Fueling Friday

So I have thought about doing a post about how to appropriately fuel for a run for quite some time, I even tried to get a guest blogger to come do some notes on it, but alas, no dice. But now that I am back up to decent distances (yes, I have failed to fill you all in, but my half marathon training is somewhat back on track, with 4 weeks left to go!) I have been re-evaluating my fuel options.

I often do not fule for anything less than 10-12k. Just water. I find for this distance, as long as I get home and grab some lovely chocolate milk or other source of nutrients, I'm good.

But, with the longer runs now, I need something to keep me going. Every runner has their preferences, and I will just share mine! So here are some of the popular choices (food based, not any electrolytes or other brews), and my thoughts on them.

Clif: Clif offers two different products, the gels and the the shot bloks. I have tried both, and although I am not a fan of the chewiness and stickiness of some chews, I think Clif has hit a good balance for both of these products. I can take them manageably, and the flavours are pretty decent. They also tend to be cheaper than many of the other products out there, and the gels have convenient little tabs so that you don't have to litter on the run. That being said, I find the effect, the high you get is a bit muted, and may not last as long. They are my current #2 brand!

Powerbar: Probably one of the oldest and most well known companies for sports energy products, the powerbars, bites, blasts and the gels can be found in most sports stores and often in grocery stores. Powerbar provides a number of flavours and are generally middle of the pack on cost. I have tried the bars for non-running, and like them. On the run, I can't really fathom eating a powerbar, so I have tried the gel and the blasts. Sadly, I hate them. The gel in both products has a taste and consistency that I just cannot stomach, and they generally cause me some GI issues. They might work for some people, just not at all for me. I'd rather run without fuel than use powerbar gel.

Stingers: I have a pack of these purchased, but haven't gotten the chance to bite into them yet. The stingers are made of honey and kola nut, which is the natural source for caffiene, and they use mostly organic materials. The company produces waffles, stingers, and gels, but they are VERY hard to find in my area. I have never seen the gel, and the waffles and stingers are generally only available at Running Room. Stingers are limited in flavours as well, but are reasonably priced.

Jelly Belly: This is JB's attempt to diversify it's products, by taking jelly beans and adding some electrolytes and vitamins. These taste just like the real jelly bellys, which is an advantage in the taste arena. However, they are also made 100% like jelly beans, meaning a sugary exterior and chewy interior which equals a bad mix for me. I hate eating something that tastes so much like candy while running. They are extremely portable, and I love how the little bags are resealable, but I will take a pass on these beans.

Sharkies: These adorable little jelly candies pack real fruit flavour and some serious energy. The package is a bit more bulky, meaning that they can be harder to carry on longer runs, especially if you need to carry more than one. Nutritionally, they are a good balance of everything you need while on the run, and I find the energy is really great over the long term - no peak and crash. I do find that Sharkies have a bit of an aftertaste, and can stick in your teeth quite easily (saving for later?) but generally a good choice.

Gu: With Gu, you either love it or hate it. And many, many people love it. Myself included. Medium price (not including the Roctane), but with a superior energy punch, and great long term power to get your through the tough runs. I tend to like the variety of flavours available, both fruity and heavier options. I personally LOVE the Jet Blackberry flavour (2x caffiene for the win!). My #1 choice on all runs.

Carb Boom: this product has larger packages and can be quite hard to find outside of specialty stores. They also quite high calorie content, and either no caffiene or double caffiene. Personally I have never tried this brand, so I can't rate the effectiveness, but I have heard both good and bad things about this product. It is thin and can be messy.

Hammer Gel: Again, one I haven't tried due to it's lack of general availability in my area. Only available at Running Room. Medium price, about 9 flavours to try from. Lower on calories and made with real fruit. Noted to have a lower initial punch and long term energy boost than some other brands.

Here's an interesting chart about most of the brands above, plus some I assume are American:

http://www.trail-running-blog.com/energy-gel-review-comparison/

What product is your favourite? How do you fuel on the go?

Spartan Race - July 2011

Ok, here is my long awaited race summary for the Spartan Race, which took place at Camp Fortune in Hull.

First of all, for some reason, after living in Ottawa for approximately 7 years, somehow I never managed to figure out that Camp Fortune wasn't just a lovely place to relax and do some hiking, but that it was also a ski resort in the winter. Oops. As a result, I had NO idea what I was about to face, and just how hard this race would be. I was oblivious and excited.

