I’ve got five days to go until my Summer of Sweat goal race, the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon on Sunday, October 18th. How am I feeling? Anxious as ever; and that’s nothing new. I always get stressed out before a race, but this time it’s different. I think I’l have to adjust my goal significantly. But sometimes you can surprise yourself on race day. Everything might fall together wonderfully, as it did for me last year at the Chicago Marathon.
I’ll fill in you in in my final blog post, my post-race wrap up, but today I wanted to talk about my new post-run hydration regimen.
The best part of this Summer of Sweat goal thus far is how it’s forced me to focus on hydration during and after my runs (I still struggle with hydrating regularly when not working out, doh!). I’ve already shared how I’ve been hydrating during my actual runs, but a brand new element to my training regimen is how I’m hydrating after my run. Usually, as I’m checking my overall time and pace on my app after a run, I finish drinking the sports drink I have with me in my fuel belt (it’s been Gatorade Thirst Quencher all summer) and then as soon as I get home, I grab a protein shake, like a Gatorade Protein Shake from my fridge.
Designed to help recovery, the Protein Shakes, when icy cold out of the refrigerator, are a welcome (after a sweaty run!), and easy way to get some protein and carbs consumed right away. The little tears in our muscles caused by exercise use protein to help rebuild so the sooner you can get some protein into your system, the sooner your muscles starts to repair themselves (Check out www.gatorade.ca for more information on protein’s role in recovery). Protein drinks like Gatorade Protein Shake have 45 grams of carbs (For a closer look at how carbs can help you recover following a workout, visit www.gatorade.ca) I prefer the chocolate shake over the vanilla (To me, it basically tastes like a slightly thicker chocolate milk), and after I down it, I hop into the shower (my Summer of Sweat training leaves me drenched in sweat!) and then put on something cozy to wear as I eat a proper meal (usually something fairly healthy — I sometimes feel too guilty to chow down on something crazy fatty and sugary when I feel so strong and accomplished post-run; don’t get me wrong, I’ve done it, but not all the time). Then, more often than not, I have a nap.
Stay tuned to my Twitter and Instagram for more sweaty updates this week leading up to and, of course, on race day, October 18th! I’ll have my race report up on the blog the week of October 19th.
Please send good energy my way, I could use as much as I can get for the race, and come out to cheer the thousands of runners that day if you’re in Toronto! Your support, funny signs and high fives really do make a big difference for us runners!
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I told you I sweat A LOT.
October 13, 2015
As you may know, I’ve got a big fitness goal for this fall: qualifying for the Boston Marathon, and to help me, Gatorade has partnered with me to help me work towards that goal during what we’re calling the Summer of Sweat. They’ve provided me with a supply of Gatorade, G2 and Gatorade Protein Shakes for hydration and recovery, plus I’ve joined the Pace & Mind team, so I have help from running coach Rejean Chiasson.
Since officially kicking off this Summer of Sweat program, life has been a whirlwind. I now somehow find myself with less than 40 days until the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon (it’s on October 18, 2015) and I barely felt like I’d officially started training and I’m all of a sudden running the longest distances we will be doing for training. I think I was caught off guard because it took me awhile to decide on a goal race, so while I was maintaining and slowly building distance, mentally, I wasn’t officially in marathon training mode.
It didn’t help that in August, I was home in Toronto for only 11 days. I can manage shorter runs when I’m traveling, I prefer to run my long distances at home. My busy schedule also means that I have yet to make it out to run with my Pace & Mind teammates as a group. I’ve run with one team member and am regularly in contact with Rejean about my training. There’s a lively group chat of some very enthusiastic runners in the group, though, so that’s a new element to my training. The next few weeks are less travel-heavy so, it’s a goal of mine to train with the Pace & Mind team.
Given the hectic pace of August, I managed to maintain a consistent schedule for training, but I have slacked on the speed training, which is precisely what I need to get me to my goal. So I definitely need to focus, work hard and #KeepSweating from now on.
As luck would have it, Toronto was also hit with some extremely hot and humid weather, which made sure I kept sweating. My pace for long runs decreased significantly and I can’t help but find that stressful. I can’t even meet the slowest pace that coach has assigned me but he assured me that the pace he refers to is during ideal conditions (i.e.: when it’s not 38 Celsius outside).
