Homemade Energy Gel - Second Try

My first try at Homemade Energy Gel went reasonably well, but in the end it was just too sweet/gross and cost too much.

1/2 cup Brown Rice Syrup (purchased at Bulk Barn in Canada) (300 calories, 81mg sodium)
1/2 cup sugar (400 calories)
1 scoop orange gatorade (90 calories, 160mg sodium, 45mg potassium)
1 tsp blackstrap molassas (also from Bulk Barn) (10 calories, 300mg potassium +/-)
1/4 tsp table salt (575mg sodium)
squirt of lemon

Put it on the stove with enough heat to get things to dissolve and mix up and bam.  Energy Gel.

Yields a cup and change of liquid, or about 9 ounces, 800kcal.

About 600mg of potassium, 800mg sodium.

Brown Rice Syrup is composed of the complex carbs maltose and maltotriose - both of which have surprisingly high Glycemic Indexes (higher than sugar!).  They break down into glucose without going through the liver - and whoooosh into the bloodstream.  (Note that there is contradictory GI information on the internet - some say it's only a GI of 25, but these seem to be wrong).

Sugar is made of sucrose, which contains one glucose and one fructose molecule.

Gatorade Powder is mostly sugar.

Sugar Profile

We end up with most of our calories coming from glucose, with not very much fructose... this is probably a mistake, we usually want pretty close to a 50/50 balance.  But it's not that far different from commercial gels... they typically under-represent fructose.  We could swap out regular sugar for Fructose (available in most grocery stores, inexpensive) if we want.

Potassium/Sodium

Commercial gels come in around 50mg each of the two, or less (generally).  This is about 60mg of K, 80mg of Na.  So should be good for a hot day!

Cost

For a batch (makes around 10 gels worth) we're talking about $3 or so.  Most expensive is the brown rice syrup at $7 for 450mL, everything else is pennies.

Taste?

Great!  Less sweet than normal crap.  Runny gel that went easily into a bottle and delivers a lot of energy in a hurry.

Race Preview: Storm the Trent 2016

We did this race last year and it was awesome... so this year we're back for the longer version (the "Trek" distance).

42km of mountain biking
9km of "hiking"/running
9km of paddling

They don't tell us in advance how it's all split up... last year for the shorter "hike" and "trek" distances, it was run/bike/run/bike/paddle.  The short distances to the first run checkpoints lead to long line-ups early on, especially for the first one.  So I'm hoping we either bike or paddle first!

Looks like the last time this was in Warsaw, they did bike/run/bike/paddle/run/paddle... but no guarantees at all, need to be ready for anything.

It looks like a cold and rainy day, which could prove horrible... or amazing.

I expect we won't be quite as competitive in the longer race, as the competition tends to get stiffer as distances get longer.  But looking to have fun, pace it right, finish ahead of who we can and finish behind who we can't (and try not to get lost).

Follow-up: On The Futility of Maintaining Weight Loss, and the Biggest Loser

I wanted to follow-up my last post with some of my findings since.

Futile, or not?

First off, I found a separate study, and one with a much much larger sample size.

Link to the Study

What this study shows is that when people followed an intense and fully monitored program (which they call ILI), many were able to lose weight - significant amounts - and retain that weight loss for four years.

In fact 46% of participants were down at least 5% of their body weight after 4 years.  That's a pretty remarkable number when you think of all those who try and fail...

They contrasted this to more of an "informational" program, where the numbers weren't as encouraging... so it seems that being part of a group losing the weight together with proper support (instruction and holding you to account!) is a big factor in whether you will be successful or not.

Who were the successful ones?

Participants who maintained the loss, compared with those who did not, attended more treatment sessions and reported more favorable physical activity and food intake at year 4

So basically those who remained engaged in the group, who exercised and watched their food.

The Caveat

So how do we square this with the Biggest Loser results?

