T Minus Four Days

The planning is done. All that’s left is the execution. Four more days of taper. Then it will be back to life as it should be.

Speaking of taper, I’m keeping my running light this week:

• Tuesday: 30 minute tempo run. (Done. 3.3 miles).
• Thursday: 3 miles. Stretching.
• Saturday: 2 miles with Cal Coast.

That will add to last week’s cutback of 26 miles. My legs should be fresh on Sunday. Everything felt pretty good during yesterday’s quick tempo run. Taper is going quite well!

I wanted to thank everyone for all the comments and ideas of the last few days. Anyone who doubts the value of blogging – send them my way! Just the ability to share ideas makes every minute I spend here worth it! I thought I would share a few answers and ideas today:

• AZ and Brian asked about my normal race day breakfast. Ha ha ha! If you are new to my blog, my “normal” race day breakfast is a gooey apple fritter. Yum! The heavenly mix of carbohydrates and sugar eaten about 30 minutes before a race is guaranteed to deliver a sugar high at the start line.The problem this time is that 2:30 AM thing. Sorry. No Dunkin’ Donuts here on the West Coast. Most donut shops are small mom and pops and don’t stay open 24 hours. That doesn’t mean I won’t try. I’ll drive past the local donut shop in search of my sugary gooiness, but I’ll pack the bagel just in case.
• Jeri mentions that there is good chance that she’ll still be out when I’m rising and she would send a virtual shout to me. Jer – you realize that’s like 4:30 AM your time. Man. I’m hanging with *your* friends if I ever make it to the Dakotas!
• Tea Time mentioned her challenge of fumbling for the Endurolyte capsules on the run. Here’s an idea. Go get some blue painter’s tape and tape the capsules to your gel packets. Then, to get to your capsules, just grab a gel packet! Works like a charm. Here are some before, during and after pictures:

 

• Steel Springs asked about my choice of gel flavors. I’ve sampled many gels and fueling options and have pretty much settled on Hammer Gel. It’s consistency is a little more liquid, which means it goes down a lot smoother. I’ve pretty much settled on three flavors – Apple Cinnamon (nice and tart), Tropical (sweet and tart) and Espresso (bitter for the latter stages of a race when sweet is not so appetizing). The latter two are also spiked with caffeine (Tropical – 25 mg, Espresso – 50 mg). And as Jill mentions – even if the pick me up is mental – any little bit in the latter stages of a race helps!
• A final note about sodium intake. Some were a little surprised about the link between sodium intake and fatigue/cramping. I’m still trying to get my hands around this as well. I’ve spent a little time doing research and can’t find anything that unequivocally shows the link between sodium and cramping. There are some studies that claim the reduction in sodium (Na+) affects the ability of nerves to communicate with muscles, thereby allowing them to contract uncontrollably. Other studies say that that is poppycock – that our bodies store about 80g of sodium and is very effective at regulating sodium levels. But, one good piece of information came in yesterday from my friend Lori (an ultra runner) - “one of the interesting things was that the difference in the 100K runners(the DNFers, myself included) and the 100M finishers was the amount of sodium ingested. The finishers consumed alot more than the non finishers.” There you go. Real world data.
• Speaking about sodium, Brian pointed out that each gel also includes sodium. I had ignored that earlier. So, with my 6 Enduolytes and 2 gels every hour, my sodium uptake will be about 350 mg per hour. That’s closer to the 500 mg per hour suggested.

Thanks again everyone! Just a couple more runs to go until my victory lap!