Weekly RunDown #8 (Oct 28, 2016)

If you are on a LCHF diet or just want a good healthy pizza for a quick snack you may want to try Real Good Pizza (yes it is a referral link) with only 4gms of Carbs in a 5" pizza.   The crust is made of chicken and parmesan cheese and is quite tasty.   They are a little more than your usual store bought pizza but have better ingredients than most and for their size are fairly filling.  They deliver to your door in a foam container packed with dry ice to keep them cold.  If you want to try them I have a coupon code you can use: BGRUNNER10 .   If you have any trouble getting the 10% off let me know.

OK now for the info you were waiting for:)

If you were in a hole somewhere you may have missed it but Pete Kostelnick broke the Transcontinental Record by averaging 72 miles a day

Another article on Pete's run across the US: How to Run Across the Country Faster than Anyone

It does not get any easier when you move up to the 60-64 age group:  A Remarkable Masters Marathon Record.

Good article on Super Masters runner Ed Whitlock - Age Is No Barrier

More masters info as there were fast times in Syracuse NY at the Syracuse Festival of Races October 2nd.

From getting a lot of notice in the 2016 US Olympic Trials for his "unconventional" looks while getting last place in 31:02.99 Noah Droddy moved up to 2nd place at the USATF 10 Mile Championships in 47:28, a good story of sticking with it.

Can't get into the Hardrock 100 well there are 6 Southwest Colorado Trail Races you could enter instead.

Want to run a winer marathon and can travel here are some to think about:  Top Winer Marathons in the US

While on the topic of lists what would be your bucket list of marathons?  Here is a list someone put together, never thought to Tokyo as being on my list:  Bucket List Marathons & Here is a list of The 30 Best Marathons in the World, well at least as far as that site is concerned.  Leave a comment as to your list and I will compile a list for a later Weekly Rundown.

Photo's if the 2016 Spartan Race World Championships at Lake Tahoe on October 1st

Lots of videos this week, hope you enjoy them:

The ITU 2016 Trail World Championships take place this weekend (Oct 29th) in Portugal.  The 85K  (53 Miles) point to point course has 4680M  (over 15,000 feet) of climbing.



Trailer for Billy Yang's new Film: "Life in a Day.  Also lots of good stuff at Billy Yang Films




Previously I had the edited version of Jim Walmsley's Grand Canon Rim-to-Rim-to-Rim.  Well for those of you, like me, that just like to see more of the trails here is a longer unedited version.




For those of you that have not checked out The Ginger Runner YouTube Channel here is a video he did on his first 100 miler called Amongst the Evergreens.



Video on 4 runners in the 2016 Leadville 100



Salomon video The Canyon

Weekly RunDown #7 (Oct 21, 2016)

As if running a 2:31 marathon was not hard enough:  Calum Neff Breaks Stroller Marathon Record


Even more incredible is running 3:56:33 at age 85 - Ed Whitlock runs sub-4:00 marathon at 85

Good article on developing ones aerobic system:  WHAT THE HELL IS THE AEROBIC SYSTEM? PART 1  (Part II is still to come)

Here is a helpful podcast over at Endurance Planet:  Tapering with MAF, What Else to Add to Your Training Log, More Recovery for Masters Athletes, and More (ATC 220)

Mario Fraioli’s Morning Shakeout for the week.  TUE’s (Therapeutic Use Exemptions) appear to be clearly the way many are finding a backdoor to improve performance “legally.”

Rickey Gates writes on A Day in the Life of Pete Kostelnick as he attempts to break the transcontinental record.

The Javelina Jundred will join the Ultra-Trail World Tour as a Future Race in 2016.  For those of you who know Will Rivera of the Running Soles store in Elizabethtown KY he is running this race on Oct 29-30.




Another Javelina Jundred video from 2014

A look at a day in the life of Pete Kostelnick's transcontinental record attempt

Here is a video of Ed Whitlock at the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon this past weekend.

Highlights of this past weeks  (Oct. 16, 2016) Amsterdam Marathon




A little humor for the day

OFM – MET – LCHF: What’s It All Mean

I am not going to try and cover a full explanation of all the acronyms in the title but do

hope to shed some light on them as best I can and spur your interest to look into the subject more in depth on your own.

