did Stella do?

She jogged with us for a while, but she started looking pretty gassed, so we let her chill out by the side of the track. She has Addison's disease, so she's pretty weak.

A run in two parts! (13.6 miles total)

Trail Run: 10.4 miles

Weather: Sunny, warming. 60-70 degrees. Gear: Altra Lone Peaks, shorts, T. Fuel: Grape Nuts and coffee before, only water and E-Caps (1 every 40 min), which was a mistake. Big bonk.

Note to self: Don't try to run 2 hours and 45 minutes without any calories. I ended what was a nice run exploring the nooks and crannies of my local park with what I now realize was a pretty nasty bonk. Oops.

I wanted to go long today, and I'd hoped to hit 15 miles total. I wanted to try using my local park as a place for extended trail runs, which would help me work on that aspect of my training without having to drive to Portland. It's a gorgeous park with decent trails, so it seems dumb to not at least try.

I got inventive, running loops one way, hitting the start point and reversing direction. I very rarely ran the same section of trail going the same direction, so the view was always different. That worked pretty well. I split the park into two sections, with my car as the base. My first set was about 4.9 miles. The second was a little longer. Both loops had a decent amount of climbing, too. No epic climbs, but several long and steep enough to slow me way down.

I carried a Gu with me but decided against using it when I started feeling a little off, thinking I'd just refuel when I got to the car. I hadn't looked closely enough at the time to see how far I was pushing my luck. It probably didn't help that I'd had a small bowl of cereal in the morning, which gave me some dandy indigestion and might have set me up for a crash later. Maybe.

Oh, and I also "bonked" in another way: I caught my left foot on a branch that was laying alongside the trail and was surprised when it didn't move, and I went whipping into the ground -- partially on a freshly applied pile of recently crushed gravel. Owie.

I sat there for a couple of minutes, regrouping. I found bruising on my thigh and a couple of nicks on my hand and arm, but nothing serious. I inspected the branch, which was about 6 feet long, and I found that it made a serviceable (if wobbly) javelin.

Aside from that, it was actually a good run. I enjoyed exploring and finding ways to get the most out of the trails. I may have also interrupted a couple of raccoons who were... well, coupling ... because they took off in opposite directions and one of them climbed a tree and gave me a seriously dirty look. Sorry..

When I got back to the car after the second loop, I was seriously depleted. I ate something, noticed it was getting late, and asked Alita if she wanted to join me for a lap. It meant I wouldn't hit the full distance, but I wasn't up to it at that point.

Walked first 5 minutes. Average HR for entire run: 131

(Intermission)

Trail/Walk: 3.2 miles with Alita

Weather: Sunny, 75. (carried water)

Continuing the workout from earlier, after I picked up Alita.

I tried to fix my bonk with a LaraBar and a package of granola bars, with mixed results, and I felt so crappy before we left that I almost decided to call it off. Glad I didn't. The easy walking helped my body restore itself (good knowledge to store away for another time), and we had a pleasant walk. My HR was already stressed from my run, so going up an down the terrain meant my HR was above 100 a decent amount of time. So it was good practice.

Average HR for entire walk: 108

I should have probably taken food with me, because I was starting to feel a little off by the time we wrapped up. Back home, ate some lunch but I still feel a little off.

I'll need to prevent this from happening again. Puts a damper on what was otherwise a great morning.

Hmmm...drama on Mark's blog...are we surprised?  NO!

Glad to hear there were no serious injuries from your fall and that the bonk happened on a training run near home rather than a race or remote trail run.

We have at least 10 more days of this silly heat...stay safe.

nkrichards wrote:Hmmm...drama on Mark's blog...are we surprised?  NO!

Glad to hear there were no serious injuries from your fall and that the bonk happened on a training run near home rather than a race or remote trail run.

We have at least 10 more days of this silly heat...stay safe.

Drama, moi? Well, it does keep the readers entertained.

A few small dings and bruises from the fall. My arm is a little chewed up and might start a conversation at work.

The bonk, on the other hand, totally kicked my butt. I've felt tired and cranky all day. Barely had the energy to eat anything. Sheesh. It's warm, too, do that doesn't help.

This heatwave is nuts. So warm. So dry. So windy. Very bad for fire danger.

On a personal comfort note, we are getting a quote on installing a/c. If summers start being more like Northern California than Western Oregon/Washington, we'd bite the bullet and get it done. A warm spell every once in a while is one thing. Hot all summer long is quite another.

Getting it done sooner will depend on cost. (And how the rest of this summer goes.)

Mark B wrote:

nkrichards wrote:Hmmm...drama on Mark's blog...are we surprised?  NO!

Glad to hear there were no serious injuries from your fall and that the bonk happened on a training run near home rather than a race or remote trail run.

We have at least 10 more days of this silly heat...stay safe.

Drama, moi? Well, it does keep the readers entertained.

A few small dings and bruises from the fall. My arm is a little chewed up and might start a conversation at work.

