10/27 Run

I missed most of the rain. It didn't start till mile 5. :)

A clockwise lap around the lake. It seems to have worked the worst of the kinks out of my left hamstring, but my thighs are inordinately trashed for two days of running. One more day, tomorrow, and then two days off, and then Carkeek!

Bruce ran Carkeek last week, and offered up some good advice for running long loops, and the 12 hour in particular:

Be a lazy runner: Be efficient. Minimize time at the aid station and fiddling about. Less time stopped means you can run more slowly.

Set up a personal aid station on the route. Close to the real one so they can watch it, but far enough away to be out of traffic. Load up a box with prefilled water bottles so you don't have to fill them by hand during the run.

Take a minimum of breaks. Plan a break every 3 laps (for example) to replace (not fill) your bottle and snag some fuel.

Plan on a couple of longer breaks (say 3) to change clothes if necessary, get more fuel from the aid station, etc. Just be quick about it.

4 mph == 2 laps an hour. Walk the uphills, run the flats and downhills. The stairs on the downhills are going to suck.

Nic had some other good stuff too:

"The only advice that I have for anyone is to be sure to be prepared as far as wardrobe goes... I know it's obvious, but as I discovered at 2009's Dizzy Daze, it can really make or break a race if there's poor weather. I showed up at Dizzy Daze with 3 sets of dry shirts and socks and the intentions of running my 1st 100K, I left shivering with 3 sets of soaked clothing and a 50K finish (if you can call it that)."

Conveniently, Quadrathon had some good stuff too, here and here

And on a completely random fitness not, I found this pretty cool pair of articles discussing alternatives to the squat for leg strength and power. the premise is that the lower back is the limiter in the traditional back squat. Interesting stuff.
Here, here and here. the comments have some interesting stuff too.

6.09 miles in 54:51 (9:00/mile) @ 159 bpm