First long run fail

I really had zero motivation to do my long run on Sunday morning.  After getting re-motivated to successfully complete my first 20 miler ever, I think I’m down in the marathon training valley again.

I woke up a little after 6 am.  By 7 I was starving.  The baked sweet potato oats from Friday sounded really good to me, but I really didn’t feel like waiting another 5 minutes to make it plus twenty minutes to wait for it to bake.  I opted instead for regular oatmeal with sweet potatoes.

I added all the same spices (cloves, cinnamon, and allspice) but halved them since I was cooking for one.

Sweet potato oatmeal (serves one)

1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 sliced banana
1/2 sweet potato
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup almond milk

I brought the oatmeal and liquids to a boil, then stirred in the sliced banana and sweet potato.  I topped the whole thing with sunflower seed butter and sweet potato butter.

I think I love the caki-ness of the baked oatmeal, but this hit the spot and satisfied my craving.

After a morning of doing laundry and watching the Stepford Wives, which I DVR’d the other week because I had never seen it, we got a late start on our long run.  We intended to leave at 11 am,  but Brad couldn’t find his keys so we spent several minutes looking for them and later gave up (he found them later).

The plan was for me to run 11 with him and then run the final 5 by myself for a total of 16 miles.  Man, it was cold outside.  The all knowing iPhone told us it was only 40 degrees when we got there at about noon.  That’s really cold for a southern girl.

I felt fine during the 5 1/2 mile run down the trail, but somehow between 5 1/2 and 11, I lost all motivation to do the last five miles.  Looking back, all I can do is make observations about what went wrong.  Here are some of the issues:

- I did not get 8 hours of sleep the prior two nights.  I woke up with almost 7 hours, then couldn’t go back to sleep. 
- My running capris were chafing me and man, it hurt after 11 miles. 
- I probably should have let my body rest more after my 20 miler from last week. 
- I’m a baby when it comes to cold weather and I think my muscles tend to ache more when I’m cold.  They were very achy yesterday and much sooner in my run than usual. 
- My left knee is starting to ache in a way that scares me.  I’m afraid there’s a limit to what it can handle when it starts to feel this way, but I’m not sure where it is.

I’ve never had a real injury before, except some shin splints I suffered through for about a month and a half.  And being only a month away from my marathon, I DO NOT want to have my first real injury.

My knee doesn’t hurt each time my left foot hits the ground while I’m running.  It just aches a long deep ache at different points of my run.  It also aches when I kneel down and put pressure on it.

So…I’m not sure if maybe I should press on with running this week OR hit the elliptical and weights until my 9 mile run on Saturday.

I have another 20 miler (which I am hoping to turn into a 22 miler) in two Saturdays.  I NEED this run to be successful.  It’s my last 20ish miler and besides that I need the confidence to know I’m going to be able to do the marathon.

I’m begging for some advice from some seasoned marathoners. Any recommendations you have would be much appreciated.

I pretty much felt sorry for myself the rest of the day.  I kept questioning whether or not it was the right decision to end my long run at 11 miles.  I told myself if I felt better, I would go downstairs and do the last five miles on the treadmill.  This never happened.

My body was grateful  but my head kept saying are you sure you gave it all you had? And to be honest no, I didn’t.  But giving it all I had for a 16 miler that may or may not have resulted in a knee hurting way more than it already does, does not sound like success to me.

For the rest of the afternoon I was pretty productive doing laundry (there is always laundry to do), making the dough for Brittney‘s cooking exchange party for Thursday, and I even managed to make dinner.

I made Brad’s famous peanut sauce, sauteed some bok choy and spinach, sauteed some free range organic chicken thighs (which I thought were breasts until halfway through cooking…doh), and reheated the leftover Udon noodles.  I put a tablespoon of the sauce on a small serving of the noodles and mixed with the greens.  Lastly, I topped with a small piece of chicken.  I did the same for Brad except I gave him larger servings and topped with 1 1/2 Tbsp. of sauce.

Delicious and easy.

Brad and I finally finished up our chores (more laundry and dishes) with about 30 minutes left to watch a show Brad won’t let me tell the world that he watches.

Here’s to a quick work week!