Gatorade firece berry

I'm going to try Dirty Fasting today as an experiment to see how my body responds. As an option, I am going to include zero calorie drink options that have sweetners like Gatorade Zero, carbonated flavored water, Liquid IV, and pickle juice. It won't be all on the same day, those are just the options that I am giving myself to choose from when or if I feel hungry, like I want to order something and break or eat.
I'm testing my blood sugar response, appetite response, and weight loss response.
I'm going to be honest, I'm skeptical that it will work for me. The doctors online like Jason Fung and Ken Berry have said to stay away from drinks with sweetners because they impair your glucose response, increase your appetite, and will make you gain weight. They also said it is bad for the gut microbiome.
BUT----
The people I see losing and keeping off weight with fasting i.e. Jerome from Finally Fasting on YouTube, IndiaSheana on YouTube, and Six Miles to Supper on YouTube lost huge amounts of weight and they all "dirty" fasted to include diet drinks with sweetners.
So.... I'm going to try it for myself and see what happens. I love A Healthy Alternative on YouTube, that was the way I learned to fast for health but water only is hard for me. It doesn't seem to be something I can stick with doing long-term, other binge eating issues aside. I haven't tried anything else because I wanted full autophagy to include helping with loose skin.
At this point, I could care less about loose skin, I just want to get the weight off!!! I am tired of being this big. I am 353.2 pounds as of today. It has been a struggle trying to get to 299 for my first goal. I'm addressing the other issues impacting my weight but if this works, I will be so happy. I want fasting to be a lifestyle for me - OMAD, rolling, intermittent, etc.

So I’m a Korean going through mandatory military service, got around a year left and I decided that it’d be fun to try making some mocktails. We’ve got a convenience store with a bunch of stuff including but not limited to:

• Fruit Juices (Apple, Korean Pear, Tangerine)
• Tea (Iced, Peach, Barley, Green, Etc)
• Energy Drinks (Monster, Hot6, SuperBoost)
• Sports Drinks (Gatorade, Powerade, Pocari Sweat, etc)
• Sparkling Water
• Sodas (Cola, Lime Pepsi, Fanta, etc)
• Instant Kombucha (Lemon, Grapefruit, Berry)
• This citrus syrup/jam sorta mix thing that usually gets used to make tea (Lemon Jasmine Mix, Grapefruit Hibiscus Mix[this one is sour, the others sweeter], Yuzu Chrysanthemum Mix)
• Fermented Pomegranate Vinegar
• Instant Coffee
• Honey

I’ve made cocktails before by following recipes but I’ve got no experience with making mocktails let alone coming up with new recipes.
Anyone got suggestions for experimentation starting points or recipes?
Edit: Thanks for all the replies! I’ll update after trying out the stuff here!

Consumed: 840 (Gatorade)
Burned: 500
Net: 340
Snack options: Pickles, Greek Yogurt, Cottage Cheese, Berries, peanut butter, Mozzarella Stick, Protein Bar, Chocolate
Afterschool Meal/Dinner Plan: Stir fried cabbage and bell peppers (155 estimate)
Salmon and rice (550 estimate)
Pickle (5)
Lemonade (0) or Watermelon Mint Lemonade (30) or Fresca (0)
Consumed Estimate: 705
Notes: As little rice as possible. As many stir fried veggies as possible.

