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Staying the Course: The Carlsbad All Day 25K

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Sorry for the silence, but I have been busy! Andy and I just returned from San Diego (Carlsbad, to be exact). You could call it a business trip I suppose.

For years, this has been Andy’s big deal. The Carlsbad 5000, introduced to him by a friend who used to live there. The best 5K of the year. The past two years I have gone along with him. This trip has a pretty good system/schedule I am not inclined to mess with much (other than where we stay next time) 😉 It’s also a good system because it involves not having to get in your car the entire weekend once you are in Carlsbad. It goes like this: we fly down on Friday, have dinner at Pizza Port, get up and run the course as a mental review/practice on Saturday, register for the race, visit the expo, and have lunch at The Grand Deli, have our pre-race dinner at Caldo Pomodoro on Saturday night, race on Sunday, have lunch at Pollos Maria, and have dinner at Coyote Bar & Grill. Then we fly out on Monday morning. Sounds just awful, doesn’t it? 😉

At last year’s Carlsbad 5000, we both ran the 5K races in our gender/age group. This year, I ran the all day 25K option.

As an All Day 25K participant (and finisher!), I competed in all five open races at Carlsbad 5000, which included: Masters Men, Masters Women, Men 30-39, Women 30-39 and Men and Women 29 & Under. Going in, I registered with the goal to just be able to finish all of the races in under ten minute per mile pace. This was the pace I needed to earn a finisher’s medal. Also at the Carlsbad 5000, if you are in the top 250 people to cross the finish line in your division (mine was the Women 30-39), you are awarded a finisher’s medal.

By the end of the 3rd race, I decided I would try to run hard and try to be in the top 250 in my division’s race. I came in 86th, so not too shabby for my 4th race of the day. 🙂 The medal was mine!

Here is the breakdown of my races:
Race                                        Miles              Time /  Pace               O’All              Sex /Div
Masters Men 40+                3.1069            27:26 /8:50                      184                  44/44
Masters Women 40+         3.1069             27:27/ 8:50                      159                  42/24
Men 30-39                            3.1069             27:40/8:55                       148                  30/30
Women 30-39                      3.1069             26:23/8:30                        86                   19/9
29 & Under (M/F)              3.1069              26:23/8:30                        94                   15/13

What is wacky is that I ran race 1 & 2, and 4 & 5 in almost the exact same times! But, it is a good thing. I was really looking for consistent 9:00 minute miles, and I ended up doing much better than that. I not only completed all five races, I placed 110th out of 260 All Day 25K participants. YAY 🙂

The All Day 25K participants really get the royal treatment the day of the race. There was a VIP tent set up for us with a gear check for our bags, massive amounts of bottled water and bananas, 3 or 4 different brands of energy bars, 2 different flavors of GU Energy Gel, Sports Blast energy drink, and an entire “brick wall” of a snack boxes with various food items (dried edamame, hummus, dark chocolate) in them. The best part was that only one item out of dozens being offered as refreshments contained gluten (bags of pretzels). There are tables and chairs set up in and outside of the tent so that we could sit and rest between races. I ended up going back to my hotel room to change clothes and rest between the fourth and fifth race because I was so sweaty! 🙂 My other strategy (which worked well) was to eat about a 1/3 of a banana, and 2 bites of an energy bar between races. Not too much food, lots of water. My bar of choice was one Clif White Chocolate Macadamia Nut. Not Paleo, but organic, and better than bagels or donuts. So basically, 1 energy bar, 1 1/2 bananas, and about 64 ounces of water got me through 5 races.

Congrats to the All Day 25K winner, Gilbert Salazar. His times were 17:26, 17:37, 17:45, 18:19, & 18:27. Not a surprise, as he also won the event last year (all of his races were under 18 minutes last year!) You can check out this years results of the All Day 25K here.

