It's hard to believe the race is finally here. I have been preparing for this all summer, methodically following the Galloway plan. I only modified it slightly at the end because my left leg has been bothering me. Instead of doing two long runs after my marathon before the marathon, I did one long run. So I was aggressive in my tapering, but I am hoping for the best.
Yesterday at the Marathon Expo was fun. It was the middle of the day on Friday so the Expo was not crowded and it was easy to walk around and see stuff. I picked up some new sneakers on sale, one of those stick things for massaging tired muscles, and a carrying case for my Iphone.
So tonight I had lasagna and a salad from Ozzies at Fairfax Corner. Yum. I also had two guilt-free rolls before the salad even came out. Galloway's book said to not eat too much the night before, so I only ate half of my lasagna. I hydrated all day and took Advil in the morning and at night.
The weather forecast is for 31 degrees at the start at 44 degrees when I finish, a projected 6 hours later. Anyway you slice it that calls for pants. I have not done any long runs in pants so I am a little worried about chaffing...good thing I picked up some "Glide" at the Expo too!
The hardest part of the race tomorrow will be force feeding myself breakfast and then getting to the starting line. I'll be taking the orange line and then switching to the blue line to get to the start. With 30,000 participants having to go through security it will take awhile to get to the start. Oy. Just thinking about that freaks me out!How many port-o-johns do 30,000 people need?
I am so excited that I have gotten to this point. Tomorrow is going to be a blast!!!
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Got Parkinsons?
The title is a little pun form the "Got Milk?" campaign. According to a study published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, men who consumed the most dairy products had a 60 percent increase in the risk of Parkinsons disease. Researchers have not identified why processed milk products increase the risk of Parkinsons in men. Could it be the use of Bovine Growth Hormone used to make cows produce more milk? Is it the pesticides used in the corn and soy fed to our industrially farmed cows? (What ever happened to grazing?) Could it be the antibiotics the cows are injected with the fight the infections that occur when you make a cow eat food that it's body was not designed for? According to the Weston A Price Foundation milk contains traces of 80 antibiotics - umm antibiotic resistance anyone??? Could it be the fact that once milk is pasteurized its molecular structure is altered, becoming less of a real living food and more like a food product, losing a significant amount of its nutritional value.
The study did not find a correlation between processed dairy consumption and increased risk of Parkinsons in women. My mom consumed a moderate amount of dairy growing up, nothing out of the ordinary. I don't know why the Y chromosome makes a person more vulnerable to increasing their risk of Parkinsons through milk consumption. The main correlations for suspected causes of Parkinsons have been head injuries and pesticides. Reviewing the list above, perhaps it is the pesticides used in the feed for the dairy cows that causes the increased risk from dairy consumption.
If you believe in the gut-brain connection like I do, perhaps its the lack of enzymes in pasteurized milk that make it difficult for your body to digest, which can lead to inflammation and a leaky gut. Leaky gut can lead to a whole host of neurological ailments and perhaps Parkinsons is one of them, but I digress. I am just glad to see yet another study supporting my belief in the gut-brain connection. For sources of raw milk in your community go to http://www.realmilk.com/where1.html.
The study did not find a correlation between processed dairy consumption and increased risk of Parkinsons in women. My mom consumed a moderate amount of dairy growing up, nothing out of the ordinary. I don't know why the Y chromosome makes a person more vulnerable to increasing their risk of Parkinsons through milk consumption. The main correlations for suspected causes of Parkinsons have been head injuries and pesticides. Reviewing the list above, perhaps it is the pesticides used in the feed for the dairy cows that causes the increased risk from dairy consumption.
If you believe in the gut-brain connection like I do, perhaps its the lack of enzymes in pasteurized milk that make it difficult for your body to digest, which can lead to inflammation and a leaky gut. Leaky gut can lead to a whole host of neurological ailments and perhaps Parkinsons is one of them, but I digress. I am just glad to see yet another study supporting my belief in the gut-brain connection. For sources of raw milk in your community go to http://www.realmilk.com/where1.html.
