Drink water!

I clearly must have been overly confident, if I wrote in my previous post about 9 miles being a skip in the park! For Ryan Hall that could very well be true, but for little me, it was arduous. The weather on Saturday morning was, up to this point in training, absolutely gorgeous. The sky was an unwrinkled, unblemished canopy of brilliant blue. The winds were light. The promise of success was buzzing in everyone as I could tell by the huge numbers of cars in the parking lot. (Fair-weather athletes if you ask me!)

Unfortunately, I hadn't considered the correlation between higher temperatures and loss of hydration. I don't think I am a camel, but I have been able to run my distances without lots of water. Well those days of storing water as I rumble across the barren tundra are gone. My run started well enough However, with 4 miles still remaining, I downed a CarbBoom and some water (the last availability on my route) and continued on hoping for a fierce surge of energy. HA! Maybe the gel would work if my body weren't already struggling against dehydration. I felt like those tired dogs you see dragging their fat, bloated tongues against the pavement. (Hence the apt moniker, dog days of summer!) I struggled on but my earlier spritely tempo dwindled to a granny shuffle. It was disappointing. Although, it was a great and timely lesson. I only have so many long runs left on my training log and now is the time when I need to be experimenting with food, gels, water consumption, stretching and sleep to find out what combination of the elements will give me the strength that I can count on for race day.

Lesson learned: I might have to get up even earlier (groan) to more fully hydrate before my long weekend runs.