Highlights 7/45 Half Marathon Challenge

Today I compromised. I had every intention of running 11km, however I ended up running only 7km. Here is why.

This story is only a small piece of a bigger story that you can find here:

This is How I Prepare for My First Half-Marathon That is in 45 Days

I didn’t lack another work challenge this time since I was caught up doing exactly that when it was time to go running (around 7:20 PM). However that’s not the reason for my poor performance.

Rožaje Running

Everything started with a bad choice of food. I got the timing right which was about 4.5 hours before my run, however I decided to eat 2 full plate of cooked beans. It was delicious, however, you are not supposed to load on high fiber or high protein before your run.

Challenge

• I felt heavy. Later on I found out it might be because of my protein overload. I was also thirsty. However, I would usually bring a small bottle of water but last couple of times it was only a distraction so I decided not to carry it with me.

Joy

• I wanted to give up around 3.7km, and in fact I did stop and walked a whole kilometer because I felt so much pressure to just go home, but didn’t want to. Like Jocko Willink says, if you want to take a break, don’t do it today. If you still feel the same tomorrow, you should take a break. So what I did was that after that run I decided to run some more which ended up being 100% more of what I ran before.

7/45

TIP OF THE DAY

When it comes to food rules, if you are:

• Running < 60 minutes, you could totally go away without eating, but make sure to get from 500ml to 950ml of liquid (water) with your last meal. If you want to eat anyway, then you can and it is the best to get some natural carbs like a piece of fruit, a banana or half of a sports bar and about 250ml of liquid to regulate your blood sugars during run.
• Running > 60 minutes, you could and probably should load on some lighter carbs. You could do eggs or a peanut butter and jelly. A small sandwich would do it as well. Your glycogen stores will probably run out after an hour of running so if you are doing any long distance such as half-marathon or marathon, you might consider using gels or just get whatever they have at the booths (if it is an official race).