I did it again. Prior to the race I looked at the course, a switch-backy loop, didn't really pick up any particulars.
I did the race, and in my head it was counterclockwise, or widdershins as TV would say. I thought the truck was facing west (I thought confirmed by my star tracking app when I looked up to identify Jupiter), the bathroom was to the north, and the trail started to the south.
I was entirely wrong, as I learned when I viewed the Garmin Connect file.
We ran clockwise. The truck faced east, the bathrooms to the south, the trail start to the north. JFC how confused! This still doesn't sound right.
I did this a few years ago when I ran Berryman with TV and BG. I swore I ran counterclockwise, but no, it was clockwise, deisil, as TV would say. Ugh! That still doesn't sound right.
Look forward to telling him at lunch this week. :)
Sunday, June 30, 2019
Dark2Dawn Race Report
RUN 26.8 miles in 6:02 10th/34 females, 10th/13 females who did 26.8 miles. 27th/84 overall
Ave HR 136 bpm, Ave cad 160
4x 6.7 miles loops:
#1 0:00 to 1:25, or 85 mins
#2 1:25 to 2:53, or 88 mins
#3 2:53 to 4:33, or 97 mins
#4 4:33 to 6:02, 89 mins
Simple set-up for this race. Run as far as you can in 6 hrs, with the only cut-off that you have to start your last loop by 4:30am. You have a 10 minute grace period, if the RD says you look good, you can start up to 4:40am. So that became my 2nd tier goal: finish 3 loops by 4:30am. That way I can choose to run the 4th or not. That the option wasn't take from me. I'm pretty sure that's got something to do with my Reactance issues, lol.
I snoozed in the truck, staring up at the stars and enjoying nothing but frogs singing. "Up" at 11pm from truck to do biz, eat an orange, futz with gear. Cascadias, headlamp, Camelbak, had flashlight in Camelbak as backup. Otherwise, no other special gear. On board nutrition was a flask of Hammer Espresso gel for caffeine, 2 more of my gels, and a banana. I debated keeping the Camelbak bladder out and carrying instead a bottle in the pocket. Good thing I didn't do this, and a good lesson learned.
Prerace meeting at 11:45pm included the usual trail instructions and a Raise Your Right Hand Waiver of "if I get hurt, lost, or die, It's my own damned fault". LOVE IT! Air horn and go!
Trail: The mountain bike immediately preceding this race had smoothed out the dirt trail, all rock and root were clearly visible, and my concerns a few days ago about needing a new headlamp were for nothing, a save of $70. Our run course didn't entirely overlap with the bike race, so we had some wet and rocky spots to deal with. But otherwise...fast trail! The change in trail from singletrack to meadow to singletrack to dirt to rocks and wet sandy mud to the gravel hill climb to the start/finish was a pleasant mix. If this was a daylight run on dry trail, could be a fast smooth loop. But that's not today.
Nutrition: Pre race "dinner" of potato and egg. In race about 3x hammer gel, 1 orange prior and 1 orange in-race, banana, some potato bites. That's it!
Loop 1: There was a concurrent 10K race, and I got caught with them the first few miles. I tried to seed in the middle of the group (about 100 runners?). I was leading the congo line for maybe two miles and kept offering for those behind me to pass.
Around 3 miles I forced a walk break in a meadow section with a rutted out dirt trail. An ankle turner with drops and angles, so I walked this every loop. Around 4 miles I took some of the gel, a downside of the gel flask is you don't know how much you're getting. Upside is less mess, less waste.
First loop in 1:25, I didn't have a goal time but this was about right. Maybe faster than needed. Grabbed some orange and steamed potato, out for loop 2. This loop had me ahead of two guys for the first mile. One commented (as many did that run) about my M-dot tattoo, another pointed out how to find spiders in the headlamps, "disco balls" from their eyes. And once I started noticing them, there were a lot of spiders! As long as they stay on the ground, I'm good. Somewhere in this loop I realized I was sweating heavily, my Craft shorts were dripping wet. At times fat water droplets fell from my hat, it wasn't rain! Drink, drink and drink.
This loop went smooth, started picking up some landmarks and only one minor trip over a root at the beginning. Had some more gel around 9 miles, think I nom'd a banana too .Ended the loop, added water to the camelbak, bathroom stop, oranges and potatoes, and a double-stick mango popsicle, wonderful surprise! Out for loop 3.
