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Ultra Crazy
Jun. 30th, 2022 10:07 amWe've done it - we signed up for an ultramarathon. The Blaze Pioneer Trail Race is held just up the road from us in Jennings State Forest, and we'll be doing the 50k race in December. 50 kilometers is a marathon plus 4.9 miles or thereabouts, so it's not TOO much longer. We joke that it's a Disney marathon, considering how long the exit is, walking back to the bus, then walking from the bus to your room, not to mention the extra distance you picked up on the course dodging around people who don't understand the concept of "slower runners stay to the right."
So now I have to start being a little more serious about my race strategy. My major problem is that I tend not to fuel, and then I bonk, mostly because I'm very stupid. I was reading an interesting blog post this morning from a woman who runs a lot of ultras, and she wrote two things that made me think about how I want to do this. One is that unless you keep putting something in your stomach, it'll "go to sleep," and your body will naturally redirect blood flow from your guts to your muscles, meaning that later when you do try to take on food, you'll have problems. The other thing she said was that on marathons and ultras, she eats her "real food" first and saves the energy goo for late in the race. As much as I like some of GU Labs' gels, I get serious palette fatigue and by the end of a long race the last thing I want is another packet of salted caramel.
There's a cookbook/website called Feed Zone or some such, and one of their more well-known recipes is for rice balls and bars. The bars are apparently like Rice Krispies treats with extras, but the idea of rice balls kind of intrigued me. Rice is a carb. Carbs are good for running. Hmm. What if I mixed up rice with some seasonings and other ingredients, made myself some small onigiri and packed 'em in my vest? I have the bento equipment to make and store them, so I could carry a few with me and stash more in my drop bag. I keep thinking of one I had from the 7&I near our hotel in Tokyo that was really yummy - it was a seasoned sticky rice cake topped with a slice of grilled sausage. The rice was savory and had soy sauce mixed in, though for a race I might skip the greasy sausage and go a mixture of soy sauce, eggs, and honey. Pop those bad boys in the freezer for an hour or so beforehand and they won't get warm and fall apart (not too badly, anyway) and I know it's all stuff I can digest, that I like, and with the eggs, it's got some fat to buffer the carbs.
Anyway, that's what's up right now. I've got until winter to figure this out, but it doesn't hurt to start experimenting now.
I'm also pondering a trip to Monument Valley again, this time obviously without the asshole ex-husband. That trip should have been a lot more fun than it was, and I'd like an opportunity to do the stuff I wanted to do when we went before, like hiking. Maybe do an extra trip up to Arches National Park for a day or two. But I also need to remember that my lowlander ass is going to suffer from lack of oxygen at those altitudes, so don't get too ambitious when planning these hikes.
So now I have to start being a little more serious about my race strategy. My major problem is that I tend not to fuel, and then I bonk, mostly because I'm very stupid. I was reading an interesting blog post this morning from a woman who runs a lot of ultras, and she wrote two things that made me think about how I want to do this. One is that unless you keep putting something in your stomach, it'll "go to sleep," and your body will naturally redirect blood flow from your guts to your muscles, meaning that later when you do try to take on food, you'll have problems. The other thing she said was that on marathons and ultras, she eats her "real food" first and saves the energy goo for late in the race. As much as I like some of GU Labs' gels, I get serious palette fatigue and by the end of a long race the last thing I want is another packet of salted caramel.
There's a cookbook/website called Feed Zone or some such, and one of their more well-known recipes is for rice balls and bars. The bars are apparently like Rice Krispies treats with extras, but the idea of rice balls kind of intrigued me. Rice is a carb. Carbs are good for running. Hmm. What if I mixed up rice with some seasonings and other ingredients, made myself some small onigiri and packed 'em in my vest? I have the bento equipment to make and store them, so I could carry a few with me and stash more in my drop bag. I keep thinking of one I had from the 7&I near our hotel in Tokyo that was really yummy - it was a seasoned sticky rice cake topped with a slice of grilled sausage. The rice was savory and had soy sauce mixed in, though for a race I might skip the greasy sausage and go a mixture of soy sauce, eggs, and honey. Pop those bad boys in the freezer for an hour or so beforehand and they won't get warm and fall apart (not too badly, anyway) and I know it's all stuff I can digest, that I like, and with the eggs, it's got some fat to buffer the carbs.
Anyway, that's what's up right now. I've got until winter to figure this out, but it doesn't hurt to start experimenting now.
I'm also pondering a trip to Monument Valley again, this time obviously without the asshole ex-husband. That trip should have been a lot more fun than it was, and I'd like an opportunity to do the stuff I wanted to do when we went before, like hiking. Maybe do an extra trip up to Arches National Park for a day or two. But I also need to remember that my lowlander ass is going to suffer from lack of oxygen at those altitudes, so don't get too ambitious when planning these hikes.
