Cleaning Hydration Vests on a Budget

Recently with the high temperatures (and humidity and dew points) being able to carry water on runs is an absolute necessity.  I've tried belts, bottles and I splurged on a new hydration vest.  It was expensive enough (around $65 for the vest, and another $20 for the bladder) but another $20 on a cleaning kit?  Ugh!!  Fortunately my husband has taken up brewing beer as a hobby, and you have to make sure everything in the process is absolutely clean.  Otherwise you'll find out you've ended up with a bad batch of beer after a full day's work making it and a month later after fermentation.  So finding a longer term cleaning kit is just as close as your local homebrew store!  (Or Amazon.)

Option One:
First, you can use a product called Star San to disinfect the bladder and the tubing.  (An 8oz bottle currently sells for around $11 on Amazon.)

The product is used to sanitize and is odorless and tasteless.  All you need is 1 1/4 tsp per one gallon of water.  It does bubble when you use it, but no need to worry because it's totally normal.  It doesn't take long either--everything is sanitized in SECONDS.  And since it's food grade, you don't even need to rinse it off.  Just submerge the bladder and tubing and make sure it all gets in contact with the diluted solution.  Then remove the bite valve and let the water flow through the tubing out of the bladder.  (Instructions on cleaning the bite valve are towards the bottom of this post!)

It will end up costing just 30 cents to clean your hydration bladder if you buy the 8oz bottle, and you'll end up with around 38 uses from just one small bottle.

If you live in central Maryland, I definitely recommend stopping by Maryland Homebrew for the the Star San.  For those of you outside of the area, they also charge for shipping by weight and zip code rather than using a flat rate.

Option Two:
If cleaning using a product like Star San has you nervous, there's another even less expensive option.

Efferdent.  Yes, the denture cleaner.  Fill the reservoir with warm water, drop in a tablet and let it work its magic for 15 minutes.  Be sure to swirl it around afterwards and rinse it a few times to avoid a lingering minty flavor.  Target currently sells a box of 120 tablets for $5.79, making the cost to clean your reservoir slightly less than 5 cents.

Cleaning the Tubing:
Occasionally you will need to deep clean your reservoir.  (Especially if you accidentally added an electrolyte supplements to your water like nuun, and unfortunately you will never be able to get rid of the taste completely.)  Go ahead and wash it using efferdent or soap and water.  But what about the tubing?  Home brewing supplies to the rescue!!!  Home brewing involves a lot of tubing, and you can buy a tube or diptube brush for almost (if not more than) half of what companies that manufacture hydration equipment sell them.  Most tubing will be compatible with the 1/4'' brush, but definitely measure the opening to be absolutely sure.

This is another product I recommend picking up at Maryland Homebrew if you live nearby.  (If you don't live within a reasonable driving distance they charge for shipping by weight.  For something like this, shipping should be very inexpensive!)  

Cleaning the Bite Valve:

This one comes directly from Camelbak.  Simply fill a jar with warm water and a drop of mild soap or a teaspoon of bleach, remove the bite valve and toss it into the jar.  Then close the jar and shake it up!  After shaking the jar let it sit for a few minutes, rinse thoroughly and shake it dry. 

Anyone have any other recommendations on how to clean your hydration reservoir?  Or even suggestions how to thoroughly clean other pieces of running equipment?

Paper Tape > Body Glide?!

Like a lot of runners, I've used body glide on my feet to help prevent hot spots and blisters on my feet.  (Both the balm and the cream.)  It wasn't perfect (maybe I wasn't putting enough on?) but it still wouldn't prevent painful hotspots that lasted the rest of the day.  Then I saw this article from NPR pop up on my Facebook feed (for once a useful article came up on there!) talking about a study done on ultramarathoners looking at the effectiveness of paper tape on preventing blisters.  If 98 out of 128 ultramarathoners didn't develop blisters where they taped their feet I decided I had to try it!!

