This past weekend I did the longest run I’d ever done – 24 miles.
The mother-in-law had the kids for a sleep over on the Friday night, so, sacrificing a lie in with my lovely wife, I got up at 6:30, left the house at 7:15 and headed along the canal for my usual ~ 12 mile route to Theale, there I headed into the village, over the Pangbourne Road and up towards Bradfield where I joined my usual commute home for another 10 miles or so home – all in 24 miles.
I was a bit annoyed after the first 10 minutes or so, as it looked like the GPS on my phone wasn’t picking up the location, but it rectified itself after a bit and the 23.84 miles recorded is probably only .1 or .2 miles short.
I was pretty pleased with my fuelling / hydration – I had my Inov8 Race Elite rucksack with a drink bladder in it, which I had filled with 2L of “PSP22 Fuel” energy drink. I also carried 2 further sachets of this, as I knew there was water at Aldermaston (8 miles) and a shop at Bradfield Southend (15 miles) where I could get water.
Before leaving home I ate a banana and had a glass of the PSP22 Fuel. I ate a fun size marathon bar and a 25g pack of yoghurt covered strawberry flakes at around 14 miles as well as topping up the bladder after 8 miles with just some water and then faffing around at 15 miles with 3 500ML waters I had bought trying to mix the powder. Next time I’ll take / try the gels instead, just with plain water. Apart from this faffing around the only negative thing was the bladder I’m using – the valve part and the stopper are just a pain, requiring me to twist the thing with my teeth and remove a stopper cap that then dribbles drink on me, which later turns into a sticky glue like substance…
The run itself was good, initially along the canal, about 3 miles along roads directly in the line of traffic and then some paths & pavements. I walked a few of the hills but ran pretty much all the way apart from those. I was listening to Marathon Talk on my Phone / MP3 and I seemed to zone out for large parts of the run – I’ve been driving the latter half home tonight and just cannot remember large parts of the route at all.
I finished around 11am, and felt pretty reasonable, previously when I’ve finish long runs (18+ miles), I’ve collapsed on the floor with aching legs – this time around I was fine, and just went about the rest of my day (after a ‘For Goodness Shake’, which I think are a real help – but cannot put my finger on why – maybe because I’m a gullible fool…)
Not yet sure I have my rehydration correct – I had hot and cold flushes on and off for the rest of the day, which is something I generally get at night after an evening long run. Also not sure it’s down to this run, but I felt flat and grumpy for the next few days.
In summary, excellent run, it’s given me good confidence for the Bimblers Bluff 50K, need to try the same thing on gels and experiment a little with the rehydration afterwards.
