Bring the Pain

Friday was a great rest day. Oh, glorious rest days. Saturday I was not so lucky. The long run this week was 15 miles.

Wifey did her 15 miles first. She called on the way back home asking me to dig a hole 6 feet long by 6 feet deep. She wanted a little wiggle room down there. But she took a full dose of Recoverite after the run. So about an hour after she got back she felt pretty good.

Then I went out for my 15 miles. That's a really long way to run! I did it at the gym, on a treadmill, during a couple of football games. I had to split it up into blocks to reset the counters. I started with a warmup for 3 minutes, then stretched out really well. The first block was 6 miles, 950 calories, in 57 minutes. Then the second block was 5 miles in about 50 mins, 777 calories. So that's 11 miles. The last block was 4 miles, 54 mins, 500 calories.

Ohio State creamed Michigan. By the time the second game came on I was delirious. I think I watched Notre Dame & Syracuse.

But the cool part was I went 12.2 miles WITHOUT having to slow down to a walk. Of course, there was nothing left in the tank after that for the final 2.8 miles. It was basically delerium and counting at that point. But I was amazed at how the aerobic endurance held out. I was originally going to do three 5 mile blocks. But the end of the first one felt so good I stretched it to 6. Then after a quick counter reset, the next 5 mile block felt really good too. I could tell I had just run 11 miles, mind you. But there was still more gas left. And when I was staring down 4 instead of 5 miles in the final block, it made a huge mental difference.

But when the fuel tank gets empty, you know it. I had 2 20 oz bottles of gatorade and a granola bar consumed during the run. But it wasn't quite enough. I think a gel thrown in there might have done the trick. I ran the first 1.2 miles of the last block without any problem, then started walking. And after that point, I couldn't run more than a half mile straight. The IT band got tight, hip pain, knee pain, ankle pain, some shin pain. But I kept my form straight so the shin pain wasn't that bad. But I made it through. And (get this) I did the run in a sleeveless, sweat wicking shirt with band-aids over the nips. So no chafing here. BUT I did have salt crystals form on my arms. Rubbing down the arms kind of felt like there was sand like I had just been to the beach? And they were visible, white crystals on my right arm. Wow, that's a lot of sweat. I'm not sure weather to be proud or grossed out.

And here's the real difference. Wifey was able to cook dinner, and felt pretty good once she ate enough to recover. I only mixed one scoop of the Recoverite with water, a full dose of it is 2 scoops. That'll teach me to read directions. I'm still (monday morning) fighting tons of lactic acid in the legs, and some basic hip pain. I need to do some yoga today and I think it will work out the last few kinks. But 2 scoops of Recoverite leads to no leg pain after the run, 1 scoop still leaves you hurting. That's some great recovery powder.

Needless to say, I was useless the rest of the weekend. Did some holiday prep, a little leaf blowing, etc. But mostly I just tried to stand as little as possible.

One other strong suggestion: pot roast. Wifey made a pot roast a few days ago in the slow cooker that had the whole house smelling great when it was in the 30's outside. Saturday we cooked up som basmati rice and heated up leftover pot roast. That combination of carbs and protein and a hot meal was fantastic after the long run. We each had a bowl, I loaded mine up with Texas Pete. Oh yea.

I'm so excited about thanksgiving! Just being able to take thursday and friday off of work is going to be fantastic. Of course, I'm slamming 5 days worth of billable hours into only 3 days, so it's going to be a crazy 3 days. Wish me luck!