When I thought it was my body freaking out over the strenuous levels of Wildflower, I got hit with a pretty bad case of food poisoning. It all started on Tuesday, a beautiful sunny CA day, and me and my coworkers decided to have lunch at Henessy’s at the Hermosa Beach Pier. Ordered a Roast Beef Dip Sandwich. I remember one of the bites, the meat felt a little cold. I’m not really one to complain to the servers, and I just figured it they were busy and it was probably just sitting out in the kitchen waiting for the other food orders to come in. Gradually throughout the day, I was feeling a little nausea, feeling really out of it. I couldn’t concentrate in the meetings I were in, and people noticed. I was sweating, and a little dizzy. I left work a little early so I could take a nap. I took a nap on the couch, and I could feel myself heating up, sweating, but also cold at the same time. At this point, I still thought it was just sickness from the weekend. It didn’t occur to me that I had food poisoning until I was throwing up, and frequently using the restroom in the middle of the night!

I only remember being hit with food poisoning once before, the night before a trip to Portland. That night was probably worse. For the next few days, my stomach was very sensitive and I wasn’t really digesting anything. I felt weak… weak enough to pass on any IronTEAM training. I weighed myself a few days after the incident and saw I lost 6 pounds! Very unhealthy to lose that much so quickly! Still not 100%, I volunteered to do SAG for tomorrow’s practice since my system was still “unstable” for any long rides/runs. Prior to this week, the longest I’ve gone through without any activity has been 3 days, and with the look of things, this time it will be over 5 days, if this keeps up through the weekend. I considered myself on the team’s “injured list” because I don’t want to force it either. I’ll let time heal me, and I’ll just continue when I’m ready.

You can read more about it here.

She also writes, “If you want to improve the quality of your diet, think about one thing you could do each day to contribute to a healthier intake. Write down your goal for the day, then assess your level of confidence in achieving that goal. For example, your goal might be to eat fruit with lunch.”

A closer look into my nutrition and eating habits will be something new I will incorporate in my training. I have never.. yes, NEVER, paid attention to what I eat. We’re not getting any younger, and my metabolism clearly isn’t as what it used to be, so I’m making a point now to be mindful of what I eat. I will explore many different tools in the next few weeks and I’ll report then to you here. Probably the closest form of nutritional discipline I’ve had is refraining from drinking coffee and soda. I won’t go out of my way to get any of those. Even that said, if it’s there, I’ll try a different alternative. I really don’t need caffeine to keep me awake through the day. I’ve already noticed that being active alone does wonders for me day to day.

The next big nutritional challenge. Thanksgiving in a few days.

Follow these three simple steps to maximize your athletic performance:
1. Top off your energy stores by taking one packet of GU 15 minutes before exercise, preferably on an empty stomach for fastest absorption.

2. For sustained energy consume one packet of GU every 35-45 minutes during exercise, washing it down with a few mouthfuls of water or GU2O hydration drink to speed absorption.

3. Speed recovery and reduce post-exercise fatigue by eating one packet of GU within 30 minutes of finishing your workout. This takes advantage of the post-exercise time window when your body replenishes lost glycogen most efficiently.

So, for a long run, or a marathon, I would be consuming maybe 5 or 6 packs a run. It’s very important to try these out BEFORE your marathon if you plan on running one because some people on my team get stomach aches or feel too heavy after taking one. Sometimes, the favors are just plain nasty. My favorite is the caramel flavored Powerbar Gel, mainly because it’s consistent to what it should feel like, and taste like. I’ve tried many fruit flavors, and no, it’s not what you would expect! There are a few alternatives, I’ll gather some information and will post later.

Week 5 Sunday Run – Marina Del Rey – 8 Miles

The last time I showed up to practice was at 4 miles, 2 weeks ago. I was afraid that with such a long hiatus (although I’ve been keeping up with other forms of cardio), that I would struggle coming back at 2x the mileage. Fortunately, that was not the case. It was challenging, as any other run, but I think I did quite well. Our route: From Marina Del Rey to the outskirts of LAX. There were no other runners to dodge, but there were a few bikers. The weather was moderately cold and gloomy, but our body heat made up for it. I met a few new faces, so that makes it about 100 more people on the Team to meet and greet. It was off to Ihop brunch afterwards for some spinach and mushroom omelettes and chocolate chip pancakes. Not sure if it’s good for you after the run, but hey, I just ran 8 miles.

What should you eat after your run?