A1A Half Marathon Wrap-up!
This was one of the best races and times we have had in a long time!
I will start with a trip down memory lane. But first……….
I decided to start Saturday morning with a soak in the hot tub!
The hot tub
Now, on to memory lane…..
This is the 11th Avenue Bridge. It is one of the few bridges here in South Florida, that turns instead of going up like a draw bridge. To the immediate left of this bridge, was a home owned by one of my fathers friends. He used to let me come over and crab off of his dock. Good times for sure!
The 11th Avenue bridge.
This is the Evergreen cemetery. It is the one of the oldest cemeteries in Broward County. Back when I was in high school, we used to jump the fence, which was lower than it is now, and have parties til all hours of the morning. The phrase was, we are having a party Saturday night…and everyone was dying to get in!
Evergreen Historic Cemetery
After driving around Broward County for a while, it was time to visit the Expo. As always, this Expo has just about everything you could want for running and fitness. We got our race packet, shirt, poster, sport beans, all in 40 minutes!
Expo
Expo
Expo
Lexus isle at the Expo.
Next, we took Marshall to his Aunt Rose Maries where he got to spend the weekend! After that, time to check into the hotel. When I went to get a hotel for this race, everything was booked, at least what was in our price range. So, we had to “settle” for the Ritz Carlton! The standard rate for this room was $599.00 per night……………unless……you have Marriott Rewards points! Since we use our Marriot credit card for everything, we have an abundance of points, so, 50,000 points deducted, and the room was free!! And what a room!
This has to be the best hotel room we have ever stayed at. Click on the link Ritz Carlton, just to look at the place. Below are a few pictures of our room and the view. As an aside, the service is unbelievable! Everything you want is a fingertip away!
The Bed
Bathroom vanity
The bathtub
The toilet room..with a phone………… and a TV in the bathroom!
The view from our balcony.
The view from the 7th floor pool deck.
After we settled in, we decided to have a few drinks on the patio overlooking the Intracoastal waterway. The Miami boat show was going on the same weekend, but we had our own private boat show!
Bridge opening…..
Sailboat.
A nice boat….
A real nice boat……
A really, really, really nice boat!!
After viewing our own private boat show, it was time for dinner. We decided to walk around to burn off a few drinks and ended up at the Quarterdeck Lounge. This is a place that as youngsters, we used to frequent. Maybe when you get older, you notice more, but this place was a dump. After waiting 20 minutes for service, and none ever came, and being subjected to a smoker who appeared to be in the final stages of some sort of death disease, we decided to eat elsewhere!
We walked around some more and ended up back at the hotel to see about getting dinner reservations. All booked up. We walked back down “the strip”, and ended up at the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company. Looking at the menu, there wasn’t much that appealed to me, so we moved on. Eventually, we arrived at the H20 Cafe.
The wife used her phone to look up the reviews and most were positive, so, we decided to eat here for our Valentines dinner.
We were seated immediately and our waiter asked for our drink order. My current training drink is Jose Cuervo tequila and diet Sierra Mist. It is a zero carbohydrate drink and not as fattening as my normal Tequila Sunrise. Since they had no Diet drinks of any kind, we had to improvise. Tequila, Seltzer water, lemon, lime, and Splenda!
With the drinks out of the way, time to order food.
First was the appetizer, Cozze Posilipo….which is “Mussels in a light tomato wine sauce with red onions and a touch of fresh tomato and basil.”
Cozze Posilipo
Mussels in a light tomato wine sauce with red onions and a touch of fresh tomato and basil.
This was absolutely fantastic! I was tempted to get another order, but seeing the portion size, figured the dinner would be plenty!
Speaking of which, I had the NY Strip Steak and the wife had the Risotto Champagne. Both were outstanding! I highly recommend this restaurant if you are ever in the area.
New York Strip Steak
Risotto Champagne
Risotto with baby shrimp and asparagus in a champagne cream sauce.
The view of Fort Lauderdale Beach from our dinner table!
Time to head back to the room to watch the sunset and go to bed around 8:30 pm.
Sunset…
Sunset….
Nite nite……..
What is that sound? Ah, the alarm…..it is 3:00 am!!!
Remember that hotel service I mentioned earlier?
Can you send us up a pot of hot coffee?
Although it was 20 dollars, it was worth it!!!!! And, it arrived 10 minutes after the call and was fresh and hot!!
