First 18 miler...

Let me tell you – 18 miles is a long way to run.  Even longer when it’s run as slow as I run.   I can only imagine what 26.2 miles is going to feel like.  But I also know that it will be different, given the excitement of the event itself and the crowds, but still…   For this run I averaged a 9:34 min/mile pace and got it done in 2:52:15.  Ok by me…  I was wanting to do better than a 10:00 m/m average and I succeeded there, so there is a little bit of hope for me.

Given my previous experiences with the 16 mile runs, I tried to plan and prep appropriately.  I made sure that I did the right things before the run (i.e. carbo loading, stretching, etc.), and that I had what I needed nutrition-wise for the run itself.

I wanted to make this run more-or-less a dress rehearsal for the Milford 30K (18.5M) event that is in 3 weeks.  The Milford 30K event is targeted towards being a training run for various fall marathons, so my 18 miler was like doing a dress-rehearsal for a full-dress-rehearsal for the actual marathon (does that kind of make sense?).  In light of that, instead of carrying my fluids with me, I positioned my truck at the end of my driveway, provisioned with fluids to act as my “water station” as I would expect on the actual event course.  In reality, the water stations during events are more like 2M apart, but I couldn’t get a clean 2M route set up, so I just made do with running an extra half-mile to get to my fluids.  I then ran a series of seven  2.5M laps around my neighborhood (I had to add a quarter-mile to two of the laps to make it an even 18M).

Based on what I had learned during my 16M runs, I setup my in-run nutrition to include ShockBloks, two different kinds of goo, and Gatorade.  My goal was to consume approximately 50g of carbs (or 220 calories) per hour.   This was to make sure that I had enough energy to finish the run.  In the mix, I also had to manage appropriate levels of sodium.  This pretty much depended on how hot and humid things were during the run.  The more that I sweat, the more sodium I need to ingest.  So the trick was to make a judgment call on the “sweat and humidity” factor.

To manage my sodium intake, I found both goo and ShockBlok products that had varying levels of Sodium.  So depending on what I thought the “sweat and humidity” factor was, I would take either a “Sodium+” or “regular” nutrient.  But to complicate this a bit, I learned that it’s not a good idea to ingest any of this without a fluid chaser (e.g. water or Gatorade).  That meant that I had to time my nutrients to just before I got to my water station.

To back up a bit, it may help if I explain what I’ve learned about nutrition and the affect of sodium and potassium.  I may not have totally understood it, but in general:
The act of running  is possible by the contraction of muscles and depends upon an electrical charge that is caused by potassium inside your cells switching places with sodium outside your cells. As you run potassium builds up outside of your cells, which diminishes the ability of your cells to create that electrical charge.  When this happens, experts say that you begin to get “tired”.   But this is also thought to be a cause of cramping, thus the need to constantly replenish the supply of sodium and potassium.  Since I found that I tend to cramp up, this is key for me.  In addition, sodium helps encourage fluid movement in your body, essentially helping to keep everything well “greased” and lubricated.

As you run, your muscles build up lactic acid which breaks down into hydrogen ions and lactate.   Lactate is used by the muscle cells to produce additional energy in the form of ATP.   But as the hydrogen ions build up, so does the acidity of your blood.  All of this tends to make your legs feel stiff. Protein and amino acids help break down the lactic acid and neutralize the hydrogen ion build up, but these are hard to ingest and absorb during a run and are typically post-run recovery supplements (I drink a protein/amino acid/banana/milk shake after every long run).

With regards to raw energy to run, your leg muscles want to burn glycogen.  But the problem is that the body can only store a limited amount, like about 2 hours worth.  Guys like me that don’t run very fast need a lot more than that and/or may not have built up a full 2 hours store of the stuff.  To that end, it is necessary to consume carbs during the event.  Carbs break down into usable glycogen.  Fat is also an energy source, but stored fat doesn’t convert to usable energy fast enough to sustain running. But it is important to know that it is unlikely that you can consume and store carbohydrates (which in turn becomes usable glycogen) as fast you are burning them. The trick is to slow the rate of glycogen depletion so that you can complete the event before you bonk (“hit the wall”).  That is why it is critical to stay ahead of the curve and start consuming nutrients before you even need them.

Back to the run itself:  I gave myself a 40 to 60 second walking break at the truck on every lap, allowing me to consume at least 6 oz of Gatorade.  For the Marathon itself, I’m already planning on walking through every water station to make sure that I get at least 6 oz of fluid in me every 2 miles or so.   I also set up a schedule of sucking on a ShockBlok every lap just before I got to the truck.  The only exceptions were on mile 8 and 13 where I sucked on goo instead.   From a nutrition and cramp-prevention perspective, it all worked.  I had enough energy to run all 18 miles, and I did not cramp up.  That alone was a huge win for me.

I did have a little problem with my right hamstring getting tight on me and I found myself literally pounding my fist on the back of my thigh every now and again to loosen it up.  I’d also try stomping my foot on the ground to shake up the muscle.  I really don’t know what is going on there.  But it made it through.

The last 2.5 mile lap was hard – very hard.  No doubt about it:  I was tired.  And I had to force myself to drag my sorry, tired ass all the way around. I slowed my pace down a lot for that last couple of miles, down to around a 10:30 m/m pace, but I did it.  I actually ran a total of 18.2 miles, and I could have technically stopped running when my GPS told me that I had gotten to mile 18, but rather than walking the last .2 miles, I forced myself to go all the way.  And I feel better about having done so.

Next week is a 20-miler…. That will be fun, I am sure  (it's just 2 more miles….)
3 weeks to the Milford 30K, 8 weeks to Chicago.