February 2020 Monthly Running Challenge

Camaramandy648 wrote: »

I think i have been trading pain in the IT band for pain in other areas - today it's a knot behind my right scapula (shoulder blade + I think I spelled scapula wrong). Getting old is dumb. It's a new thing every other day. That's what my elders say and it's frustrating because I think it's so preventable and I must not be doing something right.

Teresa502 wrote: »

Tramboman wrote: »

Mostly cloudy with occasional snowflakes, windy, and low 20s F this morning. Footing was better than yesterday, but not by a lot. Had one significant slip, but caught myself and didn't do any structural damage. Today's run was in honor of my birthday; the first person to correctly guess my chronological age will get a big MFP hug (provided I can figure out how to do emojis).

Happy Birthday! I'm guessing 63!

PastorVincent wrote: »

Tramboman wrote: »

shanaber wrote: »

@Tramboman - Happy Happy Birthday! 🥳
Seeing as how no one else has guessed yet I will give it a try... I was going to say 64 but then I saw your mileage so will say 68?

Not only did you do all the March work, you win the hug, too.🤗!!!

I definitely do not want a hug, but I am going to guess 16.

7lenny7 wrote: »

Happy birthday, @Tramboman !! I was going to say 63.

I skipped my Wednesday run since I felt I hadn't recovered enough yet from my 50K last Saturday. Last night was supposed to be a 5 mile but I talked myself out of it on the way home using the @MobyCarp theory that when you finally feel good enough to run after injury, take another day off. This wasn't injury, but I feel it fits the situation anyway.

I have 18-20 miles planned tomorrow and I'm torn on where to run it. I have a three possibilities:

A: a network of gravel roads nearby like a spider, a series of out and backs.
B: Thirty-five minutes away I could run on a packed gravel rail trail, well wooded, for a single out & back for the entire distance (and I can park such that I'm next to a brewery for a bit of hydration after the run).
C: Finally, there's a great 20 mile paved loop around Minneapolis, along the Mississippi River, along a creek, and around two of the famed lakes of Minneapolis.

A gives me an easy bail-out if I'm not as recovered from my race as I thought and it's only an 8 minute drive, but it's not very interesting.
B is on a trail I love and let's me get lost in my thoughts because there's literally no turns, other than the turn-arounds. If I park in the middle I can do an out & back in both direction so I'm never more than 5 miles from my truck and I can resupply in the middle of the run. And beer.
C gives me an beautiful urban run with plenty of people watching but if I have to bail out it's an Uber ride back to my truck. I also have the option of parking near a brewery, donut shop, or both. And I'm fairly certain that the trail will be ice free

I think I'll eliminate A unless I wake up late and don't have the time to drive anywhere else. So it's between B or C. Leaning towards B, for beer.

7lenny7 wrote: »

@autumnblade75 I'm late to the race nutrition discussion but here are my thoughts. When I ran my first marathon I was all into calculating my calorie burn, glycogen burn, required carb intake, and all that. It finally occurred to me that the only thing that I needed to know was the maximum calorie intake my body could handle per hour. In a marathon you simply cannot replace all the glycogen you burn. Thus, if you can determine your maximum calorie intake per hour, just hit that number. Through trial and error I've determined that I can take in 300 calories per hour without getting an upset stomach, so that's the number I go for. The range I've heard is 200 to 300 calories, depending on the individual and the ambient temperature (hotter temps = less calories/hour because more blood is at the skin to help cool off). The way you find this out is to try to overdo it during a long run. Plan on 200 calories/hour and see if that works. The next time 250, then 300, and so on. If at some point your stomach gets upset, you know you've gone to far. For me, once I got to 300 calories, I felt that was enough and stopped there. I have an iron stomach when racing.

As far as how to get those calories, I'm also cheap. I generally rely on aid station food during ultras but road marathons are different. I used a combination of the Gatorade they served at the water stops (if you can find out how big the cups are, figure half that amount is what you'll actually get since they don't fill them up all the way and you'll likely spill some) and some honeywater I brought myself. I tried the gels, and they work fine, but were too expensive so I took honey, mixed honey 50/50 with water and filled a soft flask to carry with me. Not only did that allow me to take smaller portions, but more often, it was much neater than using sticky gel packets. I also carried a water bottle to wash down the honey water. You could add salt if you think that's needed.

The equation becomes (expected number of hours racing) x (calories/hour) = Total Calorie Intake. Then figure out the number of water stops with Gatorade x the calories in the amount you plan to drink (this is where it's good to know the cup size...if not, eyeball it) and subtract that from the Total Calorie Intake

Don't run all your long runs fully fueled. It's good to run some fasted or low fueled so your body can learn to burn more fat and less glycogen. Those runs may not feel the best, but it helps in the long run and saves more calories for real food after the run. It's quite rare that I run a long run fully fueled but my goal is to maximize my fat burn for ultras. The furthest I've gone without food, or water, is 19 miles, but that was in the winter.

One of the many reasons I started ultrarunning is the aid station fare. During races I've eaten pizza, cheeseburgers, bacon, pancakes, quesadillas, grilled cheese, M&Ms, potato chips, and even sushi. Then there's the beer and Fireball.