23 miles of chow

Today's training run was a 23 miler in a slow 3:12:26. I felt kinda ill after running in the cold yesterday and being underdressed later in the evening when I thought it would be warmer. Then I woke up this morning with a light sore throat and coughing up some mucus. But the show must go on!

So, what did I manage to eat during this run? Oh, you mean you didn't know how important nutrition is during long distance running? During longer running events you slowly burn up your body's stores of glycogen -- that's one of the storage fuels that your body saves to burn to provide energy for aerobic exercise. Your body also uses fat, but burning fat is slower to provide energy than burning glycogen. Glycogen stores in your liver are also used to maintain your blood sugar level. When your blood sugar goes too low then you feel awful and undergo what a lot of runners call a "bonk". The 1984 Women's Olympic marathon and various Ironman triathlons have provided some of the most graphic examples of what happens when you bonk. Here are a couple videos that show the results of bonking at the end of the marathon. (Side note: I get goosebumps watching these videos. As an endurance athlete and fan, you can't help but feel for the athletes as well as being totally inspired by their courage and determination.)

Gabriele Andersen at the 1984 Olympic Women's Marathon


Julie Moss at the 1982 Hawaii Ironman Triathlon


Sian Welch and Wendy Ingraham at the 1997 Hawaii Ironman World Championship Triathlon


To avoid bonking, you can take in some food during long running training and events. So during 23 miles of running today I had one 24 ounce bottle of lemon-lime flavored Gatorade (the ORIGINAL), one Espresso Love flavored Gu energy gel and some water. The energy gel is a thick syrup made from sugars and slower digesting sugar polymers. It's designed to get some calories into your body without the bulk of having to carry around say a hamburger or a pizza. The other advantage is that the energy gel provides the sugars you need to keep from bonking with minimal digestion compared to that big greasy pizza, as tasty as the pizza may be.

At the end of the 23 miles, I didn't really feel sore but I did feel somewhat depleted, that low feeling that I was tired and hungry because I probably did not drink enough or eat enough to keep me feeling high. Plus, I think I started the day less than 100% so that didn't help. But I feel okay, and I now have an excuse to go and get a milkshake! See you later!