Well first we have to recognize that 54% even in this study failed to keep 5% of their body weight off, so that's still most people.  And then we have to recognize that nothing is one-size-fits-all -  it could well be that there are strong genetic factors that determine your body's response to weight loss, and in the ultra-obese group of Biggest Loser contestants you'll be most likely to find them.

For the rest of us?  Well I'll take a 46% chance at keeping it off, since I've managed to do it so far!

On The Futility of Maintaining Weight Loss, and the Biggest Loser

I was 235lbs.  I got down to under 200lbs in 2002... and have kept it under ever since.  In fact I've rarely strayed much above 190lbs, and mostly keep my weight in the 180's - healthy for my height (6'0").

me in fatter times... not even my worst
I would add!

So when I read about how hard it is to lose weight and keep it off?  My reaction is simple: YUP.

Even after 14 years of having lost weight, if I don't pay attention, it comes back on - fast.  My body isn't content to be this weight - it wants to be bigger, fatter.

This NY Times article about the Biggest Loser is one of the best I've ever read.

My main take-aways:

1. Your body's metabolism works against you
2. The medical profession and science isn't sure how to help you

To me, this is the scariest part of the whole article:

“We eat about 900,000 to a million 

calories a year, and burn them all

except those annoying 3,000 to 5,000 

calories that result in an average annual 

weight gain of about one to two pounds,” 

he said. “These very small differences 

between intake and output average out 

to only about 10 to 20 calories per day ... ”

You'd think when we need 900,000 calories, consuming 900,000 instead of 903,000 would be a trivial exercise... but you'd be wrong.  Your body just seems to adjust, and burns the difference, or lowers your metabolic rate to deal with those small fluctuations.

I'm proof it can be done, but holy hell I work hard at it.  I run marathons, ride thousands of kilometers per year, canoe, anything that I can to keep me interested and burning calories.  

It doesn't surprise me in the least that only about 5% of people who try lose weight keep it off... it's a life-long struggle.  For me, a struggle worth struggling.

Toronto Marathon: Post Race Navel Gazing

Doing the Splits

Misery loves company.

Looking at my splits, it's pretty clear that there are a lot of people whose pace drops off during a marathon.  Sure we all talk a good game about negative splits, but really, most people have a hell of a drop-off after the halfway point.

Proof:

Split 1 is seriously net downhill, but 5:03/km is pretty darn fast.  Placing 448th.

Split 2 was flat with a tailwind... things got bad, felt like hell, 5:25/km.  A very precipitous drop in pace, and yet my placing actually improved to 443rd!  Picked up a whopping 7 spots in my category!

Split 3 was flat with an awful headwind, I went right off and struggled to keep it under 6:00/km pace... and yet I barely lost a place, going 449th (ie. right in line with where I was at split 1).  Held by category placing, and actually improved my gender placing!

This tells me:

- Most people at marathons are as unprepared/dumb as me

- Men are likely even worse for it than women

Insanity, Specificity, Weight

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over but expecting a different result.

My 2010 post-marathon blog post:

It seems to come down to this: up to the half marathon, I can get away with 2-3 runs a week (one long, one tempo, one other) and enough of the cycling fitness carries over to still be able to improve and do well. But for the full marathon, there is a wall you can't get over without the big running mileage

Then I tried the Furman First plan in 2013, which calls for 3 runs per week, and had the same miserable end to the marathon.

And now, in 2016, what did I do?  Ran the long runs, did a tempo or two each week, and biked a lot... and expected that to carry me to a PB!

Surprise - it didn't.  Specificity matters.  If I want to run fast over 42.2km I need to do run-specific training leading up to it.

And then there is weight...

2013 post-marathon Jono, what do you think?

But ultimately I think the bigger factor is still weight... I don't think I can pull off a 3:35 without dropping some pounds

Wow, you're smart, you'll definitely do better in 2016!

Except I didn't lose the weight, and didn't improve.

I know all of these things but for some reason I expect something magical to happen on race day and carry me through... I forget just how bad it feels when the legs stop moving nicely and freely and start lurching and protesting.  Those last 10km are never going to be easy, but I think with additional running mileage (read: less biking!) and less weight to carry around I could overcome them and PB.

