Wednesday, December 27, 2006
The Cold, Hard Truth
Today's Run: 7.07
Run Time: 1:23:13
Total Miles to Date: 207.8
Thoughts on the Run:
Today I was not thinking positive thoughts. In fact, I was setting myself up for miserable failure. It rained all day yesterday, last night was a low of 29 degrees and this morning was forecast to start out at 32 but "feels like" 28. So, I figured it would be a cold, miserable run.
I set my alarm for sunrise and loaded up. I wore my long running pants, my long-sleeved running shirt, and then paused to decide what to wear on top: either a thin pull over, or a thick one. I opted for the thick one. I wrapped my bandanna over my ears, threw on some lip balm, and headed out.
The first mile had me pleasantly surprised. It wasn't so bad after all ... in fact, I felt terrific. I was also pushing a little faster than my goal, completing the first leg in 9:57, so I forced myself to slow down (after all, I have the same distance scheduled for Saturday as a tempo run, more chance to push hard then).
The second leg was a nice, slow 10:25. I began to feel the mistake I made by wearing the heavy pullover. I was sweating like crazy. I was definitely warm. However, I was stuck. If I took my pullover off, I'd be covered in water and suddenly only have a thin running shirt, and would probably freeze. So I decided to keep the pullover on and sweat it out.
Third mile was 11:27. I hit a significant hill on 4th mile and walked a bit to complete it in 12:15.
Then I began to realize another mistake. I typically don't bring fluids with me on mid distance (6 or less) runs. So I figured 7 miles in the cold ... not a problem. But here I am sweating non-stop, breathing vapor out of my mouth, and due to the cold weather, blowing my nose quite frequently due to congestion. I was losing fluid. And I was starting to feel it.
I slowed down even more and made sure I took breaks on the uphills. Mile 5 was 12:27 and mile 6, going up the huge hill named Goliath, was 13:36.
I wrapped up the last mile in 12:21 and then ran a bit extra.
My leg felt TERRIFIC - still a slight tenderness but nowhere near the soreness I was feeling earlier.
When I finished the run, I headed straight to the scale to see how much I lost in fluid. Turns out I lost 3 pounds on the run = 48 ounces of liquid. Not good! I could also tell how my body was reacting: my wedding ring was stuck and wouldn't budge on that finger, a sure sign of water retention.
So, I popped a salt tablet and drank 16 ounces of fluid (the most refreshing drink known in this universe, sparkling water mixed with fresh orange juice). I did some thorough stretches afterwards.
The cold, hard truth was that the run really wasn't bad after all - in fact, I quite enjoyed it! So I'm no longer scared of the cold. I'll just need to remember to choose my layers more intelligently and bring along fluids the next time.
Tomorrow is a short 3-miler and then rest. This weekend I tackle my greatest challenge so far: a double-header of 7 miles on Saturday followed by 14 on Sunday.
Blessed be,
Jeremy Likness
P.S. Almost forgot - meals for yesterday:
USANA Healthpak (multivitamin)
4 cups of coffee
1 cup of sparkling apple cider
1 banana on 1 cup of Kashi Heart to Heart cereal with 1 cup soy milk
3 oz Italian 5-grain bread dipped in olive oil and balsamic vinegar
My daughter's fresh vegetable soup with carrots, celery, potato, green beans, and peas
A peanut butter and jelly sandwich (organic all natural peanut butter, organic no-sugar added jam)
3 oz organic blue corn tortilla chips
A spritzer with 4oz sparkling water and 4oz cranbery juice
Calories: 1882
Fat: 65g (8 sat/7 poly/17 mono)
Sodium: 1,940mg
Potassium: 2,480mg
Carobohydrate: 294g (22g fiber/36g sugar)
Protein: 42g (oops little low there)
Run Time: 1:23:13
Total Miles to Date: 207.8
Thoughts on the Run:
Today I was not thinking positive thoughts. In fact, I was setting myself up for miserable failure. It rained all day yesterday, last night was a low of 29 degrees and this morning was forecast to start out at 32 but "feels like" 28. So, I figured it would be a cold, miserable run.
I set my alarm for sunrise and loaded up. I wore my long running pants, my long-sleeved running shirt, and then paused to decide what to wear on top: either a thin pull over, or a thick one. I opted for the thick one. I wrapped my bandanna over my ears, threw on some lip balm, and headed out.
The first mile had me pleasantly surprised. It wasn't so bad after all ... in fact, I felt terrific. I was also pushing a little faster than my goal, completing the first leg in 9:57, so I forced myself to slow down (after all, I have the same distance scheduled for Saturday as a tempo run, more chance to push hard then).
The second leg was a nice, slow 10:25. I began to feel the mistake I made by wearing the heavy pullover. I was sweating like crazy. I was definitely warm. However, I was stuck. If I took my pullover off, I'd be covered in water and suddenly only have a thin running shirt, and would probably freeze. So I decided to keep the pullover on and sweat it out.
Third mile was 11:27. I hit a significant hill on 4th mile and walked a bit to complete it in 12:15.
Then I began to realize another mistake. I typically don't bring fluids with me on mid distance (6 or less) runs. So I figured 7 miles in the cold ... not a problem. But here I am sweating non-stop, breathing vapor out of my mouth, and due to the cold weather, blowing my nose quite frequently due to congestion. I was losing fluid. And I was starting to feel it.
I slowed down even more and made sure I took breaks on the uphills. Mile 5 was 12:27 and mile 6, going up the huge hill named Goliath, was 13:36.
I wrapped up the last mile in 12:21 and then ran a bit extra.
My leg felt TERRIFIC - still a slight tenderness but nowhere near the soreness I was feeling earlier.
When I finished the run, I headed straight to the scale to see how much I lost in fluid. Turns out I lost 3 pounds on the run = 48 ounces of liquid. Not good! I could also tell how my body was reacting: my wedding ring was stuck and wouldn't budge on that finger, a sure sign of water retention.
So, I popped a salt tablet and drank 16 ounces of fluid (the most refreshing drink known in this universe, sparkling water mixed with fresh orange juice). I did some thorough stretches afterwards.
The cold, hard truth was that the run really wasn't bad after all - in fact, I quite enjoyed it! So I'm no longer scared of the cold. I'll just need to remember to choose my layers more intelligently and bring along fluids the next time.
Tomorrow is a short 3-miler and then rest. This weekend I tackle my greatest challenge so far: a double-header of 7 miles on Saturday followed by 14 on Sunday.
Blessed be,
Jeremy Likness
P.S. Almost forgot - meals for yesterday:
USANA Healthpak (multivitamin)
4 cups of coffee
1 cup of sparkling apple cider
1 banana on 1 cup of Kashi Heart to Heart cereal with 1 cup soy milk
3 oz Italian 5-grain bread dipped in olive oil and balsamic vinegar
My daughter's fresh vegetable soup with carrots, celery, potato, green beans, and peas
A peanut butter and jelly sandwich (organic all natural peanut butter, organic no-sugar added jam)
3 oz organic blue corn tortilla chips
A spritzer with 4oz sparkling water and 4oz cranbery juice
Calories: 1882
Fat: 65g (8 sat/7 poly/17 mono)
Sodium: 1,940mg
Potassium: 2,480mg
Carobohydrate: 294g (22g fiber/36g sugar)
Protein: 42g (oops little low there)
Subscribe to Posts [Atom]