Thought I'd share this article on protein requirements for runners... https://runnersconnect.net/protein-for-runners/ I did the research because my legs haven't been recovering like they should after a run. Turns out a casual runner my size requires about 77 gr's of protein and if I get into hard training, that number increases to around 115 gr's per day. There's no way I've been taking in that amount, but one large egg contains 50 gr's, so that's what I'll try first. Even the protein shake I've been drinking with its 14 gr's was coming up short. Just so you know...
Friday, 9/7... 1 mile warm-up followed by a 6 mile road run that included the local covered bridge and difficult hill just beyond. Pushed the pace and kept it going 'til the end. 2 eggs were on the menu as soon as I finished, curious to see how my legs feel tomorrow...
4 miles Thursday morning.
3.6 miles Friday morning. Only did a set of pull-ups. On the way out the sprinklers were watering right in that spot. So I passed on doing the chin-ups. On the way back, sprinklers were off so I did my pull-ups. After getting home, cleaned up a little, had some breakfast and headed to daughter and son in law's new place they are moving to for some remodeling. So spent the rest of the day getting in some upper body exercise swinging the sledge hammer around, tearing walls down, redoing some electrical and all the rest that goes with remodeling. Saturday is drywall time covering the new walls and openings.
Rich - I'm sure I'm not getting enough protein. I'll have to read the article plus eat more protein. Of course, I should track what I eat to see how much I'm getting and what the deficit might be. Making are runs a little more difficult helps in the long run. Debating whether that's a 'no pun intended' or not.
Art in AZ
Mesa, AZ
Sunday, 9/9... took yesterday off to close the vegetable garden for the year and do other yard work. Today, I warmed for mile on the trail, then ran another 8 on the roads, so 9 total Picked this route because of the difficult hill in the 5th mile, not only for going up, but for coming down the back side as well, it's really steep. Solid workout, the increased protein I'm taking in seems to be helping, after eating 2 eggs and drinking a protein shake right after today's run, legs that were sore earlier have completely recovered. Same results I had from taking in extra protein after Friday's 7 miler. We're all different, but it sure seems to be working for me...
Art... a couple more invigorating runs to start your days, eh? Nice to be able to jump in and help the kids with their remodeling job, did you hang sheet rock today? When my son-in-law and I sheet rocked their ceilings, we were hanging 8 footers. I had a sore shoulder at the time and had a hard time holding up my end, but we got it done. And yes, working harder during a run is better in the long run, pun intended...LOL
Monday, 9/10... legs that felt good yesterday afternoon were a little sore this morning, so today's run consisted of 4 miles at an easy pace on the trail. Forgot to mention the temp when I got up yesterday was 36 degrees and the same again this morning. I waited yesterday for the temp to get to 50 and ran in shorts, etc., but today I headed out when it was just 38. Pants and long sleeved tech shirt today, but thankfully we're going to warm back up by mid-week. I've had enough heat for the year, but not ready for Winter just yet..LOL
Happy Monday!!
Last TH: got to the trailhead about an hour earlier than the rest of the trail divas to get in a 4 miler, then another 4 miles with the group. A couple of 'faster' runners ahead of me which forced me to pick up my speed. Love it!! I really do neglect my speed/intervals so it really helps to TRY to keep up with speedier ladies, whew!! So about 8 miles. Knee was good.
FRI: rest
SAT: made plans to run with one of the trail divas on trail that is on the way up (the road) to the ski resort, about 8500 ft. Its one of my favorite trails, just spectacular views!! Got there early and parked next to what I thought was her car (it wasn't although same model/car), and figured she was already on the trail as we had texted "don't wait for me." I'm about a mile when she texts "I'm here." LOL!! Anyway, no biggie, we run our own runs but it's good to know the other is on the same trail. However, lots of mtn bikers and hikers that morning, it was such a beautiful ideal day to take in nature!! This is part of the Arizona Trail, about 800 miles from UT stateline to Mexico. About 3 miles, you reach a 'junction sign' that has arrows pointing to "UTAH" and another pointing to "MEXICO" .........decided to go towards UTAH . It's 4 miles to a forest road where I decide to turnaround, it's mostly a gradual downhill through the forest, lots of SHADE. The trail is pretty popular today. At the turnaround (reaching the forest road), there are a few cars and couple of vans with younger runners, maybe a school team? Anyway, on my way back, I meet up with my RB and another runner who brought a friend from Phx. We talked a few minutes and I go on my way. They are going to take it slow, mostly hike back especially on the uphills they say. I had a good run and glad to get in 14 miles, was thinking of adding another 2 miles but knee is not having it.
SUN: 3 easy miles.
Today: 10 miles. NICE!!
Rich: I certainly don't get enough either but I don't want to think/calculate every protein I'm 'suppose' to take in. I love cold dark chocolate almond 'milk' anytime especially for post-run refresher. The author assumes that runners drink low-calorie/reduced fat chocolate milk, maybe some do but I don't worry much about calories especially when I'm running longer distances. And, I'm not a vegetarian but I tend to eat vegetarian meals most of the time with salmon or chicken and maybe a turkey burger now and then. I have trail mixes, and eat just a handful of mixed nuts each day. And there are days when an egg (or two) gets mixed up with a meal.
Art: that's what you get when you live close to family, HAHA!! Good cross-training there and getting in some short miles when you can, every mile counts .........I'm told LOL!! Those are LONG bike rides, wow!! Any mountain biking?
