Running "stadiums" in Ben Hill Griffin at Florida Field

At the gym, there is the Stairmaster and then there is the Stairmaster Gauntlet. If you've not seen these two torture devices, the former has levers that go up and down to simulate climbing stairs while the latter is basically a 'treadmill' of stairs that rotate around underneath you on a belt so that you must truly climb stairs. If I have my choice though, I prefer to do such workouts at the local football stadium.

In Gainesville, Ben Hill Griffin stadium at Florida Field (links to Wikipedia and the UF Athletic Association) has ninety rows of bleachers in the East stands, which are the student sections. This picture gives you a little of an idea what it looks like from the West stands looking East when the stadium is empty.

Copyright courier-journal.com

The UF Athletic Association allows the public to access the stands (not the field) through most of the day. They open it around 7AM, so I cannot workout there before work, but the afternoons are great. "Running stadiums" is quite a popular workout for college students and locals, and there are several ways you can do them. The lower 30 rows are a little deeper and less steep. You can probably appreciate from the picture that the upper 60 rows are much more steep. Some restrict themselves to just the lower 30 or upper 60. Some run up and down the stairs, personally, I prefer to go up and down all 90 rows speed-walking the bleachers themselves. You can run them if you choose, but be prepared to be exhausted after just a few runs. If you walk them, you can expect to have jelly legs within about 10 cycles.

I cannot seem to find any stats about the stairs or the height of the stadium online, so the next best estimate I have is from my Garmin. Those with Garmin devices know that they are imprecise, but the estimate I get is that the rise from the bottom of the East stands is somewhere around 130 feet up divided by 190 feet across, therefore a percent grade of 68% (somewhere around 30 degrees slope).

Summer Ultras Part 2

So, while marathons are not much fun in the summer in the US, there are a couple of big time ultra events during the summer heat. Western States is one, but the other that comes to mind is Badwater. This 135 mile race is pretty much insane from the very start, which is in Death Valley, in July. The original idea for the race (first run in 1977 and officially a race as of 1987) is from the lowest point in the US (282 feet below sea level) to the highest, the peak of Mt. Whitney (14,505 feet). That has since been cut short when the National Park Service required permits and forbade competitive events on the peak (read more at Wikipedia).

The finish is on Mount Whitney about 8,000 feet up from the start at 282 feet below sea level, with an total elevation of about 19,000 feet that must be run. Temperatures are frequently over 120 degrees F. Like the coverage of Western, Badwater has provided a fair amount of web content to give you a taste of what the race is like, a handful of videos and a ton of pictures. The field of 94 who toed the line included 12 DNFs and the winner completed the race in just under 24 hours (Oswaldo Lopez in 23:41:40). No desire to try out for this race anytime soon, Florida is plenty hot enough for me.

Worst long run ever

This past weekend I had what might have been the worst long run I have ever had. I went out to the Hawthorne trail for 20 miles by running 10 out and back. In all likelihood, my legs were not exactly recovered from the half marathon performance on the 20th. I did take some acid suppressant prior to the run, but that did not stop me from getting a little nauseated. No changes in the pre-run breakfast or gels either. Further frustrating was the onset of serious cramps around 8 miles in. The cramps, almost all in my abdomen, were almost unrelenting when I ran, but thankfully abated when I walked. So, I did manage to figure out a strategy of slower running and massage that made them bearable, but on occasion they spiked forcing sudden, unplanned walk breaks. The weather probably contributed seeing as how the temperature got up to the 80's when I was expecting nothing over the low 70's per the forecast. I got the miles done, but they were not pretty, not enjoyable, and not fast, but hopefully it was worth it for furthering my stamina in preparation for Boston. Things do feel better after some sports drink, water, lunch, an ice bath, and a warm shower but I could do without a repeat performance of that run.

Running in Vegas

Running in Las Vegas was an interesting new experience for me. I stayed on the south end of the Strip at Luxor and went online to mapmyrun.com to try and find some suggested places to run. A number of people recommended trails out in the mountains and valleys around town, which I would have surely enjoyed, but most were several miles away and something seemed silly about getting a cab to drive me to go out running, and who knows how I would have found one to bring me back.

I settled on just running up and down the Strip. As compared to running in other major cities, Vegas actually has pedestrian overpasses at most intersections, so as long as you are willing to do some stairs every half mile or so, you can pretty much keep running continuously all the way north to downtown Vegas.

