Friday, January 20, 2012

Failure of Plumbing and Legs

I got to work this morning feeling a bit dehydrated from a tough ride last night.  The ride was about 30 miles and had over 2,200 feet of elevation gain.  Immediately after the ride I ran a mile...a mini-brick in preparation of an upcoming duathalon.  I slammed through the hills and was completely spent when I finished.   

Beyond that, this is the first week where I am going to try and a long run and a long ride together.  Today was the run, Sunday will be the ride.  Another change would be doing a long run in the afternoon, instead of first thing in the morning...definitely an experiment!

When I got to work, tragedy was realized.  I left my Burt Bees limp balm at home!  I normally don't use much, but I needed it today!  Actually, I probably only needed it because I didn't have it.  Still, all day I kept licking my lips and couldn't leave them alone.  I couldn't wait to get home and get my lip balm.

This afternoon I had a meeting scheduled with my boss.  It was a follow up to a less than pleasant, basically confrontation, last week.  After that was my run.  I figured I might have some motivation to run hard!  Before heading in, I ate an orange and a banana, hoping it'd be settled before my run.  It was 1:00.

I went into the meeting with dry lips and professionalism, putting the past where it belongs, and was welcomed in similar fashion.  I was glad.  It could've gone badly and I'd be posting that I'm looking for a new job today.  Not to get into the details, but I was afraid this was going to head into some areas where I simply will not compromise.  I'm an easy going person, but I have to look myself in the mirror everyday. 

After work I was emotionally drained.  SmartCoach said I was to run 11 miles at an 8:22 pace.  That still seems too fast for a long slow run, for me.  But I did the last two at that pace, even with some big hills.  The old college try I'd throw at it, but since the run was to be after work I thought it wise to choose an easier course; an out and back that avoided the hills as much as possible save the last two mile loop, which I could cut off if needed.

Driving home, I turned onto my street thinking of my route, longing for my lip balm to soothe my dry lips and wondering if I could somehow get out of my run without really wimping out.  Then, I saw water gushing down my driveway.  You can't imagine the profanity.  Someone had driven off the side of my driveway, which is about a two foot incline, and run over a spigot.  Not only did they hit it, they pulled up about 5 feet of PVC pipe.

I drove up to the house, ran inside, grabbed a wrench, flew down the hill, shut off the water.  Back up the driveway, cussing the whole way, then looking for evidence of who it could've been. No note, no nothing.  Thank you, Karma. 

I drove twenty minutes to Home Depot, grabbed 10 feet of PVC pipe, some fittings, primer and cement, threw it in the truck and drove home.  When I got home my youngest daughter was there.  She helped me fix the pipe.  I replaced 8 feet of it.  It was actually kind of fun showing her how to do the job, though she didn't offer to dig!

My wife has been having some problems with her jaw.  The medications she's been given are causing dizziness.  She feels TERRIBLE.  During all this she calls me to tell me how it went at the doctor's office and is emotionally upset.  Things went well at the doctors, but she's frustrated and doesn't feel well.

But, she did say, "The second funniest thing my boss said today was, The pepper spray still works." 

Oh, don't stop that if that's number two!

The funniest thing was about thirty minutes later. "It's like the jalapeno problem all over again!  The pepper spray doesn't wash off!"

At 5:45 I left for my run.  I grabbed a flashlight, a bandaid and cliffshot.

I ended up cutting the run at 9 miles, and over the last two miles, thought only of form.  Foot down, heel touch, spring forward.  Repeat.  My splits were 8:31, 8:27, 8:15, things going well, but had some signs during mile three that I wasn't "right."

Mile four was 8:31. I had to slow because of the combination of footing and light quality.  Those conditions only worsened until mile 8.  I kind of lost my groove gruve there, never got it back.  The next were 9:07, 9:05 and 9:50.  Then mile 8 was a brutal 10:25.  That's when the cramps began to flirt with me.  Now, it was uphill, but still.  I pushed to finish the last mile at 9:51.  It was a battle to just keep running. 

I know that feeling, I know what happened.  It's never happened to me on a run before.  But I bonked.  I've bonked a few times on the bike ... it sucks just as bad running!

Perhaps running in the evening, at least long runs, won't work with my schedule.  I eat "lunch" at 10:15 in the morning.  I had two cups of beans and a small sweet potato, then the banana and orange for a snack.  Definitely not enough calories.

All told, it was a good day, but definitely the worst run I've had.  Yet, I look forward to having a worse one eventually because with them come ever stronger runs.

1 comment:

  1. That was one of your better runs, actually. Think of it this way: you overcame the biggest obstacle of all, the desire to skip the run. In spite of everything that happened today you persevered. You persevered against the emotional toll at work. You persevered over the emotional load of an unpleasant interruption. You defeated the frustration that was transferred to you through that phone call. You endured through disappointment at the least important factor of all: the timer.

    That's a big win in my book. I wanna be like you when I grow up.

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