Dietitians Go-to Adventure Foods for Long Runs
two decades working in the sports nutrition food industry designing fuel for athletes, I learned a lot about how people feel about eating and drinking during long runs.
All posts filed under: Running
Fueling Summer Running
Back in May, I started ramping up the running miles. The snow had (mostly) melted and it was time to get base miles in for summer running adventures. By the end of May a starting feeling run down, worn out, and just wasn’t recovering from even short runs. My first instinct was “panic”. “What is wrong with me? Chronic fatigue? Adrenal Insufficiency? Imbalanced hormones?” I had already spent the winter not running and focusing on replenishment of nutrients, muscles, and rest. As I struggled through a twelve-mile Memorial Day run with my new running group, The Donner Party Mountain Runners, I felt like I had no energy and picking up my legs was more work than it should be. “Should I be on the gluten-free diet after all? Am I pre-menstrual, low on vitamin D? There is no way I am bonking! I eat plenty of carbohydrates daily and during my runs.” Or do I? I am a fueling expert. I know what I need and how often. At least that is what I have …
Parenting a Preemie Turned Teenager
Eric, my birthday boy, your story is worth telling and every year, I know the fact that I tell you that your are a miracle gets a little more embarassing for you.
A North Face 50K Birthday Present
Spending my birthday getting dirty running the trails through Golden Gate National Recreation Area, John Muir Woods, Muir Beach, and over the Golden Gate Bridge with a bunch of runners and, my family at the finish line, is my kind of celebration. This is exactly how I will be celebrating not only my birthday but, the fact that I get to be at the The North Face 50K in the first place. Not only do things have to be good in life to run, things also have to fall in place to get fit enough to run! One of the most challenging parts of training is carrying on with all the other responsibilities liking working, parenting, dog-owning, home-owning, teacher conference-ing, doctor appointments, stomach flu (the whole family), volunteering, home-work helping, and traveling two-hundred miles between home and office twice a week (in temporary transition – ask me later). To me, all of this is actually part of endurance training (or is running training for all of that?). I am doing all those things and yet still …
Running Rim to Rim to Rim
Choices are hard sometimes . I had already begun to imagine the dirty trail beneath my feet, the view, the exhaustion, and the gab session when my running-mom-partner-in-crime (Lisa) asked me a random question to distract us from the inevitable fatigue that would set in while running the Rim to Rim to Rim (R2R2R) of the Grand Canyon. I just couldn’t make it happen this round. Perhaps the decision not to join in the R2R2R fun was what propelled me to plop down on the couch with a glass of wine with my laptop and proceed on a race registration “bender”. Late August I put another set of challenges of no less equal magnitude on my race calendar: The North Face 50km, Cal International Marathon, Seven Summit Series by Ragnar, The Truckee Half Marathon, and the furthest out and most outrageous, Comrades Marathon in South Africa (running-mom-partner-in-crime from college made me do that one – Stephanie). Some people online shop in the late evening hours after their family is in bed; I sign up for …
We Run in Good Times
We get to run when all is well. Right now all is not well in the communities where I work and play. Waking each morning this week to the smoke-filled air has been too eerie. The smoke represents devastating amounts of loss happening in the North Bay communities where friends and families live. Ash is falling from the sky and it is hard to think of anything but what that ash is from and what we can do to help. We wear facemasks, stay in doors if we can, and try to breath softly. We mobilize our networks, remind ourselves what important work really is, and try to do something, anything truly meaningful when feeling helpless in light of yet another tradegy, this time much closer to the place we call home. Running and recreation are luxuries to be grateful for doing. When things are good again remember, no matter how ” bad” it feels, it is good. In gratitude for running times.
What worked for you in treating and preventing blisters?
Blisters are a big deal! I have made the mistake of thinking otherwise but, blisters can impede the ability to train and participate in athletic adventures as much as an injury or illness. My advice is to take blisters seriously especially of you feeling one heating up under foot. Here are a few of my go-to treatments and prevention tools: When have blisters bust: https://www.amazon.com/Spenco-Skin-Blister-Sports-Count/dp/B004UOTUXK/ref=sr_1_8_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1493240870&sr=8-8&keywords=blister+pads I used this and made it through Ragnar Trail Relays with blisters that had popped before the event even started. I also added these where needed https://www.amazon.com/Band-Aid-Advanced-Protection-Adhesive-Bandages/dp/B000Y8W50G/ref=sr_1_4_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1493244021&sr=8-4&keywords=blister%2Bprevention&th=1 Super awesome for blister prevention that I use to reduce friction on new shoes and with my orthotics is this ease, simple solution https://www.amazon.com/Blister-Prevention-Patches-Runners-Athletes/dp/B003URZNW0/ref=sr_1_6_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1493243976&sr=8-6&keywords=blister+prevention
Mother’s Days. Adventures Are On!
Mother’s Day doesn’t seem right unless I am on the Northern California Coastline unplugged and with my dudes soaking up all the outdoor adventures we can squeeze into a long weekend of car camping. Some moms long for breakfast in bed, pampering of the nails, or brunching fine-dining style. Those things are great but, me? Nah, I ask for a family adventure. Even car camping is an adventure when you add kids and a new puppy to the mix! I wouldn’t have Mother’s Day any other way right now. Last year we opted for a Mother’s Day of regularly scheduled little league and a nice home cooked dinner. It was great but, we all longed to be under the oak tree near the stream hiking, biking, trail running and roasting s’mores. So this year we went back to the tent. This time of year Mama is usually training for some kind of mountain running/scramble race. My sights are on running the Broken Arrow 26km which, covers some of Squaw Valley’s famous terrain ascending to elevation of 8750 …
Three Principles to Rethinking the Workout to Get It Done
I have four full-time jobs. I am mom to two beautiful boys, I am in a committed relationship, and I have a career in nutrition. Each one of these things requires my full attention. How on earth do I have time to train for trail races in the mountains? This isn’t a question of why I feel compelled to add one more “thing to do” into the mix of overwhelm that sometimes spins around me. It is about prioritizing self-care, soul care, to diffuse the overwhelm so I can properly prioritize my attentions. Adventures in the mountains, kicking up dirt on the trails, breathing in that low-oxygen air, and moving in whatever silly ways my legs will take me feeds me so that I am able to show up to “work” each day. I must train and prepare to adventure out in the wilds. How do I possibly squeeze it in? I re-think my workouts, which also brings a little urban adventure into my day! Three key principles to rethinking a workout: Get creative. For example, I …
Endurance Mamas
My bib number is in hand. My clothes, race food & hydration, logistics to getting to the starting line are set. Oops, except my alarm. Pausing here to go set my alarm for ….wait for it…..3:45 am to voluntarily run 31.8 miles (50km) with 7200 ft of climbing and descending. This is about the point before a race that I ask the question “why”? It hurts, is really hard, cold, early, and tiresome. Yet, here I am toeing the line time and time again. You know why? Because why not. What if it isn’t any of those things or, the smiles, support, camaraderie , community, sense if accomplishment, the beauty, and the simplicity of putting one foot in front of the other so purposefully outweighs everything else. It is funny to me that I never thought this kind of running to be something I could do until after having children. Getting pregnant, staying pregnant, carrying on daily activities while pregnant, birthing a child out of your body, caring for the child, positively influencing the child, …