This is getting closer and this week would be the last push before the start of the annoying taper period. While confidence wise I am good, sure that I will make it this time (unlike last year that I had to abandon my marathon plan due to knee issues). Yet, the nervous remains latent and maybe increasing, mostly because I worry that I trip over something or twist ankle in a non-running related ways. Fortunately, none of these happen this week and finger crossed it continues this way. What I noticed more this week is the amount of food I need to consume to feel full/satisfied/not hangry. My strategy is to eat at the first sign of hunger creeping up, no matter what time it is. I find the combination of multigrain rice with sweet potato paired with beans is a good fueling for my 51 miles this week. Okay… let’s review what I did, especially my thoughts during the 20 miler. OH yes, I decided to ignore the plan and throw a 20 miler to be sure that my joints can sustain that long.
Monday: rest day. the first half of the day I was wondering whether I’d be ready for Tuesday workout given how tired I felt. Second half of the day, I felt recovered. I still get amazed how my body can endure and recover so fast.
Tuesday: progressive run. 30 min easy (10.20), 10 min at 9:06, 6 min at 8:37, 3 min at 8:06, then cool down, totally 6.9 miles. My mind focused on the segment and when it was the last 9 min of fast finish, I imagined the last 1-2 miles of the race, victory is close, just hang on.
Wednesday: 8.15 miles easy, although felt less easy than usual. Oh well… sometimes it happens that perceived effort is more than physiological one as my HR averaged 127.
Thursday: 60 min race pace, total 9.36 miles with warm up and cool down. the workout segment average 8:51, which I felt was manageable with effort toward 7/10 by the last 2 miles as it was uphill. I took gel every 20 min during the workout segment. I can now confidently say that frequent carb ingest helps with perceived effort. I still can’t take a full gel at one go as it bothers my stomach, so I am taking more frequently and half gel per time. It seems to be a good compromise.
Friday: the effort has sinked in, I was sleepy and tired for most part of the day.
Saturday: 60 min easy run, averaged 10.39. guess what, when I run with kayano gel my pace slows down 15-20 secs per mile. That’s okay as I won’t be racing with it and good to use plain shoes for recovery run.
Sunday: big day as I was aiming (ideally) 20 miles and at least 16-18 depending how i feel and the sun situation. Brasilia is getting sunrise at 5:40am and super sunny by 7:30am. I can handle hill, I can handle heat, but I can’t handle sun on my face. So the night before I went to bed super early, aiming to fall asleep at 8pm to wake up at 4am. More or less I accomplished that, and started my run at 5:05am when it was still dark. I ran 15 min within my condominio before going out when it was not super dark anymore. The first hour I felt so so, not great nor too bad. Then I reminded myself that I used to feel better after 10 miles so let me get there and decide when to end this run. Not surprisingly, i felt better after 9 miles and had good 4 miles faster pace before the start of rolling hills. After 14 miles, I knew I could finish 20 miles, especially if I can avoid the last 1.5 miles of uphill with sun. After 16 miles, I took a toilet break, re-applied sunscreen, texted husband to pick me up so I can finish without exposed to the sun. I finished 20.3 miles, feeling strong and happy. I took 1/2 pack gel starting from mile 5, half with caffeine, half without. They helped to sustain my energy and attitude stable, never really went to pain cave. This run gave me the confidence that I’ll arrive prepared. So happy! What did I think during the run? music playlist, calculating distance (how many loops do I need to do inside the jardim botanico), whether I should or should not run back, how am i liking the flavor of the gel, should I push harder? how does 145 vs. 160 HR make me feel; and I really need to get a hat that can cover my entire face!
Total miles: 51
Strength training: 2 slimfit
Runners’ yoga: twice 15-20 min.
For fellow runners, have you changed your fueling strategy in recent years? I think the consensus now is more carb is better.
