A month ago I officially started my life here in Burlington, Ontario – a very nice city indeed.

My first day went as first days normally do – a mix of nerves, tummy rumbles (no time for breakfast) and INFORMATION OVERLOAD.

And although my new colleagues couldn’t have been any nicer or more helpful, by the end of the day I was fried. Not physically exhausted, but mentally fatigued and extremely overwhelmed.

So I got home from work, threw on my running gear and shoes, and decided to see what Burlington was all about.

Well, in terms of running routes, I couldn’t have asked for a better landscape.

I ran down Lakeshore which, for those of you who are unfamiliar, is maybe the most scenic part of this city. Think massive, million dollar homes right on the water. AMAZING.

And as I stopped in a park for a sip of water (YES, gotta love water fountains along the route), I noticed this plaque on the fountain.

A sure sign that moving to Burlington was a good decision.

And for the first time since my move, I breathed a sigh of relief!

The day before a race, many of us (including myself) like to stay close by our water bottles. We make a point of drinking a bit more than normal, and, as a corollary, peeing a bit more than normal. But is this necessary? Does pre-exercise hydration need to start so early? Is it too late if, like Jerry Seinfeld, you wake up in the morning and feel so thirsty you swear you must have already run a marathon?

A study from the University of Guelph investigated just how quickly the body can rehydrate. Athletes were instructed to avoid fluid and arrive at the lab in a dehydrated state. They then drank two 300-mL boluses of fluid within 15 minutes, and waited 45 minutes more. Hydration status was assessed by measuring urine specific gravity, or the “concentration of stuff” in a urine sample (~More stuff = more dehydrated). After just 45 minutes, all the athletes had returned to a hydrated state.

Of course, you may not want to drink 600mL in a span of only 15 minutes before your next race – unless you have some sort of “express pass” to the front of the porta potty line – but the point is that your body is able to hydrate itself pretty quickly. The recommendation we give in the lab is to gradually drink about 400-800mL of fluid in the 1-2 hours before exercise.

You also probably don’t have a refractometer on hand to measure urine specific gravity, but you can get a decent idea by looking at your pee. Get up about an hour before your next morning run and go pee. Your pee will probably be yellow to dark yellow, and chances are you’ll feel a bit thirsty. Now gradually drink a glass or two of water over the next 45 minutes or so, and go to the bathroom again before you leave for your run. Your pee should be a lighter shade of yellow, or almost clear (Feel free to do this and report your findings in the comments section! No photos please.).

No matter what distance you are running, proper pre-exercise hydration is a must. About one third of the athletes that come into our lab arrive at least mildly dehydrated. A 2010 meta-analysis found that mild pre-exercise dehydration was associated with lower maximal aerobic capacity and impaired endurance performance.

Don’t care about aerobic capacity or performance? Even if you run for pure enjoyment, think about this: In a study investigating dehydration and perceived effort, athletes exercised at the same moderate intensity on 4 separate occasions, each time at a different level of dehydration. The more dehydrated they were, the harder they perceived the exercise to be, even though the actual intensity was the same! Being hydrated before exercise allows for maximum enjoyment!

For athletes tackling longer distances like a half marathon or marathon, making sure you’re hydrated before you toe the line means less chance of dehydration becoming a problem during your event. For a marathon you may want to go one step further and develop a hydration outline through practice in training runs, especially if you have a very high sweat rate or if conditions on race day are hot. But hydration during exercise is a topic for another day…

Above all else, remember: Pay attention to your body! Use recommendations and guidelines in combination with personal experience and your own feelings. And remember that more is not always better. I work with a lot of athletes and some actually come into the lab over-hydrated. They usually complain about feeling bloated or full, but feel that as long as they keep drinking and ensure they don’t get dehydrated, they’ll be fine. As with most things related to the body, a balance needs to be struck. You don’t want to start a race feeling absolutely parched, but you also don’t want to miss the start because you’re in the porta potty!

Next time…

Carb loading before the big race: Who needs to do it? How much should you eat? When should you eat it? And maybe some more Seinfeld references!

References:

Logan-Sprenger HM. Unpublished data, 2010.

Gigou PY et al. Meta-Analysis of the effects of pre-exercise hypohydration on endurance performance, lactate threshold and VO2max. Med Sci Sports Exerc 2010;42:S254

Moran DS et al. Evaluation of different levels of hydration using a new physiological strain index. Am J Physiol 1998;275:R854-60

Firstly, I’ll apologize that your initial introduction to me occurred on a Monday. I hold the same opinion as many others about the first day of the work week – it is meant to be tolerated, not anticipated. I promise I make a much better first impression on Fridays, preferably around 4 p.m. when cocktail hour begins in our home.

