Sunday, July 09, 2006

That sucked

This afternoon I went over to Forest Park to get in 22 miles. The route was the out and back on Lief Erikson Drive (which is really a trail...mixture of gravel, rock and dirt.) I bonked. I mean I really bonked. I made it to the 11 mile turnaround feeling barely okay and managed to run another 4 miles. But with 7 miles to go I was done. My legs felt fine, but my gut and my head couldn't take any more running. I just wanted to curl up on the side of the trail and go to sleep. I called Marc and told him that I'd be home later than expected. For the next 3 miles I attempted to run the downhills but was mainly walking. With 4 miles to go I couldn't run at all and walked the rest of the way back in. Walking for 7 miles after running for 15 isn't fun. Normally, I like that this trail is marked every quarter mile. But today, not a good thing. Ignorance would have been better than counting down the miles in quarter mile increments. Especially when I couldn't even muster up the will to run that last quarter mile.

Back at the car, I reclined the seat and just laid there for 10 minutes. I took a sip of water but didn't want to drink too much in case it made me heave and I couldn't drive home. By the time I was home 30 minutes later I was feeling better. After a hot, then cold, shower I was feeling a lot better.

I'd spent the past 4 days at a conference in Seattle, eating the wrong things, drinking the wrong things. I guess it caught up to me. There's a lesson: its not just what you eat and drink the day of (or the day before) that matters. Constant training.

Aside from that big mistake, here are a few others:

*I went out too fast. The first few miles are all uphill and I think I was hitting 10-1/2 minute miles. That's fine for a shorter run but not okay for 22 miles on a hot (80's) afternoon.
*I only brought along 4 Succeed caps. The full dosage of 2 an hour might have made the difference. Well, maybe not, but I should have brought along more.
*I should have listened to my gut which was telling me to turn around at the 7-1/2 mile mark and shorten the run to 15 miles.

Since I'm a positive person, I've come up with some of the positive things I can take away from this run:

* I still managed to cover 22 miles. It's all about time on your feet, right?
* I had a chance to practice my power walking technique.
* I had cell service out in the woods.
* Unlike Jennifer, I managed to find a rock to sit on. Which reminded me that we all have bad days.
* I'm certain I'll never need to buy CarbBoom gels again.
* I'll forever have the jingle Matt so conveniently reminded us of ingrained in my head.

Okay, maybe that last one isn't a positive. : ) ; )

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

what a great post (seriously).

so the run sucked.

and you ended it with the positives!

and it is all about time on your feet. what a great training run. you perservered!

Ryan said...

NICE JOB… way-to bounce back and push thru a tuff run!! I like how you drew it up as a leaning experience…that's why it's called training right!! : )

Anonymous said...

Way to look at the positives- it is all about time on your feet- and pushing through the mental stuff as well- which you did, though it wasn't fun :(. I'm glad you were able to find a rock to sit on! I bet our next run is going to rock!

Olga said...

Yeah, I liked the positive ending:) It does suck at times, but the important thing is to learn lesson, and even if we repeat mistakes, at least not kill ourselves over it:)

Ginger Breadman said...

I can't imagine the stamina it took to keep going. I think we've all had bad runs, but to stay out there when it was a long run is impressive. I don't even know if you made that many mistakes, maybe you were just tired from being out of town - that does it for a lot of people. As far as positives, think about what enduring all of that did for you mental ability.

matt said...

I know it probably sounds pretty lame, but I am sure you learn a lot more from the runs that suck than the runs that don’t. you were able to break it down nicely into what went right and what failed and you will go into your next long run with confidence. Are you doing any more 20+ mile runs before the 29th?

Anonymous said...

Well hey -- walking 7 miles is further than most people in the US could do! There's another positive for you.
What I hate, hate, hate is how darn fast you can lose your conditioning, be it aerobic or nutritional, etc. 'Course the flip side is that's what keeps me from drinking too much wine or coffee...

Unknown said...

I always enjoyed the POrtland Marathon training runs that went out and back along the Leif Erikson trail. I can definitely empathize with you as I have had my fair share of these type of runs this year.