Tuesday, August 01, 2006
Hope you like sweat.
It's been really hot & humid here in Chicago lately, so I've been trying to take it easier and not push too hard. However the popular "105° heat index" excuse isn't enough to paper over my poor performance last weekend.
On Sunday the 23rd I ran my aforementioned CDC test. Then came Monday night and a work party at a downtown bowling lounge. Tuesday was spent recovering, so there's one training day missed. Wednesday brought some hamstring/glute soreness on the left side, losing me another day. It was gleefully pointed out to me that this was probably the result of bowling and that even after all the running I was still getting injured baseball player-style.
So there's two days gone. Thursday I managed to crank out about 4 miles as the weather started to heat up. Friday's an off day, so how better to spend my time than eating deep-dish pizza. 7 am on Saturday morning brings our weekly Team in Training group run. I hang in ok for the first 5-6 miles, but then slowly start to drop back. After 9.5 I told the guy I was running with to go on ahead of me and I slowly plodded to the end of the 12 miles in 1:59:59. Not good.
Sure, I reasoned, it was hot. Later that day as I pounded pizza leftovers I realized I was only 1/3 right. The heat I couldn't control, but my carb-poor Friday diet was probably also a major factor. Some rice in my Chipotle and a slightly thicker pizza crust for dinner don't get it done. The low training volume is the third part; I'll take half the blame because while Tuesday was a blur, I probably should've gone on Wednesday, even for a few slow miles.
The moral of the story is, eat right the day before an important or significant run. A Clif bar and some Gatorade is probably not enough to get you through a long run, especially when it's hot out. Learn from my mistakes!
PS. At the end of Saturday's group run my hands were so sweaty my fingers started to wrinkle. Now go eat breakfast.
On Sunday the 23rd I ran my aforementioned CDC test. Then came Monday night and a work party at a downtown bowling lounge. Tuesday was spent recovering, so there's one training day missed. Wednesday brought some hamstring/glute soreness on the left side, losing me another day. It was gleefully pointed out to me that this was probably the result of bowling and that even after all the running I was still getting injured baseball player-style.
So there's two days gone. Thursday I managed to crank out about 4 miles as the weather started to heat up. Friday's an off day, so how better to spend my time than eating deep-dish pizza. 7 am on Saturday morning brings our weekly Team in Training group run. I hang in ok for the first 5-6 miles, but then slowly start to drop back. After 9.5 I told the guy I was running with to go on ahead of me and I slowly plodded to the end of the 12 miles in 1:59:59. Not good.
Sure, I reasoned, it was hot. Later that day as I pounded pizza leftovers I realized I was only 1/3 right. The heat I couldn't control, but my carb-poor Friday diet was probably also a major factor. Some rice in my Chipotle and a slightly thicker pizza crust for dinner don't get it done. The low training volume is the third part; I'll take half the blame because while Tuesday was a blur, I probably should've gone on Wednesday, even for a few slow miles.
The moral of the story is, eat right the day before an important or significant run. A Clif bar and some Gatorade is probably not enough to get you through a long run, especially when it's hot out. Learn from my mistakes!
PS. At the end of Saturday's group run my hands were so sweaty my fingers started to wrinkle. Now go eat breakfast.
# posted by Joel Corbin @ 9:24 PM 
