Lessons of the Road

If you can glean anything from this, great. If not, I'll use it as a reminder for me.

 Glucose is not only for a 26.2 marathon:

My last three long training runs had me trying different brands of energy gels. I cannot say that I noticed any difference if I used them or not, but I figured it wouldn't hurt. The "pros" (who are they anyway?) say any run over an hour and you should use the energy gels or equivalent.
 I tried Jelly Belly Extreme sports beans, Clif Shot Gel, Clif Shot Bloks.
The jelly beans were super portable, but I felt like I was eating candy. (well, basically the energy gels are sugar!)
I had a sore throat when I took the clif Gel and it made me want to throw up. The shot bloks worked good for me and I used one package during the half marathon. Some of these have been known to cause stomach problems so be sure to test them first.

Hills on training:

 Sucked while I was doing it, but I was so glad I did. I was able to run (albeit slowly) every hill on the race. No walking for me!   I read quite a bit of stuff online about how to "train" on hills.  I didn't understand it so  I just made sure my weekly long runs had some good hills on the route. I tried never to walk them on my training runs.




Clothing tags

Do you know something as sample as a tag can cause you to bleed? My last long run was 7 miles and it was raining. My shirt tag rubbed enough to give me a sore.  I did wear the same shirt on race day, but I also cut the tag off and covered my skin with a band aid to protect it. I never even felt it rubbing, so now I make sure little things will not be rubbing the same spot for too many miles.




Socks

Worth the $10-15 dollar you may have to pay for a good pair. Don't buy cotton.









Cross training

 I started taking an aerobics class in late summer to help get the rest of me in better shape. Remember my tree to tree adventure? I realized I needed to work on my upper body strength. I really think taking that class helped me feel strong throughout the run.







                                                
 Bathroom breaks during training runs:

I made our business in town  a stop on my longer training runs. I could drop off an extra shirt and take a water bottle home for the last several miles. Although it felt like I could go to the bathroom while I was there I made sure I didn't go. I didn't want to get in the habit of going only after a few miles. I wanted my body to know that just because I felt like I may have to go I wasn't always going to be able to. It worked and I think it was great strategy!! Of course, I made sure I didn't drink a lot of coffee right before leaving on my run either.


If you have any good tips I'd love to hear them.