I had a thoroughly delightful 20K run this afternoon. A bit of a surprise, really, as it was a cold 5C, it was overcast and windy, and the sidewalks were full of deep, cold puddles. Also, instead of running in the morning, which is my best time to run, I ran in the afternoon. For whatever reasons, though, the run worked, and worked well.
I also tried something new in the fuel department – Hammer Perpetuem. I usually use Hammer HEED on long runs, but decided to give Perpetuem a try, as I understand it’s better suited to ultra distances than HEED. According to the folks at Hammer, the combination of ingredients in Perpetuem helps to minimize lean muscle tissue cannibalization over extended periods of time. As a bonus, Perpetuem is gluten-free and vegan-friendly.
It worked well for me. The flavour I tried was “Caffe Latte,” which was like a very weak coffee-flavoured drink you’d give a little kid. Not a great taste, but not offensive either, which is a necessary feature when you’re sucking the stuff back over five or six hours of racing. I wanted to try Perpetuem on this training run as a test, to make sure it didn’t present any GI-related issues. Thankfully, it didn’t. So I’ll probably use it on the Around the Bay 30K on March 28, and will definitely carry it on the Niagara 50K Ultra in mid-June.
A good day and a good run. I’m (finally) feeling confident about my preparations for the Around the Bay.
Barefoot Journey 