This was my critical loop. I had to finish it by 4:30am and this put some pressure on me. But not bad. With the dark it was hard to follow the garmin time too closely, and had a laugh when I realized that the elapsed time on the garmin was the actual time of day! This was also the most pained loop for some reason, it hurt the most for legs. A few trips and stubs, but no falls. My gut was signaling potential problems -- the gel, the change in schedule, stress? It was mostly gas in the end, and it worked its way out. But something to keep in mind for longer races.
I was at this point debating...do a 4th loop? I had moments in #3 where I wasn't feeling up to it at all. Thought stopping at 20.1 would be respectable. I held off the decision until I made it up the hill to the start/finish. I negotiated with myself that if I did the 4th loop, I could do it with more walking and just enjoy the sunrise.
Finished in 4:33 and was given permission to go back out. Suddenly I felt great and went for it. Purple popsicle I split with another female, out to loop 4. She fell back a few mins in, and I kept going. Realized about now that I didn't add water to the camelbak, and this came back to bite me in a few miles.
I could see the beginnings of morning twilight, a faint color to the sky that gradually brightened. I knew the moon rose around 3:12 am and I was looking for it. As I popped out of the canopy around 3 miles along a meadow, there it was. Low in a pink/orange sky, over a foggy green meadow, a silver sliver of almost-new moon. This stopped me, paused to appreciate. Along the same time, the birds started their morning songs, these replaced the frogs and bugs that sang to me in the first loops.
This is why I run, these magical moments. But back to the race.
Now that I had daylight, I was running more surefooted and picked up pace. Or so it felt, I wasn't running faster it probably just took more effort to hold the pace. As the pale echoes of leaves appeared alongside me, as rock and root became visible without headlights, as the sun started to peak through the trees to glint upon tree trunks, as all this happened I was wondering -- where am I in the pack? How many other women came out for the 4th loop? There was no one around me! I was alone 90% of this loop. I started thinking I was ahead in the field of women? Bad thoughts to have, it drives the pace and that's not my goal. But I was happy to catch another woman around the dreaded dirt road section. The only things slowing me down was the head games. And my heart rate, which started climbing to 145-150 around the last few miles.
Around the 25 miles the Camelbak was empty. Stupid move, but only 1-2 miles to go. I watched for 26.2 miles and hit that at 5:59. Although not accurate (my garmin read the loops between 6.4-6.6) it's still a sub-6 trail mary. Up the hill, cross the finish, and DONE to the usual minimalist trail finish line. Feeling great! Sore but great. It took a seemingly long time to bring my breath rate down, but the HR came down on schedule. I was dripping wet, sore, didn't want to move, but otherwise feeling great.
Change clothes and clean up. Grab mini brekkie of 3 eggs, yogurt, and berries. Hang out just a little bit, then drive home. Long hour drive! I made it ok, only the last few miles were getting sleepy.
Once home, shower and tried to nap but failed. Watched a movie, updated my nutrition notes, gave up at one point and went to get the dog. Back to bed. Wash the dog, eat a dinner. Back to bed, where I finally slept 7pm to 4am.
SUMMARY:
1. Less nutrition than I use on training runs! Dial the training runs down?
2. Always fill the Camelbak.
3. Races drive an effort and mentality that training can't. Races are good for this.
4. The race pace and effort knock you back a few days. Too many races are bad for this.
5. My body is amazing. No injury, no pains, just some soreness and niggles:
--bottom of my feet, of course
--some sciatic/lower lumbar discomfort next few days
--tenderness on lateral right calf, kinda above where the distal fibula stress fracture was in 2016
-- not much from my upper back/shoulder
--no chest pain, just fatigue
-- over next few days a productive lower respiratory cough that got rough
Ave HR 136 bpm, Ave cad 160
4x 6.7 miles loops:
#1 0:00 to 1:25, or 85 mins
#2 1:25 to 2:53, or 88 mins
#3 2:53 to 4:33, or 97 mins
#4 4:33 to 6:02, 89 mins
Simple set-up for this race. Run as far as you can in 6 hrs, with the only cut-off that you have to start your last loop by 4:30am. You have a 10 minute grace period, if the RD says you look good, you can start up to 4:40am. So that became my 2nd tier goal: finish 3 loops by 4:30am. That way I can choose to run the 4th or not. That the option wasn't take from me. I'm pretty sure that's got something to do with my Reactance issues, lol.
