Last week's 20 miler was almost perfect, up until the last 3 miles which went to crap. That kind of shook me a little, but honestly not too much. Yesterday's run however was just down right sucky. I had to drive Steven to school. Plus hubby and the kids were all heading up north for the bridge walk (Mackinac Bridge walk - It's a Labor Day tradition for us. Feel free to google it.) Anyhow, trying to get everyone out the door I knew I would not be able to do my run in the morning. By the time I get to look at the weather report I realize oh crud it's going to hit 90 today. Yesterday's run was supposed to include 8 miles at marathon pace - the new marathon pace. That's what I get for running a 5K PR. I knew at that point waiting until 7 or 8 pm was going to be the next best option, not a good one. We have no AC in our house so running on the treadmill only buys me some relief and I hate running on the treadmill. I've been able to handle the heat up to about 6 miles so I was still hopeful that I could do this one.
OH MY GOD was it hot! I was actually rocking and rolling thinking okay I can do this. I just kept trying to think positive even though I had been nervous all day about this run knowing the heat. I made it through the warm up and the first 2 miles at marathon pace. I was doing okay, but it was definitely hard. Fifth mile and I just couldn't do it. I started walking. I didn't care. For the first time in this entire training cycle I just didn't care. I just had this whole screw it attitude. I'm hot and I'm tired and I want to go home. I walked for maybe a minute, less than 2 because my pace for that mile wasn't awful. Then I pulled myself together. I decided to change my focus and keep on goal for getting those darn 11 miles in. I was mad that I couldn't do it at marathon pace, mad and frustrated. I got to 6 miles and felt a little better. At 6 miles I decided I was running to 7 miles and then going home and doing the last 4 at home on the treadmill. I got to 7 miles and decided no, I'm not a quitter push a long. I just kept thinking about this race coming up and I would not have the option to go to the treadmill to finish up. Come hell or high water I was going to finish this run.
The entire rest of the run sucked big time. I was hot. It was dark now. I couldn't see my watch. I was tired. I really wanted to quit. Not the type of run you want ending your training cycle really. I am still a little ticked off about it, but what can you do. I got home and looked up the weather and looked at my heart rate data. It was dark so I could barely see my watch and the backlight wouldn't turn on so I just was listening for the lap beeps mostly to see when I was done. Looking up the heat index it was 97! I like to type that out to make myself feel better about it. I did finish 11 miles in 97 degree heat. That's got to count for something. Anyhow, I got one more 20 mile run until taper.
I talked to coach about my paces for tomorrow's run. He made some adjustments. Now of course I feel like a big baby and like I should try to do the original harder paces, but going to just play things by ear. I figure I'll watch my heart rate and if it is being surprisingly good I will pick up the pace, but for right now it's more important for me to be able to run a consistent pace for the entire 20. I'm freaking out a tad bit about the actual race. Up until now my goal had been less than 4:40 so 4:30anything finish. With these new training paces though I was starting to think maybe just maybe I could do better than that. Now, I'm not sure what to think. I don't want to walk away thinking if I would have pushed a little harder I could have done better. That's been my whole goal this whole training cycle to always give 100% and do my very best. I've only had 2-3 runs where I haven't finished on target (even if they were bad runs most of them I've finished at the paces I was supposed to). I'm heading up north to the lake to run this 20 again. Hopefully the creepy old guy won't disrupt my run. I won't be able to update this blog until some time next week. (I won't have internet.) I need to nail this run tomorrow!
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