Now it was time to bathe, get dressed, and do everything else that you have to do before you head out to a race. We made a phone call to the valet, yes, it is mandatory valet parking, and when we got downstairs, our car was waiting for us! We even picked up a girl runner who was waiting for a cab, and we offered her a ride to the race.
Five minutes later, with a little “creative” driving, all routes to and from the hotel were blocked off and I had to navigate several cones, we were at the VIP parking lot, which is at the finish line. So far, so good.
Next we got on the bus and headed to the starting line, which is normally a 15 minute ride. Unfortunately, due to construction, several of the “usual” roads were blocked off and our driver seemed to have a hard time understanding what some of us locals were trying to tell her! Eventually, we ended up near the starting line, the driver pulled off to the side of the road, and we all got off and made our way to the start.
The Starting Line!
We only had to wait 20 minutes until the Star Spangled Banner was played on a saxophone. Then the wheeled racers were off. At 6:00 am, the race started. This race, unlike the Disney races or any other race we have run, is a mass start race. Everyone gets into position by markers for their projected pace. The only issue with this is that some of the slower runners, jump to the front of the line, which, later in the race, causes some runners, to have to weave around these other runners after you catch up to them.
In any event, I preferred this start as I only had to wait 6 minutes to get to the Starting line as opposed to the half hour or more at Disney.
As I started to run, I realized that I felt really good. I had no pain and also, no tightening up of my calves. I was running effortlessly, but still trying to keep a 13:30 pace. For the first nine miles, I never was slower than a 13:29 pace. The first 4 miles were run in an average pace of 12:55!
5K time:38:48, which is a personal best! The view of the 5K marker, which is now a castle instead of the previous sailboat.
5K castle.
Running along, at miles four and five, the sunrise….
Sunrise…..
Now it was time to focus on running. I was running at a consistent pace, 13:04 or so for a majority of the race. At mile 10, I finally had to urinate as I had been holding it for six miles! Miles 10,11,and 12, were my slowest miles. I was fighting a toe cramp in my left foot, as well as pain in my left hip. Luckily, those pains went away and to my surprise, and I didn’t know this until I looked at the tracker later, my fastest mile was my last! Mile 13 was at a 12:51 pace!
Here are the official and unofficial results:
Endomondo:
Distance: 13.27 miles
Duration: 2:57:09
Average Pace: 13:20
Official time:
| First Name | Last Name | Age | 10k | Gun Time | Net-Time | Pace |
| Eric | Van De Ven | 54 | 1:18:46 | 3:03:50 | 02:56:38 | 13:29 |
Not a personal best, but considering I was 15 pounds heavier than last year, I was only 2 minutes slower. And, no pain except for a little soreness.
Also, using the run/walk interval method and the low carbohydrate diet, I felt fresh after the race.
While waiting for the wife to finish, I took a few pictures of the beach and surrounding areas.
Fort Lauderdale beach!
More beach….
In the instruction manual of our new Canon camera, it says not to look at the lens if you are taking a picture of a bright object…like the sun!
The Bahia Mar hotel..
A cargo ship…that was probably at least a half a mile away. That zoom really does work!
Wishful thinking!
Almost there!
The finish line! I took this picture while running with the wife to the finish!
The best thing at the finish…ice cold low fat chocolate milk!!!!!!
Victory!!!
Now that the race was over, what to do? We got an extended checkout, so, went up to the room, rehydrated, and packed. We called the bellman and they took our luggage downstairs and held it for us. Meanwhile, we went to the pool patio deck and had lunch. But first, drinks!! Now that the race was over, carbohydrate fever! A Mojito for me and a Bahama Mamma for the wife!
Mojito and a Bahama Mamma!
A quick burger and Mahi Mahi sandwich..time to enjoy the view!
Bacon cheeseburger.
Mahi Mahi sandwich!
Bye bye Lauderdale…… 😦
This was a fantastic trip. No injuries and no drama..except for nearly missing the race! 😉
We are already planning for the race next year and it may be a 2-night stay this time!
Next race up….Disney Wine and Dine 2015!
Wine and Dine 2014 1/2 Marathon wrap up (Pre-Race)
Another race in the books!!!
This years race was one of the more enjoyable events, as well as the most painful! We will start off with the enjoyable part first!
