Saturday, June 28, 2008

Week 4

I ran 9 miles yesterday. That's 1/3 of a marathon. It felt good. So good that I picked up the pace for the last mile. I upped it from really slow to just slow.

The long runs are now over an hour and a half so I have to start thinking more about mid-run fueling. I used Gatorade for yesterday's run. It's all I have ever used for my long runs including my two half marathons. The Portland Marathon doesn't serve Gatorade. They provide Ultima and Gleukos. I have never tried either. Ultima replenishes electrolytes but doesn't contain carbohydrates. Gluekos provides the carbs but I'm not sure it's available in Canada. I'm going to have to decide whether I'm going to carry Gatorade for the race and, if so, how. I may also experiment with gels to decide whether to go that route. Water is provided on the course and carrying gel packs is probably easier than wearing a water bottle belt. Using Ultima or Gleukos on race day for the very first time is not an option.

For week 5 the distances continue to go up. The mid-week sorta long run goes up to 5 miles and the weekend long run will be 10 miles. Ten miles is the farthest I have ever run outside of a race. The weekly mileage passes the 20 mile threshold.

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