Training week recap: June 27 - July 3, 2016

Happy July 4th to all of my American comrades!

Popping in for a quick hello and recap of my training week.

MONDAY - 10 minutes stationary biking, 30 minutes upper-body lifting
TUESDAY - Yoga class, run 3 miles
WEDNESDAY - Zumba class
THURSDAY - Run 3 miles on treadmill, 15 minutes lower-body lifting
FRIDAY - Rest
SATURDAY - Run 12 miles
SUNDAY - Rest

It was a pretty uneventful training week. The only item of note was my long run on Saturday morning. I mentioned here that I ran part of the Chicago Marathon course, which took me past a crowd of elderly Chinese folks doing tai chi in the U.S. Cellular Field parking lots. But let's talk a bit about other factors of the run.

In short, I just wanted to get the run over with so I could relax and enjoy the rest of the long weekend. Normally I'm not big on getting up before sunrise on weekends. However, the motivations change when the alternative is to slug through a long run in blistering heat and humidity. That morning, I set my alarm for 5:30 AM and got myself out the door as fast as I could.

Thankfully, weather was not a factor this day. The skies were overcast and the temperatures stayed in the mid-60s throughout the entire run. It felt quite nice!

The much, much, much bigger factor was fueling. As I mentioned here, I've been trying to be better about my eating habits, most notably my portion sizes. However, I am learning it's a very, very fine line between fueling properly to do a double-digit run versus eating too much or not enough.

Before departing, I ate a sandwich thin with peanut butter, plus a banana. Normally, this plus a mid-run GU is sufficient to get me through a long run. Unfortunately, I didn't realize until mid-run that my dinner the night before wasn't going to hold me over.

I started feeling hunger pains around Mile 7. Based on my intended 12-mile distance, at that point on the route I was almost 5 miles away from home. In the interest of hauling around as little gear with me as possible, I wasn't carrying any money, extra gels, food, or my phone. Definitely not my smartest decision, especially considering I've made this mistake before.

DERP!!!

I had little choice but to push through the remaining 5 miles to get home. As you might expect, those 5 miles were tough. Really tough. Thankfully my legs and the rest of my body felt comparatively fine, but it was hard to ignore my growling stomach. It was so loud that I was probably turning the heads of anyone I was passing on the sidewalk.

Of course I kept running by all kinds of street vendors, businesses, and restaurants emitting delicious aromas. Tacos, grilled meats, bakeries, you name it - everything smelled amazing and I wanted to devour it all. I felt like one of those cartoon characters that floats in the air towards the smell of food, e.g.:

When I finally got home, there has never been a time in my life when food tasted so good. I was so ravenous that you could have given me a plate of gruel with a big cup of sludge to drink, and I would have downed it all in a New York minute!

Note to self (again and again) that as cumbersome as it is to run feeling like a pack mule, it's better to be prepared than to run on empty. Either that, or I do need to stick with the smaller, more boring loop routes where I can stop back at home if anything arises.

Now that we've got that story of craziness out of the way - once again, happy July 4th! I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday and enjoys all of the fabulous outdoor festivities! I'm on my way out the door now. =)

--

Linking up with HoHo and Tricia for the Weekly Wrap.