"Wear as few clothes as decently possible..."

Marathon runners coming through!

So said an e-mail sent to runners who qualified for the Boston Marathon this year. The weather in Boston has been fairly cool recently. However, today on Patriot's Day (aka BOSTON MARATHON DAY), it reached almost 90 degrees. I've spectated at races that have been unexpectedly extremely hot  and it's been a mess: officials telling runners part way through that the race was shutting down and they should stop running, runners not listening to them and continuing to run despite the removal of services like water and medical support. Not a good idea. I was impressed by the way that the Boston Athletic Association handled this year's heat wave. A few days before the race they decided to give runners the option to defer until next year if they didn't feel safe running in the heat. They advised people who had never run a marathon before not to run (aka the charity runners because all other runners had run at least one marathon before to qualify for Boston). If you did decide to run, they advised that you wear as little clothing as possible. They added mist tents, more water, and cooling stations inside buildings like churches and schools.

My favorite long-run fuel; strawberry Clif Shot Bloks

The Boston Marathon weekend is always a fun one for me and this year was no different. I spent Friday and Saturday working in the Clif Bar booth at the marathon expo. I love chatting with runners about how to incorporate Clif products into their training and racing plans and hearing people's stories about their favorite flavors or when a Clif Bar saved their life (you'd be surprised how many people have a story like this, often about a hiking trip). Then on Sunday I volunteer at the expo for registration and get to give runners their number and answer any questions they might have about the course, the buses in the morning, etc.

Then comes the day itself... Marathon Monday. There are always masses of bikers that wake up early and cycle the 26.2 miles to Hopkinton and back. I've never felt quite ready enough to do that in mid-April but I did bike 7.5 miles of the course out and back this morning, covering Heartbreak Hill and getting to Wellesley and back. It was fun seeing all of the spectators getting their chairs set up, seeing the volunteers prepping the water station, the kids writing on the streets with sidewalk chalk. After the bike ride I got to relax and cheer on the 27,000 runners from mile 23. I gave out sunscreen, my friends gave away free popsicles, and we helped a runner or two who needed some extra support.

Always trust a pale girl to bring the SPF 70 to the party

All-in-all it was an exhausting weekend - and I didn't even run the marathon! But it was well worth it. If you're curious about how many calories working at an expo, biking part of the marathon course, or cheering for hours can burn, stay tuned for an upcoming post because I had my metabolic armband on through it all... And if you're interested in trying to qualify for Boston, the guy behind No Meat Athlete has a new business called Run Your BQ (Boston Qualifier). Good luck!

What's In What You Eat?

Confession: I'm stealing this post idea from Hungry For Change, or Take Part Food as they're calling themselves these days. They posted this clip from SNL about "Almost Pizza" and I thought it was worth passing along:



Have you thought recently about what exactly goes into the food that you buy prepackaged? Something like pizza, you'd assume would have the typical crust ingredients like flour, toppings like cheese, veggies, etc. While it might not be able to walk under the fridge like the one in the clip, take a look next time you're in the freezer section; you'll find ingredient lists that read like a novel.

And while we're on the subject of frozen pizza... there are redeeming qualities to some frozen pizzas such as the calcium from the cheese, the vegetables (if there are vegetables), the iron from the meat. But pizza should only be a "sometimes food" (as Elmo would say), not an "anytime food" because in addition to those redeeming qualities you'd be hard pressed to find a frozen pizza that is not loaded with saturated fat and sodium; and that's if you only eat what they deem is one serving. For example, the Freschetta Three Meat Medley Pizza considers 1/5 of the pizza a serving and in that one serving you'll get 930mg of sodium (~39% of your daily allowance) and 7g of saturated fat (~35% of your daily allowance). So if you eat two or three pieces... you can see where I'm going with this. But if you want to eat frozen pizza once in awhile, go for it - just try to get the thin crust style with veggies. And in case you're wondering, there's plenty of white flour and calories in the pizza, so you can bypass those that come with bread sticks, wings, or cookies in addition to the pizza (YIKES!).

UPDATE: Just saw on the news that in the UK Pizza Hut is unveiling pizza with a hot dog stuffed crust. Thoughts?

Finding the Right Fit

Does your bike fit you? Chances are if you can move the seat post up or down until your feet reach the pedals, your answer is yes. But have you ever actually gotten a bike fit to you? Bike fittings can be pricey, but they can save you a lot of pain throughout the season. A few telltale signs that you might need a bike fitting are: a sore lower back, tight shoulders, numbness in feet or hands while biking, and knee pain. Bike fittings range from the basic, where a trained professional will hold a string with a weight up to your hip in order to make sure that the positioning is correct, to the extremely advanced which utilize cameras and computers.

I was lucky enough to get a glimpse of this fancier type of fitting a few weeks ago at the Multisport Expo. Wheelworks, the bike shop that sponsors my triathon team, was demo-ing the Retul bike fitting. According to the website, "Retül technology is a cycling-specific motion-capture bike fitting system designed to provide qualified bike fitters highly accurate and comprehensive bike fit data. The system incorporates three-dimensional measurement, immediate report capability, and a millimeter-specific digitizing tool to provide the most accurate dynamic fitting solution in the industry."

My experience was fun; the trained Wheelworks employee first stuck little velcro dots on some specific points on my body (shoulder, elbow, wrist, hip, knee, ankle, etc), then velcroed the LED markers onto those dots (markers were connected to each other and attached to a battery pack). A few feet away was a sensor bar. The fitter could then look at his laptop and gather all sorts of data about my fit as I pedaled. I got to see an image of myself as a stick figure, with each LED marker showing up on the screen and little lines connecting those dots. I also saw an image of my knee strokes; the further apart the two lines, which represent your leg pushing down and pulling up, the worse your form. My lines were very close together which indicated that I don't change position much from the upstroke to the downstroke.

It turns out my fit is pretty good already (not a big surprise since I don't have much pain when I ride) so I didn't need too much tweaking. He did suggest a shorter handle bar in order to get a better angle when I'm riding with my hands near the brakes (as in the picture, above). He also suggested that I buy a foam roller since it hurt a lot when he pushed into my hip trying to find the specific area of my hip he needed to place the velcro.

Spring is a great time to get a tune up and fit before beginning to log serious miles on your bike. If you'd like a retul fit and you're in the Boston area I highly suggest Wheelworks. The retul website has a function where you can search for certified fitters in your area. Or, if you're thinking of something a little less fancy, call your local bike shop and ask if they have any fit specials going on. Your body will thank you!