So where is the sun? It's awfully dark and dreary here in St. Louis these days! The Beatles had it all wrong when they came out with the song "Here comes the Sun"! They should only reserve that for warm tropical locations or summertime. So how does this correlate to swimming, biking or running? Good question...
For the obvious reasons: longer days to enjoy biking and running outdoors and vitamin D. The latter is what I have more of an interest in at the moment. I just recently became more informed on the benefits and pitfalls of having low amounts of vitamin D in your body. How? Craig has a fractured fibula...again!
The fibula is located in your calf and carries about 10% of your body weight as opposed to the tibia, or shin bone, which carries about 90% of your body weight. Needless to say, having any bone that is fractured is not good. So after a sports medicine physician visit, the doctor had Craig's vitamin D level tested. Craig tested at an 18. Where does this rank according to the doc?
<20 = extremely low. Take 50,000 IUs of vitamin D supplement once a week.
20-30 = low. Take 2,000 IUs a day.
>30 = Take an over the counter vitamin D supplement once a day.
>50 = Optimal.
So his doc told him that as a runner and with his previous fibula fracture he should be at an 80! I decided to get mine tested. It's just a quick blood test and they have the results back within a day. I tested at 34, which is on the lower side of normal, so my doctor told me to take 2,000 IUs a day.
It's been awhile, so I decided to brush up on my vitamin D knowledge. This is what I've learned-
1) Vitamin D can be found in fish, cheese, milk and the sun.
2) There are several people out there that are vitamin D deficient and are unaware, so it's good to be tested.
3) Vitamin D comes from the sun. Sun without sunblock. 15 minutes a day is all you need!
4) Vitamin D deficiencies can cause depression, bone weakness (hence fractures), as well as heart arrhythmias.
5) According to the Vitamin D Council, a healthy adult shoud take 5,000 IUs a day.
So as vitamin D increases, we all become happier. Funny that we all seem a lot happier in the warm summer weather! So happy running and biking this winter. Take a vitamin D supplement and enjoy the great outdoors again!
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Monday, November 29, 2010
Great River Road Run - Alton, IL
This past Saturday I completed my last race for the month of November. The Great River Road Run in Alton, IL. It was a balmy 35 degrees at the start, sunny and the 10 mile course was flat as a pancake (anyone who says they enjoy running hills is a liar), so it made for fantastic racing conditions.
My friend, Stu, met up with me at the start. Stu is a natural athlete. He is the fastest person that I have the pleasure of knowing and I am amazed at his humility. He is great at every event of triathlon and I believe his least favorite part is the run. He squeezed up to the front and was out of the shoot as soon as the gun went off. I knew I would see him after he turned around. I'd still be heading out.
I felt pretty good for the first 5 miles. Ran into another friend, Jane, at about mile 2. We ran together for a bit and caught up on life events, but I'm a bit of a loner when I run so I took off. At about mile 4 I saw Stu. With the course being an out and back, that meant he was at mile 6. I cheered for him and gave him a high five. He was pretty close to the front of the pack. I kept plodding along, singing whatever song came on my iPod.
Then I hit the turn around. It wasn't windy, my asthma didn't act up and I had just taken a Hammer Gel which was on the verge of kicking in. Less than 1/4 mile after the turnaround, I saw Jane again. She was doing great!
I started focusing on the side cramp that had developed which slowed me from my sub-9 minute pace. F. The only time I walked was through the water stops and then I started running again. Overall, not a bad pace for 10 miles - 1:31:50. Not impressive for most, but it was an accomplishment only due to the fact that I didn't walk and it was 5+ minutes faster than my time from '09.
Stu: 1:01+
Me: 1:31+
Jane: 1:34+
Congratulations to all and I'm sure I saw all of you after the race at Fast Eddie's. I sure as hell enjoyed my beer!
My friend, Stu, met up with me at the start. Stu is a natural athlete. He is the fastest person that I have the pleasure of knowing and I am amazed at his humility. He is great at every event of triathlon and I believe his least favorite part is the run. He squeezed up to the front and was out of the shoot as soon as the gun went off. I knew I would see him after he turned around. I'd still be heading out.
I felt pretty good for the first 5 miles. Ran into another friend, Jane, at about mile 2. We ran together for a bit and caught up on life events, but I'm a bit of a loner when I run so I took off. At about mile 4 I saw Stu. With the course being an out and back, that meant he was at mile 6. I cheered for him and gave him a high five. He was pretty close to the front of the pack. I kept plodding along, singing whatever song came on my iPod.
Then I hit the turn around. It wasn't windy, my asthma didn't act up and I had just taken a Hammer Gel which was on the verge of kicking in. Less than 1/4 mile after the turnaround, I saw Jane again. She was doing great!