So preface this is long. Have a friend who fought for years to figure out what was wrong and finally did despite push back from doctors and with Antibiotics and his own regimen has pretty much conquered his Sibo. This will all be copy pasta from direct emails to me since I was just diagnosed a few weeks ago.
Ok there's a lot to cover, and i'm sure i'll forget shit so this will likely be a thread of emails.
First thing's first, you gotta kill the overgrowth in your gut. Rifaximin and neomycin. Sounds like your gastro doc is on top of that though. Ask for a three week course and a follow up breath test to verify the overgrowth has been eradicated. It may be expensive. I had great insurance and I still had to pay a few hundred out of pocket for the rifaximin. Many insurances don't cover it, and it can be in the thousands if yours doesn't. But with a rx you can buy from india for a fraction of that. Once you wipe out your small intestine microbiome with these nuclear bomb drugs, you will have a clean slate that you have to carefully repopulate. I'll leave that for a follow up email, you're a ways away from that.
Neomycin is systemic, but rifiaximin is not. It is targeted to work only in the small intestine. It's a very clever mechanism, google if you're interested. So it's got to get to the location of infection. Methane dominant sibo is characterized by constipation, so this interferes with the physical delivery of the drug to where it's needed. Even if you have the drugs in hand, you'll want to wait until things are moving, so to speak. Don't begin your course until you've had a few bowel movements in a row. I would also recommend before beginning that you have some sort of constipation remedy on hand that works for you. OTC stuff didn't work for me, so I took/take Motegrity. It's a nerve stimulant that stimulates the migrating motor complex (MMC), the muscles that squeeze the small intestine and keep things moving.
On to diet. First, stop eating raw vegetables completely. And I advise you to remove all cruciferous vegetables from your diet entirely. What worked for me was a meat and root vegetable diet (potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, etc). You told me you buy 1/4 beefs? You cannot beat beef for its nutrient profile. Eggs and fish are great too. I'd say limit chicken and pork because they incorporate a lot of their diet directly into their flesh, unlike ruminant animals like cattle. Grocery store chicken and pork are fed trash. But if you're buying from the Amish, then go for it. I'd advise against dairy products, even if you sometimes tolerate ok. At least during your abx treatment. If you must, go for aged cheeses, in limited quantities. Ghee is ok, as the solids/proteins have been removed.
Now for oils. This is something that modern nutrition "common knowledge" gets very wrong, imo. Saturated fats are not bad for you, quite the opposite. Polyunsaturated fats are what's bad. They are slow poison. Avoid all oils high in pufa (polyunsaturated fatty acid). Go to your pantry and throw away any canola, cottonseed, soybean, corn oil. It all belongs in the trash. For cooking, use beef tallow, ghee, or coconut oil. Olive and avocado oil are ok for very low heat cooking. Those 5 oils are pretty much all you'll find in my kitchen nowadays. Sadly, you'll never be able to eliminate all pufa from your diet. As much as I avoid it, I still have to tolerate some since it's in everything. For example, we cook a lot of frozen potato foods (tots, fries, etc) and they all have sunflower seed or canola oil in them. Just try to limit pufas as best you can.
Fruit is your friend, but you must be careful about what kind. Avoid high fructose fruits like apples and pears. Lean into high glucose fruits, like berries, pineapple, kiwi, and grapes. Grapes can be tricky though during and after your abx treatment, since they are usually covered in natural yeast. Oranges and grapefruit can be ok, but the skins (not peels) might disagree with you. The idea here is to go after glucose. Gatorade can be good too, just make sure you get the regular kind.
Next is digestion supplementation. My sibo was accompanied by low stomach acid, which may have actually been a contributing factor. Your stomach needs acid to perform its jobs. Use a supplement called betaine hydrochloride to acidify your stomach before meals. Start small and increase as you can tolerate. Google how to do this and you'll find plenty of info. Proper protein digestion begins with stomach acid. You must have enough of it. With time you'll learn to judge how much you need before a meal, as it will vary depending on what you're eating. Apple cider vinegar before meals helps too. You'll likely also want to supplement digestive enzymes until your body can handle it itself again. There are many to choose from, but avoid plant based ones, they're just not as effective. You can try digestive bitters as well. Not sure if they helped me, but they seem to for many others.
You are likely vitamin deficient. Begin supplementing good quality vitamins and minerals. Many vitamins come in several forms, with varying bioavailability. Good quality doesn't necessarily mean expensive, it means your body will use it easily. Magnesium is especially important. Most ppl are deficient as it is. And it will help with the constipation. I will put all product recommendations into a follow up email. Some people will tell you that vitamins just give you expensive, colored piss. Disregard them completely.
Do you have a ninja or similar blender or something you can easily make smoothies with? This helped me a lot. Frozen banana (ripe, very important), berries, pineapple juice and a couple scoops of hydrolyzed collagen worked wonders for me.
Did the liposomal colostrum that I gave you help you at all? I highly recommend taking that every day. Colostrum is a miracle worker for restoring digestion.
For now you should: 1. obtain your antibiotics 2. wait for your constipation to clear before taking them. assist it with otc supplements if you have to.
That's all for now, first follow up email coming this weekend with all my product recommendations.
Odds are stacked against people recovering good digestion after a methane sibo diagnosis. But it is absolutely beatable. Take it from me.

Good luck.

