I Wanna Bite Nature’s Head Off

Have I mentioned yet how unfair it is to be a girl?  In addition to nature making us slower runners (even though I take comfort in knowing that I’m faster than the vast majority of the male population), it also makes women hungrier after exercise than it does men.  While men get to enjoy the fruits of their labors, us women are trying to restrain ourselves from eating everything in our homes down to the moldy cheese – Bridget Jones style.

Evidently, nature wants women’s bodies to be plump and fertile so when we increase our level of activity, we have a strong internal drive to make up all those calories burned with pasta, bread, and all sorts of simple-sugar yummy goodness.  As many times as I try to tell my body that it doesn’t have a shot in hell in conceiving any time soon, it responds “Shut up and eat something.”

Currently I am downing more food and putting up with stronger urges than my pregnant sister.  I also admit that I am a little territorial over my food.  When my visiting mother exclaimed “Are you eating again?!  You’re not going to be hungry for dinner!,” I felt more defensive than our old horse Shady who used to pin her ears back and kick anyone who dared to come near her during mealtime – including her own offspring Moonshine (Dad named that one.)

Yes – I wanna bite nature’s head off.  Fortunately though, in this case, I actually can!  Instead of suffering through hunger pains, I choose to eat frequently – about every two to three hours – and only allow myself healthy choices to come near these jaws of life.  In fact, when I pack my lunch before work in the morning, it may appear as if I am packing for a picnic – banana, morning granola bar, organic crunchy peanut butter and organic grape jam on sprouted Ezekiel 4:9 bread (complete protein) or a toasted turkey sandwich with apples on a whole-wheat sub roll, bag of baby carrots, peach, and a afternoon granola bar are all typical finds in my daily lunch pail.

When you work all day and run all night, fitting in dinner is often a challenge.  I rarely eat dinner before 9 pm and often times eat after 10 pm.  Thus, there is no time to grill any salmon or whip up any other kind of elaborate concoction.  Instead, I often eat salads.  In fact, I’m so lazy that I typically buy the pre-washed organic lettuce and shredded carrots to minimize the amount of rinsing and cutting I have to do.  One of my favorite salads this summer which I sorta came up with was to take a black bean and avocado dip (try http://www.rachelcooks.com/2011/07/01/black-bean-and-avocado-dip-or-salad/ and sub extra virgin olive oil (an anti-inflammatory) for veggie oil) and instead of scarfing down the dip with tortilla chips, I spoon out a little every night and put it over organic romaine lettuce.

I’m also a huge fan of making a healthy pot of soup on the weekends that I can eat off of all week or freeze in individual containers that can be quickly dethawed and heated in the microwave.  A lesson I learned from my Grandma – soups are great because you can combine your meat, vegetables, and starches all in one meal.  On Sunday, I did a little twist on the recipe my Grandma taught me by throwing in heirloom tomatoes, squash, and basil – all fresh from my little garden.  Consistent with The Grams, I also added chicken breast, corn, butterbeans (aka lima beans which I learned in college when I couldn’t find “butterbeans” in the Harris Teeter), carrots, and wholegrain macaroni noodles – all cooked in chicken broth.

What comes after lunch and dinner?  Well, dessert – sometimes.  Until this past Thursday night when I enjoyed “The Elvis” at Peculiar Rabbit almost as much as his Christmas album, I hadn’t had a real dessert since I ate two chocolate chip cookies straight from the oven during July 4^th vacation.  Dessert is really supposed to be a treat – reserved for special occasions (like Birthdays!) and not part of a daily diet like my dog believes.  And when you are busting your butt to get in better shape, you don’t want to throw away an hour’s worth of pain and sweat for a cookie in your boxed lunch at work (even if it is from Dean & Deluca!).  Instead, if I need a little pick-me-up after a long day or just a little something sweet before bed, I opt for a small piece of dark chocolate or a mini York Peppermint Pattie – Hits the spot and guilt-free (as long as you stick with just one!).

Banana nut chocolate chip bread, peanut butter ice cream, salted caramel, candied bacon and whipped cream- "The Elvis" could raise the man himself from the dead! 

After upping my mileage and my cravings these past few weeks, I can tell you that it really isn’t fun to always feel hungry.  Sometimes I just want to go lay in to a pizza buffet like a 300-pound football player and eat myself sick just so I can crush my hunger.  However, I am choosing to focus my drive on fruits, vegetables, and grains to try to get a little payback on nature – one sliced carrot at a time.

