Iron Chef MDS - Breakfast

This is the second installment of my culinary comments relating to my MDS nutrition planning.  Today I will be discussing my favorite and most important meal - Breakfast.

I have to eat breakfast, and a hearty one at that.  I am planning to try and keep the calories around 600-800 for this meal which limits choices but over the race that should not be a problem.  Below are some reviews of various offerings I have tried over the last several months.  From my experience most of the US brands do not offer the calories I am looking for and/or the taste.  I am leaning more towards the Expedition Foods brand.  Their packaging while convenient is a little heavy and contains trapped air resulting in volume issues and thus may need to be repacked.

First and foremost COFFEE:  Starbuck Vias of course!  These little "pixie sticks for grown-ups" are great.  I am planning on bringing 10 for the race.  I will throw in a couple of tea bags also.

Mountain House Eggs and Bacon:  2.25 oz/315 kcals/$5.50.  This meal was quite disappointing.  Besides calling for 8oz of water of which you eventually pour out 4-6oz, the eggs had the consistency of foam rubber and about as much taste.  Bacon consisted of a sprinkling of bacon bits.  This one will not make the cut.  I give this a score of 2 out of 5.

Mountain House Breakfast Skillet:  4.75 oz/680 kcals/$7.25.  This one was not bad.  Utilizes about 12 oz water but none is poured out.  Consistency and taste are acceptable but pepper is needed.  Just about the right portion size for me.  Scores a 3.5 out of 5.

Expedition Foods Scrambled Eggs, Potatoes and Mixed Peppers:  6.25 oz/828 kcals/$11.95.  Much better than the Mountain House Eggs and Bacon offering and quite filling.  Lots of potatoes and peppers while very light on the eggs.  These exist as somewhat of a coating on the potatoes.  This took quite a long time to rehydrate properly (at least 30 minutes).  While there is over 1.2g of sodium per package, additional salt and pepper help this out a lot.  Great candidate for some New Mexico green chile!  This receives a score of 3 out of 5.

Expedition Foods Scrambled Eggs Potatoes and Peppers

Dig in! Note water fill lines on inside of packet, a nice touch

Expedition Foods Custard with Apples: 4.0 oz/541 kcals/$12.  This is billed as a dessert item but any dessert is good enough for breakfast (I regularly have pie with my coffee in the morning).   This item re-hydrated quickly and was very tasty.  It was almost too buttery for my liking but if you enjoy it slowly with a cup of coffee it is great.  This scores 4 out of 5.  Based on this one I would also feel comfortable with the Custard and Mixed Berries.

Bla Band Apple Cinnamon Porridge:  5.5 oz/700 kcals/$6.00.  I ran across these in a grocery store in Finland so I pick up three.  Bla Band (Blue Ribbon) is from Sweden.  Taste was OK for a rye based product but set a little heavy.  Brown sugar would have helped this out a lot.  Scores a 3 out of 5.

Bla Band Apple Cinnamon Porridge

Other potential options would of course be some sort of nutrition/granola bar.  Pop-Tarts also come to mind.  While some like these, I am not a big fan.  I also am considering three other Expedition Foods breakfasts though I have not tried any of them:

Porridge with Sultans (You really can't mess up oat meal too bad)
Fruity Muesli with Milk Powder (I could do cold cereal once, with yogurt this would be better)
Hot Cereal Start with Mangoes (hmm....interesting but...)

I will be including a little bit of salt/pepper/sugar to help some of these out.  Given the options above it should not be too difficult to come up with six or seven breakfast options that will be palatable and varied. 

Hello Suomi

Hello from Finland!

On vacation with my extended family in Saariselka Finland.  We had hoped to see the Aurora Borealis but alas, it was cloudy the entire time we were here.  While I was taking it easy this week I still got in some runs up and down the local fell, and of course these were mostly in the DARK.  It is dark here 20 hours a day and when it is "light" it is the equivalent of dusk.  Fortunately it has not been too cold, only in the high teens/low 20's with the exception of when we arrived when it was around 0.  Definitely not heat training!  Great time relaxing with family and being somewhere different however it is nearly impossible to get over jet lag when there is no sun.

