City of Oaks Half Marathon 2012

Good race - had a great time running the with my friends Jon's with Emily - she was great company and it was fun - in spite of what seemed like might be bad weather it was pretty good not as cold as I thought it was going to be and it did not rain even though there was a thunder storm at 4:20AM - the route, volunteers, water stop, bathrooms - everything in my view was very well done  - I ran pretty well and felt real good until about mile 10 and I was just getting a little tired - I decided to eat a few Sports Beans at mile 11 to see if that would help - I was a little worried about doing this because I had had some trouble on training runs when I had eaten grape or oranges during the run - I finished the run but was not feeling well - I went to the medical tent to get my blood pressure checked - it was fine but I was not - I have limited space here and have a lot to say about what I have figured out - I will put this and the rest in my blog - @ http://turtleaws3.blogspot.com/2012/11/city-of-oaks-half-marathon-2012.html

Besides my blood pressure which they tested twice - the first one right after I finished the race was 141/84 pluses of 134 which was about what I usually get when I have taken my meds and not been running about 10 minutes later I was still feeling poorly so I asked Debbie the lady from REX that was looking after me to take it again it was 118/66 pluses 124 which she said was great.  I was not feel right so she checked the O2 in my blood and told me it was 98% which was also great.  I asked them to check my blood sugar it came out as 135, I expected it to be real low based on how I felt.  Debbie felt 135 was fine since I had eaten 7, yes I counted them, Cherry Sports Beans at mile 11.2.  I was baffled nothing was wrong but I felt bad.  Why was I feeling so bad if everything was good she also told me my color was good and I looked OK.  I sat there for over an hour feeling poorly but I could not understand why.  I decided to see if I could stand and get back to my car.  With Debbie watching me I stood up expecting to be very light headed and to have a problem but I did not.  I was not light headed but I still felt very poorly.  I decided to walk to my car and found I could walk easily, my legs were not sore or tired and I could walk without any problem.  As I walked to my car I began to realize I was not having a problem with light headedness but I was having trouble thinking clearly like I was drugged somehow.  Physically I was really doing great after running 13.1 miles but I was having trouble thinking like I was in a fog. That is when I had the epiphany, I was experiencing what I had heard some people on some of the podcasts and blogs I read describe as 'Brain-fog'.  That is what I felt like I was in a fog. I had heard these folks talk about feeling poorly and like they were in a fog because they had eaten a lot of carbs. But I had not eaten a lot of carbs I had eaten 7 beans. Then as the fog cleared a bit I really began to think.

I had already learned over the last several year that I do not have a normal metabolism.  While I was still trying to control my blood sugar with the drugs and insulin I would get all sorts of unexplainable blood sugar swings even thought I was eating what I was suppose to, eating on a regular schedule and taking my drugs at the same time.  I over time found out the only way I could get it under control was to stop eating almost all carbs. I have recently found out that my weight lose efforts had be stalled because that about once I week I would treat myself to Sushi.  That one single ingestion of carbs was keeping me out of ketosis, which was necessary for me to lose weight.  By increasing the amount of fat and eating almost on carbs I am losing weight again.  So lets assume for what ever reason my body does not handle carbs well and it is now use to functioning with almost none and seems to be functioning well based on haw I have been feeling.  Then I when it is already under stress dump a lot of carbs into it. Is 7 Sport Beans a lot of carbs, to most people no but my current diet contains about 6 grams of carbs a day. Based on the info on the package I ate 12.5 grams at one time twice or more than what I would eat all day all at once in a form that is designed to go into ones system very fast.  What I normally eat is always with a lot of fat and some protein.  I am thinking that I just cannot take that much at one time. Most of my friends have told me I should eat more carbs when I run and I can understand why it works for them. They eat them and they get a boost but I really believe when I eat them in that amount something else happens in me.  I have no way to know but I can try to find some other way to fuel my running. I do know the last four times when I have eaten carbs during the run I have had this sort of problems I just did not put it together and recognize the similarities of the problems I had after each run.

My pan is to cut up a Quest bar into little bit size pieces - I have eaten them on runs in the past and not had problems that I remember but they are hard to eat especially if it is a little cold. If I have them cut into small pieces I can eat little bit often without trouble. I really hope this works eating carbs sure does not.

City of Oaks Half Marathon by ashby