Pictures and fueling lesson noted

I have been remiss about posting for the last few months, I have either thought about and not followed through or it's one of about 15 drafts yet posted, so this time I figured I would finish it out and actually post it, to keep from collecting any more :-).

I have been taking my cellphone and taking a few pictures on my last 5 or 6 long runs at Murphy, the River Bottoms and Lebanon and they have all been pretty as they transformed from ice to spring. This picture is from Saturday's long run, it's from the south side of Jensen Lake heading up a slight hill (clockwise direction).

This next one is of the bald eagle I saw in Lebanon Hills 3 weeks ago when I was crossing the old bridge heading back towards Jensen Lake. I have never seen an eagle before in Lebanon, it was cool to see one in the park. I tried to circle it so you can see it, sorry that my picture is not too good. I did try to loop around to get a better picture but it flew away.

Okay, now for the main reason for this post, nutrition.

I have been listening to the UltraRunnerPodcast and Trail Runner Nation podcasts and they have had Sunny Blende talking about nutrition, interviews with Dave Mackey, Dean Karnazes, Barefoot Ted and Krissy Moehl plus more. During the interview with Sunny Blende, she said you should take in between 200 to 300 calories an hour during an ultra. Why did this pop into my head, well on my long run on Saturday I was about 2 hours into my run when I started slowing down, by 2 1/2 hours I was back at my car thinking I might be not able to get in another 10 miles. I knew I needed to continue to get time on my feet even if it wasn't working well, so I grabbed another clif shot blok, some water, switched shoes (I can always blame my shoes) and headed back out.

It was about then that I did the math on my caloric intake: 1 package of clif shot blok - 200 calories, 2 perpetuem tablets - 66 calories, 1 1/2 liters of water with nuun tablets - 8 calories per bottle. All added up I had taken in 290 calories in 3 hours, duh I thought, maybe I am simply low on fuel. So I ate the second clif shot bloks, go figure but within in a few minutes I was running again feeling good, about a 1/2 hour I ate a clif shot gel that I had been carrying for 2 months, mocha, very good flavor. Again my energy level stayed up and I continued to run (I should add what I mean by run, I was only trying to run a 13 to 15 minute mile so for most it would be barely running but for me it was better than walking). An hour or so later I ate a granola bar and my energy level continued to fell good.

Calories consumed:
       ~3 hours - 290 calories (~97 calories/hr)
       ~2 hours - 486 calories (~242 calories/hr)


So I think on my next long run, I will try to fuel like the last 2 hours and see how things work out.