Long run - 12 miles COMPLETE!!! Avg. pace = 11:27
Saturday's long run consisted of dodging dog poo on the trail, sweating buckets and dredging through 86% humidity. But there were good points too.
OK, I went out Saturday and purposely made myself keep it slow and easy. It was so hard those first six to keep the pace slow. My legs wanted to go. I struggled finding my stride at the slower pace too. But, I was so thankful when I hit mile 10. I didn't have to stop and walk until mile 11 and then I only walked for about 3 to 4 minutes to recover. I finished out the last mile of the run with a good 10:15 pace. It felt great to stretch my legs out and just RUN.
The weather man said that it was supposed to be nice and cool on Saturday with low humidity. The weather man is a BIG FAT LIAR! It was muggy, hot, humid, thick, stagnant, murky, miasmic, ... You get the picture. I really thought I was going to die at mile three. I seriously just wanted to stop and walk. But I bargained with myself. "If you make it to 5 miles you can stop and rest before you run back." Well, I made it to 5 and felt great! Then I kept trucking to 6 turned around, gooed up (is "gooed" actually a word?) and started to head back.
By the time I got back to my car I had voraciously consumed all my water but you would think I just poured the stuff on my clothes. I was sopping, dripping wet. I literally took off my Bondi band and had to wring it out. When I got back home I had lost 4 lbs of water!! ACK!
I consumed my post-run bowl of SmartStart cereal, a banana (thanks for the food advice!) and copious amounts of water. I took my shower, relaxed and crawled back into bed for my nap. I was a total bum the rest of the day and it felt GREAT! I just lounged around and watched the Olympics.
Nice thing on the run was the cutie-patootie, shirtless, RIPPED guy who stopped me on the way back (I had passed by him on the way down) asking me what I was training for. Who...ME? Training? I actually LOOK like a runner, not a limp fish floundering around grimacing in pain and dripping buckets of sweat on the trail? Sweet. And don't worry...I had Mr. Pepper Spray all loaded and ready to go just in case cutie-patootie was a sadist perv who likes jiggly, sweaty gals. :-)
Oh - and my Garmin has now been christened with the name "Minnie"! As in Gar"Min" and it clocks "Min"utes as I run "min"imally. (cheese..I know). Although RBR's "f-ing liar" was a close second.
Today I LOVE: The San Francisco store See Jane Run. http://www.seejanerun.com/ What a great, empowering store for lady athletes who don't fit the mold. And the story of the founder Lori Shannon is so inspiring too! http://www.seejanerun.com/t-janes-story.aspx
6 months ago
2 comments:
Your mention of dodging dog poo made me think of the goose poo I was trying to miss this morning when I was running by the Charles River. A little hard when it was still semi-dark out there! I think I missed it though.
GREAT job on the 12 miles!! I'm impressed you could do it in the humidity. I would have wimped out - or been on the treadmill. Of course, since I belong to an all female gym I wouldn't have been able to see any hot guys running.
I LOVE your new name for your Garmin!! I am putting some serious thought and giving mine a name today.
I am actually going to post today about what it's like to do strength training one day and then try to run the next. It's hard!! I did okay for the first few miles but toward the end (I had 6 to do) my left glute was really aching. My quads were okay, but I only had a couple of tiny hills to run up. I wouldn't recommend it before a long run, that's for sure.
However, since I still have more weight to lose, and flab to firm up, my 2 days of strength training are super important.
And now I've written a book...hope you have a wonderful day!!
Great job on the 12. Humidity suuuuucccckkkkks! I don't know how you guys do it.
I love the name for your Garmin. You are so much more creative than me.
It sounds like your marathon quest is going great. I have seen a lot of promotion for the San Antonio race. Sounds like it will be a big one. Hope it all works out for you and you have a great marathon experience.
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