Fair weather running

I guess my few weeks of perfect running weather are over. It seems I do best when the temperatures are somewhere in the small range of 65-80F. Back in March I was freezing up in my half marathon since I overestimated the temps and wore a tank top and shorts. And now I've already melted in the heat this spring, and it is only May.

Sun! He came out with this right after telling me he didn't know how to draw it.

Then he asked where the cold comes from and I tried to explain how the solar system works.

  

I might have possibly made a few small errors that caused my 10 miler to become a stumbling walk. After my apparent overeating before my triathlon a few weeks ago, I decided that less is more, and I knew a small breakfast would  get me through an aerobic 10 miles. Despite what I actually heard a registered dietitian tell a class once, exercise is NOT solely fueled by carbohydrates. And, also unlike what some "nutritionist" told a newbie runner recently, you don't use up all your carbohydrates in 30 minutes of exercise, requiring jelly beans to get you through. Good grief. No wonder people are so confused about how to fuel exercise. 

Anyway, I had a quick breakfast--so quick that I think the only thing I drank was my delicious coffee... Oops. The night before I had been out doing hill repeats on the bike with a group, and you know how much that makes you sweat, what with the lack of cooling wind and all. Then you get to talking on the descents and forget to drink. Some people may rehydrate all night, and then others dehydrate, like from nursing multiple times. 

So! I'm sure I started out a little low on fluids. I had a small 12oz water bottle with me running, which I finished within 6 miles. It was a bit warmer, leaving my house close to 10am, than my previous runs, and everybody knows how I can melt down in the heat. I've done it in the middle of the summer while training for an Ironman, during a half Ironman, during a few full Ironmans, and countless other times I happened to not have blogged about. Heading out for a hilly, sunny, humid, warm, longer-distance-than-I've-done-recently run on little fluid and scant fuel was not my brightest idea.

Like I mentioned in a previous post, I do need to work on remembering good nutrition before exercise. Just like after a winter off from long riding post Ironman, when I would always forget how much fuel I'd need for a "short" 3 hour bike ride, ending up terribly underfueled, I have forgotten just how much I sweat, and how much I need to replenish after a 90 minute hill workout followed 14 hours later by an easy 10 miler. Learn from me how NOT to acclimate.

My regular daily nutrition, on the other hand, while needing to see a decline in daily ice cream consumption (at least I'm adding some antioxidants-- chocolate, strawberries and bananas), is based around these huge CSA baskets full of a variety of lettuces, beets, radishes, broccoli, onions, and various other goodies. I'm addicted to a couple of things right now besides ice cream, and I suppose I'll share my secrets. Try this homemade ranch dressing from the Pioneer Woman on your salads -- mine of course has modifications due to the herbs I have growing in the kitchen-- and you will never buy ranch again. And then make this broccoli, and you won't eat it any other way again. I'm not even a huge fan of broccoli, until now. Hunter actually said to me, reaching for the broccoli, "Give Hunter that!"

And speaking of Hunter quotes, he attempted to teach me a few things this week when he said, "Owl is a type of bird." And then today, "Octagon has 8 sides." Why yes it does, my miniature scientist and mathematician...

And since no post is complete without Hunter pictures...

  proud owner of his very own new basketball

 

best daddy ever, goes walking through tiny tunnels during his lunch break

 after the trucks go through the truck wash, they sit out on the curb to dry (where his pants should also be)

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