Nugent Coaching Systems

First off – great race.  Well organized, aid stations and volunteers were stellar.  Highly recommend running this event if you have the chance.

Key take-aways:

• This HURT.
• I’m in better shape than I thought I was, but not as good as I want to be.
• Find a new pack that doesn’t rub the back raw.
• Pacers make all the difference.

Pacing strategies:

• 5 minutes on, 1 minute off worked great.  Ran with another racer (Mike Arena) for the first 22 miles and had to let him slip away.
  • this pacing strategy lasted until mile 36, then it was pure survival.  Run when I could, walk when I had to.
  • (For 2011, I will be using a Gymboss Timer)

Gear options:

• The CWX Compression tights probably helped minimize a substantial amount of fatigue, but then by mile 26, the chaffing reached the saturation point.  I switched to Zoot tri-shorts and had zero issues.
• The Inov-8 shoes are great.  I used the Lite-220′s and my only complaint was that my feet haven’t been conditioned enough to get that much ‘textural’ information from the ground.  My feet , while they only swelled minimally, did get pretty sore.
• Socks – Smartwool all the way!

Training

• If I had more time I would add a few more 10-mile time trials
• More hills or parking lot tire dragging
• More double-unders and ankle strength work
• Everything else the same (strength and speed WODs), low volume run mileage.

Interesting notes:

• Cramping:
  • Calves seized at mile 36, slowly taking over forward progress
  • Upper right leg completely seized from knee to groin, pulling me ram-rod straight on an incline (Ryan handed over his Gatorade (undiluted) and I drank half of it.  From that point (around 36 miles) I started doubling the salt intake (two salt sticks every 30 minutes).
• No blisters!
• I’d do this race again.  Totally.
  • [Update: as of Jan 10th, 2011, I am signed up and ready to do this again!]

Race Site

I’ll definitely be using a GymBoss as I won’t have Mike Arena around for pacing

This is mostly a quick note so I don’t forget what I did for this run.

I only had three guiding principles for nutrition:

• Stick to a schedule
• Salt is king
• Stay as natural as possible

With these rules in mind I proceeded down the path of 50 miles.

Foods I used:

• Roasted/salted peanuts (small handfuls every other hour)
• Jalepeno flavored jerky (small pieces every other hour)
• 3 gu’s (2 vanilla, 1 plain) (only after the marathon)
• Orange slices (anytime they were at an aid station)

Fluids used

• Coke (the last three aid stations)
• Gu2Go (3/4 of the whole run I opted for this in one bottle)
• Diluted gatorade (last third of the run in the other water bottle)

Salt Supplements:

• SaltStick capsules
  • one every 30 minutes until my legs seized up at mile 36
  • two every 30 minutes until they were gone (last 13 miles)

IMG_0235, originally uploaded by Cal-ara.

Fun race and CLOSE finish with the Dirty Avocados! Joe and I exchanged lead position with the DA’s several times throughout the race. It wasn’t until the kayak that we finally swapped for the last time and Brian and Adam took 2nd in the 2-person men’s division and we grabbed 3rd. Doh!

Well organized and painstakingly marked, Kudos to the Big Blue staff for pulling this off! Even the weather participated!

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