Thursday:
We arrive bright and early to our hotel, the Caribbean Beach Resort. Checked in and then, got to the Pirate Room! Thanks Jen!
Now it was off to Epcot for the Wine and Dine portion of this trip!
I had to be careful as to which countries we ate at due to my gluten issue.
We started off in New Zealand, where I had the Steamed Green Lip Mussells. I forgot to get a picture! Next, we skipped around until we got to Morocco for some sangria. Which was the best sangria, hands down at the event. Then we went to France for the Braised Short Ribs and some Cabernet Sauvignon wine. Delicious!! Next, Brazil for Crispy Pork Belly and Black Beans. I had the Frozen Caipirinha…whatever that is!! It was very refreshing! We finished up the eating portion with a trip to Puerto Rico where I had a conch salad and sangria. We ended the Wine and Dine portion in Mexico where I had the third sangria.
Braised Short Ribs in France
Pork Belly and Black Beans in Brazil
Conch Salad in Puerto Rico
Bye Bye Epcot….for now!
We went back to the room, had a snack, yes, hard to believe we will still hungry, and then, to soak in the hot tub.
Time for dinner! Every time we visit Disney, we try to eat somewhere new. This trip, we went to the Contemporary Hotel and ate at “The Wave“.
Contemporary Hotel
The Wave
I started off with Steamed Florida Cedar Key Clams with Chorizo Sausage, Fennel, and Smoked Paprika, which was tremendous!!!
Steamed Florida Cedar Key Clams
with Chorizo Sausage, Fennel, and Smoked Paprika
That was followed by Herb-Salt Seasoned Beef Tenderloin Caramelized Field Mushrooms, Organic Green Beans, Potato Mash, and Sauce Bordelaise. This was also delicious!
Herb-Salt Seasoned Beef Tenderloin
Caramelized Field Mushrooms, Organic Green Beans, Potato Mash, and Sauce Bordelaise
For dessert…and this isn’t on the menu, Gluten-Free Carrot Cake!!! I also ordered a Chocolate martini. This was one of the best desserts I have ever had! If you are ever at the Wave, make sure you order this combination. I was almost tempted to order a “to-go” version!!
Gluten-Free Carrot Cake with a Chocolate Martini
After dinner, we watched the fireworks and the castle got “Frozen”!
Frozen Castle
We went back to the hotel and to bed! Day one was tiring!!
Friday:
Friday started off with a trip to the race Expo at Wide World of Sports. We had to get our race packets, bibs, run tracking, and a few supplies. Then, it was off to Animal Kingdom.
Marshall and Mommy at Wide World of Sports
Marshall and Daddy at Wide World of Sports
Marshall in the dugout.
Home plate!
Sports Expo
Off to Animal Kingdom…….
I finally got to see the walking tree lady!!
The Tree of Life
Marshall riding a dinosaur!
A large lizard…………
A lurking bat…..
Mt. Everest
After lunch at the Flame Tree Cafe, we headed back to the hotel. Had a few drinks, relaxed, then it was off to dinner.
Dinner was at the Flying Fish.
A Blood orange margarita
The only picture worth posting is the one above. The food was pedestrian at best. The service and mass confusion was also a contributor to an overall forgettable experience. With such high ratings, we surprised by the experience. Young Marshall did enjoy the mussels though!
Time to return back to the room and rest up….
Next post….Race Day!!!!
Race week..Wine and Dine 2014 is here!
It seems only a few short weeks ago, we moved into this house and now suddenly, it is 10 months later!
Time to pack up the tribe and head north to Disney for our third Wine and Dine 1/2 marathon. All of the packing is done, well, most of it, and thanks to our Mousekeplanner, Jennifer Upton, our upgraded room should be ready when we arrive early Thursday morning.
On the training front, last Saturday night was supposed to be a simulation run for the race. The temperature dropped into the 40s and I was painfully reminded, that surgically repaired bones do not perform well in the cold! Back in 2010, I was wandering aimlessly around Disney in one of the coldest times of the year. The result of that trip was surgery number 5 on the left knee! It was the beginning of the “floating debris” that has been accumulating in my knee. The end result is that the back half of my knee locks up……which is detrimental to running!
Saturday night, the same thing happened. I was able to work it loose, and continue to run, but, I decided to cut the run short at 4 miles. There was swelling in the knee, which has since subsided. I guess the voodoo doll is back from vacation!!
