14 Miles Today

On my way to the October 14th marathon in Denver I ran 14 miles today with my training group. This is the longest run I've done since the Austin half marathon in February. Felt pretty good. I'm trying to run with my own hydration system these days. I've tried the water belt, twice and hated it each time. Now I'm simply carrying a 16.9 oz Ozarka bottle. They have this new nipple deal that's very easy to pop open and sip on without getting too much in. Not bad, still mastering the technique of switching hands and all that.

My formula in my hydration kit includes one NUUN tablet. It is suppose to have 700 mg of electrolytes. I think this is important because I lose a lot of water weight during my runs. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 8-10 pounds in a marathon. You know that's all water and in order to maintain the proper weight you must take in water with electrolytes. So, I'm giving this NUUN a try to see if it can give me what I need without upsetting my stomach. I tried the Electrolyte Stamina Replacement powder but it was giving my belly all kinds of trouble. Additionally, my taste buds get very sensitive somewhere around mile 15. Too sensitive to tolerate the flavor in ESR.

One of my running buddies said I'm always trying something new and experimenting. Darn right, I'm going to find the right solution to give me all the advantage I can get. Too many times I found myself too weak to perform well near the end of a 26.2 and I know it's not because of my training. I bet losing 10 lbs during the process has something to do with it. If I can keep half that weight wonder how much better I can do. More to come. We'll see how it goes.