Running journal, Saturday, 2006-04-15

Running journal, Saturday, 2006-04-15
Resting heart rate: 60 bpm (60 second test)
Day: Saturday
Date: 2006-04-15
Weather: overcast, windy, misty rain
Temp: 17.78 C (64 F), 25 m/s wind
Time: 12:10 - 14:40
Terrain: mostly flat with ~17m elevation difference between start/end and mid-point.
Comments: 20 mile run today. 6.2 miles shy of a full marathon. Amazing. As I crossed the pedestrian bridge, a family was crossing north. One of their daughters laid down on the cement on the south side, and the family sang, "Stand up Sara, stand up." Sara rose in increments as they sang. It was cute. Wore my GPS unit today. Per Galloway's book, I started out the long run slow, at about 5.0mph. I figured this was slow since as I walked to the 20-mile marker, I was at a 4.0mph pace. As I approached mile three, I passed through a small stand of trees, and a co-ed pair of bikers passed me going the opposite way. As they did, the man must have spotted a wild turkey, and he made a gobble-gobble noise. In return, the wild turkey gobbled back. It was fun. At the two-mile point, I passed an older man I frequently see on Saturday, and he had a wide smile. The exchanges are getting warmer, and after I passed him I wished I would have greeted him with, "My name is Kevin." At about the spot as I heard the biker imitate a turkey, a very thin yet muscular jogger re-passed going the other way . He had not said anything when he passed me, but after I said "Hello again," he smiled widely and greeted me back. It's sort of weird when I greet people and they don't say anything back. I was on my way toward mile 18 when this happened, and I was so tired I let slip "Goodbye" after I had jogged a few meters past him to express my disappointment. I ran on the trail mostly today, instead of the asphalt, and it didn't bother me so much. Where I could, I ran away from edge of the trail and asphalt, where it is more flat. The bike trail's asphalt is slightly slanted to promote run-off. Running five mph for the first three miles felt great. When I took my walk breaks every four minutes, I immediately relaxed and felt all the tension drop away, and I enjoyed the warm headwinds and the sights around me. The headwinds today were pretty brutal, but they helped on the return. I noticed that they knocked me down by about 0.5mph when I was running into them. After mile three, again following Galloway's advice, I picked up the pace to 5.5mph. This was harder with the headwinds, and I was debating whether or not to run that pace. Galloway recommends picking up the pace again after eight miles to make up the 15-18 seconds lost during each walk break. Today I decided to pick up wrappers and such lying on the trail. Someone left an entire plastic comforter-bag full of garbage at the 15-mile marker bridge. :P I originally brought two Powerbars with me today, but found my shorts sagging, so I left one on the payment deposit box at the mile 19 wayside park, hoping it might be there when I returned (it wasn't). Between miles 8-12, misty rain fell. I really enjoyed mile nine, just before Watt Ave, because of the many tall shade trees the bike trail goes through. The rain made it hard to check my watch, and added to the weight of the clothing I carried, but otherwise it did not bother me so much. I ran miles three through eight at about a 5.5mph pace. After mile eight, I followed Galloway's advice and attempted to increase closer to a 6.0mph pace. This ended up being a bad idea. I noticed my ability to relax and drain away fatigue during my walk breaks diminishing rapidly. My pace during the walk breaks also dropped to very-slow, to the point of barely moving forward. The very slow one-minute walk break helped a lot with giving my muscles a chance to rest, much better than I have done with faster-paced walk breaks in the past. Every two miles starting at mile 10 I took one bite from my Powerbar. This was new since on past long runs I took one bite every mile. This continued until I discovered at mile 16 that I had accidentally put a bit of trash in the same pocket with the Powerbar. Eww. At mile 12 I re-passed someone I had greeted previously, and he exclaimed, "You're still going." To this I laughed and said, "How about you?" Fun. Saw lots of ground squirrels today, and saw one disappear down a hole. Saw the mystery bird again. Not sure what it is. Realized how snobby I am getting about who runs on the left side