I crossed the street...

For some reason, I used to think that the ABBA song 'I Had a Dream' contained the lyric, 'I crossed the street' in it.  Presumably, the line should be, 'I crossed the stream/I had a dream' since that makes much more sense.  But I still think of my version when I hear this song.  And today, I did just that.  I crossed the street.  Prior to today's run, which was 18 miles, I could find ways of circling around the northern part of the golf course neighborhood, thereby avoiding having to cross a relatively major street.  Today, since I had to add another mile from the last long run, I decided the time had come.  I was rewarded with some pretty good Florida scenery:

You can actually see parts of the Hillsborough River on this side of the street because not everything is built up.  This picture was taken near a public boat launch.

More of the Hillsborough River

If you're curious to know what this part of Florida would look like had northerners not descended and built golf courses, here is an idea:

Vacant lot right next to the river.

The street next to the river in this neighborhood is also called Riverhills Drive, only it's the southern part and the other half -- which had some of the houses featured previously on the blog -- is the northern part.  They have some pretty ritzy homes on the southern part too:

I just wonder about their cooling bills.

You can actually look out on the river from that giant porch.

Overall, though, today's run was not nearly as enjoyable as the last long run.  In part, this was probably because I shouldn't have been doing a long run today after only 5 days' rest from the previous long run and a 9-mile run on Tuesday.  Physically, though, I didn't feel too awful, at least not any more awful than I would expect from a long run.  And good news, body: you only have one more this week, and it's only 5 miles!  The real problem is that the spectacular cold front is going away.  The temperature at the start of the run was a very palatable 58F, but unfortunately the humidity was around 80%.  By the time I finished the run (many, many hours later), the temperature was already 75F; the RealFeel on Accuweather calculates it at 82F.  Let me tell you: it felt closer to 82F than 75F.

I could actually feel when things were starting to go wrong physically because of the weather.  For instance, before I had my last dose of sport beans, I could really feel my mind starting to wander.  I opted to take three packs and had one each 4.5 miles, which I think was fine overall, but the last one was definitely a necessity.  How could I tell?  I would start coming up with alternatives to my route or thinking about changing what I was doing.  Bad idea.  After I had the sport beans, I just continued on and all went well.  Another issue: if I was in the sun for too long, the same kinds of things started to happen.  Luckily, there was a shady version of the route near the end, but at one point, I think that I was in the sun for a bit too long.  My brain definitely got off track there.

I almost fell again today.  It's time to admit that these aren't flukes, but probably fatigue errors.  It happens.  Not much that can be done about them except to hope that I don't actually fall!

Whoops

Yesterday's 'long' run was so short that I completely forgot to blog about it!  It was only six miles.  Hard to think of that as a long run after the past month, I do have to say.  And I realized that instead of being annoyed that it got hot during Taper Week, I should be grateful.  It would be even worse if it gets hot during a normal week with much longer runs.

Anyway, I've been reflecting quite a bit on how things are going since this is the last Taper Week before the real Taper Weeks that will occur right before the actual marathon.  Crazy!  In response to this, I think that I've started hording.  Yesterday I went to the Running Center and stocked up on 'sport beans,' opting only for the ones with caffeine (apparently, they do not all have caffeine, as I discovered around mile 10 of the 14-mile run.  Boo).  Today at the grocery store, I started hording carbs.  Because I will likely need carbs.  And kept reminding myself to stock up for when I am ridiculously hungry, which will probably start sometime tomorrow after a 9-mile run.  Also, I bought a big container of chocolate milk so that it's just sitting at home and I don't need to detour to the CVS and stand in line for, like, 15 minutes after a long run to get my chocolate milk because someone ahead of me feels that the marked discount on Tampa Bay Rays cowbells does not match what was in the sales flier (why yes, that did actually happen, how did you guess?).  I'm flipping the schedule this week because of work, so it will be 9M tomorrow, 5M with hills on Thursday, and long run Sunday.  The week after will having some flipping as well.  Stay tuned!

I have only 3 actual long runs remaining before the marathon: 16M, 18M, and 20M.  This schedule stops at 20M.  Please don't ask me if I am worried that this will not be enough training or if I think I will make it or if I feel that there should be another longer run.  The answer to all of those questions is that yes, I'm concerned.  But I'm reminding myself that it's not about the actual plan (to some extent) but your belief in the plan.  I mean, I could technically run a marathon tomorrow, regardless of how I trained, it just might not go so well and I might really hate myself the morning after -- and all of this will likely happen no matter what training plan I follow.  So I need to have faith that this plan will work.  Also, I'm already breaking it down in my head that it will be 2M + 2M + 2.2M to finish.  That's it.  Just three groups of two at the end.  This can totally be done.  And will be, dammit.

