The Validation of Hangry

In 2015, after many years of common use, the word Hangry has finally been officially added to the major English dictionaries, including the Oxford Dictionary.  

It is therein defined as (adjective): Bad-tempered or irritable as a result of hunger.   E.g. I get very hangry if I miss lunch.  

For those of us who have experienced ‘hanger’ (myself included), we admit it feels nice to have this unsettling and problematic emotion finally recognized and validated.  But besides the English teachers and editors of the world finally recognizing this state of being both hungry and angry, perhaps if we looked at the physiological reaction that is actually happening within the body when this condition occurs, perhaps hanger will be even more widely acceptancd and fully understood, as a valid, yet temporary, physiological condition.

Basically what hangry boils down to is the drop in blood sugar levels when a person is hungry.  Glucose (blood sugar) is the main fuel for the body and brain. When a person has low blood sugar it is difficult to regulate their moods, which leads to emotional reactions. When a person’s blood sugar drops to low levels, they experience hunger, and if that person feels something or someone is affecting their ability to obtain more food they may direct an intense emotion response in their direction.  Researchers said if blood sugar levels fall too low the brain can actually react as if it's confronted with a life-threatening situation and go into survival mode.  But it’s not really a conscious decision - it’s their blood chemistry really.    

Nutritionists from the Academy of Nutrition & Dietetics explain it further:

“When blood sugar is low the hypothalamus is triggered and levels of several hormones such as growth hormone, leptin and ghrelin are affected. This imbalance then causes a shift in neurotransmitters and suppresses serotonin receptors. Serotonin is a hormone that helps regulate mood and appetite. Cut off your body’s ability to process it and prepare for some mood swings. Anger and extreme frustration are common responses. 

This is not to say that everyone who skips lunch (or is forced to skip lunch) will turn into a raging hulk before dinner. Blood sugar has to drop pretty low (e.g. normal range of 70-100mg/dl to below 55mg/dl) before hanger causing moderate hypoglycemia sets in. That may take several hours of not eating.”  

However, some people are more susceptible to this condition than others.  Hanger can be more intense in people with pre-existing medical conditions, such as hypoglycemia, diabetes, mood disorders (including depression, anxiety and bipolar disorder), as well as endurance athletes who are used to eating on a regular basis to keep up with their bodies increased metabolic demands.   

Those with hypoglycemia and diabetes are already susceptible to spikes in blood sugar due to their issues with insulin.  People with mood disorders are vulnerable to anything that may alter the delicate balance of hormones in their brain, especially serotonin.  Endurance athletes are more susceptible to bouts of hanger as their training regimes have influenced their metabolic rates to be higher than the average person.  They need to eat at more frequent intervals due to their increased muscle mass and high activity levels.  They may feel the impact of hunger more acutely than others because of this.  

The best thing people can do to avoid this hangry situation/physiological condition is to eat a combination of protein and complex carbohydrates every 4 hours to keep their blood sugar regulated (e.g. hummus & carrots, or cheese & crackers are ideal examples for snacks). Surely, this will keep them - and everyone around them - in a much better mood and harmonious environment.   

To summarize, I found a nice flow chart that may be helpful to deal with, and even better, to prevent any hangry situations from happening in the future:

For further reading info on this topic: 

Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics: http://www.eatrightacend.org/ACEND

Dietitians of Canada: http://www.dietitians.ca/ 

Other news magazines of interest: http://www.kvue.com/story/news/health/2015/07/30/researchers-explain-link-between-hunger-anger/30901447/ , and  http://www.prevention.com/health/healthy-living/skipping-meals-means-low-blood-sugar-and-hanger 

The Shortest Lake Ontario Crossing

Labour Day Holiday, Monday, Sep 7, 2015

The Pier to Pier swim is a ~2.4km swim between Hamilton and Burlington that takes place on the Labour Day holiday.  It has been nicknamed the shortest Lake Ontario swim crossing, and with a name like that how could I not take the plunge?!  Besides with the heat wave still gripping Southern Ontario the only sensible thing to do was go jump in the lake anyway.  The end of season swim had a lovely water temp of 70F/21C.  

A group of swimmers consisting largely of the Triathlon Club of Burlington (TCoB) http://triburlington.ca/, and the Lake Ontario Swim Team (LOSTies) http://lostswimming.com/, converged on the Hamilton pier to start the 2.4km swim over to the Burlington pier.  We were also supported by several kayakers who helped ensure our safety during the crossing. 

It was 9am when we all jumped off the pier and began the swim.  Honestly, with the weather conditions, it was one of the nicest swims I have ever done. The water was warm and clear, there was absolutely no waves, swell or wind, and the sun was shining down on us just right.

The group of swimmers each fell into their own rhythm and spread out into their own space, which was different from most of the swim races I’ve done before. But I had to remind myself that this wasn’t a race and it was meant to be just for fun. So I didn’t worry about keeping up with the rest and just settled into a relaxed pace for a change.  I estimated it would take me about an hour to swim the distance between the piers. 

One thing I came to realize on this swim was that I need to invest in a pair of tinted goggles.  Beginning my swim training, I spent most of my time in the pool, but now that I’m doing more and more open water swimming the sun has become a bigger factor in my training plans.  During this early morning swim, the bright sun was on my right side the entire time, so I had to breathe on my left, which caused some strain on my right shoulder as I felt I pulled it more during the breathing stroke.  This has caused some right shoulder tendonitis (overuse) and I need to be careful to breathe on both sides more evenly to become a better swimmer. 

