7 Days.

The weather in Portland is best suited to long-sleeve zips most of the year and that’s what I’ve been wearing all through the winter and early spring. I have a nice short sleeved Nike Dri-Fit T-shirt from Hood to Coast a couple of years ago – I really like the (nearly) absence of any seams and that it dries really fast… but I don’t really want to wear a H2C shirt at this weekend’s race. Sounds vain – but I have major issues with chafing and I really don’t want to deal with the aftermath next Monday. I have a TNF tank top that I like – but anything longer than 10 miles, it chafes very bad below my pits. So new Patagonia Outpacer shirt in the laundry.

Weather looks like it’s going to be in the low 80s, so I also picked up salt tablets to avoid any hyponatremia problems. As there are aid stations every 5 miles, I was thinking of just taking a handheld bottle… or two – and then carrying gels and just eating from the table – the problem with this tactic is that I haven’t done my long runs this way, so …. bad idea to do something different in a race. I may not be able to hold a bottle for the second 15 miles and I can imagine freaking out trying to decide if I should dump my bottle or not…or trying to clip it to my belt somehow so I don’t have to carry it — I’d rather save the angst and stick to my run pack.  Still considering taking one bottle — and then taking aid when it’s available.

20 oz of Tailwind every 5 miles… is about 6 bottles… if I take a hydration bladder @ 70 oz it will take me to about mid-race before I’ll need a refill. I think the best strategy is to take 2 bottles, no hydration bladder and refill at every aid. If I count and mark my Tailwind in baggies, I can refill with water and tailwind when I roll into aid.

Beacon Rock AS
5.5
11.8
15.5 – drop bag
21.0
27.3

I think I’ve tapered correctly the past 2 weeks – I’m planning to get 2 medium runs early in the week and then just stretch/yoga/foam roll the back half of the week and be ready to rock on Sunday.  Woot!