Week 17 (61.3) - Running on Empty

I skipped Monday, felt terrible, and decided I could use a day off. My tooth was killing me. I’d been gobbling Advil, but was still waking up in pain several times a night. Tuesday morning, I drug myself out the door and when I got to Barton, Roger was already there with a plan to do 1200s. Since I had no plan of my own, I agreed, mentally unprepared. I still managed 4x1200 in 4:27, 4:22, 4:22 and 4:22 ...but it wasn’t easy. I had to push all the way. That afternoon, I saw my Dentist, who took x-rays, wrote a prescription for Amoxicillin and Vicodin and referred me to a specialist. Apparently, I had an infection in a tooth that I’d already had a root canal in.

Wednesday, I was in Phoenix all day and then had our fantasy football draft that night. The "Phonies" drafted third and took Westbrook in the first round, but there was no time for a run. Thursday, it was a surprising 72 degrees, so Roger and I ran a brisk tempo. I probably averaged somewhere under 6:30, although he pretty much crushed me. By Thursday, I’d either caught a full-fledged summer cold or the high mold count got my nose running non-stop and now I had a headache to match my throbbing tooth. Friday morning, I pushed myself around the lake at a pedestrian pace. It was discouraging and a little unnerving since the first race was now 21 days out. Right then, I decided that I’d better schedule an appointment with Meredith Terranova to map out a fueling plan for the Triple and hopefully figure out what I’m doing wrong in my training.

I was dreading Saturday’s long run. Somehow, I’d gotten in the habit of running at least two hours and forty minutes and intended log that amount at least one more time, but since I’d taken a sinus pill and was still on a steady dose of Advil, I felt worn out before we left the parking lot. To make things worse, Patrick Hall and Greg Thomas both showed up along with Roger, Mike and Peter. The cool weather gave everybody a boost, so we were soon flying with me huffing and puffing and bring up the rear. About an hour and forty-five minutes into the run, I was hopelessly behind the pack but was actually grateful to suffer solo. I did several loops around the park to bring the tally to 2:40:05, paid my $3 late fee to soak 15 minutes in Barton, choked down an Endurox R4, took a 30 minute nap at Leticia’s, and did non-stop errands until it was time to see Meredith. At 2:00, I ate my first meal, a McDonald’s grilled chicken sandwich with no mayo.

Meredith asked me what I typical eat before a training run (nothing). She asked whether I take electrolyte tablets (no, but sometimes I intend to) and what I eat and drink during my training runs (nothing during runs under 10 miles, but one or two gels and 12 ounces of a carbohydrate(16g)/protein(6g)mix on long runs). She also asked what I eat after long runs and when (it isn’t unusual to wait until noon before having a first bite). Apparently, on my “two-forty” runs, I should be taking in 120 grams of carbohydrates, but on a good day I probably get half that. Anyway, this all worked well for me when I did 40 mile weeks, but it all falls apart at 70+, so here’s my new plan so I don’t totally run myself into the ground –

Eat something before every run – Jelly beans in the car on the way to the workout or a gel with water. Meredith let me try some Carbo-Pro (a tasteless high (38g) carbohydrate powder), Ultragen (a 60g/20g carb/protein recovery powder that Paul swears by), four Thermolytes and a small Mountain Dew (for quick energy jumpstart). So, I plan on having a carbo drink on every single run, taking a Thermolyte (or the Hammer e-tabs that I have, but never remember to take) several times on my long runs and drinking an Ultragen immediately after any run over …90 minutes. Plus, I need to eat and eat, so Leticia and I bought cracked wheat bread, almond butter, bananas and honey at Central Market.

On Sunday, I woke up to the alarm at 6:00 but felt congested and achy, so I took two Advil and went back to sleep for another hour, got up and drank some coffee, and eventually felt like I could run at least 5 in the neighborhood. Since I told Meredith that I’d test out our new plan, I ate a small pack of Mountain Berry jelly beans, took a Thermolyte tablet, gulped a couple swigs of Mountain Dew and mixed up the Carbo-Pro with a bit of my regular grape powder. After running a hilly 5.3 mile neighborhood loop in 41:22 (my PR on this course is 32:15), I swooped into the garage and drank a third of the grape mixture, ran another 1.5 miles, back into the garage for another sip, another 1.5 miles, back to finish off the fuel and another 1.5, plus a quick half mile because I was felling much better. The Ultragen (punch flavor) was quite tasty and made me feel good …maybe because I ate and drank everything I’d intended. That night, after eating pasta and wheat bread and bananas and bagel chips and almonds and almond butter and a plum, I ran the 5.3 loop again in 38:02. This felt great, although my muscles were screaming the last couple of miles.

So, I’m less than three weeks out. Yikes. My last long run will be Saturday. I have a heavy travel week, but with luck, my tooth will be fixed on Monday. I’m not worried about light mileage from here out. Besides the Saturday long run, I plan on peppering in some intervals. I can use the confidence.

But the Phonies are in excellent shape, beating the "Security Geeks" 101 to 56 in week 1.