Fuel Fuel Fuel
1:09:00 – 6.5 miles
I’ve had 2 flights across the country, several conference calls, and time at a hotel bar to reflect on my 8th marathon that was a week ago. Overall, I still look back at the marathon with a smile and enjoyed the experience. What makes me smile the most is knowing that I was part of 70 people that raised over $101,000 for the American Cancer Society. In fact, I am working with them to do more … but that will be a topic of another post.
A fellow runner kept pointing out my comment I made to them following the race:
Why is running an ultramarathon easier then running a marathon?
During the marathon, it was about mile 10 I felt “the bad” coming on. This was not a wall, as that feeling I know (and look for) from past running. The feeling was more nauseau and a conversation between stomach and chest. Not the feeling that I’m going to hurl on the next spectator holding a sign, but just more of an uncomfortable feeling.
I’m a bit weird in the sense that I like to find patterns and the root problem to an issue. So when comparing what I did on the 50 mile run to the marathon, the biggest different was fuel. On the 50 mile run, starting at the aid station mile 13.5, it was like a 12 year old’s buffet. PBJ, chip, pretzels, candy, fruit, and soda. Yum! On the marathon course, every 2 miles you get water and Gatorade. Boring.
On this particular marathon, I ran with a hydrapack so covered on the water front. I had a GU at mile 5, HoneyStinger Waffle at 9, and GU at mile 14. Then I stopped eating. At that point I was walking and not thrilled with myself, so didn’t feel like I needed to eat. Classic mistake by me. Even when walking, you still need to eat!
During the 50 mile run, the rule was to eat every 20 minutes no matter what. I also had a support crew at each aid station that would take inventory of my supplies and (politely most of the time) tell me to increase my eating. There are also quite a few less (600 versus 15,000) other runners on the course, so the urge to feel like I’m racing everyone is not there.
Basically, if I want to have a better finishing time, I need to keep fueling the engine. Duh.