So a couple days later I got a 10 yard roll at Target.  I decided for the heck of it I would give it a try for the Sole of the City 10k.  (I realize it's a pretty short distance to try it, but this is something that would probably need some trials before perfecting placement.)  As I suspected, there were still some minor hotspots despite the tape application.  But so far so good!  The tape didn't budge at all until I pulled it off post-race.

Then for my last long (12 mile) run before my next half marathon I decided to tape up my feet again.  Still some minor hotspots, but no blisters!!  And the hotspots were fine within a few hours (the perfect excuse for a post-run nap.)  I couldn't believe it.  The tape also held on the whole time!!  I'm probably going to hold onto my body glide, but as a backup in case I run out of paper tape.

Here's how I taped up my feet...
(And I totally acknowledge the fact that I am probably that one in a million runner who still has feet that don't look terrible.  And if you're one of those people who hates feet...I'm sorry.)

I covered the calluses on the side of my big toe and at the joint where my little toe connects to my foot.  Then I taped up across underneath my toes, paying particular attention to the padding just underneath the joint.  These are all places where I either develop hotspots, calluses or blisters.  (Also note:  The tape will stick a little more to any calluses than the rest of your skin.)

When you're done, just pull the tape right off and throw it away!  So stinking easy.

About Corrals...

Corrals are mostly used in larger races to help keep runners of different paces separated and runners in general spread out along the course.  Smaller races up to a few thousand depend on runners to self-seed themselves, meaning they can start as close or as far from the starting line as they feel comfortable.  (This however can lead to some irritation since people sometimes will start further up when they intend on walking the whole race or more often just slower than those around them.  This unfortunately is pretty much unavoidable and I've run into this at almost every single race I've ever run.)

Some corrals are actual physical barriers like police tape or banners that can be easily pulled away, simple flags with expected pace printed on them or even just colored balloons that correspond with wave colors that are easy to see.

For larger races like this Sunday's Cherry Blossom 10 Miler, they will actually use a wave start system.  It is meant to stagger runners to give everybody plenty of space to run and keep similarly paced runners together.  This means that you will be placed in a corral based upon a finishing time from a previous race given to race organizers (usually a PR) when you register.  For example, the last time I ran the Cherry Blossom I was placed in the very last wave because at that point I wasn't very fast, and my expected finishing time was over 2 hours.  This time the finishing time I gave them was faster and I was bumped up a whole 3,000 places and that pushed me into a whole new wave!

One other thing to note is that in races like the Cherry Blossom with a strict cutoff time that timer does not start until the very last person crosses the starting line.  So this means with a race that starts at 7:30 the final runner might not cross that line until almost 8am!  (When I was in the final wave of the Cherry Blossom in 2014, I crossed the starting line a full 24 minutes after the gun went off.)  Some people not knowing otherwise will actually jump ahead in corrals, meaning that they will move ahead in order to try and "beat" the cutoff time.  This doesn't actually accomplish anything except cause more people to have to run around you.

If you do jump corrals, most race organizers recommend you actually go back in corrals (so to the later finishing times) if you're running with somebody who's further back from you.  So rather than having your friend meet you in the 3rd corral, you should go back to the 5th and meet them.

So what if you feel like you've been placed in the wrong corral?

The answer is simple!  If you feel like you're too slow for the corral, just move to the back.  If you think you're faster than the pace you've been assigned, move to the front!

And now that you know about corrals, go out and have a great race!

Racing in the Rain

The majority of races happen rain or shine.  Occasionally they'll be cancelled or even shortened due to extreme weather conditions--thunderstorms, snow, and heat.  The Celtic Solstice that I ran last December is notorious for still going on during a major snowstorm in 2009.  Last year during the LA Marathon the temperatures hit 88 degrees and 36 people were taken to the hospital.  Last year's Marine Corp Marathon still went on despite the rain and it was unpleasant for runners (myself included), and messed up the metal detectors at the marathon security checkpoints.

So in perspective rain shouldn't be a big deal if you know how to prepare for it.  My first race of the year is on Sunday (a St Patrick's Day 5k in Baltimore) and the forecast keeps hinting that it might be rainy.  Like a lot of people, I don't like being out in the rain.  But when there's a race involved, I'll suck it up and go.  There are some things you can do to make the situation more tolerable.