We arrived as instructed over an hour early, only to find out that there was no parking available right near the site. We were forced to park, ditch all of our extra clothing, wallets etc, at the vehicle, and walk 2+ km uphill to get to the race site. The weather that day was miserable, it was approximately 30 degrees without the humidex, meaning it soared to approximately 36 degrees Celcius, or 97 degrees Farenheit that day.

When we finally got to the site, we proceeded to write our numbers on our arms in permanent marker, get our chips and free t-shirts (which were white, and of course, we had no where to put them, so we hid them in the bush and came back to get them later). We had very little time before our heat was called and we were lining up.

The course on this race can only be described as brutal. I had heard positive things about the other Canadian races, but they were described as mostly flat. We were faced with immediate hills, climbing to ridulous heights. The gun went off, and we started plowing up the first ski hill with everyone else. It became very clear that to survive this race, we needed to pace ourselves, and slowed down significantly.

Once we were up the first hill, we were directed through a wooded path where we had to climb over and under wood poles, through a cargo net, and dash to the first true obstacle, which was a short wood retainer wall which we quickly cleared. Once cleared we were directed to a grassy area where there was a long strip of barbed wire laid down and we were told to climb under it all, army style. This was by far my favourite obstacle with respect to the challenge - it was fun while forcing you to get down and dirty, and a lot of people were helping each other by raising the barbed wire or to untangle others who had got caught.

Once this obstacle was done, we were relatively filthy, and headed back over to the hills where we were given a tire and told to lug it half way up a ski hill and then carry it back down. I proceeded to find the smallest tire I could, and went to it. The hill was very slippery, and it was hard to find your footings going in either direction.

Once we dropped the tire, we went back under more barbed wire, and if you weren't completely filthy yet, this is where you were covered in mud and hay.

They turned us back us the largest ski hill I think I have ever seen. It literally kept going and going, we would think it was cresting and then cry to see more hill in front of us. At this point, we were probably less than half way through, and the heat was getting to me and my 5 friends. We had no sun protection, and at the top of the hill, we found out there was absolutely NO WATER on the course. An email sent to us had said there would be 3 water stations, and it would have been extremely difficult to carry it with all the mud etc. I am decently fit, not perfect, but all of us were walking part way up the hill, stopping and sitting down, catching our breath, and then continuing. Any time expectations went out the window, and we aimed to just survive.

At the top of the monstrous hill, we were met with volunteers (who were in the process of eating lunch and drinking cold water) and had to climb ropes to the top of the Ski lift mechanism. This is an obstacle that is not girl friendly, as I have NO upper body strength. With the help of a few good men, namely my husband, and tow other guy friends, my friend M and I both made it to the top.

Down back into the forest we went, racing through to a cargo net which we had to scale. I had no problems at all with this obstacle, flying right through and getting some confidence back. Continuing through the forest, we came to the next obstacle that required us to either do 30 pushups, or lug a bucket full of water up and down a hill. I knew my arms were tired, but thought that the bucket was a better form of torture, and cut some time going that route. We dumped the buckets on ourselves at the end, and that water felt like the best thing in the world. At this point, we were outside for about an hour with no water.

Back out of the forest, we ran ahead to the next wall where the girls and boys were separated. Girls got the easier side, where they had put some handholds and footholds for us to scale. The men had to go it without those resources, and I felt bad for any guy who was of short stature, as he would have problems considering the height of the wall. I scaled it with the help of some other girls, and then turned around and helped other competitors before moving on. (I am far left in black, helping someone up)

On the other side of this wall was another ski hill. If you check out the video (below) you will see just how big this sucker was. It felt never-ending. I had to take SO many breaks on this hill, as my body was just exhausted. I thought I was somewhat fit, but between these hills and the women all decked out in shorts and sports bras with amazing abs, I was feeling a bit inferior. We climbed and climbed and climbed, and finally got to the top.

After all that climbing, it was a joy to head downhill and be directed to throw spears/javelins at some straw spartans which were about 20 feet away. If you didn't hit the spartan at all, you had to do 30 burpees. Again, this was an obstacle where many women were at a disadvantage, but I managed to chuck it with everything I had and hit the leg. Yeah for no burpees!!!

The next obstacle came right after: we had to carry a cement block on our shoulders around a little track. Finally we were directed to the best obstacle ever: a river!!!! We were overjoyed to get in that water, cool down and clean up. We walked through the water to two culverts. We had minimal clearance, but were told to swim through the culverts to the other side. The culvert I was in actually had a dip in the middle, and we were forced to tilt our heads way up as to not drown. I loved every minute of it.

