Sunday, July 28, 2013

14 miles becomes 15.3 miles…

Ok – so my goal for today was a simple 14 mile run, and to make my life interesting (and ideally simpler), I was going to run from my house to Great Falls Park and back. Seven miles out, seven miles back. A few hills, some ups and downs, and a nice 150ft hill over the last ½ mile to finish with. I figured that the last hill would be good training for the MCM since it finishes with a hill and I wanted to see just how well I handled a hill after running a long way. But it turned out to be 7 miles out and 8 and a half back…

So I get myself up well before dawn, feed and walk the dog, to my stretching, etc., and head out as the sun comes up. This was actually important since I was going to be running on roads that had virtually no shoulder and I wanted to be done before traffic woke up. As it was, there were a few times when I had to step into the ditch to avoid cars – it was not the safest route I’ve ever run. But what it lacked for in safety it made up with beauty. Tons of tree’s and lots of greenery. Since it was so early I got to run undisturbed from traffic for some good stretches and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Clean air is so nice!

 My plan was to run into the park until I hit my 7 mile mark and then turn around. But once I was in there I started thinking about re-routing myself to bounce out onto another road for the return trip. This led me to take a trail that I’d never been on before and had no real idea where it went except that it sort of started out “westwards”…. And if you’ve ever been on a trail in the woods, they never go straight for very long, and this one was no exception.

This particular trail wound up being a somewhat difficult and technical trail to run – steep, rocky, and muddy. Dark too… There was so much under and over growth that there was little light (plus it was cloudy). This particular picture was in one of the rare "clearer" areas.  Making matter worse, there was no cellular signal so the map function on my handy smart phone was useless. The GPS knew where I was, but there was no map data – somewhat aggravating…

Nevertheless, I had a fair idea of where I was and where I wanted to go and ultimately arrived at a modestly level gravel trail that afforded me some respite. But that trail detour took a lot out of me – I was pretty tired and I was not even half way through my run. The gravel trail ran north-south which I knew would intersect with a road and once at that road I was able to figure out where I was and how to get home.

Taking a lesson from my last long run, I took a 5hour energy shot at the 7 mile point and the jolt of B12 did wonders. I was able to keep a fairly good pace all the way through to the end of mile 13 where I suddenly started to sag. I started to get that “hit the wall” and out of juice feeling, so I sucked down my last GU, and trudged my way forward. Incredibly, by the time I hit mile 14.5 I was back in rhythm and finished (even doing the hill nicely) strong. That last hill was difficult but I kept on truck’n – it wasn’t my fastest pace, but I was running.

The great news is that I did the entire run without experiencing any cramping. It was very humid (97%) and I was sweating profusely. I had done a reasonably good job of managing my fuel and Gatorade intake (half a cup of watered down Gatorade every 2 miles), GU at miles 4, 9, and 13, and the 5hr at mile 7. I let myself walk while drinking so that I could deliberately savor it and swallow (ahhh nice!). Even with the slow 2 miles on that trail I averaged a 9:26 pace. After my run I did a mile walk with my dog, relaxed with an ice bath, and then an ice compress for my Achilles tendon. I was tired, but not horribly. Next week I’d like to do 16 miles and then do a little taper prior to a 20K race on Aug 18.

91 days to the MCM….
 3 weeks to the Leesburg 20K

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Achilles issues

In early June I strained my right Achilles while running in a pair of trial shoes during a group run. It was weird that it happened since the shoe actually had a higher heal to toe ratio than my current Newtons. Nevertheless, I have been babying this thing ever since, but now I’m worried. Immediately after it happened I stayed off running for 2 days and then did only light runs for a while, icing it after each run. It usually felt stiff at the start of the run, but after a half mile or less I was fine and was able to run with no discomfort at all. It even felt good enough to do long runs including a couple of 13 and 14 mile runs. I seemed to be ok. But then one very hot and humid day I wisely chose to work out in the gym instead of running outdoors; I did some sessions on the treadmill, some core work, more treadmill – it was a great workout and I felt great. I had a lot to do, so I skipped icing my Achilles (not so wise). To make matters worse, the next day I was confined to a car for an 8 hour road trip. I ran an easy 3 miles the following day and realized that my Achilles was not happy. And I see the decision to not ice after the treadmill workout as the culprit. It’s tight, but not horrible; i.e. I can walk just fine. I just limp a little when I first get out of a chair. I notice that going down stairs gives me a bit of a sharp pain, so I’m very careful with that. But it seems that after I’ve warmed it up (blood flowing) that I’m more or less ok. I’ve rested it for a couple of days since that 3 mile run and today I did an easy run. The run was great, but I don’t like the way it feels now. Arg. I need this to get better quick! 96 days to the MCM (that’s like 13 weeks….)

Sunday, July 14, 2013

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!!