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Fight

Posted in health, motivation, tagged Dylan Thomas, Fight, Rage, running, Time on February 21, 2011| 5 Comments »

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There are battles we cannot win. There are fights we know we will lose. In those situations, should we not engage the enemy?

Well, yeah, we probably shouldn’t.

But there is one all-powerful enemy that I do believe we should engage and battle on a regular basis. This enemy sometimes steals things from you when you aren’t paying attention. This enemy sometimes takes things from you forcefully while you ARE paying attention. This enemy has no corporeal body. This enemy has no head to cut off, no heart to stab through. Eventually, this enemy will get you. It is inevitable.

If you haven’t figured it out by now, this enemy is Time – the stealer of all things.

I have been watching Time – watching it slowly take away my youth and that of my friends, some more quickly than others. True, I am 41 – I am not a Spring chicken anymore…hell, I’m not even a Summer chicken anymore. The gray hair has arrived, as have some wrinkles around the eyes. Both are tough to take for a guy with a mild Peter Pan/Mickey Mouse complex, but I know that the hair and the wrinkles are a natural part of aging. Recovery isn’t as easy anymore and aches take a little longer to go away.

And yet, I fight. Taking the battle to Time.

I wake up at 4:00 AM to squeeze in the miles, get the blood flowing, get the endorphins pumping.

I cannot stop Time, but dammit, I’m holding it back as long as I can.

Running is my sword, sweat is my shield and with my weapons of choice I have managed to get myself into the best shape I’ve been in since I was 18, maybe even better.

Eventually time will deal me a fatal blow. We can’t live forever (not yet anyway), but when it’s finally my time to go, I am going to go knowing that I gave time a run for the money. I know that I will look and feel younger than most of my contemporaries. I’ll know that I was able to turn back the clock just a little. I’ll go knowing I didn’t give up.

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

-Dylan Thomas

I will not go gently into that good night. I will rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Will you?

Why do you run?

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Loaded

Posted in health, motivation, tagged exercise, health, Loaded, motivation, run, Russian Roulette on February 18, 2011| 11 Comments »

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There are many reasons why I run. Some are for me – the sense of accomplishment, the feeling of achievement; but some are for others.

I run because I need to know that I am doing everything possible to make sure that I am “there”. I don’t mean “there” in the sense of the here and now – no, I am talking about being “there” down the line. I run for my kids. I run for the wife. I run for my parents.

Statistics show that those that lead a sedentary life have a significantly higher likelihood of being inflicted with cancer or other life-debilitating diseases. Add extra weight (not even obesity) to that equation and the numbers become staggering.

According to the Mayo Clinic, men who have a beer gut are at a higher risk of:

Heart disease
High blood pressure
Stroke
Some types of cancer
Type 2 diabetes
Insulin resistance
High triglycerides
Low levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL), or “good,” cholesterol
Metabolic syndrome
Sleep apnea

For women, the increased belly fat brings a higher risk of:

Heart disease
Breast cancer
Diabetes
Metabolic syndrome
Gallbladder problems
High blood pressure
Colorectal cancer

Depending on how sedentary the life-style and the amount of weight, the increased risk can be as much as 50%.

But here’s the thing, even if a sedentary life only added a 5% chance of getting cancer or some other life-ending disease, would you want to take that chance, knowing that exercise and healthful eating habits could have helped you avoid them? Could you look your children or spouse in the eyes at the end and simply apologize because you couldn’t find the motivation to move your body?

Time is a factor, I know. There are only 24 hours in a day, and busy, hectic life-styles can impede the ability to sweat. Carving out 120 minutes per week can be difficult. It’s hard. It shouldn’t be, but it is. Still, I bet if you kept a diary of everything you did in the coming week, you would find a 30 – 40 minute window in a few spots. Give it a try. Seriously.

Energy is another factor. Low-energy can sap the will like nothing else, but I tell you this – you energy-level is much like matter in that it is subject to inertia. If it is sedentary, it will remain sedentary until you move it. The spectacular part though is that once it is moving, it is more likely to stay in motion. You just have to push – a little bit, every day. Get the ball rolling and the rest will take care of itself.

