Week Eight Report

So, I guess I still have alot to learn about this healthy living business. I enjoyed a great five days in Florida, during which I managed to get my mileage in as prescribed by my old buddy Hal. The hot weather slowed me down some but that's to be expected. I ate okay though I did enjoy some things not usually on my menu like oysters and crackers. On Wednesday, on our way out of town, we had a great meal at Columbia Restaurant - it was so great I didn't even try to determine the number of calories. Anyway, my weight was up some when I got home. No worries, I just cut back to my regular diet regimen for a few days and those pesky pounds slipped away.

I also made a change to my training plan. This change proved to be problematic. I had a rest day scheduled for Friday and I had left my tempo run till the end of the week because I like to use the track at school for this. Since I had to report for opening meetings at school on Friday I decided to put off the tempo run (and the extra 60 mile drive) to Friday and rest on Thursday. I didn't consider that I also had to complete a 5 mile pace run on Saturday and then cover 10 miles on Sunday.

My tempo run went well and I controlled my speed better this time to get faster with each passing mile over the course of 40 minutes. I also killed the 5 mile pace run on Saturday. I averaged 9:09 per mile with my fastest mile clocked at 8:42! I was feeling great about my progress.

Then came Sunday. I headed out around 8:00 a.m. Yeah, it was way late for a summer run - 81 degrees when I started. I carried my water and had my GU gel with me. As I began my run I encountered a young couple who were obviously doing the same thing I was (long run). They were half way through but they kept me moving for the first five miles. I did okay and was motivated to keep pace with these guys. However, I reached my 1/2 way point and turned around, bid them farewell and headed back toward the car. Before I reached 5.5 miles my iPod conked out. Dang, I was left to my thoughts and I was not successful at generating positive thoughts. I got progressively weaker and slower and took to walking much more than I wanted to. My shoulders (both my good shoulder and my bad shoulder) were screaming at me. "Relax!" I told myself. I was clutching my water bottle like it was made of spun gold and I could feel it in my shoulders.

I was dripping sweat, which I normally do, and rehydrating regularly but I continued the downhill spiral that was pretty much all encompassing - mental, physical, you name it. The time ticked away and that frustrated me. I tried to push it without success. By the time I finished my run (2 hours and 21 freaking minutes later) I was totally wasted.

Clearly I was unprepared for this run. The post mortem revolved around three major errors that I made. 1.) three hard workouts in three days. 2.) no significant preloading of either carbs or water and 3.) eating proteins instead of carbs (186.2 g of protein versus 224.5 g of carbs or 44% carbs, 37% protein, 19% fat). This is not serving me well so I will recreate my meal plan to meet my needs.

Week Nine will be much better. I rest when the schedule says rest, increase my quality carbs by reducing the fat to about 10% (that will add 170 carb calories that I will eat in the form of rice, beans, whole wheat pasta, bread or tortillas). On Saturday - in preparation for my 11 mile Sunday run, I will preload with a high carb meal as though I was actually preparing for the race. Makes sense to me. We'll see how it goes.