Mardi Gras vs. a hot and humid 26.2

It's marathon weekend in Austin, and I am about to jet to New Orleans.  So long suckers!  It's clear where my priorities lie.  Most of my friends training for the IM are running the marathon as a "training run."  I will be thinking of them as I enjoy a bloody mary on Sunday morning at Commander's Palace to celebrate my fantastic future sister-in-law and her bachelorette weekend, which happens to coincide with the first weekend of Mardi Gras.  Woot! 

I can't say that I'm sorry to miss out on the 26.2 action.  Something wonderful and yet tragic has happened in Austin over the past week.  Spring is upon us.  For the past two months, the weather for our weekend training runs has been in the 30s-40s, perfect running weather if you ask me, although not good for much else.  Due to my weekend plans, I did my long run this afternoon, when the temperature was 77 degrees and 60% humidity.  It was brutal.  I had renewed sympathy and admiration for my friends Michelle and Samantha, who ran the marathon and half-marathon in Houston a few weeks ago with even more humidity and heat than I had today.  There's no other way to say it:  humidity sucks, and it absolutely affects your ability to perform.  Michelle kept saying during the marathon that her legs felt like lead.  Yes, that's a perfect description.  Samantha and Michelle both had amazing runs in Houston but were both off the ideal goals they'd set for themselves by a few minutes.  I have no doubt that if the weather had been better, they each would have shattered those goals.  I'm going to keep this in mind as I prepare to run a marathon in May in Houston.  If I wasn't scared before, after today's run, I'm terrified, but I'm sure after a few Big Easy beverages I'll forget the whole experience (and hopefully my incredibly sore quads!).  Very excited to have two full days of no training and, more importantly, to spend the weekend with a woman who couldn't be a more perfect match for my little brother.

Laissez les bon temps rouler!

Nutrition 101: Cut back on the Girl Scout cookies

I've raced two half-ironmans, and in both I've had severe GI distress on the run, forcing me to grace the port-o-lets more often than I'd like.  To remedy this, I met with a sports nutritionist to chat about my plan for staying fueled on race day, and I learned some helpful information worth sharing.  My nutrition guru also wanted to evaluate my general diet to make sure I am getting everything I need and little of what I don't.  Let me just say that it's quite intimidating to record every calorie of food that you've consumed for a week and then share that with someone else.  More on that later.

First off, she asked me to list all the food and beverages that I consumed during my last half-iron in November:

On the bike:
- 2 bottles Gatorade
- 2 Clif bars
- 1 Power Bar
- lots o' water
On the run:
- Alternating Gatorade and water at the rest stops
- 3 Clif shot gels

Her first and overriding recommendation was to NIX THE PROTEIN (the Clif Bars and Power Bar) while on the bike.  She explained that processing protein while exercising was like sticking a spoon in the garbage disposal while it's running.  The body has a very difficult time processing protein, a somewhat less difficult time processing fat, and the easiest time processing carbs.  Therefore, exercise nutrition needs to consist primarily of, if not exclusively of, carbs.  She recommended that I try a product called CarboPro, which is apparently a flavorless powder full of, you guessed it, carbs.  Yum.  6+ hours on the bike, no solid food, just two bottles of CarboPro + water, plus an additional bottle of water every hour.  I'm willing to try it, but I have to admit that a Clif bar tastes damn good after 3 hours on the bike, and I don't think that my flavorless water will.  Boo.

Her next tip: salt.  Aside from the GI distress, I've also had the occasional leg cramping during my runs off the bike, sometimes crossing the finish with a Frankenstein look, unable to bend my knees.  I thought it was because I wasn't getting enough food in me.  She says I'm getting more than enough food but not getting enough salt.  I am a sweater - not the warm wool kind but the kind that disgusts you in the gym.  I create salt lakes around my spin bike and live in constant fear of drowning the gal next to me in Bikram yoga.  It's disgusting but also evidence that I'm losing a lot more salt than the average Jo-sephine.  Houston in May could be miserably hot and humid, so I'll be digesting a salt tablet each hour in the hopes of replenishing the salt mine that I'm sure to lose that day.

Now on to the fun part - an evaluation of the overall diet.  Generally speaking, she said I was doing well - getting the calories that I need *mostly* from good sources.  Do you really eat kale?  Yes!  I love it, thanks to a salad recipe my friend Amy introduced me to that you can find here.  And sunflower seed butter?  I admit, it's an acquired taste, but I love it on my oatmeal.  Okay, so what does this signify?  "One box SOs."  Hmm... (I'd hoped she'd just overlook that entry.)  Shout Outs.  What are Shout Outs?  Girl Scout cookies.  You ate a BOX of Girl Scout cookies . . . in one day?  They're the low fat kind.  And besides, I consider it my civic duty to support the Girl Scouts.  Maybe you should just write them a check.  Touche.

Take Me Home, Country Roads

I have hazy memories of my time spent in Munich during Oktoberfest 2002, but I distinctly remember standing on a table with a bunch of British blokes and singing John Denver's "Country Roads" at least ten times during the course of my ... eight (?) hours in the Lowenbrau tent.  On Friday, I had deja vu (well, minus the beer, bratwurst, lederhosen and lecherous drunks) as my friend Tammie and I rode from Austin to Andice for our 80-mile long ride.  I could not get that song out of my head, as it was so fitting on a beautiful afternoon ride out in the hill country.  Towards the end of the ride, the emphasis was more on the "take me home!" rather than "country roads."  A stein of German pilsner would have been a significant improvement over the powdered electrolyte drink in my water bottle.  By mile 60, I was definitely ready to be done and could not fathom doubling that distance. 
Here's Tammie at the Andice General Store, where we stopped to refuel.

Tammie's doing IM Texas too. She got her first bike a year ago and has quickly become someone who I just try to keep up with!  She is also the most stylish woman on the race course.  After 80 miles, her makeup looked freshly-applied, whereas I looked like I'd just come from a family funeral.  Not sure how the girl does it, but I'm hoping she'll give me a tip or two!

Spectacular Spectating

I came to the realization this weekend that I might like being a spectator at races more than competing in them.   

 

I spent Sunday morning cheering on my long-time running buddy, Michelle, as she completed her first marathon in Houston.  Despite the humid, drizzling weather and slick roads, coupled with a week full of sick kids and little sleep leading up to the race, she did great!  She let me run the last few miles with her, and I left her at mile 25 but raced to the finish to see her cross the line.  I think I was probably more emotional than she was upon finishing.  Yes, I cried.  But I also laughed a lot while running with her due to the hysterical signs that read:

 

"If it was easy, I would be doing it."

 

At mile 20, "your training runs ended here."

 

"That's not sweat, it's your fat cells crying."

 

"Chuck Norris never ran a marathon."

 

"Cheer up, the worst is yet to come!"

 

"Where are you guys going?"

 

"You better hurry or you're not going to beat Oprah's time!"

 

Spectators passed out all sorts of food along the route:

-pretzels

-orange slices

-red licorice

-beer!

-bananas

-pickles

-and my favorite, the "Little Debbie refueling station," where a woman was seriously passing out LD cupcakes.  It would have been very easy to gain weight while running 26.2 miles on that course.  Fortunately, Michelle has more self-discipline than I do and limited our food stops to Gatorade and bananas. 

 

I'm so proud of her marathon finish and also of my friend Samantha, who finished her first half-marathon and then graciously hosted us all for lunch.  Rock stars, both of them! 

 

And each with two sporty kids to boot!  Thanks for letting me share in your exciting weekend, gals!