Rumour has it I’m a finalist in Running Blog Idol 2.0. Be grateful all you have to do is read my writing rather than listen to my warbling rendition of “Chain of Fools.” Well played on the part of iRun’s editors.

On any given day, you’ll likely find me hidden by a pile of Mega Bloks and cracker crumbs as I watch my (almost) three-year old hurricane leave a path of destruction in her wake throughout my living room while I feed her baby brother. Occasionally should their naptime happen to sync up (an occurrence also known as a blue moon), I might be scouring Pinterest for tips I’ll never use (Some days I’m tempted to submit my own home organization ideas except I’m not entirely convinced anyone would find a photo of a can of kerosene and a book of matches all that inspiring). If I’m lucky, at some point I’ll escape out my front door for some quality me time and go for a run. If my family is lucky, I’ll choose to come home at the end and not keep running. Say to Hawaii. Or Montana. I’m not picky so long as it’s quiet.

I am the mom of two and wife of one. I have an adopted Yorkshire Terrier who thinks he’s a Great Dane. I like wine, writing, hockey season, bad primetime TV, coffee (oh, sweet mercy, the coffee) and new shoes (the running kind and the pretty, non-functional variety, equally). I could have also added running to that list, but given the nature of this blog, that should be a given. You’ll get to know me and my story over the next several weeks. And maybe you’ll like me a little bit better on Tuesday.

Find me on Twitter at @TamIWas.

Medaling Medals

OK, never thought I would be saying this but I have finally found a detriment to running…medals…now not to say that getting a medal at the end of a run is a bad thing…  No, quite the contrary, after your long, hard months of sweat and toil to train for a race. After the blood and guts and sweat and empty gel packets you have left on the race course… you’ve earned that little piece of heaven called “the race medal”  aka  da’bling !!!

Medals come in all shapes and sizes. Some big, some small, and all very pretty on the wall.

Where medals become a problem is not in the quality but in the quantity, I mean, do the math… for argument’s sake let’s say you have been running for 20 years…now let’s also for argument’s sake say you enter 8 to 10

races per year…   that’s 20 X 10…um, carry the one… um ….wow that’s a crap load of hardware!!! …

So, I have devised a solution to this imminent problem… I call it :

LEN’S Things you can do with your race Medals
(I’ll admit it’s a catchy kind of title…even if it is a bit self serving).

A grouping of medals can be hung to create a “Wind Chime”. Make sure you carefully select medals that are very noisy, annoying all your neighbors.

Large round medals can be used as coasters when entertaining guests.

Medals are ideal for leveling up that pesky old washer that continually “Dances the Watusi” during the spin cycle.

Nothing screams “look at me” like an authentic belt buckle medal. The more decorative the better.

It’s dark, you hear a noise, unleash a deadly barrage of cold, deadly steel, using your race medals as Ninja throwing stars…(select medals carefully, the pointy ones do the most damage).

Decorate your transportation with an awesome medal as a hood ornament.  Go ahead, rip off the nameplate on your car or truck and replace it with a really glitzy medal.

You have just blown a fuse and the hardware store is closed for the weekend… metal conducts …and your medals are made of metal…hmm…totally safe for sure…and CSA approved…

DISCLAIMER :
NOT EVEN CLOSE to being CSA  APPROVED…

DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME
~ don’t ask why ~
just trust me on this one !

Pet ID tags… yes, my cat really ran that race.. why do you ask?   ( gratuitous pet shot ).

Makes a nice Fridge Magnet … ok the ribbons gets stuck in the door a lot but at least I have a place to hang the bottle opener.

Impress your friends with with a custom made key fob,  it won’t fit in a purse or pocket, but at least you will have something really descriptive to look for the next time you loose your keys.

Or you could consider “gifting” your medals to an organization like www.medals4mettle.org. This not for profit organization will take your donated marathon, half-marathon and triathlon medals and gift them to children and adults who are fighting debilitating illnesses, paying forward the awesome feelings you got when you crossed the finish line, and had that medal hung around your neck so long ago.

 As the spring temperatures climbed and the kilometers added up, the countdown to the Good Life Fitness Toronto Half Marathon was on. With only 12 weeks of alcohol abstinence under my belt, I was focused on two things…21.1km and beer. You don’t have to be an addict to have experienced the obsessive thoughts that plague your mind when you can’t have something. Dieters always want more food. A jilted lover wants the one who jilted them and I wanted beer.

