carb loading

I've never tried the carb loading routine before a marathon. Decided a week or so ago, that I'd experiment before a marathon to see if I could gain any benefit. I'm not going the new school direction of only loading, but the old school method of depletion and then loading. One of the blogs I follow, Fast Master used a 10 day depletion cycle and then a 3 day loading phase. His approach is to extreme for me. I'm going with 3 days of depletion and 2 days of loading. Today is day one of the depletion, all proteins and minimal carbs. Basically an extreme Atkins diet.

I'm not expecting to lose much weight, perhaps a pound or two. I'm still at 155 pounds, which would be the lightest I've ever run a marathon. Usually weigh in at around 160 on marathon day. Whatever weight is lost, should be replaced in the carb loading phase. Ideally, I'll hit the starting line at 155, with my glycogen stores packed to the hilt. That's the primary goal of the depletion and then the loading. The body is tricked into loading more glycogen than normal. That's the theory, I'll see how true it is for me.

Only real negatives I can see from this experiment is the moodiness, loss of energy and general fatigue from the depletion phase. I've seen that effect before, but hopefully I won't experience but 2 days of that. Don't expect any of that today, probably just the urge for some carbs. The bigger concern is porking up to much in the carb loading phase. I'll just need to make sure and eat sensibly with moderate portions and not splurge or gorge myself.

Still need to get my marathon excuse list ready. I'm still adjusting this last week of training on the fly. This mornings workout was 6 miles, with a one mile warm up and cool down. The middle four miles were supposed to be at marathon pace of 7:15, but came in alittle hotter, not much though, averaged 7:10 pace. Monday was a complete rest day from running, but did do a weight workout to keep the metabolism brewing. Saturday did a super easy 8 miles at 9:00 pace, followed by 10 miles on Sunday at 7:45 pace. Workouts are feeling easy, which they should.

cruise food

No food pictures, Dylan and the "walrus" towel creation in our cabin
Food and lots of it. If you're hungry on a cruise, you must be a real picky eater. Granted its not gourmet food, but it is good. I ate omelets every morning, compared to my normal breakfast of yogurt and granola. Lunch and dinner were experiments in whatever looked good and if it wasn't, going back to try something else. I really counted on gaining a couple of pounds, but didn't. Not because I'd be pigging out, but because of less runs and less volume. Only ran 3 times on the ship for 5 miles each time and once before we left for a whopping 21 miles for the week. Did weights twice. Would have run on the treadmill on the ship, but they require a shirt in the workout room. Geez, I sweated like a pig for the short time lifting weights, no way I was going to do 40-45 minutes on the dreadmill.

Ate lots of fish, broiled, fried and baked. Dylan and I had lobster on one of the nights we ate in the main dining room. Lots of different desserts. That's one item where I overindulged. Each night, they would have at least 3 different desserts. I tried them all, each night. We never made it to the midnight buffet, that probably would have packed on some pounds, eating that late and then going to bed. We did stay up each night way past my usual bed time. No montezuma revenge issues with the cruise food. We didn't eat at any of the ports of call. Only one meal went through me and drained my entire digestive tract, but only before tying it up in knots. That was a mexican dinner the day before we left in Tampa.

The kids pretty much ate the same thing every meal. Pizza or hamburger, plus, ice cream or frozen yogurt. Ryan was eating ice cream before every meal, and the little boys were trying to keep up with him. Dylan did try some sushi. I thought it was pretty good. I had a few of the octopus, mahi mahi and spicy mackerel. Dylan tried the octopus and spicy mackerel and didn't like it at all.

The cruise line makes up for all of the food you eat, by charging you for cokes/sodas and all alcohol. Every day is a new "fun" drink with a souvenir glass for $6.75. I didn't drink on the ship, just the ports of call. The servers were everywhere, no excuse for not having a drink if you wanted one. Dylan caught on real quick with getting the servers to bring him another coke. Thought he was big stuff.

The 3 runs on the ship were on the upper deck "track". Eleven laps equaled one mile. It was the kind of track that is rubberized. The first day I gave up counting after 5 laps and just ran for 43 minutes. The turns were tight and the straights couldn't have been more than 50 meters long. I ran after the sun was up and it was probably already 70-80 degrees. I would have actually preferred the treadmill, only because the wind was so brisk and the turns were so tight. The next 2 times I counted the laps, 5 x 11. Good thing for the Ipod. The open ocean doesn't change much and dodging the walkers isn't much entertainment. Most of the walkers would walk the outer perimeter, except for a few who wouldn't budge from the inside lane.

This morning I ran 5 miles easy on the road and gravel, plus lifted some weights. Sure is different from the 5 miles on the ship. Even though the sun didn't come up until I'd already finished 3 miles, the time went by a lot quicker. Didn't even have my Ipod, it ran out of juice about the same time I did on my long run on Sunday.

Diet

Not me. I don't do diets. The recent beef recall, doesn't change anything. I've always been a carnivore. I haven't fallen for any of the hype or benefits of any alternative diet choices.



As a runner, I watch what I eat. Not very much fried food. I tried soy milk, it works well for smoothies. I'm not going to give up dairy, I like yogurt with my granola cereal every morning. That's actually helped drop a couple of pounds. Pizza without cheese, forget it. Nor beer, geez I run so I can drink beer and eat what I want.

I currently weigh 154. Only weighed 147 in high school, but I was a skinny runt without any muscle. I don't really need to lose any weight, sure don't want to look like I belong in a concentration camp. Perhaps a couple more pounds could come off, but it's not like I'm going to win any races or anything.

But certain items don't work well for a runner. Donuts before a long run. Chinese, Mexican or any other fried foods, not good if your long run route doesn't include a convenient restroom.

Yesterday was a off day. Today, easy recovery run on the golf course. Except for the fact that I ate to much of Dylans cereal straight from the box last night. Sure paid for it this morning. Felt like my belly was a beach ball and it was going to explode at any moment.