Quick, someone knock on wood - I finally feel over my sickness(es). I went out on Thursday and Friday mornings with Lynn and both days were 1) ridiculously cold (single digits, people), 2) had sidewalks covered in snow and 3) were ridiculously difficult. I struggled to run 3 miles and questioned if I would be able to cover any sort of long distance on Saturday. Speaking of the long run, I was really unsure how long I should attempt to go. The previous two weeks I was supposed to run 13.1 and 10 miles but due to sickness, I didn't do either. The weekend prior I ran 12 and felt pretty confident that my body would be OK if I kept on plan for 15 but I wasn't sure if I wanted to do so.
Long story short, I sat in bed and then on the couch for quite awhile on yesterday morning playing on google maps trying to route a decent run that would lead me to water every 2-3 miles. I ended up with a decent 15 mile route that would lead me to a friend's house (Nancy!) at mile 9 and to gas stations or a coffee stand for the rest of the stops. I waited for the temps to rise as much as I could before I headed out the door, but even then it was only 16 degrees outside. Brrr.
With 2 pairs of gloves on and an extra pair in my jacket pocket, I went out to tackle 15 miles. The run started out difficult. It was hard to run a full mile, and I didn't. In fact, I don't know if I ran a full mile without walking a little bit throughout the entire distance. I think the temps rose to about 21 while I was out and as long as I was moving, I felt warm enough. When I got to Nancy's house my gloves were absolutely soaked and my hands were starting to get cold so we put them in the dryer while I was there, which was the absolute best decision of the day. When I left the house with 6 miles left, I felt fairly certain I could finish them without too much of a struggle. I was pretty much wrooooooooong. I pumped through mile 10 without a problem, walked more in mile 11, found some store of stride in mile 12 and then 13, 14, and 15 were ridiculously difficult. My hands started to get really, really cold and I was ready to be done.
In the end, I finished 15 miles at an average pace of 12:15/mile. Perhaps the weather will warm up enough this week to melt the snow on the sidewalks and make things a little less miserable for the rest of this training business. I stretched quite a bit when I got home and convinced my dear step-daughter to make me a 1/2 turkey sandwich to briefly satisfy my hunger pangs. I took an epsom salt bath and a quick shower, went to dinner (beer helps recovery, right?) and managed to stay awake until 10:30 or so before my body called it quits and I had to hit the hay.
This week calls for the following:
Monday - 4
Wednesday - 8
Friday - 4
Saturday - 16
Let's hope 16 isn't quite as brutal as 15!
No comments:
Post a Comment