Last Long Run Before the Mangler

I woke up around 6:45, late for a long run day, made a pack of raw steel cut organic oatmeal that I added raisins and honey to. Ate a banana. Filled my travel mug with coffee and headed up to North Park to run the first lap of the Marshall Mangler course. This was the last long run before the race this coming Saturday.

I was filling my two 500ml soft flasks for the Salomon Hydro Set 5 pack when I noticed the bite valve internal cap was missing. The flasks have bite valves similar to a bladder and hose setup. The internal cap is what keeps the water inside. This wasn't going to work. I was on the running warehouse site pretty quick looking if they had the soft flask in stock. Fortunately they did and they send all orders 2 day ship. Also, my Steel City Road Runner (SCRR) membership gets me a solid discount. Flask ordered. Crisis averted. Sure I was stuck with half a liter of water on hand instead of the liter I normally carry, but no issue on a figure 8 course. My car was a fully stocked aid station.

The course route has roughly 1900 feet of elevation gain over the 15 miles. Just a touch over the average for most local hill trails I've run. This assumes that I ran the correct route. I seem to be coming up 1/2-1 mile short.

Red Trail

Now, typically it's not suggested to start toying with fueling plans one week before a race. So I figured I'd toy with my fueling plan the week before the race. Almost 6 miles in I was off the Orange trail and back at my car. I refilled my soft flask and tried a piece of Ezekiel cinnamon raisin bread with peanut butter. Took a shwill of coffee and hit the Red trails. Maybe the piece of bread with peanut butter slathered over it was a little too much. My legs were kinda dead as blood went to my stomach to digest this heavy thing I threw at it one hour into a run. That being said the lethargy legs passed in 20-30 minutes and no other unpleasant side effects were had,but I did have solid energy the rest of the way. So come race day I think I will downsize the portion to half a piece of bread with PB somewhere between miles 6-10 and keep on with Clif Bloks and Salt Stick Plus caps. That should do the trick.

The Orange trail or Golf Course trail as it is also known encircles the Golf course... Big surprise there!  The forested trails are beautiful and treacherous. It's the kind of forest you want to look around and enjoy.  There are a number of sections that have intertwined roots and rocks breaking the ground, so make sure when you are enjoying the scenery to also take careful note of where your feet are landing. 

The remainder of the run was on the Red trail which runs down to the lake and back up on the Red- black to Red-green. At the Wisconsin shelter I crossed over to the Red-blue following it down to the ice rink. I really can't say enough for how nice the trails at North Park are. They are well maintained, marked, and frequently used.

 I made it back to the car around 14.5 miles and ran up the hill and back to round out a nice 15. Finished this baby up with fresh legs and energy to spare.  I'm ready. A couple of short runs this week in the 2-4 mile range , some carb loading, and hopefully a little extra sleep. Ready to go! I'll post a race report up next weekend or early next week.