This week was a lot hotter than previous weeks. I didn't that that was possible after North Carolina, but somehow most of the lows never made it into the 60s this week. The temperatures of my running days were: 84 on Monday (but I did go later in the day - 6pm, to be fair); 70 Wednesday 6am; 72 Thursday 6:30 am; and then Friday I ran my long run early. 15 miles at 7pm and it was 90 degrees. Never doing that again!
All of my runs were over a 10 minute pace. The 15 miler was a 11 pace. But it needed to be and I'm actually pretty glad I took some walking breaks because that's what my body was telling me to do.
Monday I ran a little later in the day because my long run from the previous week had been so late that I didn't want to go again in the morning. Also I didn't want to wait until Tuesday knowing I had a long one Wednesday. And it was hot, but really not too bad.
Wednesday ran with two other people and it went well. Then they told me they were thinking of doing their long run Friday night. I thought about this possibility.
Thursday did a 4 miler, early in the morning and went average... 10 ish pace, warm weather for 6:30am
Friday was the hardest run I've ever done in my life (thus, the title of this entry). I had made up my mind that I'd do my long run Friday. I'm not really an evening runner but a few people had agreed to meet up and I thought I'd join them for a change and sleeping in Saturday. My pace overall didn't end up fast but it was really on target for the conditions when I look at it now (11:20). At the time I was really disappointed that I felt so sluggish but it was actually an ok pace. I'm starting to realize that I need to back off pace quite a bit and I've been more successful at working on that (maybe thanks to the temperatures and humidity.
But nothing prepared me for this . The first 5 miles were brutal. 90 degrees, sun was still out. I actually thought of giving up, even this early. Giving up usually doesn't enter my mind this soon. I typically stay pretty positive and try to complete the miles I have scheduled. That's how I knew this might be trouble. The other thing was I forgot my phone, which I never do. It completely throws me off to not have background music. So I'm facing one of the longest runs I've ever done (my record is 16 miles) with no music, extreme heat and humidity.
But I had committed and pushed through. A friend of ours was joining us for 10 of the 15 miles. We got to her car and she was kind enough to get us water, gatorade, fuel... seeing her car was like an oasis in the desert. So we took a break and then continued. I started to feel on and off like I was going to throw up. Realized I needed to monitor for heat illness symptoms. Decided to cut some of the running into intervals and throw some walking in there when I needed it. One of my friends hung back with me and was encouraging. There was a grocery store/gas station coming up. She told me if we just made it there, we could rest. I was having a lot of negative thoughts at that time but she turned on music on her phone and I tried to not let the thoughts take over.
Made it, rested, drank some smart water. Another friend was kind enough to bring cash and got us all water. I hadn't thought we might stop somewhere and hadn't figured this in. But I'm glad we did. Really love my running friends... couldn't have done it without them. The last 6 miles was running up a dark road (put on my headlight) and taking walking breaks when necessary. My friends told me if I fell behind where they'd be headed next and the path was pretty much straight so it worked out. Once I got to about 13 miles I figured I had it. The main thing that bothered me at the end was I felt like I was holding others back and I didn't want to do that. I just needed to take the walking breaks. Without music, my thoughts really varied. There were moments of negative thoughts, moments of random thoughts and then some positive ones (really more about being finished or getting to the next rest break, dreaming of what I might eat later). On the way back, stopped at one of the runner's houses for some water/ice around mile 11. Enjoyed the breaks when they came.
And eventually we finished. But I don't think I'll do that again if it's that hot/humid. It was certainly an adventure. So glad all of us were there for each other. And that is why I prefer to run with a group for long runs. It makes a huge difference!
Next week... longer runs, continued build up of mileage... Week 9... 6/7/4/17 ... 34 miles total
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