14.83 miles
Scheduled for today was a 17 mile run, my longest yet. Even though I didn’t make 16 last weekend, I wanted to still try for 17 this time. I got a bit of a later start than I wanted though and it was quite humid out. That didn’t help.
My plan was to run down to the tow path from my house and do the majority of the run there and then head back. Unfortunately, when I got to the tow path, I found that there was no longer a way to cross over to it. The bridge was gone. I’m not sure if it was washed away by Irene last week or if it was taken down as a precaution and not put back yet. Either way, that kind of sucked a bit. I turned around and made do as best I could and carved out a new route I’ve never done before. All new roads.
Like I said, it was humid out and that seemed to take it’s toll on me a bit. I started getting very dehydrated after 10 miles and even though I debated it a lot, I realized that I needed to stop for water. I hooked my route back around to my house and ran in for a quick drink a little into my 12th mile. With 5.7 miles left to go, I figured I could make it the whole way. I was wrong. By 14.5, I was out of energy. I barely had anything left to give and decided shortly after that to throw in the towel. I’m pretty upset about it. This is two weeks in a row now that I couldn’t even get to 15 miles. Marathon training has hit a wall already.
I do think I know my problems from today though. Even though I had a PB&J sandwich for breakfast and an energy gel around mile 9, I didn’t have enough fuel in me. I needed more. I also needed more water throughout and not just that one pit stop. Usually, I can make it 13 miles without stopping for water on a day like today, but I guess that’s close to the upper end of what my body can do.
And even more than that, I think I tried to run too slowly. My fiancée is always telling me to slow down and, generally, she has a point. I thought it’d be a good idea to do everything I could to keep slow and not over do it. The thing is, the pace didn’t feel natural. I was struggling to stay at that speed. Every time I would stop consciously trying to keep that pace, my legs naturally started to pick it up. In hindsight, I should have stayed with something more natural instead of trying to force something that didn’t feel right.
Pace: 9:05
Overall time: 2:14:25
Vibram Five Finger Bikila total mileage: 151.80
