Long Run Fail

Hard to call it a long run fail when it's a 3 hour run. But it was supposed to be 22 miles, and it only ended up being 15.25. Aie. Mom and Dad very nicely agreed to take Sam this morning so that Ryan and I could get in our long runs together. Since we had to work with Sam's sleep schedule and get her down to Falmouth to Kristen's and then get back to the Brad, we didn't actually start running until 9:00 am on the dot. We saw Jim, Nathan, Jeremy and Alan in the parking lot. They were looking pretty sweaty. Clearly, it was pretty humid out. But I honestly think it only got worse while we were out there. Or maybe I'm just looking for an excuse. Either way, the humidity was not my friend today and it put a big damper on the running.

Things started out well, out on the east side portion of the BBU course, when we ran into Jamie around 2 miles in. He turned around and ran with us, and it was fun to catch up. Back at the parking lot, none of us needed to stop so we continued on the course. At the top of the Ski Trail, Jamie headed to the summit and Ryan and I continued on the course. I told Ryan at that point that I could feel I was dragging a bit. The legs just didn't have much umph and I was soaked with sweat. But on we continued, and while I wasn't feeling great, things were OK. I stopped near the Quarry turn-off to pick some blackberries - yum - and then headed on down the hill. I think we held it together pretty well until the end of the road portion, after which it truly became a slog and there was a fair amount of walking involved. Both of us were feeling really off and it showed. The miles ticked by slowly. I actually did pretty well on the uphills, up Tote Road and up Lunch Break, but didn't have much energy on the downs or flats. A 13 minute mile here, and there. Yikes. Neither of us were willing to call it quits before we finished the BBU course, but somewhere in those final few miles, I told Ryan I was done as soon as we hit the parking lot. I ran out of water partway up Lunch Break and that just sealed the deal. I had consumed 60 oz of water and although I felt like I had to pee, and stopped a few times, nothing came out. It was time to stop. I am sure I could have slogged on, but it honestly was feeling like that simply would have been detrimental. I am blaming the humidity for most of the sluggishness, although when I looked at my log tonight, I realized that today's run brought me to 57.5 miles for the week (Sunday through Saturday - still on that schedule on my training calendar even though I'm now off on Saturday and Sunday) with 10 1/2 hours of running/hiking/walking time. That is very high for me, especially considering I've only put in two weeks over 40 miles in this training cycle so far. Low mileage? Probably. But it's what I've got, so I'm going with it. In any event, I'm trying not to be too rough on myself about today, although I am disappointed to once again not hit my mileage goals for the day. 

Hopefully next Saturday morning will be crisp and clear. I'm planning on hitting the trails early for 24 miles before we head out on our camping trip, and I really want to have a good long run! Man, this training thing is tough. I am certainly still figuring out how to make it work, but with 2 months to go, there is still time to redeem myself (or at least I hope there is!!).