A New Fuel for Ultrarunners?

Looks promising ;)

Although I don't want 400 babies

Chocolate Goodness Bars

Just getting ready for my trail run tomorrow and making some "choco goodness." So I thought it was time to share this recipe, which came to me via a Canadian Trailtrash ultrarunner. I get the most requests for this one and it's really easy (Well, I can still mess it up, but that's just me! One hint: don't use the Nestle stuff called compound chocolate - it's not the same as chocolate chips at all!)

Mix 1 & 3/4 cups of nuts and seeds in a bowl - you can include as you like - pumpkin, sesame, walnut, pecan, sunflower...just don't forget the chia!

Add 1 & 1/4 cups shredded unsweetened coconut and 1 cup oats to the dry stuff.

In a small saucepan, bring the following to a low boil for 2-3 mins:
1/4 cup coconut oil
1 & 1/2 cups (I use a 250 g bag) of chocolate chips (I use dark chocolate)
1/4 to 1/2 cup of honey or agave nectar
1/2 cup almond butter (or peanut butter if you prefer)
1 tsp of vanilla extract

Grease a 9x13 inch pan with coconut oil. Mix the wet and dry stuff together and press firmly into the pan. Let cool before trying to slice.

Now, after two energy dense "recovery" recipes, I'll have to do a low GI dinner one next - just so you know I don't always eat like this :)

Experiment 2

The second go of the Moe was a success. I sat on an even 2 minute pace per lap for 36 kms (3 hrs) as planned. No nausea this time around - the conditions (temp, wind) were the same as last time, so having the right level of fuel (not 4x) was a good thing. Have to watch my hydration, though, as I lost over 1 kg (2% of my body weight) and that's not a good thing. Notably, my Garmin gave me the bonus 1.5 kms again.

Now I can put tracks out of my mind for a month, do a little more speed work, enjoy some single track, and count down days (26) until the real 6 hr event.

A Mini Rogaine Before Another Mini Moe

This week had some "creative" mileage as I tried to fit training in with the visiting relatives from Canada. After some light aircraft adventures to the outback, I headed south to Harvey for a "social" rogaine with my family. To add to the creative attempts to get mileage in, I had them drop me on the Southwestern Highway and I ran the backroads in to Harvey, while the sun set. A really pretty run, with lots of curious locals along the way wondering what I was up to. One 10 year old boy raced me for a few hundred metres down the road. He said he won, although he seemed to be the only one who knew where the finish line was ;)

The rogaine was the first "social" one I've done - it's so hard to turn off the competitive gene! Our 4 person family team (Rolf, mum, auntie, and I) were out for 6 hours and got just 6 controls (that's not very many, as rogaines go). But we hiked 17 kms, with hills as well, so I was darn impressed with the ladies who have never done this kind of thing. We finished 141st out of 167. Mum is still trying to understand how so many people could walk/run so fast through all that bush! Despite the "low" finish, I'm sure we were 1st International team ;) We called ourselves "So and So and Szuch and Szuch" (rellies' surnames are Szuch).


The rogaine acted as a pseudo-taper, as tomorrow is slated as the second go of the Mini-Moe.

Finally, back to full mileage!

A great week of running this week! Without anything to get in the way of a "normal" training week - no "mini moe," no moving distractions, no rain excuses.... I finally got back to a 100k+ week.

Had a 12k at "marathon pace" on Tuesday (not that I truly know what my marathon pace is, since I haven't done one), followed by 15k of hills at Bold Park Wednesday. Thursday's run was shifted to Friday, since my mum arrived from Canada that day - 21k at "70k race pace" (another estimate). Then an easy hour Saturday and a gorgeous 49k on the Bibbulmun track today. I ran solo for 25k south, starting early to enjoy the cool air, and then met Rolf to do the run back north to my car. He didn't get to enjoy any cool air - it got hot out there! I trialled a new gel cooling bandanna thing for my neck. Not bad.

Will miss my weekly massage with Nathan tomorrow, as I'm off to show mum "the outback" for a few days. Must make do with a tennis ball and roller until Thursday.

Lessons from the Mini Moe

1. There will be a Mini Moe 2 (see below for explanation)

2. A Garmin 310XT will be out 1900 metres over 3 hours around a 400 mtr track. This first becomes apparent when, after running a consistent 4.48 pace for 10k, your crew says, "So, you're running an even 5 min/k?" The 400 mtrs at 10k became 800 mtrs at 20k and the gap grew from there.

3. A 4.48 pace feels really easy on a track when using a Garmin 310 because the reality is that you're only running a 5.03 pace.

4. Using two caps, keeping one soaking in ice, is really, really good.

5. Using ice wrapped in cloths around the neck is as good as Point #4.

6. Don't expect your support crew to remember how the fuel ratio from a race 3 months ago worked. It is reasonable to expect that you may be accidentally fueled with 480 cals/hr rather than 120 cals/hr. Expect perhaps to find this out in bed at midnight. The late knowledge will, however, suddenly make some things more clear....the race nausea, the bolt to the toilet, the lack of hunger post-race....

7. Sucking ice cubes is as good as Points #4 and 5, but requires careful breathing.

8. Hammer, Compressport (worn to bed, as well) and Saucony race flats still rock.

Moe 1 and Moe 2

I think Dr. Seuss wrote about them, didn't he?

I've got both my Mini-Moe booked (the mock race) and the Moe 6hr/50k booked! Rolf suggested I take advantage of the fact that my running volume was down last week (due to the move) and we call it a taper and do the Mini-Moe a bit sooner. We also want to do it before the 30 degree temps come back next week - because I want to do it as close to the real race time as possible (2 PM start). So we'll head out in the afternoon on Tuesday this week for 3 hours of brutal fun.

Then I can get back to some nice loooong trail runs ... ahhh.... trail runs....

I'm off to make some fig almond chocolate recovery stuff now, so I have something new to share with everyone after those nice long trail runs. Yes, there will be chia in it.