23 Mile Run: Complacency Breaker

I've really been enjoying the 23 mile Wednesday morning runs. I wake up really early, have some coffee and then run in the darkness for a couple hours before the sun comes up and the people appear. I don't run hard, usually enjoying an audiobook or thinking about life, work, etc. Going into today's run, based on the previous four Wednesdays, I felt no fear about running 23 miles.

com·pla·cent [kuhm-pley-suhnt]
1. pleased, esp. with oneself or one's merits, advantages, situation, etc., often without awareness of some potential danger or defect; self-satisfied.

Getting complacent with running 23 miles isn't smart. There are simply a lot of things that can go wrong. Small errors in judgment are multiplied by the distance. Even more so at the iron distance.

Early on I felt that I was going too hard. I was sweating a lot. (A false perception as I later learned at home, looking at the heart rate data.) I tried to slow down but generally didn't. Was it too much caffeine?

Mile 7.25 found me with my second (again perfectly timed) duke out. But a lot of sweat happening. I drank a lot and then set out again. By mile 13 I was exploding. Light headedness. Slight dizzyness. Massively increased perception of effort. I stepped off the trail to figure out what was happening.

I figured it was one of four things: dehydration, too much caffeine, too fast or too little calories. I could have checked the pace/hr on the Garmin but I don't like to do so. Getting yourself into trouble is difficult and painful and, at least in training, the best time to learn. I spent time focusing on the physical sensations, trying to discern what was happening and how to remedy the situation... trying to build up the personal database of sensations.

I continued running to the next rest stop where I got a bunch of water. With about eight miles to go I was not chipper. At all. But I persevered.

A mile and a half later I was again getting to know the Comet's plumbing system with my third duke. This just will not do... gotta figure this out before Louisville.

I made it to four miles to go, still miserable. Grinding it out.

With three miles to go things loosened up. I had backed off the caffeine and hit the gel and water hard. I felt somewhat fluid again and finished the last few miles at what felt like a decent clip.

Very surprised to find that my time was the same as the last few weeks... 3:47. Bizarre. I thought I was a good fifteen minutes slower.

When I got home the heart rate data surprised me too. In the beginning when I thought I was hammering, I wasn't. My heart rate was sub-120 for the first six miles! Overall average heart rate for the run was 112bpm. Did not expect that. Expected 155bpm.

Some of the details came into focus when I checked weather.com from the phone on the way home: 84 degrees. It was quite warm and humid. That caused the sweating, of course. And changed the overall demands of this morning run.

Don't I wake up at 4:30am to avoid the heat? Yes I do. But today it didn't work. Well, I suppose it's good prep for Louisville.

Saw Ashley Folkes on his bike. And the usual cadre of Wednesday Comet regulars, all of whom I wave to and even sometimes get a smile back.

Glad this one's over. I'm still looking forward to the Wednesday long run. But now I'll have a little more respect.

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