After the Half Marathon Refuel

Figuring out how to eat enough/hydrate/not feel sick/not go overboard can be kind of tough for me after a really long run, or in this case a race. I think I did pretty all right and felt pretty good. I had some post-race nausea that I was trying to work around and looking back at the day I didn't start rehydrating aggressively enough, but otherwise, I present:

A Day of Vegan Refueling

It helps me to count calories for days like this because my hunger signals aren't always trustworthy. I was a little nauseous until about 3 pm, but I know from experience it's a bad idea to put off the refueling. The body just breaks down.

Immediately after finishing the race. 60 calories in this bottle, and piles of potassium.

Some of my Mom's Chocolate Hazelnut Tea on the drive home. 15 calories. 

Then we made some pancakes.

And Little Links - 8 g protein and just 90 calories in 2.

Chocolate chip pancakes x3 + 3 Little Links with 1.5 tbsp peanut butter and 2/3 tbsp maple syrup, I don't really like my pancakes drowned = 585 calories. Pancakes were 90 each.

This is the Peas and Thank You Apple Cinnamon recipe with white flour and replacing the apple with about 4 tbsp chocolate chips for the batch. Mom had to thin the batter a little, and it made 14 pancakes.

This is a Trader Joe's stew. It's good but as my Mom pointed out, needed piles of veggies for the amount of sauce. I ate half a package with 1/2 a banana. 215 calories + 50 for the banana = 265.

Vita Cafe Vegan Basic Burger with Tempeh Bacon and Daiya Mozzerella. Around 500 calories.

Irish Oatmeal Cake with Coconut and icing. Around 350.

And how many calories do I burn running a half-marathon? Well my Garmin said 1266, and I'd say it feels like that.

So that's 1750ish calories of refueling goodness. I think I did a pretty good job. It's tough you know. Sometimes you have to eat cake. 

And the pancakes were SO good. I may have a new post-race tradition.

Refueling advice? I'd love to hear your wisdom. 

Cascade Half Marathon Recap - Snow Race!

As I mentioned earlier, this is Oregon's only January Half Marathon.

I'm so so glad they have it though, because I've never had such a gorgeous run. The snow started coming down around Mile 2 and lasted through Mile 8, and then the sun came out and followed me back. It was a crazy range of conditions, but I loved it. 

It's in its 13th year, so it was well-organized and delightfully small. They can only keep people on the roads directing traffic until 11:30 am, so the half-marathon has more than one start time, just in case you'll take longer than 2.5 hours you can start at 8 am. I chose the early start because I didn't know if I might have to walk some of it. It turned out I didn't need to be in that group, but I'm so glad I was because we were the ones that got the good snow at the beginning of the run. 

But for the early start, Mom and I got up pretty early to drive across town and make sure I had time to pick up my packet and get everything pinned on and ready to go. 

Morning face.

And at 8 I was ready to go!

I'm the one jumping between the white Tshirt and gray coat. In black.

It's all flat and road running, and everyone seemed to really have a good time. It was a little strange when it started snowing - I felt like I had to adjust my gait to keep from falling. At first I tried to run in other footprints, but then I realized it was safer to use the fresh snow for traction. It was all right, I didn't see anyone fall.

I definitely caught a few snowflakes on my tongue.

I was really struggling with my pace in the final miles. I knew I was going slower than I mentally wanted to, but I couldn't make my body move any faster for more than a few seconds. Still, less pain than my last one. 

But I was really glad to be done.

At the end there's soup, hot drinks and cookies in the high school cafeteria. Most of it's not vegan-friendly of course, but it was nice to have a warm friendly gathering place like that. 

The course was 13.26 miles by my Garmin, and I had a time of 2:14:05, which I'm totally happy with considering I averaged two to occasionally three runs per week for the past 6 weeks. Three weeks ago I ran 10 miles to make sure I wouldn't die, and then the rest of them never got above 5 miles, so I'm actually feeling pretty all right about that time. 

At 13.1 (by the Garmin) I was 2:12:21. Is that exactly the same as my April race? Yes. Yes it is. Great coincidences.

I placed 269/396 overall and 9/14 in my age group. No delusions here of being a champion, just fun. 

However, I was the ONLY half-marathon participant claiming California as a home base. John pointed out that makes me the Californian CHAMPION. Yes. 

And the best part was having my Mom out supporting me. 

Stay tuned for the refueling post!

Do you like rainy/snowy running or do you stick to sun? 
Personally I much prefer these conditions. I can't stand to be hot.

Snowy Half-Marathon!

My wishes were granted! Perfect, enormous, fluffy snowflakes through over half the race!

And also I survived.

Race recap coming up!

Vegan Pre-Race Fuel Trial and Error

Let's talk fuel. I came home this morning to run a half-marathon tomorrow, so I'm gearing up. 

