This morning was simply outstanding. The goal was to create a scenario that would mimic the aid stations at IML. I placed 32 oz of Gatorade Endurance, one 24 oz bottle half frozen, and a SaltStick (http://www.saltstick.com/) w/ 3 Anti-Fatigue caps in my mailbox.
It is amazing how resistant my mind was to running one 1.34 m loop 14 times.
At first it was tough, but I was eventually able to find a groove. All kidding aside I think this approach can really help an IM athlete. As noted above and in a previous post, I see walking through aid stations to be incredibly valuable. This approach brings the HR down, which allows the fluids and such that enter the stomach to actually get into the bloodstream (blood is more likely to be routed to the gut then hang in the periphery). Some argue/state, "...but once I stop I will never get going again...". If you train yourself to walk at a steady pace and stay focused at the matter at hand this will not be the case. I actually find this to be a great strategy and I always come out of these very brief 'refueling breaks' much stronger and ready to push as needed.Case in point: per this approach I had one of my strongest runs to date. Could it be the Zoot compression socks? Could it be the the Nike Lunar Trainers? Or could it be the combination of these AND the fact that I was able to take in 1 to 2 mouthfuls of COLD fuel every mile? There is something to be said about not having anything around your waste bouncing around. These is also something to be said about having COLD fuel going into your gut when the body is burning up and needing external kcals.
Supporting data:
15 miles, ave pace of 6:53, and ave HR of 148
...a KEY element of IML prep will be to close each LONG RUN w/ a descending approach (when the body wants to stop I want to go harder and faster and make it deal w/ fatigue)...
...mile 12: 6:49, mile 13: 6:43, mile 14: 6:38 , mile 15: 6:29...
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Pre-Post Strength
Not sure if I have shared this before so here we go. I always try to employ a 5 to 15 warm up on the rollers w/ the PowerCrank bike or my Trek. This is then followed up immediately w/ mini-band lateral steps (12-20 reps, L and then R), mini-band hip ups (10-12), foam pad cone touches (12), and then foam pad 'running man' (10-12, L and then R). This done pre and post really gets the glutes and hips firing and sets the stage for a great run. Takes only 5 min.
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Ice Ice Baby? I totally was into that song...not afraid to admit it. Vanilla Ice was the man back in the early 90s. This leads me into my last thought of the day. I have realized that I have only (in the past) iced when I had an acute incident that required the RICE method. Recently, I have adopted icing my knees almost every day w/ a Polar Care 500 Cold Therapy (http://www.breg.com/cold-therapy/polar-care-500.html) unit (acquired per Anne's micro fracture surgery years ago...another blog...and an amazing God story). I have found that this has really helped me with recovery especially in the knee region and the ITB attachment sites. Food for thought.
Have an outstanding day!
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