Wednesday, March 8, 2017

WWU - 8+8=16

It's interesting, having a running buddy who is training for a marathon.  Especially one who doesn't hurt after running many, many miles - I mean, after that hot and humid Houston half marathon, where everyone in our group was wrecked?  She felt perfectly fine.  I promise you that Diane isn't a robot, but I don't understand how she can run twice as far as me and feel so darn good afterward, while I'm dealing with sore muscles and taking Motrin and laying on my heated mattress pad!  Which is why she's going to run a marathon soon - hey, if it doesn't hurt, then now is the time to go for it.

So in keeping with her schedule, I bumped up my weekly mileage a bit, running 3 miles last Tuesday and 4 miles last Thursday, because that's what her training called for.  This week, we ran 4 miles yesterday and will run 5 miles tomorrow, and then we only (only!) have to run 10 miles on Saturday.  Whew!  But I'm getting ahead of myself - here's how her 16 miler on Saturday went down.

Jeff is an early-morning person, so he volunteered to run with Diane for her first 8 miles.  They met up at 4:00 am and ran two 4 mile loops; I was driving over to our clubhouse and spotted their blinking lights at the water stop nearby, so we timed the hand-off perfectly.  Cary and I set out running with Diane at that point; our plan was to run to the new closed road and then run up and down it several times - that road is perfectly flat and great for getting in some mindless miles where you don't have to contend with anything but the occasional group of deer grazing nearby.

We ran up and back while it was still pretty dark; Cary dropped off to run back to the clubhouse at that point, while Diane and I soldiered on.  By then it was getting lighter, and we saw a camouflaged  porta potty that we'd run by twice already but hadn't noticed until then.  Our walking interval worked out perfectly for Diane to take a couple of pictures of it:
This is on a new road in the fancy neighborhood that we run through; I guess it only makes sense that they try to gussy up the porta potties during construction!

After he recovered from his 8 miles, Jeff drove in from the open section of the road (no one drives on it, because right now there's nothing there) and dropped off a jug of water so we could refill our bottles, which worked out great.  I drank an entire bottle of Tailwind and ate a package of Sports Beans (half at mile 3 and the rest at mile 6) and I felt good - no bonking there, nor did my stomach get all yucky.  Once I was finished with the Tailwind I just refilled my bottle with plain water; I've ordered some portable Tailwind stick packs to carry with me on future long runs, so I'll be able to keep up with that once I've depleted my first bottle.

Diane and I kept running and eventually we hit the magic number where we could leave the closed road and head back to the clubhouse.  We ran back and BOOM - she hit 16 miles on her Garmin - another distance record for her!  I hit 8 miles, which is a lot for me when I'm not training for a half marathon.  I didn't set out to run this much after Houston, but I have to say, it's not bad, and I like running with Diane and helping support her as she works toward her marathon goal.  While I was pretty sore on Saturday, I felt fine the following day, so I should be able to keep up with running these longer distances.  I'd like to think it will help for the two races that I will be doing in the next six weeks, but knowing me, probably not.

After we finished, we chatted with everyone before changing and heading over to Blue Baker.  Meanwhile, Jeff had gone home, showered, napped, and was already at BB waiting for us.  To get us moving faster, he texted the following picture:
Fresh, hot ciabatta!  Our baker takes care of us.  
My breakfast - scones!  Bacon cheddar, and raspberry.  I couldn't finish them, but after running 8 miles, everything looked good when I was standing in line to order, so I indulged in two flavors.

We had a great time at breakfast and even got to play "pass the baby" with Mason, as CC and Loretta came for a little while.  Mason was a good sport with letting a bunch of smelly runners cuddle him.

This Saturday is a drop in mileage for Diane - she only has to run 10 miles.  Which I plan on doing with her, which means it's an uptick in miles for me.  Runner's math - the only time when the person who is training for a long distance does less while the training buddy does more - I don't get it, but I'll be there to run alongside of her, regardless of the math.

20 comments:

  1. How great that you are running with your friend! So maybe you can just sign up for a half, since you'll be all trained...

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    1. There's not a lot of halfs in our area now, but that thought did cross my mind. Of course, after I run the 10 miles on Saturday, I'll probably remember that I don't like running that much and *poof* those half thoughts will be gone, LOL!

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  2. I have to tell you that between you and Helen, I am starting to get my running pants on. I live in a very hilly neighborhood, but I am up to running 3/4 of a mile without stopping at a 12 minute mile pace - slowly building up my endurance. It helps that I am 18 pounds less too! :D But right now I want a bite of both those scones!

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  3. Um, I'm totally going to say you need to find a long race to run and by long I mean at least 10K if not 10 miles or another half. You are training for it firl!

    Also, I'm super jealous of these buddy runs and it makes me miss Pete. Wah! I want a running buddy!

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    1. Also, when I come to visit you, I'm going to make you "my" Bacon/Cheddar scones. We might even share with the Renegades.

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    2. I have a five miler race coming up in a few weeks, and a 10K next month, but that's the race where the first half is all hills, so it's more of a survival/fun run.

      I will totally try your bacon/cheddar scones. I may not share them, though. ;)

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  4. You are a super friend for running such long miles to help a friend out! And Jeff getting up at 4am--either crazy, or a super friend too!

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  5. Your running group is just awesome!!!

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  6. Wow, I can't believe Jeff gets up to run at 4 am!!!! That is dedication to your friend. It's nice that she has all of you to support her in her training.
    That's funny how they make the port o potty all fancy!

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    1. She's a good person and easy to want to support. :)

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  7. That support is great! You may as well enter another race since you are keeping up your running :D

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  8. You are really good friends helping Diane with her training. Perfect solution to both do 8 miles with her. That's what friends are for.

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    1. Diane is fun to run with - we have a good time as we cover the miles!

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  9. I had the same thought as others when I read this - you should sign up for another race! That's awesome that you're still tackling that kind of mileage in your long runs, and even better that you get to keep a friend company :)

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    1. Oh P.S., since the most important thing to me is baked goods... those scones look really good! Bacon cheddar sounds awesome, but wow, that raspberry one. YUM!

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    2. The raspberry scone was amazing. :)

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