30 Miles - Lessons Learned
Trying too keep my long distance training above 25 miles, I decided to add a few miles to my marathon length runs from 3 and 6 weeks ago. My goal was to push my long run out to 30 miles.
Generally I run a longer run every third week, with the intervening week’s runs anywhere from 11 to 18 miles.
Thirty miles was tough, and taught me a lot about preparing for an endurance run of that length.
Lesson Learned: Hydration.
Bring plenty of liquids or ensure that you have access to refills as frequently as needed, and more than expected if at all possible.
I began my run about 8:30, which was kind of late. The sun was already up, and it was in the mid 60’s at the start, and close to the mid 70’s (it felt like) near the end. I drank significantly more water than I expected.
I had planned my route the night before, and had placed a 50/50 Gatorade/water mix at the 15 mile mark. I had expected that the 4×7oz bottles of my Fuel Belt would be sufficient to hydrate me for the first half.
That morning, though, my mom pulled out a hydration pack she had and I gladly accepted her offer to use it. It was 1.5 liter, fit snugly on my back, and had plenty of room to store food.
When I arrived at the 15 mile mark, the hydration pack was more than half empty. My little bottles would have just barely gotten me there. I drank enough of the water in the hydration pack to allow me to pour the 50/50 mix in the pack and I headed off.
The back half of the run, though, I consumed the entire 1.5 liters. Had I stuck with my initial plan, I would have run out of water very early into the back half of the run. Knowing me I would have tried to continue the run, and would have invariably suffered the consequences.
Lesson Learned: Stick to the route.
By about the 23 mile, I was getting a little creative in my left-brain logic.
My head was telling me stuff like, “you should just cut through the woods here, it’s only 1 mile through there, but 5 miles on the road…”
And stuff even weirder… “Maybe you should just lie down under that tree and take a nap!”
I started chanting to myself, “Just stick to the route, just stick to the route…”
So, plan your route, and stick to it.
Lesson Learned: Communicate the route, and plan for emergencies.
Before I left, I left a written note describing my route, and what times I’d be at different spots in the route, and what time I’d be home.
I have an emergency phone number written in permanent marker on each of my shoes.
I carried a small plastic baggie with the following:
- My name
- Cell phone number for an emergency contact
- Address of the house
- Medication allergies (none)
- Two quarters for phone
- 600 mg ibuprofen
My route had me run past the place I was staying at mile 18. The remaining 12 were an out-and back. I wouldn’t be too far from home if I bailed.
Safety is number one, and we should all do what we can to ensure we will be running tomorrow.
Lesson Learned: Nourishment
I failed on this one, hard.
Gummy bears and power bars were all I had with me.
Yes, gummy bears provide an excellent source of strait-up sugar, but after eating those little doggies for 5 hours, I though I was going to puke.
Next time, focus on variety!
I’m thinking about peanut butter and honey sandwiches, some fruit (apples, maybe an orange, banana).
In any event, the bears were too sweet.
Variety is the spice of life.
See you all on the road!
Bill