Given the conditions, I’ve had plenty of opportunity to hydrate with Gatorade during my runs. My favourite flavour is Cool Blue, but as it gets closer to my goal race, I’ll likely try to stick more to the Lemon-Lime since that is often served on race courses.
I see so many runners without water and it boggles my mind. Even on a run as short as 5K, I feel parched; on a 32k run last week, I drank two-and-a-half bottles of Gatorade and a one-and-a-half bottles of water, and immediately downed a chocolate Gatorade Protein Shake (which has 20 grams of protein and rings in at 270 calories) as soon as I got home to help with muscle recovery. I always try to be really careful with hydration when I run since I’m not so great at consuming enough fluids from day to day (a habit I still struggle with improving) and I’m a heavy sweater. Like, seriously heavy. I think this is why I dislike sweating so much; I don’t experience just a light glistening of sweat like other girls in my NTC class. I am dripping and my gear is absolutely drenched with sweat.
If you’re not too clear as to how an electrolyte sports drink like Gatorade helps you when you work at high intensity, well, when you sweat, you lose sodium and potassium, Gatorade contains 210 mg of sodium and 55 mL of potassium per 500m to help replace what you sweat out. For more information on the importance of sodium and potassium and the science behind Gatorade, check out www.gatorade.ca
This is why I tend to only drink sports drinks on my long runs (which last for more than one hour), but not so often during my other training runs. My easy runs are a much shorter distance so I can hydrate with water or G2 (I’ll drink the G2, which is lower in calories depending on the intensity of my run and other factors such as the temperature outside.
During a recent 32k run last week that lasted over three hours, based on what I’ve read, it seems I may be on the low end of carb replenishment based on how much Gatorade I consumed, but I also ate several Honey Stinger electrolyte gummies during my run as well. I’ve taken note and will now try to up my intake since I believe I sweat more than the average person.
By the way, when running, it can be easy to fall into a zone and forget to drink so to make sure I hydrate regularly; every two kilometres I take a big sip. (If you run with regular walk breaks, say if you’re running 10s and 1s, use your one-minute break to hydrate.)
With 24 days to go until the Scotiabank Waterfront Toronto Marathon, stay tuned because my next Gatorade #KeepSweating post will be my marathon recap! And in the meanwhile, follow along with my training on Instagram and on Twitter.
September 23, 2015
Say hello to one of Gatorade’s newest ambassadors! That’s me! Hiiiii!
I’ve been absolutely dying to share this news! I’m beyond thrilled to be one of four athletes (wait, am I an athlete? I think of myself more as just a girl who runs…) across Canada who’s set a Gatorade Summer Sweat Goal and has the sports drink’s support to make it happen!
My goal: to qualify for the Boston Marathon. Although 2014 was a fantastic race year for me, so far 2015 has been a little disappointing. But I’ve been set up with a new coach: I am now training with Pace & Mind (lead by none other than Rejean Chiasson). It will be intense, and I expect it to be hard (I am not fond of speed work…) but I know it’s what I have to do in order to BQ (that’s short for qualifying for Boston, in case you’re confused). I was less than two minutes from qualifying in Chicago last year so I am more determined than ever.
Gatorade is of course also hooking me up with all of the Gatorade I need to hydrate for my training. I train with Gatorade and it has helped me get to where I am in my running “career.” A cold Gatorade during and after a long, hot run? “This is the best thing I’ve ever had,” is usually what I’m thinking as I gulp it down. True story.
I’ve tried other sports drinks but I trust Gatorade because it is backed by 50 years of scientific research. In Canada, the Gatorade Sports Science Institute has been partnered with the University of Guelph for more than a decade exploring nutrition and hydration in hockey through research including athlete testing. And they’ve just launched a Canadain site, www.GSSIweb.org/en-ca, where there’s loads of great resources such as videos of experts discussing fueling for sport and research articles on sports science interviews.
Follow me in my journey as I work towards my Gatorade Summer Sweat Goal here on the blog, on my Instagram, and Twitter! The hashtag is #keepsweating.
Bring on the sweat. I’m ready.
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August 13, 2015
