10 Achy Breaky Miles

Saturday I had an awesome 5 mile run on the treadmill at the gym (it was cold here!).

Sunday I had a not so great 10 miler outside. I needed to do my 10 miler in the morning so that I could make the trek out to see my mom for mother's day. It was 40 degrees outside when I woke up at 8 am and I wasn't looking forward to braving the cold. I put on a sweatshirt and some athletic pants, attached my Ipod and headed out the door. I neglected to bring water because I didn't think I'd get my fuel belt on over my sweatshirt. That and there is a water fountain on my route that HAD been working a month ago (when we were in the 70's...more on this later).

After the first mile, I could tell this was not going to be a great run. My mind was all there. I was pumped for this run. My body wasn't quite feeling it. I felt completely drained of energy. I had eaten a FiberOne bar before I left...this wasn't anything out of the ordinary for a long run. I didn't quite understand what was going on but I thought it would maybe wear off. I kept running...and actually telling myself to keep running.

Right around mile 3.5 there is a water fountain at the nearby high school. This happened to be a water fountain with no water. Evidently they shut it off because of the cold temps we have had this week. Not good. I had brought a gel along but clearly couldn't take that because I had no water. I continued on my way. Around mile 4-5 I got a little bit of energy on a downhill. I started to really feel great. But that was short lived.

A little bit past my turn around point at mile 5, I started to feel like my energy was slipping away again. My whole body felt like I'd been hit with a 2 x 4 and my legs were barely trudging along. I was getting so frustrated. I kept telling myself just to keep running.

The last 2 miles were brutal. My body was dragging and I found myself walking when I really didn't want to. It was a run/walk situation for the last 2 miles.

When I finally made it back home, I felt like a truck had literally hit me. I heated up a bagel hoping that would get rid of the feeling. I found myself not even wanting to eat anything because I was so exhausted. I ate the bagel, drank lots of water, and then rested for 20 minutes or so before heading out to see my mom. The whole rest of the day I felt like I'd been drained of energy.

This seems to be a common theme lately and I'm not sure why. Normally I can bounce back from a long run pretty easily and I don't usually completely wear out of energy that quickly! So frustrating. I was thinking about heading to a dietician to see if maybe there is something I could/should be eating/not eating to help this. I haven't really changed much in my diet from previous years so I don't know exactly what is going on. Perhaps it just stress and it will go away.

I have a 1 mile race schedule for Thursday evening. The shortest distance I've ever raced! It should be interesting...