Sunday, August 22, 2010

Four Down – Fourteen to Go

With a 13 mile run along the Seminole Wekiva Trail in Lake Mary, FL completed, week four of my marathon training is DONE!



This run kicked my butt. The heat and humidity took their toll and after 11.5 miles I succumbed and had to walk for a few minutes to rest. I was frustrated with myself for giving in so close to the finish. There is a Panera Bread at the end of this trail and not even the promise of a Panera bagel was enough to keep me going.

Once I started running again I made it through the last mile OK. I did start to feel chills toward the end which makes me think dehydration may have been part of the problem. After all this time I still can’t seem to get it right.

My weight loss over the course of the morning confirmed this. I was 179 lbs when I left my house. I had a mug of coffee en route to the trail, drank 22 oz of water on the outbound leg and 20 oz of Gatorade on the return. Then I had a half liter bottle of water and half a bottle of Gatorade immediately after finishing. Then I ate a HUGE blueberry bagel with cream cheese and had more coffee before going home. Despite having several pounds of fluid and food, I was 175, still down 4 pounds, when I got home.

I can’t rely on the heat as an excuse because the Space Coast Marathon is notorious for having warm weather. A couple of hours into the race I am very likely to be facing similar conditions to what I had early this morning.

There were a lot of long distance runners on the trail this morning.  The West Volusia Runners have several training for the New York and Space Coast Marathons.  I also chatted briefly  with a British woman on a 22 mile run who said her race was coming up in a few weeks.  She politely slowed down to talk for a minute and then left me in the dust.  She didn't say which race but I'm guessing Chicago since there aren't any major marathons in the southeast for a couple of months.

I’m fresh out of an ice bath and bingeing now. In fact it was hard to get my head out of the fridge long enough to write this. I’m sure I’ll put those four pounds back on by the end of the day.

2 comments:

  1. I know that feeling of being so close to the end of the run, but having to stop & walk. Not fun, but you have to listen to your body. The humidity is vicious this year!
    How cool that someone slowed down to chat with you for a while too!

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  2. The humidity is horrible. I finish my runs looking like I just jumped into a swimming pool.

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