Crazy Experiments in Running

Crazy Experiment 1

This experiment involved planning to do a half marathon with as little training as reasonable – that would mean running only once a week or so with the longest being a 10k.   I was trying to duplicate the feeling one would get after doing a marathon.   Marathon philosophy is such that one should not try to run the entire distance before the event.
 
I can honestly say that this experiment clearly did not work.  I will not try it again.   I ran fairly well up to the 18k mark.  Then my speed slowed to a crawl and I felt horrible and struggled to  finished the race. 

RESULT: I did not get the same stiff legged, after race canter as in a marathon.

Crazy Experiment 2

I am thinking about long runs (2 or 3 hours) and water.  How much weight can you lose sweating out water.  Actually that answer can be more than one would expect.  Test is out sometime. 

This experiment involved hyperhydration and glycerin.  I read this very technical book on overhydrating cells.  The normal balance of body and water, is to drink a reasonable amount of water throughout the day and your body will keep what it needs and get rid of the rest.  This book lists that you can drink a mixture of water and glycerin to help your cells store more water; or more of your cells store water.  Glycerin is a naturally produced substance that the body can handle and they put it in all sorts of stuff. ie liquid medicines.  By drinking the glycerin laced water, you can get the water to store itself better within the body.  The theory regarding this area of study was very involved but in simple terms, if you want to try it, has the ratio of water to glycerine at 23:1.  Mix and drink as you would normally drink water.

Result:  I can't tell how much water my cells are holding. 

Crazy Experiment 3 

Books versus music.  We all have music holding devices to help us fritter away the time while out running.  Music can be a major distraction to the pain and hard work of some of those workouts and a good beat can get us up that hill.  (ie. Black Betty by Ram Jam)  

Then there are the audiobooks.  The first time I tried this . . . and by the way the music holding device, will hold way more words than music due to the quality factor.  . . I put on a really scary story and went out for a run.   I think I ran just a bit faster and felt more relief than normal to get home.  Then I put it away for a few months and went back to the music.  It was just a bit more than I could stand.  Eventually I went back to the story - this time I really got into it - now I have a new problem - the whole scary story by audiobook is around 27 hours.  I can hardly wait to get back out there to find out what happens next!   The only drawback is on an exertion run, it can be hard to concentrate on listening to the words.

Result:  Music and Audiobooks are Great!  I think running and listening to a story is a big brain workout if your body is getting a tough workout.

Crazy Experiment 4

3 half marathons in a row (that is, 3 weekends in a row)  . . . a good idea?  Maybe.
Half #1 - I didn't train enough and only got up to 14k in the time leading up to it so I knew it would be tough.  The course is also tough in Red Deer, some trail, some road and some hills. Time 2:26:33   PACE 6:57
Half #2 - Decided to attend the race the day before the event; because it was a good price (19.00) and all trail which would be excellent training.  Whew! Hard - I had never done an all trail half.  The effort shows in the time it took.  Time 2:38:32
Half #3 - The gamble - overtrained and hurt or great training and in shape; what does racing on multiple weekends do?

Result:  New PR   Time 2:19:58    PACE - 6:39  BEST Half
This is an experiment that paid off. 
However it should be noted I feel a lot more beat up after the 3rd half.  The effort it took to do the 2nd half made me feel great after - I guess it is a different type of effort - speed vs endurance.  I already know I have lots of endurance.