Trying Out Gu

I went for my long run this morning, 21 k. Finished in 1:51:09. I have the hydration down pat now, using a skookum "fuel Belt" product. I started doing this ofter my run got long enough that I felt very bad after I topped 20 k, my arms went a bit numb! I realized that it was dehydration, and that I should be bringing something with me. Turns out after 1 hour, its wise to replenish your fluids, especially if you are like me and are "salted" after a run.

My next stage was to take the plunge into mid-run nourishment. I just feel my performance could improve if I was thinking about how my body is fueling a bit more aggressively. I am frugal in nature, so I brought raisins, chocolate, anything sweet that I had on hand in the house. These are problematic, as getting them warm and soggy is gross. So I dropped by my local running store and picked it up.

I felt so great after eating a vanilla flavored approaching my 10 kilometer. First of all, eating candy during excercise is just UNTHINKABLE! hat a reward. And it tasted like sweetened condensed milk, with if you ask Pam my lovely wife, is a very big celebration, I could just eat a whole can of the stuff on a good day. It had caffeine in it too. I really felt acute to get the second half in with all my gusto, so I like the stuff. I don't think I will use it every time, but I surely appreciate the need for supplementing when going long and hard.

I felt by kilometer 15, my right hip getting sore, but otherwise, I felt a the top of the world.

What gels. packs, juices do you treasure on your longer runs? Let me know!

DEAD legs

I followed up my Seawall run with a 10 k yesterday morning. I must say, this is where my stubborness kicks in. Push myself hard and then instead of taking the recommended easy run after my long, I decided to push it and see how fast my 10 k could be. Well it wasn't. My time was well over my personal record. At 46:00 I now see there is a reason to take it easy. I had a lot of gusto at the beginning, with a first split of 21:28, but soon after the split I felt like my four year old was dragging behind me slowing me down. I was sucking wind too hard to keep the pace up, and i felt my speed quickly wain as my legs became heavier.
Oh well. My goal is a sub 40:00 min 10 k. But Rome wasn't built in a day! I really hate speed work, but I feel its a goal I will feel very satisfied in if I can achieve it, a sub 40min 10 k. It will happen... what I am relizing it some track work , interval training, and hill work is the prescription to faster times. With the marathon in the fall approaching, I need to both keep my distance goals in mind and tax my body in time efficiency training. Can distance and speed go together? Yes I beleive so.
RunnersWorld has some great articles about this subject which I will post as follow-up comments.
I will be working my way up to over 30k for my long runs, but doing some hill work and some dreaded intervals. I think I may need to ask for reinforcements for this, though. A friend to help keep my momentum up. Let me know if you have any advice on this front