July 29
So At 7:30 am I knocked on Sam's door, since he said he was going to come and watch my race today. After about 15 seconds of hearing fumbling around in the room, the door opens, and you could tell that he was freshly woken up. He decided to go back to bed... and I don't blame him -- I wouldn't have gotten up that early if I didn't have to race either. :) I ate a piece of bread with pb&j for breakfast around 7:30, then left for the bus station. The bus picked me and a bunch of other people up at 7:50ish and we were at the city interchange around about 8:10 or so. I walked for about 10-15 minutes from the bus interchange until I got to Campbell High School, which is where the race started. I had about 45 minutes to spare, and the ultra marathon and marathon (60K) were just starting. I spent my time walking around, stretching, and warming up, then got to the start line a few minutes before the start.
There was some frost on the ground this morning, but after the sun touched the ground it all melted pretty fast. It had warmed up enough by the time the race started (9:15) that I decided to run the race in just a t-shirt and shorts, and was I was quite comfortable. The race started uphill. A lot of uphill. Almost the first whole 1K was uphill and through a field until we got to a "management trail" (just a dirt road, but fairly narrow and not well maintained). I felt the lactic acid in my legs after all the uphill in the first few minutes, and was getting tired pretty fast. Two high-school agers wearing racing flats took off fast from the start, and I couldn't even see them once we got to the flatter part of the trail. By that time I was 3rd. I got the turn-around (2.5K, half-way point) at around 10:20.
On the way back there was one spot where there was a possibility of going left or going straight. There was no signs, so I started going left. A kid wasn't too far behind me, so I stopped and asked him "does it go here?" and he said "yeah", so we both kept running... and came to a fence. Woops. We went through the edge of the fence, and then two older guys came up behind us. It turns out we had all gone the wrong way. We looked around, and figured out which way to go to get back to the trail, got back onto it, and then started running faster again. The older guys decided to let me and this younger kid (probly early teens) go ahead since that was the order we had been in initially. We estimate that our "detour" probably added up to 20 seconds or so onto our race times. With only about 1-2 minutest to go, I started to pick it up, leading the group of four of us toward the finish. When we got closer, I picked it up even more, since I could see the finish. I heard someone coming up on me kinda hard, as if he was going to pass, so I kicked harder. It turns out it was the young kid trying to pass me at the end. He never would have caught me if we hadn't taken our detour, and I wasn't about to let him beat me, so I went into a full-out sprint for the last 15-20 seconds, beating him by a couple of feet at the end. It was kind of fun to finish hard like that.
I'm not sure what my official time was (they haven't posted it online yet), but I think it might have been somewher
e in the 19's. I'm also not sure how much different that is from if I had stayed on course for the entire race. It stinks that four of us got lost like that, but it turns out we all finished in the same order that we would have if we had stayed on course... we were just a little bit closer together as a group. For finishing third overall for the men (out of 10 men?), I got a trophy "pottery mug". I can't tell if it's hand-made or not, but it's blue and grey with the rough, red terra-cotta type clay underneath. I would call it a vase, but the guy called it a mug, haha. It's a vase. For entering the race, I also recieved a mug that has the sponsor's logo, "Bush Capital Marathon", the Australian War Memorial and the beginning of the race trail printed on it. Oh, and I got a $10 off voucher for sports massage place. But the massages are pretty expensive, so for $10 off I'd still have to pay $55. No thanks. :)
This afternoon I did laundry, sat around and was lazy (woops, I should probably do some school work sometime... :-P), and cleaned up my room. I then spent some time browsing the internet and watching some music videos and tv shows I was able to download off of the network. :) Oh! When I was doing my warmup today I saw a bird called a "Noisy Miner". It wasn't being noisy at all, but it looked really cool.
There was some frost on the ground this morning, but after the sun touched the ground it all melted pretty fast. It had warmed up enough by the time the race started (9:15) that I decided to run the race in just a t-shirt and shorts, and was I was quite comfortable. The race started uphill. A lot of uphill. Almost the first whole 1K was uphill and through a field until we got to a "management trail" (just a dirt road, but fairly narrow and not well maintained). I felt the lactic acid in my legs after all the uphill in the first few minutes, and was getting tired pretty fast. Two high-school agers wearing racing flats took off fast from the start, and I couldn't even see them once we got to the flatter part of the trail. By that time I was 3rd. I got the turn-around (2.5K, half-way point) at around 10:20.
On the way back there was one spot where there was a possibility of going left or going straight. There was no signs, so I started going left. A kid wasn't too far behind me, so I stopped and asked him "does it go here?" and he said "yeah", so we both kept running... and came to a fence. Woops. We went through the edge of the fence, and then two older guys came up behind us. It turns out we had all gone the wrong way. We looked around, and figured out which way to go to get back to the trail, got back onto it, and then started running faster again. The older guys decided to let me and this younger kid (probly early teens) go ahead since that was the order we had been in initially. We estimate that our "detour" probably added up to 20 seconds or so onto our race times. With only about 1-2 minutest to go, I started to pick it up, leading the group of four of us toward the finish. When we got closer, I picked it up even more, since I could see the finish. I heard someone coming up on me kinda hard, as if he was going to pass, so I kicked harder. It turns out it was the young kid trying to pass me at the end. He never would have caught me if we hadn't taken our detour, and I wasn't about to let him beat me, so I went into a full-out sprint for the last 15-20 seconds, beating him by a couple of feet at the end. It was kind of fun to finish hard like that.