MCM Training Week Eleven: 65 Miles

Solid week, complete with my first 20-miler...a sign that it's gonna be game day before I know it!

This Week’s Beer Choice: Heist Brewery’s I2PA (Charlotte, NC)

Keep It Simple Stupid

It is a common mistake of some people with multiple degrees from fancy colleges and well-paying careers that keep them chained to their office desks well past dinner hour that we should pity those “less fortunate” that never made it to college but instead put in a honest day’s work for a minimum-wage salary.  However, not only do I feel that it is arrogant and elitist of a person to believe that all people should have the same values as him and that somehow a person’s life has not be successful just because he did not receive a college diploma nor ever bought a shiny, new Merecedes, but I also think sometimes that the guy who works 40 hours a week for a modest salary and spends his Sundays in his trailer drinking Budweiser while watching the race or some football may actually have it right and outsmarted us all.

I remember a college professor at UNC-Chapel Hill describing the poverty in Eastern North Carolina that he witnessed while driving to the coast shortly after he first moved to the state to teach.  He said it reminded him of the Appalachia region.  However, being from Eastern North Carolina, I can say that, generally speaking, you do not see the unabashed materialism that plagues places like South Charlotte or South of Broad in Charleston, SC.  And while those in their South Charlotte mini McMansions choose to wear everything they have (or pretend to have) on their Nordstrom-bought sleeves, a millionaire in Eastern North Carolina may very likely be living in an old, 1200 sq foot, brick ranch alongside a busy highway.

While I may come across as being critical of others, I fully admit that I too get caught up with the “need” for material things.  I do not go to the mall every weekend and spend $100 on a shirt or $300 on a pair of shoes.  Oh no – I “need” much more expensive things.  I “needed” that new shiny, stainless-steel refrigerator.  And I “need” my bathrooms renovated, solid-surface countertops in the kitchen, and new – or rather old, restored heart-of-pine flooring because the glossy, cherry wood floors that I have now are “too modern.”  Yes – I am guilty of wanting material things too.

But the threat of material things is that before too long, you will find that the things own you and not the other way around.  Shiny cars and big houses need care and attention like a kindergartener.  And we can drive ourselves crazy trying to fill all the “needs” in our life.

One of my favorite things about running is that it is probably the simplest sport there is.  While there are plenty of books and theories out there about how to run (and I certainly enjoy reading all of them!), you do not really need to be “taught” how to run.  It’s instinctual. 

I remember one early morning when I was a young girl – probably around twelve or thirteen – waking up early and deciding to just go for a run.  There was no reason.  It was not planned.  I was not a runner, and I’m not sure when I had last run before.  But something inside me that morning got me out of bed and out running.

I love that memory, because it reminds me how natural it is for us humans to run.  It also reminds me that not every run needs to be planned – or run with a Garmin watch to tell me exactly how far I’ve run and how fast I’m going.  No – most of the time, it’s best to run by feel.  Feel like running far?  Run far.  Feel like running fast?  How about sprint to that next stop sign. 

Yes – running is simple.  Life can be too.  As I struggle to check things off my to-do list and fill all the “needs” of my life, I try to re-evaluate what is actually necessary.  Half of the time I realize that I really don’t “need” something like I thought.  And while I am not there yet, I am certainly trying to get back to my Eastern North Carolina roots and remember the appreciation for a simple life.  Because when I think of the guy watching football and drinking Budweiser on a Sunday, I am a little envious of the days he gets to leave work at 5:00 pm, the modest home he will probably pay off long before the couple with the jumbo mortgage, and the relaxing Sunday he has that doesn’t involve a million chores and errands.  Yes, I think I could live that simple life – minus the Budweiser.

MCM Training Week Ten: 68 Miles

Another solid week…For the most part, my body feels good.  My most notable run this week was a threshold run where I ran 15 minutes at marathon pace, 15 minutes at half-marathon pace, and lastly 15 minutes at 10K pace with 1 minute of easy jogging in between each.  My long run this week was only 16 miles, but it contained some time at marathon pace and the remaining miles were ran at a moderate level.

This Week’s Beer Choice: Triple C Brewing Company’s Baby Maker Double IPA (Charlotte, NC)

This is Marathon Training.

