Okay, so thankd for the help on fueling... this is how the races went:

Olathe Half Marathon, Saturday, and I had a really good day. I thought I was in pretty good shape overall, so I wanted to see what I could do. Ran through the first mile at 6:45 pace, and it felt right, and easy. Got aggressive in mile 8 through 10, and I paid for it in miles 11 through 13, with miles 11 and 13 in the 6:50's. If I had held on better, I would have been under 1:28. It is what it is, and I ended up with a 1:28:40, which is about a 90 second PR for me. I've had 2 bad half marathons lately, so it was nice to finish well. Was 10th overall, and won my age group. My wife and 8yo daughter ran together, and came through at 2:39, following their race plan perfectly. She (my daughter) was 2nd in the 18 and under age group... A 16 year old girl beat her out for first.

After the half, I pounded 2 servings of a recovery drink, and ran a couple of cool down miles. Slept poorly, maybe 4 hours. But, I woke up on Sunday with no soreness, just a little bit of fatigue in my legs.

Got up at 4:30 Sunday for the Brew to Brew relay. I ran in the solo division, and it went pretty well. I rolled through the first 20 miles really well, moving up to as high as 5th place. I had planned to walk the hills, and they started after mile 20. So, I dropped some places after that, and between 26 and 31 I hit a pretty rough patch mentally. After increasing my S-Cap dosage to one every 30 minutes and forcing down more Gu Chomps, I felt a lot better as I rolled into the aid station with about 9 miles to go. The hills in leg 9, up to about 39 miles, were tough, and I walked the uphills still. As much as this slowed me, I could see I was gaining on two solo runners ahead of me. I pulled even with one of them into the 9th aid station and heading out on the last leg, and ended up passing him and one other guy ahead of us in the last 4 miles. Ran well at the end, and I felt really good about that. Finished in 6:51:high or 6:52, in 5th or 6th place overall. This was a neat race, but so many miles on gravel was tough on my feet. I don't mind rocks, but the uneven stuff was irritating my achilles and tibial tendon in my left leg.

I finished feeling like I could have run more, never cramped up, and wasn't in much pain. Fatigue was the only thing I was dealing with, really. And I was pretty tired. My fueling strategy was alternating Gu Chomps and Clif bars between the aid stations, and this was great. I went through 4 of each, even though I had to force down the Clif bars at the end. I'm sure my weight was down a bit afterwards, but after dinner and some extra water intake, my weight was actually back to normal that night. So, I guess it worked well.

Now, I'm 9 weeks away from Kettle 100. I think I found out my fueling and hydration plan worked well. My pacing, including walking the uphills, was great. So, I think I just need a couple of more long runs, stay injury free, and keep practicing the fueling plan, and I'll be good.

Thanks for all the tips!

Great job on both events!  What do you suppose it cost you in performance on the second day to have raced the half?  The times are freaking impressive!  Congrats...

 

On the fueling/hydration, I think recognizing the low while it is happening and taking action to address the issue is wicked smaaaht!  Way to go!  Take that knowledge into KM and you'll do great!

 

Lynn B

 

I think I would have been able to handle 6:30:00 overall if I hadn't run the half, but not a whole lot faster. My running paces were fine throughout... it was the walking for the hills that slowed me down for the most part. That, and a couple of port-a-potty stops.

Of course, if I wasn't going to race the next day, I may have been able to do 1:27:00 in the half. 

It's fun to just say things like that and not actually have to prove it!