100: Head/Heart/Feet

100: Head/Heart/Feet opens is an amazing look into the Vermont 100 (VT100).  At this point it's the most decorated ultrarunning film, appearing at 12 film festivals, receiving  director's award.  We follow Zak Wieluns in his third attempt at completing the VT100.  As the story unfolds of race, we flash back to his training and previous attempts.  This story is complemented with stories of other endurance athletes and germane interviews from professionals.  Anyone in the sport has failed an attempt at an event, or knows someone who has.  (Know thyself in my case!)

I am a sucker for these films since it is my sport.  I was stoked to be offered a chance to view a Kickstarter Screener.  I guess my wood working background appealed to 'Hammer and Saw films' (hehe).

100: Head/Heart/Feet opens at an aid station 'somewhere in Vermont' at 10:30pm we see a race that has been going on ALL day.  Weigh-ins for the runners, medical attention, head lamps, cramps, scrapes and (notably) dozens and dozens of volunteers, crew'ers.  So much support.  As a runner, I seldom get to see the behind-the-scenes work, concerns, logistics and support that goes in to races like this.  Movie summary from the creator's the site:

“100: Head/Heart/Feet” will follow the day-to-day life of ultra-runner Zak Wieluns as he trains for and finally runs a 100 mile race. The actual event is called the Vermont 100 Endurance Race, one of the original 100 mile runs in the USA. This year the Vermont 100, which raises funds to benefit the Vermont Adaptive Ski and Sports Association, celebrates its 25th anniversary, promising an even more competitive challenge for the 300 dedicated runners who attempt to complete this grueling competition over Vermont’s paved streets, gravel back roads and wooded trails…in daylight and darkness…all within 30 hours. A well-trained few will complete the race; many will never cross the finish line.

Being a 'recreational' runner, like Zak, one finds a struggle for not just the runner but also for those close to the runner.  Many of us are: parents, husbands, cubicle-slaves, and.... also wanting to run 10-20 hours per week??  John Lacroix is interviewed in the movie and makes the most salient points about how the hobby of unltrarunning is <paraphrased> what we need to be happy.  It is important our loved ones understand that.  With equal fervor, we must encourage our loved ones' pursuits for equivocal levels of happiness! (just my opinion.)

This movie is the story of a journey, finishing something you've started.  Lean on people you care about to help you through your journey.  Never be afraid to ask for help.  I cried three times during this well put together documentary*.  The filming shifts to focus in on small details of what a runner might notice.  Explains the physical and emotional pains of reaching far to achieve something great.  This movie is for everybody, whether or not you plan to run 100 miles.

My favorite line: "dude I really smell, seriously I think I really smell."

My favorite scene: The recurring interjections of a sports psychologist explaining the underlying rationale an endurance athlete is making the decisions and reasoning they exhibit.  Tied with the interviews of ultra-athletes that give their own applicable experiences.  

What bothered me about the movie: The concept of weigh-ins for endurance athletes.  It's ok to see if someone is gaining too much weight (overdrinking!)  But losing weight in an endurance event will never lead to dehydration as is suggested.  It's not the movie-makers' fault for this potentially misleading information.  The concepts of calories in = calories out and drink to lower body temperature or avoid dehydration are antiquated and need to stop.  Hundreds of endurance athletes have overhydrated and died through exercise associated hyponatremic encephalopathy (EAHE).  Many times by EMTs not knowing what the athlete is suffering from and adding more hydration intravenously.  It's a pet-peeve of mine that this dogma continues.

Support the sport, see the movie.  Then train for something hard!




*As a teenager I swam for the state.  I was tested for VO2max, step-tests, etc.  At the time, I was under the impression I would be some notable athlete.  Mostly it was natural ability, decent genes.  After a misspent youth and young adulthood, I didn't do another competitive event until I was 39 years old.  Watching Zak go through some of the athletic testing resurfaced some of those emotions.  So well filmed, it hit me hard.

"So if you'll excuse me, there's someone I need to get in touch with and forgive.... myself"
-Fat Bastard

Night time running

For those of us on Northern Hemisphere daylight is becoming a more scarce resource.  Besides a reduction of Vitamin D* we are also now visually impaired and not easily seen by others. Gotta stay safe: Need to see and be seen.  Buying a lighting system is the type of purchase you want to get right the first time.  Nothing is more expensive than buying something that you never use.  Two reasons for lighting:

• Light your way
• Night Trail Running: There are typically no street lights on trails.  Looking for a lighting system with more than 100 Lumens is a safe rule.  



Black Diamond 80-100 Lumens

Headlamps are a good solution. They leave your hands free and only cast light where you're looking.  They can be inconvenient if you're used to wearing a hat, and the pressure on the forehead can take some getting used to.  It would be nice if they were lined with a Richard Simmons terrycloth head band - alas, there always seems to be some plastic digging in to your forehead. 


