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Training and Food Poisoning

| cheriarmour

Seriously. The most chilling word combination I could have ever imagined in my life.

Saturday, I ate an Asian Tuna Salad from a local spot here in Raleigh.  So there was some raw fish involved.  And when you play with fire (raw fish) for long enough, eventually, your good luck runs out.  And mine did on Saturday night.

Saturday around midnight, before I found drunky moneky in the street (see the post), my tummy started aching.  Which isn’t totally rare for me, I was a colicky baby, and it never left me.  I popped a Gas-X (sorry, TMI, I know), and lay down on the couch.  And woke up in agony a few hours later.  It wasn’t just gas.  And it just got worse and worse and worse, especially after I got back home around 4 am.  I played games on my iPhone.  I used the facilities.  I tried to read (but the room was spinning).  And I couldn’t sleep a wink.

The problem with food poisoning, besides the fact that it freaking blows and it’s miserable, is that it dehydrates you, and in my case, rendered me completely unable to safely run my long run on Sunday.  Not wanting to completely derail my training, I hydrated all day Sunday, nursed the nausea, and woke up around 5 am on Monday to run long.  And despite the itty bitty bit of nausea I still had, it went really well, and took my mind off the profound misery I’d suffered for a few hours.

If you find your self suffering from food poisoning and you’re mid-marathon training,

  • Take time off.  You’re horribly dehydrated and the last thing you want is a fainting spell or a stint in the hospital to completely sideline you.
  • Hydrate.  It’s absolutely disgusting, and you’re probably not in the mood, but you’re pooping and vomiting all your water, electrolytes, and nutrients out.  Your body needs those to heal and get back to activity.  If you can stomach a few swallows of watered-down Gatorade or Nuun to replace some of those electrolytes, even better. 
  • A friend reminded me of those one.  The BRAT diet.  Bananas, or broth, rice, apple sauce, and toast.  You’re really not going to want much else, but these bland foods will keep your body focused on healing, and not digesting something ridiculous that you’ve chosen to eat.
  • Keep it bland for a while.  Everything.  Don’t try any new, interesting workouts.  It’s not the time for nachos.  Don’t go to hot yoga.  Don’t go to crossfit.  Keep the workouts simple for the next week or so.   Go to bed early.
  • No beer.
  • And while you’re sick, wash your hands.  On top of the misery you feel, you don’t need more disease from throwing up and the other thing, and not washing your hands.

No more raw fish for me for a while.  Woof. Woof. Woof.

 

Do as I say, not as I do.

| cheriarmour

You guys, it’s not that I think I’m above running law.  It’s just…idk, I sometimes think I’m smarter than everyone in the world. Do you ever get that sensation? No? Oh, me either…

Anyhoo.

So you know that whole rule of thumb, with running shoes right?

Buy your running shoes a half size to a full size larger than your dress shoe so that when your feet swell (and they will) you don’t get a sore toenail/lose a toenail.

Did I listen?  No.  Cause I’m smart and I know everything.  And then toward the end of last week, when my body started to get tired, the throbbing in my toe started.

piggies

I hobbled about, rubbing it when whenever I got the chance, but there’s no dodging it. Ya gotta follow the rules and buy the shoes in the right size. Your big toe will thank you. Those size 10s (yes, I’m 5’8″ and a size 10.5,) will have to hang out by their lonesome this week.

It’s 3 in the morning. And I have to run in like 4 hours.

| cheriarmour

But I could not, could not, could NOT go to sleep without telling you guys this story.

I knew I had to run 13ish tomorrow, but the boys, including the dear fiancé, the almond milk to my latté, were out celebrating a bachelor party. No problem. I stayed in. Munched on some treats. Slept. Applied for a game show (yep). Napped on the couch some more. Checked my bank account (yeesh). And did all the weird stuff you do when your boys are out.

Just before 2am, I get the call, please come pick us up. Great, no problem, better safe than Lohan, and I was more than happy to do it, as long as the boys got home safely.

Here’s where stuff just starts to get wild.

We’re driving down Glenwood, and we see a guy laying in the street, presumably drunk. We pull the party bus, Mitsubishi Lancer Armstrong over, and begin to investigate where the heck this guy is from, who he’s with and all that good stuff.

I pulled out his iPhone, as he is comfortably now napping on the porch of a vacant house. I call “Jill”, whom I find out just met him at the bar, and who doesn’t really know him. I call “Hendrix”. I look at his texts for clues. Earlier that evening he was “dancing with some hoochies” in case you were curious. So between me and Austin, we locate his friends, who are slightly more coherent than our friend, Christian, who doesn’t know where he’s staying, is, but only by a hair. The friends roll up, but not before starting fights with every passer-by who looks at them crookedly, and I hear dear Austin, repeatedly tell them to calm down.

The friends are here! We’re almost off the hook! But Christian is asleep on the porch. So what does any logically-thinking human being do? If you thought “gently wakes his friend up,” you guessed wrong. “James,” the upstanding young gentleman in the mandarin shorts, snaps a picture of his friend for Instagram, pulls out his junk, and begins to *ahem* relieve himself on the lawn of the home Christian is laying on. Austin orders him to put it away and “act sober,” to which James threatens to “kick the ass” of the folks he fought with earlier. I get to work waking Christian up, and Hendrix, who smells distinctly of beer and “hoochies” helps me get Christian up. And just as quickly as this bizarre drunky monkey wanders into our lives, they disappear down the hill without so much as a thanks.

