Those of you who read this blog the old-fashioned way may have noticed a recent addition to the page: Powered By. Lucky me, Clif Bar gives me tasty pre/during/post run fuel in exchange for being awesome.
Lucky you, Clif Bar gave me a selection of product and swag to share. I promise, I won’t make you gush about how much you love Clif Bars or pick your favourite flavour of Clif Blok or tell me a story about how you totally ran a PB eating Clif Shots to enter the draw. Continue reading
That 100 year old marathoner is getting tons of media attention for covering 42.2K. Tons more than I get when I run 42.2K. The media are fixated on his age, often relegating the most interesting Fauja Fact to a mere side note: Continue reading
Posted in Running Tids & Bits
I am not one to give nutritional advice. First, I’m not qualified. Second, I’ve been known to eat a bag of chocolate chip decadent cookies for dinner. Third, and chocolate covered almonds for dessert. My standards are deliciously low. But not this low: Continue reading
A selection of articles from around the Internets that every runner should read. Each one guaranteed* to make you run faster. Continue reading
Posted in Mixed Tapes, Running Tids & Bits
Tagged blog, cookies, exercise, fitness, food, Garmin, gear, health, marathon, running, sport psychology
In the post-Boston haze (I promise, the why me me me has an expiration date; we just haven’t reached it yet) I’ve been trying to figure out what the heck went so very wrong. I have a theory. Continue reading
Posted in Running Tids & Bits
Tagged Boston Marathon, exercise, fitness, food, health, marathon, running
For the Annals of Stupid Things I Do to Food/Drink During Races, I have not yet exhausted my supply of stories from Around the Bay.
I packed my race kit the evening before the race (I’m organized!) in the dark because it was Earth Hour and I’m awesome in a turn the lights out way (I’m not organized enough to finish before Earth Hour!) and thus my gel selection was touch based. I quickly discovered that my gel selection was limited to two choices: lumpy or really lumpy.
I opted for Lumpy. Lumpy, I later discovered by candlelight, was over a year expired. Really Lumpy was nearly two years expired and intelligently went right to the garbage bin. You may recall my recent brush with expired products. I lost. Sweaty Kid reminded me of a recent tangle with gels during a race. I lost. Someone with more foresight than me could have easily avoid certain tragedy.
But Lumpy seemed fine except for the bottom lumpy bits. I reasoned I could eat around the lumpy bits, which would helpfully stay put at the bottom of packet. I estimated 5/6 of the packet was edible. The odds were in my favour.
I saved my gel for 21K, a sugar kick for the final push. In my race haze I greedily consumed the entire packet, lumpy bits and all, then immediately freaked as the disgusting and no longer vanilla flavoured lumps bumped down my throat.
I do not know the physical side effects of expired gels, but the psychological side effects are an urgent need to go and to go is code for two not one, obsessive worrying about the side effects of ingesting expired chemicals, and the constant feeling of not vanilla regurgitation.
Not one to let a near poisoning throw me off my game, as you well know, I stoically soldiered on.
Title: Presidents of the United States of America - Lump. 1995.
Posted in My Amazing Races, Running Tids & Bits
Tagged Around the Bay, exercise, fitness, food, health, marathon, running
Monster month = monster appetite. I need to feed the long run beast. This happens every training cycle.
Today at 2 pm, at my desk, I made s’mores. My coworkers must secretly suspect I have a tape worm.
I made s’mores without marshmallows because I don’t eat vile food that doesn’t look, smell, or taste like food. Also I didn’t melt the chocolate. I worried a bunsen burner might cross the fire code line. Also I used cookies instead of graham crackers. No reason, except one of convenience, as in I conveniently had cookies at my desk.
So technically I ate a bag of animal cookies covered in chocolate buds. Calling them s’mores sounds classier than calling it what it is. A pathetic binge. Yeah, it’s a sad scale when s’more is the sophisticated end point.
Title: Rolling Stones – Beast of Burden. 1978.
Posted in Running Tids & Bits
I am in a food rut. Part of it I can blame on my supertaster aversions (yes, I really do have super powers, I’ve been tested), part on laziness, and part on gravitation to routine. But I am sometimes a little bit cautiously open to dietary change.
About two months ago I started eating two extra-thick slices of Cobbs Cinnamon Loaf every morning with my yogurt mix (100 grams of berries, 175 grams plain yogurt, 25 grams berry yogurt to be exact, which I am) and tea. Every morning except long run morning, at which time I have been ingesting four extra-thick slices of Cobbs Cinnamon bread with my tea. For the three years before this culinary switcheroo, my yogurt mix has been accompanied by homemade banana bread with chocolate chips. And my long run preceded by two slices of the homemade banana bread.
Homemade takes time and Cobbs does not. Laziness = a new food. Yesterday I looked up the caloric information on Cobbs Cinnamon bread. Tonight I am making banana bread.
Title: Jack Johnson – Banana Pancakes. 2005.
Posted in Running Tids & Bits
Tagged exercise, fitness, food, health, marathon, running, sports nutrition
I always thought water was a reasonably healthy beverage selection. Lots of good stuff (water), no not-so-good stuff (things I can’t spell).
My confession: I drink tap water. I know, no added vitamins, energy boosters, and fruity colours. Hold your gasps. It never occurred to my how deficient nature is in this regard.
This could be the missing piece in my slow-twitch puzzle. If I want to be a skinny fast runner I should drink Skinny Sport Water. All the goodness of water and more. More chemicals yes, but skinny sporty chemicals. With four sport flavours (blue fit, pink power, green active, red shape) to suit your sporty needs. 0 calories, 0 sugar, 0 sodium, 0 guilt. Only natural flavours found in fruits and vegetables. And given that there are no sugars or calories, probably no fruits or vegetables. But there is a wee bit of sucralose and Ace-K as sweetners. And patented extracts. Sounds deliciously refreshing.
Title: The Beach Boys – Don’t go Near the Water. 1971.
This is what happens when you decide three minutes before the race starts that you hate your SpiBelt and Husband sweetly volunteers to carry it but then you have no place to put the two GUs you managed to find in Bermuda because the ones your brought were expired and lumpy and instead of using the SpiBelt you safety pin your GU to the inside of your shorts and at mile three the chocolate GU breaks loose and falls through your shorts onto the road and you chase your GU backwards through the throngs of people trampling it but you manage to pick it up without bodily injury and wrestle it into the one wee little pocket at the back of your shorts containing your blistex and emergency money and it continues to seep chocolate for the next hour until it worrisomely looks like you’ve done the one thing you’ve feared doing for the last 17 miles because your upset tummy disagrees with the weird new food and rum-based drinks you’ve been consuming for the past four days.
Shown: My chocolate-covered run shorts. Ignore the weird tight grip on the left. I was removing the safety pins impaled in my hip as Husband took the picture.
Title: REO Speedwagon – Can’t Fight This Feeling. 1984.
Posted in Running Tids & Bits
My Running Shorts, noun: brief stories about life on the run.
