Oh Everest, My Everest

I keep meaning to go back and write out the details of each run so I can benefit from my notes about all the variables later on down the road (say, in about 16 weeks), but I've barely even had the time or energy to run, let alone document all of the little things that happened or even update my run log before today.

Let's just say it's been a rough 3 weeks at work, and it isn't over yet. Overtime really sucks, but some things just need to be done. The source of my livelihood has to come before the source of my liveliness, much as I'd like it to be the other way around. My boss swears to me that we're hiring someone this week so I can have help by the 16th at latest. I'm not holding my breath, but I think it will be safe to start asserting my own personal needs that day in case the inhuman workloads continue, whether a person is hired or not. One more week of a crippled training schedule, I can handle (barely). More than that, not so much.

I guess the thing for me to keep in mind is that it is also JULY and not just that I am "losing conditioning" by skipping out on my shorter runs during the week. Every time I do get a chance to be out there, it is between 5:00 and 10:00pm, and hotter than Hades. I have also been too self conscious to wear my fuel belt to run around campus because all of the college students will laugh at me, but I'm beginning to realize that I just don't care (and they probably don't really care enough to laugh either). I'd rather run than not run, and I'd rather look like a dork than have my body overheat so that I have to cut the trip short every time.

Last week's long run was pretty much agony. I started out with the best attitude I had, but I clearly didn't eat enough the night before. In fact, I had fallen asleep without dinner. As important as it is for me to get proper amounts of sleep in order to feel good while running, I discovered that filling up the old gas tank is more important. I need to have a big hearty dinner the night before a long run and there ain't no bones about it.

This Friday, I ate like a champ and drank so much water I thought it was going to start leaking out of my ears. I woke up 3 times in the middle of the night to use the bathroom. Then I woke up and had an apple before I went on my way, feeling pretty damn good. I brought just enough water and watered down gatorade (4 of water and 2 of 1:4 diluted gatorade), half of a clif bar and some sport beans. I probably could have eaten a bigger breakfast or brought 3/4 of a clif bar, but that was okay. I didn't get really hungry until the last mile and I just had to squeak that one out. Thank goodness for the bananas at the end. It's nice to have food and cold drinks waiting for you after you clean out your supply during the long run.

All in all, this 10 miles was breezy and I am in fine shape, considering how little training I've been doing for going on a month now. Last week I tried a walk break every mile (probably added to my agony) but this week I went back to my halfway rule. I try to break down the distance and get "just past halfway" before taking any significant breaks. I ran the 5 miles with no stops, only slowing down near mile 4 to digest some clif bar and let the water soak into my system, then I stopped to walk after the aid station at the turn around. Here, I really needed to hit the 'reset' button. Even though I would like not to walk more than a tenth of a mile at a time, I had just run 5 straight, so it seemed the thing to do.

I walked for about three tenths of a mile, drinking up and letting my body cool down and my joints rest. I lengthened my stride and took exaggerated steps to let some different muscles get in on the action. Then I started up again and felt pretty good. I knew I'd need to walk another 1-2 times so I stuck with my halfway rule again and said to myself that I'd walk after mile 7 and then again at about mile 8.5 in order to break the last 5 miles into a 2-1.5-1.5 deal. When I got to 7, I felt a little shameful since I'd walked more than a quarter mile at my last break, so I thought I'd just hold out for mile 8 and then walk.

A quarter mile before I got there, my stomach started to seriously devour itself. So, 7 and three-quarters it was! I chowed down on the last big bite of clif bar, munched a sport bean and drank down most of my fluids leaving just one bottle for the last couple of miles. It felt sinful to walk, but at least I knew I'd earned it (unlike the multiple, truly sinful walk breaks I'd taken last week). I was surprised to discover today that I averaged under a 13:30 pace. I had set my forerunner to yell at me if I dropped below a 14-min pace and that wretched little thing kept beeping at me every time I paused to sneeze! Harumph.

Labels: body fuel, food, long run, sport beans