Marathon Fueling and Low Blood Sugar

Warning: This is for anyone out there who has diabetes, hypoglycemia or reactive hypoglycemia. All others, you may be bored.

Since having a few fainting episodes this year, the doctor wisely suggested adding protein to every snack and meal to prevent blood sugar issues. My body has trouble processing sugar at all, and will "crash" a few hours after a meal or after taking in sugar or starch. It will start with trembling, and quickly move to the shakes, disorientation, sweating, blurred vision and eventually fainting. I'm trying to learn to eat something, usually a high fiber carb along with a protein source, about every 2-3 hours. And, eliminate my daily coffee which has become a bigger battle. :(

For long runs, I've normally focused on eating before I leave, and taking in gels or sports drink. But, depending on the day, what I've eaten the week before, stress level, sleep level, etc. it's turned into a crap shoot. For this marathon, I'd like to test myself a little rather than just plodding through to ward off the monster. The solution? Hammer Nutrition to the rescue!

For the record, I have used Hammer Perpetuem. It helped me survive Swan Crest, but I absolutely can't take the sight, smell or taste of it since. Personal issue only. So Brad, a rep from Hammer, suggested Sustained Energy as an alternative. He was also nice enough to send me a whole lot of free samples to try! I'm so glad he did because I have found my solution.

For me, based on my weight and how much I can tolerate (I've learned that 100-150 calories is all I can handle per hour - unlike friends who can do as much as 300 per hour. I've also learned that the calories should be spread out.), I make a mixture of unflavored Sustained Energy and Heed to give me a little over 100 calories per hour. For my 20 mile run yesterday, I mixed two scoops of each with water in a 10 oz. Nathan bottle. This gave me a total of over 400 calories in one nice little container. No mess, no litter, no cramming gels, bars, etc. in a pack.

I set my Garmin to alert me at every mile where I'd take a long swig from my mix. It worked PERFECTLY! I was never hungry. My energy stayed the same throughout the entire run, and I had no post run hangover. Of course, I also had water in a separate bottle. At 10 miles, as I dropped Buddy off at home, I took a Huckleberry gel just for a change in taste. Yummy. I also took 3 Saltsticks during the run - I plan to try Hammer Endurolytes in the future, but will wait until after my marathon to switch that up. Saltsticks seem to do the trick for now.

My favorites for this upcoming race:

Even when mixed thick, this went down easy. I actually looked forward to taking it. Very mild flavor when mixed with the Melon Heed.

Melon is my favorite flavor.

I love that you can buy gel in a bottle to put in a flask, instead of dealing with the once opened gooey packages and litter.

It's not the Nathan Sprint set up I love - it's the race cap. Especially for the SE and Heed mix. I didn't have to worry about getting the darn cap sealed.

And I love, love, love the Nathan Trail Mix belt. Light weight, bottles easy to get in and out, adjustable elastic band, and the pocket has enough room for my cell phone and a couple of just in case gels.

Taper time!

The marathon is a beastly thing -

But also kind of fun. I'm signed up for this marathon. I've only run a couple marathons several years ago and both took me over 5 hours. Lately, there's been a definite obsession with running roads. Could it be my fancy new shoes? :)

Or, maybe the growing desire to run fast?(er?) *For the record, however, I am still not committed to making myself hurt too badly to make this happen.*

I've no idea how to train for this kind of thing, so I need some help from you. I get that there are easy days, faster days and the long run. Resources say the LSR should be done 30 - 90 seconds slower than marathon pace. What does that mean for those of us who have no idea what marathon pace should be? Most of my shorter (3-6 miles) runs are done at a 9:45 - 10:00 average. Some faster, but usually not on purpose.

Yesterday, I did an 18 miler and ended up with an 11:00 per mile average pace. Eight of the middle miles were at an exact 10:04 with a couple more oops too fast 9:40's . Five of the miles were above a 12:00 per mile pace due to a couple very lengthy (as in a couple miles long), steady climbs. It's pretty hard to find a flat course here unless I went to the valley, but I prefer the South Hills view. For the most part, I felt great despite the last three miles into a direct headwind. I do admit that my legs suddenly wanted to shut down during the last half mile.

