A Long Weekend

It was a long weekend in a few regards... Firstly, I took off work on Friday, giving myself a 3-day weekend for some major packing of our apartment then moving/unpacking into our new house. You always forget how bad moving is, especially stairs are involved anywhere. There aren't enough hours in the day to do everything you want to do, and it's exciting and overwhelming at the same time. Lastly, it was a long run weekend: a daunting 17 miles (again, let me remind you, off the heels of my vacation).

I worked up a game plan with my friend Sarah. She was also off work on Friday and was due for an 11 mile run as part of her half-marathon training. She agreed to run it with me, then I would do 6 more by myself after that. Luckily, I had a WAY better idea of doing my 6 loner miles before I ran the 11 with her, that way when she was done running, so was I. And mentally, it works better to have someone running alongside you as you pump out those last miles that your body has never done before. I can't count how many times during our 11 miles that I said "I'm SO glad I don't have to run SIX more after this without you!!"

In general, the run went really well--neither one of us had a breakdown, either physically or emotionally--and yes, both are possibilities when you're running this distance. Between the miles on my own and the miles with Sarah, my pace averaged out to about 12 minutes--right on target to Galloway's training recommedation for me. Sarah's husband Dan was kind enough to follow us around in the car for a good chunk of the run, bringing us Gatorade, water and even sweat towels at designated spots. (Anyone watching the scene would have thought, "Who is this guy in a car creeping on two girls as they run?!") We ended up taking 4 pit stops for the Gatorade, and honestly, I felt like I needed each one of them. We debated on whether or not ask Dan for that last pit stop at mile 9 (mile 15 for me), but were SO glad that we had that extra chance for fluids....again, stressing the importance of staying hydrated and balanced with electrolytes.

I still haven't figured out the Curse of the Last Mile, but it exists. We were both feeling the effects of the entire run catching up with us on that last .75-.5 mile. Your mind can only fool your body for so long. I didn't want to admit how badly my legs were cramping, that I could have puked if I tried, and that I didn't even want to cool-down afterwards---just crash on the street. Even though these thoughts are going through your mind, it's irrelevant--you can practically see your stopping point, you know it's only one more song on the iPod, and you'll just do it. End of story.

After a few minutes of standing in the sprinkler, we went inside and happily found the floor. I was nauseous and had tighter leg muscles than I've had, well, ever. Normally, as I'm approaching the end of a long run, I can feel the pain/tightness spreading in my hamstrings, hips and low back. That started this time around mile 13, but by the end, even my calves were gettting sore. As I was attempting to stretch out afterwards, there was a cramp in my shin and calf that kept locking up my ankle, and my hamstrings were so tight I could barely even straighten my knee!

The next day, my legs were more sore from a run than they had been since the Ft. Ben Harrison race. It's pretty rare that my legs get sore from cardio anymore, so that's saying something. (Strength workouts are a different story. I will NEVER forget the time I unknowingly jumped into Week 12 (of 12) of boot camp at Life Time Fitness. Holy squats and lunges. For the next 3 days I wanted to cry every time I walked downstairs or tried to sit.)

As for my appetite after a long run, I can't really stand the thought of food for about 30 minutes post-run, but then I start to eat small snacks around lunch time to get in some protein, and by dinner time I'm fully ready for a big meal. Then, the next day I'm ravenous. Nothing can fill me up for more than a couple hours. However, this time was different.... my appetite actually felt lowered for the next 3 days after the run. We went to lunch at Riviera Maya a few hours after the run and I only ate about a third of my burrito. Even amongst all the moving/unpacking of the weekend, I would stop and realize that it had been hours since I last ate, but I wasn't quite ready for food.

Every run is always different. Thus far in training, I wouldn't say any two of them have been exactly alike. They can't be classified as good or bad; it must be dissected way more than that. And if I've learned anything lately, any run you finish is not only a good run, but an accomplishment.