Unfortunately, if the sun shone straight in my face or straight on my back, my energy plummeted to zero, and I felt like walking was too hot and too fast. I only fought the sun in a few places, but it was hard to regain momentum after the forced walks.
At the end of my run I felt content and relieved. 6 miles, a first in 9 years! There were moments I might have enjoyed more, but I finished it in a respectable time. Post-run stretching to the soft splash of water going down the spillway and sunlight playing across the pebbles relaxed me before I drove home.
Stiffness, dehydration, chills, exhaustion, ice, motrin, PAIN, and chigger bites are the legacy of that run. This morning's 3 miles were done with gritted teeth and promises to myself that I will stretch every day and ice 3x a day while I'm training. I'm pounding water like it's out of fashion, and I taught from the couch with my right leg up on a chair. Is this why the current chapter of the Non-Runner's Marathon Trainer is about dealing with injuries?
However, I remain upbeat and even feel excited to check out the extended chigger filled trail for next Sat's 7 miler. :)
Rachel, you are awesome!
ReplyDeleteI hear you on the sun, though. I like to go in the early morning before it gets too strong. I have run in the evening, but I'm always more sapped. And the treadmill stinks for distances over 3 miles (and even three miles are tedious).
I haven't even run 7 miles total in the past two weeks. This AT thing for the Army STINKS for training!
ReplyDeleteRan 2.5 miles on the hotel treadmill and couldn't take it anymore. I don't know how you do it Michelle.
AWESOME job Rachel! I am now going to have to take two weeks to get back to where I was before this trip; running 8 miles. That leaves me ONE week to get that last hard training week in before race week. I thought the Army would HELP me get in shape for the ARMY ten miler. Not so my friends, not so.
I think the difficulty here is that you started a sentence with "I thought the Army would help...." You see the logical flaw, of course.
ReplyDeleteI'm sidelined this week with an injury and am going to have to go to the doctor next week, so I'm with you on that not where you want to be with training thing. :( We'll get there in the end!