Prior to the 2013 A1A half marathon, the temperature dropped into the 30s, which for us native Floridians, is close to arctic conditions! The workaround was to put the cold/hot gel packs in hot water then apply them to my knees. That worked and there were no problems with either knee. Hopefully, as the temperatures are supposed to be in the high 50s, I shouldn’t have to use the gel packs, but I am bringing them!
The weight loss is coming along, but I will still be running at the heaviest weight, probably 235 pounds on race day, that I have ever run at. I’ll just have to make the best of it. I am going to run a conservative race and shoot for a 14 minute/mile pace. Anything faster than that will be a bonus.
My playlist is done and I have three hours and seventeen minutes of music. Hopefully, I won’t need it all!
All that is left is to make the trip north.
Thursday will be Wine and Dine day as we eat and drink our way around Epcot.
Friday will be race packet pick up, Animal Kingdom, and possibly Magic Kingdom. Park orders are subject to change…and most likely will! 🙂
Saturday is race day and starts with Marshalls race in the morning followed by a day of relaxation and then race prep and the race for Teala and I.
Sunday will be a day where depending on how we feel, either a visit to a theme park or, an early return home…hopefully uninjured!!!
Wish the team luck!!!
A funny thing happened……
On the way to running retirement! Pain free runs!
Since the last post, I got the results of the latest MRI and it is more of the same, torn rotator cuff, partially torn biceps tendon, but no torn labrum. So, an injection or two, and the left shoulder is returning to service.
Meanwhile, I have been training for the Disney Wine and Dine 1/2 marathon. Since switching shoes to the Saucony Omni 13s, I have had no pain after any run. The mileage has been creeping up starting with one mile and getting to 7 miles last week. A brisk 3-mile run yesterday was also pain-free and the fastest run since I resumed training.
Saturday night is a scheduled 10-mile run to simulate race-day, then one more 3-mile run Tuesday, and that will be it for training.
The goal is a 13 minute/mile pace. The Wine and Dine has always been a problem race for me, between the crowds and cramping, I have never performed well there. I am hoping that will change this year. Moving to Palm City, it was apparent immediately, that somehow, there is more humidity here than back in Coconut Creek. This is evidenced every morning when everything outside looks like it just rained! The good news, is that I have as of yet, not experienced any cramps during any run. I am hoping that trend continues during the race, if so, I may kick things up during the last 5 miles of the race. I have also not experienced any pain, and by that, I many any pain, after any run. I suspect whoever was playing with the “Eric voodoo doll” has put it away for a while!
After this race, I will reevaluate everything, to determine if I will continue. Right now, it is a very good chance I will keep running. I am not sure about running the A1A race in February this year, as it is down in Broward, but who knows.
I will be posting the playlist next week and a final race-day post.
Stay tuned………………………………
The pain at wounded knee returns…………………………….
For those that follow this blog as well as my friends, you are all aware of my damaged left knee. For those that aren’t, the gory details can be found here: The Pain at Wounded Knee.
The long and short of it is, due to a botched surgery in 1998, I ended up tearing my ACL, MCL, PCL, meniscus and cartilage. In other words, just about as bad a knee injury that there is.
A timeline for surgery has been established at roughly every five years. The last surgery in 2010 was extensive and, there was a piece of something, lodged in the back of my knee. On occasion, this piece would wander around and every once in a while, lock up my knee. A little massage and the knee was back to normal. This never occurred when running so, I kept running. Unfortunately, other issues have shown up like the massive stress fractures in both legs, the broken bone spur in my left foot, and recently, the partial tear of my Achilles tendon in my right leg.
Monday night while sleeping if you can call it that, as there are a whole host if things that go “bump” in the night around here, starting with the blood curdling scream from our son at 2 am, followed by Samantha massaging my bladder and then ending with Sophia with her big head and loud purr in my face at 4 am, the wife was somewhat surprised to hear loud screaming coming from our bedroom, from me!!
Whatever the wandering piece of debris was, it has now broken free from its mooring and wandered its way into the middle of my knee. I couldn’t move my left leg below my knee in either direction. The pain was intense and for those that know me, that is a lot of pain! After 20 minutes of massage, I was able to move my knee a little bit. Yesterday, it was swollen and very stiff. Today, it locked up on me at the gym….which I would expect if I was working out legs, not chest and arms!
