Running is an education in itself

Today we had our "base buster". It was 80 degrees and extremely humid at the start. Waffled about carrying water and in the end did...and I'm glad I did. Started with 4 to 5 miles of up hill. Not a problem. Ran at an easy pace. The next few were flat to rolling and then the last section down to Brentwood school were downhill to flat. I made myself be very disaplined about pace and nutrition. I estimate I drank about 64 oz of water - maybe more with the cups of water Karen had for us at the school. The last 8 miles consisted of 4 miles at progressive pace - I nailed it and ran it smart. The last 4 miles were supposed to be at MGP. I struggled a little for the first 2.5 miles and then just sucked it up and pushed the pace at the end. It was a good learning experience. I took 4 Gu's - for 21 miles, that should have been plenty...I still felt my legs were saying no on the last 4 miles. Over all I was happy with my effort.

Then I went to a talk Meredith gave about fluids and electrolytes. Very helpful. She helped me get some insights into some issues I have had. I need to do a sweat test. Providing I am not too tired in the AM, I will do it on my 8-9 mile run. I need to drastically increase the amount of Na+ I take in during these runs when it is so hot and humid and drink more too. Less Na+ when I'm not running and plain water after the run. Any NUUN should be taken prior to a run and possibly one litre max per day. She thinks with these small changes I should have fewer problems running out of gas at the end of the runs and less problems with fluid retention.