Three Things Thursday

1.  I am tired.  My runner's high from the weekend took me all the way through yesterday.  That's pretty good, right?  Now though,  I'm officially tired.  I even went to the gym on Tuesday!  Felt great.  Kicked out 3 miles, no problem.  Snoozed the alarm yesterday.  Snoozed the alarm today.  Maybe I'll go tonight.

2.  I'm thinking some of you may be curious to how my carb loading went last week.  In my humble opinion I think it went awesome!  In the moment I really felt like I was eating a lot - the goal was to eat an extra 800 calories a day.  My usual intake is around 1600 calories a day, give or take.  I came across this interesting article a couple weeks ago and I really wanted to put it to the test.  If you checked the calculator when I posted a couple weeks ago, check it again now - they added some explanation at the bottom of the page.

So I began on Wednesday, which was a car travel day for me.  I almost made it to 2000 calories.  Of course I could have probably made it to 2400 but I didn't want to eat a ton of convenience food crap.  So 2000 was okay with me - plus it was the first carb day.  Here's what it looked like:

1 bacon       80

2 egs           140

toast w butter 170

1/2 c OJ      50

rasp scone   200

trail mix      100

ham sand   160

chips     120

pb & crackers 200

turkey & ham sand  300

chips    150

lt lemonade  40

pb & crakcers 200 

Thursday still included some car travel time.  We didn't make it to Oakland til late afternoon.  I got my calories in though.  I also wanted to get a run in that night but it just didn't happen.  In that same article he mentions getting in some running in the days leading up to the race - even some sprints at the end of the run.  I really wanted to try it but couldn't.  In the past, Tuesday or Wednesday is my last running day before the race and it's usually just an easy 3 miler.  Here's what Thursday looked like:

wheat toast             120

butter                       50

1 egg                       70

1/2 c OJ                  50

yogurt                      60

1/2 banana               50

muffin                     150

2 1/2 pieces pizza   750

soda                       100

cinn stick                200

salad                      150

2 c rice                   200

chicken & noodles  150

toast                       150

On Friday I definitely made sure I got my calories in and tried to eat only carbs.  This day I really felt roley poley.  And of course ended the day with pasta.  Here's Friday:

2 toast          300

butter            100

yogurt           170

granola         150

pear             80

peanut butter

& crackers    200

ham sand      400

banana          100

2 c pasta      400

1 cup rice    100

toast             300

butter           100 

Race morning I felt really good.  I ate a peanut butter sandwich and banana about an hour before the race.  The other big thing that was different at this race was that I had to carry my own water.  On my training runs I've been putting in electrolyte drops in my water instead of using sports drink.  This was the first time I did it in a marathon and it worked amazingly well.  It was easier to get all my clif shots down and I honestly never got that yucky tummy feeling like I have in the past.  Too much sports drink sloshing around does a number on me, but you need those electrolytes!  So I use Endure Drops - I think they're fab.  You can check out some of the supplements I use here.

I also took 4 Pure Endurance pills a half hour before the race and 3 more at about the 2.5 hour mark.  The ones I took half-way through had caffeine and I'm pretty convinced that it made a difference.

So a lot of things going on with nutrition here.  My big point - I never hit a wall.  I was happy the whole race.  You might remember in Park City I was pretty angry, frustrated, miserable.  Even Top of Utah marathon I PR'ed but cramped and pulled my hamstring at 21 miles.  I think those 3 days of carbs really made a difference.  I had the usual post-race soreness for a couple of days, but I was running on Tuesday and other than being tired no soreness whatsoever.  Pretty great.  I can attribute some of that to my slow finish time and the soft trail but I'm pretty convinced in the carb theory. (btw - in the past I have only carboloaded the day before a race, so that's what I'm comparing to.)

I think next week will be the true test.  I'll do it all over again starting Wednesday to get ready for San Antonio.  I'm not sure if this is a PR course but it will definitely be faster than Napa - at least I'm planning on it.

3.  I came back home to a week of everything.  Super busy week, so as always I'm trying to be a better blogger, get more info out, keep track better and also be a better blogger friend.  : )  Be patient, I'm trying to juggle right now!  Hopefully a giveaway will be coming soon as well!

Happy running today friends!