July 30, 2009

Deer Picnic in Our Backyard

It's hard to see them but a doe brought her three fawns into our yard to feast on hostas and other sorts of vegetation. We used to scare them away but realized it was a lost cause and now prefer to sit back and watch them eat lunch...and dinner...and breakfast.

Bon appetite our ruminant friends!



July 7, 2009

Quercetin

While I'm very skeptical of the hype of 5-Hour Energy shots I think there might be something to FRS Healthy Energy. It contains some sugar, a great source of energy not found in 5-hour Energy, caffeine and an antioxidant called quercetin plus other stuff.

Quercetin has been studied a little bit and the results look promising. It is thought to increase the energy producing mitochondria inside muscle and brain cells. One study should that taking 500 mg or quercetin twice a day for a week increase aerobic endurance 13.2% and VO2max by 3.9%. That almost sounds too good to be true. The study didn't look at what was responsible for the increases-did it really increase mitochondria or not?-however, it was a well designed study and published in a respected journal. Quercetin has anti-inflammatory properties positive effects on the immune system both of which can help speed recovery from exercise.

But, you don't have to buy FRS to get it. It's naturally found in apples, citrus fruit, and onions among other foods although you'd have to eat a lot of these to get the same amount as found in FRS or other forms. Quecertin is not a vitamin or mineral. It's a flavonoid that helps prevent damage to the cells of the body cause by free radicals. Free radicals are produced all the time but in great amounts during exercise so active people produce more free radicals, which cause greater damage to their cells, and therefore may benefit from anti-oxidants, like quercetin, that remove free radicals.

Runners World had a blurb about quercetin recently as I'm guess many others have as well. It also has general health benefits to it as well. So if it really does help, I'm sure we'll be seeing more supplements (sport drinks, gels, and bars) and foods (cereals, breakfast shakes, etc.) with Quercetin in them.

July 4, 2009

Top of Utah





Next marathon: Top of Utah, September 19th. This positive review from MarathonGuide.com (8th one down from YPR) helped me decided on TOU over the Air Force marathon.

Cache Valley, be prepared for snow that weekend! It's happened before (see TOU, 2000). Below is a graph comparing the elevation of TOU, Ogden and St. George marathons. TOU has more "inclines" in the last few miles, something I wish they could change.


Training officially started yesterday with a 14.3 mile run. Below is the old Nike+ view of my run. (I inadvertantly, stopped my watch after 13.34 miles but, honestly, I did one more mile)

Here's the newer look to Nike+. It makes me look a like a better runner so I like it.


Today I ran in the Habitat for Humanity, Four for the 4th fun run. I finished in 31:53, just under an 8 minute per mile pace. If I could keep up that pace over 26.2 miles, I'd be running Boston next April. If I could knock it down to a 5 minuter per mile pace I'd be running in the 2012 Olympics. How do people do that?

Anyway, the Four for the 4th run was fun. I ran most of it with Ethan Garrett. We ran most of the Washington D.C. marathon together back in 2002 and he ran the Indianapolis Marathon the same year I did in 2007 and was nice enough to wait at the end until I finished. I talked to Brett Bartlett at the start and then the finish. He didn't wait for me just like he didn't at TOU, 2000 and Memphis, 2000 but when you run that much fast than me, he shouldn't wait.

Depending on how things go with TOU, I may try the Monumental Marathon in Indianapolis on the first Saturday in November. Then, there's Tecumseh a month later. I can't wait for fall! Although the past week was perfect running weather. Well as perfect as you can expect for summer so I took advantage of it and logged 29 miles this week. A decent amount for me.