Wowsers! I finally got myself up and moving around today to get my run in that I had planned to run on Thursday that I bumped to Friday that I finally got today. I wanted to get a 10 mile run in this week just to maintain some of the fitness level that I had achieved over the last four months. I have the Living Farms 7 mile creek run coming up in November and I want to run well in that so I need to make sure I don’t fall off too much in my conditioning.
With that being said it has only been about two weeks since the marathon. Mentally I am just not as strong as I was prior to the race. That is to be expected as my brain just needs time to take it easy before I throw out the next daunting goal of mine.
I went out for my run around noon when I finally had a time to run. It is hot today here in Iowa pushing 80 degrees. I have not ran in heat period in quite some time. I took off towards the bike path with breaking the run up into two 5 mile splits. From my house I can run to a water/restroom area on the bike path that is exactly 5 miles on the dot. I did not take my water belt as I did not feel like running with that on. I took one GU and was out the door. I wanted to time my first 5 miles and then GU it up and run back in hopes of breaking the time it took to get there.
It felt great to be running again. The sunshine felt fantastic and with the breeze it was actually not that bad. I was so glad to be out running. I ran mile 1 in 8:27, mile 2 8:15, and mile 3 8:19. I really started feeling good while on the flat bike path and picked up the pace running mile 4 8:02 and mile 5 in 7:47. I finished up running the first 5 mile split around 41 minutes and some seconds. It was at this point that things started to fall apart fast.
During the last few miles my stomach started to hurt. At the rest area I grabbed some water, took a GU, went to the restroom, and took off. I did stay long as I wanted to keep going.
I ran mile 6 in 7:47 just like mile 5. After this mile my stomach started cramping really bad and my foot started to give me some pain. I lost some mile time running mile 7 8:13. Things continued to feel worse as I ran mile 8 in 8:19. I remember almost thinking about stopping at this point. My foot felt bad and my stomach cramp just kept spreading like wildfire. It was also around this point the wind either died completely feeling super hot or blowing right in my face making it hard to run. Mile 9 I dropped even farther running 8:38. During this mile my chest and heart started to get tight. I was thinking, “What is going on with my body?”. I deep some deep breathing, shortened my stride, and just tried to relax. I finished mile 10 in 8:29.
I did not meet my goal of running back faster. I did stay mentally tough not stopping and just fighting through the elements. I am positive that the combination of the heat and the unhealthy eating of the last week or so it was caused this run to be difficult. It was a great remind and wake up call that rest and recovery does not mean I turn into a slob. I am glad I stuck it out because I am sure I am going to have days like this again and I have to keep fighting through the challenges.
Have a great rest of they day. We are off to pick apples and snag some pumpkins. I finished my run in 1:22 for a 8:14 pace. I will gladly take that time. Keep GETTING IT DONE!
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