Trying out Roctane

Well, what do you know?!? It has been far too long. I need to get back to this.

I've been running, but not well and not to target. I have a marathon (will be my third) in October and my goal is going to be 4:30 (a) slow, I know; b) you don't have to be fast to be a marathoner). But, I switched my long run from Saturday to Friday as that way it will less affect my family's weekend time. When I do my long run, not only am I physically gone for three to four hours, but then I'm wasted for much of the rest of the day. Given that both kids are in school on Fridays now, I figure I'll burn that day instead and then be present on Saturday. It also means doing my hills workout on Sunday. I hope God will understand.

Anyway, I've been thinking about my marathon fueling, hydration, and electrolyte intake. After listening to someone from Gu talking about Roctane on the recent Marathon Show, I decided to give Roctane a roll in the hay. My goal is to try several different gels out to see what works best for me. Today was to be Roctane.

Given that I was not going to be doing a sports drink, I also had to figure out electrolytes. I purchased Hammer electrolyte after talking to the guy at the running store. So, I had my plan: 15 miles with a Roctane every 45 minutes and an electrolyte tab every 30 minutes.

But, there is an extraneous variable in this experiment: it was freakin' hot and humid even at 9:00 a.m. Maybe the humidity would be ESPECIALLY at 9:00 a.m. So, my feeling like crap and walking far too much of this run could be more reflective of the weather than my fuel/hydration/electrolyte situation, but I was not wowed by Roctane. I intend on trying again when the weather improves.

I will say, however, that I think the Hammer electrolytes REALLY made a difference. Which surprised me. I didn't think I'd notice a difference with them; I only thought they would prevent me from bonking. I think I'm sold on those.

But, I "ran" (if you want to call it that, she says as she rolls her eyes) 15 miles in 3:21.16.28 which translates to a pace of 13:22/mile. SUCKS. I will say that I notice that I'm about 25% faster with less effort when I run in the evening and I'm attributing that to humidity. When I arrived home, my clothing was as wet as if I had stood in a shower for five minutes. No joke. You could, literally, wring the sweat out of my clothing. Yum!

That's the end of my week. Next up: hills!