So, I guess the question is, are you happy playing Russian Roulette? The statistics say that nothing should happen when you pull the trigger, but do you want to take that chance? Whether it’s a bullet or life-ending disease, the result is the same.

That is a reason I run; why I try to break a sweat at least 2 out of every 3 days.

Take the bullets out of the gun.

There are no guarantees in life other than death and taxes, but why not stack the deck in your favor?

Why do you run?

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Ounce

Posted in diet, health, tagged activity, cure, health, ounces, prevention on February 14, 2011| 5 Comments »

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The other day while driving in the car I heard a commercial. I’m not even sure what it was for because the first sentence set me off. The commercial opened with, and I’m paraphrasing here, that “with the rapid rise in cases of diabetes in this country, it is time we work on coming up with better treatments for this growing population.”

I nodded at first, but then almost immediately yelled “No!” to no one in particular.

Really? That’s the answer?

You see, this is the problem with society today. We always, ALWAYS, treat the symptom instead of focusing on prevention. How much money is going into treating those that become diabetic due to lifestyle? How much of YOUR health insurance premiums are being used to pay for treatment of a preventable diseases?

Now don’t get me wrong. Those with lifestyle induced diabetes need to be treated and I would never, ever attack those that were born with diabetes or those that became diabetic due to health related issues out of their control. There is, however, a rapidly growing population (pun intended) in this country that is putting itself at risk unnecessarily, whether knowingly or unknowingly.

As people and politicians struggle with fixing our health care system, everyone seems to be ignoring one of the oldest sayings in our short history – “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” Poor eating habits, lack of exercise and the government’s insistence on subsidizing the corn industry are leading us down a path that will require pounds of cure compared the the ounces of prevention we could be putting in place to(yester)day.

It is too easy and costs too little to eat poorly. I can’t blame the McDonald’s, the Burger Kings or the KFC’s of the world. They are businesses doing what they can to make a profit. They are not in the health business; they are in the money-making business. Until people stop eating what they serve (and I’m guilty once in a while), they will continue to do what they do. Until there is a change in their bottom line, there is no reason to expect them to change what they feed us.

And how do you argue with a parent who has little time and $20 to feed her family of four? For $20 she can buy 4 fast food value meals that are loaded with calories from the McD’s around the corner or she can spend some of that money on transportation to the grocery store and try to piece together a meal with what’s left. I get it. But throwing our hands up in the air and saying we can’t do anything about it is not the answer. Coming up with treatments to deal with the results of eating McDonald’s every night is necessary, but short-sighted and still not the answer. The journal Health Affairs reported last year that overall obesity-related health spending reached $147 billion in the U.S., about double what it was a decade earlier. (Yahoo News). $147 BILLION!!!

That money is coming out of YOUR pocket!

There is no magic bullet, but there are a few simple steps we can take on a local and national level.

At the local level we can insist that our children are physically active for at least 30 – 60 minutes a day. The habits our children learn today are the ones they will default to as adults. Do you want to raise a pre-diabetic, lethargic couch potato or a physically active go getter? There’s also science that show that kids who are active for 30 minutes in the morning BEFORE school starts score higher on tests.

The best way to achieve this is through example. If your kids see you active, they will be active. As much as we like to think children will listen to what we say, they are much more likely to “listen” to what we do. If you don’t have kids, think of your spouse, your love interest, your friends. Science has shown that friends and even friends of friends DO influence each other when it comes to physical activity and behavior. If one person in a group of smokers has the strength to quit, others are likely to follow. It is the same with physical activity. If one person can break the cycle, others will follow.

At the national level we need to convince our government to stop making it so cheap to eat poorly. Subsidizing the corn industry has created a society that eats HFCS’s constantly. It’s in EVERYTHING. And it has practically no positive health benefits. How about subsidizing the farmers who make the healthier foods? Which in turn can help families just scraping by afford more nutritious meals? I don’t want to put the farmers out of business, just re-deploy them.

