Eating while Running

I mentioned a few days ago I tried a new recipe for eating during long training runs.  I found it in a biking publication and it sounded good--whole wheat, uncooked oatmeal, raisins, nuts, fructose, milk.  I whipped up a batch Friday night and tried them on both my long runs over the weekend.

The early grade?  OK, but needs tweaking.  I over-cooked them.  They were pretty dry.  I needed to cut them into quarters before tossing them in a baggie to carry with me.  But, it was nice to eat some solid food and, having made it myself, I knew what was in it.

I also carried some of my JoeGu, a recipie which I've had more experience tweaking.  That stuff works great and is very easy to carry and digest on the run.

Yet, there's something nice about "chewing food"...

Will continue to tweak this new adventure.


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B2B

ORN:  12.0 miles, 2:06:52, 10:35/mile

B2B.  I always thought this was a marketing term-"Business to Business".  But I've recently learned it is also an ultrarunning training term-"Back to Back".  Taking two long runs on one weekend.

I've never done this until today but realized I needed to amp up my mileage if I'm going to survive the Kal Haven 33.5 mile run in late March.  So, this is the first of three consecutive weekends of doing B2Bs.  If I get through all three, I'll do Kal Haven...if not, I won't.

And I was amazed.

18 yesterday was enjoyable.  Did a 4/1 and just kept moving.  Today was surprisingly enjoyable.  12 more miles, just kept moving and a pace 3 sec/mile faster than yesterday.  No pain.  Felt good at the end.

So, test one of three--passed.

Now, something about a football game tonight??  For the second largest eating day in America, after Thanksgiving???!

Persevere.  Even in a pile of nacho cheese chips.


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An Ambassadorial Run

ORN:  18.0 miles, 3:18:08, 10:38/mile

Today's long run route took me past a hotel which is conveniently located for refilling water bottles and use of facilities.  Walking past the lobby this morning, though, I noticed a lot of New York Giants decorations, an unusual sight here in central Indiana.  I asked and learned this hotel was full of Giants fans, happy to have a place to stay, even 60 miles from the Super Bowl site in Indy.

Heading out to resume my run, I saw two guys in Giant jackets, smoking big stogies, and so I walked over to welcome them to Indiana and our fair city.  We had a fun talk about Eli and Peyton and cornfields and their homes in New Joysee.  As I was heading off, one of them asked "So, is this Midwestern hospitality?"  Yeah, I guess so.  "Amazing...people are actually friendly."

Winning friends, one at a time!!


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The Muffin Man

After the discouragement of last weekend's cut-short long run, I revamped some training plans during the week and this weekend is the first test.  

Part of it is nutrition.  Found a recipe for "Energy Muffins" a while back, and whipped up a batch tonight.  All sorts of good stuff in them, both carbs and protein.  Will carry some with me tomorrow for what I hope is an 18 miler.

Let you know tomorrow how it goes and what the plan is looking like.  I have three weeks in which to decide go/no go for the Kal Haven 33.5 miler.

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February a "shorts" month?

5:30am.  February 1.  In Indiana.  

And I'm out the door, in shorts, running on dry pavement.  

Amazing.  

We have enough wicked bad winters, I'll sure take this mild one. 

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I'm a Race Director for the Circular Logic Marathon!

Haven't mentioned in this space a fun running experiment this spring for me.

I'm the Race Director the The Circular Logic Marathon on March 31.  The whole idea came up a year ago...I wondered if we couldn't have a simple, small, low-cost marathon here in West Lafayette.  I had hoped we could do an indoor marathon at the nice indoor track at Purdue but that didn't work out.  So, I proposed to our local running we try another venue, a city park nearby.   Lots of us run on the park's paved trails and, with a little creativity, we mapped out a 1.0 mile loop in the park. 

So, we launched it late last year.  We've been getting registrations weekly but it's a small race so far, just under 30 at the moment.   We do have the famous Larry Macon running, though...Larry is famous for holding the world record for the most marathons run in a calendar year...113 in 2011.  It'll be cool to meet Larry.

I'm finding it fascinating to organize a race.  I did this to "give back"...I enjoy running so much and how many, many volunteers have made all those races happen.  So, this is a way of saying "thanks" in a small way too. 

I'll keep you posted on how this race rolls along...we'd love to have you or your friends come and run 26 laps in a nice park!!

Persevere...round and round...persevere.

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2012 Race Plans

ORN:   17 miles

So where will I run this year??  I'm actually having a bit of a quandry in setting up the schedule, complicated a bit more today when I had to cut my planned 22 mile run short, to do only 17.  Is this a way to be set for a 54K trail run in 8 weeks??  I'm having doubts.

Well, anyway, here's what I have registered for at this point:

• March 24-- Kal-Haven 33.5 Mile Trail Race, Kalamazoo, Michigan.  I ran this last year, did not finish strong and want to do it better this year.  I'm not sure I'm set, though.  
• April 21--Carmel Marathon, Carmel, Indiana (N of Indy).  2nd year for this race, just an hour from my home.  They moved it to a great date, so I'm taking a shot at it.
• May 26--Bayshore Marathon, Traverse City, Michigan.  I've been wanting to run this highly-regarded race for three years and only got it now...the marathon sold out in 4 days in December.  Along Lake Michigan, for the Memorial Day weekend.  
• August 25--North Country Trail Marathon, Manistee, Michigan.  Well into the northern Michigan woods, I'm really looking forward to this trail race at the end of the summer. 

It also appears likely Wes, Darrell and I may have a get together in November at the Chicamunga Battlefield Marathon...stay tuned for details.  

Made a couple of simplifying changes to this blog as well.  On the sidebar, I just have two race links.  One is an updated list of all my races I could find, 105 in all as of today.  Feel free to peruse, there are multiple tabs.  The other is a list of my planned races...both the ones I'm signed up for and the ones I'm still wondering if I'll enter.  

I have a couple of other changes in mind for how I run this blog...that should become evident soon.  

Persevere!!  

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