Remember what I said about suffering...the suffering is repeated until the lesson is learned.
Mr. Prophet
The weekend was very busy in our household with running, chores, cheerleading, Halloween party at the Craver’s (awesome party Jeff), yard work, grocery shopping, cooking and of course football.
When weekend’s are piled high with activities our eating suffers a bit. We tend to eat on the go or eat foods that fit the activity. Pizza, chili, pulled pork, h’orderves, chips, popcorn, ribs, fries, beans, cole slaw, beer and more beer and to top it off a piece of homemade Smore pie. Every morsel was delicious, but at 2:40AM this morning, my stomach was not feeling the love of what I had pig out on for the last 36+ hours. I woke at this time with such a pain in my stomach it felt as if the Alien was attempting to chew its way through the lining of my stomach and explode out of my belly. I got out of bed and headed to bathroom to fish around for the Tums. I down a few of these and returned to bed. The antacids only abided the constant grinding a small portion to keep me awake the rest of the night.
When 5AM hit I had to make a decision on what I was going to do, either lay in bed and toss and turn or get up and attempt a 9-mile tempo run. Neither of these options sounded appealing, but I had to do something. Lying in bed was too uncomfortable. Therefore, I got up and slowly put on my running gear. As I dressed, I figured if this event were going to be too taxing on the gut, I would just head off to work.
I did my morning routine and headed out the door, in the car and down the road to LTF. The 9-mile ride was to my destination was miserable. Every bump upset messed with my gut, I was tired from lack of sleep and had a lot of doubt that what I was traveling this road to accomplish was going to come up short.
The drive, entering the facility, getting my gear on, talking with Bob (running 10-mile tempo outside), walking up stairs and even breathing was labored. I saw Chris and Ann Marie on the Wood Way treadmills and decided if I was going to attempt this run I might as well do it near people I can pulled some energy off of. I hopped on the treadmill next to Ann Marie, all decked out from her head to her calves in pink. I commented that she looked like a big piece of bubble gum as she chuckled and got back to business. Ann Marie was running her 10-mile tempo run just like the Dynamic Duo at her pace, 8:25/mile.
I started the first mile at my designated warm up pace of 8:34/mile. The first .25 miles my stomach sloshed, gurgled and kicked giving me every sign to stop right now and get off. I started to sip on water and focused my breathing as I hit the .3-mile mark.
After a few more minutes on the hamster wheel, I believe the endorphins kicked in and settled my stomach down. The pain had subsided and I was able to run with more ease on the first mile warm up. After the first mile warm-up, I felt in tune and decided to attempt the rest of the workout:
2 Miles @ 6:31 pace
1 Mile @ 8:05 Pace
1 Mile @ 6:31 Pace
1 Mile @ 8:05 Pace
2 Miles @ 6:31 Pace average on this one. (Dialed it down in the beginning but hit the average at the end)
1 Mile EZ @ 8:34 Pace
After the third, one miler Chris had completed his workout and was stretching. Ann Marie was on the home stretch with 3 miles to go as well. We needed to calculate her pace in order for her to speed up the tread mile to hit the average 8:25/Mile. The treadmill goes either 8:28 or 8:20, not 8:25. With a few calculations on my last 2-mile interval, we decided she needed to increase the speed now to 8:20/mile to average out. Ann Marie dialed it up to 8:20/mile and cruised to the finish.
I finished about .75 miles ahead of her as Brian walked over and we chatted about the weekend, Hunstville Marathon and wearing music on the course. This was a tough workout but I made it through the gut wrenching issues.
While talking, Ann Marie found out that listening to music is against the rules on this course and she stated that she needed and wanted to wear her iPod during the race. I advised her to look up in the rules to see what the penalty would be for wearing an iPod. The rule in marathons is typically that you will lose you place winner position if you are in contention for a placing.
Ann Marie and Brian continued to chat while headed off to stretch. As I was stretching, Ann Marie came over and we talked about her climb with her family and friends up Yonah Mountain. She said it was a great time hiking and actually scaling the side of the mountain. I need to look into this for a family adventure.
It was time to head off to work. We parted ways and she indicated that she would see me in the pool tomorrow.
Time for an update on the runners after their 20 mile run last week:
Sarah and Wren continue to get stronger with hitting their mark at 9:11’s on average. My wife is looking very fit these days and I know she is proud of her accomplishments.
Tracey has been under the weather and has not updated as of today on her 20-mile run.
Ann Marie ran the columns with some friends on Saturday and hit 8:32’s/mile. A little too fast but she will get the pace down. She is looking strong but needs to have confidence in her ability.
Bob & Jay averaged 8:24’s, which again is a little too fast. However, they are very aware of pace and continue to work on it.
These runners have come a long way hitting the half way mark of the 18-week program. The next couple of weeks will gear their bodies for running at race pace. This is the Meat and Potatoes of the training and I am here to help each one of them get through this portion. I have confidence in this group of athletes and am eager for the results at the end of these 9 weeks.
With all the advise I have given these athletes, it is time that I give some to myself. I have learned my lesson on this weekend’s pig fest. Everything in moderation. Pushing 150.2lbs after the weekend.
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