That's what she said? Oh...that's in poor taste.
Anyway, the running is getting a lot harder. Last week was 3-6-3, and then a 12 mile run on Saturday. I missed my first run on Monday because I was pretty pooped after going to the taping and being on my feet all day for So You Think You Can Dance. I did run the 6 miles the next day, but this week I was all about not feeling a ton of motivation for any of the runs. That really hasn't been the case for me since I've started the training, but I was not feeling so pumped this week. I think I might have pushed it a little too much toward the end of the Tuesday night run because my right calf was feeling pretty tight all week and I was really feeling it there on the long run on Saturday. More on that in a bit.
The 6 miles I ran in 48 minutes. I was pushing the pace a little more than I normally have to, but I was just feeling pretty tight all around. Now I'm realizing that the almost 8 mph pace I kept up the previous Saturday is on the higher end of what I can achieve right now. I think. It's been hard to tell because I've been feeling so knicked up the last couple of weeks.
I still won't stop playing soccer on Wednesday nights, but this week was an especially bad choice considering that we were playing on the hardwood floor as opposed to the carpeted room. I had problems when we had to play there previously and I should have just opted out, but I was dying to play that night. I don't know what it is about playing on those floors, because playing basketball on it isn't a problem, but playing soccer on those floors is so much higher impact than anywhere else. It didn't hurt me in my run this morning, but my left knee felt pretty tender for the next couple of days, and it wasn't until the last couple of miles on the long run, but my big toe and second (index?) toe had a dull pain. I'm pretty sure it's a mild case of turf toe.
Thursday right after work I went on the short run, but I felt sluggish the whole time. My hardest weeks always seem in the three week pattern always seem to be the week of the drop down in mileage, and initial uptick of mileage. The third week with the longest runs I always seem to feel the strongest in. It's kind of weird. I was going to try and run Friday to make up for missing Monday, but I was so exhausted. I was going to jump rope and do some other stuff, but I was dunfer.
Friday night I had kind of a big dinner that was mostly just carbs. I ate a good amount and anticipated going to bed early Friday night and waking up early to start the run by 8 am. No such luck. Sometimes ping pong and NBA Jam comes calling and you play until 2 am. Why does it feel like I have such little self control sometimes? I can make myself exercise consistently, eat right, and get up at a decent hour, but for the life of me I have the hardest time making myself go to bed. That has always been a problem. This time it wasn't a big deal because I didn't really have anything going on Saturday, but as I get closer to the marathon, I'd like to more closely simulate racing conditions by keeping those runs as early in the morning as possible, at least the long runs on the weekends.
So the Saturday run. This run was by far the toughest. And I don't think it was only because it was the longest that I've done, because the 11 miles I ran two weeks ago really wasn't much of a problem for me. I think the main problem was that I didn't rest very well (bed too late, up too early, and I just don't do as well getting up after 9 am, ever), I ate too much the day of the run, and I waited too long to run following my big meal Friday night. What does that mean you ask? Well, for the last 6 miles of the run I was sure that I was either going to have to use a bathroom, or just poop my pants. No joke. Those peristaltic waves in my bowels were killing me. That, more than anything else, is what slowed my pace the most. The pain in my calf and in my toes was annoying, but I could endure it. The constant feeling like I'm about to empty my bowels every couple of minutes was almost more than I could take.
Hydration and energy were fine. On my other long runs, I would just carry water bottles, but this time I just stashed a couple of 16 oz. bottles of Gatorade along my route. I liked that a whole lot more. If there is anyway I can avoid wearing a fuel belt or just carrying bottles for entire runs, I'd love to figure it out. I also ran earlier in the evening starting at about 4 pm, so hydration was more of a factor than usual because of the heat and the length of the run. I know now that water doesn't seem to absorb as quickly so downing a whole bottle of g-rade in a time period that is too short causes me to feel too heavy for the rest of the run.
I ended up covering the 12.2 miles Saturday in 1:42. I guess that puts me at about 7.06 mph, which is about a 8.5 minute mile pace. I guess that's decent, considering the length of the run and how I was feeling, but I think after the last couple of long runs I was feeling like I could do better. Again...I need to remember to not get ahead of myself and get overly ambitious.
I went out for a short run yesterday morning before work. Even though I got almost no sleep the night before, the run wasn't bad at all and I actually had more energy by the end of the day. I don't know why it surprises me that it keeps on working out that way, but I guess maybe I'm just still reluctant to adopt that morning run routine even though it seems to help me to get through my days with more energy.
Last night I finally made my way over to A Snail's Pace and got some new running shoes. I really lucked out because the guy who was helping me figure out which shoe to get had actually run the Chicago Marathon a couple of times already. He had tons of great tips about running a first marathon, and then race specific instructions. He watched me run and noted that I'm a little duck-footed, which I guess is normal, but the more important thing is that my ankles don't roll inward at all. My treadwear was pretty even on my old shoes, so I lucked into getting just the right shoes last time around. More than anything, talking with that guy got me really excited about the race. He reminded me of this, but sometimes I kind of lose sight of the fact that I'm going to be hating life for a bit following the marathon. He also mentioned that there will come a point about a week or a month later when I will start thinking about what things I could improve on and start getting the urge to do another. I asked him what his favorite marathon was and he quickly responded that the Chicago was his. I'm excited to be going through downtown, and there definitely will be the rush of not only running with so many people, but also having people along the way urging the runners along.
I saw this on another blog, but it looks pretty cool considering...
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