Long Run Notes (4/21/12)

I was super excited to start my weekend of training, I knew this would be an important training weekend with the longest back to back runs yet and it would give me a good judge of where I was fitness wise.

Saturday I drove out to Cuyamaca State Park to get a long trail run with a bit of elevation gain. It was a beautiful day, 85 and sunny. I started my run up to Cuyamaca Peak, then returned back discovering some new trails, refilled water bottle at the campground around mile 8 and set out up the fire road around the back side of Middle Peak, also new territory. I love finding new trails in places I've been several times, its invigorating. I encountered some deer and lots of rabbits. There were also a decent amount of hikers out on the trails.

Around mile 18 couple miles from finishing and I was thinking how great it was that I hadn't encountered any snakes, knowing it was going to be rare going forward with the warm weather. Then stretched out on the trail in front of me a 3 ft snake. I am terribly afraid of snakes, so I quickly halted and waited....and waited, no movement from snake. Picked up a stick, threw it to scare snake, nothing. Bigger stick, hit closer to snake, nothing. Then a bee got stuck in my hair. Here I am on a trail trying to scare a snake away and I start doing the, "ahhh there's a bee stuck in my hair dance" outcome: 2 bee stings behind my left ear and a snake still not moving. At this point I decided it was not a rattler and probably not dangerous. About this time a couple of hikers came by, they also tried to scare the snake with no luck. This finally gave to the courage to run around it and continue on.

I am still training by heart rate which keeps me running slower then I'm use too, but helps me sustain even energy and pace throughout my run. I finished 20 miles feeling great.

Run stats:
miles: 20
time: 5:41 (total time including stops) (avg 17min/miles)
elevation: 4700
calories burnt: 3368
calories: 900 (400 cal of cliff blocks, 300 cal coconut cream larabars,  200 cal of raw almond)
fluid: 2L water
wildlife: 5 deer, multiple rabbits and squirrels, one docile snake and one stinging bee

Times that by 5 and you have a 100 miles and 23,500 ft of elevation gain. I would like to see me be able to get my pace with this kind of elevation down to 15min/mile.

Also I need to increase my calorie intake to about 250 cal/hr...for now I'm shoot for 100 cal every 30min, which I was also behind about 200 cal.

Post-Run Hydration and Snack

Since I had only run with water and had no electrolyte replacement during my run, I felt great need to replace my sodium intake. Once a got into the car I stopped at the nearest market for a jar of pickles to drink the pickle juice and snack on the pickles on the way home. Yummy :)