Out of the river, we ran over to a pole over some more water where we had to shimmy across or hang from it and climb across. Then we had to lift a brick on a rope up in the air and slowly back down. Easy peasy.

More running, mostly downhill lead us to more barbed wire, but this time instead of it being laid over the grass, it was overtop of a wood frame which was filled with ice and ice water. By the time we got to this obstacle, most of the ice had melted, but the water we had to crawl through was still pretty cold.

Nearing the finish, we had two obstacles left: the Spartans and the fire. (See my impressive jump in the background?)

From there the finish line greeted us, and "spartan women" gave us our rocking medals. We quickly went to the only water station at the finish line and tried to rehydrate as best as we could. We were told that there was free beer and a pay BBQ, but of course, our wallets and ID were in the vehicle 2km away, so once we were semi-cleaned up (and wounds were tended to) we slowly walked back down to the truck and called it a day.

Did I enjoy this race? Yes

Would I do it again? Yes, but I hope next year they do it better. We saw at least one person being taken away for heat exhaustion, and the staff wasn't the friendliest. They ran out of medals too. If they bring in water stations, and make the heats bigger but with more time in between (faster people made running in the forest dangerous), I would definitely try it again.

Here is a video I love, from the perspective of another Spartan Racer - it really shows what the course was like, condensed into 10 minutes. Enjoy! Aroo!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joIrCUtfxfU

Country Runner

Well, after a brief break from anything not related to moving, we are now settled into our new home. We moved on the 22nd, and then my parents promptly decided that the first weekend after the move was the best time for them to come visit and stay with us. It was lovely to see them, but meant a lot of rushed unpacking, and chaos.

Finally, for the first time in weeks, I got to put on my running gear and get out for a lovely run along the trans-Canada trail, which runs through a town near where I live. It is a lovely isolated little path, and I noticed a huge difference between my typical runs in the city vs this run. Such as:

1) I saw a grand total of 3 people. Two cyclists and one walker. Which was a good thing, because I had a bit of a wardrobe malfunction where I kept showing off my underwear to the world.

2) the bugs - I definitely got bit by something, and the blackflies were circling around my head for half the run. Bug spray is a new must for running gear

3) the quiet - related to #1, it was so nice to have a solid strip to run where the noises consist of the birds chirping and cicadas. Makes your mind relax a bit.

4) the little critters - practically ran over a chipmunk and a rabbit on my brief 40 minute run.

I am honestly loving the new scenery and environment, and plan on getting out there much more now that I am settling in as a re-found country girl. I grew up on a 30 acre farm, so being in the country is my true home, and I forgot that with the hustle and bustle of the "big city". I will be bringing in more of the country soon (hopefully) with a future giveaway from Allied Metal Displays. We're working on a custom/new design, and hopefully, I'll be able to show it off to you all soon and offer you all the chance to win your own display!

So, are you a country or a city runner? Who do you think has it better?

Why I Read your Blog...

(stolen from Rust Belt Runner here - see below)

Why do you read a blog? 
 


I currently have SO many blogs that I read on a regular, or semi regular basis, and I have different reasons for each one. Here are some of my favourites, and why I <3 you all!!! TMB from Racing with Babes


1) Love your sense of humour
Beth from Shut Up and Run


2) I know you from other online forums
Marlene from Mission to a(nother) Marathon
Meg from Worth a Tri
Huneybee from Mommy Running Through

3) You inspire me
Tall Mom from Tall Mom on the Run
Emz from RunEMZ
Laurie from The (Mis)Adventures of a Jogging Mom

4) I relate so well to you and your posts
Holly from Rust Belt Runner
The Turtle's Pace


5) You are an awesome runner
EVERYONE!!!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Currently I follow 67 blogs, and I swore, that number is lower than the number I thought it would be!


How many blogs do you currently follow and/or read?

To inflate my ego, why do you read my blog?

OMG!!!!

Without knowing it, I actually made a top 100 list for running blogs this year!!!!

You can check out the entire list here:

http://www.healthcarecolleges.net/awards/top-running-blogs-2011-awards/

I feel pretty privileged to make the list with some of the best bloggers out there! Now if only I can get my host, Blogger to work and get some comments flowing again, I'd be happy!!!

Go check out the other bloggers on the list, and I'll hopefully get my report (with functional comments) for the Spartan Race up ASAP. For now, here's a preview:

Hello?