of the trail. ;) After mile 16 I really started feeling exhaustion. I found that straightening my back (running tall) helped me run a 5.5mph pace for two consecutive walk breaks, but after that I slowed down again to a 5.0mph pace. The price of running tall and fast was a sore butt and upper legs. At one point around mile 16, I checked my watch and my pace kept dropping, so I ran faster. At one point I felt like I was in a weird situation where I was running faster (or so I thought) but yet my pace was falling. It was weird. So, after I reached mile 17, I decided to run slower to rest my muscles. This dropped my pace to anywhere from 4.0mph-5.0mph. Walk breaks from miles 17-20 were almost non-moving. Around the mile 19 marker I realized that this was what Galloway meant when he talked about gut-check. I looked to my left as I ran through the mile 18 stretch of woods, and noticed a black-tailed doe watching me right on the edge of the path. As I passed it, it picked a leaf from a branch and chewed. Cute. I have never been so close. When I returned to mile 19 wayside park, I found my Powerbar gone. Bummer. It was around mile 19 that I was really getting negative thoughts that I couldn't handle. For example, "this sucks," "why am I doing this," "this is it, I give up, I am not going to do the marathon." I was really feeling exhausted. Finally, I reached mile 20. My four-minute runs at that point were getting me about 0.3 miles down the trail. Galloway says to walk one mile after a long run, but I decided I felt so exhausted that I wanted to just get home. As I recrossed the bridge like a zombie, I noticed a guy with a soft-shell guitar case and a peace symbol on the back toss his lighter on the bridge. He walked in front of me up the hill. I reached my car and passed him. On the way home, I started getting a tingling sensation in my ears, arms, head, and a sense of mild nausea. It was like my entire body was mildly cramping from the position I was sitting in. I pulled in at home, went inside, and pulled off my shoes. I sat there for a few seconds with all this muscle ache and tingling, feeling a bit nauseous, and decided to get some electrolytes into me. I pulled out an old can of powder and mixed two scoops into a glass and drank it down, then went upstairs and spread out on my bed and closed my eyes. The electrolytes hit my system like a miracle cure, and after about 20 minutes all the symptoms were gone. The rest on my bed left me feeling relatively normal again. I went downstairs, had another glass of electrolyte powder, took a shower, then relaxed by talking with a friend for an hour or so. Treated myself to some good Chinese for supper as a reward. Lessons learned: One: hydrate before the long run, hydrate during the long run, hydrate after the long run; I didn't hydrate adequately before hand. Two: 5.0mph is ok. Galloway's maxim, slower is better is true. Three: GPS is excellent for maintaining pace. I checked my watch a billion times today to ensure I was on the pace I wanted. Four: I enjoy chocolate-peanut butter better than plain peanut-butter. Five: Having electrolyte fluid with me on a run is essential. Six: I might have taken more walk breaks today, but elected to stick with one every four minutes. Mistake. I would have really benefited from walk breaks every three minutes. Seven: posture (running tall) matters with respect to efficiency and speed. Strong abs really matter in maintaining posture.
Time: 270 minutes (4:30)
Goal Time: 270 minutes (4:30)
Distance: 32.26 km (20 mi) http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=125024
Total Distance For Year: 398.3 km (235.0 mi)
Weight (after run): 77.6, 19% body fat
Any irregular feelings, aches, pains, heart rate, and so forth?: Left knee and achilles felt a bit sore when starting out, by third mile no problem. Around mile 17 felt numbness in arms from holding them so tight. All muscles felt exhausted around mile 18, including abs which help keep me upright so I can run more efficiently. On way home, felt cramping and tingling in extremities, and mild nausea. Disappeared immediately after drinking electrolytes and lying down for ten minutes. After drinking another glass of electrolytes and a hot shower, I am up and awake and moving about with minor muscle aches.
Foods eaten today: bowl of raisin bran cereal with soy milk, two chocolate-peanut butter Powerbars, vegetable egg foo young, two glasses of water and electrolytes