What I loved most about the All Day 25K is that I was able to run with people of all ages. Each time I ran the course, I saw something different. It was amazing to see all the leaders fly past me on their way up the hill to the 2nd mile mark. On the day we left Carlsbad, I went out and ran the course again as a recovery day. I just can’t get over the view. It does not suck to run along the ocean, people! What a special place and I’m already looking forward to next year and our little traditions.

I loved running in Andy’s race (he ran a 20:07 this year), and he ran with me in mine (during mile 2) as a cool down. The only downside is that I didn’t get to watch him in his race… because I was in it! 😛 After all the races were over, we went to celebrate and have lunch at Pollos Maria. (That’s where the pics of me in my Carlsbad shirt were taken)

The All Day 25K is a great way to get your long run in if you are training for a spring or an early summer marathon. After you cross the finish line(s), you get 2 free beers from Pizza Port! No wonder they call it the Party By the Sea. 🙂

The Carlsbad 5000 celebrates its 29th birthday on March 30, 2014! To learn more and register for the race, you can go here. You can find Carlsbad 5000 on Facebook here.

April 10, 2013 | Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Paleo Dining: Speak up! Ask questions! Take charge!

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Dining out can be a little tricky on the Paleo diet. Standard restaurant menus are a gauntlet of gluten, sugar, and dairy laden dishes, not to mention the cheap seed oils that are used to prepare them.

The above slide show is from a restaurant at which my Paleo partner and I dined called Coyote Bar & Grill.

In the title I say, “Speak up!” because in order to stick to the principles of a gluten-free, sugar-free diet, you are often times going to find yourself in need of certain menu substitutions to make restaurant meals work best for you. And THAT IS OK! You are the customer, and you are paying for your meal. You should enjoy it and not fret about what the server or the chef will think of you if you ask for something special.

Of course, substitutions and modifications might not work so much in a chain restaurant (especially fast food) because food is not made to order), but typically most restaurants are glad to accommodate a customer with special dietary needs. Especially if they ever want to see that customer ever again.

When we dined at Coyote, we were very hungry from running in the Carlsbad 5000 5K race. Directly after the race, my boyfriend had conquered a half chicken at Pollos Maria, but it was 4 hours later, and his appetite had come back with a vengeance. And I was ready to eat, too, after running harder than I ever have in my entire life.

For our appetizer, we ordered the “Guacamole Especial”, which on the menu is listed as “homemade guac, cheese, salsa fresca, tortilla chips”. All I had to do was ask if they could substitute some sort of raw vegetable for the tortilla chips, and please leave off the cheese. They were very agreeable and the BF and I were able to enjoy a perfectly Paleo prelude to our entrees. 🙂

For my main course, I ordered the Grilled Seafood Salad: Grilled scallops, prawns, fresh fish, mixed greens, Feta cheese, tomato, baby corn & Lemon-Cilantro Vinaigrette. To make it Paleo, all I had to do was ask the server to leave off the dressing, and I picked around the cheese and the baby corn. Everything else was perfect!

BF ordered the Grilled Salmon and asked for double grilled vegetables instead of the wild rice. The dinner also came with a mixed greens salad. We also ordered 4 shrimp skewers ala carte. After my salad, I could only eat one of them. I also wanted to note that instead of dressing, I often mix in guacamole into my greens. That way I avoid sugars and soy oil blends (often GMOs) that are notorious ingredients in salad dressings (even house made ones).

So, remember when you go out to eat, you’re in the driver’s seat. You can choose where to go and several details about your meal (in many cases down to how it is prepared). Don’t worry about being a pain if you ask for something that’s not exactly spelled out on the menu. Ask how things are prepared and stay away from adjectives like “breaded, fried”. Words such as “grilled, raw, steamed” are your new best friends!

Happy dining to all my Paleo friends out there!

PS: If you have any Paleo/Primal dining tips/tricks please feel free to share them below! 🙂

April 6, 2012 | Categories: carlsbad, gluten-free, paleo, primal, restaurant, running, seafood, tourism, travel, wine | Tags: | Leave a comment