Perfect 10!!!

Today was yet another long run day.  This week was a recovery week in my program, so my long run was only 10 miles.  With all the training I've been doing, that 10 miles felt the same as 6 miles did a few weeks ago.  My pace was consistent, my stride was smooth, and I finished strong and feeling confident.

Also, I'm really ironing out my pre- and during-race fueling strategies.  I think I'm finally finding my "perfect" fuels.  And I seemed to have stumbled on them accidentally.  Last week, when I almost skipped my long run, I'd made myself my all-time favorite comfort food:  a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  Of course, it was on whole grain bread with natural peanut butter and all-fruit preserves, but comfort food nonetheless.  After 2 hours of letting the meal digest, I went on my run and felt GREAT!

So I repeated history again today.  Two hours before my run, I made my sandwich: 2 slices of whole grain bread, 1 ounce of peanut butter (yes, I weigh my high-fat/calorie foods since tablespoon measures can vary wildly...but this comes to 2 tablespoons), and 1 tablespoon of all-fruit blueberry preserves.  During my run, I sipped on about 20 oz. of water mixed with 2 scoops of Gatorade powder from my hydration pack (I buy the powder because the liquid Gatorade contains high fructose corn syrup -- a good reason to read ingredient labels!).  This amounted to about 200 calories of Gatorade, which admittedly is undercutting my calorie needs, but I find any more than that tends to upset my stomach.  Plus, I start "sloshing" with that much fluid.  These fuel combinations worked PERFECTLY -- I did not "bonk" during my run and finished with enough energy to kick it in at the end.  So this means I need about 100 calories of carbs for every 4-5 miles of race for distances over 7 or 8 miles.

I've experimented with other carb sources too.  During the Stockade-athon, I used Jelly Belly Sports Beans, which contain sugars and electrolytes.  I've used them previously after completing strength workouts as recovery fuel and they work great when coupled with a good protein source like skim milk or a protein shake.  But I found that the act of chewing while running makes me nauseous.  So no solid food.  And last week I tried an energy gel (Clif Shot... Powerbar and Gu make gels too, but they contain chemical preservatives and dyes, depending on the flavor).  I found that I was distracted with the act of opening the gel and trying to squeeze it from the packet without making a sticky mess....you know OCD me, if I were to spill any, I would freak OUT.  And then when you get to the end of the gel, it's like trying to get the last little bit of toothpaste out of the tube (and yes, you WILL fight for that last little bit of sugar when you are carb depleted...you would steal a lemonade from your grandmother in that kind of state).

After my runs, it's nothing fancy -- just a protein shake and a banana to kick off the recovery process.  It's so exciting to start nailing down these details and to create a solid plan for marathon day.  It also helps that all of these foods are very portable, so I will have no problems bringing them with me to Vermont.  I have to thank my sister Laura, my brother-in-law Shawn, and my niece and nephew Meghan and Ryan for getting me an awesome training notebook for Christmas.  Without it, I wouldn't have been able to document all these little details and realize what was working and what wasn't.

It's very scientific to record what you've done to prepare and what the outcome was (i.e. what you ate vs. how your run went).  I would highly recommend keeping a training log to anyone thinking of tackling a marathon.  It's been an integral component of my training thus far.

So....next week's long run is the dreaded 15 miles (GULP!).  It presents a mental hurdle for me because 15 miles was the longest distance I've ever run, and during that run, I self-destructed and finished limping, hurting, walking during parts, and tottering around like Frankenstein for 4 days afterwards.  I have to admit that I ended up doing 15 accidentally (yes, you CAN run 15 miles accidentally...especially when all these country roads look the same), but all the same, this 15 miles seems as big a challenge to me as the 26.2 that I'm training for in May.

Fan Club

So I am guilty -- I ALMOST wussed out of my long run today.  I was not feeling very gung-ho about tackling 13 miles and wondered if I would be really at a loss if I skipped it.  However, I had a pep talk from one of my most inspirational sources, and someone who happens to be President of my Fan Club (j/k):  my mom.

