Wednesday, October 22, 2014

WWU - 8 Muggy Miles

In the week leading up to our 8 miler on Saturday, the weather was beautiful for running - early morning temps were in the mid-50s, with humidity in the 70-ish percentile.  Running felt AWESOME.  One thing about slogging through months and months of running in heat and high humidity is that as soon as a cool front comes in, I can run like a Kenyan.  OK, maybe not quite that fast, but in comparison to the effort I have to put in during the hot months, I feel like I'm flying.  In fact, Cary and I even ran the first mile of our Thursday run straight through - no intervals.  It felt great!  But then we decided to do the remainder of the run with intervals so we could chat, which, let's face it, is a big part of why we like to run together.  Still - I had two super runs that week.

And then, Saturday morning dawned.  I was happy to see that it was only 60 degrees, but ack - the humidity level was 100%.  So it was foggy and muggy - but at least no rain.  It was a business as usual run at that point...just one of those "get 'er done" runs.  And while it wasn't a run where I felt like I was flying, I did feel pretty good, which is something noteworthy considering it was an 8 miler, and the last time I ran 8 miles I felt awful for pretty much the entire run.  As Amy and I ran together we saw five deer (two beautiful bucks and three does), and a gorgeous orange sunrise coming up through the fog and over the trees.  I couldn't have asked for a nicer start to my day, truly.

For this long run, I changed up my fueling a little.  I normally run on empty, meaning I don't eat before I run.  It works fine for my weekly runs, because I'm awake and running within 45 minutes of my alarm going off.  But on Saturdays, I'm awake at 4:00 am, on the road at 5:00 am with Jeff setting out water and Gatorade for the stops along the route, but I don't actually begin running until shortly after 6:00 am.  By then, I'm getting a little hungry.  So I actually ate something while I did my warm up walk - a package of Special K Pastry Crisps.  Cary recommended these to me a while ago, and I've tried them at home and knew they sat well with my stomach - they are just light enough (and taste like a pop tart, truth be told) to quell that little bit of hunger.  I also bribed myself with M&M's as my fuel for this run, instead of using my usual GU.  While the M&M's don't have the same sodium and potassium amounts of GU or other specially formulated sports fuel, they were pretty darn tasty and I didn't have a stomachache after the run.  I'll probably add in at least one GU to the M&M's for next week's run, since it's even longer (ack), but I'll keep the candy in the picture as well.  Hey, whatever works, right?

After the run, there was a lot of general merriment going on - we manage to have a good time together.  Each week we award one runner with a "GU'd Job" pat on the back, along with a packet of Salted Caramel GU, and after the run, when it's light enough, we take a picture of the runner with their prize for the newsletter.  This week, Cristy was the recipient, and she also wins the best pose award:
Dramatic reenactment - she ate her GU on the run.

Then we went to Blue Baker - there were so many of us that we couldn't fit into our regular booth, so we took up one huge section of the restaurant.  I got my baby fix again with Loretta's grandson:
It's all good when you have a sweet baby in your arms.

And naturally, there was the usual food ordered, although this week Jeff and I just split one bagel (multi-grain with strawberry cream cheese, yum):
This was good, but I think I'm over the bacon...Jeff isn't, so he'll get all three pieces next week.

I felt fine for running 8 miles, but around 2:00 pm, Jeff and I both had a massive case of runger (hunger brought on by running).  As we were just settling in to watch the (terrible) Aggie football game at home, we ended up throwing a frozen pizza in the oven and ate that...times two.  Next time, we'll skip watching the game and head out for some Mexican food - I think there would be less heartburn, all things considered.  And in case you're wondering, yes - Saturday eats are pretty much a free-for-all; comes with the heavier mileage.  I figure one wonky day per week won't be the end of me, and we'll scale back after the Houston half marathon in January.

16 comments:

  1. D**n comment lost! Okay here we go again:

    Woohoo for great runs!

    Like you I never eat before my morning runs but back when I was training for a half I did eat an hour before every run over 6 miles because I needed the fuel. Without it I would collapse somewhere during the run. I used to eat my breakfast after a workout but lately I'm not hungry and bring breakfast to work and eat about 2 hours after a workout. This works better for me at the moment.

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    1. You have company - it ate my first reply, too. :(

      After I do my shorter run during the week, I usually have coffee, Nuun, and sometimes a chocolate milk. Then I'm not hungry for breakfast for hours, either. Nice, because then lunch is really light. :)

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  2. Those pastry thingys are perfect pre-long run fuel! So glad you tried that. Back when our running group was together we had a runner who used M&Ms and Coke as his during the run fuel. He actually was the one who taught me just to figure out what I could do and not have a stomach ache afterwards (like I always did with drinks and gels). So happy for you!

    You know what else is great about babies? They don't care if it IS a sweaty runner holding them, they just like to be held!

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    1. Haha, I thought you'd be happy with seeing some pre-run fuel!!! :)

      That baby is such a sweetie. He was passed around and handled it like a champ. We were all smelling his head - ahhh, baby head scent. But yeah, I think we handed back a pretty stinky baby back to his parents, and it wasn't coming from the diaper, lol!

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  3. Good for you for putting in those runs! I always flip out when I see deer on my run. I haven't since early summer, so I'm okay. I don't know if you were reading our blog last year, but I wrote about my deer encounter on the trail and how he blocked my path, snorted at me and went up on his hind legs. So of course I am a little spazzed out when I see them now.

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    1. The deer in this neighborhood are really tame - but I do worry about the errant "left behind" deer who comes blasting out of the bushes when we see one or two deer cross the road in front of us...I hope to never get mowed over by one like that. Your encounter would have me freaked out - that was an aggressive deer!!!

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  4. I love that strawberry cream cheese! That is the only reason for eating a bagel. I don't remember humidity in cooler temps from my time in TX. Yuck.

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  5. It didn't finish my comment. I said 'but M&M's, yumm 😀

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    1. That strawberry cream cheese is sooooo good!!! Jeff had M&M's during his run and made sure that we still have enough for this week's long run - I think we both are sold on them. :)

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  6. Every time I see that cinnamon twist I get a craving for one, and I don't normally go after sweet stuff - yum!

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    1. It's damn delicious, I'm telling you...and not all that sweet, too.

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  7. Blogger ate up my comment!

    I am glad to see you eat before an 8 mile run. When I ran, anything over 3 miles in the a.m. and I needed something. Biking I can do a max of 8 before bonking in the morning - so we never went farther than that on the way *to* brekkie :D

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  8. OMG, that baby??? OMG! Adorable!!!

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