Over several weeks, I had been gradually increasing my mileage to new-all time longest runs ever. And it had been going well, under the coaching supervision of my husband. (You can read about my marathon training plan and mid cycle adjustments here.) My medium length runs of 8-10 miles were feeling quite easy in comparison. I had been injury free for the longest period in my running history. So, I approached my new longest run goal with a positive outlook. I had run 20 miles very recently, thus 22 miles didn’t seem unattainable. What I ended up facing was the worst running bonk I have ever had.
I felt good when I started. My pace was toward the faster side, but not faster than my successful 18 miles one week prior. Then, around 6 miles I just began to feel odd. I couldn’t exactly put my finger on it. I was maybe sort of tired, but my pace was still fine. I slowed down a little on purpose, just in case.
By mile 8, I was feeling an ominously building fatigue, but I wasn’t even half way! I thought surely it must be mental, and that I would snap out of it. I tried switching up my stride to refresh my legs, but by mile 10 I was feeling rather desperate. My breathing wasn’t labored, but my body seemed to be shutting down!
Providentially, my husband/coach had showed up right around then. He told me that if I felt that bad, I didn’t have to keep going. You’d think I’d know that, but it all didn’t make sense. Finally, it wasn’t even a decision. I basically wanted to curl up and die. Only what I did was walk a slow and depressing 1/2 mile back to the car, feeling very glad I had chosen to run that morning around my scenic one mile pond loop.
On the way home, we talked about what had happened and how I should proceed. Part of me was sure it meant I could never run the marathon. Dear husband, who has placed exceedingly well in many a race from 1 mile to marathon, assured me that I would be fine. He, himself, had walked back prematurely from a number of training runs. He reminded me of several small circumstances over the last couple of days that may have contributed to my current situation.
We had just gotten back from camping for the weekend the day before. This meant more erratic sleeping and altered eating habits. When I had done my long run after camping two weeks ago, I had had one full day to recuperate. Camping this time had also involved a 6 mile hike at 6000+ elevation. True, I had gone on short runs during the previous camping trip, but they had been in the early cool of the morning. This latest hike had been in much warmer weather. And there had been a lot more log jumping and scrambling through brush.
I had never felt I had gotten completely rehydrated after that hike, a detail exacerbated by an unexpectedly long drive home. We ended up turning off the engine and sitting in a hot car when we came to a standstill while crews worked on putting out a roadside fire. More eating and fluid intake abnormalities resulted.
Finally, the morning of the run was much warmer and higher humidity than I was used to, at least for a long run. I had tried to start early in the morning, but the temperatures were quickly approaching 80°F by mile 5. There was no cloud cover and very little shade. Thus, there I was, leaking saline from every pore, and now also dripping from my tear ducts. I felt like a failure, not only because I was falling so short of my goal for the day, but because I hadn’t recognized all of these factors adding up. My husband said, “You just had a bad day.” But I was not consoled.
He suggested it would be almost as good for my training if I could run again in the evening, and even a bit the following morning, to reach my 22 mile total for that run. At first, I thought he was nuts, but then the idea grew on me. I mostly had sit down chores to do for the day anyway, although I got up regularly to stretch and keep the blood flowing in my legs. I used the foam roller a few times, too.
I also worked on eating well and getting enough fluids. This did include a few peanut M&M’s left over from camping, but my diet for the day was largely very familiar and nutritious foods. I checked the weather report and saw it was supposed to start cooling enough just before 8 PM.
When evening came, I was apprehensive, but felt better that I had thought I would. I was a bit stiff, but loosened up considerably in the first mile. By mile 7, I was commenting that I definitely felt better than in the morning. I finished 10.5 miles just as the sky turned black – and I finished it solidly, hardly feeling like I had run 11.5 miles in the morning.
I recalled a trail-desert run a few weeks earlier in my training, where I couldn’t finish the “planned” distance because of the terrain and heat slowing me down. We had adjusted my run to a time based increase, and planned that my next long training run would be the full planned distance or 10% more time, whichever came first. It ended up that I was able to cover the distance in that run just fine. I take hope from that, thinking that this split run will do enough to strengthen me. There are 20 miles planned, since it will be the week I cut back on my long run a tad, then 24 the week after that. I know my coach will help me evaluate, but I am again thinking I might make it.