Stats:
Distance: 26.28mi
Time: 5:10:55
Elevation Gain: 2117 ft
Pace: 11:49 min/mi
Avg HR: 154
Max HR: 168
Location: Douglas County East-West Trail in Highlands Ranch, Highlands Ranch Back Country, and The Bluffs Regional Park in Lone Tree.
Start Time: 3:00am
Sunrise: 6:25am
Feet: Merrell Trail Gloves
Visibility: Dark - no moon, and no cloud cover.
Temp: High 60's - Mid 70's.
Note: Nope, I'm not very fast, but I've only been running for about 10 months, and have worked on endurance, more than speed. Maybe I'll start working on that after the Bear Chase.
I'd been sick all week with only 11.0 total miles 'run'. This was suppose to be last weekends long run but I had to abandon that due to sickness. I started out cautiously as during my two short runs during the week, if my HR got high, it would keep going higher and higher and I could never recover it, even at easy effort. Walking at 20:00 pace had me at 130 HR. So, my pace ended up about 0:50 min/mi less than I had hoped for overall today. Lots of walking throughout and more than I would have liked but I wanted to play it safe. My calves were super tight for about the first 6 miles too, but finally loosened up. That seems to be fairly normal for me on my long runs, and I chalk it up to jumping out of bed on short sleep and diving right into my run at 3:00am. Perceived exertion was greater than normal and the effort felt like my pace should have been about 1:00 min/mi faster than it was.
By mile 7 or so I started to find a bit of a comfort zone but still was trying to be careful. I think I may have played it too careful though, and maybe should have pushed a but harder through the middle stages but I wanted to get my distance and not make my HR get out of control again. I seem to have an issue where, when I start intentionally slow, I can never seem to increase my pace by very much. If I start out fast(er), I seem fine and can maintain it. Not sure if that's some kind of mental thing or what, but again, I didn't want to test it with my HR issues earlier in the week.
By mile 20 my legs were hurting and burning, and had to really push through it to get my miles. I totally ran out of liquid with 1 mile to go (stopped at the only water fountain on the whole route and re-filled my hand-held) but had been in conservation mode since mile 20. Definitely got dehydrated on this run, and need to come up with some kind of strategy to carry more water. A second handheld maybe? My weight was only down about 2% post run, which isn't too bad but that was after chugging 32 oz of H2O and Recovery all within the last mile. So, it's probably more like 3.5%.
I used PowerBar Ironman Perform Lemon-Lime mix for the first time today. That's what is being used in the Bear Chase race and I had no GI issues with it which is what I needed to test. Also used GU Roctane Gel for the first time which I'll probably use for the race. It works well and could feel a boost from it. I would have preferred to test GU Roctane last week and then Powerbar this week but had no choice because I'm running out of long runs before Sept. 25th. I've been using Hammer Perpetuem Solids but wanted to try something else, since choking those things down is brutal and I'm not sure that I'm getting a whole lot of benefit from them.
I felt like my breathing was really sloppy today too, and I had a real tough time controlling and managing it. I was never huffing and puffing, but just was not being efficient. My cadence seemed fine though (I try to maintain 180), but am really disappointed in the Merrell Trail Gloves and their durability (or lack thereof). With today's run I have only 220mi on them - and the soles are pretty much worn right through on the bottom outside edges - right where I must land on them just behind my pinky toes. I land on the outside of my foot and roll inwards towards my big toe. Does that make me a supinator? I'm going to have to use them sparingly before the Bear Chase if I want to make it through with them. The wear got a lot worse even just today. I'll definitely have to contact Merrell about them. Other than the wear, they are awesome shoes and way more rugged than the Vibram Five Fingers. After long runs in the VFF's, my feet would feel like hamburger. Not so with the MTG's. I can cruise over terrain in the MTG's that I would have to tiptoe over in the VFF's.
 |
| You can see the wear on the MTG's after only 220mi. The VFF's are practically pristine with about 500mi on them. |
Fueling today:
15 minutes before run -
1x scoop Powerbar Ironman Perform w/ 16oz H2O + 1x GU Gel w/ caffeine
During run -
3x scoops Powerbar Ironman Perform w/ 70oz H2O in pack
2x scoops Powerbar Ironman Perform w/ 24oz H2O in handheld (used starting mile 20)
1/2 hour - GU Gel w/ caffeine,
1 hour - GU Gel w/ caffeine,
1.5 hours - GU Roctane Gel,
2 hours - GU Gel w/ caffeine,
2.5, 3, 3.5, 4, 4.5 hours - GU Roctane Gel
24 oz H2O - water-fountain stop
5 x total S! Caps on the hour marks
After run -
Recovery - 1 x Hammer Recoverite and again 1/2 hour later.
Strangely quiet animal wise on the trails today - except for the 1 prairie rattler I had to circumvent in the Back Country. It was at about 6:30am so he was probably still a little sleepy and cold. Still, I like to give a little 'Hu-ah!' every once in a while though, especially when it's still dark. No sense in surprising a big buck or who knows what else in the pitch black.
No comments:
Post a Comment