I run for...HFLC

HFLC - high fat, low carb diet

As a runner I've become dependent on carbs. I load up on carbs before a long run or race. Carbs are my energy source during my runs. Carbs aid in my recovery post-run or race. This has been ingrained in me for the last 6 years. My journey to switching over to HFLC, specially a Ketogenic diet, has not been easy and will continue to be difficult.

I have many reasons for why I'm switching to HFLC which is why this time it might actually stick. In the past I've used it intermittently, trying to "carb-cycle" while training. I did not have enough self-control for this. My high carb days turned into REALLY high carb days and then it was that much more difficult to get where I needed to be on low carb days. That being said I did have some short term success with it. Speaking of success on HFLC, my husband has shown me that it's possible. Last year he lost over 90lbs in 6 months. Lastly, I have discovered that HFLC is prevalent in the world of ultra running. I've done a lot of research on this diet with regards to running, wondering how in the heck it's even possible. Well once your body becomes fat adapted, it turns out that you are able to tap into fat energy stores that you wouldn't normally on a high carb diet. This allows you to run for longer!! What a concept!

Disclaimer: I am not going to go into big detail on the specifics of HFLC diets or Ketogenic diets. Rather I will be discussing my  journey into switching over and how it's affecting my running.

So I am day 7 into my Ketogenic diet and still going strong. Yesterday was a true test for me. I had a 22 mile long run planned and I was very nervous about how Keto was going to affect my ability to run that far. From my research and following the diets of a couple of my fave ultrarunners (Timothy Olson & Dean Karnazes), I knew it was possible. I developed a game plan and just trusted the process. Well.....let's just say I'm still in the experimental stages. There are definitely things that worked for me but things that did not work either. The 22 miles were completed (!!!) but not without some struggle.

Low Carb Long Run Fuel

I believe my first mistake was not taking in enough calories or fat prior to my run. I foolishly believed that I could be like superhuman, Dean Karnazes, who likes to run a marathon every day before breakfast, and only drink some coffee with coconut oil before going out to run. However, I will say that I started my run with tons of energy and felt great but the lack of calories/fat definitely came back to haunt me in the later miles. For my nutrition on my run, I planned on using only nuts/nut butters. My hydration included Nuun to supplement electrolytes and I also had SaltStick Fastchews on hand for more electrolytes should I need them. So this was quite a change from my normal long run nutrition plan. Instead of taking in 100-150g of carbs (through GU gels), I would only be taking in about 15g net carbs. But this really didn't concern me much. I had run earlier in the week - 2 intense workouts - and running with fat as my fuel felt great. I bonked earlier than usual but as a long distance runner I know how to push through that. My main concern was going to be electrolytes. I had the Nuun and the SaltStick but I was lacking in the additional electrolytes provided by my GU gels and a carb rich diet.

So I started out for 22 miles with nothing but my coconut oil and coffee. The first 9-10 miles felt wonderful. It was a cool morning for July and I had decided to do a true out and back course, not wanting to overload my brain with too many things I needed to remember on an experimental training run. I ran down one of my favorite country roads and immediately got into "the zone". I paused my music and just let the beauty of nature inspire and motivate me. Sometimes I really hate summer running - the heat, the bugs, the corn, but today was the perfect summer day for running. The smell of honeysuckle was SO fragrant and out past the city limits, there were butterflies everywhere! It felt purely magical. I stopped to snap a few pictures before turning around.

Right after I turned around and hit the halfway mark is when things started to go south for me. I felt strangely sleepy. My skin was cold and clammy. I felt nauseous and dizzy. I was almost out of water so I texted my husband to bring me water. I continued to run while I waited for him and kept telling myself that my symptoms were all in my head and that I could push through this. Then as soon as I stopped to refill my water bottle, I did not feel well at all. I felt like I was going to pass out and had to lay down in the car. This feeling would not subside so I came back home to re-evaluate. What was going on?! Did I need carbs? Did I just need more water? More electrolytes? I tried to just listen to my body. I drank some more water with Nuun and ate some strawberries. Then I laid down because I was STILL feeling light-headed and nauseous anytime I was upright. I was cold too so I went outside and laid in the sun. I'm not sure how long I was there but I ended up taking a short nap. When I woke up I felt much better. Time to go back out!! I filled my bottle with more Nuun, ate a pickle for good measure, packed some almonds in my handheld and went out to run the last 10.5 miles of my run.

The last 10.5 miles went off without a hitch. I got back into "the zone" that I was in earlier, soaking up everything around me. The most surprising thing was how good my legs felt! I've read that HFLC is good for inflammation and that must be true because normally at the end of a 20+ mile run my legs would feel crampy and I'd barely be able to keep them moving but not today! I was actually able to move after my run today too. Normally I'd be posted on the couch all day but surprisingly my legs still had energy left in them. Now a day later I have zero soreness whatsoever. I also noticed during my run that a recurring issue in my left foot is no longer there. Typically 2 miles into my runs (like clockwork) the ball of my left foot would start to hurt and my toes would go numb. Most likely the result of something called Morton's neuroma. This would last for several miles and sometimes force me to walk because it was so painful. I had zero issues with this at all on my 22 mile run. Amazing!

