Chasing Storms
Pretty sure that's how it went from 4:00am to 4:50am Saturday morning...
Over sleeping on a morning you are running eighteen miles is not a good thing. I jumped up, looked at the clock for another minute, thought about what I needed to do before I left the house and realized I was not going to make it to meet the group in ten minutes. Somehow I remembered that the day's route would go right by my neighborhood. I got dressed, took my dog out and headed out the door. As I made it to the entrance to my neighborhood I could see lights coming down the road. I could not believe how well I timed meeting the group!
I ended up meeting the group at their two mile mark. Everyone, but me, was running fourteen miles so I was going to have to make up an extra six miles at the end.
As we ran down the road, I could see the outline of clouds and lightning in the distance. The storm seemed to stay ahead of us as we ran. It felt like we were chasing the storm. We made a right turn and then another until we were moving away from the lightning. I could still hear the thunder behind us.
We ran at a pretty slow pace until we hit the Mount Pleasant Water Front Park. We picked it up to nearly marathon pace for about three miles. I ended up slowing down for two miles as I made it back to St. Andrews. I still had six miles left, but everyone else was done. I spent a couple of minutes refueling and then headed out on my own.
I ran to the end of the Pitt Street pier and then back to Ben Sawyer Blvd. As I ran, I noticed that the storms were still ahead of me. It was cool to see the huge clouds and hear the thunder in the distance.
I was feeling pretty strong at this point (my refueling plan had worked fine: gels at 5, 10 and 15 miles; salt pills at 6 and 12 miles). The biggest problem I had was over heating. I have not felt that hot in a long time and it really got to me. I stopped at a gas station and refilled my water bottle and then headed home.
The run was exactly eighteen miles and I felt every mile. But it sure was cool chasing storms on a Saturday morning...
Weekly Recap:
Sunday - rest
Monday - 10 mile recovery run over the bridge
Tuesday - track workout (1x800 warm up, drills, 1x400, 1x800, 1x1200, 1x1600 - 400 recovery on each, 1x1200 cool down)
Wednesday - 4 miles steady state run
Thursday - 8 miles on the bridge (some tempo)
Friday - rest
Saturday - 18 mile long run
Total = 45 miles for the week
Over sleeping on a morning you are running eighteen miles is not a good thing. I jumped up, looked at the clock for another minute, thought about what I needed to do before I left the house and realized I was not going to make it to meet the group in ten minutes. Somehow I remembered that the day's route would go right by my neighborhood. I got dressed, took my dog out and headed out the door. As I made it to the entrance to my neighborhood I could see lights coming down the road. I could not believe how well I timed meeting the group!
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| Photo sent in by a reader |
As we ran down the road, I could see the outline of clouds and lightning in the distance. The storm seemed to stay ahead of us as we ran. It felt like we were chasing the storm. We made a right turn and then another until we were moving away from the lightning. I could still hear the thunder behind us.
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| Pitt Street Bridge |
I ran to the end of the Pitt Street pier and then back to Ben Sawyer Blvd. As I ran, I noticed that the storms were still ahead of me. It was cool to see the huge clouds and hear the thunder in the distance.
I was feeling pretty strong at this point (my refueling plan had worked fine: gels at 5, 10 and 15 miles; salt pills at 6 and 12 miles). The biggest problem I had was over heating. I have not felt that hot in a long time and it really got to me. I stopped at a gas station and refilled my water bottle and then headed home.
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| Storm outside my house |
Weekly Recap:
Sunday - rest
Monday - 10 mile recovery run over the bridge
Tuesday - track workout (1x800 warm up, drills, 1x400, 1x800, 1x1200, 1x1600 - 400 recovery on each, 1x1200 cool down)
Wednesday - 4 miles steady state run
Thursday - 8 miles on the bridge (some tempo)
Friday - rest
Saturday - 18 mile long run
Total = 45 miles for the week
It must be pretty nice to have the waterfront in running distance!
ReplyDeleteGreat job on your long run! What marathon are you training for?
Thanks Kathrin! It is nice to be able to run to the water front park.
ReplyDeleteI am running two marathons in November. Monumental in Indy and Valley of Fire in NV.