Forgot to mention a few things. Knew I would.
It is possible that you have a fungal infection in your gut in addition to the bacterial. This is something they do not test for, so I took it upon myself to take an antifungal supplement during and slightly after my abx course. Undecylenic acid, 250mg 1-2 times per day with meals. Up to you to take it. When I got to my third attempt with the antibiotics, I wasn't taking any more chances.
https://www.amazon.com/Thorne-Research-Formula-Undecylenic-Gastrointestinal/dp/B000FGXMWC/ref=sr_1_44_pp?crid=1AY2B7SOND3TL&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.CLI0jzCLPrphWotMKGhN3-1DTaNlQYmXWfjMUZkhmy-4HgJwCroVFyauA5kK3ftKrIniSunBsFbuk079c9Y3tE5gYZb7yxnZtIfzte5aYKHgpNJZkvF-OzAL-bJCqGHrpDX3XhMIzIq8rv5n2ezd_xz6MjFjYObJiQ6TNiC_Au-C4hYLRjEKQ7FlICceXroYBYmyOkfmDO7m9AOZ_5OuzKhNxmcGpiA8RKGvo4Kt0h4F9k3gEqhxLPGeidnKb0h0u8DTtLbXhMVeaEcIQOrUByrZ9oP5ZB2w-2nuVEcSoek.SS3HgwBGHJm2yykxbSrn8VpZUZCbo-R8BDJhm8jdayM&dib_tag=se&keywords=Undecylenic&qid=1713892566&sprefix=undecylenic+%2Caps%2C279&sr=8-44
Also very important, supplementing specific amino acids.
Start taking glutamine and glycine right away. They're super cheap, tasteless, and will help your gut rebuild its mucosal layers.
You really can't overdo it with this stuff, and it's cheap as dirt anyway. But bulk powders of each and take 1g with meals. Again, tasteless, so you can just take spoonfuls and wash it down with water.
Product links email coming up OK next up is the amazon list.
<<< Digestive supplements >>> Betaine HCL Just get whatever is cheapest https://www.amazon.com/Doctors-Best-Betaine-Gentian-Digestion/dp/B00H40XPH4
Digestive enzymes I like NOW brand, as you'll see. Get whatever, just make sure it has pancreatin. https://www.amazon.com/NOW-Super-Enzymes-180-Capsules/dp/B0013OXKHC
<<< nutrition supplements >>> Glycine https://www.amazon.com/BulkSupplements-Glycine-Powder-500-Grams/dp/B00EOXU0N6
Glutamine https://www.amazon.com/BulkSupplements-L-Glutamine-Powder-500-Grams/dp/B00E7TMOOA
Hydrolyzed Collagen https://www.amazon.com/Zint-Collagen-Peptides-Powder-Paleo-Friendly/dp/B0722ZP9WK
Colostrum Get liposomal. It's more expensive, but worth it for the additional bioavailability https://www.amazon.com/Sovereign-Laboratories-Colostrum-LD-Proprietary-Bioavailability/dp/B009HCLX3A
Thiamine it's already in the b complex, but the more the better https://www.amazon.com/Nutricost-Vitamin-Thiamine-500mg-Capsules/dp/B01J4OUZBG
<<< Vitamins/Minerals >>> You should buy vitamins and mineral supplements individually. Multivitamins use trash ingredients and are mostly a scam. Take the minerals and b vitamin daily with water, take the other vitamins daily with a fat-containing meal.
Magnesium get glycinate or citrate https://www.amazon.com/Supplements-Magnesium-Glycinate-Absorbable-Tablets/dp/B07NWMVMT1
trace minerals i like this one targeted towards thyroid https://www.amazon.com/NOW-Supplements-EnergyTM-Tyrosine-Selenium/dp/B0013OZCGE
vit B complex https://www.amazon.com/Swanson-Activated-B-Complex-Bioavailability-Capsules/dp/B0BCKZJFL8
vit D3/K2-mk7 https://www.amazon.com/NOW-Supplements-Cardiovascular-Vitamins-Capsules/dp/B09RG6LXJ2
vit A https://www.amazon.com/NOW-Foods-Vitamin-Softgels-Pack/dp/B001F0R9G2
vit C

it's all the same get whatever

One more email for today. This one deserves its own.
Get your thyroid levels checked immediately. Ask for TSH, T3, T4, TPA. Low thyroid activity means reduced activity levels for all metabolic processes, including digestion.
I've been seeing an endocrinologist for years now because I have lots of symptoms that align with hypothyroidism. My body temp in winter was routinely in the 95's. But all of my markers were always "in range", though the lower end. I'm certain I had (still have, to a lesser extent) sub-clinical hypothyroidism, possibly in association with my gut issues.
Before blood testing, they used to diagnose hypothyroidism by simply giving you natural desiccated thyroid gland (from pigs or cows) and asking if it made you feel better. So this is what I did, and I feel much better and my hypothyroid symptoms have greatly alleviated. It can be bought without rx. I will send you some if you want to try. But get your levels checked first. You can get these tested without a dr, if they don't want to do all the markers:
https://www.everlywell.com/products/thyroid-test/

Finally, please feel free to distribute this email thread to anyone suffering from methane dominant sibo. You could also show it to your gastro dr if you want, to see if there's anything they disagree with.