First what are they:

• OFM – Optimized Fat Metabolism
• MET – Metabolic Efficiency Training
• LCHF – Low Carb High Fat 

And one added one that I already wrote on here – What is MAF?

• MAF – Maximum Aerobic Function

First let me say that these all work together and need to be seen as such.  It is also important to see how working towards, say OFM, may look different for each person as while there may be some universal principles one can apply in general as we are all different in various ways how the above apply to an individual may differ.

I will start by trying to show how these work together.  To begin with it is important to know where you want to go and then you can set a path to get there.  That is where OFM comes into play, as it is an outcome to achieve.  This outcome can actually be part of a bigger goal, and it should be, such as being having a goal of longevity in running and good health or maybe being able to run longer and even faster.  With all of these top end goals OFM is a way to get there.

As an aside - OFM is not new, the acronym and name be, as the idea that one's running can benefit from burning fat has been known for some time.  When I began to run marathons back in the late 70's I read about how to help burn fat early in a race you could take caffeine pills.  Caffeine was supposed to help with the fat burning so we took No-Doze to try and minimize the affects of the other ingredients in the coffee on our system.  Looking back the problem with this was that this was also when "Carboloading" was the rage and thus we probably negated much of what the caffeine was to accomplish by stuffing our faces with carbohydrates as many of us did for the days before a race.  The point though is that the use of fat a fuel is not a new idea but maybe is now being seen more as a main source rather than being used simply to delay the onset of crashing due to low carbohydrate supplies.

Next, would come MET as a way to achieve OFM via a training plan that helps one best use fat and thus have an efficient metabolism.  I hope you see how we in truth need to separate out these terms to see how they work together holistically.  Thus, we have gotten to where, as part of the bigger picture, we want to best OFM and to do so we need to employ MET.

Then we get to the methods used to train, the tools we use.  One tool I use is MAF and as I have written on this before I will not spend much of time here.  Basically one of the benefits of MAF, aside from building a great aerobic base and minimizing the damage of running too hard is that it also helps one train their body to burn fat.  So in this case MAF is a great tool to use in ones MET to reach the goal of OFM.

Lastly, well lastly in the case of this short article, is LCHF which is yet another tool to reach OFM.  Is it the only tool, no, but it is in my opinion an important place to look into.  Let me add here that for me LCHF actually is probably better seen as being – Lower Carb – Higher Fat.  I use the terms “lower” and “higher” since if you do much reading you will find that LCHF can range from being in Ketosis to simply being much lower than the average person, or in this case, athlete.  Even within the LCHF realm there is a lot of conversation about what is the right amount of carbs for a person and if Ketosis is a place to be long term or if it is best achieved periodically.  One thing I would like to add here just to be clear;  I am convinced if you have an insulin resistance problem or other health issue related to sugar LCHF is very likely the answer.  For others of us LCHF is an excellent tool to help get to where we want to be with OFM by reducing ones carbohydrate intake and thus helping to move to better utilization of fat as an energy source.

While I think LCHF is a great tool you do need to see what works best for you as in my case I found if I am too low on carbs it does not have the affect I am looking for.  That said I am very low compared to most other runners I know.   

Most that I talk to about  going LCHF struggle with the idea of reducing carbs and this probably stems from all the indoctrination we have all had over the years that "High Carb” is important and especially for athletes.   For those that struggle I advise a couple things:

First is to take the Maffetone Two Week Test (TWT – sorry to add another acronym).  This is an extreme low card regimen for two weeks that is followed by strategically adding back carbs so one can see if they do have a particular issue with carbs or if maybe it is just some carbs that cause issues.  This is not really a diet but a means to find out what how your body reacts and deals with carbohydrates.  I found that in general I can handle carbs but if I get too much bread, for instance, it gives me intestinal issues, such as gas – sorry had to share that.  You may find other issues but it is a great tool to use to help dial in your eating habits. If you are interested in trying the TWT you can get info at the link at the start of the paragraph or here.

