Negotiating my way through 14 miles

I find it interesting how sometimes I negotiate my way through a long run.  But don’t misunderstand me, I love to run, I like the feeling of running, I love the exertion. But sometimes on a long run I get bored and it’s not enough to just be running – There is the long term view of why I am where I am in my training program, i.e. this long run fits here in my endurance training program, but sometimes it does get monotonous.

Yesterday I did 14 miles on the Mt Vernon Trail (runs along the Potomac, across from DC) on a simple 7 mile out-and-back route.  Around mile 4 I started thinking “3 more miles and I get to turn around”, then at mile 7, the turn-around point, it was “Yipee, I’m heading back!”, at mile 12 it was “17-18 minutes or less and I’ll be done!”, and at mile 13 it was “if I run faster I’ll be done sooner”….  You get the drift.  I wonder what other runners do to talk their way through the run...

I have no idea how people run without music… at a minimum the music is entertaining.  More importantly to me, the beat provides me with inspiration. Sometimes I’ll even listen to a podcast, but that tends to not help me with my cadence.  I know this woman in Michigan who recently ran the JFK 50 miler, and one of their rules is no earbuds or headphones.  She told me that she tried singing to herself, talking to whomever she could, but after 8-10 hours of running it has to get very tough.  It is not only a physical endurance test, but also a mental one.

Running on the Mt Vernon Trail was ok – it’s safe traffic-wise, reasonably runner friendly (except for all of the bicycles), no major hills, paved, and you can go a long way.  The downside however is that it follows the GW Parkway for the most part on which there is a lot of traffic.  And lots of traffic means lots of vehicular exhaust in the air, and I don’t think that’s real good for lungs, especially when you are running and sucking in lots of air. 

Even at 6:30AM on a Saturday there was what I would consider as significant traffic.  If it was windy, or even just breezy, that would help a lot. But yesterday morning was still and hot and humid.  I would have preferred to run the C&O canal path, but there has been a lot of rain and I wanted to avoid the mud.  Also, knowing that it was going to be a still and humid morning, I was hoping that the more wider-open area next to the Potomac would have been a bit cooler.  Maybe starting earlier in the AM or on a Sunday would be better.

But all good – It was a solid run, I averaged a 9:07 pace which (I think) I could easily have sucked below 9.  At mile 7, the turn-around point, I took a few minutes to pull some nutrition out of my camel-back and that process squandered some time, even though I was still moving, something that I would not have done in a timed event.  Regardless, I managed a slight negative split. 

One of the new things that I experimented with was slugging down a 5HR shot at mile 7, and I very positively felt its effects during the next few miles. My intent was to see if the B12 (the primary component of 5HR) would help me. I did the whole shot, but it’s likely that I only needed maybe half.  I did GU at miles 4, 9, and 12.  I also sipped on my watered-down Gatorade throughout the run. For tracking purposes, I went through almost 48oz of fluid (6 cups).  I felt no cramping or major fatiguing – I was tired at the end, but I could have gone another mile or so if necessary.  So far so good.

105 days (15 weeks) to the MCM!!