I ran and daydreamed about filling my fuel belt with golden ale. I conjured up mirages of hydration stations passing out cups of lager. You wouldn’t catch me being picky about what was being served. In the end, I just ran and I didn’t weaken to the temptation.

 Early morning runs became necessary to avoid the hottest parts of the day. Being out on the roads at 5 am was very relaxing. I appreciated the calm and quiet all around me, my footfalls and the birds singing being the only sounds to disturb the tranquility. I was reminded of a time in my life when I often saw 5 or 6 am, usually because I hadn’t passed out yet.

 As I look back to last year, I don’t know how I did it, but I made it to race day, alcohol free. In fact the day of the race I was celebrating being on the starting line as well as being four months sober. I am certain one had everything to do with the other. The race was spectacular. At the 14^th km, I was overwhelmed with emotions. The enormity of the past 16 weeks was profound. I wept with grief for letting go of an old life and its old habits. I wept with pride for being as strong as my Mama taught me to be and I wept with fear for my future.

Four months of sobriety was everything to me and nothing to me. With each fore footed landing, a new thought was being pounded into my soul…I had the rest of my life…every waking minute that I live is another minute that I could fall off the wagon! This sucker could de-rail and fly off the tracks at any time. In a moment of weakness or insanity, I could fail at sobriety.

 The next few kilometers were blurred by despair. How was I going to live my life fearing failure? It was then that the phrase I had heard at the only AA meeting I had attended came to me…one day at a time. I couldn’t worry about forever. I could only worry about today. I won’t drink today, will be the goal. There was a lot of today left in that particular day, but in those moments, they weren’t serving lager at the hydration stations.

 I completed my first half marathon with a chip time of 2:08, with a dear friend by my side. We were corralled to the photo area as we recounted parts of the course. We were tired, but energized. I heard the announcer on the PA system calling out congratulations. He encouraged runners to visit the nutrition tent for bagels and bananas to refuel. With excitement he also reminded finishers to visit the Molson tent where we could pick up our complimentary 6 pack of Molson 67! I am NOT making this up. This was almost my dream come true…beer at hydration stations, this being the largest fuelling station on the course. I prayed for strength and I recited over and over…I will NOT drink free beer to celebrate my sobriety!

Eight weeks of grieving the loss of my dear friend, Cold Beer, was enough to make me feel pent up and stir crazy. Spring was beginning to show herself with sunshine that warmed the face and smells that promised brighter days ahead. A time of renewal, just what I needed.

 I began with a walk and found that the intense shame and emotional baggage of alcoholism didn’t feel as heavy when I was busy noticing nature. After a few days of walking, I began running again, the only way I knew that worked…walk 4minutes, run 1 minute(so I could do the math easily) and repeat. For anyone who has ever developed any amount of endurance to their running, you KNOW that this walk/run business is a far cry from your true running talents, but it works if you can be humble enough to accept it. I figured I had been humbled to my knees over the past few months, and I needed this to work. I needed to run, like I wanted a beer, but I wasn’t going to let the beer win. So away I went.

 Several weeks later, I was running 10 and 1’s with the natter, chatter still raging in my head when I decided that I was going to run the Good Life Fitness Toronto Half Marathon and I was going to rope my friend into doing it too.

 To keep me busy and off the sauce, my friend agreed. I totally could have celebrated with a glass of red wine, but I didn’t, I ran instead. I ran with hope and happiness, two things I hadn’t felt in a long time. My happy headed thoughts led me to some corny rejoicing in the power of the human spirit to heal itself, in my case through something as rudimentary as running.

 I enlisted a ten week training plan that I plucked from some website and since I had eight weeks until race day, I promptly stroked out the first two weeks. All I needed to do was to stay focused and to make sure I never ran by the liquor store. I was a great runner as a kid. This was like coming home. I never doubted my talents and abilities as long as I could stay sober.

 As the weeks passed, I was desperate to be free of the monkey on my back. Run, I told myself. Just run. Don’t think. Just run. Feel the road. Breathe the air. I need to run… feel… breathe. These are the things I did over and over. I developed habits. I needed certain socks with certain shoes for certain routes. I ate the same foods before a run. I obsessed about the right amount of hydration…then it hit me! I was kicking the beer alright, but I was knee deep in NEED for the daily run! I had a new addiction. I truly am happiest when I am consumed by something and this “something” wouldn’t give me cirrhosis. Cheers to that!