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Sunday, December 03, 2006
15 Miles Back-to-Back
Run Time: 1:52:26
Total Miles to Date: 151.4
Thoughts on the Run:
Today was my first back-to-back run and first distance run after the half marathon. It was also my opportunity to try something new: the Amino packets I received from Succeed! along with the Succeed! electrolyte caps.
I woke up and ate one of my favorite breakfasts: 2 organic whole grain waffles with raspberries and blackberries on top. I also had several cups of coffee (actually one "cup" but my cup is so big it counts for several). I waited about an hour after eating and then prepared for the run.
I mixed two 20-ounce bottles with a packet of Amino each. Here's the breakdown for one packet (from the Succeed! website):
Calories: 146
Total fat: 0gm
Cholesterol: 0gm
Total carbohydrates: 36.5gm
Sugars: 2.6 gm
Protein: 1 gm
Sodium: 68 mg
Potassium: 8.2 mg
Ingredients list: maltodextrin, sucrose, Leucine, sodium chloride, citric acid, Valine, Isoleucine, Arginine, Glutamine, natural and artificial flavor, Ornithine, Glycine, Aspartic acid, Tyrosine, Glutamic acid, calcium pantothenate, potassium chloride, red 40, biotin.
As you can see, lots of carbohydrates though low sugar (but keep in mind the "complex" carbohydrate is maltodextrin which can be rapidly absorbed), no fructose (a lot of runners complain that fructose products cause stomach upset) and plenty of BCAA's.
After mixing this I took one of the electrolyte caps, put the other in a zip lock in my fuel belt to take one hour into the run.
My gear was my long-sleeved running shirt, shorts with long running pants over them, bandana, New Balance shoes with lots of baby powder inside, and of course my Garmin GPS.
I set off a nice, comfortable pace. I was treating this as a "base run" where I keep the effort light and build cardiovascular endurance and get used to the distance. First mile was still a respectable 10:07.
Second mile was 10:11. After the second mile, I stopped and drank 10 ounces of the Amino solution. That slowed my mile down to 11:03 but then I was back on a steady pace and finished mile 4 in 10:23.
After mile four, I had another 10 ounces of amino. So far, so good.
I reached mile 5 in 10:46. The sun began beating down on me. Despite it being in the 50s, it felt like the 80s and I was sweating (although still not as much as I normally would). I felt a bit queasy going up a rather long hill, so I stopped and walked it. At the top I hit 6 miles after doing a 11:02 despite the walking. I then had another 10 ounces of Amino and took my electrolyte cap.
The next few miles were tough. My stomach was a little queasy (though manageable), but I was hitting what felt like enormous hills. I did a lot of uphill walking and then picked up the pace downhill when I could. Mile 7 was 12:01. I reached mile 8 in 12:21 and I again had a lot of uphill, followed by taking a wrong turn and going into a cul-de-sac that I back-tracked out of. I finished the last 10 ounce of my Amino and was determined to finish strong.
Mile 9 climbed 100 feet at about a 5% grade. Not bad, but my energy was spent. I was determined not to stop and plugged my way to the top in 12:31. I then had quite a bit of downhill, so I kicked up the pace and made it to mile 10 in 10:10, a decent negative split. I then ran a little longer and polished off another .17.
Over all I averaged about 11:03 on the run, which is perfect to me for a "base building" pace. I could have probably slowed down a bit in the earlier miles and had better splits later in the run, but that is why it is all part of the learning experience.
My observations were that I definitely did NOT get the major stomach upset I've experienced on other longer runs, so I was happy with the electrolyte and amino combination. There were a few times it felt like I'd get queasy but it'd pass and I was able to keep on going. If anything, the heat took me by surprise and I could have probably used another 16 ounces of fluid on the run. I'll have to start doing more loop runs so I can stash extra water bottles along the way.
Best of all was this was immediately following a record 5 mile run so I feel fantastic about knocking out 15 miles in 2 days. I need to be able to handle this to build up the mileage for the marathon and ultimately the 50 mile race. I'm looking forward to continuing to build my pace and to faster recovery. I also noticed my heart rate went down very quickly after the run, a sign of improved fitness, and my scale weight only dropped a few pounds instead of 4 - 5 as it normally would. All in all, a great run.
I'm going to soak in the bath now.
Tomorrow is just some yoga and then a short 3-miler on Tuesday.
Until next time,
Jeremy Likness
posted by Jeremy Likness | 1:20 PM
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