need rest

A view of the Salt Lake City cemetery and the cityscape from 11th Ave. Rest in peace.

I was going to do my 16-miler tomorrow, but as I did not arrange for a sitter, I would have had to finish it up on the treadmill. I was just not in the mood for that! So, despite giving blood Thursday, racing a hard 10K on Friday, and doing 12 miles with TNT people on Saturday, I decided to do 16 miles myself today.

I probably should have chosen a flat route, but no, I had to choose a hilly one :) because I wanted the nice scenery. Total elevation change was about 600 feet up, then down 200 feet, then up 200 feet, then down 600 feet. Whew.

I knew it was going to be a slower day after the first 2 miles. Yeah, they were uphill, but still, 12:18 and 11:48 were slow times for me for this course. The rest of the miles were in (approximately - didn't always quite get the lap at exactly the right time, but close): 10:55, 10:44, 11:00, 10:42, 11:22, 11:35, 22:49 (2 miles), 11:53, 21:25 (2 miles), 10:20, 10:34. I did manage to make the last few miles the fastest - but of course they were downhill, so that helped.

It was pretty pleasant through about mile 12, other than that I lost one of my water bottles :( from my amphipod belt. It fell off around mile 4 and when I got back there, it was nowhere to be seen. Somehow I didn't hear it fall off (usually I do, but I was listening to a Science Friday podcast from NPR and I guess I was too intent on it?). At about mile 7, I ran into my friend Sara and got to chat for a few minutes, which was a nice break. Miles 7-9 were quite pleasant, from the Avenues to the gate at City Creek Canyon. It was cool by the creek, and I was thinking that I should have gone up the canyon farther (except I didn't want to do more than 16!).

The rest of the workout was HOT. The sun came out and started beating down on me as I went up 11th Ave and through Federal Heights. When I got home it was 74 and humid. UGH. An unfortunate side effect of this is that I sweated a lot more than usual, and had some fairly serious chafing under my arms. I hadn't brought my Body Glide, so I was pretty much out of luck.

I had planned a route that went by several water fountains (City Creek gate, Terrace Hills Dr on 11th Ave), so I was able to refill my water bottle and stay hydrated. I was running a bit low as I got to about 2.5 miles from home (because I'd lost the other bottle), but was able to fill it from someone's sprinkler :).

Even so, the last 4 miles were tough. I really had to force myself to maintain and increase speed down the hills. But I also wanted to be DONE, so that helped. My whole body just felt heavy, and I was tired. I did eat sports beans and a GU and a banana, so I don't think it was the carbs; I just got worn out from accumulated stupidity of overdoing it the past 3 days :).

After I got home, I realized just how tired I really was. I managed to stretch (the piriformis was definitely feeling it from the hills), but from 9 am when I got home until I took a nap at 1 pm, I was SO exhausted. We did go to church, and I somehow stood up and sat down at the requisite times, but it was quite an effort. When we got home, I basically didn't move much off of the couch, and everything felt so heavy. Lifting my arms was about all I could do. Seriously, I have not felt this tired even after a marathon, so I know I really overdid it. I felt much better after a nap, but tomorrow is certainly a rest day. Hopefully I will be recovered enough to do another workout on Tuesday.