Run with Kelly and Leah

Ran with Leah and Kelly again yesterday evening.  After dropping Bailey off at SPAC I fought the traffic back to Carmel Mountain Ranch and ran a shortened version of their loop from RBHS, going north on Paseo Lucido to Bernardo Heights to Pomerado and then up Twin Peaks/Camino del Norte.  I cut through a path that took me to the lower parking lot at RBHS and completed the warmup lap at the upper parking lot where I met Leah and Kelly.  Only 3.2 miles, but I was short on time and still, even with the shortened route, was 10 minutes late.

They were waiting though.  Again, no other runners from their running group could join us.  I didn't mind.  I specifically want to run at the slower pace.  I needed a recovery day after the last two tougher workouts and with the big one coming up this weekend.  We started off right about 6:30 and the 10-minute mile or so pace felt so relaxing.

We did the full 5-mile circuit, and I decided it was getting late so I said goodbye at the corner of Pomerado and Twin Peaks where the road starts a long steady climb.  I wanted to pump up that hill and finish hard and strong.  Total distance for me was a tad over 8 miles.

I ran in the K-Swiss.  They felt good, though I was feeling a little tight in the calves after about 3 miles of the slower pace.  Not sure if that was the effect of the shoes or the altered gait.  I'll keep an eye on that.  I feel okay this morning.

After the run, I was famished.  Joan brought home a footlong turkey breast Subway sub for me, and I wound up eating the whole thing.  And I was STILL hungry.  It kind of makes sense since I was below par on calorie intake for the day despite doing a spin class at noon and over an hour of light running in the evening.  I figured that had to have been a 1500-exercise-calorie burn day, which would mean I'd need over 3000 coming in to break even.  On my weekend long run days that happens, where I'll run for 2 1/2 to 3 hours and then find myself hungry for the rest of the day or the next day.  It seems like I forget until after the fact that in order to perform well, I need to have the calories to burn...which means I need to fuel.

It's been pointed out to me by several people that my problem with running beyond 16-18 miles is mostly likely due to depletion of my ready calorie stores in glycogen.  To push through that, I need to eat during my run: things like gels, beans, shot blox...whatever it takes to keep from having to ramp up fat as an energy source. I'd rather eat bananas or protein bars than the goos and gels, but I can't stand to run with a lot of gear or packs.  I've been thinking about the logistics of my long run coming up, and I'm planning on hiding some caches of water and food at a couple spots -- none more than 5 miles apart from each other -- and see if that doesn't make a difference.

Race day rules:

1. Plenty of sleep the night before (and the night before that...which means starting tonight).
2. Water, water, water...before, during and after
3. No run the day before to stay fresh (which means one last short mileage run today)
4. Start fueling well in advance of fatigue...energy gel or Clif blox with water.
5. Pace: start slow...force myself to relax and not exceed 9:00 miles for the first 10.

Last chance to prove to myself that I can do 26.2