Hamptons Marathon: The Best Laid Plans

So, I ran a marathon on Saturday. Compared to Chicago last year, there’s been very little mentioned here about this race and that was a conscious decision. I figured I would check in after the race, tell you all about my fun day and move on to other topics. We chose the Hamptons Marathon. It’s a small, local race that Runners World gave good reviews. I don’t like marathon training hanging over my head too far into the fall, so late September seemed perfect. Let’s just say my plan didn’t work that well and Saturday- well it was rough.

My training leading up to the race was pretty strong. I was running faster than I had in recent years and diligently tracking all my runs from my Garmin GPS watch in Training Peaks.  I ran a couple of half marathons this summer; one was strong, one more conservative (it was a very hot day). And though I was sidelined with bronchitis a couple weeks ago still felt ready to go. I started eyeing the forecast about a week ago and felt relieved that there didn’t seem to be a heat wave coming. Of course as we got closer rain seemed a good possibility but I was ok with that. What had started out as five people we knew running the race had dwindled to three. Friday, late in the day, my friend emailed she was out, a hurt knee and the weather didn’t help.

So it was just Marc and me. The boys would be staying with friends (very, very nice friends) and we drove out East Friday night. We had our usual pre-race sushi dinner and prepared for the next day. We pinned our numbers to our shirts, packed our shorts with Clif Shots and printed our pacing wristbands. I set the coffee maker for the next morning and of course brought our Le Pain Quotidian coffee from home. I am a big believer in race rituals and am a planner by nature; this too would work against me.

We woke up at 5AM Saturday, my father in law said “I think you got lucky, it’s not raining.” I had my E3 Live, followed by coffee and Purely Elizabeth Granola with fruit. I put some Vega Performance optimizer in a bottle to have in the hour before the race. We drove to the start, found parking close by and felt that nice race day buzz. 

We had plenty of time and a full row of empty and clean Porto potties. I decided to take advantage of this and laughed when a Lululemon bag with the words “Breathe Deeply” had been discarded on the floor of the Porto potty, I decided not to comply.

We lined up at the starting area. Instead of a motivating welcome speech the man counting down said these ominous words “this is not a flat course, it’s very hilly out there” and then we were off. We were running alongside half marathoners and some doing a 5K so it was important not to get caught up and go out too fast. After a bunch of marathons, I knew slow was better than fast and continued to consult my watch and pace accordingly. I distracted myself looking at the runners around me. There was the woman in teal who moved her arms as though she were swimming freestyle. There was also the shirtless man with a hairy back and Vibrams. I briefly wondered where he placed his running number without a shirt.  I also noticed it was very, very humid. It felt like you were running through glue and I just didn’t feel energetic. 

We were on pace through 5 miles and at about mile 6 my hypersensitive Garmin watch, probably malfunctioning from the humidity/mist, stopped. Part of me freaked while the trying-to -be-sane part of me realized I’d have the race clocks and with my pacing band could gauge my speed. The only thing was at 6 miles the full marathon split from the half marathon course and so it seemed did all of the race’s efforts. The next clock would be mile 13 (it said 2:70, 2 hours 70 minutes? It was broken).

Trying to regroup, I tried to use the fluid stations as markers but there were times when these were 2 miles or more apart. Some had Gatorade, some didn’t, and some didn’t even have people manning them. Marathons are very mental and looking back for someone so routinized (ok anal) all of the changes didn’t go over well. By mile 15, I was wiped out. I felt how I did last year in the final miles of Chicago. I had never experienced this so early in the race. There were really no spectators and with the hills I was warned about looming for as far as I could see, I made the decision to drop out. I reasoned that it wasn’t my day and that was fine. I planned to find a police car at the next water station and pack it in. Even my dropout plan backfired when at the next water stop there were no police cars or anyone to drop out with. I had one Clif shot left in my pocket and figured I may as well see if some “triple espresso” would do the trick. I looked ahead of me and it didn’t help that everyone was walking. I elected to continue and figured worst case I’d have a 10-mile walk. Instead, I used my music and told myself I couldn’t stop until a song was over. As I ran for the duration of my son’s favorite song (Paycheck), I passed hairy back. As miserable as I was, I laughed a little

