The Aftermath

    The physical aftermath of The Big One has been interesting, and somewhat unexpected. Of course I was hungry immediately after the race. Hell, I had been eating nothing but electrolyte laden sugar bombs for 7 hours, my body is not used to that kind of abuse. We hit a local diner for some quite excellent chicken fajita pizza. Yes, wheat and meat, neither of which have touched my lips very often these last few months, but I knew I needed protein and carbs. And it was delicious. I drank about a quart of water and ate a Clif bar on the 2 hour ride home, while talking incessantly, and excitedly about damn near everything. Once home, I made one of my green protein smoothies to blast some good stuff into my nutrient depleted body. Before bed I ate a bowl of granola. Yeah, I was hungry. I woke in the middle of the night, wired, and hungry. So I got up, ate another bowl of granola, blogged for a bit, downed some Muscle Milk that has been collecting dust in my fridge for a while (yes, I checked the expiration date). Not my first choice, but I knew I needed protein. I didn't sleep well. I was beginning to feel nauseated. I thought it was the Muscle Milk, since my meals had all been small, just frequent. Sunday morning I woke up ravenous, and since I didn't have eggs to make pancakes with peanut butter and banana, which was what I was craving, I had another bowl of granola. Now, let me tell you, this is really good, organic, gluten free, all natural, seriously good shit granola, and I top it with unsweetened almond milk. But almost as soon as I had eaten it I though I was going to vomit. Seriously. I spent most of sunday morning feeling like I was going to puke if I moved to fast. Finally I sacked up and headed to the grocery store for unflavored Pedialyte (basically all the good stuff in gatorade, without all the nasty shit), and organic chicken broth. I spent the next few hours drinking Pedialyte cocktails: splash of black cherry juice, Pedialyte, and ice. By the way, unflavored Pedialyte tastes like ass. It kind of reminded me of the Salt Stick I had dumped under my tongue during the race. Nasty. Hence, adding the splash of black cherry. Finally I felt settled enough to try white rice with chicken broth. That did okay. I was getting seriously hungry. My friend came by and took me out for a late lunch, I opted for hot turkey sandwich with mashed potatoes. It did me right. Later, hungry again, or still, I did white rice with chicken. But even today, my stomach is being a bit rebellious. I am thinking it all had to do with the way the various sport beans, gels, and chews jacked my blood sugar around so much. I will have study nutrition more. I will say though, I had good energy throughout and after my race, so I know I did okay in the fueling department, but there has to be another, less obnoxious way to fuel. And in case you were wondering, I think if I have to eat another Sport Bean (basically jelly beans with electrolytes), or Clif chew it really might make me vomit.
    I will barely mention sore muscles, because I fully expected my body to hurt. My quads are the worst, it was the brutal hills in the run, but I was expecting that. Granted, walking down the stairs at work today almost made me cry, and lose my lunch. Tomorrow will be better. I am pleased to say that from the hips up, I feel great. I am not sore, or particularly tired feeling. I plan on swimming The Cove tomorrow, since it is likely going to be one of the last hot days this year. Another pleasant surprise, my joints don't hurt. I fully expected to have some loud protesting from my knees, but they have been contentedly quiet. Although maybe the intense soreness of my quads is over-riding any other, lesser pain.
    I am still tired, and would have loved another day of napping and eating, but overall I feel great. I know that it will take my body several weeks to fully recover from the arduous task I just demanded of it. I should be just about recovered in time for the Firefighter Stairclimb in 3 weeks, and the Portland Marathon in 4 weeks. My poor body.