She really got on my case about not running today, and it was exactly what I needed to push my way out the door.  I had set up an aid station just inside my garage door and did a four-mile loop around my neighborhood three times (the final time, I extended the distance by one mile to make 13 miles total).  Each time I stopped at my homemade aid station to swap out my waterbottle, my "Fan Club" was there cheering me on with great zeal.  Who couldn't be motivated by that?

It made me think during my run (on these long runs, BOY do you have time to think!) about how important it is to have someone -- anyone -- in your corner to help you stay focused.  Because being unmotivated is normal, but we have to find something that makes us go after our goals anyway.  And in the times we can't find that something within ourselves, it is so important to have positive people around us to keep cheering us on.  Today I had my mom, but I also know that I have great friends following my progress, posting comments on this blog and on Facebook, and asking me how my training is going at work or school.  Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to give me a positive word -- everything you have done helps me remember my goals and keeps me focused towards them.

So, surprisingly enough, on a day that I felt even a three-miler down the road and back would obliterate me, I finished 13 miles strong and happy.  That's about half the marathon distance.  With 12 weeks of training left until the marathon, I'm well on my way!

It's becoming REAL!!!

So I received an email this morning from the Shires of Vermont marathon crew asking all participants whether or not they've secured their lodging accommodations yet.  While I'm not planning to stay there overnight given that it's a relatively short drive, my stomach turned a little bit because this race is now becoming very REAL!

Before it was easy to distance myself from it because it seemed so far away -- it's 5 months away...still got 4 months...etc.  But now I'm only 3 months off -- that's only 13 weeks left to train.  Yesterday's run was a challenging 12 miles, but I completed it without stopping.  The mental hurdles are becoming more of a challenge than the physical ones.  I really need to focus now for the second half of my training plan and, more importantly, my nutrition, which has still been a touch and go process.

90% of the time I've been eating very well -- small, clean meals spaced about 2-3 hours apart and fueling appropriately before and after my runs -- but after these long runs I become RAVENOUS!  I tear through the house and gobble down crackers, peanut butter sandwiches, whole grain pasta, nuts, protein bars -- anything I can find.  And I know I don't need that many calories!  So I need to develop a better, consistent fueling strategy on my long run days so I don't turn into the Tasmanian Devil afterward.

Yesterday I ate my breakfast of a bowl of steel cut oats, a banana, and a cup of soy milk, did my run (during which I sipped diluted Gatorade from my Camelback pack -- which I acknowledged was not enough carbs), drank down a glass of chocolate soy milk immediately when I got home, and then followed that up with soup and a sandwich about an hour later.  And I still ransacked the cupboards that night!  So now that I know what to expect on these days, I can plan appropriately.  Maybe I will add an extra meal that day so that mentally I know I have one more feeding and won't be tempted to shove whatever I find into my face.

Have any other runners out there experienced this and have any tips I can use?  I really want to lean out as best I can before the marathon to shed unnecessary weight (and in so doing becoming faster!), and this hurdle keeps slowing my progress.

In the meantime, I'll keep plugging away.  Three miles today!

Renewed Motivation

Doesn't it always seem to be the way the universe works that, just when I hit my stride with a fantastic week, I follow it up with the worst one yet?

Last week I did not feel like running.  At all.  I forced myself to do two runs, but I was totally burnt out between work, school, the general funk of wintertime, and everything else to do more.  My motivation was gone and I was wondering why I signed up for the marathon in the first place.

So I did what I knew I should do.  I took a step back.  If it wasn't fun anymore, why do it?  As much as I knew physically it would be a set-back, I knew that I needed to overcome this mental hurdle if I wanted to succeed.  And I'd bought myself some extra time by starting my marathon plan two weeks early.

A little break was exactly what I needed.  I entered this week with renewed purpose.  I ran yesterday -- it was fun again.  I'm looking forward to my longer run tomorrow.  I remembered why I signed up for the marathon and I'm ready to go after it.

BRING IT!!!