Sugar-less September

Apparently it's September already. Wow. Time for a new challenge!

When we race, a lot of factors affect our performance. Some of these factors are beyond our control:

• Temperature and humidity
• Wind
• Precipitation
• Race course (I guess you could “control” this by choosing which race you do)
• If the fluid and aid stations are well stocked, and located where the race website says they’ll be.
• How we feel, to some extent. Sometimes you just have a bad run or race for no clear reason.

Next month (gulp) I am running a marathon. I want to do well. I want to qualify for Boston.

I know I’ll PR (since I didn’t train for my first marathon), but running a sub 3:40:59 (8:23/ mi pace) marathon is a very lofty goal for me.

I’m trying to concentrate on all of the variables that are in my control come race day. My type A-ish self loves that I can take charge of some things. But I wish Mother Nature would listen to some of my requests, too

Training

Back in April, I ran my fastest half marathon to date. I trained for 12 weeks with a goal of running it at an 8:15 pace. I kicked that goal’s booty. I ran it in 1:43:12 (7:52/ mi pace). I still cannot believe I did that.

I am trying to remember everything I did in preparation for that race (someone should have started blogging earlier ). I’d love to take my April 3 self and put her at the starting line- but with more long runs under her belt- on October 30. But, alas, I have no magical powers.

I’ve poured over my training plan leading up to that race, and have tried my best to take a similar approach now. I’ve been doing the speedwork, long runs, taking adequate rest days and I hope to start strength training more regularly.

Nutrition

I’ m not going to lie. I thought following the training plan was enough. Then out of no where another modifiable factor popped into my brain: nutrition.

I’ve admitted that I’m not the best when it comes to watching my diet. In fact, I pretty much eat whatever I want.

But, my speedy half marathon was the day before Easter. I’m Catholic. What do we crazy Catholics do for 40 days each year? Give up something for Lent. I gave up chocolate this year.

This means I was consuming significantly less sugar in the 39 days leading up to my half marathon. Hmm…

This concerns me because I’ve been downing a ton of sugar this summer. Between chugging Gatorade on hot runs and enjoying extra sweets while traveling, my sugar intake is a bit out of control.

The day after I realized this, I woke up to an email from Runner’s World titled “Five (Non-Running) Tips to Improve Your Speed”.

Guess what #5 was?

“Limit the Junk Food
Sugar can actually trigger hunger, which can lead to weight gain. Plus, you'll get more out of your mileage with long-lasting staples like whole-grain rice and pasta than with sugary foods that can cause sluggishness—not what you want if you're pushing for speed.” (source)

And that, my friends, is what’s called fate.

So begins sugar-less September. By sugar-less I do not mean "without sugar". Ha, what a ridiculous idea. I simply mean less sugar.

When I gave up chocolate for Lent I still had dessert everyday. Hello reese’s pieces But I had less dessert than what I was used to.

How will I measure it? I have no clue. I’ll just make an effort to eat less of the sweet stuff. (Here I go being a bad health educator again…)

Now will this sugar-less September help me come marathon day? Who knows. I know better than to think one factor can have such a large effect on my performance. It's impossible to control every variable in your life and say which behavior caused some result. Hence why the “experts” can’t prove that smoking cigarettes causes long cancer (it does). They can only say smoking cigarettes is linked with or increases your risk of lung cancer.

Let’s hope that less sugar is linked with or increases my risk of a BQ And if it doesn’t, at least my dentist will be happy with me.

Anyone else want to participate in sugar-less September?

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