I also keep trying to do the math for 10% markers (2.6 miles) during the run but keep breaking down after 13.1.  It is a good time waster, though.

I do have to say that as I'm getting into this last stretch of training, I'm not feeling too awful.  No major injuries to report, no serious problems, and as long as I don't bang a shopping cart straight into my shin like I did today, no real pain.  Phew.  I may not be fast, but I think that I am pretty durable.

This post has lots of numbers for my non-quantitative brain.  No idea why.

The long runs get long

Today was 14 miles.  I ran 14 miles. 14 miles is the longest distance I have ever run in one go, beating out my previous record of 13.1 miles by 0.9.  Exciting!  This is a training plan with no room for a feel-good, pat yourself on the back, you made it half way 13 mile run, apparently.  Instead, you crank right through the halfway point and on to 14.  Half and then a little bit.

(It seems crazy that this was just short of half, it really felt very long).

It got hot and muggy again today.  Not quite at summer levels, but also not quite what I would ideally want while running.  The combined temperature + humidity was closer to 150 than 160, but 150 is still rather high.  Certainly by the end, the sun felt like it was beating down perhaps a little too much.  Also, I was insanely thirsty as I was nearing the final part.  Water was my friend today.  I took a water bottle of the healthy Gatorade that I usually drink, then refilled the bottle with water around mile 8 (this was, of course, my trusty fanny pack running belt).  This was not quite enough, but I still made it through.

Here's the weird thing: my mile splits were faster than last week's 12-mile run in better conditions.  Not better by much, but still better.  No idea how that happened.

Today I also developed a new strategy with regard to counting down miles.  Usually, I count down every 10%, but today I decided that waiting for 1.4 miles felt too long.  Instead, I focused on 5%, so only 0.7.  I liked this approach and will keep it up for the marathon, I think.  If I run with my phone.  Which is not a given at this point seeing as how I don't think the battery will last.  I did develop a save-battery strategy today, which is to power it down during boring stretches when I don't actually need to know how much distance is left.  I think that this might work well.  12 miles was pushing the upper limit of the battery, apparently.

Another new trick today was taking running jelly beans (technically, they are called sports beans).  I had the chance to stop by my local running store yesterday and picked some packages up.  Two came with me on the run today.  They are awesome.  Not only do you get fuel while running, they also provide a jolt of caffeine.  And they do taste like jelly beans.  Best invention ever (at least it is the best invention for long-distance running that I know about!).

The weather gets better

Since Friday, I have heard the following descriptors used with regard to the weather:

'Gorgeous.'
'Perfect.'
'Wonderful.'

Allow me to point out that, in fact, it is still in the upper 80s during the day.  However, the humidity and high dew points have dropped, which does make a considerable difference.  Which is to say that the humidity still starts over 80% in the morning, but becomes more tolerable as the day goes on.  In fact, as I write this around 2pm, the humidity is below 35%, which means now there is a danger of forest fires.  Seriously.  This is a 'red flag' alert by the National Weather Service due to the low humidity.

But I am not complaining.  It was much nicer for running this morning.  Maybe not perfect, but awfully good.  Almost winter conditions -- oh, why am I pretending?  These are basically winter conditions.  Unfortunately, I got going a little too fast as a result, particularly around miles 3-7.  Today was 10 miles, incidentally.  As a result, miles 7-10 were much more of a challenge than maybe they needed to be.  But that's okay.  The key thing is that I finished.

Also, I could have done without the steep-grade hill around mile 8.5.  It's Florida.  How are there suddenly steep-grade hills?

When I was about half-way through mile 8, I started craving green iced tea in a huge way.  This is new and it suggests that maybe the time has come to rethink my hydrating strategies -- not that I would take green tea.  When I trained for the half marathon before, my trusty water bottle that has a convenient strap for holding it in my hand did the job just fine.  However, I am starting to think that I need more than simply one water bottle's worth of stuff.  Plus I am going to have to come up with a plan to stash those jelly beans for athletes or whatever I settle on using during the marathon.  Unfortunately, many of the options that you have for stashing such things are called fuel belts and they look, essentially, like fanny packs.  Running is not a time to look fashionable, as I well know.  And anyway, it is probably time to get something at least.

