Wednesday, January 30, 2008

TIR running / recovery plan

I've been working out the ideal recovery plan for my running, since I think the TIR is going to be a test for how fast we recharge everything. Here's what I've determined, through exhaustive experimentation, to be the ideal plan for running / recovering. Some of the tasks require some assistance from one or more teammates.

## Prior to run
3-4 hours prior to run - start drinking lots of water
1-2 hours prior to run - 100 - 150 calories of carbohydrates, more water
30 minutes prior to run - less water, so nothing will be sloshing around on the run

## During the run
mile 0 - I drink a little water but spit it out
mile 1 - I eat five or seven gummy bears
mile 1.5 - One small cup Peachy Keen Cytomax - more gummy bears
mile 2 - no liquids at all, I need lots of positive reinforcement
mile 2.5 - only red gummy bears, but I dont eat them, just chew and spit
mile 3 - I'll raise my arms and say 'whoop whoop whoop!'
mile 3.5 - I need negative reinforcement at this point - no gummy bears.
mile 4 - A light slap to the face/ eye poke is ideal at this moment.
mile 4.5 - A little childish mockery, one gummy bear
mile 5 and beyond - please provide various surprises to keep things interesting. intermittent gummy bears.

## After the run
- a little pretend stretching
- some flexing of muscles
- talking about how I was tired for a while and felt better for a while and then tired again
15 minutes of groaning
30 minutes of staring into space, gummy bears ad libitum

This plan has proven to be the most effective at recharging my glycogen stores, which I think will be a key component for maintaining energy in the later legs of the relay. You might take issue with the necessity of some elements, but the data are the data. Bottom line is that it works.

Ran 3 miles last night, 2 more on tap for tonight.

Keith.

4 comments:

K said...

I've yet to try the gummy bear thing on a run, but they sure work for my mood when I'm not feeling so happy!

WalkSports.com said...

I'm sure the folks in Schulenburg will be perplexed when they see you run by. :)

Anonymous said...

hey keith! good to see you last night at the movie. was hoping you would stay around for the bonus features so that Sam could have said hi (he got there late); but I had told him you were there.

hope you enjoyed it.

Unknown said...

LOL, love your race strategy. Can't wait to read the report following the run to see if it worked out.