Running Reflections: 05 Aug

This Sunday was my fourth long run – or at least what I would consider to be long – a whopping 24 miles. Still a few miles short of marathon distance, but that will come in time. Things I have learned so far:

  • The location of all public potties around town. Thank goodness for summer construction and campgrounds
  • My new favorite clothes all have flatlock-stitched seams
  • Probars are amazingly satisfying after a run (organic and unprocessed). Franken-food is gross
  • Running slower than a 00:09:30/mi pace makes my knees ache
  • Clif Shot Bloks are yummy and entertaining to chew on, but are extremely difficult to open in the rain or while sweating profusely
  • Currently listening to Greg Niemeyer’s Art23: Foundations of American Cyberculture (fall 2006 – UC Berkley) available for download along with other open courseware podcasts.

There are a few things I’m wondering about right now that I think will make longer distances more comfortable:

  • Need to find something that is easily digestible, but with more energy than Cliff Bloks for any runs longer than 20 miles.
  • Buy runners’ lube – rain sucks.
  • Currently using Superfeet inserts and love them, but would custom orthotics make a world of difference?

I’ve set a goal to run the Equinox Marathon here in Fairbanks this fall and have got to work more elevation in to my runs if I want to avoid dying during this race. This graph below shows about all of the elevation I can handle right now (measurements courtesy of my little Garmin Forerunner):

View enlarged image

As you can see, the highest point on this run occurs in mile 9 and is a mere 637ft above sea-level. The image below is a profile of the Equinox Marathon route, which begins climbing around mile 8 and continues considerably higher – peaking well above 2000ft at the top of Ester Dome:

View a larger image of the Equinox course profile

Just looking at the line graph makes me sore. The plan right now is to spend most of August training on Birch Hill located on a smaller ridge line here in town, but much closer to home, and run a few times over some of the actual race course closer to 15 Sep.

A summary of yesterday’s run:
over 24mi my average pace was 00:09:07/mi and duration of 03:39:17

3 Comments

  1. Wow – I’m impressed that you’re doing it! Another good run is Summit Drive off farmers loop. I think the entire loop is 13 miles around and you could deviate up summit and come down mcgrath for extra mileage. One warning though – Summit is narrow and there’s traffic!

    I’ve walked it many times – it was the thing to do when I was in high school. I’m looking forward to doing the virtual training with you!

  2. To answer your question about custom orthotics – yes, they would make a world of difference, at least they did for me. I went from Superfeet in my shoes on my first marathon to Surefoot custom thotics (spendy) and had less slippage and it felt more like a glove fit for my feet.

    Can’t help you on the food as my strategy was eat early and eat often so that by mile 20 I was ok with a gel or even some pringles. Try pieces of ProBar. Speaking of which, thanks for the mention. Ping me with your favorite flavor and I’ll drop a couple in the mail for you.

    Good luck on the Equinox. Looks like a quad buster.

  3. Kendall,
    Thanks for the tip on Surefoot. I’m definitely going to look into them. At 6′ tall I can’t afford to cut corners on my feet, particularly as the miles increase (and my age!).

    ProBars rock! Both my sister and I love them.

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