18 and life

I peeled myself out of bed at 5:30 this morning to head out for an 18 miler. I had put a lot of planning into my previous long runs. I checked the weather early in the week, mapped out a route, laid my things out the night before, and so on. This week, I hadn't even decided whether I was going to run Saturday or Sunday until Friday night. I didn't plan a route until Saturday. We were at my nephew's birthday party Saturday and didn't get home until 9:30. I was beat (having, inexplicably, woken up at 4:45 the morning) and went right to bed with the girls as soon as we got home.

So when my alarm went off, I was sorely tempted to turn it off and go back to sleep. But somewhere I found the will to get up. I wanted to get out by 6, because it was supposed to be a hot one today. It took me a little longer to get my motor running. I hit the road at 6:20.

I ran essentially the same route as last week, just adding a one mile loop about two-thirds of the way in. The first few miles were tough. I kept asking myself why I was doing this. I was glad I chose the route I did because there are several "outs." I pass back by home at mile 8 and within a mile of home three more times after that. I figured if it just wasn't going well, I would have several opportunities to bail. By about mile 6, I was feeling great. It took me a few more miles to realize that was also the point at which I ran out of water. So a) my pack was light and b) I was well hydrated. It was much hotter today than last week and I think I started out a bit dehydrated. I decided to swing by home to refill my water, go potty and drop off my pack. It was getting too hot to wear the pack. I would also be passing by water three times over the next 10 miles, so I knew I could get by with a hand-held bottle. When I got home, though, I was locked out. I was afraid everyone was still sleeping, so I didn't want to open the garage door. I refilled my water from the hose and continued on my way. (I only found out later that my family not sleeping, but at the park. I should have known better.) Luckily, there was a port-o-potty on my route less than a mile later. The drawback to drinking more fluids is more potty stops.

A little aside: I read in a book a few months ago that if you are hydrating enough, you should have to stop to pee on a run more than 2 hours. Then I read somewhere else that you should really be peeing every 1-1.5 hours if you are drinking enough. Either way, I have not been drinking nearly enough on my long runs.

I had totally forgotten about dropping my pack until I was well on my way into the next part of my run. It was really making me hot(ter) and just generally annoying me. I was running a leg I'd be coming back on, so I started looking for somewhere to stash the pack. Found a stand of tall grass under a bridge, somewhere I'd remember, but was well hidden. OMG, I felt so much better after losing the pack. I was cooler; I was able to run faster; I was able to breathe better. I didn't realize until I took it off that the top of my pack was hitting my rib cage, making me subconsciously take shallower breaths. Carrying one bottle was not nearly as distracting as wearing the pack. I continued on my way with little of interest happening, other than a couple more potty breaks and water refills. Oh, and getting pooped on. As I was running through a particularly wooded area, branches hanging over the path, I felt something land on my shoulder. I reached up to brush it away only to discover it was bird poop! I was pretty grossed out. So grossed out in fact, that, knowing that I was about a mile from my next water stop, I used the last of the water in my bottle to wash the poop off my shoulder. Fortunately, my next stop also had a bathroom, a real bathroom with running water. I ran right in and washed my hands thoroughly, with lots of soap, before filling up my water bottle.

I felt so much better towards the end of this run and afterwards than I did last week, despite running slightly longer and it being considerably warmer and more humid, and despite not feeling very well rested. I think there were several reasons. Drinking more and being well hydrated was certainly a big factor. I drank 5 21oz bottles of fluid (minus what I used to wash the bird poop away) and could have used a little more. I had to ration it a little the last few miles. My last water stop was 5 miles or more from home and I only had one bottle with me. Secondly, I made more stops this time. I had three potty breaks and 2 water stops, each lasting a minute or two. Plus stopping to drop off and pick up my pack, though those were only a few seconds. Last week I only stopped once in 17 miles, to refill my water bottle. I'll have to try harder to line up my water and potty stops so I can be a little more streamlined; five stops was probably excessive. Finally, I went out at a little slower pace and ran a more consistent pace through the run. I still averaged right around 10 minute miles, but I ran the first half about 4-5 minutes slower than I ran it last week. Then I ran the second half a bit faster than last week, probably in part to leaving my pack behind.

I have (knock on wood) not had any injuries or weird aches and pains running these long distances. But I have had issues with blisters. I don't know if it's a matter of building up my calluses or what. It happened first on my 15 mile run and again in the same places on my 17 miler last weekend. Today I tried some Body Glide on my feet. It seemed to help a little. I still got some small blisters under my calluses on my right foot. But I got one big one where I don't have a callus and have never had a blister. I may try sock liners and see if that helps. It's not super painful when I'm running, but it is noticeable.

Glad to have this run over with. Now I've got a recovery week, triathlon week, and one more down week before the big push leading up to the marathon where I'll do 2, maybe 3 more long runs before tapering to the big day. Also excited that this was my last long run before my running buddy returns, so hopefully this was my last long run alone!