I Eat Butter and Other Ultra Training Tips

I do. I eat butter. I admit it. Right out of the fridge and off of the stick. The stuff in the butter dish on the counter is too messy and doesn’t do the trick when I’m bonking.

Here’s the way it works. I go for my long runs generally unprepared and overly optimistic about how few gus I need to bring with me. By the time I finish my run I’m desperate enough to check behind the car seat to see if my 6 year old dropped any trail mix into the crack, maybe even fumbled  a coveted M& M.  I get home, I can’t resist resting on the couch for “just a sec” and the next thing you know , I can’t move.

I stay there, dead weight pressing into the couch, feebly begging my little one to bring me some bananas and bread. ( Juice he spills, anything tastier he consumes en route from kitchen to couch leaving only sad little crumbs for me). My blood sugar rises enough for me to stagger into the kitchen, I open the fridge and see the butter. I don’t know why but after sixteen or twenty miles I  can’t resist eating the butter.

There are some who say that my low mileage in prep for the coming ultra is just not enough. I say, “Pshaw”. My poor nutritional intake,  ability to run on empty, child induced sleep deprivation, and twelve hour brisk walk/ cross training days at work are key elements in my rigorous, “Pretend It’s Not Happening Program.” My body is ready to sustain itself.

Now…..it’s time for a little bite of butter.