Part I: Night-before Dinner

I don't think I'm yet a sufficiently experienced racer to have a favorite pre-race dinner. I have some NOT favorites. 

The first race I don't even remember what I ate. Cookies I think. For real. I'm pretty sure I was full up on like 5 macaroons. 

Get this recipe here.

And for the last one I had homemade pizza and pita chips. I ate way too many pita chips and was retaining water like no other in the morning. Terrible feeling. 

But I was happy with my pizza.

So all I've done so far is some experiments in what does not work. 

So what to do?

I tried a new one tonight - Mom's cooking. Obviously it's better than anything else because Moms put magic in the food they make. It's a variation on my Cheezy Veggie Potato Mash, but we did veggies on the side and put some corn in there at my sister Nicola's request. Great idea. Also I skipped the full cheese sauce and just scooped some nooch on. And I'm going easy on the salt. 

And apple for dessert.

It tasted perfect. Plenty of carbohydrates with good-for-me fiber and nutrients. Here's hoping it fuels me well so I won't have to keep trying different race dinners.

Part II: Breakfast. 

For this one I do have a favorite. Which doesn't make any sense. I haven't eaten more race breakfasts than I have dinners, but I just think this one works well for me and therefore do not mess with it. 

Nut Butter Toast with Banana. This picture is of peanut butter, but almond butter or cashew butter does me great as well. Coffee.

I'll let you know tomorrow how it works for me this time. Wish me luck!

Pre-Race Thoughts

I'm pretty sure most of you read me in a reader, but in case you're looking at the real blog, what do you think of the new header?

Tomorrow is a half-marathon. I'm nervous. It's going to be ruulll cold.

I'm running the Cascade Half Marathon here in my hometown. It's Oregon's only January half-marathon, which is pretty cool. One of the things I wanted to do in 2012 was run a race in the rain. Looks like I may get my wish.

Check out this weather update from the website:

Weather forecast as of 1/14: Outside - Snow showers. High near 36. South wind between 8 and 15 mph, with gusts as high as 21 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New snow accumulation of less than one inch possible.

[source]

We can only hope. 

The major advantage is that it's at a high school, so everything will be set up indoors at the gym and I can just venture out right when it's time to run. 

It's a straight up out and back:

[source]

Start on the left, run to the right along the dots, turn around and end at the left again. 

Simple right?

This is my third half-marathon - the last was in April. I wrote about it here. My time was 2:12:21. My PR from my first race Nov 2010 is 2:08:40. 

I'm not really running this for a specific finish time. I'm much less trained than both of the other races. This is more a test of my baseline fitness and a chance to run in the rain (snow?!) here in my favorite corner of the country. 

That said I can't help but want to just improve a little. This course is much flatter than April's,  but considering I'm less trained, it's a tossup how the times will compare. 

As I've been training the past couple weeks I kept accidentally leaving things in Portland when I came home on weekends. First it was my ipod. Then my headphones. Then my Garmin charger. I finally remembered to bring home all my gadgets: Garmin, RoadID, iPod Shuffle, headphones. Everything's charged. New music on the iPod. So I'm all set.

Stay tuned - pre-race fuel post is next!

Advice for running in the rain/snow? I'm Californian now, I don't know anything. 

Papa G's, The Sweet Hereafter

This were restaurant visits that didn't make it into another post, but both deserve mentioning.

The Sweet Hereafter and it's Mama establishment The Bye and Bye are actually vegan bars, open until 2:30 am. Where else can you get vegan food in the middle of the night? Besides my kitchen. You're always welcome.

I went out with my classmates who are also rotating up here. I got the Jamaican Bowl, which has rice, beans kale (the best part!), and jerk tofu with avocado. I thought it was very good, and unfortunately you can't see it very well because it's a dark atmospheric kind of place.

Many thanks to James for holding the candles.

Papa G's was one I stumbled on when I was intending to go to a place that turned out to be closed. It's a vegan organic deli. It has a very small community kind of feel. It was about 2 in the afternoon and I was the only one there. I picked the Southern Sampler - Mac and Cheeze, BBQ Tofu, Seasonal Veggies (Spaghetti Squash). The Mac and Cheeze was all right - not really very much like cheese, it was more like a vegan alfredo. The best part was definitely the tofu. The sauce was perfect and the texture was very nice and firm. I was very happy to see they package it and sell it in grocery stores as well.

And now I'm headed home to run a half marathon tomorrow...hoping to get another pre-race post up later today. 

How do you feel about non-cheese Mac & Cheese?

Guess What I Had For Dinner?

A couple nights ago I forgot the vegetables and had this for dinner. 

It's called something not-so-nice (as many at Voodoo Doughnuts are) but it's basically chocolate frosting + oreos + peanut butter drizzle + a vegan doughnut.

Peanut butter and chocolate are basically the best combination ever, and this one did not disappoint. 

How do feel about dessert for dinner?