Day 215, 150 To Go

August 3, 2013

It's been a lazy, just like I wanted.  I spent a lot of time with the babies on the floor.  I was basically lying down on the floor most of the day with babies jumping all over me.  I only got up when I had to like when Joshua or Ayla got into the oven.  They like to open it up (the bottom part) and take all the stuff out.  We try to baby proof it, but I guess because of the heat, the glue from the locks just wears off.  It is very annoying because when I am lying on the floor, I like to stay there!  Babies!!

I was really lazy all day and I didn't go for my run until about 7:30pm.  I had all day to go, but I waited until the evening.  I am a bit of a procrastinator (as you can probably tell by how late my blog usually is!)  The bottom line is, I got it done.

Now, let's continue with The 25 Golden Rules of Running from Runner's World magazine.  Today is rule #11.

11. The Carbs Rule 
For a few days before a long race, emphasize carbohydrates in your diet.

"Carbo-loading" became the marathoner's mantra after Scandinavian studies in 1967 suggested cramming down carbs following a period of carb depletion produced super-charged athletes. Experts now say simply emphasizing carbs a few days before a race over two hours works just as well.

The Exception: There's a word for carbo-loading during regular training or before a short race: gluttony.

I have, on many occasion, over carbo loaded.  I have eaten more pasta than a fat Italian man at a Sunday dinner with his lonely mama (if you are Italian, you know that is a LOT of pasta).  This has caused some GI distress the next day, but since I always carbo load 2 days before a race, I never had too many issues on race day.

This rule states that you can emphasize carbs for a few days, rather than being a gluttonous pig the day before a race and this is a good idea.  In fact, eating a lot of carbs the day before a race is never a good idea.  You don't want to eat a lot the day before the race.  You just want to eat enough to stay satisfied and you want it to be light food.  Nothing heavy or fatty or too sugary.  You should be eating more carbs three to four days before the race with an emphasis two days before.  Don't overdue it, but eat maybe a little more than you normally would.

For training, if you are doing more than a 2 hour workout, you can practice this.  Don't do this too much because you don't want to gain a lot of weight which will just slow you down.  Like one of the previous rules stated (#6) you don't want to try anything new on race day and for that matter, even a couple of days prior.  So, just as you would try out your nutrition while you train, you should try out your carbo loading technique as well.

Here are my numbers:

Time: 25:00

Distance: 2.86 miles

Pace: 8:45/m

Max Pace: 7:51/m

Calories: 296
Avg HR: 136

Max HR: 143

I didn't push today, but I felt pretty good and loose and I am ready for a hard day of training tomorrow.  I hope I have a good ride.  Wish me luck!

Run for Life!