Seriously easy going but long

Ten days or so left to go.  This taper is not finely orchestrated: I've simply kept myself moving for at least an hour a day, ideally 1:30-2:00, and ideally split so I get more accustomed to a wider span of activity.  I've missed a day or two, but it's been going well.  Whatever I don't do in the morning, I've done on the treadmill in the evening.  I'm still trying to get myself into the forest later in the day--maybe the race is close enough for that push.  Though I'm sometimes throwing in short fast intervals, they are very limited: I don't want to tire myself out or get re-injured at this point.  So, everything is super easy.  Yeah, walk up that hill--actually, walking will be very important during this ultra.  With that terrain, I've found out that I can jog for about six hours until things start to fall apart, but maybe more walking earlier on will delay or lessen that.  Or perhaps it'll be inevitable.  I'll see.  At any rate, while there is only one section that I will definitely walk during the day, there are a few other hills that I'm considering walking up as well, and definitely a few sections that I will walk after dark because the footing is so dicey.

In the meantime, I'm taking things easy.

In addition, I've also tried to maintain resistance exercises and a good diet.  I've been doing my scaled down weight workout every 2-3 days and core exercises in between...I've missed a day or two but I've been rather strict about it overall.  Stretching has been more hit-or-miss.  Bad!

As for diet...the human members of the household are presently eating through a large pot of chili.  I love chili, even for breakfast.  Especially for breakfast.  I get bored with leftovers sometimes, but I really like chili.  I've had it for two meals a day for the past few days and am not sick of it yet.  It would be in my best interest to taper off it prior to the ultra, though.

Meanwhile, I've been sleeping a lot, at least 9 hours a day and usually more.  This is not normal, but it's the season and the taper and the recent gut issues and whatnot, plus I switched my iron supplementation.  I've been on iron supplements for years due to low ferritin, in turn caused by malabsorption and pulverizing countless hapless RBCs during running.  It took me a while to find an iron supplement that worked (ie, dezombified me): Swiss Natural Sources with folic acid, vitamin C, and other cofactors included--that's been my dream team for several years.

But this is one of the few items I cannot purchase in the States, not even through Amazon!  I can get almost anything through Amazon.  I'm trying to support local and/or small business, but sometimes they simply don't have, uh, let's see, fish-safe silicone sealant or living papyrus plants or black shea soap (the only 'shampoo' that didn't leave a residue when we were living with hard, hard water), or a certain linear algebra book, or a new trackpad for this laptop I'm typing on, or worms for composting, yes, live worms...Amazon is the queen!  But her ports are closed to Swiss Natural Sources.  It's actually a Canadian brand as far as I can tell.

I bring some back every time I go home, but when I ran out last time, I decided to try coupling a local brand with a B-complex vitamin and some form of vitamin C, and that's been fine.  And then the B-complex vitamins ran out and I went to a local athletic nutrition store and got all fancy with a multivitamin instead, even though I've gone this route before with poor results.  My triumvirate is iron, folic acid, and vitamin C; there are a few lower-level participants as well, but too many get in the way.  My diet is comprehensive; I just need a larger jolt of these few nutrients (edit: but I also use whey protein powder and ZMA sometimes). So I have to ditch the multivitamin and get some more B9/folic acid and OJ, easy peasy...meanwhile, in the recesses of a drawer in the bathroom, I found a mostly empty bottle of Swiss Natural Formula.  What?  Maybe I'd tossed it in there after unpacking from a trip.  7 or 8 pills.  Score! 

And, speaking of diet, my half-assed goal of doing a mini blog for 2014, 300 Smoothies, hasn't gone anywhere--there's still time--but meanwhile our faithful blender has suffered long enough.  We got a Breville for Christmas from my folks.  A blender, not a juicer, but I still haven't used it and I've been searching for inspiration: Vegan Black Metal Chef.  (warning: his spelling is also occasionally awry, though maybe that's for effect, hard to say.  Oh, yeah, and some profanity).

So, anyway, that's pretty much it for the last few days and for the next ten or so.  Preparations will be simple because the loop is just 4.5 miles, with a water station halfway through: one drop bag, one handheld bottle.  Possibly two lights so that I don't bust my skull over the roots once it gets dark.  I thought about buying a new pair of shoes (same model)...eh, it's trails, whatever.  And I have no clue what the weather is going to be like.  It got down to -12 C last night but will get up to 21 this Saturday...eh, whatever (but, seriously, if I'm feeling too hot to run in JANUARY, there will be harsh words).