Had my first non-tri race of the season yesterday - a Half Marathon put on by the National Distance Running Hall of Fame (and yes one actually exists). It went reasonably well. Finished 21st overall with a 1:30:10, thanks, in part, to an unexplainable sub-6:00 split on the last mile that helped me surge past 4 people. Three short months ago, I couldn't run a steady 30 minutes without being saddled with a week of pain. Yesterday, I ran and recovered virtually pain free, and that was the real win for me.

If I had one failure, it was definitely in my fueling strategy. The half marathon is just short enough that I can sustain a good anaerobic pace, but just long enough that I start to feel woozy if I don't stay on pace with calories. My nutrition plan (gel flask and water) was good, but my execution was abysmal. At one point, I tried to wash down my gel with a cup of water (while holding pace), and I started coughing to the point that I very nearly blacked out. Needless to say, I've never been good at crushing, gulping and going.

There are numerous discussions on Trifuel regarding fueling during the race, namely what to take, and when to take it. But, does anyone have any good intake techniques that work for holding pace during the run? The obvious answer is stop or slow down, but if someone has been creative I'd like to hear about it. I typically favor Infinit as my primary fuel. Works great on the bike, but it's difficult to carry enough on your person if you're trying to run light. I have (but hate) the fuel belt, and I find carrying a 16+oz bottle distracting and downright cumbersome for any length of time. In the past, I've carried a couple of the small (6oz) fuel belt bottles by hand, but that's not enough nutrition for any race lasting much over an hour.