Lake Michigan at Sunrise

Lake Michigan at Sunrise

Friday, August 9, 2013

Bonk!

Today's run was fueled by bonk energy drink.
I felt pretty good when I went to bed last night and when I woke up this morning. Coffee did its job. Figured I'd get my planned run in. 1.5-3 miles warm up, 8 miles at pace, then cool down.

Start GPS at 4:20am and go. Immediately both calves feel very tight. Three mile warm up it is.  Meet up with Erin about a mile in and do the rest of my warm up miles with her. Legs get a little better, but felt a few twinges in my left calf I didn't like.

I decided to give it a go. First mile, a little fast, but felt better than my warm up. Second mile, closer to pace. We are at 5 miles total now, and my gut says oh hey! I hate you. Happy Friday.

I was livid. I went twice before leaving and this was red flag type feeling. I have to stop completely. I walk to the bathroom about a quarter mile south of Fullerton by the beach. Locked of course.


At this point, I turn off my GPS as I know the next 5 miles home could majorly suck and I don't want to hear it beeping at me. After stopping for a couple minutes, my stomach calmed down, but my legs also tightened up a bit.  I jogged a minute and my gut flared up again. Sigh. I tried to think of the closest places to use a bathroom at this hour, or how late I would get home if I simply walked.  I thought of the bathrooms just south of Belmont and prayed.  I made it there, jiggled the door handle and...

OPEN! THANK YOU!! I run to the stall... and also through a spider web, gross.

Some time later, I exit feeling relieved, but also know I have to deal with my second issue. Leg tightness. Mentally I am freaking out this run as to everything that is feeling wrong. Every part of my legs are taking turns saying something bad to me.  I just want to get home. I manage to pull a slow jog together and trot on home.  All I can think is - how much time off will I need? How much of a fluke was this run?

I made it home, doing about 10.5 miles, i just guessed at my total moving time. And as I type this I realize I forgot to pack any food last night (I'm on the bus). Lovely.

But not to have a post completely be negative, let us look at the bright side.

  • I got to see both the stars ( I love following Orion through the season) and the sunrise
  • I got to run with a friend
  • I can knock out 10 miles and not even feel tired.
  • My kid scowls 



Now to rest up and think more about recovering than my run tomorrow.

Have a great day!

20 comments:

  1. haha - This picture is still making me laugh :-p



    Sucks that you had a bad run - Maybe its something in the air - my stomach wasn't too happy with me last night so I cut my run short as well...


    Hopefully it was a fluke!

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  2. The kid scowls always crack me up :)


    Bad runs happen, but it sucks that yours came after a day of rest. I always hope my legs will feel fresh after rest, but that's definitely not always the case, which is really frustrating. Do you think you will take a little time to rest?

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  3. I need to hear the story behind that pic!


    Do you think you need a few rest days for your legs/groin/etc.? Or do you just need to stretch and foam roll more?


    That is so annoying that the stomach issues persist. I wonder if running later in the day would help, but I know that is not an option :( I hope your gut starts getting its act together!

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  4. A bad run once in a while helps us to appreciate the good runs... right? I try to tell myself that after off-days. I wonder if a sports massage would be beneficial? I bet it would relieve some of the tightness in your legs and help you feel more recovered. My legs are still tired but I'm challenging myself to run my recovery runs super slow this week. Hopefully it helps!


    So sorry about your stomach issues too. I feel like those are the most difficult to control. Sometimes you can have the worst issues after only eating "safe" foods. Hang in there!

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  5. Hopefully! Had a good streak going too of no missed runs. We'll see!

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  6. hopefully she saves a scowl for you!
    I'm going to go day by day. I felt no pain with the foam roller or stretches last night. So the pain this morning surprised me. I felt better before taking a rest day

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  7. She pulls that mean face out for like 50% of adults, no idea why! She was smiling at the guy at the other table at dinner first, pretending to grab his french fries in the air, but later scowled at him.


    I'm going to keep stretching and rolling, none of it hurts. Playing my runs by ear. I may have to take off the weekend until I stop getting flare ups.

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  8. Haha thats right! I tried to at least be positive that there was an open bathroom and i dont have a tear or anything.


    Day by day! hopefully my ego stays in check and I rest if my body needs it.

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  9. Jeeze what a crappy run ;) I hope the next one is infinitely better! At least you got to see the stars... I doubt I'll see the day where I wake up early enough for that.

    Get a racquet ball, sit on the floor and hold yourself up and move back n forth as your calf is massaged by the ball. It is currently saving my life.

    Your tot is so adorable. Love that face!

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  10. Does the can say "now with isotopes"? I'm a nuclear engineering and find it hilarious! We all have bad runs. When it happens to me, I just take a couple days off, do some cross training, and not worry about it.

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  11. I love watching the stars...I've got into it with my 10-yo daughter over the last few years. Really wish I could get up early enough to see them.

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  12. Omg, that totally sucks that your stomach acted up on you big time! Hopefully it was OK on your run today! Do you try to watch what you eat a few days before or cut out anything like high fiber foods or dairy?

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  13. Kelsey @ Fueling StrongAugust 10, 2013 at 1:13 PM

    Glad you remembered that bathroom was there. That's my go to when the stomach flares up mid run since most others are closed at that hour.

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  14. Well, I've already seen that the leg situation hasn't gotten better so I won't comment on that. I just wanted to say that I love looking at Orion! Besides the Big Dipper, it's pretty much the only constellation I can pick out. It's finally starting to get semi-dark at a semi-reasonably hour (11:00 pm or so) so there should be stars soon!

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  15. It does! The engineers of the game are pretty crafty! I'll be having a fair amount of off time I think... sadly!

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  16. bahah love puns! Off for some unsaid amount of time now!


    Little girl will be keeping the spirits up!

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  17. I want to get a telescope for my daughter, although there is a lot of light pollution here

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  18. Stomach was probably a product of eating at Five Guys for dinner. Thigh/leg ended up being the run killer afterwards

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  19. Seriously! they need to open more! So close it was open, had toilet paper, and no bums sleeping in there!

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  20. Only up side to less sunlight and winter running as well!

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