I was in the golf course neighborhood today, which was considerably more subdued in Halloween decorations.  Maybe they will pick it up closer to the event.

I have to say that the 10 miles felt like an Achievement.  I'm not sure why because it's not even half-way through the marathon distance (13.1), but still, it felt good.  And while I think that I could have been wiser in my strategy, I did still manage to finish, even with a very slight bit of oomph at the end.  I don't feel like I could do a marathon right now, but that's okay because I don't have to do one for another two months.  Until then, I need to focus on training consistently and things will be fine.  Today might not have felt good (particularly around mile 8.5, which as you probably figured out was the challenge portion), but some of it did.  Next week is 12 miles, which will be even more challenging because those will be Californian ones.

And hot. It's also still hot.

If you're curious, there was no blog entry yesterday because I didn't run.  My training schedule has a day off every few weeks and yesterday was one of them.  I didn't set the alarm and got to sleep in (okay, not really, it was to 9:30am, but that is still better than nothing!).  Twice in one week with no alarms.  That won't be happening again for a while.

Yesterday was a major day in college football around these parts because the University of South Florida (here in Tampa) played the University of Florida for the first time.  Now unless you live under a rock or are completely oblivious to college football, you likely are aware that UF is a pretty good team -- there is a lot more that could be said on this point, especially since a bunch of their major players graduated, but let's leave it at that.  USF was ranked #2 back in 2007 and hasn't yet cracked the rankings this year.  I only mention this because I watched this historic game yesterday (UF trounced USF) and could not help but take notice of a comment that recurred several times from the announcers: it was hot.  It was hotter than any of them remembered it being in the Swamp during game day (UF plays in a stadium called The Swamp).  They even consulted some of the people who had been covering Swamp football for 30 years and they thought that it was abnormally hot.  And let me tell you, that hot carried on this morning.

My run was much, much slower than I would want it to be, but I can definitely see why.  I looked at the graph showing my time and there was a very clear deceleration that occurred during the second half of my run.  Why?  Because today there was no good answer.  It was humid to start, hot as I went, and no cloud cover whatsoever to shield Mr. Florida 'Freaking Hot' Sun.  The heat index at the end was 92F according to the National Weather Service.  Accuweather put that at 106F.  Let's average those two: 99F.  Still horrid.

Oh, and in the 'you can't win' department, the humidity was 94% when I started.  COME ON!  At no time did the magic number of humidity plus temperature dip below 160.  Not once.  Dew point, you may ask?  Between 75-77F.  Looking back on these numbers, I can't believe I got through the run.

But hey, I persevered.  For 8 whole miles.  Liked the miles in the shade far more than the ones in the sun.  And let me tell you, by the end of the run, quite a few of those were in the sun.

I'm awfully glad that I changed a few hydrating/fueling strategies for today's run or else I might not have made all 8 miles.  First, I managed to do a route that took me past a drinking fountain in one of the parks around the 4-mile mark.  Good plan because I was almost out of water by that point.  Also, unlike most runs, I brought a little mini-Clif Bar today.  You are supposed to refuel somehow for every hour that you are out (or something like that).  I'm pretty sure that the Clif Bar helped.  Plus it's small enough that it wasn't hard to bring with me stashed away in one of the pockets on my water holder.  I need to experiment more with refueling since the actual marathon will require a strategy.  Here's hoping that sport jellybeans will work.

If you're wondering, I don't drink Gatorade because it upsets my stomach.  Gatorade, as you probably know, originated at UF because people were keeling over from the heat and ick in The Swamp.  However, there are alternatives to Gatorade that I have used in the past and let me tell you, around 5 miles I was making plans to go and find some of those ASAP.

The post-run this week, though, is a happy time.  First, I went and got a chocolate milk.  This is the best recharging liquid known to man.  Seriously.  No one is quite sure why.  But who am I to complain if I get to have a chocolate milk?  Second, unless you live under a TV-free rock, you are likely aware that this is the first Sunday of NFL football.  NFL football is one of my absolute favorite things in the whole wide world, hands down.  Plus I get to watch with friends.  Plus we are going to a place that has whole-wheat pizza.  And you bet that I have earned that puppy today!

I know, I know, even I have gone on about how when you run, you still need to watch your diet.  And in general, I am good about watching the diet.  However, my body is already kicking up into high hunger gear, even on days when I am not running, so I need to be sure to fuel properly.  Last night's dinner, for instance, was tofu with bean/spinach salad and wild rice.  Can't feel too bad about that.  Now it is time for some pizza and some FOOTBALL!