Week 3 - The climb ahead...

Our Saturday team run this week took us to UCSD for an injury prevention clinic and another small mileage increase. My group's scheduled path was to do the "campus loop" plus an out and back to Hilton Torrey Pines for a total of six miles. Despite only getting one workout in since the last Saturday run and despite that this week was our first adventure in climbing hills, I decided that I would only be satisfied if I finished the course in under one hour.

When we started out I jogged along with the group ... felt pretty happy about being up and moving my body in a beautiful foggy morning until I noticed that I was REALLY working hard. I tried convincing myself that I was just being a wimp and that I needed to suck it up, but when nearing the 1st aid station I decided that I wasn't even going to finish the jog unless I slowed down. SO ... with visions of the exhasted and beaten Tour de France climbers falling off the peloton flashing in my head, I swallowed my pride and dropped off the back of the group.

I jogged into the aid station, stood still and took a couple of deep breaths, a cup of water and a 1/2 cup of the red stuff (I think they said it was Powerade) before starting down the road again.
I continued down the road with one group of runners ahead of me and another one of the groups coming up behind me but was essentially alone with my thoughts. I made peace with a lesson I have to learn over and over again ... to listen to my body and DO NOT go out too fast. There is something about training for a marathon that forces me to be brutally honest with myself.

I was able to recover and jog up both of the moderately steep but relatively short hills. I DID decide to walk on a couple of the flat spots to catch my breath. By the time I was done with the 4 mile campus loop I had settled into a comfortable pace and noticed that I was right on track to meet my goal with a time of 40 minutes.

Things went great until right near the turn around when my IBS decided to flare for the first time on a Team in Training run. You'd think I would be used to this garbage by now, but it's still upsetting to me whenever it happens. I had about 2 minutes from the time I felt the first discomfort (eyes bulging out... "uh oh") to the time I got sick. Mercifully, I was right next to a physical therapy center (with a nice bathroom) that was open early on a Saturday morning. I re-learned another one of my favorite lessons -- I should never underestimate the abilty of my intestines to act up at inopportune times. I definitely have a lot to do to try and get my symptoms under better control.

After my little detour for the loo, I got back on the road and finished every single step I set out to. I ended up finishing in 1:06 and feeling like it was a huge victory because I was able to make it to a bathroom before getting sick AND because I was able to jog most of the way at a decent pace. Funny how our priorties change...

I'm pretty concerned about the slow pace my fundraising is coming along, but I am doing each of the weekly goals I set for myself, so I'm trying to apply my lesson from the road by being patient with my pace and staying optimistic.

I'm also quite certain that I've got to do a better job this week of mid-week workouts. Yesterday (Sunday) I went to the Rock and Roll Marathon and was appropriately touched and inspired. Today started out good with 2.5 miles in 27:30 ( jog/walk) with Sean -- right as planned. I better stay on track with gradual increase in mileage since we're going up to 8 miles this Saturday!