So our last run was a 19-miler. Can I tell you? It always stays just a little bit daunting running high miles like this. My husband was supposed to work on Friday and our daughters had a dance competition on Saturday so it meant I was going to have to run on Friday by myself or get up really early on Saturday and try to get our run done together before I had to leave the house having myself and two daughters completely ready. Initially, I was going to go on Friday but then 19 miles is a really long way to go by myself so I started leaning toward early Saturday. Then I saw an accurate weather forecast and realized I had to go on Friday. Thursday afternoon my husband got a phone call from his boss with unexpected news: they no longer needed him to work on Friday, so he was off. And just like that, we got to run on Friday together.
We got up the same time as last week but opted not to sleep in running clothes this week. We got out the door a little later but this time our daughter was on stand-by to drive the carpool. We added mileage to our route from last week on the front end. We ended up going up a long hill that lasts just over a mile. By the time we got to the top, I REALLY wanted to stop and catch my breath but my husband didn't say anything so neither did it. I told him later that I really wanted to stop but since he didn't ask to stop, I kept going. He told me he also really wanted to stop and was hoping I would say something. I guess now we both know we're stronger and can do it without the stop. Anyway, we just kept plugging along with nothing really notable happening. When we got to "the beast hill," I just kept putting one foot in front of the other and then we were at the top. I remember thinking, "There's nothing like a bigger, longer hill to put a hill into perspective." This week it really wasn't too bad.
Our pace stayed really consistent and really never slowed. I told my husband last week while we were running, about 13 miles in, that I wish I had taken some ibuprofen. By about mile 15 though I was feeling better. This week we decided to stay ahead of that, especially since we were trying to make it home to take carpool. We took ibuprofen about mile seven so that it was working about the time we needed it. That worked and is probably the real reason we stayed consistent. We made it home with about five minutes to spare before we had to take carpool.
It's funny. When I run a long run and give in to the "I'm beat. I ran a long run." mentality, I am beat. When I don't and just move forward with my day, I do much better. My body moves better, I just feel better. I've been running for years now and I finally figured that one out. We did opt for a morning nap, mostly because we were up so early, but other than that, we really felt good.
This weekend is Ironman St. George 70.3 which means lots of athletes in town and that course is my training course. I'm hoping to be off the course before we see runners, and we should be, but I'm not going to worry about it too much. They won't kick us off if we overlap a bit. Anyway, we need to run 21 miles which means only one more week until peak week. I can't believe we nearly done. Wow!
Thanks for checking in with me. I hope you are enjoying success in your goals. Let me know if you have any questions. Good luck, take care, and come back soon. And remember, strong bodies follow strong minds.
No comments:
Post a Comment