Thursday Comics

All day yesterday I thought it was Thursday, and that today would be Friday. since thats not the case I thought I would post come comics to lighten the mood of Thursday afternoon. Its almost Friday! Next post I feel should be a good recipe so stay tuned.

I'm actually a little embarrassed that I got this joke. My husband talked me into playing Dungeons and Dragons one time and now we're completely submersed in the action. Don't tell anyone.

Marathon Done

Sorry it has taken a few days to write about the marathon, but Its taken me until now to prepare to relive it again :).

I'm not going to lie it was a pretty tough marathon course. The Louisville Derby Marathon was quite hilly. If you like hills this one is for you. I, on the other hand, do not. The short version of the marathon story is that I finished!! Yay.

I started cramping around mile 9 and new that the next few hours I was in for a treat. There were a few things that kept me going. My husband waiting for me at the finish line. Charles who I met on the race course, and the thought of not being able to wear the awesome shirt we got if I didn't finish, it would haunt me in my closet for good.

I looked on line that night to see the actual numbers of the race. It turned out tat 15,000 people signed up for the race, only 12,### finished, and out of that 12 thousand ONLY 1,400 had signed up for the marathon. Well now that explains why it felt like we had entered the twilight zone after splitting off from the half marathoners.

The cheer groups were no where to be found and water/port-potties we are scarce and we were in a weird part of town. I seriously felt like I had just decided to go out for a run by myself for 15 miles. After some Tylenol, at least 12 good sized hills, crossing over the river into Indiana, and tired muscles, bones, and joints I was done and I did it!

Even though the time was not what I had wished, my husband is good to remind me that I got that medal for finishing 26.2 miles for a second time. Not every race is going to be your best but it really comes down to finishing.

Here are some things that I learned my second time around:
Your marathon training can never be too long.
Get to bed early.
Even if the forecast says rain, don't be afraid you won't melt.
Once you pee outside you're a true marathoner.
Eat a good breakfast before, see my post below.
Don't skimp on the Vaseline.
You will get blisters... deal with it.
You will be sore, rent a movie the night before so it'll be ready for you when you get home.
Marathons are addicting - I was already looking up my next one today.

Best Foods to Eat Before the Race

I found an article on Active.com that gave the 5 best foods to eat before race. I personally can't handle eating too much, I might have a banana and an energy bar, then fuel throughout the race, although I migh try one of the meal replacement shakes as well.

Bagel

A bagel makes an excellent pre-race breakfast food, not only because it's rich in carbohydrate, bland and easily-digested, but also because it's something many runners eat for breakfast routinely, hence familiar. Eat it dry or top it with something low in fat such as a light smearing of reduced fat cream cheese. (or I think add some jam)

Banana

Bananas are almost all carbohydrate. A large banana contains more than 30 grams of carbohydrate, just one gram of protein and no fat whatsoever. Bananas are also high in potassium (400 mg), which is lost in sweat during running. Their softness and light taste make them easy to consume even with pre-race nerves, and their natural "wrapper" makes them handy for eating on the road.

Energy Bar

Energy bars such as PowerBar and ClifBar are made to be eaten before exercise. Most are very high in carbohydrates and low in fiber, fat and protein. The better bars also contain useful amounts of sodium, potassium and the antioxidant vitamins C and E.

There's a huge variety of energy bars on the market--some are better than others. Choose one that's close to the PowerBar formula. Avoid the high-protein, low-carb bars that have become popular in recent years. The advantage of the wide selection of bars on the market is that it's easy to find one you like and can eat without unpleasantness before a race. Pay attention to texture too. Some bars are very chewy, and for some runners eating chewy foods tends to exacerbate the stomach churning that's associated with pre-race nervousness.

Meal Replacement Shake

Drink one or two meal replacement shakes the race. Brands such as Boost and Ensure have a nearly perfect nutrition profile, they take care of energy and hydration needs, they're super-convenient, and nothing is easier to consume before a race--even if you're extremely anxious. And they taste good.

Ensure, for example, delivers a whopping 250 calories of energy in a little eight-ounce can, including 40 grams of carbohydrate. The one downside to these beverages is their efficiency. By providing so much nutrition in such little volume, they are not as filling as solid foods and can actually leave you feeling hungry in the middle of a marathon if you rely on them solely.

In the same general category as meal replacement shakes are performance recovery drinks including Endurox R4 and Ultragen. They are normally used immediately after exercise, but they can also be used for the purpose of pre-race fueling. They are sold as powders that you mix with water. Because these drinks are slightly more diluted than meal replacement drinks, they do an even better job of hydrating and fueling simultaneously.

Oatmeal

Like bananas, oatmeal is almost pure carbohydrate, plus soft and light in taste. It is also the most filling food among the five best pre-race foods, which is good for those wanting something substantial in their belly before they head out to burn a few thousand calories. Some runners also prefer to eat a real breakfast food for breakfast, and oatmeal certainly provides that.