Final takeaways from yesterday's run - 1) Eat more calories/fat prior to my run, especially any runs over 10 miles. 2) Increase salt intake EVERY day and take in more electrolytes during the run. Now that I've analyzed yesterday's run and done some research, I'm fairly certain that I became hyponatremic yesterday. This has happened to me one other time, during my marathon in Savannah, and the symptoms are quite similar. Even though I had electrolytes on hand and was mindful to keep taking them, it just wasn't enough. Being that I was only on day 6 of keto, I probably had lost a significant amount of salt. That combined with the fact that I'm a "salty sweater" (I lose more salt in my sweat than most people) probably led to my issues mid-run. I'm looking forward to making some changes and seeing how I do next run. 3) HFLC has also positively influenced my running and with that I'm hopeful that I'll be like superhuman Dean Karnazes in no time!

I run for...the distance.

As I started to write the title of this blog post, I couldn't help but start singing the Cake song...."He's going the distance. He's going for speed...."

Anyway, today's blog post is about distance because I've come to realize that ultra marathon training really has changed my path on this running journey. I made a list last night of all my 20+ mile runs prior to this year. I needed some inspiration going into my scheduled 26 mile run today. Here they are:

Sept 8, 2012 - 20.7 mile training run
Oct 21, 2012 - 26.2 Rock n Roll St. Louis Marathon
Nov 9, 2013 - 26.2 Rock n Roll Savannah Marathon
Sept 28, 2014 - 20 mile training run
Oct 12, 2014 - 26.2 Chicago Marathon #1
Sept 15, 2015 - 20 mile training run
Oct 11, 2015 - 26.2 Chicago Marathon #2

The first thing that stood out to me is that I never had a 20+ mile run before Savannah!! No wonder that race was so terrible for me. That was the marathon where I ended up passing out at mile 20. I was definitely under-trained. The next is that I really only had one 20+ mile run before my other 3 races and the longest distance was 20.7 miles. Most people will tell you that running longer than 20 miles before a marathon is not really necessary but wow, this was definitely eye opening for me.

Now for this year. I'm gonna talk a lot of numbers here for a minute because I can't believe how far I've come.

Total mileage - Since November 5, 2011 I have logged 2,918 miles. I fully expect to break through 3,000 miles by the end of this month. That's roughly 600-700 miles average each year. And this year's not over yet...

Mileage by month - I started training for my ultra in June. In June I logged 80 miles. In July, I logged 97. In August, I'm already at 102 and I plan on finishing around 115.

And here's a list of all the 20+ mile runs I've done this year:

July 16, 2016 - 20 mile training run
July 30, 2016 - 22 mile training run
Aug 15, 2016 - 24 mile training run
Aug 27, 2016 - 26 mile training run

Just like that, I sign up for an ultra and suddenly I'm logging more miles than I ever imagined. I've run 4 separate 20+ mile runs before race day, as compared to the 7 that I've ran in the last 4 years.

I think it's still too early to officially say where I will go from here. I'm taking this ultra running journey moment by moment and loving every bit of it. However, I highly anticipate that after race day I will have caught the ultra running "bug" and start scouting out my next 50K or possibly even my first 50 miler and 100 miles is not entirely out of the question either. Exciting stuff!

On to today's run...26 miles! It was really weird getting ready for my run last night thinking that I was basically going to be running a marathon today. The formality of my usual pre-marathon routine was dismissed by just a normal night of carb loading and watching tv with my husband. There were no pre-marathon jitters. Nothing to finalize or to schedule or to map out. I was going to get up at 4 am like normal and just go run a marathon. Ha!

Beautiful morning!

Hitting the road at 4:57am

The morning routine was pretty much the same as well. I got on the road just shy of 5am. I can definitely tell we are getting closer to FALL RUNNING!!! (Hallelujah!) I spent the first 5 miles almost completely in the dark before the sun started coming up. I was also pleasantly surprised to find out that there was an abundance of cloud cover. This made for a nice and cool morning and I didn't really start feeling the heat until around the halfway mark. At 16 miles I needed some additional water so my wonderfully supportive husband and son came to refill my water bottles. I also got a nice, cold Popsicle. Just what I needed to put a little pep in my step.

This Popsicle might be the best Popsicle I've ever had!

The rest of the miles went by without too much excitement. The heat did end up getting to me on a couple of occasions so I stopped to lay down in the shade and get my heart rate back to normal while I refueled on some Gatorade chews. I think the best part of today's run was around mile 24-25. There was a woman walking about 4 young children around the block. As I was coming up behind them, they moved out of the way and this little girl, probably not even 3 years old, had the biggest smile on her face and started waving and clapping for me. Just the motivation I needed to finish my last mile. Thanks little girl!

