After The (Long) Run

Homemade potato salad makes an excellent post-long-run snack.

This was my first time trying out a liquid nutrition system (Tailwind) on the go. I liked! Much easier to use, light tasting and refreshing, and I probably came a lot closer to what I should be consuming in liquid and calories. The main disadvantage is in carrying all that liquid with me. For today's run I should have brought 48 oz. (or even more), but the bottles I had for my vest only held 36.  And in longer runs I'll need to bring yet more. And of course going with that method means I'll be relying solely on my own provisions at races. I'm considering getting a bladder for my running vest (100 oz.), which means I'll be joining the ranks of the seriously geeky. Oy vey.

I have been stressing about the time that my training is taking, as my long runs get longer and even my mid-week ones get longer too. ("Stressing about the time" is probably too lightly stated.) I thought briefly about giving up doing the marathon this year and I may still leave that as an option. For now, though, I've gone back and reviewed my training plan, taking out a couple of the long runs and planning to do more of my runs as part of my commute to work. I won't be saving a lot of time, but I think it will ease things just enough so that I don't feel overwhelmed. This should be fun, after all.

And this week, along with trying out the new nutrition system, I also took seriously my post-long-run tender tummy woes, and planned to have lots of little snacks that are super easy to digest. Still healthy but not as robustly healthy as I usually eat (ie. I ate mostly fruit and lower amounts of protein and fiber than usual). Success! No ouchy tummy.

The only other thing I'm longing for now is new compression calf sleeves... the ones I have are great but heavy, and I've seen some lighter ones around...