That's everything he sent me. Hope it helps someone.

I've had tonsil stones since my teens, most could be poked out or coughed out.
Since COVID, I noticed that the majority of my sick recovery time would be waiting for the throat and tonsils to stop being infected. I've also had a harder time with watching the tonsils recess towards the back of my throat, making cleaning the stones harder to impossible.
It worsened to some random sick days and fevers, it was time to see the ENT, who offered little help with the stones, but offered a Tonsillectomy. I found some tonsil stone tools on Amazon, but they didn't work on the hidden stones, and I didn't feel like spending on the suction tools to cause flareups.
After waiting 6mos to consider, and before discovering this subreddit, I signed up for a Tonsillectomy. Discovering this sub about a week before the surgery, I was very concerned about bleeding, the contrasting opinions on diet and medications, and bleeding out. Did I mention bleeding? I almost bailed out while fully prepped and waiting for the operating room.
I awoke after the surgery to no nausea, no itchy throat, just tenderness, about 2/10 pain. Tongue felt useless, and couldn't move it much, jaw was locked up. Nose breathing was hard, sinuses felt plugged and didn't blow nose as advised. The surgeon prescribed Advil, Tylenol, and Morphine. Alternating every 3 hours, 400mg Advil, 600mg Tylenol, and 5ml Liquid Morphine every 4 hours. The Tylenol and Advil was prescribed as liquids, but no pharmacy would make it, so I had gross, acidic berry and bubblegum liquid children's medicines until I felt comfortable swallowing pills around day 12.
Day 1 (operation day) - Ice Chips first hour, discharged from outpatient hospital, slowly drank some water. While waiting at the pharmacy, I started with an Ensure meal supplement/replacement as I was starving. Seemed to go down OK, just followed it up with water. Slept upright with lots of pillows, couldn't breath through nose when laying down. Sinuses felt infected and inflamed enough to close the airway. Started sleeping as much as possible between doses. Used two icepacks wrapped in a towel around neck and propped up for contact for night bed time. This helped the swelling and pains for the next week.
Days 2-3 - A continuation of medicating, even waking up middle of the night to continue the pain meds, a lot of water (~2-3L daily), 1-2 Ensures, Blue Gatorade, Chicken Broth, Mushroom Soup, Apple Sauce. Pain 3/10
Day 4 - Sore jaw, tongue had sharp pains when moving, tasted metal and less sweet flavor. Continued eating and drinking. Pain 3/10
Day 5 - Could not sleep well, Pain 6/10, dry throat waking up. Continued eating and drinking. Salty food started to burn from rubbing the scabs/tonsils. Took eating breaks but tried to keep up. Added soft bread with honey, didn't trust toast, but wanted to try adding honey for the throat.
Days 6-8 Starting to fatigue, waking every 3 hours to medicate was taking it's toll, sleeping and missing a dose would result in pain when waking. Continued eating and drinking. Pain 5/10 Taking less morphine, skipping doses, not noticing an increase in pain. Sinuses feel like they're clearing but still can't quite breath through nose laying down fully.
Days 9-11 Seeing the light. Missing a dose wouldn't be as bad, but still increased pain. Off morphine. Small scabs disappearing, new tender flesh when it comes to eating. Pain 4/10
Day 12 - Left the house first time, drove and saw some friends, heartrate was high after not having done anything for almost two weeks. Pain 2/10, missed a dose here and there but nothing terrible happened.
Day 13 finally eating a sushi bento box, but pain from the friction, so slowing down again. Took one pillow out of the pile, sleeping slightly elevated.
Days 14 to 16 - Back at work. Every day since has been an improvement in pain, tonsil scabs falling off slowly. Down to 200mg Advil and 250mg Tylenol alternating every 6-10 hours as needed. Can breathe through nose almost normally now, even when laying down.
Day 16 - full regular Chinese takeout, have to chew really well, but minimal pain. Still can't figure out how to yawn without pain. It's like the muscles have no idea what they're doing or just still recovering. Pain 1/10 with small medicine doses over a longer interval. I think I can sleep fully laid down tonight.
Overall, the pain was bad, but manageable. Really keep on top of your meds, and overhydrate the first few days. I didn't do anything to raise heartrate, not even video games, I strayed from the seemingly European method of scratching the scabs off with regular food and toast. Gritting your teeth every cough, sneeze, yawn helps lessen the pain. I was nervous about taking Advil while many other ENT's instructions were to NOT take it, but Advil helped my pain when Tylenol didn't seem to at times.
I was pretty good at making notes on how accurate my medication times were, what I was able to eat and drink every day, and I feel like it helped me pass the time and have hope that the next day would be better. Making notes on last medicine time was important, it's really easy to be confused about what you took last and when, in the middle of the night.
Thank you to everyone that posted their experiences, it really helped to see some good ones amongst the re-cauterizing, choking on blood stories. I feel awful for those that tried or went back to work and regular activities in a shorter time frame than two weeks.
Hopefully I'm at the end, and it only gets better. I hope to never have a tonsil stone again, and that my immune system gets better and recovers quicker now. I wish you all luck with your surgeries.
TLDR - hydrate, stay on top of your medications(alarms and notes), don't raise your heartrate, ice pack on neck when swollen, eat soft foods, rest, rest, rest, no bleeding out(knock on wood)

