What's For Energy?

Instead of "What's for dinner?" the question is: "What's for energy?"

It seemed that I spent most of May & the better portion of June trying to figure out how to sustain myself while running Miles 15 through 25 of a marathon. It always seemed to be at about Mile 15, maybe a little bit after that, that my body would be fatigued. I thought it was in the way I'd trained. I thought maybe I needed some more longer runs. I figured if I ran every-other-day for 15 or more miles, then I'd be able to get through the fatigue; I'd be able to figure the why of it - it would make sense & I could fix it.

That's not how it happened. In amongst the cross-training that, happen chance, became of my May & June with plenty of hiking & biking when I wasn't out running, I learned that it wasn't just in my running lots of long mile runs that would train my body, in particular my legs, & make it so that when I'd be enduring those end miles & crossing the finish line I'd be full (or at least definitely not drained of) energy, rather I needed to add in food while I ran.

I'd taken to the typical produce options: the banana halves & the orange slices as well as these & a few other unique edibles. Nothing provided the ultimate sustenance. Then I learned about these. Well, that's not entirely true. I'd already used them, so I'd already learned of them. What I did learn was why they are such a great option & how to properly use them along the course to the finish line.

Conveniently, like with yesterday's post, there is a brand that produces them as organic. I can easily recommend these, these, these, & these. 😍 I've enjoyed each of these flavors! 😋

What I've learned is to work with what's best for me as far as how many & how frequently. First, however, I learned "the hard way" & had someone explain that, much like with general hydration (where you know you're already dehydrated when you realize that you're thirsty), I was informed to begin the course having already consumed one (so I did 😄). From there I was recommended to have one every three miles. With this in mind I might've spent more time & effort setting myself up every 25 to 30 minutes just to see how well I could do with this "energizing" strategy than I did really considering how I was running.

Alas, I got the job done! And I beat my personal record by roughly half an hour! This is likely partly due to that particular course's structure as well as having consumed plenty of these. In any case it was a definite joy to finish a marathon before the clock struck noon!

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