... if I'm willing to lay off the biking, I should try it sometime.  Right now, I'm not.

Race Report: Toronto Marathon 2016

Well, that's done.

Hard to know where to start, but let me first talk about the race organization...

Race Organization

Abysmal.  I've always loved this race, but when you run out of water/Gatorade in the last 10km of a marathon and it's not even hot out?  That's beyond pathetic.  Some aid stations at the end had one or two people manning them - it was a gong show.  You had to stop and maybe get water/Gatorade (or maybe not?)... amateur hour stuff from a race organizer who has been doing this entirely too long to make those mistakes, repeatedly, and not get called out for it.

The race ends at Ontario Place, which is near... nothing.  We managed to find where the buses were after a fair hike (exactly what you want to be doing after a marathon).  Oh and bag check was a treat - they laid the bags out in the rain to get soaked.  Hey you know those dry clothes you packed?  We didn't want to pay for an extra tent, so....

Race markers were wrong.  I know, you'll try write it off as me putting too much trust in GPS, but they weren't even close.  I'd be right on pace and next marker 40 seconds off, then the one after it back on pace?  C'mon.  Amateur hour.

I can't see myself doing this race again, too many other options to put up with that kind of nonsense.  Even the course isn't as appealing as it once was, that out and back along the lakefront goes on forever.

At least their medals are big.

My Race

It started out really well, held my target pace (as best as I could tell with the randomly spaced kilometer markers anyway).  Took it really easy up Hoggs Hollow, the big hill near the start, kept it out of the red.

My overly complicated pace band!

As you can see from my pace band (if you really want to click on that monstrosity) I had factored in everything... the speed on the downhill, the tailwind, and then the fade into the headwind.  It was a brilliant plan, really.

But you know what they say about plans.

Everything felt wonderful through to about kilometer 26 or 27... that's when it started to feel like work.  I backed off a little and had a heart-to heart with myself, eventually deciding that pushing to keep to my plan would just blow me right up.  So I tried from then on to just stay within myself and find whatever pace I could that wouldn't put me too far in the red.

In the end I was 5:32/km with the tailwind, vs my planned 5:05/km (whooey that's a miss!), then 5:58 into the headwind vs my planned 5:30/km... so pretty much 28 seconds per kilometer off for the last 14km.

Rolled in at 3:44:58 or so (sub-3:45 barely), so that's something.  Missed my PB by a lot, but some days, it's just not there.

Post-Race Navel Gazing

I did all the long runs, did some speed stuff, but really just didn't run enough to improve the marathon result.  My weight was bad, too, nearly 190lbs this morning when I should be under 180lbs to even think of PB'ing a marathon... so as usual I will hereby vow to lose weight (and then will order pizza instead).

The End.

Race Preview II: Toronto Marathon ... Weather... UGH

I've been hoping this would change, forecasts are almost always wrong ... right?

Well, it hasn't.

I can live with +7C - that's actually a great running temperature.  5mm of rain, though?  Not so great.

But worst of all is the 30km/h winds out of the east... gusting to 50km/h.

A headwind is never fun, but a headwind for the last 7km of a marathon is going to be hell.

Although the tailwind going west will be interesting... we'll actually have a tailwind longer than a headwind!  Between the downhill and the tailwind, I am thinking "banking time" might not be the horrible idea it normally is... an even effort throughout the race would have a pretty serious positive split right up to 35km of this one.

My revised plan.  Am I overthinking this?  YES.  Yes I am.

5:10/km to start (and on any even ground without wind!)
4:50-5:00/km on downhills (13-19km)
5:05/km or so with tailwind (21km-34km)
5:30/km into the headwind at the end (35km-42.2km)

Based on my calculation... that's a 3:38:03 and a PB!  Yay!

We'll see, though... putting things on paper is always easier than executing them on race day!