Dressed for the cold!

Marathon de la neige?

Next week it is off to Las Vegas and the desert for work.  Will be doing at least one run at Red Rocks and where ever else time will allow.   I will also be scheduling my EKG/doctor appointments for my medical within the next couple of weeks in order to assure I can get seen early in the 30 day window before the event.

Iron Chef MdS - On The Move Food

This is the first installment of several detailing potential gastronomical plans for my upcoming Marathon de Sables.  Today I will tackle what I term “on the move food” or what I plan to consume while running/walking.  I have previously touched upon basics of calorie counts and will be shooting for an average of around 2800 kcals/day.  Of this amount, breakfast and evening offerings will contribute approximately 1400 kcals total leaving another 1400 kcals for consumption during the day.  I will vary from these amounts depending upon the stage.  The long stage will have additional on the move calories and less evening fare, while the rest day will be reversed.

I am fortunate to be able to ingest food during exercise with few ill effects so long as I don't over indulge!  For me taste, convenience and form are the important criteria for the evaluation of trail food.  Taste is obvious, if you don’t like it you will not choke it down.  It has to be convenient also; no long preparation times, excess packaging, and difficulties with handling.  Finally there is form, is it moist enough and easy to chew?  Will it disintegrate into crumbs?  The following meet my above criteria and represent a typical days worth of “on the move food”:

·         Smoked Almonds: 2 oz a day/340 kcals

These are good and easy to eat.  Most any other nut will suffice

·         Slim Jims: 2 oz a day/320 kcals

Nice treat, easily packed.  Suggest only original and mild flavors. 

·         Various gels:  1 oz (1 each)/100 kcals

Leaning to ones that are not viscous (Power Bar brand)

·         Various energy bars: 2.2-3.0 oz (1 each)/230-390 kcals

o   Cliff Bar Chocolate/Apricot/Cool Mint:  All of these are OK but somewhat dry.

o   Pro Bar: Looking into these.

o   Hammer Nutrition Cranberry:  Love these but on the low calorie end.

o   Hammer Nutrition Almond Raisin:  Very good

o   Power Bar  Triple protein (may melt)

·         Stinger Waffles: 1 oz (1 each)/160 kcals 

I love these, easy to eat and slightly sweet.  Fragile and can be reduced to crumbs.

·         Electrolyte tabs: 0.6 oz (2-4 tablets)/0 kcals 

These are in addition to SaltSticks or Endurolytes, mainly bringing to flavor the water.  I usually use these at half strength 

·         GU Brew recovery 2.1 oz (1 each)/250 kcal

Slam when I get done with the stage, chocolate.

I believe this menu will serve me well by offering the variety and nutrition necessary for the long days of exertion.  A hearty breakfast and dinner will round out the culinary adventure.  These remaining two areas will be covered in the near future!

Training Plans

As the year is waining into its final weeks it is time to look towards next year and the training plan to take me into the MDS.  With only four months to go until departure the biggest thing on my mind is to stay healthy and prevent injuries.  Weekly mileage is at a maintenance level through the holidays at which time I intend ramping up over two and a half months to peak around mid March.  Included even now are miles with the pack at around 20 lbs.  Frequency of pack runs are about once a week now and will increase in February.  I am also planning some dune work as well as some longer events (50k, marathons, etc).  Every effort will be made to maximize trail runs and include a variety of hills and technical/rocky terrain.  Speed work may come later for variety and cross training will be limited.  Heat acclimatizing will be conducted in March.

My weekly mileage will range from lows of 30 to highs around 50 and should be sufficient for my anticipated performance.  Again my fear is sustaining an injury that significantly curtails training or endanger participation!

Into The Night

With the shortening of days and the switch back to standard time there is little daylight available for running in the evenings. This necessitates the use of artificial illumination if one is running off the streets and away from local lighting. 

You can never have enough of certain things; electrical power, data storage, environmental cooling, money and in this case lumens. This has been born out with me numerous times during night orienteering and rogaine events. Of course more lumens comes at the expense of more power which translates to more batteries and thus unto weight. 