Ok, so after posting about my Perth Kilt run race report last week, I was kind of bummed that I got no responses to the post. BUT, I know I have been having HUGE problems with Blogger lately and commenting on other people's blogs, so I am hoping that it is not just the fact that I am boring.

Before I write my epic race report on the Spartan race, including a 3k uphill walk to the start, 35 degree Celsius weather and ski hills with no water, can someone leave a comment if they are able to, or telling me that they weren't able to comment on my last post? If I get no comments, I am going to assume I need to play with my blogger settings to get things worked out.

Is Blogger causing you problems???

Perth Kilt Run Recap

Race Report #1 of 2 for this weekend, this is definitely the more tame race report, the Spartan race was, well, more interesting.

So all day Saturday I was hyped up because I haven't ran a race in so long! I forgot what it felt like to have anxious or nervous butterflies in my stomach, but really, I knew that everything would be fine, so I settled in and fueled up. It was a hot weekend, with temperatures going up to 28 degrees (82.4 F). I collected my friend M on my way out of the city to picturesque Perth.

Perth is known as one of the most beautiful old towns in the area, and it lives up to it's name. The city is amazing (interesting fact: It was the last place a legal duel took place in Canada, and now the dueling grounds are called "Last Duel Park"), and the people are phenomenal.

We got into town about an hour and a half before our race, and managed to find a parking space at our local courthouse lot. Perk of going there for work is that I had access to the lot and part of the buildings for washrooms and changerooms if needed, and the lot was two blocks away from the start point and end point of the race.

We ran over to the main park where a number of unique events were going on - there was sheep shearing, celtic music, face painting, a juggler, a guy on stilts with a VERY long kilt, and lots of people, both participants and spectators. We quickly got our registration package and I went to pick up my kilt.

I put on my kilt over my running capris, and it fell to over my knees! I tried switching with my friend, who had bought her kilt last year and was much taller than me, but it didn't work, and I was faced with rolling it up and pinning it. In the end, I am thankful I did, as the kilt had some poly-type material around the waistband that was a magnet for sweat and hot on the skin.

After some wandering around, getting our faces painted, and finding some secret honey buckets to flush our systems, we were summoned back to the park by the Town crier, who was organizing the runners to be paraded to the start line. There was over 1000 runners at the race, and the organization was phenomenal.

We came around the block, then waited for the gun. We were a ways back in the pack, and more than happy to be where we were. The outfits were hot, and I was not hoping for a PR. With the race the next day, M and I knew we would have to conserve our energy and run a good, but not amazing race.

Finally, the gun went off, and we slowly approached the start line. We had the opportunity to high five a Duke and Dutchess of Scotland (no not THE famous duke and dutchess, although they were still in Ottawa at the time) as we crossed and started running.

The race looped several times around the city, and there were lots of spectators. I found out later, one of my work colleagues who lives in Perth had came out to try and watch for me, but we never did cross paths. The course for the first 3k or so was lively, with people smiling and cheering, many senior citizens watching (which I thought was cute), and loads of water stations. They had bands playing, kids having fun squirting runners with super soakers, and one of the local fire stations was spraying water down over the course. It was a hot one, and the temperature was uncomfortable, but we kept a pretty decent pace.

At around the 3k mark, we were directed into a golf course, where we would complete the next 3-4k of the course. The golf course had beautiful landscaping and was serene, but the path was sort of sandy, there was no shade whatsoever, and little to no spectators. The heat really started to get to me here, and my pace slowed and attitude admittedly soured a bit. I managed to not grumble above saying "It's really hot" over and over again to M, but she helped me suck it up and move on. At this point, I swore I passed Andrew Opala, but didn't introduce myself mid-run.

Finally, we got out of the golf course and I knew we only had one km to go. Seemed like the longest one in forever, but we kept trudging along. I even managed to spot a cameraman up ahead and smiled and waived (Goal: getting a photo where I don't look like I'm going to die - CHECK!)

One last burst of energy got me the final 100m, and we crossed with a clock time of 1:00:10. Unfortunately, the timing chips were off and actually added time to the clock time. We think we should have had a chip time of about 57:00, which is pretty good in my mind considering the heat.

Little did I know the heat would get worse on Sunday for the Spartan Race (36C, 98.6F)... race report to come once I get some photos for that!

So bottom line - if you are ever in Perth in July, sign up for the Perth Kilt Run. Great event, great distance, awesome crowds and organization, and you can be a part of an (unofficial this year) world record run!