The results - Do It All Again Next Week?

I write this on 9-11-11.  A sobering reminder of how life changed for America 10 years ago.  Like many Americans, I watched all the memorial events on TV last night and today – tears welling up as the National Anthem was sung at the Raven – Steelers’ game.  God Bless America, the victims of 9/11 and all those who serve to protect our precious freedoms.

Contemplating my blessings and especially that I get to live and run in the Lake Tahoe area, I became introspective and decided to write.  Yesterday I ran an 8 mile out and back  at the Mt. Rose highway summit, about 8500 feet.  I’ll scatter a few pics of this spectacular trail throughout this report.

The start of the TRT at Tahoe Meadows, the Mt. Rose Highway

Hopefully, you won’t read the title of this entry like a weather report about the miles I did this week.  My goal in writing about my journey to complete 50 miles in one day is to get at what it feels like to train, emotionally and physically.  I record miles, time, the shoes that I wore, weather, clothing and a short statement about how my body and mind felt in my training log with the hopes that the data there will serve me when I need it.  And it does. 

One of my goals in completing this 50 Mile race is to do it mindfully and joyfully.  In order to do that, I must pay attention to detail, but always with joy and passion for running.  It’s about the journey, right?  So, I thought I would write about one of the things I focused on this week - my nutrition before, during and after training.  But first, wildflowers in September???!!

Not sure this photo does them justice, but the flowers were glorious!

 I’ve noticed that I’ve always experienced some degree of mild nausea before a race that is most likely due to nerves.  Also, I’m afraid to eat much before an event, or training, just because I know my stomach won’t empty and I’ll get a side ache.  At the same time, I recognize that I need some small amount of carbohydrate to fuel the fat burning fire that I hope will kick in sooner rather than later.  Finding the right combination of food and timing before running was my mission this week.

So this week, I experimented with different kinds of foods eaten less than two hours before running.  Here’s what I found:  toast with butter on it gives me mild nausea.  I think it’s the butter.  Peaches and bananas work wonderfully.  So much so, that I can eat this tasty fruit less than an hour before running without any problem at all.

I also tried drinking NUNN after about 45 minutes into my 3 ½ hour run.  NUNN is an electrolyte supplement that comes in the form of a tablet that you put in your water bottle.  I selected the Mandarin Orange – Ginger flavor with the hopes that if I had some nausea, the ginger would provide relief.  And it did!  The day I tried the toast with butter was right before that really long 16 miler this week.  A couple of long swigs of NUNN, which I used half strength, did the trick.  The taste was great and I think next time I’ll use a full tablet in my 20 ounce water bottle. It was a nice alternative to straight water which I carried in my Camelback.

Mt. Rose Ski Area - The Chutes, in the background

 I also noticed this week that I consistently start feeling hungry around 2 hours into a run.  I always bring a Nature Valley bar with me, but rarely do I take it out to eat it.  My next long run this coming week, I need to eat before I get hungry if I plan a run longer than 2 ½ hours.  I think it will help me in those last miles as well as assist me with recovery.  Also, for 50 miles I will be running much longer than 4 hours!  I need to practice eating.  I also know, from pacing Ron N. 30 miles of the TRT 100 last July, that I love and can tolerate all that aid station stuff they put out for you!

After a workout, most experts will tell you that the first 30 minutes immediately after stopping is the best time to replete the muscles with glycogen and that eating at least 50 grams of carbohydrate is recommended to do that.  I’m finding that the best I can do immediately after a run is drink orange juice in that 30 minutes.  I just lose my appetite for at least an hour after finishing, even if I feel hungry during a long run.  But after that, I can eat anything and usually satisfy my hunger with a huge serving of fruit. 

By the way, I’m not a vegetarian.  I love red meat, chicken, eggs and fish.  Cheese is a staple.  And soy milk is a wonderful phyto-estrogen useful in my successful war against hot flashes!  My intake of carbs has increased, but so has my protein giving me a total caloric intake of around 2500 to 3000 calories per day on a training day.  I could probably stand to lose 3 to 5 more pounds and get really lean, but I'm not focused on it.  I weigh only 5 pounds more than what I did 20 years ago. I’m reducing those fun carbs like chips, but sometimes I just gotta have some!  I salt my food liberally mostly because I don’t cook with any since my husband is on a very low salt diet.  Oh, and I love beer and wine.  Microbrews like Alaskan Amber are my favorites.  Dave likes Budweiser.  No comment.

As for the week’s mileage and stats – here’s the weather report:  I ran about 43 miles from Monday through today according to my Garmin.  My best pace was about a 6:30 pace during a very fun and fast 8 mile trail run.  My average pace for all my runs with over 5,000 feet of climbing was about 12:30 minutes per mile.  I’m taking today off with a short 3 mile walk around my neighborhood just to get the blood moving.

This trail makes you want to run forever!

 The challenge for next week will be to do it all again!