The distance running continues. Last week I did 34km again, and this week I did 35km. These long runs are killers, but I've started packing Gatorade and the extra electrolytes are just what I needed to avoid the post-run nausea. It's a huge relief that I no longer have to get sick after every long run. I still feel like crawling into bed afterwards, but that’s to be expected after burning 2000+ calories.

Speaking of calories, when I first looked up Gatorade on the internet, caloriecount.about.com said it had 220 calories per 250mL. So if I drank 250mL for every 20 minutes of vigorous exercise, that would be 1980 calories for a 3 hour run. How could anyone take in that much sugar without getting sick? And more to the point, if someone was exercising in order to lose weight, that much sugar will make the exercise completely pointless. Fortunately, a bit more looking led me to realize that only Gatorade "Carb Energy Drink" has so many calories, and it is meant for carb loading, not for hydration. The Gatorade "Orange Drink" (which I bought) has only 64 cal per 250mL, and since I bring about 1200mL on my run, that's only about 300 cal in total. That's as many calories as a light breakfast. But even then, the stuff feels sticky in my mouth. I miss my water.

I've also been trying to improve my gait, in order to make better use of my "leg springs". In my old style of running, I would roll my foot heel-to-toe because it resulted in a silent footstrike, and I thought that silence meant that I wasn't doing any breaking when my foot struck. This kind of footstrike actually results in the foot landing too soon, and with too much extension, which might be why I had iliotibial band syndrome for a while. Now I am trying to land with a flat foot, with my knee bent, and immediately springing forward with a strong push. It feels like it takes more effort, and it is noisier than my old style (my foot slaps noisily on the ground), but hopefully it will improve my efficiency in the long run. Get it? In the "long run"? Ah, forget it, comedy was never my thing.