Given that my race is in two months time, I’ve really had to knock my mind and body out of holiday mode. Holy crap, it’s been tough! I recently wrote about the Resolution Run being tougher than expected. I figured that that was just an isolated thing, after all, it was a race meaning that my output would have been higher anyway. I tested that hypothesis out yesterday, Saturday. I had a 5K easy around-the-block steady run pencilled in. Someone slowed down to run with me the whole way. I felt like I was really using some extra effort to keep a steady pace with her. The sidewalks were clear enough with occasional patches of snowy uneven ground. By the end, I was shocked with myself at just how I was finding the run hard. There’s no reason that it should have been–I’ve done that route so many times. So, just like the Resolution Run, yesterday’s run was tough. When I got back to the store, I spoke to one of the speedier people in the group who was stretching out at the side. She too was noticing that it was harder for herself. She had a theory that the few extra pounds that she packed on during the holidays were really making a difference. That’s a great theory if it’s true. In my case, I’m lugging around another X number of pounds that I haven’t had to run with since early 2008. I guess that’s enough incentive to continue to work harder to shed the weight and make running easier.
This morning, I was scheduled for a 16K long, slow, distance run. I hadn’t done a long run since the 12K two weeks ago. I was a little apprehensive about doing it, but I pushed myself out there. I mean, in the last half-marathon clinic I did we got to the 16K runs in August. The distance isn’t what scared me. It’s just that I wasn’t sure what my body was going to do. Soon into it I was basically left alone with one of the pace leaders running back to check on me once in a while. My pace really was slow, but I felt that I had to keep at that low level just to make sure that I could make it through the whole distance. The wind was piercing through my gloves so I had to keep my hands in my sleeves for long intervals. I could feel the wind finding its way up my jacket, making my stomach a bit colder than I wanted. I don’t know why I didn’t tighten the bottom of my jacket to block the air. Beats me. A few times, I could feel the back of my neck becoming quite cold. The sweat dripping down the back of my head was actually freezing making my neck numb. I popped the collar on my jacket up to keep it warm.
Late into the run I was starting to really regret not bringing along some extra nutrition. At home prior to the run, I was considering bringing along some mini-boxes of raisins just so that I’d have some sugar hits on me if I felt the need to get my levels back up. Unfortunately I forgot to bring them. Unlike my summer runs I wasn’t feeling dizzy from running low on energy. Instead, my body was just mildly rebelling. It’s like, I could feel my hips aching. It wasn’t pain, but more like my muscles dictating to me that I wouldn’t be able to run any faster. I imagined them yelling at me: “Listen! I don’t care, you’re only going *this* fast.” Who was I to argue? There were a few points where I did try to produce more output but I simply could not. By the last kilometre it felt like a miracle that I could just lift my legs to keep going. When I made it back to the store, I was really thankful.
So what did I learn from this long run? Well, for one thing I’m definitely at the point where I totally need to bring along gels or food. I’m a big guy so my energy expenditures are up there. According to my HRM, with this run alone I burned through 2100+ calories. No shit. It’s not like I can stuff away that many calories prior to the run and feel good about it. I’d probably end up puking somewhere along the way if I did that.
In any case, this whole process is a long battle. It’s one that will be won, but just slowly.
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