Thursday, March 31, 2011

Marathon...Check

Saturday was the National Marathon. The weather was forcasted to be in the low 30's with rain or snow! Not fun. I left work early on Friday to drive to my sisters, no traffic and only one pit stop. Got to DC just in time to see Izzy and Davis before they went to bed.

Saturday morning was an early rise at 5am for a plate of tasty french toast. Travis was nice enough to get up early on his day off to drop me off by the stadium. The temps were better than expected and I was able to wear my favorite race day shorts. I also pimped out my Boston Marathon running shirt...bragging rights!

The race start was setup in corals, based on your entry time. I was in the 2nd Coral. The first only had about 50 runners, so that meant I was right at the front.

As the race got underway, I looked for the first mile marker, did not see it. I did not see it until 5, then i think I saw it at mile 11. I was not able to know what my pace was, not good. At the halfway point I saw Michele, Alycia, Izzy and Davis, that was the best halfway point cheering section ever. Just a few miles down, Cara, Crista and Sammy Davis Jr, Jr. were out cheering as well.

For a wrap up without going into boring details, the race did not go as well as I hoped. I was shooting for a 3:23 but ended up with a 3:32. It would be easy to blame the course for not having mile markers each mile, or the rolling hills and bad wind, but I just didn't race smart. I went out to fast to early and I wouldn't say I hit a wall, I just couldn't go any faster. I felt fine for the most part, ate plenty, it just wasn't my day. This race taught me that it's ok to have a bad day, except it and move on. It is hard to do that but I have to.
With the Marathon behind me, it was now time to focus on the house! John and I closed on the house on Monday. With a few minor setbacks..like the people not being moved out, closing went well. We started Reno on the house Tuesday after work. So far we have spackled most of the holes in the walls, ripped out the 100year old security system, removed all the blue carpet, switch faceplates, vents, closets and more. With the house sitting for over a year empty, I was surprised to not find to many bugs. Hopefully this is a good sign that we won't have problems with bugs when we live here.
I am taking this week off from "scheduled" training, but will workout when I want to. Next week will be back to Chesapeakman training in full force. Oh and did I mention we are supposed to get snow this weekend!!! Oh geez.

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

March Marathon Madness!


This Saturday is the National Marathon. Am I ready is the question you always ask yourself. My body is, I have put the training in, but my foot is a whole different story. The pain seems to change. First it started with bad blisters, then my bone looked to become inflamed. Soon after the the bottom of my foot hurt on pressure, now it’s the side of my foot that hurts. I don’t have shooting or stabing pain that would indicate that something is broken, my foot feels like it walked a theme park, and that feeling happens about 3 miles into my run. Most normal people would not go out and do a marathon in that kind of pain/annoyance, but I did not train in the snow in freezing conditions NOT to race.

***THIS JUST IN: After telling my friend that I was not going to the doctors before the race, I decided to go online and see if I could figure out what it was. Why I didn’t do this before, I don’t know. Under common running injuries, I found that I have a Tailors Bunion. A bunion is a swelling near the bone connecting to the big toe that sticks out at the side. In my case it is by the pinkie toe. The remedy, get it shaved down, or where shoes that aren't to tight and wear a bunion bad over it. I think I will go with the pad first, and see how it goes.***

With that being said, I think I’m going to have a great race. I just hope the weather is nice. This passed Friday we had temps in the mid 70’s, but down it is cold and raining, I even saw ice on my car window this morning. Regardless of what happens, DC I’m coming for you!

In more exciting news, John and I close on our first house a week from today!!! We have been busy packing the apt up and picking out paint colors! Can’t wait to get in and start something!

And in even more exciting news, with the weather being so nice I finally got outside on my bike. I got out of work early on Friday, so John and I went for a ride. It was so nice out, we rode to the Tyler State Park, rode by the new house and the best part of all, stopped at Ritas for an Gelati!!

Sunday was back out on the road for a 60mile ride in the hills of Bucks County. I road better than I thought I would, considering the last long ride I did was the Ironman!! It felt great to be on the bike and can’t wait for more.

I will talk to you after my race, hope everyone has a great week.

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Fueling your way through a long run

I am always so amazed when I run with other people at how little they eat. On a short run, like 5 miles, eating is not an issue. Anything over 8 miles, you really should have water and somehting small. When you get into 20mile runs, you should be eating every 30-45minutes and drinking a fari amount of water with that. On my 20mile run this past Saturday, the conversation of pre-run eating came up. Everyone said what they ate, or what the didn’t eat. About half did not eat prior to running and the rest had a piece of toast or something to the same volume. I on the other hand would have (if I didn’t miss my alarm and oversleep and have to rush out the door) a plate of egg white french toast, a small cup of iced coffee, and depending on the length of the drive, half of a banana in the car and some Gatorade. What I would eat for breakfast was more than most consume on the whole 20mile run. Moving on, I watched how much people ate/drank during that run on Sat. I am amazed and jealous of how little others have to take in compared to what my body needs. I drank 24oz of water/Gatorade, 4 gels and a pack of Powerbar Gel Blasts. From the testing I did last year, I know that my body burns through fuel faster than most, so hydrating and eating needs to be a top priority. 


With all the different fuel sources out on the market, how does one choose what to use?
I have tried pretty much every gel out there. Some that were made with honey, chocolate or espresso flavored ones. Clif Bar makes a gel wrapper that is more environmentally friendly with the tear off top that is still attached to the wrapper. The one consistent thing amongst most/all gels is the thickness of the gel. It’s hard enough for some people to even consume the gel with chalky flavor let alone the strange texture when you are training. Recently I have found a new product that does the gels the best, Powerbar Gels! The packs are small enough to fit into your short pockets or up to 5 in my fuel belt back, but packed with enough gel that fuels you through your run. The tangerine flavor ones that I had were spot on. It did not have a chalky flavor, but more of a natural fruit flavor. Even better, you did not have to spend half of your time trying to squeeze every last bit of the gel out of the pack like you do with a tube of toothpaste. These Powerbar gels are just the right thickness to squeeze out without effort and go down your throat without feeling like your swallowing a booger! I also am in love with the Powerbar Gel blasts. I wrote about them last year, but I just tried a new flavor that rocked my world, Lemon!! I had to remind myself that they weren’t candy, but energy food! I did see that they have a Cola flavor. I think that will be my next one to try.



 
Fuel and hydration is a personal preference. Flavor, texture, the right protein to carb ratio, etc. The biggest piece of advice I will give is to try them all until you find the one you like. Try them during training and not in competition. The last thing you want to do is try a new energy drink or gel during a race and your stomach not like it and cause you to perform less than what you could have. Race day is about racing, training is for just that training. You train your legs to handle the pain of a marathon after 112miles on the bike, but you also train your body to consume 3,000 to 5,000 calories for a 12 hour event.

I am 3 weeks from the National Marathon. All my super long runs are done, and I am heading into the home stretch. We bought our first thing for the new house this past weekend, a beautiful farm sink. Can’t wait to get it hooked up...after we get the keys to the house of course!

Only a few more days till the time change and every ones lives will be happier. Have an awesome week!