18-MILE TEMPO AT GOAL MP +15 (THOUGH I ENDED MORE LIKE +7-10)
I picked up Denver and Ken, we met Jason at Rainbow, and then met Ben and Matt at Windsurfer lot. We dropped the cars off there and Ben drove up to the marathon start. We warmed up three miles and then ran the first 18 miles of the Ogden Marathon course.
A few weeks ago we did the same thing, only for 16 miles. I ran 5:31 avg that day and felt pretty tired and spent at the end. Today, I tested my new fueling strategy. One UCAN with protein two hours before running, a double-dosed UCAN 45 minutes before, and one UCAN homemade gel at mile 12 of the tempo (15 overall). It worked quite well and I didn't have any stomach issues. We had water dropped in three locations and I stopped and took a quick sip at each for 10-20 seconds then set them back for Ben and Ken so they could easily find them.
Overall I averaged about 5:27/mile. So I was four seconds faster per mile than the 16-miler and I felt much, much stronger when I finished. I honestly feel I could've run 2:23-ish for the whole course today at the end of a 100-mile week. So, that bodes very well, especially once I get a taper in my legs.
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