3

 

“We did the right thing, babe.”

And I snapped a pic so we’d never forget the night Christian from Fayetteville nap-danced into our lives.

I’m desperately trying this new thing…

| cheriarmour

…Where I’m one of those super perky people who runs early in the morning and then does something with my life later in the day.  Works, runs errands, goes and works out some more, goes for a swim, adopts animals, you get it.

I need your suggestions.

I’m totally not kidding.

I want to be a perky morning person.  With a high ponytail.  How do I do it?  

We’ve all thought of cutting our hair short, right ladies?

| cheriarmour

Especially during the summer.  As my huge bun slaps me in the back of the head when I run, yeah, I’ve thought about it.  Whenever I wash, and I have trouble getting some of the soap out of my locs, I think that things may just be easier if I cut it off.  And whenever I retwist my locs after a long run and a shampoo, only to sweat it out in the next day’s workout, I think about it.  But…

How would I style it if I cut it short?

Would my face look too skinny if I cut it?

Would I look like  dude if I cut it?

Would I have to invest in a lot of makeup and earrings so people wouldn’t think I was a boy?

A lot of thinking.   And then Beyonce just DID IT.

Beyoncé and her new pixie crop

Okay, before I weigh in, let me say this. Beyonce could fart in the mic, and I would buy the record.  I used to cut out magazine and newspaper clippings of her, and post them inside my closet door (because my mom wouldn’t let me put posters up in my room).  I would get offended when anyone disagreed with anything she did, included whenever she made a worst-dressed list.  Including this gem.

Bey

This photo appeared in black-and-white in the Charlotte Observer in like 2002, with some rude like “WORST DRESSED” tagline. I got so mad, I cut that thing out, and pretended to like the outfit so that Beyonce wouldn’t get her feelings hurt. I care girl.

But this haircut?  Which I’m sure is more practical for all of the physical activity she does?  I can’t co-sign.  I’m sorry.  I’m still a huge fan.  But I cannot cosign on this mess.  And that is what it is.  It is a MESS.  I feel so bad saying that.

That said, I’m continuing to grow my locs out for my wedding.  And then what?  That means at least one more summer of running and swimming and yoga with all this hair.  Do I keep it?  Or cut it?  What do you think?  (And what do you think of Queen Bey’s cut?)

Salsa + miles

| cheriarmour

20130812-220144.jpg

Trying to strike the balance between teaching, and still getting those miles in without hurting myself, and still managing to give my students my absolute best. I’ll figure it out, right?

Is this real life?

| cheriarmour

Planner

So first things first.

I was cleaning (omg right?!) and I found that dang pink planner under the giant orange duffel I’d packed for camp. Good thing I already purchased a Deluxe Planner for $16.95 and I’d already reworked my marathon training in the Deluxe. So I think I need to do something with that pink planner, like only put bills and dinner or something in it and save the deluxe for everything else. But I digress.

I think I made a boo-boo in my marathon training.  

I know.  Shocking.  I made a mistake?!  But I did.  Let me explain.

I think I didn’t really get into the thick of marathon training til about 9 weeks out from my last one.  I’m not sure why that was, but I think some of it was because, in the back of my mind, I perform a little bit better under pressure.

This time, however, I started training plans like 17 weeks out.  Which was a mistake.  Because the runs that far out are like “blah blah, run like for a second, you’re DONE!” and because I’ve been doing it for a little longer, that didn’t help me to take it seriously.  Tip to self for next time?  Don’t start your training program so far out!  Cause then, it’s not real.  Hey, I’m not a total expert, kay?

So I’m like 10ish weeks out now, and I think all systems are actually go for my October 26th marathon.  Here we go!

I skipped my run on Wednesday.

| cheriarmour

I’ve had a lot going on.  And I think the final straw was having a wedding venue tell me that the food minimum would be $20,000.  I’m really happy for folks who feel that twenty grand is an appropriate amount to spend on food, but I am not one of those people.

I was grumpy.

I was moody.

And I got Austin on the phone.  “I feel weird hon.  And I have to run 5 miles today.”

His response?

“When was the last time you took a break from working out?”

I can’t remember.  I took a day off last Sunday I think.  Is that what you meant?

“When was the last time you took like 5 days off from running.”

I don’t know.

“Haven’t you read articles that say you can benefit from breaks? I know you have.”

Yes…but.  There’s always a big butt!  Truthfully, I’m scared to take any breaks.  I’ve been pretty consistently working out for a few years (with at least one day off a week,) and the idea of taking any extended kind of breaks terrifies me.  Not because I’m terrified of weight gain or anything like that.  But because I’m afraid that if I start taking time off, that suddenly, I will start drinking cokes and stop exercising magically.  It it irrational.  Yes.  But I know I’m not alone.  But I’m tired.  And my body is asking for a break.

So I took one.  I didn’t work out at all Wednesday.  And I could be wrong, but my desire to drink cokes and eat ice cream didn’t magically increase.  I am tired.  And I honestly could use a really really good night of sleep before I hit that long run this weekend.  But take Austin’s advice.  And I’ve said this before.  If you’re worn out.  Like.  Lay down.  You won’t be a slob.  Promise.