So this week was the peak of my training. As of tomorrow I start tapering for race day. Weekly mileage will probably still be around 20-30 miles but now I just have to trust the training. Definitely easier said than done! But in a month it will all be worth and I will be reveling in the aftermath of having run my first ultra. Can't wait!

Happy running!
Amanda

I run for...HOPE.

 The beautiful scenery on today's long run

It's been awhile since my last blog post and  I promise, there's a perfectly good reason for that. Training has been really intense. Just an example, to date I've run 106.5 miles for the month of August. That's crazy!! AND I still have a week left in the month of August. It's year #3 of marathon training and I'm getting in double the number of miles that I did in year 1 and 2. Which brings me to the topic of today's blog post…HOPE! I am extremely hopeful, based on the way training is going, that this year will be the year for a PR (personal record). My marathon times are 5:45 and 6:30 respectively. I would LOVE to get a sub 5:00 and like I said, I'm hopeful that will happen.

One of things about training for a marathon is retaining that hopeful spirit. Marathon training is grueling, intense, tedious, slow and sometimes painful. Whether it's a 20 week, 16 week or 12 week training program, you have to DO the work every single day with that one goal in mind…marathon day. I know from experience that you only get out of it what you put into it. Last year was a perfect example of that. Having the attitude of "I've done this before" I allowed myself to slack off on some of my training runs. Looking back I NEVER ran a 20 miler before race day and on race day, that was evident. But last year's disaster has definitely inspired and motivated this year's training. I am working harder than ever and I HOPE that is evident in this year's race.

On to today's training run…

I had my first 20 miler scheduled for today. Following last weekend's 16 mile run, it was going to be a stretch to make it to 20 miles but I was hopeful that I could do it. Midweek it became clear that the heat and humidity were going to be a factor. We've been under a heat advisory and highs have been in the mid 90s with heat indices at about 105-107 degrees. I've been fortunate this year to not have to deal with the heat and humidity much so I was dreading this weekend's training. Yesterday, I ran a short 8.25 mile run and it was definitely hot but not necessarily unbearable. So that gave me some HOPE and confidence going into today's run. I was prepared last night to go to bed early so I could get up and do at least half of my running in the morning before the sun came up. I set my alarm for 4 AM. Sometimes we runners do crazy things. That is definitely one of them. So this morning, funny thing happens, no alarm! I look at my clock and it's already 5:45am. I accidentally set my alarm for 4 AM on Wednesday morning. Boo. So that was set back #1 today but I was determined to retain my HOPE for a good, long run. I hydrated well this morning and equipped myself with my trusty handheld water bottle, which holds 20oz, and my spare water bottle in my hydration belt, which also carries 20oz. I had about 5 servings of GU and Clif Shot Blocks altogether. I had on my moisture wicking hat, tank with built in bra, and my spandex biking shorts. Starting out it was actually nice and cool and I thought "This is going to be easy." But at 6:15am, about the time I was headed out on the road, the temperature was already at about 75 degrees, the sun was just coming up, and the humidity was at about 80%. UGH! It didn't take long before I realized "This is going to be hard."

One of the things I've been doing recently on my long runs is listening to podcasts. I've noticed they make the miles go by so much quicker AND I feel like I'm learning something. One of favorites has been "Another Mother Runner". If you're a mother runner like me, you should definitely check them out. A LOT of useful information. So recently on one of their podcasts I was listening to, they were talking about embracing "the suck". That is all that stuck with me today. Lol. Today was so sucky. My allergies were going haywire. My tank top was one I've never worn before and it gouged into my skin pretty bad. I have lots of blisters were the straps and the underneath of the bra were rubbing against my skin. At mile 10, I was about to say "I'm done". But then….HOPE. I held on to that notion of embracing "the suck"  and I was hopeful that today's very long and hard run would make marathon day so much easier. I held onto the HOPE that once summer was over I could fully embrace and relish in 70 or even 60 degree runs. I held onto the HOPE that I will PR. I just held onto those positive things for as long as possible and then lo and behold, I got my second wind. Then just as I was getting back into the groove, around mile 13, I ran out of water. Seriously?! I was about to accept defeat. However, I just so happened to be close to my aunt's house. I quickly texted her to see if she was home. Success! I stopped at her house right at mile 16 and got 2 refills!!! HOPE!

After that, I just wanted to be done. I knew I wasn't going to make the whole 20 miles but I was happy with anything over last week's 16. So today I logged a total of 17.25 miles. That is still progress and considering the suckiness that was today, I'm pretty proud of that. Today was a learning experience and a small victory for my mental capacity as well, which is a BIG part of marathon training.

Enjoying my ice bath after today's long run...got a lot of sun today too.

And lastly, during any long run, I always trying to keep the reason for this year's marathon at the forefront. I am running to raise money for the American Cancer Society. In that, there is HOPE for a cure. I am reminded that I'm not just running for myself but for the countless others that have been affected by this terrible disease. As a reminder, you can donate at http://determination.acsevents.org and search for my name: Amanda Winchell.

Thank you and happy running,

Amanda