Running Journal - 2024-10-27 (28-mile Long Run)

Fall foliage: red, orange, and green

All done ✅ 👍🏼

Time: 1:20 a.m.-2:35 p.m. (running time: 7:07:16)
Resting heart rate (wake-up): 71 bpm
Weight (running clothes): 84.64 kg (186.60 lb)
Body Mass Index (BMI; note criticisms of BMI): 24.6 (Overweight = 25–29.9)
Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR): 2,030 cal/day
Distance (running): 45.09 km (28.02 mi)
Cumulative distance (2024; ignores XT days): 1,397.09 km (868.11 mi)
Calories burned: 3,397 kcal
Average heart rate: 117 bpm
Max heart rate: 156 bpm
Weather at start: Clear 🌘 16° C (60.8° F), Humidity 94% Wind: 7 km/h
Terrain: 623 ft elevation gain
Avg Pace: 15'15" /mile
Best pace: 14'07" /mile
Stinkiness air level (0=No smell; 10=☣️): 0/10 (slightly stinky)
Comments: Wrapping the 39th week of the year with an easy-pace 28.0-mile long run. Finished just shy of mileage marker 1,400 km for the calendar year. Temperatures were moderate (60-70 F). Started my run during the night hours; i.e., at the coolest part of the day. The downside was the lack of sleep. I put my head on my pillow around 11:00 p.m. Awoke around 12:15 a.m. from a dream. Got dressed. Did 4 things I should always do: 1) Garmin HRM-Pro Plus Heart Rate Monitor; 2) Anti-chafing; 3) NipEaze; and 4) Headband ✅ No sunblock needed. Fed the cats, had some cold brew coffee. Realized I was short on Clif Bars. Had cereal instead. Filled & put on the Nathan - QuickStart 2.0 6 L Hydration Pack. The pack has a 1.5 L bladder in the back, and the 6 L moniker seems to mean it has 6 L total storage. In the back zippered storage I put 1 Clif bar, 2 GU gel packs (which I ended up not using) and my mask. In the front-left zippered pouch I put my house key and my Skullcandy Sesh Evo earbuds charging case. In the front-right un-zippered pouch I stored the partially-eaten Clif Bar as I ran. I had forgotten how to manage my drinking hose, so initially stashed the tube tip in my right vest mesh pocket 😛 Saw the hose clip later in the morning. Watching a video on how to clean the pack, I now see an optional way: feed the tube down the left vest, across the chest, and up through the hose clip, so the hose is closer to the mouth 🤔 Sounds good. Turned the bladder upside-down and sucked the air out (they called it burping it, I think), so I did this as well in an attempt to stop sloshing noises. Headed outside. My muscles felt relatively OK. Traffic was minimal. Listened to an audiobook and ran. Ran slow. The early miles were mostly devoid of traffic. I did not pass homeless persons today. Unlike last time, I mostly obeyed stop lights at minor intersections. Early on, a cyclist yelled something, and a mini SUV pulled into a storage building cut-out in front of me. I was not sure what had happened, so I kept running (maybe the driver narrowly missed the cyclist?). The darkness continued to pose some challenges. At the 7-mile mark, I tripped on a raised asphalt patch in the bike lane. 😝 Scraped my left knuckles. Otherwise just minor scrapes, thankfully. About a mile later, I was running on the sidewalk, and stumbled on a raised sidewalk seam. I caught myself, but felt a strain in my left hamstring. 😓 It was not a sharp pain, but it did limit my range of movement, further slowing the run. I had 20 miles to go, and felt flustered and disquiet. I thought I was taking care, first on the bike lane (i.e., avoiding sidewalk seams), and then on the sidewalk (i.e., avoiding oncoming traffic). However, in both cases I was unable to avoid injuring myself. The lack of sleep seemed to play a role--I had trouble focusing on the ground as I ran, and I was shuffling due to running slow, which caused issues with lifting my feet over the uneven paths. Made a note to myself to equip the Petzl head lamp I have stored somewhere, and use it on future runs. The overall run was to be broken into two parts: 1) 14 miles (or longer); and 2) 14 miles. Now I was slightly injured. I resolved to at least finish out the first 14 miles. Hitting the 10-mile mark and getting into double-digits helped mentally. Ran past an Amazon warehouse, then through the empty parking lot of a shopping complex. No security guard sitting at an outdoor patio table this time. The Walmart parking lot was partially full with people sleeping in vehicles, so I ran instead past the front doors. Walmart allows individual store managers to determine if they want to let people park overnight in their parking lots, and I did not want to disturb them by running close to them. At roughly the 12.5-mile mark, I reached a point where I had to determine whether to go home or do another 8-mile loop. I decided to go home and take care of my scrapes, rest, and refuel. This decision was bolstered by my Sesh Evo earbuds reporting "Battery Low" a few minutes later. Looking back I can see how I thought it might make sense to keep pushing through, but I am glad to have decided to rest. Finished mile 14 around 4:45 a.m., at home. Showered, hydrated, bandaged my scrapes, took ibuprofen, and slept for a few hours. The sun was visible when I woke. Overall, felt sore. Had another bowl of cereal & cup of coffee. Decided to go on a run with Dawn around the neighborhood and see if my left leg would let me continue/finish the long run. Applied sunblock and changed into fresh exercise clothes. At first, it was slow going, but after about a mile, I felt warmed up and relatively OK. We stopped and said hello to the cats near one house, and said hello to the woman who came out to check on us interacting with them. One white cat had vivid blue eyes. Big thanks to Dawn for helping me get back out there and through the feelings of discouragement and caution. Finished this exploratory run after about 4-5 miles, which left about 10 miles to go. Leaving home solo, I headed on a repeat 10-mile loop. Traffic was moderate, but no problems (in fact drivers seemed considerate on several occasions). At a light-rail underpass, observed a man sitting under it with their bicycle parked below them along the path. Gave them as much distance as I could so they might not feel alarmed at getting their bicycle taken. The barriers have been removed on the street leading to the light rail station. Ate a honey striker for energy. These miles went by like a blur. I looked for where I had stumbled. There were a few spots in the bike lane that had blisters of asphalt, so not 100% sure of the exact spot. The audiobook was engaging and helped take my mind off the run. Ran faster mile splits on this 2nd half, but nothing close to the pace I'd hope for during a marathon 😛 Finished near home, and walked for about 0.5 miles before showering, hydration, etc. This was my first 28-mile run since July 7, 2024 (about 16 weeks ago), in the run-up to the San Francisco 2024 Marathon on July 28 (~13 weeks ago). My shoes now have 365 miles (of 400) used up (91%). Overall--my ankles hurt, my legs hurt, but I did it.  
Any irregular feelings, aches, pains, heart rate, and so forth?: Bit tired
Foods eaten today: Kashi GO Toasted Berry Crisp Cereal with nonfat milk, Trader Joe's Pumpkin Spice Cold Brew Coffee from concentrate (16 oz), Tailwind Nutrition Recovery Drink Mix - Chocolate - 8 oz, Aidells Smoked Chicken Sausage & sauerkraut & Trader Joe's dill mustard & brioche bun (x2), Vicini's Pizza - slice of The Vodka Pie & garlic knot, K on the Go - Ube Flan Frappe with Puff Cream & lemon cheesecake (x0.5), Clif Bar - peanut butter crunch (x2), Vöost Hydrate supplement - Black Cherry,