Oatmeal requires preparation that can be more challenging on the road than at home. If your hotel room has a microwave oven, you're all set as long as you've brought some kind of bowl with you. If there's no microwave oven, you can use the coffee maker to heat water.

Are You a Tough Guy?

My brother-in-law sent me a link to this on facebook yesterday and when he mentioned it to me he said "Are you doing the tough guy?" and I took that as "Am I being a tough guy?" and without knowing I said yes and committed to this crazy race.

The Tough Guy Challenge is a tradition over in Europe. England to be exact. And for some reason I cannot find anything about how far it actually is, but what it does say is 100 death defying events in 150 acres. so whatever that mean, I'm going to partake in it. "But its in Europe." you say.For the first time ever their bringing the Tough Guy challenge to the US and can you beleive only miles from my hometown in Utah. In October, in Park City Utah will be the first held Tough guy challenge in the United States. I have already reserved my spot, are you tough enough to join me?
You can make your reservations here (and yes it will be very cold!):
http://www.toughguyusa.com/

Home Made Perfectly Natural Fuel

I received an email from Active.com and inside they included some tips on finding healthy and natural energy boosts for long workouts. And since I mentioned in a previous post that I need my energy boosts I thought this was perfect.

Better Brands

There are a few brands that include natural ingredients in their sports products and do not use high-fructose corn syrup, food dyes or artificial sweeteners. Look for these sport product lines:

Unnecessary Additives

Scan the ingredient list for unnecessary additives. Xylitol is a sugar alcohol that provides sweetness without adding sugar. Sounds good? Your stomach may not agree-watch out for gas and bloating with xylitol. Artificial sweeteners such as sucralose, aspartame and acesulfame potassium are added to sports products for sweetness with zero calories. This makes the product super-sweet, which is a major complaint of many exercisers and the reason why so many people avoid sports drinks. There is no place for artificial sweeteners or synthetic food dyes in a sport product. Avoid Red 40--an example of a synthetic food dye. Look for beet juice instead--an example of a natural red dye.

Make Your Own!

Tart Cherry Sport Drink

Tart cherries help to reduce inflammation associated with exercise.

• 32 ounces water
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 24 ounces Knudsen Tart Cherry Juice (if this is too tart for you use regular cherry juice instead)
• ¼ cup lemon juice

Makes seven 8-ounce servings
60 calories, 177 mg sodium, 186 mg potassium, 15 grams carbohydrate

Pina Colada Sport Drink
The coconut water gives a light flavor, a few carbohydrates and tons of potassium.

• 12 ounces water
• ½ teaspoon sea salt
• 32 ounces O.N.E. Coconut water
• 12 ounces 100% pineapple juice
• ¼ cup lemon juice

Makes seven 8-ounce servings
60 calories, 194 mg sodium, 352 mg potassium, 15 grams carbohydrate

Directions for making your own sport drink:
Bring the tap or bottled water to a boil. Dissolve the salt in the water. Mix in juice and coconut water (if using). Chill and consume.

20 miler

Well I am done with my 20 miles for today and I'm achin', but so glad its over. Now for the last 2 weeks I'll take it easy and not push myself until April 24.



What got me through it was HGTV, I love that channel, and the old man who comes into the gym every Saturday morning and watches the home remodels and comments on how he hates that bright blue color on the walls, but agrees with me that the staircase was an improvement, and the energy gummies that I probably overdue just a bit, but I want to make sure I have enough energy running through my veins.

I woke up at 6:00 to make sure I wouldn't be hogging the treadmill the whole day (yes I did 20 miles on a treadmill, even in this great weather, but the next weeks are all outside runs), and now I feel like I've been up for a day and a half.

My good friend in Utah is doing her long run as I type this and for anyone else making the long journey toward being ready for that race, good luck, and I'll be thinking of you! Now onto enjoying my Saturday!

Tip for Today

See even celebrities run.

Today's tip:
When you hit a rough patch during a run or race, remind yourself that it's not easy to stick to a running habit or finish a race. If it were, everyone would do it, right? Remind yourself that you're taking on a challenge and the difficulties you face will make your accomplishment all the more worthwhile in the end.

I am already preparing myself for the long 20 miler tomorrow morning. I know its going to be hard but who could really expect 20 miles or 26 miles to be easy. If you're training for those long runs, know now that its going to hurt, but afterwords you'll have the reward of your husband bragging to all of his friends about what you accomplished. Which can be embarrassing but pretty dang cool at the same time!

Happy Friday! And good luck, keep up the running!

