Yeah, That Pretty Much Sucked!

This weekend was suppose to be a great training weekend for me, especially after last weekends confidence builder. The schedule called for a 45 mile ride, and I did 48 miles!  WIN! I felt good also. Sunday called for a 12 mile run, which I thought I was ready for, but I got my butt kicked.

I blame the heat for the most part. I only finished 8 of the 12 scheduled miles. It was a hot 98 degrees on Sunday when I started my run, and I expected it to be hot. My plan was to run the Green Line in Memphis, it is basically a straight shot for 6.5 miles, so you can go almost 13 miles on this path. My plan was to run it 3 miles, turn around and run back 3 miles, then refill water bottles and repeat. This way I could avoid over heating and all that stuff.

My plan did not work. The first 6 miles I managed to keep a 9:15 pace, but after that it sucked hard. So looking back at that run, I know of several things I did wrong (besides the obvious of running at 2:30 PM)

1. I did not hydrate well enough the week leading up to my run. I remember telling my wife that I did not drink enough water that week, plus I was out of town, so my sleep schedule and eating was out of whack. I ate out Tuesday through Thursday and did not always make the best choices.
2. I did not drink enough on the route. I always carry a fuel belt that contains 2 10ounces bottles. My goal was to drink one on the first 3 miles, and the other on the way back and then refill them. I drank maybe half a bottle the entire 1st 6 miles. I also only had Gatorade in the bottles, no plain, cold water. By the time I was thirsty and tried to down my Gatorade, it had gotten hot and almost made me throw it up.
3. Shoes- I run in two different pairs of shoes. My Glycerin's and in my Pure Cadence, both by Brooks (Run Happy). Normally I run shorter distances in the Cadence's and longer in the Glycerin's, except yesterday I switched and had the Cadence for the longer distance. Now I have no data to back this up, but I know for me, the Cadence is a shorter distance shoe.
4. This is probably the most important mistake, I went out to fast. I ran with my buddy Chris B who is training for IM Florida, and I told him I wanted to run between a 9 minute pace and a 9:30 pace. He was only doing a 50 minute run on this day, so he was fine. Looking back though, I probably should have toned it down even more to like a 10 minute pace due to the heat. I know that for me, long runs should be slower. I have to stop worrying about pace on long runs.

Like I said, I made the first 6 miles, and tried to take a few minutes to cool down, refill bottles, drink water, and come up with a new plan because I knew I did not have another 6 miles in me at this point, and I wanted to be able to drive home. So I altered my route to try and get in at least 10 miles that day, but again, when I started having trouble doing simple math during my run, I knew it was best to call it a day.

As I am winding down to my HIM race, my workouts are getting harder and harder to fit in before work due to the distance involved, which makes me wonder about doing an IM, but I do know that crossing the finish line, with a new PR, will make all the heat worth it.

So be careful in the heat, and hydrate!!! Having a plan to battle the heat is important, but executing that plan is even more important!