Training Update

It’s been a challenging week; both personally and professionally. These are one of those weeks when you are so very thankful for the ability to run. It is my saving grace; keeps me from jumping in front of a very fast moving train :-)

On a brighter note, I have agreed to “Donate my body to Science”. It’s not as dramatic as all that but several of us doing the race have agreed to be guinea pigs for a physician who will be calculating the true energy cost of competing in this event; looking at what proportion of this cost is derived from stored body fat. Since I have a good bit of that; this should be easily measured. The study requires that you measure and document your body fat, weight, VO2Max, Lactate Threshold, distance run that day, heart rate during that activity, and then any hours you spent cross training. Does eating pizza count as cross training? I’m hoping so.


I have contacted FIRST, the Furman Institute of Running & Scientific Training, to see if they will help support these measurements in some way. The study asks for the measurements to be made weekly but jeez, who has the money to do that. So I proposed to FRIST that I do it monthly and asked them for some support. They are currently considering it, which I take as a positive sign. Not sure if I want to know what my body fat is on a monthly basis let alone on a weekly basis, but I’ll do it for science.