Can I get a woot! woot! Or a high five! Or a Hell yeah! Or even just a thumbs up here?! I just finished running my 8 miles! EIGHT freakin miles!!! That is the farthest I've ever run at one time and I didn't stop once. I'm totally patting myself on the back and you can better believe I had a smile a mile wide when I hit that mile 8!I chose to do my 8 this morning on the treadmill at the gym for a few reasons.
1. My knees have been a little bothersome lately and I wanted to be good to my joints, rather than pounding the pavement and causing any injury. I'm listening to my body and I know when it's good to run the trail or track outside or run the treadmill inside. My body knows what I need so I'm listening.
2. HYDRATION! I've gotten pretty good at my water intake. I drink water all day and always carry a water bottle with me. I used to HATE drinking water...ick. Now I love it. I can run an hour and be okay with just what water I've hydrated my body with, but after that I not only NEED water, but it's necessary to your body. I knew that if I wanted to stay hydrated and stay away from nausea, I'd have to intake water after 1 hour. A coworker has a hydration belt that she said I could borrow, but for today I just decided having water at the treadmill would work easier, so that's what I did.
3. People watching. Time goes faster when you can watch all the people coming in and out of the gym and working out. It also make me feel more accountable and makes me wanna work harder when I know that those same people *I'm* watching, are probably people watching by watching ME! See?! It all works out! :)
This morning I woke up at 5:45am...yes even on a Saturday. I wanted to eat a decent breakfast and give it an hour of digestion before running. I ate egg beaters, a piece of wheat toast, and a few watermelon pieces. It worked well and I had plenty of energy and "go" for most of then entire 8 miles. And NO NAUSEA! Yay!
Mile 1: Felt great and time went fast.
Mile 2: Felt great and found my pace, but my shins! They were screaming but I just kept working thought the pain.
Mile 3: I felt like I had to pee but I was determined not to stop that early. Once I started thinking about it, it's all I COULD think about. My knees started hurting a little on this mile, but again, just pushed on through the pain. Energy level felt great and I was still keeping my pace.
Mile 4-6: Felt good, pace good, energy high, good even breathing. Really enjoying it all.
Mile 7: This is where I felt a slight dip in energy. Nothing major, but this is where I could have definitely used another burst of energy. Not sure I'm brave enough to try the Gu gels just yet, but I really wished I had had something. Time starting to drag just a little.
Mile 8: Back to feeling great, letting my adrenaline take me to the end. Upped my pace back at mile 6 and kept it up the last two miles. Drenched sweaty mess but feeling great!
I finished, kissed the first person I saw, which luckily just happened to be my husband who was on the treadmill next to me. I FINISHED EIGHT FREAKIN MILES AND FELT GREAT!
Of course I'll be downing Advil later and hobbling, but damn...I DID IT!
WOOHOO! Don't forget RICE (for the knees or any other bothersome soreness): Rest Ice Compression Elevation. Also, it helps me TONS when I come home from a run, hop in the shower & spray my legs with ice cold water (or sit in a tub full of ice cold water ... I've called home before on the last mile and had them fill the tub for me). Really gets that swelling down/breaks up the lactic acid build up. ;)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Nino! Actually, I remember you giving me that advice awhile ago and that's exactly what I do after...spray my legs with freezing cold water when I'm in the shower. It does work! Thank you for being a HUGE support to me. Truly. :)
ReplyDeleteI'm curious. Do you listen to music the entire time you are running? I have to update my running play list it is getting so old. Plus, I think I only have about an hour and a half worth of good running music.
ReplyDeleteTanya: I MUST run to music. Once in awhile I'm okay with listening to whatever is on TV, but for the most part I have to have my iPod with me in order to keep up a run. My play list gets old, too. Thankfully I don't mind listening to the same group of songs over and over. I have several hours on my iPod right now and am constantly updating it with new songs. For the most part, it's all good stuff that I don't mind listening too repeatedly.
ReplyDeleteCongrats!!! I have had to put most of my miles in on a treadmill. People think I'm crazy :) When I first started running I decided to try a GU gel at home first. Very good decision since the first flavor I tried did horrible things to me. It would have been a disaster out on the road. I have since found flavors that work well and don't cause issues. Great blog.
ReplyDeleteStacie: I used to HATE the "dreadmill," but I find that if I do it at the gym, it's not bad. I'm trying GU for the first time tomorrow morning. I hope it doesn't do bad bad things to me...my stomach is wonky enough pre-run. Yikes! lol.
ReplyDeleteWhat flavors didn't you like and which ones work well for you? I'm going for the chocolate since all the reviews said awesome things about it.