long weekend

well, last long weekend is over for a while. was a pretty tough one for me.

we ran 13 on saturday... my legs are just dead. about 2 miles in and i am pretty much done. its just hard to move my legs. too many days doing tile work i guess. i tough out the first 5 miles and then it gets easier. didnt have any sore spots or any thing that hurt. just dead legs. so all in all getting better at prepping for these runs. we left water every 3 miles and only one was missing when we got to it - so not bad at all. finished off tired but not gassed. so all in all a good run. just no jump.

on sunday we ran 22... my legs are just dead. about 2 miles in and i am pretty much done. lol. but today i get a bonus 20 extra miles. we found a 5.5 mile loop about 15 miles from the house and ran around that 4 times. we put water at two places. actually gatorade. i think in the end i drank too much of that - as i usually do when doing a really long run. i switched to water on the last loop.

resa had a strong run - so that was good to see. sadly i was trying to stay up with her for the entire run. the first loop went right away into bad as about halfway around i was pretty much feeling that i would have a really tough time from how i felt.

i also again drank a half bottle of the 5 hour energy drink. from about 5 tries with this stuff i feel it kinda gives me some jitteries - even though the advertising says it wont. just being able to drink it without dieing is pretty good though. i feel it takes about an hour to really get cooking though. i usually drink it minutes before i start - with the thought that if it makes me feel icky - at least i am running at the time. but the first lap and i am gassed. so it certainly didnt seem to be helping during that time.

i fight out the first half lap and we get our drinks. i dump my hat, gloves and sweater as i am sweating a ton. its about 60 degrees out and no wind - so as you can guess i was pretty warm. the second half of the lap is pretty nice. always good to be into the run. the start is not normally bad - but has been the last few months. again i might be starting out too fast. -- or not stretching out enough maybe. the night before we did a lot of massaging and stretching and drinking and i felt as recovered as i ever have.

the end of the first lap and the car has drinks and some candies. so i eat and drink up. the next lap was by far the best, although about 3 minutes slower. it was very relaxing. i think about this time i get a jump from the 5hour energy stuff. not much happened at during this lap. other than the wind went from 1 mph to about 20 mph in about 3 minutes time. the sun went behind some clouds and the temp seemed to drop about 10 degrees plus the wind. so when we got to the halfway point i put the hat and gloves back on. glad they were there still. the second and fourth lap we ran clockwise and the first and third was run counterclockwise. well the first half of the first lap seemed all up hill. like we gained about 300 ft in altitude. seemed that way heading the other direction too. very weird. and it wasnt just me, but resa thought it very odd too. and it felt this way all four times past this area. just weird.

the second lap end and we get more drinks and yummies. more gatorade and cliff bars actually. probably too much junk and not enough water as the third lap goes from ok to really bad at the end. i stagger around the last mile and back to the car. 28 miles in the last 24 hours and i started out totally dead. at this point i am almost ready to say its a good weekend. but after about 10 minutes sitting next to the car in the sun i get my energy back. well enough to stand anyway. i am about a 3 on the 10 scale. we run off and we do about 2 miles before we decide to walk. resa isnt gassed at all but really sore. i am both. we walk a quarter mile and then run to the drinkies. about totally dead... but only 1/8th of the run left - about 3 miles. so we plod on. we run to the hard section and walk up a long hill. i am now about a 2 on the scale. still able to walk but not very fast. hard to see well. the world swooshes back and forth but i can fight it not be taken along with it. resa seems in pretty good shape so i let her talk about stuff while we walk the hill. really just made it to the top. 1.5 miles to the car. i remember thinking about some of the more difficult runs i have been in. this is probably the 4th worst. 2 times on the mtn bike trail and once in columbus were worse. both those times i got to where i couldnt move at all. and at miles 15ish and 12ish. this time i am at mile 20 for the day and 33 for the last 24 hours and i am just teetering on the edge of sitting down. but... somehow i think i have found a bit more physical endurance. i remember greg lemond with his ' it doesnt get easier, but i do get faster. ' maybe i dont get faster, but i do get stronger. i fight back some serious frustration and decide to run the last mile and a half regardless of how i feel. and we do. it wasnt all that hard even. just ran along to the car.

wish i had been ready to start the weekend, but i am totally worn out doing physical stuff down here and the heavy miles lately. but... in weight lifting - which i find very enjoyable - the times you gain the most is when you are willing to push your muscles to the fail point and then reverse fail your sets out to pretty much unable to move. but you cant do that the first year or so you lift weights - or you will be too sore to be any good for weeks. which i have also done. but once you have a good base you can push and push and push. and its mostly going to help you. maybe maybe i have reached that point after a year of running. the point where i go to *almost* failure and i gain from it. i am hoping its this way. funner to run faster each month and set personal records each run. but i did set a personal half marathon record and it was very easy about a week ago. since then i have had 3 very hard runs. i am hoping after some time off and recovery it will make me stronger than if i just pounded out some brainless miles.

so all in all a mixed set of emotions.

still - i guess i cant look on the negative side - i have never done that in sports, and it couldnt help. so i will say rather, that the glass is half full and i have just pushed myself into an even better place - at a pretty steep price.

find out at Goofy. which is our next stop.