Well the big day is drawing nearer and nearer. It has been a long time waiting and training. Though I can be hard on myself that I might not have trained enough or in the right way I am sure that I have done all I can at this point. Only a couple more weeks of training and I start to taper down to the race.
I have worked on many things that I think tripped me up last year. One, last year I DID spend a bit too much time getting myself together at the aid stations and didn't always have clear objectives when people tried to help me. Some of this was later on when I was just too tired to think but even in the beginning laps I could have been more organized and better able to help the ones who were trying to help me.
Two, my nutrition last year was very haphazard. I have never been really great at nutrition. Usually I just bring along some swedish fish (everyone who knows me knows this) and some natural made fruit roll ups and then just snack at the aid stations when i was hungry. WRONG. Not only is this wasting time trolling the delicious snacks at every aid station and trying to decide on the fly what I am hungry for it also may provide the wrong macronutrients at the wrong time.
Though the volunteers are awesome and we couldn't do this without them and the food is truly delicious I had to have some kind of plan as to what, when and how I was going to provide nutrients so that I can make quick decisions as I go along and make sure I am staying satisfied in calories and still be able to bypass the food at aid stations--at least not eat every time. There are 6 laps and 3 aid station stops plus start finish so that is 21 times I am stopping during the race. I think last year that truly hurt my time.
So instead this year I am trying a leaner nutrition plan. I put it together with the help of my pacer this year and it worked great at Land Between the Lakes 60k. It is a mixture of Tailwind and honey gels/waffle stingers/shot blocs to carry me through. AT the 100 I will also mix in some real food because I have to do that. But LBL was awesome for a test of this basic plan.
I sipped the Tailwind every 5-10 minutes and every two miles ate something. I was able to bypass many aid stations...stopping long enough to maybe use the bathroom or drink a little coke, thank the volunteers and run off. Just by doing that I knocked an entire hour off of my time of the same race I ran in 2014. I was able to finish in 8:16 on my Garmin and 9:06 officially and so far my fastest 50k has been over 9 hours. What a difference some planning makes!!
I have run three back to back 20 mile runs in the last few days. That was to do time on my feet training and also nutrition training again as that seems to be one of my problems areas. The first 20 mile run on Sunday I went pure Tailwind...no gels or food. I found that I got a little tired without some caffeine in a gel or something. So Monday I ran no Tailwind only gels/shot blocs. Again I started to lose energy. This morning I ran with a mixture and it went great! My stomach was growling by the time i got home but that's fine. I didn't feel the need for tons of nutrition as this was 20 miles in town. Much different than 100 miles on a trail!
I have also been testing out my shoes. I have two different pairs of Altras going. I think I like them both about equally so I am bringing both pairs with me. ALSO a pair of really big open shoes for the finish. (Thanks to Mory!)
I am going to be better about packing my needs this year. I am not the best at organization I know that. But I found that by packing individual packs of the tailwind i needed as well as the gels i would need it was easier to grab and go. One thing!!! I am pre-mixing my tailwind and also packing it in a sealed plastic tub instead of a drop bag. At LBL I opened my drop bag at the end of the race and it was full of ants. Apparently (DUH) they like Honey Stinger Gels too!!
I had wanted to run the course at least once this year to get the idea of it but it didn't work out. I ran a lot of my training in town. However I have trained for many trail races in town and did fine. The course will be well marked and I have a general idea from last year plus I have viewed a very helpful video to renew my memory.
I had some great pacers last year. They both did a wonderful job of handling me when I was tired and sometimes cranky. I applaud their efforts on my behalf. I think this year having the same pacer for the entire last 50 miles is going to be good. I can get accustomed to her way of pacing and we can get a rhythm going for the race. I also last year really could have used a pacer the last lap. By then I was so tired and kind of out of it I really could have used some guidance. The wonderful Jerry Deihl helped me last year prodded me to the end. This year it will be good to have someone consistently with me to get me into the last lap with wind left in my sails.
All I can say is just that I feel truly lucky and extremely grateful to my ultra running community for being so great to me, so THERE for me and so supportive of me. Terry Fletcher and all at Indiana Trail Running, BARA, Mike Pfefferkorn, all the other runners from last year, my pacer this year is already supporting me 100% and all of this makes this race all the more special. It will be like a big family reunion with a LOT of running thrown in but also a lot of emotions, laughs, ups and downs, great food, two sunrises, a sunset, beautiful woods and lots of great energy from everyone around.
One month left. Almost running up that finish line. Almost.............
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