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January 29, 2006
Lacking Good Judgment
Days like yesterday show how much I can be swayed into doing things that might not be in my best interest. I won't go so far as to say what I did was stupid, but there was no good reason for doing it, either. It wasn't even so much giving into peer pressure since it was originally my idea, although I never voiced it to anyone-I just went along with what someone else wanted to do.
Since we run quite early in the morning, it was still on the cool side when we got started yesterday. The day ended up being really warm, but it was still in the low 30s when we left and didn't get much warmer while we were out. Initially it looked like there weren't going to be many people, but about half the group pulled into the parking lot at 6:59. Most of the group was doing an 80 minute loop, but I knew that I was supposed to jump up mileage this week and J, my triathlete training partner, wanted to go longer. He suggested a loop that he and I did once last spring that is quite a bit longer. We don't know exactly how long this route it because we do it so infrequently. In a way, I like that because there is no way to race your previous outings on it if you don't do it that often. I was kind of surprised that he wanted to do this loop because when we did it last year he had a really ba day. Our loop was the same as the other loop for the first five miles or so, but we had all broken into different groups by that point.
I tried to go to the bathroom before leaving, but sometimes things don't happen when you want them to. As soon as we started to run, the sensation came. The past few weeks this has happened on Saturday mornings, only to fade as the run goes on. Yesterday it faded for a while, but after a while it came back and was not going to fade at all. We were running along a road that is in the middle of nowhere that you would think there would be a place to hide, but it was all out in the open because the trees were so bare. Finally, I saw a spot that was a little bit hidden, so I went in there and J continued up the road. Just my luck, I had to climb through sticker bushes to get to my hiding spot, but there was no way that I could have continued on this run without a pit stop.
I wanted to map this loop yesterday, but the mapping system doesn't seem to work on our home computer. It probably has something to do with a seriously slow dial-up connection. This afternoon I tried to do it from the office computer and wanted to see the elevation profile on it, but the elevation tracking wasn't working for some reason. According to that it was about 15.5 miles.
Poor J was having a bad day again yesterday. We were coming up the last hill when an eighteen wheeler came by us and the next thing I knew he was walking. I don't think that he'll ever want to do this course again. We decided that even if it is shorter than our traditional long run, it is much tougher so it beats your body up more.
After running I went to the gym and rode the bike for 45 minutes. When I got off, my legs didn't feel refreshed at all. I stretched some, but it didn't really help that much. I know what this means, but didn't feel like stopping on the way home. Lifting was the same as always.
This morning, my legs told me that I was stupid yesterday. Why did I jump up to nearly 16 hilly miles when my longest run this season was barely 13? Stupid, pure stupidity. An ice bath yesteray would have helped, but I was too lazy to go to the store on the way home. My run was pathetic. I did my usual Sunday trail run, slower than normal. Now I have a game on Sunday to try to keep my heart rate as low as possible. Always competetive in some way.
It was warmer this morning, but not hot. It started to drizzle for a little bit while I was out. If it had really started to rain I would have been one very unhappy person. It was only about 45 degrees and I was wearing shorts. If I'd gotten soaked, I would have been freezing and very grumpy about it. After about ten minutes the drizzle stopped, so it was bearable. I did the loop about a minute and a half slower than normal, with my heart rate average at 143. This really means nothing since it was all over the place for the first fifteen minutes. The only thing it really means is that it was an easy run, as it was supposed to be.
Today I did stop to buy ice on the way home. Our water is significantly colder coming out of the pipes in the winter. It was so cold that I had to add some hot water to the cold water to even get into the tub before adding the ice. In the summer I can hop right in without a problem, not so today. Once the ice was in, it hardly melted in the ten minutes that I soaked. Once I got out, I was freezing, walking around the house bundled up and in a hat. Yes, I looked like an idiot, but I felt better.
I have about six loads of laundry to put away so that I can pack. The stupid run on Saturday gives me some confidence that I can run a hilly half marathon next Sunday. I realize that it takes ten days or so for a workout to actually affect your fitness, but it gives me a mental boost to know that I can cover that much ground at a good clip. As J put it, on Saturday I was dialed in. The main agenda is to give a good, decent effort. The last thing I want to do is get sick to my stomach in a different country, in somebody else's house. It's one thing to be at home, but another to be a burden to other people. Also, it is a long flight home the next day that could be very ugly if my stomach acts the way it can after long races.
At some point in the next few weeks, I want to update the scrapbook I have from my races. A few years ago I was so good about keeping it up. Now there are just newspaper clippings all over the place. At the Christmas party I was inspired by the scrapbook that J's mother kept for him. It could be a massive undertaking to put it together, but it should be worth the effort.
Well, I think that I have written enough for one day. I need to finish my log for the week to see where I am and then work on those other things, like cleaning.
Posted by Blondie at January 29, 2006 07:02 PM
Comments
Hello...i am sure you are quiet about it on purpose---but I am so curious where you are going!!
Good luck!!!!! Sounds exciting!
Posted by: Audrey at January 29, 2006 08:49 PM
Don't worry. I've been running since I was 10 and have all the stuff for scrapbooking, but all my articles/pictures continue to be piled up in a box. That's many years of organizing to work through.
Posted by: Caitlin at January 29, 2006 10:31 PM