Monday, May 18, 2009

Daegu Olympic Triathlon

Despite the rain, we drove to Daegu for an Olympic triathlon. I had a meal of hobak juk:

And a tiny piece of bread:Plenty of beta carotene but not enough calories! Later I bought a red bean bun at Family Mart. We stayed at a love hotel. Usually love hotels charge by the hour, and you have to pay cash. Instead of a key, the clerk buzzes you up. The parking lot entrance is shrouded with a tattered plastic curtain for car privacy. The rooms have always been really nice, though I don't know who would use the community toothpaste and hair brush!
Anyway, the weather was perfect the next morning. I swam and biked just for the chance to run:Every lap I passed a table of choco pies (a staple at Korean races), bananas, gatorade, and water. The race is too short for a choco pie, in my opinion! My SO swears by the Korean cake rolls for his long runs, though.
Every athlete received a meal upon finishing:The meal included seaweed soup, rice, vegetables, kimchi, and breaded meat cutlets. When I briefly walked away from the meals, an old man approached and picked up one of the boxes! I hurried back and grabbed the box from his hands. He looked as confused as I was. Then he used hand gestures to ask me to get him his own box! Mind you, he was not in the race. I pretended I did not understand.

In retrospect I should have given him the meal. I didn't eat it. Concentrated calories and simple sugars are best directly after a race. From what I've seen at Korean races, people either don't know or don't care about optimal recovery. Perhaps the Korean post-race meal is for celebration, not recovery. In which case, the meal was perfect!

4 comments:

Rebecca said...

How did you do in the race? Were you training for it? An Olympic distance sounds hard!! That poor man - maybe he was just hungry?

Trvlgyrl said...

Choco pies??? Hmmm.. sounds yummy - wonder if they are like the Korean version of Moon pies. I laughed about you taking the meal from the old man! Seems to be the custom - kind of like polite pushing? Guess it is time to go home, huh?

Unknown said...

Is that the running outfit I gave you? Looks great. Is this the race where you placed fourth in your division? If so.. YAY Mandy!!

MandyKat said...

Sandy - Yes, you know it's time to go home when you yourself start bumping into people on accident. (Remember yesterday near Emart?)
Mom - no, it's a 1-piece trisuit. Yes, I did place fourth! Kind of surprising!
Becky - I didn't train specifically for an Olympic. I just swam, biked, and ran every week.