Sunday, July 26, 2009

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.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Tammy, don't worry so much about mile times on your long walk. Just cover the distance and stay hydrated. The training is just as good if you go a little slower when you are tired. save the speed for other days.
You are very motivated and dedicated to your training and to improving. so don't overdo it, which will detract from progress.
regards,
Ray Sharp

Tammy said...

Thanks, Ray, for the encouragement and advice. Yes, I do need to relax a bit on the long days and take it easy. I start thinking about my races and wonder if I will be able to hold the pace, rather than just covering the miles in a relaxed manner.

malvs2walk said...

Ray is so right... I am another one who s constantly looking at the garmin on LSD days and it is easy to overdo it. Especially when working out 3 days in a row.
Your times are amazing!