Rich: "winter is coming" .......it's nice here, even when the temps are in the 70s, and evenings has a slight chill to it......we've been getting some sporadic thunderstorms but mostly in the mountains and the nice rain showers are just enough to keep the trees watered. I'm anticipating my MN trip to be on the cool humid side when I run the trail marathon: https://www.surfthemurph.org/
Altair: how are you doing post-race?
az... I think as long time runners we get to the point where our legs have adapted to the stress and no longer suffer the kind of muscle breakdown a new runner or one coming back from an injury does after a run. My running muscles lost a lot while I was down with a sore heel and I've noticed lately they're bulking back up again, but they're also slow to recover after a hard run. What I'm trying to do with taking in more protein is speed up recovery so I can get back out there again...lol
It SEEMS to be working, but it's probably too early to be sure. Yesterday's splits looked like this after the warm-up mile... 9:28, 9:22, 9:18, 9:17, 10:27 (The hill) 9:05, 9:08 and 9:06. Granted, compared to Ray's times that's pretty slow, but those last 3 splits after a difficult hill aren't bad. This was 2 days after a 7 miler that also had a difficult hill where I pushed the pace for the entire run, then took in extra protein to help with recovery.
Anyway, file that article in the "For what it's worth" drawer, we can never have too much knowledge...
Another 3.6 miles Saturday and Sunday before heading back to do more on the remodeling job. After Sunday's work I felt beat. Temps in the house weren't too bad but the dust and other stuff was all over from us taking stuff down, trimming to make it fit and so on. Even with a mask and goggles, the dust still got past and I could feel it in my throat and nose. Glad most of that is done. Just 2 small walls to build and drywall and to drywall the last area between the fireplace and wall and that should be the last of the dust making. Then it will be taping and putting the drywall compound up before I texture all the new work we've built. Lucky me I'm doing any of the painting. We hope to have of the work down this weekend.
Rich - Funny that you closed out your garden as I was looking at getting mine going again. Pulled out some seed packets and plan on stopping by the nursery and see if they have received any of the plants yet. Once I get some longer runs in I can start getting to the route that has some elevation change.
AZ - Nothing like having a faster runner to help spur you on. I don't see that when I'm out running much but riding the bike, that's a different story. When the road bikes pass me I have to go faster for a little while to keep up. I would have to look and find a mountain bike trail around here. I'm sure there are some, I just haven't looked. Since I don't have a bike rack by the time I pedaled to something close it would be time to turnaround and head back.
Tuesday, 9/11... 5 mile trail run today. Amazingly, I got caught in the rain, checked the radar and everything looked good, but with 2 miles to go the skies opened up and soaked me good... LOL
Art... yeah, we'll be getting frosts by the end of the month, so the garden's done for the year. I can't complain, my small garden did really well this year. The only thing I had trouble with was greens, spinach and Kale, etc., I got a little, but the bugs ate most of...lol Remodeling can be tough, especially in a closed space where you're breathing in dust. Sounds like you're almost done with the worst of it and gotten a lot done in a short amount of time. Nice that you're helping the kids, with labor costs what they are, you're saving 'em a lot of money. Those 3.6 milers are perfect with what you're dealing with, more than enough to maintain and a nice way to start the day.
And another 3.6 miles Tuesday morning before getting ready for work. Just another very warm, dry run. Well, the weather is dry here which allows the temps to rise. The run wasn't dry with the very warm temps. Just thought I would clear that up.
Rich - I bet the rain made you happy. What with the cooler temps and all. Yes, the hard work is finished. Just the taping and smoothing of the seams before I shoot on the drywall texture. That's a relatively quick job but messy.
Wednesday, 9/12... a light rain this morning didn't get any better or worse during today's 6 mile tryke ride on the trail, which surprised me, looking at the radar beforehand, I thought I was going to get drenched again,...lol I probably should have ridden the tryke a little more this Summer, but was more focused on getting my running legs under me again. As a runner, I'm almost where I want to be, so it's all good.
Art... if the sun wasn't beating down on you the way it does, I'd say take your shirt off and run that way, but that's probably not an option. I'm shocked at how much cooler it is, a tech shirt that's soaked in sweat and heavy doesn't add much to the joy of running, does it? lol Yesterday's run in the cooler weather was ok, I'd already run 4 miles before the rain started and generating enough heat that I didn't get cold. Good deal on the remodeling job, you just know the kids appreciate it.
Quick 3 miles before starting work. Felt a couple of degrees cooler or it was the slight breeze that was blowing.
Rich - Sometimes it's hard to determine the balance we need between the different exercises as runners. One article states more core work. Another states more focused running. I think at this stage of things, we just do what we want to stay healthy and try to be injury free. And ramp up when we have a race coming up.
Friday, 9/14... after taking yesterday off, I ran a warm-up mile on the trail this morning before running another 6 on the roads. The route that takes me through the covered bridge has a decent hill just beyond that I wanted to run before turning for home. I've felt right along in order to be competitive in local 5K's against guys my age, I needed to be able to run about an 8:30 pace. Today when I ran the mile after making the turn for home, I was shocked to see an 8:29 split. Kept the effort going and hit the next mile in 8:28, so the splits were legit, before I eased up to cruise home the last mile. I can't keep that effort up for 3 miles just yet, but it's nice to see the hard work paying off. I don't know if this is the fitness boost we get from running a longer race, but whatever it is, I'll take it...LOL
Art... I agree with what you're saying, especially the part about staying healthy, it's amazing how fast our bodies give up fitness if we get injured. Another thing I've tried to do is become as efficient at running as I can, the fewer moving parts the better. I do like the results when I get a yearly check-up, weight, cholesterol, blood pressure, etc. are all good. On top of all that, running is just plain fun...lol