Saturday, September 1, 2012

Week 7 of 18: 12 miles in 2:20:45

12 miles, I respect you.

Summary of this week: ITB stretches, getting over being sick, porta-potties, experimenting with fuel, getting blisters, chafing, lack of daylight.

The ITB hasn't been crazy, but my 10 miler two weeks ago aggravated it- causing some walking.  I was trying to figure out who to see or what to do with the ITB, when I had an aha! moment. One of my friends from college is an athletic trainer at a local university- why didn't I think of this sooner!  

So, I asked him how to fix my ITB woes.   He had me come in to assess what was happening, and by assess I mean tons of one-legged squats and lots of balance - no thanks.    After this it was determined my ITB is crazy because my big ol' hips are weak.  Now in my mind big = strong, so big butts are muscle, wide hips are strong- you get the point.  Apparently this is not the case, and a lot of women with "bigger" hips, have big, weak hips.  Really!?  How is this possible, God clearly is playing a trick on me, this is not cool.  I have 40 glorious inches of weakness, great..

So I left with some good stretches and ways to strengthen the hips, and haven't had pain this week, yet.

I did yoga twice this week at work and ran my 3 mid-week runs.  The 3 milers were ok, I ran them in less time than I did when I started this adventure.  The 6-miler was tough, but I did it.

This all was leading up to my run of the unknown today:  12 miles.  I've run 12 miles once in life- and that was my half-marathon in May.  This was proof in itself running is mental, because boy I really freaked myself out on this one.

I woke up at 5:45 thinking I could start running by 6:15.  Another thing I didn't take into consideration was daylight.  I woke up to complete darkness- and then wasted 45 minutes getting myself ready.

I filled my Camelbak, grab my gps watch, ipod, and cooler filled with drinks and ice (which I conveniently spilled all over the floor before getting it in the cooler- sorry downstairs neighbors).  I got to the park as the sun was rising..it was beautiful.  :)

I started running and within the first two miles realized I overhydrated and needed to find a glorified porta-potty.  Now I've been running for 5 years, and never had this issue, but for some reason twice in the past week I've been running to the porta-potties.  There is a fine line with hydration and running, and I clearly have no clue what it is.

I also let my watch keep going, because if this happens at the marathon I need to be realistic with my time "goals"- aka finishing.  I then continued on and honestly struggled a whole lot.  I kept needing to take walk breaks to breathe- I really think that cold virus is still lingering in my lungs.  I don't normally require breathing breaks, usually knee pain starts my walking.  So this started messing with me because my goal time for today was 2 hours flat, yea that didn't happen.  

I also was using new fuel today, which was recommended by the guys at EMS.  I like Gu, but it starts to become sickeningly sweet after 2 plus hours.  I would add a picture, but my computer is acting crazy and I just don't have the patience.  I used Honey Stinger chews in pink lemonade for today's run.  The verdict: they taste good, but I found myself needing one every mile- and having to dig the bag out of my camelbak 12 times during the run became quite annoying.  Need a new fuel source.

Today everything just seemed to happen, not the way I would have planned.  I'm a total planner so again, this messed with me.  I had mild blisters on my big toes from my 6 miler during the week, which became full on blisters today.  Ouch!  I also experienced for the first time ever chafing, and it wasn't my thighs.  I guess since my shorts ride up I always expected to have thigh chafing, nope not today.  Between the tank top I was wearing, my camelbak, and my iphone case my underarm is raw.  Definitely investing in some moleskin and bodyglide for future long runs.

And last but not least I was sweating like a pig.  I'm fair skinned so I immediately turn bright red upon any physical exertion, and usually sweat a lot.  Today I was dripping, and I don't drip.  I got home and looked like I had taken a shower, my thick hair was drenched- every last piece of it.

So after just waking up from a nap and showering I can say I'm still excited for this marathon.  During today's run I questioned why I was doing this, as young high school and college girls pranced by me looking like gazelles with no sweat to be seen.  I'm doing this for me, and nobody else- and that in itself is fulfilling.

Week 7 of 18 complete!  11 weeks to go- time flies when you're having "fun"! :)


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