RUN 26.4 miles in 6 hrs, me and TH in the Babs
The 6 hrs was "run" time, the "actual" time was closer to 6:20 which include bathroom stops, water stops, etc.
We were joined by IT for the first 2hrs and it set the pace and tone--we just wandered. Left here, right there, up the hill, whatever. My original (and too complicated) plan was to leave Babs and head towards Gfelder. I wasn't too keen about running 10 miles along roads, then TH pointed out the double whammy of running on pavement. Wham-bam, out with that plan. Close enough.
So on TH's suggestion we decided to loop the park to simulate looping in the races. She's already done a practice run like that and I'm still psyched up over it since I haven't. While in the end we didn't do loops in Babs, this was in the end a really great run!
Problems & Solutions, Before & After:
1. My stoopid shoe laces kept coming untied. I finally put in the bungees. They've been coming untied since Glacial in October. Something about the material or thickness, I was blaming water for making them swollen or slick but the real fault lie with the fact that I needed to change them. While bungees may not work for mud, they worked awesome for this run. Didn't even notice them.
2. Food! On the last two 24 milers I was zonked by mile 22. I needed to EAT MOAR, and A LOT MOAR. So I broke down and bought gels and beans. The salesguy at BRR kinda half laughed/eyerolled when I said I hated those things while I had a pile of them on the counter. So my pack was packed for this run like this: 3 gels, a powerbar, 2 servings of devil bars (dates and nuts), raisins, cashews, 2 servings of plantain chips, and a 400 calories EFS flask left over from the free samples at CdA. It was too cold for the powerbar, woulda ripped out a filling or chipped a tooth. The raisins and devil bars were D-lish but maybe too much fiber for the run? The EFS was so sweet my face puckered and my throat burned at first but it was good and I wanted more after another hour. In comparison to previous long runs, this was a lot of carbs. But that's what I needed! And it WORKED! Mile 20 came, went, mile 23 did the same, mile 25...and DONE. (I didn't eat any of the gels or nuts or chips). When we finished instead of that zombie duuuuuuuuuuhhhhhhhhhhh mental state I was awake, zippy, and clearheaded. No more stoopids like before. Bingo, we have a Solution!
3. I'm good for ignoring the garmin, distance, and mileage for a few hours but after a while I just need to look. For this run I set the Garmin to laps, so I could only see that current mile. I kept joking that I had no idea where or when we were (TH just laughed/eyerolled...I get that a lot...) and it wasn't until Mile 19.7 at 4hr 20mins that I finally looked!! I felt GREAT for mile 20! So maybe for the races I'll have the Garmin but not easily visible. It was nice to just be lost.
4. Setting the Garmin--speaking of which I need to program in nutrition alarms if I'm going to ignore it. Without the cues of x miles, I might go too long without eating? Even if I'm ignoring the Garmin in the race, I'll still have an idea of where I am since it's loops...hmmm..
5. In previous long runs we were walking the uphills but for the most part running a lot. For this run we really dialed it back. On the last 24's it took about 5hrs, maybe just over. This time we hit 24 around 5:20-5:30. When combined with the improved nutrition, this was a great feeling pace. I could have gone all day it seemed, at least at first.
6. The fade--I've been thinking about the fade. In the previous 24-milers, I faded at 22 miles. Today I faded at 25. Funny how I fade just before we're done...is that a mental thing? If I didn't know how far we'd traveled, would I still fade? See #3 above. Or, is it that when I know we're almost done I dial back the nutrition, figuring I don't need a gel for the last mile? So to test on the next 26-er, eating at mile 25 to see what happens.
7. My gear is spot on--no rubs, blisters, binds. All good. Except my shoes, the bottoms of my feet hurt by mile 26! I went trail shoe shopping Thursday but they didn't have my size ready. I was starting to blow off the idea of new shoes until TH reported that when she put new trail shoes on she was able to notice that her current cascadias were shot, and that's why her feet hurt too. So, back to the running store! The cascadia line is up to 8, mine are a 5! So while they dont' have a terrible huge number of miles on them, it's probably time to replace. After this run, those shoes are at 261 miles since October 2011.
8. I did notice that my calves were lightly fluid-heavy at the end. So I might try running with compression next. I have the black compression socks, test 'em!
9. Long run funny--We were wandering the trails with IT, he asked if we had bread crumbs to find our way back. I said no, I just have coconut flakes. OK well I thought it was funny!
10. TH is a great run partner :) She's methodical and although she calls herself The Mom of our little pair, she's got a lot of inner strength and resolve. She doesn't seem to fall prey to whims like I do. I didn't run with her at Glacial because of my injury (I needed to run my race super careful) and that race wasn't as fun as it could have been. So I've been thinking that these next races we'll pace together.
11. Oh and finally, I'm still an outdoor pee-panZ.
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