My questions for you:

1) Did I go too fast? Should I slow down my long runs?

2) Did I bonk the last mile due to going too fast or nutrition? (I took 3 gels, 2 Saltstick and water)

3) Should a person feel like she can keep going at the end of the long run?

4) How do I predict a doable pace for the marathon? I'd like to actually TRY in this one, but not make myself puke.

5) Also, if anyone is diabetic or has blood sugar issues AND runs marathons, what do you use for nutrition? I've got to be careful with the gel and sports drink because of sugar, but I also need calories. I tried Hammer Perpetuem, but the color, taste and smell make it impossible.

Thanks all!

Blogging

Sorry to the readers of this blog. Life has been exciting, busy, and I'm finding myself completely without time or even interest to write anything. I'm taking a break from blogging. Not dismantling the blog permanently - yet. Maybe there will be a renewed interest later. But, before I leave, there were a few emails about Swan Crest.

* Yes, the 100 mile race went on and was, I think, a success. 20 out of 44 runners finished. Steve, Rebecca, Mike and I helped out at the Six Mile Aid Station. Steve and I left in a rush Thursday afternoon. I'd been teaching summer school and hadn't had time to properly prepare. In a panic, I had to call Rebecca to bring warm clothes and flashlights.

Seven people with heavy packs hiked up 3 miles to the aid station, filling MSR bags with creek water along the way. At various times, hardy volunteers hiked back down a half mile to refill the bags and hike them back up. After my second trip with two bags of water, I felt like a major wimp, thinking I was going to pass out. I didn't feel as bad, after one of the race directors carried up the same amount, saying "this totally sucks." The runners, both those that continued on at our mile 46.3 aid station and those who dropped, were completely amazing and motivating. At 11:30 pm, the last runner came through. We cleaned up camp in the dark, and hiked everything and everyone out, finishing up around 2 am. Steve and I slept hard, then drove the supplies to the finish line. We then spent the remainder of our time reading and sleeping. I skipped the 18 mile run and rescheduled it for next weekend due to general fatigue and a sore body. I do hope the race directors continue to put this one on. With a few tweaks, it will be awesome.

Enjoy the summer!

Summer Travels

The start of summer brought some worry about how I was going to spend my free time. Never having been a public school employee before, I was a bit wired about summers off. No need to worry, the summer is BOOKED! First up was a week in Bozeman for a school conference. Steve and Buddy joined me and we camped at a beautiful spot in Hyalite Canyon. We saw so many gorgeous places and I kept forgetting the camera.

Due to my conference and limited time, I had to deal with morning road runs. Buddy and I got up early to get 4 miles in each morning. Easy to do when you are in a heavenly place.

As we were setting up for a campfire one night, we noticed black clouds rolling in. The thunder and rain continued throughout the night. It was kind of soothing and I slept well, but others obviously did not. When Buddy and I left for our morning run, campers emerged wet and tired, and started packing it up. Too bad, because they missed out on a spectacular, full of sunshine day!

Buddy and I took advantage of it and ran an old and very muddy logging road as the last of the clouds disappeared. It curved up and around eventually overlooking (from 6700 feet up) our campsite area.

No wildlife, but I did bring bear spray. Lots of tracks though.

On the return trip we followed the creek back to our campsite.

We debated staying another day, but Steve was suffering from a pretty nasty head cold, so we came home to prepare for the next adventure. My marathon schedule called for 13 miles (no, I still haven't decided which marathon, but aiming for one in September). Buddy and I left the house a little after 6 am to escape the blazing sun. Even so, it was getting warm as we reached the top of Mt. Ascension. Bud took some breaks in the shade, but was a stubborn bugger, refusing to drink any water.