Race Report: Jersey City Marathon
Race Information Name: Jersey City Marathon Date: April 14, 2024 Distance: 26.2 miles Location: Jersey City, NJ Website: https://www.jerseycitymarathon.com Sex/Age: M 30
Time: 2:49:07
Goals Goal Description Completed? ------------------------------- A Sub 2:50 *Yes* B Sub 2:54:34 (PB) *Yes* C Sub 3:00 *Yes* D Have Fun :') *Yes*
Splits Mile Time ------------ 1 5:59 2 6:01 3 6:07 4 6:13 5 6:05 6 6:08 7 6:15 8 6:18 9 6:17 10 6:08 11 6:16 12 6:16 13 6:18 14 6:17 15 6:20 16 6:24 17 6:28 18 6:27 19 6:42 20 6:56 21 6:45 22 6:32 23 6:44 24 6:43 25 6:48 26 6:51 27 6:18
#Background This race was a special one for me. 1 year ago, I ran my first ever half marathon with NYCRuns in Brooklyn with a finishing time of 1:29:57. I trained for about 8 weeks for that race, and prior to that I was generally fit, jogging about 20-30 minutes before my weight lifting sessions x4-5 week and playing basketball once a week. However, I had zero long distance running background, was incredibly burnt out from internal medicine residency as I was working 70-80+ hour weeks and switching between day and night shifts so frequently, and grieving the end of a romantic relationship. Running became one of the outlets for me that kept me sane during what felt like the lowest period in my life, and gave me a sense of growth, mindfulness, and discipline.
In November 2023, I ran my first marathon in Philadelphia with a finish time of 2:54:34, in which I used the NYC 9+1 races to work on my speed and qualify for NYC Marathon in 2024. I also ran with the Nike NYC Run Club on the weekends to help train for that marathon. Having mentally set the floor of what I could possibly do in the sport, and also being a little salty that I would have missed Boston by 5 seconds in 2024, I set a New Year's goal of completing a Sub 2:50 marathon to give me the best shot at running Boston in 2025.
#Training One of my favorite quote of this training block was "If you fail to plan, then you are planning to fail." - Benjamin Franklin. I had given my body about a 6 week break from intense running after Philadelphia to travel, and catch up with friends and family. On January 1st, I started back up. The first thing I needed was a training plan. I used the free Bandit Running 14 week training plan to give me a general idea of what each week would look like. The #1 priority I had going into this block was to ramp up my weekly mileage to 60-70 weeks.
I was able to keep up with the training plan for about 2 weeks, until I decided to ditch it as my work schedule started to become erratic and I started doing weeks of 13+hour night shifts. The weeks of night shifts in February definitely made me decondition a bit as it threw off my circadian rhythm for about 2-3 weeks, and I had to deal with the stressors of working in the ICU. I had also tried running with the Jersey City Run Club (an incredible running group btw) for the sense of community, but that also fell through as I felt that my personal goals were misaligned with the group. At the beginning of the training block, I was cross training on the stationary bike once a week for an hour to 1.5 hours to substitute the easy runs, but decided that this was inefficient as I should focus on developing the muscles mainly used in running. I also believe that I deconditioned during one of the weeks as I had tried running at a HR of low 130s (this ended up being around 9:30 min/mi pace). I felt the most growth when my easy runs were in a HR of 140s. I was also ingesting about 10g of creatine per day to maintain muscle mass, but slowly stopped because I felt like I was holding onto too much water and thus weight.
In the end, most of my weeks consisted of 1 day of 800m sprints x 8-10 repeats w/ 90 seconds rest and a cool down run at the end (for a total of 12 miles), 2 days of medium exertion pace (usually around 7-7:30 min/mi w/ an average distance of 12-12.5 miles in one session), 2 days of easy pace (usually around 8:30min/mi for 12 miles), 1 long run on the weekends that were 20+ miles (with the longest run being 24 miles 3 weeks before the marathon, and most of them at a 7-7:15min/mi pace), and 1 rest day (usually the day before or after the long run).
My peak week was 3 weeks before the marathon, in which I hit 82 miles. The other weeks in the marathon I was averaging around 70 miles. My last long run was 1 week before, where I did 6 miles easy and a 4 mile race in Central Park. I was able to keep a comfortable 6:00min/mi pace during that race and it gave me the psychological confidence going into race day. I also strength trained 1-2 times per week, purely focusing on upper body work to let my legs rest.
My taper went from 82 miles > 74 miles > 53 miles > 18 miles (the week of the race). I focused on maintaining intensity that I had through the training block, just decreasing the overall mileage of the runs.
I was very lucky where the only injury I experienced was some left ankle swelling as I was slowly ramping up mileage. However, overtime I stopped noticing it.
The resources that I found most helpful were Advanced Marathoning by Pete Pfitzinger, Youtube videos by Stephen Scullion, VO2MaxProductions, Floberg Runs, Nick Bare - all which gave me incredible knowledge in the importance of nutrition, psychological mindset, training balance, managing fatigue, and so so much more. Their information inspired me to reflect and also share with others my own experience during this block in hopes that it can help others.
During most of my training runs, I ingested one or two Gu or Huma gels to keep my performance up. Didn't like BPN gels as it did not sit well in my stomach. During my long runs, I simulated what nutrition would be like on race day - ingesting ~80-90g of carbohydrates per hour. I also focused on increasing my daily carbohydrate intake through rice, pasta, potatoes, and more berries to perform better on all my runs, as well as increase my liquid and electrolyte intake with coconut water and LMNT electrolytes daily. I cut out alcohol completely during this training block (highly recommend Athletic Brewing as an alternative). I always carb loaded 1-2 days before my long runs. I also decreased my fiber intake significantly the day before long runs and race day to minimize the chance of loose bowels.
For shoes, I used the Saucony Endorphin Speed 3. I changed out my shoes every ~400 miles, as I could feel the cushion wear off. During my speed workouts, I wore Nike Vaporfly 2. I also always wore a garmin chest strap HR monitor for accurate data. I also started using Runalyze.com for marathon time predictor.
