1/2 Marathon Training- Week 8 Recap

Great runs this week! Continued my routine of 3-5-3 for Tues-Wed-Thur. On Saturday I ran 10 (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) miles! 10 miles! Double digits! 10 miles!!! Can you tell that I am a bit excited??? I also had a great 30 minute swim on Sunday.


I've solved (I think) my post-run runs. :) For my long run this week I made the following changes:
~ ran in a shady park route (paved) instead of on the street
~ drank 16 oz of Nuun starting at mile 3, sipping a little bit each mile instead of not drinking at all
~ only ate a banana and nothing else before my run
~ ate a Snickers bar (1/2) at mile 5 and the other 1/2 at mile 7.5 instead of the Power Bar chews
~ walked for 10 minutes after my run instead of stopping pretty much right away
~ stopped by McD's for a chocolate milk within 15 minutes of stopping instead of eating as soon as I finished


I'm not really sure which of these solved my problem, but I am happy to report that after this last run there was no cramping, no diarrhea, no excessive fatigue, no shakes, no nausea. After my run I actually came home and got ready for baby girls birthday party, had her party, went furniture shopping, and then out to dinner. It was a great day! It's amazing to see how far I've come from dragging myself up the steps after running a mile to running 10 and still having a full day of activity. Since I don't know what really helped to cure the post-run sickies, I am going to continue with each of these activities until the 1/2. I only have 2 more long runs (11 and 12) before the half on June 23rd. It's getting close.


Did you have to re-read the Snickers sentence? :) I had read that many runners use Snickers as fuel during their runs. I thought it was crazy, but figured that at this point that I'd try anything. I giggled to myself as I opened my Snickers at mile 5. Who does this? It seemed so odd. Aren't I out here to burn calories? Am I really going to shove 260 calories down my throat? The fat girl inside of me struggled with this candy bar. This was really a light bulb moment for the healthy girl that I am now. I was eating this Snickers bar for fuel! I wasn't eating it because I was sad, happy, bored, confused, or even frustrated. I was eating it because my body is a machine that needs fuel. The type of fuel that I needed was in that candy bar. I needed quick energy. During my run I burned close to 1700 calories. I needed the calories from that bar. 


I have a 3 mile scheduled for tomorrow AM, but am thinking about popping in to a class at my gym. I miss classes. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE being able to run on my own schedule, but I do miss looking over and seeing other people working as hard as I am. Next week is a recovery week and I'll only do 6 on Saturday. 


~Kari