Sweet Little Sixteen

Maybe not "sweet," but it was sixteen miles this morning. Due to the vast quantities of water being poured through Mansfield Dam, Town Lake has become a semi-raging river for a change, and it's way over the banks at most of the low-water spots of the trail. I took a look this morning, and it's almost 4 feet deep at the low-water crossing near Austin High, and the rowing center is entirely under water. Amazing, really.

I say all that to report why we started today's jaunt from Austin High School instead of RunTex. From RunTex, we'd have to do some serious cross-country bushwacking to avoid the big water, so Gilbert chose a new starting spot and we revised the planned route. Instead of the Grove loop, which I enjoy very much, we had to go to our backup plan of the out-and-back Shoal Creek run. The Shoal Creek route is pretty easy to administrate with water/Accelerade, but out-and-back courses can be sort of dull sometimes.

Weather was muggy, warm, yadda yadda yadda. The sun came out with about 4 miles to go, but it didn't make it that much worse. After a little talk from Gilbert ("Don't try to impress the other Gazelles this morning, just run nice and easy"), we set out for our journey. There were multiple distance options, but for those of us running Chicago, it was pretty much a 16 mile day. I settled in with Marty, and watched almost everyone else scurry on ahead. I was running based on feel and later by HR, trying to keep the effort level appropriate for a long run. With the heat, I want to finish the long runs feeling sort of strong (today, Gilbert said it was not a "fast finish" run), so I'm perhaps being too cautious. We'll see as the season progresses.

The first few miles saw us getting down to our working pace, and once we turned onto Enfield and its hills, it was time to tank up at Gilbert's rolling water/Accelerade stop. Working with Pete's suggestions about summer hydration, I chugged down 4 total cups (16 oz) of fluids. As warm as it seemed already, and with the hilly terrain that we'd face off and on, it seemed smart. I took off from that water stop with Marty, but fairly soon on Exposition, I found myself running alone through the hills. This was where I switched to HR as a guide for effort. I chose an arbitrary "long run" number, and tried to stay around that HR number for the next 5 miles or more. It would ease up a bit on the hills, but it recovered quickly on the flats and downhills. I caught up with Monique, Laura and others at the overpass at Mopac, and cruised along with them for a bit, until we got passed by Thon and Carrie. I tagged along with those two to the second water/Accelerade stop at Shoal Creek. Tons more fluids, and I experimented today with a gel from the Accelerade/Endurox folks at this stop. I was sweating up a storm, but I felt okay. So far, so good.

Splits miles 1-5: 10:02, 9:07, 0.62 miles at 9:02/mile (2:02 water/Accelerade stop), 9:11, 9:23, and 0.73 miles at 9:23/mile (3:07 water/Accelerade/Accel Gel stop). Running pace was 9:23/mile for actual running, and 10:20/mile with stops.

Now we were on the sneaky uphill trip up Shoal Creek. It seems flat in spots, but it's mostly a gentle uphill. We used to enjoy this feature when the marathon course went down Shoal Creek, but that's changed with the new loop course. C'est la vie. I was alone all the way to the turnaround point on Great Northern, running as a HR slave, but it worked out well for me. I felt fine, and it was probably good to practice running alone since I'm going to have to do my 18 miler in a couple of weeks solo. As the various Gazelle pace pods turned around at 10, 12, or 14 miles, it was a boost to give them all shout-outs as they passed me going back to the finish. I sort of lost my mathematical skillz during this stretch, and so I couldn't decide how much further it was to the turnaround, even though I put the water and Gatorade out this morning before I went down to AHS. Go figure. Anyway, soon I reached Great Northern, and met up with Leslie, Lisa and their crew as they finished their water stop. They dashed off, and I hooked up instead with Eric and Colleen for the return trip. Again, I took onboard 4 cups of fluids, and took my second Accel Gel. Let's go south, shall we?

Splits miles 6-8: 9:15, 9:06, 9:18, 0.22 miles at 8:56/mile. Long 3:52 water/Gatorade/Accel Gel stop. Running pace 9:19/mile, right on target. With water stop time, 10:22/mile.

Heading back, it was a relief to cruise along with Colleen and Eric. I could just follow along with the pace they were setting, and was able to let my mind wander for a while. The course was generally downhill with a few bumps, and except for crossing 2222 and trying to take on a motorcycle and a delivery truck, we had an uneventful run to the Shoal Creek water stop. Rogue was there this time with their own water stop, but we stuck to our own supplies, tanked up, and moved on. It was time to focus on finishing with some strength.

Splits miles 9-12: 9:13, 9:17, 9:02, and 0.22 miles at 8:47/mile. Last water/Accelerade/GU stop was a pedestrian 3:16. Running pace 9:16/mile. With water stop time, 10:18/mile.

