The Hay Is in the Barn


I have reached one of my favorite parts of Hal Higdon’s Advanced Marathon 1 Plan. I completed my first of three 20-mile long runs. In my mind, I am a taper away from a marathon. My work over the next four weeks of training is icing on the cake.

Considering my recent history of stomach issues, I am glad I can practice fueling and hydration on last Saturday’s long run and dial it in for the remaining two.

I bought some Nuun Lemon Lime Endurance since it will be served at CIM. The flavor was just right, not too strong or weak, and not too sweet. The Nuun had 16 grams of carbs (the SOS Hydration I had been using had 6) but half the sodium as SOS. It worked as well. I drank the Nuun every mile on the half-mile starting at mile 4.5, but my 16 fl. oz. soft flask only got me through 16.5 miles. I’m contemplating using a double scoop or taking two soft flasks. If I go with the double scoop, I will likely run out of water since I have been drinking all 1.5L on my long runs. There are water fountains at miles 1/19, 4/16, and 5/15 of my route.

Thankfully, I haven’t had a gut bomb from any GU flavor I consumed. For CIM, they will be stocking Salted Lime Roctane, Salted Caramel Original Energy, and Raspberry Lemonade Original Energy. I have only tried the salted caramel. I should get my hands on the other two. On Saturday, I learned that I need to take gels more often like I did for my first marathon. I took a GU at miles 4, 8, 12, and 16.  I probably should take a gel every 3 miles, and I will try that in my next long run.

Overall, it was a good week of training. I was surprised about the eclipse. I saw a post somewhere that this month had Friday the 13th, a solar eclipse, and Halloween, but I did not think much of it. Eventually, I figured out why people had cameras out facing the sun and why it got dim.

I broke my headphones. I am thinking of getting JLab Go Air Sport Wireless Earbuds. Does anyone have any experience to share about these earbuds?

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