LR today since I didn't do one last week. A couple of good news': a) my body felt pretty ok, it will really be a great blessing if I am able to ride the wave of the hills I have run this past week. B) maybe due to long and hard LRs in prior weeks, 16.86 decently chill miles on the W&OD seems extremely manageable.
Less good news: A) This run felt much more difficult than 6:16 pace. I would have pinned it as sub-6. B) I used some gel my father in law gave me. The copyright date was 2015, meaning it likely expired in 2016. I specifically took the one with caffeine in it. It tasted fine, but during the end of the run and afterwards I felt some cramping and a little other abnormal discomfort. I hadn't considered the fact that after taking a caffeineited gel, it wouldn't be easy to discern between discomfort that is simply a normal part of the back end of a long run on a humid day on the W&OD vs. something due to caffeine that will impair my race performance. Before the memory gets hazy, I'll say right here that I really don't think I normally get those type of cramps. Who knows what would happen when taking 2-3 gels over the course of an hour or two. C) Less importantly, it's funny how the W&OD has lost a good amount of its luster after I've become accustomed to the gateway trail, which overall I prefer to this. It's still nice to come to, but it's not the experience it once was.
So now I have an important decision to make about what to do on race day. One option would be to wear my grey shorts and pack two of my gels with me, then maybe to take a caffeineted one near the end. Its kind of frustrating prepping for the marathon beacause unfortunately it's no longer as simple as "who's the fastest, toughest runner" and instead involves who has the time, money, and stomach to perfect the ideal nutritional concotion to keep glucose going without upsetting their stomach.
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