So, what’s it gonna be? An ounce or a pound? Are you already at a pound? Well, then is it going to be a pound or sixteen of them? The longer we wait, both as individuals and as a society, the harder it’s gonna be, both on our bodies and on our wallets.

Why do you run?

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Hidden

Posted in health, training, tagged exercise, HIdden Workout, workout on January 27, 2011| 6 Comments »

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There is no way around it, I run a lot of miles, at least relative to the general population.

4 to 5 days a week, 40 to 50 miles per week.

There is no question that running is a huge part of why I am in the shape I am in.

***

But I don’t think that is the whole story.

Yes, diet has a lot to do with it, but truth be told, I sincerely believe that it is the work I do away from the road, the treadmill or the dining table that makes an impact on how fit I am.

No, I am not talking about the elliptical, or the core workouts, or the stretching sessions.

I am talking about the hidden mini-workouts that can occur anywhere, for anyone, at anytime.

These workouts don’t make me break a sweat. In fact, I hardly am aware that I am doing them. The only thing they require is that I take an extra 30 – 60 seconds while going about my every day business.

Whether it’s parking a little further away from the grocery store, or walking up to my daughter’s room instead of yelling up to her; whether it’s going up and down stairs with a little extra pop or just taking the stairs instead of an escalator or elevator – these extra steps add up over the course of a day – burning a few more calories here and there. Is it enough to get INto shape? No, BUT, it IS enough to get the blood flowing through your limbs and get them used to the idea of movement. If you think about moving on a regular basis, you are that much closer to actually doing it. The hardest part of getting off the couch is, you guessed it, getting off the couch. Inertia is one of the most powerful laws in the universe. If you are constantly at rest, you will, in all likelihood, stay at rest. That’s physics.

But if you start small and slowly build, you can develop into a fast flying, calorie burning machine.

A long time ago, completely unrelated to running, I felt like I was in a rut and going nowhere. My mother said to me, “look at your feet.” She correctly took my silence on the phone to be confusion. She then continued, “when you are climbing a mountain, if you are constantly looking at the peak, you won’t be able to see your progress very well. You may well feel like you are spinning your wheels. But take a moment and look at your feet. Look at the distance they are covering with every step.”

It was an “a-ha!” moment in my life.

It’s the same with these mini-hidden-workouts – start small…look at the feet, see the progress. Eventually the regular workouts have to and will come. Inertia will make it so.

Why do you run?

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Buoy

Posted in boston marathon, health, motivation, tagged running, what if on January 20, 2011| 6 Comments »

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I stare at the television, hardly paying attention to the cards in my hand. Are we playing Hold ‘Em? Guts? I’m not too sure. The TV is tuned to the Classic Rock Music channel. On the screen is a picture of David Gilmour from the band Pink Floyd. I listen to his music and think, “I could have been musician.”

But I’m not.

I started to think of all the things I wanted to be, but am not. Doctor. Actor. Master of the Universe. Trainer and gym owner. I am none of those things. When the roadblocks of life got in the way, I never pushed back hard enough to achieve those goals. I made the excuse that if I wasn’t pushing, I obviously didn’t want it. Now, at the age of 41, I wonder, “what if?”

I know that the “what if” game is a common one, especially for people my age and older, but it feels like mine goes a little deeper than that. I look back and realize that I let opportunity go by so many times – in college, after college. There were moments where I could have (should have?) zigged, but instead I zagged – more often than not because it was the path of least resistance. Life (my life) is full of opportunities lost, chances not taken, changes not made.

I hope I have been a good son, an adequate husband and a decent father, but I wonder if they could have had better.

I wonder if that is one of the reasons I run like I do.

In running I finally found something that when I got pushed (through injury or bonking), I found a way to push back. I was able to take adversity and knock it on its ass. Still, I can’t help but wonder if running has become a last-ditch effort to validate myself – to convince myself that the boy that I was would be okay with , if not proud of, the man I have become.