#Pre-Race During my first marathon, I bonked incredibly hard at the end. Knowing that this was due to my poor nutrition pre and intra race, I focused on properly carb loading and intra race fueling. My carb load started 3 days out with a goal of 10g/kg for a total of about 750g of carbs per day. I hopped into bed at 8PM, but had a hard time falling asleep due to race nerves. I woke up at 3:45AM on race day for breakfast. My goal was about 1-2g/kg for a total of 150g carbohydrates 2.5-3 hours before the race, as some literature has shown insulin regulation to be ideal when you have your breakfast 3 hours before your race. I had a cup of coffee (which led to a few poops), a large bowl of oatmeal topped with honey and almond butter, a Maurten Solid 225 bar, Maurten Premix 320, and about 1.5L of water mixed with 3 LMNT packs (for a total of 3000mg sodium and 600mg potassium).
My goal this race was to increase my carbohydrate intake to 90g/hr through the Maurten 160 gels (45g carbs). I would eat half of the gel every 15 minutes. I also slowly ingested 1 Huma gel (double electrolyte version) 10 min before the race. I carried 6 Maurten gels, and 2 extra Huma gels throughout the race just incase I felt nauseous with the overload of carbohydrates from the Maurten gels, and incase I needed more electrolytes due to cramping.
#Race Incredibly lucky to start the race with perfect race conditions. 45 degrees, very minimal wind. Flat course, but lots of uneven roads and some potholes. I had a warm pair of throw away clothes and some hand warmers. My race shoe of choice were the Nike Vaporfly 3s (I think I prefer the Vaporfly 2 and will check out the Metaspeedy Sky Paris for my next race shoe). Started getting in the zone with some music, and once that gun went off, I started off HOT. The first mile was 5:59. I deep down knew this was way too fast and not sustainable, but the HR on my watch was 135. I foolishly decided to maintain a pace of 6-6:10 for the first 6 miles, as I felt comfortable. By mile 7, I started feeling that I was hitting my strides and the pace started getting more reasonable of around 6:15. However, by mile 10 my HR jumped from the 150s to the 170s, which I would maintain for the rest of the race. At this point, it started to get a bit warmer and I took off my arm sleeves.
I was planning on meeting my friends at mile 15 to grab a water bottle from them, but I arrived to the mile marker before our planned meeting time, and unfortunately around that time I could feel a slight heaviness in my right leg and a small pinch. I knew it was a combination of fatigue, dehydration, and possibly electrolyte disturbance. I immediately ate one of my emergency Huma gels with electrolytes and the tightness went away, but my legs and HR remained high in the 170s. Water stations were few and far between (about every 2 - 2.5 miles) and during the mile 16 water station, I ran past and was only able to drink half of a small cup of water that I quickly grabbed from a volunteer. I mentally started to panic here, as I knew that I would slow down significantly if I did not replace all the fluids that I had lost. I started scanning the crowd for anyone that might have a water bottle, and started yelling if anyone had any water. LUCKILY, someone did and ran and handed me a full water, which saved my life (forever grateful). Around this time, the sun started to peak out more and the temperatures were rising to the low 60s. As soon as I started sipping on the water, my heart rate dropped by 5 beats per min and I got a second wind of energy. I found that big gulps of water upset my stomach and small sips every 4-5 minutes gave more noticeable results.
At the end of mile 18, I started to feel the dreaded wall. My mental focus became less sharp and I started to actively think about keeping my legs moving. They say the race is only half done at mile 20, and this is very true. It was during this time, when I started fighting my inner demons to get me through the rest of the race, using pure emotions of the past, present, and future as a fuel. I was in my pain cave. From mile 19-26 my average pace was around 6:45 and I kept telling myself that as long as I'm below 7 min, I should be ok with all the time I banked at the beginning. At mile 23, another spectator gave me a water bottle which I sipped on and dunked over my head as the sun became really intense. I didn't eat my last Maurten gel because I had almost vomited the one before. Instead, I ate my last Huma gel. At the end of mile 25 I started to get a little lightheaded. It was then I saw my friends and family, where I came back alive! My friend decided to jump into the race and help pace the last 0.5 miles. It gave me a burst of energy and I finished the last leg at a 6:19 pace.
#Post-Race Crossing the finish line, I was physically and emotionally gassed. I went straight to the medic tent because I needed to make sure I wasn't hypoglycemic. I chugged a bottle of gatorade, asked my friend to tip my legs up. 10 minutes later, I was good enough to wobble outside to see my family and friends. I finally looked down at my watch: 2:49. "You did it man. You're going to Boston," my friend excitedly said to me as I was leaning on his shoulders picking up my medal and aluminum blanket. I started to tear up and cry. What an incredible and unexpected journey it was to get here - the amount of time spent running outside in the cold and late at night, learning and training, nerding out with friends about running, laughing at running memes and reels, and teaching others about a sport that has given me so much in life.
Looking back, I had grown a lot of discipline in training, however lacked discipline in the execution of the race as seen by starting off too hot. Will need to focus on starting much slower next time because I burned through my glycogen stores too fast. Will also need to have more back up plans for hydration at next visit - either running with a water bottle or asking friends and family to arrive a bit earlier. Always open to feedback from others on how I can improve in training and racing.
After my first marathon, I became incredibly cyanotic in the lips - but at the time I attributed that to bonking and hypothermia. After and late in this marathon, my lips were also cyanotic. I'll probably get an echocardiogram to rule out any shunting in the heart, but I was wondering if this commonly happens in marathon runners?
My Strava recorded ~26.45mi first the course and I think other people recorded the same as well. I had checked Runanalyze.com the day before and it essentially predicted my running time. The garmin predictor was slower by 8 min.
Overall, going to really savor this moment and journey and remember it forever. What. A. Race.
Hope someone gets something out of this long reflection.
NYC 2024, Boston 2025 - we're coming for you!
Made with a new [race report generator](http://sfdavis.com/racereports/) created by u/herumph.

