Friday 8 April 2011

The Long and Winding Road

Less that 36 hours to go. I'm as ready as i'll ever be. I can't say i'm brimming with boundless energy following my 2 easy 5 milers on Tuesday and Thursday. The week was so busy at work that my final week of taper dovetailed nicely with my reduced spare time, although I didn't get as much sleep as i'd have liked. Still tonight is the important night for rest and with no pressing deadlines in the morning I should be well rested by the time I hit the road for Galway shortly after Midday.
I've prepared my 2 "three hour bottles" of perpeteum for reconstitution with water just before the race as it has a limited shelf life of as low as 5 hours, depending on temperature. So if it's as unseasonally warm as it was today (20 degrees C) i'll reconstitute the second bottle at the 24 mile drop zone. Apart from that drop zone I don't have any specific need to utilise the other 2 drop zones available to the ultra runners - i'll probably drop a bottle of coke somewhere and maybe an emergency perpeteum mix in case they lose the first one - I only got 2 out of 3 drop bags last year. Abina made a trip to the pet store today to pick up distinctive dog poop bags that will help me identify my drops among the sea of black and white plastic bags on the drop tables and she didn't let me down, landing home with a roll of orange and orange with black spots doggy bags.
Clubmate Denis Looney, who had to pull out due to injury, kindly let me borrow his new running belt with bottle holder, which I trialled this week and it worked like a dream. Denis is in a low place at the moment having to forgo the race after putting in the hard training, so hugs and kisses to him. It won't be the same without him.
To mitigate against cramping i'll carry endurolyte capsules in the running belt (and include 1 or 2 in the drop bags) - the recommended dose is between 1 and 3 per hour - so i'll be popping pills every other minute. I may also include some solid food in the drop bags, just in case I get a bad case of the munchies (a cereal bar or two) and i'll top off the menu with an emergency gel or two.
With the food sorted all that's left is my outfit - my orange shoes will match the doggy bags and after that it's mix and match with black and white, which compliment any outfit. Oh! and finally my pacing strategy, well I aim to go out.........................................................

13 comments:

  1. good luck grellan. hoping you get the outcome your recent efforts deserve. may the force be with you

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  2. best of luck.... see you on the other side

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  3. Only a day away now Grellan. Great time of anticipation. Have a terrific run. If there is any justice in this cruel world, and I expect there is, you will pull out a great run.

    All the best with it!

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  4. Sounds like you're ready for an enjoyable picnic on the go. The food and drink seems fine, hope the running doesn't cause any problems.

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  5. The very best of luck to ya! What could possibly go wrong after all the training you put into it?

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  6. Best of luck Grellan, you're in the best shape I've ever seen you in, so this is your time. I will look to the Northwest tomorrow @ 9am and think of you all.

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  7. Good luck Grellan. Even if it doesn't go well you'll still have an enjoyable training season to look back on. I think, barring a temperature meltdown, you'll be ok so soak it up and enjoy.

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  8. Hey, really great blog post… I've enjoyed reading through your blog because of the great style and energy you put into each post. I actually run AceHealth.org, a blog of my personal research and experiences. If you're interested, I would love to have you on as a guest blogger. Please send me an e-mail: bob.mauer65(at)gmail(dot)com, and I can give you more information. Looking forward to hearing from you.

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  9. Hey, really great blog post… I've enjoyed reading through your blog because of the great style and energy you put into each post. I actually run AceHealth.org, a blog of my personal research and experiences. If you're interested, I would love to have you on as a guest blogger. Please send me an e-mail: bob.mauer65(at)gmail(dot)com, and I can give you more information. Looking forward to hearing from you.

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  10. Hope it went well Grellan. Agree that 20C would be a tad on the warm side if you'd copped that for the race. We had 24 yesterday and 13 + wet today for the marathoners.

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