A Questionable Decision + July Stats Recap

So I had 15 miles on my schedule for Saturday, I had been really excited about this run too, it was venturing into new distance territory for me, and I really felt it would start differentiating true marathon training from anything I had done up until this point.
Well the alarm went off at 4am on Saturday, per ususal, and I kind of stumbled out of bed. Sometimes it takes me 10-15 minutes while I eat to fully wake up, but I was never able to get to the point where I felt ready. I felt exhausted physically and did not have any mental energy to pump myself up for this task.


When the clock rolled over to 4:30a I knew I didn't have it, and if I did get myself out the door, I knew I would be back home before I ever saw 5 miles. I made the decision right then to do what I knew I needed and go back to bed. I slept for another 3 hours!!!! Clearly my body knew what it was talking about and needed the extra rest. Once I woke up again, and John and I got to our plans for the day, it occured to me that I would actually have the opportunity to run later Saturday night rather than wait until Sunday, so I made the plan in my head that I would run once we got home.

I attempted to fuel and hydrate as best as possible, but hindsight being 20/20 I did not do a good job AT ALL. At first I was thinking that moving my run back by about 14 hours was a brilliant decision, it rained all afternoon and cooled it off to 79 degrees (even cooler than it was at 4am) and it was late enough after the rain storm that the humidity had broken up and made the weather actually quite nice. While there came some perks from moving this run, it is still questionable if it was really a good decision, and things pretty much fell apart the further I went.


I started this run right as 8pm as the sun was starting to go down, and was really exited to try my new route that I skipped last weekend. I was hoping to do the 15 miles as 5M easy, 5 @ goal pace, 5M easy, and I was pumped and ready to go when I set out.

The first 5 miles flew by, there were some hills on this new route, but I easily kept about a 9:55 pace for the first 5 miles with no thought or notice, it left me pumped for the next 5 as I was feeling primed and ready to hit them. Well I did the first of the 5 miles at goal pace in 9:26 so a little under, but right before Garmie beeped at mile 6 I started to get a nasty stomach cramp, it was painful, and I thought I needed some Gu, it had been a while since I had eaten and I was planning to push it pretty hard.


Well after mile 6 finished, John had come to find me and test out his new bike light. We stopped briefly while I contemplated Gu and let the cramp fade and then I took off again deciding I would wait until mile 10 to take the gu. Miles 6-10 were decent, not at goal pace but not far off of it. 9:35, 9:42,9:51, 9:37 for the next 4 miles. I still felt capable at this point, but knew I was not going to have strong splits like the last 2 runs I have had, so I vowed to stay strong, push when I could and keep it under 9:59.

My favorite shell station was just past mile 10 where I took my gu and refilled my water. I felt SO dehydrated at this point, probably because I was dumb and didnt hydrate much at all during the day, so I inhaled probably 20-30 ounces of water during this break- Huge mistake, but it all happened so fast.



Once I started moving again for the last 5 I felt like death: my legs hurt, I was tired, my stomach felt off, and I just plain wanted to be finished. John stayed with me the whole way, and I told him, I was doing this run 1 mile at a time, and truly focusing on just that 1 miles, if I thought about what I had left I knew I would fall apart.

I made it to mile 11 pretty respectably, still under 9:59, but as soon as I got past there, my stomach cramp returned, and even worse then before. I knew it was not going to end well, but I just had to keep going, I had to get home. Somewhere during the next mile I stopped to puke in the bushes in front of the fancy Country Club, I'm sure they appreciated it. I tried really hard to make it up to the Walgreens at our final turn, but you don't really get to chose when the gu just ate wants to come back up- not cool!


At the turn at the Walgreens I caught up to John and told him I had ruined my time when I had to stop, but I was over time at that point. He offered up a short cut that would have us stopping at about 13.5 rather than 15, but I figured since the quality of this run had gone to shit, the only thing I had left going for me was to hit the full distance, so I made the right at the Walgreens and vowed to make it the full 15.

Well with abotu 1.5 miles to go and back on my normal everyday route, I started to pick it up again in hopes of finishing strong and at goal pace. Well I made myself puke again, at least this time into a ditch, and finished the last mile at 9:52 about where I started.


This run sucked, just flat out kept getting worse the further I went. It started good, then was fine, and ended on a pretty sour note. The stomach issues definitely ruined this run, I think I would have been great had those not flared up, and I think the change in schedule and eating/drinking routine pre-run is what really contributed to that. I am content that I did the full 15 miles despite all that happened, and leaves me optimistic going into next weeks 16M that it truly can only get better. After so many good runs, this very much humbled me that I have to work to make every run good because it certainly will not always be the case.


Onwards and Upwards, going into week 7 next week, and 12 weeks to go! My legs felt stiff when I first got up today, but otherwise have been fine all day, good to know they could handle the work. With that being said, this was my last run of July, it turned out to be an impressive month for me, I had a lot of great runs (this last one not included)




July 2010 Stats Recap

Total Miles Run: 162



This is my highest monthly mileage to date, and it has felt pretty good. Sure I have had my fair share of tiredness from it, but it has been a good building up for the next 2 months.

Highest Mileage week: 40 mpw- that would be this week, and it went pretty well. I hit all my paces and my legs handled the next big step pretty well.

Races: This is the first month in almost a year that I did not race :( I am making up for it I suppose by doing 3 races in August, actually 3 in one weekend, so I guess it will balance it out.


July has been a really solid month for me, I felt I got a lot of quality runs in, and I have felt the quality help tremendously! Now onto August and less than 90 days til the Marathon!!!!