healthygirl's Blog

I am 1 1/2 weeks away from my first gluten free marathon. I really don't think food wise it will be any different than the others I have done. I use Cliff Bloks and Power Gels as food during the run...I had found previously I could tolerate Power Bars as well, but I think they have oat flour...if they don't I'll probably start using those for my next round of training. I am gunning for a sub 4 hour time, so we'll see how it goes. My PB is 4:00:21 so if I shave even 30 seconds off my time I'll meet my goal!! The biggest challenge will probably be the post race food, so I'll just pack my own yummy treats so I'm not tempted to chow down on bagels and cookies.

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Next up for endurance will be the Death Race in August, a 125 km, 24 hour race (which I am doing as a relay member). I have a 38 km leg that covers a mountain summit and descent. I am so excited....I picked up my trekking poles to run with the other day as I suspect I'll need them. I have my Garmin 305 on order so I don't get lost in the bush and will probably pick up some bear bells as well. I also need to get a head lamp, as part of my run could potentially be after the sun goes down. After that it is off to the Barbados in December for another marathon. I was talking to someone who just got back from there and it was about 38 Celcius and then humidity on top of it (I think that is just over 100 Farenheit). In December it will be a bit cooler, and the race will start at 5:00 am, but will still be around the 28 Celcius mark (over 80 Farenheit) and will heat up quickly once the sun comes up. I think that will prove to be the most challenging event I will have done to date. In between all these big events I have some small trail runs planned to help keep me in line.

I am finding that I am able to eat lots of grains to keep my carb intake high enough (you can only eat so much fruit and veggies, and I do eat alot of those, too!!) and some I use in lieu of my old breakfast favorite, oatmeal. Rice or quinoa are probably my favorite. I have to say I really don't care for buckwheat cooked as a hot cereal. I had some left over buckwheat the other day and stirred in plain yogurt, banana and honey to hide the taste of the buckwheat and that was okay. Something about buckwheat just tastes yucky to me...oh, and I like Teff. It has an unusual flavour, but again, with a bit of honey and yogurt and fruit stirred in it is pretty good.

Anyways, I seem to be keeping up with all my activity and am sticking with my gluten-free diet with no problem in fact haven't found it a difficult adjustment to make. Since I prepped all my own food before anyways and rarely eat out, I think that helped!!