"There are clubs you can't belong to, neighborhoods you can't live in, schools you can't get into, but the roads are always open." --Nike

Lucky Bran

I love this idea from Women's Health. Its so simple yet i never thought of it. Although when you're running low on 2 cereals I'll just add them together but never thought it would have health benefits :)

Lucky Charms + All-Bran = Lucky Bran

Who doesn't love the wee marshmallow rainbows, half moons, and hearts? But you need 25 grams of belly-slimming fiber daily, and three-fourths of a cup of the kiddie cereal provides only one measly gram--that wouldn't keep even a six-inch-tall leprechaun regular. But mix half a cup of Charms with half a cup of All-Bran, and poof! You get 10 grams of fiber without losing that frosted sweetness.

For more easily improved food go here to Women's Health, and don't be afraid to try your own concoctions. http://ow.ly/1vhEC

Good luck, and like Alton Brown says "Good Eats".

The Krispy Kreme Challenge

So I got this in my email a few days ago... let me just ask you, how cool is Lexington, KY?
https://www.signmeup.com/site/reg/register.aspx?fid=PB2V1K7


The challenger winner will receive 1 dozen donuts FREE from Krispy Kreme per week for an entire year. Ok seriously, this is more insane than the warrior race. Who comes up with this stuff, but guess what I love it! And I wouldn't hesitate doing this race if my marathon wasn't the next Saturday. but I ask myself would 12 Krispy Kremes really affect my running? probably, but I probably should still do it.

If anyone has any other crazy races fell free to post them here, running shouldn't be serious, lets all have a good time!

The Dreaded Long-Run

I have the day off tomorrow for Good Friday... yay, and since we are still going to Indianapolis Friday night for the Final 4. I decided I would be responsible and make sure to get my long run in tomorrow morning instead of not being able to fit it into the vacation schedule. So tomorrow is a dreaded 17 miler and the next weekend 20. The marathon is coming closer and so I thought I'd give tip to everyone who is about to run the "long" run or will be in the near future.

I found this Article on Active.com about "re-thinking the long run". These are some good ideas to chew on.

The last thing you want to do is to leave your race on the training course, yet so many runners flirt with disaster when they do their long run. Repeat after me: Do not run your long run at your goal marathon pace! This is too much strain on your body and will result in deep fatigue that could persist until race day.

Putting this key element at the end of your long run will give you a sense of how your pacing will affect your body on race day, and if you've picked the right pace without compromising your training.

Course

Most runners should consider a rolling course. "Rolling" means that you know that you are going up and down, but the work isn't putting your body into overdrive. Slower runners will want to stick with a flat course to get more miles in for their allotted training time.

If the marathon you're planning to run is hilly (most are pretty flat), you won't gain any material benefits from punishing yourself on a similar course for this long run, especially when it will take you days--maybe even a week--to recover.

If you're truly concerned about the hills, be sure to include hill work in your weekly regimen. Advanced runners might consider a long run that starts out rolling but ends up in the hills to prepare for race day.

Timing

Do the long run at the same time of day as the race. There's a lot more to marathon day than just running, and learning how your body reacts to the early alarm, light breakfast and warm-up is key. Do your best to minimize the number of surprises come race day. Even if your "A" race is in another time zone, you can benefit from putting your race-day plan into action.

Nutrition

Plan on carrying your food and fluids with you (e.g. use a Fuel Belt). If you're opposed to this, either plan on a quick pit stop at a convenience store or pre-arrange a bottle drop. Hopefully by this point in your training you have already developed an understanding of what type--and how much--fuel you need on your longer runs.

A quick rule of thumb in training is to practice drinking at every mile split so you'll be accustomed to drinking at the intervals provided on the marathon course (that's every eight minutes for an 8:00/mile hopeful). It's also recommended that you take in some form of calories--most runners use energy gels--during your event. Don't rely on the course to get you what you need; consider taking a gel (or some calories) at 45- to 60-minute intervals.

Long Run Recovery Protocol

Wash your face and get out of your wet clothes into dry ones. Get some liquid calories. This can be a homemade shake or recovery drink, and must be consumed in the first 15 minutes after finishing and should contain a 4:1 ratio of carbs to protein.

Take a shower. Lie down on the floor and put your legs up one minute for every 15 minutes run. Get up and make a meal. Be sure to include protein! Sit down to eat with legs up. Consider a nap if you have time.

After the Long Run

Your work is mostly done at this point. You have three or maybe four more weeks to go until race day. Your first priority is to make sure that you have recovered well from your long effort. I usually don't run for three days afterwards (preferring to cross-train) and I usually get a light massage as well. Only a few key tempo sessions are left to keep the legs sharp, and then it's marathon day.

Conclusion

Remember, there is no single defining run that will make your marathon training right--including the long run. At the end of the day, it's the miles covered on the way to this long training run--and the marathon--that truly count. Get out there, have fun, and be smart!