Training Log (7/7) 13 miles – Weekly total: 30 miles!
A glance over to the calendar showed 13 miles scheduled for today in my NYC Marathon training plan, but the weather report showed a 102F forecast with 110F heat index. What to do? I was also continuing to test the new Brooks Flows which had gotten in runs of 2, 2.5, 5 and 6 miles and wanted to stretch them out a bit more. I decided to start at 6:40AM and do 8 miles before the club run in the Flows while it was still in the lower 80s and then run the remaining 5 with the club in the retiring Ghost 4s.
The plan SEEMED golden all through the morning run. I did the all the calculations and figured a 6:40 start time would allow me to go the 8 miles and would still be able to meet up with the 8AM club run even if I ran a 10 minute mile, which given the weather, was a real possibility. I figured it would be NICE if I could average more like a 9:30 mile and then have 4-5 minutes to change my shoes and refill my water bottles, but I wasn’t going to push it in the heat.
The shocking thing was I felt great! No aches or pains, HR in an acceptable level, my stride was light and quick, and the pace through 6 miles or so was below 9:00 m/m. Maybe it was the off day yesterday or the lighter shoes or I just like to sweat. I slowed the pace down the last 2 miles intentionally knowing I still had 5 to go on the next leg AND that the temperature was about to skyrocket. I also didn’t want to get back too soon and stand around for 10 minutes. Still a great pace and good first leg of today’s run. Things were about to change though….
I got back from the awesome pre-club run with plenty of time (7 minutes) to change shoes/socks, refill my bottles, dunk my head under the sink, soak my hat, eat a clif bar, and even chit chat a bit with fellow club members. The nice thing about getting out early was that I had already completed 8 of the 13 miles and this next leg would just be a little jaunt with no goal or deadline to be back for. The bad news is the temperature was now in the mid-80s and climbing, with choking humidity to match.
Pushed off with the club and settled into about a 9:30 pace. I figured I’d get this leg done around 9:30 to 10 pace, but could always slow down if the heat got to me. I got to the turn at 2.5 miles keeping the 9:30 pace and then things got…SLOOOOOW. It seemed like someone took an already hot oven and cranked the knob some more just for fun. My HR shot up to around 95% max, my feet felt like bricks, my hydration belt seemed loose now that my shirt was dripping wet and was annoying me. This was NOTHING like the pre-club run a mere hour earlier!
I should have started 20 minute earlier and did 10 and 3 instead of 8 and 5, but too late now that I was in running furnace hell. I figured better to be safe than sorry and decided to walk the first .25 of the next mile and run the remaining .75, which felt much better. I repeated that tactic on the last mile as well and ended up surviving the heat/humid death march, but also questioned myself for walking lol Sometimes I wonder if it is safer/smart OR if you do it because you’re over thinking and especially with the HR monitor screaming at you and aiding in the conservative approach. I know..I know…live to run another day :)
I’ll end with saying it was my first EVER 30 mile week….whoooooo! :) Next week’s schedule shows my first 8 mile midweek run and the total pushed up to 32 miles. Onward and upward!
I am running the 2012 ING NYC MARATHON with Fred’s Team to raise funds for critical cancer research at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. Please consider donating to support my run and THANK YOU! Here is the link to donate: http://ht.ly/arn7g
