Last Long Run: Lessons and Questions

I successfully completed my last long run before the National Half Marathon next weekend.

I felt pretty good, but I was definitely aiming for an 11 mile run that hovered around an average pace of 9:05 with no stomach pain so that I had a huge confidence boost leading into this week.

That didn't happen. My stomach was obviously angry with me because I fed it a weird combination of leftover Roasted Vegetable Tacos and an apple with Nutella for dinner the night before, and my feet started revolting against my new shoes* around mile 6.

To make sense of what went wrong and what I'm worried about next weekend, I've broken down my run into "Lessons" and "Questions". The lessons are things that I've learned and things that I know how I want to correct. The questions are things I'm still unsure about and the concerns I have leading up to race day.

*Yes, these are different from the shoes I posted about previously. I ended up not liking those and when I thought that I could just return them, I was told that I had to exchange them for another pair. Unfortunately, the store I bought them at doesn't carry the shoes I really love - my New Balance Minimus Road shoes.

Love Your Shoes.
I love these shoes. I also know that they are the same shoes I was running in when all of my running pains started happening. I think that scared me away from them, but for the last 5 miles of my run yesterday, I was wishing that I was wearing these and not their clunkier competitor.

Lesson: Don't try to run a long distance in a shoe you're not totally comfortable with.

Question: Which shoe should I run the Half in? I'm nervous that if I wear my New Balances my tendon issues might get aggravated during the race, but I also don't want to lace up with the Brooks knowing that I don't love them.

Know Your Loop.
Yesterday I also went out with the intention of doing a double loop of a 5mi route that I know I like, but I didn't clock it out in advance. Shockingly, doing a 5 mile loop twice does not add up to 11 miles. So when I finished the first loop and realized that my watch read 4.96 miles, I knew I'd need to add an extra mile into the second go-around, which included me running around the Capitol square like a dingbat many times.

Lesson: Clock your route - the entire thing - before you go to run it.

Question: When you run big races, do you check out the course first? Like, going there and running around to get a feel for it? When I did the half marathons in college, I essentially trained on the course so race day was never a surprise. But when I did my two other halfs, I didn't have the opportunity to check out the course since I traveled the day before the races since they were, in a sense, "destination races".

Eat Food.
The other big wildcard for any given race day is fuel.

This is a standard breakfast for me - oatmeal with some dried cranberries, almonds, and a brown sugar. And yes, coffee. Always coffee.

However, when I do my runs during the week, I never eat before I go. Which was another mistake I made yesterday. I woke up early and was out the door by 8 to be as true to a race-day simulation as possible, but I didn't put any food in my body before. Which I'm thinking contributed to blinding pains in my stomach around mile nine which was likely a cry for help due to intense hunger.

Lesson: Eat breakfast.

Question part a: But what? I've tried almost everything from Kashi Go Lean to the random granola bar I got out of the vending machine in the student center at 7am before the first half marathon I ever ran. But I've never been thrilled with any of my fuel choices.
Question part b: How do you fuel during the race? I've tried bringing cereal with me because Gu freaks me out (my stomach also rumbles angrily just thinking about it), but cereal is pretty hard to eat while running, and then it kind of lingers in your mouth, even with water.

My latest bright idea, which is inspired by Gu Chomps - the gummie snack version of Gu Gel - is to bring regular fruit snacks with me. Easy to eat quick calories that I know I like.

I'm going to try it this week. I'll keep you posted.

NOTE: With one week left until the race, I have $74 more dollars to raise to meet my fundraising goal for the Organization for Autism Research! 

If you would like to donate, click here  or on the link on the right side of the website. That means if 19 people donate $4 each, I will surpass my goal! How cool is that?!?! Thanks for all of your support!

There are so many boldfaced questions to answer in this post!