Soon I was at mile 20, I was scared to look at the clock. With my walking breaks and fatigue, I thought for sure it would be beyond horrible. It said 3:18, I was flummoxed.  I was only a few minutes slow. In a typical race, I’d dig down deep and finish strong only I was so exhausted that wasn’t going to happen. There was no euphoria, there was no strategy remaining except to finish. At the 26-mile mark I summoned the last remaining energy and ran it in. Marc was there. Though it was humid and he didn’t feel he could push it like he wanted to, the lack of clocks or water didn’t affect him. He didn’t really have a race plan and it worked out well. As for me, while disappointing this crappy race was also informative and will in no way diminish my planning tendencies. In fact, one day later I realize how lucky I was to have participated and will use what I learned in planning future races.

Are you someone who plans or wings it?  What’s your next fitness goal or challenge?

Do you think being goal-oriented can have its disadvantages? 

Foodtrainers Five Favorite Finds

This past Saturday I ran the Brooklyn Half Marathon. I could tell you that it was the first nice day we’ve had in NYC in what felt like weeks. I could tell you about spotting Marc a few times during the run and the fun finish on the Coney Island boardwalk near the beach. It was a memorable day but I’m not dwelling on the scenery or the soreness (now gone). Instead, I’ve been thinking more about the delicious breakfast I had a 5am Saturday morning and that’s what I want to tell you about. I’ll throw in 4 other “fantastic finds.”

The morning of the race, after pouring a cup of Le Pain Quotidien coffee, I prepared a bowl of fruit. I had blackberries, blueberries and strawberries and cut in some banana as well. I sprinkled granola over the fruit. This was not just any granola this was Purely Elizabeth’s “ancient grain” gluten free granola. This granola is outstanding. It’s made with gluten free oats, chia seeds, coconut oil and other carefully chosen ingredients. I had the original but there’s cranberry pecan and pumpkin fig.  My only concern is that this granola is too good, measure out the 1/3-cup serving and put it away. Purely Elizabeth will send one of our readers a 3-pack sampler of their 3 granola flavors. Be sure to comment to be in the running.

As we left the apartment Saturday, I filled a water bottle with my new favorite pre-race drink. It’s made by a company called Vega that was started by a vegan triathlete. These are not your run of the mill sports nutrition products.  I use the lemon-lime Sport Performance Optimizer. It comes in single serve envelopes if you want to try it out. It has ginger and turmeric, yerba mate and kombucha. It’s 70 calories per serving and I’ve never had a bad run after drinking it. One note, no dyes are used and it will appear you are drinking sludge. It’s good sludge I promise. 

Over the winter, I tweeted about not wanting to show my “post pregnancy abs” when I inverted in yoga. I received a number of responses. Some people commiserated with me. Others asked when I had my baby (7 years ago, not recently) and then there was one reply offering up a solution (a non-surgical solution ha). The owner of Nuttzo nut butters said, “you have to try Yummie Tummie it will change your life.”  Yummie Tummie was kind enough to send me their appropriately named Skinny Tank.  This tank did in fact make my tummy look yummy (or flat). The problem? My tummy was initially a little too “yummy” for the XS I received.  While temporarily scarred that I wasn’t skinny enough for my "Skinny Tank",  I sized up and it was great. Order a size larger and save a therapy session.

My next “find” is something I should have used more during ski season this year. I am not someone who weighs or measures every morsel of food I eat nor do suggest my clients do so.  We all need check-ups from time to time. When that handful of almonds becomes two or you’re bowl of cereal (or Purely Elizabeth granola) is growing- I found the perfect gadget. It’s the EatSmart Nutrition Pro Scale. It doesn’t do much for me to know I am eating 30 grams of nuts (servings in grams are a whole other topic/pet peeve). With this scale, you plug in the code for almonds and the calories (145 the first time I tried) are displayed. There are over 1,000 foods in their database. We had my brother in law and his girlfriend over, not for the purpose of testing the scale I promise, and had fun with this contraption. Small glass of wine? 62 calories. Apple from fruit bowl 75 calories.  This is an incredibly useful weight loss tool. I have it permanently on my counter and use it for cooking but much more often for fun.