• Night Road Running: In the presence of some street lighting and possible traffic, it's more important to be seen by others.  For this you'll need a handheld flashlight that you can point low, looking for road hazards and curbs and not blinding drivers or other pedestrians. A handheld is also appropriate for encountering other nighttime runners in populated areas.  The major benefit of handheld is that they allow you to avert your lighting without having to avert your gaze.  Another secret...keep one eye closed when around a car's headlights (and don't look directly into the headlights - no brainer?), this keeps the pupil in the closed eye big for better night vision later ;)

• Be seen by others

In the presence of nighttime traffic (even dusk), wearing reflective clothing and carrying battery powered glowsticks and blinking red lights all help you be more visible to the half-blind drivers out there.  Quote from Evaluation of Reflective Vest Options 

"Research on human perception (in motor vehicles) finds that drivers must first notice, and then identify, an object (in or near the roadway) in order to react to it (Beck2  2005, and Ashton 2007). Police uniforms are typically dark colored and even more difficult to see at night. The white shirt common among higher ranked officers does not add to their visibility in low light or nighttime conditions. Beck, citing research conducted in 1984, notes a driver at 30 miles per hour (mph) detects a subject in dark clothing at approximately 70 feet (giving the subject approximately 1.5 seconds to react). If the speed is 55 mph, the reaction time was under one second. Similar research by the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (as cited by Ashton 2007) concluded that in a simulated work zone, a driver detected a person in non-reflective clothing at 125 feet while they detected an individual in reflective clothing at 891 feet."

7 times further reaction distance is the difference between reflective and non-reflective clothing.  That's pretty good odds for a low cost inVESTment.  One ebay search shows as low as $5 could protect you.  Search here.

Flashlight with a pivot-able head

Selecting a headlamp or flashlight (or as I do it, one each): Think about battery replacement (rechargeable or not), comfort, lighting-power, and ergonomics. When using a flashlight, the angle of your hand is important. Over time, pointing a flashlight can be an uncomfortable if you need to maintain an unnatural wrist angle. Knuckle lights, or an aim-able flashlight head can make things more comfortable.

Knuckle lights

My solution, I wear a headlamp that has a blinking red light in the back and carry a stronger handheld. Because I'm a nerd I chose a 'programmable' flashlight.  I can get it to blink fast to remind me to do pickups at time intervals, or blink slow to remind me to turn around and run home.  If you're the type to think a programmable flashlight may be fun, here's an example of one:

www.hexbright.com

Be safe.  Buy quality stuff!  Torches would be more paleo (and more fun for the pyros among us), but it just makes your neighbors a little suspicious.  I'd love to hear what your lighting solutions are, what worked, and what did NOT work.

**The way to NOT be vitamin D* deficient (or A,E,K,etc) is high cholesterol diet rich in fats. Lead a fat burning lifestyle to get the most bang for your food buck.

Training Volume Is It THAT Simple?

Is it as simple as time training = better performance.  if you're a part time runner, you'll just have to live with part time performance?  

Big races coming in this area and it's got me 'athinking.  'Training volume' is it an aggregate indicator of how you finish in a race?  Picture this: The army 10-mile'r about 20-25,000 finishers.  Imagine the finish in a single file line.  Could you take a picture of them in single file and draw a circle around each group of 100 runners and write the average training miles (or weekly time invested) next to each group and see a definite trend of training volume to finishing times?  Is it as simple as finishers 1-101 trained 'xxhours/week, the next hundred averaged xx-1 hours/week, and so on?  Maybe the 10-miler is too short to see a definite trend, how about a big city marathon, or an ultra (like Comrades)?

This is easily true at the extremes.  Those that plan to walk these races probably have zero to 'a couple miles' a week under their belts - and those finishing at the top logged up to 100s of miles a week.  I'm generalizing here, many athletes have differing histories of volume, better/worse genetics, etc etc.  but could logging miles be the 'key' in endurance sports?  

I found this helpful study on finishers of the Comrades Ultra (Link Here).  Form the piece:

Those with the fastest times (6 to 6.5 hrs) had done 2574km (1600miles) and the 10 to 11 hrs finishers 1030km (640mi) <<miles done in the 6mos leading up to the race>>. The current elite runners claim to run in excess of 3000 to 3500 km (1864-2174mi) in preparation for the marathon, which is similar to what runners were doing twenty years ago.

 …<also note>Despite their high training load the male silver medallists were the least likely to have spent a week off due to injury and illness (28.6%) - but then the corollary is that this would have allowed them to complete a higher total mileage.  The majority of the men who finished in over 10 and over 11 hours (76% and 58% respectively) had been unable to train due to injury or illness.  Likewise, the women who finished in under 9 hrs had the least compromised training (15.1% were unable to train for a week or more) while up to 50% of the women in all the other medal groups had been affected.  Six of the seven women who did not finish had been ill and/or injured and their total training mileage was lower than any other group in the study.

In table form, years of experience running, and training volume in the 6mos leading up until the race.

