Back to 20

After weeks of feeling sorry for myself on account of repeated injuries, I finally made something of myself yesterday with a 20 mile trail. Tried a few new things that might or might not be great ideas for the long haul, but at least I know now:

• Succeed S! Caps
  This was my first pill-popping long run and I must say, they made an entirely noticeable distance. The only nausea/sick-stomach feeling came when I licked my arm to test my electrolytes (salty taste=ok, bland=running low) and forgot that I had about 3 layers of OFF Skintastic dried onto my skin. Mile 17 was spent fighting the urge to duck aside and vomit, but I toughed it out. Popping one every hour worked like a charm. I also downed a Clif Shot Blok every 1/2 hour as a semi-solid intake, so we can thank them for assistance as well.
   
• Green Magma
  I drank this+water rather than the standard Accelerade. Seemed to work OK and provided enough energy, though I wonder if the protein in Accelerade helps ease soreness a bit. I read that some elite ultra runners use Magma during runs, so I thought I’d give it a shot. At $40.00 for a tiny canister though, fat chance I’d be using it regularly unless, like elite ultra runners, I got sponsored by Green Foods (another fat chance).
   
• FiveFingers
  They’ve been seamless for anything under 15 miles, total comfort and great all-around feeling. Beyond that, my feet don’t seem tough enough to handle hours of abuse from jagged rocks and sharp tree-stumps. The bottoms of my feet are mostly bruised, and miles 16-20 were spent coping with agonizing pain in the balls of my feet. I’ll keep trying long runs in them to see how my strength/tolerance builds up. On the bright side, I have no joint pain whatsoever, so they seem to be doing their trick to that end.
   

All-in-all, it was a decent run in a decent, 43 mile week. Some very solid shorter runs with (relatively) respectable times. The 20 took a bit longer than expected, but I just wanted to get the time on my feet and start working on a reasonable hike/run combo. Will try bumping the long-runs up by a mile or two each week, and hopefully be capable of a not-excruciating 30 miler by the end of August. Things seem to be falling into place again. ‘Bout time.