- Invest in a running rain jacket.  I have an older version of this one from Brooks that I found at TJ Maxx.  (Definitely a great place to start looking!)  They keep the rain out and are still breathable so it stays comfortable throughout the run.

- Body glide up your feet and focus between your toes and any places you're prone to hot spots.  They will get wet at some point, and the body glide will help keep blisters from forming.  (It can be found at any running store.)

- Wear moisture wicking clothing and a baseball cap.  Yeah, you're going to get wet, but it'll help keep you slightly more comfortable during the run especially if it happens to slow down or stop during or after the race.  The baseball cap will help keep rain out of your eyes.

-Stay dry as long as possible pre-race.  Find an overhang and hang out there until absolutely necessary.  Or if you have family or friends spectating bring an extra umbrella so you can have one and pass it off to them before the race starts!

-Most importantly:  Embrace the suck.  Everybody's in the same boat.  Not many people want to run in adverse weather conditions.  Remain patient with everybody and show extra appreciation for volunteers on the course.  (You think it stinks running in the rain?  Think about how much less fun it is to be standing in it for much longer than it's probably going to take you to run the entire course.)

Post race is also important.  I think one of the best feelings is a hot shower after being out in the cold being rained on and then throwing on sweats so I can stay warm easier.  As far as your running shoes go, be sure to stuff them with newspaper afterwards and put them in a warm place like on top of a dryer while it's running.  The newspaper will help absorb the excess moisture in your shoes so it doesn't grow all kinds of funky bacteria that will shorten the lifespan of your shoes.

An excuse to eat Halloween Candy!?

Yes.  Seriously.  Hear me out though!  My husband and I have a HUGE bowl of Halloween candy leftover, because I'm still used to buying it at our old house where we had to buy 2 big bags of it just to last a couple hours.  (Our old street in southwest Virginia was a main through street, close to the high school so people from out in the boonies would park or drop their kids off at the high school and make their way down to our neighborhood.  We were lucky if our candy lasted until 8:00, and this was if we had started giving kids candy that wasn't intended for Halloween but still safe to eat...so some kids walked away from our place with Valentine's hearts.)  Now we live at the end of a nice, quiet cul-de-sac where we have dramatically fewer trick or treaters.  So much so, that we could've been fine with just one big bag of candy.  Because we are still trying to make a dent in this pile...

And for the most part, it's Sour Patch Kids and Swedish Fish.  (Fortunately/unfortunately my husband and I both like them a little too much.)  But an idea popped into my head Sunday as he and I were getting ready to head out for a 4 mile run together because I was feeling a little peckish but didn't want to eat a huge meal beforehand: Halloween candy for running fuel!

Yes.  I am advocating using leftover Halloween candy as a pre-run, mid-race snack.  Runner's World has recommended using gumdrops as a makeshift energy chew, and gummy bears (#22) for during long runs, races and as a post-run snack if you're not hungry.  Anybody who has run the longer Baltimore Running Festival races have seen the trays of candy corn spectators will give to runners.  Granted, Sour Patch Kids might not be the best idea...but Swedish Fish are pretty similar to gummy bears!  So I downed the packet of 5 fish on the drive to the park and drank a little water.  Normally I eat chews as a fuel source on long runs, and I got lucky in that my system treated the fish the exact same way.  

Little disclaimer here:  If you haven't tried fuel before on a run, DEFINITELY try it before when you know you'll be close to a bathroom.  Running is not always the most glamorous of sports, and testing different running snacks is one of those least glamorous times.  You never quite know how your stomach will react to a new food item while running.  A lot of it is just trial and error, like I mention in an older post about fuel.  

What to wear/bring for the Across the Bay 10k?

Last year's Across the Bay 10k was simply gorgeous.  Partly cloudy, not too windy (even on the bridge itself), and just a little chilly.  (According to my Garmin it was about 45 that day by the time I finished around 8:30.)  I HATE being cold, so I wore fleece lined leggings and a fleece quarter zip jacket with a short sleeved shirt underneath.  By about the halfway point I had my sleeves pushed up and the zipper opened.  After starting to cool off post-race, I was glad to have options to stay warm by zipping up and pushing my sleeves back down.

