Friday, June 26, 2009

Today's plan was supposed to be 12 miles in the progression that I had done last week. Miles 1-4 @9:00min pace, miles 5-10 @8:30 pace, miles 11-12 no slower than 8:00min pace.

I had a pretty good sleep Thursday into Friday morning. Woke at 8ish, and got my 8 year old off to school (my youngest was with me, as her school finished Tuesday, so I couldn’t run right awayL. I fed them, but I did not eat, other than my standard/staple coffee with heavy cream. Picked the oldest up from school at 10:45, and then waited for the babysitter to arrive who arrived around noon. She was supposed to be here at 11am.

I didn’t get out for my run till about 12:20, so it was a really bad move on my part not to eat first. I knew it, but I had to get out there. I didn’t just want to eat and then run. Since I was waiting for the babysitter to arrive, I didn’t know when she’d get there, since she was running late.

I don’t know if my not eating before the run, or not having enough to drink during the run, or if it was just the heat/humidity that did me in today, but I guess in the overall scheme, the run was still a good one, and I learned a thing or two.

I usually don’t eat before I run, and it works for me, but since it was so hot/humid and a 12 mile run, I think I learned not such a great thing to do on a long run. Unfortuneately, by the time I got out for my run, the rain had stopped, nada, nothing, not a drip and it was HOT. By the end of the run I was looking for sprinklers to jump in to. LOL. I would have run in the rain, but I was waiting on the babysitter. The downside of being a mom some times.

I also changed my route up a bit to add mileage to make it a full 12 miles loop. I didn’t want to do any repeat running, I wanted it to be one big loop. In so doing I added a couple of hills (the nature of my neighborhood). Not crazy hills, just not flat. But I LOVED the route and plan to do it again.

I did eat a Carb Boom vanilla/orange gel about 20min before my run, and then I had another one at mile 8. I also ran with my hand held water bottle that holds about 20oz of water, and ran out of water at about mile 9. Actually it was G2 mixed with water. I’d say, 15oz G2, 5oz water. At about mile 11 ½ I passed a pizza store, and ran in and they filled my bottle back up with cold water. I drank about 10oz of it immediately, and then at mile 11.5 I took a swig, and then at the end of the run, I pounded the rest.

After the run I drank 3 O.N.E. coconut waters, drank my EAS protein drink, and took a 7min ice bath. Then I had a whole wheat bagel with tuna fish, and a 20oz Gatorade. I definitely felt better/fine within 2hours. I also ate a handful of almonds (healthy fat).

At 6pm I had sushi for dinner and then Mint Chocolate Chip Ice cream from Baskin Robbins for dessert.

The run went as follows according to my Garmin 305:
M1- 9:00 avgHR 142 - maxHR 149
M2- 9:04 avgHR 150 - maxHR 155
M3- 9:06 avgHR 144 - maxHR 153
M4- 9:06 avgHR 147 - maxHR 156
M5- 9:13 avgHR 140 - maxHR 152
M6- 8:59 avgHR 146 - maxHR 160
M7- 9:12 avgHR 148 - maxHR 154
M8- 9:13 avgHR 147 - maxHR 152
M9- 9:09 avgHR 146 - maxHR 155
M10- 9:14 avgHR 149 - maxHR 151
M11- 9:29 avgHR 148 - maxHR 176
M12- 10:10 avgHR 128 - maxHR 141

Miles 11 and 12 are down hill, and my legs really hurt doing it this time. It was painful. My calves were cramping and the legs just didn’t want to move. This was the same hill that last Friday, I ran 7:30 and then 7:53 pace to finish, and today I couldn’t go faster than 9:29 and then 10:10 to finish.

But again a great run and a great learning experience.