As I pushed the button on my watch to end the third 20 mile run of the plan, the marathoner phrase “the hay is in the barn” popped in my mind. I haven’t been thinking a lot about the last two 20-milers, or the other training runs. The last five miles of this run felt like a shitshow. I wasn’t yet aware that I was only 19 seconds longer than the last, which was 38 seconds faster than the first. It took a few days for me to start writing this and realizing those 3:05s are a little bit faster than the 3:11, 3:08, and 3:10 I did last year.
It was in my mind how the training cycle seemed to shift to become faster. I started this training cycle feeling like I had to push myself if I wanted to run sub-9, and I ended with normally going sub-9, sometimes when I didn’t think I was hitting it, and usually only saving the over-9 runs for those that are marked easy.
Last year, I felt like I was never hitting sub-9 paces during the last training cycle. Looking at summaries from 2022 I averaged around 9:10 during the first three phases of the training cycle (+/- 1 second). This time I’m nearly 20 seconds per mile faster (8:53, 8:57, and 8:50 for the endurance, endurance + lactate threshold, and race prep phases).
One of the things that happens when running through a training plan is constantly re-referencing the source. In my case, that’s Advanced Marathoning. I came to the conclusion that something I could have done better compared to last year was the long run. In the book, it specifically states “long runs shouldn’t be slow jogs where you just accumulate time on your feet”. That being said, I did try to push it on the long runs. Not push it as in “see God” or “go to the well”, but not rest on my laurels either.
Last year, I mentioned that everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face. Apparently, I had Mike Tyson’s the quote wrong (mouth, not face), but that matters less than my semi-ok-preparation for the punch in the mouth – the God-awfully hot weather.
This year is likely not going to be different in terms of weather… well, maybe it will be. We don’t know. But I do know that a second issue is that my preferred fuel is unavailable.
I started typing the stuff above this 10 days ago, and after seeing the “Currently unavailable” in Amazon (and seeing similar notes on Gatorade’s website and other places), I ran out to the local running store and grabbed a few options…
That’s six gels plus chews. I had a 16 mile run to try some – I decided against trying all of them. I would have only used two gels for that run (at around 5 and 10 miles), but packed four…
I’ll admit to overconfidence. I rarely get any sort of nausea while running, so I thought I’d be happy with the first gel. Spring Awesomesauce.
I was wrong.
It wasn’t terrible, but definitely not awesome. I think I wanted to like it more because they’re the only company that thought about the logistics of these damn things – the top is meant to stay attached after opening and they have holes to help with putting them somewhere while running. But the gel itself tasted like apple pie filling. If I wasn’t running, I would have been more okay with it. I didn’t finish the gel and discarded it at a pitstop a mile or so later.
The second gel I tried (at maybe the 8 mile mark) was the Spring Mango. I had similarly high hopes for this one, and it was by far the biggest letdown. It was awful. I’m not sure any mangoes were used in the production of the gel, if there was then maybe they should allow the mangoes to ripen before using them. However, it seems to me that it was not mango but instead another orange-fleshed melon: cantaloupe. And that shit is disgusting. One taste was all I needed.
The third that I tried was the Huma Strawberry (at maybe the 10 or 12 mile mark). It was not bad. In fact, I was tempted to make this it and call it done. There were some minor oddities in the flavor but nothing offensive or strong enough to be bothered.
I wanted to try the last one because I’ve heard more about Honey Stinger than most other gels (other than Gu), so I tried it at the 13 mile mark. I got more honey than kiwi and strawberry and there was a little bit of a low spice (kinda like a menthol or something – it was really low… I later determined that it was kiwi). The fruit flavor was so low that I didn’t pick up on the fact that it has a flavor until I went to order some. The spice was low and not offensive – for the timing and given the fact that it’s a gel, it was a little on the pleasant side. It did (to me) edge out the Huma.
The training is done. The miles left are small and easy. That doesn’t really mean easy, but in the week leading up to the marathon the longest run is 8 miles.