Week 8- Running. Tuesday and Thursday-the same as every other week-ran 3 miles at the Lake on Tuesday and ran track Thursday evening-trying to get a little faster.
Saturday-a different story for a lot of reasons; 1) my first double digit run of the season 2) it was hot 3) it was hill after hill after hill for 10 miles-in fact it is called 10 hill run (i think). Basically, every Friday night during training, I try to go to bed early to prepare for the Saturday run, which is always the longest of the week. In addition, I try (and, I emphasize try) to eat well and stay hydrated throughout the week. It's a challenge-mostly due to my schedule.
I anticipated a hot run on Saturday morning-even though we met at 7:30 a.m.-it was already sunny and warming up steadily. My plan was to go out very slow-due to the heat and the hills. The first part of the course (about 4 miles) is hilly, but paved and I had run it many times before. Most of the rest of the course was hilly and a trail-which meant it was uneven and rocky. So, needless to say-the first part went fairly well. There was a fair amount of shade and my body is used to 4 miles. Once I hit the second part of the course -it was more mentally challenging than anything else. As soon as I would go up a hill, I could see the next hill in the distance, which is a little annoying. And, the thing is that in the distance, they all seem to be the same steepness. In actuality, many of them were long, but the incline was manageable. In fact, I was going the slowest on the way down. I don't like running down hills-particularly those that are uneven and rocky-because I always seem to either hurt my knees and/or trip. I am not the most coordinated person on the run when there are terrain changes. Therefore, I tend to pass people going up and they pass me going down. And, so it went for hill after hill.
At approximately mile 8.5, there was another hill and it did happen to be quite steep. By this time, I was feeling the effects of the heat and the hills. Despite not going that fast and drinking a lot of water, my quads were hurting and I was hot, so I walked up 1/2 of that hill. And I was so disappointed in myself because when and I got to the top, I could see that the last mile was completely downhill. But, I guess, mentally, I was toast and I had no idea what the rest of the course was like. In any case, the last mile was a welcome change-and I finished without overheating or being injured by falling.
A lot of people ask me what I think about when running and I have to say that when I am running well-meaning with little effort-I am not thinking about anything. It's the best thing because my mind is clear and I am not worried about work or any minor things that tend to clutter my mind during the course of the day. This changes when the course is difficult. For example during the hills or in the late stages of a long run-all you want to do is quit. During those times, your mind is sort of trying to take over your body. Then, I think about why I am doing the training-to raise awareness for LLS. I also remind myself again and again about how lucky I am to be able to do this and that there will sometime come a day when I will wish I could run up a hill. So, I definitely attempt to do as well as I can, though sometimes I fail (as evidenced by the hill at mile 8.5)
So, the 15 and 15 means that I ran 15 miles this week and also walked 15 miles this week with Triton. So, if I am grumpy or tired, bear with me :0) (P.S.-Hope to have pictures of this run up soon)
Thank you on this Sunday to the most recent donors to the LLS: Harry, Don and Jan, and Dominic. I appreciate the support!
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