The bonk, on the other hand, totally kicked my butt. I've felt tired and cranky all day. Barely had the energy to eat anything. Sheesh. It's warm, too, do that doesn't help.

This heatwave is nuts. So warm. So dry. So windy. Very bad for fire danger.

On a personal comfort note, we are getting a quote on installing a/c. If summers start being more like Northern California than Western Oregon/Washington, we'd bite the bullet and get it done. A warm spell every once in a while is one thing. Hot all summer long is quite another.

Getting it done sooner will depend on cost. (And how the rest of this summer goes.)

You're not in Washington, anymore, youngster.  I'm not going to suggest anything to do (surprise!) about food.

As far as the A/C, you'll be wanted to host parties by your non-a/c neighbors.  Reminds me of when the neighbors bought a color TV set in '67 and I went over there and watched the original "Batman" show.  That was so cool.

Better watch chunking those sticks as it might have a lawyer.  And don't get any ideas about this 'coupling' thing you mentioned...at least in the heat y'all are having.

ounce wrote:You're not in Washington, anymore, youngster.  I'm not going to suggest anything to do (surprise!) about food.

As far as the A/C, you'll be wanted to host parties by your non-a/c neighbors.  Reminds me of when the neighbors bought a color TV set in '67 and I went over there and watched the original "Batman" show.  That was so cool.

Better watch chunking those sticks as it might have a lawyer.  And don't get any ideas about this 'coupling' thing you mentioned...at least in the heat y'all are having.

I actually *am* a bit surprised at the lack of nutrition suggestions. Do you think a spike from breakfast made the bonk worse? I feel pretty stupid for letting it happen. I was basing my plans on distance, like I do on faster road runs, than on time, which I do on trails. I'd figured I could get some fuel at 10 miles and be fine... never realizing it was at least 45 minutes later than the longest I've ever gone without fueling on the trails.

As far as a/c goes, I think we'd actually be one of the late adopters. You see lots of closed windows around here, and when we have our windows open at night, we can hear the hum of compressors -- the modern replacement for crickets.

Batman in color. Pow!

Walk: 2.4 miles

Weather: Sunny and warm. 80 degrees.

A warm lunchtime walk, but it was good to get out and test out the systems. I woke up sore in the arm and leg that took the impact yesterday, and my right ankle has been a little sore (peroneal tendon), too, so I relaxed and kept it easy. I found a stride that worked the *proper* muscle in my lower leg, which helped a bit, and just walking helped the upper quad relax.

One thing conspicuously absent from my "crash and bonk" post was, of course photos.

I blame the bonk. Still working to get back in balance on that one.

But I finally got around to it, so here goes:



This is the branch in question. As best as I can figure out, I caught it on my toe and -- unlike what usually happens with a root or rock -- the branch STAYED CAUGHT. I felt my foot trying to push the whole branch forward, with surprising (if predictable) results.

It catapulted me like a horizontal high-jumper into this lovely patch of trail:



Fresh gravel! Yay! At least there were no big rocks or stumps nearby... (or horse poo)

I landed on the right side of the gravel and ended up half on the gravel and half in the dirt. The wet spot is where I landed on my water bottle. (Honest!)

I'll spare you the photo of my upper outer thigh, but it looks a bit chewed up, like my forearm:



So, a bit tattered but nothing serious. Nothing that would stop me from running. ("If the bone ain't showing, keep on going," right?) None of the dings really hurt, which is nice, though I can tell I worked my "hard landing" muscles in my arm and shoulder, but even that feels pretty minor.

Mark B wrote:

ounce wrote:You're not in Washington, anymore, youngster.  I'm not going to suggest anything to do (surprise!) about food.

As far as the A/C, you'll be wanted to host parties by your non-a/c neighbors.  Reminds me of when the neighbors bought a color TV set in '67 and I went over there and watched the original "Batman" show.  That was so cool.

Better watch chunking those sticks as it might have a lawyer.  And don't get any ideas about this 'coupling' thing you mentioned...at least in the heat y'all are having.

I actually *am* a bit surprised at the lack of nutrition suggestions. Do you think a spike from breakfast made the bonk worse? I feel pretty stupid for letting it happen. I was basing my plans on distance, like I do on faster road  runs, than on time, which I do on trails. I'd figured I could get some fuel at 10 miles and be fine... never realizing it was at least 45 minutes later than the longest I've ever gone without fueling on the trails.

As far as a/c goes, I think we'd actually be one of the late adopters. You see lots of closed windows around here, and when we have our windows open at night, we can hear the hum of compressors -- the modern replacement for crickets.

Batman in color. Pow!

According to the Post website, 1/2 cup of Grape-Nuts gives you 100% of your "...whole grain and plenty of fiber."  Holy Crap!
http://www.postfoods.com/our-brands/grape-nuts/grape-nuts/

I think the fiber screwed you up.  I also think your refueling plan was sound, just not the right foods.  You're going to need to start from scratch.  I did this with Reina, last year, as part of her training for Wild Hare 50 last November in 'beautiful' Warda, Texas.  In the past, she had distress early and she could only last 40 miles on a hilly course (the name escapes me but it was in April and finished around Auburn).  This happened two years in a row.

