30.3 miles: A great day for my first 30.

Photo: From around mile 5 in Franklin.

Today I ran 30.3 miles. It was rainy and cool (lower 40's), a perfect day for my first 30. I can't say I felt great at the end but was nowhere near dead. I could have run a few more miles I'm sure.

I took in 170 calories via gels, 2 endurolytes, 1 half sized turkey sub (500 calories?) and 1 coke (180 calories). I think I need to take in more calories during really long runs and this was the first attempt at eating something real. Internet sources suggest I burned between 4900-5100 calories during today's run. So clearly a few hundred empty calories in coke is not a problem.

It had no ill effects and I think it helped. I took about a 10 minute break to get the food from a store and eat it. The coke may seem out of place but a lot of ultrarunners will have a Coke during events and sometimes it is offered by the organizers of these events. I figured if the cool kids are doing it, I'd give it a try now in training. I don't want to make it a habit but now I know that if it's there during an ultra and I think it sounds good at the time, I'll have one.

Today's run was different in that I ran about 10 miles (miles 19-29.5 map) around a loop that is just under a mile at a local park. I generally hate running in circles but there were a number of reasons I did it today. 1) It was raining on and off and I was getting fairly cold (shorts and t-shirt) and if the wind picked up I may have had to call the run short. If this happened, I didn't want to be far from home. 2) My ability to process data at intersections decreases around mile 20. I didn't really want to have to think about cars. 3) I knew this park would be empty. It's closed to car traffic during the week and it was raining on and off. I had the place to myself the whole time. 4) It has a good clean bathroom in the center of the park. It seemed like a good idea to be close to a bathroom (it was).

Up next: I may make this upcoming week a down week mileage wise. I can then build again for about three weeks before entering the taper for the Ultra. I may just do a 5 mile run tomorrow. If my legs are dead. I might not run at all.