One Week Down, 8 To Go…
…’till my first trail half marathon!
What a busy weekend. Seems far away by now. I worked seven hours at two different jobs, went to dinner and a New West Symphony concert, made all my lunches for this coming week, and somehow managed to fit in a 7 mile run Sunday as well. Between all that, I read a lot from my new favorite book/cookbook: Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon.
As a side note before I talk about running, anyone who would like to know more about real nutrition, not mainstream nutrition which warns that saturated fats are bad for us and cause heart disease (not true on either count!), needs to at least go to the bookstore and peruse the book above. I am learning so much, and feel very domestic now getting excited about making all the recipes. Basically, the emphasis is on real foods and techniques for preparing them that traditional cultures used for centuries to maximize nutrition and digestibility. Not being able to digest well a lot of the food we eat now (cereal grains and legumes for example) causes major health issues in our American culture, mostly because we have forgotten how to prepare it correctly! It’s why we all feel so yucky all the time and take drugs for everything from yeast infections to depression. Anyway, read the book. Even if you don’t like cooking, you’ll make better food choices after reading the wealth of information; it’s not just a cookbook.
Ok, now that I got that off my chest… :) The only reason I mention it here is because I’m realizing that this cannot just be a running blog. I know most of my followers are runners and might not be that interested in nutrition per se, but I am finding that the two cannot be divorced from each other. Those who eat well run well, and I feel like I’m experiencing that already.
Week 1 Recap:
I ran twice last week at 4 miles each and then ended the week with a 7 miler on Sunday.
I was feeling really sluggish on my 4 mile runs and was worried that the 7 would be difficult, but luckily it went well. By mile 4.5 I was tired, but kept concentrating on keeping my running form accurate and increasing the pace slowly. I finished with an average pace of 10:03.
I had brought along my race water belt to run with, which I usually do for anything longer than 6 miles. This time I filled one water bottle up with water and the other with C2O brand coconut water which I get at my local health food store, Lassen’s. I love coconut water! It has close to the optimal potassium/sodium composition that ChiRunning advocates for electrolyte replacement, and it is all natural! No more sugary gu gels for me. I had been drinking coconut water a lot after runs, but this was the first time I drank it while running. I was pleasantly surprised by the energy boost it gave, and it didn’t sit heavy on my stomach or give me a cramp. This will definitely be a new component to my half marathon running routine. It’s always somewhat of a logistical feat to successfully manage hydration, electrolytes, and calories during a long run.
This week’s first run is tomorrow, 5 miles.
