Every Friday night, as part of my dinner, there will be a beer consumed. Just one. And it doesn't even have to be a big one. Just a small one. Here's my reasoning. The first week of the training program was Chickenfest. I had a beer. The 8-mile run the next morning went great. The second week? No beer. The 9-mile run was awful. This past weekend? There was a Spotted Cow consumed with dinner. The 10-mile run was OK. Not great, but not awful.
I think this Friday night I'll be doing the same thing. At least until I have an awful run the morning after my Friday night drink.
Anyway. The weekend long run. 10 miles. Lots of hills. All in the second half.
The first 5 miles felt good. The second half was tougher. Right around Mile 6.5 we hit the monster hill. It's steep. And long. And deceiving. Because you think you're done. But you round a slight bend and there's more uphill. I ran it. All of it. But shortly after reaching the top I lost contact with Jeff and Sherry, the two people I was running with. They weren't that far ahead of me, but I was definitely running solo. I met up with them at the 7.5 mile water stop. Just 2.5 more miles to go. And it was a game of cat and mouse. I'd catch them, they'd pull ahead. Repeat.
I had to do 10 miles, but the final mile included a loop around the park. For some reason I was on the exact opposite end of the park when I hit the 10 mile mark at 1:58. I still had a half mile to go before ending up at the parking lot. I kept running, but I slowed down, finishing the 10.5 miles in 2:04.
Overall I didn't feel awful about the run. It was better than last week's 9-miler. And the relentless hills in the second half of the run were tough, so I was expecting to slow down a bit. But I think part of it was mental. For a group training run, I ran a lot of this run alone. I'd say probably in the neighborhood of 4 miles or so. From that aspect, it was tough. But something I'd got to get used to because there's no guarantee I'll have someone to run with on race day.
After the run I got to sit around and chat with some of the other folks for a bit, which was nice. But then it was time to head home, get in a quick shower and get out to the airport.
Because I spent the rest of the afternoon flying in a four-seater plane with my brother at the controls.
2 comments:
I have several friends that would love to try your pre long run ritual. I think they would do more of the drinking and less of the running though!
That sure is some flat country you're flying over. One of the coolest things about the midwest, I think.
Beer is made from sugar, it's mostly carbs, so that has to give you plenty of energy for the long runs right? That's my theory and I'm sticking to it. I leave from my house to run to the State Capital building (exactly 5 miles) sometimes, but the 5 miles to get back home all seems to be uphill. Not nearly as much fun as it should be.
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