Warrior Dash al dente

Sloshing through the mud as I come to the finish line - I still haven't been able to get all the dirt out of my shoes

That mud sure doesn't look tasty, but a nice plate of pasta the night before the race definitely was.  A couple weeks ago a competed in a Warrior Dash here in Ohio, which consisted of 3.12 miles of running, swimming, crawling, climbing, and jumping, and the day before I cooked myself some Bionature Organic Whole Wheat Pasta.  I usually try not to overdo it with pasta, but I served myself a hearty plate of it given the nature of the event I was going to be competing in.  When I opened the package I noticed some instructions on the back which said that the longer you cook your pasta, the higher the glycemic index rating.  That was news to me, so I'm passing along this information to you.  For a slower-acting carb, they suggested eating the pasta "al dente," or slightly firm, as they do in Italy.  In a nutshell, cooking your pasta for slightly less time than recommended will be beneficial.

So how did I fare during the race?  Not bad; I finished in 122nd out of nearly 6700 competitors that day, but I know I could've done better.  The problem was, I showed up at the starting line at the last minute, and got stuck near the back of the pack.  The opening gate was relatively narrow for a race of this size, and it funneled down even further to a lane of roughly two body widths as the trail wound through the woods.  Another issue, which was not my fault, was that they allowed anyone to stand anywhere in the pack at the starting line, whereas at most 5k's they sort people by speed so that the fastest are at the front.  Needless to say, there were many people up near the front who had no business being there.  As a result, I had a hard time gaining ground.   But one accomplishment I'm really proud of is that not one person passed me throughout the entire race, while I passed many people along the way.  There were certainly people who ran faster than me, but they were ahead of me to begin with.

Far too many of the carbohydrate sources that we eat are highly refined and/or have very high glycemic index ratings, which cause that rapid spike in blood sugar followed by an energy crash.  For sustained energy, opt to cook your pasta only long enough to where you can tolerate to eat it.  Everyone loves Italian food, and we should take a lesson from them.  Besides, Italians as a whole have a lower obesity rate than the US, so what do you have to lose?

Eat your pasta al dente,
Jeff