In two weeks, I am attending my annual golf tournament in Sebring, Fl. This will be the 20th year for this event. The question is, “How am I going to play 100 holes of golf…when I can barely walk”? I could pay Dr. Baylis a visit, but he will say two things. 1) You need another surgery to clean this knee out. 2) Stop running. I can deal with the first statement, but not the second. He may also say something else which I do not want to hear, and that is, that the time has come, to stop prolonging the inevitable.
When I first saw Dr. Baylis in 1998, he told me then that if we were extremely lucky, we would be able to prolong the eventual knee replacement for possibly 20 years. If my math is correct, we are at year 16. Can another surgery be done to get to 20 years? When will it have to be done? That is the big question!
If I get the surgery done after Spring Lake, the 3rd week in August, it will take approximately six weeks to recover, depending on how bad things are. That will put me into October which would allow me 5 weeks of training for the Disney Wine and Dine Half Marathon. Although I ran the A1A Half Marathon with virtually no training, at least the Wine and Dine was only two months prior to that race. It will be at minimum, 8 months since the last run if I start training in October. I could always defer the race until next year, but by then, who knows what will happen. I still have torn meniscus in my right knee to correct at some point in time. I could also just run with my wife at the Wine and Dine, and end the running career after that…………….
The next month will be very interesting so stay tuned!!
A month of doing nothing finally ends…………………..
It has actually been over a month since the injury to both legs occurred. For the last six weeks, I have done zero cardio activity, with the exception of crawling though a bunch of attics in 90 degree heat!
Last week I returned to the gym to work on strengthening my upper body. Today was the first “real” workout and, here it is:
June 04, 2013
| EXERCISES | Calories | Minutes | Sets | Reps | Weight |
| Strength Training | |||||
| Seated Biceps Curl (right arm) | 5 | 10 | 35 | ||
| Shoulder shrugs for traps | 5 | 10 | 20 | ||
| Standard Bench Press | 4 | 10 | 165 | ||
| The 21’s | 3 | 10 | 10 | ||
| Triceps Pull-down | 4 | 10 | 80 | ||
| Triceps Push Down | 3 | 10 | 45 | ||
| Seated Biceps Curl (left arm) | 5 | 10 | 35 | ||
| TOTALS: | 0 | 0 | 29 | 70 | 390 |
I am happy to report, that the right shoulder and biceps, is healed up to the point, where I don’t have to worry about re-injuring either. I have a few goals for the weight training, but for now, it will be light workouts like the one above, three times a week.
My left leg has no pain, which is right about on the timeline, six weeks, that was predicted. The right leg, has minimal pain. Two months to go, and if all goes well, training for the Disney Wine and Dine will start.
The weight has been holding steady at around 222 pounds which if I can get down to 215 pounds prior to training for Disney, I should be in real good condition for that run.
The hardest part of this whole issue is not being able to run. Anyone who knows me well, knows I tend to do things “all out”…..sometimes to my detriment!
I just wanted to update all of this blogs followers, that I have not given up and will continue to train!
Have a great week!!
Break a leg…or two!
Last week, I went to get a full body scan and it showed that my body, to quote my friend Colette, “Is that of a cadaver”! Monday was the official reading of the report.
My doctor, Dr. Baylis, has been treating me for 15 years. He has performed six different surgeries on me, so, he no longer has to sugar-coat things. When he walked in, I could tell by the look on his face, what was to come next. Aside from that, I peeked at the written report on the computer, so I knew what was coming as well.
He informed me that I had a stress fracture on my left tibia and a severe stress fracture on my right tibia. Had I continued training and ran another race, I more than likely would have shattered my right tibia. This is of course, is very bad news, but, could have been worse. A shattered tibia would take roughly, at my age, two years to fully recover from.
The bad news about this type of fracture is that it takes longer to heal than a clean break. Right now, I have been ordered not to do anything aerobic for three months! Normally, this type of injury would require crutches, however, due to the fracture in the left leg, using crutches would put pressure on the left leg, so, it is a walking boot, rest, ice and nothing else for three months.
