Hydrating for a marathon

(source: not me)

I usually carry a water bottle wherever I go. Especially if I am running a marathon the next day, and all my friends are busy hydrating for what seems to be a week and I figure I may as well do that too, 'cause you know, you never know the day before the marathon that you may twist your ankle and throw 16 weeks of training (even if desultorily done amidst much stress).

But I forgot.

Plus the rule in the airport is never really clear. Can you carry your bottle through the security if it's empty? Or should you take a sip and show them it's potable? Or will they chuck the damn thing into the trash? So of course I don't dare to carry my good bottles. But a random one lying around the house can be recruited for this purpose easily.

But this time I forgot.

So I sucked it up and bought a bottle of water paying an astronomical amount in both paper currency and mother earth screwing up currency. I drank up a bunch and decided to save the rest for the car ride in Mumbai (bound to be long).

I got on the flight and proceeded to do my usual thing of sleeping from before take off to just after landing, waking up only to scarf up the breakfast they provided (don't recall what it was, I was awake just long enough to consume it).

When the flight landed in Mumbai I woke up and twiddled my ears a bit 'cause they were blocked and looked for my bottle. It was all crushed like. I guess they make these water bottles from cheaper and cheaper plastic of late, and plus all the pressure changes or what not. A bit of OCD made me try to straighten it out a tad but it wasn't important so I left it.

Then this stranger woman sitting next to me says "here, let me". I was fine, I DO NOT MIND I wanted to say but before I could capitalise my letters she grabbed the bottle. And believe this. A stranger of a woman who I had had no relationship with up to the point we boarded that 1.5 hours flight. SHE BLEW INTO THE BOTTLE.

I am not known as a good poker player. She must have seen the emotions clearly go across my face. I am not violent by nature so I could easily resist the temptation to slap her on the cheek. But I was so so annoyed! I am pretty easy going among friends and family about sharing food or what not but *shudder* what was she thinking! I pictured all the germs in her mouth, all the cooties and what not.

I reached my room and gave that bottle a nice big rinse. And yes, I did not hydrate (at least not from that bottle) for the rest of the day.... 

Kickin' It

I am training for a marathon again. I mean, its spreadsheet time. Though I haven't yet registered for the race. Though I have ignored emails from friends suggesting travel/acco plans to race venue (Hyderabad, if you must know).

The logic of my marathon training is a simple one. First the left hand side column is populated. How old am I? What historical injuries will I bring to the start line? Is the weather any comfort to humans (or any flora/fauna for that matter)? Excuses, you may say. Most important things in the world, next to guilt, which I consume as a major food group.

Next starts the browsing and analysing of the running folk-lore. The McMillan. The Galloway. The Murakami (useful tips from him that help left hand side column things a lot, especially the aging funda). I obsessively determine my 'expected finish time' and correlate it to last year's race standings. And thus depress myself immensely, at the get go.

Synthesis of all information and excuses and the scheduling of runs is up next. I have a simple excel WS marked out with stuff. This year I am at any rate logging all my runs and workouts and swims. Would use another sheet for the next few months, thats all.

I am aiming to add in a bit of speed-work this time around. Alternate weeks on the track. Yassos or Mile repeats; or at least 100m sprints/Tabata sessions. The latter are much easier for me than the former, but I suppose I could up the intensity and be somewhere in between in terms of difficulty. We'll see. The knees, ankles, and back health will determine that.

The past week was an experiment on what I call 'core tightness.' Might sound super stupid I warn. Of late, I have been running about 3 days a week (2 short, 1 long), swimming 1-2 times a week (crappily), and indulging in some species of core workout (usually p90x) 1-2 times a week. I mix it up fairly haphazardly based on morning mood but on average this is it.

I have been eating fairly badly. Mostly fried stuff like Murukku and Beetroot chips from Chennai Chips. I don't overeat so thats not a problem. I eat lot of veggies, so thats not an issue either. But the Murukku, Thattai, Chips, Boondi type stuff are still an enemy. Somehow I am reluctant to totally clean up my act here. I rationalise saying its 'not too much'

So the experiment this week was to run my 'pants off' as the case might be. Avoid any 'mat work' - no core synergistics, no insanity, no swimming even (which is just as well as the pool is ridiculously crowded). I ran everyday Sun-Thu. I was supposed to get out and run a bit on Friday as well, and then test behavior in long run today.

The experiment failed. I had to take yesterday off, first of all. My tempo run on Thursday (a long tempo - 6 miles - tough) was not great. The weather kicked my ass. Work and other commitments kicked my ass. I slept in. Never mind, I told myself. Rest is good. Lets bend the long run over.

I woke up this morning with a start, 2 snoozes later. Did my thang & woke up child (for her swim lesson). Child went to the bathroom and we discovered she has loose motion. I KNOW its not a big deal okay? But its 5:15 am. I am alone. I am a mommy. I am an idiot. I told her to go back to sleep, switched on the ac.

I took off. Mind disturbed. Legs were not great. Never mind, I told myself. They will heat up. I pulled out a 9:20 first mile, then coaxed out a 8:53 mile 2. Then I let it all flow. I took to the track for a bit - about 3 miles - and had the satisfaction of overtaking all the old people there. I was pushing myself though. Never mind, I told myself.

The core felt bloated, not in the least bit tight. At any rate I got my period yesterday so the experiment has to be repeated again for sure. Everything is all bloaty and weird at this time anyhow, run or coresyn, hardly matters, I would think.

I got out of the track and to the road. Lost in the ipod. The garmin died an ignominious death. Two dogs barked at me. Thankfully I was faster than them plus threatened to punch them. So they held back. On and on I went. Weather. Child. Legs. Back. Thirst. Blood blister. Oh well. I turned back.

Guess I did okay. No idea if my pace was good (it was decently good the first 10k, this I know). But I hung in there for nearly 2 hours. A few ticks more than last weeks long run. It has been a reasonably high mileage week. My left column is ready (add blood blister). New shoes! New worksheet! New everything! Hyderabad, here we go.