Five hour run in the bag! Awesome!
I love not just the long run, but the prep that comes with it. I had a solid five hour run Friday, accompanied by lots of pre-run gathering. Pack, download, charge, wash, glide, and finally layer up (ohhhh, so many places i could go with that list, but i will resist). And then go back in the house fifty more times for almost forgotten items. That’s Aggie’s favorite part, the waiting. The morning of, I usually take a couple of hours to get saddled up. Poor girl. She tries to be patient with her meticulous mom. Or is that just a procrastinating doggie mom?
And then run. Finally. It was sunny, 30 degrees and gorgeous.
It truly was an awesome run. I felt great throughout. I’ll save the rehash, though. I will say it was like running in sand the entire way. Ugh. Around hour four I almost quit, despite the beautiful day. My interest was lagging, mostly my head was getting me down. So, I cut back home, slugged some coffee, and headed back out. My last half hour was on pavement, and not half bad. Thank you, my savior, caffeine. Next long run I’ll be packing a drop bag with a coffee thermos to have as a reward at hour four.
I popped a Hammer Nutrition Electrolyte pill every half hour or so. No leg fatigue whatsoever! This was a first, so I’ll gladly blame the electrolyte pills for that. They are now a must for my long runs.
I do want to talk food. I’ve heard often to experiment with food on my training runs. That way, come race day, I know what works for me. I’m grateful to have figured out early refined sugar doesn’t agree with my tender tummy. On long runs, anymore than three hours, I feel queasy as is. Add sugary stuff, and it’s worse.
So, I plucked down for some fancy co-op goodies. I read somewhere dates are pretty nutritious, so I tried coconut covered date rolls. My favorite dried fruit are apricot, so some of those as well. And some ‘energy’ bars with spirulina and carob. Top those off with a peanut butter chocolate chip Clif Bar and some Annie’s Bunny Gummies, and I had a feast to graze off of. I packed a few of each in a Ziplock. Of course, I packed some treats for Aggie.
The apricots were a no no. One or two are fine. Anymore, enough said. The carob bars were so dry they were hard to swallow late in the run when my throat starts to tighten. The coconut rolls were my absolute favorite. Sweet, moist, Delicious. Three were my max, lest I wanted REAL trouble. I will definitely buy them again. Next time I’ll try to incorporate a PB and J into the mix. If you have any more suggestions, I’m open.
The last picture is of Aggie post-run Friday. She sort-of melted into the couch. Aggie? Aggie?
So, there you have it. This week is an easy training week. Smaller runs more often. Longer runs are on the plan for next week. Six hours…
Thanks for running with me,
Astrid
vttrailgirl 