I felt a little bit like Forrest Gump this weekend with my running plans, but I am happy to say I survived my longest back-to-back runs to date, and I feel great. Like really great. It's weird. I'm excited to know that my legs seem to be recovering quickly from the heavy back-to-back miles, but I am also cautious as I know it can and will eventually catch up with me. My training plan has another big mileage weekend this weekend, and then two step back weekends with lower mileage (which fall in nicely with a 5k race on schedule one weekend, and an out of town wedding the following weekend). So far, the only causalities I've noticed from 50-miler training is some gnarly chafing. My Garmin wrist band and my sports bra seem to be the main culprits.
Anyway - the stats - total weekly mileage was 71.21 miles.
Friday - REST
Saturday - 26.2 miles/3:28/7:56 avg pace
Sunday - 18.05 miles/8:43 avg pace
Monday - EASY 3.5 mile recovery run on the trails for Labor Day
I was very fortunate to have great company on both my Saturday and Sunday runs which made the miles fly by. Having company on long runs such as those makes all the difference.
Nutrition during this type of race is still a question mark for me. Since I've still not yet gone past 26.2, I've not done anything different than I would normally do for a marathon. I've never been one to take in a lot during a race -usually 2 - 2.5 gu's during a marathon -but I know this will be something I need to practice with. I think I will be able to get pretty far on gu's alone from my experience with Ironman (although a different beast, still time on your feet). For Ironman, I took in all liquid gels, minus 1/2 peanut butter/jelly sandwich, which will probably be my go to food again.
Speaking of food, I've been eating like a champ...I'm hungry all.the.time. I don't think I went more than an hour at a time after Saturday's run when I wasn't eating. I tend to eat a lot anyways, but I've noticed quite a spike in our grocery bill as of late. I need to be conscious of refueling with healthy options that provide proper nutrients...unfortunately, I don't think this weekend's choices of Freebirds (Mexican), Chuy's (Mexican), Buffalo Wild Wings or cookie dough ice cream really fit the bill.
I hope everyone had a great weekend. We've got cooler temps in Texas this week which make running so much more pleasant!
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Great weekend of running!! I am glad you are feeling good today too. The body is amazing as it adjusts to the "abuse", isn't it?
ReplyDeleteI have to start figuring out my nutrition too on the race course. I have never raced with more than just gels/jelly beans. I am thinking about incorporating some pretzels/pbj. I don't want to do anything too out of the ordinary. What hydration system/method do you use?
Oh yes - I am hungry ALL THE TIME! I eat constantly and my belly growls in every meeting. An hour after breakfast, I am hungry again!
Thanks, Jessica! Peanut butter pretzels would be a good option - I've used those on bike rides, but I think they would be pretty easy to digest while running. I think PBJ's will do the trick as well.
ReplyDeleteAs far as hydration, I just stick to water and gatorade. I tried Nuun this weekend, but it was too fizzy for me. I am probably in the minority, but I am not carrying water with me in a camel back or hand held water bottle. For some reason, it drives me crazy to carry stuff while I'm running. In training, I plan my long runs with a few water stops (water fountains or we set out water ahead of time) along the route, so I think for JFK I am just going to rely on aid stations for fluids. It looks like they will have plenty of aid stations out there, and I will probably take in fluids at most, if not all, of those.
Oh yum! LOVE Freebirds!!!! And Chuy's! I feel like I need to do the same thing. Choose healthier food, so it's not as bad if I eat a lot. Because I am a big eater too :)
ReplyDeleteGreat running lately Erin! You are preparing for an excellent ultra. As for nutrition, you have seen some of my thoughts already, but as I move forward, i think I will continue with gels about 1 per 5 miles or so for the first 25-30 miles and then try to get some solid food in (PB&J has always been my go-to food, especially for race day breakfast of late) and then supplement with gels.
ReplyDeletewhile my 30 miler went great nutrition wise this past weekend, my last (and longest) race, a half ironman, had me wrecked as i could not take in any nutrition of any kind. Nothing sounded the least bit good, and i paid for it in performance. anyway, thinking i may post something about the ironman and the difference a year makes!
You are motivating the hell out of me with your training, so keep killing it!