The second thing I suggest, if one just does not want to deal with lowering carbs yet, is to at the least work to eliminate as many processed foods as you can and work to eating real foods.   One affect of this will be that you will end up lowering your carb intake and the carbs you will be getting rid of are empty ones, ones you do not want as it is.  This will get you down the road to better health and will even more than likely help with your fat metabolism work.

I did not want this too be a long drawn out article but one that lets you see that as we learn things we have to realize where they fit in the scheme of things.  Such as OFM being a goal, actually part of a larger goal, with MET being a plan to get there and something like MAF and/or LCHF being tools to use to accomplish those goals.  When you see it as a continuum you can possibly not get so overwhelmed by the info out there.  Bottom line seek first better health and then you will see your running improve.  It may take time but most good things do.

Some other resources:

• What is OFM
• Success with OFM
• Metabolic Efficiency Training (MET) by Bob Seebohar
• Metabolic Efficiency – Becoming a “Better-Butter-Burner” by Sunny Blende, Sports Nutritionist
• Bob Seebohar and Dina Griffin: Metabolic Efficiency (Not Just ‘Low Carb’) for Optimal Sports Performance, What the Research Really Says, and More
• Tim Noakes and the Case for Low Carb
• Dr. Peter Brukner and LCHF
• The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Performance by Volek and Phinney

Weekly RunDown #6 (Oct 14, 2016)

Update on Pete Kostelnick’s run across America:  Tracking .  Here is his website for other info:  Pete's Feet Across America

How many of these are in your diet?  -   Top 30 Healthiest Food of All Time

With the Strava Back Half Challenge challenge taking place from Oct 9, 2017 - Dec 4, 2016 here is an article on How, and Why, to Hit Negative Splits in Your Next Race.

A regular triathlon not enough how about a double, triple or even a quintuple ironman, Virginia Double, Triple, and Quintuple ANVIL.  Here are the results so far:  Virginia Week Festival .   Yes they are at 95 hours and still have a ways to go.  Distances for the "Quint" are:  12mi Swim - 560mi Bike - 131mi run.  I'm tired just writing those distances down.  Here is the wiki page on Ultra-Triathlons in case you are raring to go.

Looks like an interesting documentary




If anyone is running the Bowling Green (KY) marathon or 1/2 marathon on Nov 6th here is a quick look at the course.  Keep in mind for the marathon is two laps of the 1/2 marathon course:




Video on the Squamish 50



Here is a good video of the 2016 UTMB

Weekly RunDown #5 (Oct 7, 2016)

Jim Walmsley Shatters Grand Canyon Rim-to-Rim-to-Rim Running Record - Back in 1980 I ran down South Kaibab and back up Bright Angel in just under 3 hours, for around 17 miles or so,  but his 5:55:20 for 42 miles is way quick.  Check out his Strava Data.  Here is some video of the run back down North Kaibab:

Interesting article on the three fastest Marathon's: The Ultimate Marathon Race.  The speed these guys are running is amazing when you see their 5K splits.  In Kimetto's WR run he was behind both Kipchoge and Bekele's pace till 35K where he ran a 14:09 for the 7th 5K split, amazing.

One of the key benefits of running at MAF (An earlier article I wrote on MAF -  MAF: What is it?) is it leads to consistency and consistency is key to improvement.  Here is an article from Trail Runner magazine on the importance of consistency:  Why Consistency, Not Intensity, Is Key to Running success.  The article does not speak about MAF but if you want to be consistent it is a great tool.


Check out, and subscribe to,  the Ginger Runner YouTube Channel as he has some great short running movies , interviews, and gear reviews.

Also, if you like gear reviews you can go to the Gearist YouTube Channel

If you have or have not heard of the Barkley Marathons, where have you been, you need to watch this documentary on it.  Probably one of the hardest, if not the hardest ultras around.  Here is the trailer:


You can buy or rent it a number of places listed on the Barkley Marathons Documentary website and if you have Netflix you can watch it there.

Here is another short  (22 minutes) video on the Barkley Marathons you can watch now:




Another good video on The Bob Graham Round



OK, not really related to running.  Even though I can't climb, I have repelled own 150FT “once”, and have a fear of heights climbing still fascinates me when I see what people can do.