The Labor Day 12 Endurance Trail Run this weekend was my longest timed event and a great prep for the 24 Hour Croatan run coming up in November. It was a surprisingly tough 5 mile course with plenty of rocks and enough hills to make it a little more interesting and entertaining - none of the hills were "deal breakers" but they added up through the course of the day. The event is put on my Pretzel City Sports and they are a top notch, professional group who know runners and their race needs. I have heard quite a bit about this group through the last few years but this was my first event. Definitely won't be my last.
As mentioned the course is a (measured) 5 mile loop and runners have 12 hours to complete as many (or as few) as they wish. Along with a shirt and mug given to participants a great looking jacket is given with a signature mileage stamped on the front- 26.2, 50k, 40 miles, 50 miles and 100k - this is great incentive to keep moving! My original goal was 50+ miles but the humidity was pretty thick even so early in the morning and I knew that would be tough - throw in the unexpectedly rocky trail (it's Pa, I should have known there were rocks) and 50 began to seem like a long shot. By mid afternoon I decided to get in 40 (maybe 45) and call it a day. Some shoes issues and a loose feeling knee made this a wise decision by the end of the day. I got in 40 for the signature jacket - thought about 45 but a threat of a storm and what would have been a lot of walking on that last loop kept me in. Of course it didn't storm so now I'm second guessing myself but this morning I felt good enough to workout and run so maybe it was for the best.
There were some simply amazing runners out there who made it look effortless of the trail - truly awesome and inspiring. I have more work to do.
My fuel was Tailwind Nutrition - an all in one sports drink - it provides the calories and electrolytes an endurance athlete needs in on shot. I mixed in 1.5 to 2 scoops (150 to 200 calories) and drank one bottle per hour. This is fairly light in calories for a long even such as this yet hunger was never an issue through the day. 10 hours of Tailwind along with 4 bananas spread through the day and no major issues - I adjusted the amount as my hunger and thirst dictated. It's a great product and I love that I don't have to second guess my nutrition during a race. I kept the calories purposely lower so that I could add a little fruit as well and that was a nice edition but not really needed. Three scoops (300 calories) may be an option as well for my next long event. Ultra Runners are an experiment of one.
It was a great weekend, a wonderful even and a learning experience - I'll be back next year for sure. Please check out Pretzel City Sports http://www.pretzelcitysports.com/laborpain.html and Tailwind Nutrition - http://www.tailwindnutrition.com/
Thanks for reading!
Peace,
Eric
No comments:
Post a Comment