The more serious problem is what caused this. I suspect it has something to do with my running style and shoes. I have been doing a lot of reading and the shoes, even for a mild pronator, may be putting too much stress on my lower legs. The weight is also an issue and although I have lost 30 pounds, I still have another 30 pounds to go. I will be doing a bunch of research before I begin to train again in August. I will also seek out some more running professionals and may even resort to custom shoes. In the meantime, I’ll be returning to the gym for cardiovascular upper body and core exercises as well as continuing my diet.
I am still going to run the Disney Wine and Dine this November and if all goes well with that race, since I am already registered for it, my first marathon, The A1A Marathon in February 2014. The goal is still Boston in 2015 and if I can recover from this injury and then prevent it in the future, everything else should fall into place.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank the blog followers, comments, e mails and encouragement I have received from the “internet family” and friends. Your words are inspiring.
Another week goes by……………………
This week was filled with that four-letter word..W-O-R-K!
The good news, plenty of do-rae-me! The bad news, the first week of the Mr. Mom era was quite demanding! Getting Marshall ready for school, taking him to school, doing an inspection, or in some instances two, doing the reports, and then, picking him up from school and making dinner, my boobs are sagging! Actually, it isn’t that bad, but it is a change! With the wife commuting to Stuart everyday, that leaves me to do everything else, but it is well worth it to see her happy! 🙂
In family news, the swim lessons have paid off as young Marshall actually can swim now! As a reward, he got a new pair of flippers, a mask and snorkel! Pretty soon, he will join Team Mako for a dive for lobster!
Monday is the day I get the bone scan. I hope there is nothing broken as from what I have read, a stress fracture would severely hamper my work as well as my running training. There is no use worrying about it, but, the 13th of may, I’ll know for sure. In the meantime, I have managed to drop a few more pounds and am currently at 221 pounds! When I do start training again, which hopefully will be the 14th of May, I should be much lighter!
A bit of old news…I am still thoroughly disgusted with myself for my performance at the Race Around the Lake. Had I paid attention, I would have drunk much more water and avoided the massive cramps which severely hampered the effort. I am sure I could have gotten to the goal of a 2:36 time and possibly faster. For the fist seven miles of that race, I was “loafing” along saving it for the last half and had a PR!! I am sure I could have gone much faster than the first half. It really irritates me!
In any event, I am eagerly awaiting the results of the bone scan. I am really going to crank up the training as our next race isn’t until the Disney Wine and Dine. That race, unless you are in the A corral is notoriously a slow race. Most of the people I have talked to say it is one of their slower races. I hope to change that. The results of the bone scan will determine if I am going to run my first marathon in January at Disney, or wait until February at the A1A, which I am already registered for.
Tomorrow will be a rest day…at the beach if the weather holds out. Next week will be back at the gym, now that I know what time the wife has to leave the house, and there will be more weight loss…hopefully!
Everyone, Have a great rest of the weekend!!
Race around the lake recap Part 1
Here is the recap for the weekends racing event. It is being broken down into two separate posts. This entry will be the race, stats, preparation, etc. Part two will be a review of the event itself.
Friday: The wife and I left for Clermont around 1:30. At 5:00, we arrived at the designated place for our race package pickup. We went in, the wife and Marshall went to the bathroom and I got our race packets. In all, it took four minutes!!! I also got some inside information from one of the volunteers to park on 5th street. This would be the last thing to go right at this event. Turns out, by driving down fifth street, you ended up at the start/finish line parking spot!
We then drove over to Tealas fathers house, which was only two miles away and set out to dinner. The usual dining spot for the pre-race meal is Carrabbas. We went in and got seated right away.
This week, I have been limiting my carbohydrate intake to less than 30. I managed to lose 12 pounds by race-day and also, seemed to feel lighter. There wasn’t the “full” feeling after meals and, as always seems to happen, I felt great all week, with the exception of Tuesday. During Tuesdays run, I heard a “snap” from somewhere in my right knee. After the run, my lower right leg was sore and I could hardly walk. During the week, I iced down the leg, took several baths and used the 18-inch foam roller as much as possible. By Friday, I was about 90% healthy so I was going to race! Back to dinner……………………………….
I had read recently that someone competing in a 100 mile iron-man race, did so on a low carbohydrate diet. I figured this race would be a good time to test this diet out.
