March 10th: Checking in After a Grueling Weekend

One of a marathoner's great fears is that life is going to get in the way of training. As big a deal as 26.2 is, sometimes there are just bigger priorities in life. This weekend was one of those times.

One of Jackie's favorite relatives, her Aunt Nancy, passed away last week in North Carolina, and Jackie needed to be there for the funeral, along with her mother and her cousin. It was important for me to go, too -- both for moral support and to be the main driver. It's 10 hours each way.

Driving days were Friday and Sunday. Friday would have been a rest day, and Sunday would be cross, so no major losses. But the accumulated fatigue and stress -- and the mostly packed schedule -- pretty much ruled out my long on Saturday. But in the mid-afternoon, there was a little bit of a window to get out in the North Carolina hills, so I figured I'd give it a bit of a go.

I knew I wasn't going 18, as was on my schedule. I was still pretty wiped from 10 hours' driving the day before, and I didn't have a handy place to stow a water bottle like I did on my Henry Hudson Trail run. It was in the 60s, so I knew I couldn't go forever without taking some fluids. Plus, I really didn't know the area too well and didn't want to get myself too far from home base and then not know the way back. So I told Jackie I was going to go for an hour or so and see what happened.

This pic doesn't do this hill justice.

Jackie's cousin's home is on Lake Norman, a man-made lake in Statesville, and the area is very hilly. In fact, the run started out with a climb as big as any in the half-marathon the previous week. So right off the bat, I was closer to VO2 max than I wanted to be. Then there was a quick downhill and another climb. 

It took me until about 3 miles to really get back to a point of not breathing heavily. My legs felt OK, but aeration was simply poor. (I realized later that 800 feet elevation probably had something to do with this.) The worst part was going down a long hill and knowing, eventually, that I'd have to turn around and go back up it. As you know, I like hills. But these hills were for real.

That small dock sticking out in the distance is Jackie's cousin's.

I bopped around various back roads looking for a bridge over to a small island, and eventually found it at the very end of a subdivision. The homes on this lake are all palatial, with amazing views, docks and lots of trees. The small island is basically a gated community, though you're able to get around on it. It also has -- you guessed it -- a big hill going down from the bridge to the east end of the island. Oh, and back on the other side, the bridge is at the bottom of a half-mile hill.

I was near 6 miles as approached the turn back into the cousins' neighborhood -- the road with all the really steep hills. I decided I wanted to get to 7, so instead of turning, I ran up the main road in the other direction. Go figure -- that way was relatively flat. And of course, I started getting into a rhythm. So by the time I turned around and turned into the neighborhood, I was starting to feel really good. Started really motoring up and down those last few hills. 

Here's a small marina shot from the bridge.

I guess I could have turned back around for a few more miles, but again, there were a lot of factors in play here that I didn't want to mess with. I was at 6.8 as I approached the house, so I went up and down their street to get the total to 7 even. My average pace was 9:02.

But, especially given the scheduling issues, I've been kicking myself, thinking that maybe I should have pushed the distance a bit. Maybe I just needed to acclimate to the elevation and the hills, and at least get into double digits. Who knows. I had in mind that maybe I'd sneak an extra run in this morning, but the second 10-hour drive in three days put the kibosh on that -- I barely made it out of bed to work from home.

Tomorrow, it should be warm enough to get an outdoor run in. That affords me a little extra time, since I won't be driving to the gym. Downside: Spring Ahead means it'll be dark when Carol gets on the bus. Wednesday's looking yucky, so that's 9 miles on the belt. And then we'll see. I guess on Saturday, I'm just going to have to skip ahead to 20 miles.

Total miles since starting the blog: 410.9