Training volume equals performance and training volume equals less injury rates.  If you're competitive, it is your job to accept how much time you have to train and that is most likely to determine how you race (or be injured ...more on this later!).  

Top 10 Mobility Exercises For Runners

Updated: Sep 1st 2011 10:15 AM UTC by Competitor.com

• Mobility Exercises For Runners
• 1. Unglue Your Sticks
• 2. Quads Or Spine?
• 3. The Runner/Split Jerk Dream Mob
• 4. Recovering Your Jumping Calves
• 5. Lower Leg Business
• 6. Heel Cord Love
• 7. Sumo And Medial Chain Business
• 8. Hip Extension/External Rotation
• 9. Hamstring Stiffness
• 10. Mob Those Lower Leg Bits

Running in the Movies

Here’s a list of the best running movies of all time as polled and ranked by runners via Lets.run.com.

Fire on the Track
Storyline: Documentary on Steve Prefontaine, America’s top distance runner in the 1970′s whose front running style, brashness and American records from 2,000m to 10,000m captivated the American track public like no other distance runner. He narrowly missed an Olympic medal in 1972 and then his life was tragically cut short in a car accident. Fire on the Track is excellently produced, has in-depth footage of the 1972 Olympic 5k final, with comments from Prefontaine’s competitors.

Without Limits
Incredible story of life of Steve Prefontaine who broke numerous American records, just missed an Olympic medal and revolutionized the idea of how some people race (from the front) before dying in a tragic car wreck in his prime. Prefontaine’s story is worth remembering. Tom Cruise producer. Get a little on foundation of Nike with Bill Bowerman (Pre’s coach) being behind this movie. Other movie on Prefontaine, Prefontaine, will steal votes. Some say stretches truth a bit more than Prefontaine. Pre’s romance is stressed more in this movie than in Prefontaine.

Chariots of Fire
Fascinating story of two Olympic sprinters from Great Britain, Erick Liddell (devout Protestant) and Harold Abrahams (Jew), of vastly different backgrounds who run for different reasons in the 1924 Olympics. This classic won four Oscars including best picture. Inspirational, especially it’s famous soundtrack by Vangelis.

Endurance
Tells the story of perhaps the greatest runner of all-time, Ethiopia’s Haile Gebrselassie, leading up to his victory in the 1996 Olympic Games. Intersperses footage of Olympic 10k race throughout film. Footage of Gebrselassie running (in Ethiopian and Olympics) is truly incredible and worth seeing in its own right. Most of the actors are Gebrselassie’s real family members.

Jericho Mile
This is a made-for-TV movie about a man serving life sentence in prison who find hope in running. After running a sub-4 minute mile, he trains for the Munich Olympics from prison. The story is inspirational although fictional and sometimes unrealistic.

Loneliness of a Long-Distance Runner
Based on a book of the same title, it tells the story of rebellious youngster named Smith who finds comfort and security through his running skills while attending classes at a reformatory school after stealing from a local bakery. Running provides him with moments of quiet reflection to consider the choices he made—and the choices made for him. Runners can relate to the sense of peace and reflection provided by solitary runs, while non-runners can relate to the challenges we all face to our moral integrity on a daily basis.

(of course I highly recommend, Run Fat Boy Run, Running in the Sun, Running the Sahara,  and of course Thelma)

what's your fave running movie?

Barefoot Ted is going on a persistence hunt

From BF Ted:

<<IT'S HAPPENING.

I'm going on a persistence hunt in Wyoming this weekend.  Barefoot Ted is assembling a team of special ops Luna Sandals space monkeys. We're hunting pronghorn antelope.

I'm quite sure that I'll be the worst runner by far.  But it's not about that.  Persistence hunting is a team sport, and it's about your team keeping that animal above it's trot-gallop transition speed as much as possible.  Mammals, except humans, don't sweat -- they pant, and when you keep them in a gallop, they can't pant.  So they overheat and die.  I'll carry water as far as my legs will take me.  And of course, hunger will be a powerful motivator.>>

Many of you have probably seen this, but here's the awesome (and successful) persistence hunt footage in the Kalahari:

To hear what will surely be an epic story, whether he succeeds or fails, sign up for the New York City Barefoot Run on September 24-25th.

Funny: Internet Meme Comparing USA Ultra Heroes To International Ultra Heroes

Adidas Offering a Minimalist Shoe?? (with video)

Adidas is going barefoot.
The world's second-largest athletic company unveiled its first "barefoot" training shoe Tuesday, which is designed to mimic the experience of exercising barefoot while providing the protection, traction and durability of a shoe. The Adipure Trainer, which is a cross between a glove for the feet and a traditional shoe, hits U.S. stores in November priced at $90.  Read More Here,  pics Here

Zhik - Outdoor Retailer 2011 Summer Market

Another Minimalist shoe vendor entering the market. Plimsoll type shoes, great for casual wear. I will be looking for a review for them used as a running shoe.

Ladies n' Gentlemen, a Nice Ultra Vid