Blue Pants Racing held a 13-mile training run from the start of the marathon to the Biosphere. Since I was scheduled to run 18 miles this weekend, I just tacked on 5 additional miles past the Biosphere. I was able to complete today's 18 mile run in 2 hours and 27 minutes (8:11 min mile). The beginning of the course is not as easy as advertised. There are these steep downhills (at the start) that can do some damage to the quads, and steep uphills (between miles 6 and 7) that make you feel betrayed by the race organizers. However, after mile 7 it was a nice slope downhill, with some short gradual inclines. I had some issues with my stomach again at mile 13, but not as bad as last week's disaster. Since I banned raisin bran cereal yesterday, the only culprits are now the energy gels (GU) and the electrolyte drink (XOOD). I had consumed the Tri-Berry GU before the start and the Espresso GU at miles 7; didn't start consuming the XOOD until mile 6. I'm inclined to think that the culprits are the energy gels.
So I will try the Clif Shot on Tuesday for my 10-mile run. Clif Shots are supposed to be 90% organic (organic brown rice syrup as opposed to maltodextrin, fructose etc. that you get with GU and PowerGel). We'll see what happens.
If I can't tolerate the energy gels, I'll have to think of something else to consume (e.g., a banana) before the race, and pop in one of the gels later in the race, so I'll be done by the time the gels start 'working their magic'.
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