I snoozed in the truck, staring up at the stars and enjoying nothing but frogs singing. "Up" at 11pm from truck to do biz, eat an orange, futz with gear. Cascadias, headlamp, Camelbak, had flashlight in Camelbak as backup. Otherwise, no other special gear. On board nutrition was a flask of Hammer Espresso gel for caffeine, 2 more of my gels, and a banana. I debated keeping the Camelbak bladder out and carrying instead a bottle in the pocket. Good thing I didn't do this, and a good lesson learned.
Prerace meeting at 11:45pm included the usual trail instructions and a Raise Your Right Hand Waiver of "if I get hurt, lost, or die, It's my own damned fault". LOVE IT! Air horn and go!
Trail: The mountain bike immediately preceding this race had smoothed out the dirt trail, all rock and root were clearly visible, and my concerns a few days ago about needing a new headlamp were for nothing, a save of $70. Our run course didn't entirely overlap with the bike race, so we had some wet and rocky spots to deal with. But otherwise...fast trail! The change in trail from singletrack to meadow to singletrack to dirt to rocks and wet sandy mud to the gravel hill climb to the start/finish was a pleasant mix. If this was a daylight run on dry trail, could be a fast smooth loop. But that's not today.
Nutrition: Pre race "dinner" of potato and egg. In race about 3x hammer gel, 1 orange prior and 1 orange in-race, banana, some potato bites. That's it!
Loop 1: There was a concurrent 10K race, and I got caught with them the first few miles. I tried to seed in the middle of the group (about 100 runners?). I was leading the congo line for maybe two miles and kept offering for those behind me to pass.
Around 3 miles I forced a walk break in a meadow section with a rutted out dirt trail. An ankle turner with drops and angles, so I walked this every loop. Around 4 miles I took some of the gel, a downside of the gel flask is you don't know how much you're getting. Upside is less mess, less waste.
First loop in 1:25, I didn't have a goal time but this was about right. Maybe faster than needed. Grabbed some orange and steamed potato, out for loop 2. This loop had me ahead of two guys for the first mile. One commented (as many did that run) about my M-dot tattoo, another pointed out how to find spiders in the headlamps, "disco balls" from their eyes. And once I started noticing them, there were a lot of spiders! As long as they stay on the ground, I'm good. Somewhere in this loop I realized I was sweating heavily, my Craft shorts were dripping wet. At times fat water droplets fell from my hat, it wasn't rain! Drink, drink and drink.
This loop went smooth, started picking up some landmarks and only one minor trip over a root at the beginning. Had some more gel around 9 miles, think I nom'd a banana too .Ended the loop, added water to the camelbak, bathroom stop, oranges and potatoes, and a double-stick mango popsicle, wonderful surprise! Out for loop 3.
This was my critical loop. I had to finish it by 4:30am and this put some pressure on me. But not bad. With the dark it was hard to follow the garmin time too closely, and had a laugh when I realized that the elapsed time on the garmin was the actual time of day! This was also the most pained loop for some reason, it hurt the most for legs. A few trips and stubs, but no falls. My gut was signaling potential problems -- the gel, the change in schedule, stress? It was mostly gas in the end, and it worked its way out. But something to keep in mind for longer races.
I was at this point debating...do a 4th loop? I had moments in #3 where I wasn't feeling up to it at all. Thought stopping at 20.1 would be respectable. I held off the decision until I made it up the hill to the start/finish. I negotiated with myself that if I did the 4th loop, I could do it with more walking and just enjoy the sunrise.
Finished in 4:33 and was given permission to go back out. Suddenly I felt great and went for it. Purple popsicle I split with another female, out to loop 4. She fell back a few mins in, and I kept going. Realized about now that I didn't add water to the camelbak, and this came back to bite me in a few miles.
I could see the beginnings of morning twilight, a faint color to the sky that gradually brightened. I knew the moon rose around 3:12 am and I was looking for it. As I popped out of the canopy around 3 miles along a meadow, there it was. Low in a pink/orange sky, over a foggy green meadow, a silver sliver of almost-new moon. This stopped me, paused to appreciate. Along the same time, the birds started their morning songs, these replaced the frogs and bugs that sang to me in the first loops.
This is why I run, these magical moments. But back to the race.
