Thursday, August 14, 2008

It felt slow but...

I went faster than on my previous long-ish runs. Today we did six (in preparation for 8 on Sunday). I went out trying to run at least 5/walk 1, but after a few miles started walking a lot more. It seemed like I was just poking along, walking too much, but when I calculated it out, my pace was a hair faster than my previous 7 mile run and much faster than the 6 mile run a week before that. Could being 8 pounds lighter be starting to make a difference?

Next question, and I welcome all advice: I'm starting to think about nutrition strategy for the half-marathon. I want to start trying things out now so I know what I'm comfortable with. What do you eat / drink before, during, and after long runs, and how often do you eat while you're running? I have gu's which are OK but it takes a long time to get the stickiness out of my mouth. The gummi things (moon blobs or whatever they're called by Clif and Luna) are nice. I've seen people talk about eating potato chips. I don't want to carry a smorgasbord with me - what's usually offered on the way at marathons?

2 comments:

Unknown said...

For a half-marathon and for my longish runs I carry a fuel belt with accelerade. I will usually bring one or two gels, but I don't care much for those. I use them at about mile 4.5 & 9.

Nutrition strategy is highly personal. You'll need to try things and see what works for you.

Michelle said...

I have very little experience but so far I've tried AccelGel and ShotBlox. The gel is, well, gel, so you have to down some water after. The shotblox take a while to chew and get down. Both seem to work pretty well. Have fun experimenting!