EatSmart is offering a 20% discount to Foodtrainers’ blog readers who us the code FOODTR20 when ordering on their website.  You can also follow EatSmart on Twitter @Eatsmartscales,

For my fifth find, I have to tell you about my current favorite snack. They’re from a company called Kaia foods. Although I refer to myself as a nutritionist, I could be more aptly called a professional food tester. We try a lot of products or order to find some keepers. Kaia’s sweet curry sunflower seeds are a keeper. Kaia makes kale chips and sunflower seeds in a number of delicious flavors. You can purchase all their products on the kaia website and amazon. You can also find them at Whole Foods Markets. Kaia’s philosophy is also noteworthy “kaia foods was founded with the belief that our health is best supported by eating an abundance of minimally processed whole foods. We sprout, mix and dehydrate our organic foods at low temperatures so that they remain 'raw.' No baking, frying, bleaching, or weird processing steps!” I’m not religious but I’m feeling an “amen”.

Which of these “finds” would you want to try? What are your new favorite foods or gadgets? Isn’t it nice that some great companies avoid “weird processing steps”? 

If there's no wagon, you can't fall off

 

My friend Rebecca (of Beccarama) wrote on her blog about eating a steak. What made this event post-worthy and interesting was that Rebecca is a vegetarian and the post was entitled "falling off the vegetarian wagon”.  Rebecca tells the story of how she initially decided to became vegetarian.  She refers to an article she read about the environmental cost of eating meat. She mentions that meat eating didn’t seem to align itself with other behaviors she engaged in such as sipping from a Sigg bottle and recycling. “This coupled with the disgusting stories coming out about factory farming, hormones, antibiotics and all the rest made it not too difficult to cut down on meat.” While Rebecca says, “cut down” she didn’t eat less meat she ate no beef, poultry or pork for years. Fish remained and therefore she went by the term pescetarian.

I agree with many of Rebecca’s reasons for eating less meat. I don’t eat meat frequently nor do I eat a large portion when I do. I wonder whether eating some grass-fed steak every so often should lead to feelings of guilt or imply you’re less concerned about the environment.  I worry about the various eating camps people place themselves in. I have a friend who is a self-described “fish eating vegan” and another who’s “mostly raw.”  I have a wheat allergy but I never describe myself as “wheat free” or “gluten free” unless asked. I guess I could describe my eating as “Wheat free, pescetarian with occasional grass-fed meat” but that’s just ridiculous.

There are some exceptions that require an absolute and also a label. For those with food allergies it needs to be clear that no wiggle room is tolerated. Although with more people self-diagnosing their allergies even  “allergic” is taken less seriously. Religion also dictates many food rules. However, there are those who “keep a kosher house” but are less strict outside the house. Some Christians don’t observe the food guidelines over Lent. Unless medically dictated there seems to be some leniency.

Aside from the lack of flexibility, I feel there’s something competitive in these food labels. It’s as though vegetarian gets the bronze medal, vegan the silver and raw vegan ooh the gold for sure. Isn’t this odd? Does removing foods from your diet make you a better or  “cleaner” eater or maybe a better person? In my office I see clients who are vegan, others gluten-free or dairy-free. I rarely try to convert someone but rather try to achieve the healthiest food plan regardless of the constraints. Yet others are more exclusive. I’ve had bloggers tell me “I only read vegan blogs.” That’s fine but I feel they’re missing out on some great vegan or vegetable recipes found on other sites.

Excluding something from your diet doesn’t make your remaining food healthy. French fries are vegan and many gluten-free products are nutritionally void. A healthy diet, if that’s what we’re after, can take many forms. If we see eating as a Venn diagram there are many areas in which Rebecca and I or vegans and carnivores overlap. Most of us believe a healthy diet should be vegetable-heavy, that we should cook more or at least know where our food comes from, we should eat less packaged food and sugar and drink alcohol (oh wait, ok I’ll revoke that last one, wishful thinking). As for the wagon, it saddens me to think that someone like Rebecca who enjoys food and makes conscious choices for herself and her family is walking around feeling as though she is “off” or “fell”, wagon or otherwise. Speaking of that wagon, how do you picture it? When choosing a photo I realized I conjure up an image ala Little House in the Prairie or the horse-drawn carriage we once took a ride on in Colorado. I guess it doesn’t matter since I’m advocating going wagon-less.

Do you label your eating? Why do you think these labels are used? Are they necessary?