Crooked!

Helllooooo So it's Monday, and I sit here, at home, typing out the little blog report, with Piper the cat on the lap. I'm sick. As reported before, I ran the Birch Bay 30km road race on Saturday. I have to believe that it went over as well as I could have planned. I followed my plan, and happy with the result. However, immediately following the race, like 30 seconds after stopping, I started experiencing wicked stomach cramps. I thought it was just the usual post-race stomach upset, but the unsettled stomach didn't seem to want to go away. It's not uncommon for me to shy away from foods post race for a couple of hours, even though it's so important to refuel for recovery. The stomach ache persisted, and in fact, became increasingly worse. Greg and I went for lunch with our friends who did the race, and unfortunately, I couldn't really eat my food, and had to make a few trips to the bathroom. Following lunch, I had Greg pull to the side of the road, as I needed to toss my cookies beside a car-b-q, the stomach hurt that bad. Greg drove to the Birch Bay Market, and I stayed in the car and slept for 20 minutes. Our trip to the border was a bit stressful, as anytime I tried to sit upright, my stomach started cramping severely. It didn't help matters that we went into the line-up where we were grilled with questions, even if we only spent $12 on cheese and milk. So the drive home felt long, even for being an hour drive. As a result, Sunday was spent feeling cramped and sleeping. I had to catsit Charlie from across the street, but otherwise, did much of nothing. I woke up this morning, and things had not improved much at all. So I made the decision to stay home and just rest. I don't think that this stomach issue could be attributed to the race. My coworkers have been dropping like flies all last week with the stomach flu. I started feeling a bit off during the race, and perhaps some of the things I was experiencing, such as elevated heart rate, and kept feeling hot & cold during the race, may be indicators of what was to come. So just because this race was to prepare for Boston, here are some details that may assist for my planning. Nutrition: Breakfast @ 5am: 1c Shreddies, 1/2c skim milk and 1c large coffee with splenda (180+70=250) 7:15am: 1 bottle of Boost, chocolate (240 calories) 8:15 (15 min before race): 1 power gel, double latte (100 calories), and 50mg caffeine, with water =600 calories pre-race Race: gels taken @ 45min, 1:30, 2:10, with water. One bottle of Hammer Perpetuem @ 150cal, drunk 3/4 of it. =400-450 calories during Approximately 2250 calories burned during event. Gear: Weather forecast was low of 1C and build up to 7C by noon. Overcast with light winds Wore Seattle Marathon long sleeve shirt Nike capris Sugoi vest IMC mesh cap Thoughts: Very happy with the choice of clothes at the beginning. Started to feel really warm about halfway through, and folded vest collar in and unzipped, usual insane sweat at front. No issues with chafing for clothes. Think may not go with vest as not easy to deal with, and felt too warm. Covered bruised second toenail on right foot with band-aid, and no issue, I still have it! Will repeat for Boston to help save my nail. New shoes, worn now for 2 weeks, so they felt really good. Nutrition of 600 calories beforehand seems a bit much, normally I would aim for about 450-500 calories. It was hard to gauge, as there was more time between breakfast and race (3.5hrs), so I was worried that I was going to run out of gas during the race. Well, off to take some more Pepto!