As runners, we all know how unpredictable the weather can be.  This year was the first year I ran the MCM10k in the rain (other years it has been cold and I had to wear my fleece lined leggings and a fleece jacket.)  Whereas last year was the first year my Dad and I ran the Jingle All the Way 5k where it was chilly, but sunny and all the other years something was falling from the sky (one year it was a wintery mix, the next it was snow.)  One thing is fairly certain about the weather though:  It will be a cool day!  This time of year it is typically in the lower 40s, upper 30s first thing in the morning.  

You may want to have a windbreaker on hand in case it ends up being windy or even rainy.  (Trust me.  You do not want to spend the next week scrambling trying to find a rain jacket comfortable to run in!)  The easiest way to go is to look online for one, since a light rain jacket this time of year can be hard to find.  Many running shops online have them like Brooks, 6pm.com (the Zappos clearance website, I recommend starting by looking at your favorite running brands), LL Bean, and of course Amazon.com.  

Some people will also buy a cheap sweatshirt at a thrift shop to take off shortly before the start.  I've never personally done this, but if you choose to go this route PLEASE be considerate of other runners and the volunteers and put the sweatshirt to the side after taking it off.  All clothing left at the starting area will be donated to Planet Aid.  

Others will put a change of clothes or just a heavy sweatshirt into a bag and check it.  Please note though, unlike a LOT of other bag checks you will need to do this BEFORE race day.  You can drop off your bag at Fleet Feet Annapolis or Severna Park from November 1-7 or at the expo.  You will be allowed to check one bag and can pack clothing, shoes, and unopened, pre-packaged food.  You will NOT be allowed to pack weapons or anything breakable or valuable (electronics, cash, backpacks, or glass.)  If you're not sure if you can bring it, check this page on the race website.  

What SHOULD you bring on race day?

• A reusable water bottle or hydration pack.  (I have one that straps to my hand to make carrying easier.)  This is semi-optional since the water stops will have water fountains, but NO cups!  
• ID and cash and/or a credit/debit card.  (Make sure you can secure them to your person.)  There will be alcohol for sale in the finishing area, as well as booths selling food and finisher's merchandise.
• Your usual running gear, whatever that entails.  (For me it's lip balm, a running belt, road id, Garmin, earphones and phone.)

A few words about Kale....

It's no secret:  Runners like to eat.  That's part of the reason why I love it.  I run and get to eat what I want (with moderation and the occasional splurge.)  While tapering (like I am right now) I make it a point to eat a little extra healthfully because the dramatic decrease in weekly mileage (along with other health factors) makes it a little easier for me to put on weight quickly.  This is also the time of year where greens start showing up in our farm share.  Greens like kale.

picture from wikipedia.org

Yes, I am on the kale bandwagon that seems to be going around lately.  And you can actually make it taste awesome.

Kale is part of the brassica family of veggies which includes a lot of the vegetables that tend to stink up your house when cooked like broccoli, mustard, cabbage and cauliflower.  And of course, kale is no exception.  There are two ways I love to cook kale:  crisp them up in the oven as chips, and for salads.  This green is kind of weird in that it tastes a lot better if you bruise it up a little bit before or during the cooking process.  So whenever I get ready to cook it, I toss it at least in a little bit of olive oil and use tongs to bruise it up.

I started cooking kale for salads after seeing this recipe pop up on the Runner's World website.  It had all my favorite things, so why not?  The first time I made it, I was hooked!  Now for a simple salad for myself I love to de-stem and cut up 8-9 leaves (or one small bunch.)  At first it looks like a lot, but don't let that fool you!  In the end it becomes about 1-2 cups of wilted kale. Then lightly wilt the leaves in a pan (while tossing it with tongs) with a vinaigrette salad dressing.  It gets just slightly warm and if done right, the bitterness goes away and you're left with a very tasty salad!  As an added bonus I'll toss in any extra veggies I have on hand and a protein (usually chicken or even cut up turkey lunchmeat.)  