Monday, October 10, 2011
The Marathon before the Marathon
Yesterday I ran 26 miles. I am very sore today, but more than that I have a sort of mental fatigue that comes from all over exhaustion. The last longest run is by far the worst part of doing the Galloway program. You have all of the work and pain of running 26 miles without crowds cheering you on or the adrenaline of other runners carrying you. It's just you and your legs and your brain trying to get through it.
The best part of this day was sleeping in so that I could be well rested for my endeavor. I am glad I did it, but this clearly does not prepare me for getting up early on race day. For breakfast I had my usual bacon and a bagel and two cups of black tea. Not exactly the breakfast of champions, but it is what my body knows. I also took 3 advil to prepare my body for what it was about to do, a sort of apology in advance.
There is an 8 mile loop that begins and ends at my house which I did twice. These first 16 were pretty easy although the temperature was a little warm. I have been having some problems with muscle weakness in my left leg and this was noticeable but not so bad. I packed two twenty ounce water bottles, a 12 ounce water bottle and gus. My strategy is to run for 45 minutes, take a gu, and then take gus every 30 minutes. It seems to work. Any more than that and I get GI distress and any less than that I feel like I get weak.
After the first 16 I did two more five mile loops around my neighborhood (in a global sense). Between all of my loops I would swing by my house, switch out water bottles, add gus, and drink six ounces of Asea, a salt water solution which is supposed to help with inflammation. I also used the rest rom, not because I had to, but because it was there, and there was no where else on my loops should the need arrive.
Usually on my long runs it is the incremental increase in mileage where I feel the pain. Because of my sore left leg the last ten were challenging. I was annoyed by the early fatigue, but considering I had run 16 without complaint I took it in stride (pun intended). The only way I can manage the mileage mentally is to listen to my Integrative Nutrition ipod. I listened to David Katz and Mark Hyman, both of whom I had heard at the Integrative Nutrition conference in New York and then some one speaking about nutrition and mood disorders, especially as they relate to neurotransmitter and amino acid deficiencies.
The last five miles were brutal, even my cell phone died so I am not sure of the exact mileage that I did. I know it was at least 26 and perhaps 26.2. My phone got too tired and shut down. I could definitely relate. My left leg was weak and I started experiencing knee pain in my right leg, perhaps from compensating for my left leg. My back also tightened up. Looking at my shadow running, it looked stiff and rigid and uncomfortable.
When I made it home for the last time I tried to stretch, but even that was beyond my ability. I felt like a washcloth that had been wrung dry. I was a bit light-headed and definitely in pain. I inhaled some yogurt with some superfoods in it to replenish my body enough to get through a shower.
The shower was also brutal as all of the chaffing spots burned when the water hit them. Apparently, my sports bra had been chaffing on my back and I knew already that under my arms was pretty raw. These lovely chaffed spots usually take about a week to heal. My husband was kind enough to heat up some leftovers for dinner so that I could take some more advil.
Eating after running that long is an interesting thing. On the one thing you are incredibly weak and need nourishment, but there is also a little bit of nausea too and you feel too tired to eat. I ate some pasta and some deviled eggs and two fried onion slices plus a Orgain, organic chocolate milk with extra protein. Clearly not a meal taken from the training books, but it got the job done. I will say that although I was exhausted it was very difficult getting to sleep last night because of the muscle pain.
Today had my beautiful seven year old not woken me up, I may have slept all day. I was bone tired and felt very very heavy. My left leg continues to give me grief, not wanting to support my weight. I went to the chiropractor today and she really helped. I can almost walk without a limp and I imagine it will be even better tomorrow. What I was not expecting was the foul mood that accompanies the pain. I thought I would be happy in my long run accomplishment, but mostly I am exhausted and easily agitated. I put on some B-12 patches to help clear the storm clouds over my head and hopefully get some energy back.
