A Nice Sunday Evening Run :)

AHHHH!!! Finally....after having a nasty old cold for the past week, I have turned the corner and am beginning to feel like my old self again. I took yesterday off from running and just did some weight lifting and rode my bicycle to the gym and back home. I think that I would have changed my long distance run if I would have known that it was what pushed me over the edge into 4 days of congestion. Anyway, I waited until later this evening and went out for a scheduled 44 minute run. It was perfect out...low humid, cool breeze and I feel GREAT! Today I purchased a pair of compression shorts for my long runs. I am hoping that it helps less my muscle fatique. I also brought a new white baseball hat because my black hat gets nasty looking from sweating. I brought a new pair of shorts that I am hoping will look good with my Fisher House foundation racing shirt. Only 63 days left!!

MCM Inspirational video from 2010.

16 miles....mind over muscle cramps

I had my doubts about running 16 miles. First of all, I have never ran this distance in my life.  Secondly, I have been trying to come down with a cold for the last 2 days. I tried everything possible to prevent it from stopping me from  running today ie. lots of orange juice, extra sleep, multivitamins etc. So this morning I got up and armed myself with all the tips and advice I have received from my fellow runners. I ate my normal pre run breakfast then eat a cliff bar (I could only get about half of it down. Boy are those bars dense) I had planned my run route several weeks ago with a location that I had not run before with gravel trails and mostly shaded. My favorite places to run are those with beautiful scenery. I used my camelpack that fits around my waist and filled it with water. I decided to carry in my hand as long as I could powerade (fruit punch). I brought 2 Roctane pinneapple (which are great) and one TriBerry (which will not be repeated since it tastes like cough syrup! YUCK!) I also brought a small bag of granola. I ate the Roctane/GU every 45 minutes. I ended up hiding my powerade along the train around the 4.5 mile mark. The weather could not be more perfect this morning. My water lasted me until 12 miles which is when I relocated my powerade. The Roctane is excellent so this is what I plan on bring with me to MCM. I want to try the blueberry one next time. I did have some leg cramps start at 14.5 miles. They were the whole back of both legs. I managed to push through it with some self talk. Good thing no one was around since they probably would think that I had last mind. When I hit my 16 mile mark. I was in awe that I had actually done it. Stretched before I got into my car. Tried a cold bath with some ice and used my foam roller. So hopefully tomorrow I will not be incredibly sore.

Cut back week....8 miles

Ran 8 miles on Wednesday and it felt great. It is funny that it is my cut back mileage when before I thought it was a long distance which seemed scarey!  I decided to run part of the distance on the road and the other half on trail. I really enjoy trail running. I forget that I am running and lose myself in the scenery. The trail I run is the old Erie Canal tow path. I spoke with one of the board members of this path and he told me that it actually continues past where I thought the end was. The trail comes to an abrupt stop in a corn field. He told me to follow the outside of the corn field and the trail picks back up and passes one of the oldest cementaries in NW Ohio. I guess there is an American Revolutionary war soldier buried in there. So, being a history buff, I have to run  that route and see for myself. Next week, I run a 16 miler. I am hoping that I can maintain the pace I was doing during my 8 miler, which I finished in 1 hour and 35 minutes. I would be happy maintaining that pace. I tried a new flavor of GU this week...Jet Blackberry. It has double caffine in it. It give me a surge of energy that lasted well past my 8 miles. I could not have several of these but I am thinking I could incorporate this flavor into my mix. I am going to try a couple different flavors of fruit GU and see how it goes. Another thing I did different is that I ran with my Camelpack Backpack instead of the one that goes around my waist. I used the GLide on my collar bones and shoulders to help protect them from rubbing. I did  not run out of water. I think as long as it is not hot, I will run with it this week.

14 miles and a sigh of relief

I ran the furtherest I had ever ran before...14 miles. I have to admit, I was very nervous running today. I have been fighting lower back pain since Sunday. I am not sure what I did to my back. I  had done my normal 4 mile run then went out on my motorcycle. Dan and I rode to a very beautiful location which was north of Columbus called Indian Lake. I was tense while I was riding since I have not been on my motocycle much this year. I felt the pain starting when we got there and I was stretching trying to relieve the pain. On the way home, we ran into a thunderstorm which did not help me any. I hate rain while riding. By the time we got home, the pain was pretty intense especially when I sat down. It was sending sharp pains down the back of my left leg. I tried stretching, my foam roller, ice, and cryoderm. Monday I went to my Chiropractor after work. Whatever he does made it feel better but I think that my muscles were not happy with me. I iced and stretched. Today, I woke up knowing that I had my long run today.The first couple of steps, I could feel a twinge and then it went away. So far, the pain has not returned. I ran country roads today. I even got lost and it took me a little while to figure out which way I needed to go to head back. I think that I will wait now and not run along the country roads for awhile. The corn is tall and made it hard to see if there was any cars/tractors coming down side roads.I tried chocolate mint GU which is awesome. It is not as sweet as the chocolate. The only draw back it has no caffine in it.So I tried to alternate between chocolate and chocolate mint. It worked well. Looking forward to my 16 mile run in a week...I have a special route that I discovered and I am looking forward to it.

Cut back week

When I started marking my training schedule, I noticed that I build my long distance one week and the next cut  back. At first I was attempted to revamp this and cut out the cut back weeks. But I remember I had that wonderful idea when I trained for my half marathon and I ran into trouble in the middle of my training. I become so tired and felt like it was an effort just to function in every day life so I left them in. I welcome the cutbacks now since I am going to be running 14 miles next week. My 6 miles went well this morning. It is funny how 6 miles seems like nothing. If someone would have told me that I was going to run 6 miles several years ago, I would have laughed at them.  I retried GU with the encouragement of some of my fellow first timers recommendations. They were right, the chocolate GU was good. The consistency which turned me off the first time I tried it, was thicker. It reminded me of cold fudge. I do want to get my hands on some of the chocolate mint however. I think maybe that one wont be so sweet. I am running in a 10 K race next weekend. It is one that I like to do every year since it is for a good organization...the filling home which is living facility for the handicapped. Until next time!