While most people my age spend their Sundays recovering from the bar hopping and all-night boozing that filled their Saturday nights (and often early Sunday mornings), a marathon-hopeful will most likely be recovering from another stamina challenge:  the Sunday Long Run.

Yup.  You know you are in the midst of marathon training when your Sunday morning long runs start kicking your butt so hard that the remainder of your day is filled with your Sunday afternoon long naps.  I often think of Humpty Dumpty in those first few hours after a long run…my body is so wrecked that I am literally in survival mode, trying to put together the pieces again.

This week’s Sunday long run, which happened to be in my parents’ hometown, brought back so many memories of the worst of last year’s marathon training.  For starters, the heat and humidity of Eastern North Carolina in August is unbearable.  Even after making sure to get an early start Sunday morning after I got sick from dehydration after a challenging (and disappointing) run Friday night (even my post-run Carolina Brewery IPA from my ole college town, Chapel Hill, didn’t taste as good as it should), I struggled through the heat as I tried to maintain 18 miles at a hard 7:30 mile pace.  While I only ran roughly eight miles around City Lake, Rocky Mount’s man-made lake that was completed in 1933 by the WPA, I may as well have swum in it.  Walking back into my parents’ home, I had sweat dripping – not just from my body – but literally from my running shorts! 

As I peeled my running clothes off my body like I used to struggle out of my wet, summer swim team suit as a little girl, I almost knocked myself out with the smell of my own stench.  Yes – the smell of ammonia is one that the marathon trainee gets to know well.  However, the smell is not coming from some cleaning supplies lying around the bathroom floor, but instead from her own body as amino acids are broken down as fuel after all glycogen stores have been depleted. 

While it is argued that breaking down your amino acids, the building blocks of protein, should be avoided, I am in the camp of those (including some elite marathoners who choose to intentionally train on empty) that believe as long as you immediately restore your protein, there are benefits to running on depleted glycogen stores.  Some people – like the elites I am referring to – believe that running on empty will condition their body to more efficiently burn fat (which is typically burned more during easier activities such as walking or slow running) rather than glycogen (which is needed for high-intensity exercise), thereby increasing their fuel source during a marathon.  While I am not 100% convinced that running on depleted stores of glycogen will increase one’s fat-burning ability, I do believe that it is important to teach yourself to run hard when you have nothing left.  No matter how much pasta you eat before or Gatorade you chug during, you will never have enough glycogen stores to outlast a marathon.  So, in my book (or I guess you should say blog), you better learn to hit that wall now and keep on running.

In addition to the brutal heat, I also had flashbacks to accidently startling people as I passed by them during my later miles.  Even though I like to think my footsteps are light, I think there are other reasons why my presence may scare them…my appearance.  No one is ever going to win a beauty contest after putting in 18-miles, especially me, but with our bulging veins, eyes and hungered, haggard look, it is not surprising that people make room for us to run by.  To top it off, the humidity of this time of year can do wonders for our hair.  Who needs to spend hours teasing and waste a can of hairspray when they could just go running?

My Biggest Ponytail Ever - Post Long Run 2012

A quote from Uta Pippig, 1994 Boston and ING New York City Marathon winner, that I read in Kara Goucher’s Running for Women seems to sum it up.  “A woman naturally thinks about how she looks, and the marathon beats you up so much that you look terrible at the end.  You do not happily go before the cameras.  You just primp yourself as best you can and tell yourself, well, what can I do about it?”

Yes – between the brutal, sweaty long runs, the chafing, the big hair, the black toenails (or no toenails), and the oh-so-attractive running shorts and racerback tan lines, I am feeling all the effects of marathon training this week. However, as I lie in my bed on a Sunday afternoon with aching legs, I am comforted by a thought:  Every time a runner breaks her body down on a Sunday long-run while training for a marathon, the body will build itself back – But when it does, it will be stronger.

MCM Training Week Nine: 63 Miles 

This Week’s Beer Choice: Carolina Brewery Flagship IPA (Chapel Hill, NC)

Goal Time!

Ok – Here goes…Of all the blogs I have written thus far, this particular blog I debated sharing the most.  No – It does not contain secrets of past relationships or stories of silly nights out on the town.  Instead, it contains something that may be even more personal – my fall marathon goal time.

