12 miler?

Today was my last long run before next week’s half marathon. To say it was hard is probably the understatement of the week, maybe even the month. It was my slowest run yet, and I even had to walk part of it. I’m pretty bummed about it, but hey I covered 12 miles, and 12 miles is 12 miles, and that’s a lot! There were a couple factors working against me, but hopefully I can get them (or at least some of them) ironed out in the next week.

For starters, I seem to have inherited my mother’s tendencies towards sweating. It’s like some sort of “Pavlovian” response. I put on my gym clothes, I step outside, and already I’m dripping in anticipation of the exertion that is about to come.  I’m pretty sure that by the 3^rd mile today I had already sweat through my shirt (thank goodness for Lululemon- if I were wearing a cotton shirt it would weigh an extra 20 lbs and I certainly don’t need to add anything to slow me down!).

We left early this morning – met at 8:15 to begin the 2+ hour ordeal, in hopes of avoiding the heat. No such luck. It’s a gorgeous, sunny day, but sadly gorgeous, sunny days do not make the best running days. I much prefer cloudy and cool, heck even a light mist is nice. Next week’s race starts at 7am and as of now the forecasted high is 71 so hopefully we’ll get a little reprieve (though I realize trusting the weather report is perhaps not one of my smartest moves).

Maybe the biggest lesson I learned today is the importance of hydration and fueling. Given the early start time I rolled out of bed precisely 25 minutes before we were scheduled to leave- enough time to put in contacts, brush my teeth, shove some banana in my mouth, and wash it down with a swig of water. Turns out that while my banana + water routine works for my weekday runs, which are between 3 and 5 miles, it just doesn’t cut it for a 12 miler. I felt pretty burnt out early on, and had no energy to keep pushing forward. My legs felt like they weighed 2 tons each. Fortunately I had some beans on me and shortly after eating them, and drinking some Gatorade, I felt like I had a lot more energy. I was even able to push through and run the last mile. I’ll consider today a lesson learned – wake up early, eat something of substance, and drink some extra water (especially important given the sweating tendencies referenced above). I can’t say I’m excited for a 5:30am pre-race wake up, but if it means finishing the race without walking then I’ll take it!

Despite all the challenges, I made it back home and upon returning to my apartment made a beeline for the refrigerator, from which I promptly removed any sort of cold beverage I could find – water, Gatorade, and chocolate milk (apparently the protein + sugar combination is well suited to help runners recover from long runs)! I will now begin the arduous task of replacing the gallons (yes, gallons) of liquid (and salt) that escaped from me this morning.

I’m keeping my fingers crossed that with proper hydration, fueling, and race day adrenaline I’ll be in good shape for next week. (I also have an outlet shopping trip planned on Thursday, and there’s nothing like some retail therapy to help motivate me for Sunday!).