subdee

Almost 3 quarters of a marathon!

I don't have a real time, because my knee messed things up. It hurt a bit when I set off, for the first two blocks, so I had to run super slowly to warm it up, and that slowed down my time in a very obvious way. Then at around 11-11.5 miles, another runner was coming toward me. We were in a very tight spot between bushes, and he was moving much faster than I was, so I gave him right of way, and I had to make a sudden lateral move to get out of his way.

My knee did not like the sudden lateral move, and it erupted into acute pain. I had to stop immediately. Then I walked a few steps, tried running, and--nope. So I walked half a mile to the end of the loop, drank some water, and tried running again. My knee made ominous twinges, but I was very slow and tentative, just trying to do something that was not a walk, adjusting my stride to this and that angle...and after about two blocks, my knee went back to normal and was 100% for the rest of the run.

Btw, I solved my food and water logistics problem, at least for now. I don't want to carry anything with me, because I don't yet have a bag that doesn't chafe--the CamelBak is useless--and I don't want to walk all the way up the walkway and the stairs and unlock my door and go inside my apartment to get food and water, because if I do that, I'm never leaving it again.

What I really wanted was an aid station, but in this neighborhood, I don't think I can leave food and water lying around--I assume it will disappear. And then it occurred to me: my mailbox is an aid station! It's near the gate, so I don't have to go all the way up the walkway nor any stairs, nor do I get comfortable. I just stand at the mailbox refueling, and then I'm off again.

The mandarin slices worked amazingly well *during* the run, but I think I should have had just a bit more food, or at least, as soon as the run ended, I should have refueled immediately. I took a shower instead, and my body/brain did the lightheaded thing where I go from "not hungry" to "dying" in the space of about 5 seconds and I have to lie down because I'm so woozy. This happens a *lot* if I postpone a meal, which is why I generally don't postpone meals. No, I don't know how I'm going to fast for my future colonoscopies and such, I have enough problems with NPO after midnight. Anyway, I managed not to lie down in the shower through sheer willpower, but I didn't finish the shower. I was toweling off soap that hadn't been rinsed away yet while sitting down in the tub, and then I recovered enough to put on clothes and go to the kitchen. Where I immediately ate 2 Greek yogurts.

So I definitely need more food in the aid station. But the aid station approach was very effective for what it was! I actually got a second wind after getting a brief rest that allowed me to go out again. Then after another 2.6 miles (2 loops), I drank water and ate the 1.5 mandarins I had left in a bag in the mailbox, then I was able to do 3 and a bit more loops (4.2 miles), bringing my total to what I calculate to be 18 miles.

Aside from briefly almost dying, I wasn't as tired afterwards as I expected. I did, after my shower and yogurt, lie down melodramatically on the couch to recover for the next 2.5 hours, before I felt like getting up and doing anything. But I also was able to walk home more easily than I expected, and my legs aren't super killing me. I also have runner's high already! I had told myself not to expect it until Wednesday, 'cause that's how long it's been taking. I think the 2.5 hours of doing nothing (but chatting with my wife on the phone for part of the time) helped. Normally I've been pushing through my day, doing work or running errands or going hiking or whatever.

I do think that I need to keep doing this on a weekend. For a while, a workday worked better, but if it's going to take me until noon to recover, and that's 2 pm at company headquarters...Anyway, it worked today because I told myself I didn't get enough sleep to do Old Irish and Peter Keith and geology, and I was just going to have to do some work anyway. And that if I did 18 miles, I didn't have to do *anything* other than lie around melodramatically, but that if I didn't do 18 miles, I had to finish up this work project.

So here I am at 18 miles, enjoying my runner's high. For more details on my pep talk, see my next post.

14 miles! Not as much as I'd hoped, and I deeefinitely didn't push myself anywhere close to last time. I'm barely sore.

I quasi regret my life choices yet again*, but I guess the good news is I can run 14 miles without getting super tired?

* As I explained to my roommate, all the stamina-building happens in the last 20-40 minutes. In order to get to the last 20-40 minutes, you have to go through the first 2 hours. That's 2 hours I could be spending working on Peter Keith, Old Irish pedagogy, geology, German, Russian Duolingo, cleaning our vertical blinds and recaulking our bathtub, etc. So it really makes sense to do those last 20-40 minutes of pure exhaustion to get the most out of the first 2 hours. That way, you don't have to do another 2-hour run for several days, and you've bumped your stamina up by multiple miles in one go. Like, if I had done 16 today, I'd be putting myself in a position to do 20 next week. Now I need to do another long run sooner rather than later, and I'm probably only looking at 16-17 max.

But somehow when the 20 minutes is *now* and the 2 hours is sometime in the vague *future*, the trade-off always seems worth it. Until about 30 minutes later, when I've recovered enough to go, "Dammit!"

Details: I actually finished the first 13 miles (half-marathon) slightly faster than last time. 2:09:03 instead of ~2:09:40. I could tell I was stronger and moving faster; I didn't even start to feel tired until 11 or 12 miles.

I actually stopped at 13.5 miles, gave up, walked half a mile, felt better, then ran another half a mile. Could have done more, buuut...

I was super thirsty. I think that actually played a role in giving up at 13.5 miles, and it definitely played a role in giving up at 14 miles.

Next time I'm bringing my CamelBak. My runs have finally gotten too long to go without water.

I also got hungry around 11 miles, and I slowed down to a cooldown speed briefly and took a few bites of dried meat. Turns out my mouth was too dry for dried meat, surprise surprise. I think next time I'm bringing mandarin slices. Also probably drinking slightly more before I leave (I didn't wake up as thirsty as I normally do). Anyway, that also slowed down my half-marathon time. Hopefully I either don't get hungry next time, or the mandarins work better than dried meat. It was so frustrating, because the bout of hunger hit right as I was thinking, "Wow, I'm running faster, I can't wait to check my time at 13 miles and compare it to last time! Dammit, now I have to slow down just when I was feeling like going faster."

Anyway, a somewhat anticlimactic 14 miles when I was hoping for 16+, but it'll do. Next time: CamelBak!