Long Runs (Adventures in Eating!)

I was going to call this post “Long Runs and Lessons I’ve Learned,” but after my last long run, it’s clear it’s still a work in progress.  One of the biggest things I’m working on is….NUTRITION. I realized that I’ve been seriously under-fueling for these runs.  In the past I ate a gel every hour.  But recently, from one of my ultra running podcasts, I learned that runners should aim for 200-300 calories per hour- I was getting in 100, half of the lowest recommendation.  DOH! After that I really made an effort to eat more often.  Here’s my gear laid out before my 25 mile run: The fuel includes two gels, a package of Clif Bloks, Frooze balls, and Uncrustables.  I brought along another Uncrustable as well that I didn’t end up eating.  Let’s just see how it all worked out… First, I now eat breakfast before the run.  I used to get up and get out the door as quickly as possible, so the most I would eat was half a banana or maybe an orange.  Now that I’ve been doing my long runs a little later, I’ve been eating a bowl of oatmeal.  This works well as long as it’s at least an hour before I start running.  On this day, I was behind on my schedule and finished it about 45 minutes before the run. For the first hour, I could feel that oatmeal in my stomach.  It wasn’t bothering me too much, but it made me not want to eat anything else.  Finally, an hour into the run I knew I was going to get behind if I didn’t eat something, so I ate a gel.  That’s what gels are great for- they go down easily (at least for me) even when you can’t eat regular food. About half an hour later I decided I needed to start on the Frooze balls.  I had planned to eat them slowly, and eat all five pieces during the run… but on this day, after I ate two of them, I suddenly hated them. WHAT?  I’ve been loving the Frooze balls!!!  How did this happen?  I was really counting on eating that whole package, and now I didn’t see how I could finish it.  Sigh. A little later I took another gel and then decided to try the Uncrustable- it was my first time trying it on the run. Well, I have some advice: don’t put it in the pocket of your running shorts.  It got all smooshed, and all the jelly ended up in one tiny part.  The problem with that was, the rest of the Uncrustable was just bread and peanut butter, which was a little hard to get down.  But I ate it.  Once it was in my stomach it digested fine- I just didn’t enjoy the shewing and swallowing part so much. Now I was in those last ten, hard miles of the run, and I opened the package of Clif Bloks.  They were… inoffensive.  I ate one about every ten minutes, and in that way finished the run. In retrospect I didn’t eat as much as I had wanted, which was probably partly why this run was so hard.  I learned two things: 1) leave plenty of time for breakfast to digest before running!  (this shouldn’t be a problem on race day) and 2) bring along a variety of foods in case you suddenly hate one of the items you planned on eating. For my race, I plan to bring most of my nutrition along with me.  I can carry some and put some in my drop bag, which I’ll have access to in the middle.  According to the race info, the aid stations will be stocked with fruit, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, chips. pretzels, pickles and soda.  Now I wish I had tried salty things on my long runs, instead of all sweet.  We’ll see how I feel during the race- maybe I’ll want a pickle (?) Twelve days till race day!  I’ll have a nutrition update afterwards. I’m linking up with Kim and Zenaida for their Tuesday Topics today! Any other ideas or pieces of advice for me? What’s your favorite long run nutrition?