Okay, my schedule is a bit messed up still, due to the miscalculating of weeks. However, the freak out session is over, and I think I may have a better idea of what to do for the upcoming weeks. I know I have missed a few runs as a result of changing things, but I'm going to try and get back on track as much as possible from here on out.
For my two short runs this week, one of the runs was in foggy condition. The other run was in a really windy conditions, and that run was TOUGH. I had a crazy day at work, which left me sort of mentally stressed out. Normally, running helps me mentally calm down, but not this one. This run was tough physically, and we had wind gusts of about 50 mph. At the time, I thought I would be okay with the run as it wasn't super windy the time I went out. I did have one gush of wind that I had to power through (and it zapped my energy), but I thought that would be the worst of it. On that run, I ended up having to take a walk break, which didn't help me mentally, which didn't make my run any easier. Then, suddenly, I was running by the this one skinny tree where one of small, but decent sized branches broke off, and suddenly smacked me on the the head, just above my right eyebrow area. I felt like I got smacked on the head with a sharp rock, but there wasn't any large loose gravel around. Yet, I see this branch suddenly on the ground. Plus, dirt ended up on my left hand, so I knew it had to be the branch that broke off. I felt my head to make sure it wasn't bleeding. There wasn't any blood, but it felt like I was developing a bump or bruise there. I ran the rest of the way home, but took it as a sign the run really wasn't meant to be, and was so glad that was over with.
Now, onto the fun part. :) I had the most AMAZING long run, ON THE TREADMILL (yes, you read that right) back on Friday. I ended up skipping one three miler this week, as I had been hearing that the weather was suppose to be not fun over the weekend, so I decided to give myself an extra rest day (which included no gymnastics), so that I could my long run on Friday, and have that out of the way before the bad weather hit.
Simply put, the run was AWESOME!!! It was one of those runs where I definitely had the "runners' high" afterwards. It was a slow run, but I seriously got into the songs that were playing on my ipod, including some power songs that really got me going, and even almost a bit emotional as I pictured myself running hard towards the finish line at the end of the marathon. My pace was slow...around upper 4s/low 5s, but I totally fine with it. I ran a bit faster when I felt like I could, such as really mentally jamming to the chorus of a really fun song, and ran slower when I felt like I needed a breather. And what about those 8-9 miles that I was concerned about last week? I totally surpassed them and ran 10.25 miles! 10.25 miles!!! That is the absolute longest time that I have ever been on a treadmill...and had a blast doing it! I NEVER thought that I would ever catch myself saying that, but I honestly did! Okay, it did start getting a bit more challenging around mile 8, but that was a time in which I slowed down a bit and took some more fuel, and let my body recover some. When mile 9 came, my brain and body agreed to push it for one more mile because I was having such an amazing run. Then, at 9.75, I put on a new power song ("All Fired Up" by Pat Benatar), and kicked up the speed to somewhere near my 5k pace. I was totally picturing myself running hard to that finish line by then, and almost got a bit emotional. Goodness, if I start getting emotional during a training run, I'm going to be a wreck come race day! I ended up running a half mile near my 5k pace, to end the run at 10.25 miles, and I couldn't have been happier with it.
In terms of fueling, I had accidently left my fuel at home (oops), so I stopped by our local co-op, which is in the same building as my gym, and picked up a squeezable fruit pouch of mixed fruit (mango and banana, I think), which worked pretty well. However, I'm still not a fan of the having squeeable banana. I think I find the flavor too strong for something that's in a warm pouch or something. However, for later in the race, it may not be a bad idea to have something like this on me, as I will very likely need the potassium that banana provides, and I can easily stomach it. I did find it was a good idea to chase it down with some water, which helped tone down the banana flavor some. I found that I really started needing the fuel around mile 5.5, and about every two miles after. I figure that if I start taking fuel about 1/2 mile before I really need it, that gives my body a chance to let it digest some, and start giving me a boost somewhere near the actual aid stations on the course. Then, on the course itself, I can "top off" my fuel or hydration some if I need it, plus give my legs a chance to slow down a bit. Since I had good results with the squeezable fruit pouch, I want to give my applesauce pouches a try, and see how those go.
One other fuel item that I'm going to try again at some point is GU, as this is what our race course offers, and I want to see if I can at least stomach it if push comes to shove on race day. It was an impulse buy from a local sports store that I was at a few days ago, but I got their salted caramel variety. My last experience with GU was not a good one as I hated the consistency (it was like thick sticky snot), but I decided to go head and give this one a go. If it ends up being okay, I can at least have one or two on back up for the race. I figure that it never hurts to have some extra fuel on hand as you never know when you may drop one on the course, or lose some if the package doesn't open properly, or what have you. Now, the hitch is that I would HAVE to chase down with plenty of water because of the consistency, so we'll see how well this works.
Since I did the 10 miler last week, I can most likely use this week as a set back week of 7 miles for the long run (short runs are 3-5-3 now). I may also really hoping to get back into speedwork this week as well, which I may use towards one of my three mile runs. I haven't decided exactly how I will do that, but I'm kinda thinking of doing a slow 1 mile warm up first, do the workout, then do a slow run for any remaining of the 3 miles that I may need to achieve.
I will let you guys off here for the time being, but I hope all of you have a great running week!
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