So earlier today I wrote that forces had conspired against me to prevent me from running on Friday and Saturday. Friday I fully intended to go home and get to the gym but Annie called me at work and wanted to go shopping. Being the accomadative fiance that I am, I agreed so long as she stopped by my apartment and got my Banana Republic gift card that I have been waiting to use for about 6 months now. So we went to the mall instead of to the gym and I got a nice new pair of dark brown pants for casual Fridays.
Saturday I woke up with every intention of getting to the gym at some point. Annie was working on young artist applications and stuff for her graduate assistanship, so I had practically the whole afternoon to myself. I went to the REI store in Timonium and bought myself an awesome new North Face fleece, a pair of running socks made for men's shoe sizes 12-15 (I wear size 14!), the Clif Bar seasonal flavor (Spiced Pumpkin is excellent) and three Clif Shots (Razz, Vanilla and Apple Pie flavors). These were my first Clif Shots and I was a little hesitant to buy them for the simple reason that I don't honestly feel that mt running necessitates them. This despite the fact that I am running 8 miles for my long runs, which demands more of a refueling effort than Gatorade now. When I hear people say they took a gel at mile 20, something inside me thinks, "You're barely running 8 miles. YOu don't need to use gels yet." Nevermind that the person had already taken a gel at mile 8 an hour before.
Anyway, on my way back into Baltimore I also drove over to the Maryland Zoo to see where I'd have to go for the Zoo Zoom next Sunday. After making it to the Zoo, I got lost trying to get back to the highway before making it back home. I got home around 3, ate some lunch and watched some of the Navy-Notre Dame game. Any time I can see Notre Dame lose is a good time for me. The gym closes at 4 on the weekends so I was going to go down to the workout room in our apartment building around 5 after I had had time to digest. 5 PM rolls around and I get down there only to find both treadmills occupied. I was meeting Annie at 6:45, so I really didn't have time to wait around and thus, my attempts at running were foiled.
Today I got up early because of the time change and got to the gym around 10 AM. I decided to employ a simple fueling strategy for my run today. About 15 minutes before leaving for the gym, I ate a Vanilla Crisp Power Bar. When I was running, I waited until I had run about an hour (mile 6...slow yes, but easily calculated) before trying the Razz gel shot. After managing to dry my hands enough to tear the foil, I just went for it and squeezed the whole thing in my mouth best I could. It tasted like rasberry flavored energy goop, which is exactly what it is. I forced it down and chased it with a couple swigs of Gatorade. This basic strategy helped tremendously! I had a comfortable time getting to mile 5 and only started to get tired between mile 5 and 6, and even then I wasn't hurting...just mildly uncomfortable. It took about 10-15 minutes for the gel to fully kick in but it helped keep the cramps from my abdomen and took all the burning out of my legs. When I got to 8 miles, I felt that I could ahve gone for 10 if I had to. I felt worlds better than I have the past 2 weeks when I've run 8 miles. That coupled with a conscious effort to drink plenty of water after the run probably helped me feel normal today. My legs are tired, but that's par for the course.
So, I am going to stick with that simple fueling strategy for my long runs from now on. Power Bar before, one gel every hour or so afterwards.
And finally, the Redskins pulled out a victory over the lowly Jets today, which made me quite happy. They have little chance at winning the NFC East so long as the Cowboys are around, but you never know. One bad Cowboys game and the Redskins are rulers of the division! It could happen!
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