since i'm the kind of person who likes to know All The Things before i do anything, i've been busy reading as much pre-marathon advice that i can get my hands on. everything i've seen so far recommends a pre-event "taper" - that is, in the week or so before your race day, it's a good idea to gradually decrease your training time/mileage, and include at least a few days of complete rest immediately beforehand. since my training plan was disrupted by last month's revolting cold, & the breathing issues that followed, i still haven't actually made it up to the mileage i'll need to do on the day. but rather than panic about that & try to squeeze in any more last minute training, i've decided to follow the taper advice & start winding things down a bit, now that the marathon is less than TWO WEEKS away (yikes!!!).
so, since today's 6.5 mile run was my last long run before marathon day (i'm still planning a few short & easy runs between now & then, though!) i decided it was a good time to try out a few race-day things - the clothes i plan to wear, my new water bottle holder, and most importantly, race-day nutrition.
the marathon starts at 10am, and since i'm doing the first leg, i'm not going to have tons of time to eat (& properly digest!) huge amounts of food beforehand - but since it's likely that i'm going to burn roughly 1200 calories during my 8.5 miles, i'm definitely going to need more fuel than my standard granola & yogurt breakfast gives me! i've had Clif bars before, so i know they work well for me, but i've never tried any kind of energy gels. generally, my normal "long" runs aren't usually more than 4-5 miles, so as long as i eat a good balanced amount of food, i do ok without any extra mid-run fuel. but since i've started extending my distance, i have been aware of a point at about the five mile mark where i can feel my energy levels start to drop, so a mid-run energy boost seemed like a good plan. alas, some of the advice i was reading suggested that energy gels might give some people "gastrointrestinal distress" (nice, eh?), and having heard race day horror stories from other runners (i'll spare you the details!) it seemed like a good plan to try them out before marathon day, just in case!!!
well, i'm happy to report that i had no "distress" of any kind (aren't you glad i shared that with you?). i definitely didn't feel the same kind of mid-run energy slump that i have done in previous long runs, and amazingly, my overall pace was considerably faster than any other long run i've done in this training cycle! i don't quite have the eat-while-you-run rhythm down pat, so i did need to take a little walking break to slurp down my gels, but it all seemed to work out pretty well for a first attempt. & the gels that i got taste almost exactly like chocolate buttercream frosting - & if you know me & my ridiculous sweet tooth & excessive love of chocolate at all, you'll know that this is a Very Good Thing.
so, when you see me on the day, watch out - i'll be powered by chocolate!!!
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