for starters i drink a lot of water and have had to cut out all sugary/colored drinks to help with my pcos so i often have the setting to zero and use the flavor on a 2-4 when i’m craving a sugary drink. I use a 64 oz bottle, fill it 2-3 times a day, and a flavor pod lasts me 2-4 days.
Lifesip honeycrisp 10/10-Everyone says this taste just like apple juice, I personally don’t like artificial apple juice but love fresh juice and apple cider. This taste just like biting into a super sweet apple.
Lifesip Fruit Punch 9/10 i normally don’t like fruit punch unless it’s kool aid but this came for free with my order so i tried it. To my surprise this taste just like kool aid, definitely very sweet and not for everyday but overall delicious
Puressence pear 0/10- taste like watered down floor cleaner. I threw it out
frosted pink refresher 4/10- doesn’t taste like a pink drink. doesn’t taste terrible. doesn’t taste good.
squeeze blackberry lemonade 2/10- taste like that chemically watered down neon lemonade that your parents would buy off little kids in their driveway because they felt bad
flyte last drive 7/10- blue powerade DUPE. so good when working out
Flyte lights out 3/10- idek what this taste like but it’s not good, drinkable tho.
Soursop 100/10- taste like candy but somehow refreshing. idk what soursop is but if the fruit taste like this sip then i need to try it asap
fitsip mixed berry 7/10: similar to flyte, taste more like gatorade but I definitely enjoyed it.
Prickly pear 8/10: this flavor grew on me so quickly. i HATE anything melon flavored and this definitely taste like melon at first. However it taste more like fresh watermelon than artificial. It sorta tastes like that cucumber, watermelon, lemon water that they have at the spa but if you made that into a juice. I didn’t like it at first but then kept craving it
I ordered the rest of the sabrocita line as both flavors I tried were SOOOO good. I want to try more lifesip but i don’t know if any will be as tasty as the apple and fruit punch. Any other recommendations?

