To change things up a bit I decided to take a drive down to Colorado Springs and run at the Air Force Academy. I heard it was a nice run so me, my girlfriend, and another friend decided to give it a try. The trail was all dirt which was nice but unfortunately there was no tree coverage. The first 4 miles was flat and wide open as if running through the desert. The next 3.5 miles had steep but small rolling hills. Then we had to turn around and do it all over again. I liked the trail but next time I think it would be a good idea be out running before 9AM if the forecast is hot and sunny.
I ran with my friend for the first 6 miles at a somewhat inconsistent pace. He is training at a slightly slower pace and we kept alternating from a pace that I felt comfortable at to one that he felt good with. This was definitely not done on purpose but it's just the way it turned out. My friend turned around here and I kept going for another 1.5 miles. I felt great until about mile 10. I don't know if it was the heat, the hills, or dehydration setting in but I began to feel pretty bad at this point. I've been trying to run near race pace for the second half of my long runs and I did until I hit all the hills.
My new approach for nutrition seemed to be a success. I normally eat a Cliff bar every hour and alternate drinking water and Gatorade. This time I ate 2 GU Chomps every half hour then took a GU gel at mile 10. Surprisingly I didn't feel hungry at all during my run. The only problem I ran into was failing to drink enough. I ended the run with half of my fluids left. I think this might have played a role in the way I felt at the end of the run. Next time I'm going to force myself to drink more and I'll try eating the same thing to see what happens.
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