You really might want to re-think drinking that water...

Monday, June 14, 2010

As a coach, I often worry about the kind of running day I had yesterday. How do you ensure that, when the big day…the important race…is at hand, that you don’t have the kind of day I had… the one where your legs feel like logs and running fast is just a distant memory?

I believe the answer is in preparing correctly, physically and mentally, and then willing yourself to have the kind of day you need to have to succeed. Yesterday didn’t really matter and so I was allowed to feel like shit. So what?

Today, well, would it be more of the same? It was muggy again, though not as bad as yesterday. I started to think back…had I rehydrated enough? I mean, in the last three days I’d probably lost about 15 pounds of fluids. If I was smart…and I’m not when it comes to me…I’d have been checking my weight every morning and I’d know if I’d put it back. I suppose it really doesn’t matter too much. I’m not going to run a marathon in the sun. What I am going to do is run another hour in the shade of the Metropark trails and go slow if I feel like crap again. I’m also going to reward myself with a luxurious dunk in my favorite stream at the conclusion.

I started the run thinking these things. I was going to run the same course I’d attempted the day before and could check my splits at different points to see how I was doing, in comparison to yesterday’s disaster. Truly? I don’t need no stinking splits to know if I’m faster or slower. I just know after 40 years of running…and after 15 minutes…I was feeling good.

I made it to my first check point…about 26 minutes into the run yesterday… in 24 minutes. I was running well, but I knew I was dropping major sweat again and decided to just take it easy and enjoy the run. At my next checkpoint, about 42 minutes in…I was almost 4 minutes ahead of yesterday. That’s only a testament to how slow I can run when I’m feeling crummy. I suppose it really wouldn’t qualify as running.

By the time I reached the creek, I’d logged almost 60 minutes. Anyone that would have seen me before I’d plunged in would have sworn I had just come out of the water…I was that completely saturated. I stepped in to the cool, refreshing stream and let the water fill my shoes. Just that quickly I was feeling rejuvenated…and my shoes, which had smelled so badly I’d kept them in the trunk…were washing clean…healing themselves.

I climbed into the shallow pool that formed just past the massive blocks of rock that served as a bridge of sorts and created this bathing hole. It is so perfect because the bottom is solid slate and perfect for sitting, which is what I did. I pointed my feet upstream and slowly laid back in the flow, letting the water wash over me and floating just below the surface. I put my head into the water…it floats…air…fat?...it floats, though…and with the water covering my ears, felt like I was in some kind of sensory deprivation chamber. I could hear the water rushing over the rocks around me, but little else. I imagined the heat leaving my body and my strength returning. As cold as the water was, I wasn’t imagining the heat leaving, though.

I laid there for about five minutes then sat up and assessed myself. My legs were getting kind of numb from the chill of the water, which is a pretty good feeling when you’ve been running for an hour and lost 6 pounds of sweat. Fortunately, I was quite alone in this part of the park. I suppose I could have alarmed any hikers…or deer looking to get a drink. Actually, they like salt…the deer…and the water downstream should be tasting pretty good to them about now. Anyway, I decided it was time to get out and conclude the run.

I stood on the trail just beyond the stream and watched the excess water exiting my shoes, which were looking much cleaner, by the way…and I’ll bet my socks were smelling better, too (forgot about them…poor deer drinking water downstream). Though my legs were rather leaden, I started a slow jog the remaining five minutes to my car. It was a very pleasant jog. What a great way to finish a run. I’m really starting to like hot, muggy weather.

Run duration: 63 minutes.

Training Heart Rate: 140.

Calories burned during workout: 1075.