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.

Head to Head to Head

Looks like we have another entrant in the DoppelLaufer Virtual 5k Challenge. dwm082 a/k/a Don threw his hat in the ring yesterday.

Here is the new lineup:

With his weakness for ice cream and potato chips I really don’t consider Don much of a threat, unless of course Ben & Jerry’s sponsored his race and is offering free samples at the finish line. He does seem to have won the heart of our head cheerleader, but I think that’s only because his profile picture hides the spare tire he’s carrying around his waist from eating all that junk food. I also think that’s a rug on his head.

Don’s running in the Mississippi Mudds 5k in Buffalo, NY. Looks like it’s FL vs. IL vs. NY with state pride on the line.

Jim has graciously offered me a few training tips. Apparently applying a thick coat of Icy Hot to the nipples, upper thighs and groin area just before the starting gun virtually guarantees a PR. Makes sense, I think I’ll give it shot.

The shenanigans are escalating here.

I picked up my race packet yesterday at Track Shack. I’m bib # 1363. They were having a 20% off sale so I picked up a new pair of Asics. This will probably be the pair I wear in the Space Coast Marathon. I broke them in this morning.