10.5 Miles on the dreadmill and I loved (almost) every minute of it!

I never did get out and finish up those 9 miles that I bailed on. I figured out that the humidity combined with poor carb-loading the day before caused me to dehydrate and made me pretty miserable. I finished up my training week and continued on, slightly worried about the next long run of 10.5 miles. I had some decent evening runs and ran a solid 4 miles last week. It took me a good week to recuperate from that epic fail. I was dreading my mileage increase and actually started to dread my short 30-minute runs. Afraid of my run? That has not happened to me before and I was quite ashamed. Then, I was gifted the best present in the whole wide world, this beautiful thing:

Source: Nordic Track

The Nordic Track C900 Pro. I actually ordered the C900, on sale with a 10% off coupon AND free shipping. They were out of the C900 and upgraded me (free of charge) to the C900 Pro! It came early Friday afternoon. It took me all day to assemble it. I woke up Saturday morning more sore than I have felt after racing a half marathon. My quads hurt from all the up and down during assembly. I guess I need to start incorporating squats into my weight training? I actually had to take a hot shower last night and then rub my quads down with icy hot to loosen them up for this morning’s run. It worked.

I set my alarm for 6, got up and ate some oatmeal and crawled back into bed with half a cup of coffee. When I was able to focus my eyes clearly, I got back out of bed and put on my running skirt. I wanted to start by 6:45 so I could be done shortly after the boys woke up. Too bad the noise of me on the treadmill woke them up! I was only half a mile in when they came out of their room. They did enjoy watching me run. For ten minutes. Then they moved on to more important things like playing chess or with their legos.

I did experience some technical difficulties due to user error. I was 1.25 miles in and decided it would be a good idea to move the key clip to me so the machine would turn off if I managed to tumble. I didn’t tumble, but I did manage to unplug the machine and it deleted my stats from the screen. I plugged it back in and made the mental note that I was running to 9.25 miles instead of 10.5. For some reason, I remember that I had just burned 200 calories but can’t remember the time. Ha! My next “technical difficulty” was around mile 8.5 (give or take some mileage). I didn’t realize that the machine would turn off after 1.5 hours of use. It did. Thankfully it kept my distance and I could quickly turn up the speed to the pace I had been keeping. There is nothing worse than running at a set pace and then have it slow down unexpectedly. Next time I will anticipate this turn off.

I wore my race vest full of water and kept and handheld bottle of nuun on the cup holder. I took a gel at mile 4 and at mile 8. Even though I was running inside, I didn’t want to dehydrate myself again. I only took walk breaks at mile 4 (with a gel), mile 7 (my legs were needing a rest due to the sore quads) and mile 8 (second gel). The unplanned walk break at mile 7 was due to my legs not being used to running longer distances.

It is hard to run any distance on it with the screen (slowly) counting up your distance but once I hit 5 miles I knew I was halfway done and it seemed to go quicker. I would consider today’s run an epic success! I know that training for a marathon on a treadmill is not ideal, but in this New Orleans humidity, I need a reprieve! The good news is that it is a flat course AND the humidity will be much less in February.

It’s a great day for running y’all!

The Walk of Shame

Today’s schedule had a nine-mile run on tap. I was set. I had eaten the right amount of carbs for dinner last night, drank tons of nuun yesterday and munched on a few pretzels. I knew it would be a muggy run this morning, but I was prepared for it. Or so I thought. I’ve been enjoying my low-humidity evening runs a bit too much I guess. I stepped out the door at 6:25 this morning and all I could think was, "Ugh, nine miles in this?" 

The first mile was slow, the humidity was pressing down on my body and I was still trying to wake up. My second mile got easier. The third mile, I was starting to feel it. My face and neck were getting too warm. I pulled out my chilly pad from the back of my race vest and put it around my neck. It helped a little. By 3.5 miles I got the worst side stitch I have ever had. I stopped running and figured I could walk it off. By the time my garmin ticked mile four, I was in even more pain. That was when I decided to throw the towel in and walk home. That was one painful mile to home. I swear that the Sheriff that passed me on the road would have pulled over and put me in his car if he had not been in the inside lane on Esplanade!

Thankfully I made it home with no accidents. I wasn’t sure if either end was going to erupt based on the level of pain I was experiencing. I got in the shower and then crawled back into bed and slept it off. I’m feeling better this afternoon, but still have that dehydration headache. Not sure what happened this morning, fingers crossed it was a one-time event.

Lessons learned from this epic fail:

1)    Use the chilly pad immediately on the long run. There is NO reason to let myself get overheated first, start off cool and maintain a comfortable level.

2)    Find a breakfast that works. I had half of a banana and half of a piece of toast this morning. That combo obviously wasn’t enough.

3)    Suck it up and run. I know I made the right decision this morning, but it is incredibly hard to run in 97% humidity (or more!). My choice is either muggy mornings or HOT (95 feels like 101+) in the evenings where I will definitely overheat AND run out of daylight.

I will run the missing four miles tomorrow. I know it is not ideal, and I’m really upset that I had to bail this morning, but it was the right decision. I knew it was going to be a hard run when my stomach felt off this morning as I was getting out of bed. Even before the cramp I found myself wishing cars would run the stop sign and hit me so I wouldn’t have to finish, it was that hard; then the cramping hit. I wasn’t in the right frame of mind and my body was physically off. The good news is that my new treadmill should be here in two weeks or less so my next long run can be done on it’s proper day with no care to the heat, humidity or hubby’s work schedule. I know treadmill running isn’t ideal, but it’s incredibly practical for my current situation.

Regardless of the craptastic run, I am glad that I was able to get out and do five miles this morning! 

It’s a great day for running y’all!