New speed record set today

I hate to brag, but today I set a new speed record while running 9 miles(14.8 km) in 1 hour 11 minutes. I managed to break into the 7 minute mile zone, the first time I’ve ever been able to do this for more than a few miles and I felt kind of tired toward the end. It wasn’t so long ago that I could barely do 8 minute miles for more than 2 miles, but then I finally managed to run 9 miles at this pace not too long ago. Today I ran a 7 minute 53 second pace while juggling for 9 miles. I dropped the balls twice.

As I’m sure many of you know, I drank a lot of that new cherry kefir juice(the very low alcohol one mentioned in the previous post) just before I went out for this run. Did the cherry kefir help? I really don’t know, it kind of felt like it did. Cherries are good for runners, but fermenting cherry juice improves it by giving it a vitamin boost(the B family and K family) and a probiotic boost. Interestingly enough, I had just run 21.5 miles(34.6 km) on saturday(this record breaking speed occurred today on monday), and it seems I have already recovered from it(it probably helped that I didn’t run yesterday). Usually it takes longer for me to recover from very long runs like this, and my speed usually suffers for several days after. Is the cherry juice helping that much? And is it the kefir or cherries that are helping more? Even more intriguing is the possibility of unknown biologically active compounds that may be involved in improving my running,

Unfortunately I can’t do a real study, using an alternate reality version of myself not drinking the cherry kefir drink as a control, so it’s difficult to say with confidence the cherry kefir drink is helping. It certainly doesn’t hurt though. I’m wondering how much I can improve, especially when the weather cools down. It was about 74 F(23.3 C) when I ran today, and little on the humid side and cloudy.

One thing’s for sure – the local runners will hate me even more. At least I didn’t have either of my wonderful vegan T-shirts on today while running, that really ruffles the feathers of other runners. I’m even getting cursed at these days. I don’t mean to cause butt-hurt, but it is kind of funny, especially when you consider that some of these people think vegans can’t run or be athletic. I’m hardly the fastest runner around, but I am the only joggler in the immediate area.

Did the blueberry kefir improve my running?

Yesterday after I drank homemade blueberry kefir(see previous post) for the first time in over a year, I went for a 9 mile(14.4 km) run. At other times that I’ve had water kefir drinks I was either not training enough, injured, or sick, so I couldn’t “experiment” with it to see if it improved performance. But this time with all my marathon training, I wondered if the blueberry kefir would give me an edge. It sure felt energizing!

It took me 1 hour and 14 minutes to run 9 miles, which is a new record for me. This means I was able to sustain an 8 minute 13 second per mile pace for 1 hour and 14 minutes, the first time I have been able to do this(and it was in the mid 70s during the run and somewhat humid). Ordinarily, I run at a 9 or 10 minute pace if I run an hour or a little more. And I came so close to breaking into the 7 minute zone, a pace I seldom achieve and can rarely sustain for more than 15 minutes.

Of course this could be a placebo. But if the blueberry kefir helped, what was it? The B vitamins? The enzymes boosting my digestion? The vitamin K? An unknown factor? A mixture of all these things?

I don’t think the scientific evidence shows that probiotics help improve athletic performance beyond how they can prevent digestive problems in distance runners like stomach cramps, or runner’s diarrhea(which fortunately I’ve never suffered from).

Its possible probiotics can help some athletes more than others, but we need to see some good research on this.

2 tips to improve running performance

I hope all my fellow fitness fanatics are having a terrific and healthy summer! I just got back from a 25.5 mile(41 km) run(a new personal record), so I am a little tired, though not as tired as I thought I would be. It took me 4 hours and 58 minutes to complete. I am sure I would have done better had the weather been less hot and humid and I had bothered to refuel with carbs half-way through(I just had water).

I wanted to experiment, to see how I would do without refueling(which is what I usually do on long runs), even while running farther than ever. I admit that an 11 min, 41 second pace is nothing to brag about, even while juggling the whole way. You’re all probably wondering why I didn’t just run 26.2 miles, the marathon distance. I came so close to doing it, and mistakenly believed I had(I wasn’t thinking clearly near the end and miscalculated, not to mention how sore my legs were), but after maping out my run when I got home, I realized I had run just 25.5 miles. There’s always a next time…

To get back on topic: As I am sure you all know, I love to dig through the scientific literature to find things we can do to improve our fitness level. Among many other things I’ve recently found, I came upon some interesting new research on improving running speed. This comes from Harvard University, Bedford, Massachusetts, Faster top running speeds are achieved with greater ground forces not more rapid leg movements:

We conclude that human runners reach faster top speeds not by repositioning their limbs more rapidly in the air, but by applying greater support forces to the ground.

So I will try to remember not to lift my legs as much during runs. Although it doesn’t say so, I believe longer strides tend to increase the risk of injury too.

In other research, it appears that eating beets, which are rich in nitrates(its not a good idea to get nitrates from non-vegetable sources, they can be unhealthy), can help improve running performance too. Saint Louis University has found that:

Consumption of nitrate-rich, whole beetroot improves running performance in healthy adults. Because whole vegetables have been shown to have health benefits, whereas nitrates from other sources may have detrimental health effects, it would be prudent for individuals seeking performance benefits to obtain nitrates from whole vegetables, such as beetroot.

Taken from “Whole beetroot consumption acutely improves running performance.”

Copyright © 2012 Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Although I have previously posted about beets improving running performance, that concerned beet juice, not whole beets: Can beet juice improve athletic performance? It’s nice to see that the whole vegetable has the same effect. I’ll be eating more of them from now on.