Now that I had daylight, I was running more surefooted and picked up pace. Or so it felt, I wasn't running faster it probably just took more effort to hold the pace. As the pale echoes of leaves appeared alongside me, as rock and root became visible without headlights, as the sun started to peak through the trees to glint upon tree trunks, as all this happened I was wondering -- where am I in the pack? How many other women came out for the 4th loop? There was no one around me! I was alone 90% of this loop. I started thinking I was ahead in the field of women? Bad thoughts to have, it drives the pace and that's not my goal. But I was happy to catch another woman around the dreaded dirt road section. The only things slowing me down was the head games. And my heart rate, which started climbing to 145-150 around the last few miles.
Around the 25 miles the Camelbak was empty. Stupid move, but only 1-2 miles to go. I watched for 26.2 miles and hit that at 5:59. Although not accurate (my garmin read the loops between 6.4-6.6) it's still a sub-6 trail mary. Up the hill, cross the finish, and DONE to the usual minimalist trail finish line. Feeling great! Sore but great. It took a seemingly long time to bring my breath rate down, but the HR came down on schedule. I was dripping wet, sore, didn't want to move, but otherwise feeling great.
Change clothes and clean up. Grab mini brekkie of 3 eggs, yogurt, and berries. Hang out just a little bit, then drive home. Long hour drive! I made it ok, only the last few miles were getting sleepy.
Once home, shower and tried to nap but failed. Watched a movie, updated my nutrition notes, gave up at one point and went to get the dog. Back to bed. Wash the dog, eat a dinner. Back to bed, where I finally slept 7pm to 4am.
SUMMARY:
1. Less nutrition than I use on training runs! Dial the training runs down?
2. Always fill the Camelbak.
3. Races drive an effort and mentality that training can't. Races are good for this.
4. The race pace and effort knock you back a few days. Too many races are bad for this.
5. My body is amazing. No injury, no pains, just some soreness and niggles:
--bottom of my feet, of course
--some sciatic/lower lumbar discomfort next few days
--tenderness on lateral right calf, kinda above where the distal fibula stress fracture was in 2016
-- not much from my upper back/shoulder
--no chest pain, just fatigue
-- over next few days a productive lower respiratory cough that got rough
Saturday, June 29, 2019
D2D pre race day
NOTHING!
Rest! Dropped off dog early, did errands, home to sleep. The goal was to sleep 1-5pm but that didn't quite happen. I kinda snoozed but not really sleep. I'd get up, do something, go back to bed. Restless but not a nervous restless. More of a "I could be getting something done" restless.
Left for the race around 7 or 8pm, hours drive out. I took the tent but didn't set it up. Instead I used the pillow and blanket to snooze in the truck.
-----
Regarding my Reactance. I've calculated it's a bad of dog food worth. Henceforth, BDF.
I started my anti-nutritionist nutrition today, I picked up oats at the $ store, started to walk away, and PUT THEM BACK. No mas. Got fruit and taters instead. All else, all wins at the store.
Rest! Dropped off dog early, did errands, home to sleep. The goal was to sleep 1-5pm but that didn't quite happen. I kinda snoozed but not really sleep. I'd get up, do something, go back to bed. Restless but not a nervous restless. More of a "I could be getting something done" restless.
Left for the race around 7 or 8pm, hours drive out. I took the tent but didn't set it up. Instead I used the pillow and blanket to snooze in the truck.
-----
Regarding my Reactance. I've calculated it's a bad of dog food worth. Henceforth, BDF.
I started my anti-nutritionist nutrition today, I picked up oats at the $ store, started to walk away, and PUT THEM BACK. No mas. Got fruit and taters instead. All else, all wins at the store.
Friday, June 28, 2019
This could be the day...Reactance with Dr B
Reactance is an unpleasant motivational arousal (reaction) to offers, persons, rules, or regulations that threaten or eliminate specific behavioral freedoms. Reactance occurs when a person feels that someone or something is taking away their choices or limiting the range of alternatives.
Reactance can occur when someone is heavily pressured to accept a certain view or attitude. Reactance can cause the person to adopt or strengthen a view or attitude that is contrary to what was intended, and also increases resistance to persuasion.
An example of such behavior can be observed when an individual engages in a prohibited activity in order to deliberately taunt the authority who prohibits it, regardless of the utility or disutility that the activity confers.
An individual's freedom to select when and how to conduct their behavior, and the level to which they are aware of the relevant freedom—and are able to determine behaviors necessary to satisfy that freedom—affect the generation of psychological reactance. It is assumed that if a person's behavioral freedom is threatened or reduced, they become motivationally aroused. The fear of loss of further freedoms can spark this arousal and motivate them to re-establish the threatened freedom.
