« In the Beginning ... | Main | Freescale Marathon Kickoff Party »

August 12, 2004

Good run gone bad

Relating the full story of tonight’s run will require pushing the boundaries of what’s considered “too much information.” But because it might be instructive to someone I’m going to go for it.

I met Al’s Ship of Fools again tonight for their hill workout. It would have been perfect – we did longer (one mile) intervals, which are good for just running rather than doing a workout. I did the first two and a half repeats with my friend Pete, nice and relaxed. Somewhere in the middle of the third interval I realized that all the downhill pounding was taking its toll on my insides and I had to go to the bathroom. So I had to leave my running partners and head back to the store. Unfortunately, we were in the middle of the neighborhood and the store was a half mile away. I had to walk. I was so annoyed.

I remembered that I’d had a similar problem two summers ago while doing hill workouts, and a friend suggested that in my efforts to stay hydrated I was drinking to much water. Her theory, if I understood it right, was that I was drinking more water than my body could absorb and that it was hanging out in my intestines causing problems rather than being absorbed by my tissues. Regardless of whether her theory was right or not, I found if I drank more Gatorade, which has more electrolytes to help with absorption, than water, I could manage to stay hydrated in the summer without having these “problems.”

Anyhow, after my problem was resolved I was still annoyed and ran on the trail rather than re-joining the group. I ran faster than I’d intended, so already this week I’ve had more up-tempo than I’d planned. Part of my up-tempo had to do with the fact that as I was starting, running over the bridge, there was a girl right on my tail, making all kinds of noise. She stayed on my tail nearly all the way across the bridge, which is approximately 300 yards. Finally when we got to the other side of the bridge she blazed by me. She ran a little less than a half mile and then pulled over and quit. I wonder if she ever started up again.

This morning's run with the girls was really nice. We had perfect temperatures and the pace was really relaxed. I can only hope tomorrow is as good!

Posted by jenandmats at August 12, 2004 9:35 PM