3 Weeks

I have 3 weeks till my half-marathon. I was thinking about tapering off my training, but my co-worker said I should run longer. So I decided to run another 10.5 miles. Another co-worker told me about energy gels and how I should have one before I run. I did feel lightheaded when I last ran 10.5 miles, so I decided to buy some energy gels. Further, my co-worker said “don’t change anything on race day”, and since I was planning on eating something on race day, I decided I better try it out now. So L & I went to REI on Friday night. I bought 3 PowerBar Gels, 1 GU, and 1 Cliff Shot. I looked at all three makes, and all were made in Berkeley, CA. Interesting. I had the Cliff Shot right before I got out of my car to run. It didn’t taste good, and I needed to drink a lot of water to wash it down. When I ran I felt stronger and my legs had more kick. Further, I didn’t feel lightheaded and I didn’t cramp up. I felt like I needed another energy gel mid way through coming back. I ran it in 1 hr and 44 mins. Over 8 minutes faster than my previous best 10.5 mile run. So I am excited that it worked. However, I am not too sure if it was all due to the gel, because I did cut my hair really short. I have run 3 10.5 mile runs, and I am thinking on tapering it down now that I only have 3 weeks left. If I ran what I did today and then power walked that last 2.6 miles, it should get me under 2.5 hours.