There's some good news and some bad news

Good news: I can still run 12 miles!  And while I will admit to walking once or twice, I did not have to walk for any significant amount of time, unlike a few months ago.  I consider this to be a major achievement after the past few months!  And the weather was great!  Low 70s at the highest point with not very much humidity...by Florida standards....it was in the 60-70% range, but hey, I'll take what I can get.

The bad news:

1) I sure didn't run them very fast.
2) I sure didn't run them at a consistent speed.
3) I think I double-bonked, if this is possible (bonking is what used to be called 'hitting the wall,' which is when your body up and quits.  Sometimes your brain up and quits.  I've been close to this before, but today I think I was over the edge.  If you want to know more about bonking than you ever thought that you would know, Runner's World has a detailed article).  I definitely felt a drop in energy at the half-way point, then felt better after having a mini-Clif Bar (I am out of sport beans.  Boooooooooo).  I'm going to assume that this was Bonk #1.  Bonk #2 pertained to fluids, or lack thereof.  I passed the neighborhood water fountain at 4 miles and thought, 'Meh, I'm doing okay.'  This was a stupid thought, because I still had 2 miles to go out and 2 miles to go back.  For those of you who are slow at math, that was 4 miles.  I should have just stopped at the drinking fountain both times.  Oh, and I was out of healthy Gatorade (Recharge), so I used the last two packages of healthy Gatorade juice crystals--the ones that offer basically no caloric support.

I'm going to blame Bonk #1 on the fact that I didn't plan my eating very well today and I was probably drained by the time I actually got out to run.  Yet another reason to do long runs in the morning (although truth be told, I don't really need to remind myself of that).

Another idea I had: maybe don't try a long run the day after your toughest yoga class of the week.  I started with some tired legs.

But what matters is that I did it, and unlike on Sunday, I didn't quit after 2.5 miles.  So it was an aberration.  I think that I may play this half by ear, depending on the weather.  If it's back to classic Florida conditions, it might be a good day for run/walk.  If not, I'll do my best to full-out run (or my current version of full-out running, which is not really 'full-out').  I knew that this half was not going to be very good, so my motivation will be just to go out there and do it.  It is the first of four, I get three more chances.

One thing that does need to change: I need a better training plan.  This one is not challenging enough.

Getting caught up

Well, I have definitely not written in a while and, if you're curious, I haven't been running as much lately either.  But it's not as grim as the lack of blog posts might infer.  Here's a quick summary:

• Ran 2 miles in Pittsburgh on the Saturday before the half-marathon.  I thought that I was going to a part that wasn't too hilly.  And for Pittsburgh, probably it wasn't.  But by normal standards, there were plenty of hills.  No need to walk any of them though.
• Unfortunately, for the half-marathon in Geneseo, NY, there was A WHOLE TON OF HILLS.  Several super nasty ones too.  There were rolling ones around 4-5 miles and one super killer one right before the 12-mile marker.  Because that is what you want to see at Mile 12: a huge hill.  Also, it was somewhat humid.  Humid and hilly, my two favorite conditions.  But we did it (I ran this with another person).  We persevered.  Even if we had to walk some of the hills.  The part that I found hilarious was when we looked ahead at the killer hill near Mile 12 and saw everyone still out on the course walking.  It was very pretty, though, and the race was well-organized.  Its only major flaw was that it was ridiculously hilly for a Floridian.
• There was one advantage to having walked parts of the half-marathon: I ran the last mile.  Really ran it.  And was rewarded with a finish-line picture where I am actually running instead of gasping for my last breath of air before I die.  I liked the picture so much, I ordered a super-huge copy of it.
• Last weekend I did 2 miles on a treadmill and 5 miles outside.  I called it 'a treadmill' because it was in a different gym, which doesn't believe in air conditioning with the same fervor as my normal gym.  So that was why it was only 2 miles: I got too hot.  The outdoor run went pretty well, except that I wound up in the direct sun for ~20 minutes of the run (10 out and 10 back).  This was a mistake and I did some walk-running to finish up.  On the plus side, the weather is not nearly as horrid as it was in August.

Anyway, as this summary clearly indicates, at some point I transitioned from being a runner to being a walker-runner.  I'm hoping to get my runner mojo back soon.  And to do some more running, although I have been enjoying the opportunity to take more challenging yoga classes than normal.

For once, I'm not sure what my next goal is.  I was thinking to do a 10K turkey trot, but travel plans changed and that now won't work.  So I need to think about what I want to do.  Some long-term thoughts:

1) I don't know why, but I want to run the NY marathon.  So I will put in for the lottery and see what happens.
2) I feel like I still haven't had a good shot at a half-marathon with a respectable time.  This summer was brutal and then there were hills; the other halfs I have run were in Florida and humid, all too humid.  So one thought it to think about Philly if I don't get in for NY.  Philly is mostly flat and that race is in November, when it shouldn't be too hot and humid.....right?

But those are for next fall.  I need to find something for between then and now.  With a bit more digging around, I'm sure that I will.

Tired legs

Yesterday, I did my first yoga class in a good long while, and I have to say that while it wasn't overly challenging, it was somewhat challenging, and I am definitely feeling tired in different places than normal today.  I thought that this would lead to a good night's sleep, but unfortunately I woke up at around 4am very thirsty.

Note to self: do not forget water when running on treadmills, then attending yoga classes.  Water is your friend.

I was hoping to get up bright and early today to do half of a 5-mile run, but unfortunately, my 4am wake-up did not help things.  Instead, I wound up getting out of bed closer to 10am (this was after being up for a while after 4am), which is too late to actually run.  Also, there are still storms circling around in deceptive ways.  For instance, earlier today it was sunny and seemingly nice, when I heard ominous thunder.  Right now it is raining.  Again.  You might be noticing a pattern here.

I did get myself to the gym and I tried the weird treadmill that I described yesterday, the Woodway Curve.  The jury is still out on this one.  It supposedly goes as fast as you are running, but I found it considerably more challenging to get a regular pace than on a conventional treadmill (or just plain running outside).  It feels very heavy and I was running about 0.5 mph slower than I was yesterday on the normal treadmill.  I got through about 1.2 miles with a couple of walk breaks; it was considerably warmer and more humid today than yesterday, and I got pretty sweaty even just doing that. 

My gym recently acquired some rowing machines, like real Concept 2 rowing machines as opposed to those 'replicating water' ones that are actually toys.  I decided to do two 500m intervals with a 1-minute rests in between.  Considering that my legs were already tired from yoga, treadmill running, and wacky treadmill running, I think I did okay.  By the standards of actually erging on the machine, I did not do all that great.

I forgot that this week is a semi-taper week and my long run tomorrow is only 6 miles, instead of upping from the 7 miles last week.  So I think it's okay to skip the second half of my run this afternoon, especially since I am feeling tired.  Tomorrow, I will set the alarm and get half of the 6 miles out of the way early, then do the rest later (possibly on a treadmill, depending on storms).  Next week I should be able to get back on track with the schedule.  I do have to say that I've been more excited about things than I am for next week's 8-mile run.  Time to stock up on healthy Gatorade and caffeinated runner's jellybeans.