After 18 miles, total exhaustion

At the beginning of the year, I didn't understand people who told me "I can't train for a marathon, I have kids." What's the big deal? At the worst of it, you're gone for 4 hours on a Saturday morning. With MIT starting so early, you're probably home by the time they wake up.

Then came the first 16-miler. I reeled for a few hours, then crashed. When I woke up, I had some of the worst soreness and exhaustion I had ever experienced. After that run, then my 18, 20, 22 and my race, I was out for the entire weekend. Anything that required the slightest bit of exertion was out of the question.

Parents who train for marathons (or those who have any other obligations on the weekends), how do you do it? Throwing the red ball to my dog takes special effort! Any chore I can't do sitting down can wait!

Yesterday I was scheduled for 16. I, errr, went 18. It was a great run, I felt really strong through the entire thing. Staying on my feet for so long after was probably a bad call. I did some shopping (pair 4 of Mizuno Precisions on their way!). Then I went to the 10TV Health and Fitness expo, which was a huge waste of time.

I had really good splits and my heart rate stayed where it needed to be:

My average pace was 10:20, average HR was 155. Splits:
Mile 1: 10:53, 171 bpm (doubt this is right, monitor was acting up)
Mile 2: 10:26, 164 bpm
Mile 3: 10:27, 152 bpm
Mile 4: 10:20, 152 bpm
Mile 5: 10:29, 149 bpm
Mile 6: 10:28, 150 bpm
Mile 7: 9:09, 149 bpm
Mile 8: 9:37, 154 bpm (potty break and subsequent catch-up)
Mile 9: 10:20, 149 bpm
Mile 10: 10:27, 150 bpm
Mile 11: 10:33, 149 bpm
Mile 12: 10:12, 153 bpm
Mile 13: 10:25, 153 bpm
Mile 14: 10:18, 152 bpm
Mile 15: 10:18, 155 bpm
Mile 16: 10:26, 158 bpm
Mile 17: 10:30, 162 bpm
Mile 18: 10:37, 159 bpm

Anyway, aside from the laundry that I absolutely need to do, my only mission for the rest of the evening is to find out if Jack Bauer can stop the pandemic virus in time! Netflix, I love you.

Song I'm currently obsessed with:

Wet

Poor Mizunos.

Every Saturday MIT run has been an adventure. There was that day we went out in -2 degree weather, that day where ice pellets were bouncing off our faces, that day where the trail was too icy and we had to rough it up all those hills instead, etc...

And today: Water water everywhere.

It was pouring rain, though that eased off toward the end. Some of the puddles were 50-75 feet long and 6" deep. We did 16 miles, which took us all the way to OSU then back to Thomas Worthington High. My shoes and tights were caked with mud at the end. Our pace coach, Randy, suggested that we loosen the shoe up all the way and stuff it with newspaper, so that's what I did.

Despite the nasty blisters on my feet, I had a lot of fun today. The last two miles were really hard, thanks to my team for pushing me through. I started to make myself crazy checking my garmin all the time, so for the last 4 I tucked it under my jacket sleeve and made myself ignore it.

Edit: My splits were: 11:52, 10:18, 10:57, 10:58, 10:31, 10:16, 10:27, 10:41, 10:33, 10:34, 10:50, 10:47, 11:25, 10:32, 10:33, 10:02

I actually got a second pair of shoes Friday, Zoot's, that I can't wait to try out. Hopefully I'll get out in them for recovery Monday then I'll do another post.

I'm starting to settle in to a new Saturday routine that I love. (continued)