Hi there,
my greatest concern at the moment is the upcoming 100k ultra run in Lüneburg – I feel a bit worried in many ways. The main concern is related to the fact that I haven’t got any experience of this kind of an event before. How to prepare oneself to a sports activity that lasts for me about 12 – 15 hours? How to get enough energy, and not to get any problems with one’s stomach or how to keep up with the good spirits during the race so that the thoughts are kept away from giving up and thus ending up with a DNF.
Lately I have read a bit about the energy intake during an ultra marathon. For the race I have bought some energy bars, chocolate, salty bisquits, energy gels etc. I need to have a spare reserve if the race takes longer than expected. The event organization provides the runners with 10 service points where there are drinks and food available. In addition to that I’m gonna wear my Camelback rucksack to have water and energy available any time. The ones who have experience of ultra running distances say that one should have about 20 g or a bit more carbohydrates every 20 minutes. I’ll have the energy bars as my main source of energy – I don’t like the energy gels very much so let’s see how this pays off.
My longest run until now was only 50 kilometers so this is quite a big step to reach until the 100k. Without any prior experience I suspect the biggest hurdle will be the distance from 60 to 85 km. If one is able to manage that somehow and maintain the level of energy at an adequate one I’m confident I can finish the race.
Running an ultra marathon is quite an extreme experience. Rarely I can say that food or a drink tastes that unbelievably delicious than it does during and after a running event. I can already think about the taste of a glass of cola at 70 km. With this image on my mind I will start to my first 100k on Saturday. Wish my some good luck. 😉
Until the next time, bye!