I'm not sure what my official time was (they haven't posted it online yet), but I think it might have been somewher
e in the 19's. I'm also not sure how much different that is from if I had stayed on course for the entire race. It stinks that four of us got lost like that, but it turns out we all finished in the same order that we would have if we had stayed on course... we were just a little bit closer together as a group. For finishing third overall for the men (out of 10 men?), I got a trophy "pottery mug". I can't tell if it's hand-made or not, but it's blue and grey with the rough, red terra-cotta type clay underneath. I would call it a vase, but the guy called it a mug, haha. It's a vase. For entering the race, I also recieved a mug that has the sponsor's logo, "Bush Capital Marathon", the Australian War Memorial and the beginning of the race trail printed on it. Oh, and I got a $10 off voucher for sports massage place. But the massages are pretty expensive, so for $10 off I'd still have to pay $55. No thanks. :)This afternoon I did laundry, sat around and was lazy (woops, I should probably do some school work sometime... :-P), and cleaned up my room. I then spent some time browsing the internet and watching some music videos and tv shows I was able to download off of the network. :) Oh! When I was doing my warmup today I saw a bird called a "Noisy Miner". It wasn't being noisy at all, but it looked really cool.
posted by itsbenrael at 10:04 PM
2 Comments:
Sorry, Ben but it sounds like you have a commonly held belief that lactic acid build up messes with your running. Its simply not true,
http://www.time-to-run.com/theabc/lactic.htm
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/16/health/nutrition/16run.html?ex=1305432000&en=4ef1ab12beaa61a7&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
Hi Anonymous,
First of all, thanks for reading my blog! Thank you also for your comment. What you said is true – the statement I made on my blog that I could feel the lactic acid building up in my legs is, infact, incorrect. Although I have taken courses in both physiology and biochemistry, I never really took the time to apply that knowledge to the popular idea of lactic acid buildup that my coaches, teammates, and runner friends have always talked about.
I read both of the articles that you posted. As I read both articles, I kept in my mind the biochemical and physiological knowledge that I have learned, and then did some research on my own to sort out some of the statements that didn’t seem to make complete sense. While the articles presented many facts, it turns out they did not reveal the complete truth, or a satisfactorily thorough explanation (for me at least, since I am a science geek and like to know all the specific details). After conducting some research, I have synthesized the following as a more complete explanation/summary of the processes that lead to acidosis, lactate buildup, and the metabolism of lactate (for energy production):
As it turns out, while it is not lactic acid that causes the “burning” feeling that I was referring to, lactate buildup does occur. Both the aerobic and anaerobic metabolism of glucose and glycogen through glycolysis results in pyruvate being produced, which is then used by mitochondria in the presence of oxygen to produce energy. Energy in the mitochondria is produced when ATP is broken down into ADP to release energy, an inorganic phosphate and a hydrogen ion (proton). During aerobic respiration these protons are used for various processes in the cell. During anaerobic respiration, however, a simultaneous accumulation of both pyruvate (from glycolysis) and hydrogen ions (from breaking down ATP) occurs, as neither can be used by the cell as quickly as they are produced. The accumulation of hydrogen ions causes the pH to decrease, resulting in an acidic situation known as acidosis. This acidosis from the accumulation of hydrogen ions is thought to be what causes the “burn” that people typically (incorrectly) attribute to lactic acid. During anaerobic conditions when pyruvate and hydrogen ions accumulate, each pyruvate molecule can “absorb” two hydrogen ions, forming a lactate molecule. The build up of lactate under such conditions actually serves as a buffer system that helps lower the level of hydrogen ions and therefore lessen the severity of the acidosis, protecting the muscle. When sufficient oxygen is supplied to the muscle for excess pyruvate to be used by the mitochondria, it is thought that some of the lactose is then converted directly back into pyruvate to be used by the mitochondria, while much of the lactate is converted back into glucose by the liver so it can reenter glycolysis.
The mechanisms involved with these biochemical reactions are rather complex and I have tried to simplify my explanation. Essentially, while lactic acid does not cause the burning feeling that I experienced, when I was experiencing this burning there was still lactate building up in my legs. This increased level of lactate can be measured, and although it is indicative of acidosis caused by anaerobic respiration, many athletes and coaches still incorrectly believe that the lactate itself is what causes this burning.
While I tried my best above to explain what is actually occurs, I found two websites (both from university science departments) that, I believe, best explained the differences between lactic acid and lactate, and how these compounds work during exercise:
http://www.unm.edu/~lkravitz/Article%20folder/lactate.html
http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2006/04/19_lactate.shtml
Thank you again for your comment. I am always eager to learn the truth about misconceptions such as this, and I hope my research has provided a helpful supplement to your correction of my statement.
-Ben
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