Now it was the point in every long run where the conversation becomes more and more muted, reducing itself finally to grunts, finger pointing (directional, not obscene) and single-word answers. The toughest stretch of the run came at the end, with the hills of Exposition and the overpass on 35th Street. I followed Eric and Colleen up and over the overpass, and after saying that I didn't plan on a "fast finish," I guess I was relatively faster through the hills, and once again found myself running alone by the end of the long first hill coming down Exposition. It was no longer a HR run at this point, I was merely trying to stay focused on the job at hand (or foot), aiming to finish in pretty good fashion.

There wasn't a water stop at O. Henry, since we were finishing just a mile and a half further on, but it was still sort of a bummer to pass by there without a quick pick-me-up. Oh, well. I felt like I was crawling by now, without any point of reference except my now warped internal pace clock. (I did not look at my watch after the last Shoal Creek water stop). I resolved to finish this run without walking, to give me something to work towards in the last mile or so. On Lake Austin Blvd., I saw Alberto, an ex-Galloway person, who was race-walking towards my finish line. I found an opening, and crossed over to chat ever so briefly with him before "kicking" to the finish. It felt really good to turn onto Veterans and enjoy that downhill, and except for being a bit disappointed to notice that I wasn't at 16 miles yet (at Mopac), I figured I'd meet my goal. Steve popped out of nowhere at Mopac, where I presume he was grabbing a quick cup of water. He helped me push to the finish, amid all the foot traffic, cars, and folks just checking out the flooding at Town Lake. I kept running until the watch ticked over 16 miles, and was grateful to have finished.

Splits miles 12-16: 9:26, 9:09, 9:03, 8:38, and 0.15 miles at 8:13 (thanks, Steve!). Actual running pace dropped to 9:12/mile, right on target, and with water stop time, I was still okay at 9:59/mile. I came up with 15.94 miles of actual running.

I was feeling quite a bit goofy when I finished, and it took a long time for me (it seemed) to catch my breath at the car. I grabbed the stretching gear and started drinking my Endurox right away. I felt like I was not right, so it was time to get into body-repair mode. It was already just after 8:30am, so I went over and dropped the ropes off, asked Alex to be the StretchMeister this morning, and went over to Gilbert's coolers to get even more fluids. I'm sure I looked ghastly. I know I felt pretty bad.

I did some high-knee form work to get my hips and legs loose (walking versions of those drills), and got several cups of water and Accelerade at the coolers to supplement the Endurox. Even after all that, I was still a little dizzy, so I shuffled back to the stretching area, and eased into the stretching a few exercises behind everyone else. Today, I was mostly the stretching advisor and not the leader. Alex did a great job taking over for me. I moved pretty slowly, drinking all the fluids I had with me, and got about halfway done with the stretching. At that point, I felt like little electrical pulses were shooting through my legs, which I did not take as a good sign. So, up again, and I took a towel with me to the coolers, where I soaked it in icy water to try to bring my temperature down. I also filled up my water bottle again for more hydration.

That series of treatments helped a lot, and I was able to finish up my somewhat abbreviated stretching routine at the same time as the group at large. After 40-50 ounces of post-run fluids and a cold towel, I was starting to feel more human, and even stopped at the Gazelles Store to purchase a very orange singlet to add to my collection. Contrary to folklore, I do not own every piece of Gazelles gear...but I do have a healthy sampling of same. :-)

I chatted for a while with folks as I slowly made my way to the car. I noticed a group of unicycle enthusiasts (6 of them! only in Austin...) trying to get through the deep water at the crossing on their unicycles, which just looked stupid to me. The current was really ripping just 20 feet away in the lake, after all. Oh, well. Darwin's Principles thinning the herd, I guess. :-)

Uneventful drive home, and I was happy to get back. Even after the aggressive hydration during and after the run, I was down 3 pounds when I got back. I'll work on that today and tomorrow, to try and get back up to speed. I feel okay now, but I am certainly tired.

My HR numbers, interestingly enough, were spectacular. Overall HR was right on, and I spent a much larger percentage of my running day in the happy zone than I've done in the past. All that, and the running pace was still well within the "1/2 to 1 and 1/2 minutes slower than MGP" guidelines that we hear about so often. So, except for scaring myself with my dehydration/bonking/whatever, this was quite a good run for me. Next weekend is, mercifully, a "recovery" long run, so we get to back down a few miles. The whole week is a little less intense, as well, which I believe is intentional. It's a chance to rebuild our bodies a bit after a pretty tough week of training.

For the week, I tipped the mileage scales at 42.5 miles. 5 runs, fitful but okay gym compliance, a new core workout tried, and one broken passenger window on the Tahoe. A full and fruitful week. May next week be even happier.