Some Days You Got It and Some Days You Dont

My run today was doomed to be good from the beginning. It is partly my fault it didnt go well but partly the fault of the heat too. I forget how much the heat can take out of you and your performance.

Usually I try to do my leg workouts on Tuesday/Thursday in order to have two solid rest days before I run on Sunday so my legs will be fresh. This past week though I did my leg workouts Wendesday and Friday. Even though I knew that it was a bad idea to do a hard leg workout on Friday afternoon I dont know how to do things without going all out when it comes to exercise. I know it is stupid and I am setting myself to be either prone to injury or make future workouts less effective but I always feel like I could go harder and do more and if I do take it easy I get mad at myself. So during todays run, my legs did not feel as strong as they usually do. Luckily my legs generally know how to go into auto pilot and thats what they did.

Another one of my mistakes was eating too late less night so my digestive system was even more off than usual. My stomach has issues on a regular basis but today I started cramping 40 minutes into it, not a good sign. My mom who usually rides her bike wasnt able to come out today so I was on my own. Carrying my water and gel with was not comfortbale. I have a fuel belt I use but the added pressure of it on my stomach made it even more uncomfortable. There are bathrooms on the route but even with the cramps, I cant go until a good 20 minutes after I run. Its annoying.

On top of that, I didnt bring my body glide with me which prevents chaffing. Because it was so hot I sweated more than usual and also chaffed in areas I dont normally have a problem with. Today it was my armpits so with every swing of my arms I was in pain. It wasnt excruciating but I have several places where the skin was rubbed off. Fortunately though I had no nipple chaffing. Phew.

Right about mile 12 was when I hit my wall. I was pissed because I hadnt hit a wall in awhile but my legs were dead and I was so hot. The trail I run has virtually no shade so even though it was 9:30 in the morning the sun was beating down and zapping me of energy. My hips were also hurting me so anytime I had to stop for a light or to get water, getting back going was probably pretty comical to anyone who saw me because I hobbled like an old lady.

I pushed through though and wouldnt stop until I ran my 2 hours and 20 minutes. Sure it was painful but I am glad that I did finish it off. Unfortunately I also finished off my water so walking back to my car I was hot, chaffed and dying of thirst. An old lady actually passed me when I was walking too, I usually hate that but I had no energy left, I was spent.

So the quality of the run wasnt so great, but I got a good workout in the sense that I was training my body not to give up when it is in pain. There will be pain when I run the marathon so I need to experience it when I am training.

And now I am taking a long nap.Mmmm naps.