Touring Pipestem Park 3 Times (21.6 miles)

We camped at Pipestem State Park this past weekend so I ran from the campground to the lodge then down to true road, out onto route 20 and back into the park at the main entrance. I did this 3 times. This was my 4th long run in about 4 weeks and my body is really starting to adapt. This was my slowest run yet at about a 10:30 pace but the terrain here is very hilly. I felt good when I finished with only moderate calf pain. I recovered quickly and by the next day was feeling almost normal.

It really, really helps, when I eat plenty of food and drink plenty of water during these long runs. For this run I woke up then had an Oat and Honey granola bar before the run (220 calories) a GU pack w/ caffeine (100) calories. Then during the run I had 4 GU packs (100 calories each) and another Oat and Honey Granola bar about mid way. So all together I ate about 1000 calories during the run. I speculate that I burned about 130 calories per mile so I probably burned about 2800 calories. For the marathon, I am going to have to eat even more. I drank 0.5 Liter of water throughout 5 miles so I drank 2 Liters of water during the run (4 bottles). This all worked out very good. My time was something like 3:47 minutes. I've received my bib number for the MCM but more about that in a later blog.