333 Mile-A-Days and Food Update

That number up there is a bit of serendipity.

I just felt that I needed to make a quick (maybe not so quick) update as far as what I was doing with the nutritarian/unethical-vegan thing and my running progress. Yes, it's definitely been a while.

For the last few months, I've been on the unethical vegan train. I have my rare-and-appropriate Saturdays where I do indulge a bit. Especially breakfast. Need my pancakes, bacon and eggs! But during the week, I don't do too bad. I've simplified my breakfast and lunches by buying a refurbished Vitamix on Amazon. I picked it up for $360, shipped! It's the best thing I've purchased since I purchased my 1972 VW Bug.

My breakfast smoothies consist of the following:

1/2 Quaker oatmeal (Costco size!)
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tbls of raw cocao
1 tsp chia seeds
2 tbls hemp seeds
1 tbls almond butter (going to stop this item)
150 grams of frozen spinach/kale/chard
500 mls (or 2 cups) water

I make this the night before and stick it in one of those Hydro Flask 40oz tumblers and in the fridge it goes.

The lunch or dinner smoothie (depends if I'm hungry or not) can be varied. But it close to the following:

2 tbls flax seed
2 tbls almond butter
200 grams spinach/kale/chard
1 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp pepper
And whatever I have available. Such as:
carrots
celery
broccoli
cauliflower
onion
beets

I will tell you, this stuff cleans you OUT! It a bit TMI, but I feel so much better now than I have before. It sure made training for the Salinas Valley Half Marathon much better and comfortable. I've lost some weight without really focusing on that aspect. But that is about to change now that I no long have to worry about training. I'll still be trying to up my mileage, but main focus will be weight loss. The lighter I am, the better the run!

Training was done with the Salinas Valley Elite running group. It was headed by Coach Z of the Hartnell College track/cross country teams and Coach Rudy of SVE.

As for that 333, that is the number of days that I've continuously run or walked a least a mile a day. It got me ready for the SVHM training group when it began the last week of May. During those ten weeks, the unethical vegan changes helped fuel my training and recovery.

However . . .

I'd experiment with food the night before our Saturday long runs. I should have paid more attention. It would have helped with race day.

Thinking back on my long runs for training, the best ones had been fueled by Chipotle. Or really any vegan burrito loaded with beans, rice and veggies. But I'm blaming Chipotle for my horrible race results. I know I should feel better about it because I was able to complete the race without any nausea or soreness the day after. I was feeling the aches immediately after the race, but the 1/2 mile walk to the shuttles wasn't as excruciating as in years past. I will attribute that to both training and diet.

If I had properly fueled the night before with enough legumes and good carbs, I would not have gassed out just past mile 5. I attempted the 2 minut run, 1 minute walk. That worked for a couple of miles. then I had to go 1/1 . . . then 1/2. By the time I got o mile 11 I was just running whenever my heart would stop racing so bad. My feet were a bit sore, but again, not as bad as years past at that point. MY HIPS . . . my hips were always the worst. I've never NOT had a problem with my hips until this year! Coach Z, you really nailed that part of training. Runners lunges are a godsend!

I'm just disappointed with my nearly 3 hour finish time! IF I had fueled properly, I was expecting under a 2:45 finish. I should have finished under 2:45! But I gassed out. No juice. This truck was running on fumes the rest of the way. I would get a short burst of energy here and there, but it wouldn't last long enough. Sucks.

The race was this past Saturday (August 4th, 2018). Official finish time of 2:57:39. Placed 544th out of 772 runners. Placed 272nd out of 345 men. Placed 27th out of 33 men in my age group (40-44).

Last year, the race was completed with minimal training at 3:47:22.
The 2016 race didn't happen because of the Soberanes fire. Too much smoke.
The 2015 race was completed in 3:12:24.
The 2014 race was completed in 2:55:08.
The 2013 race was my best year when I completed it in 2:19:59. I was down to about 215 lbs that year.
The 2012 race was completed in 2:47:05.
The 2011 race was completed in 3:00:24.
And my first race ever with the training and assistance of the YMCA Salinas Valley Half Marathon training group was completed in 3:24:03. I was about to turn 38 and nearly 300 lbs. I was in excruciating pain. But the buses picked us up at the race finish. No stinking 1/2 mile walk of pain to the shuttle buses.

Ahhhh . . . memories.

GD

p.s.
keep on runnin'