Trail Running

[DomB]

Um I think I am drifting but can't find a 'Today's Run' thread. Did the Suffolk County Half Marathon today. Ran fast for me but probably more in the slow zone: 13.1 miles, 10:00 pace, 2:11:48. My prior PR was 2:24:37, (around 11:02 pace) and the Father's Day weekend half a few months after the broken shoulder was 2:25.

I was happy with the result. Ran negative splits. There was a pretty strong headwind miles 5-8, and a wonderful tailwind 8.5-12. My maple syrup/espresso/salt fuel worked well.

Eating lots of healthy food and sitting on the couch now watching football. Cool to run over the 3 mile bridge that crosses from Long Island onto the islands leading to Fire Island. They shut down the north bound bridge for a few miles. No actual running pics this year as I was focused on time and feel.

 

[Peter Minde]

Chapeau. Was the maple syrup/espresso/salt a gel or a drink. I'd be curious about the proportions.

I was into Untapped's maple syrup ginger drink mix for a while. In a trail half marathon, though, it became quite cloying.

 

[DomB]

Chapeau. Was the maple syrup/espresso/salt a gel or a drink. I'd be curious about the proportions.

I was into Untapped's maple syrup ginger drink mix for a while. In a trail half marathon, though, it became quite cloying.

I researched the heck out of it. The salt part depends on your sweat factor (i am a heavy sweater). For four doses at 30-45 minutes: 8 tbsp maple syrup; 3 tbsp espresso (liquid); 1/2 teaspoon table salt. I think that ends up being like 800 mg of sodium. It could be that the liquid from the espresso helps to push back on the clogging. I was also separately taking a bunch of water (see below).

I have been doing 3/8 teaspoon but chat gpt said based on 60 degrees and wind I should go to 1/2 teaspoon to increase sodium amount.

Of course, your mileage may vary, I am certainly not a reliable source to solely rely on. The good thing about maple syrup is that it has pretty equal amounts of glucos and fructos (two simple sugars) that your body can use (though a bio person told me yesterday that wasn't right, so there you go, I am probably not super reliable).

For fueling, this recipe makes about 150 ml. I got a resuable small bite bottle. I took 1/4 5 minutes before the race, 1/4 45 in, 1/4 like 85 minutes in, and the last quarter about 115 minutes in.

Drinking: drink to thirst and have coffee in morning, including 1 liter of hydration fluid that is finished at least 2 hours before race. 5 minutes before race drink 8 ounces. Then tried to take (by eye obviously) 4-8 ounces of water at each aid station that were about 2 miles apart. Worked well.

For me, that meant waking up at 4:30 for a 7:30 am race.

I also practice everything in at least one long run (wake up, eating, full kit, full fueling). This go around I practiced kit and wakeup stuff separately just because of how life worked out. When I can, 48 hours before the race I drink 2 L of hydration fluid each day. I use Liquid IV and water for hydration fluid.

 

[DomB]

This is my fuel bottle that I use: https://thefeed.com/products/flow-f...326&gbraid=0AAAAADpLaea7V5AOzBXNksDH1btWY4XYM

 

[DomB]

Ok - longest stretch running indoors during this training block coming to an end (snow storm induced - yes I could have run yesterday in the rain but for a slow easy run I would have been like a bored, sad, wet dog).

This week

After finishing my coffee I am going to head out for 4.5 miles easy on that local trail I shared shots of. This is max volume week 1 in this half marathon training block, with a fair bit of quality - 38 miles and I guess I would say 2.5 quality sessions (I try to keep it to 2 per week):

-- pretty hard vo2max session (hard for me anyway) on Tuesday with 6-10 second hill sprints thrown in at the end; I was supposed to do 6 reps but lost count and accidentally did 8.

-- reduced intervals Thursday: 6.5 mi run with 3 x 1 km (usually do 1.5 mi; km is less than half the distance) at a bit below half marathon pace;

-- after today's trail run (4.5), tomorrow long run of 14.5 mi with optional 20 minute 'fast finish' at hm pace or better (hence the .5).

-- 3 easy days that are just recovery runs (6x per week total), like today's trail run. Running by feel and capping my heart rate to 148 (my personal top of zone 2) or if i happen to be on a hill, like 152-55 for that short stint. But also really trying to stay low at 136 or so.

The block

This is probably the second or third hardest week of the block. Week 9 of 12 I have another block this long with a little more race pace or faster, and then week 10 is less miles but probably harder specificity, including a test 11 or so miles with 7.5-8 miles at half marathon pace. I am both not looking forward to that one and looking forward to. The last two weeks will be a taper and race.

Who doesn't hate treadmills?

I forgot how much i dislike running on a treadmill. I did learn one new trick if it is helpful to you all - it becomes a bit more entertaining if you move around the incline to 0-2. Not enough to really add more fatigue, but there is something about the change that makes it psychologically more engaging.

It ain't just the training

One thing that i think has helped me so far is that I treat the nutrition and sleep (YES SLEEP) side of what I am doing as part of the training block. This helps recovery and puts you in a place to perform.

I am also learning to respect the warm up and cool down. Those parts can be very, very boring - you are allowing your heart rate to come up or go down slowly so you tend to be going slow and smooth - slower and smoother than zone 2. When done in a quality session it can feel like you are crawling.

Stay tuned to see slow dude run a short race with fast people

I plan to switch to 5k race prep next, changing from another half. That is slotted for March 28. I will peak at 39 mpw in that block, but much more intense shorter quality sessions, cuts to my long runs, and apparently no fast finishes in the long runs (it is not specific to the 5k race, so it doesn't help to train your brain or body to do them). The wierd thing is that since I started with the marathon time and am working my way back now (will go back to marathon in October), I have to learn how to train for each of these distances.

Training thoughts and goals

So far, I really, really like half marathon training. It is a short enough race that it does not take over your life and the recovery is days to weeks vs. a month for the marathon. Also, because it is shorter, you can actually push pace.

Goals are moving. I am now thinking about 1:55 for this half. Not sure about goals for the 5k yet. For the marathon, I am looking at shaving an hour plus from 14 months ago. Actually not impressive, since I did everything except for fueling and hydration wrong! Ok - rant over. Get out there and have fun skiing.

PS - Pete sorry yesterday didn't work out. It was not worth it! Looking forward to getting all together with Jason and FRK and all you all.