Carbs and the Cape

Tomorrow is the Hyannis Half Marathon!

This is my fourth year running Hyannis, and I'm excited to go back to the beautiful course that runs along the beaches of the cape. I'm a little bit less excited for the weather forecast - we're expecting another 5 inches of snow and temps in the upper 20s. But I guess you can't expect much better in February in New England.

I'm not running this race for a PR, nor do I think I'll get a great time. I signed up about 6 weeks ago (which is not the amount of time I usually give myself to train) and aside from the past week, all of my running has been indoors. I'm still pumped for the race, but don't have high expectations for myself, I'm just going to do the best I can. I have 2 more half marathons coming up this spring, and those I'm going to really step up the training for.

Anyway, regardless if I'm running fast or slow, one thing is for sure. Carbo-loading is a must! You're supposed to increase your carb intake starting about a week before long races, and pasta dinners are encouraged for the day(s) preceding the race.

Last night I had a big bowl of whole wheat linguine topped with steamed broccoli, roasted mushrooms, baked tofu, my favorite marinara sauce, and some fresh mozzarella medallions.

This is my favorite marinara. Its from Trader Joe's - its really inexpensive and so good.

For dessert, I had some soft serve with gummy bears and peeps. Candy has carbs, too!

This morning I finished off the baked oatmeal - heated with skim milk, almond slivers, coconut flakes and flax seeds.

And for the ride down to the cape, I made some soft pretzels. Instead of using all white flour as the recipe calls for, I used half white flour and half whole wheat flour (whole wheat takes longer to digest so its a better carb to fuel with). I thought these shapes were appropriate for the weekend's activities.

And now Pat and I are heading down to the cape! We're going to go to the race expo today (which I think is half the fun of races - there are so many stations with great exercise gear and fun race foods) and out to a pasta dinner, and then I'm running at 10am tomorrow!

Let's cross our fingers for some sunshine tomorrow!