A note to self that if I’m going to run longer, I need to figure out how to hydrate and take in some calories during the run. Things I’ve read about but I’ve never really gotten up the miles to seriously consider. This morning I ended up doing 13.1 miles half on the road, half on the greenbelt — a hilly route (including my mile six that has The Hill of Life — a 300 verticle foot climb over a third of a mile). I didn’t set out to go that distance, but after running a little over 11 miles last week I thought I might as well explore a little more and then at some point, tired as I was, what was a few extra miles?
Compared to my sub-two-hour finish in my official road race at the start of March, I spent an extra thirty minutes on my feet today. And somewhere around mile ten, I decided that I needed to figure out how to carry water. Somewhere around when my audiobook — I started listening to Ultramarathon Man this morning — was narrating the runner’s desire for a cheeseburger, I couldn’t stop thinking of my own (I did get one afterward, complete with onion rings and a strawberry shake from Mighty Fine’s).
Overall though I was slow today — not that I’m beating myself up about it — but I wonder if part of it is not giving my body what it needs on these longer runs. I know if I want to go any further than 13 that I definitely need to start carrying more than my phone with me.
It also will probably help me recover better instead of needing to chug a couple of bottles of water, pop ibuprofen, and sip Diet Coke in hopes I don’t get a headache that knocks me out for the afternoon (I managed okay today, though I did end up taking a nap which is uncharacteristic for me). It seems like a clear sign that I’m pushing my body too far where I could be taking better care of it on the run.
There are mountains of information on how to do this properly — it’s more a matter of starting to experiment and buying a different running belt that can hold a small water bottle (if only the greenbelt had water fountains along the trail and so much of this would be solved).
I’m not training for anything specific right now, but I have the time right? Why not.
With Love,
Natalie