No, I will never be an elite runner, I will never qualify for the Olympic trials, I will never get financially rich off of running, but hard work and perseverance has made me a marathoner and a Boston Qualifier. The results have been tangible. In qualifying for Boston, I have, in the eyes of some, made it to the promised land.

As I try to figure out what it is that I will become when I grow up (yes, I know I’m 41), I will hold on to this buoy, training my eyes on the horizon. I hope that the next time opportunity sails close by, I have the wisdom to see it and the courage to hop on board.

Why do you run?

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Softer

Posted in health, training, tagged Form, running on January 18, 2011| 9 Comments »

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This time of year we see a lot of people in the gyms. It’s a combination of all the New Year Resolution-ers and those that don’t want to/can’t take the cold. This past Saturday, while my older daughter attended a skating lesson, I opted to go to the gym next door to put in a few miles on the hamster wheel. The rows of treadmills were almost filled to capacity, occupied by a wide range of runners, encompassing all shapes and sizes – it’s one of the things that I love about running – our diversity.

What caught my attention however, was not the wide variety of runners that day. It was the cacophony of heavy footfalls – a banging away that made me wonder how long before someone’s knee or hip popped. As I hopped on to my station, I saw that there were three runners, again, in a variety of shapes, in the row in front of me who seemed determined to smash their machines to bits. I wondered if they were running out of anger. I resisted the urge to interrupt them and try correct their form.

Among the many things I have learned over the last two years about running, one of the most important is that “how” you run makes a difference in both your performance and enjoyment. A lot of people, whether driven by a New Year’s Resolution or not, will simply hop on the treadmill or go outside and go. The problem is that many of theses runners are running as if they are trying to achieve their resolutions in one angry, hard run. If you go out too hard, too fast, and without paying attention to your form, you are likely to a)hurt yourself and b)give up after only a couple of weeks.

No matter how heavy you are, others shouldn’t be able to hear, much less feel your footfalls from 20′ away. I know that as runners we like to say we are “hitting the streets” when we run, but nothing could be farther from the truth. Ideally, a runner should glide along as they run.

Obviously, your feet make an impact on the ground with every step, regardless of whether you are walking or running, but you can control the intensity of the impact. By softening you footfalls, you lessen the impact on your knees and hips, decrease the likelihood of injury and may actually increase your base speed and enjoyment.

So, how can you soften your stride?

There are a couple of things you can do. First, if you are new to this running thing, don’t feel compelled to run at other people’s pace. Start slowly, get comfortable. There is absolutely no shame in running a 15:00 mile. Think of all those people who are still sitting on the couch. Once your legs adapt to running, the speed will come. Second, try to land with your feet UNDER you instead of IN FRONT of you. The whole minimalist shoe vs. modern running shoe/mid-foot vs. heel strike is a topic that has been talked into ground and doesn’t need to be re-hashed here (if you want some in depth discussion on the topic hit up my friend Pete at www.runblogger.com). Suffice it to say that if you focus on landing with your feet directly under you, you will be working WITH your forward momentum, allowing you to run softer and eventually faster. Finally, try shortening your stride and increasing your cadence (the number of stride you take per minute). The shorter stride will naturally bring your landing closer to directly under you.

I am convinced that anyone, ANYONE, can become a light-footed runner. It’s not about size, it’s about form.

Do you think about your form when you run? What advice would you give to those trying to soften their steps?

Why do you run?

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Stumble

Posted in diet, health, motivation, tagged health, new year's resolution, running, stumble on January 11, 2011| 8 Comments »

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Happy New Year everyone! With the holiday season now at a close, many have wolfed down that last slice of pie, drunk the last glasse of champagne and moved on into resolution mode. Yes, January brings the deluge of New Year’s resolutions that people swear they are going to live by for the following year – eating better, exercising more are probably the most common. Inevitably they falter by the end of the week, the month, the season – at which point they throw in the towel to wait for the next turn of the calendar and start the process yet again.

