Presents in the post

I never get anything in the mail.  Well, I do, but not very often, and even less often is it something I actually want! So the last couple of weeks have been a bit of a turn-up for me...I've had some presents through the post :)

The most recent is something I bought myself a while back and have been waiting in anticipation to arrive - a little Lego minifig as a memento of my ultra, from Savage Steel's Minifigs website

I've also been sent the awesome Scott Jurek's book "Eat and Run" to review, which I will be starting shortly, and plan to post about in some detail - other reviews I've seen have all said it's really interesting and Jurek is one of my inspirations, so I'm really looking forward to reading it and hopefully learning from it, especially in light of my new focus on my weight and nutrition!

Last, but not least, and in a way related, I've also been sent this amazing set of Hi-5 supplements from SportPursuit that will hopefully get me through my next ultra in even better shape!

I've never used anything like the High-5 products before - I've drunk lucozade or powerade (or just plain water) and as you'll know if you've read this blog for a while, I've also suffered quite badly from hyponatremia after races so am well aware that it's not always enough!  As much races get further and more frequent, it's high time I sorted out my running nutrition and replenishing my electrolytes properly, and so this delivery has come at just the right time.  As well as my haphazard approach to my drinks, I haven't used gels before during training (prefering mars bars) or during races, when up to marathon distance I've only ever had drinks.  In the two ultras, I did eat, and chose flapjack, salted peanuts and Rolos, but again, I need to start trying out some of the more advanced nutritional options that are out there - it might not work for me, but at least for the marathon distances, I need to make sure I'm not missing out on something that could make a real difference to my races, or to my recovery from them.

As I haven't really done any decent long runs recently, I've not tried out any of the gels yet, although when we went out on our 50 mile bike ride the other day Francis had a couple and he was really positive about their effect so, as I'm heading out for a 12 mile run tonight after work, this will be the start of my trials!