A month of MREs, 1/2 Marathon PR and Midwestern Homecookin'

The past month has been a true emotional, gastronomical and physical roller coaster. This partly explains my absence from this blog since October 7th. Shortly after my last post, my wife, Amy, and I ran the Long Beach 1/2 Marathon with some other friends. This race was a test and experiment for both of us. For me it was my first test of the CrossFit Endurance program. For Amy it was a test of CrossFit and its claim of "Forging Elite Fitness". We were both quite pleased with the results of our respective experiements.

In previous years, my training for a half-marathon would have included lots of running. Makes sense, doesn't it. What may not make sense is the amount of running that I would have done. To prepare to race a half-marathon, my long runs would probably have taken me over the 15 mile mark and my weekly mileage would likely have been in the neighborhood of 30 miles or so. For this race I followed CrossFit Endurance and ran 2-3 times per week. All runs were done at high intensity and my longest run was a 8.5 mile time trial. Otherwise, the bulk of the running was all out intervals ranging from 100m-800m, plus a few "longer" distance hard runs, mostly 5K. My goal going into the race was pretty lofty, I wanted to try to nail it in 1:20. To date I had never truly raced a 1/2 marathon, but I did hit the 1/2 marathon point of the Seattle Marathon at around 1:26, so I knew I had something around 1:20 in me. I'll spare you all the race day details because I still have a lot to get to in this post. I felt strong throughout the first 10 miles, around 11 I started developing a side stitch which kept me from really pushing it in the last couple of miles, but I managed to finish in 1:21:25 which comes out to 6:13/mile pace. I'm pretty happy with that. This finish gave me enough time to hobble around the finish area for a while, refuel and rehydrate while I anxiously awaited Amy's finish.

At some point about 2 months before this race, Amy got it into her head that she wanted to run this race without logging any specific run training at all. She wanted to see just what CrossFit could do for her. Then, not being satisfied with just finishing a 1/2 marathon, a feat which she has done 7 or 8 times previously, she decided that her goal was to set a marathon PR. It's worth re-stating, she was planning to PR the 1/2 marathon without doing any running outside of the little bit of running that is occasionally thrown into a CrossFit WOD. Yes, everyone she told about this thought she was crazy. I have to admit that I had my doubts. I always knew that she was a strong will individual and I knew that she would throw everything she had into this race, but all my previous experience with endurance training and racing told me that this was sorta ridiculous goal. Well, open mouth insert foot! Not only did she finish this 1/2 marathon on no run training she PR'd by 6 minutes, finishing in 1:58 and change. Her previous PR was 2:04. Any doubts of the effectiveness of CrossFit programming have been kicked to the curb.

The day following our triumphs in Long Beach I headed to the high desert of Fort Irwin, CA to join my battalion during a training mission. This was a painful trip on many different levels, again I'll spare you the mindnumbing details and just focus on the nutritional pain. Over the course of 9 days I ate somewhere in the neighborhood of 7 or 8 MREs (Meals Ready to Eat). This was the first time I had eaten MRE's in about 12 years. I will say that they have improved significantly over the last 12 years, but they are still MRE's. Each MRE packs around a 1200 calorie whallop, which is mostly carbohydrate, but there is a good deal of fat loaded in there also. I would estimate that at most I ate about 750-800 calories from each MRE. Quite a few of the total calories come from the powdered "juices" which I did not drink. They also include a 400 calorie shake in several of the packets. I tried one, but skipped the rest. Mostly I ate the entrees which was a pseudo-meat-like substance (chicken with salsa, pork riblet, veggie burger and chicken fajita to name a few). I also ate the shelf stable crackers and bread which for some sick reason still remains a treat when eaten with the cheese spread or peanut butter that is included in each pack. They have dressed this up a bit with jalapeno cheese spread and chocolate peanut butter spread. Occasionally I ate the rice, but that usually proved rather chewy and nasty even after a 5 minute dunking in the heating packet.

The first MRE was a "treat" because it was a novel experience, after number 4 it was becoming quite nauseating not to mention a bit constipating. Fortunately I also had access to field chow. Wait, did I say fortunately? Field chow made you long for an MRE on most days. It was hot, but mostly it was nasty. The only real benefit was that it usually included some sort of fresh fruit. I can not remember the last time I ate that many Red Delicious apples, certainly not my favorite variety. We also had the ability to get away from the field environment and partake in the Army Mess Halls, which were actually not that bad. Typical military food for the masses. At least the environment was a bit more pleasant; air conditioning and televisions. Actually, this wasn't all bad, for being "in the field". Like I said we ate at the mess hall a couple of times and I even had the opportunity to hit up the base Starbucks a few times. Can't say that I have ever had those kinds of opportunities in previous field training.

After rolling out of the field and trying to get my GI tract working again we set off to visit friends and family in Minnesota/Wisconsin. Time to put the 'ol "Clean Zone" diet we had been following on the shelf again. Actually, we did pretty well, especially as compared to previous trips. Fortunately, our friends that we spent most of our time with are fairly health conscious, not Zoners, but we're working on them. Although we all enjoy a good IPA just a bit too much when we get together it seems. It's the time with family that is the real test for us. Keep in mind these are good wholesome midwesterners we are talking about. Also keep in mind that the weather is just starting to turn there, so the food starts getting a bit more hearty this time of year. Of course, can't really blame the weather or the family on our lunch trek to Culver's for some burgers, fried chicken, french fries, and of course frozen custard. If you have never had frozen custard, you are truly missing out. If you are a fat-phobic, frozen yogurt fan, then you just don't get it. Unlike frozen yogurt, this is truly a treat. Frozen custard is one of those things that you know just ain't good for you from the first bit, but it's oohhh soooo goooooddd. Aside from the custard trip and the IPA our only real test was at the family dinner which was a true carb-lovers haven. The menu included Dabruzzi's Ravs, garlic bread, italian sausage, salad and several desert offerings; chocolate chip rice crispie bars, 7 layer bars, and some sort of cream cheese bar that was divine. Yes, I tasted every single desert and a couple of them twice. I did well with the ravs, only 3, but that's probably 4 or 5 blocks of carbs right there. I had some salad but every dressing was a fat free version of something I would have chosen anyway, so I just let me salad drift over toward the ravs and used the sauce as my dressing.

All in all, this was probably our best trip from a dietary perpsective. I over induldged just slightly on food one night and also one night on beer, but for a 5 day trip that's pretty darn good. Now that we are back home, we are doing pretty well with staying on top of things. Thanksgiving is fast upon us though, so, still need to work on setting dietary goals and sticking to them. Also time to work on keeping up with this blog and getting out some more injury profiles.