Search This Blog

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Mid-Run Crisis... and other thoughts

I woke up this morning, ready to go, and after drinking a little, I went out for a nice and easy run.  I was on a sub 8:00 mile when I was suddenly hit with the need to go to the bathroom.  I was 3 miles away from home so I figure I could make it, but as time went by, the hope that I had came crushing down as I was hit with the need to get rid of waste.  I had to take a detour into the forest...  Totally messed up my pace.  But hey, as Forrest Gump says, "It happens."  It reminded me of when I was running my third marathon.  I trained on and off for this, and after about mile 8, I had the urge to dispose of waste products that I could not ignore.  Having to stop in the middle of a race to find a porta-potty, it slowed me down, and the rest of the race was a push to survive.  Needless to say, I didn't do so well.  Fortunately, this time, it was a training run and all it did was get me lost in the woods when I tried to blaze a trail back to the road.  In the morning, I ran 7.43 miles in 1:03:11 (8:30 min/mile).

During the day, I drank a lot of water (more than a gallon) because I studied a little bit about super hydration, and saw the importance of water being in my system.  I decided that during the school day, my goal would be to drink a gallon of water, and after school, keep up the pace and go for half a gallon.  The benefits are astounding, and the effects are worth it, so although I became a frequent bathroom flier, I knew that my body would eventually get used to me.

After work, I went home and there was a surprise waiting for me.  I had bought a pair of New Balance Minimus, and they had finally arrived.  The last few years, I've been running on Asics because they best fit my feet, (and Brooks for my trail runs).  I used to be a New Balance kind of person, but due to the lack of improvement on the shoe, I eventually changed to Asics (especially the Kayanos), which has been working well with me.  When New Balance put out their Minimus, I was really interested in what it could do for me, and so I  decided that I would try it out.  Now Ashley had contacted me during the day for a run, and fortunately, I was going to be house/dog sitting nearby, so I decided that I would run to the park and meet up with her for a run.  The distance from the house to the park was 4.56 miles, and I ran it in 34:30 (7:32 min/mile average) and it was a pretty nice run.  My legs were burning because wearing a Minimus meant that I would have to focus on doing a midfoot strike.  I met up with Ashley, and off we ran after a minute or two of me being there.  Since I didn't want to wear out my calves the first day I got the shoes, we ran nice and easy all the way to her boyfriend's work, 3.55 miles in 38:32 (10:51 min/mile average) and then went back 3.51 miles in 40:11 (11:23 min/mile average).  Because of those new shoes, my calves hurt by the end of the day, and I was really happy to sit down and relax.

Training myself to use my muscles correctly and run efficiently means that I needed to use the proper muscles in the proper way.  I was glad that I was able to work on that, and I'm hoping that through a lot of practice, I would be able to run and improve my form, so that I would be able to run fast and long.

Sometimes, doing the things that are right hurts, but it's a good kind of pain.  Keep at it, and that pain will turn into accomplishments.

2 comments:

  1. Congratulations! You made it! That happened to me once in an area where there was no forest for reprieve. In the US you can get charged with indecent exposure, if you're caught.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Haha, well fortunately, there aren't that many people that run before work so I did not have the 'privilege' of being caught and charged with indecent exposure. Next time... I don't want a next time.

      Delete