We both admired the varieties of wild flowers.

And other little critters out there.

Steve was nice enough to come and rescue Bud at mile 6. It was just too hot for him. My run continued under cloudless sky and 75 degrees. Despite my sunscreen, I felt like I was being slowly fried. The views were stunning though, which kept my mind occupied until I finally reached mile 13 and walked the rest of the way home.

I can tell the core and back work is making a difference. Even on the hard days, I feel much stronger. Hopefully, that will motivate me to continue and not return to being the lazy slug I like to be.

A couple days here, and then I'm off to North Dakota for the home town reunion. It will be nice to see the family, but I'm not a fan of these kind of things. Gossip, drinking and street dances oh my! At least there will be some early morning prairie runs to keep me smiling.

Oh, and before I forget, send some good thoughts the way of Rebecca - on her way to completing her first Ironman!!!

Ridge Run

In all the time I've spent in the Helena area, I'd never completed the entire Mt. Helena Ridge Trail. A few friends and dog, Yuri, were going to hike it one way, so I joined their shuttle up to the Park City Trailhead. The first 1.5 miles were spent catching up and admiring the scenery and the first blue sky we've seen in awhile. It was hard to start running and leave the company behind.

Once I got going though, it was all smiles and sweet singletrack. Some areas were shady, but I was glad I left Buddy at home. With his abundance of fur, he would not have been very comfortable.

The actual Ridge trail is only about 6 miles long. It's all runnable, with only a few short climbs along the way. I wanted to get in 11 miles today, with some climbing. Once back to Mt. Helena, I descended a fun, fast McKelvy Trail, only to climb, climb, climb straight back up on the Hanging Draw and Prospect Shafts trails to the top. I made a short out and back to check the girls' progress, then got to do a screaming 1.5 downhill to the main parking lot.

I did much better today with fueling. The combination of Gu, Shot Roks, Luna bars and Nuun seemed to work. I definitely need protein for long runs, otherwise, I'm shaking like a leaf on the way to a major crash. Once again, an absolutely beautiful day!!!!

Tread Lightly

Since I've got extra time on my hands (meaning SUMMER VACATION!!!!), I visited a new running store "Tread Lightly." I'd been in once before to buy a running leash

and then ended up injured. Now that I'm running again - more on that later - I wanted to check out the rest of the store. Lots of fun stuff, including hydration belts, cute clothes, Gu and Hammer products, and a whole lotta shoes including my much loved Brooks Cascadias. Be sure to check it out when you're in Helena at 104 East Broadway.

Trip to the Flathead

First of all, Happy Birthday Buddy! The picture is from his 5th birthday and 1st anniversary with us. Such a good camping dog.

The last three weeks of the school year flew by in a whirlwind of activity. During that time, I did start running again, much to the dismay of my physical therapist. Thankful I had started again though, so I could join my old running group GGRRC for the one year anniversary of our friend Tom's awful grizzly encounter. We ran the same trail, listening to Tom's memories of that day. And, yes, we had bear spray with us. As you can see below, the day started out chilly. Across the road, we got to see a large moose in the creek. After a few of us taking pre-run pit stops, I looked up to see a large black bear right in our path. I need to sound more panicky in times like this, because my couple announcements of "Bear." "Bear." didn't seem to do the trick. But, there he was!
We chased him off the trail and continued on our way. Below is Tom telling his story.
And, Danni, reciting the Ode to Tom's Bear, that she and Ted created. Wish I had it videotaped, because it was dang funny.There were several people on the trail as we made our way to Avalanche Lake. They'd cheer us on making at least me feel like a rock star!As you can see, it was a beautiful sunny day!

I did bonk a little on the return trip. Danni was nice enough to give me some Clif Shot Roks that did the trick. As we made our way back to the car, we stopped suddenly as Deb and Tom yelled out. A SECOND black bear - right on the trail! Nice to be with a big group, so we could admire and continue on.

All in all, a perfect day on the trail.