I ran 16 kilometers today. That’s TEN MILES. [chart / route map] I’m a little surprised myself! Since my lower back is still bothering me, I slathered on some pain relief gel and took a prescription anti-inflammatory before I went out. (I had to get special ones from the doctor because normal ibuprofen is a NO GO for my stomach.) It still ached a bit, but not enough to hold me back. I did 5:1 run/walk intervals for the first 90 minutes before switching it up to 4:1 towards the end. Halfway through, I stopped in a convenience store and bought a bottle of Gatorade. Carrying it with me was surprisingly less annoying than I’d expected! I discovered, though, that Gatorade makes my mouth feel all gummy and dry so I still hit every water fountain that I passed as well. At the 14K mark, I crossed the threshold into Longest Run Ever territory. (The 14K City 2 Surf was my previous longest distance.) In terms of cardio fitness, I am fully confident in my ability to run the half-marathon without any trouble. It’s like I’ve had a breakthrough with my breathing, and at my normal pace I finally feel able to carry on a conversation without huffing and puffing. It’s really cool, actually. (Although I still gasp like a fish when I swim. Odd, that.) I think the real limiting factors are going to be my legs, feet, and back. I’m feeling some real soreness on the outside of my thighs, which is probably a warning sign for IT Band Syndrome. (I don’t feel any pain on the outside of my knees, so I don’t think it’s too far along.) Two hours of pounding on pavement just, you know, HURTS. So I’m going to take it easy this week and try to recuperate. I’d like to do one more long run this weekend (hopefully 18K) before the race, but with my endoscopy on Wednesday I don’t know how I’m going to feel. I’m just going to bask in this feeling of accomplishment for a while…
Emma
April 27, 2008 — 11:01 pm
Nice work!
Since you can make 16km, you’ll be fine over 21km. (Admittedly, the first time I ran 21km I had very realistic delusions I was dead. Try to avoid that.)
good luck with the rest of the training plan, you’ll get there.
Jenny
April 27, 2008 — 11:55 pm
Great job! You’ve inspired me to go to the gym today. You are a rockstar!
Tricia
April 28, 2008 — 3:10 am
Congratulations!! Sounds like you’re doing an amazing job with your training and you’re ready for a great race!
Max
April 28, 2008 — 4:36 am
Awesome job, Kris! Just keep taking care of yourself and listening to your body (a cliche, but a good one to live by) and you’ll be great.
I had IT band issues a few years ago and thought I would die (or never run again)–it was like someone had drilled holes into the outside of my right knee. Believe me, you would know if it were “too far along.” One of my students at the time was also an aspiring dancer, and she not only diagnosed my problem before the doctor did, but also showed me some stretches from her dance classes that I still do to this day to prevent it.
Keep pluggin’ away!
Kris
April 28, 2008 — 7:51 am
Ooh, thanks for that Max. This is probably just some general soreness then, because it sounds like if it was IT Band, I’d know it!
WeeB
April 28, 2008 — 11:08 am
Great work Kris! Keep up the good work. I could never get into the whole running thing.
I’m on tennis still for sport. Have a new female Spanish coach trying to perfect my game at the moment. She has a hard task ahead of her..hehe.
Oh yeah and all these damn women keep beating me. It’s so unfair but i know in the end, revenge will be mine!
tracey
April 28, 2008 — 1:33 pm
Um, I can’t even drive 16 kilometres without complaining, lol. Congratulations – you’ve done so well for yourself 🙂
M-H
April 28, 2008 — 2:14 pm
I’ve had a breakthrough with my swimming breathing lately. I used to have to stop after about 40 metres of breaststroke, or less of freestyle, because the rhythm would break down and I’d get short of breath and panic. But in the last 2-3 weeks I’m finding that I can go on quite a bit more. I still get short of breath, but I’m not getting the panting, panicky thing.