Having had lots of headlamps over the decade's I'm familiar with many makes and models. Most of my favorites have been Petzls. These are usually well constructed and get the job done. When selecting a headlamp for the MdS several criteria needed to be optimized:

1. Produce a reasonable spot type, trail finding beam
2. Be able to produce a diffused beam
3. Multiple intensity settings
4. Maximized operational time
5. Minimized weight
6. LED light source
7. Replaceable batteries

I finally settled on the Petzl Tikka XP 2.  The Petzl Zipka Plus 2 was a close second.  Reasoning was as follows.

The Tikka has both a spot beam and a flip up diffuser for wider angle operations while the Zipka only has a flood type beam.  The Tikka has almost 15% more light output over the Zipka.  Both of these headlamps have multiple intensity setting and both should have sufficient operational time for the duration of the event (even without spare batteries).  The Zipka beats the Tikka on weight but only by a small amount (0.6 oz/17 grams). LED light sources on both guarantees no need for a replacement bulb. Both of these Petzl model run on three AAA's.

If you really had to minimize weight and were not concerned about light output the Petzl E+ LITE would be your choice.  I personally carry one of these in my trail running bag as an emergency/backup light.

Night runs with the Tikka XP 2 have been very good.  The top two intensity settings both provide sufficient lighting to run even on very rocky trails and provide for route finding capabilities.  You can also program this model for the intensity settings you wish.  Depending upon the situation the spot beam is preferred over the diffused one, however it is easy to switch back and forth.

Finally, a word on batteries.  AAA batteries are small and light weight.  It goes without saying that lithium AAA's are the choice for this application since they have higher energy densities and weigh about 1/3 less than their alkaline counterparts.  Their increased cost is far outweighed by their superior performance.

Feet Fetish

Many things can impede your completion of an event.  Lack of training, improper race nutrition, dehydration, intestinal problems, etc.  But the fastest way to the DNF column for an event of this magnitude is to not employ proper foot preparation and care.  During my 2012 Desert RATS experience I suffered significant podiatry meltdown and paid a heavy price for most of the race.  In fact, after only 60 miles I seriously was doubting being able to finish.  Eventually I crossed the finish line but performance was greatly impacted.  Behold the horror below!

Three lost toenails later I have recovered.  Upon post race analysis it was determined there were several contributing factors:

1. I did not prepare my feet prior to the event
2. I wore too small of shoes
3. Poor field foot care (initially)

Point 1.  I did not toughen up my feet prior. A preventative strategy would have helped some and will be followed for the MDS.  I am currently trying a product called "Tuf-Foot" (which is also used on hunting/working dogs paws).  We will see how this performs.  Additionally while not one of the barefoot running crowd, I am ending my runs with up to a mile of barefoot work on the sidewalks/asphalt.  This will obviously be curtailed some in the coming winter months.  Foot strengthing exercises are also helping with training injury prevention.

Point 2.  BIG MISTAKE!  I have a very small (size 8 US) and narrow foot. Since almost every running shoe is a D width I have had little problems with wearing my street shoe size, only occasionally suffering a black big toenail.  The heat induced swelling experienced during Desert RATS (ground temperatures up to 140 F/60 C) has made me a firm believer of larger shoes.  The heavy socks worn also contributed to the situation.  The question then becomes, how much larger?  Currently I am using a 8.5 US shoe with a large toe box design. This appears to be working out with minimal heel slip. There is plenty of swelling space and additional room to loosen laces. Size 9 US may just be too big for me. 

Point 3.  During the second stage of Desert RATS I ignored pain and hot spots and within the span of a handful of miles had one bad set of blisters on the bottom of my feet.  Later stages resulted in toe blisters and finally heel specimens.  Post injury taping with Elastikon became the only solution.  It is apparent that immediate treatment of hot spots and potentially preemptive taping will be in order for Morocco.  Elastikon will be in my pack along with a small selection of foot care products.

In addition to settling on shoes model/size and preferred sock types, I am also working on a set of custom gaiters.  More details on these in a later post.