Saturday, September 10, 2011

Super Saturday: 15 miles!

Today was my longest run yet...and I feel pretty good about it. Our 15 miler today was the most I've ever ran at one time.  Before today it was somewhere around 13 miles (when I got lost running in Hawaii...don't ask). It felt really good to finish the run and know I could have kept going!!

We met at Lake Lanier Islands @ 7 am. Well, I had to stop for a bathroom break, so more like 7:10ish. By the way, if you live in the Atlanta area, I totally recommend LLI as a running/biking spot. It's my favorite place to run!!
 
 I got all my goodies together, which takes me a few minutes....Garmin, i-pod, snacks, deodorant, took off compression sock with Epsom salt rag, put on fuel belt, and used body glide on my few potential "chaffing" areas. (Mostly under my bra line...I have a feeling it's going to scar.)  Ready to go.

My calf felt GREAT until mile 10 and I started bragging about how the brutal massage I gave myself last night must have helped...then BAM, tweaked it. Spoke too soon, but I was able to finish with minimal limping.

These little guys are my new best friend!
I pop one every 4 miles or so and they are awesome!  I also eat fruit & nut granola bars (I feel like they have less sugar than other granola bars) but they are tough to eat on the run...so I may try gel packs soon because they seem like they'd be easier to consume while running- any thoughts/suggestions??
Highlight of the run:
Running behind the hotel @ LLI and seeing the entire Georgia football team having their team meeting! We totally made eye contact with them. We couldn't decide if they were staring cuz they thought we were hot stuff, OR because they thought we looked really goofy in our fuel belts. I'm going with the latter...haha!  We weren't 100% sure it was them (about 80 buff black guys wearing red and black), so we ran around to the front parking lot & saw "UGA TEAM BUS #1 & UGA TEAM BUS #2"....oh yea! We were right.  So, of course in typical stalker fashion, we had to run BACK by. I felt too embarrassed to make eye contact this time {note to self: put shades on next time! duh!) so I just looked straight ahead. I get so silly/goofy/giddy/starstruck. (You should have seen me when we saw Jamal Anderson eating at the Mall of Ga- my super dorky side comes out and I just can't control it!) So I just looked ahead and kept truckin'.
{I told myself I was going to start taking running pics...and GEEZ today would have been a perfect day to have a camera!)
Oh, and highlight #2:
There were policemen doing a bike ride to commemorate 9/11, and they were just finishing as we were running by. They were cheering us on and giving us high fives....I loved it! Haha....I felt famous!  Super dorky again, I know. I guess after you've been running for over 2 hours straight you just don't care how cool ya look anymore. :) Really, it made me excited for race day. I'm TOTALLY going to put my name on my shirt so people can cheer me on by name!
Post- run meal:
PB & honey on wheat
apple
Easy Mac 
(so random! something I love but would never eat normally, so I figured here was my chance!)
Post- run recovery:
Epsom salt bath in whirlpool tub with jets on=HEAVEN! I almost dozed off. It warms me up from being cold and sweaty & cleans off all the dirt so I can hop in the bed for a 2 hour recovery nap! Hey, we wake up at 5:15!! 

My calf is pretty sore this evening. I like to push it up hills, and we hit some big ones at the end. That's probably what did it. Going to ice and possibly roll it out later if I'm not too sore.  Oh, and I'm back on the ibuprofen.  :( I used to take about 1200-1600 mg a day in college to make it through our 4 hour softball practices. I am not a big fan of medicine, so I quit taking it after recovering from shoulder surgery, BUT, since I've been having some muscle tightness issues, the ibuprofen has been a lifesaver. I've taken 1400 mg today. 

Here's what my week looked like:
Sun/Mon: Rest
Tues: 3 miles Fartlek on treadmill, 30ish minutes lifting weights
Wed: 7 miles slow
Thurs: 4.3 miles track workout
Fri: 1.5 miles, relays with the kids
Sat: 15 miles (2 hours 34 minutes)

Ready for next week and the 16 miler Saturday!!

Thanks for all the encouragement last week- definitely helped me get motivated! :) 

3 comments:

Chels said...

You go girl! I'm proud of you!! I never knew there was so much to running a marathon! You are killing it!!!

I totally would've been star struck too! Like when we saw Matt Ryan at Cheeseburger Bobby's the other week! I was like dumbfounded! I wish I'd have asked for his autograph but I was too in shock!
Love you friend!

Vanessa @ Gourmet Runner said...

Congrats on such a great long run! I would have totally been starstruck too, I don't blame you!

Brittany said...

I am so impressed! I can barely do 2.5 miles!