I am very happy with the outcome of yesterday's run. I set out to do a long one, to get close to or do a half marathon distance, to see what that's like and prove to myself I can do that at the upcoming Haulin Aspen. I wound up running even further than I planned, covering about 14 some-odd miles (my watch said 14.89, but it tends to overestimate a bit). What I bummed about is that I simply can't seem to understand how I'm supposed to know how much ascent/descent I've done from my watch. The watch tracks this, but I fail to see how to actually see the numbers! The manual is not helpful. I am curious because I'd like to know if I was at about the same as the Haulin Aspen will be (1300'), or more, or less. VERY back of the napkin calculations would put me somewhere between 1000-1500', but with all the little ups and downs, it could be more.
I felt really good during the run. I didn't feel I was running a very fast pace, but I also didn't walk too much either. My time was 2 hours 18 minutes, so that's a high 9 minute/mile pace assuming it was 14 miles. That works. Haulin Aspen will be harder for sure, simply due to the heat (my #1 concern), and the wildcard of the altitude (sometimes it affects me, sometimes it doesn't, thus "wildcard" status). Yesterday I tried out a new hydration pack, the
Nathan HPL #008. This went a lot better than the other pack I tried last week, and this one is going to work really really well. It fits great, was comfy to run in, and I really like the front pockets on the shoulder straps. I was able to carry 50oz of water, of which I drank about 40-45 yesterday (was 75 degrees out), and carry some gels, and my iPhone. The phone did start bouncing around a lot towards the end when I'd consumed the gels that it was sharing the zippered pocket with. I'll have to think about the best way to alleviate that in the future. Anyway, I plan to use this pack in the race.
Another thing I've surprised myself a bit with is how much I like
Honey Stinger "gold" gels. I normally don't like super sweet stuff, but damn if these don't taste just awesome on the trail! They are a bit like a somewhat more liquid packet of honey, and I am just loving them right now. I would say my mainstays are still a variety of gels from Hammer, in particular the Banana, Espresso, and I'm now trying their new Montana Huckleberry. But the Honey Stingers, especially towards the end, are great. They're easier to consume as they're more liquidy (than most gels, except maybe those crazy 4x salt versions of the Powergels), and their taste just really hits the spot when you're worked (although so do the Banana Hammer gels).
This morning, I'm feeling good. Just hanging around, I feel very little residual soreness or what not from the run, which is great. I know if I were to go run I'd be feeling it for sure, but feel I've recovered pretty well.
