“Life is good, bad, beautiful and ugly…but it is all experience, so drink it up and guzzle it down my friends, for it is all we are given.” EB
Well another good week. RAN the Quad Rock 25 and not the 50 last Saturday and that was an experience… This was my forth time to run the 25. And each time it has been different. This year was no exception. True to course the weather did not fully cooperate…. Yes it was cool (good for running), yes it did not rain hard (just a light mist), yes there was really no wind, and all of this was fantastic for running…. but it made up for these by giving us runners and spectators a taste of MUD…. REAL MUD!! Not quite the “Wrath of God” type of mud but close to it.
I have never had the experience of running in mud like this for a long distance. And what I learned: It is one thing to just run a mile or two in mud but quite something else to find it on about 40 percent of the course. Now I am probably exaggerating a little bit because when you are out there in it…. Well it just seemed like it was everywhere.
Think of chocolate cake icing about 3 to 6 inches deep. Slippery, somewhat sticky to real sticky, and did I say slippery… you get the trail conditions. Halfway through the first 25-mile lap I was already thinking that one lap of this Mud Fest was enough. I am a “slow runner” and my best time for this course is 6 hours and 10 minutes. This year’s mud slowed me down enough that I finished the first lap in 7 hours and 30 minutes. An hour and 20 minutes longer…. Oh well, that is what I am blaming it on. It is all EXPERIENCE.
A big THANK YOU to all the volunteers that hung out in the cold and wet. Without your help and dedication this would have been a much less enjoyable race. And a shout out to GNAR runners for putting on the Quad Rock. As always, they put on a great show, no matter the weather. Will I be back next year?? Absolutely!! Will I be shooting for the 50 again?? You bet!!
Well on a different note this week, I noticed that I have been using an app on my phone to track my calories and food choices among other things, called Lose it! I have been using the app for about three to four years now. And for me, this is a long time to be using the same phone app. Wow! Now you would think my first thought would be I really like this app. But you would be wrong…my first thought was “WTF” – Where did the time go!! The “really like part” came as the second thought….
Now, you may be wondering if I have been that “anal” to log every calorie and food choice since I first started using the app…. The answer is no, a resounding no, but at the same time it has really helped me to see trends in how and what I eat and where I could do better. It can tell me how many calories for the day or week, what are the ratios of fats to carbohydrates and protein. And one that I have really started to pay more attention to but is not directly related to nutrition. That one is sleep. A good way over time to see what your averages are for sleep which can lead to better recovery after those long trail runs.
One of the best features with this app is that it syncs with several other programs. As an example: It syncs with Strava, which syncs with Movescount (Suunto Watches) so that my exercise data transfers over in calories burned for the day. It has helped me to lose about 20lbs since I started ultra-running. When I turned 50 I was right at 183lbs. Then over the course of a year I lost down to about 155lbs but became stuck. I stayed at this weight for about two years. I would gain a little bit, then lose a little bit. A kind of Yoyoing back and forth. Which became very frustrating.
Then I discovered the Lose It app. Which allowed the better tracking of calories and helped me to drop another 20 lbs. But, it was not just about the tracking of calories that helped, it was the amount of protein, fat and carbs and the ensuing “change of habits” that really helped. One of the things that astonishes me now and still does at times, is the amount of food you can put away if you are not being a little more mindful. As an example, I would come home from work (working night shift) and think nothing of adding a “small snack” before going to bed. When I started tracking this, the small snack was anywhere from 500 to well over 1000 calories!! Do this a few nights every week and it adds up…. Way up…. It also can give you calories for various types of day to day activity or you can add it after looking up calories burned for a specific activity. There are also informational sections of the app about food and nutrition.
The developers have recently added one on genetics called embodyDNA. If you have already had your DNA sequenced by Helix, the National Geographic sponsored one, then for an extra 50 bucks embodyDNA will use it to let you know things about DNA-based insights on BMI, Low Fat Diets, Saturated Fat, Sugar, Exercise and Nutrition. Also, possible sensitivities like lactose tolerance, gluten tolerance and caffeine metabolism. I think if you want to get serious about your nutrition and create a food environment to let your body run as efficiently as possible this is one way to do it. Here is the link to the Lose It! Website: http://www.loseit.com/ and the embodyDNA site: https://embodydna.com/
Check them out and let me know what you think!! Well that is all for this week. See ya next Friday. First Columbine Flower for the yard bloomed a few days ago. Always beautiful.