What are some of your favorite recipes for kale?

Making race morning easier...

Everybody has their own idiosyncrasies to make race morning easier.  I feel like this is true for all athletes--we're all to some extent superstitious or at the very least creatures of habit. I'm not a morning person, so I make getting up at 5am for a 7am gun time as easy as possible.  Here are some things I do before my head hits the pillow the night before a race:

• Charge my Garmin during the afternoon.  Just because I haven't used it in a week doesn't mean the charge held that long.  (I run on a treadmill quite a bit due to some anxiety issues.  I'll write more on this in another entry.  Promise.)

• Put a water bottle with caffeinated nuun in the fridge.  Sometimes I'll use a nalgene bottle, but a lot of the time I'll use a recyclable water bottle. I don't use bottled water often, but when I do it's because I don't want to worry about my nice water bottles and I don't have anybody to toss it to before the starting gun.

• Put a small bag together with everything I'll need for the race--race fuel, a light breakfast (usually a luna bar), headphones, my road ID bracelet, lip balm (this one's my latest favorite and can be purchased with birchbox points!), my driver's license (a road ID just won't work if there's post-race beer), some cash and my fully charged Garmin.  I also discovered this small bag recently and LOVE it.  The bag is still a little big for what I need on race morning, but folds up nicely and comes in lots of cute patterns so it's hard to resist.  (Their standard size shopping bags are also fantastic and stand up to a lot of abuse.)  I also put my running belt with my race bib attached next to this bag.

• Check the weather report and lay out an appropriate race day outfit.  Runner's World has a great calculator that helps you decide what to wear.  My husband also made a great point when I was getting ready for the Charles Street 12 and I was getting his opinion on what to wear:  If the area has a popular local sports team playing, don't wear their colors.  Chances are lots of other people will be too.  Originally I wanted to wear a purple tank top and black long shorts, but my husband brought up the good point that we were on the verge of football season and we were in Ravens country.  I instead opted for a turquoise tank top, black long shorts and a purple headband so my husband could easily find me in the crowd.  

• Set an alarm.  Or several.  And make sure the volume on the alarm is cranked to a reasonable level.  One morning recently I was about half an hour late to one of my volunteer jobs because I overslept due to an alarm that was wayyyy too quiet.  Cue the "Oh...I'm so well rested.  I wonder what time it is...ACK!"

What are some things you do to prepare the night before a race?

Basic Race Etiquette!

In my last post, I mentioned a few things that bothers a lot of runners:  Lack of knowledge of basic etiquette.  I consider this a public service to let rookie runners the lay of the land.  We've all been there, but some end up with a helping hand to know what's what before their first race.  (I had my big sister there to tell me where to start and what to do if I wanted to walk during my first race!)  