Here is Friday nights dinner:
April 19, 2013
| FOODS | Calories | Carbs | Fat | Protein | Cholest | Sodium | Sugars | Fiber |
| Breakfast | ||||||||
| Jones All Natural Golden Brown – Breakfast Sausage Link-Fully Cooked, 4 Links | 333 | 1g | 32g | 9g | 60mg | 507mg | 0g | 0g |
| Lunch | ||||||||
| Eric’s burgers – hamburger , 1 patty | 200 | 0g | 11g | 22g | 75mg | 75mg | 0g | 0g |
| Dinner | ||||||||
| Carrabbas – Mussels “Cozze Bianco”, 464 g | 570 | 12g | 20g | 48g | 10mg | 350mg | 2g | 0g |
| Carrabbas – The Johnny (From Website), 1 Serving | 700 | 6g | 47g | 60g | 188mg | 989mg | 1g | 1g |
| Carrabbas – Shrimp Scampi Appetizer, 1 serving | 1,200 | 1g | 22g | 26g | 247mg | 392mg | 0g | 0g |
| Carrabbas – Chargrilled Ribeye Steak 10 0z., 10 oz. (208g) | 539 | 4g | 36g | 50g | 162mg | 179mg | 0g | 0g |
| Liquids | ||||||||
| Fb Red Wine – Fb Merlot, 2 container (8 oz ea.) | 400 | 13g | 0g | 0g | 0mg | 19mg | 3g | 0g |
| Supplements | ||||||||
| Bsn – N.O. Xplode, 1 scoop | 25 | 6g | 0g | 0g | 0mg | 235mg | 0g | 0g |
| TOTAL: | 3,967 | 43g | 168g | 215g | 742mg | 2,746mg | 6g | 1g |
As you can see, the carbohydrates were limited at this meal and the calories were nearly 4,000. The waitresses were all looking at me as I finished the rib-eye steak. I had already eaten the mussels, shrimp, and “The Johnny”, and when I asked for the rib-eye, our waitress asked, “Is that to go?” Believe it or not, I wasn’t “full feeling” but I was not hungry!
Race-day Saturday April 20, 2013:
3:30 am: Woke up and had my serving of Noxplode and a Zero Carb protein shake.
4:00 am– Eliminations (drinking game participants imbibe)
4:30 am: Attach race bib to shirt and also get all of the water bottles filled and make all preparations for the race.
5:00 am: Load up the Durango and head to the race..unfortunately, someone wasn’t ready…………………………
5:45 am: Head to the race.
6:00 am: Arrive at the race
6:30 am: Take all needed medications (Advil, Vicodin, Nitrix)
7:00 am: Start race……..or so we thought!
7:25 am: Everyone at the race recited the “Pledge of Allegiance” and had a moment of silence for those who lost their lives and the injured, in Boston.
7:30 am: The start of the race………………………….
Mile 1: 12:26 This was the fastest I have ever started a race!!!
Mile 2: 11:55
Mile 3: 11:59 (5K time 36:20 a PR!!!!)
Mile 4: 12:04
Mile 5: 11:53 (total time: 1:00:17 another PR!!!!!)
Mile 6: 12:07 Still cruising and at this point, there was no pain..at all!
Mile 7: 12:59 At this point, things began to go horribly wrong!
Mile 8: 14:18
Mile 9: 16:12
Mile 10: 14:01
Mile 11: 13:05 And I never fully recovered…………………………………
Mile 12: 12:49
Mile 13: 13:19
Total Miles: 13.2 Total time: 2:51:53 Average pace: 13:20
Chip time: Total Time 2:50:59 Average Pace: 13:03
As you can see, almost near the end of mile seven, I developed a pain that I have never felt before. I had cramps in both legs from my buttocks all the way down to my ankles. The best way to describe it, was being hit by lightning and then, having 20 hands grab and squeeze your legs as hard as possible. At the Tower of Terror run last year, I had cramps in my calves. It went away and wasn’t that bad. In this race however, the pain was severe and it was instant, there was no warning. I was nearly paralyzed. I staggered over to a nearby fence, and tried to stretch, but this didn’t help. I continued walking and massaging my legs and finally, a water station was in view so I ran a little bit. When I got to the water station, I refilled my water bottles and also drank four cups of water.
I continued to walk and halfway into mile 10, began to run. There was still slight cramping, but it was a lot better. I drank all of the water in my fuel belt…60 ounces, by the time I reached mile 11. I refueled the bottles again and had a couple of cups of water while the girl was filling my bottles.