----
Follow up with Dr B Friday afternoon. It's been...3 months? Something like that. February I think. Anyway.
He starts off with the usual how-things and an "anything you want to talk about". Well there are things, but not going to talk about them in this room. Monsters live elsewhere. See new songlist addition. My vitals are good, RHR 51 and BP the usual low. However Monster has one vital off, and it was enough to cause questions with intake. Ugh.
We cover the basics -- no symptoms, no chest pain. Well none worth noting. Just my usual occasional that I don't see a need to keep bringing up.
Then he asks about exercise. "about 50 miles running, 150 miles biking". Pause. "Yes, a week". More pause. I think it's safe to say he doesn't like my exercise routine.
At about this point I get a grin on my face I can't repress. Not a "lookit me" or a "Ima win the 10K challenge" or a happy grin. More of a ... don't know how to react, so I grin. Not even really a smile. I feel stupid about it.
"I'm signed up for a race. No -- no -- not a race, but a run , just participate, nothing fast." He asked what kind -- 5K, half, marathon, ultra. "Ultra". Now a pause with head shaking. I think it's safe to say he doesn't like my race plans.
I didn't mention the distance, didn't think saying "100 miles" would gain me any ground.
I couldn't get the stupid grin off my face. The conversation from here went to yes this is my usual before heart attack stuff, I'm young, review of October catheterization shows I'm healed.
He'd like me to wait for one year. I suggest that the race is in October, that's 13 months. I didn't gain any ground with that one. And I certainly at this point didn't mention that I have a race tomorrow night.
To his credit, or perhaps seeing no recourse, he changed tactics. And instead went for a "if you want to do this..." angle. This was encouraging to me. On the way out the door, he said to let him know how the race goes. Ugh. Felt even more stupid.
I super respect this doctor, he might be the only one I listen to on this. Why just hours ahead of this appt I told SO that "I'm blessed" to have him on board. So why am I so resistant? If I wasn't already registered for Hennepin, would I change my plans?
No. I'd still run. But now I only want to run MORE. Saturday while skimming Reddit I learned about Reactance, a social psychology explanation for why we become resistant to doing something when someone else tells us to do it.
And I think that explains much of my angst lately. Everyone telling me too far, too much, too soon. Eat this not that. Take this pill. Take time off. UGH.
I do personal experiments in 3 month blocks. June is the end of the April-May-June block. Things gotta change.
Thursday, June 27, 2019
This could be the day...one week no Devil; but M still here
RUN 4.4 miles in about 42 mins, HR ave 136, cad ave 174
As I was driving into FoPa, I saw a car that looks like LCs at the roundabout. Turns out, it was her! She's tapering into Steelhead. Me, LC, EW, MS, IT, and Tony today, BE out for a diversity conference at work.
The girls went short and the guys went long. I'd rather have gone long but I really need to rest. That extra 1.7 miles won't make me any faster come Sunday morning. LC talked about her upcoming races, this year and next. About the cyclist who was killed last weekend on Manchester!! EW talked about how she got into her neighborhood improvement and buying her house. I didn't talk much. At mile 2 I started pulling out and forward, MS commented that I was trying to reel in the runner ahead of us. (He was right!).
Great run, it's getting warm and I was sweating a lot. I don't think that's the head adaption kicking in. Speaking of which, TV sent me two links on that. Gotta read before the appt with Dr B on Friday.
---
Home early for Shoogie's vet appt. Anal glands and CIV. Afterwards I was mentally lost and disengaged. Had the urge to get shopping errands done, but didn't feel like driving. So I walked to SAL -- bananas, oats, fake butter, milk for kefir, and cocoa krispies. Let me point out here some hypocrisy (or should it be hypokrispies?) of earlier today saying that cereal is just sugar, then I go out and buy some "for my race this weekend".
Well M was around too. The hypokrispies are to the garbage, much of the oats too. However, I'm thrilled to say No DEVIL! NONE! A full week? But a full weak too when it come to the M. What do I really want when M is here? What am I avoiding? I don't even want him there, but there he is anyway.
Pleased to meet you
Hope you guess my name, oh yeah
Ah, what's puzzling you
Is the nature of my game, oh yeah
As I was driving into FoPa, I saw a car that looks like LCs at the roundabout. Turns out, it was her! She's tapering into Steelhead. Me, LC, EW, MS, IT, and Tony today, BE out for a diversity conference at work.