Last fall while training for my first marathon, I was even more evasive about my race-day plans.  I often shied away from the pace question or diverted the issue with a “Let’s just hope I finish!” response. 

While my coyness on the pace subject may seem odd, there were a couple of reasons for my behavior.  First, I am a firm believer in one running her own marathon – Thus, I didn’t want any feedback or judgment on my planned pace that would taint my own thoughts about the race.  Secondly, I wasn’t sure if I would succeed, and I didn’t want to feel stupid for trying or egotistical for even thinking there was a chance. 

So, why am I so publicly sharing my goal now?  Well, for starters, people don’t really care.  Talking about egotistical – It is egotistical to think that if you blow up during a race and don’t even come close to your goal time that people will be talking about you, labeling you, scrutinizing you.  The truth of the matter is that your race failure is hardly a blip in anyone’s life.

Of greater significance, I am sharing my race goal because it is so intricately weaved in to my weekly training and daily thoughts.  Studies show that a man thinks about sex 19 times a day on average.  I probably think about my marathon goal (or more accurately – reaching my marathon goal) that many times a day.  In the car on the way to work, eating lunch, reading at night before I fall asleep – my marathon goal is always at the back of my mind.  And while it may seem slightly obsessive, it is important to visualize any goal and to make yourself believe you have the ability to achieve it. 

It is also important to know your race pace so that it can properly be integrated in to your training.  The more time a runner spends running at a specific pace, the more efficient that runner’s body will become at running at that pace.  And the more race-specific training runs a runner does as she approaches the big day, the better she will be prepared for the race.  Thus, when a race-specific training run (which are more frequent later in the training period) calls for a certain number of miles at marathon pace, a runner needs to know what she expects that pace to be.

At the beginning of every training period, it’s essential to have a goal in my mind.  However, I have learned that goals are never set-in-stone declarations but instead something that may change – even multiple times – over the course of training.  For example, as I get closer to marathon day, and especially after I run the Marine Corps Half Marathon in Camp Lejeune, I will have a better idea of the probability of achieving my marathon goal in D.C.  It is quite possible that in the last month of training my race-pace will be revised.

In addition to creating flexible goals, I also like to have multiple goals.  Even for the MCM, as long as I improve on the time from my first marathon (3:16:11), it should be a success.  I like to think of it as my “safety goal.”  That way, as long as I don’t completely derail, I should hopefully still have something to feel good about.  On the other extreme, I have a stretch goal – one that is not even on the table this fall (or any time soon), but yet is encouragement to me that if I continue to work hard, I can hope to one day get there.  At work, written on a sticky note and pinned to my cubicle is the following:  “2:43 (6:13 Pace); 1:15 (5:43 Pace).” These are the full and half marathon qualifying times for the 2016 Women’s Olympic Marathon Trials.

Trainer/writer Brad Hudson wrote in his book Run Faster from the 5K to the Marathon (which I use for my training plans) “I’m fond of saying that the best goal setters achieve their race time goals only half the time.  If you always achieve your race time goals, you are surely setting them too low.”

Hudson’s quote gives me comfort because I am honestly more than a little nervous about my fall marathon – I’m scared.  I’m worried I won’t meet my goal, and the race will be a complete flop.  However, if I already knew I could run a marathon in my goal time, then why would I even try?  And we set lofty goals we may never achieve, but by pushing ourselves to get there, we will become stronger, faster runners than we would have otherwise become.

At this point you may think I am forgetting something or worse – avoiding the issue.  So, here it is:  This fall at the Marine Corps Marathon in D.C., my goal is to break three hours by running 6:50 miles. 

MCM Training Week Eight: 57 Miles 

For the record, I meant to run 55 miles this week to stay in line with the 10% rule (Don’t increase your weekly mileage by more than 10% of the total miles you ran the previous week), but evidently I’m an accountant who can’t count.  Regardless, this week was solid but nothing special.  I felt like I maybe took it a little too easy, but next week’s training plan looks to be crazy difficult. 

This Week’s Beer Choice: Mother Earth’s Second Wind Pale Ale (Kinston, NC)

I came across a six pack of this beer at the local beer shop Salud, (http://www.saludbeershop.com/) and I thought the name and print on the can were hilarious.  Does it help your run further?  I guess you may have to try it to find out!