Day 133: Drizzle It, Just A Little Bit

My new coach Jaime had said not to do much today because it's a recovery day before my big 14 mile run tomorrow. I ran 3 slow miles this morning with a few mega sprints at 7.8 mph towards the end. Oh, I really, really do love to run fast! My body doesn't hurt at all at 7.8 mph. My arms swing perfectly. My legs move. Who cares about the damn music - all I can hear is the sound of blood pumping! I have no time to think of being tired, or anxious about work, or annoyed that the weekend's half gone already. It's a blissful little minute until... my body starts needed more oxygen than I can give it and I just have to drop it right down to speed walking.

Since I'm going to try to run with fuel tomorrow (sports drink and gel packs, totaling 500 calories) I figured I'd give a gel pack a trial run today. Last time you may recall, the thing sent me into sugar and caffeine shock almost instantly. I got nauseous and had to get off the treadmill and kill my entire run. I was down for about an hour.

Since then, at Jackrabbit, a running store in NYC, I've found a different kind of gel energy pack that's made of honey, so it's all natural. I like honey. No artificial flavors, no caffeine. It makes me think of Friday night dinners in my house growing up, and proper tea in England, and all sorts of other positive drizzles from my past. So, I gave honey-for-running a try today and 120 delicious banana flavored calories later I gotta tell you... no difference in either my energy level or performance. I felt slightly funny in the tummy after the first few slugs of goo, and got a bit of an unpleasant sugar buzz around my forehead for a half a second, but nothing that would interrupt the run. But if this is the medicine the doctor prescribes, I'm happy to comply!

*shrugs*

So, I guess I'll get another one or two of those because Jaime said to run with fuel. I must just remember, these are the last days and weeks of living in a constant state of "not knowing." Soon I will be educated about exactly what to do, what works for me, and how to get ahead. I might even provide useful tips for hopeful runners, instead of this blather of emotional experience and profound befuddlement. It appears, I may have made it through the night... and dawn is on the horizon. The only option now is to wake up and take this whole thing to a new level, otherwise I'll be risking injury and certain failure. You simply can't run these distances on any ongoing basis without knowing how to take care of your machine.