The girls went short and the guys went long. I'd rather have gone long but I really need to rest. That extra 1.7 miles won't make me any faster come Sunday morning. LC talked about her upcoming races, this year and next. About the cyclist who was killed last weekend on Manchester!! EW talked about how she got into her neighborhood improvement and buying her house. I didn't talk much. At mile 2 I started pulling out and forward, MS commented that I was trying to reel in the runner ahead of us. (He was right!).
Great run, it's getting warm and I was sweating a lot. I don't think that's the head adaption kicking in. Speaking of which, TV sent me two links on that. Gotta read before the appt with Dr B on Friday.
---
Home early for Shoogie's vet appt. Anal glands and CIV. Afterwards I was mentally lost and disengaged. Had the urge to get shopping errands done, but didn't feel like driving. So I walked to SAL -- bananas, oats, fake butter, milk for kefir, and cocoa krispies. Let me point out here some hypocrisy (or should it be hypokrispies?) of earlier today saying that cereal is just sugar, then I go out and buy some "for my race this weekend".
Well M was around too. The hypokrispies are to the garbage, much of the oats too. However, I'm thrilled to say No DEVIL! NONE! A full week? But a full weak too when it come to the M. What do I really want when M is here? What am I avoiding? I don't even want him there, but there he is anyway.
Pleased to meet you
Hope you guess my name, oh yeah
Ah, what's puzzling you
Is the nature of my game, oh yeah
Wednesday, June 26, 2019
This could be the day...I ran what I didn't think I could
RUN 10 miles in 1:42:53 10:17m/m, ave 138 bpm and ave 171 spm
Up early after going to bed early (this is going good for me, shut it down early) and to my surprise out the door at 5:55am. Sometimes I lag until after 6. Not today!
Around BP via Lemp, Ars to TGP, wander TGP then to MoBOT loop, back to TGP wandering, then home. I dub thee the TGP 10-miler. This has become my standard Weds run kinda.
Yesterday I was doubting whether this run was a good idea. I tossed around doing a shorter version, skipping altogether, biking instead. But I did want to run, and that prompted me to at least try for the 10 and see how it goes. Good thing I did! Hours later I'm no worse for wear and feeling good.
My lower GI tract still wacky but last few days more of the ideal T=4 or 5, instead of the 6 or 7 of recent weeks. However after the main BM a few mins later I had another, and 1 mile in the urge for another! A third has manifested yet today, but the urge is sometimes there. Ate more veg yesterday? And extra serv of oats. And this is 6th day of no azuc or yellow fake sugar packets. Could those yellow packets have been a cause of GI upset?
Only water on the run today. Banana and oats beforehand. This worked great, but maybe on these >90 min runs a small snack would help carry me through the slump at 7-8 miles?
As I did on Sunday, I quickly started sweating and warming up today. It's a sign of heat adaptation, although I'm not sure I'd really call this "heat" yet. I've been reading up on head adaptation in preparation for my appt with Dr B on Friday. I want to fully understand the implications of heat running, hydration, and workload on the heart. Mentioned this to TV at lunch today, and he recommended some links.
I didn't walk as much today, probably a major contributor to my 2 mins faster time than last week. After mile 7 I felt the urge to walk more often, my HR was around 145 but felt like it would be higher. I'm not sure if I can blame physical or mental fatigue for this. Everything feels OK, but feels like the workload is just too much, like climbing a steep hill, or running underwater. Had a LOT of that on Sunday's run. And when I stop running, I immediately grind to a stop. Not a taper off of speed, almost a painful stop of motion. Like when a brake is dragging on the bike, normally the wheel would coast to a smooth stop, but when dragging it's a sharp change in velocity.
So the plan is to run 4 or 6 tomorrow, the shut it down to just bike commutes until race time.
Up early after going to bed early (this is going good for me, shut it down early) and to my surprise out the door at 5:55am. Sometimes I lag until after 6. Not today!
Around BP via Lemp, Ars to TGP, wander TGP then to MoBOT loop, back to TGP wandering, then home. I dub thee the TGP 10-miler. This has become my standard Weds run kinda.
Yesterday I was doubting whether this run was a good idea. I tossed around doing a shorter version, skipping altogether, biking instead. But I did want to run, and that prompted me to at least try for the 10 and see how it goes. Good thing I did! Hours later I'm no worse for wear and feeling good.
