Saturday morning I woke up knowing I had one thing to accomplish that morning: run 16 miles.
Here are my past long runs:
A rough 10 miles
12 miler Saturday
You run some, you learn some (13.1 Miles)
14….I mean 16 miler?
On a hiatus, but not from running (16 miles)
Who knew 18 miles could feel so good
If you read over my past long run recaps, you can see that I’ve had some good long runs, some tough long runs, and some pretty bad long runs. I ran 16 miles several weeks ago, so at least I felt mentally prepared for this one. After this long run, I’m going to start gearing down to taper for my half marathon on November 14.
Pre-long run breakfast:
Overnight oats with…
1/3 cup rolled oats
1/3 cup strawberry banana Chobani
1/3 cup almond milk
1/2 sliced banana
~ 2-3 Tbsp. Uncle Sam’s Cereal
1 Tbsp. Barney Butter AB
1 Tbsp. strawberry jam
I miss fresh berries in my overnight oats. This was good, but would have been better with sliced strawberries. I can’t bring myself to buy them out of season since I had some flavorless strawberries purchased from the grocery store a few weeks ago.
Ideally, I should start a long run about an hour after breakfast, but Brad and I had some things to do, like switching out summer clothes for cooler-weather clothes, taking a bunch of stuff to the storage unit on the first floor of our building, and dropping stuff off at the Salvation Army. This took a few hours and by the time I got to the trail to run, it was 11 am. It’s a good thing I brought some fuel in the form of Apple Pie Nuggets.
If I’m being honest with myself, I have to say that I was a little worried starting out on this run. And any runner knows that running is 80% mental and worrying can set you up for failure. Why was I worried? Because I had eaten breakfast about four hours ago, because I ran 6 miles yesterday with Brad, and because I was worrying and I knew I shouldn’t be if I was going to finish this. Worrying about a run is a vicious cycle.
Because I had eaten so long ago, I decided to start taking fuel earlier than usual. I ate one apple pie nugget at mile 4, one at mile 8, and two at mile 12 for a total of four. I really love these and even though I have no problem at all with the running fuel most runners use (Gu, sport beans, etc.), I really like making my own. It’s cheaper and I know exactly what is in it. Plus, I can adjust how many I bring with me on my run based on the mileage I’ll be covering. Last week I brought a lot but ended up eating five during 18 miles. Four was perfect for 16. I’ll probably take four during my half marathon, just to be safe.
This run wasn’t easy. I need to write on my forehead “Kelly, do not run the day before a long run, do something else!”. I think that had an effect on my performance.
But this is the face of someone who finished a tough run and is so glad to be done.
My pace was a little slower than I would have liked, but I really put more emphasis on finishing my long runs.
Another issue I’m having with my long runs: I do not have time to rest afterward, even though I know I need to rest. I headed straight to Earth Fare for grocery shopping.
But first, I had what I like to call “a bowl of everything”. This included lovely things from the salad bar and the hot bar. I don’t discriminate, I just mix everything together. It’s delicious, promise. The most interesting thing I ate: rosemary lemon pinto beans. Of course there was a stuffed grape leaf in the mix. My favorite. Can you spot it? It’s like Where’s Waldo except it’s not wearing a red and white striped shirt.
I also had a Kombucha and the highlight of my meal, a chocolate chip cookie. I bet I could have ran the whole 26.2 today if someone would have dangled this in front of me like a horse and a carrot. 😉
After this divine lunch and grocery shopping, I headed over to the house to check on Rascal and Brad.
Rascal absolutely loves his new yard.
He runs around aimlessly and has the best time!
Brad says he figured out how to “bury” his bone, which means pushing leaves over top of the bone until it kinda looks buried (i.e. the end of it is sticking out in plain sight). He usually does this with a blanket or other random things he finds around the house. But now that he’s so outdoorsy, he prefers using more rugged materials for bone burying.
Let’s check out Brad’s work for the day…
This wall is coming down so we can extend the kitchen and so I can have a breakfast nook, which I’ve always wanted.
And here’s the view from the other side. The left wall is a load bearing wall, so we’re going to have to put in some columns to make sure the second floor doesn’t come crashing in on us. The plan is to fix the foundation, have the floors polished and potentially get new floors for the kitchen, cut the frame out of these two walls, put in columns, and then the fun begins…creating my dream kitchen. 🙂