• Plan on walking?  That's fine, just don't start up front!
• In big races, elite athletes (those with corporate sponsors or professional runners) start up front usually as close to the starting line as possible.  Why?  Because they don't want slow runners (like myself) getting in the way.  Their entire job is winning races.  They don't care about seeing the scenery like more casual racers.  They want to win so they can keep the paychecks coming.
• Are there corrals or signs showing paces?  Great!  Before the race starts, stay in your corral!
• This goes along with staying out of the way of elites or at the very least those faster than you.  It's very common to corral hop when there are physical barriers between each corral.  Most people do this because they believe they're placed in the wrong corral.  Sometimes this happens, most of the time its a judgement call on the part of the runner.  Think you can run a 10 minute mile when you only ran 12 minute miles while training?  Not very likely.  If anything I would go towards the back of the 11 minute mile group, closer to the 12's.  It's likely you'll run faster in a race than in training, but not a whole 2 minutes faster than your normal pace.  If anything, you'll be able to move ahead after the starting gun.
• Do you run intervals?  Great!  Walk along the side of the course.
• Cannot stress this enough.  If you plan on walking at any point in the race PLEASE go to the side of the course.  As far left or right as you can get so people can get around you easily.  Can't get over?  That's fine.  A semi-universal sign is to put your hand up over your head so people can see you.  It's enough to get the attention of the runners around you to let them know something's up.
• DO NOT stop running in the middle of the course without warning.  This is how accidents happen.  People will knock into you or worse, get hurt trying to avoid you.  It's also about being aware of your surroundings.  You wouldn't pull out into traffic onto a highway going 20mph.  Don't do it in a race either.
• Throw your trash away or hold onto it until you find a trash can.
• This is another big one.  Cups and gel packets can be dangerous.  Cups after water stations can be dangerous because that area is very slippery.  A waxy, paper cup gets slippery in these situations and plastic cups get kicked around.  Gel packets are slippery like a little ketchup packet on the ground...only bigger!  
• This tip also makes the lives of volunteers easier.  One of their jobs is picking up trash around the water stations.  They're spending their free time making sure the race runs smoothly, so why not make their lives a little easier?
• Say "Thank You!" to everybody you see helping with the race.
• The policemen and women, the people handing out water and fuel, the medics, and the people standing alongside the course making sure everyone goes the right way.  They are ALL volunteering their time.  They don't have to be there, but they choose to for various reasons.  It's just polite to be gracious of their time and effort to make the race run smoothly.
• Arrive early!
• I like to arrive to a race at least 45 minutes early if it's a large race.  (I can deal with arriving closer to gun time if I know it's small.)  It'll give you time to get your bearings, and go to the portajohns once or twice before you have to line up.
• Pin your bib to your front.
• This helps race organizers identify you more quickly AND can help you find yourself in pictures faster.  A lot of photographers these days index photos based on race numbers.
• Headphones.  
• I can't run without music.  Most races ban headphones, but this is really just enforced for elites.  I keep one earphone in, the other is wrapped around the back of my headband to help keep it from being tugged on too badly.
• It's important to hear pre-race instructions and any announcements during the race.  You want to hear these as best as possible.  Don't turn the volume up all the way.  I keep mine high enough to hear the music, but low enough to have a conversation with my Dad before the race.
• Don't cut the course.  Don't mess with the timing chips.
• This has gotten more publicity lately, with the cheater "winning" the St. Louis Marathon.  Don't cut the course.  Don't rip the timing chips from your bib or forget to put them on your shoe.  The cheater was stripped of her title, and all but banned from running the race.  (Why do people do this?  No idea.  It could be to qualify for the Boston Marathon, which has a sliding scale for qualifying times to run the race.)
• Yay you finished!  Keep walking until you can get off the course.  Don't stop just after the finish line.  Keep moving because there are people behind you finishing and the momentum of the sprint to finish makes it harder to stop on a dime!  Get your water and your medal (if applicable) and get off the course to meet up with people.

This is seriously just the beginning of basic etiquette.  Use your common sense and you'll be fine on race day!  You'll learn more as you race.  If you want to learn more, this is a great read as well.

Tapering

There are some words that strike fear into the hearts of runners and potentially their friends, family and significant other.  Surgery, physical therapy, DQ (disqualification), DNF (did not finish), and RICE (rest, ice, compression, and elevation) just to name a few.  For me, the word taper put both my husband and I into a state of dread.  Tapering is when you dramatically cut back on your running in hope of penning up your energy for race day.  Typically people do this for long distance races--half marathons or more.  

I have been exercising consistently for almost 9 years now.  I started out at a women's gym three times a week to lose weight.  Then once I started grad school I quit the gym and started running since I could do it on my schedule.  That being said, being active is a big deal for me and an important habit for me.   Nervous?  Go for a run.  Anxious?  Go for a run.  Angry?  You get the idea.  So cutting back on running unleashes the beast, which is where it gets frustrating for both my husband and I.  To put it lightly, I go a little nuts because of all the pent up energy.  But I find there is a payoff come race day.  By the time they start the race I am ready to run, and my training and tapering has worked.

Runner's World has a great article about tapering that I highly recommend reading if you have the time!