So all summer, she and I tried different foods on 3 hour or longer runs, but one at a time.  She found one that she liked and it liked her, then we tried another.  Purely a like or spike decision.  Same with fluids.  No Gatorade.  She and her system liked Tailwind.  Her system also liked white rice with salt and pepper.  Rice cakes.  We used that information for her longer runs in September and had a plan with a couple of other foods.  We chose Wild Hare because 1) it was a race within 300 miles of Houston so I could do full support during the race, 2) it was a 4 loop course (so no driving hither and yon to support her, and 3) it was flat by her standards (rolling by my standards).

If GU turns your system, pitch it.  Grape-Nuts, too.  That's not to say that you can't bring it back, later, but for now start bland and work from there.  No brown rice, only white to start.  Also, pick a set time to refuel during the run.  Pick a mileage or time running where you don't need any kind of during the run fueling...whatever that is.  Then on runs longer than that, bring 1 type of food for refueling.  Try 1 fluid pre-run (something other than water) and water during the run (because I presume water works well for you at any time).  Your body moves a lot of blood to the gut area to process that fiber-rich food, which takes blood away from your leg muscles.  Be nice to that gut!

Foods I have used in the mornings before a long run (carb based, not LC/HF):  Special K, Rice Krispies, and Corn Flakes.  During a run:  Fig Newtons, exclusively, and S!Caps.

Questions?

You just need to be your own lab rat, then with that knowledge use it for a race.  We've always been taught that training long runs are for experimenting with everything we would use in a race.  Bring S!Caps until you can tolerate Gatorade, unless you've had no troubles at all with Nuun.  So maybe coffee in the morning and Nuun during the run.  I don't drink coffee, so I can't speak to how it treats a system, although I've read where it stimulates the bowels.  But if it doesn't for you, great!

Try UCan  https://www.generationucan.com/

Yes, I've used the Superstarch on that website.  Drinking the stuff takes either a lot of shaking or stirring, for me.  But it was fine and easy on the system.

Thanks for all the thoughts and suggestions. I'm pretty sure that my bonking problem was simply waiting too long to refuel, as opposed to using the wrong type of fuel. I have found in the past that I could do 90-120 minutes on the trail before refueling, but I didn't notice the crash coming on. I had an emergency Gu on board, but when I started to feel a little off, I stupidly decided to wait until I got back to the car.

That said, I'm intrigued by the UCAN product. I see they sell it in Portland, so I'll have to give it a try.

I've used S-Caps before, but I still have a bottle of Endurolytes I'm working my way through. Once they're gone, I'll get another batch of S-Caps.

As far as GrapeNuts go, yeah... they tend to cause bad indigestion, but they can provide long-lasting energy -- if I can give it enough time to get through my stomach before I start to run. Probably not a great choice, so I'll keep exploring options.

--

A/C update. We had a contractor over to give an estimate for both an a/c system and a heat pump system. Holy cow. Twice as expensive as we thought.

Nifty and sucks to be cool.

ounce wrote:Nifty and sucks to be cool.

Well... yeah. It did spur us on to action, though. After Alita and I looked at the estimate (~$4,300 to $8,500 depending on "quality" 0f the unit) and checked comparables on the Internet, we simultaneously went "Yeah... no" and agreed on Plan B.

Plan B is a window air conditioning unit big enough to cool most of our downstairs living area but small enough to not requiring a special outlet. Ordered it for pickup at the local Lowe's via the Internet, and hauled it home last night. (I was amazed they had them, considering, but it turns out we'd lucked out -- they got a shipment in that morning, and they were all gone before the day was out.)

My challenge today will be installing it before I got to work (and before it gets hot).

Oh, how hot has it been? Well, if this was late August, it'd be unusually hot. In early July? It's unheard of.

We average 11 days a year over 90. This year, we will have matched or exceeded that number by July 5 -- which is the day when summer weather usually kicks in. I'm afraid to imagine what it'll be like in two months.

Low HR Run: 4.25 miles

Weather: Sunny and warm, and getting warmer. 65-69° Gear: Sandals, shorts, T. Fuel: Just coffee

Up early this morning to try to take advantage of a brief window in the 60s. It's supposed to be nearly 100 today, so it's going to heat up fast. I'd wanted to do 6+ miles, but my body had other ideas and I ended up wrapping it up after about 4. It was probably enough.

Walked first and last 5 minutes or so. Average HR for entire run: 124

Funny after a few weeks of 80s and high humidity and then a ton of rain, we are experiencing cooler than normal temps and lower humidity. Spring has arrived!  It was actually in the mid-50s at 7:30 am when I did my LT run this morning although 67F by the finish, and it felt so good.  I'm actually sitting on my porch in jeans and a sweatshirt as it is pleasantly cool.  I'll take it as I'm sure the nasty stuff will soon return.  Most likely in time for the half I always run in mid-July!