2 days and counting

What started out as some crazy idea several months ago is about 2 days away. I signed up for the twin peaks ultra 50k and xterra crystal cove 15k which takes place the day after twin peaks. My game plan is to be able to survive the weekend to blog about it next week. In the months leading up to this weekend. I have used hammer products as part of my training regime. Hammer has an extensive knowledge base and expert phone consultants to answer all of your questions. One of my main concerns going into this weekend is sleep and recovery. I posed a question a week ago to the hammer nutrition forum, the topic was my pre-race meal. Due to my early start on sat- my plan was to wake up at 2am and have my usual bowl of oatmeal and coffee. I had this routine down since my training for Ironman Brazil serveral years ago and it always worked. Why? beacuse I would swim for 90min first thing in the morning and it would be difficult to have food. I found that having a small serving of oatmeal worked for me for my long extended master swim workouts. I simply carried that routine over to my ultra running. I was told many years ago about the 3hr rule prior to your training or races, but never really understood why. Here is link to the article that explains in detail why. http://www.hammernutrition.com/za/HNT?PAGE=ARTICLE&ARTICLE.ID=1279 So this past week- I went with the option of getting more sleep and skipping the oatmeal. My biggest fear was running starving with the empty stomach feeling. I must say I did not feel that all on Tuesday and today.
So here is my menu.

Pre-race-

3am- Wake up

Coffee
4 Hammer Endurolytes prior
3 Hammer race caps supreme
16oz of Hammer heed

Race Start at 5am
3 Hammer Endurolytes per hour for 7hrs
1 race cap per hour
1.5 liters of Heed in camel pack (refill with water at aid stations)
26oz of Hammer perpetuem batter- (14 scoops)
6 hammer gels

Post Race
2-3 scoops Hammer Recoverite mix (drink on my way home)

Repeat on Sunday

But modified for only a under 2hr race

I will post my evaluation of how everything went in my next post.

Weekend Results

Weekend of fun in the sun. I went into the trail race about 70%, I have been bothered by some IT band issues along my left leg. It started with a short 6 mile tempo run on Thursday. I was on the foam roller for the last 18hrs trying to iron out all the kinks. Going into this weekend was a big test. I wanted to see how my body would recover from back to back runs. Saturday Trail race included a 18K (2:06 finish time)run thru point mugu. I had alot of fun on Saturday, both during the race and after. A group of us from OCTRAILRunners carpooled, and opted for a post race dip into the ocean at Zuma Beach. The water was icy cold, but I think it did wonders for my ankles, and quads.
On Sunday, I went out for a long 17 mile road run in Huntington Beach, I tried doing much as possible of the Surf City Marathon course. I started out super early at 5:30am, I wanted to be done before 9am, I was finished by 8:30am. I kept a pretty easy pace for the first 10miles, and started to push what I had left in the tank for the last 7 miles. After the run, I felt like I just ran 17miles, and I couldn't wait to get home to veg out all day. I made a point of setting my alarm early for Monday for my recovery swim. Trust me it works! If you don't consider yourself a swimmer, just get a kickboard and do about 4-6 laps of kicking, it really helps flush out all of that nasty stuff in the legs. I am looking forward for my early trail run tmr, followed by a track workout tmr night. Next Sunday is the Long Beach City Half Marathon, I am debating on what to do on Saturdy, go for a 14mile trail run with the group or go for a 60+ mile bike ride?