Week 4 Long Run...

O.M.G. 10 miles on Sunday for week 4 long run. Where do I start for this run? It was a tough one and I’m very tired today. So tired that I over slept by an hour this morning and that never happens to me. I might over sleep by 10 or 15 minutes when avoiding the alarm clock but his was a holy moly, it’s 6am and I should have been up at 5 for work. Hubbs had to get up, dressed and out the door in 15 minutes so he wouldn’t be late for work. Poor guy, if I don’t get up, he doesn’t get up. It’s been that way for years. He relies on me to be his alarm even though I have begged him for years to get his own alarm clock so I don’t have to wake up when I’m not working but so far nothing doing.

Anyway, since yesterday was Sunday and my time constraints aren’t as tight as when I run after work and I could actually run in the daylight (no headlamp or reflective vest needed) I convinced Hubbs to take me up to Garcia Bend Park in the Pocket area of South Sacramento. From the park you can access the levee. It’s paved on top and goes for miles…or so we thought. Turns out part of it is paved but part of it is gravel and it doesn’t go for miles. They’ve blocked off a section to the north of the park so I had to run the same section several times to get my 10 miles. But it was still a very nice treat to get out of my regular running routes and try something new. Plus another runner complimented me on my favorite hot pink Nike running skirt.

The levee runs along the Sacramento River and it was a beautiful run. We got to see ducks, hawks, humming birds and some huge, expensive houses. There were also a few boats on the river and across the river is a road that is popular with motorcyclists, so we got to see lots of bikes. We didn’t get out to the park until almost 1pm so the temps were in the mid 60’s. I really prefer the temps to be lower in the low 50’s for a good run but there are trees along the trail so it wasn’t too hot.

At about 5miles I tried Gu for the first time. Let’s just say the consistency was…interesting. It was gooey and weird but the taste wasn’t too bad. I tried strawberry banana. I was nervous that it was going to upset my stomach during my run but it really didn’t. I did get a bit of indigestion after I ate it but I’m coming to realize that I have to take pepcid before I run and no food at least two hours before I run, otherwise the heart burn is unbearable. This wasn’t unbearable, just a few burps and some burning in my throat.

I also carried my Amphipod water bottle for the first time in a long time. I don’t like to carry it much because I’m built like Olive Oil on top and have skinny arms with almost no muscle on them. After a while the 12oz of water gets heavy and I don’t want to carry it. Plus most of the time, it’s cold out and I don’t really want water during my run so I just don’t take it. But it has a pocket on it and I need the pocket to put my ID, car key and Gu in. It worked really good for holding stuff and due to the higher temperatures, I actually drank all the water. And then drank 16 more ounces when we got back to the car. I did lean that I have to close the top on the Amphipod otherwise, I end up splashing water all over myself.

During the run, I have to tell you, I was tired after about mile 6 and by mile 8 I was very irritable. Poor Hubbs is on his bike trying to distract me with chatter and I kept wondering if I could keep running and choke him out at the same time. Poor guy, he just wanted to help. After I finished up, did a cool down walk and stretched, we headed over to the nearest gas station because the gas light was on in the Subaru. I think I had enough gas to get us home but since there is no gas stations between Pocket and where I live and it’s about 20 – 25 miles I didn’t want to push it and run out of gas. Across the road from the gas station is a McDonalds. I’m not really a Mickey D’s kind of girl but they have huge iced tea (unsweetened) for $1 and I was so thirsty. And I was starving. I asked Hubbs is he wanted to split some fries with me and was told no, that he wanted his own. Fine by me, I needed salt (and grease apparently)! So we got two huge drinks and two medium fries. After the fries were gone we both agreed we should have ordered larges. They were soooo good. Totally worth the 300 plus calories.

Here’s my splits:
Lap: Time: Distance: Avg. Pace:
Summary 1:46:51.6 10.02 10:40
1 10:19.9 1.00 10:20
2 10:10.5 1.00 10:11
3 10:37.2 1.00 10:37
4 10:34.6 1.00 10:35
5 10:40.5 1.00 10:41
6 10:49.8 1.00 10:50
7 10:41.3 1.00 10:41
8 10:58.1 1.00 10:58
9 10:56.6 1.00 10:57
10 10:49.1 1.00 10:49
11 :14.0 0.02 10:15

Where I went wrong: I didn’t eat a very good meal in the morning, I waited too long to run after I ate and I was hungry for lunch when I went out (read that as no proper fueling) and I didn’t drink enough water before my run either (poor hydration). I know better than this but I did it anyway and really I paid the price afterward. I spent the rest of the night trying to fill my hollow leg. I ate a little of everything in the house. And I had a horrible headache for most of the night. This is typical for me when I get dehydrated.

So lesson learned, I hope. Sometimes it takes a couple of times before I really learn. I’m stubborn that way.