Running Chick

I headed into the week dreading my 12.5 mile long run on Saturday. My last long run was 11 miles and I was completely wrecked afterward and a little bit into the next day, so I was more than a little nervous heading out Saturday morning. But, I tweaked a few things with my nutrition and hydration and experienced success! angel choir

Previous years, I’ve relied on Gatorade and gels to get me through long runs. They worked well but now they just tear up my stomach something awful, so I switched to Fig Newtons. They do pose a bit of a transportation issue (Fig Newton crumbs smashed into my new phone – not cool) and they tend to crumble apart before they hit my mouth (precious calories on the ground), but they worked great and best of all, no tummy troubles.

I ended up having four Fig Newtons in total (two at miles four and eight), ate Swedish Fish in the middle and drank Nuun every two miles.  By the time twelve miles rolled around I was feeling great.  My legs were a bit sore from a hilly course, but that’s about it. I could have continued on, and thought about it, but I was out of fuel and the sooner I quit, the sooner these babies would find their way into my mouth.

An Oberon and a salad also found their way into my mouth, but the french fries were the pinnacle of my post-run food binge. It sure felt good to wrap up the week on a good note. I’m a little less worried about that 14 miles I’m doing the week after next (or maybe not).

Speaking of wrapping up, this week I logged just a little over 21 miles @ 10:51 - Tuesday 5.4 @ 11:43 (joined Josh on his run), Thursday 3.25 @ 9:26 (tempo), Saturday 12.5 @ 10:50.

Random junk.

Cholula Hot Sauce on popcorn is awesome.

Posted on the wall at the Suomi Restaurant. I am apparently breaking rule #3 by allowing my servant Josh to answer the phone. Uh oh.

My cat likes to play with his toy mouse while inside his toy tube. Yeah, he’s still a weirdo.

This is so Scout.

Hey, head over to Josh’s blog for his 10 miler recap. It’s a hoot.

First, Happy Zombie Jesus Day! The Easter Bunny didn’t bring me anything, I wonder if that means he thinks I’m fat? Loser.

Second, I think there is something wrong with my cat: he’s a big weirdo.

Third, I sort of blew by my weekly mileage to join Josh on his runs. We ran 18 miles this week (4.5 on Tuesday & Thursday, 9 on Saturday) and I was only supposed to do 12.  Oops.  My legs are sore and achy. Maybe it’s time to schedule a trip to the masseur.

Fourth, here’s some random shit from this week.

A picture outside the bathroom of the Forestry Building. I’ve only ever been in the lobby/atrium area, I had no idea they had all sorts of dead animals down the corridors. We had to make an unscheduled stop less than a mile into our long run on Saturday because  somebody ahem forgot to take care of business before we left the house. Have you ever tried to pull spandex back on when you’ve been sweating in it? Impossible. I spent the next three miles trying to align/adjust/readjust my shorts back into position.

Chassell trail. Naked for now.

We finished up our long run and headed to the DT for beer & food. I swear, sometimes the thought of eating french fries is the only thing that gets me through those last miles. We headed over to the KBC afterwards and we were talking about our next long runs (Josh has 10 and me 12.5) thinking that we were all hot stuff, when the lady sitting next to me starts telling her friend that she’s training for a trail ultra and she ran 27 miles that morning.  Let’s just shut up and drink our beer, shall we? I was totally jealous of her. And I bet she was jealous of me wearing my sexy slippers to the bar because I got a blister on my big toe and every shoe I had hurt to wear. Even-steven.

Weekly recap: Tuesday, 4.5 @ 11:47; Thursday, 4.5 @ 11:21; Saturday 9.0 @ 11:53.  Next week, have 4.5, 4.0 and an at the moment sounds really long 12.5. I’m not looking forward to it, I don’t know why. French fries, french fries, french fries.

I can’t remember how long it’s been since I’ve felt like I either got run over by a truck or have the worst hangover ever after a long run, but from this point out, it will be known as yesterday. 

My eleven mile run was pretty okay.  I struggled with leg fatigue in the last few miles (same old, same old) and ended up walking a bit more more than I wanted, but I forced myself to do the last three miles in negative splits, so take that quads. I walked home, drank some chocolate milk (supposedly an awesome recovery drink so I force myself to choke it down, but yuck), stretched, showered and crashed hard. I didn’t leave the couch until I went to bed at 9:30. Okay, slight exaggeration, I did leave the couch to accompany Josh on a McDonald’s run, but that’s about it.  I don’t usually like to turn into a giant lump after a long run, moving around always makes me feel better, no matter how much it hurts, but Josh was at work doing the Big Email Migration and left to my own devices, I do … nothing.

I had company. This one spent the entire day with me on the couch,

while this one spent the entire afternoon with her feet sticking straight up in the air. So weird.

I feel much better today (thank you, Advil).  I had two four milers earlier in the week. Tuesday, I returned to doing hills after a few weeks off.  They didn’t get any easier, phooey.  Thursday I did a tempo and ran the last mile in 8:35.  I felt a bit out of control running that fast, and I’m pretty sure I looked like Phoebe.

Weekly recap: 19 @ 10:33.  Tuesday, 4 @ 11:24; Thursday, 4 @ 10:00 and Saturday, 11 @ 10:28.  Yesterday’s run wrapped up March, where I completed all 14 scheduled runs and logged 75 miles (@ 10:45), which is my biggest mileage month ever. Yet another milestone, for the first time ever, I am injury-free.

Yay!