From everyone else's prep posts I did not see so many days of different laxatives they had to do and seems like people were eating till the day before. There is no way I will survive these instructions lol:
3 DAYS BEFORE YOUR PROCEDURE: Begin a low fiber diet Examples of foods ALLOWED: Meat and fish, white pasta, white rice, white bread, cooked vegetables, fruit without skins and seeds, eggs, dairy products, potatoes without skins. Common foods NOT ALLOWED: nuts, seeds, popcorn, whole grains, granola, cereal with visible grains, corn, beans, peas, celery, tomatoes, brown rice, wild rice, oats, barley, beans, lentils, salad, berries. Two (2) hours after your evening meal, drink the 10 ounce bottle of Magnesium Citrate followed by 10 ounces of water. Immediately after the magnesium citrate, start a clear liquid diet. Common options: water, broth, clear juices (pulp free), coffee or tea (without dairy / dairy substitute), gelatin, ice popsicles, clear carbonated beverages, or sports drinks. No solid or soft foods. Alcohol and red or purple colored liquids are NOT allowed!
2 DAYS BEFORE YOUR PROCEDURE: Continue Clear Liquids -In the morning mix the two (2) 32 ounce bottles of Gatorade with the 238 gram bottle of Miralax. This is best done in a gallon container. Drink this solution throughout the day. Continue to drink additional clear liquids as well throughout the day. 1
DAY BEFORE YOUR PROCEDURE: Continue Clear Liquids - Drink at least 64 ounces (about 2 liters) of clear liquids throughout the day. At 7:00 pm, Open the Suprep kit to find two (2) 6 ounce bottles of Suprep concentrate and one plastic cup.1. Pour ONE (1) 6 ounce bottle of SUPREP liquid into the supplied plastic cup. Set aside the second bottle for tomorrow.2. Add cool drinking water to the 16 ounce line on the cup and mix. 3. Drink all of the liquid in the cup. 4. You MUST drink two (2) more 16 ounce cups of water over the next 1 hour. Slow down or stop for 30 minutes if you feel nauseas or have abdominal discomfort. Continue to drink clear liquids. It’s important to stay hydrated! PROCEDURE DAY: Five (5) Hours before your arrival drink the remaining 6 ounce bottle of Suprep by following steps 1-4 as outlined above. Two (2) Hours before your arrival you MUST stop drinking clear liquids. Take your routine medications with a small sip of water. *Diabetes medications or anti-coagulations are an exception. (Please refer to separate pamphlet.)
So I am supposed to take Miralax + Magnesium Citrate + Prep? This seems extreme

I fell in love with the Gatorade Fierce Fruit Punch plus Berry Thirst Quencher in 2019. In the far north east I noticed it be discontinued by Walmarts around. I should have a recently stocked up because it hasn’t appeared in other grocery locations. Any tips on how to get some, online attempts have failed. I see a couple options from Walmart at over $50!! I wish I could have just got a powder of this drink and kept it for ages!