I met my friends and we were off. Brrrrr! The original plan was to run 10.6 miles...well, you know what they say about “plans...” They never seem to go as planned. By the end of 10.6 miles, I was somehow talked into running 12. (Okay, so they didn’t really have to talk me into it…it was more like one of my friends was already planning on running 16 miles, and my other friend had decided to get a solid 12 in and said, “Julie, I’m gonna run extra to get the 12. You wanna?”
Grumbling and panting, I grunted, “Fine.” Damn that competitive spirit I have! I couldn’t let my two buddies run farther than me on my first and last training run with them of the season! Grrrr…why must I be so easily swayed? It really doesn’t take much.
We finished like rock stars. I headed for my usual reward: donuts! Yum. And, I went on with the rest of my day with the best feeling of satisfaction knowing that I nailed that 12 miles (slowly) and could enjoy the week of the taper. The taper?!? Hmmm…now, some of you may be wondering what “the taper” is. It’s the best. Thing. Ever. (If you’re a runner.) When you’re training for a race, the taper is the point in your training program where you ease off your miles and let your body rest so that you can perform at your best for the big race. And, since my big race is coming up (October 21st -- AHHH) I am now in the tapering phase of my training. (Thank God.)
Being a newbie runner, I learned last year that tapering for an endurance event (such as a half-marathon or marathon) is very important because training for these events require putting in a lot of mileage and that takes a huge toll on your body. The taper allows your body to take advantage of the fitness level that you’ve gained so that your body can appropriately handle the stress it will endure during the race. As I soon found out through all of the experts, the taper allows proper rest and refueling for the muscles and it reduces the amount of fatigue due to lactic acid build-up. In other words, going into an endurance race with the proper rest allows your body to last longer.
So, heading into this last week before the half-marathon, I will just do one or two short, easy 2-mile runs and enjoy lots of couch time! In addition, I get to splurge on some foods that I normally don’t allow myself to eat very much of… carbohydrates! When I trained for my first half-marathon last year, I was lucky enough to read an article in Runner’s World magazine that explained the benefits and ins and outs of carb loading. Which, I must admit, I was completely clueless about.
Here are the basics, according to Runner’s World. Carbohydrates are a fabulous source of energy and you need a lot of energy when you run a half-marathon. Most of the carbohydrates (carbs) you eat are stored as glycogen in your muscles and liver. Glycogen is the most easily accessible form of energy for your muscles to use. During a long run, your body uses glycogen and fat to fuel itself. However, your body has to work harder to convert fat into fuel, therefore, if you’re running a race, your body literally slows down to turn fat into energy. When this happens, it’s often the point in a race where a runner will say they “hit the wall.”
So, before any big race, you want make sure your body is properly fueled with glycogen (i.e. carbs) so that you can hopefully avoid hitting that wall. And, for long endurance races, I discovered that you don’t want to just carb load the night before the big day, it’s actually recommended that 2 or 3 days before the race, 85-95 percent of your diet should be carbs. According to the article, Monique Ryan, R.D, author of Sports Nutrition for Endurance Athletes, recommends eating about four grams of carbs for every pound of body weight. Now, to put this in more understandable terms, that means a 150-pound runner should eat 2,400 calories of carbs per day! (HOLY CRAP!) That sounds high even to me, and being so weight-conscious myself, I just couldn’t bring myself to eat that much. Plus, I don’t consider myself some top-notch “endurance athlete” either. Now, I understand that most women don’t ever want to share how much they weigh with other people, and, between you, me and lamppost, I think that’s part of the problem with society today and their obscured views of what healthy weights are. Here’s my two-cents worth: Television and movie personalities are crazy thin…and most people can’t achieve those kinds of goals. (And yes, the camera really does add 10 lbs!) Most people have no idea what 150 pounds looks like. I can tell you what 155 pounds looks like; It looks like me. I am just a touch under 5’7” (I round up), wear a size 8 in jeans, and weigh 155 lbs. When people assume (or guess) what I weigh, I often hear 135. Not even! I’d have to starve myself and I’d look like a skeleton. Educate yourselves people. Get realistic pictures of actual body types and sizes. I worked hard to get where I am and want to keep a healthy body. Carb loading scares me, but I know I’ll burn through it on my run. The key is not to carb load every day of your life.
Needless to say, I will enjoy a healthy portion of bread, pasta and cheese for two days before the half-marathon. I cannot wait. Easing off the running, and pasta… ahhh! I love the taper! Stay tuned for more race adventures!
***Track my running at the half-marathon on Sunday October 21st when I run from Detroit into Canada and back! I’m bib number 16406 and you can go to the website at: http://www.freepmarathon.com/
or download the free app for your smartphone using this link: http://www.freepmarathon.com/download