A word of advice.

Give up.

You heard me.

Give.

Up.

This coming Sunday, forget about your New Year’s Resolution to get in shape, and stuff your face at breakfast or dinner with a huge plate of comfort food. Make sure you wash it down with 2 or 3 alcoholic and/or sugary drinks.

Go ahead.

Do it.

There is no reason to wait until the end of the month or the Winter, or for Summer to stumble and fall off the wagon. That’s right, I am telling you to get off that wagon this Sunday and indulge.

***

Wait a minute there, Luau! Aren’t you a proponent of healthy living? Don’t you advocate regular exercise and eating smart? Aren’t you the one who says anyone, ANYONE can get fit if they want to? What the Frak is going on here?

***

Hmm. I guess I should elaborate a little bit, huh? Notice above I said “breakfast OR dinner”? I did not mean to take the whole day, or weekend or week. I did not mean to give up for good. That would be silly.

No, what I propose is resolving to stumble in your New Year’s Resolutions.

Nobody is perfect, and because of that we can’t do things perfectly all of the time. Eventually we are bound to stumble. This is what happens to so many people who make New Year’s Resolutions every January 1st. The problem is that once they stumble they feel like that’s it. The shame of failing kicks in and overwhelms.

“It’s over!”

“I can’t do it!”

I’ve seen it before. Friends will decide that since they fell off the wagon on Saturday, they might as well carry it on through the entire weekend, the following week or even the rest of the year.

“You know, I ate like crap for breakfast and lunch so I’m just gonna complete the trifecta and eat this whole bucket of mashed potatoes and ice cream.”

A lot of people feel like if they fail the first, or second or third time they try to get healthy, they might as well give up because they can’t stick to it.

***

But what if one “stepped” off the wagon as opposed to “falling” off the wagon? A planned fall, if you will. Then maybe it’s not quite as bad. Then maybe, one would have the will power to step back on to the wagon after a single indulgent meal or a single missed workout as opposed to losing a whole weekend or a week or a month or the rest of the year?

Some people call it the 90/10 plan. The concept is to eat healthfully and exercise regularly 90% of the time and allow yourself to indulge in some guilty pleasures 10% of the time. The idea being that if you allow yourself to eat junk food and be a couch potato in small doses, you are more likely to remain disciplined the rest of the time.

A controlled stumble – think about it. If you are walking down the street and you fall, you are a lot less likely to hurt yourself if you fall in a controlled manner. It is the same with New Year’s Resolutions.

New Year’s Resolutions are fine and dandy. They can kick-start an active lifestyle, but don’t panic if you fall. Even if you fall hard. There is no reason why you can’t get right back up and dust yourself off. But if you have found that you have had trouble in years past with sticking with it through the year, try the controlled stumble, maybe once every week or two.

My bet is that you’ll find a lot more success down the road in achieving your resolution goals. It’s not about luck, it’s about determination and planning.

Have fun this Sunday! I don’t know about you, but I’m plopping myself in front the TV for some NFL playoffs, beer and a bucket of wings!

GO PATS!

Why do you run?

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License Revoked

Posted in diet, health, other, tagged McDonald's, Monet, Monet Parham, politics, responsibility on December 17, 2010| 8 Comments »

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So by now you may have heard about the woman in California that is suing McDonald’s for “getting into the heads of her children”. She says that McDonald’s knowingly makes it hard for her to say “no” to her kids by including a toy in their, what I read one person call “Shut Up in a Box”, Happy Meals.

The Right is up in arms. This is the Left and Liberalism run amok! And you know what? I have to agree. Let me state here that I am a card-carrying member of the left side of the aisle. I believe in social progressiveness. I believe that big government can work. I believe in welfare and Medicaid. I believe it is the government’s job to help make us a better society. I believe the very rich should pay higher taxes. I believe in spreading the wealth. I used to like John McCain before he went crazy. I think Michelle Bachmann is an entertaining, dangerous nutjob. I believe Sarah Palin is just plain dangerous.

