Iron pain long run...

First the good news. I ate perfectly yesterday. I slept 9.5 hours last night and I weighed in at 183 lbs this morning. The lowest in a long time. I was also feeling much better physically and mentally.

The real test was going to be on today's 3 hour long run. Before I left, I did something I rarely do. I brought a Powerbar and wore a fuel belt with Gatorade. I'm glad I did.

All was going fairly well up until the 20 km point. I took my hilliest route and at the half way point I was averaging a 5:16 pace, only 1 second slower than last week. Then my body and mind fell apart. The only thing I can describe it to is finishing the last half of the marathon during an Ironman. I can't remember having such a difficult long training run, ever.

With 15 km to go, I wanted to "dial a friend", a.k.a Alice, to pick me up. Even though I was using my run 10 minutes and walk 35 - 45 seconds technique, it wasn't making it any easier. I could feel my "heart light" fading. I was becoming physically weaker. It confirmed to me that my body and mind is over-trained and it's not from lack of motivation. The Gatorade and Powerbar helped big time.

I did the Ironman shuffle for the last 15 km. At one point my water bottle fell and it was tough for me to bend down to pick it up. That never happens to me. Last week I did a 30 km run and it felt effortless and my legs had no fatigue. It's amazing the difference a week makes. What kept me going was the mental game I played with myself and that it was a workout I can draw from if it get's ugly in China. I also switched from Podcasts to music for the last 30 minutes and some good, inspiring songs started playing. That also helped.

I managed to finish and was relieved when I pulled into my driveway. My body and mind didn't feel this bad after Ironman Louisville. During those painful last 15 km's, I mentally adjusted next week's training schedule with the objective of getting back to normal and out of my burnout over-training phase. I appreciated all the advice and encouragement I got from yesterday's comments on my blog. I drew from them.

When I got home, I stretched, had a cool bath (someone used most of the hot water), changed into pajama's, laid down on the couch and started watching TV. My plan is not to move from the couch for the rest of the evening. Alice looked at me and said she hasn't seen me look so bad.

Long Run - 3:04:01 / 34.37 km / 5:20 pace

183.0 lbs / 22.5 BMI