It’s Race Season Again!
Race season usually begins with a brisk run in the wild of Delaware, this year is not very different except that it’s going to be cold. April begins race season for me every year, sometimes it’s a shorter race to get the cobwebs off, but for the last two years I have changed my methods. I start out with a race that not only gets the cobwebs off, but shows my legs, heart, and lungs that, like most of my race, this is going to be another high mile hard race season. Get ready!
Generally I start training for this race a couple of weeks or before. I don’t put very much emphasis on the first race. I just want to use it as a training day and see what I can work on for the upcoming season. Again, this year has been different. I have been running, eating healthy, and working out for basically the better portion of the school year. I am more nervous for this upcoming race than ever before. Trap pond is the first ultra I ever did. 50k of beautiful lake/woods for 6 hours of running, it really started my love of running long distance. I am looking for a PR and looking to win my age group. These are weighty goals, but I have beaten my 50k time by 35 minutes in the last Killens Pond race. I hope to continue that process again.
Going into the first race of the year I felt unprepared. I had not been running as much as I should have been, but my time spent in the gym would hopefully carry me through the first race of the year. My hopes were about as neutral as they could possibly be. I knew Trap Pond was a flat course, but I wanted to at least beat my time from last year. Like I said, I had just come off of the Killens Pond run, and beat my time for 30 minutes or so. I had to be able to do better?
One thing I changed up for this race was the foot intake. I read a book by Scott Jurek. He talks about his fuel and his ability to run long distances on a diet of fruits, veggie, and nuts. He is a runner that is fueled by everything but meat. During my spring break I decided to start living that lifestyle. As you know, I have three children so not giving them meat protein was something I couldn’t do as this point to them. They will have to make that choice when they get older. Every meal I ate was mainly vegetarian in nature. I called it 90% vegetarian. I still had the occasional cheese or chicken with my meals, but it was in the recommended range of 7% of the meal. My protein came from nuts and greens, honestly mainly peanut butter. He talks about the way he uses nothing but sticky rice for his race fuel. Longer races? He adds other things to his rice to keep him fueled. I wasn’t about to do that, but I did take me with only honey stingers as my fuel. A natural form of fuel made by Bees, honey!
The morning of the race is always the tensest for me. I always have the same thing: oatmeal with maple syrup, bagel with butter, a cup of Gatorade, a cup of orange juice, and coffee. Everything have a place and purpose for the morning of. I check and recheck my bag for the fuel I was bringing: oranges, honey stingers, Gatorade, and water. The last check is always with my shoes. (Side note: I always run in Hickies. Ask any of my racing friends. Every shoe I own has a full face of Hickies. You don’t have to tie them, you don’t have to worry about them coming undone, you can carry extra because they weigh nothing, and they are far superior to laces. I have the same sets of Hickies on my racing flats that I have had for at least a year. Really, a great product! Give them a shot!) I give a quick tug on the Hickies on the shoes I’m going to wear, trade out ones that give too much, pack two more in my racing vest, and I am out the door.
RACE AAR next post: Click on the linkes to get your very own hickies and honey stingers!
https://www.hickies.com/