House stalking

RUN 9.4 miles in 94-ish mins, no garmin

Well I started with the garmin. But since I didn't charge it, it died at mile 1.76.

Another busy day ahead so I was up early for this. The plan was 7 miles, to round my weekend out to 20 total. I toyed with the idea of doing 6.9 miles, but only briefly.

I wrote on my hand the 4 addresses I wanted to run by -- potential houses on my shopping list -- and took off towards LP for some extra mileage. It was in the first loop of LP that the garmin died. This put my plans in a spin for awhile. I started mental-mathing known routes, all concerned about getting my 7 miles.

Honest and for true -- if when I got home I added up the route on MMR and found I was short, I would most certainly go back out around the block to round it up!

So instead of my initial plan, I set onto a known route. I knew 2 loops of LP was 4 miles, and that BP and back was 3 miles. Sounds like a plan!

I wander around the BP area, see my houses, lament the terrible sidewalks, have a brief scare of gut cramps about 1.5 miles from home, sip my diluted OJ, and marvel at how fast it got hot. It was only high 60's/low 70's on Thursday!

And once home, I was surprised at the time -- much more had elapsed than I expected. And the reason? I ran more than expected! I added 2.4 extra miles to my run.

No gut problems, no repeat of yesterday. And another hurry hurry day -- I got home from my run and found a showing request on the phone (the irony that yesterday I carried my phone and got no such messages, then today thinking I don't need it I do get the message!).

One thing to note, is that my left hip is popping still. Not sure if I've mentioned this or not? There's a tight hamstring something-or-other, not sure if it's muscle or tendon or what. I feel it when I bend over and stretch the hammy. And the hip socket "pops" when I walk. Not much of a problem when I'm running, but it's probably the running that's causing it? Or the lack of running? Or a latent race injury?

Anyway, NUMERICS! Haven't done these since the race.
RUN 34.5 miles
BIKE COMMUTE 27.9 miles
WALKIES 17.6
and 1.5 hours of strength training. started that up again.

Running on empty

BIKE COMMUTE 6.4 miles
RUN 13.1 miles in 2:04

Went to work, started a PCR, then ran in FoPa during the PCR. I was dragging in energy with my mind trying to talk me into eating pure sugar for fuel. That's the animal mind talking, the rational side knew that wouldn't be a fix but rather a bandaid. I'm in it for the fix. At least 30 days! This is day 26, I've made it this far, I can do it.

Then to my surprise, the run goes great! It was getting warm but I do OK in the heat. I ran out, looped to the VC for 5 miles, then added an out-n-back on Wyd for the mileage. Got back to lab feeling pretty dang good about how that went.

Towards the end of the run, my gut was slightly crampy but nothing major or new. At the very end, I had the urge to "go", but nothing emergency like. I wrote up a few notes, then followed the urge. And here's a TMI warning!! A total T7!!!! WTH!? All liquid and gas. Holy cow, that saying about "never trust a fart" would have been so true here, cuz I thought I would just fart a bit.

Who am I giving a TMI warning to anyway? Not like anyone else reads this...

So what happened? A few points to consider: I ate a small brekkie before going to work, knowing that I'd be running later in the morning. I'm testing butternut squash in the SCD phasing. I took two probiotic pills yesterday (at once) instead of just one or one at a time like I've done the past few days. It was hot out, maybe I reacted to that. It's my longest run since the race. I sipped diluted OJ for energy from my flask.

If I had to guess, I'd say the probiotics? It was just that episode, no other symptoms the rest of the day.

Regardless, I'm terribly happy to have pulled this run off given my energy lags the last few days. No other on-board fuel, just 2oz OJ and water.

Never trust a fart!

OK so no fructose

BIKE COMMUTE 6.4 miles

OK so I left off the last post with a plea for energy in the form of honey. I was taken with the idea of going to the farmer's market held here on Thursday's. But I hesitated, read more, hesitated, and talked myself out of it. Fructose is not utilized by all cells in the body, so that's not my answer.

So I'm back to researching starches, specifically thinking a fist sized potato at dinner, and more specifically starches Friday and Saturday nights before a long run. And maybe a BIG fist for sizing.

Energy was better today, and it was a busy one. Looked at houses in the afternoon after work and had a 630pm showing of the house. Planned ahead, and made it work.

Too tired, too foggy. Gotta fix.

RUN 7 miles in under 59 mins
COMMUTE 6.4 miles

For the pre-run, I ate a banana, egg white, and carrot puree. And I think a few strawberries. The goal was to 'carb up' and see how and if it improved anything. I had a good run, I was emotionally flat but awake and moving at a decent pace.

Then I get home. The weather is super cool, in the low 70's and wet so I got cold. I ate brekkie standing at the countertop (again!) and never felt satisfied with it. I drank more water and some warm tea to see if it helped. What didn't help is that I just wanted to nap somewhere, even though I was in bed for 8 hours last night!

