I had a planned 12-mile run today. I'm 3 weeks away from the Carlsbad Half Marathon and this was to have been a key long/slow distance tuneup, building upon the successful 10-mile run last week and 8-mile run the week before. I felt so good after last week's 10-miler that I was sure I was ready for today.
I knew I was in trouble when I felt fatigued by the 4-mile mark. The temperature was cool and the breeze light, so I should have been feeling strong. My only complaint might have been I was keeping a quicker pace than I should have been, but I didn't think I should have been depleting the tank that soon.
What I hadn't anticipated was the amount and degree of climbing work. The route I'd chosen was mapped out on Google maps, but I'd only driven the roads and didn't have a foot-level idea of the grades. When I confronted the long, long hill during mile 6, I broke. I was halfway up the hill, having this internal struggle about pressing forward or slowing for a breather. I was clearly anaerobic and this was not supposed to be an anaerobic run.
So I walked. At first, I rationalized that my previous pace had put me 4-5 minutes ahead of my half marathon pace so I could afford to walk for that amount of time. I crested the hill and started to pick up a slow jog again, downhill. My heart rate recovered but not my legs. They felt leaden and when I got to the bottom of that hill, was faced with another climb. I couldn't do it. I walked the entire length of mile 7.
I recognized, too, that lack of water was a major blunder. I'd stashed water at the 8-mile mark, but needed it much earlier. I finished off about 16 oz. of water and after a staccato finish of mile 8, ran the rest of the way. Those final 4 miles were mostly downward sloping, which helped.
Total time was 1 hour and 57 minutes. My goal for the half marathon is 1:50:00 to 1:59:59, so this wasn't a good rehearsal. Nothing about this run felt good. I didn't feel good before, during or after.
I believe I did several things wrong. One was that I didn't give myself enough sleep the night before. The other is that I didn't properly hydrate or fuel before hand. Another is that I pressed the pace almost to the 8-minute mile speed which is a 10K pace for me. I spent much too much time at my anaerobic threshold and beyond, and eventually wasn't able to recover without slowing to a walk. I also did not choose a representative route, presenting myself with far too much uphill time than what I was ready for. And finally, I compounded my dehydration by trying to make it a full hour into the run before getting any water. Dumb.
So tonight, I'm stiff and sore, and without the satisfaction of having accomplished the training plan goal. If anything good is to come from it is to learn the lessons of what not to do on January 24th. If I'm encouraged by anything it's that I still have 3 weeks to work on my aerobic condition and that the Carlsbad route is pretty much all flat. I'm not discouraged. Just disappointed.
