Goofy Training, Heading to Hottlanta

Well I survived last week, thanks for the thousands…err hundreds….err 1 email I got wanting to see if I survived my adjusted schedule for running 13 miles on Thursday.  I have to admit last Thursday caught me completely off guard and it was a tremendously hard run. 

To give you an idea, I crumpled under the unrelenting run at about 9 miles.  At my turnaround (6.5 miles) my time was 1:03, which was a little ahead of my planned pace but I felt great.  Then at about 9 miles I hit the wall, and finished at about 2:20, so positive split not good, and dropped close to 9lbs of water weight during the run.

What is interesting to me about this run is that I ate well the night before, plenty of the water, good rest…etc.   I think it was a combination of a couple of factors. I ran in the afternoon, and I normally run very early in the AM.  So my body clock was off, and I did not eat well before I ran, had a good breakfast but did not eat anything else before I went running.   To top that off I skimped on my water to make it last the run. 

So what happened it is simple: I ran out of fuel.

So key to distance running is fueling the body usually days before and keeping the body fueled during the run with water, electrolytes, and food (normally in the form of GU or other endurance food, like Sport Beans )  I prefer the jelly beans, can take them over a longer period, and are good for runs, but I am not sure if they are the best for long runs.  On Thursday I used GU, but by the time I took the GU it was too late.  So in addition to having the proper in take of food is important but also the timing is extremely important as well.  Too me it is a simple rule (that I forgot), if you get thirsty or hungry on a long run it is already too late.  You want to prevent those feelings by having a proper hydration and food plan.  I will talk more about my plans in future posts.

So this week I get to travel to the wonderful state of Georgia and I get to do my normal running schedule in downtown Atlanta.  Fortunately for me there is a very nice park nearby that is about 3 miles around so getting my 7 miler in on Thursday will not be nearly as hard as I thought.

However, I am looking forward to a better 14 mile run on Sunday than I did last week.  Ultimately I have to be smarter with my hydration and food plan during the run, I think I skimped way too much on Thursday last week, which resulted in me hitting the wall.

Current Weight (forgot to weigh before I left)= 258 (purely a guess)