And that is precisely what I did on Tuesday. I missed my chance at a long run this past weekend so instead, I started out at Luxor and ran all the way to the 700 block of Las Vegas Boulevard. I chose this as my turnaround because it happens to be the address of the Gold and Silver Pawn Shop featured on the History channel’s “Pawn Stars”. Unfortunately, they were filming interior shots at the time and the shop is no longer open 24 hours because of the show. I was there at 8:30 and did not want to wait 30 minutes for them to open the shop. I was amused at the signage; instead of some formal or nicely printed sign, all that was posted was a scribbled note saying “quiet, filming in progress” in a sloppy script that looked like what Chumlee might scribe.

So, the Strip is reasonable running, the Pawn Stars 24 shop is not 24 hours, oh yeah, Vegas is hot.

Now, coming from Florida, I know hot. I also know humid. It may be a cliché is that “it’s hot, but it’s a dry heat”, but I would say that the difference between Vegas hot and Florida hot is well, several hundred miles apart.

The number one difference I noticed was in my breathing. Have you ever been in a sauna? How about a steam room? You likely noticed that the humidity in a steam room feels quite different on your throat than the raspy dryness of a sauna. That is exactly what it was like in Vegas. After three days there, I actually found myself with a sore throat from it being dry all the time. Consistent mouth breathing led to the back of my throat and my tongue being cottony throughout the run. In contrast, there are days in Florida when it is 90 and 90 (degrees and humidity) when you feel like you are swimming instead of breathing.

Further proof of the difference in dry vs. wet heat was that when I arrived on Monday, it was about noon and I thought, “I wonder how bad running in 100+ degree weather is when the humidity is in the single digits?” So I went out for four miles, and while it certainly was hot, I had sunscreen, sunglasses, a hat and was able to keep up a decent pace for the whole run.

So, location, weather, just a couple of other quick thoughts and observations for this post. When it comes to running “on the road”, you need slightly different gear than at home. I never carry cash, and with my RoadID, I don’t bother with my photo ID. My house/car keys are much easier to store in my key pocket than the infernal and ubiquitous swipey-card hotel keys we all are now used to. First thing I noticed this trip is just how awesome my Pearl Izumi shorts with the zip-pocket over your backside are. With regular shorts, if your key pocket is big enough for a room key, it typically digs into your hips/thigh as you run. These shorts, on the other hand, easily hold a hotel room key without any inconvenience during the run. Second, I usually bring a sandwich bag to put my cash in so I don’t have to hand a wet dollar bill to a clerk for my sports drink. I forgot this time, but, the label off of the bottle of said sports drink actually made for a great wrapper around my hotel room key and cash. Third and last is that in the TSA’s infinite wisdom regarding liquids, getting a small size sunscreen to pack on your carry-on can be challenging, and instead, I took a stick sunscreen which worked just fine.

Overall, I enjoyed running in Vegas. I told my wife I’d rather run in desert heat than Florida heat any day, but that may just be the novelty of the experience. I do think I’d enjoy coming back for the Rock and Roll event in Vegas, so maybe I’ll just pencil that one on the calendar for some day.

RRT Ep 93: Running in the Heat

This post is a little out of order since I've already mentioned and followed-up on my participation in RRT 94, but I started this and wanted to finish out a couple thoughts on the previous episode.

So, thanks to Adam, Amanda, Joe, and Flo for a great Ep of the Runner's Round Table. I've whined plenty (here, here, here, and more) about running in the heat, although it is not quite as bad as Amanda's in Austin. I enjoyed the discussion and in particular took away some good educational points. First was Flo's discussion of dew point and how to add it to temp to figure out how oppressive a run might be and second was the general discussion about the "quality" or training value of hot weather running and tried to make distinctions about training for hot races vs. how to get in daily runs in a hot climate.

Anyway, I've been running in Florida heat for a while and I found some stuff to learn, so you might too! Lately, I'll say that my primary tactic for hot weather running is to try and find some form of core/strengthning/quality that I can focus on which does not depend on speed. While I don't feel like I can do intervals, I do feel capable of Fartleks in the AM. Also, doing minimalist/Vibram runs and hill workouts have been keys to quality this summer.