Weekly MM: Racing in the Rain

Monday around 2:00PM is when I saw the sun for the first time since last weekend. Yes, this past week was a long and very wet one, and resulted in the arrival of autumn temperatures. While the weather wasn't great, this week of training had some major running milestones!

I reach a new distance PR during my 5:00AM long run last Tuesday: 10 miles in the allotted 1.5 hours. I'd been slowly working towards it for the last few weeks, and all the "good running" factors were finally in my favor. That morning, it was a brisk and misty 52 degrees when we started. And I was surprised by how strong my body felt the entire time. It was definitely one of those "I love running" runs. My other most vivid memories of run were, quite literally, the least vivid. During certain parts of the run, I actually started feeling a bit closed-in on with the humidity, darkness, and tree-cover. I've always thought running on dark mornings was somewhat peaceful, but certainly not on some of these roads! There's something very unsettling and creepy about not being able to even seen an inch away from your nose. And then there's the SHOUTING. Seal Team PT members are really good about making sure people behind them know about upcoming obstacles: potholes, roots, curbs. Oncoming cars is by far the worst though, it's just incessant yelling and echoing. If it weren't for the obvious words "car up! car up!", I'd swear I was running through a haunted forest.



On Thursday I actually made it to the team run, rather than running by myself. It was both a blessing and a curse. There were a lot of factors that made this a very terrible run for me: not enough sleep, not enough water and too much eating beforehand, heavy rain, puddles, and headwind. If I wasn't thinking about how much I really wanted to not keep moving, I was thinking about how it felt like I actually wasn't moving. The good news was about half of those factors I have control over, and the rest are easier to overcome after taking care of that half. It's runs like Thursday's that I'm glad to have people around to acknowledge me (the temptation to stop becomes nonexistent when you know that means you'll end up last!). Really, as bad as it was, it was another great opportunity for mental training for the big day. Onward, onward, onward! There is an end that you will get to!

Oh, and then Saturday happened. A day of both dread and excitement. Apparently, my nerves got the better of me...I left my apartment without: my hat to shield the ran, my reflective armband, and my Garmin GPS watch. WHAT WAS I THINKING??? Crisis was halfway averted when I realized I had  my phone. I put it in my Camelbak so that I could at least record the distance with my MapMyRun app.



Out the window went my plan to try to only drinking water at the miles where I knew a water stop would be in the actual marathon route (every 2 miles). Instead, I was forced to run blindly on feel. Do I feel like I could run at this pace forever? Do I feel thirsty? Do I need an energy jelly bean? Do I feel like going faster/slower? Do I feel like I'm at 18 miles yet? SERIOUSLY. I was going CRAZY. By the feel of it, those 18 miles were long and slow and a little painful towards the end. The first hour was flat, thankfully; but the two that followed were far from it. The last 3 miles were all on a very subtle incline, which definitely was not overlooked by my aching muscles and bones. I was also plagued (slight exaggeration) by a side cramp during these last few miles; I think it was the result of being too conservative with my "sips" of water early on.

Other than that, I more than survived: I actually finished in decent shape! My goal going into the run was to get a little over 18 miles, check. And keep a steady pace, half check. It was hard to tell with the app not taking into account our brief stops at the top of every hour, but it seemed fairly accurate. I also am going to give myself some slack because of the hills.

For post-run fuel, I had another quilted bacon egg sandwich from Lamplighter, although I seriously regretted not just going to a drive-thru or making myself some eggs. It was difficult to contain my pain in every step and I had this weird sweaty-wet-and-freezing thing going on. Basically, I was a mess and should not have been allowed in public.

After a shower, nap, Advil, Chick-fil-a nuggets and a few hours in compression sleeves, I felt as good as new. Believe it or not, the pain I was feeling the first hour after the run went away and I was able to be pretty productive: swapping out my winter clothes and even frying up some apple cider doughnuts. I'm such a sucker for empty calories.



Because it is Wednesday night, I'll go ahead and tell you that I got to over 10 miles in yesterday's early morning run. Yes! I was fast! It blows my mind that only a few days after running 18 miles, I can turn around and do that! I think my body was rejoicing in the fact that there was finally no rain. It certainly was not an "easy" run by any standards: fartleks during the first half hour, followed by 2 intervals that were about 3/4 mile each.

As much as it (really) stinks waking up at 4:00AM on Tuesdays, there's something pretty cool about going to work with 10 miles already checked off. That plus a dirty chai tea latte from Black Hand, there's nothing I can't do.