If you are reading this, thank you for your support on this journey. I know that running a marathon is a bit excessive, and one should expect their body to not appreciate it. What has kept me going is knowing that I am doing this in honor of my mom and that so many people are cheering me on.
The best part of this day was sleeping in so that I could be well rested for my endeavor. I am glad I did it, but this clearly does not prepare me for getting up early on race day. For breakfast I had my usual bacon and a bagel and two cups of black tea. Not exactly the breakfast of champions, but it is what my body knows. I also took 3 advil to prepare my body for what it was about to do, a sort of apology in advance.
There is an 8 mile loop that begins and ends at my house which I did twice. These first 16 were pretty easy although the temperature was a little warm. I have been having some problems with muscle weakness in my left leg and this was noticeable but not so bad. I packed two twenty ounce water bottles, a 12 ounce water bottle and gus. My strategy is to run for 45 minutes, take a gu, and then take gus every 30 minutes. It seems to work. Any more than that and I get GI distress and any less than that I feel like I get weak.
After the first 16 I did two more five mile loops around my neighborhood (in a global sense). Between all of my loops I would swing by my house, switch out water bottles, add gus, and drink six ounces of Asea, a salt water solution which is supposed to help with inflammation. I also used the rest rom, not because I had to, but because it was there, and there was no where else on my loops should the need arrive.
Usually on my long runs it is the incremental increase in mileage where I feel the pain. Because of my sore left leg the last ten were challenging. I was annoyed by the early fatigue, but considering I had run 16 without complaint I took it in stride (pun intended). The only way I can manage the mileage mentally is to listen to my Integrative Nutrition ipod. I listened to David Katz and Mark Hyman, both of whom I had heard at the Integrative Nutrition conference in New York and then some one speaking about nutrition and mood disorders, especially as they relate to neurotransmitter and amino acid deficiencies.
The last five miles were brutal, even my cell phone died so I am not sure of the exact mileage that I did. I know it was at least 26 and perhaps 26.2. My phone got too tired and shut down. I could definitely relate. My left leg was weak and I started experiencing knee pain in my right leg, perhaps from compensating for my left leg. My back also tightened up. Looking at my shadow running, it looked stiff and rigid and uncomfortable.
When I made it home for the last time I tried to stretch, but even that was beyond my ability. I felt like a washcloth that had been wrung dry. I was a bit light-headed and definitely in pain. I inhaled some yogurt with some superfoods in it to replenish my body enough to get through a shower.
The shower was also brutal as all of the chaffing spots burned when the water hit them. Apparently, my sports bra had been chaffing on my back and I knew already that under my arms was pretty raw. These lovely chaffed spots usually take about a week to heal. My husband was kind enough to heat up some leftovers for dinner so that I could take some more advil.
Eating after running that long is an interesting thing. On the one thing you are incredibly weak and need nourishment, but there is also a little bit of nausea too and you feel too tired to eat. I ate some pasta and some deviled eggs and two fried onion slices plus a Orgain, organic chocolate milk with extra protein. Clearly not a meal taken from the training books, but it got the job done. I will say that although I was exhausted it was very difficult getting to sleep last night because of the muscle pain.
Today had my beautiful seven year old not woken me up, I may have slept all day. I was bone tired and felt very very heavy. My left leg continues to give me grief, not wanting to support my weight. I went to the chiropractor today and she really helped. I can almost walk without a limp and I imagine it will be even better tomorrow. What I was not expecting was the foul mood that accompanies the pain. I thought I would be happy in my long run accomplishment, but mostly I am exhausted and easily agitated. I put on some B-12 patches to help clear the storm clouds over my head and hopefully get some energy back.
If you are reading this, thank you for your support on this journey. I know that running a marathon is a bit excessive, and one should expect their body to not appreciate it. What has kept me going is knowing that I am doing this in honor of my mom and that so many people are cheering me on.
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