Daily Log - 09/16/13

Had my usual Monday Runday club run with the Gone Running group.

A nice 5 miles at what I'd like to be my race pace. Monday runs are always the hardest for me. Take forever for me to start and get warmed up. I didn't really get my rhythm until about mile 3 and by the end of the 5 miles, I felt like I wanted to run more, but held back.

My Nike+ Sportswatch kept showing me at around 8:55 pace but ended at at about 9:15.


Nutrition For The Day:

Venti Americano w/ Heavy Cream

Lunch

Left Over Chicken Curry
Blue Diamond - Rosemary & Black Pepper Almonds

Dinner

Left Over Chicken Curry
Halo Top Creamery - Chocolate Ice Cream

Daily Log - 09/15/13

Today was a "rest" day, so no activity for me.

I made some chicken curry last night from scratch for the first time.

I used the following ingredients:

Chicken Thighs
Unsweetened Coconut Milk
Curry Powder
Onions
Ginger
Garlic
Spinach
Chinese Long Beans
Red Pepper Flakes
Salt
Pepper

Unfortunately, I'm not a measurement type of guy so I can't say exactly how much of each I put in. It came out a little more soupy than I would have liked, but I liked it and will make it again.

This will be dinner and lunch for a couple days.

Daily Log - 09/14/13

My schedule called for 9 miles today. This will be my third "long" run in a fasted/Ketogenic state.

Last night, a couple friends and I ate at Sizzlers. I ended up getting the steak with broccoli and melted butter and the salad bar. As usual, when I go to Sizzlers (not often), I take my main meal to go and just eat the salad bar. I want to get my moneys worth! I ate some broccoli salad, beef stew, carnitas pork and loads of guacamole. When I got home that night I took 6 capsules of Fish Oil and my Glusosamine Chondritin (pill 2 of a 2 pill serving).

I woke up met up with my friend Janice at the Back Bay around 7 AM. Janice has been my long run partner. She's a long time friend training for the Nike women's Half Marathon. She completed the full last year and has a couple of half marathons under her belt so she has a bit of experience under her.

After my usual dynamic stretching routine, we took off. Right off the bat, we had to climb a hill. I really hate starting on an uphill, as my body takes so long to get warmed up. Legs felt tight as usual, no rhythm in my step. Eventually we made it over and on the downhill and subsequent flat road ahead my body got warmed up. The run overall had about 6-7 rolling hills. The first one was the longest at 175 ft gain, but the rest were no more then 50-75 ft gain. I noticed that on the hills, my stomach would start to hurt. Not a cramp, but pain like I ate something bad and needed to go to the bathroom. I sucked it up and finished the run. It was quite disappointing as I had to focus so much on my stomach during the run. Lungs were great and legs were feeling ok.

This happened to me earlier this week during one of my shorter runs. I was running much faster, and felt the same pain in my stomach. I actually had to stop and use the bathroom mid run. Earlier that day I had a salad and broccoli for lunch and didn't have a chance to clear it out of my system before the run. I felt instantly better after going to the bathroom that day. I wonder if I'm taking in too much fiber before the run? Actually, I'm pretty sure that I am. I'm going to make sure I don't take in fiber unless I know for sure I will have time to clear it out of my system before the run.

I have 2 more long runs and a 10K "race" before my half marathon. I need to get my nutrition down because I do not want to have any issues on race day. 

Some other random observations from the day:

I had a Justin's Nut Butter at the 5 mile mark. Not sure how I feel about it. My stomach was in pain from the beginning of the run so I can't tell if I had a reaction or not to it. I'm still on the fence about in race fueling. I've been running my runs fasted and depending on my ketones and feeling fine, but part of me wonders how my body will be race day when I'm pushing the pace. I want to make sure I can handle whatever I decide to use. Plus, I really like to up my pace towards the end and want to make sure I have something in the tank. I've been listening to some podcasts and reading the runketo.com website and MCT oil seems to be the trick so I may have to pick up some.

After the run, I stopped by Starbucks and got my usual quad espresso over ice with 3 splenda and heavy cream. It's amazing how within minutes of ingesting the caffeine and fat, my body felt "recovered" and numb from the run.

I also spent some time in the gym stretching and foam rolling.

The Alternative Runner

¹al·ter·na·tive

adjective \ȯl-ˈtər-nə-tiv, al-\

: offering or expressing a choice
: not usual or traditional

: existing or functioning outside of the established society

I decided to start this blog to document my experiences in running. I am a runner who doesn't follow some of the widely accepted practices of running. For over a year I've been running in Vibram Five Fingers and as of this month, I have taken up running on a low carb or Ketogenic diet.

I had a lengthy explanation and introduction, but apparently, blogger decided not to save it, so I will have to update this later.