Pancakes and ziplock bags

I love freebies! Who doesn’t really, I mean, I know there’s people out there who say it’s better to give than to get and it is … sometimes. But today, not one of those times. It was a day for some full-on getting.

When the alarm went off at 5 a.m., booting me out of bed to hit my sneakers to the pavement, I never would have guessed it would be such a getting day. As some of you know, I’m not much of a morning person, but for the last few weeks I’ve been trying to incorporate an early morning run into my routine at least once a week, and this morning was the earliest. When I left the condo, the sprinklers on the boardwalk had yet to turn on, the timed nightlights had yet to dim, and the sun had yet to rise. Heck, even my Garmin was sleepy, not kicking in for the first 1.5 km of the run!!! And yet, there were actually a couple of people walking and running on the boardwalk with me – who knew? I thought for sure I’d be the only one out, I mean, who in their right mind (and yes, I am admitting that I may NOT be in my right mind) gets up at that hour?

It turns out, though, running that early was a bit of a godsend. Today was our first real hot day of summer. The sun was shining, the temperatures were upwards of 28 degrees in the valley, and the air was stagnant. I know it’s not New York hot, but for those of us on the West Coast who have been suffering the cold since like February, it’s a bit of a shock to the system, a much welcomed shock, but not exactly the most comfortable weather to be running in! I, however, didn’t have to worry about it; my run was already done. Nice.

TODAY’S RUN:

• 5 a.m. BG before: 7.4
• Distance: 6 km
• Average pace: 5.59 (a little bit fast for a tempo run that was supposed to be 6:30
  
• Time: approximately 40 minutes
• 7:30 a.m. BG after: 16.7***

*** I didn’t realize until my run was finished that the battery in my pump had died and that I wasn’t getting any insulin. When I left the house, it still had two bars on it, but I guess once it hits the one bar, that’s it. I remember hearing this soft, bird-like, sing-song chirping as I was running and kept looking at my Garmin and iPod to see if it was something to do with those, but couldn’t see anything, so I just figured I was hearing things … it was early after all. And because I had to change my infusion site today, I wanted a shower before doing so, so it was awhile before I was getting any insulin, likely the cause of the blood sugar drama 🙁

After work I went to a massage therapy appointment that I booked last week when my calves were still burning tight every time I ran. I knew the tightness wasn’t a huge deal, I just wanted to get some of the kinks massaged out that my foam roller wasn’t getting to. I thought the tightness had eased somewhat, as the last two runs have been alright calves-wise, but the second my MT started kneading his fingers into my calves, my face went all scrunched up into a raison-like cringe, ouch! But after just a few minutes, I could feel them loosening up. Nice.

But here’s the thing, my MT, he’s a talker, a major talker, and a lot of the time, he can’t multitask. Often, when he’s telling stories, his hands stop kneading. Why don’t I go to another MT? you ask. Because he’s that good. I usually book 45-minute appointments to ensure that I’ll get a good 30 minutes of kneading, but today, he gave me an hour! I think he was talking so much that he forgot about the clock, and I got a good, solid 45 minutes of kneading. Nice.

And because my MT’s a major runner with major runner’s knowledge, I had a full hour of tapping that knowledge. The greatest tips he gave me were the ones on fuel. He said the biggest thing I should be doing right now is figuring out what kind of fuel works for me on long runs. I already know what gels work, and what electrolyte drinks work, but food food I wasn’t so sure. He told me that for his races, he makes small pancakes, like the size of a silver dollar, using a bit of whole wheat flour (not too much) and large oat flakes, and douses them in maple syrup, to give a burst of energy that also has sustenance and is easy to eat, being all mushy from the syrup. Brilliant! I’ve just got to find me a from-scratch recipe and the right measurement to get that silver dollar size and I’m so gonna try it.

He also suggested I pack along orange slices, not to full on eat, but to glean the juice from when I’m needing a quick sugar hit. When I asked where on earth I was supposed to store all this stuff as the fuel belts only come with a small pouch, which I’ll be storing my glucometre and sugar tablets in, he said to just pin ziplock bags to the fuel belt. Brilliant!

Watch out running chicks, this Sunday, I could very well be out sporting ziplock bags and pancakes 😀

What kind of fuel do you use on race day?