But this woman, this Monet Parham is giving me agita. It is people like her that give the rest of us on the left a bad name.

I am not very political. I generally keep my politics to myself. I’m with Jon Stewart, who believes that the extreme 15% at each end of the political spectrum has taken over the system, while the “middle of the road” 70-80% of us are busy with our every day lives.

Monet,

Are you really serious about suing McDonald’s because you’re tired of saying “No” to your kids when they ask for McDonald’s? Seriously? Really? I’ve seen parents like you. The ones that just can’t say no because then their kids will cry. You deserved to have your parent-card revoked. Someone should call DSS and have you’re children taken into foster care. You know what happens to those kids who never hear “no” ? They become brats who walk around with a sense of entitlement and then can’t figure out why the real world doesn’t cater to their every need when they are grown-ups. You ought to be ashamed of yourself. McDonald’s doesn’t advertise themselves as a health food restaurant. They advertise themselves as a fast food restaurant. It’s not meant for daily consumption darlin’. You think they have a moral obligation to produce a healthier product? How about YOUR moral obligation to raise your kids properly? To teach them proper nutrition? To teach them restraint and moderation? To teach them about wants vs. needs? Fast food is not the enemy. Refusal to take on personal responsibility is. McDonald’s isn’t good for you? Guess what, Monet? WE ALL KNOW THAT!!!

This is one of the few time that I find myself in agreement with the likes of Michael Graham and Jay Severin, and that really ticks me off. The truth is the food at McDonald’s sucks…but it tastes so good! It’s salty, it’s fatty, it’s all the things that aren’t good for you in large quantities. That’s why in our family we tend NOT to eat it more than once, maybe twice a month. That doesn’t stop the kids from asking for it every time we drive by a McDonald’s. That’s their job. They’re kids.

An amazing thing happens though 95% of the time we drive by one. I say no and we move on. This may seem magical and mystical to you Monet, but you might want to establish who the boss is in your house. The problem today is not the soulless corporations; it’s the parents who are unwilling to be the hard-ass at home. It’s the parents unwilling to say “No’ or the ones who deliver empty threats – the ones that say, “if you do that again there’s going to be a consequence,” and then when the child does it again, the parent simply shrugs his/her shoulders and says, “what can I do?”

What can you do, Monet? Stop whining and be the parent!

Why do you run?

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Age

Posted in health, motivation, tagged age, Birthday, running on December 16, 2010| 12 Comments »

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Back in May I went running. I know, nothing unusual about that. I took my time running through town, proudly sporting my 2010 Boston Tech T, steadily making my way to one of the more popular running roads. As I turned left on to that road, I could see another runner coming from the opposite direction. He was younger, faster and wearing the same shirt. A quarter mile later he caught up to me.

“Nice shirt,” I said as he began to pass me.

“Yeah, you too,” he replied.

He fell in step with me and asked how I did.

“3:32,” I said, “not bad for a old guy.”

“Not bad at all,” he said genuinely.

“You?” I asked.

“2:25”

Cue record scratch sound. Cue my stutter step and double take.

“2-, 2:25? 2:25?”

“Yup.” He almost seemed uncomfortable with it and quickly changed the subject to my then spankin’ new Bikilas. We chatted for another quarter mile or so, but the whole time I was thinking “2:25?” I looked at this kid. He must have been somewhere between 18 – 25 (it’s getting harder to tell as I get older), running along gracefully with the stride of youth.

I started thinking, “wow, I’m old. I could be twice this kid’s age and he’s running a 2:25. Who am I with my 3:30?” Pangs of doubt led to the awareness of the pains of age. Every little pang I usually ignore in my legs suddenly became very noticeable. Suddenly I felt very much like a 40 year old, something I hadn’t felt since I started running.

I asked myself, “why am I doing this?”

***

5 months later I answered that question – Why am I doing this?