But its hard to complain when the sun is shining on you and you’re having a glorious swim across the lake. So I found solace in the moment and kept swimming.  

I was about 40min into the swim when I began to feel hungry.  I had an iced coffee, half a bagel, yogurt and banana for breakfast about 90min before the swim - but at this moment, two thirds the way into the swim, I wished I had eaten more.  I stopped and looked around me, but there was no swim-up bar or coffee shop near me (this wasn't a Cuban vacation afterall). I was surrounded by water and nothing else.  I suppose I could have stashed a gel pack inside the sleeve of my wetsuit or given to a kayaker to hold onto, but it seemed unnecessary for a swim I thought would only take me an hour.  So I pushed my hungry thoughts to the back of my mind and focused on completing the last third of the distance so I could actually go eat something. 

Nearing the Burlington side, there was a slight chop in the water, but nothing significant enough to alter my course or breathing.  I continued my front crawl, and spotted every few strokes, as I narrowed in on the Burlington Pier and cruised past the many white tents set up in Spencer Smith Park for Ribfest (maybe that's why I was so hungry?).   

I arrived at the Burlington pier after swimming 2.5km in 62min.  Not bad for my first time doing this swim.  

It was a beautiful swim, with a fantastic group of people (swimmers, triathletes, and some kayakers as well).  I can say for sure that its an event that I would like to do again, and I’d highly recommend it to others who feel comfortable with open water swimming. 

Wasaga Beach Triathlon 2015

The annual Wasaga Beach triathlon is a race I have mixed feelings about.   In theory, this race is scenic and strategic in location, but the time of year (early Sept, late summer) it has been held sets it up for bad weather.  Indeed, the last two years I’ve signed up for this race, storm systems had moved through either the night before, or during the actual race itself, and the wind and rain wreaked havoc on the course.  The swims were cancelled and triathlons modified to wet and windy duathlons.  After last year I swore I’d never do this race again.   

Contrary to my last sentence, I ended up competing at Wasaga Beach again this year, as 3 things had changed.  First, the organizers changed the race date and moved it a week earlier so it was held Aug 29-30, instead of Sept 6-7.  Second, I decided to wait until I could confirm that the weather forecast would be decent before registering (I’d honestly rather pay the late registration fee than face the possibility of monsoonal weather conditions and duathlon).   Thirdly, I was motivated to get one more race in this particular series (MultiSport Canada) as I recently discovered I was third in my age group for overall points this season (http://results.sportstats.ca/res2015/msc/triathlon.htm).  This would have been my last chance to rack up more points in an attempt to secure my position.  Alas, I ended up racing at Wasaga Beach again this year.  

It was cloudy and overcast on race morning, but mercifully winds were low and the brief threat of rain passed without incident.  I would swim at Wasaga Beach for the first time in three years.  It was an odd swim course as the beach was so flat it took quite some distance for the water to get deep enough to actually swim in. The green start buoys were positioned offshore several hundred metres into the water.   The water was calm but it was an awkward swim back to shore, as sighting the exit arches on the beach was difficult due to their colour pattern and the blur of the bustling shops along Beach Drive.  Also, at the end of the swim course we had quite a long run though calf and ankle deep water to reach the shore and transition zone.   I can’t say I really enjoyed this swim course, I didn’t like the lay out.  I prefer a shoreline with a steeper grade that more precisely defines the point where you switch from swimming to running, instead of that prolonged awkward transition.   But at least we got to swim, so thats a small victory right there. 

I enjoyed the bike course much more this year.  I suppose it has a lot to do with not fighting the headwinds I’d encountered the previous years. That and still having fresh legs from the swim as opposed to not having my legs already tanked from the first run of a duathlon (the last 2 years the course was modified to a run-bike-run course which is really tough on the legs if you haven’t trained for it specifically, trust me).  There were a few parts on the road where racers had to be careful to avoid clumps of sod that had fallen off farm trucks, but other than that the road conditions were good.   It’s actually quite a nice course to ride when not cursing the weather or battling fatigue.  It was fast, flat with some gently rolling hills to prevent you from being complacent.  I ended up keeping an average pace of 28.9km/h on the bike course this time, a big improvement from last year’s pace of 23.4km/h.

The transition from bike to run (T2) went much smoother than the transition from the swim to bike (T1).  I didn’t have any problem finding my running legs, and I blew past two women in my age group right out of T2 as they were still getting their feet under them.   Running is my strongest of the 3 disciplines and I knew I had to lay down some speed after the awkward swim I had.   With this being a shorter run course (only 5km) I tried to be strong coming right out of the gate.  Just as the race organizers say to promote the event, it’s a fast, flat run, finishing on the beach.  I had a decent run, pacing 4:51/km.  I ran past several of my friends on the course, I saw Bala Falls Brad again, who I’m happy to say ran the entire course this time.  I also ran past my ultimate friends Marianne and Olivia who also put in sub-90min overall times at this event.  Its always nice when you see your friends at the finish line to celebrate after a hard run :)  

Overall, I finished the sprint triathlon (750m swim, 20km bike, 5km run) in a time of 1:26:21, placing tenth in my AG.  My specific race stats are as follows: 750m swim 16:57, T1 (2:10), 20km bike 41:34, T2 (0:55), 5km run 24:15.I haven’t competed in this distance category (750m swim, 20km bike, 5km run) since 2013, when my best time was 1:31:56.  My goal for this race was to run a sub-90min sprint triathlon.  And I managed to shave more than 5min off my time at this event - 1:26:22.  I have gotten faster!!