So I ate some more, and got myself sick. Here I am hours after eating and still feeling sick. And still having a brain fog and low energy. Here's a report of the last 90 days. I removed the carb foods from the KM100 race day to adjust the graph. I don't know why I just mentioned that.

As can be seen, the carbs dropped after the race, marked by the last high-carb day in that graph. The red line is some 'daily goal' thing from the program, I don't use it, but it's set to 112 grams, and it provides a nice visual aid. 

Fat didn't change much, and protein went up. Not unexpected since the SCD diet pushes protein in place of carbs.  So there's your trouble. 

Now how to fix? For now I need to avoid starches and focus on monosaccharides. I'll get back to starches and complex carbs eventually, just not yet. I'm committed to at LEAST 30 days (today is day 24) and hopefully 60 days. Or by 60 days have more re-introduced. My plan isn't to remain SCD for long or for life, rather I wanted to see if I could improve on the FODMAP limits I had and see if the probable SIBO could be fixed. So the end goal is time to heal, then back to FODMAP with potatoes and maybe rice. Limited rice anyway, for training. I didn't feel mentally good eating it -- set up some weird cravings and fogginess. 

Honey provides the best mono and least sucrose. Bananas, raisins, and strawberries also good ratio of mono's to disaccharide. Oranges are higher in sucrose, so are pineapples. I've already re-introduced banana, raisins, and strawberries. But it's not enough?  

So what next? Well HONEY seems an obvious option! And I just googled a DIY way to make honey stix. Gonna use a FAT straw ;)

Try honey I guess. It's a high FODMAP issue maybe, but that's due to the fructose. I don't know if my problem is with fructose or not. But I've also read that the numbers for fructose are different because over time the honey 'digests' due to the enzymes it has? Look into it. And fat straws!

Wet Wednesday ride

COMMUTE 8.7 miles, extra in TGP

My original plan was to ride longer in the morning, but a soft steady rain kept me from that. I love the rain, but riding the streets in it is not a great idea.

There's been a trend for me lately to run out of energy in the middle of the day. I get a brain fog, I'm clumsy, unmotivated. I think it's a too-low-carb issue with the SCD diet. I'm limiting to one piece of fruit either at dinner or around training, as I'm finding that too much causes problems for the tummy.

Well actually, it's that I randomly munch food lately at dinner, standing at the counter, unsatisfied, and eat some fruit to see if that boosts my energy. So I'm eating poorly (good food, but poor methods) and then attributing that all to the fruit. Sounds like I could test that.

I've been tracking my intake for long enough to view changes. Prior to the SCD I was consuming more like 200 carbs per day, with the caveat that I was training most every day. Now I'm only taking less than 200, and not training every day.

But I'D LIKE TO BE TRAINING! And I'm not because my energy sucks! And don't forget the stress levels, the distractions of buying/selling a house, the sick dog, and etc.

So this needs a fix. I'm reviewing my SCD lists now for sugar options.

Do you need the courtesy shuttle?

RUN 5 miles in about 50 mins, car dealership to work and back

I enjoy "running" errands, this type of errand too. Drop the truck off for oil change and inspections, then run to work. When they ask if I need the courtesy shuttle, happily I don't. And a few minutes later while running I see the shuttle going by and just smile.

Another day, more rain. June was the rainiest on record they're saying, I love me some rain so this this all good. Especially when the 3rd floor door doesn't leak! Basement another story.

The run felt good in the morning, haven't done the afternoon one yet. After work runs are always tricky until I'm warmed up.

Last night I started my strength training 'program', the Nike+ app in my phone! It's basic, simple, mostly body weights, and modifiable. I'm terribly weak at push ups. And it helps to play music from my playlist! I chose 2013 last night, some good Have A Nice Day in that one :)

Goodbye June, Hello July!

Weds I think I biked to work: COMMUTE 6.4 miles
Thursday: RUN 7 miles in 67 mins, not the group run
Friday: RUN 7 miles in ~67 mins, to work and back plus

Typing this up on Monday the 6th, so here I am one month out from the race. I was going to take a month 'off', and well, the the month is up!

And what a month!!!

First off, I started the SCD diet, today I'm 21 days in and finally getting energy back. I'm over the coffee and carb withdrawal I think, but still working out my training fuels.

Sugar is recovered. Thank God.

The house goes "active" tonight, it's ready to go! That prep stress is over, now onto the stress of showing it.

Just saw Dr M, he says skip PT for 2-3 weeks and see how I do with my own strength training. My major problem as described to him was "I feel like I'm losing strength, I feel weak".  I laugh to think he might be testing me, but I don't think so.

Two new songs for the Songlist.
No Doubt's Just a Girl, heard this twice while Sugar was sick.
And Amy Winehouse's Rehab, I said No No No. :)