My lower GI tract still wacky but last few days more of the ideal T=4 or 5, instead of the 6 or 7 of recent weeks. However after the main BM a few mins later I had another, and 1 mile in the urge for another! A third has manifested yet today, but the urge is sometimes there. Ate more veg yesterday? And extra serv of oats. And this is 6th day of no azuc or yellow fake sugar packets. Could those yellow packets have been a cause of GI upset?
Only water on the run today. Banana and oats beforehand. This worked great, but maybe on these >90 min runs a small snack would help carry me through the slump at 7-8 miles?
As I did on Sunday, I quickly started sweating and warming up today. It's a sign of heat adaptation, although I'm not sure I'd really call this "heat" yet. I've been reading up on head adaptation in preparation for my appt with Dr B on Friday. I want to fully understand the implications of heat running, hydration, and workload on the heart. Mentioned this to TV at lunch today, and he recommended some links.
I didn't walk as much today, probably a major contributor to my 2 mins faster time than last week. After mile 7 I felt the urge to walk more often, my HR was around 145 but felt like it would be higher. I'm not sure if I can blame physical or mental fatigue for this. Everything feels OK, but feels like the workload is just too much, like climbing a steep hill, or running underwater. Had a LOT of that on Sunday's run. And when I stop running, I immediately grind to a stop. Not a taper off of speed, almost a painful stop of motion. Like when a brake is dragging on the bike, normally the wheel would coast to a smooth stop, but when dragging it's a sharp change in velocity.
So the plan is to run 4 or 6 tomorrow, the shut it down to just bike commutes until race time.
Tuesday, June 25, 2019
This could be the day...I move it and walk it
RUN 4 miles out of 5.5 total, I walked!
COMMUTE 13.8 miles
BE and I discussed yesterday how to incorporate walking into the session today, and we did. Came up with on the fly: 800 jog and 200 fast walk, six times. The 1 mile WU was sludgy, then we walked 2 laps just talking.
Then in the intervals, the first 100y or so was sludgy but then I picked up energy and knocked down the remaining in the 800. So some questions to ponder: how much, how often, and how fast to walk in the intervals? Too much and I "lose steam" and have to get moving again.
Winner of a day, if everyday could be this temperature I'd love it. I moved more today, got stuff done, better energy. But at the same time, I'm wondering about what to do for tomorrow? Rest? Run the 10 as planned? Shorten the 10?
One part of me says Run, that's that's what I love to do. Run it, and from Thursday 7am to Saturday night. Another part of me (probably the lazy part) says I should rest.
Split the difference and run a shorter version? I know I won't decide until 6am tomorrow so why discuss it here? HAHA.
Day 5 (FIVE!) of no azuc or yellow packets. WOW! One week and I can sign up for Badger. Still 42 spots left, it's not filling too fast for me to catch it.
ETA: corrected the distance. It was 6 800s with 200 walk. yay! More data:
HR in the run: 130s, in the walk it was 90s
Cad in the run 175-178, in the walk was 130s
Pace in the run: 8-8:30
Distance was not far off this time, per the garmin.
COMMUTE 13.8 miles
BE and I discussed yesterday how to incorporate walking into the session today, and we did. Came up with on the fly: 800 jog and 200 fast walk, six times. The 1 mile WU was sludgy, then we walked 2 laps just talking.
Then in the intervals, the first 100y or so was sludgy but then I picked up energy and knocked down the remaining in the 800. So some questions to ponder: how much, how often, and how fast to walk in the intervals? Too much and I "lose steam" and have to get moving again.
Winner of a day, if everyday could be this temperature I'd love it. I moved more today, got stuff done, better energy. But at the same time, I'm wondering about what to do for tomorrow? Rest? Run the 10 as planned? Shorten the 10?
One part of me says Run, that's that's what I love to do. Run it, and from Thursday 7am to Saturday night. Another part of me (probably the lazy part) says I should rest.
Split the difference and run a shorter version? I know I won't decide until 6am tomorrow so why discuss it here? HAHA.
Day 5 (FIVE!) of no azuc or yellow packets. WOW! One week and I can sign up for Badger. Still 42 spots left, it's not filling too fast for me to catch it.
ETA: corrected the distance. It was 6 800s with 200 walk. yay! More data:
HR in the run: 130s, in the walk it was 90s
Cad in the run 175-178, in the walk was 130s
Pace in the run: 8-8:30
Distance was not far off this time, per the garmin.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)