Yesterday I went for a off road run on the Gleniffer Braes. I used it as a sort of dress rehearsal for the Hardmoors 160 race which is now less than 4 days away!
Besides having an easy run I wanted to try out a few things including a Herbalife Prolong drink I have been sent to try out, to check whether my battery pack works as I would like to see if I can record the whole of the run on my Suunto watch, to try out my small Chilli Technology camera and finally to see how easy it would be to send a twitter video on the run.
All four worked worked well but we’ll see how they work out in the heat of battle …. or at least 160 miles of continuous running on the Hardmoors route.
I have also been putting together my nutritional plan for the race. I sent my first draft to my friend Cara Sloss who has been helping me over the last few years with my nutrition plans for the longer ultras particularly.
Cara very kindly looked over it and made a number of helpful suggestions so here is my second attempt. It may change a bit between now and the start of the race but hopefully not too much.
I’ve tried to work on a plan to have as much real food as I can especially over the first third. Katrina is going to make some lovely home made butternut squash soup which Andy & Sarah will warm up and have ready for me when I arrive at certain checkpoints.
I’m hoping that because I’m not planning to be moving too fast I’ll be able to eat pretty well. Plus the Tailwind and Prolong drinks will give me plenty of energy to be able to keep going right through the race.
I have one more taper run planned for tomorrow then I’ll be resting Wednesday and Thursday before the race starts on Friday evening at 5pm. I spent most of this past weekend thinking how long I will be running next weekend. 42 plus hours is a long time but this is one the reasons I wanted to do this race to see whether I can complete it!
I now have 125 guesses for the ‘Guess My Time’ competition which is great! If you still want to enter you have just under 2 days …. the deadline is 6pm Wednesday 27th April.
6 times the distance of the London Marathon just passed, 3 times longer than the Fling I’m about to do this weekend, it’s truly is an impressive challenge to tackle. All your ultra’s and training have been building up to it, honing your skills and fitness, you wouldn’t have entered if you didn’t think you have a good chance of finishing.
I trust in all that preparation, have confidence in your ability to finish, even if that does mean I’ll have to be checking online all weekend for progress reports!