I’m doing it for this feeling:

Official Time - 3:19:19 - BQ

It was shortly after that run in with “2:25” that I reminded myself that yes, I was probably twice his age BUT I should be proud of that. The truth is, when I was that kid’s age, there was no way I would/could do what I am doing out there today. I was a physically old 20 year old. Today, I am a physically young 40 year old. Comparing myself to this kid was ridiculous, but comparing myself to my 20 year old self made a lot more sense.

Aging is inevitable. Regardless of how well we take care of ourselves, we will eventually have to yield to Father-Time. But how we get from 20 to 40 to 80 and beyond, and how long it is before we must ultimately throw in the towel, is, to a degree, in our own hands. I will be 41 next Wednesday. If I focused solely on the number I would end up down a rabbit hole of depression. In widening the lens, taking in the bigger picture, I realize that at 41 I will weigh less, run faster and be stronger than I was at 21. I may not recover as quickly from a night of partying like a rock star like I used to, but in the end, 41 is looking pretty damned good.

20-something year old Luau

40-year old Luau

Do you know what you want to look and feel like on your next birthday? or are you already there?

Why do you run?

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Thirsty

Posted in health, training, tagged Gatorade, Honey, Honey-Water™, Hydration, nuun, running, training, Water on November 29, 2010| 20 Comments »

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I’m mad.

Okay, maybe I’m just a bit on the miffed side right now.

But the more I think about it, the madder I get.

Over the last year or so I’ve oscillated in my hydration between Nuun Water and my home-made Honey-Water™. Both drinks do exactly what they are meant to do, they hydrate without overwhelming you with sweetness and sugar.

Part of what makes Nuun Water great is that it comes in little tablets. “Portable Hydration” is what they call it, and that’s exactly what it is. You carry the tablets with you so you don’t have to carry bottles and bottles of the stuff; simply fill your bottle with water and drop in a tablet. It’s that easy. The only drawbacks are if you lack a source of water on your run.

My secret formula Honey-Water™ may not be as convenient (I don’t really see myself carrying a little honey bear with me on my runs), but when mixed just right, with my added secret ingredient, the flavor is light and refreshing, and the sugar gives you an extra boost of glucose to keep running hard. I also find that I don’t have to drink as much per mile as I usually do with plain, old water.

Both are great.

I love them both and it pisses me off to no end.

Although I have run every marathon initially carrying my hydration (two with Nuun and two with Honey-Water™), the truth is eventually I run out before the end of the race. The simple solution would be to carry more, but that means more weight, which means more work. That doesn’t sit well with me, especially when I’m running for time. Carrying 48 ounces of hydration is one thing on a LSD 20 miler, but it’s a completely different thing when you are racing a marathon.

The reason I’m mad is that Gatorade has cornered the market on hydration stations at just about every half and full marathon I’ve been too; if it isn’t Gatorade, it’s the ugly step-brother Powerade. Both drinks are heavy on sweetness and hit my stomach like a round of buckshot. I’m not a huge fan of either and I generally don’t drink the stuff. Unfortunately, I’m afraid that I am going to have to start. They don’t hand out cups of Nuun or cups of my Honey-Water™ at races.

I think that one of the contributing factors to my physical breakdown in New York was due to last minute nutritional changes – that included switching to Gatorade mid-race when I realized that I was going to have to find an alternate source of carbohydrates when I was unable to stomach the banana flavored honey stingers I was trying for the first time. Though I don’t blame Gatorade completely, I’m sure that my stressed system didn’t take to it too kindly.

So what’s the solution?

Unless I can come up with a better plan, I am going to have to train my body to accept Gatorade. Plain old water is not a practical choice. When I run for distance, I sweat like a LeBron James before a Celtics game. I need the nutrients and minerals that water alone can’t replace.

Honestly, it would be nice to not have to carry anything in a long race other than a few Gu’s or Honey Stingers (just not that damned banana flavor though!), but I wonder if Gatorade is really the answer.

What’s your hydration strategy at the half- and full-marathon distances?

Why do you run?