Mile 11-13 I ran and walked at a reduced setting on my run/walk interval app. 45 seconds running/60 seconds walking. By the time I finished, I felt fine. I crossed the finish line in a full sprint with two other girls that were running with me most of the race. We would pass each other during walk intervals, and sort of developed a little race banter as they were also wearing the Boston tag in the picture above, that I was.
Looking at the numbers from Endomondo, I have to conclude that this race was about a half a mile short. When I made the final turn, the Endomondo tracker voice announced 13.1 miles……..before I even finished!
I waited for the wife to finish and ran with her as she crossed the finish line.
We went back to the Durango, had a couple of beers and went back to her dads place for Marshalls second birthday party of the month.
Conclusions:
- Running the race on a low carbohydrate diet can be done and will be done in my future races.
- The cause of the cramping appears to be related to a lack of water consumption. I remember at the Tower of Terror race, everyone was complaining about the heat. It wasn’t the heat, it was the humidity, which if I remember was around 95%. For this race, it was 93%.
- Although I did have a major scare with regards to the cramping, I now know, I can run through it. It never happened in the training runs, but I did adapt to it during the race.
- After consuming the nearly 4,000 calorie meal, I was full of energy all day before, during, and after the race. We didn’t go to bed until around 9:30 pm.
Injuries: The injury to my right leg, which I thought had healed, clearly hasn’t. In fact, I could barely walk on the way up the stairs going to bed Saturday night. Today was no fun either. I will be calling the doctor tomorrow and try to get in to see exactly what is causing this pain.
My left knee, and in fact every other part of my body feels fine. I could probably go out and run right now.
Even better news, is that the hip pain that usually shows up around mile 11, was nowhere to be found! Today there is still no pain in my hips!! This was the one thing that wold have prevented me from running in a full marathon as when my hips start to hurt, they actually “lock up” and I can barely move my legs.
Equipment:
The new Motorola 600 headphones worked perfectly. The Motoroal Atrix2 phone, also worked perfectly. The fuel belt now requires an adjustment as I have lost around an inch from my waist! The new Saucony shoes show little wear and the wear they do show is very even. This is great news and I appear to be running using a mid-foot strike, which in the long run, will be much better than the heel to toe style I was using before.
Although I am disappointed, for the first 7 miles, I was well on my way to a personal best and very close to a 2:30 pace. That will have to wait until the next race, The Disney Wine and Dine!!!!
Tomorrow will be part two of this post which be a review of the race.
As a small preview, when my wife finished, they had run out of medals…….and it goes downhill from there.
One week to race-day!
With one week to go before the next race, the Race Around the Lake, I am plum worn out!
Between work, trying to train, looking for a new house, and the “Marshall’s 5th birthday World Tour”, I need a break!
On to Saturdays run…, but first….As I hopped on the scale prior to the run, I was greeted with some bad news. 238 pound worth!!! It appears that all of the meals I have been hastily preparing have affected the waistline. Not to worry, Monday starts a return to the Atkins diet and by the end of the week, I should be in the 226 pound range for the race. 10-12 pounds makes a big difference, at least to me when running.
Saturdays run:
Mile 1: 12:03
Mile 2: 12:01
Mile 3: 12:55
Mile 4: 12:56
Mile 5: 12:54
Total: Miles: 5.07 Time: 1:04:00 Average pace: 12:38
The run was performed without my trusty Motorola headphones as they exploded and replacements will be here on Tuesday. It also appears my phone is in its death spiral as WinAmp stopped working a few times and I had to adjust my run/ walk interval app twice! The first two miles are more of an accurate representation of my actual times, so, if all goes well, I should finish the next race in 2:36.
I was going to wait until after this race to break out my new shoes, but, looking at the bottoms of the current pair, they are worn out. That would explain the pain in my legs/knees today! The new shoes will fix that and I should be able to run without pain.
I am currently debating running in next years Disney Marathon as I am scheduled to run in the A1A Marathon next year, which is only six weeks later. I am going to wait until after this race to see if I am going to run in the half or full marathon at Disney.
It looks like work has slowed down, at least for a day or two, so, time to concentrate on training and a few chores around the home.
Until next week………………….Run like the wind…..not against it!
Eric Van De Vens Blog 