I started focusing on the side cramp that had developed which slowed me from my sub-9 minute pace. F. The only time I walked was through the water stops and then I started running again. Overall, not a bad pace for 10 miles - 1:31:50. Not impressive for most, but it was an accomplishment only due to the fact that I didn't walk and it was 5+ minutes faster than my time from '09.
Stu: 1:01+
Me: 1:31+
Jane: 1:34+
Congratulations to all and I'm sure I saw all of you after the race at Fast Eddie's. I sure as hell enjoyed my beer!
Friday, November 26, 2010
Ironman anxiety
Monday brought on a tremendous amount of anxiety. I had knots in my stomach when I woke up. Why? Not because it was the start of a new work week. Not because it was Thanksgiving week. Not because I had to travel, cook, bake and clean. I decided to sign up for my first 140.6.
A few weeks ago I had changed my mind about what I once decided was the only race I would never compete in - and Ironman. Back in June I completed Ironman Kansas 70.3 and it was one of the most exciting moments in my life. I thought then that it would be enough...until Monday.
So the Ironman I wanted to sign up for, Ironman Arizona (IMAZ), had taken place the day before and it opened up for registration at 1p.m. Central time. I didn't tell anyone I'd gotten onto the IM Louisville website to mock sign-up because I read that IMAZ sold out within a half hour in 2009. I felt prepared that my fast typing skills were going to allow me a spot for November 2011.
I was oh-so wrong.
After spending 45 minutes on the website trying to get my payment to go through, the website gently let me down by linking me up to the Ironman Arizona Foundation slot. General entry closed. I don't think I realized until that exact moment how much I really wanted to do a full Ironman. My husband, Craig, had been busy texting me during that time period asking if I had gotten in. So I called him, completely disheartened, and let him know it was a no-go. He kept my spirits up letting me know that I still had my backup plan - Ironman Louisville. I knew that the temperatures would be hot, it wasn't going to be wetsuit legal and the humidity wouldn't be so fun to deal with either. I waited a few minutes and went through the sign up process again.
Fail. WTF.
Ready to cry, I called Craig again. I let him know that I couldn't get the payment to go through again and that maybe other people had the same backup plan as I did. He told me to try again later and that maybe the website was on overload from all the people still trying to sign up for IMAZ. So we chatted a few more minutes and I tried one last time before going back to work.
Pass. Elation! I screamed. Loud. I'm pretty sure my dog, Aspen, thought I had lost my mind because I was dancing around my living room like I had just won the lottery. I gave her a hug. The UPS lady stopped by to deliver a package. I told her. I almost hugged her. Pretty sure she didn't care, but she needed to know that I was very excited. I called my husband. If he were present, he would've gotten a hug too.
Something I learned from that experience is that there are some really sick people out there. I suppose that I would now be categorized as one of them. 2011 - Year of the IRONMAN.
A few weeks ago I had changed my mind about what I once decided was the only race I would never compete in - and Ironman. Back in June I completed Ironman Kansas 70.3 and it was one of the most exciting moments in my life. I thought then that it would be enough...until Monday.
So the Ironman I wanted to sign up for, Ironman Arizona (IMAZ), had taken place the day before and it opened up for registration at 1p.m. Central time. I didn't tell anyone I'd gotten onto the IM Louisville website to mock sign-up because I read that IMAZ sold out within a half hour in 2009. I felt prepared that my fast typing skills were going to allow me a spot for November 2011.
I was oh-so wrong.
After spending 45 minutes on the website trying to get my payment to go through, the website gently let me down by linking me up to the Ironman Arizona Foundation slot. General entry closed. I don't think I realized until that exact moment how much I really wanted to do a full Ironman. My husband, Craig, had been busy texting me during that time period asking if I had gotten in. So I called him, completely disheartened, and let him know it was a no-go. He kept my spirits up letting me know that I still had my backup plan - Ironman Louisville. I knew that the temperatures would be hot, it wasn't going to be wetsuit legal and the humidity wouldn't be so fun to deal with either. I waited a few minutes and went through the sign up process again.
Fail. WTF.
Ready to cry, I called Craig again. I let him know that I couldn't get the payment to go through again and that maybe other people had the same backup plan as I did. He told me to try again later and that maybe the website was on overload from all the people still trying to sign up for IMAZ. So we chatted a few more minutes and I tried one last time before going back to work.
Pass. Elation! I screamed. Loud. I'm pretty sure my dog, Aspen, thought I had lost my mind because I was dancing around my living room like I had just won the lottery. I gave her a hug. The UPS lady stopped by to deliver a package. I told her. I almost hugged her. Pretty sure she didn't care, but she needed to know that I was very excited. I called my husband. If he were present, he would've gotten a hug too.
Something I learned from that experience is that there are some really sick people out there. I suppose that I would now be categorized as one of them. 2011 - Year of the IRONMAN.
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